55 planes attending a Fly Inn and Sunday Mass on a frozen lake in Norway

[ao.frog]

Last Sunday (the 10th of Mars) was time for the annual Fly Inn at the lake Vermundsjøen in the of SE Norway.
As usual, it was hosted by MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) who is a Christian organization operating planes around the world, "flying for life".
The MAF website: http://www.mafint.org/

The Fly Inn also consists of Sunday Mass and the priest, who is a GA-pilot, flies in with his bright yellow 172.

For a few hours, this lake is one of the busiest airports in Norway

The wifey and me flew up there, flying as a 2-ship with a Lancair.

Here we are parked on the ice along side of a Bird Dog:





Here's a few pics of the area:











The church is a beautiful old one, located on the lakeshore:




The church was pretty full:









And here's the priest, wearing his flight-suit during the last half of the Mass.
(For the first half, he wore the traditional outfit as seen on the pic above)





A 14 year girl, wearing a traditional Norwegian outfit, sang a few songs, and she was a very good singer:




At the end of part 2 of this post, you'll find a link to a 2 minute film from the Fly Inn. You'll see alittle from the Mass and also hear the "top Gun Theme, played as the Postludium to the Mass.







After Mass, it was time to look at all the planes. There where a few RV's around too:







(continued)

[ao.frog]

Then it was time to leave the planes alone for a while and go for dinner at the nearby resturant.



In this tread, you can find more pics and info of the restaurant:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ad.php?t=96042




When the sun was approaching the horizon, it was time to fire up the 360 and head home:





When the sun settled, we approached our home airport; ENRY.





Even a TV-station where there, and they sent a 2 minute film from the Fly Inn during the Sunday Evening news.
(There's a stupid 30 sec commercial before the film, sorry about that... I HATE commercials...)

The language is all in Norwegian ofcourse, but you'll get a good impression just by watching the film too.

At 0:32, you'll see at 2 sec (!) clip of our 2-ship formation coming in for the overhead break.

At the end, you'll hear the Top Gun theme played on the church organ. Pretty special, eh?

http://www.tv2.no/play/nyheter/innen...te-703211.html



It was a very nice way to spend a Sunday: the RV got some exercise, we got food both for the mind and for the stomac, and it was great fun too!
Life with a flying RV continues to be a good one...

[diamond]

What a great activity and thanks for reporting. I'd be there in a heartbeat if I lived in your part of the world.

[Lemmingman]

What a great day, Olav! I never would have thought about a fly-in church service, but it makes great sense if your Priest is a pilot as well. The "Top Gun" theme on the organ sheet music was great. My son wants to know how cold it was.

[aerhed]

Nice! I saw a Broussard parked there. Did the pilot still have his front teeth? They can be a little bouncy.

[Louise Hose]

Alf Olaf,
I love your trip reports. So different than our normal fare. Keep them coming!

[Snowflake]

FYI Olav, I didn't get a commercial before the video... Maybe people outside of Norway are spared the ads...

[ao.frog]

.... for the nice comments.

I'm glad if the commercial didn't show up abroad.

Brussard-pilot: yes, I think his teeths are intact. He was one of the interviewed pilots, and to me, his smile looked normal.

OAT: when we landed, it was -5*C. During the day, the temp rose to about -1*C and when we left for home, it was -5*C again.
Those temps are nice for operating from a frozen lake.

The wifey and me landed there in January last year, and THAT was a cold experience! -23*C when we landed and -28*C when we took off a couple of hours later.... BRRR!!!

[Lemmingman]

Originally Posted by ao.frog

.... for the nice comments.

I'm glad if the commercial didn't show up abroad.

Nope, I saw them. I'm ordering microwaveable fish from Norway now.

[videobobk]

Besides the beautiful area, what a wonderful idea, a fly in worship service. It encourages me in many ways. We held what may have been the only worship service in the campground at Oshkosh last year, and we may make it a bit bigger this time.

Bob