Contemplating a second trip from Colorado USA to Europe in a Piper Meridian. In need of recommendations!

Off topic question: What do you use for IFR flight plan filing? Does Foreflight have filing capabilities in Europe?

Autorouter.eu (free, + excellent bot using Telegram messenger) and Foreflight both work well.

LOWZ is a nice „GA“ experience.

There are lots of great places to visit in Europe. I have some trips here and there is much else further up north.

For Eurocontrol route generation there is the Autorouter, Foreflight, and Rocketroute.

You’ve got a very capable plane.

Honestly, if it‘s just a handful of stops in Europe, I would just fly where I want to go (by Meridian, not by airline) and enjoy it. Whether a particular stop costs you 300 ot 800 Euros in fees won‘t make too much of a difference, in the grand scheme of things.

Tallinn will likely be the most expensive, but also is the most beautiful of them all. In the past, an option was to fly to Helsinki Malmi, visit Helsinki and then take the ferry across to Tallinn, but Malmi is no more.

boscomantico wrote:

Tallinn will likely be the most expensive, but also is the most beautiful of them all.

Another option, if you wish to see a Hanseatic old town, is to go to Visby (ESSV). I’ve been to Tallinn, and while I agree it is beautiful, IMHO Visby is just as good.

Visby has low fees and no compulsory handling. The only possible drawback is if you require hard surface parking as that is quite limited. (But the grass parking is very good.)

As bosco said, it’s probaly not worth it but if you really want to save the money for Tallin you could fly to Pärnu and take the bus to Tallin. Here is a video about a flight from Riga to Pärnu.

For a Malmi alternative at Helsinki, Nummela EFNU is about 20 mi NW is very welcoming and has fuel. Good bus service to the city. Also Hyvinkaa EFHV about 20 mi N on the train line, but need an arrangement with the club.

+1 for Parnu EEPU – ex Soviet airbase with underground parking for aircraft (well, at the time – prob risk of falling concrete now!) but 60 mi to Tallinn which is reported to be 500 Euro +.

Terbang, I did the opposite direction Parnu – Spilve a few years ago. Looks as if the Spilve runway has improved!

I’ve flown 5 North Atlantic legs and am just about to fly across the Pacific from Japan to Alaska (completing a round the world flight in a DA42).. here are a few thoughts. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

- ForeFlight now works great in Europe. I will use it in combination with autorouter.eu where ForeFlight can’t find a good route. You can even file your Greenland → Iceland leg ahead of time using ForeFlight. This saves time because you just need to fuel and pay fees in Greenland
- If you get an Air BP card, you can hand that to the fueler in BGSF while you pay landing fees inside with your credit card. This minimizes time on the ground. And saves a bit of money.
- You can avoid paying FBO fees in Iqaluit CYFB by parking in any non-airline spot, then exit at the gate on the North side of the field. Then you can ask the security guard to call you a taxi (CAD $ only). It’s a little bit of a walk. But you can save money with the FBO. Of course, if you need any services (GPU, de-ice, Wi-Fi, etc.) you must use the FBO.
- The Frobisher Inn (in Iqaluit) no longer has anyone at the front desk at night. You must book ahead of time (before like 10pm I think).. we almost slept at the airport before an off-duty hotel employee saved our butts.
- For economical fueling in between Sept Iles CYZV and Iqaluit CYFB, you have 3 decent options: CYGL, CYWK, CYYR. Between those 3, CYGL has the best price, but you must arrive when the FBO is open (I think 9 – 5).. Otherwise it’s a ~CAD$150 all out fee. If I had to overnight, I’d recommend CYYR or CYWK (Radisson is kind of a dump, and a surprisingly expensive cab ride to town.. around CAD$80 each way). CYYR has a handling fee but will shuttle you to the hotel.
- The weather in Nunavik and Nunavut (northern Canada) is almost always the worst part of this trip. Most of the year icing, and if not that, then thunderstorms… and the weather forecasters have only very low resolution satellite products, with limited weather reporting stations.
- I would invest in Switlik U-Zip It suits. They are $$$$ (around $2k), but worth every penny, even for this cheap pilot bastard. Not sure about you, but I know there’s no way I could don a Gumby suit in an emergency. I also highly recommend a Winslow raft, and taking a dunker class at Survival Systems in Groton, CT.
- If you’re worried about range to Bergen, consider a quick stop at Egilsstaðir BIEG. That can give you the extra boost you need. Of course, as you probably know, you can always stop at Vagar EKVG if the winds aren’t crazy.. and Wick EGPC is always there to welcome you.

That’s what I have off the top of my head. Let me know if you want to chat, I love talking international flying!!
- Mike

Gdansk is gorgeous and the costs are laughably small for a large international airport. Definitely recommended. Also Vilnius is a cool city worth visiting, though the costs will definitely be higher. However I’m not sure I’d let that hold me back considering they will be small compared to the fuel burned to get there!

Thank you mike.miller for such an informative post

BTW I changed your username to mike_miller because some forum features break if there is a full stop (“period”) in a username. You registered years before we implemented that