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.

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:

Third strike

NAG co-owner Per tried all the tricks in the book, with no success. A crew of four did a third attempt of starting the frozen LN-NAG at Torp, Sandefjord, yesterday. Per, Bjørn, Ulf the teddy-bear, and myself flew LN-ULF from ENGM via ENKJ to ENTO. The trip was successful in two ways: (1) We had a beautiful view flying on top over freezing fog, and (2) my five-year-old son were exited about Ulf flying ULF for the second time.

When it comes to LN-NAG, the plane is still at Torp. Today the professional technicians takes over. Tonight we will know the diagnosis.

To be continued...

The sudden urge to buy power company shares

Flying over a major city at night always gives me the urge to invest in the local power company. Last night I attended an AOPA Norway board meeting at Sundt Air, Gardermoen, and I took the opportunity to get current night while visiting a 24/7 airport. CAVOK and smooth air over Oslo made this chore pretty pleasant.

Flying priest in crosswind

Thomas the Flying Priest at Starmoen MAF Fly-in, the summer version of Vermundsjøen. A great weekend for fellowship and flying. Landings in 15 kts crosswind and flying Aerostar from the right seat were some of my highlights.

Ulf the teddy bear meets ULF the airplane

Ulf the teddy bear (left) and his friend Pilot Bjørn are family members, and joined us for our first GA vacation. Today Ulf had his first flight in LN-ULF. Tomorrow he will meet Pippi at Astrid Lindgren's World.

Traveling from Oslo to Vimmerby by car was no alternative: 7:14 via Gothenburg or 8:31 via Karlstad (see image from Google Maps).

Flying time in a C182 was 1:55.

Mountain flying to Geilo, Kabul next

Tonje is offered limo service by her dad at Geilo Airport Dagali (2618 ft.), going to see her grandmother before leaving for Kabul (5900 ft.), were she will be working for the United Nations. Co-pilots Ingrid, Anne Helene, and myself were Tonje’s co-workers as online pioneers at Dagbladet.no in the late 90’s. We have all looked for new adventures since, but Tonje is definitely the most adventures one.

Unfortunately I do not have the bravery of Sky Sister Simone, flying from Denmark to Kabul in her own Piper Colt (see trailer below). Today we flew Gardermoen – Torp – Dagali – Gardermoen. Fun, but not at all dangerous.

Slow flight over Nittedal

Tor needed a few pictures of Nittedal, and I needed to get back in the air after a month without flying (busy preparing my Ph.D. Thesis defense).

The pictures will be published by the local newspaper Varingen. I used to be Editor-in-Chief of the regional newspaper Romerikes Blad, but my knowledge of local sites in Nittedal did not match the journalist from the local paper. Our model of collaboration ended up being me flying where Tor was pointing

Night flight from Sandefjord

Anita joined me on a flight to ENTO for the MAF Norway annual meeting, where I was re-elected to the board of directors. Mission Aviation Fellowship is providing air transport in places of deepest human need – remote places where flying is not a luxury, but a lifeline.

For nearly 60 years MAF has flown over jungles, mountains, swamps and deserts to bring hope. It was an inspiring meeting, and we had a great night flight back to ENGM. Anita on Facebook: "Wow...the world is beautiful at 1500' at night :)".

Abroad for night training

Oslo by night. Photo: Lars Frers.

I needed five landings at night to be current before a planned flight with passenger Friday, and was surprised to realize the impossibilities of accomplishing this in Eastern Norway. ENKJ have lights disconnected. ENGM do not allow touch-and-go. ENTO, by NOTAM, only allowed this for aircrafts based on the airport. ENRY does not allow T&G after 9 p.m. That's 40 minutes before darkness at this time of year. And ENHA needs at least three days notice in order to inform the neighbors about night training in progress.

I had to leave the country. ESKV is H24, however prefere no T&G after 10 p.m., hence ESOK became the next natural choice (open until 10:30 p.m. local time).  In two hours of flying, I got four night landings in Karlstad, Sweden, and the fifth and last compulsory landing back at Gardermoen. 

Busting aviator myths

Knut Helge at ENGM, joining me on a myth busting operation on a great day for flying.I have to admit being one of the people wining about the lack of airports to visit and hence low variation of landing practice for pilots operating from ENKJ. Today, after flying ENKJ-ENGM-ENEG-ENKJ (3x15 minutes), I admit being wrong.

MYTH 1. Flying to ENGM is a complex operation. Wrong! Filing ordinary flight plans to and from Oslo's main airport is everything that is needed. The NOTAM Office takes care of the slot time, and will call you back if you need to change the planned arrival. You arrive and depart like any other airport, and the traffic is rather low.

MYTH 2. Flying to ENGM is expensive. Wrong! The landing fee of NOK 250 is less than at Rakkestad!

MYTH 3. There are no short field airports in the Oslo area we are welcome to visit. Wrong! Sending an PPR on SMS was everything needed to be welcome at Eggemoen. Airfield Manager Gunnestad does not bite, as long as you call before landing, and the landing fee of NOK 150 is less than most other places. Actually, I have never been denied PPR at any of the short fields in the area (but then I never tried at Ski!).

Conclusion: PPR and landing fees might represent mental obstacles, however it is quite possible to secure varied experience and meet nice people at other airports without flying far from home.

Landed safe in snow at Hamar after failed attempts for Kjeller and Gardermoen

LN-TFQ (P28A) got lost in snow and bad visibility tonight. After failed attempts at ENKJ and ENGM, a police helicopter escorted the lost pilot to a safe landing at ENHA. The webcam picture was grabbed short before the landing. The METAR at ENGM indicated overcast in 500 feet and 7 km visibility.

BTW, this was my first attempt at covering a live event on Twitter, Facebook, Scanair, and Blogger...

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.

 

Windy day at Trysil

ENTS is only a short flight from the annual MAF Norway Fly-In at Starmoen (ENHN). Four aircrafts (P28A, C172, C182, and C310) transported the group to and from in a bit of wind and gust. Take a look at the windsock...

Me and LN-ULF left the Fly-In Saturday night on a beautiful night flight to ENGM in CAVOK. The next morning VFR was not an option: TAF (FC) 161100Z 161221 VRB05KT 6000 RA SCT004 BKN012 TEMPO 1221 1500 -RADZ BR FEW002 BKN004.

First day of summer

Vice President of MAF International, Arne Nordahl, was my co-pilot on a promotional flight, with passengers Målfrid and John Ole. On the first day of wonderful summer weather, we left Gardermoen (ENGM) in LN-AGM for sight seeing over Oslo and Bærum, and made at stop at Kjeller (ENKJ) for ice cream on our way back.

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

Staying current

Finally perfect VFR-conditions after weeks of snow. My co-worker Hilde and I took the morning off and flew LN-ULF from ENGM to ENTO for touch-and-go’s, and some sight seeing over Hildes home town before returning to Oslo and work at Oslo University College.

For me the flight was crucial to stay current. I needed three landings to continually fly legal with passengers, and one landing at ENGM to continue rental at Gardermoen Flyklubb.

I am the proud owner of a MM-card!

Tuesday I was the very first pilot to get my AOPA-N MM-card, being able to exercise the rights of airside access given by my pilot's licence with a piece of plastic and a pin code. I found my self wearing it a long time after I parked LN-AGM and had left ENGM...

Mind the GAP

(ELVERUM, Norway) Last week-end I visited the GAP Starmoen fly-in. This used to be Norway's largest gathering of active private pilots, but the attendance and level of activities offered was not at the level of the golden years of this flight safety project. I left for Gardermoen in LN-AGM before sunset without any time in conventional gear, the object of my visit.