Norderney, here we are !
Summertime is flying time. The weather is under influence of a low pressure system over Scotland, bringing many Thunderstorms and heeps of rain over the Beneluc. I therefore have to very precisely time my flight from Genk to Norderney. I am hesitating because of heavy winds. A call with my Flight Instructor Kristof Goosssens convinced I can give it a try. And so, I take off at Genk Zwartberg heading north at high speeds
CB over Norderney
From Genk-Zwartberg to Parma (Part 1) : the departure
A new engine for the Mooney
I drive to Hasselt to visit my mother, who’s 89 years old now. After staying overnight at her house together with my son, my mother drops me off the next morning at the Genk-Zwartberg airfield. Today, we are going to pick up the Mooney of our flying club. The plan is to fly the Mooney to Luxembourg, whilst trying to land on the new Parking 5 which just reopened for General Aviation visiting pilots
Private flight to Fayence : flying back to Luxembourg :
Return delayed due to bad weather
Bad weather followed us to Fayence and the next day looks really bad. Impossible to take off again and so we have to wait until the sun appears again the next day.
Part 4: From Castellane (ES) to Almeria (ES)
Southern Spain
Franky and me enjoyed a lot flying around the Spanish coastline. We rapidly approached Almeria where we considering making another fuel stop. There was a bit more wind in the Almeria region, but the views were absolutely stunning.
Melilla: yes or no ?
Continue reading “Part 4: From Castellane (ES) to Almeria (ES)”Part 3: From Béziers (Fr) to Castellane (ES)
The longest day
This May 2nd became a day to be full of adventurous flying. Every team topped up their planes with AVGAS as we’ll have to cross most of Spain. There will be no AVGAS available for our planes in Melilla, so I planned to make a fuel (and toilet) stop somewhere in between Southern France and Southern Spain. I choose landing in Castellane (LECH).
Part 2 : Macon (FR) to Beziers (FR)
Taking it easy
On May 1st, our group of AOPA Luxembourg planes (8 in total) was all supposed to land in Béziers in Southern France. That would be the first gathering of our group. As we were already ahead as being in Macon, we took it from the relaxed side on this Labour day. I took only off just before noon towards Béziers.
In the past, I’ve used the low altitude VFR corridor East of Lyon to cross to this narrow area. This time I climbed out to a Flight Level and following IFR waypoints, we passed Lyon from the Western side leaving the hills and mountains under us. The excellent weather proved to be helpful.
Part 1 : Genk-Zwartberg (BE) to Macon (FR)
Departure in Genk
Our fly-out to Melilla starts ! By late Tuesday April 30th in the afternoon, our Mooney got out of the 100 hours maintenance by Smets aviation at the Genk-Zwartberg airfield. Ready to go !
As I learned from the french AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) and the NOTAM’s (notice to Airmen) that there are plenty of military exercises on this April 30th on my route towards France, I managed to speak to a French Army captain who informed me that after 6pm, the exercises are over for the day. He learned me that no exercises were any planned above Flight Level 75 on my route. The weather outlook was favorable (scattered clouds) and so we took off around 6pm local time quite heavy packed.
Preparation for Melilla
Only a couple of days to go prior that our UPL-AOPA Luxembourg group flying to Melila starts. The trip will be more than 2200 Nautical miles all together, to be performed in 4 flying days. Quite intense to say the least.
I intend to fly with the Mooney M20J , with call sign OO-LVT starting in Genk Zwartberg (EBZW) where it is based. I received a call that the plane of which the engine and propellor are to be replaced this spring, will undergo on the last two days of April its 100 hour maintenance.
Continue reading “Preparation for Melilla”Preparing for Melilla : crosswind exercise
We’re preparing for the UPL-AOPA flyout to Melilla scheduled on May 1st, 2019, which I intend to fly with the Mooney M20J of Limburgse Vleugels. In order to be “well-prepared” with this Mooney, I try to fly it more often nowadays after a forced break last winter due to a license admin issue.
This Sunday afternoon, I invited my nephew and student-pilot for the Melilla fly-out, Franky Coene to join me for a short flight from Genk Zwartberg to Mönchengladbach. A short but intense flight as we have to contact Brussels Info to activate the flight plan, as Beek Tower for a crossing clearance for the Maastricht CTR. Then switch to Langen Info, watch out for intense glider activity and finally prepare for landing at Mönchengladbach. We focused on using the Garmin GTN 750, a really nice tool.
The reason to fly to Mönchengladbach is because they had this Sunday a full (90° degrees ) crosswind blowing, the same crosswind as what Melilla’s airfield is know for. With this Mooney the maximum demonstrated crosswind is only 11 knots, whereas a Cessna 172 can go to a demonstrated crosswind of 15 knots.
It was great and fun exercise
