Last flight with a CESDA’s DA-42...

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