March 9th 2006

After the wedding of Craig Blunt and Sandy we just took a few days of and saw a bit of Australia.

Craig and Sandy Just Married

We also finished the new opening page of our website. We hope easier to navigate.

March 1st 2006

We have had 2 excellent weeks. A very good cycle, a cool change with 5 mm rain and another
good cycle. The temp traces s were all " Christmas Trees"
Every day temperatures of 33 grC or more ( 3-4 grC above normal) , cumulus in the afternoon
and thermal heights of 3000 m average. Late, but the real Aussi weather.
Yesterday Eugene and Francesco launched just after 2 pm and flew both over 300 km.
Cloudbase 3000 m and climbs of 3.5 up to 4 m/s avg.
Unfortunately we had to do to much work and could only enjoy the weather for 2 days.
Nevertheless a very nice end for our season.

On Saturday we will attend the Wedding of Graig Blunt and Mrs Sandy Blunt in Melbourne.
 

February 24th 2006

Two days of excitement.
The shipping company made some new rules, which gave a hold up of our containers
in the Melbourne warf.
Loading was planned for Thursday and leaving today. After a few phone calls and and
collecting and producing some new safety documents we were able to get the containers
on board and have them sailing on schedule. A close call and two nervous days for us.
All the credits are for our Jodie in Melbourne who did a great job again.

And the weather,

Nice	but too late

The last week we have the real summer weather, temperatures in the mid thirties and every
day cumulu's. The days however are short. The cu's start at 3 pm and by 6 pm it is almost over.
If you have a look at the synoptic maps, you can see the high pressure systems and cold fronts
where they should have been in summer time.

February 21st 2006

A nice soaring day. Cloud base 9000 ft agl and climbs up to 4 m/s.
We launched after lunch and flew for about 3 hours.
Eugene flew 285 km with WN and Francesco with GOB 275 km,
Tow pilot Grietje.

From the ground	In the air	4 m/s avg

February 19th 2006

The containers have left and the Corowa season is over now.
This morning, the trucking company B&K arrived with 4 trucks to pick up the containers.
Absolute top these drivers who are always willing to work on Sunday, so we can fly as long
as possible.
As the season is over now,  there will be no daily news every day, only when there is
something special to mention.
We are taking  a few days of and then start with the preparations for the season 2006/2007.

The first truck arrives	The White container 1st	Waiting	Green Last	All 4 done	The drivers

February 18th 2006

A working day.
We cleaned the fieldcars and all the hangar walls. It looks like new.
All the field cars, caravans  and private cars are safe in the hangar.

Clenaing the cars	Hangar clean 1	Hangar clean 2	Hangar clean 3	Camping site empty	Eugene and Francesco Grietje (photographer) Job done

February 17th 2006

We started early to finish the containers, because the forecast was a max temp of 38 grC.
By 11 am we had all 4 containers packed and ready to go.

We had to say good bye to Jan and Chris today.
They left for Canberra after they did a lot of cleaning.
Thanks both of you, you were a great help and made a huge contribution
to this successful Corowa season 2005/2006.
Jan and Chris will be back in November for the next season.

RED ready	GREEN ready	BLUE ready	WHITE ready	The team of the season And of course Wim who is in The Netherlands

At 1.30 pm  Eugene took WN out and had a magnificent day.
Thermals over 5 m/s and a cloud base of 4000 meter !! and 350 km.

February 16th 2006

A bit sad with all the cu's in the sky, But the season has ended and we spend the day packing gliders.
By 10 am we had a coffee break and celebrated the last birthday. Klaus Meitzner 66 years young.
We had coffee with mud cake, cream and ice cream.
Later we almost finished 4 containers. All the gliders are in and tomorrow morning early we will finish
the containers with all the luggage etc.
And then we start cleaning the hanger and put in all the cars and caravans.
But for now D'Amigo's restaurant.

Not only gliders in the container	All the stuff for 1 container	Grietje and Chris	2 Duo"s, DG505 ASW27 and Ventus	Werner and his SY
Lubor impressed	Time to say good bye	The last fuselage	The last wing	1st container ready

February 15th 2006

Eveline is celebrating her birthday today. We still have so many people around that the happy
birthday song was great. Presents for Eveline and Coffee with Mud Cake and cream for all
of us.
Today we had the last flying day of this successful Corowa season.
Jan Vercammen, Reinhard Pankow, Werner Niechciol and The Hoya Duo with Klaus and Matthias
were the left over gliders who enjoyed a perfect soaring day with nice cu's and a cloudbase over
3000m.

After briefing we Packed "PZ" and "EN". Grietje and Chris packed all the luggage in Blue.
Tonight we also have the last  (fish) evening that the restaurant is open.
Tomorrow we will de rig the last gliders and pack them.

Eugene putting on the Cu-SOnde	Grietje, the last temp flight of the season 2005/2006	Lubor the OLC Champion	Farewell Champagne
more Champagne	Happy faces	Chris, always busy	Reinhard's putting in his last flight for the OLC

February 14th 2006

A late start today. We needed 26 grC which was reached by 1.30 pm.
Berry made his last flight today for this Corowa season. He flew over 20.000 km cross country.
Reinhard and Klaus/matthias did both over 300 km and Eugene just enjoyed a flight of 2 hours>
 
Before we started flying we did put "FOX" "JR" "ILH" and "3W" in the container. After that we
tried to collect all the tail dollies, wing walkers , tow bars, wing stands and boxes of all gliders.
In the clubhouse we sorted all the luggage per container.
Lubor cleaned his glider today and "LK" will be packed tomorrow and if Berry has EN ready in time
we pack "PZ" and "EN" as well.
Busy and a lot of work to get the containers ready befor Sunday morning.

February 13th 2006

The forecast  was ok. The first cu's popped up at 10.30, cirrus came in and the cu's disappeared.
The wind also  increased up to 20 kts. So a nice sunny day for packing .
We packed ZY and AS and FOX ,ILH and 3W are clean and ready to go in the containers tomorrow.

February 12th 2006

3 days to go and then we will close this Corowa season.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday we wil pack the containers which will leave next Sunday.
Today we got blue thermals up to 2500 m agl with climbs sometimes up to 5 m/s.
It was not always easy, because the thermals were sometimes far apart from each other.
Nevertheless we flew 1x >300 km , 2x > 500 km  5x > 600 km and Lubor flew a 800 km
declared FAI triangle. Now Lubor is OLC Champion and FAI OLC Champion.

Lubor the OLC and OLC/FAI Champion

February 11th 2006

Francesco and Grietje went to Albury to bring Nils and Megan to the airfield, so it was Jan's
turn to do the briefing. Perfect !
The day turned out to be a blue sunny day with good thermals in the afternoon.
Only Lubor and the "HO" team did fly cross country.
Jan flew with his family from Canberra in  the FOX.
 

February 10th 2006

Early cu's and a launch at 11 am.
Only Lubor stayed on the ground and wanted to save the energy for the next days.
Megan and Nils made their last flight in the Duo as they are going back home tomorrow.
An excellent flying day with flights again over 600 km.

Francesco Tuggy	Klaus & Matthias "HO"	Megan & Nils "FOX"	Reinhard "AR"	Aandy"AS"	Berry "EN"
Werner & Andreas "SY"	Jan "3W'	Daniel "ZY"	Hansi "ILH	Last flight for Nils and Megan	Photo's Nils & Francesco

February 9th 2006

A cool change with rain today.
The forecast was what we got. High clouds a bit of rain (0.8mm) and a strong gusty wind>
We had an average of 20 kts and gusts up to 35 kts.
After the change we had a nice sky filled with cu's, but the wind kept us on the ground.
Just before that all we did put JM in the container. Manfred is leaving tomorrow.
Peter Zander prepared his glider for packing and is also leaving tomorrow.
Slowly we are moving to the end of this successful Corowa season. Only  9 days to go before
the containers are going back to Europe

February 8th 2006

After the flights of today Corowa is now Airfield no 2 in the OLC International.
behind  Bitterwasser (NA) and ahead of Garip Dam (SA).

From11 am until 1 pm we got a strong wind over 20 kts, which made the temp
to rise slower as expected.
We started launching at 11.30 , but it was not easy in the beginning. Later it was
ok and we managed to fly together 4800 km cross country today.
Megan made her first cross country with Nils and did over 300 km.
Eugene was a bit unlucky and outlanded 20 km out. Jan stopped his flight
landed and did the road retrieve with Francesco.

February 7th 2006

The forecast was reasonable soaring weather today with strong winds.
An early trigger temperature of 19 grC.
We started with de rigging DB and put him in the container.
After that Francesco did some aero tow training with his daughter Megan.
It was the first time they flew together. The 2nd flight was 1 hr 15 min and
She was doing very well and I feel much more relaxed now when she is flying.
Lubor left Narromine in the morning and landed safe back at Corowa.
400 km again.

Megan and Francesco	Pilot Megan in "FOX"	Father and Daughter

February 6th 2006

We started with Nils site check. We launche at 10.30 and we already had 28 grC
and the first thermals.
Lubor was the next, he launched at 11 am and landed 640 km later at Narromine.
We will see him back tomorrow.
All the other made good flights between 100 and almost 600 km.,
The wind was ok in the morning, but with the approach of the cold front we got a
steady wind of 20 kts and gusts up to 35 kts.
The airfield was filled with tumble weed and after Nils and Megan cleaned the pool
it took only 10 minutes before it was full again.
No problem for Matthias, he just wanted to have a swim

After launching we packed DS in the container. Ruedi is leaving tomorrow
and tonight we said good bye to Richard.

Francesco towing HO	Klaus and Matthias on tow in "HO"	Matthias after his flight in the pool filled with tumble weed

February 5th 2006

We started the briefing with a happy Birthday for Grietje.
She was treated with a lot of presents. Tonight a drink and bites for everybody.
After that the last family evening for this season.

The weather forecast , First some high clouds and clearing during the morning.
Blue thermals from 28 grC up to 1900 meter.
Finally the forecast was correct and only a few pilots used the day for cross country.

In the afternoon, Francesco went to Albury to pick up his daughter Megan with
partner Nils. It is the first time they are in Corowa and are flying the Duo "FOX'
for a few days.

Grietje unpacking presents	Happy	The Party	The Party II	The Party III

February 4th 2006

Unfortunately a stable day. The thermals started at 3.30 pm.
Not good for flying, but an excellent outdoor day.
It was Richard's last flying day, but we decided to to put RA in the container today.
The weather forecast for tomorrow  looks .......... (I will tell you tomorrow)

February 3rd 2006

We 8/8 high clouds in the morning, but after briefing it cleared and we made the decision to
make a temp flight.
When we got the print it was clear we needed 32 grC to get 1000 m climbs. The max forecasted
temp was 32/33 grC.
Everybody went sight seeing or playing golf.
More luck tomorrow as the forecast looks promising.

February 2nd 2006

We said good bye to Andreas Nies, Alex Ciliox and Sebastiaan. Andreas and Alex were here
for just over 3 weeks. They flew on 21 days 9.920 km cross country and 125 hours.
Today we still had the persistent trough over NSW.
We started the day with blue skies and a change we could stay clear of the trough for a while.
We made a temp flight ,but soon after briefing we had a lot of high clouds. The temperature
stayed to low to get good lift.
We used the cool period of the day for derigging MK and fixing the wings of the gliders in the
containers. Sofar 6 gliders in the containers and another 18 to go.

February 1st 2006

The first day of the new Month.
Temp 37 grC local and 42 gr NW.
Just during launching at 11.10, we had some high clouds over the area, which made it a bit
difficult to stay in the air. But by 12.30 the sky was clear and we had a nice day. Still not easy
Up to 100 km North, because we needed 39 grC for some good lift and reasonable height.
In the North West we got over 42 grC and a cloudbase of 4000 meter agl.
Lubor is surprising us every day with his flights. Today he almost managed to fly 1000 km via
3 turning points, but due to the strong headwind in the afternoon he found his Waterloo 40 km
out. Nevertheless 960 km was enough to take over the first place in the Australian OLC from
his master Tomas Suchanek. Congratulations Lubor. And Tomas, you must be an excellent instructor.

January 31st 2006

The last day of January.
We needed 32 grC to get 1000 meter.
We waited a while but it took too long and we only got 32.8grC.
Nobody did fly but the swimming pool was well used.

January 30th 2006

Another hot day. But we were just in between two systems. Strong winds and not a really good
soaring day.
Everybody stayed on the ground.

January 29th 2006

1st launch was at 11 am. A little bit early, because everybody was struggling for the firs 2 hours.
After that the thermal switch was turned on and they enjoyed real good weather again.
We had a max temperature of 39.8 grC in the afternoon not enough to trigger the thunderstorms.
The trough was just west of the airfield and we had some rain. Lubor landed at 20.20 after 9 hours and
15 min. The last part of his flight was along the trough.

Corowa not only flat country	The result of bush fires	3000 m msl	Flying along the storm	Final Glide
				Photo's Lubor Kuvik

January 28th 2006

We started with blue skies.
Forecast 39 grC. We needed 36 grC for 7000 ft and cu's, 38 grC for 10.000 ft and 39 grC for the Cb.
It all happened according the forecast. Only the Cb's were just South of the Murray River and not over
our area. 4 pilot's did fly and enjoyed good strong lift and a high cloud base.
The best flight today was for Lubor Kuvik. He did 795 km.
In the mean time, Jan and Chris prepared the last family evening. Tonight again a 3 course dinner.
This time , Melon with Port and Parma ham; Roast Pork from the spit; Omelet Siberean.

Jan preparing the Meat	The start of a 6 hour roast	Almost ready	Meister Andy	The Ice Omelette

January 27th 2006

We started the briefing with a good bye for Jos and Sonja Schrier. They spend 3 weeks in Corowa
and their daughter Danielle also flew for about 6 days. But we will see the Schrier family back next
season. Herbert Dressler also left today after a month holiday.
And last but not least Wim.
He spend about 5 weeks in Corowa as an excellent "Chef" and "Technician" .
We really appreciate all the work he is doing for Corowa. Thanks Wim on behalf of everybody in Corowa.
After the briefing we de rigged, 6E, DG and HD and but them back in the container.

The weather was a bit rough in the afternoon.
After the top day yesterday only 3 pilots took off.
Reinhard was back in time and Ian was just back before a huge down burst just North of the field.
To get the glider on tie down however was not a dry job.

Ian was jus on the ground	HDU back on tie down	Werner and Eugene wet,  but HDU safe	Ian still smiling

Andreas and Alex with FOX were by that time still flying in the North and had to wait and hold before
the weather calmed and the possibility to fly back to Corowa.

January 26th 2006

Today it was Graig's day to fly the ASW27. After 2 landings at Corowa he topped
the glider up with water and went cross country. Dad Eugene flew the ASW 17, so
the whole Blunt family was airborne today.
The forecast was climbs up to 1000 meter at 12 and cu's 1 hour later.
We started launching at 12 and within 1,5 hours everybody was gone.
Ian was a bit unfortunate  near Rand and  had to outland. A quick retrieve did put him
back in the air within 1 hour.
In the mean time we had nice cu's and good climbs. A few clouds gave some rain, but
it was easy to fly around it.

"Richard Aldous" at 5.pm

The last glider landed at 8 pm and we had another day in Soaring Paradise Corowa.

January 25th 2006

35 grC and cu's up to 2300 m agl. A nice day again.
Jan Vercammen made his first cross country on the ASW 27 and did a 300 km o/r.
Matthias made his first real flight with Klaus in the Duo HO.
And for tomorrow, we are going again over the 40grC mark and are looking forward
for the meteo forecast, Hopefully a good day again.

January 24th 2006

A late start today. We had to wait until 1.30 pm to get the temperature for  1000m.
Due to the bush fires in Victoria we had a thin layer of smoke and also some high clouds
of the trough in the North.
Fred and Steef made their last flights for this Corowa season on GOB and are leaving
tomorrow. It will be quit in the clubhouse without the two Dutchies.
PI is back in the container, They leave for Melbourne tomorrow and fly on Thursday.
"Chef" Jan made his first flight on the ASW27.

January 23rd 2006

A trough passing over NSW and a cold front over Victoria and the South of NSW.
The temperature was still over 40 grC in the morning and we had nice high cu's, but
a strong gusty wind kept us on the ground.
Next to that most pilots did fly between the 15 and 20 hours over the last 2 days.

January 22nd 2006   A record day in Corowa

1st Launch was at 10.15 for Graig Blunt and by 11.15 we had all 20 gliders airborne.
by 11.30, the first cu's popped up and by 12 the sky was covered with nice cu's.
Excellent thermals and a cloud base over 3000 m, the best day of the season and Corowa history so far.

 1. Lubor Kuvik flew a declared 1000 km O/R ,122 km/h
 2. Viliam and Pavel flew a declared 1000 km FAI triangle, 125 km/h
 3. Andreas and Alex flew a 1000 km FAI triangle with the Duo DIscus "FOX"
 4. Otto Dumke flew a 1045 km polygone
 5. Hansi Lange flew a 1020 km polygone
 6. Ruedi Herzog flew a 1050 km triangle
 7. Herbert Dressler flew 1005 km polygone
 8. Manfred Kasten  flew 1015 km polygone
 9. Berry Fennis flew 1040 km
10.Peter Zander flew 1040 km

The forecast	The cu's	6,5 m/s avg	The 1000 km pilots of Yesterday

And a lot of personal records.
Danielle Schrier and Ross Lacombe flew both their 500 km diamond distance. Congratulations.

Jos and Danielle Schrier	Danielle after 500 km and Graig Blunt after 840 km

January 21st 2006

Lubor Kuvik flew a declared 1000 km FAI triangle today with his Ventus 2 cxt "LK"
Viliam and Ivan flew a declared 1000 km o/r with the Nimbus 4 dm "PI"

Andreas and Alex flew a 900 km FAI triangle with the DUO "FOX"

Lubor after his 1000km FAI triangle	Sponsor of LK	Ivan and Viliam after 1000 km O/R	Alex and Andreas after 900 km FAI triangle

So another good day.
We started launching at 10.15  and by 11.25 we had all 18 gliders in the air.
The cu's started to pop up by 11.15 when we got 35 grC. The max temp local
was 38 grC and NW 39 grC.

January 20th 2006

 We had a good day with an excellent performance of the PI team Pavel and Viliam.
They flew a 840 km triangle.  top!
Karel had his last flight today. He has to go back to The Netherlands. Steef and Fred
will stay until Wednesday, We hope Steef will complete his Silver "C".
Jan Ritsma and Birgitte left this morning. Not over 30 records as last year, but only 4.
As Jan says it is getting more difficult to beat my own records.
In the kitchen Jan, Chris and WIm have been busy all day do prepare the 2nd Indonesian
evening tomorrow.

January 19th 2006

 Yesterday evening Alexander Hofstra arrived.
Alexander a glider pilot from The Netherlands will stay and help for a week at Corowa.

Again a good soaring day with nice cu's with a cloudbase over 2000 m.
Karel Schagen flew 5 hours for his Silver "C". congratulations !!

Karel after 5 hours

Jos Schrier flew his diamond distance, 500 km FAI triangle . Congratulations !!

All togehter we did almost 9000 km cross country today.

January 18th 2006

The forecast was not to promising. CB and storms North and over our area and
good conditions in the South.
But we got some flyable time until 6 pm and the the thunder started.
Karel made his last solo flight and his exam flight with Grietje and finished his Dutch
aero-tow endorsement. Ater that he flew over 2 hours around Corowa in the IS28.
Francesco and Wim also made 2 flights with the IS28.

FOX, PI and LK were the only ones who made some cross country flights.

January 17th 2006

Finally a good day with nice cu's.
The cu's popped up just after briefing, but we had to wait until 11 am to get a base of 1000 m.
After that in turned into a great soaring day.

In the afternoon Mary Neighbour flew in their Ventus 2 ct JLA. She will stay in Corowa with
Edward for  the week.

Rene and Herbert left today. They flew over 100 hrs and over 7000 km cross country.

January 16th 2006

A short briefing today. Temp 34 grC but overcast all day.
In the afternoon we got a little bit of sunshine, enough for Jan and Chris to have a sunny brake.

Jan and Chris

Most of the weather information of our own weather station is now available.
Just click on at our opening page and you will be forwarded to findu.com.

January 15th 2006

Today Hansi Lange is celebrating his birthday.
After briefing we all had coffee and delicious home made (by Eveline) cookies and cake.

There was a change of having a flyable window in the afternoon, but that did not happen.
A non flying warm day was good enough for the team "FOX" to work on the DUO
and Berry on his DG800 EN.
Francesco and Eugene took the opportunity to prepare all 4 containers for packing in February
and Grietje finished all the office work.

January 14th 2006

Today we had a dry air mass and some cirrus clouds during the day.
We did need 30 grC to get up to 1000 m. This temp was reached just after 2 pm.
Karel made another 2 solo aero-tows and after that he flew with Fred.
DG and FOX were the only one who were flying cross country today.
For tomorrow we expect more unstable weather.
We are celebrating another birthday. Today it is Manfred Kasten.
At 6 pm we toast with a glass of champagne and after that we have our weekly
family evening.

Tonight an "Italian Evening"
- Gazpacho soup ( a cold tomato soup )
- A variety of 5 different pasta's, with fresh salads
- Tiramisu

The buffet	Table 1	Table 2	Table 3	Table 4	Angelica and Family PZ
Waiting for the Tiramisu	Australian Soaring Centre Corowa ?? or AS Catch the Cake	Chef Jan and Grietje	Chef Chris	Chef WIm

January 13th 2006

After the difficult day yesterday, most of the pilots took the day off .

Andreas Sieber is celebrating his birthday today and on the briefing our choir of
approx 45 people did their utmost to sing " Happy Birthday "

Karel Schagen made a few instruction flights with Grietje and made his first solo
aero-tow in the IS28. Congratulations.
 

January 12th 2006

The forecast, a good soaring day with cu's up to 2500 m agl.
We had the first cu's at 10 am. First launch at 10.05 and by 11.30 we had everybody in the air.
The last glider to launch was Berry with his DG808 EN.
Steef Vriesema made his first flight on the LS4 today and Fred and Karel shared the IS28.

In the afternoon the cu's disappeared and the wind increased by 5 kts to 15 kts.
The pilots had to work hard but flew still quite good distances.
 

A Praying Mantis	The difficult life for the Dutchies	Wim and Francesco	Team PI contact with home

January 11th 2006

Christine Dumke left yesterday evening and Bert de Wijs is leaving tomorrow morning.
Until yesterday Bert was no1 in the OLC AUstralia, but Tomas Suchanec flew 1000 km yesterday
and took Berts 1st position. Still a very good performance of our Dutch pilot.
Today we had a trough moving from West to East. A bit of drizzle and from 4 pm Sunshine again.
No flying today and evrerybody used the day for sight seeing.

January 10th 2006

The forecast, Max temp 39 local (we got 39.3) Blue thermals and cu's at a temp of 38.5 grC.
and a cloudbase over 2500m.
We started launching at 11 am. FOX was the first today.
3W JR were the last 2 gliders, Grietje for an 200 km O/R which she flew with 116 km/h (new Dutch
female record) and Jan Ritsma for a 300km  FAI triangle.
Steef, Fred and Karel made their first solo flight over Corowa.

More later.

January 9th 2006

Only Jos and Danielle Schrier, FOX with Andreas and And Grietje went cross country.
First however we had to do some site checks with  Karel and Steef.
After 3 long days flying most pilots took the day off.
After the site checks Fred and Steef flew for a while in the IS28. Thermal hight over 2000 m agl
and Fred showed Steef the Oil Tree Lagoon.
After a few days work on the engine of EN , Otto made a test run in the afternoon. Everything
seems to be ok.

STeef, Karel and Fred	Site Check Steef	SIte check Karel	Otto after the 1st test run

January 8th 2006

The forecast, blue thermals and cu's by 32 grC.
We got 35 grC and some cu's, but they disappeared after 3 pm.
In the afternoon Fred Jansen and Karel Schagen from the Netherlands arrived.
They are now back to Melbourne to pick up their friend Steef Vriezema. All 3 are
from the "Zweefvlieg Club Den Helder" the home club of Grietje and Francesco in the Netherlands.

Jan and Eugene take off assist	Danielle preparing her flight	waiting for the pilots	Berry cleaning EN

January 7th 2006

A good blue day.
We started with the site check of Manfred (HO).
After that Danielle made her first flight in a ASW 27. She flew for about 2 hours, landed
and made another flight of 2 hours. So she is ready for cross country with 3W.
Grietje did the towing and Francesco picked up EN with Bert and Berry who arrived fresh from Europe.
Lubor flew a new Slovak record on the 300 km FAI triangle, 110 km/h

EN	How to fit a DG800 in a ASW28 trailer ?	This part was easy	But Job done	EN back in Corowa

Wim was responsible for the family evening this week.
He spend two days in the kitchen and prepared a Topper, An Indonesian Evening.
The Restaurant was full ( 44 people) and everybody enjoyed the perfect Indonesian Buffet.

Wim our Indonesian Chef	The Buffet I	The "Schrier" family	The Buffet II	Wim serving his creation

January 6th 2006

Yesterday in the afternoon the new pilot for HO Manfred and his wife Heidi arrived and this
morning just before briefing the new PI team, Pavel, Ivan and Viliam.
The weather forescast was good and some cumulus again today.
First launch was at 10.am (LK) and by 11.30 we had 23 gliders airborne.
The longest flight was made by Lubor. He declared a 1000 km O/R and and flew 960 km, a new
Slovak record.
Jan Ritsma flew a new  Dutch record on the 750 km out and return, 119 km/h and Grietje a new
female record on the 200 km O/R.
Bert outlanded with EN and will be retrieved by car tomorrow morning..
Altogether an excellent soaring day with far over 15.000 km cross country.

After his flight, Pepe prepared his excellent Paella.
This was absolute TOP again. Thanks Pepe.

January 5th 2006

In the cold and snowy Netherlands ,Francesco's mother is celebrating her 82 nd birthday.
"" Happy Birthday ""

In Corowa we did celebrate Richard Aldous his birthday.

The sky was covered with high clouds in the morning , but perfect to make the 3 site checks.
After 1 pm the sky cleared and we had cu's up to 2800 m agl and climbs sometimes over
5 m/s>
Danielle made her first flight in the LS4 ( 5 hours)  and Jos in his ASH 26 "6E".
Andreas Nies made his first flight in his ( since October 1st 2005) own glider "FOX'".
Andreas is flying with Alex.
Everybody was happy and enjoyed the perfect soaring afternoon.
 

January 4th 2006

We said good bye this morning to Peter Gerretse and Joke.
Peter handed the 6E over to Jos Schrier who arrived in the morning with his wife Sonja
and daughter Danielle.
Jos will fly 6E and Danielle the LS4 and ASW27.
Just before lunch the new FOX crew arrived. Andreas Nies, Sebastiaan Nies and Alexander Ciliox.
So tomorrow morning 3 site checks.

This morning we had overcast . We had a second briefing at 11.30 and cancelled the day.

January 3rd 2006

The forecast was blue thermals up to 2000m.
At noon we had to deal with a strong wind of 20 kts and gusts up to 30 kts.
Turbulence and broken thermals mad it difficult to make some distance.
Most pilots stayed on the ground.
As every day Lubor left early and flew the first hour between 500 and 700 m.
It was Peter Gerretse his last flying day. Peter and Joke are leaving tomorrow
and from Wednesday the other owner of 6E will fly the glider.

January 2nd 2006

The day after the change.
Forecast blue thermals up to max 1500m. So only a few took the challenge to fly.
Jan Vercammen outlanded with the LS4 and had to be retrieved by car.|
Peter Gerretse flew his ASH26E and did not go to far away and the other 2 did
a bit of cross country.
 

January 1st 2006

Yesterday evening we had a very nice New Years Eve dinner. we finished the meal at 23.15 and
at 00.00 sharp we all had a nice cool glass of Champagne.

At the briefing we said good bye to our guests from Finland Ilmari, Illka and Markku.
We hope to see them back next Summer. Anyway we promised them cumulus.

Forecast 43 grC local and a strong wind.
Lubor took off at 10.30 and after that the wind increased up to 40 kts.
He made a very nice flight and had wave up to 4300 m agl.
LK outlanded 120 km SE of Corowa at Mitta Mitta International Airport. ( a small rural airstrip)
http://www.wombatgully.com.au/airport.htm
We (Eugene, Craig and Francesco) retrieved him by car  and arrived at 11.15 pm in Corowa.
Wim, Jan and Chris prepared a nice warm meal for us.

Lubor  and the  Airport Manager of Mitta Mitta Intl. Apt.	A Ventus 2 cxt in a ASW 27 trailer	New Year's Coffee	Markku, Ilkka and Ilmari back to Finland	Mother and daughter  "ZY"

January 1st 2006

Happy New Year and many long and safe flights for all.

The hottest day sofar. In the afternoon we just got 41.2 grC in Corowa.
Blue thermals over 4000 m agl and almost 7 m/s climbs. A great last day.
The best Corowa flight was for Bert de Wijs. He declared a 1000 FAI traiangel
but had to start the engine 40 km out. But still 960 km !!!!

41 grC and 10% Hum.

Tonight we have our New Years Eve Dinner. and of course Champagne at 00.00.

December 30th 2005

A hot day. We got 39 grC local in Corowa.
Almost everybody was in the air today and enjoyed a blue day with thermals up to 3000 m agl.
Climbs were about 3 m/s avg and max 6 m/s.
Tomorrow we expect another good day. A good soaring end of 2005.

December 29th 2005

A blue day with high temperatures.
But today did not get the forecasted Tmax, which made the day good, but not as good as we had
hoped.
The best flight today was for Lubor with his "LK" he did 685 km, What is he going to fly on the
real good days?.
Rene and Herbert made their first flight together and did over 300 km.

For the next 3 days we expect temperatures over 40 grC.

December 28th 2005

The trough passed in the early morning.
We got a fine hot day .
Christine Dumke and Herbert Weiss made their site check in the morning.
After that Christine made her first Australia flight with ZY. Herbert did some work on
DG. SO Rene and Herbert are ready to fly.
Herbert Dressler took the opportunity to fly with his girl friend Conny in the Duo.
Lubor spend the day by moving into his motel and preparing the glider for tomorrow.

Only PI left for a flight in the difficult conditions. They made only 135 km in 5 hours.
All together an easy going day.

December 27th 2005

Christine Dumke arrived this morning. She will fly the family DG800 "ZY"
Rene went to Melbourne to pick up Herbert Weiss. From tomorrow they will fly DG
for the next 3 weeks.
At 9 pm Lubor Kuvik arrived.
Lubor is in Corowa for the 3rd time, but this time flying his own glider the Ventus 2cxt "LK"

We got a  very good soaring day with thermal heigts over 3000 m agl. and climbs of 5 m/s avg.
Pepe reported his best climb of 6.8 m/s average.
We started launching at 10.30 and within no time we had 21 gliders in the air.
At 5 pm we reached the max temp of 34 grC, but in the North they had a few grC more.

All together we flew 150 hours and over 10.000 km cross country.

December 26th 2005

A blue day day in the North and some cu's in the south.
Jan Ritsma left again for a 750 triangle but found his Waterloo after 743 km. Nevertheless
a top performance.
Ruedi did also over 600 km and flew 640 km.
The Finland pilots got some company. VH-MMD with pilot Peter (and family) will fly next week
from Corowa.
 

December 25th 2005

Merry Christmas to everybody.
A good soaring day. The cu's started to pop up after briefing and PI was the first to launch
at 10.05 am and we had almost all gliders in the air today.
The conditions however turned out to be not easy.

Bert was not lucky. He started the engine after 300 km (in a thermal of course) and after that he did
another 500 km and landed after a flight of 10 hours..
Jan Ritsma left for a 750 FAI triangle but turned 100 km before the 2nd TP.

And for tomorrow we expect another good day.

December 24th 2005

Wim (Grietjes's father) is back in Corowa and will stay for 5 weeks. Wim is here for the
5th year in a row, just to give us a hand where possible.
Today his first job, installing the O2 in 6E and now he is already in the kitchen helping to
prepare our Christmas buffet.

The weather today. Strong wind with gusts up to 30 kts.
We had some cu's, but did not fly.

Tonight our Christmas buffet , prepared by Chris and Jan.
We were with 36 people and enjoyed the buffet very much.
Compliments to Chef Jan and his wife Chris.

The Menue	Jan CHris & Lamb	The lamb after 6 hours	The buffet	The buffet
Jan cutting the lamb	Enjoying the evening	Enjoying the meal	Enjoying the company	The desert

And for tomorrow another good flying day and hopefully a good week.

December 23rd 2005

The forecast was excellent. Unfortunately after briefing the sky started to fill with  cirrus clouds.
We got 41 grC and even under the cirrus cu's up to 4000 m and climbs over 5 m/s.
It took a bit time before we got the trigger temp. We launched to late for the big tasks.
By the end of the day we had the longest flight of 700 km and most of the pilots made
final glides over 150 km !!.
 

December 22nd 2005

We started the day with Peter's site check.
Only PI and Dg did fly today.
DG with Rene Breesch and Jan Vercammen flew 320 km and Iilmari and illka with PI did
... km.
Tomorrow the last day before the next change. The cycles are very short this time only 3 days
between 2 changes.

December 21st 2005

The weather forecast was hopefull and the temp was ok.
However the AS/AC was supposed to enter our area by 4 pm and just arrived a few hours earlier.
So after 3 blue days pilots took a rest day.
We rigged the ASH 26E after briefing. So all 23 container gliders are now in operation.

We also installed our new Weather Station Professional from Davis Instruments Supplied
by Eco Watch, Kilsyth, VIC.
Now we are able to monitor  temperature, dew point, wind speed and direction, QNH etc.
All the data are downloaded into our comuter, so we log all data every day all year long.
With all the information we sure can supply a better and more accurate pilot briefing and
info during the day.

Temp, Rain, Hum and Dewpoint	Wind Speed and direction	Info in briefing room	Just in case the system is down
Bert with Peter and Joke Gerretse	6E	Gliders in the hangar	Gliders on tie down

1st lau

December 20th 2005

We had a blue day with a max height of 2600 m agl.
1st launch was at 11 am and we had almost all the gliders in the air.

Grietje did the towing today and had 2 retrieves, Markku outlanded with the LS4 and a pilot
from Benalla outlanded at Corowa and was retrieved back to Benalla.

In the afternoon Peter Gerretse arrived with his wife Joke. Peter is the last container pilot .
So tomorrow rigging the ASH26E 6E and the are the containers empty.

December 19th 2005

Francesco's father is celebrating his 82nd birthday , Happy Birthday !!

We expected some good flying weather today, but the temperature stayed to low and  we had
a strong wind ,not easy to make big distances.
In the morning Jan Vercammen was checked out on the DG 505 MB by Francesco and after that
he was flying with Rene Breesch.
We did put all the gliders on the grid, but after the first "struggle" calls of the early launchers, most of
them did put the gliders back in the hangar.
For tomorrow higher temperatures and hopefully good conditions.

December 18th 2005

Hubert and Helga (HO) left today and Rene Breesch (DG) arrived and is visiting us for the 3rd time.
Rene will stay until mid January and fly with Herbert Weiss, who will arrive in about a week.
We started the day with overcast and a strong wind. Slowly during the day the conditions improved.
Not good enough for most pilots to bring the glider out, but  Bert de Wijs  did 890 km !!!

December 17th 2005

Yesterday afternoon we had excellent conditions.
Andrea Niechciol arrived in the early morning and joins Werner fro the rest of the season.
The first PI team also arrived. ilmari his wife Cisko, 2nd pilot illka Koota and Markku Kankaanpaa
who is flying the LS4.
This morning we said good bye to Tjeerd Reitsma. Tjeerd made a lot of nice and long flights
in the ASW27 and Ventus 2cxt. We hope we see him back, just nice company and a good pilot.

The weather today was a  bit difficult.  A second cold front passed during the morning.
Overcast until 11 am and after that nice cu's. The wind however became strong and soon we saw
the development of storms. With a wind of sometimes 30 kts and gust up to 40 kts it looked like a
European Autumn day.

Tonight we have our family evening.

December 15th 2005

The cool change was expected in the evening. However we got the pre frontal cirrus early.
The pilots still can't believe there is good flying possible under the cirrus.
Most of them were skeptic and stayed on the ground.

Francesco was the first to launch and returned after 420 km.
Eugene flew his ASW 17 and Jan Vercammen flew 310 km in the LS4.
We had good climbs up to 4 m/s avg and a thermal height of 2600m agl.
 

December 14th 2005

We did not get the forecasted max temp of 28 grC. Nevertheless we had good climbs
and a thermal height of 2000 m.
Tjeerd was the first to take off at 10.45 and flew an out and return over 600 km to Grenfell.
And like yesterday, Bert was the last pilot in the air with EN.

December 13th 2005

No rain from the last change. The forecast was severe storms with possible hail.
I think after all the wrong weather forecasts of this season, the Met People have
to go back to school.
Today Bert made his site check and flew EN after that. He reported 1900 meter
blue thermals with an average climb over 2 m/s. Only the strong wind made it a bit
difficult.
None of the others did fly.
During the day "Chef Pepe" prepared  the paella for tonight.

Bert de Wijs just before his first flight in a Duo Discus	Pepe busy with the preparations	Ready!!	Looks good	The Chef

December 12th 2005

Herbert Dressler "HD" arrived yesterday afternoon. This morning we rigged his ventus and
he is ready to start flying from tomorrow.
Herbert "HO" left with his wife for a short visit to Sydney. During his absence Klaus will fly
with his son Robert.
Today we are under the thick cloud layer of a trough and cold frond. For tomorrow we expect
a sunny day again and for Wednesday over 30 grC again.
Because of the forecast we did put all the gliders in the hangar. Just in case.

Tomorrow we will rig 2 gliders , the ASH 26E "6E" and the DG505  "DG". and during the
week the last container glider ,the Nimbus 4dm "PI".

December 11th 2005

The last day for Berry. He is leaving tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with his family in Holland.
He made 24 flights, 139 hrs and  10.890 km cross country. Bert de Wijs will fly EN for the next
few weeks until Berry is back.
And today we had a difficult day.Blue, max 1800 m thermal hight. So no long flight, but sure it
was a character building day.

December 10th 2005

Rien left today and enjoyed his short 5 day  visit and flew  300km 400 km 500 km  and 750 km.
Tjeerd is flying LK today.
A few pilots did not fly after 2 days of 8 hours and more in the air.
We had cu's again by 9.30 am and today it was MK who was to first to take off at 10.20 am.
By 1 pm is was almost blue and pilots reported 100 km North turbulent and difficult conditions.
Most returned to Corowa and 6 pm we had everybody back at the airfield.
Peter Zander and Andreas Sieber use this day for testing Flarm in the ZS1.

And tonight we had our weekly family evening.
Chef Jan prepared, Calamari for entree, main course Cordon Bleu and the desert surprise was
a crepe with vanilla ice-cream, choc lad and cream.

Grietje with Berry Rien and Tjeerd	LK with the pilots	Pepe flying 18 m	Team "B"
Early cu's	Berry ready for the last 2 days	RA flat tire	Richard and Bernd

December 9th 2005

Another good day.
We started launching at 10.15 and by 11.30 everybody was airborne.
Over Corowa we had nice cu';s all day, but in the North we had blue conditions.
 

December 8th 2005

A good soaring day and a new Dutch record on the 200 km triangle/15m for Jan Ritsma
and Tjeerd flew for the first time over 700 km in a glider.
Before the briefing we already prepared some gliders. Straight after briefing we had the first cu's
and at 10.15 am we had the first launch and by 11.15 we had all the gliders in the air.
Cloud base straight away up to 1200 m agl and 1.5 m/s climbs.
Only the wind was strong during the day, sometimes over 40 km/h.
All the pilots enjoyed a good day and for the first time this season, we flew over 10.000 km cross country
on one day.

December 7th 2005

Last night we got another 14 mm of rain, but in the morning the trough was just east of us.
After briefing we waited until 11 to put the gliders on the grid.
By 12 the first cu's popped up and Berry Fennis was the first to launch. followed by Jan Vercammen
Tjeerd, Rien, Jan, Klaus and Richard.
In the beginning the thermals were only  1,5 m/s and we had a strong wind. At some stage Tjeerd reported 45 km/h .
Later in the day we got a cloud base of 2400m agls and max climbs of 4,5 m/s.
The first day after the change was not a bad one this time. And for the next few days only sun, sun,sun.

December 6th 2005

A wide cloud band associated with a trough passed our area today.
We expected severe storms, but we did not get any.
Unfortunately a non flying day and the last day for Uwe and Rüdiger.
They are leaving tomorrow and Peter Klose will take over the glider on December 10th.

December 5th 2005

Jan Vercammen is celebrating his birthday and got on the briefing a nice new polo shirt.
Klaus Meitzner got a new (staff) shirt for the perfect repair jobs he did in the last 2 weeks.

A blue day.
Only the KLM (Rien Bastiaanse, Tjeerd Reitsma and Jan Ritsma), Martinair (Berry Fennis)  and Pepe
were in the air today. Tjeerd outlanded near Bundure and was retrieved by Grietje.
Rien made his first flight on th Ventus 2 cxt and Tjeerd for the first time cross country with an ASW27b.
Pepe just could fly today in stead of making long detours like yesterday.

December 4th 2005

December 3rd 2005

The day after. We got 40 mm rain yesterday at the airfield.
But last night most of the rain was gone and today a strong SW wind helped to dry the last bit.
No flying today and we hope summer will arrive soon.
But tonight a full house on our first family evening of the season.
Jan and Chris Menu for tonight,  Scampi's Diablo, Penne Pescatori, and fruit salad with cream.
Rien Bastiaanse arrived in the late morning. Rien is here for the 2nd time and will fly our Ventus2 cxt "LK".

Chef's Jan and Chris	Penne Pescatori	Berry (EN) and Grietje	table 2	Table1
Enjoying	Boss&Boss	The Ventus 2cxt pilots	The new HO team

December 2nd 2005

Today we had a cool change with severe storm and 30 mm rain.
So we could not fly today.
Yesterday in the afternoon Tjeerd Reitsma from the Netherlands arrived and he is going
to fly PNL (LS8/18). Bert and Mieke de Wijs were also here to say good bye. Bert will
be back in 2 weeks and fly the DG800 en from Berry Fennis for 4 weeks.

Reinhard left and Pepe took over AR for the next 4 weeks.
 

December 1st 2005

The first day of the new Month.
A nice surprise from Bernd and Maria Dörnemann. Grietje and Francesco got a nice wedding
present. A painting made by Maria. (see photo)

The Operea House in Sydney

The day started with high clouds and blue sky with cu's in the afternoon.
Only Berry enjoyed this day , not he longest, but the best day so far with a cloud base of 3700 m agl and 3,5 m/s avg

November 30th 2005

A good soaring area to the NNW and West today.
We launched the gliders with both tow planes and by 12, we hade everybody airborne.
During the day we had sometimes an overcast sky, but still good climbs.
Berry did hurt himself handling his glider. After a short visit to the hospital where he got 5 stitches he
launched with EN and made a nice flight.

Gerhard made his last flight today in HO and doubled his total gliding experience during his stay
in Corowa.
Tomorrow Klaus will bring Gerhard to Melbourne for his trip back to cold Germany. After
that Klaus will fly with a new HO team.

Pepe returned from Narromine and start flying AR on Friday.

Tonight we have our fish evening with a full restaurant.

November 29th 2005

A difficult day for the weather forecast. A good temp, early cu's and a Low over our area.
A trough associated with the Low was moving from East to West with possible rain.
We had nice cu's at 9.30 am but with the forecast we choose to wait a bit .
Uwe and Rüdiger left by 12 and were back by 2,30 pm Reinhard made a short flight with AR
and Klaus and Gerhard flew for a while with the DUO HO.
So not a busy day.
To night Jan made a special entree for the few left at Corowa.

November 28th 2005

Still strong wind, but a good soaring day. Trigger temperature was 17 grC to get up to 1000m
which was reached by 10.30 am.
We started with Marc's site checks and for the first time in 4 years we used runway 14.
We had straight away climbs up to 3 m/s, so most pilots missed 1 hour of good conditions.
After we launched everybody, Marc made a local flight with PNL and went cross country after that.

The best performance of the day was  for Uwe and Rüdiger. They flew 585 km into the 20 kts wind.
They started in Coonamble and flew back to Corowa.

At the briefing Jan presented the new lunches for our club members. Absolute top quality.

November 27th 2005

The temp trace was perfect, the wind however too strong. We had 25 kts and gusts up to 35kts.
We decided to keep the gliders in the hanger.
Only Uwe and Rüdiger left direction North with this nice tail wind. They ended up in the North after 750 km
and will fly back to Corowa tomorrow.
Marc Sluzsny from Belgium arrived in the afternoon. Marc will fly the LS8/18 this week.

November 26th 2005

The day after the change.
The stratus clouds persisted until 1 pm. After that cu's developed, but too late to have a reasonable flying day.
So no flying today.

Jan and Chris have been shopping for the kitchen.
On Monday we start with "take with you lunch" for the pilots and a served lunch for those who stay on the ground.
From next Saturday Jan and Chris will also organize the weekly " family evening ".
 

November 25th 2005

The last day/hours before the cool change.
Possible thunderstorms forecasted and high clouds in the morning.
At the end of the morning the weather turned out to be very good for a few hours.
Only 4 gliders enjoyed this day.

November 24th 2005

An interesting weather system today.
A high SE a trough W and Thunderstorms and rain forecasted in the NE.
But the temp trace was good and the weather developed nice. Good climbs and very nice cu's.
We got some high level clouds, but the climbs were still ok.

Berry forgot his water and ended his flight after 2 hours. Good decision!.

November 23rd 2005

We started with some high clouds, but soon after the briefing it cleared and we had nice cu's.
Only a few pilots decided to fly, the others took the day off after the past good flying days.
Richard's Ventus RA was rigged before briefing and after briefing Manfred Ringel his Ventus cm.
All made nice flight's, only Roger was not that lucky and found near Pleasant Hills only the sink
so he had to outland. Eugene retrieved him by car. By 9 pm they were back and a nice warm meal
was waiting for them.

Werner was tow pilot today .
The forecast for the next 2 days is interesting. A little bit unsettled weather ahead of us. We will see.

7.15 am, Grietje made the temp flight of today.              (camera date is still on European time)

November 22nd 2005

The forecast was pretty good and we had a excellent temp.
The conditions however were good in the beginning of the day, but later a bit more difficult.
Still enough to make flight over 600 km.

Today 3 customers arrived, Manfred Ringel JM, Peter Zander PZ and Richard ALdous RA
So tommorow 3 gliders to rig.

November 21st 2005

An excellent soaring day.
The cu's started to pop up at 10.30 which made an early start possible.
TTT left before 11 and by 12 o'clock  we had all gliders in the air.
Unfortunately TTT logger battery was empty, so only a part of the flight was recorded.

Early this morning

Jan and Chris Vercammen arrived in the afternoon, so from tomorrow the Chef is called "JAN".
mor tomorrow.

November 20th 2005

Briefing	Coffee time	Berry in Dieters's office	Birgitte and Katinka	Uwe waiting
TTT Rudiger	Grietje and Gerhard	Mike Emmet (r) and Peter (l)	Water today?	Flying?
Hansi always something to do	refueling	Reinhard	Klaus

A nice summer day, But it took a while before we got the trigger temperature.
Most pilots did not wait and left after a few exhausting flying days. Tomorrow everybody is fresh again
and ready for a few good days.
This morning on the briefing we welcomed Manfred Kasten who will be here until February and
Roger Krueger form Melbourne who will fly with us for the whole week.

November 19th 2005

A good day after the trough passage. The trough was just east of us this morning and we started
with a nice blue sky.
First glider launched at 11 am and by 12 we had everybody in the air.
Manfred Kasten  and Pepe arrived in the afternoon. After we rigged JR in the morning we did
MK after lunch.

November 18th 2005

We had a good day.
The air mass was ok, but the dew point was just1 grC to low to get cu's.  Nevertheless we had
good blue thermals up to 2600m agl and the best reported average was 4,5 m/s.
Berry was the best today with a flight over 500 km.
Jan Ritsma arrived in the afternoon after a long trip. The plane in London was gone before Jan
arrived so a stay over in London and now in Corowa without luggage.

For tomorrow we expect cool SW winds and much lower temperatures. (Today 32 grC)
 

November 17th 2005

A reasonable forecast. Temp up to 26 grC and some cu's in the beginning and later blue.
Most pilots did fly today and mad for the conditions good flights.
Later in the day Bernd Doernemann and Maria arrived and we expect Jan Ritsma tomorrow.

November 16th 2005

Peter and Rob left this morning for Sydney and he trip back to Holland.
The forecast for today was blue thermals when reaching 21 grC.
The cirrus associated with the deepening trough over the Tasman Sea blocked the sun for a while.
Later in the afternoon when we got 23grC, Andy flew his ASH26 AS. He reported thermals up to 1003 m.
After the briefing we rigged DS.
This week-end and Monday we have to rig 4 more gliders and it really starts to get busy again.

November 15th 2005

Last night and in the early morning the cold frond passed with thunder rain and hail.
After the front we had nice and sunny weather, but strong Southerly wind with 30kts gusts in the afternoon.
After the 4 good flying days in a row the pilots took the day off and safe their energy for the next upcoming days.
Rob and Peter went to The Hume Weir and checked the water level. Klaus and Gerhard had a cleaning day
and the others were working on the gliders and went sight seeing.
We rigged ILH and  Ruedi Herzog arrived in the afternoon. By that time it was to windy to rig DS. So tomorrow
another glider.

The new way of making overseas phone calls.	The Hume Weir Full !!!	Hume Photo made by Rob and Peter

November 14th 2005

Another good soaring day.
Not for Francesco. He started with 3W flew 3,5 km missed the thermal and landed out. Grietje was the retrieve pilot.
This was part was fun and special.
Hansi and Eveline arrived in the afternoon. So tomorrow another glider to rig.
All the others had a good day. Rob launched at 11 am, but had to struggle in the beginning.
Later and special in the north the climbs were ok and they enjoyed a cloud base over 2000 m. struggle i

By 7 pm we had all the gliders in the hangar.
For tomoorow we have to wait if the cold front is so kind to pass during the night.

November 13th 2005

No flying for our customer Fred Jansen, who is celebrating his birthday in windy and cold Holland.
Happy birthday Fred.
We had an excellent day again. early cu's good climbs and over 2000 m cloudbase.
Most pilots landed just after 6 pm. It was not as good as yesterday was their comment.
Mike Emmet made his first flight with LK .He had to get familiar with the LX but  flew 345 km.
Andy returned in the afternoon and rebuild his Villa Lumpi at the camping site.
Rob Looisen and Peter During arrived in the late morning and  prepared the FOX for tomorrow.

November 12th 2005

On the morning briefing we said good bye to Jan Vanrobays who was only for 1 week in Australia.
Mike Emmet made his site check and is ready to start flying tomorrow .
We had a second good day in a row. Nice cu's popped up early and TTT left just after 11 am.
Even Francesco found a few hours to fly a 400 km triangle on FOX.
And today the first flights over 700 km !
And for the next few day fine sunny weather is still the forecast.

November 11th 2005

Finally a normal day. Cu's popped up at 10 am with a cloud base of 600 m. Forecast 11.30 1000m
So Uwe and Rudiger left at 11.30 and Jan was the first aero tow also at 11.30. Within no time the pilots
were airborne and the day turned out to be a good one, specialy  in Westerly direction.

After launching we rigged SY, so Werner can start preparing his glider for the season.
Mike Emmet arrived in the afternoon . Mike who is flying his own Ventus 2 ct in the UK will fly our 2CXT
LK for the next 3 weeks.
TTT flew 595 km and Jan 420 km on his 2nd flight with the ASW27.

All distances on the daily result page

November 10th 2005

The forecast was still a bit tricky. Trough with storms NE and contracting to the East.
South a low pressure system, but a lot of moist and instability in the air.
We launched before twelve. EN was the first to take off. Jan made his first flight on the ASW27.
The afternoon storms spoiled the day a bit. 3W and EN were back by 3 pm due to these storms.
HO was in the North and tried to come back and outlanded 30 km from the airfield. The had
an excellent paddock and the farmer prepared a runway for an easy take-off.
Uwe and Rudiger went to the North and used the trough  to make nice flight of 450 km.

Later in the afternoon Werner SY arrived from Germany. Tired, but happy to be back. Andrea
will arrive the 1st week of Dec.
Rob Looisen was here to say hallo and was so kind to drive Grietje to Wangaratta to pick up FOO
but due to the sudden storms over there they returned without FOO.

Gerhard after the landing	Klaus and the farmer just before take-off	HO on tow

November 9th 2005

We had a sunny day with a very strong wind. In the morning we made a sit check and that was it
for the day.
Early in the morning Reinhard Pankow arrived. We rigged AR so he is ready to go.
Tonight we had fish on the menu. Everybody was here in spite of Francesco's warning that it
would be an experimental salmon and white fish recipe. Everybody was surprised and enjoyed
this first fish evening of the season very much.

November 8th 2005

When I wrote the yesterday news the rain was still pouring.
This morning we could have a look at the amount. 57mm in 6 hours.
Unfortunately a non flying day.
The conditions 100 km North were ok and by 5 pm Uwe and Rudiger were back from Lake Cargeligo.
The last 80 km were just a slow glide.
Hopefully tomorrow sun, cu's and fun.
 
November 7th 2005

Unreal, the weather sofar. Rain Rain Rain. No fun.

November 6th 2005

A Cold front in the West and a lot of cirrus in front of it. It took too long to get the trigger temp.
So we waited until 12 pm and then cancelled the day. This is not a problem as all the pilotswho
are  now in Corowa are staying for 3 months.
In the afternoon our Belgium guest Jan Vanrobays arrived. Jan will stay for a week and fly
the ASW27 3W.

From today the daily results and temperature  traces will be published every day.

November 5th 2005

A reasonable forecast, Blue thermals up to 1750m with a max temp of 28 grC.
We only got local 25grC which gave thermals just above 1000 m agl a good day for the die hards.
Uwe and Rudiger left with TTT and reported 180 km North of Corowa at 17.00and finally landed at
Lake Cargelligo (approx 300 km)
Klaus and Gerhard HO, Berry EN, Otto ZY, Craig, WN and Michael DB flew today, but no big tasks.
Berry was the best with 250 km.
For tomorrow a little bit warmer. We will see.

Team HO Klaus and Gerhard	Klaus	Corowa Airfield	Corowa and green Australia

photo's team HO

November 4th 2005

A sunny day with a lot of cirrus clouds in the morning. The heating went slow and we stayed on the ground.
22 grC was the maximum we got.
TT is rigged and will leave tomorrow for his trip trough Australia.
Tonight the restaurant is open again.
For tomorrow we expect a little higher temperature and hopefully some good flying weather.

November 3rd 2005

Today,  Happy Birthday Andreas (Nies)

A trough moving from W to E caused some rain today and made it a non flying day.
Klaus and Gerhard went to Tocumwal to have a look at the Jet Caproni.
In the afternoon Uwe and Rudiger arrived after 36 hours traveling from Germany to Corowa.
Tomorrow another glider to rig and hopefully a good flying day.

November 2nd 2005

Strong wind with possible storms and low cloud base was enough for HO, ZY and EN to use the day for
the last preparations.
We rigged AS and DB. Michael Sommer will be here for the week-end and fly DB.
For tomorrow the forecast is overcast and possible rain.

November 1st 2005

Our first flying day of the season.
We started with the briefing for Klaus, Gerhard and Berry.
We had some nice cu's and all 3 could make their first flight in Australia.
Grietje made the site check with Klaus in the HO and Berry an d Grietje in FOX.
In the afternoon Andreas Sieber arrived with Simon.
Tomorrow we will rig AS and DB and the weather forecast is warm to hot and humid..

October 31st 2005

Yesterday evening the first HO team Klaus Meitzner and  Gerhard Heinemann arrived, today
Berry Fennis and his wife Katinka and Craig Blunt came from Melbourne for the week.
We( Otto, Eva, Klaus, Gerhard, Eugene, Craig, Grietje and Francesco) started this morning
at 8.30 unpacking the 4 containers, 22  fuselages for inspection.
At 9.45 when Mr. Ray Vassalo from Quarantine Australia arrived we had all fuselages on the apron.
He was really happy with the ongoing improvement of us cleaning the gliders.
After 2 hours on his trolley, inspecting all the undercarriages he left for his next job of the day.

After a coffee break we started rigging a few gliders, HO, ZY, LK, 3W, BF, PZ are in now the hangar.

Tomorrow Klaus, Gerhard and Berry will make their site checks, which is a very early start off the Corowa |
season.

all fuselages waiting for inspection	This year transport	Our camera woman	Ray still smiling	The serious job

October 29th 2005

All 4 containers are in Corowa and after a quick inspection we found all the gliders 100%..
Yesterday Otto and Eva already arrived which will make the job on Monday a bit easier.
We are a few days ahead of schedule and with a little bit of luck and good weather we can fly
on Tuesday November 1 st.

Last Container	All 4 waiting for Quarantine

October 28th 2005

An early morning call from Melbourne, that 2 of the for containers were already at the airfield.
Red and Green were waiting and are already on the spot.
White and Blue will be delivered in the late afternoon and quarantine is now scheduled for Monday morning.

October 25th 2005

Not one of the customers today, but my daughter Cynthia is celebrating her birthday.
Happy Birthday dear Cynthia happy birthday to you.

Then the news of yesterday. New software for checking containers in Melbourne failed.
70% was not accepted, with a delay between 2 and 3 weeks for the containers involved.
But our Jodie did a great job again. All 4 Corowa containers have passed customs without
any problem and will be in Corowa on Thursday.

October 23rd 2005

The last few days we did put the caravans back on the camping site, cleaned all the garden furniture
for the shaded coffee area and finished the annual inspection of the LS4.
 
The containers arrived in Melbourne today and are due to arrive in Corowa by the end of the week.
We will try to have mr Ray Vassalo onsite the day after Melbourne cup, so we can start flying on the
scheduled day.

The weather sofar was not so good. A lot of low pressure systems with fortunately not to much rain
in Corowa.
For the next week the forecast is a high pressure system, with I hope some good flying days.
 

October 19th 2005

Peter Presneill was here today to make the annual aero tow checks with Grietje and Francesco.
It was nice to see Peter back after  6 months.
Grietje was first flying FOX and Francesco the Pawnee LGT and the next flight Grietje LGT and Francesco FOX.
The weather was not to good .Weak thermals up to 1200 AGL, but flyable.
115 km out and return to Rand was just fun for the first flight of the season.
The whole tie-down area and camping site have been mown today, so it looks great again.

Those ropes !!	Peter ready for the check	The hill	Water in the oil Tree Lagoon

October 14th 2005

We made some changes at the Fleet page.
From mid January we have the DG800S on line and form mid November until December 28th a new Ventus 2 CXT.

October 13th 2005

Ruedi "DS" happy birthday to you from Corowa.

October 10th 2005
One of our customers is celebrating his birthday today, but  are not able to sing together Happy Birthday for him.
Nevertheless Happy birthday Herbert Dressler, happy birthday to you,
Tomorrow Eugene will celbrate his birthday and in about 3 day we have another one.

October 9th 2005

Week 1 in Corowa is already behind us.
Grietje reinstalled the whole office and prepared her stuff for the new season .Wifi is also working again
and the internet room has got a flat screen monitor.
All the new programs SeeYou 3.2 and StrePla 4 have also  been installed.
Francesco finished the accounting and annual reports of FY 2005.
All the office preparations for the new season are done.

Now we start cleaning, polishing etc  both tow planes. After that we fly them to Wangaratta for the 100 hrly.
A new starter motor and new brakes discs for LGT are also ordered and done with the 100 hrly.

In the mean time the containers are on the way and will be in Melbourne in 2 weeks !!!!

Just 3 weeks to go before the first season launches !!!

 October 2nd 2005

Grietje and Francesco are back in Corowa.
We arrived yesterday evening at Tullamarine and Eugene was there to pick us up and
we were home by 11.15 pm.
Today we checked everything at the Airfield, Everything was top and clean.
The pool cover did his work It took a few minutes to vacuum and by 3 pm the pool was 24grC and clean.

September 29 th 2005

The European Season is over. This is the last news written from Holland.
Tomorrow we will fly back home to Corowa and start the 2005/2006 season.

Eugene will be at Tullamarine on Saturday evening. Good to see all our Aussie friends again.

The containers left Rotterdam and will be in  Corowa in time.
We are looking forward seeing you all back in Corowa.

Grietje and Francesco

September 26 th 2005

It was a puzzle, but we finished packing on Sunday evening 7.15 pm.
All 4 containers were packed and checked. This time the white one will make his maiden trip to Corowa.
At 7.30 am sharp this morning we had 3 trucks on site to pick up 4 containers. Truck no 4 arrived at 11 am
and left at 11.30. A little bit of schedule, but in time in Rotterdam to check in for the Vessel Columbus.
In the time we had to wait for the last truck we had a coffee with Ruedi (DS) and Gerrit Kurstjens who
was in Europe for business.
I think we have to thank mr Theo Heldens, director the company in Grubbenvorst , where we were  stored
the containers and we were allowed to pack all gliders for his hospitality. THANK YOU THEO.

So everything is done now in Europe and we are leaving for Corowa on Friday and arrive in Australia
on Saturday evening.
We will start straight away with the preparations for the new (busy) season with a lot of new customers.

White ready	space for FOX	4 containers packed and checked	White leaving	Waiting for the last truck

September 25 th 2005

Friday we packed Red and White.
All the gliders were in time, so we could start straight  away. Jan Vercammen joined us and is almost a
licensed container packer.
We had to adjust all the new fittings in the White Container. So Grietje and Jan spend most of the time 
in the White with great help of all the owners and companions.
The Red container was an easier job. By 3 pm all the owners left and Grietje, Jan and Francesco finished the job.
White was not finished because its not easy to fit in 3 big 2-seater fuselages and 2 18 meter class gliders.
We packed the 4 gliders but on the return trip we have to swap the 6E ,JR fuselage with 3W and DB
in which case it's easy to fit in fuselage of FOX . A big puzzle, but its done!

On Saturday we packed the last (4th) container.
This time we had to deal with the new SH gliders, the Ventus 2CX with the fixed winglets.
We managed to fit in 2 in 1 container (see photo). This was the maximum in our 4 container setting this year.
We have to deal with so many different wings, long, short , bended and the old Ventus 2 triple bended wings
that if the manufacturers do not make the fixed winglets (optional) detachable it will certainly limit the amount
of these gliders in our containers in the future.
As said we managed to get them in and by 3 pm everybody left and the Green was packed as well.

Grietje and Francesco will check Red, Blue and Green this afternoon and finish white.
Tomorrow morning at 7.30 am 4 trucks will be in Grubbenvorst to pick up the containers and start the transport to
Corowa.
So far thanks to everybody and The New Lift  for the help with packing the containers. and see you all in Corowa.

Andrea busy	Richards new toy RA	Andreas checking !	Winglets of the 2 CXT	Richard and Grietje
ILH 3rd time to Corowa	Hansi ILH	3W last trip to Corowa?	The co-owner of FOX	Ladies talk
Photo's Andreas Nies

September 17 th 2005

Day one of loading the containers.
Grietje and Francesco spend yesterday in Grubbenvorst in order to clean the containers and put them
on the right spot for loading today and next week-end.
After we got the carnets back from customs we prepared the containers for packing and cleaned the inside.
So Friday evening all 4 containers were ready and waiting for the gliders.
Anday (AS) ,AR  and JM arrived yesterday evening and when we woke up Uwe was already waiting in front of the
containers. The other 2 gliders were in time so do delay.
We had to make some changes in the tail plane fittings, but after that, the job was done easy.
The new lifter was great. It worked fine and we did not have to lift anymore the heavy wings in front of the
the container. In special the last and always most difficult wing was lifted nice and smooth in between the other
wings. No soar backs this time.
At 2.30 pm everybody was gone and Grietje finished the blue container by putting in the last luggage and parts.
After that we did put 3W into green, so we could use the 3W trailer for all the parts and boxes with packing stuff.

Jan Vercammen ((the 2005/2006 cook (with Chris)) joined us also today. He will be back next Friday and with
all the today's experience, we have another expert on site.

Cleaning the containers	Clean and to the loading spot	wings in	new lifter half way	wing spar into position
Grietje fixing the wing	fuselage in	waiting for the customs to sign the carnets	Blue and Green	Red and big White

September 14 th 2005

The White container is ready and will be delivered in Grubbenvorst on Saturday.
The lift gave some trouble. After a drive yesterday of 450 km to the manufacturer,we found out that we
had to supply 36V in stead of 24 volt, Fixed and working fine.
Grietje and Francesco are leaving for Grubbenvorst on Friday in order to clean Blue, Red and Green
and prepare everything for the first packing job on Saturday.
So everything is ready for the o/r trip of 23 gliders to Corowa.

White ready	New wide ramp	waiting for the fuselages	new 36V  power for the lift

September 10 th 2005

The white container will be ready on Monday and transported to Grubbenvorst.
The "back"-saver lift has been tested on Friday and was able to lift Francesco up to the ceiling.
So next Saturday we will know either it's suitable for the job or not.

September 6th 2005

The new container is half way. All the bars are in and most of the Trespa panels on the containers
wall are fixed. The foam for wing protection, wing fixtures and some paint  work has to be done.
I hope to finish the job early next week. So ti will be in time in Grubbenvorst for packing.
Next to the container we are working on the lifter for the wing spar in front. Most of the parts are
welded and I hope we can assemble it on Friday and test it.
So far Irving (on pict 1 and 2) is a great help and a well skilled expert. He also did a lot of work
on the green container.

Parts for the lifter	Iring working on the lifter	Container with a wide ramp	Impression

September 2nd 2005

The new high cube container arrived today in Den Helder.
Together with the company who finished the other 3 containers we did put in all the frames and bars today.
Tomorrow we are going to collect the last parts from GEBU (nose cones and tail plane fittings) and next
week we will finish the White Container. All 4 containers are fully booked now !!!
We also got the confirmation that the DG 505 "DG" will be in Corowa and on line this season. Bookings
still available for Nov and Dec. Jan is fully booked.

arrival of white container	empty and 30 cm higher	preparations	after 1st day

August 26th 2005

without words today

August 25th 2005

The new container will be in Den Helder by next Friday.
We will complete the container there with the same people who build the containers Blue, Red and Green.
After we have finished the lot the new container will be transported to Grubbenvorst for his maiden trip to Corowa.

In the mean time we also finished the design of the lifter (actuator) for the wings.
As we found out that the worst part of loading containers is lifting the wings, we had to make something to
reduce this job  to a minimum.
All the parts are ordered and the lifter will be ready in time when we start packing the 1st container.

August 19th 2005

Busy weeks ahead.
Next to the preparation of the new container, we are also busy with the last preparation for next week's
marriage of the Boss and the Boss.

Most of our last year customers will be back , some of the previous years customers and a lot of new
friends from The Netherlands , Nitra (Slovak Republ), Spain, Belgium and Germany.
A busy season ahead with as it looks now 4 full containers.

More next week.

August 5th 2005

After the EGC in Nitra we started straight away with the final preparation for the new season.
Most of the ordered parts for the new container are ready  and we hope to finish the container soon.
Eugene looks after the pool, the hanger and the batteries of all cars and tow planes.
He reported everything ok.
John takes care of the lawn which also looks perfect.

July 15th 2005

Grietje and Francesco are in Nitra ( Slovak Republik) for the European Gliding Championship as team captain
of the Dutch team.
It is also good to meet a lot of our Corowa friends. Pavel, Pavol, Villiam, Lubor, Brano and Tibor and some new friends
Vladimir e.c , because the Nitra club will be at Corowa next summer with their new DG 1000t.
Today the EGC 2005 was visited by the President of the Slovak Republik and mr President made his first flight in a glider.
Our well known 1000 km glider PI with Pavel Rychtaric as VIP pilot was flying with the President for more then an hour.
We think the President of the Slovak Republik was the first President in the world who made  a (very) low pass.
In the evening we were treated by a demo of a Turbo Tow plane  towing 6 Blanik's !!!!
 

Mr President and the media	VIP Pavel and the President	Grietje and Francesco