The flight over the Baltic islands represented the third part of the expedition "European Islands from the Skies" flown in mid August 2014. It took eight days, about 35 flight hours and some 7000 km. This trip opened up for me an almost unknown world of hundreds and thousands of islands located in the Baltic Sea and its various corners – the Bothnian Sea, Gulf of Finland etc. The weather was fantastic, so the videos and photos offer beautiful views. During the trip I also managed to shoot some rare videos of the capitals of Northern Europe - Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and historical Visby.
The departure was delayed by one hour due to rainy weather and low visibility until noon. However, I found a hole between the clouds and took off. After about 20 minutes I flew into much better weather and had no further weather problems on the journey. I flew in the airspace of the following countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland
11 August 2014
The third part of the expedition "European Islands from the
Skies” started on August 11, 2014 with my departure for the island
of Usedom in Germany. The weather was quite bad the first day but
got progressively better as the journey unfolded. Before
departure I had an interview with the national broadcaster, Czech
Radio. more
August 11, 2014
The first day took me to the Island of Usedom in Germany and then
over the island of Bornholm to the beautiful city of Visby in
Sweden. Bornholm in particular and the surrounding islets as well
as the historic city of Visby are well worth your while. For WWII
enthusiasts - Usedom island was the home of Peenemunde laboratories
where the infamous V1 and V2 missiles were developed. I flew over
and recorded these facilities too. more
12 August 2014
The second day of the journey took me from Visby over Stockholm to
Mariehamn, the capital of the Aland Islands - an autonomous part of
Finland. After a bit of rest I continued to Vaasa. The ATC
controller at Stockholm Bromma Airport let me fly and film the
centre of Stockholm so you can enjoy some of the beautiful sights
of Stockholm here. Then there is the small island of Market which
is divided between Sweden and Finland. Of interest is
also Faro island where the famous movie director Ingmar
Bergman lived, filmed and is buried. more
13 August 2014
From Vaasa I flew over the magic Kvarken Islands and Bothnic Bay to
the northernmost point of my journey - the city of Oulu. From here
I continued across the Finnish inland to Tampere. The Kvarken
Islands are rising from the sea at a speed of about 8-10 mm per
year, so the changes in the size and shape of the islands are
visible even when comparing photos just 20 years old with the
present ones. more
August 14, 2014
From Tampere I flew to the southern coast of Finland, to the
small, almost unused airport of Hanko built in 1939 by the Russians
who annexed part of Finland. From there I continued to Helsinki´s
GA airport of Malmi and then across the Gulf of Finland along the
Estonian coast to Kardla airport. I managed to film the centre of
Helsinki as well as Tallinn in addition to the islands in the Gulf
of Finland. more
August 15, 2014
From Kardla I flew over the largest Estonian islands to Kuressaare
airport and then onto Ruhnu Island. South of Ruhnu, over the Gulf
of Riga I crossed the border to Latvia and landed at Spilve airport
in Riga. The airport was just celebrating the 60th anniversary of
the construction of its clearly Soviet era terminal. more
August 16, 2014
From Riga I departed to the western coast of Latvia and landed at
Klapejda. Then I continued to the beautiful historical city of
Kaunas and from there over to Vilnius. The ATC controller at
Vilnius airport helped me to stay for some time over the centre of
the city to film. I then crossed the border to Poland and
landed at Suwalki airport. more
August 17, 2014
From Suwalki I flew over the beautiful Masurian lake district to
the airport of Wloclawek where I had to land because of the bad
weather. After about two hours of waiting I continued on to Příbram
where I landed in the early afternoon. more
I have been flying gliders since my age of 15 and in 2006 I completed my PPL in Texas, USA. More
