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Trip to Greece, Eastern 2019

For our Eastern 2019 vacation we decided to go to Kithira. I‘m collecting islands and this was a missing one. So we departed on Eastern Monday, crossing the alps mostly direct to Belgrade LYBE to spend a night there. It‘s a vivid town with friendly people. So overnight was to short and we will come back again.
But on Thuesday we had arranged the customs stop and refuelling at LGAV Athen, as AOPA Greece mentioned a normal fee for overnight for around 150 € on their Website and the technical stop should be much cheaper. It wasn’t. It costs exactly 147€ with basic handling by Goldair and AOPA discount and we stayed on airside. But be careful, you need to send a copy of the AOPA ID card 24 hours before, otherwise no discount. This is also not mentioned on the AOPA webpage, or I haven’t found it. But all in all it was okay. We had a turnover-time of 60 minutes, refuelling with Avgas, doing the paperwork etc. And it was fun to fly in IR after we got more or less a direct the whole way down from Belgrad. Great: no slot was needed.
Then we continued VFR to Kithira LGKC nearly without any problem. We were only close to declare an emergency when suddenly one of our backseat windows popped up open. But we managed to close it without damage in flight. At LGKC the welcome was super friendly and we enjoyed a nice fish diner in a tavern at Avelonas.
Now some photos of our trip so far: (Okay no photos, the upload failed twice, so I’m going to sleep now. @peter may check why and maybe get them shown, because they were uploaded to 100% and then the failure message came.)

EDDS , Germany

Best procedure for uploading lots is to downsize them to 925 pixels wide. Don’t worry about the height. I think there is a 20MB total size limit for multiple pics uploaded in one go, as well as a 5 minute total upload time limit. If you downsize to 925px then they will be small files. If you like, dropbox etc them all to me and I can do it and drop them in. But it will be tomorrow morning. Then you have a 2hr edit window to add annotations etc.

I don’t have any way to dig out pics already uploaded. The database structure and the forum software are way too complex and have no expertise in that area.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

eddsPeter wrote:

you need to send a copy of the AOPA ID card 24 hours before

Νο you don’t.
What needs to be done 24Hrs ahead is to NOTIFY the handler you are coming, otherwise no discount.
That’s all there is to it.
Maybe it was a misunderstanding.
All that counts are the contracts with AOPA which are published for download in www.aopa.gr/Info paragraph 12b.
They mention 24hr prior notice to handler for validity of discount, not sending the card 24hrs ahead.

Regarding the costs at LGAV.
www.aopa.gr/Info paragraph 23 writes
2. Privatized Athens Int’l LGAV airport: roughly ~200 Euro the first day and ~50 Euro per each day parking. (+50~100 Euro without AOPA discount)

In paragraph 24 it mentions lower cost for LGAV but note it mentions technical stop without leaving airside and without passengers (crew only). All these are PIREPs and AOPA distributes information as it comes from pilots.

Last Edited by petakas at 24 Apr 15:50
LGMG Megara, Greece

Great example of tourism with GA. Can’t wait to read the rest of the trip and see the pictures !

LFOU, France

@petekas wrote:

Νο you don’t.
What needs to be done 24Hrs ahead is to NOTIFY the handler you are coming, otherwise no discount.

Sorry Petekas, this time you are wrong. I added the photo of the email I got when arranging anything in time. Maybe they don‘t like to fulfill the AOPA contract.

EDDS , Germany

@Peter Thank you for the dropbox offer. But I will upload them now in charges, here are the pictures EDDS to LYBE:







Most of the time between layers on the way from LYBE to LGAV:




And then from LGAV to LGKC:

EDDS , Germany

Why did you choose Athens and not Ioaninna ?
I am not sponsored

LFOU, France

@Jujupilot

Why did you choose Athens and not Ioaninna ?

Because of better routing, better weather and we expected it to be a bit cheaper during first planning state after reading the AOPA information. But all in all it was okay and we will visit Ioannina LGIO anyway on our way home.

EDDS , Germany

eddsPeter wrote:

Maybe they don‘t like to fulfill the AOPA contract.

First of all its bad English the way they put it !
They don’t need the card copy since they can VERIFY its validity if they have the name surname and number by going to www.aopa.gr —> Members —> Member Card …
I’ll notify AOPA and get back to you.

LGMG Megara, Greece

Jujupilote wrote:

Why did you choose Athens and not Ioaninna ?

As I see the cost of roughly 150 Euro is the same.
Ioannina LGIO would be a little cheaper (total cost).
BUT in LGAV you get a full services large airport with two runways, 24Hrs open, in the center of Greece.
The TAXI time is a bit longer in LGAV than LGIO off course plus the ATIS with start up clearance etc. per LGAV published procedures.
Ioannina has operation hours and during some times of year is more prone to weather phenomena due to the nearby lake and the terrain surrounding it.
Athens LGAV is GA friendly and has no local weather phenomena. They just sequence you, be it VFR or IFR, behind the faster jet traffic.
In summer time both runways are quite busy and that period in some specific days Ioannina may be a better option.
It all has to do with the specific day and time of year you want to visit it.

LGMG Megara, Greece
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