Landing is usually only done after sun set, especially when a stronger westerly wind is blowing and landing direction 27 applies. Landing into the sun is not advisable. It's a good reason to make the most of the day with the 15 minutes until dusk ends. It's not difficult. Hitting a 2-meter thermal 45 minutes before sunset, in which you can circle up to the base in 3000 meters above ground is not so rare. But then you have the luxury problem of getting back down quickly enough before night comes.
And when the majority of the gliders come in after sunset, the Bitterwasser pan plays its great advantage. At a width of almost two kilometers, it picks up the landing gliders. There is no need for stress in the cockpit.
As a member of the Bitterwasser Board of Directors and CFI of the Soaring Society of Namibia, Dieter has rendered outstanding services to gliding in Namibia.
Sitting at his favorite spot in Bitterwasser, he has left us forever.
We will not forget him.
The season in Bitterwasser is slowly drawing to a close.
One by one, the gliders are being loaded into the containers. And still some teams fly over 1000 kilometers every day.