We had a holiday with several stops in France this summer.
I didn’t file flight plans except for the flight into Carcassonne.
As it’s sometimes busy with international flights and bigger than I’m used to, I thought it may help.
I’ve no idea if it made a difference, probably not, but it was extremely busy (3 of us simultaneously orbiting while downwind, just for starters).
Anyhoo, on 1st call he had our details and was busy but very relaxed on the radio.
1 less thing for me to think about in unfamiliar airspace, area, and terrain.
I’d do the same again for any large busy airfields.
Guillaume wrote:
The general international rule is that you should use the ARO of your departing field.
The general international rule is to read the flight plan addressing section of the AIP!
Yes
Most VFR flight plans should be delivered to the ARO office nearest the departure aerodrome as per specification in the AIP, which ARO office then distributes the flight plan to the enroute and destination sections and airports. Flights originating from the UK should be self-addressed by the pilot or by the flight plan service they are using. The distribution can be automated with a rules-distribution engine taking into account your route, the FIRs crossed and time of day/night of the flight.
It seems that Olivia is running beside other programs/system(s), used to register IFR and commercial flights. In France, if you are not using the Olivia system for VFR flight planning, your flight plan might go missing, while if you persist and tell the controller that it was filed and delivered through the AFTN system, the often all of a sudden find your flight plan after all.
Flying VFR in France can easily be done without a flight plan, but not at night. Flying on an IFR flight plan is a lot easier of course.
Example: Yesterday I filed EGKA-LFAT using Eurofpl.eu and this was the generated addressing:
EGKAZTZX EGZYVFRT LFATZTZX LFFFZFZX LFBDZPZX LFQQZTZX
The last two are Bordeaux and Lille…
Yes, that’s how it is supposed to be, see AIP local copy
