After Dutch pilot Ronald Termaat, had given and excellent safety briefing earlier,the news, when I started my research this morning hit me. I was called already from Australia too.
After some near misses earlier and a mid air in 18 m. class with both pilots landing straight safely,but some “patching up ” had to be done ,.. this is other and official news;
“Due to a midair collision while on task between two gliders in the 15 M Class, the day for 15 M has been cancelled. Both pilots are accounted for and OK. The pilots involved are Stehpen O’Donnell from Australia and Michale Eisele from Germany. The accident is being investigated and we will issue more information as soon as we are able to. ”
The OK seems to be more or less OK, as I heard that one has a broken leg the other a broken nose, BUT they are ALIVE!!!!
With the “bad” weather and these “incidents” it feels here for me in cold and snowie Holland, like some bad curse rests on this WGC. And Australia is such a great place to fly and Benalla such a welcoming warm town. But there is another week to go, so let’s hope this week makes us ALL forget what happened.
More official news on Friday the 13th!!
“This was the second no-fly day of this competition due to weather, when we might have expected there to be none except for official rest days at this competition.”
“We now have the potential for five straight task days to come, followed by a mandatory rest day and a possible two further racing days. After three difficult days, (and only two in 18m and 15m classes), a rest day seemed in order.”
So here we go, life continues, so do the comps and the weather was finally good ,[a new air-mass, not so much wind and some high cu’s ] for longer tasks !!
Day 4 on Saturday January 14;
15 m. ; 419 km.……due to the incident the day was cancelled for this class. A normal procedure and not the first time unfortunately. Luckily both pilots are OK, after they bailed out about 160 km. from Benalla.
German pilot Michael’s dad is the TC for Germany and this news must have been a shock for him. I remember how terribly sad Walter was after a mid air during the Bayreuth WGC , killing one pilot and we as TC’s had to convince him to continue to be the CD as he was a good one and wanted to give up!!! Never forget that!!
So only 2 days till now in this class but for sure MORE to come with the new cycle!!!
I totally agree with statements from pilots as Sebastian
” It is incredible that for so many years we are not able to change rules to avoid gaggles.”
and Aussie crew Robert;
“Another mid-air today, this time both pilots bailed out and survived. Facebook posts from pilots the last days keep mentioning people are flying like idiots. How the hell can it be possible that that kind of flying isn’t heavily penalised in a world gliding comp? Consensus seems to be that it’s all part of the game.
I don’t think risking your own and others lives is part of any sport, let alone gliding. Stuff that….”
Here is JWGC champion and pilot representing Australia in 15 m. class Mathew Scutter in a very REAL but of course emotional blog:
“(Everyone is ok)
Easily my worst ever day gliding. After a good start, I lost a very expensive bugwiper and one of my wings started leaking badly, but I still managed to keep it rolling and was having an excellent day at the top of the gaggle.
On the last leg a few gliders ahead took a couple of searching turns in something weak, and the gaggle went for the pullup as the last few were rolling out. I instinctively tightened my straps and identified my canopy release as I often do when things get uncomfortable and right in front of me a wing(?) went through a tailboom(?) and I watched the former spiral to the ground and disintegrate while the latter looped all the way to the ground. After what felt like hours I saw one parachute followed by another parachute, then lost track of both of them avoiding other gliders. I called my team captain and sent coordinates to the organizers, then tried to communicate with my teammates to get back together. After a short while of not hearing from my teammate Steve I realised what had happened – Steve was one of the gliders.
Other gliders were now calling both pilots were motionless on the ground, so I started to descend to land next to them, and informed my TC of my jntentions, only to be told the race was not going to be cancelled! I spent some time weighing up what to do before hearing both pilots were up and walking, so I proceeded on task. A short while later we heard the task was in fact going to be cancelled, so I flew my most miserable 130km to home, hearing near the end that Steve was all ok and on the way to hospital for observation.
There were a lot of people flying like maniacs today (hard push/pull flying), but Steve wasn’t one of them. (And the other bloke wasn’t either, that I saw) Hope you’re doing ok Steve!
For additional salt in the wound, we were flying exceptionally well today, likely contenders for the top.
I can’t wait for the start rules to change (to interval gates). I don’t think I’m flying another high level comp until they do.
I hope there will be FINALLY after all those years “we” fly with so many in top comps, GOOD rules too, as young pilots as Matthew should be able to continue their top flying in a safe environment!!!!!!!!!!!
18 m.; task 3,…a 4.30 AAT was set for this class and German pilot Matthias Sturm raced around over 505 km. in time 4.35!! 1000 points in the pocket !!!
Killian was runner up and Mike Young on a 3d spot. Arne was on spot 21.
22 Pilots flew over 100 km./h. Matthias with 110 km./h.
Overall scores after 3 days; 1. Killian [France] with 2895 points, 2. Sean Fidler USA with 2807 and 3. Matthias with 2791. The rest follows with not so much difference.
open class: 557.3 km……task 4
8 JS 1c in the top 10 and an outlanding from Tassilo and an off-day for Michael in the EB 29R maybe due to the hectic , this day, in the team.
So Russell Cheetham won the day with a speed of 116 km./h.
UK pilot Andy was runner up and Aussie pilot Andrew on spot 3.
Only short news from Bruce today:”Horrible blue Benalla day, and there was a mid-air collision. Both pilots are OK, thank heavens. I love this game with all my heart, but I hate it too.”
Bruce finished on spot 5 just behind our Dutch pilot Jeroen Verkuijl who had a good day!!
Good to see Gyorgy flew on day 3 [ he was not scored for a long time] and he was 8 today.
So after 4 days the UK pilots top the overall scores with Russell and Andy [ 2989 and 2986] and on 3 now Michael Sommer.[2778 and 2773 for Oscar Goudriaan on spot 4]
Carol the TC from South Africa shared the view from Ronald.
“A number of very experienced pilots were far from happy with the near-miss encounters, and at this morning’s briefing Ronald Termaat, one of the safety committee, gave a very good safety briefing with some excellent examples of where the near misses occurred and how close they had been pointing out the risk areas. He ran through some recommendations – entering the thermal from the outside and not from the middle, to fly the same circle as the others or find your own thermal, if leaving the gaggle then leave it, scan the complete field of vision both in flight and in thermals, ensure the Flarm antenna is in the best position and that the Flarm is not switched off, and as we learnt at the last Nationals – try waving to other pilots thus creating an awareness of knowing that the other pilots have been seen and vice versa. One interesting track he showed a glider having left the thermal and flying for approx. 6 km. with a glider closely following him – the pilot apparently never saw him and the pilot had to take avoiding action when the following glider pulled up too close to him.”
Something else now as there is also fun and I need that now.
I better look to one of these funny videos from the NZ team on FB, to cheer me up.They are loved by MANY .
“From dancing with a toy kiwi to getting a bucket of water tipped over him, David has managed to capture the fun of the 2017 World Gliding Championships, attracting thousands of views. ”
These 2 funny NZ guy’s are the weather man from team NZ, David Hearst and someone who never saw a glider before in his life; Craig Walsh a creative director,who works for a video production company in Auckland. He is there with his business partner Steve Wallace who participates in 15 m. class.
Here is what the WGC media team, shares about David, written by Andrea Johnston [Twitter: @AJairwaves ]
“Given that all I’m doing is blathering on in my usual immature style. Craig’s the one that puts it all together and produces a seamless and professional quality product at the end of it.”
“This week was the first time I ever saw a glider so it’s all very new to me, but the subject matter didn’t really matter, it was more about telling the story of what was happening with the New Zealand pilots,” Craig said.
shared and to be seen on the Gliding New Zealand FB page.
GO,GO,GO guy’s!!!!
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Some other news.
There was some confusion over the speed in the message from the FAI , when Tijl Schmelzer was “added” to the list of FAI records, from Friday, 06 January 2017 09:46.
I shared the news with you, as I was very proud on Tijl.
Here is the correction from the FAI.
“Two years ago, Tijl Schmelzer and his father Bert were the very first to pass the 200 km/h barrier using thermals rather than mountain waves.
Flying a Binder EB28 glider from Kiripotib, Namibia, they broke the African record for speed over a triangular course of 100 km by reaching 205.89 km/h on 6 January 2015.“
Tijl and Bert straight after finishing this fast flight.
Picture courtesy Bert sr.
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55th Nationals/Andes Cup in Chile and more South American news.
Task 7; 3.30 AAT,
AH,ouch,…no , not Carlos today he was “only” 4th [LOL], but Rene was the daily winner, so it stays a Vidal- show .Rene flew 433.78 km. in time 3.36. From 18 pilots 13 finished.
The difference in overall scores, between the 2,with Carlos on top, changed a tiny little bit; from 559 after task 6 to 412 after today’s task.
Jeppe still enjoys Argentina :”Enjoying the day after.
Spent the morning on the Playa Serena which is 10km to the west of town. Nice food as well in the Bahia Serena restaurant. Then to the airfield for preparing the Nimbus of Jean-Marie which will fly on monday towards Chile. Bringing the oxygen bottles to the plane was interesting… Spoke to a local flying hero that built the so called ‘Lenticular’ sailplane in 1972’ish. Only 14 were built. Last flight in 1991. This one is hanging on the wall in the hangar, ready for a big ‘asado’ fire. Just as the clubs Blanik and Jantar. Unfortunately a lot of old days glory here. The future is unclear. Sad to see actually with these extreme good weather conditions around...”
courtesy Jeppe.
By the way from Santa Rosa in Argentina 29 pilots fly the Club class Nationals. See for results www.soaringspot.com
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More later or tomorrow as I am a bit off now. but day 4 and 5 from 1987 are waiting too.
Glad Michael and Steve are not badly injured.
Cheers Ritz here one funny daily cartoons by Richard Geytenbeek.
