sorry why is it now free in the UK and not every member state
That works because in the UK, the holder of a UK issued JAR-FCL PPL, is allowed to fly "IFR" provided the actual weather conditions are good enough for VFR flight.
To be clear a holder of a UK issued JAR-FCL PPL WAS allowed to fliy IFR....not IS. This changed recently, hence the need to allow VFR at night in the UK.
sorry why is it now free in the UK and not every member state
As Peter explained each country decides what they charge for. Then Eurocontrol collects it on their behalf. The UK has now decided that they will not collect for VFR at night <5MT.
Other countries may not have been collecting for this anyway, or they may have been and haven't changed their mind. This only affects the UK, because only the UK has changed their mind.
I hope that helps to explain it!
That works because in the UK, the holder of a UK issued JAR-FCL PPL, is allowed to fly "IFR" provided the actual weather conditions are good enough for VFR.
Let's face it though the UK is a strange place when it comes to IFR ...
Obviously I am aware that these apply to aircraft over 2,000kgs on IFR flight plans.
I never see the bills for the aircraft that I fly (they go straight to the owners). Does anyone know how they are calculated?
This is Eurocontrols user guide on how the charges are calculated. There is an example at the end of the text!
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I’ve been living in the U.S. for the last year and am considering returning to a Europe, despite the superior weather in southern California and the U.S. being so GA friendly…
When I was flying in Europe in the past, it was in my DA40, which was well below the 2000kg limit which I understand to cause the fees to kick in on IFR flights. Today I’m flying a Baron 58 I recently picked up. If I move it to Europe it is a fast but heavy plane so I’m going to be over the limit. I’ve been researching the actual cost of these fees and have so far come across a large executable file which will allow me to calculate the estimated charges and a formula which brings me back to university calculus lessons (but essentially seems to explain the methodological framework for the charges and doesn’t provide an answer…).
Anyone have some rough estimates or explanation for how these charges work? My MTOW is 5400lbs
I know flying is going to be much more expensive in Europe but I’ve grown quite fond of my Baron.
Nevermind, I seem to have found the document which outlines the calculation. It looks like, e.g., Fairoaks (EGTF) to Cannes (LFMD) would be around 155 euros.
MTOW of 5400lbs is 2.45 metric tons, this divided by 50 is 0.049, the square root of this is 0.221, which gives is the weight factor.
The distance for the trip is 75 nm in the UK and 434 nm in France, which are 138.9 km and 803.8 km. These would be divided by 100 to get the distance factors, then multiplied by the current rates in euros of 98.9 for the UK and 70.11 for France.
So multplying the weight by the distance factors would give you 30.4 euros and 124.5 euros = 154.9 euros for the trip. If I’m calculating this correctly…
So annoying but not obscenely expensive… Shame about that extra 0.45 metric tons, but I guess that comes with the ability to fly with 194 gallons of useable fuel and a bit of stuff in addition to a pilot or less fuel and a bunch of useful load.
You will find that you’re pretty much alone with a Baron in Europe. The combination of being more than 2t and burning obscene amounts of expensive and partially hard to get avgas make it a difficult plane to operate here. These kind of aircraft were largely replaced by SETs in Europe.
I guess the DA42 doesn’t look so bad now, ’eh Patrick? 
EUR310 in nav fees for a UK-Cannes roundtrip in a six seat Baron does sound a bit high, though – I wonder if something’s missing in the calculation…
You get a bit free at the beginning and end of the flight, but unfortunately it doesn’t change it much.
