January review

Candidate training
The municipal elections (grv26) are approaching: the candidate lists have been finalised, and the election programmes have now been presented. In Gelderland, we are participating in five municipalities, four of which are new to us.

This is naturally very exciting for both the candidates and the members. To ensure that these new factions get off to a good start with their council work, our Gelderland candidate municipal councillors received training from our experienced council, provincial council and committee members at the provincial government building.

The candidates learned how to debate, how to best present themselves in the campaign, and were informed about council instruments such as motions, amendments and the planning and control cycle. In between, there was plenty of opportunity to get to know each other better.

Thanks to Dennis Uenk for organising the event and to all the Volters who gave presentations. We can look back on two successful training days!

Party day at Teuge Airport
Who knows what goes on at Teuge Airport? Until recently, we certainly didn't. That's why we were given a tour of the airport on our party day.

Almost half of the flights are training flights, with only a small proportion being recreational and advertising flights. In addition to a large aircraft maintenance company with many internship places for vocational students, there are six flying schools at the airport.

Every pilot, including those at KLM, starts their flying career in a small aircraft, for example at Teuge Airport. And the great thing is that a significant proportion of these flights are carried out with electric aircraft. Ideal. You can fly for over an hour, which is precisely the length of a flying lesson.

The expectation is that when batteries with a higher energy density per unit of weight become available – and these are currently under development – longer flights and larger aircraft will also become possible. Then electric flying will really take off.

Work is also being done on sustainability in other areas: for example, kerosene is being mixed with biofuels and synthetic fuels. It will take some time before kerosene is completely phased out, but it is coming. Work is also being done on aircraft that produce less noise. Electric aircraft produce much less noise, by the way. So the future of flying is quieter and more sustainable.