European Tour Apr / May 2016 - Croatia, Greek Islands and return via Carcassonne

Split to Chios, Greece 23rd Apr 2016

Key figures

568nm, 3:40, Max G/S 182 knots, average 156 knots, max altitude 11,300 ft.

Departure administration

A very friendly and helpful handling office, but we got a sense that it could have become swamped if there were several departures around the same time. We paid EUR87 for landing, 72 hours parking, and the necessary handling inbound and outbound – we thought this was great value for such a busy airport. An interesting aside was that GA crew have to leave via the passenger security scanners (where passengers can only carry hand-carry items and therefore no liquids or gels). When we tried to pass through with our bottles of water (and perhaps a bottle of wine), they were immediately identified for confiscation. We dug our heels in over the water which we needed for the flight, and then we ended up with a rather peculiar solution. We had to put it all into a nominated “check in bag” which was then given to the handling agent with us. He had to carry it whilst walking us to the crew bus 30 yards away, but once in the bus, it was then given back to us. Ultimately, everything worked out perfectly well, and everyone was happy.

The refuel bowser came to top us up with the fueller explaining that you don’t pay any taxes (and fuel is therefore dirt cheap) if you are “Commercial”. To be commercial, you need an AOC. We paid the non-commercial price of EUR2 / litre.

The flight – a tough day in the air

The sky was getting darker and we knew there were cells along the route. By the time our start time arrived, drizzle was falling. We were offered “any runway you want” for take off. On a “Z” plan our VFR departure was extremely simple. Take off and turn when you want for whichever waypoint you nominate. I requested SIPAL where the transfer to IFR was to occur. We departed 05 with a right turn to see the last of the good weather till Greece.

The next 2 hours were just hard work. No photographs to show as we were inside a cloud for most of it. We climbed into stratus and into the icing zone. ATC were fantastic by letting us stay low and stopping the icing – however, we were nervous of the embedded CBs later down route and knew we needed to get into some clear air to assess properly whether to continue or give it away. The temperature dropped. We descended another 1000ft and back onto QNH. Flying down the coast gave us no issues with terrain, but then over the next 20 minutes the static started on the radio, we lost digital instrumentation and the autopilot sneakily dropped out.

Whislt the digital instrumentation was gone for the rest of the flight, the autopilot gave no further issues. The cloud base went up a bit and we arrived abeam Dubrovnik. They needed us to climb again as we turned inland to Podgorica and up we went to 11,000ft. The cloud was pretty well broken now, but we knew there was worse to come and so we discussed options with Dubrovnik. Our plan was to fly inland and visually avoid the cells, but if that proved untenable to turn back and divert in to Dubrovnik. ATC were superb. They said that that would be no problem and that we could avoid as required. Meanwhile on the frequency I could hear commercial traffic asking for massive deviations due to weather.

As we continued inland, the icing started again, and we were now required to fly a little higher again. First Montenegro and then Tirana (Albania) and then Skopje (Macedonia). The clouds broke up, we did some more dodging, and then into another icing event. It was just hard work. ATC at all times could not do enough to help. 30 mile deviation? No problem. You may need to turn back? No problem. Just advise what you want whenever you can. As we crossed from Albania to Macedonia, the terrain was seriously close with mountains at 9,000ft and at 3nm off to our left.

The fun continued in this vein – low cloud, icing, breaking cloud, avoid, back into cloud and icing, until we were almost in Greece. With 20 nm to the border, we descended to 9,000, then 8,000 and, passing to the west of Thessaloniki, the cloud vanished and we were left in clear blue skies again.

We were then able to enjoy our first flying in Greece. ATC were not able to give us much in the way of short cuts, so we had a nice little run down past Skiros;

and then to the south-east till coasting in to Chios.

It’s barren and wild on the west side, but quickly gives way to villages and cultivation as you head over the island towards the city of Chios. We cancelled IFR (that’s Turkey just off the coastline!)

and self positioned for a right base to runway 19.

Short final…

We put the aircraft to bed and were picked up by our AirBnB host for a 5 mile drive to our accommodation for the next 3 days. And of course finally achieved what we set out to do!!!

Answer to Qs…

You mean you lost your entire glass cockpit just because of nearby thunderstorms?!

Yes. The single Avidyne screen started losing data. Over 3-4 minutes, all the displays eventually had nothing to show. But to be clear, the screen did not give up… so for example, the “Power” indication gauge was there, but it gave no reading. There was no indication of OAT, so “OAT” was marked on the screen, but with no indication of what that might actually be. The analogue instrumentation continued to work normally so there was always a full set of primary instruments.

Peter wrote:

Did your avionics come back after you got back into VMC, or did you try to power cycle them?

They tried to come back but then faded away again forever. On the basis of “fly the aircraft”, there was a full set of instrumentation available, and rather than distract myself trying to resolve a secondary instrumentation issue (just engine instruments remember), I continued to deal primarily with the weather and navigation. The instruments worked normally on the next power up.

boscomantico wrote:

Just a few words of caution… that last leg honestly sounds a bit bold

Absolutely correct. That was at the forefront of my mind throughout the flight. It was also why I spent the whole phase of the flight negotiating with ATC at periods of low workloads for diversion options. I never flew the aircraft into a place from which I knew I would not be allowed to return. In fact, when we turned inland we did once announce to Dubrovnik that we would turn around and land there – but just as we made that call, the clouds broke up and we were in clear skies again. Knowing we could go back, we made the decision to go on. And so the flight went on. Go forward but always with an option to turn back or land en route. That was partly the reason the flight was so challenging – there always had to be a plan, a diversion option, and a plan if that plan became unrealistic. Of course, whilst also “flying the aircraft”.

I would never volunteer to fly through challenging conditions, but on the other hand, when you are flying and they become more challenging than forecast, it is a useful exercise both in discipline and decision-making in order to keep ahead of the aircraft. It was a good experience – not a fun one, but a good one.

As Peter suggested, Samos is up next….