The Fast Way Home

Lake Balaton to Ostrava in 91 Minutes with the ROTAX 916 iS

Some delivery flights end at a big airport with a handshake in a hangar. This one ended on a grass strip on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, with a farmer called Markus waiting for us.

We were bringing back his Ellipse Spirit, OK-YUL 38, fresh from its service. Markus welcomed us the way only a farmer can: a proper snack, excellent home-made sausages, strong coffee, and everything a pilot needs before the trip home. That meant a toilet, a hot drink and fuel in the tanks for the flight back. If you are ever looking for the definition of “full service”, it is a grass strip in Balatonkeresztúr.

With the paperwork done and the sausages gone, our own Ellipse Spirit 916 was ready. On a late-September afternoon, we had roughly 340 kilometres of Hungary, Slovakia and Moravia ahead of us before the hangar in Ostrava.

Water First

Balatonkeresztúr sits on the southern shore of the lake, and Ostrava lies to the north. So the first thing waiting for me after take-off was not a city or a mountain range. It was the largest lake in Central Europe.

Every pilot of a single-engine aircraft knows the feeling. The engine sounds exactly as it did over the fields a minute ago, yet you listen to it a little more carefully. I glanced at the oil pressure, then glanced at it again, and quietly worked out which shore was closer.

The ROTAX 916 iS made that moment short. Six minutes after lifting off, we crossed the northern shore over Balatonederics at 3,600 ft, still climbing. Below the wing, the lake stopped being an uncomfortable stretch of water and became what it really is: one of the most beautiful views in Hungary.

Climb rate is a safety feature. Over water, you feel it.

On a Flight Plan, Pointing North

We flew the whole trip on a filed VFR flight plan, with Hungarian, Slovak and Czech controllers handing us from one frequency to the next. Crossing three countries in an ultralight with a flight plan, a transponder and a clear sky is about as civilised as general aviation gets.

We climbed past Tapolca and Sümeg towards Pápa. Nineteen minutes after take-off and 60 km into the flight, we levelled off at 7,500 ft. I engaged the autopilot, and the Hungarian plain opened up below us, a patchwork of harvested fields fading into the autumn haze.

Honestly, it was a pleasure. Smooth air, a quiet cockpit, the turbo humming along, and nothing to do but watch the landscape and tick off waypoints.

The Numbers at Level-Off

Just as we were levelling off between the SUBES reporting point and Győr, I took a photo of the EFIS:

EFIS snapshot 24 minutes after take-off. QNH 1025 hPa. All speeds marked TAS are True Airspeeds.

Two things stand out. The first is the gap between IAS and TAS: +27 km/h that the thinner air at 7,500 ft gives you for free, while the turbocharger keeps the manifold pressure where it would be at sea level. The second is the wind. A light southerly breeze had settled right behind us and added another +10 km/h.

A Little Push from Behind

The tailwind stayed with us all the way north. The SkyDemon log shows how steadily the kilometres went by:

Ground speeds from the SkyDemon GPS log.

From top of climb to Valašské Meziříčí, we covered 261 km in 62 minutes, an average of 253 km/h over the ground. Then came the descent towards Ostrava. With the nose slightly down and the wind still behind us, the GPS touched 280 km/h as the Beskydy mountains appeared on the right.

One hour and thirty-one minutes after leaving Markus’s grass strip, we were on the ground in Ostrava, about fifty minutes before sunset. By car, the same trip takes around five hours.

What Did It Cost?

We were not flying for economy that day. We were flying to get home. Even so, the average fuel flow over the whole flight, climb included, came to 22 l/h.

• Total fuel used: approx.33 litres
• Consumption: less than 10 litres per 100 km (approx. 9.6 l/100 km)
• Average speed over the whole flight: 230 km/h
• Fuel left on landing: more than 70 litres

Less than 10 litres per 100 kilometres, at 250 km/h over the ground, across three countries. That is less than many cars use on the motorway, and the view is much better.

Travel Summary

Track data: SkyDemon flight log. Average ground speed includes climb and descent.

Flight-Test Configuration

All performance figures presented in this article are based on actual flight-test measurements collected during normal operations.

The Best Part of Every Delivery

Handing an aircraft back to a happy owner is always the highlight of the day, especially when he sends you off with sausages and coffee. But the flight that follows has something special too: a lake that looked wide on the chart and narrow from 3,600 ft, a plain that passes in minutes, and a wind that decides to help for once.

Three countries. Ninety-one minutes. Home before sunset.

Read More About the ROTAX 916 iS

Explore more flight-test insights and real-world performance data from the Ellipse Spirit 916.

• The Four Personalities of the Ellipse Spirit 916
• The Sweet Spot Nobody Talks About
• A Journey to the Adriatic and the Hidden Advantage of the ROTAX 916 iS
• The Last Kilometre