Aveling wrote:
Unfortunately, these beautifully portrayed routes disappear the moment you enter ‘flight mode’ in SD! This is something you might not realise until actual departure, as in my case, and is perplexing to overcome in flight.
How come you did not have you planned “magenta route” along those GAFOR lines while in “planning mode”, the latter will stick while you fly?
I read one of the articles in Blick again and the eyewitness stated: “Two fireballs fell down. About a minute later there was a loud bang. Then it burned for five minutes – then there was another bang.” For me it would be plausible they cut the power cable (fireballs) and continued flying for one more minute with maybe a now uncontrollable airplane. In any case very, very tragic.
Peter wrote:
Interesting why they suggested he calls them?
Farther may be that it is possible to contact GVA info at 6000 feet (even I do not think so). Going up to 10’000ft it is certain he could …
I have not listened to the bande yet ..
In general, the LSGS ATC does not give the following frequency because there is no other available (except altitude).
Maybe if he does not reach 126.35, this can add extra stress.
And at 6,000 feet, as soon as Raron has passed, you can no longer receive the LSGS tower, you enter the radio desert.
Neal wrote:
I read one of the articles in Blick again and the eyewitness stated: “Two fireballs fell down. About a minute later there was a loud bang. Then it burned for five minutes – then there was another bang.” For me it would be plausible they cut the power cable (fireballs) and continued flying for one more minute with maybe a now uncontrollable airplane. In any case very, very tragic.
Interesting… supports my current hypothesis. And the images in the article support the general weather situation: clear weather with only very few small benign clouds.
But the key point as has been posted here several times, is why sticking at the 6000ft altitude? With the small child consideration mentioned earlier, the consideration could have been to stay low for the baby, and then only do a ‘short’ climb and decent to pass the Simpon pass to minimize the effect on the baby. This did unfortunately not work out (either due to cables or misjudging height required and the required time to climb). OR as indicated by several, unfortunately the navigation tools used during (and in preparation of) the flight where not good enough to show that the pass is at 6578 ft to which be added the required margins depending on weather/winds/plane/experience of the pilot. And he realized too late that it was not enough… maybe glared by the sun (who hasn’t had the ‘whiteout’ in old windscreens in some angles against the sun) shining more or less straigh in his face when entering the Simplon valley around 10/10.30 in the morning in a SSE direction…
Ibra wrote:
How come you did not have you planned “magenta route” along those GAFOR lines while in “planning mode”, the latter will stick while you fly?
The magenta line will definitely stick. Not the GAFOR (It would be nice if it did)
It would seem weird to plan a flight not having a magenta line at all (or maybe it just went start to end)? And if one were planning on relying on the GAFOR route, not change plans when noticing it is not there (which would have been much earlier in the flight).
Planning a magenta line for your route (or close to) had all sorts of benefits, you get the NOTAMs, Plog (with frequencies), ETA, etc.
Well… GAFOR is a weather forecast. Despite that, some people think GAFOR is a “recommended flying route”. It is not. Of course, having a forecast for this route sort of makes it a recommended route. But it isn’t per se. Hence, it makes sense that the GAFOR line is only shown in planning mode, not in flight mode, since the weather forecast for that route will, by the time you fly, be an (outdated) forecast, and superceded by current conditions.
That make sense but the “recommended crossing routes” is there irrespective of GAFOR feeds or weather forecast/actual data, for comparison SD “recommended VFR routes” don’t disappear when weather is IMC or when no weather feed is available, anyway one has to fly along his magenta line, preferably the A to B to C that we set before flying rather than pressing direct…
I personally need a magenta route as I like to fly “route track up” to avoid headaches 
Grassfield wrote:
But the key point as has been posted here several times, is why sticking at the 6000ft altitude? With the small child consideration mentioned earlier, the consideration could have been to stay low for the baby, and then only do a ‘short’ climb and decent to pass the Simpon pass to minimize the effect on the baby. This did unfortunately not work out (either due to cables or misjudging height required and the required time to climb). OR as indicated by several, unfortunately the navigation tools used during (and in preparation of) the flight where not good enough to show that the pass is at 6578 ft to which be added the required margins depending on weather/winds/plane/experience of the pilot. And he realized too late that it was not enough…
I think this is all rather plausbile. Which btw brings us back to the rather poor altitude performance of a loaded Arrow IV (paricularly if not operated exactly right).
He might have overestimated the climb gradient of his Arrow going from a DA of about 8000 feet to a DA of about 10000 feet.
Plus he might have overestimated the time and distance he still had from the moment of turning into the valley until reaching the pass.
Ibra wrote:
How come you did not have you planned “magenta route” along those GAFOR lines while in “planning mode”, the latter will stick while you fly?
In this case it was a gin clear day and I did not want to clutter the topography with additional magenta lines. When the GAFORS vanished, I transferred waypoints from the ‘standby’ iPad to the ‘active’ one (rubber banding the direct track) in order to be sure of turning points. I was only following the GAFORS to see how practical it might be on a worse day when I couldn’t just climb over the top and go direct (and for sightseeing).
boscomantico wrote:
Despite that, some people think GAFOR is a “recommended flying route”. It is not.
Maybe. But it is a route along which the minimum required altitude is known and can be compared with current weather.
