Leg 1: Hilversum to Stadtlohn

Everyone getting their PPL needs to complete something referred to in the Netherlands as the ‘Grote Driehoek’. It is a flight that meets the following criteria: it must be longer than 150 NM and you must land at two airfields that are not your home airfield.

I did mine from Hilversum then to Stadtlohn, off to Texel and back to Hilversum. In one word: awesome!

I had flown to Stadtlohn before, with my instructor. It was quite cool to fly to Germany during a flying lesson (even though Stadtlohn is very, very near the Dutch border). The route was familiar: from Hilverusum to Amersfoort, through the Deelen CTR, to Dieren, over Groenlo and then fly around the North of the town of Vreden, then South to join the circuit.

Stadtlohn circuit altitude is 1000 ft, 300 ft higher than Hilversum’s. Upon my first approach I noticed I was way too high, so I called a go-around and tried again. Good for me, there was nobody in the circuit at that time. So I wasn’t bothering anyone either!

The second time around, I landed successfully. I taxied to the ramp, paid for my landing (in cash, it’s Germany after all) and walked back to the plane. Proceeded to have lunch sitting under its wing. Is there a better place for lunch? I didn’t think so!