USHGA Hang Gliding & Paragliding Vol33/Iss4 April 2003

Volume 33 Issue 4 April, 2003 $4.95

A P u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s H a n g G l i d i n g A s s o c i a t i o n • w w w. u s h g a . o r g

Preventing Spins on Rigid Wings Interview: Mad Mike KUNG!

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USHGA Officers and Executive Committee: Bill Bolosky, President, bolosky@ushga.org Jim Zeiset, Vice President, jimzgreen@aol.com Russ Locke, Secretary, russ@lockelectric.com Randy Leggett, Treasurer ias@ot.com REGION 1: Bill Bolosky, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Ray Leonard, John Wilde, Tim West. REGION 3: David Jebb, John Greynald, Alan Chuculate. REGION 4: Steve Mayer, Jim Zeiset. REGION 5: Frank Gillette. REGION 6: Len Smith. REGION 7: Bill Bryden. REGION 8: Gary Trudeau, REGION 9: Randy Leggett, Felipe Amunategui.

REGION 10: Tiki Mashy, Matt Taber. REGION 11: R.R. Rodriguez. REGION 12: Paul Voight. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Jan Johnson, Dennis Pagen, Russ Locke, Steve Kroop, Chris Santacroce. HONORARY DIRECTORS: Aaron Swepston, Steve Roti, Dick Heckman, Michael Robertson, Bob Hannah, John Harris, Larry Sanderson (SSA), Dave Broyles, Ken Brown, Rob Kells, Liz Sharp, Dan Johnson, Dixon White. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTORS: Art Greenfield (NAA).

The United States Hang Gliding Association Inc. is an air sports organization affiliated with the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) which is the official representative of the Fédération Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), of the world governing body for sport aviation. The NAA, which represents the U.S. at FAI meetings, has delegated to the USHGA supervision of FAI-related paragliding activities such as record attempts and competition sanctions.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine is published for foot-launched air-sports enthusiasts to create further interest in the sports of hang gliding and paragliding and to provide an educational forum to advance hang gliding and paragliding methods and safety. Contributions are welcome. Anyone is invited to contribute articles, photos and illustrations concerning paragliding activities. If the material is to be returned, a stamped, self-addressed return envelope must be enclosed. Notification must be made of submission to other hang gliding and paragliding publications. HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine reserves the right to edit contributions where necessary. The Association and publication do not assume responsibility for the material or opinions of contributors. HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING editorial offices email: editor@ushsga.org. ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE SENT TO USHGA HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS. The USHGA is a member-controlled sport organization dedicated to the exploration and promotion of all facets of unpowered ultralight flight, and to the education, training and safety of its membership. Membership is open to anyone interested in this realm of flight. Dues for full membership are $59.00 per year (of which $15 goes to the publication of Hang Gliding & Paragliding Magazine), ($70 non-U.S.); subscription rates only are $42.00 ($53 non-U.S.). Changes of address should be sent six weeks in advance, including name, USHGA number, previous and new address, and a mailing label from a recent issue.

801 255 9595 552 West 8360 S Sandy, UT 84070

www.4superfly.com info@4superfly.com

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

POSTMASTER: SEND CHANGE OF ADDRESS TO: HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE, P.O. BOX 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES IN PUBLICATIONS: The material presented here is published as part of an information dissemination service for USHGA members. The USHGA makes no warranties or representations and assumes no liability concerning the validity of any advice, opinion or recommendation expressed in the material. All individuals relying upon the material do so at their own risk. Copyright © 2003 United States Hang Gliding Association, Inc. All rights reserved to Paragliding and individual contributors.

Hang Gliding and Paragliding magazines welcome editorial submissions from our members and readers.

We are always looking for good material.

Please send copy as a Word attachment or text pasted into an e-mail, directly to the editor at editor@ushga.org. Photo captions and byline credit are critical. Please remember to include your name and a title for the article in your copy.

Feature stories generally run anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 words, however, your topic may demand more or less than this. You may discuss this with the editor.

News releases are welcomed, but please do not send brochures, dealer newsletters or other extremely lengthy items. Please edit news releases with our readership in mind, and keep them reasonably short without excessive sales hype. You are welcome to submit photo attachments, preferably jpeg files smaller than a megabyte.

Calendar of events items may be sent to the e-mail address above, as may letters to the editor.

Please be concise and try to address a single topic in your letter.

Your contributions are greatly appreciated. If you have an idea for an article you may discuss your topic with the editor either by e-mail or telephone.

Contact: Editor, Hang Gliding & Paragliding Magazine, editor@ushga.org, (253) 840-1372.

FEATURES

Structured Learning: Paragliding Masters Learn to Hang Glide.............. 19 Dixon White Preventing Spins in Rigid Wing Hang Gliders ....................................... 22 Marcus Hoffman Guten Pilot Induced Ocillations: A Simplistic Primer on Out-of-Control Hang Gliding ...................................... 26 Mike Vorhis A Family’s Journey to Flight ....... 30 Amy Kenney Hang-2 “World” View ................... 33 Jennifer Beach King Kung ........................................ 37 Matt Gerdes Skyking Rennaissance.................. 44 Dan Weduptja DEPARTMENTS

Editor’s Column.................................... 4 Dan Nelson Air Mail ................................................. 5 Pilot Briefings........................................ 8 Calendar.............................................. 13 New Ratings ........................................ 50 Santa’s List .......................................... 52 Chris Santacroce Tips From the Masters......................... 54 Rob Kells Marketplace (classifieds) ...................... 60

The United States Hang Gliding Association, a division of the National Aeronautic Association,

is a representative of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in the United States.

Advertisers Index ................................ 72 Gallery ................................................ 73 Product Lines ...................................... 49

By Dan Johnson This image: Tim Meehan

Office Staff Jayne DePanfilis, Executive Director, jayne@ushga.org Jeff Elgart, Advertising, jeff@ushga.org Sandra Hewitt, Member Services, sandra@ushga.org Natalie Hinsley, Member Services, natalie@ushga.org Bob Archibald, IT Administrator, bob@ushga.org

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING (ISSN 0895433X) is published monthly by the United States Hang Gliding Association, Inc., 219 W. Colorado Ave., Suite 104, Colorado Springs, CO 80903 (719) 632-8300. FAX (719) 632-6417. PERIODICAL POSTAGE is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices.

Cover Image: Brett Schreckengost

Jayne DePanfilis, Publisher Dan Nelson, Editor in Chief Steve Roti, Contributing Editor Tim Meehan, Art Director Aaron Swepston, Contributing Art Director

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I WANNA FLY! know, I know— compared to the rest of the country, the Pacific Northwest had it easy this winter.

The western portion of Washington and Oregon had little to no snow in the lowlands, and a remarkable number of sunny days.

Still, our reputation for wet, gray winter days is well earned. The heavy overcast and drizzle which gives rise to our wet reputation puts a serious damper on free fl ight. We can pop off the occasional sledder, and even fi nd a few soarable days on the small selection of ridge sites available to us. But the big air days must wait for summer. Or at least spring.

But spring is here!

As the weather warms, and the atmosphere dries out, we join the rest of the flying community in returning to the air. Songbirds flit and flutter around, seemingly with no cares and no real objectives other than being airborne. Raptors big and small take to the air and play on the strengthening thermals, apparently taking as much pure enjoyment from the warm lifting air as we do.

Certainly, the big days are still a few months off, but spring does give us an opportunity to renew our love of lifting air. I look forward to getting out and joining in the aerial celebrations of spring. I’m no great shakes as a pilot, but I love to fly and I enjoy the camaraderie of pilots. Maybe I’ll see you on the hill and in the air. I’ll likely be the pilot at the bottom of the thermal, struggling to keep up. But don’t mind me—I’ll be having fun regardless of how much airtime I get. Of course, more airtime means more fun, but flying is a little like chocolate—a taste is better than nothing, and even when you get too much, you still enjoy it!

Before I go flying, though, I want to introduce the rest of the magazine production team.

Our new Art Director boasts over 25-years of graphic design and print production experience. Tim Meehan is a paraglider pilot (P4, T1) flying from the Boulder, Colorado area for 4

A I R the past 12-years. Tim gets most of his air time over Golden and Aspen, Colorado, and recently took his fi rst tandem HG fl ight in Florida.

When not flying, Tim teaches computer graphics, desktop publishing and web courses at the University of Colorado in Boulder as an honorary professor in the continuing education program. He also has 12-years of experience as a state certified fi refighter and EMT for the city of Arvada, Colorado.

In his spare time (?) Tim knocks out books. He’s written several tomes dealing with digital imaging and publishing. His latest work is 50 Fast Final Cut Pro 3 Techniques: Step-by-step techniques for amazing digital video effects. Tim is also a long-time member of Apple Computer’s “Apple Consultant Network”, and is an avid (some say rabid) Macintosh computer user.

The art department also benefits from the continued support of Aaron Swepston, who serves as USHGA’s Graphic Artist.

Aaron was one of the primary movers and shakers in getting the new magazine launched, and he continues to provide invaluable creative direction for the publication. Aaron began hang gliding in 1978, and today he’s a master-rated pilot (H5) whose aerobatic skills have earned him a place on the Red Bull Air Force. Aaron served as Art Director of Hang Gliding magazine for the previous year. In that position, he moved USHGA’s magazine into the 21st century by shifting to an all-digital production process. This helped set the stage for cost savings and ontime delivery of the magazine. Aaron has now turned his attention to the features and special sections of the new, combined Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. As another northwest local, Aaron often puts me to shame when we head for the hill as he literally flies circles around me. He, too, is a devoted Macintosh enthusiast.

Jeff Elgart keeps the business side of the

magazine working. Jeff serves as the advertising manager for Hang Gliding & Paragliding, but he’s also our ‘keeper of the calendar.’ That is, Jeff makes sure we have all the most current details and data included in our calendar of events. But he doesn’t stop there. In addition to keeping our ads in line and our calendar up-to-date, Jeff keeps me in line by providing me with his professional proof-reading services for all the magazine stories. Jeff, in short, is the magazine’s point man in the Colorado Springs headquarters.

Another key cog in the magazine production is our one unpaid member of the team. Officially, he’s our Contributing Editor. Unofficially, he is our heart and soul. Steve Roti helps out in a score of ways. When needed, Steve provides expert copy editing services. He pitches in with topnotch writing. When we need artwork to grace the magazine, Steve often comes through with either his own stunning photographs, or he recruits friends to provide the art we need. Steve also serves as a sounding board for ideas. He’s a wellspring of advice and historical perspective whenever we need it. And on top of all that, Steve keeps the USHGA Web site up and running, and is always working on ways to make it more effective, efficient and useful for our members. Steve, a paragliding master (P5) living in Oregon, has served USHGA in a wide variety of capacities, including as a Regional Director. Steve is currently the Chairman of the Paragliding Accident Committee.

The final member of the magazine team is Jayne DePanfilis. An H2 pilot, Jayne joined USHGA in 1996, and has been the organization’s Executive Director since 2001. Jayne also fills the role of magazine publisher. Jayne facilitated the development of the USHGA’s Editorial Task Force (ETF) in November, 2001.

The Executive Editor, Art Director, Graphic Artist, Contributing Editor, Advertising Manager, and Publisher work together on the task force. The original mission of the ETF was to facilitate the change in magazine management and the transition from two monthly publications to one monthly publication.

The Editorial Task Force remains active now to help guide the continued April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

development and growth of the magazine.

Jayne is well suited to the dual role of USHGA Executive Director and magazine publisher.

Prior to joining the USHGA staff, Jayne was a professional communicator.

She authored “The Insider’s Guide to the Outer Banks” for two years, wrote many destination-oriented newspaper and magazine articles while serving as Director of Marketing at Kitty Hawk Kites. Jayne was also the Managing Editor, Advertising Sales Manager, and Assistant to the Publisher of Outer Banks Magazine for two years.

As this magazine’s publisher, Jayne keeps the team on track and on target.

She provides guidance and assistance on the magazine design and content when needed, but she also manages the business side of the publication.

Her business acumen helped her trim production expenses even while opening the door for higher quality printing services.

That’s the core of the publication team.

Of course, none of this would matter a lick if it weren’t for the dedication and commitment of our contributors. They are too numerous to name, but I do appreciate each and every person who has contributed a story, a picture or even just a letter to the editor. This is, after all, your magazine, published by your non-profit association. To keep the magazine going, we need your help. If you have a story to tell, or a picture to share, let me know. You can reach me by phone, (253) 840-1372, or by email, dan@ushga.org Fly safe, and have fun!

Sex not necessary in ads Ahh, I just got home to find Hang Gliding magazine came in the mail today. Imagine my surprise—or not surprise—to read the comments within Air Mail about the Flytec ad. From my perspective as a woman—yup, last time I looked in the mirror— I found the ads totally tasteless. From Daniel Pifko’s take, I should be ignored and {allow this type of} advertisement to grow. I will do what I had already decided to do; not buy Flytec anymore. I do not consider myself thin-skinned either. Anybody who knows me knows I joke with the best of them. One does have to be open since I fly where there are few women.

So, Daniel, why not take this one step farther. In the Harley magazine which my husband gets, topless women are regularly portrayed. Do I think that is right? Hell no. And I personally think these ads are one step away from the Harley magazine. You can get an “edgy” magazine without putting sex into the ads. It takes commitment from everyone (members) writing articles and submitting, but no one ever wants to take the time to do that.

Everybody wants to reap the benefits but no one wants to put the work into making this magazine what it can be.

I used to do a monthly newsletter with photos for our group north of Seattle and I would say at the meetings, “come on guys, give me your input.”

This monthly news is as good as the news submitted which goes the same for the HG magazine.

I challenge each and every one of us to send photos, write an article and then go on from there.

Tracie Nystuen Lake Mistake The “Wings over Chicago” story (Paragliding, January issue) was an interesting article. But it’s hard to imagine Will actually spent several days in Chicago without realizing the city is on the shore of Lake Michigan, not Lake Erie.

Richard Bentley Editor’s response: Mr. Bentley, the editorial team should have caught that error before the story went to press. In

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

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defense of Will, though, I ask you to remember that he’s a resident of Canada and the Great Lakes are all upside down to our northern friends. Likely, he just got mixed-up when viewing the lakes from the south.

Dan Record setter deserved cover Do you guys still read letters or just look at what comes across a computer screen?

I thought I’d waste one more stamp to tell you what a great flight Mike Barber had this past summer in Texas. Where was his cover photo? You would think that since he’s an American who flew a hang glider further than any other human has ever flown, he might get a little recognition. Maybe doing a loop after flying almost 500 miles would have done it.

I’ve been a member of the USHGA for around 25 years, and in that time I’ve written three or four articles that never got to print. I read a lot of meaningless stuff by new members who more than likely will be out of the sport in a few years. As an “old” member, I wonder what’s the point of trying to voice an opinion.

If it weren’t for needing to be a member to fly in comps, I might not waste another stamp to rejoin.

Bubba Goodman Editor’s Note: Mr. Goodman, I admit that I’m one of those ‘new members’ myself, though I have no intention of leaving the sport anytime soon. But as a relatively new pilot, and more importantly, as the brand new editor of this magazine, let me say that I appreciate your willingness Continues page 8…

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to voice an opinion and try to bring needed changes to the magazine. I certainly plan to bring some changes myself. I’m told we did receive some photos of Mr. Barber’s flight, but the picture quality wasn’t suitable for cover use, nor even for color use inside the magazine. That’s a shame, because Mike Barber’s flight was certainly worthy of a cover (or two). That said, I can’t change what happened in the past, but I can try to make sure we improve on our work in the future. With that in mind, I plan to be proactive in soliciting stories. Rather than wait for stories to come in the mail, I will seek out contributors for important stories—like the world record encampments—to make sure we recognize and honor folks like Mike Barber who push the edges of our sports.

Please continue to share your thoughts, suggestions, and criticisms with me. This is your magazine, but we need your help to make sure it continues to meet your needs and desires.

Dan

Bruce Wallace worthy of memorial tribute I was profoundly affected to read in January, of the September death of Bruce Wallace, author of the upbeat September article in praise of maneuvers clinics. (Refer to Paragliding Magazine: September, 2002, page 30 and January, 2003, page 30).

A Google search hints at some aspects of this dynamic man’s life.

More on his accident can be found at www.orbittechservices.com/ scpa _ memdirect/discussting/ display.php4?dis _ id=333 I propose—as an honor and tribute to Bruce—an open and thoughtful conversation to learn from his engagement, advancement, and approach to paragliding. I’m sensitive to those who grieve the loss of this enthusiastic pilot. But I ask those who knew him, and those like myself who only read his story, to extract every possible lesson. So that those who love us can see us safely return after a day in the air!

To reach the broadest audience, let’s use this magazine’s Airmail: Letters to the Editor section as our forum.

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PILOT BRIEFINGS Pretty simple to email your thoughts here: editor@ushga.org Joel McMinn, Father, husband, P2, 500 flights, 30 hrs, 3 years, confused.

No need for instructors’ names on ratings I am writing in regards to the renewed practice of listing recent ratings in the Magazine. I think acknowledging new pilots is a great idea, and hope that the support and mentoring of new pilots by the flying community will be enhanced by this practice. I also believe that the USHGA’s instructional program is inherently flawed.

While this is not an appropriate forum to address all the involved issues, I would point out that the practice of listing the instructors name along with the rated student potentially supports a system that is already predisposed to encourage instructors to lower training standards in order to increase profits.

Compromised training standards are an unfortunate result of our wellintentioned instructional program and the ultimate loser is the student. As an Instructor since 1990, my experience shows that the most prolific school is not necessarily providing the most thorough instruction.

The Rat Race Competition

On the weekend of May 31 through June 1, 2003 there will be a paragliding competition named the “Rat Race” at Woodrat Mountain in Southern Oregon.

Organizer Mike Haley says there will be prizes such as flight suits for the winners, but no cash prizes. The Rat Race is a USHGA Class B sanctioned competition, which means no National Team Selection System points.

Mike’s vision is to have a fun competition that is shorter and easier for the average pilot who doesn’t want to take undue risks. For first time competitors this will also be a training event, to educate them on what they need to know in order to compete on paragliders. The Rat Race will include things not typically found in larger competitions, such as a seminar on GPS use beforehand and a pilot debriefing session in the evening by experienced XC pilots.

Look for an article about Woodrat Mountain and the Rat Race in the April issue. For additional information visit: www.cascadeparaglidingclub.org /ratrace.html

Fly Aware? - Weather Watch & Soarcasting Utility Checking the flying weather just got easier.

We need an instructional program that encourages quality over quantity. I would recommend removing the instructors’ names from the new ratings list as a way to avoid supporting the “quantity” mentality. While I don’t see listing the instructors names on the published new ratings as THE problem, I think NOT listing them is one way we can reduce some unwanted tendencies inherent in the system.

I also think it is one way the magazine can re-assert its impartiality. Ultimately, I see the new ratings listing as a celebration and recognition of an individual’s accomplishment, rather than a marketing opportunity for instructors.

Dale Covington

P I LOT B R I E F I N G S A simple, easy-to-use interface provides automated access to countless meteorological resources, thereby eliminating the need to spend time clicking and wading through Web sites. “It’s something I’ve long felt would be a useful tool for pilots,” said Steve Schacht, paraglider pilot, USHGA member, and software developer. “The Internet is full of excellent weather resources, but I’ve always found data prospecting to be time consuming and bothersome; so I wrote Fly Aware?. Now, instead of chasing down the data, my computer just delivers it to me.” Also included in the program are some utilities for helping to evaluate soaring potential.

Fly Aware? is available for both Windows and Macintosh computers.

For additional information and pricing, visit: www.adeptool.com or send email to: flyaware@adeptool.com

Digital Flight Log proves fast, efficient, easy-to-use

By Dan A. Nelson Finding the perfect fl ight log proved a challenge for me. During my fi rst two years of flying I fumbled with various products, trying to fi nd something that let me record all the pertinent fl ight data while also letting me make long, detailed notes about each fl ight.

That is, I wanted a fl ight logbook that

served as a data record as well as a personal journal.

Adeptool has developed a computer software program —Fly Aware?—for managing Internet-based weather resources. The program automatically retrieves various types of data, including surface observations, regional forecasts, winds aloft forecasts and countless maps, graphs, charts, and images available across the Web.

I eventually gave up on finding my ideal logbook and instead created one of my own—I simply used some desktop publishing tools to design a logbook page that fit in a personal planner notebook.

But I’m a computer-loving kind of guy, and I longed for the day some talented person would develop an inexpensive digital logbook for the general free flight community.

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

I’m pleased to report that day has come.

The new Nomad Flight Log, developed by Peter Warren, meets all the requirements I had for a digital flight log. It is easy to use, it records all the pertinent data (including date, wind speed, wind direction, wind type, location, launch name, wing being flown, launch elevation, LZ elevation, maximum altitude, max lift rate, max sink rate, distance flown, and time flown. Most of the data columns feature an auto-fill option so you don’t have to retype the same information repeatedly.

There’s also a summary function, which automatically tallies total airtime, total flights and total flying days. It will keep track of highest flight, longest flight and calculate your average flight time. You can even apply filters to these equations to get highest flights at a specific launch, for example, or chart your total flying time during a specific time period (say, during a 10-day trip to Mexico!).

The Nomad Flight Log also lets you add long journal-type text notes. What’s more, you can link digital photos and other computer files to your log entries.

The photo linkage is nice, but the file linkage option proved to be a surprise bonus—I couldn’t imaging needing this, until it dawned on me that I could link any file to the log. When I travel to new sites, I can grab detailed descriptions about the flying site from online resources, save the web pages as PDF files, then link them to the logbook. Or, I soon realized, I could save myself more time and simply link a URL address to the log entry! That way, every time I revisit the logbook, I can instantly remind myself about the specific details of the site.

Best of all Nomad Flight Log is free!

(Though, folks who use the product are encouraged to make a small donation to the developer to help cover his costs, and to encourage him to keep improving—if he can!—on the product. )

The Nomad Flight Log is a Java application that runs on any platform for which Java 1.4 is available, including Windows, Unix, Linux and Apple. The Nomad Flight Log is not an applet; it is a standalone application that does not require a browser nor an Internet connection to run. Personally, I run Nomad on an Apple Powerbook G4 running OS X 10.2. I’ve also successfully run it on a 350Mhz iMac G3 and a 600Mhz iBook. The only problem I encountered was finding Java 1.4 for the Mac. Apple hasn’t completed the development of this latest version of Java, but there is a fully functioning beta version available at: http://developer.apple.com/ java/index.html Nomad Flight Log isn’t a glitzy, glamorous application. But is a powerful, if easy-to-use, workhorse that will keep track of all your flights for you.

For more information, or to download the application, visit: www.nomad.org/ flightlog/index.html

AeroVents.com Expands International Event Listings

Grapevine, TX—Pilots seeking details on international flying events should surf over to AeroVents.com. AeroVents.com provides detailed information about aviation events around the United States and recently expanded its listing of international events. This expansion was precipitated after AeroVents.com arranged with Shephard’s and the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) to list their events on the site.

John Zapp, owner of AeroVents.com, was very enthusiastic about the change.

He noted, “It opens up an entirely new spectrum of events and a broader region.

The site has undergone changes to allow easier access to the worldwide events.”

The stated mission of AeroVents.com is to “spread the word about events to the aviation enthusiast and professional, as well as to the general public.” The mission has reached worldwide proportions.

AeroVents.com is based in Grapevine, Texas.

The company specializes in computer information solutions for aviation related companies. For additional information visit AeroVents.com or call (817) 571-5987.

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P I LOT B R I E F I N G S The Best Of Peruvian Paragliding Sites: A Mini Guide

By Jeff Cristol Peru is a diverse country spanning three distinct zones; the jungle, the coast and the Andean mountain range.

The jungle is wet and openings rare in the thick forest canopy, making paragliding difficult and problematic.

The Southern two thirds of the coast is empty desert stretching into Chile. Pilots can fly endless sites.

Accumulating airtime is simple. The best season here is the Southern Hemisphere’s summer. During Peru’s “winter” an overcast haze inundates the coast, and must dissipate before the on-shore breeze comes in. Still, flying is good most days year round, and of course the ocean from the air at sunset is always beautiful. However, when the days begin to run together, coastal soaring becomes routine, and the flying less captivating, a higher realm of paragliding calls. It is time to head inland to the mountains.

The third geographic zone is part of one of the world’s great mountain ranges, the Andes. This is the heart of Peru; fertile valleys and steep hillsides terraced into cultivated parches since before the time of the Incas.

Campesinos (country folk) still speak Quechua, dress in traditional handwoven clothes and live an agrarian lifestyle barely changed through the centuries. As special as the landscape and culture, the flying is magnificent.

Three high elevation areas stand out as the best paragliding destinations.

Chupuro is six hours from Lima, near the city of Huancayo. Switchbacks above the small town lead to the main launch, above 13,000 feet MSL. The summit is rocky and harder to reach at 14,600 feet MSL.

P I LOT B R I E F I N G S Apco unveils new flagship wing

The Pre-Incan ruins of Sondor sit atop a ridge looking out at the high mountains cradling Machu Pichu.

This site is magic. Thermals rise from the valley thousands of feet below. The bowl of terraced fields holds countless landing zones.

Sondor is an hour combi (mini bus taxi) ride from Andahuaylas. Several other sites and potential for more surround this valley.

The king has an heir. Apco’s leading performance wing, Simba, has given birth to a daughter: KEARA (see Disney’s The Lion King for the name references).

The KEARA is Apco’s new high performance flagship wing. It has inherited all Simba’s virtues and incorporates more of her own, which makes her faster, more powerful and better performing. She is a true successor to the crown. During the process of creating the new wing, Apco developers paid special attention to a few parameters which are usually left unperfected:

The Sacred Valley of the Urubamba is the “big air” site of Peru. Downstream from the famous lost Incan City of Machu Pichu, Urubamba is a quiet rural town only slightly impacted by the tourism of nearby Cuzco. On one visit during the “wet” season (OctMay) almost everyday was flyable, with very strong conditions and daily overdevelopment. Of course, in the high mountains bad weather can come at any time of year.

• Improving Performance (L/D) on accelerated flight. We made sure that KEARA’s top speed and accelerated L/D were significantly improved over any other glider we ever built.

The best-known launch is off the radio tower spiked hill. Though there are other good launches in the area, this peak consistently produces very strong thermals. Pilots should exercise extreme caution flying here. Cloud base often tops twenty thousand feet, making cross-country fl ights easy. Use good judgment and land before over development makes flying and landing dangerous.

• Improved stability, especially on higher speeds.

• Profile definition through all the speed range.

We are proud that we were fully able to achieve our goals and KEARA is now fully certified and in production.

The Standard leading edge intakes on a paraglider are placed on the stagnation point of the profile at trim speed. This ensures maximum internal pressure of the canopy for this angle of attack.

An evolution of our timeproven Bagheera and Simba designs, KEARA boasts refined handling and exceptional thermal capacity, enhanced by the small trimmers which reduce trim speed for efficient thermaling.

Our aim was to make the wing reasonable and sensible for all pilots who want pure performance and need to have reassuring safety with pilot friendly behavior (in short, a glider that in general would fit DHV 2 / CEN AFNOR Performance Class requirements).

For full production information, sizes and color availability, visit: www.apcoaviation.com

Why Books?

Local pilots Franz Schilter and his wife Petit-Pois own an exceptional hotel in Urubamba. When time allows, Franz guides advanced pilots to the local flying. Contact them at Sol-luna@terra.com.pe

1. They don’t use power and are cheap to operate in California.

2. They’re portable.

3. They don’t need a hard drive.

4. They go straight to the point.

5. They guide you long after you leave your instructor.

Jeff Cristol is a T3 pilot from Telluride Colorado. He has been a world traveler, skier, climber and pilot for most of his life, and is currently exploring flying sites in Southern India. Contact him at cristol8750@hotmail.com

By Dennis Pagen:

Chupuro is a purely thermal site. June is the beginning of the flying season with good weather, light lift and low cloudbase. The Peruvian Nationals, previously held in August, were changed to July because conditions were too strong for most visiting coastal pilots. Huaycha, a nearby evening glass off site with excellent launch and landing, compliments Chupuro perfectly.

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KEARA offers an industry first, revolutionary FLEXON (pat. pending) batten technology—the world’s first semi-rigid L/E —which is a key element in shaping the L/E and insuring the optimal profile at the highest possible speed.

• Hang Gliding Training Manual (Hang 1 to 3) - $29.95 • Performance Flying (Hang 3 to 5) - $29.95 More flying books • Towing Aloft - $29.95 (also by B. Bryden) and videos at • Understanding the Sky - $24.95

www.lazerlink.com/~pagenbks

Shipping:

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Order of up to $25: $4.50 Order of $25 to $50: $5.50 Order of $50 to $100: $7.00 Contact us for larger orders

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

E-mail subject line: Book /video order Box 43, Spring Mills, PA 16875 - USA SPORT AVIATION PO Tel/Fax: 814-422-0589 pagenbks@lazerlink.com PUBLICATIONS E-mail: We accept credit cards.

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CALENDAR Calendar of events items WILL 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 meets.

COMPETITION

APRIL 12-18, 2003 2003 Flytec Championship at Quest Air Purpose: to have a safe, fun and fair competition. Our focus is to have a relaxing and affordable meet that is a great time for everyone involved.

Date: April 12 (Saturday) - 18 (Friday), 2003. Just after Sun-NFun Air Expo.

Sanction: USHGA Class A and CIVL/WPRS points meet. Flex, Rigid and Swift class.

Location: Quest Air Soaring Center, 6548 Groveland Airport Road, Groveland, Florida, 34736.

Registration: Begins December 15. 2002. Limit 90 competitors.

Entry fee: $300 (add $50 After March 12) To Enter: Online at www.flytec.com Meet Organizer: Steve Kroop and the Quest Air Family Meet Director: David Glover Safety Director: Russell Brown Score Keeper: Tim Meaney Awards and Prizes: $5000 minimum, fairly distributed.

Mandatory Pilot Briefing: 5:21pm - Friday, April 11, 2003.

Other info: Pilots wishing to enter must have flown in a USHGA aerotow competition previously or have prior meet or safety director approval. Pilots must have USHGA advanced rating (or foreign equivalent) with aerotow and turbulence, cross country sign-offs. Intermediated rated pilots (with fore mentioned special skills) will be allowed with prior Meet Director approval. Foreign Pilots will be required to have USHGA 90 day competition membership (available on site at time of contest).

Approved Garmin GPS units are required. Meet format is cross country race to goal with or without turnpoints. Scoring will be GAP/GAP modified.

APRIL 20-26, 2003 The Annual Wallaby Open International Hang Gliding competition, at world-famous Wallaby Ranch. As in previous years, this is a USHGA-sanctioned Class A, CIVL Category 2 competition.

Location: Wallaby Ranch, 1805 Dean Still Road, Davenport, FL 33897. Tel: 1-800-WALLABY (US & Canada) or 863.424.0700 Number of Pilots: 90-120 pilots Competition Entry Requirements: USHGA Membership, USHGA Advanced Pilot rating (or foreign equivalent) with Aerotow sign-off Glider/Equipment Entry Requirements: Class 1 and Class 2 hang gliders. GPS receivers are required for flight documentation.

Entry Fee: $400, 50% deposit required at registration Registration: December 15, 2002, through April 20, 2003 Meet Format: Cross-country race to goal with or without turnpoints Rules: 2002 USHGA Competition Rulebook and the 2003 Wallaby Open Rulebook Scoring: GAP Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

Meet Organizers: Malcolm Jones and Laurie Croft Meet Director: J.C. Brown Safety Director: Malcolm Jones Scorekeeper: Peter Gray USHGA Meet Stewards: Jim Zeiset and J.C. Brown Awards and Prizes: A minimum of $5,000 prize money will be distributed fairly between the classes.

Mandatory Pilot Briefing: April 19, 7:30 PM at meet headquarters.

Rest Days and Contingency Plans: No official rest days are planned. No official practice days are planned. There are no rain, weather or contingency plans to extend or postpone the competition Wallaby Open, April 20-26, 2003. Info to follow.

APRIL 5-13 2003 USHGA Sanctioned Florida XC Competition This “first-ever” cross-country paragliding competition via stationary winch tow promises to be an opportunity not to miss. The events run during the week of April 5-13. Quest Air, Flytec and Super Fly are teaming up to offer paraglider pilots the chance to exploit the conditions and hospitality that make Florida a world class destination for cross country competition.

COMPETITORS: please send an email confirming your participation to: chris@4superfly.com STATIONARY WINCH OWNERS: please plan on delivering your winch to Quest Air a few days in advance of the competition PILOTS: if you are not quite a competition pilot, but are interested in participating, then we have some spots for you VOLUNTEERS: we need you DETAILS: scoring by Grey/ Brown racing. Visit www.questair.com for maps and lodging information

MAY 5-10, 2003 The Chelan Speed Gliding Championships/USHGA Speed Gliding Nationals. Entry fee $100. Sport Class also available, entry fee $35. For more details, contact: Steve Alford (425) 788-0308 airczr@hotmail.com, or Aaron Swepston tontar@mindspring.com

may 31 - JUNE 1, 2003 The “Rat Race” at Woodrat Mountain in Southern Oregon. Prizes such as flight suits for the winners, but no cash prizes. The Rat Race is a USHGA Class B sanctioned competition, which means no National Team Selection System points. The Rat Race will include things not typically found in larger competitions, such as a seminar on GPS use beforehand and a pilot debriefing session in the evening by experienced XC pilots. For more information visit: www.cascadeparaglidingclub.org/ratrace.html

JUNE 7-14, 2003 2003 Midwest Regional Hang Gliding Competition at Raven Sky Sports. Purpose: to have a safe, fun and fair competition.

Our focus is to have a relaxing and affordable meet that is a great time for everyone involve. Potentially an 8-day meet, weather permitting.

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C A L E N D A R Sanction*: USHGA Class B and CIVL / NTSS points *(sanctioning pending at press time). Flex, Rigid, and Swift class.

Location: Raven Sky Sports Flight Park at Twin Oaks Airport.

N463 County Road N, Whitewater, Wisconsin 53190.

Facility: World’s first dedicated aerotow flight park. 4 Dragonfly tow planes are planned for this event. Additional aerotow vehicles may be added. We have 3 grass runways for launches in up to 6 possible directions. Days are 15 hours long with sunset around 8:30pm in June.

Meet format: cross-country race to goal with or without turnpoints.

Rules: 2002/2003 USHGA Competition Rulebook, latest edition.

Registration: Begins March 12, 2003 *(pending). Limit ~30-40 competitors (to be determined).

Entry Fee: $300, 50% deposit required to validate registration (add $50 after May 7).

To Enter: email: comp@hanggliding.com or by phone: (262) 473-8800 or by fax: (262) 473-8801.

Meet Organizer: Brad Kushner and Team Raven Meet Director: David Glover Safety Director: Bob Linebaugh Score Keeper: To be determined.

Awards and Prizes: To be determined. Minimum will equal (# of contestants) times ($50), fairly distributed.

Mandatory Pilot Briefing: 5:15 pm - Friday, June 6, 2003.

Contingency Plans: No official rest days are planned. The meet will be up to 8 days in length, weather permitting. Sunday, June 15 will be a contingency day, to be added in the event that flight tasks are cancelled by the meet director on 4 or more days due to weather or other causes.

Other info: Welcome to our first-ever Regional / Points Meet, we aim to make it great. Volunteers will be greatly appreciated. USHGA Class B sanctioning was pending at press time, but we’re optimistic. Applications will be accepted in the order received until capacity is reached. Pilots who have not competed before must have approval of meet organizer, meet director and/or safety director. Prior experience in a USHGA aerotow competition is helpful, but not required.

Pilots must have current USHGA Advanced ratings (or foreign equivalent) with aerotow and turbulence signoffs. Additional signoffs for restricted landing field and cross-country will be weighed favorably. Intermediate rated pilots (with appropriate experience and skills) may be allowed at the discretion of the meet director. Foreign pilots will be required to have USHGA 90-day competition membership (available on site at time of contest). Approved Garmin GPS units may be required (to be determined). Aerotows for recreational flying and tandem lessons will be available every day, but will shut down (in favor of the competitors’ needs) during the competition launch window.

JUNE 20-22, 2003 Wild Wild West Regionals Region 2 Championships, Carson City NV. Race to goal in the Sierras or out to the Nevada desert with friends and competitors. T- shirts, silver belt buckle trophies and party, all for $125 or pre register for $100 by May 1st, H2s to H5s welcome. Adventure Sports, Box 20066, Carson City, NV 89721.

(775) 883 -7070 http://www.pyramid.net/advspts e-mail advspts@pyramid.net 14

C A L E N D A R FUN FLYING

APRIL 4-6, 2003

JUNE 30 - JULY 6 Chelan XC Classic - The USHGA Class A sanctioned 2003 Chelan XC Classic is to be held in Chelan, Washington. The contest dates are June 30 through July 6, 2003. Registration is available on line, by phone, or on site until 8:00 AM June 30. There are no rain dates, and practice days are open any time prior to the beginning of the meet. Chelan is a 4,100’ MSL foot launch site with many landing areas. Competitors must hold a current USHGA intermediate rating or above, or a comparable foreign rating accompanied by a temporary USHGA membership.

There are multiple classes with trophies for the winners. Site information and registration is on line at www.cloudbase.org and click on 2003 Classic. Phone registration is available through Steven Alford at 425-788-0308. Registration is also available in Chelan starting June 28 at meet headquarters (across from the Chelan city park). Sign out front. Pilots meeting will be at 8: 00AM, June 30,2003 in Lakeside Park, Chelan, Washington. Site phone number is (425) 445-0730.

JULY 27-AUGUST 1, 2003 CLASS 1, 2 & 5 HG X-C MEETS: US Nationals, Big Spring, Texas Purpose: to have a safe, fun and fair competition. Our focus is to have a relaxing and affordable meet that is a great time for everyone involved.

Sanction: USHGA Class A and CIVL/WPRS points meet. Flex, Rigid and Swift class.

Location: Big Spring Airport, Big Spring Texas.

Registration: Begins the 15th day of this month. 2002. Limit 75 competitors.

Entry fee: $250 (add $100 After June 1st), Tow fee separate and must be paid prior to the beginning of the meet.

To Enter: Online at www.flytec.com Meet Organizer & Director: David Glover Safety Director: Russell Brown Score Keeper: Tim Meaney Mandatory Pilot Briefing: 5:30pm - Saturday, July 26, 2003.

Other info: Pilots wishing to enter must have flown in a USHGA aerotow competition previously or have prior meet director approval. Pilots must have USHGA intermediate. rating (or foreign equivalent) with aerotow, turbulence and cross country sign-offs. Foreign Pilots will be required to have USHGA 90 day competition membership (available on site at time of contest).

Approved Garmin GPS units are required. Meet format is cross country race to goal with or without turnpoints. Scoring will be GAP/GAP modified.

Until Dec. 31, 2003 The Michael Champlin World X-C Challenge. No entry fees or pre-registration requirements. Open to paragliders, hang gliders, rigid wings and sailplanes. For more details visit the contest’s Web site at http://www.hanggliding.org or contact: John Scott (310) 447-6234, fax (310) 447-6237, brettonwoods@email.msn.com.

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Wills Wing Demos and Pre-Comp Fun Fly In at the Florida Ridge Flight Park near Miami Florida. Prizes, BBQs and lots of flying! For more information contact James Tindle at Miami Hang Gliding (305) 285-8978, or the Florida Ridge Flight Park (863) 805-0440 or see www.willswing.com

APRIL 12-13, 2003 The Oregon Hang Gliding Association invites you to Participate in the 2003 Oceanside Open Fly In, to be held in Beautiful Oceanside Oregon on *Saturday, April 12th., and Sunday, April 13th., 2003*. This event is for Hang Gliders and Paragliders.

Contact the Flight Director Dave Scott at dave@ohga.org for details

APRIL 26-27, 2003 First-In-A-Really-Long-Time Boise Fun Fly-In, Boise, Idaho.

Lots of fun hang gliding and paragliding to be had. Most likely site will be Pickles Butte, a fun and friendly site with everything from smooth ridge soaring to 100+ mile XC flights with nice launch and tons of big, flat landing areas. Fun prizes, friendly competition, free camping, BBQ with vintage video (Region 5 Series) and slides from Region 5 (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska mostly...bring yours to share) in the 1970’s and 1980’s. See what your friends looked like when they were young! No entry fee (free!) For area flying info. Contact Kevin Frost: kevinfrost@cableone.net For camping / lodging or other info. contact Lisa Tate: lisa@soaringdreamsart.com or zoolisa@aol.com

MAY 3-4, 2003 Annual Miller Canyon Fly-In, southern Arizona. For over 20 years, every May, pilots have convened atop one of the southwest’s most beautiful flying sites. Miller Canyon, in the 9,500 ft Huachuca Mountains of Southern Arizona offers three, 7,600 ft launches (NE, E, SE), camping under the pines, big thermals, high altitudes and great XC across the historic southwest. Hang glider and paraglider pilots are both welcomed by the Southern AZ HG Assn. for their annual fun fly-in and XC contest, May 3-4, 2003. Novice pilots will need a sponsor and can get off early, but this can very quickly become an advanced mountain site, so H3/P3 with mountain, thermal and a bunch of sign-offs are recommended. Visit www.SAHGA.com and look under “events”.

MAY 15 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2003: 2003 Dragonfly Cup at Cloud 9 Field in Michigan.

Purpose: A fun-fly meet to benefit the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club.

Prizes: Over $6000 in prizes for top finishers in five task categories.

Entry Fee: $10 or $20, depending upon task(s) declared.

Sponsors: The DFSC, Wills Wing, Moyes, Flytec, High Energy, AV8/Icaro, and Cloud 9 Sport Aviation.

Meet Directors: Tracy Tillman and Lisa Colletti Meet format: Four tasks via aerotow. $20 entry per declared comp fl ight plus tow fee, select two of the following tasksHang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

-Race, Distance, Duration, Spot Landing. One hill task, $10 entry per declared comp fl ight--Glide Ratio (also open to non-towing student pilots and paragliders.) A competitor can enter as many times as they like throughout the meet.

Handicap: For the aerotowing tasks, the tow height limit is 1500 feet AGL for rigid wings, 2500 feet for topless flex wings, 3500 feet for kingposted double-surface flex wings, and 4500 feet for kingposted single-surface flex wings.

Rules: Must follow all standard DFSC operating rules and procedures, as well as specific rules for the Dragonfly Cup. (GPS required for Race and Distance tasks.)

Must have fun, learn something, and not get your undies in a bunch.

Comp Parties: Weekends of Memorial Day, July 4, August 1, and Labor Day (Grand Finale).

Location: Cloud 9 Field, 11088 Coon Lake Rd. W., Webberville, MI 48892.

Contact: Tracy Tillman, DFSCinc@aol.com or (517) 223-8683.

Contact us before you come.

Website: http://members.aol.com/DFSCinc/

May 16-19, 2003 Hang Gliding Spectacular and Kitty Hawk Air Games.

Pilots from all over will compete on the dunes of Jockey’s Ridge and at the Kitty Hawk Kites Flight Park for great trophies and prizes. Check out all the details at our new site: www.hangglidingspectacular.com.

For more information contact Bruce Weaver at bruce@kittyhawk.com or call (252) 441-2426.

MAY 17-18, 2003 Mother Lode Sky Riders invite all pilots to participate in their annual Coyote Howl Fly-In at beautiful Lake McClure, CA in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. Two-day fun competition: speed run, pylon course, duration, spot landing, cross country. Prizes will be awarded. $35.00 entry fee includes mug and bumper sticker while supplies last. T-shirts will be sold also while supplies last.

Campsites are available at Horseshoe Bend Recreation Area (fee required). Contact: Brian Erickson (209) 838-3994.

MAY 23-26, 2003 Demo Days, an annual event where pilots from around the country come to the Point of the Mountain, Utah to try out the latest in equipment. Contact: The Cloud 9 Soaring Center (801) 576-6460, or email info@paragliders.com, www.paragliders.com

MAY 24-26, 2003 Starthistle 2003. Come join us for RVHPA’s 27th Annual Hang Gliding/Paragliding Fly-in. The fly-in will held at Woodrat Mountain in Ruch, Oregon. We will be having friendly competition, prizes, raffle and BBQ on Saturday night. For more details visit our web-site at RVHGA.org or contact Karl Blust at (541) 245-1421, email kblust@hotmail.com

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C A L E N D A R

MAY 24-26, 2003 23rd Annual Memorial Day Dry Canyon Fly-in, Alamogordo NM. $25.00 entry includes: Awards Dinner, and party (free beer), prizes, and some great flying with a bunch of good people.

Competition offered: Race to Goal, Duration, Spot Landing, XC and Bomb Drop. May is rock and roll time at Dry Canyon, so be prepared to rock. Stay in touch with our web site for any changes and rating requirements. T-Shirts & other apparel will be available. This event is sponsored by: Rio Grande Soaring Assoc. For more information contact: Tom or Cindy West at (505) 437-5213 or e-mail us at cindy1112@charter.net or tommy716@charter.net Hope to see you all here. www.riograndesoaring.org

MAY 24-26, 2003 Spring Fling at King (King Mountain, Idaho) Cash prizes for paragliding and hang gliding XC, duration, racing, and additional events for everyone include a pig roast.

Over $800 awarded last year to winners. Visit our web site http://www.geocities.com/kingmtngliders/ for complete details or attend first pilots meeting May 24, 0700 at the King Mountain Gliders Store. Call (208) 390-0205 or e-mail goxc@kingmountaingliders.com

JUNE 7-8, 2003: Antique Hang Glider Fly-In, Cape Kiwanda, Oregon. Dust off the old diver and join us at the historic Cape Kiwanda dune on the Oregon coast! Ancient and modern wings take to the sky together for a fun flying weekend at the beach. Don’t have an old one? Bring what you have! We’ll have some old swingseat Seagulls to play with: Firefly, Super Lancers, Chandelle, a bowsprit Antares, a big Alpha, and who-knows-what else! See if you can identify the “mystery glider”...nobody else has!

Saturday night there’s a potluck barbecue on the beach, and there will be cool T-shirts for sale. Bring your friends and family, and plenty of film for the camera. http:// danimal.ats.orst.edu/antiqueflyin.html (info page) http://community.webshots.com/user/forbesmarkg (pictures)

JUNE 13-22, 2003 Phil Smith of Midnight Sun Paragliding LLC and Super Fly are teaming up to host the “Ten Days of Solstice” Fly-In on June 13-22 in Girdwood, Alaska. Fly-In events include introductory sessions on powered paragliding, towing, thermaling and XC. There will be various paragliders and kites available to demo.

Chris Santacroce and Enleau O’Connor will also offer a 3-day over-the-water safety training course along with their usual aerobatics demonstrations between spectacular views of Mt Denali and the Chugach mountains. To pre-register for the event or to see a more comprehensive schedule of events, visit www.midnightsunparagliding.com or contact Phil Smith at (907) 522-1242, flydawg@gci.net

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C A L E N D A R

AUGUST 30 - Sept. 1, 2003 Brad Koji Memorial Fly-In, North Park, Colorado Details at www.rmhga.org CLINICS, MEETING, TOURS

MONDAYS: Torrey Pines Gliderport paragliding talk show on Internet radio, broadcast live on wsRadio.com, Mondays from 8:00 to 10:00 AM (PST). Hosted by Gabriel and David Jebb, open to a worldwide audience. Call in toll-free at 1-800-327-0061 (U.S. and Canada) or 1-760-476-4111 for the world audience.

Surf to www.wsRadio.com and click under the live section.

Contact: David Jebb, Director of Operations, 2800 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive, San Diego, CA 92037, (858) 452-ZULU (9858), www.flytorrey.com.

MARCH 31 - APRIL 4, 2003: Wallaby/Wills Wing/USHGA/ Instructor’s Certification Program, Instructor Recertification, and Tandem Instructor Certification with Fly High’s Paul Voight, and High Perspective’s Mike Robertson. For more information see www.willswing.com (714) 998-6359 or www.wallaby.com (863) 424-0070

APRIL 26 - 27, 2003 Rocky Mountain Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, 28th Annual Parachute Clinic with Betty Pfeiffer, Bill Gargano, and Mark Windsheimer in Golden, Colorado. Details at www.rmhga.org

MAY 2003 Mid-Atlantic Airsports – Turkey SIV/XC. This will be a 14-day tour, integral to which is a 6-day maneuvers/SIV course with Jockey Sanderson (Security in Flight), one of the best SIV/XC instructors there is. We will visit different flying sites around the area, whilst establishing a base at the famous resort of Olu Deniz, at the foot of the awesome mountain of Baba Dag. This provides us with a 6000ft vertical playground to establish maneuvers and go XC. The main LZ is a mile strip of beach right next to the aquamarine waters of the Mediterranean Olu Deniz has rapidly built a reputation as THE international destination for SIV. We will travel to and experience local areas of historical interest. You can be sure you will achieve and experience so much useful paragliding information; you will leave feeling like a new and confident pilot, equipped with the knowledge and practical skills to reach for new paragliding horizons. Dates for this trip are: May 13th – May 27th, 2003. Other dates are available. We provide a flight from London, England to Turkey, as well as ALL transfers, retrieves, hotel accommodations, breakfasts and as much flying as you can handle, so all you need to do is arrange your international flight from the USA to UK, and leave the rest to us! Please feel free to contact us at any time should you have questions or issues relating to this information, or go to http://midatlanticairsports.com/turkey.html.

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

COST: $2200 for 14 days. A booking deposit will be required, so $350 is needed to reserve your flight and position on this tour.

We accept all major credit cards.

May 20-21, 2003 Parachute clinic with Betty Pfeiffer at Kitty Hawk Kites, Nags Head, NC directly after the 2003 Hang Gliding Spectacular (May 16-19). Tuesday’s clinic (May 20) will be geared toward pilots learning about parachutes and deployment. Wednesday’s clinic (May 21) will be tied in with an Instructor Certification Program and will be geared toward instructors teaching pilots about parachutes and deployment. The ICP will be held at Kitty Hawk Kites, May 20-22. Contact: bruce@kittyhawk.com, (252) 441-2426, or www.hangglidingspectacular.com/eventinfo.html for more details.

JUNE 2003 Mid-Atlantic Airsports – France, Switzerland and Italy. Fly the awesome Northern French Alps and surrounding areas. Visit the mecca and birthplace of paragliding, and fly the Aiguille du Midi – 9300ft top to bottom amidst the very hearts of the mountains.

Annecy, Chamonix, Verbier, St. Hilaire and many other superb flying sites. Course and guiding to match all needs. 1 week/2 week tours – we can take you from start to finish or just use our day guiding service. We know where to go and how to get you there cost effectively. Serious flying and lots of fun assured. A great way to experience the Alps and avoid the pitfalls. All transport, retrieves, airport transfers included in price. We have a select choice of accommodation. Please see prices and itinerary at http://midatlanticairsports.com/france.html.

JUNE-JULY, 2003 Touch the Andes. Guided paragliding tours to the Central Andes of Peru. Join Jeff Cristol as he returns to fly spectacular highland sites, visits Incan ruins and explores the colorful Peruvian culture. Contact: cristol8750@hotmail.com.

THROUGH SEPTEMBER, 2003 Jackson Hole Paragliding, WY schedule of events: Through April: Guide Service/Instruction/Tandem Paragliding at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Grand Targhee Ski and Summer Resort. Bring your skis and your wing and you will not be disappointed! May: The Jackson Hole Paragliding Team is teaming with Graybird Airsports in Sunny Florida to offer Towing, Instruction, Maneuvers Training, XC Flying, and Paramotoring. Pilots of all ability levels are welcome to participate. Three day SIV courses, May 2-4, May 8-10, May 15-17. May XC Competition at Quest Air. June-July-August: The absolute best in Alpine Flying! Meet every morning at 7:50am at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Aerial Tram. Meet in the afternoon for towing sessions, and for incredible glass-off flying!

JHPG Aero-Fest, July 2-6: Come and Celebrate the 4th of July!

Fireworks, fun events, BBQ, and demonstrations by top pilots.

July- JHPG is happy to announce that Enleau O’Conner will be conducting SIV Clinics at the Palisades Reservoir. June 13-15 Tandem (T-2 T-3) June 20-22 ITP Contact: www.jhparagliding.com or scharris@wyoming.com 307 690-8726 (TRAM)

nov.-dec.-jan. 2003-4: Mid Atlantic Airsports – Spain and the Canary Islands.

Get away and out of the wet and wintry weather to some of the most beautiful and consistent flying in Europe. Go somewhere different AND at a low cost. Visit Algodonales and the Sierra Nevada on the mainland of Spain, then fly to the mystic island of Tenerife for paragliding and experience new scuba diving in a very informal and fun atmosphere.

Beautiful launches and beautiful people who know why they fly. No crowds, no hassles, we just try and fly as far as we can. All fl ights and transfers arranged for you in Spain, as is all transportation, accommodation and guiding.

2 weeks for $1500/ 1 week for $800. http://midatlanticairsports.com/trips.html

June 1-July 31, 2003 Austin Air Sports is hosting their 2nd annual LSXC expedition in Edinburg, TX. Come join us for some excellent XC flying and attempt a personal best or world record. This location is perfect to include the family with a fun Mexican border town 30 minutes away and the beautiful beaches of South Padre an hour away. You can find more details and register on-line at www.austinairsports.com.

LAST CALL FOR 2004 CALENDAR PHOTOS THE APRIL 30th DEADLINE IS ALMOST HERE! And we need your help. The USHGA Hang Gliding Calendar & Paragliding Calendar relies heavily on our esteemed membership for photo contributions to these wonderful projects. If you have some spectacular photography, send it to us and send it today! Launching, landing, set-up, breakdown, truck/aero/boat/dogsled towing, whatever. IF THERE IS A HANG GLIDER OR PARAGLIDER IN THE PHOTO-WE WANT TO SEE IT ! Imagine your mug/glider/site being immortalized for all the world to admire. Deadline is April 30th!

Send your photography (horizontal slides preferred, at this time, we are not accepting digital photos because of resolution problems with a 10”x13” print) to: USHGA Calendar, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. All photography will be treated with the utmost respect and properly returned. Don’t delay-send ‘em today! If you should have any questions, please call Jeff Elgart at (719) 632-8300 or email jeff@ushga.org

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

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s a kid I loved being towed: by a boat on the lake while water skiing or by bicycle on a side street, with me on a skateboard. We had a blast, and then whenever it was our turn to do the towing, we would do everything we could to throw the others off the towline. That kind of fun, while great, fails to match—or come close— to the thrills of aerotowing on a hang glider. Getting pulled into the sky by an ultralight sets a new, lofty standard for towing fun! And, like the kids of old, the ultralight pilots do their best to throw you off the towline—but only after you give them a nod. Then you better hang on, man!

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

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As a dedicated and enthusiastic paragliding pilot and instructor, I’ll be the first to tell you aerotowing hang gliding is an experience that shouldn’t be missed. Beg or borrow to get the time and money to head to an aerotow flight park for what has to be the most efficient —and most fun—way to train on a hang glider . If you go to Florida, you can take your whole family and get them the “E ticket” for Disneyland, which is just a few minutes away from either Quest or Wallaby. You can even catch up with your family at Disneyland while you take a break and wait out the stronger midday conditions. And the conditions do get strong. We’re talking a huge roller coaster that skies out 5,000 feet above the ground and literally glides

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STRUCTURED LEARNING you around the clouds. My friend and fellow paragliding instructor, Scott Harris, and I experienced aerotowing for the fi rst time last fall. We experienced some of the big air and found that while the thrills were huge, we didn’t feel like we were on the brink of destroying ourselves – fantasy fun comes alive all within “safe” boundaries set by the experienced instructors of the big fl ight parks.

Scott and I couldn’t get the grins off our faces after every one of our fl ights. At the end of the day we’d obsess on our experiences until late at night – oh, to be “new” again. I had 40 fl ights in 6 days while Scott got 35. We both completed our Novice Ratings with an Aerotow sign-off. We were generally towed to around 2500 feet AGL – these were BIG fl ights, probably 25 minutes each.

Scott and I are long time paragliding junkies, always flying and never enough.

Taking this training made perfect sense to us as we were both going to be at the USHGA board meeting a short distance from Quest. We both feel that it’s a great idea, as teachers, to experience what it’s like to be “new” again and this training expanded our concepts of what this aviation stuff requires. Scott had done a day’s worth of running in the sand at Kitty Hawk with a hang glider a couple of years earlier. The Cage, which I flew for a few years, is similar in handling to a

hang glider and a motorized trike, which I’ve trained on for more than seven hours, lends some context – but we were basically both new to this activity.

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I had my 7000th paragliding flight two days before heading down to Quest and Scott had over 3200 paragliding flights— with all of our flights ending injury free.

We’ve done all sorts of hugely fun things on paragliders, so who would of thought we could be so “wowed” by hang gliders? The key element to our adventure was the brilliant training.

We didn’t have to pause and consider whether or not our instructors knew what they were doing. We just let them do their job and every step of the process made sense and prepared us for the next level. I can’t imagine trying to learn any type of aviation, let alone aerotowing, without such type of thorough guidance. Bob Lane, the manager of Quest, and Paris Williams, world-class hang gliding competitor, worked us through the ropes with discipline and teaching mastery. Rich Cizauskas, from Salt Lake, filled in with us here and there and he was just as talented at keeping us on the leading edge of our learning curve.

Heck, the whole staff was excited to give us pointers and coaching. It was truly a vibrant and professional operation.

at any time. The pre-flight, the hangcheck, the launch, the positioning behind the tow plane, the release, the landing and all the other little details, though, were handle by us, the students, unless we needed help.

pitch ups. Just like being towed on a water ski, you have to anticipate and keep from getting out of position, but this is 3 dimensional. They call this “chase the ace”, which is a perfect name.

The first solo is easier than the tandems, just as our teachers predicted. The solo glider handles like a dream in comparison and we were prepared to handle a wide variety of possibilities.

Paris says, “Learn to avoid mistakes and train to be prepared for them.” Paris grilled me over and over and it truly paid off when my weak link broke just coming off the cart all of 10 feet in the air. I pulled in quickly and then pushed out for a sweet landing. It could have gone poorly and ruined my day. When things happen quickly you want your skills to be reactive, body memory needs to take over; Paris and the team prepared me well! My first solo spot landing was literally on the cone, but I must say that loads of paragliding spot-landings had to have helped prepare me for this. It might even be easier to spot land a hang glider as they have a wider speed range than a paraglider; you can speed up much easier.

As I got going in the training, I found that it’s really counter-intuitive banking up by pushing up on the hang glider, but not that tough when all’s going just peachy. It wasn’t all peachy, though— our instructors saw to that, as they would keep throwing us into fast-action situations. Before we knew it, we were near lockout, in the tug’s prop wash or even released unexpectedly from tow.

You had to really mind the store or find yourself getting an over-ride control

When I went over to Wallaby Ranch, Malcolm Jones, the owner, and Rob Kells, the owner of Wills Wing, coached me through using a drop away cart and standup landings. Scott spent time at Wallaby as well and just loved the careful attention he got from Malcolm.

from the instructor, always a little embarrassing but at least they were there to get it all back together. We’d make mistakes, and the guys grilled us over them, but they made sure we knew that we were loved; “It’s back in the simulator for you!”

One of the real beauties of learning as we did is that aerotowing helps you get loads of airtime and practical in-flight training. We started out doing tandems: I had 22 before going for a solo flight.

On tandem, with our teachers above us, barely noticeable, we were quickly left alone to manage all aspects of the flight, while having a professional instructor instantly available for assistance if needed

It would seem that experienced hang glider pilots may look at the tow as simply a method to get airborne, but even Kari Castle says it’s still rip-roaring fun for her. Personally, it was the most intensely fun thing I’ve ever done. You learn loads of subtle methods to keep the hang glider following the ultralight. As you get more confident the ultralight pilot starts to make more turns, dives and April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Flights 39 and 40, my last two for the trip, were the best. With a sky half-full of sweet cumulous, we towed all around the clouds at about 2500 feet AGL. When I cut loose, at over 3500 feet AGL I was over the clouds by as much as 1000 feet and actually got an unforgettable view of my “glory” – your own shadow image on top of a cloud. The thermals were so easy to find and it was truly satisfying to bring it all together, coordinating turns and managing energy, coring back up 1000 feet and gliding around the sky to find another thermal. Scott and I both agree that we can’t wait to go back and fly more. Maybe we’ll get to aero-tow paragliders the next time we go.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

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PREVENTING SPINS IN RIGID-WING HANG GLIDERS

by Marcus Hoffmann- Guben

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uring the past season several cases of spins have been reported by pilots of rigid-wing hang gliders. It is time to reconsider how and why this phenomenon occurs.

NOT JUST A BEGINNER’S PROBLEM The tragic death of French competition pilot Serge Tastet in April of last year, after a spin on a Top Secret rigid-wing hang glider, was a sad demonstration of the fact that even experienced pilots are not necessarily immune to spins.

This led to an uproar among rigidwing pilots. (See “The Oz Report” at www.davisstraub.com/OZ/ for more details.)

Potential spinning problems in rigidwing hang gliders are not merely due to inadequate flying experience! Several other pilots have reported entering spins completely unexpectedly under “normal” flying conditions. The physical explanation for this is that usually the pilots in question do not recognize the point at which the airflow over the wing breaks off partially and the wing enters a stall, until it is too late. However, there are some trimming steps that can be taken to reduce the danger of spinning.

GOALS In order to develop effective strategies for the prevention of spins, it is initially necessary to recognize when, how and why spinning occurs.

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April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

The following points are meant to increase the awareness of rigid-wing pilots — first, to help them analyze their instinctive and conditioned responses learned from flying flex-wing hang gliders, and second, to help them change or adapt their reactions and responses accordingly. In addition, specific design details are highlighted which can result in an increased susceptibility to spinning in rigid-wing hang gliders.

It should be emphasized that I do not wish to create fears concerning spins in rigid-wing hang gliders, however, real problems should not be ignored.

SPINS A spin in a hang glider involves three phases: spin entry, the spin itself, and recovery.

E NTERING A SPIN A spin in a rigid-wing hang glider is induced when a pilot causes the airflow on one wing tip to break off (hence, stalling it) by pushing the control bar out too much while trying to tighten a turn.

From an aerodynamics standpoint, the onset of a spin is not related to airspeed; it is only a question of the angle of attack of the wing. However, as a reduction in airspeed is achieved through a change in the glider’s angle of attack, a spinning rigid wing is often associated with slow flying in practice.

THE SPIN While in a spin, the rotational speed, flight-path diameter and bank angle of the glider cannot be controlled with normal input. It is far more dependent on the mass distribution within the wing. In a spin, centrifugal forces are dominant and result in uncontrollable flight. This makes a spin in a rigid-wing hang glider particularly dangerous.

Larger rigid wings are initially more difficult to spin (they are less susceptible to spins in general), but after the onset of a spin they are extremely unpredictable and chaotic, and consequently very difficult to control.

Smaller rigid wings are generally easier to put into a spin (they are more susceptible to spins in general), but when spinning tend to behave more predictably.

RECOVERY In most cases it is possible to recover from a spin as long as there is sufficient altitude. To recover from a spin the pilot must increase airspeed by pulling in on the control bar, and then steer against the rotation. The amount of pull-in required in a rigid wing is far greater than that in a flex wing. You must pull in massively!

Recovering from a spin generally requires 50 to 80 meters (up to 250 feet) of altitude. If in doubt, throw your reserve immediately if you enter a spin close to the ground.

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FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE SPIN SUSCEPTIBILITY

Three of the main factors that influence spin susceptibility in a rigid-wing hang glider are wing twist, control bar position and center of gravity (trim).

Other factors, such as the distribution of lift across the wing, wing profile distribution, wing twist distribution and wing taper, are not considered here, but certainly influence the spin characteristics of a rigid wing in a very complex manner.

WING TWIST Wing twist is necessary in swept-back, rigid-wing designs to produce pitch stability, prevent tip stalling, and allow comfortable handling during turning flight. The wing tips are generally twisted up by five to seven degrees when compared to the root. If a critical angle of attack is exceeded, the twist (or washout) at the wing tips helps prevent the tips from stalling first and inducing a spin in turning flight. Wing twist helps prevent tip-stalling and reduces spin susceptibility in rigid-wing as well as flex-wing hang gliders.

Increased twist at the wing tips negatively influences L/D performance, especially when flying at high speeds, and this is usually the reason competition pilots try to tune their gliders to reduce twist. However, too little twist can dangerously affect the stall characteristics of a glider. For safety reasons, never reduce wing twist to a level below that required for the glider’s certification.

CONTROL BAR POSITION When surprised by unexpected turbulence, pilots generally respond automatically by adopting an ergonomic “alert position,” pulling the bar to a particular position where they feel ready to react quickly. Control bars that are mounted farther forward increase the static margin (longitudinal or pitch stability) of the glider when pilots go into this alert position, and reduce the danger of stalling a tip and entering a spin in turbulent air. If the designer of the glider has mounted the bar sufficiently far forward, unintended stalls and spins will be highly unlikely due to restricted arm length.

CENTER OF GRAVITY AND TRIM E FFECTS Flex-wing hang gliders are usually 24

trimmed to fly too slowly in order to enhance comfort and handling when thermaling. Although this is not too critical with a flex wing, this is not the case with a rigid wing. Rigid wings should not be trimmed like flex wings!

The main danger from the positive pitching moment induced by spoilers is encountered when thermaling slowly (just above the stall speed of the glider), and then trying to core the thermal more effectively by activating a spoiler.

This can abruptly stall the inner wing and cause a spin.

Should a rigid-wing hang glider be trimmed to fly too FLAPS slowly, entering Pulling on a thermal and LARGER RIGID WINGS ARE positive flaps (i.e., inducing a turn angling them at the same time INITIALLY MORE DIFFICULT down) increases could lead to a the lift of the loss of control, TO SPIN (THEY ARE LESS wing at a constant unexpectedly airspeed. As a stalling the inside SUSCEPTIBLE TO SPINS result of this, the wing with a trim and stall resulting spin. In IN GENERAL), BUT AFTER speeds of the addition, a slowly wing are reduced. trimmed rigid wing THE ONSET OF A SPIN This effect is requires much measurable less bar pressure THEY ARE EXTREMELY on all current to stall than does rigid-wing hang one trimmed at a UNPREDICTABLE gliders. See test higher speed, which reports in Fly and also increases the AND CHAOTIC, AND Glide magazine: risk of unexpected Exxtacy (5/1998, stalls and spins. A CONSEQUENTLY VERY p. 38), Atos (7/ rigid wing trimmed 1999, p. 33), ESC with the center of DIFFICULT TO CONTROL. (8/2000, p. 48), gravity well forward Atos S (11/2000, reduces the risk of SMALLER RIGID WINGS p. 37 ff.), Exxtacy spinning, whereas Bi (9/2001, p. 44) one trimmed ARE GENERALLY EASIER TO and Star (7/2001, for slow flight pp. 56, 58). increases the risk of PUT INTO A SPIN (THEY spinning. Should a lightweight pilot Pulling on flaps ARE MORE SUSCEPTIBLE borrow a heavier in a rigid wing pilot’s glider, it may produce TO SPINS IN GENERAL), is important to either a positive readjust the center or negative BUT WHEN SPINNING of gravity by pitching moment, moving the hang depending upon TEND TO BEHAVE MORE loop attachment the particular point forward. Refer model. A negative PREDICTABLY. to the guidelines in pitching moment the owner’s manual (i.e., the bar moves for the particular back on its own) glider. is noted on the E7 (see the test report in Fly and Glide, 7/1999, p. 32), Atos, SPOILERS AND THEIR E FFECTS Atos S (Fly and Glide, 11/2000, p.32) When a spoiler is activated it not only and Star (Fly and Glide, 7/2001, pp. 56, produces roll and yaw forces, it induces 58). On the Exxtacy and Ghostbuster an undesired positive pitching moment. models, pulling on flaps creates a When a turn is initiated it is important positive pitching moment (i.e., the bar that speed be maintained by pulling in moves forward). on the control bar to compensate for this spoiler pitch-up effect (during the When flaps induce a negative turn as well as just before the turn). moment, the bar moves back, and the pilot has a greater range to push April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

out from trim position. This means that it is easier to stall the wing, and this in turn increases the danger of unexpectedly entering a spin while in a turn. (See, for example, the test report on the Atos S for small pilots with short arms in Fly and Glide, 11/2000, p. 38). When thermaling, flaps should not be set to more than 15 degrees!

The advantage of flaps that induce a positive pitching moment is clear: The risk of pushing out too far and stalling is reduced, and it is also beneficial should the pilot go into the aforementioned “alert position” in turbulent air.

MOVING THE A-FRAME Since the moving A-frame of a rigidwing hang glider is used to control the spoiler cables, and is not tensioned in place by cables as with a flex-wing hang glider, during a spin the pilot and A-frame will be thrown toward the outer wing by centrifugal forces. If the pilot continues to hold the bar, this will create an undesired and uncontrolled spoiler deflection on the inner wing.

This, in turn, makes it more difficult for the airflow over the inner wing to reestablish itself, which is necessary in order to exit the spin. Accordingly, pulling in on the bar must be increased to help recover from the spin.

Because of the partly chaotic behavior of a rigid wing in a spin, large centrifugal forces result, especially during the recovery phase. These forces, often caused by undesired spoiler reactions, can stress the glider beyond its structural limits, and in some cases can lead to structural failure. (See, for example, the report from experienced U.S. competition pilot Bo Hagewood who induced a spin on a large Atos and subsequently broke it — “The Oz Report,” www.davisstraub.com/OZ/.)

SPIN SUSCEPTIBILITY OF RIGID WINGS COMPARED TO THAT OF FLEX WINGS The empirical results of an opinion poll I conducted with many experienced rigid-wing hang glider pilots, and the evaluation of my own year-long experience as a test-pilot for different manufacturers, led me to the following conclusion: Even though certified rigid-wing hang gliders are constructed with much less twist Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

than flex-wing hang gliders, they have no general tendency to be more susceptible to unanticipated spins!

This would appear to contradict the current popular opinion in the hang gliding community. However, depending on the particular flexwing model, even without the VG full on, it is often easier to start a flex wing spinning than a rigid wing in its certified configuration. This last comment is critical: Only fly rigidwing hang gliders in their certified configuration!

Although rigid wings are not generally more susceptible to spinning than flex wings, and therefore not generally more dangerous, things are much different once you are actually in a spin. Due to the aforementioned problems — caused by the A-frame mounting which often results in chaotic circumstances during uncontrollable spins — the danger associated with spinning a rigid wing is significantly greater than that of a flex wing. Experimental spinning with rigid-wing hang gliders should defi nitely be avoided!

REMEDIES BEING CONSCIOUS OF REFLEX REACTIONS AND CONSCIOUSLY CHANGING THEM Pilots of flex-wing hang gliders develop certain reflex reactions, and with time they become instinctive.

Such conditioned reflexes must be consciously controlled to prevent them from negatively influencing rigid-wing flight. Some of the most commonly observed, unconscious reflex reactions that can result in critical situations if they are applied to rigid wings are the following: landing out of a slow turn; flying too slowly and too close to obstacles during landing approach; while thermaling, flying near stall speed and trying to squeeze into the core with impulsive diagonal control movements. In order to fly a rigidwing glider safely, it is important to be consciously aware of the airflow over the wing at all times!

WARNING SIGNALS NEAR STALL SPEED Before a rigid wing stalls, the wing sends certain “warning signals” which can be of great help to a perceptive pilot. As the bar is pushed forward from trim

position, bar pressure increases, sink rate increases, directional stability diminishes (the glider may tend to turn to one side), and directional control diminishes (the spoilers do not work as effectively at lower airspeeds).

It is important to recognize these warning signals immediately. In turbulent air this is often difficult, especially for beginners. The technique of thermaling near stall speed and then “squeezing” into the core, as is often performed with flex wings, can lead to a spin if applied to a rigid wing!

OUTLOOK Advances in sailplane design over the past few years reveal a lot of interesting developments, which in my opinion are very relevant to rigid-wing hang glider design.

Instead of merely trying to improve L/D performance, the emphasis in the sailplane world has been on improving handling characteristics while maintaining existing glide-ratio performance.

Developing rigid-wing hang gliders along these lines would lead to changes which would include modifications to airfoil thickness distribution, increased twist at the wing tips, and considerations involving control bar position (adequately far forward).

For a better understanding of some of the problems mentioned in this article, further information and in-depth aerodynamic details can be found on the DHV homepage under “News,” in an informative article on spins.

Marcus Hoffmann-Guben was the German rigid-wing hang glider Champion in 2001. He was also the rigid-wing test-pilot for AIR for two years, and his Atos testing included flying in the World Championships in 1999, the Pre-Worlds in 2000, and the European Championships in 2000. He was the rigid-wing test-pilot for Flight Design for two years as well, and has flown the Exxtacy 135, Exxtacy Bi, Ghostbuster, Axxess and Axxess+, including flying in the 2001 World Championships.

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would go out of control, but not before some number of larger and larger “cycles.”

Relating to our brand of aviation, an easy way to picture a stable vs. an unstable system is to consider a tail fin. If the glider yaws and the fin exhibits an “error” from perfectlyaligned travel, the force of the air will naturally push the fin back in line, and this is the advantage we hope to get from such naturally stable systems featuring trailing fin surfaces. If instead the fin had been extended out in front of the nose on a long boom, however, then any yaw “error” would allow the airflow to worsen that error, with the force on the fin’s side greater as the yaw increases, until very quickly this inherently unstable system avalanches to complete failure.

Pilot-Induced Oscillations

There are amplified oscillations, wherein the error gets greater every cycle. There are sustained oscillations, which get no worse but get no better. There are damped oscillations, which get better each cycle until stability is again achieved.

A Simplistic Primer on Out-of-Control Hang Gliding

photo by Mike Helms

Figure 2 shows a few examples of cyclic errors (oscillations).

by Mike Vorhis

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ou hear it a lot in casual conversation: “This glider will PIO,” or “That glider had a bad PIO problem.” Conveniently absent in such statements is most of the blame’s rightful ownership. The truth is that any glider will oscillate, given the right pilot and the right conditions. The acronym expands to “Pilot-Induced Oscillation” for a reason; without the pilot contributing to the problem, the problem should go away.

Instability Balance a long 2x4 on its squared-off end. It stands motionless.

But if your pet parrot bumps it, adding some sideways “error” to its stable position, that error increases due to constant natural forces (gravity) and the lumber topples.

Figure 1 illustrates inherent instability and inherent stability.

Figure 2: Types of Oscillation Stability In the case of a hang glider, there are three axes of angular motion a designer considers, not surprisingly identical to the three axes of control we have: pitch, roll, and yaw. Oscillations in any of these axes can initiate with the right input. Achieving stability (so that errors are naturally damped rather than amplified) in each of these axes is the responsibility of the designer and pilot both.

This is an example of an inherently “unstable” system, because any error will naturally increase if nothing is done to stop it. An example of an inherently “stable” system would be the same 2x4 suspended from the chandelier by a piece of string through one end. It still exhibits a motionless vertical posture, like the balanced version, but in this case anything nudging it 26

Figure 1: Inherent Instability vs. Inherent Stability The unstable system we described above was a one-shot deal—the 2x4 would be bumped, would fall, and that would be the end of the test. But there are cyclic unstable systems, wherein the error increases with each successive cycle, until eventually the system reaches failure. If the 2x4 were to be nudged slightly, and then totter back and forth a dozen times with each lean getting larger than the last, then we could talk about the cyclic nature of the instability. We’d call it an “oscillation.” Eventually it April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Coupling of Axes No, this is not the stuff of voyeurs. Very often, oscillations in one axis are coupled to oscillations in another, following gyroscopic rules of physics. For example, yaw is commonly coupled with roll in oscillation problems. Pitch and roll can also be coupled, making an input in one axis induce a response in the other. Pitch and yaw are less often felt to be connected, probably because the coupling is highly damped.

Resonant Frequency of a System A system, such as a glider with a 200lb pilot hanging from it, will be able to oscillate in some axis most readily at only certain frequencies. A roll oscillation that occurs with a leftthen-right cycle every 1.5 seconds may not be able to sustain itself every 1.0 second; the shape of the glider, density of the air, and weight of the pilot and wings may make it too difficult to continue at 1-second intervals. Every system has frequencies at which it will more easily “resonate” or oscillate with sustained regularity. These are known as the “resonant frequencies” of the system.

Stabilization for systems whose precise operating conditions are known can be designed to focus on the resonant frequencies of that system. For a glider, the pilot size and air conditions throughout its life will vary quite a lot, so designers build in stabilization designed to be effective across a wide range of frequencies. Still, for any pilot, there are system resonant frequencies that will crop up more often than others.

will cause it to swing, with the sideways error DECREASING on each cycle, until it hangs motionless exactly where it was.

And lest we consider the topic only fit for novice ground schools, I submit that very few experienced pilots know everything there is to know about the PIO. Courtesy of speed gliding and a few very dicey episodes trying to hug poles and knolls while making wings go fast that were ill-designed for the purpose, I have rediscovered the PIO and the need to make it the Devil We Know.

own error correction input “fed back” into the glider would accomplish this kind of damping. (The “feedback” of inverted error into the system has to be fast enough, or it can actually apply to the next oscillation cycle, and add rather than subtract from the oscillation).

If errors are diminished because there is too much inherent resistance for them to continue, then the oscillation is said to be passively stabilized or passively damped. The designed-in stability features of a glider accomplish this kind of damping.

If errors are diminished by applying an overt force opposing them (such as is done with active noise cancellation systems or when a pilot resists a one-side thermal by applying roll into the rising wing), then the oscillation is said to be actively stabilized or actively damped. This technique, in essence, measures the error and injects it back into the system with the opposite magnitude, so that a positive error combined with the equal and opposite injected error will in theory cancel each other out. The pilot’s Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

Some Types of Oscillation Some natural pitch oscillations are called “fugoid oscillations” and result in low-frequency “porpoising” at certain speeds and wing loads with little or no pilot input. These oscillations are typically tuned out or designed out by the manufacturer.

(Paragliders can experience a front-then-back pendulum motion related to fugoid oscillations.)

No-input (or turbulence-input-only) oscillations in the other two axes (such as yaw oscillation, commonly called “wing-walking” in some slang vernaculars) are also common, but again are typically damped to at least acceptable degrees by design.

As higher performance hang gliders feature an overall anhedral shape (when taken as a whole system), the roll axis is not passively damped in the normal flight attitudes, and not inherently stable in these attitudes, and errors in this axis must be actively corrected by pilot input. (Proof of this is easy to create: Launch a glider sans pilot off a high place, and watch how long it tracks in a straight line. Of course, beyond a certain bank angle, passive roll stability increases, which keeps us from being spirally unstable or doing barrel rolls inadvertently.)

We call oscillations “pilot-induced,” but in fact an oscillation can be initiated by any outside force, including thermals or 27

gusts. If it is sustained past one or two cycles, however, then either the glider is dangerously out of spec, or the pilot is unwittingly keeping the oscillation going, which leads us to the third type we’ll describe: Oscillations that require pilot contribution to continue. This is the true Pilot-Induced (or more accurately Pilot-Sustained) Oscillation, or PIO. To be completely accurate, any roll or pitch input is an “error of one cycle’s duration” initiated by the pilot. The goal of controllable design is to allow these control inputs but to render multiple-cycle oscillations difficult to sustain. Since providing light handling and high performance are also goals, the coexistence of oscillation damping and responsiveness can be a big challenge, so PIOs are typically quite possible in any responsive glider design. Whether a pilot will experience them depends on all applicable parameters of the system, including pilot weight, pilot reaction time, pilot applied strength, pilot arm length, glider shape, viscosity of the air, and other factors.

Basically, it’s lurking out there for all of us.

Resonance with (Over-)Active Correction In nature, there is no loss-less system. All resonances will die out, some quickly, some slowly, without energy input applied.

In the case of a canoe and paddler, that active energy input could be the paddler leaning away from the edge of the boat as it appears that edge will dip below the waterline; if the paddler leans too far (because fear level, response time, and muscle strength are all part of the “system”), the canoe reverses to dip the opposite gunwale toward the water. The paddler leans in similar style to avoid the new threat in turn, and the original threat repeats itself. We have a tip-over “resonance” of the system, with the “system” including the paddler’s natural behavior. If the paddler’s reaction diminishes with each cycle, the canoe will probably right itself eventually. If the paddler’s reaction amplifies the error each cycle, sooner or later we’re going to hear a splash.

So too with boats that float on invisible fluid mediums such as air: if a pilot’s reaction to an error in any axis diminishes or ends, a glider designed to damp oscillations will return to normal flight. If the pilot’s attempts to correct error are inadvertently timed such that the error amplifies with each cycle, the oscillation will worsen dramatically until the glider is completely out of control.

It should also be noted that at higher airspeeds, most gliders exhibit heightened responsiveness—response to inputs that is closer to the reaction speed of a human being, and this typically allows PIOs to amplify very quickly. Thus, for our weight-shift-controlled aircraft, faster flight will GREATLY increase the likelihood of oscillation, unless the pilot’s inputs are very accurately timed to avoid them.

Damping As we noted earlier, if an oscillation cycle is met with passive resistance that increases as an error increases, then it is said that the oscillation is “damped.” Different degrees of damping—different passive resistance strengths—will cause an oscillation to die out at different rates. Highly damped systems will oscillate minimally or immeasurably; lightly damped systems will see oscillations die out after some number of weakening cycles. Damped systems are also less prone to 28

having an oscillation start to begin with, and most entry-level gliders have natural oscillation damping built into their design for the normal operation speed range. Higher-performance gliders will be lightly or very lightly damped, and it is this reason that PIOs are commonly experienced by pilots when they begin to transition to higher-performing equipment, or any equipment with feedback lighter than what their musclememory recalls. Rigid wing pilots whose nostalgia prompts them to hook back into a flexwing also often experience trouble, because most rigid (spoileron) designs are relatively slower to respond, and a pilot’s feedback timing gets spoiled by these seductive machines. As they say, you can never go home.

Phase Cancellation If an oscillation is met with input that contributes to its error on each cycle, of course it will build alarmingly for each successive cycle. But if an oscillation is met with deliberate active input that opposes its error on each cycle, then that input represents an oscillation in opposition to the original.

Such a pilot-applied oscillation can “cancel” the error and the original oscillation, because it is out of phase with the original.

Figure 3 illustrates.

Figure 3: Active Phase Cancellation (via ErrorCorrection Input) Even slight phase differences will cause eventual cancellation. But the danger and the reality is that active cancellation typically only results in a new uncontrolled oscillation at another resonant frequency, or at the same frequency but a new phase. The reason is that a pilot cannot normally feel the effect of active cancellation accurately enough to minimize its strength correctly for each successive cycle. It is in fact the attempt to actively cancel short-term oscillations that is the overwhelming cause of problematic multi-cycle PIOs. In other words, actively canceling oscillations by reversing them cycle-for-cycle is a strategy that will get you into twice the trouble you think you’re in.

Methods of Eliminating PIOs • Gain familiarity with the system. Properly designed gliders will not oscillate appreciatively without pilot input sustaining the oscillation. Getting the “feel” of a glider over time will go a long way toward reducing PIO occasions. (Effectively, this approach trains a pilot’s reactions to use timing and strength that will not add to an error in one of the resonant frequencies of the system.) If demoing a new glider, April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

gaining familiarity can include flying at landing pattern speeds while still at altitude, to ascertain the effect of control inputs at those speeds while it is still safe to do so.

• Remove the input that is sustaining the oscillation.

This is the most common advice given to beginner and intermediate pilots. As most gliders have sufficient damping built in to handle oscillations that are not being exacerbated by the pilot, simply letting go of the control bar (or rather, going quickly to trim and applying no more inputs than are required to avoid hitting hills, trees, wires, or houses) will see the oscillation evaporate quickly.

After all, the PIO is pilot-sustained. Stop sustaining and the problem goes away.

• Other than telling the glider nothing, another way to ensure that oscillations are not being induced by your correction attempts is to tell the glider everything.

That is, make a correction and then hold it, effecting a turn instead of a leveling. This is related to active cancellation, but unlike trying to fight each cycle, this technique applies a static input to counter a dynamic error. Feedback is usually strong in a turn, which helps damp the transient motions. Just be careful to level out smoothly and avoid re-initiating the wobbles.

• Change the resonant frequency of the system.

Changing the dynamics of the system can cause it to attempt to resonate in another frequency, which results in phase cancellation of the oscillation currently underway. An effective way to do this is to change the length of the moment arm from which your weight is applied. Bearing down momentarily (and that means momentarily) on the control frame with a bit of your weight effectively changes not the amount of weight but the torque that weight can apply against angular moments of the system, and changes the possible frequencies of oscillation, typically resulting in at least some phase cancellation of the immediate problem.

It is important to realize that re- distributing your weight by bearing down on the control frame is an advanced maneuver. Most instructors do not teach or advise this technique, as it is difficult to explain how long such a “momentary” weight application should be sustained, or with how much force. And the practice can lead to other problems. But to claim this technique does not work is incorrect, and robs us of understanding this particular dynamic of the system. Changing the system’s resonance profile will have an effect. It is one more trick in the bag, which just might save you someday in some rowdy high desert landing attempt, or if a broken wing begins to go out of control. Practice it sparingly, at altitude, and keep it as a last resort.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

One reason such an unorthodox trick is worth remembering is that—here comes more heresy—pilots are not the only means by which an oscillation can be induced when you least need it. Attempting to set down amid sage brush and dust devils, other forces can blast you into a few cycles of oscillation. The system should damp itself out, but you need to let it do so, and you don’t always have the option of releasing the control bar. Northern Nevada icon Ray Leonard once told me that when penetrating into high winds on final, he occasionally has placed a knee onto the base tube momentarily, to damp oscillations and get level. Although he hadn’t applied engineering analysis to the move, he knew that it worked.

What he was doing was putting some of his weight on a 4-foot lever instead of the keel, changing the resonant frequency of the system until phase cancellation brought the oscillation under control.

• Now, Ray is a fiercely independent sort, not always given to automatically adopting the official line; so it isn’t surprising that he would develop the occasional highly effective if somewhat unorthodox technique.

Definitely the preferred method of applying some pressure to the control frame would be via the hands, and only for a second or so, and only after having worked with an analytically minded instructor on it and practiced it a lot with clearance, and only when more advisable techniques can’t be utilized. Understand the physics of it by all means, but DO NOT consider this your normal answer to PIO or you may well begin a new era of other poor landing habits, with their own possible catastrophic results.

PIOs have contributed to many serious accidents over the years, not to mention a fair few marginal reputations. Like a crocodile in the backyard pool that we never quite kill, PIOs pounce on and break a handful of us each year. Most “theriwuz” PIO tales revolve around landing or ridge soaring, as it is predominantly these situations when good airspeed and hard obstacles are both part of the picture. We tend to focus so much on flare timing that we sometimes forget the most important elements of safe landings overwhelmingly have to do more with field accuracy and controlled flight patterns before ground effect is ever achieved.

A glider rider is a pilot only if he or she can control the aircraft.

Knowing what causes oscillations, what sustains them, what damps them, what cancels them, and what reduces their likelihood of occurring is the artillery we need to recognize and master them when they occur.

Remember, the grey old wizard didn’t say, “Oscillate, ya morons,” nor did he advise, “Now git yer butts up there and flop around!” He said “Fly, you fools,” and I think we should.

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Familyʼs Journey

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By Amy Kenney

y husband, Shawn, announced one Saturday morning that he was on his way to the Point of the Mountain, Utah with a friend to try paragliding. He followed up with “It’s your turn on Monday!”

Shawn and I have been on a continual search for personal freedom ever since we met. The personal freedom I mean is freedom from a 9 to 5 job, freedom from somebody else’s schedule, freedom to reach our fullest potential as human beings. We spent the last nine years creating our vision of freedom. My husband is a 29-year-old Realtor. I am a 29-year-old stay-at-home mom and real estate investor. Shawn works from home, and I home-school our five children ages 9, 8, 6, 3 and 6 months. We were feeling pretty liberated in our lifestyle choices, but after wistfully watching pilots soar the North and South side ridge at the Point of the Mountain for several years, it was apparent there was a basic and compelling freedom we were missing— the freedom of flight!

Chris Santacroce of Super Fly’s Paragliding Academy introduced us to the freedom of flight we passionately sought. Monday, September 2, 2002 marked the day my life changed forever. I took my intro lesson to paragliding! At 7:30 AM I met Chris at the Paragliding Academy. I tried 30

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on a harness, sat in a simulator, and signed a waiver that said “I understand that paragliding is a dangerous sport that can cause me injury or death.”

Actually, I more than signed it. I had to write out that statement again below the printed copy. Once I was thoroughly briefed on what to expect and what we’d be doing, we headed out to the hill.

My intro lesson lasted 3.5 hours and was enough to start an obsession.

Obsession was not only created in me, but in my children as well. My husband and children joined me on the hill for the last hour of my lesson.

There they were, my nine-year-old daughter, and eight-year-old son begging for a chance to fly. My sixyear-old daughter and three-year-old son played with the dogs in the LZ. Shawn held our then 3- month-old baby in one hand and the camcorder in the other.

Chris told me that he’d let one of the kids try paragliding at the end of my lesson. The two older kids flipped a coin to decide who would be the lucky one. Christian won out. Chris suited him up in some gear and ran with him down the bottom fourth of the hill. We recorded that and it has been popular footage at our home ever since. I was a bit embarrassed to show off the footage of me flying. My 3 year old was loudly proclaiming “Dad, I have to go pee!” repeatedly in the background.

The intro lesson hooked us. Shawn and I decided we were going to pursue getting our P2 rating. Frugal by nature, Shawn called around to find the least expensive instruction available and despite taking his intro from Chris, started his lessons with the instructor offering the lowest price. It was decided that I would wait until he was certified before I started taking lessons, as someone needed to be on the ground with the kids.

He completed his P2 in just under three weeks time, with 27 flights. During that time, I read Noel Whittal’s book “Paragliding: The Complete Guide” and researched many local instructors online. The more I researched, the more convinced I became that the Paragliding Academy was the best place to certify pilots. I spoke with Chris and we began arranging days to meet to fly.

I started my lessons on October 8, 2002.

The first day was spent mainly kiting.

I worked on wrong hands kiting, cross hands kiting, forward kiting, kiting with the A’s, rears and A’s, and vigilantly watching the horizon. Chris is a big advocate of horizon reference and sensing the wing by watching the horizon, rather than constantly looking up at the wing. I got a couple of flights in that day. It was a light wind day so I practiced forward launching.

of times when I tried to make forward progress (before I understood why leaning forward, staying low, and moving slowly are important.) It was then I learned my first life lesson of paragliding. I had some control issues—submitting to the will of the wing, the wind, and the instructor became a pressing need for this control freak! The feedback Chris always gave me was “relax your arms, loosen up,” “move with the glider,” “look at the horizon,” and my favorite, “excellent!”

Chris made a rule of saying “Excellent!” every time a failure occurred. He even said it when I gift-wrapped him with the wing. I think he could see my deep need for perfection and the subsequent creases of concentration lines on my face. He always reminded me to smile—even when I put one too many turns in my final approach and sunk out on my rear in a sunflower patch. It took me half an hour to free my lines by popping the heads off the stupid sunflowers. My hands were stained with weed juice for a week.

My ego really took a blow on that one.

Humility was another defining life lesson of paragliding.

I practiced the basics of launching and landing over and over to build muscle memory through repetition. The goal of each flight was to be a “polished performance” as Chris put it. Only after I had a perfect flight, landing, and the glider was put down gently was I allowed to be giddy and give a hearty ‘Woooohoooo!” The funny thing is, the better I get at achieving a polished performance the less giddy I feel, just more grateful. I was especially grateful for the many visual images Chris painted for me to understand a concept.

When I struggled with clipping in while wearing gloves, Chris said “Come on, clip it like you want it!” Though it was a simple enough statement, he appealed to my need to achieve and I find myself mentally saying “Launch like you want it!”, or some other Chris-ism quite frequently. When I finally mastered bringing up the glider from the reverse position, with both A’s in one hand, and the other hand ready on the brake, I felt as though I’d mastered some mystical power.

The next day wasn’t quite so easy. It was a high wind day and forward kiting to the edge was difficult. I fell in the only hole on the hill a couple

By the time I reached my 27th fl ight, the fl ight in which my husband certified, I had considerable practice

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

kiting up the hill, steep hill launching, forward and reverse launching and reserve system training. I had only scratched the surface in the instruction I was yet to receive.

It was at that point my husband began to feel a bit of jealousy at the superior training I was receiving. His training didn’t include, and he has never tried big ears, asymmetric corrections, pitch oscillations or speed system. He has minimal forward launch experience and he has a lot fewer fl ights in his logbook! He could hardly take it when I launched from the top of the north side, soared the upper ridge for a half hour, pulled big ears while using speed bar, and then did a series of 360’s before landing.

He was excited for me, yet mad at the same time.

He might well have stayed angry if he hadn’t made a friend out on the hill whose wife strongly detests his need to fly. He told Shawn that he gets the silent treatment for a week every time he goes flying. Shawn laughed and told him that we fight about whose turn it is to fly. We still haven’t decided whether or not to count a bad wind day as a turn.

Shawn doesn’t think we should—only because 31

FAMILY FLYING several of his turns have been foiled by no wind or a storm. We each strive for two to three turns a week. I can’t help it if more of my fl ight days of late have been flyable!

Paragliding has caused some changes in our lifestyle that are really nice. On the days it is my turn to fly in the AM or PM, Shawn has taken over my responsibilities with the kids. He has become familiar with our schedule and has taken the kids to their ballet, tumbling, and violin lessons. He became more involved in their schooling, which I had primarily undertaken before paragliding. He is overall more understanding and empathetic to my struggles and challenges as a mother of five.

I feel more sane and grounded than I have in a decade through flying!

The abilities I gained through flying have overflowed into other endeavors. I lost fifteen pounds without even trying. My concentration and visualization skills have improved and been really helpful to me in the dance classes I take. Through lessons with several Academy instructors, I gained a vast repertoire of flying skills and vocabulary.

I had many lessons with Ryan Swan, a Super Fly instructor, who is an XC champion. Ryan instructed me on the first day I soared—my 28th flight. Ryan worked with me on surge control, finesse in my kiting, taking a wrap, and perfect spot landings. When I had a question on anything, he geared up and showed me while explaining. I had lots of questions on different maneuvers I’d seen, so he demonstrated B-line stalls, wing-overs, steep hill landing, and how to handle the glider if lifted off the ground while reverse kiting.

Ground school was just as comprehensive.

I was given considerable instruction on how to get the surface and winds aloft forecast and a strong admonition to do it religiously, a synoptic outlook of weather on the broad and local level and an understanding of suitable conditions to fly. I watched numerous maneuvers and was given an overview of how to recognize, enter, and exit each type.

Training on big ears started on my 34th flight, and was repeated throughout the rest of my training. Flight 37 was a tandem with Chris. He controlled the launch and then handed me the brakes once we left 32

H A N G the ridge. He prefaced speed system work by showing me how to “tweak” the A’s forward to correct deep stall. He also had me work out asymmetric deflations by weight shifting to and braking the open side of the glider. Flying with him behind me, pointing out the correct position of my pelvis while turning and the position of my head, elbows, knees, and feet was awesome.

I then started looking like a good pilot!

Beyond just looking good, I learned an important formula for what makes a good pilot. Judgment and ability are the keys.

Understanding conditions, possibilities, self-preservation, and when to use a certain skill are all part of judgment. Ability encompasses having a broad range of skills for all types of conditions. I quickly learned that conditions are rarely the same from one day to the next. I spent so much time visualizing the perfect forward launch scenario only to come back to a high wind launch day and consequently the need for a completely different set of skills. For this reason, Academy instructors place a high value on the total number of flights necessary to achieve a P2 rating. It is often around 50 flights—almost double the training my husband received.

The more I learn, the better my judgment is. I find myself feeling more sober in my flight decision-making. My appreciation for the complexity of paragliding has increased with more experience. Especially the experience of having a totally phenomenal flying session only to come out the next day and botch six attempts at launching. Of course the way things go for me, the good days happen with few to no other pilots around, and the “I look like an idiot” days happen before the who’s who of the flying community! That’s ok though—it’s helping to keep me on task and humble. On the whole, I’ve met great success in my training and luckily my “incidents” have been few and minor.

After finishing up with riser twist scenarios, cross wind launches and landings, and posture perfection, I was certified as a P2 pilot on December 9, 2002. I had 50 flights at the time of certification. In the week that followed my certification, I flew with Chris three more times and racked up another ten flights. Two of those days, Othar Lawrence flew and helped me out as well. I’ve never had a lesson with more than two other students present. Teaching ratios don’t exceed 3:1 at the Academy.

Chris told me early on in my training that

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Super Fly builds lasting relationships with the pilots they produce. He told me that even after I certified, I could get help from any of the Academy instructors at any time and that the training guarantees a lifetime of learning, encouragement, and support.

I can see that he made those remarks in all honesty. I strongly recommend the Academy as the place for beginning through advanced training. I’m steadily referring family and friends to learn from Academy instructors.

I’ve always been an appreciator of the outdoors and the beauty of the earth.

Through paragliding, my gratitude has intensified. Where else can you simultaneously get the incredible views and the solitude to contemplate the wonder of life? There are days just driving out to the hill watching the sky, the clouds and the sunrise, that gratitude for life and creation consume me to the point it is nearly physically unbearable. I’m learning major life lessons through paragliding.

Submission, humility and gratitude are just the beginning of the soul therapy I’m receiving through flying.

“Don’t Panic!! The LZ has to be here someplace!! Breathe.

Don’t PANIC!!”

My children continue to crave the freedom of free flight. My oldest daughter, Aura, and my son Christian took tandem flights with Scotty Marion, another awesome Academy instructor. They are anxiously awaiting the day when Shawn and I can certify as tandem pilots! Until then, Shawn and I will continue changing the populace of the hill, one kid at a time. My young, future pilots are learning lots by watching and biding their time dogsitting all those lonely dogs on the hill!

I

have to admit, flying in the French Alps was adventurous.

While I did more sightseeing than flying, I had a great time in the 3 weeks I was able to sspend pend with Franck Pagliero and his wife Marielle.

GETTING THERE The quest began when I called the airline and confirmed my glider’s size and weight. “No problem” was what I was told. I arrived an extra hour early “just in case” and had my dark suspicions confirmed when I learned that my glider’s size was a problem, by 12 inches. So, no glider. Hopefully I could come up with one to fly after I arrived in France.

Shawn and I are looking forward to many years of XC trips, maneuvers courses and over the water clinics with Super Fly. A special thanks goes out to Chris Santacroce, Ryan Swan, Scotty Marion, Jake Walker, Kevin Bierknacki, and Jeff Farrell without whose example and tutelage, our dreams of the ultimate freedom may never have been realized.

THE GLIDER Franck knew a pilot that had recently gone “fixed wing” and had a glider for sale. The glider had been used for aerobatics and was capable of doing loops. I didn’t plan on doing anything fancy since I had never even flown a high performance glider. I have also been threatened and told to wait a few years before attempting any kind of aerobatics.

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

33

H A N G ROUGH START We picked up the Seedwings Sensor and drove an hour to Cervens. Franck’s then-girlfriend, now-wife, Marielle, launched first. I watched her fly as Franck told me about the one area to avoid a possible venturi effect and other places where thermals were typical. Since I am just starting to learn to thermal I didn’t have a lot of hope of soaring but the prospect of 2800 feet between launch and landing without having to scrape my way to the LZ was, by itself, enticing. I hooked into the Sensor and was on launch when I noticed that Marielle’s glider was nose down in the LZ and wasn’t moving. She had not flown with a radio so there was no way to tell if she was okay.

The little bit of thermal wind that had existed had died and I didn’t want my first launch in a high performance glider to be in no wind.

A few minutes later we saw Marielle’s glider get moved to a high wind tear down position and again there was no movement. I felt the first puff of a thermal. It was barely 2 mph but it was enough. I launched with strong strides and was quickly airborne. My eyes were constantly on the LZ and Marielle’s glider. I played with one thermal but didn’t want to follow it back to the ridge.

Something was very wrong with Marielle so I cut the flight short and went to land. As I neared the LZ I saw a Jeep drive away from the landing field.

I pulled in and circled the landing area. I kept getting hit by rising thermals that would have been nice to try to work but I was focused on landing. I dropped out of one thermal and was glad for the extra speed I had pulled on. I landed at the edge of the LZ and moved the Sensor over to Marielle’s downed glider.

There was only one building nearby so I left the glider and went there. I knocked on the door and wondered how I was going to get through this conversation. The girl who answered spoke almost no English and I spoke almost no French. A young man who had been to the States several years ago helped out and I learned that Marielle had been taken to the hospital by one of the workers. Her arm was broken.

I asked Marielle about her landing. She described her set up and approach, which seemed normal. She said she simply dropped to the ground. It sounded like she had dropped out of the backside of one of the LZ thermals without enough airspeed to recover the landing. The result was a broken arm at the elbow.

the waterslide and we drove the 15 minutes, on paved roads, to the launch.

The LZ was not visible from launch. I was told that once I cleared the point of the mountain that I would be able to see it. I set up and we waited for the thermals to settle more “in” to

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i s e ve n a s n a c k s t a nd i n t he L Z . T he l i f t i s a b it l ig ht c o mp a r e d to t he C olo r a d o t he r m a l s I ’ve e x p e r ie nc e d b ut wo rk a ble i f yo u k now how. I s aw h a ng g l id e r s a nd p a r ag l id e r s s o a r t he t h r e e r idge s s u r r o u nd i ng A n ne c y ne a rly a l l d ay s e ve r a l t i me s .

Pe rh ap s a f te r I le a r n to t he r m a l I c a n c o me b a c k a nd ge t o ne o f t ho s e d r e a m f l ig ht s . A w a r n i ng t ho ug h, I a l s o s aw s e ve r a l p a r ag l id e r s ge t pluc ke d f r o m t he t r e e s . Two o f t he s e we r e he l ic o p te r e d o ut to t he ho s p it a l . T he l i f t he r e s t ay s d a nge r o u s ly c lo s e to t he he av i ly t r e e d r idge s .

The flight at Chamoux began on the backside of the ridge. The launch is very flat and ends in the trees so if you are not airborne by then you are tree fodder. I waited for a decent thermal that came bouncing up over and off of the trees at and around launch. Once safely in the air I climbed and rounded the point of the mountain. The lift dissipated at the top of the ridge so I spent the remainder of the flight soaring up and down the length of the ridge riding the last of the day’s heat.

I outlasted the many paragliders that had launched just before and after me.

launch. Finally, a thermal blew nearly straight in. I had Franck motion to the paraglider pilots on launch that I was ready.

They have a habit of launching in any order of each other but generally respect the need of the hang glider pilots to launch clear of paragliders. I cleared my launch and took to the air. I worked the thermal above launch but then lost it closer to the ridge than I was willing to go, again.

Moving around the point of the mountain I figured I would hunt for another thermal once I spotted the LZ. The point of the mountain came and went. I saw farms, fields, a few buildings, a river, but no LZ. Where did it go? It has to be here. Look again for the bright red waterslide. Don’t panic! A few heart thumping moments later I spotted a paraglider and followed his trajectory. The LZ was across the river. Okay, now I could breath again. I tried to work a weak thermal but lost it in the trees. Over the LZ I picked up another one and worked it for a few turns to extend my ride.

ANNECY, CHAMOUX, and CHAMONIX I f yo u e ve r h ave t he o p p o r t u n it y to f ly i n F r a nc e, A n ne c y h a s my h ig he s t r e c o m me nd at io n . T he r e

While I was not able to fly Chamonix I wanted to write about it. There are several launches all around the valley.

The cable cars are equipped to handle hang gliders and give a discount to pilots. The hang gliding LZ is completely surrounded by trees. The south flow to the wind the day I was there meant there would be rotors above the trees and in the LZ. Franck opted to help me live to fly another day and advised against the flight. Perhaps with more experience I could have landed there, but not as a Hang 2. I took the cable car up to Mt. Blanc and enjoyed the view. I found the hang gliding launch ramp and felt the wind flowing straight in to it at 12-14 mph, the most wind I’d witnessed at a launch since arriving in France.

Now this was more my style. Too bad about the tricky LZ. RAMP LAUNCH On page 129 of Dennis Pagen’s “Performance Flying” book is a picture of the ramp launch at Grenoble. It is steep and 2400 feet from the LZ. I’d never done a ramp launch, let alone a cliff launch. Franck had tried to entice me into launching from a ramp several times during earlier flights but I had always managed to find a way out of it. No way out now. If I was going to fly Grenoble, it would have to be from the ramp.

With my flying companion out of commission for the duration of my visit other flights were made alone. Most of the time I was the only hang glider in the sky. The French Alps flyers are predominantly paragliders. Often there are more than 12 in the air at any given site at any given time. Sadly, I heard more than one hang glider pilot say “hang gliding is dead in France.”

WHERE IS THE LZ? Samoens, with 2600 feet from launch to landing, is a popular school site for both paragliding and hang gliding. There is a water park for children next to the LZ so parents are able to learn to fly while their kids play on the waterslide. I marked the LZ by 34

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

35

t

Walking the ramp without any gear was a start. I stared at the steep slope of the ramp and tried to picture how I was going to walk-jog-run the launch. Nervous is an understatement. I used the glider set-up time to focus.

Two other hang glider pilots arrived to see who was on launch. It was too late in the day for lift so they decided to stay to see me fly. Four tourists arrived and decided to stay for the flight. Behind them were 3 locals. Each person that arrived at launch added to my building apprehension surrounding my first ramp lunacy, I mean launch.

“All here to watch the American die on her first ramp launch?” I remarked to Franck as I moved toward the ramp and hooked in. Once standing on the ramp I was reluctant to “toe the line” of the edge of the ramp. Franck coaxed me to the edge and told me not to look down but to keep my eyes on the horizon. Instinct took over and I moved the nose of the glider down until I felt the light 3 mph wind flow evenly over the wings.

Breath. Focus on the horizon. Breath. I tried to calm my racing heart. “It looks good,” I heard Franck say. Breath.

Focus. Breath. “You can go,” he said a moment later. “I’m breathing!” I snapped more harshly than perhaps was warranted. If only I could get a hold on this adrenaline, I thought. Breath. Ready? Walk. Jog. R… What run? There was no more ramp, no chance to run. It was more like Walk, Jog, and Fall.

“Oh My GOD!!” I screamed as the glider stalled. I let the nose fall through the stall for airspeed. “YAHOO!!!” I shouted as I rollercoastered out of the stall and into the flight. I flew over the cascade to my left and then back toward launch. I flew three high-banked turns to show my colors and I was off to the LZ doing a few dancing dives and gleeful turns on the way.

By Matt Gerdes v

France was a grand adventure that, with some help from a great bunch of pilots, is one I’ll remember the rest of my days. Perhaps in a few years I can return and thermal the Alps. I might even fig ure out how to get my glider over there.

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y assignment is to get the story on Mike Küng’s days off, but it is predestined for failure. I am finding out that Mike Küng doesn’t take days off, ever.

As perhaps the hardest working pilot in the history of the sport, Mike Küng is a busy man. This month, a cold January in Austria when most gliders in the northern hemisphere are gathering dust in a closet somewhere, Mike is flying every day possible in Austria. In the next three weeks he has 20 new gliders to test for DHV certification, three different events at which to perform aerobatics for crowds of eager spectators, and two balloons to jump from, weather permitting.

Sitting around with Mike and his manager Ines SATler one evening, I ask, “Do you ever take a non flying vacation? Even one day off to relax, sight see, or sit on the beach when you are in Monaco testing gliders?”

“Hmm… No.” They reply.

Every day that it is flyable, Mike goes flying. If it isn’t flyable, Mike goes flying.

Ines says, “It’s usually flyable for Mike, especially if he is busy. There needs to be something really wrong with the weather to keep him sitting on launch.”

I persist, “Surely, there must be some flyable days that you miss, or on which you just don’t feel like flying…”

“Well, this summer I went skydiving… but that is also another kind of paragliding I think,” he replies.

Mike recalls the frantic ravings of the panic-stricken skydiving instructor who was coaching him on the radio after he had deployed his parachute. Apparently he had never seen a parachute SAT before, nor helicopter, and definitely had never seen a student intentionally full stall the canopy several times in rapid succession on his first day.

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“SAT, negative, full stall, it is all possible with a parachute,” Mike chuckles, “The SAT is really cool, because the hang points are up on your shoulders so your legs really stretch out behind you from the G’s, it feels very different.”

“Skydiving is very close to paragliding, but it’s a special feeling, freefall is very interesting. It’s also very good training for feeling the air, and it seems to be really safe, much safer than paragliding.

But those guys can’t land at all! It’s unbelievable! They land downwind, they land anywhere, getting dragged around! It’s so strange to see beginners more than 4,000 feet in the air on their first flight, and then trying to land.”

By the end of Mike’s ‘AFF’ training at the skydiving school, he was drawing large crowds of spectators, including several veteran skydivers who’d never seen anyone try such ridiculous things with their canopies.

If skydiving was a vacation from paragliding, it was a short one, somehow squeezed into last year’s schedule between direct-bagging from tandem paragliders and helicopters for crowds of pilots and non-pilots, testing more than 100 new gliders for DHV, and performing at more than 50 different events which contributed to his more than 60 hours of television coverage in Europe last year alone.

To me the extra tests won’t really make the gliders safer. They want to measure and restrict the forwardshooting tendencies of gliders, which isn’t really so extreme at the moment anyways, and is a by-product of good handling and speed in most designs.

I don’t think that most pilots want slower or less dynamic gliders.” wind blew in through the doors and the ramp was supposed to create lift. Every time in training before the event, the wind was over the back, or there was no wind, and it was difficult or impossible to launch on the ramp. Even 2 minutes before start time, it was 5 km/h from behind, and very stormy winds outside. Then, just as the organizer was telling me I had to go, a large gust came in through the front doors, and I launched, and even climbed up above the ramp. I had to almost deep stall the wing into the landing spot to keep from landing in the crowd because there was so much lift created by the gust!”

Almost a year ago, I asked Mike about the seemingly imminent arrival of the CEN. At that point in time Mike was very skeptical about whether or not the differences between the DHV, AFNOR, and the CEN committee would ever be resolved.

Since then, there has been more talk, and more plans, which until now still haven’t amounted to the general

“One of my favorite events was for Willi Bogner [the skiwear mogul], in Munich,” Mike says, “He wanted me to fly a paraglider inside a big convention hall for thousands of spectators. The hall had a very high ceiling, and large doors were opened at the front and back. We constructed a large ramp, and April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

“And what will happen to the DHV?” I ask.

“The DHV will become a normal testing house, much like we are now.”

“Events like this are so nice for me, because they are very different from the scene within the paragliding industry, which can sometimes unfortunately be very unprofessional. Also, it is very interesting to perform such a large demonstration for spectators who aren’t pilots, and it is very good for the sport.

“This summer also the members of the Adidas Adventure team took a trip to the mountains of Slovenia to do our sports. There was a kayaker, mountain biker, climber, and myself, a paraglider.

We each had a great place to do what we loved best, with full support; food, lodging, everything was taken care of. In an environment like this you can really focus on your sport, and concentrate on flying to your full potential. We each did our sports separately, and then we combined them, in the end we had photos of really fun combinations of the sports, like me soaring while standing on Hans Rey’s back while he rode down the mountain. It was cool to have photos of paragliding in a mountain biking magazine; it was another example of good exposure for paragliding.”

“For the glider companies it means more work, and for the testing houses it means more work. Also, some companies that make more dynamic wings, with good handling, will not exactly benefit from the further CEN restrictions.”

approval of CEN. I asked Mike again, and his reply was similar to the one I received last winter; “It seems like we are farther away than ever. And at the moment no one is really pushing it very hard. Most companies prefer DHV, and the test pilots prefer it as well. If it does happen though, we are ready for it.”

“What will it mean for us, normal pilots who buy the wings and try to enjoy them?” I ask.

With 1,011 fl ights last year alone, and 113 new gliders tested for DHV, there aren’t many pilots in the world who can say they fly more, and there certainly isn’t anyone who can say they fly as many different types of gliders as Mike. During almost 10 years of experience in the testing industry, his interest in testing slowly metamorphosed into his current passion for acro, and he now enjoys a place at the top of the world’s acro scene.

I asked Mike about some of his views on the current state of the acro scene, and his answers were enthusiastic.

Mike loves acro, and believes that it is an essential part of paragliding for many reasons, but as I encroach upon the subject of newer pilots getting into this part of the sport, and the escalating number of acro 39

Photo: Franz Huber

K I N G

K U N G Mike also expresses concerns about the amount of competitions that are springing up, attracting pilots that may not actually have the skills-base necessary to perform a lot of the newer maneuvers. His theory, based purely

upon experience, is that some pilots show up to a competition and feel the pressure of the crowd, and the pressure from the other competitors who are more skilled. Invariably, this encourages some pilots to push themselves beyond their comfort level, and often beyond their skill level. In short, pilots can be tempted to try more difficult maneuvers for the first time. The results can be, and have been, disastrous.

In Italy this summer, at the annual Acroaria competition, a pilot who was relatively new to acro fell through his lines while attempting a tumble.

He hit the water and died, reminding the organizers and competitors that the water isn’t a sure safety net, and maneuvers during which the pilot is above the glider require a substantial amount of skill, ability, and experience to execute safely.

Mike is a fi rm believer in practice and training. He has earned his success in the sport through years of testing, having performed countless stalls, spins, and other maneuvers on several thousand fl ights and innumerable gliders. He also values highly the importance of ground handling, which he says helps the pilot to feel ‘one’ with his wing.

“You have to move when you are in the air, and play with your glider when you are on the ground,” he says.

competitions on the scene, his tone becomes cautionary.

“We may have a lot of problems coming from this part of the sport, I think. The thing about acro is it’s definitely not for everyone. We had a big surge of interest in acro in Europe last year, with lots of pilots jumping into it, all trying new maneuvers, and now it’s on a sharp decline. The reason is that we had a lot of accidents, and some deaths, and we still have the problem of equipment that is not quite durable enough for continued use for acrobatics. New gliders are fine for acro, but after a few months of heavy use they are no longer appropriate for intense maneuvers. And also, we shouldn’t forget that acro is actually illegal in Austria and Germany, where there are a lot of interested pilots.

Grasping my D risers while on top of the Krippenstein peak in steadily increasing Fohn winds, Mike screams at me to “Play with your glider!!!” as he runs around the mountain top, his wing sometimes perpendicular to the ground acting as a traction kite. I manage to get some rather quality if stressful kiting in as Mike is dancing about the peak, taking off and landing again, flying backwards, and literally kiting circles around me in the 20mph winds. Watching him maneuver his glider on the uneven ground in high winds, it’s easy to see what he means when he says that the pilot and the wing must work together.

“There are official, legal courses coming up in Germany now, but most of the young pilots who are interested in these do not have the money to travel to the courses and to pay for them, and also do not have the money to buy new equipment often enough to fly a newer, safe glider.”

42

there is only one part. You can see that they are in sync with their wing, moving smoothly through the air, they and the glider are ‘one’.”

“And how can we attain this esteemed level of synchronicity?” I ask.

“Much practice.” He answers simply.

“You must be one with your glider,” he says. “The more you play with your glider, the closer you come to realizing this. Eighty to ninety percent of the pilots I see fly as though there are two separate parts, one being the pilot and the other the wing. For the best pilots, April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

43

My hometown is Oby City, about 20 crow miles west of Ames, Iowa. It was founded in 1873 by O. B. MacDonald, a Scotsman from Northern Ireland.

He set up a mill along the river and soon had him a settlement. My great grandfather, Jacob Weduptja, emigrated from Latvia and acquired our 100 acres about that time by buying it from a passing Pawnee for a worn out Sharps rifle and ten bullets.

Great granddaddy tried growing ‘taters, tobacco and tomatoes, before he realized that corn and hogs is where it’s at in Iowa. In fact, we are proud to boast that our little hamlet is the hog and corn capital of the world.

But that’s not all it’s famous for.

Sometime in the ‘30s, one of the abundant MacDonald offspring opened up a roadside food joint that he called MacDonald’s hamburgers. It started out as a humble shack with a seesaw for the kids and some tires out front sunk halfway in the ground that MacDonald painted yellow. You see, he capitalized on the cheap pork side cuts from the area, ground them up and made a patty he called a hamburger. Now nobody had heard of a hamburger or a hamburger joint back then and it was a big hit. Families would eat at MacDonald’s several nights a week.

Skyking Renaissance

By Dan Weduptja

I

have two main enthusiasms.

One is Durocs and the other is free flight. Durocs, as most of you know, are large red hogs.

I wouldn’t have me none of your Yorkshire pork nor that Hampshire ham. Give me an energetic Duroc and call me happy. Likewise, the flying I do is only one kind and that’s with a hang glider. I don’t want to hear no engine whining in my skies. Most of my flying takes place on my 100 -acre farm smack dab in the middle of Iowa, where a few friends and I tow with either a truck or a winch. On that farm I grow a little corn and run free range hogs. They may not get as fat running wild, but they sure are happier and a whole lot less work.

In fact, my life on the farm is about 44

as free as the hogs, with little to really do except during market time.

It was this free time that led to the greatest adventure, but biggest disappointment, of my life.

It all really began before I started flying in the mid-eighties. Some years earlier there were these pilots I heard about who went cross-country flying in the Owens valley. They packed some food, water and a sleeping bag up in their gliders and went down range. When they got tired, they landed on top, spent the night then next morning got up, launched off the high slopes and continued on.

I believe there names were Chris Awry and Tom Creaky or something like that. They named their sort of adventure skyking, a combination of

flying, hiking and feeling like Sky King. Their stories stayed with me for years and I held a secret wish to some day share their fun.

I worked on my cross-country flying at home with my buddies. We would first just get to the top of our tow, then fly downwind to the neighbors’ fields.

When we discovered our first thermal, we were happy as ‘coons in a corncrib.

After a couple summers practice, we learned to get higher and go further, step by step. When we first got beyond 10 miles we were jumping like jaybirds, and soon we were able to fly over to town and show off to the local girls. My best gal at the time was Evelyn, Evelyn MacDonald. She was petite with the cutest freckles and long red pigtails. I hoped someday to make her my missus.

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Some time in the early 50s, a fellow by the name of Ray Kroc came by our town and had him a jubilee eating Mac’s burgers. He stayed around a whole week chowing down and writing in a little notebook. It wasn’t but a few years later that we heard that Mr. Kroc had begun to sweep the country with his “new” concept: cheap, fast food burger joints complete with golden arches. I can tell you this, most of us living in Oby City would not get caught going into a McDonalds with their imitation hamburgers if it was to save our life.

One day I was lounging around (the real) MacDonald’s with Evelyn and a few others when my best friend Evlis came walking up. Now Evlis came by his peculiar name by accident. His mother had one of the world’s largest collections of black velvet paintings and all but a couple of them were of the King. Naturally, she named her only son Elvis. Unfortunately, we Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

have a county clerk with dyslexia.

She records the names as she sees ‘em and many get distorted. It is more trouble than it is worth for most to go through the paperwork to get them corrected. You won’t believe how many Jhons or Rihcards live in this area.

Anyway, Evlis was excited about a report he heard from over in Ames that the military was looking to fund private inventors with ideas of value to their purposes. Right away I broke out a scheme that had long been festering in my head. I was thinking of skyking, of course.

The obvious limitations to such a practice was basic supply of food and water. How could a fellow carry enough supplies to last for days, especially when foot launching at high altitude? My answer was obvious: he would have to take along a trailer. Since a trailer hooked to the back of a glider would not need to be too stable, it could have very efficient wings and be of little consequence.

I gathered my team and we got cracking. The team was the same as our a cappella gospel singing group, known as Duroc Dan and the Evs. You guessed it; it was Evelyn, Evlis and me. Evelyn was a spark plug and kept us on track. Evlis was known to be the handiest guy in town. By that I mean he had hands twice the size of a normal person his stature. And he could build like crazy. We started out using an old Chevy hind end as a mold. We added bicycle wheels, a tongue, a universal joint and we were ready to roll. Our first tests were made by towing a glider and trailer behind a truck with a sack of potatoes for a pilot. We learned quite a bit on that prototype.

Now I ain’t no genius, and only went to a local voc-tech school for hog raising. The closest I got in that school to a 4.0 was with my blood alcohol.

But I can figure things out pretty well.

First, I found it is important to keep the weight in the trailer balanced over the wheels, so there is no real push up or down on the keel during launching.

Second, it is even more important for the wing placement to be just right so no great up or down force occurs 45

in fl ight. When I started flying with this setup I found that my performance was hurt a little bit by the trailer. But I found a great safety benefit. When I went into a dive, the trailer nose would go up and the increased angle on its wing would act like a brake to slow me down and pull my nose up. So if I stalled or went over the falls the trailer would act like a drag chute and stop anything radical. I got to the point where I could do serious fast stalls and the glider would act like it was planing in molasses. I figured this would be a big help in those bodacious thermals I kept hearing about in the Owens Valley.

While Evlis and I were building and flying, Evelyn tracked down the possible funding. We decided to pitch our invention as a means of getting Special Forces into remote places without detection. Armed with photos and our enthusiastic reports she found the military officials behind the private projects funding and scored a grant of $7,500 with a secrecy and exclusive rights clause. That was small potatoes for the military, but big news for us. We immediately began working on the second prototype. The idea was to come up with a more efficient flying trailer. After some thought, we realized that nature has provided the perfect model for us to hatch our plans: the egg. We built an egg-shaped body out of fiberglass with a lid, a vertical fin, two wheels and a tongue. We made the wings easily detachable out of part of an old hang glider. There was one other addition: we put on taillights so we could tow the whole thing behind the car.

After two months of careful work we had our second prototype ready for testing. It worked almost like a charm and just a few wing position adjustments were all it took to have us excited to go to the next phase. This phase was California or bust.

We were headed for the Owens Valley, to be exact, for proof of concept or maybe trial by fire. I don’t know who was the most excited about the prospects. Neither of the Evs had been out of the state, and I had only been to the Illinois State Fair with the FFA back when I was 17 and showing my prize boar, Elmer. We were like kids going to a circus.

We gathered equipment and supplies, took vacation from work and hit the road on September 7, 1991. Now, we’re hopelessly Midwestern to the core. We like our roads flat and straight, our ‘taters fried and our apples pied. But that trip opened our eyes.

When we got close to Denver, we couldn’t believe the way the mountains just leaped out of the ground. We were so worried about the mountain roads that we decided to avoid them by going down I-25 to Albuquerque, then across I-40 to the Owens.

We went through Las Vegas with our jaws ajar, headed up through Death Valley—now that’s an appropriate name—and into the Owens. What an amazing trench with high mountains on both sides. They were mighty impressive, alright, but they sure do block the view! I could only reflect that I would soon be flying along and over those jagged peaks. I said a little prayer for courage as we rode our way on up to Bishop.

46

us. I rented a system from the shop at the local airport and we were good to go.

The very next day found us winding up to the Cerro Gordo takeoff. I wanted to stay on the west side of the valley and this launch gave the best long distance along the White Mountains. The plan was for Evlis to fly locally then join Evelyn, the driver, in pursuit of me. If all went well the first day, they would try to stay in radio contact, but mainly hang around Bishop, until I phoned them from wherever I ended up. I had enough supplies for a week, but only planned to go a few days this first attempt.

My fi rst launch was flawless. I did everything myself, since I would soon be on my own. The trailer rolled right behind me as I ran and it lifted off a split second before my wings caught hold and I was flying the Owens.

Evlis took off soon after me and we spent half an hour or so playing in the abundant thermals before I topped out and headed north. I made slow but steady progress and after a couple hours I was ready to cross the Westgard Pass. I gathered all my courage for I heard this place can be turbulent, spent some time to climb as high as I could, and pointed my nose north. The fi rst half was pretty fair gliding, but then I started losing like a drunken gambler in the slight headwind. By the time I got all the way across, I was in the foothills of Black Mountain and struggling in the broken air. The trailer certainly doesn’t do much for maneuverability, and after 15 minutes of this I gave up and headed for the valley.

In Bishop, the three of us realized we had to either compromise our morals with one room, or our budget with two: we went with the former. After that, the immediate problem was to get to know the area. We bought maps and drove to the launch sites. We soon met some of the local pilots and they impressed upon us the need to fly with oxygen. I never heard of such a thing, but judging by the way we were wheezing in town, it didn’t take much arguing to convince

I landed okay in Nowheresville and considered my options. I could walk to the road and hitch to Bishop, but that would be admitting defeat too early in the game, and besides, the spirit of this skyking thing is to be independent. So, I found a place to bed for the night and boiled some pork jerky as the sun went down.

That night I listened to the coyotes and other varmints rustling in the sage and contemplated my job tomorrow. I had a small harness to hook to the trailer. I my folded up hang glider so it would sit nicely on

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

top with special attachments we had made and I would be able to pull the whole affair up the hill to a launch.

That was the beauty of skyking—it was just me and my gumption.

I was up at 6 a.m. the next day and began my struggle in the cool early morning. By 11 a.m. I was still inching my way up the steep side of Black Mountain. By noon I was about 1500 feet above the hills and decided I had enough. After a break for rest, food and water, I set up and was ready to go by a little after 1 p.m. The launch went slick as sweat on a hoe handle, and I was off and running. My thermaling was getting much better and I learned to take the advice of the locals and turn much tighter than I imagined possible in the strong shots.

They just would not believe that lift could be so powerful back in Iowa.

Eventually I got high above Black Mountain and again headed north.

I crossed the rolling top by Silver Canyon and headed past Bishop towards the Gunter Launch, working each bit of green air to max height.

On the way I tried to call my partners, but I couldn’t hear a peep. North of Gunter I began to fade. I brought the glider down over Barcroft Meadows and planted it into the wind on a gentle rise. So far my landings were two high scores out of two.

I set up camp and took my time dining on that delicious jerky I had packed. The stars were spread like a billion diamonds on an eternity of black silk. I had never seen them so abundantly back in humid Iowa. I wondered how my hogs were doing, and thought of how we humans take ourselves to far flung places to find adventure, while all other creatures seem to seek only security.

I awoke early—who could oversleep in such surroundings?

I prepared my equipment, fed myself and tried to call my crew.

Again no answer, but who k nows if they even had the radio on this early. I pulled out a book and read about animal husbandr y as I awaited the morning thermals.

My plan was to head up to the end of the range and land on top again, then f ly off the end of the 47

PRODUCT LINES range the next day and land near Highway 6 to find a phone and get retrieved.

My launch around noon was flawless and I was really becoming confident in this trailer thing. It tracked behind me like a faithful puppy. Around White Mountain I hit my nastiest air, but I whiteknuckled through it and gained my greatest height. I believe I was nearly at 18 grand—a personal record—when I pulled out and worked my way north. After an hour and a half past White, I saw this huge flat area that I knew was just perfect for my night’s rest. I played above it for a while and then lined up for an aircraft carrier landing.

Two steps, no more. Since I was so close to a good launch slope, I decided to plant the glider there, tail to the wind and make this area my camp site.

The next morning dawned as usual, but I had a strange dislocation sensation. I looked for my glider and trailer and they weren’t there! I ran over to the edge of the hill and could see a few divots. A little closer to the edge brought me a horrible sight. There, far below was wreckage that looked like laundry strewn across the boulders and scrub. It was my whole kit and caboodle except for my tent and sleeping bag. I soon realized that this close to the edge the downslope night winds had caught my glider and carried the whole affair over the edge. With a

heavy heart, I climbed down to the mess and sat there in despair. After a while I realized there was nothing I could do but gather the essentials (water) and hike to the valley floor.

What a long and painful hike that was. I eventually made it to the flats and headed through the sage, cholla and collitas towards a distant ranch. When I got there along Highway 6 at the north end of the Owens valley, I saw a sign announcing Janie’s Ranch.

I knocked on the door and was admitted by a friendly lady who asked me if she could help. I told her my business and she let me use the phone to call Bishop. The Evs didn’t seem too happy to hear from me. I settled down to wait for my retrieve. I sat out front and wondered what exactly they were raising at that ranch. I couldn’t see any barns, fences or pens. All the hands looked like young women, so I guess they had plenty of work, but they must run ranches different out here than they do at home.

Eventually my ride arrived and I could tell right away that something was up. That something was a change in relationships. Basically, leaving the Evs together in that motel was not smart on my part and they had fallen for each other in the Biblical sense. There was not much to say, so we gathered up our gear and made the long trip back to Iowa in silence. My elation over my skyking adventure was dampened

by the loss of my glider and trailer as well as girlfriend and best friend.

Back in Oby City, they moved in together, got married and had their first kid within 9 months. Twelve years later, they are working on their eighth. Evlis works at a garage downtown and Evelyn has put on so much weight her pigtails stick straight out at the sides of her head.

She weighs more than my pet pig, Alice. They eat nearly every night at MacDonalds, so I don’t go there much anymore— another tragic loss.

I have trained new flying buddies in the area, and am still towing on the farm. But a small development recently happened that was the whole inspiration for writing this article. The government has just lifted the secrecy ban on our trailer project. I am free to publicize it and this has given me new life. I am building another and am willing to sell the plans to anyone interested for $10. I also am recruiting anyone who wants to make a long distance skyking trip starting in the Owens Valley and going to parts unknown. Contact me by email at Weduptja @ looflirpa.com. Be ready for the flight experience of your life, and be ready to spend some time in desolate but beautiful areas talking about my two enthusiasms: Durocs and free flight.

© By Dan Johnson <cumulusman@aol.com> www.bydanjohnson.com

St. Paul, Minn. -- It’s almost spring, even up here in the southern Tundra.

others, obviously) who like the idea of wheels on their gliders. But WW’s

But in Florida, they’re already hot to trot. THIS is the big month of tow park

are good for streamlined bars making them rare among wheel packages.

competitions, made all the hotter by the vigorous business competition

The smoothly integrated hardware allows a four-inch diameter UHMW

between Wallaby and Quest. With their different styles they make an

wheel to be fitted using the existing basetube corner bolt. The package

interesting contrast. Both have become vital to hang gliding in the US of

is clean enough and small enough that Wills feels it won’t add enough

A. ▲ As the dueling meets approach, I want to mention that Wallaby

drag to offset the savings from their streamlined basetubes. Wills Wing

was still inviting volunteer help for their April 20-26 contest as this

continues to offer the small Hall wheels or larger Finsterwalder wheels but

issue went to press. Contact them at 1-800-WALLABY (925-5229) or

their new ones are aimed at the performance market. They sell for $140

fly@wallaby.com. The same may apply to Quest a week earlier (April 12-

a set. ▲ If you’d like to fly a new WW glider, and if you live in Florida,

18). FMI: 352-429-0213 or questair@sundial.net. ••• Wills Wing has

and if you got this issue as early as the last couple months, then you might

reached a milestone achieved by few in aviation going all the way back to the Wright Brothers and beyond. Out of hundreds of aircraft companies of all types, few can say they’ve produced over 20,000 flying machines. WW has! Though they must have taken extra time to count carefully, Wills test flew the 20,000th and 20,001st gliders on December 9th, 2002. The news was released in mid-February, 2003. The round number went to a Falcon 2 195 (one of my personal favorite gliders) followed by a Talon 150.

I don’t know if they planned it that way, but Wills Wing’s achievement is well represented by those two designs, in my opinion. ▲ Never ones to sit still for long, the world class builder announced their latest model.

Introduced as the 100-Year Celebration of (powered) Flight begins to find traction nationally, Wills unveiled the “U2.” Not intended for use in spying on that evil guy in Iraq, Wills Wing’s new U2 is a just a fun glider, one the company calls a “Ultra Performance Intermediate Hang Glider.”

I guess they think it flies pretty hot while being friendly to those with medium experience. I’ll look forward to a flight but you can get a ride soon after you read this issue of HG&PG. A 160 size is out now with a 145 to follow “shortly.” Wills describes the U2 as intended to be “a very lightweight glider with performance approaching that of the much heavier,

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Miami. On April 4-6, Wills will roll out their entire line for qualified pilots to demo fly. They’ll have a whole celebration with prizes, BBQs and more.

Contact James Tindle at 863-805-0040 or gjtindle@bellsouth.net. ••• Not all flight parks pursue competitions. One other Florida flight park is happy just give pilots a lift into the sky. ▲ Gregg and Diana MacNamee run GrayBird AirSports located in Summerfield, Florida (an hour or so north of Quest and Wallaby). Recently, the MacNamees hired western expert, Ray Leonard, to establish paragliding at their facility.

“We now offer club flying, PG towing, training, thermalling clinics, XC and equipment sales related to paragliding, in addition to our HG and ultralight services.” With an upcoming Florida PG competition (at another location), GrayBird’s 500-acre site offers a less congested place for competitors to practice. FMI: 352-245-8263 or fly@graybirdairsports. com. ••• U.S. Aeros has announced a new import from their Ukraine supplier, one that will appeal to those who like to travel on airliners with their wing as checked baggage. Discus “B” model is a modern hang glider that breaks down without tools to only seven feet.

U.S. Aeros is even working on a “rigid carrying case” to protect the wing in transport. (Of course, with many airlines now charging for luggage

more expensive, and more challenging competition class wings.” The

weights over 50 pounds, you may get hit with another fee, but it’ll still be less

160 tips the scales at 68 pounds, showing the effort WW put into keeping

than truck shipment and you’ll arrive with your glider.) Discus B comes with

weight down. It sells for $4,495 with deliveries pegged at 6-8 weeks as

popular features like VG, curved tips, and internally supported washout

this issue went to press. FMI: 714-998-6359 or willswing.com. ▲ Wills

tubes. Discus is available in a 148 size now with a 138 and a 158 coming

also announced price revisions for their top-of-the-line topless model,

later this year. The 148 model weighs only 65 pounds and is rated for a

the Talon. In order to employ their internal reduction pulley system, Wills

pilot weighing 150-215 pounds. As with most gliders sold through the

will now offer the Talon only with their Litestream control bar. Talons will

Just Fly enterprise, the Discus B is reasonable at $4,295. FMI: 252-480-

no longer be available with the “regular” control bar, and the price will rise

3552 or gw@justfly.com. ••• Hey, outta room again. Next month, two

$200, to $5,875, to cover the more expensive bar. Another option, a

new tow competitions… ••• So, got news or opinions? Send ‘em to:

Mylar trailing edge, adds $150 but then Wills supplies their Slipstream bar

8 Dorset, St. Paul MN 55118. Messages or fax to 651-450-0930. E-mail to

at no extra charge. ▲ WW gives a nod to folks like me (and quite a few

News@ByDanJohnson.com or CumulusMan@aol.com. THANKS!

P r o d u c t

48

want to head to the Florida Ridge Flight Park, way down south near

L i n e s …

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

h a n g

g l i d i n g

p r o d u c t

n e w s

s i n c e

1 9 7 9 .

49

R A T I N G S H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-4 H-4 H-4 H-4 T-1 T-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 50

Region Name 2 2 4 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 13 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 8 8 10 10 10 10 13 2 2 4 10 10 13 2 2 4 13 2 5 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

ADALID GARCIA TERRY HANSEN ART DONAHUE HIROYUKI MATSUNAGA JEFF WELLS HOLGER BRANDES ROBERT ADAMS NICK JOHNSTON PHILLIP HAGEN ANDY GURJIAN FLAVIA RODRIGUES VIEIRA JERRY PATTERSON PIERRE CHARRON MARCUS ROSENTHAL TY BASH JONATHAN BETZ BERNARD RIEDEL JOHANN MILLER AARON MENDELSON FRED KAEMERER BENJAMIN BJ HERRING JEFF SUMMIT DAN ROOT HOLGER BRANDES PHILLIP HAGEN ANDY GURJIAN FLAVIA RODRIGUES VIEIRA PIERRE CHARRON LOTHAR REICHERTZ ERIK BOEHM LARRY MAJOR ANDREW HARRIS FLAVIA RODRIGUES VIEIRA PIERRE CHARRON RAJIV ZUTSHI BEN ROGERS GREGORY BOTTELBERGHE PIERRE CHARRON BRUCE RHYMES ALAN PAYLOR MICHAEL ZUCHETTO KENT KALTENBACH BEN BIERMAN LEE MORRISON ANDREA OCONNOR BARBORA JANICKOVA STEVEN ADAMS JIMMY LEE CADDEL DEAN STRATTON ADAM CAUDILL TAL HAIK DARIAN SMITH MICHAEL KRAUSSHAAR STEPHEN OLIVER JENNIFER CORWELL AIMEE JACOBY ILKER DELIGOZ DMITRII LOUZNETSOV TOM VESELY

R A T I N G S City

RICHMOND CHICO DENVER POWELL RAINSVILLE CHATTANOOGA CONYERS MADISON FT MYERS BCH ORLANDO GROVELAND DALLAS MONTREAL PACIFICA SAN FRANCISCO SAN MATEO CUPERTINO SAN LORENZO SAN FRANCISCO LITTLETON PARKER JEFFERSON FALMOUTH CHATTANOOGA FT MYERS BCH ORLANDO GROVELAND MONTREAL BERKELEY MILPITAS COTTONWOOD NAGS HEAD GROVELAND MONTREAL SUNNYVALE PALO ALTO GRANTSVILLE MONTREAL SUSANVILLE MOORE SPOKANE ANCHORAGE FREMONT MONTEREY FRIANT DAVIS SAN LEANDRO BURBANK SAUGUS CHINO TARZANA KIHEI ALAMOGORDO FARMINGTON FARMINGTON CRESTED BUTTE TEMPE TUCSON PARK CITY

State

CA CA CO OH AL TN GA AL FL FL FL TX QUEBEC CA CA CA CA CA CA CO CO MA ME TN FL FL FL QUEBEC CA CA AZ NC FL QUEBEC CA CA UT QUEBEC CA ID WA AK CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA HI NM UT UT CO AZ AZ UT

RatingOfficial

BARRY LEVINE RAY LEONARD MARK WINDSHEIMER ANDREW BEEM CHRISTIAN THORESON CHRISTIAN THORESON CHRISTIAN THORESON RAY HELMAN ROBERT LANE ROBERT LANE ROBERT LANE CHRISTIAN THORESON ROB MCKENZIE BARRY LEVINE BARRY LEVINE PATRICK DENEVAN PATRICK DENEVAN SCOTT SEEBASS SCOTT SEEBASS MARK WINDSHEIMER MARK WINDSHEIMER JAMES TINDLE ROBERT LANE CHRISTIAN THORESON ROBERT LANE ROBERT LANE ROBERT LANE ROB MCKENZIE SCOTT SEEBASS STANLEY BOEHM TYM COSTELLO ANDY TORRINGTON ROBERT LANE ROB MCKENZIE JIM WOODWARD PATRICK DENEVAN PETER CJ ANDERSON ROB MCKENZIE WALLACE ANDERSON WILLIAM HEANER III MORGAN HOLLINGSWORTH YAROMIR LAHULEK DAVID BINDER DAVID KESTNER ENLEAU O CONNOR HONZA REJMANEK WALLACE ANDERSON BO CRISS BO CRISS BRIAN SCHENCK CHAD BASTIAN YAROMIR LAHULEK DAVID PRENTICE JAKE WALKER JAKE WALKER RICHARD KOCUREK SCOTT HORTON SCOTT HORTON STEPHEN MAYER April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Region Name P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 T-1 T-1

5 10 10 10 10 12 12 13 13 13 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 10 10 12 12 13 13 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 10 12 13 13 2 3 3 4 12 13 13 4 4

RAJ HUSEIN DANIEL BECK MIKE EBERHARDT KASEY SCOTT MARK BILLSBERRY IGNACIO SAEZBENITO BENOIT BRUNEAU PAUL MIDGLEY BIRENSTIHL HANSUELI MR JEAN BROSSARD MICHAEL ZUCHETTO JOHN HELFRICH KENT KALTENBACH BEN BIERMAN LEE MORRISON ANDREA OCONNOR BARBORA JANICKOVA KUPAMBAZUA FURAHA JIMMY LEE CADDEL DEAN STRATTON ADAM CAUDILL TAL HAIK DARIAN SMITH MICHAEL KRAUSSHAAR STEPHEN OLIVER JENNIFER CORWELL AIMEE JACOBY ILKER DELIGOZ DMITRII LOUZNETSOV TOM VESELY RAJ HUSEIN DANIEL BECK MARK BILLSBERRY IGNACIO SAEZBENITO BENOIT BRUNEAU BIRENSTIHL HANSUELI MR JEAN BROSSARD STAN HARRYMAN GREGG HACKETT BARBORA JANICKOVA DAVID GOODMAN ADAM MCVAY TOM VESELY JONATHAN JEFFERIES MIKE STEEN MARK BILLSBERRY BENOIT BRUNEAU BIRENSTIHL HANSUELI MR JEAN BROSSARD SIMON ROWELL TOM HAMPTON JR ADAM MCVAY BOB STRONG BENOIT BRUNEAU BIRENSTIHL HANSUELI MR JEAN BROSSARD BOB STRONG J DAVID NELSON

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

City

State

JACKSON UNION GROVE CLEVELAND CLEVELAND MELBOURNE NEW YORK FOREST HILLS LONDON FAULENSEE CALGARY SPOKANE EUGENE ANCHORAGE FREMONT MONTEREY FRIANT DAVIS ARCATA BURBANK SAUGUS CHINO TARZANA KIHEI ALAMOGORDO FARMINGTON FARMINGTON CRESTED BUTTE TEMPE TUCSON PARK CITY JACKSON UNION GROVE MELBOURNE NEW YORK FOREST HILLS FAULENSEE CALGARY HOOD RIVER SANTA ROSA DAVIS NOVATO SANTA MONICA PARK CITY DRAPER SALT LAKE CITY MELBOURNE FOREST HILLS FAULENSEE CALGARY SAN JOSE SAN CLEMENTE SANTA MONICA VAIL FOREST HILLS FAULENSEE CALGARY VAIL SANDY

WY AL GA GA FL NY NY BE 3205 ALBERTA WA OR AK CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA HI NM UT UT CO AZ AZ UT WY AL FL NY NY BE 3205 ALBERTA OR CA CA CA CA UT UT UT FL NY BE 3205 ALBERTA CA CA CA CO NY BE 3205 ALBERTA CO UT

RatingOfficial THOMAS BARTLETT J P SALDANA PAUL PEARCE PAUL PEARCE RAY LEONARD MARCUS SANTOS PAUL VOIGHT GABRIEL JEBB GABRIEL JEBB ROB MCKENZIE MORGAN HOLLINGSWORTH TOM CHESNUT YAROMIR LAHULEK DAVID BINDER DAVID KESTNER ENLEAU O CONNOR HONZA REJMANEK WALLACE ANDERSON BO CRISS BO CRISS BRIAN SCHENCK CHAD BASTIAN YAROMIR LAHULEK DAVID PRENTICE JAKE WALKER JAKE WALKER RICHARD KOCUREK SCOTT HORTON SCOTT HORTON STEPHEN MAYER THOMAS BARTLETT J P SALDANA RAY LEONARD MARCUS SANTOS PAUL VOIGHT GABRIEL JEBB ROB MCKENZIE RICK HIGGINS ENLEAU O CONNOR HONZA REJMANEK KIM GALVIN TIM NELSON STEPHEN MAYER STEPHEN MAYER STEPHEN MAYER RAY LEONARD PAUL VOIGHT GABRIEL JEBB ROB MCKENZIE JUAN LAOS CHRIS SANTACROCE TIM NELSON GREGORY KELLEY PAUL VOIGHT GABRIEL JEBB ROB MCKENZIE DAVID CHAMPAIGN MARK GASKILL 51

S A N T A’ S

L I S T

It’s all about timing…

By Chris Santacroce

A

“Looks good, you go first….” wise old saying, indeed, but it has certain implications.

It suggests that it is always best to wait and see what the conditions look like.

There are several ways in which this might not be the best mantra.

For example, you are a P2 on an average summer weekend flying day who waits for everyone to get ready and then heads up the hill for a morning fl ight. You wait for someone to go fi rst and then, you prepare your gear, do your pre-fl ight, fumble a few launches and fi nally, get into the air. Before you know it, your morning fl ight just turned into a mid-day adventure. You fly around for a while and by the time you land, it’s 1:30 p.m. and the landing zone is a dangerous place—you didn’t get what you were looking for out of your weekend flying experience.

worse, the pilots that launched before you, landed while there was still some wind and you get to land in no wind.

The truth is that I have been around the sport for more than a decade and have been a guide and an instructor throughout that time. My job is to manage the “timing” for students and pilots who either need or want a guide. I coach people on when to launch and land. I can often be seen hurrying in the morning.

I sometimes drive fast, skip breakfast, leave late people behind, lay out gliders and “throw” people off as fast as I can. I do this because I don’t want to see people flying in air that they haven’t bargained for. In the evening, I always have pilots get ready early and coach them to get all of their gear on while it is still “too strong.”

I encourage people to watch other paragliders as they move through the air in order to ‘tune into’ the conditions. I like to see newer pilots take off in a light breeze and land in a Next example, you head up the hill light breeze. I like the same conditions for the evening fl ight. The eager and when I fly tandem. I believe that low/ ambitious pilots launch into the no wind can be as challenging as high stronger conditions while you wait. wind. But, this is just the start. The You are a conservative P2 and you just most important thing for new pilots is “fly for fun.” You don’t need to soar; to not be too early or too late. Just as in fact, you think that it is easy to launch “it’s cool to sink out.” too late in the You wait around, help morning and end some other people up in conditions launch and watch how that are too strong, the conditions evolve. it is also possible to “Launch now, it only Then, you realize launch too early in gets worse.” that it’s starting to the morning when get light; it’s perfect there is no breeze for you. You do your on launch. Timing good pre-fl ight and comes into play in wait for a good cycle. all aspects of our CHRIS SANTACROCE The wind is light but flying. the bad news is that it only gets lighter.

It’s important for By the time that you every pilot to have launch, there’s no wind. There’s even an idea about what sort of timing suits a slight tailwind. Letting someone their needs. Just as P2 pilots need to else go fi rst and being “a conservative look for the timing scenarios that I pilot” just backfi red, again. Even have just outlined, more advanced

 

52

S A N T A’ S



away from the hill, but none close to the hill. A young and athletic pilot with a strong run and good forward launch ability might wait for no wind.

A pilot who isn’t a strong runner needs a breeze.

some situations is to start gliding when pilots ahead of you are sinking. The logic here is that by the time that you arrive, the lower pilots will have just found a fresh, good thermal and you can join them.

Likewise, when flying clouds, it can be best to aim for an area that is between clouds (blue) thereby increasing the odds that you might find a fresh, new thermal “Looks good, ood, you go first.” that is about to make a new cloud.

“Never be the first one to launch or that last one to land at a site that isn’t your own”

Once a pilot has launched, the timing considerations continue to present themselves. During a morning session, conditions often become strong at some point.

Unsuspecting, new Over time each pilot Some skier or base jumper who pilots can be caught gets to develop his or didn’tt know “free flight” didn flight by surprise and then her own flying style. get in a hurry to get Style is defi ned by on the ground. Pilots how well we precan be seen pulling big ears or even fl ight, launch, transition, fly, glide, spiraling. They often confess their thermal, descend, set up and land. predicaments over the radio. Even Many of these elements of our flying worse, pilots become so unnerved style hang on “timing” and therefore, that they need to get on the ground, conditions. It is no coincidence that quickly. Thoughts like: “will I ever some pilots have nice launches, fl ights get down,” start to prevail. Upon and landings while others with similar arriving at the landing zone, pilots potential blow launches, sink out, find that they are, indeed, not have dramatic experiences, sketchy coming down. approaches and rough landings. The former are potentially more in tune with the more subtle elements of their But as seasoned pilots all know, things participation in free fl ight. change. No thermals last forever and we rarely get “stuck to the sky.” Without much exception, all that we have to do We are all, naturally, students of ‘good is wait five or ten minutes and areas timing.’ We can start off in the morning that were sink, will become lift and by showing up and getting ready early areas that were lift, will become sink. and launching as soon as the conditions So unless you see a tremendous gust are good. We can continue by doing front coming your way, then don’t get everything possible to land in a nice too excited about getting down. Just breeze. If we happen to fly around, make some lazy circles in some sinking then we do well to remember that we air, make your way upwind of the have to anticipate what lies ahead while landing zone and know that you will remembering that paragliders glide come down before too long. This is one slowly and poorly. When it comes to great benefit of flying the world’s worst evening flying, we have to remember to performing aircraft. Skydivers, whose launch and land in a nice breeze too. jumps last less than a minute are quoted as saying “when you are in a hurry, you are in danger.”





JEFF NICOLAY

pilots have different criteria. P3 pilots often seek out thermal conditions and try to time their fl ights so that they launch safely and then meet with nice thermals as early in the flight as possible.



The criteria for an intermediate pilot’s launch timing are many. First, we have to decide what to worry about.

Are we worried about turbulence during the launch process or are we more concerned with fi nding a good thermal as soon as possible? A pilot has to decide if he or she thinks that there is any chance for a deflation right after launch. Likewise, it is important to decide if no wind, light

 “If you are a new pilot, set up ON launch where you can monitor the conditions.”



OTHAR LAWRENCE

wind or higher wind are better for the given launch. Some launches clearly favor a nice breeze. I suggest that each pilot work together with all of the other pilots on launch on a given flying day to work through these questions. Also, I suggest that each pilot’s situation is different. An avid and experienced pilot might wait for the strongest possible cycle and start thermaling as soon as possible.

Conversely, a newer pilot might want a little breeze to help with the launch along with a few thermals once safely April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

L I S T

Prevalent cross-country technique follows a similar sort of logic.

Whereas it seems natural to start gliding to the next thermal when you see people climbing, it is oftentimes easy to arrive to the thermal just as it expires. Likewise, pilots often glide toward clouds that ‘look good’ only to find nothing.

One formula that tends to work in Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

53

T I P S

F R O M

T H E

By Rob Kells, Wills Wing Inc.

Aviation has made the world a lot smaller, but it is still pretty hard to miss it if you fall!

(author unknown)

Attend A Parachute Seminar!

Over the last twenty years we’ve done more than 40 parachute seminars.

Over 50% of the systems in the early seminars were improperly maintained and 10% of these parachutes would not have deployed under any circumstance!

These statistics have improved dramatically over the years as pilots come back to service their equipment year after year. If you have not attended a formal parachute seminar we suggest that you do so as soon as possible.

When To Throw Your Reserve A parachute is not a toy - you only want to deploy your reserve in flight when you are in an actual emergency situation. On the other hand, when you’re close to the ground, any loss of control can constitute an emergency.

A number of good pilots have waited too long while trying to fix a problem and had too little remaining altitude to get a successful deployment. Former NASA test pilot Mark Stucky puts an imaginary 200 foot bubble around himself when paragliding. If anything happens to his paraglider while the terrain is within that bubble, he will deploy immediately. He has practiced visualizing every possible emergency he can think of, and has contingencies thought out ahead of time for each one.

Good advice.

The Parachute Deployment Sequence:

M A S T E R S

(reach back to your main support strap or harness attachment point to locate it) to clear the ‘chute from the deployment bag Rob Kells and accelerate the deployment sequence.

If the parachute does not open, pull it back and repeat the throw.

In a hang glider: After you are under canopy, stand in the control bar (if you can find it), or climb to the highest point in the glider.

Let the structure of the glider take as much of the landing impact as possible.

Sometimes, it is possible to direct the descent with weight shift. Try to steer away from ground obstacles and land into the wind.

In a paraglider: After the deployment you want to try to fly the glider up to meet the reserve, or if you are unable to do that, do a B-line stall to keep the paraglider from downplaning.

When a glider structurally fails, it often spins at such a high rate that the pilot is unable to maintain any visual reference with either the terrain or the broken structure. The successful execution of the deployment sequence under adverse conditions will depend on your level of preparation. Do not practice in air deployments! They can be very dangerous. There is no substitute for repeatedly practicing this procedure in

a simulator. Further, you should grasp the handle and mentally rehearse the deployment sequence while flying.

During parachute seminars, we time practice deployments in a simulator.

Deployment times range from three to ten seconds. The deployment times have gotten faster over the years of repeated seminars through practice.

These times are under relatively ideal circumstances, it’s not unreasonable to expect a real world deployment time to be twice as long.

If your glider is falling at 30 miles per hour, (44 feet per second), six seconds is 264 feet. If it takes you twenty seconds to deploy, the distance you fall will be 880 feet. You can see the problem with being slow.

Equipment Care Your parachute is only one part of your safety system. As with any system, reliability is only as good as the weakest link.

Harnesses All properly built harnesses are strong enough to withstand the opening shock of a normal parachute deployment if they are properly maintained.

Most harnesses are not designed to withstand the opening shock of a hang glider reserve from terminal free fall velocity. To withstand higher loads and adverse loading conditions like a head down parachute opening, the shoulder straps, leg loops and back strap should be joined by a primary structural reinforcement to the main support straps. If you are interested in a technical reference on conventional skydiving equipment and parachutes, I recommend The Parachute Manual

by Dan Poynter, available from Parachuting Publications, P.O. Box 4232, Santa Barbara, CA 93103.

LOOK for the handle, GRASP the handle, PULL the deployment bag from the container (with most systems a down-and-out at about 45 degrees works best), LOOK for clear air, THROW towards clear air and with the direction of any spin, PULL the bridle

Carabiners In the early 1980s, a pilot’s aluminum carabiner failed while he was hooking in for flight! Aluminum carabiners are typically rated at 1800 to 2800 kilos (4,000 to 6,000 pounds) ultimate strength when new, but are susceptible to fatigue from nicks and scratches.

Most steel carabiners are rated at about 5000 kilos (11,000 lbs.) and are much more durable. We do not know of any failures of high quality alloy steel carabiners, but we suggest that you

54

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

LOOK-GRASP-PULL-LOOKTHROW-PULL

replace even a steel carabiner after 3 to 5 years of regular service. As an extra safety measure, use a quick link to connect your parachute bridle to your harness main support straps. If your carabiner failed, you would retain a secondary link to your parachute. Also, verify that the locking gate of the carabiner faces forward when hooking into the glider and that the parachute bridle is on the back side of the carabiner. This procedure will prevent the parachute bridle from opening the carabiner gate and disconnecting from the harness during a parachute deployment.

Deployment Bags / Rubber Bands All modern hand deploy systems are packed in a bag or diaper to help clear the canopy and lines to the perimeter of the glider before the opening sequence initiates. Most malfunctions that we have observed during practice deployments are related to poor deployment bag design and / or lack of maintenance (the rubber bands are brittle or even broken). If your deployment system relies on rubber bands, they should be replaced at least once every six months; more often if you live in a hot climate. You must use the recommended size and type of bands for the bag to function properly.

Wills Wing / Free Flight containers include a separate pocket for protecting and stowing lines, which also reduces the likelihood of deployment problems normally encountered with poorly maintained deployment systems.

Pin Locks An accidental parachute deployment is a very dangerous occurrence. A pin lock system is the most effective mechanism for preventing an unintentional deployment without compromising your ability to execute a normal deployment sequence. If you do not have a pin lock system, have one installed before your next flight. You must use the proper pins, which are characterized by a curved finger lock and continuous eye assembly. Cotter pins can jam, and effectively make deployment impossible.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

Do Not Leave Your Equipment In The Sun. Ultraviolet light is very harmful to nylon and polyester materials.

Avoid Exposing Your Harness To Extreme Heat.

The bed of a pick-up truck or the trunk of a car may get excessively hot due to the routing of the exhaust system. Heat is particularly damaging to parachutes.

Keep Your Harness Clean.

Acids, gasoline and other solvents may degrade the structural material in your harness. Do not use harsh detergent or cleaning agents on your harness. Wash with plain water, using a sponge or soft brush and a mild detergent applied locally to spots and stains.

Inspect Your Carabiner.

Replace it if it is nicked, deeply scratched or if the locking gate does not function properly. Do not clip your carabiner into any glider tether point that does not provide a completely free unrestricted pivot. Torsion or bending loads will significantly reduce its strength.

Preflight Inspection Before Each Flight Perform a complete pre-flight inspection of your harness. Check for excessive wear. Inspect all knots.

Hang check to make sure the lines are properly routed, your parachute is secure and that your harness is properly clipped into the glider. Make sure that your legs are in the leg loops.

If for any reason you unclip before flight, take the time to do another hang check. An important part of new harness orientation is determining the proper hang height above the control bar base tube. The lower you hang, the more authority you will have in weight shift control. If you are accustomed to hanging high above the base tube and you decide to lower your hang position, you may feel a little uncomfortable at first. For most pilots, the transition takes about 10 hours. Make sure that your parachute doesn’t touch the base tube. Leave at least one inch of clearance to provide for suspension stretch in accelerated maneuvers. Practice entry and exit procedures in a simulator, with storage containers loaded, before your first flight. Familiarize yourself with the emergency egress system, which is usually located adjacent to the zipper, below the parachute container. On most harnesses a hard lateral pull on the handle will peel open the Velcro in the event of a zipper jam on landing approach. Exercise extreme caution when flying over water or landing in a restricted beach area. If you land in the water, unhook from the glider and hold the carabiner in your hand to prevent it from hooking a cable. Do not try to get out of the harness until you are free from the glider. Most harness bodies are padded with closed cell foam which will provide some flotation.

Most harnesses have a zippered convenience pouch in the bottom of the parachute container. Do not 55

M A R K E T P L A C E

D E P A R T M E N T load this pocket with anything which might interfere with the parachute. Do not store any sharp objects in the front mounted containers which might be dangerous on a crash landing. During your hang check, verify that items secured to the side accessory straps, radio and camera mounts, and ballast containers cannot snag on the glider’s flying wires.

Install a hook knife on an easily accessible area of your harness.

Connect the bridle to the back of the carabiner and tape or Velcro it in place against the main support. Place a rubber band over the assembly to keep the bridle in the proper position.

Make sure the band is positioned low enough that it doesn’t interfere with the carabiner gate. It is a good idea to use a fabric sheath between the container and the carabiner to protect the bridle from UV deterioration otherwise you should replace it at the same intervals that your mains are replaced.

It is extremely important to do a hang check with your feet extended as far as possible in the boot of the harness while bouncing up and down to make sure the parachute is secure in the container. If the Velcro on the container starts opening, and you have recently had your chute repacked, there may be too much air left in the canopy. Usually sitting on your parachute and harness for a few minutes will solve this problem. If you are still having trouble, take your parachute and harness to your dealer. Your chute could be improperly packed, too big for the harness container or have an incompatible deployment bag.

Remember that it is important to be proficient at using your emergency reserve and to maintain your equipment.

The single most important decision we can make as pilots is when not to fly so we never need to use our reserve!

56

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

57

LLOOKOUT O MOUNTAIN HANG HAN GLIDIN

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M A R K E T P L A C E HANG GLID I N G A D V I S O RY

Used hang gliders should always be disassembled before flying for the first time and inspected carefully for fatigued, bent or dented downtubes, ruined bushings, bent bolts (especially the heart bolt), re-used Nyloc nuts, loose thimbles, frayed or rusted cables, tangs with non-circular holes, and on flex wings, sails badly torn or torn loose from their anchor points front and back on the keel and leading edges.

PA R A G L I D I N G A D V I S O R Y

Used paragliders should always be thoroughly inspected before flying for the first time.

Annual inspections on paragliders should include sailcloth strength tests. Simply performing a porosity check isn’t sufficient.

Some gliders pass porosity yet have very weak sailcloth. If in doubt, many hang gliding and paragliding businesses will be happy to give an objective opinion on the condition of equipment you bring them to inspect.

BUYERS SHOULD SELECT EQUIPMENT THAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR SKILL LEVEL OR RATING. NEW PILOTS SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION FROM A USHGA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR. FLEX WINGS

AEROS COMBAT II 151 — Sweet glider, 35 hours, perfect condition, quick sale to good home $3,400. Call Jerz (619) 507-3687.

AIRBORNE CLIMAX 13 — One nearly new $4,995; One demo, looks new $4,595.

1-800-688-5637, fly@hanglide.com

M A R K E T P L A C E � � � � � � � � � �

EVEN-UP TRADES — Looking to move up from your Beginner or Novice glider, but can’t put up cash? (262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com

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FALCONS — 140, 170, 195, 225 new and used. WALLABY RANCH (863) 424-0070 FALCON 195 — Single owner, like new, excellent condition, 13 hours, light & dark yellow $1,650. (808) 924-9996.

FALCONS CLEARANCE SALE — School use, one season. All sizes $1,250-$2,500.

(262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com

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FREE PVC GLIDER STORAGE/TRANSPORT TUBE — With the purchase of any new glider.

(517) 223-8683, Cloud9SA@aol.com. Largest selection of new and used gliders in Michigan.

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FUSION 141 — Truly great condition, with carbon-fiber winglets, extra XC bag and spare downtube! Photos available. $1,500 gets everything! (760) 771-4518, ssmith@collegeofthedesert.edu

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FUSION 150 — Excellent condition, flies sweet, best offer, will ship. (305) 285-8978.

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FUSION 150 — Low hours, meticulously maintained, excellent condition, one of the last ones built $2,100 or trade for?

(262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com

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MARK IV 17 — Wheels, carrying case, Tracer harness, parachute, helmet, all excellent condition $1,300. (781) 248-5800.

AIRWAVE KLASSIC 144 — Excellent condition, great thermal glider $800. (541) 504-5416.

ALTAIR SATURNS 147, 167 — Rental gliders at flight park, low hours, clean, priced to sell.

(262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com

MOYES LITESPEED 4 — Very nice, performs great, white /blue $2,995 may consider trade.

(423) 653-0922, ihangglide@hotmail.com

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AV8 — ICARO The Laminar MRX 700+ is now available. Fly the glider that is flown by the current US National Champion and both the Men and Women’s World Champions.

(760) 721-0701, indasky@yahoo.com and www.icaro2000.com

MOYES SONIC 165 — Excellent condition, low hours $2,300 OBO. (205) 823-5121, rhilton103@aol.com

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EAGLES 145, 164, 180 — Rental gliders at flight park, low hours, clean, priced to sell.

(262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com 60

SPORT AT 167 — Flies great, very good condition, ripstop trailing edge, green/white/ blue $850. Joe (847) 895-5858 Illinois.

SPORTSTER 148 — Brand new, white and red, priced to sell or trade for? (262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com SUPERSPORT 153 — 10 hours $1,200.

(503) 254-2983.

MOYES CSX4, SX4, SX5, MAX — Great condition, very low hours, each priced at under $2,000. Moyes Xtralite 147 — All white $1,100 or trade for? (262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com

DREAM 220 — Black/spectrum colors, email for pictures $500 includes storage tube.

(510) 776-2341, tandemrudy@hotmail.com

SPECTRUM 165 — The Wills Wing novice model before the Eagle. Two available, low hours, clean, priced to sell or trade for?

(262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com

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MOYES XTRALITE 147 — <20 hours, undersurface red w/1 tip white and Moyes bird $2,000 OBO. (603) 666-3938 New Hampshire, THRMAL@AOL.COM SENSOR TOPLESS 610 — Excellent condition, 70 hours, fluorescent red LE, magenta undersurface $3,000. High Energy Tracer harness w/parachute, 5’10” $500.

(828) 693-4689.

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April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

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TALON 150 — Excellent condition, <23 hours, light blue/white w/small eagle custom sail pattern, aluminum speedbar $3,850. (970) 879-3935, tom@thomaswoodloghomes.com TARGET 180 — Near new, rental glider at flight park, clean, priced to sell.

(262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com ULTRASPORT 135 — Excellent condition, ~70 hours $2,000. WW Z-5 harness w/parachute, small $750. Yaesu radio w/PTT $200.

(828) 693-4689.

ULTRASPORT 135, 147, 166 — Rental gliders at flight park, low hours, clean, priced to sell.

(262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com ULTRASPORT 166 — Looking for energetic pilot to raise its low hours. Great condition $2,000.

(520) 378-9607, bodybasics@body-basics.com WW DUCK — w/harness, vario, reserve $500.

K4 w/harness, reserve $600. (928) 453-3070, (714) 996-9922.

EMERGENCY PARACHUTES

AUTHORIZED CHUTE REPAIR — And service center for APCO, Elan, Chiron powered parachutes and UP/Perche/Independence paragliders and more! We have a full-time loft available with quick turn around for small to huge repairs and annual inspections. Ship your chute to MoJo’s Gear Ltd. Co., 1475 CR 220, Tow, TX 78672 Attn: REPAIR or INSPECTION. Include a note about the service(s) you require as well as a contact phone number and email. We will contact you with an estimate prior to starting the work. Office: 915-379-1567, www.mojosgear.com

HARNESSES

AIRMAX HANG GLIDER SHOP — Training harness $95. Prime cocoon harness $120.

Prime XC cocoon harness $179. XC glider bag $59. Multipurpose MP glider bag $69.

Waterproof TRANSPORT glider bag $99.

Glider bag kits $39. GEAR BAGS $39. Speed bar blanks, downtubes, upright blanks, radios, varios, shock cord, leech line, harness rope, sail cloth, thread, sail repair material, bolts, nuts, washers, safety rings, saddles, ball pins, tubing end caps. What LEAF was, we are. Ask for our catalog. (505) 824-5098, email airmax2u@yahoo.com CENTER OF GRAVITY — Chest entry, excellent condition, 5’ 9”, $350. (541) 504-5416.

HIGH ADVENTURE PG HARNESS — Large, built in ram-air bag protection, excellent condition $300. (970) 544-5161.

HIGH ADVENTURE PG — Front mount, excellent condition, medium, side & back protection, blue/yellow $400. (860) 6936216, Kearney_WiT@students.ccsu.edu HIGH ENERGY TRACER POD HARNESSES — Sizes and styles change monthly, $300-500. Cocoons $125-$200 each.

Many others available. (262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com MOSQUITO POWERED HARNESS — 5 flights, great shape $2,750. (205) 254-3288, don@highlandmusic.com MOSQUITO POWERED HARNESS — New Prop, one hour airtime, complete superpreflight $3,500 OBO. 1-800-688-5637, fly@hanglide.com PARAGLIDERS

ADVANCE SIGMA 4 — 27 medium, <30 hours, excellent condition $1,300. (850) 862-6857 AIR SPORTS USA —WWW.FLYFORFUN.NET P O W E R E D PA R A G L I D E R S

20 GORE PDA — w/swivel $375. 20 gore $199. Used Quantum 330s, 550s. Many more available. Raven Sky Sports (262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com 61

M A R K E T P L A C E

M A R K E T P L A C E

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April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

M A R K E T P L A C E RIGID WINGS

ATOS-C — 2002, with V-tail. Glider is white and red, well cared for with, 130hrs, $7,500 firm. Jim Lamb (319) 378-6751, jlamb@inav.net AV8 — STRATUS RIGID. Go rigid for under $10,000. Call (760) 721-0701 or email indasky@yahoo.com GHOSTBUSTER — 2000, excellent condition, plus spare downtubes & custom xc bag $7,000. Steve Wertheimer (415) 385-0423, swerthei@earthlink.net.

GHOSTBUSTER PARTS — Sail, flaps, spoilers, ribs, hardware, wires, everything but the leading edges. (970) 641-9207, skyout1@webtv.net U LT R A L I G H T S

AIR SPORTS USA —WWW.FLYFORFUN.NET COMPLETE AEROTOW TRIKE OPERATION — w/Rotax 503, 3-blade Ivo prop, 2-place seat, tow release, emergency chute, LaMouette Gulf wing, custom trailer, launch cart $8,000 gets it all. cctravel@mail3.newnanutilities.org for pixs or (770) 304-8475.

SUPERFLOATER ULTRALIGHT SAILPLANE — Perfect condition, ballistic parachute, tow easily with trike/ultralight/winch, always kept in hangar $9,500. Contact Steve Lantz, (775) 720-4157, email stevelantz@aol.com WANTED

WANTED: NEW OR USED — ThinAir or Vapor harness by ThinRedLine. Contact rudyvisaya@attbi.com, (510) 579-4661 SCHOOLS & DEALERS ALABAMA

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK — See ad under Georgia.

64

M A R K E T P L A C E ARIZONA

DIXON’S AIRPLAY PARAGLIDING — Dixon White: USHGA’s Instructor of the Year! Airplay: Top ranked school for years and featured in the best selling videos “Starting Paragliding”, “Weather to Fly” and the “Art of Kiting”. The perfect beginner training areas at both our Washington and Arizona locations. Arizona’s “best” beginner season is September through May. Washington is open May through September. At both locations drive-up to 360 degree treeless and rockless launches.

Land in wide open fields, enjoy many flights each day! Limited access to the Flight Parks reduce traffic and crowding. Excellent individualized instruction with state-of-the-art lesson plans and equipment. Comprehensive ground schooling with an emphasis on micrometeorology. Great new/used inventory, specializing in Windtech paragliding gear, repair center, and superb customer service.

In ARIZONA or WASHINGTON appointments are required. PO Box 2626 Flagstaff, AZ 86003. (928) 526-4579 www.paraglide.com or dixon@paraglide.com

EAGLE PARAGLIDING — ROB SPORRER: USHGA’S 2002 INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR! We are an Airplay sister school, and teach the same high quality program which has made Dixon’s Airplay a top ranked school for years. We specialize in beginner instruction. SANTA BARBARA caters to paraglider pilots of all levels. Our training hill is unparalleled. We offer year round instruction, equipment sales, SERVICE, and support. By appointment only. www.FlySantaBarbara.com (805) 968-0980.

LARGEST HANG GLIDING SHOP — In the West! Our deluxe retail shop showcases the latest equipment and has two virtual reality hang gliding flight simulators. We stock new and used…Wills Wing, Altair and Moyes gliders, and all the hottest new harnesses.

Trade-ins are welcome. Our comprehensive training program, located at the San Francisco Bay Area’s finest beginner site features: gently sloped “bunny hills,” Wills Wing Falcons of all sizes and comfortable training harnesses!

“FIRST FLIGHT”15 minute video tour of our beginner lesson program shows a student’s skill progression $20 (shipping included). 1116 Wrigley Way, Milpitas CA 95035 (near San Jose). (408) 262-1055, fax (408) 262-1388. mission@hang-gliding.com www.hang-gliding.com

DREAM WEAVER HANG GLIDING — Train on state-of-the-art WILLS WING FALCONS. LESSON PACKAGES: One four hour lesson $125. Three four hour lessons, plus tandem off 2,000ft. $400. Five lessons for $550. Ten lessons plus tandem $1,000. Complete lesson programs. Year-round instruction. Launching and landing and thermal clinics. DON’T HIKE YOUR GLIDER YOURSELF, I’LL HELP YOU! Dealer for Wills Wing, Moyes, Aeros, High Energy Sports, Rotor harnesses, Ball varios, Flytec, Brauniger, Garmin GPS, Camelbaks and more. 80 MILES EAST OF BAY AREA. I’m your northern California MOSQUITO HARNESS DEALER. Call or email to schedule your Mosquito demonstration or clinic.

Giving lessons five days a week, Fridays through Tuesdays. Ideal training hill, up to 150ft., 600ft mountain, 1,200ft mountain.

Tandem instruction. USHGA Advanced Instructor DOUG PRATHER (209) 5560469 Modesto, CA. drmwvrhg@softcom.net

COLORADO

AIRTIME ABOVE HANG GLIDING — Fulltime lessons, sales, service. Colorado’s most experienced! Wills Wing, Moyes, Altair, Aeros, Airwave, High Energy, Ball, Flytec, MotoComm and much more. Call (303) 674-2451, Evergreen, Colorado AirtimeHG@aol.com

CALIFORNIA

AIRJUNKIES PARAGLIDING — Join KEN BAIER for your “Pursuit of Paragliding Excellence” in the land of year-round, excellent paragliding: Southern California and the Baja. Courses for Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Instructor ratings. Powered paragliding, soaring and maneuvers clinics, guided tours, tandem and towing instruction and special events. USHGA certified. Handling the latest equipment. Call (760) 753-2664 for information, airjunkies@worldnet.att.net

DON’T RISK BAD WEATHER — Bad instruction or dangerous training hills. 350 flyable days each year. Learn foot launch flying skills safely and quickly. Train with professional CFI’s at world famous Dockweiler Beach training slopes (5 minutes from LA airport.) Fly winter or summer in gentle coastal winds, soft sand and in a thorough program with one of America’s most prestigious schools for over 25 years.

CONNECTICUT

MOUNTAIN WINGS — Look under New York.

FLY ABOVE ALL — Experience year-round paragliding instruction in beautiful Santa Barbara, CA! Our friendly, experienced staff offers hands-on, personalized, radiocontrolled lessons. Enjoy soaring the best training hill in the Western US and when you land, shuttles will whisk you back to the top for your next scenic flight. USHGA certified, solo, tandem and powered paragliding instruction, equipment sales and tandem flights. Visit our Website at www.flyaboveall.com or call at (805) 965-3733.

THE HANG GLIDING CENTER — PO Box 151542, San Diego CA 92175, (619) 265-5320.

SAN FRANCISCO HANG GLIDING CENTER — Tandem instruction, solo lessons, gliders new and used. Ultralight seacraft instruction over San Francisco Bay. Apprenticeship program.

(510) 528-2300, www.sfhanggliding.com

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

FLORIDA

TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT — Come soar in San Diego! This family owned and operated flying site offers USHGA certified instruction, advanced training, equipment sales, tandem flight instruction, motorized pg/hg instruction and site tours. We also have an extensive pg/hg outfitting shop offering parachute repacks and full-service repairs.

Bring your family for our amazing sunsets and dining at the Cliffhanger Cafe. Importers for PARATECH and INDEPENDENCE gliders. We also carry AustriAlpin, Center of Gravity, Crispi and SupAir. Check us out online for sales and questions at: www.flytorrey.com, or call tollfree at 1-877-FLY-TEAM (359-8326). Also, tune in to the Internet Paragliding Talk Show at www.wstadio.com every Monday 8-10:00 am (PST).

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

THE BEST AEROTOW — Instruction available. The only U.S. hang gliding school with TWO NATIONAL CHAMPION INSTRUCTORS and U.S. WORLD TEAM MEMBERS Bo Hagewood 2000 National Champion And Paris Williams 2001 National Champion. From your first tandem to advanced X-C racing instruction. Open every day with beautiful remodeled 90+ acre facilities. Plenty of other activities like our screened in pool, hot tub, private lake, canoes, fishing, volleyball and just minutes from Orlando attractions. Learn from the best.... at Quest! www.questairforce.com Email: questair@sundial.net (352) 429-0213 Groveland, FLt

18265 E. State Road 80, Clewiston FL. (863) 805-0440, www.thefloridaridge.com LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK — See ad under Georgia. Nearest mountain training center to Orlando (only 8 hours).

GRAYBIRD AIRSPORTS - PARAGLIDER TOWING! XC, thermalling, instruction, equipment. Dunnellon Airport (352) 245-8263 www.graybirdairsports.com

High Energy Sports Inc. Quantum Series Hang Gliding & Paragliding Parachutes...

The best you can buy!

A reserve parachute is one of the most important purchases you will ever make. If properly cared for, your parachute will outlast your glider and your harness. A parachute can be your last hope for survival in a very bad situation. The Quantum Series design has revolutionized parachute technology. It was adopted for use by the US Forest Service Smokejumpers and the US Army Special Forces. The safety record has been unprecedented! Make sure you have the best...

Make sure you have a Quantum Series Parachute

by High Energy Sports Inc.

Hang Gliding Harnesses designed for you... customized by you!

Each harness is cut to your body dimensions and built with your choice of over 30 options. You only pay for the options you order. For details see our web site.

WE HAVE — The most advanced training program known to hang gliding, teaching you in half the time it takes on the trainingBUNNY HILL, and with more in-flight air time. YES, WE CAN TEACH YOU FASTER AND SAFER. For year-round training fun in the sun, call or write Miami Hang Gliding (305) 285-8978. 2550 S Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, Florida 33133.

1081 Shepard Street Unit A, Anaheim, CA 92806 tel: (714) 632-3323 • fax: (714) 632-6622 www.highenergysports.com betty@highenergysports.com

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M A R K E T P L A C E

M A R K E T P L A C E GEORGIA

The Aerotow Flight Park Satisfaction Guaranteed JUST 8 MILES FROM DISNEY WORLD *YEAR ROUND SOARING *OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK *SIX TUGS, NO WAITING *EVERY DIRECTION 50+ NICE demos to fly: Topless to Trainer Gliders: Laminar, Moyes, Wills, Airborne, Airwave, Exxtacy, La Mouette, Sensor; also harnesses, varios, etc.

Ages 13 To 73 have learned to fly here.

No one comes close to our level of experience and success with tandem aerotow instruction.

A GREAT SCENE FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS...

10 motels & restaurants within 5 mins., camping, hot showers, shade trees, sales, storage, ratings, XC retrievals, great weather, climbing wall, trampoline, DSS TV, ping pong, picnic tables, swimming pool, etc.

Flights of over 200 miles and more than 7 hours.

Articles in Hang Gliding, Kitplanes, Skywings, Cross Country and others. Featured on numerous TV shows, including Dateline NBC, The Discovery Channel & ESPN.

FULL HOOK-UPS — Laundry, propane, recreation room. 1-800-803-7788.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK — See our display ad. Discover why FOUR TIMES as many pilots earn their wings at Lookout than at any other school! We wrote USHGA’s Official Training Manual. Our specialtycustomer satisfaction and fun with the BEST FACILITIES, largest inventory, camping, swimming, volleyball, more! For a flying trip, intro flight or lesson packages, Lookout Mountain, just outside Chattanooga, your COMPLETE training/service center. Info?

(800) 688-LMFP. H AWA I I

Visit us on the Web: http://www.wallaby.com Please call us for references and video.

1805 Dean Still Road, Disney Area, FL 33837 (863) 424-0070 - phone & fax fly@wallaby.com 1-800-WALLABY Conservative . Reliable . State of the Art F.H.G. INC./FLYING FLORIDA SINCE 1974 Malcolm Jones, Laurie Croft, Carlos Bessa, Rhett Radford, Tiki Mashy, Jeremie Hill, Tom Ramseur, Roger Sherrod, Mike Barber, Neal Harris, Bart Weghorst, Carolina de Castro, Paul Moncure, Bob McFee, Emily Boespflug

BIRDS IN PARADISE — Hang gliding & ultralight flying on Kauai. Certified tandem instruction. (808) 822-5309 or (808) 639-1067, birds@birdsinparadise.com www.birdsinparadise.com

PROFLYGHT PARAGLIDING — Imagine a 1000’ foot training hill with nothing but grass between the launches and landing zone. Imagine a paved road that would offer easy access to multiple launches. Imagine that road continuing up to a launch at 6,500’ AGL. Imagine telling your spouse that the next flying trip will be to Maui. (SNAP!) Now wake up and make your dreams a reality. Join Dexter Clearwater and his team at Proflyght Paragliding for an experience of a lifetime. Never flown before? Spend two weeks in paradise and go home with your rating. We offer complete instruction from beginner to advanced. Call (808) 874-5433 for more information or check us out at WWW.PARAGLIDEHAWAII.COM KING MOUNTAIN GLIDERS — Alluring site plus shop supplying all your HG/PG needs.

Instruction, equipment sales, complete accessories.

Visit our website www.kingmountaingliders.com or (208) 390-0205.

Baltimore and DC’s full time flight park Tandem instruction, solo aerotows and equipment sales and service. We carry Aeros, Airwave, Flight Design, Moyes, Wills Wing, High Energy Sports, Flytec and more.

Two 115 HP Dragonfly tugs Open fields as far as you can see Only 1 to 1.5 hours from: • Rehoboth Beach • Baltimore • Washington DC • Philadelphia Come Fly with US! Ph 410.634.2700 Fax 410.634.2775 24038 Race Track Rd Ridgely, MD 21660 www.aerosports.net hangglide@aerosports.net

ILLINOIS

MEXICO

IDAHO

HANG GLIDE CHICAGO — Full service aeropark, 2 tow planes. Full time certified instructors, ultralight instructors, East Coast record 217 miles. (815) 325-1685, www.hangglidechicago.com RAVEN SKY SPORTS — (312) 360-0700, (815) 489-9700 or (262) 473-8800. 2 hours from Chicago, 90 minutes from Elgin, Palatine or Libertyville. The best instructors, the best equipment, the best results in the Midwest.

7 days/week, April thru November. Training program for combined/integrated FOOT LAUNCH AND AEROTOW certification.

Apply 100% of your intro lesson costs to certification program upgrade!

Please see our ad under WISCONSIN. info@hanggliding.com

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

TRAVERSE CITY HANG GLIDERS/PARAGLIDERS — Put your knees in our breeze and soar our 450’ sand dunes. FULL-TIME SHOP. Certified instruction, beginner to advanced.

Sales, service, accessories for ALL major brands. VISA/MASTERCARD. 1509 E 8th, Traverse City MI 49684. Offering POWERED PARAGLIDING. Call Bill at (231) 922-2844, tchangglider@chartermi.net. Your USA & Canada Mosquito distributor.

NEVADA

NORTH CAROLINA

Kitty Hawk Kites Flight Park

Fly At The Beach!

ADVENTURE SPORTS — Carson City, Sierra tours, tandems, sales. (775) 883-7070 http://home.pyramid.net/advspts NEW JERSEY

MOUNTAIN WINGS — Look under New York.

NEW YORK

AAA FLIGHT SCHOOL — Mountain Wings Inc, 150 Canal Street, Ellenville NY 12428, www.mtnwings.com mtnwings@catskill.net, (845) 647-3377.

MEXICO — Summer in Monterrey, winter in Valle de Bravo. 1-800-861-7198, www.flymexico.com MICHIGAN

CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION — Aerotow specialists. We carry all major brand hang gliders. FREE PVC glider storage/transport tube with new glider purchase. Now in stock: Wills TALON COMP!, XC 155, Falcons; Moyes Litespeed 4, Sonic 165; Magic Kiss 154. Outrigger wheels and other accessories in stock. Call for spring tandem lessons and flying appointments with the DraachenFliegen Soaring Club at Cloud 9 Field. 11088 Coon Lake Road West, Webberville, MI 48892.

(517) 223-8683. Cloud9sa@aol.com. http: //members.aol.com/cloud9sa MICHIGAN SOARING — Delivering VALUE with the best combination of SERVICE, QUALITY & PRICE. ALL major brands of gliders and gear. Call Doug Coster (231) 882-4744, wingman@traverse.com

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SUSQUEHANNA FLIGHT PARK — Cooperstown, NY. Certified Instruction, Sales and Service for all major manufacturers. 40 acre park, 5 training hills, jeep rides, bunk house, camping, hot showers, 600’ NW ridge. We have the best facilities in N. New York state to teach you how to fly. c/o Dan Guido, Box 293 Shoemaker Rd, Mohawk NY 13407, (315) 866-6153.

MARYLAND

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

AIR SPORTS USA — NYC’s first and only certified hang gliding, paragliding, microlights (trikes), powered paragliding.

Distributors for Avian. Dealers for most major brands. Full service and equipment at best prices. The most friendly service in the area. Store address: 29 31 Newtown Ave., Astoria NY. Phone (718) 777-7000, WWW.FLYFORFUN.NET FLY HIGH HANG GLIDING, INC. — Serving S. New York, Connecticut, Jersey areas. Area’s EXCLUSIVE Wills Wing dealer/specialist. Also all other major brands, accessories. Certified school/instruction. Teaching since 1979.

Area’s most INEXPENSIVE prices. Excellent secondary instruction...if you’ve started a program and wish to continue. Fly the mountain! Towing! Tandem flights! Contact Paul Voight, 5163 Searsville Rd, Pine Bush, NY 12566, (845) 744-3317.

• TANDEM INSTRUCTION • AEROTOWING • BOAT TOWING • BEACH RESORT • TRAINING CAMPS • FOOT LAUNCH • OPEN YEAR ROUND • PARAGLIDING • EQUIPMENT SALES AND SERVICE

(800) 334-4777 NAGSHEAD, NC Internet Address: http://www.kittyhawk.com E-Mail Address: info@kittyhawk.com PENNSYLVANIA

HIGHLAND AEROSPORTS — See Maryland.

MOUNTAIN WINGS — Look under New York.

PUERTO RICO

FLY PUERTO RICO — Team Spirit Hang Gliding, HG classes daily, tandem instruction available. Wills Wing dealer. Glider rentals for qualified pilots. PO Box 978, Punta Santiago, Puerto Rico 00741. (787) 850-0508, tshg@coqui.net TENNESSEE

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK — See ad under Georgia.

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M A R K E T P L A C E TEXAS

AUSTIN AIR SPORTS *CHECK WEBSITE FOR SCHEDULE OF EVENTS *ALL FLYING BY RESERVATION ONLY *DRAGONFLY/TRIKE INSTRUCTION *INTRO FOOT LAUNCH CLASSES *AEROTOWING/WINCH TOWING *EXCELLENT XC FLYING *TANDEM INSTRUCTION *SALES AND SERVICE Steve Burns - 979.279.9382 email: sburns@austinairsports.com 800B Pine St., Hearne TX 77859 Fred Burns: 281.471.1488 email: austinair@aol.com 3810 Bonita Lane, La Porte TX 77571 WWW.AUSTINAIRSPORTS.COM GO...HANG GLIDING!!! — Jeff Hunt. Austin ph/fax (512) 467-2529 jeff@flytexas.com www.flytexas.com HILL COUNTRY PARAGLIDING INC — Learn complete pilot skills. Personalized USHGA certified training, ridge soaring, foot & tow launching in central Texas. MOTORIZED PARAGLIDING INSTRUCTION & EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE. (915) 379-1185.

1475 CR 220, Tow TX 78672.

TX FLYSPORTS — SPECIALIZING IN POWERED PARAGLIDING, certified instruction. Sky Crusier and Airfer power units, US importer of MUSE and EDEN II paragliders. (713) 494-1970 Houston, www.txflysports.com UTAH

SUPER FLY PARAGLIDING ACADEMY — The nations foremost training paragliding center offering comprehensive pilot training programs, powered paragliding instruction, tandem flights, maneuvers training, towing training/certification and tandem pilot training. We are the closest shop to Point of the Mountain, open year round and supported by the Super Fly, Inc. distribution and service center just minutes away.

Instructors Ken Hudonjorgensen, Scotty Marion, Chris Santacroce, Kevin Biernacki, Dale Covington, Jeff Farrell and Ryan Swan.

Lessons start at $65. (801) 816-1372 or www.paraglidingacademy.com WASATCH WINGS — Utah’s only full service hang gliding school, Point of the Mountain, regional mountain sites, towing. Dealer for Aeros, Airwave, Altair, Moyes, Wills Wings and much more. zac@hangglideutah.com www.hangglideutah.com

68

M A R K E T P L A C E VIRGINIA

Whitewater WI 53190 (262) 473-8800 phone, (262) 473-8801 fax, www.hanggliding.com, info@hanggliding.com

KLASSIC OR CONCEPT WINGLETS — One pair left, brand new in box $350 OBO or trade for? (262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com

WYOMING

BLUE SKY — Fulltime instruction and service at Manquin Flight Park near Richmond.

Wills Wing, Moyes, Flight Design, Aeros and Doodlebug and Mosquito dealer. Steve Wendt (540) 432-6557 or (804) 241-4324, www.blueskyhg.com, blueskyhg@yahoo.com HIGHLAND AEROSPORTS — See Maryland.

KITTY HAWK KITES — See North Carolina.

SILVER WINGS, INC. — Certified instruction and equipment sales. (703) 533-1965 Arlington VA, silverwingshanggliding.com

HANG GLIDER AND PARAGLIDER TOWING — Aerotowing for hang gliders with tandem lessons and training. State of the art platform truck and scooter towing for hang gliders and paragliding. See Blue Sky ad above. 2 hours south of Washington DC, minutes NE of Richmond. (540) 432-6557 WA S H I N G T O N

DIXON’S AIRPLAY PARAGLIDING — Please see our classified ad under Arizona. www.paraglide.com HANGTIME — Dealer of the MOSQUITO powered harnesses. Call for CLINIC dates. Right here in the pacific northwest.

(509) 525-3574, lbbrown@bmi.net WISCONSIN

RAVEN SKY SPORTS HANG GLIDING AND PARAGLIDING — The Midwest’s Premier aerotow flight park, founded in 1992.

Featuring INTEGRATED INSTRUCTION of foot-launch and aerotow tandem skills, at package prices to beat any in the USA. Seven beautiful, grassy training hills facing all wind directions. Four Dragonfly tow planes, no waiting! Four tandem gliders on wheeled undercarriages. WW Falcons for training from the very first lessons. USUA ultralight and tug instruction. Free camping.

Sales/service/accessories for all brands.

Open 7 days a week, April thru November.

Contact Brad Kushner, PO Box 101,

HAWK AIRSPORTS INC — P.O. Box 9056, Knoxville, TN 37940-0056, (865) 9452625. World famous Windsoks, as seen at the Oshkosh & Sun-N-Fun EAA Fly-Ins. Hawk@windsok.com, www.windsok.com JACKSON HOLE PARAGLIDING — Come to Paragliding Paradise and enjoy Alpine flying at its absolute best! Jackson Hole Paragliding can help turn flying dreams into reality with our quality instruction and guide service.

Long known as an outdoorsman’s paradise, Jackson Hole has evolved into a Mecca for paragliding activities. JHPG offers tandem flights, beginner through advanced instruction, mountain thermal clinics, XC clinics, towing, maneuvers training, aerobatic demonstrations and paramotoring. A perfect flying day-Launch the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Aerial Tram in the morning, Tow at the Palisades Reservoir in the afternoon. Contact: scharris@wyoming.com www.jhparagliding.com (307) 690-TRAM (8726)

• ORDER ONLINE AND SAVE • Water/Dust Resistant Push Button • Field Replaceable Finger Switch • Heavier Gauge Wire/Improved Plugs • Increased Strain Relief at ALL Joints SUMMER SPECIAL $99.95 Extra finger switch $19.95 w/purchase. Dealer inquiries welcome.

Call (636) 390-8919. MC/Visa.

Visit our website at www.flightconn.com, mikedillon@flightconn.com

LIGHTWEIGHT CAMERA BRACKET — $79 (+$6 s/h). Holds 35mm cameras or camcorders. Keith Murray, 1011 Page St., Manchester NH 03104, (603) 666-3938, THRMAL@AOL.

GHOSTBUSTER PARTS — Sail, flaps, spoilers, ribs, hardware, wires, everything but the leading edges. (970) 641-9207, skyout1@webtv.net

SOARING DREAMS

PA R T S & A C C E S S O R I E S

ABSOLUTE LOW — Ball/Blue Sky VARIO prices! www.websitetrafficbuilders.com/ vario.htm, email bob@websitetrafficbuilderscom FLYTEC 4010 VARIOS — With bracket, new $260, used $150. (541) 504-5416.

FOR ALL YOUR FLYING NEEDS — Check out the Aviation Depot at www.mojosgear.com featuring over 1000 items for foot-launched and powered paragliding, hang gliding, stunt and power kiting, and powered parachutes.

24/7 secure online shopping. Books, videos, KITES, gifts, engine parts, harness accessories, electronics, clothing, safety equipment, complete powered paragliding units with training from Hill Country Paragliding Inc. www.hillcountryparagliding.com 1-800-664-1160 for orders only. Office (915) 379-1567.

The world-class XCR-180 operates up to 3 hours @18,000 ft. and weighs only 4lb. Complete kit with cylinder, harness, regulator, cannula and remote on/off flowmeter, only $400.00.

XC $60., heavy waterproof $100. Accessories, used stuff. Low prices, fast delivery! Bar mitts, harness packs & zippers. Gunnison Gliders, 1549 County Road 17, Gunnison CO 81230.

(970) 641-9315, orders 1-866-238-2305.

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

DON’T GET CAUGHT LANDING DOWNWIND! — 1.5 oz. ripstop nylon, UV treated, 5’4” long w/ 11” throat. Available colors fluorescent pink/yellow or fluorescent pink/white. $39.95 (+$5.00 S/H).

Send to USHGA Windsok, P.O. Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330, (719) 632-8300, fax (719) 632-6417, ushga@ushga.org VISA/MC accepted.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

MINI VARIO — World’s smallest, simplest vario! Clips to helmet or chinstrap. 200 hours on batteries, 0-18,000 ft., fast response and 2 year warranty. Great for paragliding too.

ONLY $169. Mallettec, PO Box 15756, Santa Ana CA, 92735. (714) 966-1240, MC/Visa accepted, www.mallettec.com TEK FLIGHT PRODUCTS

Camera mount $48.50. Camera remote (ask about rebate) $45. Vario mount $23.

6” wheels $29.75, 8” wheels $34.75, Add $4 S&H per (US) included. TEK FLIGHT Products, Products Colebrook Stage, Winsted CT 06098. Or call (860) 379-1668. Email: tek@snet.net or our page: www.tekflight.com

SPECTACULAR TROPHIES, AWARDS! — Hang gliding & paragliding gifts and accessories.

Contact Lisa Tate, 11716 Fairview Ave., Boise ID 83713, (208) 376-7914 or (208) 4846667, www.soaringdreamsart.com

69

M A R K E T P L A C E

M A R K E T P L A C E

PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS

Otto Lilienthal’s genius in scientific observations and analysis, documented in this work, became the basis for the experimentation of the early pioneers in aviational flight. The “hero” of the Wright brothers, Otto is considered to be “The Father of Gliding Flight.” Lilienthal’s definitive book has been out of print for almost a century, but is now available to everyone for a wonderful and absorbing journey into aviational history.

176 pages, 16 photographs, 89 drawings and 14 graphs. $19.95 (+$5 s/h) Call USHGA 1-800-616-6888, or order off our website www.ushga.org

BAG IT! — If you don’t have your copy of Dennis Pagen’s PERFORMANCE FLYING yet, available through USHGA Headquarters $29.95 (+$6 s&h for UPS/Priority Mail delivery). USHGA, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. 1-800-616-6888 www.ushga.org

TOWING

AEROTOWING ACCESSORIES Headquarters for: The finest releases, secondary releases, Spectra “V” bridles, weak links, tandem wheels, launch cart kits, etc.

THE WALLABY RANCH (863) 424-0070.

HARRY AND THE HANG GLIDER is a beautifully illustrated, hardcover children’s book with 40 color pages written for pilots to share the dream of flight! To order: send $24.95 plus $3 shipping to SkyHigh Publishing, 201 N. Tyndall, Tucson, AZ 85719 or call (520) 628-8165 or visit http://www.flash.net/ ~skyhipub Visa/MC accepted.

FLY THE WING! Hooking Into Hang Gliding,

by Len Holms. This is the perfect book for those curious about the sport of hang gliding. Written at a level which will not swamp the reader with daunting amount of technical details, you will learn about hang glider wings and the skills needed to fly them. 84 pages with photos and illustrations. $12.95(+$5 s&h). USHGA, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. 1-800-6166888 www.ushga.org

THE ART OF PARAGLIDING — By Dennis Pagen. HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Step by step training, ground handling, soaring, avoiding dangers, and much much more. 274 pages, 248 illustrations. The most complete manual about paragliding on the market. $34.95 +$5.00 s/h. USHGA, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. (719) 632-8300, fax your MC/Visa/Amex to (719) 632-6417, www.ushga.org, ushga@ushga.org

DON’T LEAVE YOUR GROUND-BOUND EQUIPMENT SITTING IN THE GARAGE. SELL IT IN THE HANG GLIDING CLASSIFIEDS.

DRAGONFLY B-MODEL KIT — Built by Bobby Bailey $13,600. Rotax 582 fitted and plumbed radiator, exhaust $6,626. Electric start, 6 blade Ivo prop with clutch $1,100. Rear seat and controls $1,250. Brake kit installed $250. BRS 900 VLS $2,595. Instrument pack: Alt, ASI, Tacho, temp gauges, Hobbs $1,017. Painted one color $1,200. Tow system $375. Total $28,013. A 50% deposit is required. Bobby Bailey can be available for basic training after completion.

Kenny Brown/Moyes America, 200 Hillcrest Drive, Auburn CA 95603, (530) 888- 8622, fax (530) 888-8708, flyamoyes@aol.com, www.moyesamerica.com VIDEOS & DVDS

SOARING — Monthly magazine of The Soaring Society of America, Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring flight. Full membership $55. Info. kit with sample copy $3. SSA, P.O. Box 2100, Hobbs, NM 88241.

(505) 392-1177.

*NEW* STARTING POWERED PARAGLIDING is a great introduction to the sport of powered paragliding. It shows what to expect from first lessons, first solo flight, to advanced techniques. Covers ground school with simulator training and paraglider wing ground handling, equipment fundamentals of the wing and power pack, importance of weather to fly, and expert pilots showing advanced techniques. Features animated modeling to illustrate climb/descent attitudes and flight patterns plus spectacular in-air footage and great soundtrack. 44 minutes $36.95 Also available in DVD.

70

April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

*NEW* LIFTING AIR For Paragliding-How to Thermal and Soar. Master the principles of lifting air with Dixon White, Master Pilot, USHGA Examiner, and USHGA 2002 Instructor of the Year. Learn where to look for thermals and ridge lift, how to stay in the lifting air to climb efficiently, and deal appropriately with the dynamics of the soaring conditions. This is for beginner, intermediate and the advanced pilot wanting to brush up. A must for all paraglider and powered paraglider pilots.

Divided into 5 sections: Prerequisites for Lifting air, Active Piloting, Ridge Lift, Thermal Lift, and Cross Country. 40 minutes $39.95 Also available in DVD.

PARAGLIDER GROUND HANDLING & THE ART OF KITING, by Adventure Productions.

Learn techniques and tips for easy ground handling with this instructional program. Get in tune with your glider and improve your flying skills while on the ground. Various wind conditions are covered with the successful and proven industry-standard techniques of Dixon White-Master rated pilot, USHGA Examiner and USHGA’s PG Instructor of the Year. This is for the beginner, intermediate & advanced pilot who wants to do some brushing up on his skills. Be a master of your paraglider. 44 minutes $36.95 NOW AVAILABLE IN DVD, same great price.

*NEW* PARAGLIDER TOWING Instructional.

Learn the fundamentals of paraglider towing with Dixon White, Master Pilot, USHGA Examiner, and USHGA 2002 Instructor of the Year. Basic how-to and safety tips are covered along with a discussion on towing rigs. Gives you a better understanding of paraglider towing. 24 minutes $24.95 Also available in DVD.

IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT MOUNTAIN

By Adventure Productions. Searching for the perfect mountain, perfect flight, and the perfect experience that challenges our essence and satisfies our quest for adventure.

This paragliding odyssey takes you to St. Anton, Austria; Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; Sun Valley, Idaho; Point of the Mountain, Utah; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Features in-air footage, aerial maneuvers, and local pilot tours. 44 minutes $36.95. NOW AVAILABLE IN DVD, same great price.

SUPER FLY HARD by Super Fly. A worldwide flying adventure film featuring Chris Santacroce, Rob Whittall, Othar Lawrence and Pablo Lopez. Filmed at the most beautiful flying locations in the world-Hawaii, Switzerland, Turkey & Utah. This films shows the beauty of flying, the latest aerobatic maneuvers and an introspective look into why we fly. 40 minutes $35.95 SPEED TO FLY with Jockey Anderson. A complete video guide to cross country paragliding. Great air-to-air and in-board footage with Jockey as he takes you around the world, providing flying tips and interviewing the top pilots. Covers thermaling, decision making, competition flying and speed to fly.

70 minutes $39.95 A HIGHER CALLING by Dawn Treader Productions. Winner “People’s Choice Award” at the Banff Mountain Film Festival 2000. A story of six friends attempting to fly cross country together as a group through western Nepal, where finding launches & landings becomes a daily routine. Become immersed into the Nepal culture upon every landing.

Superb editing. 45 minutes $32.95 BALI HIGH, by Sea to Sky Productions. A paragliding adventure film. Great flying and a great adventure on the exotic island of Bali, Indonesia. A result of wild imaginations, weeks of filming and three unsupervised pilots in a land of serious fun. Great flying footage.

38 min $29.95.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding: April, 2003

WEATHER TO FLY, by Adventure Productions. A much needed instructional video on meteorology. Dixon White, Master pilot and USHGA Examiner, takes you through a simple step-by-step process showing where to acquire weather data and how to interpret it. This video will help pilots of any aircraft understand more about modeling and forecasting. You’ll learn about regional and local influences and how to determine winds aloft and stability.

“Weather To Fly” is an over-all view packed with useful details and includes great cloud footage. It is a straight-forward presentation that is easy to follow. 50 min. $39.95 NOW IN DVD, same great price.

Call USHGA (719) 632-8300, fax (719) 6326417, email: ushga@ushga.org, or order off our web page www.ushga.org. Please add +$4 domestic s/h (+$5 for two or more videos). Great to impress your friends or for those socked-in days. Perfect gift for the launch potato turned couch potato.

From the Telluride Festival in 1981, to the modern day freestyle competition.

Follow the history of this dynamic gathering. $24.95 Call USHGA (719) 632-8300, fax (719) 632-6417, order from our web site www.ushga.org.

Please add +$4 domestic s/h.

TO FLY: DISCOVER PARAGLIDING TODAY — USHGA’s 7 minute promotional video, now only $9.95 PLUS FREE SHIPPING (in the USA).

1-800-616-6888, www.ushga.org

STARTING HANG GLIDING, by Adventure Productions. Produced especially to promote the sport. Covers basic preparation, weather, proper attitude, ground handling, launching and those first flights. 30 min $29.95.

STARTING PARAGLIDING by Adventure Productions. Covers basic preparations, weather, proper attitude, ground handling & those first exciting launches. 30 min $29.95. NOW AVAILABLE IN DVD, same great price.

TO FLY: DISCOVER HANG GLIDING TODAY — USHGA’s 7 minute promotional video, now only $9.95 PLUS FREE SHIPPING (in the USA).

1-800-616-6888, www.ushga.org

HANG GLIDING EXTREME & BORN TO FLY by Adventure Productions, great hg action $34.95 each. NOW AVAILABLE IN DVD, same great price 71

M A R K E T P L A C E MISCELLANEOUS

WORLDWIDE INTERNET PARAGLIDING TALK SHOW — Listen live or to the archives! Live Monday 8-10:00 am (PST). Call toll-free, 1-888-327-0061 (International: 858-6230102), to share stories, promotions/events, insight, or to ask questions of radio hosts David and Gabriel Jebb.

“AEROBATICS” — Full color 23”x 31” poster featuring John Heiney doing what he does best-LOOPING! Available through USHGA HQ for just $6.95 (+$5.00 s/h). Fill that void on your wall! Send to USHGA Aerobatics Poster, PO Box 1300, Colorado Springs CO 80933. (USA & Canada only. Sorry, posters are NOT AVAILABLE on international orders.)

SPECIAL-Aerobatics poster & Eric Raymond poster-BOTH FOR $10 (+$5 s/h). Check the merchandise section of our web site www.ushga.org for a color picture of these beautiful posters.

NEARLY 2000 DIGITAL PHOTOS! On 3 CD’s and for less than the cost of buying and developing two rolls of film. As featured in October’s HG issue and taken during Florida’s Nationals and Flytec competitions. If you were there, you’re probably here! If you weren’t, then find out why so many love to fly there.

Print them, share them, use as screen savers or backgrounds. Pictures of people, flight parks, wildlife, gliders, paragliders, equipment, activities and more. BEST EVER whack shot!

Can be enlarged to poster size. Tons of action shots. 1600 x 1200 Pixels. Only $19 (US) with shipping. Check or credit card. Please visit: http://homepage.mac.com/nestle/ for more information and samples, or call (512) 589-7324.

WANTED — NEW CLUB MEMBERS, born before 10/27/28. Sylmar Hang Glider Association. Dead-Eye. STOLEN WINGS & THINGS

VISION CLASSIC — Stolen October 25th, 2002 from a van in SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. Size small. Trisha Ross (360) 402-5767, diligentanesthesia@yahoo.com 72

G A L L E R Y SMALL GIN BOLERO #31247 & Genie II Harness by fraud ring in Singapore at Jl.Gandaria IX No:4, Gandaria kebayoran baru, City: JAKSEL, JKT-IND. Also fraudulently ordered by delta_trikes@astaga.com: Alinco DJ-195 radio, Gin Flight Suit, Gin Reserve and Lazer helmet. Contact granger@parasoftpara gliding.com or (303) 494-2820.

GIN BOLERO & PARAGLIDING GEAR — Stolen May 17th, 2002 from car at REDMOND, WA. Gin Bolero, blue, X-small. SupAir Evo harness, small red/black w/tan trim & rear mount reserve container w/extra velcro strips along both sides of the reserve container area, it also has black clips attached to the tops of both shoulder straps. Gin SS 30m2 reserve parachute (inside the harness). Tree kit. Contact Annie Sohn, (425) 493-2289, asohn@combimatrix.com SOL AXIOM - stolen with Toyota truck in Salt Lake City, Utah in late March 2002.

Wing is size small, purple with pink stripe along the underside; also Sol Charly harness (small/medium), grey Leedom helmet, Flytec vario, reserve. All items were packed in a homemade black and green PG backpack.

Contact Damion Mitchell, (801) 518-0768 or dzmitchell@hotmail.com STOLEN WINGS are listed as a service to USHGA members. Newest entries are in bold.

There is no charge for this service and lost and found wings or equipment may be called in (719) 632-8300, faxed in (719) 632-6417, or emailed at ushga@ushga.org for inclusion in Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Please call to cancel the listing when gliders are recovered.

Periodically, this listing will be purged.

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES

The rate for classified advertising is $.50 per word (or group of characters) and $1.00 per word for bold or all caps. MINIMUM AD CHARGE $5.00. A fee of $15.00 is charged for each line art logo and $25.00 for each photo.

LINEART & PHOTO SIZE NO LARGER THAN 1.75” X 2.25”. Please underline words to be in bold print. Special layouts of tabs $25.00 per column inch. Phone number=2 words. Email or web address=3words. AD DEADLINES: All ad copy, instructions, changes, additions and cancellations must be received in writing 2.5 months preceding the cover date, i.e.

April 20th is the deadline for the June issue. Please make checks payable to USHGA, P.O. Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 809011330, (719) 632-8300. Fax (719) 632-6417 or email: ushga@ushga.org your classified with your Visa/MC or Amex.

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

Adventure Productions .................57 Aerolight USA ...............................57 Angle of Attack .............................61 Apco Aviation ...............................63 Cloud 9 Soaring Center ................18 Critter Mountainwear ...................10 Dan Johnson ................................78 Dixon’s Airplay..............................79 Flight Design ..........................45, 47 Fly Market/Independence .............34 Flytec USA ....................................80 Hall Brothers.................................72 High Energy Sports.......................65 Just Fly..........................................12 Kitty Hawk Kites............................63 Lookout Mountain........................59 Mojo’s Gear ..................................35 Moyes ..........................................21 Sport Aviation Publications ..........11 SuperFly .........................................2 Thermal Tracker ...........................53 Torrey Pines ..................................46 Traverse City/Mosquito ................62 US Aeros ......................................12 USHGA .............................21, 56, 58 Wills Wing ...................................6-7

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Featured gallery photographers: Dick Jackson Franz Huber J. P. Cudahy photograph:

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April, 2003: Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Early prototypes of a wind-powered Toyota proved impractical and were never approved for road use in the U.S.

-t !'~.'. =-==~~~--~----

-

Mike Kung soaring the dunes of the namib.

Photographs: Franz Huber

We are as birds,

you and I.

We launch ourselves on faith and feathers into the sky searching for the sun.

We feel the air. We hear the clouds.

We are in tune with all that surrounds us in nature.

We are as birds.

We are poetry in flight.

— anonymous

USPPA President Jeff Goin demonstrates new, super-high output paramotor equipment at October, 2002 USHGA BOD meeting in Florida.

Designed for power-assisted launch and cruise at altitude, the equipment significantly broadens the powered paragliding flight envelope.

Whassuupp?

“What’s taking so long with your Website?” — “Are you ever going live?”

I’m aware some of you have been waiting anxiously so you can read almost 25 years of “Product Lines” columns, Dennis Pagen flight reviews of several modern gliders, or hundreds of other pilot reports with thousands of photos.

OK, maybe “anxiously” is a little strong. But after all these ads, you’re curious, aren’t you?

To speed up the effort of posting all the articles, I’ve hired Whole Air magazine editor Starr Tays Weiss to help, and our former teamwork will pay off once again.

So, really — I mean it — ByDanJohnson.com IS coming. Please sign up now to be notified when the site goes live.

* All USPPA members are required to wear uniforms. They’re very sharp uniforms.

Brand New 2003 Buyer’s Guide Last year’s edition sold out.

And the new 2003 model is bigger and better than ever.

WDLA has got: 36 pages of paragliders, 16 pages of hang gliders, 10 pages of ultralight sailplanes, 19 pages of powered hang gliders or paragliders… plus… over 1,000 aircraft including powered parachutes, trikes, ultralights, kit-built aircraft, rotorcraft… and… contact info for many suppliers, schools, dealers, and clubs.

Thought you’d seen it all? Hardly!

Get your own copy of the 2003 World Directory of Leisure Aviation. Only $9.95 + $4.95 Priority Mail. Limited stock—send a check for $14.90 to: Dan Johnson • 265 Echo Lane • South St. Paul MN 55118 • USA • (no credit cards or phone orders)

Flytec

Number 1 April 1, 2003

A P u b l i c a t i o n o f F l y t e c U S A • 8 0 0 - 6 6 2 - 2 4 4 9 • w w w. f l y t e c . c o m

Feature Stories: Flytec Championship – The best comp of the year Team Flytec pilots dominate • Mike Barber world distance record in HG • Will Gadd world distance record in PG • Paris Williams National Champion 2 years in a row Flytec USA nominated the most controversial advertiser ADVERTISEMENT