newt
Well Known Member
Couple of months ago, I posted on VAF to say I was visiting Z?rich on a work trip: Are there any RV people in Switzerland?
Near immediate contact from lots of people - Far more than I imagined, given my impression of EASA territory was that it was near-prohibitively expensive and bureaucratic for E/AB aviation. But no, it's positively thriving.
Marcel (mzund on VAF) is building an RV-4 near Geneva. As luck would have it, he was visiting Sydney, and I caught up with him at Wedderburn. He had pics on his phone showing spectacular mountain scenery, and landing a cub on skis on glaciers near Mont Blanc. I locked in a visit to his field.
L'a?rodrome de la C?te is near Nyon train station, where Marcel picked me up last Saturday. It's a private field with a busy-looking aero club, and some lovely old European aircraft (including a beautifully restored AN-2).
Marcel's RV is nearing completion in one of the hangars: Engine hung, most of the instrumentation and electrical system installed. Waiting for the prop to come back from the prop shop, expecting first engine start very soon and first flight later this season. So neat, so tidy. I bet he can't wait to have the firewall-forward area covered in a thin patina of oil and dead bugs
We took a Cessna 172 with an O-360 into the mountains: Departing over Michael Schumacher's house, turning towards Chamonix, past Mont Blanc, down some glacier valleys, up to 15,500' for The Matterhorn (li'l Cessna still getting 300fpm, creditable effort!), then a long slow descent across mountain passes and through valleys to The Eiger and some orbits over Jungfraujoch, before descending in to Thun for lunch.
Places I'd only ever seen in James Bond movies, but nobody tried to shoot me with poison darts, so my observation is that Switzerland is safe
It was here that I committed a mortal sin: I'd been using credit cards all week, had zero Swiss Francs, and the airport restaurant only took cash. Horrible break from tradition, Marcel actually had to buy the lunch. I'll make it up to him somehow.
Back to Nyon via a more direct route, significantly below the mountain tops, looking out the left window and wondering how a C172 had enough puff to get that high. Just incredible.
(next: swisseagle)
Near immediate contact from lots of people - Far more than I imagined, given my impression of EASA territory was that it was near-prohibitively expensive and bureaucratic for E/AB aviation. But no, it's positively thriving.
Marcel (mzund on VAF) is building an RV-4 near Geneva. As luck would have it, he was visiting Sydney, and I caught up with him at Wedderburn. He had pics on his phone showing spectacular mountain scenery, and landing a cub on skis on glaciers near Mont Blanc. I locked in a visit to his field.
L'a?rodrome de la C?te is near Nyon train station, where Marcel picked me up last Saturday. It's a private field with a busy-looking aero club, and some lovely old European aircraft (including a beautifully restored AN-2).
Marcel's RV is nearing completion in one of the hangars: Engine hung, most of the instrumentation and electrical system installed. Waiting for the prop to come back from the prop shop, expecting first engine start very soon and first flight later this season. So neat, so tidy. I bet he can't wait to have the firewall-forward area covered in a thin patina of oil and dead bugs
We took a Cessna 172 with an O-360 into the mountains: Departing over Michael Schumacher's house, turning towards Chamonix, past Mont Blanc, down some glacier valleys, up to 15,500' for The Matterhorn (li'l Cessna still getting 300fpm, creditable effort!), then a long slow descent across mountain passes and through valleys to The Eiger and some orbits over Jungfraujoch, before descending in to Thun for lunch.
Places I'd only ever seen in James Bond movies, but nobody tried to shoot me with poison darts, so my observation is that Switzerland is safe
It was here that I committed a mortal sin: I'd been using credit cards all week, had zero Swiss Francs, and the airport restaurant only took cash. Horrible break from tradition, Marcel actually had to buy the lunch. I'll make it up to him somehow.
Back to Nyon via a more direct route, significantly below the mountain tops, looking out the left window and wondering how a C172 had enough puff to get that high. Just incredible.
(next: swisseagle)