Mid August my presence is required in Poland, at Krakow.
I am thinking of flying there VFR in my C172, departing Rome, refuelling at Pola, and then stopping the night in Slovacchia. The following morning direct to Krakow. (I would like to do it in a day but my Lady isn’t too keen).
Any suggestions where to stop over in Slovacchia and best airport to use in Krakow?
Of course if the weather is bad, I’ll decide two days before departure and will have to go with an airline.
Either Balice EPKK, controlled airport with ILS or Pobiednik EPKP, aeroclub style grass field (see bottom of page for English)
Book parking at Balice well in advance. They’re often full. My preferred handler there is LS.
@tmo is from Kraków.
Given that the flight is VFR in a C172 EPKP is probably acceptable and definitely the less expensive option. We have avgas, there is a petrol station adjacent to the field.
Let me know if you need help with transportation (the drive to the center of town is 30m on a good day) or anything else. I should be in town mid-August.
tmo wrote:
We have avgas, there is a petrol station adjacent to the field.
How much is Avgas at your field? Is the airfield safe at night?
A liter of avgas is currently 2.36 EUR with VAT and excise tax included. You can pay by cash or card. You can fill up outside of normal business hours, but you need to make arrangements in advance.
The airfield has PCL (pilot controlled lights – key the frequency 6 times and the lights go on) and we use it at night. I’d say it’s as safe as any non-fenced piece of land can be.
Just pay attention to cows in EPKP… I flew there some years ago and after landing, it started to “stink” like hell in the cabin. After taxi, I checked the underneath of the plane that was covered by cow “shit”. Well, the landing was smooth like hell :)
FWIW, I’ve never seen a live cow around EPKP… I sometimes do see wildlife, mainly deer, but they frequent the corn planted on the outskirts, not the areas in active use, there is nothing of interest to them there. I guess an estranged cow could have, at some point in time, crossed the runway, but I honestly doubt any are left within cow-walking distance of the airfield. Much can change in a short time, people simply don’t keep cows anymore.
We do have a resident dog, but he’s a quite small specimen.
I’d be more concerned with the indigenous peoples of the area, who do, at times, conduct mating rituals (“drag races” of gen3 VW Golf’s, etc) on and around the active areas. Been less of an issue since we installed CCTV and had the local PD have a friendly chat with the worst offenders.
I am no mogas expert, but from what I see, people keep it in private tanks. EPLS has a gas station right at airfield entrance: (51.8317054, 16.5302181)
…But with a Cherokee / Lycoming, I would really check what type of fuel it actually is (octane, ethanol) and be sure it is OK. OTOH, a one-off refuel with substandard fuel likely do no harm. But then again, one such one-off refuel will not save much money (over 100LL or UL91) either…