Night VFR in UK is Exempt Charges
Carole Jarratt of NATS Routes Charges has written to me:
Dear Mr Nathan
If any aircraft flies at night under VFR flight rules, they are now exempt from route charges. This change came in on the 17th sep, / CAA ORS4 No. 930 Choice of Visual Flight Rules or Instrument Flight Rules Publications About the CAA.htm
Please refer to this documentation for any further information.
Over 5.7 metric tonnes is still liable for charging whether ifr or VFR. At any time during day / night hours,
If anyone has a claim on flights from the 17th sep, please contact eurocontrol and this will be dealt with accordingly.
Any further information regarding any legal matters can you refer to the CAA
Kind regards Carole.
Good!
boscomantico,
This ruling only applies to the UK. Other states (as we say in the UK) may vary!
Sorry for a dim question - I'm a UK PPL(A) VFR flyer only, but with a night rating
What are (were) 'route charges'? I am unaware of them . . .
Previously all night flight in the UK had to be flown IFR and IFR flights > 2T is subject to route charges.
Now > 2T can fly VFR and they do not have to talk to anybody anymore. Therefore it makes sense that they should not be charged.
"Previously, all night flight in the UK had to be flown IFR"
Really?
I've actually only flown at night under the the night rating training syllabus, and (at least for the solo element of that training, that) I'm sure they did not require any IFR rating or mention a requirement for an IFR rating . . .
@Timothy: Of course this news is only a UK thing. And even though I don't fly >2to.<5.7to., I am nevertheless satisfied for those concerned.
Now > 2T can fly VFR and they do not have to talk to anybody anymore. Therefore it makes sense that they should not be charged.
It's important to realise that the > 1999kg IFR route charges never had anything to do with the pilot receiving any kind of service.
Had you flown a say 3T aircraft from one licensed airfield to another, during sunset+30mins to sunrise-30mins, Class G, speaking to nobody, you would have got an invoice, for the great-circle distance between the two airfields. (Unlicensed airfields are not obliged to report movements, so if no flight plan was filed, they would have never known).
The charges are levied by each airspace owner, and Eurocontrol collects them on behalf of European countries (and some others e.g. Egypt) and passes them on, minus a commission. They are often called "Eurocontrol charges" but actually some 99% goes to each airspace owner. Every country in the world does this AFAIK, so a 747 flying from Gatwick to Cape Town gets a bill from France, Italy, Libya, etc (my geography runs out where I haven't flown myself) all the way through Africa.
I've actually only flown at night under the the night rating training syllabus, and (at least for the solo element of that training, that) I'm sure they did not require any IFR rating or mention a requirement for an IFR rating . . .
That works because in the UK, the holder of a UK issued JAR-FCL PPL, is allowed to fly "IFR" provided the actual weather conditions are good enough for VFR flight.
I don't know the history of this bizzarely contrived provision but it might have been done to facilitate night flight by non instrument rated (IR or IMCR) pilots, once the decision was made (and I have no idea why that decision was made) to make night=IFR.
dim question time. why doesn't this apply euro wide?
why doesn't this apply euro wide?
Why doesn't what apply Euro-wide?
