Once a year, my Falke gets its annual done by Michael Berger, the roving CAMO inspector. He and is wife travel Spain and Portugal in their mobile home every year at the beginning of spring, passing by dozens of airfields, and renewing the airworthiness certificates of the scores of German-registered gliders and motorgliders that are based in the Iberian peninsula.
I always try and catch them at Santa Tome, which is the nearest gliding airfield to me. But if for weather or work reasons it is not possible to fly there on the appointed day, I have to try and hook up with them somewhere else on their route. In 2011 that meant waiting for a gap in the weather and crossing the Guadarrama to get to Fuentemilanos on the other side.
I always try and catch them at Santa Tome, which is the nearest gliding airfield to me. But if for weather or work reasons it is not possible to fly there on the appointed day, I have to try and hook up with them somewhere else on their route. In 2011 that meant waiting for a gap in the weather and crossing the Guadarrama to get to Fuentemilanos on the other side.
It had been a cold and (for Madrid) harsh winter, with unusually high snowfall. We seldom see this much snow on the ground.
I had to skirt around some low banks of cloud, but the Somosierra pass was open and I could sneak through the gap and into the wide open plains of Castilla y Leon.
In Fuentemilanos, Berger took care of the Annual Check, poking and prodding around inside and outside the plane. I spent most of my time warming up in his heated mobile home, watching the sky for cloud development, and planning ahead for the flight back over the mountains.
Finally, with the sky starting to look ever greyer, I could head back home, all paperwork in order and good to go for another year.
Just east of Fuentemilanos I passed over the town of Segovia with its famous Roman aquaduct clearly visible from the air (centre of picture).
With a bank of high cloud blocking the sun, the landscape looked even more wintery.
The last peaks before descending down to my home airfield, Robledillo, which is practically in gliding distance from here.
Back at the airfield I came across this unusual Robin ATL with its distinctive V-tail, a 1980s French design. It is powered by the same 80hp Limbach motor that is found on many Motorfalkes.
