Checking the weather maps this morning, I noticed a powerful upper jetstream off the back of Storm Jocelyn that has just passed over the UK. The direction and length of the jetstream happened to line up perfectly for a route between two payware airport sceneries I had picked up thanks to an Xmas steam giftcard, Pyreegue’s East Midlands and FlyTampa’s Corfu:
Plugging in Simbrief’s route in the the Flybywire A32NX, I operated the sector as an off season Condor charter in thier colourful new livery. With an average wind component of +97, I managed a maximum ground speed of 562 knots overhead Belgium, covering the 1279 nm route in just under 2 hours 30 mins from runway to runway.
Seatbelt signs were flicked on as some pretty choppy turbulence crossing the Carnic Alps, as to be expected with the strong winds. After reaching the Balkan Peninsula the skies were much clearer and I was able to spot the famous walled city of Dubrovnik as I approached TOD.
The descent track over the Ceraunian Mountains in the Vlorë region of Albania was particularly impressive, dropping down to a MSA of 8200 crossing the coast into the Ionian Sea.
With light and variable winds on the ground at Corfu, I established on final for the RNP16 with a -3.5 degree glideslope and passed right over the waterfront port of Corfu Town before touching down at the displaced threshold, rolling out, then back tracking to the terminal apron.
I couldn’t actually find any STAR that linked up PITAS with the IF for the RNP16 at Corfu so made up ATC vectors to hop across. Is anyone who’s familiar with Corfu ops able to share how arrivals onto 16 are usually sequenced from the north? TIA
