Backcountry flying / camping in Norway
 

Hi everybody,

my wife and I would like to fly to Norway some when during late summer 2010.

We thought that it might be fun to take camping gear with us and do some remote airstrip hopping, if possible combined with some hiking and fishing.

What do you think? Is this a good idea or is this uncommon in Norway and we should simply stay at hotels?
If 'yes' - could you possibly recommend some airstrips which are neither too difficult nor too short as we will come with a standard Cessna 172.
Which charts do you recommend for flying the small airstrips? The 1:500000 ICAO charts, which will hopefully be published this summer or the M517 charts?

We would also be interested in participating in a fly-in. If you have any recommendations, please advice. :)

As we come from Germany, the southern half of Norway is the area to which we want to fly.

Cheers,

Oliver

Don`t know if this is around anymore, but there is/was an airfield manual called Bottlang Airfield Manual, published by Jeppesen I believe, which was basically VFR charts for all airfields. NAK-shop should have a copy for you if you do a quick google search:ok:.

Norway is a pretty long country, if you`re planning on flying up north. Lots of smaller airfields north of Trondheim which could be suitable for your plans. Most of them are located very close to the ocean, and there are also a few inland. So it depends on what kind of fishing your prefer:ok:. Camping should be no problem. If you have portable, foldable bikes to bring along it would probably make life easier. And taxi services are also available on request. These smaller fields normally have AFIS (flight information service) rather than fully operating ATC towers. No sweat really, as they give you traffic information and weather information. But no clearances for takeoff and landing, only information regarding if the runway is occupied or not. "Runway free" is the term.

Regarding these small strips... Some are as short as 800m, and the terrain and local wind conditions should be observed:eek:. Summertime VFR is normally not problematic though. But again, this depends on your level of experience and what you feel comfortable doing. Don`t try to push yourself into landing at an shortfield that you are uncertain of, or uncomfortable with. There are plenty of airfields around.

Final tip - check out where you can get fuel. I`m guessing that 100LL is what you need unless you have a converted engine that runs on diesel or Jet A1. Some of these airports don`t have 100LL:eek:!

Hi Guttn,

thanks for your kind reply. :ok:
I forgot to mention, that I know the Jeppesen Airfield Manuals (former Bottlang) and that I would of course purchase one of them before flying to Norway.

Which charts do you use? The ICAO, the M517 or both? Are all airstrips charted or are there also smaller backcountry airstrips which don't show up in the official charts?

Cheers,

Oliver

Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority - GA follow this one and you will be one step closer not to do any stupid mistakes.

airports here:
www.norskeflyplasser.no I would have googled the areas/cities and decided from what you like.

Myself, I would have made priority to the west coast, not missing the pulpit rock, city center and beaches of Stavanger. (yes i am from stavanger ;)
Bergen is a popular city as well
Voss is popular for activities, some big happenings in june .. not so sure about august.
Navigation in Norway is quite simple if you can count the fjords going up north on the west coast .. guess its more interesting landscape then the east part of Norway. Often you can use VOR/ADF as backup if you have it and dont have GPS.
Watch for powercords across the mountains/fjords etc. dont get down in bad weather not knowing what you are doing. Ceiling gets ****ty when low pressure weather comes from west.

Hi jager 34,

thanks for confirming that I had alread found the right information. :ok:
Does norskeflyplasser.no really show all airfield in Norway or are there also others, like private fields or dirtstrips for example?
Please excuse my possibly stupid questions, but the ICAO charts for Norway are currently unavailable, while I would already like to come up with some ideas of where to go.

By the way - my wife and I already now the west coast and absolutely love it - we drove there in 2008 with our caravan. If you are interested in our pictures - here they are: Norwegen
Stavanger is our favorite city in Norway! :)

Cheers,

Oliver

Hi!

I would recomend Telemark as one of your stops. Here you´ll find the "Telemarks Kanalen", were you can take a trip on one of the boats that still bring passengers from Skien to Dalen. This trip will take you through several locks ("sluser") as the boat is lifted from sealevel in Skien to approx. 80 meters by the time the boat arrives in Dalen. Most people take the boat from Skien to Lunde or v.v.

Telemark has several airports of varying sizes. Skien (ENSN) and Notodden (ENNO) are both AFIS airports with asphalt runways, while Lunde (ENLU) has a grasstrip 700 meters long. A Cessna 172 will have no problem here as long as the ground is not too wet.
Remember to check in advance with the locals..

Lunde is a great base for hiking with "Lifjell", a mountain approx. 1000 meters high, just 15 kms away, and for the telemark canal. The canal flows right by the airport.

Just PM me if you would like more info!

BR

Buster

nice pictures

you will miss this one if you come in august Google Translate
but you might like to join these:

NM i Akro, Starmoen
30.07.-02.08.2010

Elverum Open Air Rally
20.-22.08.2010

looking for the really small strips you might have better help from the plp flying micro but the general rule is from what I know that if a landowner/farmer allows you to land you can legally do it (if not too often) .. however, plp I know use the norskeflyplasser airfields.

Inland, eastern part of Norway, where I`m from also has some backcountry strips which could be what you`re looking for.
-Maarud just east of ENGM
-Trysil which is a dirt strip in the woods east of beforementioned Starmoen/Elverum ENHN
-Mesnali pretty close to MES VOR, and just east of Lillehammer
-Reinsvoll just west of Gjøvik
-Dokka a bit further west of Gjøvik
-Frya which is up the Gudbrandsdalen valley which you can follow from Lillehammer northwards
-Gålå which is a mountain dirt strip (but I don`t know if it`s open anymore - contact the Gålå/Gala hotel for details) - very picturesque!
-Tynest is a gras strip north of ENHN but south of ENRO
-ENRO Røros... a twr controlled field situated walking distance to the traditional ton of Røros
-ENOP Oppdal for more mountainous terrain, paved runway
-Frøya - on an island west of Trondheim

Fishing in Norway will be good near all of these places. Some rivers/lakes are closer to the fields than others

I fly Dash 8s to the shortfields up north, but that`s commercial flying on IFR flightplans, som we only use IFR charts. But I think the M517 chart would suit you just fine. :ok: Sounds like a really fun trip - the kind fliers in the US do from time to time.

Hi everybody, thank you so much for all these tipps! Plenty of information to start with the planning! :)

Cheers,

Oliver