Flight Plan for Le touquet

[salmabambi]

Hi to all ..... some current advice sort on the following please --

I am planning a trip to Le Touquet in a couple of weeks and although been 6 or 7 times before I have not done this for a considerable while and do not want to appear to be an amateur !!!! .... afterall I will be 6 up in a Lance.

As cross border Flight Plans are now filed on-line but registration can take a min of 3 weeks !!!! just come back to flying after a bit of a break and will not have time to register .... however, I believe you can still file a FP by fax. Do you still call London Info in the same old manner to activate once airborne ????. Any adivce. I always used the following with success for my overseas trips to France - Switzerland - etc ... London Information Good morning Gulf -xxxx PA-32 airborne from XXXX to Le Touquet requsting activation of flight plan. ...... passing full details on reply. Does this still apply ???

Also the airfield info for Le Touquet appears to be no longer published on the Met Office web site. Now I appreciate you can call ( telephone ) in advance but what about early starts ... where can I get a reasonable forcast for the area ??. .... other than that for Lydd and hoping it's not too different across the pond.

Pooleys publish Le Touquet opening hours as 0900 - 1900. Now when I flew in before I am sure we were pushing back later in the evening -- 8 -9 o'clock ... as I am sure it used to be 24 hours. Can you still push back late ..... or is there a mad rush to get away at 19.00 !!!!.

Thanks for your help on this

[kalyuzhny]

I was very very tired, frustrated and irritated with the never-ending nonsense of the AFPEX system, so I use Rocketroute now. Simple to use and as reliable as nails. Gives you the weather, the p-log, the notams and a whole lot more. Recently used it to file consecutive flight plans from Elstree to Cagliari in the south of Sardinia - never a problem. Free to use the first 15 days, then a couple pounds a month.

I know that the purists on this site will blast me for relying upon something that was actually designed in the current century, but I believe in convenience and practicality.

For LFAT weather I suggest you call +33321066284 for a recoded actual ATIS Metoffice would also have weather for Lille, which is close enough.

Not entirely sure about their opening hours or days, but from experience, they are always open on weekends and some work days as well.

Hope you have a good trip and don't forget your GenDec.

[dublinpilot]

Do you still call London Info in the same old manner to activate once airborne ????. Any adivce. I always used the following with success for my overseas trips to France - Switzerland - etc ... London Information Good morning Gulf -xxxx PA-32 airborne from XXXX to Le Touquet requsting activation of flight plan. ...... passing full details on reply. Does this still apply ???

If you depart from a controlled airfield, then the flight plan should be automatically opened for you. If you depart from an AFIS or one with a manned radio, ask them as they may open it for you via their AFPEX account. If they don't, then you can call London Info as you say, or any ATC who will be able to open it for you.

Also the airfield info for Le Touquet appears to be no longer published on the Met Office web site.
Are you sure about that? When you log into the Met Office website, go to "Global TAF and METAR search" and enter LFAT into the search box (You can enter more than one airport by putting a space between the coes) and click "Both". That should give you both TAFs and METARS if any are currently valid.

Pooleys publish Le Touquet opening hours as 0900 - 1900. Now when I flew in before I am sure we were pushing back later in the evening -- 8 -9 o'clock ... as I am sure it used to be 24 hours. Can you still push back late ..... or is there a mad rush to get away at 19.00 !!!!.
I'm not sure about out of hours operations at Le Touquet. Often airports in France are open 24 hours, with ATC only active at certain times but I'm not sure about Le Touquet. However Pooleys is not the place to look for info for Le Touquet. If you look at the French AIP (just click here) (https://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/aip/enligne/PDF_AIPparSSection/VAC/AD/2/1109_AD-2.LFAT.pdf) you will see the official opening hours as
2 - ATS : ETE / SUM : 0700 - 1800.
HIV / WIN : 0800 - 1800.

The good thing about this from your point of view is that these are UTC times. So during the summer ATC will be active until 8pm French time, which is 7pm British Summer Time, which may be late enough for you.

I hope that helps.

dp