Towing 30

Øyvind at Flyteknisk Notodden towing LN-AEG from the seaplane base to his hangar for service.

My first solo on floats this seson was a ferry flight of 35 minutes from Kilen to ENNO. Then 2 hours return by bus, bogging this on the TIMEkspressen wireless.

Landing on rotten ice

Back from Sunny California to the Winter Wonderland, I decided to fly-in for a lunch at Oset Hotel in the mountains of Southern Norway. This turned out not to be a totally safe venture. 

The hotel's runway manager reported on good conditions in the morning, and a departing aircraft did not warn us about the runway conditions as we arrived. We learned later that this aircraft had skis, while we had wheels. As I applied brakes on the P28A after landing, the main wheels broke through the ice surface. The same happened while turning and taxing several times. We spoke briefly with the airfield manager, without turning off the engine, and took off as soon as possible, using soft field technique. I was happy to be able to return the plane without hanging under a helicopter. 

The NRK television news tonight reported on a three-day-old warning from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, stating unsafe ice on regulated waters.

Never trust a runway manager selling fancy lunches...

The Tisleia Lake on 2750 ft. has a 1000 meters runway on ice during the winter season (15 km on water during summer). The winter runway was closed by the hotel this afternoon. 

Tore and I had lunch at Notodden before returning to Kjeller.

Fly-in Sunday Dinner at Notodden

Lars and LN-NAG at ENNO after Sunday dinner at Oasen, Notodden. We went coast wise from Oslo to Holmestrand, and Larvik to Langesund, then Skien and Nautesund Bridge inbound Notodden (1:20). Return direct Kjeller (0:40).

Flying C206 with G1000

Cessna fly-in at Notodden (ENNO) offered Garmin 1000 course with Cessna's single engine chief pilot Kirby Ortega and demonstration flights in Skyhawk (C172) and Turbo Stationair (C206).

I got the left seat for 15 minutes and flew my first time in C206 from take off to the base leg. The G1000 displayed all flight critical data, and was very intuitive. Lot's of fun!

Revisiting my solo NAV

(KRISTIANSAND, Norway) LN-DAH at Kjevik. Yesterday I revisited the solo nav route I did as a student pilot in a Tomahawk seven years ago. ENKJ-ENCN is a scenic route and a no brainer to navigate along the coast. Continuing to ENNO is more of a challenge, in a mountain landscape with few landmarks. This time I had a handheld GPS, but still had some trouble knowing my whereabouts. Nototdden is as close as you get to the western Norwegian fjords in the eastern part of the country. Elevation of 63 feet, surrounded by high mountains. But leveling out at 3500, you have free sight to Oslo on a nice day.