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Eurocontrol IFR departure from an untowered field

This one comes up regularly and I wonder what thoughts people have on it.

The whole business of departing "untowered" and hoping to collect an IFR clearance when airborne is fraught with problems.

A number of instrument rated pilots have been killed during this phase of flight (waiting for an IFR clearance) and that is just counting the ones I know about because e.g. they were based at my airport or I knew them otherwise. Even "smart people" have bit the dust doing "stuff I would never do" in these cases.

I am not talking "legal" (nobody can see you anyway, except I understand in Germany where a departure straight into IMC may be reported) but practical and safe.

"Obviously" the one thing you cannot do is enter CAS (but see below).

It's not so bad in the south of the UK, with 5500ft CAS base, and going east/west, where you have some 5-10 minutes of leisurely climb anyway to play with, before the autopilot levels you off at the preset 5400ft and with luck you won't be stuck in icing conditions wondering when the hell that handover from London Info to London Control will come so you can climb up above it.

And if heading for France, the chances are you will be in French airspace before they do it... and you can climb to FL074 anyway.

But if departing to the north, you can be stuck at 2400/3400ft etc for maybe 50nm before you get a climb.

However, abroad, I recall such departures when nobody could be raised on the radio. Following one Sunday departure from St Yan, I had to hack around OCAS for ~100nm before I could raise somebody on the radio. In another case in Greece, departing a private field, I did not raise anybody for longer than that (and they lost the flight plan anyway).

In terrain / icing conditions this could be a real hazard. In the Greek case, the vis was about 1000m in haze (IMC really); I was running a moving map GPS showing the ONC topo chart but how many pilots will have that, and Greece does not publish VFR charts (or any charts showing CAS). There was terrain to ~5000ft there.

I wonder if one is entitled to set 7600 and proceed. After all, Eurocontrol have the flight plan, ACK'ed, and already distributed enroute. What you haven't got is the special squawk.

It's quite subtle. The question really is whether the ICAO "lost comms" procedure for IFR is available only after an initial contact with ATC. I don't recall seeing such a restriction on it.

One could argue that your flight cannot possibly be "IFR" until you have received an IFR clearance. That is clearly bogus in the UK, or anywhere else where IFR in Class G is legal.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Why don't you file a Z flight plan? Then you request a pickup once you can establish radio communication with ATC. They have to accept you. That's what we do in Germany but of course we always stay in VMC until we are told "IFR starts now". I have never seen anybody violate this rule and I have never even thought about violating it myself

If you just depart without flight plan and then suddenly pop up, ATC might not have the time to collect your data and generate a flight plan for you, esp. UK ATC which appear to be understaffed.

nobody can see you anyway, except I understand in Germany where a departure straight into IMC may be reported

If you depart VFR in OVC001 with a nearby METAR station, then it's hard to argue against an observer on the ground that reports you. However, in all other cases one can benefit from the fact that several cloud layers look like a single cloud layer from down below so you can always say "between the layers" and while in airspace G, all you have to do is stay clear of clouds (no minimum distance).

I was running a moving map GPS showing the ONC topo chart but how many pilots will have that, and Greece does not publish VFR charts (or any charts showing CAS). There was terrain to ~5000ft there.

Hmm? Every cheapo GPS has terrain data these days. My Garmin 695 nicely depicts elevation on course in a vertical view and I have it configured to always show the MSA. Staying clear of terrain is a piece of cake these days, CFITs are practically impossible.

Here in the Netherlands, you can fly VFR in G-airspace below 1500 feet with no separation distance from the clouds, but you have to stay in contact with the ground (ground in sight). Above 1500 feet in G-airspace and flying VFR you need more cloud separation. As for flying IFR in G-airspace, this is allowed and in the Netherlands you need to file a flightplan (see AIP Netherlands) but will not receive a clearance as you are not in CAS.

Now, how about departing from a VFR field which is in G-airspace with CAS (E-airspace) at 1500 feet and you want to depart IFR (no Zulu/Y stuff). Then you need 2-sided radio communication to be possible and a squawk. What are the legal hinderances for departing 0/0 from the VFR field directly IFR? In G-airspace you don't need a clearance, so there is no hindrance for that. You could get the clearance maybe on the ground for entering CAS, but this allows you to depart with low vis legally. You would be responsible for your own terrain/obstacle clearance until you are in CAS.

EDLE, Netherlands

Here in The Netherlands you file a Z flight plan, and then, before departing, call a number on your mobile to get the IFR Clearance. They will give you a clearance like: Cleared to destination Le Touquet. Squawk 7012. Climb to altitude 1500 or below on qnh 1002. Remain VFR. After Departure Contact Schiphol Approach on 119.05. Schiphol Approach will then identify you and open IFR.

I do agree that the period between departure and IFR opening is dangerous, especially with low cloudbase/bad visibility...

then, before departing, call a number on your mobile to get the IFR Clearance

That's really interesting.

This can't be done in the UK. There is obviously a phone # for London Control (every "tower" has it, or can get it if they want to) but I have never seen it published.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

BTW, SERA is supposed to address all of this and make it uniform among all EASA member states.

Calling the number to get the clearance is not the issue. You can do this here in the Netherlands, but also in France when departing at night from any airfield where there is nobody there but where there is pilot controlled lights such as at Lyon-Bron, Reims-Prunay or Le Havre. You indeed get the clearance and can go. In France, you just depart IFR as the fields are IFR fields.

The issue is with the VFR departure. In case the conditions are IMC you cannot legally do so, but I think you could depart IFR from an uncontrolled field in G-airspace with the clearance (received by phone) to enter CAS as long as you have 2-sided radio communication going.

Is there anyone familiar with this?

EDLE, Netherlands

Why not fly VFR to a "controlled" airport, enter CTR VFR, request low approach und start IFR with a standart depature or what ever (Tower) they won´t. You only need a IFR flight plan from the controlled airfield. Then you are in the system and everything goes the way?

EDAZ

Why not fly VFR to a "controlled" airport, enter CTR VFR, request low approach und start IFR with a standart depature or what ever (Tower) they won´t.

What's the sense of doing that? Once you are airborne, a FIS Service can give you the IFR clearance and pass you to a Radar Controller, who will open your IFR plan.

The whole point is that you want to be IFR ASAP after takeoff, especially if the conditions are minimal, like cloudbase at 500ft AGL. People have flown into terrain while waiting for their IFR clearance...

What's the sense of doing that? Once you are airborne, a FIS Service can give you the IFR clearance and pass you to a Radar Controller, who will open your IFR plan.

At least in Germany, they only do that starting at the Minimum Radar Vectoring Altitude (MRVA) telling you something like "IFR starts when passing 5000 feet, remain VMC until passing". Of course everybody complies...

Terminal areas don't have the MRVA problem.

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