This is where we are right now. A pleasant town in the middle of Slovenia, that just happens to have an aircraft factory in it.
We got there in one hop from Zell am See this morning. Here are yesterday’s flights and today’s flight combined:
We got up early this morning and feasted on an Austrian breakfast of bread rolls and cold meats. Made it to the airfield just in time as the early morning fog was clearing and took of at 9.30am. The flight into Slovenia was simply stunning. We couldn’t have been more lucky with the weather – clear blue sky and no turbulence to speak of. We climbed to 9500ft and followed the big valleys along the motorways – easy navigation! We passed plenty of snow-capped peaks on the way, spent 10 minutes crossing through Italy, and then descended into Slovenia. The approach to Ajdovscina was very turbulent – they have their own local wind system here (which is why there are stones on all the roof tiles). Anyway all was fine and we landed safely & smoothly.
We had lunch with the Pipistrel general manager and got our own private factory tour by the chief test pilot (thanks Tine!). Pretty impressive stuff – an extremely modern factory, high-tech and top quality control processes. Very interesting to see – it makes me want to buy a short wing “Virus” aircraft!!
They were kind enough to put our Robin in their hangar (see photos below). We went off to our “Gold Club Hotel Casino” – which despite the name is extremely modern and nice inside (I’m sitting on my bed writing this blog right now). After some flight planning for tomorrow (we are planning Venice, and then Lugano as next stops) we went for a long walk up the hill. Well, we missed the turn and spend half an hour walking through the valley, but eventually managed to be on a sort-of-hill for the sunset. Went back into town, had a couple of local beers, discovered the local castle and the local pizza place.
Off to bed now – got another busy flying day waiting tomorrow!
