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Weekend trip to Tarbes Lourdes LFBT

We took the habit to do one family GA trip per year. Last year, we went to Portugal for a week in a F172J Rocket. This year, we wanted to visit Lourdes, France for a weekend and were only 3 on board. I was checked out on a very nice DA40-180 G1000-equipped and I had never had the opportunity to use it the way it was designed for : travel. I fitted perfectly the mission so I booked it.
I chose LFBT as the destination airport because as a small international airport, it would have better ground transportation, plus being the closest to Lourdes. It recently became a Ryanair base FYI, and advertises a nice GA Terminal. The price list was very reasonable.
LFPT to LFBT is 365nm, which is easily doable in the DA40 but I knew stops would be mandatory for my passengers. My first choice was to have lunch at the excellent restaurant in Libourne airfield LFDI. It was in fact closed on the day on the flight. So we took our own lunch and I thought let’s go and stop when we get hungry. I couldn’t help thinking of a plan A, B and C of course .
The only notice given before the trip was a call and a email to LFBT ops, to let them know I wanted to park for the weekend. They replied quickly OK.
Weather wise, Day 1 was SCT030 everywhere, making it a just good enough day for a long cross country. So it was a GO.
Two hours after leaving LFPT, my passengers asked for a break so I activated plan B, which was Angoulême LFBU.

We had a very good welcome from the AFIS, the firemen and the airport manager himself, who was keen to make his airport shine for transient pilots. He told us the local council took back the airport management and a CPL sausage machine professional flight school is set to open. Their hot drinks vending machine didn’t work, they called the company, and an employee was there 20 minutes later giving us our money back! Landing fee : 9 euros. Note : LFBU still has an ILS.
Since the day looked very positive, we started to think about car and hotel booking at our destination. We booked at the Ibis Lourdes Centre quickly but it seemed all rental cars at LFBT were busy. Buses were available as backups but we hurried to get there to find a solution.
Flight was uneventful, a straight line from FIS unit to FIS unit. I am beginning to think flying is simple after all  

Some dark clouds were stuck on the Pyrenees but no problem. What a panel !

We asked TWR to call the fuel truck and were warmly welcomed by the GA manager. The fuel truck took some time to arrive and to do paperwork and was ok. We were lucky to arrive just before some charter A320s. Fuel price was 2,27 €/ltr.

We went ASAP to the car rental booths and they still had a Diesel Clio for 2 days at 130€. Perfect !!
We had time to enjoy the evening in Lourdes. We wanted to fly back on Day 4, but weather was on cycle of one day good, one day bad, so we decided to leave on Day 3.
Lourdes is not a particularly pretty town, although the Sanctuary is magnificent and impressive.

Plan 1 day to visit both fully. Tarbes downtown is more neat (more Parisian style), but small. Lourdes is also close to big ski resorts.
Return trip to follow.

LFOU, France

Jujupilote wrote:

We went ASAP to the car rental booths and they still had a Diesel Clio for 2 days at 130€.

It seems quite expensive for such small car. I would expect something in range 25-35€ (maximum 45 if it’s busy season) per day.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

In France, at an airport, booked non-online just before leaving, it is not too bad at all !

LFOU, France

In France, on average, I always calculate about 70€ a day for a small rental car. If I get it for a bit less, then I am happy, but it doesn’t always work. Just like wine and food, rental cars are expensive there.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

I don’t know – when I was to Corsica last month I paid 235€ for one week for Renault Megan which is less than 35€ per day.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

Emir wrote:

I don’t know – when I was to Corsica last month I paid 235€ for one week for Renault Megan which is less than 35€ per day.

You’ll have a better daily rent if you book a long period, online, long before the date, than if you book a two day rent on the go.

LFBZ, France

Booking online while at the airport (in front of the car desk!) or booking at the car desk can yield massive price differences.

jeff64 wrote:

You’ll have a better daily rent if you book a long period, online, long before the date, than if you book a two day rent on the go.

That’s obvious and usual but in this particular case I booked two days before departure (only booked, no pre-payment) and the price varied between €45/day (for 2-3) days to 33€/day (for a week).

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

So here we have a trip report with some pretty good news WRT flying in France and what is everyone going on about? The price of the rental car. Puleeeezzze.

Anyway, back on topic, thanks for the write-up! Sadly I didn’t get to fly a lot in France (when I lived in Paris I didn’t have my license yet), but in many ways it seems to be close to flying in the US with locally – by the Chambre de Commerce – owned and maintained infrastructure that’s actually valued.

Just spotted this… Thank you Jujupilote for a nice report. Tarbes is a great destination – a location made more scenic by the Pyrenees on the horizon. A bit like Pau although there they are really distant.

Flying in France is probably more similar to the US than anywhere else in Europe, because ATC is joined-up and most of it has you on radar. The difference is that a lot of France has virtually undecipherable airspace structures (the US tends to have regular circular shapes) but this is rendered unimportant by ATC clearing you through it.

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Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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