To The Rescue In Serbia

BERYL'S SZEGED BLOG:
The world championships are being held in Hungary for the first time and as Europe moved to becoming the great dream of a united Europe many of the previous eastern countries are undergoing great changes in their contact with each other. It was with great delight that the Hungarian organisers informed the competitors of this championships that the airspace in both Serbia and Romania would now be available to them during the event.

We were all duly warned to obtain visas if they were required (Australians do not) and we understood that if our pilot landed in either of these countries we should ensure that all members of the crew and the pilot carried their passport. During the practise period two gliders landed in Serbia, the crew set off with the required documentation for what would be a two hour retrieve at most. The border is just 15 klms south of the airport so it seemed an easy exercise.

The poor crews found themselves under 5 hours of detention at the border, the pilots were stuck in the field unable to leave the glider as they were warned that everything would be stolen if they did leave,they were all in international phone coverage and their prepaid mobiles were ticking like cash registers and they  were tired,hungry and very angry.

The organisers were very apologetic and assured all that they would certainly address the issue as a matter of urgency and it would not happen again. So it was with trepidation that the whole 15 metre class set off on their task into Serbia a week later. 48 gliders bravely crossed the border and 48 gliders landed out in regional Serbia.  This time they were ready. Each crew carried papers for the glider, the car, the trailer, passports for all crew members present and signed documentation from the organisers. They escaped the traffic jam at the airport as all the other trailers for both open and 18 metre class took off to retrieve their aircraft in Hungary. The whole fleet of 146 gliders landed out on this day.

The cavalcade travelled to the border and gaily passed through the Hungarian sector for just 500 metres until they came to the Serbian border check point. Hours and hours and hours later with pilots waiting in fields throughout northern Serbia the crews battled with the border control police. Some of the stories from this night are worthy of a really good book. It is sufficient to say that after many late adventures the majority were safely back in Szeged and in bed by 4.00am. The next day was cancelled for the 15 metre class due to the loud snoring from all concerned at briefing time.

We are yet to test the Romanian border and we still have three days left so stand by for another adventure in cross border gliding in eastern Europe.