IFR to Ibiza LEIB feasibility

CarlosJ wrote:

We paid 130 Euros total for a DA42 with 3 people, and using the commercial entry/exit to avoid the extra 70 Eur per person/per exit-entry via the Executive FBO…

Hola Carlos!

Last time I tried with Ibiza GA handlers pre-COVID the answer was the FBO terminal was mandatory so I it is great news that has changed.
Paying <100EUR extra vs ElCheapo handling is quite acceptable at IBZ. Had you gone via the FBO with 3POB in&out it would have been 70×3×2=420 Eur +VAT on top.

Is Nantes a bad option IFR?

It should work but you “will need assistance” and will take ages unless you know someone at aeroclub, I landed there once but VFR and it was a bit of hassle, I figured out later that StNazaire LFRZ was 1000 times better and worked neat for IFR arrival in the area (or IFR/VFR cloudbreaks or departures to/from LaBaule)

I would avoid Nantes if I were you. If you can’t get the club to do the handling it can be expensive.
LFRZ is much better and cheaper, but is it a port of entry now/still?
Le Mans is pretty good. Long runways, IAPs, small office and not a lot of bureaucracy. Best not to arrive between 1200 and 1400.
Don’t forget to check out the Covid 19 regs and your on your honour Covid declaration for all 3 of you.
LFRM to LFBH is only just over an hour, so I agree with some others, why do both?

@pilotrobbie this probably isn’t what you want to hear given the time, effort and money you’ve put into your IR but it is probably simpler and easier to fly VFR (or at least, file VFR and go ad-hoc IFR where necessary) to La Rochelle.

I’ve done La Rochelle (VFR) a few times from the London area and once you escape from under the LTMA it’s basically a dead-straight line at an altitude of your choice. It’s hard not to reach the conclusion that filing IFR for the same route would result in more track miles, more time in the air and more fuel burned. I know the purpose of the IR is to make touring simpler, but that’s only the case when airspace or weather make VFR difficult.

Filing IFR is the right tool for Peter’s trips over the Alps because if done VFR it presents enormous challenges with terrain, airspace and weather, not to mention having to study and understand the VFR charts for quite large areas of multiple countries. VFR-inaccessible airspace may cause a significant detour from the otherwise-optimum route and hence IFR does greatly simplify things. Getting from the London area to La Rochelle doesn’t have these problems, and certainly once in France the VFR flight is just a straight line at some pleasant altitude like FL70 with one radar controller handing you to the next.

What doesn’t seem to have been nailed down is your endurance with these two friends plus bags on board. You need to decide definitively how much fuel you can carry, what reserve you need/want, and hence your maximum planned flight leg in nm. When I tour it’s usually just with my girlfriend so we are not W&B limited and we take full tanks (five hours). I then limit us to a planned four hours with a one hour reserve, but in reality we rarely plan anything over three hours so we get a two hour reserve. On the rare occasions we go somewhere four-up, we are (depending on their weight) limited to about three hours fuel, so that is two hours planned with a one hour reserve – quite limiting – hence the oft-quoted saying that if you want to carry four people regularly then you need a six-seater.

gallois wrote:

LFRZ is much better and cheaper, but is it a port of entry now/still?

Yes, I landed there August last year there on way to LaBaule and we did same thing on departure back to UK, however, there was no single soul in tower/terminal/fire stations on both days, on return I decided to make the full stop and actively go look for douniers (VAT/Brexit & tout ca, but no one was around), then just as I started taxying on second leg there was an old couple waving for help at the gates (it was PA46 that was nearby and heading to Norwich, they were stuck at door without codes), I still wonder how the heck they would have done without us?

If one is looking to meet and speak to people, I think LaRochelle LFBH is much more enjoyable !