30 November. 25th leg LBWN-LSZL (Locarno) 887 Nm

December 4, 2017

To finish the story of Michiel’s voyage from Schiphol to Varna: he took off from Schiphol but within half an hour the a/c started  her descent. Clearly something was wrong. A lady sitting right behind Michiel did not feel well and alarmed the crew. The pilot decided to land in Frankfurt. In spite of this resolute action, the lady didn’t make and died.

The a/c stayed two hours at a special platform in Frankfurt with all passengers on board until the body of mentioned lady was taken from board in a plastic bag with zipper. The trip to Sofia could be continued. Of course Michiel missed his connection to Varna. He would arrive later that same day.

In the meantime we visited the centre and the port of Varna. I checked with Amsterdam but nor BigLift or Spliethoff had a ship in port, so I had no valid reason to get a permit to enter the docks. A grim porter shouted we should leave the dock even before we entered it.

Later in the evening I picked Michiel up from the airport. He felt extremely tired.

Not much looks changed in Varna since the communist period. Everywhere people smoke, the economy is down and the population we met is far from happy.

The next day, 30 November, we departed. The tower did not give any cooperation, but It appeared this was by far our least expensive call of the entire trip.

departing LBWN

in descend towards Milano (SRN VOR)

Urs performed a master piece when landing in Locarno, strong wind gusts with wind shear https://g.co/kgs/eqipVQ

Locarno Aeroporto Cantonale

Varna – Locarno: Urs, Michiel, Sophie, Harry

Then we unloaded the a/c partially and proceeded to Hotel Belvedere. A quiet dinner in Ascona with my favourite Sardegna wine Terra Brune finished the day.