Alphen aan den Rijn    Thursday November 24 2011

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

Courtesy; Bruce Cooper while flying in Argentina last season and making this great picture of the Stemme.

Finally a bit of sun  after another weather-phenomena,[ the so-maniest in this year 2011,]  last week. 7 days of FOG! A real grey blanket covered not only Holland but also other parts of Europe. Traffic, boats and planes suffered! And of course the people !
Sorry I am one day late! In the middle of this nasty flu, I got from all the heavy coughing sciatica,[we call it here  ischias] VERY painful, but the medicins are helping.

No fog in Chapelco where German pilot, Jürgen Wenzel enjoyed another great flight “racing the ridges of the Andes”. Again in the Ventus 2cm 15m. figuration; 1.447,28 km. SPEED nearly 160 km. /h.[158.8]

No fog either in Gariep Dam where friends flew up to 882 km. on Tuesday. One day earlier the pilots in Namibia had the best of the weather with flights up to 921 [Nimbus3DM] from Pokweni, 665 from Bitterwasser in Ventus 2 CM/18m. but…also 657 from Kingaroy in the East of Australia in ventus 2 CM/18m.
Unfortunately the Narromine Cup is hit by bad weather so hopefully we will see some flights later this week, though I heard some pilots have left already as the forecast was not too flash!
When I was in pain,yesterday Klaus flew a 1000 km in Nimbus 3T from Gariep Dam , so they have their first 1000 as well.
And..though Narromine has not too good weather, Corowa had …with flights up to 902 km. in a Ventus 2CM/18m.
Great to see so many old friends back in Tocumwal,flying with both Sportaviation from Eddie and Sheryll and/or the Southern Riverina Gliding Club from Judy and Ingo. YES, there is still flying in Tocumwal!!! On an other scale and different then in the past , but flying …yes you can!
First Stephan and Aljoscha now, Björn and Lis [from Norway]  and Rhys and also good to see several former Sportavia guests who are very happy now in Corowa, but surely still remember the good times of Tocumwal!!! But that is the past …..we live now.

Have started a story / memories ,about how we ended up running the Sportavia Soaring Center in Tocumwal Australia for Soaring cafe to make it easier for USA readers to follow my links to this period. You can click on the top of this story to find the story including pictures which George has send to me, on soaring cafe!! Part 2 next Sunday with the pictures. Enjoy!

Shared with you the happiness of the Dutch  baseballplayers  winning the word title. Now they are all in mourning. One of the topplayers [he did not play for Holland because he was to valuable for his club the Seattle Mariners ]24 year old Gregory Halman, was killed with a knive, last monday morning by his 22 year old brother ,….because of too loud radio noise in the night!!!!!!
Also the American Major League is in deep mourning. Tragic such a great looking, lovely young man, here in Holland for a short period only,  to share his love for baseball with the young ones! Unbelievable!

Hope I will be fit enough to visit the Dutch Soaring Day on the 26th. Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn     Sunday November 20 2011     

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com      www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com 

Andes seen  by Bruce Cooper, from above,  last season.

Thanks for the kind reactions of concern, on the message , I got the flu!! A real nasty one! But it is a bit better now!Very tired however and…worn out!!!So only some short news.

Overseas soaring; Yes…. when I was sick in bed a lot of people I know had happy-soaring- times.
The 15th was the day to be in Gariep Dam  with great flights up to  just over 750 km. Hans and Uwe had a great day. One day later Pierre [Belgium] had and even better day in Kiripotib, 1025 km in the EB 28 with a speed of 127 km/h, while UK pilot John Bally in EB 29 flew an even faster 1000 km;134 km/h.
Very nice to see Austrian friends in Bitterwasser. Ludwig and Heimo flew in the Arcus E and DG 808/18 m. resp. 794 and 775 km, while Gerd Marzinzik ,[ editor in the past ,maybe still now from Aerokurier, have n’tspoken with him or seen him for a while ]flew 756 km. in the Ventus 2 CM.
Danish pilot Anders enjoyed good circumstances in Bloemfontein with 725 km. in the JS1.
All happy chappies!!!
On the 18th of November the great weather was in Australia and both Tocumwal and Corowa enjoyed great conditions. Several very nice FAI triangles!!!!!
“Nearly ” 1000 [975 and he planned a 750!] for Hans Jürgen, [Ventus 2CM-Corowa] but no worries, his 1000 will come again!!! Terry flew his ASH 26 from Toc. over such a nice 600 km.  triangle as well [668 km] and…without engine! The engine is shipped for overhaul!!! Good on you Terry!
In Narromine the Narromine  Cup starts soon/tomorrow [November 21-26] and several pilots have arrived already. Some had to struggle with the 25 kn. Northerly. But…good practise, also for the NSW State Comps later and the 50thiest Multi Class Nationals from January 30 till February 10 2012 in Narromine.
In Argentina  the Andes  created  great “stuff”  for German pilot Jürgen Wenzel,  in a Ventus 2CM 15 meter!!!,  who flew from Chapelco  1.217 km with a nice speed of 132 km/h. First flight for the season and surely more great ones will follow!
Yesterday best flights from Gariep Dam with 870 km.  in the DG808 and 906 km. in a Nimbus 3T/25m, but a good flight as well from Dutch pilot Max Leenders. If you have not read his comment , here it is;
” Declared 400km out & return. Finished at 151.35 km/h. New Dutch national record?? We used a remote starting and finish point in order to fly in the best forecastedweather. Start was in almost blue sky, but after a few minutes very good cumulus developed with excellent thermals.”
Good to see more friends have arrived in Gariep, also Rob is there now, flying the duo discus XL  with a good 701 and  714 km flight to start with . And if I remember well, Brutus must be  there too now.

What terrific news for Boeing so in the end of the year 2011!!!! What an order!!!22 Milliard dollar for 230 Boeings from the type 373. The order is from Lion Air based in Indonesia and the biggest  private airline in the world.
Interesting is that a lot of students from the CAE here in Hoofddorp,[ Global Academy Amsterdam-Nationale Luchtvaartschool]  the head sponsor of the Dutch Gliding Nationals, will fly there in the future,  as they co-operate. Lion Air is one of the companies where the young students can fly, make hours / get experience and earn money!
I had the honour a few years ago to fly in one of the CAE 737- 800 simulators here in Hoofddorp !!!
Look for all their news on; www.caeglobalacademy.com

I had no clue,  but here in Alphen lives another person , Ronald van Rijn,who is crazy about aviation. This time parachute jumping!!! He is the president of POPS.NL , Parachutists Over Phorty Society.
In my paper I read this gentleman has made a bid and won….to have the over -40-parachute-world- championships to Holland.About 200 parachutists over 40 years old will visit Holland between June 28 and July 7 2012. The oldest Dutch parachutist is 81 and will jump as well. 2 Disciplines; precision jumping and formation jumping.

News for the younger ones! At least for those who visited the Musbach JWGC and the Finnish JWGC earlier. In the Australian paper,  Queensland Times, a nice article appeared about the “Maddocks”. Thanks Jo!!!!

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2011/11/18/tradition-on-high-at-world-festival/

Always wanted to visit Australia!?  The Last FrontiersNews Flash from Shanghai, has in this months special , …a flight over the Sunshine Coast with a landing on Fraser Island….and more….
www.TheLastFrontiers.com

My friend Maria left again back to Munich on Wednesday and she was lucky as several flights over the last days were cancelled or very much delayed due to fog.She came home without problems!

 

High tea for 2!
Just before I got sick!

Cu next week Ritz

No news today , the head , troath and ear are  soar,  the nose running,  the cough bad. A real nasty flu!!!! And on November 4 I got the anti-flu-injection!!!!!!
Certainly not helping this time. Sorry …..see you on Sunday, I hope!

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday November 13 2011

www.soaring.eu    www.glidinginternational.com      www.soaringcafe.com 

Courtesy; Mattias Hemborg 2006
double click to enlarge

Soaring in Africa started strong with NEARLY another 1000 km flight. I share with you the enthusiasm;
” Oscar declared a 1000km FAI triangle Potchefstroom-Dealsville-Pomfret-Potchefstroom yesterday and came close, landing out nears Klerksdorp some 60km short.  Some 5m/s climbs in the best part of the day and eventually 4800m but the last glide looks as if it was dead with a 186km glide to the landing…
  second longest flight in Africa this season (so far) after Uys’ 1000km o/r exactly one month ago. Oscar flew the JS1.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2158036

Another super flight that day, in the ASG 29 by Mannie a 700 km. triangle also from Potchefstroom.
And…the National record , distance over 750 km. with 3 fixed TP’s for open class [ Nimbus 3T/25.5m.] in Brasil by Henrique Navarro,  is not too bad either. 
Gariep was still struggling with a 50km./h wind, but some pilots enjoyed flying ……even with the tough wind.
Nice to see Pierre has settled in Kiripotib for some good overseas soaring and Sven had another good flight , this time on November 12 from Worchester , with 739 km. [ speed 121 km/h.] in ASW 27.

Very unusual to see in the middle of November poppies and cornflowers  in Holland [close to my house along the road] .We still enjoy nice weather during the days with very sunny conditions , but colder nights.

 

 The economical situation is world wide a bit of a problem.  Problems also for many European countries. The people who know , claim there will be soon a new recession.
Airbus has till now, as ALL carriers do, sold planes in dollars. Even the French businesses delevering to Airbus , were paid in dollars.
Now they deal with EUROS as most of the customers prefer to pay with that currency. Interesting!

The 2 young German pilots, Benjamin and Fabian, who have arrived in Australia to promote  Fly-Down-under, from the airfield of Stonefield, { NE of Gawler}  and started their soaring in a PIK 20D,{ www.fly-down-under.com}, while waiting for their Discus 2B YB, who was send from Germany with 4 other gliders to Adelaide.

Talking about Australia, the first briefing and flights from guests at Corowa are a fact. Good to see Harry back in Australia and flying over Tocumwal on his first day starting at Corowa again after an absence of 2 years . He knows Toc. so well, as he flew several years at Sportavia. Even better to read that Grietje, together with Francesco the owner of Australian Soaring Corowa , has been allowed after an absence of 2 years , to fly the tug again. Knowing Grietje [ she worked for us in Tocumwal one season and Francesco was our guest] she will be over the moon. Good on you Grietje!!!
Also nice to see that Graham Parker , who had his glider with us on line in the past and toppilot for Australia at WGC’s,  is flying at Omarama.
In Tocumwal some pilots got together to fly a few days and flights up to 567 in ASH 26 were flown.

This year the Australian -Women- in- Gliding- week, will be held in Benalla from December 27 to 31. Ladies can come for an Ab Initio training or rent a glider or BYO [bring your own]  Next year the event will be in South Australia.

Not so nice ……the accident from one of the toppilots [35 years old] from the Red Arrows. His automatic chair went up on the ground , while going over the taxi-way. He “flew”  through the glass [ the canopy is supposed to disappear under these circumstances!!!] and was catapulted up to 60 m, to fall down again. He did not survive and with this tragic and curious way of dying,  the Red Arrows lost 2 pilots [one in August] in a short time. All the Hawk T1 planes are grounded now to find out what went wrong. Very sad!!!!

From Jo I received the next message  on behalf of Christopher Mac Donnell about a new book about Italian Vintage Sailplanes.
—-I am glad to inform you that my book “Italian Vintage Sailplanes” is finally coming out from the printer. It is now available by EQIP, who were also the same editors for Martin Simons’ books.
http://www.eqip.de/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=74&lang=de

 It covers most of the sailplanes designed and built in Italy from the beginning of the 20th century through until the early 1970s.  It includes sailplanes in wood or tube and fabric and it fills the gap in Italian gliding history.
With my best regards
Vincenzo
E-Mail: vincenzopedrielli@gmail.com 
www.vincenzopedrielli.it

 Talking about vintage sailplanes . Cheers Ritz

 
Picture above; courtesy Fritz Schweikart and under Johan Ersson.[2006]

 

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday    November 9 2011

www.soaring.eu   www.glidinginternational.com       www.soaringcafe.com  

 
Gliding International;November/December 2011

The November/December issue from Gliding International  was on my mat when I arrived home from 2-days-Amsterdam yesterday. The “no compromise-glider” , an add  from Schempp-Hirth on the last page of the GI, looked at me.
I quickly sat down to read the magazine.
Interesting as always and a lot to read. I liked the story about another South African Project by Fritz Johl; he claims that a 1000 km. triangle is possible in 5 hours in a J-5 with 15 m. wingspan!!!! [see picture on cover of GI.]
Still a “fully functional quarter-scale model” at this stage….but it looks it will fly in the future…..read more in the latest GI.
ALSO….Klaus Ohlmanns 2138 km. straight distance flight…..Soaring Safaris with Dick Bradley from Bloemfontein, a selfmade flyingwing sailplane from Estonia and much , much more…..62 pages of reading-pleasure !!!!
www.glidinginternational.com

My longtime friend Gerrit [Holland]travelled years ago to Tocumwal,got to know his wife Pam [UK] over there, both visited  Australia often to soar then moved down under and now they still live, work and fly there. Pam is even the very active president of the Darling Downs Soaring Club and this club just bought a brandnew Duodiscus XL. Here is the story send to me by Jo. Thanks Jo!
And…Good luck with the new plane; Happy flights and safe landings!
http://www.thechronicle.com.au/story/2011/11/07/club-rapt-new-glider/

More news from Jo about high-flying, grandma’s! Here is the link to that story when you are interested;
http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/story/2011/11/08/club-preparing-for-takeoff/

Several friends have arrived at their overseas destinations  in both South Africa and Namibia and in Corowa [Australia] ; you can see the first flights already on the OLC. And lots more will follow, I am sure about that!
A bit of rain in Corowa but flights will follow soon as the containers have been unpacked and checked.
Botswana, topped the OLC on Monday with a flight of 868 km. in a Nimbus 3D, in it ,a great 823 km FAI triangle.
A German pilot ” found”  Orapa, the town in the middle of the Central District of Botswana in Africa. A town well known for it’s diamond mines, the largest in the world!
The gliding-field is on the main airport of Orapa. Later the pilot changed the name of airfield to Ntwetew. I have never been in that area, but found out that this  place provides  water for the diamond mines due to the Mopipi Dam. Interesting!!!! Anyway whatever field he started…it was a nice flight!

Yesterday more nice flights from Namibia and SA. Distances between 600 and 800-plus were only made by open class gliders and one by the 20m. Antares. One of our Dutch pilots is in Gariep Dam. Max had a nice comment:” Struggling for 5 hours against the wind is very rewarding when finally the groundspeed on the way back hits 330km/h.” .I look forward to nice long flights from Hans and Uwe as well, both fly from Gariep.

In my last blog I mentioned the weather.  It is still “weird”! The South of France was hit this time as a very unusual tropical depression had settled above the Mediterranean sea. Last time this happened was in 1995. The East coast from Spain and the South from France were hit badly by rain[ in a short time more rain fell then in 3 months, causing flooding from the rivers!]  and storms with up to 100 km./ h bft.. My son in law arrived home 3 days earlier then planned from his bike trip through Spain. Horrible weather!

Off to Schiphol now to pick up Maria, who arrives soon. Take care. CU Ritz

Picture;courtesy Joop Everse.

Alphen aan den Rijn   Sunday November 6 2011

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com    www.glidinginternational.com   www.soaringcafe.com  

The weather here is still very soft for the time of the year. Yesterday I saw a calf in the paddock and I also noticed a duckie with a brandnew family behind her. Butterflies should be “sleeping” but they still hang around in my garden. Some of my plants think it is spring instead of autumn  and have popped up their “heads”.
Hope they all survive when the weather changes. It was between 15 and 20 dgr. here over the last couple of days.

For your information, new forms and updated information about  how to submit candidates for the next prize for  the Prince Alvaro de Borbon Orleans Fund  will be provided later this year . Got that news from the brand-new secretary -general from the FAI , Jean-Marc Badan…. who “after almost 30 years activities in air sports and commercial aviation'” finds it ” a honour to take up this position” . I have great admiration for people who spend SO much time and dedication to such jobs.Good luck Jean-Marc! 
You can read it all on the- still- under -construction- site of the FAI. www.fai.org

Africa is slowly starting up the operations. Flights have been already on the OLC from Gariep Dam, Bitterwasser, Bloemfontein , Pokweni, Kiripotib and Worchester.
Australia started earlier as well with some good flights from Kingaroy, Jondaryan, Tocumwal, Benalla, Temora, George Lees Airfield, Lake Keepit [where G Dale from the UK gave as I heard an amazing  coaching week , ]  Raywood , Beverley , Gawler,  Narromine and  from Waikiri and  I hope soon also from the new airfield in Coober Pedy [will tell you more about that when it is so far!! A Stemme left there this week for a 637 km. long flight to Forrest in Western Australia , that is a lot of flying over NOTHING!!!] and of course the biggest center in Australia for overseas guests Corowa , where the gliders arrive today or tomorrow. If all goes well , unpacking from the containers and the check by the quarantine people, will start on Tuesday.
“Let the show begin” is he device from Francesco , Grietje and their staff, so look for all the news at ; www.australian-soaring-corowa.com 

On November 3  the BIG ones, ASH25EB 28 flew already over 750 km. from Pokweni and Kiripotib, yes it has really started now!
And what a great wave flight from Tomas Suchanek  in the ventus 2  on that same day here in Europe; 890 km.from the airport of Krnov in the Czech Rep.
Yesterday more good flights in Australia even 603 km in a PIK 20 by Geoff Pratt  flown from Mareeba, a little town on the Atherton Tableland  in far North Queensland.
Another good ridge flight in Europe from Unterwössen;705 km. in a DG 1000/20m.

  And talking about good flights……what about young Bert Schmelzer [Belgium] ….who flew on Friday 720 km. in the Discus 2A, from Hausen am Albis in Switzerland. Bert lives and works in Zürich. Very kind of him to allow me the use of all pictures I need .
For a great line-up of pictures from this flight look at; https://picasaweb.google.com/101367179377196465151/04112011700KmFohnflug

A bit further however,  in the North West of Italy  the weather is terrible. Heavy thunderstorms and rain have caused soo much trouble / floodings in Genua, that more people got killed again, even parents [4] waiting for their children[2]  to take them home from school.Happiness and sadness …. it can be so close.
Sadness due to the weather as well in the UK where the worst accident on the road[ M5] in history happened due to wet weather and heavy fog on Friday night. 7 People got killed, 51 injured from pretty bad to very bad!Straight after all cars[ trucks included] , collided a huge fire , some called it a “fire ball” started. Absolutely no hope for some!

News about Australian National comps by the competition director Tim Shirley.
—The period for early entries to the 31st Club and Sports Class Nationals ended on the 31st October.  The event will be held at Benalla from 2nd to 13th January 2012.
At the close of early entries we had 64 entries of which 62 have paid their entry fee.  These 62 now have confirmed places at the competition.  Since we can accept up to 70 entries, there are 8 places available, and these will be filled in order of received (and paid) entries.  The entry fee from now on is $360.  I’d like to thank all the entrants for their support.

If the numbers remain like this it will be the largest Club/Sports class Nationals ever held, and one of the
largest fields at any Nationals. There are currently 34 confirmed entries in club class, 22 in Sports Class and 6 in 20m 2 seater.  We will not be able to run a championship class in 20m class unless we have 8 entries, so to encourage entries we will extend the early entry fee of $300 until the end of November for this class only.  Hopefully at least another two entries will appear.  If we don’t get the necessary 8 entries, the 20m class will be combined with Sports Class but we will also score them separately and there will be prizes – but unfortunately no Australian Championship.

The competition website, and online entry form, can be found at   www.deltaone.id.au/Benalla2012

 So go, go friends find 2 more 2 seater gliders with pilots and you have a National Championship in that class as well. I heard from Swaantje Geyer [ member of the German National Female team]she is participating as well.

A shocking accident in Holland this week !!! A young mum parked her car on the quay of a big canal in Utrecht. She stepped out to take out her 2 little boys sitting in the back in their maxi-cosies, when the car started to roll. She tried to stop it hanging on a door , cried out to get more help, but all failed, the car rolled in the water with the 2 little ones [2 and 3]. Mum and several other people jumped in the canal, but in vain. The 2 died! As a grand ma I find this TOO sad for words. When you then hear, who the grand parents of these children are and you find out you know them from the past as they were part of our aviation world, it feels like being in “HELL”. Could not sleep.

And….. EXCUSES for writing Qantas wrong ,should have known better. SORRY!!! Corrected it all. One of my friends wrote me that it is ” pretty stupid”,  which it is of course.
Qantas stands for Qeensland and Northern Territory Airlines, just to let you know!

Busy times ahead, [ guests; my Australian guest left on Friday my new guest from Munich arrives on Wednesday, birthdays, Sinterklaas, Christmas, New Year]  so blogs might be shorter or without pictures but keep reading, there is always something interesting….I hope. Of course on November 26 I will attend the NZD and I get a lift from some soaring mates, I travelled with last year. Just got the confirmation by one of them, from…. I guess an iPad, …..from his car ,….  on his way back home from Slovenia with an ASH 25 behind the car. Not everybody is home on a nice Saturday afternoon , not necessary either, as the social media take care that we keep in contact where ever we are. I still find that fascinating. I am on skype now as well !!!
Cheers Ritz

 

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday November 2 2011   

 
picture; courtesy Kai Monkkonen.

 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com    www.glidinginternational.com    www.soaringcafe.com

October finished on “a high”  here, with at some places  20 dgr. Terraces in Amsterdam were full , the skies blue and the sun fantastic and without “a bite”.  Even day 1 from November was partly sunny and very pleasant. I walked through the big Beatrix park in Amsterdam yesterday and “loved” the colours of the leaves of the trees.  Nearly as beautiful as the “famous for its autumn -colours ” town of Bright in Victoria [Australia]
Dieter , for friends Tocumwal Dundee, left Germany for Australia after troubles and stress with his visa [all ok on the very last minute!!] and with the tought “would Qantas  fly again on November 2 ? ” [all ok as well on the last minute]. On Monday November 7 he will settle in , in his “house”  at Tocumwal Airport.

Talking about Qantas. What a situation!!
BUT…. they started flying again on Monday and from yesterday onwards flights were on schedule again. Not that the problems are solved, but Fair Work Australia ordered a termination of the industrial action and  to talk to “get together and solve the problems within 3 weeks.”

The big carriers in Holland are KLM [bleu] Transavia [green] and Martin Air [red].On Monday the last Martin Air passenger-flight arrived with honors at Schiphol. Martin Air stops flying with passengers and continues “in red ” with freight only.
We also had a smaller company here; Amsterdam Airlines. I wrote about it a while ago. Till yesterday. Just read in the paper that they have finished all their actions , “the operational license has been stopped immediately “and  all employees were sent home . 2 of the 3 leased Airbuses are on a chain, because of problems with payments. Sad very sad as people I know are the victims.

In Taupo in New Zealand  a competition has started with 10 participants in one class; the Central Plateau 2011. They started with a 2 hour AAT and one pilot finished. All other pilots landed back home some coming back with 120 km.  I do not know any of the pilots but having been in NZ last year, I know the places where they come from as Hastings, Rotorua and Auckland and of course I visited Taupo. No …unfortunately not the airfield but the fantastic LAKE.

  

On the main road A1 passing Auckland and visiting Hastings.

In South Africa Sven Olivier  flew a nice 750 – a bit on October 29, from Worchester, claiming it was a “fantastic day”. Speed ;107 km/h in an ASW 27.
9 Containers have arrived in Bitterwasser, so enough guests to make long flights this season  and enough joy for us to follow the OLC, this is , when the weather co-operates. The start has not been  bad with a 1000 km and a 750 so early in the season in SA. The first flight from Gariep Dam is a fact as well.

 
 Sven Olivier , well known competition pilot.

The 20thiest FAI World Precision Flying Championship was also held in South Africa from October 23-29 . It was organised by the South African Power Flying Association and the Brits Flying Club.
2 Polish pilots , Michal Wieczorek and Boleslaw Radoski, were the best in Brits and for that reason Poland won the team cup as well,  before the Czech and French team.
56 Competitors representing 15 countries tried to be the best in navigation and landings in Cessna 150/152/172.

When you are not interested in Formula 1 you can skip this last part, but…..As you know one of my favourite sports is Formula 1 and I am a big fan from Vettel, no news either. I was impressed with the new circuit in India , shocked to see the difference in poor and rich over there [ I have never been in India]and pleased,  the pretty rich drivers,  donated money to some of the poorest. A drop on a heat plate I know, but  they were not forced to do so and did it!
It was the 16th pole position for Red Bull and the 13th pole for Vettel. And being already WORLD CHAMPION,  he is still eager/hungry to win, so races are still interesting to watch.
“Red Bull gives you wings”, is what’s written on the back of Seb’s outfit. He won again; the very first win during the very first , “inaugural ” GP from India in New Delhi. SUPER.
It has put India on the [racing-] map as everybody loved the circuit and with a cricket-god waving the checked flag , it was a happy day for nearly all Indian people.
Credit to the 3 winners , dedicating the first GP to their by recent crashes killed “mates” Dan [Indy car races] and Marco [ MotoGP] . All 3 were pretty emotional/ very human.

Off to the southern part of Holland [Den Bosch] for a high-tea-birthday-party from one of my highschool friends.

Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday October 30 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

 
Clouds over Holland last summer.
Pictures; Courtesy Bert Kuijper

One day to go and November starts .We just moved to wintertime this night . Time difference with Australia is 10 hours now. My brain knew I could sleep in , my body went on “automatic” so I was awake at 7 AM.
This year passed TOO quickly!!! Getting older it seems time flies faster.
But I was cheared up by a friend; Age is not how old your body is, it is how young your mind is!
I needed that.

War in Australian Aviation!! “If you want war you can have it! “[CEO. ] An unbelievable story!!
“In an asthonishing dummy spit, Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce,has grounded the Qantas domestic and international fleet , until such time as the pilots , licensed engineers  and the ground handlers,  withdraw their lawful industrial claims  and campaings”  [ source planetalking]
THAT IS something  and all planes are grounded since yesterday  !!!!! Alan Joyce is Irish and in fact, what I hear from insiders,  nobody knows why just he is the CEO. Since a few months minor hick-ups  troubled passengers . The CEO and his “employees” did not agree on several items, as wages, changes and the organisation/direction; result minor delays and irritations . They even go that far that they are going to lock out from tomorrow onwards,  ALL union-staff  which participates in the strike, till they withdraw “their extreme claim and reach an agreement”. Unreal!!!! Interesting to see what happens now as at least over 70.000 passengers will have a problem. Read it all on the by my Aussie  friends send links;

 http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/
 http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/aap/8367130/qantas-grounds-fleet-locks-out-employees

Also the Dutch news site www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl  has news about this unusual action which will cost Quantas I guess more then it can earn again.
I heard that the UNION has asked for the dismissal of the CEO, who thinks there is no other way to stop the 3 unions from pilots, engineers and ground/transport-workers, then this way. Qantas offers full refund for already bought tickets, other Airliners try to help by taking passengers on their flights. What a mess!!!

And….from friends from  Perth I received yesterday the next message with a personel view on the news:
—Big news here today. I haven’t been emailing you any news about Qantas industrial action as it has been a constant niggle in the media over the past few months, but today Qantas CEO had what we like to call a “dummy-spit” and grounded the entire fleet. After months of threatened and actual industrial action with pilots, engineers and flight crew, and a nasty reaction to his 71% pay-rise at a share holders’ meeting this week(+A$1.2 million to round out around A$5 million) , Joyce has had enough. The fleet (108 planes) is grounded and there are urgent hearings with Fair Work Australia to try and reach some resolution. The the link below gives a summary.
 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-29/qantas-locking-out-staff/3608250?WT.svl=news0
 
The interesting twist in Perth is that CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) finished here today. The Queen managed to fly out, but up to 53 other heads of state are left with no way home (yet, anyway).—-
ouch!! Will keep you updated!And ofcourse that is the UK queen and this meeting is once in 2 years.
Latest; all planes are still grounded. NOT good! Lots of money through the drain and lots of passengers worldwide lost faith in the Australian National carrier.

I noticed the FAI is creating a more modern site for all of us, which is good. Some parts are still under construction. Checking the date for Uvalde , which I easily found now under competitions, I saw the recent  world ranking list , which is updated on October 6 2011 and here it is when you have not yet seen it;
Michael Sommer [Germany]  is still on spot 1 with Sebastian Kawa [Poland] on 2 and Zbigniew Nieradka [Poland] on 3.
On the world ranking list for juniors we see Filipe Levin [Germany]  on spot 1 , Tim Kuijpers [The Netherlands] on 2 and Tobias Welsch [Germany ] on 3.
The female list is topped by 2 German ladies ,Sue Kussbach and Susanne Schoedel and on spot 3 we find Alena Nitusilova.
www.fai.org/gliding

I also found something I did NOT know; There is a Prince Alvaro de Orleans Borbon Fund!!!  Did you know?  I did not ! On the FAI site you find the next text under awards;

—The Trustees of the Prince Alvaro de Orleans- Borbon Fund for Technical Advances in the field of Sporting Aviation (including Simulated Flying) invite nominations from any source for high-calibre candidates who may be suitable recipients of prizes from the Fund.—- 
You can download the regulations from their site and you can also nominate suitable candidates by downloading the application form from the FAI-site. 

 
Alvaro de Orleans -Borbon jr. in Rieti[picture from my archive]

For a moment I thought it was Alvaro’s own name, connected to this prize, so to be sure I checked with him and he replied in return[ thanks for that Alvaro] and …..it is not, as you can read in his answer:
— the Fund bears the name of my father; my family established the fund to honour his memory. The Fund’s main objective is to promote and recognize technological innovation in sports flying.
My father, an industrial engineer graduated at the ETH in Zürich, was instrumental, among other things, to bring to Europe the American solid rocket fuel technology in the 1950s, to a company that still today is the sole manufacturer of all the boosters of the Ariane European space launcher.
FAI most kindly has accepted to host and manage the Prize Fund. FAI also kindly informs me about the details of the Fund’s activities.—-

 While the European Leaders were trying to safe [financial]  Europe,  and after the heavy weather in Portugal and Ireland it was now  Italy,which was hit. 9 People were killed due to the violence of flooding rivers due to heavy rain. Great old towns in the Toscane have been washed and that way history is damaged or even worse, lost. Highways were closed even the one from Genua to Roma and train-traffic around Pisa was stopped.
One of the people from the World Nature Fund claims that through illegal-building the natural protection is lost and that houses have been built in risk- areas. [source; AD] Quite a lot of tourists had to be saved!
Today we heard that the NE of the USA has been hit by very early and very heavy snow! NY has 10 cm. and several states [ about 1.5 million people!] are without electricity. Also….poor haloween-celebrators!

The first commercial flight from the DREAMLINER is a fact now !  All Nippon Air flew after 3 years of extra waiting from Tokyo to Hong Kong. In the plane just a few people who paid a LOT of money to be part of this historic flight.

We here in Holland enjoy some nice sunny autumn weather  with temperatures up to 20 dgr. C., however this will chance next week; it will be colder/cooler.
The OLC Champion at this very early stage [ the new season started as you know on October 11] is….former world champion  George Lee. Runner up is the competition director from the Uvalde WGC 2012, Ken Sorenson. Good on him. Relaxing first then the “hard work”.
Stephan Soell is on spot 3 while son Aljoscha , who just flew his first solo flight last week is on spot 8!!!! What do you want more? For some maybe …….time, money and a glider???

A German family , dad,mum and 2 children flew from Germany to France in their Piper Cheyenne. It went wrong at Toulouse airport where the plane crashed during the landing. Dad and one child got killed mum and the other one badly injured! VERY sad!

Got the latest news- letter from the Perlan Project and as people might not exactly know what they are doing I copied and pasted their questions and answers to give you a good  idea!! Sorry the letters are a bit small!More news you find at their site; www.perlanproject.org  And … I saw on the site of the NZD that one of the people from Perlan , Glenn Fisher, will be at “our ” Dutch Soaring Day [NZD] ! Will try to talk with him as well.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Alphen aan den Rijn      Wednesday October 26 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

 picture from archive.[Bruce Cooper]

Back to the basic’s of this blog SOARING.  Rugby , was world-wide on TV ! 250 ooo people celebrated in Auckland the glorious win of the rugby players. “The excitement was a knife-edge-affair ” as my Kiwi friends called it, ….but is over now! 
Though in the future more sport, as speed skating will start and I am a big fan of that sport. So you might find soon a few sentences about that as well, when I am over-excited!! Sven Kramer is back!!!!

In Germany the team-members  for 2012 were mentioned for each class.  We all know they have always very strong teams. It is interesting to see that in some  classes ; the oldies are still going strong”. I mean with old not so much in age as in “being in the team for years and years and years”. Some with a break in between. Names; Holger Back,[ sportsoldier in 1987 in Benalla and flew first 1000 km. in Tocumwal]  Reinhard Schramme [ he was in 1991 in Uvalde] and Holger Karow. Of course Michael Sommer is part of this team as well in open class.
Also some of the juniors will participate in the BIG comps, as Patrick Puskeiler and double junior world champion Filipe Levin.
In each class 4 pilots only in open they have 5 due to the fact that Michael is World Champion and for that reason EXTRA.
Also interesting that their long- time -team- coach for all comps when possible, Uli Gmelin,  has qualified  for a team-spot in the 2 seater class.

 

Holger ‘s ;Back and Karow in 2006 and again in 2012.
As well as Michael Sommer and Reinhard Schramme.
All of them TOPPERS!!!!
pictures from my present-cd from Eskilstuna.

 

Not long and the international gliders will arrive in harbours in Africa and Australia.  Hopefully great summers will make the pilots happy,  as it is quite an effort to get gliders there and to travel to these great overseas destinations. Some stay for the whole period, travelling up to unpack and pack the container theirselves and in between for some,  there is time for some looking- around!But soaring is the main goal!
The OLC will be more busy again and with comps in those parts of the world, the site soaringspot as well.
Talking about the OLC. Mr. OLC himself, Reiner Rose,  was honored last week in Belgrad with the FAI Lilienthal Medal, during the FAI General Conference over there. So well-deserved!!!!I hope to talk to him during the Dutch Soaring Day on November 26 where he is one of the guests.

Leonardo Brigliadori, who does n’t know his name.  WGC winner in Rieti, competition director from the JWGC at Rieti in 2007 and from the WGC for unflapped gliders in 2008. Together with his son Ricky writer of the book “Competing in gliding”.
And …….since October 2008 the president of the Italian Gliding Federation [FIVV] . On October 23 2012 he resigned !
I have been a few times in Rieti , loved each of those years , but found out / noticed , certainly at top events , that there were a lot of people involved in setting the strategy. I stayed and will stay out of the Italian soaring-politics, but strongly believe things will be OK for the future!

 Leo to the right with Rainer top coach from Germany

A little while ago I spoke about Helmut Reichmann and also about the best sellers he has written. I noticed a more recent best seller from Bernard Eckey “Advanced Soaring Made Easy”,  has been translated in German now. The English version can be easily bought on line at several book providers. [about 58,91 US dollar]  
Bernard was our guest in the past at Sportavia. He has been born in Germany but is a through Aussie now and lives in the West of Australia. His book has a new 2d edition!
Talking about the West of Australia a killer-shark has killed 6 divers/swimmers in recent times. Last one is a USA diver only 32 years old. Witnesses claim they saw a white shark. Those sharks can get up to 6 m. long! Since 2000 it is allowed to kill them even when they are rare. Lot’s of tunafish thrown in the ocean has not yet helped to catch the fish. In the past it was fact that only one person a year died by a shark-attack.

Not only Dutch passengers   but from more parts of Europe,  got the fright of their lives on Monday, while waiting for a flight from Faro  in Portugal to their destination. At 5 AM,  part of the roof disappeared in heavy weather. A whirlwind lifted the roof of the Terminal and heavy rain did the rest, to shock them. Air traffic controllers stopped all incoming and out going flights till the weather improved! Specially Transavia [ Dutch passengers] and Ryan Air [ passengers from the UK] had several flights at that time. Transavia changed direction to land at Sevilla and Malaga. The terminal was one mess!!!
10 People had [minor] injuries.
Ireland had a “cloud- burst” on Tuesday and Dublin  looked like a swimming pool. In a few hours so much rain fell, as normally falls in a month. Sadly one helping police agent was hauled by the water.

That’s it you are up to date again. By the way I am going to share my blog in soaring cafe once a week. TOO much Ritz is NOT good!!!!! So there will be a weekly entry and a more detailed topic.
Cheers Ritz

Alphen aan den Rijn    Sunday  October 23 2011    ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Sorry a bit late , but I had guests! And first things first….
                                                    Congratulations, NZ friends!

With the GRAND FINAL of rugby in New Zealand my Kiwi friends told me it really LIVES in NZ. One of them wrote  2 weeks ago ;
—-You can’t believe how united our little country is over the Rugby World Cup.
I have never seen anything like it.  
House after house, car after car, all carrying the New Zealand All Black flag.  We have one up.
I am glad that the first initial sort out of teams is over.   The real sudden death play off  starts next week end.   Loose and you are out!—-

What will happen now!!!!!! The All Blacks  played the finals against France and WON!!! It was tight, I guess some people nearly got a heart- attack in the end and not only on the NZ site, on the French site as well.
I also guess ALL of NZ is drunk tonight not only from drinking but from happiness and celebrating!And….so they should!
And  Mandy from Glide Omara confirmed that 31 year old Richie, the skipper of the Kiwi team , indeed  still is a keen glider pilot and “will probably be flying again soon after the contest is over.” Good on him!!!!!Keep an eye on him he might show up on the OLC.;
Richie Mc Caw, skipper of the world title holder rugby!!!!!

A great flight last Tuesday in a Glasflügel 304cz/17.4m from Talihina . I had to google where to find it but it is a tiny little town with area of 0.8 square miles[ 2.2 square km.] in Oklahoma,  in the USA; 750 km yo-yo under nice circumstances [ speed 113 km./h] and when you have not read the comment from the pilot, I copied part of it for you;
— “It was a very relaxing flight. This might be the first 750K flight in Oklahoma. There was no need to thermal today, but had an opportunity for fly with a pair of Bald Eagles. What a treat!—

Kilometer -eater Stephan Soell  flew his LS 4 over 395 km. from Tocumwal ,  direction West past Moulamein and back. And in South  Africa Dick Bradley from Soaring Safaris in Bloemfontein is already occupied with a competition. Later more! [ www. soaring-safaris.com ]
One of the soaring-ladies I got to know in my Sportavia period is Sigrid Seel. She loved her soaring in an LS 4, swimming in the Murray River and the good food and nice friends at Sportavia.
She lives in Shanghai and runs a very special travel agency , called the Last Frontiers. This week I got the October News about a trip to the New Years Festival in Guizhou and even more special , the Guzang Festival of Miao, which is only once in 13 years . When you are interested in something special and different and like to visit remote areas,  she makes it possible for you. [ www.TheLastFrontiers.com ]

I nearly fell from my chair this morning, when I noticed that young 15 year old Aljoscha  Soell , flew his 300 km. today. A natural talent he must be. Just solo in an IS 28 and now a 300 in an LS 4. Wow! I guess dad is more then proud!!!! So he should! But I presume dad Stephan, retired airline captain for Lufthansa,  “lost ” his glider now as well to his son! Luckily Eddie and Cheryl from Sportaviation have IIE as well .
Maybe a new kilometer-eater has been born in the family. Congratulations!What a wonderful autumn holiday! On October 20 already , father and son topped the OLC list with each an LS 4 to fly in and 333 km. on the “clock”!

Wave and ridge soaring  made pilots happy at Worchester in South Africa 555 km. in a Tauris. More nice flights as well in Australia from George Lees Airfield where George himself flew his Nimbus 4 around over 526 and 625 km. and 619 today. The weather is not bad in Australia. Really hope they are going to have a better season then last year!

So a lot to do after the guests have left ,  see you on Wednesday.Cheers Ritz