My flight in Barcelona

If you think flying in the USA is getting complicated and costly with requirements such as background checks for certain training, all you need to do is fly in Spain to see that things are not so bad in the USA.

I am currently living in Barcelona and for some time I have wanted to see what it is like to fly here. I was interested in learning about the costs, the procedures, the airplanes and the scenery. I thought learning all the Spanish aviation terms might be a concern but that turned out to be something I would not have to worry about: we did almost everything in English and that included talking with the controllers. The biggest challenge was actually finding someone to fly with.

Walk into a flight school in the USA and tell them you want to experience flying and in no time they will have you in the air. You will literally have flight instructors tripping over themselves for your business. That is not the case in Spain or at least in the Barcelona area: sometimes I felt like I was disturbing their siestas. Often, I would get passed from one staff member to another or I would have to make repeated calls for answers. But I kept trying and I finally came across Gavina – they are more what I am used to. I have written a little about Gavina in another post so I will stick to the flight experience in this piece.

My flight was out of Barcelona-Sabadell (LELL) which is just outside of Barcelona. Like most airports in the USA, security has been beefed up and I had to meet with Gavina’s instructor outside the security gate. But, before we headed past the security gate he mentioned he had to file a flight plan. I have been told that there is only VFR flying in Spain for General Aviation and this was supposed to be a VFR flight just around the pattern or to the practice area so I was confused by the need for a flight plan. Maybe he was not using the term ‘flight plan’ properly? I asked for clarification. There was no misunderstanding. A flight plan was required. The flight plan was just like the flight plan I would file back in the USA: aircraft and passenger information, departure time, duration of flight, departure and destination information and so on. All this work for touch and goes I thought.

The impression I have come to after talking to several pilots in Spain is that General Aviation is something that is tolerated by air traffic controllers in Spain. Unless there is a rule or law saying you can do something, assume it is illegal to try it (which is contrary to how we work in the USA). So I was about to launch on a flight where I am being told to tread lightly. To make things worse, on this particular weekend there are delays for commercial flights because air traffic controllers are calling in sick in response to a severe pay cut. (Air traffic controllers tend to be well paid for the stressful jobs that they have but I don’t think I have ever heard of air traffic controllers making over $300K or even a million dollars a year – thanks to overtime – as some were making in Spain. And this in a country with high unemployment and low wages.) We were not planning on going into busy airspace but it is still a good idea to talk to approach/departure control, I am told. But, I am cautioned to be extra careful because they may not be in a good mood. Since we are already running behind schedule (with someone planning on using the airplane later), I decided to let the instructor handle the radio calls while I tried to figure out the airplane and checklist (it’s been a while since I have flown a Warrior and I am trying to remember where everything is plus I am using a checklist that is in Spanish – terms are a little different).

Upon take off tower does not give vectors – you are expected to know what to do. In my case, my instructor gave me vectors and pointed out landmarks to use for entering, departing and flying the pattern. (I should mention that this pattern is very wide and flown at about 1500 feet above ground – not that I found the pattern altitude written anywhere.) When it comes to flight services from air traffic control I am warned not to expect much here, either: you may get traffic advisories but they generally come after the other airplane has flown by. And you better be sure to know where you are flying to or have your GPS with you because I am told that controllers don’t generally like to be disturbed by pilots needing a heading for their destination. Hand-offs between controllers is not something that is automatic either – you are best to treat each contact as a new contact (in other words, don’t expect the new controller to know what your intentions are or who you are). You better forget about flight following (or the similar Deconfliction Service in the UK), too.

We were lucky in that the air traffic controllers we were in contact with were helpful, friendly and granted us our requests. I am not sure what would happen if you were to deviate from “aviation English” but the controllers’ English was easy to understand and follow.

Our flight was brief since we started late and someone was waiting for the airplane: we did some clearing turns, slow flight maneuvers, checked out the Formula One circuit and headed back.

My first touch and go was not bad considering I had not flown in about six months and I had not flown a Warrior in over two years. But that made me a little over confident and I decided to try making some adjustments. Wrong move. To begin with, I was coming faster than I would normally come in. I attribute that to wanting to keep speed up (to get the plane back for the next pilot) and altitude up on the wide pattern: looking at the city that was I was flying over, I did not see too many options in case of an emergency. So I ended up coming too hot and then trying to set her down too early. I think the last time I had such a bad landing was when I was a student pilot. (Of course, my girlfriend saw the bad landing and missed the good one I made!)

Despite all of this, I had a great time and I enjoyed flying with Gavina and in their nicely maintained Warrior. Next time I may have to try out one of their French airplanes.

Planning on flying in Spain?
I spent quite a bit of time online trying to find an airport directory for Barcelona-Sabedell (LELL). LELL has a tower and I wanted to be prepared with radio frequencies and a map of the airport – I wanted to be sure to know where to go if the tower told me to take taxiway Echo to Lima, for example. I did not find an airport directory and I mentioned this to the Gavina flight instructor. He explained that to get this information you had to go to the website of AENA – Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea ((www.aena.es – click on “Air Navigation” and then see “Aeronautical information (AIS)“ ). You will need to create a free account so you can download all necessary information.

While you are at this website you may want to check for approach/departure procedures. In Sabadell’s case, there were very detailed instructions to follow for departures and arrivals. You should pay close attention to the instructions. For example, if we look at one of the departure procedures for Sabadell you will notice that you are to remain on heading and tower frequency until you are 5 miles out. You will also notice that if you are not alert you may fly into a mountain.

Charts
If you are used to using Jeppesen charts than I suggest you find Jeppesen charts. AENA puts out charts, too, but the Jeppesen format is something that I am much more familiar with. Another thing, the AENA charts are larger and if you are used to using your chart with your kneeboard they may be too big.

In addition to picking up charts at the airport, you can get them from L’Aeroteca in Barcelona..

Consider bringing your own checklist
My checklists for Pipers are back in Houston but Gavina provided me with a checklist to use. The problem is that the checklist is in Spanish. I am from Mexico but all of my flying has been in the USA in English. When I looked at the checklist I had to ask my instructor to clarify a couple of items.

Consider reviewing Guía de Fraseología del Piloto VFR by Christian Coulombe

[En Español]

See also: Flying in Barcelona