5th Tethered Flight Social Gathering in Thun

When lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the Thun region on the evening before the 5th Tethered Flight Social Gathering on March 31, 2007, and it began to snow heavily shortly thereafter, I seriously began to question the title of last year’s report on this gathering. The headline back then was “Saint Peter must be a tethered-flyer…”

Nevertheless, the volunteers met the next morning at 7:00 a.m. at the clubhouse of the Thun Model Flying Club to begin setting up the infrastructure. The airfield was dusted with a thin layer of snow, and fog hung low along the mountains. The organizers, Bruno Wittwer and Peter Däppen, were not deterred, however, and we began setting up the tent and picnic benches, cordoning off the airfield, and searching in the snow for the centers of the circles that had been marked with white paint the day before. And lo and behold, by 9:00 a.m. the fog had lifted, and the first rays of sunlight revealed the freshly snow-covered Stockhorn range and the Niesen. What was still missing, however, were the tethered gliders. When a colleague of Peter Däppen’s from Belp—barely 30 km away—called to ask whether the meet would take place in this weather, it became clear that the sun wasn’t shining throughout all of Switzerland and that some tethered flight pilots weren’t quite motivated yet to tackle the sometimes long drive to Thun. The organizers were delighted when they welcomed Lauri Malila from Finland, along with his girlfriend, as the first pilot to arrive. Lauri is a member of the Finnish national tethered-flight team but has been living in the Swiss Jura for some time.

Apparently, communication among tethered-flight pilots works exceptionally well. In any case, more and more participants began arriving at the airfield, so that eventually 34 tethered-flight models were counted in the aircraft park. The range of models brought ranged from beginner models to a scale-accurate Corsair and vintage models, all the way up to the latest aerobatic competition models. The pilots, too, represented the full spectrum—from students to experts to “veterans.” The 2006 Swiss national team was represented by Peter Germann, Peter Däppen, Peter Hofacker, and the 2007 coach, Stanojevic Zivomir.

When the engine on Lauris’s competition model suddenly began to sputter while in a deep inverted flight and there was no longer enough power to return to a normal flight attitude, the airfield fell very quiet. Everyone watched intently to see if and how he could rescue his model from this predicament. The Finnish pilot kept his cool and let the model continue flying on its back at nearly idle speed and close to stall. He flew round after round until, just before the fuel ran out, the engine revved up briefly one last time. Lauri seized this moment to bring the model into the “landing gear down” configuration and land it cleanly. The spectators breathed a sigh of relief, and he was met with a round of loud applause.

Of course, refreshments were once again provided this year. There were many happy faces at the tables and throughout the grounds, and there were plenty of lively conversations about aviation and tethered flight in particular. Toward the end of the gathering, the organizers, Bruno and Peter, demonstrated a fox hunt with their “Flite Streak” models. However, this ended in an unplanned spectacle: After the propeller of Peter’s model became entangled in Bruno’s streamer—without cutting it off—both “fox hunters” became uncontrollable, crashed, and came to rest in the ground less than a meter apart. The damage to the models was minor and repairable. Aside from this minor incident, there were no other hard landings or crashes.

The organizers can look back on yet another successful and relaxed event, which brought them a record turnout this year, despite the weather-related initial difficulties. We’re all already looking forward to the 6th gathering on March 29, 2008, and hope for as many participants as possible. After this brilliantly sunny day, which began at 9:00 a.m., the writer concludes: “... and Saint Peter is probably a tethered-flyer after all!”

*Report: Peter Trachsel
; Photos: Peter and Michael Trachsel*