EDLA - Arnsberg-Menden (ICAO code)
QRL - Arnsberg-Menden (IATA code)
EDLN - Mönchengladbach (ICAO code)
MGL - Mönchengladbach (IATA code)

Departure time parking stand 17h32
Runway dep time EDLN 17h46
Runway arr time EDLA 18h43
Arrival time parking stand 18h47



At Mönchengladbach airport - fuel level in the right wing was a little low


Adding fuel to the plane before leaving Mönchengladbach


Completing the preflight checklist before taking off from Mönchengladbach airport

Pilot friend Tek contacted me out of the blue at around lunchtime and said, let's do a spontaneous sunset flight. So I set off on the 45 minute drive to Mönchengladbach Flugplatz and met Tek in the pilot's briefing room. He had done most of the preflight preparations so all that remained was to print out the weather situation for our route and file the flight plan. We then walked out onto the apron to do the external preflight checks and have a look the engine. It turned out the aircraft was low on fuel (both wings of the Piper 28 hold the fuel tanks) so we had to manually push the aircraft over to the refuelling pump, being careful to not clip the pump with the wing - more easily done than you can imagine. We added just over 40 liters, did the paperwork then pushed the aircraft back to its start position so we could finally board. It was already early evening.



Taxiing to the head of runway 31 prior to take-off at Mönchengladbach airport


Shortly after our take-off from Mönchengladbach we found ourselves over the floodplain of the river Rhine

Tek methodically went through the interior preflight checks then started the motor and propeller, before finishing the checks while the engine warmed up (the motor needs to turn over for about 10 minutes). Then we rolled to the southeastern head of runway 31 and waited a good moment while another Piper aircraft landed. We took off to the northwest and circled over Mönchengladbach city before heading towards the Rhine a few miles south of Dusseldorf. We traversed the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, keeping Wuppertal to the north, and headed into the Sauerland. Along the way the landscape became much more hilly and heavily forested. In fact, this is borderline mountain territory.



Flying over the Ennepetalsperre in the Sauerland - the dam itself is off this photo to the left


The town of Iserlohn shortly before reaching the area of Arnsberg-Menden airfield

Thank heavens we turned back the last time we tried to fly to Arnsberg-Menden (the time we diverted to Marl-Lohmühle) because even with the perfect vision we had today, the approach was challenging. First of all, you have to fly lower than 1,600 feet due to the presence of air traffic approaching the nearby airport of Dortmund. Coupled with that you have fly over irregular hilly terrain and keep a close look out for electricity pylons and wind turbines. Locating the airport on visual was really tricky - you'd think that it would be easy to spot airfields from the sky but it isn't. We had the paper charts, maps, iPad chart and the compass, so we knew where it was - roughly. It took time to find it in the forested hills and once we located it you could clearly see it was on high ground, with a sudden drop at both ends of the short runway. This is not an airfield for amateurs and Tek and I circled overhead once to plan a landing strategy (last year a small plane with 3 occupants had slammed into the end of the elevated runway, the less said the better). Tek plonked the plane down as quickly as possible at the beginning of the runway approaching from the North, so we had enough time to decrease speed before the other end of the runway, but only just. If you tackle Arnsberg-Menden airfield, make sure you are absolutely sure you know what you are doing and do it in perfect weather only.

Rating: brilliant!
Aircraft P28
Seat 2F
Registration D-EARN
03.07.25



Here you can see where the incomplete autobahn A46 ends


It was surprisingly difficult to spot Arnsberg-Menden airfield visually because we had to fly at low altitude due to the presence of air traffic approaching Dortmund airport


Just before touching down at Arnsberg-Menden airfield