Great weekend, bad weather

The annal MAF Fly-in a Starmoen was the best visited ever, with 50 people gathered for the sermon Sunday. Unfortunately a tradition of bad Sunday weather is evolving on this event. Last year I left the night before to avoid snow, the year before I had to follow the river, and today I left LN-NAG behind and got a lift by car back to Oslo. METAR SCT007 BKN009/TAF SCT009 BKN015 TEMPO BKN009 is below my limits.

I love the smell of avgas in the morning

Flying is always great, but there is something special about taking a short flight before breakfast. Margrete and her dad Gunnar joined me for a tour of the traffic circuit Sunday morning at Starmoen, and as you can see - it did something to them as well.

 

The aspiring pilot Margrete also joined me yesterday on a mission to a local Fly-in at Trysil, promoting the Sunday MAF Fly-in sermon at Starmoen. We met a lot of friendly people, and I hope to see some of them later today.

Flight surprise

Kristoffer (15) was in for a surprise when uncle Jørn invited to MAF Fly-in at Starmoen. They started the 134 km drive from Nittedal, but stopped already at Kjeller, where I was waiting with LN-NAG. 

Jørn is a flight sim enthusiast, and had made sure that Kristoffer was well prepared for flying the aircraft. A nice confirmation gift from his uncle, and a relevant introduction to aviation ministry the day before his church ceremony.

See slideshow!

My airports

OurAirports is a great service developed by David Megginson, a Canadian instrument-rated private pilot and computer software developer, blogging at Land and Hold Short. Airport databses and Google maps are integrated with social network functionality, creating a unique service for pilots and travelers. OurAirports shows the closest airports to any address. You can also filter the search results to show only airports with scheduled airline service, only seaplane bases, etc. Feel free to take a closer look at the airports I have visited as a pilot, starting at my profile.

In good company

It is always good to know that someone is reading what you write, and according to Google Analytics there are a few souls reading Notam. Thus far this year people from 85 places in Norway have visited this blog. And readers from 146 US cities in 36 states left traces in the logs.

After Norway and the US, most visitors came from Sweden, UK, and Canada. Exotic places like Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Libya are also among the 61 countries on the list. And in the Middle East I do have readers in both Israel and the Palestinian Territory.

The main traffic sources in Norway are nrfk.org and forum.scanair.no. Internationally Google, Blogger, Facebook, and the Aviation Mentor blog are sending most people to Notam. 

In short: you are in good company, and for me this it is very inspiring.

Celebrating a flying pioneer

Lars (over) after beaching LN-AEG at Baldersnäs. We arrived as plane #14 at the Swedish Seaplane Association Fly-in weekend and air show, celebrating the flying pioneer Albin Ahrenberg (1889-1968).

Unlike Norway, you are free to fly in and out of most Swedish lakes and rivers.  

SSA president Kjell Sandberg and his crew are doing a great job defending these privileges. On the picture he is sitting next to the only person attending the Fly-in that had actually flown with Ahrenberg, when she was five years old.

Lars and I left Saturday, and we had to go before the main course at dinner in order to make it back to Oslo before dark (19:30Z).

More pictures at Scanair!

Quiet today, big crowd expected Sunday

Line and LN-AEG ready for departure after lunch at Villa Fridheim. It was my third visit on floats, and I finally docked at the appropriate place.

First time I used a farmers dock at the other side of the island. The second time I beached and trespassed again. This time I finally made it right. The dock is not ideal for seaplanes due to a few misplaces poles, but we managed.

Lunch at the museum in this beautiful timber building is always special. We were the only costumers today, but Sunday princess Märthas is reading fairy tales and a big crowd is expected.

Sun ´n Fun at Haga

"Haga International Airport", a sign on the hangar of the 590 m/1936 ft grass field says.

Farmer Ole H. Westby hosted the annual Gardermoen Flyklubb fly-in barbeque where former Chief Flight Instructor and soft field enthusiast Kjell Ødemark (white shirt) was named the first honorary member of the flying club, by president Jarle Espelund (red shirt). Ødemark always emphasized the importance of soft field landing skills in case of motor failure: The ability to land slow and short will reduce casualties.

Haga is located right east of the B airspace, and the pilots normally operating from ENGM - the main international airport serving Norway - enjoyed the freedom of flying fun without asking anyone for prior approval. 

It was my first landing at this nice field, only 10 minutes in LN-NPK from ENKJ. I´ll definitely be back.

 

Wet, wet, wet!

Water was all around as I started the fall season on floats.

Tore helped me drain during DI, and we flew an hour of CB slalom before receiving a bonus shower while docking. 

The thunderstorms from the night before caused flooding in my own neighborhood, among many locations in Eastern Norway. Before a new week of rain, the meteorologists promises a couple of sunny days this weekend. Let us hope.

New seaplane base at Austefjorden

On vacation in Volda I drove the 20 km to Austefjorden, for a view of the new seaplane base.

Jørn Inge Håvik, a Canada based pilot, is preparing to move home. His solid seaplane hangar built in local boathouse tradition should be able to protect the plane from Norwegian winters.

I am looking forward to view the base in full operation on future visits to family in Volda and Ørsta. Hoping for rental opportunities :-)