NB: To find your way around, you can turn on the educational layer in the Feature Panel to enable city names.

Freely available official charts for this flight are available from this web site: http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/

Specific charts used during this flight:

Aerodrome chart Rotterdam Airport (EHRD): http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/080131-080313/eVFG/html/graphics/eAIP/RD-ADC-V4L.pdf

Visual Approach Chart Rotterdam CTR area: http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/080131-080313/eVFG/html/graphics/eAIP/RD-VAC-1-V4L.pdf

Aerodrome chart Hilversum Airport (EHHV): http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/080131-080313/eVFG/html/graphics/eAIP/HV-ADC-V5.pdf

Visual Approach chart Hilversum Airport (EHHV): http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/080131-080313/eVFG/html/graphics/eAIP/HV-VAC-2-V5.pdf

Well, it has been a while and it certainly isn't Christmas anymore, but I thought it's time to explore NL2000 some more. So I take my camera, lunch box and a good can of coffee with me because it's gonna be 2 long legs of flying.

The last time I ended up at Rotterdam Airport (EHRD) in my 'standard' red Cessna. As I enjoy flying slowly when sightseeing I decide to take this plane for the second trip as well. After refueling and checking the flight plan I am ready. The winds make it necessary to take off from runway 24. After climbing to about 1300 feet I already have a great view on the historical city of Delft (picture below, left). From the right window I can see the Technical University and the buildings of TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research). The main offices of TNO are located in Delft. As I turn towards the center of Delft I have a great view on the New Church (picture below, right). This church plays an important role in the history of the royal family of The Netherlands as it houses the royal crypt. The last member of the royal family who was buried here was Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands. The crypt may not be open to the public but the church looks terrific from the outside as is it very nicely modeled in the NL2000 scenery.

I decide to fly a little further to the north before turning to the east above the Prince Clausplein (a large interchange of several highways). Shortly after that I am flying above Zoetermeer. I spot several residential blocks of flats and a nice water tower in the southern part of the city.

I continue my flight to the east to the southern part of an area called 'Het Groene Hart', which means the green heart. This is a relatively rural area between the large cities of the Randstad metropolitan area between Rotterdam, The Hague and Amsterdam. The landscape is more or less protected. But the question is: for how long, as the suburbs on the edge of the area keep expanding. I spot a windmill east of Zoetermeer and an old style mill at the river Rotte.

After that I enjoy the view of yet another historical city namely Gouda (below, left). Gouda is famous for its cheese and its nice city hall (which is sadly not yet present in the scenery at the moment). I see some impressive road and rail viaducts over the river Gouwe west of the city.

On the east side of Gouda I spot a collection of lakes called the 'Reeuwijkse plassen' (lakes of Reeuwijk) After Gouda I fly over the typical Dutch scenery of pastures and little rivers in the direction of Lopik.

Lopik is a little village along the river Rhine (one of the large rivers in Europe) and houses the highest broadcast tower of Western Europe, the Gerbrandy Tower (above, right). In 2007 it was reduced in height to 366 meters because of installment of a digital antenna. Before that moment the tower was 385 meters high. In Christmas time the tower is one big Christmas tree (see it for yourself). Just to the east of the tower you can see the busy bridges over the river Rhine at Vianen. Due to the heavy traffic the capacity of the bridges will be doubled by adding a new bridge. East of Vianen is the Merwede canal. The beautiful canal locks can be easily seen.

I fly along the Merwede canal which flows into the Amsterdam-Rhine canal, which brings our plane above the southern part of the province of Utrecht. I am crossing the very busy A12 highway that can be recognized by the modern highway bridge over the canal. Utrecht is the most important rail node in The Netherlands. The rail network of The Netherlands is the busiest in Europe. I can see the large Central Station and rail emplacement from far away (below, left). Of course we cannot forget to fly above the Dom Tower (112 meters high) The tower itself was separated from the church by a tornado in 1647. The church and the tower have never been reconnected. As I fly to the northeast I see a building of the Fortisbank and the University complex of Utrecht. I am now heading to the north in the direction of Hilversum.

Hilversum is the premier center of television broadcasting in The Netherlands. Most Dutch television programs are produced in the studios of Hilversum. The airfield of Hilversum has grass runways which make for a challenging landing. On the 10th of April 2004 version 2.9 of the NL2000 scenery was released to the public in a hangar of the flight club of Hilversum.

I join the circuit over the patchwork of water and land called "Loosdrechtse plassen" and line up for runway 13. But the runway is difficult to see so I come in too high. After the second try I touch down nicely. Time for a cup of coffee on the airfield (above, right)!

Part III Take Off Again For The North!

Visual approach chart for Lelystad (EHLE): http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/080131-080313/eAIP/html/graphics/eAIP/LE-VAC-A4.pdf

Maps for Leeuwarden are not public as it is a military base (you can turn on the educational layer in Feature Panel to enable city names).

After the cup of coffee the weather has turned for the worse. Rain is coming in from the southwest. I take off with the nose of my aircraft pointing in the wind from runway 25. The windscreen of the Cessna shows that is has started to rain. After the climb out I turn to the right to take a look at the center of Hilversum. A little to the north of the center I spot the area of the Mediapark with the radio/TV-tower. In this part of town all the broadcasting companies are located.

A short while after that I overfly Bussum and see the historical center of Naarden (below, left). Naarden was fortified in the form of a star fort. After turning a full circle I travel to the Northwest to follow the A6 highway into Flevoland. This area was reclaimed from the sea in 1968 as part of a large project to close off the 'Zuiderzee' from open water. After the closing the 'Zuiderzee' became known as the 'IJsselmeer' (IJssel Lake).

After a while the airfield of Lelystad is under my left wing. The Dutch aviation museum Aviodrome was relocated from Schiphol Airport to here in 2003 and has a large area on the airfield. The museum owns a Boeing 747-200 called Louis Bleriot, which can be seen standing on the platform. Furthermore each year the Dutch Flight Simulator weekend is held in the museum (above, right).

I decide to overfly the field to continue my journey to the northeast. I see the large Flevocentrale (electricity plant) out of my left window an the many windmills which are located along the A6 (below, left).

I continue following this road into the 'Noordoostpolder'. This large agricultural area was also reclaimed from the sea. After a short while I overfly Emmeloord and follow the road to Lemmer (above, right). As I look from above on the nice town I realize that I am now in the province of 'Friesland' or 'Fryslan'. Friesland is different from the other eleven provinces of The Netherlands through having its own language.

Friesland is well known for the world famous 'Elfstedentocht', which is a speed skate competition through 11 cities. The tour is of course only possible when the many lakes and canals are frozen. The last tour was held in 1997.

Sadly the weather is worsening again. I fly low towards Sneek (also one of the 11 cities). After Sneek I follow the railroad towards Leeuwarden, the final stop on this trip. Leeuwarden is the capital city of 'Friesland'. It's nice to fly over a larger city again after the countryside (below, left). The highest office tower in the city the Achmea Tower (120 meters high) is one of the major landmarks here.

I head to the North to land at the military airfield of Leeuwarden. This airfield is beautifully reconstructed in the scenery. The field was built in 1938. It was used by the Germans in World War II. After the war the airfield was first used as a civil airport until 1949. Nowadays the airbase is used by the Royal Netherlands Air Force and NATO for exercises. I park my Cessna on the southern platform of the airfield (after receiving special permission of course). It's a great moment for taking a car to the center of Leeuwarden to eat, drink and sleep (above, right).

Next time I will be taking a flight in the F-16 fighter towards Vlieland on my last part of flights above NL2000.

Jeroen Arends
pagroove@chello.nl

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