Night VFR and filing flight plans in the UK/Europe

[IO540]

It takes about a week or so to get your account on AFPEx.

Glad to hear it has been reduced from "months" which the early subscribers waited for (myself included).

It would be great to have email/sms notifications. Well done heinke, whoever you are Will you also fix the java download? It does mean you will need to freeze the development state of the client application, but that should be easy because it is just a dumb terminal.

[debiassi]

ll flight in the UK at night has to be conducted under IFR for pretty obviouse reasons really. Now just because you dont have an instrument rating does not mean you arent able to fly IFR. Of course your not afforded the same priviliges as an instrument rated pilot but if you have a night rating and are current, then you can fly ifr outside of controlled airspace or even svfr inside class d atz to name an example. The misconception is that only instrument rated pilots can fly or file IFR and that is far from the truth. To fly to minima or fly in class A airspace or airways which of course are class A in the UK, then indeed a current IR is needed. Another misconception is that IMC rated pilots can fly to procedure chart minima. Again this is not the case and in the UK and IMC is no substitute for an IR. All an IMC does is reduce the minima required for VFR flight down to 1800m which is required for take off and landing. Any chart minima is of course well below this.

[LH2]

debiassi,

thank you for replying, but I think you will find that everything you say about flying "IFR" in the UK is well known and has already been covered on this thread, and everything you say about IMC has been the subject of long and typically acrimonious discussions here in the past.