Atlanta, New York, Copenhagen, and finally Oslo

Landing at Kjeller after sight seeing over Oslo is documented by Lisbeth's colleagues Torill and Terje at the IT University of Copenhagen. What is more appropriate than taking a meta picture of media and communication researchers taking pictures?

Lisbeth and I was visiting scholars at Georgia Tech a few years ago, and we have flown together over Atlanta, New York and Copenhagen, before Oslo. The event was celebrated with tea at the Seaplane Base.

Hudson River chart for big birds

Click to view.

Skyhawk over Manhattan

I gave my cousin Kjetil a flight over Manhattan for his 50th birthday, and I hope it was as much fun for him as it was for me. My first flight up the Hudson River was six years ago, but this magnificant route gives me the same thrill every time.

Kjetil lives in New York this fall with his wife Astrid and their son Magnus. 

They joined me at Linden Airport, just south of Newark International, for the flight over New York City. The Hudson River Corridor (Hudson River Class B Exclusion) northbound starts at the Verizano Bridge and ends at the Alpine Tower, with the Statue of Liberty as one of the mandatory reporting points. [Slideshow]

I'll do it again. Any day!

Flight Reveiw in Boise, Idaho

After a three day MAF Internatioanl board meeting in Nampa, Idaho, I had the opportunity to fly a VFR Flight Review with an instructor frequently used by the MAF US headquarters.

Cammie, the owner of Glass Cockpit Aviation, has given over 4000 hours of instruction, and is a fun, knowledgeble, and highly regarded FAA designated Gold Seal Instructor, and a NAFI designated Master Flight Instructor. She is  Citation Mustang instructor, a Cirrus Standardized Instructor, and a member of the Columbia Recurent Training Program Steering Commitee.

In addition to being a commercial and general aviation airport, Boise (KBOI) is also home of the Idaho Air National Guard on the Gowen Field portion of the airport. The United States Forest Service uses Boise Airport as a base for aerial firefighting air tankers during the wildfire season, and the short distance to challenging airstrips in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains makes the locaton ideal for training MAF bush pilots.

What is SAD about this image?

After a two day kick-off with the Media Innovations Research Group, @arnte and I flew to Holmsbu for a cup of coffee. A nice flight on a great day, but unfortunately my last day on floats of the season. Tomorrow the Harley go on winter storage as well. Hence I am ready for the Fall Depression, often called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

49 airplanes on the ENKJ runway

Today 49 planes was gathered on the runway to celebrate the Kjeller airport's 98th anniversary. The home base of LN-NAG is Norway's first airport, built in 1912. Now this great airport, located 9 NM east northeast of Oslo, is a GA and military aviation airport carrying out maintenance for the Royal Norwegian Air Force.

More images from the event.

Lunch in front of the cold front

Anders and I had plans for a water flying lunch at Kragerø, but a cold front with heavy rain moving from the south towards the eastern part of Norway came faster than originally forecasted. At Kilen/Fornebu (Oslo) we had to wait half an hour for the morning fog to disappear, and as we sat down for lunch at Havna Hotel Tjøme, the bad weather reached Larvik.

As we enjoyed our coffee after the meal, the rain started to pour down, and it was time to leave. The visibility was deteriorating by the minute, but only a few miles to the north, abeam Tønsberg, we were back in front of the bad weather, and the flying conditions were superb. After flying the Drammensfjord in 500 feet, we climbed to 1500 for Holsfjorden and a splash-and-go before returning to Kilen.

After our great flight over the Golden Gate last year, Anders has started to take flying lessons, and today he did most of the flying.

Dinner at the summer paradise of Koster

To the west of Strömstad lie the Koster Islands, noted for the beauty of its scenery. These are Sweden's most westerly populated islands. Around them lie the Koster archipelago with a large number of skerries and rocky isles. We landed west of Kostersundet and taxied to Bopallen harbour at North Koster, where we had dinner at Strandkanten restaurant. This summer paradise is less than an hour of flying time coastwise from Oslo.

Aviation afternoon

The boys helping my pilot cousin Stig (flying with SAS) on his home and garden renovation project in Grimstad got an elevated bonus. I made four local flights from Gullknapp with the great guys from the Olav Lindstøl Company over Arendal and Grimstad before returning to Oslo.

6 flights, 3.9 hrs total flying time in 4.3 hrs, departing Gardermoen 15:10LT and arriving Kjeller 19:30LT.

Monster lunch in Hardanger

Jørn enjoying a splash-in lunch at Brakanes Hotel in Ulvik, framed by high mountains, glittering fjords and emerald hills. Plans to build offensive monster masts and power lines extending over the Hardangerfjord have set off howls of protest recently. This gave us a perfect excuse to make some noise and enjoy the view before it is too late. The only monsters to be seen thus far are the towers of the new Hardanger Bridge...

Flying time: 1:30 Kilen-Ulvik. FL 95/75.

Many people, few planes at Fly-in

It was good meeting new and old friends (like André and the aspiring pilot Margrete) at the MAF Norway annual Fly-In this weekend.

Low stratus and rain showers kept all visitors but me on the ground as the Fly-In at Starmoen started Saturday. We spent four hours waiting at Kjeller for conditions to be better. As we left a restaurant in Lillestrøm after a late lunch, a bit of sun came through the low sky base. The AeroWeather app on my iPhone said VMC at ENGM, and we called our friends at Starmoen for an update to receive good news. At 3 p.m. LN-NAG was the 2nd plane of the day to leave the busiest GA airport in Norway, and we followed the Glomma river in 500 ft. AGL. A few showers en route made it good to have a FlightSim enthusiast as my manual autopilot, and a pastor in the back seat was also nice. 1:55 of airtime. Only 0:30 going back on a direct track transiting ENGM CTR the next day.

A great weekend with good people doing very important work, 3:40 flying time, and a new airport in my logbook: ENAE at the national parachuting centre became my #93.

Good clean fun

Erik washing our white swan after landings on the dirt strip at Hokksund. He wanted to take his son Rune along for a birthday flight, but the airfield was in too bad condition for all three of us to get up from the 600 meters.

Solution: First Rune and I flew over Drammen, then Erik and I flew back to Kjeller while Rune drove Erik's car the 85 km.

Plan B for splash-in lunch

My college Vilde and I had plans for a working lunch in the nice sorroundings of Villa Fridheim, but LN-AEG had only 16 gallons of fuel, and the Kilen Seaplanebase were out of Avgas. Plan B became a short flight of the Oslofjord, and lunch at Sjøflyhavna Kro. Worked quite well.

Something old, something new

Øyvind (left) gave me a demo flight in the posh SR20 during the Cirrus gathering at Kjeller this weekend, and then Petter (over) joined me for my first flight in the good old C150. Quite different experiences. Both to be repeated.

My first G1000 solo

Einar studying the G1000 Cockpit Reference Guide after having joined me on my first glass cockpit solo. I remembered the basics, but the manual will be a dear friend for some time to come.

Glass Cockpit Checkout

Completing the G1000 checkout with CFI Odd at NRFK, I now know the basics about PFD, MFD, GDU, GMA, GIA, GDC, GRS, GMU, GTX, GEA, and GSD. While enjoying the integrated autopilot and a wealth of flight-critical data at my fingertips, I barely remembered to look out the window...

Splash-in at Holmsbu for Coffee

My sister-in-law Solfrid at Holmsbu Spa. After a full day at the Tusenfryd theme park with our families, we drove my Harley to the Kilen Seaplane Base and flew to Holmsbu for coffee. Then we continued flying into the sunset until we reached the Villa Fridheim fairytale castle by Krøderen, and returned to Kilen before dark. A nice summer day.

Petter's Flying Fun Day

Sigrid, Lise, Tone, and Liss had fun flying with Petter (6), celebrating him leaving kindergarten to start school this fall. His older brother Jostein also invited the nice people at Starveien Barnehage on a flight three years ago as he left for school.

Liss joined us for flying fun both times, and asked us to consider having more children...

Flying the Kodiak in Norway

N106MF Kodiak 100 arrived ENGM at noon Monday, and we did a couple of landings at Haga airfield (590 m grass) before going to ENKJ and ENHA. A great airplane that will help a lot of people.

I had had a fantastic time flying it from the right seat to Hamar, and I am looking forward to share the experience with many people during the three day visit.

Tuesday MAF will do demo flights for press and supporters from Hamar at noon at Kjeller from 6 p.m. More details at maf.no.

• Vårt Land: Fikk sin drømmedag i lufta
• Romerikes Blad: Lite fly - stor jobb
• TV 2 Nyhetene: Faddere for et fly
• Østlendingen: På vingene med MAF
• More images from the visit at ENKJ

See the Quest presentation of the Kodiak 100:

Low and slow over Drammen

The flying family Thomas, Jonas, Anne Merete, and Hanna after low flights over Drammen, due to weather. Flying the girls first, we had to do cumulus slalom to reach their home at Konnerud. I was happy to note that the sky base lifted a bit before we came back with the boys. Smooth return via the Oslofjord on both occasions.

Over the border for splash-in dinner

Flying along the Swedish/Norwegian border at Svinesund on our way back from dinner (above). Coastwise in 500 feet from the border and back to Kilen Seaplanebase was a perfect ending of a nice late summer night.

The Baldersnäs mansion has reopened under new ownership. The food was not as posh as it used to be, but quite acceptable. And Einar was complimented for his appropriate costume for a fly-in dinner in Sweden (small image).

The only disappointment was the removal of flying memorabilia from the hotel lobby. The legacy of a former owner and Sweden's flying pioneer Albin Ahrenberg is not present any more, and the annual Ahrenberg Day Fly-In and Aero Show seems to be history.

Planning a visit from MAF's new Kodiak 100

My niece Sara at ENHA (image left) joining me on the flight to a planning meeting for next weeks visit from MAF's new Kodiak 100 (large image from service in Haiti).

The ‘mountain rocket’ developed by Quest Aircraft Company of Idaho, USA, is an aircraft uniquely designed to overcome many obstacles of flying in a humanitarian or mission situation.

The pointed cowling maximises the Kodiak’s take-off thrust, and the 4-blade 96-inch propeller contributes to the same goal while having a 19-inch clearance to allow taxiing on rough terrain. Its restricted wingspan permits turning in the tight confines of a small airstrip, and the drooping wing tips give a dramatically lower stall speed.

The 750-horsepower Pratt & Whitney PT6A-34 turboprop engine is able to pull the aircraft along at a 180-knot cruising speed. Landing is at 60 knots. Load is up to nine passengers. The plane carries up to 320 gallons of fuel – so it can fly 1,200 nautical miles before refuelling.

The Kodiak can also land on a really short runway – needing little more than half the 835 feet required by the Cessna 206.

BI by Air

Working at BI Norwegian School of Management you should not be afraid of heights (image left from the cantina). I have shared office with the Romanian visiting scholar Viorela for a few months, and yesterday we decided to inspect the business school from even higher above. At 2000 feet we did the touristic flight of Oslo, including the fjord and the Holmenkollen ski jump. On our way back to Kjeller we got a nice view of Nydalen and our colleagues working hard below.

Valle is definitely one of my favorites!

Einar and my self logged 5:15 on a Saturday evening flying to Kjevik (ENCN), Lista (ENLI) and Valle (ENVE). With an endurance of five hours, we needed fuel en-route to complete the planned flight. At Kjevik the Shell self service technology did not accept neither LN-NAG's Statoil Card nor my Visa Card, and the fuel man had to come back to work for manual service. At Lista we did seven landings before heading up in the mountains.

And what a contrast. While the 2990 m Lista is located on a wide open field by the ocean (upper left picutre), the 800 m Valle is in the middle of a narrow Z-formed valley (upper right). Crosswind is at 4000 feet, and then I joined right base 01 (lower left) without any view of the field, starting my descend to 770 feet. Shortly after take-off, Einar had to make a 90 degree left turn climbing out of the valley. Flying in and out of this field close to high terrain feels quite dramatic, and should preferably be done in calm wind conditions. But I just love this field. Of the 92 airports I have visited as a pilot, Valle is fefinitely one of my favorites!

Taking off from Kjeller at 4 pm we had to fly slalom between CBs. Returning from Valle we met only one local rain system on our route (lower right). We arrived home at 9:55 pm - five minutes before closing - after logging 5:15 in six hours.

First Splash-In lunch of the season

Tore at Quality Spa & Resort Holmsbu on the first seaplane lunch this season.

Quite a few alternatives are within 15 minutes flying time from the Kilen Seaplane base. We started at Holmen Fjord Hotel, and continued coastwise until we found the first acceptable alternative with good landing and docking conditions, decent food, and a crowd of people. Holmsbu Spa became the choice du jour.

Two Seaplanes Equals Double Fun

Morten, my flight instructor and aviation doc, gave his approval: I am now checked out to fly the Smith Aviation Daytona Cub, a 180hp experimental with an endurance of seven hours.

From today I have access to two seaplanes at the Kilen Seaplane Base: ABK (D-CUB) and AEG (C172). Summer, where art thou?

Flying to Legoland

Turid flying LN-NAG on family vacation to Legoland. We made the hotel reservation seven months ago and gambled on flying weather. We did hit Jackpot with smooth air and only easy to spot CBs to avoid. But paperwork came close to stop us. The N-ARC (Airworthiness Review Certificate) arrived by e-mail four hours prior to departure. Just in time for sending notice to customs in order to leave Norway directly from Kjeller.

Route: ENKJ - REGMA - SABAK - NOL - MAKUR - AAL - INTET - EKBI.
Flying time: 2:40
Level: 65.

Planning the return after two great days in Legoland, we had the option of travelling through strong and gusty winds or making a major detour: It was gusting 38 kts on the ground and blowing 40 kts aloft at Northern Jutland. We decided to go low level via Ängelholm, and got away with a headwind component of 'only' 30 kts on the Southwestern Swedish coast. On the Norwegian border a new coastwise detour was needed to avoid a major Cumulonimbus (CB), and at Larkollen we were sent in holding waiting for Ryanair to land at ENRY. Arriving the standard ENKJ pattern after four hours of flying, a local Top Gun with a one-way radio (not able to send anything understandable) decided to jump in front of us on final, and we had to make a go-around. That just made my day!

Route: EKBI - ODN - TNO - NOA - SVD - NOL - SABAK - REGMA - ENKJ.
Flying time: 4:10
Level: 2000 ft.

Ready 4 the Sea Season

After 40 minutes and four landings, I am ready for my 6th season on floates. Meum, the flying legend, also tested my language skills, and I am very happy with the grade 5 - giving me approval for international flying for the next five years. Hoping not to forget all my English aviation phraseology by that time...

Flying home on top

Thor Gjermund flying home from the Nordic Media Festival in Bergen. A bit bumpy and broken clouds  at 8000 feet made me decide to fly on top at 9500 towards clear sky in the Oslo area. Gaustadtoppen, the highest mountain in Telemark,  became our point of reference as we crossed Hardangervidda. Thanks to the holes in the broken sky base (⅝ to ⅞ of sky obscured) we could postpone Plan B of flying the Sørlandet coastwise detour to another occasion.

Kvikk Lunsj over Hardangervidda

Flying over Sørfjorden at 8500 feet en route from Kjeller (ENKJ) to Bergen Flesland (ENBR) and the Nordic Media Festival. Over Hardangervidda we lost contact with ATC, hence we followed the routes of the commercial traffic in case we needed help to relay a message. But the only thing to report was clear sky and smooth air over the mountain. We opened the Norwegian tour snack Kvikk Lunsj after the end of radio silence and established contact with Stavanger Control at the SOPAR intersection.

Excellent landing at Flesland Bergen from Jan Thoresen on Vimeo.

Flying in an ash window

Petter and uncle Erlend ready for a 20 minutes evening flight between the ash clouds from Iceland. Most of the Norwegian airspace has been closed for four days, and might be closed again on short notice. While Swedish pilots were allowed to make decisions on flying piston aircrafts VFR, the Norwegian government decided to prohibit all operations. Hoping for better decisions by the authorities in the future, we had fun flying in the ash window.

Easter Break Finale

Since Jostein flew with big sister Lara last fall, Kathrine wanted to go for a flight over Oslo as well. Daylight savings time made it possible to fly VRF until 8:52pm today, and we departed ENKJ at 8pm for a flight over the capital city. A perfect Easter break finale.

Sæbø 360

Flying over the Alpine landscape of Northwestern Norway on a beautiful day with my aunt Liv. We did the Sunnmøre-in-a-Nutshell tour of Volda, Hjørundfjorden, Ålesund, Runde and return to ENOV. I am very glad LN-ASH finally started after several failed attempts. An old C172 without heater is not my premiere choice of aircraft on a cold and crisp Easter morning.

So long snow, hello spring

Spring equinox started as a snowy day in Oslo, hence our planned lunch in Stockholm had to be cancelled. While the showers travelled eastbound, Einar and I flew southbound for my first landing at Gullknapp (ENGK). South of the summer paradise Jomfruland we had blue skies, and returning by smooth air to Kjeller via Geiteryggen, the bad weather was long gone.

Happy B-day, Jonas!

Jostein gave Jonas a flight for his 9th birthday. The party was Friday night, and Saturday morning we flew over his house at Høybråten.

A fun flight over Norway's capital Oslo, and the boys did not seem to worry about a few bumps after take-off at Kjeller due to variable x-wind.

Flying Down Under and over Manhattan

My pre-blog online tales of flying in Australia and New York disappeared from the Internet when my old home page host Start.no closed their service. Now the stories (in Norwegian) are back online at the krumsvik.com domain:

• Flyferie Down Under (Flynytt 4/2001)
• I en Skyhawk over Manhattan (11/2004)

Happy B-Day, Tobias!

Jostein gave Tobias a flight for his 9th birthday. The party was yesterday, and today we had a nice flight over Oslo, and a spectacular view of the new Holmenkollen ski jump in CAVOK and calm wind.

A view of aviation history at Lanzarote

A short walk from terminal to terminal represents a journey through aviation history. The aviation museum located in the first passenger building built at Lanzarote airport in the early 1940s is just across the parking lot from the 1999 international passenger terminal with a capacity of six million passengers per annum. The Guacimeta terminal museum provides a comprehensive insight into the history of aviation under the shadow of the volcanoes. It is open from 10am to 2pm from Monday to Saturday.

English guided tours might be recommended as all the displays are in Spanish only. However, I do not think too much was lost in translation as I browsed the displays on my own. This time I did not have time to visit the third terminal from the 70s, now used for inter island traffic.

Next time I might expand my GCLB flying experience to some inter island flying my self.

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