It was all too good to be true; we have dodged rain, we have escaped thunderstorms and we have swerved developing towering cumulonimbus and always managed to stay one step ahead of the weather. All of that was about to change….
We left Prague this morning at about 1030 local time and the weather wasn’t looking good. It was overcast but not too bad but the winds were 35 to 40 kts in the completely wrong direction; more or less right on the nose of the plane. At one point we were only travelling 50 kts compared to our normal 100-110 kts. It was like flying in a large dollop of treacle and maple syrup.
The weather along the route got even worse. Cloud developing fast and the ceiling lowering all the time. I can confidently say that it was THE MOST boring flight I have ever taken. At one point, Munich Information Air Service radioed us to give them a weather update because I think they found it hard to believe that we were actually managing to fly. The route is littered with towers, aerials and small mountains making it even more testing.
As we approached the Airport at Mainz (where we to stop to refuel) the air traffic facility, Langen Information, notified us that military low-level areas were becoming active and therefore our altitude was limited as was our route. It honestly became a game of dodge the military and mountains while surrounded by a ‘white out’ of cloud. GPS is wonderful invention and it gave us perfect warning of obstacles as well as lined us up perfectly for runway 08 at Mainz.
We were starving when we arrived despite a royal breakfast this morning. We went to the restaurant at the airport and had some local German specialities. Bloody delicious! I started my flight plan for Mainz to Jersey. The weather was getting worse. I looked at the aviation forecasts for the west and the cloud ceiling was 300 ft at Frankfurt Hahn (the adjacent airport). Visibility was good but the cloud level made travel impossible. There were obstacles at 2,400 feet and so, unless you could do a sneaky cloud bust and get above it, you were trapped. I spoke to the guy in the tower at Mainz who was incredibly friendly and helpful. He told me that there was no way Frankfurt Hahn would let me pass through their airspace. He suggested that a possible escape route would be to travel north and follow the Rhine river and get down low into the valley of it until I found better weather. He told me that it wasn’t really allowed ‘but everyone does it’.
I made a decision: to stop and instead fly out tomorrow morning. It was very frustrating but I knew that this was a ‘no go’. It wasn’t going to happen. Furthermore, with the wind still against us we would DEFINITELY have to land in France to refuel and taking all that time together we would be very lucky to get to Jersey Airport before it closed. Early decisions are good decisions.
We are now installed in a tiny little guest house/hotel in a tiny village outside the airport watching German television (the German equivalent of the English programme, “Four in a Bed”. Let’s hope the weather improves for tomorrow morning.
2015 Euro Flight 