VFR banned in European Countries

[Mike Borgelt]

Norway has joined Italy in banning VFR flights and flight training.

 

How soon before Australia does it?

[Student Pilot]

Casa working towards that, have been for years

[Flying Binghi]

Italy and Norway..... Why ?

 

We have our GAFA..?

 

 

 

 

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[Nobody]

Norway has joined Italy in banning VFR flights and flight training.

 

How soon before Australia does it?

 

a quick google search failed to turn up any details. Do you have a link about it? Is it because of the virus?

[Guest Machtuk]

Watch the hysteria spread faster than the virus!

[Hunsta]

I was nearly going to make a silly remark about it being because of Corvid-19. But bugger me it is. This pulled from one article.

“We believe is that there is minimal likely risk to a pilot flying solo, providing pre- and post-flight social contact is minimised. There is clearly a greater risk of virus transmission if two or more people share a cockpit, but this risk is no greater than if they were sharing a car on the highway.

 

“Currently countries including Belgium, Norway and Italy have closed their airspace to VFR flights. I understand too that other Baltic states including Lithuania may have similar restrictions. Sweden and Denmark appear to have no blanket closures, although one or two airports have been closed, again due to staffing issues.

Im mean seriously. FFS

[onetrack]

The closure of VFR is simply designed to prevent the spread of virus carriers arriving from other countries. It's simply an extension of border controls.

Don't think for one moment that thousands of people who can't get commercial flights, aren't thinking of hiring a light aircraft to get home, and thereby try to slip past border controls for the virus.

[Sam the Swiss]

Many European countries have limited liberty of action or even curfew. Whereas with limited liberty of action flying an airplane in your possession is still possible (sports if done alone is allowed), it's difficult to go flying with a curfew.

Being close to Italy and getting informations on what is going on there, and having quite some information about the French region close to me where they have triage patients as they do not have enough ventilators, I would suggest that you take that virus seriously and use your lag behind with infections to take measures early enough.

We have the most beautiful weather since at least a week, and we can't go out flying. But our main worries lie somewhere completely else.

Sam

[Jerry_Atrick]

The UK so far has no theoretical restrictions to VFR flying; the quote in Hunsta's post (#6) comes from the UK DfT. However, there is an effective ban of VFR flying as most, of not all GA airfields have closed to al lbut emergency services traffic due to the order to shutdown all but essential businesses. I am not sure about strip flying, bu a look at FR24 suggests nothing is really happening with private flying GA at the moment.

 

At the moment, commercial flights are operating to allow nationals and residents to return home cross border, even Italy, so I doubt people are turning to GA en masse to get home - at the moment:

[ATTACH type=full]51774[/ATTACH]

(Note, the small plane to the west of the highlighted plane in a Kenyan Air Force C27J Spartan).

 

There are definitely many fewer planes than normal in the skies and most over or around Italy are bound for other countries But, unlike the total shutdown of CAT (RPT_ like that which happened when the Icelandic volcano erupted, people can get home. (I had a few calls from people I didn't even know asking me if I would taken them to or repartriate them from Europe back then).

[SplitS]

Shut down VFR in Australia and a lot of mustering stops, bore/fence checks etc. The goverment would not be this stupid. Oh wait.

[Guest Machtuk]

Shut down VFR in Australia and a lot of mustering stops, bore/fence checks etc. The goverment would not be this stupid. Oh wait.

 

Don't forget this is Australia, we are not known to be too clever in most things aviation!!

[tuffnut]

Depending on your perspective, we are also known to be quite naughty. Hopefully that won't change......

TN

[Paulmilo]

Feels like it has shut down anyway. I flew local out of Mangalore last night, zero airline chatter. The only aircraft I heard was an ultralight at Yarrawonga who called Airservices to make sure someone was home. Like me, he was also surprised how quiet it was.

[Oophda]

New Zealand shut down all non-essential flying a the end of day on 25th (VFR or IFR). NO recreational flying until we get out of the virus mess. We started home-isolation at the end of the 25th as well: No boating, hiking/tramping/hunting in wilderness/forest parks, etc. The simple reason is they don't want to risk having to deploy scarce resources to any sort of rescue or recovery operation. It makes sense and seems to be accepted by the vast majority of people.

[Yenn]

I flew this morning and was just on the point of calling up Brisbane Centre, when I heard an airliner calling in and getting a response. It was eerily quiet.

[Vincik]

The ENAC, responsible for all flight rules including VFR, has banned all VFR flights, local, regional or (inter-)national, to prevent people (even if they fly single) to meet others on or outside of their airport of departure and so to spread the virus. It is even forbidden at the moment for everyone without a very strict and documented necessity, to move (afoot, by car or otherwise) from one city or community to another (even if that could be just 2 miles along the road). Heavy fines, and even imprisonment could be the consequence. Food can only be purchased inside your community, and only if (again) strictly necessary: a guy who bought 3 bottles of wine and a packet of pasta was fined Euro 300, as the "vigili" (=local police) considered the wine not an absolute necessity (although their chiefs might have disagreed with this). STAY HOME is the motto.

[Jerry_Atrick]

@Vincik , I saw the NOTAM of Italy closing VFR flights a couple of weeks ago. feel for you as the lockdown is pretty tight there. I would think wine is more of a necessity than other stuff at the moment to help people keep sane (except, of course, those that are negatively affected by alcohol). Here, breweries are considered essential services and pubs are converting to delivery/take away food outlets and some, as in Aus, also do retail. Our local village pub, which has a landlord who is inexperienced is only doing fish and chips every other Saturday at the moment. We are lucky - as of yesterday, in all of Somerset (my county), only 48 people have been comfirned infected and all in the one location, just south of Westonzoyland. As the crow files, it is about 15 miles or so NNE of me (ironically, not far from the GP suregery I am registered at).

 

I hope Italy comes out of it soon... From what I have seen of Italy, it is one of the more community spirited societies I have seen where age is not seen as a defining factor of whom one socialises with; Each time I have been there, I have relished the hospitality and the spirit of Italians (mainly have been to the North). It must be on the verge of agonising for so many to not be able to interact with their fellow people.

 

Stay safe, sir.. Hope to be flying there in June...

[M61A1]

Depending on your perspective, we are also known to be quite naughty. Hopefully that won't change......

TN

When the rules are silly, everything is naughty. If the rules were sensible only idiots would break them.

[Bruce Tuncks]

What awful vigili who don't regard wine as being a necessity. Gosh. I thought Italians were more astute than this.

Who was it who said that rules were for the obedience of fools and guidance for the wise.

[Jabiru7252]

I think I mentioned elsewhere that Parafield has still got lots of traffic flowing.

[facthunter]

Grapes are highly intelligent fruit. Left to themselves the bloom on the skin (wild yeasts) will ferment them . Vinegar fly will convert it to acetic acid if they get to it first. Wine goes back many thousands of years. Nev