Golf Hotel Whiskey

Golf Hotel Whiskey: for pilots and aviation enthusiasts

The Hague

Videos: Dutch politics lead to a mid-air collision (literally…)

Politics can be a contact sport but in the Netherlands over the weekend, it led to a mid-air collision between two single-engine planes carrying banners from rival political parties over a beach in Wassenaar. In fact and not only did the aircraft collide, they became stuck together in an unplanned and unwanted coalition!

Apparently, the light aircraft pulling an ad for the Christian Democrats got too close to the single-engine Cessna with members of the Socialist Party whose landing gear got stuck on the wing other aircraft. The aircraft were able to shake free with the plane carrying the Christian Democrats banner forced to make an emergency landing on the beach (with a damaged wing) while the socialists landed safely at  Rotterdam airport. No-one was hurt in the unfortunate incident.

There are two videos of the incident with this first video shot by a cameraman being posted on DutchNational.NL:

This second video appears to be from a cockpit recorder in one of the aircraft:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TvikTVUzYU&w=480]

Now we would like to ask our readers, especially any based in the Netherlands a simple question: Which party is to blame for the mess (as in the aircraft collision and not any other messes…), the Christian Democrats or the Socialist Party?!! Feel free to tells us in the comments section…

Mauritshuis Museum, The Hague

Mauritshuis Museum It might seem a bit self-indulgent to fly all the way to Holland to go to a museum, but the Mauritshuis in The Hague (Den Haag in Dutch) is worth it.

It is home to some of the greatest masterpieces of Dutch painting in the world, including Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and the View of Delft (which ripples with light and texture on canvas but defies reproduction). I loved the way that Vermeer’s girl catches your eye across the room. “Don’t look at that painting of a Goldfinch,” she says. “Look at me.” Michiel Sweert’s eyes down, demure painting of a young maid is the perfect companion.Girl with a Pearl Earring

When I visited there was also an exhibition of Dutch portraiture which had displaced much of the permanent collection. I was delighted to see it, however, because I had missed it in London, despite buying tickets in advance and generally intending to go for weeks on end. This exhibition ends on 13th January 2008 so I just caught it.

Besides the Vermeers, there are some world-famous paintings – some Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp or Fabritius’s Goldfinch, for example – but the less familiar (but equally noteworthy) paintings are not ashamed in their company. I enjoyed them more because of the joy of discovering something beautiful for the first time. Who knew that paintings of church interiors or people skating on the ice could be so enchanting?

image It is a compact museum. The basement contains the obligatory shop and cafe and there are just two floors of exhibitions. With so little space, every painting has to be a masterpiece and they don’t disappoint.

The museum doesn’t overwhelm. The modest scale of the rooms and the well-judged organisation of the paintings mean that you can go to the Mauritshuis and emerge a couple of hours later without feeling like you’ve run a cultural marathon (as at, say, the Louvre or the Met in New York). It’s art without the pain barrier.

Information

Website: www.mauritshuis.nl

Address: Korte Vijverberg 8, The Hague

Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm, Sundays and holidays 11am-5pm

Admission: €9.50

Nearest airport: Rotterdam

Rotterdam (EHRD)

Airport information

Nearest town: Rotterdam (about 15 minutes by car), The Hague (Den Haag, about 30 minutes by car), Delft (about 20 minutes by car)

Opening times: H24

Longest runway: 2200m, Asphalt

Fuel: 100LL, Jet A1

Phone: 01271 919 9000

Website: www.rotterdam-airport.nl, Wikipedia entry

Netherlands AIP with plates and airport information

Airport picture

KLM Jet Center Rotterdam

KLM Jet Center at Rotterdam Airport

Airport map

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Facilities

  • Handling: KLM Jet Center (+31 (0) 10 298 4949, www.jetcenter.nl). Expect to pay around £170-230 for a light aircraft including a return taxi trip to Delft, Rotterdam or The Hague. Handling is mandatory and expensive but very helpful. They can sort out your flight plan, weather, ground transport and so on. There is a comfortable pilot lounge and computers for accessing the internet. KLM Jet Center is very suave but a (slightly) cheaper option for handling is Avia Partners. Their handling runs to about £70 and then you have to pay a landing fee to the airport authorities of around £20. However, you don’t get the red carpet treatment and you have to go through the main terminal security checks (take the crew line, not the passenger line) and then wait for a crew bus to the plane. It takes 30m or so to get from curb to plane compared to 5m at KLM.  Your money, your time, your choice!
  • Taxis. There is a taxi rank at the main terminal but it is a five minute walk from the GA terminal.
  • Car hire. Avis (+31 (0)10-4332233), Europcar (+31 (0)10-4371826), Hertz (+31 (0)10-4158239), Sixt (+31 (0)10-4627221), National (+31 (0)10-2865966).

On the airport or within walking distance

  • Restaurants. The Grand Cafe / Restaurant Horizon is located airside in the main terminal.

Restaurants

Activities

  • Delft. Delft is a 20 minute taxi ride from the airport. A beautiful town full of canalside cafes and shops, like a scaled down and more intimate Amsterdam. It was Vermeer’s home town although little remains of his presence (although a Vermeer centre reopened in January 2008.) There are many shops selling the famous Delft Blue porcelain but there is also a factory shop and museum outside the town centre.
  • Mauritshuis Museum. Fantastic and delightfully compact museum of Dutch painting in The Hague. Read the Golf Hotel Whiskey review.

Useful information