Finally, it is summer and my final move out of Germany has been finished. I’m now living 100% in Switzerland. Nevertheless, I had to clean my old apartment in Germany and return it to the owner. After I had done that, with the help of my girlfriend and family, we had time to get a week away. Norway seemed to be a nice place, as I love this country and my girlfriend has never been there before.
Since the chaos in airports around Europe, my girlfriend and I didn’t want to fly commercially. But just staying in the neighborhood also wasn’t an option. So why not fly by general aviation? 
To be honest, my girlfriend has some respect for flying in “little airplanes”. She joined me on a few trips through Switzerland and even on a trip to Venice in June this year. But flying on a big GA trip to Norway? At least we had the chance to take the Super Dimona from my old home base in Meschede-Schüren (EDKM), as we were already around that area by car, so the rental was way cheaper compared with Swiss charter prices. She has flown the Super Dimona before in Switzerland and really liked it’s sailing capabilities. Trusting the airplane is of course also important as a passenger, especially on a bigger trip.
Our planned routing towards our final destination
Day 1
We were lucky weather-wise. The forecast was very optimistic for the region around the big Norwegian fjords. On the planned day of departure, several bigger rain showers moved across northern Germany. Once passing Hamburg, we should be fine, but I was a bit unsure on the time of departure. I saw the slowly improving GAFOR-forecast on the maps and the rain only moving slowly forward from west to east. At least the weather in Meschede and on our first planned stop in St. Michaelisdonn was fine. So I considered two options: Going VFR on top or further waiting and going down below.
We made the decision to just drive to the airport, get the airplane ready and load all our stuff inside and look on the local weather. At least there were some bigger cloud gaps above the airfield. No problem at all to get on top. However, the tops were around FL110. That means we would need a clearance for airspace Charlie, starting at FL100 in Germany. And we had to fly across some military TRA areas, starting at FL80, where I had some issues with last time coming back from Denmark. According to the WebAUP of the DFS, some of these TRA areas were active, but luckily we had a time slot that would fit our plans to cross the big ED-R203A around Paderborn.
After everything was packed and set up for departure, I decided to go (without flight plan) towards northern Germany. The weather was still nice in Meschede, but some rain was coming to the airfield soon as well. Plan A: Getting clearance VFR into Charlie. Plan B: Go down below, following a routing with a lot of alternates, where I could land, in order to let the rain pass. After departure, the weather still looked fine and I flew directly on course towards St. Michaelisdonn (EDXM). Once leaving the Sauerland area around Soest (EDLZ), more darker clouds seem to pop-up towards the north. I asked Langen Information to join Charlie and was handed over to Langen Radar. They gave me a short “stand-by for coordination with Bremen”, after which I got the clearance to climb up to FL130. I had to deviate a bit to the east first, in order to remain VMC and get on top. After reaching FL100, I made it and FL130 gave me a secure vertical distance from the clouds.
Flying above the clouds in FL130.
The first flight continued unspectacular. We flew quietly above the clouds, enjoying the sun. The Super Dimona reached a very good TAS in FL130, around 125 kts, even without tailwind. Once inside airspace Charlie, German ATC handles you almost like IFR-traffic, as you get handed off to each next sector, including some instructions if you need to fly inbound a certain ATS-waypoint or a certain vector. We flew above some overcasted clouds between Bielefeld and Diepholz, however once passing Bremen, the cloud layer below us changed very quickly from broken to scattered. When getting closer towards St. Michaelisdonn (EDXM), ATC just said “advise when you’re ready to decent”, after which I asked for a decent on my ideal TOD, which was approved immediately. It was a fun experience to decent at 500 ft per minute to join exactly downwind at pattern altitude in St. Michaelisdonn.
In the decent approaching the river “Elbe”.
It was a bit windy in St. Michaelisdonn, but we landed smoothly. The “Flugleiter” came down to assist with refueling Avgas 100LL. It all was done in just a few minutes, which makes EDXM a good location for a quick turnaround. After visiting the toilet, we decided to continue towards Aalborg. The flight plan was already submitted early in the morning and we could delay it in-air during our last flight, so everything was already set up for the next leg.
Our Dimona at the fuel station, seen from the Info-Tower at St. Michaelisdonn.
After departure, I decided again to climb above the clouds. Not so much because of further expected rain, but more to prevent turbulences or thermals. The tops were only maximum around 6.000 ft, so I could remain on FL75, in order to stay clear of the activated TRA ED-R201 (starting at FL80), which occupies the entire north of Germany. Langen Information was quite unprofessional on the part up to the Danish border. The FISO on frequency was making a lot of jokes with other VFR-traffic, including some sarcastic comments. When reaching the border, the FISO was completely lost, as he didn’t expect me to cross the Danish border and cursed on his colleague, because someone wrote wrong flight details on the strip. Well, errors may happen, but cursing on frequency, making sarcastic comments or trying to be funny is not quite a professional behavior of a FISO. I don’t want to dislike German FIS in general, there are a lot of good people working there (especially the ladies!), but some gentlemen of the FIS team are completely unusable, doing the wrong job.
Nevertheless, we were handed over to Copenhagen Information, who was expecting us already. As always, Danish ATC is very accommodating and professional. They have all VFR-flight plans “in the system” and give a personal XPDR-code, which remains the entire flight within Danish airspace. The crossing through the class C TMA of Billund was as easy as it gets, with a friendly “radar contact, continue into TMA VFR” upon initial call. Around mid-Denmark, we flew over broken clouds, but still with enough gaps to get down safely at any time. Some light showers seemed to pass below us around Karup (EKKA), but as we flew above the weather, we just enjoyed the sun.
Approaching Aalborg with the Limfjord.
Upon reaching Aalborg, there was an active Drohne-flying zone active, so we had to remain above 900 ft until reaching the Limfjord. This is however not an issue at all, as pattern altitude for Aalborg is around 1.000 ft. Much more challenging were the winds. “Wind 280 degrees, 25 knots, gusting 35, minimum 18, runway 26R, cleared to land.” I was prepared for the worst, but as I’m quite comfortable in the Dimona, the approach and landing went very smoothly. Much more “challenging” was to keep the Dimona on the ground, not only while taxing the loooong way up to the terminal and fuel pump, but also after engine shutdown and opening the canopy. Oh dear… I was almost afraid the canopy would just blow away, so we didn’t want to loose our hands on the open canopy and closed it as fast as we could, after exiting the airplane. Refueling went well, except for the prices: 4,25€ per liter! No joke!
After refueling, we managed to park at the GA-apron and secured the wings using tie downs, which we could secure in the grass (with landing gear still on tarmac). As we weren’t supposed to walk down to the C-office, an apron-car picked us up and brought us to the arrival hall, where we finally could use the toilet, as this wasn’t possible during refueling and parking. This is always a disadvantage on big airports, as you can’t just sprint to the toilet, if you really need to, but you also can’t just pie in the bush.
An empty arrival hall, just for us two alone.
Once on land side, we searched for a hotel, but there was nothing free online. Even after walking down to the airport hotel, the friendly lady at the reception brought us bad news: There is a special occasion going on in Aalborg, so the entire city is fully booked. Upps! This was something we didn’t expect, but it was also my fault that I didn’t check carefully upfront. As we still had long daylight, we decided to continue to Norway. I made a quick route planning and filed a VFR flight plan and also informed customs, which is required 1,5 hrs before ETA for ENTO according to the AIP. However, the customs lady just asked me by phone: “Did you file a flight plan? Yes? You’re good to go!” As we were quite hungry, and all shops were closed on land side, the airport officers allowed us to buy some food on airside, after going through passenger security. We bought some sandwiches for our flight and security brought us to the airside door, from where we could walk to the C-office. “You’re leaving Aalborg already? Oh, that’s so sad!” the friendly C-office lady said. Aalborg is not often fully booked, we just had really bad luck, according to the lady. We paid our take-off fee, which was just around 13€. Very cheap for an airport like this size!
As soon as we arrived at our airplane, we removed the tie downs, did the usual checks, and continued back down the long way to runway 26R for departure. Right behind us was an Airbus 330 taxing… He even got the clearance “follow the small light aircraft down to runway 26R”. To prevent an even longer taxiway, I agreed on an intersection departure at C, from which I could still use 1,4 kilometers. More than enough for the Dimona! The passenger plane was taking-off right before us, so we had to line up and wait due wake turbulences. After take-off, we were handed over to departure (Aalborg Approach) and we were free to climb through their tiny TMA to FL85. At this altitude, we were always in gliding distance to land, even at the middle of the Skagerrak!
Waiting for take-off clearance on runway 26R.
Even for this kind of short (international) flight, we had to change to a lot of frequencies within a short amount of time, but all ATC services were fully “joined up”, which makes it very easy. Even when calling Polaris right before the FIR boundary, we just had to exchange our Danish squawk for a Norwegian squawk right after initial call. That’s it. Why don’t we have that easiness all over Europe?! Finally, Farris Approach cleared us on a straight final for runway 36 at Sandefjord-Torp Airport (ENTO), after which the Tower only had to clear us to land. The wind was just 8 knots, so the landing was very smooth and easy, compared to the landing before at Aalborg. My girlfriend felt herself also safer after each flight, so she could fully enjoy this sunset flight as well.
Beautiful and romantic sun above the Skagerrak.
Approaching Sandefjord, right before establishing on long final for runway 36. The runway lights are already visible.
Since 1 or 2 years, refueling at Torp is only possible with an AirBP or Shell Carnet Card, which means no debit or credit card acceptance. Luckily, I had my own AirBP-card with me, as our flying club removed one Avgas-Card from the documents. If I didn’t had one, I would have pretty bad luck here. Nevertheless, we met some pilots from the local academy (Pilot.NO) at the fuel pump, from which one offered us a drive to the city center, as it was already after 10 pm. I was still thinking about a quick hop to Jarlsberg (ENJB) to prevent high parking fees, but as it was already so late (not knowing if a taxi could bring us to one of the free available hotels at Jarlsberg), we happily agreed on the drive to the city center. The student pilot was so nice to deliver us directly at our hotel Scandic Park in Sandefjord, and we had some interesting talks while driving about his ATPL training. He was also quite shocked that we just came VFR all the way from Germany.
Our parking spot for the night. No winds were expected, so we left the plane without tie downs, as no concrete tires were available.
At the hotel, we got a room for approx. 200€ (at least including breakfast) and finally, we could get some sleep after this long day of flying. The room itself was completely renovated, but the bathroom was still very old… not so nice to take a shower here! Anyway, we slept very quickly… let’s call it a day!
Day 2
We used the morning to sleep a bit longer. As our destination for the day (Sogndal-Haukåsen) only opens in the early morning and late afternoon, there was no realistic chance that we would make it before closure time, so we had to wait until 5 pm before we could land. I also contacted the airport manager, but unfortunately, he was not authorized to let us land outside opening hours. Bad luck! If we didn’t lose so much time yesterday in Aalborg, we could have managed to reach Sogndal on the first day! And while typing this report, the NOTAM for Sogndal displays much better opening hours until the 30th of October. It seems that the opening hours of such small Avinor-airports like Sogndal are heavily reduced during summer vacation times!
So after we woke up and enjoyed our breakfast, which had a lot of choices here in Scandic Park Sandefjord, I prepared a flight plan for the afternoon, booked a rental car in Sogndal, and we were off to discover the city of Sandefjord a bit. Even when filing a flight plan is not obligatory for VFR flights within Norway (except for flights from/to Oslo, Bergen, and/or Spitsbergen), it is always recommended to do so, in order to receive SAR services and to get full ATC support.
Our plan to take our luggage with us during our discovery trip through Sandefjord was not so wisely chosen. We were better off leaving the luggage in the hotel, even if we had to walk down the city center later on again to the train station (or take the bus from the hotel). Nevertheless, we enjoyed the bay a bit and saw a Colorline ferry arrive in the harbor. The city of Sandefjord itself is nothing special, so we took our luggage directly to the railway station. A ticket to the airport costs around 4,50€, which is fair. We needed the train for just one stop, from where a bus transfer took us to the airport. It was all very well organized, but unfortunately, the bus brought us only to the main passenger terminal. At Sandefjord, GA crew and passengers need to enter the airport via the firefighter station, which is far north. Airport officers recommended us to use a taxi, but as we had enough time left, we walked down all the way, which was in total 1,5 kilometers. Torp has some serious airliner traffic going on during the day, and also a lot of pilot schools flying.
Harbour at Sandefjord.
Sandefjord Whaler’s Monument (“Hvalfangstmonumentet”)
On our way up to the firefighter station, we could see a Ryanair plane preparing for departure.
At the firefighter station, we waited a bit and searched already for a nice hotel in Sogndal, which we booked right away. The employees at the station were so nice to let us in, so we could use the toilet, before we walked down to our airplane, without any further questions, paper or security checks. We checked up the airplane and set up everything to go.
At the top of the stairs, towards the firefighter and airport office. Can you spot our Dimona? Some nice military jets are here too, missed them last time here!
Not a bad exchange for the Dimona?!
Airliners coming in and out. Our flight preparations are done as well, so we could depart soon!
As usual in Norway, VFR departures need to request for start-up and departure clearance as well. This is also the time to ask for your flight altitude/level, in order to get it directly coordinated with further sectors. Once airborne, we were handed off on downwind to Farris Approach, how couldn’t clear us into the TMA yet, due traffic. And boy… the frequency was indeed fully occupied with a lot of airlines and, IFR-training flights and some military traffic. I was already preparing myself to fly into the Norwegian mountains all the way below the TMA, which would only give me limited terrain clearance and a lot of thermals. But fortunately, just after a few minutes, Farris cleared me up to 4.000 ft into the TMA and not so much later further up to 7.000 ft. As there were some clouds hanging between 6.500 and 8.000 ft, I even had to request FL95 to remain legal VMC in airspace C, which was approved with an “of course”. Heads down for this air traffic controller, how could also just refuse any further VFR traffic into the TMA, but instead, did try his best to give me a climb clearance, as fast as possible. Don’t think I may expect such kind of service at home in Switzerland…
On downwind departure runway 18 towards VRP “Vidarasen”, right after being handed over to Approach.
E18 highway towards Oslo
Flying at FL95, above the clouds around Sandefjord and below the clouds further landward.
Beautiful landscapes as far as you can look.
The flight continued very quietly. We both enjoyed the amazing and desolated south Norwegian landscapes, with a lot of forests, lakes, rocks and kind of tundra grass. Only so now and then, we saw a village or a road below us. We overflew the ski area of “Geilo” and it’s airfield Geilo-Dagali (ENDI), which I still want to visit sometime… Unfortunately, the airfield doesn’t offer any fuel at the moment, so landing there with the Dimona would prevent me to continue to Sogndal (which also doesn’t offer any Avgas or Mogas) and thereafter to Bergen or Ørsta. Klanten (ENKL) would have Avgas or Mogas, but then you need to organize someone for fuel, which is not a good idea for a “spontaneous” refuel stop. However next time, I definitely want to visit both Geilo and Klanten! (And maybe also Fagernes…)
Lots of lonely places and a road with a village “in the middle of nowhere”
Geilo Ski Resort
More lonely landscapes, with a lot of snow “flakes” and lakes!
Coming closer to Sogndal, the mountains had snow “flakes” on it. A big difference with the Alps, where snow has completely disappeared below 3.000 meters and has also above a very hard time during the hot summer. As it was still not 5 pm, I asked Polaris if they could advise me, which runway I could expect at Sogndal. Depending on the runway in use, I could plan my descent into the Aurlandsfjord for runway 06, or into the valley towards Lærdal for runway 24. They advised me to expect runway 24, so I made a decent through the valley of Lærdal, which is landscape-wise magnificent! Shortly thereafter, I was handed over to Sogndal Information, where the AFIS-Officer was expecting me already shortly before 5 pm. There was also other traffic in the area, but not for my routing.
Descending towards Lærdal
Approaching Sogndal-Haukåsen airport on the mountain is just an awesome experience. As the airport is just 1.633 ft high, you have the feeling to get way too low, if you decent towards 3.000 ft. So I decided to remain 3.500 ft until the turn to long final for runway 24, but I was still way too high. So I reduced speed and flew with full spoilers on final, in order to get us down. That worked quite well, I even had to retract the spoilers, otherwise, we would have been down before the runway. It’s crazy how fast the Dimona can decent, if she needs to! Finally, we touched down very smoothly shortly after 5 pm, to end this amazing flight in style.
Approaching Sognefjord with the airport on the right side (located halfway the mountain).
As usual in Norway, the AFISO closed our flight plan without any further request and we could park the Dimona on the empty GA parking. A friendly marshaller came with his car to us and explained how things work at the airfield. He also confused me with some opening hours, which were different from the NOTAM, so we had to clarify the correct opening hours at the office. Luckily, there were some concrete tires available, so we could secure the Dimona with tie downs safely.
After landing picture
Airplane parked and tied up for the upcoming 3 days.
After we met the AFIS-Officer in person, how could confirm us the opening hours mentioned in the NOTAM, we could get our keys from the passenger arrival room (not a real hall, as Haukåsen is quite a small commercial airport), using a code which we got by e-mail. Don’t get distracted by the limited opening hours of Herz or other rental companies. As soon as the car you’ve booked is fully inspected during opening hours, the rental company sends a code by e-mail, so you can fetch the car at your own upon arrival using a small key safe.
Our rental car from Herz at Sogndal-Haukåsen.
The road down to Kaupanger, the first village on the way to Sogndal, is quite small and can be seen as a mountain road. Many people use the wilderness here to camp in the woods or to take a hike up to the top of the Storehogen (1132 m), which has a big antenna for radio and television. We bought some food at the local supermarket and continued towards our hotel in Sogndal, where we got a free premium room upgrade and enjoyed the evening with a tasty Norwegian burger at the Vågal Burger and Gin restaurant. A very good day came to an end, even when we lost some time in the morning at Sandefjord.
Driving down the main road from Kaupanger to Sogndal.
No worries, lot’s of amazing nature and landscape pictures coming soon within the next days!
Great trip report! I can’t wait for the next installment.
Àmazing report and photographs, thanks! I’ve just got back from a similar trip to Stavanger, also landing in Aalborg and Torp. I’ll write it up seperately, but can’t hope to match this one for quality of photographs. One area I can match was the quality of companion, in my case my original flying instructor from 1977 who for some bizarre reason is still willing to fly with me 45 years later!!!
Wow! What a great trip report, Frans! And what beautiful landscapes. Dankjewel
Yes, nice pictures, nice country
But the fuel situation… When Avinor is jumping off the wagon entirely, we definitely need a better system than what is currently in place. It’s a bit embarrassing actually. I’m scratching my head wondering how that system would be. MOGAS only – no. 100LL only – no. UL91/96 (or whatever they are all called) – perhaps, as that would hit the largest audience, except the combination of MOGAS + 100LL (which some airports already have). The last one is perhaps the only thing that truly would work here, because:
How is such a system going to work in Norway anyway? Way too many boneheads here saying “I’m not buying fuel from him”
LeSving wrote:
MOGAS used on aircraft is cheap. We can deduct lots of road taxes that is by default set on MOGAS (which pretty much makes UL91/96 some sort of an overpriced curiosity)
Good for you! In Sweden, the tax deductions only apply to fuel manufactured – not used – as aviation fuel so MOGAS is a much less interesting proposition here.
Beautiful photos. What a place to visit!
Thank you for posting it
LeSving wrote:
But the fuel situation… When Avinor is jumping off the wagon entirely,
Agreed refuelling is not easy in Norway, can you explain what you mean by Avinor “jumping off”? Many Avinor airports still have flying clubs with 100LL Pumps. You just have to have a BP card which was easy to get when I got mine. The great advantage of Avinor airports is that quite unlike public airports in UK, they are affordable to land at and maybe free to park.
The only problem is access to the airport gate if the club is deserted, which may be a very long walk, or impossible if runways are in the way.
Great report, trip, and photos!
It’s a shame that although I’ve lived in the North of Germany for almost three years now, I have not yet been flying to Norway.
