April 2010 - High Speed through the Alps

This month we have a new FOTM author taking us to ... well, lets just say that I find many things oddly framiliar:

I left off last month in Queenstown, NZ. Bill took us there in June 2003. From Queenstown I flew a private Lear 35 up to Auckland. (Tony had us flying Lear 35s back in May 2005!)

From Auckland I loaded up a Tanaka SST in Air New Zealand livery (I flew one of those after the April 2006 FOTM) and headed northwest to the other side of the planet.

From Zurich I flew a PAC-750XL (I have not featured one of those before) down to Geneva.

From Geneva, as instructed. I loaded up a Mirage III fighter and headed east over the region where Rik had us fly back in May 2003 - that's like ... seven years ago! As instructed I was staying low.
As we head east from Switzerland, over France ... I mean Switzerland ... I mean Italy ... errrr, still Switzerland ... I landed in Lugano where Hans took us in April 2007.
After taking several minutes to walk around, admire again the beauty of this place and breath in some of the bright, fresh air, I climbed back up into the Fighter Jet and headed north, over the Alps, across the whole of Switzerland

to the start of Hans' April 2007 FOTM, the Bodensee. Without landing I made a sharp turn to the southeast and headed for the destination of our December 2005 FOTM, Innsbruck, Austria.
I landed in Innsbruck and headed into town for some lunch.

From Innsbruck I headed back across Switzerland, southwest this time, made a touch-and-go through Lucerne, flew over Bern, near Fribourg (someone visiting our website back in 2004 or so suggested that we fly around Fribourg - I wonder if that guy is still reading our PIREPs??) Finally landing up in Payerne, as instructed.

Great Fun! I found the Mirage Roll-rate to be outstanding but the elevators and graphics left too much to be desired - I no longer have a Mirage in the Hangar!

Chris, thank you so much for hosting us this month. Good Luck in your next phase of life - may blessings come to you and yours. Now if you'll excuse me ... I'm off to get some fresh bread and cheese and head down to Lake Geneva for some dinner.

pretendpilot@yahoo.com
P.S. I started the month in a Lear 35 and I ended the month doing MediVac Flights in a Lear 35.