Where have you been? What have you seen?
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By Morten
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1793713
Following up on this earlier post, I had a most excellent flight earlier this week.

First thing to note is the abundance of airfields and clubs around the region. Google for the Czech word "Letiště" and you are likely to find a few within striking distance. In my case, there were more than half a dozen within 45 minutes or so, including the aircraft manufacturer Zlin.
About 4 years ago I was interested in buying G-BWTC, a Zlin 242, but I was too slow and someone else snapped her up and is hopefully still enjoying her. It would have been lovely to be able to fly a Zlin - from Zlin. However, after a couple of promising emails the price they quoted was not reasonable and by that time I was in touch with the aeroclub at Luhačovice which is where we ended up going.

ImageThe central spa area of Luhačovice, showing the Jurkovičův dům hotel, the colonnade and, just visible on the right, the Vincentka spring.

Luhačovice is a small town nestled in the mountains just south of Zlin and is well known for being a spa town. From its heyday in the late 19th century, through wars and 40 years of communism, it has certainly seen interesting times but luckily is today an oasis of peace within the splendour of the forested mountains and looks beautiful after recent renovations. In the main area there are still 3 springs with mineral water you can fill your bottles from - or you can buy bottles and related health care products from the shops. The area is still used for thermic treatment and you can go there and receive treatment under the Czech equivalent of the NHS. The czech are not adverse to enjoying themselves whilst being treated, so you can upgrade your prescription treatment with a stay in hotels which range from simple to luxurious, and enjoy excellent local food and wine and/or beer as well.
Certainly on the agenda for next time!

Back to the aeroclub, it sits above the town on a ridge at about 1,100 feet with a smooth 20/02 grass strip of 570m. In addition, the overrun to the east is used to give an additional 400m or so, although it is at quite a downhil slope.
The club has around 45 members and the hangar has a dozen or so aircraft from a Cub to an Antonov An-2 (seriously drool-worthy heavy metal with a fantastic view from the cockpit! But with an oil consumption of 10 l/hour and fuel consumption 20 - 30 times that... maybe next time...), as well as a Zlin used to aerotow gliders which find good thermalling conditions in the area.
Originally, the club was based about 45 km further North at Holešov, but they needed to move due to a change in planning status. As part of the move, they received a compensation from the authorities since they had lost their place, which enabled them to establish the airfield at Luhačovice in 2018. (I applaud the Czech authorities! No further comment...)

Our aircraft for the morning was OK-WIN, a neat and tidy Reims 172 and Tomas Dorotik came with us to make sure all went OK. With us came Ms. M and her mother, so with Tomas and myself it was a good thing we were all of standard size and weight.

With hardly any wind, we took off towards the west and slowly swung left as we climbed around the town and headed north to Zlin. Czech airspace is class E from 1000 feet AGL, quite a few ATZs around (up to 4000 feet) and TMAs coming down which, when the local cumulogranite goes up above 3000 feet, is more restrictive than it sounds. But I didn't need to focus too much on those as Thomas was working the radio and had the local knowledge, leaving me to focus on the sightseeing.

ImageZlin centre with Bata houses, the city square and the industrial area (now mostly offices) at the top.

Zlin was a very small town and birthplace of Tomas Bata who set up the Bata shoe factory there at the turn of the 19/20th centuries. Bata was a visionary and created not just the factory but also accommodation for the workers, schools, leisure and cultural facilities etc. The town was a model town, set in pretty countryside with a relatively affluent and educated workforce, all of which combined with a commercial success story as the Bata brand grew. Bata towns were built in several places across the globe - including one in Essex, but few of those remain intact. Zlin, however, still manufactures shoes, Bata houses and legacy is everywhere and e.g. the local University carries his name.
Today the town has around 75,000 inhabitants and although the original factory buildings still dominate the central town, they are mostly converted to clean industry and offices. 40 years of communism also left their mark on the architecture, which is a mix of the Utopian optimism of Bata with the austerity of the 60s. Interspersed with the general pride which Czechs take in everything they do - streets are clean, gardens are beautifully maintained, grass and trees line wide roads - and people enjoy the pivo, slivovice and becherovka, not to mention the klobásy, knedle and vepřové žebra.

VFR navigation is easy as the valleys and ridges are well defined. Palaces and castles dating from the period of the Austro-Hungarian empire are dotted around and make for scenic waypoints. After Zlin we fly out over Kroměříž and see its palace from the air before we head towards the mountains and do an orbit over the Basilica on Hostýn.
Image Hostýn (itself at 2,450 feet) as seen from 3,000 feet

The air is beautifully crisp and I recognise the Radehost mountain (which gives its name to the Radegast beer) from about 25 miles away. Beyond that we see peaks in Poland - turning our head we probably see Slovakia and possibly Austria on the other horizon.
ImageLovely landscape with mountains and forests, interspersed by lakes, towns and rivers.

Heading south, we pass over 3 more airfields as we approach Zlin again. I thought Luhačovice would be difficult to spot but as it's perched on the ridge and the hangar roof is large, we see it from a decent distance. Local time was around 11am and the thermals over the woodlands were starting to make the air bumpy. On downwind, we could see that the Zlin was out and the first glider tow was being prepared. Coming in to land I was expecting and we received a decent lift over some trees on final but the landing and rollout was lovely on the very smooth runway.
ImageSmiles all around after a lovely flight

This was my first flight in Czechia but it will not be my last one. The landscape is beautiful and the skies are empty. Facilities were new, people are friendly and helpful. The only drawback is the language. Whereas the bigger places will speak English, the smaller airfields - who each do have an ATZ up to 4,000 feet - are unlikely to do so. Praha FIS 'overhead' could probably assist with the ATZ crossings or maybe the local airfields would reply with English, but a cribsheet and basic knowledge of Czech would help. So that will be something to work on - and well worth it.

Next time, I'll also have to go and visit some of the manufacturers - Czechia has quite a thriving aerospace industry with some tasty stuff.

What's not to like?

ImageSome bloke enjoying his pivo with a plateful of huge vepřové žebra (roast pork ribs) which, notwithstanding their size, did not last long.
Last edited by Morten on Tue Sep 01, 2020 11:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Flyin'Dutch'
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1793749
The Czech Republic is a pleasant place to fly to and in; airfields aplenty and kind and friendly folk, the younger generations all very well versed to converse in English.

They have a very rich aviation scene and history, are not afraid of a decent piece of meat and excellent beer if you like Pils - which I happen to do.

Been several times over the last 2 decades and as yet to be disappointed. Great write up!
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By Iceman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1793812
Great memories of flying to Karlovy Vary, Kolin, Bubovice, Letñany and Ruszynê back in 2000 (for a wedding reception). I got as far as Blackbushe on a subsequent flight to the Slovak Republic in 2005 (again, for a wedding) but TS/CB throughout Europe stopped that flight and I had to get a commercial to Vienna in the end. So I’m long overdue for a return visit to that part of the world, and your trip report has whetted my appetite.

Iceman 8)
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By Morten
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1793901
Flyin'Dutch' wrote:The Czech Republic is a pleasant place to fly to and in; airfields aplenty and kind and friendly folk, the younger generations all very well versed to converse in English.

I found that a bit hit and miss. During the communist era, Russian as the first foreign language taught and the education system took some time to change; those who did their whole schooling under that regime (i.e. practically those born before 1980) would only have rudimentary English at best. So 'younger generation' in this sense would need to be younger than me (which is an ever increasing part of the population!)

CloudHound wrote:Go East and check out JMB aircraft. ^^^^^Cover photo mag^^^^

Indeed. There's JMB but also Evektor and TL which I had heard of. Several others are listed on this wikipedia stub. I'll try to get a fuller list and do some research and will definitely build that in to the programme next time. (Pivo and spa treatment permitting, of course ;))
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By Iceman
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#1793950
We flew in to Letnany to go to the military aircraft museum at Kbely (we couldn’t get a clearance into this military airfield at the weekend, and it’s only a short walk from Letnany). The museum was very interesting with old Eastern Bloc types that I hadn’t seen before. From Letnany, we wanted to fly into the main Ruszynē airport which needed a pre-clearance, squawk, etc. The guy in the tower at Letnany didn’t speak any English but there was a couple of young girls there who did so they acted as the go-between to get us the clearance via the tower guy (basically, squawk, altitude, contact approach, as from Letnany, you’re practically on the ILS in to Ruszynē anyway). At Ruszynē, we parked next to the president’s jet at the GA terminal.

Iceman 8)
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#1793992
Iceman wrote:We flew in to Letnany ...

Iceman 8)

We went there in 2015 and found the airfield more than acceptable, albeit a little bumpy. More recent reviews in Skydemon say that it has deteriorated. What's your impression?

(I'm not going now, but I'd like to go back to Prague next summer.)

Other tips:
- Karlovy Vary, formerly the Bohemian town of Karlsbad, has a boring airport but the town is a lovely little gem. The exteriors of the casino in "Casino Royal" were filmed here.
- Plzen is a former military airfield: long and hard. The town is pleasant and the Urquell brewery is worth a visit.
- Liberec, in the corner where Czechia, Germany and Poland meet, has a grass airfield that's perfectly ok. The town is a bit more boring than the other places I've been in Czechia.
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By Iceman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1794039
akg1486 wrote:More recent reviews in Skydemon say that it has deteriorated. What's your impression?


The consensus seems to be that the southern runway (and taxiways) are in a poor state with the northern runway being the better of the two. High fees seem to be mentioned quite frequently as well. None of the contributors mention any specific damage to their aircraft so the general message seems to be northern runway and taxi with care. It may be worth seeking an alternative and comparing the relative total costs of airport fees and transport fees into the centre of Prague. It’s a shame that Kbely isn’t available with its hard runway and close proximity to Letnany.

My memories of Letnany 20 years ago are that it was grass and that there were no specific taxiing problems at that time. I’ve just looked at my first logbook and it was 20 years ago tomorrow that I landed there.

Iceman 8)
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By Flyin'Dutch'
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1794050
akg1486 wrote:- Liberec, in the corner where Czechia, Germany and Poland meet, has a grass airfield that's perfectly ok. The town is a bit more boring than the other places I've been in Czechia.


Does Liberec still have an airfield?

I thought it was gone - I have been to Hodkovic just up the road from there many many times mainly for gliding, but visited in Robin and Maule (of course)
#1794054
Flyin'Dutch' wrote:
akg1486 wrote:- Liberec, in the corner where Czechia, Germany and Poland meet, has a grass airfield that's perfectly ok. The town is a bit more boring than the other places I've been in Czechia.


Does Liberec still have an airfield?

I thought it was gone - I have been to Hodkovic just up the road from there many many times mainly for gliding, but visited in Robin and Maule (of course)

We were there two years ago, in July. When you asked I got worried I was posting outdated information, but LKLB is still in Skydemon and has a comment from a visiting pilot in June 2020. (Who flew around Europe in June 2020? The pilot was not local. Hmm...) The comment says that nobody spoke English on the radio, and I can believe that.

The AIP, from 2019 and linked to in Skydemon, says "Providing information to known traffic in english language can be agreed with Aeroclub Liberec minimally 24 HR in advance." It's uncontrolled, and there was nobody on the ground or in the air when we arrived. But we had been in contact in advance and, in contrast to Germany, you can land with nobody on the radio from the ground.
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