03.09.2017: We returned today from our long holiday in Canada. We had a great time, but unfortunately it did not include any chances to go flying. We had the intention to take some floatplane rides, but there don’t seem to be too many of them in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, with the exception of some private planes we saw from time to time.
On our way from Montreal to the Newfoundland Ferry, which leaves from North Sydney, NS (not to be confused with North Sydney, NSW), we stopped in Baddeck, where Alexander Graham Bell lived. They have a great museum on his former estate, with some very interesting aviation exhibits. These include the Silver Dart, in whose building Bell was involved, and which made the first controlled flight of a motor plane in Canada in 1909.
Bell was also in involved in the development of boats with hydrofoils, one of which reached a speed of 114 km/h, and that in 1919! The record was only broken by another Canadian hydrofoil in 1969.
We did however visit a few aviation museums, or exhibits of single planes which played part in the development of Newfoundland and Labrador such as the Catalina below.
Below the entrance to the aviation museum in Gander, NFL, which hosted a very interesting exhibit on 9/11. At that day the North American airspace was closed, so many airliners en route to the US had to divert to Canadian airports. 38 of them with more than 6’000 passengers landed in Gander, and where take care of by the local residents.
By coincidence we were also close to Greenwood, Nova Scotia on the last weekend of August, where the Atlantic Airshow took place, so of course we went there.
They used one of the runways for parking, pretty impressive from behind the steering wheel…
Canadas 150th anniversary was celebrated extensively throughout the country, with many great events, free access to all national parks etc., they even gave the F/A-18 demo plane a special livery.
There were quite some other planes doing great demonstrations, most of them from the Canadian Air Force, as well as the Canadian Navy.
Of course the Snowbirds participated too in the event, the aerobatics team of the Canadian Air Force.
The fly with nine planes, which is more than most other teams, which allows them to do some spectacular formations.
08.09.2017: Hardly back from holidays we went flying for a day trip to Saanen (LSGK). I have been there a few times, but this time the intention was to stop for a few hours to visit Gstaad, the famous mountain resort nearby.
Below Saanen Airfield from high above. It is one of the many former air bases of the Swiss Air Force, which are now in civil hands. The airfield is located in a deep valley near Gstaad, with a fairly unusual and interesting circuit. It is often used by business jets of the rich & famous, which have their Châlets in Gstaad.
To land on Runway 26 one has to do a loop into a side valley, where Gstaad lies, flying more or less around the famous Gstaad Palace Hotel.
One can only see the runway at the end of the extended base.
We fist went to Saanen for luch, then took the train to Gstaad, which only takes a few minutes.
After visiting Gstaad we decided to walk back to the airport, which only took maybe 45 minutes.
15.09.2017: I just did a little flying today, which however turned into a longer flight. Unknown to me Urs, a fellow SportCruiser operator was in Lommis for some maintenance issues. So when he flew back to Mollis (LSMF) I followed him, trying to take some pictures of his plane.
Flying alone that wasn’t so easy, also because the weather was a bit bumby, and I did not want to take any risks by flying too close to him.
Mollis is yet one more of the many former air bases of the Swiss Air Force, which are now in civil hands. The runway lies just below the wingtip, somewhere on the picture the plane of Urs can also be seen flying the approach.
Mollis is only maybe 20 minutes south of Lommis, but I extended my return trip a bit…
22.09.2017: I’m trying hard to still get a decent number of flying hours this year, so we went today for a daytrip to Innsbruck in Austria. That’s only around 1 hour and 20 minutes of flying from Lommis, but of course requires a flight plan, customs clearance etc. Dani, another homebuilder from Lommis joined us on the trip, doing his first trip abroad in his new Kitfox.
Below Innsbruck Airport seen from the downwind to Runway 26.
Innsbruck airport has quite some scheduled flights, probably around 50 departures per day, as well as quite some business jet movements. But still they are very GA friendly, with decent landing fees (around 20€) and excellent service. And it is very easy to get to the city, there is a bus every few minutes.
Innsbruck is a very nice city, with some similarities to Bolzano on the other side of the Brenner Pass, with which they share a common history.
The Golden Roof (made from gold plated copper tiles) on the former city residence of the Emperor Maximilian from the Habsburg dynasty is the main tourist attraction in Innsbruck.
But there are many other spectacular buildings to see, such as the Hofburg and the Dome.
We had landed in Innsbruck around 10:30, and departed around 16:00, which gave us a few hours to see the city. That’s enough for getting a good impression, but there is more to see so it could be a good destination for a two day trip.
We flew back straight to Lommis, with customs announced for 18:00. As the departure time from such an airport can’t be timed precisely we took off a little too early, leaving time to some sightseeing detours on the way home.
Even though it is only middle of September there were very few planes in the air, but we saw quite some balloons.
