Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:03 pm
#870371
This is a substantial airfield within easy taxi ride of Avignon town centre.
To get to Avignon from the north, you have to get through Orange military airspace and airbase immediately to the north. I got a transit easily enough, but got held on two orbits while a flight of Mirage jets took off. Orange seems to be closed at the weekends though and the local flight information service will happily inform you if it is closed and you can then ignore the controlled airspace. Alternatively, there is a 1700’ transit route around to the west.
Avignon seems to be knows as ‘windy city’ and when I landed there in 140 / 17G37 I kinda had to agree with that view. There is a single hard and a single grass runway, both aligned 17 / 35 and 1880m and 700m respectively. The tower do seem to ask you to report at their various published VRP’s, so it is as well to have these readily available.
As I fly a taildragger, I was offered the grass runway, but took the hard instead, which I was pleased about as when I taxied on the grass runway, it seemed bumpy to me.
The tower were really excellent and helpful and spoke good English and took great care to help (probably because they were positioning an instrument training flight behind me and knew I was on a diversion). Refuelling was easy and you pay at the large and spacious Arrivals / Departures hall that is geared to commercial flights. There were of course tie downs available at the parking and I do advise you to use them, the wind really can get up there!
Landing and parking costs modest, to the point that I don’t remember them. To get back airside you do need to show your pilots licence and some photo ID, but they were relaxed otherwise. They do scan your luggage, but sensibly seem to apply different criteria if you are a pilot (they were happy to let my water and seat belt cutting knife through).
Avignon itself is a real gem. You MUST get a taxi and stay in the old walled town, don’t be idle and stay near the airport! There are many hotels and booking probably isn’t necessary in anything but peak season in August. Well worth the extra 15 minutes to look around the town, fabulous old intact city walls and of course the iconic bridge.
To get to Avignon from the north, you have to get through Orange military airspace and airbase immediately to the north. I got a transit easily enough, but got held on two orbits while a flight of Mirage jets took off. Orange seems to be closed at the weekends though and the local flight information service will happily inform you if it is closed and you can then ignore the controlled airspace. Alternatively, there is a 1700’ transit route around to the west.
Avignon seems to be knows as ‘windy city’ and when I landed there in 140 / 17G37 I kinda had to agree with that view. There is a single hard and a single grass runway, both aligned 17 / 35 and 1880m and 700m respectively. The tower do seem to ask you to report at their various published VRP’s, so it is as well to have these readily available.
As I fly a taildragger, I was offered the grass runway, but took the hard instead, which I was pleased about as when I taxied on the grass runway, it seemed bumpy to me.
The tower were really excellent and helpful and spoke good English and took great care to help (probably because they were positioning an instrument training flight behind me and knew I was on a diversion). Refuelling was easy and you pay at the large and spacious Arrivals / Departures hall that is geared to commercial flights. There were of course tie downs available at the parking and I do advise you to use them, the wind really can get up there!
Landing and parking costs modest, to the point that I don’t remember them. To get back airside you do need to show your pilots licence and some photo ID, but they were relaxed otherwise. They do scan your luggage, but sensibly seem to apply different criteria if you are a pilot (they were happy to let my water and seat belt cutting knife through).
Avignon itself is a real gem. You MUST get a taxi and stay in the old walled town, don’t be idle and stay near the airport! There are many hotels and booking probably isn’t necessary in anything but peak season in August. Well worth the extra 15 minutes to look around the town, fabulous old intact city walls and of course the iconic bridge.