Italian "Spring meeting"

[Ettore]

Hey all,

last weekend took place here in Italy (precisely in Umbria) the traditional "Spring Meeting", which is the meeting that officially opened the airshows season.
This year we had the honor of hosting a group of 14 RVs coming from England, France and Ireland.

Here's some pics!

[airmel]

Beautiful! Thank you for sharing your pictures!

[ccsmith51]

Italy is my favorite, thanks for the pictures!

[Bob Axsom]

Your post stirs thoughts of travel. I wonder what the border crossing complications are?

Bob Axsom

[tkatc]

Good to see Bryan out and about in his "Emerald Isle" RV. I flew that beauty when I was in Ireland. 3 weeks to go before my Italy vacation.... CAN'T WAIT!!

[Ettore]

Bob, if you come from a country being part of EU you should have no problems.

@tkatc: Bryan is very friendly, I talked to him and his copilot for a few minutes just before they left to "San Sepolcro" airfield. His -7 is awesome!
Are you coming here in Italy? Where exactly?

[shuttle]

Originally Posted by Bob Axsom

I wonder what the border crossing complications are?
Bob Axsom

Bob,

Border crossing complications are really just bureaucratic inconveniences:

- Have to file a flight plan when crossing international borders.

- Have to clear customs when entering/leaving Schengen Agreement countries (e.g. UK is outside, France/Italy inside Schengen area).

- In the UK, requirement and notice period varies by departure airfield and destination but have to advise Customs/Immigration/Police of ETA of return to UK.

- In Europe, RV's are non-certified a/c with a national 'Permit to Fly' so need to seek written permission in advance to fly in other countries. Some countries respond with permissions, others may not respond at all! Has improved of late with e.g. national agreement between UK & France to accept each other's 'Permit to fly' a/c.

- Getting fuel can be an issue. E.g. in France some airfields require you to have a Total (fuel company) Card to use the automated fuel pumps but you cannot get a Total Card if you don't have a French bank account (or possibly Euro currency bank account) so you may need to find a friendly local willing to loan you their Total Card in exchange for cash.

- Need to get a bunch of different charts that use different presentation styles.

- And then there is language . My experience of ATC is good in that they all generally speak good English but it is a little disconcerting when there is other traffic around and they are conversing with ATC in local language meaning that it is not possible (for one such as I with poor European language skills) to pick up clues about the other traffic's location and intentions.

I'm sure there are other issues too, but these are the main ones for me.

Regards,
Steve

[Lemmingman]

I really like that paint job on G-BVIB.

[shuttle]

Actually, that is G-RVIB - Peter Gorman's RV-6.

Peter knows a thing or two about crossing international borders. Last year he flew G-RVIB from Ireland to South Africa and back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD-e4CFBnJc