Flying in Europe
 

Was interested to know if anyone had any experience flying in easter europe (Poland, Lithuania, etc. as i was looking at flying there in the summer.

Also whats this talk of ELT requirements in Belgium/Holland?

Many thanks

Well, duh, it's a requirement. In Holland at least. Mode-S too, above 1200' AGL.

For mode-S, refer to the AIP of the Netherlands, specifically:
GEN 1.5, para 4
ENR 1.6, para 2

There's also a few AICs about this, available from AIS Netherlands or the Eurocontrol site.

For ELT, it's actually an ICAO requirement (annex 6 amd. 31), made applicable in Dutch law as of Feb. 1st, 2009, and is applicable to all international flights in the Dutch FIR. Refer to AIC-B 07/08 for details:

http://www.ivw.nl/Images/AIC-B%200708_tcm247-223162.pdf

ELT
 

Hi, thanks very much for the links, basically you have to have a fixed automatic ELT, i dont see whats wrong with the hand helds but nevermind.

Worth looking at the Kannad AF COMPACT. One of the cheapest ones and easy to install. EASA and FAA approved. Should get the whole job done under a grand (£).

Poland is fun. Not as much burocracy as there used to be, and you can get your hands on some unusual types. RT in english can be a bit random away from the major airports. Don't know about Lithuania.

Sounds like its deafinately worth a look, thanks.

I can imagine the RT can be fun, sounds good. Have you done much flying out there? take it you flew yourself there or did u hire something out there?

plus.......
 

... no major probs with Latvia, Estonia or Lithuania for VFR traffic. Controllers' English usually pretty good. Don't be daunted by dozens of staff in military-style uniforms, make sure your flight-plans are detail-perfect and check for fuel availability before you set off. Many airports in the above 3 countries have museums/scrapyards full of stuff from the old Soviet days (Riga best IIRC) Good luck. bm

First trip was to fly a balloon competition at Leszno, and we got cleared on the Wilga, and flew two other types, some sort of touring Yak and I forget what the other one was... Next time we flew in in the Cub to Jelenia Gora, and did some tugging at the Grunau Baby meet, and flew the Yak 12 which is like a Cub on steroids. I went to Gliwice on that trip, too. We did some gliding too, all sorts of fun stuff. mostly vintage wooden types. We've been by road as well, with our Libelle in its trailer. Good wave in the autumn and spring.

Don't forget the Czech Republic - lots of grass runways or ex-mil concrete, usually English RT if you request in advance. And it's a brilliant place to spend some time!

it certainly is brilliant i have spent a good 5 days in Prague.....would suggest a visit to anyone!...anyone who is single!

Hi, I am Polish GA pilot, fly a lot IFR/VFR, Poland, Czech, Hungary are easy going, but make sure they have fuel where you go (in Poland it may be difficult to get except ca. 10 major airports, but it is cheap), for Poland there is a great website - Portal | dlapilota.pl, Czech Republic is probably easiest for pilot, if you consider Slovenia and Croatia they are friendly and nice with cheap fuel, Romania is very difficult (for VFR you need prior permit before even overflying) and veeery expensive (e.g. EUR 250 for handling and 1 day parking i paid in Cluj Napoca),

poland
 

Great, thanks very much!

vfr to hungary
 

does anyone have any experience in vfr flying to hungary?
is it possible to make an cross- border flight (VFR) to hungary without mode-s transponder?

Except for awful VFR+GPS chart from Jeppesen (there are no lakes depicted, etc.) and pure boredom with flat landscape it's actually pretty easy provided you know how to do DR properly or you navigate by other means. Be sure to have all the frequencies that you think you might need written down, since ATC tends to mix the numbers - the accent doesn't help, truth be told.

And if you actually read the AIP, there is nothing that even remotely suggest you would need S-mode transponder for VFR flights, neither does Jeppesen VFR Text for Hungary.