Raymond Kersten

On April 11, 2017, we received a very special request from Raymond Kersten via the website.

I'll start with some of his mail.

Hi, I am Raymond Kersten, living in Geldrop.

I have been associated with the mvc ornithos in Geldrop for over 30 years.

Due to my double limitation (deafness and progressive vision loss) I no longer control my self-built gliders myself since about 10 years ago.

I was recently helped by 2 club members who were very experienced as test pilots and instructors, but they are now unable to pilot my big gliders due to age and health issues.

Unfortunately there are no other instructors at mvc ornithos.

Is there someone walking around your club who can control such large gliders?

Raymond is looking for people who would like to fly with his big gliders a number of times and that someone can film that so that he can watch it at home on his computer, so he can still enjoy flying a bit, so I immediately thought of Stefan Howl because he has always had big floaters himself.

that is why I asked Stefan whether he saw anything in this.

After emailing back and forth Stefan and I decided to help Raymond as best we could.

Unfortunately Stefan and I are also busy and it took a while before it was that far, but on June 3 it was time.

It does mean quite a bit because Raymond's illness prevents him from driving a car.

So Stefan drove towards Geldrop and picked up Raymond and his devices.

then he drove to our field and Raymond assembled his gliders himself.

Now it was possible to fly, so Stefan piloted Raymond's glider and I filmed everything for him.

After a number of flights it was time to go home again, so we helped Raymond to break down and pack his aircraft again.

Stefan then took Raymond home again and returned home.

We as an association like that we have been able to help Raymond in this way.

Raymond I hope you enjoyed it too.