Night flight vfr Belgium - UK
 

Hello all,

I noticed there were quite a few topics about night flying in the UK, but they were all related to G-registered aircraft.

The question: I would like to make a night flight (vfr, vmc) from EBOS (Oostende) to EGKB (Biggin Hill) in a Belgian OO-registered aircraft with a Belgian JAR PPL + night rating.

Information I found soo far:
* night 'vfr' is not allowed as such, but you can avoid this by filing an IFR flight plan, as long as you stay VMC
PROBLEM: This is only for G-registered aircraft, I can't find any information about OO-aircraft.
* you can fly special vfr. I used this one to fly to the channel islands
PROBLEM: The trip EBOS - EGKB should theoretically be able to fly in controlled class A airspace, but it's close to Londen, and I doubt this will be allowed. Either way, I'll have to pass a few miles or feet in uncontrolled airspace because Biggin Hill is an ATZ up to 2000 ft and the class A only starts at 2500 ft.

Soo, the basic question: is this flight legally possible in one way or another. Let's assume the weahter is very good everywhere.

Thank you very much for any input.
Kind regards,
Digits

Well, lets break down the problem.

1. Can you fly night VFR in Belgian airspace? If so, then you can get to the London FIR boundary.

2. Can you fly under IFR in VMC in a Belgian aircraft, with a Belgian PPL + Night qualification? (The UK part of this is pretty much irrelevant, as the UK allows this, but does the Belgian leglisation put restrictions on this worldwide?)

If the answer to this part is yes, then you're there.

If the answer to this part is no, then there is no what that I can see that you can do it. (You can't in an Irish registered aircraft by the way. You need an IR to fly under IFR, no matter where you are.)

SVFR is only available in a control zone (not all class A, only a control zone CTR). As there is no control zone that links the edge of the UK FIR to Biggin Hill, it's not possible to go entirely SVFR in UK airspace.

Whether anyone would be bothered is another question entirely though. I suspect, but only suspect, that the answer is that noone would be bothered, unless you had an incident.

dp

Thanks for your reply.

1) Yes
2) Unfortunately no

I guess it doesn't look good then :(

There is a JAR rule that said something along the lines of:
A pilot without an IR can fly under IFR, provided that they remain in VMC if it is required to comply with a technicality.

However this rule was never copied into Irish law as far as I can see, hence an EI reg aircraft can't fly at night in the UK (except SVFR in a control zone).

Might be worth looking to see if that rule was copied into Belgian law....if it was, it would give you a way to fly under IFR without an IR in UK airspace.


dp

I found that law in some other topics indeed. But it was not copied to the Belgian law either unfortunately :(

How can tourists admire the night view of your beautiful country with those strange rules :}

Well, MY beautiful country doesn't make any provision for night flight except IFR with an IR :{

So neither local's nor tourists can do so unless they have an IR :hmm: