Info on flying through Bulgaria, Romania
 

All,
I am going over to Bulgaria next week to ferry a Yak 18T from Varna to Hungary via Romania.
The VFR charts should be here soon but would anyone have any general tips about flying in Bulgaria and Romania, such as VFR routes one must follow, overflight authorisations, etc.
Also, a number of countries now make airport plates available online. Anyone knows if it's the case for Bulgaria and Romania?
Thanks in advance

Replies on the forum rather than via PM are much appreciated, as I'm also interested :)

Even if the answer is late, maybe it will help others:
(for Romania)
For such a flight you need a aircraft insurance and to file a flight plan.
For flights that do not cross the FIR boundary and are in G airspace only there is no more need to file a flight plan. As we speak (type) a VFR chart can be obtained from the Romanian CAA.
When flying VFR in Romania, beside the big airports you have to pay attention to the GA airfields owned by the Romanian Airclub. There are about 17 such strips around the main cities.
In rest, here in Romania we have a saying: Fly outside of your aircraft. So keep an eye open, especially when flying in those zones. There are a lot of glider pilots trying to find the thermals and they expect not to disturbed by an airplane.
Romania is a very beautiful country to fly in, so we can barely wait to hear your English in our headsets!

Foarte bine Alex, welcome on the Forum!

You fly in what and from which airfield?

Buna Alex

From Lac Snagov !
do you know Sebi on here

Snagov is nice.....

Strejnic now is too since it has a hard runway!

HI CBG

You'll have a great time flying through Romania,

Though:

AVgas is expensive

And, be very careful, I don't know if the situation has changed in the last few years.

In 2007 when we went there, with the AeroGP circus, we had to request authorization and took time and money to get it.

Flights, at least VFR that was our case, need a special clearance to enter Romanian territory from abroad, regardless if they cross from another EEC state or not.
You need a special code to report in flight plan upon entry. Failing that you were not allowed inside.

Be sure to check that out, in case its still in force, inquire how to go about, I don't know the procedure since it was done in the London offices at the time

Worth overfly the Carpatian mountains..Don't miss that !!

These procedures aren't required anymore, a flight plan is the only requirement, beside the normal third party insurance, and for local flights in G space only an information call to military is enough.
Airports taxes are high, the minimal EUR 50 charge is still in the AIP :( but there are a few smaller places with no charges at all, if the aircraft can handle shorter grass strips.

Here is how Carpathians look like:

I recently planned to fly to Greece via Sofia but their price was ridiculous at something over £200. Like Tirana in Albania, the bill included stuff like runway lighting.

There seems to be a shortage of airports which have both customs and avgas. I hope they improve things; they can because they are starting with a post-communist clean sheet. So long as they don't employ some UK empire building airport manager who promises them a 737 a day and then kicks out GA :) Croatia did it right, which shows it is possible.

If you come from Hungary, you might want to do the customs on LRAR (Arad). As far as I know they used to have AvGAS available for GA, not very cheap tho .. about 2.5 EUR / liter, but better call and ask for availability.

Fees are about 30 EUR / landing, more information on their fee structure you can find here:

International Airport Arad

From there you can indeed visit the grass aerodromes that belong to the AeroClub of Romania. You can go via Sibiu, then to Craiova (LRCV) for customs before entering Bulgaria and AvGAS (call first) About us

Other route that you can consider is via Sibiu - Brasov (Ghimbav) - Bucharest (Clinceni or LRBS if you'd like AVGAS and clear customs. LRBS fees should be about 50 EUR. AvGAS is availabe from TotalAir, but call before you arrive):

Aeroportul Internacional Bucure_ti Bneasa - Aurel Vlaicu

They are both nice routes with mostly mountain landscapes and valleys. Let me know what it would be of more interest to you and I'll try to find a nicer route. Also, where in Bulgaria is your final destination?

VFR flight is pretty straight forward, fill a flight plan and take-off. You can now fill the FP online at Login (needs registration - it's simple, you just need a valid email address).

You should indeed keep your eyes open for glider activity near aeroclub's airfields and military activity in south. You will probably be in touch with the military on 130.00 (Rubin Control, Topaz Control, Onix Control depends on where you're flying, but they all share the same freq.) They will advise on any traffic.

Romania
 

VFR flight in Romania is much simple now.
I suggest you to follow the following steps:
1. Coming in to Romania , based on your flight plan, you must enter in Romania via a FIR point then - you must land on an airport with custom. Romania is not in Schengen yet so you will need to clear custom first. It is not necessary to land in Romania on the first international airport. For logistik point of view it is better to land were you will find AVGAS.
2. airports with AVGAS: LRBS, LRAR, LRTC - thoes are the only airports were you will find operators which are allowed to sell avgas. I recomend to call first.
3. Leaving Romania - you will have to make your last t/o from an airport with custom.

Fuel in Szeged HU - is much cheaper. Also they can organise custom if you advise them before.

Should you need any other help please contact us.

We have three YAK52 at Strejnic.

Have a nice flight! :ok:

Pleasant memories of flying over Romania back in 2003, lots of paperwork then but beautiful landscapes.:ok:

I see from his profile CBG never made another post.