The joy was great

Full of anticipation and with high hopes, we set out in five vehicles on the 1,300-kilometer drive and arrived safely in Jaca.

We spent Friday assembling the gliders and exploring the airfield and runway conditions at the Santa Cilia recreational airfield, located 20 minutes from Jaca. Following a very festive World Championship opening ceremony on Saturday, our team was able to successfully train on the runway for half an hour toward evening. Our gliders were ready!

From Monday through Friday, we flew in sunny, at times quite windy weather and very high temperatures (up to 45 °C). As early as Tuesday evening, when the standings with the points from the construction evaluation were published, signs of potential success for our team were already emerging.

The third round would decide the team standings; the Czech Republic, Italy, and France were our closest competitors. Markus Günther scored as hoped, Max Schilt had to withdraw right at the start due to a flat tire caused by the heat, and my third flight was my personal discard result. We were—and still are—overjoyed that we secured second place in the team standings; we more than achieved our goal.

After my problems with the Bücker “Antares” (a crash at the last Swiss Championships in Lodrino in 2011), I didn’t believe I could win another world championship title, but I was hoping to reach the podium—which makes this all the more wonderful! Gody Fischer wasn’t as lucky in the competition. After a solid first flight and a good build evaluation, he had to abort the next two flights early due to engine problems.

We thoroughly enjoyed the closing ceremony on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to fully enjoy the complimentary sparkling wine, because we had to set out on the rather arduous journey home as early as 5 a.m. on Sunday so that most of us could get to work on time on Monday. The 22nd Scale World Championship is now history; once again, it was a fantastic and successful event for our scale team. In 2014, motivated to take on new challenges, we’ll be competing in France.

Our team and their rankings
: Max Schilt, 18th (pilot and team manager, MG Interlaken); Markus Günther, 12th (pilot, MG Interlaken); Andreas Lüthi, 2012 World Champion (pilot, MG Burgdorf); Gody Fischer, 10th in the F4H class (reserve pilot for F4C, competed in the open F4H competition). Support staff and chaperones: Therese Schilt, Therese Amiet, Hans Blättler. The Swiss judge was Peter Gutknecht. ■

On behalf of the editorial team:
Andreas Lüthi