Our season will finish with a special course " performance training " for 20 young pilots selected by the chief pilot Eric Napoléon and the National Technical Director Hervé Perrin.

After that (the week ending 1st November) it's the turn of the two workshops who have a big job during the winter break in flying (office continues as usual). Season 2010 will start beginning of February, check the website for details !

Here are some photos of our pilots over the last four weeks, take a look and see if there aren't any familiar faces !

Florent (Treilhes) was with us last week and he sent these wonderful photos, many thanks to him.

Many pilots have come from far off this week … from Denmark, Finland (with their friend Roland Stuck) and from Poland.

Francesco comes from Madrid but he drove as many kilometers as the others. How come ? He entered 'St Auban' in his SatNav and it took him to St Auban in the Alpes Maritimes ! Unflustered by this considerable detour, he tried again… only to arrive in St Auban… sur Ouvèze, in the Drôme ! So he arrived at about 2 o'clock in the morning, very tired, after about 500km too many. Next time he will know to put in the postal code… 04600 !

 The instructor courses continue… here are the three PTV pilots relaxing between lessons in the shade.

This week more than half the pilots present had already come once this year, so obviously there are some reunions …. Here are John, André and Larry who hadn't met up for a few months.

We had many German pilots as usual throughout the month of August, and our good friend Janik took some wonderful photographs - many thanks for sharing these with us, Janik !

This week the trio Raymond, André and Gilles are here and so the traditional couscous prepared by Fatya has been ordered for Thursday evening.

Lots of activity outside

There are two instructor courses underway at the moment

We wish them all the best !

It is the first time that the Air France trainee pilots have come to learn to glide here. They are highly motivated, and were all gliding solo after their first week. The course is scheduled for one month.

Another group of very well-dressed pilots - the group BISSIG ! An excellent surprise !

Daniel SERRES has got to the end of his long and successful career, and is now officially retired….. here he is preparing his Saturday flight. 

The sun is shining hard on the gliders as they prepare to grid…. Here with Koichi and Jean.

Our good friends Jürgen (Kriebel), Uwe (Stuben) Josef (Haupl) and Werner (Schulz) enjoy their breakfast on the terrasse..

And everyone comes for an apéritif to cool down after flights.

As usual at the beginning of July it's quite calm, with 25-30 pilots each week. Conditions are good.

We'd like to thank John (De Kanter) for the following photos of his flights and one from one of his hikes in the area…

He and his co-pilot Bart have suggested they will become the new " flying chickens ", having cumulated 80 hours (YES EIGHTY !) of gliding during their course of two weeks and two days ! 

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July is the month of Salon-Eyguières, and our friends Jeannot, Mireille, Patrick, Robert, Jean Roger, Michel et André have arrived as usual. We can see them coming, always in their faithful vehicule which has 200,000 km on the clock !

Three CNVV gliders have returned from Nitra, where Louis won a gold medal in the 15m class gliding on our EQ. Couscous was with our EF, and Marc (Seretti) with EW. Moustic won a bronze medal in th 15m, and Laurent (Aboulin) a silver in Open class, just TWO points from Peter Harvey ! A successful championship !

At the moment, Nicolas Véron and Eric Napoléon are preparing to leave for the championships in Lituania (European Championships in 20m, Std, Club, World classes) and Hungary (Women's World Championships) respectively (they are coaching the teams). We hope they will return with medals too !

Meanwhile the courses for these two weeks are pretty full.

For the first time we have a group from Israël (on the recommendation of Baruch Gal who came last year). They are always delighted to be able to glide here, especially since in their country they are only authorized to glide on Fridays and Saturdays (and even then, with restrictions). Tal decided to extend his stay by a few days, and he is sending some photos …

We have a new tow pilot - Thomas Cohendy who glides in St Rémy de Provence. He is spending the summer here before leaving to train as an airline pilot in Oxford.

Carol Dussud is a young glider pilot who is with us just for the month of July, helping out in the workshop and on the startlist. It is part of her engineer's training course, in order to validate her year.

Our instructor courses are particularly feminine at the moment ! Sandrine and Faye have come for the two week PTP (preparation for the ITP), and Jean-Patrice is with them. Gérard is finishing his three week ITP this week too. Plenty of hard work in perspective, but they are always smiling

Thanks go to Sandrine for the photos (click on the link).

http://picasaweb.google.com/sandrine.lalou/SaintAuban#

Our Italien friends always come at this time of year..

 As do John and Bart And everyone enjoys celebrating their week of gliding at the traditional get-together on Thursday evening…

The weather has finally decided to turn absolutely beautiful, for the pleasure of all the pilots here !  

The last two weeks have been record breaking, since we have 10 different nationalities represented during the fortnight (French, German, Swiss, British, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, Israeli, Spanish and Dominique from Luxembourg ).  We are always pleased to welcome new pilots, plus those who have been coming for the second, third or even tenth time.

Here are three new ones

And the Group Hörler from Switzerland , who have been coming for many years with their own gliders.

Another record – last week was the first time ever that the ITP instructor course was exclusively feminine !  This week Maud and Amandine (here with Cédric) have been joined by Gérard and Daniel, but it was worth the photo… We wish them the best of luck with their course.

Doctors Congress (APSV)

Intense activity in week 23 at the CNVV for the APSV (Doctor's Congress) - sixty-five doctors (generalists, surgeons, dentists, anaethestists, psychiatrists etc.) who require a maximum of gliders and instructors, so there were pilots, gliders and instructors everywhere ! This year was their 22nd Congress, organised as usual with the never ending talent and enthusiasm of Eliane de Medrano.

Morning conferences (always with a medical theme linked to gliding) are followed by flights every afternoon. The evenings are always colourful, with the Regional buffet on Tuesday (everyone brings a taste of where he comes from), restaurant meals, ferme auberge etc… As far as the gliding was concerned everyone was happy on Monday after an hour's flight, they had broken the record set last year when it rained every day !

Gliding conditions varied considerably over the week, with storms on Monday, wave on Tuesday (almost every day), excellent conditions on Wednesday and Thursday (up to 4300m), rain stopped play on Friday. Some pilots were thrilled to have seen Lake Annecy or Mont Blanc during the week.

On Saturday only a few doctors remained for the last day of gliding but the general atmosphere as everyone took their leave was joyous and positive. Everyone much enjoyed the meal taken together at the Grandes Mollières on Friday night, it was a perfect closing point.

See you next year !!!

 All the pilots can see they have work to do, and from Monday the maps were out on the table.

After several uncertain weeks, this one has been the best, hottest and most exciting for gliding. Judging from the smiles and stories every evening, the week has been excellent. The swimming pool should be open soon too, to cool everyone down.

All the 10 instructor pilots have passed their final tests - congratulations !

We also have pilots from afar - Alaska, Japan and Canada no less. Photo Louis and Ed and Atsushi
Atsushi takes wonderful photos…and speaks better French each time he comes !

Two English pilots Mike and Chris

And finally our refresher instructor course who all know St Auban well

The pilots live in hope - and Monday and Tuesday were EXCELLENT !

Our instructor training pilots are in the middle of their ITP (glider pilot instructor), while the ITV (advanced pilot instructor) will have finished on Saturday.

We are always delighted to welcome Lulu (Boucho) and Marcel (Mandard) who have both been coming for many years. Marcel was in fact a glider pilot instructor for the SEFA here in 1959 so he is celebrating 60 years in St Auban !

The plannings for the months of May and June are getting very full, and if you want to join a course you should let us know as soon as possible.

The majority of pilots here this week are French, with Michel Jacquemin and his team, also the family Abadie, and our long standing friends Raymond Gros, André Pardon, Gérard Beune and Gilles Laforêt. Here is a photo of just a few of the pilots (the others missed the photo !)

This weekend is a long one, with the holiday on May 1st , and the French aerobatic team has come for its traditional weekend of training. There are also members of the French team training for Lituania, Vinon, and the Czech Republic.

Our Canadian pilot friends (André Lepage, André Pépin and Réjean Giasson) have had some memorable flights, and the Charles and Ian, who were here for the first time, can say the same ! On the two days when they didn't fly, they rented bikes to see the area a bit..

The three PTV candidates have completed their 2 week course successfully.

This week (week 19) there are still about forty pilots - including 14 instructor trainer courses. The weather is perfect….

The Sécurité Civile (French emergency rescue teams) come every year to train on our gliders and you can spot them from way off !

And finally our friends from Angers, who come every year in May with their own gliders. They are always in a good mood !

Our Danish friends have been coming in April for many years. If you wish to follow their adventures here, you can click on www.glider.dk and you will see photos and a log of their activities. Check St Auban en Frankrij - it's all in Danish but the photos speak for themselves and you can see it's the CNVV !

Half the French team on the spot this week was female ! Here they are debriefing, plus several excellent photos taken by Philippe de Pechy during his stay…Many thanks Philippe. In fact if you wish to enjoy more of his fabulous photos, click on :

 http://picasaweb.google.com/phdepechy/200904Xx_SaintAuban

Week 17 looks as though it will be good. We have pilots who have come from far off (the Pyrenees, North of France, Russia, Canada) so they have great expectations ! Here they are at the beginning of the week, with the 4 pilots starting their first level instructor course (PTV)

The 75 pilots here (almost too many to be all on the photo !) are enjoying their flights even though they are not as long as expected. The end of the week looks much better.

4 pilots have just started their two-week instructor course. 

The French team training for the European Championships in Nitra (end of June) is underway - plus quite a few more pilots from other teams who are taking advantage of the long Easter weekend.

Here they are busy ballasting the gliders while the clouds gather…

Gianluca is here for the third time - he brought not only his friend Stefano but also a few kilos of parmesan and Italian sausage - a huge treat enjoyed by everyone at the bar in the evening ! 

Karl RABEDER comes every year with a large group of young pilots from Austria. This year there are 25 - with almost as many gliders.

The tow pilots organised a barbecue for everyone on Thursday evening and it was great fun !

Stagiaires Semaine 13	Group Stoi

Certain groups have been coming for years (Group Stoi, Group Kriebel) and this year a new group supervised by Matthias Ebert came from Paderborn in Germany to glide here for the first time.

Group Ebert	Merci Paderborn

Groupe Kriebel

At the same time the French Team training for the European Championships in Lithuania were here, with Nicola Véron.

A military exercice meant that a noria of helicopters came to refuel…

And on Thursday evening a huge barbecue enabled everyone to get together and share a meal together.

This week (week 14) the weather is a bit colder with some rain forecast at the end of the week. But meanwhile 75 pilots are here… 

Several French clubs have been coming for years at this time (ETR Aquitaine, who are here for one month, ETR Centre with Christian Jacquemin, 

and a new group from the CVV Bressan).

 
ETR CVV Bressan

Also here on the spot is the French Women's team who will be participating in the Championships in Hungary later on this year.

Our team of tow pilots is ready for the season

Thomas GRAVOULET (on the right) comes from Nîmes and will be with us for the season. He hopes to increase his number of flying hours while here (he already has 300 hours), and in the future he aims to work for a private jet company or with Aviation sans Frontières.

Joan SERFATI (on the left) is from Briançon. Having completed a degree in aeronautical engineering, he spent 4 years in the Army training as a fighter pilot. His ambition for the future is also to work with private jets.

Barthélemy GRAS has been with us since the beginning of the season and will be leaving at the end of the month. Many thanks to him !

On the ground - we have our two " tourists " for the startlist. 

Tony (PAIN) comes from Issoudun, and is an enthusiastic glider pilot. He will be here as " starter " for the season, and hopes to improve his gliding as well ! His ambitions for later are to become a professional pilot.

François (GROSSET-PANNELIER) is our'Breton' (from Brittany !), and is not only occupied on the start list but is doing his professionnal Baccalauréat in aircraft maintenance too. His favourite activities - gliding (he already has 70 hours in his logbook) and making pancakes !

Finally to show you how good the conditions are at the moment, some photos taken by Ferdinand Timmermann (flying with Roger EYRIER). Many thanks !

First of all, some magnificent photos taken at the end of last week by Gabriel (Briffe) and Julien (Lharidon) - many thanks for passing these one !

 Another week of aerobatics for three very regular visitors to Saint Auban

The pilots on Advanced Mountain gliding courses come from France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Germany.

And the pilots on the Instructor Training Course (ITP) took two days out with their instructors Nicolas VERON, Philippe LEVY and Michel JACQUEMIN.in La Motte du Caire, in order to train on the winch. Here are some pictures!

Bad weather moving up from the south has cut the week in two - they are even forecasting snow (and they were right !). It is true that the temperatures have dropped suddenly. But there are still plenty of pilots, and the clouds formations are promising at the end of the week.:

The instructor course has entered its second week

And there are pilots from even further away, since they cannot yet glide at home. Ryszard comes from Poland, and there is a small groups from Germany, pilots from the Czech Republic, and here are our Italians with Ryzard.

A page of history was turned last week when Alain POULET invited everyone to celebrate his retirement.  As pilots who are familiar with St Auban know, Alain’s retirement does not mean he will put his feet up, but rather glide even more than ever !

All the CNVV instructors are also busy  - here Jean Marc CAILLARD (better known as Chacha) with Alain CHACQUENEAU, who completed a tow pilot course on the Dynamic.

Eric Napoléon, Olivier Darroze and Nicolas Véron were responsible for Advanced Gliding Courses this week

This week (week 9) is a full week with 35 pilots who are enjoying excellent gliding at low season prices (239 Euros for one week’s gliding on CNVV gliders, weekly rate valid until 8^th March).

The guys in our workshop have been working hard all winter to get our glider park ready for the season.  The majority of the gliders are in action this week. Bravo Michel (SOYEZ) and his team (Nicolas, François, Romain, Thibaud  and Guigui (who is not on this photo)

The good weather is still with us !  Very cold and windy, however, but no-one is complaining.  The preparatory instructor course is in its second week, and there are 20 pilots who are making the most of their school holidays to fly as much as possible. 

Everyone is well dressed against the cold, but the gliding conditions have been excellent !

 We have two tow pilots at the moment, both know St Auban well…

On Tuesday the snow front was as low as Pic de Bure/Serre Poncon but further south there were cloud formations at 300° on the Parcours and the West/North-West facing slopes were alimented with dynamics. Flight altitudes of 2600-2800m within a 50 km radius of St Auban… what more can you ask ?

Here is a look at our beautiful Provençal skies, with snow not far away (good skiing not far away either). No need to say that the pilots have spectacular views from their gliders.