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Castiglione del Lago

10 Posts

Anyone been to this strip near Perugia? I’m not finding much online. I’m after info on length and condition of the grass, as well as some contact info. I’ll probably end up in Perugia with the PA46 but this is much closer to my final destination so worth checking.

EGTF, LFTF

The much praised avioportolano has something to report, but you need to create (at no cost) an account to log in:

http://www.avioportolano.it/aviosearch.php?sigla=PG20-8

There is another runway indicated on openstreetmap, too, but with again precious little information:

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/43.0643/12.1008

(edit: removed nonsense about Air Force Museum, was confusing with Vigna di Valle)

Last Edited by at 28 Jul 14:39
EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

This may be an airfield for certain events: Link

Norman
United Kingdom

Denopa,

I visited earlier this year. Will give you some info later tonight.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Thank you all – didn’t realise Avioportolano was free; Bosco, looking forward to it.

  1. edit: Avioportolano says it’s 317m – no way I’m taking off from there!!! ###
Last Edited by denopa at 28 Jul 15:15
EGTF, LFTF

No way you are landing in 300m either.

EGTK Oxford

Castiglione del Lago is a former WW2 airport currently classified as airstrip. No service at all is provided, except a windsock.
The runway is made of grass; 800×30 (m). Haven’t been there for a while but I woudn’t take a Pa 46 before a recon on foot. Remember, it’s unattended.
Anyway, the contact I have is Valter Carloia (0039) 338 1854060 .
http://moduliweb.enac.gov.it/Applicazioni/avioeli/Avio_04.asp?selaeroporto=164

Here we go: first off, I don’t know where you got those 317 metres from, but it’s certainly wrong information. The runway is 800 metres long.

Since Castiglione del Lago is an Aviosuperficie (i.e.: an unlicensed airfield), you won’t find it in the AIP. Avioportolano obviously has it (Avioportolano is indeed free if you are happy with just the web version; for details, see further down; the “book” and the ipad version do cost money though).

For the basic info, you may also refer to here. I posted a pirep there.

In theory, you could certainly do it. It’s 800 metres, without any appreciable obstacles, so if you are light, you can do it. However: they seem to not keep their grass very well cut. In spring, it was very “thick” and – even though it was not really “long” when I was there – it sure created a lot of drag on takeoff (the Cirrus has those very low spats). To give you an idea, we used about 600 metres to get off the ground. Usually, on more “normal” grass airfields, we would need roughly 350 metres!

In fact, the airfield isn’t used much at all and there are no aircraft based there (possibly one or two ultralights). As a consequence, it is not really being regularly maintained by anybody. They do have a big ultralight meeting there each year, in late April.

In late summer, the grass may be less “draggy” but I don’t know for sure.

So, I would say don’t go unless you make sure they will cut the grass nice and short for your arrival (and remove all the cut grass!). For that, you will have to communicate with the “gestore” (airfield operator), who probably doesn’t speak much English. If you really want to go, let me know and I’ll see if I can help you out.

That said, what’s your reason for going to Castiglione? It’s a pleasant hilltop village by the lake, but really nothing extraordinary. The lake really isn’t all that nice. Central Italy has more fascinating destinations. On the pro side, its less than a mile to walk from the aircraft parking area (southeast corner of the aerodrome) to the “centro storico”.

Re Avioportolano, here’s how to get free access (login required) to the web database (available only in Italian, but it’s easy to decipher the important bits of information like airfield data and contact numbers):

1. Click here

2. Fill in the fields as follows:

Nome Utente = choose a username
Nome = your (first) name
Cognome = your surname
Password = choose a password
Conferma Password = repeat password
Indirizzo e-mail = your e-mail address
Nascondi e-mail = select, whether you want your email address to be hidden for other users
Seleziona le tua pista = leave free (“nessuna”)

Fill in the captcha and click on “Registrati”

2. Once that is done, you receicve an e-mail to activate the account. In order to login, go to the Avioportolano homepage and use the login window in the upper righthand corner. Thereafter, in the lefthand navigation bar, click on “Aeroporti, Aviosuperfici e Campi di volo”. You can then either have all airfields listed by region or seach using the interactive map (for that, click on “clicca qui per effettuare una ricerca cartografica”). The yellow ones are “campi di volo”, i.e. only approved for ultralights. Aviosuperfici (unlicensed airfields) are marked in red; licensed “aeroporti” are blue. Click on the “dots” to get all the information.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 28 Jul 19:13
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Weird. I looked again now and it says 800m. Not that it changes anything, I wouldn’t take the PA46 on any grass that wouldn’t be deemed suitable for a golf green.
We’re going to visit some friends in the town.
Thank you all.

EGTF, LFTF

If you want some nice hard runway, then you should use Perugia (LIRZ), which is not too far. They have Avgas, IFR, customs and rental cars. Figure about 70€ for an overnight stop.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 29 Jul 12:06
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany
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