Emir wrote:
Every time I land in Italy customs is there asking if I carry more than €10k. Croatia-Italy is EU flight so no customs should be involved.
Just because you’re traveling within the customs union doesn’t mean that everything can move freely. Cash is one of the things that are still regulated. E.g. if you go to Germany and carry more than IIRC €10k, you have to declare it (there is a list online with limits for each EU MS). Similarly there is a limit on the amount of cigarettes you can carry IIRC. They’re not required to be there but they AFAIK can.
Don’t know about Sicily, but some territories, especially islands, are treated differently. One example is VAT where the directive has a list of them where it doesn’t apply (e.g. you’d have to pay VAT if you bought a plane from there as if it was imported from outside the EU).
Luckymaaa,
I’ve posted Pireps for most of the airfields on eddh.de and Paul Rhyn who was in the group has already posted a couple too. Some of the airfields have current info and there isn’t much I can add (e.g. Bolzen or Fano).
I landed in Genova and twice in Perugia in the last two weeks, both with considerable international commercial traffic and no Zika hassle at all.
Placido,
Yes, agree completely. Everyone returned to Switzerland enthused about the trip and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all. We did have one fluent Italian speaker and a couple others that could muddle through, but interestingly enough that really only made a difference at Reggio where they spoke significantly less English than elsewhere. In Brescia and Balzano we were served in German (the primary native language of the group).
I would certainly encourage any pilot to not hesitate one second about planning and making a trip to Italy. Our experience also confirms that the aviosuperficies are a much better experience from a handling standpoint than the airports designed to operate commercial airlines. They simply seem to manage the bureaucracy requirements better when necessary and avoid when not required. The airports are of course unavoidable when IFR arrival is needed. People were friendly everywhere.
Vince
I am happy you shared all this with us. The TB21 at Corte was mine and remember I mentioned this airfield to you when you were inquiring about the trip. Most of my flying is in Italy and I can’t remember having had an awful ecperience in my 20 years of flying there. It’s not the German or Swiss efficiency but mostly very helpful people especially at the aviosuperficies of which there are plenty in Italy.
While you always find an overzealous idiot anywhere in any country the Zika story is one of those where a 1% incidence is being made up as a massive risk of traveling to Italy. The reality is almost nobody in small GA will ever be confronted with it.
Vince, I guess you don’t speak Italian yet your and your group’s experience has been a very good one. While speaking the national language always helps its not required to have a fantastic experience flying around Italy.
Thanks again.
Placido
All the airfields listed from Lucca down to Bolzano had avgas and were able to service the avgas needs of 11 aircraft (1 used Jet-A). Due to the large number of aircraft, we were very careful to have direct contact with the operators and get assurance in advance of availability.
The only case where availability might be a problem for a single aircraft could be Corte Melpignano – LINB. For this airfield, the avgas is owned by a locally-based Cessna owner and the airfield operator needs to request the avgas from him in advance, so not practical to just drop in. However, avgas should be available if a request is made in advance, as it was in this case for our 11 aircraft. Contact Antonio Santoro at [email protected]. Web site link is below. Note the reports on Trip Advisor. We can only confirm these reports. Hotel organised (€65 single) in nearby Maglie and hotel owner ran a shuttle to/from airfield for our group (26 people!). Great airfield. Highly recommended. Antonio is trying to promote it and had our visit in the press and a couple school classes there for our arrival and departure. A new hangar could appear before long. The strip is clay, with a bit of grass sticking up here and there. No pb for a retractable (A Trinidad TC was parked on the grass while we were there). Anyone interested in a video of my landing can contact me on Telegram and I’ll share it (Vince Fischer). Note that the airfield is within the Lecce military CTR, and they want everyone under max 500 AGL coming in and out. But the controllers were friendly and handed our large gaggle of aircraft with aplomb.
Fee: €10 contribution per aircraft to the cause.
All handling & fees mentioned below are for a C172 under 1200kg MTOW.
Brescia was used only for customs clearance. It is a physically large airport with an infrastructure to handle a lot of commercial traffic, but without the traffic. We handled very expeditiously, but the process is very large-airport (handling, bus fm aircraft to terminal, security, etc). I believe we were the only traffic to land/depart during the 2hrs or so that we were there from first aircraft landing to last departure. There was one biz jet parked on the tarmac, otherwise not an aircraft in sight. 3hr PNR is mandatory for customs, via email and then call to confirm received and email reply with PNR nr for the fltpln. Theoretically, it should allow them to get all the info into their systems before arrival, but not much confidence that would happen.
Handling €30, fees just under €25.
Reggio Calabria should only be considered if absolutely needed for a fuel stop. A group of us stayed there 2 nights, and we enjoyed it as an experience, but the city is not particularly attractive or clean (lots of rubbish on the streets) although there is a fairly nice city beach within about 200m of several downtown hotels. Food was good though and cheap. Ferries are available across to Messina on the Sicilian coast or the nearby volcanic Eolie Islands (also worth a fly-by in the plane).
Handling €50 (they tried to get €150 for a single aircraft that went through just before us but he wouldn’t accept it and got them down to €50. In the end they charged €25/metric ton), fees €30, avgas €2,69/ltr incl VAT
Lucca is pretty much as described elsewhere on the forum. Avgas, paved runway with efficient and pleasant reception. Efficient taxi service can be ordered via the staff. Lucca was a pleasant surprise as a very nice old walled town. Good food. Friendly people. Definitely no customs though.
No handling, Fees €37, avgas €2,27/ltr incl VAT
Scalea is highly recommended as a fuel stop at a minimum. They have avgas & Jet-A and the airport is beautiful with new buildings. Beautiful approach right on the coast. It is also a seaplane base (Idroscalo Turistico). Also very interesting for a visit to the area, especially Maratea (Pianeta Maratea is a spectacular bargain … * hotel for €65 single, €100 double. Good restaurant, pool, high on the mountain. Private beach is quite distant but free shuttle bus from hotel on a schedule). Maratea is an hour’s drive from the airport, so a rental car would be useful unless accommodation is taken in Scalea. A photo of our group on the tarmac has been posted to the Scalea airfield Facebook page here:
For those aircraft with the legs who are looking for a fuel stop on the way to Greece, Scalea can organize customs if sufficient notice is given. Alberto needs 24hr to organize it with local customs and would like to get 48hr notice if possible. Call or email Alberto Ortolani at +39 346 40 1862 / [email protected]. Say the Swiss AAA group recommended him.
Handling €24 (but they organised hotel and bus for 26 people, so might not be charged to an individual), fees €15, avgas €2,81/ltr incl VAT
Terni (A Leonardi) is a lovely location with an 870m paved runway. Avgas and Jet-A seems to be readily available, but always wise to give a heads-up via email. Contact Luca Budelli at [email protected]. Very efficient, friendly, and unbureaucratic. Highly recommended. Small restaurant on the field. Check web site for nearby attractions.
No handling or fees, avgas €2,35/ltr
Foggia has all the necessary infrastructure to be a commercial airport, but apparently no commercial traffic. We were well, efficiently, and very friendly received and taken care of. It’s a shame that these folks need to operate in such an overhead just to support GA. This was a very pleasant stop for us just for fuel, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the airfield doesn’t survive as the physical infrastructure (baggage handling, security, etc) is unused (they escorted us around and through it without stopping and with no sign of a soul). Fuel was readily available though (fixed pump for avgas, fuel truck for Jet-A).
No handling, Fees €30 (incl €9 marshalling, €16 GA fire protection), Fuel 2,84/ltr incl VAT
Fano is a lovely 1’300m grass strip right on the coast next to the town of Fano, about 20nm south of Rimini. I don’t think I’ve seen a nicer or longer grass strip in Europe. Most of the activity was parachute jumping while we were there, but there are quite a few GA aircraft in the hangars. A Piper Meridien took off while we were there. Fueling was done by a young sociable fellow very happy to have some business. They would really appreciate more traffic. Fano is a popular seaside resort town with lots of activity. Hotel Marina was €80 single per night, right on the beach with a nice beach incl restaurant/bar (€20/day for 2 recliners & 1 umbrella on the beach).
No fees, Avgas fuel €2,30/ltr incl VAT
Ozzano Emilia is a high quality private paved strip. Self-serve pumps with Avgas, Jet-A, Super Mogas, taking credit card or cash. Parking on the grass, of golf course quality. Restaurant on the field. Owner (Mr Zamboni) helped us with the self-serve pumps and organised cars (Audi’s, not taxis) into Bologna (about €35). Money is evident all around. There were several Cirrus aircraft in the hangars and it appears to be a Cirrus service centre.
No fees. I didn’t refuel, so don’t know the price but will try to find out from others in the group.
Bolzano is a very nice customs airfield in Sud-Tirol just across the Brenner Pass south of Innsbruck. Both it and Trento are IFR fields with ATZ (G) and very professional AFIS “controlling” the mix of VFR and IFR traffic. The infrastructure is exactly what one would expect from a professionally operated GA airfield. Modern, friendly, efficient, coffee shop & bar, etc. Unfortunately, there is a NOTAM indicating NO AVGAS. Apparently one can get it on an emergency basis, but forms need to be completed and I’m not certain what the repercussions might be. Trento does have Avgas, but no customs. Trento is only about 30nm south of Bolzano. Bolzano has a nice old city centre. Taxi drive is relatively short (<€20).
No handling. Fees €33
One aircraft stopped in Sabaudia, a grass strip just south of Rome, for avgas. I don’t have the price but the pilot reported a very friendly and welcoming environment. We had confirmed in advance that avgas was available and the email reply was prompt and friendly. The airfield is in the middle of a nature reserve and the arrival/departure route is one-way in/out. But the VFR routes are well-marked on the Avioportolano map and Jepp plates so not really problem. Sabaudia is within the Latina military CTR.
3 other aircraft flew over from Reggio Calabria to Sicily for a couple nights at Avola Gallina, on the coast near Saracusa to the south. It is a 600m grass strip about 500m from the sea(beach?). Contact the owner for PPR. No fuel.
I think that’s about it. If anyone has any questions, just ask.
Vince
Peter wrote:
BTW, what happened at Elba? I went there in 2014 and paid €102 for 1 landing and 2 nights’ parking (1400kg) – plus very expensive avgas.
I arrived back in Sweden yesterday after a long day of planning and flying from Elba (the Mistral suddenly woke up and a low-pressure area in the east route required some additional planning). Nevertheless, we paid 150€ (roughly, including AOPA discount) for our PA32 and 4 nights parking, which included a quite large fee for the 3 pax (2 pilots + 3 pax). The landing and tkof fee was 6€ :)
Elba is a beautiful island, I’ll write and post some pics later this week for those interested.
I do agree and keep all my docs in electronic format. The trouble when organising a trip for a group is that one cannot expect everyone to be at the same point on that road. But I’m sympathetic to your point about flooding them with messages to get across a point. Not sure that adds much certainty things will work out once overhead.
If they lose the docs which are sitting inside the plane, they will be screwed much more than not being able to fly to Malta…
That is the ultimate reason for keeping copies at home, and digital copies are then easy to backup offsite.
The internet is full of people who have had their aviation docs lost or stolen…
If I was there I would pop along with my phone, with an app called Camscanner, and I would shoot all their docs to PDFs, in a few minutes.
Certainly the docs need to be in the plane and available on-site for inspection. That’s part of the pre-flight checklist. But this is a request to provide copies in advance of arrival in order to get landing permission.
Agree regarding smartphone & email, but that still means an hour drive for some to the airplane hangar for some folks, and photos are large data files to email around. I always compress this sort of thing at home before mailing because many email systems reject anything over 5MB.
But that’s not the point. There is a way around anything for a single determined pilot ready to surmount all obstacles to fly to a given destination. But for a group of 10 old-timer aircraft, such non-standard admin hurdles can quickly lead to giving up as not worth the effort and going elsewhere.
Caveat emptor.
