KRONFELD ON GLIDING AND SOARING.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

338 KRONFELD ON GLIDING & SOARING
was partly out of action. During his slide down the hill
one half of his elevator being near the ground had been torn
off, so that its efficiency had been greatly impaired. Several
times the machine got out of control, and the pilot was
about to make use of his parachute. However, with the
greatest skill, by rapid flying, Groenhoff managed to
keep control and finally land safely near Interlaken.
Besides this unlucky incident, the expedition was not
favoured by the weather. It was therefore found impossible
to carry out an extended soaring flight above starting level,
although Groenhoff made several successful long glides.
One glide he made, in order to attend a demonstration at
the aerodrome of Berne, was of particular interest. On
taking off he utilized the ascending part of the eddy, which
is set up by south winds on the lee slopes of the mountains.
After having dived through the down-current he then
managed to reach the aerodrome by making use of a number
of clouds.
A Swiss expedition, working on the same area and at
the same time as the Rhon-Rossitten Gesellschaft, was more
fortunate. On June nth the Swiss pilot Farner went up
in the early morning and carefully exploited the currents
which are known to the mountain expert. For a few
minutes he sailed over the Guggi glacier, and then took his
glider to the Grindelwald valley, where he gained one
thousand five hundred feet in height owing to favourable
thermal currents. Farner landed after a splendid flight
of one hour twenty-four minutes duration. On the
following day Farner launched out again, hoping to use
the thermal currents over the Lauterbrunn valley. He
managed to keep his height for twenty minutes after having
left the start. The Swiss expedition, whose members,
having grown up in the mountains, were well versed in the
geographical formation of the country, took two of their
machines to the Scheidegg, where Baroni and Traxler
carried out several more beautiful flights. Particularly
worthy of mention, however, is a splendid flight made by
Farner, who at the time was quite inexperienced in gliding.
Flying along Lake Brienz and working his way across the
Bruning Pass, he managed to cover a distance of 35.4 miles.