I´m thinking about joining either Oct22-24 or Oct 29-31. Does anybody want to join me, either from EDFZ, or from somewhere in between?
I can do any of the dates.
Thanks @PacoMadrid. Hope you can join in, bring some Spanish friends!
Since it seems the interest in growing, let’s switch to a Telegram Group.
October generally has splendid weather, other than an occasional low that brings rain/mountain snows. In all the Octobers I was there, it generally was 22C during the day, 6C at night, and sunny for weeks on end.
Careful if there is a strong north wind, as the Pyrenees become a rotor factory. Avoid flying between the field and Querol, France on such days, as the wind comes out of the valley from the north and mixes quite angrily at 1500 to 3000’ MSL. South side of the valley is fine.
Also be cautioned that it is often a solid inversion on the south side of the ridge south of the airfield. The weather is often wildly different 5sm south of the field. The valley itself is usually quite pleasant.
The airfield was operated by the glider/flying club until summer of 2021, when the government of Catalunya took over. The aero club is still there.
I suggest we have this evening’s Zoom meetup on this topic.
A prominent GA person in Spain was kind enough to call me today and warn me of some recent changes at LECD. It appears the aerodrome management has been taken over by “Aeroports de Catalunya” and in the process a project has been started to investigate and implement noise reduction measures. For starters they are limiting glider towing to a maximum of 5/day..
It is unclear what that means for visiting aircraft atthis point in time. The above person is, again very kindly, doing some footwork to find out. The alternative that I mentioned earlier, LESU, may become the destination. I personally prefer LECD if only to avoid physical- and administrative fences like PPR and handling (?). However, LESU does have Avgas and JetA. The town nearby, La Seu de Urgell, is small but probably a little more interesting than Alp near LECD. And for those of you who are interested, LESU is right next to Andorra.
An option would be to look at somewhere else than the Pyrenees. I suppose many of the candidates don’t live near the sea, so we could also do Ampuriabrava LEAP. Fuel available, friendly place and right on the coast. Water still OK to swim in October (for non-Spaniards 
), and the well known town of Rosas very nearby. Also a slight advantage for LEAP would be that the chance that weather spoils our party is a bit smaller. In case of clouds the Pyrenees are problematic, and a coastal airport likely less so.
Just so that you can think in little in advance of our Zoom of this evening.
I found some of the staff at LESU pretty much the most unpleasant you could think of. The people working there seem to have no broader experience in running a very small airport and think they are running a mini-Heathrow.
So, unless LECD has really worsened a lot, I would still prefer it over LESU. Especially if you are arriving in a group. The worst you can have then is some apron staff running around and telling people how they want the ground bit to work at their place.
What was wrong with the club running LECD? And what noise? There is hardly anyone living in the area.
LEAP Empuriabrava manager told me a few weeks ago, no direct flights from Schengen are allowed.
Due to COVID requirements, planes have to land at an intern. Airport like Girona first.
LEAP Empuriabrava manager told me a few weeks ago, no direct flights from Schengen are allowed.
Due to COVID requirements, planes have to land at an intern. Airport like Girona first.
Destination LEAP….no relevant NOTAMs found.
We just had a Zoom. I’ll take the following actions:
1) Find out whether we can fly from abroad to fields like LECD, LESU, LEAP without passing through an int’l Spanish airport (COVID)
2) Find out whether we can go to LECD (noise regulations they are working on). This will take some time probably.
I suggest that anyone who is seriously interested to come should join the Telegram group.
