Hi,
I'm going to make scenic flight tomorrow to this beautifull city and I have few questions about LOWI.
How do the announce FOEHN conditions? Is there any prefered route (I found one way to enter canyon abeam EDNV, may be there's some other way)? I'm going to fly VFR between mountains. Do I actually need to call handling before flight and get some PPR or slot?
If someone has experience with GA flights over LOWI, please share :)
Innsbruck usually requires PPR (for parking) only during the ski season. But just check the AIP plus NOTAMs and you will know for sure.
I'm not sure, clouds will allow to fly VFR. And furthermore I have no oxygen. Anyway, It's just about 90nm to go. I have already tried this route is MSFS and it seems to be enogh safety. But, perhaps, I'm missing something?
How do the announce FOEHN conditions?
One way is to check the QNH difference between north and south side of the alps, eg. between Innsbruck and Bolzano, or Munich and Vicenza. If it is say 5hPa or more, expect a pretty rough ride.
btw, I've got one more question. Is it nessesary to place EET for LOVV crossing in remarks? Usually, it is required to use any reporting point on state boundary, but there no reporting points between Germany and Austria in the vicinity of my route.
Regarding QNH, LOWI is now higher (+4hpa) than LIPB. In AIP they tell about south of the city, so I presume, the wind producing foehn must come from the south and with higher pressure in LOWI it must be north, isn't it?
There is no requirement to file a flight plan between Germany and Austria. It is rather uncommon to have one.
Generally speaking, Germany does not require flight plans for international VFR. However, most other countries require them. Austria and the Czech Republic are like Germany so no flight plan required.
Föhn is a southerly, warm, dry wind and requires crap weather south of the Alps (rain) and nice weather north of the Alps. You are going to fly low so just look at METARs and TAFs. It's mostly an issue at the altitude of the ridges but you will be in the valleys.
Just curious what airfield are you flying from?
I may be stating the obvious here but surely wind can't come from nowhere. In the Alps, it has to come from a pressure gradient across the region and that should be obvious on the MSLP charts.
Is it possible to get significant winds in the Alps if the chart looks like this ?
I have flown over the Alps many times and have never seen anything suggesting the MSLP charts are wrong.
What I can't comment on is flying inside the valleys (what is called "mountain flying") which I have never done and which needs special training.
What is also non-trivial is knowing if the mountains will be VMC all the way up, or under a cloud layer. But satellite images - example - are good for that.
