Airborne #214

Issue 214; May, June, July 2020

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING

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any pilots visit flying sites outside their own region. To ensure that you don’t jeopardise arrangements between land owners and local flyers you must ALWAYS check with local pilots BEFORE flying.

That way you won’t upset land owners or pilots, you will be shown all the best sites and will be welcome back. We don’t publish site names and locations

because flying sites have been lost by visiting flyers who have upset land owners. To assist travelling pilots, people wishing to learn to fly or to contact hang gliding and paragliding clubs, here is a list of people who can help you.

Those on the list or wishing to be listed, should contact their Club Secretaries who should keep Airborn and the NZHGPA website updated of changes of contact details.

NORTHLAND H.G.P.C.

TARANAKI FREE FLYERS

C/- Guntram Gross

C/- Dennis Green

1 Brook Road

38 Kaitake Rd

Whangarei

RD4, New Plymouth

Email: Skywalk@hotmail.co.nz

Pres, Airsp, Sec/Treas, PGSO; John Morgan

www.facebook.com/

...................................................... 021 726 183

NorthlandHangGlidingandParaglidingClub/

HGSO; Dave Austin....................021 0283 6797

Pres, Airsp; Shane Gross...............09 436 0268 Sec/Treas; Guntram Gross.............09 436 0268

BAY OF PLENTY H.G.P.C.

HGSO; Herman Ahrens..................09 432 9333

C/-Dominique Le Sellin

PGSO; Wolfgang Harder................09 403 7594

41, Ririnui Place, Maungatapu

PG; Mike Ferguson..........mferg066@gmail.com

Tauranga 3112 Email: bophangparaclub@gmail.com

AUCKLAND H.G.P.C.

www.facebook.com/BOPHangGlidingParagliding

PO Box 47813

Pres: Dave Washer.......................0275 992 934

Ponsonby, Auckland 1144

Sec: Dominique Le Sellin...................... 021 617 111

Email: info@cloudbase.org.nz

PGSO: Mark McIntyre........................021 337 595

www.cloudbase.org.nz

HGSO: James Low.......................021 102 5004

Pres: Stefan Sebregts .................027 225 2255

Airsp: Rhys Akers.........................021 177 7563

Sec: Graham Surrey ..................021 0262 5023

Sites: Dave Shaw...........................07 575 9560

Treas: Malcolm Dawson...............021 052 1568

Kiwi Air.........................................021 1046 208

HGSO: Fraser Bull .......................027 801 4044

Mount Paragliding........................027 249 2702

PGSO: Reuben Muir.......................09 446 0020 WELLINGTON H.G.P.C.

Stefan Sebregts ...........................021 266 1287

PO Box 9824

Steve Price ....................................021 781 828

Marion Square

Eva Keim .......................................09 446 0051

Wellington 6141

Skywings Paragliding ....................09 570 5757

www.whgpc.nz

Aqua Air Adventure Hang Gliding.. 027 288 0193

Email: info@whgpc.org.nz

Wings And Waves Paragliding ......09 446 0020

Pres: Jeff Lean............................020 4102 0567 Sec/Treas: Grant Firth................... 021 422 698

WAIKATO H.G.P.C. Inc.

HGSO: Grant Tatham...................027 636 3491

C/- Ian Manton

PGSO: Matthew Williams.............027 552 5205

PO Box 131,

Airsp: Ian Miller ............................022 176 8205

Matamata 3440

Communications; Irwin Imhoff..... 22 087 2173

Email: ian@imatec.co.nz Pres: Mark McDonald...................020 444 9995

MARLBOROUGH H.G.P.C.

Sec/Treas: ................ Ian Manton 027 546 2832

C/- Richard Evans

PGSO: Bruce Vickerman .............027 498 9941

PO Box 546

HGSO: Rick Hawkeswood.............07 868 6250

Blenheim

Airsp: Neil Howe.............................07 304 9631

Email: evans.r@xtra.co.nz Pres, Daniel Francis .....................027 823 7292

HAWKES BAY H.G.P.C. Inc. 30 Kaweka Place Havelock North 4130 Email: hbhgpc@gmail.com www.soarhawkesbay.co.nz Pres, Rebecca Rae.........................021 605 204 Treas: Duncan Macnab.................027 624 6434 Airsp: Shaun Gilbert.....................022 477 8804 PGSO: Ken Beach........................021 191 6388 HGSO: Ross MacKay.....................06 877 2052 Sites Liason; Euan Talbot ..............06 877 8999

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Treas: Richard Evans..................... 021 648 783 PGSO: Julie Bousquet.................027 340 0718 HGSO: John Urlich.........................03 577 8886

KEY

Airsp: Daniel Francis.....................027 823 7292 Pres; .............................................. President

Sec; ............................ Secretary/Treasurer PGSO; ............. Paragliding Safety Officer HGSO; .......... Hang Gliding Safety Officer CFI;...........................Chief Flying Instructor Airsp;.................................Airspace Officer

AORANGI H.G.C. C/- Tom Knewstubb PO Box 5976 Dunedin Pres, Airsp; Kevin McManus........021 134 0463 Sec, HGSO; Tom Knewstubb (wk) 027 289 6103 PGSO: Lisa Bradley......................021 156 3256 SOUTHERN H.G.P.C. C/_ Tim Brown, 142 Dalefield Rd, RD1, Queenstown 9371 Email: admin@southernclub.co.nz www.southernclub.co.nz Pres; Tim Brown...........................021 182 4243 Sec: Paula Race...........................027 855 8448 Treas: Kat Cerna.........................021 0291 0851 PGSO: Blake Round.....................027 367 7679 HGSO: Pete Helliwell .................021 0284 5170 Sites: Cathal McLoughlin...........021 024 00350 Events: Chris Shaw......................021 051 2905 IT/Web: Daniel Diaz Rizo....................................

Airsp: Chris Streat........................027 485 6236 Craig Smith...................................027 343 3537 Louis Tapper.......................................................

Benjamin Kellet.............................021 232 7217 Dean Orton.....................................021 612 998 Coronet Peak Tandem PG & HG..0800 467 325 Skytrek Hang Gliding & Paragliding.0800 759 873 Extreme Air Paragliding School....021 156 3256 Infinity Paragliding School..............021 981 855 Paraventures Paragliding...............021 809 275 G Force Tandem Paragliding..........03 441 8581

Photo; Dennis Thorpe

Sec; Jonathan Mcilvenny.............021 133 7019

Sec: Paul Candlish.......................027 467 3574

CANTERBURY H.G.P.C. Inc. C/- Paul Conaghan 22 Shadbolt Ln Rolleston 7614 Email: chgpc.exec@gmail.com www.chgpc.org.nz Pres: Bradley May........................022 681 2832 Sec/Treas; Paul Conaghan ..........022 414 7377 PGSO; Marije Jansen ..................027 603 8404 HGSO; Warren Simonsen.............021 183 2126 Sites PG; Tim Bott..........................021 965 434 Sites HG; Don Payne....................027 432 7884 Website; Stephen O’Shaughnessy.03 326 7373 Airsp; Ryan Scarlett......................022 045 7254 Canty HG School; Bill Degen.......021 247 2676 Cloudbase Paragliding.................027 532 4874 Nimbus Paragliding......................027 432 4874 ParaPro.........................................0800 548 323

Heading off on glide down Tutaki at the Murchison HG Nationals.

Airsp: Leslie Graham .....................09 579 6485

TASMAN H.G.P.C. C/- Annett Teichner 1137 Motueka Valley Highway, RD1, Motueka 7196 Email: thgpgclub@gmail.com Pres; Josh Benjamin ....................021 136 5405 Sec; Annett Teichner..................021 0231 0755 Treas; Brian Erasmus .....................03 545 1003 PGSO; Greg Benjamin....................03 545 1543 PGSO; Pete Polansky ...................03 528 7374 HGSO; John King..........................03 548 8263 Site Owners; Tim Percival .............03 548 7397 Site Maintenance; Frog Twissell ....03 538 0339 Airsp; Claus Petry.........................021 250 4836 Nelson Paragliding.........................03 544 1182 Hang Gliding NZ.............................021 762 769

ISSN 1170-9928

printed on recycled paper

Magazine of the NEW Zealand Hang Gliding & Paragliding Assn. Inc. Published every three months for hang gliding and paragliding enthusiasts in New Zealand and abroad ● Subscription is by membership of NZHGPA (a legal requirement for all hang glider and paraglider pilots in NZ) ● For non

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are not necessarily endorsed by the NZHGPA or the editor ● Articles, photos

and graphics are copyright to the author, photographer, editor or designer and may not be reproduced without their permission

Contributions

N.Z.H.G.P.A. INC., C/- PO Box 131, Matamata 3440, New Zealand www.nzhgpa.org.nz

Administrator

Ian Manton, C/- PO Box 131, Matamata 3440, 027 202 1806, admin@nzhgpa.org.nz

Executive Committee President

Duncan Macnab, 027 624 6434, president@nzhgpa.org.nz

Vice President

Ian Manton, 027 546 2832, vice-president@nzhgpa.org.nz

Executive Members

Carlos Palmer, 027 487 7654, hg.operations@nzhgpa.org.nz Grant Tatham, 06 379 7322, 027 636 3491, hg.training@nzhgpa.org.nz Blake Round, 027 367 7679, pg.operations@nzhgpa.org.nz Ian Manton, 027 546 2832, pg.training@nzhgpa.org.nz Ross Grey, 021 126 0892, flyer.rosscoe@gmail.com Glen Ogilvie, 021 684 146, nelg@linuxsolutions.co.nz

Flying Operations Chief Executive Officer

Evan Lamberton, 021 407 833, ceo@nzhgpa.org.nz

Training Manager

Mark Hardman, 021 809 275, training@nzhgpa.org.nz

All articles, photos, news items, press releases, safety tips and letters will be

Operations Managers

text files in any unformatted word processor file. Airborn can use Apple Mac,

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Post:

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Vacant

Internal Auditor

Kris Ericksen, 021 116 4558, audit@nzhgpa.org.nz

Chief Medical Advisor

Dr Sam Bartholomew, C/o NZHGPA administrator, admin@nzhgpa.org.nz

Paragliding Competition Committee

Timothy Brown (Chair), 03 442 5319, 021 182 4243, tjbro137@gmail.com Dave Washer, bopbiker67@gmail.com 027 599 2934 Toni Skerrett, toniskerrett@gmail.com, +61 41 206 8247 (Australia)

Hang Gliding Competition Committee

Dennis Thorpe, dennis_thorpe@hotmail.com Matt Barlow, nat.matt3@gmail.com Tom Mulder, muldermagic@gmail.com

NZHGPA Bookshop

C/O Evan Lamberton, 021 407 833, ceo@nzhgpa.org.nz

In This Issue...

Flying X/C in the NZ Mountains..................................................4 Hang Gliding Nationals 2020.......................................................8 Paraglider Check........................................................................12 Paramotor Check.......................................................................13 Hang Glider Check.....................................................................14

Editing, Graphics; AeroDesign, Bill Degen Printing; The Caxton Press

Please send advertisements, photos and articles to the editor:

Carlos Palmer (Hang gliding), 0274 877 654, hg.operations@nzhgpa.org.nz Ian Manton (Paragliding), 027 546 2832, pg.operations@nzhgpa.org.nz

Airborn Magazine

99A Panorama Road Christchurch 8081 New Zealand

aero@xtra.co.nz

Forbes Flatlands Competition...................................................18 FMC Photo Competition............................................................20 Safety Checks, Executive Reports...........................................24 Cross Country Championships........................................ 26 & 28 Classified Advertisements.........................................................30 FRONT COVER: Near Lake Wanaka after a tough vil biv.

Photo; Nick Neynens

Next issue deadline: 30 JUNE 2020 A

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Put on your Boots and Go

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y 2020 trip to New Zealand was somewhat disastrous, after saving my new sub three kilogram Ozone Zeolite just for this (flying an old rag in Oz), I brought the wrong wing by mistake.

It certainly made a difference for the first four day trip, and the rest of the trip was salvaged by the generous loan of wings for the trip (thank you Brooke, also Josh for the tandem).

When my girlfriend left, the weather took a turn for the worse and after a few windy flights I was rained out.

But all in all a lot of country covered, still with some new places mixed

in. Notable this year was the snow stained pink by Australian dust and ash, the horrific bushfires helping accelerate glacial retreat.

Racing from the airport straight up Coronet Peak, after a busy few days in Australia, I began a four day vol biv. It was a struggle just like the old times, with too much hike and not enough fly. The best way

Left; Skippers with Coronet Peak on the left

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I could explain my urgency to get out there to my girlfriend was that we hadn’t seen a weather forecast this good for some years – yet I was struggling to get anywhere.

Compounding this was problems with the ultra lightweight ex-2019 X-Alps harness which I had a lot of difficulty adjusting.

On the first day my objective was to fly to a good starting point, but I sunk down over the back of Coronet Peak and spent the afternoon sweating in the sun. Hopes of somewhere in the Lindis changed to Roy’s Peak, where at least I’d be able to resupply.

I’d brought all my food from Australia to save time so you could characterise my diet as “crackers and cheese, without the cheese”.

In the end I found myself soaring the shadows in the evening sun with my starting point only a glide away.

At least I’d managed to land in a

good spot – near a flowing stream, a short walk from east facing tussock slopes. The next day I hiked up, flew, got a thermal, and landed to adjust my harness. Flew, and landed again after getting a minor thrashing, again to make adjustments. Flew and had a terrible glide, landing for a really short flight where I couldn’t even clear a small col, then the infamous launch (after losing my jacket on the ridge, and having to go back for it).

I couldn’t bear to fly past running water so landed for a drink, then flew again but after escaping the high valley I sank all the way to the valley floor, after a desperate attempt at soaring the other side meant I was too late to hitchhike back to Queenstown. I hiked up again for a final evening glide to cross an overgrown gorge, had a welcome wash in the shade, and pitched the tent in the evening.

Paragliding in the NZ mountains

By Nick Neynens

Above; Flying from Wanaka past Mt Earnslaw to the Hollyford Right; Park Pass Glacier

Right; Pink snow, Mt Aspiring (distant right) from the head of the Joe and got crushed in heavy sink all the way to the valley floor again.

Suffering all the way up to the tops on foot, a cold wind chilled me as I launched for the last flight of the day – this time at least managing to soar and cross a small valley to a good campsite overlooking the Matukituki valley.

It was a tough decision not to glide towards Wanaka, but given the limited traffic late in the evening I voted against my belly. As much as I wanted a reprieve, I didn’t want to hike up the hill again.

The morning looked good but there was an inversion. I lost height, waited, flew again and thermalled up high, patiently, before gliding all the way down, virtually to the valley floor.

I hiked up again and looked for a launch amongst the scrub. The only one I could find was the grassy patch growing on top of a boulder, which I’d been resting under in the shade.

Another paraglider flew past and saw me, thinking I was a lost tourist.

Neither of us knew it then but I’d be flying the same wing in just a few days – it was Brooke.

The launch worked and I went left around the corner to work my way up north facing cliffs. Into the West Matukituki and I saw other pilots circling together – Stefano and Kinga, who had been having some similar frustrations I later learned. But today they were flying efficiently and left me to discover for myself that the wind wouldn’t let me get anywhere near Cascade saddle, where my girlfriend and her brother (Natalia and Jack) were hiking that day on the Rees Dart track. The longest flight of the four day trip by far, I nearly made it back to Wanaka. On my final glide into Glendhu bay I finally realised that I was underneath the Z-Alps. This wing does not even pass porosity checks! I told my sorry story to a Christchurch couple as I hitchhiked back to Wanaka, then promptly

left my valuables bag (electronics, chargers, passport, etc) in their car.

Early the next morning I posted on Facebook asking if anyone had a spare wing they could lend me.

I fell back asleep and awoke to multiple offers.

Later that day I took Brooke’s as-new U-Turn EN-C prototype for a flight, Roy’s Peak now being a popular hike and fly choice given the closure of the road up Treble Cone.

Today I had no ambitions, thinking I’d salvaged my situation satisfactorily to be able to fly at all, yet I still flew an order of magnitude further than the combined trip so far.

Having only a single flight for the first time since arriving, I made a big circuit roughly following Louis’ 197km triangle route, but cutting the corners.

The wind in the Dart Valley would have made it difficult so I snuck down the Rees Valley instead, recalling a flight years ago where I soared the norwester and then noticed it turning direction up the Rees to give me tailwind. It was most enjoyable efficiently selecting a spur to soar and taking it until I connected with thermals again, something I haven’t always managed to do in this valley.

As I approached the northern end of the Richardson Range I had a headwind to contend with. Watch the video of me having an inflight conversation with Cleft Peak. From there I crossed into the head of the Dart Valley which I noticed was nicely protected from the wind. I took advantage of this having a relaxing

glide past glaciers before having to contend with bumpy thermals again.

Then I glided into the Matukituki to reach ground speeds of over 90km/h. I glanced over at Liverpool Hut, thinking it was possible that Jack and Natalia might be there, but in any case they weren’t and I had no hope of reaching there. Instead I reached my favourite spur beside Rob Roy Glacier with just enough height, and continued soaring most of the way back to Wanaka.

Josh put me up for the night, all very civilised this paragliding without an off-grid power solution, etc etc – no news about my day bag yet.

In the morning Brooke joined us for Lindis Pass. We hiked the “40 minutes” up the hill while some Cantabrians showed us the way on another hill nearby. The air seemed pretty still so it was a surprise to launch straight into a strong thermal.

It was my first flight from here and I like to see new places but the plan was to head straight into the big mountains as soon as possible.

When I reached the eastern side of the main Makarora (Lake Wanaka) Valley, I didn’t think I had enough height to cross so rather than linger I continued north. I only just forced my way into the Young Valley, which was relatively well exposed to the northwesterly.

Then I got stuck in there, but what a spectacular place to get stuck.

I soared as close as I dared to a steep vegetated ridge in rough conditions, then found a much easier smooth climb across the valley. As

A long walk the following morning and I first saw the sun when on the summit of Church Peak. I was still hoping for a big flight. Launching this time with my leg tangled, I had to land, in a thermal, to fix it.

When I took off again I sunk out, and eventually landed in the valley. Then I raced up the hill without packing up properly, conscious of time. There was a rushed detour through heavy scrub to top up on water, and a few goes at launching as the clouds started to influence cycles coming up the easterly face. A short flight to the bottom and I decided to try the other side of the mountain.

This time I climbed straight up to hill height, went on glide to the mountain

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Left; Southeast ridge of Mt Earnslaw

the afternoon wore on, high cloud moved in and I retreated to land above the highway, with a Russian couple stopping for me before I’d even reached the road.

I restocked in Wanaka, picked up my bag which had been returned to the police station, and next the plan was to try to meet up with Jack and Natalia, who had just hired a car to visit Milford Sound after their Rees Dart trip. Another late night as I began the hike up Roy’s Peak.

The next morning it seemed to be working early but it was another late start and it took me three attempts to get away, this time on Brooke’s Klimber P (my first try on this wing).

By the time I’d reached Cardrona it was rather overcast, you couldn’t even make out any cloud shadows.

But the Shotover was still working and I set out west.

A really satisfying low save out of the depths of the “tiger country” (besides Duncan’s flat) that Kinga mentioned in a social media post some time later. And then I did what I was unable to on the flight two days before – cross over the top of the unnamed mountain behind Stair Peak.

Next onto the southeast ridge of the these-days-not-as-heavilyglaciated Mt Earnslaw, as the sun returned, I edged north of the 9500’ airspace and gliding past the snowy slopes I thought I’d see if I could get a climb off the back of Earnslaw

(well, in the Hunter to be precise).

And I could!

From there it just got better as I followed the Beans burn on the eastern side, nipped around into the Forgotten River catchment for a view of the Olivines, and spooked a chamois high on the mountain ridge in another place which I’ve discovered for the first time with a wing.

The sun was sinking lower in the sky and it was a race against time to see as much as I could. Having the ultimate goal being to meet up with Jack and Natalia, I had the small problem of not knowing where they were (I was unable to get reception while flying past Glenorchy).

After a wonderful evening soaring past Fohn Lakes, through Fiery Col, and past the head of the Rock Burn, I descended into the rainforest of the Hollyford valley and enjoyed a tailwind sea breeze glide towards Gunn’s camp, landing in the riverbed.

I packed up as quickly as possible to avoid sandflies and ten minutes later I arrived at camp.

Pretty rapt to arrive in this iconic place which has since been devastated by the early February floods. The resident couple managing the campground were great and they had some news – Jack and Natalia had checked in!

I had a hot shower and went to the common room where they returned after their evening walk. A luxurious

cabin for the night and we woke to fog.

Natalia and Jack had booked a cruise in Milford Sound so they dropped me at the Gertrude Saddle track. I had the pick of the views that day, with the fog in the valley and the sound. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to fly back to Wanaka though.

Got a ride from a paraglider friend (coincidence), then I joined another hitchhiker to get a lift from an eastern Canadian all the way back to Te Anau.

I’d hoped to catch Jack and Natalia at the Key Summit track but they’d pulled the pin after their morning of fog! What a pity for them, and for me who had to chase them hitchhiking.

A slow start the next morning which I was a little grumpy about. But while I’d been laying on the couch waiting for departure, J&N had prepared a delicious sandwich for the road.

In the early afternoon we bumped along the gravel to Raspberry creek, and I suggested that the weather was good enough to attempt flying rather than float down the river in pack rafts.

We set out merrily from the carpark with a norwester whistling through the gap in the valley besides the Rob Roy Glacier. I’d brought them to my favourite spur with the idea of soaring up it.

Half way up the sheep trails on the hill I said that I thought we had a 50/50 chance of getting up, and we were quite likely to get dragged around the tussock a bit in the wind.

This proved to be accurate.

Jack went first and we flew to the spur arriving with, I must admit, a little less height than I’d hoped for.

Luckily my margin was just enough and we soared up decisively after shaky beginnings.

Jack was pretty stoked with his first flight. We top landed gracefully a little higher on the slope, and Natalia wandered up to meet us. In that time the winds were gradually increasing.

Natalia put in a solid effort, and I didn’t want to scare her off, but after some attempts and definitely some being dragged around we made the sensible decision to give it up.

Next morning we left Josh with his tandem wing, after enjoying a hot shower late at night at his house, and swapped wings with Brooke (thanks again). Then we brought Jack to the airport. A windy day and after dropping by Chris and Elizabeth’s, we took the pack rafts to Bob’s cove and explored the coastline. Another novel outing for me, and easy to get back in the tailwind. Natalia’s last day so the weather was set to deteriorate.

Natalia and I drove back towards Bob’s Cove. I had intended to hike and fly Mt Crichton but seeing the wind so early I pulled the pin. Chris

Left; Climbing out from Duncan’s Flat

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was going up Coronet Peak so I went with him, while Natalia made her way to the airport. I was again loaded up with food and hoping to get deep into the hills for a tramp.

Without paying too much attention, I lobbed off and felt a bit sheepish when I started losing height. I managed to gain 700’ over the landing field but it wasn’t enough, and I had to get a ride up again in the tandem bus. This time I climbed a little higher, but by then it was working much better.

I flew due north, on the east of the Shotover River. Felt the wind as I glided across the Matukituki valley. Landed for a number two on the other side, walked upwind for ten minutes and soared tussock slopes crosswind until getting over the peaks again, which was quite rewarding.

Then resumed my northward trajectory. As the day wore on I looked for camping spots with the intention of tramping the next day.

I spent some time soaring around the peaks but couldn’t get that last climb. Followed steep ridges into the lee, then clawed back to land, walk back into the wind facing slope, and try again. Then had to land to clear a small cravat.

Finally I just took the height I had and glided for the southern slopes of Mt Albert. A handy face landing and then aimed too high for the basin I’d seen, but found a great camp on the slopes above.

I’d found water only a few minutes from my camp but after filling up, no less than five keas joined me.

Always a joy to have around but not to be trusted. They kept probing my camp until dark, so I was never able to refill my one litre juice bottle and had to make do with what I had for the night!

Great to wake up in such a gorgeous spot, watching orographic cloud form in the distance on Mt Aspiring. With Lake Wanaka visible I’d also had intermittent phone reception, so I updated the weather forecast. The norwester had certainly set in. I could have flown down to the valley early, but my plan was to follow the ridge on foot.

My route should have been much better, given I’d seen it and even photographed it on my glide the previous evening. I laboriously contended with steep schist bluffed gullies while I should have committed to either a high or a low route.

Several times I saw soaring birds and thought maybe I should just take off in the lee, but it was borderline, and I didn’t think I had far to go. But it took me four hours to cover two horizontal kilometres.

On the ridge there certainly was wind but as I wandered along, I wondered was it that bad? Seeing how time consuming the ridge ahead

Left; South to Lake Hawea Right; Avalanches off Mt Sefton

of me would be, and not liking the prospect of sleeping anywhere but in a hut, I decided to “hit the eject button”.

Pulled the wing up and shot up, then soared up Mt Albert. Another chance to see the folly of the my route that morning. As I reached the summit of Mt Albert, and then cloud base not far above, I found myself going backwards in the wind.

The wind was a lot more evident on the now-not-hidden part of Lake Wanaka. Oh dear. I crossed, hoping to edge into Boundary Creek and away from the wind. But it wasn’t happening, and I flew over 100km/h as I was crushed in sink to keep my glide ratio disappointing.

Landing involved a few swearwords and I was dragged a little on the tussock in the process of bringing the wing down, not far from where I’d landed on the Siberia flight some days before.

I hitched with a Makarora mountaineer who was going canyoning with Mal, and then with a Haast truck driver that said the last two weeks have been good in Haast, but until then it had rained non-stop for five months!

With just a few hours of daylight I set out on the DOC track towards Makarora hut, reaching a campsite by the river as darkness fell.

The next morning it was wet, and I dressed and packed everything inside the tent. A few hours later I was at the Makarora Hut, my first visit, and another gem in the mountain “bagged”. This one was 60 years old and I enjoyed myself gathering wood for a fire, making food, drying things out, and finding a good book to read. It rained on and off all day but the next day was set to be incrementally better.

Well rested, I set out on the morning of Australia Day through humid mossy beech forest. Climbed above

the bushline for views of the glaciated peaks behind Mt Brewster, with cloud pouring over them.

The previous day I’d thought maybe I should have gone up the Wills Valley instead, as flying from west of the main divide was more romantic.

But in hindsight the weather proved suitable for where I was.

I took off and soared in the shade, getting acquainted with the pass I’d have to cross to exit the valley.

Showers started moving up the valley as I took a gentle climb near the pass, racing against the clock to get as high as I could before getting swept down the other side.

I made it, and crossed the Hunter, soaring with low ground speed and low ground clearance just above bushline before a jolt sent me up like an elevator. I had a mind to land high and potter around near Mt Barth, but decided that was unwise in the wind, particularly as the sky downwind looked better and better.

Showers chased me down the valley and the flight was quite exciting until I reached Lindis Pass.

In the Dingle Burn I saw a sailplane and I don’t think they saw any other paragliders!

The second part of the flight was a lot more relaxing. After a long crossing over fairly flat sheep country east of the Hawkduns, I said, “Thermals are a dime a dozen out here”. Again over virgin ground my goal had been to fly to my Aunt’s place on the Waitaki River.

Losing height, I tried to make contact over the phone, but ended up forfeiting my option of landing high and went for the glide. Seabreeze left me a few kilometres short but when I reached the road I found that my aunt had sold the place!

I hitched in the opposite direction, a kiwi mother shamed by her kids into coming back for me. Then in Kurow an Argentine gave me his

address in case I couldn’t get a lift.

With lengthening shadows and very little traffic I decided to join him.

Stopped by the pub and noted my surprise at paying only $12 for half a dozen beers. The publican said, “You’re not in Auckland now mate”.

A great evening with the Argentine and his friends from Andorra and Barcelona.

I thought maybe I could go to Lindis Pass the next day and fly tailwind again but my ride was headed to Mt Cook so I thought why not. Tom worked nearby in a recording studio – interesting conversation.

I made my way up the Hooker Valley, spied an orange hut far above, and decided to spend the night there, hiding my paraglider under a rock in the valley. Again some entertainment from the keas and a great place to hang out, with showers and cloud pouring over the divide.

A beautiful sunrise and then down the hill as the wind pummelled the tussock. But still on parts of the walk up to Sealy Tarns. Dropped the gear again and checked out Mueller Hut before coming back to fly.

Numerous avalanches off Mt Sefton in the meantime. The flight was rather bumpy and not so relaxing. Stayed in the air long enough to be quite content with landing. In any case the visibility was terrible (Australian smoke returns) so I didn’t have much incentive to persevere.

After landing the wind gusts got to be pretty strong. A hot day for hitching and rather slow. Some French brought me to the highway and then a German brought me all the way to Glenorchy – since he was going there anyway, and I’d had a slow time hitching, I thought I’d regret not asking to stay for the whole ride!

Now the weather was really falling apart. I spent the next day organising myself for a pack rafting trip, briefly helping our neighbour Mark plant grass seed in his field opposite our front paddock. Kane was happy to give me a lift to the Routeburn track which was much appreciated.

Five hours later I was pumping up the raft at Gunn’s camp. The Hollyford Pike trip, where I decided against continuing on the Pyke river part of the loop. I was pretty cold and wet when I reached Hidden falls hut that evening. Another party of three pack rafters (North island, Alaska, and was it Tennessee?) had already started a fire.

I asked if I could get a lift out with them in the morning. Another Czech guy arrived later and planned to continue, maybe he got a free

helicopter ride out of it, because with the floods everyone was evacuated.

That was another day or two away though. I climbed over Key Summit and past Howden Hut to put in at McKellar Lake. Floated most of the Greenstone, although there was plenty of bum dragging, at least the water stayed in a single stream most of the time. Had to climb out of a gorge on the second day, and then portaged a lot of the lower part, but it could be worth going back there to explore.

Thanks to a Dutch couple I found myself walking back to “the shed” in the evening sun – but looking up to the Beans burn, you could see it was well and truly raining on the West Coast.

The next day the rain was more widespread. I got a lift into Queenstown, having arranged to stay with Hamish and family for what ended up being four nights!

Rachel greeted me, the “bad weather friend”. The rain came down and it kept coming. Not much point going anywhere.

The furthest afield I got was a quick helicopter flight to a stock bridge on Hamish’s farm to check on the raging river (creek) – it had been washed away before. Lots of checking the flow metres on various rivers around the Island. And plenty to do around the house, being “put to work”, and also sampled one of the latest AJ Hackett offerings, getting catapulted over the Nevis Gorge. I reported that it was a really unique and incredible feeling, but it only lasted a few seconds.

Thankfully I’d waited for the rain to clear – I joined Hamish, Glen and the French couple for lunch in the warm sun, Queenstown as quiet as you’ve ever seen it with China under lockdown with Corona virus.

The sun wasn’t to last though – the next morning I flew back to southeast Queensland, where it was bucketing down. An upper low had set up shop for a week or more. The place was well and truly green again, after the terrible summer of smoke and dust things had switched once again.

More video and photos at; www.sharemyjoys.com

Left; Kea at camp, sunrise over Lake Wanaka Right, Landed in the Waitaki

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42nd NZ Hang Gliding Murchison Jan/Feb 2020

Article and Photos

by Dennis Thorpe

T

he New Zealand Hang Gliding Nationals are in rude health.

The Leagues… not so much.

More on this later.

This year makes the third in a row at Murchison, and we’re going back again next in 2021 – everyone there agreed to it in a show of hands - even after this year’s patchy weather, which only saw three Open tasks, and a single Sport class. There was some consulting of manuals to see if a 3-task Nats was valid on the last day. It was.

It’s not easy to figure out why Murch has become a hub. It’s not because of the number of local pilots – there’s only a handful. It’s not because of the cable car to launch – that’s still a fantasy.

Ollie Chitty’s videos have definitely helped – he’s given the World a bird’s eye view of what it can be like up in the mountains which is as spectacular as anywhere. Cloudbase can be 9 grand on a good day. Whatever it is drew a crew of 7 from across the ditch, Ollie’s mum and dad, Steve and Jeremy from the UK, Heath from Germany, and Christian and Marcello from Italy. That Christian.

No; it’s the setting, and above all the feel of the comp. This is in no small part to the efforts of Kevin Meethead, and particularly Shane Mackay and Matt Barlow (and anyone else I should credit).

I guess it’s been a little easier for them year by year, but it’s still a hell of a lot of work. I know this.

Kudos also to Tom Mulder and Andrew McKirdy – the scoring and Airtribune whitecoats who fed us the numbers every evening.

Riverside campsite is an ideal setting. It keeps everyone together, the facilities are great, and we get the communal lounge area beside the river for the duration of the comp. The Buller is fantastic for swimming in – but don’t ask Christian ;-) The last comp in NZ that had a comparable communal setting was the Tapawera Forestry Camp for the Nelson Nationals in the early 90s.

We didn’t get the melodic bellbird dawn chorus this year – we got sparrows instead, which was good and bad. A lie-in past 5 a.m. is always appreciated.

The 2020 Nationals started for me the same as the previous two – with a bike run down from Auckland.

On the ferry, I sat up on the top deck, scanning to the south, to see how many albatrosses I might spot on the crossing. Looking south with the sun

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behind, their white top surface is easier to spot when they wingover at the top of the wind gradient, and arc back down across the wavetops, VB full on. Their scything, dynamic soaring flight path is so easy to spot. They are way faster than the ferry, and never flap. Mid-Strait is where you’ll find them, out where the winds are strongest.

The run up the Wairau takes me through my old Marlborough stamping ground, where I flew with the late Dave McGill and Booty. 25 years ago. Yikes…

The low task count is a little deceptive, as there were only two blown-out days. A couple more were flyable (and flown), but it either wasn’t possible or safe to fly a task.

The wonder of modern technology means you can access all the competition days on Airtribune (link below), and replay each day over a map (the 2D link), to watch what happened. If you are really keen, you can download all the individual tracklogs (the Tracks link), and play them individually in Google Earth in 3D, if they are kml files. Other formats you’ll need to convert to kml. The internet will show you how).

Here’s a sample kml from Christian Ciech’s tracklog on Day 2;

Thus I’m not going to give you a blow-by-blow account of each day in detail. I’ll just add what colour I can…

Day 1: Saturday 25th Each day starts the same for me – ride one of the free campsite mountain bikes into Murchison Tea Rooms – open 7 a.m. – for bacon, eggs & coffee at $18 which will keep me going all day. Everyone else cooks at the campsite, but there’s a limit to how much you can pack on a bike…

Initial briefing and welcomes to all, especially those from overseas, before heading to rendezvous at the bombout. This first day the weather isn’t great – lots of cloud from a clearing front, and a fresh SW. We head up in convoy, taking 45 minutes. Viv Clements has recorded it in a video. I’ve put a link to in the Comp blog – link below. The track is good, but it’s long, and you need low gearing for up, and definitely for down. Ollie & family’s rented 4WD was automatic and didn’t like it. They usually had to stop half way up for a breather.

So each ‘team’ needed a decent 4WD and a driver. My DFC wagon was a step up from last year - less than 400,000 km! Hagen’s talking about electric next year… Drivers are a mixture of partners, friends, locals, and decrepit Scottish pilots.

Up top it’s windy and cold at first, with the bits of orographic still lifting as the front clears. In previous warmer and less windy years, early pilots could launch off the north side into thermal cycles, but there was none of that this year. The consolation is a huge rigging and easy launch facing SW, which was used every day.

First day briefing was huddled in the lee of the antenna buildings. The task, called as ever at the campsite, was south down the Tutaki Valley.

It turned into a glide for all, as the day was largely stable. This was confirmed by the spectacular wave clouds forming to the NE, after the sun came out properly late in the afternoon. Jonas wins.

In the evening there’s a free BBQ, with venison provided by Shane Mackay.

Day 2: Sunday 26th THE day. The 117 km task will take pilots deep into the high peaks south of Lake Rotoiti, and back to St Arnaud airstrip. It’s probably the most

Nationals Left; Decent early clouds on the big day ambitious ever set in NZ. There’s a fresh SW but it’s forecast to drop. We get a weather briefing from Mr Smith every morning. He has scanned SkySight and XC Skies since before breakfast.

The sky looks fantastic, reminiscent of the previous 2 years.

I watch Christian launch and glide out into decent lift. He pushes out but flies straight through it. This happens twice more, and I wonder why he doesn’t circle, but he’s eventually out in front 7 or 800 ft above takeoff, before he starts to explore. He’s been feeling the air, and testing the wind speed. No point in circling back if you lose all your height gliding forward again.

The first turnpoint is to the north, over the back. I watch Christian fly west, hit good lift where no-one else is, and spiral up. Luck? Pretty soon he’s up under a forming cloud and others are chasing him, but he stays on top. Slowly the throng above the hill thins out as gaggles head north.

That’s the last we see of them. The first turnpoint is up on a plateau and there are various fortunes getting there. Many just get to the turnpoint then fall off into the lee side and land.

Christian, with Ollie chasing, get away early and head straight for St Arnaud. Of all the days, this is the one you want to watch on Airtribune.

Stephen Blackler’s VB rope breaks at the TP and he completes the rest of the course without it!

Ollie and Christian get up on the St. Arnaud range. Next step is over the back to Raglan Range but they are not too high above the top. Christian sidles up to Ollie and yells at him ‘Do you think it’s too windy?’ The St Arnaud Range is very high and very pointy. Deliberately flying low into the lee on a windy day is not to be recommended. They both bail to the airstrip.

By the time other pilots get on to the Range, cloudbase has lifted, and a dive over the back is less risky.

Jonas, Matt, Geoff Christophers, Les Graham, Stephen Blackler and Glenn Meadows all make it. Les and

Glenn land in the Rainbow Valley, Les being unlucky and cracking a bone in his wrist. By the time pilots are heading back out of the mountains, convergence has been drawn up the Wairau from Blenheim and piled up against the Raglans. At one point Jonas leaves lift as it is just too rough, and glides back on to the St Arnaud Range. Five make it to goal, including Stephen, who has gone heroically deep into the peaks on a different route, with no VB. We are talking helicopter retrieve country…

I only catch Stephen Blackler’s glide into goal – well, 20m short of the fence, as I’m in the sticks to the north collecting Tom Mulder & Shane Mackay.

The Sport task is down the Wairau Valley towards Blenheim, and Gary Turner wins with a 30 km flight.

Above; Day 2, looking down the Tutaki Valley Below; Wave after the sun came out and everyone had landed

Day 3: Monday 27th It’s SW but too windy up top for Murch so we drive 2½ hours to Takaka, where lighter westerlies are predicted. The sky look great. Driving past Tapawera for the first time in 20odd years, I note that all the landing paddocks are now cropped in hops, strung up between 7 meters skewers.

Pilot kebab, anyone? Are there any craft beer drinkers reading this? It’s all your fault!

We get to Takaka and rig up on the duster strip behind launch. It’s blowing lightly over the back, but the sky looks good. Surely when the sun gets on the face, it wil start cycling?

We wait. And wait. By 3.30pm the day is called. There won’t be enough time to get everyone off the hill in intermittent cycles, of which there are currently none.

Not to be daunted, a few wait to free fly while the rest derig. Eentually there are fleeting cycles of nil wind. Glenn Meadows launches and immediately top-lands in the shrubbery below take-off. He deftly arrives sunny side up so as to protect himself from any spikey branches. No damage. Booty scrapes off the hill – just. How many times have I seen that? Jeremy Soper launches and has the flight of his life. Criss-crossing the valley, up the

Above; Launching at Mt Murchison Day 1

Above; Last of the frontal orographic clearing Below; Rigging on Mt Murchison, looking SW with township left of centre

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Above; Day 4 The high cloud mixed in with smoke from the west later side of convergence and a landing almost at the beach. He’s up for 2 hours. There’s a link to his write-up at the end.

On the way back to Murch the DFC and Chitty clan stop at Kaiteriteri for a swim and a feed. Matt Barlow swims out to the rocks and harvests an Esky’s-worth of big green mussels.

There’s an impromptu bbq back at the campsite.

Day 4: Tuesday 28th SW again, with high cloud foreboding tomorrow’s rain, and the start of the smoke…

The task is south down the Tutaki Valley with a turnpoint high up on the eastern slopes, then back past Mt Murch to the north, with goal in the township. The last part is the crux and decides the National Champion.

It’s worth checking out the tracks on Airtribune to see Christian’s route compared to everyone else.

It’s better, and it’s the first time he’s flown here! There’s some rough air about, but many make the southern turnpoint. Tom Mulder hits rough air down there – rough enough to blow out the zip on his harness and break his shoulder support. Not wanting to turn, he straight-lines the length of the Tutaki on the way back. Jonas and others try to use the south face of Murch to get up, but it’s not working.

Christian is a great guy. He’s been quiet for the first few days as his English is not great (by his standards), but he warms to the pilots and the ambience, and the food - maybe not the swimming - as the week goes by.

He talks for two hours, with slides, and discusses many aspects of Day 5: Wednesday 29th competition flying, particularly T h e w e a t h e r p re s a g e d b y speed to fly, yesterday’s cirrus and figuring arrives, and it’s out which too wet to fly. slice of the air Ollie and family sandwich is go rafting on the meat, and the Buller and staying within get tipped in. it. He shows Christian decides everyone how to swim down his 6030 is set river back to the up. He’s happy camp, and gets to answer sucked in below questions. an undercut. He I don’t think resurfaces at the Above; Too strong... anyone was third attempt, disappointed or unsatisfied with the but he’s under for long enough to day or the weather, after his talk. contemplate not making it. It would There’s never been a chance to pick be definite bad form to coax a the brains of a pilot of his calibre in World Champ to come to NZ for a NZ before, and it might be a while competition, and then drown them! before it happens again.

I take the bike out through the Buller Gorge to the coast – someone must Day 6: Thursday 30th have put that trip on YouTube, it is A task is called, but when we get tanfastic. In the evening Christian up top it is gusting too strong, and gives a seminar on competition the day is eventually cancelled. flying.

There’s a lot of high cloud, and we There are plenty of tight landings in the area. Adam Stephens from Oz has a bad one and breaks his arm.

Christian blitzes everyone but Matt is behind him, and also made goal the previous day. This will eventually be enough for the Cup.

Below; Takaka panorama. A great sky but no task this day

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get a lot of smoke coming over from Australia. Being up so high we can see tendrils of it in the valleys and across the face of Mount Owen to the north. Nelson is hidden.

The wind does drop later, and some pilots launch. Jeremy makes it halfway down the Tutaki.

There’s another barbeque!

Day 7: Friday 31st It’s definitely too windy up top (100+ kph during the night – there’s a Holfuy on top which under-reads in a SW) and the day is canned.

I hand Christian the keys to my bike and tell him to ride to the coast.

I have to explain that insurance isn’t a legal requirement in NZ (I still don’t get it), and he’s dubious at first, but has a great day.

Day 8: Saturday 1st We head up the hill and spend a long time looking at Tom Mulder’s anemometer. It’s gusting 23 knots (42 kph) and we’re 5000 feet up. And it’s overcast… the day is canned.

So Matt, celebrating his win, takes off and manages the first turnpoint in the Tutaki Valley. The winds are lighter down below.

All adjourn to the Hampden for the knees up and prizegiving. Matt wins, with Jonas 2nd, and Piers Throssell 3rd. Gary Turner wins sport class.

Well done all!

Sunday 2nd Back over on the ferry, spotting albatrosses again. I didn’t see any on the way south, but seven on the way north. Marlborough was blue and warm as ever, but low scudding low cloud threatened rain in Welly and points north. I got as far as Taihape.

Monday 3rd I mention this day as the previous day’s low cloud was due to a W/NW system setting in, and as I headed north on the bike, Terry Delore had already set off from Omarama on a triple World Record-breaking 1730 km out and return wave flight in an ASW 27. It got picked up on the Nationals WhatsApp group and we all kept track of his progress during the day.

Terry was one of the hang gliding pioneers in Christchurch in the early 70s and won the Worlds in Kossen in 1976. I can still remember him looping around me when I was soaring at Governor’s Bay on the peninsula in the early 90s.

The boy done good.

together, set tasks and get someone to score. This last point may be the cruncher.

Matt Barlow and Tom Mulder have joined me on the Comps committee.

Tom is a software developer, and is brewing an app which may solve all of the league issues (except the weather). Watch this space.

Links: Airtribune: https://airtribune.com/2020-newzealand-hang-gliding-nationals Facebook: www.facebook.com/nzhgnats/ Nationals Blog: http://nzhgnats.blogspot.com/ Jeremy Soper: www.soper.tech/dox/Antipodean Adventure.pdf

Above; Phil Southward flying Atos VQ

Airtribune On the Airtribune site you can replay each task in 2D so there’s no point in me describing the tasks themselves.

Below is what a task looks like in Airtribune. You can zoom in, check and uncheck pilots, and adjust playback speed to suit.

On Leagues It’s fair to say that the leagues haven’t been on fire for the last several seasons. This has been mostly due to the weather, but in the regions it’s hard to get a critical mass of pilots

Above; Launching at Mt Murchison

Above; Christian takes off at Mt Murch Left; Tom Mulder checking the wind, Christian behind. Day was canned.

Below; Rigging at Mt Murchison on Day 4

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11

What to do when you can’t Fly...

Blake Round does a WOF Check

Paraglider Inspection Guide CANOPY

Porosity: First Porosity test should be done in the centre front of the leading edge of the glider, if the cells are too small there are porosity meters with narrow tops to fit them.

Note: If test 1 (top surface, centre above B lines) is less than 60 secs a further 4 tests must be carried out (2 top, 2 bottom surface), across span and if possible different colour panels If the tests average less than 60sec the manufacturers recommendation should be checked.

This is an example of a manufacturer’s recommendations: Swing gliders Porosity recommendations/Hello Ltd - Porosity Meter: Technical Data: Average measurement vacuum

10mbar

Surface airflow

38.5cm2

Measured Volume of Air

250cm3

Measurement error

+3

The Measurement from the temp range

+15°C - +25°C

Relative Air Humidity

Max 60%

Quick Links tight Maillons should be tight and Loctite is often used to prevent them from working their way open. However, overtightening a maillon can cause damage to the thread and weaken the link.

All maillons should have line positioners fitted whether it be an insert that fits the maillon of simply a correctly sized O ring securing the lines from moving around and cross loading the maillon.

run through loops.

No kinks or unevenness in lines A pull in a line can shorten the line, when a line is shorter it will be taking more load than the surrounding lines. Depending on the glider and position of the line this could cause it to break or affect the way the glider flies.

WRONG

Evaluation of Measurements: >200sec

Excellent

70-200sec

Good

25-70sec

Medium

18-25sec

Weak

<18sec

Inappropriate

Be aware that certain fabric or even different colours can lose porosity dramatically more than others, if certain parts of the glider feel softer these parts should be tested.

Top surface & Bottom surface Visual Check of canopy paying special attention to stitching between cells and all attachment points.

If any holes in the fabric are found they should be patched with sticky back ripstop paraglider repair tape, however if the damage involves any stitching or if tears are longer than 100mm the glider should be taken to an experienced paraglider repairer.

When patching generally you would put one patch inside and one out, making one of the patches smaller than the other and avoid putting the edges of the two patches aligned with each other.

Above: This is an example of an unpassable repair job. Due to the position of this repair it needs the attention of an experienced repairer with a machine.

Cell walls and cell openings Check the internal structure of the glider as well as the cell openings. It is possible for parts of the internal structure to be damaged with no external glider damage. Any damage involving the internal structure must be repaired with a machine by an experienced repairer.

RISERS

Webbing & Stitching – no fraying This is a pretty obvious check; however special attention should be paid to areas of continual rubbing such as the attachment loops and where the maillons meet the riser.

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Right Right Speed System: Lines and pulleys run freely Make sure the speed system is functional, checking the line for wear or damage. Silicon spray can be used on pulleys to help them run. Silicone spray will not damage webbing or lines.

Brake line pulleys run freely, handles secure.

Checking pulleys are moving well can prevent unnecessary wear on brake lines. If the glider has nylon rings instead of pulleys these should be checked for cracks or damage as once they are damaged they can destroy a brake line quickly.

Knots attaching the brake handles should be checked.

Generally a bowline or a stopper knot is used for this attachment.

It can be a good idea to check the symmetry between left and right brake lines.

LINES

Attachment points to glider secure During the check each attachment point should be inspected for damage. It can be easiest to do this during the line check.

Stitching intact: The loops at each end of every line should be inspected for its stitching. Even unsheathed lines should be stitched at the splice. There has been recalls of gliders due to them missing stitching at the unsheathed splices of some gliders.

No breaks or abrasions in sheath Check all the lines including where they loop onto the maillons.

Identify places of wear such as pulleys and anywhere lines

Optional line trim/symmetry check Checking line trim can be more important on some gliders.

Especially comp gliders, Two liners and Acro gliders. However, depending on how old a glider is, line type or how it has been treated any glider can go out of trim. Manufacturers generally give a trim tolerance this is often around 10mm.

Line loading is uneven in flight on a 4-line glider you’re A’s and B’s take 80% of the load and your centre A’s and B’s take 80% of that load. Knowing this helps people understand how gliders go out of trim.

An out of trim glider will be affected in many ways including: • Flying slower • Slower stall speed • Will change its recovery behaviour including stall recovery • Increased spin tendency • Slow on launch and can noticeably hang back at launch To check line trim, all measurements need to be accurate every line needs to be measured with identical tension (5kg) using a laser measurer and recorded against the original measurements provided from the manufacturer. This takes time but done right can provide great results in performance, handling and safety.

While in Isolation, how about giving your Paramotor some Love?

By Glen Ogilvie

G

iven we are all stuck in isolation with flying still a little way off and depending on getting some decent weather, how about checking your motor over and doing some of those little jobs to keep it running smoothly and you safe.

Here are some suggestions of things to consider checking over.

1. Check the fuel system: all the pipes are still flexible and sealing well where they attach and inspect the primer bulb for cracks/ perishing which could lead to air bubbles in the fuel line. Check the fuel filter and consider draining the tank if the fuel is likely to be stale by the time you next fly.

2. Check your engine mounts and bolts holding them: Engine mounts can get pretty tired and need replacement usually every year or two. If your engine is sagging a little, time for replacement.

3. Check all your exhaust springs and if it has pop rivets, that they are secure. Check that all the springs are still secured so if they break they don’t go through the prop. While looking at the exhaust, check it’s not going to come off.

4. Take a look at your spark plug, especially the cap, if it’s done more than 50 hours then consider replacement for it.

5. Re-torque your head bolts with a torque wrench. This is important, especially if you have a Top 80, I know of 3 which have all blown head gaskets because the head bolts have gotten loose.

6. Consider an oil change for the gearbox if due, or check the drive belt for cracks and tension.

7. Do a harness WOF and check it’s attachment. NZHGPA have a WOF form for paraglider harnesses which you can use and send in.

8. Check your swing arms and bolts for signs of wear, along with the carabiner attachments.

9. Oil the starter spring and throttle cable.

Starter pawls and cord should also be checked.

10. Check the crankcase seals for signs of leaks.. On many engines, you can see this by undoing the two bolts that hold the clutch on, so also an opportunity to check the clutch springs and condition.

11. If it’s due, check the reed valves by taking the carburettor off. When doing this, check the air filter as well.

12. Check your electronics are ready for your next flight. Are batteries charged, wires and plugs secure, microphone cover good, maps and airspace loaded, is your PLB in working order?

13. Check your flight tool kit. Mine includes: Spark plug and socket, Allen key for prop, zip ties, wire, insulation tape, lighter, dental floss (for tree landing), mini torch, USB battery for my phone + cable, plasters, knife, plastic bag and something to eat.

Above; Glen getting something sorted on his motor

14. Check your safety equipment: Floats, hook knife, PLB and your reserve.

15. Take anti-corrosion measures, for example, rust killing on exposed steel bolts and centrifugal clutch housing (not on the friction surfaces). Also on frame parts that require it.

16. Periodic start-ups / warm ups to get fresh petrol flowing through the system. Do this however, on a rack, or on your back... or make sure the prop can’t spin. You need to avoid any chance of getting hit by the prop!

So, until we are able to get back in the air, jump on Paramotor NZ Facebook group, connect with other pilots and let’s plan some awesome flights this year. The Auckland crew already have plans for two events where we head north, a fly-in up at Glinks Gully and a camping trip with some fun and games up at Kaikohe during the spring. Everyone welcome, event announcements will be posted on Above; A few motors from a flight just before lockdown, Facebook. Happy Flying! in Coromandel where 5 of us flew up from Thames for a pie Ref: Facebook Paramotor NZ group link: before flying back Photo; Glen Ogilvy groups/847628405288465/ www.facebook.com/

Below; Glen enjoying a South Island sunset

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Photo; Stewart Cathcart

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13

Hang Glider Strip Check O

ften hang gliders look fine until you fully check them, but I’ve seen many in a state that affects performance, handling, launching, and landings.

Structural failures are rare, though I’ve seen some that were close to it. As many gliders seldom get checked, I’m sure many accidents are caused or contributed to by control issues from poor maintenance. After a crash, the cause is difficult to tell from impact damage so the pilot or conditions get the blame.

It’s best to know and regularly check your glider yourself as well as always checking it not just yearly, but after any bad landing. If you are not mechanically minded, it’s better to pay a reputable glider dealer/safety officer/ local expert to do the job for you. You shouldn’t totally rely on them though. They are human and could make mistakes or your glider could become damaged without you knowing.

Even if you are skilled enough to do it yourself, it’s worth working with an expert so you learn the many items to check and techniques that will save you time and expense. A second opinion is often invaluable or may be what keeps you from missing something.

Your glider manual should detail what regular maintenance is to be done as well as how to check it as well as having assembly diagrams.

Some pilots put regular checks off, with the glider gradually becoming harder to land, launch or perform well. The result of putting off maintenance is more expense and broken/ worn parts, or a crash.

This article is not complete; every glider has its own particular weakness or wear characteristics, but it’s a general guide that could well make your glider safer plus improve your gliders performance and handling.

WHEN TO CHECK When you first receive a glider, new or used, check for shipping damage. Even when labelled ‘fragile’ and well packed, gliders can suffer incredible shipping abuse.

I’ve seen gliders stacked vertically, broken in half, speared by forklifts, run over and dropped from 5m. Your ‘fragile’ freight is awkward for shippers and could be dropped, dragged and even bent and straightened! Expect batten cambers to change. Dented or bent tubes are also possible.

Check your glider after EVERY hard landing.

Look for; changed batten cambers, bent uprights, bent leading edges, stretched wire thimbles, bent A-frame and keel bolts.

No matter how strong (and heavy doesn’t necessarily mean strong) your glider is, and how gently you whacked it, you can’t tell for sure until you fully check it.

Regular checks reveal just how fragile some gliders are. Many have battens that require regular correcting even without hard landings.

One common Australian brand, up till a few years back had battens so soft they would change shape after every flight. Some NZ built gliders were similar.

Leading edges, particularly on some NZ made gliders, develop bends even in normal use, leading to loss of performance, ‘turns’, sail flutter and gradually reduced control. Pilots even adapt to gliders that gradually develop a turn to one side over time, or lose much of their low speed control. They wonder how

14 A i r b o r n

The Basics of Hang Glider Checking By Bill Degen ©2020 other pilots always outperform them, but they are unable to feel the correct balance of their wing and can’t explain their bad landings!

To do a full strip check properly will take 4 hours or more. Some clubs have ‘Glider Inspection Days’ where gliders are ‘checked’.

This can reveal blatantly obvious problems but as it’s impossible to check every glider thoroughly, serious problems can easily slip through. In my opinion it is misleading to give a WOF unless the glider has been fully strip checked. The current NZHGPA WOF does not require a full strip check, so consequently some common but critical items are left unchecked. I expect the reason for this is that some are not happy with people disassembling their gliders, and there’s too many to do at one time. I say that for the extra hour it may take, pilots would be far better off to do the complete check and if necessary even to pay for it. Crashing costs more.

Even after being checked, a glider might have a hard landing and be unsafe after the very next flight, so forget the inspection ‘expiry date’, it only tells you what it was like at the time when it was checked. It is important to fully inspect every time that it could be damaged.

THINGS YOU’LL NEED Gliders usually come with a manual with instructions on how to strip your particular glider. In it you will find what special items to check for, hang point, sail tension and twist settings, luffline heights, dive strut/sprog settings etc. Most have exploded view diagrams of the correct way to assemble and adjust things. Manuals are usually downloadable from the manufacturer’s website or if not, many can be found at www. delta-club-82.com/

‘top left’ or ‘top right’ at all bolts and where all wires are connected. Don’t forget to put an arrow to show forward (some noseplates have the point backward, some forward). Some wire tangs have an up and down side.

Do the same at the crossbar/leading edge junctions, top of control frame and kingpost area, sail attachment points and anything that you undo. It may even be worth drawing diagrams to make correct reassembly easier.

If you find irregularities, such as uneven battens, uneven sail tension, uneven twist, write it down. You may need to return to these specifications later. Most gliders these days are fairly symmetrical but it may be revealed that you have an uneven sail that has been compensated for by tuning. Don’t make the mistake of tuning a glider for uneven tubes or battens, these need to be checked or corrected first.

With many topless gliders, it’s easier to remove the sail than to dismantle the frame.

Now’s the time to check your glider for the upcoming summer flying season With the lower wires and sail attachments disconnected, the sail can be slipped off like a pair of trousers. With the sail off you see everything in place and this allows you to check for frame symmetry as well. Without the sail, tubes should be straight, and it’s easy to remove and check them at this point.

If wear or corrosion are not an issue, bolts can even be left in place and rotated to check for straightness. Reassemble carefully to avoid damaging the sail.

It’s easy to get confused if dismantling a glider upside down, so do it right way up, things will be where you expect them to be. If you dismantle one leading edge/ crossbar at a time,

you can refer to the other Forces on a hang glider bible/search-hangwhen reassembling glider.htm the washers, saddles, etc.

Extremely important too is the batten profile Common problems sheet. Contact your dealer if you don’t have Battens; The batten curves shape the airfoil the profiles, they are essential. of the glider and take flexing forces. Changes You should also have; A felt pen, flat & Phillips here are a common cause of glider control head screwdrivers, correct sizes of ring/open and performance problems. Battens made end spanners and socket wrench. Some gliders from 7075 alloy are strong and seldom require may require hex keys. Spare nylok nuts or clinch re-shaping if cared for, but others can be so nuts for 3/16, 1/4 and 5/16” to replace those pliable that they will need to be corrected every which have been used. You may need some 10 to 30 hours even without rough treatment.

22mm (1”) heatshrink (clear preferably) and a Often the root (centre) battens flatten out, hair dryer/heat gun. Very handy is a camera or resulting in worsening low speed handling, phone for photographing assemblies so you can faster trim and poorer sink rate. Pitch stability put them back together correctly. A large clean may be affected also. Mid span battens may floor space with a large rug or carpet and some flatten or increase cambers after a nose-in. containers to keep small items in, old pots or Tip battens are often bent during ground ice cream containers are ideal. handling (including 7075 battens). Irregularities HOW TO CHECK here can easily cause a turn to one side.

Have an experienced pilot on hand to help and Check each of the sorted battens of one advise, but save the beers till the job is finished. side against the profiles, starting at the front Before you dismantle anything make sure it of the batten curve and making sure they will go back together correctly. Take photos and match exactly all the way to the end. Once you mark everything that you intend to dismantle have one side perfect, match the other wing’s with a felt pen. Start at the nose plate; mark battens to the opposite side checked battens. It tension

compression

Forces on a glider frame

is important to get them EXACTLY symmetrical.

If you have a uneven sail, a turn may have been trimmed out by changing batten tension, sail tension or twist setting and if that has not worked, a last resort is to change the camber shapes themselves. If so this should be marked on the batten profile sheet. If this is the case, beware that if you accidentally put your battens in the wrong side, you will have a very severe turn indeed!

I once had a tandem glider from a now defunct major US/UK company. The battens were shipped loose in a bag and when checked against the supplied profiles, were all different.

It turned out they were altered on one side to compensate for an uneven sail. The glider turned at speed but stalled straight or vice versa no matter how it was tuned. It never flew properly until I had the sail re-sewn.

Protect your batten shapes by packing all the battens with their cambers lined up together and tying or velcroing them together so they protect each other. Use a close fitting batten bag with a velcro or tied strap.

The ‘flip tip’ batten ends that are common now can rotate easily and a few turns can change the trim of a glider. If they rotate too easily, try a wrap of paper masking tape on the threads.

Leading edges; Take huge flexing loads. Even a slight bend can cause a turn which may only be noticed at launch, landing, or at speed. You might find that every time you slow down, the glider turns or is easier turning one way, making it hard to feel lift areas.

Leading edges can be bent on hard landings and it’s not always the one that hits the ground that bends, the sail can ‘whip’ and bend the leading edge that doesn’t hit the ground.

Checking leading edges while still in the sail will only reveal the most extreme bends. Sail tension bows the leading edges when the glider is rigged making it impossible to see how bent they are. You can only feel the most extreme dents through the sail, so it is essential to entirely remove the complete leading edges for checking. It’s not hard, usually two bolts and a screw or clevis pin to undo.

With a leading edge removed, support an end in a ‘v’ bracket (or tree fork) so it can’t roll off, then supporting one end, rotate slowly while sighting along it to check for bends.

Stress crazing reveals where alloy has been stretched and weakened on one side of the tube. The other side will have compressed slightly but you can’t see that. Even if you can straighten it, the stretched side dosen’t compress back to what it was and the other side will now be slightly stretched, resulting in a weakened tube. Long shallow bends without crazing can sometimes be straightened with care. If it is 7075 tube, that is impossible to straighten without breaking it. If in doubt, replace, you can’t afford it to break in the air.

Check bolt holes for elongation or damage to the tube. Slogged bolt holes, if not allowed to wear too far, can often be bushed, making them stronger than before.

Take care when putting a leading edge back in, many gliders have tabs, sail ribs or wires that you have to negotiate correctly. Usually running the tube along the bottom mainsail seam will work, but check before bolting in place and a rigged check afterward should always be done.

Keel; Takes mainly flexing loads with some compression. Worth removing to check as a bend can be pulled fairly straight by the wires

but still cause a ‘turn’. Also look for elongation of holes and damage particularly around the heart bolt/A frame connections and at ends of sleeves and under saddles.

Kingpostless gliders have larger keels with extra sleeving because they must cope with more bending and twisting forces without wire bracing so check well.

Crossbars; Take strong compression loads.

Most are large diameter, thin wall tube so can be dented easily. Absolutely no dents or bends are allowed. Again check for elongation of holes and replace if there is any kind of damage.

Carbon crossbars should be checked very carefully, though initially stronger, they are a lot more brittle.

Uprights (downtubes) and Kingpost; These take very strong compression loads. If they are not EXACTLY STRAIGHT they won’t hold a column load and if an upright fails the glider collapses completely! Look for stress crazing which reveals a previous bend, not recommended on an upright.

Uprights are designed to break at a certain pressure during impact which saves injury to the pilot. A bent upright also saves more expensive parts of the glider from worse damage so making them stronger than standard is not smart. These are vital load-bearing tubes they should be replaced if there is any question of safety.

Basebar; This tube is under tension and it takes tremendous force to pull it apart even with slight bends. However speedbars are bent with an offset tension load and their remaining strength after further bending is uncertain, hence many have an internal wire as a backup.

Speedbars easily go out of shape during nose-ins or if the glider is parked on uneven ground in strong wind. Widening of the bar may cause handling changes.

Carbon speedbars need special care and cracks are not allowed. Also check for hole elongation.

All Tubes; All tubing that is replaced must be of the correct alloy, hardness, flexibility and wall thickness, especially with leading edges, where bending characteristics must be exactly identical to prevent unwanted turns in flight.

Check with manufacturers of older gliders to see if they have changed their tubing specs, It may be necessary to replace both leading edges to get a glider to fly properly.

Corrosion is a problem in gliders exposed to water, salt air and salt water. It first shows as white powder which reveals pitting beneath it when closely examined. It can be even worse below the surface. I once saw minor corrosion on a glider and two months later was able to push a screwdriver through the tubing. In those days most tubing had walls about 2mm thick.

These days most gliders use tubing of 1.2mm or .9mm wall thickness so corrosion is much more of a problem.

Often the white powdery deposits inside the tubes is just residue left from anodising and simply wipes off. Check for pitting to confirm if that is the case.

Wires; take tension but must be flexible enough to withstand repeated bending while packing and rigging. Lower sidewires carry 100% load in flight and it is critical that they are replaced regularly or at the slightest sign of damage. Damaged wire under tension breaks incredibly easily, especially if friction is involved (a single broken strand may be all it takes to set it off).

The most common type of wire is 7x7 (7 groups of 7 strands) stainless steel with clear plastic coating. This wire offers the best mix of strength, flexibility and abrasion resistance.

Another wire often used is 1x19 stainless steel without coating, often seen on performance gliders where the smaller size reduces drag slightly. This wire is initially stronger and more abrasion resistant but is much less flexible. It loses strength quickly when kinked and work

hardens much faster. Straighten any minor kinks immediately or replace the wire. These definitely need to be replaced regularly. Thin (2mm) 1x19 wires should be replaced without fail every season or sooner.

7x19 wire has more and finer strands, though more flexible and less likely to kink, the fine strands are more easily affected by abrasion.

Wire types; 1x19, 7x7 and 7x19

Galvanised wire is rarely used but can be recognised by the lighter colour, initially stronger, it corrodes faster, especially on the inside where you can’t see it.

WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE on all wires is repeated bending (rigging, de-rigging and kinks) of wire, as it work hardens. Until it breaks. Most manufacturers recommend replacement of wires every year or 100 hours. This may seem over cautious, but especially with sidewires, it’s well worth it. Remember you can’t see work hardening and people have died after a strong looking wire has failed.

Look for; kinks, broken strands, stretched or jammed thimbles, corrosion and wear on the airframe.

Find broken strands by running a cloth along the wire, it will snag on protruding strands. don’t use your hands as wire strands will tear your flesh. If the wire is plastic coated, damage to the coating is a red flag and you can’t tell unless the coating is removed. If in doubt - replace. Inspect carefully, especially at swages and thimbles.

Corrosion on wires sometimes starts on the inside, if you suspect corrosion, remove the coating (sometimes it’s just that) and twist the wire to expose the core.

Swages usually corrode first, the heatshrink plastic swage coverings can trap moisture that aids corrosion, but that plastic is necessary to protect the copper swages from contacting and reacting with aluminium parts which would set off worse galvanic corrosion.

Stretched thimbles put a point load on the wire and indicate a severe shock load. Heatshrinks can cover wire and thimble damage so should be removed for inspection. Replacement heatshrink is cheap and can be bought at electrical shops.

Some wire thimbles have plastic inserts called ‘Neverkinks’ which are intended to prevent kinking. They also prevent you from seeing a stretched thimble and are suspect if the thimble does not rotate freely. If in doubt, spray the insert with a little silicone to see if the thimble will rotate. If not, cut out the neverkink to see if the thimble is stretched.

If the thimble is OK, then use a heatshrink to prevent further kinking.

This jammed neverkink has caused the thimble to wear inside the wire, work harden the wire and break strands

Some manufacturers use thin thimbles to make fitting the neverkink easier. Sometimes they use the wrong combination of neverkink and thimble. A jammed thimble/neverkink will cause wire wear and work hardening at the swage or on the inner thimble edges.

Luff Lines; Take strong tension loads to pull a glider out of a luff dive and during launch they prevent nose-ins. They must be at EXACTLY the correct length to pull the glider out of a dive. If you have wire lufflines then the length stays OK but check for kinking damage as mentioned previously. If you have synthetic lufflines check for wear and stretching against the

manufacturers specs. Synthetic lufflines may stretch, particularly the outer ones. Incorrect synthetic lines can shrink when wet or if heated and cause you to stall.

If you replace synthetic lufflines on older gliders DO NOT use Kevlar or Nylon; Kevlar breaks easily at bends and knots. Nylon stretches and is more susceptible to UV damage.

Use non-stretch Polyester or Spectra.

There is no performance to be gained by lengthening lufflines, they are usually ‘just loose’ in normal flight. Loosening them any further merely reduces dive recovery. One NZ pilot lengthened his lufflines hoping for more speed, then next time he did a dive, the glider tumbled and broke. Luckily his parachute saved him.

As the sail stretches, through age or more commonly shock loads, the lufflines hang lower, reducing dive recovery and affecting the way the glider launches and lands. It’s important to ensure the lufflines hold the trailing edge at the specified height (see the manual). Sometimes spacers on the lufflines can fix it but eventually the sail may be too stretched to be safe.

Dive Struts and Sprogs; these can receive quite severe loads and unlike lufflines, often come into play earlier in normal flight, especially on topless gliders. These are your first (only, if topless) defence against pitching over. Replace these and the fittings if bent or damaged and ensure they are precisely set to the manufacturer’s specified height (see manual).

Nuts and Bolts; These are most often under shear loading so as long as these are snug they will seldom be damaged. The exceptions are bolts around the top of the control frame and heart bolt, and leading edge/crossbar bolts which can easily bend during a nose-in. Replace any corroded bolts because it may be months before you get to them again.

Make sure all nylok nuts have thread showing when done up and take great care not to over tighten which will compress and weaken the tube. If the bolt is holding a wire tang, tighten the bolt only enough to still be able to move the tang when applying gentle pressure.

To get the right size replacement bolts, aircraft supply outlets will sell you AN bolts and nuts.

Most bolts are 3/16”, 1/4” or 5/16” diameter with UNF thread. When ordering, measure the length from inside the head in inches and eighths. Nyloks or clinch nuts may be used several times because our gliders don’t get the vibration that aeroplanes do, but always replace nylok nuts that attach parts that move and could loosen. If you can turn a nylok nut by hand it should be thrown away or if you must re-use it, use Locktite threadseal on it.

Sail; This is affected by stretching/tension forces and will be re-enforced in most important areas, particularly along the trailing edge and tips. Leading edge tension is important and if any eyelets are pulling out, the area should be re-enforced and new eyelets put in before they rip out.

Small holes in lightly stressed parts of the sail can be repaired with sticky-back repair cloth but larger tears or any damage to the trailing edge or attachment points should be taken to a sailmaker before the sail bursts apart.

UV damage can be seen as fading in the cloth and if you can force your thumb through or stretch the fabric you have a sail that is long past its ‘use by’ date. If in doubt, your dealer should have a sail testing instrument.

Damage to the leading edge panel that holds the mylar is not so critical, though loose pieces of cloth can disrupt the airflow and cause pitch and handling problems. If the mylar insert becomes buckled, remove it and iron the creases out, it can affect safety and you often get a performance improvement after ironing.

Mainly older gliders are susceptible to batten pocket wear, this can put a glider out of trim, another urgent job for a sailmaker.

As sails get older and stretch, performance,

handling and safety is compromised. The main cause of sail wear is shock damage from bad landings. I once checked a popular performance glider that had been flown in comps and thrashed with aerobatics for over 300 hours but had never been crashed. The sail was significantly tighter than others of that model and it handled and performed better too.

Many performance gliders get a tough life as many pilots buy them before they are competent enough to land well. You can buy new sails for recent gliders but this may not be cost effective if it’s a performance glider as they devalue much faster than recreational gliders.

Batten attachments; On many gliders, batten strings, bungees or lever tips must be set at precisely the right tension or they will affect the trim of the wing in much the same way as batten camber does. If they wear out, take care to replace them with exactly the same length and type as the opposite side. It’s best to replace both sides together. Lever tip battens should be checked for even tension and differences noted. These need replacement over time if the catches become worn.

Hang Loops; These take all your weight and must be sewn loops or correctly knotted webbing or climbing rope. Look for frays, fading, wear and stitching damage. Replace if showing wear, damage or fading.

Hang loops should be attached so that even when the weight is off they don’t shift position.

Pilots whose hang loops have moved while travelling have launched to find their glider dangerously out of trim.

The backup loop must be longer so that it doesn’t get any wear that the main may get.

Check the backup loop is long enough to not go tight when the main loop is in the flare position; you don’t want your weight moving forward as you flare!

Kingpost mounted hangloops need extra attention, not only are the tops exposed to UV, they often wear quicker on the tangs or eyelets.

Some gliders have a restrainer cord or webbing to keep the hang loops at the right position. Ensure this is set correctly for hands off trim.

Crossbar pullback and VG; the pullback webbing or wire takes some tension and should be kept in good order. Modern gliders also have a short piece of webbing or cord that prevents the crossbars pushing upwards from the keel, if this has eyelets, check they are not pulling out.

It may be worth adding a simple backup cord.

If this webbing breaks the crossbars push upwards into the sail, forming a camber in the middle of the wing, also creating roll instability.

I’ve seen several gliders like this, one had even passed two ‘WOF’ checks.

Variable Geometry systems can be complicated and if replacing the rope it’s easier to feed a new rope through after the old one by sewing it onto the end. Choose the right type and diameter rope, it needs to flex the right amount and not stretch so I usually go for Spectra.

Don’t let your VG rope get frayed, there have been cases of VG ropes breaking and then breaking the crossbar pullback wire in the resulting shock, causing collapse in flight.

Make sure the VG moves freely and cannot jam. Pulleys can be lubricated with a light coat of silicon spray, other lubricants will attract dust or sand and make it worse.

Replacement parts It’s worth getting the correct factory parts from your dealer or manufacturer. Never replace tubes with similar ones bought elsewhere or from a different glider. Tube alloy, diameter, wall thickness and manufacturing tolerances must be correct. e.g. NZ made tubing has the same dimensions and claimed alloy composition as overseas tube used in one manufacturers hang gliders but NZ tube is much softer and unsafe in aircraft.

Continued on Page 24...

A

i r b o r n

15

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125, 160 and 220kg sizes.

EMERGENCY PARACHUTES • Fast, reliable, opening.

• Reduced weight & pack size due to high strength material and Dyneema lines.

The reduced size and weight is especially useful for tandems and hang gliders.

• Optional steering PG (can be retro fitted).

• Extremely low sink rates by horizontal travel of the cruciform canopy in diagonal direction.

• Sizes for 100, 125 and 160kg. Tandems 160 and 220kg.

• Pendulum-free smooth descent.

• 12 month packing cycle due to pack system design and construction.

• Inner container with stowed lines makes deployment easier and minimises risk of tangling.

Check out videos at; http://finsterwalder-

charly.de/en/rescue-systems.html

Revolution

Hyper; pocket size with advanced features makes it ideal for daily flying including hike-and-fly. It will help you navigate simple routes, around complex airspace and also record all details of your flight.

Pocket size (107x70x18mm), Lightweight (135gm), Sunlight-readable color LCD touch display, Wifi & Bluetooth connectivity, Airspace, Hike-and-fly mode.

ELEMENT; Element TRACK has 3D GPS track recording, USB downloads. Wind, All you need for comps & XC. Element SPEED has GPS wind direction & speed for soaring & XC. Easy to operate, affordable & practical.

Element ALTO; Robust, reliable & simple alti/vario with GPS alti, 250 hour battery life. Switch on and fly!

PG Front Chute Container; Mounted where you can see, reach & deploy fastest with either hand.

Less drag & the instrument flight deck is where you see it best, also it zips off as a protective carry bag.

Choose the right instrument at; www.naviter.com/

by Many accidents happen close to the ground, so a fast, reliable opening is most important. The ‘Revolution’ dual canopy, pulled down apex system opens fast & reliably.

Leading German manufacturer Charly makes the Revolution double canopy PDA reserves. Many NZ pilots have been saved by their reserves; even with deployments below 50ft!! which shows how fast these really do work.

Paraglider models fit built in harness containers or front mount cockpit containers.

Hang glider model fits most harnesses and comes with a UV shielded bridle. An optional swivel can be included.

Reserve models for for Tandem to lightweight Vol Biv. Tested to DHV certification and proven.

Fly with confidence knowing you have

Over 30,000 rescue systems sold world-wide

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the best back-up available.

When you really need a parachute, you only want the best

All switchable metric/imperial. Mounting bracket options.

Most items are in stock for overnight courier delivery NZ wide. Call or email for more information. Dealer, School and group order enquiries welcome

Over 25 years of free flying experience and quality service

More information, reviews and specials at;

www.hgpg.co.nz

Phone 021 247-2676 (021 AIRBORN), a.h. 03 326-6411 email aero@xtra.co.nz

XC TRAINER

Vario/alti/flight computer, 16 ch GPS, wind speed & direction, speed to fly, thermal mapping, Google Earth output. Accurate & www.aircotec.com/ reliable.

QUICK OUT carabiner 4000 kp break load, Can be released under load. With safety lock.

Valuable for windy landings.

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Forbes Flatlands 2020

F

orbes 2020 certainly started out with a very ominous forecast.

With most of NSW and Victoria’s eastern coast on fire the thought of hang gliding in these extreme conditions was a little daunting.

There were even suggestions that we should be moving the comp! But with 52 pilots already signed up and heading for Forbes there was little to do but to make the most of it.

We welcomed 17 Aussie and 35 International pilots from 14 countries, 20 of those never having flown at Forbes! We were able to get some practice tows in the air late on the 2nd and late on the 3rd for those that braved the scorching temperatures.

The first 3 days of the comp were cancelled due to strong winds, low visibility from bush fire smoke and extreme temperatures in the mid to high 40’s.

We finally were able to set task 1 on day 4. Very uncharacteristic for Forbes! The safety committee were nervous of the gusty conditions considering the wide range of pilot skill at this comp and delayed the start twice hoping for smoother conditions later in the day.

By the time we got the field away, it was very late in the day and no one was able to make goal. Trent Brown – Australia was on fire and led most of the course to take the day win. The Sport Class task was stopped within an hour due to rain on the course line which meant it was not a valid round.

Conditions improved for Task 2 and a 144.3km task via 2 turn points to Bogan Gate was set. It was still a little gusty on launch, hats off to our launch crew to get everyone away safely.

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Above; On tow Photo; Peak Pictures

Right; Rohan Taylor – Australia on to Forbes 2020 Photo; Peak Pictures 19 pilots in goal with Attila Bertok – Hungary the fastest earning him 1000 points! Sport Class had a 60.3 km task to Gooloogong with Jonghwan Kim from Korea taking the day win. Finally, true Forbes conditions with super climbs and lighter winds.

Task 3 was a 156.2km triangular type of course back to the airfield with 14 pilots in goal.

Attila Bertok – Hungary the day winner again with 1000 points!

Sport Class had a 69.5 km task to Canowindra with Peter Garrone – Australia taking the win.

Day 8 Task 4: A strong southerly blew in during the night before creating a huge dust storm, we woke to heavy overcast sky with a glimpse of blue way to the South.

The forecast was not good, Tomas Suchanek phoned Attila (sitting at the task setting table) from Narromine 150 km north of Forbes, to say that by 9am the gliding comp had already cancelled the day due to no lift!

A short task of 87.5 km to Tomingly was set with elapsed time start due to the strong wind, possibly the shortest task ever set at Forbes! As the day warmed and the Southerly blew the clouds north, we had a beautiful clear and cool start to towing.

Reports from goal were that the

Above; Forbes spectacular sunset Photo; Vicky Beaudoin Below; Bill’s Paddock, north of the Forbes Airport, also know as BMIA – Bill Moyes International Airport was hot, dry and dusty this year with Australia’s drought.

Photo; Peak Pictures

Right; Brod Osborne Australia flying over Forbes Photo; Evgeniya Laritskaya

day ‘turned on’ and the task way undercalled! Rohan Taylor – Australia takes the day win ahead of 24 pilots in goal.

Sport Class had a 58.8 km task to Alectown with 3 pilots in goal and a new day winner in Abdul Mustopa from Indonesia.

The shorter task made for a quicker trip back to Forbes, which suited our closing BBQ dinner and allowing the presentation to go ahead at the somewhat reasonable hour of 10pm.

Attila Bertok is the overall winner, his 1st Forbes win after many comps here!!! Moyes RX 5 Pro 3501 points, Josh Woods – Australia 2nd Moyes RX 3.5 Pro 3355 points, Jonny Durand – Australia 3rd Moyes RX4 Pro 3215 points.

Sport Class had a tough competition with a different pilot winning each day. The overall winner being Peter Garrone – Australia Moyes Gecko 155 2285 Points.

Allpy Aris Daulenda from Indonesia was the recipient of our “Emma Martin Encouragement Award” for breaking 2 “personal best” records in just 4 flights.

Forbes is going through one of the toughest droughts in history, the whole area is feeling the pinch from too little rain, scorching temperatures and terrible dust storms occurring all too frequently.

Our pilots generously donated over $1000 in cash to a local charity that is organised through the Anglican church next door to headquarters called Nell’s Pantry. Nell collects groceries and vouchers for local farmers so that they can come into town once a week and pick up some much needed supplies or to just have a chat. Thank you to all who generously donated.

While we only got 4 rounds in this comp, I think we were very lucky considering the plight of the nation.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of our crew who do an amazing job keeping everyone safe and happy and having fun! Thank you to all the pilots for making the long journey to our little hang gliding mecca in Forbes, Australia.

Below; a tricky launch

Photo;

Right; Attila Bertok amusing launch crew Greg Cain and Lizzy Nevins Photo; Peak Pictures

Some kind words from Philippe Michaud - Canada Thank you so much Vicki Cain for this formidable event. Your team of tug pilots and ground crew where amazing, we can’t thank them enough.

Congratulations to Attila, Josh and Jonny. All three of you are incredibly gifted and talented pilots. It was a blast flying with you!

Congratulations also to Marc Andre who once again proved how good and consistent a pilot he his. He leaves Forbes with new PB’s for altitude and distance.

I can’t say I am totally satisfied with how I flew this week, but I made goal every day (except the first day, but no one did) and finished only 4 little points shy of the top 10.

Last but not least, thanks Vicky Beaudoin for driving for us this week, as well as supporting our team in so many ways.

How good is Forbes? Well even if we only flew 4 days out of 8, we had two 150km triangle tasks, got to 10,000ft on most days, and I got about 18 hours of flying counting practice day. Now that I tasted the honey, I will come back for sure!

Evgeniya Laritskaya Full results at; www.forbesflatlands.com/results

Below; Top 10 Winners, L-R Back; 10th Yasuhiro Noma – Australia, Moyes RX 3.5 Pro, 9th Oyvind Ellefsen – Norway Moyes RX 3.5 Pro, 8th Vic Hare – Australia Wills Wing T3 144, 7th Jonas Lobitz – New Zealand Moyes RX 3.5 Pro, 6th Olav Opsanger – Norway Moyes RX 3.5 Pro, 4th Filippo Oppici – Italy Wills Wing T3 144, 4th Trent Brown – Australia Moyes RX 3.5 Pro. L-R Front; 2nd Josh Woods Australia Moyes RX 3.5 Pro, 1st Attila Bertok – Hungary Moyes RX 5 Pro, 3rd Jonny Durand – Australia Moyes RX 4 Pro Photo; Peak Pictures

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19

FMC Photo Competition A

ll NZHGPA affiliated clubs are eligible to enter into the Federated Mountain Clubs annual photo competition, with thousands of dollars worth of prizes. It’s a fun way to look back on a great summer season as the days cool down and thermals weaken.

The Southern Club has run a comp via its Facebook Group for two years now. It doesn’t take too much work to do it all online, and generates a bit of fun and club spirit in the process.

To learn more about the FMC competition, and get tips on how to run your club comp online, please visit www.fmc.org.nz/photo-competition. Entries close for clubs on 15 September 2020.

- Dan Clearwater

Native Flora and Fauna Winner – Kat West “A bit of hike n fly. Walking up above Kidd’s Bush we had a welcome visit from the local pilots while we were waiting for the cloud to lift; they are pretty good at spot landings :)” No runner up, only one entry in this category!

Above bushline with a human element winner – Eddy McGrath “On glide over the braided Matukituki river, during a long leg numbing flight from Glenorchy”

Above bushline no human element winner – Tim Shoultz “Don’t fly over Lake Lochnagar, just don’t. I made a massive save after flying over it, sinking down with a bunch of collapses, which taught me that lesson.”

Below bushline no human element runner up – Anthony Saupin “1st flyable day of my XC course with Paraventures and 1st time I managed to go somewhere !...

After many efforts to find the thermals at TC, the relaxing gilde to Glendhu bay is very rewarding !”

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Above bushline with a human element – Shai Lanuel “Ben French hard at work, doing tandems at Coronet Peak”

2020

Below bushline with a human element winner – Pedro Pimental “In the bushline with a human element: Corner Peak, Lake Hawea”

Long exposure winner – Tim Schoultz “The Garston Hut sessions. It was warm enough to sleep outside or party till the sunrise.”

Above bushline no human element runner up – Melanie Heather “The Matukituki Valley welcomes the start of Autumn.”

Below bushline no human element winner – Blake Round “Queenstown Bay, during lockdown for Covid 19”

Long exposure runner up – Luke Welch “An exceptionally cold night at the Heather Jock Hut with Jörn Daniels and crew. The next morning, after using the stove to thaw out the frozen pipes for water, we climbed to the summit of Mt Alaska (the peak above the hut in the image) and flew back to the car for a good breakfast in GY.”

Below bushline with a human element runner up – Avery Ardovino “Grey Hamilton from CloudBase Paragliding showing the students how it’s done.”

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Who is in charge at the NZHGPA O ne of the questions I have been asked about recently about the NZHGPA is “who is in charge?”

It is a fair question and I know it sounds like a simple question, but it isn’t. Our structure (the Association) was set up many years ago, even before some of us started to fly, so here is an explanation of how things work.

Firstly – a scenario; If you asked who was in charge at Toyota NZ or any other publicly listed company, you could get a number of different answers.

One could say the CEO was in charge and in part that would be correct, because the CEO pretty much runs the business – but not totally because he can only run it within the parameters set out by the Board of Directors.

You could say the Managing Director was in charge and in part that would be correct because the business runs within the parameters and policies set by him and the Board of Directors – but not totally, because that role really has very little say or control of the operational side of things.

In a sense when many people ask, “who is in charge?” they are asking from a small business model where someone owns the business, so the buck stops there, or from a Military command model where there is a Commanding officer who has overall responsibility.

In big business like Toyota NZ none of the staff, the CEO or even the Managing director own the business. The business is owned by the shareholders and they appoint the directors annually at an AGM on a rotation basis so not all directors change at once.

The staff, CEO and the Managing director all have different job descriptions and separate roles and when they all function in harmony you have what is needed to run the business successfully.

Similarly for the NZHGPA. No one owns the NZHGPA. This is really significant – there is no boss, no one person or no block of persons own the NZHGPA. There is no individual who has the power to say this is what will happen! The Exec run the Association like Trustees, on behalf of the members and there is no one person in charge.

The Exec is elected on a 2 year rotational basis at the AGM (again so not all Exec members change at once) – by the different clubs who have votes according to their number of members.

The Exec elect a President from amongst their members – I drew that short straw!

I have no power – I have the ability to set the Exec Agenda, to ask questions of anyone, to bring up items but at the end of the day

22 A i r b o r n

it has to be passed by Exec and they do not always agree with me so there are a number of things I have raised that I will bring up again, because they didn’t get my logic on the first pass so I need to bring it up again! I still haven’t figured that out – what is the matter with them, I know they are not stupid, but...!

Moving along: broadly speaking: The NZHGPA is run along lines that are bit like a corporate model.

The Exec team and I are like a board of directors and have charge of the policy and parameters that the NZHGPA run under. Our guiding document is the Constitution.

We don’t get involved much in Operational matters, although we get briefed on them, so we know what is going on.

The CEO and staff run the operational side of things. They are employed on contract, with job descriptions that you can read in the OPM. Operational matters are guided and operate within the OPM (Operating Procedures Manual), which has been approved by both Exec and CAA. Yes, the Exec sign off on the OPM, the Exec sign off on appointments of all staff/ contractors so I guess if push comes to shove the Exec are in charge - although it is our CEO who holds the warrant from CAA to administer our Part 149 licence because it has to be an individual – but really it doesn’t work like that in a harsh hierarchical sense because none of us own the NZHGPA. We are elected like Trustees to care for and guide the matters of the Association like most sports clubs do. There are no big egos. People are working well together, and we have had put some good runs on the board in the last couple of years.

We are a healthy and happy organisation at the Exec and Operational level so there is good communication, a lot of sharing, our CEO sits on the Exec meetings and there is a good flow of information.

There is a high degree of trust between our CEO (Evan Lamberton), our Training Manager (Mark Hardman), myself and all of Exec. We can and do ask pretty much any question

of each other easily and freely and it is not taken personally.

I know that there have been issues and personalities that have gotten in the way in past years, but that was with different Exec’s and presidents and those days are long gone.

We all feel free to agree and disagree with one another, but part of my leadership style is that we work both relationally and by consensus, so nothing is rammed through or forced.

So – how does this affect you.

• If you are raising Operational matters, then the CEO (Evan Lamberton) is the first port of call.

• If you are raising Training matters then the Training manager (Mark Hardman) is the first port of call and if you are a Hang glider pilot you can cc Grant Tatham as well – although anything you raise with Mark will be discussed with Grant and frequently Evan as well. There is quite a degree of cross over between the CEO and the Training manager as both have a lot of complementary skills so often times both will be involved.

• If you are raising strictly Admin matters e.g. why isn’t my payment showing/where is my IPPI card etc then our admin person is the first port of call – if you send them to the CEO or myself it just delays things because they then have to be redirected to the right person.

We have paid staff because there is simply too much for volunteers to do – processing 1200 licence renewals annually, 700 visitor permits annually, paying the bills and new licence approvals all takes time and that is just a part of the Admin role!

Have a read through the job descriptions in the OPM and see what the different jobs entail. It is huge and given that we have legal responsibilities in running an Aviation Sports Organisation under licence from Civil Aviation there is a high degree of seriousness to what and how things are done. We can’t escape that because we are an Aviation organisation.

My role as President is in many ways a

floating one and I have some reasonably solid responsibilities in terms of the overall health and wellbeing of the NZHGPA. I like to know what is going on and I pop my nose in many places and ask a lot of questions.

I am always keeping an eye out for things that need some attention or improving and we have made some good changes in the past couple of years. I am always looking for people to fill roles, matching people’s skills with what needs to be done. If you have spare time, I am sure that your local club or myself can find a job for you!

There are a few caveats to understand about the NZHGPA: There are quite lot of constraints on us because we are in large part dependant on input from people who are basically volunteers doing stuff and they are also running full time jobs, relationships, families and trying to find time to fly as well. Because of that, things do not happen as quickly as one might like.

We work with CAA and that can take a lot of time and work especially from our CEO and our Airspace officer. Due to their efforts we have managed to keep our sport relatively free of issues – we self-authorise to launch, we don’t file flight plans, we don’t have to carry Airband radios, we do our own WoF’s in house, we administer our own sport and our annual fees are less than 50% of what Australian pilots pay for their annual license, so there is a lot to be very happy about.

Our team is only part time - Evan is only 40%, Mark is only 30% time and our Admin is about 33% time – there is more work for them than there is time.

So in answer to the question “who is in charge” you can say that the NZHGPA really is run by a lot of different people, filling a lot of different roles, all working together in harmony, guided by the OPM and the Constitution with the end result we are free to fly!

Fly far, Fly safe and Fly well, - Duncan President@NZHGPA.org.nz, 027 624-6434

NZHGPA Execs IN 2019 l-r; Ross Gray, Blake Round, Duncan Macnab, Ian Manton, Carlos Palmer, Grant Tatham and Kris Ericksen (then internal Auditor).

Follow your The VISION is a superlative high performance intermediate wing. At the upper limit of the B-class, this superb glider offers a new level of performanceoriented fun factor. With an unmet glide performance of 11.6 the B-class wing enables epic cross country adventures with guaranteed success. So you can follow your vision as far as your curiosity takes you. The VISION combines high speeds and sportive handling with damped reactions in extreme flight situations. U-Turn views innovative thinking as a must - so the demand towards the development was in maintaining the class appropriate safety and the simultaneous bursting through the performance limit.

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Safety Checks U-Relax paraglider harness reserve parachute closure 30.03.2020 U-Relax M EAPR-GZ-162/16 The brand AirCross, represented by Kontest GmbH, makes the following safety notification for all U-Relax harnesses with the certification PH162.2016: In a training for rescue throwing at a paragliding school, the following happened after repeated throwing of the rescue parachute: The sewing of the plastic, which serves as a pin to lock the outer container of the rescue parachute, has become loose and the plastic stick has come loose from the rescue handle (see image on right).

The result was that the split pin opened the outer container only on one side (next image). The rescue parachute could be thrown with a delay, but after internal attempts at Kontest/ AirCross this situation could be reproduced.

Follo wing different approaches, Kontest now offers a solution to install a pinch eyelet (right) in the handle, which must be squeezed onto the plastic in the middle of the handle using flat pliers (no water pump pliers).

Installation is relatively easy and takes about 5 minutes.

Image shows it installed Kontest GmbH offers to send such eyelets to the customer or alternatively the rescue handle can be sent to the Kontest GmbH for installation.

Without this modification to the rescue handle, the U-Relax harnesses cannot be operated with a rescue parachute in the integrated side container.

Kontest GmbH Eintragung am Amtsgericht Braunschweig HRB 201162 Konrad Goerg (Geschaeftsfuehrer) Gut Grauhof 1 38644 Goslar Tel.: +49 (0) 5321/7569006 E-Mail: info@kontest.eu

Woody Valley XR7 paraglider harness reserve parachute elastics Date: 30/03/20 Critical Requirement: Mandatory before flying X-R7 homologation #: EAPR-GZ-0541/16 Serial number from: 001 - Till: 1134 Description of the problem: 19 months ago we released our safety note 01/2018 regarding the abnormal overextension of the XR7 rescue compartment elastic loops potentially leading to a rescue deployment failure.

We’ve found out that if the knots at the

24 A i r b o r n

base of the elastic loops aren’t tight enough, then the elastic loops over-extend so we’ve replaced all the knots with sewed end stubs thus preserving the correct length of the elastic loops. (See photo below).

Inspection: Open the long magnetic edge that covers the closing elastics of the rescue chute container and remove the metal pin connected to the rescue handle. Make sure the white elastics can untie and don’t get entangled with each other.

YOU REPACK YOUR RESCUE CHUTE, AS PERIODICALLY REQUIRED.

- April 2020

Woody VALLEY s.r.l.

Tel +39 0461 950811 www.woodyvalley.eu info@woodyvalley.com

Hang Glider Check ...continued from Page 15

Both elastic loops may over-extend, even if the rear one (the farther one from rescue handle location) is the most important one.

Make sure the length of each elastic does not exceed 8cm.

Required action: If the elastics are longer than 8 cm then they must be replaced with new ones. Remove the overextended elastics by wiggling your hand into the ratchet pulley area and between the fabric layers (as shown in the pictures) till you reach the elastic knots inserted in a white plastic bar. Pull them out and put the new ones in.

To have the new elastic loops, contact your local Woody Valley dealer or Woody Valley headquarters directly.

Close the rescue chute container following the procedure explained in the manual and finally make sure you can extract the rescue chute with ease. www.woodyvalley.eu/download/manuals/ en/X-R7_manual_ENG.pdf While waiting for the new elastics, you can temporarily shorten your overextended ones as follows: Undo the knot, bend the elastic in half, measure 12cm and mark that point with a marker. Redo the knot at the mark and make it as tight as possible. Put the elastic loops where they were originally, close the rescue chute container following the procedure explained in the manual and finally make sure you can extract the rescue chute with ease.

THESE CLOSING ELASTICS MUST BE REPLACED IDEALLY EVERY 6 MONTHS, OR COMPULSORILY EVERY 12 MONTHS WHEN

NZHGPA Training Manager Update

Marine shop wires are typically made to much looser tolerances and don’t use the same wire, swages or crimping methods that hang gliders require. It’s worth noting that over-tight crimping damages and weakens the wire. Calibrated tools and precise use of all correct interacting components is essential.

Subtle manufacturing differences (e.g. 2mm out on a dive strut hole) can make a glider fly badly, leading to a crash or injury.

No money is saved by using incorrect parts.

Remember, crashing is a great deal more expensive.

TEST FLYING This should only be done by an experienced competent pilot. Use a site with an easy take-off and landing on a day with smooth conditions.

I test fly a lot, so double check everything first but eventually I expect to strike trouble so I am prepared with room to manoeuvre, wheels, a regularly repacked parachute, hook knife, sturdy footwear etc. The glider should be rigged and checked before arriving on site to fly.

Before launching, do some short runs or balance the glider in the wind to check for obvious trim problems. Launch with extra speed into clear air well away from the hill, then check for ‘hands off trim’ and good control with gentle turns.

Use an accurate airspeed meter to ensure hands off trim speed is several knots above stall speed which is best checked with tufts on the sail. When gently stalling, it should break straight without dropping a wingtip or not drop the same tip every time.

Check the glider rolls both ways equally then fly at higher speeds again checking for a tendency to turn. Bar pressure must increase with speed and should be strongest in a full dive. Check with VG off as well as half and full on.

An easy top landing area is invaluable as it will allow you to make gradual changes to trim until the glider flys perfectly. If making changes, note them all in case you need to backtrack.

The glider should fly with similar characteristics to other good examples of that type.

THE RESULT You should now be confident that your glider will behave correctly, the only variables being the air and your own decisions.

Many pilots report their flying performance and landings improve after a glider check.

When your wing performs and handles the way it should, you gain the ability and confidence to fly your best.

VFR ONLINE EXAM The updated VFR Exam Study Guide and the online exam is ready.

• T h e g u i d e c a n b e a c c e s s e d https://drive.google.com/file/ d/1RVvGv0EY7Gz3YKRMj6ASZVA_ yRFC8wFH/view. The guide will be also be available on the NZHGPA website (in the OPM and Forms area).

• The online exam can be accessed at www.classmarker.com/online-test/ start/?quiz=k345e8d4f7f8c5b7. The current password is “vfr2020”. The password is likely to change from time to time.

New students (and pilots converting overseas ratings) will now have to sit the online exam. The old paper exam will be accepted for pilots who are already NZHGPA members (as of today). This includes students who are already part way through their course. Anybody using the old paper exam must have their rating application submitted by the 31st October 2020. Only the online exam will be accepted fom the 1st November.

Please submit the exam certificate along with any rating applications. Rating applications will not be processed without the certificate.

Thank you to the dozen or so people who have reviewed the guide and/or sat the exam.

Your feedback had been super helpful. Some of you will have questions - great! But, please read the guide (the first couple of sections in particular) and try to sit the exam first to ensure you can’t easily answer your own questions : -) SEMINAR UPDATE Nothing is confirmed, but we’re currently looking into options for the following: • Paragliding Instructors Seminar, Tauranga, Late August • Hang Gliding Instructors Seminar, Waikato, August • Hang Gliding Instructors Seminar, South Island More detail will be circulated once available.

SPEED FLYING Only two applications to become a Speed Wing Coach have been received. The application form is available here and it should be emailed to training@nzhgpa.org.nz.

Speed wing pilots have until the 31st Jan 2021 before it becomes compulsory to hold a SWP rating. However; it’s desirable to have a number of coaches, spread throughout the country, well before then.

REMINDER: Remember to send your first aid certificates to admin@nzhgpa.org.nz whenever you complete a refresher. This is a requirement to keep your instructor and tandem ratings current.

HUMAN FACTORS EXAM Having completed the VFR exam project, the next priority is a human factors exam. This will be accompanied by a Technical Manual (study guide). This exam will become a requirement for PG2 and Intermediate ratings as well as for motorised hang gliding and paragliding. It will also be a requirement for instructor and tandem ratings for those applicants who have not already sat the exam.

Please email training@nzhgpa.org.nz if you’re interested in contributing to this project.

Executive Repor ts Selected Accident & Incident Summaries from 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020 These summaries are a selection taken from members reports supplied via the NZHGPA reporting system AIRS. How to report an accident or incident What to report?

You must report as soon as practical anything that is defined as an “Accident” by CAA rules. That is anything that caused significant damage or serious injuries while the aircraft is being used. Club safety officers and other pilots can help out here by reporting even basic information about an accident for pilots that are unable to do it themselves.

We also want reports for incidents or accidents that aren’t so serious. The biggest benefit comes from the reporting of the smaller incidents and near misses. How small? Well, if good luck is all that saved you from an accident then it’s probably worth reporting.

Your personal details will be kept confidential.

How?

To make a report go to the NZHGPA website and click on ”Safety”. www.nzhgpa.org.nz/safety Then the button to hit for starting your report looks like this;

Your description of what happened is the most important part and makes up the majority of the reports we publish but other details are used to help with statistics that show trends so please complete as much as you can. Please include the location so we can send the report to the local safety officer and the club president for any follow up they need to do. Don’t worry, our policy is that we do not use the reports to lay blame or for any disciplinary action. They are for safety and learning.

Finally if you want to see other reports then click on this button;

Date

Region Type

Aircraft

28/12/2019 Southern

Near miss or Minor incident Paraglider Local recreation: Landing Report from witness: The pilot was advised by a local pilot on take-off about the conditions, advising that they were fine and that he should fly.

An afternoon southerly was in and was potentially strengthening, I don’t know the ability/experience of the pilot but all reports were that he got blown back behind the forestry at flight park and left pilots on the ground were very concerned for his safety due to the position he put himself in.

He luckily managed to fly out around the end of the ridge and landed near Arrowtown at the cricket pitch beside Millbrook.

It’s important to note that pilots should be cautious of the advice they give to other pilots whom they are not aware of the skill or experience of that pilot.

2/1/2020 Southern Minor Injury Tandem Paraglider Landing. On slide landing pilot caught L foot on uneven ground and sprained/strained ankle.

No ongoing injury or ACC claim.

Analysis: The decision to land in an area marked as a hazard and pilot used a body posture (not feet up) that was unsuitable for the landing style chosen (Slide Landing).

Contributory Factors Situational Awareness Deficiency: Pilot ignored Safety Advisory Injuries: Minor (first aid only or no treatment) Lower limbs Glider damage: Nil 8/1/2020 Canterbury Minor Injury accident Paraglider Instruction: Landing.

Student pilot was coming in for a top landing. He ended up being slightly too low to land on the flat plateau and landed on the side of hill at our lower take off area. It was a good landing into wind but he rolled his ankle. In hindsight when it became obvious that he was too low to land on the flat area, I should have instructed him to turn away and head to the bottom.

Injuries: - sprained ankle “Ankle supporting boots would have reduced the chance of rolling and incurring an injury...”

14/1/2020 Southern Near miss Paraglider Cross country: Gliding.

In a thermal about 900 ft above and slightly north of Brow Peak

(Queenstown) I entered some abrupt turbulence that collapsed my left wingtip. I became unbalanced and the wing dived a bit and possibly cravated. When my weight came back onto the wing it rapidly flew around and twisted the lines. I noticed, and then it flew around again and was twice twisted and I think still cravated. “I won’t be able to fix this” I thought and then there was a sudden centripetal acceleration as the wing was winding up real fast. I was pretty much upside down now but reached for my new reserve and threw it. It came out almost immediately but the wing was still fully loaded, now beneath me, and flying around me. At times it accelerated me towards the ground and at times it interfered with the reserve. I was unable to pull in any of the main wing. Close to the ground I got out of the pod in preparation for impact and noticed I wasn’t descending very fast but the main wing was still a problem. The ground I impacted was tussocky with a few rocks scattered about and sloping downhill (I was lucky).

On impact (which didn’t feel that hard and perhaps on my butt) my head fell back and was banged quite hard. I was ok. Nothing broken. A bit shook up. I radioed I’d had a reserve deployment but heard no reply. There was no phone reception. I packed up the wing and walked steeply about 400m to the summit of Brow Peak where I rested and made calls on the radio and phone to let people know. It was now 2:40pm.

Helmet: Open face, Certified for flight. Harness: Pod. Reserve: Deployed and effective.

Pilot certificate: PG3.

Injuries: Nil. Glider damage: Nil. 19/1/2020 Southern Minor Injury accident Paraglider Local recreation. Landing.

Landing at flight park in a strong sw and got a series of frontals, the last being 70% which took me to the ground.

Injuries: Moderate (Doctor visit or ACC claim) Lower spine.

Landed heavy on my acro back protector which took a lot of the force.

Helmet: Open face. Harness: Basic, With certified back protection.

Reserve: Carried but not deployed. Pilot certificate: PG3.

Weather: 30 to 40 kph (16 to 22 kn) South west, Strong gusts.

Sea breeze was in on Coronet, coming through west on the ground with rotor.

19/1/2020 Southern Near miss Paraglider Local recreation. Aerobatic manoeuvre.

I got twisted multiple times when practising deep stall. I had to deploy my rescue parachute. I landed on the slope with no injury.

Helmet: Open face. Harness; With certified back protection.

Reserve: Deployed and effective. Weather: South west, Calm.

Injuries: Nil. Glider damage: Nil. 25/1/2020 Auckland Serious Accident Paraglider Local recreation. Landing.

“Coming in for top landing at Karioitahi. Normally I would take one or two passes to assess approach, but at first pass approach felt ok. I turned back into wind for final descent. I may have been a bit too far back from the front of the ridge, as the lift was quite strong.

Getting ready for actual landing, legs out of pod, I think I experienced a bit of rotor and had a collapse about 2m above ground. I fell backwards and sideways and landed on my side.

(I’m still contemplating whether it was a stall on one side, or rotor). At first I felt ok, and was able to walk around a bit, but that suddenly changed to no movement at all. I was able to drag myself back to my gear, and called on the radio for someone to walk up. Westpac Rescue helicopter transported me to hospital, where fractured hip and wrist were diagnosed.”

Injuries: Serious. Upper limbs, Hip. Helmet: Open face, Certified for flight. Harness: Pod, With certified back protection.

Weather: 20 to 30 kph (11 to 16 kn) South west, Steady, Moderate gusts. At take off an hour and a half prior, it was quite strong and gusty. Some whitecaps on waves. It became smoother at the end, maybe a bit more SSW. 14/1/2020 Canterbury Fatality Paraglider Cross country. Gliding, Climbing.

Witness accounts: The pilot was flying above the scree slope facing south, when they experienced a big collapse, estimated at 80%. There was a quick recovery and no change of direction.

However the pilot was still in a lateral pendulum (roll). About 15 seconds after the collapse, the wing went into a 60-70% right sided collapse and spun out of view of the witnesses. From the air, one pilot noticed the crashed wing and the pilot on the scree slope, not moving.

Injuries: Fatal. Head, Lower limbs, Abdomen. Glider damage: Helmet: Open face, Certified for flight, Damaged. Harness: Basic, With certified back protection. Reserve: Carried but not deployed.

Weather conditions: Described as rough and bumpy, but flyable.

South east/south west direction, approx 30-40 kph. approx 18kph at launch, 30 to 40 (16 to 22 kn) South east. Turbulent.

Note: This incident is still under investigation by CAA and police on behalf of the coroner. The NZHGPA is assisting with the enquiry.

27/1/2020 Tasman

Near miss or Minor incident Hang glider Local recreation. Launch.

Wing stall on launch, wing tip touched bush, flared into scrub.

Injuries: Nil. Helmet: Full face. Harness: Pod. Reserve: Carried but not deployed.

Weather conditions: Less than 10 km/h (5 kn), West, Variable, with thermals, Sea breeze from over the back.

Pilot certificate: Hang glider Instructor.

2/2/2020 Northland Minor Injury accident Paraglider Instruction: Soaring.

Student was soaring and completing manoeuvres; namely big ears and soaring with the view of approaching back to launch.

Student had been soaring for over 15 mins and completed big ears and soaring back up to regain height. On his last approach he was close to the terrain and did not follow the instruction to turn to land, froze. In turning into wind his right foot caught some bushes and he landed heavily on that foot.

He aggravated a previous injury and caused a severe soft tissue sprain. Due to the access he was able to be assisted to be extracted by air to the hospital for a check.

Injuries: Moderate. Lower limbs. Soft tissue sprain placed in a moon boot, discharged same day.

Helmet: Open face. Harness: Basic, With certified back protection.

Conditions: West Steady. Was a light soaring day and good conditions.

12/2/2020 Southern Serious Accident Speed wing Landing. Pilot landed hard and fast due to mis-judgement of height and speed of final approach due to flying with trimmer fully open (not common practise for this pilot) and making a 270 degree turn before final approach. This resulted in not enough height for a final glide and a steeper angle than wanted.

Injuries: Serious. Lower spine, Fractured Coxis.

Helmet: Open face. Harness: Basic.

Conditions: Wind Less than 10 km/h (5 kn) South west, Steady.

15/2/2020 Southern Minor incident Paraglider Local recreation. Gliding. Flying too close to the hill, hit a tree and landed on my air bag, at the bottom of the trees.

Injuries: Nil. Glider damage: Significant (glider requires repair before flying) Harness: With certified back protection. Reserve: Carried but not deployed.

Conditions: Wind Less than 10 km/h (5 kn) East, Calm. The wind was perfect on launch.

21/2/2020 Waikato Serious accide Paraglider Local recreation. Mid-air collision. Pilot A was soaring a coastal bowl at low altitude with one other glider (B). Glider B was slightly higher and in front of A when it turned into the path of A and the pilot’s foot dragged across the top of glider A causing damage which resulted in a frontal collapse. Glider A did not recover before the pilot impacted the ground.

Injuries: Serious; broken hips and leg. Glider damage: Significant.

Helmet: Open face, Certified for flight. Harness: Basic, With certified back protection.

Conditions: Wind 10 to 20 kph (5 to 11 kn) North west Steady.

6/2/2020

Canterbury Near miss or Minor incident Powered Paraglider Local recreation, Cross country. Landing on unknown spot for bivouac for the night. I did a few fly-bys to determine wind direction but did not pay sufficient attention to examine the terrain. Decided for landing and spotted a large rock hidden in the high grass too late.

Caused a twisted ankle. No other injury, able to walk, not medical treatment. Was a good flight in the end. Lesson learned = if the grass is high, rocks may not be visible from the side while flying over at higher speeds.

Helmet: Certified for flight Harness: Powered. Reserve: Carried but not deployed. Conditions: Wind Less than 10 km/h (5 kn) variable, katabatic.

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April 1st - March 31st. Sponsored by Wings & Waves

April 1st 2019 to March 31st 2020 Top scores as shown on XContest on 16/4/2020 Pilot, flight date/time

Site

Distance

Points

Total

Pilot, flight date/time

630.43 p.

Andrew Mclauchlan [flyingkiwi001] 1 12.12.19 11:52 Inwoods 86.36 km 107.95 p.

2 10.12.19 10:46 Barnicoat 66.13 km 82.66 p.

3 19.08.19 11:56 Barnicoat 30.20 km 37.75 p.

Ross Gallagher [Redwings] 1 12.01.20 12:54 Kaimai 65.06 km 97.59 p.

2 15.01.20 12:24 Kaimai 55.76 km 69.70 p.

3 21.11.19 11:57 Kaimai 44.27 km 55.34 p.

Evan Lamberton [firefly] 1 20.02.20 13:00 Moirs Hill 88.57 km 110.71 p.

2 18.01.20 14:46 Moirs Hill 46.18 km 57.73 p.

3 26.12.19 13:02 Moirs Hill 42.40 km 53.00 p.

Peter Jones [jonesie] 1 20.02.20 13:52 Kaimai 82.04 km 102.55 p.

2 11.02.20 13:59 Mt. Murchison 47.37 km 59.20 p.

3 18.01.20 13:38 Kaimai 40.77 km 50.98 p.

Stew Karstens [nelpara] 1 19.09.19 11:30 Barnicoat 58.47 km 87.71 p.

2 10.12.19 11:38 Barnicoat 54.19 km 67.74 p.

3 06.10.19 12:14 Barnicoat 27.35 km 54.70 p.

Rob Gillard [rob_gillard] 1 27.12.19 11:52 Kaimai 67.63 km 101.45 p.

2 27.01.20 14:41 Kaimai 64.19 km 80.24 p.

3 20.04.19 13:07 Kaimai 17.82 km 22.28 p.

Aaron Chesterman [azzasurfs] 1 14.03.20 12:51 Te Mata Peak 59.31 km 74.14 p.

2 26.01.20 12:28 Te Mata Peak 72.74 km 72.74 p.

3 01.03.20 13:15 Paeroas 49.50 km 49.50 p.

Rainer Baumgaertner [doorslap] 1 10.02.20 13:55 Mt. Murchison 58.39 km 72.99 p.

2 14.02.20 14:05 Mt. Murchison 39.85 km 59.78 p.

3 15.01.20 12:28 Kaimai 47.37 km 59.21 p.

Dave Washer [bopflyer67] 1 14.02.20 14:03 Mt. Murchison 60.26 km 90.39 p.

2 15.02.20 14:30 Mt. Murchison 52.35 km 52.35 p.

3 01.03.20 13:23 Paeroas 47.97 km 47.97 p.

Todd Weigand [ToddWeigand] 1 13.01.20 14:10 Coronet Peak 88.04 km 110.05 p.

2 15.01.20 13:59 Bull Flat...

51.94 km 64.93 p.

3 21.01.20 13:07 Mt Isthmus 10.05 km 12.56 p.

Chris Connolly [Infinity] 1 20.01.20 13:12 Coronet Peak 87.46 km 87.46 p.

2 01.03.20 13:22 Paeroas 50.02 km 50.01 p.

3 13.01.20 15:56 Coronet Peak 39.85 km 49.81 p.

David Watson [davidwatson] 1 15.01.20 11:47 Roys Peak 98.19 km 98.20 p.

2 16.10.19 11:36 Treble Cone 54.37 km 54.37 p.

3 23.02.20 12:58 Treble Cone 19.13 km 23.90 p.

Daniel Diaz Rizo [drizo] 1 16.01.20 12:50 Coronet Peak 77.94 km 97.43 p.

2 01.03.20 13:19 Paeroas 48.56 km 48.56 p.

3 12.12.19 14:41 Treble Cone 29.26 km 29.26 p.

Ken Beach [ken.beach] 1 14.03.20 13:01 Te Mata Peak 49.03 km 61.29 p.

2 14.12.19 14:51 Te Mata Peak 28.36 km 56.72 p.

3 30.11.19 13:04 Te Mata Peak 42.22 km 52.78 p.

Hamish Dicker [hidicker] 1 15.02.20 14:29 Mt. Murchison 76.23 km 95.29 p.

2 11.02.20 13:47 Mt. Murchison 45.75 km 45.75 p.

3 10.02.20 12:35 Mt. Murchison 22.87 km 28.59 p.

Brooke Whatnall [brooke] 1 15.01.20 13:46 Roys Peak 49.71 km 99.42 p.

2 16.01.20 11:36 Roys Peak 32.70 km 40.88 p.

3 15.10.19 14:25 Treble Cone 25.16 km 25.16 p.

Aaron Ford [AaronF] 1 14.09.19 13:32 Pakituhi 38.10 km 57.15 p.

2 14.02.20 14:29 Coronet Peak 56.97 km 56.97 p.

3 19.01.20 12:59 Roys Peak 47.57 km 47.57 p.

Fraser Monteith [Icemaneli186] 1 31.12.19 12:29 Mt. Cheeseman 34.62 km 69.24 p.

2 21.12.19 16:47 Mt. Cheeseman 26.87 km 53.74 p.

3 02.03.20 13:00 Mt. Cheeseman 32.63 km 0.00 p.

365.85 p.

361.37 p.

345.48 p.

317.27 p.

310.63 p.

309.61 p.

301.92 p.

282.60 p.

278.50 p.

269.67 p.

259.05 p.

258.10 p.

256.80 p.

249.04 p.

247.00 p.

246.25 p.

242.36 p.

Site

Distance

Points

The web site for scoring and uploading your track logs is XContest at: www.xcontest.org/newzealand/ranking-xc-championship/

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Total 228.36 p.

222.63 p.

221.44 p.

212.73 p.

210.15 p.

203.97 p.

196.38 p.

191.98 p.

190.71 p.

187.54 p.

187.28 p.

176.47 p.

175.25 p.

170.79 p.

169.63 p.

165.46 p.

161.69 p.

155.61 p.

Photo: Ross Gray

Louis Tapper [yakernz] 1 23.12.19 11:37 Treble Cone 196.95 km 393.90 p.

2 28.02.20 12:12 Kaimai 124.40 km 186.60 p.

3 01.03.20 13:00 Paeroas 49.93 km 49.93 p.

Mark Macdonald [Brick] 1 27.12.19 11:49 Kaimai 89.76 km 134.64 p.

2 25.02.20 13:04 Kaimai 83.25 km 124.88 p.

3 15.03.20 12:56 Kaimai 85.06 km 106.33 p.

Nick Neynens [nneynens] 1 26.01.20 00:32 ?

110.55 km 138.19 p.

2 19.01.20 12:55 Roys Peak 120.35 km 120.35 p.

3 18.01.20 11:56 ?

102.83 km 102.83 p.

Russell Read [russread] 1 14.02.20 14:56 Mt. Murchison 90.88 km 136.32 p.

2 12.12.19 11:20 Inwoods 87.02 km 108.78 p.

3 12.02.20 13:00 Mt. Murchison 80.30 km 100.38 p.

Michal Karnik [miketech] 1 09.12.19 11:49 Coronet Peak 130.40 km 163.00 p.

2 13.01.20 12:33 Mt Earnslaw 78.77 km 98.46 p.

3 16.01.20 13:12 Roys Peak 55.81 km 55.81 p.

Nick Taber [MACPARANZ] 1 12.02.20 13:12 Mt. Murchison 96.89 km 121.11 p.

2 12.12.19 11:46 Inwoods 85.73 km 107.16 p.

3 10.12.19 10:49 Barnicoat 65.89 km 82.36 p.

Doug Patterson [dougpatterson] 1 23.12.19 11:04 Treble Cone 56.24 km 112.48 p.

2 16.01.20 12:44 Roys Peak 73.20 km 109.80 p.

3 20.01.20 12:25 ?

87.33 km 87.33 p.

Petr Poboril [Peca] 1 13.01.20 12:55 Mcintosh 89.25 km 111.56 p.

2 24.12.19 12:44 Mt. Cheeseman 52.31 km 104.62 p.

3 31.12.19 12:21 Mt. Cheeseman 42.87 km 85.74 p.

Jeff Ripley [Jeff-Ripley] 1 15.03.20 13:07 Moirs Hill 98.20 km 122.75 p.

2 20.02.20 12:54 Moirs Hill 79.55 km 99.44 p.

3 12.01.20 13:31 Kaimai 40.27 km 60.41 p.

Jan Necas [Pompidy] 1 09.12.19 12:53 Roys Peak 93.17 km 116.46 p.

2 17.01.20 12:32 Roys Peak 88.54 km 88.54 p.

3 21.12.19 12:32 ?

73.50 km 73.50 p.

Rob Hughes-Games [robhughes-games] 1 15.02.20 14:31 Mt. Murchison 101.77 km 127.20 p.

2 25.11.19 10:54 Mt. Cheeseman 72.11 km 72.11 p.

3 10.02.20 13:36 Mt. Murchison 35.18 km 70.36 p.

Samuel Leathwick [Stealthwick] 1 12.02.20 13:13 Mt. Murchison 75.89 km 94.86 p.

2 15.01.20 12:21 Kaimai 71.07 km 88.84 p.

3 20.02.20 12:50 Kaimai 60.28 km 75.35 p.

Nicolas Sand [Nicosan] 1 09.12.19 13:11 Coronet Peak 117.16 km 146.45 p.

2 13.01.20 16:03 Coronet Peak 60.58 km 60.58 p.

3 01.03.20 12:47 Paeroas 51.07 km 51.07 p.

Tim Percival [redwing] 1 26.02.20 12:23 Inwoods Lookout 119.17 km 119.17 p.

2 24.02.20 13:09 Parachute Rocks 62.74 km 78.43 p.

3 11.02.20 14:23 Mt. Murchison 59.20 km 59.20 p.

Ben Kellett [benjamin.kellett] 1 20.01.20 13:07 Coronet Peak 108.08 km 108.09 p.

2 13.01.20 12:35 ?

74.92 km 93.65 p.

3 16.01.20 13:19 Roys Peak 37.84 km 47.30 p.

Bruce Vickerman [Bruce.V] 1 15.01.20 12:19 Kaimai 79.43 km 99.29 p.

2 20.02.20 13:46 Kaimai 66.46 km 83.08 p.

3 20.01.20 12:50 Kaimai 51.70 km 64.63 p.

Barry Sayer [boomer] 1 26.02.20 11:36 Te Mata Peak 103.73 km 129.66 p.

2 15.03.20 14:07 Te Mata Peak 49.24 km 61.55 p.

3 04.04.19 13:01 Te Mata Peak 44.03 km 55.04 p.

Eden Radonich [Kinda1] 1 07.03.20 13:33 Te Mata 68.67 km 85.84 p.

2 15.03.20 12:13 Te Mata Peak 65.89 km 82.36 p.

3 14.03.20 12:37 Te Mata Peak 59.33 km 74.16 p.

Paragliding Competition Committee Write Up

I

t seems a good time to write. Not too busy at home in my ‘bubble’ and there’s not much flying!

The paragliding competition season has finished.

The variable weather wasn’t particularly kind to us this season and only two competitions were conducted in New Zealand over the summer. We’d like to see a few more. The Regional competitions do accrue some quite reasonable points towards the NZPRS rankings. There is now a document: “Paragliding C o m p e t i t i o n O rg a n i s i n g f o r Dummies” posted on the NZHGPA website/competition downloads.

Hopefully we can encourage more Clubs to ‘have a go’. It only takes 6 pilots to create a valid competition and a few days notice (check the Rules). it’s a great way to get newer pilots motivated to fly and interested in competitions and the for the more established pilots to learn to organise competitions and begin to understand them better. The PCC is most willing to assist. Scoring can be done remotely.

The PCC would like to welcome its newest members: Dave Washer (Bay of Plenty) and Toni Skerrett (Southern) to the group. Dave, who is the current president of the Bay of Plenty Club, joined the NZHGPA in 2006 and mostly flies the Kaimais and the Paeroas. Toni has been flying since 2003 but started xc flying in 2011 and competition flying in 2014. Both Dave and Toni are keen to help out, learn, get a better understanding of how PPC tirelessly operate in the background and work to promote competitions for our clubs and pilots.

The PCC extends a very appreciative farewell to Johnny Hopper who has been a real stalwart in the Committee for many years.

Thank you Johnny.

Johnny (and his team: Mark McDonald, Dave Washer and Kyla McDonald) once again organised a fantastic National competition in Rotorua and the beginning of March.

What started out as a promising week for weather didn’t turn out quite so and only two tasks were flown on the first two days. It was unfortunate that the competition wasn’t able to accrue enough points to make it a valid NZ National Competition though we tried and tried on the last day to get just enough points to make sure it was valid. The slight, slight tailwind on launch at the Paeroas stymied any hope for safe take-offs for such a large group. The results have now been uploaded to the NZPRS website and, as Johnny mentioned, except for the number of tasks, the pilot numbers and quality

were quite commendable.

Louis Tapper took out the National champion. Eva Keim once again the Women’s trophy and Kinga Masztalerz was awarded the Jill Borst trophy for her overall contribution to the sport particularly as a result of her efforts in this year’s European X-Alps competition.

It was a great social event though.

I know all the competitors had a great time.

A big thank-you to all the organisers, sponsors, contributors and competitors for their support.

With the wind down of flying activities the PCC will get busy with introducing the new members to the ‘goings on’ and particularly in reviewing and updating the Competition Rules. You can expect a few changes, especially in the way proximity to airspace is assessed.

If you’re flying overseas this year, though that’s been put on a bit of a back-burner at the moment, remember to post your valid tracks onto the XContest platform.

Have a great winter. Enjoy your ‘bubble’ and for now hunker down and stay well.

Best wishes from the PCC, - Tim Brown

NOVA RESPONDS TO CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

Masks & coats instead of paragliders These days, in Austria and many other countries, wearing a face mask in public is recommended in order to reduce the speed of the spread of the COVID-19 virus. NOVA wants to help and therefore their sewing facility in Hungary is producing masks for mouth & nose as well as coats instead of paragliders. (Note: the masks are not FFP masks, so they are not certified medical items. The coats are also not certified). The first deliveries of these products began on 6th of April 2020.

Like the entire recreational aviation industry, the coronavirus crisis caught NOVA unawares. The demand for paragliders completely collapsed within two weeks.

National associations stopped paragliding instruction and, in some countries, even recreational flying is prohibited. Also, travel restrictions are likely to make flying trips impossible for the next few weeks or even

Get ready to enter the world’s toughest adventure race!

The Red Bull X-Alps 2021 applications are open from July 1 August 31, 2020.

The world’s toughest adventure race is back for its tenth edition.

A new race brings new challenges; look forward to a new route, new turnpoints, and of course, new athletes.

Do you think you’ve got what it takes to hike and fly over 1,000km across the Alps? Think you can take the place of 6 edition’s reigning champion, Chrigel Maurer (SUI1)?

If you feel ready for this extreme challenge, circle July 1 to August 31, 2020 in your calendar, so you have enough time to start preparing your application for Red Bull X-Alps 2021. We can suggest starting immediately to make sure you have all the requirements and are ready to fill in the online form on redbullxalps.com.

“The selection of the athletes is extremely challenging and one of the most important aspects of the competition. It’s not just about getting out there and flying. You need the strength of both body and mind to push yourself day after day, sometimes for as long as two weeks straight”, explains race director Christoph Weber.

If there’s one event that is a testament to “Anything can happen”, it’s Red Bull X-Alps. Everything you can imagine happened in the 2019 edition, from wild weather conditions to nerve-wracking landings in ravines – it was a race to be remembered. Once again, Chrigel Maurer took first place, in an unbelievable time of 9 days, 3 hours, 6 min. Hot on his heels in second place was the French newcomer, Maxime Pinot (FRA4), and in a crazy turn of events the battle for third place became a friendly tie between Paul Guschlbauer (AUT1) and Benoit Outters (FRA1).

There are so many reasons to sign up for Red Bull X-Alps but it takes a lot to be an athlete in the world’s toughest race. Experience, previous competitive results and the ability to hike and fly your way across the Alps are just a few factors considered. A relentless motivation and drive should carry you all the way, especially in something that demands all of your time.

It’s not just a physical race, it’s a mental race too. This is the reason that every team has an official supporter, someone you can literally trust with your life. Putting together a dedicated team is as important as your training, so use the time you have to ensure you’re 150% ready.

Further dates will be announced soon! To make sure you don’t miss any important updates stay tuned on redbullxalps.com and follow Red Bull X-Alps on your favourite social media channels.

months. So, what to do? Since 1990, NOVA has had its own production facility with a Hungarian partner as a joint venture. Thanks to their high degree of flexibility, they made a virtue out of necessity and have been sewing only a few paragliders - but masks and coats instead.

“The changeover was made possible within a few days”, says managing director Sissi Eisl, “because the masks and coats are much less complex than sewing paragliders.” Currently the capacity of the Pecs plant is around 4000 masks per day, but this can be increased if necessary.”

Sissi Eisl adds: “In the interests of our employees and all those who will use our masks and coats*, we are pleased that we were able to react so quickly. However, like presumably all paraglider pilots, I hope that the crisis will soon be overcome and we can go flying together again. And for NOVA it would, of course, be good news to be able to switch production back to paragliders again soon”.

The masks are sold in packs of 50, the coats in packs on 10 pieces at 150 euro per pack (+ shipping and VAT). Find out more at www.nova.eu/en/news-stories/article/news/ masks-coats-instead-of-paragliders/ - Till Gottbrath, NOVA Performance Paragliders

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January 1st to December 31st

A

fter a summer with few good flying days, the Coronavirus lockdown stopped any further flying but there were a few dedicated pilots who go a few flights in.

Sebastian Katz showed us how it’s done with a flight in Northland from Moirs Hill to Ohaeawai, a Kaimais flight to to near Kereta and a January flight from the Paeroas to near Taupo. Rick Hawkeswood also flew the Kaimais with a slightly longer flight there.

There’s always time to improve your cross country skills and while doing that you could get that big flight that will top your personal best distance or best total of 4 flights. Only one person can be at the top of the table; sometimes they have better local sites, more time available or just better luck with the weather, but if you are improving your ability, your personal best, or your own distance total, you are winning too.

Some people only enter one or two flights each year so often 4 flights will get you well up the table. Best to be out there flying on those great days when they come and turn them into xc. Enter your shorter flights to encourage yourseld to better them. Hopefully the virus will be under control by Spring or Summer and we can get back into it.

TO ENTER...

It’s free and simple; fly anywhere in New Zealand before midnight on 31st December, email or post in your flight details (and tracklog if you have one) before 30 days has passed and you’re entered.

Enter as many flights as you like. Your shorter flights are automatically replaced by your longer ones. Only your longest four flights are scored.

For each flight entry, please supply; • Your name, email address and contact phone number.

• Flight date, take-off/release place, landing place, and flight distance in kilometres and 10ths.

• Tracklog file from a GPS that can be read by GPSDump, such as an IGC file. Best is a kml file optimised by GPSDump.

• If you don’t have a GPS tracklog, then also supply; Start and landing witness/s name & contact details.

A GPS instrument has many advantages for XC flying, but for pilots who don’t have GPS, you can still enter the NZ HG XC Champs without one, you just need to provide take-off and landing witnesses.

SCORING The pilot with the best total of four flights is the NZ Hang Gliding Cross Country Champion for that year and gets first choice of any prizes followed by pilots with second and third best totals. The pilot with the longest single flight gets fourth choice, then prizes go from fourth best total onwards.

Flights for each years XC Champs must be flown between 1 January and 31st December and entered within 30 days. This ends one contest while pilots have good weather and starts the next contest while everyone’s still keen.

Distances are measured using GPSDump which is free software that comes in Windows, Mac and other versions. It it reads GPS tracklogs from just about any instrument. It works out the best start and finish points for you. It also works out if the flight fits any other FAI criteria such as out and return, triangle etc. It enables you to export it for viewing in Google Earth in 3D. Download GPSDump at; www.gethome.no/stein.sorensen Airtribune Live tracking For those who want quicker retrieves, get the Airtribune App for your Android smartphone. Airtribune will track your flight and let your retrieve driver look you up on their smartphone to see exactly where you

28 A i r b o r n

The 2020 Cross-Country Championships Table so far...

Name

Flight 1

Flight 2

Flight 3

Flight 4

Total kms

Sebastian Katz 139.6 108.7 53.3 35.8

337.4

Rick Hawkeswood

171.7

109.2

34.3

28.2

Bill Degen 26.9 26.4 53.3 ** Class 2 (rigid wing), * Skyfloater

are. It is limited to cell coverage but apparently satellite trackers like Spot work with it too. It’s easy on the phone battery but it still pays to have a backup battery as well.

Note that Airtribune doesn’t calculate FAI Open Distance from the 2 furtherest points of your flight.

You still need a tracklog for that as explained in the entry section. The Apple IOS version is hasn’t been updated for a few years and currently only works at Airtribune contests.

Rules You must be a paid up NZHGPA member during all flights or you don’t score. Entries must be postmarked or emailed within 30 days of the flight or don’t score.

This helps ensure accuracy and prevents pilots holding back flights until the end, so we all to know how everyone’s doing.

Please DON’T phone, txt, or tell me in the pub, all entries must be in writing (email preferred) with all flight details (and GPS tracklog if using remote launch and/or landings), or do not score. Don’t assume that because someone else was there or you were in a competition that your flight has been entered. It is each pilots’ responsibility to declare and enter full details of their own flight entries.

Measure your flights in kilometres and 10ths of km, straight line from take-off to landing. Or for often a few more kms, optimised flight distances with a Remote Start and/or Remote Finish are welcome, if you send in a valid GPS tracklog.

Aerotow launched xc flights are permitted, but your release altitude must be less than 5% of the flight distance (current FAI ruling) or does not score. This prevents super high tows followed by a downwind glide from scoring against pilots thermalling for xc. The flight scores from tow release position (not tow take-off) and verification can be witnessed by the tug pilot, or confirmed with known landmark photo or GPS tracklog.

Out & return, triangle or multiple turnpoint distances are not eligible, however if a enough pilots enter them, I’ll table them as well. Out & return and triangle flights often dont require the long pickups of the best xc flights, so pilots can look at this option if drivers or time are a problem.

Note: If you don’t follow the rules by providing all relevant flight details, (including valid tracklog for remote start or finish flights) within 30 days of the flight, you DO NOT SCORE. GLIDER CLASSES Same as FAI rules. Flex wings including kingpostless gliders are Class 1. Rigid wings such as the Atos are Class 5 and Swifts are Class 2 or Class 5 without the pilot fairing.

If enough are entered, we have a special class for pilots flying skyfloater gliders such as such as the Fun, Falcon, Malibu etc. 30% double surface gliders such as Buzz, Gyro, Mars, Target, Ventura etc can be flown in this class too. As long as it has exposed crossbars.

Don’t forget to point it out on your entry if you have an exposed crossbar glider or rigid wing. You can enter in as many classes as you like. Skyfloater flights can be entered in a separate class and/or included in your Class 1 score, whichever you prefer.

Classes can be scored separately if multiple entries are

received. Meanwhile they will appear in the table above.

Let me know if your flight is a site record too.

ONLINE RESULTS Results are posted as they come in at www.hgpg.co.nz and linked to the NZHGPA website at www.nzhgpa. org.nz/competitions/hg-competitions/hang-glidingcross-country-championships and first updated at; www.hgpg.co.nz/nz-hg-xc-champs.html Online scoring? Not yet, but if you have a 3D GPS you can enter any of the online contests as well. If you do this, just let me know by emailing me a link to your online entry and I’ll copy the data to the NZ HG XC Champs. It should have all we need to enter your flight.

SEND YOUR ENTRY TO; aero@xtra.co.nz (Please write “XC Entry” in the header and please keep your entry separate from other emails) or post entries to; NZ Hang Gliding XC Champs, Bill Degen, 99A Panorama Road, Christchurch 8081

Saving Sylmar Call To action If you have flown Kagel Mountain in Sylmar, California (near Los Angeles) or someday hope to, the landing zone is endangered by adjacent development, and we’re asking for your letters of support.

Hang gliding has been a beloved part of the community at Kagel Mountain for over 40 years. Sylmar has provided a place for folks to soar and learn to hang glide since 1969, and many paraglider pilots also fly into the landing area monitored by the SHGA. It has historical importance, as it hosted the first U.S. National Hang Gliding Championships in 1973. Besides providing a home for pilots, the SHGA also serves as an ambassador for our sports by regularly opening the flight park to the local community.

Windsports Hang Gliding and ParaCalifornia Paragliding schools both use this flight park for teaching. These schools risk losing a safe environment to teach new pilots if the property is developed in a manner without consideration for the needs of the flying community.

We need to encourage the Los Angeles City Council to keep this area as open space. At minimum, we would like the developer to work with the SHGA and the local flight schools to find a plan that works for everyone. We would greatly appreciate your letters explaining the importance of the SHGA flight park to the free-flight community nationwide. We ask that the letters be very positive about your individual experience flying the mountains above Sylmar and emphasize the value that pilots and their supporters bring to this community, which includes patronizing local businesses in Sylmar.

Please address letters to: Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez Sylmar District Office 14117 Hubbard Street #D1 Sylmar, CA 91342 You can also call Councilwoman Rodriguez’s office at (818) 756-8409 or contact her through her website at www. monicarodriguez.org/contact. We would like to encourage her to help keep the hang gliding legacy of Sylmar alive. If you would like to contact me directly for letter templates, please email me at czumpft@gmail.com.

Thank you for your support, and I hope to fly with you in Sylmar!

- Cyndia Zumpft-Klein

Learn to Fly

Want a better mag?

Hang gliding, paragliding schools and instructors that you can contact for qualified flight instruction in New Zealand

Airborn needs your articles and photos. We’d like to read about your flights, frights, sites, experiences and techniques. Anything that’s of interest to pilots and educating or enthusing to pilots is especially welcome.

Airborn can’t afford to pay you but does post contributors a complimentary copy which you should receive a day or so before everyone else.

Just email your text to; aero@xtra.co.nz or put it on CD, DVD, Zip, Flash drive or even floppy disk. Most text programs such as Microsoft Word (Windows or Mac) are fine.

Photos in MS Word files reduces the resolution, so supply photo files separately.

If it’s not digital, clean laser or typed copy helps or if you hand write, please write neatly on one side of the paper only.

INCLUDE photos, of the people, place or gliders involved and even one of yourself to make the article more interesting. We now do everything in colour and with digital photo editing, it’s amazing what we can do to enhance ordinary snapshots. Black and white or colour prints are fine too. Digital images should be high resolution. I can help with emailing large files. Contact me if you want help.

Photos for the cover should be eye-catching, colourful, sharp, and high resolution.

You can also send transparencies or prints for scanning. Anything marked with a return address will be returned with your complimentary copy.

Help promote or make our sport safer, and Airborn will present your contribution in the best way possible.

Keep in touch with the NZ hang gliding and paragliding scene, the latest developments, events, new and used equipment...

M a g a z i n e All hang glider and paraglider pilots in NZ are required by law to be members, and receive Airborn magazine as part of their membership but non flyers and overseas pilots are welcome to subscribe.

For Airborn SUBSCRIPTIONS please contact; NZHGPA Administrator, 46 Quail Rise, Stoke, Nelson 7011, New Zealand

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Alan Hills Phone: 09 570 5757, 027 498 2345 Email: alan@skywings.co.nz www.skywings.co.nz Wings & Waves Paragliding and Kitesurfing Reuben Muir and Eva Keim Phone: 09 446 0020, 027 472 7013 Email: info@wingsandwaves.co.nz www.wingsandwaves.co.nz

WAIKATO HANG GLIDING Sean Oliver Phone: 027 670 8301 Email: skyriderag@gmail.com FaceBook: @Skyrider PARAGLIDING Wings & Waves Paragliding and Kitesurfing Reuben Muir and Eva Keim Phone: 09 446 0020, 027 472 7013 Email: info@wingsandwaves.co.nz www.wingsandwaves.co.nz OMAHU, THAMES/PAEROA PARAGLIDING Bruce Vickerman Phone: 07 862 4919, 027 498 9941 Email: seehigh@slingshot.co.nz HAWKES BAY PARAGLIDING Airplay Paragliding School Barry Sayer, Phone: 027 451 2886 Email: barry@airplay.co.nz www.airplay.co.nz BAY OF PLENTY PARAGLIDING Kiwi-Air Mike & Aniko Phone: 07 929 5807, 021 104 6208 http://kiwi-air.co.nz Mount Paragliding Darrell Packe Phone: 027 249 2702 Email:darrellpacke@gmail.com

Nelson Paragliding Stew Karstens Phone:028-446 3930, 0508 FlyNow Email: paragliding@xtra.co.nz www.nelsonparagliding.co.nz CHRISTCHURCH HANG GLIDING Canterbury Hang Gliding School Bill Degen Phone: 03 326 6411, 021 247 2676 Email: aero@xtra.co.nz www.hgpg.co.nz PARAGLIDING Cloudbase Paragliding Grey Hamilton Phone: 027 532 4874 Email: cbparagliding@gmail.com www.cloudbaseparagliding.co.nz ParaPro (Paragliding & Powered Paragliding) Dave Dennis Phone: 03 328 8255, 0508 548 323 Email: info@parapro.co.nz www.parapro.co.nz

WANAKA PARAGLIDING Paraventures Paragliding School Mark Hardman Phone: 0800 FLYSOLO (0800 359 765), 021 809 275 Email: info@paraventures.co.nz QUEENSTOWN PARAGLIDING Infinity Paragliding School Chris Connelly and Adrian Watt Phone: 022-676 5599 & 021-981 855 Email: info@infinityparagliding.co.nz www.infinityparagliding.co.nz Extreme Air Hang Gliding & Paragliding School & Tandems Lisa Bradley Phone: 021 156 3256 or +61 45 728 7200 Email: lisa@extremeair.co.nz www.extremeair.co.nz

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Photos: Neil Brown, Ross Gray

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NORTHLAND WELLINGTON/WAIRARAPA HANG GLIDING HANG GLIDING Wellington Hang Gliding & Skywalk Paragliding Club Guntram Gross, Herman Ahrens Grant Tatham Phone: 09 436 0268 or 09 432 9333, Phone: 06 379 7322, 027 636 3491 021 072 0357 Email: tathams@xtra.co.nz Email: skywalk@igrin.co.nz Oceania Paragliding School PARAGLIDING Chris Connolly, Ferg’s Paragliding & Adventure Phone: 022 676 5599 Mike Ferguson Email; school@oceaniaparagliding.

Phone: 021 995 682 co.nz Email: fergsparaglidiing@gmail.com www.oceaniaparagliding.co.nz www. fergsparaglidiing.com MARLBOROUGH AUCKLAND PARAGLIDING HANG GLIDING High Adventure New Zealand Aqua Air Adventure Russell Read Paddy Monro Phone: 027 448 0888 Phone: 09 528 7594, 027 288 0193 Email: russread@ihug.co.nz Email: aquaair@ihug.co.nz NELSON/TASMAN www.gethigh.co.nz HANG GLIDING Sean Oliver Nelson Hang Gliding Adventures Phone: 027 670 8301 Glenn Meadows Email: skyriderag@gmail.com Phone: 027 275 1022 FaceBook: @Skyrider Email: Gmeadows@xtra.co.nz PARAGLIDING PARAGLIDING SkyWings Paragliding

■ Paid up NZHGPA members may run one advertisement per classification for free in each issue ■ Please email or post your advertisement to the editor, quoting your NZHGPA PIN number ■ Commercial operators, dealers, and non-members must enclose payment of $0.50c per word with their advertisement ■ Advertisements are deleted for next issue unless repeat request received ■ include your email address for the online issue ■ Buyers are advised that all used hang gliders and paragliders should have a NEW fitness check (WOF) when sold ■ It is dangerous to fly a glider or with equipment that is above your rated ability ■ PARAGLIDERS PHI Gliders - www.phi-air.com - the revolution continues. Hannes Papesh and Mike Kung create the latest revelations in gliders - Maestro new high B is here. Symphonia - high B performance certified EN A. Also, the EN A Sonata and light weight Viola. Tenor and Tenor light, class B gliders with better than class performance and handling. Exclusively from SkyWings - email alan@skywings.co.nz NEW PHI ALLEGRO - EN C - out now: -) https://phi-air.com/project/allegro/ PHI SONATA 12 & lightweight version Viola are proving to be our new best miniwings - lots of sizes, unbeatable flight qualities - check our website and contact us for special introductory offers - alan@skywings.co.nz or www.skywings.co.nz MAESTRO is out - the PHI Maestro from Hannes Papesh is here and leads the high B class.

Finally a perfect handling feel and C performance is available in the B class - exceeding all expectations - ask anyone who is flying one - contact SkyWings for unbeatable introductory prices - alan@skywings.co.nz NOVA Paragliders - www.nova.eu - exclusively by SkyWings - www.skywings.co.nz - email alan@skywings.co.nz SPEEDFLYING specialists - and dozens of great XC wings - happy to trade - all kinds of harnesses in stock as well - www.skywings.co.nz or alan@skywings.co.nz MOTOR Paragliding PARAMOTORING - exclusive Miniplane and PAP motors - SkyWings for courses and equipment - www.skywings.co.nz or alan@skywings.co.nz HANG GLIDERS DESIRE 141, Very good condition for age, spare upright. Suit lighter pilot. Nice handling, quick to rig up, none of those nasty curved tips to hassle with! Will consider trades on single surface gliders. $790.00 ono. Contact Peter on 027 752 9650 T2C 144; fully optioned, with transparent ODLO/Technora upper and lower, speed battens, raked tips, black uprights, faired carbon keel stinger, keel fairing etc. Choice of carbon or alloy aero speedbar. First placed 2019 Omarama XC Classic & 2nd in XC Champs.

Flys great and in excellent condition with low hours. Never had a bad landing. Review and pix at www.hgpg.co.nz/page/458644 Phone 021 247 2676 or email aero@xtra.co.nz RX3 for sale. Carbon & Zoom frame. Very low hours sail. It’s the second sail on the frame.

Light green front, dark green strip & teal back. Code zero swish sail, can be checked with Moyes. Glider is currently in Newcastle Australia, can be brought back to NZ for costs. $6,500 ono. Phone Tish 021 280 241 email tishtheflyingfish@gmail.com AEROS Combat L12 09 with tail, (can be flown with or without) 30 or so hours in very good condition, all white undersurface with see through top surface, 2 speedbars, 1 round with wheels and 1 alloy aerofoil, 2 spare uprights, goes like a cut cat!. $3000 or swap for skyfloater. Phone 021 220 8302, ashswin556@gmail.com KIWI 170 mint/new condition. Manufactured mid 90’s unused. Test flown - Good Nov/ Intermediate first 70% double surface lower aspect ratio glider, No VG new WOF, $2000. email - skyriderag@gmail.com

U2 160. Dacron sail, Mylar/Hydranet LE/TE, speed battens and raked tips. 2012, great condition, has flown approx 300 hours. email - skyriderag@gmail.com, phone 027 670 8301 1991 Rumour 14.5m, Intermediate/advanced double surface. Airframe and sail in good condition, has Insignia cloth repairs to its leading edge mylar due to delamination. Spare upright, test flown, WOF, $1500. email - skyriderag@gmail.com, phone 027 670 8301 KIWI Flyer 170, US 6061 tubing, low hours (has been in storage), great condition, full strip check and trim, phone 021 247 2676 email aero@xtra.co.nz MOYES Litesport 4 (149 sq ft) for sale. DOM 2004. Airframe really good but sail is worn but serviceable. Mainly white sail with kevlar leading and trailing edge. White and mid blue lower surface. Recently purchased but too small for me. Comes with manual, batten profiles and spare uprights. Will be sold with new WOF. $1200. Contact John King at jonstoys53@yahoo.co.nz Motor Hang gliding WANTED Mosquito harness size medium, silent box, foldable prop, electric start. email darren@caseyindustries.co.nz RESERVE PARACHUTES RANGE of reserve parachutes for hang gliding and paragliding including the tried and trusted Revolution, Second Chance and now the compact DiamondCross in optional steerable PG versions and HG versions. Bridles, Front containers, Maillons, Swivels, Hook knives etc, in stock at HG & PG Supplies, Phone 021 247 2676 or email aero@xtra.co.nz REVOLUTION 1 paragliding parachute. Perfect as new condition. For weight up to 100kg, never deployed, just inspected and packed. Can convert to HG model with addition of 6m bridle option. Phone 021 247 2676 or email aero@xtra.co.nz INSTRUMENTS OUDIE 4 and 5 models in stock including Blade at pre-lockdown prices. Amazing full featured GPS/alti/vario/flight computer, with mapping and airspace installed which automatically updates. Phone 021 247 2676 or email aero@xtra.co.nz ACCESSORIES Helmets, No Limit (visor option), Insider, Loop (visor option), Breeze (adjustable size), range of colours & sizes in stock, phone 021 247 2676 email aero@xtra.co.nz EMPLOYMENT CORONET Peak Tandems Ltd, Queenstown, are looking for tandem hang gliding and paragliding pilots. Call 021 220 5932

NZHGPA BOOKROOM

Understanding the Sky by Dennis Pagen. Sport aviation weather and micrometeorology for hang glider, paraglider and microlight pilots. $60 PARAGLIDING, BEGINNER TO CROSS COUNTRY by Sollom Cook. From basic techniques to competition flying $25 NZ Hang Gliding Training Handbook Essential Beginner/ Novice instruction information for NZ hang gliding students learning to fly. $5 NZHGPA Aerotow Manual In depth detail of aerotow procedure as authorised by MAANZ and NZHGPA $15

NZHGPA Paragliding Tow Manual This manual outlines requirements and procedures for towing $15 NZHGPA Logbook With rating record $10 or $5 each for orders of 5 or more incl postage.

Check the NZHGPA web site for the latest special offers Postage and GST is included in price.

Please send your order with payment to;

NZHGPA BOOKROOM Evan Lamberton, 35A Manly Esplanade, Browns Bay, North Shore City 0630 Ph 09 478 0063, 021 407833 ceo@nzhgpa.org.nz

30 A i r b o r n

CLOUD PIX

Above; These unusual ‘wave’ clouds appeared over Taylors Mistake/ Scarborough during the Lockdown when we were not allowed to fly.

Three parallel east - west ‘wave bars’ appeared late afternoon and stayed till late at night while moving slowly north and becoming more defined. No further

waves appeared further out at sea.

It seems there’s no mountain ranges for wave to form from in the 20 knot easterly straight off the Pacific which we had on the ground, but about 130km to the north, north east are the two parallel Kiakoura Ranges which are about 30 degrees off the angle

THE COUNTRY CODE We are all dependent on good relations with the farmers who own the land we fly from. Here are some guidelines to ensure that you and other pilots will be able to continue to fly.

ALWAYS CHECK with local pilots before flying at new sites.

ALWAYS ask permission to fly unless you are absolutely certain that the owner allows use of the site without asking.

CHECK AGAIN at Springtime as most farms have pregnant and newborn stock that can easily be frightened and injured.

of these wave bars. The upper wind was northerly and possibly skewed by stronger wind further from the coast.

There are similarities to the day Adrian Brown and I soared to 5-6000ft and flew out to sea and back in smooth lift back in 2014 (inset photo). That time there was just one cloud bank

DO NOT show displeasure or abuse an owner if permission is refused.

This could hamper getting permission in the future.

ALWAYS GET PERMISSION to take a vehicle onto a property. Ensure that vehicles without gliders are not taken onto the property. Put all gliders on one car rather than have a convoy crossing the property.

If stock is near, drive slowly.

LEAVE GATES as you find them, gates may be closed to keep stock in or open to allow stock to feed. Ensure that all pilots and drivers understand.

USE STILES and gates where ever possible, if you must cross a fence,

that we assumed to be convergence.

This time the three ‘waves’ were at around 2-3000ft and if there was similar lift, potentially close enough to jump between!

Shows what can happen, even at a site known for boring soaring!

Photos; Bill Degen

cross at a post or strainer post.

AVOID hay standing or cut unless permission has been given to cross it.

AVOID landing in paddocks containing crops or stock. Carefully move off crops to avoid damage.

DO NOT LIGHT FIRES at any time.

DO NOT SMOKE during fire risk times.

DO NOT TAKE DOGS onto any farm or property.

DO NOT disturb plants or machinery, move around it.

LEAVE NO RUBBISH.

Everything you need • Ready to fly – no setup • Extremely responsive & accurate Vario assisted by inertial sensors • Sunlight readable LCD with Touch panel optimised for gloves • Long lasting battery with quick charger • Vector maps for the whole world pre-installed (towns, roads, rivers, lakes etc.)

• Airspace files for most of the world pre-installed and updated • Software fully supports Competition and XC Pilots • Barometric and GPS altimeters • Easy and free software updates • In-flight FAI Triangle Assistant • Customizable data fields • Multiple wing profiles • Thermal Assistant • Wind Assistant • IGC tracklogs

FLARM and FANET now available New BLADE HG version with airspeed pitot

• Lightweight • Perfect size • Available in Full or upgradeable Basic versions • And more…

www.naviter.com/oudie-4 http://www.naviter.com/oudie-4/ aero@xtra.co.nz aero@xtra.co.nz

03 326 6411 021 247 2676

nzparagliding.com info@skywings.co.nz Ph 0274 98 2345

phi-air.com

www.papteam.com www.miniplane.net