In The Netherlands, Dutch Mil is giving Flight Information Services to VFR traffic.
Lately they have a habit to just issue a NOTAM that they’re not giving FIS to GA traffic.
This might be because they’re Military and low on staffing / budget.
Can they just do that?
ICAO requires member states to provide FIS. However, ICAO rules are not legally binding anywhere.
Is there no civil FIS in Holland? I know that Belgium has a dual redundant FIS with Belgacontrol and the Belgium military providing the very same service in competition. A total waste of resources I’d say…
In Germany the military only provide FIS in small parts of the country, around their large military airports, in their own interest. One example is Ingolstadt/Lechfeld. Outside military working hours (i.e. after 2pm on a Friday), it goes back to DFS. When FIS ceases operation in Germany (after SS), the frequencies get turned over to ATC who then provide FIS. 80% of the FIS workload in Germany comes from Ryanair who are too cheap to purchase in flight satellite weather and use FIS to download the whole weather database of Europe over radio..
I can imagine if an accident happened where the non-availability of FIS was a factor, this practise in Holland would get quite some scrutiny.
achimha wrote:
the frequencies get turned over to ATC who then provide FIS
There’s usually a recording on the FIS frequency which tells you which ATC frequency to tune to. Usually ATC does not know about this and is, er, reluctant to provide service and requires, er, some convincing.
One needs to insist especially as Germany requires a clearance for NVFR that sounds a lot like an IFR clearance (did this change with SERA?)
Yes, you don’t need a specific clearance for VFR night in classes E and G any more. 
lenthamen wrote:
Can they just do that?
One has to wonder. I remember one incident some 10-15 years ago, I was on a work trip going back from Oslo (by airline). When in the air, the captain said the trip would take longer than usual because we had to fly a detour over Sweden because the ATC had a “sit down campaign” with greatly reduced capacity.
achimha wrote:
Is there no civil FIS in Holland?
There is, but only in a relatively small part in the west of the country, where Amsterdam Info provides FIS. As mentioned in the NOTAM they are not authorized to provide any service outside their area of responsibility.
lenthamen wrote:
In The Netherlands, Dutch Mil is giving Flight Information Services to VFR traffic.
Lately they have a habit to just issue a NOTAM that they’re not giving FIS to GA traffic.
This might be because they’re Military and low on staffing / budget.
This was very common in Germany in the 80-90s because of staffing problems.
French FIS used to close huge chunks of itself at weekends, when I used to fly there VFR 2003-2005.
I have also seen it in Greece… once I flew from a small airfield (Messalongi) to Corfu, about 2hrs, without anybody knowing who I was
achimha wrote:
Is there no civil FIS in Holland?
There is Amsterdam Information which handles the airspace below the Schiphol TMAs.
And there is Dutchmil which handles the rest of the country. There is no redundancy.
NL has a complex airspace layout. Not always having FIS is a potential risk.
I’d say this is a perfect case for AOPA NL…
Tried it with Bremen Info.
When reaching the coast north of Rostock I couldn’t reach Bremen Info – eventhough I was shifted to them by Copenhagen Information.
After trying several times over a period I finally called Laage. They came back and told me that this sector was not manned today because of lack of staff at Bremen Info. No Notam no nothing….
Don’t know if it’s me or I’m spoiled flying mostly in Denmark and Sweden but I’m not so impressed with Bremen Info.
