It has been
months since the idea of a spectacular final flight with a Diamond DA-42 appeared on our mind. Several
options were weighed up but most of them were automatically rejected since they
were out of our possibilities. Anyway, it was one of the best flights I ever done.
Quim wanted
to flight to Lido, a field near the airport of Venice. There were two problems
about this option. The first one was that the runway was made of grass instead
of asphalt. The second problem was the distance; flight to Lido would suppose
spending too much time in an airway.
Other
options as Nice, Grosseto and Saint Tropez were also considered, but all of
them gave us problems. In Nice the fees of handling cost an astronomical amount
of money. In Saint Tropez the flight
instructor needed a special class rating to land in a mountainous area. And in
Grosseto they did not accept school flights.
So, the last
options checked were Cannes, Ajaccio (Napoleon Bonaparte) and Perpignan.
LERS
– LFMD
The first
leg of the flight was Reus to Cannes and I was the pilot. We departed from Reus
at 09.05 and thanks of all the direct clearances given by ATC, the flight only
last 02:25 instead of the 02:45 calculated previously. Most part of this leg
was overflying the Mediterranean Sea. We lost contact of the ground above
Estartit and we saw again the coastline reaching Marseille. We landed at
Cannes at 11.30. The
total distance of this leg was 400 NM approximately.
As we were
advised that in Ajaccio there weren’t any kind of restaurants, we had to have
lunch at Cannes. Eating at 12 o’clock as if we were North Europeans... It’s hard
to dinner when you’re still digesting breakfast! Besides, the prices of each meal were astronomical! Anyway,
the ones we chose were very good and we could charge our batteries.
One
thing that impressed me so much was that Cannes
airport was full of executive and private jets. It shown that the area was full
of people very wealthy...
LFMD
– LFKJ
Quim was the
pilot from Cannes to Ajaccio. After having lunch, we departed at 13.30. This
leg was shorter, only lasted 01:30. So, we landed at Ajaccio at 15.00.
When we
arrived at Napoleon Bonaparte we requested fuel services since we didn’t have
enough fuel to complete the other two remaining legs. We carried 51 litres of
JET-A1 which cost us 56€! Refuelling the airplane with JET-A1 is cheaper than
refuelling my car...
Then we paid
the fees and we visited the terminal of the airport. We bought some souvenirs
(two postcards to increase my collection!). And then we return to the airplane
to depart to our next destination: Perpignan.
LFKJ
– LFMP
From Ajaccio
we took off at 16.20. ATC authorized us direction Saint Tropez instead of
crossing the sea. So, we outlined the French coastline since the arrival at
Perpignan. The total time of this flight was 02:45, the longest one of the four
legs. We landed at Perpignan at 19.05.
In Perpignan
we went to pay the fees at the operations centre. We had to walk to the airport
but to return to the airplane they drove us by car.
LFMP
– LERS
This was the
last leg of the day as well as the last flight with the DA-42 of the CESDA’s
fleet. From Perpignan to Reus Quim was the pilot since he has to finish his
night hours. We departed from Perpignan at 19.50 and we flew during 01:50. So,
we landed at Reus at 21.40, once the sunset had already taken place.
It is said
that pilots have the office with the best landscapes. During this leg, we confirmed
this sentence as being true: we could see a beautiful sunset.
Aircraft:
Diamond DA-42
Registration:
EC-KUK
Crew: D. M., J. Solé, G. Pelejà
Reus, 11 of July 2012
