Alphen aan den Rijn Sunday October 30 2011 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
Clouds over Holland last summer.
Pictures; Courtesy Bert Kuijper
One day to go and November starts .We just moved to wintertime this night . Time difference with Australia is 10 hours now. My brain knew I could sleep in , my body went on “automatic” so I was awake at 7 AM.
This year passed TOO quickly!!! Getting older it seems time flies faster.
But I was cheared up by a friend; Age is not how old your body is, it is how young your mind is!
I needed that.
War in Australian Aviation!! “If you want war you can have it! “[CEO. ] An unbelievable story!!
“In an asthonishing dummy spit, Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce,has grounded the Qantas domestic and international fleet , until such time as the pilots , licensed engineers and the ground handlers, withdraw their lawful industrial claims and campaings” [ source planetalking]
THAT IS something and all planes are grounded since yesterday !!!!! Alan Joyce is Irish and in fact, what I hear from insiders, nobody knows why just he is the CEO. Since a few months minor hick-ups troubled passengers . The CEO and his “employees” did not agree on several items, as wages, changes and the organisation/direction; result minor delays and irritations . They even go that far that they are going to lock out from tomorrow onwards, ALL union-staff which participates in the strike, till they withdraw “their extreme claim and reach an agreement”. Unreal!!!! Interesting to see what happens now as at least over 70.000 passengers will have a problem. Read it all on the by my Aussie friends send links;
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/
http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/aap/8367130/qantas-grounds-fleet-locks-out-employees
Also the Dutch news site www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl has news about this unusual action which will cost Quantas I guess more then it can earn again.
I heard that the UNION has asked for the dismissal of the CEO, who thinks there is no other way to stop the 3 unions from pilots, engineers and ground/transport-workers, then this way. Qantas offers full refund for already bought tickets, other Airliners try to help by taking passengers on their flights. What a mess!!!
And….from friends from Perth I received yesterday the next message with a personel view on the news:
—Big news here today. I haven’t been emailing you any news about Qantas industrial action as it has been a constant niggle in the media over the past few months, but today Qantas CEO had what we like to call a “dummy-spit” and grounded the entire fleet. After months of threatened and actual industrial action with pilots, engineers and flight crew, and a nasty reaction to his 71% pay-rise at a share holders’ meeting this week(+A$1.2 million to round out around A$5 million) , Joyce has had enough. The fleet (108 planes) is grounded and there are urgent hearings with Fair Work Australia to try and reach some resolution. The the link below gives a summary.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-29/qantas-locking-out-staff/3608250?WT.svl=news0
The interesting twist in Perth is that CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) finished here today. The Queen managed to fly out, but up to 53 other heads of state are left with no way home (yet, anyway).—-
ouch!! Will keep you updated!And ofcourse that is the UK queen and this meeting is once in 2 years.
Latest; all planes are still grounded. NOT good! Lots of money through the drain and lots of passengers worldwide lost faith in the Australian National carrier.
I noticed the FAI is creating a more modern site for all of us, which is good. Some parts are still under construction. Checking the date for Uvalde , which I easily found now under competitions, I saw the recent world ranking list , which is updated on October 6 2011 and here it is when you have not yet seen it;
Michael Sommer [Germany] is still on spot 1 with Sebastian Kawa [Poland] on 2 and Zbigniew Nieradka [Poland] on 3.
On the world ranking list for juniors we see Filipe Levin [Germany] on spot 1 , Tim Kuijpers [The Netherlands] on 2 and Tobias Welsch [Germany ] on 3.
The female list is topped by 2 German ladies ,Sue Kussbach and Susanne Schoedel and on spot 3 we find Alena Nitusilova.
www.fai.org/gliding
I also found something I did NOT know; There is a Prince Alvaro de Orleans Borbon Fund!!! Did you know? I did not ! On the FAI site you find the next text under awards;
—The Trustees of the Prince Alvaro de Orleans- Borbon Fund for Technical Advances in the field of Sporting Aviation (including Simulated Flying) invite nominations from any source for high-calibre candidates who may be suitable recipients of prizes from the Fund.—-
You can download the regulations from their site and you can also nominate suitable candidates by downloading the application form from the FAI-site.
Alvaro de Orleans -Borbon jr. in Rieti[picture from my archive]
For a moment I thought it was Alvaro’s own name, connected to this prize, so to be sure I checked with him and he replied in return[ thanks for that Alvaro] and …..it is not, as you can read in his answer:
— the Fund bears the name of my father; my family established the fund to honour his memory. The Fund’s main objective is to promote and recognize technological innovation in sports flying.
My father, an industrial engineer graduated at the ETH in Zürich, was instrumental, among other things, to bring to Europe the American solid rocket fuel technology in the 1950s, to a company that still today is the sole manufacturer of all the boosters of the Ariane European space launcher.
FAI most kindly has accepted to host and manage the Prize Fund. FAI also kindly informs me about the details of the Fund’s activities.—-
While the European Leaders were trying to safe [financial] Europe, and after the heavy weather in Portugal and Ireland it was now Italy,which was hit. 9 People were killed due to the violence of flooding rivers due to heavy rain. Great old towns in the Toscane have been washed and that way history is damaged or even worse, lost. Highways were closed even the one from Genua to Roma and train-traffic around Pisa was stopped.
One of the people from the World Nature Fund claims that through illegal-building the natural protection is lost and that houses have been built in risk- areas. [source; AD] Quite a lot of tourists had to be saved!
Today we heard that the NE of the USA has been hit by very early and very heavy snow! NY has 10 cm. and several states [ about 1.5 million people!] are without electricity. Also….poor haloween-celebrators!
The first commercial flight from the DREAMLINER is a fact now ! All Nippon Air flew after 3 years of extra waiting from Tokyo to Hong Kong. In the plane just a few people who paid a LOT of money to be part of this historic flight.
We here in Holland enjoy some nice sunny autumn weather with temperatures up to 20 dgr. C., however this will chance next week; it will be colder/cooler.
The OLC Champion at this very early stage [ the new season started as you know on October 11] is….former world champion George Lee. Runner up is the competition director from the Uvalde WGC 2012, Ken Sorenson. Good on him. Relaxing first then the “hard work”.
Stephan Soell is on spot 3 while son Aljoscha , who just flew his first solo flight last week is on spot 8!!!! What do you want more? For some maybe …….time, money and a glider???
A German family , dad,mum and 2 children flew from Germany to France in their Piper Cheyenne. It went wrong at Toulouse airport where the plane crashed during the landing. Dad and one child got killed mum and the other one badly injured! VERY sad!
Got the latest news- letter from the Perlan Project and as people might not exactly know what they are doing I copied and pasted their questions and answers to give you a good idea!! Sorry the letters are a bit small!More news you find at their site; www.perlanproject.org And … I saw on the site of the NZD that one of the people from Perlan , Glenn Fisher, will be at “our ” Dutch Soaring Day [NZD] ! Will try to talk with him as well.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A: The Perlan Project is building an experimental sailplane (glider) that will use the winds that blow up and over the Andes in Argentina to soar up into the stratosphere.
Q: Where do these winds come from and where are they?
A: Warm air from the equator flows towards the cold areas of the north and south poles. Because of the Earth’s spin, the air flows in a spiral towards each pole, much the same as water spins when going down a drain. This is called the Polar Vortex, and exists at the north and south poles. When the wind hits mountains such as the Andes it is directed upward, creating stratospheric mountain waves.
A: We have three goals:
1. Break the world altitude record by soaring up to 90,000 feet in altitude and beyond.
2. Perform research to understand the polar stratospheric night jet and its effects on the ozone layer.
3. Inspire kids, our next generation, to learn about soaring, flying and aerospace engineering.
A: The technology and know-how we develop will be applicable to improve aircraft of all types. Better understanding our atmosphere helps us better understand and respond to climate change. Inspiring kids to learn about aviation, weather and aerospace helps ensure that we continue to have a highly skilled workforce in America.
A: Test flights will begin in March 2012 and we are currently planning our first expedition to Argentina in August 2012.
A: On August 30 th 2006, Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldsonset a world-record altitude for gliders of 50,671 feet (15,447 m) in the Perlan I, reaching the stratosphere. This has provided valuable information for building Perlan II.
Q: How can I help?
A: We have raised $3.2M to fund the research and construction of Perlan II. We need another $1.8M to accomplish our goals. Sponsorships and contributions are welcome. In addition, we welcome your in-kind donations and your interest to volunteer your time or expertise. Feel free to contact us.
cheers Ritz