Great report Peter. Glad to see you flying to a nice destination for landing, not circling around in European airspace like on the nice „flying to the alps for nice photos“ trips before. 
Very nice trip report Peter, thanks for posting. Would that first ‘unknown’ field in Switzerland be Meiringen? Never flown there but was there by car 2 years ago, on that hill to the left. Felt like being on downwind
Yes, the first airport photo is Meiringen LSMM
The first pic of italian lake looks line lago maggiore, from the Ossola valley, down from monte rosa. You have Stresa and the Motarone just behind the cloud where unfortunately the telepheric disaster happened last week.
Great report Peter. Amazing pictures!
Peter wrote:
This airport is marked “disused”
You photographed Turtmann, ex Swiss Air Force base in the Valais valley. Was disbanded in 2003. There is always a possibilty to misidentify the airports of Sion, Raron and Turtmann.
Peter wrote:
Someone who is actually a current Swiss pilot tells me that airspace FL130+ is to be assumed a no-go due to the military, so that website is a mystery… ATC were certainly not interested in knowing anything about it, and it wasn’t lack of ELP.
Peter,
I think there is a general misunderstanding how the airspace and DABS work.
This is the general airspace over Switzerland from the e-VFR Manual available for free here
As you can see, the lower limit of CAS is FL100 over the low lands and, depending on military operating hours, FL130 or FL150 (or 2000 ft AGL whichever is higher) over the Alps. This is the airspace structure.
Military operating hours can be found in the e-VFR AIP as well under VFR GEN 1-0-5:
Military Operating Hours
Lower limit of airspace class C “Alps”
MIL ON = FL130
MIL OFF = FL150
NB: See also the LS-R restrictions for gliders outside TMA which are relevant for the status MIL
ON and MIL OFF.
MIL ON:
MON-FRI: 0730- 1205 LT, 1315-1705 LT
and published at any time by NOTAM.
There is also a list of public holidays when Mil is OFF unless activated by NOTAM.
What DABS shows are:
• Activation of P, R, and D areas and TEMPO TMA
• TEMPO TMA/CTR activations.
• Military firing above 250m/ground
What DABS does is to visully represent NOTAMED activations of specific airspaces. The military activity you were advised happens in that layer between FL130 and 150 which is always active as listed above. It is neither of the above mentioned temporary airspaces but a permanent block of airspace which activates on a fixed schedule published in the AIP. Hence it is not specifically shown on the DABS.
So at FL160, you were flying VFR in civilian CAS above the military airspace, hence the controller correctly told you that either you fly below 130, respectively 2000 ft AGL outside CAS or at 160 under their control.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
What DABS does is to visully represent NOTAMED activations of specific airspaces. The military activity you were advised happens in that layer between FL130 and 150 which is always active as listed above. It is neither of the above mentioned temporary airspaces but a permanent block of airspace which activates on a fixed schedule published in the AIP. Hence it is not specifically shown on the DABS.
The point is that (according to FR24), Peter entered the Alpine area after 1205 LT and left it before 1315 LT. (Indeed he left Swiss airspace even earlier.) So at that time there shouldn’t have been any controlled airspace between FL130 and FL150.
Anyway, great pics.
The first airbase you took a picture of is Meiringen.
Meiringen is one of the active bases which house FA18 fighter jets and other military activity. It is normally strictly off limits to civil aviation. I was there 2 years ago when we managed to get a special permit for the yearly ILS Sternflug.
The 2nd one is Interlaken, which is deactivated but sometimes is opened for specific events such as Red Bull Air Races a while back.
Interlaken also is home to what is now called the Jungfrau Park. It is the circular array of buildings on the right of the picture. Currently it serves as a Covid vaccination center and its main attractions are closed. The Jungfrau Park started out as “Mystery Park” and was largely constructed and based on the theories of Erich von Daeniken. It is very interesting to visit under normal conditions and also hosts regular events and presentations with EvD.
The last one is Turtmann AFB, also deactivated since 2003. It housed a variety of squadrons over the years, the last one featured F5 Tiger jets.
Some impressions of Turtmann in it’s last active days can be found here: SRF movie about Turtmann
The Valais currently has three more or less active airports and airfields: Sion (LSGS) as the international airport, Raron and Münster, both also former Airforce Bases, which have limited flight operations managed by local clubs. Raron is reasonably open (PPR24hrs) while Münster is mainly for gliders and restricted in operations.
Northeast of Münster, the remains of another airforce base may be found: Ulrichen, which was deactivated in 1999.
While all of them are hugely restricted and partially dismantled, they still should be kept in the back of the head of people flying there as potential emergency runways.
@Peter chapeau:)
Your ability to navigate the intricacies of filing the route matches the excellence of the planning! Very inspiring in the middle of 2021.
It may be worth doing a tutorial video of getting the route validated and the actual paper flight plan.
