On returning back from Scotland, we spent a few days at a friend’s at St Lunaire near LFRD so we had a chance to sample the airport (20 min bicycle ride or 10 mins taxi/rental car ride)
We had e-mail-PPR’d customs 24h prior and they were expecting us on arrival. They acknowledged the PPR by email.
Easy-in&out at the GA entry security control (as long as all persons carry ID’s and one person carries matching pilots license) next to the check-in desks unless matching the once-twice daily commercial flights: worth checking and adjusting as security procedures change completely.
Easy AVGAS self-refuelling at the fixed pump if you have an AIR-BP card with a readable magnetic strip, otherwise the firemen can arrange it at the ‘C’ office, a small red+white container near the grass parking where we also paid the 50EUR 4-day pkg+ldg fees (SEP 1.8t). Such office will likely be “sparsely manned” at lunch-time as elsewhere in France…there are also NOTAMs restricting RFFS at certain times, so I assume this will also affect capability to man the ‘C’ office for refuelling and fees.
We parked on grass next to some 10 other light aircraft (made the mistake of parking uphill and needed help moving out) . Despite (or perhaps thx to) the slope, grass condition was quite good. Apparently concrete parking should not be a problem in winter. We parked downhill the next day after refuelling and then taxying out a few days later was no issue.
On arrival London and Jersey coordinated our seamless descent from FL190 through the FIR boundaries into and out of Jersey for an RNAV approach at Dinard, where we were speed-restricted to 110KIAS (very unusual but second time this happens to us recently in France! We usually have a hard time descending and slowing down simultaneously).
For departure there are no SID’s so we got a multidirectional departure clearance on course to REN.
During the time we spent there there were frequent marginal VFR conditions with low scattered cloud as is to be expected in channel coastal regions.
Nothing of interest at the terminal other than rental cars with the usual brands being available (at high-season, as was our case, only if booked in advance!).
A year later I got the bill from them – €31.96.
Any business doing this would go bust very fast, and I can only hope that they allocate the payment (made for me by someone who has a Euro account so can pay the cost without blowing another €30 in bank charges) to the right account! Pontoise took 6 months to sort this out….
I very rarely bother to lock my a/c or take my keys with me. The damage done by some scrote breaking into my Saratoga (which has fibreglass doors, thus easy to damage) will nearly always outweigh the value of the stuff inside, and all my stuff is marked with serial no.'s noted, so would be pretty difficult to fence.
A few years back, a bunch of aircraft at Wycombe all got broken into. Largely, the contents of the aircraft all remained within 20 metres - as the scrotes glanced at it all and then threw it on the ground as it had no obvious value. A few of the lifejackets got let off and were able to be repacked.
However, the only aircraft to be damaged were to ones which were locked - and the damage done was expensive and took time to fix. The aircraft that were covered up with cambrai covers were left alone.
I also hide a spare ignition key inside the aircraft, just in case of disasters. When I had spares cut, the locksmith told me that the blanks were common to very cheap filing cabinets.
I think you need a yaw damper for that 
But yes quite a lot of my pics show the ball embarrassingly to one side, though hopefully not in cruise.
Just noticed your autopilot does not do a very good job in keeping the ball in the middle. ;-) :-D
No sign of the bill as yet... Luckily I have the photo of the form I completed.
Yes; I wasn't suggesting anybody leaves their plane unlocked 
I always do lock the airplane when I'm away. Certainly it seems not practical to steal an airplane, but what about stealing a pair of Bose headsets? or an iPad, camera, life jackets... those kind of things
Going back to topic, good report and very nice town!
What do other people do with the aircraft keys?
Best to not discuss this openly but I discovered a simple solution which a lot of people do...
Stealing a plane is pointless anyway, because you have nowhere to go with it as it can easily be traced.
True, though if one can break in one can do a lot of theft/damage. A TB is especially hard to get into without causing € 5 figures' worth of damage.
When I fly with Justine I give her a second set of keys. But a pilot should not normally have two sets of keys himself because it makes it possible to e.g. leave one key in the ignition (i.e. ignition live) while one is outside unlocking the luggage compartment. Or one could depart with a key in the luggage door(s)...
Nice pictures, Peter !
I "lost" the aircraft keys, and even though I was sure I left them in the door, I didn't want to worry about it for too long while walking around Dinard
What do other people do with the aircraft keys? For a short stay, I just leave them inside the aircraft with the door unlocked. That's what I was told to do during PPL training. Stealing a plane is pointless anyway, because you have nowhere to go with it as it can easily be traced.
When I leave the aircraft behind for a night, I do lock the door ;-)
