Day: July 15, 2025

I’ve been informed that my Savannah’s transponder has now been repaired and that I can therefore return to La Rochelle for it to be refitted and the Savannah’s 6-yearly avionics check to be completed. I’ve checked the weather and it looks as though the best day for the flight will be this coming Thursday 17th July as after that the weather looks as though it will become more unpredictable.

Both of the times I’ve been into La Rochelle the wind has been off the sea making for a straightforward approach and landing on runway 27. However, it looks as though the wind will be fairly light on Thursday but from the opposite direction. The primary ILS (instrument landing system) for the commercials going into La Rochelle (eg Ryanair) is on runway 27 and it’s likely that they might still use that runway despite there being a small tailwind for them but I don’t know whether that will apply for me doing a VFR approach which is published to be to 09 to the north on a left hand circuit over the sea.

The VFR departure to the south on 09 is also slightly more complex as it takes a similar but reverse route to the approach to runway 27 following the main road out to reporting point E (Echo) before then turning to head south. It therefore looks as though Thursday’s flight could be quite interesting especially as I’ll also be entering controlled airspace without a transponder this time.