Flying back home

*** still hungry for more pics? here is the full italy collection: ***

*** picasaweb.google.com/joerg.lamprecht/Italy2007 ***

*** picasaweb.google.com/joerg.lamprecht/Italia_2007_Part II ***

And that's where it ends...Our very, very, very first round trip with Lola. We flew back home in IFR - Thanks to Michael and his flight planning for us! -, tested the oxygen again over the Alps and taxied Lola straight to Piper maintenance in Kassel where everyone enthusiasticly opened her up to check what we had been doing...

Our conclusion? A round trip in Italy is an absolute must. The country at itself is paradise, and in just some hours you easily get around to the hot spots of the dolce vita.

What we learned? Don't fly at noon in the summer, always take water along and enjoy VFR in Italy - 1000 AGL is perfect to see the Italian country!

And further? We still have a lot to learn about techniques, and we love the GSM forever - especially the numbers of Friedrich Rehkopf and Piper Maintenance in Kassel where extremely helpfull - thank you all!

But he...We did it. And we just started.

She dances the tango...

There is no way to make a trip through Italy without stopping in Parma and get some real ham, we thought...So, before leaving home we made a stop on the PPR airport of Parma.

Taking off in Salerno Falconara was not so easy. Our girl, who just got some new spark plugs, shivered and coughed roughly after take off. We lost, almost immediatly, some cylinder values of the Engine Monotoring System and decided to return. No risks, with a flight over the Alps coming up the next day.

Aiaiaiai...Returning to Fernando, an extreme nice and technically gifted person of the Aeroclub, who thought us Lola had just some water and dirt in the fuel system, we got also spotted by...the inspectors of civil aviation.

"You have problem, sir?"
"No, we don't. We just wanted to have some values checked before flying over the Alps."
"If you don't have a problem, we will need a copy of the technical log and some signed papers you do not have a problem. If you do have a problem, we need a copy of your technical log and some signed papers that you do not have a problem anymore..."

So...Joerg needed a blond co-pilot to get out of this one ;-)

And off we took again - to Parma, and to eat some ham by our evening dinner. There was a lot of thermics in the air, so our girl danced a lot with us...The cha-cha, the tango and the merengue. We got shaked around...

Well, we just knew when we called her Lola (the show girl of Barry Manilow ;-)

A German never comes too late...

We took off at 6 from Salerno Pontecagnano (LIRI), saluted by half of the airport personnel and visitors. We had decided, only an hour before leaving, that we would not proceed our trip to the South but would leave back to the North of Italy. We have only a few days left, and with possible other techie problems we would otherwise not even make it in time back to Germany and Belgium. And you know... A german never comes too late...

Lola's take-off was smoothly, and she flew gentle as always. But once up in the sky, I got nervous...We wanted to fly VFR to Perugia (LIRZ) and stay in Assisi, but it was extremely misty. We have still not had an answer to where this mist came from...The Vesuvius, dirty hot smog or a forest in fire, but during the whole flight it stayed misty and uncomfortable to fly.

Next to that, there was no radio controller who felt like talking to us in the limited airspace of Napoli. Silence and mist...

By the time we needed to cross some mountains of 7,000 to 8,000 feet to reach Perugia, Lola's performance fell back. She climbed difficultly, and the engine monitoring system showed values which where too high and low (EGT). We discussed shortly, and decided not to cross the mountains this way and land to have the spark plugs checked (Joerg assumes it's a fouling one at high temperatures).

A safety landing was prepared and we choose for the airport in Ancona, only ten minutes away... An easy landing for Joerg with a 3000 meter paved runway. No way to miss this one, even if he would not have had his contactlenses...

And it looks like we have found that one hidden spot in Italy...The coast - Portonovo - is pretty busy, but the countryside looks like Tuscany, with amazing sun sets...We'll let you know soon how Lola is doing, and enjoy in meantime this wonderful hidden spot of Italia...

Techie Day at the Amalfi Coast

When leaving from Siena to the Amalfi coast, Joerg discovered the head temperature of a cylinder (techie details are for Joerg to explain!) was too high, while the Moving Terrain did not work at all. So, we inserted a "techie day" during our trip...

Replacing the Moving Terrain was a piece of cake, having a wonderful team behind us of Moving Terrain AG. They send a spare "knee" GPS to the wonderful Baia di Napoli in just one day.

The cylinder issue was a bit more complicated. While I went shopping (someone has to do the hard work), Joerg ended up at the table of the family of Nicola Romano and tried in his very best italian to explain what was wrong. While stripping Lola, they discovered the exhaust gasket was broken what caused the high temperature of the cylinder. So, exhaust gasket to Napoli for reparation and Joerg and I to Pompei for... well, for tourism.

We decided to stay a day longer to get Lola fixed, and to keep our plans open. We would not fly to Palermo in Sicilia, over water, if we would not feel comfortable with Lola's performance.

On Sunday, we got up realllllllly early to be at 2 at the airport. Super energetic as we are, we visited Capri by boat between 7 and 2, and made it then on time to the airport (I am becoming soooo german ;-). Lola was in meantime surrounded by about 10 abandoned cats and dogs, but was ready to fly off with an exhaust gasket "made in Napoli".

Big thank you to the scuolo di volo of Nicola Romani, who have been super for us!

Real World, or " no live in clover"....

Hey Folks,
It´s me, Michael...... Yes, I´am still alive.....
I don´t wanna disturb your "Dolce Vita", but there are more things in the "real" world than Flying, Flying, Flying ;-)

Let me tell you about hard work, building new premises, fighting with craftsmen, looking after wiring, thickness and compression of gravel, installation of toilet bowls, tiling, move of people and desks, relocation of quite huge tanks, special machines and things you probably can´t imagine.....

BUT , I am hopeful that my live will get back to normal once this stressful period will be behind me. And than Guys, I will try to catch up on everything!!
And finally, Gee, I´am so fu... jealous of your trip and experience.....
HAVE FUN!

PS: Pssst... Sometimes I still slip away with small-single-engine-aircrafts for short trips around the corner.... ;-)) Don´t tell...

Ground operations

So, this is the story...We are followed since the airport by the Italian mafia in their Fiat Cinquecento: They are in close contact with the Belgian mafia, who knows we are this team of journalists on a secret mission. We can't tell you more now, but will when we get home...

Anyway...we just try to be as "tourist" as possible and do not show our secret mission. We read on the beach, visit Sorrento and Positano and keep quite... Aleee, Joerg tries to keep quite ;-)

Euh.... N896677Y... clear to land your helicopter...

We left Siena in the early morning for the place we both believed to be "the hot spot" in Italy; the Amalfi coast. We decided to go for a VFR flight, got well prepared on how we wanted to make the flight but did have no idea how to cross the limited airspace from Roma and Napoli which seemed to cover half the Italian country.

But he, we do it the Italian way... Talk the walk! So, while Joerg was chatting away to the Italians in the control towers, I watched traffic (especially the yellow Cessna who wanted to practice some morning yoga in the air) and tried to keep track on where we were on the map.

After two hours and 33 degrees Celsius in our little cockpit, the Amalfi coast looked more inviting than we ever expected. And he... Joerg chatting up the Italian controllers paid off...They let us fly in 1000 ft over the Napolitan and Amalfi coastline, crossing Capri and the wonderful town of Positano.

When being handed over to the Salerno airport to land, Joerg was so convinced that his Italian improved... However...The Italian controller, suprised to be waken up at work, asked about six times for Lola's call sign after which he finally said " Ah, I understand now... N896677YP...Clear to land your helicopter..."

San Anna in Camprena

So, what do you do when being on a trip? Some people sit in the sun, others keep them busy reading or doing sports... Joerg and I decided to organise - for ourselves - a dead reckoning geo-cache. Whatisthat!?!

Take Lola, put off the gps (who did not want anyway) and start looking with the help of a map, mountains, a highway and a river for San Anna di Camprena - a Roman church in the middle of nowhere...

An amazing flight over the Tuscan countryside, overflying lakes, turning 360 degrees over wonderful small villages and chatting away with the Italians in the control towers...but San Anna de Camprena? We think it does not exist...

But we like to challenge you to find it :-)

Even Germies like good food ;-)

It was an amazingly warm day when we left our little Nissan Micra cabriolet (we did not even know it existed - But the Italians love it!) at the airport of Genova to head for Tuscany. We decided only the evening before we wanted to make a stop in the well-known gastronomic area of Italy, after all the touristy food of Cinque Terre... and admit, how nice is it to decide then just to make a stop in the middle of the country?

When taxiing away for AVGAS, we realised that that might become harder than expected...Lola's right engine did not want to start. No matter what we tried...So Piper Maintenance (who all love our lady) decided to have a look, and again, and agin, and again... Untill we discovered that my incrediiiiiiiiiible long legs touched one of the circuit breakers in front of me... Sorry Joergie, sorry Lola... I put the fuel pump for the right on "off". Hmmmm... a lot too learn....

Anyway...We put it "On" and off we went...A VFR-flight over Pisa to Siena for good food!
Well, not really...We were not allowed to fly over Pisa due to traffic, but were send along the coastline untill Cecina. After that we were sent into the beautiful Tuscan country side untill our destination.

A mini airport popped out of nothing, surrounded by beautiful yellow and green fields. A dinner with too much "Sex and the City"-daiquiri did us realise good food and wine are one of the best reasons in the world to get your PPL ;-)

Greets from La Bella Italia,

Private Pilote Joerg and the long-legged Annelies ;-)

A daytrip to Siena

Day 2 of flying: Genova - Siena
Thank you, Piper Italy ;-)

Here we go ...

... the first impressions of the Genova-Cinque-Terre flight. Beautiful as only flying can be.

Italian days and nights ...

After a thorough preparation of our Italian adventure it took us finally 2:50h to get to LIMJ (Genova) from EDVK (Kassel), our first waypoint in Italy. A smooth Alps crossing in best weather conditions provided a beautiful view on the surrounding terrain, the Alps, the italian lakes and the approach to the coastline.

Due to "limited uploading capabilities" of our camera/laptop system within the italian IT-infrastructure we still owe the pictures. But he, a 30°C - bluesky-country will definitely come up with something gorgeous :-)

Shooting approaches and trophys!

Jens is the organizer of a very unusal event. Every year there is a "fun-shooting-competition" in the "Westerbecker Moor", a turf moor in the north of Braunschweig.

So I took Lola for an early-morning IFR flight into Braunschweig and from there another 30 min by car to Jens` property and a closed-by shooting range. What a fun!! Breakfast, BBQ and the disciplines:

* pistol, revolver
* archery (recurve)
* ax throwing (yes, really ... there is even a world championship in sweden )

So in a green, healthy environment with great boys and big boys toys :-)
Good to know, that shooting approaches is a great exercise for fire arms as well ... so i went home with the trophy of this year. THANKS GUYS and definately see ya´next year!