Dear all from AYA Region 15,
Grumman and non Grumman Flyers,
friends of this special flying tour
and those, who might be interested
The great cross country EURASIA 2011 has been successfully finished on Saturday July 16th.
But the end for me was against the plan.
Below you find the end of my tour reporting and the tour map.
Since several have not received all messages, here is the summary, including the end of the story - Eurasia 9.
Thank you for all the response.
Jörg Trauboth
N267MT
Vice President
http://www.aya.orgEURASIA AYA FLIGHT WITH GRUMMAN AA5 AIRCRAFT
DIARY OF AN EXCITING FLIGHT THROUGH MORE THAN TEN COUNTRIES IN 14 DAYS
Eurasia 1 - July 2, 2011 - Poland
Three Grummans aircraft AA5 have arrived safely in Jasionka/EPRZ from Southend-Bonn-Kalovy Vary - Olomouc, according to schedule. The weather was better than forcasted; we had good tailwinds. A great start with a super kick off evening in Jasionka.
Tomorrow we are heading to Chernivitisi / UKLN, our first stop in the Ukraine, where we meet Yurii and Andrew in their AA5, our guides down to Odessa/Crimea. Permit to enter the Ukraine has been given and flightplan has been granted. No Jeppesen chart anymore. Our routing will be (VFR) on IFR roads. The weather is forecasted a bit mixed. We have precautionally requested for UKLN an English speaking controller. Crews and aircraft are doing well. We hope to report Eurasia 2 from Chernivitsi. With greetings from South Poland to you all including to the gang in Perranport.
Jörg Trauboth/ Lutz Trauboth N267MT (EDKB
Chris O'Connell/Mehmet Demirci BBEZC (EGMC)
Josef Reitter/Premmysl Vodicka D-EAIJ (LOKL)
EURASIA 2; Sunday, July 03, 2011– Chernivitsi/Ukraine
We left Jasionka in South Poland this morning at 0845 local. Perhaps the uniforms in N267MT shortened a bit the security process. Fortunately, the weather was much better than forcasted. 30 minutes later the Grumman 3 ship crossed the border to the Ukraine. The 2 hours routing was under control of Lliv Radar which was really helpfully because we had no VFR maps for this area. They just are not available.
UKLN is an airport in the middle of the Ukraine, near Romania.The reception was impressive. A delegation of about 20 persons, from customs, security, handling, welcomed us extremly friendly. Andrew and Yurii appeared. We were initially not allowed to make photos. After 30 minutes one of the female officers sat down in a Grumman, took a photo session and taxied with us to the shelter. Yurii hat managed the truck transport of a 210 liter AVGAS barrel from Kiew to Sherinivitsi. (3.66 USD/ltr). All aircraft got enough fuel for the next trip.
A great welcome in the aircraft restaurant, followed by a guided visit through this university city and several Vodkas in the evening. Crews and aircraft in good shape.
Tomorrow we will aim for Odessa, along the border to Moldavia, with Yurii and Andrew as lead of our Grumman 4 ship. What a tour! And still according to the plans.
Jörg
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EURASIA 3, Monday July 4th, Odessa/Ukraine
Looking out of my hotel room, I sea the beach. The beach of the Black Sea!
We did it!
Our 4 Grummans arrived in the early afternoon after a 2.5 hours flight at Odessa airfield, a grass strip near Odessa. The formation was led by Andrew Fertschuk in the AA5 of Yurii. Andrew spoke in Russian to the various military agencies and guided us in English professionally through the airspace G. It is the first time that foreigners are doing this without an official navigator and never Grummans have been before on this track. We were welcomed by the Commander of the airfield and are now recovering in a beach hotel.
Tomorrow, we have a guided tour through Odessa. Wednesday/Thursday we plan to fly to the Crimea to see Sewastopol.
Crews and aircraft are doing well. A very smooth tour and still according to the plan. Greetings to all of you from Sepp, Premek, Chris, Mehmet, Joerg, Lutz, Andrew, Yurii and Zulu.
Joerg Trauboth
Andrew, if you like, you can take the Eurasia reports and occasional photos into the web.
EURASIA 4 - Wednesday, July 7 Crimea /Ukraine
.... we started our guided Odessa tour with a visit of the city and a war museum, a tour through the catacombes, and a ship tour through the harbour of Odessa.
The impressions were from communism grey to colourful pictures within the city, from Catharina the Great to the many symbols of wars in this area. We learned that underneath of Odessa partisants lived for 9 months and defended the city against the Germans. This country has gone from war to war and there have been only loosers. Odessa is for sure a good point on the map for a city visit.
The Ukraine is a country between the old and new world, the Crimea however is something special with a mix of population from Asia. Andrew said, officially it belongs to the Ukraine but in fact it is an island of the Tartars. We were very keen to see this famous island, which is clearly a highlight in our EURASIA tour.
After another fuel fill up out of barrels, we took off this morning with our 4 Grummans in Odessa airfield and flew in a lovely formation along the coastline heading East and Southeast direction to the Crimea. Again in comfortable temperatures which are not higher then 26 degrees during the day.
Andrew guided us again in fluent Russian and English and the mission was to find a small grass airfield, I think, the name is Tabacco, with a 700 m strip about 80 km North of Sevastopol. It was not so easy to find the strip and an experience to land in a mixture of grass, sand, stones and other tire unfriendly material. But the welcome of the local aeroclub was more than friendly.
We had some fun with hat changing and started a tour down to Sevastopol, where our small bus got a cable fire which forced us, but we got a sunset impressive boat tour into the harbour of the Russian and Ukrainian Black Sea Fleets and learned that the Russians have withdrawn many ships but are still much appreciated at the Crimea.
The plan was to have a visit in Jalta tomorrow and to see the place, where Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill made history, but after all the exciting trips and impressions, we need a breath to be prepared for the 3 Friday trips where we fly from Odessa Airfield to Odessa International to make the customs, etc. We have than a granted flight plan to Tulcea (LRTC) for refuelling and to Istanbul (LRTC) the same day. Our flights will go along the Black Sea coastline via Romania and Bulgaria. As N registrated aircraft, I had to ask for a permit number (Turkey) which Mehmet has kindly organized.
But before, we will do this, we will leave tomorrow Sevastopol by bus, see an antique Greek area (Chersonese) and get to our airplanes for a sun set flight across the Black Sea back to Odessa, where we will have a last out of barrel refueling and a good bye evening with our Ukrainian friends who did so much wellbwhich never a tourist office could have done.
Thank you for the friendly comments on this reporting. Obviously EURASIA 2 did not arrive to everybody, will take care of this later. I can't believe that still everything is running according to the plans. Crews and aircraft are doing well, we are very proud & happy.
I hope to continue reporting from Istanbul next.
Best regards
Joerg Trauboth and team
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EURASIA 5, Friday, July 8 – Crimea & leaving to Istanbul
The second day at the Crimea gave us - against all initial planning - the window to see Jalta. What a drive along the coastline through the mountains.The magnificant tour through the conference center of 2/1944 was worth to travel additional 4 hours.
On the way back, we stopped at the German Military Cemetry and got an impression about the war in this area with so many young men killed.
We arrived Tobaaco airfield (not in the Carribean) a bit late and landed in Odessa just before sunset. At this point, I may mention that the skills and performance data of the aircraft are of course different and the agreement is that we extremely take care of each other to hold the group together.
Refueling out of the barrels from the 500 km away storage (3,50 USD /ltr.), a last farewell with Yurii, Andrew and the airfield owner Constantin, remain over night in the simple but cost free airfield rooms, breakfast and early take off to the 10 km apart Odessa International (UKOO).
This was the day of flightplan trouble. Sepp's Flightplan did not work and my permit to leave the Ukraine was not given by the Ukraineean authorities. Hard working with a handling agent and Andrew, some 120 USD for each aircraft, including customs and handling, and after 3 hard hours burocracy in Odessa, we left for Tulcea. A good short stay in Romania with AVGAS, fair fees and take off with 3 Grummans lined up on the runway which showed now 38 degrees Celsius.
Enroute down the Black Sea, I was informed that my flightplan was mixed up and not confirmed by Sofia. I was prepared to go back alone to Tulcea . But just before crossing the border, I was cleared to continue. At this pint I must say that from the beginning, we had a flight plan desaster with the Ukraine authorities. They do not receive or resond properly. Without local helps you need hours or days to solve all the burocratic problems.
Extremly nice flying weather with about 20 degrees Celsius OAT in 7000ft, great views on Constanta, Burgas and Varna.
Chris put his Traveller to maximum thrust to be joined with the 2 Tigers and when we crossed the border to Turkey, a hell of airtraffic communication started. Istanbul control spoke like a machine gun without any interruption. JFK is nothing compared to this experience. Even Mehmet had no chance.
70 NM no way to find a gap to tell, who we are and what we want. We flew as a formation and finally I got response. Lovely flight above the Bosperus between the Black Sea and Marmara Sea. First impression of the huge city.
Sabiha Gokcen is a high traffic international airport with extrem short commanding calls and when our flight was on final, the airliners had to wait. An extraordinary experience for some of us who fly from smaller airfields. After a 2.40 h I was very happy to see "my" flight save down. Thanks to the help of Mehmet, who will finish now his Grumman tour with Chris on his homebase LTFJ, we got a fast handling, and a bit later we met Maureen, Chris's wife, in the hotel, where we are now recovering from another great day.
What shall I say further? Again we are happy and proud to have managed this new challenge. We have arrived at our most South East destination and are prepared now for Mehmets Istanbul program for the next 3 days.
Crews and aircraft are doing well.
Jörg
EURASIA 6 - Monday, 11. Juli 2011 - Good Bye Istanbul
Southend-Bonn-Jasionka-Chernivitsi-Odessa-Crimea-Tulcea-Istanbul....a cultural injection in one week, about 20 hours flying time and 3 Grummans again ready to go.
We have enjoyed fantastic days in Istanbul together with the Mehmet Demirci family. Hagia Sophia (foto), Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Cisterne, Archeological museum, a one day boat tour through the Bosperus to the open Black Sea, Turkish Food in all kinds, sight seeing tours in and around the city, and, and...
We celebrated the 50 's birthday of Sepp in a great atmosphere and Chris, who had a distinguished discussion with us about English and Turkish tea, is now named "Early Grey".
Presently, the temperatures are above 30 degrees and the crews needed a rest. Therefore we cancelled the fly out to Canakkalle (Troia) and the Hamman. Today a relaxed day on the hills above Istanbul. Intensive flight planning for the next trip tomorrow to Samos via the Marmara Sea down the coastline. The aircraft are refuelled and served, the flightplans granted and we are ready to leave this wonderful city. Again the weather should be fine and AVGAS in Samos is available.
A big thank to our Grumman fellow Mehmet who made our days in Istanbul unforgettable. He will now leave the group and stay in his hometown, where he is working as manager for a Swiss company. Chris will steer his Traveller through the Agais alone but with us, of course. Our further routing through Greece will be Samos-Megana-Corfu before we enter Croatia. Everything is done to prepare refuelling, parkings and hotels. Now we hope for good tailwinds and a further smooth travelling.
Crews and aircraft are doing well. Greetings from Istanbul to the Ukraine and to you all who are with us in your mind.
Jörg and team
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EURASIA 7 - SAMOS - Tuesday, July 12, 2011 11:02 PM
.....perfect take off in Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen / .. 3 Grummans climbing to 6500 ft across the huge Marmara Sea...nice guidance by the radar controller... Chris in front with the bit slower Traveller... 2 hours flight down the western coastline of Turkey..handover from Izmir Radar to Athenia and Samos approach...very bumpy when landing Runway 09 at Samos airport...a good preperation for the next landing fields ....all aircraft safe down in Samos where we have 35 degrees and high season..good to have reserved the minimum available parking places..AVGAS okay..it is cheaper in Greece when you are in AOPA...hotel at the beachside just perfect..swimming...relaxing ....Greek wine and lazy sunset evening..now preparing the two legs to Korfu tomorrow... we are still exactly on route and timeplane...Poland-Ukraine-Crimea-Romania-Bulgaria-Turkey... all sorts of food and drinks..we all have built up some weight ...and many photos and videos already in the box....
Crews and aircraft are doing well.
Best regards to you all
from the pretty island of Samos
the Eurasia team
EURASIA 8 - Thursday, July 14, 2011 Corfu -
,,,,,,,,,,,,..when we arrived early morning at the airfield, the tower in Samos informed us, Megara, LGMG, our preplanned General Aviation airfield near Athens, would not be opened before 1200 local. Also the wind situation was difficult with 20-30 kts in the forecast from the North. In the Agais, the winds are mostly North/ South or vice versa. Megara, however, has a West / East runway. We considered to go to Athens international LGAV, the only place in that area with AVGAS and took it precautionally as alternate. Not an airfield small aircraft really like.
1045 local all 3 Grummans headed West in 3500 ft, via Mykonos and the VFR routings South of the Athens. Below, about 6 Beaufort, nothing for dinghies. We even did not think about it. Theengines of N267MT, GBZS, DEAIJ were running well, while the EURASIA flight was crossing the Agais from East to West. Great views on islands, turkis blue water. .
On the way to Megara we recalculated the remaing fuel and agreed that the both Tigers would continue to Corfu/ LGKR and Chris in his Traveller would take some fuel in Megara. for landing.
The Tigers crossed the street of Korinth and crossed the mountains in about 8000 ft. Distance some 370 NM between Samos and Kerkira / LGKR.No big deal with some 100 kts Ground speed. But it was hot. My cylinder number 4 (CHT) came up to 450 degrees in the climb and I had to work on it several times. An old problem in temperatures higher than 35 degrees, inspite of good buffles, etc. The EDM helped a lot.
Chris found a better wind situation in Megara than expected and took off, when the Tiger crews appoached the swimming pool in the nice hotel.
There are many negative reports about General aviation flying in Greece. Some remarks. We can confirm the internet reports that the bureaucratic effort is enormous, flying in Greece.
Step 1: Find out which field has fuel. Don't trust Jeppesen, etc. , etc. Mykonos, e.g., has no fuel this summer. You might be in very delicate situation after landing.
Step 2: Write to the (1) CAA, (2) Handling agent, (3) Fuel station) of the field and get confirmation. But don't trust the confirmation.
Step 3: Before arrival, get from all 3 agencies confirmation and check alternate with fuel. There are only few in Greece.
The things on the ground are a bit complicated and are far away from the standards we know. The agencies have their own "kingdom". But finally it works and allover the people are helpfully. The costs can be really reduced, if you are AOPA member. Have the card with you. Also you pay per day only one landing in Greece. Have the invoice from the last with you. All fees were "in limits"
We made the flightplans electronically which is much recommended since you receive the NOTAMS. Always check the Notams, especially in this lovely country where you might not sure that you will be informed in the air.
First you will learn in the NOTAMS that there is a lot of political stuff in it concerning the situation Greece/Turkey. Just don't read it. Secondly, you have no VFR maps where you can plot the coordinates of the Notams. Greece has no published AIP, nor any VFR/GPS maps. Can you believe it? It's an Euro country.
But there are the good old US TPC maps available where at least the landmarks are being dispayed. Coastlines and mountains do not change, at least not in a pilot's life. But never try to find the new international airport of Athens on this map. You will land at a closed field. Otherwise VFR flying in Greece is quite easy, but it is necessary to have a trip kit with you where you find the landing field (as in Jepp view) and the VFR routings in TMA'S.
With GPS, all these is not a real problem, but if the electronics fail, you are a bit lonely in this country and have better at least an IFR low altitude chart with you.
AOPA GREECE has an excellent homepage with many information. It is a must to study this.
http://www.aopa.gr/en/infosdetails.asp?NEWS_ID=1 Also we noticed that the contollers in the Athens TMA are not real service friendly to the VFR traffic. Example: On the way to Megara we tried to find out the METAR from our alternate LGKR. The Mrs contoller was not willing to relay this because our landing field was Megara. It took a while to explain our considerations about going to the alternate and finally we received the information. You must be tough as pilot in the communication otherwise you will be in a victim role. In summary, no good memories about Air Traffic Control in the Athens TMA. Let's hope that this has been an exception and that the authorities in the air and on the ground understand that General Air Aviation flyers are clients. Allover the General Air Aviation in Greece is much better than in Turkey where flying for foreigners is much more restricted.
And the general situation in Greece in these difficult times? No crisis feelings. Many tourists, full beaches, people very friendly. Athens is politically far away, like San Francisco from Washington.
On this Corfu evening we welcomed the late comer Early Gray, Chris, and celebrated another great evening with Greek specialities and Uzo, of course.
Crews and airplanes are doing well. Weather forecast for Croatia is CAVOC.
Dubrovnik/LDDU next.
What a tour!
Best regards
Jörg and Team
NEW - EURASIA 9 – July 16 th- Dubrovnik-Losinji-Back Home - NEW
.......Chris was more clever than we. He refuelled after arrival in Kerkira. We had to wait next day for 2 hours and saw how the holiday airlines were refuelled one by one. Another great flying day. Sepp and Premek flew the coastline routing along Albania, Chris and we climbed 8000 ft and crossed Albania before we started our gentle descend into Dubrovnik. The airfield is to bee seen from far away and is situated in a perfect hilly landscape. A first impression of the wonderful Croatia. The afternoon in the ***** Croatia hotel with a large seawater swimming pool. We hired ad hoc a guide and got a late afternoon tour through Dubrovnik. I have been in the town before it was destroyed in the 1991 war by bombs, artillery and fire. We saw a perfectly restored city, financed by UNESCO and began to understand what the war did to this unique city and the people. Croatia hopes to be in the EU in few years but people are more confused about it due to the overall political situation.
When we celebrated a great fish dinner in the city and good talking about the impressions during our tour, we did not know that this would be our last group evening. Since Losinji, the end of tour location, was only 2 hours flying in the North, we decided for a late take off. When I switched on the Master, I had a dark cockpit. Nothing on pressing the starter knob. Battery clearly empty.
At this point, I have to remark that the aircraft had ongoing electrical problems before the tour. Empty battery, overloading, etc. Few days before the tour the voltage regulator, all relais, the alternator and cables were replaced by the kind assistance of Leas Staples, arranged in Olomouc before. But already in the Ukraine, I had again a start up problem. Few pressing of the Master switch helped. This time no tricks started up the engine. Therefore we made a start up, by using the starter cable which was successfully. But we still had a dark cockpit. No instruments no communication. Therefore, we decided to stay and said good Bye the other 2 crews. We reloaded the battery and since we thought that the renewed, but used, Master relais would have defect we built in the old one with the help of a mechanic. Also we reloaded the battery. 4 hours, after the take off of the other aircraft, we taxied to the holding point and I realized that the battery did not get electricity from the alternator. The ampermeter went clearly down to the left. Back to the ramp, battery for reloading over night and a meeting with the mechanic next morning. A bit sad about this splitted last evening. But safety first. A flight without battery would change the 3 blade constant speed propeller into a somewhat fixed prop with perhaps a critical position for various flying situations, and no flaps, of course and communicating via the handheld ICOM. Nothing for flying 2 hours over sea and no mechanic or spare parts available in the destination area.
Next morning, after having studied all AYA pages about electrical problems in a Grumman and with a full loaded battery, I checked carefully the aircraft panel again – and I saw now that the 60 A Alternate fuse was out! In fact, it was obviously out already the day before. But if you don’t really look from the side and touch it, you won’t see that the fuse is about 3 mm out. I pressed the fuse and the systems worked. Lutz and I were really happy, since here in Dubrovnik, there is no expert to solve an electronic problem. The only question was now, what caused the overvoltage for the disengage of the fuse after all the replacement of devices and cables. It might be the battery itself. This has to be cleared by my mechanics in Bonn-Hangelar who made all the work on the electronics.
When we took off on Saturday July 16th, 2011 in Dubrovnik, the other 2 crew left Losinji for a landing in Stockerau LOAU, near Vienna. We, Lutz and I, headed for Graz / LOWG. Our eyes were on the ampermeter, of course, and the 2 relevant fuses. All stable. I checked the alternator off /on position inflight, the battery was reloaded, ampermeter stable. After 2 hours flying, we started to relax and were optimistic not having another electrical disaster. Flying out of Graz to the North, requires a tough climb out up to 10000 ft to cross the East sides of the Alps. All systems running. In the area of Nürnberg, we heard Chris communicating with Munich FIS. He had to remain over night in Belgium and landed next day safely in Southend. DEAIJ also arrived savely Olomouc in the Czech Republic. After 3.45 hours we landed also Saturday, July 16th in Borkenberge, where my brother Lutz left the plane. At 1945 N267MT was back in Bonn again.
Even, if this was an unplanned splitted end of the tour, it was a great tour through Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Albania, Slovenia and Austria with about 30 flying hours. The feed back from the crews are: a huge learning experience in communicating, navigating and landing and take off on rough short grass airfields, as flying in a group by helping each other.
Summary:
This was also for me the most time intensive preparation of a cross country, I ever have had. The proposal of someone in the team was, to sell this perfect tour or run it 4 times a year with a group. Clear answer: No. I never repeat a same event, especially nice ones. New challenges are at my horizon. But if anybody wishes to get information about the planning of such a tour, it is my pleasure to give these to my pilot fellows.
But one thing must be clear. On such a EURASIA route, which obviously never has been done before, you need local assistance, or you pay a hell of money to an agency (which I don’t know) and you will lose time anyway.
I have to thank Yurii and Andrew as our tour planners in the Ukraine. They took care of the transport of AVGAS over huge distances, supported our communication with the CAA and showed us their lovely country, especially, Odessa and the Crimea with Sevastopol and Jalta. I recommend to all interested pilots to take part of a tour which the AOPA Ukraine is running. The Ukraine is changing. We were the first group flight allowed to cross the Ukraine in uncontrolled airspace without a navigator.
Thank you to Constantin and his wife, the owners of Odessa LKOE airfield where we had nothing to pay for accommodation and food. What a great hospitality!
Thank you to Mehmet in Istanbul (who learned now, how to approach his home base LTFJ from Bulgaria). He and his family showed us the best places in and around Istanbul. He managed to negotiate all fees down, including the AVGAS via his aero club. A never forget city and hospitality, as well.
Thanks to my travel agent Martin Wienholt from Papendiek, who arranged the hotels in Greece and Croatia.
Last but not least my thanks to my fellows Lutz, Sepp, Premek and Chris, who helped so much to have a smooth pleasant flying tour. Crews and aircraft did very well.
Thank you.
Jörg Trauboth
N267MT
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