1/8/04 Klix 12:00

Sitting on the start line (as always) there is a phone call from home. The launches have been delayed to 12:30/13:00. Yesterday was probably the best day for weather in the competition but I wasn’t thinking clearly enough and didn’t rig. I took a bike ride with Cathy through Sacshen and Klix instead. Later in the day after the gliders are all back I get the chance to go for a flight in a Zlin 42. Some of the German pilots here are a bit disparaging of the Zlin, but I found it to be quite a nice machine. The pilot sits relatively high and the inline six gives a narrow nose. The combination of this gives good forward and down visibility. Cockpit is laid out quite reasonably and it uses a real stick (none of this crummy yoke business thanks). One feature which made me do a double take was the spinner, as we climbed out it looked to me as though it was going at a different speed to the propellor. That couldn’t be right I thought, it must be some sort of strobing effect from the prop, but sure enough, when we got to cruising level the spinner pretty much stopped altogether. Something to do with the automatic pitch change mechanism. Anyway, the 42 is a light crisp response and quite nice to fly, even cruises at a sensible speed. Zlin 42 D-EWNO, 0.5 hours.