The summer is nearly over here in Europe, though we still will have some good day’s for soaring, but of course shorter.
Fuente still has 750 km. flights in a Duo Discus and on September 1 the beginning of the meteorological autumn, Denis Flamant flew 897 km. from La Roche in an ASH 26.
On the last day of summer the Levin brothers enjoyed a good day of soaring in their EB’s [29 R and 28] ;950/939 km.from Homberg Ohm.
In September containers are leaving again for Africa and Australia, for those who love to fly the year around.
Both parts from Africa and Australia have been suffering from immense drought. NOT GOOD!!!!!
Still some comps NOW as well.

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3d FAI 13.5 m. World Gliding Champion ship
1. September 2019 – 14. September 2019
from Pavullo in Italy.

Parallel with this WGC, they fly the E-Glide with 7 pilots from 3 different countries in gliders as Ventus 3 FES /18m. [x 2] or Discus 2C FES/18m.,LS 8 eNEO, GP 15 SE JETA , Silent 2 Electro and HpH 304 eS.
It’s the first competition of this kind, specially created for electrically powered sailplanes.  Interesting to see how this works out.
In 13.5 m. 6 x a Mini Lak , 2x a GP 14 SE VELO and Silent 2 Electro and 2x a Diana VersVS ,one flown by the very first 13.5 m. champion Stefano Ghiorzo and one by Thomas Gostner.
11 Pilots in this class with also Peter Hartmann, Sebastian Kawa and Uli Schwenk.
The official opening was on the 31 st.
By the way, THEN, it was still 30 dgr. C here. Now we “enjoy” autumn with rain ,wind [BFT. 5] and 16 to 19 dgr. C.
During the practice on the last day Sebastian’s engine from the GP 14 did not start and he had to land hill-up and damaged his wheel.

Flying in the Apennines is always exciting “stuff”. And after the mandatory briefing from the President of the Jury, Bob Bickers, the chief steward Brian Spreckley and their assistants, Angel Casado and Marina Galetto, the WGC could start. But first the official opening at the town square at 4PM.
Bob opened with ;” special and grateful words to the organization and wishing to all the competitors “strong thermals in the tasking area, for the next fifteen days”. 

First flying day ; FAI flag was hoisted at 10 in the morning.
September 1…day 1…task 1;
Only flying in the E -glide-class ,where task 1 was 131 km. flown by 6 from 7.
September 2;
The weather forecast was not “flash” .”Today’s weather forecast announced thunderstorms and lightning around. However, a task was given to both classes .”
13.5 m. task 1 ; 118 km…Day was cancelled, because 7 out of 9 could not find any thermal-activity.
E -glide ..task 2; 126 km….They flew and Tilo showed he is not only good in GP- flying ,but also in this e-glide class. He won the day with 94 km./h.in his “own” Schempp-Hirth glider;Discus 2C FES/18m.
German pilot Stefan Langer who flies the LS 8e NEO /15m. [ DG Flugzeugbau GmbH] was runner up.[87 km./h.]
September 3;
Day 3…task 1…in 13.5 m. …191 km….changed in 1.35 AAT ; won by Peter who flew 171 km. in his Mini Lak in time 1.45. That “gave” him 504 points. Runner up was Uli , also in Mini Lak with 159 km. in time 1.41 .[476 p.]
Day 3 ..task 3 …in e-glide.…157 km…. Luka Znidarsic in the Ventus 3 FES/18 m. was the best with 111 km./h.
Tilo in the Discus 2C FES /18 m. was runner up with 108 km./h.
No scores yet in this class.
September 4 today;
Day 4..tasks 2/4; no tasks yet.

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59th Nationals in Romania ,
August 16 and 31, including 2 practice day’s.
Airport-to-be ;Balta Verde.

Flown in 2 classes;
Club class had 12 participants and the mixed class 13.
Mixed class;
They had 11 day’s out of 14 with pretty good soaring weather.
Several 3 hour AAT’s , but also a 425 and 456 km set task .
In this class it was all about Alex Pop and Norbert Scarlat, both flying Discus 2A. Norbert had the best speed of the comps..132 km./h. on task 6. Alex won 2 day’s Norbert 6!! But,… He did not fly on task 3.
On the last flying day August 30 , [the 31st was cancelled] Alex won the 2.30 AAT with 337 km. in time in time 2.49. Norbert lost a few points by being 7th. And,..as points between him and Ionut TUDOR were close, Ionut passed him overall with 27 points.
1. Alex with 10.077 points.
2. Ionut with 9.388 points.
3. Norbert with 9.361 points.

In club class it was between Sorin CHISU in LS 1 d and Robert Alin SIMION, BUT Robert did not fly the first day in his IS 29 D2. He was runner up on 5 days.
Sorin won 8 day’s and had a huge lead in the end.
1. Sorin with 9.108 points.
2. Robert with 7.971 p.

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KA 6 RALLY at MALDEN.
30 August 2019 – 1 September 2019

With 16 real -pure-gliders,the KA 6 happening was flown from Malden. That gives me a great nostalgic feeling.
The Vintage Glider Club of the Netherlands was the organizer.
Distances, of course were not very long, but it’s all about the feeling and,…on day 1, 2 pilots flew the task from around 35 km. Chapeau as the weather was nice but not very high.
Also some out-landings.
Over the 3 day’s no tasks were set for the Rally ,but local flying was for sure possible.

and another nice one.

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UK MOUNTAIN SOARING;
1 September 2019 – 7 September 2019

23 pilots gathered in Aboyne in Scotland for the annual get-together to find out who is the best in gaining height and or distance in cross country soaring.
September 1 ;had only height as possibility as after rain the cc flying was not on. 135 km. was set but not flown.
Best height gain was ;3.307 ft.
September 2; no cc flying but height gain was possible.
September 3;…the morning message did not sound good:
” We have woken to pea soup this morning. “
No task.
AND,..no task yet for today. Yes autumn has announced it self.

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GLIDING INTERNATIONAL.

The new September/October issue is on line and I looked already for you at the highlights.
—-As said we here in the South celebrated our freedom on September 18 in 1944. The rest from Holland after terrible times with NO food, on Mai 1945.
I live in freedom all my life which I find a huge privilege.
Gliding International looks back at the war as well. And,…specially on the gliding site!!!
A time with 6000 volunteer aviators flying gliders …one way…to fly deep in the “enemy zone with infantry and vital supplies”.
About 25 pages of touching stories to honor who “dared” to do this job!!!
Amazing stories.
—- BIRDY…..The self-launch capable motor glider, in the 120 kg class -carbon fibre construction with a Geiger HPD -E- Drive.
—–“AUSTRALIA is big, bigger than you could ever appreciate”… a warm welcome to new and “old” guests to fly in Australia.
—- Airbus promotes a new wing concept….
—- CAA’s grant on airspace in the UK is not in favor of Lasham but Farnborough…not good…It will start in 2020!! You can read the LASHAM statement in G.I.
—- AND,….Lot’s of news in “International news for glider pilots“.

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Some interesting news;

From Germany;
PURE PLANES.Got an invitation to be “friends” of PURE PLANES. Had a look, found it very interesting and share it with you.

From Kiripotib Soaring;
Rent a glider from Ludwig and Wolfgang shared the next news:
” Today our new Arcus M Nr.6, had its maiden flight. After the prototype its the first one delivered from the new type and it will be allready the 8th Arcus operated in our fleet. Thanks to the crew from Schempp-Hirth, who made it possible to get the glider ready in time, to be packed in the containers for Namibia. It will be this year the first and only Arcus M new type to explore the southern sky over the Kalahari.
Wolfgang and Ludwig are looking forward to fly this beautiful glider down there, and I’m sure they will fill it up with water to 850kilos to get maximum gliding performance .”
And,..maybe they are still available..
“Due to a cancellation, a new Ventus 3M is available to rent between 23. and 29. Dec. 2019 and 11. to 17. Jan. 2020, and an Arcus M between 15. Dec. 2019 and 17. Jan. 2020 in Kiripotib/Namibia.
If you are interested, or know somebody who is interested, let us know.
Thanks, Rent-a-Glider Team“

From BITTERWASSER;
” Bitterwasser is also a place for youngsters. With the Europe-wide Bitterwasser Cup and a success at German Gliding Championships, juniors have the chance to be invited to the Gliding Center. Two winners have already been announced: Lukas Blattmann from the Charlottenburg Flying Sports Club Berlin and Mike Bauer from the Eichstätt Flying Club have won the ticket to the 1000 km camp of Wilfried Großkinsky in Zwickau as the best juniors of the German Club Class Championship (fourth and fifth overall). Simon Briel from LSV Homberg Ohm, this year’s best junior in the standard class and second at the Junior World Championship in Szeged, was already in the camp last season. He receives a special invitation, which Wilfried Großkinsky and Rainer Hog and Bitterwasser AG take over.
The Bitterwasser Cup is still running and the winners of the OLC Junior Challenge have not yet been determined. The award ceremony for them will take place on 5 October at the OLC Symposium at the Rhön/Germany. “

From France;
More about vintage planes:
There seems to be an eccentric 87 year old gentleman ,who bought a Castle in France , in the Burgundy area, with enough acres around it to “store” his private collection of 110 fighter jets and a Hovercraft!!!!!!
His goal in life as pilot was ; avoiding the destroying of vintage planes.
LIKE HIM!!!!!

From OLC;
Boulder in the USA had a superb high wave day and Pedja Bogdanovich used that for a nice long flight; 1.272 km. in a Ventus 2ax/15m. and a speed of 151 km./h.
One of the Boulder pilots mentioned he missed this great weather in July.
And,..another great flight that same day [September 2] this time from Germany where an LS 8 flew 825 km. using cold autumn air combined with still warm “soil” mainly under 2000 m. [ from Neresheim.]
AND,…yesterday a 1.016 by Keith Essex from good old Minden-Tahoe in his JS 3. Speed 148 km./h .
I liked his comment and share it with you ;
“ On the first leg it was obvious the best route was down the Whites. Because I’m a non conformist I took the Sierras and regretted it. Got flushed off the Sierras with rain and ended up on the Whites anyway. Good but pretty overdeveloped until off the Whites. The glider got a good washing. Didn’t work very well in the east. Longish glide with no climbs into the Minden valley, once back up it was straight forward. “

And to finish this great picture from ASK 13, yes… I flew one last week. Every year they have a get-together in France in Grenoble. This time from August 24 till the last day August 31, from the aerodrome de St. Crepin.
Last Thursday they had a task with a distance between 39 and 50 km.

As you can see they are all friends/mates, help each other and have a week of great fun together. They make fabulous pictures as well from this event ,I shared a few in the past.

And they still make great pictures have a look at their site on August 27.

CU next Wednesday
Ritz