This bush trip is one of the defaults in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The – close to 900nm long – route starts in Bordeaux and ends with a flight around Mont Blanc. The trip runs along the Atlantic coast first, then into the Pyrenees, along the Mediterranean coast up to Marseille and finally into the Alps with landing spots at famous places like Courchevel.
Bordeaux to Biarritz
Leg 1-3
We started out from Bordeaux and were greeted by dense forests and the first impression was a rather dull one. But we did not even reach cruise altitude as the scenery changed drastically. Via Arcachon bay we were lead to the Atlantic coast. We would stay on these seemingly endless shores admiring the beaches and dunes for the reminder of the flight only making short detours to the airports Arcachon and Aquitaine.
As we came up to Biarritz we turned outbound first to have a better run-up into the airport. To the south we could see rain showers looming over the Pyrenees and as soon as we reached our parking position the rain started to fall in Biarritz as well and left us with an eerie feeling.
Biarritz to Peyresourde
Leg 4-6
The weather was not the best but enough to get us off the ground at Biarritz with clouds at 3000 feet. We took a final view at the city before continuing east. After what seemed a short flight over villages and small forests (all beautiful), we landed at the double grass runways of Herrere. Nicely done, but nothing special. And off we went as soon as we had done our checks.
Now the weather got worse. We climbed into the mountains and even had snow falling. The occasional hole in the clouds gave breathtaking views at the Pyrenees. Our next stop should have been Castillon De La Laquette, but we found this to small a strip to land on. And it is entirely fictional after all.
So we continued climbing out of the valley and searched for our first altiport on this trip at 5000 feet. Being high and fast on the approach (this seems to be evolving into a bad habit in the Pilatus), I had to make another turn out of the valley before trying again. The final was messy, the sloped runway tricked me quite a bit and the landing was rather hard. But the view that greeted me afterwards was spectacular.
Peyresourde to Andorra – La Seu d’Urgell
Leg 7
We started from the sloped runway of Peyresourde and had to circle climb up to our cruising altitude. We overflew the airport again now in a southerly direction. The weather was beautiful and we could see all of the mountain panorama as we crossed over into Spain.
Time literally flew by with beautiful view after beautiful view and soon we came in for a landing. The wind was a bit tricky and I had to do multiple circles, spotting the model aerodrome on the hill side along the way. La Seu d’Urgell is a nice little airport placed on a hilltop.
La Seu d’Urgell to Montpellier
Leg 8-9
We started our flight during the “golden hour” – sunset. We had to climb quite high to get on top of the clouds at 14.000ft. As we crossed back into France it was nearly dark when we landed at our first stop, Mont-Louis La Quillane, a small double runway gras strip right next to the ski resort.
We flew north towards Carcassonne airport. By then the clouds had moved in and it was pitch black on the approach. On getting in the air again, we passed the old city center of Carcassonne, an astonishing site, even in MSFS.
We continued to the coast and turned north again towards Montpellier. The weather got progressively worse on the way and on the final appraoch it even looked like snow. I have not landed in such bad weather for a long time.
Montpellier to Saint-Pons
Leg 10-12
Chergo could not make it this time, so it was only Jörg and me. We started of in Montpellier and headed straight for the coast and overflew Port Camargue. This must be the biggest marina I have even seen, seems every inhabitant has a yacht there.
We continued along the coast past a large nature reserve into Marseille, a beautiful city with many landmarks, like the Orange Velodrome, the Fort Saint Nicolas and the basilica Notre Dame de la Garde. From here, we turned north and soon landed at Castellet Airport.
As we took of again, we made a tight left turn to take in the race track with its typical red and blue striped sandtraps.
We headed further north to meet highway A51 and continue northeast. We passed Vinon Sur Verdon Aerodrome and the small town La Brillane along the river Durance.
Our next landing spot come into view. The Aerodrome in Saint Auban has grass runways only but is a rather big field, so no difficulties to land there.
We left the river and headed for the Alps. We climbed higher and higher and just made it over the mountain tops at 10.000ft. On the other side, the ski resort La Foux d’Allos (the fool of allos) greated us as we turned north towards our final stop, Barcelonette. The runway was quite tricky to make out in the shawdos and the valley is not very wide for turns. But I made it on the second attempt (too high on the first) and we parked surrounded by summits bathed in the afternoon sun.
Saint Pons to Megeve
Leg 13-16
This was the last flight in this series and we took off from Saint Pons and flew west up to the lake we had already seen on our last approach in here. The mountains grew higher and higher as we passed over Notre Dame de la Salette, perched high on the mountain side.
The altiport next to it was a bit too small for us, so we continued north towards L’Alpe D’Huez. The power lines right in front of the airport made it tricky to go in and out, but we managed none the less.
Next up was Courchevel, another tricky approach with not much space to maneuver. And a runway of only 525m sloped at 18.5% makes it even more difficult to hit the right spot for a smooth landing.
Now Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in France and Italy at 4806m, was fully in sight and we made a near full circle around it watching its ragged lines and glaciers before coming in for our final landing at another altiport with a sloped runway, Megeve. It’s right at the end of a valley with no room for errors, but after L’Alpe D’Huez and Courchevel it seemed rather easy to land our planes there to end this bushtrip.
