That said light aircraft have no problems at all landing on snow-covered runways, as long as the snow is somewhat packed, or on icy runways, as long as the runway length is adequate and there is not too much crosswind for the runway friction. Landing on a lake where the snow has been removed to create a runway is a non-event. Generally the ice provides “relatively” good friction as long as it has not melted and frozen again.
also towered airport and hence a clean runway.
Well, mostly. However, there is clean and there is clean. Røros is one of a couple of airports in Norway that struggle to keep a clean, or “black” runway during winter, that is remove most deposits. The reason is low air temps, leading to low ground temps, which in turn makes chemicals used to remove ice impractical/impossible.
The result can sometimes be a hard packed cover of snow of ice, gritted, and with decent friction.
A brush-up on SNOWTAM decoding might be in order: Link
I thank you all for mentioning Røros. I will present that idea to my family and likely we will go there sometime in the future. Pictures looked very nice.
I’m not afraid of night flying in a Cirrus SR22. But then I should probably not try to land on snow with the boots on :-) However, they can be removed and then I would guess snow or grass doesn’t make a bit difference – does it? But then night means likely IFR and that means probably also towered airport and hence a clean runway.
I’ve only flown there commercially, but Dagali airport (ENDI) takes you into the Hardangervidda mountain plateau of Norway.
Get DNA membership and you can ski tour around the catered huts or stop at the unmanned ones.
Best time is around Easter with longer days and often fine clear weather.
It is close to Geilo, which is a popular winter resort, but you can soon get away into the open country. Even taking the train from Geilo to Finse gets you into some wonderful ski touring country.
I second @LeSving and his post
I have done my share of winter flying in Norway. Some aspects of that flying are a lot more enjoyable that a flight to Calvi during summer or fall. Crystal clear air with unlimited visibility. Total absence of turbulence. Higher engine performance. Landing on frozen lakes and walking 100m to the closest café (Fagernes, Vermundsjøen). As LeSving says, Røros is hard to beat any time of year.
On the other hand you need to know that most Scandinavian aircraft are equipped with a heating element in the oil sump in order to facilitate engine start at low temperatures and prevent engine wear. Yours may not. Aircraft are generally hangared, and those that are not require de-icing, some shoveling of snow and lengthy engine runs to bring up to temperature – both the engine and the cabin. North of the 66th parallel you will see no daylight around Christmas so it will all be night flying over very sparsely populated areas and partly mountainous areas. The further north, the shorter days. During winter you would for that reason probably not want to go too far north.
Southern Norway may be doable, but you may prefer to join a local flying club, rent from them and do some flights with local pilots to learn the ropes of winter flying in that part of the world.
I think that the extra complications and risk involved with flying at night will be a big factor in all the locals putting their aircraft to bed over winter, given the very short days.
I’m a bit surprised, actually. Certainly, I’m based at 60N and not 66N, but we also get a lot of snow, there are always a few times in winter when the temperature is -20°C or less and around christmas, we only have some 6 hours of daylight.
Heated hangars are not necessary, but engine preheating is. Our club aircraft all have electric engine heaters which are turned on whenever an aircraft is in the hangar.
The wide coverage of EuroGA membership is a wonderful thing, there are clearly several members who are posting very useful information.
I think that the extra complications and risk involved with flying at night will be a big factor in all the locals putting their aircraft to bed over winter, given the very short days. I have been to a couple of places in the far north for short visits in a larger aircraft, and although the weather can be beautiful, it can also be horrible, with low cloud, snow, wind and icing, all at once.
Of course that is all part of the challenge and if you have the time to do such a trip I hope you will also post a report on here. I am in awe of some of the trips people do in single engine aircraft and enjoy reading about them and looking at the pictures too!
I went to Rovaniemi (N Finland, just S. of the Arctic Circle) a couple of years back in my Warrior (in the summer). The guys there told me that in the autumn they push their planes into their hangars, and don’t get them out again until spring. Doubtless you could fly there in the winter if you could arrange heated hangarage, but it’s a long way from UK and I would not do it because being stuck someplace on the way there when everything is closed would be no joke at all.
However they do have budget airline Santa flights from UK at Christmas time.
You could contact the Siljan Airpark, http://www.siljanairpark.se/
Maybe there are house owners there who would like to lend you their houses?
There are lots og places where you can do that in Norway. Fagernes, Oppdal, Tynset all of them with airports and well developed tourist infrastructure. Not entirely sure about the airport at Tynset at Christmas time.
But I think Røros will be hard to beat anywhere in the world. It is like nothing else you can find. It is far into the mountains. The city is from the 1700 and looks like its from a fairy tale. The best thing, it has a controlled airport a couple of hundred metres from the city centre. Hotels, restaurants, lodges, everything, but it’s not the best place for down hill skiing.
There are also several places in Sweden, particularly in Ora/Orsa area and of course Åre.
There is nothing like Røros though. http://www.roros.no
It depends om ecactly what you want.
