Alphen aan den Rijn Wednesday March 24 2010 ritzdeluy@hotmail.com
Spring really has arrived now with temperatures up to 18/19 dgr. More pilots get their glider out of the winter sleep and start flying. This upcoming weekend most gliding places in Holland will be open. I also heard good news for the EAC. They , the club from Eindhoven, started on a very low scale last year with all kind of restrictions, after flying for 70 years under “normal” conditions, but it seems that for this year it is going to be a bit better! Happy with that! It has cost the club quite some pilots, as they decided to fly somewhere else. A pity as they are /were a club full of enthusiast pilots putting a lot of time in competition flying and the education of young pilots. I hope they can continue with that!
Yesterday the French Alps were HOT again with a lot of flights.Great to see 2 of my friends flying there. Easy for Erik [Borgmann] who lives in that area, but a bit of a trip for Baer [Selen] ,who flies there now as well. Erik was runner up in the Borlange WGC and Baer was twice WORLD CHAMPION in Chateuaroux and in Uvalde [Texas], where I had the honor to be his TC. Both fly for fun now and they deserve only the best! And….they are still good!
See that , between all the German guests is also another Dutch pilot, Jan Seton, the father of one of my juniors in HusBos, Robbie. Robbie is on the list of participants in Twente but might not come as their big dog might not be allowed. Would be a pity as he is a good pilot, but certainly on a military base rules are rules! Hope there will be a good other solution!
Here some news from Australia from my friend Vanessa. She lives in Perth on the West Coast. Thanks Vanessa! Just to let you know that the weather is and remains the weather and is not good everywhere!
What a massive storm!
After two days of building clouds and humidity the atmosphere finally exploded with some of the most spectacular storms Perth has seen in 20 years. The storm hit Kensington at about 4pm and the power went out around 5.15pm. I was at uni on the 3rd floor of the library when the power went out – absolute darkness. We were all wishing we had the torch app on our phones! Finally the emergency lighting kicked in & the staff with the hardhats and loud hailers came around to evacuate us. It was clear the storm wasn’t going away in a hurry. The power to the campus was out so of course everyone decided to jump in their car and drive home. Usually I cycle the 10min to uni but because of the weather I had driven. 20 minutes to get out of the car park, and another 20 minutes to get home. Lots of traffic lights out, branches and trees all over roads, houses etc, lots of localized flooding too.
The power was back on by 9pm.
We had wind up to 120km/hr, mini tornadoes, hail the size of golf balls and the lightning was massive. We had 59mm of rain in our gauge in less than an hour, although I suspect most of it went sideways across the top! Lovely to have rain again – it has been 6 dry months and the garden looks much happier for it.
Our immediate area is OK. Some apartments in town which are at the base of the hill Kings Park sits on have 1.5m of sand/mud in the ground floor. There are a lot of trees down and they are estimating a $1billion damage bill. So many cars with hail damage and many of the beautiful old stained glass windows at the University of WA are smashed. Still thousands of people without power. Fortunately no-one seriously injured that I’ve heard of.
The photos you can see at www.watoday.com.au. Also there is a photo of a boy on the Wesley school oval which is well worth a look at www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2010/03/23/2853616.htm .
As you see the weather is not everywhere “nice”.
Exciting news from South Africa as I received the next mail:
Jonker Sailplanes
Press Release
March 19th, 2010
JS1 Revelation Awarded the
First South African CAA Type Certification
On March 12th, 2010 the Jonker Sailplanes JS1 Revelation 18-metre class sailplane received South African Civil Aviation Authority (SA CAA) Type Certification.
This is a historic milestone for the JS1 Revelation, for Jonker Sailplanes (JS) and for the SA CAA as this is the first South African designed and manufactured aircraft certificated to modern airworthiness standards. The certification requirements for the JS1 Revelation are the latest issue of EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) CS-22 Certification Standards for Sailplanes and Powered Sailplanes.
For this pioneering work, the SA CAA formed a highly capable team from CAA Engineering, led by Kavita Vanmari.
Throughout the Type Certification (TC) process the SA CAA team was thorough and meticulous, while being practical and working with JS towards the common goal of TC. As this is the first TC awarded by the SA CAA, it was essential that the process was rigorous, especially as the TC will be subject to the scrutiny of EASA and FAA prior to their validation of the TC.
The TC award follows an extensive programme of engineering analysis, ground-based structural testing and flight testing to demonstrate that the certification requirements have been met.
There will be a formal handover of the Type Certificate by Captain Colin Jordaan, CEO/Commissioner, SA CAA at CAA Headquarters, near Johannesburg, South Africa during April with full local and international media coverage.
With a TC to the highest and latest international standards, the JS1 Revelation can now be operated with South African registration in any ICAO country.
CONGRATULATIONS to the S A Boys ; what a great achievement. When there is more news you read it of course here!
Cheers Ritz