Han's in his Office

Vale Hans Stettin.

Another photo of Hans in the back seat of the Twin Astir. This photo was posed for the Wimmera Mail Times. The other three people in the photo; Max Hedt, Peter Kelly and Craig Leak all flew with Hans at various times. I believe that Max took Hans up for his first flight in a glider at Horsham, but that's a story for Max to share.

VALE Hans Stettin

It is with a great deal of sadness that I share the news of the passing of Hans Stettin. Hans pictured on the right wearing the hat was a wonderful gentleman and a life member of the Wimmera Soaring Club/Horsham Flying Club. Hans instructed for many many years and shared his love of flying and gliding with countless students. Year after year he was at the club every Saturday and Sunday. He spent many hours in the back seat of the club's numerous two seaters. he and Werner had a great passion for flying and shared ownership of 'Tango Tango' a Schemp-Hirth Nimbus 2 with a couple of other members for many years. Hans would fly first in the early afternoon and somewhere near three clock Werner would make the call over the radio; "where are you Hans". Han would invariably reply, "I am here Werner" and minutes later he would land and the would swap over. Hans would then get into a twin and do some instructing. A wonderful man who is greatly missed by many who knew him. Hans passed away on Sunday aged 90. I hope some other members will share some of their own 'Hans' stories.

Memorial Lunch for Hans Stettin

The Horsham Flying Club will be holding a memorial for Hans Stettin at the clubrooms, Horsham Aerodrome on Sunday 12th June at 1:30pm. (1:00 for 1:30)

This will be a wonderful opportunity for Hans many friends to gather, pay their respects and celebrate his life. 

We will be paying our final respects as we spread Hans ashes.

This will be a finger food event. Please RSVP to Peter Weissenfeld on 0417 137 129 by 31 May

Vintage Gliders

As part of the 50^th celebrations we have a number of owners who are bringing their wooden gliders which are indicative of the types flown in the early events. Several Ka6 gliders will be there and at least one will be competing. A reminder of the cross country challenges in the days without GPS, mobile phones and much lower glide performances.

Celebration Dinner - Saturday 6th February

The Club is hosting a dinner in the hanger on the evening of Saturday 6^th February to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary. The 2-course dinner is $ 35 including two drink vouchers (beer, wine or soft drink). Come along and share your memories of past competitions.

Happy New Year and best wishes to you all

Planning for this year's 50^th Horsham Week is well in hand with adequate tugs available and entries starting to roll in.

Event Fees
Fees have not been increased and will be :

• Entry Fee $ 100 which includes the $ 50 facility fee from the Horsham Club.
• Aerotows $ 50 and relights $ 30.

Tugs
We have two Pawnees from Bacchus Marsh, Jim Barton's Callair, Mike Cleaver's Scout as well as a EuroFox from Bendigo GC and Horsham's Jabiru. Tug master is Selwyn Ellis, Horsham Club.

Rotating Beacons
A reminder that all vehicles must operate a flashing hazard beacon when on the airfield.
Note that some of the older and cheaper mechanical rotating lights can seriously interfere with hand held VHF radios as you are towing out. There is now a range of solid state LED lights available which do not cause interference and can be obtained on eBay for under $ 40. Try key words such as 80 LED Car Truck flash Warning light Beacon Strobe Light Emergency Light Amber.

Christmas Dinner 2015

A most pleasant evening was had by some 25 members and friends at the club rooms on Saturday night. Although the weather was hot and the A/C barely coping a great evening was had by all present. The traditional roast was put together by Lorelle. Once again Michael Sudholz provided the lamb. 

A short club meeting was held beforehand and all business settled within 18 minutes. 

50th Anniversary of Horsham Week Competition

In February 2016 we will be celebrating the 50th occasion of the Horsham Week competition which has been run every year since 1966 without a break.

In the mid-1960's the competing glider types included Ka6, Olympia, ES59 Arrow, ES60 Boomerang,  Bocian and Kookaburra.  Many of the pilots are still around the gliding movement today - Alan Patching, Ian Cohn, Gary Sunderland, David Pietsch, Haydn Dunn, Tony Tabart, Keith Nolan and Max Hedt.  And some of these stalwarts are still flying !

For 2016 the Horsham Week organisers are planning to recreate some of the atmosphere of those years by offering the opportunity for the gliders, their owners and former pilots/crews to join in the celebrations.

First we are adding a vintage class to the competition with suitable tasks to demonstrate the capabilities of those early gliders and offer pilots some fun flying in the open skies and summer soaring of the Wimmera region.

Secondly we will be inviting all owners to bring their vintage gliders and join in the celebrations with local flying and static displays.  Also an opportunity to show today's 'hot shots with their hot ships' how flying was done without GPS, flight computers and mobile phones.

The Victorian Soaring Association have promised financial support for the event and the Australian Museum Group is assisting us to identify gliders, competitors and crews.  
We look forward to inviting you all to our celebrations once we have completed the initial planning.

Find us on Facebook

The club now has a Facebook page 

which tells some of the story of the club 

over the past 50 years.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Horsham-Flying-Club/519485094775327

VSA State Competition

The VSA State Competition is now to be run in conjunction with the 49th Horsham Week Competition.