Also, I forgot, Cardiff are very helpful too these days based on recent experience.
Thanks for all the replies folks! Very useful.
I think I’d try to go closer first, so Oxford EGTK it will be!
I’m planning to depart EGBT, fly to DTY and then join the arrival route. On the way back, to IXURA and then DTY.
Am I right in assuming that these arrival routes may not be flown and I may be asked to track DCT the OX NDB instead? In any case, I wouldn’t mind flying these routes as it adds to the practice element of the flight.
In terms of the FPL any tips here? I’m guessing it’s a Z FPL (VFR departure from EGBT to IFR then finally VFR again to recover) the route can be something like:
DCT DTY IFR DCT DTY215017 DCT OX360005 DCT OX STAY1/0030 OX DCT IXURA DCT DTY VFR
With a comment in the RMK section: STAYINFO1/PRACTICE IFR APPROACH EGTK
Sorry for the very basic questions. We don’t really get taught the “practical” aspects of flying IFR during the IR course unfortunately.
@Alpha_Floor you don’t need a flight plan if you are not joining airways. Autorouter validates EGBT DTY EGTK at FL040.
The arrival and departure routes are used by turbine traffic. You would be vectored straight after contacting Oxford radar, and returning you would route via WCO. The puddle jumper departure route is via Morton, a non published waypoint at 13 NM from OX on the 312o QDR.
Alpha_Floor wrote:
In terms of the FPL any tips here? I’m guessing it’s a Z FPL (VFR departure from EGBT to IFR then finally VFR again to recover) the route can be something like:
AFAIK you can depart IFR from/back to Turweston, someone can correct if I am wrong?
If you stay low or in Class G it does not matter if you have FPL/Clearance or not…
I think “I-FPL” is approriate but Oxford (as they are not destination) will not get IFR/VFR FPLs unless it’s explictly sent to them, you can add EGTKZTZX & EGTKZPZX for adress, also Turweston may not be able to close it on the way back, so make sure to close it yourself
If you stay under FL80 every route should works and the FPL is not needed nor useful, but check AIP for some details on IFR arrival/departure if you are flying below FL80 you will be vectored as asked to go directly to OX
Ibra wrote:
AFAIK you can depart IFR from/back to Turweston, someone can correct if I am wrong?
If you stay low or in Class G it does not matter if you have FPL/Clearance or not…I think “I-FPL” is appropriate but Oxford (as they are not destination) will not get IFR/VFR FPLs unless it’s explictly sent to them, you can add EGTKZTZX & EGTKZPZX for adress, also Turweston may not be able to close it on the way back, so make sure to close it yourself
You can file anything you like, but unless your filed route enters Class A then it won’t make a practical difference to anything except for alerting action if you don’t turn up :-)
You can also just declare yourself IFR OCAS, without a flight plan, either at Turweston or enroute. This is nothing but a state of mind, and you can flip back and forth IFR-VFR 60 times a minute if you want to. If you explicitly tell Oxford Radar you are IFR on first contact then it may make a small difference to how they deal with you, but in any case you’ll just be following their instructions.
If you really want to do a practice ‘airways flight’ with all that entails then perhaps you need to go a bit further afield such that the necessary routing would not be so contrived? Coming to Oxford from Turweston, even for an instrument approach, it’s really just an OCAS flight where the flight rules are whatever you say they are.
My experience inbound to Oxford for an instrument approach has always been vectors on first contact, as @RobertL18C says, so I wouldn’t worry about the routings.
Graham wrote:
you can flip back and forth IFR-VFR 60 times a minute if you want to.
Or as fast as you can switch your transponder back and forth between 2000 and 7000 :)
(joke)
Thanks for the comments, Graham.
It seems if I want to experience a full, proper IFR flight I need to go a bit further away, so that climbing into Class A makes sense. Fly from EGBT to any airfield with instrument procedures that is 1 hour or so away, land, have an English breakfast, then fly back. The issue these days is with land-away restrictions due to Covid etc.
Regarding IFR flight OCAS, can one design his own let-down procedure? I seem to recall an IR instructor saying you can use your own “do-it-yourself” approaches in Class G. If that’s so I could do an IFR “approach” to Turweston using DTY and the Garmin G430. If that’s the case, could I log an “instrument approach” doing these?
Finally, if I can depart and arrive IFR in EGBT since it’s Class G, even though it has no published instrument departures/arrivales, can I log the full block time of the flight as IFR time? Or will someone at the CAA later say: well you couldn’t have departed or arrived IFR could you, since it’s a VFR airfield?
Are you expected to switch the txp 2000/7000 if flying in UK Class G and not talking to anyone?
Graham wrote:
You can file anything you like, but unless your filed route enters Class A then it won’t make a practical difference to anything except for alerting action if you don’t turn up :-)
Yes in UK you can file Eurocontrol IFR from licenced “VFR only airfields” and it still go neat, if you stay OCAS no one even cares if you are IFR/VFR 
But I was referring to doing the actual IFR dpearture, it could be a problem in Stapleford where the CAA doc says “VFR only” and me filing an IFR departure then someone documenting that it was in proper IMC !
Turweston is not licenced, so it even better, I am sure a CJ4 can go free-style IFR dep/arr from there with low vis & ceiling…
Alpha_Floor wrote:
Regarding IFR flight OCAS, can one design his own let-down procedure? I seem to recall an IR instructor saying you can use your own “do-it-yourself” approaches in Class G. If that’s so I could do an IFR “approach” to Turweston using DTY and the Garmin G430. If that’s the case, could I log an “instrument approach” doing these?
Yes you can legally for private flying, sensible or not, I don’t know? but personally, flying in clouds above MSA is far safer than scud running on 600ft cloudbase with SkyDemon flashing at every mast or hill…
You can also fly ILS at Oxford to get your “own visbility & ceiling measurment” and then fly to Turweston above MSA before doing IFR approach there and maybe back to Oxford?
Not sure if you can log it for EASA revalidation (or FAA currency?), also there are few things to keep in mind,
- Better fly the thing in VMC and think seriously about GoAround
- There is VFR traffic at Turweston, legally you should join overhead (but you can coordinate/wait/go first)
- Worth reading Pan-OPS/TERPS for IAP designs and GPS/PBN own consumption (GPS max deflection is probably +/-5nm on G430 DIY?)
- If you add uncessary margins to MDH think about how you can land in Turweston when passing at 800ft agl over treshold, you should know how to sort it out…
Peter wrote:
Are you expected to switch the txp 2000/7000 if flying in UK Class G and not talking to anyone?
I am not sure of the legal basis but I think so, yes.
At least whenever I am released from a radar service they always say “squawk conspicuity, freecall enroute”.
Alpha_Floor wrote:
At least whenever I am released from a radar service they always say “squawk conspicuity, freecall enroute”.
Just watch for that new Brize/Oxford Class E+ proposal
