Hello All,
My name is Mitch and I live in Las Vegas, NV, USA.
I am coming to France and staying with some friends who have a place in Poitier. I am a private pilot with over 1600 hRs. and own a Cessna 182RG. I would very much like to be able to fly while I am visiting my friends there. I will be in France from April 13 to the 19th.
Does anyone or can anyone let me know whom I could contact to get a flight in while I am there.
Thanks
Mitch
Hi Mitch
Just a quick look on Google.
There 2 flying club in Poitiers:
http://www.aero-club-poitou.fr
http://www.acaspttpoitiers.fr
Send them a email and book a flight with a flight instructor.
Romain
@JoJo may be able to help in the Bordeaux end… or @Bordeaux_Jim
As a US’an, do not expect everybody to speak or understand English. And even if some do, their accent may be quite funny to you, at least. Remember they’ll think the same about you! I think you had better stick to the bigger fields where English is normally not a problem.
There’s an excellent flying club at Limoges with an English instructor (Roger).
PM me for contact details if you’re interested, although it might be a bit far away.
I have never been to Bordeaux LFBD but it has not had avgas for a long time. Here is the current notam:
FUEL AVGAS 100LL NOT AVBL : NOTAM LF/A0673/16
Poitiers LFBI I have been to a number times. No issues except that at times there is nobody around on the ground (who speaks English) and a couple of times I was not able to get off airside, until I made some calls to ATC. That can be the situation at numerous French provincial airports where a lot of the staff go home after the last Ryanair (etc) flight departs. I last had that in Bastia, Corsica (France) in Sept 2015.
There are other airfields in the area, with aeroclubs. Whether they do self fly hire I have no idea.
@Mitch, for what it’s worth I’d encourage you to fly in France even on your short trip, if you can make it happen. I live in the US but have connections to Europe that get me there fairly often. I’ve made a number of similar flights in rented planes or friends planes. Flying in Germany (Reims Rocket) and Italy (Tecnam P2002 and C172) were really memorable experiences.
Peter offered a ride in the mighty TB20 when I was in his area, but I had to work. I’m still regretting that I simply could not sneak away without causing a fuss. Now I wish I’d caused the fuss…
I’ll be in France myself this spring and I find myself reading about club flying and wooden planes with a certain interest. 
I’ve found you don’t have to make long flights or fly solo, just flying left seat in a different environment is fun regardless. Even a ride can be educational.
The Luscombe from the book C’est la folie lives in Saint Junien near Limoges – it’s a fun book.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/c-est-la-folie/michael-wright/9780553817324
