The Flugplatz-Restaurant at Dinslaken Schwarze Heide aerodrome is very good indeed and pilot Tek and I enjoyed a Schnitzel Wiener Art (Vienna style) before embarking on the flight back to Mönchengladbach airport. While at Schwarze Heide I noticed that the little airline Meerexpress, which offered flights to Norderney and Juist in a small 9 seater plane, had already gone bankrupt, without even completing its first year of operations.
This is the tiny airport of Dinslaken Schwarze Heide, taken a few days later when I came back to visit the Flugplatz restaurant again
The restaurant at the small airport serves excellent schnitzels and other items, but does not accept credit cards
This was taken when I visited the airport in October 2021, when the Meerexpress company still existed
Tek inspected our plane once again and we went through the pre takeoff checklist before taxiing out to the end of runway 08. Takeoff was almost immediate and we quickly left the runway, quicker than I expected, soaring into the sky with wonderful views of the small airport and the surrounding forest. We flew back on the same flight path as the outbound, crossing the Rhine river just south of the town of Dinslaken, then traversing down to Moers on the west side of Duisburg, crossing the arrow straight A40 highway which serves as a navigational aid to pilots of light aircraft. We passed very close to a hang glider, just as on my flight over the Alps in January, and I was perplexed once again as to what he was doing on a flight path. There were some lovely views as we passed the navigational waypoint of KILO 2 just east of Kempen. We then aimed for the runway at Mönchengladbach, passing KILO 1 on the way. Landing at MGL was very smooth, although we remained airborne just above the runway for quite some time (in seconds) before we made contact with the runway. This was due to fairly high wind speeds. Back in the briefing room at Mönchengladbach I bade farewell and thanked Tek before visiting the defunct passenger terminal of the airport. There, in the empty departure areas, there were photos of Augsburg Airways and Crossair planes on the taxiway, along with other airlines.
Preparing to fly from Dinslaken Schwarze Heide back to Mönchengladbach
Lining up to take off from Dinslaken Schwarze Heide; part of the propellor was caught in the photo
If you into windsocks here is a good look at the windsock at Dinslaken Schwarze Heide, as well as the airport buildings
Another view of the airport from higher up, when we were banking sharply to the right to head back to the Rhine river and Mönchengladbach
Back across the Rhine river
Tek is keeping an eye on the navigation
This is the A40/E34 looking west towards Venlo; it is used for navigation purposes by pilots, a bit like Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City!
Lining up to land again on runway 13 at Mönchengladbach airport
Some abandoned Aer Lingus aircraft on the apron
Leaving the private terminal, which is where the RWL flight school is based
Aircraft PA1
EDLN (MGL) Mönchengladbach D (UTC+1)
EDLD (ZCV) Dinslaken Schwarze Heide D (UTC+1)