Swedes in Prague (3/5/00)

Hello David!

We have tried to compile a text for your website. Please feel free to alter the text as you please. Whatever you finally decide to use we are more than pleased that you have taken such a great interest in us /I happily used everything, guys! David./

To start with, we all would like to say that this trip was one of our best model-flying holidays we have experienced so far! We certainly would like to thank you for all your help and assistance. Without you, we would probably not have had such a good time in the Czech Republic. We all agreed that we most certainly would go to the Czech Republic again in the future.

It was a very thrilling experience to fly on the slopes next to Praha, particularly the first one, with great view over Praha. After Praha we went to Rana, which was an even better slope. The first day, we had some great flying there. Unfortunately it was very little wind the next 2 days. But we went to Karlovy Vary to "play" ordinary tourists.

We managed to find excellent accommodation very close to the slope in Rana. Then one of us very much wanted to go to the east of Czech republic, partly because his colleagues at work had said that it was a nice part of Czech Republic, and also nice Wine Yards. So on Saturday we drove to Brno and we tried to find a Tourist information and someone who could speak English.

After Brno we decided to go to Bratislava. Partly because, in Stockholm I had got information from a Slovak who had lived in Bratislava. He was not a model-flyer, but anyway he knew about this Slope in Austria, very close to Bratislava. ( Braunsberg near Hainburg ) When I listened to him this slope sounded very nice. And it turned out to be! It was almost as good as Rana but just almost. One good thing was of course that you could drive by car to the top. We met flyers from Munchen and Vienna. The one from Munchen was 73 years old, and had flown in Luftwaffe! He fortunately also said that he was glad that the war ended like it did! So we slept in Bratislava and flew in Austria. Bratislava was a very nice town also! We also saw a flying "model-show" in Austria. Just by chance we found out about that show! With the biggest model aeroplane I have ever seen. A Galaxy with 4 petrol engines. I think 5 meter long! But it didn't fly because a propeller broke loose from the engine and hit a little boy on his knee. He was very fortunate not to receive any wounds at all.

Then we drove through Austria to Cesky Krumlov. Just some miles north of Linz Custom Police stopped us. We had not an Autobahn sticker in the window, which we should have had according to the Austrian laws. However, we had missed out on this information….. This little mistake costed us about 100 US Dollar in fines. When we arrived to the Czech Republic again it felt like coming home. We arrived in Cesky Krumlov in the evening and found very nice accommodation in a private room. Cesky Krumlov was a very very nice indeed as you had told us. That stop we did not regret I can tell you! Then we drove to Praha to meet you and fly together with you, and unfortunately we also had to say goodbye to you and the Czech Republic.

On our next visit to the Czech Republic we hope that we are able to bring along some slope combat soarers like the Tomahawk and have some fun with you on the slopes. May we invite all of you who reads this to contact us if you plan a trip to Sweden.

Many Happy Landings 

Hans, Dan, Magnus, Carl-Gustaf

Dan, Carl, Hans and Magnus together at the slope in Braunsberg near Hainburg, Austria. If you take a good look it's possible to see Bratislava in the background. On the picture we have three " Wingray ". A very good friend of us constructs them, Ray Jones in Wales.

Hans together with our new Czech friends. We are all waiting to come and visit them again. We are waiting for the opportunity to buy David's "Tomahawk" so we can have a fair chance to compete with them next time!

Carl, David and Dan at the slope in Praha. It was a fantastic experience to fly there with Praha under your feet! Unfortunately it wasn't wind enough for our " Rebel " this day. We hope for better luck next time.

Carl enjoys his life in Rana. Good weather, a good slope, and a car total stocked with model slope soarers, what more can you ask for? We have flown at slopes in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Scotland and Wales but we can tell you that nothing is better than Rana!

Again the wind wasn't enough for our models but we really enjoyed to watch when David and his friends were flying slope combats. They were crazy!

Swedish Slopesoarers make themselves ready for flying in Rana. One totally new experience for us as modelflyers was that you had to pay for your flying! Does anyone know where the money goes? The lady who sold the tickets could not tell us! /I have never heard of this before...normally it´s free! Maybe the parking?David/

We made a visit to a modelflying meeting in Austria. They had a huge " Galaxy ". Too bad it was not flown. A propeller was broken before takeoff. The propeller hit a child's knee, but fortunately he was quite all right.

We made David an " honour member " in our Modelclub Kättilstorps RCK. This was the final meeting with David and his friends.