Yesterday when I walked out of the GAT at EDVK (Kassel-Calden) I saw an SUV that looked almost like a police car but it had written onto the sides “Luftaufsicht” and the logotype for “Regierungspräsidium Kassel, Hessen”. What made it look like police were the light bar on top of the vehicle. The color schema was more red than police blue but had some resemblance.
That was the first time I see such a thing and I’m wondering what this is about.
I’ve seen pictures of the French police of the air vehicles. It wasn’t far away from that hence the title of the thread.
Yep. When you see one of those, hide away.
The worst of these guys (i.e. the most “active”) are in the Münster area.
They have a permanent presence at all larger airports in Germany and come by car to the smaller ones. Given Germany’s federal organization, those air policing duties are carried out by the Bundesländer, typically the Regierungspräsidium that also administers the PPLs. They have a quota on how many ramp checks to perform every year.
This is still nothing compared to France. Last time they came to my airfield and asked me where I’m going I just said “nowhere, just getting fuel” and once they left I suddenly changed my mind and went flying 
The only real encounter outside my flight training in EDDS (where they have permanent staff and check frequently) was at a big Fly-In in EDPA Aalen. They had around 8 staff and checked every single pilot landing for the fly in. This filled their yearly quota in an hour but I thought that was rather hostile for a fly-in. To be fair, they only checked for very basic documentation — valid license and medical of the pilots, were not interested in the aircraft or the flight prep. So nothing bad to report really.
Me and my passenger were alco-tested by Dutch police at Groningen-Eelde last spring. They did not ask for anything else.
Why would they test your passenger?
They probably thought he was the “co pilot”
They probably thought he was the “co pilot”
Or instructor/student or two pilots flying together (which happens probably more often in light singles than one pilot flying with one passenger). Anyway, drunken passengers pose a threat to large airliners and are banned from flying there, so why should they be allowed on small aircraft where they can possibly cause much more damage?
The german “Luftaufsicht” guys (who have yellow flashing lights on top of their cars just like most vehicles operating around aeroplanes on large airports) have no police authority at all. They can only ask you for documents related to flying and certainly not perform breath tests or other medical examinations. For that, they must call the real police.
achimha wrote:
Why would they test your passenger?
Czech microlight regulations have a provision even for the PAX be alcohol-free. But to be honest, there were some cases in the last year where the PIC of microlight was under influence of alcohol.
