Airborn #220 Nov 2021 by NZ HGPA

Issue 220; November,December 2021,January 2022

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING

Caught in Wave Emergency Gear Himalayan Rescue 7.50 Including GST

9 771170 992006

Hang Gliding Nationals

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

NORTHLAND H.G.P.C. C/- Guntram Gross 1 Brook Road Whangarei Email: Skywalk@hotmail.co.nz www.facebook.com/ NorthlandHangGlidingandParaglidingClub/ Pres; Mike Ferguson.......................021 995 682 Sec/Treas; Guntram Gross...........021 072 0357 HGSO; Herman Ahrens..................09 432 9333 PGSO; Wolfgang Harder..............021 112 3597 Sites; Bernie Massey....................021 244 4405 AUCKLAND H.G.P.C. PO Box 47813 Ponsonby, Auckland 1144 Email: info@cloudbase.org.nz www.cloudbase.org.nz Pres: Stefan Sebregts .................021 266 1287 Sec: Adrian Merrall...................... 021 249 3999 Treas: Malcolm Dawson...............021 052 1568 HGSO: Fraser Bull .......................027 801 4044 PGSO: Reuben Muir.......................09 446 0020 Airsp: Leslie Graham .....................09 579 6485 Steve Price ....................................021 781 828 Sean Oliver Hang Gliding............... 027 670 8301 Skywings Paragliding ....................09 570 5757 Wings And Waves Paragliding ......09 446 0020 WAIKATO H.G.P.C. Inc. C/- Ian Manton

TARANAKI FREE FLYERS C/- John Morgan New Plymouth Pres, Airsp, Sec/Treas, PGSO; John Morgan ...................................................... 021 726 183 HGSO; Dave Austin....................021 0283 6797 BAY OF PLENTY H.G.P.C. C/- Neville Goodwin, 304b Papamoa Beach Road, Papamoa Beach, Papamoa, 3118 Email: bophangparaclub@gmail.com www.facebook.com/BOPHangGlidingParagliding Pres: Kevin Wylie..........................027 321 1107 Sec: Neville Goodwin.......................... 027 465 3637 PGSO: Mark McIntyre........................021 337 595 HGSO: James Low.......................021 102 5004 Airsp: Rhys Akers.........................021 177 7563 Sites: Dave Shaw...........................07 575 9560 Kiwi Air.........................................021 1046 208 Mount Paragliding........................027 249 2702 WELLINGTON H.G.P.C. PO Box 9824 Marion Square Wellington 6141 www.whgpc.nz Email: info@whgpc.org.nz Pres: Matthew Williams................027 552 5205 Sec/Treas: Grant Firth................... 021 422 698 HGSO: Grant Tatham...................027 636 3491 PGSO: Irwin Imhoff........................ 22 087 2173 Airsp: Ian Miller ............................022 176 8205 Comms; Warren Fitzgerald..........027 511 1599

PO Box 131, Matamata 3440 Email: ian@imatec.co.nz Pres: Mark McDonald...................020 444 9995 Sec/Treas: ................ Ian Manton 027 546 2832 PGSO: Bruce Vickerman .............027 498 9941 HGSO: Rick Hawkeswood.............07 868 6250 Airsp: Neil Howe.............................07 304 9631 HAWKES BAY H.G.P.C. Inc. 22 Mangarau Crescent, Havelock North 4130

MARLBOROUGH H.G.P.C. C/- Cody Pickles 1188 Waihopai Valley Road, RD 6, Blenheim Email: codypicklesj@gmail.com Pres: Daniel Francis .....................027 823 7292 Sec: Cody Pickles ........................027491 2730 Treas: Lindsay Smith....................027 850 6368 PGSO: Julie Bousquet.................027 340 0718 HGSO: John Urlich..03 5771024, 027 302 5629 Overall Site Manager; Mark Davies.021 0273 3977 Airsp: Daniel Francis.....................027 823 7292

Email: hbhgpc@gmail.com www.soarhawkesbay.co.nz Pres, Ken Beach ..........................021 191 6388 Treas: Nick Webster .....................027 494 9032 Sec; Jonathan McIlvenny.............021 133 7019 PGSO: Shane Davies ..................027 870 6000 HGSO: Ross MacKay...................027 285 4195 Sites; Bex Rae ..............................021 605 204 Airsp: Shaun Gilbert.....................022 477 8804

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KEY Pres; .............................................. President

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

TASMAN H.G.P.C. C/- Frog Twissell 186A Nile Street, Nelson 7010 Email: thgpgclub@gmail.com 021 272 3236 Pres; Kevin Rooke..........................021 762 769 Sec; Frog Twissell.........................021 228 2121 Treas; Brian Erasmus ...................021 384 4464 PGSO; Saxby Thorndyke.............027 606 8669 HGSO; Mark Patton.......................021 619 279 Airsp; Claus Petry.........................021 250 4836 Sites; Kevin Rooke.........................021 762 769 Nelson Paragliding.........................03 544 1182 Hang Gliding NZ.............................021 762 769 CANTERBURY H.G.P.C. Inc. C/- Paul Conaghan 34 Mounter Ave Christchurch 8051 Email: exec@chgpc.org.nz www.chgpc.org.nz Pres: Colin Hogg..........................021 249 9599 Sec/Treas; Paul Conaghan ..........022 414 7377 PGSO; Stuart Mackintosh..........020 4021 3344 HGSO; Warren Simonsen.............021 183 2126 Sites PG; Ondrej Wieden............020 4158 8152 Sites HG; Adriel Kind....................027 964 5397 Website; Stephen O’Shaughnessy.03 326 7373 Airsp; Jean Brossard....................021 143 9993 Canty HG School; Bill Degen.......021 247 2676 Chch Para.....................................022 045 7254 Cloudbase Paragliding.................027 532 4874 Nimbus Paragliding......................027 432 4874 ParaPro.........................................0800 548 323 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 Extreme Air Paragliding School....021 156 3256 G Force Tandem Paragliding..........03 441 8581 Infinity Paragliding School..............021 981 855 Skytrek Hang Gliding & Paragliding.0800 759 873 Paraventures Paragliding...............021 809 275

Climbing out in superb air on Mt Murchison at the 43rd NZ hang gliding nationals 2021 Photo: Maree McNabb

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

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.

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

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

New Zealand and abroad ● Subscription is by membership of NZHGPA (a

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flyer and foreign subscriptions please contact the NZHGPA Administrator for

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President

Duncan Macnab, 027 624 6434, president@nzhgpa.org.nz Ian Manton, 027 546 2832, vice-president@nzhgpa.org.nz

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Duncan Macnab, 027 624 6434, president@nzhgpa.org.nz Ian Manton, 027 546 2832, ian@imatecsolutions.co.nz Carlos Palmer, 027 487 7654, ths_master@hotmail.com Kyla MacDonald 021 056 2320, kylamacdonald@gmail.com Blake Round, 027 367 7679, blake.round@gmail.com Kevin McManus 021 134 0463, kamdfc@gmail.com Erica Caro, eerieka@gmail.com Pete Helliwel, 021 0284-5170, pete.helliwell@sky.com

Operations TEAM Chief Executive Officer

Nick Taber, 021 420 742, ceo@nzhgpa.org.nz

Operations Manager

Carlos Palmer, 027 487 7654, operations@nzhgpa.org.nz

Training Manager

Blake Round, 027 367 7679, training@nzhgpa.org.nz

Internal Auditor

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

National Safety Officer

Nina Harrap, 027 844 3904, safety@nzhgpa.org.nz

National Airspace Officer

Rhys Akers, 021 177 7563, airspace@nzhgpa.org.nz

Chief Medical Advisor

Vacant - C/o NZHGPA administrator, admin@nzhgpa.org.nz

Paragliding Competition Committee

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Hang Gliding Competition Committee

Dennis Thorpe (Chair) 021 112 1622, Hgcc@nzhgpa.org.nz Matt Barlow, Tom Mulder

In This Issue... Himalayan Rescue........................................................................4 Emergency Equipment.................................................................6 2021 Hang Gliding Nationals.......................................................8 Caught in Wave...........................................................................12 Beginners Guide to Hike and Fly Review.................................14

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

Please send advertisements, photos and articles to the editor:

Timothy Brown (Chair), 03 442 5319, 021 182 4243, NZHGPAPCC@googlegroups.com Dave Washer, Nina Harrap

Airborn Magazine

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Understanding RASP; Complimentary Resources..................16 Cross Country Milestones.........................................................18 Executive Reports, Safety Checks...........................................20 Cross Country Championship Tables, Events................... 22-25 Classified Advertisements.........................................................26 FRONT COVER: Kinga Masztalerz flying at Kario. Photo; Chris Wright

Next issue deadline: 30 December 2021 A

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A Lucky Speck of Red T he downed pilot was a Dutchman, Wilhelmus Bartels. He had been on his way back to Bir late in the afternoon, paragliding along the sun-baked walls of the Dhauladar Range in the Himalaya at 3500m.

He might have had a coldnipped nose and frozen fingers. It could be that fatigue had caused a lapse in concentration as he scratched along the huge alpine faces, but turbulence probably caused an asymmetric collapse and the subsequent turn of his wing was not arrested quickly enough. Wilhelmus collided with the rock, sliding down the mountain. His wing then snagged itself on a boulder and his lines, wrapped around one leg, completely inverted him. Scattered around him were pieces of his smashed vario, his SPOT beacon and his helmet. All he had left to call for help was his phone, which he extracted from a pocket with a shaking hand and promptly dropped. On 30 October 2013, the same afternoon, Wanaka’s Bryan Moore was high on the same range, not far from Dharamshala. It had been a good flying day more than five hours in the air - and he was looking forward to completing a 100km+ out-andreturn flight when he caught sight of a tiny speck of red on the vast mountainside beneath him. Edging closer to it, he saw that it was another paraglider, its pilot hanging upside-down and motionless beneath it. Cold and tired, Bryan grabbed both brakes

Neil Brown relates a remarkable rescue in the Himalayas. Photos by Bryan Moore

Above; People involved were myself, John Sylvester and Rahaul (Manali based Himilayan rescue team dude) in one hand, pulled off his mitt and marked the spot on his GPS. The loose glove slipped out of his lap and fell away so the radio call of the coordinates followed quickly

and he flew back to Bir, landing at the large LZ close to town. Rested, watered and fed after his long flight, Bryan called in next day to the Surya, the restaurant and informal search and rescue centre on the main street of town. He asked how the rescue had gone but to his horror he realised that another pilot, a Russian, had been the only one recently retrieved. Authorities had done lots of enquiring about and checking of red wings and pilot forms, the cliff rescue team had conducted some sort of preliminary investigation but the whole process seemed to have ground to a bureaucratic halt. Anyone who knows him will

Left; With the injured pilot

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realise Bryan is not one to sit around waiting for things to happen. Paragliding and mountaineering legend John Sylvester was quickly shouldertapped. Rahul, a member of the Manali Himalayan Rescue Team, was also recruited to help. Ropes and rescue gear were borrowed from any source available. A helicopter was found, though its pilot had no experience flying in alpine conditions and had never winched before. By the time the chopper took off, the crashed paraglider pilot had spent two nights out, he was still upside-down and now he was covered in snow. Understandably cautious, the pilot opted to unload his three rescuers some 200m below the accident site. They jumped off

Above; Seen from the helecopter on the day of rescue, the Dutch guys wing is just visible on the wall a skid, one at a time, while he hovered over a section of snowy rock tussock. As the chopper retreated, the team began the five-pitch climb to the red paraglider above them. The odd piton was hammered in for protection and eventually they neared the motionless pilot. Nobody wanted to be the one to confirm what everyone was thinking at this point, so paper/ scissors/rock decided Bryan would approach first. He shouted out who he was and that he was here to help. Astonishingly, the prostrate figure responded with a groan. The Dutchman thrust his wrist towards his rescuers, showing them a tag with his medical insurance details on it. Amazed, the crew rushed to cut him free from his wing, turn him the right way up (itself an action fraught with risk) and get him secured and warm. As they carefully moved him downhill, his cellphone fell out of the top of his harness and onto the ground. Had he known it was still in his gear, his rescue might have been a little less of a challenge.

Then, strapped securely in his harness, Wilhelmus was lowered down two pitches to a sort of ledge and the helicopter was summoned. Still anxious, the pilot wanted to take someone else off the little ridge first to fly him to a safe spot for receiving the patient. John Sylvester apparently hated being exposed to heights and he hated flying underneath choppers even more, but the gods of paper/ scissors/rock were not with him this time so he dutifully attached himself to the sandbagged rope and flew off, dangling under the clattering machine. Some time later the whop, whop of rotors announced the helicopter’s return, with John still suspended helplessly underneath as it approached and then flew away once more. Perhaps the pilot wanted to maximise his practice time. Eventually the helicopter returned without its test-rescue subject and the Dutchman was clipped in and flown off. By this time there was another rescue team approaching from below but the rotor wash unfortunately

Above; John being stropped off to find a place to strop the dutch guy to blew much of their gear off the mountain. Complications often abound in such situations so the next obstacle to overcome was the question of where to send the patient. The locals felt that if he was taken straight to hospital, they would be reluctant to release him again and that might not be in his best interests. It was decided that he should return to Bir, where a local doctor would assess him and determine the best course of further action. With his insurers onside, he was quickly flown directly to New Delhi and then back to Holland for treatment.

The word is that Wilhelmus walks with a limp now but otherwise he is fit and well. It would be a blessing if the details leading up to his rescue are little more than hazy memories, but if he is superstitious his lucky colour would have to be red. A u t h o r ’s n o t e s : Ye s , i t happened in 2013. It has taken years to get the full details of this story, extracted in much the same way as a dentist might take out a recalcitrant tooth. To observe that Bryan is self-effacing is akin to noting that the Pope is a Catholic. John Sylvester died a couple of months ago, of a heart attack.

Below; The accident site is steep and was accessed from the helecopter drop-off site by climbing up 200m

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When good times I t’s just your local site: conditions are a little rowdy, but nothing you can’t handle. You’re stoked cause you got the day off to go fly and you’re smug ‘cause there’s only another couple of other lucky pilots in the air.

The thermal takes you a little away from where you normally hang out, but that’s cool, time to explore a bit more of the sky. Then it happens… One of the things that we all wish wouldn’t happen, but sometimes does happen to people in our community. And then things go dark for a moment… When you gather your thoughts, you realise you’re glad as #*#$& that you put the effort in to be well prepared for this moment you thought might never arrive… With the flying season already on for many, it’s worth spending a bit of down time on those windy spring days to sort a couple of every pilot’s basic survival tools to aid you if good times turn bad: communications and first aid. It takes a bit of preparation, but if things turn ugly for you, or for one of your flying mates, having good comms and first aid can make a real difference to the outcomes, especially if you end up somewhere other than in the landing field… An added bonus is that a lot of this preparation prompts us to think through the ‘what-if’ scenarios, which is a great way to discover and fill gaps in our knowledge, systems and equipment. This is not trying to be a downbuzz, but a bit of aroha towards the community, to contribute to our culture of safety and improve outcomes if bad sh!t were to happen. For those who practice other

Be well prepared when flying in the NZ Alps outdoor sports, It’s a bit like carrying a throw-bag when kayaking: I don’t carry one to protect myself, I carry one to save you. Likewise with a shovel and probe when skitouring; If you aren’t carrying them then how the hell are you going to dig my carcass out from the avalanche? When it comes to our flying community, I want you folks to be able to watch my back like I am set up to watch yours. ;0)

2-way satellite tracker & messaging device

If you don’t have one, get one… Even if you don’t fly XC, when you are just slightly over the back or in the trees, you might not have cell phone coverage. The Garmin InReach Mini is the most common and popular device for pilots, but whatever you choose, make sure the device and the user (thats you!) is able to send and receive text messages, as well as send automatic tracking information.

A bit of foam, a real estate sign and some tape makes a cheap and light protective pouch for your InReach

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Older style SPOT devices are better than nothing at all, but imagine trying to organise a party with a mate who doesn’t listen and can only speak three specific sentences… Don’t take my word for it: read other opinions about the pro’s and con’s of each: tinyurl.com/ tracker-comparison Or see Gavin McClurg’s (older but still relevant) article on Inreach vs SPOT tinyurl. com/InReachvsSpot When your InReach Mini arrives in the mail To be able to use all their superhelpful capabilities, they have to be set up right and you need to know how to use them. Start by downloading the Garmin EarthMate App, and download the maps for NZ (both free). Make sure your phone can pair with your InReach via Bluetooth: The quick start guides that come with the device are pretty good, but here’s the specific tips for how to set up your Garmin Explore account to be useful for paragliding (and any other outdoor sport). CONTACTS Enter the contacts for people you fly with, people who can help you and your loved ones. You can just use your phone’s contacts when paired with the EarthMate app, but this is insurance in case your phone breaks, is lost, or runs out of charge. MESSAGES These are your pre-set messages, which are free to send with most data plans. They can be sent direct from the InReach without needing to connect your phone. You’re limited to 160 characters, but with some thought, three messages should cover all the non-emergency communications you need to make:

Here’s my three… OK - check in/landed safe/at campsite/tracking is OFF and you don’t need to monitor me. (share. garmin.com/danclearwater). TRACKING ON - about to take off/ please monitor tracking (share. garmin.com/danclearwater) until I send OK message. DELAYED - I’m ok, just behind schedule. If I need help, I will send a separate message. (share.garmin. com/danclearwater). Each one should be set up to go to Mapshare (more on that soon), your trusted contact’s phone and their email. Sometimes phone company spam protection software filters out text messages from InReach, and sometimes people aren’t checking their emails, but will notice a text. It doesn’t cost any extra to do both. Talk to your trusted contacts about what you want them to do when they receive each message. Do you want them to reply to an “OK”? If you don’t send an OK after landing, should they contact the police if they can’t get a hold of you? After 1 hour, after half a day?… Talk to them and help them understand your flying, whether it’s a little hike and fly sleddies, thermalling locally or sending it huge on XC. It’s also worth including your own phone and email as a recipient, just so you know directly if there’s ever any problems or delays with receiving the messages. It’s helpful for the recipient if you include your MapShare link within the message. Just one less thing they have to remember if something goes wrong. SOCIAL This is where you set up your MapShare page. This creates a public web page

turn bad where people can see your tracking data and any public messages. If for some reason your ‘trusted contacts’ don’t notice that you haven’t come home, a public track log gives you a chance to be found. Plus when you land out, your flying mates can look and see where you are, and that you are “OK” or “DELAYED” or whatever. Allowing map viewers to locate you and send you messages has a small opportunity for abuse, but also fills a safety gap. If you turned your device on, but forgot to start tracking (we’ve all forgotten at least once) and then crashed badly, it allows someone to ping your device and get your location. Send your MapShare link to the team at the highcloud website. https://highcloud.net/spot/This is a page showing the last week of public tracking info of all the registered pilots Within the site, you can display the info on a satellite map, as well as get the link to each pilot’s MapShare page. Have a play until you know how to display both types of info. This site allows our community see where other pilots are in near real-time, which great for retrieves and encouraging someone as they near a personal best XC, but also good if someone doesn’t make it to post-flight drinks at the pub: the team can look for the track log, even if they didn’t already know that pilot’s MapShare page. ACCOUNTS Write something useful in your emergency notes to aid responders; • What sorts of activities you do (paragliding, skiing etc) • Any medical conditions you may have. • The unique code of the registered PLB you are carrying*. (it’s printed on the side of the PLB) * Have a read about why I carry an InReach and a PLB. tinyurl.com/ InReachandPLB Make a note of your own InReach address (chucky@inreach.garmin. com) and mapshare page (www. share.garmin.com/danclearwater) in your phone, tell your flying mates

and save their details as contacts and bookmarks in your phone’s browser while you’re at it. Set up your emergency contacts. These are the people that the InReach folks will contact when you hit the SOS button. They should be people who aren’t usually adventuring with you but know roughly what you are up to, and someone appropriate for the police to contact if things go bad. Have a chat with those people about what will happen if you press the SOS. Show them this video: tinyurl. com/InReachSOS Check all the boxes under “SMS Message Configuration” the more info responders have, the better they can respond for you. Don’t forget to sync Finally, whenever you change anything on your Garmin Account, pair your phone with your device and use the EarthMate App to sync all the changes to your InReach… When the weather is crap for flying Test out all the normal functions of your device: Warn your contacts first, then practice sending the preset messages. Turn on tracking, go for a wee walk, and then check to see your messages show up on MapShare, plus the track shows up on both MapShare and the high cloud website. Why bother tracking when it costs money for each track point? Because it gives a history of your position, which narrows down a search area if you crash hard and were unable to activate the emergency SOS function, or the device was smashed/ ran out of battery/had no reception in the gully you arrived in. Just read about the search for Kiwi Johnson in the USA. Chat to your flying mates and arrange to test your ability to message another pilot InReach to InReach. A really useful thing to be able to do if you’re in a team and one of the group lands out of cell reception. Once they’ve sent the OK preset, you might want to let them know that you’re coming to retrieve them, or

By Dan Clearwater on emergency equipment wish them luck ‘cos they’re on their own for the night… The only way you can do this is to send a message to their InReach Address (yourname@ inreach.garmin.com) Usually costs a buck or so per message, but it’s an investment in your safety. Do you have all the addresses of the people you fly with? And do you know how to contact their next of kin if they need to meet your mate at the hospital? Going on an XC or Vol-Biv with a specific team of pilots? When you’re meeting for coffee in the morning, one person should get out their InReach and send a message to all the pilot’s InReach addresses in the group. Then all pilots have a thread to talk in, and each message comes with your location. While you’re at it, why not do the same thing on your phone with the messaging app you prefer (Whatsapp/Telegram/ Messenger etc) Finally, play with EarthMate App and learn some of its functions: how to navigate to the location in a message sent by your buddy (ie, if they’ve crashed or need a retrieve), how to drop a pin whilst flying (in case you see an incident, but are unable to stay above the injured pilot). Gavin McClurg has even more tips for XC pilots: tinyurl.com/InReachXC When you’re about to launch • Send a (free preset) message to say you’re about to launch and tracking is on. • Turn on your tracking. • Lock the buttons. • Secure the device to your flight deck or in an accessible pocket. • Make sure the message has sent (listen for the audio tone and look for the little arrow disappearing on the message) When you land: • Turn off your tracking. • Make sure you send a (free) OK message. Without that confirmation of a safe landing, how could someone watching your track tell if you intentionally turned off tracking, or the device broke/ ran out of battery? Getting familiar with your InReach does take a bit of practice and some head scratching, but it is one of the most powerful safety tools available for pilots to get assistance when they really need it.

Radio

A little first aid kit can go a long way... (do your own homework on the medication doses!)

The other part of the communication toolkit is a radio. Especially for new pilots, make sure you’ve got one. Ask locally about which radio is suitable for you. • Is it securely attached to your harness?

• Can you comfortably and safely transmit whilst flying? • Are you confident to push the right buttons to get on the channel/ frequency your buddies are using? • Do you know how to adjust the squelch and the volume so that you can hear other pilots? • Are you being heard by your mates? (Go to an op-shop and get a babies sock: perfect option to cover the mic to reduce wind noise.) If you’re new, ask a pilot you trust to help you get set up: InReach is great, but if nothing beats direct voice communication if you have it.

First Aid If you crash hard, help might not be on it’s way for a while, so you need to have some first aid stuff, in a place you can access it easily (like your cockpit, or a zip pocket on your outer jacket. Likewise, I landed 10 minutes after a pilot crashed and fractured his back. No one else had a first aid kit, but I was able to give him some pain medications, which really made his life easier whilst waiting for the ambulance. Do a self-review of your first aid knowledge and equipment: • Read the notes from your first aid course, and review whether your kit is up to scratch. • Do you have a knife to remove a crashed pilot’s harness? • Do you have the right pain medications? (and the knowledge of what to give and when? Tip: write it down!) Each season, check the medications expiry date and replace items which are munted from months of living in your pack Finally, spend a few very helpful hours listening to episode 43 & 150 of Cloudbase mayhem podcast. tinyurl.com/paragliderfirstaid There, a pilot who is also an emergency room doctor, gives an excellent tutorial on flyingspecific injuries, medications, equipment and so on. You’ll learn that splinting, warmth, reassurance and medication are the major ways us pilots can control pain, and controlled pain leads to better outcomes for patients. Now you’re ready to watch my back. So there you have it. Get an InReach, get a Radio, get a First Aid kit, set them all up right, and practice using all of them every pre-season. I hope that you’ve got a bit out of this article. It’s my small contribution to advancing our culture of safety. I challenge you to think about what you can do to make your contribution in our community: every bit counts, no matter how big or small.

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43rd NZ Hang Gliding Nat Rod Stuart wrote a log each evening and posted on Flying Kiwis Facebook page. The following is a collation of his posts and photos recording the best Hang Gliding Nationals ever!

Here is a link to Airtribune where you can see the results for all 8 tasks that were set and the overall scores. https://airtribune.com/43rd-newzealand-hang-gliding.../info Click your way into the ‘blog’ to see the results.

ROD’S LOG... 28 Jan 2021 Arrival day A cold night at the Riverside Camp in Murchison and many pilots have already arrived and registered. Practice day tomorrow promises

some stunning flying weather with take-off likely around mid-day. A task will be set but scores will not count for the competition. It looks like we will have just over 40 competitors flying including Open class and Sport class.

This year the Kahu Cup has been introduced. This will be awarded to the winning club based on the best three pilots scores each task. This looks like being an exciting week of hang gliding from 5000’ Mt Murchison.

29 Jan 2021 Practice day What a stunning day hang gliding in the mountains! A task was set with turn point one 35kms down the Tutaki Valley and then back to Murchison township with landing at the local air strip. 40 odd pilots ventured into the air and it was completely awesome! Climbs to altitudes above 9000’ were recorded. Above 7000’ temperatures were refreshingly freezing!

Left; John Burton way down the Tutaki

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ionals

Murchison Jan/Feb 2021 Left and right; Pilots prepare to fly at Mt Murchison Photos; Maree McNabb

30 Jan 2021 Task 1 And what a beauty she was! The same 60km task as practice day was set. Down the Tutaki Valley to Flat Top and back to town. The weather was completely awesome for our second day of flying with stunning thermals everywhere. My vario recorded a 2400fpm climb! The sky and landing paddocks down the Tutaki Valley were soon littered with hang gliders. This time 17 pilots made goal with Matt Barlow arriving first at Murchison town strip ~ John Smith landed just after him. John told me his time was 1 hour 47 minutes. With 4 start gates we will need scoring to be completed to see the results for the day. It is Gary’s first time scoring so be patient. Andrew and Tom are helping him get up to speed. Our ranks have grown to 45 competitors including Open and Sports class! Unfortunately, one pilot broke his shoulder on landing requiring emergency services. Otherwise, the westerly winds made for much easier landings than practice day. The Riverside camp was buzzing last night with happy pilots. A 9:30am briefing has been called with another great day expected. The task committee are thinking about setting a 100km task towards Nelson Lakes.

for lift and John got low on the east side of Rotoiti. Eventually they made goal and landed with the gliders at the Nelson Lakes Strip. Many pilots landed on route to turn point one. The bomb out paddock and surrounds claimed a few and some chose not to fly. An exciting day and a very successful task. Two good tasks in the first two days. It doesn’t get better than that. Tomorrow looks flyable. A 10am briefing has been called. This is turning into a superb week of hang gliding.

1 Feb 2021 Task 3 Wow! How lucky are the pilots flying in this competition?! Another super task and another great day in the air. Task 3 took us down the beautiful Tutaki Valley with three turn points and back to goal at the Tutaki Air Strip. A flight of 69kms. Sports class flew a 26km task. About 10 pilots made goal with Ian Clark first in. Matt Barlow and John

Smith were right there with him. These three have all reached goal in 3 out of 3 tasks and their scores are very close. Exciting! And with more good weather and more tasks coming the pressure is on! Most left Mt Murchison at over 6000’ and crossed onto the lower ranges down the left-hand side of the valley. Many pilots struggled here and 15 landed at the Tutaki Airstrip making for a very social time. Other pilots made some of the turn points and landed down the far end of the Tutaki. The Riverside camp was buzzing tonight. The weather is warmer so many took a dip in the river after flying today. Some are saying if the weather holds, we may get an 8 task Nationals. Bring it on!

2 Feb 2021 Task 4 An epic task and Ian Clark is now in the overall lead with Matt Barlow a very close second and John Smith slipping to third place. Henning

31 Jan 2021 Task 2 9 pilots made goal: John Smith, Tom Kellner, Matt Barlow, Ian Clark, Eddie Pearson, Ollie Derry, Geoff Christophers, John Urlich (Boot), and Carlos Palmer. Light shifty winds on the ground made for some exciting landings! All pilots did land safely and we are all buzzing after an amazing day in the air. Our new scorer Gary Turner is inputting track logs and may declare a practice day winner tomorrow. Organiser Matt has declared an 8:30am briefing for tomorrow ~ task one will be set for what is looking like a big week of hang gliding in New Zealand. Most pilots are carrying a GPS track logger this year for safety and for those wishing to watch the flying real time. Tomorrow it gets even more exciting! May the best pilot win.

A stunning 77km task taking pilots past lakes Rotoroa and Rotoiti on route to the magnificent St Arnaud Range and into the Rainbow Valley. Three turn points with goal at the Nelson Lakes air strip. Three pilots made goal: Matt Barlow, John Smith and Ian Clark. Ollie Derry, John Urlich and Tom Kellner landed in the Rainbow. I spoke with Ian tonight and he described the flight. Getting away from Mt Murchison was a struggle with many in the air and only the odd good cycle going through. Many headed off low and found themselves struggling in lee side thermals. Ian, John and Matt flew together most of the way. He described the St Arnaud Range as an amazing place to be but scary with strong winds and turbulence. At one point all three were struggling

Above; Team KFC; Robz, Ed, Violet (driver) Derek and Ollie Below; A friendly farmer down the Tutaki

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Above; Tutaki Airfield with Mt Murchison in the background Left; Eddie Pearson launching

Kruger is leading the Sport class with Aaron Darby second and David Maule third. Ian and Matt are now clearly out front with only 18 points separating them! John is 500 points back in third place with Hagen Brueggemann and Geoff Christophers hot on his heels. What an exciting competition this has become! Task masters John, Ollie, Hagen and Aaron set two cool tasks down the Tutaki with open class crossing over bush to Nelson lakes air strip. John made the quote of the day... “You will need to get plenty of height here because we would all look silly sitting in trees!” The weather again turned out better than expected. Mt Murchison turned it on for the early starters and John led out from over 7000’ choosing the RHS of the Tutaki. A small gaggle including Ian and Matt set off down the LHS taking the second 20 minute start gate. Then our beautiful mountain switched off and life got tough for pilots. I discovered that ‘right was wrong’ and soon joined a group of 10 in the bomb-out paddock. Those that went left ended up being flushed into the Tutaki Valley well below take off height. Some had short flights

and tricky landings. Others found lift and were soon flying high on course to the first turn point. 14 made goal in the open class with Henning Kruger making a very popular goal in sport class. Some very happy pilots arrived back in camp tonight. We are yet to get the Kahu Cup scores for the best club based on the top 3 scores for each club in each task. Canterbury had 5 pilots in goal today and Aorangi had 3. Southern Club are doing well with Ian, John and Pete all scoring well. No doubt we will soon have scores for this interesting new inter club competition. Excitement! A 9:30am briefing has been called for tomorrow. The weather forecast is for stronger winds but still flyable. Stay tuned for more exciting hang gliding nationals news.

3rd Feb 2021 Task 5 NZ is in the middle of a high pressure making for stable flying conditions. But this is the NZ Nationals and our task committee set a beauty. Open class flew down the Tutaki to a turn point at Flat Top and back to the Tutaki Airfield. Sports class flew directly to the Tutaki Airfield. The two open class leaders both made goal with Ian maintaining his position in first place and Matt holding a close second. John landed

Left; Rod and Marney sporting Steve Cronin’s Awesome T-Shirts Right; Overall winners at goal on task 8; 2nd John Smith, 3rd Matt Barlow, 1st Ian Clark

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on course and his score will have slipped a little. Three in goal in Sports class is fantastic! Congratulations to Aaron, Andre and Henning. Henning has likely maintained his overall lead. It was a tough task at the beginning with only light ridge lift on Mt Murch. Many simply took off, turned left, pulled on full VG and headed on course. The first ridge down the valley was only just working with light ridge assisted thermals. It was a grovel and many pilots found themselves on the ground quite quickly. For those that got up, lift got better further down the course. 9 made goal in Open Class and 3 made goal in Sports Class. I managed 10th place in ‘Pepsi’ landing a painful 3.7 kms from goal! It was going off at Flat Top and I found myself in mountains at over 7000’. It is completely spell binding scenery at the far end of the Tutaki Valley and very humbling. What a privilege! Last night Marney and her team of helpers organised a superb BBQ with plenty of yummy food. Camp HQ was buzzing with flying stories. The weather looks like holding up for another 3 days and pilots are preparing for an amazing 8 task Nationals. Our wonderful Meet Director Kevin McManus had called a 9:30am briefing today. He hands out day prizes for each class, best driver award and the much coveted ‘Turkey Award’. “Ground hog day” has become a comment each day as we arrive on take off at Mt Murchison. What a competition!

4th Feb 2021 Task 6 107kms of pure bliss. It was a big

Photo; Maree McNabb

day in the saddle today. 5 made goal, some bombed but those that got on course enjoyed some big air. Many had over 3 hours in the skies. Winning the title of NZ Hang Gliding Champion requires making no mistakes. Today Matt Barlow landed after 15kms in a 107km task which has given Ian Clark a clear lead with only two rounds to go. Matt has maintained second place with John Smith in third. In Sports Class Aaron Darby has secured first place with Henning Kruger second and Stephen Ferguson third. And we have the first Kahu Cup club results out. Southern Club are currently in first place closely followed by Aorangi in second and Canterbury in third. South Island clubs are ruling the skies competing for this brand new trophy. 6 days and 6 tasks has left pilots pleasantly knackered! This week has been huge. All are keen to fly the next two days. Will Ian falter and can John or Matt catch him? Will Aaron maintain first place in sports class? Watch this space!

5th Feb 2021 Task 7 Another truly awesome day in the mountains with plenty of exciting flying. 8 days of flying in a row has lifted the calibre of flying and we all have superb flying fitness now. Open Class were sent deep up the Owen Valley for two turn points and then a big glide all the way to the St Arnaud Range with a turn point in the Rainbow Valley and goal at Nelson Lakes Airfield. An 88km task. Sport class were sent directly to the Nelson Lakes Airfield via one turn point. Mount Murchison was offering

Right; Ian Clark ready to launch Photo; Maree McNabb

shabby lift when the launch window opened. Wind dummy Cris Lawry only just stayed up. Matt Barlow went way down and had the grovel of his life for 1.5 hours. With the window closing at 2:30pm, pilots launched in quick succession. Most simply lunged around the side of Mt Murch and flew across to the Owen Valley where the foot hills were working. Many got to turn point one and up to cloud base at 7,200’. Turn point two was way up there. It was like flying in a Lord of the Rings set. The long glide to St Arnaud claimed a few on route with many landing just past the town. Some landed in the Rainbow Valley. John U Boot landed on the wrong side of the river requiring a rather wet recovery! Amazingly Matt did eventually get up and went on course to reach the first two turn points. A huge effort! 4 made goal. John Smith, Ian Clark, James McKirdy and Tom Kellner. In Sport class Steve Ferguson flew 11.2kms to win the day. Ian has maintained a clear first place with John second and Matt now in third. Aaron has held onto first place in sport class with Henning Second and Steve third. Pete Helliwell has made a very cool YouTube video of each task. Here is a link to his channel so you can check them out: https://youtube.com/channel/ UCkUblLU5BUSir57LtY7ZzdQ

Right; Sports Class getting their trophies; 1st Henning Kruger, 2nd Aaron Darby and 3rd Stephen Ferguson Last night the Murchison Mashup International Poker Game was held. Fat Stack Stuart was stripped of his chips early on. Coined up Cronin and Dealing Derry shared the $200 pot at midnight. Don shared the raffle bourbon during the game and we all had a lot of fun. 7 tasks from 7 days and I have just found out the last task has been set down the Tutaki with goal in Murchison. It looks like we will get 8 tasks in! Prize giving at the Hampden Hotel in Murchison tonight will bring a perfect week of flying to an end. Keep an eye out for my last post where the winners will be announced.

6th Feb 2021 Task 8 We did it! 8 tasks from a possible 8 days! This will go down in history as the best Nationals ever! The day started cloudy on the hills with forecast high cloud moving in. For open class a task was set down to the end of the Tutaki Valley with two turn points and goal at the Murchison air strip. Sports class were given one turn point with goal at the Tutaki air strip. Once again conditions proved to be better than forecast and all pilots were soon on course in light but very usable thermals. 6 made goal in open class; Ian, John, Matt, Neil, Ollie and Steve. Henning nearly made goal in the sports class and earned enough points to overtake Aaron for first place. So our new NZ Champion in open class is Ian Clark with John Smith second and Matt Barlow third. In sports class Henning Kruger was the overall winner with Aaron Darby second and Stephen Ferguson third. The Southern club won the Kahu Cup with Aorangi Club second, an agonising 4 points ahead of Canterbury in third place! The prize giving was held at the Hampden Hotel, Murchison and the atmosphere was incredibly happy. This week has been one of inclusivity and deep friendship. Meet director Kevin McManus

Liz (Gary’s wife) & Natalie (Sam’s wife) watching Photo; Maree McNabb

and organiser Matt Barlow thanked everyone that helped make this the best Nationals ever! ~ All the awesome drivers ~ Riverside Holiday Park where we all stayed ~ Trackme for the gps trackers ~ Cookie Time for day prizes ~ NZHGPA president Duncan and CEO Nick for their support. ~ Louis Tapper for his pg input and excellent wind dummy flying. ~ Steve Cronin for the t shirts. ~ Marney and her team for the BBQ. ~ Hampden Hotel for hosting the prize giving dinner. ~ Murchison 4 Square for sponsoring our BBQ food. ~ Gary and Liz for score keeping an amazing record breaking 8 tasks. ~ Kevin for being such an awesome director and making the keepsake wooden hang gliding trophies. ~ Matt for organising such a superb competition. ~ And all the competitors for making this an event that will be remembered as the most successful Hang Gliding Nationals ever! We all sang a loud ‘For they are jolly good fellows’ and a big ‘hip hip hooray’ for Kevin and Matt. What a perfect end to a perfect Nationals. Dennis Thorpe videoed the whole event and put together this amazing YouTube video at www.youtube. com/watch?v=MHZB4eFFPEk&ab_ channel=DennisThorpe It serves as an amazing reminder of what an awesome week we all had. Happy landings - Rod

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A day off By A.R. Hackler

atching the dust rising in great columns behind the ute as I drove out Baldwin Road I couldn’t help thinking it was going to be an exciting day.

The day before I’d managed to talk my way into getting today off work on the gamble of a good weather forecast and after getting up early was pleased to see the bet had paid off. Today was to be like so many others, taking off from the flats using my motor-harness to get high enough to start using the many thermals that would start to kickoff around 10am around this sheltered little valley. The forecast had some Westerly in

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it but it usually didn’t come to much, and I checked at the start of Baldwin Road where the valleys intersected to see which way the wind flow was; up the Madson Valley means SW, Down the Madson means NW. The wind was blowing gently up, SW, Excellent. Driving off the road on to Mike’s driveway I could see his town car coming the other way so stopped for a quick chat. Mike’s a powered pilot with a Cessna 180 in one hanger and an R22 in the other. He lets me take off from his paddocks when ever I want to and like most GA types has a love of flying which extends to enjoying what we like to do also, even if he can’t decide whether we’re brave or l o o p y. A t least that`s what he

once said while pissed and cooking the BBQ on new years eve, the food turned out good though. I pulled the ute off the driveway into a boggy bit I hadn’t seen and waited as Mike`s dust arrived and merged with mine. “Heading out for a spin?” he said. “No just straight and level today thanks Mike.” This was our standard greeting. “Riight, he said, squinting through the sunlight and the settling dust at the wing folded and tied on the roof rack and the harness sticking out the ute canopy on the back. “Just bought the ewes and lambs in from your favourite take-off paddock so might be a bit shitty in there for you, we`re off to town for the day so use any of the other ones along the lane way.” “Bugger” I thought, that’ll probably mean the swamp paddock. I’d had an air bubble in the fuel line a couple of months ago and ended up in the swamp at the end of the take off. No damage but lots of cleaning required, I also got much, much better at ensuring all the little air bubbles were well and truly out of the fuel line. Mike was reading my mind, “Mind the swamp paddock,” he said as he took off, grinning like a man with a day off too. Right, let’s get going. After getting out and squelching around to the other front wheel to put the free wheeling hubs in that is. Christ this farm was boggy, even the driveway needed 4 wheel drive, if you drove off it. Sure enough the only clean paddock was the swamp paddock and as I opened and shut the gate for the ute the breeze was just a nice little 5 to 10k coming down the valley, nice flat paddock with a slight uphill take-off, no problem with a nice even breeze. The glider was quickly set up, preflighted and tied by the nose to the ute bull bar with the keel removed ready for the motor harness. Motor harness de-bagged, rolled over, landing legs extended and dragged over to the wing and clipped in. Next, fuel tank mounted on the downtubes and fuel line attached. Purged all the air out of the line most carefully and then did it again to double check. Have a drink, have a pee, shove a Mars bar in the front pocket of the harness and start up the engine. With the little 2 stroke clack, clacking away and clouds of smoke exiting the exhaust I could clearly see what I’d suspected for the last couple of minutes. The wind had definitely got up a bit. So, quick double check, pull on suit, pull on

helmet, gloves, have another drink, shut the doors on the ute to stop the musterers dogs climbing in and eating my lunch, fit the vario to the downtube and then carefully climb into harness being careful not to stand on the throttle with the engine running. A quick yank of the loose end of the tether holding the glider nose down onto the harness releases the slipknot and we can carry the wing over to take-off position. There we do a very full on full power run up while holding everything from falling over to check again for any engine hesitation. I picked the throttle up off the ground and stuck it between my teeth, tasting like the hunk of plastic it was, mixed with herbivore poo that it had obviously made contact with somewhere in the paddock. There wasn’t time to be distracted, the wind was definitely up. Taking off was easy, the wing was off my shoulders in a couple of strides and I was off the ground in a couple more. Climbing out at motor harness climb rates is only exciting due to the long duration of being close to the ground, not really due to the climb rate itself. It pays to look for some lift early on so I headed towards the terrace on the edge of the paddock and managed to find some little puffs of up. High enough to zip up and pull the landing legs into their stowed position. There was more up, this time requiring a few turns before the thermal started to sort it self out a bit and I could settle into a the turning and burning lift method. Around 1000ft AGL it was really into it and so around 1500ft I was impressed enough to cut the engine and after a quick check behind to make sure the prop had folded we continued to climb in steady turns drifting back towards town. This was a cracker, smooth, strong, and at 6500ft pretty long lasting for around here. Leaving the heat of the day at the surface felt like coming home to altitude, the thermal just kept going and although starting to get a little rough, widening my turns I found it much bigger than I expected and at 8200ft bailed out when it got suddenly rough and threw me over on the inside of the turn to just past the vertical. After recovering from the big bar out and dive away I headed East and found I’d already drifted beyond the town and thought I might head out towards the coast for a bit of an XC. I figured I still had about 45 minutes fuel at full throttle left in the tank so what the hell, I could find some where to go, right? Cruising along enjoying the view and still on a bit of a high after the best climb ever out of our valley I became aware of not really sinking out like I would have expected. No down, down,down sink like I’d have between thermals on a typical day. I didn’t realise at the time, but this wasn’t going to be a typical day. The first idea I had there might be something odd going on was when the vario started to indicate a climb,

I’d lost about a thousand feet while daydreaming along heading East after getting kicked out of that thermal and in the next few minutes made that back. About 9500ft I started to get a bit uneasy, I turned around and started back to the west, I could see the ground drifting away to the west, and knew I was moving fast towards the East and the sea, it wasn’t looking very far away from that height. This was obviously wave, I’d never flown it before but it was smooth and becoming more powerful every minute, it was also carrying me towards the coast. I could see cloud forming above me to the East and to the West there seemed to be cloud above me in layers stretching over the plains. The mountains in the far west were now smudged in dark looking wispy cloud of the kind I’d seen before on gusty NW unflyable days. I pulled in the bar to see if I could lose some height like I’d done with a cloud suck problem I’d had once before, S turning and spiralling down I found that it didn’t seem to be working at all and after trying whole turns and slipping and spiral diving for a few minutes, decided to save my strength. This was now becoming serious. At 12,500ft the cold was starting to get to me, my gloves were not really living up to their name and my hands were going numb. I had to think of something else. After a quick preflight drill and a couple of pulls the little motor on the harness fired up and pushing the throttle forward while keeping the bar in tried to fly back to the west. I wanted to find the descending area of the wave. This was a big help, although we were still climbing at a steady 600ft/min I was definitely getting to the west and away from a more sinister looking sea all the time. After half an hour I thought I was winning, the coast was definitely receding behind me and we almost had a sink rate. Then after a couple of minutes of light turbulence the world turned. First we went nose down, like really nose down! Crashing into the keel and diving away I remember thinking this wasn’t too bad, at least were going down. Cold hands held the bar in a vice grip as we went nose up, like really nose up! Don’t know how the wing survived all those Gs. Next I’m doing a quick crawl with my hands along the basebar to get the right wing down while pulling in as we went over the top. I don’t know how long I was in that area of rotor but when things started to smooth out I found the throttle was off and the engine just idling. Just as well, I couldn’t have taken my hands off the bar for a second. The glider seemed to be wanting to turn to the left so I had to keep a little bit off centre to control it, no surprises, something had bent. We were heading east again and down to 10,000ft but climbing again. I knew the sinking air was to the west on the other side of that rotor but no power on Earth would have me back in that thing again. I thought maybe my reserve could save me if the

glider broke up, but that turbulence was so bad I thought it would probably just tear it up too. Now I was really cold, energy levels were falling and we were climbing again at about 1200ft/min, the whole area just seemed to be more energised than before. I could clearly see bands of cloud above me to the East and West. Going past 12,500ft again I remembered the Mars bar in the front pocket of the harness. With freezing fingers this was retrieved very carefully, peeled and eaten aggressively although I nearly pulled out all my fillings on the thing, it was almost frozen solid. Now climbing at 2000ft/min at 15,000ft I became aware my situation was not good, the Mars bar had helped, but had sidetracked my mind in the rarified air and now it was gone and so were any new ideas to save myself. Even with my reserve deployed the drift would have me in the ocean and it was with a calm fascination that I looked down and saw the coast sliding under me , the greens and browns replaced by dark green of the Southern Ocean. I remember thinking how much I loved to swim and surf in the ocean when I was a kid and that it looked so quiet and still from here. The glider was just doing lazy left circles now, dipping and pulling up and dipping it`s nose again like it knew how to fly itself which seemed to me to be the funniest thing. Just flying around and around and up and down all the time laughing my head off. The thought flashed through my mind to throw my reserve, in panic I made a grab for the handle, then just kind of stopped to look at the view, it all seemed too difficult. I briefly watched the altimeter reading 25,600 but by then there was no emotion left. The sun seemed low enough now to shine in my eyes every once in a while as we circled which warmed my face but not much else. I didn’t care anymore, I hung my arms down the front of the base bar and just enjoyed the view, sleep must have come. Hypothermia combined with hypoxia saw to that...

Highline and Paragliding

An aerial meeting at Mt Gozzi on the heights of Ajaccio (Corsica) between Nicolas Santoni-Sonneville flying a Rise4 and Nicolas Berestoff on the highline. French photographer, Jacques Paul Stefani, based in Corsica, sent us these amazing photos. - AirDesign

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The Beginner’s Guide to Hike & Fly A paragliding book on walking By Aimilios Apostolopoulos, 2021 Available as e-book and paperback via www.hikeflybook.eu

ike & fly is growing in popularity with more and more pilots wanting to get into it but often not knowing where to start, how to choose the right gear and clothing, how to plan a trip, find a good take-off, and assess if the conditions are safe. The Aimilios’s ‘Guide’ is the first book addressing these issues. It’s for paragliding pilots who have some experience in flying but none or very little experience in hiking and want to get started. Mads Syndergaard who helped with the edit, wrote in the preface that the book represents ‘the very low-tech approach; “So, you’d like to do some hike&fly?? Well pick up that bag and start hiking!’ Statements like these are close to my heart, as I started hike & fly with my 17kg normal gear, running shoes and trekking poles found covered in dust at the staircase of my apartment. We don’t need the lightest and newest gear to go for a hike & fly but on the other hand, most of the questions beginning hike & fly and vol-bivouac pilots ask me, are about the choice of the gear. It’s natural when starting a new activity, we have no experience and no clue, so at least we can have the best gear possible and control this aspect of the adventure. So despite the ‘pick up that bag and start hiking’ intro, the next 60 pages are filled with gear advice and options for everyone, which should answer all the gear questions of an aspiring hike&fly pilot. From paragliding harness to socks to trekking poles, he has it all covered. I’m sneering at the ‘just pick up that bag and start hiking’ false advertising but also understand that the variety of gear choices might be overwhelming for a hike & fly beginner so it’s great to have all the gear basics described in one book. The author starts with a short introduction on the history of paragliding which is interesting and entertaining to read (‘ ‘Mandatory equipment: a piece of cloth, some straps, Adidas tracksuit, moustache. Non-mandatory equipment: reserve, helmet, self-preservation’ ‘). The first chapter covers paragliding gear, showing various options for different purposes, budgets, and for various types of pilots. I appreciate that the author doesn’t try to convince us of his favourite solutions but honestly rates the pros and cons of every piece. When

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trying to shave a few grams here and there, it’s important to remember that lightness usually comes at a price, being performance, durability, warmth etc. On the other hand, if we want to have all the warmth and comfort and all the extra gadgets, our backpack will get so heavy that the day will be over before we even hike to the top! It’s up to the pilot to find their own happy middle. I wouldn’t blindly trust all the exact weight calculations which appear in the book as the final weight will depend on wing and harness sizes and other details but it’s important to remember the main message, every single item, every extra weight will make a difference on the long hike up. In chapter 2 Aimilios discusses mountain gear, deservedly going into trekking poles as they’re a crucial part of hike & fly equipment. There is also a place to appreciate 1001 uses of duct tape, charging electronics, and other extras. At the end of the chapter, there is a bit on vol-bivouac, it’s not a vol-bivouac for beginners’ type of book but it gives us a good sense of what extra gear we might need when we want to expand our hike & fly adventures into vol-bivouac ones. Chapter 3 covers the clothing with bullet-proof systems for any weather conditions. It’s a great place to start and you can’t go wrong when following Aimilios advice. If you’re an experienced hiker or maybe later in time when you gain some experience, you might find other solutions which work for you (e.g. I usually prefer a poncho instead of a rain jacket, if it rains, I want to protect my backpack too! The 4th chapter is a brought introduction to weather forecasting. It’s useful and covers some basics but isn’t intended and shouldn’t replace reading some books on the topic. Some great meteo books and other sources are listed at the end of the chapter. The final chapter is what in my opinion makes ‘The beginner’s guide to Hike & Fly’ so special as it addresses the real core of what makes hike & fly really different to taking a shuttle and flying from an official take-off. From the importance of ground handling to time planning to real-life examples of finding the right take-off in particular topography and wind conditions.

Reviewed by Kinga Masztalerz When I coach pilots, I do it in a very similar way and this chapter comes as close as you can get to understanding new take-offs without actually going there and doing it. A must-read. I just need to mark, that the author suggests using toilet paper for an improvised windsock... I would strongly suggest to learn to assess the wind and cycles without the windsock, by the feeling on your face, and by observing the leaves, grass, etc. Please, don’t leave any rubbish behind! To sum up, ‘The Beginner’s Guide to Hike & Fly’ is a successful attempt to gather all available knowledge around hike&fly into a step-by-step guide, in order to help all those pilots that would like to try it, but are not

s u r e where to begin. It can help novice hike & fly pilots prevent mistakes and omissions that can potentially prove problematic or even dangerous. What’s more, it’s written in an easy, fast-paced way with a great sense of humour which makes the read even more enjoyable. I wish this book was around when I first got into hike & fly, it would surely help me progress smoother and avoid some mistakes on the way.

Godwits are Cross Country Flying Champions

ecently back in NZ are 80,000 Bar Tailed Godwits (Kuaka). They leave Alaska in the northern autumn, and until recently it was assumed they followed a coastal route south, often over land that would allow them to feed and rest. New evidence shows that most take a direct route south across the central Pacific to New Zealand. They can’t rest on water or feed at sea, so the 11,000 km journey is the longest non-stop flight undertaken by any bird. To track the return journey, seven birds in NZ were tagged with surgicallyimplanted satellite transmitters and tracked to the Yellow Sea in China, a distance of 9,575 km. One bird flew 11,026 km, taking nine days. They can travel at heights of 2-3000m but similar species were tracked at 6000m. Godwits had an average speed of 56 km/hr. Female godwit ‘E7’ flew on from China to Alaska for the breeding season. Then in August departed on an eight-day non-stop flight from western Alaska to the Piako River near Thames, setting a new flight record of 11,680 km. In total, ‘E7’ made a 174 day round-trip journey of 29,280 km with 20 days of flying. In September 2020, a tagged male bird flew from Alaska to New Zealand in 11 days, a journey estimated at 12,200 km. Godwits breed on the western rim of Alaska. A clutch of four eggs is laid in a shallow bowl often lined with lichen. Godwit eggs are relatively large at

Bar-tailed Godwits

Photo from The Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds

approximately 11% of a female’s body mass. This gives fully developed and mobile chicks at hatching. They fledge after 28-30 days and juveniles arrive in New Zealand after their first transPacific flight when barely four months old arriving early September. They can get as old as 28 years. Godwits may be able to predict weather when choosing their departure date. They often depart early from NZ if there are favourable winds; they seem to be able to predict weather patterns that assist them on the migration route. One tracked bird, nearly in NZ, but facing strong winds, flew to Australia that season instead. Godwits are in largest numbers at; Parengarenga, Kaipara, Manukau, Firth of Thames, and Farewell Spit. They are also found at Rangaunu, Whangarei, Tauranga, Ohiwa, Kawhia, Porongahau, Foxton Beach, Tasman and Golden Bay, Avon-Heathcote, Blueskin Bay, and Invercargill Estuary/Awarua Bay.

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Understanding RASP Complimentary Resources

wo very useful resources that complement the RASP BLIPMAP forecasts are links to weather stations on the home page of the RASP website: www.rasp.nz

One is to a map of all the Holfuy weather stations that are located in New Zealand (below). Holfuy is a Hungarian company, which was started by outdoor enthusiasts, including paragliding pilots. The name is a play on words and means “Where does the wind blow?” Their weather stations have become very popular with hang gliding and paragliding clubs.

Clicking on the icon will take you through to that weather station’s information (upper right). All the information is colour coded, and when the three lines are all green you should be in the air rather than looking at your screen! The other link on the RASP home page is to How Windy at; www. howwindy.com (below), a site created by former Wellington club member Vincent Audebert. This site has links to a wide range of weather stations, including the Holfuy stations. If you know of links to other stations Vincent is happy to add these, even though he now lives and parapentes in France.

16 A i r b o r n

Part 6 By Sven Ericksen

The NZHGPA funds 50% of the costs of the NZ RASP website: http://rasp.nz. This is a regular series explaining how to interpret and use the different forecasts that are available.

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Cross Country Milestone From the period Spring 2019 to Autumn 2021

o recognise and encourage cross-country flying endeavours, the NZHGPA awards “Cross-Country Milestone Achievement” stickers the first time a member pilot surpasses the ‘milestone’ distances of 25 & 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 or 200 km (open distance) on a hang glider or paraglider in New Zealand. (Flights are declared through the NZ Cross-Country Championships, or via participation and scoring in national or regional competition-flying events). Pictured at far right is what one looks like. Here’s detail of the awards made this winter from flights flown over the 2019/20 and 2020/21 spring-summer seasons.

Hang Gliding

Seven confirmed milestone hang glider flights from the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons. Well done these pilots! Milestone

Pilots

25 km

James Oakley, Ross Mackay, Shane Morton

50 km

Glenn Meadows, Thomas Mulder

125 km

Sebastian Katz

150 km

Matt Barlow

Sebastian Katz achieved NZ 125km when setting a new site record of 139.6 km for Moirs Hill, Auckland on 15/03/2020! That was only a shade less than Ian Clark’s regional record of 142 km flown from Bridges. Matt Barlow added 25 km to his NZ personal best to break NZ 150km, flying 171 km from Coronet Peak on 21/11/20. Only two people have flown further than that on a hang glider in NZ! (Those pilots being Shaun Gilbert and John Smith). (Without an online national cross country competition yet, and the Omarama XC Classic meet hindered by unfavourable weather, most of the documented flights of the seasons were from the two Mt Murchison HG Nationals, where tasks generally had too many zigzags for bettering 50 km open distance).

Paragliding

61 South Island and 24 North Island confirmed milestone paraglider flights from the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons. Well done these pilots!

By Tim Percival

Milestone Flight Detail

Table 1. Detail of Hang Glider Milestone Flights from Seasons 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. Pilot

Milestone Achieved (km)

Flight Date

Open Distance

Site Name

Glenn Meadows

26/01/2020

50.3

Mt Murchison

James Oakley

28/01/2020

39.0

Mt Murchison

Shane Morton

28/01/2020

35.1

Mt Murchison

Sebastian Katz

125

15/03/2020

139.6

Moirs Hill

Thomas Mulder

18/11/2020

51.3

Coronet Peak

Matt Barlow

150

21/11/2020

171.0

Coronet Peak

Ross Mackay

30/01/2021

33.8

Mt Murchison

Table 2. Detail of Paraglider Milestone Flights from Seasons 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 Pilot

Milestone Flight Date Achieved (km)

Open Site Name Distance

Jan Necas

50 & 75

9/12/2019

93.2

Michal Karnik

125

9/12/2019

130.4

Roys Peak Coronet Peak

Nicolas Sand

100

9/12/2019

117.2

Coronet Peak

Andrew Mclauchlan

10/12/2019

66.1

Barnicoat

Andrew Mclauchlan

12/12/2019

86.4

Inwoods Lookout

Nick Webster

21/12/2019

27.6

Te Mata Peak

Hugo Luiz de Menezes Cruz

28/12/2019

30.6

Kaimai

Alex Cornford

31/12/2019

31.6

Cheeseman

David Chen

50 & 75

13/01/2020

89.5

Mt McIntosh

Petr Poboril

13/01/2020

89.2

Mt McIntosh

Milestone

Pilots

Robert Dunkerley

13/01/2020

28.4

Roys Peak

25 km (South Is.)

Alex Cornford, Dan Pugsley, Darren Hassett, David Chen, Jesse Dhue, Jessica Green, John Smith, Josh Douglas, Joshua Short, Kylie Parkes, Luke Nicol, Mark Sedon, Michael Pfundt, Nina Harrap, Noel Payne, Ondrej Wieden, Rachel Shaw, Robert Dunkerley, Russell Manning, Stephen Scott, Stuart Mackintosh, Till Middelhauve, Timothy Shoultz, Vicki Zadrozny, Warrick Boustred

Todd Weigand

13/01/2020

88.0

Coronet Peak

Warrick Boustred

14/01/2020

32.6

Roys Peak

Bruce Vickerman

15/01/2020

79.4

Kaimai

Aaron Chesterman

26/01/2020

53.1

Te Mata Peak

Irwin Imhoff

26/01/2020

28.1

Dalefield Road

Samuel Leathwick

10/02/2020

56.1

Mt Murchison

Ondrej Wieden

25 & 50

11/02/2020

52.8

Mt Murchison

Michael Pfundt

12/02/2020

29.2

Mt Murchison

Samuel Leathwick

12/02/2020

75.9

Mt Murchison Mt Murchison

25 km (North Is.)

Andy Owen, Bernie Massey, Bruno Metz, Gregory Ellis, Her Tsai, Hugo Luiz de Menezes Cruz, Ian Manton, Irwin Imhoff, Matthew Taggart, Neil Howe, Nick Webster, Rick Hawkeswood

50 km (South Is.)

Andrew Mclauchlan, Bradley Franks, Clemence Cadario, David Chen, Jan Necas, Leo Chelle, Mal Haskins, Ondrej Wieden, Samuel Leathwick, Timothy Shoultz, Tomas Balik, Warrick Boustred

Hamish Dicker

15/02/2020

76.2

50 km (North Is.)

Aaron Chesterman, Andy Owen, Bernie Massey, Matthew Taggart, Pete Martin, Rick Hawkeswood, Steven Christophers

Rob Hughes-Games

100

15/02/2020

101.8

Mt Murchison

Peter Jones

20/02/2020

82.0

Kaimai

75 km (South Is.)

Andrew Mclauchlan, Bradley Franks, Clemence Cadario, David Chen, Hamish Dicker, Jan Necas, Mal Haskins, Petr Poboril, Samuel Leathwick, Thomas Rold, Todd Weigand, Tomas Balik

Andy Owen

25 & 50

14/03/2020

55.4

Te Mata Peak

Ian Manton

15/03/2020

39.0

Kaimai

Neil Howe

15/03/2020

30.3

Kaimai

Stuart Mackintosh

3/09/2020

27.6

Castle Rock

Tomas Balik

50 & 75

20/10/2020

99.9

Coronet Peak

Tomas Balik

100

11/11/2020

108.8

Moke Spurs-Speed Peak

Bruno Metz

15/11/2020

27.9

Moirs Hill

Clemence Cadario

25/11/2020

55.2

Clyde

Thomas Rold

25/11/2020

89.8

Cairnmuir

Darren Hassett

29/11/2020

31.8

Treble Cone

John Smith

29/11/2020

32.3

Carricktown

Noel Payne

29/11/2020

26.7

Treble Cone

Rachel Shaw

29/11/2020

34.2

Treble Cone

Warrick Boustred

30/11/2020

68.3

Treble Cone

Benjamin Kellett

100 & 125

14/12/2020

136.1

Dingle-Ahuriri Pass

Pete Martin

14/12/2020

53.4

Kaimai

Bradley Franks

50 & 75

15/12/2020

78.4

Parachute Rocks

75 km (North Is.)

Aaron Chesterman, Bruce Vickerman, Peter Jones, Rick Hawkeswood, Ross Gallagher

100 km

Benjamin Kellett, Mal Haskins, Nicolas Sand, Petr Poboril, Rob HughesGames, Tomas Balik

125 km

Aaron Ford, Benjamin Kellett, Mal Haskins, Michal Karnik

150 km

Aaron Ford, Benjamin Kellett

In the North Island, 12 pilots achieved NZ 25km and 7 pilots the often elusive NZ 50km milestone! For Bernie Massey it was with one of the best flights ever from Kamo, Whangarei (53.7 km). Flying NZ 75km for the first time were Bruce Vickerman, Peter Jones, Rick Hawkeswood and Ross Gallagher from Kaimai, and Aaron Chesterman from Te Mata Peak. In the South Island, 25 pilots achieved NZ 25km, 12 pilots their first NZ 50km, and 12 pilots their first NZ 75km! Nicolas Sand, Rob Hughes-Games, Tomas Balik, Benjamin Kellett, Petr Poboril and Mal Haskins have joined the paragliding NZ 100km “club”! Its membership is now 27! For Hughes-Games, Balik and Poboril, it was achieved by being the first paraglider to fly 100 km open distance from the sites Mt Murchison, Moke Spurs and Ohau Ski Field respectively. The longest South Island milestones over the period were these ones: first up Michal Karnik achieved NZ 125km flying 130 km from Coronet Peak on 9/12/2019, before Kellett achieved that mark at a similar time of the 2020/21 season, flying 136 km from Dingle-Ahuriri Pass. Then came February 3, 2021 which proved a most excellent day out for Kellett (172.8 km), Aaron Ford (169.9 km) and Haskins (140.9 km) flying from Coronet Peak or Treble Cone to achieve NZ 150km and NZ 125km milestones! (Only two people have flown further than Kellett’s distance on a paraglider in NZ, those pilots being Nick Neynens and Bryan Moore).

18 A i r b o r n

Jesse Dhue

25/12/2020

44.4

Treble Cone

Jessica Green

28/12/2020

47.4

Treble Cone

Nina Harrap

28/12/2020

47.1

Treble Cone

Gregory Ellis

30/12/2020

28.4

Kaimai

Her Tsai

6/01/2021

29.7

Kamo

Flights Table 2 continued Pilot Leo Chelle

Milestone Flight Date Achieved (km) 50 13/01/2021

Open Site Name Distance 53.2 Mt St Cuthbert

Joshua Short

14/01/2021

32.2

Coronet Peak

Mark Sedon

14/01/2021

31.3

Pakituhi Spur

Petr Poboril

100

14/01/2021

114.6

Ohau Ski Field

Timothy Shoultz

25 & 50

14/01/2021

59.2

Coronet Peak

Bernie Massey

25 & 50

31/01/2021

53.7

Kamo

Rick Hawkeswood

25, 50 & 75

31/01/2021

81.8

Kaimai

Ross Gallagher

31/01/2021

83.8

Kaimai

Aaron Chesterman

1/02/2021

92.1

Te Mata Peak

Clemence Cadario

1/02/2021

94.1

Moke Spurs-Speed Peak

Aaron Ford

125 & 150

3/02/2021

169.9

Coronet Peak

Benjamin Kellett

150

3/02/2021

172.8

Coronet Peak

Mal Haskins

50, 75, 100 & 125

3/02/2021

140.9

Treble Cone

Vicki Zadrozny

3/02/2021

37.5

Treble Cone

Matthew Taggart

25 & 50

5/02/2021

56.0

Kaimai

Steven Christophers

13/02/2021

60.5

Te Mata Peak

Luke Nicol

18/02/2021

25.8

Cheeseman

Dan Pugsley

22/02/2021

32.3

Mt Murchison

Josh Douglas

22/02/2021

31.9

Mt Murchison

Kylie Parkes

22/02/2021

26.6

Mt Murchison

Russell Manning

22/02/2021

25.9

Mt Murchison

Stephen Scott

22/02/2021

31.4

Mt Murchison

Till Middelhauve

22/02/2021

33.3

Mt Murchison

Milestone Statistics

The graph and table below shows counts of pilots that have achieved NZ milestone distances, comparing now with flights by April 2008 and by April 2015, and comparing hang gliding with paragliding. Over the last six seasons the counts of the paragliding pilots who have achieved 100, 125 and 150 km distances has really caught up with the corresponding counts for hang glider pilots. This may not be unexpected, considering that overall there are now more paraglider pilots flying cross country compared to ten years ago, with NZHGPA membership rates now at historically high levels. At the current time there also seems to be a new group of South Island paraglider pilots (possibly inspired and encouraged by online social media and online flight information), that totally ignore IFR (“I follow roads”) rules. The practice of leaving the ‘shackle’ of roads, and delving fairly deep into the mountains, does seem to be a way to increase your chance of achieving a bigger open distance. Here’s detail of those three maiden NZ200km flights included in the stats: Shaun Gilbert flew a rigid wing hang glider 230 km from Te Mata Peak on 25/03/2003, John Smith flew a flex wing hang glider 202 km from Coronet Peak on 25/12/2015, and on the same day Nick Neynens flew a paraglider 211 km from Ahuriri Eyrie.

(*Counts of this table are not just stickers awarded, but of all milestone distances attained, including achievements of overseas pilots).

Executive Repor ts CEO Update - Accident & Incident Summaries Focus on Spring & Return to Flying

During this reporting period from the 1 July 2021 until 30 September 2021, (3 month Period) , there were 13 reported incidents or accidents, of which three have been selected for publishing, with a focus on Spring conditions and a longer than usual lay off period of inactive flying due to winter and the countries extensive COVID lockdown in Level 4 and restrictions in Level 3, that prevented even ground handling for pilot cognitive and co-ordination tune up. Hear is some sound advice from Instructor Eva Keim; I fear, our collective accident risk is higher than usual at this time of year, with a bunch of risk factors accumulating: We are overly keen which can make us rush and check less, we are excessively out of practice after a long break, spring conditions especially inland can be full on and more challenging than any other time of the year. To make it worse, there will be a bit of peer pressure with everyone at the sites on the first flyable day. Currency is a huge factor in paragliding safety - as well as many other activities - and currency we don’t have right now. Even experienced pilots will find that after a long break from flying, it seems more of a mission to have our gear sorted, to nail our launches, to do everything right. The less experienced you are, meaning the less well practiced and somewhat automated all your procedures and skills are prior to a long break, the more likely slips and mistakes happen after extended absence of practice, especially when adding increased excitement and nerves. Here are some ideas to reduce this added risk: Perhaps do a home equipment check next time the weather is good, even get into all your gear ready to launch, do a chilled round of ground handling at a local park once allowed, plan an easy flight at an easy site for starters rather than throwing yourself into spring thermals at Moirs. Pay special attention to packing your gear, your weather checks, preflight procedure, your preflight checks, your launches and flight plan. Just a little ‘refresher’ will go a long way to sharpen your senses and calm down the mind to a level where thinking and planning becomes easy.” CEO Comments; If you feel quite out of practice, then why not book a couple of days of a refresher course with an Instructor! They can remind you of all the important things, keep an eye on you, teach you a new launch technique or just help you improve your general flying skills. Remember now is the time to repack reserves and WOF those gliders, be prepared and ready to fly. Of noticeable comment is the ground swell of pilot wellbeing, that I am hearing from club pilots rallying around those that have been unfortunate enough to have an incident or accident. Examples include, all pilots stopping flying to help retrieve a pilot, a senior pilot taking a pilot up in the tandem the next day to get them back on the horse and pilots debriefing other pilots to work through what happened. Music to my ears when I hear of such great community support. A pilot that has had an accident may outwardly present signs of physical injury, but less obvious is the internal turmoil as they come to grips of what has just happened to them, they may feel a range of emotions from scared, angry, embarrassed, fear ridicule, question themselves and the ability to return to flight, so be that listening supportive ear and positive guidance without judgment to help a pilot return safely to enjoyable flight. As can be seen from the selected reports occurrences can happen to both low and high airtime pilots. I am grateful to all those pilots who submitted to the NZHGPA Accident Incident Reporting System (AIRS), so that trends may be identified to help keep pilots safe. The new AIRS system is providing some fantastic pilot reflection, comments and feedback for us all to learn from, excellent reporting by those submitters. Lets fly, - Nick

Selected Accident & Incident Summaries July/September 2021

All entries can be viewed on the NZHGPA Website at: http://www.nzhgpa.org.nz/safety

August 2021, Landing Accident, Serious Injury, Aircraft Damaged, Hang glider Experience: 600 hrs Felt like a normal Taylors flying day, noticed angle of wind was North, North East at take off, but still blowing up the face, took off fine but felt slight rotor from air coming from Sumner Cliffs, It felt as though it may have turned West / Nor East, decided to head straight to cliffs as I could see great white-caps on the water, got to Donkey Paddock and again noticed good wind and white-caps on the water indicating good wind on cliffs to soar. As I headed from Donkey Paddock west I was still losing altitude although indications on the water would have suggested otherwise with a good offshore wind, I proceeded to fly along the cliffs looking for lift but could not find any. Realising it was too late to head back to Taylors Beach or Sumner Beach I made preparations to find a landing at the base of Taylors Mistake Cliffs, I noticed the surf was medium to large so decided under no condition I was going to land in the sea. From my first approach at Donkey Paddock I flew once along the cliffs and proceeded for final approach heading back East and turned half way along the cliffs as low to the sea level as I could so I could be at ground level for my final approach and flare. The rocks there were very tall and large, up to 6-8 feet which made for and interesting final flare, I flared as hard as I could but crashing into tall rocks created a hard landing. I removed myself from my harness and was sitting on a rock when Sumner lifeboat rescue arrived, a helicopter arrived and I had to walk into the ocean so we could safely winch up far away from the cliffs. Pilot Comments; If you ever take off and find yourself losing altitude all the way down to Donkey Paddock, before even approaching Donkey Paddock, do not proceed and direct a safe landing on Taylors Mistake Beach. Thank you all involved in my recovery, I am doing very well and will fly again. September 2021, Take Off Accident, No Injury, Paraglider Experience: 400 hrs Launched and veered off intended direction. Went through bushes which slowed flight sufficiently to cause crash landing into bushes. No injuries except to pride and 30 minutes extracting wing... Pilot Comments; Need more ground handling practice

20 A i r b o r n

September 2021, In Flight Accident, No Injury, Paraglider Experience: 33 hrs Frontal collapse followed quickly by full stall, semi recovery followed quickly by large cravat and spin (twisted lines and risers) unrecoverable. Pulled reserve and landed uninjured 10m up in the trees. Pilot Comments; Take instructional tandem flights with experienced pilots/ instructors to help have more of an understanding of more difficult conditions and circumstances. Ground handle and induce complex scenario, take an SIV when possible September 2021, Take Off Run, Near Miss, No Injury, Hang glider Experience 120 hrs Stalled left wing on launch, crashed back into hill. It was fairly low speed, no injuries, one bent upright. Pilot Comments: Pay attention to good launch technique, especially for first flight of the season.

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.

90 day COVID extension for Instructor, Pilot Currency and Equipment WOF from date of expiry

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;

Covid Level 4 and 3 is a worrying time for instructors or pilots that may be approaching an expiry of flight currency or equipment WOF’s during Lockdown. To help ease your concerns the NZHGPA has been approved a 90 day extension, so instructors can still operate and pilots can still fly as they enter Covid Level 2. Note: Pilots are recommended to renew instructor, examiner and pilot currency requirements and equipment Warrant of Fitness when permitted to do so, as soon as is possible to ensure continued flight safety. The extension is for a maximum of 90 days from date of expiry. Refer to; NZHGPA OPM V2.2 Page 8-4 section 8.4

S ite Notices SITE CLOSURES In Springtime and even early summer throughout New Zealand, farms are expecting newborn sheep, cattle, horses, deer and other animals. Your presence on or flying over farmland could frighten or injure pregnant or newborn stock. Even at places that you usually fly without problems, please check with the farmer if it is OK to fly. This is a difficult time for farmers and they do appreciate your consideration. Not asking has resulted in the loss of many flying sites while asking has earned their friendship. If in doubt or if any stock are present DO NOT FLY without asking.

Safety Checks Skywalk Poison Paraglider Lines

Poison X-Alps S EAPR-GS-0511/16, M EAPR-GS-0512/16, XS EAPR-GS-0519/16 01.10.2021 On a heavily used Poison X-Alps paraglider, manufactured in May 2016, a tear in the stitching of a line on the riser occurred during a flight at a sand dune – see photo. The stabilo line and the outer B main line are attached to this Dyneema line. The pilot was able to land the glider safely. An analysis of the very heavily used glider (used for training by various X-Alps pilots) showed: The stitching of the line in question on the riser can, with extremely intensive use and corresponding load, become frayed and no longer hold the necessary load. Skywalk therefore is taking the following measure in agreement with the DHV: Pilots flying a Poison X-Alps with more than 300 flight hours, and/or very heavy ground handling use, should please send their paraglider directly to Skywalk for inspection or to their respective country importer. The strength of the stitching will be checked there and if it is too low, it will be repaired free of charge. In general, in case of very frequent use and/or heavy stress, the pilot should take his glider to an authorised service center regularly for a spot check and, independently of this, should always visually inspect his glider himself. For any questions please contact: Skywalk GmbH & Co. KG Windeckstr. 4 83250 Marquartstein 0049-8641-6948-0 support@skywalk.info

Tow Release Easy Quick

DHV 06-0043-15, T DHV 06-0044-17, T2 DHV 06-0046-21 Possible blocking of the release by a steel ring on the leader rope. It has been reported that a steel ring of the leader rope slipped over the tensioning sleeve (release device of the towing pawl) during the towing and launching process (release device of the towing pawl) and then blocked it. Due to the pull during the towing process the pilot could not pull the tensioning sleeve backwards, the release was blocked. The detachable tow release Figure 1 Easy Quick T is shown here in Figure 1. The yellow fastening rope of the latch is threaded through a steel ring on the lead rope and inserted into the black clamping sleeve (release device) of the latch. In Figure 2 you can see that the ring from the pre-rope can slip over the tensioning sleeve (release device) under special circumstances. When the tow Figure 2 rope is pulled in, the ring can jam on the tensioning sleeve. This is hardly noticeable by the pilot during the take-off process. Only after taking off can you notice the asymmetrical pull. Triggering by the pilot is then no longer possible. Since the steel ring cannot simply slide over the release, it must be pulled over the release with a pull. This is most likely with a reverse pull-up and twist-in to the side where the trigger is. Figure 3 shows the steel rings used as standard on front ropes for hanging the latch in the tow rope with an outer diameter of 4 cm and an inner diameter of 3.5 cm. In picture 4 you can see that the diameter of the tensioning sleeve (release device) of the tow pawl is 2.5 cm smaller than the steel ring on the lead rope. Conclusion; Under unfavorable circumstances it can happen

that the steel ring slips over the clamping sleeve (release device) during pulling if the inner diameter of the steel ring is larger than 2.5 cm. The manufacturer recommends that the connection to the lead rope is made with rings that have a smaller diameter than the clamping sleeve (release device) of the tow pawl. August 18, 2021 Andreas Schoepke DHV-Fachbuero Windenschlepp, andreas.schoepke@dhvmail.de

Parachute Pins/Bungees

Figure 3

Figure 4

A potentially serious issue with your reserve parachute system. On two occasions now, during reserve repacking clinics, one just recently, one a couple seasons ago, have encountered the following SERIOUS issue regarding reserve safety pins: Apparently some pilots (or re-packers) change out the bungees for fatter gauge bungees. This fat stuff is hard to pass through a grommet even when new. Old bungee hardens and I’ve had pilots trying to do mock deployments, where the chute handle pins come out of the bungees just fine, but these bungees make the chute ‘flap’ impossible to open by pulling on the chute handle. The loop in the bungee is bigger than the grommet holes, so the flap is locked shut. The photo shows on the left an older style but acceptable size Wills Wing version of ‘correct’ size bungee that passes through a grommet no problem. The fat bungee was what I found installed on a harness later. I’d just caution all pilots to check their bungees, to verify they are of a small enough diameter to pass through the grommets easily when you pull on the reserve handle. From long time hang gliding instructor, and Wills Wing dealer Paul Voight. - Wills Wing

N Ne eww ZZeeaallaa nn dd C rC ro os ss s - -CCoouunntt rr yy

ing PP aa rr aagglli idding CC hh aa mmpip ioons n sh hips ips

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

April 1st 2021 to March 31st 2022 Top scores as shown on XContest in 10/2021 Total 229.67 p.

227.29 p.

203.28 p.

199.78 p.

163.08 p.

153.58 p.

139.56 p.

137.82 p.

133.69 p.

130.86 p.

115.70 p.

109.71 p.

109.26 p.

104.74 p.

98.91 p.

94.99 p.

87.62 p.

83.84 p.

78.99 p. 77.41 p.

Pilot, flight date/time Site Distance Points Anthony Saupin [willow1633] 1 12.05.21 12:46 Treble Cone 17.46 km 26.19 p. 2 27.09.21 12:49 ? 16.56 km 24.84 p. 3 09.10.21 14:18 Coronet Peak 13.11 km 19.67 p. Pete Helliwell [bragskydiver] 1 15.09.21 12:38 Ahuriri 26.39 km 26.39 p. 2 17.09.21 13:05 Clyde 20.72 km 25.90 p. 3 14.09.21 12:13 Clyde 17.71 km 17.71 p. Alex Cornford [Alex7] 1 22.10.21 12:15 Long Spur 29.66 km 59.32 p. 2 03.04.21 10:10 Mt Hutt 7.34 km 9.18 p. Ken Beach [ken.beach] 1 18.09.21 14:21 Burma Road 25.50 km 25.50 p. 2 16.10.21 14:29 Paeroas 22.19 km 22.19 p. 3 02.05.21 13:39 Mutiny 11.92 km 14.90 p. Anand Srinivasan [Anand] 1 03.04.21 14:06 Kaimai 49.38 km 61.73 p. Mark MacKenzie [MrMacKenzie] 1 17.04.21 14:48 Takaka Hill 14.74 km 22.11 p. 2 08.10.21 12:32 Takaka Hill 19.91 km 19.91 p. 3 18.09.21 10:56 Takaka Hill 12.53 km 18.80 p. Bruno Metz [Tigroun] 1 15.10.21 13:08 ? 24.57 km 24.57 p. 2 12.08.21 10:57 ? 13.28 km 19.92 p. 3 18.10.21 16:52 ? 9.95 km 14.93 p. Brent Edwards [pcbrent] 1 18.09.21 12:24 Barnicoat 18.32 km 27.48 p. 2 24.07.21 12:22 Barnicoat 11.10 km 16.65 p. 3 03.07.21 13:01 Barnicoat 6.37 km 12.74 p. Rob Gillard [rob_gillard] 1 03.04.21 14:04 Kaimai 44.72 km 55.90 p. Nicolas Sand [Nicosan] 1 12.05.21 11:56 Treble Cone 55.71 km 55.71 p. Mark Macdonald [Brick] 1 03.04.21 14:05 Kaimai 23.82 km 29.78 p. 2 16.10.21 14:08 Paeroas 14.11 km 14.11 p. 3 16.05.21 14:21 Kauaeranga 10.82 km 10.82 p. Nick Webster [nickwhl] 1 03.04.21 13:41 Kaimai 20.52 km 25.65 p. 2 18.09.21 14:28 Burma Road 21.83 km 21.83 p. 3 31.07.21 13:52 Te Mata Peak 2.97 km 5.94 p. Stephen O’Shaughnessy [soshaugh] 1 15.09.21 11:40 Barnicoat 9.86 km 19.72 p. 2 28.04.21 11:41 Barnicoat 11.76 km 17.64 p. 3 18.09.21 12:14 Barnicoat 15.86 km 15.86 p. Andy Owen [doc.owen] 1 18.09.21 14:26 Burma Road 25.21 km 25.22 p. 2 03.10.21 13:11 Te Mata 7.25 km 14.50 p. 3 16.10.21 15:22 Paeroas 10.05 km 10.05 p. Luke Nicol [Lukenicol] 1 21.04.21 11:34 Coronet Peak 39.32 km 49.15 p. James Gibson [Jaims] 1 15.09.21 14:25 Bealey Spur 34.64 km 34.64 p. 2 03.07.21 13:52 Mount Oxford 5.99 km 7.49 p. 3 26.05.21 10:24 Taylors Mistake 4.65 km 6.98 p. David Cleary [DCleary] 1 21.10.21 12:52 Treble Cone 32.30 km 48.45 p. Barry Sayer [Bazza] 1 03.10.21 12:53 Te Mata 8.64 km 17.28 p. 2 16.10.21 14:28 Paeroas 14.82 km 14.82 p. 3 20.05.21 14:43 Te Mata 6.38 km 12.76 p. Bruce Vickerman [Bruce.V] 1 25.09.21 13:30 Alan’s Hill 18.09 km 18.09 p. 2 16.10.21 13:51 Paeroas 13.66 km 13.66 p. T 3 16.05.21 14:16 ? 11.44 km 11.44 p. Thomas Wright [tomwright] 1 10.10.21 16:04 Mt. Cheeseman 28.98 km 28.97 p. 2 03.10.21 12:53 Mt. Cheeseman 13.90 km 13.90 p. Kyla MacDonald [burg]♀ 1 03.04.21 14:01 Kaimai 33.88 km 42.35 p. Jean Brossard [jeanbrossard] 1 02.05.21 13:29 Mt. Cheeseman 15.79 km 15.78 p. 2 03.10.21 12:45 Mt. Cheeseman 10.92 km 13.65 p. 3 28.09.21 11:27 ? 12.19 km 12.19 p. Craig Miller [craigm] 1 03.04.21 13:58 Kaimai 29.27 km 36.59 p. Dawid W [sdw3d] 1 15.10.21 15:30 Karioitahi 23.91 km 35.87 p.

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

22 A i r b o r n

Total 70.70 p.

70.00 p.

68.50 p. 62.59 p.

61.73 p. 60.82 p.

59.42 p.

56.87 p.

55.90 p. 55.71 p. 54.71 p.

53.42 p.

53.22 p.

49.77 p.

49.15 p. 49.11 p.

48.45 p. 44.86 p.

43.19 p.

42.87 p. 42.35 p. 41.62 p.

36.59 p. 35.87 p.

Photo: Ross Gray

Pilot, flight date/time Site Distance Points Tomas Balik [Balda] 1 14.09.21 12:27 Clyde 49.10 km 98.20 p. 2 28.09.21 12:23 Coronet Peak 53.56 km 66.95 p. 3 21.10.21 12:58 Coronet Peak 64.52 km 64.52 p. Stew Karstens [nelpara] 1 28.09.21 11:51 Barnicoat 59.88 km 89.82 p. 2 14.10.21 11:09 Barnicoat 67.01 km 83.76 p. 3 01.10.21 13:40 rianbow 42.97 km 53.71 p. Doug Patterson [dougpatterson] 1 22.10.21 12:15 Treble Cone 36.67 km 73.34 p. 2 17.09.21 12:36 Treble Cone 48.81 km 73.22 p. 3 16.09.21 12:17 Treble Cone 28.36 km 56.72 p. Ben Kellett [benjamin.kellett] 1 20.10.21 13:11 Coronet Peak 69.89 km 87.36 p. 2 21.10.21 12:28 McKerrow 51.42 km 64.28 p. 3 22.09.21 13:00 Hummock Peak 38.51 km 48.14 p. Jan Zimmermann [xcimax] 1 21.10.21 13:00 Coronet Peak 64.65 km 64.65 p. 2 27.09.21 15:29 Coronet Peak 39.38 km 49.23 p. 3 20.10.21 13:56 Coronet Peak 39.36 km 49.20 p. Warrick Boustred [Waz24] 1 21.10.21 12:58 Treble Cone 72.95 km 72.95 p. 2 22.10.21 13:11 Treble Cone 44.44 km 44.44 p. 3 28.09.21 15:13 Pakituhi 28.95 km 36.19 p. Mark Hardman [mhardman] 1 12.05.21 12:00 Treble Cone 45.30 km 90.60 p. 2 13.08.21 12:21 Treble Cone 21.55 km 26.94 p. 3 24.04.21 12:35 Buscot 22.02 km 22.02 p. Dan Pugsley [Danpugs] 1 20.10.21 13:15 Coronet Peak 54.61 km 54.61 p. 2 21.10.21 12:31 Treble Cone 37.34 km 46.68 p. 3 22.10.21 13:09 Treble Cone 29.23 km 36.53 p. Vicki Zadrozny [VickiZadrozny]♀ 1 20.10.21 13:48 Coronet Peak 42.16 km 52.70 p. 2 21.10.21 13:00 ? 50.55 km 50.54 p. 3 28.09.21 13:15 Treble Cone 30.45 km 30.45 p. Jan Necas [Pompidy] 1 17.09.21 12:15 Treble Cone 45.28 km 67.92 p. 2 16.09.21 12:11 Treble Cone 17.63 km 35.26 p. 3 16.09.21 14:08 Treble Cone 13.84 km 27.68 p. Sanae Noguchi [Sanae]♀ 1 17.09.21 12:08 Treble Cone 34.51 km 51.77 p. 2 22.10.21 13:15 Mount Brewster 39.51 km 49.39 p. 3 02.05.21 13:35 Mt. Cheeseman 9.69 km 14.54 p. Greg Allum [Gregnz] 1 01.10.21 16:50 Takaka Hill 42.23 km 42.23 p. 2 20.07.21 12:45 Barnicoat 34.75 km 34.75 p. 3 08.10.21 13:47 Takaka Hill 32.73 km 32.73 p. Blake Round [BlakeRound] 1 14.09.21 12:14 Clyde 27.45 km 54.90 p. 2 15.09.21 12:31 Ahuriri Valley 48.61 km 48.61 p. 3 14.09.21 15:05 Clyde 5.75 km 5.75 p. Nick Taber [MACPARANZ] 1 15.10.21 12:20 Takaka Hill 38.58 km 38.58 p. 2 15.09.21 11:57 Barnicoat 37.19 km 37.19 p. 3 28.09.21 11:49 Barnicoat 19.31 km 28.97 p. Rob Hughes-Games [robhughes-games] 1 27.09.21 13:03 Treble Cone 55.38 km 55.38 p. 2 26.09.21 13:11 Treble Cone 35.61 km 35.61 p. 3 02.05.21 14:45 Horrible 7.92 km 7.92 p. Jakub Krauz [jakub-krauz] 1 10.10.21 13:36 Long Spur 42.90 km 64.35 p. 2 11.07.21 14:16 Mt Dobson 16.18 km 16.18 p. 3 21.10.21 18:17 ? 9.64 km 14.46 p. Bex Rae [bex1907]♀ 1 03.04.21 13:33 Kaimai 30.72 km 38.40 p. 2 23.07.21 16:20 Burma Road 16.61 km 24.92 p. 3 18.09.21 14:33 Burma Road 24.30 km 24.30 p. Peter Jones [jonesie] 1 03.04.21 14:13 Kaimai 48.99 km 61.24 p. 2 16.05.21 14:29 Devicich 11.39 km 11.39 p. 3 25.09.21 13:37 Alan’s Hill 11.21 km 11.21 p. Scott Beavis [Beavdogg] 1 16.06.21 09:03 ? 52.66 km 78.99 p. Jesse Dhue [Jesse-Dhue] 1 27.09.21 14:24 Coronet Peak 35.45 km 44.31 p. 2 10.10.21 12:15 Coronet Peak 17.36 km 21.70 p. 3 03.10.21 13:59 Point 1594 Fern Burn 9.12 km 11.40 p.

EVENTS Paragliding Competition Committee Write Up

St Arnaud Paragliding XC Camp Saturday 5th February to Sunday 13th February 2022

ood morning from Queenstown! The first of the seasons XC’s are starting to show up on XContest with some notable flights around Nelson and from Coronet to Wanaka by Jesse Dhue just last week. It’s important to remind pilots that prior to uploading to XContest the flight must be checked for Airspace and other violations before posting. This is a public site and can be checked by the external authorities if needs be. It is also a requirement of XContest that the flights are legal and it is up to the pilots to check and declare. COVID and ongoing restrictions, particularly in New Zealand are throwing some curved balls at our competition scene for this coming season. The PG Open is planned to be held in Corryong, Australia after receiving a positive ‘OK’ at the last Nationals and since Dave Gibbs, in Australia, was the only person willing to host such a competition. There is a good chance that the competition will still go ahead but it is possible that very few, if any, kiwis will now attend, even though it is well subscribed. It has been decided that if less than 20 kiwi pilots attend and of those 20, 3 must be in the top 10 NZPRS, then the competition will not be considered as eligible to present a fair cross-section of NZ pilots and so no NZ Champions/trophies will not be awarded for 2022 based on that competition. The competition will still accrue NZPRS and WPRS points and be good flying and social. The PCC is in regular contact with Dave Gibbs. This would not be the first, or only global FAI Cat1/2 event that has been disrupted by COVID consequences. The situation is still quite fluid however. Be prepared for some almost last minute

developments. In my previous career as a professional pilot there was an old adage I was taught which goes along the lines of: “Until a decision has to be made all the information available to make that decision isn’t available so ‘sit on your hands’, watch and listen and be patient”. It is important in the meantime, that Clubs consider, and in fact do, step up more to conduct Regional Competitions. They may be the only competitions that can be had this year. Clubs are encouraged to host competitions. The PCC is there to assist. The hanggliding fraternity seems to keep their competitions simple and easy e.g. based in Murchison (all together) and fly from just one base (Mt Murchison). Events do not have to be great big super extravaganzas. Get the pilots together, the PCC will organise a scorer and assist with administration (Rules etc), inform the locals/landowners and hope for the weather! At time of writing, I have been in discussion with Louis Tapper and Doug Patterson to again host a Southern Fun for the Xmas- New Year period as per previous years. Keep an ‘ear to the ground’ for that one (COVID limitations not-withstanding) We’d like to see some more competitions coming onto the new NZHGPA Events calender. Step up! Best Wishes, - Tim Brown (PCC)

Tandem pilots and Instructors

Check can you raise the alarm in an emergency? Following on from the NZHGPA 2021 AGM, the following Emergency Communication for Recreational Hang Glider and Paraglider Tandem pilots has been aligned to the same standards as an instructor Recreational Tandem Pilot’s and Instructors - Must carry some form of reliable electronic communication device as a means of raising the alarm to the emergency services, in the event a person or persons are injured. In most circumstances this will be a cell phone, or in a no cell phone coverage area an emergency Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) or similar device. Refer: NZHGPA OPM HGT 6.7.7.3, PGTC 6.7.16.3 for Instructors OPM HG 6.5.6.1, PG 6.7.16.3.

his will be a flying meeting for paragliders with a friendly cross-country competition. Fly XC without a set task and see how far you can get. With optional flight logging to find who flies the most kilometres over their best four flights. Day Format: Fly XC and see how far you can get, from any of the recognised sites in the greater St Arnaud area, including Mt Murchison, Inwoods Lookout, Mt Robert and Parachute Rocks. Come for the whole 9 days or just the good days. Lodge your flights in person at the HQ each evening, or remotely via XContest, if you wish to enter the friendly XC competition (your best 4 XC flights count). Distance via 3 turn points can be scored for GPS tracked-logged flights, otherwise you can simply score the straight line distance between your take off and landing. Required for Safety: PG2 + 20 hours, reserve, back protection, GPS, UHF Radio, maps. Cost: $5 suggested donation for the week. Sites: The sites we will be using are high sites (up to 1450m ASL), so they make for some very scenic and exhilarating flying around the St.Arnaud area,which is the northern-most end of the SouthernAlps. (The site records for Inwoods Lookout, Mt Murchison and Mt Robert are 116km, 101km and 91km respectively). Transport Note: Mt. Murchison requires 4WD vehicles so if you have one, it would be good to bring it. Vehicles used on forestry access roads must be equipped with fire extinguishers (be sure to contact Tim beforehand if you will need to get one for your vehicle). Accommodation and Facilities: St Arnaud has a variety of accommodation available including good tenting in the DoC campground and a backpackers’. And there are holiday houses and baches for easy rental if you’re a little organised. The village has a shop and an all important bar. The event’s HQ this year is a bach/holiday house which sleeps 8. Contact Tim if you’d like to book a bed at the HQ or if you would like to coordinate with other pilots for renting a different holiday house in the village. Further Information: Check the event message board here: http://starnaudxccamp.wordpress. com or contact Tim Percival, ph. 03 548 7397 or 021 238 5141, percival@actrix.co.nz.

Sat 19 - Wed 23 Mar 2022 Paragliding Acro Festival Queenstown, Cromwell, New Zealand

FAI Record Claims 300 Kilometer triangle on a paraglider FAI has ratified the following Class O (Hang Gliding and Paragliding) World records: Sub-class: O-3/Paragliders Type of record: Speed over a triangular course of 300 km Course/location: Saint-Hilaire - Chalencon Estrop - Saint-Hilaire (France) Performance: 28,6 km/h Pilot: Maxime Pinot (France) Aircraft: Enzo 3/Ozone Date: 23.04.2021 Previous record: no record set yet Sub-class: O-3/Paragliders Type of record: Distance over a triangular course Course/location: Saint-Hilaire - Chalencon Estrop - Saint-Hilaire (France) Performance: 308,9 km Pilot: Maxime Pinot (France) Aircraft: Enzo 3/Ozone Date 23.04.2021 Previous record 237,1 km (10.08.2003 Pierre Bouilloux, France)

The 2nd edition of Wanaka Hike & Fly is coming! This time it’s longer and better! Official dates: Feb 18-21, 2022. According to the weather forecast, we’ll choose three best days out of these four (Fri-Sun or Sat-Mon). Applications open November 1, 2021 at 6:00pm NZT. First come, first served so don’t miss it! As always, pilots of all levels are welcome. Either you want to win our awesome trophies and prizes sponsored by Stodeus, challenge yourself, learn from more experienced pilots in a safe environment or just have outdoor fun with like-minded friends... see you in the mountains! More info: www.wanakahikefly.nz

Competitions at Canungra The Canungra Cup (paragliding) will be held in Queensland 9 - 16 October, and the Canungra Hang Gliding Classic 23 - 30 October. Canungra Hang Gliding Classic 2021: https:// airtribune.com/canungra-hang-glidingclassic-2021/info These two competitions are a great way to start the flying season. Check Airtribune for details at https:// airtribune.com/canungra-cup-2021/info

i r b o r n

N Ne eww ZZeeaa ll aa nn dd C rC ro os ss s - -CCoouunntt rr yy

HHAA NN GG gglli idding i ng CC hh aa mmpip ioons n sh hips ips

January 1st to December 31st

pring flying has started, we need to take advantage of those spring thermals. Spring often turns on some great thermal days as sun heating is slower and if lapse rates are high, sea breezes don’t come in as fast to kill thermal activity.

After a tough time for Xc, especially with Covid lockdowns so we still don’t have many flights entered but Rick has shown that good XCs can be done. Get into it now while we are free of lockdowns. This years contest ends soon on December 31st so get those flights entered before the year ends and we start the 2022 contest. If you haven’t entered before, there’s nothing like setting yourself a goal to encourage yourself to do better. Only one person is champion but the real challenge is to improve your skills, understand the weather and fly the best you can in the conditions you get. Everyone actually wins as each season you’ll see your personal best flights get better. You’ll also find yourself doing better in the competitions with the extra knowledge and skills you gain. 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 enter the NZ HG XC Champs without one, just provide take-off and landing witnesses contact details. Airtribune Live tracking For those who want quicker retrieves, get the Airtribune App for Android devices. Airtribune will track your flight and your retrieve driver can look you up on their smartphone to see exactly where you are. It is limited to cell coverage areas but apparently satellite trackers like Spot work with it too. It’s easy on the phone battery though it may pay to have a backup power bank 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 hasn’t been updated for a few years and currently only works at Airtribune contests. 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

24 A i r b o r n

The 2021 Cross-Country Championships Table so far...

Name

Flight 1

Flight 2

Flight 3

Flight 4

Total kms

Rick Hawkeswood 81.4 34.8 28.6 144.8 Bill Degen 59.6 42.3 21.1 122.9 Ian Miller 44.2 32.3 26.6 17.1 120.1 Laki Pule

15.0

within 30 days. This ends one years contest while pilots are still keen, active and flying fit with good weather opportunities. Distances are measured using GPSDump which is free software that comes in Windows, Mac and other versions. It reads GPS tracklogs from just about any instrument. GPSDump works out the best start and finish points for you so that you get the maximum distance from the 2 furtherest points on your flight. It also works out if the flight fits any other FAI criteria such as out and return, triangle etc. It can export for viewing in Google Earth in 3D. Download GPSDump at; www.gethome.no/stein.sorensen 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 don’t require the long pickups of the

8.6

7.6 * Skyfloater flights

31.3

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/nz-hg-xc-champs.html and linked to the NZHGPA website at www.nzhgpa.org.nz/ competitions/hg-competitions/hang-gliding-crosscountry-championships 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

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 enjoy flying there.

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.

ALWAYS CHECK with local pilots before flying at new sites.

USE STILES and gates where ever possible, if you must cross a fence, cross at a post or strainer post.

ALWAYS ask permission to fly unless you are absolutely certain that the owner allows use of the site without asking.

AVOID hay standing or cut unless permission has been given to cross it.

CHECK AGAIN at Springtime as most farms have pregnant and newborn stock that can easily be frightened and injured.

AVOID landing in paddocks containing crops or stock. Carefully move off crops to avoid damage.

DO NOT show displeasure or abuse an owner if permission is refused. This could hamper getting permission in the future.

DO NOT LIGHT FIRES at any time.

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.

DO NOT TAKE DOGS onto any farm or property.

DO NOT SMOKE during fire risk times. DO NOT disturb plants or machinery, move around it. LEAVE NO RUBBISH.

EVENTS

Thermal Flying For Paraglider and Hang Glider Pilots

Omarama Hang Gliding Cross Country Classic Saturday 5 February to Sunday 13 February 2021

lying around Omarama is always spectacular; expect 9 or 10,000ft and an easy 20km to over 100km depending on your skill and weather conditions. The Mackenzie country around Omarama is a great place to beat your Personal Best; height, distance etc, move up the XC Champs table, fly legally to 13,000ft or maybe even fly to Mt Cook! This summer, Monday 7th is the Waitangi public holiday so even if you are working, that’s still 5 days that you can fly. This time of year gets the most flyable days with the least strong winds and turbulence, but it’s still hot and dry so gives the most XC flying opportunities. Launch and landing areas are massive and the event is stress free; there’s no queues or waiting. Last years weather wasn’t epic but we still had good flying; even though it was stable winds were nice, thermalling good and a smooth light wind wave day enabled a tour around the Mackenzie. So don’t be put off by poor forecasts, it’s usually better and even a stable day at Omarama beats coastal flying. Strong winds are usually forecast more reliably but are more common in Dec-Jan, so if it’s not too windy, it’s on. Fly open distance, in any direction from any site in the Omarama area. Enter any number of flights and improve your personal best flight. Scoring is by GPS or you can use witnessed launch & landing positions. The main thing is to enjoy the flying, share your knowledge, improve your skills and your personal best. Fly the whole week, just the weekends or just the days you want, when you want; it’s up to you, only your best 3 flights are scored. You decide if, when and where to fly and a few unlucky flights won’t ruin your total. So it’s no pressure and as safe as you want. If you don’t like the conditions; don’t fly, you’re not penalised for being careful or sensible. There’s prizes for best total of 3 flights, best

Promote Your Sport Instead of throwing out (or recycling) your old Airborn magazines, how about leaving an old magazine at the doctor, dentist, physio, take-away, hairdresser, restaurant or any place that you see magazines. Someone that picks it up is likely to be interested and could take up the sport since they then have our schools and clubs contact details. That person may become a flying buddy or buy some of your gear.

High at Ohau, on the way to Mt Cook (centre distance) Photo: Bill Degen

single flight, most improved personal best and for best driver. Accommodation; free camping, cabins, caravans, motels, luxury hotels. Currently there’s few overseas tourists so book now! The gliding airfield campground welcomes hang glider pilots, has weather briefings and a cafe that’s often open late. Required; Advanced rating with mountain/ XC skills. Pilots with lower skill ratings may fly under supervision if conditions are suitable. Printed site briefings are available. The track up Magic Mountain is limited to 4WDs with low ratio gearing for safe descents or brakes will burn out. There’s usually plenty of 4WDs and often a spare place or 2 but best to arrange earlier if you can. To maintain the track we ask pilots for a donation but the competition is free of charge. Bring; glider spares, a driver that’s comfy with steep mountain tracks, radio, (airband for he MBZ), camelback, spare sim card, Satellite messenger. If you don’t have a driver, pilots can take turns: this results in expert drivers and a welcome rest day. There’s often time for more than 1 flight per day too. For more information, updates, site briefings etc; contact Bill Degen at aero@xtra.co.nz and check www.hgpg.co.nz

Aoraki Classic Start 1st January with prize giving on the 8th January 2022. Contact Rod Stuart rod.tropicool@gmail.com 027 434 4822

Forbes Flatlands Hang Gliding Championship 2022 www.forbesflatlands.com January 2022, 29th Dec - 5th Jan 2022 Practice flying; Tuesday 28th December 2021 Registration;Tuesday 28th December 2021 1st Competition day; Wednesday 29th December 2021 Last Competition day; Wednesday 5th January 2022 Sanction: FAI Cat 2 and SAFA, AAA for Open Class and SAFA AA for Sport Class

urkhard Martens took up paragliding in 1989, then hang gliding. He is a record holding German competition hang glider pilot that more recently worked for paraglider manufacturers and ran his own paragliding school. His books have been translated into 15 languages. This book was first published in 2005 and sold over 50,000 copies worldwide. I have to agree with the advertising for this book, I’ve read Burkhard Martens ‘Cross Country Flying’ and that was impressive too. Some subjects are covered again but not in the same way so reading both books is worthwhile. Cross Country (magazine) have done a great job on the text which has been thoroughly tuned to describe everything clearly and concisely with expert typography throughout. Numerous real life examples and hints are in coloured sidebars accompany the text. There’s 500 odd excellent diagrams to give better understanding of concepts that may be more difficult to imagine. The book has hundreds of spectacular photos throughout, many by the author. It’s not a hugely worded book but still takes a while to read as the photos are often precisely what the text is about so are worth checking. Accurate cloud and weather photos are especially relevant. There’s no glossary but the contents index at the beginning is fairly detailed so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem to look things up when revising. Included also are articles by other famous authors such as Bruce Goldsmith, Volker Schwaniz, Ed Ewing and Peter Achmuller. Thermal Flying includes: • How to predict and find thermals • How and where thermals form – sources and triggers • Different types of thermal models • Windward and lee-side thermals • The theory of temperature gradients

NZ Comp Organiser’s Responsibilities It is the Comp Organiser’s responsibility to; 1. Obtain a list of current members from the Administrator. 2. Ensure every competition entrant is a current NZHGPA member. 3. Sign up any non-members. Any competitors found to be non-members will be listed and scored as ‘disqualified’.

• Vortex ring structure and lift distribution in thermals • How to read clouds and weather Plus hundreds of helpful tips on: • Soaring, staying up and toplanding • Coastal flying and sea breezes • How to core thermals and get to cloudbase • Valley winds, mountain flying and magic air • Flying the flatlands • XC tactics from first flights to 100km. Thermal Flying has a flexi-bound cover, which is in-between hardcover and paperback. It has 290 pages, all in full colour. There’s a few pages of advertising, but you hardly notice that amongst the spectacular photos. The book is mainly angled at paragliding so there’s less hang glider photos and hang glider specific items are not covered as much. Most readers will of course be paraglider pilots. Regardless the majority of the book will interest and benefit all pilots. This book is a wealth of information that would take a flying lifetime to learn.

Covid-19 and Flying Events Due to the changing Covid-19 virus situation, events and competitions could be cancelled or postponed. Check with event organisers or their online notification system, to see if events are still being held, before booking travel and accommodation. It will be worth checking again immediately prior to the event. Landowners could be apprehensive about visitors on their property so use masks. Vaccination certificates might be required for events also.

i r b o r n

C l a s s i f i e d Advertisements

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Bruce Vickerman Phone: 07 862 4919, 027 498 9941 Email: seehigh@slingshot.co.nz Thames Coast Paramotors Rick Hawkeswood Phone: 021682766 Email: rick.hawkeswood66@ outlook.com 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

26 A i r b o r n

Canterbury Hang Gliding School Bill Degen Phone: 03 326 6411, 021 247 2676 Email: aero@xtra.co.nz www.hgpg.co.nz 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 Connolly Phone: 022 676 5599 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 DUNEDIN HANG GLIDING Aorangi Club Tom Mulder Phone: 021 148 1831 Email: tom@mulder.co.nz

Ground to Air Emergency Signals to Pilots Still Flying Photos: Neil Brown, Ross Gray

WELLINGTON/WAIRARAPA HANG GLIDING Wellington Hang Gliding & Paragliding Club Grant Tatham Phone: 06 379 7322, 027 636 3491 Email: tathams@xtra.co.nz

PARAGLIDERS REBEL DHV2, Gin L, Harness Skywalk Cult L, Reserve parachute, All excellent condition, Never crashed, $1000 ono, + an extra glider for ground handling. Phone Paul 027 412 4474 Email: pauljamesnz69@hotmail.com SKYWINGS Paragliding in Auckland - 33 years serving and training NZ pilots exclusive PHI importers, Mini Wing specialists, Paramotor Specialists - Phone 027 498-2345, info@skywings.co.nz HANG GLIDERS 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 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 KIWI 170 mint/new condition. Manufactured mid ’90s, unused. Test flown - Good Nov/Intermediate first 70% double surface lower aspect ratio glider, No VG new WOF, $2000. email - skyriderag@gmail.com MOYES Gecko 155, technora sail, carbon sprogs, approx 30 hours, $7500.00, Phone 027 670 8301, Email: skyriderag@gmail.com 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 027 751 3192 or jonstoys53@yahoo.co.nz WILLS Wing Sport 2 175 in really good condition, current wof, red and yellow undersail with green leading edge. Flies well, and would also suit mosquito pilot. Offers, Contact 021 899-838 or christian.penrice@gmail.com RESERVE PARACHUTES RANGE of reserve parachutes for hang gliding and paragliding including Charly’s super compact DiamondCross in steerable PG versions and HG version with built in swivel. Woody Valley Quadra are similar and sized in between. Bridles, Front containers, Maillons, Swivels, Hook knives etc, in stock at HG & PG Supplies, Phone 021 247 2676 or email aero@xtra.co.nz INSTRUMENTS OUDIE 5 instruments in stock. Full featured GPS/alti/vario/flight computer, with colour mapping and airspace which automatically updates, Fanet and Flarm for in-flight tracking. Phone 021 247 2676 or email aero@xtra.co.nz ACCESSORIES Helmets, No Limit (visor option), Insider, Loop (visor option) & the new lightweight Vitesse, phone 021 247 2676 email aero@xtra.co.nz EMPLOYMENT WANTED assistant instructor in sunny Nelson. Spring - Summer start. Talk to Craig of Nelson Paragliding on 022 032 4901 or email craigpapworth@gmail.com CORONET Peak Tandems Ltd, Queenstown, are looking for tandem hang gliding and paragliding pilots. Call 021 220 5932

Ash Win Phone: 021 220 8302 email: ashswin556@gmail.com

SkyWings Paragliding Alan Hills Phone: 09 570 5757, 027 498 2345 Email: alan@skywings.co.nz www.skywings.co.nz

WAIKATO HANG GLIDING

■ 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 ■ include your email address for the online issue ■ Please notify when your items are sold ■ Buyers are advised that all used hang gliders and paragliders are highly recommended to have a full check as well as a new WOF when sold ■ It is dangerous to fly a glider or with equipment that is above your rated ability ■

It struck me recently that if someone is injured at a flying site while others are flying and a helicopter rescue is called for; how do we contact everyone still flying, telling them to leave the area, when potentially many won’t be on radio? The solution seems that laying out a paraglider or hang glider bags in the shape of a ‘V’ (emergency assistance) or “X” (emergency medical assistance) in a prominent position such as the launch, landing or location of the injured, signals that emergency assistance is required. Repeated two short blasts on a car horn, whistle etc, also signals the same and should attract the attention of pilots still flying. Hopefully pilots would hear the noise, see the symbol and be made aware something was amiss and then move away.

FLIGHT PIX

Nick Neynens taking a break after the Red Bull X-Alps by flying the Dolomites

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.

ALWAYS CHECK with local pilots before flying at new sites.

USE STILES and gates where ever possible, if you must cross a fence, cross at a post or strainer post.

ALWAYS ask permission to fly unless you are absolutely certain that the owner allows use of the site without asking.

AVOID hay standing or cut unless permission has been given to cross it.

CHECK AGAIN at Springtime as most farms have pregnant and newborn stock that can easily be frightened and injured.

AVOID landing in paddocks containing crops or stock. Carefully move off crops to avoid damage.

DO NOT show displeasure or abuse an owner if permission is refused. This could hamper getting permission in the future.

DO NOT LIGHT FIRES at any time.

DO NOT TAKE DOGS onto any farm or property.

DO NOT SMOKE during fire risk times. DO NOT disturb plants or machinery, move around it. LEAVE NO RUBBISH.

i r b o r n

nzparagliding.com info@skywings.co.nz Ph 0274 98 2345

phi-air.com