Need to stay tomorrow night. Any suggestions?
I recently stayed at Hotel Johanneshof. It is close to the airport, reception is open 24h etc. A good place to sleep if you want to stay next to the airport but not more than that. For dinner I would stay at the airport the restaurant there seems to be better.
IFA has meant Frankfurt is sold out. Going to spend the night at Schwäbisch Hall (always planned to try it) and fly into EDFE for the day. Cheaper to leave Le Bourget than stay an extra night!
Going to spend the night at Schwäbisch Hall.
Good choice. Thereby you swap one of the unfriendliest airfields in Germany against one of the friendliest :-)
The Hotel to go for is the "Goldener Adler" at the market square (see wikiairports.com for details). Let the airfield handling staff book it for you and you will get an excellent rate. They also drive you there and collect you in the morning if you wish.
Yes they are booking me a hotel.
one of the unfriendliest airfields in Germany against one of the friendliest
Yes, Schwäbisch Hall are so friendly that they send me a nice letter 2 days after I get too close to their ILS or LPV. That nice letter asks me to transfer € 10 + VAT for each encounter with "their" LPV, even when VFR...
Yes, Schwäbisch Hall are so friendly that they send me a nice letter 2 days after I get too close to their ILS or LPV. That nice letter asks me to transfer € 10 + VAT for each encounter with "their" LPV, even when VFR...
That is totally incredibly outrageous.
Can you post this letter openly - obviously with your details removed?
Can they enforce such a policy?
Can you post this letter openly - obviously with your details removed?
I would first clarify the issue with the airfield. Humans make errors. I really fly a lot to EDTY (both with students on SEPs and MEPs and with the Citation) and I have not yet come across this kind of problem.
Can they enforce such a policy?
Of course not. They can charge for instrument approaches (according to their published price list - beware: Only the German version on the website is current!) but only if you really fly the instrument approach under instrument flight rules. Not even Frankfurt or Heathrow will charge you for flying "along" an instrument procedure under VFR.
It's standard practise at least in Germany. Instrument approaches cost money and in order to please the VFR community, they impose extra fees on using instrument approaches. I think most GA airfields in Germany do that nowadays.
With Schwäbisch Hall it seems to depend on whether you have an account with them. I now do and ever since, I keep receiving invoices for using the ILS/LPV. Whether you use it as part of an IFR flight or for training doesn't matter to them, I asked about it. Whether they have legal grounds or not, I can't tell.
What is of course odd is that I can legally do this whole exercise without radio contact. They have airspace F (or G most of the time because F is not active). At 500ft AGL I would have to turn away though.
