Flying two friends for a weekend in the DA40 to Zurich, Switzerland. Another bucket list item ticked, but stay tuned for the next vlog - things became very different.... www.theflyingvlog.uk/visiting-zurich/
Thank you for watching 👍 Unfortunately not, I have tried placing on my lap and with IMC that's very disorientating - few years back it was lower down on the window and could (mostly likely did) damage the hinges. Thankfully though, it doesn't hinder my view. I think the wide angle on the GoPro makes it look worse than it is - but I always have line of sight. The benefit of that position is a quick glance from PFD to iPad when on an IAP.
@@TheFlyingVLOG yeah on the lap is crappy in IMC, I agree. Glad you enjoyed Zurich! We're planning on visiting the UK and Ireland next summer. Do you have any pointers for the IFR in uncontrolled airspace? It's a bit confusing to me :)
Mate lovely video, really nice, but not to be mean ... But your two passengers are way too agitated during descent and final while you're flying the approach of your life in swiss' busiest airport. It's a bit dangerous but I believe you probably talked about it after flight. That asides that landing was really good and must I've felt satisfying. Cheers from France.
Hi, Thanks for watching. It's not a mean bit of feedback, but it's self-evident what had happened. It has definitely changed how I brief the passengers as I record these vlogs to aid safety, and not just for the entertainment value. It was a great trip though, and they slept the way home :) Cheers.
Interesting flight and well done for doing it, but.... I 100% cringed at the noise from your two pax in the cockpit as you approached and landed. All that singing and giggling and clapping is really silly and possibly downright dangerous. It's one thing to have a fun and friendly time but totally another to let it get to that point. That's why professional crews (and many, many instrument-rated private pilots like myself) operate some sort of sterile cockpit in the critical phases of flight. There's a good reason for it. I noticed many times your pax talked over your radio calls en route. You never stopped them. There's obviously a fine line between being some sort of dictator in the cockpit and intelligently exercising your captaincy as PIC but either you need to be more assertive or a touch less over-confident, I'm not sure which. It's like there's a pre-flight conversation here that should have happened but never did. Maybe OK when you have light winds and a great big runway but if any single parameter gets difficult it could be a whole other story. Sorry to be blunt because I think you do great stuff on here, but it needs to be said.
Hi Stephen, Thanks for watching. I'm surprised nobody else had echoed this to be fair. They've both watched the video, and the plan was and still is to speak to them before the next flight as I can then show them this comment, too. Of course, a pre-flight safety brief can only cover so much, and I've created my own checklists to ensure that it's well rehearsed. Have you done the IR training? I was taught very well and can completely ignore *most* of the distractions - like you see on the landing and roll out. I will be speaking to them about this before our next trip, and I'll likely be creating something to this extent in the future of the importance of a good pre flight brief. Take care.
Hi Robbie@@TheFlyingVLOG Glad to hear it. Yes, I did my IR at Gloucester in 2017 - we're both members of PPL IR I think and like you I've done many long-distance trips in my C182 across Europe and down to North Africa. That said, tbh I'm not at all sure about your penultimate para - however well you're taught, absolutely nobody can ever say for certain they "can completely ignore 99% of distractions". That's precisely an example of the over-confidence I was referring to. What if there were a bird strike? Or a puncture? Or a freak gust of wind? Would you then be able to ignore 99% of distractions? Or could the 1% remaining kill you (and your passengers)? Great that you're going to show my comment to your pax but it shouldn't really require that - it's you that's in charge here. I don't know if you ever follow Aviation 101, but he has a brilliant video on pre-flight briefing, which got me thinking hard and changed the way I did it every time I fly with passengers. You should check it out: ua-cam.com/video/3Mf0zR3WoiU/v-deo.html
Hi Stephen, It's great to receive constructive feedback, I am open to it - especially if it makes me a better pilot. I've rephrased in my original reply to you what I actually meant, and that was most distractions I can ignore, but as you say this is impossible in reality. I am definitely NOT over confident - I am still learning my personal limits as I fly IFR. Strangely I noticed on my latest checklist (after this flight had took place) that I've omitted the Passenger Brief Aide Memoir when I updated to a much more developed, professional checklist. So before I take my next flight, I'll have that included. It's currently a work in progress, but the SOPs I am developing a briefing that takes place before the flight and explains all aspects of an effective briefing. It's not that this did not take place, it's just it will need to be tweaked slightly so my point comes across more clearly, especially when I take passengers that aren't as savvy about aviation as most passengers I've had. (Normally pilots or aviation peeps). I suspect I should be more assertive with passengers flying forwards :)
Just to add further to that; was actually looking at implementing a 10000ft rule where once below that, comms are limited to my say so, and if I am doing a CAT 1 ILS, passengers are completely muted (and briefed on this). Again WIP.
Great video like all your others. However, what was the thing that became different we had to stay tuned for? Also in which month did you do this flight?
How tricky was getting an IFR slot? I just recently considered going to Zurich but instead ended up going to Birrfeld (LSZF) with a stop in Colmar for immigration, mainly due to the parking cost concerns (I wanted to stay for 3 nights).
It seemed a LOT trickier than I thought actually. There's a fair few things that prevent you getting them at Zurich, but we managed with the restricted slot times. Best bet is to email the handler at Zurich :) Parking at Zurich wasn't that expensive. Did you see the blog?
@@TheFlyingVLOG Thanks, checked the blog now and the fees were definitely more than reasonable. Not so much anymore, I was given the following information by MFGZ in the beginning of February (also for a DA40): "Since 2024 the parking fees have changed at LSZH. The first two hours are free of charge. Hour 2-3 is charged with a so called high rate which is 34.48 CHF for a DA40. From hour 3 onward, you will be charged 8.38 CHF per hour." All other fees were also somewhat higher so for a 3 night stay it would have been over 500 CHF.
Yeah Zurich went nuts this year with cost. One more place that is in fact closed off to small GA, so sad. Homebased aircraft parking increased almost 10 fold 😢
@@TheFlyingVLOG yeah, has been a long time coming. They want to kick out all small GA due to capacity limitations. Just sad that there is really no viable IFR option available within reasonable distance. Basel (LFSB) or Bern (LSZB) could be options if you ever wanna come visit our nice little country again, afaik both with immigration and IFR :)
Flying two friends for a weekend in the DA40 to Zurich, Switzerland. Another bucket list item ticked, but stay tuned for the next vlog - things became very different....
www.theflyingvlog.uk/visiting-zurich/
Nice trip 👍 one quirk i noticed is the ipad that seems to blocks a large junk of your lookout to the left. Isn’t there a better way to place it?
Thank you for watching 👍 Unfortunately not, I have tried placing on my lap and with IMC that's very disorientating - few years back it was lower down on the window and could (mostly likely did) damage the hinges. Thankfully though, it doesn't hinder my view. I think the wide angle on the GoPro makes it look worse than it is - but I always have line of sight. The benefit of that position is a quick glance from PFD to iPad when on an IAP.
@@TheFlyingVLOG yeah on the lap is crappy in IMC, I agree. Glad you enjoyed Zurich! We're planning on visiting the UK and Ireland next summer. Do you have any pointers for the IFR in uncontrolled airspace? It's a bit confusing to me :)
Will your flight be outside of CAS then?
@@TheFlyingVLOG partially for sure
I would just set it up where it doesn't interfere with the safe duties of exercising your license. Surprisingly, it never stops me seeing anything.
epic. I hope you got your twin rating with those two.
No twin rating yet. Probably next year! Thanks for watching :)
Another very interesting and enjoyable video Robbie!
Glad you enjoyed it! Quite a fair few videos to edit still, and one of my first full blown CAT 1 into a major airport.
Great choice in destination! Although I might be biased on that lol
It was a hard choice to be fair, it was that or Geneva. I wanted to visit Lucerne but the passengers didn't want too :'(
Mate lovely video, really nice, but not to be mean ... But your two passengers are way too agitated during descent and final while you're flying the approach of your life in swiss' busiest airport. It's a bit dangerous but I believe you probably talked about it after flight. That asides that landing was really good and must I've felt satisfying. Cheers from France.
Hi, Thanks for watching. It's not a mean bit of feedback, but it's self-evident what had happened. It has definitely changed how I brief the passengers as I record these vlogs to aid safety, and not just for the entertainment value. It was a great trip though, and they slept the way home :) Cheers.
Awesome video as always. If you don’t mind me asking; is the aircraft privately owned by yourself or does it belong to the flying club?
Thank you for the kind feedback. It's a non-equity share aircraft based at Stapleford. Great aircraft, with availability and uptime.
I see. I’m very jealous as the aircraft looks like a dream to fly.
It's a great aircraft for sure. I love flying her.
Interesting flight and well done for doing it, but.... I 100% cringed at the noise from your two pax in the cockpit as you approached and landed. All that singing and giggling and clapping is really silly and possibly downright dangerous. It's one thing to have a fun and friendly time but totally another to let it get to that point. That's why professional crews (and many, many instrument-rated private pilots like myself) operate some sort of sterile cockpit in the critical phases of flight. There's a good reason for it. I noticed many times your pax talked over your radio calls en route. You never stopped them. There's obviously a fine line between being some sort of dictator in the cockpit and intelligently exercising your captaincy as PIC but either you need to be more assertive or a touch less over-confident, I'm not sure which. It's like there's a pre-flight conversation here that should have happened but never did. Maybe OK when you have light winds and a great big runway but if any single parameter gets difficult it could be a whole other story. Sorry to be blunt because I think you do great stuff on here, but it needs to be said.
Hi Stephen, Thanks for watching. I'm surprised nobody else had echoed this to be fair. They've both watched the video, and the plan was and still is to speak to them before the next flight as I can then show them this comment, too.
Of course, a pre-flight safety brief can only cover so much, and I've created my own checklists to ensure that it's well rehearsed.
Have you done the IR training? I was taught very well and can completely ignore *most* of the distractions - like you see on the landing and roll out.
I will be speaking to them about this before our next trip, and I'll likely be creating something to this extent in the future of the importance of a good pre flight brief.
Take care.
Hi Robbie@@TheFlyingVLOG Glad to hear it. Yes, I did my IR at Gloucester in 2017 - we're both members of PPL IR I think and like you I've done many long-distance trips in my C182 across Europe and down to North Africa.
That said, tbh I'm not at all sure about your penultimate para - however well you're taught, absolutely nobody can ever say for certain they "can completely ignore 99% of distractions". That's precisely an example of the over-confidence I was referring to. What if there were a bird strike? Or a puncture? Or a freak gust of wind? Would you then be able to ignore 99% of distractions? Or could the 1% remaining kill you (and your passengers)?
Great that you're going to show my comment to your pax but it shouldn't really require that - it's you that's in charge here. I don't know if you ever follow Aviation 101, but he has a brilliant video on pre-flight briefing, which got me thinking hard and changed the way I did it every time I fly with passengers. You should check it out: ua-cam.com/video/3Mf0zR3WoiU/v-deo.html
yes to all of this so much.. god i cringed so hard!
Hi Stephen, It's great to receive constructive feedback, I am open to it - especially if it makes me a better pilot. I've rephrased in my original reply to you what I actually meant, and that was most distractions I can ignore, but as you say this is impossible in reality. I am definitely NOT over confident - I am still learning my personal limits as I fly IFR.
Strangely I noticed on my latest checklist (after this flight had took place) that I've omitted the Passenger Brief Aide Memoir when I updated to a much more developed, professional checklist. So before I take my next flight, I'll have that included.
It's currently a work in progress, but the SOPs I am developing a briefing that takes place before the flight and explains all aspects of an effective briefing. It's not that this did not take place, it's just it will need to be tweaked slightly so my point comes across more clearly, especially when I take passengers that aren't as savvy about aviation as most passengers I've had. (Normally pilots or aviation peeps).
I suspect I should be more assertive with passengers flying forwards :)
Just to add further to that; was actually looking at implementing a 10000ft rule where once below that, comms are limited to my say so, and if I am doing a CAT 1 ILS, passengers are completely muted (and briefed on this). Again WIP.
Great video like all your others. However, what was the thing that became different we had to stay tuned for? Also in which month did you do this flight?
That's extremely kind! Thank you :) Next flight vlog you'll find out when the complete unexpected happens to us. This took place in June 2023'.
How tricky was getting an IFR slot?
I just recently considered going to Zurich but instead ended up going to Birrfeld (LSZF) with a stop in Colmar for immigration, mainly due to the parking cost concerns (I wanted to stay for 3 nights).
It seemed a LOT trickier than I thought actually. There's a fair few things that prevent you getting them at Zurich, but we managed with the restricted slot times. Best bet is to email the handler at Zurich :) Parking at Zurich wasn't that expensive. Did you see the blog?
@@TheFlyingVLOG Thanks, checked the blog now and the fees were definitely more than reasonable. Not so much anymore, I was given the following information by MFGZ in the beginning of February (also for a DA40):
"Since 2024 the parking fees have changed at LSZH. The first two hours are free of charge. Hour 2-3 is charged with a so called high rate which is 34.48 CHF for a DA40. From hour 3 onward, you will be charged 8.38 CHF per hour."
All other fees were also somewhat higher so for a 3 night stay it would have been over 500 CHF.
Yeah Zurich went nuts this year with cost. One more place that is in fact closed off to small GA, so sad. Homebased aircraft parking increased almost 10 fold 😢
Sadly yes. Even for homebase aircraft?
@@TheFlyingVLOG yeah, has been a long time coming. They want to kick out all small GA due to capacity limitations. Just sad that there is really no viable IFR option available within reasonable distance. Basel (LFSB) or Bern (LSZB) could be options if you ever wanna come visit our nice little country again, afaik both with immigration and IFR :)
And a sterile cockpit was *nowhere* to be seen.. big yikes..
sterile cockpit ! ???
Thanks for your comment. I addressed that after landing with the passengers and this didn't reoccur for the returns sector.