On May 8th two Taifun crews have begun a joint flight from Germany
to Israel. All four pilots have been looking forward to this once
in a lifetime trip. As the great Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius
already stated some 2500 years ago: "Zhi Yu Dao", meaning
something like "the journey is the destination". Below you
can find some additional info on their flight. Starting at May 8th
you may expect a daily update on the status of their journey.
The Haifa crew
in front of D-KGAN on April 25th at Geilenkirchen NATO Airbase,
from left to right: Henk Schoenmakers, Gunter Hartleb, Henk Dumont
and Hans-Peter Gottlob
Preparations
for a journey (Sunday April 25th)
Sunday April 25th 2010 German pilots Gunter Hartleb and Hans-Peter
Gottlob visited Geilenkirchen NATO Airbase with their Taifun motorglider
D-KGAN in order to meet Dutch pilots Henk Dumont and Henk Schoenmakers.
While Geilenkirchen is Henk Dumont's homebase (so D-KFDI didn't have
to spread its wings) Henk Schoenmakers accompanied by his wife made
a flight with his Super Dimona (D-KDRK) from Nordhorn-Lingen (EDWN)
near the German-Dutch border some 100 NM North of Geilenkirchen.
Reason for this meeting that took place at the start of flying-season
was the four pilots wanted to meet and talk things through on their
coming flight to Israel. Maps, flightplans, paperwork and other important
stuff changed hands. While other people, spectators and pilots mostly
were interested in soaring planes being pulled up by a winch, a jet
propulsed model fighter or a special visitor like the Flying Flee
Ultralight our Taifun enthousiasts were merely interested in more
earthly things: the flight to Haifa.
T-minus 8 days (Friday April 30th)
Today is a Koninginnedag (Queensday) in the Netherlands, a national
holiday celebrating the birthday of the Queen's mum. Time for a visit
from our webmaster at Henk's place to talk things through. Plans for
the flight to Israel have been made some while ago, but today the
pilots decided to make an extra fuel stop on stage 4 on the Greek
isle of Mikonos.
Here's the plan for the flight to Haifa (single journey in total over
1800 NM / 3350 km) for the moment:
Stage 1: Saturday May 8th 2010
Geilenkirchen/Mönchsheide >>> Pula LDPL (Croatia)
Henk Schoenmakers and Henk Dumont will depart at about 08.00 local
time from Geilenkirchen NATO airbase with D-KFDI and fly southeast
for about 150 NM towards Mosbach-Lohrbach (EDGM) and make a short
fuel stop.
Hans-Peter Gottlob and Gunter Hartleb with D-KGAN will depart from
Mönchsheide soaring airfield and fly south for about 100 NM towards
Mosbach-Lohrbach (EDGM) but will not land over there.
Together they will meet in the air and then follow their route southward
for about 350 NM towards the final goal of today : Pula airfield at
the southermost point of the Istria peninsula in northern Croatia.
Stage 2: Sunday May 9th 2010
Pula LDPL >>> Kérkira LGKR (Greece)
Along the Croatian and Albanian coastlines southeastward - on the
edge of the Adriatic Sea - both Taifuns will fly for some 440 NM and
after a little over 4 hours of flight they will land at Kérkira
airfield (LGKR) on the Greek isle of Corfu.
Stage 3: Monday May 10th 2010
Kérkira LGKR >>> Rhodos LGRP (Greece)
Today is your webmaster's birthday, but that will be of no interest
at all to the Taifun crews since they will be focussed on their third
leg on the journey to Israel. Another 450 NM (again a little over
4 hours of flight) and they will transport themselves and their planes
from Kérkira LGKR in the northwestern part of Greece towards
Rhodos airfield (LGRP) in the southeastern part of Greece. The first
part will be mainly a flight along the Greek coast, during the second
part mainland will be out of sight while crossing the Aegean Sea passing
several islands. On one of these islands being Mikonos they will have
a short fuel stop to be sure they are able to reach their final destination
Rhodos without being troubled by fuel problems.
Stage 4: Tuesday May 11th 2010
Rhodos LGRP >>> Haifa LLHA (Israel)
The final leg on the first part of this journey. Both the most exciting
but most difficult leg at a time. Again 430 NM southeast, but this
time water, water and yet more water. The only land they will see
(except from start and finish) will be the island of Cyprus at about
2/3rd of todays flight.
D-DAY Confucius
meditating on the wings of D-KFDI minutes before departure this morning.
Confucius will watch over both pilots, while they will watch over
the plane.
Day
1 / Stage 1 (Saturday May 8th)
This morning two pilots, two wives, one webmaster, one supporter and
Chinese
philosopher Confucius gathered at Geilenkirchen Nato Airbase at
10.30 local time. After some small chitchat all went to the hangar
where Henk Dumont had already opened up the hangar doors in order
to let his Taifun get a first breath of fresh air. Bags were being
packed, unpacked, packed, unpacked and finally put aboard D-KFDI.
Except for some unneeded ounces of spare stuff, but hey, who needs
a pair of spare tweezers on the way to Israel? Chances of catching
a splinter in one's thumb during flight are nearly zero...
Then a phonecall, filling some extra liters of fuel, a second phonecall,
a look at the flying map and the approach charts of today's destination
and D-KFDI is ready to be pulled out of the hangar. Final checks,
two men boarding the vehicle that is going to be their homeroom for
the next two weeks (at least during daylight hours) and a merry humming
is starting to come out of the engine.
Brrrrrr brrrrrrr brrrrrrr it's cold out here. Brrrrrr brrrrrr brrrrr
I want to go to Haifa !!!
One last glance at today's route
Phonecall from pilotfriend Michel Mulder, wishing good luck
Phonecall to D-KGAN crew at Mönchsheide
D-KFDI being pulled out of the hangar
Due to
weather conditions above the Austrian Alps the original plan to fly
to Pula (Croatia) on this first day have changed. Now the first stage
will lead both Taifuns to Schärding-Suben in Austria and tomorrow
morning the crew is hoping to find a corridor to cross the Alps southward.
Predictions for today are not that superb, but tomorrow there must
be a fair chance to move southward to Croatia. Thus they will get
there in two days in stead of one. But like Confucius already said
25 centuries ago: "It does not matter how slowly you go so
long as you do not stop."
Today's weatherchart. No chance of making it across the Alps in Austria...
Caressing the propellor.
This baby must bring them to Haifa.
Shake hands. Goodbye!
Henk Schoenmakers boarding the Taifun
And finally the cockpit canopy is being pulled down
At
11.40 the cockpit's canopy was closed and the engine really begged
for departure. Several minutes later Henk & Henk taxied their
Taifun to Runway 09, ready for take off. Some safety checks, flap
checks, radio checks and at 11.50 the breaks were being unloosened
and full power D-KFDI's propellors pulled their way westward. After
some 300 meters more than usual (apparently another forgotten suitcase
of tweezers made some extra weight) finally the wheels no longer turned
on the asfalt below and D-KFDI was airborne, on its way to Schärding-Suben
LOLS (Austria).
ETNG, May 8th, 11.51, off they go for a flight to Haifa ...
Phonecall
at 15.30 from Elly: at 15.15 local time (13.15) both Taifuns have
landed safe and sound at Schärding-Suben LOLS in Austria. Weather
and visibility during the first third of the flight was not that good,
but after passing Koblenz skies cleared up and the views were getting
better and better. Almost no wind at all near LOLS, making it almost
perfect for a landing.
When looking at the picture below, sent by the crew of D-KGAN, one
question arises to your sober webmaster: "Is LOLS the right ICAO
for the airport they have just landed today? Shouldn't it be LOL (Laughing
Out Loud)?"
May 8th, 15.39 local time, Haifa crew at Pilots Weather
Station (LOLS / Schärding-Suben Austria )
PS, Detlef, thank you very much for your efforts this morning !
Day
2/ Stage 2 (Sunday May 9th)
13.45 the phone is ringing. Hans-Peter Gottlob: "We have crossed
the alps, weather is very fine and we have landed at Pula airport.
We're going to refuel in just a moment and then we will depart again
to fly towards Dubrovnik for another 4 hours flight."
HenK Dumont: "Yeah, the weather was nice this morning at Schärding-Suben
when we took off. When crossing the Alps it turned a little greyish,
but no troubles in flying VFR. We passed Mariazell, then Graz and
via Ljubljana we headed for Pula under superb weather circumstances.
The decision to depart yesterday for Austria was absolutely a right
one. We've left the bad weather behind and now we're in a great mood
;-). Bye bye for now, since we're on our way south."
Yesterday, dinner at Schärding-Suben airfield
Today on the way from Austria to Croatia
9.58 this morning, D-KGAN flying above the eastern
part of Austria
D-KGAN crossing the Alps
At the same time inside of the cockpit of D-KFDI
D-KFDI
on final for runway 27 at Pula airport (Croatia)
Late
in the evening another phonecall from Hans-Peter:
"Hi Leo, it's us again. We made it to Kerkyra/Corfu (LGKR)
in Greece. After our refuelling stop at Pula it took us about 4 hours
of flying in beautiful weather circumstances. Great views too. As
Henk already told this afternoon we refuelled at Pula and after that
we immediately took off again to fly southward. I'll pass Henk the
phone and he will tell a little bit more."
One o'clock in the afternoon, refuelling at Pula
Henk D.:
"With strong tailwinds today's second leg had been the perfect
practice for our last stage; the flight from Rhodos to Haifa over
sea. We got permission from ATC to fly from Pula to Kerkyra in a straight
line, so almost all 4 hours of our flight this afternoon lead us across
water. We made it without difficulties so like Hans-Peter said: a
perfect practice day for what is yet to come on our way to Haifa across
open water. The last 10 miles before reaching Ioannis Kapodistrias
airport here at Corfu we reached 145 knots because of strong tailwinds.
We made a midfield crossing, big turn to the right and landed on the
runway 35. Right now we're enjoying dinner at the restaurant of our
hotel
Bretagne across the airport right next to the local football stadium."
Today both Taifuns have flown a total of 10.5 hours across 6 countries
and crossed 5 different borders; Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro,
Albania and finally Greece. Yes indeed, they have earned a decent
meal...
Apparently some one of four pilots is cloudhigh in his head already,
while still way to go to Haifa: Henk Dumont keeps mentioning that
they've landed at Rhodos while in fact they have landed at Corfu today
(in the back Hans-Peter can be heard correcting Henk's mistake). Also
Alzheimer-light has struck to one of the others: yesterday evening
after landing at Schärding-Suben in Austria Gunter noticed he
had no passport. It had been left at home...
So, several phonecalls to his wife (and UPS) later, she decided to
drive to Düsseldorf airport, searched for a passenger flight
to Rhodos, found some very friendly tourists who were willing to take
Gunter's passport to Rhodos and over there hand it over to the authorities
at the airport.
Like Confucius stated 2500 years ago: by three methods we may learn
wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation,
which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Thus Gunter's passport already has arrived at Rhodos while he himself
has yet to fly there ;-)
Day 3/ No flight (Monday May 10th)
Phonecall at 11.30: As it seems Henk D's stay at cloud nine has been
continuing until late yesterday evening, since his wife Elly has been
told that they landed at Dubrovnik ;-)
However, today our four friends will enjoy a relaxing day and take
a look at the splendour of Corfu.
At 17.00 local no message from the Haifa crew yet. Our four pilots
are probably sitting on some Corfu terrace, enjoying the sun, the
breezing wind, maybe a glass of beer and of course a beautiful view
upon the Greek beach and the sea behind. In the meantime your webmaster
is further, much further in planning things yet to come. In fact,
while Taifun-pilots can only dream of Israel, your webmaster has actually
brought an Israeli atmosphere to his home kitchen by preparing some
basics of the Israeli cuisine: As a starter chicken soup, main dish
shawarma. All this under the watching eye of Confucius, our wise man
and guide on this journey to Haifa...
17.30 local time in your webmaster's kitchen
on the cooking stove: A pan of chickensoup (left) and a kettle
of water to boil some tea. Confucius is watching from the
kettle.
To repeat the wise words he stated over 2500 years ago: "Everyone
eats and drinks, but few appreciate taste."
Now you may ask, why chickensoup to create an Israeli atmosphere?
Well the answer is quite simple, after some internet research
I found out that chicken soup was the favourite kind of soup
former prime minister of Israel Golda Meir liked to cook when
family or VIPs came to call.
Anybody interested in the recepy can download it from the
official
site of the ministry of foreign affairs.
17.50 local time, same place: Shawarma in the steelpan. Shawarma,
the name is derived from the Turkish word "çevirme",
which means "rotating" or "turning". In
Greece where our four pilots are right now they've got a similar
kind of dish called "gyros"
which also means "rotating". This
because both with shawarma and with gyros the meat is placed
on a rotating spit, and may be grilled for as long as a day.
Of course your webmaster was in a hurry so he roasted the
meat on the fire in the steelpan.
Just outside of the frame Confucius is still watching from
the kettle. Busy day, watching over relaxing pilots in Greece
and watching over a webmaster cooking Israeli food in the
Netherlands at the same time.
And
finally at 18.15 Israel is on the dish; Shawarma in pita bread (oven
baked) with garlic mayonaise and a salad made with tomatoes, cucumber,
unions and pickles.
Good to know for the Taifun boys in Greece: Israel may be in your
heads for several weeks now, but at this very moment it's already
inside of your webmaster's stomach. Mmmmmmmmm !!!
20.45
Mail from Hans-Peter Gottlob, accompanied by some pictures they made
today.
The pilots have been doing some sightseeing on Corfu during the day.
Plans for tomorrow are to take off from Corfu airport somewhere between
10.00 and 11.00 local time and make a 4.5 hours flight to Rhodos in
the south of Greece. Weather predictions for the next 4 days will
be perfect. As a matter of fact, In Haifa the temperature is reported
to be 45° in the shades.
Below two of the sightseeing pictures sent by Hans-Peter.
Picture
taken by one of our Taifun pilots this morning at 9.15 local
time while sightseeing Corfu. The image shows the back side
of the so called Paleo Frourio (The Old Fortress). This Fortres
the first and oldest bastion for the defence of Corfu has
been built by Venetians in the 15th century on an old fortification
stemming from Byzantine times island. The island on which
this fortification was built is connected to the mainland
by a bridge, also built by the Venetians. There's amongst
others a museum with Byzantine art, the fortress itsself can
be visited with quite some narrow tunnels to walk through,
on top there's a lighthouse (barely to be seen in the middle
of the picture), some shops are spread over the island, and
St. Georges Church.
Want to experience the view from the island itself, the please
take a look at the 360 panorama from Paleo Frourio below.
360 degrees
panoramic view from Palio
Frourio Fin in Greece (Macromedia
Flash plugin required)
No info on this picture, except that it has been taken
by one of the Taifun crewmembers this afternoon at 14.07 local time.
A wild guess from your webmaster: somewhere in the neighbourhood there's
that terrace with a cold bottle of Greek beer ;-)
Today's biggest surprise lands into your webmaster's mailbox at 23.50
local time.
A mail from Greek plane spotter Vasilis Porgiazis, living in Athens.
Apparently Vasilis happened to be spotting at runway 35 of Ioannis
Kapodistrias airport on Corfu yesterday right when both Taifuns were
flying in and he caught them in the eye of his lense!
D-KGAN, carrying Hans-Peter Gottlob and Gunter Hartleb
landing at Runway 35 Kerkyra airport (LGKR)
Picture made by Vasilis Porgiazis, yesterday May 9th.
D-KFDI, carrying Henk Dumont and Henk Schoenmakers
landing at Runway 35 Kerkyra airport (LGKR)
Picture made by Vasilis Porgiazis yesterday, May 9th.
Vasilis,
proud member of the Athens air-born Spottersteam, a very big thank
you for sending and sharing you're very nice pictures of D-KFDI and
D-KGAN with us and all readers of the powerglidertaifun.de website.
Those of you who want to see more excellent work of Vasilis, please
visit an extract of his pictures at www.airliners.net
or even better (because more pictures, but in Greek language) his
gallery at:
www.airliners.gr.
Day 4/ Stage 3 (Tuesday May 11th)
This morning our crew took off from Kerkyra-Corfu airport for a flight
that took them to Rhodos airport LGRP in the southeast of Greece.
Below two pictures we received from Mr. Dimitris Roussos, showing
children and 2 of 3 teachers of 2 local kindergarten classes who happened
to be at the airport, sitting on the wings of D-KFDI at 10.33 local
time, when the motorglider was almost ready to take off. Apparantly
everybody is having great fun ;-)
10.33 Kerkyra airport, Kindergarten classes on the
wings of D-KFDI...
... and both pilots
A
big thank you to mr. Roussos for sending the pictures!!!
To our readers: all children got off safely before the planes were
airborne ;-)
D-KFDI and D-KGAN took off at about 11 o'clock local time for a 450
NM flight to Corfu (the most southeastern of all Greek islands) that
took them 4 hours and 38 minutes of flight. According to Hans-Peter
on the phone later this evening the flight went exactly as planned
before, or as the Germans say: "Es lief wie am Schnürchen".
When translated this would mean something silly like "things
went like a little rope", but in English the more often used
phrase is "to go like a clockwork". Only some small difficulties
for D-KFDI, since D-KFDI is using a little bit more fuel per hour
than D-KGAN. With only few liters of Avgas left with D-KFDI the motorgliders
have landed at Rhodos international airport (LGRP)
this afternoon. According
to our four pilots they have been enjoying the most wonderfull sights
along their way along several Greek islands in the Aegean
Sea during their flight today. Below
some pictures that can give us a little bit the feeling they had when
flying from Corfu to Rhodos...
Tuesdaymorning
May 11th, taking off at Runway 17 Kerkyra/Corfu airport, as seen from
D-KFDI
Passing
several Greek archipels in the Aegean Sea in the Cyclades
region
Front left partially covered by the wings: Schoinoussa
island with the uninhabited island of Ofidoussa
Right upper corner: Keros
island, also uninhabited
After 4.5 hours of flight finally Rhodos airport can be seen
D-KGAN touching ground on Rhodos airport runway 25 as seen by D-KFDI
Today
Hans-Peter, Gunter, Henk & Henk made a sight seeing trip
across the island of Rhodos (mostly spelled in English as
Rhodes by the way).
Main attraction of the day was the Acropolis on a hill near
the city
of Rhodes. Since Taifun pilots need their motorglider
to get any higher their human muscles appeared to be too weak
to climb the hill so they had to rent a couple of donkeys.
Costed 5 euros per donkey to get uphill, but judging the pictures
our crew spared themselves some money to go downhill (another
5 euros) because your webmaster is supposing they rolled downhill
laughing and were in no need of a donkey at all ;-)
Tower
for Haifa crew:: "please ascend to Flightlevel 6"
Pilots in command Hans-Peter and Henk D. gaining altitude on
a donkey
Hans-Peter: "no good as gliders these donkey-machines,
but uphill even our Taifuns can't manage to stay anywhere near these
monsters of power !!!"
Remains and reconstructed
parts of the temple and the theatre
The Acropolis at Rhodes was not fortified like most ancient acropoleis.
It consisted of a monumental zone with Sanctuaries, large temples,
public buildings and underground cult places. The buildings were built
on stepped terraces supported by strong retaining walls. Nowadays
only parts of the original construction have resisted during the centuries
since it was first built (during the late Hellenistic periods around
250 B.C.). If you want to experience the surroundings at the Rhodes
Acroplois, please take a look at the 360 panoramic view below (Macromedia
Plugin required)
Earlier this morning our four pilots visited a.o. the palace of the
Grand Masters of the Knight of Rhodes, a 14th century palace, built
by the Knights
of Rhodes. After the island was captured by the Ottoman Empire
the palace has been used as a fortress. The original palace was largely
destroyed by an ammunition explosion in 1856. When the Kingdom of
Italy occupied Rhodes in 1912, the Italians rebuilt the palace in
a grandiose pseudo-medieval style as a holiday residence for Victor
Emmanuel III of Italy, and later for Benito Mussolini, whose name
can still be seen on a large plaque near the entrance.
Day
6/ Stage 4 (Thursday May 13th)
Today our crew will depart from Rhodes at around 12.00 local time
for their last stage on the journey to Haifa that will probably take
them another 4 hours of flight for 400 Nautical Miles and hopefully
they will land safe and sound at Haifa airport Israel.
Hopefully your webmaster will receive some pictures later this evening,
because he will be down underground for a bunker tour in Northern
France almost all of the Friday May 14th, so if not this evening,
the next update will have to wait until later on Saturday May 15th.
Greetz & happy landings from Leo.
At
22.00 local a phonecall from Elly, Henk D's wife, saying the crew
has safely landed this afternoon at Haifa airport.
At
00.23 local time, only 20 minutes after your webmaster went to bed
for only a 3.5 hours sleep before making a 24hr bunker tour through
Northern France, an e-mail came into the mailbox, sent by Henk Schoenmakers:
"Hello Leo, today was the big day, fully packed and loaded as
loaded can be with fuel we started for the last stage across the big
pond that's called the Mediterranean Sea to get to Haifa. After having
had breakfast we drove the rental car to the airport and forwarded
our paperwork containing specific data required to enter Israeli airspace
towards the authorities.
As you know we have been flying in formation up till now, but this
time things went not quite right. Right after departing at Rhodes
airport visibility had become 2000 feet less, caused by clouds at
3000 feet. Despite several attempts of Rhodes radar we lost contact
with D-KGAN and unfortunately were not able to regain visible contact
to eachother. Since there was no time for searching too long because
of possible lackage of fuel at the end of this leg we decided to set
course for the first waypoint at about one hour of flight. We had
been cleared to fly at 7500 feet en we only had 2 km visibility so
main task was to keep flying the right course and not to be discoursed
by crosswinds. Having arrived at the waypoint it turned out to be
we were only minutes apart. Therefore the first Taifun reaching the
waypoint made a big 360 turn until the second one had also arrived.
We had to keep looking for eachother due to the minimalised visibility,
but thanks to radio communications we found eachother back and continued
the flight in formation as planned.
Visual
contact regained, D-KGAN as seen from the cockpit of D-KFDI, somewhere
on the way to Haifa
Hans-Peter and Gunter as seen in full flight by the co-pilot of D-KFDI
After we returned into formation flight we could fly in formation
to Haifa for the next three hours. Visibility got better and better
and we even got tailwinds on part of the flight. After having arrived
near the Haifa zone we succeeded in landing on our second atempt.
According the tower controller D-KFDI was too close to D-KGAN and
ordered us to make a 360 go around immediately.
Today's stage took us for 100% of the 4 hours and 10 minutes it took
over open water. With somewhat relief we made some airpictures of
Haifa city as you can see in the attached files.
Right
after landing at Haifa airport we were welcomed by our Israel Taifun
friends as you can see on the picture with Haim and Yigal. They had
been waiting for us with a couple of big cold bottles of fresh drinks
and mineral water. I'm sending you several pictures to put on the
website so everybody can have a look at them.
At almost 19.00 local time, after more than
4 hours of flying, the Haifa-crew feels relieved to see the
shore.
Haifa city as seen from the cockpit of D-KFDI.
The square building left of the centre is the Rambam
Hospital, the largest medical hospital in northern Israel,
while the white building right next to it (the taller one)
is the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, part
of to the Technion
(Israel Institute of Technology)
Several minutes later, the landing strip of
Haifa airport LLHA can be seen.
In the back, in line with the landing strip, two cooling towers
on the terrain of the Bazan oil refinery.
This oil refinery, owned by Oil
Refineries Ltd is the largest refinery in Israel, capable
of refining about 9 million tons of crude oil per year providing
a variety of products used in industrial operation, transportation,
private consumption, agriculture and infrastructures.
D-KFDI on final for Haifa Runway 16.
Arrived at the airport of final destination; welcome
sign
Feet on the ground.
The Haif-crew welcomed by their Israeli friends.
With
the help of our Israeli friends, customs were cleared very quickly,
within an hour or so.
One hour after that we made a flight with three Taifuns to a former
military strip called Megiddo (LLMG) situated some 30 kms southeast
of Haifa; the Israeli Taifun 4X-GMF flying ahead leading the way,
followed by D-KFDI and D-KGAN. With 24/7 military surveillance we
didn't have to worry about parking our Taifuns.
Haim had booked a hotel on a mountain in Haifa and we enjoyed a lovely
dinner in a restaurant nearby.
For
tomorrow we have planned to make a flight to Masada
at the Dead Sea. Together with Haim we will fly in formation to the
lowest airport in the world, being Bar Yehuda airfield (LLMZ) at 1240
feet (378 meters) below mean sea level. All people who have landed
there get rewarded with a special document confirming the performance
of this extraordinary achievement.
For now best regards from all of us, sent from a sunny Haifa. We have
spoken a lot of people who are stunned when hearing where we came
here all the way from Germany and the Netherlands with our small Taifun
motorgliders."
Henk Schoenmakers.
4X-GMF,
D-KFDI and D-KGAN, three Taifun motorgliders lined up after arrival
at Megido airfield
Cleaning
the wings of 4X-GMF, Haim Zaklad and Danny
Day
7/ Sightseeing Masada (Friday May 14th)
Henk Schoenmakers reporting in different mail messages of today's
activities:
"Today we got up early because we are going to make a flight
to Masada and the Dead
Sea. We made a one hour formation flight with three Taifuns. Usually
flights within Israel are not allowed, but thanks to the fact Haim
and Danny are both Israeli pilots and the took seats in the first
and the last formation Taifun we have been granted permission to fly.
The trip took us along the Jordan
river with on the right hand side Galilea desert and on the left
hand side the kingdom
of Jordan. Despite some haze we had great views to both sides.
Since we weren't allowed to cross the city of Jericho we had to make
a small detour across the desert and on the great curve we made we
were able to see the city of Jerusalem. In front of us the Dead Sea
appeared and flying at low altitude we crossed the ruins of Masada.
We landed at Bar Yehuda airfield (LLMZ), the lowest airfield in the
world, right next to the Dead Sea."
Flying
through the valley of the Jordan as seen from D-KFDI
D-KGAN
flying near Jericho as seen from D-KFDI
The greenish area is inhabited and is called Netiv HaGdud,
an Israeli moshav
on the West Bank some 15 NM north of Jericho
Mount
Masada and its ruins as seen from D-KGAN when crossing
D-KFDI
on final for runway 01 at Masada airfield
Earlier
today your webmaster had been surprised by a mail from Shlomo Zelkine
in Israel, showing pictures from the three Taifuns at Masada airfield: "Today the 3 Taifuns visited MEZADA airfield, the lowest
airfield in the world. We had great time seeing pilots flying motorgliders
all the way from Europe to Israel. I myself am a glider, motorglider,
airplane and helicopters, Gyroplane pilot and instructor..... I am
also a ferry pilot, flying over the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans
with single and multi-engine airplanes, so I can appreciate the flight
of the 2 Taifuns. Welcome! Shlomo."
And
here are some of the pictures, sent by Shlomo:
D-KGAN
landing at Masada airfield
D-KFDI
landing at Masada airfield
Landing
as seen from 4X-GMF
D-KFDI and D-KGAN taxiing
All three Taifuns on their parking lots. In the background the height
of Masada can be seen,
the place where a cable car leads visitors to the ancient ruins
A
big thank you to Shlomo from the Netherlands for sending the pictures
!!!
Henk
Schoenmakers again:
"Temperatures
were freaking hot, as much as 40 degrees in the shade. We were being
welcomed with a typical arab coffee (here it’s called mud coffee)
and a giant water melon in a bedouin tent here at the airfield. We
received a document certifying that we have landed on the deepest
airport in the world.
As could have been expected we exchanged some pilot talk about everybody’s
adventures. A pilot with a lot of experience, Shlomo. Has told us
almost half an hour about a ferry during a 24 hour flight from Honolulu
to San Fransisco.
Temperatures are very high in this area, our thermometer in the cockpit
has risen above max. It’s absolutely necessary to smear a thick
layer of protective oil on your skin and to stay out direct sunlight
whenever possible."
Gunter,
Hans-Peter, Henk D and Henk S. in the bedouin tent, with their certificates
of landing at the lowest airport in the world
In the back: Danny and Haim
Picture kindly sent by Shlomo Zelkine
How low can you go?
Altitude meter aboard D-KGAN
at
the same time: GPS-screen aboard D-KFDI showing the location
of and track to the lowest airfield in the world
Pilot talk amongst friends in a bedouin tent at Masada
airfield
Henk Schoenmakers:
" We made a short trip by car to the heights of Masada and visited
the ruins over there.
The palace and citadel over there were under siege in the year 30
BC when the Romans wanted to take over. The remaining 800 Judean people
kept fighting until their last breath, but didn’t want to surrender.
They resisted for 3 years until they ran out of water and then they
chose to rather die by jumping off the mountain than surrendering
to the Romans."
For those
who want to know more about Masada, please take a look at the wikipedia
article on this beautiful and historic place.
Also there's this excellent site on which you can experience an aerial
flight across the mountain and see several 3D pictures. It's almost
like you're there yourself !
Have fun with http://mordagan.com/?p=129 (please wait for the page to load, only Israeli language, but hovering above and looking at the different sites is very intuitive, you will manage!).
Henk
Schoenmakers:
"If one pays a visit to the dead sea, a dive into the water is
a must do to everyone, also to us 4 Taifun pilots. Actually diving
is the wrong word, since it’s not possible to go any deeper
than 10 cm below water level. Due to the buoyancy caused by the large
density of the salt water. The water contains so much salt that if
a drop gets into your eyes or mouth it hurts a lot. Henk Dumont forgot
to take his swim briefs, but it was no point getting him into the
water in his underpants ;-)
Afterwards we were very glad to take a shower nearby, you really need
it to get rid of the crystals that remain after the water has dried
on your skin.
We returned to Megido in the same formation flight as we came here
this morning. Again we have seen a beautiful landscape and made a
lot of pictures."
Here are
two more pictures kindly sent by Shlomo Zelkine showing the three
Taifuns during their departure from Masada airfield.
14.20 local time, lined up, ready for departure
5 and a half hours after arriving at Massada, this is the last shot
Shlomo made
of the three visitors when they took off again.
Later
this evening the four Taifun pilots were invited at Haim's
home to have a cosy dinner. We met several of Haim's friends
and family members and had a very pleasant evening over there.
On behalf of both Taifun crews I had the honour to thank Haim
for all his efforts that enabled D-KFDI and D-KGAN to fly
to Israel in the first place, but also for his generousity
and his hospitality, making our stay in Israel an unforgettable
experience allready. Who knows what things may come this next
week. As a present Haim was awarded with a special Taifun-shirt,
showing a stichtched Taifun on the back, reading the text:
"Life is too short to fly anything less than Taifun".
Haim showing his little present
Life is too short
to fly anything less than Taifun
left: D-KFDI version worn by Henk Dumont, right: 4X-GMF version worn
by Haim Zaklad
Later
this evening, view at Haifa city from our pilots hotel balcony.
Time to have a good sleep after a day full of travels and stories.
Day
8/ Picnic with Megido Soaring Club (Saturday May 15th)
Henk Schoenmakers:
"Haim came to see us this morning and had a look at the technical
changes and adaptations that have been made in the past on both D-KGAN
and D-KFDI. He made several pictures because he wanted to make some
changes on his Taifun too. Then we drove to the BBQ that had been
organised near mount Armageddon
on the banks of a very small river.
Megido
soaring club has invited us to its annual picnic over there.
It appears that this is a very active soaring club, since at least
80 out of 100 members were present with (part of) their families.
Again a lot of friendly people and nice chats. The BBQ was a great
success.
Grill with Megido
Soaring Club members at the foot of Mt. Armageddon
Two pictures
kindly forwarded by Mr. Yigal Merav, LLHA coordinator, showing our
Taifun pilots are feeling at home ;-)
One of the pilots, Talli, owns a duckfarm (the only one in Israel)
and invited us to have dinner at his home, which of course we have
accepted gratefully.
At six o’clock Talli came to get us and together we drove to
his farm. Having arrived we first were lead through the farm with
at least 10 stalls of which each one is home to over ten thousand
little ducklings and were told about the complete process, starting
from the incubator and ending at the 7 weeks old ducklings. After
they have reached the age of seven weeks their life is finished because
at that age they are transported to a slaughterhouse.
Excellent
explanations on life of the duck at the duckfarm by Iris
Levin.
upper left corner: one of the stalls housing thousands
of ducklings
lower left corner: birth of a duck
above: Iris explaing the story of the chicken
duck and the egg
Iris,
Talli’s wife, has started her own business at the farm by showing
around tourists. All in all a very interesting tour thanks to Iris’
and Talli’s explanations. For those able to read Hebrew, you're
invited to look at Naftali's and Iris' Duck Farm on their Kfar
Baruch Duckfarm website
Afterwards
we had dinner and enjoyed a very pleasant and cosy evening with all
the family.
As it happened to be, we were witness to a little duckling being born
at the farm. Right when it struggled its way through the shell it
jumped out, stood on its legs, a little bit dusy, looking around for
its mother. Then it noticed Henk Dumont standing right next to the
shell, since Henk was the first one to make a noise. Sign for the
duckling: “That’s my mother.”
From then onwards, their bond has been established and it is said
to last forever ;-)
The duckling has been baptised Henriette (what’s in a name)
and is sleeping at Henk’s room, a real cute scenery. I will
try to make a picture of Henriette, but she doesn’t show herself
that often. Maybe she will, wenn Henriette and her mother go and take
a bath…
Right now I’m going to take a sleep and will write a.s.a.p.
concerning our activities on Sunday May 16th.
Greetz from all of us, Henk Schoenmakers."
Day
9/ (Sunday May 16th)
Henk Schoenmaker
reporting via mail:
"This morning we rented a car at Fula, but non of the cars available
had been equipped with a navigational system, so we had to get back
to old fashioned map reading. At 10.00 we departed for a trip from
Afula to Nazareth (about half an hour by car) and made a visit to
The Church of the Annunciation which is the largest Christian church
building in the Middle East with a dome height of 55 meters. In Roman
Catholic tradition, it marks the site where the Archangel Gabriel
announced the future birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-31).
Above: The Church of annunciation from the outside
Below left: cellar altar Below right: three of our four pilots inside
the church
Right hereafter we went via the city
of Tiberias for a visit to lake Kineret, also called Lake Tiberias
by the locals or the See
of Galilee, the largest fresh water lake in Israel.
Here we visited the settlement of Capernaum, a Hebrew name which should
be pronounced as Kfar Nahum, menaing “Nahum’s village.
In Capernaum the house of apostle Peter is situated. Peter, known
from the preaching at the mountain, the multiplication of bread and
fish and the resurrection appearance of Jesus to him.
At 18.00 we gathered at an appointment in Tel Aviv with Haim Zaklad
who had organised a meeting with the General Aviation Club Israel.
About 40 Israeli motor- and gliderpilots were present, more than we
expected.
Presentation
at the Israeli General Aviation Club
There we had a presentation sharing our flying experiences and showed
a powerpoint of Henk’s well known journey to the Lofoten Islands.
Shortly after Hans-Peter showed an interesting video about aerobatic
soaring flights at airfield Mönchsheide in Germany.
Around 22.30 we drove back to our hotel and enjoyed a good night’s
rest in the kibbutz of Mizra."
Day
10/ (Monday May 17th)
Henk Schoenmakers
reporting via mail:
" First we visited Mount
Tabor , one of the possible sites of the Transfiguration of Christ.
Here Jesus climbed the mountain in the presence of disciples John,
Peter and James and having reached the top Jesus began to radiate
light and was seen conversing with Moses and Elijah. We haven't seen
any of the biblic figures of course, but we were able to see the city
of Nazareth in the distance, when standing on the top of Mount Tabor.
Mount
Tabor: Church of the Transfiguration
View upon
Nazareth from mount Tabor
For those
who like to see the interior of the Church, find yourself in a 360
panorama in the lower chapel of the Basilica by clicking the image
below (macromedia flash required).
Half an hour past noon we wanted to take the road south leading to
Jerusalem. For some reason we found ourselves driving on a road on
the West Bank that surely is in need of some reconstruction works
since there were a lot of big holes in the asphalt and there were
almost no fingerposts. So we had to make several 180-s and ask for
the right way to Nablus and from there the right road to Jerusalem.
We arrived at 16.00 in the afternoon at our hotel (The
Holy Land Hotel), which we had booked already from Mizra for 2
nights. In the evening, after a refreshment, we explored the partly
covered narrow streets of the old city centre of Jerusalem and paid
a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre."
One of many tourist
streets in downtown Jerusalem during this evening
Beauty and splendor inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
"Today we got up very early because Henk D. and Gunter
also wanted to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (also
called the Church of the Resurrection) without having to stand
in queues. So we got up at 05.00 and at 5.45 we already had
arrived. Via the famous Via
Dolorosa we climbed the hill of Calvary to Golgotha.
There we visited the place where once Jesus has been crusified,
but also we visited the Burial Vault in the church. "
The Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
At
the wailing wall
Henk
continues:
"Unfortunately nowadays the Via Dolorosa has turned into
a bulging mixture of tourist shops. On the other side, what
would one expect of a street where every day thousands of
tourists come through?
When walking through Al-Wad street we arrived at a checkpoint
where one needs to empty his pockets completely and all things
are being searched through at a scanner. This because of growing
terrorist threats. At the Western
wailing wall it was quite crowded, both the elder people
and youth are praying standing upright in front of the wall.
For men visiting this area one is obliged to wear a kippah"
Henk:
"Today also was the day to visit the Church
of the Nativity. This church is one of the oldest churches in
the world that has been conitunuously open for relegious activities.
Per car we drove to Bethlehem, passing several checkpoints with heavily
guarded soldiers checking passports and all sorts of things. Right
after passing the last checkpoint one enters Bethlehem and tourist-catchers
are ready waiting for people to come into town for bringing them to
the Church of the Nativity, getting you a sightseeing guide right
away.
Again lots of tourists all wanting just one thing: once to have been
inside the Church of the Nativity and touch the Silver Star. Judging
to their faces for many of them this has been a long time wish. The
Silver Star is situated beneath the altar in the Grotto of the Nativity
and it marks the spot believed to be the Birthplace of Jesus."
People kneeling in front of the space containing the Silver Star.
Again Henk Schoenmakers reporting by mail:
"Hi Leo,
This morning Hans-Peter and I (the other two had a morning off for
a rest) went to the Dome of the Rock, the oldest islamic building
in the world built in 692 A.D., so again we had to go through all
sorts of security-checks. The only way to reach the entrance of the
Dome square is through the Jaffa Gate. To us the shortest way there
leads along the Western Wall. Today is the first day of Shavuot, a
jewish holiday celebrated 50 days after Pesach (corresponding to the
Christian Easter), commemorating the anniversary of the day God gave
the Torah to the Israelite at the foot of mount Sinaï. Therefore
all of the square in front of the wall was crowded with people saying
prayers."
The Western Wall this morning as pictured on our way
back to the western part of the city centre
Henk continues:
"After passing the square again we encountered a checkpoint
on our way to the Dome. Once arrived over there the view is
truly magnificent and the square surrounding the Dome is quite
enormous. The Dome is located at the visual center of a platform
known as the Temple Mount, which Muslims refer to as the "Noble
Sanctuary". It's goldcovered roof was shining brilliantly
in the morning sun under a nice blue sky."
The
Dome of the Rock with surrounding square
After
taking several pictures we returned to our hotel room and packed
our bags so at 12.00 we were ready for a ride to Tel-Aviv via Highway
1. Once having arrived in Tel-Aviv we headed to the beach for a
breath of fresh sea air. As I mentioned before today was a national
holiday in Israel so also the beach was crowded with people. After
having enjoyed a small meal at one of the restaurants at Hilton
Beach we continued our ride to the north via Highway 2 and then
took the 65 to Mizra.
First we took another picture of our group as long as the atmosphere
is still top and Gunter's desire for Cologne (especially for Reisdorf
Koelsch Beer) can stil be managed ;-)
This evening we have an appointment with Haim with whom we just
had a phonecall."
At the beach in Tel-Aviv
And
indeed later that evening our four friends again had a nice evening
with Haim to talk about all the ravishing things they had seen the
past few days in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Also the European Taifun
crews talked through some things concerning the coming Taifun
meeting in Koblenz-Winingen in August this year. Furthermore we
discussed the political situation in Israel at the moment. Also Haim,
since we are unknowing European Christians) explained how to interpret
religious Jewish traditions in the holy cities they have visited.
Chances are that Haim and Talli can come to Germany with their Taifun
4X-GMF to the Taifun meeting. That would be great for the D-KFDI and
D-KGAN crew and would be a great honour!
"This way we can do for them what they have done for us.",
Henk says.
Day
13/ (Thursday May 20th)
Henk Schoenmakers reporting via mail:
" Flight from Haifa to Rhodes, the first stage on the homeward
flight of D-KFDI and D-KGAN after a week
of touring and sightseeing in Israel. Two of our four friends (Hans-Peter
& Henk Schoenmakers) got op very early, returned their rental
car to Afula, got a taxi back to the Nov Mizra hotel and packed their
bags for the return flight. Meanwhile Gunter and Henk Dumont had also
woken up and packed their bags too. Then they went to Megido airfield,
where theri Israeli friends Talli and Michel offered to make a flight
above Israel to lake Kineret via a special VFR route. So agian one
Israeli pilot stepped into the first Taifun and one into the last
Taifun, probably the last time for a long time to come.
View upon
Tiberias as seen from D-KFDI
We had a very nice flight via Nazareth-Tiberias-Kineret and having
arrived at the lake we made a couple of circles before we headed to
Haifa for a fuel stop, customs paperwork and questions hour at the
well known safety police station. Everything was alright and at 11
o'clock after having had a water briefing and having made a flightplan
we took off for a long flight over open water, this time with winds
coming from the front.
Leaving Israel, last view upon Haifa harbour as seen
from D-KFDI
Due to military activities we were forced to ascend to 10500 ft. All
in all we have flown 4 hours and 40 minutes over water and landed
at Rhodes airport quite late during the day with not much fuel left
in our tanks.
Arrival at Rhodes airport, D-KFDI on final for runway
25
Having
arrived at Rhodes airport we rented a car, found a great hotel
next to the beach, drank a beer and afterwards made a short
walk along the beach. Now we are going to take a nap and tomorrow
morning at 06.30 we will be woken up again by the sound of the
alarmclock."
With weather circumstances much worse than yesterday D-KGAN and D-KFDI
took off from Rhodes airport this morning, having filled their tanks
to the last possible drop, for a flight of about 5 hours and 15 minutes
that took them to Kerkyra/Corfu airport. Due to the bad weather (rain,
headwinds and thunderstorm) both Taifuns had to make several detours
and after having landed because of the straining flight the pilots
didn't want to fly any further. Normally this stage would have taken
them only 4 hours! Tomorrow they will take a look at circumstances
and weather predictions and then they will decide where and how far
they will fly. For now the goal is to reach Pula again, but there
have been reports of possible thunderstorms in that region. We will
see. Confucius is watching over them, so maybe a miracle will happen?
Later on the flight the weather has improved slightly.
The
Corinth Canal as seen from D-KFDI
Day
15/ (Saturday May 22nd)
Henk S. reporting again via mail:
"Our hotel here at Kerkyra is situated at walking distance from
the airport. So we made the walk back to the airport, prepared ourselves
for today's flight and filed in our flightplan at Kerkyra tower.
During quite fine weather circumstances we taxied in between of several
large Air-Berlin and Transavia planes to take off for a flight that
according to plan should bring us to Losinj (Croatia).
at walking
distance from the airport ...
... filed our flightplan at Kerkyra tower
Last view upon the city of Corfu/Kerkyra in very good weather
Flying in good weather and with that also good visibilities, we were
ordered by Kerkyra Info to follow Route Adria 1, so we had to make
a compulsory flight at 3500 feet from waypoint to waypoint across
large pieces of water. Only this time we always were able to see at
least islands or parts of the mainland, which gives you a much better
horizon than flying above open water with no recognisable points to
hold on to but neverending water and the hazy sky.
Seeing islands from time to time helps you getting
a better grip on the horizon than flying across open water
Once arrived at the island
of Losinj we found a nice hotel with a view upon the harbour.
It's a nice tourist village. Tomorrow probably will be the last stage
of our journey, since we have planned to fly home in one flight crossing
the Alps to Germany via the Brenner
Pass."
"Hi Leo. Today has been a difficult and strenuous day.
This morning we departed from Losinj LDLO (Croatia) at 7.40
UT for the last stage on our trip and we knew the most difficult
part would be the crossing of the Alps. Weather at Losinj
was quite fine during departure, but when approaching the
Alps the clouds were getting thicker and thicker. We asked
the Croation ATC if we were allowed to ascend to 7000 feet
and they agreed. However, if we were to cross the Alps we
had to ascend to 15000 feet during the crossing.
Taxiing at Losinj airport
Passing
Brijuni,
an island group 2 km off the coast
This
would be no problem for D-KGAN since it is equiped with a 100 hp engine,
but D-KFDI has only 90 hp, so that would be the biggest problem. We
tried to ascend to 15000 feet when having reached the first Alps,
but we didn't succeed. Then we tried to fly underneath the ceiling
in between of the mountains and the clouds, but that wasn't possible
either since the clouds were as low as the valleys on some spots.
Then we tried to fly to Kufstein in Austria, but in that direction
the clouddeck had been closed completely so again we tried to climb
to 15000 feet. Then we saw one blue hole in the clouds that enabled
us to go upward. Thanks to the local waves we eventually succeeded
in climbing by circling around for almost one hour. D-KGAN was ahead
of us all the way because of their better engine and at a certain
moment they reported the hole underneath was closing up. Then we managed
to reach 14000 feet (FL140), barely high enough to fly above the closed
clouddeck.
Altitude
meter aboard D-KFDI indicating FL140
At the same time: view from the cockpit of D-KFDI
At
that altitude we set course for Kufstein and on our way there we noticed
the clouds were getting less thick. After crossing the Alps Austria
ATC directed us to descend to 9000 feet and later to 6000 feet. Because
of the fast descent my engine suffered some problems (ice in the carburetter)
but after a minute or so everything was going smooth again. We landed
at Schwäbisch Hall (EDTY) at 13.05 UT, refuelled, made a phonecall
home and took off again for the last leg and at about 16.10 UT D-KFDI
landed at Geilenkirchen Airforce Base while D-KGAN had landed at Mönchsheide
about half an hour earlier.
All four of us have experienced two weeks of travelling and flying
fun and again we want to thank our Israeli friends for their advice
and hospitality.
For the last time I say bye bye and hope our readers have enjoyed
a fraction of the things as we have enjoyed them during the past two
weeks."
Flying
through the valley of the Jordan as seen from D-KFDI
