Day 1+2

Friday May 2^nd 2008
Leg 1: Hoogeveen (EHHO) – Pontoise (LFPT)
PIC: Marco
Flying time: 3h42
Landing fee: ca. EUR 9,=

On Thursday evening May 1^st, 2008 we looked at the weather predictions for the next couple of days and viewing some satellite images and decided that Friday was a go.

We left Hoogeveen (EHHO) at 1100am. Just before we took off a parajumping plane took off. Shortly after take off, we had to make a left turn to avoid a para jumper at Hoogeveen.
After more than an hour we past Rotterdam (for pilots: just east of the CTR, near Romeo) at 3500ft. It was funny to see an aircraft from our club passing us (opposite direction)

The French air traffic control was very (as always) helpful. They speak to you in English, but all other traffic is done in French. Advantage: paying attention is not necessary. Disadvantage: missing a lot of what is going on. What we do like about the French is that they watch you closely and warn you about other traffic. Pontoise is a nice field to land, situated westerly of Paris.

Parking and refuelling (Jet A1) was ok. Unfortunately there was nothing to eat, so we opened up our first package of cookies for emergencies J and left again for our second leg.

Leg 2: Pontoise (LFPT) – Bordeaux (Merignac) (LFBD)
PIC: Etienne
Flying time: 3:06
Landing fee: ca. EUR 50,= (incl. handling)

Right after take off we saw the Eiffel Tower to our left, so we have seen Paris on our quest to reach Dakar.

Flying south of Pontoise we had a south-westerly direction to Bordeaux, crossing various FIR regions, but we were allowed to climb to 3500ft almost right after take-off, since a lot of areas were not active, making things easy. During the route we had to stay clear of some gliders (next time we better not use air fields as reference points).We were glad to approach Bordeaux. This was the first day ever, we flew this long. And makes you realize France is pretty big.

The visual approach points where easy to find (water tower etc), and also PocketFMS (GPS) was very helpful.
Handling is compulsory at Bordeaux and we had pre-arranged that by fax and email. About 20 minutes before landing we called Air Assistance on the radio that we were approaching. This was the first time we had to use handling, and we liked it. They pick you up from the plane, bring you to the hotel (which they also reserve for you), they take care that your plane will be refuelled, in the morning you are brought back to their lounge where you will pay the handling fee (incl. landing) and receive the latest weather forecast for the route you are going to fly. The flightplan to Pamplona was filed by him the night before.

Saturday May 3^rd 2008
Leg 3: Bordeaux (Merignac) (LFBD) – Pamplona (LEPP)
PIC: Etienne
Flying time: 1:36 hours
Landing fee: ca. EUR 9,=

South-west France looks terrible to fly in with all the restricted and danger areas. However this day, there was no one in the sky. We asked for FL055 (5500 feet = 2 km altitude) and could proceed direct to Biaritz at the border. In our plan we had different altitudes and directions to avoid all the areas. But all this was not necessary.

Approaching the mountains was a bit of an odd feeling after being used to the flatness of the Netherlands. In France, approaching Pontoise you already can see the elevation of the ground, but the mountains in the North of Spain were something different.
Checking a couple of times what the height of the mountains was, we were pretty sure that it should work (we had the QNH also, to see the real altitude, compared to flightlevels, since mountains are not measured in flightlevels).
Climbing to FL065 we easily passed the mountain chains (approaching them make them look lower).

In the visual approach chart of Pamplona there are some fixed reporting points and a strict altitude of 1000ft above ground. But since there was no one else, we got an “at your own discretion” instruction. It is a beautifully situated field and a petty we had to leave soon after landing for our trip to Sevilla (worth going back there for sure).

Leg 4: Pamplona (LEPP) – Sevilla (LEZL)
PIC: Marco
Flying time: 4:30
Landing fee: ca. 10 euro.

Right after take off we climbed to FL065 since Spain has a lot of mountains. After a while when we were cruising through the mountains, we hardly received any communications. We were transferred to Madrid Info through a message relay from another plane high above us, that was our first relay :-) .

In the Madrid TMA there are some corridors you can fly. However these are on the other side of the mountain chain at Madrid. At one point we could not receive Madrid Info for about 45 minutes. Sometimes you could hear other planes responding to the tower, but not the tower itself. After Etienne noticed that our call sign was mentioned in a conversation in Spanish we decided to climb to FL075 in order to get some contact. We supposed that they know that contact is not always possible in the mountain areas but to make sure that they didn’t start a search and rescue mission we climbed a bit higher. This did help, tough not always. Spain is pretty big and when they tell you an aircraft is approaching you from the south going north while you are going south, you are on a sharp lookout. The controller gave us regular updates regarding the distance and altitude (we have never seen the plane though, due to weather (is good enough weather, but some smog). Approaching Sevilla, was like Pamplona, not higher than 1000ft above surface; which is not that high when you enter the CTR in a hilly countryside :-)

At Sevilla they requested a short circuit. So they got a short circuit and a speedy vacating of the runway. “Thank you, sir.”

Leg 5: Sevilla (LEZL) – Tanger (GMTT)
PIC: Etienne
Flying time: 1:12
Landing fee: ca. 4,= incl parking one night.

Taking off from Sevilla to Tanger, we were quickly allowed to climb to FL065 and fly direct to Tanger. Approaching the coast line, we saw a plane flying extremely low. It must have been a visual misconception, but we are both convinced the plane was flying between the windmills.

At the coast we wanted to fly a bit to the left to make the distance over water a short as possible. Even though we were approaching a FIR boundary (leaving Spain) we could not reach Sevilla info anymore. Trying four different frequencies of FIS (flight information services) in the area, we finally found someone who did receive us. This was a bit of a relief, since we had to cross the FIR and we would like the Spanish know we where leaving. The guy that answered was responsible for covering an area as small as a stamp we think, but at least we could ask him if a restricted area near the coast was active or not. Unfortunately it was, due to marine exercises and we had to cross the water almost immediately. The coastline of Tanger is pretty close though. Approaching it we decided to follow to coast line since we had runway 10 (starting at the coastline; see photo) and there are 2 prohibited areas in the CTR). To our surprise the wind was a bit strong and gusty making the approach turbulent, but fortunately the wind was only 10 degrees off runway track.

After landing, customs totally unpacked us at the apron (like what would we bring inside Morocco???) .
Fuel in Morocco is pretty cheap, like EUR 0.75-0.80 per liter Jet A1. And since we fly a foreign plane, they only want credit card or cash in euros (probably local VAT reasons for that), and they never have change.

Getting on the airport the next morning was a bit hard, but everyone is friendly. Speaking French/Spanish is helpful, but since neither of us speak this, we had to do everything in English. But words like “Avion Prive” work like magic though. Tip: try to get an European ID card that you can hang around your neck, we think that helps a lot, when they see your name with a picture. We didn’t have it, but next time I will. We were wearing our bright orange and yellow covers also make them accept you easier.