Alphen aan den Rijn Thursday 19-02-2009 Carnaval!
It is more or less cucumber time ,as the overseas glider pilots are nearly all back home, waiting for their gliders to arrive in a few weeks but they can still enjoy the great weather they had and the fantastic flights. It takes some time to have filled in club friends and other friends and family with the stories!
Those, without taking their gliders, try to “dig them up” to prepare them for the new season. So not a lot of news on the gliding front, though Jo was so kind to send us the report on the Horsham Week. Thanks Jo!
When I received my paper this week, huge black letters on the front page told me that
” the crisis in Holland is so BIG, that the gouvernement cannot solve the problems alone , we ALL have to help”!!!!
The Dutch economy is going “down ” 3.5 % is the expectation and this is AS bad as in 1931. So….everybody will be touched by it, not only Holland but , as you might have felt already too, the whole wide world!
My neighbour came to borrow my car. He was fired by the ING bank together with 2700 other people, so his lease-car was gone. I told him that I had RESIGNED and he nearly fell of his chair.
Yes I did! And it feels very good!!!! Just a few months earlier then planned, I started my well deserved retirement, so…more time to write and visit comps. Love it!
Another article which is of interest for all our glider pilots is;
” Spray shows in early stage skin cancer”.
According to this story, airline pilots have a 10 times bigger chance to get malicious skin cancer specially those pilots who fly transatlantic. It seems they have 15 % more chance to get it , when pilots passing 5 or more time-zones even have a chance of 25 %.
Not good all this UV!!!!!!
This new method is from Dr. Neumann from the Erasmus Medical Center and his research is published in “Lasers in surgery and Medicine”. [published on February 17 2009] What happens!?
1. This fluorescent detection-spray is sprayed over the skin.
2. The patient then goes in a cabin with soft light for 2 hours, to let the spray soak in.
3. A digital camera makes pictures with different colours of light.
4. A computer translates this in a picture and beginning skin cancers are visible.
The article finishes with ;
” Due to further investigation it was found out that helicopter pilots wearing NO helmet get it more then average, AS WELL AS HOBBY PILOTS WHO GO GLIDING!!! “
The author for the paper [ www.ad.nl] Marc Kruyswijk happens , as I found out, to be the husband of my daughters friend Febe. I found it very interesting.
So be careful!!! In the past I saw “our” Japanese guests wear white soft gloves, white long sleeved pullovers , scarfs to protect their neck , of cours hats and some were even wearing face-masks. I found it then a bit “weird”, but it seems they were earlier smart then I and knew already more!!!
Though my friend Jo was not in Horsham, she still has send us the report from the Horsham Week, this time written by the competition director Geoff Vincent. Thanks !!!!
Jo’s husband Tony was flying and ended as number 1 in his class. Both are off to the USA [have fun!]visiting Colorado and….a glider friend. Is n’t it great that we, in this world of gliding ,make and have friends everywhere in the world. It starts already with the juniors ,as I found out my self, who make sometimes life-long-friendships at their first international comps.
Enjoy the Horsham Week!
Horsham Week 2009
by contest director, Geoff Vincent
Approx 44 pilots and 35 gliders participated, including several 2-seaters, pilot pairs and 3 self-launchers, 8 interstate pilots (4 SA, 2 NSW, 1 Qld and 1 WA). Pilots were from Grampians, Geelong, Beaufort, VMFG, Corangamite, Temora, Southern Cross, Mt Beauty, Darling Downs, Waikerie, Gliding Club of WA, Adelaide, Bendigo and Gliding Club of Victoria. Bacchus Marsh clubs provided half of the competitors with over half of those from Beaufort.
Eventually, there were 4 tugs in use after initial setbacks with the non-availability of the Geelong Gliding Club Pawnee and engine problems with the Horsham Flying Club Jabiru. Typical aerotow launch time was 57 mins for 32 gliders and 75 mins from first launch to last gate opening. Towing heavy two-seaters (eg Twin Astir) behind the Jabiru was like watching a cruise liner behind a harbour tug – very sedate, epitomised by P2s succinct observation: “that end fence has got rust on it”.
HFC made a Jabiru available for temp trace flights. Max Hedt’s comment on day 5 after the east wind had brought a bit of smoke over – “it was IFR above 4,000 feet, I think you should call the day off” – but it eventually turned out to be the best day of the week.
East-west runway 08/26 was used on only one day which involved sharing with the RFDS Super King Air. Some 20 gliders moved off the bitumen strip onto the grass in 5 minutes to allow the King Air to proceed to and from the terminal.
Black Saturday 7/02/2009 – Extreme weather conditions with 25 kt winds gusting 50 kts and temperature peaking at 46 degrees C. Grass fires around Horsham resulted in the loss of some 10-12 houses, the golf club and about 40,000 trees. No fatalities or serious injuries reported. All ideas about flying were abandoned.
8/02/2009 – Horsham airfield closed to glider operations due to intense water-bombing and fire-spotting aircraft traffic on the active runway. An enforced non-flying day.
Contest day 1 – 9/02/2009 – A generally blue day with a moderate south-west wind. A separate racing task was set for each class with the task areas north-east and north of Horsham. 30 gliders launched by 3 tugs in under 75 minutes. Most people had a good day with everyone getting home.
10/02/2009 – A cool and partly cloudy day prior to gridding, with good cumulus streets and a 15-20 kt southerly wind. However, by launch time the sky was over-developed and the temperature was falling. Six 15m class gliders were launched but 3 fell down immediately, with the remaining 3 able to achieve a slow climb to 5000 ft cloudbase. Deteriorating conditions forced cancellation of the day, although several gliders later managed good XC flights in the proposed task area north of Horsham. Them’s the breaks!
Contest day 2 – 11/02/2009 – Cool, cloudy and windy early in the day but cleared to a fine but windy afternoon. The task setters opted for a moderate distance AAT with 20 km circles at the two turn-points. It was a challenging day, especially the into-wind final leg, but everyone got home.
Contest day 3 – 12/02/2009 – Persistent strong south to south-east winds kept temperatures down but provided some good streeting opportunities. Open, 15m and Standard flew a racing task (range 263-313 km) with Sports battling out a 3 hour AAT. Only one outlanding, 10km from home – Philip Volk (VMFG) flying a Discus CS. Philip got a lift back to Horsham airfield to organise his retrieve crew and that was the only outlanding for the week.
Contest day 4 – 13/02/2009 – Soaring conditions improving, with moderating south-east to easterly winds, bringing warmer temperatures but poorer visibility due to bushfire smoke from eastern areas. Sports class flew a 3.5 hr AAT, with most of the field returning early. Open, 15m and Standard flew racing tasks ranging between 280 and 370 km.
Contest day 5 – 14/02/2009 – The initially selected tasks to the south were abandoned before briefing due to heavy smoke in the Grampians area and replaced with a 150 km lap Run Task taking in Minyip, Warracknabeal and Antwerp to the north. It was a late start and all classes flew a 2 hr time frame with the exception of Open class with 2.5 hrs – bringing everyone home in plenty of time for getting in flight data and de-rigging before the evening’s festivities began. The soaring conditions were spectacular with many pilots reporting 11-12 kt climbs to 8-9,000 feet. It was hard to beat Jack Hart’s 14 kt climb which he left when it weakened to only10 kts – we should all be so lucky.
Horsham Week recognises many and varied achievements. The ‘Daily Devil’ award, made to committers of silly or noteworthy acts (offender had to wear a silver horned cap during briefing) this year went to:
* David Cleland – opening the canopy before stopping
* Geoff Vincent – use of inappropriate language on CTAF radio frequency
* Gary Stevenson – assault by motor vehicle on airport property
* Simon Brown – bunk-house break-in after locking himself out
* Craig Vinall – reverse landing on active runway
* Alex Kreti – wheel-up landing + the GCV ‘Turkey Trophy’.
One recalcitrant whined that the registration desk was run by the gestapo – Trevor Hancock retorted “I take that as a compliment”.
It was a good week that ended well with a lot of happy faces and promises to be there in 2010. With thanks to many who helped out including Horsham Flying Club – premises, infrastructure and willing members; Horsham Council – airfield, coordination with CASA (NOTAMS etc); organising committee – treasurer Trevor Hancock, safety officer John Anselmi, tugmaster Phil McCann, scorer Brian Wood (and for provision of the PA system), met David Wilson and Max Hedt for airfield liaison and temp trace flights. There was the usual essential support from Horsham catering crew headed by Lorelle Esmore, tug pilots, task setting team, grid teams and launch crews. Internode provided wireless broadband service which was of great assistance.
Winners were:
Open: Tony Tabart – Corangamite SC, Vic – Ventus 2cM
15m: Andy Smith – Mt Beauty GC, Vic – Ventus B
Standard: Craig Collings – Mt Beauty GC, Vic – ASW19
Sports: Jarek Mosiejewski – Geelong GC, Vic – Puchacz
The Achievement Award went to Craig Collings in recognition of his outstanding competition performance, even more noteworthy considering that he had less than 20 gliding hours in his logbook in November 2008.
For full results go to http://www.printerschoice.com.au/Horsham2009
I am off to “celebrate” Carnaval in the southern part of Holland , where Carnaval is really “HOT” so enjoy your weekend and week.CU later
Cheers Ritz