Author: Willi Beckmann

The Caps

A330 LTU
A330 LTU

At Karlsruhe, with Rhein Control, there also was a monkeys rock, which was a galery for visitors covering the whole faceside of our Controlroom. Because the co-owner of the control center, Eurocontrol, was very proud of this facility, at least one time of the day there were guided tours of visitors on this galery.
As time goes by, we as the control personel got used to these cattle boost and just ignored them, there were more important things to do.
Some of these groups made it after the monkey rock, in smaler portions, into the control room and were, only because of their physical existence, very unpopular. They gathered very near behind us, set up very interested faces and came closer not to miss something.
For us, the personel, it became interesting from the time on, when the herd-leader from Eurocontrol started his lecture. He, normally, started with a description of the work, our work, an pointed out the continuous decision between life and death!
Our question about the adequate payment was always ignored.

These groups appeared, without us knowing about them before.
One day, there was a leak in the “belle etage”, which informed us about an upcomming group, the police of Karlsruhe.

This was finally a group, we were able to handle.
In the assumption, these ladies and gentlemen of the Karlsruhe police had a sense of humor, we had prepared a little joke for them.

It all started with the cops passing the access control.
Check of the Id-cards, handing out of the visitor passes and then passing through the claustrophobia lock.
In short, now they were on the side of the checked persons, a new experience for this ladies and gentlemen.
Then, they went upstairs to the wardrobe and placed their coats and caps.
Our plan started right here.
They had to pass the access control in the basement, which was monitored by a guard. For the save conduction of our plan this man had to go, we sure did not want him to get any knowledge of what was going on here.
So we descided to get rid of him.
We called him, in a very official sound, to move immediately to his control office at the car entrance.
As we were sure, he arrived at his office, we collected all the police caps and transported them to a save place.

“At this point I have to be a little cautious, because I don’t know when the stealing of
police caps is barred and will not be prosecuted anymore.” Some mentioned it will be 30 years?
As we had no use for such an amount of police caps, we thought of, depending on the situation, a couple of ways to send them back. If they had a sense of humor, at the beer in our canteen, called also “dirty spoon”, after their visit is complete, there would be a box in the corner with all these caps and we all would have something to laugh about.
If they had no humor at all, we would send the box with the caps to a police office in the city to be transferred to their owners.
This was our way to stay in good memory by the Karlsruhe police.

But everything turned out different…

The visit of the “green group” was relaxed, until they reached the wardrobe. Even for police, they very fast recognized the loss of the caps.
First, they showed helplessness, then wild confusion.
After a while, the leader of the group of visitors asked the “belle etage” for help.
There were hot discussions which came to the conclusion: All doors should be closed and all entrances and exits should be guarded.
This turned out very handy, the police was already in the house.

Naturally our administrators blamed us, the control personal, and saw us trapped.
After a while of embarrassing silence, guarding all doors, they recognized, no caps are showing this way.
The new plan was to search the whole building.
“What we did not knew was, a policeman without a cap was not able to show up in public. This was forbidden and he could be punished doing it. So these poor people were not able to leave the building.”

Such a search of a big building is not simple and so they ordered reinforcement from their police colleges outside.
It took 15 minutes and twenty new policemen, with caps, made their way through the claustrophobia lock.
Of course we got the search efforts and friendly asked them to show us the warrant for this.
No answer, maybe it was not nescessary because of the immediate danger situation.

The seriousness and the effort which was shown now was very astonishing to us, nobody had thought of that a little joke can have such big effect.
But now, there was no way back.

The serious search also happend to our very upset technicians, it lasted two hours and there was no evidence of hats which were green.
This was also not possible, because these green caps left the area well before all this and stayed at a save place. “I can’t say more, nobody knows.”
Now they ordered by an “order de Mufti”, as we called it, interviews to all personal.
For us, the whole story lasted about three hours, it turned out to be a bumerang, there was no relief from colleges to be expected, nobody was allowed to enter the building.
Our “belle etage” had turned the leadership of this case to the police and they made the descision to form interview teams and take one after another to an interrogation.
Some of us were asked to proceed to the interview room, but we all argued that without a relief we would not leave our position.
The police went in and tryed to rise the pressure on us to be interviewed, but we replied, that we do not let us force by the police to do something criminal. Leaving our controlposition may be a thread to air traffic.
This argumentation was well axaggerated but they stepped back.
Therefore our shyster from the “belle etage” were forced to make a list of all persons which are counted as suspects. After the list was complete the police guided our relief personal, in small groups, from the entrance at the basement to the control room and then to our working positions. Well done.

The interview was like this: First question was: “Who did it?”
My answer: “Who did what?”
They had no choice, they had to explain the whole facts, which naturally was known by me and therefore was very funny. My laughing was not accepted and they looked angry and got more formally.
They threatend me with the involvement of the prosecuting attorney which did not freightend me, because I had no idea what happens then.
Also the hint of no punishment for the one, who tells the name of the offender, did not impress me nor my colleges.
All these efforts showed no success and so the next day the case was given to the prosecuting attorney and our police department.
The Bundesanstalt für Flugsicherung send two attorneys from Frankfurt.

We were very excited about an article in our newspaper next days, saying something like:
Severe robbery at the air traffic control center Karlsruhe.
All the next weeks, every possible newspaper, nothing to read about.
What a coward police, this was not expected by us.

As all the humor we invested was gone, also the sending back of all this nice green caps was not possible anymore. Absolutely too dangerous.

Short and good, this case was never solved. The caps are gone and stay gone, until today.
As I know, the police of Karlsruhe never again visited us. What a pity.

Attn: Every member of the police, wearing a cap, should be aware of his cap at all times, if he is around with air traffic control personal!

Machine kaputt

(translated by Juergen Matthes)

Continemtal
Continemtal

One of the highlights working for Air Traffic Control was the fact that we were entitled to the so called ‘experience flights’, in our jargon called SE-Flug. In regular intervals, about every two years, we were assigned to an SE-flight by our ‘belle etage’. These flights, which you participated as a fully accounted cockpit crew member (without a ticket), were supposed to provide experiences and views into the workload of the flying crew in all imaginable situations. Therefore you participated in a whole rotation together with the crew.

It was logical that these flights were supposed to be provided for the operational staff of ATC only. Unfortunately the ‘belle-etage’ managed time after time to assign members of the administrative staff to one of these flights. Of course the crew noticed the missing operational background of such a person and was, so to speak, not amused!

It was my turn again, I was presented with a rotation Frankfurt – Nuremberg – Frankfurt – Vienna – Frankfurt. The aircraft was a Boeing 727. At that time I was working at Karlsruhe UAC (radar control unit working the upper airspace above 25 000 feet), radio callsign Rhein Control.

Such a rotation comprises everything the cockpit-crew is required to do, including several briefings, that meant getting up early to be on my way for Frankfurt!

First you visit dispatch, get flight-plan data, fuel, weather data. Then the cockpit-briefing takes place, it deals with emergency procedures and also my role in them: I therefore got an introduction to the usage of the oxygen mask, learned to operate the intercom and radio panel and got familiarized with the security belts / harness and the handling of them. All that took place in the terminal.

Then briefing with the cabin crew. Once again emergency procedures, and most important: What’s for lunch! After that taken care of, Lufthansa crew bus took us to the aircraft.

Since the plane had just been through its mandatory check in a hangar, I skipped outside check, I didn’t want to miss how a ‘cold and dark’ airplane was brought back to life.

Our captain was, like you always picture a captain: tall, serious, white streaks in his hair, with a deep, calm voice. Very impressive! The co-pilot (nowadays first officer) was the exact contrary: A tendency to being a bit overweight (I try to be polite), jovial, frankonian dialect, but somehow a bit unpleasantly importunate, a real smart alec. On the 727 there still were flight-engineers, those are always the same type of persons: tall and lean, as you know them from submarine movies!

After the captain had conducted takeoff in Frankfurt, he handed control over to the co, who was supposed to fly the aircraft until Nuremberg including the landing. The crew didn’t show any specific interest in me, except for the flight engineer (FE). I didn’t mind though, since I liked to watch, and the FE explained quite a few things which were new to me.

About 15 minutes before landing the co, now acting as pilot in command (PIC, nowadays pilot flying) was going through the landing preparations. For that he slid his seat back as far as it went, and then he even cranked down his back rest until it was almost horizontal. Lucky me, I was sitting behind the captain, otherwise I would have been crushed! Then the co leaned back, he almost looked like a first class passenger relaxing and waiting for service. I only thought, he doesn’t have any more outside view, strange.

The two up front were discussing the landing now, I didn’t understand a word, but I have to admit, I didn’t try hard either, because I was curious how one can land an aircraft from such a sitting position!

At 10 miles final we were on the ILS. Since I had ridden up front several times before, I noticed an excessive angle of attack of the aircraft right a way. When I looked back into the cabin (at that time the cockpit door was still supposed to be open), all passengers seemed to be downhill, way below me!

Maintaining this angle of attack we touched down on the runway. The co kept pulling the yoke, more and more, towards himself, this explains his sitting position, and this kept the nose up. When the aircraft couldn’t hold this attitude any more, the nose slammed onto the runway and the bird decelerated using only the brakes, without using the reversers.

We had landed, but how had we landed! How the co could see the runway from his sitting position – remained his secret, I could hardly try for myself how you could see outside from his seat. From the pale faces of the passengers leaving the plane I concluded that they counted that landing as almost a crash.

The crew continued to ignore me, for sure they had had some administrative couch potato along on their last experience flight and were fed up, so I decided to accept the offer of the FE to go along for an outside check. The mickey mice (hearing protection) were put on, then outside! We checked the landing gear, especially the tires, the APU, the leading edges of the wings, the flaps and the sensors.

Then we went back inside via the aft staircase. On both sides, in the tail of the aircraft, were small doors which puzzled me, so I asked the FE. They were to be able to check the engines in the tail, did I want to have a look. Sure I did, when else could you have a look at something like that.

He opened the right door and cleared the way. “Look at the fan blades”, he stated, “they must be bent, but consistent”. And there must not be any damages visible”. So I had a look and – yes – they were bent, but by no means consistent.

So I said – “boy, they are bent, but not consistent”. Then I only heard – “WHAT?!” I was shoved aside.

The FE took a long look, but came to the same conclusion: “Yes, they are bent, but crooked”! He ran to the door on the other side and tore it open. Then he shoved me towards it and said “that’s the way they are supposed to look”. I had to confirm, they looked ok. “Doesn’t help”, he said, “the technicians have to go for it”.

So back to the cockpit and report the incident. The captain called the technicians and postponed boarding by 10 minutes. I only thought “what an optimist!”

The technician came, had a look in the back and then only shook his head, someone should get to the engines from the outside with a ladder, have a look and take some measurements. Being friendly, he added an estimate right a way: It would take about half an hour. The captain passed that on to the gate: Delay!

The ladder was brought, a technician climbed it, took some measurements with a gauge, came down again, the ladder was removed. He then came to the cockpit and stated: Flying is tricky, if one of the blades gets torn off he wouldn’t like to be in the aircraft, flying with passengers is impossible.

The crew started discussing. Is there a possibility to get this fixed here at Nuremberg? If not, should we fly empty to Frankfurt? And how do the passengers get to Frankfurt? The captain decided to discuss the problem with the technical department at Frankfurt and then make a decision. So he left us and made a phone-call to Frankfurt from the terminal.

10 minutes later he was back and announced his decision: The passengers are taken to Frankfurt by bus, as well as the cabin crew. Of us four everyone should decide for himself if he wanted to fly or take the bus. He also stated that everyone who would vote for flying, would have to sign a statement that he would do that on own risk, that Lufthansa was freed of all responsibilities. Everyone voted for flying.
Since the technicians checked the other engines, we had time to get a meal from the first class trolley and leisurely enjoy it. “Last Meal!” Gosh, they talked to me, I hardly hadn’t noticed before!

Then we refueled, the doors were closed by the FE, and we prepared for startup. Clearance came from the tower and at the same time from the fire trucks. One on each side, very calming!

The FE calculated our takeoff weight and recommended to use number 3 (the damaged engine) only for takeoff and if needed for landing and otherwise let it idle. This would reduce the risk considerably of a turbine blade been torn off. The captain agreed.

The engines were running now, the FE went to the back to the described door and had a look at the engine. He tried to listen whether he could hear something unusual, but everything sounded normal. So far, so good!

We all were full of respect for the coming flight, you could tell by the lively discussions we were all having. You blabber your fear off!

We decided that I should conduct talking to air traffic control, and to hint to them that we had a “minor” problem.. “Hinting” was important, because if we would encounter a stubborn controller, he could inquire whether we would declare an emergency, if not, we should be handled as any other normal flight. Therefore it was my task to softly point out our problem and request appropriate handling.

Our air traffic control network is astonishingly efficient, because already the ground controller asked how we intended to perform taxi to the runway. So I explained that we could use engine 3 only to a limited extend, taxiing with 2 engines should be no problem, but it would be great if he could pass this information to the following controllers.

We taxied, escorted by the fire brigade, to the runway. The captain had calculated, if No. 3 would run with 80% power-setting, the length of the runway would be more than sufficient. Let’s go! During takeoff roll the FE hung over the thrust levers and paid close attention. Shortly before the end of the runway the captain carefully pulled the nose up, at least we were flying!

At positive climb No. 3 was reduced to idle, which resulted in a drift to the right, but that could be compensated by trim. Flight level 160 allowed a splendid view across the landscape passing underneath us.

Each sector controller handled us like a raw egg, they were superb, even holding (normal to Frankfurt) was not for us this time! They planned us for the southern runway in Frankfurt, we wouldn’t mess up things so much there.

Landing was not so spectacular as at Nuremberg, it was a ‘greaser’! The fire trucks were there also, they reminded us of our defect. We taxied directly to the hangar and learned from the technicians that before the flight to Nuremberg the aircraft had been perfectly ok. Bending of the blades must have happened during the flight to Nuremberg.

The flight to Vienna and back, naturally in a replacement aircraft, went pleasant and uneventful except for the order of the captain “you don’t go out of the aircraft and look at nothing no more!” Since I complained about this order, I got a great meal in first class as a compensation!

We turn the Runway Around

[translated by Juergen Matthes]

Twin Otter
Twin Otter

Naturally you don’t turn a runway around, you “switch runways”, that means according to wind directions and speeds you change the direction of takeoffs and landings. Wind still is a major factor in aviation.

As passenger in a jet you can experience this yourself. Let’s say you are on a flight from Frankfurt to Miami. You have a small portable GPS device with you, and you play with it close to a window during the flight towards Miami, right over the Atlantic Ocean. You realize your speed over ground is displayed as 400 miles per hour. You wonder, your airplane is supposed to travel more than 500 mph. On the return flight, again over the Atlantic Ocean, going east, you play with your toy again and it shows 610 mph. What’s going on?

Very easy: the airplane travels always with the same speed in relation to the surrounding airmass, about 500 mph. On your way to North America you normally will have a headwind with about 100 mph, this results that you travel that much slower. On the way back you travel with 500 mph in an airmass moving itself with 100 or 110 mph in your direction of flight, therefore you are now faster (over ground).

This effect has to be considered during takeoffs and landings. You take off and land preferably against the wind. Number one – it is safer, and number two – you save some fuel. A takeoff with a tailwind means the airplane has to accelerate to a higher speed to achieve the airspeed needed for flight. Let’s say you need an airspeed of 120 knots for take off, a tailwind with 10 knots prevails on the runway, so that requires a speed of 130 knots (on your wheels) to achieve 120 knots airspeed. With a 10 knot headwind you only need a speed of 110 knots (on your wheels).

So it makes sense, to adapt the directions for takeoffs and landings to the wind conditions. Therefore wind and its constant changes is an important factor on any control tower. Now the wind at an airport normally hasn’t the desired effect to reverse its direction completely to the opposite within a short period of time. No, wind acts as it pleases! So it is the responsibility of the tower-crew, to constantly monitor the wind, its tendencies of direction and speed, and to switch runways if needed.

Düsseldorf Tower, a nice day, the wind blows from the west with 15 knots. Approaches and landings are proceeding towards the west, as they normally do under these conditions. The weather bureau has forecasted a change of wind towards the north-west within the next 20 minutes.

This is no problem for takeoffs, they will a bit more jerky. For landings it is a different story, they have to point their nose into the wind (crab angle) until shortly before touchdown when they will straighten out the airplane. For us in the tower cab this is great, we have something spectacular to watch! It is always interesting to watch such landings with a crosswind component.

The wind continues to shift towards the north. Now a good crosswind, the pilots have to show their skill! For crosswinds we have specifications in the tower we have to follow, dictating which strength will require the airport to be closed. But – it’s a long way until that will happen.

But if the wind continues to shift to the east, we will have to switch runways. Naturally it continues to drift to the east. Good air traffic control service means, to be able to handle all imponderabilities and yet provide an orderly and safe flow of air traffic!

The imponderabilities today – it is the period of rush hour, so very high traffic density. The tower controller, the feeder (he is responsible for the sequence of approaching aircraft) and the two approach controllers (handling the northern and southern sectors) are now discussing the best timing to switch runways.

Most times this will result in the statement “after landing of the KLM you can go ahead and switch”. The apron controller guides all aircraft ready for departure from now on to the western end of the runway and strings them at the holding point of the “new” runway.

Feeder announces the KLM arrival at 10 miles final, and there she calls in on tower frequency.
Tower: “KLM 83, Wind 050 with 15 (knots), cleared to land runway 24.”

To understand the following, you must comprehend the relations of speeds. Everyone knows this situation, you are driving on a freeway with 85 mph and suddenly you see a speed-limit sign showing 50 mph. What will you do? Some will take their foot off the gas-pedal and let the car slow by itself until it reaches 50 mph (or slightly faster). They take into consideration that they might be speeding well after the speed-limit sign, but this procedure will aid the traffic flow because nearly everybody is acting like this. But there are also those who will step on the brakes passing the sign and therefor obey the speed-limit precisely.

Both behaviours are present in aviation too. We also have speed-limits, which have to (should) be obeyed. Approaching an airport there is a limit of 250 knots IAS below 10 000 feet, then minimum clean (the slowest speed an aircraft can fly without deploying flaps) and finally any speed-limit an air traffic controller issues to ensure separation to other traffic.

In ATC even small errors get on your back, sometimes a bit later, but they surely do! The decision to switch runways after the landing KLM and the designated time gap before the first landing on the new (now opposite) runway had been selected a bit too short! A Lufthansa Airbus A310, who called in at 10 miles final to the runway facing east, was way too early.

KLM, on the other side, was a slowpoke! She was overly correct and had slowed like stepping on the brake when getting the first glimpse of the speed-limit sign, in short she still needed a while for her landing.

The situation was now (pardon my language) – shitty! KLM was on final westbound, Lufthansa A310 on final eastbound (remember: same physical runway), approximate meeting point was the western end of the runway. This constellation is called a “double decker!”

Solution to this problem is quite easy: You instruct the A310 to go around (overshoot), a sharp left turn afterwards, but you cannot be sure that it will work out. KLM could be forced to overshoot as well (by some unforeseen factor), and then you would have a near miss or even worse!

In our case all went well, the Lufthansa A310 overshot and thundered across the hospital, KLM landed safely! Right away the telephone connecting the tower to the outside world rang, and sister Agate (one of the head-nurses of the hospital) was on the line complaining about the tremendous unbearable noise.

This telephone-call, which happened every once in a while, was major punishment for all of us up here! Sister Agate was always right! She chewed us, kings of the airport, up and spat us out in pieces! What a disaster to our confidence.

I had the (doubtful) pleasure to get to know sister Agate personally, she actually was a fine woman taking care of her patients. After I explained to her, that we also took care of our clients, she relaxed a bit and future telephone calls from her were less mortifying …

Rejected Takeoff

(translated by Juergen Matthes)

Boeing 727 DeltaDespite all the uncertanties, which you encounter travelling standby on a 10% flight, one tries to improve one’s chances to be on a specific flight with all kinds of tricks! We planned to travel to Athens and go on “cultural vacations”. To Athens normally a Boeing 727 is scheduled, a somewhat smaller aircraft with limited passenger capacity. But there was another possibility, a DC10-300 was scheduled to fly to Bombay with a stop in Athens. The return flight of this DC10 then was flying Bombay direct Frankfurt, so no chance to use this trick on the way back. But the return flight from Athens is less critical, and besides,then vacations are over anyway!

So we booked this way, to improve our chances with this bigger baby. At the gate they told us, the flight is not booked out, it looks pretty good that we will be able to ride along. And this is how it worked out. We are aboard, the doors are closed. We are taxiing to runway 25 R.

The engines are spooling up, the aircraft accelerates, shortly before becoming airborne the pilot slams the nose-gear onto the runway and applies the brakes like mad. I didn’t know before that an aircraft could brake that hard! I bumped my head on the back of the seat in front of me, there was nothing I could do about it. It happened to everyone aboard. We slowed down and then stopped right on the runway.

The captain came on the pa-system and announced, a warning light had winked on, which was not supposed to be lit during takeoff, so he had wanted to check what was going on. We were sitting on the runway …

Suddenly a loud noise occurred. The aircraft, which had planned to land after our (successful) takeoff thundered overhead. It’s engines were running at 100% thrust, and the noise hit us exactly.

In the tower, I thought, they must be highly concentrated right now. One runway was blocked, what a mess that would create! All planning for takeoffs and landings had to be redone. I was pulled from my thoughts by the sight of the fire-brigade, which was coming alongside. Oops, more than a warning light, I thought!

Then I noticed, the engines are still running.

Escorted by two firetrucks we started to taxi off the runway, towards the big maintenance hangar of Lufthansa-Technik, we parked in front of it. Stairways were rolled to the aircraft, and the doors were opened. A technician walked into the cockpit.

After some moments they announced that while we were waiting we would be served drinks. That means it will take a bit longer! Since I had a window-seat, I could watch the technicians milling about. There, isn’t that Claude, a technician I knew from my time in Kelsterbach?

Unfortunately I could not leave the aircraft. The flight-attendants blocked the doors for the passengers. Then the captain was on again, the warning had been right, there was a minor technical problem they could fix right here. We should enjoy our time aboard. Then the purser came along, they would serve lunch while still being on the ground.

When things had calmed down, I asked a stewardess whether I could talk to the captain. Thanks to my ID from work she agreed to at least ask him. She came back smiling and told me: affirmative!

I only asked the captain, whether I could leave the aircraft for a short, I had spotted a friend among the technicians and had wanted to say hello to him. That was granted, and a short time later I found myself on the apron.

I spotted Claude on top of a ladder leaning at the middle engine. The engine cowlings were open and Claude was hanging halfway inside the engine. When he finally came down the ladder, he recognized me right a way and asked how in the world I had been able to get inside the secure area here. Not in, I replied, down from the aircraft.

Boy, he said, it’s your birthday today, and you have a superb captain. He explained what had happened during takeoff. At full power the middle engine had somehow deployed the thrust reversers! Hadn’t the captain courageous aborted the takeoff, we probably would have executed a perfect crash, with two engines providing thrust and one in reverse a takeoff and safe flight is not possible!

My face went pale! Claude urged me, don’t tell anyone before you landed. Promise!

After two hours, the repairs had been conducted successfully, as the captain said, we once again taxied towards takeoff. I was the loneliest person on board, I literally was ready to shit my pants!

Takeoff and the flight to Athens went normal. I needed another two days before I could tell my wife about the conversation with Claude!

Hummel 7

(translated by Juergen Matthes)

At most airports the police is present with a helicopter-squadron, this was also the case at our location. The police “resides” in Hangar 8, the LTU hangar, at the eastern edge of the airport. All helicopters carry the callsign “Hummel” (Bumble-Bee), followed by a number.

Since missions of the Bumble-Bees were not foreseeable, cooperation with us had to be somewhat special, as it was the case. We, the personnel of the tower, especially liked their canteen. Actually it was quite a cozy casino with superb food at reasonable prices.

One day, during a chat with the “cops” (this is meant affectionately and respectfully) at their casino, I asked them naively if it would be possible to ride along in a Hummel. To my astonishment the answer was: “Well, sure!”

All this was quite forgotten when at a nice, sunny Sunday morning the “cops” called on the radio and asked whether I was on duty. Yes, I was, and how I was on duty! Saturday had been a party, and I wasn’t quite awake yet! Besides, the midnight-snack consisting of goulash-soup was still milling about heavily in my belly!

Over my head our tower-chief arranged with the watch-supervisor of radar-control that I should fly Hummel today. Principally great, a flight with a helicopter something different and interesting, but my stomach didn’t seem to agree, he felt somewhat unsure.

“Cleared to hover in front of the tower” some time later the radio blared. This finished the discussion with my stomach, I had to move down. Hummel 7 was an Alouette 3, quite tiny as seen from the tower cab, but as closer I got, as bigger it got, and above all, as louder! The crew, 2 guys, were quite nice.

What I absolutely didn’t realize was the reversal of the relation between controllers and pilots of the squadron. Normally we gave them orders and the guys had to follow them. Now they had one from “the other side” on board and therefore the legitimation to show him what “bigshots” they were. Besides, they knew that everyone at the tower knew that I was on board and thus they would get any clearance they would request.

So they shamelessly took advantage of this and requested a special area for “training maneuvres”. Latest then I should have suspected what was to come, but I was busy talking to my stomach during climb, so I missed that.

Very friendly the pilot asked me whether I had heard of something like “autorotation” before. I hadn’t, thank heavens, since just the thought of that would have killed my stomach.

It started …

The helicopter climbed like crazy, the guys were fiddling with their seat-belts. Then the nice pilot killed the engine!! It got silent.

First, nothing happened. Then the chopper started to rotate around its vertical axis. It was like riding a roundabout.

Then it got faster.

The centrifugal forces nailed my arms to my body at first. Then I started to move up my backrest. When I reached the ceiling, I was completely lost and immovable.

Now I realized why the two guys had fastened their seat-belts so explicitly. I was glued to the ceiling, like a dead bug, completely helpless. The only thing I could comprehend was that the ground was coming closer – fast!

Like a miracle, the engine restarted and I dropped like a sack into my seat. My stomach was history, not even there any more, and I was wide awake.

After some allowedly cynical questions about my condition, the atmosphere relaxed, apparently I had passed, and the flight continued quite pleasant. Now it was time for our assignment, to look for oil pollution on the Rhine river caused by ships. The two pilots took advantage of this assignment to have fun. They hid hovering the helicopter behind a row of poplar trees at the bank of the Rhine and waited until a ship was close. Then, with high speed, hop across the poplar trees towards the ship and hower alongside of the bridge.

Oil polluters: No joy, but the two pilots were up to another situation which amused them quite much. It was funny indeed! During the tumble of the chopper towards the ship we noticed quite a fat woman at the steering wheel. Then a door crashed open and a fat man ran onto the bridge, shoved the woman aside, took the wheel and then sounded the horn. So that was the captain. The scene indicated that the woman was without patent. Offense: Steering a ship without license.

The loudspeaker attached to the chopper proved quite handy too. The phrase working best was: “Fishing is not allowed here!” Completely stunned faces looked upwards and then dropped behind.

Around ten o’ clock the two guys mentioned: “Time for breakfast!” We flew towards Duisburg harbour and landed alongside a cafe with a terrace. Engine off, radio to max-volume, and off to breakfast!

A strange feeling aroused within me, as the other guest eyed us up. They were somehow, not provable, but without doubt, all suspicious as they looked at us! Both pilots were aware of their impression and spoke friendly to the people. Pretty soon the ban was broken, they relaxed and my assumptions all went up in smoke, no criminals, just ordinary people. What the thought of me, the sloppy-dressed civilian, remained a secret.

Shortly after our refreshment the radio blared and we ran to the chopper. No offense, we had payed already right when we had ordered. New assignment, a chase!

From now on I was unnoticed, both pilots were busy talking to different agency on 3 different radio channels.

During a short pause in communication they asked my whether I could fill in and conduct the radio communication with the crime-department of the police. Our task was to find a light-blue Porsche on the freeway and guide the forces on the ground so they could stop the Porsche and arrest the driver. The driver had been identified by a highway patrol as violent criminal and they badly wanted to nail him.

For us this meant: Max speed. After ten minutes we spotted the Porsche, he was driving on the freeway towards Düsseldorf. When he noticed us, he swerved back and forth and then even went faster.

I was busy stating position and direction of the car, it is quite difficult if you don’t have practice doing that. But after a while I got used to the slang and it started to be fun! The Porsche had left the freeway and was speeding into town, our pilot was forced to use all tricks of pilotage. We shot across the houses so low that I was afraid some TV-Antennas would bring us down!

Naturally the driver knew by now that we were after him, he disregarded all traffic regulations. I felt it might be safer to give up the chase, the risk for others seemed to me to be quite high. But the crime-department of the police insisted on continuing, the man seemed important, they wanted him by all means. So we chased on.

From the air you have quite a good overlook and you can distinguish the tactics of the police. They arranged their patrol cars in a big circle which closed in according to our position reports. The possibilities for an escape dwindled more and more. Near a factory building the trap finally snapped close, patrol cars everywhere, he didn’t have a chance.

After five and a half hours the chopper finally dropped me off in front of the tower. After such an adventure you honestly are happy to return to your work at the tower. Hard to believe, but it is so!

Henry and Heinz

(translated by Juergen Matthes)

I.

Rhein Control, Karlsruhe, night shift.

Boeing 727 Delta Airlines
Boeing 727 Delta Airlines

Night shift at an area control center, here in Karlsruhe controlling the upper airspace, is quite hectic at first, then extremely boring (for hours), and then towards morning increasingly hectic again. The shift starts shortly after 9:00 p.m., until midnight you have to concentrate quite a bit and perform top level. After midnight then – this is when the boring stretch starts – you have to fill your time somehow.

Heinz is quite a normal guy, but Henry – one of the oddest characters I’ve ever known! He is enthusiastically interested in Buddhism, esoterica, foot-reflex-massages, acupressure, therapeutic fasting, all kinds of „weird“ things. After a full fast lasting 2 weeks he passed out in the tramway. His statement to the doctor arriving at a hospital: „Sorry, total loss of energy.“ So that’s Henry!

Heinz and Henry, together at night-shift. They are responsible for the west sectors of Rhein Control, they brought along a chess game and had it set up at their control-board. The first moves went smooth and uninterrupted, but then Clipper (Pan Am) 163 called in, a flight from Vienna to New York.

Every controller recognizes gossipy pilots at once, no one knows how, but it is true! Henry complains: „Another one who wants to blabber our ears off!“ Heinz says: „Let me handle this.“ The following conversation starts:

Clipper 163: „Any shortcut for us?“
Heinz: „We’ll check, call you back.“
Clipper 163: „Night shift, eh, are you very busy?“
Henry (to Heinz): „It’s your turn, why doesn’t he shut up!“
Heinz: „Clipper 163, a 747, right?“
Clipper 163: „Yup, brand new!“
Heinz: „Are you hauling freight or passengers?“
Clipper 163: „Passengers.“
Henry (to Heinz): „It’s your turn, take a move, we don’t have all night!“
Heinz (to Henry): „Yes, in a moment.“
Heinz (to Clipper): „How many do you have on board today?“
Clipper 163: „264 passengers.“
Heinz (to Clipper): „And what are their names?“

Until Clipper 163 was handed off to Maastricht (the next guys), the frequency was quiet and peaceful and Heinz and Henry could continue their chess game without further interruptions!

II.

Rhein Control, Karlsruhe.

Nattenheim sector, Henry is coordinator controller, Heinz is working as radar controller. A racetrack in the Nattenheim sector is the UB6, the Upper Blue 6, a route from Nattenheim VOR in the western part of the sector via Ramstein to Karlsruhe and further on to Munich or Rattenberg. Flying westbound is Sabena 125 at flightlevel 350 from Zagreb to Brussels.

On Heinz’s frequency Speedbird 66 (British Airways) calls in at flightlevel 330 from London to Dubai.

Speedbird 66: “Rhein Control, good morning, Speedbird 66, flightlevel 330.”
Heinz: “Speedbird 66, radar contact.”

After a while Henry points to the control-strip of Sabena 125. Henry had coordinated a lower level for her with Maastricht (the next guys), since she wanted to land at Brussels and therefore had to be handed off to Maastricht at a lower level. This new level he had marked down on the control-strip and was pointing towards it. Heinz only nodded briefly.

Heinz: “Sabena 125, descent to flightlevel 280, expedite your descend.”
Sabena 125: “Descending to flightlevel 280, expediting, Sabena 125.”

Now the Sabena aircraft had to descend through flightlevel 330 of Speedbird, who was approaching her head-on. If she would expedite, as instructed, this would work out without risk.

But – Sabena did not expedite, and they kept coming closer and closer!

Heinz: “Sabena 125, expedite your descend, rate 2500 ft per minute or more, due to noise abatement!”
Sabena 125: “Noise abatement?? We are more than 6 kilometers high, how should that work?”
Heinz: “What do you think, the noise it would make, if you hit the opposite Speedbird!”

Sabena 125 was dropping like a rock down to flightlevel 280.

Henry and Heinz

Good Weather

(translated by Juergen Matthes)

Duesseldorf Tower

Good weather
Good weather

Everyone thinks, flying in bad weather is more difficult or more dangerous than flying in good weather. But you cannot generalize this, flying in good weather can be damn dangerous too!

Tower Düsseldorf, good weather, sunshine, very light winds, no cloud in the sky. A perfect day. In such a weather, visibility unlimited, the planes come in visual and only monitor the instrument approach aids, like the ILS, occasionally. The magic words are: “we have the field in sight.” They get their landing clearance and everything is alright.

Not so with a Clipper (Pan Am) this very day.

Approach reports the Boeing 707 at 10 miles final. This means, the Clipper will be sent to our tower frequency. He calls in right a way and reports “… field in sight”. He gets his landing clearance. Only problem: After 2 minutes, no Clipper is visible anywhere!

He should have been at the outer marker by now, but – nothing. We called the Clipper and asked to confirm his position. His brief answer: “…landing!”

But that couldn’t be. Nothing on the runway. Ulli remarked: “Essen, he must have landed in Essen, oh shit!”

Ulli was right, as we found out by a quick call to Essen Tower. They got the big jet just barely stopped at the end of their runway! And what a surprise, the runway supported him, he didn’t sink in! One has to know, the runway at Essen is limited to a weight of 5.7 tons, but a 707 weighs about 100 tons, amazing!

How could an experienced pilot mistake Düsseldorf with Essen, that had never happened before. Essen lies about 3 miles north of the runway centerline of Düsseldorf, but the runway direction is almost identical to ours. The Clipper pilot was vectored by approach about 15 miles out onto final approach track performing a left turn. Doing this the pilot sees the Essen runway, although a few miles north, first. He doesn’t check his instruments and thinks, this has got to be my runway, reports the field in sight and adjusts his approach further north and a bit shorter. And he reports field in sight on our tower frequency.

We, on our tower, had no chance to notice this error, because Essen is about 6 miles northeast and the Clipper was already quite low, so no visual contact could be achieved. What is this normally called: A chain of unthinkable mishaps!

The colleagues at Essen left the 707 sitting at the end of the runway. They weren’t sure whether the taxiways would withstand the weight. The passengers could get off the plane after one hour. That was how long it took to haul some stairways from Düsseldorf to Essen!

One thing was clear, the chance to get such a heavy bird out of Essen again in one piece was very low. The landing had been already a miracle, but takeoff on such a short runway, impossible. That meant, Essen airport was going to be closed, for a long time.

We had to report this incident and to enter it into the daily log. The report went to Brunswick, Luftfahrtbundesamt, the responsible unit which investigates such incidents. We were also faced with interviews, we were involved. If things went wrong, they could convict us of malpractice. There such a dummy lands at Essen and we will prosecuted for this, the outlook was not very inspiring! Our fears became true after two hours, when the watch-supervisor of the radar control-room was at the door together with 2 policemen and watched us until we were relieved. Then all evidence, the control-strips of the Clipper and other things, were confiscated and we were questioned in the reclining room, highly official.

Some days later, the investigators from Brunswick were there, the whole case was reconstructed. An HS 748, a two-engine prop the German ATC used to calibrate navigational aids, acted like the Clipper. Approach now guided this plane exactly like they had guided that Clipper, according to the radar data. The investigators payed close attention, if we could have avoided this incident.

We thought this was quite unfair. They had all the time in the world and they knew what they had to pay attention for. So far never a plane had landed in Essen, that something like that is possible, we agreed, we could not have had a chance to expect. Therefore we also couldn’t have avoided it! The time which passed between landing clearance and the upcoming question “where is he” seemed long enough to complete the landing at Essen. You just don’t imagine that this could happen.

After the manoever had been executed 3 times and the plane was not visible at all, not even for the investigators, the guys decided to replay the recordings from the tower timed exactly to the progress of the plane during another run. Aha, they really were up to try to find something with us! We were supposed to have acted too late.

But this also didn’t work, it seemed we were safe. We did everything right, thank goodness! Pilots error.

Meanwhile the technicians agonized “how do we get that bird back out of Essen?” And this in such a way that you can use that plane again afterwards. This is a question of money, such a bird is not inexpensive! Question: What is a good landing? A landing you walk away from. What is a perfect landing: A landing you can use the plane afterwards!

After two weeks the decision was made. First they wanted to unmount the wings, then load the plane on a flatbed and haul it to Düsseldorf, then remount the whole thing again. But then they dropped that idea, 1 – too expensive, 2 – the plane would have to undergo a massive re-licensing marathon to get its airworthiness certificate back!

So they decided to strip the plane. Everything which was not essential for a short flight was removed and hauled to Düsseldorf, except the pilots seats (and instruments and engines, of course). Then the plane should hop (fly) to Düsseldorf where everything was to be put in again.

The technicians had calculated a max takeoff weight for the runway length in Essen. The task was to reach that weight! But no one was sure whether the whole thing would finally work, after all! Very comforting! We were able to follow the progress on this thing because all the removed parts were hauled to hangar #8.

Then the day came, takeoff should take place.

Our team on the tower had to close the airport at 14:00 for two hours. Two test-pilots of Boeing should takeoff at 14:15 and try the hop to Düsseldorf. Everything worked out, the calculations were correct, the Clipper appeared on the horizon and landed safely at Düsseldorf.

It took another 2 weeks until the plane was reassembled and disappeared without passengers, headed for New York.
Not always bad weather is a problem, there can be problems also during good weather periods!

Sunday Driving Ban

(translated by Juergen Matthes)

Duesseldorf

US Airways
US Airways

In the early 70’s we had the oil crisis. To save fuel, in Germany a Sunday driving ban had been imposed. It should take place on 4 consecutive Sundays. Unfortunately the politicians forgot to also impose a Sunday flying ban. It just had to lead to problems!

And the problems were, that our belle etage wasn’t informed, so they didn’t issue any exceptional permits for us to drive to work. Somehow logical, because the belle etage was off on Sundays, what for those permits, then? Apparently they completely forgot about us!

On the first Sunday, when the ban was active, things still halfway worked out. Most people didn’t believe in this yet and renounced using the streets and roads for other things. But the police, they had special permits and didn’t feel like to let anyone else slip by.

At that time I was living in Gerresheim, to get to Lohhausen to the airport was quite a ways, right through the middle of the city. So all kinds of opportunities for the police to ask for my special permit! Which I didn’t have!

First check was halfway decent. Asked about the permit. Ok, none, getting chewed up, protest, must get to work, what work, show [glossary]ATC[/glossary] id-card, that’s why, we’ll check, telephone call to watch-supervisor, doesn’t work direct, get on police radio, tell com center telephone number, have them check, wait …

Then – com center says, yes, he must show up at work. Great! Policeman says, ok, must work, but do you have to go by car? I says: well, but ambulances don’t take the train either. Too bad, wrong answer! You now park car, go by train! Tell policeman, call watch-supervisor again, let him know, will be late, because policeman. Answer via com center – let him drive, supervisior angry, very angry!

After the officers told me to have a good trip, I could drive on. I had the feeling that they didn’t mean it.

And it wasn’t meant to be. 2 kilometers further on, police, stoplight, getting chewed up, the whole procedure was repeated. It didn’t last as long, because com center insisted on getting things straightened out quickly. I was on my way again. But not long: police, stoplight, getting chewed up, … …

Historically speaking, one of those days when enough policeman and policecars were on the road. There was but one more check on my way to work, but I could have gone by train after all, I would have been just as late getting to work!

Only problem: The colleagues from early shift must wait for the relief to arrive, they stay put until everyone is there. Another problem, the colleagues from early shift also drove to work with their cars, but were on the road much earlier, well before the police started checking …

Our watch-supervisor was out of ideas, he felt, on the way to work, he has authority enough to enforce that everybody is exempt, but on the way home? Historically again, the first time a complete team went home by bus and train, including a bunch of delays accompanied by a lot of cussing and swearing, and, the next morning, return to work the same way!

Till the next car-free Sunday was one week. By heroic efforts our belle etage managed to have the special permits ready by Friday and deposit them in the control-room. The only problem: There were those, who had Friday off but were supposed to show up at work on Sunday again! They again didn’t have a permit. I was off that second Sunday, but heard about heart-breaking stories on the streets of Düsseldorf, about cursing colleagues and desperate policemen.

Then, finally – Heureka, I got my special permit for the third Sunday, when I had late-shift again. I thought – that’s it, now I’m in business! Policeman stops, me show permit, me drive on! Great. That was the plan. Unfortunately reality catches up with you, so this was the case too.

Since I had my permit, but yet figured I’d be stopped a couple of times, I only went half an hour earlier than usual. First mistake!

The problem wasn’t the police, the whole way not a single police-car. What a disappointment, I had wanted to show my permit so badly. They ought to have stopped me! The problem were the people on the roads. They had become used to the car-free Sundays and were milling about all the streets, roads and even freeways. There was no way to get through, complaints by everyone, asshole, idiot and much more. On the road: barbecues, hockey, flea-markets, reclining chairs, what have you. Simply everything you can imagine which doesn’t belong on the road!

Additionally it was dangerous, the people had anything on their minds except a car on the road! Kids, pets and totally confused people: a car, today, here, that ain’t possible, this guy must be mad!

And – no police, the guys could have at least forwarded a delay message to my watch-supervisor!

It was a historical day: No cars on the road. Therefore the fear the whole way to be dragged out of the car and lynched! The whole thing was topped by getting chewed up by my watch-supervisor for being late!!

Hard to believe, but there were people who were happy about the end of the Sunday driving bans because of very different reasons as having fuel available again.

I was one of them …

Search and Rescue

aviation severance
aviation severance

(translated by Juergen Matthes)

Tower at Düsseldorf airport, my favourite working position. It was something special. Many people think, the whole business of ATC takes place at the tower, but it is not so. Tower is only responsible for the runways, for flights departing and approaching them, and for the taxiways leading from and to the apron.

The tower is normally manned by a tower controller, responsible for runway traffic, a ground controller for all ground movements on the taxiways, and an assistant, responsible for coordination and clearance delivery. These 3 were the rulers over the entire airport! Nothing happened without their approval, and even more important, nobody could interfere in their business, their word was law!

It so happened that Ulli and I went to night-shift. Night-shifts were handled by only 2 people, because night-shifts at the tower were but exciting business, it rather was, after the 2 mail-flights from Berlin, more than boring. The airport was sleeping, until early morning.

Dark, lights out and quiet.

During night-shift one agreed in advance, who could leave and rest, there was a recreation-room on a lower floor. To kill time until morning we had developed different hobbies, like great circle course calculations or building model airplanes. Ulli was fiddling about with his brand new calculator, one of the early ones which were programmable while I was working on my JU 52, the “Aunt JU” as this airplane used to be called. After 2 hours of quietness Ulli disappeared downstairs.

I kept on working on my model when suddenly there was a squeal on the emergency frequency 121.5. I knew that squeal: An ELT was sending a bailout signal. Every aircraft has such a thing aboard, and in case of an accident that signal is generated.

So I didn’t expect anything good.

Soon enough the phone rang, and the Search and Rescue Center from Cologne wanted to know whether we could hear that signal, which I affirmed.

Apparently Ulli had turned the ringer off of his phone in the recreation-room, he simply didn’t answer! Cologne wanted to have my bearing on that signal.

To circle in the source of the signal I woke up the personnel at Essen airport and asked them for a bearing on that signal too. This I passed on to SAR Cologne, and soon afterwards they told me the approximate position of the source, as they had calculated.

It was our General Aviation Terminal! 2 minutes later Cologne called again and confirmed the launch of their SAR-helicopter!

The whole Düsseldorf airport seemed asleep, the only guy I could reach was at hangar #8, a janitor! Hangar #8 belonged to LTU Airlines and was located at the other end of the airport. The only vehicle which was available to this poor janitor was his bicycle, I asked him to ride to the GAT and check. To help him find his way, I switched on all taxiway lights. Radio communication was not possible, he had no radio!

Cologne called again and informed, the helicopter would arrive in 10 minutes!

From this time on I was only a spectator, because of lacking communication with the janitor. But what was there to see!

To help the helicopter also find his way, I now had turned on all lights of the airport and set them to 100% intensity. Quite a light show in the middle of the night!

The janitor had reached the GAT in the meantime and had disappeared together with his bike. The helicopter was in sight, about 2 miles south of the field. And there was the janitor again on his bike, on the carrier of the bike was a red box. The box which was responsible for the noise on 121.5! The helicopter was just starting to hover above the GAT, then it swang around and followed the bike, since his direction finder showed him the bearing to the source of the signal. It literally plunged onto the poor biker! That one, scared to death, pedalled as hard as he could.

Unfortunately I didn’t have radio-contact with the helicopter either, so I couldn’t help. But the janitor was a smart guy, he’d figured out that the helicopter was after him. Therefore he chose his way around and through obstacles, houses and objects, so the helicopter could only see him at times. An enthralling race started, between bicycle and helicopter. It seemed the biker would win!

Finally the janitor arrived at his hangar #8 and disappeared. The helicopter hovered 5 meters above ground in front of the hangar. Nothing else happened. Suddenly it was quiet on 121.5.

SAR Cologne called and stated: “Helicopter returning to base!” A call to the janitor finally made things clear. In the GAT mechanics hat put this ELT into a private business jet yesterday. Somehow one of the mechanics must have forgotten to bolt down this thing, so gravity won and the transmitter plunged down onto the ground. According to his design it started blaring out its emergency.

The janitor had found the thing and put it on his carrier. He was quite familiar with these things and knew: It will whine as long as there is juice in the battery. So he took his ax and demolished the box, until it shut up!

I spent most of the rest of my night-shift making entries in the daily log. When I was about done, Ulli showed up all sleepy and wanted to know what had happened, he didn’t sleep well! I showed him the entries in the log. Somehow – we were able to laugh about it already.

At six in the morning sharp Sister Agnes from the deaconess hospital called and complained about the nightly noise. We didn’t mind, we knew her. She complained about everything all the time!

SAR

10 percent flight

aircraft severance
aircraft severance

(translated by Juergen Matthes)

8 months later. The story with Claudia had become quite serious by now, so I applied for my first 10 percent flight.

I applied for a flight from Düsseldorf to Vienna, via Stuttgart, with Lufthansa Airlines, it was supposed to be our honeymoon trip. A honeymoon trip, as everyone knows, usually takes place after the wedding, but since it takes for ever for such an application to get through all of that red tape I applied for it before our wedding.

Our “belle etage” (our administration department) noticed in a hurry (took them 2 weeks) that Claudia was neither a relative nor married to me and figured out precisely that a flight for her could not be applied for! Even an attempt of clarification of the circumstances of my application didn’t change their mind. But then – I negotiated directly with the lady at Lufthansa’s personnel travel department, and she turned out much more open minded!

Simple solution, as proposed by her: The tickets will be deposited in Düsseldorf at the Lufthansa passage ticket counter, and upon presenting our wedding certificate would be handed to us. Our belle etage found that idea so enspiring that they insisted that the tickets should be deposited at their office instead! Well, even they should have something to administer sometimes …

Wedding-Eve-Party (quite an event in Germany) was on Friday night, our wedding on Saturday and our honeymoon-flight should take place on Sunday. On Sundays our belle etage is not there, and naturally they didn’t pay attention to the dates and hadn’t thought of any alternatives. But – through the heroic activity of our head training officer, who got the tickets out of the administrative office, our flight finally was granted. That’s what I figured …

This back and forward about the tickets was getting quite on my nerves, but at the airport my newlywed wife impressed me even more in some ways. She felt – the flight to Vienna was booked out and we certainly would not be accepted on that flight. As everyone knows, such feelings of a woman can only be corrected by the hard facts (hopefully)!

The procedure of checking in standby-passengers at Lufthansa Airlines is as follows: First the full paying regular passengers board the plane, then their standbys, finally us – if there’s room left! So we had to watch how more and more people get into the plane, even more follow, the hopes of my wife diminish with every person passing us! Such uncertainty is hard to bear for a woman. So she sends me forward every few minutes, through crowds of people, back over to the counter to check with the lady, whether there will be room for us.

This friendly lady, I felt bad to constantly get on her nerves. We came up with a solution: Every time I would come by we would nod to each other, to be seen by my wife. This would help her, would help me and above all, would help my wife …

But – calming down my wife lead to new problems. We hadn’t booked a hotel room in Vienna! What if – there were large conventions in Vienna, Olympic Games and massive quantities of immigrants, possibly all at the same time? I was glad that she didn’t know that so far, if we ever would get on that plane, we only would reach Stuttgart. There the whole game would start over, since the leg from Stuttgart to Vienna was considered as an entirely new flight!

We got to Stuttgart finally. Phew! During the whole flight we discussed about the hotel-situation at Vienna. So the excitement about getting on the Vienna flight was quite a nice change! Honeymoon-trip hard core!

The flight to Vienna (which we really made) was, except multiple anxieties of my wife, uneventful. But in Vienna bad luck finally struck. A little ways after the luggage carousels we found a small booth with a banner saying: Hotel. I couldn’t hold back my wife Claudia, she rushed over to that booth and had booked a room in a hurry! A double at Hotel Wandl. My imagination had been to go downtown, look at the city, at hotels and rooms and choose a nice one without hurry.

Oh well, now we were all set, so off we went to Hotel Wandl. The double had separate beds. And it was our honeymoon-trip!

It yet was a very nice trip. Vienna was worth it, we especially liked the Arts and History Museum. And you learn from experience. The trip back, though the same procedures getting a seat on the flights applied, was much more relaxed. (We were living in Düsseldorf anyway and weren’t in need of a hotel room!)