ABS Fly-In Savannah, Georgia, May 16-19 See Page 3 - American ...

Once Was Not EnoughOur European friends in Cascais, Portugal.Eastbound From Wichita to AustraliaPart III By Jim KeepkieWe changed our initial plans for Europe after Tony andMarion Zalkin invited us to join them and their friends ina mini fly-in to Cascais, Portugal. We had met their friendsin 2007 at the European Bonanza Society fly-in at NorthWeald, England. Tony and Marion have an A36 Bonanza and live in London.Wolfgang and Anette Fehlhaber, from Cologne, Germany, and Adrian andLynn Daley from Derbyshire, England, both have V-tail Bonanzas. Interestingly,Wolfgang has relatives in Rockhampton, Australia, where I was born.With the assistance of the fixedbase operator I filed the plan to Cascaisvia Biarritz, France (LFBZ) for fuel. Thiswas also our entry port to the Euro -pean Union for Customs and Immigration.I filed the SID (Standard InstrumentDeparture) as part of the flightplan on the advice of the FBO. It wasgood advice for a complex departureinto London and then Paris airspace. At9,000 feet over the Channel I was gettingsome rime ice and was cleared lower.Conditions progressively improvedas we crossed the French countryside. Itwas a long day for Linda, having arrivedthe day before from Sydney, then atotal of seven hours flying this day fromOxford to Cascais.We had a great time in Cascais. FourBonanzas, eight people, and four daysat a truly lovely holiday destination.It’s great to be with old friends as well,sharing lots of food and drink in typicalABS style.We left Cascais for Faro, Portugal(LPFR) and our friends went to theirhome ports via a stopover in France.Faro is the major city in the Algarveregion of Portugal, a popular holidayarea. Flying conditions were VMCand hot.From Faro to Gibraltar (LXGB) wasso special. We tracked southeast overthe Atlantic. As we approached theStrait of Gibraltar we had Spain onthe left (Europe), Morocco on theright (Africa), and straight ahead theMediterranean Sea. Exotic waypointslike Casablanca and Tangier come tomind. Spanish Control (Seville) handedme over to the Gibraltar military controllers,who vectored me throughthe tight restricted airspace betweenthe African continent and Europeand set me up for a visual approachto Runway 09. I needed special priorpermission to enter Gibraltar from theEnglish military, which was not difficultto obtain. Gibraltar with its historywas certainly worth the visit.54 AMERICAN BONANZA SOCIETY FEBRUARY 2013