mtuomi
En-Route
First of all;
A little bit of background
I turned 30 a year ago in July and had my bday party in Florida. A lot of my friends turned up from back home, Finland, and apparently everyone had a great time.
One of the guys, a very good friend of mine, told me back then that he wants to have a "destination birthday party" as well. For some reason, he was adamant that destination would be Ibiza. His 30th was late May, 2014.
After two or three, thinking again it could have been four, beers, I said surely we'll rent a plane and fly there?
For some reason, he said "Hell Yes".
This seemed like a good idea at the time, but the day after, with a massive headache, I thought whatever, we'll see...
Earlier this year I asked him what does he want to do about the plane rental. He said "I thought you already sorted it?"
Damn, he was serious.
So I suggested perhaps we shouldn't just fly to IBZ, there are other places to see and things to do in Europe.
Just to expand a bit about the logistical issues we were facing.
I was at the time living in NYC. My friend was living in Finland. Ibiza is a long way from Finland, and even further away from NYC. We both have traveled alot around Europe, so most of the normal places are a bit BTDT to us. So it had to be something new. "We choose to go to IBZ not because it is easy, but because it is hard"...
So we decided we'll fly around for just over 2 weeks, with a week in Ibiza.
At some point we did a quick Helsinki/Finland->Tallinn/Estonia weekend trip, and my older brother joined us there. He said this is cool, and he wants to come along for the Ibiza trip.
So. We had 1 pilot, 2 pax, time to start figuring out what to do; the spec at the moment was: 3 people, long trip so has to be faster than a pa28/172. VFR only so no massive requirements for avionics. I decided an Arrow would be the best option for this trip. We decided UK is the best point of departure. Plenty of rental GA planes available, logistically easy for everyone, and prices were "reasonable" (Nothing in Europe is reasonable by US standards...)
I think I sent around 20 emails around to places with Arrows available for rent. I think I got 5 answers. Most of them were like "Sorry, we are a flying club and we only rent to our members". I used to live in the UK so I know the local "GA culture", so I called everyone and said ok, what if I join and become a member?
Everyone had a 1 month temporary membership available for something like this. "perhaps next time you could mention this on your email, eh?"
Anyway, I shortlisted 2 options, best option was a Turbo Arrow IV, somewhere in the Midlands. I said I'll be in touch the next time I'm in the country (I travel to the UK for work ~once a month...)
Before the next trip, apparently my friend, or my brother, had clearly been talking, and another friend from northern Finland said he could be interested if there's a place available. He runs his own business so he wasn't sure if he could get time off work for it though.
An Arrow is ok for 3 people, but with 4 people you can have enough fuel and passenger comfort for a single trip around the pattern, and thats about it.
I said yeah, no problem but we need a confirmation asap, because we have to change the plane type we're looking for if we have a 4th person onboard. He said he'll think about it. I thought "yeah, thats what they all say..."
Next day he called and said "take the bigger plane." He said he'll pay for his own share anyway, even if he couldn't make it. Oh, and he has a friend to join us, same deal. 5 People then, mmmmmkay. Let's start hunting for a plane all over again!
So, the new spec was; 5 people, with reasonable space for luggage. Shortlisted options were, a Bonanza, a Saratoga, or I'm going to get ME and a Seneca or maybe an Aztec.
The decision was easy in the end. It is impossible to rent a Bonanza in the UK, we found a few Senecas but the one feasible took 2 weeks to reply (he actually sent an email, 4 months later during our trip saying its available, do you still want it?...), so we decided on a Piper Saratoga.
Passengers were, thank god, around the "standard" weight, so the 3600lbs MTOW of a Saratoga is fine. The longest legs we planned to fly were around 3 hrs anyway, so we did not need to fill'er'up anyway. I told the pax your luggage allowance is similar to Ryanair/Easyjet in Europe, which pretty much means a laptop and a pair of spare underwear, and maybe socks.
I found 2 Saratogas in the UK, other one was an older one, PA32R-301, non-turbo retractable. The other one was a newer 6X PA32-301. Both were about the same price (around 290GBP/hr), older one was G430/HSI, 6X was 430/530. The owner of the older plane answered emails quickly, and everything seemed fine. The only problem was, that it was based in a short grass strip near Cambridge (Fowlmere, EGMA), and I had exactly zero experience on operating from a grass strip.
Oh well, how hard can it be? We agreed to rent this plane. The requirements they have were 5 hours of complex Piper experience, the rental checkride took about 40 minutes.
A few months went past without anything really, the trip would start on the 28th of May, and the guys from Northern Finland got their vacation plans sorted, so they were in.
Sometime in early May we started a massive Facebook planning marathon, trying to figure out what each of us wanted to see and do. The only "must be there"-place was Ibiza starting on the 30th of May, we had rented a house there for a week, so we kinda had to be there then.
We thought it would be cool to see the French Riviera from the air, and at some point we thought Jersey would be a fun place to stop as well. In the end we decided the trip would be roughly something like:
UK-random place somewhere in mid'ish France-Cannes/Nice-Ibiza-Sardegna-Pisa-Venice-Florence-Croatia-Somewhere in Slovenia-Vienna-Prague and back. We decided not to make any commitments, but just to look at the weather the day before we go and book then. So this route would be very flexible...
I had decided there's no point to start the trip itself from Fowlmere. First of all, the guys from Finland were flying to London, and getting to Cambridge from Heathrow is a bit of a pain. Also, no point to haul the plane to MTOW, and leave from a 2000ft grass strip... The plan was for the guys to fly to London on the evening of 28th, and I'll pick them up from Biggin Hill on the morning of 29th.
Anyway, time went by and 28th of May arrived. And the morning was just as bleak weatherwise that only UK May can be like. Rainy, foggy, grey, and generally crap.
Fantastic.
A friend of mine dropped me off to Fowlmere on that afternoon, and asked "are you sure you'll be staying here?" It was raining cats and dogs, and the "FBO" in Fowlmere is pretty much a small portable office building, and thats about it. It has WIFI, a printer etc so it sort of does what it's supposed to, but it is pretty far from anything or anyone. I said sure, of course. I'm sure it'll clear out in a few hours...
It was around 3PM, and I was watching my friends' car driving away, thinking to my self "hmm, was this very smart?".
The weather at that moment was, that there was a stationary low pressure area over the UK, but it was bringing in clear air from the east, slowly but surely. A few hours later, the cloud cover was significantly higher, but still too low. There was no wind.
Around 7PM I started looking at sunset times, and what time Biggin Hill closes. I was seriously suffering from Get-there-itis, "damn, I'm sure I can fly under that...". Visibility was great, but I was not sure about the cloud base. I decided I'll just take off and check it out.
The cloudbase was at around 900ft. Fine for a traffic pattern, but under my own minimums for a XC flight (note: it would have been legal to fly to Biggin Hill then, but only just...)
0830PM, still the same situation. I decided to give up and find a hotel nearby. The forecast was better for the 29th anyway.
I waited for a taxi for 2 hours before it found the airstrip...
This is what it looked like. The most annoying cloud layer, just a bit too low.
After the long wait for the taxi, I got to the B&B and they had just closed the kitchen. The only thing to eat were peanuts. Which definitely did not cost peanuts. This bag of peanuts was 1,50GBP, what the f...
The trip begins
Morning or the 29th. Sunrise. Well, I couldn't see it, I was asleep, and it was cloudy. Just like the 28th. Had breakfast and felt miserable.
Oh well, optimist flies more. Down the full english, and head back to the airfield! There was VMC 10 miles away, but there was still hardly any wind. Thankfully the wind picked up that morning, and started blowing at around 5kts, just enough to get that VMC my way!
I was going through the METAR pages and refreshing them so often I think my F5 key might have fallen off. Slowly it was getting better. BKN009...BKN011...BKN013...BKN022, perfect!
I think I was a bit too excited, so I didn't take any pics from this leg. Just after noon I did send a SMS to the guys waiting at Biggin Hill, saying "I can see London already from here!".
The flight EGMA-EGKB is very simple. Route was EGMA-BPK-LAM, then LAM VOR outbound until you catch a radial from BIG VOR that avoids the London class A TMA. No flight plan was required for this segment.
After takeoff from EGMA (uncontrolled field), contact Farnborough Radar, who gave me vectors around London TMA. The only tricky bit is the EGMA-BPK. London Stansted airspace extends all the way over there, so you need to be careful not to turn towards Lambourne too early before you pass the beacon.
After a few "orbit left"s Biggin Hill cleared me to join left base runway 21. After landing follow the marshaller for parking. Met with the guys there, they looked a bit green so I asked was it a late one last night. "No, we were back at the hotel at 6AM". Okay, this will be fun.
After that it was time for the first excercise in the art of "pack a Saratoga". Everyone's suitcases were very light, fine, but I hadn't said anything about the SIZE. Damnit!
Well, the next jump would be the jump to Continental Europe, and more importantly, the Schengen Area.
The things to take into consideration when flying to France are, that the airport must have customs/have a local arrangement, and that there will be AVGAS available. The most common spot for this in France is Le Touquet, LFAT. We thought it was too close (it is a 30min flight from London), and decided on Troyes, LFQB.
International flights always require a flight plan filed, we did this by fax, and in Biggin Hill this means we get to be on the Departures board! GJPOT for Troyes, ready for boarding!
4 by mikkotuomi, on Flickr
Landing fees around 20GBP, no other fees at EGKB. Very good service, almost US quality...
So, plane packed, startup, request taxi. The weather looks alot worse than what it was. Cloudbase was around 3000ft. France apart from a few rainshowers CAVOK
5 by mikkotuomi, on Flickr
Routing was EGKB-DVR-St Inglevert and so on. This is Dover.
6 by mikkotuomi, on Flickr
Well, we hit one of those rain showers, so we decided to divert to Le Touquet, LFAT. Get the customs formalities sorted there and continue from there. France is great for VFR. No need for a flight plan, and ATC is very friendly.
7 by mikkotuomi, on Flickr
Story continues...
A little bit of background
I turned 30 a year ago in July and had my bday party in Florida. A lot of my friends turned up from back home, Finland, and apparently everyone had a great time.
One of the guys, a very good friend of mine, told me back then that he wants to have a "destination birthday party" as well. For some reason, he was adamant that destination would be Ibiza. His 30th was late May, 2014.
After two or three, thinking again it could have been four, beers, I said surely we'll rent a plane and fly there?
For some reason, he said "Hell Yes".
This seemed like a good idea at the time, but the day after, with a massive headache, I thought whatever, we'll see...
Earlier this year I asked him what does he want to do about the plane rental. He said "I thought you already sorted it?"
Damn, he was serious.
So I suggested perhaps we shouldn't just fly to IBZ, there are other places to see and things to do in Europe.
Just to expand a bit about the logistical issues we were facing.
I was at the time living in NYC. My friend was living in Finland. Ibiza is a long way from Finland, and even further away from NYC. We both have traveled alot around Europe, so most of the normal places are a bit BTDT to us. So it had to be something new. "We choose to go to IBZ not because it is easy, but because it is hard"...
So we decided we'll fly around for just over 2 weeks, with a week in Ibiza.
At some point we did a quick Helsinki/Finland->Tallinn/Estonia weekend trip, and my older brother joined us there. He said this is cool, and he wants to come along for the Ibiza trip.
So. We had 1 pilot, 2 pax, time to start figuring out what to do; the spec at the moment was: 3 people, long trip so has to be faster than a pa28/172. VFR only so no massive requirements for avionics. I decided an Arrow would be the best option for this trip. We decided UK is the best point of departure. Plenty of rental GA planes available, logistically easy for everyone, and prices were "reasonable" (Nothing in Europe is reasonable by US standards...)
I think I sent around 20 emails around to places with Arrows available for rent. I think I got 5 answers. Most of them were like "Sorry, we are a flying club and we only rent to our members". I used to live in the UK so I know the local "GA culture", so I called everyone and said ok, what if I join and become a member?
Everyone had a 1 month temporary membership available for something like this. "perhaps next time you could mention this on your email, eh?"
Anyway, I shortlisted 2 options, best option was a Turbo Arrow IV, somewhere in the Midlands. I said I'll be in touch the next time I'm in the country (I travel to the UK for work ~once a month...)
Before the next trip, apparently my friend, or my brother, had clearly been talking, and another friend from northern Finland said he could be interested if there's a place available. He runs his own business so he wasn't sure if he could get time off work for it though.
An Arrow is ok for 3 people, but with 4 people you can have enough fuel and passenger comfort for a single trip around the pattern, and thats about it.
I said yeah, no problem but we need a confirmation asap, because we have to change the plane type we're looking for if we have a 4th person onboard. He said he'll think about it. I thought "yeah, thats what they all say..."
Next day he called and said "take the bigger plane." He said he'll pay for his own share anyway, even if he couldn't make it. Oh, and he has a friend to join us, same deal. 5 People then, mmmmmkay. Let's start hunting for a plane all over again!
So, the new spec was; 5 people, with reasonable space for luggage. Shortlisted options were, a Bonanza, a Saratoga, or I'm going to get ME and a Seneca or maybe an Aztec.
The decision was easy in the end. It is impossible to rent a Bonanza in the UK, we found a few Senecas but the one feasible took 2 weeks to reply (he actually sent an email, 4 months later during our trip saying its available, do you still want it?...), so we decided on a Piper Saratoga.
Passengers were, thank god, around the "standard" weight, so the 3600lbs MTOW of a Saratoga is fine. The longest legs we planned to fly were around 3 hrs anyway, so we did not need to fill'er'up anyway. I told the pax your luggage allowance is similar to Ryanair/Easyjet in Europe, which pretty much means a laptop and a pair of spare underwear, and maybe socks.
I found 2 Saratogas in the UK, other one was an older one, PA32R-301, non-turbo retractable. The other one was a newer 6X PA32-301. Both were about the same price (around 290GBP/hr), older one was G430/HSI, 6X was 430/530. The owner of the older plane answered emails quickly, and everything seemed fine. The only problem was, that it was based in a short grass strip near Cambridge (Fowlmere, EGMA), and I had exactly zero experience on operating from a grass strip.
Oh well, how hard can it be? We agreed to rent this plane. The requirements they have were 5 hours of complex Piper experience, the rental checkride took about 40 minutes.
A few months went past without anything really, the trip would start on the 28th of May, and the guys from Northern Finland got their vacation plans sorted, so they were in.
Sometime in early May we started a massive Facebook planning marathon, trying to figure out what each of us wanted to see and do. The only "must be there"-place was Ibiza starting on the 30th of May, we had rented a house there for a week, so we kinda had to be there then.
We thought it would be cool to see the French Riviera from the air, and at some point we thought Jersey would be a fun place to stop as well. In the end we decided the trip would be roughly something like:
UK-random place somewhere in mid'ish France-Cannes/Nice-Ibiza-Sardegna-Pisa-Venice-Florence-Croatia-Somewhere in Slovenia-Vienna-Prague and back. We decided not to make any commitments, but just to look at the weather the day before we go and book then. So this route would be very flexible...
I had decided there's no point to start the trip itself from Fowlmere. First of all, the guys from Finland were flying to London, and getting to Cambridge from Heathrow is a bit of a pain. Also, no point to haul the plane to MTOW, and leave from a 2000ft grass strip... The plan was for the guys to fly to London on the evening of 28th, and I'll pick them up from Biggin Hill on the morning of 29th.
Anyway, time went by and 28th of May arrived. And the morning was just as bleak weatherwise that only UK May can be like. Rainy, foggy, grey, and generally crap.
Fantastic.
A friend of mine dropped me off to Fowlmere on that afternoon, and asked "are you sure you'll be staying here?" It was raining cats and dogs, and the "FBO" in Fowlmere is pretty much a small portable office building, and thats about it. It has WIFI, a printer etc so it sort of does what it's supposed to, but it is pretty far from anything or anyone. I said sure, of course. I'm sure it'll clear out in a few hours...
It was around 3PM, and I was watching my friends' car driving away, thinking to my self "hmm, was this very smart?".
The weather at that moment was, that there was a stationary low pressure area over the UK, but it was bringing in clear air from the east, slowly but surely. A few hours later, the cloud cover was significantly higher, but still too low. There was no wind.
Around 7PM I started looking at sunset times, and what time Biggin Hill closes. I was seriously suffering from Get-there-itis, "damn, I'm sure I can fly under that...". Visibility was great, but I was not sure about the cloud base. I decided I'll just take off and check it out.
The cloudbase was at around 900ft. Fine for a traffic pattern, but under my own minimums for a XC flight (note: it would have been legal to fly to Biggin Hill then, but only just...)
0830PM, still the same situation. I decided to give up and find a hotel nearby. The forecast was better for the 29th anyway.
I waited for a taxi for 2 hours before it found the airstrip...
This is what it looked like. The most annoying cloud layer, just a bit too low.
After the long wait for the taxi, I got to the B&B and they had just closed the kitchen. The only thing to eat were peanuts. Which definitely did not cost peanuts. This bag of peanuts was 1,50GBP, what the f...
The trip begins
Morning or the 29th. Sunrise. Well, I couldn't see it, I was asleep, and it was cloudy. Just like the 28th. Had breakfast and felt miserable.
Oh well, optimist flies more. Down the full english, and head back to the airfield! There was VMC 10 miles away, but there was still hardly any wind. Thankfully the wind picked up that morning, and started blowing at around 5kts, just enough to get that VMC my way!
I was going through the METAR pages and refreshing them so often I think my F5 key might have fallen off. Slowly it was getting better. BKN009...BKN011...BKN013...BKN022, perfect!
I think I was a bit too excited, so I didn't take any pics from this leg. Just after noon I did send a SMS to the guys waiting at Biggin Hill, saying "I can see London already from here!".
The flight EGMA-EGKB is very simple. Route was EGMA-BPK-LAM, then LAM VOR outbound until you catch a radial from BIG VOR that avoids the London class A TMA. No flight plan was required for this segment.
After takeoff from EGMA (uncontrolled field), contact Farnborough Radar, who gave me vectors around London TMA. The only tricky bit is the EGMA-BPK. London Stansted airspace extends all the way over there, so you need to be careful not to turn towards Lambourne too early before you pass the beacon.
After a few "orbit left"s Biggin Hill cleared me to join left base runway 21. After landing follow the marshaller for parking. Met with the guys there, they looked a bit green so I asked was it a late one last night. "No, we were back at the hotel at 6AM". Okay, this will be fun.
After that it was time for the first excercise in the art of "pack a Saratoga". Everyone's suitcases were very light, fine, but I hadn't said anything about the SIZE. Damnit!
Well, the next jump would be the jump to Continental Europe, and more importantly, the Schengen Area.
The things to take into consideration when flying to France are, that the airport must have customs/have a local arrangement, and that there will be AVGAS available. The most common spot for this in France is Le Touquet, LFAT. We thought it was too close (it is a 30min flight from London), and decided on Troyes, LFQB.
International flights always require a flight plan filed, we did this by fax, and in Biggin Hill this means we get to be on the Departures board! GJPOT for Troyes, ready for boarding!
4 by mikkotuomi, on Flickr
Landing fees around 20GBP, no other fees at EGKB. Very good service, almost US quality...
So, plane packed, startup, request taxi. The weather looks alot worse than what it was. Cloudbase was around 3000ft. France apart from a few rainshowers CAVOK
5 by mikkotuomi, on Flickr
Routing was EGKB-DVR-St Inglevert and so on. This is Dover.
6 by mikkotuomi, on Flickr
Well, we hit one of those rain showers, so we decided to divert to Le Touquet, LFAT. Get the customs formalities sorted there and continue from there. France is great for VFR. No need for a flight plan, and ATC is very friendly.
7 by mikkotuomi, on Flickr
Story continues...
Last edited:
