VFR Planning to UK from the continent

[172510]

I intend to make my first cross channel flight next week, from France or Belgium.
I could not find the answer to the following questions:

Am I allowed to plan a PPR airfield as my diversion airfield?
If the answer is yes,
should I request a Prior Permission from the diversion airfield?
should I mention the diversion airfield in the GAR, file another GAR for the diversion airfield, or will my filed flight plan suffice to remain legal with immigration/custom?

[chevvron]

The UK Border Agency have a means of accessing VFR flight plans so you shouldn't need to file an extra GAR, however, some but not all PPR airfields will not accept a flight plan as a request for PPR (eg Farnborough) so it's best if you book PPR 'just in case'.

[peterh337]

The answer is that this is a bit of a grey area. Once you are on your way to the alternate, it is an emergency and if they refuse a landing clearance, you are entitled to declare a Mayday and proceed as appropriate.

In some of the more difficult places in Europe, pilots file all kinds of airfields, sometimes "no GA" military ones, as alternates.

I find that almost no airport accepts the flight plan as a PPR or PNR notice. Why not, is a very good question :ugh:

To be 100% sure I would advise the filed alternate, but I cannot see it really matters. Unless you are filing EGKK or similar, which you don't want to land at unless you are on fire (£500+) :)

[englishal]

What airfield are you thinking of? Some airfields, despite saying PPR in the AIP only need a call on the radio before landing. In fact many of them, unless they are an Intergalactic Spaceport are like this. In the good old days, before Shoreham became an Intergalactic Spaceport, they were like this too which was quite handy for dropping into if you fancied a cuppa or pee.

I wouldn't class a diversion as an emergency. I'd class it as proper planning. Either way there is no harm calling them, or emailing them and telling them you *may* arrive.

I suppose on the GAR form you could make a note of your diversion airfield and I think that might cover you in case you have to divert. If you diverted to one with Customs then I don't think there would be any problem.

[BackPacker]

I just had to do a diversion a few weeks ago, while on a UK -> NL flight. What I learned from this was that you can't really plan a diversion. If something happens en-route that will cause you to need a diversion, you need a diversion NOW. Or, at least, within a reasonably short time. So basically you would have to nominate a string of airfields along your route, all some 15 minutes apart, as alternates. And do the preparation (landing calculations, PPR, customs, GAR, ...) for each and everyone of them. That's clearly impossible.

The same for destination alternates. If the reason for your diversion is weather-related, the closest alternate may suffer from the same weather. So you need to find something further away. And if it's something else (blocked runway due to accident), you may actually already be told about that while en-route (based on your FPL) and make plans from there.

So when flying VFR, it is a good idea to have a series of "plan B"s. Look along your route for suitable en-route alternates, and look at your destination for the nearest "big" airport which can be your destination alternate. Put that one in your FPL if you fancy. But don't confuse the hell out of everyone by requesting PPR from your alternates, sending GAR forms for every contingency and so forth.

And remember: if it's a proper emergency you can simply land anywhere and sort out the mess on the ground. Although I don't think a lot of people will give you grief over a missing GAR form when you arrive somewhere unannounced with your wings on fire.

[Keef]

I see two different sorts of "diversion" airfields:
1. The one that I need NOW because the wings are on fire - and that won't be in my flight plan, and I really don't care if it's PPR or not.
2. The one I go to because my destination is unuseable - that will be in my flight plan. On a long trip or one with some serious terrain around, there may be two of those.

The second category is usually called up (at least in my case) because the weather has got more iffy than I like for the primary destination. It's chosen because it has radar, ILS, etc. Not many of those are PPR.

[peterh337]

I wouldn't class a diversion as an emergency. I'd class it as proper planning

I agree, but what do you do if you turn up at your alternate and they refuse a landing clearance?

At that instant, it is an emergency, because you are entitled to have fuel planned according to the legal fuel requirements (whatever those are).

Many fuel exhaustion crashes have been caused by people not realising this, and letting decisionmaking to be done outside the cockpit.

An old chestnut :)

[stevelup]

In a low fuel scenario, surely you'd just declare an emergency and land anyway?

[Jan Olieslagers]

Basically yes, as I was taught; but in the same phrase I was warned that declaring an emergency, and acting upon it, may be extremely expensive.

[dublinpilot]

How often do people divert in reality?

In a little over 10 years of VFR flying, I've only diverted on three occasions, and on all three occassions I knew before take off that there was a high probability of having to divert.

Customs/SB can be a tricky one on a divert, but if you know before take off that a divert is likely, then best to plan to clear customs at the first available airport. That way you can freely divert after that without having to worry about customs.

[BackPacker]

How often do people divert in reality?

My diversion to Norwich, on a flight from Conington to Rotterdam, was the first diversion in seven years of VFR flying. But I have to admit I don't to a lot of x-country flying. I prefer aerobatics, which keeps me pretty local to my home base.

In this particular case, as I was leaving the UK and flying to a customs airport on mainland EU, customs/immigration were not an issue. But I can imagine several scenarios where customs/immigration would have a reason to be upset. Whether they would actually take that further would probably depend on the reason for your diversion, where/when you diverted and what you did or did not do upon landing.

in the same phrase I was warned that declaring an emergency, and acting upon it, may be extremely expensive.

Well, I guess declaring an emergency and acting upon it will *always* be cheaper than a funeral.

[englishal]

I think if your intended destination was say Compton Abbas, but you diverted to Bournemouth, for example, then there wouldn't be any issue as EGHH has C&I. If you diverted somewhere else, then I suppose as long as you inform NCU then what can they do? The safety of the flight was in question.

[peterh337]

I think the issue of Customs and diversions must be a well worn one, because anybody who is entering a particular country, and obviously has filed a flight plan, and diverts elsewhere (for whatever reason) is removing from Customs the opportunity to meet him.

And this could happen at a pretty short notice, because in "classical flying", especially in IFR, you fly to the planned destination and then divert only if you cannot land there.

It goes without saying that people wishing to, shall we say, not meet Customs are going to use the "diversion" method, too ;)

So the "system" must cope with it. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

The best alternate is normally going to be a "bigger" airport, because it had decent lighting, instrument approaches, a big runway, etc. And one which is a reasonable distance away, because bad wx is rarely localised.

I too have rarely diverted (2x in 11 years, IIRC) but that's because I have had the instrument landing option since 2002, have a relatively high performance aircraft, and I have tended to scrap a trip unless the flight is pretty well assured. Many people embark on flights in crap weather knowing a diversion is likely (which is ok if you know what you are doing and done the ground work) and many people embark on flights without even checking the weather...

[172510]

I intend to fly to Denham from Kortrik(Belgium) or Le Touquet.

In case of an enroute emergency, I would divert to the closest/easiest airfield or field.

If it's not an emergency, I might have to divert if the weather is worse than expected at Denham, or if Denham is not accessible for any reason (gear up aicraft on the runway, for instance). That's what I would like to plan in advance. If it's a Denham only issue, I would divert to Elstree or Wycombe. Or to any nearby airfield you would advise. And I would mention that
alternate airfield as my alternate in my flight plan.

If it's a weather issue, I normally would have called all the airfields along my route during the flight, so I would know where to land (Elstree, Stapleford,etc.) In that case, I hope it's not an offense to land somewhere else than planned.

[piperarcher]

I was on a flight back from France somewhere with a fellow pilot, and we had a flight plan and GAR form submitted, with Shoreham and Lydd as alternates. Having been told there was a long wait for fuel at the French airport, we agreed we would monitor the situation over the channel and make a planned diversion if need be. Before approaching mainland UK, we took the cautious approach and informed London Info we would divert to Shoreham for fuel.

All was accepted on the radio, and we switched to Shoreham who kindly let us land. However we were met by the local heli-police who were very polite but proceeded to have a quick glance at our PA28. The most exciting thing we had on board was a Euro 5 bottle of red wine, but it shows there are people out there listening and watching.

To answer the OP question. Personally I wouldnt request PPR from all alternate airfields en route, but bear in mind ones which are going to be more likely to let you in, even if it is just a wee stop or something not an emergency. By all means put at least one in the FPL and GAR form, but as others have said, that wont mean all that much really.

[achimha]

Where can I find information about this GAR business that is apparently required in the UK when coming from Schengen? I've done numerous VFR/IFR flights to non Schengen but never came across the GAR form.

Thanks!

[BackPacker]

Achimha, the principle when crossing a border is that you have to leave via a customs/immigrations airport, and enter via a customs/immigration airport. But of course within Europe there are all sorts of complications and shortcuts.

Within the EU you don't need to worry about customs (as long as EU VAT has been paid) and within the Schengen area you don't need to worry about immigration. So as long as you are within the EU and within the Schengen area (and there is a difference between the two) you can simply fly from any airport to any other airport.

The UK is not in the Schengen area. This means that, in principle, you have to leave mainland Europe via a designated (customs/immigration) airport, and enter the UK via a designated (customs/immigration) airport, and vice versa. For mainland Europe this still holds true, but the UK have made an exception: If your flight qualifies, you simply send the GAR form a certain number of hours in advance to the proper authorities. You then don't have to enter the UK via a designated airport, but can simply fly direct to any UK airfield. If the authorities want to speak to you, they will wait for you at your destination.

The details on which flights qualify, how far in advance you need to notify, which units to notify and how to notify them are on the back of the GAR form. And the GAR form itself mainly covers the flight details, and details of the persons on board.

There are various threads on the GAR form on here. Here's one:

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/366727-gar-form-do-you-have-inform-immigration.html

For the form itself, and the instructions, Google is your friend.

[srayne]

Achimha

You'll find all the information you need here:
UK Border Agency | General aviation operators and pilots (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/customs-travel/beforetravel/general-aviation/)