We will be commencing a European trip on June 17th weather permitting, hopefully getting down to Tangiers, but flexible to go anywhere depending on the weather situation.
I’m currently looking at clearing customs in Nantes since the PNR is still sensibly short at 2HR. I’ve tried the AeroClub for handling but no response so far, so does anyone have any recommendations of etiher:
Rennes LFRN is 24h PNR Mon-Fri for customs and far cheaper. Nantes is in heavy works and not sure the aeroclub can handle you during this process.
Even cheaper is Saint Brieuc LFRT but the process there can be « rusty ». They don’t have a lot of traffic.
Ibra knows more about Saint Nazaire LFRZ.
Actually, it is not that most French airports are 48h for customs now. La Rochelle is one such case, yes, but many places offer less.
In most cases, it is rather 24h on a weekday.
If you want less than that, the choices are indeed few and far between.
St. Nazaire for example is merely “O/R before 1200”, whatever that exactly means.
Bordeaux is H24 (no prior notice), but rather expensive.
Thanks, Rennes is potentially a good option.
You can go to Nantes without handling, I went there one Christmas
1- You get in touch with aeroclub who have spare places and their own gate (they asked if I am FFA member, I said YES)
2- You don’t need customs otherwise you will need to go to the main terminal and use handlers
I regularly used St-Nazaire from regular flights UK to LaBaule, it has everything one needs: 24H operation, fuel, night, instrument…there is a fireman on 24H duty who can open gate for you (or give gate code, they change it regularly), I always sent my PN on Friday but I have never seen customs there, Rennes sounds like another nice choice for small GA but I have never been there…
Most French airports with temporary customs are 24h PN per the law but that got stretched to: if you land Sun/Mon then PN has to be sent before 1400LT on Friday (basically they stop reading emails between 1400LT on Friday and 0800LT on Monday)
Nantes has permanent customs, no PN is required for customs…La Roche Sur-Yon is the new POE of the year, they went straight for 48h PN 
PS: Have you decided which airport you will use to go to Tangier? there are not that many good choices other than Jerez, Almeria or Perpignan, SanSebastian if you have plenty of range
Thanks Ibra, we will need customs so Rennes is looking like a good option, as is St-Nazaire. We will use Jerez going to/from Tangiers I think, seems to be the least hassle and a nice/interesting town should we need to delay for any reason.
Great, let us know how it goes with Rennes
Jerez to Tangier is hassle free, you can use Iberia for “basic handling” (better done in Spanish by email/phone to ask for “servicio acompañamiento”, drive you to the terminal for 10€ per pax/leg)
Fez is another option, the guys doing training in Jerez makes regular routes to Tangier/Fez 
Will do! The plan at the moment is Rennes > San Sebastián > Evora > Jerez > Tangiers > Cascais > Burgos > Tarbes
I now have a full IR, but also need to share legs with a VFR pilot, so while we have an “ideal” plan we are flexible to go where things are nice.
What are you flying? and how high you plan to fly IFR?
Spain & Morocco like IFR in FL120-FL200 band, even higher at night when low level en-route ATSU go to sleep, in the other hand VFR can fly lower between FL40-FL120 during day (if you enter CTR then it’s the published transits under 1kft agl )
Both VFR & IFR require lenghty route validation, you fly on one single transponder code (they also spend some time checking if your route erodromes are open to “maintain flight following”, radio reception is crap once you go low off route or near terrain)
Jerez-Tangier should be an easy low level direct though
PS: for some reason, they don’t like SkyDemon FPL (no IFR anyway) but EuroFPL or AutoRouter works fine for VFR & IFR, with EuroFPL ATC can contact you by message when they validate, saves lot of time if you don’t fancy climbing to stairs to the towers with printed paper versions…
It will be VFR after LESO going South since we don’t have O2 and a non-pilot passenger. There are zip all routings as you say below FL120. The idea is to enjoy the scenery rather than make it too much of a “mission”. VFR in Spain and Portugal I have done before and using similar routes so we are OK on that front.
Flight plans will be AutoRouter, I’ve been through the SkyDemon FPL headache before.
Will endeavour to add to this thread as we progress.
