ZRH-SIR-ZRH: day trip to Valais with views of the snow-covered Alps 2017-02-11
In August 2016, Swiss announced that the route Sion (SIR) – London (first planned LCY, later switched to LHR) would be operated on the four Saturdays in February 2017 by Helvetic Airways Embraer 190 to connect the winter sports regions around Sion directly to England. The positioning flights between Zürich and Sion were also bookable. SIR is a quite small airport with only 24.000 passengers annually (2014) and hard to reach by sheduled flights, even harder that convenient as a day trip. I didn't have to think for a long time and quickly booked STR-ZRH-SIR-ZRH-STR looking forward to enjoying freat views of the Alps mountains in winter – and I did not get disappointed.
ZRH – SIR (outbound)
LX2840 operated by Helvetic Airways Embraer 190 HB-JVO
9:16 (STD 9:05) – 9:52 (STA 9:50) – flight time 36 min
Departure on RWY 28, heading westwards until Aarau, then turning left heading to the Thunersee. After 9 min the cruising altitude of 19.000 ft was reached. A short left-/right turn with views of the Thunersee. Left turn over Eiger/Mönch mountains, briefly heading towards northeast, followed by a approx. 180° right turn over Grimselpass/Obergoms to align with the Rhone valley. Descending along the Rhone valley between the summits to land on SIR RWY 25.
View of Lake Thun (bottom left)
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Bernese Alps: View of the Morgenberghorn (bottom right), the Dreispitz (middle), and Frutigen in the Kandertal from East
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Aletsch Glacier, Matterhorn at the horizon at the very right, Monte Rosa massif to the left of it.
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View of the Rhone valley with Matterhorn and Mont Blanc at the horizon
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Aerial view of the Rhone valley
Grimselsee (lake) at the bottom, the winglet obstructs the Oberaarsee (lake), with the Oberaar Glacier being obstructed by clouds. Unteraar Glacier to the right and the Finsteraarhorn, the highest mountain of the Bernese Alps.
At the horizon, Monte Rosa, Matterhorn, and Mont Blanc.
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Finsteraarhorn (4274 m, left) and Lauteraarhorn (right), Eiger to the very left
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Aletsch Glacier
Left, partly obstructed by the pylon: Oberaletsch Glacier. Approx. in the middle: Aletschhorn and Mittelaletsch Glacier. Right: Jungfrau, Mönch, (Trugberg,) Eiger. In the front, Bettmerhorn and Eggishorn.
View of the Bernese Alps from approx. 12.000 ft
Venthone, Mollens, Randogne (from right)
Between Siders and Crans-Montana.
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Sion
Approaching Sion Airport (SIR), to the very left RWY 25. Right of it Mont d'Orge with its castle ruin, in front of it the two hills Valère and Tourbillon, in between them the old town of Sion. Mountains: in the middle the snow-covered Haut de Cry.
Angekommen in Sitten
Sion Airport is located approx. 2 km east of the old town, which was reached in 20 min by feet. For me, the first time to walk from the airport to my destination. Five hours until the return flight were enough time to explore the city.
Sion
The two hills Tourbillon and Valère to the east of the old town offer views of Sion and the Rhone valley. I first ascended the Tourbillon with its castle ruins:
View from the Tourbillon of Sion
After exploring the old town I wanted to climb the Mont d'Orge, which is to the west of the old town and the north of the airport. The path led along wineyards and the Lac du Mont d'Orge to the ruins on the hill.
View of the Haut de Cry over the frozen Lac du Mont d'Orge
view of Sion and the Rhone valley from the ruins on the Mont d'Orge
View from the Mont d'Orge in western direction of the Haut de Cry
View from the Mont d'Orge in south eastern direction
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Sion and the Rhone valley
Not too long until it was time to walk back to the airport. The aircraft returning from London Heathrow was expected with delay due to snowfall. I used the extra-time to observe the traffic from the visitors´ terrace with quite many movements of business jets, piston-aircraft and helicopters.
OK-PBT Queen Air Cessna 525A CitationJet CJ2 und G-ZENT
HB-ZMB Heli Alps Eurocopter EC 130B4
G-ZENT Cessna 560XL Citation XLS
F-JAEX Ela Aviacion ELA-10 Eclipse Gyrocopter
An airplane (OO-PCI, Pilatus PC12/47E) departs from Sion Airport (SIR)
HB-ZIA Air Zermatt Eurocopter AS-350 B3 Ecureuil
LX-JFU Jetfly Aviation Pilatus PC-12/47E
CS-DRV (Netjets Europe Hawker 850XP) approaching Sion Airport (SIR)
D-IKSI Piaggio P-180 Avanti II
Eventually, HB-JVO from London arrived:
SIR – ZRH (return)
HB-JVO Helvetic Airways Embraer 190
LX2841 operated by Helvetic Airways Embraer 190 HB-JVO
17:00 (STD 15:30) – 17:34 (STA 16:15) – flight time 34 min
I can't remember any departure with that much thrust. Quickly the aircraft climbed out of the Rhone valley:
View of Conthey shortly after departure
view of the Rhone valley to Lake Geneva
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snow covered Chablais Alps
Summits from front to back: Col du Bel Oiseau - Fontanabran - Pointes d'Aboillon - Tour Sallière -
Haute Cime (Dents du Midi) (see labelled image)
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Chablais Alps at Avoriaz
mountain ridges Sigriswilgrat, Güggisgrat and the Thunersee (Lake Thun)
Alps in the evening light with fog in front of them
The convergence of the Aare (from right) and the Rhine (right) at Koblenz (CH)
Due to the delay I missed the connection to STR and was rebooked on Lufthansa via FRA to STR.
Swiss Global Air Lines Bombardier CS100 parked at the gate in ZRH, the C-Series is delivered since 2016 and has replaced the Avro RJ100 until 2017.
HB-JBC Swiss Global Air Lines Bombardier CS100
LH A380 in FRA:
D-AIMC Lufthansa Airbus A380-841
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A view impressions from STR – ZRH
LX1179 operated by Helvetic Airways Fokker 100 HB-JVE
6:10 (STD 5:50) – 6:35 (STA 6:30) – flight time 25 min
The early morning flight from STR to ZRH passed uneventfully while the night was still completely black but offered views of the full moon after reaching the top of the clouds. The seat pitch in the 100 seat Fokker 100 was quite luxury and the windows well-positioned, a contrast to the situation inside the Embraer 190. The latter one's seat pitch was still bearable, however, I would not like to spend a longer international flight on that type. Windows of the Embraer 190 were misaligned to the seats, and because the seat pitch was shorter than the window pitch, some rows as #24 had their windows next to their front seat's and own seat's backrests. Maybe the Embraer 190 was designed with one window per seat row and subsequent decrease of the seat pitch to increase the capacity was the cause for that. While the windows in the last row (#28) were fitting well with the seats, the misalignment worsend until row 24. Luckily I had reserved a window seat in row 27 on the outbound flight. On the return flight, I was in row 25, and luckily the person in front of me didn't recline his seat so I was still able to look outside the window and take pictures.
Blick auf den Stuttgarter Flughafen während dem Start durch das vom Enteisungsmittel außen verschmierte Flugzeugfenster
Angekommen in Zürich - Blick auf Tragfläche und Triebwerk
HB-IYY Swiss Global Air Lines Avro RJ100
Pushback of HB-JVE, which flew me from STR to ZRH that day, for her next flight:
HB-JVE Helvetic Airways Fokker 100
published on 2018-02-25
location: Europe > Switzerland > Valais > Sion District > Sion
categories: aerial view | travel
