@Peter I’ve read it several times and there’s nothing here but anecdotes. As I’ve asked for several times please show me some written documentation (a rule, a CAP, a court docket, something) that suggests I should take a clearance less than literally. I hope anyone coming to this site and seeing this thread doesn’t take unsubstantiated claims as fact.
I completely agree that if the CAA initiates action against people following their CLEARANCE that for your safety (from the government) that you should always ask for clarification when passing through airspace. But that just adds extra and unnecessary load on both pilots and the ATS that would be avoided by ATS doing their job (coordination and providing handoffs to IFR traffic) in the first place.
I think both EASA and ICAO are quite clear on this. The only person who can instigate a change from IFR to VFR is the pilot by requesting the cancellation of IFR.
CAS or OCAS doesn’t come into it especially if above 3000 ft with a cleared to destination. Class G (I don’t think there is much class F in Europe) just means that it is an information service only. In this case Channel Islands control should have been expecting you. The main problem here would be at what point you would change frequency from London Info to Channel Islands ATC if London are cluttered with other traffic.
I can’t believe even the UK CAA would flout International law to such an extent as to try to prosecute you in such a situation.
there’s nothing here but anecdotes
You can get more amusement here.
There is a long and some would say excessively philosophical debate about what clearance you actually have when flying. In the Eurocontrol system, most assume that you have an implicit clearance from departure (more accurately, from the moment you join CAS after departure, if departing OCAS) for the whole route. In practice, this is what happens, and the bigger you are the less likely it is to not happen (airliners can’t just orbit for a few hours, or land on some grass strip) but it isn’t the strict reality. ATC can terminate or amend your clearance at any time, and the basis of that statement is that each country has absolute sovereignity over its airspace.
You won’t find this in any AIP, in the same way as you won’t find in any AIP that it is permitted to wear yellow underpants.
The only time, per ICAO, when you do have a whole-route clearance without any question, is under the lost comms procedure 
The only person who can instigate a change from IFR to VFR is the pilot by requesting the cancellation of IFR.
That is correct, but when your IFR clearance for a specific route is withdrawn (along with the relevant ATC service), the only privilege you have left then is to quietly drill holes in clouds, while remaining OCAS. You can do that anywhere anytime, legally or illegally, in any aircraft, and nobody will catch you 
I can’t believe even the UK CAA would flout International law to such an extent as to try to prosecute you in such a situation.
I don’t have the reference right now but the UK no longer uses the “cleared to destination” phrase. It was removed for exactly this reason – it is meaningless because the departure tower controller cannot possibly know the local conditions at the far end.
Whether they would prosecute in this scenario (which was discussed earlier) is not something I would like to test, but rest assured that when you come off Solent and you are OCAS they will tell you to set 7000 and call Jersey, regardless of whether you earlier told them you are VFR or IFR This would confuse the hell out of a foreign pilot… Maybe I have had direct handovers but I don’t recall it. May depend on altitude. I would bet the CAA gets a lot of these and avoids prosecuting them because the system is so ambiguous.
This search finds more discussion.
The only time I have ever come anywhere near to this problem was on a route from Sywell to Brest. Just after passing SAM I was asked to turn right because of traffic.After another couple of rights and lefts I was then told to resume own navigation. I had to request whether that meant to my next waypoint, which would have been going slightly south east instead of south west or perhaps to the STAR for Brest. He came back with a waypoint south of Jersey and immediately transferred me to Jersey control. I was from OCAS to CAS to OCAS amd finally to CAS. It wasn’t a problem except for understanding the waypoint I had been directed to (not cleared as I was talking to an FIS). I wasn’t cleared to that waypoint until being transferred to Jersey Control. It was all a bit unusual, for me,(it was different to what happens in France) but not a problem.
I get where Cttime and gallois are going with the rules, but in practical terms Peter is right.
If you are flying say Exeter to Fairoaks, and Solent Radar dump you into Class G (“now leaving my area, radar service terminates, squawk conspicuity and freecall en route”) when you leave their airspace near HANKY at 5,000ft, you WILL get busted for an infringement if you just carry on to Fairoaks without calling up Farnborough to negotiate a new and entirely separate clearance through their airspace which may or may not be forthcoming.
Because there is no uniform, integrated and sectorised radar service covering the whole country, you do not in practical terms have a whole-route clearance on an IFR flight that leaves controlled airspace for any length of time.
Graham wrote:
If you are flying say Exeter to Fairoaks, and Solent Radar dump you into Class G (“now leaving my area, radar service terminates, squawk conspicuity and freecall en route”) when you leave their airspace near HANKY at 5,000ft, you WILL get busted for an infringement if you just carry on to Fairoaks without calling up Farnborough to negotiate a new and entirely separate clearance through their airspace which may or may not be forthcoming.
From a legal point of view this is of course correct. You will not be handed over to Farnborough but told to “freecall en route”. If you follow that instruction you will either be given a clearance or told to remain OCAS. No problem. ( * )
The problem is not one of legality but that the UK has a system that — unless you have been told about it in advance — as a foreign pilot your pre-planning will have gone to shreds and you have to re-plan in unfamiliar airspace with little or no help from ATC. But we all know that.
( * ) Except of course that AFAIK “freecall” is not ICAO phraseology so a foreign pilot might not understand what it means. I had never heard of it until I read about it here on EuroGA.
I’m just a stupid little VFR pilot, but would happen if you reply to e.g. this
Graham wrote:
(“now leaving my area, radar service terminates, squawk conspicuity and freecall en route”)
Something like “negative, please hand me over to the next Radar unit”?
MedEwok wrote:
but would happen if you reply to e.g. this
They’d Prob90 say unable, and in any case if they’d not made the call by that point then they don’t have much advantage over you calling on the radio.
There are some things that are unique to the UK:
- The use continuous two-day communication while IFR in Class G is optional. (no idea why)
- There is no extensive Class E airspace (many explanations why)
If one intentionally drops out of contiguous CAS, there is a view that no further requirement is needed for anyone to provide a pilot with a continuous service anymore. So whatever clearance one may had at the time becomes void.
But if one unintentionally drops out (say weather issues) then I would expect help for joining clearance to be re-arranged – given the busy traffic situation in SE England it may take a little bit of time, but for the rest of England and Scotland it becomes much easier.
I think it’s still better to re-align with international best practice and remove the misunderstanding.
James_Chan wrote:
The use continuous two-day communication while IFR in Class G is optional. (no idea why)
Because in class G you are not required to use, or even have, a radio?
