Summer 2009
Here you can find some Impressions of the Summer-Tour 2009:
PIC-Gallery Summer 2009
Bayreuth, EDQD – Ostende/Brugge, EBOS – Cambridge, EGSC – Swansea, EGFH - Jersey, EGJJ – Brest, LFRB – St. Nazaire, LGRZ – Dijon, LFSD – Colmar, LFGA – Bayreuth, EDQN
Eurocontrol pressed us into a strait jacket and so we had to fly with D-GHAN a huge detour from Bayreuth to Ostende/Brugge. Due to the high AVGAS-prices everybody wants and must fly economical but this seems to be ignored by this institution. On the day of our planned departure, July 08, 2009, the weather forecast was not good. At Warburg VOR we picked up severe thunderstorms including icing. The friendly controllers granted an immediate descent to FL 80 and so the Partenavia could partly avoid further icing. The front with intense rain followed us till our landing in EBOS. Even the airliners asked for deviations.
With bus, train, taxi and of course with our umbrellas we got hold of a hotel room in the historic center of Brugge, the capital of Flandern.
The medieval town with its channels is romantic and the jewel case of Belgium. The Grote Market with its beautiful gothic buildings, the town hall, the clock tower built in the 12. Century, the old city wall, the wind mills etc. are worth seeing. You also get a fantastic impression of these places using one of the horse-drawn carriages.
Two days later we were on our way to the UK over the British Channel. The chalk cliffs of Dover welcomed us, always an impressive view in spangled sunshine as long as you’re lucky with the weather. A few miles later we passed Canterbury with the famous cathedral and a historic place for nearly 3000 years.
The flight from Ostende to Cambridge took us 1:09 hours, the primary object of our England journey. From here we planned to visit the air show 2009 of “The Flying Legends” and the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. First it had been our intention to fly directly to Duxford and to camp beneath the aircraft wings as it is common in Tannkosh. What a pity, we received a denial. So we decided to stay in Cambridge, the only place where we’ll find lodging. Actually, we weren’t sad about this fact as Andy Hopper, also an earthrounder, offered us free of charge his apartment at the Corpus Christi College for 3 nights. It was a nice experience to stay in such an ancient building. This college was built in 1352 and is one of 31 universities of Cambridge. Who is studying at this place needs enough money from the parents. The town with all the historic buildings is worth seeing and you’ll meet students from all around the world. It was our second stay in Cambridge and nevertheless we enjoyed it very much. It is recommended to undertake a boat tour on the River Cam in a punt because from the water side you have a great view to all the colleges.
A free shuttle bus brought us to Duxford. People were queuing in front of the entrance. Nearly everybody carried an umbrella and all of them went to the flight line. Persons without umbrellas visited the museum hangars. The start of the air show was arranged for 2 p.m.
It was a great pleasure to see all the war birds. They were parked close to each other and came all into operation during the air show. Some aircrafts were still maintained, others were polished to high gloss. The Lancaster and B17 Fortress with their 4 engines were beauties and when the engines were started it was like thunder. Nearby we found a B25 Mitchell with fantastic illustrations and a Dakota. Partly the crews were dressed like in former times. The North American with a P51 Mustang were present, too. We saw a lot of Spitfires, the most well-known and fastest pursuit plane during World War II. The list could be amplified by further war birds, like Hurricanes, Chipmunk, the Russian Yak Fighters as well as the Fokker Wulf 190 of the Third Empire. Of course there was still a lot of rarity on ground which waited to show their acrobatics in the air.
We still had time until the early afternoon. So we visited all the hangars and halls of the Imperial War Museum. Very interesting was hangar 2 where historic aircrafts were refurbished. In another hangar we discovered the Concorde. If a bomber, like the gigantic B52 with 8 engines is too large, the hangar was built around. This aircraft gained notoriety due to airdrops of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The show began! The first engines started to roar. A jerk went through the visitors. Many of them were sitting on chairs they brought along by themselves in the first row waiting for hours for this event. One formation after the other taxied to the holding point. The engines blared and it was incredible to watch the teams taking off. The acrobatic figures were breathtaking. There was no standstill. The JU52 with 3 radial motors of the Lufthansa foundation took off. The sun came out and the corrugated iron glared like silver.
A rarity in the skies is the Fokker Dr.1. This triplane was developed during World War 1. Between all the war birds flying formations very well presented we discovered in an airspace corner 2 Piper Cubs showing impressive pirouettes. Shortly before the end of the air show a highlight appeared which is called by us “the flying lawn-mower”, the Blériot, an antique flying object. Blériot was the first human being who crossed the British Channel from Calais to Dover with a flying machine on July 25, 1909. In memory, this flight was repeated on the 100. Birthday, July 25, 2009.
Due to our own worldwide flights to all continents we’re receiving many queries from other pilots who are planning similar projects. So we met Peter and his wife Sue in Duxford. Peter is preparing a RTW with his Beech Baron.
When you are in the UK and still have some time left, stay a little bit longer. Therefore we flew to Swansea, EGFH, an airstrip in Wales. For 5 days we rented a car and drove through a wonderful nature. Our main aim was to visit historical castles and palaces we had chosen in advance. Hotel reservations weren’t done in before and so we looked in the evenings for B&B.
We found very well refurbished buildings like Castle Caerndydd (in Welsh: Canllaw Ymwelwyr) in Cardiff. Also it is worth to make a stroll through the pedestrian zone. Castle Carreg Cennen is only a ruin on the top of a hill and was difficult to find. In this spacious intact nature we were for us. We visited from east to west 12 castles and palaces which were very impressive and so we took a lot of historic commemoration with us. The only thing we didn’t want to take with us was the typical but expected weather: more rain than sunshine.
Without any problems and straight ahead we flew into the Jersey Zone. It is possible to fly VFR from all directions as long as a VFR- or IFR-waypoint is indicated in the flight plan. With radar vectors we crossed Guernsey in 2000 ft and then we had to queue for landing as number 8. Radar controllers, approach and tower worked professionally and friendly even with this high traffic. The Aero Club of Jersey was very helpful. They arranged immediately a B&B and a car for us. The rest of the day we stopped all activities as it was pouring of rain.
When we got up next morning the sun was laughing. So we drove to St. Helier, the island’s capital, went to the harbor and strolled through the large pedestrian zone. The town was quite nice but we preferred Gronville, a village on the east side of the island where on the top of a hill Mont Orgueil Castle is placed. All around the islands are still bunkers which were occupied by the German during World War II. It is funny to observe that all boats are sitting dry according to the tidal range.
Jersey is a very small island with moderate climate and by car you could use all the streets twice a day. So we decided to visit the zoo and discovered a variety of lemurs from Madagascar. In comparison to Guernsey we prefer Jersey and a detour is worth all the time as AVGAS is cheap, approx. € 1,35/liter.
Why did we choose the worst weather corner within whole Europe for our next flight? The reply is fairly easy: we didn’t have internet access in our B&B. Only the assurance having an IFR-rating gave us the landing clearance from Brest tower. In the evening we watched German TV and realized all the storms which raged over Europe. The weather still didn’t have any mercy with us and so we took a taxi to the Océanopolis. That wasn’t a good idea. The aquarium was overcrowded by tourists and the facility was icky. So we looked for another place: the chateau prefecture maritime and its marine museum. From this castle we had a terrific view over Brest and the complete harbor with many navy cruisers, the place of the headquarters of the French Atlantic Fleet.
In low level we flew to St. Nazaire where we actually intended to stay overnight. At the office of the Aero Club we checked once more the weather conditions. According to this information the weather should be better in Dijon. So we jumped again in our Partenavia and flew directly to Dijon where we stayed for 2 nights. In our travel guide this town was marked with 2 stars and this was correct. An unplanned stop we finally made in Colmar, a town we visited years ago by car. When you’re arriving from the south you’ll find “Little Venice”. There are lots of things to do and to see: with flowers decorated frame houses, small boats on the channel, flowers in all the lanes, small boutiques with artwork, the “Fischerstaden”, the Schwendi fountain and the Dominikaner church. The inns offer culinary delicacies. We stayed one day longer to enjoy and to relax and as promised by the weather forecast for Sunday, 26.07.2009 we had fantastic flight conditions back to Bayreuth.
Conclusion: This 19 days flight tour with only 15:03 hours and 1740 NM was comfortable and relaxing. To fly in the UK and France is easy. In England you must be aware to fly in low level due to the weather conditions. For France a good flight preparation is useful according to many military zones. If this is done there is no need for any radio communication to ask for all the active areas.
Here you can find some Impressions of the Summer-Tour 2009:
PIC-Gallery Summer 2009
