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European Tour Aug/Sep 2022

As I say that, what I know doesn’t worry me… What I don’t know is what concerns me. What is arriving at an airport like Mallorca like? Is landing at most European airports friendly and welcoming? Just people who love aviation happy to meet each other? Or are there challenges that present themselves depending on where you are?

Assuming you prefer runways with a minimum of 1.500 m, your choice of fields are of course more limited and you would hardly find any “US-style” no-hassle, super welcoming fields. Your field would almost exclusively be towered, have an Instrument approach and some may even have mandatory handling, PPR (Prior Pemission Required) or PN (Prior Notification). Some fields are welcoming, others not so much, in the sense of bureacracy, slowness and the like. This may vary per country but certainly between countries. The Airports Database we have been working on here is a good start for you to get a feel! And, no, on these kind of fields you’d find no ‘loving community’. For that you’d have to go to 300-500m grass strips and meet the local LSA-pilots. Hundreds of fields in Germany and France alone..

In general I would say that using a handling agent for most places you’ll go to makes a lot of sense for you.

Mallorca: assuming you would go to Son Bonet, no big deal. Just be aware of local school traffic, both helicopters and fixed-wing. Should you decide to come I’ll provide some more practical info.

Gibraltar: Still on my list.. Beware of turbulence bouncing of The Rock at certain wind directions. Handling is mandatory, so all should be easy. Funny that they have to close the road from Spain to G that runs straight across the rwy when aircraft are moving. So speed up on the taxying unless you like a load of cars honking at you :)

Marrakech: I was there just once. It’s a big European-style airport because it’s a tourist attraction. You’ll find the usual European airlines flying there plus a good load of private jets. I found ATC to be very professional. Do use a handler there!

Private field, Mallorca, Spain

Texan-AV8R wrote:

@boscomantico – that’s so strange for an American to hear that an airport (LKVO) is closed on the weekends… Just one of the many sorts of things I’m going to have to get used to. Which airport would you choose to go to Prague?

If you were making one stop in Portugal, where would you pick?

Thanks for the clarification on Gent and recommendations on Bergen, Tallin, Gdansk, and Caen

All extremely helpful!

In terms of IFR airports, you only have LKPR reasonably near. There are several handling agents, so requesting a quote from them all makes sense.

Portugal: if you are into cities, it’s either Lisbon or Porto. Lisbon is the capital and obviously iconic. But many people love the scenery of the smaller city of Porto. In Lisbon, you can land at Cascais (1400m, IFR) instead of LPPT, in Porto you can land at Vilar de Luz (1300m, VFR) instead of LPPR. If you rather want beaches, sunshine, coastline and golf courses, then you should go to Faro, LPFR, but again, these big Portugese airports are not GA-friendly and expensive.

On a general note: as mentioned, you need handling arrangements at all those airports. Possibly also some advance fuel arrangements (that depends). You might want to consider the support of a company to help you with getting all these arrangements. Otherwise, it might all be a little overwhelming, and you want to enjoy the trip. These are several “flight support” companies in Europe for that.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 01 Jul 07:38
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Excellent information guys. I will check those ideas out tomorrow and let you know as the trip narrows down.

Thank you!

United States

Texan-AV8R wrote:

what are your thoughts on Gibraltar and Marrakesh?

Gib before getting permission, they like you to read & sign Mil AIP entry ‘SPECIAL PROCEDURE: WIND EFFECT’

https://www.aidu.mod.uk/aip/pdf/ad/LXGB-Gibraltar-Combined.pdf

I paid 170E for Mooney, I gather Cirrus Jet will be pricey? but worth it if you want to see few monkeys on top of the rock (I don’t remember anything else)

Marrakesh, handling is obligatoire (or permission from airport director, we got ours without handling but you won’t have the patience to go that road), the prices are near those in Ibiza, in Morocco, I would have suggested other places like Tangier, Essaouira, Rabat or Fez they are more authentic, less touristic and note that all Moroccan civilian airports don’t require handling or permission, just flight plan (12h IFR or 24h VFR), the fees are usually around 3Euros-30Euros for anything under 20T, it takes 30min to print the receipt and convert dirhams to euros

With your range, you can go to Dakhla if you are into water/wind sports altough anything south of Agadir needs ‘overflying permit’

Last Edited by Ibra at 01 Jul 09:36
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

EGPC Wick is a good place to enter mainland(-ish) Europe from Iceland. Not much to see outside the airport but quick and efficient service from Far North Aviation and you can drop off your transatlantic gear with them until your return.

Denham, Elstree, United Kingdom

For Prague, Czech Airlines Handling was very good.

https://airports.euroga.org/record.php?id=1034

boscomantico wrote:

In terms of IFR airports, you only have LKPR reasonably near. There are several handling agents, so requesting a quote from them all makes sense.
Qualified PPL with IR SP/SE PBN
EGSG, United Kingdom

For Belgium:

Want to visit Brugge ? => EBOS
Want to visit Ghent ? => EBKT

EBST, Belgium

Ibra wrote:

but worth it if you want to see few monkeys on top of the rock (I don’t remember anything else)

hilarious and awesome… landing at one of the “pillars of Hercules” is tempting… but I have already checked “moneys on a rock” off my bucket list…

Still thinking about the southern detour to GIB and Morocco.

Thanks!

United States

Winston wrote:

EGPC Wick is a good place to enter mainland(-ish) Europe from Iceland.

Outstanding… Wick does look like a great way to go. I will probably enter via the Norway route and exit via Wick when I am more worried about headwinds…

airways wrote:

For Belgium:

Want to visit Brugge ? => EBOS
Want to visit Ghent ? => EBKT

Airways, I understand what the different destinations offer.. but, from an airport perspecitve do you have a preference? (Cost, headaches, etc)

pilotrobbie wrote:

For Prague, Czech Airlines Handling was very good.

Thanks Robbie for the recommendation!

United States

“from an airport perspecitve do you have a preference? (Cost, headaches, etc)”

Costs are higher at EBOS when you have passengers. But they offer ATC, good FBO and an excellent restaurant.

EBKT has no ATC, is restrictive with regard to nr of simultaneous IFR movements but has very good turnaround times and also an excellent restaurant.

I prefer EBKT when needing a customs airfield (eg for flying to UK). EBOS is really for visiting the seaside.

EBST, Belgium
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