Not really GA …. but I’m currently sat on a BA 777 on stand at Heathrow headed for Bangkok. We’ve just been told that ATC have said there is a Traffic Restriction in Europe and we can expect to stay in stand for another 45 minutes.
Anyone got any guesses of what’s going on?
It’s a big sky, surely not a traffic jam? (Had enough of that on the M25 getting here!!)
Most probably a normal ATC slot, resulting in a Coordinated TakeOff Time (CTOT). They exist because at one or more points along the route an ATC sector is forecast to exceed the maximum traffic they can handle by the time you plane was projected to arrive there. This can be due to tight staffing, weather (in convective WX, when everybody asks for avoid headings, they want less airplanes in a sector), or any other reason.
This is not really about “no space left in the sky” for your plane.
It could actually be anything. Airlines like to blame any delays on “ATC” 
But they play the system, and at busy airports (probably anywhere at this time of the year, with 53.7% of the known universe trying to escape the in-laws) they are constantly right on the margin of what works.
Quite possibly it is an ATC strike which affects a particular sector which the flight passes through. One could re-route the fligh in such a case but that is dangerous because a late filing carries the risk of a departure slot (CTOT) for some other reason. In GA you can re-file with a VFR section through the region on strike but airlines are prohibited from flying VFR even though the trick is used to merely get the flight plan accepted and once you are airborne you fly same as before and if ATC ask you whether “you really want to cancel IFR??” you jus say “hmmm, no idea, must be a mistake in the system” 
Eurocontrol have a map somewhere showing which sectors have delays. Achimha knows about this stuff but he has vanished again (for the 6th time, no kidding ) and his Autorouter partner Tom vanished about a year ago. Actually both him and Achim vanished together back then…
Peter wrote:
Eurocontrol have a map somewhere showing which sectors have delays.
I believe that would be the one on the right on https://www.public.nm.eurocontrol.int/PUBPORTAL/gateway/spec/
On the left, the ones with active flow management measures. At least, that’s how I understand it.
Peter wrote:
One could re-route the fligh in such a case but that is dangerous because a late filing carries the risk of a departure slot (CTOT) for some other reason. In GA you can re-file with a VFR section through the region on strike but airlines are prohibited from flying VFR even though the trick is used to merely get the flight plan accepted and once you are airborne you fly same as before and if ATC ask you whether “you really want to cancel IFR??” you jus say “hmmm, no idea, must be a mistake in the system”
Regarding the eurocontrol map, the one with active regulations is on the right.
The one on the left is the initial network plan.
Perhaps it depends on whether you flew “VFR” as far as ATC were concerned through the region on strike. Then you broke no rules. You filed “VFR” after all…
In France you can fly VFR up to FL115 and while VFR is banned in some large region (“Paris area”??) at/above FL120, I don’t think this is all of France. IME one cannot get a departure clearance anywhere in France if one files VFR for FL120+ or asks for a climb to FL120+, short of a Mayday perhaps, but maybe filing IFR-VFR-IFR works OK if the initial IFR level was say FL160. I happen to know that this has worked in the past; what I cannot know is whether ATC treated it as an IFR flight despite the VFR section having been filed (then the fault would have been ATC’s, possibly?).
Why does France ban VFR above FL115? I have been told ages ago it was to stop 2T+ turboprops (King Airs etc) flying at FL195 and not paying the IFR route charges.
The French AIP forbids VFR at or above FL200 (ENR 1.2 § 1.2.6). I know of a NOTAM (LFFA-F1685/17) forbidding VFR above FL115 in sectors controlled by Paris.
I must admit I never requested a VFR climb above FL115 in France, so I don’t know whether one gets it in practice when not in the Paris zones.
I’ve flown VFR above 115 plenty of times in the alps. With and without FlightPlan.
Maybe it wasn’t an issue because it was still well below MSA for IFR
Over the Alps, the so called LTA is classed as airspace Echo, hence no clearance required for VFR.
lionel wrote:
I believe that would be the one on the right on https://www.public.nm.eurocontrol.int/PUBPORTAL/gateway/spec/
And “nop” command under telegram autorouter bot to get the map in the upper right corner of the above web page.
