Shoreham EGKA (UK) to Lucca LIQL (Italy)

[peter-h]

http://www.peter2000.co.uk/aviation/lucca/

Lucca is a very scenic walled city in Italy.

The trip was done 19-22 November 2014, during a very rare gap in the weather. That gap almost didn’t work out but it was OK in the end… We did however get two outstandingly scenic flights: one VFR leg to Lucca along the coast, and one IFR leg coming back over the Alps.

 

[tiger]

Very interesting write-up, thanks.

 

[mtuomi]

Nice writeup as always. I didn't realise Lucca had 100LL available. We flew all the way to Pula without stopping because no-one was sure if 100LL was available or not.

Glad you didn't have to go to Pisa, have you seen the fees?

 

[peter-h]

Where were you flying from, and where to afterwards, and what aircraft?

 

[mtuomi]

Where were you flying from, and where to afterwards, and what aircraft?

We took a P32R Saratoga around Europe, UK-Ibiza-Alghero-Pula-Bratislava-Prague-UK. Original plan was to visit Pisa, but after (finally) receiving an email back from them, where they pretty much said (in Italian) that 100LL can be available but maybe it is not available, and the total fees for landing were in excess of 300EUR.
Lucca would have been a great stop on the way but we never received any sort of confirmation that 100LL would be available there.
We decided to skip Italy altogether. We then flew from Alghero to Figari to refuel and then headed straight to Pula.

 

[peter-h]

In general, airports in Italy, Spain and France do not reply to any communications.

They expect you to read the AIP and just fly there (or not). The AIP for those countries is reasonably accurate; for some others "south of the Alps" it contains a load of garbage. Greece just notams its opening times permanently...

On this occassion I got an Italian speaker to phone Lucca and check they had avgas.

 

[mtuomi]

In general, airports in Italy, Spain and France do not reply to any communications.

They expect you to read the AIP and just fly there (or not). The AIP for those countries is reasonably accurate; for some others "south of the Alps" it contains a load of garbage. Greece just notams its opening times permanently...

On this occassion I got an Italian speaker to phone Lucca and check they had avgas.

Same experience here. In France it is a safe assumption most bigger airports carry 100LL. In Italy not so much.

We got a response from Ibiza(spain), with very clear instructions on how to proceed. Also Alghero was fine as long as you didn't ask about the fees. I sent them 3-4 emails and called them twice. They answered everything perfectly, but when you asked about the fees, I just got a very random ambiguous replies. Wasn't too bad, I believe 200EUR for 2 nights, PPR required because it was busy then (2 planes parked...)

Planning a trip to the Oktoberfest this year from the UK. Let's see how that goes.

 

[peter-h]

Most Italian airports don't have avgas.

There is a number of small places that have but are not allowed to sell it to visitors, but if you speak good Italian you can "negotiate" a "solution" the "Italian way" where a club member's airplane gets filled up but magically he fuel ends up in yours.

In Europe, nothing can be relied on. You need to at least read the AIP, and preferably contact the airport, to check opening hours, fuel PPR, PNR etc.

Customs is another thing...

 

[mtuomi]

Most Italian airports don't have avgas.

There is a number of small places that have but are not allowed to sell it to visitors, but if you speak good Italian you can "negotiate" a "solution" the "Italian way" where a club member's airplane gets filled up but magically he fuel ends up in yours.

In Europe, nothing can be relied on. You need to at least read the AIP, and preferably contact the airport, to check opening hours, fuel PPR, PNR etc.

Customs is another thing...

Part of the reason why flying around Europe is so tedious. Really difficult to find information you can trust, and the infrastructure just isn't there.
We're doing UK-Oktoberfest this year, and just finding a suitable GA airport for Munich is a pain.

I'm doing a trip around the Caribbean this summer, hope it is easier than dealing with European oddities.

I've just dealt with UK-Schengen customs at L2K, never had an issue, usually they don't even show up.

 

[peter-h]

Munich, like most big European cities, is poorly served for GA.

Augsburg EDMA is the best IFR option, with an easy train to Munich.

Munich itself is open to GA but is about $800.

L2K LFAT is easy. I went there last Saturday. Never seen any sign of officials there. Remember about 50 French airports lost Customs recently so are no good for flying to/from the UK.

Some notes on European flying are here, in the VFR Europe slide presentation.