Trip to beautiful Torun, EPTO, Poland
After having good experience within the last 10 years at several airports in Poland during commercial Flights ( CJ525) and private flights (TB20 GT) at the airports of Szczecin , Poznan, Warsaw-Chopin, Warsaw Babice , Krakow, Olsztyn -Dajtki this report describes my trip from Berlin-Schönhagen to the beautiful town – Torun, located by Vistula river.
When I read the Airport plate, my confusion has started:
In general info it is written: “non english” , in the airport plate : “polish/ english”
So my contact in Poland phoned the airfield to ask whether radio communication is possible in english .
She was speaking to the general manager and he confirmed that I will get radiocom in english.
After 1:20 flight I cancelled IFR and after being in touch with Gdansk-Information I contacted Torun radio.
The frequency was quite busy. Google had told me before that there are a lot of glider activities there . I’m a glider pilot too so I know that there are a lot of Alu and Plastic in the air on the days with good wx at such airfields.
After initial call nobody answered.
I x-checked the frequency and tried several times again. There was no answer.
Meantime I`ve noticed several gliders and other planes around me.
2NM to go . I sent the sms to my contact to ask her to call the airfield again.
I received the info :“Land 10 grass”I transmitted blindly and I had been ignored all the time. Extremely dangerous and bad airmanship.
My contact asked for Avgas and the price. She had been told they sell it and the price is about 8 polish Zloty/Liter.
Fairly Ok.
After landing I went to the office which was closed.
I tried to ask some guys where I should pay landing fees and where I could buy Avgas but nobody spoke english:(
Finally the security man told me in polish that I had to pay 125 Zloty for landing and parking for 2 days there. Unfortunately I couldn’t pay by my CC , only cash. I didn’t have polish money with me.
My contact phoned the managing director again and he advised to taxi to the fuel truck.
I was thirsty and went to the café to buy a drink.
In the café I was told in english: “private party -no drinks”
I started to be pissed off now and went out.
At the door a woman from the group there asked me friendly: “What would you like to drink?”
And she translated to the waitress my wish.
So I got for 1EUR a tasty non- alcohol polish “Lech” beer
Then, at the fuel truck a friendly glider pilot, who could speak English well, helped me.
Refueling by CC was easy by paying at the pump.
The price was 9,23 Zlotys but after all my troubles there nothing could surprise me more.
I asked this glider pilot why nobody had replied me on the Radio and he said: “Sorry, the guys on the radio don’t speak English”
I told him that its published and his answer was that its maybe a mistake.
Later I parked the plane and we went for sightseeing in Torun old town.
Upon departure the security man reminded us not to forget about the landing fee.
We asked in polish for the discount because of all these troubles but the answer was : “No discount”.
I can only WARN every pilot against flying to this absolutely unprofessional and unsafe airfield!
It’s really a shame how they treat their guests and my only conclusion is that they are not interested in getting visitors at all.
And it is absolutely in contrast to other polish airports and airfields where I always got this typical polish hospitality.
My compensation was exploring Torun , that is really beautiful city.
I `ve posted some photos from my trip to Torun here . If sbdy wants to get to Torun , I will recommend flying to Bydgoszcz airport ,which has IFR operations . You can drive 40 km to Torun by rental car.
Thanks. I always wanted to got to Torun, but never got around to, so far.
Re the airfield specifics, I tend to be much more relaxed with these things.
I don’t even expect any English in the first place. Also, most small airfields outside Germany don’t have a ground based radio operator. Radio means: A/A. So, when you ask if you can do the radio in English, and they say yes, that doesn’t necessarily mean somone will reply.
Even if there were a radio operator in English, I would not expect local (glider) pilots to speak any English. It just isn’t realistic. So, don’t focus on radio stuff. A good scan of traffic from outside the circuit, then a circuit staying away from any traffic and a few clear and slow blind calls in English. It’s all about caution and common sense. If that’s not enough for you, then indeed go to the big airports. Unprofessional? Sure! All small GA airfields are unprofessional as such.
Never count in fuel availability at these airfields. If I can get some, fine. But I always have a plan B in case, I can’t get any.
Also, I alway try to carry a little local currency with me when going abrod, especially when the first landing is at a small airfield.
I went there a week ago. I called in Polish, but no one answered. After a few calls, someone from the air said “there’s no-one there, land 28 grass”.
I paid 50 PLN for landing and didn’t get a receipt. There was another guy there, who was rather rude. I had the impression that they don’t like visitors very much.
On the plus side, there is a truck with self-service avgas and it accepts credit cards. Don’t need to talk to anyone to get fuel, which is uncommon on smaller Polish airfields.
Goaround wrote:
After initial call nobody answered. I x-checked the frequency and tried several times again. There was no answer.
It does seem that this airfield was lacking in hospitality, but most countries do not have the “flugleiterpflicht” you find in Germany. Unless the airfield has ATC or AFIS, you can never rely on contact with a ground radio operator. You have to determine the appropriate runway yourself and integrate with existing traffic as well as you can.
Goaround wrote:
2NM to go . I sent the sms to my contact to ask her to call the airfield again.
I would probably have kept my eyes outside the cockpit if you were that close and it was as busy as you say !
But hey, I’m just one of those guys more concerned about a mid-air than a landing clearance 
I have been there two times some years ago. First as a stopover on a major trip with +25 airplanes, second solo a few years after.
Can’t remember it as a bad experience. Landing fee was zloty cash – but I expected that.
I agree with boscomantico that on gliderstripes like we have plenty of them also in germany, no radiocom can be expected.
The point was that we called them in Torun 1…2h before ETA in native polish and they confirmed by sth like “of course we provide radiocom in english” – and THEN nothing happend.
If they would have stated “no english” – its no factor and it would be like on many airfields in france etc. which is indeed no problem – if you did not got confirmed the opposit.
Sure , looking out is the only option, but you can look for hours ;-) when there no windcone to see neither departing
or landing traffic but a lot of plastic and alu in the air …
Same was with fuel, which was confirmed also before and which worked well after a local ,
Friendly helping hand showed up.
Without this guy its quite difficult , esp without speaking polish…
I agree with loco that obviously they are not interested in visitors- a pity because Torun is worth it to visit.
To sum up: if they wouldnt promise things before I wouldnt expect anything- but it was opposit….and this experience was a snapshot which hopefully may change for the next foreign visitor….
Goaround wrote:
The point was that we called them in Torun 1…2h before ETA in native polish and they confirmed by sth like “of course we provide radiocom in english” – and THEN nothing happend.
What would you have done if there was no radio operator at all?
I have been in Torun 3 years ago too and it was a good experience. Radio was done in English, Avgas served immediately after landing, they offerd us drinks and organized a taxi to the town. Only when coming back it was difficult to find someone to pay the landing fees.It was our first stop ever in Poland and we enjoyed it.
eddsPeters post give hope thats it was just a bad day they had…
As often small airfield´s cannot provide continuous good service….depends always on the people on duty …
rgd Airborne_Again comment, this is more philosophy .-) because they confirmed 2h before radio service, as I wrote…
