Return leg – day 1
Early on the Monday weather was set fair with a large High pressure area centred in Northern France. There was still mountain obscuration at the Eastern end of the Pyrenees, so routing would be via Girona and then North towards Carcassone, passing Perpignac west of their CTR.
The ride on the underground from Plaza Catalunya to Sant Quirze was very pleasant as it is mainly overground through very leafy, wooded neighbourhoods. The team at Sabadell airport arrived at 0830 local, and I was able to get start clearance by 0910 local. I was given a squawk and frequency to monitor with Barcelona approach and sent on my way.
Other than a pesky headwind which seemed to follow me around the eastern low hills near the Pyrenees, conditions were perfect.
These photos were South of Girona where approach provided a helpful service, but wanted to know if I was a helicopter.
The following photos were of the Pyrenees to the North West – Perpignac wanted me to route overhead if I was going through the CTR, so I skirted them to the West.
From East of Toulousse I routed pretty well on a straight line towards Chauvigny over the Dordogne, staying to the South and West of Limoges. Very pleasant low level Super Cub flying with smooth conditions and not much wind either way. Plog waypoints came and went with good precision.
While this was the longest leg at over 5 hours, it was a real pleasure with French ATC being very helpful with clearances. Chris of Piper Classique kindly took time out from another appointment to come and help re fuel the SC at the very nice aero club field at Chauvigny. I was hoping to make it back to the UK so was not able to spend time at Chauvigny, but it is a lovely airfield in a nice part of France. Thank you Chris and Barbara for helping me out, and I hope I can re pay the hospitality soon.
The next leg was to Abbeville, but as the headwinds and low level turbulence set in I switched to L2K as I concluded I would be over nighting and would want a bit more of assistance on the Douanes front in the morning. This leg tested my fortitude with ground speed heading for the low 50’s and frustrating turbulence – by Rouen the evening was setting in and the air calmed down and the headwinds died down. The lady at ATC in Rouen provided a lovely service and from my experience on this trip French ATC seem to go out of their way to help slow moving VFR traffic.
A low level evening shot of the Channel South of L2K.
My heart sank when I heard the wind at LFAT (L2K), which was 16 knots across runway 13, from left to right (the wrong direction with a dodgy starboard brake). My starboard brake was showing its age, and Tarmac always causes some allergic reaction to a tail wheel aircraft. Tired but preternaturally focused on executing a good ‘wheeler’ landing, landing was successful, however the long taxi downwind was a disaster! 270 degree turns, bursts of power, all possible variations were attempted, eventually ATC suggested to shut down and a friendly fireman was sent to help push the 900 lbs empty weight Super Cub to parking. My thanks to Le Touquet airport team for a nice welcome, including dropping me off at the cheap end of the local hostelry in town.
Great report and great pics 
I was talking to a Swiss pilot of a Super Cub yesterday at Shoreham. He had the various mountain ratings and his SC had hydraulic fittings for skis which could be remotely moved into position from the cockpit.
Great photos!
Enjoyed reading that RobertL18C. Interesting that you had to show both your EASA and FAA licence. Is n reg frowned on in France?
Good flying. Thanks.
Bloomer the security at Poitiers did not feel the FAA plastic card was official enough, so I had to go back to the aircraft and get the CAA little blue book. I don’t think this awkwardness should reflect on the generally helpful attitude of everybody else I met in France and Spain.
Am not aware of any anti N reg feelings, and there were plenty of N reg aircraft at the busier airports, including a very nice Cessna Conquest being operated by a French company on the N reg.
Interesting!
I was at Poitiers in Dec 2014 and they (a man and a woman) wanted to see my license. I had only the FAA plastic card, which they were OK with. The woman (who unlike her colleague spoke some English) asked me about the US registration and why. I started to explain but then the fuel man arrived and things got busy (just as well).
Elsewhere in France (or anywhere else) the plastic card never caused a problem. La Rochelle, Bergerac, and I think a few other places. The UK CAA license is too big to carry – it would have to go in a backpack pocket.
France is full of N-regs. They did a brief anti N-reg experiment (long term parking limited to IIRC 90 days out of each year) in 2004, a year ahead of a similar experiment in the UK. The French one was abandoned very categorically after 6-12 months, blaming some civil servant for exceeding his powers. I guess Dassault made some phone calls 
Return leg Day 2
I enjoyed a nice meal at Perard and retired to my relatively cheap pension. The next morning walked round L2K, where approximately over half the tourism is from the UK, or so I was told. UK sounding establishments abound, for example the Hotel Westminster, but food standards were good with lots of fresh caught sea food on the menu. The fishmongers were up early preparing their stock for the day.
Airport seems to come alive at around 0900 local and I got some informal help from the local maintenance shop who restored some pressure to the antique master brake cylinder.
This crew had come all the way from Oxfordshire to tour northern France and were heading home – typical cruise around 55 knots. I like to boast that the Super Cub is flying in the raw, but compared to a gyro copter it is positively sybaritic.
The usual LFAT crosswind prevailed, but very gentle taxiing on the upwind side of the camber got me to the threshold of 31 without the pyrotechnics of the previous day.
Some photos over the English Channel. The 84 knot ground speed had a slight tail wind component to thank – 78 knots being more typical.
Heading north to Andrewsfield while skirting the new controlled airspace of Southend.
Approaching Andrewsfield.
…and back amongst the vintage tail wheel neighbours, in this case one of only two Auster Aiglets still flying (of Porteous loop, or Avalanche fame – ie snap roll at top of the loop).
Some concluding thoughts.
The journey took only one night stop more than planned, although following VFR conditions probably added 10-20% to the actual flight hours.
Flying a Super Cub low level ‘in the cool of the day’, when the air is milky smooth is very enjoyable. I could do this for more hours than I expected. Flying the bumps with the Super Cub’s low wing loading I would suggest two hours is a reasonable limit, although if the headwinds are not too strong, climbing into smooth air is a sensible option.
SFC of 12 litres/100 km is quite economical, a Mooney at 65% is close at around 14 litres/100 km, albeit at twice the TAS.
GPS was useful when skirting near controlled or restricted airspace, and to occasionally confirm a ground speed. Ded reckoning, plog and good line features still seems to be a better head out of the cockpit approach. I was glad I brought it, but was only used when needed.
Is 75 KTAS a practical touring speed? I would say yes if your daily mileage is around 400-450nm – with a passenger 300nm days would be more realistic.
With only the brake issue which surfaced during the trip, the simplicity of a Super Cub is a real virtue. I still remember when complex aircraft have left me stranded due to a technical snag (electrics, starter, under carriage, constant speed governor – no feather capability, slaved compass, etc) which inevitably would involve a whole new set of logistics to a) continue the journey and b) organise rectification and recovery of the aircraft – hopefully not while it racked up several days of eye watering over night parking charges. A spanner or duct tape seems to resolve most SC minor issues!
Is this a practical form of cross country transport? Only if you have time to spare!
Fantastic write up Great photos!
I agree about light wing loading, two hour legs and 300-500 nm days. Lots of work keeping the thing going in the right direction in rough air. But it’s still a lot of fun. One of my best legs was at 1000 ft AGL following section lines at 93 mph indicated, window open, watching the ground speed on a 196 Garmin. I need to do that again.
My ideal aircraft would be as simple and practical as the Cub but go 150 kts. There are such things but they tend to be a bit lightly built, Wittman Tailwind, etc. An RV4 would work for one person plus bags. You also need open airspace and good weather to make such a plane useable… but it’s still appealing to those of us who otherwise prefer fast motorcycles over fast cars.
Does the plane have expander tube brakes or is is too late for that? The Grove brake conversion works well, FWIW.
Great report and pictures, thank you. I hope to see you again, soon, maybe while Chris and I are at the Vintage Glider Club meet at the Long Mynd at the end of may.
More vintage aircraft, even more fun without an engine….
