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Anyone been to Salerno, Costa d'Amalfi Airport recently?

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Anyone been to Salerno, Costa d'Amalfi Airport recently?

Old 9th Aug 2011, 22:26
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Anyone been to Salerno, Costa d'Amalfi Airport recently?

Just vaguely thinking of flying there...anyone been before?
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Old 9th Aug 2011, 23:53
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I was there in February on my way to Africa. What do you want to know?
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 00:28
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Well I usually post a question like this on PPRuNe as part of preflight preperations when going to somewhere slightly off the beaten track in Europe (not that Salerno is particularly...)

Just to get a feel for any local quirks, things to look out for, commonly used local but perhaps unofficial proceedures, issues people have had in the past with airport officials, etc. Stuff that might be useful that doesn't appear in the AIP or wouldn't necessarily gained by emailing or ringing someone up who might not have the best grasp of English.

All entirely supplementary of course to normal flight planning process...
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 03:52
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I nearly went there maybe three years ago. I was going to a wedding nearby and it was the ideal airfield to fly into.

I rang them up a month in advance to check on fuel availability, parking, landing fees, handling etc, etc for the weekend I was there and everything seemed good. My Italian is non-existent, but the guy's English was pretty good. I rang them up a week in advance to check all was ok and again they were very helpful and looked forward to welcoming me.

Two days before the flight I checked the NOTAMs to discover they were digging up the runway that weekend. A quick telephone call confirmed that was indeed the case and the airfield would be closed for some time. I guess it must have just slipped their minds. Plan B was to fly in to Naples, but by coincidence, Naples were digging up their own runway too that very same weekend.

I ended up flying into Rome on EasyJet and driving the rest of the way.

Italy is absolutely lovely. But it's a bit of a nightmare flying there. Make sure you have a plan C.
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 08:33
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Why am I not suprised?

I was at Oristano, right next to the avgas pump, and still nobody (including the airport manager) would discuss whether avgas would be available.
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 08:56
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I arranged to land there via eMail, can't remeber where the address came from. I would have rung them and asked initialy. I sent a PPR request detail dates, what I was doing and details of pasengers and aircraft. Recieved confirmation back that AVGAS was available and OK to Land.

On the day we landed with no issues, nice man came out to show us where to park etc. AVGAS was available fromn the aeroclub on site, there was some lunch time issues and we had to wait a bit, cost was 2.70 euros.

Parked as instructed and then found a jobs-worth waiting to inspect all documents. Other people flying on a later day did not have to endure this process. Once this was completed we were driven round to the terminal and shown how to get back in when we return. Seem to think we needed my pilots license to gain entry.

We took a taxi into town.

Handling and parking for two days was 17.56 euros. Once we paid we were driven back round to the other side of the field and went on our way. I filed flight plans online so did not have to use them.

Two or three of us landed there over a few days to refuel and fly on to Greece. None of us had any issues other than our jobs-worth which took 30 minutes to copy insurance and all the license documents.

Hope this helps
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 09:16
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Flying in Southern Italy

Salerno was recommended to me by AfricanPilot (who is, I believe, Italian) and by a former flight instructor of mine. There is avgas available (but at Italian prices, i.e. 2.50 EUR + VAT per litre).

I can also recommend (if you are ok with German) this website which explains almost every quirk you need when flying in Italy. The three most important tips are :
- flight plans cannot be filed online at the enav website and you need to call the ARO in Rome or Milan.
- budget plenty of time for administration nonsense. The key word is "pazienza". But the people are very friendly.
- read the NOTAMS (by doing a search on the airports you need (LIRI in this case) - the whole document is about 200 pages) and the airport information found on the eNav website.

My Italian is non-existent, but the guy's English was pretty good.
I would NOT bank on that. From 50 km south of Rome, "Abbiamo un problema di lingua". Whilst the radios and towers will be manned by English proficient people, once on the ground (avgas / car rental / hotel etc..) the situation changes dramatically.
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 09:52
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This one has been done to death here many times, but my view on Italy is that it is OK provided you

- contact the airport shortly before the flight and verify all the stuff (Customs PNR, avgas, etc) and verify they sell avgas to visitors as many declare it "available" but actually for the aeroclub only

- if you don't get a confirmation, don't fly there

- speaking Italian helps greatly; as stated above only ATC has to be able to speak English (which, in Italy, can be as variable in say Spain ) but nobody on the ground needs to speak any English

- do not rely on being able to land, the way one can in N Europe, if PPR/PNR is in question, because they will refuse a landing clearance from a short final if they feel like it (possibly expecially if you are N-reg)

- the experience of a particular airport can be very variable. For example I had both wonderful and totally arrogant/atrocious situations at Padova, on different occassions. This means pilot reports are worth less than they might be

- a lot of "better funded" pilots go to the bigger airports (usually H24) like Malpensa and they are normally perfectly fine (a pattern true all over Europe, though some are outrageously pricey). I went to Caglieri LIEE last Sept which was totally smooth, and not expensive (50 euros?).

- I suspect Mr Tiemann (of the above German website) speaks Italian. On one occassion, on another forum, he rubbished my Italian trip reports, and when I asked him whether he speaks Italian he never replied. It makes a huge difference because the whole of southern Europe works "on the nod and wink". In one quick phone call you can sort out avgas, how to pay for it (cash, etc) when a dozen emails or faxes will be ignored. Croatia and Slovenia are two huge exceptions where things "just work" and everything is organised well.

- Most Italian GA seems to operate out of approx 300 small strips around the country. I don't think many of them have Customs though...
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 10:56
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- contact the airport shortly before the flight and verify all the stuff (Customs PNR, avgas, etc) and verify they sell avgas to visitors as many declare it "available" but actually for the aeroclub only

- if you don't get a confirmation, don't fly there
Yes: the procedure is
1) Call them to get an e-mail address to send a landing/ avgas / handling / parking etc... request.
2) Send the e-mail, but don't make it longer than 15 lines or they might be discouraged from reading it (Italians are as bad in a second language as the English).
3) If you don't get a reply within 48 hours, call again to chase the reply.

Refusing a landing would be quite extreme (unless it says in the AIP you need a landing slot, but then they would stop you at the CTR or, if on an IFR flight plan, at the startup request), did you really have that ?

Refusing avgas / handling or parking would be quite common, especially in the summer as things get a bit busy. So don't book a hotel or a rental car on a non-cancellable basis unless you have the e-mail confo.

There seems to be a bit of an optimum between price and service at an Italian airport. Usually you can read between the lines of the AIP whether you are welcome in your type of aircraft or not. Salerno is one of those places where you would be welcome. Naples is one where you wouldn't be. But it is not always size that matters : Florence for example also has v@ff@nculo written all over it. Don't know about Malpensa, but I cannot imagine them welcoming you for anything less than 250 EUR... and you can have buzy airport kicks for 1/10th of that price in Geneva
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 13:33
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did you really have that ?
Yes, 2007.

The problem was that nobody answered the phone the day before, so I sent in a few faxes, and the next day we departed early, but got refused on the grounds of no PNR.

Certain people do not like me repeating this stuff, and there are many pilots who fly to Italy without issues (as I have done on other occassions) but Italy is a bit of a world of its own where things don't happen as expected.

Oddly enough I prefer Greece which, though a "similar sort of country" when it comes to doing business, is straightforward to fly around. Also the airport employees seem to speak English well there; I never had any issues. Again, there are the bad cases and you must never fly to Corfu LGKR without a written PPR confirmation (verbal ones have resulted in a refusal to land).
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 21:03
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Landed at Salerno two weeks ago arriving from Malta.

No PPR required.
Avgas available (didn't refuel but current italiana prices are between 2,50 and 3.00 euro/L- except Elba at 3.90).
Paid 32,00 euro for two hour stopover with a Cessna 172.
No restaurant or bar available (just vendor machines)
English is spoken both by ATC and ground ops.
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Old 10th Aug 2011, 21:47
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Good info as always. Thanks guys.
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