MedEwok wrote:
I don’t think we had that abbreviation in ground school
I don’t think that terminology is included in PPL ground school.
When Air Traffic Services (ATS) / Search and Rescue (SAR) are handling emergencies, there are three “phases”.
Uncertainty Phase (INCERFA): A situation wherein uncertainty exists as to the safety of an aircraft and its occupants.
Alert Phase (ALERFA): A situation wherein apprehension exists as to the safety of an aircraft and its occupants.
Distress Phase (DETRESFA): A situation wherein there is reasonable certainty that an aircraft and its occupants are threatened by grave and imminent danger or require immediate assistance.
This is what the computer based question banks are for 
Back to the topic. There is no need to file written flight plans for day VFR flights in Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and probably some other EU countries. I made several flights from Czech Republic to Germany (Hamburg, Dresden), Poland (Wroclaw) without a flight plan. You just sit in your airplane and fly. The flights were made at E airspace (FL75 or so). Now I fly IFR most of the time so plan is needed. Before that, I used to fly without a plan even when crossing the borders between EU countries. The exception is Hungary and Austria where a flight plan plan is always needed even for day VFR flights. One important notice here. Airplanes are not usually powered by flight plans but (in GA typically) by piston engine burning gasoline plus some strange physics involving thrust versus drag and lift versus gravity. File a flight plan when you feel it might give you some advantage or when you know that you would break rules by not filing…
Just to add to the discussion, in Greece everybody must file a full flight plan (supplementary included). If there is inability to give it to a reporting office either in person or by phone, the pilot can file it in flight. It is nice that some electronic filing services now include the supplementary in the remarks.
Without getting into details, if the pilot has to report at a specified time (T) and he does not, or
if he has been called by ATS (at time T) and he does not report back, or
if he has stated an ETA (T) and has not reported on the ground
then the earliest of that time (T) is noted and the flight enters INCERFA (uncertainty phase) at time T for 30 minutes.
After that it enters ALERFA and DETRESFA, which come back to back very quickly.
Of course the ALERFA/DETRESFA can be initiated without an INCERFA.
Pytlak wrote:
Before that, I used to fly without a plan even when crossing the borders between EU countries. The exception is Hungary and Austria where a flight plan plan is always needed even for day VFR flights.
You mean for day VFR flights crossing international borders, don’t you?
From Germany to Austria VFR: no flightplan, except to major airports
No flight-plan is required in Sweden unless you are going to fly in controlled airspace or IFR or at night outside of the vicinity of the airport (VFR & IFR).
Any flight-plan can be filed through the phone, fax, for free at https://aro.lfv.se/, for money at services like SkyDemon and EuroFPL and of course in abbreviated form once you’re already in the air (or ground at controlled aerodromes).
E.g. if you in the last minute decide that you want to traverse a class C TMA, you talk to ATC, give them your abbreviated flight plan (who you are, where you are, what you are, souls on board, remaining fuel on board, your intentions), get your clearance and there you go! In real life you just tell them who you are, where you are and your intentions and you get your clearance. They don’t care much about all the details.
One more thing:
Flight-plan IS required in Sweden if you’re going to cross country boundaries. E.g. if you fly from or to Germany. Even if you fly within Sweden, e.g. from mainland to Gotland, you still need to file a flight-plan since Gotland is so far away that you have to cross international waters and thus international boundaries.
From Germany to Austria VFR: no flightplan, except to major airports
Which airports are they?
LOWG, Graz,
LOWI, Innsbruck
LOWK, Klagenfurt
LOWL, Linz
LOWS, Salzburg
LOWW, Wien-Schwechat
