Leg 1: Jersey (EGJJ) – Clermont Ferrand (LFLC)
The overall leg length of the ‘French portion’ of my trip is a little over 500 miles. It has to be broken into a minimum of two sectors (unless I have a ferocious tail wind on my day of departure). Originally I had split the trip into a 200 mile (approx) leg from Jersey to Chateroux-Deols and a 300 mile leg (approx) from Chateroux-Deols to Cannes. I was going to set off from Jersey at 0630 UTC and do the whole Jersey-Cannes trips in one day. That was plan 1.
However, Plan 1 changed to Plan 2: leave Jersey the day before at 1200 UTC and fly the Jersey – Chateroux leg and stay there overnight. Leave Chateroux the next morning and continue to Cannes. This change of plan accomplished two things: first I wouldn’t be flying over the high terrain (mountains) in the evening/night; and secondly it would give me time to clear customs and ‘take it easy’ while still getting into Cannes and having a real good full day of enjoying the sights.
Plan 2 has just changed into Plan 3 and almost by chance. I am just waiting for my BP Sterling Fuel Card to arrive which is going to make refueling at airports so much easier. I thought I’d have a quick search of airports over my routes that had BP fueling stations: almost every one! Cannes, Bastia, Dubrovnik, Zagreb …brilliant. But, not Chateroux. However, I noticed that the airport Clermont Ferrand (with BP) was on my route but included on my second leg (Chateroux – Cannes). While my route is not going to be dictated by BP fueling stations it all started to make sense: Instead of doing a 200 mile leg followed by a 300 mile leg, I’d do a 300 mile leg (to Clermont Ferrand) and then a 200 mile leg from there to Cannes. Furthermore: Clermont Ferrand has much better operating times. It meant I could arrive later (if I wanted) and leave earlier the next morning. Moreover, when leaving the next morning I would be even closer to Cannes and therefore could really get a good day enjoying the place.
So, I think it’s final now. Below is the SkyDemon plot of my leg from Jersey to Clermont-Ferrand:
The route heads South-East on magnetic heading 137°/140°. According to SkyDemon, it is exactly 300 miles. It crosses the French coast overhead Granville (LFRF). I’ve been to Granville many times before. As well as flying I do a lot of skydiving and Granville has a great dropzone. I have many happy memories of jumping there with the sandy beach below. After Granville my track takes me overhead Le Mans-Arnage (LFRM) and just NE of Tours-Val de Loire (LFOT) as I head for the Amboise VOR (AMD). From there I more or less fly over Chateroux-Deols (my original refueling stop) then in between Montlucon-Domerat and Montlucon-Gueret airfields (to the NE and SW respectively) before touching down at Clermont-Ferrand.
Click the Image below to see the flight profile:
If you are interested in flying into Clermont, you may like to visit its website which can be found here: Clermont-Ferrand Airport (English). French airport websites are getting better and better. Clermont’s has information about local hotels (Novotel, B&B, Formula 1, Ibis etc) as well as giving good information about buses/trams into the centre of town and a list of taxis with telephone numbers and approximate fares.
Some pictures found on the web:
THE ACTUALITY
So, the first leg was completed on 11th August 2015. It was really touch and go whether we would get out of Jersey airport. The weather was not good and worse was to come. We were told that we would probably have only a 45 minute window of opportunity and, therefore, as soon as we saw a hole in the weather we were off like greased ferrets.
The route data from the GPS was as follows:
Depart: 1329 UTC
Arrive: 1640 UTC
Distance: 307.1 Nautical Miles
Below is a short clip of the landing at Claremont Ferrand Airport.
And here is the video of the flight from Jersey to Clermont Ferrand and then onto Cannes:
CLERMONT FERRAND AIRPORT: MY OPINION
Clermont Ferrand airport is a large, sprawling airport but which was all but deserted. I think it is mandatory handling for private flights. We were met swiftly and refuelling was done very quickly also.
Prices:
We parked one night. I can’t make head nor tail of the invoice. However, the costs for landing and parking was €29.66. In my opinion, good value.
Fuel was provided by BP. The fuel price including taxes was €1.92 per Litre
2015 Euro Flight 