Hi,
Have someone fly in Turkey. I'm going to visit Side region in the end of APR.
Do you have some ideas or advices?
atb1943
5th Apr 2011, 23:13
Yeah,
here's what I wrote back in 2008. Some of it may be outdated (though I doubt it) but it may be of help:
Obviously not a lot of private flying is done to and within Turkey, which is a pity, when one considers what treasures there are to see. And in spite of having one of the oldest and richest aeroclubs in the world (THK - Turkish Aeronautical Aviation), general aviation is fraught with bureaucracy, poor facilities (if any) for GA, much hanging about waiting for transport, fuel, plus exorbitant costs for handling.
It is absolutely necessary to do your homework well in advance, and, if landfall is unavoidable, do as few landings there as possible. I assume Ercan is not an airport of entry, in which case you'd need to choose, say, either Bodrum or Antalya (both have Avgas), but try to find out from the main handling agents (generally HAVAS) just what you may expect to have to fork out for their services. Be prepared to argue the toss, and make clear that you are not a private Airbus, but a small Piper. A flight plan is necessary, and when within Turkey don't fail to add in 'remarks' - 'VFR flight under ECAC agreement' or similar. Turkey has signed the ECAC agreement and it is mentioned in their AIP! All that as background, and to dispel any impression that VFR flying in Turkey is not on, but it can be daunting, though the actual flying is a cinch. We even got away with a dud transponder (until we got over the border from Bodrum, when Athens made us land in Kos to get it repaired!)
The AOPA Turkey rep is always of assistance and it is worth contacting him - his name is Erdogan Menekse, and you'll find his website here. I am listing those I recommend you to check out below, and hope they help:
DEVLET HAVA MEYDANLARI İŞLETMESİ GENEL MÜDÜRLÜĞÜ
Sivil Havacılık Genel Müdürlüğü
www. menekse-aviation.com.tr
www. burakhavacilik.org.tr (that's AOPA, but it's also Mr. Menekse)
Havas
and a visit to www.aopa.gr may be worthwhile too.
The Jeppesen VFR trip kit for Greece (and whatever else you need to get there) is recommended, plus the IFR charts for the individual Turkish airports and enroute chart ME(H/L)1/2 (unless you prefer the full IFR trip kit for Turkey).
+ + + + +
I should add that private flying (outside the Turkish Aero Club or by Turkish Nationals) is not encouraged. In fact, although our visit (8 aircraft) was carefully planned, permission was withdrawn on the day of our entry without telling us, but they let us land at Istanbul Sabiha Gokchen and depart for the city sights. When we returned to the airport to depart for Nevshehir they had slapped impounded stickers on each aircraft! It took a whole day to get them released, and only with the assistance of a flight planning company one of the party was using. He vouched for us all, and submitted a fresh flightplan with all aircraft on it. Unfortunately they got one registration slightly wrong, and no amount of asking would get the authorities to correct it. That aircraft had no alternative but to return home.
Nevshehir had no Avgas after all, but we were able to help out with some from our big tank. They didn't even have a stepladder for overhead tanking, which was carried out on a very wobbly stool and a Jerry can. Did the trick though, and enabled those that were short to get to Antalya to top up whereas we went direct to Bodrum. Havas were omni-present even though we did not want/need them, and bills continued to follow at home for payments made in cash! (get receipts for everything...).
I sincerely hope things have improved since, though I somehow doubt it. It would be a pity, because there is so much to see. If there was to be a 'next time' my aircraft commander threatened to fly to one of the adjacent Greek islands and take a boat across, mainly to re-visit Ephesus (Efes).
I do hope some of this helps, and wish you lots of luck.
brgds
atb
Czech pilot
20th Jun 2023, 12:37
Hello! Let me come back to this topic. We are going to fly on a C172 from Europe to Georgia via Turkey, in particular via the north border / Black sea coast. Does anyone have any tips where to refuel Avgas on the way? So far I just found Tekirdag Corlu (LTBU) and Ankara (LTAC), however we need to land somewhere east on the way from Ankara to Batumi, Georgia. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks a lot!