Global Wanderings - The Vertigo Diaries - Day 10: Zurich Switzerland to Milan, Italy (World Update 9)

Sometimes life imitates art - and it’s amazing to see how @GotGravel 's wonderful Vertigo now does exist in real life (JMB VL-3 now with a Turboprop Engine). So, just a bit of self-indulgence, if I had the time and resources, I’d wander the globe with it.

Where else to start but in my sim “home base” - picturesque KBID enhanced by Gaya. The classic hop over the Canada-Greenland-Iceland route, and then from there, who knows?

I’m using Live Weather, and keeping within 800 NM reach with a 20 minute reserve for alternates. There’ll be pauses, as I’m honoring Wind and Precipitation Conditions - it’s useful to have a tab open to Meteoblue since it feeds the sim’s Weather Engine - the correlation between the two is quite good, and if it’s a bad day to try a long-range hop, you sit it out, just like in the real world.

Day 1: Block Island USA to St. John’s Canada, with a Fuel Stop at St. Pierre.

Day 2: St. John’s Canada to Narsarsuaq, Greenland

Day 3: Narsarsuaq, Greenland to Reykjavik, Iceland

Day 4: Egilsstadir Iceland to Stornoway, UK

Day 5: Stornoway, UK to Dublin, Ireland

Day 6: Dublin, Ireland to Stansted, UK

Day 7: Stansted, UK to Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark

Day 8: Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark to Oslo, Norway

Day 9: Oslo, Norway to Zurich, Switzerland

Day 10: Zurich Switzerland to Milan, Italy

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Day 1: Block Island USA to St. John’s Canada, with a Fuel Stop at St. Pierre.

If I had a penny for every time St. John’s was covered in low precip, I’d actually be flying this trip in real life. Had a great view of Cape Cod on my way to Halifax, but I burnt too much Jet-A on the climb-out and decided a fuel stop at St. Pierre was in order. Forecast doesn’t look great for the next 24 hours (big storm coming up the US Seaboard and will exit out over us), so we might be here for a day.

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Day 2: St. John’s Canada to Narsarsuaq, Greenland

This is the leg that always makes me nervous, especially in a single-engine. The winds never really lined up cleanly, even after waiting out the storm that brought Spring Snow to the US Eastern Seaboard and Canada. Sometimes you just gotta go - 884 NM, 3:00:00 roughly ETE.

Vertigo has the most reliable turboprop powerplant ever built - the PT-6A. And it never missed a beat, even 300 NM from the nearest landfall, deep over the Labrador Sea. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was watching the fuel gauge and the wind vectors like a hawk. In the end, I kept a few torque points in reserve, went 10 knots slower on cruise thinking I might need that extra half gallon at the end. And it was looking tight as I passed 5450N, 200 NM off Mary’s Point in Newfoundland, as the wind turned stiffly cross-ways at 30 knots for over 300 NM. Fortunately, it shifted again as I dropped from FL210 down to 7,000 beginning the RNAV descent into RWY 06, and generously gave me a 40 knot tailwind for a while. As it turned out, the low fuel lights came on just as I was pulling into the ramp at BGBW. Heck I even got a rainbow on the approach - it wasn’t even close.

Next stop - Reykjavik Iceland!


Day 3: Narsarsuaq, Greenland to Reykjavik, Iceland

A cloudy departure from Greenland, and we were in IMC until departing the coastline. The weather cleared out nicely over the Straits and made a gorgeous approach into Runway 19 at BIRK, with the capitol laid out nicely across our field of view.

Day 4: Egilsstadir, Iceland to Stornoway, UK

We repositioned to Eglisstadir, the eastern-most Icelandic Airport with International Port of Entry. It’s a long IFR haul to lonely Stornoway in Scotland, but that puts in the UK, and our first stop in Europe. There are some huge wind generators near the airfield, so pay attention on arrival.

Day 5: Stornoway, UK to Dublin, Ireland

We’re headed to the Emerald Isles and leave blustery windy Scotland behind us. The PT-6 just keeps us humming along safely and speedlly to FL200.

Day 6: Dublin, Ireland to Stansted, UK

A quick hop to England from Ireland; I took a few moments to look around the airport surroundings, and I ended up stuck behind a rush hour of RyanAir Commuter Flights. Amusing overhead terrain errors (like the ghost silhouette of a jetliner burned into the streaming map), and being overrun by a commercial liner on final.

Day 7: Stansted, UK to Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark

Headed up the North Sea to the quaintly named Hans Christian Andersen Airport in Denmark. Passed over the very unique looking airport of Helgoland and did some drone-touring.

Day 8: Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark to Oslo, Norway

We continue North traversing the length of Denmark, passing over the Skaggerak Straits, up the famous fjords to the beautiful city of Oslo, Norway.

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Day 9: Oslo, Norway to Zurich, Switzerland

A long reposition flight to get just over the border in time for World Update 9. That was a long flight, a little over three hours, and I was pushing up against some winds which threw off my fuel burn calculations. The Lo Fuel lights came on just as I was lining up for the ramp spot at Zurich.

Day 10: Zurich Switzerland to Milan, Italy

World Update 9 has arrived, and we’re perfectly spotted just north of the border in Switzerland. Taking a chance, we file a quick VFR hop up to 17,500’ and depart Zurich. We’ve got clear weather up until about the Alps, but by then we’re at cruise and well above the layer. It’s a quick but gorgeous ride down past Lugano and a steep descent before Milan so we remain visual. Straight in approach to Linate, holding up a heavy with our arrival. Benvenuti in Italia! (Welcome to Italy!)