Jussi and me at the Turku Airport fence.
June 12 — Vagar, Faroe Islands to Forssa, Finland
Meeting new friends in Finland
I would have loved to spend another day in the Faroe Islands, but it was Saturday and I had a marathon on Sunday in Forssa, which is 981 miles away as the crow flies. I couldn’t fly as the crow flies, though. There are mountains in Norway, and their peaks were above the freezing level, and there were clouds below the freezing level stretching high above the mountains.
I needed to find a route that would get me south of the mountains and that would be validated by Eurocontrol. In the United States, flight planning is much easier. In Europe, you have to comply with a lot of rules. Fortunately, there is software that helps. But it’s not perfect. I ended up solving my problem by telling a white lie to the software; I told it I was going to a spot in southern Norway, and then I told it I was going from that spot to the place I would clear customs in Finland, and then I joined the two routes into one that Eurocontrol would accept.
On departure, Faroe air traffic control warned of moderate turbulence, but fortunately the turbulence didn’t hit until I was well clear of the ground, and it was brief. Another problem. I was flying low, at 5,000 feet, and Faroe air traffic control was having a hard time getting Scotland to accept me at that altitude. I explained that I couldn’t go higher because of icing. Finally, the controllers worked things out.
Almost seven hours after departing Vagar, I landed at Turku, Finland, where I was soon greeted by three Finnish immigration agents who asked me the typical why are you here and how long are you planning to stay questions. My answers left them surprised, amazed, and amused. When the immigration agents left, I walked over to the terminal to handle my landing fee, but all of the doors were locked. As I was walking back to my plane, I heard a man calling my name. I didn’t know anyone in Finland, so this was quite a surprise.
The man calling my name had a camera and was standing on the other side of the airport fence. I walked over to him, and he introduced himself as an aviation enthusiast who had spotted my flight on flightradar24.com. He wanted to see the Mooney and the Mooney pilot that had flown from Vagar to Turku, and before that from Santa Monica across to Vagar. His name was Jussi Lempiainen, and he had presents for me: a Turku airshow T-shirt and a “Remove Before Flight” keychain. Five minutes in Finland, and I had a new friend. We talked for awhile, took some pictures, exchanged contact info, and said farewell.
I headed back out on a short, visual flight rules flight to Forssa, site of my marathon the next day. I spotted the town but didn’t see the airport, which has very little infrastructure and a single runway that’s only 50 feet wide. I had set up to fly a left downwind, which means I should have seen the airport on my left, but when my GPS showed me I was past it I turned left and headed back. That left turn was a perfect base leg, and the field immediately came into view. Shortly after I landed, taxied to the apron, and pushed my plane back into a space adjacent to the hangar, I was greeted by another new friend. I had “met” Hannu Hakkinen on euroga.org, a website for European general aviation (nonairline) pilots, and he had shared information about the Forssa airport and flying in Finland. Today, he had driven 60 kilometers to meet me in person and give me a ride into town. Hannu also showed me inside the hangar (and introduced me to another pilot) to look at some of the impressive planes based at Forssa.
And I wasn’t done making new friends. As Hannu was showing me around, two guys drove up. They’d seen the Mooney coming in and wanted a closer look. One of them was an airline pilot. Jari Leppänen flies ATRs for Nordic Regional Airlines, based out of Helsinki. Jari gave me some important information; I needed to do an oil change soon, and he told me where I could do it. He connected me with a friend and fellow ATR pilot, Jorma Sipiläinen, for details. Also, I needed to buy avgas, and there wasn’t any at Turku or at Forssa, but Jari and Jorma informed me that I could get avgas at the same airport where I would change my oil.
Finland was turning out to be a very friendly country.