High Adventure in the Alps
For Saturday June 29, 2024
Michael MacKuen

We revisit the highest Alps of Switzerland and France. From Lugano, we circle the castles of Bellinzona and fly up the Ticino Valley to transit the Gotthard and Furka Passes to Meiringen. Then we spend some time flying through the dramatic peaks of the Bernese and Pennine Alps. Finally, we climb over the Skyway of Mont-Blanc and descend to the comforts of Megève.


The Sphinx Observatory is frequented by a few scientists and thousands of tourists

We depart from Lugano [LSZA] in Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. We proceed north along the highways to Bellinzona and its historic castles: Castelgrande [GRAND], Montebello [BELLO], and Sasso Corbaro [SASSO] are all UNESCO World Heritage Sites. We land briefly at Lodrino [LSML], a small Swiss Air Force base, and then continue up to Ambri [LSPM] which once was a jet fighter base (with hangers under the mountains). It is now a regional GA facility. We climb up over the Gotthard Pass the historic and still important north-south trade route (nowadays mostly through tunnels). Then west over the Furka Pass (the famous drive is depicted in Goldfinger and more recently here). Turning north, we descend down the Aare Valley to pass Arthur Conan Doyle’s site of Sherlock Holmes’ apparent demise Reichenbach Falls. We land at the current Swiss Air Force base Meiringen [LSMM] which hosts F/A-18s in a large under-the-mountain cavern on the south side of the field.

From here we engage in a bit of play by flying up to the high ridge site of the Axalp Fliegerschiessen, an annual “training” exercise by the Swiss Air Force to which the public is invited (film here). (We shall run a west-to-east “gunnery pass” at the targets before circling back to see the crowds of camera-wielding onlookers.) Then down over the beautiful Brienzersee to land at Interlaken [LSMI]. This is a former air base that is now closed but used by helicopter operators and occasionally by military contractors. In place of the roar of Hawker Hunters, the base is almost silent as it hosts a largely-failed amusement park that was centered on Erich von Däniken’s theories of ancient astronauts as explanations of the world’s mysteries.

Next we ascend the Bernese Alps to see the iconic peaks of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau (the “ogre”, “monk” and “virgin”). The prominent mountains dominate the vista for miles around. We climb (vigorously) along the mountainsides taking in the famous North Face of the Eiger. The sheer north face was long thought to be too dangerous for serious climbers before it was finally attempted (in 1935) and ascended (in 1938). Since 1935, at least 65 climbers have died attempting the north face. This is the Nordwand (“north wall”) and has earned the German nickname Mordwand (“murder wall”). After we ascend we curl back over the snow-packed southern sides of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. Just southward lies the Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps. Forward, on the saddle between the Monch and Jungfrau, we see the Sphinx Observatory perched on a sharp rocky summit. It operates a scientific astronomical observatory as well as a public observation deck with bars and restaurants. (It is served by an inside-the-mountain railroad line that carries a half-million visitors a year up to the spectacular observatory.) We continue along the “top of Europe” to the Daubensee and descend southward to the Rhone Valley to land at the small airport at Raron [LSTA].

After a moment we turn south up the Matter Valley to the Pennine Alps. We climb to Zermatt, the world famous mountaineering and skiing resort. Continuing the climb along the cog-railway line, we see the hotel/ski/observatory complex Gornergrat (10,500) and note the railway station and its waiting rail cars. We then proceed to glance at the Gant-Hohtsälli aerial tramway station (11,000). Continuing eastward past the Stockhorn peak, we encounter the stunning view over the Swiss-Italian border. Some pilots may choose to go direct to the Gorner Glacier. Others may continue climbing (to about 15,100) before turning around over the Monte Rosa massif to see the Dufourspitze (15,203), the highest peak in Switzerland. We continue west over the Gorner Glacier (Grenzgletscher), the second largest glacial system in the Alps. And flying further we get a good look at the Matterhorn, perhaps the most famous peak of the Swiss Alps. We continue at altitude over the high Pennine Alps to enjoy the peaks, glaciers and lakes. At the Grand Combin massif we turn south and descend into Italy to land at Aosta [LIMW].

Our final exercise lies to the west. We depart and climb along the Aosta Valley toward Mont Blanc. We shall trace the Mont Blanc Skyway (Skyway Monte Bianco) which begins at Courmayeur alongside the Italian entrance to the busy Mont Blanc Tunnel. The cablecar system rises up the mountainside to Pointe Helbronner (and the nearby legendary Refugio Torino) and then to the Aiguille du Midi peak at the top. On a steep descent we turn at the Plan de l’Aiguille station to see the French entrance to the Mont Blanc Tunnel. We then proceed to our final destination Megève [LFHM]. The altiport hosts the Megève Flying Club (for mountain pilots) as well as a “convivial restaurant and terrasse.” We’ll gather at the Coucou Café to swap tales of our derring-do.

Documentation
The flightplan can be found here.

Aircraft
This is a flight of about 249nm with 7 landings. Some climbing is involved. A reasonably powerful GA aircraft will be able to climb to altitude and then move smartly along. We want something that will cruise at about 150kts and climb to and operate at 13,000-14,000 feet. Most of our favorite fast singles will do the job. I’ll try the WT-enhanced default Cirrus SR22T in the handsome Swiss livery HB-KHR by etan.

Additional Scenery
Almost all of the airports are in the default simulator. That said, several addons will enhance the scenery appreciably. Thanks to these talented addon creators.

Lugano-Agno [LSZA]. tchax95
Lodrino [LSML]. Heli30
Airbase Meiringen [LSMM]. unglajo10
Fliegerschiessen Axalp. ChrisPiAviation
Interlaken [LSMI]. FxM42
Jungfraupark Interlaken. Bruchpilot80
Swiss Huts Mittellegihutte & Monchsjochhutte. topgunsi
Aosta [LIMW]. WonderOfficial
Skyway Mont Blanc. mamudesign
Swiss Mountains Tree Fix. THEOLI4D
Temporarily, you can obtain the package here (965MB). For those economizing on downloads and willing to do without models of Lodrino [LSML] or the Junfraupark, a “light package” is here (432MB).

(If you have them, you probably want to activate the mamudesign power lines and especially the ski lifts.)

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 8:00am local for June 29, 2024.
We typically prefer real weather but today I will recommend the  default “High Clouds” or “Clear Skies” preset. Real weather will cover much of the terrain in snow – far beyond what we might expect in mid-Summer. For our high altitude sightseeing, we want high clouds or clear skies rather other cloud mixes.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Wednesday, June 29, 2024. 1800 UTC
RTWR Multiplayer Discord Channel
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!

 

Did anyone try this mod for the Cirrus: Asobo SR22T Realism Mod for Microsoft Flight Simulator | MSFS ?

Addendum. [06-26-24 1245UTC] I have just added the following small fix for the Alps (thanks to the author, it removes unrealistic trees). This is now in the downloadable package. (You can add the tiny file manually if you like.)
Swiss Mountains Tree Fix. THEOLI4D

Re: SR22T Mod. Gunter, I am now flying the MGouge425 realism mod v1.4.3. The author does extensive and careful work as you can see from his documentation. Of course, this is one man’s interpretation of how to tweak the flight model’s parameters. And of course MGouge425 has changed his combination of tweaks over time to make corrections and then corrections to his corrections. Given the complexity of MS flight modeling, this is the sort of iterative work that one can appreciate.

My quick reaction is that the ground handling on takeoff/landing seems much better than the default. And the flight dynamics and performance seem fine and maybe more accurate than the default. (Though the limited elevator authority on a flare has caught me out...perhaps that is correct.) However, my views are merely a first impression - I have not done point-to-point comparative testing. Nor have I explored MGouge425’s simulation of objective performance numbers. That said, I would recommend that you give it a try. And I am very interested in your evaluations.

Thank you Mike, I'll try it out.

Huts. An extra sight to see, if it works out easily enough. When we leave Interlaken and climb up alongside the Jungfrau, the Monch, and then the north face of the Eiger we shall be aiming for about 12,000 feet as we turn to the south (back) side of the ridge. If you have the altitude, probably on turning back to the southwest, you might fly along the Mittellegi Ridge of the Eiger to see the Middellegi Hutte (11,000ft). [If you have the addon installed, it will be marked as a helicopter site on LittleNavmap.] This was funded by a Japanese successful climber (1924) and is now run by the Grindelwald mountain guide association. You can stay here overnight and enjoy a hearty breakfast. Think of this as a possible AirBnB with a great view but a little off the beaten track. And we shall pass by the Monchsjoch Hut at the next waypoint. (Here is a visitor video of the Eiger inside-the-mountain  railway, the Sphinx Observatory, and the cliffside Monchsjoch Hut.) These two Alpine huts will not add much time to our trip and might produce a smile on the way.