The rain has passed and the skies are clear. Soon we'll have the sunset but I prefer to fly the short hop towards Perpignan, carrying some cargo that I had booked from Girona. I have to land in IFR again, since I don't find visual charts for Perpignan. So Z-VFR, no wind, no traffic. The only problem is the runway.
The Baron 58P has a takeoff distance of 2.643 ft, while LEAP runway is 2.671 ft long. So it's on the limit. The fact that the lading ground roll distance is 1,440 ft makes me expect to rotate a bit after half of the runway. Some low trees are at the end of the runway, but I should be able to climb over them. I just need to have the nerves to rotate after half of the runway, keep next to the ground to build speed, and climb quickly at the very end. So I entered the runway and locate myself on the extreme, taking advantage of every meter. I set the parking brake, pushed the throttle all the way up... and release the brake. Everything was great and I entered on a left hand pattern towards the sea.
I climbed to 3.000 ft over the water, while surrounding the Cap de Creus, climbing later to 5.800 ft, minimum altitude required at the STAR I plan to fly.
KANIG is the waypoint to catch, easily reachable since it corresponds with the top peak of the mountains that separate Spain and France. So yes, we leave behind Spain and visit tbe second country of this Tour, France.
A quick descent takes me to a holding pattern near Perpignan, followed by a DME arc. This is a problem, since I have never done one manually. As a result, I turn too fast and I intercept the glideslope at a bad angle and higher than optimal. However, there is no wind, no clouds and the visibility is perfect, so I forget about the ILS approach and AP decide to approach and land manually.
So here I am, at Perpignan. I had never landed in this city, considered the "Entrance" to the Iberian peninsula from the North. And I have booked the next fly already, which I expect to be one of the most remarkables of the whole Tour.
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Distance: 60 nm
LFMP 252330Z AUTO 28003KT 9999 SCT021 SCT086 14/11 Q1020
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