The Utscheider gliding club celebrated its 50th anniversary on Sunday, September 1, 2024, hosting a festival at their airfield home in the South Eifel region of Germany. Activities included sightseeing flights, balloon rides, and a potpourri of aircraft on exhibit for gander and gaze. The variety of airships on display included many motorless and motor-assisted gliders, also sharing the turf with comparatively diminutive remote-control aircraft. Rounding out festivities, participants enjoyed the traditional brats, beer and other gastronomies essential for such German gatherings.
Location:
The event was held at Utscheid Segelflugplatz (translation: glider airport) in the Bitburg-Prüm district of western Germany. Utscheid is a small community of around 400 residents. Nearby to the east is the city of Bitburg, home to around 17,000 and the historic Bitburger Brewery. The region, known as the Eifel, comprises a low mountain range along the German-Belgium-Luxembourg borders. Hosting the celebration was the South Eifel glider flying club—Segelflugverein Südeifel. The club boasts 50 active members, among some 130 in all according to staff.
“It is the fascination of gliding that inspires many people,” said Rudolph Höser, a journalist and attendee at the friendly Flugplatzfest (translation: airfield festival). “Something big has come from small beginnings and we want to celebrate that appropriately,” stated the invitation to my balloon pilot friend from Bitburg, Peter Manns. He was among a small group of local, commercial balloon pilots asked to display their aircraft at the festival.
Hot air balloons are defined as non-power-driven, lighter-than-air aircraft. Balloons depend on mild winds for traversing the terrain. At varying altitudes wind direction varies. It is this phenomenon that an adept balloon pilot carefully monitors, allowing directional control of their aircraft.
“Gliders do not need wind to fly. Most of the time they use thermals, i.e. air that rises in the atmosphere. At the start, the glider is brought to a certain height by a winch or a motor plane,” explains Jörg Eppers, board member of the Utscheider gliding club, Segelflugverein Südeifel. “Then it flies on a path that is slightly inclined downwards until it gains height again due to a so-called updraft.” These updrafts, or thermals, are created by a heating of the earth’s surface, usually from the sun. As the air just above the ground warms, it rises displacing colder, heavier air above. Thus, the normally lightweight glider aircraft ascend upwards for as long as the thermals can sustain them.
Event organizer Peter Fabry shared, “Many preparations had to be made for the airfield festival, and the requirements of the air authority.” In years prior, Jupp Krämer, recently deceased, did much of the work, Fabry added. “Unfortunately we have to do without him today.”
Facts:
1) Modern gliders easily reach speeds of up to 280 km/h, equivalent to 174 mph.
2) A world record altitude for soaring at 14,102 meters (46,267 feet), was set by Paul Bickle in 1961. On September 2, 2018, Jim Payne flew his Perlan 2 to 76,124 feet after being towed to 60,000 feet.
3) The longest glider flight in history is 3,055 kilometers (1,898 miles), set by Gordon Boettger in June 2023, breaking the 3,008 kilometers (1,869 miles) record achieved by Klaus Ohlmann in 2003.
Spotted at the Utscheid event were a great variety of aircraft, both powered and motorless, including:
- D-MAYW Comco Ikarus C42B, a 2-seat microlight aircraft manufactured in Hohentengen, Germany. (similar to the SkyReach Bushcat with a sewn wing covering)
- D-EPMS Cessna TU206F Turbo Stationair, a rugged 6-seat “utility” aircraft. This one was freshly refurbished and serves as a jump plane. (from Bitburg airport)
- D-MUBA Aeropro Eurofox 3K, a 2-seat light aircraft manufactured in Slovakia. (resembling a Kitfox)
- D-ECKY Socata Rallye 180GT STOL, a tricycle gear, low-wing, short takeoff and landing 4-place aircraft manufactured in France. (a rare design combination)
Towing aircraft in the glider club, according to Fabry, include:
- D-KIKD Diamond HK36TC Super Dimona, manufactured in Austria, taildragger and towplane. (called the Katana Xtreme in Canada and the U.S.)
- D-KMUH Scheibe SF-25C-TL Rotax-Falke, manufactured in Heubach, Germany, motor glider and towplane.
- D-MLOB AeroSpool WT9 Dynamic, ultralight aircraft and towplane.
A unique winch launch glider nicknamed “Godzilla” is also used by the club, of which a demonstration was performed during the event.
An array of gliders are used by club members, including:
- Two 2-seaters: Schleicher ASK 21 and DG Flugzeugbau DG-1000S
- Four single-place sailplanes: Rolladen-Schneider LS3 and LS4, Grob G102 Astir, Schleicher ASK 18
Among the sailplane/gliders on display in the hanger and on the field were: D-4121 (Ka 6), D-7149 (Schleicher Ka 6E), D-9570 (LS 3), D-1510?, D-9055 (Scheibe L-Spatz 55), D-1818 (Schleicher ASK 18), D-5414 (Schleicher Ka-7 Rhonadler), D-6556 (Schleicher ASK 21), and D-9940 (DG 1000S 20m).
The event provided a well-rounded exhibition of aviation exploits, including two throaty T-6 Texans—vintage military trainers manufactured by North American Aviation. The duo performed low passes over the runway delivering their unique radial engine pop-pop-pop. According to Fabry, the two “Texans” hail from Bitburg, where the Spangdahlem NATO Air Base has been in operation since 1952. Transported skyward by the Turbo Stationair, a team of jumpers parachuted atop the crowd colorfully touching down midfield on the hilltop green meadow.
From my perspective, glider flying as a sport seems more prevalent in Germany when compared the U.S. However, at the airport near where I live in Texas (5C1, Boerne Stage) there exists a glider club. An abundance of motorized aircraft at the airport, used for both sport and business, far outnumber the gliders. The San Antonio Soaring Society operates two Grob G103C Twin III Acro aircraft and promotes the activities of the club where conditions are apparently favorable for the sport. In the U.S. gliding is often called “soaring.”
Back on the European continent, I highly recommend taking a look at Aero Friedrichshafen—the closest overseas alternative to AirVenture Oshkosh—if gliding, or flying for that matter, is of interest. Aero, as it’s simply called, devotes an entire hall to gliders, one at the front, and the largest of its twelve impressive exhibition spaces.
“Europe loves its gliders, such as the L23 Super Blaník all-metal glider remake. In 2019 the ‘sailplanes’ displays were moved to Hall A1 at the main entrance.” Read more…
There’s no doubt gliding is popular around the world, but like ballooning it’s decidedly a weather dependent activity. With good fortune, the airfield festival at Utscheid in 2024, fell on a beautiful summer day. Just prior to and following the weekend, the weather exhibited a more typical, cloudy and damp seasonal scud. The Eifel region is peppered with numerous river valleys where fog often rises before the cows and fowl of the region. A convivial number of visitors and optimum weather made for a perfect weekend glider experience.
The Glider Experience
As with any means of people-moving, energy management, i.e. momentum, is key to balancing safety and speed. This is especially true in a sailplane, as there is no reserve thrust or acceleration should a situation may demand it. Pilots will agree that energy management is an art form in the sport of gliding; and that energy can only come from optimum planning, timing and instinct. The glider pilot can ultimately rely on air brakes for effectively dissipating excess lift energy on landing. Likewise, for any pilot a well-timed spot landing is an art, and brakes only make the difference between a safe landing and an incident.
In a tightly regulated Germany, aircraft of all types play well together. The U.S. has five major air bases in the country, among over 40 military installations. Gliders, jets, piston powered aircraft, whirlybirds, and parachuters all share the same sky whether flying commercial, military, for business or sport.
Jumpers to the south of Spangdahlem Air Base can been seen frequently at the skydiving club Fallschirmsportclub Trier (literally translated as parachute sports club), near the city of Trier. Here club members set up and launch directly beside the often manned control tower at Trier-Föhren Airport. Despite generous helpings—neither of which espouse a favorable meaning—of red tape in the Federal Republic of Germany, flying under a black-red-gold tricolor flag, sport in aviation is strong. Germany is said to be both the birthplace of flying and the center of the gliding world.
Flying Surprises
While departing Aero in 2017, via rental car, I crossed beneath the approach end of an active airport. A mix of powered aircraft and gliders were taking advantage of lush green turf on rolling hills at Flugplatz Wildberg. There I encountered Hermann Beck of Flugschule Hermannwings. The friendly owner, and retired pilot (professedly at the age of 41), had bought the airport from the original owner/farmer who had a Cub he kept nearby in Switzerland. When the Americans opened up Germany’s airspace again, post-WWII, the farmer created the flying field and, in 1955, moved his plane closer to home. The delightful location includes a biergarten/cafe for watching the airfield’s activities. Just another of Germany’s delightful aviation surprises.
Seeing the world through wrap-around sunglasses, flight goggles, or classic Ray-Ban aviators, flying is unequivocally a vision-centric occupation. And with eyes wide open, pilots and non-pilots alike enjoy the great marvel that is flight, an incomparable lightness of being. To Mark Twain, flying was “the air up there in the clouds very pure and fine, bracing and delicious… the same the angels breathe.”
50 Years of Gliding
“And so many visitors came to celebrate the anniversary with the club. With free admission, the grounds filled up quickly. Visitors took the opportunity to take sightseeing flights and balloon rides. The Bitburg parachutists showed their skills, members of the Adler Südeifel model aircraft club exhibited. And if a boy wanted to sit in the cockpit of a glider, that was possible too. So the airfield festival anniversary was a well-round affair,” summarized Rudolf Höser.
If you get the chance, visit Utscheid where the setting is lovely, the folks are friendly, and you can be assured there are many english-speaking folks in the region who share your love of flight.
Published by Wings & Wheels of Eagle, Idaho. Wings & Wheels • Wings & Wheels blog
Published in Soaring magazine, January 2025. Soaring Society of America • Soaring magazine
Published in Sailplane & Gliding magazine, Dec 2024/Jan 2025. British Gliding Association Limited • Sailplane & Gliding magazine
Published in In Flight USA magazine, April 2025. In Flight USA online.
