La Baule for a Pizza
Last August Bank holiday me and Niels went to France for three days of flying enjoying the relaxed way of private flying over there. This year we planned a repeat trip but we were only able to go for a day and a half, departing on Friday afternoon. The plan was to head non stop to La Baule on the West coast of France, about 30 miles North of La Rochelle, and then spend the following day visiting various airfields before returning to England in the evening.
The weather looked to be promising for the Friday and Saturday and I spent three hours on Thursday evening flight planning, studying Notams and airspace for the route we were to follow. I spent the first part of Friday at work and arrived at City Airport Manchester around 1pm. After a quick sandwich I checked the plane over and found the fuel tanks full and all in good condition and ready to fly.
With the flight plan and GAR filed and Niels on board we fired up the Cessna 172SP's engine and headed to the holding point for runway 27 left. After the usual checks we took off just short of our maximum weight at 2520 lbs. With a nice headwind the plane was soon in the air at the start of a journey which was to take 3 hours 35 minutes.
The route I had fed into the Garmin G1000 system took us down the Low Level corridor between Manchester and Liverpool airports before turning to the airfield at Welshpool. We step climbed first to 2500 feet and then to be level at 5000 feet over the WPL NDB. From there we turned to the South and tracked to the Brecon VOR and spoke to Cardiff ATC to request and be granted a clearance through their controlled airspace.
We continued on to the Berry Head VOR near Torquay at 5000 feet and passed overhead Exeter Airport receiving a good radar service from them. Ahead lay around 70 miles over water to Gurnsey and then our plan called for a direct track to Dinard. On approaching Skery, a point at 50 degrees north latitude, Jersey Zone gave us a special VFR clearance to enter the class A airspace at flight level 50.
Torquay
Approaching Guernsey and a little frustrated by the slow speed of the Cessna we requested and were granted a direct track towards La Baule which was still well over 100 miles away. Approaching the French coast it was clear the clouds were well below our cruising altitude and one or two looked quite threatening. Following a discussion between me and Niels we decided to stay above the clouds as there were still gaps where we could see the ground. Around 40 miles to go to La Baule we descended through broken strato cumulus to 1500 where we were just below the base of the clouds in poor visibility of around 5000 meters.
Passing Guernsey
Approaching The French Coast West of Dinard
These poor conditions continued as we passed through a little drizzle before spotting the huge bay at La Baule and the airfield just inland. We could not get an answer on the radio to our request for landing information so flew over and had a look at the windsock which was showing a crosswind of about 10 kts. We decided the wind just favoured an approach to runway 29 and after a little maneovering we landed on French soil just over three and a halk hours after leaving Manchester.
Over France enroute to La Baule
The plane secured for the night we went into the pilot area at the airfield and met again the very attractive young lady whom we first met last year. Sadly she did not remember us! The guy on duty set about ringing around hotels for us and after a few moments where all the ones he rang were full secured rooms in a basisc hotel about a mile from the sea front. The people here are very friendly and we were even given a lift to the hotel by the ops guy who would not even take a few euros for his trouble. He did tell us the weather forecast was for a wonderful weekend though and we both looked forward to an early start and to getting in the air again the following morning.
After checking in to our rooms, me and Niels walked into town looking for somewhere to eat. There were lots of holiday makers around and a pleasant atmoshere in the restaurant we chose to eat in. Service was a little slow but the beer and pizza went down very well. Afterwards a stroll to the seafront and a chocolate ice cream rounded off the night before we headed back to the hotel.
Saturday morning and I was awoken by my mobile phone telling me it was 7:30am. I pulled up the window shutter to be greeted by thick fog and a nasty gusting breeze! Not what we wanted or needed.
A Foggy La Baule Saturday morning
The weather looked to be promising for the Friday and Saturday and I spent three hours on Thursday evening flight planning, studying Notams and airspace for the route we were to follow. I spent the first part of Friday at work and arrived at City Airport Manchester around 1pm. After a quick sandwich I checked the plane over and found the fuel tanks full and all in good condition and ready to fly.
With the flight plan and GAR filed and Niels on board we fired up the Cessna 172SP's engine and headed to the holding point for runway 27 left. After the usual checks we took off just short of our maximum weight at 2520 lbs. With a nice headwind the plane was soon in the air at the start of a journey which was to take 3 hours 35 minutes.
The route I had fed into the Garmin G1000 system took us down the Low Level corridor between Manchester and Liverpool airports before turning to the airfield at Welshpool. We step climbed first to 2500 feet and then to be level at 5000 feet over the WPL NDB. From there we turned to the South and tracked to the Brecon VOR and spoke to Cardiff ATC to request and be granted a clearance through their controlled airspace.
We continued on to the Berry Head VOR near Torquay at 5000 feet and passed overhead Exeter Airport receiving a good radar service from them. Ahead lay around 70 miles over water to Gurnsey and then our plan called for a direct track to Dinard. On approaching Skery, a point at 50 degrees north latitude, Jersey Zone gave us a special VFR clearance to enter the class A airspace at flight level 50.
Torquay
Approaching Guernsey and a little frustrated by the slow speed of the Cessna we requested and were granted a direct track towards La Baule which was still well over 100 miles away. Approaching the French coast it was clear the clouds were well below our cruising altitude and one or two looked quite threatening. Following a discussion between me and Niels we decided to stay above the clouds as there were still gaps where we could see the ground. Around 40 miles to go to La Baule we descended through broken strato cumulus to 1500 where we were just below the base of the clouds in poor visibility of around 5000 meters.
Passing Guernsey
Approaching The French Coast West of Dinard
These poor conditions continued as we passed through a little drizzle before spotting the huge bay at La Baule and the airfield just inland. We could not get an answer on the radio to our request for landing information so flew over and had a look at the windsock which was showing a crosswind of about 10 kts. We decided the wind just favoured an approach to runway 29 and after a little maneovering we landed on French soil just over three and a halk hours after leaving Manchester.
Over France enroute to La Baule
The plane secured for the night we went into the pilot area at the airfield and met again the very attractive young lady whom we first met last year. Sadly she did not remember us! The guy on duty set about ringing around hotels for us and after a few moments where all the ones he rang were full secured rooms in a basisc hotel about a mile from the sea front. The people here are very friendly and we were even given a lift to the hotel by the ops guy who would not even take a few euros for his trouble. He did tell us the weather forecast was for a wonderful weekend though and we both looked forward to an early start and to getting in the air again the following morning.
After checking in to our rooms, me and Niels walked into town looking for somewhere to eat. There were lots of holiday makers around and a pleasant atmoshere in the restaurant we chose to eat in. Service was a little slow but the beer and pizza went down very well. Afterwards a stroll to the seafront and a chocolate ice cream rounded off the night before we headed back to the hotel.
Saturday morning and I was awoken by my mobile phone telling me it was 7:30am. I pulled up the window shutter to be greeted by thick fog and a nasty gusting breeze! Not what we wanted or needed.
A Foggy La Baule Saturday morning
posted by David M at 5:00 PM
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