Need to give thanks to a very kind VAF viewer
I got an answer off-list from a VAF viewer Pierre-Andre Miquel.
Below is our adventure. Sorry no pics due to my absent mindedness of leaving my camera in the hotel.
We were able to meet Saturday afternoon. The weather was quite variable. I had seen a cycle of rain vs clear skies twice in the morning.
We met at his place of business which is a model making company (think big fullsize clay automobiles but in current materials). It was fascinating.
We went to his local airport south of Stuttgart. It has a huge paved
1200 ft runway
. The approaches are nice, so the length is not really an issue.
The weather turned sour so we did some hangar flying in the tower with the other pilots. They enjoyed my webpage. Pierre toured me through the hangars. Very nice. A lot of gliders. Some "Diamond" style powered aircraft and then a few larger cross country machines like a NEW G1000 outfitted 172 ,a Cherokee, Mooney and a Jodel D400. All were in immaculate condition.
There was a restarant on the field and I was pleased to see KIDS, meaning preschool kids running around the place. It was refreshing.
The weather cleared suddenly and there was a flurry of activity as the aircraft were pulled out and cranked. My host Pierre said "Come on!". I DID!
We jumped into the Jodel and headed south towards The Alps and lake Constance. We circled castle Hohenzollern. The sky was crystal blue, visibilty was outstanding as you might imagine from the unstable air. We could see the wall of the Alps from horizon to horizon. 100 miles each way I guess. Due to the Swiss having a wall of controlled airspace, we decided to fly east and see if we could find King Ludwigs Neuschwanstein casle. We did. It was covered with scaffolding for some kind of repair work but that did not matter to me. The act of flying over it in a private plane was great. We turned around and headed towards home. On the way we stopped for fuel at a beautiful sod field (with a tower!)
near Kempten. Again it had a restaurant that was well attended.
Hopped back into the Jodel and headed for the barn. We had to race a rain storm that was closing from the west. We got in right as the rain hit. The other club craft were right behind us. I got to see why the craft were in such good condition. Each plane was brought into the hangar and completely dried via squeegee and chamois. It was all fun teamwork with the dozen pilots on hand.
I met Pierre's wife Mata and 5 month old son Maximillian. Mata is an Opthomologist and is currently learning German (she grew up in Poland) to better comunicate with patients. I visited Poland many years ago so we had some common conversation (in English). They invited me for a nice dinner and conversation after the flight.
On many trips to Europe, as I watched the countryside pass by, I have dreamed of GA flying there. I had resigned myself to it being likely unattainable. SO... I am in very deep gratitude to Pierre and his family for the great gift.
Thank you.
