Sicily - Palermo LICP - EuroGA 4-5 Sep 2021 fly-in

I landed once on LICB and it was zero complications – one e-mail sent to confirm the dates and fuel availability.

Emir wrote:

I landed once on LICB and it was zero complications – one e-mail sent to confirm the dates and fuel availability.

It only has Jet-A, correct? Same for LICC too, I believe.

The last time I researched Sicily Avgas was only available on the west side. For those without long range, that would likely mean a stop at Reggio Calabria LICR which can be a nightmare from an efficiency viewpoint. At the time (2016) there was one person doing both GA and CAT and we know who gets priority, don’t we?

A very positive reply from the manager of Bocca di Falco LICP

Website

Isn’t Sicily easily accessible from Croatia?

This would be quite the trip from southern Sweden ;)

When do you expect that we will know which week it will be? It would need quite some scheduling from both work and the aero club..

How about the weekend of 4/5 Sep.

Palermo is fine for AvGas.

Reggio Calabria is a nightmare, last year it took about 3 hours to get fuel – We planned to stay overnight, they refused to fill that night as the fuel guy wanted to go home at 4pm. Arrived at 9 am and although no traffic, with broken down credit card machines and a broken pump, it took ages. Departed at mid day

It’s too early to make detailed plans, but maybe the experienced pilots here can comment on the advisability of the following three general routing ideas; all needs to be done VFR, oxygen finally available since last week, can easily do the trip over a few days with stopovers at nice destinations, 500m grass fields no problem if that’s where the Avgas is (in a pickle, 20l of 98 Super Plus without Ethanol would give another hour of economy cruise).

• “Central” route Rotterdam EHRD – Trento LIDT – Foggia LIBF – Boccadifalco LICP; if the Alps crossing is not clearly possible at t/o time, I have family in Schwaben resp. the Allgäu and would land, refuel, and replan in Leutkirch EDNL or Biberach EDMB. Foggia was picked from Skydemon since it seems to have Avgas and not too much hassle.

• “Adriatic” route Rotterdam EHRD – Zell LOWZ – (anywhere along the Croatian coast line) – Dubrovnik LDDU – Boccadifalco LICP; Alps crossing via the Tauern, make a nice stopover somewhere in Croatia (Mali Losinj, Brac), refuel in Dubrovnik, cross the Adria. If I fly alone, I have no qualms regarding the overwater legs, would probably have a look at an immersion suit as a raft in the RV7 is impossible to carry and retrieve in case of ditching.

• “Tyrrhenian” route Rotterdam EHRD – Lyon Bron LFLY – Olbia LIEO – Boccadifalco LICP; same overwater reasoning as above applies. Could replace Olbia with a nice location on Corsica.

Corsica generally offers cheaper Avgas than Sardinia, and is well worth an overflight

Yes; we had the same with the 2018 Elba fly-in, but we had a huge turnout… a great location, and Sicily should be similar

I blocked the weekend 4-5 September, but we will add some more days to it, maybe a week. I won’t convince my family to fly so far to only return the next day