Oh yesss, btw, in leg 6 there is this anomaly, as you might have seen; N46°9,69' E 7°52.53' it must be in FSX not only on my PC...as I already mentioned, it would be nice if we call this peak : Urs' Needle or any other ideas???
leg 07 Locarno_Innsbruck
convenient startup after this special leg 6 "the Swiss route",...now heading towards the last part of Switzerland and then "the Austrian Route"...
here we go....
lift off in anticipation
looking back a last glimpse towards Lago Maggiore,...I'll be back!!!
in climb we pass the town of Bellinzona, a main roadcrossing from north to south via San Gottardo and northeast to south via San Bernardino
my usual main road from Austria to Italy....
there are many other passes in this wonderful Alpine region and we just are above the lake of Splügen, where I crossed in Octobre on my Enfield
2117 m ASL
the Splügenpass road starts in Ciavenna, but if you have time, there are 5 more passes and one is along the Malojan road to St. Moritz and then to Samedan our first WP...St. Moritz (French: Saint-Moritz; German: Sankt Moritz; Italian: San Maurizio) is a ski resort in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. The Olympic Winter Games were held here in 1928 and 1948. we fly along the Silserlake and the Silvaplana lake to lake St.Moritz....
just a few minutes later we have to dive down underneath the clouds in approach of Samedan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samedan_Airportin my PPL education I was flying to Samedan in a two seater Diamond Katana 80 HP and Rotax engine,...was quite an adventure and exciting , as this is really high between the mountains...we have to make a flight plan and a customs announcement....as Switzerland is not a member of the European Union...
Samedan is fun,,,not only for VIP skiing freaks who fly to St. Moritz....
lets start climbing immediately otherwise we do not reach the top.....
via Albula Pass we fly north towards our next WP....
that was easy....compared to 80HP Katana when we needed a 360° turn after take off to gain altitude....with the two P&W its just fun...
but I had a good teacher so I never was in any doubt that we could make it....
cockpit fun as well
next roadcrossing... as we leave the higher Alpine region: Village of Reichenau, near Chur , where the road leads up to San Bernardino (Via Mala) and alternatively you can choose the upper river Rhein valley across a few more passes and glaciers to Mont Blanc ( if you want...lol )...you see Switzerland is a wonderful, szenic country and eldorado for bikers....
we follow the river Rhein and the Swiss A1 highway towards Bad Ragatz airfield...WP 2
just above the ruin of Freudenburg the small airfield comes into sight....
WP2 Bad Ragatz LSZE
The airfield has an asphalt runway (runway 30/12) that is 495 meters long and 12 meters wide. Bad Ragaz airfield is a private airfield (PPR). It is closed on public holidays. The Bad Ragaz glider flying group and the Chur motor flying group are based at the airfield.
the rallye turns north along the river Rhein, now border between Switzerland on the west ( left) and the Principality of Liechtenstein on the east (right) side
we pass along the castle of Vaduz, where the sovereign, Prince Hans Adam of Liechtenstein lives; unfortunately his first lady died this year...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaduzas Liechtenstein is a small country it only takes me a few minutes to reach Austria, city of Feldkirch, my hometown and directly at the border of Liechtenstein
my house, below, is just a few minutes walk to the border of Switzerland on the left, Liechtenstein underneath and Austria on top....a so called thre country corner, the county of Vorarlberg....
15 minutes later we reach LOIH, my homebase,from where I fly in reality....
www.loih.at/this is my club....
aeroclub-bodensee.at/and I am a member of
www.erlebnis-fliegen.at/no time to land,...the rallye must go on....
looking back south to the region, I live,...a 20 minutes drive by car....
after another five minutes we reach lake of Konstanz, so called "Bodensee" a huge sweetwater reservoir mainly for Germany in the north,
Switzerland is in the southwest and Austria on a small part in the southeast.....another three country corner....and
on the left you can see Altenrhein airport in Switzerland LSZR
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Gallen%E2%80%93Altenrhein_AirportLSZR was my son's homebase, when he worked as a captain on Dash 8-400 for Austrian - Tyrolean company many years ago,...now he is Captain on long distance flights for the German company Condor on the B767....
the river Rhein delta,....leading into lake Bodensee,...a birds preserve...
another five minutes later we have contact to Friedrichshafen, on the German side of the lake....EDNY
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichshafen_Airporten.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZeppelinEDNY is the base of Zeppelin company and museum
again, no time to waste,...if you'd like to have further inf, click on the links above,...
last turn to the east and in the background a last glimpse to Switzerland...."Urs-land"...
again across the Pre Alps towards Innsbruck, a well known area of me...and leaving Germany
good to know, where we are, as it's pretty cloudy here,...a glimpse to the vallye of river Lech,...origin in the village of Lech, another - Austrian - ski resort:
the "Arlberg" region
not far away the last ridge we have to pass to reach the vallye of the river Inn, leading to LOWI - Innsbruck
on the left you can see the tip of the "Zugspitze" at the border of Germany and Austria,...the highest mountain of Germany (2962 m ASL) and the mountain in front is the "Tschirgant" in the county of Tyrol, the first reporting point for LOWI approach, abeam "W1"
approaching "Whiskey two" "w2", where the river Inn bends by entering the Innsbruck ATC....the so called Whiskey route....
ATC on the radio tells us downwind to RWY 26, what means just overflying the centre of Innsbruck city....
so no direct in RWY 08, just along the airport on the southside....along the "low mountain range"
on the right side the so called "Nock peak" with its "nose"
downwind rwy 26, Innsbruck in front at the bending of river inn (" Innsbruck" means "Inns bridge"),..in the background the mighty "North chain ridge"
"cleared to land rwy 26....far right the valleye of Whip,...with the gigantic "European bridge" ( for highway crossing the vallye leading to Italy )
in front the "Patscherkofel" a perfect skiing area (twice Olympic winter games in Innsbruck 1964 and 1976) and on the left in front, directly aiming, the "berg Isl Jump"
The Bergisel Ski Jump (German: Bergiselschanze), whose stadium has a capacity of 26,000, is a ski jumping hill located in Bergisel in Innsbruck, Austria. It is one of the more important venues in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, annually hosting the third competition of the prestigious Four Hills Tournament.
Its first competitions were held in the 1920s using simple wood constructions. The larger hill was first built in 1930 and was rebuilt before the 1964 Winter Olympics for the individual large hill event. Twelve years later, the venue hosted the same event. The hill in its current form was finished in 2003 and was designed by the British Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid.
for all the information about Innsbruck, please click on the link:
en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Innsbruckor
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InnsbruckI lived in Innsbruck from 1976 to 1982 when I attended medical school....for becoming orthopedic - trauma surgeon....(looooong ago...lol)
on final
at last....touch down
seems to be busy....
on the northern side of the runway the technical university of Ibk.
during my studies, the old airport building was on this side
today a glider area....
txwy alfa,...on the right hangar the B25 of Austrian famous Didi Mateschitz, the owner of "Red Bull"
so that's busy....
parking at the north corner of general aviation....and a GEAR tent BBQ? beer?...lol
who's this,...engine failure???Ibk has a perfect maintenance crew
friendly people...GEAR comittee
perfectly marshalling,...usually just a "follow me car...."
sunset in Innsbruck .....and in memories...
okay, lets have a party and talk about "the good old times" and cheers to Urs!
a promise: my next leg's screenies will be shorter.....