Jan, I’m sorry if my post was vague. It was written a cellphone in a hurry! The airfield is indeed S Darius & S Gireno EYKS. I found it was colloquially referred to as Kaunas Darius or just Darius on the air.
I found the city very pleasant with endless street cafés and pedestrianised streets. I stayed in the Daugirdas hotel by the river which was excellent for 60 € per night. The one snag is difficulty of finding wifi that works. The hotel one blocked my VPN. It’s not a 3 feel at home country either. So you really need a domestic cim card.
Thanks, David
Apologies it it comes across otherwise, really trying to be helpful:
I suppose this means EYKS Dariaus&Giréno aerodrome just South of Kaunas. A nice place indeed! (the airfield, that is. The city was depressing, to me, but I only tried once, may have been bad luck). And yes, Lithuania is a very decent country and yet very affordable, recommended for all to visit.
BTW the aerodrome is named after two of the country’s national heroes – they almost managed a non-stop flight across the Atlantic to their homeland, in 1933. Their names are still in high honour around the country.
I flew from Estonia to Kuanas Darius (as mentioned above) in September bypassing a possible stop at Riga. However they did respond to an email in a friendly way and sent me a scale of charges which looked a bit complicated, so I didn’t bother to work them out! But I’m sure it would have been OK. They did confirm Avgas OK. I suggest you mail them.
S. Darius was magnificent! The taxi to the hotel downtown took 10 mins and cost less than 5 Euro! Fuel only in the week however. A huge contrast with the Kuanas International airport which is 100 Euro, security palaver and a long way from town.
I found Riga welcoming 2 years ago with low landing fees and tie down costs. All in costs were no where near 100 EUR. Tie down was 3.5 Euros/day & the landing fee was something like 11 EUR. They were eager to show hospitality to GA. I had a flight to catch to Moscow leaving shortly & they called the gate to let them know I was coming and rushed me through security to catch the flight. The city itself is a great for a weekend visit. That was 2 years ago. Maybe things have changed.
https://ais.lgs.lv
Latvian AIP. It also contains PDF with actual VFR 1:500000 chart.
You don’t need customs for flight from Sweden. Regarding AVGAS, EVRA time-to-time also fails to provide it, so you’ll need to give them a call. Landing-handling-parking in EVRA 150EUR+ (it was more than 100LVL in 2013). Perhaps, if you plan landing just for refuel, it would be cheaper. Also, check ESSV and EEKE for AVGAS.
Why? Both Sweden and Latvia are EU + Schengen…
We would be arriving from Sweden so I guess we need customs – that and the need for 100LL may rule out Spilve
Hi,
I fly to Riga in summer time at least once a week for $100 hamburger, so I know almost everything about it )))
The better choise for Riga is EVRS offcourse. Note, that recently EVRA has changed their visual approach charts and if you wish to transit EVRA CTR, you’ll have to check the new one. Entry points have been changed and special VFR transit route introduced. If you’ll come from Lithuania, you can just avoid EVRA.
EVRS is still not in AIP (they promise to include it, but certification still pending) and actual entry points are also not mentioned anywhere. Old entry point (the same as for Riga CTR) PARKS is now removed from AIP. New points for EVRS are GOLF and TERMO. Both are located on east boundary of EVRS ATZ. GOLF is nothern point, over golf fields. TERMO is southern, over plant with high chimneys. It’s easy to locate them. Please be advised, that you have to stay 1000ft or below in EVRS cuz it’s under EVRA CTR. GOLF is for base of rwy 14, TERMO – for 32.
Also, please be aware, that there may be difficulties with AVGAS on Spilve.
Finally, during last two week, military excersises and associated prohibited areas may appear in NOTAM. You may wish to check them before flight.
(I like those old, neglected city airports…)
You could do worse things then than to visit the old Kaunas airport (S. Darius and S. Girenas, EYKS) while we are talking about that corner of Europe.
