Skip to main content

What goes through your mind if you had lay out on the beach on the end of an active runway?  This German sunbather is contemplating this as an airplane nearly landed right on top of him on this island in Northern Germany.
Juergen Drucker, the pilot of this Piper Archer just narrowly missed this sunbather who was lying dangerously close to the runway threshold.  While attempting a landing on the island of Helgoland, he got behind the curve and he landed short and crashed into a low perimeter fence. He damaged his airplane in the incident.
Helgoland is one of the most challenging airfields in Germany. The runways, 33/15 are 1300ft long, runways 21/03 1000ft long, and runways 24/06 is only 700ft long, and all are on a small island in the North Sea. Approaches requires special CFI instruction and minimum 100hrs PIC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13FDDPzQQNg
This incident on a beach in Germany is currently under investigation.

Alicja Gados

I was born in Europe (Poland) and moved to Calgary as a young kid and grew up in Canada. I began graduate school in Edmonton, Alberta where I also began ground school and my private pilot’s license training at Edmonton city centre, the now closed, Blatchford field, CYXD (most operators have moved a short way west to Villeneuve). I moved to the rocky mountains, I transferred flight schools to very busy, and windy Springbank airport – CYBW near Calgary. This move was overwhelming, at best. This is a blog about my experience learning to fly, acquiring more flight experience and ratings but also about general aviation topics, news and gear reviews. I’ve discovered that flying takes a lot of studying, work and dedication, but is very rewarding! I started flying just out of graduate school, so I have struggled with paying for my lessons, and as a result, I have to take many breaks, which means that getting licensed has taken many more hours than normal. I am a commercial and multi IFR rated licensed pilot. I completed my PPL and CPL in Calgary-Springbank and multi IFR (group one) ratings in Abbotsford, BC at Chinook Helicopters. If you are learning to fly, interested in learning to fly or just interested in aviation, please join us. I trained as an economist before becoming a pilot and switching to aviation full time. I enjoy climbing, mountaineering, hiking, camping and backcountry skiing. It’s a great time to be in aviation. The industry is growing.

Leave a Reply