Alphen aan den Rijn Wednesday June 23 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
Euroglide started with pretty good weather on June 21, as the weather turned out much better then expected.At 13.00 the first started and within 2 hours everybody was gone.
And the forecast for the next couple of days is that of great summer weather all over the places they fly too. I looked at the European weather and it was glorious from the South of Spain till nearly the top of Scandinavia. The top-end only had some rain. The Eastern countries however have more unstable weather at this stage.
On that first day Thom Wammerdam in the duo discus flew 371 km from Eindhoven, straight to the East on his way to the first TP under Berlin.
Another pilot Mark Besten, in a duo, tried the same but could just not reach Nordhausen, had to go back a bit to land at Aue where he ”found” 12 more teams, staying over there for the night; 362 km.
All by himself, Ton Staassen, who won the Military comps in his class 2 weeks ago, flew his Mosquito to a nice distance of 381 km. He is a member of the ZES, the club of the students from Eindhoven University where I was ages ago a member and as you know , the first female member.
On day 2 , I noticed that Max Leenders who flew the Nationals @Twente, had a super flight in his nimbus 4DM; 767 km. He passed TP 1 and on his way to Montricher in Switserland, also Bayreuth and Hahnweide and if he continues like this,…..he is back in a flash. They have till July 3 but with this weather …….”
Look for the map on www.euroglide.nl Great stuff…this Euroglide!!!!!Try to go with one of the crews, next year for a full coverage of the ”show”.
June 21 was also the beginning of the calendar-summer and of course we had our longest day here, [ for one moment I had the feeling, that winter is close by again!] with in the weekend midsummer-night-celebrations in Scandinavia. Australia had it’s shortest day and I hear it is pretty cold over there, …pullover/cardigan-weather, but still some good days for flying and fresh snow on the mountains for the people who change gliders for skies for a while.
Last Sunday for the first time this year[ last year it happened 6 times!] 2 F16 pilots , here in Holland, had to check on a passenger-plane as no communication was heard and no contact could be made anymore by the traffic controllers. The plane , an Airbus 321 from Onur Air, travelling from Turkey to Ireland [Dublin] however contacted the tower after passing the Dutch border and the F 16’s were send home.
The Italian Nationals ended as I gave them to you as the last day was cancelled. Congratulations to Riccardo and Davide each in their class.
From July 3 several new National Championships under FAI flag, will be flown , p.e in Sweden in Sundbro for 18 m and double seaters , in Spain at Santa Cilia, 4 classes, club , standard , open and 15m. in the UK at Nympsfield the 15 m class and of course last but NOT least, the WGC in Prievidza. At this stage the Nationals in the Ukraine for open and 15 m. are flown, finishing tomorrow.
Sad news from Congo where a plane with 9 passengers, amongst them 6 top executives of a mining business, Sundance Resources Limited from Western Australia, got lost.One of them is Queenslands mining magnate Ken Talbot, as one of their non executive directors. On Tuesday morning they found the plane in the bush, all passengers and 2 crew died. Investigation has to constitute, what has happened. A big blow for the Australian mining business.
Received a link to an interesting story, [THANKS!]certainly when you are into vintage planes.
Air Service Berlin DC3 at Berlin on June 19th 2010, engine failure
By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Jun 19th 2010
An Air Service Berlin Douglas C-47 Skytrain, registration D-CXXX performing a sight seeing flight from Berlin Schoenefeld to Berlin Schoenefeld (Germany) with 25 passengers and 3 crew, departed Schoenefeld’s runway 25 (former 25L) when the left hand engine failed at a height of about 200-300 feet. The airplane struggled to climb out, after a left hand turn the crew set the airplane down into a grassy field near Selchow and the building site of the new runway (which is planned to turn Schoenefeld into Berlin Brandenburg International Airport). All 3 crew and 4 passengers received minor injuries, the airplane sustained substantial damage and is thought to be a write off.
http://avherald.com/h?article=42d26069&opt=0 for the picture and when you are intertested the rest of the story.
The OLC this beginning of the week;
Young Bert Schmelzer from Belgium seems to be ready for the WGC soon. In his Discus A he flew from Belgium straight into Germany and made a super flight of 708 km. starting at Keiheuvel. Well done!
1000 km.-Eaters Guy Bechtold [flew from Useldange in Luxembourg] and Alexander Mueller [ from Bayreuth the former WGC airfield ] added another 1000 km flight to their list of 2010 and Wilfried Grosskinsky did in a Nimbus 4M the same from Dahlemer Binz. He claims that the cold air and great lift made it a super day , though the base in the Eifel was not too heigh, but every cloud ”worked”, which is what ”we ” need, is n’t it!
This all happened yesterday!
The day before a Swedish pilot tried a 1000 k from Orebro in a discus 2 T and just missed out on a few km. ;928 a pity.
A super day again today. What will it bring for us soaring-enthusiasts….?
You are up- to-date now, see you next Sunday. Plaster will be off in a week to check the situation with x-rays again and to hopefully walk then around without it , but in the worst case , new plaster will be on for 8 weeks, grrr…..
Safe travelling for all FAI officials, pilots and crew to Prievidza.
Ritz