Day 16 The white cliffs of Dover (cloud not chalk)

I could tell as soon as I woke up that the news was bad. I could hear the rain falling and the sounds of the cars driving by told the same story. I parted the curtain and saw that the cloud was down to about 100 feet and visibility was less than 500meters. I turned over and went back to sleep. This was a good move. The “hotel” last night was strange to say the least. It was a private house that had been converted into the hotel annex. Somehow they had turned a small 2 bedroom house into a 6 bedroom hotel. This meant a few compromises. No such thing as en suite. Facilities consisted in 1 toilet and one shower. The shower had the smallest basin I have ever seen , but was supplied only with cold water. The main washing facilities existed on the main landing offering no privacy whatsoever. The main(only) washing facilities.

My lying in meant that everyone else in the house got up to go to work and by the time I got up they had left and I had the place to myself.

Breakfast was minimal, I was presented with a plastic bag full of bread and some slices of ham and cheese. Still it was breakfast and I did get a lift back to the airfield. Looking back the included evening meal was a bit strange. It consisted of soup followed by 2 pork sate skewers a barbequed chicken leg, one slice of ham and a fried eg, all served up with noodles prawn crackers and salad. Weird.

Back at the airfield I watched the weather develop by talking to the guy in the tower. It was clear that both sides of the channel it was going to get better, but heavy rain was also headed to Holland from Belgium. Another UK pilot decided it was OK when they gave a 4k viz. and cloud of 1000. But then he did have a Cirrus including stormscope, autopilot and everything so he probably wasn’t too worried. His main concern was that the tower controller might report him for flying illegally. I stayed on the ground.
By mid day it was looking as though it was going to be OK so I filed my flight plan, sent a GA report form so I could land directly back Willingale, and waited the obligatory hour. Meanwhile a Lynx helicopter from the Netherlands flew in to refuel. It was interesting talking to them. They all looked very professional in their flight suits which I suddenly realised were immersion suits. I thought I could do with something like that only to realise that the chances of me being able to fit into one of those was nil unless I lost about 3 stone in weight.

Parked up at Midden Zeland with the Lynx in the background.

Eventually I was off. The flight started well. I overflew Ostend and Koksiide with their permission and headed for Calais. Someone had hidden it. All I could see was this apparent new coastline appearing in front of me, with just even greyness beyond. I realised that this was not good news and so turned out over the sea to avoid what was now turning into a very heavy rain shower. Once out at sea I thought I might as well carry on so I did. The cloud kept me down to 2000ft, but I was OK with that. In mid channel I called London and received no response. I tried again a while later, then gave up. As I neared the UK coast I realised that all was not perfect. At 2 miles, I still could not see the coast and I was gradually being forced lower and lower. At 700 feet I decided that the cliffs might present a problem, and if not them the 1200foot radio masts. By now it was raining heavily. I could still see the sea below me but forward visibility was not good. I turned right to head up to Manston. In my defence I had checked the Sangetty Light Vessel, the varne light vessel, Lydd, Manston and Calais. All had shown cloud above 1500ft and 10K visibility. I called Manston explained my problem and asked for their weather. It was OK there so I headed up the coast, round the top of Margate and along the Thames. The weather improved. In no time at all I approached Willingale. Stansted were giving 190 at 17 knots so I as a little concerned, however I made the approach quite high and it was one of the best landings of the trip. So with stops in 16 countries and an overflight of one further country, 4300 miles covered, 40 hours of flying and 525 litres of fuel consumed, the adventure for 2009 has come to an end. Thoughts now turn to what I should do next year!

Day 14, Just 2 hours from home

A look at the weather forecast this morning showed that it might be possible to get back to the UK before all the fronts arrive. With that in mind I left Halmstad as early as possible, but not really early enough. I submitted my flight plan as soon as I woke up to try and avoid delays at the airfield. It was not to be. By the time refuelling had been carried out time was running away. I finally got airborne about 9:00am and headed for Denmark. There was a lot of low cloud about, but I managed to avoid it and once I had crossed into Denmark things started to improve. By the time I got to my destination Aero, the sun was shining. Aero is a delightful little airfield run by a husband and wife on a small island 20km x 1km. It is quiet and peaceful. The runway edges are the home for hundreds of orchids and the owner proudly told me how ay species of grass they have (over 20)., They were very disappointed that I was going to stay only a matter of hours ad suggested I really ought to stop there. Camping was allowed (the first time that has been possible since the trip started) but I really wanted to make better progress, so I left. As I approached Germany, the tail wind grew and was for the most part around 25mph. It all helps. The visibility was not very good and the air was quite lumpy. I climbed and eventually at 7500 ft found smooth still air. All too soon it was time to descend into Leer Papenburg. I arrived on the downwind leg at exactly the right height, turned base then final thinking this is ok. Then as I got nearer the ground I realised the impact that a 20 knot wind from 45 degrees over trees that are nearly 200 ft high has. I was all over the place. It makes a 13 knot easterly at Willingale feel like a breeze. Twice I got close to the runway, but then had to give it up. The solution was to touch down slightly fast just n the very start of the numbers. With that done I was on the ground. I would recommend this place. They have Mogas as well as Avgas and an excellent restaurant.
With both me and the plane refreshed, it was time for the next leg to Midden Zealand. From there I felt it might be possible to strike for home. As I got closer the visibility declined until I felt I was flying at 120 knots (with a tailwind giving me 140over the ground) in about 5 k viz. legal but not at all nice. Without GPS who knows whether I would ever have found the airfield. I landed ad parked up. I had been here before, but it was unrecognizable. Then it was sunny and you could see for 20 miles or more. Today it was hot clammy overcast and murky. The sound of thunder and a view of the storms on the controllers screen suggested that I gave up chances of getting to the UK tonight. Lets hope tomorrow gives a chance.

So for the stats; today a total of 562 miles making 4103 in total.

Day 13 To the edge of Denmark

The Hotel

It was rather nice staying in a 5 star hotel. It meant I had to have the full breakfast and of course take advantage of the Sauna. All in all this meant I didn’t make the earliest of starts. Also I noticed that I am using a small but regular amount of oil. No problem in itself, but I wanted to top it up. This meant I had to get some Shell VSX-4, f rom a shell Garage. Not the easiest job in Stockholm. The first two I tried were no more. One was redeveloped into a dockside restaurant area and the second had disappeared under a new development. I was amazed at how much Stockholm had changed in the 3 years since I was there. The third attempt took me to just alongside the old Electrolux offices. I gave them a friendly wave as I passed. Then I called up an old work colleague just to say “Hi Jesper, fancy a coffee.” That would have shocked him but disappointingly he was not around, so I just left it as a message. With the oil in hand I took the underground to Akalla to save the huge taxi fare and then tried to get a taxi to the airfield. This too took longer than I expected but in the end I was there. No one questioned my presence, so I loaded up, checked the aircraft and departed.

Bromma was busy so I couldn't get a transit over the city, this is as close as I got.

The flight then took me to Norrkoping.

The runway here is best described as Dry, Dry, Very Wet!

A very helpful shell man helped me to refuel at a not outlandish price. Once I had checked the met I continued South West. The showers were quite dramatic and frequent, but I dodged round them and with very helpful ATC giving me transits of all the zones I arrived at Halmstad. I am in sight of Denmark, and also the big thunderstorm over it (wasn’t there something about that in Hamlet?)
So, today’s totals are 303 miles covered making 3541 in total.

Day 12 Finland and Sweden. The turn to the South

True to his word I was collected by the airport manager from the hotel at 8:30. On arrival at the airport we had to stand outside for a while as the Tallin scheduled flight was still loading. They are rebuilding the terminal with the last of the EU grants so they had no space for people to go except in the door through the x ray machines and so on. Eventually we were through and I was taken upstairs to the control tower for a run through of all their equipment including the precision approach radar.. I was offered detailed met (about 12 pages) Notams and eventually managed to get the flight plan submitted. Off I went. This time a really long sea crossing of 78 miles although some of it was no more than 3 miles off shore. I was passed over to Tallin who immediately asked me to be aware that I was going to be near some danger areas. Near wasn’t quite the word as what she meant was through. These were actually in Finland not Estonia and why they hadn’t appeared in the notams remains a mystery. Anyway I adjusted and hit the Finish coast and continued to Helsinki Malmo. The approach is right alongside the city, very reminiscent of Templehof but closer. Max height 1000ft. As I approached final for 36 it looked as though I was on a long final at the main airport Vanta as they are so close. The approach was bumpy as anything and the wind gusting up to 20 knots. Still I was down and then had to negotiate the hurdle of getting to pay for fuel and landing fees. Signs were non existent but eventually I found the office on the second floor of the old terminal building. With those duly paid and yet another cluster of paper provided, this showing heavy rain and possibly hail showers in Stockholm. On that basis I decided to file a plan for Marieham first so I could make the decision then as to whether I would continue. The flight to Marieham is one of the prettiest in Scandinavia. It would have been even better if spring had arrived, but it hasn’t. The trees are in bud, not yet in leaf. The arrival in Mariaham was marked by a horrible crosswind of about 17 knots. I was glad to be on the ground. The temperature was bitterly cold and I regretted just wearing a T shirt. Refuelled and refreshed (if you can call a 3 hr old coffee refreshing). The flight plan was filed for Stockholm. First choice was Ska Edeby, with Barkaby second and Bromma third. The view ahead did not look encouraging.

Eventually as I approached the narrow gap between Arlanda and Bromma, my way was blocked by a very heavy shower. I turned left at Masten and made the call for Barkaby. The landing was not the easiest as it has to be a very tight turn onto final and the 15knot crosswind didn’t help.
No sooner was I on the ground trying to phone to close my flight plan when the heavens opened. It would have been quite amusing if someone had a photo of me hiding under the wing trying to keep the book dry as I called Bromma. Job done I headed for the clubhouse. The welcome was a little flat and in the end I used the computer to find me a hotel room and someone did help me call a taxi. A night in a posh Stockholm hotel. Tough.

Total today another 400 miles making 3237 in total

Day 11 Latvia and Estonia

It didn’t look as though much was going to be possible today as there was thick fog when I woke up at 6. A quick check on the weather showed it was unlikely to clear before midday, so back to bed for a lie in. Sure enough it gradually lifted and suddenly the sun broke through. Back at Klaipeda aerodrome all was deserted. I filed a flight plan for Palanger (all of 10 miles away and I was already inside their control zone) and off I went. The big problem with flight plans is the delay they introduce. You have to submit them an hour before the flight and you rarely get the chance to submit them ‘til everything else is done. So even though I tried to get through as quickly as possible it was still two hours before I was on my way to Riga, fully refuelled but with a credit card nearly £100 lighter for the landing charge, the handling charge, the fuel delivery charges, the air traffic control charge, the air transport tax (yes that did apply to private flights there). As I crossed into Latvia aiming for Riga I was asked to descend to 1000 feet and then call Riga approach. I did and no response. I couldn’t hear them at all until I climbed a bit just for an experiment. Still they couldn’t here me so I called Riga Information. They told me I had to talk to Riga Approach and I explained the difficulty. They offered no solution other than to keep trying. At this point I felt uncomfortable going into a major international airport with lots of aircraft already talking to them (BA, Easyjet, Lufthansa, SAS are those I remember, so I asked for a diversion to my alternate. This was quickly granted and I found my way to Ventspills. I got a great welcome there, but they apologised that they had no fuel. All scheduled services were stopped last year, and it appears that they keep on 2 people simply to maintain the paperwork so the airport can be operational during the summer. I so had my plan filed, a landing fee of 19 euro seemed quite reasonable. Was then off, with my first long sea crossing of about 60 miles. Once I reached the other side, the scenery had dramatically changed. These Estonian islands are more like northern Sweden than anywhere else. The trees are still in bud and spring is only just beginning to arrive. The sun was shining and it looked quite idyllic. I continued to Kadla and was almost immediately cleared to land. On landing I was met by the Airport manager (also the refueller and Air Traffic control). He helped me park up, refuel and secure the aircraft and then offered me a lift to the hotel. The hotel is quite pretty, all made of wood and charges the princely sum of €40 euros dinner and breakfast included. Sounds like a bargain to me. The airport manager is coming to collect me tomorrow morning and he assured me that this would not incur a fee.
Kardla itself is a small town set on the northern edge of the island. Apparently it comes alive in the summer when the population rises from 10,000 to 70,000 and hence the airport.
As I arrived I could see the line of thunderstorms marking the Finland coast. clearly not something to mess with today. I just hope tomorrow brings a calmer outlook.

So progress today 260 miles making 2841 overall. Fuel consumption is working out at around 15 litres per hour, so better than I thought.

Day 10 Lithuania

Click on the photo to get it full size, then answer the question would you take on fuel here?

It was my own stupid fault. I got to the airfield with flight plans filed for the short hop to Lapaija for refuelling before on to Kurresare and Helsinki. I uncovered the plane and went to lower the flaps only to see that the ignition switch was not off. Yes, a flat battery. It was all to easy to see what happened on Saturday. A storm was forecast and as I was securing the plane I thought I ought to raise the flaps. I did so and obviously in reaching across to turn off the ignition I failed. Removing the battery is not trivial as it means both upper and lower cowls off. The airfield was deserted so I thought priorities. 1 cancel the flight plan with the last 30 seconds or so of my phone. 2 . get a taxi, somehow and buy a charger to charge the battery up. At that moment I saw someone open up the parachute school clubhouse so I wondered over. He spoke not a word of English or German so with sign language I managed to get the problem across to him. He went and found an avionics engineer who had just arrived and the nice man put my battery on charge. He warned me that it would be 3-4 hours before the battery was ready enough to use, so I waited. My attempts to change the flight plan were not good. Neither Vilnius nor Palanga would answer the phone. Eventually it turned out that the number I had was 2 years out of date (Thanks Jeppesen)but even with the correct number There was no one answering. By this time the parachute instructor had arrived. He spoke a little English and helped. Eventually I logged into the AFPEX system to delay or cancel the plan. Both options require you to use the same addresses as when the plan was created. These are added automatically for departure,destination and alternates, and as I had no record of these I had to phone the UK help desk. The guy there amended the plan directly giving a 3 hour delay, and later cancelled it when I gave up for the day.

The weather began to deteriorate and was forecast to be raining by 4pm local. So in the end I cancelled the plan and waited for the battery to be fully charged. Meanwhile it was interesting watching the training being given, and then the flight of the AN2.

A squadron of AN2s all airworthy. You can tell where they park on the Apron as there is such a big oil slick underneath them that the tarmac has dissolved and they have started to sink in.

and a trio of AN-2's not quite ready for flight. There are two more examples under maintenance in the hangers.

They are huge biplanes and are the largest aircraft my licence allows me to fly. They carry 2 crew and 12 passengers. Even with this load on board it was off the ground in a little over 80 meters. Talking to the pilot he sad that empty he could be off the ground in 40 meters and land again at about 40km/hour in almost the same distance. It was truly impressive. He described as the nearest thing to a helicopter there is in the fixed wing world.

At 4 o'clock I refitted the battery just as the rain started to fall. After that one of the parachutists very kindly offered to drive me back to the hotel. There are a lot of nice people around. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Day 9 The storms arrive

I woke up this morning to find the predicted fronts from yesterday had arrived. The wind was howling, the rain falling and the cloud at around 700ft. A quick check on the Tafs for the Baltic showed there was unlikely to be any improvement until 5:00pm at the best, so I am counting today as a washout and will use it instead to see what delights Kleipeda has to offer.

Day 8 started with a good breakfast at the hotel (above) before the airport driver arrived promptly at 8:15. Back at the airport I had to pay the fees. It soon became clear why I was the only flight in yesterday, I had to pay for the whole airport. The landing fee was more than the cost of 35 litres of fuel, and that wasn't cheap. My first choice of Suwalki in Eastern Poland depended on fuel being available. They had tried calling many times but said the line was down. Gdansk it had to be.The flightplan was filed and I was on my way. One thing I remembered from yesterday was that the airport has a 2.5Km runway with aprons at both ends. When I approached yesterday, I asked whether I should land short or long. "Short" he said, so I did and having stopped almost by the end of the numbers I was then given the instruction "taxi to the end of the runway and turn right". I expected the reverse today, but no he was almost helpful. Something I am getting used to is being given a detailed clearance at an inopportune time like taxiing. The clearance will read something like "G-TREX taxi to holding point bravo1 via Alpha Line up and cleared take off. Once airborne turn right to November maintaining 1000ft. At the edge of the zone route for Kilo Mike India and maintain 3000 ft on the Qnh 1018 and expect a frequency change to Poznan Information on 123.45. Your squark for the trip is 7443" just how much of that are you supposed to read back?
The trip to Gdansk International was fine except of course they do not ppear to understand VFR flight in Poland. When entering a flight plan they will not accept VFR and expect you to give a height. Then they criticise you if you vary from that height by more than a 100 ft, and then ignore it anyway by asking you to descend to 1500ft even though the base of controlled airspace is 6500 and the ground is at 1200. The approach then into Gdansk was bumpy to say the least. I landed and followed the car. I asked for fuel and I think he told me to wait and drove off. I waited in the sun.

Eventually the huge tanker arrived and delivered 22 litres.l asked the driver if I paid in the office where the C was (like everywhere else) and he said Yes. I walked off to the office and reported at the desk to pay landing fees and other services. A furious armed security guard then approached me and spoke in Polish. I didn't understand a word. He tried again, it still didn't help. Eventually someone told me I should go with him. I followed and got in his army jeep. We thundered off in the direction of the plane and he asked me a question. I shrugged and said I didn't understand. He turned round drove back jumped out, shouted at someone then got back in. "Shut up" he said in Polish. At least I assume that is what he said as we rushed again at breakneck speed to the plane in silence. The tanker driver was still there. It turned out I was suppossed to pay him. Transaction completed Mr. Sullen and Moody (but with a gun so you have to be noice to him) drove me back. Inside the terminal everyone was much more helpful. Despite it being a large airport with 3 x 737s two MD110s and an ATR, the fee was quite modest at 20 Euros. I was given a nice cup of real coffee and the girls helped me prepare the flight plan. I asked about permission to transit the Kaliningrad FIR, they laughed and said it would take months to get permission. I submitted my plan to them and they looked quite puzzled. What is this they said "DCT KNA270020" I tried to explain and they went off to ask for advice. They are so used to all flights being carried out VOR to VOR that the idea that you might want to go somewhere else eluded them. They consulted and were told it was OK. So I was off. Another complex routing followed and I was told to line up after the MD110 had taxied past. I did and waved at the passengers!

This was my first view of Russia. Its where tha land gets very narrow.

This time the flight was quite bumpy at any height. As I tried hard to maintain the clearred height of 3500ft I had my first glimpse of Russia. I am not making a political statement, but all the black clouds appeared to be sitting over their side. I continued as the scenery became more and more desolate. Radio contact was intermittent, but at last I reached the border with Lithuania and turned north. Kunas information had no radar ( was going to make a comment that perhaps they can't afford it, but then thought London Information hasn't either) so they kept asking me my position. Gradually I became aware that they were very concerned to make sure I did not encroach on Russian airspace. Russia is the other side of the river

I found out why later. I approached Klaipeda and changed to their frequency and got no response. After three calls I went back to Palanga approach and explained I could not make contact on the radio and therefore I would like to divert into their airfield (it was my first alternate) They told me to head direct and report runway in site and gave me their wind. thought everything was fine. "G-TREX I asked you to head direct for Klaipeda" "I said I had asked for premission to approach Palanger as an alternative and he had agreed. He said no, my flight plan said Klaipeda so I must go there. The circuit is clear" so I turned back and landed. As I taxied in to an apron full of Antonov AN-2s in various stages of repair from Wreck to airworthy I thought the entire place was deserted. I walked around and found a guy pre flighting a brand new CT and said hello. He spoke no English and directed me to his friend who had a new Sting. They could do nothing with fuel, but Dinas offered to drive me to a hotel in town which he did. On the way he told me of their common practice of flying directly at the border and turning away just before reaching it. He said on most occasions you could see the Mig that had been sent to intercept them.
Tommorrow looks as though the weather is going to be bad with storms tonight at least. So perhaps it will be two days in Klaipeda. Meanwhile a good day with 522 miles covered making 2581 in all. Just about half way.

Day 7 Slovakia, Czech and Poland

What a difference a day makes. I woke at 6 to find the sun just peeking over the trees, the clouds were thin and high as was the wind. Well you can’t have everything. True to his word the airport car arrived to collect me from the hotel and drove me back to the airport. The flight plan was processed and all I had to do was await the arrival of the daily Audi flight. Only a 15 seater today. A local television crew turned up to film activity at the airport and captured GTREX taxing and taking off. I have to say that everywhere I have been, people have been incredibly helpful.
The first flight was to Pierstany in Slovakia. A local hop compare to some, but once again helpful staff on the radio suggested that I ignore my planned route and just fly a straight line. Helpful this time but more later.


There were many areas with fascinating patterns on the ground such as this.

Within 45 minutes I arrived at the airport. It was of course deserted. A magnificent terminal building paid for by the EU, but as yet no flights using it, but as it was only finished at the end of 2008, perhaps that is not a surprise. Alongside the terminal I saw on the approach line after line of Mig 21 and Mig27 fighters. As I got closer I saw they had all seen better days and had simply been abandoned by the Soviets. They are opening an air museum there this summer. Unfortunately I did not have the time to spend as my next flight plan had already been submitted. The woman in the office offered to arrange for the caretaker to come along and open it up for me to have a look round. I was tempted, but realised I would want to spend far more time there than I could afford. Once again, I was the only aircraft operating below FL100 in the whole of the country. I asked why they didn’t have Avgas and she explained that it only lasts three months and the last lot they had almost none of it was used. Because it contains lead, it is even hazardous to destroy. The net result is that there is only 1 airfield in the whole country with fuel! Worth knowing about in advance. The next flight was into the Czech republic. Due to Operation Flying Rhino (which sounds more like something Top Gear would do) most of the airspace was closed off. My original plan to go to the Sportcruiser factory was made pointless by this so I gave it a miss and went instead to the delightful Ostrava airport. The flight was quite bumpy as the mountains are still 4000ft high, and the turbulence was not always pleasant The villages around looked fascinating and the area was generally very pretty, helped of course by the sunshine. As everywhere I was martialled into a parking area and this time the refuelling tanker came to me.




Then along came a bus to take me to the terminal building. Impressive service I thought until I got the bill. A hurried change into GBP showed a total of 84 pounds 54 for fuel the vat on the fuel, the tax on the fuel the vat on the tax on the fuel and of course a handling charge as the fuel was brought to me. The remainder was made up of the landing fee (£10) which I thought was reasonable when I enquired in advance. On top of that there was VAT, The charge for the bus, the charge for the marsheller and a charge for 24 hour (or part thereof) parking. Never mind at least they had a proper café as this was an airport that had about 15 scheduled flights a day. I had to enter my own flight plan and was presented with a Czech keyboard. The Z key actually had both Z and Y on it. I didn’t notice at first and so in went LYMT as my departure point. I realised when I tried to enter my alternate. I tried all key combinations but could not get the Z. The solution was to choose another airport! Quite pleased with myself I submitted the plan. After about 5 minutes the message came up on the screen “Call Bratislava Control” I did nd a very nice lady changed my Y to a Z. She had obviously done it before.
The next flight was into Poland. The change at the border was dramatic suddenly the mountains were gone and it was just a flat plain (nearly). A very nice controller told me that he would save me some time If I descended to 2000 and steered a course 355. I complied, knowing that put me under the Katowice ontrol zone. What became a bit more obvious was that there was a single hill ahead over 2700 ft high.

The hill the controller wanted me to fly through!


What was he trying to do. I routed round it but being quite close to the ground got loads of rotor from the hill. He then told me again to go direct (he had obviously noted my deviation) I complied only later to see the edge of Lubin control zone appear ahead. I asked him whether I should climb or go around it. Both he suggested so I did. This time there was another aircraft flying so I was given traffic information keep a good look out you have traffic at your ten o’clock at a range of 20 miles. 20 miles he must assume my eyesight is spectacular. The flat fields of Poland are covered with vast fields of Oil seed rape. This makes it rather like Britain as does the chaotic field structure. Finally I arrived at Zelena Gora., a new airport advertising itself as the gateway to Western Europe. What that means is that it isn’t close to anywhere and I suspect it will continue to search for customers. It reminds me of Knock airport built in the middle of a bog in Ireland. They appeared to build their success on a miracle, I suggest that Zelena Gora ought to make some special approaches to the Vatican.The staff of course were wonderful as always. I was met by two, as soon as the plane had stopped then a third came with the refuelling truck and in minutes I was whisked away to the only hotel in driving distance. It only has about 10 rooms, but one of them was free. So here I am writing up today’s events.
Today then a total of three countries visited and 385 miles covered making 2058 in total

Day 6 A washout

No flying today. It had to happen, and it did. I awoke to a light drizzle. I checked the forecasts and radar pictures for Slovakia and Czech and made the decision to stay here another day. All of Czech was covered in rain, some light but some not, most of Slovakia was the same and with mountains still to cross of 3-4000ft and the cloud at 3000 it wasn’t hard.

The day has given me an opportunity to walk around the town of Per and contemplate the changes I have seen in Hungary since I first came here over 10 years ago. Back then what clearly struck me was how few roads were surfaced and how many horses were used as transport. In fact when I was working on the logistics setup for our newly purchased Hungarian factory, we even had horse and cart collection as a normal way for retailers to collect their products! Back then the factory we (Electrolux) had purchased came complete with a zoo, a hotel, a restaurant and a sports centre of sorts. The factory had been used for making some large electrical equipment during the communist times and so watch towers were every 50 yards around the perimeter fence. The locals were very proud of showing where they had removed Stalin’s statue from the town. Things have now changed a lot, I have seen no horses used for transport, but it is nice to see lots of people using bicycles. All the houses appear to have large gardens given over to producing local food and there is still a curious mix of old and new. The airport is new, it exists now largely to support the Audi factory nearby and still has a daily passenger plane dropping off 30 Audi employees in the morning and taking them home in the evening. The financial crisis has hit these new areas quite hard. Apparently 2 years ago, the airport was worried that it could not handle any more aircraft. Their parking area was often full with 6 cargo planes, with movements taking place all through the night. Yesterday there were 6 movements in total and today will be no better. They described the situation though as better than Balaton where so many airlines have dropped out that they closed the airport during the winter and are hoping it will pick up in the summer.

Walking around the town a number of things struck me. Everyone says hello (or something that I assume means hello) to everyone they meet. And the school rush consisted of lots of young kids rushing to school, looking and sounding happy and completely unencumbered with bags of books, parents or 4x4s. What a refreshing change that was.

With hindsight, it was perhaps a good job that I was stuck here for the day. I reviewed the plans and checked Notams. Firstly I discovered that neither of my options for the next 2 stops were going to have fuel, so planning restarted. Then innocently enough I saw a reference on the Notams to something called “Flying Rhino AIP Supp 2-13 applies” I checked up this on the Czech AIP site and found that this exercise did not confine itself to normal restricted areas, but effectively stops all flying from Ground level to FL280 in great swathes across Czech. This involved plotting over 100 Lat/long points on the map. They made it clear that all other traffic was prohibited from entering this airspace. The choice was wait until the weekend or replan. So I planned once again.

Day 5 Croatia to Hungary

As promised I was met at the hotel and given a lift to the airport. Not quite such a gift as it turned out when I was given my bill for landing, overnight parking and transportation. I then had to go through the customs post and the police checkpoint, all in a room about the size of an average living room but with all the decorative charm of an old farm building. I had filed the flightplan before I left the hotel using the UK AFPEX system. It worked perfectly and saved me the hour that I would have spent waiting, except of course they found other ways of keepng me waiting. I launched off into the wide blue yonder taking this photo of the airfield as I left, and switched to Zadar radar. Whilst I enjoyed the views.That was fine until the 6500ft mountain got between me and him "GTREX I kept hearing faintly if I turned off the squelch. The turbulence was foul. I was getting a 30 knt stream straight off the mountains to the side and the rotor was horrible. I ignored my clearance and climbed up to 5500ft It was better but still not good. I switched to Zagreb information and once again was given a first class service. There were only two aircraft operating in Croatia below flight level 115, a german and myself. As the mountains gave way to flatter land the turbulence subsided a little and just became the normal thermal stuff. The switch over to Hungary 10 minutes before approaching the air defence zone went well and wasn't anything like as difficult as I feared.

I landed at Balaton to discover a wonderful terminal building, lots of staff including the inevitable customs and police. I had three pages of forms to fill in before i was allowed into the office to pay the landing fee. I wanted fuel but they had none, nor an open cafe, no filled water or coke machines. The landing fee was a shock €2879.50. I was right, I was going to pay for the whole airport for the day (I was the only plane in or out). Fortunately the layout of the invoice was at fault and they had the wrong heading over the amount. It was actually 10 Euro. With no choice, i continued to Gyor where a phone call had confirmed they really did have fuel. There was almost no traffic in the whole of Hungary, a single military flight, a helicopter and myself. The flight was bumpy and the headwind of 30 knots noticeable, but at last I got there. The wind was at 27 knots when I landed. He advised that I landed long. I realised why as when I did touch down it was almost a hover landing. A 2.5km taxi would have been necessary and perhaps more important the follow me van was waiting at other end. I got out refuelled and checked the weather . This showed my next two stops as havinga 40% chance of a 26knot crosswind, so I elected to stay. One of the airport staff ran me to a motel. This time after paying the landing fee so we shall see.

Total distance today 319 with 1673 so far

Day 4 The return to Slovenia and Croatia

Day 4. Standing outside the Alpi factory gates at 8:00 in the morning I wondered what sort of problems I might have. At 8:30 Angelo arrived and immediately instructed Marco on the problem. They jacked up the aeroplane and looked. The problem they said instantly was that the front wheel was not being stopped firmly on retraction (so much for the advice I had had earlier that the wheel rotating in flight was normal). They dismantled bits, cleaned them all up, readjusted them, regreased everything and then checked the main undercarriage. After about an hour and a half they said it was fine All I then had to do was pay for their time. Enjoyable though it was, it took me ‘til just before 12 before I could pay the bill and file the flight plan which of course required a further hour’s delay. The weather by now was not looking good in the Zagreb direction so I returned to Portoroz. They confirmed thunderstorms expected in the afternoon near Zagreb, so I elected to continue down the coast and stop there overnight in order to get an early start on crossing what are still significant hills 5000-6000 ft. Once again the flight plan required an hour’s notice, so I stopped for lunch. Although there were only two people in the restaurant and one person serving, the service was dire. It took all that hour to be served one course and over half of that was trying to get the waitress to take my order. The flight down the coast though was worth it. Deep blue Adriatic sea studded with golden sand edged islands. Beautiful. I landed as Losinj island and proceeded to tie the aircraft down. The airport was just about to close so I was hurried up. It took no prompting as the smoke from a building clearance site was choking and I was glad to get into the customs hall(!) for the police check. They took over 15 minutes and eventually came back with my passport stamped. I was then whisked outside into a bus for the 0 minute trip into town. As the airport closed, the to staff wanted to leave and so gave me a lift. Losinj itself is a lovely little coastal village and my hotel is facing the Adriatic even though my room doesn’. I have been promised a lift back to the airport in the morning as there are no taxis. I hope it works. With luck then I may just skip the big city life of Zagreb and head straight for Hungary.
So only 160 miles today making 1340 in total.

A warning

Back in Italy at the Alpi factory with the snow covered alps as a background.

Just a cautionary note to those who thought fuel was expensive. The charge in Sn Nicolo (Venice) for fuel was €2.80 per litre ! Plan accordingly.

Since the last post I have met up with Angelo, the aircraft is in the factory and the way he reacted to the problem suggested that he knew what the issue was and that he could correct it easily. I hope so as then I can continue with a very small delay only.

Distance covered today was only 148 miles making total so far in 3 days 1193 miles not bad with still a potential 18 days to go!

Day 3 There and back again

A good night’s sleep and an early start saw me at the airfield about 8:15. A pity no one mentioned that they didn’t open until 9:00. Never mind I refuelled and submitted my flight plan to portoroz in Slovenia.





This is not a sight you see at the end of the runway everyday. Line up and wait after the ship has passed.





The flight went OK except I became aware of a vibration when cruising at 120 knots plus. It felt like a propeller speed issue and could be felt noticeably. I throttled back and everything was fine so continued. I landed at Potoroz and investigated. I could see nothing wrong. Nothing loose, no play anywhere so I wondered what do next. With the factory in Italy only 30 minutes away, it wasn’t hard, so I returned to Italy and flew to Pordenone, a city I know well from my Electrolux days as that is where out large factories were. I landed and was given a great welcome by an instructor who was grateful for the opportunity to speak English as he had his commercial instructor skill test in English next week! They gave me the factory contact number for the boss and I phoned him. He told me that he would stop off on his way home and move the aircraft into the factory and they would look at it and sort it out tomorrow. Hopefully it will be simple and I can be on my way again.

Day 2 Romans to Venice

The day started early with breakfast at 7:00. By 8:00 I was in the air heading for Gap. I had hoped that by starting early I would avoid the worst of the turbulence. As I climbed to 4000ft I realised that with a wind speed of more than 40 knots and mountains more than 9000ft I was due for some trouble. I was not disappointed. At one point I nearly turned back but gradually as I reached 7500ft things settled down. After an hour I approached Gap. I was a bit high as I turned close downwind at 2000ft above the airfield, but managed to sideslip the height off. The landing was fine and refuelling was accomplished quite quickly. The flight plan was filed and off I went, “G-TREX I cannot find your flight plan” as I lined up. “Contact Marseille information when airborne. I tried, and tried and tried. Eventually once I had climbed to 8500ft they were able to hear me and activated my flight plan. The rest of that flight was wonderful. Flying over virgin snowfields was magnificent. Mont Blanc stood out to the side. Eventually the magic was over as I arrived at Cuneo (Turin South according to Ryanair). After an hour with paperwork,. I was presented with 12 A4 pages of invoice receipt etc for 13 euro. The next stage was the flight to Venice. It went according to clockwork. The approach was breathtaking. The pictures do not do it justice as I was focussed so much on the landing. A beer in St Marks square had to be done and it was not disappointing.

So day 2 another 450 miles travelled.

As I shelter from the thunderstorms I can’t help but wonder what tomorrow has in store.

Day 1 Willingale to Troyes to Romans

What a surprise, the plan didn't quite work out. An early check on the weather showed that the anticlockwise route was the most lkely to have good weather, so with a certain feeling of deja vu I set off. First stop was Troyes after 254NM. The flight was fine, and even though the airport was deserted I managed to get some fuel. My egg card was refused, but Lloyds carried the day. I then checked the weather for Switzerland and found towering Cumulous was present with Thunderstorms possible later. This all said to me no, so I headed south. Almost an exact rerun of last year except I passed over the airfields I landed at and continued to Gap. Well almost , as I cleared the first of teh mountains the turbulence got bad.Twice I hit my head on the canopy and a negative 0.2 G was recorded. I turned back after the second one and landed at a small airfield at a place called Romans. I was so releived to be on the ground that I elected not to unpack the tent and a very friendly local club mem ber drove me round the corner to a lovely little hotel tat even has WiFi so hence the update.

So Day 1 522 Nm covered about 600 miles, so not bad. I woner what tomorrow will bring.