I have no time to write about my flight to Korfu. Milos, Crete last week at the moment, but might do so later. Here are some pictures!
5:30 a.m. Monday morning, at my home base EDML, Landshut, Bavaria
6:05 LT we were in the air, this was while we were waiting for IFR pickup, heading twds the Alps
On the South side of the Alps there was still a lot of fog
Somewhere over Bosnia
A little south of Dubrovnik after three hours of flight
For the over water leg towards Corfu I put on the life west. You always see the coast but no chance to reach it gliding from FL120
Same position as above
The Albanian coastline
Somewhere inside Albania
This is Vlora in Albania,
Vlora, Albania too, not far from Greece
VOR DME Approach to Corfu
As always in Greece we got the descent clearance pretty late, but here it was not that bad
Final Approach, Runway 35, LGKR
Corfu, waiting for fuel truck
Three hours later we flew to Milos, had to wait for the right time, because the airport there opens at 1520 LT and is open til 1630LT …
Over the Aegean Sea
Milos. I had to cancel IFR to get a descent clearance. 15 miles out at 9000 feet I asked the controller if he wanted me to parachute to the island and he replied “For descent cancel IFR and proceed visually”. Some things I will never understand, becasue Milos has an IFR approach. Not that it was necessary, but I wanted to fly it for practice
On the Apron. This is the Airliner for which the Airport is opened a couple of hours every day
G-YORC on the Apron. On the second day a TB9 arrived, we met him in Heraklion again later.
“The pilot is responsible for the airplane” was the answer when i asked for tie downs. And when I asked why they didn’t have anything they explained that they “almost never have small aircraft visiting”. When I asked for parking a week before I got the information that this was “the high season” and that they would have a “lot of traffic” ;-) I know that this rock would not have helped much… but maybe a little
Milos Airport
Milos Airport from car
Milos has fantastic landscapes and beaches and no mass tourism
Beach near Pollonia
My friend’s little hotel (I saw her the last time when we were all 19 and in school …)
Restaurant in Pollonia. Food is different than in Crete here
My new life vests by Baltic are great. So comfortable you forget them. Before takeoff in Milos
Flight from Milos to Crete, only 40 minutes. It’s hard to believe but the second half I flew in IMC and did the Approach in Clouds!
Heraklion Airport
Heraklion Airport has tiedowns
My family was here by Airline, and here I meet my daughter again
View from one of the two rooftop terraces of our apartment in Heraklion.
Heraklion Airport refueling crew working on my invoice
Both of my kids at the Beach near the Airport. Big waves and good plane spotting!
Saturday June 6 we got up at four to make it home before the Thunderstorms started over the Alps which were forcast
Heraklion Airport, 5 a.m.
5 am…
6:05, just after sunrise we were at the holding point of runway 27
Takeoff Heraklion
Still on the SID, then we were climbing to FL120
Five minutes after takeoff
Philipp was checking the weather via Satellite
Later we climbed to FL160
But finally we flew in IMC for an hour, with even a little icing …
Out of clouds, over Albania
Albania
Albania again, spectacular landscapes
Technical landing in Dubrovnik. Great service and very charming handling
Refueling and paying took 12 minutes in Dubrovnik. …
On the SID from Dubrovnik to the north
Approaching the Alps there were still no thunderstorms in sight. A coouple of hours later this would not have been possible. It really pays off to get up early …
Descent … approaching home airport
Police checking passports because we came from Dubrovnik (non-Schengen)
I washed the plane, put it in the hangar and drove over to Munich Airport
…. where I picked up my family. They got up at 9 in Heraklion (me at 4) and they had to change planes in Athens. I was home at 13:00 LT, they arrived at 2:30 pm! Took me 6 hours and some minutes to fly home from Crete
Super pics, Flyer59 
We should have a competition on who can post the most pics of their plane at that exact spot in the corner of the apron at Corfu
I only have 2 :-) The Warrior in 2003 and now the Cirrus
Enjoyed the photos. Thanks for sharing these!
Great photos. Thank you! I enjoyed looking and reading.
Here’s a youtube video of our landing on Milos, LGML. 10 miles out and flying in FL70 ATC would not let me descend for the IFR approach and when I asked again they told me I had to cancel IFR and descend and land VFR. No problem, but I don’t understand their procedures. I descended north of the island in a big spiral and set the autopilot to 1000 feet, so I could make some more pictures. With the DFC90 autopilot you simply establish an attitude like the desceding left turn here, press AP and the autopilot will hold that attitude. You could also combine that with an IAS, but I didn’t.
The crosswind at landing on rwy 08 was 350 / 22-25 knots, but steady. The approach was a bit too low and I had to add some power on short final. I am still working on getting used to the high braking effect of the 4-blade prop. In this case I reduced pwr to early after turning final and the plane developed a higher sinkrate than I had intended to.
Flyer59 wrote:
10 miles out and flying in FL70 ATC would not let me descend for the IFR approach and when I asked again they told me I had to cancel IFR and descend and land VFR. No problem, but I don’t understand their procedures.
That’s strange. Normally the ACC would clear you for the approach and then hand you over to the AFIS.
20 miles out I was at FL90 and asked three times (“standing by for descent”) and finally got FL70. Then, at the position where the clip starts i was at FL70 and when I asked for descent again ATC answered "For descent cancel IFR and proceed visually, contact Tower …. "
Great Photos.
I know I shouldnt but I cant help but mouth off. They are open for 1 hr and then wonder why they are going broke! Forget the airport, what about the damper on businesses that would welcome tourists. If the whole country has this attitude then ……
The people working there, i learned, get paid little and all have to work in other jobs too … it is not their fault. I think there’s too little traffic for having it open all day. But they could have it open with one person for private flights …
But what’s bad is the bureaucracy.
