Europe vs. US flying Part I - Flight Plan Filling and IFR cleareance

This post is the first in a series co-written with PlasticPilot, the editor of http://www.plasticpilot.net/. This series compares flying light aircraft in Europe (his point of view) and in US (my point of view).

This particular post focuses on filing flight plans, and getting an IFR clearance. It starts with the European view, the US way is in the second half.

In Europe, there are four reasons to file flight plans:

1. international flights (VFR or IFR)
   
2. IFR flights require a flight plan
   
3. Some commercially used airports require a flight plan
   
4. Flight plan implies alerting service, which can be good when flying over hostile areas
   

The content of the flight plan is always the same, according to the ICAO standard, but the way to file it varies from country to country. This can range from handing the form to someone at the airport to filing it for free over the internet.

However, the “manual” way becomes an oddity. Most airports have free on-line systems, several countries have pay-system over the internet, while other still accept flight plans per fax for free.

All IFR flight with place of departure within Europe are managed by Eurocontrol in Brussels. The local ATC services forward the plans to Brussels, which validate them, and define a slot depending on the traffic situation.

It’s good practice to file IFR at least one hour before departures. When flying in or out of a busy airport, it’s recommended to file three hours in advance, if not the day before, to avoid bad slots. Such slots can in fact be so bad that they are outside airport’s operating hours.

Filling a flight plan while in flight, via a Flight Information Center (FIC) is feasible, but it will strongly depend how busy the frequency is. Don’t think about it on a busy sunny Sunday, when all pilots are out… “Unplanned” IFR joinings are also possible, but they are not usually welcome in dense traffic areas, even at low flying levels.

Talking about levels, this is also a difference: the transition altitude - above which altitudes are expresses as flight levels - varies locally, and can be as low as 5’000 feet ! So even with non-turbo, non-pressurized aircraft you can fly the FLs.

IFR pilots can obtain the clearance from ATC at controlled airports. When flying out of a non-controlled airport, things are more complex. Some approach services offer clearance on the phone, the alternative being clearance in the air. In any case, departure and climb to controlled airspace maintaining VMC must be possible.

In the States there are a few primary reasons to fly on an IFR flight plan:

1. Weather dictates it (want to fly through clouds or other low visibility)
   
2. you want "guaranteed" services such as traffic separation and airspace clearances (the buck always stops with the pilot though)
   
3. you want to fly over 18,000' MSL (Class A airspace - with some exceptions for high terrain)
   

There are two methods pilots typically use to file flight plans in the States (talking in general aviation terms, not airliner terms):

1. Electronically - via DUATS or a similar service
   
2. Over the Phone - via Flight Service at 1-800-WX-BRIEF
   

With recent changes in the Flight Service system, some pilots have experienced delays trying to reach a briefer. This, and the improving availability of internet access, has driven more people to the electronics means.

My experience is too limited to speak on how the time of filing affects your clearance time. To me it seems mostly based on the luck of the draw when you go to actually pick up your clearance, but I can't be sure. I do know that a 10-15 minute wait is not surprising when picking up a clearance from within the Washington ADIZ, but most clearances I have picked up in my travels from smaller airports are basically immediate.

There are a number of ways to receive your IFR clearance. If you are leaving from a towered airport, you pick up your clearance just before you taxi out to the runway making the process pretty easy. At smaller airports you generally choose from one of 4 options:

1. over the phone - call the nearest approach control (flight service can often provide a number if needed)
   
2. over a GCO connection to a phone (if the local airport has a ground communications outlet on the field, you can tune that frequency and click the mic 7 times to dial the nearest approach control - or 4 times to dial flight service. Once the GCO makes the phone connection you talk to them over the radio.)
   
3. over the radio before takeoff (if your airport is close enough to use a nearby clearance frequency you can call that for clearance)
   
4. over the radio after takeoff (once you leave the traffic pattern you simply call the nearest approach controller to pick up your clearance - requires that the local weather be good enough to depart VFR).