Peter I know is an expert on this area.A good friend has purchased a house on Hvar.We are looking to fly out from south east U.K. next spring either in my Robin 180 or a yet to be acquired C182/Cherokee 6.Although I,m fully instrument rated preference is VFR avoiding very high ground in easy legs of about 3 hours at 120 knots flying in relatively good weather only with enroute delays expected.Advice on best routings and good technical stops appreciated.Brac seems the best destination but we would like to use the Hvar strip which is quite near the house having explored it first.Any guidance much appreciated.Regards Stampe.
Hi Stampe, I flown to the Hvar strip a couple of times, but you really need to make a low and slow flyover first. Usually it’s okay though. Since you need immigration the best idea will be to fly to Brac (LDSB) first and then fly over to Hvar .. that’s a five minute flight. Most years the strip was okay, but of course it’s a bush strip and not an airport. Others can tell you more about routings from the UK.
I am no special expert on Brac 
It is however probably true that EuroGA has brought a lot of light GA traffic there, which I wonderful.
The way to get to Brac VFR is perhaps the way I used to do my early VFR trips e.g. Crete or Santorini. Admittedly those were done at altitude, VMC on top rather than under the cloud, and with a long range plane. If I was doing it a C182 and I wanted short legs then perhaps down to somewhere like Colmar, then into Germany or Switzerland for another stop (Grenchen is probably good), then over the Alps (the Santorini trip dealt with the Alps crossing better because it avoided the stupid FL120 (130?) limit due to Swiss ATC, forcing VFR down to FL119 (or 129?) which is OK if there are only very light winds and no cloud cover) and then the best stop is probably Portoroz, then Brac is 1hr further.
I heard yesterday somebody landed on Hvar a few days ago so it isn’t completely closed. It used to be busy years ago, even with PC12 traffic.
Brac offers a big AOPA discount, and any AOPA (even US) is fine. Watch the opening hours. It closes 1400 UTC most days, which makes it a bit tight for a direct Shoreham-Brac flight but I have always managed to get in, except when I had to divert due wx.
These two photos were apparently taken few days ago and published on FB.
Wow! Looks like they improved the runway, looks much nicer than some years ago when I last landed there. If it’s like this I’ll take the Cirrus there ;-) Even markings!
Lucky friend. We spent 2 weeks on Hvar last month staying in Stary Grad. You can use Brac for immigration. In fact you can land there when ATC is out of service and since the police are there 24H, you might even be able to get the to stamp your passport. That is what we did. Hvar is a 5 minute flight from Brac.
The Hvar runway is a little rough but should not be a problem for a Robin or Cherokee 6.
Here are some recent pictures:
Time to buy some shares in Hartzell, Inc.
Thanks gentleman all useful stuff.I,m hoping someone will come along with a well trodden route that they know works well.Ideally minor airports with good facilities where turnarounds can take place speedily with the minimum of bureaucracy.Once a route has been flown a few times and refined repeat journies become much easier and less stressful due to “route knowledge”I don,t like surprises on my travels! Regards Stampe
I too like as few surprises as possible, but then people say I should “live and let live”, “take a chance sometime”, etc
Maybe others can throw in some other airport candidates where you can do a quick and easy fuel stop.
However if I stop somewhere I normally make it an overnight stop and look around the place. That makes the trip a lot nicer but reduces the options if you want to stop somewhere nice.
Hi all,
I’m new to the forum. My oldest mate Stampe and I, he a recently retired airline captain and me having just hung up my Shuttleworth Collection helmet and goggles ( what a blast that was!) plan to do some trips into Europe now that we are both ‘un-busy’.
In planning ‘the next thing’ the lovely Nicky and I bought a delightful second home in Vrboska, Hvar and have a boat in the nearby marina. A C182 is on the list.
The drive to and from the UK is challenging, especially towing a heavy vintage boat and trailer. The flight is something we plan to do next season.
I have visited the airstrip on Hvar by road several times. It is a long, dirt strip but seems to be pretty well compacted. I have driven it at 70mph with no issues in the resident trusty Volvo Estate. We spend half the summer on the island and have spotted all sorts of machines flying in and out, from microlights to a TBM700(?) a couple of months back. There is an active parachute school there flying a C182.
We are there a lot from May to October. I can be reached on +44 7717 804085. If you do plan to fly in, its worth giving me a call to see if I am in residence(!) and can transport you to where you need to go. Alternatively, I can help with taxi numbers, accommodation etc. Scooters can be hired locally for tuppence or you can hire one of the ‘indigenous’ home-brew VW Beetle cabrio conversions, buggies, quads or..even a car! Taxis are readily available, UBER is on the island.
If you prefer to base yourselves on Brac, it is a short water taxi trip across to Hvar.
Hvar is a magical place and described recently by Conde Naste and Trip Advisor I believe as ‘within the top 10 best holiday destinations.’
All the Best
Hairyplane
