If someone wants to airline to LOWG I could offer to share the trip from here to LIPV in a SR22. First high up over the Slovenian alps then follow the coast below 1000‘ from Ronchi via Grado, Lignano, Caorle…
Some LIPV impressions:
Flew into Venice Lido a few weeks ago in a PA46, 1.95 tonnes. No one should be remotely concerned about flying into this airfield. The runway is in good condition, it is 1,000 m long, there is no problem whatsoever transitioning from the grass to the hard stand where refueling takes place. I saw numerous Cirri operating out of there, as we all as PC12’s coming and going.
And by the way, flying into this airfield is one of the coolest aviation experiences you will ever have.
Buckerfan wrote:
And by the way, flying into this airfield is one of the coolest aviation experiences you will ever have.
Very true!
Snoopy wrote:
LIPH/LIPU are sort of close
Lipu is open .
My plane has been there a few times, I have yet to fly there, but I have to say that it sounds tempting indeed. And no, I would not be concerned about that runway.
Looks like they also are an airport of entry? Would help not having to land elsewhere for customs first.
Yes it is. Have departed there to Switzerland once.
MedEwok wrote:
I don’t think my wife will let me fly away for an entire weekend though (if weather is VFR flyable at all), and I need a lot more practice before such a long trip anyways.
Well, if there is one destination most wives don’t need too much persuation its probably Venice
And this is in May, so if you start now to fly a bit more often, it’s not a trip to the Moon. One thing you might want to consider is to take an alpine introduction from someplace like Augsburg or here in Switzerland with an experienced FI. Other than the alpine crossing, most of the trip there is pretty straightforward. And if you don’t want to cross the Alps, you can go around them via the East, but there are some pretty easy crossings available too. Hannover to Lido is a 550 NM trip so it should be feasible with most SEP’s without too much hassle.
Otherwise possibly there might be more folks coming to this fly in from Northern Germany and you could share the ride with a more experienced pilot.
What would be the easiest but shortest route through the Alps from N. Germany to Venice in a C172R at MTOW for a pilot entirely inexperienced with mountain flying? I guess going around in the east is the safest but adds another 200 nm or so to the route?
“Mountain flying” is the usual term for flying inside the canyons, sometimes under a cloudbase. Nobody should do that unless they know the area and exactly what they are doing.
You can cross the “spine” of the Alps at various levels without getting “into” the terrain. If you look at say a VFR chart you can see the spot elevations. The route from central Germany to Venice is roughly passing Klagenfurt and a quick and dirty look at the elevations there suggests you could fly comfortably straight over the top at ~9000ft, with a good margin. A PA28-161 can do 9k just fine (I went to 11k in Arizona in one, 2-up). Any of the tablet nav tools can do a vertical profile of a chosen route. This is VFR; IFR needs to be done at official MEAs which are higher; probably FL120+.
Also your engine failure exposure is fairly good. The Alps offer many opportunities for a forced landing into a valley – example
I would consider Brenner Pass but only in good VFR weather and with winds no higher that 12-15 knots on the ground in the alpine areas. It’s not difficult in good weather and the views are spectacular. But you won’t know for sure until the day of the flight whether it will work.
