Please checkout my trip report to Lorient. (LFRH)
I deliberately made it rather technical for your nerdy pleasure.
All feedback is welcome !
Niner Mike.
Terrific trip report.
NOTAMs did not bring up anything notable. I did obtain them from two sources as previously I have had problems with the completeness of the NOTAMs provided through Rocketroute, a problem I logged with that provider and who adequately provided a solution.
Care to mention the solution? I got totally fed up with RocketRoute NOTAMs a long time ago and didn’t notice they resolved anything…
Agree about the comment on brainless UK pilots touring through Europe. It’s not really their fault though. It’s the fault of the narrow-minded instructor folk there most of which probably has never flown abroad..
We took off again, and headed VFR direct l’Aigle (LGL) VOR and contacted Rennes Approach again. They cleared me IFR to LGL climbing FL090.
A couple of times you mention departing VFR. You aware you can happily fly IFR in Golf in France? Did you really file Z?
Thanks Bosco.
They admitted mistake some months ago and told me it was corrected. I compared their NOTAMs now with those I get from Belgocontrol and they were consistent.
I didn’t use the word “brainless” ;-) and I agree with you on whose at blame. There is some money to be made for someone who is willing to take virgin UK pilots into the wild mainland and teach them how things are done here.
I filed “I” but obtained IFR clearance in the air when taking off from Laval. I didnt want to bother with getting my IFR clearance on the ground.
Thanks for sharing! One (very minor) point is a bit bizarre to me:
Jeppesen does not provide the charts for Lorient, so I got them from the free SIA France website.
My idea would be to first get the info from the official source, and only resort to secondary sources if the primary is not (freely) available, as is the case with the German VFR AIP?
With pleasure Jan.
I am standard using Jepp as my source for IFR charts. I do this for chart consistency and readability, but I admit that these are very expensive reasons :(.
As Lorient (LFRH) is military, Jepp does not provide the chart in my subscription, so I relied on SIA France as my secondary source.
I filed “I” but obtained IFR clearance in the air when taking off from Laval. I didnt want to bother with getting my IFR clearance on the ground.
It’s not a matter of getting the clearance on the ground or in the air. Before you enter controlled airspace, you can (must) fly IFR without any clearance. Of course, you can also fly VFR (if the minina exist), but since you filed I, one would expect you fly IFR all the way. Just wanted to point that out. Otherwise, as I said, I very much enjoyed that report. It clearly conveyed the fun and the utility you get out of flying. No risk of you dropping out of flying soon, it looks. 
Fantastic report – very interesting detail. Sounds like a great trip.
Why did you file through RocketRoute and not Autorouter?
@Bosco: so what I did was leggit although I didn’t realise? I did perform an IFR departure as prescribed by the Jepp chart. Airspace around Laval is indeed G.
Learning point !
@DavidC: because I paid for Rocketroute and it has a iPhone app.
I did not focus on working intensely with Autorouter yet. Does it have an app?
@bosco: no risk indeed after 14 years of flying. Writing it up for this forum and others are also part of the motivation and the fun.
Its like you can enjoy an expensive flight three times: the preparation, the trip itself and the writeup and its reactions !
