Bags and maps exhibited on Henk's driveway
Corsica-flight
2006
June18th - June 30th
Daily update
on the flight of Taifuns D-KFDI and D-KHNO to Corsica, by webmaster Leo.
June 18th 2006 (Sun)
Finally we can start for our Corsica-flight!
07.45
hrs local time
Your webmaster has arrived at Henk's home in Susteren (NL) in his new function
of taxi-driver ;-)
The weather around here hasn't been that bad during the last days, but on Corsica,
Henk's present destination and also in Southern Germany and the Alpine region
there have been several days with heavy thunderstorms.
Not quite the weather you wish yourself to be in during a crossing of the Swiss
or Austrian Alps.
Since Henk's wife Elly is accompanying him for the second time in a row this
month on a longer trip (for the first one see the CFI-flight
to Mallorca that didn't end up in Mallorca), I offered to bring them to
Geilenkirchen Nato-airbase (ETNG) where Henk's Taifun is stationed.
Both Henk and Elly have prepared a surprise for me.
Elly already has filled a cup of coffee to keep my eyes open and on the driveway
Henk has installed what seems to be an exhibition of travelling bags, accompanied
by an extensive collection of European aeronautical maps.
Bags and
maps exhibited on Henk's driveway
The
multitude of maps can be explained by the fact that lightning and thunderstorms
could prevent his Taifun from crossing the Alps, in which case a substitute
destination could more easily be reached when carrying the right maps. We must
hurry up, because around 8.15 fellow Taifun pilot Joachim Kohlmetz and his wife
Waltraud will depart from Nordhorn-Lingen airfield (EDWN) some 100 NM firther
to the North. Joachim will call Henk on his mobile phone the moment they start
so Henk will know at what time to start from Geilenkirchen airport. The two
Taifuns have agreed to meet each other in the air, somewhere around the Weisweiler
powerplant, a 15 minute flight for Henk, but a little over 1 hour for Joachim.
At 8.30 all bags and maps have been packed and we are driving in my car when
Henk spots my mobile phone.
Henk: "I see you've got your mobile phone with you, can I use it to call
the airbase?".
Leo: "Of course Henk, but the batteries won't last that long anymore".
Henk: "What use is a mobile phone with empty batteries?"
Leo: "What use is a mobile phone when left behind in your Taifun?"
Henk: "Gr@#$%&!" (which can be interpreted as a censored silence).
Around 8.45 local time we arrive at Henk's Taifun that has spent the night in
the open air. The tanks have been fuelled yesterday, so no precious time will
be lost this morning.
"Open Sesame - the key to my success"
After a good clean by Elly the Taifun's cockpit is being opened at 8.50 and unpacking the car and packing the plane can begin. When checking his mobile phone Henk learns he already missed Jochen's call, so the departure of his friend most likely has gone allright. At 9.20 the D-KFDI pilot and co-pilot are ready to depart.
 9.00 , packing the Taifun |
 9.20 , ready to depart |
9.23 local
time, a swing with the wings and off they go !
One
last wave of hands and Henk and Elly are on their way to the runway. I drive
to the end of the same runway and several minutes later Henk's makes his wings
swing for a last goodbye. In a large ascending curve they slowly but surely
leave my field of view and some 4 minutes later all that's left is a tiny blinking
spot in the distance.
I leave the airbase and head for home to go for a daytrip to Aubel (Belgium).
At 14.30 I'm back home and try to download some weather information to see where
the two Taifuns could possibly be. The plan is to fly to Leutkirch in Southern
Germany and land at the local airfield.
After checking the weather the two will decide whether to cross the Alps or
to stay the night at Leutkirch. It all depends on the thunderstorms and lightning
in the area if they will continue the flight or halt and try to cross the Alps
tomorrow.
 |
DLR
Radar image showing the weather over central Europe at 11.45 today. A cloudy region South of the Swiss Alps, but South of the Austrian part almost no clouds can be seen. In the right upper corner a radar image taken at the same time showing the circumstances at Corsica (the upper island of the two). Corsica belongs to France whilst Sardegna (the lower island of the two) is Italian territory. |
The
image on the right shows the history of lightning strikes during the last
12 hours, from 0.00 UT until 12.00 UT (14.00 MEST). The situation North of Corsica was not looking good this morning, but lightning is moving North, with incidental strikes showing up as far North as Switzerland. The nocturnal lightning in Austria and Southrn Germany has been moving Eastward quite fast. This could mean that it's possible to cross the Alps via Austria. Source of the (animated) lightning map: http://wetterzentrale.de/pics/sfanim.html |
 |
17.00
local time
I've just started dinner with my parents-in-law when the phone suddenly
rings. The batteries still aren't empty!
Henk:
"Hi Leo, we've landed here at Cremona airport (LILR) some 45 minutes ago
and the weather is fine right now. We have made a stop a the German airfield
of Leutkirch-Unterzeil
(EDNL) to check for the weather and decided to cross the Austrian Alps via
the Brenner-pass. All across Germany the weather was quite good, but in the
Alps we had to fly at 9000 feet, not only to cross the mountains but also because
it was very hazy near the ground and in the valleys especially around the city
of Bolzano (Italy). Right after crossing the Alps and entering the valley of
the river Po, we encountered much bluer skies again. It's a bit of bad luck,
but tomorrow Cremona airport will be closed, so we can't leave for Corsica earlier
than Tuesday morning. On the other side, this also gives us the opportunity
to visit the city. Furthermore, weather predictions for Corsica are much better
on Tuesday than tomorrow, so in the end we are a bit lucky too.
I will call again tomorrow after we have made a visit to the city of Cremona,
but for now we are going to find a place to spend the night. Bye bye for now
from D-KFDI and D-KHNO."
 |
20.20
local time Webcamimage showing the Piazza del Comune in front of the cathedral of Cremona at 20.18 local time. Source: http://www.aemcremona.it/webcam/ (updated every second!) At he same time your webmaster makes a phonecall to Henk who just is finishing a shower in the beautiful, excellent , superb Hotel Al Carrobbio. Henk: "I feel like staying on a Spanish Hacienda or a monastery. It's a beautiful hotel with some kind of royal bed under an airco sky. We were pointed to this hotel by a parachutists pilot who happens to speak a liite Dutch because he lived in Haarlem for a few years. On the airport by chance I met Paulo Cappelini who, with his RF-5, will be visiting my native Holland next week with the Italian division of the CFI. " More pictures of Cremona can be seen at the italianvisits.com website. |
June
19th 2006 (Mon)
 |
18.00
local time
|
 |
21.00 local
time
Finally got Henk
on the phone:
"Early this morning when trying to depart from Cremona airport my friend
Joachim with his Taifun D-KHNO wasn't able to start his motorglider! It looked
and sounded as if the starter didn't function properly, but we didn't have the
slightest idea what caused this malfunction. We have been trying to start throughout
the entire morning, have made several phonecalls to the Korff-company and even
tried to start the thing with a car battery, but we didn't succeed. At the end
of the morning we discovered the cause of the failure: a burned out fuse. As
we replaced the damned thing and downloaded some weather predictions for the
afternoon, we found out that circumstances had deteriorated and decided not
to leave Cremona today. I myself made a test start to see if my Taifun was able
to take off from this short runway (600 meters) here, but that was no problem.
So we went back to our hotel
Al Carrobbio in the Via Castelverde in Cremona, where our hostess was so
friendly to lend us a car and be our taxi driver so we could visit the city
centre. Amongst others we have visited the beautiful cathedral where I made
several pictures of the interior. We also had a walk through the city quarter
where once lived the famous violin builder Antonio Stradivari. This way we had
a pleasant afternoon, despite the malfunctioning of Jochen's Taifun. Tomorrow
morning we will leave Cremona airport very early, and with better weather we
will probably reach Propriano airport on Corsica the same day. We ............"
After exact 5 minutes and 30 seconds of conversation the line was disconnected
and Henk's mobile phone again, like the rest of the day, could not be reached
anymore.
 D-KHNO with Joachim and Waltraud on the Taifun-meeting in Oehna (2004) |
|
 Almost unbelievable that such a small 2 cm fuse can keep a mighty Taifun aground! |
21.00
local time
Henk on the phone
again:
"I'm sorry, the batteries of my phone went empty during our talk. Anyway,
as said before we visited town with Monica, one of three sisters running the
hotel and she showed us around. She's a very friendly and helpful hostess. She
even brouht us to the airport this morning, but as I've told before this effort
to depart was in vain.
Tomorrow we will try again. It will be a difficult flight for me because Italian
ATC requires a lot more communication with pilots than say Germany or France.
I think my mouth will feel K.O. tomorrow evening (haha). Also we are not allowed
to fly higher than 1000 feet which makes it very difficult to get past the higher
hills. We have to navigate in between. In a few moments we will have dinner,
so now I'm going to end this chat and we will call again tomorrow. Bye bye."
 |
View
upon the centre of Cremona, dominated by the Torrazzo tower. Cremona is a city in Northern Italy on the left shore of the Po river. The city was founded in 218 BC by the Romans as a military outpost (castrum), together with the twin city of Piacenza. It quickly grew into one of the largest towns in northern Italy, as it was on the main road connecting Genoa to Aquileia. Today it's inhabiting a little over 70000 people, mainly living from work in the agricultural and food industry. Unfortunately the cities website is only available in Italian language. |
The
dome of Cremona,
also called the cathedral of Saint Maria Assunta, is a splendid specimen
of Romanesque architecture, dates from the beginning of the twelfth century,
and is noted for its facade in alternate courses of red and white marble.
It possesses many famous paintings and sculptures. Its two marble pulpits
were brought thither from the suppressed church of the Olivetans. Next to the dome on the left (see picture above) we can find the 'Torrazzo', the highest campanile of Italy (111 meters), that houses the dome's churchbells and was built in 1267. Next to the dome on the right we can see the octagonal baptistery (1167). Click the links to read more about these buildings and view images of their interiors. |
 |
June 20th 2006 (Tue)
Today D-KFDI and D-KHNO will attempt to fly to Corsica.
Today's predictions showing no problems from Cremona to Corsica during the early
morning,
however predictions for after noon show bad weather going south from Cremona
towards Corsica!
23.55
local time No sign of Henk. Has his Taifun been swallowed by a shark today? I don't know cause I didn't get any call from Henk. It isn't until the next day until I know for sure Henk indeed reached Corsica today. He didn't want to call me this late on the evening/night anymore. So the story on today below only got to me the next day. |
|
 |
Today's flight in dashed arrows and numbers. Henk: We
had our planes attached firmly on the airfield, called a taxi and payed
20 euros to get to our home in the mountains nearby, at some 10 kilometers
distance from the airfield. |
June 21st 2006 (Wed)
|
21.10
local time |
On the right the image on the cap Henk was talking about. |
|
June 22nd 2006 (Thu)
|
21.15
local time |
Ajaccio,
Corsica's capital city, 53000 inhabitants, is located on the west coast
of the island. It occupies a sheltered position at the foot of wooded
hills on the northern shore of the Gulf of Ajaccio. The harbour lies
to the east of the town and is protected on the south by a peninsula.
The present town of Ajaccio lies about two miles to the south of its
original site, from which it was transferred by the Genoese in 1492.
Occupied from 1553 to 1559 by the French, it again fell to the Genoese
after the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in the later year. The town
finally passed to the French in 1768. |
|
|
Napoleon I
Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, King of Italy (15 August 1769 –
5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution; the ruler of France
as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from 11 November
1799 to 18 May 1804; then Emperor of the French (Empereur des Français)
and King of Italy under the name Napoleon I from 18 May 1804 to 6 April
1814; and briefly restored as Emperor from March 20 to June 22, 1815. On the left a characteristic image depicting Napoleon riding a horse, on the right an image of Napoleon's house of birth in one of Ajaccio's narrow streets in the old town. The house nowadays harbours a museum. |
|
21.15
local time
Elly on the phone:
"Hi Leo, Henk is taking a shower right now, we have just returned to
our Belvedere home. Today we visited Corte, one of the oldest cities on Corsica
and also the native town of Napoleon's parents. We made the same two hours
cardrive to Ajaccio as we did yesterday and from Ajaccio we jumped on a train
which took us to Corte in another two hours. It was a modern train on
an idyllic route, branches of trees sometimes almost smashed against our heads
through the open windows. Also at some point we entered a tunnel, straight
as a line, with a length of 4 kilometers. You could see the light on the other
end of the tunnel the minute we entered it on this side! During a baking hot
day (temperatures up to ) we made a visit to Corte's citadel. We made a walk
through town, had a delicious meal and looked around in some small shops.
Unfortunately we didn't find any internetcafé, so we were not able
to look at the story on our trip so far. After a few hours we had to take
the train and car back to Belevedere and now we are all waiting for our turn
to wash off all sweat under a cold shower. We will call back tomorrow evening
when we will have made a trip to Bonifacio on the South of Corsica. Bye bye,
until tomorrow."
Corte
(Corsican: Corti) is the only significant town on the inland part
of the French island Corsica. The town is situated on a plateau about
600 meters above Mean Sea Level and has about 6700 inhabitants. Lead
by Corsican statesman Pascal Paoli, Corte from 1755 to 1769 has been
the capital of the island. The Romans and Moors, the fights of the
Middle Ages as well as many wars around the independence have left
behind their tracks in this stronghold of history. Today Corte with
its picturesque Old Town is a tourist highlight on the island and
has conserved (especially in the upper part) its sober and serious,
partially even hostile character; with its narrow, precipitous alleys,
between the skew-covered houses. In addition, the town accommodates
the only university
of Corsica (website only in French), newly founded in 1980 and
in the fortress the Corsican ethnology museum is located. Corte has
a good road and raliway system, connected to several harbours of coastal
towns and cities. |
|
|
The stronghold of Corte is the only bigger military fortress in the inlands. The walls on the rocky cliff were fastened already in the 9-th century, but the castle was built only 1419 under Corsican adventurer Vincentello d'Istria, vice king of Aragonia. The "aerie" or eagle's nest on the south point of the cliff is most impressive. It can be reached via a stairway made of "Restonica marble" and visitors can enjoy wide views on the surrounding Restonica valley. Inside of the stronghold there were originally small houses and a chapel. Ludwig XV and in the end Ludwig XVI changed this part and began with the construction of the barracks. However,
it was not until under Louis Philippe the fortress received her final
look as it is today. He ordered to destroy the houses and the chapel
and accommodate the inhabitants in the "Lubiacce", a building
of "100 inhabitants". The military buildings offered lodgings,
at first to the garrison and afterwards they were modified to a prison
for political prisoners. |
|
 The railway tracks of the "Chemins de fer de la Corse (CFC)" connect both ports Bastia on the east coast and Ajaccio on the west coast. The railroad enterprise is a daughter of the French state road Société National des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) and pursues a completely single small-track road with 1,000 mms of gauge and a total length of 231 kms. The society was founded in 1983, after the whole closing of the railroad network was prevented on grounds of protesting local inhabitants. If you're visiting Corsica, a trainride on this "Chemin de Fer" should definitely be on your list of things-to-do! Click here to see a home video on a train trip from Calvi-Ponte to Leccia. |
|
June 24th 2006 (Sat)
21.15
local time
Henk on the phone:
"Hi Leo, today as said before, we've visited Bonifacio on the South point
of Corsica. We have even seen our own story on this website as we found a Cybercafé
in the harbour of Bonifacio.
View on
Bonifacio harbour, la marine
This
morning we took our car and drove about 1½ hour to get to Bonifacio.
I've seen some cities, towns and villages during my flying career, but such
an old and beautiful town I have never seen before! From the sea the town's
coast looks a bit like the white cliffs of Dover, standing on the mountain surrounding
town and looking at the sea you are treated beautiful views all around. We even
we able to see Sardinia, some 15 kilometers South. We have also seen the beautiful
harbour, thronged with sailing yachts and motorized boats. Elly has bought a
skirt in one of the local shops and after that we had to ascend a long long
stairway, leading to the upper part of town. There we were able to enjoy the
magnificent views on both town and sea. At that very moment 5 large trucks,
overloaded with cork were entering the harbour. I've wondered myself many times
when driving on the roads in the inland about the quantity of trees that are
growing on the dry rocks, but the majority of these trees must be corktrees.
Tomorrow we can look around somewhere on the island for one more day, and on
Monday we have to return the car. Then we will commence preparations for our
trip back home. The synoptic charts predict that after Monday the weather in
Northern Italy and the Alps will be much better than this weekend. Once we have
crossed the Brennerpass we will have mastered the most difficult part. For now
I'm going to end this conversation because we are going to watch the football
match Mexico-Argentina. Bye bye, until tomorrow."
The "white cliffs of Bonifacio"
A filmed
impression can be found on google
video.
Bonifacio
(2700 inhabitants) can be split into two sections. The vieille ville
(old town), or la haute ville (the upper city), on the site of a 9th
century citadel, is located on a peninsula overlooking the Mediterranean
Sea. Most of the inhabitants reside in the haute ville.
The
citadel of Bonifacio
More info on Bonifacio can be found at the cities
tourist website, available in French, English, Spanish, German and
Italian language.
The town's charm and proximity to idyllic beaches
makes it a popular tourist destination in the summer, predominantly
for residents of mainland France. Bonifacio is also a gateway to the
small Isles Lavezzi (Lavezzi Islands), which are the southernmost part
of France, and have been designated a marine preserve by the French
government.
The harbour of Bonifacio, la marine, is situated at the end of an approx.
900 m long narrow fjord-like inlet is a port for a large number of fishing
and toursit boats and probably is one of the most impressive looking
ports around the Mediterranean. In the south it is bounded by a limestone
plateau on which the medieval Old Town is settled. The external shore
is so washed out that the houses stand on it like on a balcony. The
Old Town with narrow, cobblestone-paved streets are lined by 4 to 5
storied houses and is to be reached via a bridge and a zigzag tunnel
into the citadel.
June 25th 2006 (Sun)
21.15
local time
Elly on the phone:
"Hi Leo, Henk is watching a footballmatch again (Portugal - Holland) so
I'm going to do the talking for today. Due to very high temperatures, up to
38 ºC, we didn't get further than Campomoro, an isolated village at the
mouth of the Golfe de Valinco, some 7 miles from where we're staying. At the
coast near Campomoro there's an old Genoese watch tower, built in 1583, used
for guarding the land in a time Corsica had to deal with many enemies like the
Saracenes. It's just a small village, 140 inhabitants, but the tower is a much
photographed tourist attraction in this region, also because it's open to visitors.
About 90 of these towers have been bulit in the sixteenth century, several of
these still exist today (click
here for a map of existing towers). Most of them are round and are up to
18m in height, with a cistern in the lower part, a living section in the middle
and an observation/fighting platform at the top. At ground level were water
cisterns. The walls are generally 4m thick. Most of these towers were manned
by 2 or 3 guards, but the Campomoro tower was manned by 5. On the tower we have
enjoyed fantastic views on the Gulf of Propriano. The walk up there, so they
said, would take us 5 minutes. I don't know if it has something to do with age,
but it took us half an hour! Tomorrow we will start preparations for our trip
back home. We will try do rent the car for another day, so we can go to the
airfield a little easier. For now I'm going to hang up and watch football with
the other three. Bye bye."
Genoese
tower of Campomoro
June 26th 2006 (Mon)
22.00
local time |
|
June 27th 2006 (Tue)
21.00
local time On
Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday, there is a special play
that can be seen in Sartène: the procession of the "Catenacciu",
the "chained" leads through the town of the church Sainte-Marie
to the chapel Saint-Sébastien.
Henk:
"Today is our last day on Corsica. We have decided to rent the
car for one more day so we could visit the nearby town of Sartène
(Corsican: Sartè).
Only inhabiting some 3500 people Sartène is the tenth largest
metropolitan region in France, when only looking at surface area (200
km² !). We have visited the old town with its narrow streets and
roads by foot, had a delicious meal in a local restaurant and our wives
have visited some local shops for clothings and souvernirs. The rest
of the day we have been preparing our flight back home and packing and
inspecting both our Taifuns. As things are now we think we can reach
Cremona tomorrow. We will let you know by phone. Bye bye."
View
upon Sartène
The people accompany the big penitent in his red garment and the small
penitent in his white garment on their heavy way. The big penitent carries
a big and heavy wooden cross on the back and a heavy chain on the feet.
During the procession he falls to ground several times. The small penitent
supports him on his way. Both men are incognito. Their identity is known
only to the priest of the place.
Image and more info in French can be found on http://www.curagiu.com/catenacciu.htm
June 28th 2006 (Wed)
21.00
local time
Phonecall from Henk:
"Hi Leo. After 8 terrific days today we have departed Corsica. The weather
during our flight form Propriano via Bastia and Pisa to Cremona was not that
good. We have been flying over water for more than one hour before reaching
Italian maniland, but the isle of Elba we have not seen. It was very hot and
hazy and flying inside a boiling cockpit with swimsuits around your body is
no fun at all. Just putting on your trousers makes you sweat all over. Near
Massa we had some difficulties gaining altitude because of the high temperatures
and thin air, but finally we made it across the Apenines. I'm glad to be in
Cremona right now. Actually we're staying in the same
superb hotel as last week. For tomorrow things are looking bad. We hope
to be able to cross the Alps, but weathercharts show there is a fair chance
of encountering thunderstorms near the Brenner pass. I'm tired so tomorrow morning
I will call again to let you know our plans. Bye bye."
June 29th 2006 (Thu)
11.30
local time
For today Henk has planned to fly from Cremona (Italy), where he landed yesterday,
back home acrosse the Brenner-pass, hoping to avoid the thunderstorms in the
afternoon by making a very early start at Cremona.
Arrival at home base Geilenkirchen is planned to take place around 19.0 local
time on June 29th.
Because I wanted to know about the weather situation I downloaded this Sferics-map
and as you can see in the image above, the current situation in the Alps is
looking very very bad.
I wouldn't be surprised if Henk doesn't make it across the Alps today.
23.00 local time
Phonecall from Henk:
"Hi Leo, I've seen the map you put on this page and indeed, you were absolutely
right. After downloading some synoptic maps we made several phonecalls to check
the weather. We were told by German weather-service it was impossible to cross
the Alps today, because in Bavaria (Southern Germany) and the Alps heavy, heavy
thunderstorms were predicted.
Therefor we decided to stay here in Cremona for one more night, hoping that
tomorrow the weather will be better.
That these predictions were right, we have seen on the news broadcast on TV
this evening. Windows of many cars, roofs of many houses were damaged by severe
hailstorms and more than 100 people have been injured on their heads by falling
hailstones. In Leutkirch, the airfield we had planned to make a stop after crossing
the Alps, several planes have been badly damaged by very large hailstones.
In Cremona we also had a big thunderstorm, but without any hail. Our planes
were tied to the ground, but we had to put in our own weight several times,
to prevent the planes from being blown away.
Before this thunderstorm the sky was very hazy, now that it has passed the sky
is bright and transparent again, somaybe we're lucky tomorrow morning.
I will call again as soon as we have decided to depart. Bye bye"
 Hailstones in Villingen (70 NM from Leutkirch) in Southern Germany |
 Flooded streets in Haslach (90 NM from Leutkirch) |
 Car window in Villingen, imagine this effect on your Taifun cockpit window !!! |
| As you
can see on the images above (from the German Press Agency DPA) this
is not the kind of weather you would like to be around when flying in
your Taifun motorglider above the Alps. The image on the right shows a man holding tennisball like hailstones that have fallen near an airfield in Southern Germany. Airfield and photographer are unknown. |
 |
June 30th 2006 (Fri)
8.00
local time
Henk:
"We have called the weather in Innsbruck (Austria) and they have told us
there is no use in departing this morning if we want to cross the Brenner-pass.
The only way to get across the Alps right now is to fly a Western route via
France. The longer we wait, the better chances will get of crossing the Brenner
so we have made a flightplan for 12.00 local time."
20.15 local time
Henk: "We have departed at Cremona airfield at 12.00 local under
very good circumstances. It was not until the Brenner pass that the weather
deteriorated. Clouds were formed by upward flowing air near the mountains. Again
we contacted Innsbruck weather and they assured us there was no trouble in getting
to Mengen
(EDTM) on the German side of the Alps. Indeed we made it without any problems
and continued our flight to Leutkirch (EDNL) were we landed at 15.15 and closed
our flight plan. Both our Taifuns D-KFDI and D-KHNO have refuelled and Elly
and I departed for Geilenkirchen at 16.00 local while Joachim and Waltraut left
half an hour earlier because they had to land at Lingen-Nordhorn before airfield
closure time at 19.30 local. Elly and I were lucky to land at 18.40 at Gelienkirchen
NATO airbase (ETNG) as the airport was still open due to some extra E3A flights.
We were picked up by a friend of mine, Frans Hulschers my old flying instructor
who in 1972 let me fly my first solo flight in a glider. Frans brought us home
with his car where we arrived 15 minutes ago and ended our 12-day trip to Corsica.
We hope our readers have enjoyed this report as much as we enjoyed the trip.
Bye bye, hope to meet you again in the future on this website."
Our proud pilots and co-pilots on this trip at Propriano airfield Corsica, from
left to right:
Waltraud, Joachim, Elly and Henk.
"We like to thank Herrn Rainer Korff from Korff company for making
possible this trip. Rainer, without your support we would not have been able
to make this trip. Thanks a lot."
For
those of you who don't know Herr Korff, he has founded the Korff
& Co company, amongst others producer of materials for (powered) gliders
like the Valentin Taifun 17 E and EII and also the Grob G 109b.
© 2006, webmaster Leo
A
45-picture-album showing some of the great sights on this trip can be found
by clicking here.
| home | ©2006
powerglidertaifun.de |
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