With a Bird's Eye: 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...