{"id":3282,"date":"2024-06-10T10:55:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T08:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/?p=3282"},"modified":"2024-06-12T10:56:11","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T08:56:11","slug":"for-me-the-fascination-of-flying-is-the-sheer-freedom-it-brings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/for-me-the-fascination-of-flying-is-the-sheer-freedom-it-brings\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFor me, the fasci\u00adna\u00adtion of flying is the sheer freedom it brings\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
J\u00fcrgen, maybe you could tell us why you took up flying as a hobby.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always dreamt of being able to fly and my biggest career wish was to become a pilot. However, my eyesight was not good enough to meet the strict require\u00adments. So instead, I became an elec\u00adtri\u00adcian and worked for KOCH in the USA for about three years. I had been toying with the idea of flying for some time and flight training is much cheaper in the USA. So one day I went to a small airfield to find out more. Less than half an hour later, a flight instructor sat me down in an airplane. On landing again, I imme\u00addi\u00adately signed the contract to train as a motor\u00adized pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For J\u00fcrgen, soaring above the clouds is sheer freedom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
How many hours does such a flight training course take and were you able to transfer your license to Germany? <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

First of all, you need to pass a phys\u00adical exam conducted by an avia\u00adtion medical exam\u00adiner. As there are usually other passen\u00adgers in a motor\u00adized aircraft, it\u2019s vital that you\u2019re fit to fly. That\u2019s why there is also an annual follow-up exam\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion. But now to the training: The dura\u00adtion of the course varies greatly. For me, it involved about 50 flying hours and around 120 take-offs and land\u00adings. My pilot\u2019s license is valid for a maximum take-off weight of five tons and for visual flight. So not for instru\u00admental flight and not for flying through clouds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilot training in Germany consists of nine subjects. I had to do three of these again, as well as a few flying lessons with a flight instructor, so that my pilot\u2019s license could be trans\u00adferred. And, in Germany, you also need radiotele\u00adphony training and a back\u00adground check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The biggest chal\u00adlenge is taking off and landing.  You gener\u00adally need a certain routine and regular prac\u00adtice in flying, other\u00adwise you start to feel inse\u00adcure and that takes the fun out of it.<\/p>\nJ\u00fcrgen Welker, Director Automa\u00adtion and Tech\u00adnology at KOCH Pac-Systeme<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And how did you get into gliding?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

After our chil\u00addren were born, I put flying on the back burner. However, when my son started his glider pilot training at the age of 14, I joined him, because I had always been inter\u00adested in gliding. The only problem was that I had to re-learn all nine theory sections. I\u2019ve been flying both gliders and powered aircraft since 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have your own plane, or can you rent one? <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I do have my own glider plane \u2013 a one-seat glider \u2013 but not a motor plane. And yes, I can rent one because the Nagold flying club owns two motor\u00adized planes, and, as a club member, I can use them for a fee.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
<\/div>

The early bird\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2026has the best view!<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>

In his motor plane, J\u00fcrgen reaches speeds of up to 200 km\/h.<\/p><\/div>\n

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And some\u00adtimes, J\u00fcrgen even gets a bird\u2019s eye view of KOCH.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What is the biggest chal\u00adlenge in flying and what fasci\u00adnates you most about it?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The biggest chal\u00adlenge is taking off and landing.  You gener\u00adally need a certain routine and regular prac\u00adtice in flying, other\u00adwise you start to feel inse\u00adcure and that takes the fun out of it. And it\u2019s impor\u00adtant to respect the dangers involved, espe\u00adcially when encoun\u00adtering cross\u00adwinds. In the USA, the greatest chal\u00adlenge was radio contact, depending on the dialect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what fasci\u00adnates me most is the freedom it gives you. The freedom to be completely detached and inde\u00adpen\u00addent, as well as the thrill of being able to fly anywhere you want to go. With motor\u00adized flying, this is paired with the inde\u00adpen\u00addence provided by the engine, and with gliding, the appeal stems from the chal\u00adlenge involved and the atten\u00adtive\u00adness needed to remain airborne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how much time do you spend flying?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

In summer, I fly around two to three times a month. With motor\u00adized flying, you also need to complete twelve flight hours within a period of two years, which gives you routine prac\u00adtice and makes for safer flying, as I described earlier. When I fly here in the Black Forest or in the Alps, I usually fly for between one and two hours at speeds of up p to 200 km\/h in a powered plane. With a glider, however, it can be between four and six hours trav\u00adeling at 100 to 150 km\/h.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which flight expe\u00adri\u00adence do you remember to this day?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The most memo\u00adrable expe\u00adri\u00adence was my first solo flight, completely on my own without an instructor. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever felt such an adren\u00ada\u00adline rush. It\u2019s some\u00adthing very special, and closely followed by the time I flew into the sunrise over the Swabian Alb (see photo gallery).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

J\u00fcrgen Welker enjoys seeing the world from above and has fulfilled his biggest dream: flying. Whether with or without an engine, soaring high up in the sky gives him a sense of freedom and a chance to wind down from the daily grind. Here he reveals how he caught the \u201cflying bug\u201d and where his most memo\u00adrable flight took him. [\u2026]<\/p>\n

Read More\u2026 from \u201cFor me, the fasci\u00adna\u00adtion of flying is the sheer freedom it brings\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":3292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pactuell"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3282"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3294,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3282\/revisions\/3294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pactuell.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}