Alphen aan den Rijn Wednesday September 16 2010 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
Preparations for the new season are in full swing. From Tocumwal I got news that Sportaviation is very busy to put the last points on the i , to be ready for an even bigger season then the one from last year. They flew through the winter with the Skyfox and also did some training with “to-be-glider-pilots” and of course the “regulars/die-hards “arrived on all nice soaring days.
Young Jake will be at the field in the weekends to help out. He is doing some navigational training with Eddie, while the temperature is a nice 20 dgr. C. Jake loves this soaring world and I hope we might see him in the future at JWGC’s!Look for pictures at; www.sportaviation.com.au
Their first overseas -guest for the season, Dundee will arrive tomorrow in Melbourne.
The Southern Riverina Gliding Club members at Tocumwal Airport have some activities in the upcoming weekends.
This is what I received ;
Dear Members,
This is a reminder that our FIRST WINGS NIGHT is only two and a half weeks away. We would like to see as many of you here as possible as we have many wings to present and also some other awards.
There will be a lighter side to the evening and there will be a lucky door prize and some raffles. After flying we will have a BBQ at approximately 6pm with presentations to follow.
A donation of nibbles, a salad or sweet would be welcome but not necessary. Please let me know if you can make it as this will help with catering.
Happy soaring
Judy Renner
SRGC WINGS NIGHT
at Saturday October 2
at the Toths hangar
BBQ at around 6 pm
Some changes as well in Tocumwal, as I read in Judy’s news letter, which I will publish as well in case you are thinking of visiting Tocumwal.
Dear members,
Recently changes have been made to our operating procedures and it is now mandatory for every pilot flying from Tocumwal aerodrome to have a radio operators licence or a log book endorsement for operating the radio while flying a glider. Also all gliders must be fitted with a serviceable radio.
Because of this we would like to see every pilot, irrespective of his/her level of experience have a check flight with one of the club’s instructors before flying.
Even if you are familiar with radio operating procedures please read the GFA Ops Manual (attachment enclosed) as it was recently updated (June 2010).
The GFA Ops Manual 005 Airways and Radio Procedure can be found here: http://2009.gfa.org.au/Docs/ops/airradio.pdf
Of course the biggest center in Australia and celebrating their 10th anniversary, Australian Soaring Corowa ,is ready for the many guests for the ‘ 10-’11 season. The 2 tugs are waiting to go up in the air to make pilots happy with nice long cross country flights.
Today till the 19th ,they are packing their containers in the South of Holland and pilots from all over Europe have to travel through pretty tough autumn weather, with wind up to 8 bft. and lots of rain to be in time, as schedules are strict. By now Francesco and Grietje are so experienced , that it does not look or feel like a job anymore. On top of that most pilots have been going for a few years as well, some even the 10 years, plus the ones they spend at Sportavia and also they know how to deal with packing. It normally is a feast of recognition there in the South of Holland, after a year not seeing each other.
But I know , as a former owner, that there is always a bit of tension to give it out of hand, as on the big container ships it is waiting, for them as well, if it all goes perfect. But as far as I know , NEVER in all those years something went wrong.
One container will be packed in Prievidza as well . All news at; www.australian-soaring-corowa.com
Talking about Slovakia, in Nitra the Pribina Sailplane Grand Prix 2010 has started on September 11. The 20 18 m. pilots flew 3 days till now and day 3 changed the results dramatically as, after 2 days, the number 1 position was occupied by 2 Czech pilots with 2 points, each winning one day and finishing as sole pilot. Day 3 showed the talent from Polish pilot Christoph Matkowski who has 10 points now and who had NO penalty points while others had a lot, mainly because the finish altitude was exceeded. Pavol Cerny has 8 points and then a few pilots with 7 points.
Pilots flying are from Germany, Czech Rep, Lithuania, Austria, Slovakia and Poland. See for results and more at www.soaringspot.com
You have money or….you have n’t!!!Saudi Arabia just ordered , weapons, figthing planes and helicopters in the USA, for a total amount of 60 milliard. On September 13 Obama presented the plan in the Congress. It is among other things about 84 F 15’s, 178 helicopters as Apaches and Black Hawks and they are still talking about “maritime-stuff “for a value of 30 milliard.
China suffers a bit with their aviation. Last month a plane crashed killing 40 people and after research it seems now the pilot might have made a mistake. Even worse after more investigation they found out that lots of pilots have false CV’s.
Yesterday a plane got fire and within 24 hours another one as well. One plane had a starting fire in the luggage department while the passengers had just entered the plane , the other one had on Sunday ,smoke due to an oil-leak combined with the hot temperatures of the wheels . Both planes belong to China Southern.
Yesterday a 52 year old captain from the USA, just sitting in the cockpit ready to fly to New York from Schiphol Airport, had to leave the Delta Airlines plane again [after an anonymous tip] as just a bit too much alcohol [ just over the allowed 0.2 promille- 0.23] was still in his blood. The plane with 200 waiting passengers stayed at Schiphol, but passengers left later. His fine was 700 Euro, which he payed at the spot!!
Our hang -gliding mates are flying the Santa Cruz flats Race in the USA at Casa Grande. In the HG flexible wing, both Jonny Durand jr. and sr. are flying the Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5. Great to see Jonny jr. is still the best, at this stage , he is number ONE, after 2 days of flying. Davis Staub from The Oz Report is on spot 20 while dad Jon sr. is on 21.
That’s about it. Most probably no news on Sunday as I attend a family weekend, but …you never know later in the evening, otherwise the next day.
Cheers Ritz.