Really need to fly high when IFR?

On a trivial trip out of the UK, say Shoreham to Le Touquet, I go Eurocontrol IFR at FL070.

Slight thread drift but what’s the reason for that Peter? Is it much simpler than flying VFR? Do you get better economy on such a short trip?

Incidentally, I think I saw you at Le Touquet. I was just arriving back at the airfield as you were starting up. I would’ve come over to say hello but you were departing.

Going for FL070-080 (say) means one can climb higher sooner, while still over land. Also there was cloud over the water and at 070 we were just above it. Justine (especially) doesn’t like being in cloud.

But the biggest reason is that if there is any “funny weather” at LFAT, you are already on an IFR clearance, and London Control hand you over to Lille automatically, and you get the ILS automatically. No need to call up Lille (which one would be doing in a bit of a rush, after having got the LFAT ATIS) and ask them for an IFR clearance – because you already have one. Being on an IFR flight plan means one is ahead of the game. On Saturday I actually got “forgotten” by Lille during vectoring (they were having a load of chat in French with somebody) and by the time they get around to me I was nearly at the runway, at 2000ft, so it would have meant vectors all the way back out over the sea again, so I asked for a visual approach (which is still a procedure under IFR).

You also get a somewhat better level of separation, which at LFAT is, ahem, always worth having on any half nice day If you arrive VFR, you get handed to the tower and they just throw you into the lion pit to sort yourself out, and some of the lions are speaking a funny language so there is no situational awareness

The standard of UK radio was absolutely appallingly atrocious, with phrases like “I will give you a buzz when…”. The controllers must go mad every weekend.

Sorry I missed you

If you arrive VFR, you get handed to the tower and they just throw you into the lion pit to sort yourself out, and some of the lions are speaking a funny language so there is no situational awareness

Yeah, I noticed that! This was my first time over the channel and I’d been told about how busy Le Touquet gets. It certainly was popular and pretty busy both on the radio and in the air. I did manage to work out what a couple of French-speakers were doing from my limited, schoolboy understanding of French. But it was somewhat less ‘controlled’ and a bit more of a free-for-all than I was expecting. However, it is class D and the controller treated it exactly as such – not the ‘class-A-like’ class D that we have in the UK

The standard of UK radio was absolutely appallingly atrocious

That’s interesting. Others have said the same thing (e.g. on Flyer). However, in the short time I was in their airspace, I found the RT to be pretty succinct. I didn’t have a chance to say all that much it was so busy. I was expecting the usual ‘who you are, where you are, what you want’ exchange but no sooner had I introduced myself (“Le Touquet Tower good morning, G-ABCD inbound”) I was told to “report November Alpha”. I was pretty surprised as how short all the RT was and it seemed to me like most other people were doing the same. I guess it depends on who’s in the air when you arrive.

Maybe catch you next time.

IMHO, the best time to fly to Le Touquet at weekends is as early in the day as possible. I try to land before 10am UK time. That beats most of the crowd. Getting back out may be busy but is relatively easy.

(“Le Touquet Tower good morning, G-ABCD inbound”) I was told to “report November Alpha”. I was pretty surprised as how short all the RT was and it seemed to me like most other people were doing the same. I guess it depends on who’s in the air when you arrive.

Welcome to “normal pratice” in most civilized countries. And it makes perfect sense… L2K has a) your flightplan and b) radar (plus nowadays most aircraft have Mode-S). There is really no need for more “UK style life stories” over the radio…