Flying to Malta LMML instead of Portugal

For our Eastern holidays we have had planned for a while to fly to Portugal. But sometimes the things change quickly, we had some minor engine problems and so we were not sure when the plane would be ready to go. Finally it made only one day delay but the weather in the west was getting more unpredictable as in the south east and so we starteted monday evenig before Eastern to Portoroz (LJPZ). We went IFR over the tops to cross the Alps. It was our last IFR flight for the following two weeks.


We stayed at Piran for two nights. It is a nice old town worth the visit.
Then we decided to go further to the south, to Montenegro. We departed and followed low level VFR the Adria routings. When reaching Montenegro the controller of Tivat (LYVT) asked us if we would appreciate an approach over the bay. What a question! Affirm! After landing w







e took a Cab to go to the beautiful small village Kotor. We got an apartment with balcony and a perfect view over the bay of Kotor. Again we spend two days there.
For Eastern itself we thought Italy would be good to be there. So we decided to got to Apulia, to visit Galipoli and Ortanto. As we have been at Apulia before and visited Leece we went this time more to the center of the the region and found a perfect place to stay. Masseria Mó, near Galatina. But to get there we had to land first at Brindisi (LIBR) to refuel and do customs before flying the ladt 20 minutes to the small airfield of Corte (LINB). We spoke to Antonio first, and he appreciated that we refuel at Brindisi, because they haven‘t had so much fuel at the field. For us it was okay and the handling of Delta Airtaxi at Brindisi was okay, 90 €, and they had everything well organized, so that we could depart very quickly.








Monday after Eastern we departed again to go further south. Following the coastline most of the time we flew to Sicilia, to the city of Siracusa. It was the highlight of the trip. We have chosen the privat Airfield of Renato at Abola. 630 meters of grass. Great spot and Renato is a really nice guy. He helped us with a lift to Siracusa and gave as some first ideas about the greek culture on Sicilia. Again we stayed there for two days.










We checked the notams and saw, that on Friday, the 6th Avgas would be available again on Malta. And additionally Valetta is european culture capital 2018, so we went there to LMML for a next two days stop. Valetta is incredible. Many very interesting exhibitions and a beautiful old town. And our B&B in the old town of Valetta was the best place to stay there. We could see the Harbour from our balcony.







On friday, no Avgas! So we had only one chance to get some, and this was at Reggio Calabria (LICR). Renato from Avola tried to get some fuel from the clubs around Catania, but everybody has ran out of fuel over Eastern. So we had to go very lean of peak and with refuced powersetting to reach Reggio Calabria. 6.4 Gallons left after landing. Not too much. Good to know that the fuel flow on the EDM is delivering trustful data.
After the refueling we departed to go direct to Klagenfurt (LOWG). At FL095 we were allowed to go straight the direct course, and as we had some awful headwind, we were flying around 4 hours, this time on max power.








Finally at Klagenfurt we arrived at Portugal. There ist a nice portugese restaurant and we had lunch there. Klagenfurt was our last stop and we stayed there only for one night. After the saturdaymoning shopping we took off for a beautiful flight over the Felberntauern Ridge and came home in the early afternoon at EDDS.







Two perfect sunny weeks with beautiful impressions. It was great.