RTW Leg 129

Innsbruck - Lugano (Austria)
LOWI - LSZA 192 nm, 1:12 hours
Departure: Early afternoon


Route Map
Innsbruck to Lugano (Switzerland): the Alps, Lake Como, Lake Lugano

NARRATIVE


This flight is mainly over the Alps, and brings us from Austria, over parts of Italy to Switzerland

THE ALPS
The Alps are a small segment of a discontinuous mountain chain that stretches from the Atlas Mountains of North Africa across southern Europe and Asia to beyond the Himalayas. The Alps extend north from the subtropical Mediterranean coast near Nice, Fr., to Lake Geneva before trending east–northeast to Vienna (at the Vienna Woods). There they touch the Danube River.

The Alps of Austria are generally considered part of the Eastern Alps. Though generally lesser in height than the Alps to the south and west, they tend to be less crowded. Austria offers a tremendous variety of mountain terrain, including rock climbs of varying grades, snow and ice climbing, and excellent walks and scrambles through fantastically scenic valleys.

Notam: The flight plan leads you from Innsbruck eastwards straight to NDB KTI (413.0). This means however that you have to climb from 1,900' to about 8,000' altitude over a distance of only 13 nm to get safe over the mountains. Not too many single prop aircraft can handle this. Alternatively you can, after takeoff, fly some climbing circles to gain altitude before continuing to NDB KTI.
Wildspitze
Wildspitze
After leaving Innsbruck, we are heading soutwest outbound from NDB KTI (413.0). We are now flying over the Stubaier Alps, with its Schrankogel (11473 ft./3497 m) and then over the Ötztal Alps.
The Ötztal Alps are located along the border of Austria and Italy. This is an area of moderately high, glaciated mountains, southwest of Innsbruck. Many of the high peaks in this range are between 11,000 and 12,000 feet, with two peaks surpassing the 12,000 foot mark, the heavily glaciated Wildspitze (12,375 ft./3772 m), and the impressing Weisskugel (12,267 ft./3,739 m.). Wildspitze is the second highest peak in Austria, behind Grossglockner (12,461 ft./3798 m). Wildspitze is located at waypoint WILDS in your flight plan.

Piz Bernina
Piz Bernina
Soon we cross the Austrian-Italian border and continue southwards until waypoint GIGGI where we turn to a heading of 300° and towards the Bernina Alps.

The Bernina Alps are a small but impressive mountain group, located in the southeastern corner of Switzerland, on the Italian border. This compact mountain area boasts beautiful valleys and is one of the finest and most challenging climbing areas in the Alps. Its high ice-veiled peaks and knife-edge ridges support an abundance of large, heavily crevassed glaciers.
The highest peak in the Bernina Alps is the only peak that exceeds 4,000 meters, appropriately named Piz Bernina (13,284 ft./4,049 m) in the south-east corner of Switzerland. One of the range's more spectacular peaks is Monte Dizgrazia (12,067 ft./3,678 m.). You are close to Piz Bernina at waypoint BERNI and at waypoint DIZGR you are near Monte Dizgrazia.

As we continue our journey we reach the northern tip of Lake Como (Lago di Como).

LAKE COMO
Lake Como
Lake Como and the village Bellagio
It began as a glacier at the beginning of the last ice age. When the glacier melted, the basin beneath the Grigna Mountains was filled with crystal clear water. This is what we now know as Lake Como, one of the world's most beautiful bodies of water.
Over a hundred miles around, the lake bed has a unique shape, almost like an upside down "y." The southwest branch is called Como. There the lake's main city, Como, is located. Alessandro Volta, the Italian inventor who revolutionized the use of electricity, was born here. Lecco, the southeast branch of the "y," carries a serene beauty all its own. It's easy to see why influental Italian author Alessandro Manzoni in 1827 set his famous historical novel I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed) here.
Calico, the lake's northern spoke, is perhaps the most stunning of them all, with incredible views of mist-covered mountains dotted with villas. The city of Bellagio, located at the intersection of the "y," may be the ultimate spot to view the lake in all its grandeur. It is ironic that the most opulent hotel in garish Las Vegas now carries the name of this serene and tranquil place.
Lake Como
Lago di Como


Leonardo da Vinci was inspired by the natural springs at Fiumelatte. Franz Liszt was so overwhelmed by the beauty of Bellagio, that he sat down and wrote his homage to Dante and Beatrice on the spot. Poets Maggi and Carlo Porta praised the incomparable "Bianco Secco di Montecchia," a dry white wine from Brianza. The lake's shores have been home to many a wealthy aristocrat, who decorated the surrounding areas with luxurious gardens and villas.
It's hard to believe that this magical place is less than an hour by train from the bustling city of Milan. On the weekends and in the summer, the lake is filled with the boats and jet skis of Milanese, leaving behind -for a few hours, at least-the world of business and high fashion.
The summer sunsets are perhaps the most beautiful feature about the lake. As a lazy sun dips behind the misty mountaintops around 10PM, the sky becomes a fiery red. The city lights twinkle on as the basin is slowly enveloped in darkness. The lake is calm except for tiny lighted ferries making their final runs and fishermen setting out their nets for the night. Just before the light is completely gone, the mountains are barely visible and the fog is a light pink. Italians surveying this heavenly scene breathe in the fresh evening air and feel truly in awe of the land they inhabit.

Notam: The approach to Lugano (LSZA) starts already at VOR Saronno (SRN 113.7) at which you should have an altitude of 6,000 feet or above.
At PINIK, where you intercept ILS ILU (111.5) you should be at 6,000 ft. In fact ILU is not an ILS but an IGS which may be flown as ILS procedure.
Now watch carefully your distance to ILU and your altitude. At D4.5 (which means at a distance of 4.5 nm to ILU) you should be at 4.100 feet. And at D3.0 at 3,050 feet. Follow the glidescope until you are clear of the mountains, then continue a visual, steep, approach to the runway. Welcome in Lugano!
LUGANO
Lugano
Lugano: Cathedrale di San Lorenzo
With its compact cluster of Italianate piazzas and extensive tree-lined promenades, LUGANO is far and away the most alluring of Ticino’s lake resorts, much less touristic than Locarno but with, if anything, double the chic. Even Milanese style-junkies, who give very little quarter even to their own provincial towns, bring friends over to Lugano for some shopping, a lakeside apéro and a good meal. The ever-aspiring Luganesi return the compliment by dropping in to Milan – just 50km south – for a taste of big city highlife and to pick a good dance club. Their home town is nonetheless an exciting place, full of energy and style. Set on a south-facing bay of the cerulean blue Lago di Lugano, its lake vistas are astonishing – the city is framed on all sides by wooded, sugar-loaf hills rising from the water that have led to its being dubbed the “Rio of the Old World”. Both Monte Brè to the northeast and San Salvatore to the south are served by funiculars, and both give spectacular views over to the snow-capped Alps.
Lake Lugano
Lake Lugano

Lugano is third behind Zürich and Geneva as a Swiss banking centre, and the city centre reflects this, with none of Locarno’s Belle-Epoque stuffiness – its old alleys and winding lanes are full of commerce, whether in the form of enticing delicatessens and boutiques or graceful, villa-style hotels and apartment buildings. Ancient churches and a clutch of world-class art galleries, including the famous Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, are draws in themselves, quite aside from the simpler pleasures of a stroll under the lakeside palms alongside the shimmering lake. If there is a drawback to Lugano, it’s the traffic – unpleasantly heavy most of the time, especially along the lakefront corniche, and marked by alarming Italian-style driving. But at night, looking down from the summit of Brè amidst a warm southerly breeze, with the toot and rumble of cars rising from a bed of twinkling lights, you could feel yourself a long, long way from Switzerland.

Lake Lugano (Italian Lago Di Lugano , or Lago Ceresio) is situated between Lakes Maggiore and Como with an area of 19 square miles (49 square km), of which the middle 12 square miles (31 square km) are in Ticino canton (Switzerland) and the northeastern and southwestern ends in the Lombardy regione (Italy). It lies at 889 feet (271 m) above sea level, among the outer spurs of the Alps that divide the Ticino River basin from that of the Adda.


Please note that these RTW Narratives are produced using materials from various sites, in print and on the web.  They are intended for the private use of the RTW Buzz pilots only and are not meant for public dissemination.


Additional Scenery:
FS2000 Lugano airport (Switzerland) by Raimondo Taburet, which completely redesigns Lugano airport. File: LUGANO.ZIP (898 Kb)
(I don't know however how it performs under FS2002)

DO NOT use the FS2000 scenery - SWISS LAKES (File: SW-LAKES.ZIP),
as this scenery flattens the mountains around Lugano in such a way that Lugano is not longer the difficult airport that it is known for.

Additionally you may want to use Raimondo Taburet's Swiss Mesh scenery (freeware), which performs very well in FS2002.

Flightplan & Narrative:
Jozef Kusters (RTW Pilot #038)