Bitterwasser Airport
| Bitterwasser Airport | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | FYBJ |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 1267 m (4157 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 170 km southeast of Windhoek, 8 km northwest of Hoachanas |
| Street | M33 |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1959 |
| operator | Bitterwasser International Flying Club (BIFC) |
| Runways | |
| dried out clay pan | 300 hectares of sand 360 ° |
| 09/27 | 1700 m × 35 m gravel |
 
| |||
Position map |
Bitterwasser is a ( sailing ) airfield on the edge of the Kalahari region, about 170 kilometers southeast of Windhoek and about eight kilometers northwest of Hoachanas . The course and the gliding center are considered to be among the best in the world. Numerous world records were set here due to the good thermal conditions.
history
Bitterwasser has been known to aviators as a diamond farm since 1960 . Peter Kayssler, the former owner of the bitter water farm, was an avid glider pilot. With the simple airplanes of the time and an old winch in the form of a drum with electric fence wire, he was already using the thermals of Bitterwasser.
Records and special flight performances were already immortalized with a newly planted palm. This gradually created an avenue of palm trees. This tradition is still upheld today and is one of the attractions of Bitterwasser. It is thanks to a group of enthusiastic glider pilots, especially from Switzerland and Germany, that Bitterwasser was able to continue to exist after Peter Kayssler. With the Bitterwasser Lodge & Flying Center , an international gliding center was created.
Bitterwasser today
Originally rain and a softened runway ( dried out clay pan) made flight operations temporarily impossible, but in recent years this problem has been resolved with the runway on the northern edge of the pan and its concrete runway.
In recent years, the flying season (November to January) has flown the largest number of flights over 1000 kilometers worldwide, along with many national and world records.
Incidents
On November 28, 2010, there was an aircraft accident in which one person was killed.
Web links
- Bitterwasser Lodge & Flying Club
- VFR airfield map Bitterwasser (PDF file; 487 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.az.com.na/lokales/tdlicher-unfall-mit-segelflugzeug.117942.php Allgemeine Zeitung, November 30, 2010.