I hope this is the right place to request advice.
I’m planning a flight in August in a TB20 from Shoreham landing in Luxembourg – Nurnberg – Bratislava, and have a few questions. I have flown plenty in UK, Channel Isles and France but never in Luxembourg, Austria or Slovakia so:
- Has anybody overnighted at Luxembourg in a small GA Aircraft?
- Ditto Nuremberg
- Ditto Bratislava (We plan to leave the plane there over the weekend to visit friends in Vienna).
I understand I should download a noise certificate… any other special tips about VFR to these destinations or recommendations on my route, roughly shown below?
Many thanks for any tips, advice or experiences.
I’ve stopped over at Bratislava before, nothing difficult about it except for making sure you don’t have a swiss Army Knife in your pilot’s bag – I keep one in there to use as (e.g.) a lever if He-Man, master of the universe, decided to tighten down the oil dipstick when he checked before me. When I returned to my plane the next morning, security went wild, saying they couldn’t allow me back to my aircraft with the knife, they would have to confiscate it because it was dangerous. The fact that the GA terminal is 500m separated from SLF, that I was sole occupant in my aircraft was ignored……
Nürnberg is simple enough, they are very helpful, costs for landing / parking overnight are about the same as Bratislava – for an Archer III, I paid around €57, if I recall correctly.
Luxemburg I tend to ignore because of handling requirements, I usually land in Trier Föhren if I need to be in Luxemburg and get collected by colleagues, the last quote I received for handling / overnight stop would be around €100. Ok, so fuel is cheap but the difference in landing fees to Trier and compulsory handling just blows that out the window unless I’m flying empty.
PS: Why not stop in Stockerau and take the train to Vienna, much easier?
Luxemburg: 100€
Nurnberg: 50€
Bratislava: 100€
They all have Avgas; cheapest (least expensive) in Luxembourg, just under 2€
You seem to have a curious preference for expensive airports… especially since you apparently do not require IFR / ILS.
Jan_Olieslagers wrote:
especially since you apparently do not require IFR / ILS.
Depends on what the OP wants to do, but a big airport may have other advantages than ILS.
In the case of Nürnberg, if you want to take a look at the city, EDDN offers you long opening hours, no hassle customs/immigration, and a short walk to the airport underground stop, where you can get into the city in no time for almost no money. Choosing a cheaper airport farther out may mean you easily spend more than what you saved in landing fees for taxi rides, or spend a lot of time for inconvenient train rides.
I can very much recommend Nürnberg EDDN. Very good GAT, good location, very good public transport into the city, no hassle customs/immigration, long opening hours. The only minor hassle is the self important security. They took my swiss army knife away, but then GAT staff gave it back to me with appropriate comment about the security guys.
Another option nearby might be Herzogenaurach EDQH. I dimly remember that they have customs on PNR, and it seems they now offer a very cheap rental car.
Hehe Jan it IS a little curious I know, but the plan is a 50th Birthday trip to take my Husband to his 99th and 100th countries and he has covered most of Europe. So avoiding Luxembourg wouldn’t work, and I’m open to better suggestions in Slovakia :) Thanks also Steve and Bosco for very helpful info. Anymore tips appreciated.
Anything else special I need to know flying in Austria or Slovakia?
Fair enough, Tom. As for Herzogenaurach, the car rental offer is indeed very affordable! But perhaps O/P will be less happy with only 700m of runway, flying a type of plane that some here will only operate from 2km runways.. 
Doesn’t Austria require an ELT installed, yes a real ELT, a PLB not sufficient?
Jan_Olieslagers wrote:
Doesn’t Austria require an ELT installed, yes a real ELT, a PLB not sufficient?
Are you inferring that there are countries other than France that do not require “fixed” installed ELTs ?
BTW, IMHO, allowing PLBs in place of ELTs in GA is just about the stupidest rule I’ve seen yet …
Belgium at least. And I merrily flew into Germany without carrying one, too… Actually to my knowledge only Austria and Switzerland really require them.
As for PLB vs. ELT: an ELT will help to locate the wreckage, a PLB will help locate the person – which do you prefer, given a choice? But if we wish to discuss the matter in depth, a separate thread would be better.
