Took the Cirrus for a spin the other day to get some coffee at Hangar 7 in Salzburg and for some alpine sightseeing.
Handling/Parking request was arranged with Red Bull the day before. Very friendly contact, as always with anything Flying Bulls/Red Bull. On the day of the flight GAC at SZG was called by phone to submit credit card data for the landing fee (= no taxi to or stop at GAC office required).
Preflight planning, flight plan submission, weight and balance etc.. was conducted using Autorouter and LO ICAO VFR chart on AirNavPro.
Jeppessen FD Pro on iPad was used for charts.
Additionally to the WX brief from autorouter and homebriefing.com (austrocontrol) I called the local airport met office for further details. The weather was generally good with a large high pressure area over europe. However, there was a small “wedge” (transl.?) of low pressure disturbing from the northeast bringing in clouds including TCU up to FL150 and winds from the north at 25kts.
The plan was to fly IFR and depart LOWG via MILGO5G (with visual turn), then climb through IMC below freezing level, followed by VMC on top and then fly to VATET, then coordinate with ATC for heading south and sightseeing around Dachstein, then continue to LOWS.
Before departure at LOWG
A few minutes after departure we were “on top” at FL100, the odd turn here and there to avoid tops. TKS was tested preemptively just in case (if it gets used too rarely water might freeze and block the system or so I heard).
Picture enroute to LOWS and hoping that further on we will see some peaks.
Salzburg radar was very accommodating, offering us vectors into an area with lower radar minima. It was clearing up a bit and there were occasional spots where the ground was visible but still no joy for extended VMC sightseeing. Considering the mountain peaks up to 10000 feet we then opted for a different sightseeing part on the return leg and continued direct SZG/Hangar 7.
Soon after we were radar vectored for the ILS15 at SZG. After descending further the ground was visible permanently and we opted for a visual approach (always helps ATC to cut in between faster airliners and keep exposure time in the TMA to a minimum).
Approaching RWY15. The middle taxiway on the left leads directly to Hangar 7.
Soon after the automatic gates to the Flying Bulls apron opened and a marshaller parked us directly in front of Hangar 7.
For those of you who haven’t been – give it a go. Hangar 7 is wonderful. After strolling around the planes we opted for some Coffee, Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte and Apfelstrudel.
Some Hangar 7 impressions.
The return flight was planned Z departing SZG VFR to the east for some mountain/lake sightseeing, then joining IFR back to GRZ.
Departing SZG
The area around SZG is very pristine with it’s lakes and mountains.
Circling Schafsberg and Wolfgangsee
To hop back over the alps we contacted Linz RADAR. “Climb FL110, IFR starts reaching”. Soon after we were cleared direct GRZ VOR.
The alpine crossing form north to south exposed us to a nice tailwind, and during a shallow descent groundspeed increased over 200kts.
Needless to say a few minutes later we had GRZ airport in sight and requested a right circuit visual approach for RWY35 (winds were from the north at 13 kts).
City of Graz with airport in the background
Final RWY35
And back at home
All in all this was a great flight, even though we could not quite fulfill all mission wishes (circling Dachstein, for instance). Despite the winds it was mostly smooth over the alps. Performance was great considering we were at MTOW for the first leg.
The camera visible in the pictures is a Garmin VIRB, recording 360 degree video at 5,7K and storing GPS/ALT/G-force data for overlays.
A short test clip is featured here (360 only works on youtube desktop or dedicated iOS/Android apps):
I didn’t know you could organise the handling direct with Red Bull, when I’ve flown to Salzburg it’s always been refused, instead I’ve had to park at GA, get a taxi to Hangar 7 and then back again. I think I paid around €70 all told, but that included a night’s parking, what did you pay?
Yes it is possible. Email parking rq via hangar7 website. It can be refused if they have own movements planned.
Then call gac szg to arrange for wire payment without parking at the ga terminal.
Snoopy wrote:
Took the Cirrus for a spin
That’s an ambiguous statement 
Haha you got me there ;)
Steve6443 wrote:
I think I paid around €70 all told, but that included a night’s parking, what did you pay?
Here are the charges.
30,33+20% VAT Landing fee LOWS
19,26+20% VAT Approach fee Austrocontrol
__________
59,51€ Total
