Dear forum,
I read along EuroGA for some time and it is now my turn to ask a question by myself. It is about flying from Germany to Poland and the type of airport I am allowed to fly to. According to another thread it is allowed to fly intra-Schengen to any airport within Poland, but if I take a look at the AIP VFR of Poland it reads in VFR ENR 1.2-5:
Civil aircraft carrying out international VFR flights are not permitted to land at any aerodrome not listed in point 6, except for cases of emergency making safe and conforming to the regulations flight continuation impossible or when a special landing clearance has been obtained.
Point 6 then lists:
LIST OF AERODROMES AVAILABLE FOR INTERNATIONAL VFR FLIGHTS:
bq. 1) EPBY – BYDGOSZCZ/Szwederowo
bq. 2) EPGD – GDAŃSK im. Lecha Wałęsy
bq. 3) EPJG – JELENIA GÓRA
bq. 4) EPKT – KATOWICE/Pyrzowice
bq. 5) EPKA – MASŁÓW k/Kielc
bq. 6) EPKK – KRAKÓW/Balice
bq. 7) EPLL – ŁÓDŹ/Lublinek
bq. 8) EPML – MIELECbq.
bq. 9) EPMO – WARSZAWA/Modlin
bq. 10) EPPO – POZNAŃ/Ławica
bq. 11) EPRZ – RZESZÓW/Jasionka
bq. 12) EPSC – SZCZECIN/Goleniów
bq. 13) EPSY – MAZURYbq.
bq. 14) EPSW -ŚWIDNIK k/Lublina
bq. 15) EPWA – Chopina w Warszawie
bq. 16) EPWR – WROCŁAW/Strachowice
bq. 17) EPZG – ZIELONA GÓRA/Babimost
bq. 18) EPZP – PRZYLEP k/Zielonej Góry
So to make the statement in the other thread true, is
1) an inner Schengen flight not international?
2) there any other exemption, I am overlooking?
3) the rule changed since the postings (2013)?
And would it be legal to fly to EPKG without a stop at any of the 18 listed airports?
Best regards,
Tobi
That is indeed a confusing topic. Especially at this moment.
In pratice, it was as you said, i.e. EU/Schengen-internal flights could be operated to or from any airfield. For example, I flew EDHL-EPKE last summer.
This doesn’t mean it was strictly legal, because as you said, AIP VFR ENR 1.2-6 said and still says that international flights (of which the definition is clear) may only fly to or from those 18 airfields. Denmark is a similar situation, where theory (AIP entry) and practice are different.
In fact, compliance with that rule for Poland is mostly unenforceable, because for many flights, a flightplan is no longer manadatory.
Then, in July, Poland had a NOTAM (C365/16) which changed the practice somewhat, i.e. people who did file a flightplan, and indicated an airfield different from those in the list, had their flightplans suspended.
That NOTAM, AFAICS, has not been renewed. So, probably, we are now back to the situation before July, i.e. even if you file a flightplan, it will work. But not sure.
I did this a couple of weeks ago, my experiences and other people’s responses are here:
http://www.euroga.org/forums/trips-airports/6507-egtc-cranfield-to-epop-opole
and here
http://www.euroga.org/forums/flying/6438-crossing-borders-within-schengen-zone?page=8
That’s interesting.
You can see Polish version on the left, which uses “to/from a country not being part of Schengen group” being translated as “international” on the right.
Seems again like we simply worry too much 
And yes, you can fly to EPKG from any airfield in Germany and you don’t need a flight plan as long as you stay in uncontrolled airspace.
We had NATO summit this year and some other catholic event which caused border control and some no-fly zones. They’re over now, so all should be back to normal. Recently one Russian aerobatic pilot was flying to compete in Radom and touched a catholic no-fly zone. He got to meet two F-16s, so I advise to stay in touch with FIS. They’ll tell you if you’re about to fly somewhere that you shouldn’t.
Confirm. On my IFR flight back from EPPO (Poznan) to the munich area ATC had me do a pretty long detour around some active military training zones, and only after I requested a “back on course to destination” several times I got a course to destination. All in all my feeling was that ATC in Poland is less relaxed than in the Czech Republic where I fly regularly.
Thank you all for the quick and helpful replies!
loco wrote:
You can see Polish version on the left, which uses “to/from a country not being part of Schengen group” being translated as “international” on the right.
Well a typical case of lost in translation, thanks for this heads up, next time I will definitely try Google Translator up front. It’s the same with the german AIP sometimes, when I compare the german and english version, I see those small differences as well. So the answer is something betwen 1) and 2) ;-)
europaxs wrote:
Seems again like we simply worry too much
Sorry, might be obvious, but I am German. 
I just received answer to an e-mail I sent to the polish AIS and they are amending the section with AIRAC 13 OCT 2016. Meanwhile a NOTAM reads:
C3895/16
From 04 Aug 2016 10:37 until PERM
UPDATE INFORMATION, AIP VFR ENR 1.2 POINT 3 INTERNATIONAL VFR FLIGHTS, ITEM 3.1: READ: CIVIL AIRCRAFT CARRYING OUT INTERNATIONAL VFR FLIGHTS FROM/TO A NON SCHENGEN COUNTRY ARE NOT PERMITTED TO LAND AT ANY AERODROME NOT LISTED IN POINT 6, EXCEPT FOR CASES OF EMERGENCY MAKING SAFE AND CONFORMING TO THE REGULATIONS FLIGHT CONTINUATION IMPOSSIBLE OR WHEN A SPECIAL LANDING CLEARANCE HAS BEEN OBTAINED.
Happy VFR flights to Poland from within Schengen!
