Peter wrote:
I know a number of people have booked hotels (I booked two rooms at £240 each) but normally one can cancel if doing it nice and early.
I think when we cancel our hotel reservation we should tell the innkeeper the reason why. They should really know who’s screwing them over.
In life I find out money talks. Maybe they have a Chamber of Commerce where the word could get around.
Current list
It would be interesting to know how many plan to arrive on the 6th (Friday). Currently I have four extra-Schengen arrivals (plus another four whose arrival date is unknown) and these will have to park at LFMK, or clear Customs on the way down. I imagine some will clear Customs and get avgas in one go, somewhere on the way, because of the LFMK AIR BP only situation.
@Peter I am still going to be weather dependent. The plan is to work my way down from the Tuesday via Caen (to stay in Bayeux to see the tapestry and D-Day Beaches) & Quiberon (for a couple of days).
I wont need customs / police by that point. Just waiting for my partner to have the holiday confirmed (bloody NHS!)
Inspired by C210_Flyer, I mailed the following text to Carcassonne City Hall and the CofC.
Le forum de pilotes EuroGA.org, fondé par Monsieur Peter Holy, planifie depuis plusieurs mois une rencontre de ses membres à Carcassonne du 6 au 8 mai prochain.
Des équipages en provenance de toute l’Europe arriveront dans des avions mono- ou bi-moteurs de moins de 2 T à l’aéroport de Carcassonne et auront besoin de stationner sur l’aéroport pendant un long week-end, et éventuellement d’avitailler leurs avions en essence.
Le service des opérations de l’aéroport nous ont indiqué qu’ils seraient capables d’accueillir 6 avions sur la vingtaine prévus alors que l’aéroclub et d’autres acteurs sur la plateforme nous indiquent que le parking devrait pouvoir accueillir la plupart de ces avions à condition de ne pas respecter le marquage au sol, et qu’il y a un bout de pelouse sur lequel il est possible de stationner.
Devant le manque d’implication du service des opérations aéroportuaires, il est à présent question d’annuler la rencontre ou la déplacer sur une plateforme plus accueillante en Croatie. Cela implique l’annulation d’autant de chambres d’hôtel pendant trois jours, sans compter le manque à gagner de l’industrie de la restauration et autres commerces de Carcassonne.
J’espère, qu’avec votre aide, une annulation ne sera pas nécessaire et que Carcassonne pourra être considéré comme une plateforme aéronautique accueillante à l’aviation privée.
If anyone has or is able to obtain the e-mail addresses to people to whom it could be worthwhile sending this mail, please do not hesitate.
IMHO there are two possibilities to deal with unwilling airports like that.
1. Has Carcasonne got a PPR? If not, just crowd the place. Have all 30 or so planes land there and see how they cope. It is a bloody disgrace if they pretend to have 6 parking spaces for light planes, when a place like Wangen Lachen can easily accomodate up to 20 planes. Sounds to me like typical civil servant b.s. What can they do? They are a public airport so they have the DUTY to accept the traffic and see how they park it.
2. Move elsewhere and smash them on eddh, tripadvisor e.t.c. Perpignan comes to mind or Montpellier. Both are quite GA friendly last time I checked… ok, that has been a while but at least they have plenty of space if they are willing to use it.
It frankly disgusts me how the aviation infrastructure on this continent is being restricted by simple minded lazy office jerks.
Just for clarity: the purpose of that e-mail is to make a point, and possibly get a little better service I personally believe we will manage to park a significant number of airplanes there.
I’m coming from extra-Schengen, plan to arrive on 6th, and intend to fly direct, unless there is some weather or other reason not to on the day, since LFMK has customs/police. I’m perfectly happy to park on the grass, indeed prefer this. I have both BP and Total cards. I expect that – as usual – issues about parking, fuel etc will get resolved in a pragmatic manner on-site at the time; but to this end it’s best to keep cordial relations with the locals in the meantime!
I’m also comming from extra-Schengen, will arrive on 6th, probably about lunch time. Last year there was no problem in paying Jet-A1 with credit card.
Aviathor wrote:
Inspired by C210_Flyer, I mailed the following text to Carcassonne City Hall and the CofC.
Many thanks Aviathor, this mail can be a great help. I guess there will be an association of hotel owners and winemakers in the region of Carcassonne who should also receive this letter.
General query on approaches for Carcassonne. Is there a plate for an ILS?
I’ve looked at Jepp plates and AIP plates – three flavours (Z,Y,X) of NDB and an RNAV for Rwy 10. But no sign of an ILS. Closest I can get to it is the NDB y plate, which talks about a paired ILS/DME frequency of 111.1
If anyone has found the ILS plate, please point me to it 
