Great report, what is the situation at Losinj with restaurants, hotels etc. Are most things open or only a few?
As usual I recommend to also rent a boat there https://mcl.hr There is really quite a lot to see beyond the radius of what we could do by bike before we started to rent boats there. Also I think they really need our business right now.
I wonder how LDLO can have an IAP, if IFR cancellation is required.
It’s because Eurocontrol sees it as pure IFR airport while in reality that depends on ATS working hours which are different on different days of week and time of the year, specified in NOTAM. When it’s towered you can fly IFR approach. Same as LDSB.
It may be worth doing a tutorial video of getting the route validated and the actual paper flight plan.
You are right. I’ve just kept away from doing stuff which needs a lot of setting up (movie screenshots etc). Also the route development for these unusual flights is a bit weird; it involves hacks. I doubt there is a tool which can give you EGKA-MOBLO-EGKA (MOBLO is Mt Blanc) and does the same route there and back. Maybe somebody has a Rocketroute or Foreflight sub and can try it? The Autorouter totally cannot. It was done by taking EGKA-LIMW with a fly-through waypoint of say REM (to force a route east of Paris, rather than west of Paris, or even through Belgium) and then, having found it works in the other direction too, putting the two together, with a VFR section in the middle. This one was done the same way: EGKA-LDLO, and with the Alps section hacked out, changed to VFR, and with two waypoints put in which were as close as one can dig out to Finsteraarhorn and Matterhorn.
I also keep all routes (send them to myself on telegram) in case the Autorouter doesn’t work on the day and I have to use another service for the FP filing (this has happened).
Are most things open or only a few?
Most things are open, yes. A number open on 1st June, I am told, but they did that last year but this year they have obviously opened a bit sooner. As regards accommodation, I have got Mare Mare Suites which I got May 2020 but which is normally totally impossible after April. But at the same time the big hotels I cycled past show very little activity; they probably operate mostly on the family+airline business and there is clearly not much of that. The roads are pretty empty.
Personally I would not rent a boat because of the skills needed 
Right now there aren’t many boat trips available here. I could see one which is a “party boat” where everybody gets p1ssed and they take you to some little islands On Brac there is more to see; for example a few years ago I got a boat trip to the submarine pens.
Movie is rendering now but is taking time because I made a mistake and have an additional transformation on the GPS subtitles. Normally I have just one, on the video itself, to rotate by 1.8 degrees (no idea why the camera isn’t sitting straight in its housing) and then to stretch it a little due to the rotation exposing black corners. But also I am sure I will find mistakes on it. I commented on one plane inbound to LDLO with its TXO obviously OFF or duff so took care to cut out any identification from the sound track. He was D-reg from from what people post here should be “impossible” 
Also why would anybody do it here, when ATC is so helpful. I also cut out all ATC chat not relating to me.
@Peter I don’t really know where to post this but for reference on your flights over the Alps on May 13th here local copy was posted basically rendering more difficult (a lot) flight around the Mt Blanc between June (so as of tomorrow morning) and October a lot more difficult. The entire Chamonix valley is becoming increasingly hostile to all sorts of traffic. I believe the difficulties with Sallanche aerodrome have been posted about here before. In short, it will be difficult (unless you’re an electrical aircraft) to fly anywhere around the area at light GA altitudes between beginning of June and October 15th.
Yes; this was mentioned recently. Well, yeah, life generally rarely gets easier as time goes by
Tightening things up is homo sapiens default behaviour. We could do things years ago which we can’t do now (like flying around the UK VFR without being scared of the smallest mistake) and our children – those who will fly – will be flying in a different world, and they will have to choose different “battles” to keep life interesting.
Isn’t the problem that there has been a lot of late avalanches in the area this year?
According to the TV news there have been several people killed because the snow and ice at high level has become abnormally unstable.
I don’t know the effect of a light aircraft 500ft above the summits would have on this instability but I believe they are also stopping many other activities too.
boscomantico wrote:
full of class A up to FL 195, so can‘t be flown under VFR. Wonder where, when and by whom you were given an IFR clearance for that leg.
Getting cleared from VFR into IFR while at Class A is the only way out of LESB in Mallorca whre class A goes down to 1000AGL on and around the largest part of the island.. In theory not legal, but most of the times the only way you’ll get cleared. In fairness, it should be ‘C’ and it is in practice treated as ‘C’
Peter, congrats on the great trip! Very inspiring. The very perspective you’ve chosen (or needed to choose) looks awesome!
chflyer wrote:
the first airport photo is Meiringen LSMM
Interesting perspective, having a looong taxiway to the dark side
Flew from Gloucestershire Airport EGBJ to Corfu LGKR yesterday, with a refuelling stop in Pula LDPL.
It reminded me again what a terrific place Croatia is. Despite being a medium sized regional airport we were in and out in 45 minutes without even trying. Fueller waiting for us as we pulled up. Avgas E1.88 inc VAT etc. All fees at airport – E27!
I would have stopped in Mali Losinj, but though they were about to close. Found out after they have now extended their opening hours for the summer.
Interesting perspective, having a looong taxiway to the dark side.
Yup, last operational underground airbase (thanks to which various “improvements” like the swing-nose radome and the inflatable NG strut had to be made to the Mirage III…).
