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Njacko · Post by **Njacko** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:33 am

N280SA just spent a couple of weeks in the Alps. I think these two photos explain why...

Scotland:

France:

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:41 am

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

chris erasmus · Post by **chris erasmus** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:44 am

Sweet, good on you

Mountain Doctor · Post by **Mountain Doctor** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:07 am

To be honest, as amazing as the pic in France is, the foggy picture in Scotland was also very beautiful. Maybe more so for riding a horse or a dirt bike or hiking than flying an airplane, but awesome nonetheless.

Enjoy the trip!

Njacko · Post by **Njacko** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:21 am

To add some detail, the flight from Scotland took 6.5 hours and was CAVOK through England and France. Landed at Annemasse (near Geneva) with a good two hours' fuel in the tanks.

The flight back took longer against a headwind and I stopped for a couple of hours at my usual maintenance facility for a 50 hour (oil change, exhaust welding etc.).

It was unusually hot, well over 30 degrees C at altitudes over 6000 ft. The Froggies mostly use O-360 powered D140 Jodels in their mountains. We found that my MX-7-180 would land shorter but take off about the same. Where the Maule struggled was climb rate, and with 29" bushwheels anything over 12,000 ft density altitude required much patience and scraping valley walls for some "free" lift.

Landing anywhere that really needs bushwheels is forbidden in France, so extended gear and 8.50x6s would be more sensible...

Mountain Doctor · Post by **Mountain Doctor** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 1:08 pm

Landing anywhere that really needs bushwheels is forbidden in France

That sucks. Why did we save them in WWII?

I wonder how they feel about dirt bikes...

Danws · Post by **Danws** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:08 pm

NICE! MAYBE SOMDAY ILL MAKE THE TRIP

Dan

truthinbeer · Post by **truthinbeer** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:13 pm

Nice shots, both.

Maulehigh · Post by **Maulehigh** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:18 am

Njacko wrote:To add some detail, the flight from Scotland took 6.5 hours and was CAVOK through England and France. Landed at Annemasse (near Geneva) with a good two hours' fuel in the tanks...

How many stops?

Njacko wrote:Landing anywhere that really needs bushwheels is forbidden in France...

As it is in England

Nice pictures

Njacko · Post by **Njacko** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 2:01 pm

Maulehigh wrote: How many stops?

Annemasse LFLI is a French customs airport, so no need to stop en route. That's the beauty of BD's amazing aircraft. One can take off late-morning from a sheep-infested Scotch hill farm, wash the 31" ABWs in a Cumbrian reservoir, then land the other side of Switzerland in time for an early evening BBQ and help the locals drain their so-called Common Agricultural Policy "wine lake".

Maulehigh wrote:
Njacko wrote:Landing anywhere that really needs bushwheels is forbidden in France...
As it is in England

Strewth! I wish I'd known that...

All the same, it's interesting how "forbidden" can mean different things to different people in different countries.

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