French Riveria or Liguria

[VORTIME]

Greetings,

Has anyone had the opportunity to fly direct from the UK to southern France (Cannes, Nice etc) or Italy (Milan, Albenga etc) in a single engine aircraft?

If so, any possibility of posting a detailed account (especially bladder-management techniques)?

VT

[Thrifty van Rental]

I've done South-East England to Cannes Mandelieu many times in various SEPs. Average flight times are around 4:30 according to my logbooks.

Bladder management consists of the usual precautions about not drinking 2 litres of sparkling water ahead of time, and having some good alternates available en route.

For me, the enroute stop-offs to be used in the event of bladder pain were Le Touquet, Reims Prunay, Dijon Longvic, and Lyon Bron. The two middle airports require a nominal PPR for customs. In the event, this can be flexed slightly if you "need" to land. Much better not to put that to the test though.

[bluskis]

It does rather depend on the cruise speed of the beast you are flying. Thrifty probably flew things faster than Warriors.

One of the problems will be waiting for a day when weather is suitable for the whole route, so stop overs are often the best way to do the trip anyway.

I don't think Milan accepts VFR traffic, but perhaps you are intending IFR, otherwise the north of Italy seems fraught with height restrictions.

Depending on your starting point you have to chose east or west round Paris, and decide whether to cross the Alps at high altitude, or route down the Rhone valley and along the French coast, or just inland.

Watch the winds in the Rhone valley, and all the restricted airspace along the coast.

Cannes is relatively user friendly.

[VORTIME]

Any other experiences? What's the route like to fly?

VT