Cruising

What a nice ride! On friday I spontaneuously decided to go for a ride from Hannover to Leipzig. It was a lovley winterafternoon with low sun. I got to spend the entire 35min on the copilots seat. The Piper Cheyenne is one of my most flown Turboprops and also this routing I flew already many times and I must say it never gets boring. My journey back to Hannover by car took a lot longer due to the first snow this year in Germany.

The bottom pic shows my homebase. This is where I grew up, this is where I work and almost live.... Hannover airport.

Libya!

I have been to Tripoli about 6 years ago with an Antonov 12 just stopping for fuel from N'Djamena to Ostend, Belgium. That time I thought this would for sure be my first and last time to Libya.

I was wrong: Last weekend I flew from Hannover, Germany to TIP. What a dirty, yet interessting country. Our ride was a Fokker F-100. We had a marvellous flight over the Alps - which is to my eyes one of the most rewarding scenes you can see from an airplane.

Tripoli is tha capital of Libya, and it has 2 airports. One is Mitiga, which is located almost within citylimits and is used for military flights, the other one is Tripoli International, about 20km to the south of the city. For an aircraft enthusiast like me both airports are interesting:  At Mitiga several Iljushins are parked on the ramp, Tripoli International has huge storage areas which contain anything Boeing built 20 to 40 years ago and several smaller aircraft. 

But it was not all aviation and hard and nerve-wrecking work: We also did some sight seeing and the most amazing thing was our visit to Leptis Magna - and old roman/greek city to the east of Tripoli.

In addition to these pics, you will find more (as usual) on my flickr.com site - please check the link in the right corner of this page - enjoy! 

Munich, Bavaria

Do you see the Alps? I don't either. Anyway, this was a nice one: Blue Line, a french charter operator invited us for a 40min flight from Munich over the alps (which obviously were covered by clouds) to Promote their MD-83 in executive layout. Usually these planes are equipped with 167 Seats, but this one only carries 60 passengers in business-class seats with lots of legroom and excellent catering. If you got enough bucks this might bring you to your next vacation.

Nassau Bahamas

One of the aviation highlights of my short visit to the Bahamas. This DC-3 is 65 years old and still going strong, hauling cargo to and from the US and the Bahamas. Looking a bit beaten up and faded while basking in the hot bahamian sun, I got to see her take of the next day on one of the more or less scheduled trips to Florida. As usual on my flickr site (www.flickr.com/photos/flyingaxel) will be some more pics.   

Nassau, Bahamas

Finally, with a day of delay due to hurricane Fay, which got me stuck in Miami for a day I arrived in Nassau, Bahamas.

During my three days here I did not see much except the airport (including half an hour of spotting though) and the hotel - and the road in between.

I was here a a flight manager and consultant for several charterflights from and to Europe.

This ATR-72 was my ride for the 0:50h flight from Miami to Nassau. 

I just uploaded some more pics from my Ontario and Manitoba Experience two month ago on my flickr.com site. Please click "More Pictures / Mehr Fotos" on the right side of this page.

Also, yesterday I learned that the right Beaver on this Pic C-FNOT crashed only a few days ago, fortunately without fatalities but substantially damaging the plane ending up upside down in a forest.

I was actually trying to fly in one of these on the beautyful day when I took this picture at Red Lake, Ontario.

Ana Bolika

Nice one! This is the only AN-28 in western Europe. She belongs to MD Skydive / Mitteldeutsches Fallschirmzentrum and usually lives at the Magdeburg airfield since late 2007. Her name is ANA BOLIKA. I flew in this colourful bird from Cochstedt, about 20 km to the south of Magdeburg on a paradrop mission. Along with 20 skydivers and birdmen we departed and climed up to 4400m. I was supplied with a parachute for myself but was told not to use it "unless the pilots are running past you".
Waht a great flight on a near cloudless noon in the wild east. Slowly my list of the Antonov aircraft I have flown in is becomming more and more complete. Actually it was planned to use an Antonov 72 jet aircraft for this boogie, but unfortunately legal issues kept it at home in Moldova.
Thanks again to Olaf for several useful infos that day!

Männer-Tag!

With Torben - seen here at the controls of an Antonov AN-2 (or whats left of it) - my Dad and my brother Guido we drove to Wunstorf about 40km to the west of Hannover. In the "JU-52 Halle" Museum the star is an original Junkers JU-52 which was raised from a lake in northern Norway about 20 years ago and restored to pristine contition. The plane landed on the "Hartvikvann"-lake in the early fourties and as most of the others sunk in the following summer when the ice melted.

Over the years a nice little museum developed around this centerpiece with various planes and helicopters and this cockpit section which Torben is about to inspect in detail.  

Horses!

What an interesting and challenging task - on wednesday we were contracted to fly 29 of these beauties from Munster-Osnabrueck Airport (FMO) in northwest Germany to a tournament in Lisbon. 

Each of these horses is worth more than the 38 year old airplane we chartered for this flight. Despite a much longer loading process than expected, in the end everything worked out fine.

The handling guys in FMO did a great job and did help a lot to minimize my worries.

This airline -African International - is one of the last DC-8 operators regularly flying with in Europe. 

How many flights can you fit in an afternoon? I managed six: From Kenmore's Air Harbor to Lake Union in a piston Beaver and the next 5 legs with this Turbo Beaver -  the direct comparison is amazing. This one climbs like an elevator. The routing took me from Lake Union to Rosario and Deer Harbor (both on Orcas Island) and on to Roche Harbor than back to Downtown Seattle's Lake Union and on to Kenmore at Lake Washington. 

Thanks Craig and all the others at Kenmore for your hospitality!

I wish cameras with sound were already invented! Not one, but 2 Curtiss C-46 and three DC-3 live in Gimli, Manitoba - and at least the two Curtiss are very much alive and kicking! This one I heard already from the main street turning into the airport road. Not the best weather but still quite a sight.

The final destination of my road trip: Red Lake, Ontario - the Norseman capital of the world. This one belongs to Viking Outposts and in front you can see Larry Mordens russian built Ural motorcycle and his dogs. Larry is a veteran Bush pilot with lots of storys to tell. By his own account he has been flying for a hundred years and literaly every type of bushplane - Beavers, Otters, Norsemans, DC-3s - and one of those even straight into an ADF antenna....  and survived!

Thanks Enid, JB and Larry for your time. And regarding flying in the Norseman I will not give up and try again next time!! 

Here in Ontario you can still find an amazing amount of active bushplanes. Most of them take fishing parties to remote outposts on lakes through out north-west Ontario such as this Beech 18 which here sits at its dock in Ear Falls, waiting for another load of fishermen..... and me!

I was lucky enough to fly on the right cockpit seat from here to Carrol lake, about 35min from its homebase and only accessible by air. What a great flight. Thank you so much, Eddie for making this possible ! A Dream came true.

Tillamook, Oregon

Strange bird! After the Guppy-days are over in Europe, these birds have become a rare sight. This one lives in Tillamook, Oregon at the air museum - I think the former operator is not so hard to guess. This one is actually a Mini Guppy and still has its original Piston engines. 

Fuer Olaf: ich war ja noch gar nicht fertig! Nur kurz im Whirlpool gewesen. Hier ist der andere - ganze 7 min Flugzeit habe ich in dieser Kiste verbracht auf dem Linienflug von Lake Union (LKE) nach Kenmore (KEH). Wie Du siehst, komme ich mit meiner Kamera ganz gut zurecht - many thanks nochmal fuer mein Type Rating auf meiner neuen EOS!!

This is the second plane from today on the short hop from Lake Union to Kenmore Air Harbour on lake Washington. 

As good as it gets!  Bessser gehts nicht: This is one of my rides for the day: a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 "Beaver" N72355 (the other one being N50KA a DHC-3 Otter) - and not just for a short hop. I flew from Kenmore Air Harbour to Rosario and on to Lopez Island and on to Lake Union. Even though this was probably my tenth trip to the San Juan Islands it still amazes me. The scenery is just breathtaking.

Back at Lake Union I had to change planes into the Otter for the short 8 min hop to Lake Washington.

Yesterday Torben and me visited again the Luftfahrtmuseum Hannover-Laatzen again after a few month. At this place I spent countless hours restoring aircraft engines, helping to put planes together or giving tours.

I somehow miss that - but I am happy that Torben sometimes wants to come here with me to climb into the helicopter and some of the planes.

The aircraft in the picture is a Dornier DO-28 D2 "Skyservant" and one of only three aircraft outside - the rest being well protceted in two hangars.

Sold!

As of today I am not the proud owner anymore of my Lockheed F-104G Starfighter pitot-cover. I always found it cool to have but it was only sitting in the corner of my office until I met a guy on the net who is busy with a great project: the complete restauration of a Starfighter cockpit section inside and out. The project takes place in his garden and fills up a lot of it. 

I think it was a good decision selling my part and now seeing it being used for its actual purpose (if you are woundering what I am talking about: it is the long red and white tube on its nose)

As I read about it a few month ago, o decided to visit the gliding airfield Wenzendorf, near Buchholz in der Nordheide - a former WW2 aircraft factory and military airfield on my way back home. Today only relics remain in a little forrest grown over by trees and it is only possible to imagine how this looked seventy years back. Some parts of the barracks are still in use as an old-folks home and a few other purposes.

Antonov AN-2 D-FWJC

My ride for the last weekend. I just love it - this is an Antonov AN-2, one of my favorite planes. I have flown so many times on this particular one, I can even fly it myself. On friday, 02MAY08 we flew from the former russian airforce base FINOW/Eberswalde (about 60km north of Berlin) to Hannover and on Sunday we returned from Hannover via the historic Berlin airport Tempelhof. This airport is one of the airports used in the Berlin Airlift (1948/49) sixty years ago and is one of the oldest airports existing in the world. Unfortunately it will be closed due to supidity later this year which is very sad. I was lucky enough to fly there most likely for the last time in style.

As always there will be more pics at my flickr.com page. Enjoy.

My ride of the day: Yesterday I managed to fly with Guido (my brother) is this bird - and believe it or not, we managed to fly all the way from Hannover to Bremen nonstop! The entire distance of  90km in 13min. For me it was the first time to fly on a Cessna 525A / Citation Jet 2.

As usual, there are some more pics on my flickr.com site (click the link).

Netter Ausflug mit Guido am Sonntagabend nach Bremen. Für mich eine Typenpremiere - der CJ2 fehlte noch in meiner Sammlung. Die ganzen 90km haben wir nonstop in 13min zurückgelegt mit einem netten Anflug auf den Airport Bremen. Weiter Bilder gibts wie immer auf meiner flickr.com Seite (Link oben rechts). 

Luftbrückenmuseum Fassberg

On the road again... this time with Torben to the Luftbrückenmusem (Berlin Airliftmuseum) in Fassberg in the middle of nowhere about 90km to the north of Hannover. Fassberg was built as a "secret" town in the thirties around the Airfield which is still in Military use today and despite the German Forces there is not much here. The drive up to Fassberg is quite scenic with litte villages and farms. 

Allthough the Museum (www.luftbrueckenmuseum.de) is quite small, it is very well maintained and informative. Of course the reason for us to drive up there was teh centerpiece of the exhibition - the C-47 "Fassberg-Flyer". This aircraft was donated to Germany about 10 years ago by the Turkish Air Force and restored to represent a contemporary airlift plane. 

I am so glad Torben likes airplanes, too..... and other things!  Quite interresting: about 10km away from Fassberg is "Kleinamerika" (Little America). It is so small it does not even apear on any of my roadmaps. 

Help us!

These two tired looking AN-2 are sitting at Lesce/Bled Airfiel in the northern Part of Slovenia. They do not seem to be active for some time. Quite scenic location.

Diese beiden AN-2 sehen eher inaktiv aus. Immerhin nicht komplett vergammelt wie viele ihrer Brüder und Schwestern in einigen anderen Ländern. Zu hause sind die beiden in Lesce/Bled im Norden von Slovenien

What a beauty! Allthough hidden between new bulidings now, Douglas DC-6 YU-AFF is still in one piece on public display at LJU airport, wearing seventies Adria Airlines c/s.

Es gibt sie noch! Die Adria Airways DC-6 YU-AFF steht zwar mittlerweile zwischen diversen neuen Gebäuden, erfreut sich aber guter (optischer) Gesundheit.

What a treat to fly over the Alps!

Even if you can just see some parts under the clouds it is still impressive. This pic was Taken from Adria Airways Airbus A320 S5-AAC en route from Frankfurt to Ljubljana, Slovenia on 01APR08.

Immer wieder beeindruckend über die Alpen zu fliegen. Das Bild ist auf meinem Flug nach Lubljana am 01. April entstanden.

Zimmer mit Aussicht... En Route zurück nach Hannover 27MAR08

Gestern ist es mir gelungen, trotz aus-Flug pünklich zu Hause zu sein. Dieses Mal ging die Reise nach Eindhoven - eine Airport Premiere für mich. Mein letzter Versuch nach Eindhoven zu fliegen hat mich vor 7 Jahren nach Liege geführt: Als Flightmanager auf einer AN-26 war ich damals unterwegs von Ostende nach Eindhoven. Als Flugzeit dorthin waren ca. 30min geplant. Nach ca. 1:00h landeten wir dann gegen 22:15 und ich sah aus meinem Fenster im Frachtraum gerade noch die Leuchtreklame vom "Airport Liege" vorbeisausen...

Diesmal war ich aber etwas moderner unterwegs: Mit einer Cessna 425 Conquest 1 ...und den richtigen Airport haben wir auch getroffen!

Der Ausblick? Unbezahlbar - für alles Andere gibt es die...Card

Blick von meinem Copiloten Sitz über das wolkenarme und sonnige Ungarn beim climb-out aus Budapest

Und das ist "my Ride": Piper Pa-42 "Cheyenne" IIIa. Nicht nur der Ausflug nach Budapest und Zweibrücken letzte Woche, sondern bereits viele Flüge habe ich in Fliegern dieses Typs verbracht...

Aus langer Weile habe ich letzte Woche eigentlich nur eine kurzen Umlauf mitfliegen wollen: Ein kurzes Dreieck von Hannover "kurz" nach Budapest und weiter nach Zweibrücken und wieder zurück nach Hannover.

Da ich in diesem Jahr bisher viel zu wenig Zeit in der Luft verbracht habe, fällt die Entscheidung leicht. Herausgekommen bei meinem spontanen "kurzen" Ausflug sind einige Flüge quer durch Europa. Zurück war ich natürlich auch nicht am selben Abend, wie ich Trista versprochen habe, sondern eher am nächsten Morgen.....

Entgegen meinen Erwartungen passte der Schüssel dann doch noch. Hier einige Eindrücke von unterwegs. Oben unser Anflug auf Budapest im Final zur Piste 31left.

Geschaft!

Lange vor mir her geschoben und nun: hier ist meine erste selbstgestalte Internetpräsenz. sporadisch werde ich hier Bilder und Erlebnisse meiner Flüge posten. Freue mich auch gerne über Kommentare!

Finally!
After long delays and thinking it over and over I managed to create an own blog. I will post pics and adventures about my flying. I am looking forward to your comments.