After the panel upgrade of D-ETES it was time for a longer trip with hopefully many IFR legs where I could really enjoy the new avionics. For ease of flying reasons and because of the weather forecast we decided for Menorca as our final destination. Menorca was supposed to be a relaxed alternative to Mallorca and it has a nice little GA friendly airport. As usual we built a small tour around the final destination. My co-pilot has been to Elche (Elx) in Spain some 18 years back and as she found it a very lovely spot we decided to visit Elche on our trip. So the plan was to go to Elche via an airport in southern France, either Perpignan or Montpellier, where we would stay for a night. The stay in Elche for at least two nights and after that hop along the Balearic islands to Menorca where we would stay for one week. The trip back should be the shortest distance to Montpellier, stay another two nights in Montpellier and finally return to Speyer directly from there.
Day 1: Speyer (EDRY) to Clermont-Ferrand (LFLC)
There was bad weather forecasted in north-east France for the date of our planned departure. Hence we decided to start one day earlier and instead of getting to the mediterranean on the first day, take a bit more time, fly to Clermont-Ferrand on our first leg and stay there overnight. This turned out to be a great idea, the weather was really nice so I could enjoy a relaxed IFR flight getting to know the new avionics equipment better.
The airport is rather huge but with only limited airliner traffic, so most of the time it is very relaxed. Fuelling is self-service with a Total-fuel card, which I highly recommend for any trip to France. We took an Uber from the airport to the city, which was about 25€. For the return from city to the airport we took tram and bus, which is free of charge on week-ends. The trip takes only about 25 minutes so this is very convenient. Clermont-Ferrand is a beautiful city worth a visit. We stayed in a nice little hotel („5-chambresenville“) in the center, which I can recommend. You can stroll around the historic city center with it’s many small shops, cafés and restaurants.
Day 2: Clermont-Ferrand (LFLC) to Perpignan (LFMP)
The next day we started early for our next leg to Perpignan. Again we enjoyed a calm and pleasant IFR flight and after less than 2 hours we arrived in Perpignan.
Perpignan is a real recommendation for GA flights. Exit from and entry to the airport is well organised and very convenient: You submit your PPR request via Aerops. During your stay you pay your bill via Aerops and receive an entry code to the GA parking stand. Walking distances at the airport are negligible so everything is fits together neatly and you have minimum overhead and no bureaucracy. Also the fees are very moderate.
Perpignan by itself is nice, however we stayed on a Sunday afternoon and evening, where most of the restaurants are closed and we had to go to one of the tourist spots, which by itself was not bad, but nothing remarkable.
Day 3: Perpignan (LFMP) to Mutxamel (LEMU)
Again we started early to avoid the midday heat. I filed this as a Y flight-plan, so we could take advantage of flying IFR in the Barcelona region which we had to pass. Actually flying IFR in Spain helps you to avoid having to fly very low in areas where you have large class A airspace. Around Barcelona we were diverted a little to the east as the airspace was quite busy with heavy-metal.
Halfway between Tarragona and Valencia I cancelled IFR, but was able to proceed in 5000 feet for a short while. While approaching the Valencia TMA I had to descend to 2500, which I was able to maintain while transiting the TMA. Actually we had headwinds during this leg so flying lower turned out to be beneficial.
Mutxamel airfield (LEMU) is a real recommendation for the Alicante region. They have a long runway, AVGAS is available at moderate prices (for Spain), and the landing and parking fees are really good. Elche is a 35 minute trip from Mutxamel, and we got an Uber in less than 10 minutes which took us to our pre-booked hotel in Elche („Port Jardin Milenio“) for ~50€. Elche itself is very relaxed. It is famous for it’s palm gardens, the most famous being the „Jardin Huerto del Cura“ and for its „Dama de Elche“ a limestone bust from the 4th century BC.
Day 5: Mutxamel (LEMU) to Sant Luis (LESL)
After having spent two days in Elche it was time to start off for our final destination Menorca. I filed this as a VFR flight, and it went uneventful and calm. Airspace is quite busy and it seems they always kept me on a frequency that was not so busy but also sometimes hard to receive. Nevertheless all went well and after a little bit more than two hours we landed at the Sant Luis airfield.
At the airport we met a young couple from the Netherlands. He is actually a first officer for a big dutch airline and as his girlfriend never had been on a flight in a small airplane, he wanted to check with the local flying club about opportunities for a local flight. Unfortunately nobody from the club was available and also his calls went unanswered. So he asked me whether they could have a scenic flight across the island with D-ETES. I said I would check as our remaining fuel was carefully calculated to be able to reach at least Perpignan with two persons legally. Thus I would have to refuel for an additional flight and Sant Luis has no Avgas. The following days I checked with Menorca airport which is just a few hundred meters west of Sant Luis airfield and has Avgas available. However the AIP for that airport says that handling is mandatory for all (non-emergency) flights. So I checked with three different handling agents for quotations. All three were really quick in sending responses and the cheapest offer was for about 165€, including landing fees and taxes. This seemed reasonable and was ok for me and my potential passengers, however, in parallel, I sent a request to Menorca airport operations, whether it was possible to avoid a handling agent for a pure technical stop. Also here the response came rather fast and was indeed positive. As long as we don’t leave the airplane during our stay, no handling agent was required and we would just have to pay landing fee and „taxes“, which could be done with our smartphone during our stay.
This was of course good news and so we decided to go for a scenic flight with the three of us the next Sunday morning. The scenic flight would take us from Sant Luis heading east close to the „E“ reporting point, then heading west close to the hotel of the to passengers, which is near the city of Ciutadella. Then back to the Menorca airport (LEMH) for refuelling and then back to Sant Luis.
Weather was nice that Sunday (like all of the other days during our stay) and it turned out to be a wonderful scenic flight across the island. My passengers took some really beautiful pictures and videos, so all in all this was also for me a really nice opportunity and a wonderful day.
We really enjoyed our stay in Menorca, it is a really relaxing island, not overcrowded, at least at that time of year (end of May – beginning of June) and it has many beautiful beaches and other places. Here are some impressions:
Day 12: LESL – LFMT
From Menorca we went to Montpellier flying IFR again. We had very good tailwind, so the leg took us less then two hours. From the Sant Luis airport you leave to the east, then heading north. Once you are clear of the approach sector of the LEMH runway, you receive your IFR clearance and approval to climb. The flight was rather uneventful, but we landed in mixed weather in Montpellier with some showers in the area.
Similar to Perpignan, Montpellier is a rather GA friendly airport. However, you have to do your payments „manually“ when you re-enter the airport, and you have to carefully check for the opening times of the GA terminal (on Fridays it only opens at 09:00)
We spent two days in Montpellier, which offers many leisure opportunities. We visited for example the Musee Fabre, which is very nice especially if you are interested in „Old Masters“. On one occasion we enjoyed a dinner at the Don Camillo. We were looking for a restaurant serving Pizza and after several spots which didn’t really look good, we fell into this place, which turned out to serve very good and authentic Italian food. More than that, the waiter (or owner?) was a really nice and funny who took the chance to practice his German language skills which he learned in school. We had a wonderful evening. Another recommendation for a good French (i.e. small) breakfast is the Cafe Latitude (5 Pl. de la Canourgue, 34000 Montpellier, Frankreich). Don’t expect anything spectacular: it’s just a place where you can enjoy a relaxing cafe under the trees …
Day 14: LFMT – EDRY
After two weeks of sunshine, the weather was forecasted to deteriorate on the day of our planned flight. Especially at our destination the situation didn’t look very nice. We wanted to depart as early as possible to avoid potential thunderstorms
TAF EDFM 060800Z 0609/0618 22010KT 9999 BKN025 PROB40 TEMPO 0609/0615 22015G25KT SHRA BKN025CB=
As the weather was coming from the west, it didn’t look better e.g. in Metz:
TAF AMD LFJL 060626Z 0606/0706 24015KT 9999 BKN020
TEMPO 0608/0609 3000 SHRA BKN005 FEW020CB
TEMPO 0609/0614 -SHRA SCT020TCU
TEMPO 0622/0706 4000 -SHRA SCT030TCU=
But it looked way better in Switzerland (in the morning), e.g. for Zurich:
TAF AMD LSZH 060630Z 0606/0712 25009KT 9999 FEW025
TX23/0614Z TN18/0606Z TN14/0704Z
TEMPO 0610/0616 31012KT
PROB30 TEMPO 0614/0624 FEW060CB
TEMPO 0700/0712 SHRA SCT040TCU
PROB30 TEMPO 0700/0711 26010KT TSRA SCT040CB=
So the plan was to start at 07:30 IFR, taking advantage of tailwinds in the beginning. I would then cancel IFR in Switzerland because there were convective clouds predicted above FL080 and freezing level above. In this case it is always better to fly below the ceiling although it may be quite shaky. As the weather was predicted to be flyable in Switzerland and the most southern part of our route in Germany, my „plan B“ in case the weather in southern Germany would not by flyable was to divert to Donaueschingen-Villingen (EDTD) and wait there for better weather.
I filed an Y-flightplan accordingly already late in the evening, but the „surprise“ came the next morning: We were subjected to flow-control in southern France which meant we received a „slot“ which delayed our flight by two hours (CTOT ~09:30Z). In the following minutes I received some slight slot improvements, but all in all I didn’t like the idea of starting late, especially because the weather in Switzerland was also predicted to get worse over time that day.
So I cancelled my IFR flight-plan and filed a VFR flight plan (using SkyDemon) basically with the same route as the cancelled IFR flight plan but of cause with flexible altitude. We started a bit later than originally planned (see my comment on the opening times of the GA-terminal in LDMT, and once its open, it takes some time until they have your invoice ready ;-)), but the everything went well. Of course flying VFR on weekdays is a bit more stressful than flying IFR but nevertheless the controllers are always helpful and supportive and with the exception of some small diversions due to RAs or class-C airspaces, the flight went like planned (and we did have some nice tailwind for most of the time).
Finally, once we reached the German border we judged that the weather was good to continue VFR. The black forest region was closed so we diverted a bit to the east and were able to land safely after about 3 1/2 hours of flight.
We had two weeks of sunshine, no rain, moderate to warm temperatures and were able to relax and enjoy our vacation. Flying D-ETES with its new avionics is big fun. With GPSS, the autopilot can now also fly (the horizontal part of) approaches, something I really missed with D-EEBU. All in all this was a very good investment, as especially when you fly across borders, IFR is far more relaxed than flying VFR.
Any comments? Drop me a mail at: mailto:staski@venus-flytrap.de