I wanted to write a brief summary of my flying experiences from 2018, and then I realized how rich the 2018 was for me. I met so many inspiring pilots that expanded my horizons, visited so many interesting places I will remember! It was quite difficult to narrow it down to just a blog post, and I decided to focus mostly only on new destinations, on something that made an impression or fulfilled a dream. I’ll start from a map of the airfields I landed on at least once either myself or in a company of another pilot. There were around 50 of them:
The flying year 2018 began from a Pannkosh (pancakes fly-in) on Sunday 7th January in Odense. We normally hold it in Revninge, but the airstrip there was too wet to land on. So Bo Rønnow organised it in Odense instead, following the strong demand for pancakes from other pilots. I couldn’t rent an aircraft that day, and Carsten Svendsen offered me a seat in his gyro. Here we are, just landed:
In February, Kenneth Maigaard invited me on a flight in his KZVII – Danish designed and built, from 1947:
Kenneth took me on a fligh to the Andelslandsbyen Nyvang where we landed on its 250 meters long airstrip. Kenneth showed me around; I liked the place so much that I later joined Zonen Flylaug – an association of volunteers that help preserving the history of the Rescue Corps of Denmark. They also look after, mantain and fly one of its airworthy aircraft
OY-DYZ (KZIII, former ambulance, built in 1946) that has its home in Nyvang.
In March, we had some snowy and frosty days, and on one of my flights I took this photo of a ferry that runs between the island of Øro and Holbæk, here through the ice-covered Roskilde Fjord:
The photo was slightly enchanced by Thorbjørn Brunander Sund. That was my photo of the year, and I called it “The fearless icebreaker”.
In April, we celebrated Bo Rønnow’s 70 years birthday with a big party, and around 100 guests. The ceiling was decorated with the flags of all those many many countries Bo has visited. Besides being an experienced pilot, Bo is also a talented musician, and he was singing at his party, too:
During spring, the weather became exceptionally good, and the month of May was full of exciting flying trips. Earlier that year I joined the Zonen Flylaug, and in the beginning of May we participated in a spectacular show in the memory of WWII Liberation Day of Denmark, staged on the grounds of Andelslandsbyen Nyvang.
On the photo above, from left to right: Poul Eberhardt, Peter Castenheim, and Ole Pedersen, with Zonen OY-DYZ. All three have done tremendous amount of work during the years in Zonen’s association.
Later that month I was lucky to be invited on a trip to Krakow, Poland, with a group of Swedish pilots, organised by Värnamo flying club. In Krakow, we went to a Chopin concert, visited an impressive open air Polish Aviation Museum, and had the time to wonder through the historic city center. I flew with Joakim Hidestal and Jan Carlsson, and the three of us also visited Torún, one of the oldest cities in Poland, from mid-13th century:
A part of our flying tour to Torún went over Wisła – the longest and largest river in Poland. We asked Joakim, who was PIC on that flight, to practice steep turns while Jan and I were taking pictures of all those awesome views.
On our way back to Sweden the whole group met on the Danish island Bornholm where we had lunch in one of the Bornholms’ fish smoke houses. Before leaving, I took this photo of our group:
In May, together with Roskilde Flying Club, I was on a tour to Colmar, France. I flew with Per Ranneriis, Carsten Finn Rasmussen, and Inge-Merete Thue Riehn. We were around 20 people, and had marvellous 4 days there. The place on the photo below (La Petite Venise) is often used on the postcards from Colmar:
We had a very rich program whilst in Colmar: guided city tour, bus tour through the hills of Alsace, visit to the Château du Haut-Koeningsborg from the 12th century, lunch in a picturesque town of Ribeauvillé known from the 8th century, a walk through the sacret grounds of the WWI battlefield of Le Linge. The time went by very quickly on that trip.
Again in May, I finally had a female passenger, the one and only so far – my friend Anne. I call Anne “my best scuba-diving friend and beyond” – we share many various interests. On this tour, we enjoyed a lovely day on the island of Bjørnø:
Bjørnø has probably the most hilly airstrip in Denmark, and you need to touch down on the right top. We had a relaxing day out on the island, walked over its hills, and enjoyed the views. There are no cars on Bjørnø, it is small (1.5 km2), tranquil, and idyllic.
In the beginning of June Joakim Hidestal and Rolf Påhlsson invited me to go to Säve, and I happily accepted. The Aeroclub in Göteborg was going to celebrate 100 years anniversary with a heartly aviation festival. The club has its home at Säve airfield, and in collaboration with Aeroseum the weekend of 8th – 10th June was set up as a fly-in with themes as Helimeet, electric aircraft, and Kids’ Flying Weekend. We arrived the day before, and hanged out on the airfield socializing with other pilots, watched the electric aircraft from Pipistrel doing promotional flights, and several other aircraft doing aerobatics and low pass, checked out our skills on a flight simulator, and attended a cozy pilots gathering over a grill dinner in the evening.
The air show was prominent. Guests had an opportunity to go on a sightseeing tour in a military helicopter, driven by a car (photo above). We also visited the Aeroseum, an underground hangar dating from the Cold War, today an aviation experience centre that is 27 m underground, with 22 000 m2 of exhibition space.
One of the biggest events during 2018 was celebration of the 75 years of the Gørløse gliding club in June. I began flying gliders there for 10 years ago, and this flying club will always have a special place in my heart. The celebrations took 2 days – first day with a whole day of flying, and the second one – the grand party. Albatros flying club (my home club today) was invited to attend on the first day, with an extraordinary permission to land. We were 7 aircraft from our club, and again – it was very special for me to land there, this time in an ultralight. There were pilots from other clubs, lots of guests, and – historic restored airworthy gliders that were flown/transported in from Arnborg.
Guests were given lottery tickets, and I was among the lucky ones that won a flight in a vintage glider! I flew Kranich from 1943 with Klaus Degner. Klaus had the very first glider flight in his life in that aircraft, as a passenger when he was only 13! Later, I also got a flight in a 2G from 1949, with Jørgen Thomsen. The launch method was winch and we got up to 1200 feet. During the ascend, I was filming with one hand, holding fast with another, and praying at the same time. It was such an unforgettable flight – with wind in our faces. And I got a new dream – to own and fly a vintage (powered) aircraft, something like Bristol, Tiger Moth or Fokker… I hanged out on the airfield till the very end of the day, and was the last one taking off for home.
The grand party next day was fabulous – gourmet food, great company, and I danced all night long.
On a trip to Colmar, France, earlier this year, I made a new friend – Inge-Merete Thue Riehn (far right on the photo below). Inge-Merete was previously a pilot of many years, with the base in Roskilde flying club. She doesn’t fly by herself any longer, but is still an active member of the club, attends our events, and goes on flying trips. Inge-Merete has a summer house on the island of Lesø, and she often invites other pilots and friends to visit her. In June four of us – Carsten, Inga, John Anthony, and I – went to see Inge-Merete on Læsø, and to celebrate the midsummer there.
On the island, we drove around and visited many interesting places: Vesterø harbour with its marina; Vesterø Church with unique Gothic frescoes from the beginning of 1500; experienced protected area of Højsande; saw unique old Læsø houses with seaweed roofs; visited Lesø Saltsyderi (English: Saltworks) and saw production of salt in accordance with ancient recipes; were swimming in the crystal clear waters for about an hour… Attended the Midsummer festival with a bonfire on a beach. Our crew of five functioned very well together, we had time for each other, and it was a really nice weekend.
Another remarkable big event in 2018 was fly-in on Samsø on the 30th June where we celebrated 90 years of FLYV (English: Fly) – the oldest Scandinavian aviation magazine. Pilots from different corners of Denmark flew in, I also saw aircraft from Sweden and Norway. We all are very happy to subscribe to FLYV, as it is always full of exciting stories and striking photos.
Rune Balle, the chief editor of FLYV, who also manages the Samsø aerodrome, was directing the traffic:
We thanked Rune for keeping FLYV being our favourite aviation magazine.
A trip to the Swedish island Öland in July was planned on a very early morning. Henrik Mahler and I otherwise planned to fly to the Stearman & Friends event in Bienenfarm, Germany, but I wasn’t comfortable with the low ceiling forecasted for the southern Zealand. So we changed direction to Sweden instead. I visited Öland with Per Christensen and other pilots from Sweden earlier in 2018, and wanted to see more of that big island.
With Henrik, we spent the two first days on its northern part that was quite different in its beauty – remote, rocky, rough… We biked around, and visited the picturesque fishing village Byxelkrok; saw the “Tall Erik” lighthouse from 1845, and the Forgalla Skepp which is a Bronze Age ship shaped tumulus, among other things. We finished our tour in Borgholm, a fashionable town on Öland where the Swedish Royal family has their summer castle (Sollidens Slot).
Flying to the UK to experience both RIAT and Duxford Flying Legends air shows in July was so much fun. We were five aircraft from Denmark on that trip. I flew with Anne Rasmussen, my sister in the sky. We did a stopover in Midden-Zeeland, Holland, where we rented a car, drove around and had a wonderful time there. Especially the town of Veere was picturesque.
We all were thrilled to see the beautiful cliffs of the British coast after crossing over The English Channel:
At RIAT, we stayed in a camping site, and had our own “OY-camp” there:
Both shows were spectacular. It is impossible to describe them in short. If you want to see more photos or/and read about this trip on my blog, please search after “UK”, “RIAT”, “Duxford”. One of the Flying Legends at Duxford:
It was quite tough tour, with a couple of obstacles on our way, but we had a great team work, and enjoyed the days spent together.
The Danish island of Anholt is a bit tricky to visit on an ultralight. There is a lot of water around it, you know. You need a safe altitude of 9500 feet. And you also want a reasonably good weather – the island is a long coast line of pristine white sand beaches. On the 26th July a perfect summer day came: it was +32C, sunshine and clear blue skies. Flemming Varmer and I took off early in the morning. We only got permission to fly at 7500 feet both ways, and were “on our own” over the vast waters of Kattegat for some time, and the heaven was with us that day. We biked around, and spent lots of time on the islands’ beaches and in the water:
A flight to Visingsö came as a very nice surprise. In August I went on a flying day in Småland, Sweden, with Varnamo flying club located in Hagshult. We visited several airfields that day – in Västervik, Oskarshamn, Eksjö, and had lunch in the harbour of Västervik. But the first stop was the island of Visingsö where an annual fly-in was held.
We reported several wildfires to the authorities whilst flying over the vast Swedish forests. It was a great fun day, with rapidly changing weather, from sunshine to shower rains and thunderstorms. I got a present from Jon Sandberg who organised the day – a pillow with flying motives that now decorates one of my living rooms.
I visited Gotland with our Danish DC-3 in August, as a passenger. It is always a pleasure to fly such historic aircraft, and to be a part of its association. As a member, you have a chance to come on exciting trips in a small group, and even come to the cockpit in-flight. Mogens and John were our pilots, and with their military background they safely flew us through the weather fronts. During the days we were on Gotland, there was its annual Middle Ages festival. The streets were full with people dressed in medieval clothers, theatre was performed, medieval markets, and many other interesting events. One of the days I rented a car, and went on a Gotland-around-tour. There was much more to see – old churches, small harbours, and of course raukas – the stone formations Gotland is famous for:
In September, Vagn and I went to Bienenfarm, Germany, where the QuaxMeet 2018 was held. Many nice aircraft attended; and I loved this Focke-Wulf FW 44J “Stieglitz”:
We stayed on the German island Rügen for 3 days, and explored it from a rented car. Charming entrance to Cape Arkona:
An airworthy Bristol Fighter F2B from the Battle of Britain I attended in September at Duxford:
It was a two-seat fighter and reconnaissance aircraft, entering service with The Royal Flying Corps in March 1917.
Another very interesting thing I discovered whilst on a trip to the Battle of Britain in Duxford, was The Eagle RAF pub of Cambridge that is famous for its priceless historical ceiling, completely covered with graffiti, with names, initials, and squadrons’ numbers of the WWII airmen.
It showed up that most of the people hanging out there were either pilots or aviation enthusiasts, and many of them were going to see the Battle of Britain as well.
Then there was a Sunday trip to Lübeck in Germany, a World Heritage UNESCO site. One of the old narrow streets of Lübeck:
Tønder in Southern Jutland, Denmark, is also worth mentioning. Vagn and I went on a weekend tour in October there, and were captivated by the history of that town and its surroundings. Stunningly beautiful and richly decorated Kristkirken:
In 2018, Danske Flyvere – one of the oldest association of pilots in the world – slightly changed their admission rules, and I became the first ultralight aircraft pilot to join. On the annual party in November, all of the new members were welcomed to the association in a formal way, with diplomas, badges, and handshakes. Danske Flyvere was established in 1917; it has around 1000 members, 50 of them – women. The organisation has a rich and well-documented history, strong values, and I’m proud to be a part of it.
At the party I met other female pilots, and got photographed with some of them:
The island of Sylt in Germany was long on my wish list. I wanted to visit it off the tourist season, and to have a long weekend there so that I could experience the most of it. I persuaded Vagn Jensen that November was a suitable time to go. We didn’t regret – so good were the days we spent on the island. We rented a car, and truly explored all the different corners of Sylt. We watched sunsets from its beaches in a freezing cold weather, saw the desert and the only one moving dune in Germany, and drank pink champagne every evening (to get warm after our long walks in the nature).
In December, I got an invitation to visit the Fridhem Gaard in Skåne, Southern Sweden. It showed up to be a very charming place: an airstrip on a farm, café with a view to a lake, shops full of fascinating things, two welcoming owners Katti and Anders, and … a hangar with an L-4 inside! This aircraft participated in the WWII! Anders Paulsson is working hard to get his aircraft ready for the D-day celebrations in Normandy in 2019.
December is also the right month to go on a night VFR flight over Copenhagen. Kim Christiansen and I were monitoring the weather for a couple of months. It had to be a starry night with no clouds. And when it finally was there, we were quickly ready to take off. The views surpassed our expectations. We did several rounds over the city, forgetting everything else in the world (except flying the aircraft), recognizing the streets and landmarks in the darkness, and living in the moment. It was my dream to see Copenhagen from air by night, and I will surely do it again – so beautiful it was.
And my last flight in 2018 was also something I dreamed of – white Christmas over Copenhagen. We got snow at Christmas, a thing that almost never happens. I cleared apron of snow, and went flying alone over the white landscapes, and over Copenhagen. The views were simply breathtaking. I couldn’t wish for spending Christmas time in another way.
I want to finish this long post with a huge thank you to all people I had a flight with in 2018:
Without you my life would not be so compete! Wish you all a wonderful 2019 on wings! Till next flight!