As I wrote before , we here in the south of Holland celebrate in September the end of the second world war. The North of Holland only on Mai 5.
Holland welcomed the American, British, Polish and Canadian soldiers . Here, where I live, THE day was; September 17.
Eindhoven the first big town the “allies” found after leaving Belgium ,was freed on the 18th of September. But after joy their world collapsed again, as German bombers hit the heart of town and thinking they were free, ….227 people died!!!!

It wasn’t that easy to liberate my town. It’s surrounded by forest and the road from Lommel in Belgium was narrow. The Irish Guard with Sherman tanks were the first to arrive here in the South, but were hit by German snipers hidden in the forest.
Several tanks caught fire and young men , when still possible, had to run for their lives. Help was asked and the only help they believed in were the Typhoons. They came and so they arrived, late in the evening at the market square.
As it was dark and they had to travel over another narrow road with forest to the left and right, between Valkenswaard and Eindhoven, they decided to spend the night in their car’s and tanks and some tents at the market place.

I visited the American cemetery last week, as because of health reasons, I couldn’t be there on the 17th. On the cemetery are 2 UK, pilots laying beside each other, just in their early 20-ties. Their Dakota was shot down by German fighters near the Belgian/Dutch border a few kilometers from here. I placed a Dutch flag at each of their graves , as they remind me at my son Dennis, who died age 18, in his small plane as well. Luckily he NEVER had to fight in a war.
A bit further is private Johnson only 18 years old, whose grave I attended already as a teenager. He got flowers.

Last Saturday I was touched, when a 98 year old parachutist from the UK, jumped again in a duo-para- jump, after 75 years over the Ginkelse Heide near to the town of Ede.
About 50 veterans had traveled with their wheel- chair, stick and family members to attend the day as well as around 100.000 Dutch admirers who wanted to show their respect.
Also our former queen Beatrix was there with the future king of the UK, Charles.
They both placed wreath’s, one with poppies the other one with Dutch flowers.
All the delegations from Canada the USA and and the UK placed wreath’s. The delegate from Poland got the most applause . I wondered why. Did n’t know too much about the Polish allied contribution, till I read about their young heroes defending the Rhine at Arnhem.
They had little plastic boats and used car tubes to reach the other site of the Rhine,….. BUT most SWUM!!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!

8 Planes ,  Hercules, Transall and one Dakota dropped over 1000 para-troopers over the heath, from the UK and USA, but also from the NATO countries. The biggest para-drop after the one from September 1944. Very impressive!!!!

The goal that day was to reach Arnhem, but the bridge there after “winning” on so many other bridges ,was one too far. A drama, as now they couldn’t go East into Germany’s RUHR area to end the war quickly.
The Germans caused more trouble in Luxembourg as well, which led to the battle of the bulge. A terrible fight under awful circumstances. The allied progress was held up and the northern part of Holland was only freed on Mai 5 1945. Lot’s of people in the North of Holland died from starvation during that final “hunger” winter.

Though Market Garden was seen as a military “failure”, it’s reminded by all Dutch as a great feat eventually leading to our freedom. All American, British, Polish, Canadians and other allies, fought and died for our freedom. Most of them were JUST young!!! With a whole life in front of them. They had that courage of young men and just did what was expected from them or/and even more. HEROES!!!!
LEST WE FORGET!!!

My life in Tocumwal was between 1984, [when we visited every winter ] and 2006. From 1996 we lived in Tocumwal and there I got the most exciting and “wild” stories from the war in Europe from Bill Riley. The founder of Sportavia in 1969. He flew Sunderland flying boats as a young man far from home in the UK.
I met “old George” a German guy who worked in Peenemunde in Germany at the V1 (sort of the first cruise missile) and V2 rocket’s!!!

“Our” WW2 hangar was full of history. Bob Brown, who has devoted part of his life to preserve the history of the Tocumwal aerodrome (formerly McIntyre Airfield) has told so many stories to the many many guests who visited the hangar and the airfield. I have written in the past many stories about it.
There are still more as I noticed.
“A great article written by Geoff Goodall on part of the history of Tocumwal airfield.
If only few of these aircraft were still sitting in our big hangar.”
https://www.goodall.com.au/…/tocumwal-airfield/tocumwal.html

Indeed LEST WE FORGET!!!

A still not fit Ritz.

PAVULLO…3d FAI 13.5 WGC.

It’s a pity, ……so less gliders are flying in this class and…at a WGC; only 10!!
But those who flew now or flew this competition, in the past, love it. So I hope it will “grow” in the future. And the question of course is….will there be a future?
Last Wednesday the task was not yet set, but later it was , so we continue with the last couple of days.
September 11…2.30 AAT;
203 km. in time 2.38 was the winning combination and flown by Stefano who might well be on his way to his 2d title.
7 Out of 11 day’s now.
Vittorio flew 312 km. but needed 2.49 hour. Uli was 5th, loosing more than 200 points, which means that Stefano is number 1 overall now, with a bit more than 100 points on Uli.
Vittorio and Thomas have 31 points between each other so exciting as well .

September 12….2.30 AAT;
5 from 10 finished on this day. Uli flew 174 km. in time 2.33 ,good for a first place. Stefano was 3d , loosing 40 points on Uli. Meaning….a 66 points difference in favor of Stefano…overall. Vittorio was”out” and Thomas in ….so Thomas is 3d now, with 2 day’s to go.

September 13. another 2.30 AAT, later changed in 2 hour AAT.:
Whilst keeping an eye on it ,3 pilots [Vytautas , Peter and Christoph] were out after 54 , 95 and 75 km. after a start just before 3 AM.
BUT,….Stefano finished!!!! After he started at 2.51 he finished at 4.51 , so 2 hours at the dot,….with 162 km under his belt.
Uli ,who started tactically, 1 minute behind him, was in too, but had not enough points to make the change, as 5th for the day, so he remains runner up, whilst Stefano is still on spot 1!!! Good on him.
Daily winner;Vittorio….185 km. in time 2.13. Thomas was runner up…165 km. in time 2 hours at the dot!!!

September 14; VERY LAST DAY!!!!
Here is the weather by meteo man Sarti.

First start was expected at 12.45!! Task C ; 2.25 AAT. a bit longer than the earlier task from 2.10 km.
It nearly looked like a regatta start as most left around 14.17.

First back at 16.36 was Polish pilot Christoph. He was 3d for the day.
Thomas won with 154 km. in time 2.21 and runner up with 152 km. in time 2.20 was Stefano. NO DOUBT; the new 13.5 CHAMPION!!!!
He won the first edition, then Sebastian the 2d and now he wins the 3d as well. Good on him.

September 14 in the evening ;PRIZE GIVING , Closing ceremony and DINNER, on the central Square of Pavullo.

With 10 out of 14 day’s, the CHAMPION and winners of this 3d WGC are :
1. Stefano Ghiorzo in Diana VersVS with 5.405 points.
2. Uli Schwenk in Mini Lak with 5.301 points.
3. Thomas Gostner in Diana VersVS with 5.028 points.
The only 3 in the 5000 points-range.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

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Interesting news;

From Finland.
Date for Rayskala Masters.

From the PERLAN PROJECT;
Last week I got the next news;
“Greetings from El Calafate!
The Airbus Perlan Mission II team has just launched another flight!
Our weather team has spotted some conditions today that may give us a chance to soar to some higher altitudes.  While the weather conditions have been challenging for wave, we are going up today to see if there are any elements of strong high altitude wave and lift that we can leverage. During the flight, we will also be collecting important engineering and weather data. 

Due to the rare weather phenomenon started last week called a Sudden Stratospheric Warming, opportunities for high level wave have diminished. So this could be one of the last high level flight attempts for Perlan 2 of this season. 

Virtual Cockpit: http://perlanproject.cloud/VirtualCockpit.html

From Canada and France;
In the last 2 months I heard of 2 collisions from gliders and tow planes after release!!!! Not good!!! There are strict rules for both,… it just should NOT happen.
In France the pilots from the glider were OK , the tuggy badly injured.
In Canada both glider pilots died, the student was only 18.
Very sad!!!Both accidents are under investigation.

From TOCUMWAL [Australia];
Last Saturday the 14th of September, the huge Tocumwal airshow at “our former” WW2 airfield took place with great planes and lot’s of visitors.
A super day with good weather and all happy faces.

Here is a link to the line up of planes with great pictures
https://tocumwalairshow.com.au/
For the VERY BEST pictures from flying planes you can click on Mayday Photography
Just fabulous!!!!!

Lot’s of spectators arrived by plane and had first class views.

From Holland;
At Venlo, 2 containers were packed , last weekend and they are now on their way to Melbourne with as final destination Corowa.
Of course Francesco and Grietje were there ,to co-ordinate the packing.
In it also Diana’s brand new JS 3 with the jet engine. She had only ONE day to try her glider out at Malden, last Friday ,before it was packed for the Nationals in Tocumwal and the WWGC in Lake Keepit in January.
The brand new ARCUS from William and Evelien was in too, ready for a new Narromine season.

From Kiripotib;
What a lovely room.

And to finish this lovely picture shared by Bruce Wilson from his plane Lil Dot in his hangar, with in it his grand son Wil on the day of the AIRSHOW.
NEVER TOO YOUNG TO LEARN.

Cu next week . Still struggling from concussion. Even went to hospital to the neurologist…they indeed found a brain ….and it was undamaged.
Cheers Ritz

The 3d WGC for 13.5 m. gliders in co-operation , during the first week, with the e-glider class showed all pretty small tasks for the gliders.
September 4;
13.5 m; 2 hour AAT...won by Uli in the Mini Lak, followed by Thomas in Diana VersVS ; 131 km. in time 2.02 for 145 km. in time 2.27.
5 From 10 out-landed and after 2 flying day’s Uli leads for Peter ; 955 for 925.
e-Glide;167 km…4 day’s and 4 flights in this class; best speed 80 km./h. for German pilot Markus Uhlig in HpH 304 eS , followed by Luka Znidarsic in Ventus 3 FES /18m. with 79 km./h.
After 4 days this Ventus 3 and HpH lead ,but still no scores!!!

September 5;
13.5 m….1.40 AAT; won by Ukraine pilot Vytautas Maciulis in his MINI LAK; 160 km. in time 1.56. Alberto and Peter were runners up all in MINI LAK.
E-Glide…167 km; won by Tilo in his Discus 2C FES, followed by the Schempp-Hirth Ventus 3 with FES , both 18m, with 97 and 99 km./h.
In both classes …2 OUT.

September 6;
No task in both classes but a picture from day 5.

September 7;
13.5 m…208 km...NO finishers. Vittorio flew 184 km and the runners up , Thomas and Alexander flew 140 km.
E-Glide; 216 km….and YES here we noticed finishers on THEIR very last day. Except for one they all finished!!!! HpH 304 eS with young German pilot Markus did well with 77 km./h. The runner up Luka in the Ventus 3 flew around with 74 km./h.

E-Glide stops now ;” This evening at 7.30pm we had the prizegiving ceremony of the e-Gliding competition at the flagpoles. All the competitors were very happy and satisfied about these days in Pavullo with good weather conditions on six race days, excellent food and beautiful landscapes.
The Contest director, Aldo Cernezzi, would like to thank all the staff and all the participants. The President of the Aeroclub, Roberto Gianaroli, awarded the winners on the podium. After giving the awards pictures were taken of the podium with all the magnificent cups and the big group of all the people involved in the competition.
A very good dinner with “tagliatelle” and finger food was served to conclude the last day of e-Glide! Tomorrow the pilots will leave and return to their countries but the WGC will go on till the 14th September. “

The story on Luka as shared by the WGC 2019;
“ From early youth Luka was passionate builder and designer of many free flying models. Soon he become the winner of his first nationals as the youngest competitor. Luka participated on many international gliding competitions, including three World gliding championships. He achieved 1000km diploma, 3000 flying hours, on more than 30 different sailplane types. He is today the WINNER of e-Glide in Pavullo flying Ventus 3 FES “LZ”. Many congratulations Luka! “

September 8;NO TASK!!!!
“No compulsory briefing. No task today due meteo conditions .“

September 9;
318 km....Finally a good day and 8 from 10 flew it on the first 1000 points-day. Alberto [Sironi] was one of the out-landers, unfortunately, [after 277 km.] loosing over 500 points.3 Italian pilots in the top Vittorio,Thomas and Stefano. Best speed 103 km./h.

September 10 yesterday;
2.50 AAT;

It turned out a” terrible” day for most. Not for Stefano and Uli , however, as they both finished,…all others were OUT!!!
Stefano got 700 points ,the last one, number 10 …zero as he started his engine before start; so a virtual outlanding on starting engine.OUCH.
Uli leads overall with 3.358 points and Stefano is runner up with 3.225 p.

Not yet tasks for today! More next Wednesday.

Sebastian Kawa never entered these comps in Pavullo, due to damage on his glider during the practice week. As more and more pilots fly with all types of engines here is his story to learn from; as shared by Easy Memory Item
“Atterriaggio duro – Hard landing!
For the first time in his career Sebastian Kawa damaged a glider in a hard landing. An investigation of the events should help to avoid such events in the future!
“What happened was very surprising to me. For the first time in my career, I damaged a glider on a hard landing. A very unpleasant experience with the new GP14 on the steep slope of Puvallo! The terrain in the Apennines is not exactly inviting for landing in many areas. Almost every suitable, flat area is urbanized, the valleys are V-shaped and in the middle there is a narrow brook. Fields, if available, are on steep slopes. Thus, it is very difficult to find a suitable landing site.

What happened?
About 30 km from the finish line, I was still at high altitude and made the decision not to take any risks and start the engine. It was just a training day, where no points had to be collected. After the start with electric engine some hours ago, still 75% of the electric power was available. I could easily come home with that. I thought about how to use the remaining energy most effectively and turned knob to start the engine. Nothing happened!
I still had enough time. After a short look around, I saw no less than 10 possible landing fields – all in mountainous terrain, all on the steep slope! So I took off my sunglasses and tried to get the engine running. At first I thought I did not have enough energy to extend the pylon and turned off the navigation display. I rebooted the system and tried cranking again. Nothing happened!

My options dwindled ..
After another 15 km, only two suitable fields were in sight. Very steep, but slightly larger than the previous ones. Since the further course of the valley was not visible, I decided to land on one of the two yellow-brown fields next to a farm and a paved road. Unfortunately, it turned out in retrospect that this field was bumpy, which added to the other difficulties!
I’ve landed on similar steep hills before. On some glider sites such as Jeżów Sudecki (Grunau) or in Bieszczady there are streeps with slopes up to 11%. Even with an ASH 25 I landed (in Bieszczady) on a slope as steep as this one in Apenines. However, it was prepared landing site with smooth grass! In Italy the situation was different. The surface of the field was rough and there were trees in the approach sector. In order to land in such a field, you must be approach even with a light glider at a speed of 130 km/h in order to be able to fly uphill parallel to the ground. Fast airplanes need even more speed! I have dumped all water already so I crossed the line of trees with exactly 130 km/h and felt a hard bump just before I expected to fly for a while uphill to loose speed. The plane jumped at a steep angle loosing speed almost in seconds.

With no speed it was not possible to change anything in the situation, I saw the treetops below me again. You wait ! The next moment I was back on the ground and sliding several meters on the fuselage after glider lost it’s undercarriage. Amazingly no more damages were seen. Later I found out that instrument panel pulled two screws from the floor and belly was cracked. Very little for such landing.
Not recommendable!
My situation was worse. The same moment I hit the ground I felt a strong backache and had big difficulty getting out of the cockpit. I lied down on the wing to ease it off few minutes, a bit of relief occurred, fortunately I was able to move and feel all my limbs. Actually, this action was not right, because in such a situation, I would advise anyone not to move that much – unless you’re sure the spine is intact.
I consider it unlucky to hit such an uneven slope what was invisible till last moment. Looking from above waves, if have same colour are indistinguishable. Fortunately, the GP14 is a light and very strong glider, so it helped to get away with only a small damage.
Most important finding: even if the engine still worked at the start, it can fail at any time. It was the case with my landing in the Apennines. After the engine cooled, it did not start again because the pylon did not touch the limit switch.

Never rely 100% on the engine! Electric or digital systems fail instantly without any prior signs of wear or malfunction so it would be better to have two sets of electronic gear. We use two loggers. Don’t we?”

Happy Landings
Sebastian Kawa

Outlandings in mountainous areas / Outlandings with (turbo) engines – what is important?
After a hard landing in the Apennines Sebastian Kawa worked up his experiences and shared with us!

Decide early and have more options ready
Must land in mountainous terrain, it is usually very fast due to lack of options. Faulty starts of auxiliary engines worsen the situation dramatically. Therefore decide early, because: landing out with engine always need more height than without!

Upslope landings can be trained!
There are gliding schools that fly regularly on places with inclined landing strips. Uphill landing can be trained.

You need more speed!
A gradual reduction of the speed a few meters above the ground, which is often seen on flat airfields, does not work when approaching the steep slope. For pull up, to intercept path parallel to the ground, you have to keep your speed until last moment and flare with more energy to fly about 1m above the ground uphill. When practicing on moderate uphill strips if you have speed sufficient to hover about 0.5-1m above the ground for about 50-100m, than it is a good approach. We have very often windy conditions so more speed is required also to avoid sudden drop of speed and as a consequence falling dawn from few meters.

Use the entire length of the field.
The speed reduction when flying uphill is fast. So it is not necessary to be fixed on the lowest meters of the field because it is more dangerous to catch obstacles in the approach than roll on some at the end. In most cases there should be no problem to slow down and stop when going uphill.

Airbrakes – carefully!
Adjust altitude, the point where you want to stop. Then: set the flaps, retract the airbrakes, accelerate – to be able to pull up in front of the rising slope. Many gliders tend to sink a lot even when the airbrakes are only slightly opened. They loose speed instead of zooming up. With less flap, I would not use L -flaps for such approach as they produce more drag than lift, and a higher approach speed, this problem can be avoided ! There are planes, for example PZL 104, which can not flare enough to end parallel to any uphill slope without help of the engine.

Curved landing!
The last part of roll should be used for a 90° turn to avoid rolling back. In the worst case, you would have to remain in the cockpit squeezing wheel brake until help arrives.

Avoid obstacles!
Each approach over obstacles is more demanding than on a flat plane, as the interception angle increases further.

Green in front of brown – and not mixed!
In the mountainous areas it’s better to choose GREEN fields. Green means it’s re-cultivated at least once a year, and probably neither corn nor other tall plants will grow on it. In addition, in a re-cultivated field, the probability of encountering invisible trenches, hills and stones is reduced. Plowed fields are good too but brownish grass means it was not used for a long time and there are tall weeds.

Rules!
The competition rules should allow for a short test of the engine even if you used it for take-off.

As always with turbo’s – fly as without engine!
Even if an engine was used to start, he may well refuse service on the next attempt.

It was the same with my landing in the Apennines. After the engine cooled, it did not start again because the pylon did not touch the limit switch! Never rely 100% on the engine!

Happy Landings
Sebastian Kawa

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ABOYNE in Scotland.

The yearly height and CC- event in the Scottish mountains, the 22d version, was not blessed with good weather. After I left you they continued with small tasks, mostly with no finishers, but the last valid task number 3 had one.
Winner Bob Bromwich in DG 500mb with 605 TOTAL points. That say’s enough is n’t it? A pity!!!!
On one day they reached 19.280 ft.

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Interesting news!

From Holland;
For ALL those who love the EUROGLIDE; here are the estimated data for this big event; June 22 till July 4 2020, with the prize giving included in this day. That’s new.

From Austria;
Preparing for gliding season in Namibia / Kiripotib 😎😎
15 gliders placed in 3 containers. Then lorry to train station Vienna, train to Hamburg, ship to Walvis Bay Namibia, and then last leg, lorry to Kiripotib Soaring lodge. End of January return trip!
Complicated logistic, hat of for Ludwig Starkl, Christian Hynek and Wolfgang Janowitsch to get this organized 👍👍⛅️⛅️

Also Bitterwasser sends a lot of gliders via Germany.
” For almost 30 self launcher loadmaster Sascha Costabel had created space in one of the large steel boxes. On the first weekend in September they were packed with sophisticated suspension systems. Just six 18-meter single-seaters fit into a container thanks to good planning.
Via Hamburg and Antwerp the journey of the seven containers starts to Walvis Bay. The freighter is expected there at the beginning of October – in time for the new flying season in Namibia. “

From …..Australia on September 6 2019;
“On behalf of the GFA board and staff we extend our sympathies to the family and friends of Harry Schneider who died earlier today, with many family and friends by his bedside.
The Schneider family were very influential in developing the sport of gliding in Australia over two generations. Harry was a life member of the GFA and will definitely be missed.”

From Japan;
Nice soaring weather last week in Japan and they used it.
Takeshi shared some pictures from the weather and the field. Most airfield in Japan are situated along a river on the other side of a dyke. I have been in the past at 3 of them, one was Itakura .

From the UK;
Dave Masson [together with Nigel Mallender] flew last Sunday from Lasham a great over 300 km. flight in an ASK 13 !!!!!!!!They flew 328 from the set 340 km and had to land in a paddock rather late, but loved every minute.Pretty good autumn weather there!!!!
You can see the flight on  https://www.bgaladder.net/dailyscores/flightdetails/81740

That’s it for now. CU next Wednesday!
Cheers Ritz [with a light brain concussion and a dizzy head ….hit it in the kitchen on a point of a marble plate laying on an antic cupboard.!!]

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