After all that great weekend, the upcoming Monday was not going to be funny… and Arthur was still on vacation ’til Tuesday morning. Decision was quite easy to make, I won’t go to the lab today, and I’ll stick with him at the airfield.
This time, we planned a longer flight, a real navigation. I’d do the first leg, and he’d fly the plane for the return trip. The real question was about where to go, in a one-hour flight time radius around Andernos LFCD… Except on the western side where there’s nothing but the ocean, there are plenty of airports around us ; first requirement was to go somewhere neither of us has ever been, that cuts off around half the fields. Being stuck with 10 instead of 20 choices is not of a great help, and we started to ask around for advices. According to some of them, and checking on our side if this destination is that interesting, we finally picked San Sebastian.
ICAO code: LESO
Time to work. Browse the Spanish aviation authority website to get the approach charts, check the NOTAMs, find out you must call them before coming to ensure you’ll have a place to park the aircraft… first contact with Spanish language in years, great thing they do speak English too !
Once this is ok, create and file a flight plan for the round trip, including estimated times when we’ll cross the border. That’s it : our first international flight !
Then, seriously prepare the navigation, including the possibility we’ll have to divert to an alternate field on the way cause of the rather bad weather we had. Check for weight and balance, double-check for the required fuel amount… and it’s now time to open the hangar. Load it with our stuff, without forgetting the camera, do the pre-flight checks, and here we go.
Line up runway 31, take off, once out of the airfield pattern quit the frequency, and contact Aquitaine Info to activate the flight plan. Next we started heading south after calling the military control as our way crossed several of their zones, as usual with them, no problem to get the clearance, which allowed us almost down to Biarritz. Once approaching, we changed the radio for that civil approach control, which also allowed us to transit through his airspace, overflying all the city’s shore line. Wonderful view there 
But a few minutes later, the ATC called back, advising us we were leaving his control zone and that we should switch to San Sebastian approach. Big deal, first time for us entering a foreign airspace with all that means, starting with radio comms in English… while we always did that in French here !
We worried a bit about that moment, about what to do if we fail at understanding (or at being understood) th ATC’s instructions… and after doing it, we realized that was just worrying for nothing: it’s not that difficult and controllers there are nice.
Once minute later, we were authorized to enter the final leg, two more turns to intercept the axis and glide path, and we’re established and cleared to land, runway 22.
This is a really special airport: the runway is built over the sea, and on the final 22, you end up a few feet above the roofs and boat’s masts (see pictures to make an idea on that). But anyway, we landed safely, then were ordered to follow a follow-me -what an appropriate name !- which led us to our parking spot.
After paying the 4.5€ landing fees (yes, four decimal five euros, that’s cheap), we left the airport for a walk in the city. Took some photos, I put them in the Gallery.
Return trip was almost as great as the first leg. Funny part when we got back at the airport, and discovered we had to get our bags X-rayed before being allowed to enter our own plane… someone really needs to inform airport authorities that when you’re piloting an aircraft, you don’t need to threaten yourself with a knife to divert to somewhere else, and that it’s called diverting and not hijacking… but that might be a bit too much to expect from them 
We had to take-off in the opposite direction (runway 04) to avoid traffic on its way to land on the runway a few minutes later. Besides that, nothing special, after five minutes we left the Spanish airspace, and followed back the shore to get back home. One more nice view of the Basque coast, then the so long yellow line of sand separating the forest from the ocean. When the shore stops, turn right, look around for our distinctive water tower and you’re done. It was really time to get back on the ground, the weather had considerably worsened, and five minutes after landing an impressive rain shower started. We’d probably had to divert to another field if we arrived at this moment.
Total flight time for the day: 2:00 hours. Pictures: too many.
First international flight (even if LESO is located just across the border, it’s still abroad), and definitely something to do again, and again !
Thanks to Arthur for that super weekend, and to JB for all his help when planning the trip.
