Alphen aan den Rijn Wednesday October 13 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
Last night I tried to stay up to see the first miner in Chile, see the surface again, but….I did not manage as at 0.30 I just fell a sleep. As well, as it took till 5 in the morning local time here, to see the first one happily embrace his family. GREAT job!!!!
The FAI General Conference in Ireland is over. For those who do not know, the FAI is the world governing body for airsports and aeronautical world records!!!
The FAI Executive board is and I quote;
—the executive body of the FAI, implementing the policies and decisions of the General Conference and exercising those powers of the General Conference that are delegated to it by that body. The Executive Board, chaired by the FAI President, is jointly responsible to the General Conference for all decisions made and actions taken between General Conferences.—
The board has a new president and to the surprise of some, Bob Henderson was not choosen as the new FAI president. Swedish medical doctor John Grubbström is the one and all expect he will do a great job. Bob remains in the BOARD , he was re-elected , as well as Alvaro. Also a new face in the board ; the Norwegian NAC president Otto Lagerhus. He is the vice-president of Flight and Technical Operations at SAS, as well as the Director of Civil Aviation in Norway. Look for more news at the FAI site.
On Monday morning a KLM plane had to make an emergency landing and returned back to Entebbe airport in Uganda due to a bird strike in one engine. After the landing the technical staff straight away started to work on the engine.
Great to see Stephan is back in Tocumwal and not [yet] with collegue Lufthansa pilot Jan this time, both flying as many kilometers as are possible in a day each in an LS4, but now with his son Aljoscha. I only remember the pictures of a vivid young kid , but the kid has grown up and flies the Janus CT now with dad. Great stuff! Yesterday they flew 208 km.
Still NO flying in Dalby on Sunday and Monday. A lot of pilots have left and a groupe 0f about 30 , is still waiting if ONE more day for standard and 15 m. is possible to have a valid competition. The 18 m and open class pilots need 2 and as said all paddocks are VERY wet in the area, so the only way to fly, is good weather with possibilities to land if necessary on other airfields. The forecast for Wednesday and maybe Thursday looks hopefull, so let’s be hopeful as well.
Not too hopefull were my friends Tony and Jo , they are on the way home[ yesterday] ;2 or 3 days driving with the glider on tow. In the past they always had a stop over in Tocumwal, maybe this time as well.
Here is the blog from ” the mother of Narromine” and a good friend, Beryl Hartley, so you know first-hand how wet it is.
http://narromineglidingclub.blogspot.com/
BUT………they managed to squeeze out 2 days for 18 m and open class, yesterday and today and one more for the standard and 15 m. today, so it still looks like a valid 4-day-competition. I saw a few of the preliminary results, from the AAT’s and it looks promesing. Will come back on it on Sunday! Last day ,Friday is definitely cancelled due to the weather forecast , but even tomorrow might be good enough to fly. Final party is on Thursday evening now.
Since Sunday our country counts 18.000 inhabitants more due to the fact that the people from Saba, Bonaire and St. Eustatius are part now of the Netherlands. I called them provinces in my last blog ,but in fact they are municipalities.
Do you have 3 million dollar or more on your account and you always wanted to be the fastest on earth in a car, you can buy now “the spirit of America”. It is a rocket-car owned by the deceased Steve Fossett with , with a bid of work, a top speed of 1287 km. So you can even drive the highest speed till now out of the books; the record time of 1227 km . The “spirit”drove already 1080 km. /h. Even when I had 3 milliard I would not even think about it. But …I am not a daredevil!!
CU next cheers Ritz