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General information

Baltic tour is a story of a flying holiday. The flying holiday lasted for four days and included five different airfields. This page has pictures, videos and stories of the events that took place during the journey.
Photos and sometimes films were taken from airfields. You can go and see the those airfield specific photos and films by clicking the name of the airfield anywhere in the text. Use your web browsers back to previous page button to get back to this page.
Airfields visited during the journey in order of visit: Tartu, Estonia (EETU), Cesis, Latvia (EVCA), Aleksotas (S.Dariaus ir S.Gireno), Kaunas, Lithuania (EYKS), Spilve, Riga, Latvia (EVRS) ja Kuressaare, Estonia (EEKE)

Main reason to the trip was that we took part to a Baltic Air Rally, that visited Cesis, Aleksotas and Spilve airfields. More of that later.

Start of this story contains general information of this journey. After the start, each day has its own chapter and in the end there are statistics gathered from the journey.

Time and weather

At the time of the journey, the weather in Southern Finland and in Baltic area was excellent for flying and for sight seeing. Only when we arrived to Spilve, there was a full cloud coverage in the sky. However, even then all the clouds where gone within next few hours.

Route

Route took us first to Estonia and from there to Latvia and Lithuania and back again to Finland via Latvia and Estonia.

First day

During the first day we flew via Tartu to Cesis. This meant that we had to cross the Gulf of Finland (photos below).




Crossing the ocean when according to all the traditions... listening engine and monitoring engine instruments. Where an earth does that interest always arises? Photos below show the Tartu city and airfield.

At Tartu we filled up the tanks so we had plenty of fuel to burn during next two legs. From Tartu the trip continued towards Cesis, that was the actual starting point of Baltic Air Rally. Below there is a photo of Cesis city and airfield.


We where the first ones to arrive to Cesis. The photo below was taken from a final.

Within next ten minutes all the Baltic Air Rally planes had arrived to Cesis. Crew in OH-XKD was Tero and Matti. The following has all the other crews and their planes introduced in the order their arrived to Cesis.

Cessna 180H OH-CER Ossi and Seppo

RV-6 OH-XMT Lasse and Markku

PIK-25 Varttimarkka OH-XXV Jarmo

Beechcraft Musketeer OH-BMH Jaakko and Johannes

RV-8 OH-XRV Pekka and Matti

When we had caught up with all the current activities regarding flying, it was time to hook the planes to ground (unmanned flying is forbidden).

When the planes where ready for night, we started to get organized... booked the rooms from hotel and called a taxi to pick us up. However, the experienced Baltic traveler Jarmo, who also acted as a Baltic Air Rally event leader and originator, probably based on his previous experiences took his bike and whished all the luck to rest of the group in finding the hotel.

Hotel turned out to be very comfortable and specially the back yard (photo below) was very impressive.

Second day

Second day started by going around the city by foot. Cesis, over 800 years old city, turned out to be beautiful and idyllic city. Below there are some photos from the city.









We found all the planes from where we left them, so trip towards Aleksotas airfield in Kaunas started.

Takeoff from Cesis was also captured on video. Specialty feature in that video is the way how the plane starts flying. In OH-XKD the tip of the propeller is less than 5,5inch (14cm) off the ground, when plane is empty and is set horizontally to level position (naturally the propeller is set vertically). Because of this, if takeoff is performed with heavy load from a rough surface, it is not too good to raise the tail wheel too high. During the takeoff run the tail wheel is kept on ground (or close to it) and it is raised higher only for a short period of time. When it is pulled again down with right speed, the place starts flying. This method ensures that propeller blades stay within safe distance from ground during the takeoff run.

Route from Latvia to Lithuania went through scenery that did not change much. Scenery contained fields, small areas of forest and few rivers that run crosswise compared to our flying direction.


We also had tail wind, so cruising speed was good even engine power setting was low (45%).

After an hour plus flight, we arrived to Kaunas Aleksotas airfield. During the final approach we got bit too close to OH-XMT.
From the landing video, it is possible to see OH-XMT flying ahead of us (below right).



At the Aleksotas airfield all the planes that use AVGAS joined up the queue for more food, but those using diesel fuel did not need more fuel. That diesel fuel must taste awfull as the engines refuse to consume it properly.


When planes had their lunch boxes filled up, planes where again set for night and rooms where booked from the hotel.



Also in Kaunas the hotel was comfortable and the back yard was again great.

The city of Kaunas was clean and we found art, churches, walking district, park, theater and luckily also a restaurant that had good food to offer. So we did paid a visit inside at least in somewhere.






Third day

Before we continued our tour to Spilve Riga, we visited the airplane museum at the Aleksotas airfield. Photo below shows the airplane that was used to fly post between New Your and Lithuania. Our tours are a bit tiny compared to that...

Even so I did face a create challenge when flying an AN-2 in a zero visibility...

When I managed to get through the bad weather the next surprising thing I noticed was that scenery on a route from Lithuania to Latvia did not really differ from scenery we had during the flight from Latvia to Lithuania. Even so, there where plenty of places where a forced landing could be performed. So for that reason not every single change of RPM in engine had to be analyzed with scientific precision.

When we arrived to Spilve Riga, we flew for the first and only time under the overcast. The photos below have a runway and parking area visible from the Spilve airfield.


The landing to Spilve was also captured on video.

Once again we parked the planes and moved ourselves to hotel. This field had a handy system how planes where attached to ground. There was a thick tight steel wire that run through the parking area and planes where attached to it.

I had pork ears for food. I guess I had a sub consistence idea that it would improve the way I hear the ATC radio...

Riga showed out to be a beautifull and clean city. Also the atmosphere in the city was relaxed and I saw many happy faces on the streets.


Also the sun set was something to remember.

Fourth day

The Baltic Air Rally ended to Riga, so everybody chose own way how to get home. Crews flying OH-XMT and OH-XKD decided to enjoy the Baltic hospitality for a bit longer and so their headed to Kuressaare Estonia.

When getting ready for the departure, we noticed that locals had adjusted themselves well to the fact that the runway located quit far a way from the parking area. Photo below show that even the half of the taxing distance looks quite long.

Photo below shows a clue, how the locals had adapted themselves. If you really want to know the answer, look it from the video.

Even so, all the planes were there where we left them so tour could be continued.

Departure from Spilve was also recorded to video.

Photos below where taken from the northern parts of Riga.


We did not want to fly directly across the Gulf of Riga, so we first flew via the cost line towards west. Photos below have been taken north / northwest of Riga. Also a video was taken from that scenery.


After an hour plus flight we arrived to Kuressaare. We parked the planes and headed to city for diner.



Also city of Kuressaare turned out to be a clean and idyllic place. As with other places the food turned out to be create and weather was very favorable to us.


After all the pleasant time in there it was time to begin the final leg back to home. Departure from Kuressaare was also recorder to video.

This time we crossed the Gulf of Finland from a point where it is wider than where we crossed it last time, so we climbed up to 8000ft for safer, at least that is how you fell, crossing.

A lonely boat somewhere out there...

Statistics

Summary:

Table below has all the flights and their statistics.



It is possible to calculate the energy efficiency in airplanes by getting a relative figure between the amount of used fuel and achieved speed. When flying, the resistance from the air towards the airplane triples when speed doubles. So if you fly the same route by achieving an average speed of 66Nm/h (76mph, 123km/h) and you use less than 55,1 MPG (US) (4,3l/100km) of AVGAS fuel, the plane's, that you have, aerodynamics, engine and propeller have together better efficiency than what these figures tell about this journey. To achieve the mentioned average speed, your cruising speed must probably be about 78-84Nm/h (90-96mph, 145-155km/h).

Table below has the figures of total fuel consumption in different units.



Table below has the average and maximum speeds from different flights.

Summary

Absolutely a great tour with an excellent fellow crews and weather.