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From: kounis@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (John Kounis)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation
Subject: GA wins one in East Germany
Keywords: Politicians, Airports, East Germany
Message-ID: <9996@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 90 03:57:10 PDT
Reply-To: kounis@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (John Kounis)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 39


About one and a half months ago, I wrote an article about a flight
that I made to East Germany in August.  I would like to relate one
of the most positive returns from the flight that I made, and can
only hope that it happens more often, both here in Europe and in
the rest of the world.

While we were in East Germany, I took a few East German citizens
on a sightseeing flight around the area  We couldn't fly directly
over their houses, since they lived inside of the Berlin Control
Zone, but I was able to show them several sights in the area.  One
of the passengers was the mayor the East German city of Brieselang,
and it was his first flight in an airplane.  He was absolutely
thrilled to be in the air and talked about the experience for weeks
afterwards.  During the flight, I would point out towns or rivers
that happened to be on my chart, and he would be surprised that an
American, who had never been to the area before new that the town
underneath us was Brandenburg, or what the name of that river was.

Anyway, due to the availability of cheap land in East Germany, a
group of GA pilots from Berlin had founded a GA strip on a dirt
field in Nauen, about 5km from Brieselang (whose mayor I had taken
on a flight).  The mayor of Nauen got wind of this and closed their
strip, since he didn't want the noise associated with the strip. 

When the mayor of Brieselang heard about the pilots in Nauen losing
their strip, he contacted the pilots, and promised to make land
available for them to build a strip in his town!  Maybe he figures
he will get another ride in an airplane for that!

I just wish more city/county/state/country/etc. officials would be
that understanding of General Aviation.

                                        -- John Kounis
-- 
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