Alphen aan den Rijn April 1 2009
No it is NO April joke on this first day of the month of April, the weather is really good here in Holland!!! With an over 500 km. task flown in Holland last Monday, we may say ; great spring weather! One of the young Dutch pilots flew till N.E of Oerlinghausen in Germany starting at Hoogeveen in a discus 2 A. Looking up from my chair in the garden I could see the great clouds and imagine how happy the pilots must have been over the last couple of days.
Terlet the National Gliding Center was busy , as well as Venlo in the S. of Holland. It is so good to hear the pilots say how happy they are with their first flights. And as you know our country is flat, flat as a pancake!!!!
Also from Soesterberg a great flight on Sunday. Bart and former Dutch team pilot Sikko flew an impressive flight, with even more interesting weather, as showers and a not to high cloud-base. Still 361 km.
One of our former “helpers” at Sportavia , Bert from Belgium flew a 299 km task in his standard libelle.
So let’s hope this great soaring weather will continue over summer and everywhere in Europe!!!
Europe is more and more active in the air. Nearly from every country pilots enjoy their soaring. The UK with very nice flights over the Scottish mountains and from Dunstable and Lasham , where good old friend Roy flew a nice triangle in his ASG 29. The Swiss, the pilots from Italy and Spain , the Germans not only in France but also in their home country, it is ALL happening!!!!!
A few weeks ago I wrote about the 6th WWGC in Sweden in 2011. Not to forget that before Sweden the next 5th WWGC will be in Szeded in Hungary from July 25-August 08 in 2009. They will be flown in 3 classes, club,standard and 15 m. Just a few months away!!
Winter is over ! And only in Holland “we” used 105.000 ton of salt to keep the roads ice-free. In 2005/06 they used 124.000 ton, but that is an all-time -record!
That ‘s it for now the sun is shining brightly and also for non-flyers , this weather is perfect, so a few hours outside is lovely. By the way……..
The Mai issue of Gliding International is nearly finished. It will be the largest one produced till now with 72 pages. Some items;FAA report on Steve Fossett’s accident……….glasses;you can actually see thermals wih this pair……..full report on the IGC meeting in Lausanne and more…….more…..
Look for info on;www.internationalgliding.com
I will come back on it later too.
See you on sunday, European weather will be great till that day!!! The OLC will be full!
Cheers Ritz