Our history
The ACD
at Le Versoud from 1967 to today
The ACD moved to Le Versoud, lock, stock and barrel, aircraft and gliders included, throughout 1967, but parted with its maintenance and repair workshop, which became a private workshop (ARPA).
Gliding declined in the early years (the “wood and fabric” gliders were replaced by “tube and fabric” ones, the Bijave and then the ASK 13) and only grew again from the mid-1970s. Another sign of technological change, faster in gliding than in powered flight: from 1976 the first “plastic” gliders appeared, with composite fuselages and wings, such as the LS-1 and the Pégase. Another major event: in 1991 the ACD parted with its gliding section after nearly half a century of activity (1942-1991), giving birth to a new club, GVV – Grenoble Vol à Voile.
For a while the ACD went by the name “ACD-VM”. Powered flying carried on: training on 100 hp Rallyes, mountain flying with the purchase of six ski-equipped 95 hp Piper Super Cubs, touring on Jodels, and on the first tricycle-gear Robins, the DR-300 and then the DR-400: for statistics lovers, over the years 28 Robin DR-400s have been, or still are, part of the ACD!
In the following years, a few aircraft of other types broadened the range of flying, including four-seat metal aircraft – Cessna 172, Piper PA-28, TB-9 – and a single-engine Cessna 210. Also an aerobatic aircraft, the CAP-10, and a few three-axis microlights (the first in 1998, resumed in 2007). A page was turned in May 2016 with the departure of the last Rallye (GAYO), the last of the 25 such aircraft to wear the ACD's colours (blue since the early 2000s!). The school was equipped with glass-cockpit Viktor Sportstars and Robin 400-120s.
Composite construction should also be mentioned, on the Cirrus SR-20, WT-9 and DA-40, mainly from 2007, long after the material was first used on gliders. This was also when the ACD (re-)created its own maintenance workshop in 1992, later enlarged in 2006 under Marc Nowotny. On the human side, three chief pilots left their mark on the club: Henri Giraud, who led us for 20 years before leaving in 1970 to set up his own private mountain flying school; Roger Bellon from 1977 to 1988; Serge Blanc from 1991 to 2012, followed by Luca Fini, Étienne Rouquette and Samuel Georges.
What came next: the ACD at Saint-Geoirs, from 1999 to today
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