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‘Sun ‘n’ Fun the Scandinavian Way’ was the headline on the letter in the April issue of Today’s Pilot describing a fly-in at Starmoen airfield in Norway.  That sounded intriguing.  I took up flying three years ago and exploring Europe by air rapidly became a passion.  This account looked as if it was just the right excuse to go somewhere a little different.

The description of Norwegian flying was enticing, with tales of uncrowded skies, quiet airfields, fjords, bush strips and, most tempting of all, moose-burger barbecues!

It sounded like the perfect antidote to the long grey winter we had just endured in England, and apart from taking a Cessna 150 to Alicante in January, I hadn’t been away on a long trip for months.  I’ve always felt that there is a special romance about long journeys and this one sounded as if it would be a great start to the summer’s flying.

The event is one of a series organised by the Norwegian Aero Club, known by the English title of GAP (for Good Aviation Practice) Weekends from an idea imported from New Zealand.  The format is a mixture of a social fly-in, some competitive events and a range of training seminars and lectures for all levels of pilots.  The idea is to get together to have fun, learn something new, and do as much flying as possible.  After an e-mail exchange with its helpful organiser Torkel Jodalen, one of the ever-helpful organisers, I was registered.

My transport was my CT2K microlight.  It is a permit aircraft so permission was required from most of the countries I’d be visiting.  The web sites of the BMAA and the European Microlight Federation furnished me with contact addresses and the whole process proved remarkably quick and painless.  I sent my requests by e-mail and had replies from the Swedish and Norwegian authorities within 48 hours and the others within a week.  The Dutch charged €45 (about £30) and the Danish third-party insurance requirements meant a £50 add-on to my policy, but those were the only bureaucratic costs.

I planned to fly from London to Denmark for the first night, and to Stockholm for the second to visit a fellow CT pilot there, do some sightseeing and then carry on to Norway in the middle of the week, allowing a day in reserve for delays.

Saturday – London to Denmark

As usual, the weather kept me on tenterhooks, but Saturday May 15 dawned fine and clear with good visibility for the sea crossing.  It's always a relief to actually set off on a trip that has involved a lot of planning and anticipation, and it felt good to get airborne and point the CT east.

It didn’t take long until Harwich slipped behind as I headed out over the water with 120 miles ahead of me to the Dutch coast north of Amsterdam.

I didn’t bother trying to climb to any great altitude since anything short of a truly Himalayan height wouldn’t have put me within gliding range of land.  As it was, the Rotax 912S purred contentedly all the way across, maintaining a steady 115kts for the crossing.  I’m sure the CT was as keen as I was to go on an adventure and it didn’t seem any more interested than me in an early dip in the uninviting waters below.  A good thing, too, as apart from some oil rigs there was little down there to come to the rescue.

I had been over the sea for an hour when the Dutch coast came into view.  The most striking feature, apart from all the canals and rivers, was the number of wind turbines dotting the landscape. I stopped briefly at Lelystad, just to the east of Amsterdam, and was soon on my way again with both aircraft and pilot refuelled and a new flight plan filed.

The next leg involved another 100 miles over water as I routed over the German Bight, passing over the two islands of Helgoland (one complete with a the comforting sight of an airfield) on the way.  On reaching land, I was greeted by more long rows of wind turbines, standing guard like sentinels along the coast.  Very soon afterwards, my last border crossing of the day took me into Denmark to land at the small grass airfield at Tønder.  The field had been recommended to me by another British pilot and was a good choice – a helpful airfield and a pleasant town for the night.

Sunday – Denmark to Sweden

From Tønder I flew east to the Swedish border to land at Höganäs, a small grass airfield that seemed to be entirely deserted.

There I suffered my first and only mechanical problem when the aircraft's flaps failed to respond when I tried to lower them for landing. The cause turned out to be a single loose wire, later remedied in minutes – but I didn’t discover that until the next day, and my first attempt to land on the short runway at my next stop of Fagerhult resulted in a go-around.  I had been invited to a fly-in there and so had the bonus of an audience who had been told to expect a visitor from afar and had gathered to watch the arrival.  I was warmly greeted in perfect English by fellow CT owner Tom Johansson and the others there.  I was to find this impeccable English typical of most people I was to meet in Scandinavia.

After a happy couple of hours at Fagerhult, the journey onwards to Stockholm took just over two hours of flying over the beautiful Scandinavian forest landscape.

I arrived at Barkarby airfield on the outskirts of Stockholm to be greeted on the radio by CT pilot Hasse Jörnén and to enjoy another great welcome from everybody there, again in excellent English.  I felt embarrassed that rudimentary French was my only other language.  Monday was my ‘tourist day’ in Stockholm, and I walked for hours, enjoying a fine day in a beautiful city.

 

Tuesday – Sweden to Norway

After spending a couple of minutes restoring the flaps to life, I bid Hasse goodbye and set off into a strong wind for Norway.  The wind, combined with the warmth and the undulating terrain, caused some significant turbulence and it was a rough ride as I had to remain low under the direction of Stockholm Control.

As I flew further away from the city, I left behind the airspace limitations and was free to climb.  I tried FL045, then FL065 and finally FL085 before I found smooth air.  As I travelled west I was thinking about the flying I had done since my first lesson exactly three years before, and of the many people and places it has introduced me to.

I thought about the first time I made a water crossing – it was only across the Solent to the Isle of Wight, but when I did it, just a month after getting my licence, I planned it with as much care, and certainly more trepidation, than now goes into a trip like this one.

It's funny how quickly we learn to take for granted the miracle of being able to get into our little machines, climb off into the sky, and cross countries and continents.  I felt a growing bond with my microlight, and the further we went together the stronger the bond grew.  I was pleased that the problem with the flaps had been so easily solved – not because it made that much difference to flying the aircraft, but because it was a minor source of friction in our relationship; a misunderstanding which was now resolved.

A little over two hours into the journey I crossed the border into Norway, although only the GPS could really tell.  Twenty minutes more and it was time to start back down into the bucking air currents below.

As I joined the circuit, I could see from the windsock that it was going to be very much a crosswind landing.  The runway is a narrow 8m, and the wind was almost straight across it and blowing at least 20 knots.  The CT handles crosswinds well because of its very good rudder authority, so the landing was fine, though I did get some exciting moments over the trees at the threshold, and I wouldn't award myself too many style points for the touchdown.

Aleksander Aaland, one of the GAP organisers, drove me into nearby Elverum, where I checked into my hotel.  Elverum is a small town with a slightly dusty air and shops with names like 'Madame Chic' for a women’s outfitters where fashions probably move at a gentle pace.  Fortunately for me it also has quiet roads that you can cross safely even if you look the wrong way for traffic!

The day finished with a barbecue at the airfield, and a beer or two that felt well worth even the Norwegian price.

Wednesday – Elverum

Since I hadn’t had to use my reserve, I was a day early for the event and so I did some exploring on my own.  I headed up to the northeast for about 50 miles to see the ski resort of Trysilfjellet before returning to Starmoen for an afternoon spent talking with the other pilots and planning the rest of the week.

Thursday – day trip to Røros

One of the features of the GAP Weekend events are the trips organised to interesting places in the area.  The first day offered the 'Mountain Experience' which involved a trip up to the small town of Røros 100 miles to the north.  It was a beautifully fine morning at 7am, but by the time I set off at about 11am there was a mixture of rain and snow showers about.  I had to dodge a few of those on the way, but since I was carrying all the food for the barbecue there was no question of turning back!

Røros lies on the same river as Elverum, so navigation was easy, and after about an hour I called up the tower and was cleared to land straight away.  However, the controller greeted me with the news that visibility was 1,000 metres in falling snow and that the runway lights were at maximum intensity.!

As my UK IMC rating is not valid in Norway, in a microlight, or in that level of visibility I remained in VMC and practised the one aspect of the rating that was useful in the circumstances – flying one of the airfield’s holding patterns.  A few minutes of that and the shower had passed.

We arrivals from Starmoen took shelter in the local flying clubrooms for a short time and then went back outside to have our barbecue in the snow – a Norwegian variation on the British tradition of having them in the rain!

In fact, Iit wasn't too bad, as the weather seemed to alternate between bright sunshine and snow on a 15-minute cycle.

After lunch we were taken on a guided tour of Røros, a small town built for copper mining in the 17th century and dominated by one of Norway's largest churches.  A fast-flowing river runs through the centre, and altogether it is an attractive town in the midst of a fairly barren landscape.

 

The journey home was straightforward as the weather had improved and there were fewer showers to dodge.  I took an easterly route and had great views of the large lake at Femunden from 5,000ft.

Back at Starmoen I wanted to finish off the day with a flight that I couldn’t do in a microlight in England.  Even though we were well south of the Arctic Circle, it was still twilight at midnight, and perfectly light a couple of hours before that.  Benny Jensen, one of the other pilots, came along as my passenger and we took off after 10pm for a beautiful flight to a nearby lake and back.

Friday – bush strips and moose-burgers

Another day, another great flying experience!  I joined several other aircraft for a trip to a small bush strip near the village of Ljørdalen, close to the Swedish border. This was to be the occasion of the moose-burger barbecue that had played such an important part in drawing me all the way from England.

I had a passenger today – Nils-Petter Aaland, father of Aleksander of the organising team.  We set off at 10:30am and headed east towards the border.  About halfway there, we passed a dirt strip at Trysil.  It seemed a shame to waste it so we landed there just for the sake of it.

Back in the air, we continued to Ljørdalen where we'd been warned to be careful to identify the strip correctly since there is an inviting-looking road right next to it which is straight and smooth.  The actual runway was the strip of dirt nearby, which is neither straight nor smooth.

Runway identified, we were soon bumping along the ground on what looked and felt like a small forest track.  It was wonderful – just the kind of thing I'd hoped to experience in Norway.  The sight of the taildraggers coming in seemed particularly fitting – it was just what I’d imagined backcountry flying to be like in remote places.

As soon as the aircraft were parked, it was time to try the moose-burgers.  They turned out to be very good and the surroundings were lovely – forest and hills all around with a river running through the valley.

Saturday – ‘GAP Games’

Today had been the day for a trip west to the fjords but, in spite of good weather at Elverum, a front which had stubbornly sat over the west of the country all week made the journey impossible.

As an alternative I joined one of the organised 'GAP Games' events.  This involved flying a set route and completing various tasks along the way. The first stop was Maarud, an unusual airfield in that it is located in the grounds of Norway's first, and largest, potato crisp factory. That doesn’t sound very promising, but in reality it was a delightful grass strip nestled in the bend of a river with a beautiful approach over the water to the threshold.

The next stop was at the town of Hamar for a precision taxying task before everyone except me headed back to Starmoen.

I flew further north to visit Frya, a little airfield tucked into the bottom of a beautiful steep-sided river valley upstream from Lillehammer.

I landed at a deserted Frya and stayed just long enough to take some pictures before heading back, climbing steeply out of the floor of the valley and up over the hills.

 

That evening there was a big farewell meal in the main tent.  It was a chance to enjoy some traditional Norwegian food, say goodbye to everybody, and thank the organising team.

 

Sunday – Norway to the Netherlands

Sunday morning dawned and it was time to start heading home.  After a truly memorable week’s flying I was genuinely sad to be leaving Norway.  The people I had met there had been strangers a few days earlier but now they seemed like old friends.

I flew down to the west of Oslo and on to Denmark.  It was a lovely day and I had a great panorama of snow-capped mountains to the west and, a little later, Oslo itself in the distance to the east.

All too soon I left the Norwegian coast behind.  As I started the 80-mile crossing I could make out the coast of Sweden in the distance and could see Denmark from a long way out in the clear air.

 

I landed at the northern town of Aalborg and considered my next move.  It’s a situation I love – a set of charts in front of me and the freedom to fly almost anywhere.  I decided that I might as well take advantage of the strong northerly wind and just keep going.

I’d often heard good things about the airfield on the northern Dutch island of Texel, so I decided that I’d go there for the night.  I followed the coast down to the German border and from there re-traced my route via Helgoland to Gronningen then west to Texel.  I landed late in the afternoon, having covered 1,000km since leaving Elverum that morning.  Not a bad achievement for a microlight.

The airfield was winding down for the day and it was a lovely afternoon, warm and sunny.  The CT was treated to a space in the hangar, and I treated myself to a beer on the terrace.

The airfield organised a hotel for me and a bicycle to get there.  Texel is a mixture of gentle agricultural land and nature reserve and is threaded throughout with cycle paths, so it was a peaceful ride to the little village of De Koog for the night.

 

Monday – Home Again

Going home I decided to follow the coast rather than heading straight across the sea, so I simply pointed the CT south and followed the beach to Calais.

Flying low again meant that I had a wonderful view of the landscape and the towns I passed, including Zeebrugge, Den Haag, and the port of Vlissingen.

 

I reached home base late in the afternoon, a time when a grass airfield in summer is a lovely place – but, in the famous words of Monty Python, I was already pining for the fjords again.

The trip was undoubtedly the highlight of my flying experience so far.  Scandinavia offers stunning scenery, unfailingly helpful people and, for English speakers, no language problems.  The GAP event in particular was a model of friendly and efficient organisation.  I genuinely can’t think of how they could have done anything better.  If you do only one long trip next year, try and make it to Starmoen in 2005!

 

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