The weather really lost the plot as I have said before. Here in the Netherlands it is 20 to 23 dgr. C….about 10 dgr. more than normal, for this time of the year. Wet…. yes also, but at this stage not as bad as down under.
In Australia it’s raining like mad. Poor farmers…again.. it’s either draught or flooding nowadays.
The Tocumwal Aviation Museum shared this news;
“80 years ago American forces occupied the Tocumwal Air Depot as a base for aircraft maintenance and repair.
We’re fortunate to have the Paul Bennet Airshows ex-U.S. Navy Grumman Avenger on loan this week and be able to give a flying nod to our local history by flying this 80 year old American warplane over the airfield where American forces were based 80 years ago.
It’s also a unique way to observe the floodwaters of the Mighty Murray River which are impacting towns downstream.”
Look at the huge amount of water everywhere around the Murray. There are houses, camping’s, horse riding trails, restaurants and a nice white beach, where I have enjoyed many moments in my life!!!!
So, not only the farmers , but everybody on more low grounds , suffers.

One of the lucky ones to have a seat /ride in this great plane ….ex-U.S. Navy Grumman Avenger ….was the owner of the WWII hangar now, Lumpy Paterson. He runs Sportavia Tocumwal .

Lumpy; “There is just something about big radial engines, and this is just about as big as they get.
TBM 3E Avenger, built in 1943 as a torpedo bomber, to operate from aircraft carriers. This is the biggest radial engine flying in Australia, producing 1700 hp !
It’s a BIG aircraft and is a little deceiving, the engine sounds like it’s only just purring and yet, we are doing 200 kts.
Sometimes the stars just line up, to fly an American built WW2 aircraft over an American built military hangar in Tocumwal, I love the aviation scene!”

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—–I wrote about the new TOST winch from NT Soaring, in the red heart of the continent Australia. It’s busy straight away!!!

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The weather in Namabia is already GOOD too, here is the news from Bitterwasser Lodge & Flying Centre
“Good weather in Namibia. Great anticipation.
If you look now in TopMeteo for Namibia, you see now already, so end of October, very good weather. This is also confirmed by the pictures of the webcams of Bitterwasser. This increases the anticipation of those who have already booked Bitterwasser.
Unfortunately, almost everything is booked. But from 25.10.2022 to 10. 11.2022 are still small capacities free.
Bad weather in Germany, cold and dark, only bad news regarding energy and inflation? Ideal reasons to escape from that, at least for a short time.
So, for short decided:”
Call Rainer, +49 170 9143684 or mail to: Hog@bitterwasser.com

Of course that counts for ALL European pilots NOT only those from Germany.

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The Dutch club The Gelderse had autumn camp. My granddaughter unfortunately had to study. Though it was windy and wet, the temperatures were top.
Days definitely are getting shorter and the season has nearly finished.

Down under the season is about to start and Adam shared these lovely pictures flying over Kingaroy. He is back in the cockpit of an Air Japan 787, but in between and even more from December onward, he flies gliders again too. So you can read his stories in his blog.
By the way he was runner up for the Ingo Renner Cup [ a decentral cup for which you can be scored throughout the whole year] behind Toby Geiger from Benalla in 2022 season. On October 1 the new season started.
Some details about the Ingo Renner Cup. Have a look here: https://docs.weglide.org/…/nati…/ingo_renner_cup.html…

Also Norway is in full autumn colors. Instructing in Notodden , in such nice environment can only be a huge PLEASURE!!!!

And to finish this autumn blog a picture from one of the very well known soaring calendars in Germany.
“The current calendar 2022 shows us the absolutely successful end of the season in October, which we wish you also this year. And remember … end of season means, it’s time to secure the new Fotokalender Segelfliegen 2023. Thanks for the model shoot to Peer Konitzer and Massimo Metzger in the Duo Discus XLT.“
aviation-calendar.com

Some sad news before I stop;
Eddie [Madden] shared this news;
“Today I lost my close friend Andrea from Austria , due to cancer.
Andrea came to fly with me for for the last 20+ years. Good times never forgotten“
Some “guests” you never forget, also with Andrea [Wieger] and Anton [Horill], 2 very enthusiastic beautiful Tocumwal mates from Austria. Anton, the glider pilot who loved his flying in the LS 4, Andrea who learned to fly and supported Anton with her flying by being with him at the field flying when she felt so.
They flew already with us between 1996 and 2006, every 2 years and when we left they moved without hesitation to Eddie, where they flew every 2 years till a few years ago [2019] when I met them in town and had a long talk with them.
I hope Anton keeps going on with his flying at Eddie’s , as they had together so many great memories on soaring in Toc.
R.I.P dear Andrea.

CU next week
Cheers Ritz

—–The French National Aeroclub, the [ Fédération Française de Vol en Planeur ] shared a message from the results in 2022, from 309 [under 25] young participating pilots flying for the Coupe Jacques Gomy.
In 47 years, this number of 309 was the best /highest EVER.
In the high season the young ones do have some problems to fly for a longer time on club gliders. So they can’t go on a CC-flight.
They are encouraged / stimulated to participate for this prestigious challenge, starting on March1. It gives them a goal to fly more and longer.
15 year old Loan Cheval won with 9251 points followed by 16 year old Thibaud de Péchy with 8919 points and on 3 mademoiselle Emma Chesneau with 8457 points. Good on them !!!!!
Thibaud’s brother Clement won the prize in 2019.
Emma had a training stage with Eric Napoleon and Eric Bernard and 3 other “girls” as well.

I had to google who Jacques Gomy was; He lived between 1926 and 1967, was a glider pilot and instructor , NATIONAL CHAMPION in glider- aerobatics’ and a test pilot.
He had 6.500 hours in his logbook ,1.700 in a glider. He started when he was 14!!!
AND he did much more….
I checked with dad Philippe de Pechy as well . He added that a lot of the French team pilots from NOW, once flew this challenge. He mentioned Eric Napoleon, Laurent Aboulin and he himself did it too.
“The rules are simple.1 point per minute and the 20 longest flights are registered….+ bonus for FAI badges“
He also added that Jacques performed in a movie.
He was the pilot of the glider in the “Grand Vadrouille”, the French movie having had the best box office.
Of course with Louis de Funès. Fantastic movie!!!
I guess most of you have seen it too, if not here is a link I got from Philippe.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2l4mk

Jacques Gomy died on January 5 in 1967, together with Gerard Verette, during a flight test of the prototype of the CAP10, [ in the end the CAP10 was an extremely successful airplane.] which is an acro airplane. An unexpected and sad end of a fabulous and inspiring flying-life.

There you go, I learned a lot again. Thanks Philippe for your input.

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—–I shared earlier the final results from the OLC. This week I got the newsletter from WeGlide, so I share their stats with you too. They , Johannes, Samuel, Joshua and Moritz, are all young entrepreneurs doing a real good, no an amazing job.
magazine.weglide.org 
“This season, more than 6400 new pilots have joined the WeGlide community. You have uploaded more than 80,000 pictures of sunrises, cloud streets, thunderclouds, or your co-pilots. Together, we’ve flown more than 27 million kilometers with the power of the sun, which is more than 70 times the distance to the moon.
Thanks to you and your flights we are now the largest gliding site in the world, just incredible!”
They have certificates for all which you can download.
Their top three finishers of the WeGlide Distance Cup, who covered some really incredible distances are;
Baptiste Innocent, 6518 pt
Alexander Müller, 6324 pt and
Guy Bechtold, 6191 pt.
Their top 3 fastest pilots are ;
Juan Pablo Verdura, 599 pt,
James G Lee, 551 pt and
Baptiste Innocent, 534 pt….. 
WeGlide Speed Champions!

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–—-Next years WWGC news as shared by Kiki [Jacky Clairbaux] ;
“Next year, the 12th FAI Women’s World Gliding Championship is going to be celebrated in Soria-Garray (LEGY- SPAIN) in the first two weeks of July
The competition will be in the airfield of Soria – Garray (LEGY), from July 1st until July the 15th
The WWGC2023 will be an international celebration of women gliding in three classes – Club, Standard and 18m.
It is a good opportunity to explore the area, enjoy the friendship of the Castilian people, their ancient culture, enjoy their wonderful gastronomy and have a really good time on a friendly atmosphere of the competition.“
https://wwgc2023.org/

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—–Nice to know…..”Howard Torode (Chairman BGA Technical Committee) has been awarded the prestigious Paul Tissandier Diploma by the FAI for his outstanding leadership and contribution to glider airworthiness and the development of the proportionate regulation of sailplane airworthiness and maintenance.
Congratulations and thanks, Howard!” Gliding

——-Last weekend they had the sent-off of Tony Tabart in Tocumwal.
“the event was well attended, Tony was done proud, and we look forward to next year’s event.”
A very valuable evening with TRUE friends of TT.
That is was so well attended, was nearly a miracle due to the flooding all over parts down under, specially the Victoria and NSW area’s.

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—–Autumn in The Netherlands;

AND
a wet spring in Tocumwal

And spring is arriving in N.Z as well. John McCaw had a nice flight last weekend. He photographed Rob Kerr in his LS 4, during flight, great picture.

——And, the MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB in the UK, had an “Excellent first day of the Junior’s Winter Series, 118 launches on a sunny day with ridge lift and thermals.” It is the 11th version and never before they had so many young pilots at briefing. A fabulous turnout.
Day 1 of the Winter Series Round 1 – The Long Mynd

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—-Not only , the lucky-enough-pilots are looking forward to the new Namibian season, which their great flights, we all do. The magic of their weather is famous by now. 2 More weeks and it starts.

In between they worked HARD!!!!Bitterwasser Lodge & Flying Centre shared the next news…..
“That was fast – PV systems in operation
Sometimes things go faster than you think in Namibia. The two recently ordered PV systems are in operation.
The panels for the lodge have a capacity of 57 kWp. This is the theoretical output. We expect to be able to generate half of our electricity needs with these panels during the peak season from November to January. The rest of the year, it should be enough for everything.
The panels are oriented in an east-west direction. In the mornings and evenings, we have the highest power consumption and the panels should provide as much power as possible then.
The panels for the village should approximately cover the power consumption for the whole season.
The investment volume was about 80.000€. We believe that it is a good investment. Good for the environment, good for our cash and good for the future. Electric, self-launching gliders are on the market and in the future, we will see them more often in Bitterwasser. The batteries of these gliders want to be charged.’

AND,…..”The first four containers with our planes arrived in Bitterwasser. We had sent four containers in advance, as we were not sure whether the ships would sail according to schedule. And as it always is, when you expect the worst, everything goes smoothly. Customs was also there and at first glance all planes seem to have survived the transport well.
All official problems are also solved. ARO, overflight permission etc. are there. So the season can start on 25.10.2022. Good flying weather has also been experienced.”

LESS GOOD NEWS from Australia, the flooding is getting worse and worse. My favorite shopping streets are in Echuca and Shepparton, ….both under water. Echuca has the highest water since 150 years.
When you want to go from Toc to Narromine, there is flooding as well. Dubbo is partly under water and Forbes as well. The road from Finley [close to Toc] to Berrigan is flooded.
Local flood guides help the people.
Mind you a lot of the transport in Australia goes by road with huge trucks and even road trains, travelling from N to S and E to W; at a lot of places that’s not possible. What cost!!!!! Terrible!!!!
This is the Murray river , around it live a huge amount of kangaroos. They have nowhere to go, and cross the winding roads full of trucks, which are able to drive. A lot have been and will be killed. So sad!!!!

CU on Wednesday.
cheers Ritz

2022 South African Nationals
Potchefstroom….1 October 2022 – 8 October 2022

After 2 CANCELLED days, “we” continue now with
Day 6…task 6…flying day 4 on October 6….AND,… bugger [excusez le mot] ALL pilots out-landed!
15 m; 533.69 km…changed in 378.88 km; Wayne [Schmidt ]missed only out on 40 k. [ 335 km] but for 600 points he was the daily best! About 30 k less for Peter Farrel in his 18 m. JS 1.
Unlucky day for Danish pilot Anders Andersen, whose PEV was not “found”. Zero points!!!!
club; 318.30 km… Young German pilot Niklas [Hahn] had a top day. Yes he was “out” , but so were they all, but he flew 229 km. in his LS 1 D. [handicap 98] Great job Niklas!
Mike van Niekerk flew 252 km, in his ASW 20 [handicap 110] he was runner up.
2-seaters; 478.20 km...changed in 378.86 km; all 6 2-seaters were out . Laurens in his top glider the ASG 32 MI, flew 337 km and I presume he “motored” the last km.’s home. Riaan Denner and his mate in the ASH 25 flew 30 k less. They were runner up.
Carol Clifford wrote about today:
“Today there is some wind, but not nearly as strong – thank goodness! The Low pressure is still to the west, and there could be overdevelopment and/or congestion to the south later in the day. Temperature at 11.30 is expected to be 33 deg and the winds north-westerly and could be about 10 kts on the ground. Tasks have been set, initially in a southerly direction, and then to the better weather later in the day up to the north-west and back west and home.”

Day 7…task 7…flying-day 5 on October 7..penultimate day.
15m; 290.55 km.…from 12 pilots , 7 were in and a familiar face on spot 1; Mark in his ASW 27, with a good speed of 143 km./h. Uys, Atti, Oscar and Anders followed, as well as Rob and Sven.
3 JS 3’s/15 m, lead the overall scores with Uys, [ 3.854] ,Attie [ 3.793] and Oscar [ 3.756] on the 3 top spots for now!
5 Pilots flew with OVER 132 km./h!!!!
Mark [4] is only 5 points behind Oscar.[ 3.751]
And I know them a bit,…they all want to win, so who is going to do so????
club; 205.39 km…Only 7 started the day and 5 finished. Daily winner; Richard Glennie in ASW 20; 115 km./h. Young Zachary , the guest from the USA, was 4th.[97 km./h]
With one more day to go, it’s all about Wilhelm and Rene ;3.266, 3.247 and young Niklas is 3d with 2.671.
2-seaters; 290.55 km....6 started and ONLY one finished. Denner and Unwin,in their ASH 25…. good on them. Their speed was 118 km./h. All the other pilots must have been shut off by weather as they only flew under 100 km. far!!!
Overall scores with ONE day to go; Laurens 3.127 points, Kotze/Bonnet with 3.080 and Denner/Unwin with 3.024 p.
Carol; “After flying – it would seem a day that had very different results and fortunes for the pilots – some obviously found the lift and managed to get around the task with very creditable speeds, whilst others ended up outlanding in a field or using their motors. Five pilots outlanded today and for the others that I think did the task there were some good speeds. “

Day 8…task 8…flying day 6 on October 8; CANCELLED in all 3 classes!!! They had in each class a 2.45 AAT, but,…..
Carol on day 7; “From the ground, the day certainly looked better than it has for the last two days, so let’s hope tomorrow provides a good final day’s flying.“
Unfortunately it did n’t!!!

15 m NATIONAL CHAMPION;
1. Uys Jonker in JS3 with 3.584 points.
2. Attie Jonker in JS 3 TJ with 3.793 p.
3. Oscar Goudriaan in JS 3 TJ with 3.756 p.
NO possibility anymore for Mark to gain 5 more points on Oscar.

Club class NATIONAL CHAMPION:
1. Wilhelm Mosehuus in Mosquito with 3.266 points.
2. Rene Coetzee in ASW 20 with 3.247 p.
3. Niklas Hahn in LS 1D with 2.671 p.

2-seater NATIONAL CHAMPION:
1. Laurens Goudriaan in ASG 32MI with 3.127 points.
2. Kotze & Bonnet in Nimbus 4D with 3.080 p.
3.  Denner & Unwin in ASH 25E with 3.024 p.

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Australia’s red heart of the country , better know as Alice Springs, has a glider community with Robert Smits and his partner Jenny, a WWGC pilot, as “engines” .
They bought in the Netherlands this great TOST winch, from Glider Winch Europe, send it to Australia, where they did the finishing touch in Alice. Great toy!!!!! Great job!!!

And 2 pictures from “tugs”, from my favorite photographers.
A great picture by ARJAN, from the tug still working hard at TERLET in The Netherlands where it is still good autumn soaring weather.
What a season it was !!!!!!

Sikko flew , between showers , in his ASG 29E/18m, still 460 km with 105 km./h.
https://www.weglide.org/flight/221581
More Dutch and Belgian pilots did so, during this lovely autumn weekend/period:
Robin [Smit] in LS 4 NEO, flew without water under cloud streets to 420 km.
Wim [Akkermans] from Keiheuvel ; 510 km in Ventus 3 F.
Down under where spring is about to begin we see 400 km. flights as well. Norm [Bloch] flew from Beverley , [Western Australia] 407 FAI triangle in his LS 3 on October 7.
AND of course the tuggy pictures…..

And by New Zealand photographer Geoff Soper

The ASK 21 is a ” good working-horse”. I read that number 1000 is flying now! Between 1979 and 2022 one thousand sold. Not bad.
“still flying, training and selling well…”

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Last weekend , “our” 25 year old Max Verstappen won his 2d WORLD TITLE in the formula 1-car-racing. Great result after lots of confusion about the points.
He turned 25 just a week ahead of the race in Japan.
A very deserved winner of the races from the 22 season.
Love this picture from Max about 20 years ago.

Have a good week CU next Wednesday!
Cheers Ritz

The 2022 South African NATIONALS .
Potchefstroom, 1 October 2022 – 8 October 2022

As said before this National Championship is flown in 3 classes; 15m, club and 2-seaters.
On the last day of September they had their practice day with a 2 hour AAT with 215 km as best distance by Sven [Olivier] in his ASW 27B.
I hope all scores are correct now as they had some problems.
October 1 …day 1…task 1 ;
15 m…..416 km; straight away Oscar [Goudriaan] ” left his calling card” in his 15 m JS 3 TJ; speed 112 km./h. Attie and Uys followed both equal as runner up ; speed 110 km./h.
11 pilots in this class among them 3 HC pilots.
9 Pilots were in.
Club….269.63 km; started also with 8 pilots and 2 HC pilots. Best speed by Philip Jonker in the LS 4 but he flies HC. Wilhelm Moosehuus in the Mosquito, was for that reason the daily number 1; 100 km,./h. Only one other pilot flew over 100 km./h and that was Rene Coetsee as runner up.
2-Seaters……436.41 km; 5 in this class and only ONE team flew the task; Kotze & Bonnet in the Duo Discus with 117 km./h. There are 3 Duo Discus’ in this class.
Laurens [Goudriaan] was runner up. In his ASG 32 MI he flew 417 km. but did not finish.
Other types ASH 25 E ,Nimbus 4 DM.
After day 1 the message was; “The weather for the days ahead is looking better and better!”

October 2…day 2…task 2;
15 m……413.75 km; Oscar won again; nice speed… 142.05 km./h Mark Holliday in the ASW 27 was runner up ; speed 136 km./h.
Club….299.99 km; 10 pilots flew the task AND finished it. Best was Wilhelm with 118.65 km./h
2-seaters….413.75 km; 4 pilots flew the task and daily winner was the Duo Discus again; speed 122.39 km./h

October 3….day 3…task 3;
The Potch- news from the South African Gliding Team ;”
Mon. 3rd October
10.30 in the morning and already it is already quite hot. There is a hiccup with the scoring and handicaps which is being sorted hopefully, so only when that has been resolved, will the daily beers be awarded to yesterday’s winners of the day.
The weather already expects it to be 12 000 – 13 000 ft by 11 a.m., with a high pressure over Potch and another to the west, there is a low pressure to the SW which might have some influence on the weather later in the day. Pilots were urged to be on the final stages of their flight by 4 p.m. latest.
15m. class have 428,5 km.; the Club class 301,1 km. and the 2-seater class 390.6 km.
First launch is expected to once again be at 11.30 a.m.”

15m….428.51 km; 6 IN and 6 OUT. Wayne Schmidt remembered very well that being back by 4 at the latest would be the solution for the day, so he went early at 12.37, still flew till 4.25 PM, and won the day. Speed ; 112.60 km./h. Uys and Attie started at 13. 12 being runner up and 3d and Oscar started at 1 PM and was 6th. The last one to finish.
So in the end it did not REALLY matter what time you started but more keeping out of trouble.
Out meant between 379km and 148 km.
Club….301 km; from 11 pilots 7 finished. Best speed was by Rene; 91 km./h in the ASW 20. On handicap not enough to win the day. Mike Tiffin in the DG 200 won; 89 km./h.
Wilhelm was 4th.
2-sweaters….390.56 km; 5 started and 3 finished, best was Laurens with 115 km./h.
“SA Nationals Day 3 Day 3 was a little more challenging than Day 2 but a good challenge is always fun ” by Akavlieg – Potch Gliding

More about day 3 by Jonker Sailplanes
“Have a look at todays flight of Zach Yamauchi (United States of America | California) at the South African Club Class Nationals held in Potchefstroom this week. Zach is one of the WeGlide JS Challenge winners and he had his first outlanding experience in South Africa today.
“South Africa has been amazing so far! Today was contest day 3. Everyone I have met has been incredibly kind and welcoming, the equipment, facilities, and contest organizers are top notch, and above all the soaring conditions have been very enjoyable. I love it here!” he says.
https://www.weglide.org/embedded/flight/221100?baro=true

October 4…day 4…task 4; CANCELLED FOR ALL CLASSES.
15m…3.30 AAT;
Club…358 km;
2-seaters…3.30 AAT;

October 5 TODAY shows 3 hour AAT’s in ALL classes. Then 3 more days to go, I follow them for you.

News from Jonker Sailplanes
Niklas Hahn from Germany (Niedersachsen) is the second lucky winner of the WeGlide Jonker Sailplanes Challenge and has following to tell:
“In Potchefstroom it is really awesome!! This adventure is really pushing me out of my comfort zone. It’s a new glider and the first time flying in heights where I need oxygen. The landscape is completely different from what I am used to in Germany and I have not fully found out what works and what doesn’t. On the first practice day I landed after an hour, because I did not find another thermal in the middle of the day. But with each day I fly it gets better. We are having fun and laughing a lot with the other glider pilots and telling stories at the Braai in the evening. The atmosphere is really welcoming.”
It should be emphasized that the JSChallenge is an international competition. Every junior worldwide has the opportunity to assert themselves. However, we all were pleased to nominate internationally in the first year!“
Niklas flies and LS1D.

I really like these programs/challenges.
In “our” Sportavia time in the nineties, we did the same.
We invited young talents to fly with Ingo in a 2 seater during a competition called Outback Shootout.
We had young ones from Finland Pekka, Belgium Tijl and Alfred Paul from the Netherlands. Of course they were also allowed to fly single seat gliders by their selves.
A room and food and of course friendly people around them, were included.
When I met these guys they still talk about it.

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I shared in my last blog, great pictures from the MORNING GLORY.
It looks like a great year for this phenomena.
More and more pilots are trying their luck.
When it’s there it is “heaven on earth” I heard.
One of the Aussie team ladies, Kerrie Claffey went there and also Terry Delore from N.Z.
In his Delore Soaring he shares his experience.
“Terry and Jeff are on a morning glory pursuit like the pic below, after power flying from Melbourne, south Aussie to the far North.
Like a good adventure they’ve encountered a few hiccups but seem to be currently airborne on the glory. Can follow their TrackMe tracker and will await a report.”
https://gliding.net.nz/tracking

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News from Temora, NE of Tocumwal
and weather wise maybe one of the best soaring spots in Australia.
They are renovating their runways so it will be even better in the future. On top of that, there is a GREAT museum full of exciting planes.
“The photos show the progress with RWY 18/36 line marking underway. We expect to have the reconstructed runway back in use 7 Oct according to the NOTAM. Despite the wet we are still getting some soaring in and really haven’t stopped flying all winter and into early spring.”

News from Tocumwal;
Staying for a moment in Australia but now “in ” Tocumwal, as there are a few changes over there.
….the Calif a-21S, better known as the CAPRONI, in which Ingo made many flights and hours has been sold to a new owner in Benalla. So it goes about 70 k S.

And more news from my beloved Tocumwal this time from Tocumwal Soaring;
“A massive milestone for us today with our final audit completed, which now allows us to not only hire gliders, but also train glider pilots.”
We took delivery of our second training glider today, which will assist us with ab initio training and is available for week long sessions, seven days a week.
It’s been a huge effort to get most of our gliders ready and airworthy for today. We could not have done it without the support of many in the gliding community.
We’d really like to thank everyone who has assisted us to get to this point, it’s greatly appreciated ( too many to list but you know who you are )
Thank you ! Team TSC,“
AND
“Our new Duo X had its first flight in Australia on this mild spring afternoon.
20 mtrs of awesomeness, these gliders are an absolute delight to fly.“

Starting this TSC-business now officially, the SRGC ,the club from Ingo , had to leave the old WWII hangar. For a few days the club members were lost/devastated, till George from Outback Soaring reached them his hand and hangar. So they have a “new” house too. They are now neighbors and grateful.
By the way, Georges Blanik , XO ,went to the Tocumwal Soaring Center ,as a training plane. My grand children Indya and Dexter, straight away said:” What about us, opa “? But George owns an IS 28 as well. So they will be OK.

A lot of things are happening in good old Toc.
“With the inclusion of the C-150 , our sturdy friend and workhorse ROZ now relocated to our new home, that concludes our involvement with TSC.
A new chapter commences and we look forward to continuing the great work Ingo did to make the club
successful.
His name will live on whilst SRGC continues. And continue it will.” Bruce Wilson.

And news from the Tocumwal Aviation Museum
“This week in history, 78 years ago:
There was a disastrous fire in one of Tocumwal’s giant timber hangars (Hangar 2) which destroyed the building and three B-24 Liberators which were undergoing maintenance inside the hangar. Crews attempted to save one of the B-24 aircraft by dragging it outside but by this stage it was alight and burnt to the ground on the tarmac adjacent to the hangar.
The fire was determined to have been started by sparks from electrical wiring igniting fuel vapors while one of the aircraft was undergoing checks. It was rumored that sabotage was involved, this rumor was never proven during the court of inquiry into the incident.”

News from Namibia; Kiripotib.
“Ready for take off on 1st November. We are looking forward to 83 great gliding days in Namibia. Have a look at our impressions
No reservation yet? Some remaining slots are still available“
www.kiripotib-soaring.com/en

And to finish this WOW-factor-pictures shared by Gilles Navas.

CU next Wednesday

Cheers Ritz