IFFR Deutschland / Österreich

Dear Flying Rotarians,
Here is the plan! In 2014, we will spend our first meeting in Aachen, located in the Euregio Maas/Rhine and located in the border triangle Germany - Belgium - Netherlands. This year's motto

"Aviation and Culture"

promises a good mixture of attractions and aviation but also enough time for exploring the city and good conversation and socializing.

The tradition of the imperial town of Aachen goes back to Roman times but has justified its essential political and ecclesiastical importance by Carolus Magnus in the 7th century. He was the one who laid the foundation for the Cathedral in addition to the impressive town hall and the first scientific university. The Aachen Cathedral was listed as world cultural heritage site of UNESCO in 1978.
The international Karlspreis (Charlemagne Prize) has been awarded since 1950 for achievements in the European agreement process. Award winners such as Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, Bill Clinton and King Juan Carlos and many other international personalities cause a stir once a year.
 
Aachen is a city of education and research. Here 50,000 students prepare for their professional life in all major disciplines. The Aachener Universitätsklinik (University Hospital Aachen) is the largest in the Federal Republic. The technical faculty was listed as first in the cluster of excellence and the training at the Faculty of Aerospace Technology dating back to Theodore von Karman is always at the top of the list in the international ranking.
The warm springs appreciated already by the Romans made Aachen to a popular spa town in the 13th century. Gastronomically, Aachen lives from the proximity to the excellent Belgian cuisine and many international influences which indulge the culinary very interested Aachener.
Our Rotary professional guides Sabine Mathieu and Anja Haas will organize an entertaining and interesting tour through the town and its sights.
In this potpourri we really hope for beautiful weather, nice food, good conversation and interesting insights into the history of the city and the training of engineers in the aerospace technology.
Foto: Beckstet under cc-by-sa

We will fly to Aachen Merzbrück, a tradition airport founded by Theodore von Karman. Despite the relatively short (520 m) asphalt track, extensive training for private and commercial pilots as well as gliding and balloon sport is operated here in addition to the flying scientific experiments of the University. There is a dedicated classic car and kit plane scene. You can easily get jet fuel and avgas in Merzbrück.
With low cloud base and bad weather conditions, any IFR approaches (ILS/DME) or a "cloud breaking" procedure can be done at the Dutch airfield Maastricht Aachen (EHBK) up to a decision height of 562 ft. For the possibly "stranded" there will be shuttle service on Friday morning.
An alternative to the own aircraft is the regular service to Maastricht Aachen (EHBK, approx. 42 km), Cologne Bonn (EDDK, approx. 70 km) and Düsseldorf (EDDL, approx. 80 km).

The Faculty for Aerospace Technology at the University of Applied Sciences Aachen emerged already in the fifties of the last century from the Aachen School of Engineering. It operates various supersonic and subsonic wind tunnels, a large engine test bench and also two own research aircraft and a long-distance drone. 1,000 students of aviation are trained practically by 20 professors and 40 scientists in 8 institutes.
Since 2002, a department for automotive engineering is affiliated that has committed in particular to the power train development and the automotive racing.
We will have the opportunity to visit the different facilities, to get an introduction to the diploma, bachelor and master engineering education and we will see current research projects.

For the ones who arrive already on Thursday, we offer a special flight highlight in the time from 10:00 am until 01:00 pm.
Aerobatic enthusiasts can book W. Kampsmann, German Champion and one of the best Acro teachers in Germany. The costs for the 20 minute program with online photo/video documentation in the new 330 PS strong EXTRA are € 300.
Jürgen Kraus, famous Warbird Airshow pilot and chief executive of "Banana Republic Airforce" provides the opportunity to fly in the North American T6 or stylish in a Boeing Stearman biplane. The price is € 190 for a 30 minute flight.