USHPA Hang Gliding & Paragliding Vol37/Iss12 December 2007 by US Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association

Volume 37 Issue 12 December 2007 $4.95

A Publication of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc. www.ushpa.aero

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USHPA, Publisher: info@ushpa.aero C. J. Sturtevant, Editor: editor@ushpa.aero Joe Hartman, Art Director: jhartman@brandingironmedia.com Martin Palmaz, Advertising: martin@ushpa.aero Matt Gerdes, Contributing Editor: mattg@FlyOzone.com Staff writers: Alex Colby, Steve Messman, Dennis Pagen, Mark “Forger” Stucky Staff artist: Jim Tibbs Staff photographer: Josh Morell Office Staff: Paul Montville, Executive Director: paul.montville@ushpa.aero Rick Butler, Information Services Director: rick@ushpa.aero Martin Palmaz, Business Manager: martin@ushpa.aero Erin Russell, Office Manager: erin@ushpa.aero Michelle Burtis, Member/Instructor Services Administrator: michelle@ushpa.aero USHPA Officers and Executive Committee: Lisa Tate, President: lisa@soaringdreamsart.com Riss Estes, Vice President: parariss@yahoo.com Rich Hass, Secretary: richhass@comcast.net Mark Forbes, Treasurer: mgforbes@mindspring.com REGION 1: Rich Hass, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Dave Wills, Urs Kellenberger, Paul Gazis. REGION 3: David Jebb, John Greynald, Brad Hall. REGION 4: Steve Mayer, Jim Zeiset. REGION 5: Lisa Tate. REGION 6: Gregg Ludwig. REGION 7: Tracy Tillman. REGION 8: Gary Trudeau. REGION 9: Felipe Amunategui, L.E. Herrick. REGION 10: Dick Heckman, Steve Kroop, Matt Taber. REGION 11: Gregg Ludwig. REGION 12: Paul Voight. REGION 13: Dick Heckman. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Leo Bynum, Riss Estes, Mike Haley, Jon James, Dennis Pagen. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR: Art Greenfield (NAA). The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding 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 United States at FAI meetings, has delegated to the USHPA supervision of FAI-related hang gliding and 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. 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@ushpa.aero. ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE SENT TO USHPA HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS. The USHPA 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 Rogallo membership and Pilot membership are $69 ($90 non-U.S.). Dues for Contributing membership and for subscriptiononly are $52 ($63 non-U.S.). $15 of annual membership dues goes to the publication of Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Changes of address should be sent six weeks in advance, including name, USHPA number, previous and new address, and a mailing label from a recent issue. You may also email your request with your member number to: info@ushpa.aero.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING (ISSN 1543-5989) (USPS 17970) is published monthly by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., 1685 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904, (719) 632-8300, FAX (719) 632-6417. PERIODICAL postage is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine, P.O. BOX 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement #40065056. Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3 DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES IN PUBLICATIONS: The material presented here is published as part of an information dissemination service for USHPA members. The USHPA 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 © 2007 Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine welcomes editorial submissions from our members and readers. We are always looking for well written articles and quality artwork. Feature stories generally run anywhere from 1500 to 3000 words. If your topic demands more or less than this, you should discuss options 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 via email to editor@ ushpa.aero, 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 email or telephone. Contact: Editor, Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine, editor@ushpa.aero, (425) 888-3856. For change of address or other USHPA business, call (719) 632-8300, or email info@ushpa.aero.

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

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

Kari Castle coming in to goal at the Rat Race Photo: Josh Morell

Departments Editor’s Corner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

TAKEOFF STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES

Pilot Briefings: News and Events . . . . . . . . . . 8

Part III – Long-Term Considerations

Airmail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

To maximize airtime, you need to take off when the odds are in your favor that you’ll get up and stay up. Here are some strategies to help you make better decisions about when to launch.

USHPA: Awards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 USHPA: New Executive Director . . . . . . . . . 20 Foundation: Project Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Flight Report: Yee Ha! My First Tandem Tow at Morningside. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 PG Accidents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Pilot Profile: Flying Geezer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

P-3 … For Me?

An intermediate-rated paraglider pilot reflects on how he achieved this level of competence, and where he’s going from here.

Faces of the Future: Marcos Rosenkjer . . . . 44 Travel: In Quest of Big Air. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 New Ratings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Marketplace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 One Last Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Index to Advertisers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

By Chris King. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

I CANNOT NOT

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” Mike Van Dorn’s experience proves that Leonardo was onto something. By Mike Van Dorn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Oh, Canada!

If you weren’t at the Canadian paragliding nationals last summer, you missed out on some better-thanepic flying.

Volume 37 Issue 12 December 2007 $4.95

A Publication of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc. www.ushpa.aero

Photo: Klaus Schlueter

Your glider’s point of view… Klaus Schlueter and a friend cruise the cliffs at Pacifica, California.

By Rob Sporrer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

One look at he highty r&ffliiild 12 and You'll kriow why i s performance is Url\SUl'"passed. Throughout he 2007 competit ion season, nothing was climbing faster, or gliding better than the 12.

IP.e.rfoll'manoe you can, feel. Rollf · up on a wing and let the bar out o carve a precise um. Take an easy pull on the VG rope and po1n tne nose towards the horfizon. Th~ distan point 01.1 here tha you can just IJ.;Jrety see - you've gOt hat and beyond on a glide.

Most irnportanrtly - P~rfo111T1ance you can buy. Choose your o tions - your cotors, UVM mylar cloth, carbon basetube, carbon rear leadlng a,c!ges, carbon sprogs. Ma e i as trick as you warit After all, this is vour new g 1ider! 1

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Hang In There Part Deux – More Blown Launches

Forger reminds us about the need for extreme diligence during launch, and reminisces on some blown launches he’s witnessed or participated in, some with dire consequences from seemingly small errors.

By Mark “Forger” Stucky. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Starthistle 2007: Pilots of the Carabiner!

Pirate pilots flying an assortment of wings (and, occasionally, the Jolly Roger) converged on Woodrat Mt. in Oregon for the 31st annual Starthistle event.

By Don Fitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Gallery. . .62

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: George Sturtevant

Happy holidays – whatever holidays you’re cel- ing goals within your bump-tolerance level. The first ebrating this season! Please don’t forget to share this two parts of Dennis’s series were in the August and special time of year with those who make your flying September magazines. Woodrat Mt. in Oregon keeps popping up as THE possible: landowners, drivers, friends and family. A hang gliding or paragliding calendar, a T-shirt, a fruit place to be during the flying season. Last spring’s basket or a turkey, a framed photo of a local pilot or a Starthistle event was just one more example of why local site – you or your group can surely find a perfect this site is a favorite of pilots from all over the country. gift for everyone who’s contributed to your pursuit of Donato Fitch’s event report, “Pirates of the Carabiner,” describes a costume fly-in held at the beginning of the airtime during 2007. In this season of giving, you might want to consider season rather than at the more traditional October seaa gift to yourself and the rest of the flying community. son’s end. If you haven’t made a road trip to hang gliderThe Foundation for Free Flight continues to work to and paraglider-friendly Woodrat, put it on your list! I find it really encouraging to read about newcomsecure sites and fund other flying-related projects. In this month’s magazine, pilots working on site issues ers to our sports, who unintentionally remind us exactly at Miller Canyon (Arizona) and Sand Turn (Wyoming) why we got into flying, and why we’re still at it. “Faces provide an update on Foundation-supported improve- of the Future” pilot Marcos Rosenkjer, age almost-12, ments. The Foundation presents its new logo and Web seems destined for great things in paragliding – the adults who have been mentoring him since he was far site in the Pilot Briefings section. Just as we’re going to press, we welcome USHPA’s too young to fly solo clearly see a competent, intelnew executive director, Paul Montville! His first day at ligent pilot in his small frame. Recent college graduate the office is today (November 1); it’s a bit too short Lauren Danzi’s “Yee Ha!” tale of her first hang gliding notice to ask him to write something to include in this lesson is filled with the excitement and wonder that issue, but I’ll catch him for an official column for the attract and hold each of us to this sport. “P-3…For January magazine. You can send him a “welcome!” Me?” is Chris King’s account of his journey from beginner to intermediate paraglider pilot, and his anticipation email at paul.montville@ushpa.aero. At the USHPA BOD meeting a few weeks ago the of what’s in store for him as he increases his skills Awards committee reviewed literally hundreds of docu- and confidence. Those of us who’ve been around for a ments identifying the significant participants within our while can assure you, Chris, that there’s still a whole flying communities. Your letters of recommendation world of unimaginably rewarding experiences awaiting were incredibly detailed and heartfelt. The committee you! How old is “too old” to fly hang gliders? Martin faced some tough decisions, and trying to select the one outstanding winner from a pool of highly deserving Beresford, recently turned 70, declares himself a candidates was cause for much debate. The full roster “Flying Geezer” but, after making a few concessions in attitude and equipment to accommodate his advancof the 2007 USHPA award-winners is in this issue. We all love those “there I was…” stories, and this ing wisdom, he expects to continue flying for another magazine contains several variations on that theme. decade at least. Mike Van Dorn was one of the originals Staff writer Alex Colby’s “Close Calls: Our Kindest in hang gliding from the early ‘70s, but he dropped out Teachers” includes a couple of encounters with famil- when life got too hectic. Now he finds himself retired, iar nemeses, but also points out some hazards that with time and money and good health, and realizes that are far less common. As always, the accidents may he “Cannot Not” fly, after all. Welcome back, Mike! Steve Messman’s “One Last Thought” column this be wing-specific (in this case paraglider), but the lessons learned can apply equally to all of us. Forger’s month speaks to the wide, wonderful worlds that we reminiscing “Hang In There” column speaks to hang are privileged to inhabit because we fly. “Oh, the Places glider launches, with a “we’ve come a long way… I’ve Seen!” is a Dr. Seuss-ish tribute to the joyful and thank goodness!” theme. Rob Sporrer’s report on the the magical aspects of the “ordinary” world that we Canadian paragliding nationals at Golden, BC, is more see from our unique perspective. Happy holidays! I wish you all an abundance of of a gloat story: “There I was, and if you weren’t there also, you missed out big time!” Even if you’re not into peace and perspective, love and laughter, grand adcomp reports, the beautiful photos taken at this awe- ventures and happy endings to them all. some biwingual site are worth a peek. Keith Atkins and a bunch of Arkansas hang gliding buddies traveled to a New Mexico fly-in “In Quest of Big Air.” Their quest was spectacularly successful with, on occasion, more excitement than they might have wished. Staff writer Dennis Pagen continues his series on “Takeoff Strategies and Techniques” in this issue, with some tips on timing your launch to meet your soar-

images grants non-exclusive on-line pub- renowned paraglider pilots Raul and lication rights to the contest organizers. Felix Rodriguez, these helmets are availThe prize vault is still being filled, but able in white, blue and black in sizes XS as this magazine goes to press in late through L. More information is available October the value of the prizes is already at www.supair-usa.com. well over $3500 and includes donations from GoPro Cameras, Suunto Sport Watches, Buck Knives and Brunton. Prizes include: • GoPro Hero 3 cameras – waterproof The Foundation for Free Flight is a housing, easy functionality. Small and non-profit charity dedicated to the preslightweight. Nice quality – 640x480 ervation of hang gliding and paragliding .avi format – and easy uploading (reFelix Rodrigues models the for future generations. This all-volunteer cords to SD memory cards). new Sup’Air helmet. staff leverages your thoughtful, tax- • Brunton handheld Atmospheric Data deductible donations to preserve flying Centers (ADC) – compact wind ADVANCE says, “Bring on the winter!” sites, provide education, improve safety meter with altimeter, barometer, – their 2008 team jacket will handle the and support competitions. An update on thermometer and humidity gauge. wet and windy weather with style. Made two projects supported by Foundation Ideal weather tool for all pilots. of breathable but highly water-resistant for Free Flight grants is in this issue, on • Buck Xtract multitools – the only material, and with a light insulation the Foundation page. More information multitool that can be opened and for warmth, the jacket also sports an about the FFF is on their new Web site, used with one hand. Perfect addition adjustable and removable hood and adwww.FoundationForFreeFlight.org. to any flying harness! justable cuff- and waistbands. A tone• Suunto’s newest altimeter watches on-tone logo provides a subtle touch of Picture This: Win Prizes While – the Core and the Lumi. Note that class. The jacket is available in sizes XXS Protecting Northwest Flying Sites the Lumi is the first-ever women’s- through XXL. We all enjoy the remarkably beautispecific full-function altimeter watch. ful sport of foot-launch free flight, yet Great styling, great size and GREAT the sites from which we launch need functionality. constant care and attention. At the same Contest judges include professional time, new sites could be opened with a outdoor photographers Dan A. Nelson bit of sweat and equity. There are plenty (Seattle Times, Backpacker magazine, of folks willing to volunteer their sweat, Outside magazine, Men’s Journal) and Alan but we need help with the equity. That’s L. Bauer (Backpacker, The Mountaineers where this contest comes in. Books, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services The new Paragliding and Hang Publications). Gliding Photo Contest serves dual purVisit www.paraglidingphotocontest poses: first, to share the stunning images .com for more information, to view curof our sport, and second, to raise funds rent entries, and to submit a photo. Hang to help preserve, protect and enhance glider pilots, don’t be put off by the URL our flying sites. Though anyone can enter, – you’ll find the Web site presentation we do ask for a small voluntary donation is totally biwingual. As for the photos with each entry. entered in the contest, the balance beRemember: You don’t have to enter tween hang gliding and paragliding is up The Advance team jacket images to donate to the cause, but you do to you… have to enter to win! What’s On Your Wish List? Contest Information The USHPA store is chock-full of It’s the time of year when friends and wearable, watchable and readable goodContest entries will be accepted through March 1. Winners will be se- family are asking you what you’d like ies for you and everyone on your gift list. lected and prizes awarded by March 15. for a holiday gift, and you’re pondering As this magazine goes to press the apparPrizes will be awarded to one overall what would make the day for that spe- el items are still on order, but by the time grand prize winner and to first-, second- cial pilot person in your life. Here are you’re reading this column the shelves and third-place finishers in each of the some suggestions: will be stocked with baseball caps, cotton categories. Photographers may enter as Sup’Air USA offers a new “crossover” and denim shirts, and fleece hats, vests, many images as they’d like in each cat- helmet that has passed EN standards for jackets and blankets. Go to ushpa.aero/ egory; we recommend a modest dona- flying and snow sports – one helmet for store to see the full line of hang gliding tion of $5 per submission. Submission of all your winter play! Endorsed by world- and paragliding-related merchandise.

Photo courtesy SUP’AIR USA

The Foundation for Free Flight Announces Its New Logo!

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Notes and Gloats from Manufacturers and Dealers Even if you’re dead set against motorized flying, this project will probably appeal to your better instincts. NOVA definitely gets to gloat over their involvement in this amazing conservation project. Here are some bare-bones details: The northern bald ibis is a bird that once was widespread in Central Europe, living in France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, as well as in the western part of the Balkan peninsula. Due to hunting, the species almost disappeared in the 17th century. In 2005, a mere 450 birds were still alive in their natural habitat in Morocco, but there were 2000 individual birds living in captivity, enough to reintroduce the species to their former Central Europe breeding grounds. But there is one major problem: Like many other migratory birds, ibises learn the migration route from their parents. Birds raised by humans don’t know the migration routes or the final destinations. Instinct pushes them to leave their breeding places in August and start flying south, but these raised-in-captivity birds

Photos courtesy NOVA

The new USHPA logo is embroidered on all items except T-shirts, which are silkscreened.

Walter Holzmüller and the ibises

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

SKYWALK’S POISON2 dominated the German Paragliding League in the Serial Class last summer. SKYWALK equipped the German Paragliding League midway through the season with four brand-new POISON2 pre-series gliders. The goal: A complete pre-series assessment of the wing before it went into production. The pilots were clearly at a disadvantage in the competition, having had no previous flight time with the POISON2. However, the time was sufficient to generate some solid impressions of performance potential. The comp successes were that much more surprising, considering the lack of dial-in time! At season’s end, 2nd through 5th place in the serial class of the German Paragliding League went to Hagen Mühlich, Reiner Braun, Arne Wehrlin and Rolf Rinklin, all on the new POISON2. Now that the size L has achieved DHV2-3 certification, along with the XS, S and M sizes, there’s nothing standing in the way of a successful 2008 competitive season! SKYWALK offers a few words of advice to interested pilots: Don’t wait too much longer to order your wing! Due to the usage of a new material (the silver mirror-finish AerofabrixAL29) and the complex construction, longer delivery times for the POISON2 can be expected. More info is available online at www.skywalk.info or via email to info@ skywalk.org.

The POISON2

Photo courtesy SKYWALK

Black fleece jackets and vests, available in many sizes

would leave individually, fly in different directions, and never reach the appropriate winter destination. Enter NOVA test pilot and paramotor specialist Walter Holzmüller, with a project that aimed to reintroduce 19 young captive-born birds to the wild. Last August 13 the birds left an area near the Austria-Germany border and headed across the Alps with Tuscany as their destination, following Walter on his NOVA BIGMAX paramotor. As you can imagine, this project was not glitch-free, nor was it 100% successful. BBC filmed this amazing migration, and Johannes Fritz, the project founder, has been nominated for the Indianapolis Prize 2008, the highest international prize for animal conservation. You can read the details of both the project and the migration at http://www .waldrappteam.at/.

OZONE announces a “slight departure” from their former serial-class stance, in that they will be offering open-class competition wings beginning in 2008. This change is consistent with their phi-

Leo finishing the hang glider

losophy of providing every pilot with a wing that exactly satisfies his or her wants and needs. OZONE’s selection of wings ranges in size from the 8m Bombe speedwing to the 42m Magnum tandem wing, from the incredibly stable Element to the incredibly fast Mantra R07, and includes the Ultralite 23m, the lightest DHV-certified wing in the world. Since 2001 OZONE has been leading the snowkite revolution, with a team of designers and riders who are industry leaders committed to bringing you the ultimate snowkite tools to access all that powder terrain that’s out there for the taking. The 2008 winter range of gear has myriad ground-breaking features, including a new bar and the “molded chickenloop” design to improve rider safety and comfort, and match the kites’ performance with that of the highest performing modern LEI kiteboarding kites. Check out www.flyozone.com for full details on the complete line of OZONE paragliding and snowkiting wings and gear, DVDs and other flyingrelated goodies. New Paint Job Announces: Hang Glider Pilot Lives Here! When Ernie Camacho asked fellow hang glider pilot Leo Jones if he could come up with a simple graphic to finish off the paint job on his house, Leo surprised everyone with this mural. Ernie knew Leo was a good house painter, but

Can you identify the magazine issue and page that was used as a model for this mural?

Photos: Ernie Camacho

Photo courtesy OZONE

Snowkiting with OZONE’s Manta2

this goes above and beyond the call of duty! Leo did the mural free hand, only using a photo from Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine as a guide for the hang glider. It’s Finally Settled A Wisconsin court ruling in a dispute between two hang gliding business owners was recently decided. Brad Kushner, owner of Raven Sky Sports, was awarded a judgment against Tommy Thompson, Sr. of Freeflight Aviations in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Further details can be obtained by contacting the parties directly, at hanggliding.com and freeflightaviations.com.

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

The opinions expressed in the letters published in this column are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the magazine staff or USHPA officials. While every effort is made to verify facts stated in letters, readers are urged to check the accuracy of any statement before taking action or forming an opinion based on the contents of a letter. “What If…?” (email, 10/2)

Being the “unnamed” pilot in your October feature article titled, “What If…?” I feel inclined to make a few observations and comments concerning the article. Proper inflation and launching from a reverse position on a mountain site with variable thermic cycles and base wind requires specific inputs at precise moments with fluidity and decisiveness. A few techniques for reverse-initiated inflation in such conditions could include: 1) holding both A-risers in one hand and braking the crosswind-induced high wingtip

with the A-riser free hand brake as you with correct brake input to correct for a initiate inflation or, 2) the standard ap- gusting cross-wind cycle during launch. I proach (with one A-riser and brake in was at no time during the launch attempt each hand), by applying a more aggres- “airborne” – rather I lost footing on the sive pull on the low-wing side while ap- incline as I lost control of my canopy. plying appropriate brake to create proper Failed launch, yes; overshooting wing, and symmetrical inflation. no. Look at the photo. Once proper symmetrical and presLast note: What if…. First aid and sured inflation is obtained, maintaining response to injuries are required at such this into the launching phase requires mountain sites? 1) Don’t fly alone! 2) the following: 1) proper timing of A-riser Have the appropriate cell phone and/or release and surge correction if required, radio equipment on hand, and 3) accept 2) fluid transition from a reverse body personal responsibility that you are enposition to a forward “torpedo” position, gaged in an activity that is inherently 3) appropriate ground speed generated by dangerous. Read Bill Belcourt’s article running forward, and 4) staying under “Self Rescue” in the September 2007 your wing with appropriate brake input issue of Cross Country magazine. Bill to correct surge, if called upon, or asym- maintains self-reliance should always be metric high-wingtip control, all the while the first rule of self-rescue. So “What directing your path of launch under your if…?” That’s what! Kelly Mangrum, USHPA #80081 wing’s center. With these factors in mind, it should be quite obvious when reviewing the pic- Flight to the Borderlands – and Beyond ture on page 29 that this failed launch (email, 10/5) As a new member of the hang glidwas not due to lack of surge control, but rather to not reacting quickly enough ing community, I debated whether or not

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

to send a response to the article “Flight to the Borderlands” by Paul Gazis in the September issue of Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. But after reading his specific comments on page 31 about God and religion, while flying into a cloud and facing the possibility of death, I felt compelled to humbly submit the following thoughts: We will all, one day, unavoidably, fearfully or peacefully, like all men since the beginning of time, even while soaring through life, enjoying the “beauty that defies any power of description…so glorious, so overpowering, so overwhelming, that they seize you by the senses and drag you out of the prison of your skull,” we will all fly into that last cloud – that last cloud, through which lie death and eternity on the other side. So, what is your flight plan; what is mine? Imagine you are in that last cloud, death is imminent, and you are no longer pilot-in-command. Pretending to be dreaming won’t work, reviewing

intellectual “options” to come out alive won’t work, praying to Kwannon, goddess of mercy, Odin or any other god will not forestall the death that comes to each man. Fellow pilots, there is a glorious flight plan for your life! All the earthly knowledge each of us has acquired, we received from teachers, parents, books, or other sources of information. But there is an inspired source of information more important than any of these. So if you find that you are not ready to fly through that last cloud with peace and confidence, I urge you to purchase a copy of the “original flight manual” – the Bible – and find a local, competent instructor of the Scriptures. John Hudson, USHPA #86134 with Michael Roth, USHPA #79630

Mission Peak (California). This is one of the pictures that fired my imagination and convinced me to send off my hardearned money for a mail-order glider.

Rodger Reinhart, USHPA #25450

“Record” Flight Given Short Shrift in the October Issue? (email, 10/2)

Somehow I found your coverage of a flex-wing hang glider pilot foot launching (email, 10/4) to break a nine-year world record for an I saw my first hang glider fly at Coyote out-and-return flight to be disappointing. Hills in 1972. By the time I had scraped This seems to me to be at the center of our up the cash to buy and build my Manta sport, and deserving more mention. No Standard, Coyote was closed, but I found mention on the cover, no highlight in the other places to teach myself. By ‘75 I had TOC. Perhaps you didn’t have the text or earned my H-3 at Fort Funston (San photos to make it a larger article. Why Francisco) from Jan Case of Chandelle. not? Or is there to be a follow-on, once I was leaving California for southeast the FAI certifies the record? I think I reGeorgia, but had one last chance to member a time when miles were printed make a flying trip to Big Sur. There I met on the cover in large font, when records Donnita and Dave Kilbourne and they were set. helped me make the first big flight of my Gary Solomon, USHPA #53771 life from Plaskett Ridge. It remains one of the most memorable flights of my life. There was no intent to minimize the sigI’ve been in and out of flying ever since nificance of George’s achievement! No coverand after a 10-year hiatus, I recently quality photo was available, so featuring launched from Hensen’s Gap, Tennessee, George on the cover was not an option. His and soared again over Sequatchie Valley. flight still has not been validated as a record That evening, flush with the afterglow, I (as of 10/13), so it is still premature to tout it picked up the magazine and read the ar- as a new world record. ticle about Donnita. Wow! I can’t tell you All that being said, there is no question how cool that was! that George’s flight was an exceptional effort, Tom Phillips, USHPA #16248 and we are grateful that he took the time to write up the details and share them with all of us, regardless of whether he is ever award(email, 10/3) The story on Donnita Hall made my ed a record for his accomplishment. day. I knew her as Donnita Holland. Attached is an early picture of her from Low and Slow. Being 15 at the time I remember being very impressed with the shape of the glider and the shape of the pilot. I had soloed in gliders and remember looking down on those little kites on Long-time Pilots Delighted To See Donnita!

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The 2007 USHPA Awards: Honoring Pilots and Friends of Free Flight By C.J. Sturtevant, editor

Each fall, the USHPA office receives literally hundreds of letters nominating pilots and non-pilot supporters of our sports Exceptional Service: for the annual USHPA awards. As always, the Awards commit- Mike and Gail Haley tee members faced difficult choices; all nominees have served the pilot community far and above the norm. Some are volunteers, some are professionals; all are people who are extremely important to the local pilots or to the entire flying community.

Photo: Merle Wallace

USHPA’s highest award, the Presidential Citation, was given to Jayne DePanfilis, who left her position as USHPA’s executive director last spring. Jayne made far too many contributions to the association to list them all; here is a summary of the qualifications that led the committee to name Jayne

Mike and Gail Haley

Photo: Josh Morellt

Presidential Citation:

Jayne DePanfilis

Mike and Gail, along with Dixon White, developed the paragliding mentor program at the Rat Race in 2003. Tom McCune, who came to his first Rat Race as an excellent XC pilot but a rookie competitor, developed his skills at least paras the 2007 recipient of this award: tially through the Rat Race program, and placed third in the • bringing the association from the brink of bankruptcy to world at the last paraglider World Championship meet! Last “solid financial ground” within 18 months of her hiring; season Mike and Gail added the Hang-on hang gliding event • combining USHPA’s print publications into a single pub- to their repertoire. For their contributions to developing the lication, and developing that publication into a magazine competition skills of both hang glider and paraglider pilots, that “continues to draw laudatory comments from the they were selected for this award. pilot community”; Again, there were several nominees for this award, all of • creating a more professionalized staff, which has coalesced whom were worthy of recognition. By unanimous decision, the into a team that is able to make solid business decisions, committee awarded Commendations to all other nominees. and which has kept the association running smoothly during the transition period to a new executive director; NAA Safety Award: • weathering with aplomb the political turmoil that con- Steve Wendt and Mike Meier tinually stresses our association, while remaining focused USHPA does not select the recipient for this award, but on the myriad tasks of executive director, including atten- brings to the NAA’s attention a candidate (or in this case, a tion to small details as well as large issues; team) that the association believes is worthy of recognition for • working tirelessly with USHPA’s legal counsel to miti- promoting safety in some significant way. Steve and Mike were gate legal problems faced by the association; selected for their teamwork in perfecting and promoting the • procuring the current USHPA office building, and over- “low and slow” scooter-tow method of instruction. Steve does seeing the move to the new headquarters; the “hands-on” part, developing the hardware and traveling • investing considerable time in taking classes and read- around the country to train instructors how to teach using the ing professional journals, with the goal of improving her scooter-tow technique. Mike is the main man in creating the skills as a professional business executive. scooter-tow manual, a document that is available for free download from the Wills Wing Web site, http://www.willswing There were several other nominees for this award, but only .com/learn/scooterTow/. For their combined efforts in making one candidate may be selected. The committee agreed unani- foot-launch flying easier and safer to learn and thus more accesmously that all the other nominees are worthy of recognition, sible to those who want to learn to fly, Steve and Mike receive and has awarded them all Commendations. USHPA’s nomination for the NAA Safety Award. December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Chapter of the Year:

Hawaii Paragliding Association

Photo courtesy www.windlines.net

This Oahu-based club, led by our paragliding accident reporter Alex Colby, received several nominations; in addition, several of the Awards committee members had personal experience with the exceptional “aloha” spirit of this group of pilots. As one nominator stated, this is “the friendliest and most cooperative club I’ve ever had the opportunity to fly with. They go out of their way to make us all SAFE and feel welcomed, a tricky combination. ‘No attitude and fly responsibly’ is their first name.” The club was also lauded for community involvement, for their club Web site, for their frequent contributions to the association’s publication, for hosting quality instructor training programs, and for providing a positive experience for friends and family members of visiting pilots.

Some of the members of the Hawaii Paragliding Association relax after a day of flying

And they’re off! Pilots getting airborne from Woodrat Mt. All photos by Josh Morell, 2007 Bettina Gray award recipient

Bettina Gray Photography Award:

Josh Morell

Josh’s photos of hang gliding and paragliding speak for themselves. You’ve seen numerous images from his vast collection in the magazine over the past several years, (including pages 3, 24, 34 and 36 in the August issue; pages 24, 25, 35 and 68 in the September issue; and accompanying the article on the paragliding nationals in last month’s magazine). A P-2 pilot, Josh has often opted to remain on the ground to capture the action at sites and events in his home state of Oregon.

Hang Gliding Instructor of the Year:

Paul Voight

Paul’s hang gliding instructional career began in 1980 at Aerial Techniques in Ellenville, New York. When that business closed, Paul moved to Mountain Wings in nearby Kerhonkson; he opened his own school, Fly High Hang Gliding, in 1985, and has taught thousands of students, many of whom still fly Paul Voight Ellenville today. In 1989 Paul began presenting instructor clinics, roving the country to train pilots in the art of hang gliding instruction. The next year he added tandem administrator and paragliding instructor to his list of responsibilities and credentials. Fly High still thrives today, with the help of his flight-school manager Chris McGuiness and paragliding division instructor, Marcus Santos. For the last couple of seasons, Paul has

concentrated more on running instructor and tandem clinics all over the United States, certifying (and re-certifying) hundreds of instructors and tandem pilots, coming from all over the world. Paul’s most rewarding instructional achievement is training his son Ryan to become a highly proficient and safe hang glider pilot and instructor.

Paragliding Instructor of the Year:

Both these deserving candidates received numerous nominations, from former and current students as well as from colleagues and peers. Wally Anderson, like Paul Voight, was selected for his ongoing service to the free-flight community; he began teaching hang gliding decades ago and currently is “Critter Master” at Merlin Flight School in the San Francisco Bay Area. One of his recent students sums up the experiences of many: “Wally was a patient and dedicated instructor when it came Wally Anderson to developing my less-than-natural piloting skills There was no rush to get it done quickly, just get it done correctly. He was always available, constantly willing to answer all the questions and give all the guidance I could absorb: It was clear he knew how to tune the instruction to my needs. I respected how the additional time it took me to master kiting and hit my spots never became about the hours or days it took both of us go get it done. He was there to help me be a safe pilot, and earn my rating without any short-

Photo courtesy David Jebb

Photo: Kevin Hester

Wally Anderson and Bill Armstrong (tie vote)

cuts, in whatever time it took.” Several nominators point out that, as far as Wally is concerned, “once a Critter, always a Critter” – Wally continues to be a mentor and a resource for his Critters whenever they feel a need to consult him. A P-4 pilot elaborates: “In my early days of flying, whenever I did something imprudent or had a close call, Wally would somehow find out about it and was on the phone with me the next morning to follow up and debrief me on the incident. I soon learned to be on my best behavior at all times, if I didn’t want to have to defend my actions to Wally! Today I still go to Wally with questions or advice about equipment, weather, flying sites, training techniques, anything. He is the most experienced instructor in the Bay Area and I’m willing to bet that he’s probably the only USHPA paragliding instructor who has worked as an instructor, full-time, since the sport was introduced in California decades ago.” That last claim would be difficult to verify, but there’s no question that Wally has been an active – some say essential – part of the Bay Area flying community for more years than some of you readers have been alive! Bill Armstrong has been involved in various sport activities as a coach and instructor for the past 20 years. This background has undoubtedly allowed him to fine-tune his teaching techniques; but Bill’s effectiveness as a paragliding instructor is even more potent due to his ability to create motivational relationships with his students. Some accolades from his students: “Bill is something akin to a horse Bill Armstrong whisperer but with people. He’s got a

Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club/Tracy Tillman and Lisa Colletti are “…a conscientious group who look out for each

certain grace that only a chosen few are born with.” “Bill leads by example and many people find his enthusiasm and dedication both inspiring and motivating. Bill has worked hard to build authentic relationships with his students. His efforts have created a safer and more skilled pilot community.” “Bill has the admirable ability to communicate clearly, effectively, and cohesively. He is remarkably patient with an everfriendly and approachable demeanor.” “Thanks, Bill, for taking the fear out of flying and instilling the passion to become a highly skilled, safe, life-long pilot! Your enthusiasm and dedication are an inspiration to us all.” A fellow instructor states, “I have observed Bill teaching many students, flown with those students while they were under Bill’s radio guidance, and spoken with many of those students (including my significant other) about Bill’s technique and their experience. Those students were given excellent instruction in both technique and theory, they flew with confidence and care, and they greatly enjoyed the learning experience. Instructors like Bill are the key to the continued growth of our sport and our pilots’ safety.” A former Instructor of the Year adds, “Bill has dedicated himself to the art of teaching for all the right reasons, and has given back to the sport which has given him so much.” Clearly Bill’s teaching skills are highly appreciated, and the pilots in Southern California/Torrey Pines area who have learned from or worked with Bill consider themselves fortunate to have this Instructor of the Year in their community.

Paragliding: The Liberation

Photo: Chris Amonson

Commendations

Photo: Josh Morell

Best Promotional Film:

Three films were submitted for this award. While the other two candidates were either highly entertaining or fascinatingly educational, neither seemed to be the type of DVD that one would hand to potential participants to help them understand what we’re about. Aaron Riggs’s DVD, Paragliding: The Liberation, explains the motivation and some of the technical aspects of paragliding in a way that appeals to both pilots and non-pilots. Because it was specifically aimed at promoting the sport to non-participants, this DVD was chosen unanimously for the award.

These USHPA members have been selected as recipients of the 2007 Commendation (listed in no particular order; quotes are excerpted from nomination forms):

other during prelaunch and launch routines…the implementation of what we do as a club is spearheaded by Lisa and Tracy.” Nicholas Franczyk produced the film, To Live Is To Fly, a documentary film on the closing of Sentinel Mountain in Missoula, Montana. The film can be viewed at Nick’s Web site, www.mtnick.com. Although the documentary ends with the site still closed, Sentinel Mt. has since been re-opened for flying; this film was a significant factor in that success story. John Kangas, Leo Bynum and Finbar Sheehy jointly assisted the Missoula Hang Gliding Association in saving and securing one of America’s oldest hang gliding sites, Mt. Sentinel. Although none of these pilots lives in Missoula, when USHPA requested their assistance in preserving the site, they immediately offered their expertise in resolving a conflict that “might have had far-reaching implications for up to 26 other flying sites in the West.” The positive resolution of the Mt. Sentinel conflict has set a precedent for site management that will serve the association and its members well in the future. Lynn Bentley has served many years on the BOD of the Northwest Paragliding Club (Seattle area); during that time she “presided over the most successful fund-raising efforts in club history, worked tirelessly to enhance existing sites and helped set the stage for future site developments…She spearheaded the ‘Biwing Fling’, an event that brings hang glider and paraglider pilots together in a ‘biwingual’ team event to foster better relations Lynn Bentley in our entire flying community. Currently, Lynn is leading efforts to secure several new flying sites throughout Washington State.” Another pilot adds, “Her efforts and contributions create strength in our community and promote a positive public image of our sport.” Rob Sporrer “has created a unique community of pilots via Eagle Paragliding…Eagle pilots are concerned with safety first, due to Rob’s guidance…He puts pilots first and his business second…He leads by example – I’ve never observed Rob launch in marginal conditions, and he gives a lot of detail during tandem flights to help us become better pilots…He creates an inclusive atmosphere for pilots of all levels, backgrounds and wing types. He has the best interests of the sport and its pilots in mind at all times, and creates a focus on safety, all with a cool ‘SoCal’ laid-back approach.” Rob Sporrer

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Photo: Chris Amonson

Photo: Cheryl Uhl

Rhett Radford is arguably “the best competition tow pilot

in the world…He has an amazing towing safety record and takes great pride in ‘flying pilots out of trouble’ as opposed to just giving them the rope…He works with newbie pilots to find the most comfortable and safest ways to tow but also has had most U.S. and world champions on Rhett Radford the end of his towline.” Matt Taber has been in the sport for so long that it would be difficult to cite a single reason for awarding him a Commendation! A new student nominated Matt because “sure, he is a businessman, but he never pressured me to do or buy anything I wasn’t ready for or didn’t need. Fact is, he watched carefully and at the right times gave information that made me the Chicken Hawk I am today. I love that guy!” Mike Pleskovich “designed a floating cart as an alternative to pop starts while boat towing in Florida. When truck towing in 1984, he witnessed enough stumbles and falls during running launches to conclude that there must be a better way. He built his first cart out of glider parts and items from a local hardware store. It was first used on May 17, 1985…It was partially assembled with pip pins and fit inside or on top of Mike’s van. The cart was used and copied by the aerotow hang gliding clubs in Florida during the ‘80s and ‘90s. Even if other carts were developed elsewhere, it is clear that the carts in current common use descend directly from Mike’s original cart and its use in these clubs.” Tom Allen “served for eight years on the board of the Northwest Paragliding Club [and] has been the keel that kept the board and the club upright and on track…He has been the community leader in supporting the Tiger Mountain Shuttle, operated by Mike Miller…who struggles with cerebral palsy and because of Tom’s efforts is able to support a lovely wife and child. Tom is the friendliest, most generous and helpful person I have met within the flying community…Two years ago Tom was awarded the NWPC Presidential Award. I believe that he deserves to be recognized on a Tom Allen national level as well.”

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Lowell Skoog, one of the pioneer paraglider pilots in the

Northwest, recently completed significant research on the history of paragliding in the Northwest. Since many Northwest pilots were deeply involved in the development of paragliding outside their home territory, Lowell’s in-depth article provides a view of the history of the sport in general. His complete project, beautifully illustrated with photos from his own collection as well as from other From Lowell’s vast collection of historical paragliding images early paragliding pilots, can be (ProDesign Excalibur, 1991) viewed on his Web site, www .alpenglow.org. Steve Roti is the ultimate “behind the scenes” hero, assisting the association with tasks as diverse as the USHPA Web site and reviewing accident reports. But he is awarded this Commendation for making a real difference to a pilot couple in his home town. After “being spoiled by flying in Santa Barbara and Annecy, France” this couple found the conditions in Bend, Oregon, to be totally intimidating. “Steve personally took us to local sites Pine Mountain and Mt. Bachelor to fly. The weather made us very nervous and Steve took many hours to explain the weather and flying conditions to the point where we felt comfortable. We now love to fly locally as often as possible, thanks to Steve”. Christian Thoreson “has personally trained some of our most talented hang glider pilots in the U.S., and retired from Lookout Mountain in the fall…to pursue other interests. There are many people around the world who would not be pilots today without him – myself included! Please…recognize Christian for his LIFETIME contribution and achievement where the rubber meets the road: teaching people to fly and love it!” Keith Smith “has opened a flight park (GateWay Aero, in the southern Illinois/St. Louis, Missouri, area) that offers everything from towing paragliders and hang gliders with a groundbased winch, aerotowing for hang gliders, ultralight instruction and, soon, Sport Pilot, out of a field with crossing runways… There are currently no other hang gliding facilities within a three-hour drive…He has an extreme love of all things winged and wants to share this enthusiasm with new entrants into the sport at a time when they are sorely needed. He is a cautious and caring instructor.” Tony Lang “personally raised enough money to completely fund the 2007 U.S. Paragliding Team (I believe close to $12,000). Due to his efforts, 100% of all pilots’ expenses were covered.” Daryl (Butch) Royston “bought his retirement home on Little Yancy Mountain in Oklahoma…and built a launch in his back yard that H-2s and P-2s can fly. He charges nothing, and lets pilots camp out in his back yard…He says that it is really important that [novice pilots] have a place to transition from the training hill to mountain flight…Butch has been a member of USHPA since 1973.”

Jugdeep Aggarwal “puts together and runs the Northern California Cross-Country League…Jug has done a fantastic job organizing and expanding the league, providing great learning and flying opportunities for anyone interested in participating.” Bob Johnson, a member of this year’s Chapter of the Year, “is a great friend who is always there for any pilot…he’ll help you on launch or landing, or even get you out of a tree if you’re so inclined to land in one – he carries saw and ropes in his bag, and being 5’16” [not a typo] helps. He is an accomBob Johnson (self-portrait) plished tandem instructor and flies friends and friends of friends for free. Bob will hike down with a student if conditions are not right for the beginner pilot, even if other pilots are in the air and he could have launched… As a board member of the HPA he keeps the club running and the meetings flowing with great participation of our members. We need more people like Bob!” Davis Straub and Belinda Boulter organized the 2007 Hang Gliding World Championship in Big Spring, Texas. “The challenge of running a large international event is to keep the level of competition as high as possible while keeping the event fair, safe and fun. When this done correctly these aspects are perfectly balanced and the Davis result is an outstanding competition where the competitors feel that the final scores truly reflect their performance, there is little or no injury, controversy is minimal, and the competitors, staff, volunteers and host community have a great time. By many accounts, the 2007 Worlds was one of the best (if not the best) world event and reflects very favorably on the Belinda U.S., the Big Spring community and the USHPA.” David Glover was the meet director for the 2007 Hang Gliding World Championship event, and contributed equally with Belinda and Davis to its success. Andrew Harris has for years served as safety director and launch director at major hang gliding competitions, including many of the Flytec Championships, two U.S. nationals and two world championships. “His judgment, David Glover (L) and Drew Harris (R) hangconcern for the pilots, ing out at Quest and professionalism are outstanding, as is his patience with anxious competitors and ground crew.”

Photos: Cheryl Uhl

Photo courtesy Andrew Harris

Photo: Josh Morell

Thomas Sanders “joined the AeroTow club (Chapter 86) before ever learning to fly.” While taking lessons he “worked on our first airport hangar, loaned tools and electrical equipment… offered his truck for carrying gliders or towing trailers and tow dollies on road trips or for flying demonstrations and parades and provided knowledge. He spent unknown amounts of hours in the heat, rain and cold welding, raising the roof to accommodate our trike, building glider racks…He provided 90% of the tools and equipment needed, fronted material costs and provided free labor…Now that we are almost done, it’s time to get him in the air flying…He lives over two hours from our hangar and flying site and never balks about showing up to work.” For service well above and beyond the ordinary, Thomas is awarded this Commendation. Kim Smith “epitomizes the best of USHPA. He is an instructor, mentor, club founder, Web site manager, newsletter editor, and an incredible P-5 pilot. He worked with DOT to gain access through a highway project that allowed us to retrieve from the LZ in half the time it would have taken to drive around the construction site. He mentored Kim Smith four pilots, then administered the P-3 exam at another fly-in, sacrificing his own flying time to help these young pilots. He publishes our club’s newsletter, writing columns every month that educate and entertain many – more than our small number of club members. He works with landowners to gain access to remote launch sites that our club members fly. He…demonstrates sound judgment, incredible flying skills, and friendship…He is a great ambassador for the footlaunch flying community.” Steve and Cathy Lee “have been active board members of the Tennessee Tree Toppers for over 20 years. They are the volunteers who have been instrumental in supporting and maintaining the TTT membership-owned and -operated club. Their constant energy and love of the sport and the TTT facilities have made them local icons…They are exceptional pilots who routinely fly cross country…for the love of flying.” Jack Brown “has gone above and beyond to help the Arctic Air Walkers regain access to one of our local flying sites in Anchorage, Alaska…We lost this site due to FAA red tape and red tape caused by a Washington DC office that didn’t fully understand the situation and the previous agreement between Arctic Air Walkers and the Ted Stevens International Airport. Jack is [club] president and he has worked diligently for over a year, going to the FAA offices, volunteering his time to write new plans and agreements, Jack Brown working with airport tower staff to make sure that we regain access to this site. Just recently a new agreement was signed and now pilots once again have access to this amazing site.”

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Photo: Leroy Grannis

Leroy Grannis “has been the

primary photo historian, along with Bettina Gray, through the earliest years of hang gliding and into the 1990s…He just celebrated his 90th birthday last August 12th…He has received numerous awards for his work, but none from USHPA.” It’s time we rectified that! John Heiney’s profile of Leroy, along with an excellent selection of his photos, appeared in the March 2005 issue of HG&PG magazine.

Donnita Hall has been an icon and an ambassador for hang gliding since the early ‘70s. She is profiled in the October 2007 issue of this magazine.

Special Commendation

Photo courtesy Marjie Markowski

Photo: Rod Maddox

This award is for non-USHPA members who have significantly enhanced and promoted our sports. The following have been selected as recipients of the 2007 Commendation (listed in no particular order; quotes are excerpted from nomination forms): The Hunter family owns the primary LZ at Woodrat Mt., Oregon; more than a dozen USHPA members nominated them for this award. In the words of one pilot, the Hunters “have been graciously allowing pilots to land on their working cattle ranch for three decades. They even go so far as to move their cattle during high-traffic events like Starthistle and Rat Race so pilots can have full access to the LZ. Without their generosity Woodrat, one of the premier U.S. flying sites, wouldn’t exist…They have given the flying community so much over the years and ask for nothing in return.” Another pilot points out, “The number of pilots [flying at Woodrat] increases each year. Still, the new generation of Hunters continues to show extreme patience and generosity…They are quiet and unassuming people. They believe in individual responsibility. They expect and receive the best from visiting pilots.” Bill Wheeler “allowed us to create a beautiful flying site that utilizes land he owns for both a launch and LZ. He allowed us

to log off as many trees as needed, and to land in his spacious fields. He has been an extremely gracious host and a true advocate for the sport of free flight.” Mike McKillop “has taken it upon himself to maintain the nearly two-mile-long trail from the Tiger Mt. LZ to launch, used by both pilots and other visitors to the mountain. Almost single-handedly he has moved huge rocks and built steps all the while improving the trail. No one asked him to do this, but he is always there.” Jason Leus, Andrew Leus and Terry Myers “have made a truly different paragliding film, focusing exclusively on low-altitude soaring.” Sites flown in the film Sessions: Roadtrip range from eight feet to not-quite-30-feet ASL! “The film is well finished, easily navigable, and amping to watch. Good camera work and an energetic soundtrack keep you on the edge of your seat as you watch the boys play around in the high winds.” Committee members agree that the film is professionally produced, is fun to watch and has an appropriately energetic sound track. James Howard had just built a log cabin in Morton, Washington, in 1976, and when he spotted hang gliders flying at Dog Mt. he grabbed his Super 8 movie camera and went to check out the action. He documented the 1976 U.S. Hang Gliding National Championships with many cartridges of film, which ended up stored in a cardboard box, forgotten for decades. Recently he came upon that box and realized that he had a wealth of history in his hands. His just-finished DVD, Dog Mountain: 1976 Hangliding Championships, showcases that early competition in all its glory – young men flying “billow pigs,” landing on the spot in the mud of Dog Patch and having the time of their lives. The film has all the charm (and technical deficiencies) of a 1970s home movie; there is no dialog but the background music fits the action well. Were you there? To obtain a copy of this piece of hang gliding memorabilia, contact James at orcabc2@hotmail.com. Michael Markowski is, “among other things, the author of The Hang Glider’s Bible, published in 1977. He received the USUA’s Journalism award for the year 2000, for his republication of Otto Lilienthal’s landmark book, Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation. Mike is a freelance writer, has made national TV appearances, and has been written up in the local and national newspapers plus much, much more in support of hang gliding!” Mike Markowski

Three generations of the Hunter family (L to R): Rachel, Megan (P-2 pilot), Janet, Tim, Whitney, Caleb, Joan and Billie Joe. Billie Joe and Joan first granted permission to land in their field 30 years ago.

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New Executive Director Selected!

Photo courtesy USHPA staff

By Lisa Tate, USHPA president

Paul on his first day at USHPA headquarters

After a comprehensive national search, USHPA is pleased to announce the hiring of Paul Montville as its new executive director. Paul’s business background features extensive experience as a sports executive and marketer, including AAA professional baseball and the Olympic national governing bodies for table tennis, rugby and boxing. In addition, Paul has spent over 20 years working with 501(c) (3) nonprofits, both as an administrator/executive director and as a key volunteer/board member. Paul states, “I am excited about the future of USHPA and the sports of hang gliding and paragliding. I look forward to working with the board of directors, committees and staff as we take the organization to the next level. As a national association, we will do whatever we can to deliver the superior service that all of our members and constituents expect and deserve.” A 31-year resident of southern Colorado, Paul lives in Manitou Springs (about four miles west of Colorado Springs) with his two school-age children. He enjoys current events, public radio, music, wildlife, food/cooking, hiking and sports in general. The interview team was impressed with Paul’s enthusiasm, his research into our organization and sports, and his innovative ideas on marketing the sports of hang gliding and paragliding.

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The Foundation at Work Preserving Sites: Some Ongoing Success Stories

6/23/20 Eric Smith (foreground) and Rick Venglarcik (background) put the finishing touches on the resurfaced southeast ramp.

Eric Smith launches a student pilot from the Miller Canyon southeast launch.

Miller Canyon, Arizona

Service that our road to launch would be closed, and we would have to cancel our upcoming fly-in. A geologist’s survey had determined that a portion of the Miller Canyon is the premier moun- road passed over and along an abandoned tain flying site in southern Arizona, with mine shaft and could be unstable. After a takeoff at 7600’ MSL and a 2900-foot discussions with the Forest Service, we descent to landing. It has been a hang were allowed to continue using the road gliding and paragliding site for almost 30 while we worked on a way to mitigate the years, and is maintained by the Southern hazard, but we were not allowed to hold Arizona Hang Glider Association any further fly-ins or organized events. (SAHGA) under a special-use permit Over the following years we worked with the Forest Service. closely with the Forest Service on a soluSAHGA has traditionally held an tion to the problem. Approval was slow annual fly-in at the site, encouraging all because of the need for environmental USHPA members to attend. However, impact studies, and the limited resources in 2004 we were informed by the Forest we and the Forest Service had available By Fred Leonard, SAHGA Director at Large, USHPA #14194 Photos by John Lowery

6/23/07 Work begins on the Miller southeast ramp improvement; Fred Leonard in the foreground, Dave Snyder in the background.

3/31/07 Russ Anderson pulls stumps with the backhoe while Jason Otto supervises.

to devote to the project. However, we finally received approval to start a road bypass project in March 2007. With the financial support of the Foundation for Free Flight we were able to rent the heavy equipment required to complete this project while still conserving the funds we’d need to pay our site fees and insurance. We would like to thank the Foundation for Free Flight for their assistance and support. Because of their assistance and the many volunteer hours by SAHGA members, Miller Canyon has been preserved as a flying site. We hope to resume our annual fly-in in 2008, and we welcome all USHPA members to come fly with us. More information on the site is available at http://www.sahga.com/.

Sand Turn, Wyoming

By Adam Graham, USHPA #58980

When a “for sale” sign appeared in the Sand Turn LZ in 2004, pilots who loved flying this site knew they had to take action quickly before their site was lost. Lots of hard work and financial support from the flying community, along with a matching grant from the Foundation, kept the LZ property out of the hands of developers. One of the fundraising tactics was a raffle, with 240 tickets sold for prizes ranging from the grand prize of a hang glider or paraglider through a wide assortment of other quality items from generous manufacturers. The raffle was held at the Sand Turn fly-in last Labor Day; grand-prize winners were Pete and Stephanie Anderson at Hang Glide Utah, and Neto Serna,

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Photo: Adam Graham

Steve Rathbun surveying the Sand Turn LZ

a local Sheridan-area hang glider pilot – both received Wills Wing gliders of their choice. We are still going strong on the project, just patiently waiting for the wheels of progress to turn in Sheridan. The final plat is with the Sheridan County Planners, and the next planning meeting will be November 7th, at which time I

am hoping the plat will be approved, and we can go into phase 2 of the project, which will be to separate the parcel and place it in permanent trust. The Sand Turn Trust formation has been more challenging (and expensive) than planned, but we have 501(c)(4) status at least – I am still learning exactly what that means – but the Trust should

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function just fine to hold the parcel and hopefully to hold other parcels in the future for folks trying to do the same thing as Lynn and I. The Local Buzzard Squadron is forming up (the Dayton local chapter), which will ultimately be providing insurance for the site through the USHPA. With all the new development happening around the LZ, we are happier than ever that things have come together to permanently protect this LZ. We again thank everyone for their support. We hope that by the end of 2007 the piece will be officially separated, the plat finalized, and we will be moving on to writing easements/deed restrictions, and putting other final touches on the project. Background information on the Sand Turn project, and the Foundation’s participation in securing the LZ, are in the February ‘05 and April ‘06 issues of this magazine.

is a time lag between greatest incoming radiation and greatest surface heat buildup. Generally, the time of greatest heat build-up, and thus thermal production, is between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m., local sun time (for more discussion of this point, see page 8 in our book Understanding the Part III – Long-Term Considerations Sky). COPYRIGHT © 2007 by Dennis Pagen So we have two main possibilities: We can choose to fly in the weaker part of the day or the stronger. The former is for the less skilled and the latter is for the more skilled (as long as the max thermals aren’t widowmakers). Let’s look at avoiding the strong stuff first. Clearly, the time to launch if a pilot wishes to fly in the smoothest air is in the early morning before thermals set in, or in the evening after they die out. However, there is an important point to note: Morning flights always run the risk of encountering stronger conditions since thermals tend to start rising some time in the morning and can be cranking by 11:00 a.m. If strong thermals are predicted, this effect can be most dramatic. Below we shall see that the onset of thermals can be very sudden. Evening flights have a greater reliability, but be aware that in high or steep mountains evening down-slope breezes can create areas of shear turbulence as they plow in under the warm valley air. If you are a rank beginner, it is wise to get the guidance and a report from more experienced pilots if you are concerned about turbulence. On the other hand, if you are looking for a vigorous vertical ride you will be seeking stronger conditions. The strategy in this case is to launch some time after the thermals are consolidated and solid. That is typically between noon and 1:00 Flying early and late in the day will minimize turbulence, but will p.m. in most areas. The critical situation also make getting up and staying up more challenging. is when thermals and wind are predicted In Part II of this series we wrangled Note well that even though their results to be strong and the ability to launch with problems and solutions of varied are delayed, the decision-making may be safely is in question. You’re walking a thermal conditions in the short term required to take place right now. When thin line here: If you launch too soon you around launch. In a real sense we can’t we look at the many long-term factors, may hit the deck, and even if you return to launch quickly, you may not be able to say what length of time determines a this matter will become clearer. launch again if conditions have built in short- versus a long-term consideration the interim. Conversely, dilly-dallying at except that things that happen during, THE BIG PICTURE and soon after, launch are short-term The first thing we’ll fathom is the day’s launch may put you in the stronger stuff and things that happen later are long- plan. Most of us are aware that thermal where either safety or airtime is threatterm. For our purposes here, we’ll define cycles vary with the sun’s heating. The sun ened. I prefer to be off earlier rather than long-term strategies as those consider- is highest at local noontime, and so that’s later. Of course, that requires you to be ations that take place (or will take place) when the incoming radiation is greatest. there or be squarely grounded. I recall the from 10 minutes to hours after we launch. But because heat also radiates off, there best XC day in local memory, a day when

Photo courtesy PARATECH

TAKEOFF STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES

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Photo: John Heiney

the region’s records were set. We knew it was going to be a cranking day, so we got there early – 10 a.m. But by the time we were ready to fly it was blown out. Pilots launching from a lower site were able to get off and had a nice go of it for over 150 miles. Curses, foiled again! Clearly, making a good long-term plan for when to launch based on the above factors requires you to understand a bit about the local site, the general weather and the expected conditions of the day. More experienced pilots can get by with knowing the amount of instability and the max expected wind. Learning pilots would do well to look at weather products online to get a feel for what is predicted, then talk to the experienced pilots while observing what transpires Shannon Rabe at Lake McClure, California for the day to build an experience base. That’s how we gain the knowledge to be took too long to set up their flying machine. In the above situation the more good decision makers. weather information you have the better. If there is none available, rely on that old WIND CHANGES One more weather matter to con- pilot standby: hope. sider in your longer-term launch timing decisions is the possibility of a wind- THERMAL TRIGGERING direction change. This change can either The final general weather matter we’ll be good or bad. At some sites a cross or look at is thermal liftoff. It is very typieven light tailwind can be turned around cal for a ground inversion (cool air poolby the sun’s heating and the subsequent ing at the ground) to develop at night as upslope breezes as the day progresses. the ground radiates heat off and cools This effect is particularly notable at high the overlying air. Ground inversions are and/or steep sites. Inexperienced pilots typically a few hundred feet thick, but should rely on the guidance of the aces can be deeper if mountains are nearby to to help avoid rotor and judge when the add downslope air to the cool pool and prime launch time will be. Generally we contain the spread of the surface air (see can state that the max surface heating re- Understanding the Sky, page 196). It takes sults in the max restoring upslope breeze, some time for the morning sun to heat the so it is sometimes necessary to wait until surface enough to produce vigorous therthe afternoon to get a good launch wind mals that rise to the top of this inversion in this situation. layer and continue on upward (see pages If a marked veering (clockwise change) 200, etc.). What typically happens is the or backing (counterclockwise change) of morning heat has built up at the surface the wind is predicted, best get off the hill and has not been carried away by therright now if it is good, or plan to hang mals, so when they finally break through out on launch until an expected favorable the inversion layer there is a sudden rush change passes through. In the latter case, of thermal production as if a dam had it is best to have your equipment as ready burst. If you are at launch it seems that as possible to avoid the rush and thereby trigger temperature has been reached maximize your airtime. The same idea (it has) and that the day has turned on applies to a takeoff that is blown out but (maybe). What frequently happens is the expected to mellow later as evening ap- warm air that has accumulated gets exproaches or the pressure system changes. hausted in a half hour or so and there is a I have seen many pilots wait around for thermal pause, when everything goes dead hours for the wind to subside, but miss except for the general wind. Then, after the good air when it does because they the surface gets reheated, regular steady

thermals set in and build in the normal daily process. The thermal pause may last as long as an hour, but usually less. The strategy involved with launching in such situations is to first be aware of the causes, effects and very possibility of the thermal pause. Then expect it every morning. Different sites affect the conditions differently, so local knowledge in this matter helps. If it is likely that a pause will occur, you too should pause and wait until the steady thermal production starts. There are countless times when pilots launched in the first bloom of thermals only to get flushed in half an hour or so when the air took a big inhale and held its breath. There is often a second thermal pause that may happen in the late afternoon, usually between four and six o’clock, depending on the season. In this case the lowering sun’s reduced heating can’t sustain the steady cycle of thermal production. The thermals diminish in size and strength and staying aloft may become difficult. Eventually, however, the residual heat in rocks, fields, trees and the ground rejuvenates the thermal process and more regular production continues, usually with weaker but larger thermals. One possible strategy in light of a potential afternoon thermal pause is to launch early enough that your need for airtime is fulfilled by the time it happens. However, if you are a cross-country pilot looking to maximize miles, you have to get through this anemic period.

ing on the site and the day, we will sometimes launch later in the evening when things have calmed down. We all are experienced at the dubious pastime of kicking rocks at launch, but that’s better than kicking rocks in the landing field or kicking ourselves in the backside for having an accident.

Ron Peck enjoying abundant lift at Goodsprings, Nevada (about 12 miles south of Las Vegas)

either the conditions, your launch abilities in wind less than perfect, your ability to get up, or a combination of all three, it is understandable that you wouldn’t want to get on launch early and feel the pressure from behind. But such an attitude is something you can work on. As we discussed in Part II, a good launch includes the ability to assess the conditions, then launch quickly. Naturally safe conditions are necessary, and when evTHE SMALLER PICTURE Now let’s look at matters with a little erything is dead, nobody wants to launch. less long-term consideration. First, we But there are plenty of times when condihave to deal with crowds. At sites where tions are soarable yet still pilots hesitate. pilots congregate like flocking starlings, By working on your scratching skills you sometimes a little strategy employed will learn to have confidence that if it’s gently means the difference in getting out there you will get it. That’s all we can off in the soaring window or heading for do, then we bail off to meet our fate with a quick trip to the ground. If you find faith, hope and alacrity. Another timing consideration is conyourself way back in the pecking order there is little you can do to affect the situ- ditions in the landing field. Some landation. The wisest move is to set up in an ing areas get positively tumultuous in the ideal place to move to launch when you middle of a strong wind or thermal day. I wish. Of course, you can’t do that if you know a site where I like to stay up at least get there late. So the real wise thing to do to four o’clock to avoid the worst of the is to get there early. We all know by now willies when the field is boiling. People that “the early bird gets the therm.” may think I’m an air hog, but really I’m a Of course, on a crowded launch (or landing chicken. If you don’t wish to orbit your site for a tight site that gets crowded in the air) you have to use courtesy and follow the three hours or more, it is important to put rules of the road. If not, you will get the landing situation into your launch little cooperation in the future. If you strategy. On a strong day, this factor can are a launch yaro (a tuber much like a conflict with the launch safety strategy – potato, but yellow) and wait a long time whereby you launch before the thermals on launch because you are unsure of really start ripping. In this case, depend-

Working on scratching skills, working on thermal locating skills and working on positioning skills are how we prepare for such eventualities. Staying as high as possible as 4:00 p.m. approaches, and following cloud lines or good thermalproduction fields, are part of positioning. In long competition tasks we often have to employ these strategies.

The final longer-term matter we’ll look at is the presence and position of clouds. It is extremely important for soaring wannabes to understand the effect of cumuliform clouds. I am not talking about the shadows they produce (although that’s important, too), but how they both locate and affect the lift – that is, thermals. (See our book Performance Flying, pages 107, etc. for more info.) It is imperative for pilots to understand that cumies are important lift signs, and when they are in the sky but not above launch it can mean that getting up is iffy. I’ve seen many an occasion on our eastern sites where a cloudstreet or blobs of cloud are so situated that a big blue hole surrounds the takeoff area. My policy in this situation is to carefully judge whether or not usable thermal cycles still exist at the takeoff, and if not, whether the cloud positions are moving, or if neither, whether or not I see signs of thermals I can reach. I look carefully for cloud drift and size changes by direct observation as well as in their shadows. I also carefully check their effect on the wind (strength and direction) when they are near. Finally, I will determine their general duration and whether or not they are part of an overall streeting situation, or built from independent thermals. If streets exist, the lift position is less likely to change quickly than if otherwise. Of course, all this judgment takes some time and may delay my launch, tossing my previous overall strategy out the window.

Ron Peck setting up at Goodsprings, Nevada, where summer thermals are for highly experienced pilots only, but spring and fall offer spectacular soaring for all

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Photo: Jacob Whitney

CLOUD FACTORS

Photo: Jacob Whitney

Doug Koch has clouds to mark the October thermals at Goodsprings, Nevada

In the first case (weak thermals come through launch), if I can get off and up I will do so, for working weaker thermals is fun and if I can manage to limp over to the cloud areas I know I will probably boom upwards. In the case that it appears unpromising in the launch vicinity, I will wait if there is a reasonable chance that streets will move sideways or a cloud will form above launch. In the third case, if I see signs of thermals afar but within reach, I will proceed with launch, wait as long as my patience or prodding pilot compadres will allow, and go to a propitious sign – a bird, another circling pilot,

a patch of rustling leaves on the hillside, a house thermal location, a tumble of heating rocks, a steep slope facing the sun. I recall many times in the Sequatchie Valley of Tennessee when we would bail off launch in a left cross wind to fly across to a southerly facing slope to find our thermals for the start of an XC trek. At Hyner View, a site in central Pennsylvania, we often fly with only thermals producing lift. In this case we look to the resident vultures to tell us when to launch on weak days. Frequently they are a good ways away from launch and if you waste altitude making passes when there is no lift available you won’t reach the bird broadcasting the thermal’s presence. Others and myself have flown a mile or more at this site to reach a thermal sign and been rewarded with good lift that topped us out for hours. Finally, if none of the above prospects look likely, I will call my girlfriend, beg forgiveness for going flying instead of following our previous plans, make a date, hope for redemption and take a sled ride.

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SUMMARY

In all the discussion above, it is important to first establish your goals for the flight. These goals may be to fly XC, or to fly as long as possible, or simply to orbit the launch area to get as high as possible. Or maybe you just want to impress the woefuls (wuffos who focus on fear and the dangers of flying). Once your goal is established, you can choose your launch plan according to the conditions at hand and the condition prediction, using the factors discussed above. Performance flying and satisfaction flying require a whole lot of decision making, and launch decisions are a significant factor in determining the outcome of many flights. A little awareness goes a long way to helping thermals help you achieve your goals. Everybody’s ultimate long-term strategy should be to fly safely, always. Next month we look at how to do just that by improving our technique in the launch situation.

Yee Ha! My First Tandem Tow at Morningside

side of Bob’s harness. This allowed Bob to use the control bar to shift our weight together so he could steer the glider effectively. I casually asked Bob, “How long have you been doing this?” His response – 22 years! – was reassuring. We continued to climb; trees and fields looked much farther away now. I spotted what looked like a construction site, and Bob and Lauren preparing for flight mobile homes. My eyes scanned in all directions. Every so often Bob would direct I hung suspended in the air with noth- me to look at the camera mounted on the ing between me and the ground, gazing wing. I’d smile wide but I could barely straight down at the Connecticut River stand to wait the five seconds it took for valley. The river sparkled and I spot- the camera to click. I wanted to keep ted a water skier. To the north I could looking at the world! For a mere $155 I see Vermont’s Mt. Ascutney, and to the was living out my childhood fantasy of east a small hill and a grass runway that flying like a bird. For another $20 I could make up Morningside Flight Park in soon claim bragging rights to the most Charlestown, New Hampshire. There, impressive Facebook photos. Still we climbed, and the sky became I’d left my nervous parents far below. The wind rustled the purple sail of the a little hazy. We hit some turbulence; hang glider above my head. My eyes flit- the glider bumped around and I gritted ted back and forth trying to capture each my teeth and held tight to the handles, moment. The air rushed all around me; I remembering Bob’s words: “Whatever felt it comb through the ponytail sticking happens, don’t let go!” For a brief second out of the back of my helmet. This is way I wondered if we were going to be OK different from a commercial airliner, with but the bumps subsided and I heard two inches of glass between me and the air! I a “Yee ha!” from Bob. I didn’t share his thought. I felt the air on my face, inhaled its clean scent, and heard it whip past my ears. The only other noise was the hum of Rhett Radford’s lime-green ultralight tow plane pulling us up. The air smelled fresh and clean. I glimpsed our triangular shadow far below on the hillside and felt a jolt of excitement. My instructor Bob Hastings asked, “What do you think?” The wind was quiet enough that we could talk easily. “It’s amazing!” I replied. Part of me was still on the ground, in shock, hoping I’d come down alive so I could tell all my friends, while the rest of me soaked in the scenery. I lay in my harness, parallel to the Bob and Lauren above Morningside Flight Park horizon, holding on to handles on either

enthusiasm, but hearing the enjoyment in his voice was strangely comforting. I wondered if I could feel the same way some day. A second batch of turbulence rocked us around. The glider jolted, tipping one way and then the other. This time Bob muttered instructions to our pilot Rhett – who couldn’t hear Bob, of course, putting me briefly in a state of panic. I put my trust in Rhett and Bob and continued to hold tightly. When the turbulence ended I heard another “Yee ha!” from Bob, but this one sounded more relieved than enthusiastic. “That was scary!” I said. “Yeah, we’ll try not to do that again,” Bob replied. The hum of the ultralight, which had been a comforting hymn to me, no longer calmed me. I realized we were truly at the mercy of physics. We were over 2000 feet in the air and we were about to be released from the tow. I wondered how terrified I would be when the umbilical cord was cut and we were on our own. I watched Rhett carefully, waiting for him to signal our release – I didn’t want to be caught off guard. Soon he waved; I

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Photo: Bob Hastings

Photo: Janine Danzi

By Lauren Danzi

Photo: Janine Danzi

heard a click and the towrope fell away. Rhett’s nearly vertical dive, in any other plane, would be suicide, but he knew what he was doing. He needed to land quickly so he could bring up my mom to take pictures of me. “He is insane!” I said to Bob, but from me that was a compliment. I admired his courage, and it was becoming clear to me why all those at Morningside told me Rhett is one of the top five ultralight pilots in the country. I was so busy watching Rhett that I hardly noticed that our hang glider was flying effortlessly. I hadn’t even felt it drop when we released. Our flight was much quieter now, less wind and no engine noise. Bob took his hands off the control bar, which he uses to steer the glider, and let the glider do its own flying as he tucked the tow bridle into his harness to get it out of the way. My own grip on the handles relaxed. The glider soared smoothly through the air. It felt more natural now without the plane and I wondered why I had ever worried. We made slow turns, trying to retain as much altitude as possible as we waited for my mom and Rhett to arrive in the ultralight. Soon I heard the familiar hum once more and searched below us for the plane. Bob spotted them quickly and pointed, but it took several seconds before I could distinguish the green plane from the trees. As they climbed we continue to circle; soon they were close enough that we could see Rhett and my mom waving. We waved back.

Hang glider and ultralight made a few circles together. We flew above the hill where hang gliding and paragliding students launch and train. From 2000 feet the whole thing looked like a speed bump in the road. We gradually descended. As we lost altitude the hill looked more and more formidable. I wondered if I’d ever have the courage to run down the slope and take off solo, under my own power. Bob interrupted these thoughts, asking me if I liked making tight turns. I shrugged and reminded him I never done this before so I wasn’t sure, but I was game to try. Bob pointed in the direction I should look, and we banked steeply – gforces pressed me into my harness and the ground spun below. The glider lost altitude rapidly. It felt so surreal! I watched the fields spin around beneath me and was reminded of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon when a gremlin causes the plane to spin back to earth out of control. Only we weren’t out of control. The hang glider is very maneuverable and soon we pulled out of the turns. Flying along the hillside, I saw a small pond, and could make out individual branches on the trees. Now lower than the top of the hill, we headed north and looped back, lining up with the grass runway. We flew over a small creek just before touching down smoothly on our wheels and rolling to a stop on the neatly trimmed grass. Rhett and my mom landed just after us. On the ground, my dad asked us about the flight. “It was awesome!” I replied. We took a few last pictures, one

with my dad crouching beside us under the wing of the glider. Bob shook my hand again and congratulated me on my first flight in a hang glider. Steve Prepost, another hang gliding instructor, came over to congratulate me and made sure I didn’t forget my film. My mom couldn’t stop grinning and kept saying, “We’ll be back!” I echoed her words, and repeated my thanks to Bob as we left the field. Now being on the ground felt unreal; part of me was still in the sky wondering when the rest of me would return to Earth. Mom and I walked slowly to the building at the base of the training hill, where a colorful assortment of hang gliders was stored, all folded up in long cylinders and stacked on racks. We bought matching T-shirts to document our experience. Morningside is full of welcoming people, from the owner, Jeffrey Nicolay, who greeted us from a tractor when we first arrived to all those who congratulated us after our flights. Everyone encourages students, pilots, families and visitors to hang around for a while – there’s a nearby campground where visitors can relax with family and friends before and after taking flight. It’s the kind of genuine friendliness that is born out of a passion for what they do. I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to visit and fly at Morningside because I know they will welcome me as a friend while teaching me to spread my wings and soar in a way that is even more exotic than my most crazy dream. Author Lauren Danzi says, “I graduated from Plymouth State University in May 2007 and I wanted to do something a bit extreme before starting a career. I am adventuresome, and enjoy hiking, camping, skiing, and mountain biking. I considered sky diving but I thought I would be too terrified. A friend took me flying a few times in a Cessna. I enjoyed the flights but felt confined by the metal – I wanted to look straight down and see everything. That’s when I decided to go hang gliding. “I plan to go back to Morningside next summer, take lessons, and learn how to launch from a hill under my own power.”

Catching up with Lauren and Bob

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Close Calls: Our Kindest Teachers

By Alex Colby, staff writer

I am gratified to note that all but one of the 11 incidents reported over the last two months concerned close calls without significant injuries. This doesn’t mean that there was only a single injury in the whole country during this period – discussions on many local club Web sites belie that wishful thought – but hopefully this typical statistical sampling of reports received from conscientious pilots reflects an overall downswing in accident severity countrywide. Thanks to all of you who submitted reports. Please continue to send in your reports of incidents and accidents, encountered and witnessed – even if we don’t have space to write up each one, they are all counted in our annual accident summary, and will contribute to our understanding of safety trends. The most notable incident elicited sev-

eral separate reports: A tandem pilot and his student survived a nightmare scenario at a flying site in the central Rockies. Following an unrecoverable collapse, the pilot threw his reserve, only to see it torn away from the spreader bars during the opening shock of deployment. The pilot had started to circle in a strong thermal at about 150 feet over the terrain, when his inside wing suffered a massive collapse, the largest he’d experienced in seven years of tandem flying. The glider fell back and then surged forward violently to a point almost below the pair, and as they plunged toward the canopy the student became snared in a line. They barely missed the canopy, and the pilot immediately deployed the reserve parachute, but the opening shock of the parachute blew it off the attachment points on the spreader bars. The pilot fought

to recover control of the main canopy, struggling to correct a steep spiral as the trees rushed up to meet them. But the entanglement of the student and a damaged spreader bar conspired to hinder his efforts, and he was only able to slow the turn slightly as they rotated into the treetops, crashing through branches and coming to rest at the base of a large tree. The glider lines were stretched taut and probably absorbed a lot of the momentum of the final descent. The pair were scraped and shaken up, and the student (wearing a full face helmet) had hit his forehead, but was responsive and coherent. A rescue effort was quickly mounted, and local pilots and EMT personnel worked together to get the student to the local medical center to assess his condition. But thankfully, both pilot and student were released with only scrapes and bruises. In his analysis, the pilot feels he was too aggressive in his mindset that day, flying with an experienced tandem student/friend at midday, and spurred on by the memory of a recent tandem cross-

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country flight. And upon reflection he suggests that as he began to climb in the first strong thermals of the day, he left too little room above and in front of the ridge. But certainly the most arresting factor in this event was the failure of the reserve attachment points. The pilot displayed superb reflexes and cool thinking to deploy his reserve as soon as he did, and he maintained his presence of mind to continue the attempt to recover even after the initial failure of the backup system. But how could that system have failed so completely? After conducting a careful inspection of his gear and consulting other experienced pilots and master riggers, his reluctant conclusion was that the reserve had been attached to the spreader bars incorrectly. He wasn’t sure how long it had been that way, because the pilot’s harness had been detached once a year for other uses. This close call with catastrophe serves as an urgent reminder that most of us are probably overdue to inspect and repack our reserves, and also to check our attachment points. And it underscores an important point I remember from an excellent reserve clinic a few years ago: By all means throw them when you need them, but reserve parachutes are never a guarantee of a second chance. Even if our emergency gear is brand new and perfectly packed and correctly attached, real emergency reserve deployments can suffer any number of complications, beginning with the loss of steering control that may find us drifting or dragged into further danger, but also including downplaning, incomplete inflation, and entanglement with the main canopy. Let’s do our best to fly as if we don’t expect to rely on that second chance. In another common subject of bad dreams, a pilot was soaring light evening lift around a forested peak near a major metropolitan area. As he scratched too close to the terrain he hooked a tree with his wingtip and was pulled down into the forest. Most of us have found our-

.aero

selves interacting in unexpected ways with arboreal obstacles. But in this case, a miraculously injury-free crash on the mountainside began a frightening ordeal of disorientation that lasted late into the night. The pilot had survived a very hard fall from treetop height, around 80 feet, to the surface of the slope, landing on his back protection stunned but uninjured. But after packing up his gear he realized he was completely unprepared for the contingencies of a wilderness outlanding, without communications gear of any kind, or water, food, flashlight or whistle. He was very familiar with the flying site and the trail to launch, but he was mistaken in his assumptions about how to navigate to the trail from his crash site. He spent hours trying to find his way down from the mountain, first in the waning light, and then in pitch darkness. He knew other pilots had mounted a search effort, and he heard the rescue helicopters, but he continued his desperate search for the trail in vain, crossing it without realizing it during the night and becoming further disoriented. He finally emerged from the mountain after midnight, exhausted and dehydrated. We can offer countless suggestions that might alleviate the chances of a pilot repeating such a horrifying trek in the darkness. Even a relatively benign wilderness area such as this one, with its close proximity to suburban civilization, can punish an unprepared tree lander. Good safety habits should include always flying with radio or cell phone, preferably both. Carrying some water and food for in-flight sustenance or emergencies is also highly recommended. Having a light with you is another easy way to prepare for emergency navigation in the dark. And finally, as the pilot notes in the cool analytical light of hindsight, the best plan would have been to stay put and allow the highly trained and capable rescue personnel to find him at the crash site. Leaving the wing unfurled is often the easiest way to mark our position for potential helpers. If there’s any chance at

all that we might need their services, and especially if we have no way of cancelling the rescue call, we are better off just waiting for the cavalry to arrive. In another close call, a pilot visiting a coastal site spiraled in to make a hard downwind surf landing in a desperate effort to avoid a crowded beach that he’d been warned was off-limits. He’d received this advice from the local pilot who accompanied him to the site, and had proceeded to launch in what witnesses described as a nervous state of mind after this brief site introduction. As he sank out in the difficult crosswind conditions, during high tide that made the beach even narrower, he found himself too high as he reached the crowded beach facing upwind. Rather than continue upwind over the crowded beach area, he made a last-minute decision to turn back and initiated an aggressive turn away from the cliff, and continued all the way around in an attempt to face into the wind again. But without sufficient altitude to complete the turn beyond threequarters of a rotation, the pilot impacted

.aero Please report accidents or incidents that you witness or participate in; the online accident report form is at ushpa.aero/emailacc.asp.

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

the shoreline in a foot of surf. He hit hard, and lay curled up in a ball, stunned and motionless for about 15 seconds, as beachgoers rushed to his aid. He turned out to be uninjured – but what a lucky escape from a hasty decision! In situations like this, we need to remember that the price of breaking rules at a flying site will always compare favorably to the price of a potential injury. An into-the-wind landing at a crowded off-limits beach beats the risks of an inadvertent death spiral any day. Keeping a cool head when things aren’t going as planned is one of the hallmarks of safe piloting – let’s use our armchair perspective on this event to carefully consider the decisions we would make under similar circumstances. Often your reports are so eloquent, riveting and insightful, I am tempted to just copy them verbatim into this column. By a strange coincidence, I received this concise report of a lucky escape from one of our age-old nemeses, just as I was finishing this column. The succinct and poetic style of this report gives it a powerful impact:

do very little. It was impossible to reach the reserve. My friend said later that I helicoptered down. I was also drifting toward the hill in a pretty good cycle. I saw the tree coming out of the corner of my eye just before flying into it, backwards. It caught me perfectly. So there I was, 15 feet over the ground hanging by my chin. As my head slipped through, I grabbed the harness and hung five feet from the ground. My friend caught me so I wouldn’t roll down the hill. The whole event lasted 20 seconds. If I’d missed the tree I’d be dead or injured. Leg straps. How can anyone forget those? Now I know how easily it can happen. I trusted myself to follow a repetition I’ve performed thousands of times. I will always do the checklist now, even if it feels unnecessary. My friend was my hero. While I was eating some food and trying to stop shaking he went up and got my wing out of the tree. Leg straps. I will never forget them again.

Today I’m glad to be alive. I forgot my leg straps and lived to tell about it. The moment I left the ground I thought I was dead. My helmet and front-mount reserve kept me from sliding out. I was hanging by my chin trying to grab my risers. I spun 180° and saw my friend on launch. I remember spinning again and trying to pull the brake or anything that would get me down. But I was trapped in my harness and could

This terse report requires very little annotation or analysis. Over the years we have all heard tragic stories of accidents caused by this completely avoidable mistake, and clearly we are all still vulnerable to such an oversight. Many pilots use a variety of pre-flight checklists or mnemonic devices to doublecheck their connections just before launch. A Northwest instructor offers the following: It’s the little things that bite you. Always do a thorough preflight! If you get interrupted or distracted, start over and do it again. If you don’t already have a preflight checklist, try this one, popularized by the esteemed late instructor Dixon White: R1234RIST R: Reserve pin/handle 1: Helmet strap (Give it a tug.) 2: Carabiners (Push on the gates.) 3: Harness leg and chest straps (Tug each one.) 4: Look at all four corners of the glider to make sure everything is

clear and there are no line tangles and everything (including brake lines and toggles) is clear. R: Radio check (Can you hear the people you need to talk to? Can they hear you? Is your radio locked?) I: Instrument check (Vario, GPS, etc. on and set the way you want them) S: Stirrup/Speedbar (Attached, routed properly, not tangled, etc.) T: Turn direction (Are your riser crossed so that the riser on the side of the direction you will turn when launching is on top?) One more thing: Don’t be shy about asking for a buddy check. Divers never skip having a dive partner check over everything again before they dive. It would be a great idea to make this a part of flying, too. Find a checklist that you can remember and make it a habit – a simple list like this can truly save lives and hospital bills. Keep those reports coming!

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Sakiko Hasunuma

Martin at Asagiri, Japan, Mt. Fuji in the background, 1990

Flying Geezer: Hang Gliding at Age 70 By Martin Beresford

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On this perfect late-spring day, I’m cruising in my Sport 2 at 1500 feet above the California coast near Fort Funston. It’s a few weeks before my 70th birthday on July 4th. The lift is fat and smooth. The sun glitters on the Pacific Ocean from a cloudless sky. A thousand feet below, a red-tail hawk hovers over the cliffs. The views are absolutely breathtaking: the Golden Gate, the Marin headlands, the peninsula and San Francisco – surely one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Thirty miles across the ocean, I can see the Farallon Islands, and thirty miles inland across the East Bay, Mt. Diablo. Sheer joy! Later, in the LZ, a middle-aged wuffo strolls over. “Aren’t you a bit old for this kind of thing?” he asks. “How did you get started? Isn’t it dangerous? What keeps you doing it at your age?” As usual on such occasions, I can’t think of a suitably witty response until hours later. But the answers to his questions are actually quite simple. Fifty years ago, as a young army lieutenant in postwar Europe, I did a lot of parachuting – we were training to drop behind enemy lines in the event of a Russian invasion. That kind of “flying” was fairly exciting. But like many of us, I often dreamed of flying freely like a bird. Parachuting, by contrast, was simply a means of getting on the ground and into action as fast as possible. The real excitement started after hitting the ground – especially on night drops, when my first priority was to figure out where the heck we were, while assembling my platoon in the darkness ready to attack. Years later, while working in the UK, I learned to fly sailplanes. I loved that kind of flying, too. But I always felt a bit too enclosed in the narrow cockpit, insulated from the immediacy of the elements. I imagined how much better it would be if I could somehow hang directly under the wing, the wind in my face, with nothing between me and the ground far below. Fast forward to Hong Kong in 1972, where I learned to fly a Cessna, circling over the craggy peaks of the New Territories and the deep blue waters of the South China Sea. That kind of flying also was exciting, especially sharing airspace with incoming 707s, which in those days had to turn sharply a few feet above

the Kowloon rooftops, on their final approach to KaiTak. But this, too, fell short of my dream of riding on the wind, soaring quietly on the air currents like a bird… In those days I hadn’t yet heard of hang gliding – though I’d seen Da Vinci’s sketches, and knew about early pioneers like Sir George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal. But unknown to me, far away in California and Australia, modern-day pioneers like Bill Bennett and Richard Miller were already starting to apply Francis Rogallo’s designs to develop our marvelous sport. Fast forward again to the Japan Alps in 1975, where I’m skiing with my Japanese girlfriend. Suddenly, an announcement comes over the PA system: “Watch out! Clear the piste! There’s a hang glider coming!” What the heck is a hang glider? I wonder. We wait expectantly. Then it appears, circling overhead – a beautiful rogallo, multi-colored like a butterfly, the sun glowing through its wings like a stained-glass window. The pilot circles toward the mountain, turns back into the wind and lands elegantly on skis right in front of us. I’m captivated. Now, at last, that’s it! That’s what I’ve been dreaming about! Skiing over to the Japanese pilot, I ask him all about hang gliding and how to get started. He’s very friendly and, on hearing that I’ve flown sailplanes, he offers to let me fly his rogallo off the mountaintop. Having never even seen a hang glider before, let alone flown one, thank heaven I’m cowardly enough to refuse his kind offer. Still, I’m instantly hooked on the idea of learning to hang glide. In those days I doubted if my language skills were strong enough to for me take hang gliding lessons in Japanese. So the following week, back home in Tokyo, I started researching hang gliding schools in America. A few months later, at the end of a business trip to the USA, I spent four magical days learning basic hang gliding skills on the dunes at Kitty Hawk. My girlfriend insisted on coming with me so she could care for me if – as she fully expected – I got injured. She observed anxiously from a deckchair on the beach, binoculars and Chardonnay in hand. Hang gliding, I discovered, was truly wonderful – the realization of one of mankind’s oldest dreams. I left Kitty Hawk as proud owner of a Hang-1 certificate, with a strong desire to become, some day, an accomplished hang glider pilot. However, to achieve that goal safely required a level of commitment that was clearly incompatible with the 18-hour days that I was

A 1992 self-portrait above “the stables” at Fort Funston

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Sakiko Hasunuma

The pre-geezer Martin with his Falhawk “Create” on Asagiri launch, Mt. Fuji in the background,

putting into my business at that time in Europe, Japan and California. So for the next 10 years I concentrated on work, putting hang gliding on the back burner – apart from occasional brief trips to various training hills around the world.

By 1987 (back in Japan again, at age 50) it dawned on me that if I didn’t make a serious commitment to hang gliding now, I’d soon be too old to get started. It was now or never! So, I somehow found time away from business to begin lessons

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

at Nishi Fuji, near Tokyo, followed by a highly enjoyable week with Sam Nottage on the training slopes at Poli Poli on Maui. Before long, I experienced my first soaring flight at Asagiri Kogen near Mt. Fuji – the first time I actually went up in a hang glider rather than down. What a thrill that was! The lift was strong and smooth, and the views above Mt. Asagiri were stupendous – from the snowcovered Japan Alps far off in the West to Mt. Fuji just across the valley, the emerald-green paddy fields below, and the Pacific Ocean shining in the east. Now I was really hooked! The written exams for a Japanese Hang-3 were a bit challenging – especially the technical vocabulary. But once I’d passed, I began flying regularly with my Japanese mentor Sekiya, at the Nishi Fuji Hang Gliding Club, a friendly and supportive group who made me welcome as the only “gaijin” in the club. To cut a long story short, following the Japanese market crash in 1990 I started a new business back in San Francisco, where I was lucky enough

Japanese mentor Sekiya poses with Martin and his Spectrum at Dunlap, California, 1992

to meet many wonderful hang gliding friends. They introduced me to our great local sites – Funston and Tam – and to the joys of flying and camping together at mountain sites like Hull, Slide, Hat Creek, Lakeview, Dunlap, Sylmar and the Owens (where my first flight took me almost straight up to 17,000 feet). I learned a lot from excellent instructors like Andy Whitehill, Wally Anderson, and Pat Denevan, and I still benefit enormously from constructive criticism and advice by fellow pilots – much needed, often received and always much appreciated! Well, my “Big 7” birthday came and went (celebrated across America with the usual fireworks…). Getting old, they say, isn’t fun, but it’s sure better than the alternative. I enjoy other sports – skiing, sailing, tennis, running – but in the end, there’s nothing quite like hang gliding. Still, as a minor concession to creeping decrepitude, I gave myself a Falcon 3 for my birthday – a delight to fly, and even lighter and more forgiving than my beloved Sport 2. Also, I’m spending more time nowadays flying familiar coastal sites instead of more challenging XC flights. So today I’m sitting in my study doing email, one eye on the PC monitor, the other glancing across the Golden Gate at the inviting cumies forming over Mt. Tam. A friend calls: “Come on, Martin, let’s go flying!” How can I resist? We meet at launch. It’s blowing straight in at 15 knots and the turkey vultures are

Photo: Sakiko Hasunuma

rock back at launch, we watch a gorgeous sunset over the Pacific. We can hear the distant roar of the breakers rolling endlessly down on the beach, as we enjoy a beer and swap highlights of today’s flight – a reminder of how lucky we are to be living in this beautiful place, enjoying this wonderful sport. soaring. My friend launches into elevatorSo I guess the answer to that wuffo’s like lift, almost straight up to 2800 question is quite simple: I keep on hang feet, cheered by Oohs! and Aahs! from gliding, despite the rigors of advancing a group of friendly wuffos. I follow, and age and decrepitude, because I love this we soar together over the mountain. The sport – for the joy and beauty of flying views, as always, are stunningly beauti- itself and, perhaps even more, for the ful! Over the mesa, a hawk hovers in the comradeship and support of many wonwesterly breeze. Far below, kiteboarders derful friends in the hang gliding comcarve long white furrows on the ocean, munity. There’s an old saying: “If you sparkling in the afternoon sun. This is want to make the gods laugh, tell them sheer bliss! your plans.” Yet I dare to hope that, with After a couple of hours the wind shifts, a bit of luck, I may still be hang gliding the lift weakens, the hawk disappears, when my “Big 8” comes along…. and we fly out to land on Stinson Beach. The kiteboarders, always considerate, move offshore when they see us setting up our landings. Later, perched on a

Martin and his UltraSport at Fort Funston, California, 2003 December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Geoff Rutledge

Photo: Jim

Martin at Asagiri, Japan, Mt. Fuji in the background, 1990

P-3 … For Me?

short weeks later. I was ecstatic. The next step up, P-3, seemed too far in the future to worry about. I could fly. That’s what I came to learn and to do. Now, though, it’s two years later. My experiences have grown beyond my imagination, not only in flight but also in the development of new places to fly. I have assisted in discovering and opening new flying sites, and I continue to enjoy Mike McIntyre at 2bear the game of political ping pong in my It is amazing how time flies when you’re continued attempts to open other sensihaving fun. It wasn’t long ago that I was tive sites. I fly increasingly more technical a fledgling, hucking myself off training sites, a fact that adds to my frontiersman hills enticingly named Whisper, Spirit, sense of adventure. And now I am a P-3, and Don’s at the Ranch in Cashmere an achievement that, at first, I did not Valley, Washington. Mostly under radio even really consider. control, I was carefully watched by inParagliding has been a never-ending structors Doug Stroop and Denise Reed. education of deeply ingrained safety and Becoming a P-1 rated pilot was so excit- awareness. Flying with more experienced ing! The next rating of P-2 came a few pilots has also catapulted this process. I

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Chris launching with his first wing, an Ambar 32, at Saddle Mountain, Washington

Photo: Jim Harmon

Photo by Mike’s camera

By Chris King

have surrounded myself with pilots who care and have genuine concern for each other’s success. We constantly voice caution or extend encouragement. When we fly, we use the buddy system, usually with two or more pilots flying at the same time or at least at the site when one of

Jim Harmon launching at Blyn

Chris’s first flight with his new wing, an Atis 2, at Blanchard Hill, Washington

Chris right after launch at Blanchard Hill

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Ole Kanestrom Photo: Mike McIntyre

Perhaps inspired in part by our recent testing, a group of us were talking about active piloting. Many have misinterpreted that concept as simply being in the air dealing with turbulence. Our consensus is that active piloting begins the moment you have decided to fly. You must be the pilot-in-command every step of the way: the flight plan, checking out weather Mike McIntyre at Blyn, Olympic Peninsula, conditions, actual site conditions (both Washington State the LZ and launch – don’t get La-Zee check of each other’s gear, even if it is just about the LZ), setting up, hooking in, us is flying. In that spirit of safety, we seem to a mumbled reminder that, “It looks like pre-flight, bringing the wing up, launchhave developed our own culture. When you’re all strapped in – did you just look ing and flying, landing and folding it I’m together with my flying pals, prepar- or did you actually tug on the straps? up to call it a day. Active piloting goes ing to fly at any given site demands a lot How’s your reserve and corners? How beyond the physical aspects of the proof discussion of past experiences. We about that radio check?” It usually hap- cess as well. One’s attitude, moods and explore ideas about how well the current pens in some form or another. Safety is, I passion need to be in constant check as well. After we fly we talk about our exconditions match our experience levels have learned, not to be shrugged off. and if they are less than or greater than Instructor Kim Smith conducted our periences and what we have learned. This our expectations. We constantly compare P-3 testing. He was extremely thorough. helps us to avoid future mistakes, grow wind variations and conditions relevant Mike, Jim, Scott and I had our work cut from triumphs, and draw experience to reviewing the morning’s weather re- out for us. Weeks before we took the from each other. P-3 for me represents a huge achieveports and the existing condition of the test, the four of us studied, met together, sky. Then, all eyes shift towards Mike. A emailed and conversed about the material ment. The reason for my excitement is bebrief but silent mental tug-of-war occurs we expected to be tested on. We also re- cause the same four pilots taking the P-3 to see if he will launch first, again, to test lated our experiences to what was in the testing also qualified for the bronze Safe today’s theories! test and compared how they influenced Pilot award: 100 flights without serious After a preflight, we usually do a cross our flying. I’m glad we did. This advance incidents or mishaps. Although I am a study prepared our minds to be able to person who loves the limelight, I think it take in more at the time of the test. Later, is more important that the advancement we had an “after-the-test” evaluation. to P-3 and the bronze safety awards be Prior study and preparation strength- recognized for another personal influened the instruction offered during the ence as well. They have reinforced in my test review. mind the type of activities that got me

Photo: Mike McIntyre

Photo: Jim Harmon

Chris on 2bear launch

Photo: Kim Smith

Scott Lamb at Cliffside, in the Columbia River gorge, Washington

here. This is a pattern I want duplicated as long as I continue to fly. It also represents the recognition of making good flying decisions. P-4 is at the door, but I’m not going to rush in for the award and recognition. I want to achieve P-4 because the experiences of future flights have rooted it deep into my senses. I want it to be earned based on real experience, thought, and skill, not just gained from a memorized test. I attribute my success to those I fly with. From the humble beginnings under the fantastic instruction of Doug Stroop and Denise Reed to the inspirational journeys and flights with friends and flying pals, thank you to all who have been a part of my flying experience so far. Advice, friendship, beneficial observations, and pats on the back are absolutely appreciated. I hope you realize that with every flight I embark on, a small part of you goes with me. I invite you to be an active part of my future as

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Mike McIntyre, Chris King, Wayne Maxwell, and Ken Sinclair – the gang at 2bear, on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State

I travel along the trail towards P-4. Now, I’m totally stoked about doing more and going further. I have been excited about the course my life has taken since I first lifted my wing to air. I can hardly wait to experience the unexplored territory and roads that lead to where it is still destined to be. My piloting experience to P-4, and the next safety award, has actively begun.

Jeff O’Brien getting radical in Florida

Photo: Bob Thornburg

I CANNOT NOT By Mike Van Dorn

Even as a small child, I had all the classic symptoms of an air junkie. I often dreamt of flapping my arms and flying over the backyard fence. When other kids were making model cars, I was making model airplanes. I always sat in the back of the class and doodled WWII fighter planes as the teacher droned on. On weekends I rode my bike to the local airport to watch takeoffs and landings. As a young man in the ‘60s I parachuted from an airplane and finally soloed in a Cessna 140. It was all good, but I found airplanes did not truly give me the feel I wanted. I wanted to soar gently on the breeze

like an eagle, not shove through the air like a powered brick. I wanted that fluid natural feel you get surfing on a wave, or skiing down a slope. I wanted to fly in the open air, in tune with nature, without noisy mechanical equipment. I wanted to simply run off the top of that tall grassy hill and glide smoothly down to the little green meadow below. Yes, I wanted to sail silently through spacious skies, over amber waves of grain, over purple mountains’ majesty, across the fruited plain. Then one magical day it happened. It all came together on a beautiful afternoon at the beach. Lying half asleep in the warm sand below a steep bluff, I was

aroused by a faint flapping noise above me. Curious, I opened my eyes and stared straight up. There it was! I couldn’t believe it! My fantasy come true! A strange creature, half man, half eagle, swooped and wheeled effortlessly overhead. I had discovered hang gliding. I immediately had to have it. I had found the answer and I embraced it completely. For the next seven years I enjoyed the thrill of my dreams, along with fellow birdmen of similar passion. Seven years of soaring heaven! I felt fulfilled. I could ask for nothing more. But tragically, along the way, a few of my fine feathered friends fell from the sky.

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“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” - Leonardo da Vinci

It was no longer all just fun and games. Flying became bittersweet. My friends and relatives warned, “Don’t do this” or, “It’s too dangerous.” My father thought I was insane. “What’s wrong with you? Come back to reality.” I even began to wonder myself, Am I crazy? So I descended back to planet Earth and the humdrum of “normal” life. It was a bleak, two-dimensional flat place I now inhabited. The years passed. Thoughts of flying were set aside, suspended, suppressed. I was too busy doing normal things and wearing out my shoes. More years passed, and passed again. But flying was always somewhere

in the back of my mind. And once in a while old gliding memories would pop up unexpectedly and bite me – only to be pushed back again. So now here I am, sitting alone on the couch with my remote control, an old man. But wait! I’m an old man who is now retired and has some freedom, some money, and some good health! An old man who has lots of time to think about what’s important to him. And what does this old man think about, almost all the time? Flying, of course! I don’t know why, but for some reason flying is in my blood. It always has been. I can’t help it. I am an air junkie. It’s time

to return to the sky. I cannot not fly. (By the way, that “strange creature” who first introduced me to hang gliding was Bob Wills at Hanauma Bay, Oahu, 1972.)

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Faces of the Future:

Marcos Rosenkjer

Bariloche, Argentina, where I would not give him control because I could not gain enough altitude for it to be safe. When he was six, I asked him if he wanted to do some “tricks,” and with his approval I did some asymmetric spirals. When he asked for more “tricks” I did some more asymmetric spirals (the only acro maneuver in my repertoire); his disappointed comment was: “But that was just more of the same …” At age seven, he was able to ridge soar Marcos and I started to fly tandems his remote-controlled Zagi (delta wing) together when he was three years old. I for as long as the conditions would last, waited until he asked for it, although and he liked to do loops and spirals with I was tempted to offer him a long it. He also loved to play with all kinds of time before. kites and traction kites. He has always been a very active child, In December 2005, when he was nine, and of course wanted to start steering the Marcos began ground handling with a paraglider very early. At age four, he was paraglider in Georgia, and I had planned able to soar ridge lift at Maitencillo, an to keep it just like that for a couple of easy coastal site in Chile; at six he had his years. After a month he was showing first collapse, thermaling in Aspen with more skill than most of our students, and two other pilots while I was talking on I would push him or pull him by hand my cell phone, and he also did his first with a short rope a couple of feet up in landing approach. the air. Of course, the question came If he could not be actively flying, shortly: “Why can’t you tow me up like Marcos would fall asleep. I had to really everybody else?” shake him up to get him awake before So we began with very short tows, landing after an hour-long flight in and Marcos’s steering was perfect. By the end of February Todd Weigand and I were towing him up to over 600 feet, in very smooth conditions, and he’d stay up there forever, since he was extremely light on his Gradient Bright 24. He then had a four-month break due to some traveling and we restarted his training in July 2006. He was already 10 years old. That fall, he began flying his own thermals on his new Gradient Golden 22 (which he still uses now with some ballast), and on December 27th, to celebrate his 11th birthday, he had his first mountain flight from Moore Mountain, North Carolina. Since then, he has flown 11 different flying sites, four of them in the U.S. and Five-year-old Marcos and his dad before a seven in France, Switzerland and Italy 30-mile flight during the PampaCross during our last spring trip.

Marcos has a total of 125 flights, 12 of them over an hour and four of them just short of two hours – a total airtime of 31 hours. Of course, he is already asking for permission to go XC. In Annecy (France), Todd and I introduced Marcos to Felix Rodriguez, one of his paragliding idols. He was astonished that he could meet in person somebody he had only seen in pictures and movies. Even though I do my best to try to keep him away from acro, that will probably not last very long! Marcos’s ground-handling idol is Todd Weigand, and already they make kiting wars to find out which of them can stay longer with the wing above his head. Marcos can kite for hours without a break and seems to enjoy it as much as flying. I have had many wonderful flights in my 20 years of chasing records and flying competitions, but none of them compare to climbing at 500 feet per minute, 5000 feet AGL, right next to my 11-yearold son, screaming to each other about how wonderful flying paragliders can be, or touching wingtips during a glassoff flight at Tater Hill, North Carolina, or watching my child take off with

Luis and Marcos on the ground after their 30-mile XC at the PampaCross

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Sonia Grant

Photo: Hynek Cibula

By Luis Rosenkjer, his father

absolute control from the Aiguille du Midi at 12,000’ MSL on Mont Blanc in France for a 40-minute sled ride to Chamonix, while other pilots are having trouble with thin air and snow. Sonia, my wife and Marcos’s mom, supports us most of the time, and participates in most of the decisions we make about how far we will allow Marcos to go with his paragliding. Marcos has always been very independent and we’ve allowed him to make his own choices on

Look closely – there is a pilot inside all that wing!

most aspects of his short life. And yes, he makes mistakes... Marcos moved to the U.S. in July 2006 and went straight into 5th grade without knowing how to read or write English. He received an award for Outstanding Academic Achievement within the President’s Education Awards program at the end of the school year, and was given permission to miss the last 10 days of class to travel to France – after having had perfect attendance during the

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Hynek Cibula

Marcos gets a new weak link from his dad before towing at Atlanta Paragliding.

school year. He is now in 6th grade and his grades are above average. Sonia and I agree that this has a lot to do with his strong desire to fly and the performance he has to maintain at school in order to be allowed to do it. His mother and I believe that this whole “paragliding thing” contributes to helping Marcos build a high selfesteem and confidence that helps him now, and will continue to serve him well in the future.

An Amazing Kid!

By Bubba Goodman

Photo: Ariel Diep

I’ve always tried to be open-minded in life but especially when it comes to flying. About a year ago a paraglider instructor showed up at Tater Hill with his 10-yearold son. They did a tandem in the morning and later I watched the youngster launch alone. That father-and-son team was Luis Rosenkjer and his son Marcos. Letting a 10-year-old fly off a mountain may seem a bit crazy but when you meet Marcos you meet a remarkable young man. I’ve launched hundreds of pilots off Tater and I’ve learned to recognize warning signs of pilots who are not as capable as they claim to be. When it came to briefing Marcos about the LZ or launch he was all ears – no distractions and he asked good questions.

Ready for takeoff

That was a year ago. This past summer the Rosenkjer family came back for the Tater Hill Open and when Marcos wasn’t grounded (for not reading, of all things, a Dennis Pagen book – hard for lots of us, Marcos!) he was chomping at the bit to go flying. His skill level is amazing! He’d take off and climb straight through almost everyone. But for me the most impressive thing was his judgment. When it was just a bit too windy he’d fly his RC plane or give advice to the other pilots about flying in strong conditions. One day during the comp – a really good flying day – Luis was trying to make goal, and Marcos was eager to get in the air. I heard him on the radio several times: “Dad, can I fly? Dad, is it OK?” No answer came from Luis who was concentrating hard on completing the task. Marcos stayed on launch until he got the OK from his dad. On another day the wind was blowing lightly down at launch; lots of pilots were doing forward launches. Finally I was ready to try, although it had been years since I’d done a forward launch and and I was nervous that I’d forgotten how. Marcos was right there, though, and he coached me through it. I had a great launch. This young pilot has all the makings of a world champion, but until he gets there he’ll continue to be a good friend to have around and, along with his dad, an excellent instructor.

Not Exactly Your Typical Kid By Todd Weigand

Photo: Ariel Diep

Even so, as some of you are surely thinking, I still question myself if it is a good idea to have an 11-year-old child flying paragliders. So far it has been an extremely good experience for both of us, and we try to keep it as safe as we can. We debrief most of his flights and go through any details we feel need attention. I ask all my friends to tell me if they ever think I am wrong, but most of them just encourage me to let Marcos fly, even when he is grounded for not having completed his reading requirements…

Going up for another flight

At 10 years old, Marcos Rosenkjer was a typical kid who never stopped asking questions. The only difference was, most of his questions required detailed answers related to advanced kiting or aerobatic maneuvers. His father Luis and I removed an eight-foot section from the middle of an older competition glider so that Marcos could have a small kiting glider for his lightweight 70-pound frame. This glider was out of trim and thin like a knife – not an easy wing to kite! After practicing almost daily (as long as he was caught up on homework), Marcos soon mastered the glider and was begging me to show him how to do a helicopter landing. I have been with Marcos since his first flights and have watched him grow into an accomplished young pilot. One memorable day in the French Alps I watched Marcos fly away from his father to catch a low thermal while Luis, in his pod harness and hot Aspen II glider, sank out within minutes. Get used to it, Luis! Although Luis won’t allow Marcos to practice any acro until he is 18, I believe that it is good for pilots to understand and mentally process advanced maneuvers long before they ever try practicing them. So far Marcos has proven his maturity to become a skilled young pilot and to fly well within his skill level. At this rate, and given his ability to absorb information and physical skills, I am sure Marcos will become an outstanding pilot in the years to come.

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Para-playing

Photos: Barry Ward

tow system, Tyler insisted that he could do it, too. Luis and I put Tyler into the child’s By Barry Ward harness that Marcos had used. Within minI am a USHPA instructor, the owner of utes Luis and Tyler were being towed into Blue Sky Air Sports in Atlanta, Georgia, the air to about 800 feet. During that short and the father of eight-year-old Tyler. My tandem flight Tyler kept yelling down at me son and I met Luis Rosenkjer and his son with the biggest smile: “I love you, Daddy!” Marcos in the spring of 2006 at Luis’s para- It was an incredible moment. gliding school north of Atlanta. While Luis The beginning of this past summer, and I would fly our paramotors, Tyler would Tyler watched Marcos ground-handling his hang out and play with Marcos. Slowly but paraglider, which sparked in Tyler an oversurely, Tyler began to show interest in doing whelming fascination with the art of kiting. a tandem flight with Luis. Knowing Luis is So I approached Luis about having Marcos an outstanding instructor and pilot, I had teach Tyler how to ground handle. We fano worries for Tyler’s safety. But Tyler had thers agreed it would be a great experience a fear of heights, and I assumed it would be for both our sons. a couple more years before he would push The next thing I knew, Marcos – who the subject and insist on the tandem. is a “mini me” of Luis, 11 years old at the To my surprise, after seeing Luis per- time and with over 100 flights – was hitform several adult tandem flights under his ting me up for money for Tyler’s lessons.

I laughed him off and didn’t truly expect this to last long or to see any immediate progress – until I watched Marcos work with Tyler. I was amazed at Marcos’s abilities to teach Tyler the details of the riser system, and to see Tyler pop the paraglider over his head and run down the hill under Marcos’s calm and precise instruction. The old saying “like father, like son” seemed perfectly apropos after observing Marcos’s teaching techniques. Tyler was listening to Marcos better than he does to me! Marcos and Tyler have become great friends this past year. They’ve made a pact to one day become Red Bull acrobatic pilots together. If it were up to Tyler, we would go up to Luis’s school every weekend so that he and Marcos could para-play together.

Marcos and Tyler para-playing.

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Daddy, Can I Fly?

Photo: Ariel Diep

By Mike Isenhour

Kiting ace Marcos practicing at Atlanta Paragliding

“Daddy…can I fly?” The light pre-adolescence voice of Marcos broke the radio silence of the Tater Hill Paragliding Open. No answer. “Daddy…can I fly now?” Still no answer, so Marcos went about his other activities that included helping the competitors launch successfully and flying his RC airplane. Being safety director of a major paragliding competition carries no small amount of responsibility. No one wants anyone to get hurt flying, so when Bubba Goodman told me that an 11-year-old was going to fly my first instinct as a parent and safety director was not “NO!” but “HELL, NO!” But as Bubba recounted his experience with Luis and Marcos Rosenkjer a year earlier, I began to listen with more “open” ears. I then talked with Marcos and with his parents, but mostly I watched how this young man behaved, and how he listened closely to what his father said, and I began to see what a remarkable person young Marcos really is. Luis questioned his son about weather, flying techniques, and many other nuances of flying paragliders; Marcos’s answers were right on target – indeed, much better than many adult pilots. The best example of Marcos’s “beyond his years” judgment came not from his actual flying, which was superb, but from an incident that occurred during the competition. On one of the flying days we had questionable weather and I saw a pilot flying into a very dangerous cloud buildup. My many efforts to contact the pilot were unsuccessful. I then learned the pilot could not speak English well and my Spanish capabilities were no better. Marcos immediately saw the gravity of the situation and on his own grabbed the nearest radio and talked the pilot to safety. That level of leadership and courage is uncommon in someone so young. There is no doubt in my mind that Marcos Rosenkjer is a gifted young man whose gift has been nurtured under the careful eye of his world-renowned instructor/father Luis. Watching Marcos fly and getting to know him and his family has been a pleasure. “Daddy…can I fly now?” The answer is, “Yes, you may, young man. The sky belongs to you!”

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Quest of

Big Air Article and photos by Keith Atkins

For quite some time I have wanted to hang glide at a high-desert mountain site. Last spring’s Dry Canyon Memorial Day Fly-in, at Alamogordo, New Mexico, provided the perfect opportunity. Dry Canyon is renowned for its powerful thermals, equally strong sink, and expansive views of the Sacramento Mountains. The challenging 12-foot concrete slope launch, situated at 7000’ MSL, is not easy to reach, but it’s well

Jason launching at Dry Canyon

worth the effort. The last two miles to the launch site takes 30 minutes over a steep, untamed forestry road accessible only by 4X4 vehicles. To launch easily, wind speed should be from 10 to 15 mph out of the southwest, but wind speed is often stronger with a consistent tendency to lift the left wing. An 8:1 glide is required to clear numerous buttes and arroyos in order to reach the primary LZ 90 degrees to

Clearing some boulders from the road to launch

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

the right of launch and almost four miles away. Awaiting you at 4400’ MSL, the eight-acre LZ is bordered on two sides by thorny mesquite fields and on the remaining sides by ditches and fencework. A gravel shoulder 30 feet wide alongside a highway serves as the bailout LZ. Approximately 50 pilots from seven states joined our New Mexico hosts under the Dry Canyon pavilion Friday morning for registration and orientation.

Pete landing at Dry Canyon

The bailout LZ

Jason’s emergency bailout field

After lunch, my Arkansas buddy Jason “The fact that Jason is alive after that landGray and Dallas pilot Greg Chastain ing is a testament to his flying skills.” My Arkansas flying buddies Walter set up for late-afternoon practice flights. The wind was blowing southwest 20 to 25 Jordan and Steve Prater joined me in mph with an unsettling right cross that watching and photographing most of created very rowdy conditions. Assisted the launches on Saturday and Sunday, by full launch crews, they chose their gleaning as many tips as we could from cycles and rocketed off launch at a 30- local pilots, and mentally rehearsing to 40-degree angle. Both launches were our launches, flight plans, and “what impressive. After Jason landed, he ex- if?” contingencies. By Sunday afternoon, claimed, “I want some more of that ‘Big we were ready to test our skills in this new environment. We were fortunate to Air!’” His wish would soon be granted. Jason had his second flight on Saturday. have Robin on the nose wires offering Although his launch was perfect, he ven- valuable launch advice and encouragetured too far out front, found nothing but ment. Walter launched his U2 at 12:30 sink, and had to find someplace to land... and Steve soon followed on his Sport 2. and quickly. Viewed from launch, his They hooked strong thermals to 11,000’ touchdown looked routine. We did not MSL and landed safely after exhilarating know until later that he had executed a one-hour flights, avoiding the capricious most remarkable landing. When we re- weather to come. Jason and I launched at 1:30 as the day trieved his Ultra Sport we were astounded at just how small “Jason’s LZ” really was turning on. I hit sink and got low was, and the series of hazards he so deftly mastered. He had turned on final above a six-acre mesquite thicket with an abrupt eight-foot drop to a two-acre lot, flown under low-slung power lines, and landed downhill 15 feet from a busy highway. As he landed, a young woman was walking along the sidewalk. He rounded-out, nailed his flare just a few feet from where she stood, grinned, and casually said, “Hey…howya doin’?” To quote local pilot Robin Hastings,

Greg Chastain just off Dry Canyon launch

Jason above White Sands

over “no man’s land” but luckily found good lift over the west face. We soared in lift measured at 900 feet per minute on the averager with numerous bursts over 1600 fpm. We were sharing a thermal and keeping an eye on the White Sands National Monument area; everything was going our way until we noticed ominous signs of overdevelopment in the distance. A few minutes later the launch director closed launch because strong winds were blowing over the back. Preferring not to become the “meat” sandwiched between these two systems, we immediately headed for home. Since we’d launched later in the day, however, we soon found it almost impossible to get down from 12,000’. Jason announced over the radio, “…This is Jason at 12,000’. White Sands is dusting-up out front and the launch director just reported it’s blowing over the back at

Walter Jordan at Dry Canyon December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Gliders set up on Dry Canyon launch

40 mph. I’m starting to worry because I (Note: We had never before heard Jason can’t get down.” say he wasn’t having fun!) This was “BIG I keyed my mic and said, “Me, too,” Air”! too busy to say much more. Meanwhile, I was struggling to keep Someone on the LZ told Jason to fly my U2’s basetube locked against my straight away from lift, paused, and then thighs and, according to my Flytec 5030, asked, “Are you having fun, Jason?” I was flying at 58 mph…in the blue…and Jason responded, “Not right now.” still climbing! At that speed I knew I

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

could neither maneuver nor slip turns to lose altitude, so I flew fast and straight as the desert lifted off, hoping nothing would break on my U2. Considering the effects of the converging storms, tiring from fighting the powerful lift, absent on-board O2, and unable to descend, my options were rapidly dwindling. Cactus, mesquite, and arroyos covered the desert floor as far as I cared to look and the LZ was growing ever smaller as I flew west towards White Sands. With a pucker factor approaching “PNE,” I unzipped my harness and spread my knees for extra drag. Eventually, I escaped lift, slowed to maneuvering speed, and repeatedly turned in sink. Heading back to the LZ, I was incredulous when I hit another blue thermal; all I wanted to do was get down! There was no choice but to return to my “last best sink,” where I was able to burn altitude to 3000’ AGL and finally glide to the LZ. Wind direction and speed updates from LZ observers allowed for an “onthe-fly” approach. Turning on final over a mesquite field, I hoped I had judged

ries during the event. I would be remiss not to add that there were over 150 safe launches and landings (hang gliding and paragliding combined) across four days of flying. Constant radio communication between pilots, the launch director, and the LZ personnel was instrumental in increasing the margin of safety. The Rio Grande Soaring Association (RGSA, http://www.flywithrgsa.com) sponsored a fine Memorial Day Fly-In at Dry Canyon. We tasted high desert “Big Air,” traded stories, made new friends, and had a great time. Extra-curricular activities included a delicious meal of elk tacos and salsa prepared by George Woodcock and Velma Baldwin, a wonderful banquet provided by the club during the awards ceremony, sand sledding at White Sands, and sampling local Mexican restaurants.

Walter Jordan searching for lift

the height and glide slope accurately. As Walter would say, landing in mesquite “wouldn’t be pretty,” and neither would overshooting the LZ. I pulled in hard to lose altitude and compensate for the shifting wind and density-altitude effects. A 100’ circle had been marked for the spotlanding contest. I was nowhere near the spot, though, because I had chosen my approach to avoid the risk of going long and colliding with pilots in the process of breaking down. Steve jokingly informed me, “That’s not where the spot is.” After this harrowing 77-minute flight, I was exhausted, relieved to be safely on the ground, and emphatically stated, “This is exactly the spot I want!” This high desert flight exceeded my expectations and pushed the envelope of my H-3 sport-pilot skills. Tricky launch conditions combined with turbulent cycles contributed to two spectacular blown launches. In each case, the pilot stalled his glider on launch as a gust lifted the left wing, was forced into an unrecoverable right turn and crashed, one beside launch and the other on a rocky shelf just below launch. Both gliders were utterly destroyed with broken leading edges, snapped keels, and twisted control frames. Miraculously, both pilots walked away without a scratch. Other hazards included daily thunderstorms that developed quickly and

dust devils that were frequent but shortlived. A monster red dust devil estimated at 20 feet in diameter and several hundred feet tall played havoc with six pilots who all landed safely just before the gust front arrived. Several pilots, flushed by unrelenting sink, had to land out or use the bailout LZ. One pilot broke a down tube and sprained his ankle. Fortunately, in spite of the strong conditions there were no serious inju-

Keith, age 52, has been a USHPA member since 2002, and currently holds a Hang-3 rating. He works as a neuropsychologist to support his passion, and spends his non-aviation-related leisure time as a soap maker, home brewer, and amateur Buschseries racer.

The Arkansas boys (L to R): Steve, Walter, Keith and Jason

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Pilot pushing south, enjoying the beautiful scenery Photo: Amir Izadi

Oh, Canada! Photo: Amir Izadi

By Rob Sporrer

Overall winner Jamie Messenger sports the leader’s jersey.

Paraglider pilots, where were you last July 29 through August 4? There is no way to sugarcoat things. If you weren’t in Golden, BC, at the 2007 Canadian Paragliding Nationals you missed what Bill Belcourt called one of the best weeks at a paragliding competition ever. Golden has some of the best flying in North America – a long west-facing range with a broad, landing-friendly valley at the base.

We had amazing climbs over spectacular landscapes in flying conditions that came to be described as industrial. It wasn’t just the flying that was amazing. The people who were a part of this event on all levels formed “The Collective,” as meet director Will Gadd put it, and everyone stepped up to help make it a week of flying and fun. None of us who were there will ever forget the week we shared at Mt. 7. The organization of this event set precedents for how a competition should be run. Everybody worked together responsibly, and there was always the threat of being thrown into the river if you didn’t report in at the end of the day. Will and the rest of the Collective struck a perfect balance between having a fun, loose event and being organized, not missing any details. The race leader sported a Canadian hockey jersey, while people

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

who brain farted got to wear a pacifier (which most folks around the world call a dummy) around their neck all day. In the spirit of the Collective I have taken excerpts of what Will Gadd posted to the Web site, and added some of my own impressions to the article. Our first task started out windy, then morphed into a perfect evening “raging glass-off.” Where else can you fly a 40K comp round with a start at 6:30? The funny thing is that we could have flown a lot farther; pilots were still well above the peaks at 9:30 p.m. Matt Beechinor, a.k.a. Farmer, won the day; Marty DeVietti ran the course twice after noticing he’d missed a turnpoint since his GPS was not set to metric. Task 2 sent us 82.5 km down the range to Spur Valley. This was another solid task in solid conditions with lots of happy people at goal. Jamie Messenger

The leaders racing north Photo: Amir Izadi

Hanging around at launch waiting for a boomer Photo: Oscar Skold

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Amir Izadi

Canadian champion Keith MacCullough arriving at goal

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Marty DeVietti over the Columbia River

Photo: Amir Izadi

won the day. Will Gadd came up 11 km short of goal after charging hard in the lead all day. The next day was blown out with no flying. We had an epic game of volleyball fueled by beer instead of Red Bull. Task 3 was the kind of flight Will Gadd had hoped everyone who came to Golden would get to do. The route was 110 km, from Mt. 7 down the valley to Invermere, and many pilots had their longest flight in both time and distance. Lots of happy pilots were in goal, with many of them having flown for six or more hours. Our excellent scorer, Bill Hughes, won the coveted Log Cabin award when he blew up on the way to goal, but was courteous enough to land under reserve in some trees with road access right to their base. Marty DeVietti won the day on this huge task. The next task was relatively short (57 km) since the day looked to be a little weak and late. Then it turned on and pilots climbed to 13,000 feet – Golden

just kept giving us everything we could handle! Farmer placed first on this task. Day 5 wasn’t the longest task of the meet (55 km) but it was definitely the most exciting. We did some back-andforth on Mt. 7 before heading north to the hamlet of Donald Station. The day had the possibility to overdevelop, so the task was short in order to get pilots on the ground early. Conditions looked stable and not so pleasant on launch, but when the day turned on it went huge, with many pilots reporting their strongest climbs ever. There was some reasonable southwest wind on launch, which

Photo: Oscar Skold

Riss Estes is everywhere you want to be.

meant taking extra care to stay out in front of the main range and away from potential rotor. The bizarre thing was that at the goal field, from the ground up to about 2000 feet it was blowing 20 to 40 km/hour out of the northwest. This made landing there “technical,” so many pilots opted to arrive at goal high enough to turn around and fly back a few kilometers to the south, where the wind was light. The atmosphere at the Muller Windsports dinner that night was excited, lots of hands in the air and “So there I was!” stories. This day showed us the “big” side of Golden; Will Gadd won the task. Will claimed that Task 6, the final round, gave some of the strongest conditions he has ever flown in and I have to agree: It was just booming! The task was again short, due to risk of overdevelopment. There was a lot of yelling in the thermals along the lines of, “Damn! This thermal is insane!” We began this meet with mellow evening conditions, but each day just got stronger and stron-

ger until this final day put on a demonstration of how strong Golden can be when it turns on. Once again Will Gadd won the day. We had one accident that required a heli sling off the mountain, but in spite of the strong conditions there were no serious injuries during the comp, which is a compliment to all the pilots. Congratulations to British pilot Jamie Messenger for his first-place finish. Jamie was in position to win each of the big comps in North America this summer, but all the pieces never quite came together until this meet and he finally got the win he has deserved after a summer of brilliant flying. Farmer and Keith MacCullough were also on the podium in second and third place respectively. These guys flew consistently well all week. Bill Morris won the “Never Ever Competed” class, placed 2nd in the Serial Class and 22nd overall. All the results for the different categories of this event are posted on Will’s Web site, www.gravsports.com.

Climbing with a hang glider under magnificent clouds Photo: Oscar Skold

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Oscar Skold

The purpose of this event was to run a high-level meet with an emphasis on developing new competition pilots while focusing on good flying with friends. In the end it was a complete success. Pilots and the rest of the Collective enjoyed a delicious breakfast every morning prepared by the wonderful ladies in the kitchen. Muller Windsports sponsored some dinners in the evenings. I had run around with the late Chris Muller at the preworlds in Brazil a few years back. We’d had a great time, and Chris has to be the nicest person I have ever met in my life. It was good to spend some time with his mother Vincene. We quizzed her about Launch director Vincene Muller flying in the Canadian Rockies, kept it flowing. and she shared some amazing stories about Golden-area flying and some of the big flights made by Chris and his father Willi. The Golden Eco Adventure Ranch is the ideal spot to base a competition. The facilities are wonderful, including a big landing zone. Most pilots would head for the lake on the ranch at the end of the day for a swim in the chilly water. A very special thanks goes to Bill Hughes, the man behind the curtain scoring comps – he worked at his computer till the wee hours of the night and still raced like a madman the following day. A big kudos also to Will Gadd – he wore every hat imaginable and still managed to send it big on the tasks, often getting off very late in the start window after making sure launch went smoothly for the rest of the field. Lee and David Menzies flew over from Oz to drive and help organize the event. They were unbelievable and made transportation and other logistics a breeze for everyone. Thanks to Keith MacCullough and Nicole McLearn for helping run things with Will. The task Committee was made up of Will Gadd, Bill Belcourt, Keith MacCullough, Nicole McLearn, and Amir

Will Gadd lays it down at the pilots’ meeting.

Photo: Oscar Skold

Further Thoughts and Reflections on This Comp

Azadi. They did a great job all week of calling tasks that were perfect for each day’s conditions. The biggest thanks goes out to the Collective. Everybody contributed in some way to make this event so special. We will see you next year for, hopefully, more of the same.

Mt. 7 LZ

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

“Hang In There” Part Deux – More Blown Launches

The sport of hang gliding really began to burgeon in popularity after the publicity of several feature articles in the 1972 mainstream press. My home state of Kansas was not renowned for recreational sports, but many people found the lure of jumping off the Flint Hills an appealing diversion. On a good weekend during the heyday years, dozens of hang gliders would litter the hillsides around the centrally located Lake Wilson. Prior to purchasing my first glider, I attended a local meet as a spectator. I was completely enthralled and got as close as I could to each launching glider, trying to take in as much of the visceral experience as possible. One pilot caught my eye as he prepared for flight by chugging a beer. Another thing that got my attention was he stood on launch with not just a nose wireman but also a rear keel man. The nose man stepped to the side as the pilot began his launch run with the rear man running behind, pushing on the keel. I don’t know if the pilot tripped or passed out, but he suddenly fell limp and prone in mid-stride. There were isolated rocks on the hilltop and he happened to fall headfirst into one, his head snapping upward hard as the keel man continued to thrust the glider forward. I distinctly remember the sight of the back of his motorcycle helmet jamming into the nape of his neck. He lay motionless and began turning blue as we all yelled for a doctor. Luckily there was one among the bystanders and he wasted no time beginning mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It only took a few breaths before the pilot’s color returned and his eyes opened. “That feels good!” he exclaimed before suddenly falling silent again. After the doctor gave him another breath he pleaded, “Don’t stop!” Seeing an able-bodied man become a quadriplegic before my eyes was sobering, but did not dampen my desire for flight. To this day, however, I obey FAA rules regarding alcohol before flight, I only fly with a helmet that has a raised neckline, and I have always declined any helpful pushes. Head and neck injuries are certainly a possibility for prone fliers, but you can mitigate these risks by using a more defensive posture when close to the ground. Maintaining a ¾-prone position during launch gives you full control while providing more head and neck protection in the event of an impact and any pendular swing-through. One nice aspect of my flying an oversized delta wing during my early years was it was very forgiving of a stall. If I smoothly decelerated to a stall and held the bar out, the glider would just enter a vertical descent with a sink rate equivalent to a parachutist. Eventually I learned that in light conditions I could hit a bull’s-eye by just stopping over it and manhandling the glider as I dropped vertically. I probably wouldn’t stay on my feet when I landed, but I could land safely in extremely small areas.

Stucky’s original low seated position gave better control leverage but poor crash protection. December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Mike Ard, 1975

By Mark “Forger” Stucky

Photo: Cheryl Uhl

You afford yourself better crash protection by delaying going fully prone until safely away from the terrain.

Photo: Bo Rader, 1977

I continued, though, to have a problem with occasional stalls on takeoff, and they usually occurred at maiden flights at new sites. During one such launch I got turned downwind prior to dropping into a thicket of vegetation below launch. Once again, no damage or injury, just a minor inconvenience. I trudged the glider back to the hilltop and my subsequent flights were successful. That evening I developed the worst sore throat of my life. By morning the entire inside of my mouth and visible throat were dotted with ugly pustules. It turned out that I had crashed into a field of poison ivy and although my clothing had protected my skin, there was enough airborne oil to cause my mucous membranes to react horribly. Luck was with me during those early years and I eventually realized that, even on bunny hills, stalls on launch were not to be taken lightly. If you paraglide or fly seated below the control bar then you are quite literally putting your ass on the line. Even with paraglider-style back protection it only takes a surprisingly small fall onto your rear side to cause painful and potentially debili-

tating injuries. The 1974 hang gliding nationals brought out the first mass-marketable group of significantly higher-aspect-ratio rogallo wings with truncated keels, higher nose angles and reduced sail billow. Along with these physical changes came radically altered handling qualities. I watched one pilot trying out such a design on the gentle slopes of the 50-foot training hill. He stalled the glider right after launch and plunked down vertically on his butt. It looked like nothing more than an embarrassing end to a short flight, but that seemingly minor impact relegated him to a lifetime in a wheel chair. It did not, however, extinguish his spirit or love for flight and he went on to become an accomplished XC hang glider pilot. I have never tried the skyfloating paraglider-harness-insidethe-control-bar modern style of seated hang gliding, but it could arguably offer the best protection against serious body injuries of any of the current hang glider harness arrangements. Many pilots who compete say they learn more in a single competition than they do in months of free flying. That was the case for me. It took the trip to the ‘74 nationals for me to see what I was doing wrong and to fix my launch problems. Blown launches have thankfully become quite a rarity for me in the 30-plus years hence. I once, however, purposefully made an abrupt full stall during a light-wind launch from a 1200-foot sheer cliff. I’ll save that “there I was, thought I was gonna die” story, and the rationale behind it, for another issue!

Stucky preparing to launch prone December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Starthistle 2007:

Pilots of the Carabiner!

Photo: Josh Morell

Artwork by Jim Tibbs

A hang glider pilot flying under the Jolly Roger

glider pilot and 2007 RVHPA president James Tibbs actively recruited hang glider pilots. Thanks to his presidential efforts, 30 hang gliders took to the air during the Memorial Day weekend event. Paraglider and hang glider pilots enjoyed optimal opportunity to share thermals, learning from each other and adjusting as needed to accommodate different speeds and turning distances. We hope this big showing of hang gliders continues in the future! Starthistle pioneer Jeff Van Datta put in a surprise guest appearance during the weekend. The RVHPA history page at http://rvhpa.net/history.htm shows Jeff was the first person to fly off Woodrat Mt., back on March 19, 1978. (The first few Starthistle fly-ins were not held at Woodrat.) The page also displays some intriguing photos of how Woodrat launch looked in these first days of free flight. What pioneers were these earliest hang glider pilots! Jeff expressed approval of the improvements the club has made to the site, including recent bobcat work that has improved the hang gliding setup area. New landing zones have been opening up for pilots launching off Woodrat. RVHPA members have especially enjoyed a new association with Longsword Vineyard, (surely a good pirate name!).

James Tibbs presents LZ landowner Joan Hunter with a share of the pirate plunder; Ron Scott works the barbecue in the background.

Located two miles into the Applegate Valley from our main LZ at Hunter’s Ranch, the large open acreage around the winery provides good landing areas for initial cross-country flights. The tasting room is right off the main Jacksonville Highway 238, so the location offers visitors great views of descents and landings. Apparently, visiting wine tasters enjoy the spectacle of free-flight pilots dropping down out of the sky to join them for a glass of Chardonnay, often served by the lovely Maria Largaespada herself – although ‘tis true that some arriving aviators were quite rascally in dress and talk, many bedecked in pirate garb. The pilots were a boisterous bunch after challenging towering, gushing thermals above Rabe’s Ridge. What nicer way for a piraty pilot to end a flight, than to storm into the LZ under paraglider or hang glider wing like a berserk buccaneer goin’ o’er the rail? The aerial invasion did not bust business at Longsword Vineyard; they sold

A pirate-piloted paraglider December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Donato

Pirate pilots from up and down the West Coast alighted in Ruch, Oregon, late last May for Starthistle 2007. A pirate theme emerged for the club’s 31st annual fly-in, so skull and crossbones adorned Woodrat Mountain, home of the Rogue Valley Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. Starthistle 2007 saw a welcomed revival of hang glider participation. In the last few years, the immediate succession of Starthistle by the paragliding-only Rat Race may have made the fly-in seem less inviting to hang glider pilots. At the suggestion of the club, Rat Race organizers Mike and Gail Haley moved their competition to later in June to better separate the two flying events. Additionally, hang

Photo: Donato

By Don Fitch

Photo: Donato

out twice over the weekend. RVHPA vice-president Paul Murdoch, always the active buccaneer, helped secure this and other new LZs for the club. Great flying conditions provided Starthistle participants with memorable flights. Some took their first longdistance getaways, many to Longsword Winery, other far beyond. Adventurous aviators attacked all points of the compass. Some first-time XCers got 12-milers under their belts. The longest cross-country foray was 25 miles, while the best out-and-back to Woodrat measured 40 miles! Closer to Woodrat, several tasks and goals awaited descending pilots. A beanbag drop, honing skills and wind-andmotion senses, unfolded near the LZ. A Rena (L) and Summer take Rick Ray’s booty for not wearing appropriate pirate apparel.

spot-landing target, manned year after year by Mike Stevenson, helped pilots practice small-field landings. Past RVHPA president (2005) Ron Scott shouldered the burden of organizing Starthistle 2007; he did a great job, with the help of the Starthistle Committee. Summer Barham took on the task of securing items for the raffle fund-raiser, selling raffle tickets and even handing out the prizes. The Starthistle fly-in is the club’s main fund-raising event, and Summer’s pleasing presence peaked purchases of raffle tickets. She started off her fly-in in fine style, taking an early Saturday morning flight and landing before the pilots’ meeting. The barbecue at Cantrall-Buckley Park became a raucous affair, with pirates and wenches everywhere. Everyone enjoyed camaraderie on the hill, in the shuttle, at the winery and in the park, basking in the great weather and rejoicing in the incredible flying. If you could not make it this year, please join us next May 24-26. The pirate theme, booming thermals and busloads of biwingual buccaneers may well return for Starthistle 2008.

Summer in the LZ December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Donato

Photo: Julia Schauer

Don Fitch, a.k.a. Donato, lives in Talent, Oregon, 10 miles east of Woodrat Mt.

Gallery

An evening glass-off flight at St Andre Les Alpes, France Photo: David Dagault

Dave Brose launching at Woodrat Mt. on a summer afternoon Photo: J Patrick Cudahay

Christian Ciech in the Dolomites of northern Italy Photo: Ignazio Bernardi

Getting comfortable and already searching for lift at Black Mt. in Utah’s Skull Valley Photo: Craig Chamberlain

Just add skis… Chris Santacroce and his UP Katana skimming the Point of the Mountain, Utah, early 1990s Photo: Jay Carroll

Eric Donaldson launching from Whitwell (Tennessee) at the 2007 Team Challenge Photo: Cheryl Uhl

Patrick Halfhill soars his Wills Wing Sport 2 over Far View Airstrip in Ohio. Photo: Walter Rowe

Snowplay, 21st-century style: Hugh Pinny, OZONE’s hardware designer, with a Frenzy FX 9m in New Zealand last August Photo courtesy OZONE

T-shirts and a painting by Jim Tibbs, staff artist

Calendar of events items WILL NOT be listed if only tentative. Fly-Ins Please include exact information (event, date, contact name December 8-9, and December and January in and phone number). Items should be received no later than six general: Tenancingo, Mexico. Come celebrate the grand opening of La weeks prior to the event. We request two months lead time Malinche, a relatively new flying site with great XC potential. Free rides for regional and national meets. For more complete informa- and retrieval. A beautiful manicured paraglider or hang glider launch for tion on the events listed, please see our Calendar of Events at up to three at a time, 360 degrees of flying options and excellent LZs www.ushpa.aero. all around. Contact +(52)1-722-312-3363. More information at http:// picasaweb.google.es/sumocobre/TenancingoFlyingSites. Sanctioned competition:

clinics, meetings, tours

The following events received USHPA sanctioning for the 2008 season. By the time you receive this magazine, more details about these meets should be available on each meet’s Web site and at ushpa.aero.

December through March: Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Again after over 14 years, FlyMexico keeps going and growing. Sunday-Sunday packages, hang gliding and paragliding. Every stinkin’ day we go flying! Contact: www.flymexico.com, 1-800-861-7198.

Paragliding:

November 12-December 11: Oaxaca, Mexico. Improve your thermal and XC skills with top-ranked U.S. PG pilot David Prentice. Fly over the world-famous Monte Alban camp of pyramids. Week-long tours include airport pickup/drop off, lodging, transportation, guiding, XC retrieval. Plenty of fun and adventure for the family. More information: (505) 720-5436, www.earthcog.com.

June 8-14: West Coast Championships, mphsports.com (Woodrat

Mt., Ruch, Oregon)

July 6-12: Rat Race, mphsports.com (Woodrat Mt., Ruch, Oregon) July 27-August 1: Chelan XC Open, chelanXCopen.com (Chelan,

Washington)

September 14-20: Owens Valley Nationals (Bishop, California)

Hang Gliding: August 17-23: Hang-On Nationals, mphsports.com (Lakeview,

Oregon)

Both: June 30-July 5: Chelan XC Classic, cloudbase.org (Chelan,

Washington)

Competition December 15-22: Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Pepsi Max XC Open World Series, 125 paraglider pilots from all over the world, compete in five classes for $21,000US in prize money! More information: www .pepsimaxteam.com/xcopen_en.htm, www.xcopen.org, www.flymexico .com.mx. January 2-10: Forbes, Australia. Forbes Flatlands Hang Gliding

Championships. Registration/practice on January 2, competition January 3-10. More information: http://www.moyes.com.au/Forbes2008/ or email event manager Vicki Cain, Vicki@moyes.com.au.

January 11-19: Mt. Beauty, Victoria, Australia. Bogong Cup hang

gliding competition. Registration on January 11, competition January 1219. More information: Vicki Cain, Vicki@moyes.com.au. February 17-23: Dominican Republic. The Ozone Caribbean XC Challenge is a low-key, education-oriented paragliding competition with few rules, stress-free ambience, pure XC flying, amazing location, coaching from expert pilots and the assistance of Jocky Sanderson to help maximize your time in the air. Categories and prizes for pilots flying DHV 1, 1-2, 2 and 2-3 (CEN A, B, C and D) wings, plus an Ozone glider raffled among competitors. Registration opened on September 15. More information: http://www.caribbeanxc.com.

November 15 through Feburary 17: Valle de Bravo, Mexico. VOL VALLE! allows pilots to choose what level of service they want, from just a room to everything including guide, meals, transportation. Based on the sprawling Rancho de San Ramon, a large hacienda with stunning views that can house up to 20 guests. A 10-minute drive from Valle de Bravo with its own large LZ, on the route to the butterflies. Nightly shuttles to and from Valle de Bravo included. Lots of activities for the family: sailing, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, sightseeing. More information: David Prentice, (505) 720-5436 or earthcog@yahoo.com. December 12-January 14: Valle de Bravo, Mexico (site of the 2009 world PG championships). Improve your thermal and XC skills with top-ranked U.S. PG pilot David Prentice. Week-long tours include airport pickup/drop off, lodging, transportation, guiding, XC retrieval. More information: (505) 720-5436, www.earthcog.com. December 27-January 7: Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Guided PG tour with thermal and XC instruction with Bill Belcourt (from 12/30 to 1/7 only) and Ken Hudonjorgensen. More information: (801) 572-3414, twocanfly@gmail.com, www.twocanfly.com. December 28-January 2: Forbes, Australia. Open to any pilot who orders a new Moyes hang glider to be picked up at the factory in Oz in December 2007. It’s not a competition but more of a tuning/ training seminar to get dialed into your new glider before the comps. Maximum 30 pilots, no entry fee, just tow fees. We’ll tow out of Forbes for a couple of days then, weather permitting, set goal to another designated town, tow out of there for two days and move on again. Gerolf Heinrichs and Jonny Durand Jr. will host this event. More information: Vicki Cain, Vicki@moyes.com.au. December 30-January 22: Nepal. Big Sky Paragliding will host two 10-day tours in the most stunning and unique flying sites in the world. Mild conditions, big mountains and big birds. Thermal and XC coaching with Dale Covington. $1600 covers all transportation within the country, lodging and breakfast. For more information visit www .bigskyparagliding.com, or call (801) 699-1462.

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

January 4-15: Ecuador. Join USHPA’s 2006 Instructor of the Year,

Kevin Lee, and Thermal Tracker Paragliding for a flying adventure! Kevin has been leading paragliding adventures in Ecuador since 1996 and is supported by two Ecuadorian guides/pilots who know and fly the local sites. Explore both the high Andean mountain thermal sites and the incredibly consistent coastal sites. Includes advanced coaching and all details in country (lodging, transportation, drivers, guides, air shuttle from the coast, and much more). More information: Thermal Tracker Paragliding & Aero-Sports, (541) 890-7142, info@thermaltracker.com, www .thermaltracker.com. January 5-12, 12-19, 19-26, February 2-9, 9-16, 1623, March 1-8, 8-15, 15-22, 22-29: Costa Rica with Nick

January 13-20: Mexico. P-3 week with Parasoft Paragliding School.

We tailor our weeks to your pilot skills. In the P-3 week we focus on thermaling and short XC flights. After starting in Tapalpa, we fly both San Marcos and Colima. Details at www.parasoftparagliding.com/travel/ colima.php.

February 2-15: Dominican Republic. Big Sky Paragliding will spend two weeks flying the varied sites in the Dominican Republic with local pilot Sebastian Mier. Green and mild to dry and strong, this small island has diverse conditions appropriate for most pilots. $1600 includes transportation, lodging, breakfast and coaching. Contact Dale Covington at (801) 699-1462 or visit www.bigskyparagliding.com.

Photo: Julia Schauer

Crane, paragliding instructor, tandem instructor and veteran Costa Ri- February 10-17, 2008: Southern California PG flying trip with Ken can traveler. Small groups, quality accommodations, safe and fun fly- Hudonjorgensen. More information: (801) 572-3414, twocanfly@gmail ing for all levels in exotic Costa Rica. Fly over tropical forests and land .com, www.twocanfly.com. on uncrowded beaches. Share the sky with toucans, macaws, king vul- February-March: Governador Valadares, Brazil. Leave the cold tures and pelicans. We have pioneered some of best sites in Costa Rica. northern hemisphere and enjoy the beauty and warmth of Brazil. FebFor details contact nick@paracrane.com, (541) 840-8587, or www ruary and March are the best months for soaring and consistently good .paracrane.com. thermaling with flying virtually every day. With 10 years of flying in GV we can offer bilingual guide service, USHPA hang gliding and paraglidJanuary 6-11: Big Island of Hawaii. Mauna Kea paragliding thering instructor, transportation, retrieval, hotel accommodations and a mal clinic with Achim Hagemann. Mauna Kea (13,796’) has flying sites warm welcome at the GV airport. Limited to 4 - 6 pilots at a time to inat various altitudes. Pilots should expect big air, high-altitude takeoffs sure personal attention and service. Every level of pilot skill welcome. 10 and challenging XC flying as well as relaxing coastal flying. Skill requiredays: paragliding $1500; hang gliding $2000 with your glider, or with ments: Novice or better. Cost: $375, includes 4x4 transportation, airour equipment $2500 single surface, $3000 double surface. Special port pickup, guide service, free camping, daily state-of-the-art weather airfares available plus assistance with all your travel plans. Adventure report. Contact: Paraglide Hawaii, flyaglider@yahoo.com or (808) 895Sports Tours, (775) 883-7070, email skybirdwings@hotmail.com, more 9772, http://paraexpeditionshawaii.blogspot.com. info at http://www.pyramid.net/advspts. January 6-13: Tapalpa, Mexico. P-2 week with Parasoft Paragliding School. We’ve been taking pilots to fly in Mexico since 1991. The P-2 week focuses on long easy flights from 2500’. Details at www.parasoftparagliding.com/travel/tapalpa%20_mexico.php.

Woodrat Mt., Oregon December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Ra t i n g s i s s u e d d u r i n g A u g u s t 2 0 0 7 Paragliding Division 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 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-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-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2

1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 7 7 8 9 11 12 12 12 13 13 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4

City

James Nugent Jr Olympia Jennifer Messick Girdwood Harlan Taney Flagstaff Nancy Landi Anchorage Ryan Havlina Issaquah Wesley Wilson Pope Valley Reavis Sutphin-gray Santa Rosa Belle Koven Mountain View Jim Francisco Bakersfield Jerome Crochat San Francisco Elias Mayren Lake Forest Cheri La Rocque Santa Barbara Jeffrey Keddy Los Alamos Barry Cox Aspen Mike Meservy Saratoga Springs Michael Martino Steamboat Springs Tom Wegs Durango Ed Armstrong Aspen Spencer Riddle Peoria Robert Rose Sandy Layne Newman Salt Lake City Gregory Irwin Salt Lake City Dennis Moffatt Draper Caleb Sandford Missoula Joseph Solik Burlington Vladimir Gedgafov Glenview Bill Lockwood Oxford Jamie Sides Blacksburg Ricardo Garza Laredo Jef Field Albany Jannina Alvarez Newark Scott Hirst New York Leaf Tremback Kingston, On Melanie Duckworth Leeds Jeff Shelman Bellingham Leigh Pinney Anchorage Shannon Olivarez Portland Kjell Sporseen Eagle River Seth Miles Winthrop Doug Sanders Everett Roger Broch Bellingham Harlan Taney Flagstaff Corey Eichinger Beaverton Ted Shepard Puyallup Dave Hastenske Issaquah Malinda Vanbeck Issaquah Wesley Wilson Pope Valley Michael Kaiser Las Vega Reavis Sutphin-gray Santa Rosa Belle Koven Mountain View Dudi Shmueli Cupertino Donald Simmons Belmont Samuel Hiatt Moffett Field Jim Francisco Bakersfield Diane Gerard Cardiff By The Sea Chuck Srock San Diego Bradley Eli Encinitas Mark Crispino San Diego Philip Lin San Diego Elias Mayren Lake Forest Cheri La Rocque Santa Barbara J D Loveland El Cajon Robert Larson Salt Lake City Bill Rowe Tempe Dan Osulliivan Colorado Springs Jeffrey Keddy Los Alamos Josh Hutchens Golden Mike Meservy Saratoga Springs

State Rating Official

WA Steven Wilson AK Peter Gautreau AK Tanner Patty AK Peter Gautreau WA John Kraske CA Kevin Lee CA Wallace Anderson CA Wallace Anderson CA Rob Sporrer CA Jeffrey Greenbaum CA Stephen Mayer CA Rob Sporrer NM William Smith CO Alejandro Palmaz UT Patrick Johnson CO Scott Harris CO Stephen Mayer CO Royal Owens AZ Stephen Mayer UT Stacy Whitmore UT Dale Covington UT Stephen Mayer UT Mike Steen MT Stephen Mayer WI Bruce Kirk IL William Fifer CT David Prentice VA Stacy Whitmore TX Jeffrey Hunt NY Ciaran Egan NJ Jonathan Jefferies NY Jonathan Jefferies Rick Sharp Jonathan Jefferies WA Todd Henningsen AK Peter Gautreau OR Kelly Kellar AK Phil Smith WA David Verbois WA Douglas Stroop WA Douglas Stroop AK Tanner Patty OR Kelly Kellar WA Lan Chirico WA Douglas Stroop WA Denise Reed CA Kevin Lee NV Bruce Kirk CA Bruce Kirk CA Bruce Kirk CA Jeffrey Greenbaum CA Jeffrey Greenbaum CA Chris Santacroce CA Rob Sporrer CA Bill Armstrong CA Bill Armstrong CA Bill Armstrong CA Bill Armstrong CA Bill Armstrong CA Stephen Mayer CA Rob Sporrer CA Bill Armstrong UT Brad Bloxham AZ Philip Russman CO Granger Banks NM William Smith CO Granger Banks UT Patrick Johnson

Rating Region Name

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-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 P-4 P-5

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 11 12 12 13 13 1 1 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 8 8 8 8 10 13 1 2 2 4 4 8 8 13 3

City

Tom Wegs Durango Spencer Riddle Peoria Nicolas Saldarriaga Boulder Doug Kurtz Boulder Layne Newman Salt Lake City Gregory Irwin Salt Lake City Dennis Moffatt Draper Moises Bada Victor Caleb Sandford Missoula Joseph Solik Burlington Vladimir Gedgafov Glenview Peter West Apple Valley Bill Lockwood Oxford Geovani Alves Framingham Neill Unsicker Dummerston Robert Krasowski Middletown Demerson Dasilva Framingham Andrew Marril Great Falls Jamie Sides Blacksburg Donald Kirkland Thomaston Sean Zornes Hopkins Jan Barencik Bogart C. A. Smith Dripping Springs Jannina Alvarez Newark Scott Hirst New York Tolga Ozkaynak Fethiye, Olideriz Melanie Duckworth Leeds Kimberly Lynch Bellevue Konstantin Terentjev Kent James Decarion San Francisco Michael Reenders Hanford John Samson San Marcos Dan Weik San Diego Ed Totman Poway Esad Brohja Chula Vista William Whitaker Salt Lake City Jorge Arango Phoenix Blayde Mc Intire Evanston Tyler Horne Jackson Britton Shaw Fort Smith Stephen Muza Jr Medway Alex Halpern Burlington Aviv Hirschenbein Boston Luiz Nunes Manchester Mel Beach Dawsonville Adrian Witcomb Sheffield Reed Gleason Portland Frank Marquis Richmond Douglas Wolf San Jose Greg Hummel Red River Justin Brim Salt Lake City Calef Letorney Westford Adam Hill Andover Colleen Varcoe BC James Maddox Carpinteria

State Rating Official

CO Stephen Mayer AZ Stephen Mayer CO Granger Banks CO Denise Reed UT Dale Covington UT Stephen Mayer UT Mike Steen ID Scott Harris MT Stephen Mayer WI Bruce Kirk IL William Fifer MN Chris Santacroce CT David Prentice MA Jeffrey Nicolay VT Jeffrey Nicolay CT Robert Chevalier MA Jeffrey Nicolay VA Bill Armstrong VA Stacy Whitmore GA Luis Rosenkjer SC Luis Rosenkjer GA Hynek Cibula TX Paul Greenwood NJ Jonathan Jefferies NY Jonathan Jefferies Murat Tuzer Jonathan Jefferies WA Bob Hannah WA Bob Hannah CA James Matt Combs CA Tom Morris CA Bill Armstrong CA Bill Armstrong CA Bill Armstrong CA Gabriel Jebb UT Stephen Mayer AZ Bill Armstrong WY Ken Hudonjorgensen WY Scott Harris AR David Broyles MA Ken Hudonjorgensen VT Chad Bastian MA Nicolas Cauchy CT Ciaran Egan GA Luis Rosenkjer Jeffrey Nicolay OR Kelly Kellar CA Rob Sporrer CA Wallace Anderson NM Ken Hudonjorgensen UT Chris Santacroce VT Chris Santacroce NH Charles Smith James Reich CA Chad Bastian

Hang gliding ratings issued in August are on p. 72.

Photo courtesy GIN Gliders

Rating Region Name

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

THERMAL NUCLEAR DETECTION

Use your Glider, or our STRATUS Glider!

North Wing A.T.F. Soaring Trike

HANG GLIDERS  ULTRALIGHT TRIKES

509.886.4605

www.northwing.com December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Hang Gliding Division Rating Region

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-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-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-1 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2

2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 6 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 6 8

Name

Wei Tan Chen Ryan Goebel Doug West John Waite Jordan Waite Marc Grossman Andrea Coletto Janice Reguyal Erika Klein Ruben Hernandez Mike Ivey Justice Pierce Philip Jorn Douglas Hirsch Amado Lascar Matthew Smuts Shawn Neuberger Doug Kersh Paula Mcgown James Dickey James Tinkler Mark Smith Jeffrey Sharp James Rice Matt Pericles Luke Parrott Brian Moss Ryan Mccollum Tiffany Johnson Branden Johnson Jerry Keller Angela Galbreath Gary Morris William Harrison Elan Schultz Daniel Vinish Jeffrey Rhone Thomas Betjeman Joseph Durivage George Meyers Keven Tauch Glenn Zapien Ashley Kitto Doug West Marc Grossman Steve Luerman Justice Pierce Philip Jorn Keith Beebe

City

San Francisco Santa Cruz Hughson Saratoga Saratoga Pasadena Chatsworth San Diego Pasadena Palmdale Northridge Albuquerque Kirksville Pelham Athens Pittsburgh Winter Haven Columbia White Bluff Hubert Wilmington College Park Memphis Harvest Roswell Talking Rock Charlotte Greensboro Trussville Snellville Bradenton Trenton Dripping Springs Houston Wallkill Sunnyside Macedon New Palty Wateruliet Waterstown Applegate Ceres Redwood City Hughson Pasadena Boulder Albuquerque Kirksville Hinsdale

State Rating Official

CA Patrick Denevan CA Patrick Denevan CA Clarence Prather CA Patrick Denevan CA Patrick Denevan CA Tammy Burcar CA Andrew Beem CA Steve Stackable CA Andrew Beem CA Andrew Beem CA Lynden Vazquez NM Mel Glantz MO Gordon Cayce NH Jeffrey Nicolay OH Tammy Burcar PA Gordon Cayce FL Malcolm Jones MS Jack Walters TN Gordon Cayce NC Andy Torrington NC Gordon Cayce GA Gordon Cayce TN Gordon Cayce AL Gordon Cayce GA Gordon Cayce GA Gordon Cayce NC Gordon Cayce NC Gordon Cayce AL Gordon Cayce GA Gordon Cayce FL Malcolm Jones GA Gordon Cayce TX Jeffrey Hunt TX Gordon Cayce NY Greg Black NY Greg Black NY Henry Boessl NY Greg Black NY Greg Black NY Gordon Cayce OR Michael Stevenson CA Clarence Prather CA Gordon Cayce CA Clarence Prather CA Tammy Burcar CO Mark Windsheimer NM Mel Glantz MO Gordon Cayce MA Michael Robertson

Rating Region

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-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-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-3 H-4 H-4 H-4 H-4

8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 1 2 3 3 4 7 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 12 12 13 2 3 4 9

Name

Josh Beebe Douglas Dougherty Amado Lascar Matthew Smuts Matt Polak Shawn Neuberger Doug Kersh Paula Mcgown James Tinkler Mark Smith Brad Short Jeffrey Sharp James Rice Matt Pericles Luke Parrott Brian Moss Ryan Mccollum Tiffany Johnson Branden Johnson Jerry Keller Angela Galbreath Rodrigo Maldonado William Harrison Elan Schultz Olivier Chevallier Daniel Vinish Jeffrey Rhone Joseph Durivage George Meyers Andrey Gusev Erik Ayer J R Sterling David Aldrich Chris Gwin William Lothman George Messer Bryan Althouse Robert Fuller Thomas Wilson Bill Jacques Shawn Neuberger Daniel Farnsworth Bertrand Delacroix Thomas Baumann Adrian Witcomb Heather Stoddard Glenn Smith Jeff Johnson Walter Wood

City

Hinsdale Boalsburg Athens Pittsburgh Independence Winter Haven Columbia White Bluff Wilmington College Park Lookout Mountain Memphis Harvest Roswell Talking Rock Charlotte Greensboro Trussville Snellville Bradenton Trenton Houston Houston Wallkill Endicott Sunnyside Macedon Wateruliet Waterstown Mukilteo Fremont Capistrano Beach Rancho Cucamonga Albuquerque Greendale New Britain Columbia Fredericksburg Virginia Beach Boca Raton Winter Haven Waleska Brooklyn Sussex Sheffield Oakland Westchester Gold Canyon Suffolk

State Rating Official

MA Michael Robertson PA Gordon Cayce OH Tammy Burcar PA Gordon Cayce OH Gordon Cayce FL Malcolm Jones MS Jack Walters TN Gordon Cayce NC Gordon Cayce GA Gordon Cayce GA Matthew Taber TN Gordon Cayce AL Gordon Cayce GA Gordon Cayce GA Gordon Cayce NC Gordon Cayce NC Gordon Cayce AL Gordon Cayce GA Gordon Cayce FL Malcolm Jones GA Gordon Cayce TX Jack Walters TX Gordon Cayce NY Greg Black NY Jack Slocum NY Greg Black NY Henry Boessl NY Greg Black NY Gordon Cayce WA Russell Gelfan CA Patrick Denevan CA Bill Soderquist CA Rob Mckenzie NM Mel Glantz WI Tommy Thompson, Sr CT Deane Williams MD Paul Venesky VA Steve Wendt VA Steve Wendt FL James Tindle FL Malcolm Jones GA Gordon Cayce NY Steven Prepost NJ Andy Torrington Jeffrey Nicolay CA Ken Muscio CA Andrew Beem AZ Greg Berger VA Jon Thompson

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

HANG GLIDING ADVISORY: 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.

SCHOOLS & DEALERS ALABAMA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793.

PARAGLIDING ADVISORY: 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.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK – The best facilities, largest inventory, camping, swimming, volleyball, more. Wide range of accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877) 426-4543.

I f 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 USHPA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR.

FLY HIGH PARAGLIDING.COM – over 10 years of experience, offers P-2 certification, tandem flights, towing, new and used equipment, the best weather to fly in USA. (480) 266-6969.

FLEX WINGS 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, www.hanggliding .com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports. FALCON 195 & EUROSPORT 150 – Both very good condition. High Energy Sports & WW Z1 & kneehanger training harness. For 5’10” & 175-lb. pilot. Parachute & drogue chute. $2000 for the lot. Call Tom, (530) 2335125, Northern California. FALCONS CLEARANCE SALE – School use, one season. Falcon 1s and 2s. All sizes $1250-$2500. (262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com, www.hanggliding .com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

Emergency Parachutes INSPECTED RESERVES – For HG or PG $199+up. Used Quantum, all sizes $475+up. Some trades accepted. info@hanggliding.com, www.hanggliding.com, http:// stores.ebay.com/raven-sports, (262) 473-8800.

EMPLOYMENT NORTH WING DESIGN – is accepting applications for metal shop/wing and trike airframe mechanic. Also accepting applications for sail maker and sewing machine operator. Send application to: 3904 Airport Way, E. Wenatchee, WA 98802 or Fax (509) 886-3435 (www .northwing.com).

HARNESSES HARNESSES – 5’0”-6’5”. Cocoons $125+up. High Energy Cocoons $200+up, Pods $200+up. Inventory, selection changes constantly. Some trades accepted. (262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com, www.hanggliding .com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

ARIZONA

CALIFORNIA AIRJUNKIES PARAGLIDING – Year-round excellent instruction, Southern California & Baja. Powered paragliding, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier, (760) 753-2664, airjunkies@sbcglobal.net, airjunkies.com. DREAM WEAVER HANG GLIDING – Competitive prices, state-of-the-art equipment. Complete lesson programs. Northern California Mosquito harness dealer. Ideal training hill. Tandem instruction. USHPA advanced instructor Doug Prather (209) 556-0469, Modesto, California. drmwvrhg@softcom.net. EAGLE PARAGLIDING – SANTA BARBARA offers the best year round flying in the nation. Awardwinning instruction, excellent mountain and ridge sites. www.FlySantaBarbara.com, (805) 968-0980. FLY ABOVE ALL – Year-round instruction in beautiful Santa Barbara! USHPA novice through advanced certification. Thermaling to competition training. Visit www.flyaboveall.com, (805) 965-3733. THE HANG GLIDING CENTER – PO Box 151542, San Diego CA 92175, (619) 265-5320. MIKE BUTLER HANG GLIDING SCHOOL – Located just 30 minutes west of Yosemite National Park. WW and Flytec dealer. mbutler@sti.net, (209) 742- 8540. MISSION SOARING CENTER – Largest hang gliding center in the West! Our deluxe retail shop showcases the latest equipment: Wills Wing, Moyes, AIR, High Energy, Flytec, Icaro. West Coast distributor for A.I.R. Atos rigid wings including the all-new VX Tandem Atos. Parts in stock. We stock new and used equipment. Trade-ins welcome. Complete lesson program. Best training park in the West, located just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Pittman Hydraulic Winch System for Hang 1s and above. Launch and landing clinics for Hang 3s and Hang 4s. Wills Wing Falcons of all sizes and custom training harnesses. 1116 Wrigley Way, Milpitas, CA 95035. (408) 262-1055, Fax (408) 262-1388, mission@ hang-gliding.com, www.hang-gliding.com, Mission Soaring Center, leading the way since 1973. O’CONNOR FLIGHT SCHOOL – Specializing in Safety In-Flight Training & Maneuvers Clinics and Aerobatic In-

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

struction. Enhance your knowledge, increase your level of confidence, take your piloting skills to new levels. Overthe-water safety and aerobatics clinics. Enleau and Ann O’Connor, www.oconnorflightschool.com, (530) 2274055 and reserve your clinic. TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT – Come soar in San Diego! This family-owned and operated flying site offers USHPA 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 fullservice repairs. Bring your family for our amazing sunsets and dining at the Cliffhanger Cafe. Importers for Para-tech and Independence gliders. We also carry AustriAlpin, Center of Gravity, Crispi and Sup’Air. Check us out online for sales and questions at: www.flytorrey.com, or call toll-free at 1-877-FLY-TEAM (359-8326). Also, tune in to the Internet Paragliding Talk Show at www.worldtalkradio .com every Tuesday 9-11:00 a.m. (PST). WINDSPORTS – 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. (818) 367-2430, www.windsports.com.

COLORADO AIRTIME ABOVE HANG GLIDING – Full-time lessons, sales and service – Colorado’s most experienced! Offering foot launch, tow and scooter-tow instruction. Wills Wing, Moyes, North Wing, AIR, Altair, Aeros, High Energy, Finsterwalder, Flytec, MotoComm, and more sold and serviced. Call for more info (303)-674-2451, Evergreen Colorado, Airtimehg@aol.com. GUNNISON GLIDERS – Serving the western slope. Instruction, sales, service, sewing, accessories. Site information, ratings. 1549 County Road 17, Gunnison CO 81230. (970) 641-9315, 1-866-238-2305. PEAK TO PEAK PARAGLIDING LLC – THE Front Range paragliding school, located in Boulder. Offering excellent state-of-the-art instruction. Equipment & tandems. (303) 817-0803, Info@peaktopeakparagliding.com, www .peaktopeakparagliding.com.

FLORIDA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793. FLORIDA RIDGE AEROTOW PARK – 18265 E State Road 80, Clewiston, Florida, (863) 805-0440, www.thefloridaridge.com. GRAYBIRD AIRSPORTS – Paraglider & hang glider towing & training, Dragonfly aerotow training, XC, thermaling, instruction, equipment. Dunnellon Airport, (352) 245-8263, email fly@graybirdairsports.com, www.graybirdairsports.com.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK – Nearest mountain training center to Orlando. Two training hills, novice mountain launch, aerotowing, great accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877) 426-4543.

PROFLYGHT PARAGLIDING – Call Dexter for friendly information about flying on Maui. Full-service school offering beginner to advanced instruction every day, year round. (808) 874-5433, paraglidehawaii.com.IDAHO

MIAMI HANG GLIDING – For year-round training fun in the sun. (305) 285-8978, 2550 S Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, Florida 33133, www.miamihanggliding.com.

IDaHO

QUEST AIR – #1 site for US competition & the biggest flights on the East coast. No-wait, 1-on–1 lessons from first tandem to advanced XC training. Towing 8amsunset everyday. All amenities including on-site accommodations, time-honored clubhouse, pool, hot tub and private lake. Demos, rentals, sales, storage & repairs. Minutes from Orlando in Groveland, FL. Phone (352) 429-0213, fax (352) 429-4846, www.questairforce.com, questair@ mpinet.com, 1-877-FLY-QUEST. WALLABY 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 minutes. 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. 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-ofthe-art. F.H.G. INC., flying Florida since 1974.

Georgia ATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793. LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK – Discover why 5 times as many pilots earn their wings at LMFP. Enjoy our 110-acre mountain resort. www.hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877) 426-4543.

HAWAII FLY HAWAII – Hawaii’s hang gliding, paragliding/ paramotoring school. Mauna Kea guide service. Most experience, best safety record. Big Island of Hawaii, Achim Hagemann, (808) 895-9772, www.aircotec.net/flyhawaii .htm, flyaglider@yahoo.com. Aloha! Island Powered Paragliders/ThermalUp Paragliding – The Big Island’s only choice for USHPA certified instruction. Both free flight and powered tandems year round. DVD of your flight included. Oneon-one lessons from our private oceanside launches and training facilities. Contact Yeti, (808) 987-0773, www .ThermalUp.com or www.IslandPPG.com. Aloha!

KING MOUNTAIN GLIDERS – Alluring site plus shop supplying all your HG/PG needs. Instruction, equipment sales, complete accessories. Visit our Web site www .kingmountaingliders.com or (208) 390-0205.

INDIANA Cloud 9 Sport Aviation – See Cloud 9 in Michigan.

MAINE DOWNEAST AIRSPORTS – Paragliding & hang gliding instruction using tandems & scooter towing for easy safe learning. Quality equipment sales. www .downeastairsports.com, in_a_cloud@hotmail.com, Marc (207) 244-9107.MARY

MARYLAND HIGHLAND AEROSPORTS – Baltimore and DC’s fulltime 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! (410) 634-2700, Fax (410) 634-2775, 24038 Race Track Rd, Ridgely, MD 21660, www.aerosports.net, hangglide@aerosports.net. MARYLAND SCHOOL OF HANG GLIDING – Sales, service, instruction since 1976. Specializing in foot launch. www.mshg.com, (410) 527-0975. Proudly representing Wills Wing & Moyes.

MICHIGAN CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION – Aerotow specialists. We carry all major brand hang gliders and accessories. Cloud 9 Field, 11088 Coon Lake Road West, Webberville MI 48892. Cloud9sa@aol.com, http://members.aol .com/cloud9sa. Call for summer tandem lessons and flying appointments with the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club at Cloud 9 Field. (517) 223-8683, DFSCinc@aol.com, http://members.aol.com/dfscinc. 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. www.mosquitoamerica.com.

FLY HIGH, INC. – Serving New York, Jersey, and Connecticut areas. Area’s exclusive Wills Wing dealer. Also all other brands, accessories. Area’s most INEXPENSIVE prices! Certified instruction/service since 1979. Excellent secondary instruction! Taken some lessons? Advance to mountain flying! www.flyhighhg.com, (845) 744-3317. SUSQUEHANNA FLIGHT PARK COOPERSTOWN – 1 60’ training hill with rides up. 600’ ridge – large LZ. Specializing in first mountain flights. Dan Guido, 293 Shoemaker Road, Mohawk NY 13407. (315) 866-6153, dguido@dfamilk.com.

NORTH CAROLINA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793. KITTY HAWK KITES – FREE Hang 1 training with purchase of equipment! The largest hang gliding school in the world. Teaching since 1974. Learn to fly over the East Coast’s largest sand dune. Year-round instruction, foot launch and tandem aerotow. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Ultralight instruction and tours. (252) 441-2426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, www.kittyhawk.com.

OHIO Cloud 9 Sport Aviation – See Cloud 9 in Michigan.

Puerto Rico FLY PUERTO RICO WITH TEAM SPIRIT HG! – Flying tours, rentals, tandems, HG and PG classes, H-2 and P-2 intensive novice courses, full sales. (787) 850-0508, tshg@coqui.net.

SOUTH CAROLINA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793.

TENNESSEE ATLANTA PARAGLIDING – 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the East Coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com, (404) 931-3793. LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK – Just outside Chattanooga. Become a complete pilot – foot launch, aerotow, mountain launch, ridge soar, thermal soar. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877) 426-4543. TENNESSEE TREE TOPPERS – #1 club in America. Home of the world famous Radial Ramp; great XC, easy launch, huge LZ. Just north of Chattanooga. www .treetoppers.org.

NEW YORK AAA E-VILLE OUTFITTERS, Mountain Wings Inc. – Aeros, North Wing (845) 647-3377, mtnwings@verizon .net, www.evilleoutfitters.com, Ellenville, N.Y.

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TEXAS

WISCONSIN

AUSTIN AIR SPORTS – Hang gliding and ultralight sales, service and instruction. Steve Burns, (512) 236-0031, sburns@austinairsports.com. Fred Burns, (281) 4711488, austinair@aol.com, WWW.AUSTINAIRSPORTS .COM.

FREEFLIGHT AVIATIONS – The Midwest’s largest hang gliding school. Using both aerotow tandem and on-site training hill, 7 days a week, April through November. For the traveling hang glider pilot, rental equipment is available. (920) 728-2231, tommy@freeflighthanggliding.com, FreeflightAviations.com.

GO...HANG GLIDING!!! – Jeff Hunt. Austin ph/fax (512) 467-2529, jeff@flytexas.com, www.flytexas.com.U

uTAH CLOUD 9 PARAGLIDING – Come visit us and check out our huge selection of paragliding gear, traction kites, extreme toys, and any other fun things you can think of. If you aren’t near the Point of the Mountain, then head to http://www.paragliders.com for a full list of products and services. We are Utah’s only full-time shop and repair facility. Give us a ring at (801) 576-6460 if you have any questions. LEARN TO FLY with Super Fly, Chris Santacroce and a world class team. With very small classes, a fantastic training site (Point of the Mountain) and brand-new, state-of-the-art training equipment, you can’t go wrong. Over-the-water maneuvers coaching, optional paramotor training and experience in both high and low wind help us to output a very well rounded pilot. Contact chris@superflyinc.com or at (801) 706-6076 to schedule your intensive paraglider training course. Don’t want to come to Utah? Learn with one of our 50+ instructor/ dealers throughout the continent. REVOLUTION FLIGHT SCHOOL – with Bill Heaner and the Revolution Instructor Team. Closest paragliding school to the Point of the Mountain! Learn true wing mastery from some of the greatest instructors in the world. We offer P-1 through P-4, tandem flights, instructor certification, tandem certification, over-the-water courses, paramotor instruction, guided tours and a full-service shop within five minutes of the Point of the Mountain. Campground, shopping and hotel accommodations within walking distance of our shop. Contact Bill Heaner, 800-7072525, bill@rpmppg.com, to get on our schedule. www .rpmppg.com/school/facility. Virgin

Virginia BLUE SKY – Full-time instruction at Blue Sky Flight Park near Richmond. Scooter, platform and aerotowing available. All major brands of equipment, with Mosquitos and Doodlebugs in stock. Steve Wendt, (804) 241-4324, www.blueskyhg.com.

WASHINGTON AERIAL PARAGLIDING SCHOOL AND FLIGHT PARK – Award-winning instructors at a world-class training facility. Contact Doug Stroop at (509) 782-5543 or visit www.paragliding.us.

WYOMING JACKSON HOLE PARAGLIDING – 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).

INTERNATIONAL COSTA RICA – Grampa Ninja’s Paragliders’ B&C (bed and coffee). We offer rooms and/or transportation and guide service. Lessons available from USHPA certified instructors. Open January through April. United States: (908) 454-3242. In Costa Rica: (506) 877-5604 (January through April). www.paraglidecostarica.com. BAJA MEXICO – La Salina: PG, HG, PPG www .FLYLASALINA.com, www.BAJABRENT.com, He’ll hook you up! rooms, tours, & intros, bajabrent@bajabrent .com, 760-203-2658. MEXICO – VALLE DE BRAVO and beyond for hang gliding and paragliding. Year-round availability and special tours, Gear, guiding, instruction, transportation, lodging – all varieties for your needs. www.flymexico.com, 1-800861-7198 USA.P

PARTS & ACCESSORIES ALL HG Gliderbags, harness packs, harness zippers and zipper stocks. Instrument mounts and replacement bands. Mitts, straps, fabric parts, windsocks, radios. Gunnison Gliders, 1-866-238-2305. BIG EARS PTT – $99.95. Includes speaker and microphone, radio connection, sealed finger switch. Choose the full-face or the open-face model. www.bigearsptt.com, (805) 965-3733.

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 (325) 379-1567. GLIDERBAGS – XC $75! Heavy waterproof $125. Accessories, low prices, fast delivery! Gunnison Gliders, 1549 County Road 17, Gunnison CO 81230. (970) 641-9315, orders 1-866-238-2305. 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. ONLY $169. Mallettec, PO Box 15756, Santa Ana CA 92735. (949) 795-0421, MC/Visa accepted, www.mallettec.com. OXYGEN SYSTEMS – The world-class XCR-180 operates up to 3 hours @18,000 feet and weighs only 4 lbs. Complete kit with cylinder, harness, regulator, cannula and remote on/off flowmeter, only $450. 1-800-468-8185. RISING AIR GLIDER REPAIR SERVICES – A fullservice shop, specializing in all types of paragliding repairs, annual inspections, reserve repacks, harness repairs. Hang gliding reserve repacks and repair. For information or repair estimate, call (208) 554-2243, pricing and service request form available at www.risingair.biz, billa@atcnet.net. TANDEM LANDING GEAR – Rascal™ brand by Raven, simply the best. New & used. (262) 473-8800, www.hanggliding.com, info@hanggliding.com, http:// stores.ebay.com/raven-sports. WHEELS FOR AIRFOIL BASETUBES – WHOOSH! Wheels™ (Patent Pending), Moyes/Airborne & Wills Wing compatible. Dealer inquiries invited. (262) 473-8800, www.hanggliding.com, info@hanggliding.com, http:// stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR SALE – flight suit, flight deck, cocoon packing tube, PTT, radio, etc... All are on sale, don’t miss it. www.parasupply.com. CRITTERMOUNTAINWEAR.COM – your one-stop Web site for paraglider equipment and accessories. You can find a full line of backpacks, stuff tarps, flight suits, clothing, GPS and vario holders, flight decks, ballast containers, radio holders, tow bridles, windsocks, boots, helmets, hook knives, varios, wind speed meters and much, much more. Everything you need to have the ultimate day flying your paraglider. Critter Mountain Wear also imports and distributes lightweight wings and harnesses from Nervures. 1-800-686-9327. FLIGHT SUITS, Flight suits, Flight suits, Warm Flight suits, Efficient Flight suits, Light-weight Flight suits, Flight suits in twelve sizes. Stylish Flight suits. www .mphsports.com, (503) 657-8911. Artwork: Terry Ferrer

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

WINDSOKS FROM HAWK AIRSPORTS INC – 1673 Corbin Lake Rd, Rutledge, TN 37861, 1-800-826-2719. Worldfamous Windsoks, as seen at the Oshkosh & Sun-N-Fun EAA Fly-Ins. Hawk@windsok.com, www.windsok.com.

PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS *NEW* And the World Could Fly – And the World Could Fly tells the story of how piloting for the masses became a possibility and then a reality. This is a tale of free flight in every sense of the term. Edited by Stéphane Malbos and Noel Whittall, And the World Could Fly contains contributions from many parts of the world as well as much new writing. Together, the editors have more than fifty years of undiminished enthusiasm for foot-launched flight. And the World Could Fly is produced by the International Hang Gliding and Paragliding Commission (CIVL) to celebrate the centenary of FAI. It is a book which will appeal to anyone with an interest in free flight, whether an old-stager who can remember the early California days or a newcomer who wonders where it all came from. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www .ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. BIRDFLIGHT – Otto Lilienthal’s genius in scientific observations and analysis, documented in this work, became the basis for the experimentation of the early pioneers in aviation. 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 aviation history. 176 pages, 16 photographs, 89 drawings and 14 graphs. $19.95 (+$5 s/h) Call USHPA at 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. *NEW* Cloudsuck: The Life and Death Struggle for the Hang Gliding World Record. Davis Straub tells the story of the dramatic 10-year race to fly “farther than anyone has ever gone in a hang glider.” From the historic 1990 flight that first broke the 300-mile barrier, through 10 years of adventure and challenge, this is a first-hand account of the driven individuals who struggled against each other and against nature to set the next hang gliding world distance record. $17.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. *NEW* Condor Trail, Paragliding the Central Andes – the guidebook to paragliding and traveling in the Central Andes. It’s packed with 256 pages of maps, site descriptions, local lore, free-flight contacts and photos, all the information you need to plan your own Andean paragliding adventure. Most of the launch and landing access throughout the Andes is done with cheap public transportation. Condor Trail gives you bus routes to catch, areas to avoid, traveler tips, and contacts for the local flying communities throughout Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Northern Argentina, and Northern Chile. Call USHPA at 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www .ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

FLY THE WING! Hooking Into Hang Gliding – *NEW* Instability 2 DVD – Bruce Goldsmith’s new By Len Holms. This is the perfect book for those curious film is set to become the new benchmark in SIV instrucabout the sport of hang gliding. Written at a level that will tion. In 1992, the Airwave designer co-presented “Instanot swamp the reader with a daunting amount of tech- bility,” a film which helped thousands of paraglider pilots nical details, you will learn about hang glider wings and gain insight into tips and tricks learned by the professionthe skills needed to fly them. 84 pages with photos and al test pilots. $41.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or illustrations. $12.95 (+$5 s&h). Call USHPA at order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa. Colorado Springs CO 80901. aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. *NEW* Never Ending Thermal – This DVD is an SOARING – Monthly magazine of The Soaring Society “Endless Summer” for the free-flying generation. The acof America Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring flight. Full tion-packed documentary features the adventures of Venmembership $64. SSA, PO Box 2100, Hobbs NM 88241. ezuelan pilots Herminio Cordido and Jorge Atramiz as (505) 392-1177, ssa.org. they embark on an around-the-world paragliding odyssey. $41.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado REAL ESTATE Springs CO 80901. OWN 10 OR 20 ACRES next to paragliding/ hang gliding site in beautiful Flagstaff, AZ. Pris- *NEW* Paragliding: Learn to Fly DVD – This DVD brings to life many of the hard-to-visualize concepts tine property with wide-open views. To view go to www which are so important for us to understand, like airflow .northernarizonamls.com. Enter listing #s 123164, 123165, around hills and mountains, turbulence and convergence, or 125465. Call Debra White, Dallas Real Estate, (928) dynamic and thermic lift, plus aerodynamics like lift and 853-0761. drag, speed to fly and so on. The production team have GORGEOUS 2.5 ACRES in Flagstaff. Surrounded by spent months on the 3D animation and video sequencbeautiful homes with access to national forest. Close to ing. $44.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off town yet only minutes to paragliding and hang gliding. Call our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Debra White at Dallas Real Estate, (928) 853-0761. Springs CO 80901. CUTE 3 BEDROOM 2 bath with 2-car garage on 1 acre horse property in Flagstaff. Has been rented for $1450/ month. Only $279,900. Call Debra White at Dallas Real Estate, (928) 853-0761.

VIDEOS & DVDS VIDEOS FROM USHPA – WWW.USHPA.AERO *NEW* BROKEN TOE ACRO – Broken Toe Acro is a full instructional-encyclopedia for paragliding SIV and acro maneuvers. Each chapter is six to 14 minutes and contains descriptions of the maneuver, explanation on how to (and how not to!) perform it, as well as in-flight examples from many simultaneous camera angles. All instruction and narration is by Enleau and Ann O’Connor, leading experts in Safety-in-Flight training. Two hours and 40 minutes running time! Call USHPA, 1-800-616-6888, or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero, or via snail mail, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

*NEW* Performance Flying DVD – When it comes to making paragliding films, Jocky Sanderson doesn’t pull any punches. The suave Englishman’s slick production skills were first evidenced in his debut films, “Security in Flight” and “Speed to Fly.” Jocky’s latest film, produced with Ozone’s test team, hones in on the finer piloting skills of flying XC, acro and SIV. $42.95. Call USHPA 1-800616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. *NEW* Red Bull X-Alps DVD – Red Bull X-Alps 2005 finishes in Monaco! This stunning DVD features over 70 minutes of footage, including pilot interviews and wild POV camera angles. $41.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. RISK & REWARD – By Jeff Goin. This 70-min. DVD exposes the risks and rewards of powered paragliding in a fun, action-packed adventure. You owe yourself this inside look that could easily save your life. Three years in the making, Risk & Reward gathers wisdom from a long list of instructors. Spectacular video from around the world sheds light on essential concepts with clarity and realism. $29.95. Order yours at www.ushpa.aero/store.

*NEW* DARE DEVIL FLYERS – The 94-minute digital video docupicture covers all thirty years of hang gliding and all seventeen years of paragliding. It begins with the Bob and Chris Wills story – they founded Wills *NEW* Speed/Security DVD – “Speed to Fly” and Wing, the only surviving American manufacturer/dis- “Security in Flight” are two great films designed to help tributor of hang gliders and paragliders. Two legendary you progress in paragliding, packed with stunning air-topilots guide the audience through these extreme sports air footage. $48.95. Call USHPA 1-800-616-6888 or with their narrative. The docupic features competition in order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, the extreme sports of aerobatic hang gliding, speed hang Colorado Springs CO 80901. gliding and high-altitude cross-country paragliding. Wingmounted POV cameras provide the docupic with an inthe-air thrill ride from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast. Narrator Bobby Carradine threads us through the three decades. Call USHPA at 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

USHpA Magazine Archive 1971-2004 – The DVD set holds the history of our sport, from the earliest days of bamboo and plastic to the present. Within these pages you’ll find the evolution of foot-launched flight from the first days of bamboo dune-skimmers to the modern variety of hang gliders, paragliders and rigid wings. Each PDF file is one complete magazine, just as originally published. Pages with color are produced as color scans, the rest scanned as black and white images. Future issues will be available on an update disk. Each disk includes Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 7 for Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems. $30 for members and $90 for nonmembers. Call USHPA at 1-800-616-6888 or order off our Web site, www.ushpa.aero. PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901.

MISCELLANEOUS “AEROBATICS” POSTER – Full color 23”x 31” poster featuring John Heiney doing what he does bestLOOPING! See www.ushpa.aero under store/misc for example. Available through USHPA HQ for just $6.95 (+$5.00 s/h). USHPA, PO Box 1300, Colorado Springs CO 80933. (USA & Canada only. Sorry, posters are NOT AVAILABLE on international orders.) DVDS-VIDEOS-BOOKS-POSTERS – Check out our Web store at www.ushpa.aero. WORLDWIDE INTERNET PARAGLIDING TALK SHOW – WW.WORLDTALKRADIO.COM. Listen live or to the W archives! Live Tuesday 9-11:00 a.m. (PST). Call toll-free, 1-888-514-2100 or internationally at (001) 858-2683068. Paraglider pilots and radio hosts David and Gabriel Jebb want to hear about your stories, promotions/events or insight; they also take questions! CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES – The rate for classified advertising is $10.00 for 25 words and $1.00 per word after 25. MINIMUM AD CHARGE $10.00. Phone number=2 words. Email or Web address=3 words. AD DEADLINES: All ad copy, instructions, changes, additions & cancellations must be received in writing 2 months preceding the cover date, i.e. November 15th is the deadline for the January issue. ALL CLASSIFIEDS ARE PREPAID. If paying by check, please include the following with your payment: name, address, phone, category, how many months you want the ad to run and the classified ad. Please make checks payable to USHPA, P.O. Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330. If paying with credit card, you may email the previous information and classified to info@ushpa.aero. For safety reason, please call your Visa/MC or Amex info to the office. No refunds will be given on ads cancelled that are scheduled to run multiple months. (719) 632-8300. Fax (719) 632-6417

Gradient Aspen – My paraglider equipment was stolen from my vehicle on November 7th in San Diego, California. The wing was a red, gradient Aspen 26m, SOL Large CX harness, SOL 33 CELL reserve, Ozone red and gray backpack. REWARD, no questions asked, $250 or please contact me with any information regarding the equipment. David Thulin, davidthulin@hotmail.com or (307) 690-5792. Stolen from the Andy Jackson Airpark California, May 14, 2007. Falcon 195 #25038. Silver leading edge, red bottom surface, white trailing edge. Contact Rob or Dianne through www.flytandem.com or (909) 883-8488. WW XC 155 –  White upper surface, white l.e., assymetric blue and green lower surface with XC logo. Chris Smith Cloudbase pod harness, purple. Lee full-face helmet, red. Flytec 4030 Race with airspeed. Taken from TTT Henson Gap LZ late afternoon Wednesday, June 5, 2007. Dan Shell at danshell@bledsoe.net, (423) 949-6912, or (423) 667-9457. STOLEN FROM 15263 STEEP MT. DRIVE, DRAPER, UTAH – October 2007: Longboard (Sector Nine Luna); OZONE Peak PG, blue/white/blue, size S, serial #KS-E-40-013; Sup’Air Altiplume harness size S; Reserve parachute, GIN T2, in deployment bag with oh shit on handle; Petzl rock-climbing helmet, light blue with marmot stickers; NOVA Ibex 17m kite, red, serial #36013; GIN Speedflyer harness; OZONE Frenzy 11m kite, red/ black/white; BMX bike, Kona Ku Ku, black; GIN 4.5m yellow/white/red. If any of this is found, please contact Lori Fitzgerald, lori@prism.net. STOLEN WINGS are listed as a service to USHPA members. Newest entries are in bold. There is no charge for this service, and lostand-found wings or equipment may be called in to (719) 632-8300, faxed to (719) 632-6417, or emailed to INFO@USHPA.AERO for inclusion in Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Please call to cancel the listing when gliders are recovered. Periodically, this listing will be purged.

Index To Advertisers Cloud 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Fly Guatemala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Flytec USA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Foundation for Free Flight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Hall Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 High Energy Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 North Wing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 O’CONNOR Flight School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 OZONE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Sky Wings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sport Aviation Publications . . . . . . . . . 20 SSA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Super Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 39, 55 Thermal Tracker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Torrey Pines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Traverse City HG & PG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 USHPA Apparel & Merchandise. . . . . . . . 45 USHPA Bank of America Card. . . . . . . . . 79 USHPA Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 USHPA Contributing Member . . . . . . . . . 35 USHPA DVD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 USHPA REnew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Wills Wing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

MarketPlace Adventure Productions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Fly High Pargliding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71, 72 Flytec USA GPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Flytec USA Thermal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Kitty Hawk Kites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Lookout Mountain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 MPH Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 NOrth Wing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 ParaSupply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 USHPA Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 USHPA Stickers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Safety Tip Rotors and turbulence are mostly invisible, but by learning to visualize the moving air we may also learn to anticipate them and avoid dangerous areas.

- Berkhard Martens, in Thermal Flying for Paraglider and Hang Glider Pilots

GPS GARMIN 76 CSX – The last day of the Rat Race, after the tracklog information was downloaded, someone picked up my GPS from the table. It has white tape in the upper left corner with my pilot number 326 written on it. If you discover this GPS in your possession, please contact me at USHPA. Martin, 800-616-6888. I borrowed the GPS from a friend, so it would be an enormous relief to have it returned.

This unique rack was spotted at Dog Mt., Washington. The driver gets a clear view ahead and the ability to open the tailgate, but it must be interesting to maneuver in a parking lot!

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

Photo: Aaron Swepston

STOLEN WINGS & THINGS

Oh, The Places I’ve Seen

Article and photos by Steve Messman, staff writer

Doctor Seuss had it right. C’mon! Admit it! You’re a Dr. Seuss fan. How could you not be? All that colorful artwork. All those word-pictures. All those whimsical, made-up words and those fun rhymes and rhythms. One of my favorites is Oh, the Places You’ll Go. That visionary book is about magical places, personal choices, and controlling your future. For me, it did what Dr. Seuss imagined it would. It caused a personal awakening. A Dr. Seuss awakening occurs every time I take a flying trip. I view a magical world through a different set of eyes, and am amazed at the kaleidoscope of colors, textures and shapes that I travel through. It always begins with the small things. At first, I travel on highways and byways on autopilot, but then, I begin to notice. I notice the light that slices through trees and mountain shadows. I wonder at thousands of black-eyed susans that spread their cheer along the road sides, the lupine that paints valleys and hillsides purple, and those beautiful, white, daisy-like flowers so thick in July that my body shivers at thoughts of snow-covered pastures. I marvel at the leaves of evening primrose, and smile as those velvety green leaves soften beams of light shattered by boughs of fir, pine, and cedar. I find myself becoming aware. I notice towns, the unique design of their homes, the cleanliness of their streets, the politeness of their residents. I take the time to learn at least a little of their history, to understand some small amount of their culture. And I see what the people of that town do to make me feel welcome, to feel at home even though I am, to them, one of

The Ziggety highway

the thousands who might do nothing more than pass through. And then the questions hit – every time. Why am I here? What cosmic event causes me to be in this place, in this moment? And always – every time – the answer is the same. I am here because I fly. I have come to see that my passion of flying has opened my eyes to worlds of Dr. Seuss proportions, to people and cultures that I would never have visited, and to towns and histories lost to all but the handful of explorers who venture beyond their own doorsteps. Flying is the goad that has taken me to places and permitted me visions that would have thrilled Dr. Seuss. I have seen sunbeams break past Mount Hood at 5:30 in the morning only because I fly. Flying is the only reason I discovered the beauty of Grouse Mountain. It is the force that revealed Wallowa Lake and the glorious Wallowa Valley. It is the single reason that Lakeview, Oregon, is on my list of favorite places. Flying is the only reason that I have come face-to-face with the Bavarian Alps. It is the only reason that I have seen beautiful Peruvian children and their mothers in their homeland, found Cusco, become familiar with the Inca and the wealth of knowledge that their culture amassed. Flying is the reason that I have friends in all parts of Washington and Oregon. It is the reason that I have discovered the back roads of the Olympic Forest and the God-given vistas found only in the Olympic Mountains. The list of places I’ve been to, and things I’ve seen, seems endless: High Rock and the Pulpit in Pennsylvania, the dunes in Michigan, Albuquerque, Monterey, all can be added to the list for one reason – because I fly. If Dr. Seuss would permit my awkward attempt at his special art form: I’ve seen Kooseygoosey flowers completely in bloom. I’ve driven the Ziggetty highway through mountains that loom.

And, I’ve met the Higgedies the most wonderful people who hold you and teach you and share all their zeeple. I’ve visited karmistical places and heard harmonious bands and held beautimous beauties in the palms of my hands. And in the town of the Mirkles I was given a lift. They called it a Birkle but it’s really a gift. It’s no more than words, this Birkle they gave. Advice to the wise To rise from the grave. Go out! Find your life’s passion! Use it to create in some kind of fashion. Use it to fire that spark in your heart that’s sitting there waiting for some kind of start. Use it to freshen your viewpoint on life. Cast off your garbage, like having a knife that cuts away old, that frees you from strife. Whatever your passion whatever your tool just use it real soon ‘fore you’re too old to drool. Use it to soar. Use it to fly. Use it for something that makes you go, “Sigh.” However you do it, just make sure you do. Go on now! Get out! Go give it a try! Yes, Doctor Seuss had it right. Find what you have. Use it often, and use it wisely. Fly high. Fly safe.

December 2007: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – w w w.ushpa.aero

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