How do you know who you should talk to, practical what frequency to put in box for flying VFR in FL100-FL250 sectors?
One can get an answer if flying IFR at +FL100 with ATC handovers but the answer while going VFR is not very obvious, unless one loves AIP digging, asking “low level FIS/ATC out of the blue for higher climbs” is the wrong place to start (it would work if you turn up at sector corner VFR at FL100-FL250 or if you ask to cancel IFR there before looking for nearest sector exit, once you are high VFR, it’s “like IFR”, so it’s mostly about climbing)
@Predator well it depends on if you get your VFR flight in these altitudes granted. This may depend on the mood of the person you’re talking to. So in general when speaking professionally and gently I got all my approvals so far.
In Germany There is airspace C all over FL100 ( except in the alpine area where it is FL130). I have filed quite some outbound flights between FL100 and FL160 VFR and all have been accepted. Even in microlight aircraft. The good thing about it is that once you’re above you get treated practically like an IFR flight, and if you stay high can proceed until destination.
There are exceptions where you get actively dropped, like that huge Paris FIR. But you can climb again thereafter.
I haven’t had any bad experiences filing and flying VFR so far. To the contrary it’s so much more hassle free if you plan long legs…what is annoying is that you cannot rely on this and always need a “plan B”.
Since a few years VFR is only allowed up to FL195. You can not file flight plans any higher in Eurocontrol land and I recently tried to cancel IFR above FL200 in Italian airspace and they told me I have to descent IFR below FL195 first. Besides that you can fly VFR that high I recently did a VFR flight LFLJ to LSZS about FL180 no problem. I did so as no IFR routing was available but you have to be able to fly IFR. It is a long way down, a lot of weather can be in your way and they will expect you to fly to IFR waypoints and do the radio as if you are IFR.
Maybe lot of it is highly country dependent? for France/UK asking sector FIS to climb VFR above FL115/FL195 is highly unlikely to work
I flew in UK with a friend (he used to post here), we were both rated to fly his aircraft and tried dozens of climbs & descents 8kft-22kft to test flying without oxygen bottles, VFR clearance was rejected but we were offered to do the same flight under IFR in Class C
In 10kft-20kft you will be given GPS waypoints & VOR intersections to fly rather than VRP, if the formers are not in the “VFR request” then it’s highly likely to get denied, I am not sure if adding “IFR equipped helps”?
@Ibra In fact I did it in France (for a flight planned route) and it worked out just like in Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Croatia, …
However, My flight plans are practically identical to IFR plans and I am able to speak on the radio like IFR (which, honestly, is far less effort than requesting all this VFR 
)
A question to thread starter: why don’t you do the IR?
Airborne_Again wrote:
So what the AIP says is that you can’t get such authorisation above FL290.
Yes, as I quoted above 
Sebastian_G wrote:
You can not file flight plans any higher in Eurocontrol land
You don’t need to file with alt or FL when filing a VFR FP. You can simply write “VFR” in the alt. However, going this high as we discuss here one will enter CAS, so you need clearance, and this is best done up front.
An IR is simply hard work. I bought my plane in 2002 and didn’t manage to get the IR until 2006, and I used the FAA route which back then was much better defined. The CB IR has made things a little easier but not much. For many people, especially those who have been out of the education pipeline for decades (basically, almost everybody with money ) the exams are a lot of work. So high altitude VFR touring does have a definite application in Europe.
You just need to be a fairly “clever” pilot to use it, not least because a lot of the time you will be flying above an overcast so you need to get down a) safely and b) without doing anything obviously illegal. So it works best for flying to coastal airports; I would not use it to fly to say Zell am See unless you check the webcams before departure to make sure it really is going to be clear skies (and to be honest most IR holders will do that too since the instrument approaches to these places are pretty risky).
You need a high performance plane to do this; I made a good choice in the TB20 which can get to about FL200 (on a good cold day).
The biggest stopper is airspace class: Class A. And the French VFR ban above FL115. But this will depend on where you fly.
In Germany it is quite simple: Not only as already indicated with proper flight plan, etc., but in almost all cases it also works spontaneously when requesting at FIS to go at FL115. Very handy to avoid gliders on good summer days.
Countries with Class A tend to make higher VFR flying in 20kft Charlie or 10kft Delta above it very tough, this is the case for UK, France, Italy, Spain…if anyone got luck with VFR above London, Paris, Milan, Madrid in 12kft or 20kft, I am all ears
PS: I flew N-reg VFR for years as I don’t have FAA IR (need to convert my EASA IR), I always aimed to be VFR on top and muddle though clearances, it always work as long as you plan to have VFR/SVFR on departure & arrival, it’s not a walk in the park for CAS clearances and s**t can happen weather wise: one should have no issues flying ILS/GPS to threshold down to their minima or stay wing level above their MSA, it will not work in Switzerland/Norway due to topography but it always work if you go south near the coasts as weather gets better and better, also 1000nm range is ideal with careful airspace planning and calm nerves when it comes to changing headings & altitudes, as long as you expect to keep VMC along your route everything is done with 20deg AoB & +/-500fpm VSI
