NORDIC MEETUP, GROWN VERSION

The night before last, as I was watching Norway’s World Cup dreams slip away against England, I felt a sudden, profound kinship with the Norwegian team. I mean “team” in the broadest sense—the Norse people as a whole, who had so graciously shared their Northern wonderland with us foreigners during last summer’s Nordic adventure.

My mind drifted back to those days. I recalled the early morning at a remote German grass airfield when our engine flatly refused to start. I remembered taking our aircraft to the limits of its performance to battle weather en route to our Nordic rendezvous. Then came the serene fjord retreat that brought unexpected joy to my family, the wonders of Stockholm unveiled by our generous hosts, and the two impromptu aviator meetups in Krakow and Austria’s Tyrol before we finally made our way back home. It is far too much to distill in a single paragraph, but as is often the case, I am getting ahead of myself.

This story has never been fully told—until now.

It began with a single spark: an aviator with a passion for dropping wings onto the most varied backcountry strips, whether carved from turf, surf, grass, or ice: @WingsWaterAndWheels. He conceived the idea of hosting a EuroGA meetup in Trondheim, including a fly-out to one of his preferred strips almost straight underneath one of those beautiful mountain waterfalls. Jokes of flying through the waterfall to wash our aircraft before the Saturday night dinner ensued…Across our community, interest swelled, seasoned by a collective awareness of just how challenging reaching Trondheim on a fixed date could be.
When we GA pilots embark on an adventure, meticulous planning is a kind of religion. It tilts the odds of success in our favor and clarifies the decisions demanded enroute. Yet, even the most rigorous flight plan remains fundamentally flawed if it leaves no room for Providence to intervene. Once again, this EuroGA meetup turned into summer vacation was about to prove exactly that.
And so it was that, a few months after the invitation from @WingsWaterAndWheels, in early July 2025, our family embarked on a 1500NM Northbound trip from Mallorca to Trondheim. I would be flying our trusty Maria Centurion with our two teenage kids with an overnight, enroute stop and luggage for a couple of weeks for the four of us, while mummy would be joining in Trondheim the following day going her own luggageless way. With any luck, we would all be arriving on the Friday prior to the planned Saturday meetup.

A few days ahead, the weather outlook for Scandinavia looked rather poor, and most of the interest soon waned as certainty grew in the weather forecast. Some flyers still kept their options open. Others decided that, even if weather ended up being flyable, the ground visit would not be enjoyable in bad weather.

As to ourselves, well, wifey was making her trip all the way there via Norwegian Airlines, and we would not leave her alone at Trondheim at the mercy of a group of rough land-anywhere Viking aviators: we had to make it. Furthermore, we had booked an AirBnB fjord home near Haugesund for the following week: we would not make it all the way up there just for a two-day meetup, would we?

To be fair, Friday’s Scandinavian weather, if not totally innocuous, looked quite feasible

if we could top or dodge those TCUs in Jutland. Saturday, OTOH…

looked rather ugly, hence our plan to depart on Thursday to Northern Germany for an overnight and flight to Trondheim on Friday.

For Northern Germany we chose to visit Bremerhavn and their local grass airfield: Blexen EDWT. Bremerhaven was attractive because of the Type XXI WW2 U-boat on display and its proximity to our preferred refuelling location in the area: Rendsburg-Schachtholm. The Airbus flying club running Blexen was happy to grant our PPR.

Weather for the long flight to Bremerhaven was quite easy with a mild cold front traversing France. We chose to file a curved, 1000NM clockwise path to make use of prevailing winds, vs a more direct 900NM route. Both would be using a similar flight time and fuel amount but the former would be more scenic and with better weather.

Armed with our plan we departed early AM on Thursday. Well, not that early: an EU summer IFR flight would not be complete without a slot. This time a mere 30 mins, later reduced to 20. The 5.3hr flight, initially at FL180 and later performed entirely at FL200, was quite eventless. Interestingly, the cruise portion was performed in a continuous descent from 21000AMSL down to 20400AMSL all the while at FL200, due to atmospheric temperature and pressure changes.

…starting at ISA+15 and finishing at ISA+7

Some AC/TCU did reach our FL but were quite harmless

at our typical cruise settings

with cabin at 9500ft at our mild max deltaP of 3.35psi

Nearing the end of our long flight we overflew Rotterdam harbour

and then EHAM Schiphol

that incidentally we are aiming for in a week’s time.

With the help of some tailwind in the final portion of the flight, we were soon approaching Bremerhavn on an extended RH downwind for RWY 27 at EDWT

With some wind from the North, and the W-E runway at SL, only the mound paralleling the runway North of it defends it from a watery incursion

A closer view of the mound on short final.

We soon parked at the lonely airfield

took a picture at the Airbus aeroclub-house

…and, with the reduced version of our luggage, performed the welcome, 30- min walk to our hotel

, and then the ferry to the harbour for our touristic visit

And after a simple dinner returned for a good rest in advance of the following day’s flight to Trondheim. Weather seemed to be holding, so we woke up early intending to be meeting @WingsWaterAndWheels by noon.

UNfortunately, that is when, after prepping the airplane for flight, we found a dead battery, unable to crank the engine for start. We did have GPU cables, but even if we could start the engine, I did not want to fly to Norway with a faulty battery. The local guys helped us

and we soon had the battery removed and hooked up to and old but robust 1960’s Eisemann charger to no avail:

It would not hold charge. The grim reality sunk in: we needed a new battery.

I immediately sought the help of the EuroGA ad-hoc fly-in Telegram group and soon a dozen forumites offered help and specific ideas. If we could not get a battery today, we would be stuck in Bremerhaven for a few days. We eventually found one in Kassel and one kind forumite offered to fly there, pick it up and bring it on to Blexen for us. In the end, the flight planning was tight and we decided to take a rental car at Bremerhaven and drive the 350km there to pick-it-up before they closed for the weekend: it was the only way to ensure we would not be stuck until Monday. We could, nonetheless only thank the enthusiastic assistance offered by the EuroGA gang in light of a fellow member being stuck.

Piper Deutschland had the replacement battery ready on our arrival and, if not cheap, we can call it an excellent service.

By the time we were back in Bremerhaven it was late at night. I checked weather for flying to Trondheim the following morning and it remained difficult. Most everyone else had abandoned plans for the fly-in except for @lionel . Wifey indeed had to confront Vikings on her own while we made our way up there.

On Saturday, we dropped our rental car and flew to EDXR for fuel ( we had used 86USG yesterday and hence had barely over 30USG remaining) and then reevaluate. It was a short, 20-min flight being mindful of the myriad wind turbines enroute through the light rain under an overcast

and while we waited in line to refuel, filed a FPL knowing we would have to fly above FL200 to make it. Wx at Trondheim seemed more than reasonable, while enroute remained stubborn. The good news was that we had a good chance of climbing on top ice-free.

Hence, having uploaded fuel, exactly 50 mins after landing we lifted off heading North, aiming to climb on top through the gaps ASAP. German ATC was very facilitating and immediately granted a clearance through Hohn airbase CTR at 1500ft and shortly thereafter a climb to FL200. We had to go through some ice-free cloud layers up to about FL100, then continued mostly VMC all the way to our cruising level. From here onwards we would play it by ear to see how far we could get avoiding further climb. Although the GRAMET suggested no ice above FL160, other forcasts said up tio FL210 and since outs below the cloud were not nice most of the way to ENVA/Trondheim, we decided we would minimize any IMC.

The GRAMET

was surprisingly accurate until now

, and, for whatever reason, bad weather stopped just short of our destination.

Hopefully it would remain accurate for the next three hours…MET/TAF supported it too. Needless to say we picked our alternate ENNM beyond, and not before, ENVA.

Soon, as forecast, we had to climb FL220. The ADL satellite picture supported the forecast that, for the next 100 or so NM we would have to fly as high as possible to minimize chances of ice.

Although we remained mostly VMC, the ADL picture painted the weather underneath and prompted us to stay well above.

We had to also briefly climb to FL230 to remain VMC, but soon the undercast became lower and it was time to descend through some of the layers. Some trace ice was picked-up, as expected, but we knew we would soon be in the clear and below freezing, so were not too worried.

As we emerged from the clouds to the glimpse Trondheimsfjord in the distance

we were soon greeted to a nice view of the Cathedral city of Trondheim, surrounded by some light showers

with ENVA’s runway protruding into the fjord in the distance

After an easy landing and giving way to an Airbus A320, we taxied to the fly-in apron to make up a grand total of….three aircraft, including the local C185!

So we made it in time for dinner. Wifey had taken hold of our possessions AKA home for the weekend the prior night and we were soon enjoying a beautiful afternoon walk to the gorgeous dinner place selected by @WingsWaterAndWheels on top of one of the hills surrounding the city with great views and an unavoidably hungry attendance (after the uphill trek!)

A great dinner followed,

great talk (too many lawyers , if you ask me), great views…

all in all a great evening that made it all worthwhile.

We spent Sunday strolling around the city, intending to fly to Haugesund on Monday. We had postponed our plans to fly on Sunday evening, due to weather, and mindful that, this time, turbulence-sensitive mummy was along for the ride.

The next day, we set off to refuel up to the brims. We intended to fly to Haugesund some two hours to the South, then a couple further hours on to Stockholm, where a friend had offered to host us for a few days, and our next chance to refuel would be very expensive ESSB Bromma

We decided we would fly relatively low, for sightseeing of beautiful fjorland SW along the coast, but high-enough to avoid low-level cumuli and turbulence. The 210 is good as SEP’s go from that POV, but with a full load it is even smoother. Ended up between 6000 and 8000 ft most of the 2-hour flight.

I’ll leave the adjectives to you for the views we enjoyed throughout

The runway at Haugesund was usable but notamed as WIP with the LH half having a fresh asphalt layer and being halfway painted…

First time in a long time I found apron tie-down rings in the correct position

We took our Getaround rental car and drove 30 mins to our home-to-be for the next week. I’ll save adjectives for that one too…

All too soon it was time to leave our fjord paradise.

We loaded up our LouisVui’s on the airplane

Unfortunately a strong 30-40 Kt headwind was to accompany us all along, but most of the weather remind well North of our route, almost directly Eastwards

Views were nowhere near as spectacular as on thew prior flight and the supposedly 2.5 hr flight , 400NM flight at medium altitude ended up taking almost 3 hours, eventually landing at Bromma’s RWY12

Our host picked us up and made the family visit to Stockholm as enjoyable as can be. If only Swedes knew how to cook, it would be short of the perfect European Summer capital !

After a few days, it was time to part company with wifey again: she would return via airlines back to Palma.

As to us, well, since we were close to Poland, and had agreed to meet @tmo at Krakow, it was, 9 years later, at last time to unite Maria Centurion with Our Lady who had enabled it. Hence we flew to Czestochowa Rudniki’s huge Soviet era runway now run by the local Aeroclub.

We took off in excellent weather

soon overflying a wavy low overcast on the Baltic

Navigation was not straightforward due to Kaliningrad-originated GPS Spoofing over the Baltic and Northern Poland

eventually reaching the Polish coastline while using initially radar vectors then VOR navigation. Polish ATC is totally cool about GPS (or lack thereof) in the area.

While I was making VOR-DME coordinates for my destination, GPS was recovered and we made the approach slowing down through some convective weather for alanfing on Rudniki’s RWY26

Soon, we joined the myriad pilgrims saying thanks to Our Lady at Jasna Gora, at last closing the circle started nine years back.

We then had to dodge some weather

for the short flight on to Krakow EPKP where @tmo awaited us.

A really calm evening at Pobiednik

Another pic with Our Lady, this time of Loreto at EPKP

Wonderful Polish cuisine at Krakow,

After a couple of days’ enjoyment of Poland’s most beautiful city (thanks @tmo !) , we had to fly back home. But home was 1000Nm away and the prevailing headwind put it beyond reach…we needed an intermediate refuelling stop.

LOIJ Sank Johan in Tyrol is a small village cum airfield or airfield cum village near the famous Kitzbuhel ski area, in the middle of the mountains. It lies almost in a straight line between Krakow and Mallorca. The kids remembered fondly our hikes in the area of years back and were happy to go back there, if only for one night.

We took off early in the morning for the 400NM trip in excellent weather. The mountain scenery surpassed that of the earlier part of the flight

After landing and parking, we found none other than our Son Bonet hangar neighbour PC 12, making up for another impromptu aviator meetup that we had made no plans for.

Ended up swimming together at the Panorama Badewelt in Sankt Johan and then going for some gorgeous Ribeye at one of the local restaurants…it’s such a small world!

The following day, for the last time in our vacation, we prepared the airplane for flight

And took off into a hefty enroute headwind but otherwise excellent weather…

that is until we reached the Italian Piamonte where a couple minor detours were warranted to avoid some heavy convective activity

Eventually reaching home after little over 4.5 hours having covered only 670NM but 835 air NM against the wind.

It had been little over two weeks of the most fun time of the year for the whole family. We had enjoyed the most gracious EuroGA collaboration in the light of GA adversity, closed the circle of gratitude with Our Lady, climbed mountains, sailed fjords, fished cod, spent some quality family time, flew over the most beautiful fjorland brought home a fresh stash of Alpenmilch and , above all, met and enjoyed aero-friends in the most varied locations, some planned, some half-improvised, some totally impromptu. The ante is now way too high, so who knows what the future will bring!