flying a Cirrus SR20 from Belgium to Malta VFR

[vandereydt]

Hi all,
Am close to getting my ppl on a Cirrus SR20
As a first challenge I would like to fly from Belgium to Malta, VFR this summer

Has anybody done this? Would love to hear about it and get pointers, things to watch out for, do's and don'ts

Thanks

Ronny

[dirkdj]

If you are a fresh PPL, I would recommend taking an experienced PPL with you as a mentor. Get yourself a good flight planning tool such as Skydemon and have it available on a tablet with GPS to use as a moving map. Allow yourself extra weather time both at the departure ends and enroute.
If you can't take a mentor on this long trip at least take one a about a dozen medium length trips (2-3 hours), the PPL course doesn't teach much about international long distance flying.
When I was 18 I flew to North Africa with less than 100 hours under the belt. Two trips with mentors helped a lot to get the big picture.

[flyme273]

seems a bit ambitious to me.

How to route? treetop height, doglegging CTRs or VFR levels within the airways (if available e.g France)?

can be a maze to work out which airways are accessible without IFR rating.

flyme.

[AdamFrisch]

I wouldn't worry too much except for one thing: make sure you've got some basic instrument training and know how to keep level, standard rate turns, descents and climbs on instruments alone. Over water, in haze, with no discernible features it can be deceptively disorienting and is to be considered IFR. That's what killed John Kennedy Jr.

[tu154]

Italy can be tricky to operate in. Not everywhere has avgas and not all of that is available for non based/club aircraft. For that leg I flew Cannes - Massa Cinquale - Rome Urbe -Salerno - Reggio di Calabria - Malta. On the return leg it was similar but Rome Urbe - Elba - Cannes. The smart money said afterwards the best route was Rome - Corsica - France. Of course your range may mean you don't have to do so many stops.
For Italy it's important to call where you plan to stop and make sure they have avgas, and are willing to accommodate you. They also like flight plans in Italy, usually phoned in, with estimates for a sensible en route point.

France on the other hand was a joy to fly in. Very casual and easygoing.

[Pace]

Have never flown Malta VFR but have IFR many times. My best advice to you is to really select a period to do the flight when there is stable good weather predicted for the whole route on your return too.

From Belgium you have large mountains to consider in the form of the Alps.
Ok you could route west down to the south of France but even that way there is high ground not a trip to take unless the weather is perfect VFR with a basic PPL.

You are then faced with sea crossings or winding round to Italy and flying down the coast as much as VFR will allow, crossing to Sicily and then the short crossing to Malta.

its not an easy early PPL trip and as stated not just picking a good weather slot to get there but getting back too which could be 2 weeks later.

Do consider taking an experienced IFR pilot along or consider that for the departure or return as its unlikely the perfect weather scenario will cover both ways

Pace

[rum_monster]

I flew from UK to Malta through the Alps and down through Italy VFR then back via Sardinia, Olbia, Cannes and Troyes in a Robin DR400.

Coming back was much easier but did involve a long Sea crossing and strong headwinds which caused us to divert to Olbia as our flight plan was originally to Ajaccio in Corsica from Malta. We used the IFR route waypoints for the Sea crossing. Visibility was dire and was all flown manually as we didn't have an Autopilot. We chose the long Sea crossing due to the complexities of flying through Italy and some difficulty getting fuel. In retrospect, I probably would do such a long water crossing again.

[007helicopter]

Ronny I would also echo very ambitious for a "first trip" I personally would also recommend a mentor friend with this type of experience to make it more enjoyable and less stressful.

The plane will be a lot more capable than the Pilot at this point.



All the Best

Duncan