US pilot moving to London

derek wrote:

It used to be possible to fly non-commercial, day VFR in a G-reg aircraft in UK airspace with any ICAO licence and without any extra paperwork. I used to carry around a letter from the CAA stating exactly that. There was a type of general validation allowing this. It isn’t clear to me if this still exists

It only exists for Annex-1 (non part-21) aircraft in terms of “no paperwork needed”. See the latest ANO (issued 2016), which renders valid any ICAO license and radio license for non commercial operations in non part 21 aircraft. See part 6 chapter 1 article 150. The most recent ANO is here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/765/contents/made

That is not the most recent version of the ANO, which can instead be found in CAP2038A00.

Ibra wrote:

Yes quadrantal went away and replaced with semi-circular to be aligned with SERA but legally speaking, they are no quadrantal rules and no semi-circular rules for VFR OCAS in UK

Actually there is no legal requirement to set 1013 for VFR OCAS (you can stay on QNH and fly any altitude up to FL195), there is no legal requirement to give or set aerodrome QNH and with lack of ATS services OCAS one has to come up with his own transition altitude and calculate own transition level, this is ignoring the load of people flying VFR on QFE or RPS…

There most definitely is such a requirement in SERA. Not even in AMC, but in hard law. I don’t know if the UK has changed this, of course.

SERA.5005(g) states that – unless otherwise specified by the national authority – uncontrolled VFR above 3000 ft AGL shall fly at semicircular altitudes. And to be able to to that, you have to set QNH or 1013, as appropriate.

Have you figured out what you’ll be doing to get in the air down there?

I brought my TR182 over with me – the full story is here: http://n5296s.blogspot.com/2021/09/moving-my-plane-and-its-pilot-to-france.html

From June onwards I will also need a French PPL, which I am working on. In theory it’s straightforward, but the process is brand new so I am failing in my general life objective of “never fly anything with paint on the rudder pedals”. It’s useful to have anyway so I can fly club planes when for whatever reason that is useful (e.g. when away from home).

Millibars/inches is easy if you are flying a “local” plane. For my N-reg plane, I have a conversion table taped to my kneeboard. Ditto litres/gallons. In theory you can ask for altimeter settings in inches though I’ve never tried.

There most definitely is such a requirement in SERA. Not even in AMC, but in hard law. I don’t know if the UK has changed this, of course.

Yes it changed, UK had another law on top of SERA5005g for VFR OCAS without ATS, I don’t recall the reference to the legal text behind it but it’s all listed in AIP ENR1.7, ALTIMETER SETTING PROCEDURES

Reading ENR1.7 for US pilot would be rough and confusing, like having to ACK QNH by saying “changing to 992 hector-pascal” as per Cap413 to avoid confusing with “changing “2”9.92 Hg”

Ibra wrote:

I don’t recall the reference to the legal text

List of Official Record Series 4—Miscellaneous.
ORS4 No. 1423, published 03 Sep 2020.

the CAA licensing department is very, very, very slow and, in my experience, many of the employees do not have sufficient training and either can’t answer your question, pretend to answer with a non-answer, or ignore you.

That’s been the case for 10-15 years – long before CV19 or brexit. Basically the CAA has lost direction when it comes to top management, and once that layer goes, everybody below will be recruited for a similar level of incompetence. And EASA took over a lot of CAA functions, and offered nice money to Brits willing to leave the UK.

It only exists for Annex-1 (non part-21) aircraft in terms of “no paperwork needed”

See here

Sounds like for a certified G-reg you need to get a validation, but it is possible. The “automatic validation” route exists only for uncertified. I hope I got that right

Actually there is no legal requirement to set 1013 for VFR OCAS

There is no legal requirement to set anything on the altimeter.

If flying under CAS whose base is an altitude, you set the QNH assinged by ATC, or that of a nearby airport, ideally of the airport whose ATC owns that CAS. This is probably the same in the US.

If flying under CAS whose base is a FL, you set 1013. This is is the case in the US too but only above 17999ft. The CAA enforcement chief does not agree with setting 1013 and he confirmed it to me on the phone, hence the “correct” answer in their own infringement exam is that you set a calculated QNH in this case

Here’s what you need to know on the back of a napkin:

1. Pattern = circuit
2. No 45 degree downwind joins – they want you to do overhead joins most of the time (it varies).
3. Transition Level is not 18000ft, it is whatever the random fancy is for that day and place, often around 5000ft.
4. Many airfields have a guy who speaks to you as a controller in tower, but he isn’t actually. It’s a FIS service. He’ll say things like: “You’re number one for landing” or “No other known traffic” = cleared to land.
5. PPR. They looooooove PPR and get very excited if you haven’t called in before for even the most deserted and random small airfields.
6. You can fly IFR in G uncontrolled space without talking to anyone. So watch out.
7. Flight following = Basic service. But be aware that the UK radar service is not a “hey, let’s keep this guy from flying into other aircraft”-service, it’s more a we-might-tell-you-you’re-about-to-crash-into-someone-else-if-we-have-the-time-service. To get real radar service you should ask for Deconfliction Service, which, they will proceed to never give you due to “high workload”.
8. They’ll change your squawk number about 34 times on a 50nm trip. Every new controller gives you a new squawk. There is no coordination with previous controller.
9. Controllers are very separatist with VFR vs IFR and don’t want to deal with VFR traffic – they make it very clear they’re there to serve the professionals who pay IFR fees, not you. You come last.

Sorry if I sound flippant. I love the country and people, but after having flown in the US for over a decade, a lot of things are very backwards and unnecessarily complicated in flying there.

I wish you weren’t so accurate 🙂

flyingmatt wrote:

I am moving from the US to the UK this summer.

USA is Nirvana compared to the UK for GA, however here is a suggestion

Contact Dan Lassiter who runs this flying club – they have a large for hire fleet at https://www.eglk.co.uk/

I am aware that Dan knows dual qualified examiners, instructors who may be able to help you with the transition

btw You will find the $ to £ prices in the UK dont follow the exchange rate, you may find it is more like 1:1 or worse for GA !

Good luck with your flying in the UK.