Turkish gliding

"tango4" wrote in message
...
Anyone up on the current scene as far as Turkey is concerned? Can
foreigners fly there? Are there active clubs?

Ian

There were soaring centers near Elmendag and Eskishehir. Infrequently they
would bring gliders to other cities. 95% of Turkey is above 1000m MSL and
there are some interesting mountain ranges. Cross country conditions would
seem very good, but the logistics of landing out are likely difficult in the
extreme in some places. The World Air Games included World Class a few
years back and involved some ground launching also, if I recall, to get up
during the better part of the day. I lived in the Adana area for five years
and spent my time sailing and fishing. Elmendag was 250 miles to the north
and the drive was longer as the mountain passes were pretty slow.

I was offered the opportunity to fly crop dusters there. I advised the
owner (of 26 dusters) that I only had a few power hours. He shrugged and
smiled, saying "It's okay, this is Turkey". One of his pilots was very
proud of his FAI soaring badge. A jet maintainer at Incirlik had an A&P
also and maintained this guy's two private aircraft in exchange for flying
them along the coast and to Cyprus. Along the southern coast, private
aircraft had to maintain low level to stay out of the ADIZ. I think 1500agl
was tops.

Some gliders were built in Turkey
http://www.tuncay-deniz.com/ENGLISH/THK/thk.html

Frank Whiteley