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Shoreham EGKA to Libourne LFDI, IFR, July 2013

Another nice little trip, making good use of the current great weather...

Libourne doesn't have Customs, so I stopped at Caen LFRK on both flights. I rarely do this, preferring to fly direct to Customs airports even if it costs quite a bit extra, but in this case I wanted to get into Libourne.

The IFR route is the same in both directions, which is usual for France but unusual for Europe generally

The weather was great - a big high pressure all over the area

and same on the following day, just to make sure

Libourne issues no weather but is near Bergerac LFBE

Metar
EGKA: no results found
EGKK 120450Z 02006KT 350V150 9999 SCT015 12/09 Q1024
EGHI: no results found
LFBE 120500Z AUTO 00000KT 9999 NSC 15/14 Q1015
LFRK 120500Z AUTO VRB02KT 9999 NSC 11/09 Q1023

TAF
EGKA: no results found
EGKK 120500Z 1206/1312 VRB05KT CAVOK TEMPO 1206/1208 BKN012 TEMPO 1209/1218 05010KT PROB30 1222/1306 8000
EGHI: no results found
LFBE 120500Z 1206/1215 04005KT CAVOK
LFRK 120500Z 1206/1215 03005KT CAVOK PROB30 TEMPO 1206/1208 BKN009 TEMPO 1212/1215 02015G25KT

On the day, the IR image was clean

with no lightning

There was a layer of cloud, with bases of around 4000ft

which was quickly outclimbed

The whole flight was filed at FL100 and this turned out to be fine all the way, doing about 150kt TAS on 10 USG/hr (2400rpm). There was about 15kt tailwind on the way down and about the same in headwind on the way back.

French airspace supports Eurocontrol IFR at FL070-FL190 in the lower airways and the way it works is transparent to the pilot. Below FL120 it is Class E and FL120-FL200 it is Class D but when IFR there is no difference. In theory one could meet non-radio VFR traffic in the Class E but I have never seen another GA aircraft airborne in France at these levels. As with the UK, most traffic seems to be 1000-2000ft.

The only real practical difference is that above FL120 one is more likely to be talking to Paris Control (rather than the local units) which facilitates a handover to the UK's London Control (rather than the infamous handover to London Info which amounts to an implicit and un-notified dumping of your IFR clearance) but in recent times this works a lot better, with handovers to London Control working at FL100 and working from the local units too. Clearly somebody got fed up with the repeated Class A busts of the London TMA, by "IFR" traffic flying France-UK at sub-oxygen levels.

I use oxygen on all IFR flights. At FL100 it is not necessary but one arrives far less tired, and the gas usage is very low.

The stop at Caen LFRK is easy. You get a radar vectored ILS and the total cost is €4.80! Realistic turnaround time, assuming no fuel, is as quick as you can do it and in practice it means about 30 mins.

I prefiled all flight plans in advance, from home (EuroFPL) and that lays down the schedule one needs to stick to. It's always better to do that because anything could happen when travelling - Eurocontrol problems, mobile internet not working, etc, etc. In fact Vodafone UK seems to be blocking all phone-laptop tethering (Joikuspot if using a Nokia phone) when abroad, but there are other ways which work.

One gets plenty of shortcuts from ATC, some of which were 100nm+. Here we are approaching the destination

As usual for me, the airfield was hard to find without the GPS

The Aquitaine controller wanted a cancellation of IFR as soon as I was "VMC" and preferably not below 3000ft.

Libourne tower did not speak English (non-Customs French airfields are not required to, though there is more to this because some are designated "French only" and this one isn't) and I was getting slightly concerned about having to divert to Bergerac, but "Jojo" from here came on the radio, just in time, with her best posh ATC-speak, and I got in.

In the +30C heat, one needs to get the cover on quick otherwise the cockpit soon ends up like one of these

In the correct order of importance, this is the restaurant

and this is the aeroclub

Some interesting stuff in the hangar, with a TKS-equipped Mooney, and this

We visited St Emilion which is a very pretty area, with loads of old architecture

and vast amounts of wine growing as far as the eye could see

This is one of the places which wine buyers get taken to for "demos"

The departure weather was as before

METAR
EGKA 131150Z 18007KT CAVOK 18/14 Q1025
EGMD 131150Z 20006KT 8000 FEW006 18/14 Q1025
EGKK 131150Z 02007KT 320V080 CAVOK 28/16 Q1024
LFBD 131130Z AUTO 02008KT 9999 NSC 29/14 Q1017
LFBE 131130Z AUTO VRB03KT 9999 NSC 30/18 Q1016
LFBZ 131130Z 28008KT 250V310 9999 BKN012 SCT240 24/20 Q1018 NOSIG

TAF
EGKA 131101Z 1312/1320 18008KT CAVOK PROB30 TEMPO 1316/1320 8000 SHRA BKN045TCU
EGMD 131101Z 1312/1319 13005KT 9000 FEW010 PROB40 1312/1316 CAVOK PROB30 TEMPO 1316/1319 SHRA BKN045TCU
EGKK 131059Z 1312/1418 VRB05KT CAVOK PROB30 TEMPO 1316/1322 5000 +SHRA BKN040CB PROB30 1322/1408 8000
LFBD 131100Z 1312/1418 03008KT CAVOK
LFBE 131100Z 1312/1321 02005KT CAVOK
LFBZ 131100Z 1312/1412 28008KT 9999 SCT010 TEMPO 1312/1315 BKN010 PROB40 TEMPO 1320/1408 3000 BR SCT008

The forecasts of convective weather were not borne out by any actuals - the IR was clean

as was the sferics image

There was a lot of haze

What may be just about visible on the wingtip in the above pic is the Le Blayais nuclear power plant, whose prohibited zone I managed to bust in 2003, before these zones were in the notams or on the VFR charts. Nothing happened on that occasion but rumour has it that there are massive fines (5 figures).

Anyway, IFR routings are way above any of these areas, and the general avoidance of military and other restricted/prohibited airspace is one of the great advantages of flying in the French Class E airspace (FL065-FL115) if VFR.

More nice shortcuts followed

Short final at Caen

There was almost no activity - this was a Saturday

An Extra 500 was parked there - a rare sight

And another €4.80 invoice

I had allowed an hour on the ground, which stretched to slightly more because of a shorter than planned flight there, but the tower allowed a departure about 30 mins before filed EOBT, which was very nice but would not have been allowed in e.g. the UK or Germany...

Due to solid haze, Shoreham was not visible until a few miles out. I had to go around because somebody was reading out their inside leg measurement at just the right time

A huge THANKS to Jojo for the guided tour of the area

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Well, I'm very proud to see Libourne appear in one of your famous trip reports, Peter!

I certainly enjoyed showing you around the area and hope more of you who fly into La Rochelle will pop down and see us in Libourne - just an hour further south and a very easy airfield to use as I think Peter will confirm...

I took another forum member flying this morning in our 2-seater Aquila. A quick tour of the Bay of Arcachon...we came rather close to a posh PC-12 from Geneva who was obviously doing a bit of sightseeing, too. I hope none of the pax spilt their champagne.

Bordeaux

Nice trip report!

EDLE, Netherlands

Without Jojo doing the English-language ATC I would have probably diverted to Bergerac

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Nice report Peter.

When I'm up to it, I fancy doing a flight down to a great surf venue I used to frequent at Biscarosse, which is approx 1 hour south of Bordeaux. Lousy drive from memory, but I'm sure it would be a nice flight!

I'm planning a last minute day trip for tomorrow. LFDI seems a good destination, just to have lunch and visit Saint Emilion. It's easy to get a taxi to go from the airport to the town? Maybe somebody has a phone number of any taxi in the area? And what about refueling? Other option would be La Rochelle. It's easier/quicker to go into town? Refueling seems easier having a BP station.

LECU - Madrid, Spain

Hi Coolhand,

I live ten minutes from LFDI and would be very happy to help with lifts between the airport and St Emilion...

Refuelling no prob, I have the key to the club house and the pump

Please contact Peter for my email address / mobile 'phone number

Bordeaux

Details sent.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

An Extra 500 was parked there - a rare sight

Is that Zlin right from Extra?

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

I've emailed you the full-res pic - about 10 MB

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
11 Posts
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