Leaving Sandefjord, never easy

The plan was a great start of the new year, flying to ENTO for Saturday coffee and waffles at the flying club. It all started well. A smooth flight, great waffles, and fun meeting old friends. The problems started when attempting to leave Sandefjord.

Temperatures in the blue teens (celsius) gave Lars and me only three attempts of starting the engine before the battery was out of power. Recharging, propeller swinging, and good advice from all experts present gave no results. We had to leave LN-NAG behind and hitchhike the 130 km home with a flat battery in our hand luggage.

After a night of recharging, I returned Sunday in LN-DAH with co-pilots Anita and Tore, armed with a full aircraft battery, external power supply, fan heaters, blankets, and lots of determination. We had a great flight in spectacular winter weather. However, LN-NAG is still at ENTO. Tomorrow a new attempt will be made.

To be continued...

Waiting for the weather

Torgeir is washing DAH while we waited for the weather to improve. We had to fly under the tail of one system to Starmoen in order to return before meeting the next. Flying NAG back to Kjeller was the mission of today, and we decided on 1500 feet as minima before start, a promise we did not have to compromise.

Flying with Arne

Two bumpy flights in the afternoon and a smooth evening flight over Oslo today, flying with MAF International vice president Arne Nordahl and friends.

Every three minutes, an MAF plane is taking off or landing somewhere in the world. Enabling the work of aid and development agencies, missions, national churches and other local groups. Flying across deserts, jungles, mountains and swamps. Giving hope to far-flung communities which might take days or weeks to reach by land, where roads may be non-existent, or impassable for half the year.

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.