Despite a rather poor forecast at the morning briefing, the day turned out to be a real spectacle.
The teams led by Armin Behrendt and Thomas Wolf, Holger Back and Ilka Elster-Back, and Daniel and Reinhard Schramme only returned to Bitterwasser shortly after sunset.
Despite the rather late start around 11 a.m., a lot of kilometers were covered.
All three teams reported a surprisingly good flying day. After initially weak thermals and constant sinking, updrafts and clouds appeared as if at the push of a button.
Holger Back and Ilka Eslter-Back covered the longest distance with 1123 kilometers and made it to just before the South African border.
Armin Behrendt and Thomas Wolf won the day in Africa with a distance of 1118 kilometers.
Daniel and Reinhard Schramme also flew a long way with a distance of 1048 km.
The pilots reported an average speed of almost 200 km/h for up to 2 hours.
In the evening, a convergence appeared directly above the airfield, allowing the pilots to enjoy a beautiful sunset.
All in all, a really successful day of flying!
A stay at the Bitterwasser Lodge is usually beyond the financial means of young pilots. At the same time, the next generation is the key to the future of our wonderful sport—and of the lodge as well. That is why supporting young pilots is a core part of the Bitterwasser Flying Center’s mission.
Early October is the ideal time to prepare the runways for flight operations. You can land at the Bitterwasser Flying Lodge in every which direction—depending on how you look at it, on 8 runways (plus one emergency runway), each in two directions. Jeremias carefully levels the landing area over the course of several weeks.