JUST SOME OF THE NEWS ITEMS PRINTED IN THE MARCH ISSUE OF GLIDING INTERNATIONAL’

THE WORLD’S LEADING SAILPLANE EXHIBITION - Aero Friedrichshafen, Germany, will now be held every year in, well, Friedrichshafen. Friedrichshafen is quite a blend of General Aviation - not just soaring – hence is held at an airport facility, up to now every second year. It attracts BIG dollar (euro) displays and my guess is that it costs manufacturers a lot more than any similar event anywhere else in the world. Friedrichshafen is a Mecca for soaring pilots and certainly a great source of new material for soaring publications. True followers must in their lifetime visit it at least once. For me, 2009 is the year! But whilst on the subject of exhibitions or trade fairs, few would know that the ownership of Farnborough has just changed hands with TAG Aviation now the new owners of the of airport - home of the Farnborough Air Show. Fans of the Farnborough Air Show need not expect a change of venue; TAG says it intends to keep the airport as the show’s long-term home.

WANTED: ASH25 EB 28 MOTOR AND COCKPIT probably in the possession of someone who owns a chainsaw! Early December, one unsuspecting ASH25-EB28 owner opened his trailer to find that the front half of his fuselage was missing together with the motor. Someone had cut the fuselage up to steal the cockpit and engine. The owner believes it was stolen to order. (Got any friends with an EB28?). Interesting to know how the insurance company viewed this type of theft (?) accident (?) or whatever. Contact owner through Gliding International.

LILIENTHAL MEDAL - GLIDING’S HIGHEST AWARD - Nominations have closed for this year’s consideration as to who will be awarded the one solitary Lilienthal Medal. IGC delegates will vote at their meeting in Switzerland early March. This year’s nominees are: Derek Piggott, the United Kingdom’s instructor extraordinaire, Leonardo Brigliadori, a competition pilot, author and an Italian pilot whose whole life has been dedicated to the sport of gliding and Sebastian Kawa from Poland, the world’s highest rated competition pilot, a medical doctor, who apart from his competition prowess, is devoted with some success to furthering Poland’s youth in gliding programs. As always, a very difficult vote decision for the IGC delegates.

QUOTABLE QUOTE - “When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” Leonardo da Vinci

SHOPPING MALL ACTIVITY The National Soaring Museum Elmira, New York, recently opened a gift shop at the Arnot Mall for the holiday season. Called Windrider Gift Shop it was located across from Liberty Travel, just inside the north entrance to the centre court. The shop offered unique aviation and speciality souvenirs, along with gift certificates for a sailplane rides. This is an excellent example of pro active “taking soaring to the people” in addition to the museum’s theme of “build it and they will come” approach. An interesting marketing idea that clubs could use as a model for a similar holiday sales efforts.

REGULATIONS MANAGEMENT - Have you come across something that’s arcane, anachronistic or just plain useless in your travels through the regulations? Well, the FAA says it wants to know about it. The agency has issued a ‘Review of Existing Regulations’ that invites anyone with a “beef” about how the law of the air is now set to drop them a line. “Getting public comments is a necessary element of our effort to make our regulations more effective and less burdensome,” the agency claims in the document. It’s asking that you list the top three aggravations in descending order for it to consider. The FAA has to do this under Executive Order 12866 and provides a long list of efforts toward that end. “Our goal is to identify regulations that impose undue regulatory burden; are no longer necessary; or overlay, duplicate, or conflict with other Federal regulations,” the document says. Gliding International Comment: “Can they turn goals into realities?”

THERE ARE BLANIKS IN EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBE – but are you aware that there is a new AD on all models and all serial numbers of Blanik L-13’s. It took effect on January 08, 2008 with compliance by April 08. This Airworthiness Directive (AD) is prompted by the discovery of cracks on L13 BLANIK sailplanes in zones where the forward and aft control sticks are attached to the connecting rod, designated as the “control bridge” in the relevant Illustrated Parts Catalogues (IPC). If left uncorrected, cracks could propagate and lead to failure of the connecting rod with subsequent loss of control of the sailplane. This AD requires an inspection of the control bridge to detect cracks and replacement, if necessary.

AUSTRALIA’S NEW PRIME MINISTER HAS A THING ABOUT NOISE - When Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Australia’s new prime minister in December, among the items on his agenda was airport noise and noisy aircraft. Rudd has worked in the past to oppose expansion of airports, according to the Brisbane Courier-Mail. Rudd wants a curfew which bans sunset to sunrise aircraft operations, a move that opponents say would discourage international flights and devastate the tourism industry. During the campaign, Rudd promised hundreds of suburbanites who live below the flight paths that he would pursue a curfew on not only night flights but noisy aircraft over cities. How noisy is your tug?

ON LINE CONTEST BONUS - IGC Flight Replay - Google Earth has an application http://ywtw.de/igcsim.html that allows you to load IGC files directly (without the need for km) and replay the flights within the Google Earth™ - Mapservice. Replays are enthralling and instructive at the same time. Using selected IGC files, for instance from the OLC, it helps you to get acquainted with foreign terrain or to get prepared for outlandings or foreign airfields. An IGC - example a flight in the north-eastern Alps (Dassu - Schmittenhöhe - Kreuzjoch - Chiemsee) is built in. Prerequisites - Windows XP or higher, - .NET 2, - Google Earth 4.2 (4.0 won’t work!)

ISLE OF MAN TARGETS PRIVATE AIRCRAFT REGISTRATIONS The Isle of Man, which is a Crown dependency of Britain but is also self-governing and constitutionally separate, recently launched its own aircraft registry and is hoping to attract private aircraft owners to the “M” designation. Because it’s so closely tied to Britain, much of the law and practices are comfortably familiar to international clients, but the Manx registration offers some advantages not available in some countries. For instance, corporate tax on the Isle of Man is zero and the Manx government doesn’t care where an aircraft is based or used. However, riff raff need not apply.