Quick lunch-trip to Belle-Ile (LFEA)

I had planned a flight to Belle-Ile with a couple of colleagues for a long time but kept postponing because of all the TS warnings. When bringing people who are not used to flying, that I do not know how will react to turbulence etc., I prefer to be very cautious. Yesterday evening it seemed like the weather gods would cooperate. The TS were forecast for relatively late in the day for my route of flight, and particularly for returning to LFPT. The airports around the Golf du Morbihan seemed to forecast 2000 feet ceilings (BKN) from 11 am LT which would be perfect for a 9 am departure.

When I woke up, the weather picture all of a sudden looked very different from the previous night. Now the forecast on the Brittany coast was closer to BKN008, so plan B was to perform an IAP into Vannes and have lunch there if I could not get to Belle-Ile.

Off I went to the airport. The good news was that the forecasted ceilings at departure had improved relative to the previous night, so I could depart with BKN008 instead of BKN004.

So I fueled up, my passengers arrived, I briefed them on the weather, how the flight would unfold, our options, safety features… usual drill.

We got a start-up clearance, taxied to the active, did the run-up and then reported ready to copy clearance. At that point tower informed me that De-Gaulle would not let me depart afterall and there would be at least a 5 minutes delay. In the end we waited 3 minutes, got the clearance and took off through a broken layer at 800 feet to climb to FL080.

The broken layer below eventually became scattered, then few… although there were high clouds above. Things looked pretty good. We got sight of the coast at a distance, but as we closed in I realised that there looked to be a pretty solid layer that looked low. The METAR at Vannes reported SCT011 so I assumed that was the ceiling ahead. Fortunately, when we got down there it turned out the bottom of the clouds were around 2500 MSL so we set out toward Ile d’Houat and Belle-Ile. Approaching destination it started to rain, but the 650 m runway was dry.

Belle-Ile is manned by an AFIS, but closed on Wednesdays. I was therefore surprised that someone answered the radio, gave me the wind and runway in use which saved me a vertical join. Although I had been speaking English with Nantes APP, I spoke French to the AFIS, so I do not know whether he is capable of English R/T. Radio is required, but there is no indication of FR-only anywhere, which is a good thing for many most on this forum.

The weather improved quickly. We had planned lunch at Castel Clara, but had not booked ahead due to the uncertainty. We gave them a call, made a reservation and they sent their shuttle to pick us up, saving us a 30 minute walk which saved our busy schedule.

Back at the airport we paid the 10 € tax, and fueled up at 2 €/l which is somewhat expensive for France where the Total price is 1,89 € these days. Although he was not supposed to work, the AFISO offered to get me my departure clearance, and so he did. Very nice service indeed.The reason why AIP says that fuel is available only outside AFIS hours, is because it is the AFISO that operates the pump.

We got back to LFPT without any weather-related issues but we could clearly see black clouds approaching. SHortly before LFPT, De-Gaulle advised they had lost my transponder, and sure enough it was indicating STBY. There was no other way to get it back to ALT than recycling it by pulling the C/B – and that did the trick. First time it happened to me on the DA40, but I had it once before on the DA42, but back then I was on approach and did not have time to fiddle with C/Bs.

As a perfect end to a perfect day, the temperature on the ground was 30°C which is sure better than 15°C and rain we have had these last few weeks.

I need to add that Castel Clara would be much appreciated by the ladies, ’cause it is a spa resort.

Vitré, from above.

Rennes

Rennes (LFRN)

Golfe du Morbihan

Quiberon

View from Castel Clara

Castel Clara lunch buffet. Shellfish and salads in the background, and deserts in the foreground. There is also a cheese asortiment to the left. The buffet is 39 €, they also have a formula including starter, main course and dessert for 39 €.

Castel Clara

Belle-Ile (LFEA). Lots of hard parking for delicate undercarriages and propellers, no FR-only, but not a port of entry, no instrument approach and a shortish runway.

It was a good decision to leave Belle-Ile early. Here are a couple of screenshots from ADLconnect during the flight. For the record we did not fly that close to the TS to the right of our track. Originally I was cleared DCT LGL but wanted to keep a better distance to the activity and asked for DCT PEXIR instead which turned us 10 degrees left.

Another shot of our track with weather data from the same evening