And went to FFB for the mind checkup? Or lost his license?
No no, just a fine (after all, it is an “Ordnungswidrigkeit” (?) and not a “Straftat” (criminal offense / felony)). 500 Euros IIRC plus his lawyer plus court fees, so almost 2000 Euros in the end.
Ah ok, I’m just too scared from my FFB visit… which were all minors btw – the CAA decides based on their internal rules to send you to the mind check. So if your colleague had an issue in the past he could be due for that…
alexisvc, I adhere to the rules but check who’s on the tower. 
A little small talk as you did is always helpful.
I think that the situation in Germany is pretty exaggerated here. Actually Germany is not the “police state” the Brits want us to be ;-))
I started flying in 1993 and until today I i have … NEVER had and kind of ramp check ore similar
Just fly to Düsseldorf and you’ll have one!
Actually Germany is not the “police state” the Brits want us to be
I didn’t know anything “unusual” about Germany (apart from maybe the noise certificates) and had no opinion on this stuff until I started reading some stories from some German pilots.
These stories are completely exaggerated. As long as you behave in a sensible way you will never have big problems. As I said, I am flying for 20 years now, 12 of those I flew a around Germany as an aviation journalist, and i never even met anybody from the authorities on an airfield.
I am also never stopped by police i the car in Germany (but I never get speeding tickets for more than € 20 because my limit is +20 for all speed limits.
While in the Czech Republic (for example) I am stopped three times every year, mostly to be checked for alcohol. (for a good reason, i might add….)
Muelli, why would a Bavarian fly to Dusseldorf???
A good reason to have an airplane is to be able to fly AWAY from Dusseldorf, but not TO :-))
(RXH, I think i saw your plane hangared at EDMS)
cheers
Alexis
Not much to add about the original question. Take-off problems, other than legal ones, due to IMC seem to be rare. But I believe that Peter’s point about being able to see the whole runway makes sense, at least in the case of an unmanned airfield.
Once a Partenavia P68 took off from a public grass field somewhere in Denmark. Daylight and supposedly VFR, but for some reason the aircraft drifted a little away from the runway centerline. Of course, the centerline is not in itself visible on a grass runway. Anyway, as the P68 lifted off, one of the main wheels hit a runway edge marking box, and was torn off.
A little later, nearby Billund Airport recieved a request for landing, with the remark that only two of three wheels were down. Probably a first for ATC to get this from a Partenavia.
The press heard it – they seem to monitor every ATC VHF 24H – and the missing-wheel landing was filmed for the evening news; it went well, and the pilot was a national hero.
The AIB was a little less impressed. They quickly found the damaged runway edge box, and, close to it, the missing undercarriage leg. The weather was fine by then, but reports from earlier mentioned fog in the area. The AIB concluded that take-off in dense fog was a very likely explanation for what happened. I do not know if any action was taken against the pilot.
