I’ve published a picture rich trip report on my blog:
http://www.stephan-schwab.com/2015/07/10/edvk-lfmv-lell.html
Very nice! I like your equipment and the CB pictures…
Nice cloud pictures indeed.
That said, in the summertime, I tend to fly only in the early morning, at least when there is a chance of convective development.
However, I had to wait in the operations office for a while to pay my landing and parking fee. When I arrived there was another pilot doing the same and the ops lady explained that she has to attend the passengers of a commercial flight that was getting ready and when she comes back I can pay my fees. I mentioned the slot but that’s how it had to be.
To be honest, I wouldn’t care. I’d just leave my details and ask them to send the invoice.
I often wonder how much some people allow secondary admin stuff to dicate their flying schedule.
boscomantico wrote:
I often wonder how much some people allow secondary admin stuff to dicate their flying schedule.
Well… Now I know and I will just leave them the address. On the other hand that all depends what you have been taught. There is much to improve. It’s a bit similar as the story about the German “Flugleiter”.
There is a lot of operational knowledge to acquire. All that would go into that book “A Pilot’s Guide to Europe”.
boscomantico wrote:
To be honest, I wouldn’t care. I’d just leave my details and ask them to send the invoice.
I often wonder how much some people allow secondary admin stuff to dicate their flying schedule.
I honestly don’t know how many airports would accept it if I just bang my details on the table and tell them to get stuffed and send a bill. Maybe to insist a bit more that things get done right now? But just to leave and see how they fare is not the kind of behaviour I would display nor would I encourage it within “my” pilots.
I always prefer to settle things on the spot, alone for the fact that if there is an issue with the bill it can be settled, rather than receiving a huge bill and having to dispute the things from afar.
Stephan_Schwab wrote:
On the other hand that all depends what you have been taught. There is much to improve.
I certainly have not been taught to simply walk away and go flying if I have to wait for something at an airport. Nor would I consider it. Then again, I have not really seen such behaviour like you quoted, particularly not if I have a slot. I would think the fault is with the AIS at Avignon not with you. But it is much easier to get a new CTOT rather than sorting out problems from afar if your bill later arrives with all sorts of surcharges and other stuff which you can dispute on the spot.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
I honestly don’t know how many airports would accept it if I just bang my details on the table and tell them to get stuffed and send a bill. Maybe to insist a bit more that things get done right now? But just to leave and see how they fare is not the kind of behaviour I would display nor would I encourage it within “my” pilots.
I’m with bosco here. I pay so I expect a certain service. I’ve had that case recently where a handling agent out of pure laziness wanted me to spend 45-60 minutes to pay 1.67 € (I know the ordeal from a previous visit). I refused and a discussion started which had me put some money on the table, tell them they’re called handling agents because they handle such stuff and left. The next morning there was an envelope with my change. I probably didn’t make friends but I expect a certain level of service for my money just like I deliver such service to my paying customers. I consider wasting somebody else’s time is one of the most offensive things to do.
Yes. Pilots tend to show a lof of “submissiveness” with these things. Comply and obey.
In the air, that’s generally (not always) the right thing to do. But with some ground jobsworth keeping you hanging, one should often show more self-confidence. It is not acceptable to wait thirty minutes to pay thirty Euros for airport fees when you need to leave. And certainly it is acceptable to say “I will leave my details”. Good sense rules.
Stephan – nicely written, impressive en route pictures. I also like the (new?) layout of the blog. 
I’d just leave my details and ask them to send the invoice.
A good % of airports will not let you depart if you have not paid.
I don’t know which ones they are because obviously I rarely test this hypothetis but I have had it a few times. The last time was at Peenemunde (2013) but there it was obvious how it worked: the man at the tower was the same man collecting the money. That leads me to think that any airport where you go up into the tower to pay (and there are many of those, in the UK for sure – e.g. Wellesbourne, Scilly Isles) will not let you go if you have not paid.
The bigger ones are probably disconnected, especially the provincial French ones like Bergerac, Poitiers, Dinard…
Obviously. The small airfields don’t have the admin set up to do that. But then, with these airfields, there are hardly any delays. Just drop a tenner to the “airfield bloke” and you’re done.
But at the midsize airports (where a delay might happen due to them not being set up appropriately), they won’t object.
I want to see the airport that won’t let you depart when they just said “you need to wait half an hour for me to come back” and you said " I need to leave, a front is moving at my destination".
