Alphen aan den Rijn Monday July 27 2009
Unfortunately it is has rained in Pocunai, till Saturday the openings-day and…as usual it was good weather on that day. Flying was possible till 4 PM so ,who ever wanted to practise atleast another day could do so.
After the registration there are 29 pilots in club class, 14 ” pair of pilots ” in the 2 seaters, 25 pilots in standard class and in world class 10 pilots have entered! Is there a future for world class!????!
It is nice to see that pilots from Belarus and Serbia have entered an EGC for the first time!
Yesterday was the first flying day. It did not look well in the morning, but AAT’s were set and pilots were launched , some however were back straight away at the field and had to try again. In the end it turned out to be a reasonable flying day , but not for all!
It started with some confusion about airspace, was ” one ” open or closed . After signing the note at the grid by the TC’s and wiping the rain from the canopies and wings, the event could start.
Not all made it home[12 out landings] but, it was day ONE of the competition, starting with rain then sunshine and….yes you guess well …..finishing with rain!!!
Not a 1000 point -day ,but a lot can happen over the next days.
The weather in Czech Rep. and Poland has been bad over the last week. One Dutch camping in Vchlabi [C.R] has been hit last week by a tornado and NOTHING is left leaving 2 people badly injured and several light!! Austria had the same bad weather , as well as Poland, where several people got killed by nature forces.
In fact the whole middle part of Europe and some of the East countries have been hit by heavy, to very heavy weather.
Some competitions in this time -frame have had not one day of flying. In Sweden 2 out of 7 days , in Holland 3 out of 7 with hope for another day on saturday and that happened so 4 days, it was in the end.
The southern parts of Europe suffer from heat waves with 40 dgr. plus and big bush fires. Even 4 men from the Spanish fire brigade got killed!
Looking at the Formula 1 in Hungary , I saw that the weather there was not too bad! Great looking skies with nice cumulus clouds and a temperature of 25 dgr. so a good sign for a nice day for the 5th Women Championships in Szeged in Hungary. The ladies fly in 15 m. class, standard and club. In 45 minutes I read on their site [www.flatlandcup.hu] all the girls were up in the air and tasks were set from 310 km in club, 405 km for standard and 415km for 15 m. class.
In club 18 girls are competing under them Orsi the young girl flying during the JWGC for Hungary and Elena the TC for her brother during the JWGC, from Italy and Nathalie for France finishing 10th. overall in Rayskala.
In standard class Gill Spreckley is the former world champion and best known of the 16 ladies. Great to see Akemi a Japanese pilot and Andrea, a Turkish pilot!
In 15 m class also 15 girls.
On the end of the day all pilots came back home, so indeed a good day.
I like the funny comments on their site! For sure more flying days to come as they have I heard this morning oin the news, up to 30 dgr. in Hungary and no predicted storms or rain.
While writing about women in sport , during the 13th FINA World Swim Comps in Rome the Dutch girls set a new world record on the estafette 4×100 m. in a great race, just in front of Germany [2]and Australia [3].
Another crash with a Russian plane in Iran, this time killing 16 people from the 150 aboard and most of them in the front of the plane as it hit a wall after landing ,while having a fire. Under the people which were killed, 13 crew members!!!!!
An historic flight over the CHANNEL between the UK and France was made on Saturday by French pilot Edmond Salis. Exactly 100 year after Bleriot made the first flight, a restored Bleriot- plane from 1934 flew in 40 minutes [ just one or 2 minutes MORE then in the past]over the Nord Sea and landed at Dover. Lots of people were interested in that historical flight and about 300 planes flew the same traject as well later during the day all celebrating the 100 years!
See you on Wednesday,cheers Ritz