Ferry a TB20 from Elstree to Athens

[dppintr]

When I was asked to ferry a Trinidad from Elstree to Athens, it did not take me a blink of an eye to think about it. On the arranged date, I travelled to Elstree to pick-up the plane. While doing the run-up checks, it appeared one of the 6 cylinders did not fire on one of the magnetos. I hoped it was just a spark plug, but it turned out to be the wiring of one of the magnetos, that of course first had to be repaired.

The next week it was fixed, and this attempt my son and a Greek pilot were joining. We departed on Friday afternoon. On Friday we flew via Lelystad in Holland, Bremgarden in Germany to Bergamo in Italy. On Saturday we flew to Foggia and Ioannina in Greece. When submitting the flight plan for the last leg to Megara, we received notice that we were not granted permission to land there. We called the owner of the plane, and in the mean time we took-off and set course to the small Ikaros airport north of Athens. When we arrived there, we received notice that the landing permission at Megara was arranged, and we took of for the last short hop.

A trip report with pictures can be found here.

[Charles Hunt]

I need a fix of Aegean waters! Thanks.

[peterh337]

Interesting choice of airports...

Ioannina has no avgas. Do you mean Kerkira LGKR? Or fill up in Italy?

Megara has avgas but no Customs so you can't fly there direct from outside Greece.

Ikaros (the private field) has been closed for about a year. The owner has been having various problems and I am told has abandoned it. Did the owner meet you there and provide fuel?

I've been down that way a number of times (writeups on my website) and normally, in a TB20 which has loads of range, one would route

UK - Croatia - Kerkira - (anywhere in Greece with no Customs), or
UK - Croatia - (anywhere in Greece with Customs and avgas), or
in this case UK - Croatia - Athens LGAV - Megara, perhaps.

[dppintr]

We filled-up in Foggia. Ioannina has customs, is quiet, and we flew via Meteora afterwards on the way to Athens.

[peterh337]

Ikaros (the private field) has been closed for about a year. The owner has been having various problems and I am told has abandoned it. Did the owner meet you there and provide fuel?

[Katamarino]

I got stuck at Ikaros once, post-abandonment I assume. If he's abandoned it, he should really take down his website that claims "open 365 days a year".

[peterh337]

The owner has more than abandoned it. He has apparently disappeared altogether.

It's possible to land there but it's fenced off so unless somebody finds a key to the gate, there is no vehicle access; only walking.

Website? Loads of dead websites stay up until the hosting runs out. Like this one
http://airtouring.com/

[TheKentishFledgling]

I've been down that way a number of times (writeups on my website) and normally, in a TB20 which has loads of range, one would route

UK - Croatia - Kerkira - (anywhere in Greece with no Customs), or
UK - Croatia - (anywhere in Greece with Customs and avgas), or
in this case UK - Croatia - Athens LGAV - Megara, perhaps.

Do you not mean "I would route"?

[Katamarino]

The owner has more than abandoned it. He has apparently disappeared altogether.

Crikey, glad I didn't stumble across him in the undergrowth.

[peterh337]

Here's a pic from the glory days of Ikaros
http://hellasga.com/gallery/kyp/athens/ikaros/DSC03793s

[Katamarino]

Here is a not so glorious one:

http://www.katamarino.co.uk/photos/egyp ... 3_3_lg.jpg

[peterh337]

Yes; a sad loss.

On the plus side, Greek airports now have free landings and parking for GA. You "just" pay for handling, which is generally in the lower double figures. I don't know how long this will go for but it's been there for a couple of years. AFAIK the Greek AOPA organised it, via a lot of lobbying. Very smart, and what a contrast to the €3000 Italian tax...

[jasoncuk]

Great photos.

[alfabravo]

What a great opportunity to ferry a plane to Athens



It looks that there was some serious mountain flying involved
Spectacular pictures!