At Speyer/Ludwigshafen airfield the Piper 28 aircraft was parked on the grass beside other light aircraft. Tek was carefully calculating the amount of aviation fuel that we needed to put in each wing (20 litres in the left wing, 15 in the right) while we waited in the late afternoon sunlight. This calculation had to be accurate, because the combined weight of all three of us and what little baggage we had was no small amount. Then we made our way to the fuel pump which was in front of the main airport building, halfway down the taxiway which runs alongside the runway. It was quite an experience to participate in the refueling of an aircraft at the pump, using AvGas at the high cost of €3.35 per litre. That done, we finally taxied up to the head of the runway and took off towards the south, the same direction as that when we landed.


Tek refuels the plane, having calculated the weight, ready for the 2 hour trip back to Mönchengladbach


Taxiing back from the fuel pump to the runway to take-off towards the south


Immediate clearance for take-off and off we go!

Again I opted to sit in the rear of the little plane and enjoyed the comfort of what was only a basic seat. I was tempted to sleep, after all the wandering around in the sun at the Technik Museum in Speyer, but the landscape below was too fascinating. Once again it was apparent how parched the ground was during this summer of almost no rainfall, the level of the river Rhine being the lowest in living memory. The views of the Rhine gorge were somehow better on this flight back to Mönchengladbach, possibly because the sun was lower and created shadows which accentuated the contours of the gorge. We flew over Koblenz once again but passed further to the west of Cologne, actually getting an amazing view of the open cast mine of Hambach, which is bigger than the city of Cologne itself! We also passed over a series of power stations, including those of Bergheim, which were impressive.


Flat country on the Rhine plain near Speyer


The low level of the Rhine is shockingly visible with all the exposed sand banks


Series of unforgettable views of the Rhine gorge


There were some issues with reflection in this closeup of the Rhine

Eventually, the runway at Mönchengladbach came into view and we quickly landed at around 18h50 and parked the aircraft in front of the RWL German Flight Academy. The airport was still open, fortunately, and we sat for a short time talking about the flight and possible future outings!

EDLN - MGL Mönchengladbach D (UTC+1)
EDRY - ZQC Speyer/Ludwigshafen D (UTC+1)


The meanders in the Rhine gorge are really quite sinuous


Hambach open cast mine, which is as big as the city of Cologne


Quite a lot of industry and power stations in the lower Rhine region near Mönchengladbach