Just beside the small airfield, outside the grounds of Aachen airfield, was a restaurant called Albatros where Tek and I had a late lunch at around 15h20. The old school manner of service was somehow appropriate to the nature of arriving in a private plane. The huge Forelle (trout) that we ordered was really quite undercooked though, although high quality fish dishes should indeed never be overcooked.


Aachen Merzbrück airfield


The food was excellent in the Albatros restaurant at Aachen Merzbrück, but the fish was borderline undercooked


Getting ready to leave Aachen Merzbrück airfield

After coffee we headed back to the gate of Aachen Merzbrück airfield, wandered through and reached the Piper plane with less than 3 minutes walking time (I can't think of a first class terminal anywhere in the world that could beat that!) Tek inspected the aircraft and completed the preflight checks and we climbed aboard the plane, with a bit less contorting on my part this time. After the next series of checks we started the engine and propeller and after letting it warm up we taxied back to the head of runway 07, the same runway direction we landed on. We were cleared for takeoff almost immediately and we lifted up into the sky, which was more cloudy than it was on the outbound flight some two and a half hours previously.


Approaching the narrow runway at Aachen Merzbrück for takeoff


Approaching Garzweiler open cast mine in the distance


Garzweiler open cast mine in all its glory


The swirling colours of Garzweiler look like melted ice cream

Our flight path took us right over one of the biggest open cast mines in the world, that of Garzweiler. The view below was like being on another planet, with different bands of earthy brown and yellow along with swirling patterns of colours mixing cream, ochre and grey, all of which were spread over an unimaginably huge surface area. While shocking, the site fascinates, if nothing else than for the weird photography possibilities if you get the right light (which there wasn't today, with not enough sunshine). Our route back to Mönchengladbach was direct and we achieved the flight segment with less than 20 minutes flying time. Tek flew in a straight line towards the northeast and Duisburg, then banked the plane and brought it in for a smooth landing on the same runway we took off on earlier, runway 31. We quickly taxied to the RWE German Flight Academy hangar and parked the plane. On this flight segment I had failed to close the door properly so it was a bit windy in the cockpit. Not a problem, Tek reassured me, because the door was secured anyway. The latch above my head proved indeed to be problematic, however, so we asked the maintenance guy for help once we parked the aircraft. He was in the process of manually wheeling all the light aircraft into the RWE hangar.
Afterwards, while Tek completed the post flight paperwork, we sat and talked for well over an hour before I began the drive back to Oberhausen.


Bucolic landscape near Mönchengladbach


Coming in to land at Mönchengladbach airport


Short final approach to the runway at Mönchengladbach


The hangar at the German Flight Academy at Mönchengladbach