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Merida (Badajoz LEBZ), Spain, 2018

Here are a few more pics, now from the return trip:

Reasonable wx on departure


Base of this layer around FL100, +3C

Tops FL130, -7C. About 5mm of ice accumulated where TKS was not coming out

This looks like a nuclear power station!

Great rugged scenery

Some reasonable shortcuts, although they took a bit of pushing

This layered scene looks familiar for Spain

Some really weird landscapes

A deep cut into the rock for the road to pass through

A bit of the San Sebastian runway is visible here

The great long sandy beach on the west coast of France

There are many curious shapes and objects on that landscape

Bordeaux and the airport


Now quite near La Rochelle

Right base for 09. Strong wind from 030, G27


At the pump. AIR BP card required. It now looks like one can work this without speaking French, except for the initial menu.

The grass parking area for GA. I had an hour there (before the next flight planned EOBT) and was going to pop out through the GA coded gate to the terminal and get some food and drink (there was absolutely nothing at the Spanish end, no real breakfast etc) but I would have had to faff around moving the plane to the grass, first walking there to find a way in between the cones, so I didn’t bother. I had a loaf of bread from the night before

Nice wx for the flight home

FL080 was just right to stay above this layer. 30kt of headwind all the way, but for a 2.5hr flight this didn’t matter

N French coast

The wind farm on the 02 approach path at Shoreham


This is why they have the offset threshold

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

To summarize the trip, besides delicious food, great weather in Merida and visiting some of the most stunning Roman ruins, I had an opportunity to practice some flying in icing conditions, checking DA42’s capabilities as platform and validating strategies, and not less important to practice my English with @Peter and my Spanish with super-fast speaking locals.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

@Emir wrote:

checking DA42’s capabilities as platform and validating strategies,

Hence the conclusions ?

“On top” if by far the best strategy

TKS is reliable and can get you out of the trouble but has its limits in time and severity of icing that it can cope with. Pitot heating is ok but stall warning heating doesn’t look as I’d like. This aera looked like bubble while the rest of the leading edge was pretty clear. Right wing was generally cleaner than the left one. Tail was completely clean all the time, even on minimum TKS flow.

The very moment you see that icing could be prolonged and/or you don’t like ice accumulation rate, you have to apply escape route plan. Radar and devices like ADL help a lot in searching for the route. Icing in convective weather is best to be avoided if can’t be topped – icing will be present in all parts of the cloud with sub-zero temperatures. When having icing in non-convective weather, there’s possibility that you can find IMC layer with sub-zero temperatures any yet little or no icing.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

Total bill from LEBZ, TB20 1400kg, 3 nights’ parking:

Payable by credit card no problem, so previous (ex Skydemon) report was wrong. Since it was recent I wonder if that pilot even actually visited.

Fuel payable by AIR BP (I didn’t enquire about other cards) but it is clear that the fuel closing time of 1300Z is not applicable if you advise them you will be paying cash I don’t know what the cash price would be (it may not be lower) AIR BP billing is done centrally and I haven’t had the bill yet.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Strange… my bill was 84€, arrived later, departed earlier

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

Emir wrote:

Strange… my bill was 84€, arrived later, departed earlier

But you’re flying a twin, no?

I believe Peter was changed for one day of parking less – my parking fee was €60. Twin aircraft didn’t have any role in bill.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

A little video of the departure, EGKA to LEBZ



Due to a screwup, the camera battery ran out after 2hrs so this is just part way into France… There was nothing to see on the entire flight anyway.

I might try to re-do the video with a notch filter on that whistle.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Very nice trip report. As a Spaniard, I enjoyed the scenery photos.
It’s amazing how apparent it is from the air that you’re over Spain. It has a distinctive colour and “pattern”.

The other interesting thing you notice when flying over Spain is, how uninhabited it mostly is. If you fly in a straight line from Sevilla to Madrid you find yourself overflying long stretches of emptiness.

I was going to say don’t fly all the way down there to end up in Badajoz, but too late. Obviously Mérida is a very nice destination for tourism. But flying-wise the Badajoz region is boring. A few more NM down South and you could have ended up in Jerez, LEJR, which is a much better destination both from the air and on the ground. Trebujena LETJ is a very nice airfield with a 800 m paved runway which will not charge nearly as much as Jerez for parking though.

EDDW, Germany
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