flight over Bulgaria

[SP-THC]

Hi,
I plan a VFR trip from Poland to Greece over Romania and Bulgaria - or Serbia and Macedonia,
I have already been in Romania so know I need CAA approval,

but Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedoania - does anybody know how to overfly it? Is flight plan enough or I need special approval? (I do not need to land),

thanks,
Greg

[DLT1939]

Permission for overflight of GA aircraft does not seem to be required. See Buglarian AIP:

http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadbasic/pamslight-52B0DD896B0A74DA9C147DB2267F81F0/FVPKZ6TQIBNGW/EN/AIP/GEN/LB_GEN_1_2_en_2009-06-30.pdf

[IO540]

Funny that; I am planning Slovakia (LZKZ) to Greece or Turkey in September. That overflies Bulgaria too. I am going IFR but have not come across any overflight requirements.

Avgas and airport PPR are the main issues down that way.

[SP-THC]

thank you guys,
right - Bulgaria does not require permit to overfly (I just received an answer from their CAA),
however if you would like to overfly Romania VFR you need approval (they do it by e-mail)

do you know how it is with Serbia and Macedonia?

[IO540]

I am not aware of any issues with these countries but if you want a definitive answer you will need to read their AIPs.

Some of them may however require VFR flight (I presume this is a VFR question) on specific routes, so you cannot simply fly outside CAS like you can do everywhere else. Often, these routes are on the published airways. Greece likes that kind of thing, for example, and Montenegro and Albania also require specific routes and will refuse a VFR flight plan through their airspace if these are not followed.

So it's worth asking if specific routes need to be flown. I suspect it will be a minimal issue, but I would be suspicious of Macedonia.

Note that this is not the same thing as flying the "level level VFR" routes which are seen on some VFR charts e.g. Italy; these don't mean anything other than provide low level (generally below 1000ft) routes through CAS, and they tend to be used by local pilots.

[DLT1939]

No problem VFR in Serbia and Macedonia although they like you to fly in Airways and tend to offer IFR approaches.

Although Abania may require FPL's along airways I don't believe you are restricted to them for VFR flight. AIP seems to confirm this:
http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadbasic/pamslight-6744FE52BD08E34589E29E954964FD88/OQX5W2MELX7K4/EN/AIP/ENR/LA_ENR_1_2_en_2008-09-25.pdf
I have not had a problem flying low level VFR and often Tirana can't hear you and don't seem to care. No overflight permission required.