Since I started flying some four years ago it was always my ambition to fly to Denmark. Why Denmark? Well my other half is Danish and consequently we are always going there to see family and friends - so why not fly there in Zulu Alpha.
I began to think that I could handle such a trip as I got long distance experience via the Round Britain Rally etc. and I began to purchase the necessary maps and trip kit etc.
As I was flying solo the decision to finally go for it was not made until two weeks before actual departure. Much frantic phoning was done to airfields on route that were not defined as rnicrolight friendly and I was slowly able to decide a route.
It had been strongly recommended to avoid Calais and I decided to make Oostende my first continental stop. I remember ringing them a few days before departure and hearing jets in the background while asking them if they accepted ultralights (microlights). To my amazement they said yes and landing fees were only approx. £10 (B.Fcs 412). This later proved to be a misunderstanding, and was not the only one as will be revealed.
My plan was to get ZA, which is a Thruster T300, ready on Thursday to start early Friday morning to first stop Headcorn before crossing the Channel. However, I decided to make a late dash to Headcorn on the Thursday evening and started the trip badly. I ended up spending the night in a friendly farmer's caravan between Tenterden and Headcorn, as I had to put down because I could not find Headcorn in the murk. Great start!
On Friday flew the ten minutes to Headcorn and fuelled up and filed the flight plan for the crossing. Headcorn - Dover - Cap Gris Nez - Oostende is 96 nautical miles and on the day with E.N.E. winds of 10-12 Kt. there was not a lot to spare. However, the weather was hot and sunny which w as ok but for the thermals. Don't get thermals over the sea? And I put down at Oostende having been in radio contact. I was surprised at the size of the place and have to admit probably using a third of the runway in taking my time in putting down in a 15-kts 60 degree cross wind. A car met me with a sign "follow me" on it, so I did, past all these 737's etc. and I managed to find a little corner of grass to park on where it looked there was a good chance I would not get blown away by a jet. Got fuel, coffee and filed a flight plan for border crossing Belgium to Holland.
I was just about to leave when a car drew up and this smartly uniformed guy started to question me about getting prior permission etc. When I said I had done he clearly did not believe me and said microlights were not allowed at Oostende, Needless to say I left confused.
My next intended stop was Hoeven Seppe in Holland. I intended to fly up the northern end of Holland and Germany into Denmark and so all the airfields are located accordingly. This leg was 67 n miles and at Oostende you have to wait for your flight plan to be accepted which takes an hour or more. This rather delayed my departure time and again I left a bit late in the day bearing in mind the hour difference in time. Although I studied the Dutch and German ICAO's my suspicions became confirmed that they lacked the detail of English and Danish maps. Few towns other than big or capital towns/cities are indicated. The trouble was that other towns of just the same size are ignored and until I got used to this situation (and got to grips with my new GPS) confusion reigned. In the confusion I flew right over Seppe (so I later learnt) and in the murk started to look for somewhere to put down. I was in radio contact with Seppe and an airfield with a large tarmac strip suddenly appeared out of the dusk. There were a couple of gliders on the ground and as I did a circuit l-asked Seppe if they had me overhead to which they replied negative. If they had told me at this stage that I had passed overhead I could have gone back but in the circumstances I was going down. As I began my approach a car with headlights drove out seeming to indicate that I should follow it, which I did and was led round a very big empty airfield to a well-lit hangar full of gliders and one or two Cessnas. A crowd gathered round, who were the glider club, and after the initial greetings told me to prepare for the worst because I had landed at a military air base. Needless to say I was questioned for the best part of two hours by the military police that loved to play their soldier games. But the Dutch are very nice people and when they were sure I was not an IRA bomber they were happy for ZA to be left in the glider hangar.
Several of the Dutch pilots had stayed to help me with the military police, and I had offers of a bed for the night. However, Henriette and my mother were driving to Denmark and they were on hand to pick me up and we stayed the night at a hotel near Seppe.
Next day, Saturday morning, the glider people had invited us back to their clubhouse and they wore a really nice bunch of people. I finally tore myself away from them and after refuelling etc. changed my route plan and phoned the new airfields.
I would make just one stop today and this divas Deventer Teuge in Northeast Holland. This was 58 NM and I landed late afternoon. I had been in radio contact and no sooner had I landed I was surrounded by half a dozen people who found it hard to believe I had flown from England in that".
Teuge is a very pleasant up market airfield with all the amenities but not a microlight in sight. The airfield manager, having given me p.p. then said normally ultralights were not accepted but as I u as here I was welcome. More about Dutch airfields and microlights later.
I was allowed to camp next to ZA and that evening in the airfield restaurant I was treated as a bit of a celebrity. Food and drink were given free of charge and people came up and introduced themselves and had a chat. I crawled into my tent much later than intended having done none of the planned re-routing etc.
Sunday saw first top Barsel in Germany. I would have missed the grass strip but for a bright yellow flex wing just taking off. This was a small little local strip run by an old guy who had lots of flying experience. His plane was kept in one of the sheds but I think, if the truth were known, he did not have a current medical certificate. One of the flexwing pilots spoke English and the old boy lent us his Mercedes so we could drive into the local town to get fuel
The next leg of 69 NM took me to St Michaelisdomm (sic), and now I was very near the Danish border. St Michaelisdomm was a nice neat airfield complete with tower and restaurant, but here I nearly had a disaster. The strip was tarmac but the grass alongside looked perfect so I decided to go for that. As I u as just about to touch down I noticed a change in shade of the grass which otherwise hid an unhealthy size crater. I had to get the power on and the wheels just skimmed the crater top. Next time round I came in on the tarmac. The controller was very helpful with seeing to flight plans and arranged for it not to be necessary to make a further landing in Germany to clear for Denmark.
In mid afternoon I set of for Padborg in Denmark, which I had advised the Danish authorities would be my first Danish stop. The Danes had proved troublesome in giving me permission to fly in their airspace. No permission would be given unless I could prove I was insured third party for 60 million Danish Kroner, which is the equivalent of £6 million. Of course that proved to be impossible to buy in England and in the end I arranged it with Danish insurers. The cost? Danish Kroner 450, or just less than £50. They also said to me that microlights were limited to 30 litres of fuel because "we don't want fireballs up there!" It took me some while to arrange all this and I still had to chase them to issue their bit of paper. Consequently, I was curious as to what I would meet when I landed at Padborg early evening on a glorious summer day.
Padborg is just one tarmac strip with a few outbuildings housing well equipped engineering workshops and a couple of hangars and parked Cessnas. The only people around were 6 members of a flying club flying circuits in a Rans and having a barbecue, to which I was invited. A very pleasant evening was spent before they all went home and I was left to camp on this deserted airfield, miles from anywhere.
I left for final destination Marslet near Aarhus early Monday morning mainly to escape the thermals. This leg was 77 NM. The whole trip had been in glorious weather with the slow moving high-pressure area staying with me all up through northern Europe. The only weather problem had been the thermals. However on this beautiful summer's morning with the sun just up I had the smoothest night possible over what must be one of the flattest countries in Europe.
Marslet is a small village suburb of Aarhus, which is Denmark's second biggest city population just less than 1 million. The Danish 1-5000 map was first class with so much accurate small detail, even the shape of woods was easily definable. It was easy to pick out Marslet after comparison with a road map. The only details I had of this private strip was that it was near power lines and large brick chimney with a white hangar at the end of the strip. The owner Ivar had not been able to advise whether it was north, east, west or south of Marslet so I rang Henriette and asked her to drive there and park the car in the middle of the strip to help me locate it.
Finding Marslet was no problem but after flying around south for 15 minutes I had not located the strip. I then started to look north and quickly spotted the location. The strip bordered on dangerous. It was probably no longer than 150/170 yards with one end bordered by this 30-ft. high hangar and the other end bordered by a road. The strip width was little more than the wing span of Zulu Alpha and cut at the end of a field of 4-ft. high corn. There was only one type of approach for the strip which was slow and low and if coming in at the road end you had to matte sure there would be no traffic that coincided with your approach
So I had arrived and an ambition had been fulfilled albeit at a leisurely pace. I had flown a total of 593 nautical miles and chocks on / off time had been 15 hours 55 minutes. Most of the flying had been into 8 / 10 knots headwind.
I did very little flying in the ten days of the holiday due to primarily the weather which deteriorated to overcast drab days with rain. Just as well really as one w as tempting fate on that strip. The user of the strip flew something akin to an air creation with brakes which had take off / landing rolls of seemingly no more than 50 yards. In the Thruster any aborted take off or go round seemed out off the question.
The day of intended return dawned as yet another overcast day. I did try to leave in the afternoon but had to return as cloud base was less than 1000 ft. Next day dawned sunny and bright and I set off for Padborg about 8 o clock. However after only half an hour's flight I flew into this thick sea mist and was forced to find a field to put down. After landing I thought I noticed a smell and ZA w as a bit muddied. Two Danish farmers appeared and I learnt that they had put slurry on the field the day before. They were really fascinated with ZA and after about an hour of chat they went back to work. The weather was still bad and as I stood there suddenly one of them reappeared with his truck which he said I could use to get petrol and coffee. I did use the truck for that purpose but felt guilty as it was along way into town and on return I had to drive around a bit before I was able to locate ZA.
The weather had brightened enough to tempt me to try again. I was under some pressure to get home by Saturday because we had been invited to a friend's wedding and at this stage I thought I could make it. However I soon flew into more rubbish with cloud base of 750 ft. I had learnt to use the full facilities of my GPS and had pre programmed my intended route home. With a cloud base of 750 ft and visibility of only 1 to 2 miles I flew for the next hour purely on the GPS .Was I glad to see Padborg appear out of the mist. Denmark is probably the only European country that is flat enough to by constantly at less than 1000 ft and not have to worry about land obstruction.
After a tentative landing in a 15-knot 60-degree cross wind I filed a flight plan and refuelled. One thing I could not understand at Padborg was that 100li cost Kr 4.50 whereas pump petrol over the rest of the country was constant at Kr 6.50 per litre. There are Kr 9.60 Danish Kroner to the pound.
I planned the next stop to be St Michealisdonn (sic) as per the way up and it is here that I made another error. I forgot that on the way up the controller had got special permission for clearance at St Michaelisdonn (sic) which did not require me to land at a clearance airfield. However as I had no such special clearance for the return leg landing at St Michaelsdonn (sic) before any custom or immigration clearance was breaking German law. Upon landing the controller, who knew me from the trip up, told me that the authorities had been called and that I should await their arrival.
More delay as this episode took over 2 hours. The short of it was that the two officers decided via their head office to fine me 50 marks but as I had been getting good support from the controllers I started to argue ISC and Schengen treaty, but really I was out of my depth. In the end I offered to pay but only by credit card. This seemed to defeat them and they left saying that if there was a next time, I would not get away with it.
By now it was obvious I would have to stay here for the night and was told I could camp in the control tower garden. As I was pitching the tent the people who ran the restaurant came over and invited me to sleep in their spare room and eat with them. This I did and next morning I was able to shower and invited to breakfast, which was the same menu as the previous evening's meal. Liver pate and heavy German rye bread were not quite so palatable the second time in 12 hours so I settled for the toast and coffee. The weather was overcast with cloud ceiling about 800 ft. it was obvious I was not going to make the wedding tomorrow so whilst waiting for the weather to improve I decided to try and get to a bank for more German cash that I would need. I had quite a lot of conversation with the German controller and I asked him if there was a bank nearby. The reply was to be tossed his car keys and to be given the directions for the 3/4-mile drive into town. I hope some of these people look me up one day, as I would like to return their generosity.
The weather cleared about midday and I set of for Leer Papenborg. I changed my route for the way back as I wanted to find more rnicrolight friendly airfields and had been told that Lelystad in Holland was one of these.
The St Michaelsdonn Leer Papenborg leg w as 76 NM and took me south of Cuxhaven and north of Bremerhaven. There were a few chunks of North Sea inlets to fly over and as I forgot to put my lifejacket on I ended up flying high and hugging the coastline. Leer was difficult to precisely locate being just a grass strip with no activity and no parked planes. I had to get them to talk me overhead before I spotted it.
I refuelled and filed another flight plan for next stop Lelystad in Holland, a leg of 85 NM. The weather was nice now and I moved on as quickly as I could. This leg would have been difficult with just map and compass and the GPS was very handy to confirm course and speed.
Lelystad was not difficult to find but their two microlight strips were not easy to locate until another used it. They were quite a long way from the main parking area and I nearly got lost taxiing because a long bank/mound obscured the main area from sight. I parked the Thruster next to two other microlights and outside a hangar full of which I was assured were all microlights. These included an Albatross with a 912 Rotax engine and all the instrumentation you can imagine. When I queried their weight limits I was told they had the same structure as we had in England. However on this lovely summer's evening none of them were being flown and I later learnt that Holland only had two airfields that accepted microlights.
However at Lelystad the microlights seemed to enjoy a fair chunk of this nice modern airfield including their own fuel pump of ready mixed oil and petrol. When I asked about camping it was suggested I go outside the airfield boundary ' across the road '. I managed to find a suitable place behind a wall out of site of everybody. The airfield only opened at 9 o' clock and when I asked if I could leave earlier I was told that I would have to pay loads of money to get the personnel required for operation re insurance requirements. So 9 o' clock it was and any thoughts of the wedding reception were now out of the question.
The next leg of 89 NM was to Midden Zealand (Middelburg) and I put in a dogleg to avoid the centre of Rotterdam. I just hoped the line I had drawn would be a safe route and I was not disappointed with a fantastic view of Rotterdam in the distance. I also got a friendly buzzing from a Cessna that I caught up with at Midden Zeeland (sic).
Midden Zeeland was a single grass strip with a modern tower and open-air restaurant operated from a caravan. No microlights to be seen on yet another nice day and the Cessna pilot who was waiting for a chat said microlights were normally excluded from the airfield. I had of course received prior permission and the controller was very helpful especially with the filing of the flight plan. I spent my last Dutch currency on coffee and apple pie and decided to give Oostende a ring and push my luck. They had a grass strip of about 600 meters for light aircraft and today would have been into wind. However this time there was going to be no mistake, microlights were not allowed in Belgian airspace and the fact that I was allowed to land there before was a mistake and no I was not going to be given permission a second time.
I sat there a bit stunned because for some reason I had become set on Oostende. Someone then said could I make Calais and I began to draw the line. I then also wondered if the Thruster was the only microlight to have gone into Oostende
I got pp for Calais, which was appearing a better bet than Oostende by the minute and set of on this 81 NM leg after rectification of my flight plan. Did not need to draw a line really, just fly down the Dutch, Belgian and French coasts and look for the airfield behind Calais. My route took me over the top of Oostende and I got a superb view of a 727 taking of over the channel. Flying down the French coast I was on collision course with this strange coloured cloud, which I decided to try to avoid. This I could not do completely and discovered it was the most evil smelling smoke coming from this distant factory complex. Goodness knows what was being emitted into the air and I got away as quick as I could.
Found Calais but got quite a surprise to be told the wind was 15 Kt. 60 degrees cross. Got down but did not enjoy it. I was later told that this was usual for Calais and resisted the comment that they may want to change the runway direction. Having experienced Calais I cannot understand the previous advice I received to avoid it. I had no French francs but they accepted the remaining German currency I had in payment of fuel and landing fees. I got the change in French which enabled me to pay the restaurant a visit for yet more coffee and pie. The restaurant had more English pilots in it than French and I heard rumours of two very recent accidents involving English light aircraft going down in the channel.
It was at Calais that I got my only real problem on the trip and that was with the radio. I have to say that Calais were very patient with me on this problem, which occurred as I was taxiing out to take off for Headcorn. Whilst making the usual calls the radio suddenly went down as I pressed the PT switch. The fault was intermittent and I hesitated, tempted to press on with the channel crossing. However common sense prevailed and I taxied back to investigate.
I spent a desperate two hours before I found the fault and was able to remedy it. In the meantime because the fault was intermittent I had made two other false starts and together with a couple of test calls I must have driven the French controller balmy. On top of this I was only finally ready to go at about the airfield closing time which meant that the poor guy had to stay with me until I was mid channel. However we seemed to part good friends with much expressed gratitude on my part.
As I had forgotten what time Headcorn closed I contacted them almost immediately on take off and it was so reassuring to hear an English voice again. For a period of time at Calais I thought I could be stuck there for at least overnight so it was a relief to get into the air again even though it was a misty summer evening and into a 10 Kt. head wind.
I completed the 51 NM Calais Headcorn leg in an hour and 20 minutes, half of which was spent over the channel. When I saw the white cliffs of Dover I understood the affection with which some people describe them. On my part this was mixed with a lot of relief to be over England's terra firms again.
Headed of for Popham the next day (Sunday) after a lazy breakfast and subsequently flew the 72 NM leg in some of the worst thermal activity I have experienced. I was glad to reach Popham and enjoy the weather and elation I felt with my feet on the ground
For the record the total round trip distance was 1 178 NM which had taken 30 hours 55 minutes flying time. Six European countries had been flown across. The whole trip was an experience that will stay with me for a very long time.