Germany - from Frankfurt to Muenster

Germany – Frankfurt to Muenster

 For this flight, we depart from the westerly center of Germany, Frankfurt/Main, and work our way up to Muenster, the northerly center of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

We depart from Egelsbach (EDFE). It lies just 6 miles southeast of Frankfurt Intl. Airport, and is Germany’s busiest General Aviation airport. The airport was opened in 1955 with a single grass runway. In 1966, an asphalt runway was constructed and by 1977 the number of movements had increased to 126,000 a year. In 2007, about 77,000 movements were made.

To allow for larger aircraft to land, in 2004 construction was started on a runway expansion, which increased the runway length to its current 1,400 m. It is now intended to establish  IFR procedures at the airport, including an ILS approach. There are also plans to extend the runway by another 270 m and to increase the width by 5 m (16 ft).

Egelsbach Airport

We depart and stay below 500 feet, as we cross the approach or departure of Frankfurt Airport. After some sightseeing of Frankfurt downtown [WP1], we turn west and land at Mainz-Finthen (EDFZ).

Mainz is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Mainz is located on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite where the Main joins the Rhine. 

Mainz was founded by the Romans in the 1st century BC as a military fortress on the northernmost frontier of the empire and provincial capital of Germania Superior. Mainz became an important city in the 8th century AD as part of the Holy Roman Empire, capital of the Electorate of Mainz and seat of the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz, the Primate of Germany. Mainz is famous as the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of a movable-type printing press, who in the early 1450s manufactured his first books in the city, including the Gutenberg Bible.

Mainz is notable as a transport hub, for wine production, and its many rebuilt historic buildings.

Mainz

Now we turn north and land at two small GA airfields in my neighborhood: Elz (EDFY) and 16 miles away, Wienau (EDRW). They are somewhat typical for the many small airfields in Germany that are mainly used for glider and ultralight flights. We then overfly my house [WP2] and continue to Cologne/Bonn (EDDK), named after Germany’s first post-war Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer. The airport serves Cologne and Bonn and is also an important cargo hub, as it is one of the very few airports in Germany that is open 24 hours a day.

EDDK

Cologne is the largest city of Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city and one of the oldest in Germany. With 3.6 million people in the urban region and 1.1 million inhabitants within its city proper, Cologne is the largest city on the river Rhine.

The city's medieval Catholic Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom), the third-tallest church and tallest cathedral in the world, constructed to house the Shrine of the Three Kings, is a globally recognized landmark and one of the most visited sights and pilgrimage destinations in Europe. The cityscape is further shaped by the Twelve Romanesque churches of Cologne, and Cologne is famous for Eau de Cologne, which has been produced in the city since 1709, and "cologne" has since come to be a generic term.

There are many institutions of higher education in the city, most notably the University of Cologne, one of Europe's oldest and largest universities, the Technical University of Cologne, Germany's largest university of applied sciences; and the German Sport University Cologne. It hosts three Max Planck science institutes and is a major research hub for the aerospace industry, with the German Aerospace Center and the European Astronaut Centre headquarters. It also has a significant chemical and automobile industry.

Cologne was founded and established in Germanic Ubii territory in the 1st century CE as the Roman Colonia Agrippina, hence its name. "Agrippina" was later dropped (except in Latin), and "Colonia" became the name of the city in its own right, which developed into modern German as Köln. "Cologne", the French version of the city's name, has become standard in English as well. During the Middle Ages, the city flourished as being located on one of the most important major trade routes between east and western Europe. Cologne was a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire and one of the major members of the trade union Hanseatic League. It was one of the largest European cities in medieval and renaissance times.

Cologne is a major cultural center for the Rhineland; it hosts more than 30 museums and hundreds of galleries. Exhibitions range from local ancient Roman archeological sites to contemporary graphics and sculpture.

Cologne

After departure, we overfly the city of Cologne and the Cathedral [WP3] and head for Mönchengladbach (EDLN). The original name of the city was Gladbach, by which it is still often known today. To distinguish it from another town of the same name (the present Bergisch Gladbach), it took the name München-Gladbach in 1888. Between 1933 and 1950, it was written München Gladbach, without a hyphen. This spelling was seen as potentially misleading, as it could imply that Gladbach was a borough of Munich (München in German), so consequently, the name was changed to Mönchen-Gladbach in 1950 (and subsequently Mönchengladbach in 1960) to avoid confusion.

Mönchengladbach Airport is dominated by general aviation. There are currently no scheduled services to and from Mönchengladbach. Additionally, there are few business-charter passenger flights. In June 2015 Hugo Junkers Hangar was opened as an aviation and event facility. Airplane enthusiasts can book sightseeing flights with Junkers Ju 52 from the 1940s.

Mönchengladbach

We continue north-west, overfly Essen with the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex [WP4], and land at Dortmund (EDLW). Founded around 882, Dortmund became an Imperial Free City. Throughout the 13th to 14th centuries, it was the "chief city" of the Rhine, Westphalia, and the Netherlands Circle of the Hanseatic League. During the Thirty Years' War, the city was destroyed and decreased in significance until the onset of industrialization. The city then became one of Germany's most important coal, steel and beer centers. 

The region has adapted since the collapse of its century-long steel and coal industries and shifted to high-technology biomedical technology, microsystems technology, and also services. Dortmund was classified as a Node city in the Innovation Cities Index published by 2thinknow, ranked among the twelve innovation cities in European Union, and is the most sustainable and digital city in Germany. With its central station and airport, the third-busiest airport in North Rhine-Westphalia, Dortmund is an important transport junction, especially for the surrounding Ruhr area as well the Benelux countries, and with the largest canal port in Europe, it has a connection to important seaports on the North Sea.

Nearly half the municipal territory consists of waterways, woodland, agriculture, and green spaces with spacious parks. This stands in stark contrast with nearly a hundred years of extensive coal mining and steel milling in the past. Borussia Dortmund is one of the most successful German football clubs.

Dortmund

Our next landing is at Paderborn (EDLP). Paderborn was founded as a bishopric by Charlemagne in 795, although its official history began in 777 when Charlemagne built a castle near the Pader springs. In 799 Pope Leo III fled his enemies in Rome and reached Paderborn, where he met Charlemagne and stayed there for three months. It was during this time that it was decided that Charlemagne would be crowned emperor. Charlemagne reinstated Leo in Rome in 800 and was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Leo in return.

After the city was reconstructed in the 1940s and 1950s, Paderborn became a major industrial seat in Westphalia. The British Army retained a significant presence in the area until 2020 when British units were relocated back to the United Kingdom. Only a small training and enabling staff remain at Paderborn to facilitate temporary deployments to use the Sennelager Training Area. Paderborn is also home to Aerosoft.

Paderborn

We leave Paderborn and head east to overfly the Hermannsdenkmal [WP6]. The monument was constructed between 1838 and 1875 to commemorate the Cherusci war chief Arminius (in German, Hermann) and his victory over Rome at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. When the statue was built, its location was believed to be near the original battle site, although experts now consider it more likely that the battle took place near Kalkriese, about 100 km to the northwest.

We turn west again and on our way towards Münster is our next landing, the famous glider field of Oerlinghausen (EDLO). With around 25,000 glider take-offs each year it is one of the largest gliding centers, comparable with Lasham Gliding Society in the United Kingdom. It is home to 13 gliding clubs and a gliding school. It is also used by powered airplanes, microlights, and hot air balloons.

Glider pattern at Oerlinghausen

 Now we reach Münster, which was the location of the Anabaptist rebellion during the Protestant Reformation and the site of the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years' War in 1648. Today it is known as the bicycle capital of Germany.

In 2004, Münster won an honorable distinction: the LivCom-Award for the most livable city in the world with a population between 200,000 and 750,000. Münster is famous and liked for its bicycle friendliness and for the student character of the city that is due to the influence of its university, the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster.

Münster in 5 minutes

10 miles north is today’s destination, Münster-Osnabrück International Airport (EDDG).

In mid-1967 the German authorities approached the British Army for assistance in building an airfield to serve the Münster-Osnabrück area. An airstrip existed at Greven, but the site was heavily wooded and included one badly drained and swampy area, and was within a few hundred meters of the Dortmund-Ems Canal which had been bombed during World War Two and where the presence of unexploded bombs was suspected. By March 1968 it was agreed that the British Army would clear and level an area 2120 meters long between 400 and 500 meters wide and produce a base of clean sand 1520 meters long and 50 meters wide, for a runway to be used by aircraft of Trident and BAC 1-11 size. Work began in April 1968. 16 Field Squadron Royal Engineers (RE) provided the project control and RE units from all over the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) but particularly 43 Field Support Squadron RE provided manpower and plant.

On 24 September 1968, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia received permission to begin construction. An apron and a 2,000 m long runway were built. The ground leveling was performed by BAOR.

Despite many problems, the project was completed on 30 June 1969, within a few days of the planned date. As a gesture to recognize the British Army involvement the Germans gifted a Ka 7 glider to the regiment and gave them honorary membership of the Greven Gliding club. After five years of construction, the Münster/Osnabrück airport was officially opened on 27 March 1972.

The first charter flight from Münster/Osnabrück airport to Palma de Mallorca took place in 1973.

Today, the airport offers connections to several European cities, mainly for vacation travels. In 2004 plans were made to extend the runway to 3000 and later to 3600 meters. Many years of lawsuits followed and the project was finally canceled in 2011.

 Source: Wikipedia

Flight plan: here

Aircraft: The flight has about 300 miles and 8 landings. I will be the JF Turbo Arrow with Ron’s D-EATV livery. Please fly, what you like.

Additional scenery: All airports are in the default simulator. There are a number of freeware airfields available:

 Airport Egelsbach https://flightsim.to/file/13896/project-edfe-flugplatz-frankfurt-egelsbach

 Airport Mainz: https://flightsim.to/file/23369/edfz-mainz-finthen

 Airstrip Elz: https://flightsim.to/file/6499/edfy-flugplatz-elz-lite-v1-1

 Airstrip Wienau: https://flightsim.to/file/6501/edrw-dierdorf-wienau-lite-v1-0

 Airport Mönchengladbach: https://flightsim.to/file/21557/edln-mnchengladbach

 Airport and town of Dortmund: http://www.bahrometrix.de/downloads/dortmund-als-komplettumsetzung/

 Airport and Town Münster: https://flightsim.to/file/13613/munster-osnabruck-international-airport

 Town of Münster: https://flightsim.to/file/7251/ville-de-munster-allemagne

 Gliderfield Oerlinghausen: https://flightsim.to/file/5361/edlo-segelflugplatz-oerlinghausen

Paderborn: https://www.aerosoft.com/de/microsoft-flight-simulator/msfs-szenerien/3491/aerosoft-airport-paderborn/lippstadt-free

Dortmund comes with an installer and three parts: the City of Dortmund, Dortmund airport (EDLW) and a small airstrip (EDIU). You can select the desired intallation path and which parts you would like install. If you need some help, send me a PN or an E-Mail.

Time and weather: Please set your simulator for a 1 PM departure. We will try real weather.... 

 

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Saturday, February 12, 2022. 1800 UTC
Where: AVSIM RTWR Teamspeak - Casual Flights Channel
Teamspeak Server Address: ts.teamavsim.com
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!