Bournemouth to Biggin Hill

OK, but if you fly to near Sevenoaks and then call up Biggin, they won’t know where you came from

Often, this happens anyway. If at 20nm to run you hear half the UK reading out War and Peace on the Biggin frequency, then if you call them up, they will give you the absolutely most defensive option, which at most UK Class G airfields is the hand-washing exercise called an overhead join. Whereas if you present ATC with a fait accompli (call them when positioned near Sevenoaks) the most obvious thing is a left base, and if they are too busy you can just orbit till there is a gap.

Surprised by the fact that you don’t need to book in!

Seems no two UK aerodromes are the same on this…

jwoolard wrote:

Seems no two UK aerodromes are the same on this…

Nor does there seem any consistency! For example, Blackpool which isn’t all that busy and has acres of parking space requires you to phone them before taking off in their direction, but Gloucester which is often busier than a one legged man in an asskicking contest is quite happy for people to just turn up.

Tell me about it… in the last 10 days I’ve been to Biggin EGKB, Sywell EGBK, Gloucester EGBJ, Blackpool EGNH, Schoenefeld EDDB, Schoenhagen EDAZ and Osnabruck EDDG.

For the UK airfields:

• EGKB: No pre-notification necessary, on departure just call for taxi and give your details
• EGBK: Strictly by prior permission only, on departure just call for taxi and give your details
• EGBJ: No pre-notification, but on departure you give in your flight details at the desk
• EGNH: Strictly by prior permission, and they want you to call the tower and give details on the phone before departure

Contrast this with Germany, where the procedure was identical at every single airfield, no prior notification was necessary (in the case of EDDB and EDDG not even for immigration, not sure about EDAZ). On departure just call up on the radio and say “G-XXXX request taxi, VFR to ABCD”.

To labour the point, I can add another experience:

Going to Egelsbach EDFE tomorrow. I called them up and asked what sort of notification they needed: “Just a flight plan will be fine, call us with 10 minutes to run and we’ll arrange a taxi for you”

And that’s just the normal way. Only the UK with its PPR rules and “booking out” mania is really out of the ordinary.

Only the UK with its PPR rules and “booking out” mania is really out of the ordinary.

The problem with being too general is that one day it bites you in the bum…

Booking out is rare in the UK. The only place I remember in recent years is Bournemouth EGHH.

PPR/PNR is widespread all over Europe especially for Customs/Immigration (i.e. UK pilots).

I don’t know if there are any statistics but the fact that it is sometimes required means you do need to check.