Lockdown flight planning competition winner is…

[Drum roll] The winner of the 2020 FLYER + SkyDemon Lockdown Flight Planning Competition is… Ivan Mia.

Ivan has won a year’s subscription to SkyDemon.

Ivan submitted a detailed entry for a flight that he and his friend Mike Gay plan to make from their home airfield of Seething to Tivat, Montenegro. Here’s what Ivan said:

“Originally Mike fancied going to Morocco but I managed to put him off that idea gradually so I suggested Tivat in Montenegro.

“I have a half share in a property there so that would be a saving and as the trip itself is going to be expensive enough it made sense financially. Apart from that Montenegro is a beautiful country, the locals are friendly and the beer is good and very cheap.

“Both of us also like visiting France as we’ve already done a couple of fly-outs with our club mates over the last two years. In fact Jersey was planned for later this year. Hey ho, next year all being well.

“The apparent divert in Italy to Lucca is because Mike has a friend who has offered us accommodation there, so [we thought] why not have a break enroute and go and see Pisa?

“We estimated that the trip there would take a week or so depending on weather and we also envisioned enjoying the stops, it was not going to be a race. Now we hope to do this next year all being well.

Ivan’s route from Seething, Norfolk to Tivat, Montenegro. Top: Ivan Mia, left, and flying partner Mike Gay… and the Aerobat. Images: Ivan Mia

“The stops we have planned are:

• Calais to clear customs, have some breakfast and because we like Calais airfield.
• Troyes for fuel and an overnight stop or if we feel like it push on to Lyon Bron, or maybe just have a stop at Troyes anyway.
• Cuers Pierrefeu to top up the tanks.
• Bastia in Corsica. Not sure if we’ll be staying in Corsica or not but if not then onto…
• Marina Di Campo, just because it’s there really. If we don’t overnight in Corsica then we probably will in Marina Di Campo.
• Lucca is the next stop and here we will visit Pisa and just take the time to chill a bit. Mike has been in touch with forumites regarding this trip and if I recall Peter 337 was very helpful having been to Tivat himself. We are VFR pilots only and doing the trip in a Cessna Aerobat so a bit different.
• Pula, and here we need to ask the wonderful forumites for advice again as neither of us are sure whether we can go direct to Croatia or do we have to clear customs at an Italian airfield first? We definitely plan to have an overnighter at Pula then we’ll follow the low level Adria route to…
• Dubrovnik to refuel as Tivat doesn’t have avgas though G-BFGZ will take mogas and there are petrol stations very close to the airport so we’ll be alright either way.

“Looking at the pilot notes on SkyDemon it does appear that parking at Tivat is quite expensive so this could decide on how long we stay there.

“We also haven’t decided on a route back yet so if there are any forumites out there that have experience of an enjoyable route back we’d appreciate their suggestions, remembering that we’re in a 150 and have no mountain flying experience.”

Ivan’s PLOG and W&B calculation can be seen on his entry in the FLYER Trip Reports forum.