Planning an airtrip to Morocco and Spain?
Context
Overall impressions
Planning design
- Day 1: Paris – Biarritz – Madrid
- Day 2: Madrid – Tanger – Essaouira
- Day 4: Essaouira – Marrakech
- Day 9: Marrakech – Tetouan – Granada
- Day 11: Granada – Zaragossa – Toulouse
- Day 13: Toulouse – Paris
Actual route
- Day 1: Paris – Perpignan (route south of Biarritz was very cloudy so avoided) – Madrid
- Day 2: Madrid – Tanger – Essaouira
- Day 4: Essaouira – Marrakech
- Day 9: Marrakech – Rabat (weather to Rabat was poor and there was no time to arrive to Granada before sunset)
- Day 10: Rabat – Granada
- Day 11: Granada – Sabadell/Barcelona (this airport was planned initially as alternative and made the change easy)
- Day 12: Sabadell – Toulouse
- Day 13: Toulouse – Paris

Aircraft
List of material
Navigation app
SkyDemon app. This specific app has been recommended to me by Adil, an instructor from the Marrakech Royal Flying Club. The key advantage for Morocco is that it already has the mandatory VFR reporting points. I used this app on both a phone (held by suction cup on the windscreen so always in visual range) and a tablet (tied to my leg so only visible if I look down).
The phone always had the local map, while I alternated the tablet between regional map and nav log. This app has many advantages that clearly separates it from Air Nav Pro and Garmin Pilot, which I have used in the past. The cost for 1 month is about 15 euros. Flight plan filing package is about 20 euros for 20 flight plans.
Tablet/phone apps
Use 2 devices. I use the iPad mini v3 and a Samsung S7 running android. The iPad tends to overheat when directly exposed to sunlight. This causes the iPad to completely stop functioning for a period of at least a dozen of minutes. The Samsung did not overheat. However, it did bug one time by exiting the app unexpectedly 2 times in a row. Otherwise super reliable.
Navigation map Morocco
Morocco VFR 500k map. This is available on Morocco SIA website (http://siamaroc.onda.ma/cartes_vfr.htm). There are 5 maps, each covering a section of the country.
Navigation map Spain
Other navigation
Formality documents
- Prefill GENDECs. They are required at customs when entering/exiting countries for international flights.
- Prefill police document “Fiche de police” for Morocco. Required at many airports (Tanger for internation arrival, Marrakech I think, Rabat at national arrival and international departure).
Safety
- Yellow reflective vests, to be worn at least by the pilot at airports where you don’t have handling. (Handling agent drives you around so no safety issue). Essaouira had only one aircraft: ours. So no safety risk either.
- Lifevest, see section below
- Satellite communicator, see section below
- Additional GPS, see section below
Preparation and information sharing among crew
- Technical Planning. Includes dates, departure and arrival airports, distance, flight time (best, expected, worst-case), fuel requirements (worst-case + safety), runway length and TKOF distance requirement based on temperature and pressure altitude, etc…
- PPR. Includes a column per airport with data to be communicated to airport stakholders (handlers, airport official, etc..) with aircraft registration, owner, arriving from, departing to, arrival/departure dates and hours, pilot and passenger names and passport numbers, fuel requirements, etc… I would copy-paste the relevant column into emails that went to airports/handling companies/fuel companies.
- Weight and balance. Includes classical weight and balance calculation under 3 person and 4 person scenario (had both cases). With balance graph.
- Tourist Planning. Includes logistic details for each destination, such as hotels and others.
- Tourist activities. Includes possible activities to do at destination.
Airport information
- Do I need a PPR for landing and parking? Or is a flight plan enough?
- Is there fuel and what is the approx price? What are the accepted payment methods? Opening times?
- Is handling required? If so, get quotes from handling agents and select one.
Morocco
- Tanger (GMTT): no PPR, Avgas OK, flight plan needed, no handling needed. (A policeman will show up at the aircraft just after you park and take you to customs).
- Essaouira (GMMI): no PPR, Avgas OK, flight plan needed, no handling needed. Very happy to see people as usually there as very few flights per day. You can go to the control tower and say hi – the control was happy to see us.
- Marrakech (GMMX): no PPR, Avgas OK, flight plan needed, handling needed. I used Swissport and it was fantastic handling. Everything was great and flexible. Fully recommend.
- Rabat (GMMI): no PPR (but the agent at departure airport Marrakech called Rabat to check if there was any royal activity – it was fine for today, otherwise pick another airport), Avgas OK, flight plan needed, handling preferred but we did without. A security agent was affected to us to go through customs and border control, but it was out of ordinary for them that we didn’t have a handling agent. The military will want to brief you on departure route for VFR. They will just tell you what is on the map, but it has to be done. I didn’t have time to do it on the first attempt to depart and this was a good enough reason to reject flight authorization upon first contact with tower to request taxi.
Spain
- Madrid Cuatro Vientos (LECU): No PPR, Avgas OK, flight plan needed, handling not required/not available. For Schengen entry/exit, just file your flight plan more than 24 hours in advance and give a phone call to the airport to check customs/border control will be available at this time. Very important: the only fuel company will not serve Avgas unless you give them an intracommunity VAT number. If you operate a private flight, you don’t have a company or a VAT number. Pick any other company (from relatives, or your airclub or rental company) and give them this number. It took me 30 minutes to figure it out.
- Granada (LEGR): No PPR, Avgas OK, flight plan needed, handling not required. We took handling because we entered Schengen from Morocco. We took Andalucia Aviation Services and it was great.
- Zaragossa (LEZG): PPR required (but no problem), Avgas OK, flight plan needed, handling required. Did not land there after all.
- Sabadell (LELL): PPR not required, Avgas OK, flight plan needed, handling not required/not available. To get to Barcelona, take a cab to the Sabadell Sud train station (<8 euros). There, take a 25-min train to city center (<5 euros).
France
VFR Navigation
Weather
Flight plan
Water overfly
Headset
- First, you can now listen to music in flight. This makes the experience incredibly more enjoyable.
- Second, you can make phone calls. This happened when talking to ground operations in Perpignan regarding the landing fee. I asked to call on phone rather than use battery for radio, and didn’t have to do anything to continue talking to them beside punching the numbers on my phone. In another instance, the handling agent from Granada called me 20 minutes before landing in Rabat. I quickly picked up and said that I was in flight and was still planning on arriving to Granada but got delayed. This can be a lifesaver in case of communication failure. For instance, Sabadell (Barcelona) airport lets you enter its airspace and land in case of radio communication by using a specific route to the airport and looking at tower lights. Also, they give a phone number to use specifically for this purpose. Having the capability to make a phone call to the tower with the headset is a safety feature.
Satellite communicator
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Backup GPS watch
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