I’m coming for sure (unless something really drastic happens 
) but it doesn’t make sense for me to land at LICP (no Jet-A1 fuel and no immigration) so I’ll land at LICB and then drive to Palermo (and few other places).
I am planning LICP on Sat 4th returning Sun 5th with the main goal to meet you guys.
Maybe a scenic Etna flight for the kids, wx allowing. Any ideas if such a flight is possible? I note a P area right around the summit but I guess it should be possible around it, but I see it is class ‘D’ airspace. Any experiences?
Antonio wrote:
Any experiences?
I remember passing by it but AFAIK it was at FL140.
If you check the maps, you see that the Etna is clear of the Catania airspace.
Hence, up to FL105 (bottom of general CTA airspace) you need no clearance for a tour of the Etna. If you really want to look into the crater from above, you will likely need higher than FL105, but that airspace is controlled by Roma ATC.
When I toured the Etna (2007) the Catania airspace was still different and you had to get clearance from them. But they were well familiar with requests to tour around it.
Thanks! I see there are helo sightseeing flights around the crater so yes, they must have some way of facilitating it perhaps avoiding Roma control, but Catania should be able to tell me if required.
I will plan to locate myself in Dubrovnik anyway, and will come to LICP if Italy removes the ban on Brits, which they might do on 1st Sep. If Italy doesn’t then I will fly on to Greece (LGKC) instead of Italy.
Are any of the ~5 Brits on the list still planning to come, in case Italy drops the ban? Or actually any of the other ~10 from the mainland, apart from Antonio above and 1 or 2 others?
Antonio: flights around the crater are not a problem; if you’re talking to Rome Information 129.575 they’ll coordinate you if necessary. When I flew there last week, I told them I wanted to spend 10 minutes orbiting east of the crater at FL110 and they didn’t switch me over, even though technically I was in the new Class D they created a few years ago above FL105. (Catania’s CTR Zone 5 starts at FL130 there.).
You’ll of course want to keep a safe distance (Etna has been very very active over the past 6 months), and also consider the winds: it’s more dangerous, and much more unconfortable downwind of the crater.
Thx cactus! All valuable advise!
According to the Daily Excess Italy is supposed to review the Brit ban on 30th August.
So I will decide then. My plan will anyway be EGKA-LDSB on 2/9, LDSB-LDDU on 3/9.
It looks like Italy will still get a nice group, with some new people, while most on the original list have gone silent
Starting august 30th, Sicily (and most likely Sardinia also) will become a “yellow” zone (the colour scale is white, yellow, orange and red, with every other region currently white). Sicily currently has 200 Covid-19 cases per 100k inhabitants (threshold is 50 for yellow), and 12% of intensive therapy beds occupied (threshold is 10%).
In practice only a few things will change, the most relevant ones for us will be:
1) mask wearing will become compulsory outside as well as inside if you’re not able to maintain a safe distance
2) a limit of max 4 people (not from the same household) at restaurant tables
There will be no curfew, and restaurants will remain open with inside and outside seating (green pass compulsory inside). Theatres, etc will also remain open.
Source (in Italian):
https://gds.it/articoli/cronaca/2021/08/27/sicilia-in-zona-gialla-oggi-lannuncio-cosa-cambia-davvero-da-lunedi-97ef29b5-086d-4347-b541-64c568ba2fa6/
