Hiking fly-in: Spain 2018, LECD etc

I am a “possible”.

I am a “possible” too.

But with an ULM i may be blown away to some other airport :o)

To be fair, I’m also more in the “possible” than “sure” section. Of course, being a VFR activity, that applies to all of us but in addition for me, also for planning purposes as of now. The aircraft is correct though, it is 100% “??” at this point. (Will be either C172, C182, or PA28)

Will pencil in from 3rd to 9th for meteo vagaries, not quite spittin’ distance from aart’s manor

I’m planning to come (maybe with a friend). Can’t wait to put faces on these forum usernames :)

Hello,

I just saw this thread. I am an American based in La Cerdanya with a PA-11 (you may have seen a rampage about leaving Germany in Pilot magazine a year ago). A few pointers:

- Its extremely beautiful here.
- The airport staff is very accommodating and laid back. It reminds me of the USA.
- They always have avgas.
- They are open basically SR-SS. I have asked about a schedule and they look at me funny.
- It can be busy with gliders which fly a north-side pattern, and everyone else south-side. Favored takeoff is 25 (up to 8kts tailwind), favored landing 07. It is common that tow planes take off 25 with the tow plane landing 25 and all gliders coming in 07.
- Catalan and Spanish is spoken in the circuit. Visitors speak English. The French speak French. Tow planes are good about listening, though not announcing what they are doing in the Climbout, which could be absolutely anything. Keep a good lookout for traffic as there have been too many close calls for my comfort.
- Spanish flight services/ATC cannot be reached until climbing to 8,500 feet. To activate a flight plan into France, there is a phone number (same as closing the flight plan) posted on the outside of the office. It is Girona Tower (they speak English) and do a presumed departure and switch to French Info once over the border. Toulouse Info can only be reached about 35 km into France anyway. It took me 8 months to figure this out.
- No flight plans needed for local flights in LECD or flights to non-towered fields.
- There are mountain waves, which can be very serious, on north wind days. If you’re inbound from France…. stay on the east side of the Val du Capcir, cross on the south side of La Cerdanya at Mt. Louis/ Coll de la Perche, and hug the south side of the valley until in the circuit. Inbound from the south, it is suggested to come in via La Seu and stay on the south side of the valley until in the circuit. Once at LECD, ask the locals (not the glider pilots) what kind of waves you’re dealing with, as they can vary. Again, only on windy north wind days. Also, that will produce a stiff east wind over the field, and rocky area of turbulence south of Puigcerdà as winds funnel out of the Val du Carol, France. If north winds are light, no problem.
- For inbound flights from France on north wind days, caution about the Tramontane wind from Carcassonne to Perpignan. It is localized and can be extremely strong.
- There can be persistent inversions, clouds, and haze on the south side of the ridge outside of La Cerdanya, while LECD remains clear. It is a microclimate.
- Class D airspace exists overhead at 8,000 feet. All locals, including a Barcelona Controller tell me “not to worry about it” and not to concern oneself with a clearance if just flying around terrain. This is still something I can’t get my head around, though its common here to view CTRs as somewhat subjective. I don’t recommend the practice per se. To each their own.

I have tons of photos at www.garrettfisher.me. On the front page map, if one scrolls to the Europe map and zooms in on La Cerdanya, I have many of them geotagged, and those pins can be clicked to get a preview image and link to the relevant blog post.

I also recently published a book with photography from my flights around LECD. It is not a flying guide, per se, though useful to pick destinations to see. While I normally avoid such self-promotion, how many times is a book written about a GA field? http://garrettfisher.me/book-the-first-100-days-flying-in-la-cerdanya/

Any questions about hiking or anything else, let me know.

Also, here is the official Catalan weather service station at the airport:

http://www.meteo.cat/observacions/xema/dades?codi=DP

Here is an official weather station at the top of Tosa d’Alp, a large mountain just to the south of LECD. It is the best weather station to indicate what mountain winds are doing in the area. The rest are shielded and falsely report lighter winds than reality.

http://www.meteo.cat/observacions/xema/dades?codi=ZD