I had around 10 days of vacation at Easter, when you add the weekends together at the beginning and end of the week. Many messages and ideas were exchanged with pilot friend Tek, concerning doing a short local flight or just meeting up. Unfortunately the third member of our trio of friends was on vacation and it's usually best if there can be three of us on these trips, to keep costs down. All the same, Tek had several very short destinations in mind where he and I could make a flight without inflating the costs (which are not insignificant) too much. He floated the idea of flying to Borkenberge Silbernsee airfield EDLB (one of the narrowest strips in the country), just north of the Ruhrgebiet, or Stadtlohn Vreden airfield EDLS near the Dutch border. However the gastronomic offer at each aerodrome was not great, with Stadtlohn getting very negative reviews for its unfriendliness (a phone call revealed that these reviews are justified). In addition, the weather was quite capricious, with a lot of wind and some rainy days, especially in the north. Towards the end of the week the weather cleared so it was safe to take a Piper 28 into the air for a short trip. I had suggested Essen-Mülheim Flughafen (where there is a good restaurant) but on Saturday morning Tek called me up to say that we were flying to Aachen at 14h00. Not Maastricht (MST-EHBK) across the border in the Netherlands, which also acts as the main airport of Aachen itself, but the small airfield of Aachen Merzbrück (AAH-EDKA).


Approaching Mönchengladbach airport by car


Tek checks over every aspect of our plane


Including checking the engine


Checklist after starting the motor but before commencing taxi

So I duly presented myself at the private aviation terminal of Mönchengladbach airport (MGL-EDLN) at the appointed time for the flight preparations and briefing. But Tek had been there hours earlier, meticulously checking and preparing things. Aachen is not so far away but the flight planning required quite a bit of precision due to the existence of two areas of military airspace in the vicinity, along with the gusty winds we were experiencing this day. I was to be co-pilot, helping with navigation and writing down the headings with the times as we flew the route down to the sunny southwest (dark clouds glowered in the north and east). I can confirm the following chart with 40 minutes block time and 22 minutes actual flying time:

Departure time parking stand 14h20
Runway dep time EDLN 14h34
Runway arr time EDKA 14h56
Arrival time parking stand 15h00

Shortly after 14h00 we headed out onto the apron to inspect the Piper 28 aircraft, going over the fuselage in detail. Tek took the cowling off the engine and inspected the motor parts within, then measured the amount of fuel in both of the wings. With aviation fuel currently costing around €3 per liter the round trip to Aachen would come to just over €100 in fuel costs alone. Once the external checks were complete, we climbed into the little habitacle of the plane, which was a bit of a contorsion for me while I arranged my bag and jacket in the rear. Of course, I had forgotten to take out my air charts, paper and pen, so I had to contort and scrabble around once again to yank them out somehow. Tek began the pre start-up checklist and turned the ignition. The motor hummed into life, the propeller whizzed, and we put on our headsets. Tek drove the plane to a designated place where contact is established with air traffic control (ATC) and the motor is allowed to turn for a bit (10 minutes is usually enough to warm it up and spot any potential issues).


Lining up on runway 31 at Mönchengladbach - usually, due to prevailing winds, we line up and take off from runway 13, which is the opposite end of this runway


The landscape of Niederrhein near Aachen reveals farming country and heavily populated areas


The interchange between the A44 (below) and the A4 - Aachen Flugplatz is in the background to the right of the A44

Due to the direction of the wind we taxied out to the end of runway 31, waited for a light aircraft to land, then took off, getting somewhat buffeted by the wind in the process. We lifted into the air like a bird, the fields below a patchwork of varying greens and yellow brows, the farms like toy houses. The trip to the southwest was quite beautiful, despite the presence here and there of heavy Industry and open cast mines. We flew over Alsdorf and then over Jülich and Linnich, which I recognised from the hiking trail that I did between the two towns. I had defined some landmarks when doing that trail which turned to be easily visible from the sky. Shortly afterwards we turned to the south and circled around clockwise in order to study the small airfield of Aachen Merzbrück before landing. It was located beyond the northeastern corner of a huge interchange with the A4 and A44 highways. Tek calculated the landing perfectly, a good thing given how short and narrow the single runway is. We taxied towards the tower, where the main gate to the airfield is, passing a maintenance hangar and rolled onto the grass in order to turn and park on the edge of the apron ready for departure.


Approaching the narrow runway at Aachen Merzbrück


Short final, just before we hit the runway at Aachen Merzbrück airport


There are some interesting sayings written above the hangar at Aachen Merzbrück airfield

Aircraft P28
Registration D-EARN