Prievidza in Slovakia, was the next stop for competition pilots and as in Nitra lots enter. A lot even travel straight from the one to the other comps.
FCC[First Challenge Cup] gliding 2022 is popular and 120 participants were on the list flying in 3 classes.
They started on April 24 and continue till Mai 5!
The first 2 days had no tasks and task 3 ,266 km., in CLUB was won by Uwe Wahlig who had Nitra already behind him .
In the 15 m class class 340 km .
In the combi class it was Radek, who won the comps equal with Wim in Nitra already ,who got the 1000 points for a speed of 120 km./h over 368 km.
But then you don’t know what had happened.
Day 4 had no task.
Then you start to think.
And yes SADLY enough we lost 2 of our mates again. Happily and eager going to a competition and not coming home again.
There are TOO many.
This is the official report on April 26
” Today, in the afternoon, two gliders collided near the village of Trebostovo above the Končiar hill. Both gliders fell down into the forest in the difficult terrain. Based on a report from the Fire and Rescue Corps, we were told that both pilots were dead. All other competitors returned to the airport in Prievidza, or outlanded in the field. The organizers of the competition express their sincere condolences to the families and the entire Polish and Lithuanian team.”
On April 28 the organizers cancelled the first flying day in total.
“We would like to announce to all FCC 2022 participants the organizers’ decision regarding the last discipline. The results of the first competition day will be cancelled. We are aware that this decision should have come sooner, but our priority was first and foremost to deal with the situation from a human point of view and at the same time to cooperate with the rescue and investigative forces. Scoring the competition was not our priority.“
I do understand!!!
The next pictures are NOT to upset you, but to EXTRA warn you to fly safe!

I guess with emotion at both sites, organizers including field runners and tuggies AND pilots with their crews, but for sure new energy to do things correct, they started with a clean slate on Thursday April 28. Sometimes just continuing,…. helps to deal with the losses.
After a minute of silence ” dedicated to our deceased racers ” the pilots left from runway 04.
It sounds easy, but it is n’t ,as I remember VERY well ,when in 1991 Anssi Passila passed away in Uvalde.
club; 255 km…. the start gate opened at 12.48 and pilots went on track.
30 from the 38 who started [7 did not choose to fly] finished the task.
Uwe [Germany] in his LS 3 was the best again and he started 1` hour after the gate opened. He was the only one over 100 km./h
The first 4 flew LS 3.
15 m; 307 km….gate opened at 13.22 From the 26 starters 17 finished and 3 did not fly.
David Mach from Czech Rep won the day in his JS 3 with a speed of 130 km./h .
Alex Pop and Norbert Scarlat from Rumania were runners up but quite a bit slower in their Discus 2a; 116 km./h
combi; 349 km...gate open at 13.17 and 1.35 km,./h was the speed by Wolfgang [Janowitsch] in his Ventus 3T. The first 4 were all toppers at WGC’s. On spot 2 Radek [Krejcirik] , on 3 Gintas [Zube], on 4 Petr [Radeks dad] and on 6 in the ASG 32 MI team Janus Centka and on 9 Sebastian [Kawa]
But that changed later in spot 40 as Sebastian horizontally or vertically flew in forbidden space. Expensive points for a top pilot!!!

April 29 with task 5 flying day 2;
club….342 km; Start line open at 12.11. I told you already that Uwe was a very good pilot. He had one off day in Nitra but straight away won the next one again.
Here in Prievidza he won another day; 119 km./h. The Polish pilots Mikolaj and Jacek followed with 117 km./h. in their LS 3’s.
Our former tuggie in Tocumwal always flies this competition as well. Tim [Milner from the UK] was 5th in the LS 3
15m…..394 km; A Czech LS8-day! 3 Of them upfront. Jan,Pavel and Miloslav. In an otherorder they are the overall best at ths stage as well; Pavel, Miloslav and Jan .
26 Are still flying in this class and 3 were not scored due to entering forbidden airspace.
combi….422 km; Zdislaw from Poland in the JS 3, Radek [Czech Rep] in the JS1 and Leszek [ASG 29] also from Poland both with difficult names , formed the top 3. Sebastian was 8th and Wolfgang 12th. Gintas 16th.
After 6 days and 2 tasks Radek leads [1.807] for Wolfgang [1.777] and Gintas [1.723] The Hungarian pilots in the ARCUS T. are doing well on 4 with 5 points less.
40 Flying in this class now 2 were out.

April 30 last day of the month. Task 6 flying day 3.
Club; 3.15 AAT…Well,…I was very pleased to see our former tuggie doing so well. He won!!!! 335 km. in time 3.14 “gave” him the 1000 points.
37 started and only one pilot did not finish.
15 m; 3.15 AAT…AND,…as pleased to see that Judyta won the day and “got” her 1000 points. I met her last in Lake Keepit, where she won a day, if I remember well.
She started and finished with Lucasz Grabowski who was runner up;408/9 km in time 3.21/20.
26 started and one was out.
combi; 3.15 AAT…440 km for Sebastian in the Diana 3 FES and Karol Staryszak in ASG 29, in time 3.16, both from Poland of course;1000 and 977 points.
40 started AND 40 finished! Good!!!!

May 1; Task 7, flying day 4.
club; 2.45 AAT....299 km. in an LS 4 W in time 3.04 was the 1000 points-winner. Ionut Tudor from Rumania was the one who got them.2 Of the Polish runner ups flew 304 km. in time 3.10.
Tim was 5th. Uwe 9th.
Not an easy day as 23 from the 35 starters finished. A lot , 12 to be precise, were punished by entering a forbidden zone.
15 m; 2.45 AAT...the winning combination from km’s and time was for Czech Rep Pilot Pavel Louzecky in his LS 8; 303 km in time 3.01.
26 started 21 finished. The polish “Lucaszes” did well; Grabowski on 2 and Blaszczyk on 8. At this stage they are on 5 and 6 overall whilst the 3 Czech pilots lead in their LS 8’s.
combi; 2.45 AAT…336 km. in time 2.57 was the best for Janus[Centka] and his mate in the ASG 32 MI. Sebastian was runner up with 351 km. in 3 hour at the dot!!!
39 started but the ARCUS T was not scored as they could not find a valid start. So from 38 starters ,35 finished. Good day for them. Wolfgang was 12th and Gintas 5th, they still lead the overall scores, but it is still close in the top and a few more days to go.

May 2; task 8 flying day 5.
Club; 242 km...The 5 Polish pilots are combining their efforts , start at about the same time and fish so as well. So spot 1 to 5 is for the Polish pilots.
33 From 34 finished , the one “out” was from Poland too.
Speed from the 5 ;between 106 and 109 km.
15 m ; 264 km...best speed was 130km./h by Lucasz Blaszczyk in the Diana , BUT he was 4th with it. Winner was Jan Pavlik in LS 8 with 125 km./h [handicap 111.7]
open/18m; 289 km….also in this class 2 Polish pilots combine their efforts. One of them Sebastian in the Diana 3 FES and he won; 150.41 km./h!!!
6 Pilots flew between 148 and 150 km./h!!!
Among them  Karol Staryszak, [runner up] , Wolfgang ,Radek, Andre [Weidlich in Ventus 3 M] , Lucasz K and Gintas. The last 2 had equal points.

May 3; task 9 , flying day 6.
Club; 281 km…Already early in the day ,I noticed 2 outlandings….. BUT ALSO, early returns to the field….indeed finishes before 3PM.
In the end the LS3 from and WITH Uwe was the fastest;126 km./h Runner up Jacek had 120 km./h[same glider]
37 started and 5 were out.
15 m; 293 km.…138 km./h for David Mach, good speed !! His mate and runner up Miloslav had 129 km.h.
22 started 2 were out after 279 and 230 km. A pity!!!
combi; 318 km.….Here the speed was about the same in the top; 14 pilots finished between 15.06 and 15.11.Winner RADEK!!!!
He won earlier the ” for good reasons cancelled” task, but flew around now with 141 km./h in his JS 1for only 704 points.
The scores from May 3 are still unofficial at this stage.
For now , with 3 days to go the overall scores are;
Club; Jacek,[4.964] Uwe,[4.941] Mikolai [4.926] and Tim.[4.764]
15 m; Miloslav ,[ 4.839] Pavel [ 4.830] and Jan [4.810]
combi; Gintas [4.805] ,Wolfgang [4.764] Radek [4.731]

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Flying from Switzerland to the UK, from Courtelary to Lasham…..Why not??? But in a glider????
Yes …..In a 21 m JS1 C. TJ.
Swiss top pilot Yves Gerster did so…. Crazy??? No , adventurous maybe ,as he commented;
“UK-experiment part 1. The transition didn’t quite work, but I still wanted to see the other side of the Channel.“
516 km,…..speed 84 km./h !!
Even the Lasham-boys were surprised;
“Lasham doesn’t often see a sudden international glider cross country flights. But it did today from Yves Gerster who made his way from Switzerland to the UK, dropping into Lasham in a JS1 Jet Glider. He will complete the remainder of his flight later this week back to Europe. Potentially the most enterprising flight we’ve seen in decades!”

This flight was On Wednesday April 27 and many more good flights were flown that day, also from Belgium and The Netherlands.
From Keiheuvel [B] Jeroen Jennen flew in his LS 8 771 km and from Malden [N] 652 km was flown in an LS 4 by Tim Kuijpers. Both are former top juniors flying JWGC’s.
In the USA Evan flew 1.404 km [speed 138 km./h] in wave and with ridge soaring from Eagle in van ASW 27.
“Task was roughly Lock Haven PA – Gate City VA – Lock Haven for a 15m National O&R record.
This being my first solo ground launch ever, I opted to leave ballast for another day.
All went well enough, albeit with hellish turbulence at times, until 40 miles from the finish I switched batteries and got nothing! Post flight inspection reveals a battery terminal detached in flight (the turbulence was really that bad!).”
Also in the USA Dan flew 1.512 km. [speed 146 km./h] but he just missed out on his goal:
“Some days you win and some days you lose. Declared a 1500k three turnpoint task for a 1500k diploma. After 10 hours 45 minutes came up about 40 km short. Rough and tumble ridge, some wave thrown in with some gang buster thermals. A good day overall. At least I did not break anything.“
3.221 m MSL 2.602 AGL at one point, but mainly ridge soaring.
GREAT effort!!!!

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The Royal Air Force Gliding & Soaring Association started their 2022 expedition to Aéroclub International Sisteron on Wednesday.
Great weather with” 9 knot thermals. 13,000ft+ cloud base. Amazing views across a gliding paradise.“

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The 2022 Gauteng Regionals, talking South Africa now , Orient to be precise, were flown between April 23 and 30!
First flying day was on the 26th for both classes club and open.
Club with 6 participants and open with 12 had 3 flying days.
In club the 3 tasks were under 200 km. In the end the winner was Gregory in a DG 200 with 1.041 points, which says enough.
In open some “strong” pilots and tasks under 300 km with as winner John Coutts who won 2 days;1.789 points. Uys and Oscar were on spot 2 and 3 with 1 points difference between them;1.655 for 1.654.

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The 28th edition of the KLIX 2022 , with 72 competitors in 4 classes started on the 29th.[till May 7] after 2 practice days.
Club has 12 pilots, standard class 19, the 2-seaters are with 18 teams and 18 m./open has 29. Quite a few Dutch pilots have entered, as in the years before.
Task 1;
Club…277 km and flown by 9. A 1000 -points-day, for the 13.5 m. LAK /FES for a speed of 76 km./h with German pilot Christoph Matkowski.
Standard…340 km. 98 km/h for Filip from Denmark in the Discus.19 started and 18 finished.
2 seaters…340 km. won by Team Holland Jeroen Verkuijl / Sjoerd van Empelen in the Duo Discus. 9 From 18 finished, 4 less than 10 km out.
open/18m…426 km; 2 former world/European champions Sjaak and Steven fly in this class both in ASG 29 e. And 2 other WGC pilots Bas from Holland in the Nimbus 4 and Henrik Breidahl from Denmark in the 3.MD026 18m, whatever that is!
Christian Schneiders in the Discus2C FES won the first 1000 points in this class.

Task 2; With B tasks at the field and cancellation for the 2-seaters.
Club…1.41 km...best speed 77.43 km./h in an Astir CS 77.Great flight by Lilian from the Netherlands in the DG 300WL; 2d spot with 76. 89 km./h.
All 12 started and finished!!
standard…Jan Kretzschmar, who was runner up on day 1 , won the day now in his LS 8NEO.speed 105 km./h.
2-seaters… CANCELLED.
open/18m.…AND,..there is Bas Seijffert from Holland a “speedy gonzales”. Also today; 117.66 km./h whilst the runner up Sjaak, also from Holland flew 109,72 km./h. And to complete the top 3 TOTALLY; Dutch, Steven Raimond was 3d.
27 Started and one was out. Why Henrik did not fly I don’t know.

Task 3; turned out to be a good day with blue skies and nice cu’s and height up to 2600 m MSL! In the evening some pilots reported up to 7 m/s lift.
Club…250 km; 5 pilots flew over 100 km./h. Daily winner in a LAK 13.5FES was Christoph, who won day 1 as well.
standard…298 km ;19 started 18 finished and Filip won as he did on day 1!
2-seaters…307 km; Another Duo Discus XL won now with team Wollschlaeger & Kaufeld ; speed 123 km./h.16 from 18 finished.
open/18m…282 km; with a speed of 143 km./h Andreas Kuhl , in his JS 3, was the clear winner. Sjaak was runner up with 128 km./h!

Task 4; more or less the same conditions as for task 3. Thermals a bit weaker and starting later, so tasks a bit smaller too.
Club; 210 km...All went on track within 15 minutes and ALL 12 finished! Best speed 92 and 94 km./h
Standard ; 172 km…131 km. /h. and again Filip was the best…3d time.
17 started and finished!
2-seaters; 272 km….BIG speed for the Dutch Duo Discus with Jeroen and Sjoerd;122.25 km./h. The runners up had
From 18, 17 finished
18m/open ; 343 km.…the Dutch are doing well. Speedy- Bas won another day in the Nimbus 4DM[ 120 km./h]. The next best speed 113 km./h was from Steven.
26 Started one was out and one had an invalid start.

Task 5; a day full of hope and long flights, look at this…So early starts at 11.15 and an extra tug [Breezer] to help out.
Club; 4.30 AAT...433 km was flown by Christoph , winning his 3d day!!!!
11 Started and only 1 did not finish and he was with 321 km. in his Astir close by. But you have to finish.
Standard; 4.30 AAT...The Danish pilots are doing well. 2, Poul Kim [Discus 2A] and Jan [LS 8 neo /e] starting about 6 minutes behind each other and finishing like that too, for 1000 and 975 points.
16 started and 1 was out.
2-seaters; 3.45 AAT…One ARCUS T ahead of 4 Duo Discus types. 450 km in time 3.59, for Hagemann en Auen. Sjoerd and Jeroen were runner up with 398 km in time 3.48.
ALL 18 started and 3 were out.
18m/open; 4 hour AAT…..Dutch day with spot 1 and 2 and 6!! Bas flew 486 km in time 4.13 and won another day. Sjaak was runner up with 480 km. in 4.19.
27 started and 3 were out.
More next week.

a great aerial picture from Bo in the back of the tug.

AND,…the French Championships in standard,15m and 2 seaterclass have started as well from Aire-sur-l’Adour, on Mai 1[till May 7]
39 Pilots/teams fly in ONE handicapped class and on day 1 the first start was after 4PM. Task was 183 km.
Till now they had 2 out of 3 small tasks. More next week!!!
AND the Swedish FAI Grand Prix at Boras has 16 entries.
Busy busy! More next week.

AND,…….there are 89 final entries for the WGC in Hungary end of July.
Attention! “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the location of the 37th FAI WGC 2022 has been changed from Kecskemét-Matkópuszta (Hungary) to Szeged (Hungary).” Contest; July 24-August 5 2022.
I know there are still a few on that list who have withdrawn.

Today on Mai 4 we remember all those who died in the war. At Terlet Arjan, who always takes such great pictures flew around in a glider with Ray Whitwell , a 103 year old veteran from the UK who fought in the area , he now flew over.
It was broadcasted on regional TV as well;
“103 year old WWII veteran Ray Whitwell up in a glider for a flight over Arnhem and Oosterbeek.”

Cheers Ritz and ….. very special…..Judy Renner found the picture of Ingo and Inge and I HAVE to share this 20 year old photo with all of you….sooo nice.

Don’t forget to read the SPECIAL BLOG below this one!!!!!!!