Adriaflug

Text Gabriele Brönner-Garben, Images Manfred Garben
English translation: powerglidertaifun.de

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This year we want to do a longer tour with our Taifun 17E motorglider, in the Easter holiday season, we want to go south. The idea to go to Corfu emerges, but then via Albania.
Two weeks before we depart “my pilot” gets the initial weather forecasts. From that moment on, plans change from day to day. Because the infamous down wind called “Bora” is a big player at the Croatian coast our other options will be Italy, France or Spain. Manfred calls, gets information, balances all the positives and negatives from our options.
The weather improves; maybe it is still possible to go around the Adriatic. One of our dreams is to land in Venice, at the airport of San Nicolo and the crossing of the Alps. Slovenia, Istria, Hungary, everything is considered and thought trough. At the end we pack almost all our charts, you are never sure enough.
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Saturday, April 12, 2003:
Our first flight is from Oehna, (EDBO) south of Berlin to Krems in Austria. We file the flight plan in the morning and we fly at 7500 feet because of not so good visibility. Above the inversion layer we have sunshine and good visibilities. The flight takes us past the snow covered Erz Mountains, west of Prague, heading is 180. The Czech Air Traffic Controllers allow us to pass all CTR’s at this altitude.

Parking position in Krems.

After 2,5 hours we land in Krems. We decide to spend the night. Friendly parachutists take us into town. One of them works for the magazine called “Skyrevue” and we ensure we will send him a story, of which we only know the final destination is Corfu, to publish. In the summer, when the bicycle fans arrive in Krems, hotels can be very difficult to find, in this time of the season we have no problems finding anything. And one remark for people interested in art, the museum of Caricatures opposite the court is a must.

Sunday, April 13, 2003:
Temperatures rise, I am at the airport, wait and enjoy my food. Everything is good to go at 11.00, we got the weather, flight planned, file the flight plan, checked the Taifun and packed our luggage. From Krems we depart in easterly direction towards the Alps. Big holes in the cloud cover allow climbing to FL 75. We get permission from ATC to cross the CTR of Graz to the Slovenian entry point of RADLY. Before we reach it we have to descend VFR low because of towering clouds.

Approach at Portoroz.

We have Portoroz in sight, a modern airport, easy to find and very easy on approach. A little motorbike is the “follow me’ and brings us to the parking area. Some people help us with parking and stationning the Taifun. After a short check of our documents we get a welcome drink, off course very strong. We only give them our registration numbers, everything else will be done when we depart. Very friendly, totally unbureaucratic, cheap fuel (only €0,80) and moderate fees.
Friends pick us up and we go to Buje. They have a house in the neighbourhood which they restored 3 years ago, in a small village of only 6 houses. The village was given up by the Italians in 1947 after Istria became part of Yugoslavia. Since a few years the economy betters itself, wine and olives are grown, houses are build and restored. Buje has many small galleries and art makers. The area is famous for the truffles, which are found by dogs and used in many recipes. We have a good taste of it over lunch in the Tavern Marino in Kremenje the next day, a good restaurant and also a good hotel.

Monday April 14, 2003:
We continue via Pula on the southernmost point of Istria, via Cres to Zadar. Zadar is a very nicely put airport with two runways, 12 kilometres south of the city. The old town has a few nice scenes to see like an old Roman amphitheatre and churches. We are trying to find a small hotel but are unlucky to find one.

Tuesday, April 15, 2003:
We file our flight plan to Dubrovnik. In 2500 feet, we are guided along the coast by ATC. We enjoy the flight over the islands with its unusual high mountains shortly before Dubrovnik ATC orders us to hold above the island of Kolocep. We circle the island until an airliner passes us with a lot of noise, now we can start our approach. Before touching down we have a wonderful view over the city.

We are guided to our parking spot at the airport. Fuel is brought by a truck and a bus picks us up. We file a flight plan to go to Corfu the next day. AIS has helped doing all the correct entries, LDDU, MOKUN, R 45 TIBRI, R45 TAZ, W47 POD, W 33 RETRA, DCT PITAS. The last two are the entry and exit points of Albania.
We are requested to check the next morning if our flight over Albania and Montenegro is allowed. The old town of Dubrovnik is about 30 kilometres from the airport; busses go there every 15 minutes when the tourist airplanes have arrived. Return is every one and a half hour before take off from the main railway terminal. Hotels, apartments, B&B are available as from €30.
The cultural part: Dubrovnik is surrounded by massive city walls which can be visited daily between 09.00 and 19.00. From the nearby mountains the Serbian Army in 1991/92 fired directly into town, any many things were destroyed. This can be seen even nowadays; recently revised roofs and restored roads. Also to and from the airport some destroyed houses can be seen. There are many bars, restaurants, shops with long opening hours and a 24 hour bakery. Most of the people we encountered were good in English, sometimes even a little bit of German.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003:
We call to check our flight plan, nothing heard, so we assume everything is okay. We have plenty of time for a stroll through the harbour, enjoy a cappucino and find shoes during the sale.
Take-off is planned for 15.00, I am nervous. We are rolling to the holding position when the tower informs us that the flight plan is not yet accepted. Waiting. 10 Long minutes pass and we receive our clearance. After take-off, we are ordered to climb to 9000 feet. We want to fly in 3000 feet because of the cloud base and this is accepted by ATC. We have good radio with ATC and receive all things needed for a safe flight, just like any other.

We approach Kerkira (=Corfu) after 2 hours and 10 minutes. When filling in all the paperwork we enter “Aero club” in the field of the ownership. We rent a car at the airport and travel north at the eastern coastal road. We are stunned that almost everything, hotels, restaurants, B&B, bars, al the things a tourist needs, are still closed. We are told that on May 5, the season starts. Finally we manage (thanks to TUI) to find a room.

Thursday, and Friday, April 17 & 18, 2003:
The next two days we spend at the western coast of Corfu, we believe this is the best side of the island. After a long car drive we find a nice apartment in Paramones for only €30 per night. Also the peculiarly named neighbouring restaurant called “Sun-Set” is open for business. We get a taste of Corfu life the next day. When walking trough the olive fields we approach a (closed) restaurant. Some 6 or 7 people sit outside and invite us to come sit with them and enjoy food and drinks, just “sit down and relax”, That’s it!!
At the table we meet Kostas, Eirene and Jorgo, and also Ingrid from Stuttgart and Derrick and Paula with their son from Salisbury/England.
We eat fried chicken and bread, have a salad, and drink a lot of retsina. We discuss Europe, the war in Iraq, the Euro, the next season, the hiding place of Saddam, the different sorts of oranges and why it is a punishment to live in the UK for 6 months.
And the evening gives us a beautiful sunset. As always on a wonderful evening we decide to stay another day until the next day the pilot wakes up and decides: We continue our flight!

Sunday, April 20, 2003:
At home Easter Sunday is celebrated, in Greece Easter is celebrated next weekend.
Departure at Corfu is planned for 13.00. And before, all the usual, weather, flight plan, packing, refuelling, cleaning and checking. And a perfect surprise at the end, as members of a flying club we don’t have to pay for handling and parking fees. But, fuel is double the price of Croatia.
A flight at 4000 feet takes us in 40 minutes across the Adriatic south of Brindisi.
From here we follow the coast to the north.
Sometimes we have to report each mandatory point and also at 20, 10 and 5 NM distance from the next airport, sometimes it is less demanding. When we had problems finding the routing points on the maps, ATC wasn’t painful and helped us.
We land in Pescara after 3 hours and 14 minutes.

As always there are lows in our flight, last year it was Emmabodda in Sweden, now it is Pescara. It is Easter Sunday, no suitable hotel. We call Berlin but our meteorologists inform us to wait until the day after tomorrow. After a night in a bad hotel we take the bus to Chieti, a small town in the Abruzzo Mountains, one hour distance from Pescara. Here we will wait for the cold front to pass. We buy the paper at the railway terminal to be informed about home once more.
Chieti, 3000 years old, churches, little squares, very Italian, few tourists, no menus in English or German. After intensive research we find a place to celebrate Easter Monday.
The food is like a poem, hard to describe, the address is:
EPISCOPIO, Via Arniense 159, Chieti. (However: 4 tables and only, 16 seats!)

Tuesday, April 22, 2003:
From Pescara we depart to Venice. Again, as usual, along the Italian coast. The weather gods are with us, very good, visibility 30 kilometres, blue sky, very few clouds and a steady 20 knots headwind. After one hour we spot the Po-Delta, a huge plain of water with scattered islands which are used for fishing and farming.

The main island of Venice.

Approach at Venice, San Nicolo.

Approach at Venice San Nicolo, a little airport with 800 metres of grass runway at the end of the Lido, where time has halted some time ago. We park our Taifun, tie it down and because it's getting late, decide to take care of formalities on departure.
Situated in front of the airport is the bus stop.
We go to the hotel called “Bellevue” and get a pilot discount. Very nice rooms, good breakfast and a view at the Lagoon. You should prefer a room on the backside of the hotel, because ferries arrive early morning ( 5 o' clock !) and busses use the parking area for turning around.
Venice, La Serenissima. And that is absolutely true in our opinion. A lot of things to see, no need to give directions. We get a 24 hour ferry pass and go to the San Marco square. When we get tired of walking we get in one of the many boats and take a tour on the Canal Grande and around Venice. At 22.00 the last ferry goes to the Lido, if you miss it there are still the very expensive water-taxis. Venice, car free city, little boats, big boats, ferries, gondolas, everything comes via the water, the laundry machine, the doctor, the mail, even the hearse.

Wednesday, April 23, 2003:
We disembark close by the old naval base and stroll the streets. We have a look at the Franciscan monastery and hear the organist playing. We visit a Palazzo; enjoy the sun and the many delicacies of Venice. In the early evening we call Berlin meteorology and get the prognoses for the next day, CAVOK. We decide to fly back via the Alps.

Thursday, April 24, 2003:
Early departure, the formalities are quickly taken care off, we only have to wait for the fuel. At 08.00 Zulu we take off to cross the Alps. The weather couldn’t be better, we did our utmost the check it.

Waiting for the fuel in San Nicolo.

After take-off we make a right hand turn and have a good view on the Lido, the Lagoon, and Venice. What a privilege!

View on the Lido after take-off.

To the north of Padua we use the upwind of the first mountain ridge and climb to 6000 feet. We are cleared by ATC for any altitude we want, to be on the safe side we climb to 11.000 feet.

The Alps west of Bozen.

Above us clear blue sky, a beautiful mountain world with white peaks. We are astonished by so much beauty. Above Brixen and Bolzano we head towards the Brenner Pass. To our left the Stella group; which we did by skies two years ago.
An unforgettable passing of the Alps. Continue to Innsbruck and above point November 1 we crossed the central Alps for the first time.
The route home goes via Eggenfelde (with a short stop), Hof and Leipzig. After 5 hours and 20 minutes we land in Oehna. A little bit tired but very satisfied.

Result; seen a lot, learned a lot. Flying abroad makes us more confident and self assured. The flight across Albania, the initially confusing airspace regulations in Italy, the approach on Venice, everything proved to be much more relaxed than imagined. We can only say that you have to try it for yourself!!!

Gabriele Brönner-Garben

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