01.11.2017: I just thought I do a little flying today, which however turned into a 2:30 flight over the Alps. Only once I was airborne I realised how nice the weather was, and luckily I had just refuelled, so there just wasn’t any reason to get back soon.
Most VFR pilots seem to have closed their flying season, as I was alone over the alps during the whole flight. Nobody to see, and also nobody to hear on Zurich Information.
Below the main valley of the canton of Glarus. It’s hard to believe, but there are some villages down there who don’t have any sun for some months every year. Places without sun don’t only exist north of the polar circle….
There is nothing more relaxing for me than to juts “hang around” over the Alps, but from the radio traffic I seem to be the only one who feels like that.
08.11.2017: I had to go to Berlin today, a chance to see the sun again after a week in the fog. That was however only during the flight, as the weather in Berlin was not much better than in Switzerland, we dived into the haze when landing.
12.11.2017: Another business trip, this time to Toulouse. But no, not to visit Airbus… I had to fly in on Sunday, as I attended a course which started Monday morning at 9. And there are no direct flights to Toulouse from Zurich, so I had to fly via Frankfurt. Paris would have been the other option, but I don’t change flights there anymore after having it done twice, both times with lot’s of troubles.
When flying from Frankfurt to Toulouse there was a spectacular sunset.
When flying back on Tuesday I noticed that there is already snow in the black forest, winter is definitely coming.
Approaching Zurich we had a spectacular panorama of the alps before diving back into misery….
18.11.2017: I’m off for a business trip to Australia and New Zealand, my 20th trip to Down Under in ten years. It wasn’t too difficult to convince me to do the trip, considering it’s November in Switzerland with it’s typical gray, cold and rainy weather.
I managed to get a flight from Zurich to Brisbane with a single stop in Singapore of only 50 minutes, which I prefer as you leave Zurich before noon and arrive in Australia in the evening the following day, which is then followed by a night of sleep. All other alternatives would have meant having a lengthy stopover somewhere and arriving in the morning of the second day, or late at night. My German colleagues had a flight from Hanover via Frankfurt, Dubai and Singapore to Brisbane, that’s just crazy.
The weather in Brisbane wasn’t as I had hoped, at least for the first three days, warm but cloudy with occasional rain shower. But that’s still better than cold, fog and occasional rain showers…
As usual when I arrive in Australia I go out for a beer on the first evening, just to enjoy the atmosphere and also not to go to bed too early, as I’m otherwise awake the following morning ar around 3 or 4.
On the last day in Brisbane the weather improved significantly, just in time for the weekend.
26.11.2017: After flying to Sydney on Thursday evening and visiting customers on Friday I have spent the weekend with friends who live some distance north of the city.
My friends live a bit out in the boonies, meaning lot’s of strange creatures in their garden….
He is a hobby pilot too, flying from Warnervale, New South Wales (YWVA). They had scheduled a club event on Saturday evening, with a presentation of an Australian made flight planning app called OZairports, which we went to listen to. Luckily I had taken my iPad with me, so we both installed the app (there is a free 30 days trial version). To be honest, that’s so far the easiest to use flight planning app I have tried, I’m seriously considering switching.
27.11.2017: Today I flew to New Zealand, visiting some more customers.
In the evening we had dinner down at the harbour in a pub, from where I noticed a Beaver waiting for tourists…
30.11.2017: I’m flying back today from Auckland to Switzerland. Luckily I managed to get a direct flight from Auckland to Singapore, and then from there to Zurich. That’s two flights of around 12 hours each with a stopover of five hours, probably about the furthest place you can fly from back to Switzerland.
But when seeing the plane below in Auckland I considered a small detour…
