As the weather was scheduled to be pretty good today, I decided to finally take the challenge and fly to Helgoland. Up until now, my shortest runway has been around 500m long, mainly I tend to take off and land on strips with a length of around 600 – 800m. Helgoland has 3 runways, the longest of which is 480m long, the shortest is just 258m. To this extent, pilots may only fly to the island once they have a minimum of 100 hours experience as PIC and also experience with short runways. Also, sea lions sometimes tend to come out of the sea and wander across the runways, at which point the airfield can be closed temporarily whilst they are removed.
What can go wrong when attempting to land at Helgoland can be seen in the following video:
That approach was made on runway 21 – 371m long.
Helgoland is a popular resort for Germans due to the fact that it is 40km from the coast of Germany and remains the only German North Sea Island still able to offer both duty and tax free goods for sale – 200 cigarettes cost between €29 and €35, depending on the brand, fans of whiskey / other alcohol will love the range of products offered.
For pilots, however, the most important fact is fuel – LL100 costs €1.94 / litre – however due to their location, they don’t always have fuel available, it’s always best to check in – a quick look at the airport homepage will give you an idea as to how readily available the fuel is.. They don’t have Mogas. Landing fees are relatively moderate – I paid €11 for a P28A, there are no fees for parking.
Waking up this morning, I looked at the GAFOR and it looked to be a perfect day with most of North Germany being Charlie:
Delta- Echo Lima Kilo Charlie was fuelled the night before and just after 9:30 I departed Hamm, climbing through air which had yet to warm enough to create thermic activities, soon I was crossing Muenster’s Delta (non CTR) airspace in 4000 feet, climbing up to FL55 with a Ground Speed of around 130 knots due to a fairly moderate South West wind:
Unfortunately North Germany is relatively flat, the only real change to the scenery is the Teutoburger heights close to Osnabrueck:
About 40 minutes into the flight, I was greeted by the following sight:
This is the old Fliegerhorst Jever, unfortunately it was closed in September 2013, as far as I’m aware, no decisions have been made as to the future of the infrastructure here.
About an hour after starting, I descended to Wangerooge and landed here, intending to ring Helgoland and check the weather, there were forecasts of 35 – 50 knot winds in the area and before committing to continue onwards, I wanted to check what I was letting myself in for. One phone call later, I was told the wind was around 15 – 20 knots at 200 degrees, that runway 21 was in use (371m). Paying my landing fee at Wangerooge, I headed off and 12 minutes later, I was pleased to see the two Islands of Helgoland come into view:
The flatter island – Dune – is where the Airport is located; this is a view approaching from the south.
Another picture turning base for Runway 21, here you can easily see the A formed by runways 24, 21 and 15 with the Island of Helgoland in the background.
Once you’ve landed and paid your landing fees, there’s not much to do on Dune – unless you want to have a meal at the restaurant there, wander on the beach looking for sea lions or possibly watch and record the approaches of the incoming aircraft – so the best thing to do is take a stroll to the harbour and catch the ferry across to the main island.
It takes around 10 minutes to walk from the airport to the harbour, the ferry departs once an hour from the main island on the hour and returns immediately. The trip takes around 5 minutes so if you land in Helgoland around 10 to the hour, be prepared to spend half an hour getting bored. The airfield is closed between 12 and 2:20pm local. The ferry costs €5 per return trip – you pay by buying a ticket at the Landungsbruecke on the main island before boarding the ferry for the return.
The island is split into two main parts – the area close to the harbour is at sea level and has a number of hotels, restaurants and smaller shops there. Additionally, at the top of the island, there are further hotels and restaurants plus a path around the island. For those fit enough, you can climb the stairs to the top of the island otherwise there is a lift (costs 60c per trip, per person).
Once at the top, if you follow the path around the top of the island you’ll find firstly the Berlin Bear, showing the distance and direction to Berlin:
Further, there are other small pyramids along the route which give you information about the history of the Islands, but what stuck out was a monument to Werner Heisenberg recognising his work in quantum mechanics yet he was neither born on the island, he didn’t study on the island nor did he ever live on the island, as far as I can ascertain – seems strange for a memorial to a man to be erected in a town he has never visited or has no connection with…..
At the far end of the Island you’ll eventually come to Lange Anna, which is a 47m high stack of coloured sand stone; it’s not a place tourists are able to access, mainly because of the birds which breed there and the risk of erosion but it is one of the more recognisable features of the Island.
In general, Helgoland can offer you good value in shopping if you smoke or drink, the beaches are fine sand but it can be windy. If anyone regularly flies to the German north Sea islands, I’d recommend you fly the additional 14 minutes to Helgoland, spend a few hours exploring the main island, it’s a great experience.
To see other pictures and a circuit of EDXH, Runway 21, please feel free to view the video below:
(for best results, don’t forget to select HD resolution in YouTube…..
Very interesting to read and to fly the circuit vicariously 
I can imagine the headwind would have been very helpful.
Helgoland is Germany’s only offshore territory which makes it interesting (for Germans). Other than that I think it’s about the most boring and ugliest place one can think of. That’s why it has to offer cheap booze and cigs Germans used to call it “butter island” because there used to be a tax on butter which was not charged on Helgoland so one would go there to buy butter.
The history is quite interesting. In 1807 the Brits took the island from the North German state that had owned it, but in 1890 it was returned to then Prussia and while it had mostly been a center of smuggling, it started to become interesting for the military and played an important role in the WWI sea battles. Apart from a huge bunker system and a submarine harbor, the Nazis built the small airport on Dune but it’s military significance was obviously very limited due to its size and exposure. In 1945, the island saw massive bombing by the RAF with over 1000 bombers in one day. After WW II the Brits took possession again and tried to completely destroy the deserted island, it was supposed to be the biggest bombing with conventional weapons ever (there is still a debate whether the Brits really wanted to completely blow up the island or just destroy the bunkers, knowing that the island might vanish in the process). There were no inhabitants left until in 1951 three students started a campaign to take back the island which became a popular movement and in 1952 the Brits finally returned the remainders of Hell-go-land to the German state. Through large tax incentives, the island was able to attract a small population again.
During my PPL I Always wanted to go to Helgoland. The main goal was for me (an inexperienced pilot) the short runway and the difficult of it. But when I was there in november, it was easier than expected. but there was a safety pilot with me, for the 100h PIC. :)
I liked it there, but there was a lot of wind and very few people. We did a walk over the two Islands, see the seals. But much more you can’t do in there.
Nice for the experience (for me), a beachwalk and in summer, baking on the beach. But 1 day is more than enough for that place.
But very nice trip report!
Hi Steve, nice write-up and interesting to see how contrasting flying can be – while I and some others here ventured into the Swiss Alps.
This puts Helgoland a step further up on my to-do list+
Hi Patrick, where did you venture to in Switzerland? How was it? I’ve flown through the (Austrian) Alps twice – once on the way to Pula routing via Salzburg and Villach, the second was on the way back from Venice via the Brenner, am now looking for something different to do – any recommendations?
a monument to Werner Heisenberg recognising his work in quantum mechanics yet he was neither born on the island, he didn’t study on the island nor did he ever live on the island, as far as I can ascertain
German Wikipedia claims that Heisenberg made a breakthrough in his work on quantum mechanics during a vacation trip to Helgoland.
Hi Steve!
Have a look at this thread (not neccessarily the little quarrel about CH hangarage prices that took over now 
):
http://www.euroga.org/forums/hangar-talk/3575-swiss-meetup-on-saturday-march-7?page=1
I`m also going to create a write-up and/or video of the trip within the next few days.
