All I wrote already under here about soaring, seems unimportant as you see what happened in Brussels yesterday. With the euphoria of 4 days ago, when they finally caught the top terrorist Salah Abdeslam, involved in the terrible attacks in Paris, the happiness about that changed in to a very BLACK mood, when , most probably his mates created a nightmare scenario with multiple attacks in Brussels.
The airport Zaventem was attacked at 8.04 AM with 2 bombs and 11 people were killed and the metro station under the EU buildings Maalbeek at 9.11 YES 9.11 AM. A bomb exploded in one of the compartments of the metro- train, killing 20 people.
IS announced already that this was going to happen. German, French and Dutch intelligence services warned already too, but nobody knew were exactly the deadly attacks would be.It happened NOW in Brussels !!!
Suicide attacks and bombs , killing at this stage, more than 31 innocent people and injured over 260, some very badly, hit by glass and nails from the bomb!!!!
The European heart with the EU institutions was HIT HARD.
Brussels had a “lock-down” and everybody had to stay where he or she was. Noway to get into Brussels either, all traffic,all transport with trains, planes, metro’s etc was cancelled.
Several Belgium soaring friends live in Brussels and around, so I feel in thought and friendship united with them.
As said to Patrick [Stouffs] ;” We are united in friendship”.
I heard that Pierre de Broqueville was AT the airport during the disaster. He arrived, went out of the car, to find himself a luggage trolley to put his heavy luggage on and heard a big bang. He rushed back to his car ……..but he was thrown to the ground by the blast of the second bomb and found himself between parts of the totally destroyed glass windows.He had a guardian angel with him that morning. Pfffff,……
Of course my sincere condolences go to all who lost their loved ones world wide, as Brussels is, like Amsterdam ,a very international town.
A black day, but life continues and as all politicians call out loud : “They are NOT going to win, we have to continue our lives”,….I have to do so too. It won’t be easy certainly not for those involved in both attacks in Brussels and have to live with what they saw/heard.
TERRIBLE. Having followed it on TV already “hurts”.
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Seminole’s “young from heart ” pilots. Picture courtesy Bozena Michalowski.
Last Friday was the last day. Not a real flash day , one with solid overcast.So ….cancellation was the only option and it seemed, nobody was sad about that.
During the 4 days of competition, Karl [Striedeck] did extremely well in the Duo Discus, but just missed out on 71 points. The winner was Ken Sorenson, the CD from Uvalde 2012 in the Ventus 2cxa.
Quite some mates were there. Yes I turn 70 this year , so I belong to the “young-from-heart-oldies” too !!!!
Last words by good old John Good [deputy CD in Uvalde in 2012] who I met again in Benalla and Narromine this year;
“So the 26th Senior Contest is over. Ken Sorenson is the winner, thanks to a couple of excellent flights. Karl Striedieck takes silver, and Ron Ridenour bronze. [Duo discus] We had a safe contest with 4 decent flying days (many pilots enjoyed 4 more very good days in the week before the contest). And Seminole Lake Gliderport has enhanced its already formidable reputation as a soaring destination.“
Next year they all will be back!!!
Picture courtesy Bozena Michalowski.
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DG Flugzeugbau GmbH.
News from DG where one of my friends Jelmer works:
” LS8 – New Winglets Maidenflight
Today, Jelmer Wassenaar, chief engineer and test pilot at DG Flugzeugbau, successfully performed multiple flights with our brand new 15m winglets for LS8! After the flights he was completely satisfied. Our impression is, that we were able to achieve our goals in all areas!
Now we can start to perform flights to test performance and complete certification.”
Pictures shared by DG Flugzeugbau GmbH.
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When I looked at the News on Dutch TV last week, I saw in a shock reaction, that in Japan , a 2- seater had crashed in a suburb from Tokyo between houses. Sadly enough the pilots both did not survive. On the ground nobody was injured.
Several people will be VERY sad again. I do have many good friends in Japan from my Sportavia -period. I wish them all well.
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You remember FOKKER? Our Dutch manufacturer from many types of Fokker planes , as the Fokker 11, the very first one in 1920 [in one Fokker of this type we had a share in the past] , but also for airlines as KLM with Fokker 50 and 70.
An era is over, as the last Fokker 70 ‘s will be replaced for the Brazilian Embraer 175+. In total KLM City Hopper will have 17 of them. Till now they had already 30 from the 190-type.
Fokker went broke 20 years ago which was very sad. City Hopper [KLM Europe] will be the biggest “user” from the Brazilian Embraer in Europe now.
“Our” old Fokkers will continue flying from Curacao and also people in Suriname will see them in the air.
Talking about Holland,…..last Monday , at 11.40 AM, we welcomed resident/inhabitant number 17.000.000. It seems to difficult to find out who it is. For sure is that “we” grow faster through refugees/immigrants than through new born babies.
Mind you , Holland is just a “stamp” compared to my 2d home- country Australia. MANY people on a relative small spot, but it does n’t feel worse or so for me, than the last 10 years.
In the year 2000 we had 16.000.000 people.
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Italian Squad.
The Italian squad got a tad better weather on the last days. So …they flew for 3 days in a row on the 17th,18th and 19th. But,…the weather was still soso and none of the days was a 1000 points day.
Austrian pilot, but mostly flying in Italy, Peter Hartman won 2 of these 3 days, Alberto Sironi 1.
Alberto flew the ARCUS and on the winning day a 3 hour AAT was set. That it was a struggle but a character-building struggle showed the distance and time; 253 km. with a speed of 84.58 km./h. Only 16 from 24 started and 3 finished.
Peter flew the H 301 .
This handicapped competition was good practice for the upcoming summer.
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Nitra….Pribina CUP.
Courtesy Aero Bistro via FB.
As you can see it’s still quiet at Nitra Airport, but not long and it will be ” buzzing ” there.Over Easter the Pribina Cup will start and around 100 pilots will participate.More later.
Tracking at; http://live.glidernet.org/#c=48.28303,18.14494&z=13&o=1&p=3
The Czech container with JWGC gliders is back home from Australia , back from 40 dgr. C PLUS to SNOW. If the gliders will be ready for the CUP , I don’t know, maybe for those who really want it. First they will be checked and prepared for the new European season.
Pictures shared by the Czech Rep. Gliding Team.
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Back on track, but still not totally fit and with very low energy, so back to the doctor this afternoon. Have a bacterial infection in my right lung.
Wishing you a VERY HAPPY EASTER PERIOD/ FROHE OSTERN / JOYEUX PAQUES !!!
cheers Ritz