mm_flynn
That is a brilliant idea
Together with flying VFR (I mean OCAS
) from ZZZZ to the UK FIR boundary, that has to work.
Might have to do some aerobatics if say going to France, because if you turn up at say ALESO at FL074 you won't be able to call up (
AFAIK) Paris Control; you will call up Lille and then ask for a climb say FL140 and then they will transfer you to Paris Control, whereas if you came off London Control you would get handed to Paris Control straight off. This has some impact on the kind of wx you are dealing with prior to ALESO; you don't want to be collecting ice
at FL074 and with an unknown amount of IMC above you.
The return to the UK is not a problem, as it happens, because it is wholly legitimate to file IFR to e.g. LTQ and when overhead LTQ you divert to the intended UK (south coast, outside the olympic zone) destination. At the same time you cancel IFR. The Captain can divert anywhere he wants. That kind of thing is illegit only if you are breaching Schengen Customs rules etc.
So the flight
to the UK is wholly VFR and not bound by slots.
If you want to make it even more proper, file the UK destination as the alternate on the flight plan and they will then have a copy of the flight plan. Not that that means anything because
AFAIK filing some airport as the alternate doesn't mean anything, and doesn't do anything more than if you addressed that airport separately on the flight plan (or just phoned them of your ETA).
I have today been told that Eurocontrol will not only enforce the Z/Y ban but will also enforce the slots so if e.g. the airport has 2 slots for 0900-1000 and 1 person files IFR for 0905 and another files IFR for 0930 then when you try to file IFR for 0945, Eurocontrol will refuse to accept the flight plan. This really suprised me...