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Old 12th June 2011 | 05:52
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IO540
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Joined: Jun 2003
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From: EuroGA.org
Indeed; one of the things which my girlfriend and I have learnt quite early on is that time flexibility is required, and one should pick every stop to be a place you actually want to stay at.

And stay there maybe 1 or 2 nights.

There are plenty of great places in Europe for staying in.

Admittedly a TB20 has loads more range (1300nm) than most of the more common types which makes this policy easier, but the need for flexibility does not change.

Last week we scrapped a trip to Greece (and took an airline) because of widespread convective wx (loads of embedded CBs) over N Europe, and there were two fixed timeframes involved: I had to meet up with some people there 3-5 June, and had to be back at the office by the 10th due to staff absence. If you try this kind of thing using GA (below the level of a FL250-capable deiced aircraft) you just end up stressed out (if you play it safe) or you end up in some "interesting situations", or possibly dead, if you don't play it safe. A review of the wx after the trip showed we would have been stuck there for some days.

I have no interest in a US trip. The flying is easy, but there is a significant weather (getting stuck in a total complete hellhole for days is common) risk, and having got there you have to haul the plane all the way back. Quite often, the passenger(s) you took out there get an airline flight back because they've had enough It's a fun thing to do if you want avionics work done cheap

Similarly, I no longer have much interest in African trips. Morroco is apparently easy but has little to offer scenery-wise over e.g. the Alps, and the food is crap Down the other side, Egypt etc, you need overflight permits and all kinds of crap. The hassle outweighs the enjoyment, for me

Spain is a great place to fly to. You can see why they made the spaghetti westerns there... Watch out for a few things like PPR at Zaragoza and a few other places I think. As always, contact the airport before going there to make sure they have avgas etc.

BTW, San Seb no longer takes international flights.

Last edited by IO540; 12th June 2011 at 06:09.
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