A 2-ship Norwegian RV dinner trip into Sweden

[ao.frog]

Hi folks.

A few weeks back, a friend of mine and his wife, Per and Solfrid, the wifey and me flew a 2-ship mission to Fjallbacka airstrip (ESTF) in the SW Sweden for our Sunday dinner.

Here we have just landed:







This was Solfrid's VERY FIRST ride in a RV, (Per has recently bought 1/3 of the plane) and both of them had RV-grins:







It's a nice scenic 45 min walk into the coastal community Fjellbacka where we had dinner by the seaside:





During the walk back to the airstrip, we climbed up some hills and the reward was a nice wiew of the beautiful Swedish coast:









We also passed through a crevice with a pretty spectacular "roof":








Three's a charm...






When the sun approached the horizon, it was time to take off for the 25 min flight back to our home airport ENRY in the SE Norway:





A really nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon:
We got to fly the RV's, we got some excercise (2 x 45 min walking + climbing), we got a nice dinner by the sea, and we got two happy wifes.

What else can a RV-builder ask for...??

[hendrik]

Thanks for that write-up! Makes me want to move back to Sweden -- I've been working in Lund for two years and love that country.

[kentb]

What kind of effort is it to fly from one country to another in Europe?
Do you just need to show passports or get permits?

Kent

[ao.frog]

Hi Kent.

Generally it's not too bad: if you are crossing the border one way or another, you have to file an ICAO flight plan.
You also have to send a copy to customs 3 hrs before each border crossing.

This is easiest done by filing the flightplan from the net and also write in the remarks section that you want a copy of the flight plan to be sent to customs.

I like to file both flightplans at the same time, so I don't have to worry about filing the return leg when landing in remote places.
If you then schould need to change your dep time for example, it's just a quick phone call.

You also have to takeoff and land at customs approved fields, but in fact most of the remote fields are approved, and ofcourse all fields with scheduled traffic.
And there's ALOT (hundreds) of nice airstrips available within Scandinavia when you're flying a RV!

For most airstrips and airports, you have to get a PPR but that's also just a quick phone-call.

You don't need a passport within Scandinavia, but it's a good idea to bring it anyway since it can be used as an ID, for example when using a CC.

When I pick airports or airstrips to go to, I pick the ones without scheduled airtraffic if I can, because those doesn't have security personell. You just land somewhere on the grass, park your plane and walk away. That's the way it schould be when you're RV-ing around...

The above notes is for Norway, Sweden and Denmark. It might be alittle different in other countries in Europe, but not much.

Just for fun: here's a link to our Norwegain planning site: www.ippc.no
The upper left corner ("ippc menu") is a nice place to start.

In addition, some countries have restrictions for foreign experimentals, but many of the countries have a mutual agreement.

[Pilottonny]

No need to show a passport when you are crossing European borders (the so called "Schengen countries") See this link for more information on the Schengen agreement, Map, etc.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

All you need to do is file a flight plan and you can take off to any of these countries, from any airfield to any airfield. If you want to fly to the UK though, you will have to leave from an airfield with customs facilities to an airfield with customs facilities (and show your passport), because the UK are not part of the Schengen agreement.

Regards, Tonny.

[Steve Sampson]

Tonny, being such easy going Brits(!) you dont have to arrive here AT a customs airfield or arrive from one, if you are EU citizen. You just have to give customs 4 (I think) hours notice of when/where you will arrive, and a lot of other bureaucratic gibberish, so they can meet you if they want. They never do.

I flight plan to/from my strip. Since we are not in Schengen though we do have to go to/from a frog customs airfield.

Just a detail in case you are planning on visiting us.

[kentb]

I'll continue to dream about what it would be like to fly around Europe.

Kent