Hi all,
So been working up close and personal with the new steed today and reviewing numbers and things.
It will be cutting it close on fuel burn to do London Elstree to Schwäbisch Hall in one go. Not enough margin on fuel for my sphincter to take :)
I am contemplating an immigration stop in France and I need some help. I do not really want to do L2k or Calais as these are still close on fuel burn for the rest of the way.
I am routing along the Belgian border to Luxembourg and then turning left and routing to Hall. Can anyone recommend a french airport from Lille onwards that has immigration and UL91 or MOGAS?
Can anyone recommend a french airport from Lille onwards
I don’t think there is much of “France” east of Lille LFQQ 
One dead easy airport, in the near part of Germany, is Dortmund EDLW. But there may be other even easier ones.
I am afraid that is a difficult combination – MoGas will only be available at the more modest fields, and even then perhaps not officially but only informally, “between fellow aviators” and/or “by previous arrangement”. On the other hand, only the bigger places have immigration, and their number is ever decreasing. I suggest you consider filling up with AvGas for this once, it is not mortal sin on a Rotax. Especially if you fill only one tank with the stuff, and switch frequently to burn/blow the lead off the valve seats. Or do you have the Europa with only one central fuel tank?
Troyes Barberey might well suit you.
@Peter: Dortmund would be quite off his route, I’m afraid. And will they have MoGas there? Saarbrücken would be better, but isn’t in France either…
Hi Jan, it’s the Europa.
I am playing with ideas at the moment. An idea I have come up with is that I fill up in the UK near London with UL91, absolutely fill the tank to the brim for the UK for the drawback. And drop into Le Tourquet, for immigration and a top off of the tank with AVGAS, before continuing.
Then I monitor fuel flow, but my route will take me directly over Speyer, and I can make a call then, if I can fly the last 40 minutes or if I prefer to divert and drop in for fuel.
Also Belgium is a pain, with the permit application otherwise I could overfly to Germany :)
Trying to think along:
Filling up as much as you can at the best price (i.e. using the UK drawback scheme) seems an excellent idea. You still need to stop somewhere to clear customs, either in France or in Germany (or even in Belgium or Luxembourg?), and you want to have a reasonable margin on fuel. I see little use then in landing at Le Touquet, the further east you land the better you will know how much fuel to add. Is immigration available at Speyer, or at your EDTY homefield? I can only confirm the recommendation for Troyes, it seems to be the most Easterly field in Northern (?) France to have immigration. Sad for you that Reims lost that service, it would be perfect otherwise. Nancy even better, but equally unusable.
And, as I’ve stated a zillion times, do not be concerned about the Belgian overfly permit. Especially if you do not land nobody will ever realise you are in an Annex 2, or it should be Belgian registered (Belgian registrations, like their German counterparts, give away the aircraft category to a certain level).
Customs is available at Speyer, that is getting to the limit of what I feel comfortable with direct from London, however it looks easy from Le tourquet and Schwäbisch hall looks like a stretch.
There seems to be a lack of airfields in France once your past Lille, as peter says until you get to Germany.
I could always try Ramstein, they seem like nice people :)
The issue is that I have 70litres… And will burn about 16 per hour. I have planned at 18 then added margins. I could pull it back to 90knots and 10 litres, but the inspector who is looking at my plane isn’t convinced it will work they way I think, because there will be more drag and so offset fuel savings. But I can play and see.
Troyes is a long way south.
Ciao Jon,
Yes, you are right. Once past Lille on your way southeast, there are few major airfields in France.
One where you can still do immigration supposedly in Charlesville, but honestly, I found it a sad place and also, there is no reliable supply of Avgas there.
Then there is Metz, but they don’t have Avgas.
A cheap place for landing is Saarbrücken, but they are known for having some of the most expensive Avgas in Germany…
Oh wait… I think I have found the perfect spot for you: Pirmasens (EDRP) has cheap Mogas and they are an approved immigration point (PN might apply for that).
By the way, a new version of the German “mogas map” has just been released and can be found here:
http://www.eddh.de/x-files/dl_files/d-mogas_010615.pdf
Jon, on your first long flight, I would suggest not worrying too much about fuel cost. Give yourself plenty of margin. Is Reims an option?
Bosco,
Yes, there is something to be said for LFQV Charleville-Mezieres, they do have customs though requiring prior request 24h. Then again, r/t is mandatory but only in French – is that ok with o/p? And they still don’t have the much wanted mogas, at least not officially. Also, I quite agree it is a sad forlorn place at the end of nowhere.
Thanks for the link to the MogasKarte, it will certainly be useful.
@Jason: according to my trusted source for French aerodromes, LFSR “Reims Champagne” might have immigration but does not offer Mogas, whereas LFQA Prunay promises neither mogas nor immigration.
All,
Thank you, I think I have cracked it. And I have considered all suggestions put forward here.
My fuel planning is consisting of book value + a bit of margin then the usual bits like bit of holding and contingency and then I have added a factor for not knowing the aircraft. I am told that the aircraft should give me 4:20 at moderate cruise without any margin applied. Therefore If a leg is getting close to 3 hours, for a plane that I don’t know well yet, I am saying no.
Given that last time I spoke french was, depressingly, 20 years ago, I won’t risk French Only right now.
However, thanks again to this forum, answers are found… My thoughts for the trip…
I think I will fill up on Saturday Afternoon in High Wycombe as UL91 is available, then do the short hop to Elstree, as I have some friends there and have a comfortable bed to get a good nights sleep… Sunday morning if I depart Elstree at 09:30 local, sky demon reckons I will get to Le Tourquet at 11:40 local. This means that I can remove the life jacket, and have a wee stop. If I allow 30 minutes to fuel and “immigrate” and I should be back in the air at 12:10 local with a tank about 50 litres UL91/20 litres AVGAS (so hardly requiring additional maintenance) Sky demon says 2:05 to pirmasens, where I can fill up again with UL91 at around 14:10/14:15. Not needing immigration or anything else, this should be quite quick. Then I have an hour to Schwäbisch Hall… So realistically 15:30 to 16:00 arrival is possible.
Where I hope my other Buxom Belle will be waiting with a very big beer.
