| Rome to Athens via Corfu | |
| 18 July 2007 Pilot Section General
In the middle of June, before I left Singapore to pick up N238JG again from Lancaster USA, I was reading the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) members website when I saw a message posted by Chris Leontopoulos, and noticed that his location was Athens, Greece. Interested that there was a Cirrus owner / pilot in Athens I looked up Chris’ contact details and sent him a message asking some advice about our planned trip across Greece in N238JG. Chris’ response could not have been more positive or more helpful.
We corresponded on and off in the following few weeks during which I modified my plans and route for Greece to take account of his advice. Coincidentally, Chris also turned out to be in the marine business, working for American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), so we had lots in common professionally too! Chris had spent 19 years living in UK since he had been a student, and owned a share in a Cirrus SR22 though the Free Flight Initiative operated by Ian Valentine at Denham, UK. However, a few months ago he had been relocated by his company back to Greece and had to sell his SR22 share in England. Chris is a real Cirrus enthusiast and was clearly suffering SR22 withdrawl symptoms now he was planeless in Greece!!
On Chris’ advice I decided to use Megara Military airfield (LGMG) just West of Athens instead of LGAV. Megara doesn’t have customs facilities but is otherwise trying to encourage GA, including visiting aircraft, and is much cheaper than Athens International. In order use Megara Chris advised us to clear into Greece at Kerkira Airport (LGKR) on the island of Corfu. A change to our route plan, but one that sounded much more fun than our original plan!
Hallin and I were back at Rome Ciampino General Aviation Terminal by 0900 this morning. Argos handling had filed the flight plan as requested, and had a nice little pack of weather, Notams and flight planning information for my route to save me from looking it up myself. However, when I got to the aircraft I was told it had to be moved by hand 250 metres to the area where we were approved to start the engine. I hooked up the tow bar and duly pulled the aircraft round to the approved slot. Pulling an SR22 by hand is not a problem in itself, but it was only later when I studied the bill in detail that I realised I had been charged €40.00 to pull my own aircraft 250 Metres!! See my comments in the Pilot Section below on charges at Rome Ciampino airport. We had a scheduled 1000 departure time, and at 0950 we called for startup and were ready to go. ATC had modified my planned route quite substantially, sending us further south, down the West Coast of Italy, and then cutting across almost due East to the South of Brindisi and directly across the Adriatic to Corfu. This was some 100 miles further than the more direct route I had planned, and was going to reduce the time we had to refuel at Corfu.
We were quickly clear of the busy airspace around Rome, and unfortunately the heat haze was with us again. The sky was clear and we were passing over beautiful landscapes but many of the best views were curtailed by limited horizontal visibility. Hallin lost interest since we couldn’t see much of the view, and still tired from our huge sightseeing trek around Rome yesterday, he fell asleep and remained asleep until we began our approach into Corfu.
I had always wanted to visit Corfu since reading Gerald Durrell books as a child, and as we approached runway 35 with the mountainous tree covered ridge rising above the level of the aircraft to our left from clear blue sea and sandy beach, we could really see the beauty of this famous Greek island. Hallin was fully awake now and carrying out his official role as team cameraman!!
Once on the ground at Kerkira Airport, Corfu, we were met by Olympic Airways Handling, and it became clear things were going to take plently of time!! Friendly… but everything takes time here, which is frustrating if you are already running an hour late on arrival due to ATC routing, and are pushing to get going onward to Athens to meet Chris at Megara at 1800 as we had arranged. Furthermore, Chris had advised us that Megara closes strictly at 1900, so don’t be late!
Eventually we finished the paperwork formalities and got back to the aircraft only to find that the fuel truck still was not ready to re-fuel N238JG, so we spent another 45 minutes chasing the fuel truck to come to the aircraft. Once that was achieved and the aircraft fuelled, I had to go to the BP office to make payment – whereupon their credit card machine broke down and had to be fixed before he could take payment!!
Finally we started N238JG up at 1710 – a fraction under 3 hours after landing for a fuel stop and a cup of coffee, and they didn’t even stamp our passports!!
One bright spot in our stopover at Corfu had been the time we had to spend in the Control Tower. We spent an hour or so there (due to Megara losing our fax and having to wait to confirm our clearance to continue, but that is another story!) and chatted to the two very friendly Controllers who wanted to hear all about our trip from Duluth to Singapore, and while we chatted they did their level best to help us speed up the missing clearance from Megara. As we departed we had a final chat on the radio with them, and I thanked them for their assistance before they handed us off to Athena.
Although only little more than 80 minutes flying time, this leg took us over some lovely mountain scenery and the Gulf of Corinth with the Corinth Canal at the southern end. I had always wanted to go through the Corinth Canal in a ship and never had. Seeing it from the air was nearly a good!
Descending into Athens visibility improved and we had great views over the bay. We cancelled IFR with Athena Control and proceeded in to Megara VFR. Chris had warned me that some of the military controllers are National Servicemen, may not be fluent in English and prone to misunderstandings. As it turned out however, Megara Tower were fine and they were expecting us. We could see the airfield from about 10 miles out, entered the circuit Right Hand downwind for a landing on Runway 08 – annoyingly getting a quite violent wheel shimmy again on landing, the first time this had happened since getting the torque re-set at RGV Aviation in Gloucestershire, UK 10 days ago. It was almost 1900 by the time we parked and shutdown on the huge GA apron at Megara. Chris was at the airport to meet us and look over N238JG. It was the first time he had seen an SR22 G3, and his enthusiasm and knowledge of Cirrus aircraft was apparent. Chris then drove us the 40 minutes to our Hotel close to the centre of Athens which we had booked in advance (on Chris’ advice again!).
After a long day flying, the three of us enjoyed a cool drink on the balcony of the Hotel watching the sun go down behind the Accropolis, talking about Cirrus aeroplanes and ship stories. It was very nice to meet Chris and thank him for the help he had given us, and a great way to finish the day.
Tomorrow would be another heavy duty sightseeing extravaganza for me and Hallin in Athens! Pilot Section
Here are the details of today’s flight for other pilots and people interested in the details:
Departure Airport: Ciampino, Rome, Italy (LIRA)
Departue & Handling: Argos VIP Handling
Costs: Overall, Ciampino is reasonably effiicient, but the service prices are a rip-off. I originally chose Ciampino because of a positive recommendation in an article in the UK GA magazine “Flyer”, but I would strongly recommend others going to Rome to look for an alternative airport. The push back charge has to be the most laughable – because I had to pull the aircraft myself, using my own tow bar about 250 yards to the position where I was permitted to start up….. For that priviledge I was charged €40.00!! The “Follow Me Van” was the same van as the “Transport on Tarmac”, and the total distance travelled in it was about 100 metres!! Had I known what the charges were going to be I would have asked to do a tour of the airport – had I walked instead of getting in the van I suspect I would have been charged anyway, it is that kind of place!
Rome Handling: €70.00 (US$95.20)
Ramp / Parking: €55.00 / Day (US$74.80 / Day)
Airport Fee: €28.05 (US$38.15)
Push Back Fee: €40.00 (US$54.40)
Follow Me Van: €25.00 (US$34.00)
Transport on Tarmac: €4.00 (US$5.44)
Stamp Fee: €1.81 (US$2.46)
Compare the charges in Rome with those in Corfu! The services provided were similar, and although fuel price is still extraordinarily high in Greece, the other charges are standardised and fair, and not particularly expensive (at least not for Europe!!):
Corfu Ground Handling: €38.68 (US$52.60)
Landing Charge: €7.34 (US$9.98)
Avgas Price:
Rome Avgas in Rome and Greece was the most expensive experienced so far on the whole trip – even more expensive than Greenland!! I now understand why Diamond Aircraft and JetA1 / Diesel fuel engines are so popular here.
€2.43 / Litre (Including 20% IVA Tax) (US$12.52 / US Gallon)
Corfu In Greece the fuel supplier at all airports I used is BP, the charges are pretty much standardised, but including 19% VAT the price is marginally even more expensive than Rome:
€2.46 / Litre (Including 19% VAT Tax) (US$12.80 / US Gallon)
Detailed Route:
Rome to Corfu LIRA - RIFFI – A1 – CDC – L869 – CRN – G12 – EKVIS – LATAN 1B ARRIVAL – VOR DME Rwy 35 LGKR
Corfu to Athens LGKR KIRK 1B DEPARTURE – L53 – KOR – EGN - (VFR) DIRECT LGMG
En Route Altitude:
Rome to Corfu 8,000ft
Corfu to Athens 8,000ft
Flight Time:
Rome to Corfu 3 Hours 17 Minutes
Corfu to Athens 1 Hours 24 Minutes
Arrival Airport: Megara Military, Athens, Greece (LGMG)
Arrival & Handling: No Handling at Megara
Chris was a huge held advising me the procedures in Greece, but the Greek AOPA provide good advice on procedures on their web site. See the links section of this site for a link across.
In summary, permision must be obtained at least 48 hours in advance to visit Megara and / or Corfu. They need to know: Aircraft Type, Registration No, MTOW, Faxes should be sent to the following numbers, and provide a number for them to fax their reply back to.
Corfu (LGKR) Airport authority
Tel No: +30 2661089823 Fax: +30 26610 45829 Tower tel No: +30 2661089824 or +30 2661089600 Megara Military (LGMG) Airport
Fax: +30 22960 23601. Kids Section Did you Know : The Ancient Olympic Games were held in Greece in Ancient times. The modern Olympics were revived in 1896 and the first one was fittingly held in Athens. Since then the games have taken place every four years in dfferent cities around the world except during the two world wars 1916, 1940 and 1944 when the games were cancelled. The last games in 2004 came back to their birthplace in Athens, Greece.
Fun Fact: The marathon running race is a famous Olympic event. The race was started to commemorate a Greek boy called Pheidippides who ran from Athens to Sparta to ask for help just before the Battle of Marathon in 490BC.
Quiz:
Answer to yesterday’s Quiz: The initials SPQR go back to Roman times when they appeared on the shields, weapons and Coats of Arms of Roma soldiers. It stands for “Senatus Populusque Romanus”. Today it still appears on government owned property in Rome, on the modern city Coat of Arms.
Today’s Quiz Question: The last two places we have visited on the trip have been Italy and Greece, and they both have very interesting ancient histories and capital cities that are full of interesting ancient things which you can still see today if you visit. Which of the two is the oldest civilisation, Roman or Greek?
(Answers on the next Daily Diary!)
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