Amazing Norway and Sweden, July 2021

Time to finally write-up my last year’s main summer trip. Not a very long one in terms of days it was, but with some very good flying. I was very pleased to share this flight fellow Frans, and hope to do more such trips in the future.

DAY1

We had 4 days at our disposal in the end of July. Since the aircraft is located in the north of Germany (Lübeck) and it was the middle of summer, our general plan was to head north rather than south. This meant a choice the UK/Ireland, or Scandinavia, or the Baltics.

The UK was (and still is, to a lesser degree) a mess with Corona restrictions and the Baltics weren’t looking a little bit uncertain with the weather. Scandinavia however looked very promising a few days before departure. And since we both love Norway, Frans and I quickly decided that this would be our main destination for the trip.

I quickly drew up a rough plan for the trip based on a few interesting places and it looked like this:

The actual place where we met and headed off for the adventure was Hannover airport (EDDV), which has customs, IFR procedures (in case they would be needed), no landing fees (with the Airshampoo voucher book) and was just in the right spot for us. This meant I had to leave Lübeck (EDHL) early in the morning in order to meet him at 09:00h at Hannover.

It was a dead easy flight in good weather, but for training, I still filed IFR and flew the ILS to runway 27R. The flight took 30 minutes. By the way, I plain forgot to get an IFR slot for Hannover, but luckily, nobody ever got back to me on that. I guess that with Corona still limiting airline traffic quite a bit, they don’t bother too much these days.

Regarding the further planning: thankfully, Norway had just “opened up” a few weeks prior, but they had (and still do have) restrictions on which airports can be used for international arrivals (“normally”, with PN, most Norwegian airports can be used for international flights if coming from a Schengen country). Our final destination for the day would be Bergen (ENBR), which is obviously an international airport, but we wanted to make a lunch stop somewhere else along the way. Stavanger (ENZV) was a natural choice. So here is the IFR route filed for that.

The weather was mostly good, with high pressure moving in from the west, but with some low stratus clouds along most of the way and also on the west coast of Norway. Anyway, this wouldn’t bother us too much with both Stavanger and Bergen being served by ILS, RNP, etc.

Frans was on time at the GAT in Hannover where we met, passed through security and headed out to load his baggage into the aircraft. As usual, Frans had brought along his collection of GoPro cameras and audio recording device, so this was the first time in 16 years that N4ZY has been fully “rigged” with all this gear. You can expect the videos to appear some time in the future on his excellent YouTube channel.

We departed very much on time and climbed to FL100, heading north towards Denmark. Unfortunately, at this level, we had the infamous northern German TRAs in our way, which meant that we had to fly a bit of a detour to the northeast before being able to turn northwest (at the German-Danish border). Otherwise, the flight was uneventful.

Danish ATC, as usual, cleared us all the way to the FIR boundary with Norway, which is in the middle of the Skagerrak. Approaching the straight, we started re-checking the weather at the airports in the southwest of Norway again. This gave me the opportunity to show Frans what VOLMET is and how it works. Frans, being from a younger generation of pilots, didn’t know VOLMET. Anyway, VOLMET will disappear soon in Europe, I have heard.

It turned out that Stavanger was still at OVC005. Bergen was CAVOK. We briefly considered skipping Stavanger and continuing straight to Bergen (not because we would not make it into Stavanger in this weather, but because we would not really enjoy a stop in Stavanger city if it’s overcast and grey). Anyway, just as were approaching our decision point (the TOD for Stavanger), the Stavanger ATIS started showing signs of the stratus layer lifting/dissolving, so it was a go for Stavanger. Further inland, the weather was fine anyway.

The approach couldn’t have been much easier. We flew the standard procedure for runway 18 out of ROXON, so all I had to do was to program the procedure in the GNS430 and push a few buttons on the DFC90 AP. A good demonstration of IFR put into practice. Also, this approach took us around the city, so we were able to have a nice first look. Here you can still see the remains of the cloudbanks in the hills to the west (towards the Atlantic). We touched down after just under three hours of flight.

After landing, we were directed to the big (and mostly empty) GA parking area. These were the only other two visiting GA aircraft around.

However, there are also several very light aircraft based at ENZV, which gives this big international airport a nice feel to it. But it makes sense… there is no other airport or airfield in the vicinity which the pilots from the Stavanger area could use…

We had been a bit apprehensive about our immigration to Norway, with the rules being so tight and religiously enforced by the Norwegian police. Initially, GND told us we would have to wait some time for the ground staff to pick us up from the aircraft and bring us to the terminal for “immigration procedures”. However, a few minutes later, they informed us that they changed their minds and that the head of the airport’s police squad at the airport would come to us and “process” us separately. At the time, we didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.

Well, the guy was doing his job in a serious manner, but was very friendly and it didn’t cost us all too much time until our passports and Covid passes were checked and we were released into Norway. That was a big relief for us, as we knew that from now on, nobody would bother us again about our entry into Norway.

We took the Flybussen (regular line busses that connect the Norwegian airports with the respective cities they serve, mostly non-stop) to Stavanger city. Due to Corona, these bus services however were somewhat limited in 2021 across Norway, so do check the status before relying on it in 2022.

By the way, now that we made it safety and surely into the country, we quickly booked our hotel for the night in Bergen. It was difficult to find something and what was available was rather expensive, with the Norwegian tourist season still in full swing, but we managed to find something not all too expensive eventually. (Note: in August, hotel prices in Norway are much lower, because the Nordic holiday season ends with the end of July.)

Stavanger is beautifully located, with lots of coastline. The city however is nowhere near as nice as Bergen, much smaller and just not as scenic. We still enjoyed walking through the pedestrian streets of the old town in the sunshine.

We eventually took the bus again at about 15:00h. Back at the airport, it was a really simple procedure. Landing fees were paid online, so nothing to worry about there. The flightplan (VFR to Bergen) was also filed online (Skydemon). And as regards security and access to the landside, most of the Norwegian airports are amazingly GA-friendly and pragmatic. In the case of Stavanger, you simply go to the Sola Flygclubb, ring their bell and wait for someone to open a gate for you. Then you walk to your plane and leave. Honestly, it is awesome, compared with other countries.

The guy who opened the gate for us (he was just pulling his Piper Cub out of the hangar) suggested we fly by the Preikestolen, just to the east of Stavanger, before heading north to Bergen. We had almost forgotten about the proximity of the Preikestolen, so we were glad about the advice and quickly adjusted our route to include a waypoint where the fellow pilot roughly showed it to us on the Skydemon map. It would add about 15 minutes of flight time for us (for a total of about one hour), so no problem for our fuel reserves to Bergen (I had departed with full tanks from Lübeck in the early morning).

Here we are, departing Stavanger VFR to the east. Unfortunately, the day was still a bit hazy in the fjords, so it wasn’t ideal for photos.

What’s even worse though, we have to admit that we did not exactly locate Preikestolen… We had thought it would be much more obvious from the air, but it’s actually not so easy to spot with no exact coordinates. Must be somewhere in the photo below. Anyway, we enjoyed the low level tour through Lysefjord and then turned north towards Bergen.

This is Stord airport (ENSO). This airport, like many of the smaller airline airports in Norway, is not towered, but AFIS only, which makes perfect sense. These AFIS airports have what is called a TIZ around them. It is essentially an RMZ. When the AFIU is not active and when crossing these airspaces, pilots are supposed to report their positions at the various reporting points, which we duly did. Just as we were overhead the airport, the AFIS opened and a friendly lady AFISO came up on frequency that accompanied us out of the TIZ.

Minutes later, we were appraiching Bergen from the south. We asked Flesland Approach for an entry to the CTR from the south, despite there not being any VRP in the south. Alas, they did not approve (runway 18 was in use) and asked us to approach the airport from the east. At that point we asked for an entry from the northeast, as that would take us past the wonderful city for some first views.

The landing (at around 18:00h local time) was entirely uneventful. As expected, we were guided to the GA parking area where we able to refuel, park, unload, all without anyone bothering us. It was a domestic flight after all.

Once ready, as per usual procedure in Bergen, we asked GND to call the airport bus for us and 10 minutes later, we were picked up by the usual 100-person bus which took us towards the terminal facilities. Unfortunately to some degree, GA arrivals are now no longer brought over to the airline terminal (from where the trains, busses, etc. depart), but to the (empty) GA terminal, which means that afterwards, one has to walk about 1 km to the main terminal. If you happen to fly to Bergen (and don’t intend to take a taxi), it may be worthwhile to ask the bus driver specifically to take you to the main terminal.

At Bergen, the Flybussen service was suspended completely, which is not so much of a big deal since the airport also has a train connection. However, these trains take what seems forever until they arrive at the city centre, so if you have the choice, do take the Flybussen.

It was about 20:00h by the time we reached the city and still had to walk to our hotel, check in, etc. so it took until about 21:00h until we finally held some ALBs in our hands. Mind, the sun was still high up in the sky, the city was buzzing, it was nicely warm and all was good. But with the flying, formalities, ground transport issues, it had been a long day. An hour later, at 22:00h, we were finally sat at one of the (tourist) restaurants in the harbour area and had some fish soup, mussels, etc.

After dinner, with the sun now almost setting, we had a walk through the city of Bergen, another (10 Euro) beer and then returned to the hotel room.

For those who have never been to Norway and Bergen in particular: of the big Norwegian cities, Bergen likely is the most beautiful one. Oslo is more about museums, etc. than about the scenery. I have to admit I have not been to Trondheim yet. I fully recommend Bergen. Of course, try to find a weather window with good weather, which is easier in GA and than on pre-booked airline travel.

A little more on Bergen in the DAY 2 part, which will follow soon.