Flight Log: Biarritz LFBZ -- Cascais LPCS 24.11.2015

Distance: 460 NM
scheduled Flying time: 3:55 hrs
Filed Route:
ATIS Biarritz:
Clearance:
Take Off Time: 14:20h
ATIS Cascais :
Landing Time: 18:15h
24.11.2015 Biarritz/Cascais:
After an ascent lasting about a quarter of an hour, we emerged from the rain and flew through crystal-clear air at 10,000 ft. After about 20 minutes, fantastic Spanish scenery came into view. In good weather conditions we eventually reached the Portuguese border where we were able to admire the country’s cork-tree landscape. However, as we had taken off with an hour’s delay in Biarritz, the sun had already set and lights were already twinkling in the Portuguese houses. We had a particularly clear view of Lisbon. This was a truly fantastic sight. At some point we requested a landing in Cascais following visual flight rules. It was a wonderful end to the day, even if it finished a lot later than planned. Another surprise came however when we went to fill up the plane. After the attendant had tried to operate the filling station, he noticed that a fuse was faulty and his software was preventing him from filling up the DEMCA. A fitter from BP was required to allow the process to continue. After another hour, Marie’s tank was full again. The next surprise of the day came in the terminal building when we were told that instead of 30 euros, we now owed another 320 euros landing fee because the landing had taken place after sunrise. Those are the rules in Cascais.

After a gentle landing, we taxied to the filling station and were delighted that we were on schedule. Two policemen checked our IDs and pilot licences and wished us a pleasant flight. We only had to fill up the plane and pay the landing fee. Once I had paid this and returned to the filling station, I noticed that Martin was a bit unhappy because he hadn't been able to fill the plane up in the meantime. The automatic process at the filling station wasn’t releasing any fuel. I then talked to airport management again and they sent a BP fitter who was to repair the filling station. However, it wasn’t clear how long this might take. After about 20 minutes, a fitter came who realised that the software had crashed and needed to be rebooted. After another half an hour, the software had been successfully installed. However, in the meantime we had already called FSW and asked them to give us a short flight plan from Biarritz to St. Sebastian so that we could fill up the plane there. We knew that St. Sebastian had aviation fuel. As a result, we were very happy that the filling station started working again. With a delay of about an hour, we flew on from Biarritz to Cascais.