Help needed for flying to Ireland from UK

[Plane-Crazy]

Hope you can help. A friend and I are planning a trip to Ireland for next weekend and am looking for some guidance.

We are planning to fly into Waterford initially before onward trip and I understand that flight plans are necessary for flight to regional/international airports. Does that also include flights entering controlled airspace?

How do you file flight plans at towered and non towered airfields?

On our return flight to the UK can we depart from any airfield providing we?ve filed a flight plan or do we need a customs airfield?

Any recommendations for good B&B?s, hotels, restaurants close to ? we?ll probably stick to local transport/taxis:
1. Abbeyshrule
2. Sligo
3. Waterford
4. Galway

Are these good locations? Suggestions for alternates? Since we are flying a TB-20 we are limited to 600m runways minimum.

Looking forward to getting your help.


P-C.

[Pilot]

I understand that flight plans are necessary for flight to regional/international airports. Does that also include flights entering controlled airspace?

Flight plans are required for any flight that will enter controlled airspace at any stage during it's flight, and for any flight entering/leaving the Republic. As all the regionals are surrounded in controlled airspace, this effectively means that you need a flight plan for going into or out of any regional airport.

How do you file flight plans at towered and non towered airfields?

At a controlled airfield you can file it with the tower. The alternative is to call Shannon AIS on +353-61-703750 and they will take it over the phone. This must be filed one hour before departure.

If you are leaving a controlled airport, and will be closing the flight plan once outside their airspace (because you're not going to enter any more controlled airspace), then often you can file the flight plan with the tower, and avoid the 1 hour prefiling requirement.

A very important thing to remember is that unlike in the UK, ALL flight plans in Ireland MUST be closed. If you are landing at a controlled airfield then the flight plan will be automatically closed. If you are landing at an airfield with an a/g service, or a AFIS (like many of the regionals are during certain parts of the day) then it is your responsibility to close it. An AFIS may be nice to you and close it for you, but make sure.

To close it, before you leave their frequency simply ask the last ATC you will be dealing with to close it for you.

If you forget to do that before leaving their frequency, you can close it by telephone by calling Shannon Low Level on +353-61-471233.

Not closing flight plans will not make you popular!

On our return flight to the UK can we depart from any airfield providing we?ve filed a flight plan or do we need a customs airfield?

No need to leave from a customs airfield in Ireland. You will have to send your GAR form to Special Branch & Customs in the UK for your return their, but nothing needs to be done for Irish Authorities purposes.

Any recommendations for good B&B?s, hotels, restaurants close to ? we?ll probably stick to local transport/taxis:
1. Abbeyshrule
2. Sligo
3. Waterford
4. Galway

For Sligo, "The Venue does a lovely lunch"

Walk out of the airport, and follow the road to the T junction at the end. (About 7 minutes walk?)
(If you turn right here, you will come across the Strand Pub which has been recommended to me for lunch, but which I haven't visited, and can't vouch for.)
Instead turn left at this T junction, and follow the road until you come to the church on your right.
Leave the main road, keeping the church on your right, and walk up the hill.
At the top of the road, you will come to another T junction. Turn right.
After a short walk, you will see "The Venue" on your right hand side.
Don't be put off, it doesn't look much from the outside. Walk in through the bar, into the restaurant in the back.

Sunday lunch main courses are between ?10-?15 if I remember correctly, and while not 5* standard, are quite pleasant. Total walking time from the airport will be about 15, maybe 20 minutes.

I've only ever been to this place at the weekend, so can't vouch for it's opening times during the week!

You might want to have a look at this thread for other suggestions.

Galway, Sligo & Waterford are all nice cities. Abbeyshrule is a nice airport, but there's not a lot around it. It's not a city airport.

The Aran Islands are nice, particularly Inish Mor, but it's only 530m (or there abouts, I don't have my guide to hand) of hard runway. Lots of little stones there too.......might be a bit short for you.

If you would like to visit Dublin, Weston is the place to go to.

Another option might be Kerry (EIKY). Close to Killarney or Tralee, both of which would provide an interesting break.

Kilkenny is a grass strip of appx 900m. (Again I don't have my guide to hand, so won't be exact.) Kilkenny city is a lovely city, and very popular on the weekends. It can be hard to find accomodation on the weekends if you haven't it booked. There was a recent fatal accident there, and the airfield closed for a short time. I'm assuming it has reopened now, but if you want to go, best to give them a call and make sure it's open.

All airports in Ireland are PPR.

One thing to watch for, is that the airspace around Weston airport has changed since 3 August. The Dublin CTR has extended the Class C to cover Weston & incorporate the previous R15.

All 'current' charts are out of date, and do not show this.

Have a look here for the new layout. 3.69mb

I hope that's of some help to you!

P

[Plane-Crazy]

Pilot - thanks for the all the help and especially the heads up on the changes to Dublin CTR.

I understand there's a great VFR Guide to Ireland by Kevin Glynn but Transair don't stock it and the pilotshop.ie probably can't get it here in time. Do you know if there are there any airfields where it's sold, ie where we can pick it up early on?

In the UK we can get a Fligt Information Service from LARS units, a bit like Flight Following in the US. Is there an equivalent in Ireland?

I'll check the other thread as well.


P-C

[StephenM]

Below FL075 is Class G airspace (Outside of controlled airspace) that is handled by 127.500 if its not online its Shannon Low level 124.700/119.075. (The latter is mainly north west Sligo etc, both are the same position just a repeater frequency located in Belmullet) Thats what it is to the best of my knowledge, I'm sure someone can claify/correct if required.

[Pilot]

Stephen M has that right.

Shannon 127.5 covers most of the country, and gives a FIS. (We don't have any such thing as a RIS or a RAS here.) However Shannons do use a radar for this FIS and will give you a heads up on any traffic that they are aware of.

If you are operating closer to Dublin, under the Dublin CTA, then Shannon will lose coverage and ask you to contact Dublin Control North or South as appropriate.

Kevin Glynns book is excellent. He is based on Birr airfield, perhaps they have some copies there, I don't know. However most of the airfields listed in it will be shorter than your minimum, or be listed in the AIP, or the AIC "VFR aerodromes". There is plenty of other information in the guide that you may find useful. The AIP entries & the AIC are available from the awful Eurocontrol website. Unfortunately that's the only place on line to get such info. http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int

Kevin Glynn posts here under the name EI KEV. Perhaps if you pm him, he might be able to post you a copy, or advise you of where you can get it?

P

[Plane-Crazy]

Thanks for all the help.

Unfortunately we had to cancel the flight today due to very low cloud and rain here in the UK. We'll try again tomorrow though.

We both tried to get into the Eurocontrol website but for some reason neither of us can get past the login page on different PC's. A terrible site and I thought the CAA one was poor!!


P-C

[jonkil]

I understand there's a great VFR Guide to Ireland by Kevin Glynn but Transair don't stock it and the pilotshop.ie probably can't get it here in time. Do you know if there are there any airfields where it's sold, ie where we can pick it up early on?

You may be able to pick up a copy (if any left) at Birr Airfield.... I know that the 2nd print run is pretty close to being sold out...... You can try calling the club http://www.ormandflyingclub.com....I can thoroughly reccommend this book.

Regards,
Jon

[ceatach]

We both tried to get into the Eurocontrol website but for some reason neither of us can get past the login page on different PC's. A terrible site and I thought the CAA one was poor!!

Have a look at this

It might help. If not, maybe you could describe exactly what happens when you try to log in...

[EI KEV]

Hi PC & All,

Pity your trip was cancelled, how and ever, you may get another opertunity.

My book is available from Oliver at http://www.pilotship.ie

Matty in Abbeyshrule has some, as has Ken in Kilrush, Raphael in Kernan Valley (Trandragee) and there are a few left in Birr.

I have one box left which I may put in my attic just to prove to my kids that such a book did exist.

Thanks to all for your kind comments, it REALLY keeps me going.

Regards

KEV

[Plane-Crazy]

Well we cancelled again on Sunday due to the rain in Ireland - I understnad from the golf reports it's been pretty bad. Instead we filed for Cherbourg to get some wine and lunch at Luc's place at the airport.

We thought that we'd been there before on a Sunday but clearly not since everything was closed! They'd even lock the terminal doors so you couldn't get out of the airport. Oh well, leason learned. Great weather though cruised over at 065 and 10 kt shy of VNE in the long decent.

I guess the trip to Ireland will be postponed for a short while since the aircraft has to go in for it's CoA renewal/annual next week.

We'll try to get over again before Christmas. Ireland's on this year's to go list so fingers crossed for some decent autumn weather.

Thanks again for all the help and we'll order Kevin's book anyway from the pilot shop.

Regards,


P-C