GA to the Lofoten islands ...and then some!

IPPC is a very powerful source of weather data for Norway, no doubt. I wish we could have similar service all across Europe.

LeSving wrote:

But in terms of outright actual danger, flying VFR below the (bad) weather in a properly equipped SEP is less dangerous than flying IFR above the weather in a SEP (SET, Cirrus and MEP are different beasts in this respect). Hence, helicopters (VFR) are what works in most cases if getting from A to B is of importance, and A and B are random.

You are obviously stirring the pot with this logic. While numbers and stats are quite stubborn, no doubt risk perception plays a key role in GA: for pilots and pax alike, although with different focus. Lots of different positions in this forum, and to each his own.
In your above risk classification, engine failure rate seems to play a role. In the risk matrix, though, one should bear in mind that, overall engine failures only play a role in roughly 10% of GA accident stats, with the other 90% being unrelated. I like to apply the 80/20 rule as much as possible.

Your view is also focussed towards small-distance travelling, and that is a lot more arguable, as you suggest, than longer trips.

DAY 7 : SO LONG, LOFOTENS ☹

As the saying goes all good things must come to an end…we really lived intensely those few fun amazing Northern island days but had to move on to other islands: Denmark was awaiting us, and perhaps we had a chance to do the Trondheim EuroGA mini-meetup too!

The original plan was to depart after one full week but as you saw weather was not collaborating. Svolvaer to Roskilde is about 800nm or 4.5 hrs depending on winds. One thing is to plan a climb or a descent through cloud and precip but then go on to cruise on top, or perhaps some IMC spells halfway through your cruise. IN this case, however, it increasingly looked like, if we planned our flight as scheduled, we would be IMC the whole flight, over horrendous weather with no good-wx enroute diversion options, and with a high overcast all of the route, plus we would have to potentially climb through a thick icing layer. Landing at Roskilde would be doable if after a bumpy, rainy approach. Effectively, the whole flight would be riding along warm fronts. Our risk matrix turned rather red for that flight.

We looked at the subsequent day (still bad), and the prior one…aha…this one looks better!

With the route to ENVA looking reasonable if headwindy

and from ENVA to EKRK IFR but workable at medium altitudes and with wind becoming more favourable in the last part

Roskilde and the approach may still be IFR VMC, we would be battling headwinds most of the way, but a Trondheim stopover looked feasible. We could fly low to avoid the headwinds and in fact I fancied a low-level VFR flight out of the Lofotens along the coastline: I could never have enough of those views!

We chimed in on the forums and a couple of members said they might be able to meet at ENVA at the approx. time of our arrival if we departed early…aha! We were expecting a bit over 2hrs to Trondheim then another 3 hrs to Roskilde.

Now we had a plan, we could continue relaxing in the great Lofoten atmosphere…ehem, I guess the meaning of relaxing was not the same for all of us

A couple of practical notes about the Lofotens. Thank God (and Norsk men too) there is not much touristic infrastructure. AirBnB or hut type lodging and motorhomes are the most usual lodging options, although there are a few small hotels. Restaurants in general are expensive and few. Rental cars (and taxis) are available at the main airports (Leknes, Svolvaer, Evenes) by some of the usual international companies, although expensive by EU standards. Unless you have all the time in the world you do need a rental car as public transport infrastructure is rather slim. We used the GetAround P2P platform for our rental car and had no problem at all. Last: currency. Payment is in NOK and by credit/debit card (or app for things like car parking): cash is rarely used. Our usual EU bank charges outrageous fees for NOK and DKK currency exchange. We instead used a couple of international companies for cheap currency conversions through their credit and debit cards: Revolut and Wise. The former’s low rates are limited to a maximum monthly amount, the latter is limitless. We had a couple of personal accounts and used both without a problem, just being careful not to exceed each one’s monthly limits.

All in all we stayed very much within budget: we mostly cooked at home or had packed lunches. We did go to a couple of restaurants, but unless you are going there for cod (it is the local star and is excellent, but there are a lot of Italian and Asian options around too) nobody goes to the Lofotens for the food. Yeah, I’m food-spoilt: I live in Spain. All in all with our AirBnB, Getaround car, fuel, our food scheme, museum tickets and some other minor expenses…we stayed below the 80€pp/day mark for our party of four. There is no problem dining out too if that is what you fancy, but be aware options are limited and may be fully booked at peak times in summer.

Ah, I almost forgot: North of the arctic circle it does not get dark at night for a few months around the summer solstice (depending on latitude *) , so if you need darkness to sleep at night, be ready to use one of these

*By definition, on the day of the solstice, at the arctic circle, the sun does not set: it does a complete circle in the sky E-S-W-N…The further North you go, the more days before and after the solstice that situation occurs. It is of course the opposite on the winter solstice: no sunrise.

VFR TO TRONDHEIM
We had relaxed so much in the Lofoten atmosphere, that when the time came to leave I was not worried about Svolvaer airport opening times. Since I had the PFly agreement I could depart VFR anyway and find my way around in flight. Our idea was to depart around 0900 and meet @WingsWaterAndWheels and perhaps @LeSving around 1130 at ENVA. Surely there would be someone at ENSH to grant access notwithstanding opening times, right? WRONG!
We were there at 0800local but the published “opening times” AKA “AFIS operating times” were from 1030 on a Sunday . We waited around for 1h but there was no human soul to be seen…so we ended up going to downtown Svolvaer and looking for a place for Sunday mass. That did not work out either but we got to see the local cathedral

Back at the airport, security did arrive a bit before 1030 but insisted that we had to wait for the firemen to access the ramp. Procedure is simple, but handled by firemen only. The latter arrived just in time to match AFIS, so we headed to the airplane, packed everything did our thorough pre-flight and ended up departing 2.5 hrs later than originally planned…maybe I had got rid of my Stockholm syndrome after all?

Fortunately our Trondheim host @WingsWaterAndWheels was patiently able to accommodate our delay. This would mean a shorter stay at ENVA as we did not want to depart too late with the forecast worsening as the afternoon advanced

TAF ENVA 060500Z 0606/0706 VRB03KT 9999 SCT020 BKN050
BECMG 0611/0613 27010KT
PROB40 TEMPO 0614/0624 SHRA SCT015 BKN020CB
BECMG 0617/0619 05006KT
TEMPO 0701/0706 3000 RA BR BKN009=

The TAF for Roskilde was deceivingly mild

TAF EKRK 060814Z 0609/0618 02008KT 9999 SCT030=

Even though we knew better from the bigger overall picture, for example Kastrup nearby looked like this

TAF EKCH 060501Z 0606/0706 05010KT 9999 BKN040
BECMG 0618/0621 32020KT 3000 +RA BKN012
TEMPO 0621/0706 31025G35KT 8000 NSW BKN015=

Our departure weather from Svolvaer was not as perfect as on our arrival one week prior but still OK for VFR

METAR ENSH 060850Z 23009KT 9999 -SHRA FEW018 SCT025 BKN035 12/10 Q1015 RMK WIND 0150FT 20009KT=
METAR ENSH 060920Z 24007KT 9999 VCSH FEW022 BKN040 13/09 Q1015 RMK WIND 0150FT 21009KT=

A brief shower just before departure to spice things up

Ready for departure into the wind with two Wideroes onlooking (the SF260 also left right after us…a lot of Sunday traffic at Svolvaer!)

We remained over the coastline, in touch with the ubiquitous Polaris Control, and enjoying the great views we had had on arrival to Bodo one week earlier, but closer. As we got away from the Lofotens the cloud cover thinned:

soon giving way to the views we had been hoping for

We flew mostly at 2500ft, where headwind component was limited to 10-15kts, resulting in a GS around 140KTS. Now you can get a comparison of our aircraft down-low vs up-high: we were also using 65%-70%hp LOP 15-15.5 GPH which results in about 150-155 KTAS (about 10 NMPG) . You can also fly ROP burning 21GPH at max cruise (31”/2500RPM) which, per book, is 75% max, but probably closer to 80% with the aftermarket intercooler, resulting in close to 170KTAS or a bit more than 8 NMPG (20% worse than LOP) :

The view of the dragon’s jaw and Stokka airport (near the coast in the centre of the first pic) from the opposite side vs our Northbound trip

After which we routed via Bronnoysund, one of the few airports in the area with avgas




We then turned inland, more or less direct ENVA. Cloud cover got a bit worse and we had to climb for terrain clearance, but airspace below cloud was still ample, keeping always an eye for natural exits towards lower terrain or water.

A bit of rain to clean the aircraft

Once we found a waterway, we descended back to 1500ft to enjoy the views over the water.
Skarnsund bridge (I had to look it up after the fact)

After an extended downwind for traffic

we landed and taxied to the Vaernes FLyklubb ramp where we found the unmistakable shape of @WingWaterAndWheels ‘ beautiful Cessna 185 and a welcoming guy marshalling us behind the 185…with 2.5 hrs delay vs the original plan.

Unfortunately @LeSving could not make it, but @WingWaterAndWheels was there to welcome the EuroGA gang!

The EuroGA fleet at Trondheim

It was a great chance to share some lunch in pure EuroGA spirit, but before that we got to meet the gorgeous fleet of the Vaernes Flyklubb. No, we could not get the Cub to talk to us like others do. We also like to talk to airplanes every now and then.

We had a small lunch in a town near the airport

It is interesting how sharing the views of GA with other flyers always brings new perspectives and shows the many different ways of enjoying GA. It does not have to be only about long-distance flying (who would blame these guys for wanting to fly at such a gorgeous place where every valley has a view? ) or local bimbles, or aeros, or getting together…whatever it is, I like to have it all!

Hopefully @WingsWaterAndWheels will be sharing some of his waterborne flying adventures soon at EuroGA!

It had become a bit late for an extended stay and some local flying as we had originally intended, so after lunch, some briefing about local flying, some nice tokens of local food (thanks @WingsWaterAndWheels ! ) and further inspection of the 185 (it’s got a set of floats too!), we had to get going. Our sadness from leaving the Great North had been offset by the raised spirits from the meetup, but we had some weather to contend with on arrival to Roskilde and wanted to make it there in time for some dinner. Judging by the amended TAF, it was difficult to see which of the two was more pressing…obviously the bad weather reported at Kastrup was starting to shift towards Roskilde faster than earlier forecast…we would see…

TAF EKRK 061417Z 0615/0624 01008KT 9999 SCT030
BECMG 0619/0621 34015G28KT
TEMPO 0621/0624 32020G38KT RA=

But more on that flight on the next chapter !

Thank you for researching Svolvaer’s “cathedral”…I did not know those details. Clearly catholisism is sparse in that part of the world so we had to do with our private prayers. I did not even know there was a Church of Norway before this trip…I need to do my homework better.

Yes the P210 is not as efficient down low but still fairly reasonable for the weight and speed. On this leg, we averaged 137KTS GS over 316NM , burning 38USG over 2.5hrs block time with maybe 13KTS avg headwind.

DAY 7: DENMARK, HERE WE GO

Our tasting of Trondheim was a bit short for our liking but we just did not trust the TAF for Roskilde. The GRAMET and Windy were clear in different versions that we would have to contend with IMC, rain and possibly strong winds: the more so the later we arrived. On top of that, after landing we would have more than 2 hrs until we got to our hotel (parking+tie-down+taxi+train+bus), so we wanted to be on the ground before 8pm local.

The trip was planned for 500NM which compounded with the headwind, meant we would spend a bit more than 3 hrs at medium altitudes. Why medium levels you ask? The answer is clear in the GRAMET : headwind and icing

We had not refuelled since our troubled upload at Bodo of one week prior, and FOB remaining at ENVA was some 60USG or about 3.7 hrs: not enough! We wanted enough to fly to EKRK, then to an IFR alternate, and hold 60 mins.

Also importantly: we had plans for a further stopover in Germany while enroute back home in Palma. Fuel at Denmark at 3.4€/lt was more expensive than in Germany at around 2.6€/lt, so there was quite some incentive to upload enough for our next two legs and we just filled the tanks to the full 118.4 USG to increase our options.

But before leaving Norway, I think I did not portray a very positive picture of Norsk food, other than about cod. I must say, thanks to @WingsWaterAndWheels, we did sample two excellent types of local Fjesllost cheese from Eggen Gardsyteri and some of the best bagged potato chips I have ever tried, also produced near Trondheim. These apparently simple chips would have a much bigger impact than one would be lead to think…but more on that later.

So roughly 2 hrs after landing at ENVA, we took good bye pics

And taxied to the pumps at ENVA (inclusive of fake jet aircraft for fire practice)

Which provided 216lt’s worth of seamless Avgas supply (@jujupilote plse take note) with our AirBP card. A short taxi to rwy 27 and we were airborne in no time

followed closely by the Cessna 185 for a local bimble that we missed :(

We could not avoid going IMC through some broken rainy Sc cloud but if the forecast was good, we should be in the clear by the time we reached freezing level so we were not too worried. Sure enough by FL100 we were in the clear above the cumuli, ice free, and below a higher overcast layer. We continued climb FL140 as planned but we were battling almost 30 KTS headwind.

Having a look at current weather with the ADL system, we could see the warm front that would sweep most of Norway tomorrow and forced our leaving the country one-day early , just East of our route. We would avoid the worst of the weather during most of our flight, but would have to go into it in the last part. Since it was slowly moving westwards, we could expect precip on arrival, notwithstanding the EKRK TAF. This just reiterates the importance of using different weather sources for planning.

As soon as we felt comfortable that we would remain VMC, just as we had planned, we descended FL100 where headwind was a milder 15KTS, gaining about 5KTS GS for the same 15.5GPH FF despite the lower TAS. Tis way we also avoided icing expected at the higher levels later in the trip. In our Southbound progress, we also recovered our synthetic vision capability in the Aspen…we were coming back to civilization!

The Sc undercast progressively thinned until we had some views of the ground

As we approach Oslo, the flow of inbound and outbound commercial aircraft traffic saturates the ADS-B display

While the presence fo the strong warm front to the East is increasingly evident

Good thing we are not responsible for traffic separation

Soon we overfly the extended centreline of Eggemoen airport (ENEG)

And have good views of the city of Drammen to our west

The headwind progressively shifts towards a tailwind for the last part of the flight, luring us towards the warm front. We decide to verify the mixture by running a GAMI sweep from LOP to peak and back, and the EI CGR-30P confirms we are 100LOP at 15.5 GPH or 70% power, which should be well outside the infamous “red box”

While crossing the Skagerrk strait into Jutland peninsula, we are offered a DCT TNO , close to destination, but we request to continue via AAL , avoiding the shortcut but also keeping us west of the heavier precip. In little over 20 mins we are across the Skagerrak and overflying Jutland near Sindal.

Both visually and in ADL it soon becomes clear we will enter apparently ugly IMC and precip but the METAR still looks good so we press on

METAR EKRK 061650Z AUTO 36009KT 9999 -RA FEW017/// OVC083/// 14/12 Q1004=

We are offered approach to the longer rwy 29 but this will put us 10NM east of the airfield into what looks like worse weather, so we request the into-wind shorter approach to rwy 03, which we are swiftly granted since we seem to be the only inbound traffic.

IN descent we enter IMC but soon are in and out of cloud with intermittent views of the ground and in moderate rain.

Visibility is not terrible and shortly after turning finals with the autopilot following the artificial glidepath to the non-precision approach, we can intermittently see the runway, where we land to the tune of Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov’s Sherezade being played on our audio system, timely crashing the cymbals as we touch down on the wet runway, duly noted by the crew’s copilot.

The marshaller guides us to parking and advises it will get windy: we should tie it down, which we promptly set out to do. After triple-checking and securing the aircraft , we took our luggage and then took a taxi to Roskilde station where we would get a train using the excellent DSB app. Nobody else was flying as severe weather notices had been received: we had beaten the weather to Roskilde but not by much. The weather reports for the night at Roskilde were low-cloud, rain and 30KT-winds gusting 40 KTS. We had parked on a heading of 030 but wind was from 300, so in the morning we were worried as winds exceeded 40 KTS…airport personnel took our phone call and assured us everything was right if windy, with the aircraft rocking a bit in the tensioned tie-down ropes…

Later in the day, after picking up our other daughter, flying in from Mallorca, and mum , flying in from Svolvaer, headed off to Roskilde to check on the aircraft…sure enough, some of the engine covers and the exhaust plug had come loose. Since the forecast was for rain and wind to continue strong from the NW, we asked to tie down the aircraft into wind to which airport personnel had no issue. We painsfully rotated it into wind, tying the wings down one on the wing tie-down on the ramp, the other wing on the tail-tie-down, hence parking it straight into wind. We collected the missing covers found 100m downwind on the grass between taxiways, and secured everything better in the hope being into wind it would hold better. It worked.

We later learned that the perfect storm of multiple fronts and LP in Southern Scandinavia that we had seen in the SigWx forecast, had just left the worst floods in Southern Norway and Sweden in decades, rendering road, railway and sea transportation inoperative , and causing significant damage. Somehow mum managed to fly through it with landings at Bodo and Oslo before Copenhagen…we did not dare.

Worth noting neither the Norsk nor Dansk customs had been interested in us through our EU border crossing, and since Norway is Schengen immigration requirements were met anyway.

This flight had been a bit longer than planned due to a couple of departure and enroute vectors, making it a total of 520NM in 3.2 hrs or an average 160KTS GS using a total of 55USG and confirming our decision not to depart ENVA without uploading fuel.

For the next few days we would set off to do our family and business matter in less than perfect weather…before flying on Southwards and having our most serious flight incident of the trip….but that will come with our next instalment

Thx for reading!