Fotokalender Segelfliegen 2012 

January



DG400 / Pilot: Wessel Fokkema, NL 

Throughout my stay at Serres in 2009, basically every day offered the opportunity to fly into the western Alps. On the 14th of August I had just returned from the Aosta Valley. Being in the vicinity of Col de Vars I called Claus-Dieter on his “photo frequency”, to check whether a photo session would be possible. Indeed he and his Mistral “ZC” had been close by – but it was difficult to locate him amongst all those low clouds which form like this only at the Italian border. When we finally met east of the Col de Vars close to the Tête de la Frémat, he had made 1,267 frames and mine amongst them. A unique effort!

February



Nimbus 4 / Pilot: Sven Richter 

The Nimbus 4 “EP” approaching the peak of the Les Bans, behind which the glacial valley of Valgaudemar opens. The weather forecast for the day: “subsidence inversion with weak thermals below” – how lucky, nature does not always sticks to the weather forecast! Indeed in the afternoon, flight levels of 4,000 metres had been possible and so Claus-Dieter Zink and I arranged to meet to expose the Lady Enid Paget sponsored-aircraft in front of the Massif des Écrins. The picture displays the countess’s Nimbus 4 east of the Valgaudemar, to the left the characteristic peak of the 3,441 metre high Le Sirac.

March



Discus CS / Pilot: Michael Elvermann 

CD-Zink and I flew close formation. He took almost 2,000 pictures that day. Our frame depicts the border between Italy and France. To the left: the fog patches in the Po lowlands, to the right: the convective more favourable air mass out of France. In the back drop the pyramid of the Monte Viso is already in Italy – it is the southern most peak of the alps with a height of over 3,500 metres and headwaters to the Po.

April



Duo Discus / Piloten: Rosemarie Spatzek, Alexander Heim
When I heard Claus-Dieter Zink on the radio, I was sitting with Rosemarie in the “Golf November”, a Duo Discus much appreciated & lent to us at the end of the season by the Weser-Fluggemeinschaft in Lemwerder for our holidays. There was a special mood in the early evening of this 3rd September 2009, at the spur of the I’Obiou, between Vercors and the Montagne de Ferraud. The sun was already low in the west and was basking the coarse rocks, in warm light, rich with contrasts. The mountain presented us with the warmth and steady lift.

May

ASH 25 / Pilot: Christian Hynek, AT
In 2009 we got this wonderful airplane for the first time. In August I had brought it to Serres for our club’s gliding holiday and it was worth it. The weeks in Southern France had everything for us as glider pilots, every-thing we could ask for. For more than a week one could fly into the Wallis on a basis of up to 5,000 metres. The Matterhorn, the Aletsch Glacier and the Furka Gap had been our goals day in day out and also amongst it was the 2,886 metre high Le Chevalier near Barcelonnette, where the picture was taken.

June

Duo Discus / Piloten: Rosemarie Spatzek, Alexander Heim
The peak of the I’Obiou (2,790 m) was hiding in a cumulus cloud, we could not think of climbing higher than 2,700. So we to stayed amongst the rocks. The landscape formed of rock looked in a fascinating way both unreal and inviting – inviting, because the face of the I’Obiou provided reliable lift after our photo session. Our frame came about in the evening sun in front of the impressive back drop of the I’Obiou.

July

Ventus-2c / Piloten: Y. Cottier, B. Convert, J-M. Zellweger, CH
It had been our first flying day with Claus-Dieter Zink. In the morning we had invited him over and after a short briefing we launched. The light was ideal and we had a wonderful view over the Montagne de Chabre south of Serres. The 1,352 meter high Montagne de Chabre is a paradise for paragliders. Equally it had been a wonderful day for us glider pilots and above all an honour to fly accompanied by Claus-Dieter.

August

Duo Discus / Piloten: Rosemarie Spatzek, Alexander Heim
As soon as Claus-Dieter’s camera was aimed at us out of his Mistral, it was time for us to keep precise position. Continuing hour after hour it can get tiring, but between the photo sessions quiet episodes occurred, like here on the northern shore of the Lac de Serre-Ponçon. This striking artificial lake is situated in the French western Alps. The 124 metre high and 630 metre wide dam-wall had been erected between 1955 and 1961, damming the upper Durance. Today the lake is a famous tourist attraction.

September

EB 28 / Piloten: Alexander Müller, Volker Pohlhaus
Already in 2008 I had told Claus-Dieter Zink, I would get an EB 28 from the Binder Company. So on the last day of my holiday Claus-Dieter came deliberately to Serres. Volker Pohlhaus and I launched early with the EB and we had arranged to meet him later. Unfortunately Claus-Dieter had technical difficulties and as a result we only met him late in the afternoon at the ridge north of Aspres-sur-Buëch with the thermals getting increasingly worse. These frames are documents of my last flight with Claus-Dieter near Savournon south-west of the Montagne d’Aujour.

October

DG400 / Pilotin: Reiko Sakurai, JP
Far off Japan also has a long tradition of gliding. The early interest of the Japanese monarchy in gliding is legendary. And so gliding pioneer Wolf Hirth of Stuttgart was welcomed in 1935 by Emperor Hirohito like a guest of state. Today the art of gliding is held in high esteem in Nippon. The Japanese female pilot Reiko Sakurai is a frequent guest in Serres. Here the helicopter pilot and enthusiastic instructor from Tokyo is posing in a DG 400 in front of a splendid cloud between l’Obiou and Pic de Bure.

November November

ASH 25 + Duo Discus / Piloten: Christian Hynek, Beate Brugger, AT
Already two years prior to the photo session taken in August 2009 I had flown to the Wallis Alps – then with my old Ventus 2b. This time I had been piloting the ASH 25Mi over Lac d’Allos at the Col de la Carolle (2,326 m). In formation with the Duo Discus it was not easy to balance the performance difference, particular since the Mistral owned by Claus-Dieter is not really a “high-performance steamboat” itself. Four days after these pictures were taken, Claus-Dieter put the camera aside for one day, and at a rate of knots he flew to the Furka Gap, turned, and returned in time in the evening to Serres.

December

Duo Discus / Piloten: Rosemarie Spatzek, Alexander Heim
Since the basis of this cumulus cloud at the I’Obiou sank more and drifted southward at the same time, we had less and less clearance to manoeuvre for our photos. Nevertheless Claus-Dieter kept on shooting busily. Our “Ohrenechse” (lizard with tips), as we emphatically nicknamed our Duo Discus, met his interest from all angles. “A pity one can’t capture such a mood,” I heard Claus-Dieter saying on the radio. No way! Looking at the pictures taken east of Serres at the Montagne d’Aujour during the last light for shooting close, I must say, he managed that with perfection.