Great report! Sweden actually looks warm!
EFRY looks amazing and remote!
Great report – thanks for posting it.
One has to take every decent weather window and go for it 
@PCV,
for weather, I mostly use flugwetter.de, which is the German weather service’s (DWD) pilot weather site. Access costs 80€ per year, but German private pilots are mostly used to paying for weather information, so most people have that (or share the account). Its also required for the ADL. It has loads of products:
Some of them are good, other’s are useless (like the “ADVICE” ice forecast charts or their “CROSS SECTIONs”). I mostly use the product "Bodenvorhersage/Bewölkung/Wetter (ground prognostic chart) for general planning. Then of course I use sat images (mostly in winter), radar images (mostly in summer) meteograms, TAFs, METARs, winds aloft, etc. Beyond the DFS offerings, to complement things, I also use GRAMET via autorouter, but not all that much. For general weather outlooks, I use WeatherPro on the ipad/iphone.
@S57: Thanks, you’re welcome.
@Jujupilote: It’s not really a coincidence. The secret to having good weather during one’s trips is to always have two or three general destinations in your plans, and then decide during the two days before departure. I would have liked to go back to the west of Scotland this time for instance, but the weather was not good enough. Prolonged good weather is rather the rule than the exception in the north of Europe. The Baltics area are simply great in summer. Also see here, here and here.
@AirV: You are right. I remembered it as higher than that. I was flying below the Helsinki TMA and thus at 1300 feet, and I saw it was going up slightly beyond my altitude… beware in bad visibility….
@DP: Well, it wasn’t all that warm, more like 20 degrees, but as you know, when the sun is out, and the winds are relatively calm, it feels much warmer and actually, it doesn’t get any better if it’s warmer than that.
Yes, EFRY is a really great compromise for those who want to get a little dose of typical Finnish countryside feeling, yet do not want to fly for several hours up to the north of the country. It feels somewhat rural, but it’s actually more or less on the doorsteps of Helsiniki…
Here comes day 3. Again, little flying, but great sightseeing.
The next morning, I get out to the airport. Early, as usual. This works out fine again with the regular bus.
The – obvious – plan is to fly across the Gulf of Finland, to the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. It’s another place I have not been to before.
The weather over the south of Finland is not so good this morning, but promises to be fine just a little further south.
Regarding airports in or close to Tallinn, the situation is quite simple: The main airport (EETN) is close to the city, but isn’t really cheap – a landing and a night’s parking for an SEP costs just under 100 Euros. The only conceivable alternative is the GA airfield of Rapla (EERA), which however is some 30km south and is not really well connected by public transport, and anyway, it would probably take quite a bit of time to get to Talinn once on the ground. So, this is a case where one just has to swallow the cost and go on with it. I file an IFR flightplan, even though I could have gone VFR just the same. It’s only about 25 minutes enroute.
A couple of nice airplanes, as I walk out to my steed across Malmi’s apron. This is a nice Cessna TU206G Turbo Stationair on amphib floats, which I think is based at Malmi:
This is an old 1964 Beech Debonair in Finnair Flying Club colours. Upon closer inspection, the aircraft looks really tatty and must have something like 20000 hours or so on its airframe. It’s still operated by Finnair Flying Club, which is great. In all of Germany, I can’t think of any single flying club operating a Debonair or Bonanza!
Again, fortunately, my engine start presents no problems. By the way, before starting up, I got my squawk and departure frequency on the phone from a Helsinki ATC supervisor. Nice. After takeoff from Malmi’s runway 18, a couple more shots of Helsinki, this time in cloudy weather.
After calling Helsinki Departure, I climb to FL70 (any higher wouldn’t make sense for this short flight) and quickly approach “mid-channel” and the changover point to Tallinn Approach. That’s when the sun comes out again. Land is in sight just a few minutes after.
I initially set up for the ILS to runway 27, but since the weather is so good, there is just no point and I accept a “direct to the field” for the visual approach.
Turning onto short final
A bit, but not all that much GA action going on there.
New terminal building.
Old terminal building.
I take the bus into the city and check in to my hotel. It’s 11:00 in the morning and I start walking the old town. What can I say… Talinn in stunning. I don’t know of any other old town that’s so rich, full of culture and history, so well preserved and so charming. Of course, it gets quite a few tourists in summer.
The market square.
At noon, I join one of those “free walking tours”. For who doesn’t know: these now exist at most of the major European cities and are very popular. They start every day at a fixed place and time, take about 2 to 2.5 hours, and are usually conducted by young local students. People that really know their city and love it. They also tend to make these tours funny and light-hearted, and don’t tend to bore you with what happened in 1584 or so. In the end of the tour, everybody can give him/her a tip to his/her liking. If the guide did well, IME, everybody pays at least 10 or 15 Euros. Makes a nice sum, counting 20 or 30 people! I really recommend these tours. Needless to say, our guide on this turns out be great and entertaining. Some more pictures.
Some more exploring in the early evening.
Be aware that prices in the city of Tallinn are quite high – just a little bit below Finnish levels. But still: highly recommended!
Stay tuned.
Not meaning to steal your thunder in any way but have just routed Malmi – Riga – Kaunas – Modln.
The story at Beloved, magnificent Malmi remains deeply troubling. The City have evicted all of the tenants from the hangar excepting one company who is hanging on for grim death. With winter coming this is very bad news with the aircraft having to stand outside and it has serious safety implications with the risk of snow and ice damage. This crude bullying of the new airport operating association is despicable and in our country might constitute an abuse of public office.
At Wellesbourne last year we faced similar bullying from the landowner who very publically showed demolition contractors around and told the businesses that they had to be out by Christmas Eve or face the bulldozers. In the event it was local government who intervened and at the last minute told the owners that compulsory purchased based on a government formula would be the likely outcome. So while Wellesbourne, still under threat but surviving, continues poor Malmi has for its enemy the very people who could and should save it.
Come on Finland! You kept the Russians out of Helsinki! Surely you can save Malmi?!!
When I was there, I spoke with a couple of people who are “close-in”. It’s at the very top political level of Helsinki. They say that someone very high up promised something to someone, and that this someone was promised Malmi airport in return…. In other words, it’s a done deal and unless something drastic happens, it will close soon. Normal politics….
Needless to say, there are zero real alternatives for the local GA.
Alex_ wrote:
I can empathise with your starter problems having just spent 48hours unplanned in Cannes on the way back from Tivat waiting for a new starter motor to arrive from Piper Germany! I absolutely dread hot starts.
The Continental starter adapter slippage is quite a different animal than simple starter replacement, and can be quite a bit more expensive. I spent a lot of time searching for an overhauled exchange. The cost was astronomical – around 7000 € (excluding core charge). One reasonably priced unit slipped through my fingers. In my case I need one with an accessory drive and an oil scavenge pump.
In the end a shop offered me to repair my existing starter adapter, which if memory serves ended up around 1600 € but with one month of downtime and having to put a lot of pressure on a certain shop in Egelsbach that claimed they were waiting for parts but were unable to say when the parts would arrive. Then all of a sudden as I told them that I now wanted the starter adapter back, the parts magically turned up.
And since I had the original Iskra starter which is known to damage the starter adapter, I replaced it with a Skytec ST5.
Lots stories about starter adapters… Here is one that shows that boscomantico was right to remain in a civilised part of the world, just in case
Aviathor wrote:
The Continental starter adapter slippage is quite a different animal than simple starter replacement,
Whenever these companies try to use 1950s technology instead of 1940s technology, it goes wrong. How I love the Lycoming tractor style starter ring. Even working/airworthy with some teeth missing, if it’s more than 2 adjacent teeth, you might have to put the propeller in a certain position before cranking.
Yes, the Conti design is clearly worse than the Lycoming design in this regard.
My starter adapter has since been replaced by an overhauled unit. Downtime: zero. Cost, including installation and VAT: 2.2k€.
My iskra has already been replaced with an ST-5 around 2009 or so.
boscomantico wrote:
In other words, it’s a done deal and unless something drastic happens, it will close soon. Normal politics….
Does anyone know in which time frame EFHF Malmi is supposed to close ?
Just to know if I still have chance to make it once before it dies closes.
As ESSB Bromma is threatened also, we have to visit ENKJ Kjeller before all scandinavian capitals loose their GA field 
