Hi,
I’m planning a family VFR flight from continental Spain (Trebujena: LETJ) to Canary Islands (Lanzarote: GCRR) in a Cirrus SR22. I have checked docs and maps about Moroccan VFR flying and I am aware of the VFR mandatory tunnels, but I wonder if anyone has flown VFR keeping distance from the coast never entering the 12 nm national waters. This route means saving more than 30 mins in the trip and being free from any unexpected request by Moroccan ATC. (I don’t want to land in Morocco, not even for refueling, at least in this trip)
Anybody has experience or advice on this?
I wonder if anyone has flown VFR keeping distance from the coast never entering the 12 nm national waters
You may need to stay 60nm-120nm away to remain outside of Casablanca CTA (like terbang routing), I would not go that far from the coast for 600nm to save 30min of fuel, even if the water is very warm for ditching 
@Ibra
bq. You need to stay 60nm-120nm actually to remain outside airspace (like terbang routing)
I would not go that far from the coast to save 30min of fuel
This is not accurate. In MO, G airspace in water is up to FL195. (except CTAs&CTRs).
You can fly in G airspace most of the time overwater but pay attention to TFR and NOTAMS. If the King is flying they close most of the national airspace for VFR and Non-scheduled commercial flights.
Yes, the only issue I see is Casablanca CTA, class D, where I need to steer a bit to the west. BTW, there is a circle NOTAM for Missigle, Gun or Rocket Firing until 21 March (!!)
So… to recap… as long as I stay in class Golf over the Water I shouldn’t have any problems, right? (Of course, having His Majesty not flying that day)
My understanding VFR has to fly those mandatory VFR routes even in Golf
If you “just” fly 12nm along coastline, Casablanca ATC will stick you to one of VFR routes, the principal is that “VFR routes” are always available and keep one away from NOTAMS/TRA (let’s pretend this logic works), ATC also check routes when they mannually “validate VFR FPL”
If you stay very far away from Casablanca CTA, say 120nm, I am sure you can fly as you wish (a bit like terbang direct routing)
VFR routes are published in AIP and they are visible in SkyDemon
@icordoba: I am currently in Morroco for some VFR-flying. You will be surprised as to how easy it is. Flying/ATC-wise it is basically a non-event. Also, they all speak very good English. The situation is somewhat different on ground, where you better have someone with French language capabilities.
Thanks Ibra,
how sure are you that this is how actually works? that is actually my concern. If is that way you suggest, I then must forget about going over the water and enter the land and go throught the VFR routes (no technical problem with that. I have checked AIP and they are pretty clear. In fact that would make the flight less boring as not just seeing water all the time… but more than 30 mins longer.) Note I don’t want to stop in Morocco as I want to do LETJ → GCRR in one leg. It will be 4 of us onboard, 2 kids, so a 4:45 minutes flying maybe too much, specially if I can save that time and bring it down to 4 hours.
Marcel, thanks for the note. I speak French and I have been in morocco 6 o 7 times in the past (never flying though) so I won’t have any problems, even if we would need to stop… but this time I want to do direct to Lanzarote.
how sure are you that this is how actually works?
Just like uncontrolled IFR routing that was posted above, ATC are not too fussy about routings over water as long as you watch for any restrictions (it’s over land and cities where things are more strict in terms of routes)
In any case, VFR or IFR, controlled or not, flight plan route will be mannually validated, so you know what to expect you can also call TWR or ARO to discuss flight plan routing before filing
How high you will be flying?
My flight plan will be Spain → Spain… will Moroccan Operations Office validate it? Of course I would just enter the VFR paths if having a destination in Morocco but given I am flying to GCRR I prefer to make the trip shorter while keeping some safety distance to land…
I have not decided the height yet. As I will be using the O2 concentrators so we may go up to 16000… probably not higher than that. This gives me more peace of mind in case I have some engine problem to glide very close to the coast or inside it before pulling out the chute.
I am also considering a mixed approach. They seem to be specially strict in the Casablanca CTA… so maybe flying over the water leaving Casablanca TMA to the east and enter the VFR tunnel reporting points in El Jadida (west of Casablanca TMA). I would then head to Canary Islands in in Essaouira
In the heavy PDF vectorized document publicshed by the Service de Information Aeronautique of Morocco they clearyly differenciate the routes inside the TMA, which have compulsory radio contact (dotted lines), and the rest, which are marked only as Recommended paths (lines):
