Jersey to Cannes via Clermont Ferrand

The Flight from Jersey to Cannes.

This part of the trip was split into two legs for safety.  The whole flight might have been done in one go but if it had, as I approached Cannes the plane would really have been running on fumes.  Since Cannes airport is located on the coast with a backdrop of 100 miles or more of mountains before you reach it, running out of fuel over that terrain would end in disaster.  So a stop was made at Clermont Ferrand for refuelling of the plane and the crew! 

Jersey airport on the afternoon of Tuesday 11^th August was a clag of cloud and light drizzle.  Although forward visibility was good the cloud ceiling was very low and it looked very likely that I wasn’t going to get out of Jersey at all.  The north coast of France was the same but the rest of the country clear.  This is always frustrating; when your route is 100% clear but the first 30 miles is not.  We faffed about waiting.  I visited Jersey Met who are always very helpful.  They showed me the various charts and the satellite imagery and pointed to a period of time – no more than 45 minutes – in which there would be a ‘hole’ in the weather before the whole front came in and stayed for hours.  The message was clear: “get out as soon as you can”.

I didn’t delay.  We loaded up the plane, got everything ready and then waited.  The mechanics in the hanger looked on shaking their heads and conferring as bag after bag after bag after bag (in fairness, there were a lot) was loaded onto the plane. “Have you done a weight and balance calculation Olaf?”  “Yes.  I’ve thought about it and I’m happy it will fly”.  I am not irresponsible but there are some things that can be done without having to get out slide rules and calculators.  There’s two people in the plane none of which are heavy.  The bags do not weigh more than 2 people.  They will be spread out in the luggage area and on the rear seats.  The plane will happily fly with 4 average weight people.  So, with 2 people and some bags (and some more bags) everything’s fine.  It will fly.

The weather appeared to be improving marginally.  We radioed the tower who gave us our clearance as we taxied to holding point Delta for runway 08.  I wasn’t going to hang around.  I wanted to get off that island as soon as I could.  The take-off with a 10 knot crosswind was uneventful and before long we were at 5,000 feet flying merrily along across France.    The flight to Clermont Ferrand took just over 3 hours.  This is more or less what I was expecting for a 300 mile trip.  How I would love to tell you that the scenery was breath taking but I simply can’t.  That leg must have been the most boring flight I have ever flown except for long legs over the ocean.  The land is flat and brown.  That’s it.  Flat and brown.

The approach to Clermont Ferrand should have been simple.  I had given it some advance thought.  I correctly predicted which runway would be in use and knowing that I was steering a course of about 120 degrees (South East) worked out how the approach would pan out.  How wrong I was.  I was told by Clermont Approach to route to reporting point ‘November’ which I did.  As I did so I kept thinking “why?” It seemed ridiculous.  Two days later I am still trying to work out why I was told to do that.  It caused me to more or less do a 180 turn to get onto final for runway 08.  In fact, the instruction was SO bizarre that while I was flying I became very confused as though I had made some terrible mistake.  There was no traffic in the air to cause this odd routing.  Anyway, we landed safely on the tarmac at the airport nestled behind a wall of mountains.

I had promised myself to ALWAYS  refuel immediately on arrival at each airport to avoid delays and faffing when wanting to next take-off.  So far, I’ve kept my promise to myself even though it’s been tempting to dash away immediately to avoid lugging fuel hoses in the scorching heat.

Clermont Ferrand airport is large, very.  But it was deserted.  No taxis, no cafes…nothing.  Anyway, it didn’t matter.  It was simply a stop over.  We eventually managed to get a taxi and went straight to the hotel.  It was a late night but an early start the next morning.

The next morning take-off from Clermont was easy.  Everything had been done the night before and we took off in bright sunshine climbing straight away to 7,000 feet to clear all the mountains that lay ahead.  The sky was quite busy over the mountains and we saw a few planes whizzing past us en route.   Our radio contact was with Clermont Information for the initial part and then we were handed over to Marseille Information for most of the rest of the route.

The view of the mountains was spectacular.  It was great being able to fly so close to them and look down at their ridges.  There wouldn’t be anywhere immediately obvious to land if you had to.

As we got closer to our destination at Cannes so the radio work increased.  We were handed over to Nice Information and to get a word in edgeways was difficult.  Everything was short and clipped.  We were just clearing the last of the mountains when Nice Information told us to descend to 2,500 immediately to reach that altitude by reporting point ‘November’.  That was a task.  It was VERY close and called for nose dive straight down to 2,500.  Anyway, as soon as we reached November we were bang on 2,500.  The controller was very happy with us.

We got handed over to Cannes Approach and then Tower and cleared for a straight in approach on runway 17.  It was a perfect landing on perfect day.  The Ground Controller gave us instructions to taxi to the fuelling station and then on to a parking bay.  We unloaded the plane, got a taxi to our hotel in the centre of Cannes and enjoyed the rest of the day.

Tomorrow we set off early for Elba Island.

The video footage of the flight from Jersey to Clermont and then onto Cannes should be posted tomorrow.