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By Heinz Korella 
The German Team
After long preparations concerning finances, in May 1997, we finally knew
the crew which should represent the German colours in microlight at the
very first World Air Games in history, in Turkey. They were: Herrmann
Jakob, at 72 the oldest in the team. He flew the Piccolo in the FSC-class. Heinz Korella and Jan Altenkirch flew in the FTS-class, the C-42, which they got for free of charge for hire from the manufacturer, COMCO. Robert Mair and Dietmar Spekking flew in the trike twoseater class; an Enduro trike with wings from Air Création. For the trike solo seater class we had no pilot. Thomas Rietmann, as Teamleader and Edgar Pohl and Sebstian Fox as assistants made the team complete.
The CrossingOn Friday, 5th Sep, H Jakob, with team leader and assistants, met H Korella at the border crossing at Bale with their microlights on the trailer for making a little convoy, heading for Venice. There they wanted to meet R Mair and D Spekking, to take the ferry to Turkey. While waiting for the departure they did some sightseeing in Venice and the first new friendships with other microlight pilots began. The crossing which took two and a half days was very comfortable because of the fine weather, full board, swimming pool, bars and disco. The passage through the Channel of Korinth, at night, was a very special highlight. The Road To Aydin We reached the port of Izmir at Tuesday, 9th Sep where Jan and a four hours long customs clearance were awaiting us. But first we were welcomed by the Turkish aerobatic team. (Later we heard, this was because of the Independence Day of Izmir). Jan had already arrived at 8 o'clock in the morning by a scheduled flight and had to wait for us until 16.15 pm. Then we attacked the dreadful city traffic of Izmir to find the road to Aydin (about 120 km). We reached the airfield just before sunset, early enough to prepare our tents and camping cars for the night. 
Next morning we assembled our microlights and investigated the airfield.
All buildings and the airfield looked very incomplete, but our hosts did
the nearly impossible and prepared the airfield well before the first task
(14th Sep).
The Trim Down Very fair was the posibility of weighing before the competition and the impossibility of complaints from competitors during the competition concerning the MTOW. After the weighing of our microlight with assembly Number 1 (that means the very first prototype of this aircraft), we had to use the screwdriver (for the C-42) and yogurt and crisp bread (for the pilots) to reach the 450 kg mark. 
The test competition on Friday, 12th Sep, where we reached Place 5, showed us the demands and the quality of the tasks, which were awaiting us from 14th to19th of Sept. A member of the jury was right when he said: "We always will fly in the valley, except when we are flying through the mountains !" 14 Sep 97 - Task 1: Navigation flight with a groundspeed which had to be handed over before.
15 Sep 97 - Task 2: Flight with limited fuel.
16 Sep 97 - Task 3: Navigation and speed flight on a circle.
17 Sep 97 - Task 4: Precision landing.
18 Sep 97 - Task 6: Distance flight with limited fuel and speed analyses.
19 Sep 97 - Tasks 7 and 8: Navigation flight on a circle with a ground speed which had to be handed over before.
After every navigation flight each team got 20 minutes to write down the coordinates of markers and photos in an answer sheet. Wrong coordinates gave penalties. 
The Ukrainian team which was leading with more than 300 points lost so many
points in Tasks 7 and 8, that is was possible for Jan and me to gain the
Gold Medal with 80 points lead. Because of incoming protests until 19.30
pm, which didn't concern us, we knew it first at midnight on Saturday, 20
Sep 97 when we got the medal and the cup.Hermann Jakob flew on the thankless but remarkable 4th place, Robert Mair and Dietmar Spekking got a good place 8. On Sunday 21st of Sept Jan and me flew very comfortable to Pamukkale with our C-42, 120 km away, for sightseeing of the famous limestone terraces from the air. 
During the entire time we spent in Turkey, we always had sunshine with
temperatures of 32° C and more in the shadow. But not only the sky gave us
all out support, so did also our host country. For US $ 250 registration
fee per person we got 50 % reduction on the ferry price, camping and
electric power free, a welcome package with cap, polo shirt, briefing bag,
pencil and key ring, a memorial coin and foremost a warm dinner every day
with big salad and fruit buffet and fruit drinks for free.
Altogether we had hard but very nice days in a country which is very
friendly towards visitors. We enjoyed our flights over the landscape which
reminded me of the South of France and we will never forget the views of
the minarets and the friendly waving people in the cotton fields. Who is so
lucky to fly microlights in Asia ??
But one thing is sure: We will meet again at the next World Air Games. |
