A one hour tour of the Southern Switzerland DLC. This is a simple one-hour flight in the Learjet 45 using a series of large diameter sweeping turns and a few connecting straightaways. I got the idea from looking at the Grand Prix de France racetrack layout. I started at Samedan airport, LSZS, using runway 21 looking toward St Moritz in the summertime. I use the Learjet 45 for most of my sightseeing but I have also made this flight in the Airbus A320. Any fast airplane can be used, of course. Today I am flying the Lear. Follow the Engadin Valley flying generally Southwest and checkout the 3 lakes. Your first checkpoint will be the intersection ABREG. Here you will make a slight left and fly along the left side of Lake Como. At the fork in the lake you can start a wide right arc of about 40 NM in diameter keeping a 15 20 distance from Lugano. If you go straight you will be in Italy in 5 minutes. If you choose to not make the right turn, be sure you have your passport with you. These large arc turns are so you can enjoy the scenic beauty of the lakes, valleys, mountains and the generally fantastic scenery in this DLC. No one is checking to see how close you may or may not be to your checkpoints or intersections. When you see Locarno out the right window you can start a similar left turn of about 40 nm diameter and use Ambri and Ulrichen airports to measure your arc. Here you will again be flying Southwest down the center of valley of the Rhone and be looking down the runways of several military airports. This is almost a straight line with a few gentle bends. But, be alert for a 90 degree right turn just past Sion to head up the valley to cross Lake Geneva at a diagonal. Miss this turn and you will be in France in another 5 minutes. I don t recommend it, the resolution is terrible, stick with the DLC. I have intentionally planned the route to fly over Lausanne airport so we can wave to Antoine. As you pass between LSGL and the St. Prex VOR you can start another 40 NM diameter 180 turn that brings you just North of Payerne airport and crosses the middle of Lake Neuchatel. You should be flying almost due South at Ecuvillens airport where you can start a slow roll to your left.
Aim for a point about halfway between Saanen Airport and Lake Geneva to start a lazy 90 degree left turn. You will be over a regional nature park and very close to the Bernese Alps. You should see Les Diablerets and Wildhorn mountain peaks as you make your left turn. This really is a scenic straight away following a route about halfway between Interlaken and the Bernese Alps. As you cross Interlaken, you will most likely be starting your descent with thoughts of making a standard approach into Buochs Airport using runway 25 coming in across the Lake. It is 50 nm from Interlaken to the 25 initial checkpoint for the approach This may possibly be the most scenic leg of the flight. I just love the lakes, the small towns, the alps, airports everywhere and all in high definition in our simulator. The approach into Buochs has to rank up there in the top 10 of all beautiful approaches. Although there are lots of breathtaking vistas coming in over those small mountain peaks as you drop down to near the water for landing, it is just too much blind view and last minute elevation change for me. I prefer to break off the standard AF2 approach as soon as I make the left 90 degree turn at 25 on the Nav chart and then make a visual approach by making another 90 degree left turn at URNAS intersection and following the lake around with a gradual right turn to pick up a short final for runway 25. Either approach to Buochs is outstanding and is certainly a personal choice. However, whatever you do, do not use the Co-pilot or full autopilot to fly this approach; it will fly you directly into a mountainside. You might also try this approach at night in the Learjet just to get familiar with where all the panel light dimming switches are located. If you choose the standard AF2 approach then please use the Minimum Altitudes chart that I have attached. Turn final at 6,500 feet and HOLD that altitude until you can clearly see to path to the runway. You will need to use a 3,500 fpm descent rate to get down to a normal approach profile for short final. I recommend that you spend some time outside the cockpit looking from behind and above the airplane. I use this view a lot and I use the hat switch to pan around and the zoom keys to get a closer look from time to time. (top right icon in the on screen views) Be sure you also know the key press to get back in the cockpit. My plan is to spend the weekend talking to Pilatus about trading in my 12 year old Learjet 45 in as a downpayment on a new PC-24 position. A year or so from now new PC-24s should be rolling out the door. I m not sure where the
count of firm orders stands this weekend, but as they say, a bird in the hand is worth a PC-24 in the bush or something like that. Hang a right at the end of the runway and you will find me there having a cup of coffee with the Pilatus sales team. I chose to fly at FL240 in the Learjet 45. The flight plan is intended to be general in nature and make large sweeping turns connected by a couple of straight runs. It is about 375 nm so you should be able to fly it in slightly less than an hour in the Lear. I usually see Mach 0.70 when I check my speed. Grab any point along the route and hold it for 2 seconds, then you can drag the route line around until you like the results. This is how you get the near perfect half circles in the flight plan. If you don t like it, delete that change, and try again. It sometimes gets a little weird and looks like a snake gone wild. Just back up and delete the last few entries. Enjoy your flight.
Be alert on your descent there are rocks in them there hills.
I find that hand flying this approach is much better than letting the Autopilot have all the fun. This is an alternate path for final approach. After your left turn at 25, when you see an open path on your left looking down the lake make an immediate left turn and follow the right shoreline around until you are looking down the runway. Airport elevation is 1,492 feet so a good visual approach altitude over the water is 3,500 4,000 feet.
You still have to lose 4,000 feet of altitude but at least you are looking across the lake at the runway and not into the side of a mountain.
Here are some screenshots taken by our beta tester Raymond Groenendijk, the Aerofly Central webmaster. He only had two comments. 1. This is a nice flight, and 2. I had a little trouble building the sweeping circles using the Aerofly Navigation route planner, the editor still has its quirks. Check the last paragraph above on how to make those circles. A dozen screenshots follow. Check online at www.aeroflycentral.com for additional information about this flight. Look in the Articles section.
Startup and Samedan, LSZS, Learjet 45, gotta make sure I use runway 21.
Climbing out in the Engadin Valley looking for Lake Como.
That must be Italy on the horizon.
We must be approaching the Sion neighborhood in the Valley of the Rhone. Can you spot the 2 hilltop fortifications from the 13th-century?
Must be the River Rhône down there.
I do believe I see Lake Geneva in the distance.
Time to make a big sweeping turn and head for home. That is Lake Neuchâtel down there.
How would like you like to have an emergency landing in this area? There are a few airports within gliding distance.
Interlaken is the TOD for this flight. Out of FL240 for FL100.
Every country has a few twin peaks? These two are the visual FAF checkpoint for runway 25, Buochs.
Over the mountain at 6,500 feet, looking at Buochs 5 miles away.
On final for runway 25, Buochs airport, Stans, Switzerland. People are watching, I sure hope this is a greaser.
Only after the flight plan was completed and the screenshots made did I learn that Lake Como is totally within Italian airspace and the flight path is a bit too far South when crossing Lake Maggiore after passing Lugano. Here is a revised flight plan should you wish to totally avoid flying into Italy. Otherwise, here is my explanation. I discovered girls and geography at about the same time, since then I have not been too keen on geography. The dividing line between Switzerland and Italy doesn t seem to have a straight line anyplace. I failed to notice the nonborder in our Aerofly FS2 Nav page. I should have known that Lake Como was totally Italian though.
It seems Julius Ceasar sent 5,000 Romans there to prepare a lakefront getaway just in case he decided to sneak out of Rome one dark night for the weekend. Dating back to the 5 th century Germanic tribes favored the nice weather and good views of the then named Lake Larius. I couldn t find a straight answer as to why it appears that Lake Como was carved out of Switzerland but I can guess that Mussolino s great, great, grandfather, had a bit too much wine one weekend and took his sword out and carved out a new dividing line between the two countries. AAMOF, Mussolino met his maker at none other than Lake Como. Oh well. Maybe the Italian Air Force interceptors don t patrol this far North looking for wayward Learjets. Another wild guess is that Lugano was traded for Lake Como. The Lake becomes Italian, and the palm trees and banks in Lugano become Swiss. Could be, everyone there seems to be Italian. Could this be so you can enter by small boat, or small plane and open a Swiss bank account? Nah. There are almost the same number of banks in Lugano as in Zurich. Really? Yep. There is no doubt we have violated Italian airspace with our original sightseeing flight. If this bothers enough AF2 flyers we can replace the original route with the above flight plan that is intended to stay totally within Swiss airspace. RayM July 10, 2017