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Report:
As
I'm sure it is clear by now, our main motivation
for flying around the world is because we are
closet alcoholics who needed an excuse to get
together once a week and drink ourselves silly.
We then decided that we would try to incorporate
some real world events into our path around the
world to attempt to justify our uber-geek actions.
Bastille Day in France comes to mind, as does
Bobby Fischer starring as our Icelandic chess
champion window washer in Rejkavijk. At the rate
we are going we'll be in Africa for Kwaanza. Thankfully,
Festivus
can be celebrated anywhere (and it will!)
However,
what better way to coincide Hopper Flights, real-world
events and beer, the golden triumvirate, than
with Oktoberfest! And that, loyal followers, is
what drives us to fly back west to Hamburg, Germany.
It is here, that on October 22 we will have our
first monumental online event, Hoptoberfest,
featuring a fly-in that will snake through Bavaria
ending up in Munich. More information on this
event can be found here.
But,
we digress. We're not there yet. Back in Helsinki,
we were still holding short of the runway. When
we boarded passengers, the airport seemed to have
very little activity, and even as we taxied out
and held short it seemed dead. And then the planes
came, many of them in different shapes, sizes
and pretty much one color: Finnair. We grabbed
a few screen caps that should appear in our gallery.
After a good 25 minutes on the ground, and with
a few planes lining up behind us, we finally were
cleared for takeoff. Sadly. By the time this moment
came we had already blasted through some of our
Finnish beer, Sinebrychoff.
Once
airborne it was hazy through 5,000 feet. At 10,000
feet or so, the sky cleared out nicely with some
little fluffy clouds and lots of stars. We cruised
at FL245, as the sun illuminated the clouds nicely.
Further on, over Gotland
(a large island in the Baltic Sea maintained by
Sweden with approximately 58,000 inhabitants),
we experienced a thin cloud layer a few thousand
feet above us that was picking up some wild green
hues at sunset. We haven't noticed anything quite
like this before from Flight1's
Flight Environment. Almost Aurora Borealis,
but not quite. Cool stuff!
Our
descent into Hamburg was like a thick, Baltic
porter with clouds and near zero visibility. On
approach, the soup thinned a bit, then would thicken
again. At around 1,200 feet it thinned for good,
but we held the ILS until we reached decision
height. The landing was smooth and the passengers
were pleased, except for one guy who hated porters
and demanded a fine, German lager. Maybe next
time...
We're
going to spend some extra time here in Germany,
surveying brews and setting up things for Hoptoberfest.
Join us on October 22 and celebrate the marriage
of flight simulation and beer!
GB
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