I found this pic amongst those of our brief stay at Rost. This in the centre must be the remote control tower.
Here comes another instalment of the story of our Lofoten trip…
DAY3 PART2: THE LOFOTEN FLIGHT
The flight to Rost had been cruised at 4500ft and had taken almost exactly 30 mins, including about 7 mins at low level around Rost. Reviewing the EI engine monitor data, cruise power setting had been lowish at 14GPH LOP or around 60%power. The result was 145-150 KTS GS, for a groundtrack (err, mostly seatrack) of 66NM at an average 132KTS GS. For those keeping track fuel used was 8.5 USG or 32 lt so a bit under 8NMPG. There was little wind. Down low our bird is slower and less efficient, but still decent for the size. Also bear in mind we had decided to carry 700+lbs of fuel for this flight, so we were carrying a lot of otherwise unnecessary weight, which slowed us down a bit.
The flight from Rost to Svolvaer (or, as I like to call it, our Lofoten flight) was expected to be our most scenic flight of the trip. We were planning to fly at around 1000ft all along. Straight distance is 70NM but who said we should fly straight? Probably as a result of our bad weather experience of years back, we had not planned a very detailed routing: we thought we would decide based on weather. When the day came, we found ourselves with no weather, minimal wind, no cloud, 100 km visibility at low level, unlimited a bit higher…oh no! How do we plan now that weather is not making any decisions for us? I fell victim to a kind of “weather Stockholm syndrome” now that I had been totally freed from it!
To help decide for our flight as well as ground portions, I had looked at a youtube video about how to take good pics in the Lofotens. I have some limited knowledge of photography but being offered such a great scenic opportunity I wanted to know of any tricks. Whenever you do some very basic photography training, one of the key aspects is framing: pointing in the direction that results in the framing you intend: first point then shoot. One of the first sentences in this video was like “you usually say point then shoot, but in the Lofotens it is even easier: just shoot! “ The scenery is so beautifully stunning that no matter where you point, something beautiful will be framed.
So armed with such detailed knowledge of how to take good pics…we had to pick a certain routing. The Lofoten island chain routes more or less in a SW-erly direction from the Scandinavian peninsula. Rost is at the SW-most tip, so we had to fly NE: my basic choice was either routing via the North or the South coast. Since we were flying at around solar noon, flying the South coast would avoid backlight for pictures aimed on the islands. The South coast is also the most transited since that is also the most accessible. Since this trip was mainly about enjoyment, not necessarily the best photos, we decided to follow the less exploited Northern coast and accept the photographic results…just enjoy and shoot!
We had over 7 hours of fuel onboard, so again no fuel calculations to make…was I feeling another kind of fuel quantity Stockholm syndrome?
No birds on the obstacle-free SL 3000+ft runway, so no performance calculations to run…
No FPL to file since it had been filed hours ahead together with the Bodo-Rost FPL…
No fees to pay since there is no one to talk to…(more on that later)
No major concerns on ditching since seas state was…NIL, and we would be almost entirely within gliding range of one or another piece of land.
No preflight to do (OK, minimal, I tend to be very thorough) since other than a seagull or two, no one and nothing had got close to our airplane on the deserted apron in the brief time we had been there.
No security or access to deal with since we were already airside…
No routing to insert in the GPS since we will just fly V (with capital V, it was already capital but you get the point) FR. Well, I did insert ENRS-ENSH, but I did not follow it, OK?
Are you starting to get my feeling? Is this what the @aart ’s and the @Dan ’s of life feel when they fly?
Is this the feeling of free flight?
Anyway, with nothing to do other than fire up and go, that is what we did. Ok we put our lifevests on and did our engine runup and other preflight checks, made a couple of blind calls but let me say it cos I like how it sounds and reading it transports me back to the feeling I had back then: we just fired up, taxied onto the now vacant runway, backtracked, lined up on 02 and just…went!
The teenagers were happy to leave the boredom of Rost and I was exhilarated for the upcoming flight on which I , for once, and other than following the general North coast, would simply improvise some routing through the islands.
I am tempted to explain further details of our routing but I will just let you enjoy our (yes, our, the kids took pics again, even they were amazed) mediocre attempt at photography …I will only say that the main island NE of Rost but still away from the main chain is Vaeroy, which has one airfield (in disuse) and one heliport. The infamous Mostraukaumen Maelstrom of Jules Verne’s 20000-League fame is located in between Vaeroy and the main island chain: look closely and you might just see it in some of the pics. We saw no trace of Nemo’s Nautilus, though.
Just one word: WOW!!
That’s amazing. Like some place right at the end of the world. And then there is a runway 
Still as beautiful as ever!
I recognize Henningsvær, 7th pic from last, from where we rented our kayaks in similar weather…
And yes, that is the freedom of V flight
WOW! All I can say.
I remember a trip to Someroy (west of Tromsoe) which is a similar scenery and was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in my life. Looks like there is a lot more to explore up there in the far north.
We loved Norway each time we were there. Need to do it again some day.
Yes, definitely otherworldly. It was a great privilege to enjoy it in that wx.
Peter wrote:
And then there is a runway
Exactly! How in the world did that happen is the first thing that comes to mind!
Yes @Dan it is Hennigsvaer with the famous soccer field right around the centre of that pic.
I spent a couple of nights in Tromso but never went to Someroy. Our visit was in April 15 years back and the islands and fjords around Tromso looked like this around midnight.
@Mooney_Driver what time of the year did you visit? U still keep any pics you can share?
Amazing. Norway & Sweden have been on my bucket list for some time.
This just makes it clear that they have to be done!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Antonio wrote:
@Mooney_Driver what time of the year did you visit? U still keep any pics you can share?
July 2000 if memory serves right.
I have to dig (deeply) into my DB but yea, I should have some someplace.
I also recall fondly a trip we did to Haugesund a few years later and the island before it called Karmoy. Landed at Stavanger, took the ferry to Haugesund and then various trips around. Had a very memorable dinner in a Viking house somewhere on that island, Bukoy if memory serves right. They fed us some “old cheese” as a proof of courage before “Odin” before we could enter.
