The Grumpy Gang

The Grumman Aircraft Pilots Association European Branch

Home > On Tour > Tour 2001 >  Innsbruck  Austria

Crossing the Alps via the Brenner Pass - destination Ferrara (Italy)

Innsbruck gave us good advice on the weather ahead and simply let us do our own thing provided we reported at a point north of their area and at a point (Sierra) as we left - all great fun.

The mountains were stupendous. Snow capped and rising many thousands of feet above us. We twisted and turned through the Brenner Pass seeing the small antlike cars and coaches winding their way north and south.

The mountains were stupendous. Snow capped and rising many thousands of feet above us. We twisted and turned through the Brenner Pass seeing the small antlike cars and coaches winding their way north and south.

So permission was a must! I finally obtained their permission as I neared their overhead! It was a moment of triumph! After days of English, French, German and Austrian accented voices, a voice issued forth from my Dave Clarke's like that of a songbird - I could actually understand what she said!! She was so nice. Such was the emotion that I almost proposed to her!! A dangerous sign that my hormones were going to like what they saw!

An en-route airfield, Bolzano (my divert airfield if adverse wind had been encountered), refused to answer my plaintive radio calls as I approached from the north. From the flight guide books it was a strict rule that one must obtain permission to enter the Bolzano airspace. I was in a valley; I couldn't climb over them and couldn't go round.