A weekend in Milan, high pressure, unlimited visibility, no turbulence on the Alps. A great opportunity for nice flying. I considered to go to Samedan to reset the timer of my currency at LSZS, but due to the great weather and good snow they published the usual NOTAM not allowing any visiting aircraft below 2500 kg.
I could not find a jet to mix with the allowed traffic :), so I decided to fly to Sion LSGS.
Routing would be VFR through Simplon pass on the way there, and on the way back westbound towards Mount Blanc, Col Ferret, Aosta and back into the Po valley. Aircraft: PA28 Dakota.
Took off from Milano Bresso (LIMB), heading northwest towards lake Maggiore
Entering the valley to Domodossola, before turning left to the Simplon pass
Approaching Simplon pass, 12000 ft
Entering the Rhône Valley, descending
On final at Sion, runway 25
A LOT of jets coming and leaving. I had one on the IGS 25 procedure overtaking me on approach. The VFR arrival keeps clear of the instrument path.
The airport is very efficient, friendly and well organized. A kind person drove us to the office on a van, where we paid the fees and had a break.
Departure was again from runway 25, westbound. I requested to turn eastbound after takeoff to gain altitude before heading in the direction of Martigny and Mont Blanc to the west. All approved.
When back overhead the field a Cessna Sovereign was taking off and they asked me to orbit. When I resumed my navigation I was already at 12000 ft.
Heading toward Martigny
Ready to turn southbound. Mont Blanc on the right, col Ferret in the middle.
Approaching Col Ferret
Entering Italian airspace
Aosta valley, with LIMW in sight
The Matterhorn
A truly spectacular flight, I’m actually glad I could not go to Samedan. The scenery flying to Sion is beautiful and LSGS is much cheaper than LSZS ;)
Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing.
Great pics, thanks.
What is it that Samedan is doing on nice days? Notam Out VFR below 2.5 tons?
Nice pics. You a member of Aeroclub Milano, it seems. How is it?
Mooney_Driver wrote:
What is it that Samedan is doing on nice days? Notam Out VFR below 2.5 tons?
When they expect a busy weekend, they publish a NOTAM that allows only aircrafts above 2500kg MTOM, due to limited parking space, and they don’t allow IFR operations either (not needed anyway with good weather) due to lot of traffic expected. I had to cancel a trip there also last year due to the same NOTAM.
boscomantico wrote:
You a member of Aeroclub Milano, it seems. How is it?
It’s good! Quite a large fleet, a professional school and they manage radio communications very well, giving a lot of information (and the field is veery busy). I also did some of my training there, during some weekends I spent in Milan, and I liked it!
NicoKM wrote:
Samedan to reset the timer of my currency at LSZS, but due to the great weather and good snow they published the usual NOTAM not allowing any visiting aircraft below 2500 kg.
I did not check the situation on that day but usually problems come up if the temperatures get above 0C and the snow parking surface starts to melt and turn into an area of soft dirt. Then only the small hard apron is left and things get difficult. But you can probably call and ask. A few years ago I have seen them close down the taxiway parallel to the runway and use that for additional parking.
Exactly. Last weekend was way too hot for the time of the year, therefore snow parking was not available. Wintertime is the high season for jets flying into Samedan, therefore they ban small GA. It’s not nice, but understandable from an economic point of view.
Two weeks ago, when I went to Samedan, snow parking was also used by a lot of small and midsized jets. The hard apron was only used for the real big boys. When snow parking is not available, I think they will motivate all traffic to do a quick turnaround.
