"Nörvenich active runway 25, weather code amber, tempo red, QNH992" Freedom is truly limitless above the clouds, but the fuel supply is slowly running out. The current weather conditions that Langen Radar just told me don't surprise me, but it still commands respect. The cloud base at a height of around 70m and a visibility of around 800m mean that the highest level of precision is required for manual instrument approaches.
I bring my EUROFIGHTER into descent and the wonderful blue quickly changes to increasingly dark gray. Strong convections throw my machine through the sky, the electrical charge in the clouds overlays the radio with noise. And then exactly what I had feared happens anyway: A yellow warning light in combination with the audio message "Icing" informs me that icing is starting to occur on the aircraft. "MSTANG ONE, Ice free approach" - the EUROFIGHTER does not have any de-icing systems, but rather protects itself from the elements through high speeds. I approach the airport at a good 700km/h and only slow down shortly before the final approach. At 200m above ground I'm still going over 300km/h but outside the cockpit everything is still gray. 150m, 100m, 90m, 80m, 70m - suddenly the runway lights appear in front of me. Green lamps mark the threshold, white ones mark the edges of the runway. Less than 5 seconds later my jet touches down on the runway - it's pouring rain. Despite all the technology, we humans are only guests in heaven and sometimes we understand this very clearly.
"Elements"
Gerald Groß