There was a risk that the aeroclub there, and the airfield, would close down but this has now been evaded. The owner, ministery of defence, put it up for sale years ago and recently threatened the aeroclub to pay 50k per year as a lease. In the end the local gov’t bought it, and so the use of the field for the aeroclub is secured. Asking price 10 million, finally went for 3, haha.
That’s great.
Thank you for posting it; we need more good news here 
yep, good news indeed!
Even more so as my friends are planning a redo of last year, probably coming February… and though we’ve subjected to a quite thorough check upon arrival, the good food and service more than made up for that
Is LESL more user friendly than Palma de Mallorca, or than Son Bonet?
Edit, stupid question. Just did a quick search and found that LESL is different than the commercial airport on Menorca. It looks like a similar setup to Mallorca with the old airport now the GA airport.
Depends what you mean by user-friendly. It is definitely smaller and less formal than Son Bonet. The downside, as said many times, is that every visitor gets a document inspection upon arrival. And no Avgas on sale. All in all, a cool place.
What is the background of these controls? Why would the Guarida Civil check each and every arrival so thoroughly?
They will not admit to it, but I think it’s drug trafficking. Would be more efficient to do a quick check by a sniffer dog maybe. They don’t check all incoming traffic btw, and I must admit that over the last year it’s only been one time out of four for me. The check itself is not much of a thing and takes 5-10 mins. They focus on pilot license and ID and aircraft insurance and the policemen are polite.
Dan wrote:
more so as my friends are planning a redo of last year coming February…
@Dan Keep me posted! I don’t know what you did last time, but just to make sure: on the website of the aeroclub you can pay your fees in advance. Website seems not to work to well today, no english for starters.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
What is the background of these controls?
Official reasons aside, the Guardia Civil local HQ and living quarters are next door to LESL so it is kind of convenient to look out the window, see an outsider land, then go check. They are not usually on the premises.
