Where have you been? What have you seen?
User avatar
By Nick T
#1719946
Hi all.

Yesterday I returned from a 6 day flying trip in Europe. Being only a low hour (~130 at the time of setting off) PPL and being based up in Nottingham and having never taken a plane over water before, this was a whole new number of 'firsts' for me - first time flying over water, first channel crossing, first flight in Europe, first experience of mountain flying (in the Pyrenees) and also my longest flight yet of 3hrs 20minutes... all hand flown.

I did this trip with another PPL and with James Lee of Buddy's Aviation and racked up 11 hours and 20 minutes flying in the 4 days that we flew. The original plan was to head over to Slovenia, but with poor weather forecast over the weekend we replanned day one at the cafe in Stapleford before setting off.

In the end, we did

Stapleford -> Calais
Calais -> Rochefort
Rochefort -> Carcassonne
Carcassonne -> Andorra (La Seu)
Andorra -> Annecy
Annecy -> Freiburg
Freiburg -> Salzburg
Salzburg -> Muehldorf
Muehldorf -> Bielefeld
Bielefeld -> Midden-Zeeland
Midden-Zeeland -> Stapleford

All in a Warrior.

The legs I flew were...

Image
(notable go-around due to some nice fellow cutting us up on short final)

Image

Image
(including touch and go at Andorra)

Image

Image

Image

With the total route looking something like...

Image

I'll do a leg-by-leg writeup at some point and have videos of most legs, but if there's anything that anyone wants to know about the trip or anything then let me know and I'll answer it or stick it up in the write ups :)

Cheers,

Nick
Last edited by Nick T on Sun Sep 29, 2019 8:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Flyin'Dutch', MachFlyer, Dodo and 9 others liked this
User avatar
By Nick T
#1720064
Day 1

Although I have a Shareoplane Archer, hangared at Nottingham Tollerton, it's on the N reg and as I don't yet have a 61.75 taking it out of the country for this trip wouldn't have been possible. As such, we were hiring a Warrior from Stapleford Flying Club. As we were due to meet up at 9am I set of from Leicester at 6am for the two hour drive down.

I arrived at Stapleford shortly after 8am and waited around for James and Blaz (the other PPL) to arrive... which was easier said than done as I'd never met either of them before and only had a rough idea of what James looked like from a Facetime session a few days earlier! As I waited in the briefing room at Stapleford I heard someone mentioning how they were waiting for James Lee as they were heading off on a trip to Slovenia so I went out and introduced myself to Blaz. Before too long, James arrived and Blaz went out to check the plane out.

Once that was done, Blaz, James and I went in to the clubhouse to do a spot of planning. Unfortunately, the weather predictions from a few days earlier were proving correct and there was an area of poor weather, with thunderstorms and all, hovering around Slovenia. That all but put the khybosh on the original plan of heading over there so we swiftly replanned and came up with some alternatives. The idea then swiftly changed to heading towards southern France and the Pyrenees and taking it one day at a time. The only trouble was that there was a band of poor weather coming towards northern France so we needed to get over the channel, clear customs and then get down south as soon as possible. Flightplans filed, plane loaded with all our luggage for the five days and we were swiftly on 03L and departing Stapleford for our first destination, Calais.

Having never flown around London before, I was surprised by how busy the radio was, with many pilots heading out to Le Touquet for the day. We spoke to Southend radar to get a crossing through the edge of their zone at around 2000ft before switching to London Information and starting a climb up to 5000ft for the channel crossing. The cloud level was quite low and (despite James and me both having IR(R)) we picked our way up through gaps in the cloud, in order to have enough altitude that we wouldn't be out of gliding range back to the coast, should we need it.

Image

As we coasted out at Dover, the cloud started to give way to bluer skies and the French coast was easily visible. Before long we started our descent to Calais and joined downwind for runway 24, reporting our position as usual and receiving acknowledgement from the tower. As we turned final and prepared to land we were all surprised as a French registered plane cut straight in front of us and went to land... welcome to France! After a go-around and another circuit we landed without incident and proceeded to the pumps for fuel. I went in to pay for the fuel and £8 landing fee, clearing customs by virtue of there being absolutely nobody in passport control.

Planning for the next leg then commenced, and James suggested heading towards Rochefort as he knew they would have fuel and that we could use credit cards to buy it...
We saw that the forecast clouds were coming in so quickly jumped in the plane, me taking to the back seat and Blaz taking over piloting duties for the three hour leg down to Rochefort. As I'd been awake for quite a while, wasn't used to being a passenger in a Warrior and not had anything to eat, it wasn't too long before I was feeling rather dodgy, so I contorted myself in to a ball and decided to go to sleep in the back, leaving Blaz and James to chauffeur me to Rochefort.

I woke up for the last 15 minutes or so, and, as I expected, the trip had been completely uneventful. We landed at Rochefort and made our way to the fuel pumps. Blaz kindly broke out the peanut bars and gave me a couple of ibuprofen... 20 minutes later I was fighting fit again and after refuelling and enjoying the absolutely gratis landing fee due to nobody being around in the tower we planned a route for our final flight of the day to our overnight stop at Carcassonne. We changed pilot again, with me taking over for this two hour hop (which, incidentally would be my longest flight since my skills test). Climbing to 5000ft before dropping back down to 4000ft in order to remain below the cloud this was a really simple flight in a straight line - the European airspace being just as easy as I'd been led to believe it would be - and before too long we were getting ready for arrival on runway 28. We joined downwind and made a straightforward approach in, turning base near the famous castle as the sun was low in the sky before we touched down and made our way to GA parking, where we were the only aircraft around.

Image

Image

After shutting down we started the next part of the challenge... finding somewhere to stay for the night! We cracked out the usual hotel booking apps and found a nearby Ibis Budget at ~£45 per person for the night. Walking the 20 minutes there we passed a nearby Maccie D's (that was the next day's breakfast sorted) and an Aldi (that was lunch decided) and eventually made it to the Ibis and checked in. We quickly stuck our electricals on charge and then headed out for the crucial last stage of the day - getting something to eat for the first time since leaving England about 10 hours earlier ;)

Just around the corner we found a nice little bar and restaurant... and ordered 3x half chicken and chips... and a good few beers to celebrate the end of day #1 and the successful beginning of the trip!

Image

Video - Stapleford to Calais


Day 2 coming soon... :)
Plan_B, Dave W, BehyBill and 1 others liked this
By clarkeysntfc
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1720275
Looks amazing. No worries if you don't want to, but it would be very interesting to see a cost breakdown of this trip for anyone else out there who's looking at planning possible trips on to the continent in future.
User avatar
By Nick T
#1720278
Yeah, no problem - I’m quite happy to... it was one of the biggest questions I had when I was looking to do this trip.

Rough, off the top of my head figures... £157 per hour for the Warrior hire from Stapleford (plus a ‘fuel surcharge’ which I have no idea what that meant). I notched up 11hrs 20m. The other PPL did around the same.
£200 per flying day (per person) for the instructor / guide.
Fuel - think I spent about £700ish - I’ll have to check... but the vast majority of that will be refunded by Stapleford as the £157ph includes fuel at their rate.
Hotels about £210 (five nights)
Think I probably spent £250 on food / drink / taxis.
Plus landing fees and parking. The most expensive was £30ish at Salzburg (but I *really* wanted that one). I’ll dig the rest out later, but Carcassonne I think was around £15 for landing and overnight parking...
Dave W, ivanmia liked this
User avatar
By Nick T
#1721401
Doesn't look like there's too much interest in this, but I'll plough on regardless...

Day 2

After a nice, relaxed sleep in Carcassonne, we awoke nice and early with the intent of heading up into the Pyrenees to land at the Andorra airfield. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas and the OVC 900 we saw when we all looked out of our windows at around 8am was putting paid to that. Nevertheless we went to the McDonalds just around the corner for a spot of breakfast and to make some contingency planning.
Over a few egg and bacon muffins and a latte or two we checked the TAFs and saw that the clouds should be gone by about 10am... followed by some nice 15G25 winds...
Nevertheless, we spent a couple of hours in hopeful optimism in the MaccyD's before heading back towards the airfield via the nearby Aldi where we bought a couple of baguettes, some cheese and a bit of prosciutto for 'lunch'.

We went in to the main terminal to pay our landing fees and parking - an incredibly reasonable 12 Euro and 35 cents - and explained that we'd be looking to head off to Andorra should the weather allow but either way we'd want to grab a bit of fuel first. No problem!

Back to the plane we went, where by this time the cloud had gone, as planned, but had been replaced by the gusts... as planned. With a relatively heavy Warrior we swiftly decided that we wouldn't be doing any flying today (given the opportunity for severe downdrafts over the Pyrenees) and that we'd go for it the next day instead. So, we fired up the plane, requested fuel and very swiftly shut down the plane again when we were told that we wouldn't be getting any... more on that in a bit!

So, we did what any grounded pilots would do, and messed around a bit...

Image

... before cracking out the baguettes and having a spot of lunch. And obviously taking the obligatory photos to post on social media about how we were 'mixing it with the big boys' ;)

Image

Once lunch was done we wandered back to the terminal to find out why we couldn't get fuel, and to pay for another day's parking (which was about 10 Euro).

Turns out that on weekends it's BP Fuel Cards only at Carcassonne. And none of us had BP Fuel Cards, only Visa or Mastercard. With our credit not being good enough, but after being promised it would be absolutely fine the next day (on Monday) we locked up the plane, rebooked the Ibis Budget for another night, took our stuff back to the hotel and got a taxi in to Carcassonne for the afternoon...

Image

Image

Image

At around 4:30pm we found ourselves a nice bar within the castle walls and settled down for a beer or three. At 4:50pm we found ourselves settling our bar tab as the staff were in the process of closing up for the day. At 5pm the shutters slammed closed on pretty much every establishment in Carcassonne and we were left looking on TripAdvisor for anywhere which still remained open! There wasn't much.

Image

We eventually found somewhere, got some beers in, and at 7pm we were allowed to order food... so we did. 200 EUR later we called it a night and headed back to the Ibis Budget to get some sleep. The next day was going to be one epic day's worth of flying...

Day 3 coming soon!
Last edited by Nick T on Mon Sep 23, 2019 1:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MachFlyer, Plan_B, Dave W liked this
User avatar
By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1721411
Nick T wrote:Doesn't look like there's too much interest in this, but I'll plough on regardless...


Just filed in "I'll read it when I get some time". Looks great from the pictures!
User avatar
By Nick T
#1721583
Ok, by popular demand, I've written this one up early. Thanks again for the likes and comments since last night - now I know people are enjoying this then it gives me the motivation to continue the writeup! :) So... onward!

Day 3 - warning... this one's going to be picture heavy ;)

Having agreed to meet at 8am we did just that. As with the previous day we'd all checked outside our bedroom windows before getting up... and today we were blessed with far better weather! The now traditional trek to McDonalds for breakfast (well, we'd been the day before, so I guess it was now a tradition!) took place... but whereas the day before we'd dallied with breakfast because we had a cloudbase we needed gone, today there was none of that and we had lots of flying to catch up with! Whilst we waited for the table service we quickly planned some routes... The aim was to head up in to the Pyrenees and visit Andorra (La Seu) Airport (which is actually in Spain). From there we'd then head back the way we came and make our way to Annecy airport in the French Alps. James used his local knowledge of the valleys between Carcassonne and Andorra to plot a route on Blaz' iPad, we quickly ate our breakfasts, headed to the Aldi once again for baguettes, cheese, ham and bottled water and then went back to the airfield to load up the plane, get some fuel and get on our way!

The sleepiness of Carcassonne airport had vanished, and the circuit was busy with various TB10 and TB20s of the local flying school, and our little Warrior had gained a Cirrus friend next to it overnight. We got in the plane, with Blaz in the captain's seat, James next to him and me in the back, fired up the engine and requested fuel. To absolutely nobody's surprise, our credit cards were now a valid form of payment, so we taxied round to the pumps and waited for the refueller to arrive and get the pump working for us. And waited. And waited.... and half an hour later got bored of waiting so went in to the refuelling office to try and find out where the chap was. A couple of phone calls and another 10 minutes later and our refueller sauntered over merrily to top up our tanks. I paid the guy, we all got back in the plane and we finally departed Carcassonne.

The flight up to the Pyrenees was non-eventful... our heavy little Warrior obviously taking its time in getting up to 7000ft but we eventually got up there, over the foothills and in to the Pyrenees.

Image

Once in, we set track for Andorra, Blaz flying us through the safest path on the slow descent back to the airfield elevation of 2630ft. From the back of the plane I got to admire the scenery en-route, eventually spotting Andorra airfield, seemingly carved into the edge of one of the hills. Blaz brought us in to land and I could see that the wind, although light, was making Blaz work the controls hard, particularly as we were approaching the threshold where the runway began at the edge of the hill with a sharp drop just before and higher ground immediately to the right.

Image

We touched down, parked the plane, then James and Blaz went to wake up the chap in the tower and pay our landing fees whilst I filed the flightplan for the flight direct(ish) to Annecy. It was soon time to get going again... but not before the time-honoured picture of the plane on the apron and one of the three of us...

Image

Image

We'd decided that I'd fly the next leg, but first we'd do a circuit and touch and go of Andorra before climbing back out of the Pyrenees and set track for the three and a half hour leg to Annecy.

Image

I backtracked 03, lined up and we got going... I was quite mindful of the sheer drop at the end of the runway but MX got up with plenty to spare. I was then mindful of the big hill directly to the left in the direction of the circuit! Taking a tighter turn than I'd usually do we got round with plenty to spare and we went round the circuit. As expected, on short final there were plenty of updrafts and side winds to contend with but the touch and go was carried out and we went back round again to gain some height and escape the mountains... after carrying out an orbit in clear sky just to gain a bit more height out of the clutches of the mountains!

Full power, pointing upwards we climbed... and then we didn't... and then we were climbing again... picking our way up in to the sky and finding our route and valley out of there at 8000ft.

Image

Image

Image

The next two hours or so were fairly uneventful, following the magenta line over relatively flat ground at 5000ft, skirting the Mediterranean at one point, getting clearances through Class D and Danger Areas without so much as a 'remain outside'. Around halfway through the flight, the in-flight meal was served.

Image

And all was good in the world.

Before too long, the sun started becoming obscured and the terrain was getting a bit more interesting as we approached the Alps.

Image

We mainly stayed at 5000ft but as cloud started to appear we dipped down to 3000ft just so we could remain VMC. We need not have bothered, as from below it was quite obvious that it was merely scattered, so we climbed back up again to give us greater terrain clearance as we flew towards Chambery.
Chambery's one of those airfields that I've loved going in to in the back of a 737 on the way to a skiing holiday. The views as you come in on final down the Lac du Bourget are absolutely incredible, and although we weren't landing at Chambery I got to experience the sheer joy of flying this little PA28 over scenery that I'd previously only ever dreamed about flying down.

Image

But there wasn't too much time to adore the scenery (well, there was enough!) as Annecy airfield was only about 15 minutes further on. Still plenty of time for some more gorgeous scenery though as we flew past Lake Annecy on our downwind leg before turning final and landing at Annecy with another 3 hours and 20 minutes in my logbook, for which was my longest flight by far.

Image

Image

I taxied us round to the fuel pumps and filled us up whilst Blaz and James went in to pay the landing fees and plot our next route and file the flightplan. We can't have been on the ground for more than half an hour (shame, Annecy looks like it's well worth a stay) before we were back in the plane with Blaz taking over flying duties and me heading to the back seats again for our next leg, which was to take us to Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany.

We departed Annecy, and I got time to admire more of the gorgeous scenery without worrying about accidentally flying in to it...

Image

Avoiding Geneva's airspace we worked our way around the mountains, spying Mont Blanc in the distance along with the giant Lake Geneva.

Image

Image

Before too long though, the higher ground dropped away and we were relaxing as the two hour trip over to Freiburg almost took care of itself.

Freiburg itself looked quite pretty as we joined its very geometric circuit pattern and descended over the town

Image

Image

Image

Blaz brought us in and we parked up on the grass for the night. After getting landside we quickly got out our mobiles, opened up Expedia, Hotels.com and Booking.com and had a look to see what was available for three (by now very) weary travellers. We found a Super 8, which looked quite nice and fit the bill of being cheap, got a taxi, drove past what must be the world's largest chair and went to check in, dump our stuff and get some food.

Image

I'll spare you the details about the walk to dinner, but needless to say we found ourselves a nice pizza place and a few beers, before eventually retiring to bed.

Tomorrow was going to be a good day, one where I'd tick an airfield off the bucket list.

Video of Andorra to Annecy


To be continued (probably next week now!)
Dave W, mick w, Flyin'Dutch' and 2 others liked this
By BehyBill
#1721624
Nice trip report, looks you had load of fun even with that plan B :thumleft:

I flew that day roughly the same time to Deauville routing via Dover in same weather trying to minimise my channel crossing in IMC, then to find blue skies over the channel and nice cumulus over France :lol:
User avatar
By Nick T
#1721646
Oh cool! I heard a G-EF on the radio mentioning Deauville :)

Yeah, weather wasn't fantastic around that time... I seem to remember it was coming in from the north... was quite nice and clear once we got further south and inland though!