May 2003 - French Alps Challenges

Wow! Maybe we’ve been going a little too easy on Rik here with this whole FOTM thing – looks like he has some deep-seated aggression to get out. Or maybe he just thinks this will be some deep-seated fun. I think so too. After most of us had somewhat successfully flown the February flight into Baffin Island, Canada, Peter remarked that he was sorry there weren’t more stories about dodging near-by cliffs and moments of panic…I think we’ll be getting some of those stories this month!


Believe it or not, for those who have been reading stories from this Club for a while, I usually do not come into these flights with a “story” in mind, I just fly and see what comes up as I go. So, here goes: After spending the better part of a week flying circuits, patterns, DMEs, approaches and departures etc etc at our new FS Club International Airport (NZFC – Thanks Peter and Jeremy, great work by the Starks!) it was time to do some “real flying”, or at least some flying that would get me somewhere. This will be great because now that my FOTM route has me parked in Europe, I was hoping to run through that folder of “Dangerous Airports” I have in my cockpit. (You can visit www.dangerous-airports.com for a more thorough and complete list of challenges.) I’m also still building my FS2002 hanger and testing the planes as I go so, maybe I could “break-in” a new bird along the way?


From Berlin (that’s where Hans left us in April) I loaded up Real-World Weather and the FS Flight Club ERJ-145. Rik said that, “we’ll be embarking on a 1-hour Mountain Flying Mehem” so I figured “How bad is that?” Wanting to do it all in one day I set off early….


06:20 AM Friday – That’s usually what time I leave home in the morning anyway so I fire up the engines and call up ATC for my route into Geneva. It is a clear and crisp morning (much like we’re having at home right now). Ground directs me to the end of 27R at Berlin’s Tegel Airport and I join the morning line-up. ~See Picture One~


Departure westbound was uneventful and ATC directed me to my route south, into Switzerland. Other than some light chop coming into Geneva the flight was smooth. ATC directed me into the ILS for runway 5 (nearly turning me into a hillside on the way) but with visibility more than 20 miles it was an easy shot in. Light winds were picking up out of the east so it was a crosswind landing….could make for an interesting day. I landed at 8:14 AM, taxied to my parking space and shut down at 8:17. Then it was off to find some breakfast and information on these altiports and downloads Rik wants us to do!

**Several days of Real-Life pass by while I try and get these pieces to come into place. My time and certainly my knowledge, is very limited but I try. Bill’s report was….. …..interesting? Looks like Hans and Alastair may get it to work out…. Here I sit.**


From Geneva I’ll need to get to Challes and I thought it might be nice to try out “The Plane” before I head into the rocks and trees Rik promised us. I read about this one in “The Bear’s Cave” at, www.avsim.com and thought it looked like a nice little addition, so I added it:
Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer RAF
by Vladimir Zhyhulskiy
stp.zip uploaded 26-Mar-2003
485Kb
FS2002 Aircraft
The last aircraft from this guy I blew up, repeatedly (see my April PIREP), maybe a fixed-wing-thing will do better for me? At 11:00 AM I climb up into the Pioneer and call up ATC for my VFR departure.


Challes is one of the default offerings so I figure I’ll head there and then see what I can do. I depart northbound from runway 5 at Geneva and make a climbing right turn out over the southern tip of the lake. I fly south to LFLP (Meythet) and figure I’ll need the practice with the plane so I announce landing and circle around to runway 4. I’m on the ground from 11:35 to 11:58 AM. I taxi back out to runway 4 and depart easily. Another right turn ~See Picture Two~ and I find a canyon to fly down, low, between the hills. I can’t help but notice that it’s May and there isn’t any snow portrayed on my screen. What happened to the ski vacation with “Babes” that was promised? Did I miss something other than the add-ons?


I come out of the valley, heading west, directly over LFLE (Challes). I turn south to set-up for an approach into the north. As I make my turn base-to-final I remember that Rik said you couldn’t do it this way. (The clue comes from the fact that I am staring at a hillside rather than the runway. Hey Bill, you can’t land on 33 Buddy! You should’ve gone around.) Not wanting to end up as Bill’s Hospital roommate, I choose to go around, flying toward the local NDB and then turning right for an approach into runway 15. ~See Picture Three~ . My set-up looks horrible and while it WAS ugly, it wasn’t as bad as it looks. A little cross-controlled slip, full flaps, flight idle and I “planted” her down. This is a real fine little plane, and good STOL capabilities, and Peter, no nose gear!


**Another few days pass. I’m so impatient. I want to get these PIREPS up onto the page – but maybe I need to wait for y’all so I can learn what to do?**


**Several days later I received a step-by-step tutorial from Hans, sounds great but one of the main downloads is 18 Mb. Ouch! You know, I wonder what would happen if I flew this damned thing with just the default offerings? I’d likely be the ONLY one but hey, somebody has to be here for the less-advanced of the species. Finally I get some of the “altiports” to show up in the default scenery – well, they show up on the Map View and I can select them from Flight Planner but then the plane just appears in the middle of open space ~See Pictures Four and Five ~ I must be very close? Don’t answer this anyone, but am I a total idiot or something? I think I’m more likely just a big fat chicken!**


So, we’ll find another destination to fly to, still scenic and still some fun. The simulator clock says I’ve been on the ground at Challes for 15 minutes, it’s now 12:28 PM on that Friday, so I depart runway 33, overfly the NDB before turning left to pick up a route into LIMW (Aosta, Italy). I keep the altitude low, looking for valleys to climb through and over. As I slowly work my way east I encounter more and more chop, gusting winds and growing cloud cover. ~See Picture Six . I really need to get a better program for cloud simulation!~


Soon after crossing into Italy, I descend down an alpine valley into the deep valley and the airport. There are no local NavAides here but I’m VFR anyway – I just hope I’m coming down the proper valley. ~See Picture Seven~ Down and down I go enjoying some great SpotPlane Views along the way. This is some good fun, even without the stupid mesh. ~See Picture Eight~ I come in straight and smooth despite some occasionally strong gusts of wind. The Pioneer stops on a dime. It’s now 13:09 and time for some gas.


Now I face decision time. Shall I return to France in the Pioneer, a total and complete failure for not flying the FOTM? Shall I continue on, pretending that I’m doing something good, something worthwhile? Shall I bag the whole thing and head for my favorite destination, the Mediterranean?


Chock one up for option three. I park the Pioneer, convinced that I will return for her later. I sneak around through my simulator until I find something that I should likely not be allowed to have. I fire the engines at 14:15, check the gauges, quickly taxi out to runway 09, lock the brakes and firewall the throttles. When I release the brakes I surge forward, unleashing the power. Pulling back slightly I rotate into the air and immediately pull up the gear, then flaps, then I execute a smooth aileron roll. ~ See Picture Nine~ Those damned Americans have no respect for the countries which so generously let them come in. (That’s why they call us……errrr, I mean it, they call IT an “Intruder”.) I pull back on the throttles, to keep my airspeed about 320 knots. I shoot out of the valley, climbing sometimes recklessly up through the mountains. I work my way back to the boarder between Italy and France, skirting over saddles and between the higher peaks. ~See Pictures Ten and Eleven ~ I would like to send out my apologies to the residents of that little village back there, didn’t see you coming until it was too late. I hope I didn’t break any fine china!


Soon I crested a hillside and saw a valley obscured by low-hanging clouds and fog, so I dove for the white. Once through the very thin layer of cloud I was again VFR in a narrow valley. “What’s that ahead….an airstrip?” I pull back on the throttles, drop the gear and add full flaps. “Whoa! This baby really dances around at slow speed.” I almost chewed on some trees there! (Peter, take note please) With a little more throttle I got the beast back under me but by then I was over the threshold of what turned out to be LFNC. This strip, with the near-by hills, is not unlike Challes a fine challenge for anyone “stuck” in the default scenery. Though this strip is not as short as an Aircraft Carrier, I’m no Naval pilot, so I “bolter”, and do a Touch-and-Go through LFNC. ~See Picture Twelve~

As long as I had the GPS open to ID that last stop I noticed another alpine airport ahead, LFMR in the village of Barcelonette or something like that. I flew a tight Right-Hand pattern and landed at just after 15:30 local time ~See Picture Thirteen~ In fact, 9 hours after departure from Berlin I think I’ll call it a day. Time to relax with the locals and tune in to www.plr.org for some good tunes.


The next day is a Saturday. (It’s been a couple of Real-World weeks so I load up another dose of Real-World Weather for this last leg). It is a gorgeous, clear and breezy day over southern France. I climb into another fine plane, the Shorts360 and depart westbound out of Saint Pons ~See Picture Fourteen~ As I work to climb up through the hills (not the easiest job!) I find a nice looking lake up there in the mountains. ~See Picture Fifteen~ This is certainly a very scenic trip, thanks for the flights Rik, I’ve seen things this month I would’ve never found! Just 30 minutes later I fly out of the mountains and over the Mediterranean Coast. I turn right and make a straight shot into Nice, France ~See Picture Sixteen~ Now, after that debacle, I think I’ll park here for awhile!


Those who don’t want to fight all the downloads, try this:

Geneva, Switzerland -> LFLE -> LFNC -> LFMR -> Nice, France