40:39.5N 017:56.8E

In the rainy  morning of May 2^nd, our planned departure date, we met Bill and Mike in the briefing office
at Geneva Airport and discussed actual meteo, forecasts and our routing.

The two courageous crews who finally took off from Geneva Airport on may 2nd 1998.

From left to right: Mike Paul, Rolf and Anne Frieden, Bill Eisele.

Crossing the Alps was out of the question due to solid IFR and icing conditions. We elected to plan our
routing to our first stop in Brindisi in the southern Italy via the Rhone valley, then over the Mediterranean
sea and on to Brindisi.

After quite some delays due to the central European Air Trafic Control Agency in Brussles, which requested
twice modifications to our flight planned route, we fired up HB-PON and N8873P  and departed, waving
goodby to family members and friends who came to see us off.

After take off it took about 30 seconds and we were in solid clouds, climbing to our assigned level 110.

As expected, passing 7000ft, we picked up ice on our wings. Our own ice accumulation stopped , as we
reached our assigned level, but Bill and Mike were picking up more and more of this nasty stuff, as they decided
on a lower level than we did.

Right at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea at St.Tropez, we poped out of the clouds into marvellous blue sky.
>From there we continued over the Island of Elba, abeam Roma and Naples end then inland over the Appenin
mountain range where again we entered IMC and encountered some moderate icing again.

During the entire flight we kept periodic VHF and HF contact with N8873P. South of Naples Bill Isele flying behind
advised me, that he decided to divert to another destination in southern Italy, due to the reported meteo.

After 5 ½ hours HP-PON was established on the VOR/DME approach in Brindisy and we landed safely.

As per a reccomodation of the control tower operater, we booked into a small but very nice cosy hotel right down
town, close to the harbor.

 
To celebrate, my Anne and I enjoyed a marvelous fish dinner and excellent Italian wine in a typical fish place close by.