Hi,
I am hoping to plan a trip to Madrid in July, and wondering how viable it would in the Jetprop in terms of handling parking costs, or even being allowed to land there etc,
Anybody with recent experience of Barajas or Cuatro Vientos?
Cheers. E
Your only realistic option is Cuatro Vientos. Barajas is possible in the JetProp (they don’t take piston a/c), but would be hideously expensive. There is also Torrejon, technically a mil field, but sometimes used by biz jets. Needs pre-authorization, no idea how that works.
There is also Torrejon, technically a mil field, but sometimes used by biz jets.
Unfortunately no more. We at least haven’t got permission to fly there since two or three years. AFAIK all the handling companies have been closed and/or were moved to Barajas. Barajas charges are more or less the same as other large airports (or small airports in the UK…). Last week (or was it the week before?) I paid around 800€ for an 8ton Citation. For that money you get four runways each of which would have qualified as an emergency landing site for the Space Shuttle, good crew facilities and almost the cheapest Jet Fuel in Europe. But you may need 1/4 of your fuel for taxiing alone. Last time we were lucky on the inbound leg and required only 9 minutes for taxi, outbound it was 32 minutes, completey normal for LEMD.
Cuatro Vientos is the only real GA field left in Madrid. 1.5km asphalt runways and decent landing fees so I would stay away from LEMD.
Thanks. Looks like Cuatro Vientos it is.
Hi Eal
In 4 vientos be patient. with the tower…. :)
You have south-west casarrubios LEMT but only 625 m
(30km from cuatro vientos)
http://casarrubios.net/wpcasarrubios/foto-pista/
http://casarrubios.net/pdf/casarrubios_jeppesen.pdf
I just returned to UK from my Spanish trip EGHH→LECU→LESO→EGHH. All filed IFR.
This part covers the Cuatro Vientos leg.
Arriving towards Madrid you are dropped to VFR levels (Alt 5,500’) around 60Nm North of Barajas to avoid all the main commercial traffic, and then have to follow a narrow VFR corridor looping round the South West to join LECU from their North VRP. This made a big dent on my fuel consumption and added about 25 minuets to the trip. I had requested a different route hoping to hang on to IFR and altitude for longer, but Madrid ATC were not playing. This is where the Eurocontrol filing system bites.
This longer VFR segmented route was the only one I could get validated in order to file the flight plan, and then was stuck with it.
After landing, you are not given any assistance whatsoever. I was simply dumped on the apron and told to find my own parking spot, which was a bit like driving around a busy supermarket car park, with the added wing span to contend with.
For future reference to anybody going there, vacate via taxi way Charlie and ask the tower if there is any parking in front of the tower as this is the nearest point to the terminal. I was not aware of that and ended up about 1.5Km away from the tower.
I was travelling with my elderly mother who has breathing difficulty at times and you can imagine the rest…
The terminal and admin side of things was efficient and not that expensive. AENA bill EUR 111.59 including two days parking, which was the same as San Sebastian with three days parking because LECU count from midnight as another day, regardless of what time you arrive…
The earliest departure time is 9am, and the office only opens at 8:30am, and you can only gain ramp access from 8:30am onwards.
There was a long queue for departure in front of me at 9:15am, mainly local training flights. The tower made them all pull over to allow me past, which was very considerate of them.
Taxi fare into town was EUR 24 one way which was pretty good considering this is a major capital city. I would use it again when travelling to Madrid, and grateful it is an option. With hindsight and more local knowledge, you could avoid some of the main hassles above.
Strange but it seems this is the only thread about Madrid and Cuatro Vientos on EuroGA. I would expect more having in mind attractivnes of Spain for flying and LECU being practically only GA option for Madrid.
Since I’ll be in Valladolid next week, LECU is potentially on my wish list. The weather should be OK, so I expect easy and short flight. If I go there I plan to file Y flight plan and cancel IFR overhead AVILA point. Do I need paper VFR chart having in mind that I have G1000 and AirNavPro on my iPad and VFR plates for LECU?
Any info on LECU is welcome.
Landing is around 12€. Parking is 15€ per day or fraction.
The apron was crowded some time ago, as Eal experienced, but since the parking fee was increased to 15€ from the previous 1,5€ per day, a lot of aircrafts have been relocated to LEMT or LERM mainly. So now it is much easier to find parking.
Main traffic source are the several training schools based there. So now in summer the activity is reduced.
You can check the AIP info about LECU here.
In the terminal building there is a bar/restaurant and a shop, Bucker Book
On a Y FPL, normally you would be trasferred at 4000’ at N point
LECU is near of the city center, but it’s really badly communicated via public transportation. So almost the only option is to call a taxi. Expect around 25€ and 20 min for going to the center.
I can recommend Madrid Cuatros Vientos.
Stop there 2 times this year between France and Morocco.
Flew IFR both ways. From south it’s easy, we had a direct to the NDB (on the field).
From the North East we had radar vector overhead Madrid Barajas and the city: pretty scenic.
We went downtown with a taxi 20-25€ each way but it worth it. We also tried the bar/restaurant, they make sandwichs (we eat them in the plane…)
Fee are very low for a Spanish airport with custom (around 30€) and Jet A1 around 1,60€/liter
Romain
