Sergio Andrade fliegt mit der ASH 30 Mi das erste 1000 km FAI-Dreieck in Brasilien

In Brasilien gibt es viele gute Streckenflugpiloten, aber niemand schaffte es bisher, ein 1000 km FAI-Dreieck zu fliegen. Trotz vieler Gebiete mit guter thermischer Entwicklung reicht in den niederen Breitengraden oftmals die Tageslänge einfach nicht aus. Am 3. November 2018 gelang ASH 30 Mi-Pilot Sergio Andrade nach einiger Vorplanung dann dieses Vorhaben.

Er schreibt uns dazu:

“My good friend and excellent pilot Karl Voetsch, who has an explorer vein, has spent many seasons in Northeast Brazil, where days are even shorter, but thermals begin functioning earlier. Karl lives in Germany and he was a strong motivator for my record.

While exploring the region relief map, my attention was drawn to a N-S oriented ridge that goes for about 250 km perpendicular to the prevailing trade winds. Would it allow ridge flight in the morning before thermals developed?

Another friend, Rene Queiroz, an expert on Condor flight simulator, made the landscape for the program so I could test the ridge and see whether it would work. Matthew Scutter was also very helpful forecasting the region’s weather with Skysight.

We moved my ASH 30 Mi to São Benedito, a small town located at the top of the ridge with a 1800 m paved airfield 910 m ASL. My pilot-friend Silvio Masiero and I began exploring the region, testing the ridge in real life and trying the 1000 km FAI triangle. While learning, we consecutively broke two free distance FAI triangles records.

“You should start earlier, Sergio!” e-mailed Karl, who was analyzing the flights through OLC.

So, on November 3, myself and my good friend Itamar Lessa, 15 m Brazilian champion with his ASW 20, took off earlier, followed the ridge for 200 km before transitioning to thermals, reached the South waypoint, turned NW for 415 km on a fast leg and turned East for the final 250 km, optimistic because we still had 2:45 hours before sunset.

What a surprise! CUs began stratifying and shadowing the terrain, weakening thermals and increasing headwinds, average speed dropping, sunset approaching…

At a certain point we even didn’t have enough height to reach the airfield which is located 8 km before the waypoint when in the dark blue sky by chance we encountered a weak thermal, gaining the precious necessary meters to finish the task and turn on the motor to return to the airfield.

Despite being the weakest day during our stay there, preparation, determination and team work flying the marvelous ASH 30 Mi for 10:21 hours, we were able to complete the first 1000 km FAI in Brazil, which we will file for approval at FBVV and FAI.”

Der Flug im OLC >>>

Wir gratulieren Sergio ganz herzlich zu diesem schönen Flug!