11/8/04 Berlin (Train ride in)

Cathy is staying for one more day in Strassbourg to be formally converted to the S10 and then she will meet Swaantje to go to Italy. My plan is to go into Berlin for a look then somehow get back to Ralf’s place.
I get a tram to the main rail line and then catch the Spandau train for Friederichstrasse. In both cases the wait for the tram and train was only about one minute! I am a bit hot and sweaty from lugging my backpack and case and having to go a bit quick to catch my rides. The ride into Berlin starts going through what I think of now as “normal” German countryside. There are moderately numerous houses to the north and rural countryside to the south. The suburbs begin to become obvious between Birkenstien and Mahlsdorf and the area becoe more light industrial. It is still warm and stuffy in the train and cooler when the doors open. At Wuhletal there seems to be a major interchange and a lot of people rush across the platform to get on the train. We aren’t in Berlin proper yet but it is standing room only. As we get closer to our destination the stations grow in size until there become multitrack, curved glass cathedrals until, at 0935 I get off at Friedrichstrasse

9/8/04 and 10/8/04 Strausberg (Berlin)

Swaantje has lent Cathy her (somewhat) clapped out old campervan called “Bussy”. In it Cathy and I go to the Strausberg airfield to spend some time at the Stemme factory. An interesting trip that one, two right hand drivers in a left hand drive world. But we finally get there without crashing. Once again Strausberg is most interesting as it was part of the old GDR and some evidence exists if you look hard enough. There are the remains of an emergency services call system. I don’t know what it is called but in some places you will see a box with a push button from a time when private phones were not so common. At least that’s what Harmut from the factory told me they were.
Anyway, we spent two days at the Stemme factory learning the ins and outs of the S10. All the employees of the factory go to the local government offices for lunch, so that is where we went too. I have pretty much got the hang of a lot of the dishes common in Germany and can usually battle through buying stuff as well. Another discovery was the drink supplied by the factory for the employees, a cold tea based drink. The one I preferred was a very sour lemon flavoured tea.
On the airport itself is an advertising blimp which I see later flying around Berlin, but it leaves in the morning and comes back in the evening. When I first saw it, it had come back for the night. Suddenly about twenty to thirty blokes appear as if from no where and go out on to the field to catch the spider lines. Just like in the old films from the 30’s. It then manoeuvres until they attach it to the docking mast. One brave individual climbs up a ladder on the mast to make the connection secure. After the event I realize where the bloke all came from. There is a little encampment of cars and transportable buildings which they must have stayed in all day. Odd sort of job that one. It must be exceedingly boring unless they have some other tasks while the blimp is away.Apart from my night in Frankfurt, my time in Strausberg was also the only other time I stayed in a hotel in Germany. In this case, the “Hotel Annablick”. Far better accommodation than Cathy’s in “Bussy”.

Cathy needs a recharge for her phone card so we go to the local shopping centre. Apart from the normal toy shops, hardware and the rest, one of the shops sells different forms of alcohol (and some cooking oils). But there are no branded bottles. You buy or bring your own bottle and decant whatever you want out of many glass bottles on display on the walls and shelves of the shop. Each bottle is of about 15 liters or so. They are simply labeled as “brandy”, “schnapps” or whatever. For tea we go to the Chinese restaurant at the shopping centre. Hmm, ordering Chinese food from German speakers. The words are written the same, but our Australian pronunciations throw them completely.The last night in Strausberg I go for a walk to check out the nearest tram station to catch tomorrow. The station, a well built cavernous brick structure, is on the populated side of the rail lines. The other side of the lines is a wooded area which I walk into. Within a few metres it seems I am in a totally enclosed forest. I couldn’t imagine this as a few hundred metres from the hotel and a few 10’s of kilometers from the centre of Berlin.

8/8/04 Ummern

Well, we get up and still no one is here. All my camping gear and clothes are with the others still coming. Benno and I wait and wait. Eventually past 11:00 they roll up. They called in at Ralf’s place in Gifhorn on the way here, where Ralf cooked them bacon and eggs. The absolute buggers!
Later Cathy and Helge take the ASH for a flight out towards Berlin, and Benno takes me for a fly in a Super Dimona (D-KFSO, 90 minutes) to an old GDR listening post called Brocken. We all go back to Ralf’s place and spend a slightly more comfortable night.

7/8/04 Klix and Far Beyond

After this we were packing up to go and Benno, who had his ASH25 (D-KHOL) at Klix for the last few days offered to take me along (to where ever he was going) to help with trailers and stuff. Sounds like an adventure to me, in I get. Everyone else was to finish up and meet us tonight where we land. So off we went, leaving the ground at about 14:00. After a flight of 3:44 and 430 km we come to a stop and both of us climb out. Fliegerheim Ummern looks a bit deserted. Benno rings Helge to find that they haven't even left Klix yet due to Sabine being stung by a wasp and needing to go to the hospital. So, we decide to go and get Benno’s trailer, car and caravan without the others. They equipment is at Lusse, about 160km as the crow flies, back where we came from. There doesn't appear to be anyone at the clubhouse. Benno wanders off to the other end of the airfield to see who he can find while I wait by the glider.
The world is a small place(2). While I wait a younger lady with two small children pulls up. Me being the consummate communicator, point to my tee shirt (which has kangaroos on it) and proudly announce “ich bin Australianer”. To which she replies, “hello, my name’s Molly and I’m from Perth”. Very deflating. It turns out she is married to an Italian friend of Bennos who is down at the other end of the field. We go to their caravan where Benno gets some coffee or similar. I tend not to drink hot drinks so I don’t have any. Eventually Benno manages to borrow his friend’s car and we head off back to Lusse. It is an Audi Quattro and we manage to get to 250 (!!) kph on the autobahn. At Lusse we have to clean up Benno’s camp site and rearrange the trailer and caravan loading. Benno gets the Audi and the glider trailer, I get Benno’s Volkswagen and his caravan. After taking our farewells we head off the airfield, me following Benno, but before we have gone a few km, Benno pulls over to a pension he knows where we get tea. I don’t argue as it’s been a long day and I haven’t had anything substantial yet. As we sit in the courtyard and have a pleasant three course meal the sun goes down. 22:00 and another 160km to get back to Ummern. Before we head off Benno comments about us towing the trailers so we will use less fuel. The statement seems illogical to an Australian driver. When you tow something the fuel consumption always goes up, however, Benno is right from his German perspective. With trailers on we can’t exceed 100 kph which means we use less fuel as we are forced to go slow. This is just as well as the Volksy is a bit low on petrol and the fuel light comes on while I am out on the Autobahn. Eventually after a missed stop I get to a convenient fuel station and we are able to top it up. A new and crazy experience driving alone, late at night through Germany, no real idea where I am and my only clue is Benno’s trailer. Sometimes in front in the little country roads, sometimes behind on the Autobahn. Benno only has one tape in his car, which is a badly done copy of gliding songs. Humourous the first time but after listening to it three times over I have had enough. Trying to get radio stations to listen to on the radio I am amazed at just how like they are to Australian stations, even to the same promo slogans in English. Long, long past midnight we get back to Ummern. No crew here either. I find an old ragged blanket, kick my shoes off and curl up on a mattress in my clothes.
A long day that one.

7/8/04 Klix and Freda

7/8/04 Klix and Far Beyond.

Prize giving today and pack up. I got my flight in a Wilga at last, the comp directors wouldn’t let us fly in them during the comp. Freda the tow pilot took me for a flight so I got Matthias and Gunnar to sit in the back as well. Matt and Gunnar had been helping crew for us for the latter part of the competition. Anyway, we flew over to Bautzen and had a look from the air. The Wilga is a workmanlike piece of equipment, I really like it, in an ugly sort of way. While more complex than a Pawnee and has some visibility draw backs, I think the Wilga would be more comfortable after a long days flying. D-EWBN 0.4 hours.

4/8/04 Klix and Beyond.

Got to fly a cross country in the DG1000 today. Whacko. 360km in 5:27 D-1073. Ended in an outlanding past (!) the airfield.

2/8/04 Klix 19:30

Aircraft are still finishing but trailers are leaving the airfield. After a good start to the day both Lisas outland about 80km away after being on task for about 1 hour. We are a bit worried out Lisa Trotter as Lisa Turner said she thought she might have seen a ground loop. When we get Lisa Trotter back, there is some damage to the belly of the glider due to an undercarriage collapsing, but it is minor and she can keep on flying. Ralf and Helge are working on sashimi for Akemi’s birthday (actually Ralf really). Akemi is the one Japanese pilot here, she also outlanded today. Swaantje won her day.

2/8/04 Klix and Gliding

The competition is going along well, today's standard class task is 400km. We have had 5 consecutive task days now and it looks as though the weather will continue fair for the next few days.
Apparently this is unusual here as they can have weather changes quite rapidly and their weather systems are small. Yesterday (Sunday 1st), the launch of the competition was delayed as a thunderstorm was building over the first leg, even though the sky above and to the north of Klix looked perfect.
At Klix private flying is allowed during the competition except when launching or in the heaviest part of the finish. If you can get up and stay away during the finish, this is OK. The only restrictions applied is that team members of competing gliders (like me) must take a logger so the organisers can ensure there has been no collusion between us and the competitors.
Over the weekend a number of motor gliders turned up to stay overnight. Of the self launch glider types there was a Ventus and an ASH25. As for tourer motor gliders I have seen a Dimona, G109B and a Motorfalke, all with tow hooks. The Motorfalke is really swish. It has a tricycle undercarriage and the instrument panel is chock full of stuff. The canopy actually takes a little bit of the side walls up with it, lowering the cockpit sill and making it easier to get into. I don't know if this is a mod or something from the factory. The fabric finish is immaculate. Both the Motorfalke and the G109B had a little bit taken off the bottom of the ridder, for rope clearance I assume. While the Motorfalke uses a fixed Tost release the 109 appeared to have a retractable rope.

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.