Avoid Mönchengladbach (EDLN). A weird place.
Why? I fly there at least half a dozen times a year and have always found them excellent in every way. The only weird thing there is that they have no commercial traffic despite their great facilities.
Experiences may vary, of course, but in the german pilot circles, their ATC has gained a negative reputation. Basically for being overly fussy with procedures and R/T and for “lecturing” pilots via radio.
All this while there is virtually no traffic (only some ATPL flying school activity). Businesswise, over the last ten years the airport has failed miserably as a commercial airline airport. Many say that the aforementioned ATC manners have to do with that, i.e. they still have the attitudes of an airline airport, thereby scaring away there only remaining customers: general aviation.
As you say, experiences will vary but I have never had a problem of the type you quote. Actually my estimate of how often I have flown in there was low: I have just checked my logbook and was surprised to see that I have actually landed there 51 times. As I said in my earlier post, I have always found them extremely helpful and never had the slightest problem with ATC.
Not just ATC mind you but the two repair facilities they have there have each dug me out of a hole once out of hours and the Verkehrsleitung were happy to get my plane pushed into a hangar when the weather forecast turned bad while I was parked there. They also have Avgas available and the service is efficient and there’s a decent cafe / restaurant where locals come to eat and a regular bus from outside the terminal.
I can well understand that it’s struggling commercially because there isn’t much traffic there but, for GA pilots like us, that’s probably an advantage!
I have to say, I’d recommend it.
A PLB does exactly the same thing. It seems that a portable ELT is a PLB.
This is not true, an ELT has automatic activation, normally by G force, but sometimes by water, or both. They can be manually activated aswell.
A PLB is activated manually. It won’t get activated during a crash. Especially when flying above water a combination of both would be best. If you fly over water a lot, a Kannad Safelink could be a good addition. These will activate a beacon which is visable on the AIS system, which most larger vessels use. These vessels can see you location and that you are in an emergency. AIS is the ADS-B of marine, or ADS-B the aviation version of AIS.
The Netherlands requires an ELT for any international flights. The aircraft that I fly doesn’t have one, but I do have a PLB (Which doesn’t count as far as the Dutch are concerned).
Has anyone ever sought an exemption from the Dutch for this? If so, was it approved or denied?
I know it’s not a major concern for the Dutch, and they’ve said as much themselves, but none the less it’s the law there.
let sleeping dogs lie The law says you need an elt to cross the fir boundary, not for flights withinthe country and none of our neighbours mandates an elt
Mode S is required inThe Netherlands above 1200ft
In Germany you need an ELT since January 1st, 2010. For aircraft based in Germany, that is.
You might borrow an ELT. Is 406 MHz mandatory?
Oww, and most important with ANY PLB, ELT (or EPIRB for nautical) make sure it is registered correctly, keep records up to date, and re-registered if required!
A non 406 MHz ELT is useless nowadays, as SAR will use the 406 MHz to get into action.
121.5 MHz is still being used, only to home in to your signal. The 406 MHz signal is just giving a rough indication of your position, and gives your aircraft identify. Therefore it is VERY important to have an ELT (or PLB, or EPIRB for marine) registered correctly.
If you should borrow or rent and ELT or PLB be sure it is registered correctly for your usage.
