Operation "Snow cap"

Mission 03 - Sir Skybuster's PIREP

Hello happy campers,

It was with pleasure that I left my tent to take Hey Jude to Locarno.
The weather here is not nice. And rain on a glacier is not that I had in
mind when I felt for that tourist brochure.
Before leaving, I studied very well the map from Cpt Darkwing. I used my
sailor's instruments to measure bearings and distances on the screen.
Swear to God, I did!
I didn't had a scale but I knew that from Zurich to the first big lake,
it was 10 NM. You see, I didn't fly from Zurich, but from the glacier
base. It turned out to be also 10 NM for me, from the glacier, but on a
course of 240. Rain ceiling at 12,000. OK, let's go and beat Darkwing at
the race. The time is 14:00 UTC. I wave at the hummer's driver and pull
the throttles. Wet and icy runway. Don't get much speed very fast, now!
Rotation, Pfeeew, short runway! Climb to 7,000 and heading 240. Got it.
Flaps in, gear in, lean mixture, reduce RPM. Autopilot set. OK, relax.
I should be at the first lake in about 5 minutes.
Just as expected, at 14:10, I see the lake. Hey! Look there! Another
traffic (see attachment). Maybe it is Darkwing. No, it is going northward.
Now I turn south and follow the river.
16:17. Yep, here is the end of the river, as I expected from the chart.
Wow, it is high terrain ahead. Better climb to 8,000.
OK, from here, it is 10 minutes (you guessed correct, I still fly slow,
at 120 Kts, to make calculation easy.) over the mountains, until the
Locarno lake. And the heading should be: 170. All set, just relax.
Damn bad weather. Not much to see around. I am sure this would be a
lovely countryside in the sunshine.
16:28 OK, I get the Locarno lake ahead. Yes, but I had a look at Locarno
LSZL and the runway is at only 650 Ft ASL. And I am at 8,000 now! Take
over manually, cut the throttle and go down fast while turning heading
80, toward the airport. OK, now I level over the lake. What? The stall
horn blows and I do 120 Kts? What's happening? Instinctively, I pull all
throttle, full mixture and max RPM.
Now I understand. The speed dial is stopped to 120. Tap, tap, tap! No,
not moving. I'll have to land with no speed indication. Not easy but
feasible. I have done it before. OK, I align on the runway that shines
ahead. Slower. Ooops, not that much! I nearly stalled over the water!
OK, that's better.
Wow, this runway is not very long either! Touch down, full reverse
engine and brakes. Sooo, that wasn't too bad, was it? OK, now let's look
around. Hey, there is the dESPair hangar! I am coming taxiing. What? Oh,
yeah! I landed on the L08 runway and I have to go around the hangar for
finding the door.
Here I am! Now, who won the race, Darkwing?






Cheerio!
Mike Skybuster