Susanne Schödel flies new World- and Continental-Record in Namibia

Susanne is happy to be back in Bitterwasser

Susanne is happy to be back in Bitterwasser

The German glider pilot Susanne Schödel recently returned from another winter escape to Namibia. Back in the mild and wet German winter she is now busy unpacking her bags, and she brought some nice African souvenirs with her luggage: a new continental and a new world record!

Susanne has already achieved two world records in the past years, but in December 2013 again she travelled to Bitterwasser not only to enjoy the southern summer, the views of the Namibian deserts and the marvelous conditions. On the last day of the year she mounted the 18 meter tips and climbed into a Ventus 2cxm. In just 8 hours and 26 minutes she rounded a 1,107 kilometer triangle setting a new world record in the female open class category. She overflew the Kalahari’s western edge with its mountainous terrain that leads into the Namib Desert. Flying between 1,700 and 5,000 meters above sea level she was able to achieve an average speed of 131 km/h.

On January 3rd, Susanne flew her fastest speed ever on a 500 km triangle: 139.3 km/h; a new African continental record!

This year Susanne could borrow the self-launcher equipped with all the necessary instruments from a friend who stayed in Bitterwasser at the same time. Up to 60 pilots from 12 different countries made for a very interesting camp. The Italian pilot Margherita Acquaderni and a second German female colleague Anja Kohlrausch were also “competing”, trying to set new records in women’s soaring. The distance record (1,036 km) which had been set in 1998 by the British pilot Pamela Hawkins was first broken by Anja, who flew 1,075 km on December 30th. On New Years Eve already, Susanne flew the 1,107 km…  while Anja topped the speed record in the 1,000 km distance, averaging at 138,17 km/h. Bummer, just three weeks before Margherita Acquaderni had flown only 12 km/h less…

Susanne comments: “It’s amazing how we can break distance and speed records every year that we fly here! Technically the gliders are already brought to perfection, but pilot wise you can still work a lot on your own performance and skills.” Of course it takes several visits, years of preparation and flying to be able to fly that fast and far over the area. “Only when the weather and the prepared task fit really well together you can achieve more. Sometimes we have to wait for weeks, try the flights over and over again… For a record flight it is most important to have the right plan and to stay focused during 8 or 9 hours.“

The female team in Namibia is a part of a growing group of women pilots who try to fly bests. The Australian Lisa Trotter was also successfully soaring in the 15 meter class across the African continent, and during the summer of 2013 Ghislain Facon (France) achieved some world records in the world class (13.5 m wingspan). Please have a look at all the claimed world records here.