Thanks
Flights like this, flying right at the top of the aircraft performance, make me want to buy a Jetprop
The problem is I would have nowhere to hangar it, nowhere to maintain it (would have to fly it somewhere), etc… and would not get decent photos through the windows.
Yes, that episode with Munich/Vienna once again shows that you are using your aircraft beyond, or at least at the very edge of its capability limits. Not good.
It’s something I really try to avoid, telling ATC you can’t either go up, down, left, right, or turn around. That’s not something one can routinely do with ATC. They must be given the possibility to move us around, at least one way or another, for whatever reason. Situations like that make ATC hate us small SEPs flying IFR. They might file reports and/or impose further restrictions.
He was demanding a descent which would have exposed us to hazardous wx. I don’t see that a higher performance aircraft would have helped, and a climb was not offered as an option IIRC. OK, there is always the possibility of turning on TKS, entering IMC and riding out whatever comes, but that would be dumb. Maybe 30-45 mins of IMC with some pretty big convective stuff in it. No pilot with a brain would have done that.
It would be astonishing if there was any kind of real reason for the FL160 descent. Probably just an LoA between Munich and Vienna… Occassionally, ATC can’t be bothered to make the phone call to coordinate and/or it is just easier to hassle the pilot first.
In 2500hrs I have not seen anything quite like this. I had a nasty one over France when avoiding CBs, versus some “military commander”… then I had that ridiculous one where a local pilot said to ATC (in German so I could not understand it) that I was lying about the wx. But this one was different. And ultimately Vienna was not bothered at all.
Mali Logene looks as beautiful as I remember it
Regarding these co-ordination events, did you already know the frequency for Vienna? I know it would be escalating the situation but would it be possible to contact Vienna on box 2 and explain why you needed to retain your altitude, and then be able to go back to Munich and tell them that you’ve already confirmed with Vienna that they’ll accept you on FL170.
That would put the cat among the pidgons!
If you ever try it, make sure your recording the cockpit audio
You are looking for cheap entertainment
Btw any plane can be maxed out relative to wx.
How do you get around the island once you arrive at LDLO, can you rent a car or … ?
It is not a big place and a lot can be walked. There is car hire but not official; IME (from a few years ago) it is arranged under the table by certain shops, presumably to protect the taxis. The taxis are cheap though.
Very nice report as always.
It was a pleasure to come along on that trip, so thanks to Peter for putting up with me!
I finally got around to doing the video from this trip
There is no cockpit recording so it was quicker to edit. And at the end I just dropped in some instrumental tracks of the usual type