15 Zurich - Corfu

25. Jan 2007

It was the first snow in Zurich. By the time I was ready to leave, it was still freezing temperatures, and overcast. I could take off and climb through the clouds, but with the ice accumulated on the wings yesterday, it was not an option - and it was likely I would pick up more ice.
And there would be no escape over the Alps.  

So it was back into town, but finding a hotel was not easy, as the Davos meeting meant full hotels.
But after checking 3 hotels, I finally succeeded by the help from the tourist office at the railway station.
 

The next morning it was back to the airport, and now the weather looked much better – with patches of blue sky. The plane still had a fair layer of ice on the wings. The FBO assisted getting it of – but the method of using a screwdriver to knock it of the wings, did not please  me!
 

But after an hour of work, I was ready to depart. So was a lot of commercial traffic, and I was put in a holding bay for about 15 minutes until the jets had departed.
 

After departure I was vectored to get enough altitude before being allowed over the Alps. Reaching flight level 150 (about 15.000 feet) it was smooth flying over the mountains. Coming into Italy the cloud layer mostly disappeared.