14 Odense - Zurich
23. Jan 2007
So the day for departure arrived. I planned for an early start from Beldringe – the airport of Odense.
After packing, I was ready for departure and fired the engine to taxi to the fuel station – only to realise, that the battery was discharging….
Hmm pondering what the problem could be, decided to taxi to the local workshop, and they kindly took time to check the engine out. I went for a cup of coffee in the airport office instead.
It was probably an hour later that it suddenly occurred to me: Could it be just a fuse….? Back out to the plane and it turned out, that this was exactly what the problem was! Because I had to crank the engine about 5 times before it started earlier on, the alternator fuse had popped out. I should have thought about that.
But I did get the advice to prime the engine more; I was really the first time I had to start the engine in cold weather – and the winter had decided to finally start this very day, and it was the first day where the landscape was covered by an inch of snow.
The delay caused a pause in the snowfall, and I was able to depart without further problems. My main concern was the risk of picking up ice on the aircraft.
Up to 8.000 feet I cruised in sunshine until about 100 NM from Zurich – my first destination. After radar vectors to the ILS approach to runway 14, the descend was through solid IMC. It was overcast at 1000 feet.
My only concern was a building up of about ½ inch of ice on the plane before reaching the runway. The landing was not the best I have made!
After taxiing most of the way to Jet aviation I was guided to the parking spot by a marshal – and 5 minutes later I got a ride to the terminal.
