PIREP: Sion (LSGS) and Troyes (LFQB)

I originally posted this on the COPA forums a couple of weeks ago, but thought could be of some interest here too. I’ve had some feedback on COPA since that actually is possible to arrange car hire directly with car rental agencies at both Lausanne and Annemasse such that the cars are waiting for you at the airfield – and that you can leave them there on the Sundays even when their offices are closed.

After an aborted attempt to enjoy an extended touring break in the Cirrus in June thanks to an Alt 1 failure, I had the opportunity this August Bank Holiday weekend to leverage the capabilities of the SR22 and nip down to Northern Alps for a night.

My destination was Chatel, located in the Haute-Savoie area of the Rhône-Alpes – there are no airfields in the immediate vicinity and given the village is in the narrow Abundance valley very little chance of it ever being Cirrus accessible! However within an hours drive there are several airfields: Annemasse (LFLI), Geneva (LSGG), Lausanne (LSGL) and Sion (LSGS). My first choice was Annemasse which is situated south of Lake Geneva and IFR accessible via LSGG’s ILS – however the car hire (Europcar) which is situated at the end of the runway was closed on Sunday (when I’d return to UK) and after failing to make contact with them decided I’d go elsewhere. Similar difficulties existed with Lausanne (no car hire on site, trek into town to pick up) and LSGG was too much hassle. So that left me with Sion, nestled in the centre of the Rhone valley that is entered off the eastern corner of Lake Geneva. Car rental was arranged with Hertz who would leave the car in the airport’s car park and have the keys at the Control office.

Location of airfields surrounding Chatel:

Taking my parents with me, I planned for an intermediate stop at Troyes (LFQB) about a 90 minute IFR flight from Biggin Hill and located at the southern end of the Champagne region. The airfield is situated in Class G and uncontrolled with only an Information service available on the radio. Seine approach cleared us for the ILS 17, although surprisingly had to do the STAR procedure to the IAF rather than radar vectors – perhaps this is normal for Troyes.

AVGAS at LFQB was well priced – 1.86EUR/litre and serviced by a self refuelling station at the northern part of the apron. My French debit card was accepted (so not a TOTAL only pump) and have had reports from other UK colleagues that their UK credit and debit cards worked without issue.

N542CD at the pumps

As we were coming from a non-Schengen country we had notified French customs & immigration earlier in the week and a team of 4(!) officers were awaiting us in the airport’s arrival area… my general prior experience with the French Douane is that they rarely turn up! They were quite pleasant and were on their way after verifying our passports and my pilots licence.

The landing fee was a bargain – only 7 EUR. Very importantly to note – there is a decent restaurant on the airfield! Sadly I didn’t take a note of the name, but we had a delicious Filet et frites to set us for the shortish hop (1h 15m) to Sion.

Having had mountain training in Denver and flown around the Rockies with fellow COPA member DM, I had yet to do any flights into the European Alps so I had been greatly looking forward to this trip. The weather was absolutely perfect with clear skies and a gentle breeze (~3knots at 10K) removing certain obstacles that would have had me landing in Lausanne or Annemasse instead! We were cleared IFR to SPR, a VOR between Lausanne and Geneva, and from there we were to fly the Swiss mountain VFR route S42 down to Sion. You can see these Swiss Mountain Routes depicted as dashed blue lines in the first image above.

I’ll now let the photos do the speaking…

Entering the Rhone Valley, East of Lake Geneva

some beautiful mountain lakes could be spotted from our vantage point at 7000ft

Plenty of Valais vineyards could be seen fragmenting the mountain sides

At Whiskey VFR point:

CD on the ramp at Sion

There is an IFR approach into Sion but one needs authorisation and certain performance – given the environment I didn’t bother looking into it and was quite happy to be VFR and in a position to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. It really is magnificent when Mother Nature is in a docile mood and willing to let you absorb her creations from our little machines.

Arriving at Sion we had an extended downwind leg to allow a Hawker Hunter (of same variety as crashed at Shoreham a week ago) to land. See if you can spot it in the following photo… we can’t, only able to see the shadow in the Rhone River!

The airport was quite efficient, handing over the keys for the Hertz car and we were on our way within a few minutes of unloading CD. After a too brief overnight stop in Chatel (where we made the most of the glorious weather and enjoyed some ice cold beer whilst surveying the landscape – life is too good sometimes! Make the most of it whilst you can!) we returned to Biggin Hill the next day. We had a quick refuel (CHF2.49/litre), paid the landing fee (CHF84.25 – one of this places where you unfortunately pay per passenger) and were on our way. The seamless nature of using the airfield (this and Troyes) makes them highly recommended in my eyes. Once my apartment is complete at Chatel I hope to be able to fly into Sion more often although I suspect that Lausanne or Annemasse will be more likely options given the variable weather
over the winter months.

Depressing skies and weather back home: