Aeropuerto Viejo “Breña Alta”, La Palma

After visiting the closed aerodrome “El Revolcadero” at La Gomera, I did mention that my next stop will be at Breña Alta, to explore the former La Palma’s aerodrome.

So here it comes. Unfortunately there is not much to see around. A road is passing on the former runway and the terminal building and the tower are not accesible.

Aeropuerto Viejo “Breña Alta”, La Palma
Aeropuerto Viejo “Breña Alta”, La Palma

The elevation of the aerodrome is 1.3700 feet and is surrounded by mountainous terrain, which I think was the cause why the aerodrome was closed. When clouds start to form, visual approach into this airport could become pretty complicated or maybe impossible.

The aerodrome was opened in 1955 and served until 1970. Unfortunately don’t have any more information about the runway length, nor designation.

The former tower
The former tower

The Tower building looks to be still in a pretty good shape, considering it was closed for more than 50 years. Unfortunately the access was blocked, so it’s not possible to climb up to enjoy the “old airport” views.

The old terminal building at Breña Alta
The old terminal building at Breña Alta

The terminal building doesn´t look that bad either. But again, it’s not accesible. All doors and windows have been blocked.

Threshold of the former runway at Breña Alta airport
Threshold of the former runway at Breña Alta airport

And how about the runway? Well, on Google Maps you can clearly see that once there was a runway, now a road is passing on it.

Tried to measure the length of the runway on my Foreflight App and i’m getting a bit less than 1km of runway. As I don’t know where it exactly started and finished, it’s difficult to say how long it exactly was.

The length of the runway as measured on the Foreflight app
Aeropuerto Viejo "Breña Alta", La Palma
Aeropuerto Viejo “Breña Alta”, La Palma
There is a road now on the former runway
On the former runway at Breña Alta
On the former runway at Breña Alta

At least you can drive on the runway. Should have paid attention to the distance the car would have measured to know the exact length. And I think I did it, but forgot the note it somewhere…

Looks like the old apron with the former tower in the bushes
Looks like the old apron with the former tower in the bushes

And this image looks like the apron just in front of the tower and terminal building.

Well, that’s it folks! A piece of history, pity they didn’t make anything special of it. But it seems there were a lot’s of problems with the ground and properties. But this would be something for a “non aeronautical post”, which is not my case.

Wish you safe flying!

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Trip to La Palma

Yesterday the weather was fantastic and we took of early from Tenerife south airport on our training flight toward the island La Palma. As there was not much traffic, we decided to practice with the student the SID (standard instrumental departure) and the arrival into La Palma.

Even though that we operate under visual flight rules, we can request simulated instrument departure or arrival and simulate it under VMC. We briefed the procedures with my student and requested the simulation.

We did the Araco 4E departure followed by the NDB36 into La Palma airport as you can see on the image from Flightradar24. It was a very good practice. After we took off from La Palma again, we flew around the island and enjoyed some spectacular views of the landscape.

Enjoy some more images from the journey.

Tenerife during our early morning departure
Tenerife during our early morning departure from Tenerife South airport
Tenerife during our early morning departure
Tenerife during our early morning departure
Araco 4E departure
Araco 4E departure
Our flown track
Our flown track
NDB Approach into La Palma
NDB Approach into La Palma

Flying simulated NDB approach into La Palma
Flying simulated NDB approach into La Palma
Final RWY 36 with almost calm winds
Final RWY 36 with almost calm winds
Jet blast warning sign
Jet blast warning sign
Santa Cruz de La Palma
Santa Cruz de La Palma
Los Tilos, La Palma
Los Tilos, La Palma
Faro de Punta Cumplida
Imagine to live here...
Imagine to live here…
Volcán Tajogaite is still smoking... 🌋
Volcán Tajogaite is still smoking… 🌋
Aerial view of La Palma
Aerial view of La Palma

Flying around Cologne (Köln) 🇩🇪

Time flies so fast that I almost did not get the chance (or find a moment) to write a quick post about a flight with a friend of mine in Germany a couple of weeks ago.

We meet met at Bonn-Hangelar airport (EDKB), not far away from Bonn on a very warm August day.

Bonn-Hangelar airport

We flew the C172, it’s a great aircraft, and I always liked to fly it.

Definitely one of the highlights was the flight around Cologne and to see the Cathedral from above. 👇Exactly 2 years ago I’ve visited the city and stood just next to it. Now also the view from above…

Cologne Cathedral
ral

Another highlight was the low pass at Köln-Bonn airport (EDDK). After the initial request, we got vectors (even though that we were flying under VFR rules) to perform the low pass not bellow 1.000 feet on the RWY 14L.

After the low pass we continued to Düsseldorf. Beautiful and green countryside, however it was a bit dry because of the heat.

Düsseldorf City
Düsseldorf City

On our way back to Hangelar we saw also this nice castle (Schloss Drachenburg).

Schloss Drachenburg
Approach into Bonn-Hangelar airport
Final RWY 11 into Bonn Hangelar

Here is a short clip/reel from the flight: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CiI4EuoK8J9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

This is what flying is about! 😀

Flying in Slovakia 🇸🇰

We like to fly and see the world from up there…

Got the opportunity to fly in Slovakia, country where I was born. Our trip took us from Bratislava to the High Taras and back on a shiny DA40 😀 on a warm and sunny summer morning.

Our route from Bratislava to High Tatras and back

Flying out from Bratislava Stefanik airport was on my bucket list, so one thing less to do…

Bratislava airport BTS/LZIB
Bratislava airport BTS/LZIB
Tower at Bratislava Airport

And now just enjoy some nice views of the green countryside and the mountains.

Safe flying!

La Gomera’s former airfield El Revolcadero

La Gomera’s former aerodrome El Revolcadero was closed so far for more than 25 years.
The visit of this place has been on my bucket for more than 7 years, and now I finally decided to move on and make it happen. Just wanted to travel back in time and see how it looked liked there some 30 years ago.

The aerodrome was officially opened on the 24th of April 1959 and the first plane landed on the aerodrome was a Piper PA23-160 Apache (EC-ALQ), which landed at El Revolcadero on the 15th of July 1959.

El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera
El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera

The runway was 500m long and at both ends it counts with up-sloping “stopways” helping the planes to slow down after the landing and most probably to help to gain speed during the initial take off run as well.

El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera
El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera

The runway designation was 27/09, same as the new airport which can be seen on the next cliff behind the old aerodrome.

El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera
El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera

The aerodrome (still) counts with a small hangar, tower and a small power plant building.

The old tower at El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera
The old tower at El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera
The old tower at El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera
The old tower at El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera

The old tower at El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera
Views from the old tower at El Revolcadero aerodrome, La Gomera
Threshold Runway 27 at El Revolcadero aerodrome
Threshold Runway 27 at El Revolcadero aerodrome

It’s just a fascinating piece of history, you just need to imagine that people were passing during years through the airport.

Hangar at El Revolcadero airfield, La Gomera
Hangar at El Revolcadero airfield, La Gomera
Inside the hangar at El Revolcadero airfield, La Gomera
Inside the hangar at El Revolcadero airfield, La Gomera

During the last years I flew a lot of times by, and need to admit that I’d love to land at the aerodrome or to see again some signs of “life” there.

The place, where the time stands still… Quiet… Visited by some curious tourists now and then, and by the goats.

Goats seem to be the only passengers...
Goats seem to be the only passengers…

Unfortunately, there is not much information to be found about this aerodrome on internet, nor images of the planes at the aerodrome, nor the date when it was closed. But definitely at least some 25 years ago, as the new airport started their operations back in 1999.

So enjoy some more images and the video of this experience, and for those who’d like to know how to get to El Revolcadero, you can find it here.

El Volcán de Cumbre Vieja, La Palma

First time that I was able to fly over the volcano at La Palma after a long time. 🌋

Even if the volcano is not active anymore, it still looks pretty hot.

Difficult to find the words to describe this… 🙏🏻🙏🏻😁

Something we really don’t see every day. Let’s hope it’ll sleep again for a long long time…

El Volcán de Cumbre Vieja, La Palma

Flying above calima

First, what is actually calima. Calima is (mostly) hot, dust and sand laden wind blowing from Sahara from easterly direction. This wind causes a lot of respiratory problems, brings dust, the visibility drops and sometimes this causes problems in the aviation (like in the year 2020, when the airports around the islands had to be closed during several days).

I was flying today (again) around Tenerife and as we wanted to stay above this calima layer and get some better visibility, we have climbed up to 6.500 feet where we broke out of the sand and were flying above it in the nice, clean air…

You can see it in the next photographs.

All the best, and stay safe!

Sunset flying around Tenerife

Flying at sunset is magic. The almost setting sun illuminates the landscape at a different angle, and makes it unique.

Here are some images of Tenerife made just couple of moments before sunset.

I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I’ve enjoyed the views when they were taken.

Safe flights and happy landings!

Stan

Got my MCC certificate

MCC stands for multiple crew cooperation. This additional training is required to fly in a multipilot aircraft with crew consisting of at least 2 members.

And as the initial idea is to fly a plane consisting of 2 pilots, I had to go through this training as well… So let’s get back to school.

Starting my MCC course at GTA Madrid

Starting my MCC course at GTA Madrid

I did my training at Global Aviation Training in Madrid, and my colleague and me, we were very satisfied with the high level of the training. Our instructors were highly experienced and active pilots with more than 15 years of flying experience.

In total we spent 10 days at GTA; 5 days of theoretical classes and 5 days simulator sessions in the ATR72-500. During the first 5 days we learned a lot about the ATR72-500 systems and procedures, and started to learn to work not as a single pilot, but in a team of two.

At the beginning a bit challenging, because we faced a new plane, procedures and new way of dividing tasks as a team, but it was improving with the time.

This is where it all started... ATR72-500 cockpit mock-up

This is where it all started… ATR72-500 cockpit mock-up

Finally, after 5 days of classes, there was this “magical” moment of getting into “the pleasure room” that we were so much looking for. For the most pilots are these “dancing boxes” a real headache, because they stand there not for having fun in them, but to prove that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and you will have to face it.

The pleasure room

The pleasure room

And this one was ours… ATR72-500 (Pitty that it wouldn’t fix in my garage lol)

ATR72-500 FFS at GTA Madrid

ATR72-500 FFS at GTA Madrid

The cockpit is identical with a real plane:

500 FFS

One of the highlights was a simulation of an emergency descent after a cabin decompression, using oxygen masks. I have to say, something I haven’t done before; and definitely very interesting.

After an emergency descent drill...

After an emergency descent drill…

After 10 days of hard work and studying, we are done! 😀

MCC Course done!

MCC Course done!

In the free time, we have also visited the other 2 simulators; which are new and have a far better visual graphics (however it doesn’ matter, because most of the time we were flying in IMC conditions with no views…). In addition to the FFS ATR72-600 and Boeing 737NG, there is another FNPT II simulator of an Airbus A320. Of course, I had to capture these moments:

And it was a pitty that it didn’t work out to try the slide of the A320. Maybe for the next time!

Safe landings! 😀

Emergency slide A320

Emergency slide A320