I’m looking for a way to cross the Alps IFR without Oxygen. I can’t seem to find a routing that Eurocontrol will accept as valid.
Does anyone have any tips? Is it even possible?
Nope. In the Eastern parts of Austria, and Slovenia, it can be done at 10000-11000 feet. Anything further west requires FL140-160.
It’s eastern Austria only, as @boscomantico pointed out. IFR over the alps is only possible in oxygen levels. What you could do is cancel IFR if weather permits. However, you should know where and how to cross the alps VFR, because you still might need to climb above FL100 to cross the Main Ridge. It is of course possible VFR lower altitude but requires proper flight preparation.
IFR-VFR-IFR in Alps without O2 is doable as long as you know how to fly VFR in the western side (it’s not for everyone)
Humans are affected by reduced O2 in different ways. I once flew with an FI who could not read the avionics at FL120… So you need to be very sure before doing this. For sure you will arrive very tired.
I have many Alps crossings here and the 2004/2005 ones were done VFR. Dodgy unpublished ATC policies were the main issue (I had O2) e.g. Swiss would not allow VFR above FL129 (no VFR in their Class C) so the wx had to be 100% CAVOK. The biggest fun in the Alps, VFR, is likely to be Swiss ATC, who like to “surprise” you
Just on the off chance you are unaware that there is a solution for planes without built in oxygen and without hauling around oxygen tanks, a relatively affordable and practical solution is to get an oxygen concentrator (Inogen). A search on the forms will provide more information. I am very happy with mine!
Peter wrote:
biggest fun in the Alps, VFR, is likely to be Swiss ATC
Had plenty of fun today… N-S followed by the famous €500 pizza, then S-N. Max altitude was 12Kft… all strongly missing any kind of fun ATC would provide, but for the tower
Pic of the day barely Northeast of Aosta…
This is like the discussion of flying in [insert your favourite country name] where you know how to game the system. Whereas if you turn up as a “total foreigner”…
The ATC soundtrack on my videos is sometimes amusing
Also, where the above pic was taken, nobody knows you are there because of terrain all around. That looks like about 10k feet there. Swiss cannot see you there below about 13k, IME. It’s one of the well kept secrets about mountains: within mountains, nobody can see you
An Oxygen kit is one of the simplest, and cheapest, way to expand your IFR flying.
Not just for flying over the Alps: For flying FL100+, it is a great asset.
Not only do you arrive refreshed; but it means you can readily climb, if need be, to fly over the IMC tops.
It was one of the easiest, cheapest, investments I have made in IFR flying.
sedatedokc wrote:
Just on the off chance you are unaware that there is a solution for planes without built in oxygen and without hauling around oxygen tanks, a relatively affordable and practical solution is to get an oxygen concentrator (Inogen). A search on the forms will provide more information. I am very happy with mine!
I agree – I have the Inogen One G5 and it works well. No bottles to fill.