Finally I returned spotting, after a single spotting session in 2020!

On 2nd June (which is holiday in Italy, being Republic Day), I was invited by my “virtual wingman” in DCS World to attend the open day of the Emergency Flight Wing of the local Civil Protection branch. They are tasked with spotting wildfires, helping in SAR operations and so on. They operate from a small airfield in Valeggio sul Mincio, near Garda Lake and Verona.

Their aircraft is the Evektor EV-97 EuroStar, a successful Czech-built LSA.

The “wing commander”, aerobatic pilot and former motorcycle racer, performed some low passes with semi-aerobatic maneuvers.

Shots of the other Evektors of the wing

My friend flies this white Evektor

“Come on, get on the plane and let’s fly!”
And so, here we are flying above Garda Lake.

Turning above the Grottoes of Catullus in Sirmione, a Roman villa thought to have belonged to Latin poet Catullus, but then discovered to have been built after his death.

A closing shot of a “vintage” Tucano ultralight, one of the first ultralights to be marketed in Italy, parked next to the flight simulator of my “virtual squadron”.