From
Germany to Bilbao in a motorglider
After
a pair of months of dealings, phone calls, faxes, headaches and various
transfers, I managed to have up to date all the documents of my recently bought
aircraft, Valentin Taifun 17 EII, that I got on January 14th.
Only
good meteo and an accurate forecast for 4 or 5 days were my needs, so that I
could buy the plane tickets and trip to Speyer to pick it up.
Ignacio
with Erich, the former owner
At last! March 14th
forecasts for the next 19 to 21 days was good enough along the planned route of
over 615 nautical miles that we would overfly.
I
confirmed with Ignacio, the instructor of the club who I asked to come with me
as a safety pilot (I didn’t want this to be my first and last adventure flight,
flying over 150 NM and abroad for the first time in my life - I didn’t want to
do it all alone). He was available for this weekend and booked the flight from
Santander (100 km from Bilbao) to Frankfurt – Hahn, the car and the hotel for
one night.
The
schedule was to take one day of vacation, Friday 19th, get to Speyer at around
14 hrs, make a training flight with some touch and goes that very same
afternoon and the following morning take off to Bilbao.
Everything
seemed to be perfect. At our arrival to Hahn the meteo was perfect and we
became more nervous in anticipation of the inminent adventure.
We picked up the car
and got to Speyer as scheduled. There Erich, with his usual efficiency was
waiting for us with the plane ready for the flights, first with Ignacio, and
then with me. Despite the crosswind that
swept the runway entering between the hangars, everything developed
normally.
Ignacio,
just after landing at Hahn with some DC10 in the background
Before
going on, I would like to mention the extraordinary airfield that is available
at Speyer. Totally privately managed, it has incredible facilities, with many
hangars, some of them with rotatory platforms for aircraft parking. Some
maintenance companies, schools, shops, and a bar and restaurant beside the
threshold, with free access from the street, where it is possible to have a
snack while big light aircraft traffic takes place at your fingertips. Here,
the chemical company BASF, operates two jets from this field, a Cessna Citation
II and a Falcon 2000 (if I am right). These kind of facilities are what we miss
in Spain, but….
Once
the plane was derigged in the hangar, ready for the flight of the following
morning, we said good by to Erich with great affection, as he wouldn’t be able
to come next morning (Udo, co-owner of the aircraft would), and went to the
hotel to check all maps, general preparation of the flight, and take a rest.
Some images of the aerodrome, the aircrafts of BASF and one of the
hangars with rotatory platform
There, the recepcionist, who was
known as “Smiley” for she always showed
“very good manners” to us, was waiting for us. Once everything was
checked, we went off for dinner to the old town of Speyer, and oops, fate sent
us a signal that not everything was going to be a “bed of roses” , for it
started raining very steadily, indicating that the forecast was not that
accurate, but we thought, tomorrow’s another day and it will be surely sunny…..
It wasn’t, though. When we woke up
the situation was not better, but much worse, with a ceiling threatening to
keep us on the ground. It was very low and some raindrops were falling like
tears for our wasted plan. I thought we would have to fly with Ryanair back to
Santander and maybe give it another try during easter holidays. Our only option
was to wait and see if the ceiling would rise and we could take off, knowing
that more to the south the conditions were CAVOK.
For more complications
the aerodrome starts operations at 9 o’clock in the morning, and, by the time
we filled and presented the flight plan, got the METARs and TAFs and went back
to the hangar (at the opposite side of the runways from the tower) it was
10:15. Taking into account that we calculated near 7 hours of flight time, plus
a refueling stop at Limoges, and that sunset in Bilbao was at 19:30, there was
a narrow margin to make up our minds. In the meanwhile the ceiling had risen ,
and a pilot coming from the south reported 2.500 feet, this left us margin to
take off and fly under the cloud layer with enough separation with the terrain.
This
is the airfiled at 9 am, Udo and me
For half an hour or so we flew just
below the cloud layer, with the terrain in sight and knowing there was nothing
too high in the area. We flew with two GPS and a backup third one, the Garmin
95 that was part of the purchase (old but reliable). We preferred to use our
brand new gadgets, my iPaq with Navman Bluetooth GPS and Pocket FMS system, and
Ignacio’s Garmin 96C, still in the box. Just before crossing the border with
France the ceiling started to rise quickly and high, and to lose solidity.
Ignacio
at 2.200 feet height
Abeam
Strasbourg we had optimum conditions, and asked and obtained clearance to climb
to flight level 085, where peace and total absence of turbulence increased the
pleasure of flying with the
sun
above us and the ground at our feet, just blue and green (and some white, there
was snow in the fields, yet). We set flaps at –8. Maintaining the course was
easy just with the rudder, holding the stick with the knees with the hands free
to read the maps, drink some water or send an SMS to calm the family down.
Despite
of having a full load we obtained an acceptable ascent rate with a speed of
160 Km/h.
From Strasbourg to Limoges nothing
interesting to be told happened. Most of the time we were playing with our
brand new toys, our GPSs of course, and watching the landscape, with incredible
views that I will hardly expect to see again. Only some “biological need”
disturbed our relaxation, and provided
us a funny anecdote that (with respect to my friend's dignity) I am not going
to relate with greater detail by now, but made us laugh a lot. It looked like
one of these Mr. Bean sketches. I will only recommend to those planning a long
flight to take on board some recipient usable as urinal.
Everything was going on
normally till, just at three hours of flight, and by reasons even today I don’t
understand (although I suspect of a failure in the Compact Flash card energy
source) my Pocket FMS software lost all data, not only the flight in course,
but everything at all, maps, comm data base, etc. making it unusable till I
could load everything again in my home, once in Bilbao. We were half an hour away
from Limoges, and the feelings that until this moment had been of absolute
control, turned into some kind of anguish, thinking of what could have happened
if we would not have had a backup GPS. Navigation VOR to VOR could have
represented a big delay, and maybe the need to reconsider the whole flight from
Limoges to Bilbao, due to the limited time until sunset. We could have used
watch and map, but then forget about enjoying the scenery (and I am not very
bright with these “ancient” methods).
Abeam
de Strasbourg, near Saverne, just crossed the french-german border
In the end,
we made the last leg following the indications of the 96C, that, thank God did
not lose any data, but has, in my humble opinion, a lower quality user
interface than PocketFMS. In any case, we arrived at Limoges without additional
problems, and made an acceptably good landing, despite the fact that between us
we have made 3 landings with the Taifun. Unfortunately the French controller
was not very friendly, we asked him to say again a pair of instructions and he
didn’t seem to like it at all, because his answers were just single-syllable.
Even when we asked for refuelling he didn’t tell us that we had to ring a
button placed beside the fuel pump, and it had to be a local pilot that came to
our rescue. The local air club pilots were a different story, (greetings for
Guiomar and the others – sorry I don’t remember their names), they helped us
all the time we were waiting for the fuel truck (more than half an hour), and
invited us to some cold drinks, that we really needed. Ignacio even bought some
shirts as souvenirs. At the end the “gasman” was very kind, and refuelled the
plane with 64 ltrs. of 100 LL AVGAS at the “reasonable
price” of 1’55 Euros/ltr. Taking into account that when we left Speyer we
had 10 ltrs left to fill the tanks that gives 54 ltrs for 3’5 hours flight,
full load and 100 kts average speed. It’s not bad for a harvester, as a
friend of mine has friendly rebaptized my machine.
Don’t think about it so much, Ignacio, there are certain natural
laws that are upon our criteria, like body needs, for example A view of Limoges city.
Just before depart from Limoges,
another shot of Ignacio. The building venid him is the new terminal, of
fantastic arquitecture, under construction.
From here, the flight entered a more
uncomfortable phase. Again, some problems with the language, the complicated –
at least on the papers- air space in the south west side of France, and the fact
that we had only two and a half hours to get to Bilbao just before sunset made
me very anxious. I was checking my
watch and the speed in the GPS more
than any other flight instrument. Not
even seeing the coast line and the sea
could bring me any peace of mind. Later on I would pay the price of this
state with the so called “post traumatic stress”.
Port
D'Albert, due to the late hour at which the photo was taken and the fog, it
is quite blurred.
It is not the first time I feel it,
but, we’ll get back to this later. Near Bordeaux, the information service of
the area cleared us to navigate at our discretion, and following a
south-southwest course we reached the coast just a bit north from Port D'Albert. A bit more to the
south, near Hossegor, we decided (Ignacio decided to be honest, because I
didn’t have it very clear) that we could shortcut the Gulf of Biscay, straight
to Zumaia in the basque country. Taking into account that the plane is meant to
glide 30/1 at 120 km/h. and that we were flying at FL065, we had absolute
certainty to reach the coast if the engine failed, so, why not? This way we
could save maybe 20 minutes or so. Finally, at 18:50, we were cleared to enter
circuit and, as it was the first landing of the plane in her new home, we asked
for a low approach that was cleared, and we made at 210 km/h. After that, we
landed at runway 28, and vacated by D3 to the airclub apron where a very well
prepared welcome committee was waiting for us. 3 minutes after stopping the
engine my whole family, my wife of
infinite patience, my four kids, and my beloved mother that has silently
suffered my aeronautical hobbies for 40 years (and this begins to sound to the
Oscar ceremony) came to give me the warmest hug I can remember.
As soon as I put my feet on land and
the tension relaxed, the consequent
adrenalin fall, really let me fully
down, to the extent that I could hardly eat dinner and all I could think about
was my bed. Very soon I was in “Morpheu’s arms”, tired, a bit worried about my
new toy, but very satisfied for having being capable of achieving what I had so
long planned.
Now, I have only the commitment of
flying my Taifun as it deserves for it
promises great flights and happy
landings for many years.
So,
many thanks to all that have reached so far. Please excuse any mistake or
grammatical error included in this text but you know, even being from Bilbao
you are still able to make mistakes. If you want to make any comment or
correction you can do it in the guest book. I expect to add more trips stories
in the future.
March / 2005