Custardpsc
Yes, but the requirement to file a fllight plan for a VFR flight arriving or departing Class D airspace can be met by the initial radio contact and the passing of basic details. This I believe constitutes an Abbreviated Flight Plan.
So to return to Sam's flight if his destination had been another Belgian airfield then I suspect this is what he would have needed to do to get a clearance to exit the Class D at the CTR boundary then proceed outside (i.e. below) CAS. But because he had filed a full ICAO plan for boundary crossing purposes the system would have assumed he may have wished to proceed in the Class C CAS all the way to his FIR exit point.
It is worth remembering that Class C ICAO rules provide for positive separation of IFR from VFR, i.e.it is Controlled VFR, whereas in Class D the ICAO requirement is only for information on VFR traffic to be passed to IFR flights. Of course it is sometimes said that UK airfields control their Class D as if it were Class C, which is understandable but perhaps not a debate for now.
In the UK we have no Class C whereas in Belgium it covers the whole country from low altitude up to FL195. Hence perhaps the different planning and departure constraints with less flexibility for VFR.
Last edited by Tagron; 9th Jan 2018 at 23:11.