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The 20th to the 22nd of August gave rise to the 2010 Taifun meeting in Koblenz! This year a total of 28 Taifun motorgliders and many more Taifun friends gathered on the airfield of Koblenz/Winningen (EDRK) in Germany. Expectations were high after a previous meeting in Hassfurt two years ago.

 

Approaching Koblenz/Winningen ( Hans Haas)

This year the Taifun-community was hosted by the Aero club of Koblenz, its airfield pitoresquely situated on a hill above the Moselle. The town of Koblenz in its immediate vicinity and overnight facilities in the nearby village of Winningen turned this event into a succes. Furthermore the airfields infrastructure can be regarded as excellent.

Friday afternoon already one Taifun after the other already landed on the runway 24 at EDRK, thus creating a line-up of already 17 Taifun’s that evening in the parking area. The sight of this Taifun armada at sundown would make every Taifun fan’s heart beat faster.

 

 

Friday evening, the Taifun armada goes to sleep!

Friday evening, dinner at the airfield restaurant followed after the airplanes were put down to "sleep“. It gave rise to a lively and intensive exchange of experiences among pilots and friends at the airfield's restaurant.

 

 

Enjoying food at the airfield's restaurant at EDRK

 

The next morning another eleven Taifuns arrived in perfect weather conditions, together covering most of the allocated parking area at Koblenz/Winningen with the typical silhouettes of the Valentin motorgliders. Some had flown from places like Switzerland, Sweden, Spain and The Netherlands. One Taifun-pilot from Chili however had cheated by coming with an airliner (He was forgiven). The saturday morning program was the usual round of technical questions and answers, headed by Rainer and Cornelia Korff. It was a lively exchange, down to the nitty gritty details on how to keep these now often 30 years old birds (and their owners) graciously in the sky.

 

D-KFDI turned into a technical object of study - thanks Henk!

 

 

Things like how to get the air out of your brake lines, questions on the cooling of the engine and how to modify the oil cooler so you can control the temperature. A technical directive is expected for the latter one. There was a lot of interest regarding the subject the 3000-hour inspection, which is getting near for some of the "old-timers". A lot of information was given on the works to be carried out, expiry dates and costs of this total “bodily” check up. Some of the owners, having already passed this ordeal, shared their experiences.
Another area of interest was the propeller and the new strict noise prevention measures at different airfields.

 

Questions and answers on the Taifun– Rainer Korff answering questions…….

 

Rainer and Cornelia Korff, being the owners of the type certificate of the Valentin Taifun, explained and answered all technical issues to everyone's satisfaction. It was also an opportunity for new owners to find out a lot about their airplane.

 

 

……supported energeticly by Cornelia und Gerry!

 

 

Subsequently the designer of the Taifun 17 E, Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Fischer, gave a presentation in english (because some of the Taifun owners flew in from abroad) on the initial concept and development. It was Bernd Valentin, who came with the initial idea and funding for this airplane, way ahead of its time.

 

 

Presentation at the club house

 

 

 

 

Lunch at the restaurant gave rise to more interesting table conversations, followed by a tour on the river that afternoon.

 

Taifun community during dinner ( Hans Haas)

 

 

Early afternoon a bus took all participants down to the Moselle river for a two hours boat trip. After returning to the airfield later that day some participants took their time to have another chit-chat in a smooth atmosphere while others took advantage of the beautiful weather to have another fly around in their plane.

 

 

Boat trip on the Moselle ( Hans Haas)

 

 

During the evening, supported by members of the Aero-Club Koblenz, it was time for a BBQ party. Shortly after midnight, under a starry sky with mild temperatures, the last guests left the area to look for their hotel room, tent or mobile home.

 

 

„Light the fire boy!“ Hans said and made a picture…

 

Cosy gathering

 

 

 

Taifun pilots are hungry…….

 

……. and have fun with technics! :-) ( Hans Haas)

 

 

 

The sunday program was spontaneously shortened by approaching bad weather. Pilots heading northbound wanted be on their way before the thunderstoms would hit. This way one after the other Taifun motor glider lifted elegantly from the tarmac, disappearing on the horizon, heading back home. Hopefully to be back in great numbers again at the next Taifun meeting in 2011.

 

 

Departure for the homeflight after a succesful weekend

 

 

We can conclude by stating that the 2010-Taifun meeting in Koblenz was a succes with a lot of information and possibilities to share experiences for owners and pilots about the “best-motorglider-in-the-world”.

We would like to thank the Aero-Club of Koblenz by saying that without their hospitality and friendly support this successful Taifun meeting would not have been possible! Also many thanks for Manfred and Henk, who have organised this event so well.

 

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