Last Friday members of Danske Flyvere – the Association of Danish Pilots – gathered for the annual party at the Radisson Blue Scandinavia hotel in Copenhagen. We were 170 pilots, coming for this festivity from all corners of Denmark.
Danske Flyvere was established on the 18th August 1917. It is the oldest association of pilots in the world with around 1000 members, from whom 50 are women. King Frederik IX of Denmark, and later Prince Consort Henrik of Denmark were the patrons of the association. Last year Danske Flyvere celebrated its 100 years anniversary with a number of events. I participated in one of them, on Kløvermarken, where I met the members of Danske Flyvere, and got a very nice impression of the association.
Our evening began from drinks. With Thomas Schau Damm, Søren Lykkegaard, Niels Egelund, and Søren Pedersen:
The food was truly gourmet, with selected wine pairings. During the breaks in between the courses there were speeches. Franz Vinter, the chairman during 2009-2018, was the key speaker at the event:
We congratulated the ones that had membership anniversaries – some of them as many years as 65! We remembered our members that are not longer with us, and had toasts in honour of Danske Flyvere.
39 new pilots joined Danske Flyvere this year, and 26 of them attended the party. It is a tradition to welcome them all on stage where each new member receives a warm welcome from the audience, and a personal welcome from the chairman and the general secretary who handed them a wings-badge and a certificate of the membership.
One cannot just apply and become a member; you need to have a recommendation from a member of the board, and to be approved by the board. So, it is a big privilege for all new members to be welcomed to Danske Flyvere.
This year, the association has slightly changed the admission rules, following the recent changes in the aviation world, thus allowing ultralight aircraft pilots to join. And I was the first ultralight aircraft pilot to become a member of Danske Flyvere.
Søren Møller Poulsen, our chairman, introduced me before handing the microphone over to me, and I – on behalf of all new members – had a speech of thanks and appreciation.
After the dinner there was coffee and cognac, and we were socializing for several hours. The atmosphere was so warm and special! Pilots with different backgrounds – military, commercial, private – were asking questions, exchanging experiences, getting advice, remembering others, or telling interesting stories about their aircraft. Of course, we only talked about flying! That’s the passion we share, and – because we are pilots, we envy no man on Earth.
I was very happy to meet other female pilots at the party. Here I am with Liselotte Gaaei, Kathrine Marie Elmer, Anne Oksholm, and Susanne Byrjalsen:
It was an exceptional evening in a great company, and I look forward to meet again soon!
