Where have you been? What have you seen?
#1772200
deano5012 wrote:From Fife to Inverness and Glenforsa we will file a flight plan as flying over sparse countryside. Contingent airfields will be added to the plan.


It won't hurt, but will be meaningless in practice - just get a BS from Scottish Info for most of the time, that's still an abbreviated flight plan and is rather more useful. A genuinely good service, run by FISOs who know the weather and area well (one or 2 fly as well).
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1772342
Here in France the Law now allows us from May11th to travel up to 100km from our homes for leisure reasons. This is the legislation which has enabled us to go flying again, at least locally. Skydemon has a very useful feature where you can select a 50nm local flight, which is a smidge under 100km. :thumleft:
When I saw this thread I thought it might be fun to plan a virtual flight to every aerodrome within 100km of my home in the most efficient way. For further planning exercise I have only included VAC aerodromes and used any specific entry/exit routes and heights accordingly...
...And here you go, 50nm & Plan:
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1772373
Iceman wrote:What’s the landing fee at Merignac :D ?

I do not actually know the exact Landing Fee for Merignac, but its not alot, something like 25 Euros if I recall from my touch and go one night which was billed through my aeroclub, but if you want to stop & park, the handling charges are well over a hundred Euro... :shock:
You might think that Cazeaux, being military, is difficult to get into, but Ive flown in there for a familiarization course. The most difficult one is actually Bordeaux Yvrac, a restricted use aerodrome, somewhere Ive never visited because Ive never been able to get permission to fly in there.

Regards, SD..
By ivanmia
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1773568
Seething to Tivat

Hi All, this wasn't meant to be a dream trip as my buddy Mike and myself have been planning to make it a reality for a while and had Covid-19 not happened we would have been en-route as I type.
Originally Mike fancied going to Morocco but I managed to put him off that idea gradually so I suggested Tivat in Montenegro. Why Tivat you may ask, well I have a half share in a property there so that would be a saving and as the trip itself is going to be expensive enough as it is it made sense financially. Apart from that Montenegro is a beautiful country, the locals friendly and the beer is good, and very cheap.
Both of us also like visiting France as we've already done a couple of fly-outs with our club mates over the last two years. In fact Jersey was planned for later this year. Hey Ho, next year all being well.
The apparent divert in Italy to Lucca is because Mike has a friend who has offered us accommodation there, so why not have a break en-route as it were and even go and see Pisa. We estimated that the trip there would take a week or so depending on weather and we also envisioned enjoying the stops, it was not going to be a race. Now we hope to do this next year all being well.
I've uploaded the probable route without stops as it's the only way I can then show a plog of the entire route.
The stops we have planned are: Calais to clear customs, have some breakfast and because we like Calais airfield. Troyes for fuel and an overnight stop or if we feel like it push on to Lyon Bron, or maybe just have a stop at Troyes anyway.
Other than Calais neither of us have been to any of these airports or towns other than me to Tivat obviously.
Then suitably refreshed onto Cuers Pierrefeu to top up the tanks and to Bastia in Corsica. (Oh hang on I have been to Bastia, as quite a few years ago my wife and I had a fantastic holiday touring around Corsica in a hire car staying in whichever places took our fancy.) Not sure if we'll be staying in Corsica or not but if not then onto Marina Di Campo, just because it's there really. If we don't overnight in Corsica then we probably will in Marina Di Campo.
Lucca is the next stop and here we will visit Pisa and just take the time to chill a bit. Mike has been in touch with forumites regarding this trip and if I recall Peter 337 was very helpful having been to Tivat himself. We are however VFR pilots only and doing the trip in a Cessna aerobat so a bit different. Our next planned stop is Pula, and here we need to ask the wonderful forumites for advice again as neither of us are sure whether we can go direct to Croatia or do we have to clear customs at an Italian airfield first.
We definitely plan to have an overnighter at Pula then we'll follow the low level Adria route to Dubrovnik to refuel as Tivat doesn't have Avgas though G-BFGZ will take Mogas and there are petrol stations very close to the airport so we'll be alright either way.
Looking at the pilot notes on Sky Demon it does appear that parking at Tivat is quite expensive so this could decide on how long we stay there. We also haven't decided on a route back yet so if there are any forumites out there that have experience of an enjoyable route back we'd appreciate their suggestions, remembering that we're in a 150 and have no mountain flying experience.

We'll be in touch again before we go next year, wish us luck please.
Ivan & Mike
#1773638
My choice is a no frills VFR Flying Staycation. I got rather carried away forgetting the need to post it on the forum. :oops:

I have uploaded a PDF to Dropbox with a rough route description, Sky Demon screen shots and a few pics. I find pics help with an understanding of why. :D

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wj024c32sryhyko/Trip.pdf?dl=0

The route, flown at a relaxed pace taking time to enjoy the whole experience over the course of a week, is (more detail in the PDF):

Inverness > Islay > Coll > Barra > Benbecula > Sollas >Stornoway > Skye > Glenforsa > Plockton > Lambholm > Westray > Papa Westray > North Ronaldsay > Sanday > Wick > Knockbain Farm > Inverness.

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#1773654
My plan would be for a flight up to North Wales and Snowdownia from Oxford and then back via the coast of West and South Wales - making a day of it. My theme for the flight is moutains and castles. I've often been told that flying around the mountains of North Wales is quite stunning, and I find flying along the coast fascinating, being able to see the variety of coastline with the fishing villages and holiday towns. Being able to fly up there makes it possible to enjoy the sights and get back comfortably in a day.

The journey is just within fuel limits but I'd land at at Caernarfon to top up the tanks, have something to eat and stretch the legs - possibly with a trip to the castle for a bit of history.

SkyDemon image, plog and W&B all uploaded below.
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#1777226
Reading the June edition of the LAA mag today I was reminded of this competition on seeing a fantastic photograph of the RV8, G-GRVY, sitting on its own on the beach at Sollas. I note the closing date has changed from June 1st, to June 8th. Was there a winner? :D