The Ghost of Dead Big Birds Traditional Cache
The Ghost of Dead Big Birds
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The cache is memorial for an unusual attraction, a memento for a recently past era, a great spectacle of our teen ages.
The Sármellék Airport was the biggest soviet military base in Hungary before the changes. Bunches of MIG-29s were here, you could watch them fly several times a week. This was the most spectacular at night: the lights of the runway, the headlights turned on for landing, the fire of the jet engines. On the runway, which is facing North-South, the departures and landings were mostly done facing North, but it depended on the wind conditions. At departure the climbing was fast; in extreme conditions it only took one and a half minutes for an airplane to get out of sight even in daylight. But at landings the plane flew only in 40-50 meters with a speed of around 200-300 km/h above the village or the fields. We went to the end of the runway to enjoy the wind and sound of the planes flying low right above our heads. The most extreme was when the plane in the last second decided not to land but to start over and the pilot switched to full throttle.
Sometimes you could meet Russian soldiers on bicycle or by foot coming back from black market, sometimes you met local people who came to harvest some lucerne for the rabbits.
When the soviet troops left Hungary a big countrywide party was organized at the airport: air-show, dragster-show, "Hobo" concert, etc.
Until then the airport is called "Balaton Airport" and it is used by a very small number of civil airplanes, but you can find interesting remains here. Beside the standard, devastated blocks of flats are empty hangars with their tons weight doors, with Russian signs and with the remains of a memorial with red star.
The geobottle can be reached on the dirt road at the Western side of the airport. The North end of the road is Sármellék, the South end is Zalavár. The cache is closer to Sármellék. Approach the place using your GPS, then bravely step through the demolished fence. The bottle is at one of the rear entrances, at the foot of a tree. If you enter here, after a few hundred meters walk you can find the hangars. Earlier two MIG-29 was in one hangar, today something simpler, e.g. straw bale. Officially I do not encourage anyone to walk around, but the brave ones may take a walk.
ATTENTION!
As I've heard some people experienced, so I call you attention:
IF YOU JUST WALK IN ON THE MAIN ENTRANCE AND CROSS THE RUNWAYS TO THE HANGARS, EXPECT THAT YOU WILL STOPPED AND ASKED WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE. IT'S NOT A DANGEROUS PLACE BUT DON'T BE THAT BRAVE.
LI and SP
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