We flew down to Morocco for eight days to escape the grey winter sky over Germany and to celebrate Mrs. terbang’s birthday last week. Here’s a little recent info on the region and a few iPhone photos.
The itinerary was: Mannheim (EDFM) – Perpignan (LFMP) – Essaouira (GMMI) – Agadir (GMAD) – Santander (LEXJ) – Mannheim (EDFM)
Route
Morocco turned out to be quite GA friendly once again. Fuel was expensive at almost three Euros per liter. Fees for landing were very affordable, no need to contract handling at the airports we landed at. ATC was good and flexible (see below). Everybody was very friendly, ATC as well as the people we had to deal with on the ground. We have been to Morocco a couple of years ago (when we flew to other places) but as far as I can tell, not much has changed.
Approaching Perpignan
Perpignan is PNR for customs/imigration and there is currently a NOTAM that the field is PPR till April. However, it was immediately granted when we called.
It was very windy when we arrived but pleasantly warm. It was the most bumpy approach during this trip.
Actually we had planned to fly to Rabat as our first stop in Morocco. It would not have been that far and we had never been there. TAF was so-so, but above minimums. When we arrived in the area weather was worse than forecast – 0800 OVC002. Not so good but we could have tried. There was a new TAF out out giving no hope for improvement within the next 24 hours. We weren’t keen on doing the approach nor did we feel any desire to sit under a 200 feet overcast the next day, so we decided to divert. I had filed Casablanca as first alternate and Tangier as the second, kind of en-route alternate. Casa was above minimums but not really good and I had planned that rather for an emergency. Tangier was already way behind us. We requested to divert to Essaouira which is 180 NM south of Rabat and had good weather. ATC asked us to confirm that we wanted to divert to GMMI as our alternate in the FPL was Casa. We did so and immediately got the reply “fly heading 220 for the time being”. After a couple of minutes the controller came up with a few waypoints. No further questions asked.
Atlas mountains
We arrived without prior notice and were greeted by two gentlemen and a lady wearing uniforms. They were friendly, however, and said we should complete our business and then come over to the terminal to get our passports stamped. We secured the aircraft and walked right a cross the apron, but nobody cared.
Mrs terbang had a pile of GENDECs but nobody showed any interest. Instead we hat to fill out tiny forms which are also used for passengers arriving on airline transport. After a few minutes we were good to go.
Guess the type by its shadow 
Essaouira was nice if a bit windy. There is a nice walled old town with many hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops.
Essaouira
After two nights in Essaouira we flew on to Agadir, where we had booked nice hotel, complete with a good restaurant, spa and all the amenities required to have a nice birthday. For unknown reasons we had to fill out the tiny form again before we could get to the airside.
In Agadir
Again we could walk over to the terminal but as everybody might have guessed already, we had to fill out these tiny forms again before we were allowed land side. We took a few of them with us to be prepared for our departure.
Weather was perfect and we had nice strolls along the beach, otherwise Agadir is nothing to write home about.
Sunset in Agadir
Departure was again without any problem, we had used the time to fill out the forms…
I had browsed through the Spanish AIP for quite a while and had found, that Santander doesn’t require contracting handling, even when arriving from outside the Schengen area.
Casablanca
Santander was a very friendly place once again and in fact nobody asked us to contract handling.
Parked at Santander
We spent a rainy day in Santander before we set off for the final leg back to Mannheim.
Approaching our home base
Nice pictures, thank you for sharing! And happy birthday to your wife.
Impressive range (both of the aircraft and the crew).
This little report once again shows how easy touring is. Of course, an IR, a good aircraft and an expereinced pilots helps, but it also helps to not overcomplicate things. Just plan your flight and fly your plan, without previously asking (oneself) hundreds of questions aboute PPR, bookings, routings, whatnot. Check AIP, NOTAMs, do what needs to be done in terms of PPR and go. Brilliant!
Perpignan – Essaouira in just one shot!
I’ve been years with the idea of flying myself to Essaouira. Maybe next year…
What a brilliant trip
Spain, and presumably Morocco, is a great destination for the end of the year.
Does Morocco need any sort of overflight/landing permit? A bizjet pilot friend says it definitely does, but light GA pilots don’t seem to mention it.
The overflight/landing permit is only require in Western Sahara (south of Layhoun).
As per AIP you just need the FlightPlan sent 24h before landing but nobody take care.
Is Morocco in Eurocontrol?
Eurocontrol/IFPS member countries each choose when to receive flight plans. I was told by one insider that most choose ETA minus 12hrs or something like that, so if you file an FP say 3 days before arrival, the destination won’t see it until much closer.
The above is for IFR. For VFR, if you file directly via AFTN then they will get it immediately, but some flight plan filing agencies distribute the FP also much closer to arrival.
Thank you all!
Yes, it is a Eurocontrol memebr and as Romain writes, there is no permit required. According to the AIP an FPL 24h in advance for VFR and 12h for IFR is sufficient. There is a list of the AFTN addresses they want the FPL sent to in the AIP. Autorouter didn’t get it correct, but I added the missing addresses by hand and it apparently was fine.
Ok. That is what I was getting at. A straight Eurocontrol filing probably won’t achieve the PN they want.
Yes they are and autorouter is working really good there. They often will print you the strip when paying the landing fees (really cheap, they even take credit card know).
No excuse to don’t go there Peter !
Never had any issue with adressing in Morocco and I flew almost everywhere…
