Hildesheim aeroplane fair 2008
Jul 11th, 2008 by ellen
On June 8th Dirk And I went to the local aeroplane fair. We were both not really aeroplane freaks, but the weather was nice and we wanted some walk. Many people went to the fair, but the planes exhibited there were not that many, and most of them are tiny planes, which suited the size of Hildesheim Airport quite well. Many of them can be dragged around by a single man. Pictures can be found in my online gallery.
People can pay for riding a helicopter or a small plane for about 10 minutes there. Helicopter for 30 euro per person and the small plane for 40 euro. I always dreamt of riding a helicopter so was really excited, and dragged Dirk into the waiting queue. At the pay desk, we found out there we had no cashes with us. And the pay desk did not accept any check card or credit card. What a pity. It seems that in Germany, carrying only electronic cashes around is not a good idea. My colleagues know how often I rush to ATM terminals just to get cash for paying my lunches. 
The miserable thing was, we did not find any ATM terminals near the airport….
We also joined the long queue of cockpit visitors of a military transportation jet and actually got into the cockpit and seated as pilots. B-) While we were waiting for our turn, I asked the handsome soldier “How much does such a plane cost?” He stuck for a long while and said: “Well, we have people asked questions like how high it flies, how long can it continuously fly, how fast it flies….but nobody has asked this question. To be honest, I do not know.” Hey how can a soldier not know how much his plane is worth? I made a big shocked face and Dirk was amused. He said I read too many stock/investment books recently, nothing else was interesting to me except value and valuation. That was true two weeks ago, but now I am totally fascinated about some data processing, which has no direct connection to finance, banking or investment….will talk about it later in another blog. The handsome soldier turned to another handsome soldier for the answer of my weird question. The other one said about 40 million euro.
There was a small jet giving a flying show now and then. Such show would normally look spectacular if done in a group of jets. Since there was only one such jet, it looked really funny in the blue sky….more like a singing insect fly. Don’t get me wrong, the pilot worked really hard and did a fabulous job. People were well entertained.
It was a nice day after walking in the fresh air, both Dirk and I enjoyed it very much.
