Swiss-Italian Zig-Zag

[Viking01 181]

Swiss-Italian Zig-Zag

 

This flight starts in Switzerland, at the Military Base Meiningen (LSMM). A nice freeware can be downloaded at www.isra.ch or here. We will not follow GPS Course line but the valley eastbound. Keep an eye on the terrain, we will need to climb a bit. 

After some lakes an lots of serpentines we head east again. We need to climb to about 10.000ft to get over the mountains, heading southeast. As the valley opens again we need to get down, our first touch and go will be at Ambri (LSPM), which has an elevation of 3238 ft. I wanted to make a full stop landing there, but I can't get rid of trees and houses on the runway. A bit north of Ambri is the southern entrance of the (old) Gotthard tunnel, the main road into the Lago Maggiore area from the North.

 

After Ambri we will follow the main road, not the course line, down to Bellinzona, one of the larger cities in the Swiss Kanton Ticino. There we turn right, towards the Lago Maggiore and land at Locarno (LSZL). A little improvement is the freeware, that can be downloaded here. It is in fac just one bgl-file for the Addon Scenery/Scenery folder.

The aiport is pretty busy and is home to an active skydiving community. The city itself is worth visting. It was the site of the Locarno Treaty (after WW1) an every year in August the Locarno Film Festival is held here.

 

The whole area is very nice and offers many opportunities for outdoor activities. The valleys that are north of the Lago Maggiore on the Swiss side are indeed weel known for nice hiking trips and small, old villages enroute.

We continue and depart Locano in direction of the Lake and follow the shore line, past Ascona, another place for the rich and famous. Shortly after Ascona we leave Switzerland for a short while into Italy. Abeam Stresa we turn away from the Lake, again eastbound. This will get us back into Switzerland again and our next stop will be Lugano (LSZA). It is one of the major Swiss Financial Centers. The freeware scenery enhances the airport quite a bit and can be downloaded here. 

 

After take off we head to the lake, follow it for a while and the cross towards the next lake, again a little bit off track. That takes us into Italy again and we avoid climbing quite a bit. 

To reach Samedan (LSZS), we can follow a small valley, but we need to climb (or fly a very long detour), because the last ridge has an height of about 9000 feet. After that we can descend into the valley and towards some lakes, back into Switzerland again. Samedan has a field elevation of 5597 feet and is included in the ORBX Freeware Pack for Europe.

 

After leaving Samedan, we can follow the road and the valley long enough to climb (aim for 10.000 ft minimum) and then  get back on track to the Flueela-Pass, one of the old and well know passes in the Alps. Here we turn left and head towards Chur. On the way, at the first larger valley, you can catch a glimpse of Davos (if you are on track and look to the right), a very famous Swiss resort. 

Chur is the Capital of the Swiss Kanton Graubünden and is situated in the Rhine Valley. The also famous Via Mala is very close to Chur. Since there is no airport, we turn north and head to Bad Ragaz (LSZE), following the valley and the River Rhine. 

 

There is not much to say about Bad Ragaz other than it is also included in the ORBX Freeware Pack Europe.

 

Departing Bad Ragaz we have to climb to get into Italy again. It is the region Süd-Tirol (Alto Adige or South Tyrol), where almost everbody speaks German. We follow the track and cross into Austria near the Arlberg. From here we follow the River Inn to Innsbruck (LOWI). There is a very nice Payware for LOWI from Gianni, but a freeware can be found here. Innsbruck is the capital city of Tyrol and lies about half way between Munich in Germany to Verona in Italy. The famous Brenner Pass is one of the most popular roads into Italy, and it is just 30 km from Innsbruck.

 

Now it is time for us to head to our destination. We follow the wide Inn valley to the east, climb again to cross the higher elevation until we finally reach the next, wide valley north of Mittersill. From here we descend and prepare ourselves for the landing at Zell am See (LOWZ). A freeware scenery can be found here. 

 

The trip has a length of about 335 NM, so a plane that can cruise around 220 Kts should be ok. As always, the choice is yours but keep in mind that we need to climb quite a bit.

 

Flightplan Link 

 

 

Where and When

Date and time: Saturday 11 June 2016, 1800 UTC

Where: AVSIM RTWR Teamspeak - Casual Flights Channel

Teamspeak Server Address: ts.teamavsim.com

Multiplayer: FSX Multiplayer (IP will be provided on Teamspeak)

 

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet!

 

Note to Ron: A good start time of  the server should be around 1400Z.

 

Another Note: The numbering of the various turnpoints was done by PlanG, I have no idea why the numbers are so strange....

[spokes2112 179]

For your map folding needs - here.

 

Will try to make it.. It's going to be close with my arrival time.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Multiplayer spreadsheet can be found here:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GW9WtOhGVQBrvd9G8B15P_i5vB1aUjOOPZgObirFF7w/edit#gid=0

[Viking01 181]

Multiplayer spreadsheet can be found here:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GW9WtOhGVQBrvd9G8B15P_i5vB1aUjOOPZgObirFF7w/edit#gid=0

Sorry, I forgot to put in the link...

[spokes2112 179]

Thanks Gunter! - for a mighty fine flight plan! Today the pic taking skills were not up to par whatsoever... Got a few though..
A day of growling radials.. With a touch of opposed 6's & one V-12. 

Josh coming in at LSZL ( ) with his Legacy, showing the "crew" for this "Saturday Evening Special".



Forward to Aft along the taxiway - All the trojans were D models, Mike in the Red/White Navy 710, Bry in the real cool 1976 bi-centenial #76 ship, unsure who was who at this early time but one for sure was Bert, the other was Gunter before he switched over to a working Trojan, Ron in his fine looking Lancair IV-P N5VZ, Jeff in the yellow Trojan US Navy 749, behind Jeff, hiding, was Frippe in what I've been told a superb Ferrari version of the P-51 ( my FAULT Dang It!, only installed the Mil version of the 2 ), "Tail End Charlie" was myself in F-AZKG #28. 

Jeff coming in like a feather.



Bry showing off his "Patriotic" color scheme while aiming for the skidmarks.



Ron getting into the flare.



Bert coming in as a bunch of "angry" radials look on.



Oh - You - Betcha! Ron (lead), Frippe & myself trying to hold on during the constant up/down drafts.



Yep... Had to "break off" a few times.



Mike, you have the lead - One..... Two.... Three... - GO!



Was on him until said someone said "try to break" .. He went into the vertical until stall - Nice Move! Had no idea where he departed. - Lost.



"Most" of the boys at home discussing all that matters.



Now... We are all home - as it starts to rain.

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

I did manage a couple of snaps;

 

Holding short somewhere in Switzerland

 

 

 

Now THAT's close formation! Frippe in his Ferrari painted Mustang.

 

 

Terrific flight. Cheers Gunter.

[spokes2112 179]

Wowsa ! Ron you have the job!
Why? oh Why? didn't I install the other paint? UGGH!  - AWESOME!

[Viking01 181]

Great shots, thanks for sharing!!

[StewartH 66]

You all look great!  Sorry I couldn't be there.  But hoping to see y'all next week.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

This makes me feel like building my own home cockpit!