From: Steve Kittel Subject: More rantings from Germany Date: 28 July 2004 2:52:25 AM To: Mark Newton
Mark, here are some more rantings from Germany. You might put them on the sugar glider page for a non flying point of view if you need space fillers. However what I really want and would appreciate if you could forward these (and any subsequent) to AUGC news group.
The club here has a fleet of mostly east european origin. Klix was part of the old East Germany. It has some Bocians for basic trainers with a Puchacz and a DG1000. Single seaters are Pirats and assorted models of Jantars.
When Klix airfield was under the control of the East Germans it was an airfield in the old fashioned sense where pilots took off into the wind whichever way it was blowing. Since reunification the West German rules have been applied and an airfield must have a runway, so there is a delineated runway (28/10) in the middle of an area completely landable in any direction. One small corner of the field is used by the model aero club.
Klix, the village and airfield is about 10km North of Bautzen, a moderately large town. The nearest really big town is Dresden, about 65km away. Tasking is mostly to the north of the strip, we have Dresden to the south west and the Polish/Czech borders to the east. The tasks are not going to go over these countries, but they do go very close.
Cathy and I have fallen in with Swaantje Geyer. Some may remember her as part of the german team at Gawler in 2001. Her crew consists of a lady called Sabine who has helped Cathy and me a lot. Swaantje’s partner is Helge. He is a fairly experienced power station flyer (see later). We had a long talk to him about this and Lisa Trotter had already tried it on Friday.
Anyway, back to Neuhausen. On the drive there we stopped at a couple of places to look at various things including a close look at some of the big lakes. We went past one of the power stations (Schwarze Pumpe) and we slowed down to have a look. I have convinced the Germans I am completely mad by looking at the electrical lines like the man in the Texas Utilities ads! Schwarze Pumpe is not a very reliable lift source as it is more modern and efficient. It doesn’t waste as much heat as the older ones. It doesn’t appear to have any emmisions and it doesn’t have a stack like other power stations. It appears to have a scrubber or heat recovery structure where the chimney would normally be.
We got to Neuhausen around 20:00 and still light for a good while. The flying had all stopped except later in the evening a hot air balloon came in to land (they must have left from somewhere else).
A look around the airfield and we saw some interesting gliders in the hangar. Once again, the gliding club hangar is a big brick building left over from the cold war years but the airfield has been modernised since then. There is also another hangar for power aircraft. Neuhausen is a sports aviation field and used by a large number of others. The power hangar is comparatively modern metal construction and bigger than anything at Parafield. A few aircraft were parked around the field including an Antonov AN2. This is a Russian utility freighter, which we don’t see in the west but many thousands were built. This one is used by the parachute club as the drop aircraft. In the photo you should be able to see a large drip tray supported just below the engine. Apparently it is normal for the AN2 to drip huge quantities of oil. It was suggested that they tip it back in and use it again, but I think they were having a lend of me.
At the party I met some old and new people, Benno was a pilot at Gawler in 2001 and we recognised each other. Most younger people and people from West Germany speak english well enough to carry out sensible conversations (unlike my pidgin german). A chap called Tobias was able to show me Ursa Major and we were able to find Polaris, the party was outside and this was the first semi clear night since coming to Germany. I had a taste of Cathy’s beer (cos the german beer is the best beer in the world, of course) but it still tasted like cr*p beer to me. The germans then suggested I drink a special and unique drink from that part of the world, they called it Rote Brauschen (Red Fizzy). The “unique” Rote Brauschen is rasberry lemonade, just like you might serve to kids in any aussie pub!
We said our goodbyes and drove back to Klix with everyone in the back seat falling asleep at various time during the trip home (and pretending they weren’t). The days are very long sometimes.
I took a tow behind a Wilga tug, which was interesting. They use comparatively short ropes. The high tow position puts the Wilga on the horizon where a Pawnee would be, but the attitude and shape of the Wilga means you are looking slightly down into his back window. I suppose that also means he has a good view of me as well, but the feeling this gives is you are a long way above him. Anyway, had a good tour around Klix airfield 10-15km out (1000 to 1500m up) and got a good look at the local country side. On Saturday the aussie girls and some of the germans had been for a ground tour to check out the paddocks. It is very hard to adjust to paddock types. The ones they recommend avoiding are wheat and canola, this time of the year these two crops are dried out yellow. The lucerne, clover, grass (and as a last resort) corn (yes, about 4 feet high) are all green and are the preferred outlanding crops. From the air the yellow paddocks look emminently landable to these aussie eyes. It’s a hard change to make. Also on this flight, I out thermalled a G109 (unsurprising) but I know he didn’t come from Klix. When I got back I did a RH circuit to the north of the strip, the aeromodellers were flying on the south side of the field. The air is fairly full here.
Went to find the laundry today and got Bloomi, one of the tug pilots to give me a briefing on the washing machine. A very complex and amazing bit of gear. He showed me the "special procedure" for opening the lid, ie banging on it to release the lid interlocks. "GDR" is what he said in a dark voice as he walked away. Says it all I suppose.