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The Aviators Club at Hannover Airport offers ideal start-off conditions.
Many have dreamt the dream of flying alone. Flying perhaps with one’s own plane on a short break to Sylt in the North Sea or to a business appointment in Dortmund wouldn’t just be fun – it also underscores independence and can save precious time, which as we all know, also means money! According to nationwide statistics in Germany, the Federal Aviation Agency issues approximately 2,000 private and hobby pilot licenses a year (PPLLizenz). Most of these “captains of the air” have formed themselves into organizations, such as the Aviators Club at Hannover Airport, for example.
- The Aviators Club
Set up last summer, the Motorfliegerverein (Aviators Club) now has 25 members. The club has 15 aircraft at its disposal, which include the Cessna 172, the Piper Turbo Arrow and the really elegant Mooney. The club’s initiator and Chairman is Peter Wanzeck, who is from Pirna in Saxony, and appears to be bang on course with his idea to form a new aviators’ club at the airport. “We couldn’t be happier about our activities and the location directly at Hannover Airport."
The clubs members include businessmen and women, flight captains, flight instructors, air traffic controllers and, of course, leisure time flyers. “A lively and constructive exchange of experiences is a matter of course in our club,” explains Mr. Wanzeck. “We meet once a month in the club room, and we also have regular further training sessions. And of course we organize excursions abroad, which are always great fun on so many levels.“
Peter Wanzeck ending up flying by coincidence, like so many others. “I’m a lateral entrant,” he says. “On a fun flight that I was given as a gift I realized that I could save so much time if I had and could fly my one aircraft. So off I went and got my pilot’s license. Today I am in the happy position of being able to fly to my business appointments.” With “FSpro flightservice GmbH”, he even operates his own company chartering planes to private flyers.
The trained IT engineer has also undertaken quite a bit for the future.“We want to increase the club’s level of recognition and gain new members.” The framework conditions for this couldn’t be better, both for beginners that want to learn to fly, and for “old hounds” that already have their own aircraft at Hannover Airport.
In the General Aviation Terminal area, which was recently renamed Karl Jatho Terminal, spacious hangars, aircraft maintenance, briefing rooms, fuel stations and much, much more are all ready and waiting. In the lounge zone Peter Wanzeck runs the Aviation Shop the Coffee Bar, which makes the perfect meeting point for crews and passengers. Plus! A hall attendant is on hand to take care of positioning the small aircraft. “A quick call is all it takes and the plane is waiting at the required parking position, which is something that does always function so smoothly,” as Mr. Wanzeck knows from personal experience.
And still there is more: Compared to the landing spaces on a green airfield, Hannover Airport is equipped with the most modern landing systems. The small aircraft are therefore relatively independent of the weather. Plus! HAJ is open 24 hours a day. “If a meeting or appointment is delayed, you can always come back to Hannover.”
Interview
“Mr. Wanzeck, you are the Chairman of the Aviators Club Hannover. So what does one do in this particular role?
“Just over a year ago we got together to set up an aviators' club under the friendly conditions offered at Hannover Airport. And of course to do something like this you require a contact person for members, aircraft owners, the airport and potentially interested people, am I only too happy to be that person."
“What function does an aviators’ club like this have?”
“Well in the club we have people who seldom fly, and people who fly a lot, and we have private flyers and professional flyers of every age and description. The constantly growing air traffic volume brings a huge amount of regularly changing flight-relevant information with it. The club provides a good platform for gathering this together and exchanging it quickly and directly. This consequently allows us to seamlessly integrate into the other air traffic.”
“What do you have to do to become a member?”
“The basic requirement is simply to be interested in flying.”
“What specific benefits does this bring?”
“We offer our members experience exchanges with “”birds of a feather”, professional help with flight preparation and the flight itself, and further training. Special rent conditions for parking spaces in the hangar are also possible as part of club membership. All members have access to very good flight planning software, flight maps and weather reports, which means significant savings for the individual member and only first enables the use of this assistance. As our members also include flight instructors and examiners, the necessary regular certificate renewals and instructions are available at club prices.”
“So let’s say someone wanted to charter a Cessna to fly to Erfurt. Would it be worth their while?”
“Yes it would. The trip by car from Hannover to Erfurt at 340 km takes about 3 hours and at 60 cents per kilometerit costs EUR 205 one-way. The flight with the Cessna 172 takes 1 hour and costs EUR 180, landing charges included.”
“From the private pilot’s point of view – how would you rate the conditions at Hannover Airport?”
“For about the last two years now they just couldn’t be better. We can take off and land in almost every weather and around the clock. The controllers are friendly and the flight procedures are uncomplicated. At this point I really should say a big thank you to the Airport’s CEO, Dr. Hille for his handling of general aviation.”
