HAPPY NEW YEAR - 06 SUMMARY
Written: 01 JANUARY 2007

Another year has passed... 2006 turned out in many ways to be different than I had imagined, but things usually don't always turn out as planned.

The year started with me getting a job in the Air Force at Gardermoen as 1st Lieutenant in the same unit as before I went to the States. This has kept me active the last year and has given my economy a needed boost (those of you who have been to flight school know the cost...). My job has given me the opportunity to travel around quite a bit, I just wish I could log the hours I've spent in the back of planes... (and that Eurobonus still awarded miles on domestic flights.)

I spent the summer doing the Jetstream Type Rating in England just outside Manchester. Even though the first job offer came fairly shortly after that, it has taken more time than first anticipated to get airborne. The last couple of months has been used to prepare myself for Scotland where Kristian and I got a job flying for Highland Airways. First I'm doing their company course in week 4, then I'm moving over there permanent in the middle of February to start line training.

I figured I would summarize 2006 with some pictures from some of my trips:

 

Stavanger & Bergen, Norway

I've had quite alot of trips to Stavanger and Bergen, both because of in/outgoing planes and because of meetings. In addition I've been a couple of trips to Madla (recruit camp) outside Stavanger to recruit and interview recruits to join as movecon (movement control) assistants.

 

 

 

Lakselv, Norway

In March I went up to Lakselv (faaaar north) where some Germans arrived in an Antonov 124. Obviously they are not used to planes this size around there, because it looked like the entire town stood outside the fence with their cameras. Even the mayor turned up..

Tallinn, Estonia

This somewhat blurry picture was the result of me and Reidars speed-tourism in Tallinn in the end of April. The plane landed just before 2300 and by 0200 we had seen the entire city and been to 3 bars/pubs/nightclubs where we amongst others met Swedes, Norwegians and a Scottish Ham-Kam (Norwegian footballteam) supporter.

Lorient, France

In May, Tore and I went down to Lorient in France with the 335 sqn to pick up some personnel and cargo. The city was not like anything I've seen in France, and for all I knew we could have landed in the middle of Russia. We found two restaurants, one steak restaurant and one McDonalds.

Düsseldorf, Germany

Later in May, Tore and I went to Düsseldorf. I took the opportunity to fly down a couple of days in advance to meet up with two friends I hadn't seen in a while. Ina who lives in Leverkusen and Alana who at the time worked as a teacher at a school outside Düsseldorf. Last time I saw Ina was in 02, and I hadn't seen Alana since 00.

Tore flew down on Sunday and we finished the assignment and got to do a little sight seeting.

Lovely city...

Reims & Paris, France

I came home from Düsseldorf late Monday evening and I got up early on Tuesday morning to go with Roar down to Reims. This city which is located just North East of Paris is to most people known for being a Champagne captial (together with Epernay), and I took the opportunity to get some cultural input. We arrived Reims a bit to late to go on one of the guided tours, but I took matters into my own hands and plotted a route around town. We stopped by Veuve Clicquot, but unfortunately there wasn't much to see there and the store had just closed. At Pommery on the other hand we got to the actual estate and look around. They even had the store open for me to buy a souvenir. We also passed by some of the other champagne house like Louis Roederer (maker of Cristal).

After the mission on Wednesday, Roar and I drove to Paris and stayed there for one night. We had planned the entire route to the hotel, but we managed of course to make a wrong turn bringing us straight through the city centre.

Roar had not been to Paris before, so I was the guide for the evening as this was my 4th visit. We had found a hotel close to L'Arc de Triomphe, so we had a good starting point. We walked down to Le Tour Eiffel, took the Metro to Notre Dame, walked to Le Louvre and then took the Metro to Montmartre and Sacre Caeur. After dinner and sight seeing we took the Metro back to Champs Elysées and then back to the hotel via L'Arc de Triomphe.

Manchester, England

As decribed in the article about the type rating, Kristian and I went to England for a total of 4 weeks in June and July. Manchester is a far better city than what I had imagined.

Nürnberg & München, Germany

In September Tore and I was on the move again. This time we went to Nürnberg. This is not the easiest place to get to in the world, so we ended up going to Frankfurt via Amsterdam and then onwards with a rental car. The Germans are as some might know in a festive mood this time of year, so the streets of Nürnberg were lively. After the mission we drove to München to catch the flight home the next morning. By chance (and luck...) Oktoberfest was up and running in München at the time, so what do you do? You go out and taste the German beer together with the tens of thousands of other people. Unfortunately we got there too late to experience the tents (14 tents with room for 10 000 in each), but the party moved to the city centre, so the atmosphere was pretty intense. Quite the experience.

 

Larnaca, Cyprus

In November, Silje and I flew down to Larnaca to help out the Norwegian contribution to the UN forces in Libanon. Again the journey went through Amsterday and onwards with Cyprus Airways A320, which inflight showed a quality movie starring Lindsay Lohan, which I can't remember the name of. The flight attendants seemed to be pretty bored with their job, but other than that the trip went well.

Strangely enough the best hotel in Larnaca also happened to be the cheapest (or at least close enough), but unfortunately we didn't get the time to dip our toes in either the pool or the ocean the three days we were there. One of the dinners we ate on the promenade in Larnaca. They served us desserts, coffee and cognac on the house (unknown of what reason). Then on the way back to the hotel we found a Häagen-Dazs restaurant that we couldn't pass. When I finally managed to squeeze down the last bits of my pancakes, icecream and chocolate, it took us 30 minutes before we manged to stand up.

The flight home was with our own SAS Braathens charter.

 

Inverness, Scotland

In Novemer, Kristian and I got a call from our examiner from the type rating course we did this summer. He was wondering if we could come to Scotland to attend an interview with Highland Airways where he is the Chief Pilot. We accepted and starting roaming the internet hunting for cheap tickets and we manged to get to Inverness and back for 1450 kr ($ 220). First Norwegian over to Stansted, bus to Luton, Easyjet to Inverness and Ryanair back via Liverpool to Torp. A nice LoCo trip where we got to try some of the biggest.

Inverness is located in Northern Scotland in the Highlands. We arrived Wednesday and left Friday, so we got to see some of the area and the city. We were offered a job with them starting in January which we accepted, so by mid-end February I should be starting my line training (flying the routes with a training captain to get used to the procedures and routes, with passengers in the back). Can't wait!