Not the longest, but I was surprised today by how quickly it came. On climb out from Groningen I got a “cleared direct to destination (EKRK), so 240nm or so, but I had only just passed 2000 ft and was still on the SID.
It was BTW followed by a warning not to be concerned about radio silence as I was the only one on Bremen ! I had 30 min of complete silence before someone else came on
My impression from here was that directs were rare in the Spanish FIR.
Reaching FL105 on the RESTU1S departure from Murcia LEMI to Cascais LPCS, pleasantly surprised to receive a direct to SANTA (225NM). Scenery wise we had a great view: snow capped Sierra Nevada, Cordoba, Seville.
A few summer’s back, we departed Sylt, to Munich, and were given a direct route VFR at a few thousand feet (I don’t remember the altitude, but it was not high). The only deviation, which really wasn’t, was caution around a drop one further down the route. I do remember flying right over Hanover airport. It all seemed pretty mellow to me…
Pilot_DAR wrote:
A few summer’s back, we departed Sylt, to Munich, and were given a direct route VFR at a few thousand feet
Germany has one of the most VFR-friendly airspace structures in central Europe, probably partly due to the very active glider community and their lobby associations. Most C/D-airspaces are easy to get clearance through, apart from Frankfurt and, to some extent, Munich.
261nm from Ouessant LFEC to Aix LFMA
The longest I had so far !
380NM today, to Lübeck EDHL, from still within Austrian aispace.
(OK, this doesn’t really count, as this was uncontrolled VFR, so not a clearance, but it just shows yet one more time how „easy“ VFR in Germany is….)
