Visiting Strasbourg (using Entzheim LFST airport) - a little "how-to guide"

Normally, I prefer LFGC (Neuhof) for visiting Strasbourg, but there are times when the “big” airport, LFST, may be the better choice:

-IFR conditions
-night
-customs/immigration needed
-need to speak English on the radio
-possible soft runway at LFGC in wintertime

However, I perceive that there is some aversion by private pilots (from say Germany) towards flying to LFST. Few people go there and it seems this is because they think it is complicated, expensive…?

Hence, a short how-to guide for this airport in the form of a brief trip report.

In fact, procedures for GA at LFST are a little bit weird, and the AIP documentation doesn’t help. The AIP for LFST shows this:

(By the way, the VAC, basically used by VFR-only pilots for their flight preparation, fails to mention this!)

In fact, there is also a similar (long-term) NOTAM out, basically saying that the PNR and the handling even applies to domestic flights:

Rest assured: there is no real “mandatory handling” of small GA aircraft there, and no “handling fee” either.

What I did is I dropped them an email with my flight details. Of course, they did not reply (it’s France, after all…), but it’s “PN” after all, so all fine for me.
Thus, I don’t know what will happen if one does not give this PN. Most probably nothing, but personally, when there is such requirement, and it’s just a matter of writing a few lines via e-mail, then I do it because then nobody can reproach me after landing. I also indicated my address in that email, for the landing fees invoice (not possible to pay on the spot at LFST). As I said, in practice, there is not really any mandatory handling there for small GA. To be sure, you may wish to add a note “no ground handling required” to your email message.

An IFR flightplan was filed from Aschaffenburg (EDFC), near Frankfurt. A 45-minute flight in the Arrow.

Climbing out to FL60.

My route took me past Karsruhe/Baden-Baden airport (EDSB), which I managed to capture in interesting light conditions:

Shortly after, it was time to descend again. LFST usually operates on runway 23, even if there is a little bit of tailwind, so it was more or less a straight-in for me, on the ILS approach. This took me almost right over the city.

Short final.

GA aircraft always park on Apron B, which is to the southwest of the main apron. There will be no staff awaiting you. Just park in the position indicated to you by tower controller. If you need fuel, ask the controller to send the fuel truck over.

This is what it looks like when you are parked… behind those jetblast barriers, you can barely see the “GAT”.

Just walk past the opening in the barriers, where there is a turnstile gate (exit only). If you wish, on arrival, there is no interaction with any staff at all.

For visiting Strasbourg, I recommend taking the regional train. This takes only just over 5 minutes (as opposed to I guess 15 minutes in the taxi) and costs 2.60€ (as opposed to 30-40€ in a taxi I would guess). However, one needs to walk a little bit to get the train station from the GAT and the signage is poor (read: non-existent). This is the walking route:

When halfway there, you will actually see the prominent bridge over the railway tracks.

On Sundays, trains to Strasbourg are just once per hour, so it makes sense to “time” your arrival a little bit. Figure that
- from the aircraft, it takes about 13 minutes to walk to the train station
- you will need 3-4 minutes to figure out how to get tickets from the vending machine on the railway platform
- currently, Sunday trains to Strasbourg always depart 13 minutes past the hour.

The full schedules can be found here.

Just a few pics of Strasbourg. A liked the way they modernized the central station.

Typical scenery along the river Ill (that’s I-L-L)

The famous Strasbourg Cathedral.

A few more:

On Sundays, trains back to the airport always depart the main station at 55 minutes past the hour. Once you are back at the turnstile gate, turn left and head for the “GAT” (the landside door is always open).

Once in that building, there is a door straight ahead to get out onto the apron. To the right is the office of the Aviapartner people. I briefly sneaked in and asked the guy on duty if he needed anything from my side, at which point he asked me for my callsign, looked up my “file” and said “non”.

To get out, one has to pick up a phone next to the door towards the apron, which will connect you with the security staff in the main terminal. They will ask you to place your license and passport onto a small board on the wall, with a camera above. Then, the door opens and you can walk to your aircraft.

By the way, I also peeked into the open hangar next to the GAT. There were about ten SEPs there, plus a handful of bigger aircraft.

The departure was interesting. A 737 was ready for departure just behind me, so when I was airborne, the controller vectored me out of the way as soon as possible, to give way to the 737. Heading east for a couple of minutes, I got more views of the city and also of Neuhof (LFGC) airfield.

Climbing out again, this time to FL70.

As often when flying IFR, not a lot to see…

…but the approaching sunset sure was nice.

Clip:

Approaching my home base, EDFC, 15 minutes after sunset.

Two more notes on LFST:
- I have not received the landing fee invoice yet. However, from other reports, it seems like the fees are in the 30€ ballpark.
- I cannot say with certainty if the same painless procedures also applies if one is coming from either the UK or Swtzerland. However, I am somewhat sure that no additional fees will apply, even in that case.

Hope this is helpful.