The 10th edition of the Belgium Junior Weekend,in progress NOW as we speak, shows a unique way of PR for soaring, is n’t it?
I can only say that Belgium , is doing a great job over the recent years, in supporting their very active juniors. Compliments!!!!
They had 5 pilots flying in Leszno during the JWGC , they went with a TC and coach, both very experienced and the boys flew pretty well.
The Belgium team in Leszno with coach Ken Evens.
This JUNIOR -weekend is open for everybody, they even organised a show with a Piper Super Cub formation and an AT-16 Harvard, there is food , you can fly in your own glider but also try something else you always wanted to fly and a party will finish the day starting at 11PM, THE time the young ones come loose!
Gliders as Arcus, Duo Discus, DG-1000, Stemme S10, L-23 Super Blanik, Pipistrel Taurus, Pratt-Read LNE-1, ASK21, MDM-1 Fox, have confirmed their visit.
A warm tribute to the organisers!!!!!By being ACTIVE and outgoing , this is one way to keep our young pilots interested in our sport!!!
Something else; I was a bit worried, to read that 2 airline pilots [ UK] fell a sleep at the same time leaving their Airbus 330 in the hands of the automatic pilot! Not TOO worried as I know that, when something should go different than normal they both would have been awake in a flash. But if their reaction would be as alert as normal, I don’t know. What I do know , is that every airline has rules for duty times, I also see in the world around me, that pilots from some airlines really have to work hard or under a lot of stress .[as I read about Ryan Air.]
Pilot -fatigue is not only from this time, but…. there are so many young pilots without a job at the moment, that they should maybe have more crews , to avoid insufficient sleep .It’s more expensive, but ….it’s not ALL about money!
Credit to the 2 pilots to report the incident straight away !!!!
The very first soaring competition from this season 2013/2014, has been flown in Potchefstroom in South Africa. The early spring weather was only really co-operating on ONE day when they had an over 500 km distance-task in 18 m. class.
The winners in 18 m. class after 5 days were;
1. Uys Jonker in JS 1-B 3574 points
2. Attie Jonker in JS 1- B 3502
In 15 m. they only had 3 days;
1. Mark Holiday in ASW 27 1639 points
2. Sven Olivier in ASW 27 1513
In club class the best pilot was on 1 day the only one to fly the 2 hour AAT gaining 71 points, flying 147 km. in 2.19. Not a lot of points in this class as you can see.
1. Tommie Grobler in ASW 19 1087 points
2. Chris Kuschke in Libelle H301 1072
Most gliders for the overseas season are on their way to their destinations, so we will wait what the 2013/2014 season is going to bring us. The first BIG comps are in Kingaroy where the 52 Australian Multi Class Nationals will be flown between October 14 and 25. Noticed today that David Jansen had a great practise day there, flying 637 km with a speed of 117 km./h.
Will keep you informed. For all other news , also about Kingaroy and PLANES, you can read www.soaring.eu
Enjoy!
Cheers Ritz
