LeSving wrote:
As for the requirement of a flight plan when crossing a border, I don’t know what exactly that requirement is based on. Immigration, customs, something else entirely, military purposes ?Yes, a flight plan works for most international airports as a kind of ‘PNR’ to customs and immigration. That’s why most international airports don’t require further customs forms etc., because the officers get automatically informed when a flight plan pops up in the system. Unfortunately, we are in Europe and while this is true most of the time, it can’t be guaranteed. In Germany, some airports like Memmingen still require further pre-notification forms. Same for Switzerland. Dutch airports require a Gendec for international non-Schengen and/or non-EU flights in general, even if immigration is H24 available.
You can file a flight plan for SAR purposes without ever talking to ATC the entire trip. The only requirement is that someone opens the plan and someone closes it.Correct, and this can even been done (optionally) in the US! American flight schools on YouTube even support filing VFR flight plans for flights over deserted countrysides.
a flight plan works for most international airports as a kind of ‘PNR’ to customs and immigration
The only airport I have ever been to (out of over 200) where the above is the case is Prague LKPR. And for €400 I would perhaps expect it 
the officers get automatically informed when a flight plan pops up in the system.
That is true almost everywhere (in that they know about the arrival) but for job protection / job demarcation / trade union reasons the FP is ignored for any purpose “useful to us”; you still need to file PN/PPR etc. I could tell you so many stories… The OPS office almost never talks to the police office even if they are 2m apart, and this is absolutely deliberate. The police do see the FP, as I said, and they will use it to “meet you” if you land without having filed the PN/PPR 
Peter wrote:
The only airport I have ever been to (out of over 200) where the above is the case is Prague LKPR. And for €400 I would perhaps expect itI bet you’ve been to Croatia before, and there a flight plan does the same job. Besides Croatia, I’ve experienced this in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and even in Italy. Again, there might be airports in those countries that still do require separate PNR to customs and/or immigration officers, but most of them won’t. Even Egelsbach (EDFE) is happy with an FPL only (it has an official international airport status), which triggers customs on it’s own, based on FPL details and costs me only €8 landing fee.
For Belgium, no flight plan for day VFR within Schengen where you avoid all class C/D (including transits).
AIP ENR 1.10
1.1 Requirement to Submit a Flight Plan (SERA.4001)
Information relative to an intended flight or portion of a flight, to be provided to ATS units, shall be in the form of a flight plan. A flight plan shall be submitted prior to operating:
-any IFR flight;
-any flight or portion thereof to be provided with ATC service;
-any flight above FL 660;
-any flight at night, if leaving the vicinity of an aerodrome;
-any flight across international borders. VFR flights remaining within the Schengen Area do not need a flight plan as far as the Brussels FIR is concerned (for requirements applicable in other Schengen States, please consult the relevant AIP).
Long previous thread on why a FP does not normally do PN
And fairly obviously it can’t do PPR because how would they get back to you? Via the AFTN? I’ve never heard of anybody in the system calling the phone number on the FP other than to check what happened to you, etc.
The other old problem is that where PN is required, how do you know they have received it? AFAICT with Croatia, they are simply pragmatic and don’t actually care.
Frans wrote:
I bet you’ve been to Croatia before, and there a flight plan does the same job. Besides Croatia, I’ve experienced this in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and even in Italy.
In Sweden this is not an airport issue. The AIP is clear that when PN is needed and the aircraft does not carry cargo or other items that need to be processed by customs, then the PN can be made by filing a flight plan at least one hour before departure.
I was called by DFS before simply due to filling a VFR flight plan from ELLX to EDRJ before my EOBT because I didn’t bother specifying the route clearly enough and thereby according to what I filled I’d have been inside of an active French military zone, and they called to alert me to this. This happened two years ago. So VFR flight plans are checked by someone. If you are departing from a controlled airport the local ARO definitely checks your flight plan and forwards it to any other AROs or (A)FIS that your route implicates.
When I fly in Germany on a VFR flight plan, and I always do, because why not take advantage of a system that is there to serve me, often the FIS controller will ask me if it’s for a flight to my destination according to my flight plan before I give them anything but my call sign.
For prior notice and PPR, after I file a flight plan, I either call them or email them and they usually confirm they see the flight plan and it’s ok to come. I have to say what little experience I have it’s been great service from every ATC, FIS and AFIS or controlled airport so far. Not a single bad experience. Actually one bad experience landing in Maribor where we got yelled at for not calling ahead. But that’s it.
What other things can be said about international travel ? (apart from flight plans)
Gotchas for border ATC transfer, refueling planning, accomodation etc.
I also think of the FCL.055 requirement (for countries that don’t test in English)
For outside Schengen / EU, in cases where C&I doesn’t reside on the airport but you give a date and time of arrival (where they can then choose to show up), how precisely do you have to be there at that planned time ?
hazek wrote:
So VFR flight plans are checked by someone.
Sometimes they are and sometimes not. Some European countries have one (or more) ARO that takes responsibility for validating and distributing VFR flight plans. But not all.
Yes you need ELP4 to fly cross-border in Europe (even if flying between say France and Germany and you can speak French and German!!). ELP4 is highly contentious and is widely circumvented by ATC in certain countries (Spain and France are the most obvious ones, but Spain has improved a lot). Lots of “hot” discussion in the link
Yes VFR flight plans are looked at sometimes, in terms of actually plotting the route. But this is rare. I can well imagine somebody in the DFS doing it I recall a case where Montenegro plotted the FP route and objected to it; I got stuck on the ground at Trieste for an hour or two. Details from 2005
The Swedish case above is a new one. I am updating the original thread.
The PN timing is usually not critical because the police have access to flight plans and will watch these – especially if they are “roaming” in which case they don’t want to stop watching football too early
