842nd fly-in: Sogndal, Norway (ENSG)

[Kumiankka]

link to fly-in index thread

Quote

It's been a while since we've been to any really tricky destinations, so next Sunday, February 28th, let's challenge ourselves with the snowy mountain airport of Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen, Norway (ENSG). Located on a mountainside deep within the Sognefjord and near the village of Kaupanger (as well as several national parks in the surrounding mountains), this small regional airport certainly offers plenty of challenges to contend with, including steep mountain terrain, frequent wind shear and icing conditions, as well as a relatively short runway at only 3600 feet. Pick your aircraft accordingly: the largest recommended ones are the DHC-6, -7 and -8, all at one time operated at Sogndal by Widerøe. In fact there is currently a 26 meter wingspan limit at the airport - following this is of course completely optional in the sim, but I doubt anything much larger could land there anyway! Charts can be found at the website of the Norwegian airport operator Avinor, and freeware custom scenery is linked below.

Have a nice trip - god tur!

 

 

New pilots are always welcome, read the guide below by @bootsie to get started:

How to connect to X-FlightServer

Be considerate towards your fellow pilots, and above all, have fun!

[ghun1]

lets challenge ourselves with pronunciation too 😄 I assume its more like "sond-al" ? Great choice BTW 😊

Gary

[172MC]

I spent a bit of time this morning making the Sogndal scenery look correct (any TDG airport that has flags needs corrected to make the flags fly with the wind: he sets them at random headings, while the library he uses needs them set at 90 degrees - which in itself is a long story) and snowy (which required using simtiles to winterize a Zones Photo ortho for the area - somehow my usual winter mods let the grass textures of the airport unchanged).

Having done that, I remembered that I am going to be out of town this weekend and unable to participate in the Fly-in; I do not want the work to be for naught, so here is a screenshot.

Have fun in Noway!

[Hsolov4]

I'm exited! It will be my first fly-in in over two years! I am going to fly from the Norwegian Island of Jan Mayen. 

[ostkamp]

Quick reference about using Swift
Hi guys, since there have been a lot of discussions about how to install / use Swift project as a pilot client for XP 11 with Vulcan for the fly-ins I have created an unofficial illustrated quick reference.

Apart from installation hints, it also covers some advanced topics like adding additional or private CSL packages, model matching, or tweaking display of other players aircraft while being online, previewing CSL models etc.

You can find the current version (PDF with lots of screenshots, about 18 MB) at
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19J32w9ZLTp5GkT8QG-zx9UhQK-xUl1Oe/view?usp=sharing

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by ostkamp

[ghun1]

Thank you, a very large amount of work which will prove very useful in future. I will be checking my CSL objects now, especially looking for those vertical offsets. Also useful is the replacement of what is currently seen by setting a different CSL. Is there a way to make that more permanent so it is chosen in future?

 

[ostkamp]

17 hours ago, ghun1 said:

Thank you, a very large amount of work which will prove very useful in future. I will be checking my CSL objects now, especially looking for those vertical offsets. Also useful is the replacement of what is currently seen by setting a different CSL. Is there a way to make that more permanent so it is chosen in future?

@ghun1 I have not tried this myself yet; it seems you can modify the matching of the remote aircraft via scripts. Have a look at your Swift program installation directory, there should be a directory share/matchingscripts with some templates as example. The scripts are coded in Javascript programming language. Based on the incoming values (e.g. ICAO etc.) from the network (x-flightserver) you can take a decision and then set outgoing values (e.g. a different ICAO) and have the matcher execute another run on it to find a CSL. Once you have created such script, you would need to configure the matcher to run it via some menu.

At the moment there are also some pilots where X-flightserver does not seem to transfer any ICAO. I believe this is a bug and only occurs if sending side uses X-Ivap. In such cases you have obviously no chance to select correct CSL without manual action. You can just pick up correct values from the Web based map of X-flightserver.

Edited February 28, 2021 by ostkamp

[ostkamp]

Hi,

it´s PIREP time again.

I started today´s flight at Denmark, Thisted airport (EKTS) with the Aerobask Pipistrel Panthera. Dino5 was following in a TBM850.

Getting refueled here near the Tower.

This is a small airport not far from the coast (Skagerak).

We went to VOR SVA (Svensheia, Kristiansund) at first, then on outgoing radial 352 until end of reachability of this VOR.

Then we tuned in VOR SOG (Sogndal) located near the airport.

Minimum altitude for this part of the flight was 7000 ft.

It was close, but high enough to pass the mountain tops.

In the last part of the flight I experienced some rain, but that might be due to the weather readouts of my X-Plane which appeared to be 3 days old. I also could not get any better weather info from official servers.

I descended into the valleys when getting near the airport, which I was passing by below.

On final. The terrain map shows how dangerous close the mountains are here.

I had an acceptable landing.

Had a talk over on Discord with @rajo after he got his microphone problems sorted out in order to discuss some Swift related stuff.
Meanwhile there was a lot of traffic at the airport.

Since I had parked to close to the terminal building to do a turn myself, I needed some pushback truck even for the small bird.

About to taxi to runway 24 when Pugwash was landing.

Later Dino5 and I taxiied to runway 24 for takeoff. @Vega66 came in when I was already occupying the runway and had to go around.

We took off as quickly as possible to clear the runway.

Our 2nd and last destination for the day was airport Floro (ENFL) at the coast. I was in overcast on this leg and had to descend out of the mountain area. Then went out to the ocean and flew a traffic pattern. Here I am back on downwind while Dino5 was about to land.

The 2nd landing was a hard one. Maybe I should apply more power in the end. I was down to 60 kts when I touched down according to the plugin.

Dino5 was using standard scenery which made him look like he parked on the grass here.

Had to log off here. See you next time! 🙂

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by ostkamp

[rajo]

All flights for pilot rajo

Date	From	To	Aircraft	Type	Duration	Distance	Earnings	Action
2021/02/28 16:30:01	ENBL	ENOV	OY-AEROE1	Beechcraft Bonanza V35	00:28	48	$1,895.41	View
2021/02/28 15:30:04	ENSG	ENBL	OY-AEROE1	Beechcraft Bonanza V35	00:24	42	$807.24	View
2021/02/28 13:50:04	ENSD	ENSG	OY-AEROE1	Beechcraft Bonanza V35	00:34	50	$3,000.85	View
2021/02/28 13:10:24	ENFL	ENSD	OY-AEROE1	Beechcraft Bonanza V35	00:22	34	($115.03)	View
2021/02/28 03:14:12	ENSO	ENFL	OY-AEROE1	Beechcraft Bonanza V35	01:00	108	$3,545.75	View
2021/02/27 04:29:33	ENTO	ENSO	N-GS457	Cessna 172 Skyhawk	01:40	154	$1,510.76	View
2021/02/26 03:08:00	ENFL	ENSO	OY-AEROE1	Beechcraft Bonanza V35	00:55	108	$3,566.73	View
2021/02/26 01:19:54	ENSG	ENGM	LN-WMW	DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter	00:57	129	$2,081.85	View
2021/02/25 23:26:36	ENFL	ENSG	LN-WMW	DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter	00:43	66	$1,087.85	View
2021/02/25 22:16:54	ENAL	ENFL	LN-WMW	DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter	00:40	66	$4,658.17	View
2021/02/25 03:51:30	ENFL	ENAL	LN-WMW	DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter	00:49	66	$5,787.90	View
2021/02/25 01:50:16	ENSD	ENFL	ES-QTX	Piper PA-24 Comanche (A2A)	00:28	34	$468.08	View
2021/02/24 23:31:21	ENSG	ENSD	ES-QTX	Piper PA-24 Comanche (A2A)	00:46	50	$1,765.71	View

Since I am retired, I have a lot of time to fly, in this breathtaking landscape. Started at Wednesday with the Heinz PA-24.

Then the STMA DHC3, the non-Turbo Version. Last week I encountered heavy Problems with the DH3T, but now it was fun.

for today I took the Carenado BE35 with REP (Reality Expansion by Simcoders), always a good decision for FSE, in terms of cost-benefit ratio. 

for weather and clouds I used XAMBIENCE. I found a solution to the incessant writing of warnings in Log.txt, which eventually caused X-Plane to crash, by simply deleting Log.txt. This is the Approach to ENFL.

there was no passengers for our fly-in destination, therefore, I made a stopover to pick up 5 passengers at ENSD. Next ENSG, our flying dest.

the weather was very nordic ...

the light sometimes a little mystical

at the end at ENBL @Kumiankka flew over my head. Good week!

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by rajo

[Quintao]

@rajo : nice pictures of the "Doctor Killer", I'll add it to my future purchase list!.... now to the PIREP...

This morning I had plans to start the day at Trondheim, Norway, and visit many small fields on my way to Sogndal on my Mooney Ovation. Unfortunately, after checking the METAR, Trondheim had 20+ knots of sustained winds and that was not going to be comfortable. I jumped into Windy.com and checked what options were available nearby. Oslo was next in mind, but I was on a picky mood and wanted to stay in calm skies, so Bergen was chosen ENBR.

The scenery available for Bergen Airport. Flesland was also superb.

Pre-flight completed on the Mooney, taxied to RWY 17 at ENBR.

Lined-up on RWY17 and took-off,. great views of the region while circling to gain altitude and head in-land.

Flew over the city of Bergen shortly after.

Enjoyed the fjords and villages view with the orthos downloaded last night.

Rather than head straight into Sogndal, decided to stop by a little airport on the way there, picked Førde Airport. Bringeland, ENBL.

Landed on RWY 07, parked by the main building, enjoyed a hot beverage and took off again, this time to Sogndal.

 

Take off was from same runway I had used previously, RWY 07.

Less than 50nm from the fly-in destination, I arrived just in time to land in between @Kumiankka and @CHASMAN2014. Once on 7nm final, could see the runway and Kumi's lights.

 

Flew over Sogndal while on final, and over @Vega66 who was having lunch enjoying the local cuisine. I bet it was fish!

Comfortable landing, floated a little due to ground effect and sloped terrain, missing the last exit to the ramp, had to back track quickly to leave the runway clear for Chas who was on short final.

 

Parked at ramp and watched Chas landing. He was flying a Kodak, but rendered here as the default A318, until I made the override.

Nice coordination of landings, a Dash 8, Mooney Ovation and Quest Kodiak.

As always, Kumi did not disappoint with the great scenic location, wish I had more time to enjoy the many airports close by such as ENBM and others.

 

Below my complete flight route in Norway this Sunday.

Have a great week all! I may not be able to join next week due to family commitment, but will try!

[Vega66]

Great Winter landscapes at this week's magnificent destination. 

For the main flight I took the Widerøe WIF144 that regularly connects Bergen to Sogndal. On the real world it is usually performed by Dash 8 - 100 which is not available in my options, so my choice fell on the Twin Otter, since it has the needed specs required for our destination..

Grey skies at departure time

 

But soon became crisp and clear 

Landed at Songdal with great visibility

A quick change of pace, to make a swift tour over the mountains. This time with the RNoAF

Greeted @Quintao that was manouvering to land at Bringeland

and swinged through the beautiful fjords returning to Songdal.

Arrived a little fast, and since I had no chute mounted, almost overshooted the short runway, but managed to stop just a fingernail close to the snow.

After lunch brake  (@Quintao you got it right, it was salmon) still managed to return a little bit, this time to try the Norsk S-92 and enjoy the scenery. 

 

Returning to Sogndal, attempted an autorotation landing, but got no joy. On first attempt failed to bleed speed and managed to restart and go around at the last second. On second attempt spotted @ostkamp and @Big-IN getting ready to departure and decided to abort. On third attempt failed again to bleed speed, but this time failed to restart on time and crashed fatally. So much for the nice S-92.

So, after being saved by a very professional rescue team, managed to take a lift on an Epic Victory that was heading to ENHA - Hamar Stafsberg and finish the day there.

 

Million thanks to all. Wish you all a wonderful week.

I will try my best to join next sunday, but I'm still not sure if or when I can make it due to personal commitments. 

[rajo]

3 hours ago, Quintao said:

@rajo : nice pictures of the "Doctor Killer", I'll add it to my future purchase list!.... now to the PIREP...

This morning I had plans to start the day at Trondheim, Norway, and visit many small fields on my way to Sogndal on my Mooney Ovation. Unfortunately, after checking the METAR, Trondheim had 20+ knots of sustained winds and that was not going to be comfortable. I jumped into Windy.com and checked what options were available nearby. Oslo was next in mind, but I was on a picky mood and wanted to stay in calm skies, so Bergen was chosen ENBR.

The scenery available for Bergen Airport. Flesland was also superb.

Pre-flight completed on the Mooney, taxied to RWY 17 at ENBR.

Lined-up on RWY17 and took-off,. great views of the region while circling to gain altitude and head in-land.

Flew over the city of Bergen shortly after.

Enjoyed the fjords and villages view with the orthos downloaded last night.

Rather than head straight into Sogndal, decided to stop by a little airport on the way there, picked Førde Airport. Bringeland, ENBL.

Landed on RWY 07, parked by the main building, enjoyed a hot beverage and took off again, this time to Sogndal.

 

Take off was from same runway I had used previously, RWY 07.

Less than 50nm from the fly-in destination, I arrived just in time to land in between @Kumiankka and @CHASMAN2014. Once on 7nm final, could see the runway and Kumi's lights.

 

Flew over Sogndal while on final, and over @Vega66 who was having lunch enjoying the local cuisine. I bet it was fish!

Comfortable landing, floated a little due to ground effect and sloped terrain, missing the last exit to the ramp, had to back track quickly to leave the runway clear for Chas who was on short final.

 

Parked at ramp and watched Chas landing. He was flying a Kodak, but rendered here as the default A318, until I made the override.

Nice coordination of landings, a Dash 8, Mooney Ovation and Quest Kodiak.

As always, Kumi did not disappoint with the great scenic location, wish I had more time to enjoy the many airports close by such as ENBM and others.

 

Below my complete flight route in Norway this Sunday.

Have a great week all! I may not be able to join next week due to family commitment, but will try!

I didn't know the nickname "doctor killer", but an acquaintance, the racing driver Harald Ertl, had a fatal accident with it. I think, next time I choose the "geek killer"

[Kumiankka]

Great PIREPS/screenshots everyone - @rajo in particular managed to fit in an impressive number of flights for one day!

 

My own starting point for this afternoon was Oslo Gardermoen in Riviere's freeware DHC-8-100.

 

Arriving in Sogndal, the situation with the weather was very similar for me as with @ostkamp - some old data available but no idea if it was up to date. I settled on an ILS approach for runway 24, breaking out of the clouds at around 6000 feet.

 

@Quintao's Mooney was coming up behind me so I wanted to avoid having to backtrack. It wasn't my smoothest landing but I accomplished my goal, stepping on the brakes and putting the props into reverse and managing to vacate at the second turn-off point in as little as 10 seconds. Plenty of room as you can see!

 

Following @Quintao's arrival, I watched Chas (@chasman2014) land his Kodiak before taking a quick coffee break.

 

For my second flight I picked another plane with a Widerøe paint available, the RWDesign Twin Otter. A suitable choice for these mountains and short runways as well, even more so than the Dash 8. After taking off, I set course for Ørsta-Volda Airport, another destination with regular flights from Sogndal.

 

Another Dash 8, piloted by MrMac, was approaching Sogndal while I climbed out from the fjords through some heavy cloud cover.

 

The sky was cloudy above the destination airport of ENOV as well, and the high mountain ridges precluded a standard pattern. Instead, I flew something vaguely resembling a figure-8 while trying to stay clear of the mountainsides.

 

The approach into Ørsta-Volda was certainly scenic enough to be worth the hassle. The custom scenery was very detailed too, but sadly the orthophotos got rid of any snow on the ground. If we ever visit this place for a fly-in, guess we need to do that during summertime!

 

There was just enough time for a return flight to Sogndal before sunset, and for that I switched to the default Cessna 172, having found a Norwegian livery representing a flying club aircraft actually based at Ørsta-Volda.

 

My return route was a very circuitous one, flying below the cloud deck along the various fjords. That route took me past Førde Airport, Bringeland (ENBL) where @rajo happened to be parked - his last screenshot showed this same situation from another angle.

 

I arrived back in Sogndal just as the sun was setting, and got to watch @ghun1 land his Embraer 145 while flying my downwind leg for a visual approach.

 

Some crosswind had appeared since my last visit to complicate the approach a bit, but nothing too bad. Despite this, the landing went quite smoothly this time, and even without having to backtrack.

[schmax]

I arrived in Songdal the day before. So on Sunda I just wanted to fly to Sandane in a nice Fjord-to-Fjord trip. Airports and scenerey are really terrifc in Norway.

When I took off in Songdal, the airport was already quite busy:

Seems I need to create better matches for the planes in SWIFT. Any links to quick manuals for that are welcome 🙂

Approach to Sandane was also a bit challenging (long visual final).

None of our community flew to Sandane but all parking slots have been occupied by auto traffic 😞

So I ended my flight on the taxiway close to the terminal. This auto tools will for sure automaticayll re-park my PC12.

Was a great destination. See you all next time ....

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by schmax