1058 km sulle Alpi 1,058 km over the Alps

Our member and pilot Alessandro Busca began the gliding season and CID 2017 with an extraordinary glider flight of  1058km mostly in wave, taking off from Aosta and landing at Montalto Dora.
Alex took off from Aosta with his 18-metre Ventus-2cxa at 8.16am, towed by our ever-helpful Paolo Meneghini. After only half an hour of flying, he got in wave in the Valpelline and began the solitary ride eastwards from 5,600 metres of altitude.
He flew the first leg almost totally in wave, and at 11.10 he was already in Merano, where an unforeseen incident left him 50 minutes behind schedule. Having rounded the pylon at Merano, he turned back towards Domodossola, where the pylon of Monte Togano lay waiting. Onwards from Togano for the third leg in the direction of Passo del Tonale, which he left behind to come around the fourth pylon just before Malè.
Unfortunately, on the way back, the drop in the wind at altitude (forecast while planning the flight for the late afternoon in the Domodossola and Macugnaga area) prevented him from reaching the crucial 3,000 m needed to enter the Aosta Valley. He therefore headed for Montalto, where he landed at 6.47pm after 10 hours and 31 minutes in the air.
This was Alex Busca’s third flight of 1,000 km taking off from Aosta; before him, only the legendary Giacinto Giorgio had succeeded in this endeavour.