The weather this weekend is looking good for the south of Europe so we are thinking of going first to Salzburg for the Red Bull museum and then onwards to Venice. IFR possible, no de-ice and no oxygen in a PA28-235. Does anybody have any routing suggestions?
For IFR, try the Autorouter
If you stay VFR you have several choices for crossing the main ridge of the Alps. All end in Carinthia, roughly abeam Villach, from where you fly along the very scenic Val Canale („Channel Valley“) to Udine and then proceed to the coastline, which you follow right until LIPV.
My recommendation is to fly from LOWS to LOWZ, then pass Großglockner (the highest mountain in Austria, stay clear of the National Park boundary) and proceed via Lienz to Villach. This is roughly the GAFOR route 40.
A second possibility is to cross via Radstadt to Spittal and then on the Villach (GAFOR routes 61 and 62).
You can always fly further to the east by following the Enns valley and using one of the lower mountain passes in this area, possibly proceeding as far as Bruck an der Mur and flying via Graz into Carinthia. But if the weather is good enough, you should stay further to the west and enjoy the scenery.
A sidenote to LOWS: A few years ago, it was possible to park directly in front of Hangar7 with prior notice. Might be worth asking, because otherwise you have to take a cab from the GA apron to the other side of the airport or walk through the noisy and stinky underpass.
SkyDemon shows GAFOR routes as well.
By the way, if you’re in Venice and need fuel, you may want to do the short Adriatic crossing to Portoroz (LJPZ). It’s a nice place, and fuel is usually significantly cheaper there than in Italy.
I would certainly do this VFR and follow blueline’s recommended route. Flying IFR over the Alps is rather boring.
Flying IFR over the Alps is rather boring.
That strongly depends on the weather and winds!
If you have say a 20kt wind you do not want to be 1000-2000ft above the peaks.
The safest way to do that is to fly high up. The photo opportunities are still amazing and arguably better.
But in this case they won’t have the option, not having oxygen.
If you have say a 20kt wind you do not want to be 1000-2000ft above the peaks.
I wouldn’t generalise that. If it is Foehn (which is often stronger than that) you sure want to be high up. In other cases, it’s perfectly normal to fly in the valleys with some wind.
In fact, I do not remember a wind-induced accident in the Austrian Alps in the past decade. There were some cases of VFR into IMC, several attempts to ignore density altitude on takeoff and even a guy on drugs on the final into LOWZ 
, but nothing with wind.
even a guy on drugs on the final into LOWZ
I think I had AFIS on drugs there once. I got the instruction from AFIS “reduce your pitch” during initial climb. LOWZ is a great place and very easy to fly to but in summer it is totally crowded by people from one particular region of the planet…
