When I heard that Jon from Värnamo flying club was organising a flying day around Småland, I immediately signed up. I met pilots from this club on a tour to Krakow earlier this year, and I thought it would be nice to see them again, and to fly together.
Morning began from gifts. Jon gave me this beautiful pillow with aviation motives on both sides:
It was my first time in Värnamo flying club. The club was established in the late 50s, has around 70 members, and several aircraft. It’s located at the Hagshult military air base, and a special permission for guests is required to enter the site.
Our plan was to visit Visingsö, Västervik, Oskarshamn, Eksjö, and then back to Hagshult. We were seven people in four aircraft. The trip began from Visingsö where an annual fly-in was held that day. Landing on RWY33:
There were many interesting aircraft on Visingsö, which is an island in lake Vättern. I’m going to write a separate blog post about this fly-in. Jon in front of a YAK-52:
We spent several hours there, but had to leave in order to fulfill our planned program for the day.
Our next destination was Västervik. Beautiful cumulus clouds on our way:
I flew with Jon, and there was a cheerful atmosphere in the cockpit when we were taking selfies:
Jon’s teddy bear-pilot flew with us:
In Västervik, some of us needed to refuel.
We were welcomed by the flying club’s members, who also showed us around in their hangars:
From there we took a taxi to Västervik town where we enjoyed lunch and non-alcohol drinks in one of the cafes near the harbour. Calle and Daniel:
Whilst we were relaxing, those innocent cumulus clouds began to turn into towering cumulus, and even into embedded cumulonimbus. There were shower rains and thunderstorms on the way. We hurried back to the airfield, and after evaluating the weather conditions, decided to continue to Oskarshamn.
Our take-off was indeed very timely. The lightnings going from the clouds straight to the ground were spectacular, though they were far away.
All landed safely in Oskarshamn.
Our group in front of an SA-3 Bulldog. From left to right: Calle, Håkan, me, Anders, Tomas, and Jon. Daniel was taking this photo:
We continued to Eksjö, and saw several forest fires on our way. During the day we reported 5-6 fires, and even did a round over one of them in order to help identifying the exact location.
Many flying clubs in Sweden, if not all, are involved in spotting and reporting forest fires. Every day volunteers patrol the designated areas from air. This summer has been exceptionally hot and dry, and Sweden even deployed its Gripen fighters once to bomb wildfires.
Soon the Eskjö airfield was welcoming us:
An ice-cream and some rest time:
The Eskjö flying club had a number of peaces of art on its walls. I felt for this beautiful ceramics artwork. On the backside there was a sign from the artist Mats Nordell from Kalmar.
We flew back to the Hagshult. This last leg of the trip I flew together with Carl Philip.
Calle is a very experienced pilot, and the landing was flawless. I wish I could land like that every time… He also flies volunteer flights for spotting forest fires.
We landed around sunset. The whole trip looked like on the photo below.
It was a wonderful day, and with so many interesting experiences. Many thanks to Jon, Daniel, Tomas, Anders, Carl Philip, and Håkan for the great company!
