From RENNES (LFRN) to MILOS (LGML) and back - June 2021

Each year with some friends we make a large roundtrip with at least 2 planes / 4 persons.
3 pilots on 4 are IFR certified, the planes are my C182T G1000 and an avionics upgarded TB20. We are all AOPA members.
Of course, it was impossible in 2020, last time was 2019 to the North Cape.
This year, at the beginning of may, I saw that it should be possible to go out of France at the beginning of june (5 to 13) with the understanding that everyone should be vaccinated.
We already went to Grèce 2 times (2016 through Germany and Hungary ending at Corfu and 2018 to Astypalaea via Ioannina). This time we wanted new islands and planned to go to Santorin assuming that the CAT traffic was very low.
As in 2018, I fully used the AOPA Hellas pages about flying in Greece (https://www.aopa.gr/en/flying-in-greece) and the many usefull tips given by @Petakas (Thank you !).
Firstly I planned LFRN / LFMD Cannes (fuel stop) / LIRJ Elba / LIBR Brindisi (fuel stop) / LGKR Corfou / LGKC Kithira / LGML Milos / LGSR Santorin / LGSO Syros (fuel stop) / LGIO Ioannina / LDSB Brac / LFKB Bastia / LFTW Nîmes / LFRN.
After reading AIP, looking at (very evoluting) Greeks airport schedule, sending PPR and asking for handling (I choosed Skyserv for all Greek airports), it appeared that : Ionnina had no more Avgas (till june 15th), and that after June 1st, Santorin don’t accept parking than for more than 1 hour. We also adjusted flight times and fuel stops.
So the new planned route was : LFRN / LFMV Avignon (fuel stop) / LIRJ Elba / LDDU Dubrovnik (fuel stop) / LGKR Corfou / LGKC Kithira (no Avgas) / LGML Milos (2 nights) (no Avgas) / LGSO Syros (fuel stop) / LGKR Corfu / LDSB Brac / LFKB Bastia / LFTW Nîmes / LFRN.
As you will see later (and as usual for this kind of trip with my friends) returning route from Milos was quite modified…
We leaved Rennes at 9h20 (loc, UTC+2) on saturday for a 3 hours IFR flight at FL090 to Avignon. Weather was good. RNP17 + VPT35 approach.
After eating a sandwich and refueling (Total self service, 2,02€/l) we left for LIRJ Elba for a 2h10 flight. The wind was from north so the QFU (34) was the easy one. At arrival, they told us that they had no more Avgas. A NOTAM was published the day before but in the agitation of the preparations for departure I ommited to look at it. Fortunately, I manage in these trips to have as many Avgas as I can regarding MTOW and Max Landing Weight (difference equals about 2 hours flight for the C182T), so it wasn’t too serious. And they finally accepted to give 60 liter of Avgas to each plane (at 3,18€ per liter, as usual…).
Lesson learned : I never forgot again to read the latests Notams during the trip.
We stayed for the night at Marina di Campo and went to Portoferraio for the dinner. The sea was quite cold…
Handling was 50€ for each plane at LIRJ.

Next day (Sunday 6th) was planned to have a fuel stop at Dubrovnik LDDU. Departure at 10h00 loc. Flight at FL150 (with oxygen) to cross Italy.
The IFR arrival is beautifull as the IF is just front of the old town at 2600 ft.
The handling at LDDU was very effective : less than an hour after our arrival, the refuelling was done (1,89€/l) and handling paid. 171,63€ for each plane : it was the most expensive of our trip (no AOPA discount), but with cheap fuel, it was less than Corfu. For the record, it is about the same price as in Bordeaux in France.
We arrived at Corfu LGKR at 17h10 (loc, UTC+3) with an RNP 34 approach. We were parked in the GA appron.
Refuelling was very long for the 2 planes, and very expensive : 3,52 €/l.
The first step to Greece was done in 2 days and 10 hours of flight: not too intense, but enough for our pleasure to fly while enjoying our stopovers.
We had booked an hotel in the old part of Corfou city and had our first (great) Greek dinner.
Next day (Monday 7th) was for a 2h30 VFR flight to LGKC Kithira. Before that we paid the handling at Corfou : 157,26 € (with AOPA discount).
We had to leave Corfu quite late : 13h00 loc because of short and late hours of operation at Kithira.
We flew along the east coast at 2000 ft having to follow the VFR paths.



Arrival at LGKC Kithira was very bumpy with a 20 kt crosswind landing on RWY20 on this airport located on a plateau at more than 1000 ft altitude.
This island is very calm and beautifull, with montainous roads.
We stayed for the night in a beautifull place in the south of the island near the Castle of Chora.







Milos LGML Skyserv station manager sent me an email to alert us that the hours of operation were reduced to 08:40-09:40 / 15:40-18:40 loc while the official schedule said 08:40-11:00 / 13:30-19:10 loc. So we had to be at the Kithira airport later than planned not to arrive too early at Milos.
No Avgas at Kithira. The handling was 71,87 €.
So we tooked off at 15h50 loc on Tuesday 8th to be later than 16h30 loc at LGML Milos after a short flight of 50 minutes over water.
My arrival was too tight at Milos airport for RWY26 because of the surrounding hills so I had to go around and applied myself.
We stayed 2 nights at Milos, at Polonia. We rented a boat and have great fun around the island.
During the stay, I tried again to get permission to Santorin, but it failed.






On wednesday 9th june evening I got an email from the LGSO Syros Station Manager : “Dear Sir / I just have the information that the air traffic controllers they are doing a strike at 11local time until 16local time. / Please inform me about your new plans! / Best regards”
So that was the trigger to the beginning of “changing plans” to come back home, as we use to.
To gain time, we decided not to go to Corfu again via Syros (to get some fuel), but instead going to LGAV Athens to refuel and get out from Greece.
There were many constraints: short opening of Milos, obtaining of the PPR for Athens and arrival at LDSB Brac before 16h00 loc. All this during a possible ATC strike in Greece…
I sent the PPR to Athens in the morning and got it in late afternoon. They told me that if I had a slot, there should be no prblem with strike. Then I canceled PPR/PN to Syros and Corfu and sent an email to Brac to change our ETA (one day earlier) at 14h30 loc. It was computed assuming that the stop would be for 1 hour at Athens (ETD 11h30 loc), given us 1h30 margin before Brac closing.
It was a quite stressful day.
First, Milos departure on Thursday 10th : There were the CAT passengers at the airport at the same time (remember : only 1 hour of operations in the morning), they pass before us and as I have a Leatherman in my flghtbag, the security wanted to take it via the “luggages circuit” : it was putted in a trolley and brought to my plane. Many time lost as we had very short delays this day. We tooked off at 9h47 loc instead of planned 9h30.
Handling at Milos was 28,47 €.
It was an IFR flight as we wanted to be inserted with no hassle in the LGAV Athens traffic. We arrived just before 11h loc.


Athens was catastrophic and stressful (and very hot !) : they parked us in front of a wall at the GA aprons, the Skyserv handlers didn’t call for Avgas before handling was paid so I got Avgas at 11h42, finishing at 12h00 ! The Avgas was 3,36 € / l (BP Card) and handling 101,92 €.
Lesson learned : when you are on a hurry ask for the the gas truck before going to the handler office. Note that 3 lucky Swiss planes arrived as our filling was ending so they get fuel very quickly.
Flight plans to Brac were delayed (we use RocketRoute) with no matter.
Leaving the parking was another hard time : in front of a wall, I had to “push back” the plane by hand , but the handler didn’t want : the tower had to give clearance for it ! I told handler that if they had parked us back to the wall, there would have been no matter.
I taxied at 12h15 loc and tooked of at 12h25 for a 4 hours planned IFR flight at LVL120. 50 minutes of our 1h30 time margin had been lost.




Half an hour after I called our friends on 123.450 : they haven’t leaved Athens at this time. They forgot to delay again their flight plan so it was automatically canceled. They had to file another one so they leaved about 40 minutes later than us, leaving them no margin before the closure of Brac.
I arrived at 15h20 loc (Croatia is UTC+2 while Greece is UTC+3) at LDSB Brac, 50 minutes later than planned and got immediate refuelleing (1,90 € / l).
I told the handler that my friends would be late, they seemed to don’t want to wait for them. Fortunately they arrived 10 minutes before closure. This allowed us to spend another evening together rather than forcing them to go to Split, our alternate.
We had to go through the police checkpoint in Brac, the first time since we left that we had to show our vaccination certificates!
During the 4 hours flight, thinking about the trip back to France, I thought it would be better not to spend 2 nights in Brac, which we already visited. It was time to propose a new change to my friends!
I selected LJPZ Portoroz : never get there and I read many good reviews about this place in Euroga : thanks guys !
We also decided to spend our last evening around Brives in France to make a gourmet dinner.
The planned new route became LDSB Brac – LJPZ Portoroz – LFMD Cannes (fuel stop) – LFSL Brives – RENNES
Portoroz is about 1h30 from Brac so we decided to leave Brac at 10h00 loc in the morning to arrive around noon.
In the late evening, I received a mail from RocketRoute which told me that my IFR FPL to Portoroz had to be amended because there was no ATC in the tower for our departure. So I had to modify it to Z IFR FPL.


Handling was 36,56 € with AOPA discount.
The flight on friday 11th was at LVL080 so we had a beautifull view on the islands on the west coast of Croatia.




At LJPZ Portoroz, I made a visual approach after a holding tour. The Marshallers on their quads brought us to the grass parking and we got immediate refuelling (1,96 €/l).
Again, through the police checkpoint, we were asked to show our vaccination certificates.
We choosed the Hotel Piran, which we enjoyed a lot. Thanks for the handler at Portoroz : she brought us to the hotel not having to wait for a taxi.


It was great to swimm just in front of the hotel.





The handling at Portoroz was 36€.


We leaved at 10h00 loc on saturday 12th for an IFR flight at LVL 110 and arrived at LFMD Cannes Mandelieu at 13h00 loc after a LOC A procedure followed by a VPT 17. We refuelled (2,00 € /l, BP Card) and came in the GA terminal to eat our sandwiches. Weather in France was very hot during this week !

We leaved at 14h30 loc on IFR FP (LVL 080) and arrived at the very calm LFSL Brives airport at 17h00 loc and refuelled (Total Self-service, 2,11€/l) while waiting for the taxi.


The bests restaurants in the area were all booked due to week-end and re-openning after COVID. Thankfully we found an hotel with a very good one not too far from the airport.
On sunday morning, we leaved Brives at 9h30 loc for a last flight of less than 2 hours to our homebase to arrive before noon.

This trip was a great time, planned just in time for the end of the COVID restrictions.

Statistics : Total flight time (block-block) : 27h40, 1.267 liters of Avgas (335 GAL).
We flew a little less than previous years (North Cape trip was 37h30) but it was so relaxing after these days of restriction !

These statistics allows me to add a personal reflection on the “extraordinary costs” of handling that are so often talked about on EuroGA: it represents less than 700 € while the flight part (airplane + avgas) represents nearly 10.000 €.
Isn’t the most important fight to get Avgas in as many airports as possible, if possible at a reasonable cost?

The map (with ADL140 tracking) :

(edit : add ADL track)