Hello Antonio,
your information is very helpful as obviously Son Bonet your home base is. I’m not sure yet if I will fly VFR or IFR.
An IFR approach to LEPA with cancellation to LESB could be very attractive. I would be very happy to know your opinion?
You can read some posts on the matter further up on this thread.
IN summary, by all means fly IFR if the capability is there. Just dont expect or plan to fly the approach into LEPA, but keep it as a planning option. It will work depending on commercial traffic (what dates are you planning to fly in? expect a lot of Easter traffic).
Of course if wx is a factor then that is your best option even if you have to hold for 30 mins. Usually in winter it is much less. In summer you will need a good reason to make such a request. Switching VFR to LESB after an approach into LEPA is easy enough and ATC are usually happy (after they managed to sequence you in) as long as reported WX at LESB+LEPA is VFR.
However if reported wx is below VFR minimums (rare) then don’t expect ATC will grant an SVFR clearance: you may try but more than likely they will expect you to continue and land at LEPA ($$$) or divert elsewhere: the approach will be flown inside Class A and D airspace and you are expected to act accordingly. This begs a question I will open a new thread on.
Beware of limitations on the ILS into LEPA and possible rwy closures (the latter may work in your favour as they may clear you for the approach to a closed rwy if you are not intending to land and are VMC). There are winter works in progress on the ILS and the rwys.
Hi all, and especially @aart for all the advice above.
We finally made it to Son Bonet for the first time. Although my wife and I readily fly all over Europe I had been quite intimidated by LESB for some reason. We departed in the Jetprop from a farm strip in thE UK with enough fuel to reach Limoges to clear c&i. Then on to the Balearics. Thanks to a terrific tailwind each leg was just 1.40. Just as aart suggested we requested a routing into POS on the north coast and followed the coastline along to the distinctive coastal town of Soller, through the sharply winding valley between there and the plane to join the Son Bonet circuit at NN reporting point.
A few things we learned that might be helpful:
• The Palma approach controller was the worst I have ever experienced. I requested “right 10 degrees to avoid weather” inbound POS, she gave me left. It took three transmissions from me to get the message across that I wanted cancel IFR north of POS and proceed offshore along the N coast etc. But it worked out in the end. I guess the message is that we were doing something different to 99.99% of thr traffic inbound to LEPA and you need to explain v patiently.
• I had printed out aart’s posts above and they were invaluable. Followed his advice to the letter
• To my surprise there was no traffic on either the common local VFR frequency, nor on the LESB traffic frequency. I announced position and requested runway info several times without response, so I guess by late September activity is much quieter. As a result we had to guess the runway in use, as proximity to LEPA makes it too hazardous to fly overhead to check the windsock. We guessed runway 23, tho the wind was almost directly across the runway, so made a very cautious approach with multiple position reports and ready to go around in case of opposing traffic.
• coming through the valley from Soller is quite entertaining. One is supposed to be max 1,000 ft AGL at this point. Given how convoluted the terrain is here it would be very difficult to monitor that accurately.
• We had received several detailed email briefings from Son Bonet, which amongst other things, warned that would need to check parking availability before leaving from our departure airport. In the event less than 50% of the spots were in use.
• Once parked, we had no idea how to exit the airport. It is next to the west most large hangar. Our passports were checked and we were helped by a v nice lady in the small office there.
•. We were able to get a good local car rental company to meet us at Son Bonet with our car. Just call them. Roig.com
Thanks for the report @Buckerfan, good it all worked out nicely.
We guessed runway 23
Have not been into San Bonet LESB for a few years, but IIRC they use the same runway as LEPA, so listening to its ATIS not only gives one the weather, but also the runway direction.
Hi @Buckerfan
Glad you made it, and sorry to hear about your struggles with the controller.. I don’t know when you arrived, but I’m surprised there was no one on both frequencies, that’s rather unusual. In your plane things happen quickly so I can imagine you were a little surprised to hear no one and did not find the time to check LEPA ATIS for wind info. Next time, take the Cub, gives you more time 
As to departure, the sequence is:
1. Taxi out on local frequency 122.705.
2. When ready for departure open FPL on 130.250 (they may tell you to contact LEPA tower at 118.305 after departure).
3. back to 122.705 in the circuit and contact LEPA tower.
4. LEPA tower will give you the applicable departure frequency, but they may be a little busy so it could take a while. They will ask you to remain VFR.
5. Once on the new designated frequency, monitor 123.5 as well for any local VFR traffic, just in case.
Routing;
You can either go via E to Pollensa, 1.000 ft AGL or fly the way you came in, via Soller. As you will see on the map, once over the sea at Soller you can climb to 6.000 to still be below A airspace. There is where I would start asking to change to IFR, inbound MEROS if that’s the route you want to go. They may either approve or keep you as VFR traffic, but likely won’t give you clearance to climb because of incoming commercial traffic via POS at around FL70. But maybe you want to go more direct in the general direction of Barcelona? In that case fly to N reporting point, stay at 3.500 ft and once crossing the coast request change to IFR. They may give you clearance to climb to your cruising level right away.
@Antonio, it’s been a while since I did the above, chime in if you think things should be done differently nowadays!
Hope you are enjoying your stay here and have a safe trip back!
Welcome to Mallorca @Buckerfan. I was at LESB this morning too, sorry we did not meet. I was the guy washing a 210 in hangar 3
Yes we locals tend to use LEPA ATIS on 119.25 to determine rwy in use at LESB
Let us know if you need any assistance while local. For me this is the best time of the year in Mallorca: not too hot, good wx, warm seawater for swimming, and not crowded. Every now and then such combination does bring a storm or two, but we seem to be good now.
Have fun!
Hi aart and Antonio. And thank you for the departure tips. Very kind of you!
The route that has been suggested by Rocketroute is out VFR to ADX then joining IFR in the climb. I guess that leaves my routing to ADX up to me, so we wil either head our via Soller again and alobg the coast for a bit or go across thr N of Palma and look at Magaluf (ugh)! Heading to LECD for the meet up.
Thanks for the offer of local help. We are actually fine. Staying close to a place we rented right on Cala Egos – jumping off the cliffs and swimming. Tho we did drive into Palma yesterday to see the Gaudi buildings which are terrific.
Great! If you want you can also route VFR to ESPOR for IFR pickup (along the same L2 awy as from ADX), more direct and you’ll get a clearance as soon as leaving the coastline. It is possible you will not get an IFR clearance at ADX until clear of commercial traffic routing via ADX, and depending on rwy in use at LEPA.
Both @aart and myself are planning to depart Fri late afternoon, send me a pm or even better write in TG if planning to be around LESB around that time.
Hi all,
I plan to have a VFR flight form LELG (SanJavie Los Garanchos) to LESB on 3rd/4th of February on Bristell NG5. There is a lot of useful information on this thread, but I would like to ask about the following.
I would like to have alternate airport in mind. What you could recommend with strip min of approx 400 meters? I plan to come by the north side BAVER-AKAMU-N-LESB as I can keep higher flight up to 3500ft instead of 2500ft from if fly for the south side.
What points of interest you would recomment to overfly :)
