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 home for coffee and svele

I got my pilot's license 10 years ago, and for all this time I have wanted to fly home to my parents for coffee and svele*. However, the weather conditions seldom allow for VFR flights over the mountains from Oslo to North Western Norway. A 2006 attempt was not successful. Hence the tour of Wonderful Western Norway this weekend was very special for me.

Einar, Tore and I flew to Bergen early Saturday morning and spent a great day and evening with friends. Sunday morning we continued to Molde, via Førde, Sandane, and Geiranger, before landing at Hovden (ENOV) for coffee and svele! On return to Oslo we did not manage to establish radio contact with Stavanger before reaching 8000 feet. Pretty high mountains around...

ENKJ-ENBR 2:00

ENBR-local 1:00/0:55

ENBR-ENML 1:55

ENML-ENOV 1:00

ENOV-ENKJ 2:40

* = My mom's svele recipe is a family secret. You might however try the MRF version served at fjord-crossing ferries in Western Norway:

4 eggs

2 cups sugar (4 dl.)

4 cups flour (8 dl.)

2 tsp vanilla sugar

1 l kefir (buttermilk)

1 tsp hornsalt

1 tsp natron (bicarbonat)

Flying fun and fighting forest fire

A perfect day for touring southern Norway in a C182. Morning fog at the west coast made us reverse the original route and start with lunch in Kristiansand. Before continuing to Lista we helped the fire department observe a large forest fire, and we had to leave ENLI after 15 minutes due to airfield opening hours. Dinner in Bergen and return to Jessheim before dark.

A complete day of flying experiences from beatuiful coast landscapes to raging fires and high mountains. [More photos]

LN-ULF, C182 P
ENGM-ENCN, 1:35, 1500 ft.
ENCN-forest fire-ENLI, 0:55, 1000-3000 ft
ENLI-ENBR, 1:30, 4500 ft.
ENBR-ENGM, 2:05, FL90
Total flying time: 6:05