Hectic days at work

Caught during a turnaround

When weather changes your plans, Bodö became Göteborg!

As the title suggests, our trip to Bodö didn’t quite turn out as planned but we managed to make the most out of it anyway.

When I picked up Anders and headed out towards Vassunda we noticed small patches of fog on the fields and started to worry about the takeoff but decided to wait and see and as our takeoff time approached it was clear that the weather was on our side.  Takeoff at 0520 heading towards Aros and slowly climbing to FL075

 

Two aviators on their way

 

As we reached our cruising altitude Anders brought out the coffee and we enjoyed listening to the various accents of eastbound pilots on Sweden control.   

 

Swedish summer morning

As we were approached the border the cloud base sank and we decided that 4000 would be a better altitude for crossing the border. It should turn out to be a good idea as the temperature sunk to sub zero and the precipitation was snow grains, not quite what one expects to see in June. 

  Closer to the border we were handed over to Oslo control and Anders, who had practiced hard over the past weeks, greeted them with a cheery “God morgen”. As they had a lot of inbound traffic, they quickly cleared us towards Gardermoen and proceeded via Kongsvinger and River Glomma towards Gardermoen.

 

On the Gardermoen tower frequency we were greeted by the cheery icon “Isak”, a controller known for his remarks and leaving most pilots with a smile on their face regardless if they are local or international. He cleared us straight over the field towards the downwind leg resulting in some nice pictures of the terminal and the surroundings taken by Anders, while I flew the approach touching down exactly on our slot at 0545L (0745 local time). Vacated at C1 and parked S-SD between a bizjet and some other prop aircraft.

 While Anders was doing some paperwork, I walked in the GA ops office and phoned the tower who invited us up for a visit. As the OPS had quite a lot to do they were not able to give us a lift in and we were told to take the shuttle bus from the nearby hotel. Now, as I was used to Arlanda where all our transfers are free, I was a bit surprised to learn that this bus charged 50NOK PER PERSON!! But cheaper than a taxi we decided it was a good option anyway.

Upon reaching the terminal, we headed down to the tower and were met by the above mentioned Isak who sadly enough had to dash off to a meeting but sent us up the elevator to his colleagues who allowed us to take pictures inside and from the balcony;

 

Smile! You’re on RT camera!!

We then met up with my friend Martin who drove us via a small sightseeing back to the GA terminal and took the following pictures for us:

 

As our departure time came closer, we “PFIed” S-SD taxied up to the tank station and waited for over one hour as the handling agent was busy with Foo Fighters departing and this required us to delay our slot twice.

 Once airborne we headed north but soon realized that the weather was rapidly becoming much worse than the forecast had said and a spilt second later we found ourselves heading back to Gardermoen and the GA terminal.  After some contemplating, we had to face reality and cancel our trip north. The question now was, where should we go now!? However a phone call later we were now preparing a southbound route instead to Göteborg Säve and my relatives.

 However, as the evening peak had now started at Gardermoen, we now had to wait one hour longer than we wanted as there were no slots for us, but at 1815 we could finally say goodbye to the Norwegian capital’s airport.

 After following the VFR departure route we flew over Oslo city centre staying well on the east side to avoid the rain over the Oslo fjord flying towards the Swedish border listening to the parachute lifters and the fire watch aircraft patrolling the area. At Halden we said farewell to Farris Control and Norway and found ourselves back with the familiar Sweden control who sent us down the beautiful west coast towards Säve where we landed some 2,5 hours after take-off.

Waiting to take off from C1

Northwestern Oslo

Downtown with SAS Plaza Hotel

Grebbestad

Beautiful views

My uncle was waiting to take us home and on the way back we picked up the largest pizza I have ever seen. That night, the two  aviators slept like logs.

 The next morning, both Anders and I were up and running quite early and ready for a good breakfast before driving out to Säve again where S-SD had survived the night next to her Norwegian sister LN-ASM. We packed the bags onboard and I set off to settle the fuel and parking fees with the very friendly “C” office.

 30 minutes before schedule we called up Säve tower and were cleared out of the Gothenburg area via “LABAN” avoiding glider activity and parachutes at Vårgårda and Alingsås, the latter home town of fellow blog writer Johanna, while climbing to FL95.

Over lake Vättern we were handed over to familiar voices at Sweden control (Stochkolm AOR) and cleared through some restriction areas on the way, again smiling at the various accents on the frequency.

Cruising home

As we came closer to Stockholm we requested a lower altitude and suddenly we saw smoke rising from a group of trees. This turned out to be a fire that we reported before starting the well known approach to Barkarby via Stäket and sound found ourselves in the middle of the model days at the field.

When we had refueled and strolled around for a while, we set course back home again to Vassunda after a very fun journey, despite having to change our destination, or maybe that is why it was such a good trip!?  

  

 

 

 

Hectic days at work

but a report from Norway is soon coming out through the pipeline

 

 

Heading home to Norway!

Tomorrow it is time for the great Bodö adventure 2008 and I hope to be able to bring you many pictures upon the return and maybe “live” from Northern Norway.

Time for bed now as wakeup will be at 0345 and off block at 0530.

 

(The report from EAA will be postponed until further as wordpress does not seem to like it.)

New York New York

At the start of the year, one of my goals was to visit New York for the first time and on June 2nd this was realized.

 Monday June 2nd:  Leif drove me to Arlanda and I headed to counter 53 where one of my colleagues checked me in, printed my boarding pass and wished me a good journey. I then proceeded to our break room for a coffee and chat with some of my colleagues.

   Boarded as one of the last passengers, quickly found my seat for the day 01B and a glass of champagne was placed in my hand by a friendly air hostess. In regards to the flight I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

 

 

 

 

 

After landing I cleared through passport control and customs and was greeted in a friendly manner at both places before meeting up with T. who drove me to my hotel and a quick change later I was on the move again on the Subway and line 1 towards “South Ferry” station from where I took a round trip with the Staten Island Ferry to enjoy the skyline from the sea.

Ashore again, I took my two feet and walked around lower Manhattan before stopping for a real Sirloin steak!

The first day was rounded off with the downturn of the trip, The Empire State Building, packed with people and difficult to catch a view I swiftly returned back to the hotel for a well earned rest.

 

 

Day 2:

Woke up feeling very refreshed ready to see what I hadn’t yet seen and headed to town halting at 42nd street/Times Square for a typical New York Breakfast.

Not wanting to take the subway in rush hour I decided to walk via Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Centre (going up to the top), towards and down 5th Avenue until my feet were tired and then called E. to make plans for the evening.

From the top of “The Rock”

Lunch:

 

After lunch, it was time for two of NY’s most famous sights, the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero

As the evening approached I met Erica and together with her, her brother and friend Catlin we visited a local Pizza place around the corner from times square and then headed to my area and a café featured in the movie “You’ve got mail” for a Root beer float.

Day 3:

 After wakeup, shower and checkout, I found myself back at times square (I came to quite like this area) and had a bagel and coffee at Starbucks.  

Then, finally after buying the last items on my list I took a taxi to Penn Station and the NJ transit to Newark airport and arrived just as my EWR colleagues were opening the checkin. Luckily enough I was told not to go through security control as there was nothing there and could thus browse the shops landside before boarding.

  This time the journey took place in economy class but at least I had 4 rows to myself and just after Iceland I was invited to take place in the jumpseat until we landed at Arlanda parking at gate F62/F32R 20 minutes behind schedule.

 

The whole trip can be concluded in four simple words  I LOVE NEW YORK! The city had everything and I am already looking forward to my next visit in the “Big Apple”.

 

EAA

Will be at the EAA fly-in tomorrow between 1230 and 1530. If you see SE-IYD, do come up and say hi or leave a note on the windshield :)

 Report will follow on Sunday.  Tomorrow the one from NYC!

 

The bird has flown west!

 

Photo by: Love Oborn