Happy B-day, Emil!

Jostein gave Emil a flight for his 9th birthday. It was Emil's 2nd flight in LN-NAG. 18 months ago we only spent 30 minutes in the air due to lightning in vicinity. This time the flying time was 1:25 in CAVOK, including three touch-and-go landings at Rygge and sight seeing over Drammen and the Holmenkollen ski jump.

APPsolutely fabulous

Something old, something new, might be an appropriate headline for my first flight in months. The good old 1976 P28A and my portable glass cockpit (iPad & iPhone) took me to Rygge for touch & go landings, and I am current to bring passengers again.

Fun and useful pilot apps on today's flight:

• AeroWeather
• AirNav Pro (absolutely the best value for money aviation GPS-app on the market!)
• Jeppesen Mobile TC

After landing an e-mail from Sporty's tempted me to buy the brand new Study Buddy App. I'll be extremely well prepared for the next Flight Review...

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Finally flying NAG home

A swift trip to Torp for ferry became a full day venture. The journey started before sunrise by train, and I made it back to ENKJ as a third of the runway had been covered with afternoon fog. A few minutes later landing might have been rather difficult.

Good people at Helifly Maintenance changed the starter relay after our failed attempts of starting LN-NAG Saturday, Sunday and Monday. They did not, however, actually start the engine before I came Friday morning. And while the starter turned the engine, it did not fire, and it turned out that the left magneto was dead.

A few hours later I could finally leave Sandefjord - with a bit bigger bill.

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...