Helicopter Night VFR in Europe & Mode S

[Torquetalk]

Anyone got any knowledge or experience of VFR night regulations in the following countries? e.g if allowed for private helicopter flights, and if mode C is sufficient or if mode S mandatory?

France
Italy
Croatia
Hungary
Austria

Appreciate any info.

Thanks TT

[Shawn Coyle]

I thought all these places made night IFR.

[Torquetalk]

Not necessarily; Germany for example has night VFR, with dedicated corridors (not sure if these are manadatory though). Mode S is required for night.

Appreciated, Germany wasn't in my list...

TT

[skadi]

Not necessarily; Germany for example has night VFR, with dedicated corridors (not sure if these are manadatory though). Mode S is required for night.

Appreciated, Germany wasn't in my list...

TT


These corridors are the military NightLowLevelRoutes, flown VFR/IFR and are normally forbidden for civil NVFR ( if activated )

skadi

[Torquetalk]

Thanks. May have been a bit misinformed there.

[Runway101]

Speaking of NVFR Germany, I flew from Switzerland to Germany a couple of weeks ago. After I filed the flight plan that mistakenly ended a few minutes into the night, DFS called me and asked me to amend my VFR flight plan and to use IFR reporting points for my route and a a predetermined altitude. Nothing else was required (filed my flight plan using dfs-ais, it's free and a plan is required for cross border flights unfortunately).

No idea on your original question though.

[Torquetalk]

Yes, Switzerland is not part of the Schengen agreement, so flight plan and customs required.

Out of interest, were you mode S equipped?

TT

[maeroda]

Italy NVFR:
allowed only for NVFR equiped helicopters and pilot with NVFR endorsment or IR rating.
Trasponder mode "C".
If helicopter is carrying passengers must be multi engine, if flying solo could be single engine.
FPL is mandatory.
In Italy there aren't NVFR routes......day routes and night minima apply.
Must check if airports are available; most are closed from 11:00PM to 05:00AM LT.
T/O and landing outside aerodromes only on night airfields or helipads certified by authority.

Night traffic in VFR areas is allmost non esistent apart some few HEMS flights.

Basicaly youre alone!

Cheers

Maeroda

[Runway101]

Out of interest, were you mode S equipped?
Yes, Garmin 330 Mode S transponder.

[Torquetalk]

Thanks Maeroda, really useful.

Alone in the sky ain't so bad; fewer bods to bump into :)

TT


Runway101 - alles klar

[skadi]

Yes, Switzerland is not part of the Schengen agreement, so flight plan and customs required.

TT


Thats history, a couple of days ago ( 1. December?? ) Switzerland became part of the Schengen agreement, so no customs anymore. I am not sure about flightplan right now.

skadi

[maeroda]

Schengen or not......if you're going to cross international FIR boundaries VFR FPL is already mandatory to and from Italy.

[Runway101]

Switzerland Schengen for air traffic (at least for PAX at ZRH) starts in March as far as I know, but I am not sure how that will affect the flight plan requirement and if that is even related.

Flight plan is not only required when the destination is across the border, it's required every time you transit the other countries airspace. Example: When I am flying from Switzerland to Switzerland, but I fly over German and Austrian territory (ie. sight seeing tour Lake Constance) I have to file a plight plan and mention in the route or remark that I come into their airspace. They will then also forward the flight plan to the other countries too.

There are some special agreements in place which exempt you from the flight plan requirement though, such as LSZR to EDNY and vice versa. You don't need a flight plan between these two airports and there are probably similar agreements at other places.

[skadi]

According to the German AIP VFR ENR 1-19 a flightplan from and to Schengen Memberstates has to be filed only if the regulations of the country concerned require this and/or if during the flight, the territory or airspace of a non-schengen country is affected.

skadi

[Torquetalk]

That clears that up nicely: We flew Germany - Austria a week back and filed even though we reckoned we didn't need to - better safe than sorry, eh?

TT