Tuesday August 25 2015

Tuesday August 25 was a very sad day for the Dutch Jet Team, as we lost a plane, the Gloster Javelin of Bert.

The day started with a relaxed breakfast and slow start in Camp Holland, or Camp New Amsterdam as Jim likes to call it. After the tire failure of yesterday, and with the arrival of more hands as both Wim and Han joined, the damaged wheels had been put together so the plane was ready for static.

During the day, Hans made successful second flight, for now he is happy with his static points, and for both flying rounds he received 2412 and 2408 points.

During the rest of the day the team worked on Bert's plane, the wheels where repaired and fixed to the rims, and also some engine tests have been performed.
During the afternoon the update came that several pilots who had technical issues in round one and because of this could not fly would be allowed a re-flight, including Bert but with 0 points for takeoff, as that one did not succeed in his first attempt. This would take place at the end of the day.
The conditions where good, and as the flight schedule was way ahead, Bert could fly around 1800. Unfortunately, the airplane picked up speed slowly, and while rotating the massive wing suddenly jumped the plane nose up in the air, but as the engine is not overpowered, the plane came to a halt in a 90 degree nose up at about 10 meters (30 ft.) and tipped forward and crashed. The damage was severe.
Earlier this day also the Austrian team suffered a loss, the Panther of Helmut Hallermeier crashed and was a total loss.

The evening was about Nations Night. There was a buffet in the big event tent, with a buffet where one could get a Schnitzel or chicken leg, with potato salad and sour kraut (what else...), and afterward many opted to go outside for a waffle or Crepe for the missing and much wanted desert. The poor man in the waffle booth was fully overworked as he was all alone, serving many people...

During the diner some crappy hard rock was played, after a small intervention of Karin with the music folks, the music choice was improved.

After diner the official part started, to begin with a remembrance session for the former Russian team manager, Victor Lashmanov, who died in a tragic boating/dive accident some 2 months ago.
Then the nation's team managers were invited on stage to bring a gift to the organizers team, and to receive a nice bottle of spirit (56%).
After this the official part was over and a live band started playing, and this band was really good. Much partying and dancing commenced, and the atmosphere was great until the party had to end at midnight, so the teams that need to fly the next day could get the well needed rest.

As mentioned in the beginning, a sad day for the Dutch team due to the loss of an airplane (and lets not forget we lost already 2 more in the 2 months previous to the event, the F-16 of Marijn and the L-39 of Wim), but Bert already indicated to make a plane ready for JWM 2017 and compete again.