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As we enter May and the weather starts getting warmer, now really is the time to dust off those VFR charts and enjoy a bit of flightseeing
And where better to do it than... you guessed it, right here in Switzerland! This small country has a wonderful selection of scenery for you to enjoy and, best of all, there is lots of great freeware scenery to choose from!
So in this article, I am going to give you a small taste of the beautiful sights that are right on the doorstep of Zurich Hub (using our very own Pilatus PC-12 of course!) and I hope that'll make you want to explore this wonderful country for yourself
First things first though - to enjoy the wonderful VFR opportunities I'm suggesting you need to ensure you have decent scenery within your flightsim. If you haven't already added a high detail mesh and extra airports then you
really must visit
http://walhalla.mine.nu/fs2004/switzerland.php and start downloading... well, pretty much everything
A mountainous country like Switzerland really isn't done any justice by the default MSFS mesh so choose one of the addon meshes first, then start adding on airports. We are really lucky because a wonderful chap called Daniel Gauthier has created a series of great airports for Switzerland - the series is called "Suisse 2004" and you will see lots of the individual sceneries on the link above. They are fantastic so please try them out
The first one I will show you is one of my favourites - Sion or LSGS. It's a small airport nestled in the mountains with really great approaches - this is what flying is all about for me!
On the ground it's full of little details which make taxiing more than just a necessary chore - you can look around and see a realistic, working airfield:-
And there is even a hospital scenery on the approach path which is a great Visual Reference Point to help you line up on finals, as well as offering the option of some rooftop helipad practice
Another very detailed airport is Grenchen (LSZG) which includes people on the apron, a really nice control tower and even a static jet fighter "on guard" near the terminal!
[img=960x720]http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3184/lszg01xt9.jpg[/img]
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In the Suisse 2004 series there are some large, busy airports like Geneva (LSGG):
and many small, quiet ones like 'Les Eplatures' (LSGC):
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Every one of them is a richly detailed scenery which is worth exploring in itself! Then, once you rotate and take-off (from Mollis LSMF in this pic)...
...you can enjoy the beautiful panorama of lakes and mountains stretching in every direction...
Just don't forget that those beautiful mountains can also be dangerous - the weather changes very rapidly, mountain tops are often in the clouds and visibility can disappear in seconds! Be ready to go IFR at any moment as you'll probably lose a fight with any of these jagged peaks
[img=960x720]http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3929/lsmf05yw6.jpg[/img]
So why on earth are you sitting there reading this article - get downloading the sceneries and explore this wonderful country we work in
Some of these destinations are part of the EHM route network, others you can just explore for yourself when you have a spare half-hour... Either way enjoy your flights!
