I found myself once again at Mönchengladbach airport (MGL) on a Sunday morning at the end of October, joining Tek and Florian for an outing that would be no less interesting than the previous ones. Today's destination would be Siegerland Flughafen (SGE), a busy little airport in the middle of nowhere in the highlands of the Sauerland. The nearest settlement is the village of Burbach while the city of Siegen is 30km distant. Nevertheless there is a surprisingly large catchment area for private aviation and business travel, given the number of small towns and extensive industry in the valleys of the Sauerland, which quite resembles Pennsylvania.


RWE German Flight Academy at Mönchengladbach airport


Preparing the flight plan for the flight to Siegerland airport


Boarding the Piper 28 plane after doing the external checks

Siegerland was my idea because from a general aviation perspective I think it was a worthwhile airport to fly to. Although pilot Tek felt we should have more of a reason to fly there, with some planned activity at the destination, I argued that given the nature and location of the airfield we should just treat it as an aviation day out and experience. Meanwhile Florian had plenty exciting ideas about what he wanted to see, so off we went again like the three musketeers!


Tek completes the pre take-off checklist


We taxi out to the runway at Mönchengladbach airport


We took off on runway 13

We began with coffee in the pilots briefing room in the calm of MGL airport, a really charming place (wherever else would I be able to compare with the calm of my garden??), while Tek prepared the flight plan and calculated the fuel needed for the whole trip. We also went to the computer and printed out the weather plan for the whole route and filed the flight plan with the authorities. There was high level cloud which was forecast to accumulate at the end of the day (but didn't in the end). Tek had already completed the aircraft inspection before I got there so just before midday we wandered out onto the apron and boarded the same Piper aircraft as the last time, D-EARN.


The countryside shortly after take-off from Mönchengladbach airport


City of Duisburg, with the main train station below and pedestrianised Königstraße disappearing into the distance


The Veltins Arena just to the north of Gelsenkirchen

Takeoff on runway 13 was smooth and we were soon airborne, despite being heavy with fuel for the whole round trip. Maintaining a low altitude of around 2,600 feet we circled over Tek's house in Duisburg, then again over the Alstaden area of Oberhausen. Florian's first wish was to fly over the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, which turned out to be very impressive. We then flew across the Ruhrgebiet to Dortmund where we flew over the Borussia football stadium and the Iduna Stadium, sighting DTM airport in the distance. From there we headed southeast over the Sauerland, performing a circle over Lüdenscheid where Tek has family. As we approached the hills and low mountains of the Sauerland Tek raised the altitude to between FL32 and FL36.


Tek pointing out the Borussia football stadium, which I didn't manage to get a photo of


It looks like a big and wide river but it is the Hengsteysee just south of Dortmund, through which the Ruhr river runs
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We flew a loop over Lüdenscheid because Tek had family there

The next wish of Florian's was a bit difficult to fulfill because it involved witnessing the blowing up of a bridge on the A45 highway, but the deed had already been committed a couple of hours earlier (at 10h04, I believe). Following the sudden collapse of a highway bridge in Genoa, Italy, a couple of years back there is a fear bordering on panic about the infrastructure of the aging highway system in Germany. On the A45 through the Sauerland there are countless bridges and viaducts of which no fewer than 60 bridges need to be demolished and rebuilt, a task that will last until the year 2038. From the A45 we headed for Siegerland Flughafen, initially having a bit of difficulty locating it visually, then we quickly came in for landing. This was the most scary landing I have had in a small aircraft as we were buffeted around by 9 knots of wind and I felt like a mosquito in the draught caused by a fan. On the runway, which immediately disappeared out of view over a hill when you were on it (so you couldn't see how short it was), Tek quickly straightened the plane and we taxied to the parking stand.
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The approach to Siegerland airport was very choppy


Most of my pics caught the propeller


Parked on the apron at Siegerland Flughafen

Seat 1F
Aircraft PA28
Registration D-EARN

EDLN - MGL Mönchengladbach D (UTC+1)
EDGS - SGE Siegerland Flughafen D (UTC+1