This is the second part of my flight to Lugano, where I was able to test the new Swiss 777 on its second day of service. Going from a 777 to a Dash 8 is quite a change.
Boarding was again via bus, but this time it made more sense, as I was flying a Dash 8! Austrian Airlines makes a lot of flights for LX these days, I flew them already from DUS a few weeks ago, and they handle all legs to and from LUG (from GVA and ZRH). This plane is not new to me, but I'm always amazed at why it's called "The Quiet One". Really, no idea who invented that!
The plane, 12 years old Austrian Airlines OE-LGR, was parked on a remote stand, and as we were 13PAX + 1 Infant, boarding was completed in very little time. My seat was 1A, so just in front of the door. Being the only C-Class pax, I had a flight attendant basically for myself. Very weird. I had a nice view of the cockpit, but then again, of course, the door was closed in flight, so there was not much to enjoy.
Take off on Runway 28 in really bad weather, there were remains of a storm in the area and it was very windy. You could feel it quite more than on the 777!
The service was there too, with again a little snack, some drink, and of course, lots of chocolate
The cabin was empty in the front, which gave a real fell of private plane. It was enjoyable!
The whole trip was in the clouds, we never exited them as the cruising altitude is around 15-18 thousand ft. This pic is maybe the only exception:
The fog was going all the way down. So let me tell you we could not see the ground until the last minute of flight. For those of you who already made that approach into LUG, you will know. It's a series of turns, plunges, up, down, left, left, right, left again, (repeat, repeat, and shake a little) and there's the runway. The houses in the LUG area are on hills, which are all around, so seing nothing really makes you hope the guys in front know what they're doing. Sometime, a hilltop came out, and the we were back in the white. Strange feeling.
Touchdown, really hard braking, cause the runway is short… And here we are. Backtrack on the runway, as there is no taxiway, and parking in front of the tiny terminal.
And time to deplane:
The terminal is… cute! You walk 30 feet to the baggage claim, 30 more to customs, and 30 more to the exit hall… and you're outside. Really funny.
Hope you enjoyed reading the report.
Thanks for this very nice Flight-Report!
I flew the exact same two flights in Business the day before. The weather was comparable but a lot more windy on February 8th. My coke went flying through the cabin on my may to Lugano. The service was then stopped and the rest of the flight was extremely turbulent...
Still was a nice experience on the brand new 77W!