A Taifun flight around the Baltic

Text and images: Gabriele Brönner-Garben and Manfred Garben (Berlin)
English translation: powerglidertaifun.de


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In July 2002 we made a flight with our powered glider Taifun 17E via Poland, the Baltic States, Finland and Sweden around the Baltic Sea. The flight took us from Berlin via Danzig (Poland), the Masuria Lakes to the isle of Saaremaa in Estonia. From there we went via Tallinn, the Aland isles, Sweden and Denmark back to Germany. To save precious memories we kept a diary containing several pictures.


Saturday, July 6, 2002
All preparations have been made, the Taifun has undergone its yearly check, all charts and our GPS have been actualised. The missing approach charts for the Baltic States and all NOTAMS have been faxed to us from the AIS Schönefeld. The insurance paperwork has been send to Poland, a flight plan has been filed from Schönhagen to Danzig and the latest weather is checked. The weather forecast is promising; a stabile high pressure system in southern Finland keeps the low pressure far to the west.

The Taifun is checked and all the luggage is packed: 2 bags of clothing, the pilot essentials, a tent, two mattresses, swimming vests, tolls, Oil and some food and drinks, all together exactly 20 kilograms …..


We depart Oehna at 10 AM

Quick landing in Schönhagen for customs; which was done by airport officials after a telephone call to announce our intentions. We continue at 11.22. The first leg leads southeast form Berlin until we reach the river Oder, here we turn north to the reporting waypoint BODLA to enter polish airspace. We report leaving FIR Berlin and switch to Szczecin TWR (Stettin). Via the mandatory VFR routes VK8 and VK7 we fly towards Gdansk. The Air Traffic Controller requests our flight time to the next reporting point and orders us to switch to Gdansk TWR when reaching reporting point MAISTKO.
Below us a lot of Lakes, some townships, some villages and small farming fields. Before reaching Danzig the landscape becomes hillier and more inhabited. Approach and landing in Danzig, after a 2,5 hour flight is no problem. Refuelling, parking, off-loading and securing the Taifun are or all but routine.
The Polish employees at the GAT are very relaxed, extremely good in English and give us a warning for illegal taxis. And here comes number 1, however the price seems to be okay. Nevertheless, we check with an official taxi which is even less expensive. The hotel we were told to go to is acceptable, only €45 for the two of us. We find a nice restaurant in a Windmill and try out a new food called Piroggi.

Sunday, July 7, 2002

The so-called “road of Kings” is our first sight seeing goal. The travel guide describes what the Houses mean, who owned and who build them.

We talk to a Polish citizen who sells amber, as a 16 year old boy he was taking to Germany for forced labour. His German language is still good and he can remember a lot of cities and towns which he visited 58 years ago. He says that he still remembers where he was 50 years ago but can not remember what he ate yesterday. Meetings like this are very nice but also reminds us again at German history. We buy three necklaces made from amber in many colours, at an affordable price.

When the rain starts to fall we take shelter in a boating museum.

 


Fish and chips at the border of the river, then a sight-seeing of the Marienchurch with a 400 year old wooden clock and a tour to the top of the Church tower.
The all wood astronomical clock, made in 1464 shows us the time of day, the date, the position of the Moon and the positions of the astrological signs. At the bottom of the clock you can see the face of the craftsmen who made it. It is said that, on order of the mayor, his eyes were taken out of his face so the clock who remain a unique piece, and she is!! In the afternoon we take a boat to the Westerplatte: this is the place where WW II started when German warships took the first shots on September 1, 1944.

Monday, July 8, 2002

We continue. The next flight takes us from Gdansk via the VFR route VK10 to Lithuania. Permission to cross Kaliningrad, the part of Russia enclosed by Poland and Lithuania would have been possible but also would have taken too much planning, we don’t even try.

 

Perfect weather, we take off at 11.06 and at 2000 feet head south until we reach the town of Nowe at the river Weichsel and continue east. We report our position, altitude, and ETA at the next routing point. The radio traffic gives us the idea of being alone in the skies. The GPS gives us a straight course. A the Lithuanian border we report to Kaunas approach and are welcomed in perfect English. The only problems for us were the correct pronunciation and understanding of the mandatory polish routing points.
We land in Kaunas at 14.00 local. Big airport, huge landing fees, a lot of bureaucracy. When we park the crew of four German airplanes meet us. They arrived from Riga and want to go to Gdansk, they tell us about Lithuanian bureaucracy. Firstly we don’t believe them but after about 2,5 hours and €100 landing fees for chocks, approach and depart we are convinced. After the perfect treatment received in Poland we feel like we ended in the hands of thieves.

We take off as soon as possible and fly west along the river Nemunas to its end, he flight makes up for all the trouble. The sky is blue and clear, below us a country without a lot of population in all the rivers, lakes and forests we pass. The southern bank of the river is the border of Kaliningrad.


Visibility is tremendous; we spot the Lithuanian coastline and the end of the river from about 30 to 40 kilometres away. From there we continue toward Nida. This is where the Russian border is which we have to avoid!

 


When reaching Nida we see the stretched dunes to the south, the holiday and fishing village with its many red painted wooden roofs and to the north, in the middle of a small forest, the 600 meter long runway of Nida, which is only opened as an emergency strip because of strong crosswinds.


From Nida we head north and continue following the coastline, pass the town of Klaipeda towards Palanga where we land after a two hour flight. The airport is fenced in and guarded. The personnel are very reserved and somewhat unfriendly. We tie down our Taifun and take the bus to Palanga, 10 kilometres south of the airport. Looking for a place to stay, the former socialist Grand Hotel is no option. We try private bed & breakfast. The owners are great, very open and friendly. Tea is served with cucumbers from their own garden. Palanga has a big flee-market with plenty of tourists from Russia, Latvia and Sweden.


Tuesday, July 9, 2002

After a good night sleep under a single blanket in a house with a sort of a strange smell we take the bus to Nida. We have breakfast at the roadside; the stuffed pancakes are great, in contradiction to Manfred’s hot dogs. A minibus takes us to Klaipeda from where we take a ferry and then a bus further to Nida. A 70 kilometre bus ride trough a pine forest, sometimes with a view at the Baltic sea, the bus is filled up and it is HOT.
Then we sit down in Nida and enjoy a good beer and a great view at all the landscape, we are fully relaxed and quiet. We can’t stay too long, we have to climb the 60 metre high dunes and have a look at Kalingrad from up there. Beautiful white sand at the beaches and a cold Baltic, we have to return, last bus to Palanga leaves at 20.30.
And another surprise: on the way to the dunes we encounter Matthias Weström and his wife and Anita Cieslak of the Blista, the enjoy a good time during their stay in Nida for about a week now.
On the way back we have time to enjoy diner at the market square of Klaipeda. We decide to go back to Palanga, get our luggage and spend to more days in Nida.


Wednesday, July 10, 2002

Early getting up. After taking the ferry in Klaipeda we don’t make it off the ship in time, all buses to Nida are full; however, a taxi takes us there for the same price. We find two more travellers, a Russian women and her son, who join us.
Missing the bus proves to be good, the taxi driver takes us to a very nice bed & breakfast. Graschina and Alfredas welcome us with hospitality and friendliness. Then we are treated to cold drinks, a fish ragout with potato salad and an invitation for a barbeque night. This will be the good-bye for the 16 year old son who joins a German friend to Germany for a study at the Lithuanian college near Hanau.
We go to the beach, it is very hot and we lay down in the dunes, a fresh breeze pampers us, lovely! After our return it starts, Graschina says hello to all the guests and introduces us. Without any exception all are German. The first course is freshly smoked Eel, with different salads and some “happy water”. After that Schaschlik which is marinated in apple juice with potatoes and a lot of cake as desert.
A lot later we all go to the beach where we have a huge campfire, a lot of singing and more “happy water”. Manfred decides to go to bed ...


Thursday, July 11, 2002

A difficult day for Manfred, some clouded and a hang-over.
We visit the summer house of Thomas Mann, build in 1930. The house and its furniture are completely made out of wood, everything designed to suit the great poets’ wishes and a so-called “Italian-view”.
The museum hasn’t much to offer yet, it just starts to begin the collection. I visit the barn stone museum with a lot of wonderful made pieces of jewellery made from barn stone. The cemetery with its strange looking wooden crosses, which don’t look Christian at all and the Evangelistic church.
After a longer lunch break we hire bicycles and ride or push them via the forest and sandy roads to see the sunset at the Baltic Sea. No words to describe!

Friday, July 12, 2002

We want to go north. From Alfredas we get a ride to Klaipeda and then the bus and a taxi to Palanga. I have to wait until my pilot has finished all the paperwork, this has never happened before! Again it takes us about two hours and a lot of money before the Lithuanian bureaucracy is satisfied.
Just at the moment when I don’t know what more to do, a journalist asks me about my travel impressions from Lithuania. I tell abut the beautiful thongs we have seen but also mention the extreme fees at the airports and try to make clear that not all German people who own a Taifun are rich. I don’t believe this got to him.

 


But, he takes a picture from us at the Taifun (we don't know if they have ever been published). Finally we take off with perfect flying weather at 13.40 and head north. We follow the coastline via Latvia, pass the town of Liepaja towards Estonia, our destination is Kuressaare on the isle of Saaremaa. The sky is ours and air traffic control doesn’t bother us at 1500 to 2000 feet. Below a flat landscape, lots of forest, very few towns, narrow roads, steep coastline and only a few beaches. After 1 hour 45 we land in Kuressaare. In Soviet days this island was a military restricted zone. Since the liberation of the Baltic states in 1991 it is open for tourists (most of them being Finnish). Customs are swiftly cleared. The town is only 4 kilometres form the town, we take a taxi. The tourist information helps us and we find a bed & breakfast easily. The town is small, a lot of original pubs and restaurants, an impressive medieval castle (probably build around 1260 by the order of German knights) and a cosy and friendly atmosphere, wherever we go.


Saturday, July 13, 2002

Again good summer weather with tiny clouds. We borrow bicycles (they are not into motor scooters yet) and go west. Bicycle roads are not available, the roads are not so busy but we hate it when cars pass us high speed. We take towards an old harbour, nothing spectacular. On the way back we discover a smoked fish farm, freshly smoked fish; self brewed strong beer, bread, tomatoes and cheese, a lasting memory!



Sonntag, 14. Juli 2002

At 07.45 we are at the airport and file our flight plan to Tallinn, we pay the fees, prepare the Taifun and start. After a 1.5 hour flight we land at Tallinn international. Again, like in Kaunas and Palanga the fees are outrageous. But, they are somewhat merciful and give a free bus ride from the Taifun to the terminal. The city centre is not far away; we take the bus and look for the tourist bureau. Prices for accommodation in the old city are high and the first room we see is unbelievable… Beds on top of each other, the window at the street side and the toilet at least 30 metres away. We have to add some Estonian currency for an acceptable place to stay. After the quest for a room we are hungry, in the nearby supermarket we but our lunch, bread, fish salad and some drinks.


We go for a walkabout in town. Via the town hall square, which is also the market square, via the Dornberg to the Russian Orthodox Alexander Newski Cathedral to the various sight-seeing balconies with a view of the Gulf of Finland? Impressing are the many, restored medieval Trade houses by their size and beautiful fronts. But it doesn’t feel right at all, I feel sick, almost have to throw up. It must be the fish salad. I try a beer, one way or the other I have to feel better. No luck, back to the hotel and Manfred is the second victim a few hours later.

Monday, July 15, 2002

We decide to continue our flight and leave the city.


I am still a little weak and sometimes doze off, while Manfred has probably the most beautiful flight of our trip. Thousands of small and smaller Islands, made out of red brick, fully covered with trees, grass and bushes. Our goal is the town of Mariehamm on the Aland Islands; a group of 6500 islands which belong to Finland. However, by culture and language they are fully Swedish. A few kilometres form the airport we find ourselves a small wooden Stuga, very very idyllic.
We are still a little bit sick. After a small meal with a children portion of pureed potatoes and some Fish and we are in bed by 21.00.


Tuesday, July 16, 2002

The next morning we are feeling a lot better. Breakfast is eaten and we borrow two bicycles from the owner of the cabin. This first day she only speaks English to us while she believes we are Brits, our language seems to be immaculate.
We head for the Boat museum in Mariehamm with the museum ship “Pommern”, a 3 mast sail ship from 1903. A museum with a perfect lay-out with beautiful artefacts. Especially impressing is the “Pommern”, its size, its originality, the images of its journeys in storms and bad weather.


We continue along the western coastline to the south for bathing and doing nothing in the sun. On the way back a little bit of shopping, fresh salad and fish. The sun sets over the water around 22.30.

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

We are at the airport at 11.00, flight plan, weather check, check the tyre pressure, check the oil, luggage loading and cleaning the windows. We need about 1.5 hours for just the preparations.
I is very warm, almost hot, it is a lot better when airborne. We take a heading over the water in 2500 feet, past Stockholm towards Västerwik, a very nice flight.
Västerwik is a typical Swedish airport, no radio but a good runway in an open forest space and a friendly airport official. We can refuel as well, AVGAS for only €0.80.
Manfred has a look at the PC weather together with the airport guy. I just hang around in the heat and do nothing, we decide to continue.
On take-off the engine makes strange sounds and we abort. After doing full throttle checks with brakes set the engine sounds good again. Our feeling for the next try is not to well but we go. We have to pass a couple of treetops just at the end of the 600 meter runway; otherwise we will land in the forest. But, everything goes well and after a short ascend we see the Baltic Sea again.
We are looking for an airport where we can use our tent. The first try is negative, the airport of Ölanda in the north of the Island Ölanda is pretty bad, 800 bumpy meter runway besides a go-cart track. Next try!
From Ölanda we go south to Kalmar, then west to Emmabodda. We over fly the airport to decide on final approach heading and call blind on the radio. On finals we see people on the runway and have to land further down the runway. We taxi to he Hangar and wait. A guy is coming towards us with a motorcycle and we fear the worst, have we overlooked anything?
But it is okay, Marco (motorcycle) tells us that 6 months ago the runway was divided in two parts; the one part for airplanes, the other part for car testing! Our maps are not current.
We can park our Taifun; Marco gets us a ride and a hotel room in Emmabodda with his friend Göran.
Later we meet up with Marco again and he tells stories from his adventurous life and how he got from Yugoslavia to Sweden, a day with surprises.

Thursday, July 18, 2002

After 12 days of perfect flying weather a bad weather system catches up from the southwest, visibility less then 2 kilometres and 500 feet cloud base. We have to stay in Emmabodda, even with it isn’t very tempting, two hotels, a rail road station, a few supermarkets, that’s it. This kind of centre of living in the middle of a landscape with a lot of trees and lakes.
We take a train to Kalmar, only 30 kilometres away. Impressive is the castle, build around 1180 with a gigantic defensive line. In the 14 century it was a centre of the Union of Nordic states under Margareta (1385-1420).


Friday, July 19, 2002

Göran drops us at the airport in the morning; he takes his own aircraft with a cloud base of 500 to 800 feet to Kalmar for an inspection. Looks like he found the last hole in the weather …

The weather gets worse. It starts to rain heavily, cloud base drops further. We take shelter and hope for improvements.




In the afternoon a friend of Göran and Marco arrives, he opens the office and makes us some tea. Göran picks us up at 16.20 and we go back to our hotel room. Göran offers us dinner; we take care of the wine and again a pleasant evening.

Saturday, July 20, 2002

Still bad weather, low clouds and poor visibility, no way leaving. We decide to take the train to Växjo and see the museum for emigrants. Between 1646 and 1930, around 1, 2 million Swedish people left Sweden, mostly to the USA. Each 5th emigrant returned later. We discover that the Swedish left because of hope for a better future, not to flee the bad situation at home, different from what we are told back home.

In the early afternoon Manfred makes repetitious telephone calls with mister Witte and mister Anders, our standard weather consultants in Berlin. Mister Anders sees a chance, a ridge of high pressure that will reach the south-western part of Sweden today, tomorrow it will get worse again.
We decide to take the next train back, pack our luggage and go to the airport. And, as it gets better at 18.00, we can continue our flight to the west. The more we get west, the better it gets.
We made it. We pass Tynskrrid, our holiday resort five years ago and after a 1 hour flight we land in Landskrona, north of Malmö.
We refuel, take a sanitary break, and want to fly to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern this evening. We are cancelled by Air Traffic about 10 minutes after take-off. We didn’t file a flight plan to Rostock, Manfred wrongly assumed we didn’t need it because of the Schengen treaties. So, return to Landskrona. It is not too bad, the owner of the airport prepares us a good evening meal with a lot of fish and we sleep on the attic.
Again we call the weather and good to bed early. Mister Anders told us to start early, a bad weather front is expected to come in from the west, and it is expected to reach Berlin around midday.


Sunday, July 21, 2002

The alarm goes off at 05.00. Wash, weather info, breakfast, pack luggage, clean the wings.

 


Take-off is at 07.00. In Sweden the weather is a little bit marginal and ground fog at the coast. In the northern part of Germany the sun is up.

 

We pass Malmo; follow the coast via Lolland/Falster.
After a 3 hour flight the circle is round, we approach Oehna. We see the front come in from the south-west, we land and taxi, home, I am glad to be back. 6 or 7 Years ago I was so happy when we got back, today the feeling is still there but not in the same proportions.
It feels good to have both feet on the ground but in two, three, maybe four weeks or months it will start to itch again, ready for the new goal, let’s go!

 

Gabriele Brönner-Garben and Manfred Garben

 

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