“NOT FOR PILOTS”!

Alphen aan den Rijn    Wednesday September 5 2012

ritzdeluy@hotmail.com     www.glidinginternational.com     www.soaringcafe.com

A nice flight this week in an ASH 26 in Spain  by French pilot Denis Flament; 1.093 km. with 128 km./h. from Santa Celia flying in wave over the mountains far to the East, to Cerdanya even up to 7000 m. with 25 kt wind.
One of his French mates flew a bit less[841km.]  but in a MOSQUITO , not bad!!!! It’s autumn there as well.
Most other flights were under 500 km , more normal for this time of the year.

Nice to get such an enthusiastic reaction —”and what a flight it was !!!!!—”by Niel Deijgers,   on my report about the flight from the 2 Belgium Libelle pilots flying ALL the way over Holland and back on the first autumn day. Niel is a blogger himself and you can find his blogs , including the one about this great flight at;   http://nieldeijgers.blogspot.be/

The next IGC meeting/ plenary will be as announced in soaringcafe in……The Netherlands in March. Frouwke is in the organisation and I am helping her a bit with the touristic and ladies program. Looking forward to see many of my friends in HOLLAND. And….of course you share in that happiness as I will write ALL about it. This month we start “talking-about-it, ” meaning WE are in the mood already.

From the 4 weekend-days they could fly  for the BELGIUM MASTERS -title, only one day was good enough to fly. Last Saturday on September 1 when Holland had those nice long flights, the Belgium Ardene’s- area [St.Hubert] had a 247 km task and…the ARCUS won with Wim Akkermans flying it. With handicap 107 he won the day with a speed of 96 km./h. gaining 800 points. Runner up Jean Luc Colson in the ASG 29 [handicap 111]  with 30 points less and Olivier Brialmont in ASG 29 E with 775 points.

And last but not least something different. One of my friends Frank Versteegh , yes the one from flying under the Erasmus Bridge in Holland, the one racing between the pillars during many Red Bull Air Races WORLD WIDE, the one who landed AT the racing circuit of Zandvoort and started there again in a spectecular way, he Frank, wrote a book “Niet voor piloten” [“NOT FOR PILOTS”] and dedicated this book to Kay Howe, a beautiful 10 year old girl, who sadly died of cancer [acute leukemia]  in 2010. All revenues will go to the foundation KIKA, [children cancer-free] and the Ronald Mac Donald House! What a great gesture!!!
Frank describes his flying moments from the beginning when he was 17 and flew gliders,  to his triumphs during the Red Bull Air Races; 30 years of adventure, excitement , sensational aerobatics and passion for flying, with pictures from exotic places as Monument Valley, where he flew one of the best races in his life. But also with links you find in the book, to several impressive video’s at Internet.
228 Pages of inside information about a passionate pilot and an inspiring view in the world of aviation.
I ordered the book straight away , you can do so to;
Look at www.nietvoorpiloten.nl  , here  is a link to one video as well and I will sort out if this book will be out in English too. And….YES it will be out in English in 2013, so stay tuned!!!!

CU on Sunday, cheers Ritz