Our plan was to fly to the eastern part of Hungary after Timisoara, Romania, but the weather was getting very windy, and we had to change our plans. We decided to fly to Szeged, Hungary, and stay one night there. The day after the strong wind was going to lessen a bit. In Timisoara, we got up at 04:30, checked the weather once again, and were i Cioca GA airport at 05:45. It was completely dark, and both the taxi driver and the guard at the airfield were very surprised. They thought we misunderstood something, and needed to go to the Timisoara International. Then I pointed at myself and said one word “pilot”; pointed at Vagn and said the same “pilot”; showed them a photo of Rans S6, and they understood my message. We got permission to go to our aircraft, and used the light from our mobile phones to find it in the darkness. Prepared the aircraft, and took off as soon as there was civil twilight.
Landing in LRTR ten minutes later:
We communicated with Timisoara International during the night, and they new we needed to leave quickly, and before the strong winds would hit the area. We were afraid that if we don’t manage, we would be standing in LRTR where our aircraft couldn’t be tied down – causing the danger of being thrown by the wind onto one or another passenger airliner. We got a quick and professional passport control and customs, and were ready to leave.
Waited for the Ryanair to land:
Soon we reached Szeged:
The airport was first opening at 08:00 local time, but the air traffic controller came earlier, and guided us through. We managed to land just in time, with gusts up to 30 kts, and Vagn did a very nice landing – a commercial pilot from Szeged came up to us to congratulate Vagn, and praised his pilot skills. By the time we came to the tower, the gusts were up to 40 kts. The air traffic controller welcomed us – it was very nice to meet again!
After checking in to our hotel, we went out for lunch and a walk through the city.
St. Olav Catholic Cathedral in Szeged:
Greeny streets and beautiful old buildings:
In the evening I was relaxing in my room and reading Bo Rønnow’s book “I have a derem 2” about his flying trips to Iceland and Farø Islands:
Next morning we were going to Budapest – again last minute changes due to strong winds…
