In slightly cloudy weather, the Flight Day of J. Schmalz GmbH was held in September at the gliding airfield Klippeneck, on the edge of the "Swabian Alps". The Schmalz Flight Day is an annual event in the calendar of the Schmalz Academy, the company's own training centre. The Academy offers more than 100 courses with internal and external teachers, covering a wide range technical courses and also hobby and leisure activities. Managing director Wolfgang Schmalz and his wife Esther took this opportunity to personally give their employees the chance of a flight. Another employee and glider pilot, Michael Schlaich, demonstrated his flying abilities.

The event began with a guided tour of the airfield and the various hangars, accompanied by many explanations and safety warnings. Once the many questions had been answered by the Schmalz pilots, everyone was keen to start flying. The programme included flights in a power glider and normal gliders, and also glider aerobatics.

All participants thoroughly enjoyed the experience and returned to the ground in good health. They tried out everything: looping the loop with the "boss", more leisurely thermal flights and even short sightseeing trips.
At the end of the day, all participants landed safely and some seemed to be gad to have both feet back on the ground.

The company also has both feet firmly on the ground: in spite of the worldwide success of the company, the two managing directors Dr. Kurt Schmalz and Wolfgang Schmalz have remained down-to-earth and loyal to their home country. Schmalz emphasises that this will also be true in the future, as evidenced by the current building projects at the company headquarters: a new heating system which burns wood chips, extensions to the employee parking areas and the reactivation of the water-powered electricity generator, which was temporarily mothballed during the construction of the new office building.