It makes us very proud that last Sunday, former Schempp-Hirth chief engineer Helmut Treiber (76, right) has been honoured with the "Klaus Holighaus Medal in Gold", awarded by the Air Sport Association of Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany (BWLV).
The gold medal is in memorial of the great glider pilot, gifted glider designer and successful entrepreneur Klaus Holighaus who was killed in a glider crash in 1994. It is awarded to personalities with outstanding achievements for the air sports.
This year's laureate Helmut Treiber has been a leading engineer in the introducing of carbon fibre technology into the design of gliders and was a major contributor to the design and test flying of Akaflieg Braunschweig's SB8, SB9 and SB10. After finishing his studies, he joined Schempp-Hirth as a member of the engineer team under Klaus Holighaus and, after Klaus' accident, took over as the company's head engineer, which he lead with great success until he retired. We are very glad that we can still benefit from his expertise as consultant to the present day.
Besides designing and testing gliders, Helmut Treiber has also been an enthusiastic gilder pilot, a successful competition pilot and achieved several national and world records.
