 Poster: A snowHead
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I hope everyone made it out today - fog then wind and chaos at security - I am amazed I made it back after the pilot came out while we were on the plane "softening" us up for possibility a night at the airport.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Unfortunately Chambery airport is between two ridges and attracts fog, low cloud and wind shear. It is a very trickly airport at the best of times and is sometimes closed due weather. Whilst it is handy for the Alps and has many Winter ski charters i would probably opt for Geneva, Grenoble or Lyon airports as they are a dead cert to get into without scaring your pants off! 
Mainly used for small charter flights but isn't a massively busy airport.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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We flew in and out of Chambery a couple of weeks ago and had my first ever aborted landing - came in really quite low (although I was in an aisle seat and couldn't see out) and then a sudden change in the engine noise and sharply began to ascend. We circled for a while with the pilot saying that visibility had suddenly become too poor to land the first time, and they would try again, but they were also doing calculations to land at an alternative airport. Very glad we hadn't needed to do so, as the second attempt was fine. People actually applauded when we touched down 
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I understand the pilots need to have special training for Chambery and not many are checked out to fly into there. It is like Innsbruck, although that requires 3 pilots in the flight deck.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I drove from here to Les Carroz and back yesterday. It was very foggy in patches in the morning and the traffic heading north towards Chambery around lunchtime was dreadful.
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I think this is the first report about Chambéry problems this season but it probably won't be the last.
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Chambery always is during ski change over days. The toll booths and routes south of Chambery towards Albertville are dire, and will be even worse next week with school hols. We avoid Chambery like the plague in Ski season at weekends.
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| emmaski wrote: |
| I understand the pilots need to have special training for Chambery and not many are checked out to fly into there. It is like Innsbruck, although that requires 3 pilots in the flight deck. |
Chambery, Innsbruck are the two alpine airports that commercial pilots need extra training to fly into.
Mainly due to terrain issues, short runways and steep approach paths. I'm not too bothered by Innsbruck as it is run by the Austrians and they always seem to have better handling there, yes weather is an issue but chambery has additional issues of crap handling, a crap terminal etc !
Neither airport need three pilots to operate into ! (You might of seen a training flight)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Maybe it was a training flight then as I know not every pilot can fly these routes without adequate training.Chambery is shocking for ground handling and not an airport I would choose to use on so many levels. Yes then you have to deal with congestion around Chambery.....deep joy!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I was at Grenoble yesterday -- which was chaos due to volume of people from delayed flights from earlier fog -- and while pushing through queues of people to get to my checkin queue heard someone say "It's still not as bad as an average day at Chambery".
They were probably right.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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[quote="ansta1"]Personally i can live with it for the shorter transfer however Chambery is having a major upgrade before the 16/17 ski season.
You can spend a fortune on upgrading an airport, but it will never sort out the weather!
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Chambéry can be a dream. I once flew in on a Thursday, with hand baggage only. My car had been parked free for a week, a few metres from the terminal. No faffing with immigration and customs. Drove out 5 minutes after the doors open in heavy rain which turned into such heavy snow that it was a pleasure to stop to put chains on in Hauteluce. Chambéry also has good rail connections.
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You know it makes sense.
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[quote="emmaski"]
| ansta1 wrote: |
Personally i can live with it for the shorter transfer however Chambery is having a major upgrade before the 16/17 ski season.
You can spend a fortune on upgrading an airport, but it will never sort out the weather! |
Absolutely not, but i havent seen any proper stats which proves CMF is significantly worse for delays or diversions than any other alps destinations.
I frequently repeat myself on this, but will do so again. I have flown into and out of CMF 30+ times and only once have i had an issue which was january 23rd 2005 when it was snowed in and after a long wait we flew out of Grenoble.
The big gripe with Chambery is usually the facilities.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I've been caught out there once, and was finally bussed out of the airport at 1am to a hotel in Grenoble, before returning at 8.30am the next day. We did get home eventually. Yesterday we drove through Chambery on the motorway on our drive home and hit thick fog...I did wonder if it would affect arrivals, as it was pretty dire on the motorway.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Perhaps we were lucky yesterday but our Titan flight back was not significantly delayed yesterday (Stansted) and Crystal helped reduce the shambles at Chambery by stopping our coach at a service station for 30mins rather than dump us into the chaos at the airport.
Good to hear an upgrade is planned, about time 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I flew out of Chambery yesterday on the Thompson 10:45 flight to Manchester , the fog was clearing as we arrived @ 9:30 , our flight was delayed by just over an Hour . The Birmingham plane for the flight that was due to leave at 10:20 arrived just before we boarded. The flight back only took 1 hour 35 mins so we weren't badly affected.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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We were delayed also by two hours coming back from Val T - again Crystal parked us up in Mc Donald's for half an hour for breakfast, and it was a surprise seeing the fog finally coming into view a mile from the airport. The airport itself seemed to handle it pretty well given the numbers - once things started moving and the planes took off from the UK it was all clearly communicated, and we went straight from the x ray machines onto the bus for boarding.
So certainly not the worst I've experienced (that goes to the 6 hour coach ride across Bulgaria to some Black Sea airport after Sofia was closed down for days of fog back in the 90's)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The only time we flew into Chambéry with a TO, lured by the shorter transfer times we were diverted to Lyon. Family members returning from Chambéry were caught out by an ATC strike. We drove them into Chambéry to get a train to Geneva. Geneva gets disrupted by fairly modest amounts of snow but fortunately that doesn't often happen.
My worst airport delay was 10 hours at Innsbruck. People sat all over the floor, buffet running out of everything. Fortunately our group, arriving very early in the day, got a table and my sister in law taught us lots of card games which helped while away the hours.
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I reckon the real reason why most Charter airlines fly to chambery, is I'm guessing it's cheaper to land an aircraft there than say Geneva, probably nothing to do with the slightly shorter transfer....
We used to fly to Lyon instead of Grenoble but now we fly to Grenoble, why 'cos it's cheaper for the airlines.
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It is a strange airport for sure but have you noticed the hire car charges there compared to say Geneva? Half the price.
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The last time I landed at Chambery the pilot announced we had a 50/50 chance of making it.
Could have chosen better words.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
we had a 50/50 chance of making it.
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You either land or you dont ergo 50/50
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20 min window of fog over Chambery gave us a 5 1/2 hour delay and a change of departure to Lyons 
Planes were still landing either side of our flight so didn't go down well at all!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Steveee, glad you got out ok. We were 90 mins delayed and they had to leave some of the baggage behind so we could take off.
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. . .was also delayed at Chambery flying back to Brum but only just within the 3hr threshold . . .who was sitting outside on the covered viewing deck? Glad I had my down puffa and beanie on - freezing!
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You know it makes sense.
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And the curse continues - the Tommy from Bristol has just diverted to Lyon, the BA from City has re-routed to Lyon before take off and the prize for persistence goes to the pilot of Germania 7132 ex Gatwick who has just completed his 13th holding pattern over Chambery!
meanwhile the road traffic is looking - well bad.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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The A43 Lyon Chambery is showing red most of the way. My husband was going the opposite way to work at 6am this morning and said it was very busy then. The joys of the schools hols start now. Deep joy. Fog at Chambery and yet over the ridge here is brilliant sunshine. Worst thing is he will probably have to hotel it tonight near Lyon if the road stays busy as they are as he is back in eary tomorrow morning, so whilst one post way back said she had no sympathy for locals, now you will see what impact it has on us during school holiday weekends and change over days. It's more of a hastle for locals who use this route daily.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Plenty of delays showing on the boards at geneva also, though i do see stuff is getting on the ground.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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GVA has better facilites for landing than Chambery. Fog often causes slot delays which is the airport not the airline causing the delays!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Fog starting to clear at Chambery and Geneva - the knock on delays wills be felt through the day especially at Geneva as they battle to get all the delayed flights in.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The fickle nature of fog (and forecasting its behaviour!!) has just been ably demonstrated over the last hour - Geneva has gone from 400m visibility to 9km - Chambery has changed little from 400m to 550m. Another couple have vanished to Lyon and Grenoble - there are two in the 'hold' looking vulnerable to a mystery tour - its going to be a long and fractious day for many - not a day for being a rep on a bus!!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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And suddenly its a nice day at Chambery - they are currently landing every 3 minutes - so now there will be a wait for the bags, but at least they are in the right place!
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Not fancying Lyon later, forecasting 55 knots. Around 38 atm. At least it's down the runway.
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Aye and gusts of 42kts across the runway at Gatwick and Heathrow this afternoon might cause a few snags as well as some good local TV footage of planes arriving sideways!
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jeez, the roads here are horrendous. Have just nipped out the the shops and all the back roads off of the A43 are full of Belgians and french with skis on cars. The A43 has been gridlocked Chambery bound all day. I sincerely hope this isn't the same tomorrow. Hopeless trying to get too and from work. Feel sorry for anyone trying to do a normal days work down here atm. Glad it is only normally weekends.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I spend quite a few "peak Saturdays" each year in the Alps and make damn sure I don't have to "nip out to the shops". 
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FAQ
). Fingers crossed for Friday 
)
