Microlight excursions: crossing the English Channel

[Jan Olieslagers]

The weather not allowing any real flying, I am slowly beginning to convert ideas and what-others-told-me into plans. If the good times keep on rolling, I will have some budget AND some time to go and fly places. As a low-time microlight pilot, plagued by changes of plane by two clubs, my idea is to first make a few trips into France - if one has a first class aviation-friendly country around the corner, it should not go ignored.
A first real poser, which I yet hope to realise somewhere in 2011, would be to cross the English channel. The plan would be: from my home field EBAM to Calais-Dunkirk LFAC for customs, then cross the water as short as possible - roughly from ING NDB to Dover VOR - then land wherever possible, perhaps Headcorn with its nice reputation, with Lydd as an alternate, perhaps even Rochester.

Q1: does Headcorn have the required customs facilities as a "port of entry"? Perhaps it must be arranged a couple of days before?

Q1b: are Headcorn and Lydd actually open on weekdays? Something tells me Headcorn might be rather quiet, if open at all, outside weekends.

Q1c: from Headcorn, how can I close the flight plan on arrival, and file a new one at departure?

Q2 is the hardest: altitude. Calculating a distance of 22,2 NM from St-Inglevert to Dover, I will be 11,1 NM from land at most. At an estimated 1:9 glide rate, I calculated a safe altitude of 7500 feet (11,1 * 6076 / 9), more or less. And that seems very high to me, having never been beyond 3000' AMSL yet. I'm sure the little plane can do it, though. Ah yes, the plane: check it at http://www.skylaneulm.com/index.asp?lg=3 - no mention of glide rate, alas, I will have to check that in the POH.

Q2b: how would the minimum safe altitude be affected by winds? I tried to work it out, but only came to the conclusion that any wind component perpendicular to my course would increase the required minimum safe altitude, while a component along my course would reduce it. But I cannot be sure. Far be it from me to do the math... any pointers?

Q2c: at 7500 AMSL - I suppose that will become FL075 - will a mode S transponder be required, either for France or for UK? No IFR flying in any case!

Q3: safety equipment? I suppose a floatation jacket is the absolute minimum, but am not so sure it would be much use. The more so that I never was trained in using one, actually I cannot even swim. And I do not think this club plane carries an ELT, either.

Q4 (less urgent, rather out of sheer curiosity) : upon leaving the LFAC radio frequency, whom would I be talking to next, depending on altitudes?

Q5: areas to avoid? The one I am aware of is the nuclear power plant north-east of Calais. Are there more? Manston CTR/TMA, perhaps?

TIA for any help - I'll keep you posted if I ever actually go. If your answers don't scare me off, that is.

[AdamFrisch]

I can't answer all your questions, but I do know that Headcorn is open daily but have no customs facilities. Lydd (my UK home field) however has and is also a very friendly and cheap field. There's a power station right next to it with a restricted area, otherwise Kent and East Sussex are relatively free of such.

As you pass east of the coast, the G airspace opens up - I don't have the CAA charts here with me in California, but I think some of it go up to where class C begins (at FL195), so plenty of room to go high if that's what you want. However, as you get to France, you might be forced to get down in a hurry as they have different classifications and airspace. Also, the UK (silly as it is) quadrantal rule makes only a few FLs available to you. But generally, crossing the channel you have to be prepared to fly at altitudes that will mean getting your feet wet in the case of an emergency. It's just how it is.

Manston can provide radar service for you. And you need to have filed a VFR flight plan at least an hour before departure. Good luck.

[rans6andrew]

I don't htink that Manston are "microlight friendly" and I also think that their landing fee might make you think twice before going in there. We invariably use Headcorn when we go to or return from France, they are up to speed with flight plans in both directions. When we fly back we need to give customs enough notice by a GAR form, which suffices for arrival at Headcorn, I assume this will work for people based outside the UK.

There is much useful info for planning trips abroad at

Flight Planning (http://www.wfaec.org.uk/flight_planning/flight_planning_forms.html)

including the flight plan and GAR (customs stuff) forms.

A call to the very helpful folk at Headcorn will tell you if they will be happy to see you. +44 1622 890226 for the airfield control tower, I think, or email to

jamie (hat) headcornaerodrome.co.uk

Happy flying,

Rans6.....

[patowalker]

Q1 Yes, available 9.00 to SS. Phone before you leave Calais. Edit: Checked with Headorn this a.m. No need to phone, as they will act on the flight plan.

Q1b Yes, they are open during the week.

Q1c Just go into the office marked "C".

Q2 Your altitude will be limited by airspace restrictions. Forget about crossing in a microlight if you expect to be within gliding distance throughout the crossing.

Q2b see above

Q2c Mode S is not required in France or UK.

Q3 At least a flotation jacket and dry-suit.

Q4 Most microlighters inbound to Headcorn, will contact them from mid-Channel.

Q5 The nuclear power plant. If you infringe that, expect to spend a very long time and a lot of money in Calais.

You will find some useful info here, even though it is aimed at traffic in the other direction: The Whitehill Farm Aero Club (http://www.wfaec.org.uk/)

[letpmar]

Hi Jan
I often cross the channel to visit France germany and Luxembourg and often use Headcorn. I started learning t
o fly there and know it well. If you want to chat about a trip and need any maps give me a call or mail me direct.

Pete

+ 44 (0)1932 701321

[email protected]

[Jan Olieslagers]

Thanks for the replies and for the warm welcome both to Lydd and to Headcorn. There seem some incongruencies in the answers, I'll have to work them out. Plenty of time for that, especially as it seems I can't be sure to avoid feeling the water temperature so better not try this before high summer.
Will keep you posted! Meanwhile, more ideas always welcome.

As for the White Hill club: at a first glance this looks so nice, typically Brits, linking to nav2000 that dropped out close on a year ago, and even cleverly disguising it as navcom2000 on the links page. Very educating, one really learns to find one's own way. ( For those who wonder: all that was previously available at www.nav2000.com (http://http://www.nav2000.com) and even a few things more can now be found at http://navigeo.org (http://www.navigeo.org/) ) I just hope an EG-D zone was defined around that farm of theirs.

[BackPacker]

Q3: safety equipment? I suppose a floatation jacket is the absolute minimum, but am not so sure it would be much use. The more so that I never was trained in using one, actually I cannot even swim. And I do not think this club plane carries an ELT, either.

This topic has been discussed here before a number of times. The opinions vary from "I cross the Channel without any kit even in winter" to "I cross the Channel only in summer and only with the full survival kit".

Full survival kit meaning, at least, a personal flotation device (aka lifevest), a drysuit, a PLB (preferably one with GPS) and a liferaft. Maybe some optical means of finding you too (smoke flares, colored dye, signal mirror, rescue streamer, ...) and maybe a whistle too.

It's up to you to determine what level of risk to take. There's even people who drop their loved ones off in Calais to take the Chunnel train, do the crossing alone and pick their loved ones off in Dover again.

But having said that, if you do get survival kit, make sure it's the proper kind for aviation, and learn how to use it.

A life vest for aviation use, for instance, should NOT be the auto-inflatable kind that you can get in the maritime world. A dry suit is only safe when it's fully done up, with no zips left open, not even a cm. And doing up that last cm is hard work, particularly in the confines of a cramped cockpit, while other stuff is going on too. A life raft should be deployed properly and even then it's not easy to get into if you've never had any proper training. And so on and so forth.

There's a lot of information about surviving a water ditching here:
EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE - Outdoors Gear, Survival Equipment Review & Survival Information (http://www.equipped.org/)

As others have said, if you cross the Channel under VFR rules, there's no way you can do so while being in gliding distance of land all the way, unless you're in a motorglider. But the time you'll be out of gliding distance is only 10 minutes or so, and the engine doesn't know it's over water. How much kit are you going to buy/rent, and learn how to use, for that 10 minutes?

Personally I've done the crossing KOK - KONAN - DVR a few times, every time with just an aviation life vest and no other survival kit. I've never felt uncomfortable with that crossing but I do make a point of getting the best ATC service I can get. If things go pear-shaped halfway at least somebody's going to know about it within seconds.

[patowalker]

As for the White Hill club: at a first glance this looks so nice, typically Brits, linking to nav2000 that dropped out close on a year ago, and even cleverly disguising it as navcom2000 on the links page. Very educating, one really learns to find one's own way. ( For those who wonder: all that was previously available at www.nav2000.com (http://http//www.nav2000.com) and even a few things more can now be found at http://navigeo.org (http://www.navigeo.org/) ) I just hope an EG-D zone was defined around that farm of theirs.

Jan,
Another safety precaution when crossing the Channel is to avoid being a smart arse. :)

[Mark1234]

Jan, I can't offer any advice on channel crossing specifically, I'm in the same camp as you in wanting to do it. However, I can say 7500 is basically a non issue (airspace aside). Having spent many hours up at 10k in a lowly 172, it's rather fun, and I don't understand why everyone flies around at 2000 or so! Be aware that when you come down you'll feel like you're down to circuit alt when you're still at 3000 :)

[BackPacker]

(airspace aside)

Around DVR class A starts at FL65 so that's the maximum level you can fly at in the UK FIR part of the crossing.

On the other side of the Channel it depends on where you go "feet wet". It may be uncontrolled all the way up to oxygen levels, you might hit controlled airspace (class C) from FL65 and up, or you might end up in the Ostende TMA, which starts at 1500'. And obviously you need to be aware of the Calais CTR, which extends up to 1500', or the Koksijde CTR which extends up to FL55 (but may be active to lower levels too).

I have found Ostende Approach very accommodating, offering an excellent service all the way from COA to KONAN via KOK. I typically do the crossing at FL35/45.

London Info is also trying to be very helpful but they're being limited by the sheer volume of requests, and their lack of radar. Next time I'm going to talk to Manston Radar for a LARS, instead of London Info.

[Jan Olieslagers]

As for the White Hill club: at a first glance this looks so nice, typically Brits, linking to nav2000 that dropped out close on a year ago, and even cleverly disguising it as navcom2000 on the links page. Very educating, one really learns to find one's own way. ( For those who wonder: all that was previously available at www.nav2000.com (http://http//www.nav2000.com) and even a few things more can now be found at http://navigeo.org (http://www.navigeo.org/) ) I just hope an EG-D zone was defined around that farm of theirs. Jan,
Another safety precaution when crossing the Channel is to avoid being a smart arse. http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gif
Sincere apologies, Sir, I really tried my best to report an error in the most positive way I could. Should have left out the racist bit, though, sorry again.

And allow me to quote the late Mr. Viktor Tsjernomyrdin: "Better to be the head of a fly than the buttocks for an elephant." So yes, I'll take your recommendation and try to be a dumb-head forthwith, rather than a smart-arse. Or what was it you meant to say?

[Rod1]

First point would be actually cross at the narrowest point, which is 18nm. In my machine, I am typically out of gliding range for 90sec! You are crossing the busiest waterway in the world; if you have a problem and you put down near a suitable boat you will probably get picked up PDQ.

Rod1

[patowalker]

Sincere apologies, Sir, I really tried my best to report an error in the most positive way I could. Should have left out the racist bit, though, sorry again.
Apologies? Did you miss the smilie?

I would have thought that the Aero Club's Honours system would have given you a clue that a sense of humour is an essential requirement for membership. Where else could you earn (or lose) the following points for Acts of Heroism?

Ditching in the channel/surviving 30 per event
Ditto but not surviving -10 per event

Thanks for pointing out the errors, which will be corrected as soon as we can find someone that can use a computer. We are also trying to recover the Good Airfield Guide, which was lost when we changed servers. Waiting staff are just not what they used to be.

BTW, if you ever locate the farm, please let us know where it is.

[ChasG]

nice looking plane

[Jan Olieslagers]

@PatoWalker: I did indeed manage to miss the smilie. As an old-fashioned conservative professional IT'er, I still use the hand-crofted emoticons like };-) and }:-) , can't get used to all this new-fangled graphic tomfoolery. Actually I have only been using an X-session for internet discussions for a couple of months; last summer a pulley broke in the good old teletype and of course no spare was to be found even though no kind of label was required.

As for finding the farm I think it a real shame the British pilots with all their RAF tradition and landing on the Falklands and what not should be unable to locate it. Can't help suspecting your feeble efforts were made either on Friday afternoon under great thirst, or on Monday morning under the ensuing headache or worse. After all the farm should not be so very hard to locate, just make a tour of the white hills in England, there's not THAT many of them is there? The one with clouds of white smoke and nonsense thickest is the likely spot.

And to relink your lost files - or pointers more likely - aye I might surely be able to add some salt to that dish, but am much afraid my rates might well be prohibitively high, seeing the huge expenses on ELT's, PLB's, maps, XR4, QED certification and what not that are apparently required to implement my cherished dream. Not to mention a grade 4 swimming certification, very hard to get around Timbuktu. And no I'll not publish details of the deal with my cousin Moshe who has some strong connections in certain second-hand trading environments where he even managed to sell the broken teletype for more money than we ever paid for it.

And now I am afraid it is time to get back to dreary reality.

@ChasG: yes it does look nice. Still nicer to sit in, if you never knew better than a Coyote with its exposed plumbery and other intimacies. The trouble is many people miss the point of the joke and take it for a real Skylane. Only last week some bloody Swede in his bloody PA28 had the impertinence to cheerfully announce "Roger, Roskilde tower, we have the white Cessna in sight." Wasn't a Swede actually, and wasn't a tower either. Wasn't even at Roskilde really. It did be a PA28 though and it did be a bloody shame.

[Sam Rutherford]

Put on a life jacket, fly across. Your engine doesn't know you're over water - you'll be absolutely fine.

Fly into AIR STRIP (http://clipgate.co.uk/air_strip.htm) in Kent - Bob is really friendly and it's completely free (there's a tin to help with the mowing fund).

Notify Kent Police and the UK Border Agency 24 hours in advance (I think it's actually just 3 hours, but not sure), file your flight plan and you're done.

Easy, very, very easy.

Safe flights, Sam.

[Sam Rutherford]

Just to emphasise this:

There is no requirement whatsoever to enter the UK by a Customs or whatever aerodrome. You can fly into the UK and land in a friend's garden, no problem. Plane or helicopter, same rules!

All you have to do is inform Plod (the local police) and the UKBA (with a lat long if there's nothing else. I've had them waiting for me occasionally - very friendly (pretty easy gig for them I suspect).

Safe flights, Sam.

[Jan Olieslagers]

Thanks for insisting, Sam, this really does sound like FAR out of the usual. Can't help wondering why the UK gov't stubbornly keep out of Schengen if they're so lenient where it could actually matter. But of course that's an off-topic political discussion.

[It flies]

Does anyone have a brand of life vest they would like to recommend? I followed the link in Backpackers post and the Switlik Helicopter Crew vest seems to be the best one available.

Switlik - Aviation Catalog - Helicopter Crew Vest (http://www.switlik.com/aviation-catalog-helicopter-crew-vest.html)

It's not cheap though and I can't find them for sale in Holland. Any other recommendations? The HM Survivor lifejacket perhaps?

Safety & Survival (http://www.pilotshop.nl/contents/en-uk/d44.html)

Are any of these more comfortable to wear in a light aircraft than others?

[BackPacker]

I've got this one:

AFE GA-2 aircrew lifejacket : Default - Airplan Flight Equipment (http://www.afeonline.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=1544)

Make sure you get the one with the spray hood, crotch strap and emergency light. A life vest without a crotch strap is useless and the spray hood is invaluable if there's any swell or wind. As for the light... Well, it's a nice touch but you'll be doing the crossing in daylight and if the search takes so long that the light becomes relevant, you've died from hypothermia anyway.

No problem wearing this one for two hours straight. The only thing I'd change is that the piece that sits behind your neck is straight, and rubs in your neck if you're only wearing a shirt or something. If it were available with a rounded bit there I'd gotten that one instead.

I can't find them for sale in Holland.

The Pilot Shop at Lelystad Airport has them.

Safety & Survival (http://www.pilotshop.nl/contents/en-uk/d44.html)


this really does sound like FAR out of the usual.

It is. However, Sam forgot to add two little details:
- There are restrictions. You may not carry commercial cargo for instance, and I think there are also restrictions on the nationality of the occupants. In practice however, for GA touring these restrictions are not really relevant.
- You have to submit the GAR form (General Aviation Report) to certain branches of the governement, a certain number of hours in advance. Which branches and their notification time is on the back of the form. They might (or more often: might not) elect to wait for you upon arrival so it's also important you keep them informed of any change in plans. (Try doing that through London Info if anything in-flight happens that requires a diversion...:rolleyes:)

Alternatively, obviously, you can go to a customs airfield. Some of these are simply H24, so you turn up, show the passports, pay the landing/handling fee and be on your way, others have a certain PN period for customs. All in any decent flight guide of course. If you cross at the narrowest gap in the Channel, Manston and Lydd are the obvious choices.

When entering, but also when leaving the Schengen area, you've also got to arrive at, or leave from, a customs airfield. Something to keep in mind if your home base happens not to be a customs field.

[It flies]

Do you mean the Pilot Shop at Lelystad carry the Switlik? They don't list them on their website? I had seen their HM Survivor. I'll take a look a that one. I take it a spray hood is a seperate item?

Any other recommendations?

[patowalker]

As I mentioned earlier, Headcorn confirmed to me on the phone that they do not require pre-advice of arrivals from the EU, as long as the corresponding Flight Plan has been filed.

[ChasG]

Jan - my comment was in the context of comparing it to a cessna which I am learning in. Looks a much nicer experience. I have been considering changing to microlight eurostar or Ikarus

[Sam Rutherford]

I've been met by the Police and UKBA twice now (which I actually found quite reassuring) out of many flights to UK.

They are very friendly (and happy to find that I wasn't some gangster with 10kgs of the good stuff and 17 Africans aboard!).

Go for it, it's easy.

Safe flights, Sam.

[ChasG]

Jan it all looks very complicated. Best advice is to find someone who has done all this before - offer to buy lunch and a nice bottle if they will navigate and do all the radio calls while you enjoy the flying. If he gets bored over the channel get him to blow up the life raft. Once I get my PPL that is what I shall do. Chas

[BackPacker]

Good tip. My first trip was on my own and I spent a fair amount of time preparing. Still, there were some surprises. Booking out for instance.

One thing that hasn't been discussed so far is all the ATSOCAS services (Basic Service obviously being the most important), including where you can get a LARS from, and the correct response to "Pass Your Message".

And the Overhead Join of course.:cool:

If you search this forum for any combination of "Channel Crossing", "Overhead Join", "ATSOCAS", "GAR form", "LARS", "Farnborough Radar" and "Pass Your Message" you should find a wealth of information. Together with a good read of a flight guide should get you ready.

Oh, and did we tell you that they speak English in the UK, and that it might be a good idea if you respond in kind? I was doing a cross-channel trip myself when a bunch of German microlights came on frequency. Apparently in some sort of loose formation with one of them being the dedicated radio operator. At some point in time the following exchange could be heard:
"D-XXXX formation, London Info, squawk 1177"
"Ach ja, London Information, D-XXXX formation, squawk 7700" (You need to imagine the German accent.)
"D-XXXX formation, negative, squawk one-one-seven-seven"
"Ach ja, seven-seven-zero-zero"
"D-XXXX formation, that is not correct. I say again one, one, seven, seven, do you understand?"
...silence until an anonymous voice came up:
"D-XXXX hor mal zu, du sollst eins-eins-sieben-sieben einschalten, ja?"
"Ach ja, eins-eins-sieben-sieben, ja, ach, er, one-one-seven-seven"
"Whoever that was, this is London Info, thank you. <sigh>"

[Piper.Classique]

Ok, now that you have all scared him off the idea :} If the engine stops in an inconvenient place you will get wet. If the engine stops over vast expanses of pine trees you will land in the trees and probably never be seen again. I prefer crossing the channel :E . No reason why the engine should stop, Rotax seem to work every bit as well as Lycomings, but some precautions seem to be in order.
I wear a lifejacket and carry a PLB and go in a straight line from Caen to IOW more often than not. Normally this involves Plymouth Mil for the danger areas. They don't bite.
Then I land somewhere friendly that has grass. Next year we are going to bite the bullet and install a transponder, which should make Solent happier, not to mention not having to get PPR for all the places in class D. It's actually a bit of a non event. Be prepared to report mid channel, seems a bit daft because they probably know better than me where I am. Maybe I should get a GPS as well.

[patowalker]

For some outbound UK microlighters "mid-Channel" seems to be a mile off Cap Gris Nez, 'cause they want to keep in contact with Jamie at Headcorn as long as possible, in the belief that, if necessary, he will get a SAR helicopter to them sooner than anybody else.

Actually, it is smarter to get in touch with Lille sooner, because airborne SAR in the narrowest part of the Channel is provided by the French Navy's Dauphin helicopter based at Le Touquet.