Nobody in Bitterwasser was surprised. The Ukrainian Dimitry has a special reputation here. During his first flight in Namibia eleven years ago, he practiced slope flying on the Gamsberg (2347 m), over a terrain that, in its ruggedness, makes normal pilots shudder even when looking at MSL from 5000 meters. At that time Dmytry tinkered from one mini-updraft to the next to the south, until he finally managed to jump to the east side of the mountains into the Kalahari. If you want to tremble again: The flight is shown in the OLC 2011 (12.12.2010). Dmytry in his comment: “My first flight in Namibia. I'm happy."
On the other hand, yesterday's 769-kilometer flight looked downright unspectacular. He found the best conditions on the west side of the thunderstorm line. His conclusion in the evening: “Without my student Alexander, well over 1000 kilometers would easily have been possible.” Alexander from Petersburg in Russia before had only made a few starts with the Ukrainian in Vinon, where Dmytry works as a flight instructor. Four hours would have been a long flight for him.
It was simply impossible to foresee that such a well-flyable line would develop over the course of the day in the west. On the contrary, in the early morning the Cbs shot threateningly into the sky and also confirmed the last doubters in their decision to stay on the ground. And at noon the first violent thunderstorm swept over Bitterwasser. In the evening the weather had calmed down over Bitterwasser and so the approach from the west was possible.
