Pictures by Mirja Klicks

Pictures by Mirja Klicks

The German female pilots practiced in Scotland? Why not, some pilots perform fast and big wave flights in the Scottish Highlands… But no, the German women pilots met in Thuringia, on the plateau of Jena’s airfield for their second training in 2013. Usually a very good area for extended cross country soaring, this spring Thuringia looked more like the Lake District in northwestern England which borders Scotland about 100 km to the North.

The last week of May, 16 pilots and 8 trainers hoped to escape the bad German 2013-spring-weather when travelling to Jena. Almost everybody had experienced weeks of rain and heavy clouds and the weather could only improve… But with only one exception, the weather gods were not cooperative at all. The forecast for the camp’s first weekend did not look too promising. However the Ladies rigged their ships and practiced some take-offs an landings and enjoyed the views of Thuringia’s rolling hills. During the first night it began to rain and the precipitation became worse during the day: strong rainfalls and heavy winds…

But a training camp is not only for flying: two days of soaring theory and lessons helped to keep focused on what was to follow. Tuesday morning looked completely different. The sun helped to quickly dry the wet tents, and trainees and trainers got busy rigging gliders and planning their team’s tasks. Despite the fact that during the last 48 hours heavy rain had soaked the country and the outlanding options were limited – the day turned out great. Under varying clod bases the women managed to fly between 100 and 300 kilometers, depending on their personal levels and skills. Yet, some had to land out and found places which were surprisingly dry. While sitting around the campfire that night, nobody would imagine this had already  been the last soarable day of the week…

Several low-pressure-areas had gathered to play their rain drop music on the trailers and tents. The forecast did not show any second soaring-chance on Wednesday morning. The only way to take advantage of the training camp was to do an extended de-briefing and listen to the pilot’s stories of their flights. The attached picture by Eric Scharfenort (Reinheim gliderport, near Darmstadt) gives a good impression of what had happened during May in some parts of Southern Germany.

But the group of female pilots on Jena’s popular airfield was still able to enjoy the rest of the week. A rock band was invited to enlighten Thursday’s night, and after some “1,000 lessons” they simply cancelled the camp a day earlier. Mirja Klicks explains: “I had a really good time in Jena, great company and despite the unusual weather we enjoyed a superb atmosphere. I am looking forward to meet you girls again for the next AMF-training camp! Thanks to Uschi and Eberhard Wötzel, who took great care of us!”