EDDL Düsseldorf vs EDLN Moenchengladbach?

So, since there was a bit of a void here regarding recent experience with DÜsseldorf EDDL, here is my pirep from a recent visit:

• first of all, yes, since EDDL is fully coordinated, if you want to fly IFR you need airport slots, both for take-off and landing. These can be obtained by email (with the very good inegration via autorouter), or by calling the German AIS. If you fly VFR, this is NOT required.

• however, if you fly in from a non-Schengen or non-EU country, then the airport requests prior notice (see AIP)

• it’s a busy airport most of the time, so expect small delays (both VFR and IFR)

• it’s a long taxi to the GA apron, but otherwise very easy.

• small GA aircraft are parked right in the front of the GA terminal. Still, they want hi-vis on your 15-metre walk into the terminal, even this is nowehere written in the AIP.

• if departing IFR, you will also have to deal with all these A-CDM procedures and all their crazy acronoyms, so familiarize yourself with these.

• connections to the (very worthwhile) city of Duesseldorf are good. It’s either a 25€ taxi or, if you dare, the local train station is only 500 meters away from the GAT. The 79 line takes you right to the city for 2,50€.

• generally, it is not extremely expensive to land there. In an SEP, expect about 100€ for landing and a days parking. However, there is one caveat, and that is due to a bad glitch, one has to call it, in their fees & charges document, and this regards noise surcharges. The way they work is they categorize aircraft by aircraft types. Generally, all SEPs are in class 1, which means there are no additional noise surcharges, so 100€ is all you pay.
  But there are 3 (three) SEP types, which for some obscure reason, fall into noise class 3. These are: TB20, SR22, C210.
  For these types, you will be charged an additional 105€! So the total will be a whopping 205€! But again, only for these three types!
  This bug has been there for a long time now, but nobody does anything about it.

So, in summary: a decent place to go, IF YOU DON’T FLY TB20, SR22, C210. In these cases, I wouldn’t even bother considering EDLN (which will also charge 50-80€ for a bigger single, after all).
But IF YOU DO FLY TB20, SR22, C210, then avoid EDDL.

If you are only looking for a short tech stop anyway, then definitely go to EDLN, not to EDDL.

boscomantico wrote:

Still, they want hi-vis on your 15-metre walk into the terminal, even this is nowehere written in the AIP.

So that walk will take, what, 10 seconds? What will they do if you don’t have hi-vis?

Don’t know. In fact, what the handling guy said was just a friendly pointer. He said that the Luftaufsicht (those “bad” people of German aviation) had their office just past the door in the GAT and that they might see us and give us trouble. So he was just trying to help us. But the Luftaufsicht never came to bother us.

In fact, I now usually carry a few of these silly vests in the aircraft; it was just on that day that I did not have any (shortly after my UK trip I tidied up the aircraft and somehow put them away.)

BTW, here is that scandalous noise charges table from the fees and charges of of EDDL:

I see you flew in your SR22 – ouch. Did they not honor your noise cert?

So a Turbo SR22 (S22T), or a TB21 will not be penalized?

tmo: no, this is one of the (rare) places in Germany that doesn‘t care for noise certs.
They claim that these tables are somehow the result of their ow measurements at the airport…
Hence, the surcharges and the above table are programmed into their invoicing software.

So, pmh, yes. It entirely depends on what you put on the sheet that you have to fill out on arrival. If I had written „SR20“ nobody would have noticed and it would have saved me over 100€…

So that walk will take, what, 10 seconds? What will they do if you don’t have hi-vis?

Once they told me, that they have to rent the hi-vis to minimum one of the crew, and charge for it of course. But in fact they will guide you the 10 seconds walk, because they are really nice guys over there.

@eddsPeter

Confirm you usually pay ~ 100 Euros there, with the BE33? I.e., noise fees of zero?

@boscomantico

Confirm you usually pay ~ 100 Euros there, with the BE33? I.e., noise fees of zero?

Affirmative.