Well its been at least 2 months since my run in at LHFM a private airport in Hungary owned by a Austrian just across the border from Austria. So I have had some time to cool off and reflect on the sequence of events that occurred.
Not being familiar with the way things are done in Europe Im not too sure what my next steps should be and that is why Im posting here.
This is what occurred: I had stopped in for gas before I departed for Germany. I usually take about 100 gal or about 380 Liters. But before I tanked up went to the tower to pay my landing fee so that I can take off right after landing. Well nobody was in the tower so I asked whom to pay and was directed to go to the office and pay the secretary. Which I did, then went to gas up. After finishing the fueling I looked up at the tower to see it empty. The Lineman who just was paid said the tower guy has a portable radio and will communicate with me since he is sometimes not in the tower. Fine. I fired it up and requested information to taxi to the active and runup area as well as a radio frequency to Austria info since the border is so close. He acknowledged and stated that I should run it up in some area I did not catch. So called him back but got no reply.Did that about 6 times with the engine running with a 30 sec interval. He answered another airplane after my six attempts right away. Tried again no response. Meanwhile he is talking in English and Hungarian to some of the other airplanes. Ok I switch radios still nothing. Ok I announce Im taking the active and back taxing figuring the runup area is at the end like is so often the case. Taxi to the end only to find no runup area so did the runup there. Called him again and nothing. Finally taxied back to find the exit blocked by an Ultra light he was speaking to. Then I said in a very exasperated tone he was the most unprofessional airport person I have ever dealt with. NOW he responded. He did not say sorry or have some other lame excuse. We had a few words back and forth. By this time my border crossing and T.O. was 15 mins late even though I first started the engine with 5 mins before my flight plan was to be activated.
At that point I regarded the aiport to be uncontrolled and I radioed my intentions in the blind. Mind you I was on the runway for all of this time. A most uncomfortable situation to be in. He finally in the air told me to contact Budapest control who then handed me off to Vienna. This was a VFR flight and I would not give sh*t for TO off if it were not for an immediate border crossing and because like most pilots Im anal about following the rules.
What his beef was I dont know but in retroflection it might have to do with their freakin landing fee. I feel this guy’s, (Robbie) actions constituted a real safety issue. With me being on the active runway and he not answering any calls…. Nothing. Thereby causing me all sorts of confusion. Maybe my radios are not working! Where am I suppose to do the runup? What about the frequency? If it wasnt for the fact that 99% of the time if there is a unicom (info) or tower this type of issue never would have happened. If I knew I could not expect any help I would have found out before I started my engine. Which is what I planned to do since I didnt see him in the tower but was assured he would be on the radio with me.
With my last exchange I told him Id never fly in again. But Im sure he doesnt care but maybe the Boss might and the leasees who have maintenance facilities on the field. Should I write letters to them? Should I report this safety issue to the Hungarian equivalent to the FAA?
I flew to Fertoszintmiklas earlier this year, coming from Zell am See before continuing on to Pilsen and I recall having a major issue getting hold of someone in the tower to activate my Flight Plan even though I’d just paid the landing fee to the person in the tower – hence I did everything with blind calls and departed. I then called Budapest Info and got them to open my plan, even though it was less than 5 minutes to the border and I theoretically could have asked Vienna Information to open it but I didn’t want to cross an international border without the flight plan being open.
Coming back to the guy in the tower, there were a few gyrocopters flying and the guy was talking to them in Hungarian – I got the feeling the guy on the radio was very unsure of his english – or maybe I was unfortunate and he’d nipped off to the toilet each time I called him. However, he knew I was departing to Pilsen via Flight Plan but I still couldn’t get him. My plan was to depart LHFM, then circle over Hungarian territory until I could ensure that the flight plan was opened then cross into Austria.
I don’t know what you can do, just that the equivalent authorities will say it’s not their problem because it’s not a towered airport and whether the owners will do anything, I also can’t say. Having said that, I did enjoy my excursion to Soprom, which has a close connection to Franz Liszt…..
LHFM is a very frequent destination for us pilots from eastern Austria, aided by the fact that landing fees are a third from what they are eg 20 minutes flight time away in LOAN. And that’s before negotiating…
These are great people there and I’ve never heard of anyone having real beef with them. Yes, they do lack in professionalism, but I prefer that to some German or Austrian “Flugleiter” who behaves like he is the Kommandant of a WW2 Luftwaffe airbase. It’s an uncontrolled field, after all…
There should be no problem with opening a flight plan with Budapest after departing. IME they have the same people handling VFR and light aircraft IFR traffic and are very forthcoming with all kinds of requests/issues.
German or Austrian “Flugleiter” who behaves like he is the Kommandant of a WW2 Luftwaffe airbase
Where was the last time that you had that? Me: in 1995, one airfield in Bavaria, and never again.
At the very least I would write to the airfield owner and complain. Just because it’s an uncontrolled airfield doesn’t mean you should tolerate unprofessionalism and degradation of safety.
I have to say that in 36 yrs of flying with many Internationally I have never had such a bum fuss as this guy. I can speak Hungarian but when it comes to aviation I choose not to, because there are terms that I am not familiar with and I dont want to give them the impression that I am able to understand everything that they are saying over the radio. But for him to not even try to communicate while Im wandering around the active trying to find the run up area is really unprofessional and irresponsible.
The airport I fly out of have guys in the tower (Info) who speak very limited English but they know enough aeronautical terms to make themselves understood and if not they work it out.
The guy at LHFM should be fired pure and simple.
I would prefer the German Kommandant over a knucklehead who puts the importance of his games above safety. Other than charging me for an IFR approach which I didnt do at EDMS, every German airport personnel that I have encountered has been very professional including that one. Even in France at one small uncontrolled airport where they spoke no English at all, they tried really hard to make things work and they did. No problems in Croatia, Slovenia, Czech Rep. all small airports.
Its obvious from a similar experience Steve just relayed Im not the only victim of Robbi at LHFM. There must be someone to contact regarding this problem to correct his behavior.
