Useful airfield information and home of the forum's fuel price league tables.

Moderators: deltacharlie, GlosOps

User avatar
By TLRippon
#1658537
R46C Is part of the military low flying sysem and goes from 800'agl to 3400'agl it will only be active by NOTAM and only when aircraft are flying along it. Usually for 10-15mins of either side of the planned movement. The FIS will give you a transit if they can if you are unlucky enough to arrive at the small time slot they are active and for some reason can't go over it. They are usually quiet mid morning until late afternoon and in the evenings and weekends.
User avatar
By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1658539
For those that don't know, a useful resource for what's active each day in the NOTAMed French low flying system is AZBA, which can be found via the French AIS site.

You can very easily see from that link what's active on the day and the day afterwards. For example, the system is not in use at all today, and you can tell that from a glance at the link.

(Edit: Or, in other words, what @skydriller said. 8) )
User avatar
By mmcp42
#1658540
Dave W wrote:For those that don't know, a useful resource for what's active each day in the NOTAMed French low flying system is AZBA, which can be found via the French AIS site.

You can very easily see from that link what's active on the day and the day afterwards. For example, the system is not in use at all today, and you can tell that from a glance at the link.

(Edit: Or, in other words, what @skydriller said. 8) )


thanks
took the liberty of downloading your "why not fly to France" document - excellent stuff!

what a tremendous resource this forum is!!! :thumleft: :thumright:
User avatar
By GolfHotel
#1658541
welkyboy wrote:You have to use the semi circular rules in EASA land now, so VFR is FL35/55/75/95 etc. on tracks 001-180 and Fl45/65/85/105 on tracks 181-360. The French ATCO’s get very agitated when UK pilots insist on flying at IFR levels VFR !


very true, normally, for some reason recently they insisted I flew VFR at the IFR levels. Not normal at all, but it happen to me. :D
User avatar
By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1658542
Thanks, @mmcp42, that's much appreciated - and don't think of it as a liberty: That's what it's for! :thumleft:

As part of a talk I've now done a couple of times for LAA Struts, I've put a bunch of 'Flying Foreign' related stuff in a single Dropbox folder with a (hopefully) easy to remember web address:
tinyurl.com/goingforeign

You might be interested: I've just put in there a pair of PDFs that originated with AOPA Spain called "How to Fly in Spain and Never Pay More than 9 Euros in Handling Fees" Page 1 & Page 2 (One day I'll get round to merging those into one document)
By G-JWTP
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1658543
welkyboy wrote:You have to use the semi circular rules in EASA land now, so VFR is FL35/55/75/95 etc. on tracks 001-180 and Fl45/65/85/105 on tracks 181-360. The French ATCO’s get very agitated when UK pilots insist on flying at IFR levels VFR !



Where as in Spain, when flying through CAS VFR, I've had to fly at IFR levels.
It makes it easier to free up their airspace!

G-JWTP
User avatar
By mmcp42
#1658544
... and another thing :)

Q1
if I land at Caen (for example) and clear customs etc there, landing anywhere else in France is just another flight from A to B - no customs required?

Q2
since France and Spain are both Schengen, can I then simply fly from anywhere to anywhere in either country, or do I need to clear customs in Spain?

Q3
sort of similar question, do I need to leave France from a customs airfield, or is that concept just a UK thing?

yes, I know Flight Plans will be need ed
a) for all FIR boundary crossings
b) all flights in Spain in controlled airspace

thank you all for your advice (and patience) :)
User avatar
By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1658546
mmcp42 wrote:.
Q2
since France and Spain are both Schengen, can I then simply fly from anywhere to anywhere in either country, or do I need to clear customs in Spain?

Yes.

BUT: From the other spain thread...
skydriller wrote:San Sebastian will also charge you Handling if you arrive from an airport that is not on their list as having proper "security". But they are responsive to Emails and will tell you if you ask in advance.
Regards, SD..

I have no idea whether this may be an issue elsewhere and we all know handling is ALWAYS expensive..

Reagrds, SD..
User avatar
By Clive
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1658547
For 2 above, Yes and then No. Which I'm sure is what was meant.
We went to Portugal 2 years ago, used Le Mans (notify before 1700 on previous working day) and then San Sebastian. Delightful place.
You do still have some Pyrenees to cross but they aren't as big.
In my experience with VFR planning a route across La Belle France needs some swing in it as weather often decides your planned route won't work. If the weather is iffy and looks like you may have some work to do make an early Douane stop and then you can make the transit up as you have already entered dear old Schengen. So keep in mind/plan your original route as well and decide the day before, that is if you haven't gone yet!
Also the running down the East coast is a bit of a chore (radio and routing) as opposed to blasting across the middle with little to talk about.
That said, I would go one way and come back the other.
Have a great trip!
User avatar
By mmcp42
#1658548
asked about landing and 4 days parking at Murcia
total budget €111
very happy with that :)
User avatar
By mmcp42
#1658549
Clive wrote:For 2 above, Yes and then No. Which I'm sure is what was meant.
We went to Portugal 2 years ago, used Le Mans (notify before 1700 on previous working day) and then San Sebastian. Delightful place.
You do still have some Pyrenees to cross but they aren't as big.
In my experience with VFR planning a route across La Belle France needs some swing in it as weather often decides your planned route won't work. If the weather is iffy and looks like you may have some work to do make an early Douane stop and then you can make the transit up as you have already entered dear old Schengen. So keep in mind/plan your original route as well and decide the day before, that is if you haven't gone yet!
Also the running down the East coast is a bit of a chore (radio and routing) as opposed to blasting across the middle with little to talk about.
That said, I would go one way and come back the other.
Have a great trip!


yup, I'd interpreted the yes's and no's much as you posted
will now be clearing customs Le Havre, Caen, Deauville area, so options much easier south of that
(and I quite enjoy the radio and routing bit!)
cheers
User avatar
By mmcp42
#1658551
Dave W wrote:Mike, just double-checking: Did you see the edit I made - after you'd "liked" it - to a post up the page? The edit was to add some info from AOPA Spain about minimising handling fees.

oh yes, downloaded already - and very good info too!
cheers