Opening Ceremony Today

The task yesterday produced mixed results for our pilots. It was an international flight with the first leg taking them in to the Czech Republic for the first time. Alan had a rest day and studied the rules and relaxed. Pete had a fast run, reporting 7 kt climbs to the airspace limit of FL090. Mike had a reasonable flight too with a low spot on the way home. He was so happy to get final glide that he forgot to deviate through the final control point. However under the rules since he (luckily) only missed it by 482m he should be able to be rescored with a 50pt penalty rather than an outlanding. Tobi was unlucky and got low in the valley and landed at Martin airfield. This gave our new team member Ian an opportunity to go for a drive in the country with Andrew and Jessica.

In Aussie base we are now set up with computers and maps so that when the pilots call for information we can look at the Spot trackers to see where they are, and then use radar and satellite info to advise the pilots of where the storms are located and if they are growing or dissipating.

We are not quite as insecure as the Poms and use correct place names. The Poms have codes for everything so you might hear “G over Disneyland (the castle) climbing in 4.0 heading for a start at T minus 15 from Green 3”. Very James Bond…

Last night over dinner we thought we might try Monty Python codes to add to the effect. “Manuel over the Towers climbing in 8.0 heading for a start at Puce 7”

There was a big Team Captain’s meeting last night and we were allocated gridding positions, Pete is to be at the back tomorrow, so a good thing that we practiced yesterday.

Last night Charlie shouted the team dinner at a restaurant which was very pleasant. There was live music playing and after an hour or so they burst into a Slovakian version of Waltzing Matilda. It was a little bizarre to be sitting with the team listening to the music, we had to remind ourselves that we were in Slovakia.

Today we have a compulsory Safety Briefing at 9.30pm and then the Opening Ceremony starting at 4pm, followed by a banquet in the Castle at 8pm.