ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN WEDNESDAY MARCH 27 2013
ritzdeluy@hotmail.com www.soaringcafe.com www.glidinginternational.com
Longing for SPRING!
The pilots from AKAflieg Frankfurt have settled down for their Wave Research Camp in Spain, since March 18; at LA Cerdanya. Flying on the South side of the Pyrenees, they enjoy thermals, wave and fly on the “hang” in gliders as ARCUS, Duo Discus ,but also LS 3 , Hornet . Wave ; there was even superb wave over a convergence line on March 19!!
According to Christoph Maul, who flies with AKAflieg club members in the Duo discus and shares his experience with us on the OLC, March 20 had 2 “faces”. One part had great NW wave from Perpignan to Andorra; Height 6344 MSL /4507 AGL—wind 320 and 70 km./h.
On March 22 they reached in the DUO 5000 m. AGL in SW wave ; wind there 240 with 90 km./h.
Nice to see how active they fly together with members from the SFG Bremen.
The German squad has settled in Vinon, with TC Uli [ yesterday 524 k. in ARCUS] , and pilots as Patrick Puskeiler [716 k yesterday in Nimbus 4], Matthias Sturm , Michael Sommer [678 k in EB 28]and more.
No secret that the next EGC for 15m. 18m. and open class is from June 8 till 28 this year…… in Vinon. So good practise!
For more news;
http://www.egc2013vinon.fr
And I received more news from France this time for the LADIES; Certainly for those who want to practise a bit more for the WWGC, here is your chance!
—“ We still have some place for the French women nationals, this will be from 5 to 12 may in Buno (about 150km north of Issoudun).
The French team will be there to train before Issoudun.
We will also have the 18m French Nationals some pilots from Belgium and UK are coming.
The website here: aave-buno.net –“
And look at the GREAT pictures I received from the open class competition in 2012 in Buno!!!!Thanks Christophe!!!!
For more pictures you can go to; http://picasaweb.google.com/photosbuno
And for their FB site to;
http://www.facebook.com/pages/AAVE-Association-Aéronautique-du-Val-dEssonne/213947788620784
2 Fantastic impressions about WAITING.
In Denmark from Arnborg , last weekend 4 flights by 2 brave pilots flying over 200 km. and over 300 km in the Discus and Ventus, starting the OLC season over there.
And,… North of Arnborg pilots woke up as well ,flying in the Discus from Herning Skinnerh, mentioning even “working cloud streets” !
Swedish pilot Bernt Hall so much enjoyed his first flight of the season/year , even circling with an eagle; the eagle won, he mentions in his OLC comment! 244 km. in the DG 400 from Skoevde Maal and up to nearly 1500 m.. Must have been VERY cold.
One of the 2 first flights added to the OLC list this year for Sweden.
This eagle flew / was spotted in Australia .
courtesy; Morgen Sandercock.
124 pilots start this weekend in Nitra with hope to be the winner in one of the 4 classes of that big Pribina Cup.
On her way Swaantje Geyer from Germany had to defy cold -4 and snow , while driving up to Nitra through the hils of the HARZ and Thüringer forest and via Nürnberg to finish her jobs. HOPE the weather will be GOOD there, it looks like it will improve !!!!!!
as shared by Swaantje on FB.
The competition and selection committee in Holland has decided to agree on the next handicap in the combi class during the CAE/NLS Dutch Nationals from Mai 9 till 17 2013
100 Standaard klasse
101 Duo Discus & DG-1000
103 15 meter klasse
104 Arcus
Pilots can register at least till March 31!
The tornado-power had a direct impact I heard now on places VERY close to Tocumwal, as Barooga where lot’s of our guests played golf or had dinner at the Barooga Golf club. Also Cobram the town we all do/did our BIG shopping, was hit . Here is the link I got from Doris , who loved in the past being in Tocumwal as well.
Of course I started to worry a bit. Knowing that Eddie , from Sportaviation, who knows the area very good AND knows a lot about weather could inform me best and of course to check if they and all new trees they planted and the new hangars and the beautiful new camping site, were still ok, he answered;
—” We could hear the start of the tornado quite clearly from here, like a jet or high speed train.
It set down about 1Km west of Koonoomoo through the store and a few houses travelled for 4Km lifted and set down twice in Barooga gaining power to full strength at Mt Gwin destroying a farm. It then lifted again and come down with even more power on the North side of Lake Mulwala totally destroying the caravan park ,in the forest on the west side the trees were ripped from the ground and the trees devoid of leaves . It travelled across the lake to Bundalong doing the same thing there. Total destruction!
Not much happened at Tocumwal as the cells developed south and NE of us and we got much needed rain with a bit of wind.—“
THANKS Eddie!
Koonoomoo , is a tiny place with lots of fruit as apricots and kiwis. Strawberries are famous there and you find them in all varietees in the BIG STRAWBERRY, which you pass by travelling from Melbourne to Toc..
Hearing that, I was worried again about Richard our former instructor at Sportavia and in the past a longtime owner of a KESTREL , as he just built a new house in Koonoomoo, with sheds and lot’s of trees, but also animals, “cattle & horses were behaving very weirdly in the 10 minutes or so that the tornado was forming – I guess the atmospheric pressures upset them.”
Here is what he had to say:
—“it was a very very scary event. I watched the tornado from my place form almost right over the little Koonoomoo store at the highway intersection about 2 klms south of my cattle yards. I had no idea how serious it was until I drove in that direction on my way to Cobram for dinner about 15 minutes later. I couldn’t get through with all roads blocked in every direction by fallen red gums. It was as if somebody had used a giant hedge trimmer to cut the tree trunks about 20 feet above ground! The broken limbs were dumped by the tornado onto houses, cars, caravans & sheds – about 7 houses were destroyed in Koonoomoo all around that intersection, including the shop which exists no more. The young girl in the shop thought she was going to die when a large glass fronted drinks refrigerator fell towards her but luckily fell against a wall which held it off her while the roof and walls were blown away by the 250 klm whirlwind. Strangely the “Big Strawberry” building only 20 metres away suffered only 1 broken glass window – no damage on that side of the intersection.
The tornado then moved east at about 80 klms p/hour towards Barooga cutting a path about 50 – 100 metres wide where lots of trees were broken and the Golf Club lost it’s roof; then on to Mulwala where trees were broken and 2 caravan parks were completely destroyed and 19 people injured, some of them trapped in their caravans while being picked up by the tornado and dumped onto the ground!! It then moved on to Bundalong and did a lot of damage to homes there and finally to Rutherglen where it petered out.
I eventually got to my dinner & red wine in Cobram about an hour & a half late after helping people in Koonoomoo chainsaw tree branches off the roads and in their driveways……………It was like a bomb site and even this morning driving to the Clinic it felt really strange seeing blue skies all above where previously there were 40 & 50 feet high gum trees with their foliage.
How lucky that there was no loss of life.—”
So far about the tornado, specially for my friends, who have flown with us and were worried as I heard , like I was.
Thanks Richard!
Of course I support the “kick off” as published by my friends Bill and Rand from Soaringcafe:
—“Richard Glassock, an Australian glider pilot and aircraft designer, is the originator and designer of a breath-taking six-seat sailplane design concept. On March 27, 2013, he will kick off a 90-day crowd-funding project with a goal of A$5,000,000. Visit his website to learn more about this ground-breaking project and to support him by making a pledge. The kickoff announcement is also posted on www.soaringcafe.com —“
And to finish , speed as speed should be, even expressed/caught in the picture.
This is Tassilo Bode flying as a jet in JET, the JS 1 in Tswalu.
High speed finish, indeed the picture “shows the speed”.
Shared on FB by Sven Olivier.
Picture courtesy; Iain Rennie.
Off to the Southern part from Holland now for the 50thiest anniversary of the ZES. Camera, paper and pen with me! Old fashioned, no i-phone, i-pad , blackberry , Samsung or whatever they are all called, just back to the basics, today; memories and fun.
cheers Ritz