Useful airfield information and home of the forum's fuel price league tables.

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By Steve H
#975964
There are two major airport in Goteborg (Sweden's second larget city), the main commercial airport at Landvetter and this mixed GA / Ryanair / low-cost carriers 'Goteborg City Airport', aka Goteborg Save.

Goteborg is located on the west coast of Sweden, about halfway up from the southern tip of Sweden. Goteborg Save airport is located about 8nm north west of the city centre, whereas Landvetter is a good 12 nm east-south-east of the city centre.

We approached the airport flying from Denmark, heading north east from the Danish island of Laeso in the Kattegat, this involves about a 36nm sea crossing. We routed in via the 'RAVEN' reporting point some 8 nm west of the airport. We were advised to be at or under 1500' by this reporting point as Goteborg Save seems to control up to 1500' while Landvetter controls above that normally.

From RAVEN, we routed east for a right base join for runway 19. We spotted the airfield easily enough.

There are two runways, both tarmac. The main runway is aligned 01/19 and is 2039m and the other is aligned 04/22 and is 871m. We vacated via holding point Bravo at the mid-point of the main runway and held just after hold while we contacted the ground frequency for parking instructions. It was simple enough, just taxi straight ahead to the prominent 'fuel island' and park on the grass immediately to the south (there were other aircraft already parked up on the grass).

Swedish AIP here:

http://www.lfv.se/sv/FPC/IAIP/

We used our own tie-downs as we couldn't see any around.

You report to the yellow and black 'C' as usual, in the main terminal building. They didn't particularly need to speak to us on arrival and said we should come back via the same entrance on the way back to settle up.

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Goteborg Save airport approaching runway 19 from right base

We fuelled on the day of departure and that was easy enough, we just asked at pilot briefing and pulled the plane over to the AVGAS pumps. A very friendly and helpful pompier arrived and duly did the business. Chitty in hand, we went back to briefing and paid up. Pay by cash or credit cards, no bother. There didn't seem to be an internet PC available, nor WiFi, but I asked in the local flying club ('Aeroklubben I Goteborg'), in the building due west of the pumps) and they had an internet PC they were happy for us to use.

For real insider information, contact 'akg1486' aka Peter Andersson by PM as he is a Flyer Forumite who is also the Chairman of that particular very active flying club.

If you have time and fancy some flying sightseeing, try an evening flight and ask for 'city 2000', you can fly around the city centre at 2000', then head off and descend to 1500' for a flight around the many islands to the west and north of the city, then back in to Goteborg Save. We did this and the smooth flight and tranquility of the evening and the lovely evening light made it well worthwhile.

We did have to present our pilots licence and photo ID to get back airside and have our baggage scanned, but it was all pretty good natured and not terribly serious.

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Goteborg City courtesy of City 2000' clearance of a beautiful evening at 20:00 local

You are by far best getting the 'Flybussarna' flying bus from the airport to the city centre. You can pay on the bus in cash and it costs about £GBP 6.00. The taxi cost us over £GBP35. You can also get the same bus back, it leaves from the main bus station in Goteborg. The service is irregular as it is timed to conicide with the low-cost carrier flights, but there were plenty of them daily, just don't get confused and get the same bus line to Landvetter. Look out for the distinctive rainbow swoosh on the side of the bus. You can also buy tickets for this bus at the main city centre bus station (Nils Ericsson Terminal) in the office marked 'Vasttrafik', but you must take a ticket as they have a ticket queue system (ask me how I know!).

We flew out to the south heading towards Hoganas. Departure was easy as we were still using runway 19. We were given 'route west of the city at no higher than 1500' - easy enough.


PS: I am reliably informed that the pronounciation of Goteborg in Swedish is 'yote-a-boy', but I think i'll stick with the severly anglicised 'goat-a-berg'
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By Steve H
#975977
Goteborg City Stuff

There is an Accor Hotel (the chain that allows same day cancellations) in Goteborg, it is an Ibis and it is on a ship permenently tied up on the estuary with very distinctive white and red hooped stacks. Unfortunately, it was booked for the night we wanted, otherwise it would have been ideal, and an easy walk into the city centre, maybe 1km max.

You would be advised to buy a sort of 'oyster card' for their busses. Buy these from the ticket office marked 'Vasttrafik at Brunnparken in the city centre, or in tobacconists / sweet shops displaying the 'Vasttraffik' logo. You but blocks of 5 trips for a modest amount, then hold them up to the readers on each bus. You can also use them for a ferry bus that leaves from next to the unmistakable tall ship moored up in the estuary called the 'Viking'. The ferry bus is also 'Vasttraffik branded. It simply heads out into the estuary stopping at about six stops, then repeats the same route back, nice cheap cruise!

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Buy bus tickets here in Brunnsparken (THE city centre stop)

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Get the 'boat bus' here

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The boat bus

Gotegborg is a proper 'working city' with a lot of marine related heavy industry. But it is also a scenic city and great to walk around and explore. The 'old city' is the fortified bit, between the river and the distinctive serrated wide canal that served as the city moat.

There are bars and eateries scattered around, but they are clustered on the wide road that heads south east out of the old city called the 'Avenyn' - lhis abounds with pavement cafes and bars, all very attractive in the early and late evening sun in June and July at these high latitudes.
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By akg1486
#1376802
The summer season is soon here, and we'd love visitors of this forum. PM me if you plan to visit our fair city.

A few things have happened since Steve wrote the above. Runway 04/22 is nowadays permanently closed. More importantly, all heavy traffic (Ryanair and other low-cost airlines) was forced to move to Gothenburg Landvetter (ESGG) in November 2014 following new measurements of apron and taxiway strength (PCN). The airport used to be a joint venture between the government airport company Swedavia, the city of Gothenburg and Volvo. In January, Swedavia took over completely and immediately decided to close it altogether. Some say the measurements were done with the explicit purpose of condemning the airport and force it to close, thereby removing competition between ESGP/GSE and ESGG/GOT. From what at least I understand, PCN-numbers are usually calculated rather than measured, and the measurements are not straightforward.

All is not bleak, though. We have a reprieve for the whole of 2015, and after that the most likely scenario is that the runway is shortened by about half and we become an uncontrolled airfield for GA and various public services such as ambulance, police, search-and-rescue and so forth. We are still waiting for this decision.

The airport buses Steve mentions no long run, of course, but there is regular bus traffic less than a kilometer away. Local bus information is found on http://www.vasttrafik.se/#!/en/.

Steve also wrote that I am the chairman of our flying club, which is also no longer the case. I retired after five years on 1 January. But I still fly and I am still around. If you visit, let me know and I will take you on a tour at City 2000, just as I did Steve (see pic above).
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By akg1486
#1514805
From 1 January 2017, ESGP has become an uncontrolled airfield. The AIP is not yet updated, however. I don't know when that'll be done, but perhaps once the ATZ has been established late Q1 2017.

Since GA (clubs, flying schools) shares the airfield with police, SAR and ambulance helicopters, there are strict rules for how to behave, in particular what to do when there is a real emergency going on. These rules are not yet available in English.

It's PPR on phone +46 31 92 72 36 for all visiting aircraft because of the high traffic and the helicopters. You should be able to get the details from there, if you plan to visit. There's also a new frequency: 123.350 MHz. I'll update this thread when proper visitor information is available.

We haven't had that many visitors from this forum, but there have been a few. If you plan to visit Gothenburg, send me a PM and I'll help you out with the information. The local procedures aren't that difficult.

The whole airport was purchased about a year ago by a real estate developer. They are obliged to provide space for helicopters for (from memory) ten years and for GA for five years; one of those years has already passed. What happens after that, we don't know. The worst-case scenario is that the same thing happens here as has already happened in Stockholm: a major city loses all its GA traffic. In the meantime, we keep flying!

/Peter
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By akg1486
#1543329
Unfortunately, it won't be possible for anyone to visit Göteborg/Säve for (probably) quite some time. This is the current NOTAM:
ESGP/GOTEBORG/SAVE


- AERODROME RESERVED FOR ACFT BASED. CLOSED FOR OTHER TFC.
FROM: 09 MAY 2017 11:43 TO: 10 AUG 2017 12:00 EST ES/B1314/17

I'll update if this changes, but for now it's closed.
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By akg1486
#1611858
Since 26 April 2018, ESGP is yet again a controlled airfield. During the time it was uncontrolled, only based aircraft were allowed due to the importance of everyone being 100% familiar with the local procedures we had with the police, ambulance and rescue helicopter services. Now it's open to anyone, but with PPR.

Despite the local procedures working well, some of the heli services were deeply unhappy about operating from an uncontrolled airfield. (That's middle management, not the helicopter pilots.) So somehow the funding for ATC was found somewhere and the CTR was re-established in April.

The AIP AD is not updated, and therefore neither is Skydemon. I don't know about other tools, but my guess it's the same for them. The AIP SUP 25/18 includes the information needed, and you can find it here: https://aro.lfv.se/Editorial/View/3925/ ... Nytt%20CTR. The phone number for PPR is +46 31 552310.

Note that the previous frequency, still referred to in Skydemon, is no more. We now have the 8.33 version of what we had before: 119.055. In Sweden, carrying a hand-held 8.33 radio is enough and if contact can be established with a fixed mounted 25kHz radio (119.050) that's the preferred option.

Anyone wishing to drop by the little fly-in we have to celebrate the club's first 100 years can get info on http://flyin.aeroklubben.se.

/Peter
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By akg1486
#1613976
Skydemon is now updated with correct frequency, VFR reporting points and holdings.