Diversion to the Baggersee

Leg 1

Date	July 27, 2013	Type	Cessna F172N
Origin	Uetersen	Origin ICAO	EDHE
Destination	Bremerhaven Luneort	Destination ICAO	EDWB
Approx. distance	41 nm	Flying time	00:53h

On this occasion, we took off in Uetersen with the intention of flying to the North Sea island of Wangerooge. As you can see from our track we pursued this course until shortly before reaching our destination. When I left Bremen FIS frequency and switched to Wooge Info, I was greeted with the information that there was a visibility of 150 m and less in sea fog. Not much thinking was needed to figure out that we were not going to land at Wangerooge, so we altered course towards Bremerhaven.

Bremerhaven is a nice little airport, unfortunately apparently threatened by closure due to plans to erect an offshore terminal for the wind energy industry. Once more it seems opportunistic politicians are giving in to aggressive eco lobbying...
(Update: the field sadly was indeed closed in 2016 - more about that sad story here (in German))

Our hope that a few cups of coffee at Bremerhaven would pass enough time for the fog at Wangerooge to disappear proved a false one. So, after consultation by phone with Wooge tower, we followed their recommendation and set course towards Wiefelstede-Conneforde in order to enjoy their Baggersee (~ quarry pond).

Leg 2

Date	July 27, 2013	Type	Cessna F172N
Origin	Bremerhaven Luneort	Origin ICAO	EDWB
Destination	Wiefelstede Conneforde	Destination ICAO	EDWP
Approx. distance	21 nm	Flying time	00:17h

The flight to Wiefelstede was quick and uneventful - my mind was mostly filled with the mathematics of later getting us out of their 600m grass strip on a 29° Celsius day. The approach and landing were very scenic, as we came in on their runway 12 which took us right over the two lakes and the wooded area adjacent to the field.

The Baggersee, romantically called "Bernsteinsee", was really refreshing and after we had quenched our thirst and sampled some french fries, we made our way back to the airfield (not to forget mentioning the "Carnival" going on at the Bernsteinsee - a really strange sight in July!). Our timing proved good, as we could already hear the rumble of a front of thunderstorms from the west that I had already been promised around noon by the weatherman.

Leg 3

Date	July 27, 2013	Type	Cessna F172N
Origin	Wiefelstede Conneforde	Origin ICAO	EDWP
Destination	Uetersen	Destination ICAO	EDHE
Approx. distance	62 nm	Flying time	00:41h

My earlier worries regarding takeoff proved unfounded - it went quite smoothly and our trusty 160 hp Cessna used probably only about 400m on runway 12, only benefiting from a slight headwind. We cleared the road to the southeast with the required 100ft and continued for an easy leg back home to Uetersen.

The thunderstorms eventually caught up with us approximately 50 minutes after landing in Uetersen. A rough calculation yields that their speed was probably in excess of 80 km/h or 43 kts...

Sea fog

Approaching Bremerhaven

Approaching Bremerhaven

D-EOOW parked at Bremerhaven

Thanks to Frauke for the great photos!

Map provided with friendly approval of SkyDemon. Click to zoom. Not to be used for navigation.

Corkscrew overhead Hallig Hooge

Date	July 25, 2013	Type	SF25C
Origin	Uetersen	Origin ICAO	EDHE
Destination	Westerland	Destination ICAO	EDXW
Approx. distance	ca. 180 nm return	Flying time	02:37h

As my fellow glider pilot Robert wanted to surprise his wife, who was vacationing on the island of Sylt, the two of us grabbed the motor glider and set course for Germany's most popular island. This same popularity normally deters me from visiting Sylt, but its lively airport does make it a fun destination, as I found out on a few previous occasions.

Both the inbound and the outbound flight were quite interesting, mostly due to the weather. In the morning we ran into a 500 ft ceiling straight after takeoff and decided to play it safe by aborting and returning to the field. When we left the field in earnest on our second attempt, we found better viz, yet probably not much in excess of 8 km. However, after leaving the umbrella of EDDH C airspace, we managed to climb to 6300 ft, which afforded us with excellent views "on top".

The next challenge of course was "getting down" again. While we had seen large gaps in the cloud cover and had the ground in sight most of the time, by the time we got close to Sylt those gaps had shrunken significantly. We did manage to work our way down overhead Hallig Hooge in a nice corkscrew, making sure to keep land in sight rather than sea - so as not to get disorientied due to the lack of an AI. From there on we worked our way towards Sylt fairly low and entered the CTR via the Sierra routing for an uneventful landing on runway 32, following a Lufthansa CRJ.

After enjoying a nice lunch at Gosch and spending a relaxing afternoon at the beach, we headed back. The return flight was quite a bit easier, departing from runway 6 and via the Echo routing. We encountered great viz and a high ceiling overhead the mainland all the way up to the Kiel Canal, whereafter we were back in reduced viz with ca. 15 km. The landing at EDHE was unspectacular.

Westerland on the island of Sylt is an interesting airfield with increasing traffic also from the airlines. It has a long history and curiously is also used by gliders. Overall, in terms of hospitality, I would rate it below other airfields on German North Sea coast islands. E.g., there is no provision for renting bikes at the field, while other fields offer bikes for free! This fits with the general character of Sylt, which is quite "commercial" and in my view too crowded...

Before takeoff at apron 2 in Westerland

Map provided with friendly approval of SkyDemon. Click to zoom. Not to be used for navigation.