Egon Rehn in the Quintus M. as shared by Marcel Cavilha Juppa.

25 Pilots gathered in Formosa in Brazil for their 56th National Championship in 3 classes and in combination with the Copa Sul Americano de Voo a Vela 2014. They flew for 6 days!
They started with pretty good weather and in open class the 8 pilots got on the first 2 days,  3 hour  and 3.15 AAT-tasks and on day 3 a racing task. Egon Rehn flew with  great speed over a distance from 444.5 km. ;164.4 km./h.

 

      

Great skies and finishing gliders as shared by Marcel.

Also day 4 had good weather with in open class a 3 hour AAT, won with a speed of 150.5 km. h. , by Henrique Navarro in the Nimbus 4T. With that “win”  he moved to spot 1 overall , 14 points ahead of Egon.
The ” fight” in this class was interesting to follow.
Day 5 was a racing task from 356.4 km. and Egon was the best that day, but only by 10 points.
So day 6 , the last one with another 3 hour AAT, was important and it was a difficult one with several out landings! In the 13.5 m. class only 1 pilot finished,  in racing class 2 and in open 4.
Henrique finished as 2d ,  Egon 4th , so the ”  fight ” was over and Henrique won with a total of 5561 points , followed by Egon with 5458.
3 Of the 6 days were won by Henrique, Egon won 2 out of 6.

For the scores from the other 2 classes you can look at www.soaringspot.com 

The Copa Sul Americana was won by Argentinian pilot, Luis Colombero in an ASW 20. Mauricio Delfabro [Argentina] was runner up and after 6 days he only had 37 points less.

A couple of days after the comps , on Sunday, the weather was still good as Felipe Dantas showed with his flight in the Nimbus 4T; 631.69 km. It looks like he flew his glider home in an OUT and NO return, but when I checked I heard it was a “fun-flight” to LEM [ the airfield of Luis Ed. Magalhaes].Must have been GOOD fun!

—

The FAREWELL FLIGHT from the MD 11 from KLM on November 11 2014, was sold out in 3 minutes. Enough fans for this last flight world wide  in a beautiful  MD 11- passenger- plane . The 3 engine plane will start from and land at Schiphol Airport. Nice price as well; 111 Euro. I was TOO late!!!
The end of an era. The last regular flight will be from Canada [Montreal]  to Holland on October 25.

—

 Our European summer season is over and lots of gliders are already on their way for the overseas season. Australia showed already some good -early-spring-weather. It even became better with a 739 km.[500 km. FAI triangle]  flight by David Jansen from Kingaroy last Saturday in the ASG 29/18m; nice speed as well speed 120.22 km./h.

Also our Israelian mates had a top – Saturday with flights up to just under 500 km. in a DG 505/20 m. A total from 7 flights were added by the pilots from the Negev Gliding Center.Not bad.

An other interesting flight was flown by Jim Payne, this time in the new ARCUS M from Dennis. From Minden he did 5 test flights and shared;
“ This flight completes the FAA Phase One flight test (5 flights and 5 hours) of Dennis’ new Arcus M. It can now soar more than 50 NM from Minden.”

—

Last Monday  the OLC finished year 2014 and on  that day we knew the CHAMPIONS from 2014. No secret that Jim Payne with his LONG flights was the world wide winner.He also had the best flight .
Looking at all flights Klaus Engelhardt had the most ,80 which was a total of 51.791,11 km., and the highest score; 52.209,88.
Bitterwasser won as “busy airfield with  long flights”as 134 pilots flew a total of 710.940,28 km. in 913 flights. Runner up Puimoisson had 576.419,73 km. with 269 pilots who made 1533 flights.
AND…this year the Gliding Club from Victoria was according to the OLC stats, the ” best”  club just ahead of 2 Dutch clubs de Gelderse and the Amsterdamse.
Congratulations to all, as well as to all individual pilots winning in each of their countries. WELLDONE!!!

—

AND,…..it’s spring in Australia ,…time to run/chase the roller clouds again at Burketown in the N. of Australia .
The  Burketown region will host its first morning glory festival later this week.The first pilots have arrived and the first clouds have been “flown”.
As you know this rolling cloud formation can sometimes be several hundreds of kilometers long, it’s pretty rare and not too much is known about it.But all my friends who have been chasing it were “over the moon”, when they did so. Sometimes it’s waiting and waiting, but when the phenomena is there they “use” to the fullest.

This picture from Burketown was send to me in the past by Jo and Tony Tabart.

—

And to finish….do you remember ” A bridge too far”?
Operation MARKET GARDEN, was remembered  by many here in Holland!! Also a few of the still living International veterans were invited. This operation to free Holland in 1944, was unfortunately stopped by the Germans when they bombed the bridge in Arnhem.That was a disaster for the people in the N. who entered the hunger-winter.  Eating flower bulbs was a way to stay alive, but sadly enough a lot did not survive.
What I heard the festivities  were MORE than impressive. The regio around Arnhem as Oosterbeek and Groesbeek, shared in the memory-festivities, as the bridge at Nijmegen over the river Waal,  coming from the S. direction Arnhem ,was conquered  by the Allies, the next one over the Rhine in Arnhem was one too far . A lot of brave men , around 15.000 died in these actions.
This is MARKET GARDEN 70 years later as seen by my sister in law Henriette, who lives in Groesbeek.

  

Parachutists over the Ginkelse Heide.

Next week back with more news.
Cheers Ritz on Wednesday September 24 2014, one day after they took a biopsy from a little suspicious spot on my left eyelid, so I look now  more or less with one eye.

 

In the end of the season the “old members gliding club” here in Holland, gathered during their autumn camp and Bert [Kuyper] was there to fly , to tow and to make some great pictures which I share with pleasure.

Great pictures! Thanks Bert.

—

In Spain at La Cerdanya the QSGP continued on Wednesday with flying day 3.

But first the press release I had to share with you before it all started so you knew why  a Libelle flew against an ASW 27.
“In the beautiful setting of the Valley of Cerdanya in Catalonia The Aeroclub of Sabadell is host to the Spanish Sailplane Grand Prix where 15 top sailplane racing pilots will compete to qualify for the final of the Sailplane Grand Prix series in Varese in 2015.

There are several experienced SGP pilots competing who are committed to gaining a place in the 2015 final and from this group we expect the winners to emerge.

Four of the favourites flew in the last SGP finals in Sisteron in May this year Tilo Holighaus (GER), Kai Lindenberg (GER), Petr Panek (CZE) and Mike Young (GBR), of these pilots Mike and Tilo are the most experienced SGP pilots and on current performance we would expect them to be near the top in the final results. However in sport you never know, ask Lewis Hamilton about that.  Sailplane racing provides excitement and entertainment as the leading have to keep flying on the edge to stay at the top, lots of surprises come every minute producing great entertainment in great scenery. A real modern sport drama.

The contest also has several new pilots who have entered to find out what SGP racing is all about and we will bring you more news of their progress as the week goes by. Two of the competing gliders are of a much lower performance than the new hot 15 m. sailplanes but if you want to get a taste of SGP racing you have to compete in the sailplane you have.”

By the way the SGP is better and better with their PR. I got the news in time but unfortunately, not on my favorite email-address.
Loved the interviews with the daily winners.

They were all in good mood on day 3 as you can read;
“ Pilots have smiley faces this morning, so everything is perfect. The race 3 is now on, a double flat triangle mainly towards west part of the area as showers are still expected on the eastern part. Up to 3000m under cumulus and good lift will make it fast. “

As shared by the organizers.

253 km. was set, so a nice day to race with and against the concurrents. The start was at 2.40 PM , cloud base at 3100 m.,  so a good racing-day.
Just after 4 the news was that most pilots were on the 2d run and that Tilo was in the lead.Indeed it  was going fast. Tilo won the day just ahead of Kai. Just ???? Tilo flew with a speed of 116.6 km./h. and Kai with 109.9 km./h.
Most unlucky pilot was Fridolin who could have been 2d BUT, used the wrong start point,…..the one from the day before. OUCH!!! That hurts as he dropped from 3 to 6 overall.

day 4 was another racing day with 250 km. and this time with a mass finish and again somebody was the best , but it was close . Look at this; winner Kai got the 10 points as he flew with a speed of 132.9 km./h. whilst Tilo flew 132.8 km./h.
Last but not least was the St Libelle with 89.2 km./h. the rest flew between 105.9 and 132.9 km./h. 10 from them were between 128 km./h. and that 132.9 km./h. So indeed a mass finish.

Great picture from Kai , finishing on day 4 , as shared by the organizers with the great text showing the ” concurrence-fight” between the pilots:
“ Don’t dream other pilots. Kai’s gear is down so it was not his speed finish and he will not get penalties.” 

  

And Tilo above La Cerdanya.

Day 5 had a task of  288.6 km. so they expected even better weather ,a bit more wind from the NW  and less moisture.
The message from the organizers was super enthusiastic;
“Her comes the race of today with an astonishing finish crossing the mountains just north of the airfield and last control point on Puycerda for a great show. ”
At 2.45 they started and the St. Libelle was set to go straight away as nearly 300 km. is quite a bit for this gorgeous little plane, certainly when there is a race on.
I found it very brave/courageous/challenging from this French pilot , Jean -Francois Billy, to join in between the others. Chapeau!
And,….he finished again; 72.4 km./h.
That was different to the top speed from Tilo who won the day with 114.9 km./h. And what a great finish between Tilo and Werner who flew the task with 114.8 km./h.
A not-so-good-day for Kai, who somewhere got low , returned home and “received”  0 points.

LAST day of the QSGP in La Cerdanya,was with live comment from Brian, which was great. With the 0 points from Kai, Tilo was clearly on top with 38 points and Kai with 28 on spot 2 , Werner on 23. So on the last day they were the pilots for the top spot. We know how much CAN happen on a last day so it was interesting to follow it.
Only when Tilo would have  0 points and Kai would win the last race , Kai could still win.
193.8 km. was the task and I was ready to follow the pilots and Brian. It all was a bit later as the weather was not co-operating as expected.
Mike Young looked as ” on a mission” when they were on track , with Werner behind him but 500 m. higher. They had to get over a mountain top but Mike was only at 2000 m. too low to get over the top. Werner passed him, so did the rest of the followers. Kai was 2d then behind Werner, who moved on alone after a good climb at 3000 m. on his way to the first TP flying back N of the track where the others tried to reach the first TP.
Mike, not giving up quickly,  joined in with Kai, combining efforts.
Tilo was in the ” bunch”  behind them, but higher meaning he could pass them.

Werner crossed the valley, still very high [2700] reached TP 2 ,whilst the others were still struggling to reach TP 1. Mike and Kai decided to go straight on track to TP 2, not like Werner going N of track and then passing the valley.
According to Brian, the last part of the race would be more difficult as clouds were spreading out.
Kai and Tilo cruised through the skies enjoying the scene as they were not ” really’ in a hurry, they only had to stay up and finish.
Werner did an amazing job, staying high and going FAST, passing the 5 TP’s and cruising home.On his way to the final TP 5 he was high enough to be on final glide.
A great WIN for Austrian pilot Werner , [32 points] smoking home, [116.6 km./h.] on this last day and a well deserved spot 2 overall for him, behind Tilo [43 points]  and ahead of Kai .[33]
Interesting to see how Serge [Leclercq] [103,09 km./h.]  flew low over the slopes after having  3 m. lift first and then still found enough energy to race pretty low, there  AND  feel comfortable and  be 3d for the day behind Mike, [109.8 km./h.]who called Werner an ” ACE”. As Tilo was high,  he could pass the slopes easy with 200 km. on the clock to be 4th.

With the bonus-point Werner got 11 points and was just ONE point ahead of Kai. Some pilots elected to abort the task and fly back, as they were low and late, but not Mr. Billy, he finished again this time with 74 km./h. He nearly had ONE point; I give him 10 points!!!!

Werner, Tilo and Kai the ACES of La Cerdanya. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Pictures shared by the organizers.

The organizers were happy in Spain , so were the pilots and “we”  looking over their shoulders how they were doing, as well.
“La Cerdanya will definitely become a “classic” as it gets beautiful scenery, great weather conditions, nice airfield facilities and great people who always carry on. “ 

—-

From Potchefstroom in South Africa a first real nice flight from 541.07 km. in the JS 1-C by Pieter Nouwens on September 12. Also Oscar Goudriaan flew that distance in the ASH 25.
The beginning of the season is there!!!!
Holland still had up to 350 km. flights in autumn on the same day. And Brasil had 832 km. [750 FAI triangle]  .
The East of Australia 502 in a PIK 20E and the USA had a few over 700 km. flights.
From Formosa in Brazil they fly with 25 pilots the Nationals with till now pretty good weather with flights just under 500 km..

Talking about South Africa some sad news: The Soaring Society of SA shared the next news:
“It is with a sad heart that I have to announce that Klaas Goudriaan has passed away. Our heartfelt condolences go to the family during this time. Klaas was an Icon in the world of gliding and a true humanitarian. He will be missed. RIP” 

One of the reasons Oscar was not in Lesno during the last WGC was the health situation of his dad. Indeed Klaas was  as I heard a GREAT man and a fantastic glider pilot. A pity I never met him. Without Klaas soaring in South Africa would have been different.
I wish Oscar and Laurens with their families  and their mum, a lot of strength. May he rest in peace!

And to finish this blog another great picture shared by the Tocumwal Residential Air Park. I remember those great clear nights with skies FULL of stars, indeed no pollution there:

Brad Perkins captured this stunning shot of the Tocumwal rail bridge against a dramatic starry sky. No “light pollution” here!

CU in a week.
Cheers Ritz
On Wednesday September 17 2014

 

I found this great picture this morning on my FB site . It’s shared from Soaring Club House by Robert Fadini; just beautiful.
Soaring Clubhouse is a page for sharing Soaring and glider related photographs and video’s. A place for soaring pilots to share their activity through pics.

What a great week we had , with lovely weather !Not only here in Holland but on a lot of  places in Europe. Just nice autumn weather and not only to sit on a terrace or in the garden , also for flying.
On Sunday flights up to 260 km. were possible and on Monday the skies looked fantastic here.
I thought that those who would be so lucky to have the  day off, could have a ” ripper-soaring-day”. And they HAD !
At 8 AM I looked at the OLC AND,…..the world wide scores were topped by 8 DUTCH flights!!! What about that and in SEPTEMBER !!?
425 km. [371 km.FAI triangle]  in a St Libelle  by Hinse Osinga.
459 km by young Robin Smit who had to swallow a bit when he was about 200 km. OUT, but made it home in the St Cirrus.
450 in the LS 4 ,”  a real racing day today”  was what Sander Terpstra called it.

What happened more in that week ?????….enough!
Puimoisson was good for flights up to 959 km. in a Ventus cM 17.5 m,., on September 1.  Not bad so late in the season even for the mountains.
700 km. flights by the German pilots on September 4 in the Discus and Ventus is not bad either. It looks like a good German autumn camp over there with lots of keen pilots, among them their TC Uli and Wolli Bayer .
One of the pilots Walther said ; ” what a day and that in September ” after his 830 km. flight in the DG 800/18 m. on September 3.

—

The Qualifying Grand Prix in Spain [ La Cerdanya] started last Friday with 15 pilots from different European countries as Germany [ 4 including Tilo] , France [ 3] , the UK [1] , Poland,[ 1]  Czech Rep. [ 1 ], Italy [2] and of course Spain.[3]
What happened till now?

Pictures shared by Philippe de Pechy, who flies CT and VV with of course Tilo.

A relaxed CD Brian with UK pilot Mike.
As shared by the SGP on FB.

They had one practice day with 199 km. and a regatta start at 3 PM, with 2 finishers,8 [virtual] out-landings and some pilots not flying . Some got penalties and that’s better on such a day then on a real GP day.

On Sunday the ” real thing”  started with a 177.8 km. task. A day on which all  15 pilots started at 2.50 PM , all of them finished between 4 and 6 PM, but there could only be one the best and that was Kai Lindenberg from Germany, who got the 10 points.
Werner Amann , about 3 seconds later , got 8 and Tilo, about 36 seconds later,  7 with Philippe following with 6 points.
From the 15 pilots 7 got penalty points or warnings.
Kai flew with a TOP-speed of 148.3 km./h. in the ASW 27 , whilst the last one coming in finished with a speed of 57.4 km./h in the St Libelle. But ,…he made it!!!!
As they wrote in their special report about day 1’s SGP news;” The leaders were able to use the edge of the convergence to run back to the east with sufficient energy to make the last turn without stopping to gain altitude.” 

Great scenery as shared by the organizers.

Day 2;  173.5 km . with an other pretty good weather forecast, after the thunder and lightning on the evening of day 1 had disappeared. Still however, some drops of rain during the start.

As shared by the SGP organizers.

The start was at 2.30 and the first up in the air were the 2 ladies Jill [Spreckley] from the UK flying the LS 8  and Eva [Mensan] from France in the Pegase.
An other good but difficult  day , with a much more technical race than day 1. A slow day and you had to be a patient pilot . Those ingredients fitted Werner but he got penalty points for a too high start, [62 m.] so Fridolin Hauser won day 2 [5 points] with only 4 finishers and the best speed was 72.9 km./h.
La Cerdanya , for sure a place to race but not so much last Monday.

day 3;

  

Day 3 about to begin after a humid foggy early morning.
Picture shared by the organizers and Philippe.

Day 3, started , with lots of low clouds, as some called it ” typical British smog”.
A task was set from 198.5 km. but later changed in a B task and even C task from 139.9 km.
WHY??? Have a look at this picture from Philippe.

They were launched but a bit later , just before the regatta start, there was the message from the organizers;
Pace plane is in the air and Brian send by radio : “due to safety conditions, race is canceled”. Some thunderstorms are surrounding the race area and turn point 1 is already a dead end.

As they wrote in their daily report which you can find on the SGP site   http://www.sgp.aero/
” The race was now between the two storms, and the count down for the start line started at 15.30. During the countdown we watched as two storm cells started to merge to the east of the field and this could only be bad news for the race, so at 5 minutes to the opening of the start line the decision was made to cancel.” 

Day 4 is today, but no task as yet.

For the latest, they continue till the 13th,  you can go to  ; http://www.sgp.aero/spain2014/broadcasts/live-tracking.aspx?contestID=6066

Next Sailplane Grand Prix will be in Australia flown from Lake Keepit between November 16 and 22 and then between January 3 and 15 2015 in South Africa – from Worcester.

—-

Jonker Sailplanes published their latest  newsletter and I share it with you;

“—Jonker Sailplanes is proud to announce our improved 18m sailplane, the JS1C-18 EVO. This dream sailplane that evolved from the JS1-C18 model was recently revealed at the 33rd World Gliding Championships in Leszno, Poland.

The JS1C-18 EVO redefines handling in the 18m class, offering both an improved roll rate and superb control at slow speeds. The increased wing loading, combined with new tip aerofoils and 3rd generation winglets, also gives JS1C-18 EVO the edge at high speeds.
JS1C-18 EVO offers the serious competition pilot a performance advantage while remaining suitable for every pilot due to its handling qualities.

The design of the JS1C-18 EVO started in October 2013 with our Chief Aerodynamic Engineer,Dr. Johan Bosman redesigning the outboard wing using the latest Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) design methods.
It was planned to have the improved outboard wing sections ready for the WGC of July 2014. Within six months the project went from a paper design to reality, with 2 sets of the new outboard tips making their debut on the gliders of Uys Jonker and Attie Jonker.-–”

 —

The weather starts to be pretty good in Australia.Also in the mountains and in the Alpine Flyer , with all the news from Mount Beauty,  I could read that August  had some excellent thermal flights and also perfect wave conditions up to 10.000 ft.
August is, as they call it , ” a good indicator”  for the upcoming summer.
Last Sunday WGC pilot Craig Collings flew in his ASW 20 227.9 km.

Let’s hope Australia has a good and safe season and a bit later South Africa and Namibia as well. Worcester [SA] had already a great wave and ridge day on September 7. ” full airbrakes in the late afternoon to stay below the TMA running in and out of Villiersdorp” was the message from Sven going with his flight on September 7.[290.45 km] 

Dieter Dundee has left Germany last Sunday and is settling down in Tocumwal for 6 months and catching up once a week with Ingo for a VB at 4. They love to do that and speak German on the veranda of the ” Schloss”.
The Toc. crew called the weather last week; glorious and the town-beach in Toc at the Murray river is already popular now! After the weekend some wild weather was passed by.

 

And as you can see Dundee arrived “home” in his 2d country. Here with Eddie from Sportaviation  who shared the picture.
and
The always popular Murray River White Beach as shared by the Toc. Residential Air Park.

Wild weather passing by. Shared by Sportaviation.

Kingaroy had already flights up to just under 500 km. and August counted already 50 flights on the OLC from Kingaroy where more or less the Aussie season starts.

In October the 34th Club and Sports class Nationals will be flown from the excellent new gliding site of Goondiwindi. All the info on; http://glidingqueensland.org.au/comps/info.php?comp_id=2

The Corowa – fans will bring their gliders for shipment soon as the packing date for 4 containers will be on September 19-20 and 21  2014.The containers will leave from the harbor of Rotterdam on October 1 and arrive in Melbourne on November 11 and the first possible flying day will be then from Corowa on November 14.
Pilots can fly till February 19 and they can use their gliders in Europe again after April 11 when they unpack again in Venlo.With their experience over the years and the fact that Grietje and Francisco are there with packing and unpacking, this is a very safe and great way to fly your own glider overseas.
All info about gliders for rent and daily prizes are on

http://www.australian-soaring-corowa.com/fleetANDrates.php

—

When you like to read about GLIDING you surely read the Gliding International  and I must say the latest issue is a ” topper”  again. I loved the 2 articles by Aldo Cernezzi . One about his participation in the Rayskala WGC in his 20 m. glider and one from his way back from Finland to Italy, visiting several manufacturers, as HPH and Schempp -Hirth.
The news that Sebastian is going to be a contestant in the 13.5 WGC in Pociunai [Lithuania from August 1-15 in 2015] in 2015 was new to me and he seems to fly there  and promote a  Polish glider the GP 10 by Peszke from Krosno. Robert Downe looks with a critical eye to all the classes after the profusion of the FAI classes.
Elke writes about the ” long down -wind” and interviewed Gordon Boettger about that. Great pictures go with the very interesting story.
Gravity waves;an atmospheric research by Germans in the New Zealand skies.
And much more as Major Advances in battery technology, remote control towers in Sweden, the Perlan Project, newsy aviation news about what happened in the world.
In the ” three liners”,  I was sad to see that Hank Meertens died age 70 in July. Hank was in the past, the president of the Australian Gliding Federation, chairman of FAI’s CASI committee and representative of the IGC for years and on top of that  a real nice guy. His wife died about 6 weeks earlier.

And to finish a great picture from 3 juniors lining up  on a great soaring day in the USA,….. a day the hangar was completely EMPTY, for the first time this season !!!WOW!!!!

As shared by the Harris Hill Soaring Corporation.
Picture by Noah Reitter one of the pilots, together with Evan and Eric.

Enough news so CU next Wednesday.
Cheers Ritz on September 10 2014.

 

 

Great skies in parts of Europe last Wednesday.
As seen by Kathrin in Germany and by Ben in Holland.

Last Wednesday might have been the last glorious day for the time of the year, from this summer, for soaring. Great clouds and those who could fly, went flying.
And yes 525 in a Discus, 537 in a Duo Discus , it was all possible that day specially more in the N of Holland. It’s weird but Holland has had MORE rain  this summer than normal, except in the N. were it was dryer than normal. And that in such a small country.They promised some nice after-summer-days as well for September , so let’s wait and see, it was pretty cool and wet over the last week.
Well they were right, it was 22 dgr.C yesterday up to 26 for tomorrow [where the normal average should be 20] Lovely another few days in the sun, NO rain, NO wind as in the last weeks.
But even with the cool  weather with lots of showers,  you could fly 257 km. as Sikko proved.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=4039076

—

Days mixed with rain and sun for the RENCONTRE-ASK 13-2014 , which was flown between August 24 and 30 . Members from clubs all over Europe gather to fly the nostalgic wooden ASK 13  2-seater, from St Crepin in France the N. of the HAUTES ALPES !!! One of the teams was from Holland; called team BLUE.
35 Teams  rigged, de-rigged and flew for 2 days, when disaster struck.

  

Busy, busy….

Gliders ready to go on Wednesday August 27 when the sun was back!!
As shared on their site.

AND up in the air.

All happy pictures and happy people but then as said, disaster struck!!!!
On that day , with a rather late start just before and after 3 PM, 2 pilots [ age 32 and 59] in one of the Nancy-ASK 13’s were missing in the evening and sadly enough found dead in the forest, after searching all night during  the next early morning . Tragic!!!!! VERY TRAGIC!!!! Both were instructors and VERY experienced also in the mountains, both were real good mates in this group of ASK 13 pilots!!! RIP!!!!

They flew for 2 more days, as I guess everybody thought, maybe even knew,  that this is what both pilots would have wanted/wished.Of course the other Nancy team stayed on the ground.

picture shared by Jerome Renault, the ” fresh”  number 3 on this years 18 m. Nationals in France.

—

In Australia the weather starts to heat-up and the big event in 2015 is the JWGC flown from Narromine in December. Of course you can practice before at several places,  JoeyGlide will be flown and the ” old”  juniors help a lot to make it easier for the ” World-pilots” .
Here is the message I share from Adam, flying already in September from Kingaroy;
” G Dale, Juniors Coaching Week

G’day all,

Another awesome opportunity is presenting itself to you, all you have to do is to take it by the horns!

While most 14-year-old boys are eyeing up their dad’s car keys and dreaming of buying their first beat-up Holden, Alex took to the skies on his first solo glider flight. As with learning to drive, training is closely supervised by an instructor (he is now certified as one) and flying solo comes only after its completion. “While it’s important to know about the glider and how not to crash, flying a glider is mainly about situation awareness, knowing what’s happening on the ground and what’s happening around you in terms of weather. It’s not something you can be taught; it’s more about slowly absorbing the knowledge of others.”

– See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/going-with-the-wind/#sthash.zysri9eK.dpuf—

—

After the disasters for Malaysia Airlines with the MH 370 and MH 17 , they re-organize, which will cost about 6000 jobs. A lot of the stewards and stewardesses resigned already as they were scared.
The state Malaysia had a share of 69 % and is now 100 % share holder.
Here in Holland the Schiphol Group claims that they had 4 % more passengers in the first half of 2014; 25.7  million. A few of them were Aussie friends.
Not bad!
And German wings the budget daughter from Lufthansa was on strike for a few hours on Friday.

—

Most comps are over now, so that part is getting quiet till the activities are starting again at the overseas destinations.
News will be shorter for a while till it’s booming again in our soaring world.

Cheers Ritz
on Wednesday September 3 one day before the 11th birthday of my granddaughter Indya. She is so much like me, but then also so different as you can see.

  

10 years old at 30 m!!!!!