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VFR trough Germany

Our local aeroclub, NNAC, had a club-flight last Saturday and I was invited to join as a passenger. The plan was to make a trip to five aerodromes in Germany, with legs of around 50 minutes flying time.
I picked up my pilot in Groningen and we made the short trip to Groningen Airport were the visability was less than 500 meters in mist... The weather forcast promised a beautifull sunny day and very soon the mist was gone and we went to the FIO to make flightplans for all legs.
The first part of the trip was flown in Piper Archer PH-TGF, the other participants took PH-TGH, a Cessna 172.

PH-TGF in front of the NNAC-hangar, ready for boarding!

The first leg took us to Dinslaken/Schwarzerheide just north of the "Ruhrgebied". Special rules for the whole of Germany were in force due to the Football-madness currently going on. Flying over/near stadiums and team-accomodations was strictly prohibited. Dinslaken is rather close to the stadium in Bottrop and the airfield was due to close down later, before the beginning of the game. We were well in time (landing around 11.15) so no problems. Here a shot of our final approach (sorry for the GPS antenea!)

After a coffee it was time to get on board again for the next flight. Destination: Siegerland, north of Frankfurt. The NOTAMs told us that the airport was PPR (Prior Permission Required) due to limited parking space. A phone call to the airport assured us of this permission.
The flight to Siegerland was beautifull, we could see a lot of old industrial sites in the Ruhrgebied and also some nice nature. Took a lot of pictures but wanted to share this one, can you spot the steam train?

Whilst turning final at Siegerland we spotted several larger aircraft on the apron. After landing we were told that a follow-me car would pick us up and take us to the grass runway for parking. Something going on here? After switching off the engine a VIP-bus arrived with a charming lady to take us to the terminal. She told us that Siegerland was used for overflow Football traffic for Frankfurt! A lot of businessjets were parked all around the small airport and even some ATR's and Canadair Jets! Most VIP-passangers were taken to Frankfurt by helicopter to view the match England - Paraguay.

Hey, I am in this picture! (far left, photo taken by Frits, our pilot)

Auringy flew in a group of soccer fans with this ATR72

As it was lunch time we settled on the terras and had a cold drink with good food. During our lunch a NetJets Gulfstream arrived bringing more football fans.

Siegerland Tower + Terminal
After having payed the landing fees (only EUR 10) the charming lady drove us back to the grass runway, but not after she had shown us around to see some more aircraft. Of interest was this nice Piper Cheyenne in full Alitalia colours, but without engines. The airport has a Piper maintenance facility.

Next stop: Eisenach/Kindel, west of Erfurt. Also time to refuel the aircraft. It saves some money to refuel in Germany as AvGas is quite expensive in The Netherlands...

The local parachutist club has a nice aircraft, an ex-Kenian Air Force Dornier 28, fitted with turboprops! It refueled after us so a good oppertunity for a photo:

The following leg took us over the Harz-mountains with the highest tops around 4000 feet. On top of the Harz was this former East-German/communist listening post:

After this high terrain we went lower again to land at Salzgitter/Drütte, the smallest aerodrome of today with a runway of only 550 meters. The circuit is quite complicated as there is some heavy industrie (and a mega big IKEA distribution-centre) around the field.



final approach to Salzgitter/Drütte

Not a lot going one at the airfield. Besides us only two other aircraft were present and they departed 10 minutes after arrival. However, the local aeroclub could provide us with some cold drinks :-)
Now it was time to switch aircraft. We boarded Cessna 172 PH-TGH for the next flight, to Damme, near Osnabrück. Up to now we were the first to land with the 10 kts faster Piper. We were the first to depart and after take off I made this shot of Salzgitter aerodrome with PH-TGF ready for taxi:

The flight to Damme took 48 minutes, flying just south of Hannover Airport, staying well clear of their area off course... We flew a wide downwind at Damme and I was able to get the whole airport in one picture:

Altough early evening, a lot activity was going on at this airport. Here also a nice parachutist aircraft, a "new" Shorts Skyvan of well known Austrian operator Pink Aviation. As with all their aircraft the colours were quite nice:

We had a quick drink because of the closing time of the aiport (20.00) and the closing time of our final destination, Groningen/Eelde (21.30). During the drinks the Skyvan got airborne, dropped some 20 parachutists and returned with a spectacular dive.


The flight home took some 40 minutes and we landed on runway 01, the "short" runway at Groningen/Eelde.

On finals for runway 01. Dirty window because we killed a lot of flies :-)
Thanks Frits and Erik for the flying!

Peter