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Flying holiday Belgium - Italy - France report

Please enjoy the trip report of a 12 day flying trip in France and Italy during the first 2 weeks of September 2018 in an Aerospool Dynamic WT9. The quality of the pictures is not great, I downloaded them from Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jensvandorpe/). Maybe I’ll add some more better pictures later.

Day 1 – Monday

Moorsele – Troyes – Annecy

On day one, the plan was to fly from our homebase Moorsele to Annecy. I knew it had a great airport and it would be a nice and scenic location for the first day of our holiday. We could have flown to Annecy in once stretch but it would have been on the limit of our (safe) fuel range and since I wasn’t familiar with the area I opted to go for 1 stop. Since we departed quite late, we choose for Troyes airport, only a short 1h30 hop from Moorsele and since I visited Troyes many times before and I knew this would be the perfect quick fuel stop.

The flight to Troyes was uneventful, we fueled up using our CC (2,08 Euro/l) and quickly payed the 9 Euro landing fee inside. Within 30minutes we were back in the air, we headed south towards the Chambéry VOR, this route made sure we remained clear of the Geneva airspace, easy.

The alps welcomed us with some dark clouds and some light rain on our windshield around Chambéry, but in the distance Annecy was waiting in the sunshine :)

After an uneventful straight in approach into runway 04, we taxied straight to the fuel station (2,16 Euro/l). I learned from earlier trips that fueling upon arrival is the best thing you can do, I causes less stress and unexpected delays for the departure. At the fuel station we were met by a fireman, he helped us out and told us it was a very quiet day at the airport. It’s a light plane and some wind was expected during the night, so we parked the plane on the grass apron so we could safely secure it.

The fireman asked us we wanted to use the airport taxi service (30 Euro) to the city but we opted to take the bus (1,5 Euro / person). The guys were super helpful and clearly had all the time in the world to help us out, they even showed us the bus station.

Day 2 – Tuesday

On day 2 we explored the old city of Annecy, visited some bars and restaurants and spend some time relaxing on the lake.

Day 3 – Wednesday

Annecy – Massa – Sant’Illuminato

For some weeks I had been looking forward to day 3 of the trip, the Alps crossing! After some mountain training I did back in 2016, this was the first time I would in the alps all by myself. I prepared 2 options, one via LFKR, Modane, LFKD and Lac du Mont Cenis and one around the alps via the coastline. In case of any doubt I would just go for option 2 and take the safe, but much longer route.

We took an early bus to the airport, after having payed the landing and parking fees (35,4 Euro), we prepared the plane. Around 10 AM we were ready to go, the weather looked great, only a few clouds and light wind.

We climbed initially to 8000feet over the lake of Annecy and switched to the mountain frequency (130.000). The flying was very smooth and we enjoyed the breathtaking views. I climbed to 10000feet for ‘Lac du Mont Cenis’, after the lake, the floor quickly lowered and only a few minutes later it was time to contact Torino to cross their airspace.

After Torino we crossed the Genua CTR along the coastline, the italian controllers were super friendly and every request was accepted. We avoided the zones of Sarzana-Luni and started our decent into Massa, for what was my first landing on Italian soil (20,20 Euro landing fee). Very hot conditions and a somewhat short bumpy / sandy runway but no problem for our WT9. Although not the best airfield to visit with an airplane with a low power to weight ratio.

After a walk along the beach, a good lunch in the airport and some fresh expensive Italian Avgas (2,52 Euro/l) we where ready to go to our final destination for the day, Sant’Illuminato.

After departure at Massa we followed the coastline low level until we passed Pisa, after Pisa we climbed a bit and turned inland DCT destination. We flew over Sant’Illuminato once to inspect the runway. By the time we turned final for the full stop, Marco the owner of the airfield and the argiturismo, already showed up to pick us up. Marco drove us to the nearest Avis car rental, 15km away and later cooked dinner for my girlfriend and myself, despite us being the only guests the first evening.

Marco is really a great host, he does what it takes to give you the best service possible (and his food is great!).

Day 4 – Thursday till Day 6 – Saturday

On Day 4 till day 6 we visited several cities within an our drive.
We visited Perugia, Lago Trasimeno, Arezzo, Cita Di Castello, …

Day 7 – Sunday

Sant’Illuminato – Serristori – Marina Di Campo

Our next destination was Marina Di Campo on Elba island. This has been on my ‘fly-to list’ for years. I like to visit nice places with are hard(er) and expensive to visit by car or by airline, islands almost always tick this box. From Sant’Illuminato we flew a short hop to Serristori to refuel. I didn’t need a lot of fuel but I wanted to avoid the very expensive fuel at Marina Di Campo. Serristori is a perfect field to visit by ultralight, very nice runway and nice people that helped me out refueling (2,09 Euro/l for Mogas).

From Serrirtori it was an uneventful flight to Marina Di Campo (65,30 Euro landing and parking fee), where we did the stunning approach into runway 34. We parked on the sandy apron, unable to secure the plane. The super handy airport shuttle from our hotel (Riva Del Sole) picked us up at the airport. One our later we were swimming in the Mediterian sea :)

Day 8 – Day 9

On Monday, day 8 of our trip we decided to relax a bit, we stayed around Marina Di Campo and spend some time wandering around the little town and swimming in the sea. On Tuesday we rented a car and explored the island, we drove around the whole island in one day, making some short stops in different small towns.

Day 10 – Wednesday

Elba – Propriano – Calvi

On Day 10 the plan was to fly to our final stop, Calvi. But since the flight was so short and we never flew in Corisca before (except for a short stop in Calvi) we decided to fly around the island first. I filed a flight plan to Propriano and we departed around 11h30 in Marina Di Campo, we enjoyed the nice views flying around Corisca and already started dreaming about the next trips, visiting the south of Corisca or even Sardinia. About 1h15 min later we landed in Propriano, perfect on time for a nice lunch in the local airport restaurant. About 1h30 later we took of for the short final flight of the day to Calvi. Note that Calvi only accepts ultralights PPR, you need to file the necessary paperwork and you’ll need to have a PPL license or it will not be approved.

The arrival into Calvi brought back some nice memories as it was the first long trip I did 6 years ago together with a good friend.

They fueled our tiny airplane with a big fueltruck on arrival (2,06 Euro/l).

Day 11 – Thursday

On Day 11 we explored Calvi and enjoyed some last rest before the long flight home.

Day 12 – Friday

Calvi – Saint Rambert – Reims Prunay – Moorsele

Friday, the day of the long flight home. I woke up quite early to check the weather, but decided to go back to bed and enjoy some more rest because we would be stuck around Lyon till noon anyway because of a cold front. At 10 AM we took a taxi to the airport, payed our fees (31,71 Euro landing and parking fee) and took off around 11h15 AM. We climbed to FL65 in clear sky’s over Calvi . Mid sea there were some overcast clouds at 3500ft but by the time Saint Tropez appeared on the horizon it was CAVOK again. I asked Nice for the last weather at Lyon-Bron, to make sure the weather in the area had cleared as expected. Lyon-Bron reported 3000ft broken so that
seemed ok. From STP VOR we had to fly to LUC VOR due to military activity after LUC we flew direct * VOR and after direct to our destination LFLR. We had to do some zigzaging because of some low clouds over some ridges but nothing special, once in the Rhone valley everything was fine, except for some strong turbulence. After 2h of battling headwind and 1 netflix movie for my girlfriend later, we landed at Saint Rambert (No landing fee). I opted for this airport as a first stop because it has a Total 24h fuel pump and a restaurant. A quick and cheap stop (no landing fee). I tend to stay away from big airports for short stops as I don’t need them and they only slow you down and cost you money. From Saint-Rambert we did another 2h15 flight to Reims-Prunay (9,92 Euro landing fee, 2,08 Euro/l Avgas) (just because I didn’t want to go Troyes once again), we climbed to FL80, just above the clouds, to avoid the heavy turbulence. It turned out great, Reims-Prunay is a great refueling stop, a nice runway, low landing fees and they have an automatic terminal accepting CC and BC. We filed a flight plan for the last 1h flight to Moorsele, EBMO. At 18h30 we touched down at our homebase.

What a great trip it was!
Thanks to everybody who helped me prepare this trip on EuroGA and a huge thank you to the builder of this website: http://fliegen-in-italien.de/ @boscomantico

Last Edited by jvdo at 17 Sep 14:58
EBMO, EBKT

Nice trip and nice report Jens!!

Abeam the Flying Dream
EBKT, western Belgium, Belgium

Stunning! Thank you Jens!

EDFE, EDFZ, KMYF, Germany

@Niner_Mike, @Caba thanks!

EBMO, EBKT

jvdo wrote:

1 netflix movie for my girlfriend

Good idea! I must try this

What is the mirror for? Towing gliders?

EGHO-LFQF-KCLW, United Kingdom

Capitaine wrote:

Good idea! I must try this

We tried it for the first time during the long flight home, it worked great.

Capitaine wrote:

What is the mirror for? Towing gliders?

The plane was indeed used for towing gliders from time to time before we bought it earlier this year, you can easily remove the mirror but I haven’t taken the time to do it yet.

EBMO, EBKT

Great report and trip.

jvdo wrote:

We tried it for the first time during the long flight home, it worked great.

My family do this for every flight. Download Netflix tv shows or movies onto iPad and no question about when do we get there.

EGTK Oxford

Great report, that’s what flying is all about (well, not just that but you see what I mean).

I also recommend St Rambert as a stop, if your plane is happy with (good condition) grass. The restaurant is good and the hangars full of absolute wonders.

Last Edited by denopa at 18 Sep 18:56
EGTF, LFTF

I’m happy everything went ok with your travel, and that Montcenis has been easy to pass.
What about Alpi crossing?

Antonio
LSZA - LILV, Italy

AntonioD wrote:

I’m happy everything went ok with your travel, and that Montcenis has been easy to pass.

Yes the weather was great and it was a perfect, comfortable routing.


AntonioD wrote:

What about Alpi crossing?

I didn’t really cross the appenins, I flew along the coastline until I passed Pisa, after Pisa I turned inland direct to Sant’Illuminato.

EBMO, EBKT
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