What are you planning? Where shall we go?
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By Grumpy One
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1675785
OK OK I'm availing as fast as I can :roll:
Now that the church has been "visited", the cornflakes partooked, the dog walked (well... it will have been once the wife's come back withy it) and the servants beaten,. It's down to flick through my memory banks.... Yes indeedy - We used Konstanz as our base (Cheaper!) when we went

T'was a group of us that went down to Fredders (Easier to spell than Friedrichshafen) in April 2017.. It was our second trip to the exhibition - We'd used Fredders itself the previous time)
1 x RV9A, 1 x MCR1 & 1 x Europa
Our route::- (All VFR)
5th April -
Bournemouth to Le Touquet to clear Customs, bladders and top up fuel as necessary).
Le Touquet to Troyes via DEVIM, for over night at the Golden Tulip Hotel (basically on the airfield)

6th April
Troyes to Konstanz, via DILAB & EDOPI @ FL75 .
Konstanz is a very friendly place. It has a grass strip 760m - It was nice, firm and dry when we were there. Suggest you call 'em and ask about conditions.
There was is a nice ferry trip (Every hour or so) where one can go and do your Titanic posing from Konstanz to Fredders and other places too) We ferried to the Meersburg terminal & I think it was dirt cheap too. We had used that terminal as we were staying in a beautiful Hotel Bischofschloss Mindness , which won't help you, 'cos it closed down the next week (It wasn't us m'lud!).

From our ferry terminal it was not a cheap taxi ride to the hotel - Nor was it cheap the next day when we taxied to the exhibition - but Hey-ho - Since we'd spent a near fortune Avgassing our way to the place, it was a mere pittance in relative terms. :clown:

Our route back was:
Konstanz to Zweibrucken via BADLI @4500'
Zweibrucken to Le Touquet via VEDOK, EDISA & VEDUS @ 4500'
And thence back to Bournemouth
Total time Block to Block:-
Out - 4hrs 30min
Back - 4hrs 10min
A thoroughly enjoyable trip. I'd recommend it.

Err? Anything else?
#1675928
We are looking at a plan involving a hotel in Friedrichshafen 11/12th ( if we can get one still) and using Konstanz airfield - that way we will hop on a ferry across the lake and then onwards will be based in town and able to use the shuttle busses to/from the show. Double bonus would be being around for Iceman’s beers on Friday evening.

Just needs vfr weather across Europe to make it all work.... :thumleft:
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By Javed Rahman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1676222
Thank you for the info on Nancy-Metz. I will fly to Nancy-Essey instead as I would have cleared customs already at Albert-Bray and will want to pick up fuel.

I was considering Konstanz as my final stop on the way out but as it is a grass strip and known for being boggy at times was planning to go to Leutkirch instead for the hard runway. If the weather is good and the runway condition is good I will go to Konstanz. There seems to be a combo ticket for the boat trip to Friedrichshafen and aeroexpo which is quite cheap.
Iceman liked this
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1676352
Yes, the boat from Konstanz to F'hafen is a reasonably quick and pleasant way of getting to the show. When you get off the boat, there's a free bus to the Messe as well.

A possible issue at Konstanz (which is a very pleasant town and airfield - don't recall it being rough) is parking. We were refused access there last year due to apparently limited parking space, although to be fair we were in 3 motorgliders.

The year before we were accepted (Motorglider/Twister/Jodel). The only issue was a flustered A/G operator who was making a fair number of fairly pointless radio calls to the extent that she couldn't find time to take our fees and book us in, but would not let us leave to book in the following day. We were waiting by her desk for about 40 minutes!

At Nancy-Essey, to speed up turn-around time for fuelling, request it on contact with tower otherwise it can sometimes take a while if the chap is busy elsewhere. (Or it is lunchtime!) There's a decent restaurant on the field, although frustratingly on one occasion it was booked for a private party and they wouldn't serve anyone else.
#1683570
Bit of a long shot, but is anyone flying from Scotland and have a spare seat. I can contribute to fuel costs. I'm a lightweight and travel light, so won't mess up your W&B too badly!
I'd probably book a spare scheduled flight back for work, so no pressures and I understand GA timescales as I'm used to microlights. A bad headwind can make or break your schedule..... :D

Andy
Flyin'Dutch' liked this
#1683686
Hi

We are planning on making a week of it as long as it’s VFR. Having conversed with Charliesixsix we are going to Konstanz route.

Any recommendations for places to visit in Germany? Done Speyer, Sinsheim, Koblenz? I fancy Paderborn to visit Quax. Maybe Munich too... St Gallen any good for the museum?
By letpmar
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1683846
If you are routing past Calais, Bonn Hangelar is worth a stop. They let you fly over the city and it’s easy to get into Cologne . Hotel Hangelar is walking distance. It’s nice and there are bars and nice restaurants close by. Tannehiem always gets my vote as well but it’s almost at Konstanz. You are a long way from town if you land at Paderborn

Pete