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Kategorie: Trips

O Airport Where Art Thou?

O Airport Where Art Thou?

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Visibility: not great, about 3k
Temperature: -2°C
Wind: 070°, 7 knots
QNH: 1020hPa
Location: EDAZ (Schönhagen)
Equipment: D-EKKS (Cessna 172N)

My new license has arrived more than a week ago and is still unused. The sky has been gray for weeks and I am ground-sick. Today the clouds are slightly higher and there is only moderate snow in the forecast for the afternoon. So I am off to the airport to see what is possible.

The target for the day is EDAZ, Schönhagen. It is a nice airfield south of the big city and about 40 minutes away from the home base. I do a quick flight plan-gestimation and am off. The visibility is not great, the ceiling is at about 2500 feet. There are patches of blue visible every now and again.

The radio beacon in Fürstenwalde (FWE VOR) is my waypoint. I fly on its radial 250° towards Schönhagen. The ground is snow covered. Lakes are frozen, from above it is difficult to tell them from meadows. Navigation by ground reference is very limited.

I use radial 305° of the KLF VOR as cross reference. The airport should be at the intersection of the two radials. EDAZ is located north of a little village and surrounded by forrest. I watch the needle of the second VOR slowly move to the middle and start looking for the airport. I have drifted a bit to the south but how bad can it be, really.

When I think I should see the airfield any minute now, I call in and announce my location, altitude and intention. Runway 07 is in use, there is not much going on on the Schönhagen frequency.

A few more moments pass and I still don’t have the airport in sight. The KLF needle is in the center now and the FWE needle is about 2 degrees to the right. Not a big deal as I want to enter the traffic pattern from the south anyway. I look ahead and to the right and I can only see gray sky and white ground. I turn a bit to the north and keep looking. I don’t want to accidentally get too close to the traffic pattern. I watch for a runway and wrestle down a slight feeling of uneasiness.

A few more minutes pass. The needle of the KLF VOR has moved out of the center again. I start thinking about options. What if I don’t find the airport?

I have fuel for about three hours – no problem here
Engine instruments are looking good – no reason to worry
I can simply fly back to the FWE VOR and go back home from there – safe exit strategy
I don’t have to pee – no need to hurry

Aviate, navigate, communicate

My situation is annoying and a bit embarrassing but not dangerous. I am at a safe altitude and I have enough fuel. So I start checking my map for a good point of reference. I did not take the approach chart with me and I start regretting the hasty flight planning already, when I see a city in front of me. The only larger city close to the airport is Luckenwalde, about 5 miles south. Could I be off my course by so much?

Recovery

I decide to follow the town to an intersection directly south of the airport and try to shoot straight up from there. I keep looking and before long I see the black of the runway through the mist. What a relieve!

I am one of only two guests at the airport restaurant in Schönhagen. I order a big glass of juice – my mouth is just a bit dry…

Incident investigation

Back home at my desk I try to figure out what went wrong. I start with my map. I gestimated a course of 250° from the FWE VOR to Schönhagen. The actual course should have been 252°, so that is a error of 2°.

Next I check the GPS log on CloudAhoy. From the VOR I flew a pretty straight line at first. Then, there is a slight change of course, about half way between the VOR and Schönhagen. Not much, maybe another 3° or 4°.

I am surprised to see how far this little deviation brought me from my course. How many miles does 5° translate to?

The distance from the VOR to Schönhagen is about 38 nautical miles. Remembering high school geometry, 2\pi x 38 miles gives me a circle of 239 miles. Divide that by 360 degrees and the distance per degree deviation in Schönhagen was about .66 NM.

So 5 lousy degrees – clearly within the margin of error of the junior aviator – translates into a miss of more than 3 nautical miles (3.5 statute miles or 5.5 kilometers)! Well beyond the visibility of the day.

Add the inaccuracy of the VOR indicator (the scale is analog and pretty approximate) and it becomes clear what has happened.

My Instructor smiles knowingly when I tell him the story. “Feels pretty bad if you can’t find the airport, doesn’t it?”

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on February 26, 2013 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/o-airport-where-art-thou/)

Day trip to the beach

Day trip to the beach

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Visibility: about 5 kilometers
ceiling: inversion with clouds at about 3.000 feet
GAFOR: “C” clear skies!
Temperature: 18°C
Wind: 240, 20 knots
QNH: 1017hPa
Location: EDAY (Strausberg)
Equipment: “Foxtrot Mike” (Cessna 152)

One of the great things about being a pilot is the ability to go places. The term “day trip” gets a whole new meaning.

Sunday in late September. The morning is a bit hazy but promises to be nice. The kid is with the grand parents, the wife is with the pilot. The island of Usedom is the goal for the day. We will meet up with friends there who also travel by air.

The visibility is not great but we climb “on top”. Here, above the clouds, we enjoy the sun and the calm air.

ausflug-usedom-1

Never trust the fuel gauge

ausflug-usedom-2

On top

When we arrive, our friends are there already. We start talking about each others ride. His flying club’s Cessna 172 is from the 90s – practically new in general aviation terms.

There are bikes available at the airport and we ride to the near by town. Fish for lunch and chatting in the sun. Time flies and before we know it, the afternoon is over.

ausflug-usedom-5

Climbing out of Peenemünde

On the way back, we climb to FL65. Visibility is still not great, especially as we are flying towards the sun now. But spirits are high and we enjoy the rest of our pick nick. Sure beats airline food.

ausflug-usedom-7

Back at home

Back at home the sun is hanging low already. The shadows are long and the day on the beach comes to an end. We have some of the days fresh catch with us for dinner. A very nice conclusion to a very nice day.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on September 17, 2012 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/day-trip-to-the-beach/)

aero camping

aero camping

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Visibility: more of a vision, really
Temperature: 26°C
Location: the local outdoor store
Equipment: the battered VISA card

I like outdoor stores. I can spend a lot of time looking at the sophisticated solutions for the simplest form of traveling, dreaming of the great outdoors. I am at the local outdoor-hipster meeting point on my quest for a sleeping bag and an air martess.

The wood-chuck-on-staff recides hight tech materials, qualities and degrees below freezing that the individual models will safe me from. I am actually only interested in packing size. The wood-chuck has a difficult time accepting that I decide against the model that would enable me to go hiking in Barrow, Alaska in January.

The last item on my list is a number of earth anchors. He shows me a few tent pegs of different sizes. I ask for something bigger and he brings a larger version, still not what I had in mind. I ask for something more serious. That seems to grab the wood-chucks’ professional attention. “What do you plan to fasten down?” he wants to know. “an aircraft” I answer with a smile.

Friday evening rush hour

6 p.m. on Friday evening. The weather is gorgeous and the airport is busy. We are number 3 for take-off on runway 05. The small baggage compartment behind the seats is stuffed with a tent, sleeping bags and other camping gear.

The air is smooth as silk. The lowest clouds are in airliner territory, there is no wind. Flying is a dream.

A good friend has invited us to a BBQ party. He lives 10 minutes away from a small, private airfield. The owner will be at the party as well. So the idea came up to fly to the party and camp out for the night. What started as a random idea turned out to be quite feasible and a great adventure.

The flight school lets us have the aircraft over night (“sure, no problem, nice idea!”),
we can camp on the airfield (“people have done that before”),
and we made all of our gear fit into the ultra light two seater (easy!).

Big fish in a small pond

We got “Charly Oskar” for the evening, the new Rider with the 100 hp engine. The trip up north is about 45 minutes. Navigation to the small town is easy. The tricky part will be to find the barely marked grass strip in the middle of other fields. We navigate by roads and ponds and before long, we have the runway in sight. It has a few cars parked on the side and a trailer as the only building.

I call on the unicom frequency but only get a broken up answer. Never mind, I have called before. They know that I am coming. In order to get a feeling for the traffic pattern and to make double sure that other traffic knows that we are coming, I start the approach with a low pass. The pattern is tight and the runway short. This will be fun.

On the second round I set flaps and approach the runway in order to land. I am a bit low and need some gas. So I am not as slow as I would have liked to be on short final. The threshold is coming closer and I begin to flare. Charlie Oskar floats for a long time and just as I start to get nervous, we make contract with the high grass that is the runway.

Two motor glider pilots are on the ground to greet us. We talk aircraft and they are all excited about our ride. I am more used to being the flying scum at other airports…

The party is warm and full of friendly folks. We walk back under the stars and crawl into the tent. What a spectacular day.

Back at 9

The next moring we pack our gear and I walk down the runway before we go. There is quite a depression after the threshold. This is why we were coasting so long last night. The runway is bumpy, in bad condition and in desperate need of mowing. I hope we make it out of here without damage.

We perform a short field take-off. I set flaps, pull on the break and give full gas. When the engine is at max RPM, I release the break and we shoot off. I pull Charlie Oskar up as quickly as I can and after a final hop, we are airborne. I’m glad we have the stronger engine!

As a morning salute, we fly low over our friends house. We see someone waiving, I hope it is not a fist shaking.

The trip back is as smooth as yesterday and as we approach EDAY, I am sad that our little trip is over already. But there is no dawdling, Charlie Oscar has to be back before 9 for a long day of flying lessons. To teach new students, who hopefully will take her aero camping some day.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on August 19, 2012 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/aero-camping/)

North German Plain

North German Plain

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Visibility: more than 10 kilometers
ceiling: more than 2.000 feet
GAFOR: “O” open skies
Temperature: 21°C
Wind: 260, 10 knots
QNH: 1024hPa
Location: EDOP (Parchim)
Equipment: D-EARE (Cessna 150)

My flying friend Bernd has a work assignment. He needs to take areal pictures of a pipeline. A co-pilot, who can fly while he takes the pictures, would make the job much easier for him. So he asks me and I – of course – am game!

We meet in Parchim (EDOP). The airport is large but not busy. Our plan was to fly in a Cessna 172. But unfortunately it had technical problems and we have to use a much smaller Cessna 150 as back-up. D-EARE (“Romeo Echo”) is old and very basic. She does not even have a VOR on board. But she flies, I am certified to fly her and am familiar with the type, and I get to fly for free. So I will not complain!

After checking out the aircraft, we go over the route for today. Bernd has several way points that he has marked on the map. One of them is north of the rest, noticeably off the route. He smiles and says something about a private detour but does not tell me more.

Bernd wants to do take-offs and landings to practice. The rest of the flying is basically for me. He will navigate and take pictures. This is much better than I had anticipated!

“The impact is still visible”

“Romeo Echo” handles well, just like “Lima X-Ray“. We stay low between the picture sites. Eventually, Bernd guides me toward the single site that is apart from the others. It is a farm close to a small town, right by a lake. It looks very scenic. In the wheat field closest to the farm house, there is a track visible. “This is were I made an emergency landing.” Bernd says.

So this is the “private business” he did not want to go into details about before we left. Now he tells me the whole story. He owns a motorized hang glider. Two weeks ago, he had engine problems and had to land on this very field. When his engine quit, he looked for a possible landing site and carried out a decent touch-down. Just as he was trained to do. The damage was minimal and no one got hurt. I am impressed.

The farmer family helped him and was very friendly. That is why he decided to take pictures of the farm as a present to them.

Fish for lunch

The trip takes us well over three hours. We fly past the city of Hamburg and cross the mighty Elbe river. Close to the coast, the area gets less interesting from above. The north German plains are just that, plain.

The last site on Bernd’s list is close to the city of Leer. After we have taken all the pictures, we land there for fuel for both, aircraft and crew. The airport in Leer has a nice restaurant with a terrace looking onto the runway. We have fish for lunch and two colleagues from the local construction office join us.

The way back is very easy. We take the scenic route along the coast, cross Jade Bight and come even closer to Hamburg before we turn south.

We arrive back in Parchim with well over six flight hours under our belts. This is a lot of flying in one day for a low time pilot and I am beat. What a day!

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on August 12, 2012 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/north-german-plain/)

staying current

staying current

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Visibility: more than 10 kilometers
ceiling: more than 5.000 feet
GAFOR: “C” clear skies!
Temperature: 24°C
Wind: 290°, 10 knots
QNH: 1027hPa
Location: EDAY (Strausberg)
Equipment: “Lima Juliet” (my old love)

On Saturday a friend took me up on the promise to take him up! Since “Lima X-Ray” is still in the shop and I have not had my check-ride on “Kilo Sierra” yet, I called my old flight school. They had a cancellation and “Lima Juliet” is available for two hours on Sunday.

We have had a rainy summer and this is one of the first hot and clear weekends in a while. The aviation forecast is perfect, visibility is great and there are pretty white clouds.

Staying current

Many of us hobby pilots don’t get above the ground as much as we would like to. In order to be able to take passengers with me in the light sports plane, I have to have a minimum of three landings in the last 90 days.

My last trip was in February! Ever since then I have been training for the private pilots license with larger aircraft. That means I have to fly three patterns on my own before we can go on our little trip.

So I arrive at the airport a bit before my friend for the obligatory abuse at the flight school (“so you are back to fly real aircraft, right…”) and to go ahead with the three landings.

It is good to be back in the light sports aircraft. I still feel very comfortable with “Lima Juliet”. At the same time, the much larger “Kilo Sierra” has grown on me with her stable handling and redundant instrumentation. We will see what kind of flying the future brings.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on July 25, 2012 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/staying-current/)

SFX

SFX

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Visibility: fair, rain showers
Temperature: 21°C
Wind: 260°, 5 knots
QNH: 1020hPa
Location: EDAY (Strausberg)
Equipment: “Kilo Sierra” (Cessna 172, D-EKKS)

Today was great! I saw the big city from above, almost flew over my house, saw a new airport and had an Airbus waiting for me – but one thing after the other:

The big city has two international airports and a no-fly zone in between them. So everything west of my home airport is controlled airspace. I have been flying around it for two years but never ventured into it. Until today.

The sky looks dark towards the west and I can see rain showers. We hit the rain shortly after take-off on climb. Kilo Sierra is shaking but the shower is very local and we can go around most of it.

Rain and gusts up to 39 knots

We check in with the controller an I announce our intention: “VFR from Strausberg to Schönhagen, via Echo and Bravo, low pass over the runway of SXF (the larger one of the two international airports), exit via Sierra to Schönhagen”. The controller informs us that he has rain and wind gusting up to 39 knots. My instructor is not worried. “It always looks worse from the ground”. The controller is cool with us trying as far as we can make it.

“Delta Kilo Sierra has reached Echo 2 at 2.000 feet”

In the control zone I have to stick to a set route from one compulsory reporting point to the next. The first one is Echo 2 at the intersection of a train line and a highway. I announce our position, the controller acknowledges it and we are in. Easy as pie.

We fly over the suburbs, over the outskirts and then over the city. Before we reach the no-fly zone over the city center, we turn left towards the airport. The rain has moved to the east and the sun glitters on the wet roofs of the buildings. Between Echo 1 and Bravo, I can see my house. I’m loving it!

“You guys are lucky if I can get you in a gap to cross the field” 

SXF is being expanded and transformed into the cities new international airport. The terminal building, the new control tower and the new runways are directly in front of me now. I see the traffic on the ground (very cool) and a number of approach lights coming out of the dark clouds to the left (a bit frightening). I ask the controller for clearance for a low pass over the runway but there is no chance. The weather has delayed the afternoon rush hour and there are a bunch of large jets waiting to get in. In between two of them, we manage to cross over the airport at pattern altitude and make our way over to the next reporting point Sierra.

15 minutes break

From Sierra, it is not far to Schönhagen, south west of the big city. It is a very popular airport for the general aviation community. We land and taxi by a number of different aircraft on our way to the tower.

After a few minutes and a nice chat with the clerk at the desk, we take-off again. We fly north and re-enter the control zone via the Whiskey route. Whiskey 2, Whiskey 1, Bravo and another attempt for a low over pass. This time the traffic situation is more relaxed. We see two easyjet Airbus A319s lining up for take-off on runway 25 right. The first takes-off and by the time we are cleared for the downwind of the pattern, the second one is on the runway already.

We are trying to do this as quickly as possible. So we are not slowing down much on base and are not setting flaps. I turn into final approach and there it is: Runway 25 right, 2710 meters by 45 meters of illuminated concrete. Wow.

We are coming in fast (for a little Cessna) and I’m still caught-up in the moment when we see another Airbus waiting at the holding point. So we stop dawdling, I push the throttle to the fire wall and we are out of there as quickly as we came.

Getting so close to heavy metal was much less frightening than I thought!

To be continued…

PS: See the entire flight here (you will need a google earth plug-in). The tracking is provided by CloudAhoy.com, a great service that lets you track flights using an iPhone and analyze it online – free of charge.

 

(originally posted on July 17, 2012 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/sfx/)

International Flying

International Flying

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Visibility: about 8 kilometers under a blue sky (inversion)
Temperature: 14°C
QNH: 1022 hPa
Location: EDAY
Equipment: Cessna 152 (D-EMFM)

A friend of mine is collecting hours for his commercial pilots license. In order to do so, he is taking trips. And he asked me if I wanted to come with him!

Friday morning, we meet at the airport, he is here by motorbike. The weather is good. A bit of haze below a blue sky (inversion). We take our time to prepare the flight. It is about the learning experience and we are in no hurry. I am going to be the navigator. I take a copy of the flight plan and fold the map so that it will be easy to turn pages in the confined space of the cockpit.

We are flying to Jihlava in the Czech Republic today. My friends brother is working there.

The flight will be about two and a half hours. We will head south via the cities of Cottbus and Görlitz were we will cross into Polish airspace. After about ten miles we will cross another border into the Bohemia region of the Czech Republic. We will fly over the city of Liberec in the western foothills of the Riesengebirge mountains.

Our course continues south and lets us pass the capital city to Prague at a safe distance to the right. Jihlava is a mid size industrial town, about 130 kilometers south east of Praque. The airfield is small and does not have a paved runway. It could be a challenge to find it.

After preparing the route and submitting our flight plan, we go out to the aircraft. “Foxtrot Mike”, a yellow Cessna 152 is going to be our ship for the trip. I do the outside check while my friend gets his GPS ready as a back-up.

We take off to the west. Before we can climb over the misty weather, we have to clear the controlled airspace of the near by international airport. We go south and navigate by the lakes and highways and eventually start climbing. The inversion is higher than we thought but nothing keeps us from going higher. So we climb all the way to flight level 75 or almost 2.5 kilometers (7500 feet). This is the highest I have been in a small aircraft. The sun is shining up here, we are playing with the clouds and the air is silky smooth.

Air traffic control

We are flying Visual Flight Rule (VFR) in uncontrolled airspace. But it is still a good idea to use the flight following service. We call the “Flight Information Service” on the radio, tell them who we are, were we are traveling from and what our destination is. The controller provides assistance like warnings about approaching traffic as well as information about restricted air space and other security relevant information.

On todays trip we start with the controller in Bremen center. Before we cross the border to Poland, we are handed over to Munich center. They are able to clear us for the short cut through Polish air space (very convenient) and hand us over to Praha center right away.

The Czech controller is friendly, professional and not very busy. He gives us information about restricted air space (we are cleared to cross) and hands us to the controller of the military airport of Caslav, over which we would like to cross.

As we are in the airspace of Caslav, we listen to a military pilot with a technical problem. His gear did not deploy as it should. First he performs a low pass to give the tower a chance to visually inspect his gear. Then he goes around and lands. I can see him touch down successfully and I see the fire trucks that had been waiting next to the runway. Very intense experience.

Caslav is close to our destination. And before long, we see a town that can only be Jihlava. The airfield is not far from the highway and much easier to find than we had feared. We fly over the airfield once to get an idea of the area and then my friend lands the little Cessna on the grass strip. What a trip!

The Czech people are known for uncomplicated hospitality and an appreciation for all things technical. We are greeted by friendly aviators and everything is easy at the small airport.

There and back again

The next day starts with a quick breakfast at the local bakery. No coffee as we are planning our trip without potty break. At the airport we are submitting our flight plan. We say good bye to our friendly hosts and take off. The weather is similar to the previous day and we climb up to 8500 feet today. We both like the high altitude. The world looks calm and quite and being up with the clouds is a spectacular feeling.

Of course we are highly concentrated but we are also more confident than yesterday. We know that the controllers are friendly and the navigation is doable.

Cold air

About an hour before our destination, we are over the Lausitz region of Germany. There is a lot of open-cast mining in this area. The ground looks like the moon, a very sad sight. We are both looking at the map and confirming our position as the engine suddenly changes its pitch. That grabs our attention!

The RMP have dropped by 200 and they do not come back with more gas. We diagnose the problem as carburetor icing and I pull the leaver for the carburetor heating. After a few seconds, the RPM start going back up and the engine sounds normal again.

We have fixed the problem but we are still alarmed. So we sink to a lower altitude with warmer air.

Back home

Not so long after our icing experience, we have to begin our decent into our destination. We are welcomed back by the flight instructor. He is eager to hear how our trip was. When we tell him about the carburetor icing he looks at us with a blank expression. He explains that of course we have to use the carburetor heating in regular intervals at these altitudes. Had he told us before, we would have been less shocked. But neither one of us will ever forget this experience!

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on April 3, 2012 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/international-flying/)

Meet Charlie Oscar

Meet Charlie Oscar

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Visibility: about 10 kilometres
Temperature: -7°C
QNH: 1042 hPa
Location: EDAY
Equipment: New Rider MD3, 100hp engine (D-MPCO)

Late last season, my old flight school got a new aircraft. It is another Rider MD3, like the ones I trained on. But this one is brand new, has a lot of bells and whistles and a stronger engine.

I took D-MPCO (“Charlie Oscar”) for a spin today and was very impressed. All the aircraft of the flight school are well kept but you can tell right away that Charly Oscar does not have as many hours under her belt. She is new and shiny.

Fresh snow fell last night and the airport is white. A little cloud of snow dust blows around me as I start the engine. I have not been in an ultra light since I started my training for the private pilots license on the Cessna. But Charlie Oscar handles well and I feel comfortable taxiing out to the runway.

The air is very dense today, the aircraft is light with only one person and half full tanks but I am still surprised how quickly she takes off. It feels less like a take-off run and more like a big leap into the sky. I have reached pattern altitude before the first turn into the crosswind leg and I have to reduce power well before that. Wow, this is fun!

I do a bit of pattern work to get to know Charlie Oscar. The runway is snow covered and although it is not very much, it is very slippery. After the first landing I drift to the left and the aircraft starts turning before I can catch her. The fresh snow breaks the wheels a lot but not necessarily at the same rate. On the second approach I set full flaps to come in as slowly as possible. I am prepared this time and manage to hold her steady.

After that I go north for a quick trip around the block. Visibility drops out there and I turn back. The sky to the south is blue and the sun warms my face. I smile, this is pretty sweet!

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on February 10, 2012 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/meet_charlie_oscar/)

when in doubt, don’t!

when in doubt, don’t!

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Visibility: about 50 km
Temperature: 23°C
QNH: 1011hPa
Location: EDAY
Equipment: MD3 Rider (D-MASL)

It is a fair deal: My friend with his American death missile (I borrowed that term from Captain Dave) uses it to shoot us to the airport and I take over from there. The day is nice and the airport is busy.

I pre-flight the trusted “Rider” and he snaps the first pictures. I feel great! We get aboard and I run the engine start check list. All is clear, the starter cranks but the engine does not start. Strange. I try again, nothing.

The Rotax engine usually starts up right away with a very characteristic “bang”. The airplanes of the flight school are used often and are very well maintained. They have two good technicians.

After another one or two attempts, the engine finally come sputtering to life. It runs lousy, though. I decide to keep it running for a bit to see if it was just flooded. And sure enough after a few moments it runs almost normal. Temperature and oil pressure are good but is there a funny sound? I am not sure.

I check in with the tower and the friendly voice on the air asks me if I think my engine sounds funny. That does it for me, we are staying on the ground today.

We are sitting on the terrace of the airport restaurant having a beer instead of a pleasure flight. As we watch everybody else take off, I think that it is not easy to actually cancel a flight when in doubt.

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on September 10, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/when-in-doubt-dont/)

Passenger rating – this time for real!

Passenger rating – this time for real!

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It’s official, stamp and all – I can carry passengers now. My last flight to Eisenhüttenstadt was good enough for the lady at the aviation administration and she mailed an updated licese to me.

So if you don’t want to come fly with me, now would be a good time to come up with excuses!

To be continued…

 

(originally posted on July 15, 2011 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/passenger-rating-this-time-for-real/)