Alphen aan den Rijn       June 30 2010    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

As every Monday, I travelled to Amsterdam 2 days ago. In the train I heard an elderly lady; “For me it can start snowing NOW”. She clearly did not like the high temperatures in Holland and in more places in Europe. I noticed on the big pole in front of the RAI building 32 dgr. at 13.29. Never saw such a high temperature on that pole.[ because it is rather high and in the wind] So….yes we have nice weather here and June has been really good. July looks great as well, certainly the beginning with 30 dgr even up to 37 on Friday, but then it seems in the weekend, we have to “pay” with thunderstorms. This started already in France and Spain on Tuesday.

When you are already looking ahead at the next 32d WGC in 2012,  in Chaves in Argentina, I can give you a link which I got from Horacio. Great shots from the area by air , from some pilots and in total  a nice promotion for gliding at Chaves Airport. The video is made for a TV channel and covers the South American Gliding Championships in Chaves.This is a preview on the programme which will ”go air ” next month. When that programme is ready I will receive it as well and share the 45 minutes with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8211RTSboFg

 Horacio is leaving in 11 days for Rom to get the glider for Damian Goldenzweig, young toppilot from Argentina and will crew for him in Szeged. In this video you can see that Horacio is doing well in soaring too , standing at the podium ,[ winning st.class ], with a few other top names. Horacio flew the Junior Worlds in Finland and is just a great young and very enthusiastic guy.He loves gliding!!!

Last Saturday it could have gone wrong with a small aircraft  doing a joy-flight around Berlin , carrying 4 people including the pilot. Luckily he knew how to glide his plane having a failure in the engine,and ……where to? To Tempelhof the closed airport at Berlin and this is the 2d emergency landing at this field. Everybody was well!!!
Less lucky were 5 people in a helicopter above a cycling-tour in Rotterdam here in Holland. This town has the prologue from the great event the Tour de France,next week,  but a shade has fallen over all excitement now the pilot and 3 other people, 2 of them press photographers were killed. The crash could have been even worse as cyclists on the ground claim that the very experienced pilot tried not to hit them. This tour with 1000 enthusiastic non-prof-bicyclist was stopped immediately.

Prievidza is ready for the 31 WGC  and lot’s of my friends have arrived already and find their new temporarily home on the camping site, a motel or in private houses. I noticed Jozef , the competition director did a good job in building some nice wooden houses where you can live with a few. Friend Art has started his job weighing and will be like in Italy doing the virtual race-visualisation . He has the best voice to do so and knows all about soaring.
The Dutch team has arrived with a brand new TC Bart ,his very first time, but I am sure he will do a great job, knowing him.
I am very pleased to see that the daily bulletin editor Zulu, is doing a good job as well and in perfect English, so the world is going to enjoy theirselves with his stories. Thanks Zulu!   www.wgc2010.sk for news about the first practise days and pictures.

About the OLC over the last 3 days; Still Hammerwetter in lots of parts from Europe!!!!!
You know I have ”something” for 1000 km flights and when a pilot flies a set 1040km FAI triangle  I really get excited!!! That’s what happened in ELY in the USA one of those great soaring places where pilots go to fly 1000 km-plus and to just enjoy the great conditions. Minden had,  as well as Mountain Valley, great weather.
 Guy does n’t have to go to Fuente[Spain], this year to fly nice long distance flights he flew several [4 till now] 1000 km from his home field in Luxembourg already.
One of the German pilots was super-enthusiastic about this hammer- wetter he could not believe that there was still 2.5 lift at 8 pm. A lot of set tasks…… and flown on that Tuesday.
Yesterday was total overcast here in Holland, after another glorious morning. At 1 pm it was raining!!!!!!! Temperature dropped at-least with 6 dgr. after ….the sun started shining again. But it was much better in other parts of Europe.
Another 1060 km set FAI triangle  was flown from Köningsdorf in Germany in a Ventus 2CT/18m. while another pilot thought in retrospect he did not make the correct decisions on track ; he set the task flying his discus 2b/18m. but could not make all the TP’s as the 2d one was unreachable due to a too low base. He still flew his 1065 km. but not as a 1000 km FAI triangle.
Some open class gliders also flew 1000 km tasks in Austria yesterday.

Finally I reacted on a Facebook invitation  and …I am now on Facebook sharing with [in 2 days] 52 of my friends, news and having just fun and ”finding” some friends , I had lost!!! I did not know it was such fun, but I am still not good in it. Sometimes I loose what I just wrote, but I will be fine. And…friends even advise what to do and not to do! Thanks! Also love the pictures!!!!

Got a message from the USA that pilots over there started with their  National Open and Standard class competition  in Hobbs New Mexico, the place where in 1983 the WGC has been flown.  Our Dutch  pilot Kees Muster won in one class that year. Will keep you informed. Not much happened as I heard ,since they started on June 28, but more can happen as they fly till July 8.

Off to the hospital now, see how we go. See you next Sunday, will tell you how we survived up to 37 dgr. in the South of Holland on Friday and….of course I keep an eye on Prievidza. Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      Sunday June  27 2010     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

WOW..what absolute fabulous weather for Euroglide !!!!On flight -day 3 the self launching Nimbus 4 UFO, was , with Max Leenders and 2 mates , already past the 3 TP and  on its way home. They flew on Wednesday another 832 km… they had rounded Germany and Switzerland and were on their way back home from the TP in France.  The organisers expected them back in Axel on Thursday the 24th. this day had 26 dgr. here in Holland and a bit of over-development, but above Belgium it looked super as well….Would they make it on June 24 ????
Yes they did , they finished over Axel and had even time to fly to our National Gliding Center Terlet. Great effort . Anxious to know if this is the fastest ever Euroglide.
They did it in just a bit more then 3 days;  Monday noon till Thursday afternoon, so a lot of holiday-days left for the 3 pilots involved.
Not far behind them ; LL [ nimbus 4dm] and MD [ dg 808 c]. MD is flown by  Max, alone. He just flew the nationals and is in great ”form”. He was a participant over the last years so very experienced. He is also a frequent flyer in Corowa in our winter.
The leader in the ”turbo’s ” was ZZ a nimbus 4 dm,  , he was on the 3d day at Bailleau and one of the 3 pilots flying here is the former European champion Ronald Termaat and former runner up in the WGC in Luesse, who flew during the nationals the JS1 Revelation.
Also this team arrived home in Axel at the 24th. Great effort, as well as IN1, an ASH 25 from Germany.
 The ”just”  gliders XX [LS 6 17.6 m] and EH [duo discus] were doing well and were upfront, at day 3 at Lyon. At day 4 XX came home as the first glider!!!!! WELL DONE!!!!!
EH is the duo discus from Eindhoven flown by 4 different pilots and XX is alo from Eindhoven ,all are members of the EAC, the club with all the problems in the past , I wrote you about  .
On Friday another 16 pilots/gliders arrived at the final place Axel. Under them Max and his son Vincent, each in their own glider.
The site has 13 days for news but they only needed for the best pilots till day 4.
Yesterday more teams arrived back home. Still great weather and today we might reach 30 dgr. ……with a heatwave , not impossible for the next coming week.
It is interesting to read the rules about this competition at www. euroglide.nl 

Most parts of Europe were blessed  last week with fantastic soaring weather. On the OLC you had to fly at-least 700 km on Wednesday to be on page one[ 50 pilots] . Of course an LS 1 in between, flying a good 600 km is super,  as well as an SZD 55 with 670 km. and what about the always high scoring Libelle; this time 609 km. and a st. cirrus flew 598, I call that 600 km. ….well done…

Sorry I forgot to share with you the news that Ingo Renner,  still the one and only 4 times world champion soaring celebrated his 70thiest birthday in his hometown Tocumwal on June 1.It was a surprise party organised by his wife Judy and as I was not allowed to write about it when I received it , …I just forgot.But he had a great day with lots of friends visiting the BBQ and congratulating him on this special day. This is what his friends received yesterday;

Ingo would like to send his heartfelt thanks to everyone who wished him well on his birthday, helped him to celebrate and who contributed to the wishing well or brought a gift.  As you all know this was a big surprise for Ingo and he thoroughly enjoyed himself on the evening.  He has found a rocking chair – we just have to get it home from Sydney.
Can you imagine Ingo in a rocking chair…?????

This weekend there is an Airshow at Cambrai  in the Northern part of France , I was there once longtime ago . Here is the  touching news I took from their site, written by the Colonel from the base,  so you know about it as well!! You might be even able to see a bit on the site; www.meetingcambrai2010.fr 

On June 26^th and 27^th, a national air show will take place on Cambrai Air Force Base 103. This great festival of aeronautics is made for any passionate, and it will benefit the Air Charity Foundation (FOSA). This foundation has helped – for more than 70 years – people in misfortune or in need because of an accident having occurred to a member of their family, in the civil or military aviation.

This great international event (more than 50.000 visitors are expected) is based on the theme “Du Blériot au Rafale”. It is part of a communication approach between the armed forces and the civilian society. It will be both an opportunity and a pleasure to share our common passion for aeronautics, which links men and women, civilians and militaries proud to serve France.

Talking about airshows , there must have been one not too far from my place as I saw  yesterday at 13.15, a DC 3 in formation passing by over my house with 3 Fokker 11 and not long after another plane, maybe a Mustang and after that another formation beautiful flown by 6 planes could not see what they were but it was a fantastic noise, from old engines  and  then on top of that a Hercules and a Lockheed, I  had my private airshow here!!!!! LOVED IT!!!!! It was not over then with 4 F16 planes hurrying behind the others,  all were lined up going to or coming from a demo-show……. and with a bit of thinking I knew , it was a tribute to our 50.000 old and 50.000 younger veterans on the 6th National  Veterans day yesterday in the Hague and our  Crown Prince was there as well.

This weekend; a 2-day-competition at Salland  here in Holland. They fly in mixed, club  and open class. Yesterday they had nice tasks with an expectation of blue thermals,[  hopefully they got some of the clouds above my house] and tasks from 354 km in 15m mixed, 322 for club and 415 for open with an expected cloud base of up to 1700 m.
All but one pilot arrived home after a super day with great flights and nice speed. look for results from yesterday and today at www.soaringspot.com [Sallandse tweedaagse 2010]

Looking at the OLC the last 3 days ; I always like the enthusiasm of Alexander Müller, he writes ;” first cumulus at 8 AM and the last ones at 8 PM ….Bayreuth is SUPER, ”;that’s where he did another 1.164 km flight in his ASW 22.
 I was most impressed and a bit sad with the flight of  one of my Finnish friends, Martti [Sucksdorf] from Rayskala. I forgot if he ever flew his 1000km with us in Tocumwal, but he did NEARLY on Thursday ;954.50 km. What a shame, I would have loved to see him fly it in his home country !!!!
An LS 4 flew that day 679 km from Jena which is North of Bayreuth and here in Holland another friend Jeroen Koole flew 700 km!!! This weather is just ”delightful”!!!!!
On Friday ”young” Jeroen Jennen,[ Belgium]  I guess he is growing older since I saw him last,[ was that Husbos in 2005, when he was still too young to fly by himsellf, ????],  but can’t be older then 17/ 18 or so, flew his 500 km from Keiheuvel in an LS 8 . Great effort Jeroen!!! I have the feeling this is his first one, if it is congratulations!
I also noticed a few absolutely fabulous set FAI tasks/ triangles and THAT is the real gliding, you surely agree with me!!!; what about 828 km. from Königsdorf or a nice 530  by Wolli, without mountains from Oerlinghausen and not to forget 923 km from Winzeln Schramberg. This fantastic weather in a huge area stimulates the flying of set triangles/tasks and I love to see that.
One of our top-pilots Sicco, set a 1000 km task from Soesterberg yesterday ,[ it is not often that these tasks are set in Holland], but was unfortunately  too slow in the beginning , saw cumulus but not where he wanted to go. He still wanted to stick as long as possible to his set task, flew 866 km and thought that a 1000 would have been  possible for an open class glider. He flew a ventus BT.
Yesterday pilots nearly had to fly 800 km to be on page 1 of the OLC. HAMMERWETTER in most parts of Europe!!!!!

and then this….
—–how it is possible ,…… Idon’t know, but from one day to another they moved Prime Minister Rudd from Australia out of his function and replaced him with Julia Gilard,[ also from the Labour Party]  now the first female president in Australia.
—–you have heard  for sure about the ”all blacks”,  the famous and very great playing rugby team from New Zealand. With their warrior-dance ” haka ”, they impress the world at each WRC.
 Now they have the ”all whites ”, the more or less ”surprise” soccer players. In the beginning , I heard, the Kiwi’s called them ”pussies”, as the rugby players are already their tough heroes, but by playing not too bad, they got Wellington ”dancing on the tables” from enthusiasm…great stuff…..and well done. Soccer is on the map there now too. Even when it was a draw against Paraqua and they did go further to the 1/8 finals , they did a fabulous job and deserve the special warm welcome at home. 
 —- a pity that the Australian socceroos won….. but still had to leave S.A,  due to a negative goal-balance.
—–59-59, we talk tennis now at Wimbledon…all records broken, 2 heroes one from France one from the USA and they did not even win the tournament, but for sure their names are on the map. In the end the match was finished after 3 days; final result;70-68 , in fact no winner but the American young lad John Isner won.
—–it seems , according to the Argentinian lawyers that Julio Poch , has made those ”death-flights”. They read, as they claim,  his flight-logbook and diaries and found there enough evidence…will be continued. How he ”earned” 130 million e.[it seems he possesses this in assets and money] as a commercial airline pilot , is beyond me…..
—–unbelievable but true; in Holland they found a guy who was dead for 4 years. [50 years old] He lived on the top floor of a house and  asked  his 4 family members,  all living in the same house on the 2d floor[ 2 sisters ,2 brothers] one day in 2006 , to not disturb him anymore. They did and  the painters who came to do renovations in the house last week, found him. The family might see  legal action taken against them for neglecting.
—–from Western Australia, I got a more personnel message about the crash in Congo,  as nearly everybody overthere is one way or another linked to Sundance so the population is in shock.
”The crash in the Congo has had a huge impact in WA. The WA mining industry is very close knit and most people know each other .
As for Sundance Resources, their shares remain suspended but they are already working to construct a new board. Most people’s hearts are going out to the families who have lost their loved ones – it seems it will be some time before their bodies will be returned to Australia

tragic, …..see you next

cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn        Wednesday June 23     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Euroglide started with pretty good weather  on June 21, as the weather turned out much better then expected.At 13.00 the first started and within 2 hours everybody was gone.
 And  the forecast for the next couple of days is that of great summer weather all over the places they fly too. I looked at the European weather and it was glorious from the South of Spain till nearly the top of Scandinavia. The top-end only had some rain. The Eastern countries however have more unstable weather at this stage.
On that first day Thom Wammerdam in the duo discus flew 371 km from Eindhoven, straight to the East on his way to the first TP  under Berlin.
Another pilot Mark Besten, in a duo, tried the same but could just not reach Nordhausen, had to go back a bit to land at Aue where he ”found” 12 more teams, staying over there for the night; 362 km.
All by himself, Ton Staassen, who won the Military comps in his class 2 weeks ago, flew his Mosquito to a nice distance of 381 km. He is a member of the ZES, the club of the students from Eindhoven University where I was ages ago a member and as you know , the first female member.
On day 2 , I noticed that Max Leenders who flew the Nationals @Twente, had a super flight in his nimbus 4DM; 767 km. He passed TP 1 and on his way to Montricher in Switserland, also Bayreuth and Hahnweide and if he continues like this,…..he is back in a flash. They have till July 3 but with this weather …….”
Look for the map on www.euroglide.nl  Great stuff…this Euroglide!!!!!Try to go with one of the crews,  next year for a full coverage of the ”show”.

June 21 was also the beginning of the calendar-summer  and of course we had our longest day here, [ for one moment I had the feeling, that winter is close by again!] with in the weekend midsummer-night-celebrations in Scandinavia. Australia had it’s shortest day and I hear it is pretty cold over there, …pullover/cardigan-weather, but still some good days for flying and fresh snow on the mountains for the people who change gliders for skies for a while.

Last Sunday for the first time this year[ last year it happened 6 times!] 2 F16 pilots , here in Holland, had to check on a passenger-plane as no communication was heard and no contact could be made anymore by the traffic controllers. The plane , an Airbus 321 from Onur Air, travelling from Turkey to Ireland [Dublin] however contacted the tower after passing the Dutch border and the F 16’s were send home.

The Italian Nationals ended as I gave them to you as the last day was cancelled. Congratulations to Riccardo and Davide each in their class.
From July 3 several new National Championships under FAI flag, will be flown , p.e in Sweden in Sundbro for 18 m and double seaters , in Spain at Santa Cilia, 4 classes, club , standard , open and 15m. in the UK at Nympsfield the 15 m class and of course last but NOT least, the WGC in Prievidza. At this stage the Nationals in the Ukraine for open and 15 m. are flown, finishing tomorrow.

Sad news from Congo where a plane with 9 passengers,  amongst them 6  top executives of a mining business, Sundance Resources Limited from Western  Australia,  got lost.One of them is Queenslands mining magnate Ken Talbot, as one of their non executive directors. On Tuesday morning they found the plane in the bush, all passengers and 2 crew died. Investigation has to constitute, what has happened. A big blow for the Australian mining business.

Received a link to an interesting story, [THANKS!]certainly when you are into vintage planes.

Air Service Berlin DC3 at Berlin on June 19th 2010, engine failure

By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Jun 19th 2010

An Air Service Berlin Douglas C-47 Skytrain, registration D-CXXX performing a sight seeing flight from Berlin Schoenefeld to Berlin Schoenefeld (Germany) with 25 passengers and 3 crew, departed Schoenefeld’s runway 25 (former 25L) when the left hand engine failed at a height of about 200-300 feet. The airplane struggled to climb out, after a left hand turn the crew set the airplane down into a grassy field near Selchow and the building site of the new runway (which is planned to turn Schoenefeld into Berlin Brandenburg International Airport). All 3 crew and 4 passengers received minor injuries, the airplane sustained substantial damage and is thought to be a write off.

http://avherald.com/h?article=42d26069&opt=0  for the picture and when you are intertested the rest of the story.

 The OLC this beginning of the week;
Young Bert Schmelzer from Belgium seems to be ready for the WGC soon. In his Discus A he flew from Belgium straight into Germany and made a super flight of 708 km. starting at Keiheuvel. Well done!
1000 km.-Eaters Guy Bechtold [flew from Useldange in Luxembourg] and Alexander Mueller [ from Bayreuth the former WGC airfield ] added another 1000 km flight to their list of 2010 and Wilfried Grosskinsky did in a Nimbus 4M the same from Dahlemer Binz. He claims that the cold air and great lift made it a super day , though the base in the Eifel was not too heigh, but every cloud ”worked”, which is what ”we ” need, is n’t it!
This all happened yesterday!
The day before a Swedish pilot tried a 1000 k from Orebro in a discus 2 T and just missed out on a few km. ;928 a pity.

A super day again today. What will it bring for us soaring-enthusiasts….?
You are up- to-date now, see you next Sunday. Plaster will be off in a week to check the situation with x-rays again and to hopefully walk then around without it , but in the worst case , new plaster will be on for 8 weeks, grrr…..
Safe travelling for all FAI officials, pilots and crew to Prievidza.

Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     June 20 2010    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Before I departed we had here in Holland some kind of political earthquake!  For the first time in history the Liberal Party is the biggest in Holland and the poor Democrats lost half of their “fans”. Our Prime Minister , from this party CDA, announced straight away his departure out of politics. Over the last 8 years he did quite a good job under difficult circumstances but it seems the Dutch wanted a chance.
Labour Party struggled for first place but just lost with one “chair in parliament”, 31 VVD [Liberals] 30 Pvd A [Labour party]
What’s less good is that the super right wing of the PVV [ Party for Freedom and  against too much immigration and against too much Islam!] from Geert Wilders gained most votes!!! They went from 9 to 23 ‘chairs ‘ in the Parliament. In my eyes not the best promotion for Holland.
I know a lot of people interested in and earning their income from aviation , voted for Frits Paymans who is Liberal but clearly “one of us”! Hope he got enough write-in-votes  [ he was 63 on the VVD list]  to be part of Parliament, to support the aviation world from all angles, including gliding of course!!!!!Unfortunately he did n’t !
So you know a tiny little bit of Dutch politics as well.

Back from Volendam ,a gorgeous place in Holland,  very commercial but still nice to visit. Marken was even nicer ,  still very ”remote” ,an island with only one road ,[ since a few years ,] to the continent.The traditional clothes are stunning and all handmade with colours to match special occasions as Easter, or the Queens Birthday.
A bit of a nasty fall brought me back home Friday evening in ….pink plaster. A tiny little bone is broken in my left  wrist and the plaster covers my arm till my elbow. Not too bad but I had forgotten already how much less you can do with one hand only! But… as most of you know I am the”  right-hand-one-finger-quick-hard-hitter ”, on the panel, so I can still do my writing.

Euroglide starts tomorrow.For some pilots , the MECCA/ read ultimate way of soaring. Distance over 2000 km.,  3 TP’s far spread over Europe and who’s back first is the winner! A lot of fun , lot’s of driving, lot’s of people as one glider can be flown by more pilots and you never know where your day will end. Daan Pare is one of the participants and he flies this Euroglide already for years. He will be flying his glider alone. Look at the site who is flying what glider with whom! Great fun!
Time frame; within Monday June 21 and  Saturday July 3 2010!

Departure: Eindhoven Netherlands
First turnpoint: Bronkow Germany
Second turnpoint: Montricher Switzerland
Third turnpoint: Falaise France
Finish: Axel Netherlands.
Total 2328 km.
Look for news also at ; www.euroglide.nl

What happened more last week?  I noticed that the Nationals for standard class in Poland  have been flown in better weather circumstances then the Grand Prix and the other Nationals. This time every day in Zielona Gora was a flying day and the 59 pilots in that class, [a lot] and the organisers must have felt BIG relieve!
The open military comps in Holland were less lucky with only ONE day of flying.  The winners ; Ard Tielenburg, [club], Ronald Berg [18m] and Ronald Kaay [double seater ] and last but not least in 15 m.Ton Staassen.

64 Competitors in 4 classes had rather nice weather in Arboga  in Sweden where the next WWGC will be held in 2011. The first and last day were cancelled but still 5 days of soaring with well-known piolot Börje Eriksson as winner in the 15 m. class. Runner up in this class former world champion Göran Ax.
Henrik Breidahl from Denmark flew in open class in his ASG 29 E. Henrik belongs to the top, but had a few good and a few bad days. The worst on day 1 when he ”received ” ZERO points due to a failure of the logger.[no engine noise recording]

 And the Italian Nationals in Ferrara  for 18 m. are on their way [ June 11-20] and after 3 days of flying the 4 toppers from 14 pilots in total, are on top with only very small margins. Giorgio Galetto with 1965 points, Luciano Avanzini has 2 points less and Riccardo Brigliadori has 1945 points. Alberto Sironi another top pilot, landed out one day and lost some points there, a pity as he is just good!
Today is their last day but  on the 18th they flew day 4 , which gave some changes in the overall scores.
Ricardo and Alberto flew their racing task of 240 km. but Giorgio flew 176 km and Luciano 170. As yesterday was cancelled they only have today to fly and on the news I saw lot’s of rain over there.
New number one is now Ricardo , with Albert0 on 2 , [you see I knew he can fly] and Giorgio is on 3 with Luciano on 4.
Pretty difficult circumstances with small tasks and I guess rain today as well.
Did you see the poor holiday makers in the south of France? All cars and caravans on one pile by the flooding and stream of water and mud. What’s worse …..25 people are dead!!

More Nationals in Italy at Ferrara. Elena  and Nicola Fergnani [sister and brother] and Davide Schiavotto, in the past good juniors at the several comps are flying for top places in the Italian club class and lovely to see that another member , Michele, of the  Fergnani family flies in the nationals as well. Another good pilot is Vittorio Pinni. By the way…The double seaters are also flying in Ferrara . Busy, busy….
The 4th soaring day gave a big change in results as well for club class pilots. The Fergnani family had a ”bad” day, with Nicola still earning 240 points, but  winner of the day Davide got 479. Gorgious looking and very nice sister Elena only got 52 points and Michele 37 !!! 
 Interesting to see that Andrea Tomasi, who was one of the finishers on day 4, is now on spot 3 in the overall scores , with Davide still on 1 and Vittorio now on 2. Andrea was the president of the Gliding Federation of Italy, when I was there in 2008. I guess he still is !
Look for nice pictures on the next links:
http://www.yankee-yankee.com/grfe10/index.html  or
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyimage/

In Romorantin the French pilots started on June 5 their National Air 2010. Winner in 15 m class after 4 days; Killian Wallbrou former WGC winner in Rieti. In open class Gerard Lherm is still good. About 35 years ago  he “fought “with my ex for first place during at least 5 of the ”Huit Jours d’Angers-comps”  , then George won, then Gerard and he still is on spot 1 or 2 nowadays. Good on him!After 5 days of flying he is …indeed 2d.
The comps have finished yesterday and as they did not fly anymore [rain!!!] Killian won again and Gerard was 2d.

What was interesting in the OLC last week ? Maybe more 1000 km flights  in Morrocco….??? I liked to see that Carsten Bauer who flew with us in Australia in the past is still flying!! And..same story for Gert Kalisch, Klaus Warnke,  Jan Umlauf and Stefan Soell, all of them flew and Jan and Stefan still fly in Tocumwal and so many others,  …..Jaap van Steinfoorn, made his first glider flight for this year in the ASH 25 from Teuge in Holland and ” made” 748 km. ……My Belgian friends had some over 500/600 km flights……What about Reinhard Schramme with his 1024 km flight in the Ventus 2 CT……..it was a great soaring week in most parts of Europe and also in the well known parts of the USA with several good and 1000 km. flights as well.

Received a story from a friend which I like to share with you as well; here you go!

747 stowaway survives Pacific flight

A stowaway has survived a seven-and-a-half hour flight across the Pacific Ocean hidden in the wheel well of an Air France Boeing 747.Mechanics discovered the man – who remains unidentified – at Los Angeles airport late on Thursday, after the plane arrived from Papeete in Tahiti.

It was unclear how he had survived the below zero temperatures and thin oxygen at the cruising altitude of 10,700 metres (35,000 ft).

He was taken to hospital with a core temperature of less than 29 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit), which is usually fatal, and was gradually warmed over a period of hours. Medical staff at UCLA Medical Centre said his survival was “little short of a miracle”. “We don’t know of any other person whose body temperature dropped this low who has survived,” said David Langness, a hospital spokesman at UCLA. Earlier cases of people trying to stow away in wheel wells have usually ended in death from hyporthermia or crushing in the hydraulic works of the landing gear. Doctors said the man was in his late 20s, 1.80 metres (6ft) tall, weighing 80kg (180 lbs), but his identity is still unknown. All communication by the man has been by written notes, in French and English. Doctors are trying to determine whether oxygen deprivation has damaged the man’s brain.

 Well,….good luck for the EuroGlide  pilots and their  crews. The weather is not too good this weekend, after 5 days of pretty nice sunny conditions with pretty strong wind however, but it improves again when they start.
Loved the wedding of the Swedish crown princess yesterday and of course the SOCCER, though we played  just ”bad”, but are still  the first to enter the 1/8 finals as Denmark, who played well, won from Cameroon. The Aussies did a better job in their poule and still have chances. Stay well and see you on Wednesday
Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Wednesday June 9 2010    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

The great soaring weather changed  in several places from Europe to rain, rain and more rain. Even Hungary seems to fight with high water. After high water in Austria , pilots had no problem last week. I know some of my Lasham friends soar during the spring period in Sankt Johann, they do this already for years. Roy is there and he had a very nice flight last Sunday of 738 km. in an ASG 29/18m. Well-known Austrian pilot Guido Achleitner flew even further that day, in his ASG 29 , knowing maybe the circumstances of the mountains there a bit better; 924 km!!!!! Another Austrian pilot flew from Innsbruck even over 1000 km. in a 26 m. span ASH25.
Unterwössen in Germany is not too far from St.  Johann and they enjoyed good soaring-weather as well.

Norway , Sweden and Finland remain just good!
And what do you want more….a competition in this good period? Yes the Finnish  pilots are so lucky! From June 6-13 they are flying their Nationals, I just heard from Visa Matti. Standard class, 15 m and 18 m. fly from Rayskala. At this stage , after 3 days of good soaring, Hannu Nurmiranta is number 1 in 15 m class after winning one day and being 2 and 3. Good mate Kari is on spot 4.
In standard class former world champion Marku Kuusisto is on spot 2 and in 18 m. Marti Koivula is on spot 1 while good mate Marti Sucksdorff is on spot 5 winning the first day. Antti Lehto, another top pilot from Finland and a great guitar-player is on spot 3 in this class.

43 Pilots are flying the Open Military comps in Holland in 4 classes. Malden is the place to be for them and from my ” gliding-camps” at Malden in the past I know how absolutely nice the atmosphere can be over there. Nice field surrounded by trees but a big cross to fly in and out,  if I remember well.
Several pilots fly , I mean a mix of very good pilots as Bart Berendsen , who flew JWGC’s and the WGC in Italy and beginners in comps and not all of them are part of  the military “world”.
Difficult first day with many outlandings but a day with points in each class. Only 4 from 43 arrived home!Look at www.soaringspot.com
 Yesterday the “show “was cancelled as thunderstorms and pretty heavy rain disturbed the air. Here as well, the thunderstorms were not too bad but the rain was indeed HEAVY !

We had a special day at Zandvoort on the circuit; the masters of the prestigious  Formula 3. Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull] was on invitation at the circuit to do a demonstration, which as I read was fabulous. I read as well that Frank with his “Extra 300 L ” [former Red Bull Air Racer ] landed and departed in his spectacular way again from this circuit, after also a sizzling show!
I have seen at the Nationals a bit of what this guy can do with a plane….I was to be honest a bit scared, as he goes pretty low , but he is amazingly good!!!! Look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98luEW5sL10

During my stay at the airfield in Rietie ,  doing my job as competition journalist , I had long walks and discussions with Visa Matti from Finland, who is as I remember well , president of the Jury at one of the WGC’s this year. He told me how good Finnish car drivers are, not only on circuits but also at rally’s.
He was correct as this year a young [21] Finnish lad had for the first time in history a successive win at the FORMULA 3  MASTERS in Holland at Zandvoort. Vallteri Bottas drove a Mercedes!
By the way Frank has also taken a camera while landing, starting and flying the demo and  you can see the pictures on his site at photographs ; www.aerobatics.nl   and clicking on his weblog you find more “you tube ‘s”and also facebook. Enjoy!
Both Sebastian [car]  and Frank [plane] did an awesome  job with their “u-ies”??!!!

A 737 from Royal Air Maroc  had to make , last Sunday evening, an emergency landing back at Schiphol Airport , after the start there was disturbed by  a flog of geese. One engine was hit and put out by the crew and they landed back without too much problems. Smoke was seen by people on the ground in Haarlem, and it seems some really got scared looking at the pretty low plane.  Nobody hurt , all people stayed overnight,  to depart on Monday again. The engine was badly damaged as well as the side of the fuselage of the the plane.
As damaged on one side ,  was the truck from the fire brigade on their way to help out. They took the curve to quick and fell over…….

KLM CEO Hartman  will have on June 1  2011 a new extra job and he is very proud about it. He will be the new President of the Board of Governors from IATA. Main goal of the IATA is to let people travel from A to B by air in the safest way. They have 230 members from 140 countries and do exist since 1945. Top executive of IATA is Giovanni Bisignani who will after 9 years give up this function next year. At this stage it is unknown who will be his successor.

More and more people choose a German airport  as place to leave on their holiday or business trip. Specially Weeze , not far over the Dutch border [ about 25 k] , is very popular and grew from 1.5 million travellers in 2008 to 2.4 million in 2009 and this year they expect some 2.7 million people departing from there. Parking is cheap and prize fighters as Ryanair fly you for 37 euro pp to p.e Oslo.

The next week I will not  write….. Sorry! Will be on a holiday with my high -school- friends, so the next blog will be on Sunday June 20; “FATHERSDAY.” On June 21 Euroglide starts with 137 different pilots; 47 pilots sharing 14 gliders, 47 sharing  21 turbos and 43 in 23 self launchers. WOW… a great event to fly 2032 km over a few TP’s in Europe and who from the 137 will be back first . Will keep you informed!
CU then Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn      Sunday May 6 2010    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Summer really started on June 1  and on June 2 clouds popped up with a great blue sky as background, while I was enjoying my lunch in the garden,  after been “hurt”by the dentist. It was not only fantastic soaring weather in Holland but also in the Scandinavian countries . Of course I looked straight away on Thursday and yes the weather WAS good with flights in Holland up to  600 km. Cloud streets but also tough wind were the main ingredients. In Belgium up to 695 km and in Finland up to 836 km. With the Europeans and the JWGC in Rayskala in mind, I KNOW how good the weather can be there!!!!!
In Eskilstuna the German guests have had more fun and on Thursday what ever they flew discus, LS3, Kestrel 17, ASW 27, ASH 26,  they ALL flew over 700 km.!!!!! Best even 903 km in a discus 2T 18m. What a day that must have been! Can’t remember we had THAT great weather during the WGC.
Last Friday lots of pilots were ready at our National Gliding Center Terlet for a big flight. No rain anywhere to be seen on the radar and as I heard clouds popping up around noon. What do you want more with a temperature of 24 dgr. It was good but not very good with flights up to 300km. Belgium had from St. Hubert,  where the Nationals were flown a few weeks ago , a nice  a flight of 755 km with an LS10 /18m.
Yesterday and today we enjoy up to 27 dgr. YES …this IS summer.
And…..Eskilstuna goes stronger and stronger; Sweden and more of Scandinavia is “Hot”. Two of the German guests even flew a declared FAI TRIANGLE of 750 km.!!!!!!THAT’s soaring!!!!!!
 In Morocco nearly every day one of the big ASH 25 EB gliders flies a 1000 km. even 1.236km this time!!!!! And with nice speed as well; 129 km/h. The day before a 1.311 km. flight was made here with a speed of 136 km/h..And yesterday another 1.253 km.Guy Bechtold stays at home in Luxembourg and flies a 1000 km flight as well!!! His so maniest!

In Plasy in Czech. Rep. they had on the last day of flying last Friday  tasks between 311 and 359 for the 3 classes. Jan Louda won in club class and ended 3 overall. In 15 m. Tomas Suchanek won the last day and topped the list overall.

Like in Holland during the Nationals , pair-flying is productive. Also in the Italian Nationals for  15 m class it “helped” Stefano and Thomas to be on top places. Day 3 they won in their Diana’s  and again many outlandings. NO day in standard , nobody flew over 100 km. Best was 81 km. All pilots outlanded!
 Day 4 was cancelled due to bad visibility and day 5 gave nice tasks again over 300 for Standard and over 400 for 15 m. class. Peter Hartman won in standard class and is back on spot 1 overall. Only 2 arrived back home!!! All pilots in 15m outlanded but Thomas and Stefan flew 209 and 171 of the set 269 km and are still at the top.
Last day was won by Peter Hartmann again and he did win the CUP. ATLEAST that is what the scores say. The news tells us that Corrado Costa is the standard class champion.  Some pilots left for every flight from Thiene but never landed back there. Also yesterday lots of outlandings. In 15 m. Thomas is the new Italian champion winning with 19 points over friend and team mate Ghiorzo.

For sure you have heard about Johan van der Sloot. Yes he is born Dutch , but lived at Aruba, where his mum still lives. We are not proud on him. It seems after he was accused of murdering American schoolgirl  Natalee Holloway,  5 years ago, he killed a Peruvian young lady [21] now. He was caught in Chile , brought to the border of Peru, where he was given into custody to the police of Peru. WHEN… he did it and in my eyes this is pretty sure….he might be in jail up to 35 years and in Peru that is NO fun!!!!But… when it is proven he killed both girls, I think this is OK!
How sick are you when you ask the mother of  Natalee after 5 years, 250.000 dollar in exchange  for information about how her daughter was killed and where she is…….That happened in the same time. He is a poker-player and must have lost a lot of money.
Did not even know that Holland has 90 people in a prison in Peru, most of them  dealing in drugs, either “used by smarter people then they are ” and caught more or less innocent or because they try to get drugs out or in the country because of greed/ read easy earned money!

Since October 2004 NO Garuda airplane was welcome at Schiphol Airport.  Last Wednesday the first Garuda Indonesia flight arrived under a “big spray of water ” by the Dutch fire-brigade. All those years they were,  due to mismanagement on a black list and the European Union excommunicated them, but that embargo has been lifted. Garuda wants to be a partner now in the SkyTeam,with Air France_KLM ,Delta and Alitalia.

Received from one of my friends a tip for an interesting animation found on ” you tube “of the crash with the Turkish Airlines TK 737. It is a bit more then 5 minutes , but every minute , even when you do know what happened , keeps you looking. Here is the link;

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid18065281001?bclid=0&bctid=83635223001

That’s it …you are up to date …..see you next time after a few days with rain,  
Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn                Wednesday   June 2 2010                   ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Not long and the 2 WGC’s will be flown. Only 30 days of waiting for the non-flapped glider-pilots competing in Prievidza. I am looking forward to see how they will be, who will win  and how the weather will be. As far as I can see on both sites, organizers  have been very busy and look ready for the big days!
The meteorological summer has started and this weekend we are going to “have” 25 dgr. Spring was not too bad , though the first part was much better for soaring then the last part and this is for many countries in Europe. A persistant low pressure system spoiled a lot of fun.

In the Northern part of Italy they are flying the Italian Nationals for 15 m and club class. After rain on Sunday both classes got a speed-task of 309 km. on Monday. Only 4 pilots from 11 made it back home in standard class . In 15 m. 6 from 13 made it home. Luca De Marchi flew with a nice speed of 123 km/h. and won, while well known pilots Thomas Gostner and Stefano Ghiorzo arrived home on place 3 and 4 with a speed of 107 and 106 km/h. Both are flying the WGC in Szeged.
On day 2 , yesterday another reasonable long task; standard 329 km and 2 pilots made it home. Corrado Costa was 2d but is after 2 days of flying number 1 overall. Corrado will fly the WGC in Prievidza.
In 15 m. pilots had to fly 331 km and Stefano won and is 1 overall after 2 days. 6 Pilots made it home. I know that Stefano and Thomas fly and practise a lot together. They started at the same time , but somewhere Thomas must have lost the “connection ” 
as he arrived home half an hour later.

Last Monday a light Polish aircraft  with 2 men and 2 women crashed in the forest close to the town of Bielefeld in Germany. Investigators try to find the reason for this accident not far from the airfield of Windelsbleiche.
And talking about Poland……..the voice recorders of the black boxes from the Polish plane with the Polish president, have been published. What was to be heard about the last 39 minutes ,  is that the pilots neglected the several warnings for a longer period about the fog and the wind and…the warning that they were too low…then shouting and abusing…then silence….Why did they not react !!!!

4/3 out of 5 days are flown in a Czech competition in Plasy.  In club class well-known pilot Jan Louda is on 3d place and junior pilot Miloslav Cink winning days in the JWGC is on 6th spot, both flying a standard cirrus. In combi /15 m only 3 days of flying and well known pilots Roman Mracek and Tomas Suchanek are on the first places and in combi/open also 3 days…..An ASG 29/ 18m on 1 , a Ventus 2CM/18m at 2 and an ASW 22BLE on 3 . Lubor is at spot 8.

In Canberra the new terminal , is as I read in “The Hub”on final approach.
“A team of more then 300 people have been working hard and going to the ends of the earth to ensure the job is completed in time .”
Very much involved in this job is Ben Rayner, who learned how to fly gliders with us in the past at Sportavia. Nowadays he is approving the first 3 up to 8 aero-bridges, which are ordered in China [ Zhongshan] to be installed in the Southern Terminal Extension. So when you visit Australia and end up in Canberra enjoy the great looking new  terminal. It will be ready in September!!

Talking about Australia!!!  When you are a tow pilot and trying to make hours to be an airline pilot late  and if you love Australia …here is an opportunity for you. I have been at Lake Keepit and it is just a beautiful airfield close to a great lake. Just received it via Jo [thanks!];

LKSC Summer Tug PilotThe Lake Keepit Soaring Club (LKSC) is located between Tamworth and Gunnedah in northern NSW. LKSC operates in summer with a live-in tug pilot member to support its mid-week operations. Expressions of interest are invited from tug pilots with suitable experience in aerotowing with tailwheel Pawnee/Callair aircraft, to assist with aerotowing operations club between September 2010 and April 2011 Enquiries please by personal email to LKSC Tugmaster Phil Anderton (pjanderton@optusnet.com.au)

Yesterday and the day before there was topweather  in 2 of my most favourite soaring places Rieti in Italy and Räyskala in Finland. Flights in Rieti up to 726 km.  in a Nimbus 2 B “racing” the mountain-chain. And up to 655 in an ASW 20 from Räyskala. Good to see Hannu flying his “PIK” over 607 km. Hannu flew with us in the past and some know him as the “man of the bug-wipers”. But he has more to sell then that.
Also Beas de Sigura where some of my friends fly had great weather with a flight of  739 km in a DG 808B/18m.
The day before was also very good in Italy as Luciano Avanzini flew over the mountains a 1.159 km flight in a Nimbus 4 M.!!!!!!
Last day of spring ended well this way and the first day of summer was good too.
 Eskilstuna where I was invited for the WGC a couple of years ago, to be the editor and on which I look back with enormous pleasure, had great weather as well with 727 km in an ASW 27. I remember some German pilots have their annual camp in Eskilstuna and fly from this nice airfield.
 SO…..is it ALL going to happen this summer???!!!

And then this…
——In Holland we do have a bit of a weird positivity-guru. Last Monday he crashed a model plane -a Robbe Charter- in our Government town The Hague against the “tower” of the House of Parliament. The span from the plane was 1.50 m  and it had 0.4 liter of methanol for its 5 cc Magnum engine ….and…what’s more ,it is for most parts  forbidden to fly over  The Hague, specially the House of Parliament and the Palace of the Queen, it is a no fly zone. He thought this was an interesting way of promoting his new book “Holland is mixed up “, written on a banner behind the plane.He went by himself to the police to mention it , but still can expect maybe a prison visit [ up to 6 months!] and/or a big amount of money to pay!!!!
 I guess HE lost the plot…a rather expensive way of trying to find attention!
—–The first tropical storm of the hurricane season, Agatha,  killed till now 150 people. As a result of heavy wind and rain,  landslides and flooding  were the main reason for the death in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Sad!
—–One of the companies not making a loss in the aviation-world  is Ryan Air!!! They even made a profit of 319 million!!!! Well done! “Boss ” Michael O’Leary prefers to compare his company with companies as Aldi,  Lidl  as you know  big super markets ..prize-fighters and with IKEA, everybody knows what IKEA is.

Cheers Ritz