Lubeck to Reims

The route I finally filed and flew.

2012-Oct-27  EDHL-LFQA  1135z-1445z, 3.2hrs

The second leg of this trip, after stopping to re-fuel and eat lunch in Lubeck, was on to my destination for the day, Reims Prunay. I had also checked the weather while stopped in Lubeck, because there was a long string of low clouds stretching from Calais up to Florennes and Maastricht in the North and from Le Mans to Frankfurt in the South. This left a corridor of fine weather, SCT065 and a lot of clear patches to fly in. I had planned a route over Venlo then a jog south a bit and then south west over Belgium. Instead, I continued south all the way to the NTM VOR to miss the clouds, then cut west over Luxembourg.


There are a lot of restricted areas in Belgium that I think look like a mess to fly over/between. I was happy to skip all that, anyway. In the event, I climbed up to FL85 soon after leaving Hamburg TMA and had turbulence-free air and a wonderful view almost all the way to the Nattehheim VOR. This leg was typical for SDV with a TAS of 130 and a nice tail wind, so achieving GS of almost 150kts on 6gph! It almost feels like cheating.

The busy Rheine, east of Bentlage

I got some good help from the Langen info controller, who advised me of some weather down toward NTM, so I decided to turn west early and he called Lux and got me clearance through their TMA at 4500ft, which they confirmed after he handed me off to them. The rest of the flight I stayed at 4500ft to avoid all the restricted areas. They are listed as AGL, mostly around 2700ft, so you have to devine from the map what MSL that would be. Looked to me like peaks were 1000ft, so 4500 felt OK and Paris info didn't have any complaints.

Avoiding one last circular restricted area GND-F55 to the North, I descended down toward LFQA. This is a smaller controlled aerodrome with asphalt runways of 1100m, so plenty for me (the DA40 can land in 5-600m, if you have to). When I contacted the TWR on approach, they informed me that they had not received my flight plan. Strange, because I had confirmation that Lubeck activated it. Doesn't make that big a difference, but still a little strange.

As usual, I always fly to controlled aerodromes in France, and only when the TWR is open. Otherwise, they are "Francaise soulement", and I don't speak French anywhere near well enough. I also always have to find fields that have JetA, which normally also corresponds with controlled fields.

Re-fueling at Reims Prunay

Prunay, like most smaller, controlled aerodromes I've been to all over Northern Europe, does not require handling and charges reasonably small fees for landing and parking over night. Strangely, the most expensive fields in this regard are the ones in dear old Sweden. At Angelholm, for example, they charge €50 just to land! This is nothing more than a typical Ryanair air strip with no other facilities. Don't know where they get off. I avoid them and go to Lubeck or even Maribo (Denmark) instead to re-fuel.

The TWR and OPS staff at LFQA were typically very helpful and accommodating  They fueled me immediately (on the BP card, and without spilling a drop), found a convenient parking spot on the apron, and asked if I needed a taxi and called one for me. I arranged to pay up when I returned and I was off to meet a friend. The whole bill for landing and parking for two nights was about €32, and they provided me (unprompted) with printed out NOTAMS and WX for my filed flight plan on to Dijon Longvic. That's great value, I think.

/Brian