USHGA Hang Gliding October 2000

ntents (USPS 017-')70-20 - ISSN 08'J'i-433 X)

14 Just Another Perfect Day article and photos by Briggs Christie Fifteen-year-old Ron Mruk, suffering fro m Hodgkin's disease, gets his wish to go hang gliding rhrough rhe Make-a-Wish fo undation.

20 The First Lone Star Championships © 2000 by Dennis J>agen Spccracular flying - up under Texas.

26 Flying In The Face Of The Gods

by Mike Vorhis The story of the first U.S. National Speed Glid ing Team.

34 347 Miles!

by Davis Strrwb Davis flies fa rther than anyone's ever flown a hang glider.

36 Pilot Review: The Aeros Stealth 3 © 2000 kv Dennis Prrgen A successFul design fro m across chc pond.

40 The 2000 U.S. Hang Gliding Nationals

by Jules C:ilpmrick T he 2000 Nationals produces a surprise new Hex-wing champion ..

Columns

Departments

Wing Tips, by Rodger Hoyt. ................ .5

Airmail ................................... ................4

President's Corner, by Dave Glover .... ... 6

Calendar of Events .. ................ .. ... .......... 7

Exec's Corner, by Phil Bachman .......... 1 I

Update......... .. .. ............ .... .. ................... I 0

Lnciden l Reports, by Bill Bryden ......... 12

Classified Aclverrising .... .............. .. ......44

Produce Lines, by Dan Johnson ... ...... 55

Index LO Advertisers ..... ........... .. ... ........ 54

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OcroBER 2000

r:>odgen, Managing Editw;!Editor in Chid Pounds, Art 0/rnctor Heiney, Gerry Charlebois, Leroy Gra1111is1 Mark llob Lowe Photographe1:1 Martin, /1/ustralor Pagen, Mark St.ucky, Rodger Hoyt, G.W. Jim Palmieri, llill llryclen Staff Writers

089:,,4Bx) is f)lll.JliSIWC

States Pikes l'cak /we,, Co\orndo Colorado ilO'lO:Je:36 157 (719) 6:J2 .. B300. FAX PERIODICAL POSTAC[ paid a\ S11rings, CO arKI al additional mailing ()f/iccs.

Jl01STlv\ASTl'R SEND CHANGE: or ADDRESS TO: CL/DING, P.O. BOX "1330, Colorado Springs, 8090J .. t 3J(),

Ocro1,rn 2000 Vol lJMI 30, ISSUI No. 1Cl

Air Mad Dear Editor, Please allow me ro comment on several subjects which appeared in the Augmt 2000 issue of Httng Gliding.

First, in Dan Johnson's "Product Lines" he reported on the 'Ienax harness.

He indicated that it was by Nrne Rotor, but it is actually made by Woody Valley.

The report stated that "one evaluator expressed that it's a specialty harness that '! wouldn't want to fly in for more than a shon competition."'] am surprised at this sentiment, for I jnst completed the T<.:xas meet (LSC) in a new 'fo1ax and found it to be the most comfortable high-performance harness I have flown. I have used the harness for nearly 40 hours with nine days in a row coming at this meet with one fivc-·l10ur task. I never experienced discomforr or pressure poi ms.

The like its predecessor the Nailer, is a full hack-plate design. Such a setup tends to be comfortable because it supports you from chest to hips. [ can only conclude that the pilot who reported discomfort had an ill-fitting harness. fn rhc near future J will be doing a complete review /cJr this magazine. The reader will discover a design with an amazing attention to derail both for ergonomics and drag reduction.

Next I'd like to comment on drogue chutes as inspired by Mark Stucky's fine review of Wills Wing's new drogue. I kive been using a drogue frJr about three years now and have observed many pilots using rhcrn wirh success (and mistakes) in Europe. flcre are :1 few pointers and warnings to add to Mark's report.

He does well to mention the danger of dropping the chute over the basebar or a wire. 'T'his rnistake has occmrcd three times that I know of and in each case the glider was tumbled or uncontrollable. l don't believe a pilot can recover the drogue chute to right the situation except in an extraordinary case. Also, anyone using a drogue chute should not think it can't happen to him or her.

Great precautions should be taken to

avoid this happenstance. The Wills drogue appears to have a bridle short enough to prevent such a mishap in most cases, but not ifyou It is common practice to hold a drogue chute in one hand while maneuvering for landing, then to throw it on final or when close. Pilots such as Manfred Ruh mer and others do this all rhc time. Bur any distTacrion or sudden event requiring hand movement can bring up the possibility of a mis tossed drogue.

The Wills solution of a sbon bridle is one step toward safety, but will not total. ly eliminate the problem. All pilots using a drogue chute must be ,lware that it exists. I ;ilso note in the photos that the Wills drogue seems to be always off to the side. This may be a coincident of oscillating canopy and photo timing, or a result of the short bridle. 'f'his effect can induce a slight turn tendency that pilots should be aware of. 'fhe turn tendency is equally noted when the drogue chute is clipped to the side of the harness as it is with some designs.

'J'he final point I'll make is that drogue chutes aren't 100%J reliable. I had one fail to deploy (it stayed in a ball) and I got boxed inro the end of a field doing wild gyrations ro avoid harvesting corn. l also saw one in Spain separate at the bridle. From this experience, my policy is to rely on it only when I have to. In fact, I can spot-land better without a drogue than with, mainly because I don't use it that much. I prefer to keep my landing setup skills up in case the drogue fails.

Certainly a drogue chute can help when landing in smaller fields, but I don't believe they should he used to intention·ally land in pumpkin patches. following such a practice will evenmally cause grief By all means add a drogue to your ;irsenal to expand your versatility, but not your boldness, Also, learn to use your drogue initially in a large landing field with a long, srraigh t approach. If you have a habit of coming in too slowly the drogue will not be as effective. Finally, note d1a1 the flare will be timed more quickly in your descent, as if you arc landing uphill.

H/\NG GIIDINC

ir M ii

by Rodger Hoyt The last matter I'd like to point our is the launch technique ofl\:te Lehmann as depicted in the series of photos on pages 2G and Pete llses the grapevine grip (rhe finger along the upright is an option demonstrating Pete's refined upbringing reminiscent of the raised teacup pinkie) with his shoulders f1rmly in the A-frame and his harness straps loose. This position yields the most firm courrol over rhe glider during the takeoff, an irnponant consideration in our eastern slor launches.

In the second photo, note that Pete has not rotated his hands. He maintains a firm grip as he leans forward to accelcrme the glider. The sail is lif'ting and the harness straps arc beginning to tighten. ln the third photo, the right hand has rotated (to the pistol grip) and the left has dropped ro the hasetube once he is well away from the hill.

The poin r of these observations is Io bring ro the attention of pilors having less-than-perfoct launches that this technique is used by most rop pilots at competitions where launch conditions arc less than ideal at times, and you don't have the luxury of waiting for the perfoct launch This is a high-percentage launch technique and the method I recommend for every pilo1. An irnporrant point to observe is that it is not necessary to rotate th!? fwnd.from the grape1Jinr' position. Doing so loses good contact with the glider. l have seen such an action cause problems repeatedly over the years.

Certainly it is easier fc>r many pilots ro learn to use the pistol grip, bm unless a pilot is graduated to the technique Pete displays, I believe his or her rraining is nor complete and launch practices will not be as saf<.: as they Gill be.

Dennis Pagen Spring Mills, PA

Dear Editor, Although l have waited for some time, l wish 10 thanks Mr. Robert (Boh) 'J iampcnau for creating a very magical 0CTOlllR 2000

glider for me. I am from Thetford Miues, a small rnining town abom two homs cast of Montreal, Quebec. Our fly-sc:ison ends early because of the extreme cold oC the winter months. I had purchased a new Sensor GI OF-2 150 with flaps from Bob ']i·ampcnau and rook it to our local sire for its rmidcn voyage. I had owned a Sensor 152 earlier and was aware of the flight characteristics hut had never flown a glider with /l;1ps.

My two flying buddies and best friends, Marc Laferriere and Daniel Fortin, joined me. Our local site is a small 800-foot mountain with a wooden rnmp with trees just feet below rhc ramp.

Although the wind was light (0-5 mph) I thought I could make a safe launch in rhe very cold 5° F dense air at least l hoped l could.

J waited 15 minutes on the ramp for ;1 small breeze before J lauuched. l had a very run and became safely airborne. I resigned myself to a sled run in chc cold winter air, but to my amazement l wem up over launch in air that was virrnally still. Every rime I looked ar the windsock, it was motionless. I have flown and soared rhis ridge since 1989 and my 21 5-pound hook-in weight always required ar least a I 0-rnph wind to soar the ridge. Tei my amazement, I was 1 50 frcr over launch without wind.

Marc and I )aniel were yelling up, "Where is the engine?" I now realize that the important difference is Bob 'frampenau's unique flap system he had designed frn rhe Sensor hang glider.

I was very cold and afrer 15 minutes of soaring I decided to head to the I,/.

With VC pulled tight, my glider was like a sailplane. On final approach I released and lowered the flap system. The glider remained responsive and stable yet landed like a si11glc-surf~1ce floater.

I want to publicly rhank Bob 'li·ampcnau and Scedwings ofC:alifrm1ia for having created this magical glider for me. l have enjoyed hang gliding bm now I am truly in love.

Francois Dussault Thetford Mines, Quebec, Canada

SHCA I MembcrTcm1my Thompson sends some sage advice: "lr really surprises me how many pilots are stepping all over their nose wires duri11g set· up and breakdown. The solurio11, however, is simple.

"Place the end of your 11ose wires through your hang loop, letting it dangle there until time to attach it to the nose plate. 'This holds the nose wires off the ground and keeps them from being damaged if the ter" ram ts

U

'\Tern have idcntif1cation in your wallet, .l registration in your car and an ID tag on your dog. Docsn'r your fairhliil glider deserve the same treatment?

Most glider bags have a clear pocket near the nose that's for slipping a business card i11to. Some pilots write their name 011 their bag wirh Ide pen; it's more permanent but can become a problem when it's time to sell. Whatever method you choose, ID'ing your glider is good insurance if'your wing ever wanders away from home!

Have a hot Hang Gliding rbhoyt@':~o.com.

Send it to "Wing Tips" clo or !?·mail 5

Han

Ii and in

nd n TV Movi

by USHGA President David Glover

there has not been much about our sports on TV and in the movies, but things seem to be changing. During the last two months I was in Greece and Aspen where more than $ I 00,000 w;1s spent to film our sports.

ON TELEVISION Corning up 1here arc two separate hourlong shows thar will feature hang gliding and paragliding. Red Bull, rhc European energy drink, just put on a great show in Aspen, and $25,000 in prize money was available in three events: speed gliding, hang gliding acrobatics and paragliding crnss--country. The weather sucked f<.ir most of the time, bur rhe cameras and sponsors still got whar they wanted. Red Bull hired their own production compa6

ny to the fllm the event. They sem clips to the local and national news organizations. One local Denver TV station remarked that the sound corning from the speed gliding footage "must be a dubbed-in jct going by." It wasn't.

An hour-long show called "Core Culture:" will show the events on the LISA Network, October 14, 2000, al 11 :00 AM, right after rhe supposedly popular WWF. Check your local listings.

Othar Lawrence and Chris Davenport were the organizers. They did :i great job along with all the people from the local club and Red Bull.

The: Discovery Wings Channel filmed the first World Speed Gliding Charnpionships at Mo11111 Olympus in Green: rh is August. They were trying to decide which of the air sports they w;rntcd rn fcarure. I got an e-mail and called the lady involved. She was a competitive skydiver and thought that speed gliding would be an imcrcsting evcm to film.

After a few more e-mails and phone calls, speed gliding was chosen as the show they wanted to put their resources behind. The following week a crew was in Chelan, Washing10n to filrn a U.S. rearn qualifying speed gliding contest.

The following rnonrb a I 0-pcrson film and audio crew showed up to shoot the diampionships in Greece. During the fllming they sc111 hack 11 "on-location" short reports. Presently I am working with them on the scripts for three other speed gliding foatures. The hour long documentary will air this winter on rhc Discovery Wings Channel. Check www.ushga.org frir show times.

IN THE MOVIES Skydiving received :1 big hoost when their sport was fcarured in three back-to-hack movies: Point Bred:, nrop /.one and 'ferminrzl Velocity. Another skydiving movie coming out soon is cillcd Cutmmty. The main driving force behind these movies is now inrercsrccl in a possible remake of the movie The New Zealand hang gliding and paragliding magazine reports: "Rumors that have been cirrnlating for some time have hardened inw foct: I\ mainstream /Jlrn is to be made this year foaturing paragliding competitions at the center of

a Point /1reak-typc plot. Names linked ro the forthcoming production include those of Hollywood star Keanu Reeves and paraglider pilots Peter Brinkcby, Rob Whinal, Chris Muller, Jocky Sanderson, 'OJ' Lawrence and the legendary John Pendry. Shooting is to begin this summer in California." Given that Point Brea/, gave skydiving and surfing a new, younger and crazier client base almost overnight, h:esidcr (that's its title) could be the hcst news to come paragliding's way ever. The opportunities for paragliding 10 thrive on the resultant exposure arc immense. They might need the world's finest pilots to do the Aying, bur the craggy dudes and glowing babes will be pure [ lollywood. Expect a cult to begin sometime in 2001, identified by the appearance of bleached-blond, Dl!V-3 crazies mumbling, "Jr's not stupid to die doing something you love."

Anyone sec the movie out last month, The Watcher, with Keanu Reeves? Basic plot: Serial killer sends pictures of victims-to-be to 1he cops and gives them 24 hours to save thcrn. A third of the way through the movie he t;1kes a picture of a girl in a camera shop and sends it in. The girl is standing in front of a hig poster of a great shor rakcn from a Moyes hang glider in Hawaii (from 8,000 feet). G.W Meadows is rbe pilot and photographer and it has the very colorful Moyes logo sail with the bird sewn in. The girl is partially blocking rhc poster when the print is scm to the cops, and about 15 minutes of' the plor is spent with them trying to figure out what that stuff is in the back ground ("looks like some kind of a bird"). Kinda cool.

SOMEBODY FAMOUS So if you know somebody who knows somebody fomous let us know. The sports need a celebrity athlete. lleck, just today f found out that a certain popular men's magazine is looking for some extreme-sports girls to fcmurc for a pho10 shoor. "Really, 1 bought ir frH the greal art iclcs."

Next month: Changes in the /\swciation's operations. /\s don't hold hack your rlrnughrs: C:all or e-mail me: (706) 8485, david(ildavidglover.com. B HANC CLIIJINC

Calendar of events items WIT ,L NOT be listed if only tentative. Please include exact information (event:, date, contact name and phone number).

Items should be received no later than six weeks prior to the event. We request two months lead time for regional and national rneets.

COMPETITION

tion dinner. Last Forbes comp in '99 had rhree world-record days! $100 deposit required by Nov. 30 to secure a spot, balance at registration. Make checks payable to Forbes Flatlands 2001 and post to: Moyes Delta Gliders, 1144 Botany Road, Botany NSW 2019, Australia, tel. 011-0293 I 64644, or register hy e-mail with credit card. Details ;it moyes(almoyes.com.au.

UNTIL DEC. 31: '/he Michael

Champlin World KC Challenge. No entry fees or pre--registration requirements. Open to paragliclers, hang gliders, rigid wings and sailplanes. For more details visit the contest's Web sire at http://www.hanggliding.org or contact: John Scorr (31 O) fax (3 JO) breno nwoods(t11 ernail. msn. com.

UNTIL DEC. 31: Fourth !lrmual Fizlcon XC Contest (rhe fifth will start in April of 200 I). Prizes awarded in four national regions and one world region (in which all arc entered) in all of three rating-based classes: Pro, Am, Rec. No entry rec. Prizes donated hy Wills Wing, High Adventure, '!ck Flight Products and FalconFlyr. Sec your local school/dealer for additional prizes. Visit http://www.angelfire.com/ct/i nstructor/fal conxc.html for entry and landing forms which may be submitted by e-mail (our preference). For the electronically impaired write Td< Flight Products, Colebrook Stage, Winsted, CT 06098 including an SASE and request t:hc forms.

JAN. I 4-2], 2001: Forbes (Jlustraliti) Odyssey. Practice day Jan 13. AAA and FAl-sanctioned WPRS aerotow meet.

We will supply tows, you supply glider, row release, retrieval. ·lclw Organizer: Bill Moyes. Meet Organizer: Vicki Cain. Essentials: Acrotow endorsement, HGFA membership, GPSCarmin or Aircotec. Entry foe of $500 includes unlimited tows and prescnta·· OcrOllFR 2000

FUN FLYING OCT. 14-15: Octohcr{<:st 1'1yfn at B:1ldy Mountain in Central Washington. Jiang glider and paraglidcr pilots (and their families) welcome.

Baldy M111. is located in Central WA between Ellensburg and Yakima.

Officially open less than two years, there have already been numerous 30to 50-milc flights and some over 70 miles. The landowner has agreed to open up the large field for this event which will make it perfect for landing zind camping, and give us a great place for a barbecue, bonfire and potluck.

Contact: Jeff (509) 6t)7-7835, or Mike (206) 320-9010, www.fon2fly.com/news.hrm.

0 CT'. 26--2 8: Gerry'.\' Kid, E- Tl:mn Fly-In. Come venture to Big Sur, gather 'round the glow of road flares and confess your affiliations with the E-tcrnal father or the E-Tcam, Gerry Smith. /\ccolades and acknowledgements for best true story, best tall story and best story teller. $1 00 prize for best custom hang glider sail. Gerry says, "no fees."

Contact: Rich Collins, (805) %6-4222 (h), (805) 963-0651 (w), rcol Iins(r1)dudek.com.

OC[ 27-29: October Quest Monster Hash. Halloween costume comest on Oct. 28. Big prize money for best cosnuncs. Theme meal by Connie Bailey, kegs by American Portable Rock Climbing Walls, Quest's Out or Control band. Demo days with

Airwave, Acros and Flight Design.

Special appearance by 'learn Competition and fi.m flying. Quest Air (Croveland, FL) is located 30 minutes from Disney World. Contact: 429-021 :3, fax: li29-4846, q11estair@sundial.net.

ocr 28-29: \wnnen'., I la!!owr:en Costume C:hcl:in, WA. Prizes fi:lr best costume, best food, best flying contraption and more. Contact: Marilyn Raines (509) I. For accommodations call Chelan Ck1mber 800-·4.C:I !EL.AN.

CIJNICS/MEETINGS/TOURS 2000: !-lying in Hrazil 2000.

Wonderfid warm weather, flying in an exoric setting. Be pan of· the Adventure Sports trip to Covenador Valadarc,., Brazil. Experienced instructors and guides. 'fake side-trips ro Carnival or any of I he beaurifo I I days, $1,200 for paragliders, $1,400 for hang gliders. Includes room with breakfast and lunch, ride ro launch, retrieval and guided tour. Contact: 883-7070, www. pyrarn id. net/advspts.

OWENS VALLEY 2000: with a World Chmnpion, 10-·time National Champion and X-C world record holder Kari Castle as yom guide in the Owens. Private onc-orHme or group instruction available. hmher your ing education. Contact: Kari Castle (7 60) ka ri castle(iltcl is.org, www. northwcstout doors.com/fly/ UNTIL NOV.: The S11fe1y with Michael Rohenson will he offering seminars and inspirational talks. Comact: fligh Perspective, (905) stafflrDflyhigh.com.

States Hrmg Gliding Associmion Board Of'! )irectors

OCT. 20-22:

IV/1'Pl1n1I. Colorado Springs, C:O. Contact: ('719) 632-8300, www.ushga.org, ushgav.i\1shga.org.

II Update

st Brazilian Internationals Gerolf Heinrichs Bassano Italy Gerolf Heinrichs

Pre-Worlds

FLYCHART VERSION 4.32 & NEW FLYTEC WEB SITE fter eighc months of chorough beca resting, Flyrec USA is pleased co announce the final release of FlyCharr 4.32. FlyCharr 4.32 is a true 32-bic application and is therefore co mpatible and quire speedy wi rh Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000. Some of the new fea tures include:

A

• Redesigned and easier-to-use main appljcacion screen.

• The ability to djsplay barograrns with descenr races in excess of 12,000 fr./rrun. This fearure was developed for the space program co study super-high-altitude parachme deploymenrs and is currently being used by ASA and three aerospace contracto rs.

• Improved database sorcing capability.

• T he abili ty co djsplay barograms over 140 hours. This feature was developed for gas ballooning; their races sometimes go char long!

• Improved import and export funccionwty, includjng the abi lity to import flights from PC Graph.

• The abili ry co ft.illy CU5torruze logbook of flights' screen .

• Easier-co-use and simplified installer.

• Easy-co-use on-screen help with hyper-text linking.

• Continuous djsplay of total number of fligh ts, average, maximum, and accumulated values fo r duration, distance, altitude gain.

FlyCharr version 4.32 is available for download at no cosc co Flyrec cuscomers at flyrec.com. The Flycec USA website has been totally redesigned by super webmasrer and Flyrec ream pilot Dean Funk (deanfunk@mindspring.com). In addjcion co the new FlyCharc 4.32 download, the new website features substantially improved sire navigation, a cleaner look and hot new Shock Wave graphics.

Flyrec customers who prefer the Macintosh OS are encouraged to contact Flyrec USA concerni ng options for using FlyCharr on a Macintosh. Flyrec pilot Owen Morse is to be credited with investigating and commg up with a solution for running FlyCharr on rhe newer serialporr-less Macs (iMac, G3, G4, ere.). Utilizing Virrual PC by Conneccix and Keyspan's USB PDA Adapter, Mac users can run FlyChart as fast and as smooth as on a PC. For more information contact Flyrec USA ac 1-800-662-2449 or (352) 429-8600, fax (352) 429-861 1, www.flyrec.com, info@flyrec.com.

H ANG GLIDI NG

!

would like to take.this opportunity to remind '.111 t~ndcm instructors that you must unhzc rhc :lO--day temporary US HCA program for every tandem flight operation performed with a civilian.

This is not a difficult or expensive task. You pre-purchase the things ($2 each), mili,.c them, and send them back ro the US! IGA office. We arc emphasizing rhc importance of' the 30-clay membership for very imporrant reasons. hoth tandem occupants must possess and have in their possession current pilot rating documentation issued by USHGA. If your student is not a USH(;A member and you have nor issued a 30-day membership for the "discovc1y" tandem flight, yon arc in violation of the tandem exemption granted by the ];AA. Second, withour US HCA membership, rhc srudcnr docs not have rhird-party liability insurance coverage.

Any reports of non-compliance that I receive will be investigated. complaints that arc verified robe accurate will resuh in immediate revocation of the instructor's tandem instrncror raring. In cases where the instructor represents a larger school/opcrarion, the school itself will be treated as no1H:ompliant, and the ability to continue tandem activity will be revoked.

I'd like to thank the diligent opcrntions that have rnaintained 100% compliance, and hope that this includes all schools. f'd like nothing better than ro receive no reports of non-compliance. Fly high!

suhmitted hy f'tiul Voight, USl/C:A T11ndem Committee Cht1irrnm1

PIETIE LEHMANN WINS RIEGION 9 CROSS COUNTRY MIEIET ON WILLS WING FALCON 195!

In

CONGRATULATIONS DU:::TIC RIC AND DIENNIS!

10

T

his is a reminder that nominations for the US! IGA 2000-2001 Awards will he reviewed at the fall Board of Dirccrors meeting with presentation at the spring meeting. At this rime we arc soliciting nominations for all carcgories of awards.

The presentation of awards serves as an opportunity for the USHGA ro publicly acknowledge the work of the hang gliding and paragliding communities as well as to highlight the contributions ofthe community at large. This is an opportunity for of good will and ro promote a positive image of our sporr.

Award nominations need to be submitted for review by the Awards Committee and will accepted at rhe Board meeting, However, in order ro us an opportunity to adequately review the nominations, we request thar the material be submitted ro the USl!CA office at least one week in advance of the meeting. All nominations must be submitted in writing.

Following is a brief synopsis of the award criteria. Specifics may be obtained through the US HCA Directors in your area or the USJ-ICA office if needed.

Presidential Citation: Tbc most prestigious, highest honor. One award is given per year for a significant contribution to the sport.

Exceptional Service: For volunteer, ongoing efforts which represent a significant service to the Association. One award given per year.

Chapter of the Year: r:or overall excellence in programs and activities for beginners and novices, site procurement, development and retention, safety, membership development, special programs or activities. One award per year.

Newsletter of the Year: For overall excellence in service to men1bers, layout, article variety, safety promotion, meeting deadlines, promoting the sport. One award per year. Copies of three issues submitted for review. Internet newsletters will be considered in this category for the first rime this year.

Commendation: T'or volunteer efforts by lJSHG/\ members. No limit to number given per year.

Special Commendation: This category represents an opportunity to acknowledge and support the non-flying community. No limit ro the number given per year. Nominations arc strongly encouraged for each region.

Instructor of' the Year: For excellence in teaching, support of rhc flying community and functioning as a role model for new pilots. Wrirrcn support from rhc Regional Director and rhrec letters from students arc requested. One award per year for paragliding and one for hang gliding.

Bettina Gray Award: For cxcdlcncc in photography related to hang gliding and paragliding. Three photos arc requested. One award is given per year.

National Aeronautic Association Salcty Award: Recognizes an individual or group that has contributed the most to advancing and promoting safe flying practices. The USHGA makes recommendations to the NAA. One award per year CIVL Diploma: A recommendation is made to the CIVL m acknowlan individual who has made a significant contribution ro the sports of hang gliding or paragliding which impacts at the international level.

One award per year. 'fhc CJVL will make final determination regarding the recipient.

We look forward to hearing from you.

HANC GLIDINC

~y Phil Bachman, USF!GA Executive Director ACCIDENTAL DEATH AND DJSABIUTY POLICY POR USHGA MEMBERS By rhc time you read rhis we will have an insurance policy in place which will provide USHCA members with insurance coverage against death and disability on a voluntary enrollment basis for incidents which occur while flying ,my 11011--motorizcd ultralight vehicle. This provides a tremendous benefi r for you by closing the gap in many insurance plans which have ultralight exclusions.

A single premium payment provides annual coverage. When you subscribe for the coverage you will receive a certificate of' insurance and benefits summary directly l'i-0tn rhe insurance cornpany.

T'hc cover;iges and premiums arc as follows:

Principal Sum

$ 10,000 $ 25,000 $ 50,000

Annual Premium $20 $50 $100

,.,c>vcra~:e for the First year of this program is available up to $50,000. Om success in achieving higher coverage arnoums depends on the amount of participation by our members.

The insurer is Guarantee 'Ihm l .ifc (CTL), an A-rated carricr which is nationally recognized as a medical provider for numerous amateur, inrercol lcgiarc and interscholastic organizations.

You c;m fl nd the enrollment form 011 the US! lCA website at www.ushga.org.

In addition, you will receive mailings that will explai11 the program in derail and provide you with simple enrollment materials.

The US] lCA will brncfo from this being able to offer members program very inexpensive death and disability coverage for their f;1milies while they panici-

Ocro1,rn 2000

13y the time you read this

1

we will have an insurance policy in place which will provide USHG/\ rnernbers with insurance coverage against death and disability 011 a voluntary enrollment basis for incidents which occur while flying any nonmotorized ultralight vehicle. 11

pate in ultralight flight. Watch for information on our in this magazine and through the mail.

WEB STORE ON LINE As a hinhcr enhancement ro our website, our store will he open by rhe time you read this. We have: been reviewing all of our merchandise items and installing them during the monrh of September.

All of the quality USHGA publicarions, videos, apparel and ;1ccessorics will be there. You will also /ind ;1 spccial-cdi1ion holiday gifr product for yom significanc others. Check ii otn at www.ushga.org!

SOARING SOCIETY OP AMERICA JOTNT VENTURE We arc proceeding with die implemcnra-· tion of Phase I of our joint venture efforts with the SSA. This phase basically involves consolidating ccrtai 11 lt.mcrions between the two offices. The first srcp was taken at rhe beginni11g of'Scprcmber when we trucked all of the US HCA merchandise to the SSA office in Hobbs, New Mexico. The SSA merchandise sra/T person will now be handling US HCA order-fulfillment processes. Nothing will change on your end, the receiver of rhe merchandise. Your orders will still be received and paid for through rhc USHC1\ office using website, e-mail, fox or phone orders. The only difference is rhar

the ircrns will be shipped (1·0111 Hobbs, New Mexico. This allows our office the opportunity to eliminate a job function and allows rhc SSA ro conven a pantime job ltrncrion into a frdltime one.

Nara lie Hinsley has been our order-pro person for several years . .She has been backstopping our membership profor some rime and is now moving into that fonction full time. This also eliminates the need /;Jr some 500+ square fccr of office space.

MOVING THE NATIONAL OFJ:ICE The office staff will be spending the month of October prcpari ng for rhc BOD on October 20-22 in Colorado .Springs mu/ moving rhc off1cc.

During the c:111irc year we have been focusing 011 improving efficiencies :ind reducing expenses, and have located office space which will allow us to add to this goal. Our new location is only seven blocks from whar has been our home for die: past 10 years. Our annual Jn rental Ices from making this move is 1·igl1t at $18,000. We arc reducing our square footage by (i()C)1J and using a permanent storage unir ro accomplish this.

NEW DATABASE Finally, the database! This has been ;1 grueling process fc)1· us that started last December and is finally smoothing out.

We know that there arc many of you who received renewal notices afrcr you had renewed your membership, received cards with incomplete information, received double m:iilings, ere., ere. Unfortunately, we were nor able to catch some of' rhc rnisral,es that occurred and for that we apologize. The complcrcd database has tremendous capability and morn for growth in services. The best example of this is rhc ability to now renew your membership on line through om website.

We arc still catching occasional glitches and them bur we arc through rhc rough parr and looking forward to able to provide more member services at a quicker pace. II

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Ii hy USHGA Accident Review Chairman Bill Bryden enerally, each month we examine a collection of accidents or incidents and discuss the lessons to be learned frorn thern. The eve111s we'll exarnine this 111011th did not occur during a launch, landing or flight. No reports were submitted for d1ese, rather, these were situations I personally encountered or discussed with several glider manufacturers and importers.

A frirnd who recently purchased a used glider asked if I'd inspect it with him and assess its airworthiness and perform any needed repairs. It had bcrn sold to a friend of his and the original seller claimed that the glider was is good con· dition with srraight tubes and no holes in rhe sail.

Upon setting up the glider, UV degra· dat ion of the s;1il was obvious because of rbc red sail color 1ha1 had faded to nearly pink. There was a fair sized hole in the sail near one wiug tip. Some of the bat·· tC!l strings were so tight from sail shrinkage that they could barely be hooked over rhe batten tips while others were too loose to stay on. This glider was a Sport American and the procedure to mne out a rurn includes rotating a plug at the end of the leading edge which twists the wing tip up or down slightly to correct the turn. We noted that one plug was rotated approximately 25-30 degrees more than the other which is quite extreme.

Someone had been trying to tune our a serious rurn. We pulled the sail and inspected rhe airframe.

Once the sail was off, other problems were found. One leading edge was dented nearly the full width of the tube and was also slightly bent. The opposite leading edge was seriously bent and a likely cause of the turn problem. In addition, someone had fabricated a new section for the outer portion of rhis leading 12

and didn't do ;i very good job. This lead .. ing edge section holds the washour strm and the angles of the holes arc critical so that the washout srrur is positioned ar the correct angle. Ir is supposed to angle up at l l degrees to supporr the sail, but the holes were about five degrees off; meaning the strut tip would be ahom 2.5 inches lower than it should be. Both downrubcs and the control bar were also moderately bcnL I repaired a second glider that was also purchased used. Upon pulling the sail off the frame another significantly dented leading edge was found. More irnpornmt!y, someone had replaced the luff lines. These cxtrnd from the kingpost to the trailing edge, and in a dive, lifr up the trailing edge creating a force to raise the glider's nose. This is critical for pi Leh st:ability and safety. The replacement lines on this glider were nearly a foot too long, seriously affecting the pitch stability of the glider.

Don't worry if yo11 don't understand all the lechnical srnff'. the bottom line is rhar these gliders had significant problems seriously affccti ng thci r There arc several lessons to be learned from all rhis.

The obvious lesson is "caveat emptor." Especially beware of "deals" and long-distance, sight-unseen purchases. If a glider is cheap there is likely a reason. ft may be in poor condition. Ofren it's a vintage high-performance glider which is difficult 10 fly, completely unsuitable for beginner and novice pilots, and not desired by more experienced pilot,.

There arc lots of these, and no one wants them (except tightwads and the unwary), and consequently the price is attractively

low.

Someone should always inspect a used glider before you purchase it. If you are not technically talemed or reside across the country, that's fine; there arc shops aud skilled pilots who can provide this service for you. A hundred or :1 hundred and fifry bucks for a very detailed, professional inspection (including pulling the sail, which is the only way to proper! y inspect the frame), is money very well spent. You'll gain tremendous conf1dcncc knowing about the glider's airworthiness and both you and rhe seller

are guaranteed for less angst after rhc sale. There will be no dispute about any· one getting screwed. You might even ger the seller ro splir the inspection cost and you'll hod1 be certain to remain friends.

Interestingly, during the l970's a glider that was three or four years old was often considered due for retirement.

These days, pilots seem to think a glider should last 20 years or more. UV damages sailcloth and 1here is no magic ro prevent this occurrence or to repair the damage once it's done. Ever notice how batten strings seem to get tighter as rbe glider Sailcloth tends to shrink, and in a few stress areas it stretches. Mike Meier says Wills Wing has measured as much as two inches of shrinkage wing rip to wing tip on older gliders. This shrinkage affects rhe luff lines and pitch stability of the glider. The trim speed tends to change, and some gliders seem to lose their handling. There ;ire adjustments to compensate for some of these problems, bur Mike comments thar some gliders can get to the point where they simply cannot be made to fly well. lt is a common belief that during the I CJ70's a number of the fatalities were due to poorly designed equipment.

Actually, few of the equiprnent·related fatalil"ies were due to poor glider design; they were due to inadequate or improper maintenance and repairs. People would damage a glider and repair it with conduit from the hardware store and do sim· ilar stupid things. Unfortunately, Wills Wing believes this trend seems to be picking up again. Peter Radman from Altair has :rnalyzed the orders his r1rrn receives for pans and also believes pilots ;:ire neglecting proper glider maintenance and purchasing some afrcr--market "willfir" pans that may compromise the glider's When did you last replace your flying wires? Whrn did yon last have the sail off the frame Lo inspect it? Accidents due to improper or inadequate maintenance arc not really an equipment problem but rather a pilot attitude problem. Your life is dependent upon this equipment. Is your life not worth a couple of hundred dollars or a few hours of rime? If you doubt it, ask your spouse or significant other. We'll address rhe ropic of mainreHANC GUDINC

nancc in more detail in a future article.

There arc several dimensions ro repairing damaged gliders. The most basic aud least problematic dimension is purchasing replacement parts from the factory and holting the pan inro the glid-er. Most current glider manufacturers have sophisticated rnough manufacturing processes and product documenta-· tion that replacements arc idemical to the original pan and fit well. This repair isn't particularly difficult for mosr conventional wings, but may be t rickicr with some of the topless and rigid wings.

Most all current manufacturers provide diagrams in their owner's manuals that help insure I he glider is reassembled correctly. However, if the sail has been extensively repaired or something has caused a deviation from rhc glider's original configuration, identifying and correcting these problems can require significantly more skill and training to correct, to the next level of repair.

The second dimension is testing, troubleshooting and tuning a glider so ir flies properly. Most pilots, and unfort unatcly even some dealers, are not skilled or trained al performing this. Most owner's manuals cornain some guidance for basic tuning procedures hut some procedures arc not documcnred, and a service person's experience and training is criti-

cal.

Manufacturers and importers have made efforts ro train their dealers and have explored several different tactics to make competent service available to their customers. For example, Aeros works through their dealers bm has also established two regional service centers, one in the East and one in the West, which arc well stocked with parts, and the service technicians have received extra training to be able to properly service Aeros gliders. Altair has actually traveled to many of' their dealers providing on-site training for their products. However, servicing their ATOS glider is unique and special enough that 1hcy amhorizc only a limited nmnhcr of dealers 10 sell and service this product. Wills Wing periodically conducts dealer seminars, and servicing their gliders is ofien a topic at these, bur they admittedly rely upon some common sense by the service people. Moyes and 0CJOllFI< 2000

AirBornc representatives were unavailable for comment when I wrote this and the ucw Airwavc is still getting their system established.

Most manufacmrcrs and importers provide customer telephone support and some provide extensive wcbsi tes with documentation and technical advisories.

Phone support is especially strong for dealers from all manufacturers and importers. It is clearly in the manufacturer's interest to help their dealers he succcssfol and competent. Interestingly, Peter Radman commented that the dealers d1ey have spent the most time rraining, and who operate their best service locations, arc also the ones who call the factory seeking advice the most. This reflects a good attitude, a desire to be certain they service a glider correctly and keep any ego from interfering. A manufacturer representative once commc11tecl to me rhat there arc some dealers who "suck at fixing a glider but think they know it all because they've been flying for 20 years." If in doubt, ask aro11nd your flying community (other pilots will likely know which dealers know rhcir stuff), or call the manufacturer for a service center recommendation. '!'he third dimension of repair is custom fabric:Hing parts and performing significant sail repairs. These kinds of repairs arc often necessary for gliders whose manufacturers arc out of business, and frlr which replacement or used parts arc unavailable.

Unforrnna1cly, some people arc attempting to save a few bucks by making rheir own parts, believing that the technology is simple and that they arc capable. Sure, most parts and materials aren't panicularly complex. The average kingpost flex-wing glider only has roughly three dozen bolts and clevis pins holding it together. The frame is just alumimnn tubing with some holes drilled through it. However, how many people have rhc equipment and experience to drill a hole exactly centered through a tube and rotationally offset precisely 11.0 degrees from another hole eight feet away? As we saw in the above examples, this can be dangerous if the service person isn't particularly knowledgeable and doesn't have the correct cquiprncnr.

Sadly, there arc also a few "professionals" who seem to lack sufficient competence when it comes 10 ancmpting these repairs.

There is little reason to make a leading edge, crossbar or keel if the manufac turcr is still in business. They purchase materials in bulk, and have special machining equipment and trained pco-ple who make rhosc parrs every day.

They can whip our a leading edge in a fraction of rhc time it would take some-one making just one component, and they can do it much more economically if you count the value of the labor. Por most current production gliders, the aluminurn tubing is generally not manufactured or readily available in the U.S., and the manufacturers and importers generally won't sell raw marcri:ils in order rn discourage fabrication of dubious-quality replacement pans. A few even take this a step funher and refuse ro provide dimensioned drawings of the fr;nne and wire components to further discourage people from fabricating parts and creating problems like we saw with 1he Sport above.

Other m:11rnf;1cmrers do provide dimcn-sions 011 their drawings to equip people servicing a glider with additional data to better assess a glider. This enabled me 10 discovcr rhe i mpropcrly con st ructcd leading edge on the Sport.

The bottom line is that proper glider maintenance and repair arc virally importam to your safrty. Consult your owner's manual for a schedule oft he recommended maintenance and service work required periodically, not jusr afrcr a significant crash. Seek professional and compcrcnt service personnel to perform this work, and don't assume thar a dc;iler or experienced pilot in his garage down the street necessarily qualifies. Don't expect a glider w live forever; they h,ive a finite lifo and should be retired when approaching this. Use manufocturcr-produccd pans if they are at all available, even if you must wair two weeks to get them. They are certain to be manufactured of the correct material and ro the right dimensions, and arc usually cheaper than custom-fabricated parts. And start thinking that this is the proper way to do ir. Thinking "cheap," or "that's good enough," could get you killed. Ill

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article and photos by Briggs Christie bis is rhe story of not just a per· foct day, bur quire possibly the pcrfoct day. Every now ;rncl then, forces align themselves to us a glimpse of utopian pcrfoction, and this was one such alignment. I\ very deserving young man enjoyed the fruits of the clay, but there's a long list of us who were proud to be there to witness it.

There arc two ingredients that have to be present for perfoction: a flying site in one of its most receptive moods, and a reason to fly it. 'I 'he ftrsr was provided by the famous cliff, of Makapu'u on the windward side of Oahu. The second came about in one oft hose roundabout ways that leaves you wondering, after it's all over, "How in the heck did that happen?"

With the help of the Makc-<1-Wish Foundation, the Mruk family of Pitts·· burgh, Pennsylvania was making plans l"tJr an adventure in Hawaii. When Ron Mruk, Jr. was asked what he would like to do on this adventure, the first rhing he said was, "I want rn go hang gliding." /\she explains, "l remember seeing it on TV when I was little, and then J kind of l<)rgot about it, but it was always in the back of my mind. When this came up, ir really was the first thing 1 thought or:'' The Foundation knew nothing about hang gliding, much less in Hawaii, and found rhat building a firm schedule for a weather-dependent activity cm be a frustrating project. In the end, Ron's father, Ron Sr., was given a phone number .:md a budget and be was on his own. The number was for "'fandcms in Paradise," owned and opcrntcd by Phil (;odwin ofKailua, Hawaii, who was more than happy to oblige, weather permitting. It took a couple of attempts to get everyone's schedule straight, but a mark on the calendar for August 17 started the process and, as we both learned more about the potential passenger, this story started to form.

T'he story and the cfoy revolve around Ron.Jr., a typical I 5-ycar-old high school srudcnt who plays the guitar and enjoys drawing action comic-style cartoons. In October of 1999, Ron was suffering flu-like symptoms and fatigue when a swelling 14

lfyoi/ve been flyingfr1r r.my length oftime you probably /mow what tl pe~fect day is. We've cdl enjoyed one or two, the lucky ones maybe more. Conditions were optimum fr1r a site that you have totally "wired, "you launched cit exactly the right time rf day, your flight was tl !(fa-enhancing experience, tmd your friends and family would real-

61 enjoy it ifyouajust quit talking about it.

on his neck came to the attention of his doctor. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer cemcrcd in the lymphatic system. At the time of this writing, Ron's cancer is at an advanced stage and he has undergone not only multiple chemotherapy and radiation treatments, but a stem cell transplant as well. /\ltl10ugh you can't tell from his ready smile and enthusiasm, this is a young man whose future is in question and whose battle lines arc clearly drawn. ·rhe world.famous di/E of Makapu'u

can be soarable nearly every day of the year, but ;ire also a fickle place for flying.

Typie;il conditions arc crossing from the right (cast) at launch, with an elusive tunnel of turbulence lurking downwind of Rabbit [sland someplace on the cliff "The Box:," as launch is referred ro, is a squaredoff platform at the edge the ridge where a pilot literally leaps into the sky no running, just a major-league elevator ride.

Of course, the wind does blow straight in to launch from time to time, but then the turbulence from Rabbit Island is to be

or

HANC CLJDINC

Phil Godwin and Ron Mruk ride the M,t!,c1pu'u elew,tor. found in the landing area, meaning a cmsswind, turhulcnt approach over a highway and other nastiness. Perfc.'.Cl on launch is bad ar the LZ and vice versa.

We met the Mruk family at the land·· ing area, my first real shock of rhe day.

When you're aboul to meet the family of a child with a life-threatening illness, you have a picrnrc in your mind that includes a pale w:1if on his last legs and the drawn faces of a distraught family. Think Tiny ·rim and Bob C:ratchctt. [ guess Dickens never met the Mruks, because the lad who shook my h;md firmly looked more like an X-(;arnes rnedal winner than a patient, and his family was bubbling over about the beauty of the windward side of the island, having never been to }fawaii before.

Ron had been scuba diving the day before, bUL that was a distam memory as soon as he saw the view from launch. A recent hclicoprer ride above a movie set was also forgotten as gliders started to rake shape and preflight jitters set in.

"Waiting up there is pretty unnerving," he would later say, fighting a growing concern that he would fi)rgct something.

When pressed afterward, he narrowed his concern dowo ro worries about the landing: "I thought I'd forget to do something and I'd fall down."

Sounds like a hang glider pilot, all right.

Conditions on launch, unfortunately, were less than ideal. C:loudbasc was only a few hundred feet over the top and the wind, although in, was strong and gusty. 'I 'he combination oft he two would a) make staying our ol the clouds a challenge and b) render the main I J um1s· Oc101irn 2000

able. A plan was made for the alternate landing area at Waimanalo Beach Park, if ,w,·e,scn·v and I was ro ma kc ;111 assess·· rhc primary LZ after rhc drive /\s Phil and I were strntcgizing to ensure rhc safest possible flight, rhe rest of rhc family was hovering nearby, watching Ron Jr. for oC nervousness, keeping his 1 brother Joe at a reasonable distance from the cliff's edge, and perhaps sampling their own feelings of concern.

"This is going to sound corny, l know," Ron's mother Jill s,iid later, "but I really wasn't afraid. All I could think of was the image of a mother bird pushing her young from the nest. Phil was steady and careful and evcrytl1ing I'd seen so far looked very safe. The whole experience was one of dazed shock no, joyful shock."

Ron Sr. adds, "When the Make·a· \Xii sh Foundation offered to grant three wishes to Ron, the first thing out of his momh was 'hang gliding'. Jill and I passed out, of course, but now all I can think is how proud l am. After so much time tied to tubes, this is freedom! He's always dreamed of being involved in extreme sports and this just puts his whole attitude om there. In the last I Cl months he's faced a lot of things 1ha1 would scare even adults. Just like this hang gliding flight, he's taken them all in stride."

While preparations were being made and instructions were being given, Mabpu' 11 gave us our first indication of how the day would go. ·1·he cloud layer had been lifting up and hack s1c;1dily and the top of the ridge was now bathed in wn ··

shine. Wirh the lifting of the clouds, rhc gusts diminished and, as Phil moved his Double Vision to The Box, he was greet· cd with smooth winds.

Pcrfoct.

In retrospect, the launch conditions were our second dose of perfect, as it turns out. [ was reminded later that the cloud cover made the setup and preflight nrnch more pleasant than the more typi · cal baking and dehydrating sun. Rather than drain the strength of our soon·to-be birdman, he hooked in fresh and ready.

The launch process at The Box is unique in the sport of hang gliding. J\ hang check is done well behind the launch platform and then passenger and pilot unhook. The pilot and an assistant move the glider 10 rhc of the pla1form with tbc nose down at a ridiculous angle, noseplatcs barely off the ground. A launch secured to the platform wirh a rope, steadies the glider while the pilot and passenger hook in (and the first assistant double-checks the straps and lines). When the pilot is ready and conditions warrant, he has the launch assistant slowly raise the nose unril the wind roaring up the face grabs the glider a11d the pilot lunges forward to be thrown sky-· ward. If there's a better way to simulate being shot out ofa cannon, l can't think of one.

With strong, smoorh, perfect conclitious, launch was perfect. The Mruk fam-· ily froze solid in their tracks as Ron Jr. climbed up and away from thl' cliff Jill's camera hung around her neck, forgotten.

The video camera continued to roll, but Ron Sr. seemed not to be overly con· ccrned with what it was filming. Their 1

'i

son was flying. Asked to describe their feelings about that moment later, both parents laughed our loud. "I've been telling him not to jump off things his whole life," Jill quipped, "but I guess there comes a time to let them go. " "I was watching my son realize a dream", added Ron Sr. Of course, the airborne son had a very di fferent perspective on the whole process of launching at Makapu' u. Said Ron of the first few moments of his flight, "It was pretty cool. We went straight up, I mean straight up. My first thought was, Tm really in the air, wow,' and then I thought, 'This is pretty nurs.' I was sure I was gonna wake up any second!"

His next comment was one that I may never forget, as it takes a lot of what we all enjoy abo ut hang gliding and simplifies it to its most basic fundamentals. "It was a combination of beautiful and wow. " Phil pulled out all the stops on this flight, buzzing launch with a howl of victory, skimming the edges of the misty wisps of cloud above launch, and generally having a ball. Not long after the glider had

16

Phil Godwin and Ron M ruk preparing for launch at the Makapu'u Box, assisted by Jessie Forbus. made its low pass, I saw the nose pop straight up in a stall and the "barnstorming" pan of the flight started. Ron really enjoyed getting sideways and spiraling down to below launch, rhe beach and the sky and ocean swapping places as he rried to keep rrack of "up. " Taking the control bar for the first time, he admitted to being a little apprehensive.

"It made me nervous. I thought I'd feel

more secure, I guess." According co the pilot in command, the passenger picked things up quickly and flew just fine.

I remember thinking, as I was gathering up the gear and the family to assess the landing conditions and make a decision about the alternate LZ, "Is it getting a little more cross up here? " It didn't make sense, really. A typical Makapu'u day starts out crossing from the east and then straightens out as the inner island heats up. This was backwards.

Of course, I was wrong. It wasn't backwards, it was becoming perfect.

We got to the LZ co find the pilot and passenger overhead, the sun shining through the dolphins on the underside of tl1e wing, and the wind blowing from exacdy the right direction. T he easterly component had kicked in completely and you could have landed a Cessna in the tight LZ in the perfect conditions. After a long downwind leg over the crashing waves and dunes of the Makapu'u shore and a base leg over surfers in the lagoon, Phil and Ron turned on final beside the King Kamehameha Highway, literally

H ANG GLIDING

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1111

The Mrul,farnily at the Mal,apu'u landing area: Ron Sr., Ron Jr., Jill, rmd]oe. stopping traffic (if only for a second).

"Hey Ron, did you sec the red rental car stop right in the middle of the road to watch you?" "Yeah, that was cool. We had a nice 1:mding, too. lt was a lot easier than I thought it would be." ·rhc family rushed out to greet the beaming passenger and Phil and I shared a handshake and a knowing smile. That was perfect all of it. Cloud cover to set up in comfort, smooth winds straight in 011 launch, epic soaring, and wind right down the middle of the runway to land. We still haven't really recovered, weeks later, from the whole warm, fozzy glow of it. It was bizarre and great and a lot of other things all at once. As one pilot said to Ron as he shook bis hand, "Welcome to a very exclu-sive club, young man." If ever a smile was loud, this was the one.

Of course, the Mruk family hasn't recovered, either. \"v'hen I asked, over a week later, what they did for the rest of that day I was greeted at first with silence.

"Went to the beach, maybe? Uhhh, it was so exciting, [ can't really remember. l mean, Waikiki was a thrill, but this, well."

As it turns om, the family had enjoyed a luau that evening, but don't bother to ask them about the hours in between.

As I helped Phil pull battens and the Mruks were leaving, I can distinctly remember being angry. Tt seemed so unfair that this young man, so frill of energy, was fighting a battle f<>r his life. I looked over at their car and, although he was out of

earshot, I knew what he was saying. The animated swooping motions he was making and rhe speed that he was throwing words out were enough. His brother Joe was laughing and I recalled chatting with him on rhe ride down the hill. I don't know bow significant his words were to him at the time, but I suspect that it spoke volumes when, as we saw a glider circling far overhead, he said, "I sure wish Twas Ronnie right now." That's a thought that hadn't been through his mind in quite some time, l bet. l wish I could wrap this up nicely by describing Ron's cure and rccovc1y, but I can't. Although he's already making plans for the next school year and has managed to keep his grades up through teacherassisted home schooling, there is more chemotherapy and radiation looming and bis future has ycr to be determined.

Regardless of the prognosis, Jill is quick to com mcnt on the strength of her son's will.

"I think Ron has something to say in this matter, and he remains convinced he will win not only the battle, but the war. We prny that he will, and ask that you keep Ron and our family in your prayers."

If the experience that we shared is any indication, I wouldn't bet against young Ron. ff the mountains and the ocean and the sky and the sand took notice and wdcomcd him with a perfoct day, anything is possible. Ron puts it another way. "Now I have even more ofa reason to beat this ... I want to be a pilot."• HANG CLIDINC

newcomer won

in the Texas Lone Star Championships were pain. ln between was pure pleasure.

Let's dispense with the pain first: upon driving through record heat---plus 100° lobster-cooker van and arriving at the Hearne 11irport, the meets venue, we stepped out in our sandals and were attacked by barbed sand burrs and acidinjectingfire ants.

20

HANC CL1D1NC

1cn we were done writhing, cursing and whimpering we got wise, avoided the hazards and focused on the pleasure of flying hundreds of miles in a daily regimen of skying out with our flying buddies.

The pain at the end came from the blis-· ters on our hands from so much quality airtime. l n seven competition days, plus two practice days, this author logged .°37 hours 22 minutes. 'fhar's a lot of circling and gliding. Oh yeah, the temperature, while sweltering on the ground, was perfect at alt:itudc. In fact:, most of us jusr wore T--shirts and speed sleeves. I refused to wear gloves in flight because naked hand flying is so rare a privilege. Thus, l had plenty of blisters, but they were proud emblems of the time spent cavorting in the fat 1cxas air at this most successful meer.

And now, on to die pleasure ...

TEXAS

I<ari Castle hegins her roll-out to hunch, a, Neal Harri, waits to pull outfi1r the next pilot.

The first thing we encountered when we rolled in was the southern hospitality of able as a tow facility. The airport's office organizers Steve Burns and Gaye Roach. space, hangars, 7,200--foot paved runway This was their first big meet and they were and 2,000-foot grass strip make it ideal for clearly addled by the myriad derails screamsuch an operation. And ideal for a tow ing for attention, but they took time out meet. t:o welcome and accommodate Steve and Michael Williams first each new arrival. We appreciate conceived an open national that. meet last year when their 'fhe next thing we did Regional comest proved a was go flying over the success. Steve then visited expansive Aatlands of the Wallaby Ranch and southern 'Jcxas. Hearne Quest Air meets to supis located on the broad ply a tug and learn meander plain of the some of the tricks of Brazos river, about producing a pilot-midway between pleasing, well-orga-Houston and Dallas. nizecl meet. The only The Brazos was bor· matter lefr to chance dcred by large grain was the weather. Not to farms that gave way to worry during the ranches to either side time of our visit (August with plenty of forest l O to 20) it was perfectly expanse. Even with these soarable every day. In fact, forests there were 'foxas had been enjoymore available landing (or suffering ing places than any· from, depending on where we have flown Steven Burns, Meet Directorfi11· the LSC your point of view) except Kansas. 'T'hc r,t one ofthe pilots' me·et£,w2:r.

43 consecutive days meet operation was at with no rain. the Hearne airport, which also houses 'T'he arid conditions meant either no Steve's company, Austin Air Sports. Why clouds or high clouds based on abundant Austin, which lies two hours west? Because thermals. We typically reached 7,000 feet that's where he practiced his business for 21 MS!. and occasionally 8,000 or higher (the years until the l Jcarne airport became avail-local land is only a few hundred feet above

OcromR 2000

sea level). But still we weren't above the highest point in 'Jcxas, which is Mt. Livermore at 8,368 feet in southwest Texas. So for most of the meet we were flying up under 'lexas! What a bizarre thought.

GLORIOUS SOAIUNG We had the benefit of a good weatherman.

Cary Osoba showed up to set world records on his Woodstock sailplane. He indeed did this in several categories (outand-back, dog--lcg, triangle). In the meantime he provided us with a pretty good assessment of the weather which allowed the task committee to set some aggressive courses.

The first day we had a 68--mile triangle with the last leg hearing directly into the wind. Lift was good along the course with clouds, birds and gliders marking thermals everywhere. Unril rhe final leg. Some pilots reached 9,000' MSL at the last turnpoint, but most struggled with lowering altitudes and weaker lifr into a pounding headwind. 'fhis day it paid to be patient, and one hard charger, Paris Williams, decked it almost 10 miles short of goal. Another, Rossignol landed a tenth of a mile short! The stronger winds lower down caught many of us wishing we had made more investments in the altitude bank earlier on. As ir was, 14 pilots made goal and six more were within a 'Texas mile. Mike Barber won rhc day fcir the flex wings with Jim Lee in second.

The rigid and flex wings staging together in harmony Bruce Barmakian won ir in the rigid class by leaving early and garnering 109 earlybird departure points.

The second day featured a straight run north and back for 53.9 miles total distance. We slogged hard on the way back in rhe strong south headwind. We wrung our every foot of climb as we went forward three miles and drifted back cwo. Then, miraculously, we hie 700 fpm lift flying

srraight near goal and had to burn off a couple of extra thousand feet!

The winner this rime was Jim Lee with Paris Williams (remember him) coming in second in Class I. Class II was again won handily by Bruce Barmakian.

On the third day we decided to get most aggressive and called a 107.7-mile dogleg task north ro Ennis. The day was a racer for the first three quarters. Then a

blue hole ambushed the leaders and 15 pilots caught up. Everyone went into survival gaggle mode, then fanned our on the glides. As ir was, 2 1 people made goal. Bo Hagewood, the current national champion, landed one mile short because he headed for rhe wrong airport, nor trusting his GPS. Jamie Stinner rook second, but nearly won the day by heading into the gray alone and catching a surprise 700 fpm climb while the rest of us groveled in the sunshine with 100 to 200 fpm lift. Paris Williams won for the flex wings with a blazing time of three hours and 47 minutes for an average speed of 27.76 mph. Davis Straub won Class II with an average speed of 28.62.

The fourth day was a 70.9-mile triangle starring our ro the northeast. Again we met a headwind coming home, bur with gaggle cooperation we managed ro bring in 18 pilots (both classes). Jim Lee, Mike Barber and Paris finished in that order. By now it was clear that Paris was going for broke in trying to make up for his first-round deficit. His brilliant flying had us all realiz-

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ing that rhe U.S. ream has a potent new member. Davis Straub again won in Class II with rhe second fastest overall rime.

In this meet it became clear that rhe top rigid wings have equal, if nor better climb rares compared to rhe flexes, and notably better glide, even in a headwind.

Where they fall down is diving to goal. A fl ex wi ng pilot can bear a rigid wing pilot if the two start relatively even on final dive.

T hat's how Jim Lee arrived at goal ahead of Davis.

On rOLmds five and six, Paris really shifted into overdrive. Round five was a 67.3-mile triangle and round six was an 85.8-mile our-and-return. Paris won both and on the second one was the only C lass I glider to make goal (Davis and Bruce made it in Class II). Joe Bostik was excruciati ngly close and Chris Zimmerman and I landed on the airport grounds after an l l .2-mi1e headwind final glide. Chris was rhe local rookie of the meet since he had only been flying a few years and was competing in his second big meet.

Then the challenging final round again had us bucking a headwind halfway

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Lots ofwide-open sptJce /Jt the sttJging tJrea mzd launch site, the lift was magnificent going and part way back, but suddenly weakened while the headwind increased, The finishers were those pilots who led the gaggle as time ran out for the rest of us. Only six pilots made goal in Class L Jim Lee won with Mike Barber and Paris Williams coming in second and third, This finish wa;; prophetic, for ir proved to be the order of the final standings.

In Class II, Jim Zeiset won the day, and he deserved a win, for all meet long he had been charging ahead and marking thermals for the rest of us on his neon-green ESC rigid wing, No, Paris didn't overtake Mike and Jim, but he produced the best after-hours entertainment as we all waited for the standings to come out. The tension was palpable, He went from 13th place on the first day to third, in six flights, That's a remarkable climb rate.

Of course, he had to contend with Mikey B., who himself is a hard charger, Mike led the meet for the first four days and only gradually succumbed to Jim Lee's relentless strategy and unbeatable climbing skills. Prom this viewpoint nobody can outclimb .Jim, and he is nearly always on top of the pack whether we are orbiting in holding pattern for a start gate or racing along in the lead gaggle, How he docs it is anybody's guess, Of course, he also has to put together good glide lines and make constant: deci·· sions concerning when to leave a thermal and where to go for the next one, He has become our old king of the hill who still beats the young contenders for the throne,

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Class II was won handily by Davis Straub who came back with a vengeance afrer trailing Bruce for two days (Bruce missed the start gate on day three), Bruce took second and Jim Zcisct finished third.

1'his meet is history, It also made history in a way, for it is the ftrst meet in Texas with national focus, it included one of the longest task calls in the U.S., it featured seven consecutive days of superb flying (remi-· nisccnt of Wallaby last season) and there wasn't a serious flying accident: throughout the event.

We did have a road accident, however, Linda Sauer was retrieving at highway speeds when a car foll of old ladies pulled off the road, then proceeded to attempt a U-tum just as Linda reached them. She locked up the brakes, slid imo them sideways and subsequently rolled the truck 'fhc whole thing was witnessed by competitor Dave Prentice who happened to be flying over at the time, The car was totaled, but fortunately Linda was unhurt.

The ladies went to hospital, with several in critical condition, This accident again underscores the possibility that it may be to travel by hang glider than car, 'There were pilots entered (3 l in Class I and ftvc in Class II), This size of a field allowed us to know cve1yonc in the air we were flying with our buddies and there were frequent friendly waves (at least I think they were waves), In all we flew more than 13,000 X-C miles combined. Next

year, due to the premier's success, I expect there will be twice ,rn many pilots entered.

Everyone said they were coming back An operation snch as this owes a lot to the local volunteers who accommodated, managed, catered and capitulated to our every need. Of course, Steve Burns (who turned into Meet Director extraordinaire as the meet commenced) and Gaye Roach were the hard-worked ones at the top of the pyramid, But many others, too numerous to list, deserve our thanks. We wish to mention R.R Rodriguez, the Safety Director who made us feel secure, and two competitors, Dean Funk and Michael Williams who did all the GPS downloading and scoring after hours while most of us snoozed.

What a team!

The Lone star Championships was practically pure fun, Besides cavorting in the generous skies we have great memories of the social hours with friends old and new. We shared catered breakfasts and dinners every day, We frolicked in the Zeisct's portable 20-man (packed tightly) pooL We cooled our jets at the Red Bull·-sponsorcd tent with free drinks and oxygen. At night, those who camped at the airport listened to the sound of the wind swaying the Chinese elms, the distant trains pulling out of the I:-Iearnc yard, the owl asking his eternal question, the armadillo shuffling through the forest duff and the local pack of coyotes singing their hearts out. And then we dreamed of magnificent flying up over 'lexas, B

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by Mike Vorhis When Daedalus hadfinished mafdng the wings, he gave instructions to his son, stiying· "Tcarus, I advise you to take a middle course. !fyou fly too low, the sea will soak the wings; ifyou fly too high, the suns herit will burn them. Fty between setl and sun/ Talee the course along which I shall lead you.

Mythology

ur you cannot win with the middle course, and we knew that. You have w fly rhc Iinc tight; you have to embrace the expense ancl the rime and the closeness of your inside tip, and the perils that be. We'd already made our choice: We would endeavor to prove what ill. fared Icarus could not that the edge of existence holds immortality's key that his fother was wrong. l read at the Dionysos ruins that Aphrodite was the goddess of the Olympos foothills. She must b:ive been pleased; certainly her visibly voluptuous descendants populating the tiny central (;reek towns of Kalivia, Kalithea and Livadi turned out in fascinated, hospitable numbers for the first World Speed Gliding Championships to welcome us, to

26

wonder at our whistling wings, and ro serve us feta like it was dug from the rnmrntain itself But that's gen ing :1head of the story.

The mlc I will tell is oF a handful of pilots, who to normal folk would be regarded as bizarre speed junkies. They arc men who fly fast, seemingly taking tremendous chances for the sake of the rhrill. Sniffing tl1c bar ro 1hc knees scares rhem only because it's too slow they have ro get rhat hunk of carbon fiber our on fingerrips and pasr rhc ankles or they whine abour the Lameness of the course. A Speed Cliding meet consisLs of almormal pilots lining up in rhc early morning with tricked-out gliders and goofy lycra things on their heads to do what docs not come naturally hurl oneself at stupefying speeds down a mountain spine, around pylons, inches over

terrain and through low, tight: gates with the express intention of bringing the flight experience to an end as soon as can be managed.

Why? The reasons arc legion. Mostly they become addicted, and therein lies the sum of the tale. Some, like John Borton, Reto Schaerli, G.W. Meadows ,md Ken Brown, cut their piloting tcct·h on dune soaring, which among competitive personalities quickly evolves into races to the end of the dunes and back. Some, like Henry Bittner and Chris Giardina, migrated to cliff soaring from other air, and loved it for the same reasons. Some, like Aaron Swepston, find racing spiritually akin to other extreme flying, notably acrobatics. Some, like Steve Alford and myself, simply wanted the flavor of youth again in our mouths, and ... well, basically it tastes a lot like adrenaline.

Personally, when first I'd heard of a speed meet coming to my home town, I thought I'd use it as a means to get published, trotting our sport into a maimtrcam magazine somewhere. And I wanted to be able to say l had once competed, however badly, in a National ]cam Pre-Qualifier. Sounded cool. That first meet was pathetically small, so by rhe next one I had rime to escalate ambitions to "doing well at a local level." At some point: I decided what I really wanted was to do my best, including prep and commitment, to see how close T could come ro making the National '[e;am.

Others bad their sights on this as well, of course, both individuals and manufacturers (notably Wills Wing and Aeros). John Borton was thinking World Champ thoughts early, and to prepare went off and won a Canadian meet by a mile or so. Moyes America icon Kenny Brown found himself drawn to the meets. Velocity addicts Andy Whitehill, Scott Angel, Paris Williams, Dustin Martin and Scot 'Jh1cblood were as well, and Rob Kells and his big guns Chris Arai and Jim Lee were reportedly in the hunt. One competitor told me ar one point that we already knew who the fost guys were and sorry, hut it warn't me, which got my blood boiling a bit, and l vowed in that moment ro bring my inconsequential dark-horse-ism down upon them all.

Fully half the eventual team had the same thought.

The spring of 2000 arrived on schedule, and two qualifier meets were chosen: the March-timcFramc WOR Supcr-C 2000 at Ed Levin and the Chelan Speed Classic in midMay. Bent on representing the Aeros product line well, Borton (aka JB) recruited a few good men for the Supcr-G in the likes of phoHANC CLlf )INC

tograpbcr and comp pilot Rcto Schaerli, acrobatic fool Aaron Swepston and Aeros importer G.W Meadows. And being a kind oflocal speed mentor, with Meadows' frill endorsement, JB guided other promising competitors toward Aeros as well. It was looking for all the world to be a showdown between the Wills Boys and the Ukrainian hardware, with one Litespeed, one proto Sensor and a few old kingposts woven into the rtllX.

But by mid-March word had come down that Wills Wing was not fielding an air force lc)r the qualifier meets. Without backing, their pilots were apparently disinclined to attend on their own nickels, or more probably sched-· ule conflicts with key X-C meets frlrbadc. The stage was thus set for two qualifying speed meets on completely even footing, wherein every pilot not only Aew the same air but wrestled with identical financial pressures as well. Tn the absence offull factory-sponsored gods, true to the classic spirit ot America and the New World, it was shaping up to be a team of the common man.

Ed Levin was the more attended and was won by dune-goon Reto Schaerli on the small Stealth. The course was uniq11dy designed to permit launching from multiple directions (to handle wind shifts) without measurable affect on times. After launch a pilot had to dive through an energy control gate, then pop up and traverse good distance before diving past a start line. For extra start speed Reto would stall 500 feet above the start gate and fall like a pointed stone between the poles where they sat on the edge of the slope. Local boys Henry Bittner and Kenny Brown also placed high enough to guarantee themselves a spot on the team.

Other than Kenny, the meet:'s top times were completely dominated by the tiny Stealth, with wing loadings in some rnscs exceeding 2.5 psf. It was already known that the Worlds would penalize for anything over 2 psf (actually, l O kg/sq. meter virtually the same thing), but liability reasons were cited to allow a no-loading-limit meet to prevail at Ed Levin. Knowing it would dominate given the rules and course, Aaron, Chris and Henry bought tiny 129 Stealths for the national meets, to Gnd out btcr they were in (~ct only 109 square feet. In a routine practice flight Chris blew a lannch in switchy and dif ficult air, and his injuries made everyone think he was out of the running. (But two months later he was back as fast as The l 09 gang spent the next fow months jogging and eating mdba-toast to try to make weight OctOlllR 2000

for the Worlds. None of them ever quite did. ln mid-May the Chelan meet wok the spotlighr. The course was more open but longer, and with an ankle-stuffer course leg that ended in a 360 before a pylon on the flats. There were compctirors Swcpston, Meadows, Schaerli who could not mathematically be dropped from the team as long as they flew only one throw-away round. Others (Borton, Bittner, Brown) did not show or did not compete for the same reason. (Instead they flew camera runs for Discovery Aviation.) The rest of us, and some who were represented only by their static points to date, were battling /cir the two remaining spots on the eight-man team. Those who needed flew their single round each, then backed off to let Giardina, Alford, Alan Kenny, the static point values of Rich Cizauskas, Scott Angel and Dustin Martin, and myself all battle it out. I had bought one of those baby Stealths purely l<Jr this meet (bought the one JB had ridden

his chances to become World Champion. JB is ... how shall we say it delicately ... criminally obsessive when he puts his mind to something. His purpose is singular, his focus incredible. He was spending most of his rime building a special rigid harness, fully enclosing the body and head in a carbon-fiber tube and clear lcxan dome, and had other mods as well.

JB approached favorite Manfred Ruhmcr in Florida in April, and challenged him publicly: ff Manfred won at the Worlds in JB would become a Laminar pilor for a year; if JB won, Manfred would fly 12 monrhs for Aeros. "Sure, okay, why not?" was Manfred's casual reaction, and the duel was set up.

The U.S. '!cam had incredible depth in JB, Rcto, Kenny, Henry, Chris and Aaron, and despite strong teams cxpccred from Austria, the Ukraine, Australia and Brazil, they had high hopes of bringing home the gold.

But in early June, Rcro stunned these hopes by blowing out an elbow in a routine

to victory in Canada and Rcto at Ed Levin), and on that little champ I won the Chelan meet, but still missed the team by a half point, and second-placer Chris Giardina and third-man Steve Alford became official representatives of the USA. The team was decided.

Reality set in: Airline slots were difficult and expensive. How to get gliders shipped?

FA I Sporting Licenses and entry fees both had deadlines; accommodations were report-· cdly scarce. From time off and cost standpoints it would be expensive to say the least.

The guys threw it together in record time, and as first alternate I watched the flurry from my cybcr-perch. You ralk about envy.

Since April, John Borton had done his best to make all of Europe tremble. He'd been undefeated in sanctioned meets, and had clear ideas on wl1at gear mods would improve

tandem flight. "I went to 12 physic,il therapy sessions in the hope that l could rehab in time," he said later, "hut as the departure day grew near a deep sadness set in, because J had to accept the inevitable; I couldn't take the chance of flying so fast and close with a tricc;p muscle that had now atrophied to half strength. It wasn't fit to compete." A pilot is, if nothing an instrnment of judgement, and Reto proved his piloting superiority on a day in mid-July: He reluctantly but stoically abdicated his team berth to the first alternate (myself). Rcro immediately brnicd himscltby redoubling efforts to gain sponsors for the rest of us, creating the Xglide.com website as our primary vehicle for Speed Cliding and national team promotion, and making wing/hdmc:t stickers for the team. (Nore: Sponsors were mostly not found in time, excepr for some

27

Author Mike Vorhis at Gate 8. shirts and the like donated by Italian clothing maker BUFF and the U.S. Aeros company.) I had strong regrets for Reto, which pretty much spoiled any euphoria that might normally accompany getting a shot at the Worlds. But there wasn't much time to reflect on that with two weeks to prepare.

We arrived one-by-·one in Greece. JB and Henry were there several weeks ahead, practicing the course and providing feedback for meet director Dennis Pagen. Dennis intended that the Pre-Worlds course of the year before be lengthened at the top, but in the end that new upper stretch was never used. With three days to go before round one, I arrived in Livadi to learn that Henry had broken his ankle on a tricky lannch slope, where air circulated unpredictably and scree lay steep and loose.

As Yul Brynner once said from atop his horse, now we were seven.

Filling our beads in the practice days was the charactcrisric humor associated with foreign travel a waiter denying that: the thin potato slices were like French fries because "they are local potatoes"; a streer vendor in I ,ivadi giving away free breath-freshening gum to all who stuck their faces into his small kiosk window; a Cronus airlines stewardess announcing that "we will be serving a snake during the flight." There were the car-chasing sheepdogs with their nail-studded ami-wolC collars, vicious in daytime but apathetic once it was evening and they were off rhc clock.

There was the teenage Albanian shepherd boy Haji presiding over a small flock from the wooden launch ramp each morning. Smallengined sedans had to be pushed up the sharp-rock grades (advice: avoid buying used cars from Central Greek rental fleets for the

30

next year or so). The Discovery Channel was on hand at every restaurant, every conversation, every outing, getting footage of hands slapping high fives, tilting bottles, and scratching places discrete or less so. 'f'herc were animated times hanging with team photographers Jamie Shelden and 1-800-DAVEGLOVER, with Korean pilot "Mr. Lee," and with JB's father Leroy. There was the obligatory litany of Greek-language speeches at the opening ceremonies, the oil drowning all foods, the bus trips to the beach and the ruins at Dion and the monasteries at Mcteora, where the old James Coburn movie Riders was filmed decades ago, in which the Wills brothers lead the flying scenes. 'There was rlenry bending the soulful blues with his barmonica on the bus. Day after day, there was the wristwatch alarm at 5:00 AM and the pastoral grazing fields through the car window and the sound ofbatrcn--stufflng on the crisp early air, with carabatic winds and mortals daring to consider flight and the sun not yet over the rim of the monstrous and hypnotic Mountain of the Gods.

Round One began on the Old Comsc.

Launch was either a long, consistent dirt slope or a wooden ramp, depending on conditions.

Two hundred yards away the first gate sat on a flat knoll with a livestock fence right behind it. After the fence was a sometimes-used "haystack pylon" requiring the first acuteangle turn. Another pylon 300 yards farther allowed more acceleration where it sat above the tightest roll reversal of the course code named Gorge Gate perched at the top of a V-shapcd canyon down which the racing line led. Another (narrowest) gate led out to the longest srraight nm, across a small valley, and

from there rhe course turned all burners fi.111 on, down a mountainside to Gare Ten. Typically a 360 was required there. After that the course flattened just a little, weaving past two more pylons amid farm fields to end through the finish gate. There was then just barely enough excess energy with which to reclaim altitude for setting up a landing in a large, gently-downsloping harvested hayfield, in which sat a tiny gazebo and a lone shade tree.

Times for this ballpark three miles ranged from to 4:30 or more, Even at the Worlds there is a spread.

For Round One, attention was already intensely focused on the Ruh mer-Borton challenge, and while most competitors ran the gates for the first time and gingerly tested their reactions, the top seeds (which also included Big John Smith of New Zealand and Ukrainian legend Oleg Bondarchuk) were pumped and taking it to red line. The Discovery Channel was set up to get incredible footage at the gates. JB elected to use his new Buzz Lightyear.. esque harness despite a concern that the launch was not steep enough (he had accidentally designed it slightly too limiting at the thighs, and acceleration was difficult on all but the steepest slopes). He blew the launch (aborted it really, knowing it would be blown) and destroyed the harness against fi.1rthcr use at the meet. From the film crews to the U.S. team to even JB's top rivals, everyone was disappointed, because everyone wanted to sec this thing in flight. After months of design, testing and delicious anticipation, with no visible regret and no more than a millisecond of shrug, JB immediately borrowed a WW Fusion from a Greek meet official and ran his round with a normal harness as "Borton" a reaction as anyone could ever have.

"We'll take it to 'em with conventional gear then," he said simply. Manfred won the day, with Jobn Smitb taking second and Oleg coming in third. G.\Xl. Meadows surprised all by blazing early on; his and Kenny's times kept the U.S. 'foam in good position at fourth and fifrb respectively. Other U.S. ream mem· bers ranged from sixth to eleventh. So far the Austrian team was leading.

Day two coaxed a headline of"Borton Storms Back" in a popular Hight newsletter.

Manfred won again, but with JB two seconds behind him on his reconditioned Stealth.

Cumulatively it was still Ruhmer, Smith, Bondarcbuk, Meadows and Brown, with Giardina, Swepston, Goller (AUS), Borton, Schrott (AUS), Vorhis and Alford in the mid-ranks.

By sheer numbers we were clogging up the top ten, but Austria srill gave clear cause for HANC GLIDINC

worry.

On the third day Dennis attempted to move the action to the higher launch, but before half the field was airborne Marcus Goller of Austria dragged a dip and bounced horribly clown the rocks, and we shifi:ccl ro rescue mode and the day was called. (I never knew there was such a d1ing as hang gliding Paparazzi, but when our team videographer Linh Nguyen got the entire accident on camera, om of the rocks themselves oozed an array of very grabhy newspeoplc who badly wanted that tape. Linh donated it to DisuN· cry, who, because they were covering the meet, would use it in the proper context.)

The upper course was never atremptcd thcrcafi:cr in the mecr. And "Goalie" miraculously sustained only five cracked ribs. A tough guy.

By this time the U.S. Team was in first place, having passed Austria on day two. And Austria was now down to two pilots·--~ Ruhmer and Michael Schrott. Aaron Swepston, Steve Alford and I were busy trading places, targeting the amiable Schrott as our critical rival, and trying to ensure that our whole team finished in the top ten.

Round rlm:e was accomplished on rhe next day. JB bear Manfred by four foll seconds ro rurn in the mcct's best rime. Oleg captured his consistent third, and G.W. tied Smith for fourrh. ( :umulative placings shifted only in that Marcus Coller was out of it and that Borton picked up two places, inching ahead of teammate Chris Giardina for overall sixth slot. Michael Schrott still occupied a chair ahead of Steve and me.

The fourth round saw no appreciable change in position among the top pilots.

Dennis was busy providing rulings, and ru] .. ings regarding rulings, for the pilots who had exccured uncompleted rounds (J Band Goller). Manfred remained in first individual· ly; the USA was walking away with the team honors. G.W. and Ken were right behind the top three. Kenny could be heard by pylon judges and camera crews yelling at himself through the gates at the top of his lungs to remember key tenets of efficient llighr.

One unfortunate fact of the mecr was that some rules seemed l"O change round by round, or at least decisions and imerprcta· tions changed. Ir was difficult to follow all of it, but in essence there was a problem regarding uncomplcrcd rounds. Since the meet format provided for awarding time (instead of' points) /cir a round, uncompleted runs (blown launches, aborted runs, general failure to cross the finish line) could not be "zeroed" because zero would be the best possible time 0CTOllrn 2000

a pilot could have. The pilot therefore had to be awarded some "slow" l st M. Ruhmer Ausrrla Jcaro 2000 17:44 time·-~ bm ... how slow' 2nd J Smith New Zealand Stealth 14m 18:12 \Xlhat equation was 3rd 0, Bondarehuk Ukraine Stealth J4ni l 8:18 appropriate? 'J 'hroughout 4th G.W. Meadows USA Stealth 14m 18:51 the meet it was unclear 5th K. Brown USA Moyes Litespeed 18:55 what this formula was, 6th C. Giardina Ste,llth l 09 20:l I USA and whether a blown 7th M. Vorhis Stealth 14m USA 20:31 launch was an uncom3th M. Schrott Austria Viagro 20:37 pleted round, or whether 9th A. Swtipston USA Stealth J 09 20:47 it was not counred as an 10th S. Alford USA Stealth 13111 21:20 attempt by virtue of not 11th M. Alonzi l;,iminar France 21:28 becoming airborne. The 12th P. Efthimiadis Greece WW Fusion 2.4: l.3 shifting interpretations 13th G. f<arabalios Greece UP 25:21 put a pall on the meet 14th A. Spirclis Greece Sensor 25:29 that could have been 15th JD Lee K.orca Moyes CSX 25:32 avoided with a round 16th S. Gonaras Greece UP 25:33 scoring system that enviA. Mihalopoulos Greece wwxc J sioned all these scenarios Greece Airwavc K4 18 th P. Papafragos 28:16 ahead of time. (And 19th J. norton Stealth ]4m USA DNF when pilots arc launching 20th M. Goller Austria DNF Viagro VG-full-right in zero or light cross with 30 Team Gold: tJSA Team Silver: Austria Team Bronze: Greece pounds oflcad in their pockets, blown launches might well be a possibility considered beforcwlrnmp ro the bar and thanking the eastern h:rnd.) orthodox stars I'd hooked into the right Another area for meet improvement number of strands; waffling wide at a gate in wonld have been the wing loading rule itself round one with a hadly-tunccl, over-banking By allowing a loading of two psf and penab.glider and watching pylon judges dive for ing according to a formula only above that cover; carving through critical Cate 7 right threshold, every pilot rnusr be at 1.999 psf or on the pylon pole and knowing thar it was suffer a de facto disadvamage. '] 'his is a mar· good; and straightening out from below a rise gin:dly safe load to attempt to launch; every toward a gate, to find a flock of sheep righr in pilot there was consciously trying ro survive line and between rhc poles. I strafed them :1 the meet. Par better ro have a normalizing meter off their backs and was gone, catching equation that covers the entire area-·loading only a flash of dirty wool hclow my bar and (or span-loading?) range. Pilots could then the foccs of two boss·dogs whipping their choose whar load they can safely bunch and incredulous heads to gape. I think it was a land, and one more poirn of piloting skill is threat for which they were not well prepared. tested that of knowing where on the load We were into rhc last two rounds. JB's curve one's glider is most efficient. Such a shoulder was killing him, and since he was load--normalizing formula would focus placeno longer in the individual hunt and was ment on who flies the better line. Dennis convinced that the ream could carry the day, agreed that evolving the rules in rhis direc·· he s:ll out ro avoid ft1nher injury. Others of tion would be a substantial improvement. us with lesser aches were limping and groan"All we have to do is make sure we're using ing from this and that, relying on adrenaline the correct equation," he pointed our, the ro mask pain during launch. '1,No days to go finding of which should be possible empiri-- top gun now out, have to hold the line. cally over a series of well-designed tests using 'I<> enforce a pernfoir rule regarding max several glider planforms. harness weight, Dennis required culprits Weeks later, vivid snippets o( those midfrom earlier rounds to weigh their harnesses dle rounds still self.plug, sel/~play, in my separately before hooking in, including Man· mind: The blood-coagulating acceleration frcd, French pilot Mario Alonzi I and myself (Don'r be misled; despite claims of hetwecn pylon 9 and gate I 0, trying to hold a "vertical" dive for a quarter mile; pulling some glider designs being roo fosr to need ir, enough C's on a 360 to rip om all the stitch-we were rd/ packing as rnuch lead as we could cs of a doubled-up hang strap, falling with a get away widi.) The round was flown. One Tl

Top row, left to right:']ohn Borton, Aaron Swepston, Steve Alfred, Chris Giardina. Bottom row, lefi to right: U W Meadows; Ken Broum, Mike Vorhis, Hemy Bittner.

Greek pilot somehow encountered the ground a little bcfrlrc the finish line, and noticed later that the time he was awarded for not finishing the course improved his standings. On the rheory that a smart competitor works the rules creatively, the Greek team secretly discussed doing the same deliberately en massc on the last day, to try to get themselves into the top ten. 'fo discourage this, Dennis was forced 10 modify the formula he used for awarding "slow" times, which runhcr eroded JB's cumu-lative place. Although JB won a round, had the fastest round, and proved his place in the top seeds, eventually he and Marcus were scored as "Diel Not Fly." The sixth and final round saw Manfred reducing ballasr and playing safe. I le didn't need ro win the last one to keep his place on top. John Smith won the day, with Oleg and Rimmer behind him, and Kenny and G.W tied for fourth to ice their close rivalry in G.W's favor. [ edged out Michael Schrott for overall seventh; Steve Alford herded us all (except JB) into the top ten. Sec the chart above for cumulative resuhs. ln my sleep on the plane going over I'd had delusions of impossible glory of such nonsense as earning the nickname "The Blur." [n the end I, too, made all of Europe tremble, but it was with my landings. But I got it perfoct frlr the last round, as did we all, and that is the one we'll remember. How tight we flew that line!

How we cranked that circle! How close we were, in the gates and in the LZ. We whooped it up in ground cHect all the way across the Geld, and downed gallons of water as corn· racles, and shook hands for pushing each other and flying well. 'The town put on a grand Closing Ceremony in the Kalivia square.

Yciung girls, Aphrodite's own, danced and

32

smiled. Hang gliding videos whirled. Speeches flew. 'They played national anthems and took phoros of each of us as we received our gold or silver or bronze medals, and they gave us mementos and a dinner and the warmth for which they arc famous. We walked away into the night dazed; we'd made it through, and done well. I slept JG hours afrcr it was over. It had been consuming; it had been fantastic. We had challenged Daedalus' cautions, and Aown in the face of the gods.

'The team medal belongs in large part to John Borton. It was John who had the overpowering ambition to pursue the world cb1mpionship at any cost. He brought his sport rac-background to rhe game; he evaluated the cares and the care--nots as concerned speed gliding. Tle developed players like l knry Bittner, like G.W. Meadows, like Reto Schaer-Ii, like Aaron Swepston, like myself who demonstrated a desire to learn and an ability to excel. JB designed and analyzed courses, stud· ied rules, campaigned for judgements, did the math. Forever articulate and persuasive, he could still learn from ideas that were not his, while proving the merit of the many that were.

He walked courses, evaluating, siting lines he would see later from the air. He prepared for months in damn-tlic·torpcdoes style, then strode into tl1e Worlds ar high noon with prior practice and technology that made the Euro-· peans pale. When Henry hit the hill, JB mid Chris rook turns hefting him up rhc precarious grade. When teammates wondered aloud the slope or bank of a particular stretch, JB had dara and advice compiled and ready. "The team medal is what I wanted anyway," he said later. 'Tve always been a team sport kind of person, ar hearr. Because, who can you share an individual medal with? Your grandmoth·

er ... ? But a Team Gold you can go around to ,111 the others and say, man, we did this!' " The Gold medal belongs to Reto Schaerli because he was fast and because even in non·attendance he was pure Team.

The Gold belongs ro crew-members Linh, Jan, Jamie, David and Leroy, and to family and pilots back home, beca11sc it's truly a team clfort, and could nor happen without that energy and suppon. 'fhe Gold belongs to Henry Bittner because he showed up weeks early to practice, influenced course design, and became the ultimate teammate with his spare parts and mod materials, and for the support, advice and spirit he provided, punctuated by crmcl1es and an enthusiastic smile.

The Gold belongs to Steve Alford, Aaron Swepston and myself because we were the team's depth and bemuse we battled Austrian Michael Schrott tooth and nail for placement, and beat him enough to have done the trick.

The Gold belongs to Chris Giardina because even with bis loading penalty he scored wdl in so many rounds, anchored the team solidly in the midrange of the. top ten, and broughr to launch his patented, full. frontal competition style.

The Gold belongs ro Kenny Brown and G.W. Meadows because they were thoroughly dominant in the top five each round and con· tributed so consistently to the team score.

But the ( ;old belongs mostly to John Borton, because he put it all together, and was our captain, our secrer weapon, our mentor and our pride. He had the best of the globe leaning forward and knitting their brows, and he made the World Championships a personal chal· lenge and a of history.

There will be other world speed competi· tions. Such events showcase the sport dramatically, and promote free flight: in general, by bringing it in sight of the non.flying public.

There may be more: and better talcs played out befrirc the curious eyes of'Zeus and Hera, as decades go hy. But rhe flrst-ever World Speed Gliding Championships will remain etched in the journals of aviation history in the respects that an Austrian won it individually, and the Americans took the Team Gold, and that two competitors hy the names of' Manfred Ruhrner and John Borton fought a personal duel that began innocuously, dcvdopccl surreptitiously, ended prematurely, and in the end remained unresolved. We will see what happens when nexr they meet:. for them and ror all, there is more histo1y to be part oC more god-haunts to Ay. The edge beckons still. fll HANC GLIDINC

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t felt fine that I had flown my Air Atos 347 miles from Zapata, Texas almost to Sterling City, a bit south of Big Spring, bur I hardly thought of ir in these terms. Sure, I knew I had flown chat far, but ir didn't seem that hard, and in fact, I had enjoyed the whole flight.

Wasn't this quest for the Holy Grail of hang gliding supposed co require a superhuman effort?

Gary was pretty darned excited and just kept rib bing me (over and over again) wirh, "You, did it. " And he had every righr to be excited, as he was the one who really did ir. He srudied and understood rhe weather, he found the airport in exactly the right spot, and he made all the arrangements wirh the locals. He ser the stage, and all I had to do was acr the part.

Ar first it appeared as though we really didn't have a chance to set a new hang gliding world distance record. Dave Sharp and I started flying from Zapata in midJuly, bur rhe stable weather pattern had dereriorared just before we got there. Srill, Dave was the first to break rhe record (borh Larry's Tudor's RamAir record of 308 miles and Ramy's Millennium record of 252 miles) with a flight of 31 1 miles on July 19, a day chat was almost completely blue. We were all very excited about his new reco rd.

Gary had damaged the undercarriage of his Carbon Dragon so he was in no position to be able to set any new world records of his own. (Later, in Hearne, he set three new world records with his Woodstock.) He spent the week helping Dave, D ustin Martin and me try ro set our world records. While he was hurting inside, he was very helpful on the outside.

I had an opportunity to hang around Zapata fo r another week after everyone else left at the end of the first week, but

I

34

Farther Than Anyone's Ever Flown A Hang Glider

Miles

by Davis Straub That's what Gary Osoba kept saying to me when we got back together in Hearne, Texas, after the World Record Encampment in Zapata. "You have flown a hang glider farther than anyone has ever flo wn a hang glider. " I just chuckled, and waved him off the winds were eirher lighr or blowing from the ease-southeast. The high pressure jusr wasn't serring up in the Gulf where ir should.

I finally decided that I needed ro take a break for a week, waiting for the weather

to change back co what Gary saw as the long-term pattern of south-so utheast winds ro tating around the Bermuda high our in the Gulf. T his is such a large meteorological feature that it creates the opportunity ro fly a significant, essentially straight distance with a tailwind. If it sets up right, that tailwind can be quire strong.

Every day that we flew at Zapata was good, even when it wasn't good enough to set a wo rld record. You co uld still take off early, stay up, and fly far. Bad days were likely to produce flights in the 200mile range.

When I got back to Zapata on the afternoon of August 5 I knew I had missed a spectacular day. The cu's had been formi ng way to the north in San Antonio at 9:00 AM, and they lasted all day with a nice south breeze. I could only hope that there would be a few more days Like that.

On Wednesday, August 9, the morning was full of promise. Gary had chosen Zapata so that we co uld start flying at 8:00 in the morn ing. If you want to go far you've go t to start early. At 8:00 AM the low-level cumulus clouds starred filling in. The sky was pulsing with fas tmoving, chick clouds that almost completely covered the sky by 9: 00 AM .

I wasn't ready to fly at 8:00 AM. Sometimes you have to keep your driver happy (in my case, the Amazing Flying Belinda), and while she wo uld do it, getting up at 6:00 AM to start flying at 8:00 was not the besr day-after-day policy. I really wasn't that excited about it either, since on most days you really can't get off that early. But on this day it was most likely possible.

The high pressure out in the G ulf dominates the general weather pattern of south Texas . T his was what was sending H ANG GLI DING

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us in Zapata the cooler, moist Gulf air that overran the hot desert north of the Rio Grande. We would prefer the high pressure to be centered a bit further to rhe south, in order co produce south-southeast winds at Zapata, instead of southeast winds.

I rook a look at che predicted surface winds for the day on the computer the night before. They were a little coo ease of southeast as seen in the 1:00 PM windcasc, bur they were predicted to come more from the south the further north I flew.

The lacer windcasc for 7: 00 PM shows stronger surface winds buc with a liccle more of an east component near San Angelo, which is where I hoped co be ac 7:00.

Gary had made his own predictions for winds aloft and chey were rhac the winds would be more ouc of che south than the windcasc predictions for the areas in the neighborhood of Laredo.

On che morning of the 9th we were our ac the airport by 9:00 AM, and by the rime I launched at 10:12 rhe cu's were srreered up, with bases at about 2,200 ' AGL. They were right over the airport, so all I had to do was release under the street and start circling in light morning lifr.

With the life so well organized I was going to be able co stay up and away from the difficult areas to the north of the airport where it would require getting through a locked gate to retrieve me. Even leaving at 2,200' in light life was fine because che life was so well organized.

Also, the light sink was partnered with light life so I wouldn't suddenly fall our of the sky.

While it was nor an 8:00 AM scare, a 10: 15 AM launch rime was pretty darned good. le turned out char I would be able co fly for 9 hours and 45 minutes - che longer I could stay in the air che further I could go.

The streets didn't stay coherent after the first hour and I had co jump streets right away in order to move to the ease, otherwise che winds would blow me into rhe controlled airspace at Laredo. I had flown from Zapata enough by the time of chis flight char I already knew just how far east I had to go to avoid che airport. I'd flown over it previously at 5,000' (2,000' above the controlled airspace) , bur I was probably not going to be able ro do char on chis morning with a low cloudbase. le turned our that che winds stayed out OCTOBER 2000

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of che southeast all day. Since I wanced to maincain a more northerly course in order co stay over a main highway, I had to fly against che easterly componenc all day.

This would cue down significantly on how far I could fly.

I was nor familiar with any roads char continued off ro rhe northwest. With both the windcasr and Gary's winds-aloft forecast predicting more south as I went further north, I made che decision to head north, but che winds really never did change. Only near the end, after my lase climb in a thermal , did I head northwest down a convenient highway. le is probably possible co follow che Mines Road northwest from Laredo co Del Rio, and from there co Fort Stockton and Pecos, maybe even as far as Carlsbad, ew Mexico. There are also options going further northwest from Sonora coward Big Lake and Midland. I just wasn't ready co cry out chose options on chis particular day.

Fortunately, rhe clouds char starred early lasted all day, and even though I was jumping what remained of the screecs, I was able co sray under clouds Davis and Gary. for the most pare. orch of Rock Springs I goc cwo additional layers

Continued on page 48.

35

copyright © 2000 ~y Dennis Pagen Several years ago the question on everyone's mind was how a glider from across the pond and considerably inland, made in a former Soviet Bloc country, employing unique pr:irts and construction would fore in America's tough marleet. The answer in a word· well. In two words: very well.

Glider planfimn mid undersurface.

36

/fll""'"'!IIIF"""lllf"d;:iy, Aeros and its importer, U.S. Aeros, can boast of a sizable share of the U.S. market and a healthy community of contented pilots.

What they have found to like in the Aeros gliders are two things mainly: perfor. mance and price. That's what a pilot at the hill sees. But there's more to Aeros' success than that. Their new Stealth 3 topless glider is a case in point. With this glider they have shown their development as a company that responds to the market and pilots' needs per· haps more than any other. In the course of this piece we'll illuminate this idea. And now we present the Aeros Stealth 3.

THE STEAlTH IN GENERAL I have flown all the Aeros products that have been available in the U.S., some of them quite extensively in competition. The Stealth 3 and I met up at l·-Iighland Airsports, a tow park on the Delmarva Peninsula, east of Washington, DC. I've also flown against it (Atlantic Coast Championships, Lone Star Championships) or watched it (Pre-World meet, Spain) in competition. I have a fairly accurate idea of its nature and capabilities. 'fo generalize the Stealth 3 qualities, we can say with confidence that it exhibits state· of:the-art performance, unsurpassed han· dling and user-friendly arrangements. This wasn't always the case. Early Aeros gliders (kingposted Stealths) had a killer, unbeatable glide, but not climb rate. In addition, early versions were hard to land because the COfr· trol bar uprights were placed too far forward on the keel. (This latter arrangement was due to the strange Russian--influenccd launch technique of holding the uprights at shoulder height.) Finally, parts and workmanship were not up to Western standards. For example, undersurface zippers would sometimes pop open and chords would break or wear inordinately.

But all that's been remedied, and today's Stealth 3 passes muster at any level you care to scrutinize. Herc's the reason: the Aeros team CEO and test pilots regularly visit or compete in meets around the world. They arc wellversed in what's happening, and more importantly, are keen to use any reasonable good idea that comes along.

The improvements in their products are noticeable and this process, along with their own creative thinking, probably means they will never be behind on the performance curve.

Two other assets help them excel. They HANG CI.IDING

wing tips. have access ro a full-scale wind runnel at the facilities of the old Andropov aircrafr factory, and they are extremely responsive to the requests of their U.S. distributor, G.W. Meadows. When G.W catalogs a consistent complaint, Acros is quick to make an improvement.

Aeros now rnes Dimension Polyam cloth and hardware that is familiar, including Fin-sterwaldcr fittings. The only place where they depart from the rest of rhc hang gliding world in construction details is in the tubing alloy. While most of the gliders now use 7075 aluminum (and fonncrly 6061), Acros firmly prefers 202/i (DJ 6T in their designation). This alloy has long been used for aviation purposes and possesses qunlit ics of strength, stiffness and corrosion resistance that is midway between 7075 and 6061. I ts price is more reasonable than 7075 as well.

Perhaps the best asset of 2024 is that it doesn't snap to produce wicked razor-sharp edges that readily slice through a sail if you break a leading edge. This factor can easily halve the cost of a repair job. Note: There have been reports of glider transportation damage (dents) which may be more common with this alloy.

Acros is located in Kiev, Ukraine. Thar's not Russia. You may think it's a long way to go for factory support, but the truth is, everything you need is right here in the New World. U.S. Acros keeps an impressive stock of everything you're likely to need on an Acros glider in their facility at Highland J\irsports. I toured the warehouse and wish to report that their stock is bountiflil and their delivery is prompt.

NEWPORNOW What arc the changes that distinguish the Stealth 3 from its predecessor? We'll list a few of the physical ones here and discuss some of their consequences later. 'fhc most obvious change is the addition of7075 battens with spring tensioning ends.

0C:TOl1ER 2000

The plastic end fittings arc a special Acros design, which arc aerodynamic and include a flat horizontal tab to keep the trailing edge closed and aligned wirh the airflow. Contrast this with that of other rnarrnfacrurcrs whose sum of batten ends add up to several square inches of flat--plarc drag.

J ,css obvious is an overhaul on the sail cm. This change alters the handling as we shall sec and Acros claims it improves the glide ratio. There's no doubt that they have cleaned up the wrinkles that were in the top surface of former Stealths. Adjustable washout struts also improve the handling, for they can he set ro avoid limiting the sail during rolling action. Diffcrem weight pilots require different settings for optimum handling and pitch stability, since heavier pilots cause more washout.

The round belly bascbar comes with a tongh electro-plated coating thar helps reduce :;cratching. However, you can opt for the redesigned faired basebar. This bar has bulbous faired ends to clean up the uprightto-bascbar juncture. l tis curved so that only a small portion of it: sits on the ground to limit scratches. Acros claims that its new section reduces drag over the previous design.

While we're discussing options we'll mention the carbon crossbar and carbon tips.

The crossbar can replace rhc unique aluminum camilcvcr one that Acros designed.

The carbon one reduces the overall glider weight by nearly two kg (four pounds) and your bank account by $300. The carbon tips replace the plastic ones that fair in the opening at the tip. The carbon ones help reduce rhc wing's throw weight in roll conrrols.

Herc we'll recall that the Stealth rips arc based on the Hoerner tip design, well-known in general aviation. 'rhis tip arrangement renders the Stealth gliders unique in appearance. The rip batten itself is new with an over-the-center joim that helps maintain a high tension ycr easy inscn in this all--irnpor-tant place.

STEAlTH 3 ERGONOMICS Scwp and breakdown on Stealth 3 arc nearly as easy as they can be. A Pl P pin the control bar, then there arc nine curved and three straight barrens per side plus the jointed tip battens and the tip fairings previously mentioned. Two arrangcmcnrs make the setup slick. J:irst, the lowcr--surfacc battens arc gripped at the front by sewing the pockets tighrly. It's nice to know that at least some manufacturers arc paying attention to what's going on. Second, the sprogs and washout tips arc captured in a webbing that holds them with a mere closure of' the zipper. There is one drawback in comparison wirh rhc previous Stealth in that the inboard struts (sprogs) must be removed from their stud since they conflict wirh the crossbar fitting.

Pulling hack the crossbar is medium hard (it requires all the strength of a 98-pou nd weakling), similar to other topless gliders. Overall, tbc Stealth 3 has one of rhe easiest setups of the current top gliders.

In passing, we'll mention two construction details. First, the Stealth comes with plcmy of pack-away pads. This feature will please the meticulous pilot but frustrate the cross-country pilot flying the new slim-line harnesses with less storage room than a VW glove box. Personally, I'm waiting for a glider designed with such thought thar only tip bags and a pad at the end of the folded uprights is necessary.

The second point to note is that the sprogs and washout tips arc supported by cables. Acros was the first modern company to use this sysrcm (it: was used for washout struts in the late 1970's). Ir is becoming rhc standard for all topless gliders became it solidifies the struts and renders them more dfrctive.

I ,ooking at takeoff and landing, there's not much to say about the former. Like all gliders you poim and shooL The side cables arc loose with the VG off, like all gliders except rhe Pusion SP (Wills Wing) and the

37

''ltuto--sprog" attachment to leading etlge and crossbt11'. mentioned above. The Stealth 3 uses a pulley system in the upright and another above the keel. h seems that most manufacturers have solved the jamming or sticky VG problems. h's only taken us 18 years.

FlYlNG PERFORMANCE l like ro include handling in overall perfor, mance because it's parr of the thermaling formula. Acros has gradually improved the Stealth's maneuverability and this latest model rivals the other best-handling high-perfor-· mance gliders. Parr of this solution is the use of a rocker arm hang point and the other is the aforementioned loose sail with the VG

off.

Colden Eagle (Specdwings) due to their use of a cam-type VC as well as the 'lwistcr (Bautek) which uses a tightening spring. The Stealth 3 tics with the Litespeed as being the heaviest gliders l have tested this year (weighed on an accurate balance beam). As such, a f1at, zero-wind launch requires extra strength. I like to apply quite a hit in such a situation.

Landing the Stealth 3 is easy and similar to the Litespeed and new Laminar, which we reviewed recently. 'lwo factors comributc to

orvc;

38

this desirable fraturc . .All three of these gliders have a wide range of crossbar travel, which makes the sail a clrum skin for fast flight, then bags it out considerably for docile handling and stall during landing. In addition, all three gliders have improved the roll dampening over previous designs, so roll oscillations are less likely. IF you can land with any grace at all, you can land a Stealth 3.

The VG itself is easy to apply with three good pulls required from off to frill on.

Again, this is similar to the two other gliders

Tlic glider is easy to control in turbulence or while !lying slowly. Tr is also reasonably easy to row. l hit some cable--slackening rnr-bulence on one tow that knocked me out of whack, but I could readily realign without oscillating.

In thermals, just as with the Litespeed, T liked to apply a touch of VG. The reason in both cases is not to alter the roll balance (high or low siding), hut to provide more connectedness and solid feedback from the thermal. With a bit of VG on, the glider seems to require less correcting for little vagaries, yet reacts quickly to your urges to follow the shooting cores. I have heard seasoned Stealth pilots rave about the new Stealth handling.

The climb rate in a thermal is where I see the most improvement on the Stealth 3 (although the factory mentioned only LID), Part of this may be the better handling (there's a lot robe said for being able to stick it where you want it), pan may be the new sail cut and part may be pure voodoo. But it works. Average Stealth 3 pilots are now showing up at the top of the pack. They better start putting their logo on the undersurfacc rather than the upper. ( ;lidc ratio performance is a bit more dif.. ftcult w pin down because it's hard to fly in H/\NC; GLIDINC

Optional carbon control frame withj:iired vc; cleat. exactly the same air at the same wing loading with the same amount of drag exposed.

However, as mentioned previously, in years past other Stealth versions have out-glided their rivals. l n recenr 10-mile glides in the 3 proved to be at least as good as the current: offerings of other manufacmrcrs, most of whom have excelled in the glide department this year. ln terms of high-speed glide performance (diving to goal), the Stealth 3 is only rivaled by the Litespeed. Pilots report that its rcla-· tively flat airfoil helps it slice through thick, resistant air. Of course, this matter is again a function of wing loading, harness setup and technique.

As you may note, we generally hedge on discussions of performance. That's because in our decades of observing gliders and trying to define their qualities we have noted a great variation in gliders of the same model. Manufacturer insiders continue to back this idea up (as recently as this past July). If you add to this the differences in pilot skill, you realize the difficulty of pinning down performance

absolutely. Even if we put a glider in a good wind runnel to measure performance precisely, how do we know the next unit off the shelf wouldn't be better or worse? Remember, hang gliders arc hand--crafted items and will always have slight differences.

Be that as it may, in the Stealth 3's first outings (four meets that l attended) it has performed well and is considered a contender by all pilots either flying it or flying against it. Andre Wolf (Brazil) has already won two major comps on his newly acquired Stealth 3. We more regular-mold pilots will not be disappoimcd with any facet ol the new stealth's performance.

As usual, we highly recommend that you fly a glider before you buy it to see if it's right for you. This approach seems to be easier with the Acros gliders than most, because U.S. Acros has a good dealership representation and they tend to present their demo gliders at many mecrs and events. We think you'll like this new wing enough ro talk turkey, then you'll have another pleasant surprise: the price.

For more information contact:

U.S. Acros 1125 Harborvicw Dr. Kill Devil Hills, NC Tel: 480-3552 480-0117 Website: www.justfly.com E-mail: stuff(r,,justfly.com Ill

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39

THE 2000 U.S. HANG GLIDING NATIONALS

by Jules Gilpatrick

A challenging 2000 Nationals produces not only a surprise new flex-wing champion but also second- and thirdplace winners previously known only regionally.

0

nly 60 competitors from around the globe trekked west co the crown jewel of the eastern Oregon high deserc, Lakeview, co fly for the supreme glory of being U.S. National Hang Gliding Champion at the "Millennium Nats. " Nevertheless, included among those 60 pilots were the cop names in American and Canadian hang gliding. To show its gratitude, the area produced some of the best and most consistent soaring weather here in anyone's memory, but, co paraphrase an old l 960's anti-war folk song, "Where

40

have all the pilots gone?"

Of course, the weather didn't just suddenly change on July 16. Local pilots had been remarking about the consistently good flying weather since mid-May. Almost every day was flyable! Two days before the competition started, Paris Williams cracked off a 130-miler from Black Cap like it was something he did every day before supper. The "Umpteenth Annual Fescival of FoorLaunched Flight," Lakeview's premier annual Fourth of July Fly-ln, was also down in attendance, yet still saw more pilots (who

also enjoyed superb soaring) than entrants in the Nats. According co G.W Meadows, ir was the lowest turnout in the history of the competition. Ahhh, Houston ... do we have a problem?

acurally, the weather gods conspired to issue a comeuppance co the local "soaring salesman" on the first day of the competition - coo much bragging about Lakeview's consistent soaring weather! Was chat Mitch Shipley I saw holding his hand over his H A G GLIDING

mouth and snickering? Just to make sure I got the message, he sneaked up behind me on the hill and yelled, in his most derisive boor-camp military manner, "Hey, Weather Boy!" Then said, laughingly, "You have no idea how long I've yearned to yell that at somebody else!"

Some 60 pilots and their crews, who trekked up 11 miles of face-powder volcanic dusty road to the Sugar Hill launch, packed up and trekked back down again. The Day One task of Sugar Hill to Valley Falls and back to Lakeview was called on account of no soaring!

DAY TWO Monday the 17 ch of] uly dawned to see the "low" and associated trough that created much of the unseeded, overcast skies the day before move ouc of the area. "Weather Boy" (WB) was at his computer bright and early, stirring d1e atmospheric entrails for a sign, praying for a sign chat might vindicate his previous sales pitches about Lakeview's conditions. He got it! Southwest winds forecast to turn light northwest "at five" and goodto-excellenr dry adiabatic lifting had the Task Committee (consisting of Chris Arai, "Markie" Bennett, Chris Muller, Jim Lee and Glen Volk, wid1 G. W presiding and "WB" in attendance) select Fandango Peak as the start gate, a mmpoim at Doherty Slide after a downwind leg of 46.6 miles and goal at Adel, Oregon with an upwind leg of some 24 miles for a rask total of 70.9 miles.

"Light northwest at five knots" mrned into a formidable 15 knots, direccly from me west, and began shucking competitors off the race course left and right after ilie turnpoim.

Nevertheless, nine Aex-wing pilots led by Rich Burton (first on an learn Laminar) , Jerz Rossignol (second on an Aeros Stealch) and Bo Hagewood (third on a Wills Wing Fusion), and two rigids (first, Brian Porrer on a Brightstar Swift, and second, Jim Zeiser on a Guggenmos ESC) fmished the course.

Under-called wind wasn't the only problem for WB. Continuing landowner hassles (no permission to land right under the srart gate) in eastern Fandango Valley, and a particularly "effective" property manager who sat, armed, in his pickup waiting for someone to land chereon, combined ro ruin several ocher unfortunate pilots' day because they did land there and were promptly confronted in his usual loud, obnoxious, threatening and abusive manner. One pilot, though shal<en and embarrassed by che ab use, took ic li ke the true gentleman he is, OCTOBER 2000

41

Thrcc--Placc

for

3

Cle/JS 1 1) Glen Volk ([ 3: I (i:39, 989 pts.

2) Jim Zeisct 9 mi.), 829 pts.

3) Rich Sauer (I .aminar) 3: I ():05, CJ I J prs.

Gass 11 I) Mark Grubbs (Chosrbnster) mi.), 853 pts.

2) Mark Bennett (Stealth) 3: 19:0 I, 927 pts.

3) Jim Yocum (Atos) (48A pts.

but stated he fought with all his might to keep from "popping" rhe manager in the face. WB had to put on his best "shuck and jive" that evening and the next day, but after several hours of jawboning, negotiated permission for a huge field right next door to the forbidden ground.

Three-Place Standings For Day 2

Class 1 l) Rich Burton, (Laminar) 2:49: l 6, 929 pts.

2) Jerz Rossignol (Stealth) 2:51 :41, 873 pts.

3) Bo Hagewood (Fusion) 3:02:25, 857 pts.

Class 11 1) Brian Porter (Swift) 1 I 1, 977 pts.

2) Jim Zeizet (ESC) 3:48:37, 382 pts.

3) Jim Ycicum (Atos) 326 pts.

42

DAY3 Air Resources Laboratory and their computer called frlr very good thermals wirh top of the lift around 14,000'. The convective outlook revealed a "chance" of air-mass thunderstorms so the T1sk Committee decided to try to keep things on the west side of the Warners as some pret1y formida-· ble towering cu's were making rl1emselves apparent out in the desert to the northeast by meeting time. Wirh very good thermals and lift ro 12,'500', high surface temps and a moderate sourhwest to wcst-somhwest breeze forecast, they called a 65.milc task straight north to \/;11ley Falls, followed hy an upwind leg of some 18 miles hack w Hot Springs, meet headquancrs.

Eight nexwing pilots, led by Glen Volk on a Moyes Litespccd (first), Mark Bennett on a Stealth (second), and only four seconds behind M;uk, Rich Sauer on a I ,;1minar (third), made goal. No rigid wings finished.

Some of the Dex-wing pilots reported ing altitudes in excess l ;j ,000' in 1,000to J ,200-fpm thermals.

or

DAY4 Again, the soaring while not "booming," indicated a pretty good competition day with the bcrrer thermals developing 500 to 700 fjJm and top of the lifi rn I 1,000' with morncnturn to 13,000'. Although it actually it was not by much, got better than :md the straight--linc, task to Alkalai Lake rest area proved to be a grueling effort due, in pan, to a trough of low pressure, some ovcrdevclopmcnt and a fow air-mass thunder·· storms which blossomed just north and west of goal in the afternoon. Nevertheless, 18 flex wings and three rigid wings made it in.

Of the 21 finishes, one needs to be singled as the closest to rhe out, in my j1 quintessential melding of man and machine this writer has ever witnessed. Picture this, if you will: As you drive north from the north end of Abe rt l ,akc on Highway the ground rises for several hundred feet to a smooth called the "Hogback." Passing over the Hogback, going north, the terrain imo a broad, flat basin drops ever so over a distance o/' ::ibout three miles to the probably no more than a couple of hundred feet drop in 1hc entire disrnnce. I had decided to sec ii the new goal guy, to drive to Don I .upinsky, needed any help. As I passed the north end ol Lake Aben [ noticed Brian Porter in the Bright star struggling to maimain altiwdc a hundred feet above the north end of Aben Rim. "He's toast!" I thoughL l drove over rhe Hogback and llnally under arrived at goal. Don had control sol joined him with a pair of binoculars to watch for finishers. As we gazed south toward the Hogback, Brian suddenly appeared, topping the Hogback by no more than an estimated 100'. "Wow! I le made it that far!" I thought, "Bm he's toast now! He'll HANC Cr IDINC

never make the three .. mile distance at th;11 al ti rude!" Brian sank slowly to wirhin IO or 20 foct of the desert surface and I would have bet the farm it was all over for him. He suddenly popped hack up ro abom 50 to 75 leer.

I was so amazed rhat he didn't have to land that I dropped the binoculars and became entranced hy the demonstration of skill :me! performance I was witnessing. He slowly sank again to near the surface, now about one and a hall' miles fi·om goal, and I was sure it was all over this time. Just before he touched the ground he popped it back up again to abom 50 a11d kept 011 fly .. ing, slowly si11ki11g hack to the desert floor.

Abom thrce .. quarters of a mile Crom goal it again looked like he would have to deck it.

Again he got to within a few feet of the sage .. brush and popped the Swifi: back in the air to about 50 or GO fret. Without thinking, I suddenly found myself cheering him on wildly! Again he sank to within a few feet o! the ground aliout an eighth of a mile from goal and dolphi11cd his wny to enough alrimde to cross rhe finish line approximmely three feet in the air with enough mornentum ro pull up and execute a lcfr 90° turn to land inro the wind, the first glider in! Words can't fully describe the drama we witnessed.

It was truly an astounding pcrfonrn11ce.

One by 011e, the 18 flex .. wing finishers appeared in twos and dirccs, al various alti-· tmles bur none in real trouble. Jim I ,cc had been complaining that conditions were not conducive ro racing. Being the "significam local" I rook this as a personal affront:, so when he arrived along with numerous other flex wings I made it a point to go over and ask him ifhe finally got his race. "Hell, that wasn't a race!" he excbimed, "That was surviva~" Chris Arai readily agreed. It was more a demonstration of cross-country skills th:rn a race. h11my! I always thought hang glider racing w::is part and parcel with cross--coun-try skills. Our "J\ussic" compatriot Kr:iig Coomber was first in on a flex wing, foj .. lowed Sandy I )itmar and Sl1anno11 Raby.

Jim Zciset was second on a rigid, followed Bruce Barmaki:m. for Day Li Clms 1 I) Kraig Coomber (T ,itespccd) 2:41: 18, 1,000 pts.

2) Sandy Ditmar (h1sion) 2.:41 :Li6, 97(, pts.

3) Shannon Raby (Litcspced) 2:43:0Li, ')Li6 pls.

Oc:101,rR 2000

Clc1ss II 1) Brian Porter (Swift) 2:27:00 1,000 prs.

2) Jim Zeiser (ESC), 2:41 3) Bruce Barmakian (J\tos) 3:2..3: 13, 555 pts.

799 pts.

DAY5 The was, frankly, awesome! The forecast was for moderate southwest winds, dry adiabatic lifring ro 1Li,000' and momcn .. turn to a possible I 6,000'. Numerous pilots rcponed attaining 16,000' and more, with one achieving close to 18,000'. He got so high that G.W. had to remind everyone that busting Class A airspace was grounds for irnmcd iatc disquali/1caticm, if discovered.

The task was a redux 011 Day 2 except that rhc fast leg was directly to Adel, then ro Doherty Slide, then back against the wind some 20 miles to land ar the Adel goal, abour 82 miles all told.

Ir was feast or famine, thermal-wise, and a lot of' pilots got an objccr lesson about why Hill has a reputation for punchy, hard-to-center thermals. lf you got a "ticket to ride" to a grand or two over launch, the lifr was simply spcctarnlar from that point on. Nevertheless, Sugar's flighty thermals punched om about a dozen pilots, insrcad of their and they ended up in the bail-out zone. Ninereen flex wings and three rigid made the course. Canadian Brett Hazlett was lirsr in the flex .. wing division, followed Joe Bostik and Sandy Ditmar. Brian Porter was again Jirsr in the rigid-wing division, followed by Bruce Barmakian and ./'.la, Threc .. Place Standings For Day 5

Cittss 1 I) Brett Hazlitt (Litcspced) 19 999 pts.

2) Josef Bostik (Fusion) 9H pts.

3) Sandy Diunar (Fusion) 889 pts.

Clr1ss 11 I) Brian Porter (Swift) I :55:00, %0 pts.

2.) Bruce Barmakian (Atos) G17 1m.

3) Jim Zciset 4:21 :51, 388 pts.

DAY6 Another beautiful cfoy, but the combination of jct srream, launch winds and thermal

strengths indicated a very good possibiliry that launch would be blown out by contest time. Ncvcnhclcss, we trekked up to Sugar Hill and set up. The winds were not as bad as forecast, bur the task corn mi tree decided to postpone the meet. By HOO it looked like we could call a task except for some occasional heavy gusts, which seemed to grow in With the huck lying prominently on G.W.'s desk, he reluctantly called the day because of safety concerns about too many gliders to get up in too gusty conditions in raggy, wind .. wrn thermals. The weather immediately calmed down and audible grumbling ("What the hell, it's launchablc ... we can fly!" and, "What's a111atta with C.W.... this isn't bad at :ill!") among pilots still in contc.:nrion for one of the place finishes was overheard. As the grumbling increased in intensity, and G.W. was obviously having some doubts about whether or nor he did the right thing, a really hard 30 .. lmor .. plus gust blew rhrough, causing everyone to scramble for their gliders and bang on for dear life. G.W. looked up to rhe sky and mumbled, "Thank you Cod!" DAY This day was a near duplicate of Day G, weatherwise. Jn an effort to obtain every opportunity to fly a safe task, C.W. had rhe competitors hang 011 umil nearly 1500. The day was, again, certainly flyable, brn safety due to heavy gusts and mals was Ar 1500 C. W. again called the day and walked over to shake the hand of a sofr. spokcn young man from Ten . ncssce who'd rather than cat, sleep, drink, or work. Robert "Bo" l fagcwood, the Mil]e.. niurn U.S. National Flex Wing Champion proved that you don't have to be every day to be a winner, fly consistently and don't give up. Second place went to another American pilor, Rich Sauer. Canadian rising star Brett Hazlett finished third.

Brian Porter's consummate flying skill, combined with the superb perlcinnancc of the Swift, won him yet another Class II U.S. Nat ion al Championship. Jim ever the warrior, placed a respectable second and Bruce Bannakian was in third place.

Rich Mathis and his fine crew at Hot Springs put on a awards barbecue that was delicious. Space doesn't permit list-i ng ;i]] the awards that were given, including some team awards, but the entire evening was hllcd with hearty laughs and cheers. m

43

HANG CLlDING ADVISORY Used bang gliders should always he disassembled befcire {lying fcir rill' first time and inspected cardiilly for bent or dent· cd downtubcs, ruined bent holrs (especially the heart bolt), re-used Nyloc lllllS, loose thimbles, Cr:iyed or rusted cables, tangs with non--circular hoks, and 1111 llex wings, sails badly torn or torn loose Crom their auchor points front and back on the keel and leading edges. If in donbt, many hang gliding businesses will be happy to give an ohjccrivc opiuion on the condirion of equipment you

EXXTACY NEW & USED IN STOCK, DEMO DAILY. WALLABY RANCH (863) 121-0070.

FALCONS - J!iO, 170, 195, 225 new and u.sed.

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USHGA CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ORDER FORM 50 cents per word, $5.00 minimum Boldface or caps: $1.00 per word. (Does not include first few words which are automatically caps.) Special layouts or tabs: $25 per column inch. (phone numbers: 2 words, P.O. Box: 1 word, E-mail or Web address: 3 words) photos: $25.00, line art logos: $15.00 (1.75" maximum) DEADLINE: 20th of the month, six weeks before the cover date of the issue in which you want your ad to appear (Le,, June 20 for the August issue), Prepayment required unless account established. No cancellations or refunds allowed on any advertising after deadline. Ad insertions FAXed or made by telephone must be charged to a credit card.

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Number of months: SECTION :J Flex Wings U Emergency Parachutes ::J Parts & Accessories fJ Business & Employment IJ Miscellaneous IJ Paragliders IJ Videos

r..J Towing

IJ Schools & Dealers J Ultralights rJ Rigid Wings IJ Publications & Organizations IJ Wanted fJ Harnesses 1

issue and run consecutive issue(s). My U check, IJ money order is enclosed in the amount of$-·-···-··---·-----_ NAME:-·~····~------

Number of Number of

44

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WWXC 155 Exccllent co1Jditio1J, folding spccdbar, outboard wheels. ( :kan sail, black/bright green/red logo $2.liOO. Will deliver within Ii hours Chicago/0'1 Lire. & padded case $j00. ((J,\O) 837.Nio I rasllmsW"aol.rnm l'mplc/111agcnt:1, located ill l'lorida \'(!\'(IX(: I 'i'i $1,(,'iO.(617) /i')l 7.l(,7, admi11<r1'f'u1ur:1.lcs.rni1.edu \VWXC: 155 ·

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CA!.IFORNIA '!"rain rn1 DR FAM WF.AYFR I JANG GLIDING s1:11e-orrhe·art WILLS WING FALCONS. I.ESSON PACKAGES: One li,11r hom lesson $ I 00. Three fom hour lessons, plus 1:rndcm nlf },0001'1. $.JOO. Five lessons for $/iOO. Ten lessons pl11s 1:rndc1n $7SO.lntroducc ~omcone new to our spon. For each

new student tli:11 you i11trod11u· 1h,11 1:1kes three or more lessons fi-om me, yon'II get a free lesson or $'50 off ;1 future purchase. lesson prograrns. Yc:u ro11nd instruction. and landing and d1crmal clinics available. Call for group rates. Tired of' hiking y011 glider' I'll help you! Dealer for Wills Wing, Altair, I ligh Energy Sports, Ball varim, Cmiclbaks and more.

New and med equipment. \)(/e love uadc-ins. I'm your uonhern Cald,,rnia MOSQUITO HARNESS DEAL· FR. If' you live i11 ccn1ral through 1Jonhcrn California, m,· a call or email to schedule your Mosquito or clinic. Call or email, scheduling lessons five days a week, hiday through Tuesdays. lde:il training hill, 11p 10 1501'1., (,()Oft. mountain. 1,200/i. mo11111ain. T:111dcm instruc:rion. US! !CA Advanced Instrucror DOUG PRATHER (209) 55Ci-O/iCi9 Modesto, CA. dm1wvrhgvilso/ico111.11c1

!'LY i\ W i\ V I IANC CL]l)INC Tammy Bu rear (805)

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MACIC J\IR l.oca1cd in Northern California.

Lessons, sales, scTvicc. (707) 96:J,31i55.

The i\erotow l'light Park Sat isf:tct ion (; 11aranteed JUST 8 MfLFS FROM DISNl'YWORU) • YEAR ROUND SOARING • OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK • SIX TUGS, NO WAITING • EVERY DIRECTION

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Om dclnxe retail shop showcases the latcSI equipmenl and has two virtual reality simula· tors. We stock new and used ... \l(!ills Wing, Altair and Moyes gliders, and all the ho/test new harnesses. Trade··

!A's BEST SINCE 1974 20 minutes li·om LAX. Full service walk·in center. Training l,,r all skill levels, rcntal:; guide service, sulcs, lodging nr world famous 1

ins arc welcome.

Our training program, located at the San Francisco Bay Area's finest beginner site foatures: gently sloped "hnnny hills," Wills Wing 1':dcons of all sizes and crnnfonablc trnining harnesses!

"FIRST FIJCHT" l '> minute video tour of' our ncr lesson program shows a s1ttdem's skill progression $20 (shipping included). l J 1G Way, Milpitas CJ\ 950:35 (ncctr Sanjose).

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Mountain l'lighr !'ark. 3?.5 sunny days a year.

Victory lllvd., V,rn Nttys CA <JiliO(,, (818) 988· 011 I, fox (818) ')88·· 18G2, www.windsports.com IGI

COLORADO AIRTIME AllOVF HJ\NC CI.IDING

Full-time

lessons) sak·s, service. Colorado's 1no~t experienced!

Wills Wing, Moyes, Altair, 1 Energy, Ball, l'lytec, !'light C:onnccrions and much more. Call (:30.l) (i;li.

Ages 13 To Tl have learned to fly here.

No one comes dose to our level of' experience and StlCCL~ss with tandcn1 acrotow insrruc1i011.

A GREAT SCENE FOR PAMIIY AND FRIENDS ...

IO motels & resraurams within 5 rnins., hot shov,Trs, shade tTL'.CS, .sales, srorag,:i ratings, XC

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Flights of over 200 miles and more than hours.

Articles in Hflnf', Skywing,, Cross and others. Featured on rnuncrotts TV shows, Dateline NBC, The Discovery Channel &

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Hi\NC GUDING AND PJ\RACUDING USI IGJ\ ccniflcd inst ruction, 1-andcrn insi-ruction) sales

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service, repairs, parachute

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LOOKOUT MOUNTJ\lN FU<;J fT PARK Sec ad under ( ;eorgi:1. Nt:atTSt 1nounrain training center lo Orlando (only 8 hours).

46

HANC CIIDINC

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BUNNY...

THE HILL WITH IT!

LOOl(()\JT MOUNTAIN FLICIJT PARI< Sec our disp1"y ad. Discover why FOUR Tl MES as many at Lookont than at any other pilots e,u11 their school We wrote ICA's 0/fa:ial Tr:iinini; Manna!.

Our spccialty·"cus1orncr satisfaction and fun wiLh the BEST FACILJTIES, larges, inventory, camping, swim millg, vo!kyhall, more! l;or a flying trip, intro flight or lesson packages, Lookout Mo11111ain, just outside C:hatt;rnooga, your COMPLETE training/service cc111er. Info! (800) 688-LMFP. 1

MARYLAND MARYLAND SCI 1001, OF I IANC CJ.IJ)fNC, INC. Ccnii'iul instruction, specializing in foot Lnmch. Dealers lc1r Wills Wing, Moyes, JI igh Fncrµ,y, year-round i11s1rnction.

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WE l !AVE The most advanced training program known 10 hang teaching you in hall' rhc time it r1kcs on the training BUNNY [ IILL, and with more in·llighr air time. YFS, WE CAN TEACJI YOlJ FASTER AND SAFER. !'or year-round training fern in the sun, call or write Miami I Jang Cliding (305) 2858978. 2550 S llayshore Drive, Coconut Cnwc, Florida :331:ll.

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HAWAII MICl!lGAN CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION Anotow special isis. We carry all hrand gliders. !'rec PVC: glider storageltransporl with new glider purchase. Now in stock: Lamim, ST; Wills Fusion, XC, Ultrasporr, h1lrnn; Moyes Sonic; i\crns S1eahh Kiss. ()111riggc1 launch cart kits, and accessories in swck. Call for foll tandem lessons and fl)'ing appointments with the l)r;.iachcnFlicgcn Soaring Club at Cloud ') Cield. 11088 Coon l,akc Rd. W., Wchlicrville, MI li88')2.

(S 1 )2.l-8(,83. ( :loud'Jsavilaol .com hn p://mcmhers.aol.com/cloml'Jsa

QlJFST AfR SOARlNC CENTFR Yom vacation gliding location. (:l52) ii29-02 U, fox (:352) 129·· Visit our web.site at: W\vw.qucstairf(ncc.com or email us: qucstair~Dsundial.ner

c;EORGIA CABIN RENTAi. Tastdcdly decorated cabin for nightly and weekly rentals within walking distance to l.oolwrn Mm l'liglu Park l./,, Sleeps lclllr, full kitchen, satellite tv, air conditioned, healed, flrq,Ltcc, b;ick porch w/hot tub. T,1srdt1lly 1,,rnished wi1h h;indniark n,stic f,,rnishings. Call (706) (,57-2756 or ('706) 657· 7111 for info and reservations.

BIRDS IN PARADISE - Ha11g gliding & ultralight /lying on Kauai. Cert ilicd tandem instruction. (808) 822-530') 01 (808) 639-1067, hinlsv11birdsinpara,lisc.com www.l,irclsinpara,lise.co1n ILLINOIS

I JANC Cl.lDF C:J llCAGO - l'ull service acropark, 2 tow planes. Full time ccni!,cd ins1rnc1nrs, ultralight i11structors, East C:oaSI record 213 miles. (815) .'\251(,85, www.halll',l',lidechicago.com (512) 360-0700, (81 5) RAVEN SKY SPORTS /i8'J-9700 or (262) li/J.8800. 2 hours from 'JO minmcs from Palatine or Libcrryvilk. best instntctors, the equipment, the best results in the Midwest. Training program for combincd/integrat· cd foor launch and acrotow ccrti!ic:nion. Apply I 00%,

N

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IN

NORM LFSNOW'S FIYINC ADVFNT\JJZES Since I 978, Lxpcricncc & safety arc if 1, i\crotcnving and hill introd,.ctory ,md f,,ll range of lesson programs ((ff hcginncr to advanced. J\cro1ow clinics & lJSJ !CA appropri:nc ratings avail.ihk. US! J(;;\ ccni·· lied school. Please rnn1ac1 Norm Lesnow-Master l'ilot, Examiner, Adv;inccd Tandem ln.'>tructcH) Tow J\drninistr:Hur. ()/i8) 599-'J!i'.\l, HJILTJME school. n I r;i((llj \ JnO.COl n, WWW .Sl'riousspons.com/ nlfo

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47

Continued ftom page 3 5. of clouds char cut off the sun, but even here there were little cu's in the dark that were stil l working. I was able to use these cu's to get through the dark and back into the hot sunlight near Sonora.

Near Sonora I had to run to get under some clouds when I was down to 800' AGL with little or no place to land.

Thankfully, the ground was so hoc chat areas of super-adiabatic air kept me up long enough to find lift.

I was really enjoying the flight, as the air was quite comfortable. There were very few patches of rowdiness, and because I was not getting very high I was not getting cold. Most of the rime I was at about 3,000 ' AGL. I was nor wearing

48

gloves or a coat, and I just had on my shorts inside my pod. I did get a little chilled during rhe lase portion of the flight, from 260 miles at Sonora our to 320 miles, since by then I was able to get up to 8,800' MSL (6,400 ' AGL). Still, it was pretty manageable, and I was sure a lot more comfortable in casual clothing.

Boch Gary and I are big fans of nonbig-air sites. The standard chinking about setting a distance record is char you've gor to go to a sire where you can gee real high, fly real fast, and rhen go downwind for a long ways. This leads people to Hobbs , New Mexico and near Rock Spring, Wyoming. Gary's argument is char rhe key factor is reall y rhe wind.

You've got to have a location with a lot of

wind, especially wirh a hang glider as compared to a much faster sailplane. The wind speed represents a much higher percemage of the overall cask speed for a hang glider than it does for a sailplane.

We also feel chat good bm moderate life combined with srreeting, cumulus markers , and early-morning starts are much more importam than big air.

Besides, with enjoyable air yo u are going to wane co stay in the air longer. You won't be too tired to make the right decisions at the end of the day.

On this day I was flying wi th my round basetube and wheels, foregoing my carbon-fiber aero-basetube and aerodynamic skids, as they feel a bit too fragile for somh Texas. I would use chem lacer at the Lone Scar Championsh ips where there are acrually cultivated fields and pasrures to land in , if one lands out. Our of Zapata there are stretches 20 miles long with almost nothing bm mesquite trees.

When I starred off I was able to fly at speeds over rhe ground of 50 to 55 mph between thermals. Much lacer in the flight I was able to gee up to 60 mph between thermals, and at one point, just for a moment, 70 mph. I was crying to get an average of 40 mph throughout the flight in order to go at least 400 miles, bm in the end I would average only 35 mph. When Larry Tudor went for his big flight in Wyoming he averaged 30 mph for 10 hours and had a strong tailwind for much of the flight, so I thought for sure I could get up to 40 mph. The winds on chis day were in the light to moderate category at 10 to 15 mph, and I had to fly crosswind a bit so chat cut

down on my tailwind componem.

After climbing in my last thermal at about 7:30 PM I headed down Highway 87 on Belinda's advice, just looking for a conveniem spot to find a witness as I got low. I landed in a deeply plowed field of fine dust at almost exactly 8:00 PM, having spotted a farmhouse nearby. I had missed seeing the very small town of Sterling City right up the road, or I would have glided a bit farther downwind.

Thankfully, there were three farmer's daughters at home and they signed my witness statement.

A pilot who wrote to the Internet hang gliding digest encouraging another pilot to buy a single-surface glider suggested, perhaps hyperbolically, char it was possible to go 300 miles in a single-surface glider from a place like Zapata just stay in the air for 10 hours in a 30mile-per-hour wind. I believe that the subtext to this message was char any damned fool could flail off downwind at Zapata and go 300 miles, bur it is interesting to think about this statement in more depth.

First, only three hang glider pilots have flown over 300 miles, so it must nor be all char easy. Second, Pere Lehmann, who's no slouch, has tried to set a longdistance record in a Wills Wing Falcon in the big air and strong tailwinds of Wyoming, and he's done a bang-up job making 117 miles. While I too am looking for that day with 30-mph tailwinds throughout the day for 10 hours, heading straight along a line I can reasonably fly, we are much more likely to get a bit lighter winds, or winds that vary with altitude and time of day, or winds that are slightly off a course line we can follow O CTOBER 2000

without going over a real no-man's land.

It seems to me that a pilot can fly at about 25 mph on average without any wind. T set a record at Hearne of 22 mph over a 100-km FAI triangle. The next day I won the day flying over a 100-km FAI triangle averaging 28 mph. These were light-wind days. If you add 25 mph to a 30-mph tailwind, and you are able ro stay in the air for 10 hours, you have just set the record at 550 miles. Stan rwo hours earlier, stay in an average wind of 25 mph, and ir's 600 miles. Then stay under a cloud street the whole way and never rum, averaging 60 mph over the ground, and it's 720 miles. Unfortunately, weather features usually aren't big enough to allow for a straight-line flight with a straight tailwind for 720 miles. But it does sometimes happen, and you do get close to that in south Texas in the summer.

Enough wishful thinking and speculation. We do think that 450 miles is possible from Zapata on a 10 day. Gary rho ugh t my day raced a 7 out of 10 and Dave's was a 4 our of 10. Ar the moment, 347 miles is the new world record and it is 36 miles farther than anyone else has ever flown a hang glider.

For an in-depth description of this world record distance flight, check our my original article at http://www.davissrraub.com/ OZ/ Ozv4n 155.lum.

Yes, we are planning another World Record Encampment next year at Zapata.

Ir isn't a sire that is open to the general flying population yet, bur we are working to make it available to as many qualified pilots as possible. You can keep up on our plans by subscribing to the Oz Report at hrrp: //www.davissrraub.com/OZ. •

TRAVERSE CITY HANG GLIDERS/PARAGLIDERS FULL,TIME shop, Certified instruction, Coor launch and row, Sales, service, accessories for ALL brands, VISA/MASTERCARD. Corne soar orrr Traverse Ml li%8/i, par,agJ1d111·g lessons & for the at (231) ')22,281i4,

MOUNTAIN TOP RFCRFAT!ON Certified insrrnction, Pirtsbnrgh. (Ii 12) 767-li882. C'MON OUT AND PLAY!

NORTH CAROLINA

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Look under New York.

FLY PUERTO RICO ~ Team Spirit Hang Cliding, HC classes daily, tandem instmrrion available. Wills Wing dealer. C;Jider rentals for pilots. PO Box 978, l'unrn Sanriago, Puerto 007/i I. (787) 8500508, tshg@coqrri.net

R1\VFN SKY SPORTS (612) 3/iO, 1800 or (262) •f73,,8800, Please sec our ad under WISCONSIN. NEVADA ADVFNTURE SPORTS Sierra soaring m its hesc Tours and tandems avaibblc. Instruction from certified USHGA instrnctors with 2'i rars experience. Sales, service ~1nd ins1ruciion hy mcnr (:arson Tahoe NV. 883-7070

PENNSYLVANIA

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TENNESSEE LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN Fl!GJ lT l'ARK

Sec

ad under Ccorgi;-1,

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I

NEWMEXTCO

•

CROSSROADS W[NDSPORTS Srate--of..rl1e-ar1 training wlth stationary simulator, Boom Bar, tandems) video for and paraglidcrs.

Call Curr Craham in I lobbs

• YEAR-ROUND XC FJ.YINC; • THREE TUGS TANDEM TRAIN INC• OPEN 7 DAY A WEEK • AERO TOWING• DRAGONFLY TRAINING • WINCH TOWINC • TRTKF TRAIN INC • FOOT J.J\UNCH • Fl.YINS AND CLINICS • PARAGLIDING TOWS• 600 ACRF l'J\CIUTY • SALES J\ND SERVICE• 7,200' RUNWAY Steve Burns li09.279.9382 email: sburnstillalphal.nct Fred Burns 281.471. lli88 email: austin:rir@aol.com

NEW YORK AAA FLIGHT SCl!OOI. MOUNTAfN WINGS I ELLFNVI I.LE /\JR SPORTS. Full service shop, flight park, li500fr. row field, winch and aero rnndems, U. L training. Airwavc, 2000, Plight Star U.L, MOSQUlMoyes, Aeros, TO powered harness, WOODY VALLEY harnesses in stock.

The V-MITTS $29.00. or (815) 647-:$:377 W\\•w.ll1r:hrscl1oc,J.11er, l 50 C111al Sr., Ellenville, NY rnosr complete HG l'ro-shop in the North

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GO .. .HJ\NG CLIDJNGI!! .~ Jeff Hunt. Austin ph/fax (512) li67-252') jdffil/lytcxas.corn www.flyrcxas.com HILL COUNTRY PARAGLIDING INC Learn complete pilot skills. l'ersonalized USHCA ccrrificd training ridge soaring) Coot & low launching in central Texas. MOTORJZED PARAGLIDING INSTRUCTION & EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE. (915) 379 1185. 1475 CR 220, Tow TX 78672.

1

gliding, 1x11-;1gJ1ct1ng, m1crc,1tgl1ts ~~w~. major brands. Full service and equipment m best prices. service in the area. Store address: 29 The most :l l Newtown Astoria NY. Phone (7 l 8) 7000, WWW.FLYFORFUN.NFT

m=

FLY I flGH HANG GLll)]NC, INC. f\cw York Connecticut,

Area's EXCLUSIVE brands, all orhcr scl100,l/i11srruc1ion, Teaching since 1979. Area's most Fxccllcnr secondary instnrcancl wish ro continTandem Rd, !'inc

50

• TANDEM TNSTRUC:TfON • AEROTOWJNC; • BE/\CII RESORT • BOJ\T TOWfNC FOOT l.AlJNC:11 • TRAlNlNG CAMPS • OPEN YEAR ROUND • PARAGLTDJN(; EQU[PMFNT SALES AND SERVICE

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KITE ENTERPRISFS Foor launch, platform launch and acrorow instruction 100. Trnining, sales, rcmals and repair. Airwave &. Wills Wing. Dallas, Fort Worth and north Texas area. 211 Fllis, Allen TX 75002. (972) 390-<JO<JO nights, weekends, www .kiH>cntcrprises.c0111

Area's OLDEST Wills TOTAi. AIR SPORTS Wing dealer. Certified insrruction av,1ilablc. "l only DEAL with WILLS". 16121 Lakeview, llonsron TX '770/iO. (713) 937 8G ! Ii, 1oralairsporrs(rill10trnail.com

HANC CLIDINC

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C:LOlJll 'J SOAJUNC: CFNTFR The 11:nion's largest paragliding and shop, is now ofkrservices, repairs and sales ing hang gliding lessons, at Point the Mountain, Ltah. Contact \\S for :rn information packet or stop by the shop. (801) 'i76 6/i60, inf,,v,lparaglidcrs.com J?.5'5G S. Mi111Jlt'rn:m lk Ill Draper, UT 8/i020.

RAVl.N SKY SPORTS HANC C:LJ])JNC AND PARAC:Llll!NC: -- The 1\Jlidwcst's Premier acrotow flight park, founded in 1992. franrring INTEGRATED INSTRUCTION of' foot-launch and acrotow Lmdcrn skills, at package prices to heat any in 1l1e USA. Seven heami/irl, hills all wind directions. l'om row tlO Three tandem Falcons for gliders 011 wheeled undercarriages. trnirring li-orn the very first lessons. USU/\ ultralight and instruuion. Paragliding IO\VS. Free c,,,.,r,·•"K· :-iailes1'se1vrr:e/,acccs.,;or1es fc,r all brands. Open a week. ( :on tact Brad f<ushner, J'() Box IO I, Whircwater WI 5:l I 'JO (2.62) iiTl-8BOO phone, (26;.>) iiTl-8801 fax, www.lnnggliding.com, info(10b;inggliding.corn

or

l 1ANC CUDE lJTAJ 11 --- hrll service hang gliding school, w!tan,krn instruction) exclusive training sire, 20 rnint!lcs west of' Salt l .akc City in Tooele. Call Pete Anderson (/i:l5) Bli:l ')003.

WASATCH WINGS - Utah's only firll service hang gliding school, Point of' the Mountain, regional mo1rnrnin sires, towing. Dealer for Acros, Altair, Wills Wings) Moyes, Airw:1vc and much more. Call Zac

(801)

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Light use, perf:'ct shape, all software, cahlcs, manual, etc that came with it. (20(i) .,7.0-9010

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VIRGINIA

On all B,,11 variosl ALL AC:CFSSORIFS JN STOCK! Flytcc /i005, Quamnrn 330, call! Low prices, fast delivery! ( :u1111iso11 Clidcrs, 1'ili9 County Road 17, Cnnnison CO 817-.lll.

(970) 6/i 1-9.l 1 htrp;//gnnnisonglidcrs.com/ 11/\NC (;LJ[)]'R C:AMFR1\ PACKA(;1,: remote, includes mounc \vidc w/inf'InitT auto flash , 35mm amo Super lighr only 5.:3 oz yon need .$189. ( :01111,lcte. Visa welcome. (702) 260-7')50. hrtp://www.virn1alhos1s.nc1/skysail/camera.h 1m

IlL\JE SKY Fulltirne instruction and service ,11 Manqnin !'light !'ark near Richmond. Wills Moyes, !'light Design, Acrns :1nrl Airwave gliders.

Atbntic Mosqnito dealer. Steve Wendt ('i/iO) /i:))..

6'i'i7 or (801) 2/i I 13)/i, www.hlneskyhg.com. b]1J\'Sky]1g{ft!y;1J10<).COl1l

Bl·SI' 12" \Xlf-lFEIS 1\VAIIABLF

Super t:mdctn flying. Built-in a 111ns1 for lJSA-huilr 12" $!i2..')5, qn:mtity clisrnnnts.

Immediate delivery. lnolm111 Mountain, (800) Ci88-l }v1FP.

COMPASSLS (7.)

w/lur mounts t50 each. Radios $150 each. 2 c:1ch. (808) 575-9')(,B.

(2), varios (2) $250 each. I lelrncrs (2)

sets o(whccls

I LICJ IT CONNECTIONS, INC. PTT II

I LY AT VIRCINJA'S NFWFST TOTAL l LICl lT l'/\RK MANQlllN offers anotowing, tandem lessons, platform truck 1rai11i:ig hill :111d scooter 1,ilo1s. ( :n1il,cd instruciion, glider equipment s;1lcs, service and rcpai1 through "BLUE SKY" Virginia's leading hang gliding sd1ool.

Try :,-axis flying with certified ul1raligh1 instrnction through "FLY RAWLINC", learn 111 fly and so,1r the Superl'loater.

Just hours south ol''Nashingtoll DC, 111i11n1cs NE ,,r Ridu11011d. hcc camping and close to fast f,,od, restaurants and Kings Dominion theme park.

Visit us on the wch www.ma1HJtJi11acrotow.com or www.bl11csk)'hg.com.

(5/iO) 132.C,557

KITTY I IA WI< I<f'n:s -- Sec North< :arnlina.

SllVFR WINCS, INC. Ccrrilicd i11s1r11ccion and equiprncm sales. (l(U) 'i.l.l 1%'i Arlington VJ\.

0CTOllEI< 2000

l lANC GLIDING ACCESSORIES BAR MJTTS FXPLOIZFR No map pocket .t/i5.00 NAVJC;\TOR Removable map pocket I5'i.OO COMPF'J'JTOR CirrnL1r map rnff $65.00 C:LJIWR Bi\CS-l!l-AVY llUTY 600 denier polycs1er. War er & UV prorcct ion. /110 zipper Reinforced ends. 'J 'apernl design. ( :0111inuor1s loop h:rndks. Red or hlrre. J; 100.00 c:JZOSS COUNTlzY

2.10 drnicr nylon, yn liglitwcigln. lh 1.ipper.

Tapered. or hlrH·. $')0.00 RADIO POUCI [J,,\ Vinyl window. strap. Adjusts ro f11 mosi radios.

Velcro's 01110 strap. Red or hlnc. ~ 1'i.00 11/\RNFS~ JlAC: Roomy}lt rong-( '.onif(Htah!c.

i\djustahk waisr l,elt & shoulder straps.

Red m bluc.M'i.00 $12.00 S:1il $1.00 per I()" Wi11g Tip l\ags $5 ca. or ~8/pr.

MASTADON llFSJC:NS !lox 6G'i'i S. Lake T,1hoe Ci\% 1'>l (S:lO) 542-:l85.l www.mas1,Hlo11.ne1

!

New and lrnprovcd

t

new

\'v:ner/Dnst Resistant Push Bunon • l'ield Rcpl:1ce;1blc l lcavicr C;rngc Plugs 'lncrc,1sed Strain lzelicl a1 ;\II. Join ls Price $')').95. Fx1ra f111gn switch $]').'Vi w/11mr·cl1;1sc.

Deale, welcome. Call(')!.\) M( :/Vis:1. ,,nr website at www.fligluconn.com

51

IIAWI< i\lRSl'ORTS lNC: P.O. Box 9056, Knoxville, TN .l7'JliOOO'i6, (865) 9/i5·2625. World famous Wi,rdsoks, as seen ,rr the Oshkosh ,'x Sun·N · Fun FAA I lawkG1>windsok.corn,

l !ICH PFRSPECTIVF WHEELS - Real life savers! l 2", lighr, tough. i'its all gliders. Send $Ii 1.95 + $1.50 shipping per pair ro Aviarion. P<) Box l Ol, Mingoville !'A l(,8'56.

World's smallest, MTN! VARIO Clips ro helmet or o.

18,000 fr .. fast response year warramy. Creal for paragliding too. ONLY $169. Malletrec, PO Box 1 5756, Santa Ana CA, 92735. (71 Ii) 'JG(, .. 12/io, MC/Visa accepted, www.mallctrcc.coHr

OXYGEN SYSTEMS

KIWI HELMETS CRISP! BOOTS Two world· wide recognized Italian manufactures oUinc hang glid· ing and paraglidi11g accessories available now in the USA. Kiwi helmets arc and 1csrcd in compJi. ancc with the CE 1.inings arc made of' cx11andcd ,rnd shells arc made of cubon and composi re The hclrnc1 opening was studied ro allow max. visibility and installation of cat'l)Jroncs and microphones. Shells arc painted in color rn white and hy clear coating. Sizes XS (2 l 112") 10 XI M"). Kiwi open 1,rce Pick lip $75 (25 ounces). Kiwi lirll focc Plain $ l 90 (28 ounces). Kiwi foll face· Evolution $220 (27 ounces) .

Crispi boots arc made wirh rhc lt11cs1 materials in the industry; Vibram sole, Kevlar shock· and bottom, rcn1ovahlc rcnr insert and vclcro band 10 keep laces in place. No hooks. ( :rispi Airborne $2/iO (}2 ounces). hH orders or J,rrthcr information about Kiwi helmets or Crispi boots please cont:icr AE](OLICT !TUSA, Inc. Tel. (305) (,39 .l:130, fax (305) 639·3055, Email: info(hacroligh1.com Web: www.acroligl11.com

The world.class XC:l( 180 up to 3 hours (,i\ 8,000 fr. and only Complcrc kit wirh harness, cannula and remote on/off Jlm,mrc:tcr, only $375.00.

Sl'FCTACUJ.AR TROPTIIF.S Awards & Free catalog. Soaring Dreams (208) Tl(,.7')] Ii, Zoolisa<i1laol.con1 TFI< FLIGHT PRODUCTS

B

mounts

DON'T c1,;r C\UCHT l.ANDINC DOWNWIND! 1.5 oz. ri1,srop nylon, UV treated, 5'![" long w/11" throat. Available colors fluorescem pink/yellow or fluorcs· ecru pink/white. ll'J.'J'i ( ,$/i.75 S/11). Send to US[ !CA Windsok, P.O. J\ox 1.l30, Colorado Springs, CO 80')0 J. 13:lO, (/]')) (,:lJ..8300, fox (?l'J) (i.,261i!7, ushgaG1\1shg,i.org VlS1\/M(: acccpred.

WOODY VALi.FY I larucsses, The hcsr, All ModcJs.-/n Stoel, MOSQUITO""... Powered harness, Take off from flat ground.fll Stod, .$'.3, 995.

ATOS The llcsr, I Jighcs1 pnforrning, Ridged Wing.. /n Storie LIGHT SPEFD Second ( :ener,11ion Toplcss .. /n S1ork SATURN Best in cbss, Two size demns·/11 Stod· Glider Condoms·· Tire ultimate glider protc:ction ../n St(){I V·Mitts The ORIGINAL ,11,cl still the best, NEW for 20()().fll Storie Moyes, Altair, Acros, Airwavc, Airborne (;/iders, ! !1m1r'.Csts, I ldmcls, R,rclios, J,l~~hl .\'1(/ts, W!/1r'el,;

Vario,, RIC' toys, /11 ( ;J, Mountain \Xlings Inc. www.FliglnschooLncl mtnwingsQ,)catskill.ncr Fllcnville. New York (845) M7<l3'!7 since 1981 We will nor he rmdcrsold

BUSINFSS & EMPLOYMENT I.A MINAR PARTS We have what you need and we arc committed to same A V8 Call (7(,0) 721-0'701 or email at incbslky("'yalH10.co111

Classified advertising: new life for your equipment and cash in your pocket. What a deal!

52

Camera mount $/i8.50. Camera remote (ask about rebate) $/i5. Vario mount $1 'i. (i" wheels $29.75. 8" wheels $:1/i.75 S&I ! included. TFK FL!GJ[T Products, Colebrook Winsted C:T 0(,098. Or call (860) y79 .. J668.

1ekf1lsncr.m·t or our page: lmp://1ckflight.tripod.rn111

DRAGONFLY TOW CUJB The st1cccss is in the smiles! I )ragonlly ki1s avaiL,ble NOW for $ i 0,800!

Fully builr for $12,800 plus you !lobby Bailey 10 rrain you at your si1e. Call for Ken 11rown dha Moyes 1\merica (115) 75:l·'J5:lli 1:1yaMoycsv1\1ol.corn

I IANC GLIDINC

FOR SALE Arizooa hang gliding lmsincss. Reduced to half price 2SK 1 All wind directions rnan·rnade hill witll ten acres. l~xccllctll \oc11ion clo::.c 10 Phoenix/Tucson and ne:u rno11n1ain sites. Giant shop & stock. (180) //7 8(,07.

Hang Gliding/l'arngliding instrucrors.

WANTF.D Immediate full time openings available. (,ivc the Calif'ornia drc:11n .. insrr11ct students :lt the San Francisco Bay an:~,·s premier

TOWING AER(HOWING /\C(:l!SSORIES Headquarters for: The finest releases. releases, Spectra "V" bridles, weak links, ta11dem launch can kits, etc.

THEW /\LI ./\BY RANCI I (863) 42.-1-0070.

VIDEOS & Fil.MS

site. Service shop

employment is also :1vailablc. f,ir !'at Dcnevan (40B) 26)... J O'SS. MSC:l !CGil:101.com www.hang--gliding.com

SPEED GLIDING: TF/\R UP THE SKIES By /\dvcnrmc Prodnctions $2/i.95 Covers the speed contest in Karnloops, British Columbia and 01110 Telluride, Colorado.

-Superior graphic animarion, great c1mcra angles. 2/i

l'lJBl.lCATlONS & ORGANIZATIONS

C:/\LI. US] !CA

!'or a magazine hack issue order frmn. From the early Ground Skimmer 10 the presem 11:ing Cliding. (71 ')) (,3). .. 8300.

1Y1inutcs.

NEW' TO FLY: DlSCOVFR HANG GLIDING TOD/\ Y hy Adventure Productions ONLY $5.00 FOR lJSI !GA MEMBERS (,$ 15.95 for non--USI IC/\ members). Discover how modern hang gliding c:111 eas· ily help you realize your dreams to fly. ONLY $5.00.

This video w:is created to show how hang gliding has evolved imo :1 saf°e, affordable, and fun way "To Fly".

Filmed at several major gliding schools in the US "This produuion has my

B/\C TT! lf you don't have your copy of Dennis Pagrn's PFRH)RM/\NCE Fl.YING yet, avail:ibk through LJSTIGA llcadquartcrs $;,').'JS (,$5.50 s&h for UPS/Priority Mail delivery). US! IC/\, PO Box I 330. Colorado Springs C() 809ll1. J .. 8()().(, I (,.(,888 WW\v.ushga.nrg

order from our wch .site www.ushga.org. Please add -1 $,i

s/h in the USA.

foou1gc packed into a

short IO mimtte eye ONLY $5.00. We were able to cover the and easy training OJHions Cor beginners, as well as, the exrrcme aspects of h:ing gliding which make it educl\ional, entertaining, and fon to watch." Says producer I'aul I larnilron. IO min.! This is the video yo11 show yom family a11d f'riends! ON LY $5.00.

NFW' STARTING IlANC; G!IDING, by 1\dvcnture l'rod11ctions. l'rocluced especially to mote the ~port. Covers b;1sic preparation,

proper :mit11dc, gro11ndh:mdli11g, launching and those fast flights. 30 min $29.9',.

TlJRNfNC POINT -· IN ALPINE THERM/\1.LING, hy Dennis Trott/ Al1,i11e Flying Cenrrc.

50% I TC, 50%, l'C. Discover techniques to tame the elusive alpine thermal. lle:rntifol Europe's most dramatic mounraius. ALso

I IARIZY AND Tl IF I IANC CLJ])FR is a he:1111ilidly illustrated, hardcover children's hook with /i() colo, pages wri11c11 (cir pilots I() slt:trc the drc:im of° flight! To order: send $2/i.'!'i plus $.l shipping to Sky! I 20 I N. Tyndall, Tucson, /\Z 8571 'J m (5}0) 628-81 (,5 or visit http://www.!lash.twt/"skyhipuh Visa/M(: accepted.

TELLlJRIDE SPEED GLIDING By T:1rum Productions $19,95. Complete coverage of this event.

The sound of' the gliders passing through the con1rol is totally awesome. :3:l minutes.

US! ICA (719) (,\2-8'.JOO, fax (719) 632-M 17,

From the Telluride Festival in 1981, to the modern d:iy freestyle competition. i'cillow the history of this dynam· ic gathering. $2/i.95 Call US! !C:A (71')) 6.12-8300, fox (719) (,:\2-(,li 17, order from our weh site www,ushga.org. !'lease acld +$Ii domestic s/h.

MISC!,] J ./\NEOUS

com-

mcnt.s frorn top pilot.<; & great animation. 2,i 1nin $:35.95 C11rrrntly our honest selling video' /\FRONi\lJTS HANG GLIDfNG MASTERS, hy l'ho10graphic Expeditions. A dornrnentary of hang gliding today. Superb footage, graphics & interviews. lt:l rnin $29.95.

PARTY AT CI.OUDBASF A h:rng gliding mnsic video by Advenrnre Productions $19,95. !JANG (;LJDING EXTREME & BORN TO FLY by /\dvcn1111-c l'roductiom, great hg action $3/i.95 each.

T!/\ W /\ll/\N FLYIN hy Space 9, soaring in paradise, arn:11.ing launches $3.3.00 Call \JSI !CA (719) G.12-8JOO, fax (71'J) 6326it17, email: usliga(fhuslig;i.org, or order off our wch p;1gc www.ushg:1.org. Please add +$Ii domestic s/h (1 $5 for

SOARINC -· Monthly magazine oC The Soaring

pot-;lto turned couch potato. Also, ask us about our

"AEROBATICS" !'11\1 color 2.,"x .1 l" poster foatm· ing John I kiney doing what he docs best--l.CJOl'INC! /\vailahlc through US!](;;\ l \Q for just $6.'!5 ( 1 $,i.00 s/h). Fill tha1 void on your wall! Send to llSHCA /\erohatics l'ostcr, I'() Box I :lOO. Colorado Spriugs CO 809:U. (USA & C::mada only. Sorry, NOT AVAll./\BLF 011 in1crna1io11al C:IAL-Acrob:ttics poster & Frie Raymond BOTH FOR $1 0 ( 1$4 .l'i s/h). Check the rncrch:m1J1.1e

Society of J\mcric1, Inc. ( :overs all aspects oC soaring llir;h1. h1ll 1nrn1bership ,t55. In/,,. kit with s:1mplc copy $.1. SS1\, 1'.0. Box 2100, I lobhs, NM 882/il. (505)

paragliding videos!

section of our wch site www.ushga.org [()I a color pic-

two or more videos). (:rc:n to impress your friends or

fc,r those socl«·d-in days. l'crfrct gilt for the launch

Oc:rorirn 2000

ture· oC these beall(ilid posters.

STOLEN WlNCS & THlNGS MOYES XTRALITE H7 & 16/i Stolen July 15, 2000 dming Regionals in I IEARNF, TX. Both gliders have a white upper surface, black nndcr surE,cc and an x."Jite cmhlc1n nn 1111dersurfacc of right wing. ( :onract Melvin B. Asher (281) '!3li·61 ')') or John Moody (l l :l) 7/i0,6035.

lfANC (;LJDJNC & JlARACLJD!NC TOURS All skill levels. Aero, truck rowing. Fasy & smooth at a hcautili1l lakt:. Volcano niglll, XC ride from l 2,000' to the coast. lodgi 11g, glider &. more. Basic Telif'ax 0\ J.fi').80/i 22355,

VlDEOS BOOKS & POSTERS Call lJSl !CA for yonr Merchandise order form ('719) 632·B300, email: or check our web page www.ushga.org

FLIGHT DESIGN S2VT Two paraglidcrs lost hy service, shipped from Ci\l.lFORNlA ro parcel post on August 19th, 19')9. Onl' large one medium w/orange top. Lois l lulmes

I.LFT WINCl.FT Lost for c;LASSY MOUNTi\lN, SC oll Octobe,

/\EROS STF/\l TH 152 Stolen from QUEST AIR Fl.lCHT PARK, Fl."" May 1st, 1')99 (last day ofd1c Nats.) Red under, blue mylar top. Call Mark (2/i8) :J<Jfi. 1227 rnt,oltgli,Je((1',tol.corr

STOLEN WJNc;s arc listed as a service 10 USf IC/\ rnemhers. Newest entries arc in hold. There is no charge for this service and lost nnd Cound wing,s or cqnipmenr may be called in (719) 637.·8:lOO, foxed in (71 'J) 6:,2.6/i 17, or emailed at for

inclusion in IJang ( ;Jidittg magazine. Please to can· when gliders arc recovered. Periodically, this he

eel the

NOW 5 MODELS /\V/\11.ABLF 12·21" wing span.

Priced at 2/$5, 5/$12, I 0/$20 (+$3.20 S&l l, WA residents add 8.6% sales tax). Check/money order to: Zing \Xlings, PO Box li89, Fnrnnclaw WA 98022. www.zingwing.c01n

DON'T LEAVE YOUR CROUNl) .. flOUND 1':QUIPMENT SITTING IN THE GARA(;E, SELL IT IN Tl IE I !ANG Gl.IDING CLASSJFIEDS.

CLASS!flFD ADVERTlSlNC RATES The rate for classified advcnising is $.50 per word (or of' char· acrcrs) and $1.00 per word for bold or MIN! MUM AD CHARCE $5.00. A foe of 5.00 is for eacl, line arr logo and $25.00 for each pl10· & Pl !OTO Sl!.I,: NO LARCFJ, Tll/\N 1.75" X 2.25". Please underline words 10 be in hold print. Special o/' tabs $25,00 per column inch. Phone words. Email or web address<lwords. AD DEADLINES: All ad copy, instTuctious, changes, additions and canccllatiolls must be received in I. 5 months preceding the cover date, i.e. ocrober l,ir the December issue. !'lease make checks payable 10 USHCJ\, l'.0. Box i:no, Colorado Springs, CO 80901- I:no, (71 '!) 6:l2 8:100. h1x (719) 632,6/i 17 or email: your cbssificd with your Visa or MasterCard.

Advc111ure Productions,,,,,,,,,,,,., .. ,, ,.,.25 Angle of'Atrack .................. ,.............. 54 Arai Design ....................................... lt9 Dan Johnson, ................................... , 17 l;Jyrcc ................. ,............. ,.................. 9 Hall Bros .... , ............................... , ...... 25 High Energy

Jusr , .,y· ................................................... 19 Lookout Mtn. Flight Park ............ 22,23 Moyes ,....... ,.......................... ,,,,,,, ....... 8 Ncilscn .. J<cllerman ............................ 25 North Wing ................. ,,,,,,, .............. 39 Dog Publications ........... ,............ 1 1 Sport Aviarion Publications ............... 33 Traverse City ]fang Cliclcrs, .. ,...... ,.... 17 U.S, Acros .............. ,, ........................ ,,,7, USHGA ,, ............. ,, ................... ,.. ,............. 16 Wesr c:oast Aros .............. ,.......................... 33 Wills Wing, .... I0, 19,'.15,::l:3,Back Cover

f>hone: 209.543.7850 Toll·Free: 888.530.9940 E·Mail: custsvc@a ng leofattack. net Website: http://angleofattack.net

100% Gu11rc111teed. If not satisfied, return unused tubes for 100% money back. Major Credit Curds accepted.

OEM/Dealer inquiries encouraged.

Ad b Peter Birren: 847.640.0171

S4

Hi\NC GUDINC

ST. PAUL, MINN. , Another new world record. 'l'h:i Ume it :i Davis Straub i.n Uie new,J w:i t:h tunning 347-mile flight on l\ugu,c;L 9th! OJ both Dave i::harp' A'l'0.'3 9h( n-'ported month and the r1t:,w om0 t:hic: monlJ1 I record they broke I, bu\- none,\ hel crJ his A'I'C)S for or S:):) ~~harp hitthree ~;traub' a lr"o came the now-,30-apl:ly--named World Record Encampm0r1l As w:i tb Sl1arp, [low north in L:ivorable, condil:iorH, from town Zapata. You read en\ i report and see nwpf; and a tud0 plot::; w0,b,; (Davi,;Strcrnb. com) but few an, worth hi~:ihlic:rhl_inq here.

Lift dc,veloped that- he could fJy from I() 00 AM to fl: 00 PM, 10 hours of prone, (whew!). F'or I of [:Jiql1l, he says be• I y qot ovc,r 7,000 feet bul l hat in l:rade he, enjoyed flyinq -Ln Wi:lrm, moi I: Cu] f ,d r. Betwe·en l:hern1cJ reporU; of 55-60 111Ph. 'I'he d i mpl1 shows l:ha t he had lo I 7,000 [out range") However, Di:lvi accE·pl_ed l_h i.s turn i l. came hard bmmccc;.S and broken-up ?.60 m oti1 he c:rol: t:o il, 000' MSL in bet thermaLs. But: way out O mi lee; havi ncJ grabbed new mark Davi,; he "got ucky, found Louc:I, pure luck."

FlnaJLy with smooth ai and disappeari n~1, he ed on "plenty heat on l:he qround." Gliding anol_her ]anded ut a [arm near ,Ling Cil_y, Needing thJs f:Ji ght, and variou.c; pcmple, he wrote•, rcc,pon,3ibl I: i:11 s forecaB1 inq use cornputc,rs and the Internet. [rom home in a t_ions, Davis ... and Jobs clearly well done! ••• sparked focu on 'J'he Lone Star Champs hcid wings whLI e t:he, Lakeview Nats had 50 two U. compare l_o U1c smaLI ~'I" prestiqious World Speed Gliding Champs in Olympus, wit:J1 ?.O pil whc,re, unusual in [on,,iqn the 1J. conl:_ingc0n was t_he large:::\ Latt_er, G W. Meadows and Ken f3rown honed their E,peE,d ql i dJ nq and predicted Look t: the Col m·ado Red Bull Wings O·v·er qliding (,vent (thouqh U1at WE-?c2k appc,ared to wcc:,.,thercd Surveying two U.S. mEx?ts of 82 pi lot._s, T founcJ Wing on top w.lth 37'/i of the· combined f:ield. 'rhey

Ociorirn 2000

did especially well Lakc,,view whc;rc" they had 3il% and win by Bo Hagewood on a . Aeros wa:c; a fairly close' second at 29% continuing their ,u,_-,,c,alinq way,3 under bosc; C.\rv. Meadows. Popular eon test_ p:i Jot choice,; then foll owed witb lcaro 14% and Moyes al: 13% in tight competition for \:bird La Monette (~%) and cdngle from Airwave AirBorne Led out the Compare l:11:i s 1:_o the choices in Greece where reeqular wLnne,r Manfred Ruhmer r.ook another fin,t However, G.W. Meadows (as cornpet::it_or th:i"; time) and Ken Brown placed 4th and ')Ul respectiv0Jy . ..i. Among g flown by this spec,dy crowd, Aero::; took a convincing 40% the [i eeld, Col lowed di,,lantJ_y by Sec?dwings, Jcaro, Will Wine;, Moyes, and UP. A I l\irwave compeLed. 'l'hc:: field if, too small and contes too c,soteric Lo judge much, but one tb-Lng sc0ems cJear. 'I'he Ukra inc organization called very much aLive and wc,Jl on the world rnarkeL. Arnone; rigid wings, Brian Porter continues l:o notch up wins in Millennium [oLI owed by a numbE r of ATOS es, sprinkled wi U1 a couple of Ghostbusters, Exxtacies, and an lxbo or E,o. l: is a I .so l:ruc, t tbe number of igid wing competi l~or:; are s l l not equa] ing Uie N<c,w product,; take time to percolate l:hrouqh the rncJrket, but various f acton; appear to be bolcLi ng back Eas ig id penetrat:i on: sharp Ly higher prices and the good ve performance of wings in wel l--matched contest t.asks, • l\mong Yankee contest: gurus de::,l:ined for the U. World 'I'eam, Jim Lee st reiqns, tollowec1 by hot new star, Paris Williams, Mike Barber, Glen Volk, ~Jersey Rosc;i9no l , Cbris Bo Haqewood, Steve Rewolinski, and Richard Sauer not intended to be an officJa} ranJdng). • A.LR. ha":; released a small ATOS. According to early reports from Davco Sharp, U1c, mini-A'ros has 125 square feet, 3'/. ':i-foot , J l. 3 1\1,, weiqhs 68 poundc,, and accommodat:es pilot weighing 117.--198 pounds. It packs down over two feet shorter than its larger sibling and one rib with scaled-down flaps. Spoilers are to be nea.rly the ,Jame size but with different shape.

Overall? 's "quicker handling, " scJyE, Dave . ••• '!'he Oops ! Department ha,; a coupl correc ions: Ji. First, thouqh Sc edwincJs' Bob Trampenau appreciated "the plug in your column" l:he e-maiI address waEo incorrect. sc0edwinqs@earU1link.net 'cl forgol:ten the ;:;econcJ second qeek was mistakenly t to Nene Rotor the fade... of course, Nene makes tbe Rotor bearinq his name (duh!).

Tenax is made by Woody Valley who offers Manfred Ruhmer version wiU1 penmna] touches much on his Laminar MR?.000 glider. The Tenax is market:ed

by AVfl in t:he U. ~:;. Info: indasky(,lyahoo. com ••• Hc~y, 1ol:s more news but: out-.ta room tilJ next month.

So, s-rot news or op-in-Lons? Send 'em to: il Doniel:, . PcJul MN 5~'>118. J\/Jessaqecc; or fax Lo 6'Sl--450-0930, or e--mai J to CumulusMan@ao1.com.

Al "Product Line,;" columns will be available Later thi,c; year at www.ByD2u1cJohrwon.com. THAJSIKS! 0

0

Two Fusion SP's entered the 2000 FAI Women's World Championships.

They finished first and second.

Congratulations to Kari Castle - Fusion SP 150 - 2000 Women's World Champion Congratulations to Franc;oise Mocelin - Fusion SP 141 - 2000 Women's Worlds Silver Medallist

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LLS~

Nti

Guality aircraft for exceptional people

Wills Wing USA 500 West Blueridge Ave. Orange, CA 92865 ph 714 .998.6359 fax 714 .998 .0647 www.willswing.com