The first lake is Como lake, with Bellagio in the middle of your picture.
Lovely photos.
Your last one, the low cloud a few hours later, could almost be the Windows XP background 
Yes
One curious thing: NE of Paris I asked for a shortcut, which should be ok at that point, to ABB, and ATC said ABB is not on my route, which is:
Filed route: N0152F110 PUL3F PUL P11 ROTAR L615 AKADO Y265 INBUT N503 VIC L615 PEXUG/N0148F130 L615 DESIP N851 UTAVO/N0147F140 N851 ELMUR L613 MANEG/N0152F110 L613 HOC G4 RLP B3 BILGO H20 XORBI H40 NEBRU/N0150F120 H40 ABB N20 KUNAV DCT HARDY DCT SFD
Later they sent me to DIMAL which they said is on the route.
ABB is most definitely on the filed route.
BTW this is the outbound route, showing lack of Eurocontrol tracking during the VFR sections
Great trip reports as always, thanks for the effort.
I wonder, was there no way you could have gotten in touch with Shoreham before diverting to Lydd? Radio? Sat Phone? This kind of unnecessary diversions because of a METAR are not quite what I’d expect in this day and age.
The problem is that the whole coast can get fogged in fast, and then your 28 USG doesn’t go as far as you hoped.
I once diverted to Lydd (from Tempelhof) just as the fog rolled in. Flew the ILS, joining the LOC directly from the east. By the time I taxied up to the tower, vis was heading for 10m.
But if you have full tanks, nothing matters much; you can then fly Lydd to Kefalonia
Peter, if I recall correctly, 28USG will fly your airplane three hours to empty tanks at around 120KIAS….that will take you 200nm away still landing with 1hr remaining…what am I missing?
Antonio wrote:
Peter, if I recall correctly, 28USG will fly your airplane three hours to empty tanks at around 120KIAS….that will take you 200nm away still landing with 1hr remaining…what am I missing?
Who wants t be down to their last few USG while looking for an airport which is open, as one after another has their weather drop?
And how sure are you that all the fuel is usable? How sure are you that the reading is 100% correct?
What if something goes wrong where you divert to? (I’ve twice had the runway blocked on arrival an an airfield).
What if that airfield doesn’t have fuel available?
But probably highest in Peter’s mind was the international implications. Lydd is a designated airport for international arrivals, so hassle with the police is minimal. He can do his police checks and be on his way. But if he diverted to some other small field without designated status, then he could be waiting a long time for the customs to decide what to do.
Lydd is one of the few airports with that status. So would have been an easy decision.
dublinpilot wrote:
one after another has their weather drop?
Well if it is a widespread wx situation then you do want to have backup for the backup. The difficult international/covid/quarantine implication was definitely weighing heavily this time.
Peter wrote:
The problem is that the whole coast can get fogged in fast, and then your 28 USG doesn’t go as far as you hoped.
Ok, that makes sense. I thought you diverted because you could not get the proper information from Shoreham.
It certainly pais off not to be “fuelish” for our small airplanes and in the situation we are, where we can’t simply divert to any airfield but need customs, GAR and all that.
I could have told London Control I am switching briefly to call up Shoreham and then I could have found out the real situation. It would have probably worked at the distance and altitude, just about.
The problem is that on that part of the coast there aren’t many options. There is only Shoreham, Biggin Hill, or Lydd. And Shoreham and Lydd are likely to fog up at the same time.
At low level the burn is 11.7 USG/hr so I had over 2hrs, but flying an approach at Shoreham, then Lydd, then Biggin, then Southend, etc, quickly uses that up.
Also I had a tent and could have easily stayed for 1 night in some bushes on the beach near Lydd (taxi would be £200+ I reckon, each way). Harder at Biggin, where there is a lot more population. Camping is illegal in England – except Dartmoor
It was an easy decision. I just had to get London Control to call Lydd and ask if they were open; they have been “officially shut” for some months.
