In April 2019 my friend Vagn and I were on a three-week flying trip in Europe that looked approximately like that:
The yellow dot on the photo above is Liechtenstein that I visited alone when we were in Konstanz. The green dot is a part of Serbia we visited together without expecting it. Blue stippled lines indicate the areas I/we explored . The red circles are places where we stayed, and blue dots – where we had breaks. Vagn and I have different interests besides flying, so we built our tour on a compromise – we did something for Vagn, something for me, and sometimes – for both of us. It worked.
We took off from Kræmmersten in Denmark on a very cold -4C and very early morning of Wednesday 10th April. We didn’t know whether we would be able to complete our planned trip – none of us had flown for longer than 10 days before.
In this blog post I will make a very short summary of our 21 days on wings.
Our first stopover was Magdeburg, a peaceful and cosy city in Germany. A weird pink building I liked so much:
Magdeburg had lots of contemporary art on its streets. The weather was much better than in Denmark, or warmer at least. The following morning we were going to fly to Konstanz on the border with Switzerland – because Vagn wanted to visit the annual aero exhibition in Friedrichshafen. We knew that the weather wasn’t going to be good in the southern Germany, so we used our evening in Magdeburg preparing for the flight.
Reaching Konstanz felt like a victory. The stunning view of the city on landing:
We didn’t believe we would be able to reach Konstanz that day, and had plan B and plan C ready. The challenge in Germany is that most of aerodromes have PPR (prior permission required). So you need to call in advance, and agree on landing. Then we also wanted an aerodrome where we could buy MoGas – and there were some of them on our way. We were prepared. En route, I was monitoring the weather, and we slightly adjusted our route near Stuttgart – we flew west of Stuttgart and approached Konstanz from northwest. Vagn and I were so happy when we landed!
The day after Vagn went to Friedrichshafen, and I relaxed in Konstanz – explored the charming streets of the old town, had a stroll by the lake Bodensee, and enjoyed the sunshine. The following day I went on a whole day trip to Liechtenstein.
In Liechtenstein, I wanted to go hiking from Malbun, a mountain village at 1,600 m – but there was so much snow, and hiking simply wasn’t possible!
I listened to the advise of a bus driver – the only person I met on my way to Malbun – and went back to Triesenberg, another village at a lower altitude. From there, I did an easy one hour walk down to Vaduz and saw the Royal Castle:
It was interesting to visit Liechtenstein, and to spend some hours in Vaduz, its capital. It was a mix of few old and a number of super modern buildings, lots of art on the streets, Swiss chocolate, watches, and it was overcrowded with Asian tourists.
Meanwhile in Konstanz, the weather was changing. We had to stay one night longer there – it was raining, the ceiling was too low, and there wasn’t much to do about it. But on Monday 15th it was better, and we took off. First – a quick stop in Tannheim for refuelling, and off we go again – to Czech Republic. Snowy mountains on the border between Germany and Czech Republic, with Grosser Arber – the tallest one:
It was very turbulent all the way, and we climbed to FL75. In Czech Republic, a short break in Strakonice for refuelling again. We were supposed to stay over one night there, but had to cancel due to bad weather in Konstanz. The pilots from the flying club were so kind – they didn’t have MoGas available, but had driven to the nearest gas station, and had 20 litres for us ready. After stretching our legs, having lunch, and seeing their hangars, we hurried further to Slovakia. It was a very beautiful flight, and surprisingly we got permission to fly through all active military areas on our way.
In Slovakia, we landed on a private airfield in Krakovany where I had an agreement with Lubos – the owner of the airstrip and some gorgeous flying machines. Here he is with one of them, that he created himself by using the drawings from Zenair. Lubos reinforced the aircraft according to his own calculations, so that two men of 120 kg each can fly it with a great pleasure together.
We stayed in Piestany – a city in Slovakia, world famous for its spas. We didn’t manage to get to a spa – they were all booked, but we had a two-hours guided tour in the military museum. The museum was closed, but when I called from Denmark a couple of weeks before our arrival and explained that we were two private pilots that were very interested in military history of Slovakia, they kindly offered us an excursion, and for free. The museum was fabulous, but I was asked not to share any photos on social media.
There was another fabulous place in Piestany – a cafe called “Classic Coffee”, and I never in my life tasted so good coffee before! Even the one I make at home from the coffee beans I bought in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica isn’t as perfect as theirs. Therefore, a picture of that coffee shop:
Three days in Piestany went quickly. Our next destination was Balaton lake in Hungary. We have been there before, on one of the tours with Albatros, our flying club in Denmark, and wanted to re-visit that beautiful place. The waters were very green – it must be some special sort of clay or something else. From Balaton, we continued to Szeged – a city in Hungary close to the border with Serbia and Romania.
I had been in contact with the authorities in Serbia and Romania, and with different aerodromes and flying clubs, and planned a visit for us to both countries. Unfortunately, there was some misunderstanding with Serbia from our side, and by the time it was cleared, we were running out of time. So we decided not to fly to Serbia, but to drive in a car to Subotica, a town in Serbia close to the border with Hungary, where we could meet the local pilots, and to see the beautiful nature surroundings. And then to spend five days in Timisoara, Romania.
I attempted to rent a car in Szeged, but no cars were available. What do you do then? Vagn spotted a classic music concert – and we spent a wonderful evening in Szeged Philharmonic. It was Easter, and I expected music suitable for the occasion, but it was something completely different, and it was simply a fantastic concert.
In Romania, we had to enter via an international airport, and Timisoara was our choice. Again, I was in contact with the airport authorities, and with Menzies Aviation that helped us with all practicalities.
Timisoara welcomed us, and we got a parking place by the side of passenger airliners:
It was a windy day, and the wind was going to get stronger. There wasn’t any hangar place available, and no parking on the grass – where we would be able to tie the aircraft down. So the authorities recommended we flew to Cioca, a small GA aerodrome nearby, and park there. We couldn’t get in contact with anyone from Cioca, there wasn’t any info about the runways, elevation, etc. in Cioca, and Timisoara airport helped us again. They found a phone number of someone who sent a man to Cioca to meet us. And while we were on our way to Cioca, the Timisoara Tower found and gave us the directions of the runways, and the weather information. Vagn landed his Rans in 17 kts cross wind!
Timisoara surprised us with sunshine, warm weather, and lots of happy people and flowers on the streets. It was easy to discover that famous street embellished with colourful umbrellas I saw many times on others’ pictures before:
In Timisoara, I finally succeeded – with the help of our local host – to get into a spa, with massage, facial, jacuzzi, etc. It was very nice, something I craved for. Then I booked a couple of tours for us, and it was exciting to spend two full days with the private guides, exploring Romania. The place I liked most from our first day was a unique church in Transylvania – Densus Church, built in the 7th century. It was very special inside, like no other churches, and with the remains of ancient paintings on the walls and ceiling.
On a tour another day, we were on a boat trip on Danube river, and – we crossed the border to Serbia to see some of its historical treasures! That was an unexpected gift. I was so sorry we didn’t visit Serbia, and here we were!
We saw so much on our two days with the guides, we were completely exhausted after that! But one place I remembered very well – a small mountain town called Baile Herculane, in the Banat region of Romania. It has been a spa town for centuries, and has many beautiful buildings from the old times that are being restored.
Well, it was time to leave amazing Romania. The weather was becoming unstable, with rain and strong gusts. We spent almost all night preparing for the flight back to Hungary, and we also needed to coordinate with the authorities both on the Romanian and Hungarian sides. Our original plan was to fly to the eastern part of Hungary, and later – eastern part of Slovakia, but the weather wasn’t good there, and we had to make quick changes. It seemed that the only way to get to Hungary was to fly as early as at all possible to Szeged, and then stay there and wait for a better weather.
We had to leave via an international airport, and our aircraft was parked in Cioca. We got to Cioca 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.
The wind forecasted in TAF was from 08:00 local time going to be up to 40 kts gusts. In Timisoara International they new we needed to take off early, and also to land in Szeged before the winds would hit this area – we had communicated during the night. All passport control, customs, and everything was done super fast and professional. We reached Szeged before its opening time (which is at 08:00), the air traffic controller met up earlier, and we landed in headwind with gusts up to 30 kts, and by the time we reached the tower on foot, they increased up to 40 kts.
It was nice to be back – we already knew people at the airport, even the policemen that did passport control were the same. We also knew the city, but were tired. I didn’t want to have dinner, and went to bed early, to get a good rest.
Our plans were changed, the weather was quite windy in places we wanted to visit; so we decided to go to Budapest – at least it was on our way to Plasy in Czech Republic where we were going to spend several days. We landed in Budaörs, a GA airport close to Budapest. Glorious parking place between two Antonov:
Budapest was nice; we simply enjoyed the day out in the old town where we stayed.
On the way to Plasy next day Vagn proposed to make a stop in Kunovice, and to see an open air aviation museum. We spent a couple of hours there, appreciating +28C and the beautiful aeroplanes.
The museum was small and we liked its size – we didn’t want to spend a day there. There was a very good cafe on the site, with lots of healthy choices, and we loved that crunchy salad we both chose, sitting at a table in the garden.
We landed in Plasy later that day – I finally reached it, after cancelling my flights past two years due to weather. We stayed there several days, and among other things had a very interesting guided tour of Plasy monastery that had a state of the art building structure on oak piles, and a sophisticated water pressure system:
Plasy aerodrome is known for hosting an annual airshow, the biggest in the western part of the country. We attended, of course – that’s why we came to Plasy – and it was really good. With Iveta and Vojta, our hosts and new friends from Czech Republic:
After Plasy, we spent two nights at Oehna airport in Germany, staying in one of their huts by the runway side, and used the rainy day of 29th April for sight-seeing in Jüterbog, a charming old town.
On the 30th of April the weather became good again. Vagn and I headed home – I had to be back at work on the 1st May.
We had a lunch stop in Neustadt-Glewe, Germany, where we saw an airworthy Antonov. And when we later landed on Vagn’s home airfield Kræmmersten in Denmark, we couldn’t believe our eyes: the field by the runway’s side was covered in yellow bright blooming rapeseed flowers. When we left for this tour, we didn’t even notice that something was growing there. It was -4C on the day of our departure, and now +23C! Quite a difference!
What was best on this tour? The people we met that helped us on our way; the experiences we gained from flying three weeks; and the fact that the tour could be completed without major deviations.
The difficult part sometimes was collaboration: when two pilots have different opinions on how a flight should be planned, performed, or coordinated. And then of course being three weeks together even with a good friend is not always easy. We managed everything!
When we took off for this tour, we didn’t know whether we would be able to complete it. But we had a common goal, we did our homework, and we succeeded. A confirmation that success is not luck, and everything is possible.