Der Jahresrückblick von Rodrigo
I had set 2 goals for this year: and out and return to Samedan and a 500km. By the end of the season, I have flown
the out return to Samedan 4 times and did 6 flights over 500km! To achieve that I took the wintertime studying
flights from other pilots and compiled an outlanding catalog with the great information from streckenflug.at, only
considering Category A during the flights.
The year started exploring the Lechtal in late March, as suggested by Alex Keupp in his cross-country training, in a
flight with DG1000 with Jeanfre up to the end on the valley (https://www.weglide.org/flight/129102).
The next day, also in DG1000 I did the first deeper flight into Engadin with Sylvain. We could have achieved Samedan
that day but decided to return at Piz Nuna to be sure we would make the return on time.
I spent April in Brazil and returned just in time for the Königsdorfer Segelflugwettbewerb in the Light class that
started on the 6 th of May (https://www.soaringspot.com/de/konigsdorfer-wettbewerb-2022-konigsdorf-
The plan was to fly DG1000 with a different club member every day to share the competition experience with other
people. We had 5 tasks during the competition, with some challenging days and others with very good weather. The
competition started in a very tricky day that I flew with Jeanfre(https://www.weglide.org/flight/149370). We almost
outlanded in Sollach (24km from Königsdorf) because of a big blue region we had cross after taking a bad decision
during the start. Not a good competition start, finish the first task in 12 th out of 15 competitors but we kept positive
since we completed the task. The second day flying with Johannes Folster (https://www.weglide.org/flight/149724)
we managed to complete the 410km task that had a turning point into Engadin entrance in 3 rd!
The 3rd day I flew with Julius Person(https://www.weglide.org/flight/150201) on the best weather day of the
competition: an East departure to Pinzgau, crossing through Hochkönig and Dachstein up to Niederöblarn with a
total of 449km. Pinzgau was a bit tricky in the return and some gliders outlanded in Zell am See. We were patient,
not pushing too much and managed to finish the task in 1 st place!
The 4 th day I flew with Dmytro Trush (https://www.weglide.org/flight/150575). It was a task in the border of the Alps
with North wind. Although the weather was good, we got low close to Reutte after misreading the weather. Going
down was fast, going up was a patience exercise flying “8s” in the beautiful region of Plansee. We managed to finish
task on the 7 th place but dropped from 1 st to 4 th in the overall points of the competition.
The 5 th and final competition day was a flatland day (https://www.weglide.org/flight/151279) that I flew with Julian
Lepere. We thrusted on the weather forecast that it would be better later and waited almost 1 hour before starting
the task. It did work! We finished in 1 st place in the task. In this task the 1 st and 2 nd overall place outlanded and we did
better than the 3 rd place what surprisingly put us as the 1 st place overall! A great achievement for the start of the
season with an amazing team effort from the co-pilots and ground crew. A big thanks for all of you! It was amazing!
The season was just starting, and I still had the two goals do achieve: Out and return to Samedan and the 500km. On
the 11 th of June I took of in the DG1000 with Paulo Bustamante. The flight started in the mountains at
Benediktenwand, crossing through the Soiernsptiz and Karwendel up to the end of Lechtal, when we decided to
change to flatlands. After that we headed North-west up to the Schwäbische Alb and returned with the total of
504km free! (https://www.weglide.org/flight/166824) One goal was achieved!
In the next day I flew the ASW-27 to the East, repeating a the task I flew with Julius during the competition but
returning through Zillertal and now completing 528km (https://www.weglide.org/flight/168641).
The first Samedan Out and Return was with Alex Keupp flying the Arcus M in a team flight with Fritz in Ventus 2cxM.
It was an amazing flight with a magnificence view from Piz Bernina (https://www.weglide.org/flight/172980).
So, goal achieved? I still felt I had to do it again and by myself. On the 14 th of July flying the DG1000 with Paulo
Bustamante we managed the Samedan Out and return again in a 513km flight!
Just to be sure I had learned the way; on the 19 th of July I flew together with Volker Davids in the DG in a team flight
with Fritz in the Ventus (https://www.weglide.org/flight/188531). That day Volker took some nice pictures that he
printed out as a 2023 calendar and gave me as gift. Thanks a lot Volker! I really appreciate and the calendar now
stands in my living room always bringing good memories of that day.
Some days later it was a very good flatland day and I decided to try and 500km out and return to Würzburg. The
flight was a success (https://www.weglide.org/flight/191088) with a reasonable average of 92km/h. It was nice to
see the beautiful city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber from above.
Now that I knew the Engading quite well, I felt ready to guide someone else. On the 4 th of August I did a team flight
with Jeanfre flying the LS3, while I was flying the ASW-27 to Samedan (https://www.weglide.org/flight/200176). It
was already late season in August and the begging of the flight was a lot of work. After the Engadin we also decided
to take a detour to Lechtal what made the arrival a bit too exciting but we both managed to return to Königsdorf.
In the late season I focused on learning how to fly our new and beautiful bird, the Arcus M. One of those flights was a
515km with Manfred through Engadin and crossing to Pinzgau through the South of Innsbruck
(https://www.weglide.org/flight/199379). In another flight with Manfred we managed to go South after an amazing
starting leg in Pinzgau and we overflew the Dolomiten. That day we took a bad decision to return through Ötztal that
was not working and had to start the engine to return home…
The last cross-country flight was in the Arcus with Ritchie Fellner (https://www.weglide.org/flight/212386). A flat
lands day with 548km. We flew West up to the Schwäbische Alb and headed North-East following the “race track”
with a lot of traffic. In the way we had a beautiful view of the Bodensee. An amazing flight for closing the season.
