Hi everyone, recently i got my ppl and im planning on flying internationally in the near future.
The problem im facing are the practical details that weren’t mentioned in the manual or i wasn’t taught throughout the training and the two main topics are submitting flight plans electronically and the apron management service/ground handling service
First question is, what software do you use to submit flight plans? I know that my country’s ats authority created a website for submitting flight plans but what website do i use to submit flight plans electronically while im in another country? Do I just fax or email the ARO of the departing airport? To begin with im not even sure all eu countries have a website dedicated to this.
Now the apron management service and the ground handling service. These service never came up during theory nor during the flight training but they only came up when i looked up airport directories and while i did try to find information about them by reading gm and amc but its safe to say i didn’t find anything relevant to me. So the question is, can someone give me a run down of these two services(e.g what they are, what services do they offer, when to contact them and what to tell them)?
Thanks in advance for any response.
Congratulations. If you are ging to fly any significant places, you are very likely not going to do that with just a paper chart and pencil, as you probably did during your training. So ask youself: how am I going to navigate? The best answer in Europe is very likely Skydemon. Try it (you can do monthly subscriptions for peanuts). There you have you answer to how file flight plans very easily.
Apron management service is not a common term, internationally. „Handling“ is, and that what you are often forced to contract, or at least pay, at bigger European airports. But there are countless flavours of this. It‘s not a normed term either. In many cases, handling is sort of tied to PPR, i.e. you have to contact the handling company/agent to get PPR for landing/parking at an airport. Rarely, these two things are separated. Sometimes, you don‘t even need to get PPR all, but will still be forced to use, or at least to pay for „handling“.
For the beginning, just try to follow exactly what is written in the AIP entry of the airport you want to use. Also read airport pireps to see what the procedures are based on other pilots‘ experiences.
If you really start touring (flying from A to Band staying at B for longer than an hour), you will soon learn that often, the challenging bit about flying is not the flying itself, but the organisation „around“ that.
With respect to filing and modifying flight plans, I mostly use https://autorouter.aero/ (meant for IFR, not that much for VFR although it can file VFR flight plans). The killer feature for me is management by Telegram Messenger messages, SMS and short automated emails. But alternatives include at least:
Wow, i didnt expect to receive answers instantly, thank you everyone, although im a bit embarrassed to find out only now(been using it for a week) that skydemon can submit flight plans to ARO
JoeMama, as u state
apron management service and the ground handling service
…
Not sure what kind of flying u intend to do. I try to do regular international trips myself, but reading the two, or either one of the words above will have me avoid subject airport like the plague. There are, luckily enough, still plenty of fields where you can just fly to without having to feed the sharks 
Now you might have different aspirations, and want to spend your hard earned dough on some of those overpriced fields playing airline… then go ahead, be their guest 
SkyDemon gave me the ability to file all my ATC flighplans for flights across EU in 23, and also to close them after arrival. Next on the wish list would be the ability to open the flightplan via SkyDemon…
Jesus, i didnt anticipate such fees for international airports
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JoeMama_the_Pilot wrote:
Jesus, i didnt anticipate such fees for international airports
And that isn’t too bad. Try Edinburgh – from £3,500 for 24 hours.
JoeMama_the_Pilot wrote:
Jesus, i didnt anticipate such fees for international airports
you ain’t seen nothing yet :)
As @boscomantico has said very correctly, the main thing for flying internationally and travelling in general is to know which airports to use. There are many ga friendly airfields and airports, many of which also are airports of entry after a fashion, and there are a growing number of larger airports which outprice GA, like the one you’ve just come across.
It would help to know where you are based and where you are interested to fly to. You will find that then lots of people will be able to give advice as to where to go and which airports to use.
VFR and small GA in particular, you have a huge choice in countries like Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria as well as in the UK and Scandinavia. South of the Alps, choices are fewer and more difficult to figure out, but still mostly feasible.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
It would help to know where you are based and where you are interested to fly to
The two main objectives im interested to achieve with international flights are:
1.Flying routes with nice and interesting scenes for my pax (family and friends) and arrive at budget touristic places because after all they are the ones that share the costs or sometimes out right pay the entire flight enabling my dream to keep going.
2.I want to experience different and interesting proceedures other countries have to offer especially when it comes to controlled airspace
Secondary objectice is to become more proefficient with planning and organizing flights,more efficient with english rtf and see in real life some of the things i have read in the manuals
