Aquilla ferry flight

Besides flying the Diamond DA-20, I had another little adventure that Wednesday the 16th of November: I met the KLM Aeroclub Aquila A210 demonstrator! :)






The Aquila was supposed to be ferried in over the weekend before, but local weather grounded the plane. Two men (Emile and Melvin) had traveled to the south of Germany to collect the plane, and fly her back to Lelystad...

The aerodrome is in a valley. There was such persistent fog in that valley, that the plane could not fly out for days. This airplane is not IFR certified, so the pilots depended on visibility to rise above minimums. In the end, Emile had to return home due to other commitments. A couple of days later, Melvin took advantage of a small patch of blue to climb out on top of the fog, and fly all the way to Münster. From there, he got to fly to Lelystad on that particular Wednesday.
 Here's a link to Melvin's fotoshoot of the ferry flight (opns in new window)


I had followed the two men on facebook, so I knew the Aquila was to arrive that day. I only did not know at what time. Because I had some time to spare, I first drove by the KLM Aeroclub hanger to see ifthe Aquila had already arrived. The hangar was open, and they had already made the space available to fit the new addition to the fleet.

So, I continued to drive until the gate at the south side of taxiway C. I knew I could legally park there, and take pictures with the sun from behind me, should the Aquila taxi by. Well, I had not even parked the car properly, or I could see the D-EWTF taxi by already. No time to position myself properly, I took some photographs through the fence. They are not worth placing here, though.
The photo above, I took from the QAPS parking lot, with my 300mm lens. Melvin just opened the canopy, and is welcomed by some KLM Aeroclub members, and his father. :)
My appointment was with Wouter, but since he is also a KM Aeroclub mmber, and a friend of Emile and Melvin's, we soon decided to first go take a look at this new plane. Melavin and Emile were just about ready to depart on "a couple of circuits", so that Emile could finally also fly this bird.

Melvin and Emile in the D-EWTF

So we chatted a bit with the club members, and after the Aquila came back, we went tohave a cloder look. I even got to sit in it for a bit. Nice plane! Spacious cockpit, good leather seats, luxurious and robust. And the final version wll even have a Garmin 500 glass cockpit... Very luxurious!

Looks like they had fun ...

Sooooo ...

Now that KLM Aeroclub have their Aquila demonstrator, I should get to fly that one too, so that I can make a well balanced decision.

To be continued ...