Hi all,
I’m a soon to be CPL/IR student from northern Europe. I’ve already signed up so need to build hours pretty quickly. I need around 50 PIC hours and have decided to go somewhere (hopefully) warm and sunny to do so.
I have found a good offer in the south of Spain for a Cessna 152. It’s located at a small airfield not too far from Seville.
I was wondering if anyone had any good advice or resources for flying in Spain. Also, any good potential routes to do or airports to visit.
I am looking to do something interesting/ unusual for me. However, I also need to practice certain skills before the higher qualifications such as navigation and flying in/ exiting/ entering controlled airspace.
A bit about me. I have an EASA PPL and night rating. Most of my flying has been on Tecnams, but I have flown the C152 before. My Spanish is basically zero.
Thanks!
I’m a little busy right now, but suggest you to search for ‘Spain’ and you’ll find quite some info.
I’m sure some of the Spanish residents will be along shortly. I lived and flew in Spain on and off until about 2012, so my input is a little out of date, but here goes.
Generally, flying in southern Spain is great. However, since my time there (I was based at LEMG and LEAX), the big AEANA airports have become expensive / difficult to access for light GA. What I’d suggest you do, is to look a little further afield. While there aren’t many small GA-friendly fields in Andalusia, there are plenty of small fields in Portugal. Over there, English is also less of a problem than it is at small airfields in Spain. You could (and should!!) also look at Morocco. Great place to fly and very easy. Controlling can be a bit hit-and-miss in Spain, although contrary what some here say, I’ve always found them professional and pretty good. In something like 15 years of flying there, never had an issue. Where it can get a bit tricky is the language at small fields. There are quite a few Spanish pilots do either don’t speak English or very little (and/or are embarrassed to use it), so I strongly suggest you learn at least the phraseology in Spanish and, ideally, practice that with someone once there. I posted a crib sheet here some years ago. You don’t say where exactly you’ll be based, but if it’s LEJU, there’s a British skydiving outfit based there and I’m sure they’d help you. Enjoy!
Contrary to @172driver s input actually the biggest airports have become surprisingly cheap. Check out the Spanish AOPA success in establishing basic handling fees. For flight training that is as welcomed as it could be! A short stop at a big AENA port should be 9 € at most of them. Not all! It’s in the Spanish AIP.
The info is also well documented here in the forums
Well, the first three rows are expensive either way, due to AENA fees alone. The other rows are the cheap ones.
The link to AOPA Spain refers to the procedure, probably using Google Translator or similar might help…
http://www.aopa-spain.org/index.php/es/defensa-de-la-ag/handling
Marcel wrote:
Marcel30-Dec-23 08:2907
The link to AOPA Spain refers to the procedure, probably using Google Translator or similar might help…http://www.aopa-spain.org/index.php/es/defensa-de-la-ag/handling
THIS LINK IS GOLD! Many thanks.
UdoR wrote:
Contrary to @172driver s input actually the biggest airports have become surprisingly cheap.
boscomantico wrote:
Well, the first three rows are expensive either way, due to AENA fees alone. The other rows are the cheap ones.
Thank you Gentlemen for you updated info on this – good to know!
I wanted to add a Tech Fuel Stop, at Teruel Airport, as an opportunity to the equation simply because it´s been effective in my experience (multiple times), while travelling from Portugal to South of France (or Empuriebrava (LEAP) in NE Spain).
LETL (Teruel Airport) with landing fee for MTOW 1050kgs at around 12,00.- Euro.
It´s an uncontrolled airfield, primarily used for tempo (or so!) aircraft long storage, with metar/taf available. The airport itself is otherwise nothing special and it feels very weird to be at such a “large” airport with nothing going on. I´ve never seen a single traffic movement there.
The city/town of Teruel itself is actually quit nice, and probably mostly “off chart” for most foreign tourists, but it´s a 20-25min (30 euro) trip from the airport, and you can expect little English spoken with the ground staff. You´ll find nice local hotels and ditto bars/restaurants, again very limited English, but not to worry.
Contact AirBP and the airport a day in advance and advise your ETA/ETD. AirBP accepts credit cards as well.
As a bonus info, last time I fueled in Teruel I paid 2.21.- Euro/L in total for AvGas with the AirBP card (company name, not Spanish). Sep 2023.
@boscomantico yes that is the list, thanks for sharing! The minimum fee worked out for us already several times. You only add parking. For refuelling there may also be a separate charge.
How old is that list? I have always paid way more in Spain.
Anyway, 2024 for another Spanish fly-in! 
