Packo says he is a "relatively inexperienced pilot" but I assume has a good bit of training due to currently going thru his ATPL. I have less training (I,m basically a vfr duffer) but thru my membership in the Flying Farmers Assc. I have the opportunity for a 3 day fly-in/battlefield tour in France in June. I have never flown on the continent but was thinking about giving it whirl.
Why shouldn't you give it a whirl? Flying abroad is easy if you follow a few rules:
1) Departing from the UK you have to go to a customs airfield.
If you're returning from (eg) France, then don't forget to send the GA Declaration to your local Police force at least 4 hours in advance if you're not landing at an international airport - just google General Aviation Declaration Form or look for GAR09 (hint: you can find it
here and instructions are available on how to fill it out correctly and the fax number where to send it to can be found
here to download.
2) File a flight plan - although some countries (Austria to Germany and back springs to mind) do not require you to file a flight plan, from to / the UK you will have to file a flight plan for crossing country borders. When you contact FIS, instead of saying where I started, where I am going and postion, I always state postion and "enroute as per flight plan" - they can see where I'm coming from, where I'm going to and usually they'll hand me off automatically to the next FIS if that needs doing. If you've never filed a flight plan, there are websites galore which will assist you with filling them. SD will actually submit one for you.
3) Look for the online AIPs - they're all available to download (except Germany - where the DFS wants you to pay for them
) and print them out. In France, make sure that the location you choose to land at has a tower which has ENGLISH as a spoken language otherwise you might get a shock when you land and are asked for your language proficiency certificate (assuming you don't speak
la Francaise - I have heard that the french are becoming very peculiar about english speaking pilots landing at airfields with french radio.....
Even if you chose to land at an airfield with english language as a choice, what is also helpful is to write a few choice phrases down in the foreign language and learn them - no, not phrases like "your mother was the result of a fleeting sexual liaison between a baboon and a rhinoceros and smells like an elephant's fart" but phrases like right downwind, downwind, base, final so that you can get a grip on where others in the circuit are.
4) TALK to people. I know plenty of bimblers who take off and believe that using the radio costs them performance - at least 2 knots TAS when transmitting
- so never use it again. The FIS abroad are - well, in the countries I have flown in - quite helpful and will usually help you if a) you are lost b) they think you are going to bust an airspace. Having said that, don't be concerned, you won't be asked for a concise review of Peace and War - I flew to Salzburg, then onwards to Budapest and used the radio 8 times whilst airborne, IIRC. You won't be speaking to people all the time - in my case, it was either to accept a handover or traffic info.....
5) Don't forget to close your flightplan at the end of your flight.
6) Oh, yeah - most important:
ENJOY
For info, I'm a VFR duffer like you. If I can do it, anyone can. A little preparation goes a long way and once you've done it, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner......