01.04.2021: I managed to find time do a flight this morning, taking off at 08:05 local time, which was shortly after sunrise. I love flying in the morning, the air is calm and you typically have the sky for yourself.
I started by crossing the CTR of Zurich Airport, again getting cleared immediately during what used to be their peak traffic hour.
The airport looked completely normal, with planes docked at the gates, but only very few were actually flying.
After passing the airport I turned southeast towards the Sierra reporting point, which is abeam the city centre, on the southern shore of the lake.
The reporting point is next to the Uetliberg, a viewpoint from where also those can have a great view of the city who don’t own a plane.
I then crossed the CTR of Emmen air base, flying towards the city of Lucerne, with a spectacular view of the lake with the moutains in the background.
From there I continued past the Bürgenstock, with its large hotel at the top, opened in 1873. I’t one of those turn of the century hotels built for British tourists, who were the first ones to travel in bigger numbers to Switzerland. It has only recently been completely renovated. The view from there is spectacular, and must have been so even more nearly 150 years ago.
There is a road leading up to the Bürgenstock, but you can also walk up on the steep north face, where you take a lift for the last 153 m. This lift is not inside the moutain, but built as a tower-like structure on the outside. It dates from 1905. The lift can be seen in the two pictures below.
I then continued over the Klausenpass. The road over the pass is closed every winter, and only reopens when the snow is gone, as it crosses slopes where avalaches are frequent.
I saw a group of skiers, who also took advantage of the great morning.
On the way home I did my usual pass of the Säntis, which means stepping down from the FL100 to FL120 I’m usually flying over the alps to 8’500 ft, which gives me a 1’000 ft margin over the Säntis.
From there it’s another 5’000 ft down to the southern approach sector of Lommis aerodrome at 3’500 ft, which means 10 minutes at the standard descend rate of 500 ft/min. Flying that at 105 kts means covering a distance of approximately 20 nm, which nicely matches the true distance.
