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June 27th 2009
27.06. 09:11 Stand by ! Some delay...due to the weather
!!!!
A bit of a shock to the system this morning!!!!! No blue skies at 8.00
…no sun!!!! What’s going on??? But to be honest….we have been very spoiled here
till now! The TC briefing is postponed till 10.00 , the pilots briefing till
10.30. After that we will know more. However at 9 we could see some blue
again , so there is hope!!! Pilots are bringing their glider to the grid passing
the scales first.
If you are longing to see more videos from Hubi, you
just have to be patient. He has , as he told me, some software problems to
upload , but …..when they are solved you might have a few in one go!
Happy faces from yesterday winners, as you can see to the left. Pilot
Rene will be in today’s PROFILE later, with Killian.
27.06. 11:18 Official resting day!
Today is an official rest
day. With the weather not being too good and after 5 days of flying [ including
the 2 practice days] this is a good decision, but I know some pilots would love
to fly EVERY day!!!! About the weather we are on an edge of a high and a
low. This low was not forecasted and for that reason Heikki welcomed us in the
mysterious world of meteo. It is possible to launch but it is impossible to
come back here and as Silva said this is not an outlanding competition. Just
to the West of us cloud base will be up to 2500 m. if somebody who has a turbo
or engine would like to go there , is welcome to do so. “He may come back”!!!
Rain is expected just after noon and Heikki advised to put the gliders
in the trailers. But….tomorrow we will be back again under the High Pressure
system with good weather.
The flying discipline is better and better
though still a few “things” which had to be mentioned and the safety committee
had heard about agressive and selfish thermalling.
What was there more?
You might have noticed that one of the Finnish pilots was not flying yesterday
he felt sick. It seems that a summer flew is “hanging around “ here with
vomiting and fever, but…it takes only 12 in the worst case 24 hours to be back
to normal.
Of course the winners were cheered on. 2 Dutch pilots Patrick
in standard class and Rene in Club class received their “bubbles” and a present
and a cap this time red , with winner day 3 on it. A huge applause and the Dutch
flag was kept high by their crews.
The official results from day 1 are
out. Feel sorry for the Slovak boys with their 0 points, due to an early start,
but that is also part of this game.
It is good to see that everybody is
in time at briefing, even early . Nobody wants to miss the video which starts
the day. Off to Helsinki now to visit the town and the Mannerheim museum.
Next story is the PROFILE.
27.06. 11:24 I would like you to meet Killian and Rene in todays
PROFILE !!
Sometimes we call the pilots “kids” here, but some do have very
responsible jobs. I was impressed to hear that at least 2 of our competitors had
just come back from Afghanistan . I am sure you are impressed too. Here is the
story!
Killian from France and Rene from the Netherlands , both fly in
club class and they have one more thing in common. Both serve for their country
in Afghanistan on a peace mission. Killian in Kabul and Rene in Kandahar.
------Killian came back from Afghanistan 2 months ago and he had some
problems home to acclimatize. The 2 worlds in which he lives at the moment are
so very different! And…in 2 weeks he has to go back again. Though it is not
unsafe what he does, he likes to go back, as he finds this a very interesting
period in his life. This is what he wanted to do and he does it now! Some
missions are difficult and he estimates that 10 % of them are dangerous. He
flies helicopters from Kabul International Airport and picks up people from 20
different drop zones . Though he flies the same route every time, it is never
routine, every day is an other one and every flight is a new one and has to be
prepared well. The type of helicopter he flies is a EC 725 CARACAL.
Killian is not from a flying family. He joined the air force in 2000 and
while sitting in a class room he saw a glider start and thought, this is what I
would like to do too. Compliments to his instructors, as he claims they have
taught him so well. Killian was the 2007 JWGC champion in Rieti and the runner
up in Rieti during the 2008 WGC. He had not a lot of time to prepare himself
for these comps but still managed to fly the French Competition in Vinon
finishing as 3d there in 15 m. class, flying an ASG 29. He thinks this is a
great glider. He will be for another 3 months in Afghanistan, coming back in
the middle of October. When he is back he starts with his training in Saint
Auban to be a glider instructor. As a hobby ,as he loves his job in the air
force. GOOD LUCK Killian!!!
Rene does the meteo in Kandahar,
together with weather men from other countries as Canada and the UK. He has
served now for 4 months and at this stage it does not look that he has to go
back, but being in the air force you never know, he said. His group is there
for the redevelopment. Not always safe either as they have many rocket attacks,
sometimes 3 a week, but they not all hit/reach their camp. He also had not a
lot of time to prepare for these comps. With only 3 hours of flying he started
the comps here. Not doing to badly as he won yesterday and is munber one , at
this stage in the over all results. But…in Holland they have coaches and team
events and they were so kind to have them earlier in the season as he had to
leave. At age 13 he had fear of heights and to overcome that he started
gliding. Now he is flying here with us.-----
See you tomorrow for
another flying day here in Rayskala.
2706
------Killian came back from Afghanistan 2 months ago and he had some
problems home to acclimatize. The 2 worlds in which he lives at the moment are
so very different! 
Rene does the meteo in Kandahar,
together with weather men from other countries as Canada and the UK. He has
served now for 4 months and at this stage it does not look that he has to go
back, but being in the air force you never know, he said. 
if you want to react.