High altitude flight trials in Croatian airspace above the ancient city of Pula (LDPL)

Due to difficult weather conditions with low visibility on the ground and medium icing in the German Airspace, we had to transfer our operational location.
The Alps provided a natural weather barrier, which blocked of the ice and snow to the north side. Therefore, the choice for our new location had to be south, more precise Croatia, Pula. We found the airport of Pula (LDPL) as a suitable location for stable weather conditions including an airport, which can provide all the necessary equipment for our aircraft. Additionally, Pula is easy to reach by plane and car. Finally, our team made the decision to transfer the G520T double seater aircraft including our ground station to the airfield of Pula. We used a small weather gap where safety factors allowed us to depart from our homebased and head down south to Croatia.
During two weeks (last January/first February), we conducted four high altitude flights in different patterns above Pula. We chose different altitudes for the trials, f.e. FL250, FL390, FL410 and FL450. All procedures where performed according the local air traffic controllers and flight rules.
The whole two weeks were very successful according to our specified flight trial goals. Many thanks to all team members from the H3 HATS Company and to the GROB AIRCRAFT Company. We had the opportunity to use all the airport equipment and our aircraft was perfectly handled by the airport staff. So, special thanks to the staff and the fire department from the Pula airport. Probably, we will see each other again in future operations…