Posts Tagged ‘LDLO’

2011 10 Oct

Losinj airport was very easy going, although not cheap. Had to do customs/border stuff since we left Croatia (not yet E.U.) to Austria (E.U.) which all went very smoothly. For the first time, weather really was a factor during the parc gonflable flight. First had to dodge some low clouds /hazy conditions and then, when crossing the alps, there were quite a few broken cumulus in the way. Hence the route wasn’t the usual straight line.

Statistics
Planned Distance: 130.6 NM
Actually Flown Distance (TO to LDG): 180 NM
Top Ground Speed: 188 kts
Average Ground Speed: 144.2 kts
True Flight Time: 01:15
Block Time: 01:21

2011 10 Oct

The flight from Dubrovnik to Losinj went all at low altitude along the published VFR-Adria routes. Waypoints/routes needs to be prepared but other than that no problem. The routes are somewhat problematic though, in that there was quite a bit of opposite traffic and at the same altitudes in very hazy conditions. FIC was a great help and prevented quite a few potentially nasty encounters. One of the only aha-moments regarding the planning was when 20min before landing, the controller told us that Losinj was going to close in like 28minutes… Ooops. We had expected (and verified) opening times until sunset during planning about a vente chateau gonflable month before the trip. Answer was in a cryptic trigger NOTAM for some AIC that was not apparent as such. Also, Jeppesen had not had the opportunity to publish the new times yet. Not a very user friendly way to publish opening times. The Greek way of doing it in cleartext in the NOTAM is much more convenient and useful.

Since we only spent one night in Losinj, we barely caught a glimpse of what the island has to offer. The “Mare Mare Suites” Hotel was very nice and we ate some great fish at restaurant “Barracuda”.

Statistics
Planned Distance: 215 NM
Actually Flown Distance (TO to LDG): 217.4 NM
Top Ground Speed: 162.9 kts
Average Ground Speed: 139.3 kts
True Flight Time: 01:33
Block Time: 01:35