From September 16 to 18, 2021, we followed an introductory course in 'Short Field Operations'. We flew from Teuge (near Apeldoorn) to Korbach in Germany with three aircraft from MATC (Mission Aviation Training Centre). There we set up our tents and spent three days practicing taking off and landing on short runways.
The airstrips that MAF uses are often very short. Airplanes need space to gain sufficient speed for take-off and to slow down again when landing. A heavily loaded aircraft needs much more space than a light aircraft. As a pilot at MAF you must therefore know very well what is and is not safe.
To get started with this, we practiced at various small airfields in Germany. These runways were usually made of grass and about 600 meters long. For comparison: Teuge has an asphalted runway of 1200 meters long. We also practiced at airports where the runway is on top of a hill or has a slope.
We are very grateful that we were able to follow this training in our first year of preparation. It was three intensive days in which we learned a lot. The weather was just good enough to fly there. And we had a great time with the experienced instructors from MATC and the other pilots who are preparing for their work at MAF. We look forward to the next two training camps in 2022: Airstrip Evaluation and Terrain Flying. More about that later!
