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Eric van Geetsum
July 21st 03, 09:19 PM
Look at http://www.osthessen-news.de/OsthessenNews/news/news030719_8.htm

Newspaper of Ost-Hessen.......
Photo's included of the Disaster at the Schleicher facilities
Fire department did a good job. (imho)

In case the link does not work:
http://www.osthessen-news.de
==> Samstag - 19. Juli 2003
AKTUELL: Großbrand im Segelflugzeugwerk SCHLEICHER

If your plane was due to delivery in august you may have to wait for Santa
Claus and ask for a new one in december ;-(




Eric van Geetsum

Bob Kuykendall
July 21st 03, 11:55 PM
Earlier, "Eric van Geetsum" > wrote:

> from the German newspaper "Fuldaer Zeitung"
>
>
> Segelflugzeuge fielen Flammen zum Opfer...

Am I to understand that in the last month or so there have been fires
at the facilities of both Schempp-Hirth and Schleicher? That's kind of
curious...

Bob K.

Larry Goddard
July 22nd 03, 03:39 AM
Bob Kuykendall wrote:

> Earlier, "Eric van Geetsum" > wrote:
>
> > from the German newspaper "Fuldaer Zeitung"
> >
> >
> > Segelflugzeuge fielen Flammen zum Opfer...
>
> Am I to understand that in the last month or so there have been fires
> at the facilities of both Schempp-Hirth and Schleicher? That's kind of
> curious...
>
> Bob K.

My granddad would have said they were probably caused by friction...
between the insurance and finance companies. :-)

Larry

Mike Borgelt
July 22nd 03, 07:11 AM
On 21 Jul 2003 15:55:42 -0700, (Bob Kuykendall)
wrote:

>Earlier, "Eric van Geetsum" > wrote:
>
>> from the German newspaper "Fuldaer Zeitung"
>>
>>
>> Segelflugzeuge fielen Flammen zum Opfer...
>
>Am I to understand that in the last month or so there have been fires
>at the facilities of both Schempp-Hirth and Schleicher? That's kind of
>curious...
>
>Bob K.

I believe Schempp had a fire 20 + years ago that fortunately only
destroyed some office records.
I remember eading somwhere DG had a fire some years back that
destroyed the DG600 wing molds and they took the opportunity to
redesign the wing with a new airfoil and called it the DG800.

Mike Borgelt

Ulrich
July 22nd 03, 03:28 PM
The building in question is the final assembly hall. It looks like it
was pretty well destroyed, but they were able to get some
gliders,wings,plus the ASK-16 motor glider out before the fire took
over. The damage is estimated at over 500,000 Euros. Fortunately, no
production facilities were affected. The employees will use their
upcoming holidays to repair the damage as much as possible or set up
temporary final assembly area.

It looks like the local fire brigades did an outstanding job in
containing the fire to the final assembly hall.

(Robertmudd1u) wrote in message >...
> I have not been to the Schleicher factory in several years but as I recall the
> building shown in in the photos on the newspaper web site is not one where
> production is done. When I was there the production was in the multi-story
> building behind the one shown in the photos.
>
> Also the gliders shown in the photos are finished gliders and one is not even a
> current production model. Was this building a repair or refinishing shop?
>
> Anyone have a translation of the article, or other details?
>
> Will DG now buy Schleicher? ;-)
>
> Robert Mudd

Michael Stringfellow
July 22nd 03, 05:22 PM
Quick software translation, quite close, but some adjustments might be
needed, but you'll get the gist of it:

Gliders victims of flames

Company boss Edgar Kremer actually had wanted to leave Poppenhausen to go
to Berlin in the early morning for a sailplane competition. So it was on
Saturday at 6 o'clock in the morning in order to get the glider he entered
Poppenhausen. When he looked through the window into the finsihing hall, he
noted brightly flaring flames. "That was good fortune in the misfortune",
said Poppenhausens mayor Manfred Helfrich yesterday vis-à-vis the FZ,
"otherwise the fire would probably have destroyed the whole firm."

Nevertheless considerable property damage emerged: some completed gliders
already ready fell victim to the fire and also the hall was badly damaged.
The police estimate the loss in excess of 500,000 Euros. Regarding the
cause of the fire , the officials in Fulda were able to make yesterday no
statements; the findings of the police investigation were not yet in. Mayor
Helfrich believes a technical defect in the electrical systems at the
business led to the misfortune . The company boss had immediately raised
the alarm with the fire department, which enabled them to rapidly deploy 100
firefighters to the place. "The logistics went smoothly", praised Helfrich,
"it makes already sense, that again and again cooperationof the different
fire departments take place." So the deployed firefightters out of
Poppenhausen , Fulda and Gersfeld proved to be a balanced out team.
According to community fire inspector Georg Wehner the fire lasted
approximately two and a half hours until the fire was under control.
Because of the strong smoke development, approximately 30 fire department
people had to carry breathing apparatus. The Fuldaer defense was equipped
with a special breath protection devices vehicle, a central control vehicle
and a joint
mast vehicle on the spot; out of Gersfeld, a devices vehicle came for
hazardous materials. The defense out of Gackenhof had the supervision over
the Aufräumarbeiten, that were terminated not until the evening hours. Of
the 120 factory workers, of whom many hurried to the fire, and the events
"appalled pursued" how Helfrich reports, approaches in the next weeks much
work: the impending Betriebsferien are supposed to be
used in addition to arrange the Mondays hall again. "The production can go
on", noted Helfrich eased. Kremer will contuinue to be an important
employer in Poppenhausen. A spreading of the flames had been prevented on
other work by the quick use of the defenses.



A contribution out of the Fuldaer newspaper of the 21 July 2003
"Eric van Geetsum" > wrote in message
...
> from the German newspaper "Fuldaer Zeitung"
>
>
> Segelflugzeuge fielen Flammen zum Opfer
>
> Poppenhausen (dom)
> Eigentlich hatte Firmenchef Edgar Kremer am frühen Morgen zu einem
> Segelflug-Wettbewerb nach Berlin aufbrechen wollen. So war er am Samstag
um
> 6 Uhr auf den Beinen, um das Fluggerät vom Gelände des Segelflugzeugwerks
> Schleicher in Poppenhausen zu holen. Als er durchs Fenster in die
> Endmontagehalle sah, bemerkte er hell lodernde Flammen.
> "Das war Glück im Unglück", sagte Poppenhausens Bürgermeister Manfred
> Helfrich gestern gegenüber der FZ, "sonst hätte das Feuer vermutlich die
> gesamte Firma zerstört."
>
> Dennoch ist erheblicher Sachschaden entstanden: Dem Brand fielen einige
> bereits fertig montierte Flugzeuge zum Opfer, und auch die Halle wurde
stark
> beschädigt. Die Polizei geht von einer Schadenssumme in Höhe von
mindestens
> 500000 Euro aus. Zur Brandursache konnten die Beamten in Fulda gestern
keine
> Angaben machen; die Ermittlungen der Kriminalpolizei dauern noch an.
> Bürgermeister Helfrich vermutet allerdings, dass ein technischer Defekt an
> der elektronischen Anlage des Betriebs zu dem Unglück führte. Der
Firmenchef
> hatte umgehend die Feuerwehr alarmiert, die mit insgesamt 100
Einsatzkräften
> schnell zur Stelle war. "Die Logistik hat reibungslos funktioniert", lobte
> Helfrich, "es macht schon Sinn, dass immer wieder Gemeinschaftsübungen der
> verschiedenen Feuerwehren stattfinden." So erwiesen sich die Einsatzkräfte
> aus Poppenhausen samt Ortsteilen, Fulda und Gersfeld als eingespieltes
Team.
> Nach Angaben von Gemeindebrandinspektor Georg Wehner, der den Einsatz
> leitete, dauerte es rund zweieinhalb Stunden, bis das Feuer unter
Kontrolle
> war. Wegen der starken Rauchentwicklung mussten rund 30 Feuerwehrleute
> Atemschutzgeräte tragen. Die Fuldaer Wehr war mit einem speziellen
> Atemschutzgeräte-Wagen, einem zentralen Einsatzleitfahrzeug und einem
> Gelenkmastwagen vor Ort; aus Gersfeld kam ein Gerätewagen für Gefahrgut.
Die
> Wehr aus Gackenhof hatte die Aufsicht über die Aufräumarbeiten, die erst
in
> den Abendstunden abgeschlossen waren.
> Auf die 120 Mitarbeiter des Segelflugzeugwerks, von denen viele zum
Brandort
> geeilt waren und das Geschehen "entsetzt verfolgten", wie Helfrich
> berichtet, kommt in den nächsten Wochen viel Arbeit zu: Die bevorstehenden
> Betriebsferien sollen dazu genutzt werden, die Montagehalle wieder
> herzurichten. "Die Produktion kann weitergehen", bemerkte Helfrich
> erleichtert. Kremer sei ein wichtiger Arbeitgeber in Poppenhausen. Durch
den
> qualifizierten Einsatz der Wehren sei ein Übergreifen der Flammen auf
andere
> Werksteile verhindert worden.
>
> Ein Beitrag aus der Fuldaer Zeitung
> vom 21. Juli 2003
>
>
>
>
>

Robertmudd1u
July 23rd 03, 12:10 PM
In article >, Howard Franks
> writes:

> The AS
>website states that delivery times of new gliders will
>not be affected.

Glad to hear that.

Robert Mudd

Bruce Friesen
July 24th 03, 04:56 AM
Office records, like the original drawings for my Standard Austria, but
fortunately some of the rolls were just charred a bit on the ends, and
with great care could be unrolled and printed! A neat experience -
getting that kind of help just dropping in to the factory!

Cheers

Bruce

Mike Borgelt wrote:

>On 21 Jul 2003 15:55:42 -0700, (Bob Kuykendall)
>wrote:
>
>
>
>>Earlier, "Eric van Geetsum" > wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>from the German newspaper "Fuldaer Zeitung"
>>>
>>>
>>>Segelflugzeuge fielen Flammen zum Opfer...
>>>
>>>
>>Am I to understand that in the last month or so there have been fires
>>at the facilities of both Schempp-Hirth and Schleicher? That's kind of
>>curious...
>>
>>Bob K.
>>
>>
>
>I believe Schempp had a fire 20 + years ago that fortunately only
>destroyed some office records.
>I remember eading somwhere DG had a fire some years back that
>destroyed the DG600 wing molds and they took the opportunity to
>redesign the wing with a new airfoil and called it the DG800.
>
>Mike Borgelt
>
>
>

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