The Sailplane Grand Prix in Elchingen is suffering from the bad weather.
It was already clear on Wednesday morning that the double-seaters would remain on the ground that day. As sports director Bernd Schmid has been familiar with international competitions for over 20 years. „It is precisely the poor weather conditions that separate the good from brilliant pilots!“ said Schmid. The weather forecast for this possible third race day was still very unclear in the morning. Therefore, Schmid decided to get the pilots of the 15-meter class prepared for take-off starting at 12:30 p.m. For the 20 glider pilots it initially looked as if there was only a minimal chance of a very short flight. The absolute minimum distance for a Grand Prix is 100 kilometers. It would have been 100.21 kilometers if the showers had not moved towards the Ostalb faster than expected. The pilots would have had to fly from Elchingen to Gerstetten, from there towards Ellwangen and back to the Härtsfeld. The first four aircraft were towed starting at 1:45 p.m. After the release, those pilots reported slight climb rates of around one meter per second. The cloud base was between 800 and 1,000 meters. Having received these reports, Schmid decided to have the other pilots towed into the sky above the Härtsfeld. The three English participants were already looking forward to it. „Weather like at home; I love these conditions”, commented Neil McLaughlin with British humor.
But the weather deteriorated noticeably. While the last planes were being towed, it started to rain. Most of the gliders could not longer keep the altitude. Bernd Schmid then canceled the day for all pilots. “I had to consider many factors, but aviation safety is the first priority. We are all amateurs and fly in our spare time. Landing a glider in a field with a cold front approaching is not worth it!“ The weather forecast for the end of the Grand Prix is not very good. However Bernd Schmid will not give up hope of flying a third race day in this competition.
