Time to reach the Alps. As planned, I decide to do a long flight, from Perpignan to Geneva, carrying 250 kg of cargo. Although the weather is perfect, clear skies and no wind, the departure has to be on IFR due to airport limitations. I decide to fly high the first half of the leg, to later descend and fly low from Grenoble to Chamonix and Geneva. But, before climbing to FL195, a little detour to visit the iconic Carcassonne.
From here, I climb to FL195, using VOR and visual navigation towards Montpellier. I have to fight a bit with the pressurization system. Today, the density altitude differs a lot from the indicated barometric altitude, so after few minutes I realised that I needed to adjust the cabin pressure with the density altitude from the transponder. And I fly at ROP at a very decent 270-280 KTAS.
From Montpellier, turn left towards Avignon. The Alps are more evident as I approach Valence, with the Mont Blanc clearly visible in the horizon.
After Valence I begin the descent and turn towards Grenoble, following the valley that leads to this important city, considered the capital of the Alps. The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) marks the entrance of the city and the Bastille serves as at reference to turn North, towards Albertville.
At Alberville one feels the temptation to follow the valley towards Courchevel, but Mègeve is our next waypoint. On the left, Annecy lake is a bit visible but, in front of us, the majestic Mont Blanc.
Instead of turning directly to Geneva, I decide to make a short detour along Chamonix valley, to enjoy the views of the Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles du Midi.
And finally, I head towards Geneva, losing altitude to match the 3,500 ft max required for the visual approach. This last part of the trip was quite turbulent and I struggled a bit to keep a decent speed without compromising the structure. Once again, the Baron behaved perfectly.
Visual approach and landing at Geneva airport. I have enjoyed this approach a lot, I might come back to practice some patterns another day.
There are no decent jobs at Geneva right now, so I might just fly alone along the Alps again, just enjoying the landscape, towars a place with better jobs to continue the trip. I'll decide after fixing the broken flap motor and the door seal pump. I'm trying the 16x failure rate and it seems to work well, plus those turbulences might have damaged one flap a bit. Also, the overpressure I had in the cabin for several minutes might have damaged the door seal a bit.
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Distance: 400 nm
LSGG 260920Z 05009KT 9999 FEW030 19/12 Q1023 NOSIG
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