Alphen aan den Rijn Sunday March 22 2009
It seems soaring is not yet over Down Under, as pilots still manage to fly great long distance flights in autumn. “Good old ” Terry Bellair,made a wonderfull 4 TP flight , looking more like a big triangle, from 624 km. over places as Deniliquin, {in NSW} a lovely town N.W from Tocumwal, Swann Hill {NSW}a bit more “empty” with scrub and more to the W. and to S. from Raywood {VICT}his home-airfield. I have written more about Terry, a lovely guy who loves his long distance flying in his DG 400/ 17m..This year he flew from Raywood [close to Bendigo] ,Narromine and he was one of the lucky ones flying in that very good weather period in January in Corowa. I think this was his first time in Corowa, so for sure he has good memories on that time. Terry just missed out on 1000 km then.
George Lee made , on the other site of Australia, a good triangle from his own, after him called airfield;614 in a nimbus 4DM.
One of the ladies flying at Sportaviation in Tocumwal , Sigrid from ShangHai ,is loving her time flying ultra light [FOX] and LS4 for a week. I remember she loves swimming in the Murray River as well and not to forget swimming at Ulupna Island in the same river, where the koala’s check on you. A real OZ holiday! She was a frequent flyer at Sportavia in the past, great to see her back in Toc!!
From friends not involved in gliding , I heard that the temperature in Toc is still 33 dgr and it looks good for the upcoming week too.
Still no good news from the EAC. The gliding club from Eindhoven [Holland] for 77 years , has triggered all kind of people to write in the local paper, to support gliding, but till now it has had no result. We can only wait!
Well known European editor and book writer Ary Ceelen , he must be in his eighties now, even mingled in this writing, asking when the field really has to be closed , where the alternative is to start flying NOW, as the season starts. Other writers support gliding, a sport they do not do ,but look at as a safe and “green ” sport.
Ingo Renner and his wife Judy are on a well deserved holiday in Tasmanie! They never had time to do something different then visiting an airfield wherever in the world. This is their first holiday NOT at an airfield and I wish them a lovely time!!!
Ingo normally visited before he retired a couple of years ago , Oerlinghausen in Germany, Sondrio in Italy and La Motte in France, but this was not a holiday but work for him as instructor for Oerlinghausen. Maybe a working -holiday!?
In between the job as secretary for the Murray Border Flying Club goes on for Judy , as I just received a tax invoice to renew my membership for 2010.
This world unfortunately has more and more weirdo’s. What about the “lady” from Samoa, who got a baby in the toilet of a plane while flying to Auckland. One hour after the landing in New Zealand , the baby was found by the cleaners in the rubbish bin from the toilet !!!!Tragic in ALL ways!!!!!
Spring is really” visiting” Holland and parts of Europe. The blue skies invite to sit outside and just enjoy the nice weather, but temperatures are still low as in 10 dgr. , but out of the wind in the sun it feels like summer.I even felt thermal activity while sitting in my garden this afternoon. They might fly here in Holland on this Thursday. And yes they did!!!!
It is good to hear and read that wherever they fly , pilots are very pleased with their first flight of the season.
Hope this is an indication for the rest of 2009/2010!!!
The astronomical,{ is this the correct word?} spring has started yesterday on March 21 and we could feel here and see it all over Europe , as for the first time this year more then 200 flights have been added to the OLC list. To be correct, yesterday 462 flights all over the world. So soaring has really started and a lot of pilots do not even “use” the OLC , but still fly with pleasure, without bothering about reading loggers etc. It means it was busy in the air!
But….no flights from Eindhoven…….a bad sign!?
Emirates flight EK 407 on its way from Melbourne to Dubai with 225 passengers was less lucky hitting with the tail of the Airbus A 340 the tarmac of the runway. He started ” a bit ” to steep! After dumping the fuel , the plane landed safe, however with smoke in the cabin but nobody was hurt.[source ; www.telegraaf.nl]
Today is the last [ 5 in a row ] of the very nice sunny days here in Holland, tomorrow we will have hail and wind and rain and only “a bit of sunshine”. Spring is coming, but not yet totally here.
In 3 months I will be in Finland and I know the TEAM is working very hard to make the JWGC an unforgettable one!
In Mai the Dutch Nationals will be flown with many top pilots and this year I can go there!
See you on Wednesday
cheers Ritz