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Fly to ski

I am looking for recommendations for airfields in Europe that are a great skiing destination. My favorite so far is Zell am See LOWZ in Austria. Sankt Johann LOIJ is also good. Both allow you to put on the skis while still sitting in your airplane.

The French altiports are hard to get to because one needs the French mountain rating. I want to postpone that until there is an EASA mountain rating.

Any other great destination?

Ski trip - Chambery LFLB

Hi folks,

Thinking of taking a few friends for a week of skiing. Fly to Chambery and then hire a car and drive up to Val d'Isere.

I don't quite have the range (or I do, but it's very marginal) to make it in one hop from EGLM. Could someone suggest a good lunch stop roughly halfway?

Anything in particular to be aware of when heading in that direction?

Cheers.

EGLM & EGTN

I would be potentially interested in such a trip as well. To anyone who has done it, a few questions:

  • Is it difficult to obtain PPR for parking the aircraft for a few days in the winter season?

  • Are there any hangars available for visiting aircraft (in oder to avoid your aircraft being iced-over and/or covered with snow the day you want to leave?)

  • Is it possible to rent cars directly at the Airport? Who offers good prices?

  • What is driving time the nearest high-class ski resorts? Actually, it looks like Annecy is a marginally closer to Val d'Isère. Courchevel would be ideal, of course :-).

  • And lastly, due to the nature of flying small GA aircraft in winter, does anyone know any hotels in or near the ski resorts that offer short notice free cancelling of reservations? (Knowing how ski-resorts work, I guess this is nothing more than wishful thinking...).

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

You could do worse things than to get in touch with the local aeroclub. (Data from www.navigeo.org/LFLB )

Téléphone : 0479544181

Fax : 0479544794

E-mail : [email protected]

Site Web : http://www.aeroclub-savoie.com/

EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

You can hire cars easily at Chambery airport - I've done it before when arriving by airline. The usual international firms have a branch there, book online as usual.

Val d'Isere is about 1.5 hours drive from Chambery.

I doubt any hotels would allow short-notice cancellations for free. The strategy would be to plan to fly, but if the weather kills the flying then drive overnight from the UK instead.

EGLM & EGTN

I have flown in to Annecy many times. Parking is difficult (for us anyway, maybe the Aero Club can help with an SEP).

There is mandatory handling. When this was introduced a couple of years ago out landing fees went from about €25 to about €350 on a weekday and €500 on a Sunday. Chambery is similar.

The approach at Chambery is easier than Annecy, but both have an ILS. Annecy has a circle to land on 22. Slots are sometimes required for both airfields.

You have to consider what you will do if you leave your aircraft outside and it snows a lot. The runways get cleared, although it sometimes takes a while, but de-icing the aircraft is VERY expensive.

Darley Moor, Gamston (UK)

Mandatory handling? Hundreds of Euros? Scratch that then.

Can nothing be done with the aero club to avoid handling?

EGLM & EGTN

WTF? I guess there is a minimum weight threshold to trigger mandatory handling, right?

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

I have been in a 5,7t aircraft, so maybe (hopefully) bosmantico is right and the charges are more reasonable for smaller aircraft. A call would be in order, I would suggest that Annecy might be more cooperative because they only have one scheduled flight a day whereas Chambery have quite a few.

Darley Moor, Gamston (UK)

The heavy snow in the UK has got me thinking about what might be possible regarding flying myself/friends/family on a short notice/short term skiing trip in Europe.

While Courcheval, Meribel and even Megeve airports are right next the slopes, these don't seem feasible unless very fortunate with the weather conditions on the day(s) (and are suitably qualified)

Chambery looks pretty tricky to get in to, (I remember spending a day stuck there because the charter pilots weren't qualified to land in the conditions even though the aircraft was capable of it)

Are Grenoble or Lyon friendly enough for GA to land and leave an aircraft for a few days at this time of year? Any other possibilities??

Lastly, is an IR essential for a trip like this at this time of year? Or would a gap in the weather make VFR is feasible for a long weekend?

FlyerDavidUK, PPL & IR Instructor
EGBJ, United Kingdom
1074 Posts
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