Göteborg to Dijon to Stockholm, with many stops along the way...

ESGP-EHLE-LFQQ-LFSW-LFGI-LFSD-EDHL-ESSU
July 21 through 25, 2012
15 hrs, 1600+ NGM

The route ESGP-EHLE

This was a trip to visit the Champagne and Burgundy regions of France. I started out in Göteborg, at my go-to AD on the West Coast of Sweden, ESGP. The weather on the continent was looking variable, with typical Summer cold fronts blowing through. Mostly it's possible to pick your way through this weather. My first flight was down to Lelystad, The Netherlands, to re-fuel and overnight, betting on a cold front passing overhead while I slept.

The route from Göteborg to Lelystad is one I like. I use it also when flying through to England or Northern France. I like to avoid R- and CTL-areas when I can, since it makes planning simpler if I know in advance that I can fly the planned route. This route, over the Northern part of Denmark avoids both Kastrup and Malmö TMAs by entering Danish airspace at the KULUD boundary point then direct the Trano VOR, over the open airspace of Fyn island to Alsie VOR. (It might seem intuitive to fly directly west-south-west from ESGP, but the Danish FIR up there is covered by restricted airspace from GND to F195 or above.) From the Alsie VOR, enter the Bremen FIR at AMRAK and stay under FL80 to avoid R-201. Then descend below D-101A at 5500ft and fly directly over Heligoland. It's a VOR and the islands are an interesting sight to see. Then bee-line south-west between the two Charlie airspaces for Leeuwarden and Groningen. From there, just watch your altitude, and you can fly straight to Lelystad.

SDV on the apron at EHLE

Following the AIP, approach in to EHLE is very straightforward. There are a couple of areas where they shun overflight. The AD is AFIS only, when open, and RADIO otherwise. I believe English is acceptable even when the AFIS service is closed, but it was open when I arrived. I fueled up and got a nice parking spot on the apron. This is a fun AD; they have a lot of interesting planes. I saw a Yak-52 while I was there, as well as an interesting kit plane of a French canard design. There is apparently also a museum, which I want to visit next time I land there. I stayed in a hotel in Hardervijk. Not so far away by taxi, and lots to choose from. The landing fee at EHLE was €32 and parking over night was €15.

The next day I took off about 1045 LT for the flight to Lille Lesquin (LFQQ). I was to pick up a friend there and fly on to Epernay. That flight only took 1.5 hrs in fine weather. LFQQ is a really nice AD used for regional flights, mostly, but also a good deal of GA. A quick taxi into Lille makes that wonderful, small French city available. We just had lunch, but I could easily imagine staying over a day or two. We went back to the airport and took off about 1515 LT, headed for Epernay Plivot (LFSW).

A real Stampe, at LFSW

LFSW is a grass field, uncontrolled. My friend speaks French, and his father is a pilot, so he handled the radio on approach. Otherwise I would never attempt to land at an uncontrolled French field. When we got there, we had two AC in the circuit and two or three on taxi, so it was a good thing he could talk to all of them. We landed without a problem as they all waited for us.

LFSW is owned by the flying club. The atmosphere there is just wonderful. Many, many aviation enthusiasts of all kinds. There must have been 30 people outside the club sitting around tables talking, like any nice French café. It was a real family affair. We went in and met some of the locals. My friends father was there. I even got a chance to fly in the Stampe he is a part owner in. What a highlight!

Epernay Plivot (LFSW) from the east

After socializing there for a while, my friend and I flew the 1.2 hrs on to Dijon Darois (LFGI), another uncontrolled AD. This one has a nice asphalt RWY, though. It is apparently the home field of the Robin manufacturer, among other things. There is also an active club there, and lots of fine planes. Again, my friend handled the radio on approach, although there was nowhere near as much traffic. Dijon Longvic is the larger, better airport to use if you are visiting the area (and don't speak French) and need assistance, JetA or taxi service to town. But we had arranged to be picked up at Darois, and it was fun to land there, instead.

The route LFSD to EDHL

After a couple of days visiting a few wine makers in Burgundy (a story in itself), it was time for me to head back to Stockholm. I started by making the short hop over to Longvic (LFSD) to fuel up. After doing that, I took off for Lubeck, a 3.7 hr flight. There I fueled up again and flew home to Eskilstuna (ESSU) to fuel up before I put the plane back in its hangar. The flight up to Lubeck was in clear skies, so I climbed up to FL95 and flew above all the CTL and TMA (except Köln, which goes up to F100). Germany is a very nice airspace that way. If the weather allows you to get up to altitude, you can skip right over all the R and CTL and fly a bee line to your destination.

/Brian