Elimination Testing Continues

Tuesday afternoon sky, this is what it looked like.

Graham's arrival back at Sisteron after his area familiarization flight.





As you would have seen by Graham's last posting the elusive bit of pretty paper with the appropriate stamp & signature fixed has arrived.
Yep this means we'll rig in the morning. A bit late today and the wind is up a bit so I think we'll do it in the morning is best.
Meantime there are a few domestics to do back at home and yes the clothes washer is running this very moment!

Other domestics include the continuation of the elimination process.
At the Super U we normally poke our nose into the beer section and select another 1 or 2 test specimens.

Here is the ongoing results of the process.
They are rated from left to right and in 3 groups.
On the left are the brands we like and are probably going to resample! In the middle are the samples that we would drink if offered but would not pay money for them, and on the right, well, what can I say!! The one on the far right, we poured into the sink! Who in their right mind would mix whiskey with beer!!!





My plan today was to go for a run in a 2 seater with a french instructor. I thought I had arranged it earlier this morning but it seemed that was forgotten over lunch and by the time I found someone to talk to about it there was no longer a possibility for today. Pity, because the Mistral is here today and the ridges seem to be pumping really well watching the gliders being dropped off tow on the mountain ridge just downwind.
So I've been told to remind a particular guy after briefing tomorrow that I am to fly with Remmy.
Bewdy!!!

Going for walkies in the French countryside around our Gite.

Our Gite from across the valley while on walkies.

Mark

Et Voila!

Finally. The elusive bit of paper. Woo hoo!!

Of course it is 3.30pm and blowing 30kts outside so I am not inclined to rig the glider at the moment.

All go for tomorrow.

Graham.

Flight

Guess who went flying today?

Quite a pleasant day for flying. The strong north westerly wind, the mistral, had disappeared leaving a sky full of cumulus. A bit too full in parts; once again it was complete clag and rain from about 50km north of here. They have a few spare gliders sitting around here, but finding people allowed to fly them is not so easy. I managed to get one of the tow pilots to come and sit in the back of a spare Duo Discus while I took it for a burn around the mountains.

 The flight is on the OLC if anyone wants to look.



And tomorrow? The strong winds are forecast to be back.

And still a complete stony silence about the status of our licencing.  *sigh*

Graham

Waiting...

Well, the DGAC (French equvalent of CASA) is still being obstinate about giving us French "equivalence" to allow us to fly here yet. So we have enlisted the help of FFVV (French version of GFA) to go in and bat for us. I am hoping that someone in one deparment has a mate in the other that they can talk to and get some common sense going here. Precious little of that being shown by DGAC so far.

OK, mustn't rant.

Another cold day with bitter wind from the north west. Gliding would have been sort of OK around here but it looked to be raining 30 km or so north. Mark and I went for a drive in the hills.

Up some winding roads...

     with some nice views...,

     and through some pretty villages...

But we were unable to get a glass of claret at this place. 

Disappointing.




Tomorrow I have an area check flight organised. I am hoping then to be able to get XM rigged and go do some proper flying but I'm not exactly holding my breath on that one.

It really is difficult getting any information out of anyone here. A lot of shrugging of shoulders and walking away. I'll keep plugging away.

Graham

Tourists

Out to the airfield mid morning to see if we could get some of Graham's paperwork sorted. It's going to be a cold windy day. Not the people in the office we need to see. Looks like Monday is the go, then we'll see how long it takes to get Graham airborne after it starts!

We decided to use the rest of the day to have a look at Sisteron itself. Our first port of call was the Citadel which was the center of the town's defense bastion.

 The Citadel's construction first began in 1209 and was added to repeatedly over the decades.
This shot was taken from inside the first main wall of defense about halfway up the mountain.






We explored the underground cavers, storage and living quarters and the connecting tunnels. Multy levels winding back and forth inside the stonework.
It must have taken them decades and decades to build this rabbit warren.

As you can see the town is well below the first bastion wall of defense. You could get a lot of rocks and things down on the bad guys heads from here.

We are right on top of the upper most ramparts and looking down on everything. Notice the flags!! Yes and Graham was wearing a hat a little earlier!

This shot is taken from the western sentry post atop the defensive walls. During WW2 the yanks bombed Sisteron to blow up the bridge in an effort to slow the advance of the German war machine. As you can plainly see the bridge is still there!!!!!

It's been there from the 13th century!

We then went for walkies through the older part of Sisteon that wasn't flattened by the yanky attempt on the bridge.

 These are the towers that formed part of the original wall the encircled the whole town as part of it's initial defense. They are dotted around the town so you can get a feel of the enormity of it all. It would have certainly taken many years to complete such an undertaking.

This one is taken looking at little left from the last shot and you can see the Citadel up on the mountain side. This gives you a bit of a feel for the sheer size of the undertaking.

Back home in the nice and cuddly Gite ( guest house) warmed to a comfy 20c and it's cold and windy outside
After a couple of ales seems like someone is off to LaLa land for a bit.

For me it's in for another tasting. We are trying to work out what is the best French beer to buy so that can only happen by the process of elimination!!
We have eliminated a few from the test samples but we have not yet given up hope!

There is always the fall back of a good red wine.
After all you can get a good bottle of red here for 3 to 4 euros!

Mark

Hello, anyone there?

We rolled into Sisteron at about lunch time today. There were a few gliders flying, enjoying what looked like nice cumulus conditions in the mountains. I fear it will be a while before I get to join them.

Yes, there are mountains here

Despite it being right in the middle of advertised opening hours, the office was deserted and locked up. Ok, no worries, we still had some other stuff to do. Our accommodation was duly located and deemed very satisfactory, then we had to stock it with essentials such as beer, wine and chips. I still had a faint flicker of optimism so we went back out to the airfield to see if anyone there had even heard of the Grand Prix. No such luck of course so we gave up in disgust and went home for a quiet beer. I'll try again tomorrow.

Graham.

Road Trip

We are currently camped in a small French village still about 300km from Sisteron.

The APC (armoured personnel carrier for those who missed the previous post) is doing a sterling job. In fact you wouldn't even know the glider was on the back. You certainly can't see it while driving.

We received a slightly aggravating email yestarday from the Sisteron organisers detailing ever higher hurdles and even smaller hoops that we still have to jump through to finalise licencing. I am hoping that the Fench bureaucracy can get its act together and we don't have to spend the entire three weeks sitting on the ground at Sisteron eating French food and drinking red wine. As pleasant as those pastimes may be.

Back on the road this morning.

Graham.

Poppenhausen

Spot the gliding car

It is 8.30pm.. my body clock is tring to tell me it is 0400 tomorrow already, but I am trying to beat my body clock into submission by ignoring it.

We arrived at Poppenhausen this afternoon, and picked up our car. See if you can guess which one it is in this photo. I'll give you a clue; the Schleicher guys warned us that "it may be a bit bigger than you were expecting." Big!!? It is like a house on wheels. We have nicknamed it the armoured personnel carrier (or APC for short) until we think of a better one. But it does have a big turbocharged diesel engine with plenty of grunt, and I'm sure (once we get our armoured vehicle driving licences) it will be more than adequate.

We've had a look at Marta and Ziggy's shiny ASG29 sitting in its trailer at the Schleicher factory. Everything looks good to go, so after crashing at a local hotel for the night we'll hook it onto the APC in the morning and head south.

Next stop, France.

Graham.

Give me a beer before it starts...

 On our way!

The lads enjoying the Qantas 1st class experience.

First time for Mark up the pointy end of the aeroplane; I'm sure there will be a bit more added to this part of the story.


Cheers from Dubai,
Graham and Mark

Preparations

Well, the time is getting close. Preparations have been going on for... well, over a year if you count finding a glider. Marta and Ziggy from Horsham have been ever so kind, leaving their brand new pride and joy in Europe for an extra season so that I could fly it. Thanks so much guys.

This is the only photo of it that I have so far; taken in the Schleicher factory before she had even flown. Nice and shiny...

XM at Schleichers

Don't worry Marta and Ziggy, I'll make sure she stays that way!

Mark Morgan and I fly out next Wednesday. Mark has crewed for me on my last several overseas adventures. A good bloke to have around. The plan is to pick up the glider from Poppenhausen (east of Frankfurt, Germany, for those unfamiliar) on Thursday, then we have about 1000km of driving to do to get to Sisteron, France, about 100km or so north of Marseille.

Danielle is coming over a few days later; being spared the rigours of the long drive.

Let the adventure begin!