Bremen And The Brothers Grimm

The weather Gods have been kind to us this weekend. A large high pressure system has sat over Holland and Germany for the last few days pushing the jet-stream north over Denmark and Sweden. Which has meant gin-clear days, perfect for flying, and even better for a last minute day-trip to Bremen.


When I pushed "Nippy" out of the hangar and taxied to the fuel station, I was met by one of the guys from Lelystad tower. He wanted to let me know that the airport closed at 19:00 local and to make sure that I got back in time. I should have known that minute that I was cursed, but I thought nothing of it, told him I'd be leaving with plenty of time to spare and I'd see him later.

M and I jumped in after filling "Nippy's" tanks and we headed off to Bremen, in a more or less direct routing, just south of Hoogeveen airfield, towards the city of Emmen and crossing into Germany direct to Bremen. I was a little nervous about arriving in a large airport that served everything from KLM and Ryanair to little GA flights like mine, but the call I made to Bremen Ops earlier before taking off put me at ease, with the folks telling me I would be "more than welcome".


We had quite a good tailwind on the way over, with "Nippy" clocking up over 100 knots over the ground. Mal sat back, eyes closed and dozed off as I brought us up to FL050 and then throttled back, leaning out mixture and keeping an eye out from any traffic. About an hour into the flight we were asked by ATC to begin our descent and asked which routing into Bremen we'd prefer. I initially told them I wasn't fussy, whichever worked for them, eventually being told to steer towards reporting point WHISKEY. As I pulled back the throttle, Mal woke and asked if we were there yet :-)

As we began our descent, I tuned in to the ATIS at Bremen and found that the runway in use was  09, winds were calm and visibility was excellent. Bremen Info passed me over to Bremen Tower who asked me to report overhead WHISKEY and to then continue inbound following the highway. He told me he would call when I could turn onto baseleg for runway 09. I continued my descent down to 1000ft agl and followed along the highway, spotting the the airport in my 11 o'clock.

Before we knew it we were turning left to join baseleg and then turning onto final. I managed to pull off such a smooth landing that Mal started clapping in approval :-) I called the folks on Ground and they gave us instructions to the GA ramp where we were met by a minibus and driven to the GA terminal. I paid for the landing fees, which amazingly were only €20, given it's an international airport, and returned to the minibus which would drop us off at the exit gates. Exiting the terminal was as simple as walking out the security gates with instructions to return via the same gates when we wanted to flay back home.


A short tram ride later and we were in the city centre. It's a gorgeous little city, with many historical buildings, references to the Brothers Grimm and the old city has a myriad of little narrow streets. There was a small carnival in the main square with lots of Ghluwein, pretzels, beer and all sorts of meat and sausages cooked on big open grills. Our mouths began to water at the first site of the grills. I ordered a bratwurst for myself and Mal had one of those grilled pork sandwiches. As luck would have it, the bar also sold non-alcoholic beer!! Happy days. With the Autumnal sun beating down on us and our bellies warmed from the good German fare, we were ready to explore the city.

I think my favourite part of the city is the Schnoor quarter....very old, very narrow and lots of character. But Mal preferred the Boettcherstrasse, which was more artistic and had a beautiful Glockenspiel playing every hour. But sadly the time whizzed by, as it always done when you're having fun, and we had to make our way back to the airport.


We arrived at the GA security gates and jumped into the minibus which drove us back to "Nippy". And this is when I cocked up royally. I knew I used up just over 1/3 of the fuel on the way over. But I had underestimated the strength of the winds, which had picked up a fair bit since the afternoon. On the climb out, I asked for FL060, which took forever to get up to. And all the while the engine is guzzling fuel and we've not made the German border yet! I looked at the fuel gauges and the stopwatch and I was seriously doubting we'd make it back on the fuel remaining. On top of that, it was starting to get dark...the sun was beginning to make it's descent and turn from an amber orb to a blood red ball as it dipped lower and lower.

I decided that rather than risk landing in a dark field with no fuel, I'd stop off and top up the tanks. So I let the folks know at Dutch Mil that I was diverting to Hoogeveen for fuel. When I landed, I pulled right up to the tanks and waited for what seemed an eternity for the old codgers working there to turn them on. When I finally filled "Nippy" to the brim, I had to wait even longer for him to write out the receipts, which I was happy to not bother with, but was told I needed to wait for. The guy must have been to calligraphy classes or something because he took forever to write them out in the best handwritten script I have even seen. Just as I had lept into the air, Hoogeveen called me to tell me that I would probably not make Lelystad before they closed for the night and I should stay there. Hmmmmmm. According to the GPS I'd make it maybe 2 mins after 7pm, the time EHLE said they'd be closed. I elected to press on and informed Hoogeveen that Amsterdam Schiphol was my designated alternate.


As I rounded the north of the Flevopolder, I called up Lelystad Radio, who curtly told me that if I was not in the circuit in the next three minutes, then I could not land there! I was 7 minutes out at this stage.....I would be four minutes "late"...in other words, the airport was closed and I was buggered. My pleading fell on deaf ears, and I was told in no uncertain terms that if I insisted on landing at Lelystad after having been told it was closed, then they would be obliged to call the authorities.....i.e. piss off or we'll have your licence.

Message received and understood. I told Mal that we would have to land at Schiphol. I called up Amsterdam Info, told them that I was diverting to Schiphol and would like to land on the GA runway, which is runway 22. Amsterdam Info were more than happy to help me out and passed me over to Schiphol Approach....first time I ever spoke to these guys. Schiphol Approach gave me headings to steer so I could intercept the localiser for runway 22. The approach would have us come in right over the city of Amsterdam. The only problem I had now - and this is the second lesson learned today - was that the light was disappearing and I only had my sunglasses in the cockpit. My normal glasses were in the car at Lelystad. D'oh!!


After following directions from the guys in Approach, I was lined up on a 15NM final for runway 22, fully established on the localiser and asked to switch over to Schiphol Tower. As I flew overhead the centre of Amsterdam, I was cleared to land on runway 22. The landing this time was not so good because of the fact that my dark glasses made it harder to see the surface of the runway, which had no centreline lights. A single bounce and a firm landing later, we were soon off the runway and calling up Schiphol Ground asking for progressive taxi instructions to the GA terminal. It was my first time as a pilot landing in Schiphol and I was not familiar with the airport, as huge as it is. No worries...the GA terminal is right next to the runway we landed on. Before we knew it we were following a "Follow Me" van to our parking stand and shutting "Nippy" down.

We were taken care of by the wonderful people at KLM Jet Centre. But the VIP treatment came with a hefty price. The 4 minutes I was late at Lelystad cost me the guts of €200!! Damn!! Had I refuelled at Bremen, I'd have made it without any issues. But having an alternate such as Schiphol saved the day in the end.


It'll be next weekend before I can move "Nippy" back to Lelystad. Thankfully, parking your plane at Schiphol is a helluva lot cheaper than parking your car. Parking rate for your plane is €1.60 per day....it's more like €20 a day for your car!! I'm just bummed that I have to schlep all the way out to Lelystad to pick up the car now. Oh well, at least I can get my glasses :-)

Club Med in the North Sea

I've never known a Spring like it. Practically no cloud or rain to spoil those plans of getting aloft, and a high pressure system just sitting right over the Netherlands for the last two months straight. Sadly the month of May was a busy one for me, what with family commitments and business travel getting in the way. But today a pilot friend and I decided we'd make the most of the weather. Destination for today's mission was Borkum, a small island off Germany's north-western coast. It's the westernmost island that constitutes the East Frisian Islands, and came highly recommended from some other pilot friends of mine as a place to visit.

I scoped out the route the previous night and filed the flight plan to route us North-east to Emmeloord , then continue towards Heerenveen, slippling between Groningen and Leeuwarden's Class "C" routing overhead Drachten airfield and then out over the coast towards Borkum.

Cruising at FL050 above the clouds

I was PIC for the outbound leg, my friend choosing to fly on the way back. The flight-plan I filed had us set to climb to FL050 (5,000ft). But we departed at around midday, so the heat and the midday sun meant "Nippy" was struggling to get up that high. We eventually levelled off 5NM north of Emmeloord and I leaned out the mixture to conserve fuel. There were a few smalll fluffy cumulus clouds which we had no problem climbing over, but as we got closer to the coastline the clouds had disappeared and it was blue skies all the way. I've noticed that once she gets a little higher, "Nippy" is a very smooth girl.

We heard another aircraft, a Grumman AA-5, on the same frequency as us (Dutch Mil Info) who'd departed Texel and was also enroute to Borkum. Seemed like someone else was in the island hopping mood today. I made a comment about our groundspeed being so slow (only 87 knots) due to the headwinds at our altitude and wondered aloud if he'd get there before us. 

At ten minutes out I told Dutch Mil I was switching to the folks in Borkum, and I started my descent. I called up the folks in Borkum as was asked surprisingly if my intentions were to land there!! To which I was then asked if I had filed a flight plan. Seems he never got it, despite being on the recipients list when I filed it the night before.

Borkum lying off to our left

During the descent we looked at the approach plates to try and figure out which runway they'd have us use. The wind was coming from the North-east, so I guessed they'd have us use runway 05, a grass runway approximately 810m long. But instead we were told runway 31 was in use. It's a long and very narrow asphalt runway. Because it's so narrow, you have this optical illusion that you are too high.

On Final for Rwy 31....a long and narrow runway!

With no "circuit" in place to worry about, I routed us over the isthmus that the ferry terminal sits on and set us up on final. But I soon noticed that it was blowing a hooley out there because I was very left of the centreline and crabbing like crazy. We were being bucked about so much that I decided to only use half flaps and decided to land a little fast so I would have more control of the plane on final. A quick kick of the rudder to the left and we were down, albeit a little firmly, and coming to a stop.

We parked "Nippy" right in front of the tower and had the usual gaggle of photographers snapping away at her. On the way in to the apron we noticed another Robin ATL parked up on the long-term visitors area and heard the Grumman had landed too....crikey he must have been going at full pelt! Not long after paying the landing fee, we accosted ourselves a taxi and were heading off to "downtown" Borkum.

Can you see "Nippy's" sister parked up?

The first interesting thing we found was that Borkum has its own railway!! Apparently this railway is free and shuttles people back and forth between the town centre and the ferry terminal. We took a stroll along the seafront and found a nice little place that had Curry Worst on the menu as today's special. Sounded like a plan to me. Sitting in the sunshine, and protected from the wind, you could almost be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere in the Med. Especially with all the Dutch and German accents that surrounded us :-) 

Borkum's railway

Tummies full, we took a short stroll through the small village, then jumped back into a taxi and headed back to the field. It was my turn to play with the camera and help with the navigation. Same runway for take-off, only this time we had to avoid overflying the town. Not a problem....straight out over the beach, left along the coast and head back the way we came. I saw some bloke below us using the winds to his advantage on one of those wind buggy thingies....looked like fun! Must try that myself sometime.

We climbed to FL040 this time, and settled into the cruise. But I had to remind my friend to lean out the mixture and lower the rev's. Once settled into the cruise we chatted about planes and trips we'd made or have yet to make. Soon enough, we were getting closer to the Flevo Polder. I explained how Biddinghuizen has a lot of gliding activity, and the best way to avoid it is to fly along the eastern side of the polder over the water and then turn into "BRAVO". My friend is still new to flying out of Lelystad, so it was also a good opportunity to show him some of the landmarks I use when trying to get my bearings.

Sand flats between the coast and the islands

We dropped lower so as to avoid busting Schiphol's Class "A" TMA and said our goodbyes to Dutch Mil...the radios in Lelystad were surprisingly quiet. Pre-landing checklists done, we were just turning downwind when a pilot came on the radio asking if he could make a straight-in approach as he had two sick passengers....I'm guessing they were suffering from motion sickness. We had no idea how far out he was, so it was decided to do a Spitfire approach....a short downwind, and a continuous turn onto Final.

Drachten Airfield...not sure I'd like to have an engine failure if I was using Rwy 26!!

 

Flaps were set to full, and the wind was blowing hard again. It was straight down the runway this time, but it was gusting a fair bit. But the wheels kissed the Earth very gently and we exited the runway fairly lively. I think I would like to try the islands of Juist and Nordeney next time. Would be nice to have all the islands in the logbook, don't you think?

Sunshine and Schnitzels

A week of glorious weather has held out all the way through to the weekend. Which meant my friend Ouen and I were able to take Nippy out for a bimble. Ouen is like myself, an avid aviation enthusiast, and would gladly join me for a quick bimble across the Dutch countryside in search of some nice airfield food. So we're sitting in the German sunshine, bathing in the sunlight like two Galapgos Iguana's enjoying our Schnitzels. Sadly no beer though :-(

"Nippy" had been tucked away in the hangers of Polder since her ferry flight over from Texel, and it was about time she was let out to experience some Spring sunshine. I had a look at the charts a few nights beforehand and settled on a little airfield just across the Dutch/German border call Nordhorn-Lingen (EDWN). I saw on their website that they had a restaurant on the field, so the choice of destination was a no-brainer. That, and the fact that they charge those wonderfully low German landing fees I have come to love so much.

With it being a little less than an hours flight away, I figured that on the way back we might make a quick stop in Holland somewhere. I soon put that thought out of my head when I compared the landing fees in Germany (€3.00) versus the ridiculous prices in Holland (€18.50 for Hoogeveen for example). This has indeed become a recent bane in my side about flying in Holland and is indicative of what one has come to expect LIVING in Holland. The Dutch are simply greedy buggers. They fleece you for everything....the cost of parking your car in Amsterdam is the highest in Europe, you pay health insurance for shitty, non-existent medical care, and the price of a dinner for two is approx 3-4 times higher in Holland than the equivalent in either Belgium or Germany, AND you get way better service in those two countries than anywhere in Holland. But I digress...needless to say, you can get an idea on what the topic of conversation was on our wee cross-country.

So it was settled. I picked Ouen up from the train station and we drove to the airfield, rolled-out "Nippy" into the morning's sun and fired her up. We had to contend with two really slow pilots taking their sweet-time filling up their Piper Archer at the fuel pumps. When they'd done filling up, it took them about 10 minutes just to climb into their plane and start it up. Off to our left and also waiting for fuel was a young idiotic PPL student who was there to log some solo time. I knew who he was because I was chatting to his instructor earlier in the morning. But I wasn't impressed with him because while we were both waiting he was revving the bejesus out of his engine. Typically one would keep the plane revving in idle, with the occasional increase in revs or use of carb heat to avoid carb-ice. But his revving was idiotic. So bad in fact that someone from the control tower made his way over to the guy and told him to shut down the engine, and then invited him out of the cockpit for a bit of a bollocking. So it was a learning day for the young pilot. 

Fifteen minutes later and we were lining up on runway 05 for a right turn departure to the East. Ouen gingerly advanced the throttles and I scanned the engine instruments as the speed built up. At 55kts we were airborne, although not in the usual manner of a homesick angel....more like that of a slightly obese angel whose flying at max all-up weight :-) Still 700fpm wasn't bad. I reminded Ouen a few times to maintain a climb out speed of 60kt's in order to climb out at Vy (best rate of climb) and to level off at 1200ft. After take-off checks complete I dialled up Dutch Mil and asked them to climb to FL55. There was a small patch of Cu (Cumulous) clouds on our path, so we kinked left to avoid them and climbed above them. Once past them, it was blue skies all the way to the German border.

The airspace was surprisingly quiet today, given the good weather, and about 15 minutes out of EDWN we requested to descend to 1,500ft. About 10 minutes out, I dialled up Nordhorn Information and asked for the airfield information. It was at this point that I then took the reigns and steered toward the VRP, whilst Ouen and I kept a sharp lookout for both traffic and the airport itself. Which was easier said than done. The airfield is hidden behind a dense forest of evergreen trees, which are quite high. Before we left, we had a look over the Jepp plate for the destination airfield and I noticed the displaced threshold for runway 06. But it never occurred to me that the trees that created the need for the displaced threshold would be so high as to obscure the airfield when inbound from the VRP. We were told the circuit was clear to allow for a straight in approach to runway 06, so it was now only a matter of finding the damn field. I eventually spotted it and set "Nippy" up for the approach. That's when I noticed how tall the trees were. :-)

Landing fees paid, we decided to explore the airfield a little bit. We noticed an An-2 in a hanger off to the distance and were told by the locals that there were THREE inside, and we were welcome to go take a look. We wandered around talking to some of the local pilots and doing what most in the GA community do best....talking about planes, fuel prices and landing fees....and of course where the best restaurants can be found. 

Strangely, this joie de vivres and affinity with fellow pilots, it has to be said, is sorely lacking amongst the Dutch aviation community...certainly in GA circles. I've flown in the US, Finland, France, Belgium, Germany, UK, Ireland and Ukraine, and every pilot whom I've ever met would gladly talk flying given any chance they can get. It could start off with someone admiring someone else's plane, or commenting on a landing, or over some beers after a days flying...and the conversation is almost always easy going and a collection of the grey haired wizened ones advising the youngsters through the telling of tall tales and the like. However, not so in the Netherlands. I've wondered why this has always been the case ever since I started flying here, and I think Ouen helped hit the nail on the head. Our theory goes like this:

Most pilots (including a lot of European ones) have gone overseas to someplace where the training costs are lower and the weather better. This has meant that the average Joe (especially the case in the US) has been able to afford attaining their wings. With so many average Joe's, there are very few snobs about, and the ones that are there confine themselves to the expensive FBO's where the red carpet is rolled out upon arrival. Which means that the GA community I've been exposed to is full of normal, ordinary (and somewhat humble) people.

However, there is still a large clique of Dutch pilots who have gotten their wings at home. Given that it's, at best, around three times more expensive to get your licence in the Netherlands, it seems that this has bred an exclusive community of snobs. Since they're quite content to pay, on average, three times the price for their training, they seem to have this "I'm better than you" chip on their shoulder. Looking at the average car park and you'll see it's full of the usual Dutch "Ralph Lauren" wearing tosser mobiles in the guises Audi's, BMW X5's, Alfa's and the occasional Porsche or two. Now, match that "chip on your shoulder, do you know who I am" attitude with someone on the airfield and you end up with a fraternity found uniquely here in Holland, namely the "Tit who calls himself a pilot".

On our way back, we decided to do a little airwork. I had Ouen practice some steep turns, slow flight and some stalls and stall recovery. His execution of the steep turns was phenomenal....almost hitting our wake every time when he rolled back straight and level. He needs some more practice with slow-flight, but made a damn good effort in "Nippy" this time 'round.

And so it was....two and a half hours in the air spent on airwork and life's observations. And of course two well fed tummies. Ouen's already hatching some time to get back up in the air....with weather like today, I can't say I blame him.

To Koln for Koelsch and Wursten

Yesterday saw a milestone as a plane owner. We decided to spend a weekend away somewhere, and decided to use the Robin to get us there. It was a daunting prospect given that it's Malinka's first time flying in the Robin with me. Malinka's flown before; when we flew in Florida in 2008 and on a few jaunts to Texel and back) but she preferred to sit in the back where she could sleep. Given that the Robin is a cosy cockpit and that she has no "back seat" to fall asleep on, I was a little worried she'd hate it straight away.

The destination choice? It had to be somewhere close (about an hour's flight away), somewhere fun, and somewhere we knew we'd really enjoy. So we decided on Koln. We bought love the beers, food and atmosphere in Koln. So it was settled....Koln.

I also had a plan B up my sleeve. Our friends Andrew and Angelina decided to come to Koln also. Only they were taking the car. Which meant if Malinka really hated flying in the Robin, she could get a lift back with A&A in the car.


I filed the flightplan Friday evening and we were up early to get to Lelystad. When we arrived, we quickly pushed the Robin out of the hanger, fueled up and headed off into the wild blue yonder.


The planned routing was as straight a line as was possible down through Dusseldorf and into Koln Leverkusen airfield. Leverkusen is a grass field, extremely busy with glider activity from the filed, both in the form of glider towing and winch launching. The transit through Dutch airspace was uneventful. But when we approached Dusseldorf's Class C airspace, I contacted Langen Information and explained to them that I would like to transit overhead Dusseldorf (as filed) and to ask them if it was possible. This was a good 10-15 mins before I would even reach Dusseldorf's Control Zone (CTR). The response?? NEGATIVE. I was pretty pissed off because I was at a height that would not conflict with their approaches, and a deviation around the airfield would add another 15-20 mins to the flight. SO I turned left 30 degrees to avoid Dusseldorf.


But then our luck changed. Langen called back, gave me a heading to steer and told me that I was approved to cross the airfield. NICE!! As we got closer, I called Dusseldorf tower who gave me a Squawk code and asked me to transition from reporting point "November", which is at Duisberg, north of Dusseldorf airport. Now, here's the thing. There was a NOTAM closing airspace over Duisberg (which the Controller should have been aware of), so rather than overflying the closed airspace, I flew abeam November. The result??? A piss ant controller whinging at me. I decided to ignore his pissy comments and carried on as cleared. When I cleared his airspace I called to inform him and got a "Hmmmm, well I suppose you are" Seems he wasn't as bothered about me crossing afterall if he wasn't paying attention to where I was. Anyway, bygones.


Malinka was by now getting twitchy and asking "Are we there yet?". With the turbulence from the clouds above she started to feel a little queasy. But we were only 15 mins away after crossing Dusseldorf.


I told Langen I was switching to Koln Leverkusen and set-up for the descent. With the airfield in sight, Leverkusen was keen to let me know about the traffic in the pattern and gliders in the area. I had traffic pass underneath me and slowed down to follow him into the pattern. I was number three for landing, behind a glider being  towed and the plane that had passed below me. Malinka perked up a bit when she saw the airfield and I stabilised us for a long final behind the landing traffic ahead of us. When we landed, we rang the guys who were trying to find the hotel in their car. The fun bit was the teasing we had when we met up about who was quicker. Given we left an hour and a half late than they did, and check into the hotel 15 minutes behind them, I think we were quickest on the day :-)


It was so much fun to travel together for a weekend away. And with the landing/overnight fees of only €5.50, we'll be back again soon.