Germany (Brett)

I left Paderborn yesterday after locating the gliding club and watching operations for an hour or so. The Wx wasn't inspiring and it was winch only so I did not bother flying there. Their day started at 9am sharp with their version of youthglide - good to see the kids managing the entire operation except the winch driving.

Today was an interesting study of the Teutonic mind-set. I was at the port of Bremerhaven at 8am as arranged with the freight forwarders and just 3 hours later (!) I had my long lost JS1 hooked on to the back of the car. Woohoo!

Now Bremerhaven is a "Free Port" in that it is independent of Germany - much like an embassy is. At the gates to the port area are the customs. I have not met such an officious bunch of bureaucrats in my life, and while I had gone to considerable effort to have the required documentation they seemed hell bent on finding a fault.
They finally decided the trailer required liability insurance from a German company rather than the cover I had arranged through my NZ brokers. This after deciding that it was not in fact a "sporting trailer" which is exempt  - and they called a police officer in to make that judgement. So unhitch the trailer and back to Bremerhaven to sort out the required insurance. A further two hours later I was on the road.

I was on the Autobahn 15 minutes into my voyage south when I was pulled over by a blue customs van. Three heavily armed Gestapo types then reinspected all of the paperwork and trailer contents with drug sniffer dogs. I was horrified when one of them put on blue rubber gloves, but it was only to search my suitcase. Whew!
Their disappointment on not finding anything at fault was obvious.
Barbara told me "don't mention the war" so I won't.

So this evening the JS1 is at the M&D factory (manufacturers of the jet turbines) in the lovely little town of Friedeburg- having its installation brought up to certification specification. A much friendlier bunch of people who are making me very welcome. I will be here for 2 or 3 days while they complete the work, then they want me to spend the next day flying. Cool!

VR incarcerated at Customs