Hang Gliding & Paragliding Vol44/Iss08 Aug2014

AUGUST 2014 Volume 44 Issue 8 $6.95

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

of

ON THE COVER, Flying the

dunes of Kitty Hawk at the Annual Spectacular | photo by Adam Bain.

MEANWHILE, Flying big walls in Europe | photo by Len Szafaryn.

WARNING

YEARS

Hang gliding and paragliding are INHERENTLY DANGEROUS activities. USHPA recommends pilots complete a pilot training program under the direct supervision of a USHPA-certified instructor, using safe equipment suitable for your level of experience. Many of the articles and photographs in the magazine depict advanced maneuvers being performed by experienced, or expert, pilots. These maneuvers should not be attempted without the prerequisite instruction and experience.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine is published for footlaunched 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.

ADVERTISING ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE

SUBMISSIONS HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine welcomes

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING (ISSN 1543-5989) (USPS 17970) is

editorial submissions from our members and readers. All submissions of articles, artwork, photographs and or ideas for articles, artwork and photographs are made pursuant to and are subject to the USHPA Contributor's Agreement, a copy of which can be obtained from the USHPA by emailing the editor at editor@ushpa.aero or online at www.ushpa. aero. HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine reserves the right to edit all contributions. We are always looking for well written articles and quality artwork. Feature stories generally run anywhere from 1500 to 3000 words.

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. 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, (516) 816-1333.

published monthly by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., 1685 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904, (719) 6328300, FAX (719) 632-6417. PERIODICAL postage is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices.

SENT TO USHPA HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS. All advertising is subject to the USHPA Advertising Policy, a copy of which may be obtained from the USHPA by emailing advertising@ushpa.aero.

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

COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 2014 United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., All Rights Reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc.

Martin Palmaz, Publisher executivedirector@ushpa.aero Nick Greece, Editor editor@ushpa.aero Greg Gillam, Art Director art.director@ushpa.aero C.J. Sturtevant, Copy Editor copy@ushpa.aero Beth Van Eaton, Advertising advertising@ushpa.aero Staff Writers Christina Ammon, Dennis Pagen, C.J. Sturtevant Ryan Voight Staff Photographers John Heiney, Jeff Shapiro

AUGUST 2014 FLIGHT PLAN

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PILOT BRIEFINGS

8

AIRMAIL

9

ASSOCIATION

12

CENTERFOLD

34

PRESERVATION

50

RATINGS

58

CALENDAR

60

CLASSIFIED

63

THE 1

66

20 Crossing California

16

How she gained her dependence

by Christina Ammon

A 510-mile Solo Expedition

by Dave Turner

Majo Gularte

28

Feeding the Dog It takes a village

by C.J. Sturtevant

36 Gaggle Flying in Roldanillo

32

by Dan Shell

Getting High Over Colombia

by Dawn Westrum

Tennessee Tree Toppers @ Valleyfest

44

HG401: Advance Tips & Techniques Flare physics

by Ryan Voight 48

40 Have Glider Will Travel Christ the Redeemer From Above

by Kent Wein

All About SIV

by Annette O'Neil

54

Thinking Outside the Blocks Part VIII: Hang Gliding by the numbers

by Dennis Pagen

g gliders n a h ty li a u q the highest g n ri ce 1973. tu in c s t fa n e m ip Manu gliding equ and hang

500 West Blueridge Ave | Orange, CA 92865 | 1.714.998.6359 | WillsWing.com

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

FLIGHT PLAN T

he August issue starts off with a great letter from Francis Rogallo sent in by USHPA member 2582, John Mayer.

This letter reminds me of the dedication it took for Francis and Gertrude Rogallo to take the delta planform to the next level, which eventually gave all of us hang gliding. I can’t help but extrapolate that their dedication came from not only a passion for aviation, but a passion for adventurous exploration on their terms. This passion for flight manifests itself differently in each of our flying lives in the form of the desires, goals, and accomplishments we each relish.

I recently revisited the New York Times article on Dustin Martin’s world-record flight and I can’t help but appreciate the passion and dedication it took for Dustin to spend year after year chasing the record.

Dustin is extremely skilled, but it is his passion and dedication that took him to the place he wished to be in the history of hang gliding. Just as inspiring is the dedication and passion exhibited by Bill Hall, who completely celebrates pre-thermal sled rides.

Hiking to launch early in the morning and taking the scenic way down is what adventure on his terms means to him and it is just as impressive in its own right. All of the tales in every issue of our magazine come from equally inspired individuals writing about the pursuits in free flight that most resonate with their idea of what the sports mean to them.

The August issue begins with a tale of Majo Gularie, who has an unusual perspective on the trials of learning to hang glide and whose passion for flight began with carving her hand through the wind currents out of the window of a moving car.

Next up is another tale from a flying explorer, Dave Turner, who is setting the bar in the United States on solo bivy-flying with a crossing of the Sierras.

C.J. Sturtevant is back with her latest flying installment on Dog Mountain, Washington, where come rain or shine the stewards of this great flying site gather to raise funds to provide the necessary insurance to keep the site open.

Dan Shell sends in a report from the annual Tennessee Tree Topper event, the Valley Fest, which now includes a landing zone in downtown Dunlap, Tennessee, donated by the Sequatchie County land managers.

Dawn Westrum sent in a piece about flying with the Eagle crew in Roldanillo, Colombia and what it looks like to be on an all-inclusive flying tour to one of the best places in the world to fly, and Kent Wein, an airline pilot, tells us what it’s like to have a wing in the cockpit for adventures upon arrival.

Site preservation is one of the most important aspects of maintaining our ability to participate in our sports; Patrick Terry offers some suggestions on how to work with landowners to preserve, improve, or open up flying sites.

Ryan Voight is back with Hang Gliding 401, this time focusing on the physics of flaring, and Dennis Pagen chimes in on breaking it all down to numbers.

Where passion and dedication intersect is also a place where great satisfaction lies.

Please send in your tales of this locale!

Coastal flying at its finest | photo by James Harris.

left

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PILOT BRIEFINGS The easiest way to do this is via the website: https://www.ushpa.aero/ member_login.asp. If you’re nominating someone else, please check with them first to make sure they’re interested, and willing to run for the position and accept the responsibility.

WEATHER IN EUROPE

The current regional directors whose terms end this year are:

Luca Aucello from Italy released a new weather forecast system for paragliding in three simple colors,

Reg 1: Rich Hass

with a time zone that is set automati-

Reg 2: Jugdeep Aggarwal

cally on your computer. It has the po-

Reg 3: Dan DeWeese

tential to predict weather in most of

Reg 4: Bill Belcourt

the countries around the world. This

Reg 5: no election this year

software is free—all that’s needed is

Reg 6: no election this year

a simple and automatically renewed

Reg 7: Paul Olson

subscription via Gmail or Facebook.

Reg 8: Michael Holmes Reg 9: Felipe Amunategui

For more info: WWW.METEOVOLO.IT

NEW FLYMASTER INSTRUMENTS

Reg 10: Steve Kroop

pages (using the free Designer tool),

Reg 11: no election this year

Flymaster announced a new series of

airspace map, thermal-core map,

Reg 12: Paul Voight

flight instruments comprised of the

zero-thermal indicator, task map, and

VARIO SD (which does not include

conical end-of-speed section for get-

a GPS module), the GPS SD for XC

ting to goal. More information at www.

terms, so in regions where there

pilots, the GPS SD+ which contains

Flymaster-USA.com.

is only one director there’s an election

a GSM module for live tracking, NAV

Regional directors serve two-year

every other year.

SD for competition pilots, and the

2015 REGIONAL DIRECTOR ELECTIONS

LIVE SD which is the top-of-the-line

USHPA is soliciting nominations for re-

and runs until mid-December. To meet

instrument.

gional directors, for the 2015-2016 term

magazine deadlines for candidate state-

of office. The currently serving direc-

ments, we need to have nominations in by

more robust and includes a 6-degrees

tors are listed below, and each of them

mid-August, and candidate statements by

tilt-compensated compass and SD

is a candidate for re-election. They are

early September.

card allowing for extended memory.

already on the ballot; you don’t need to

Using these new tools, the instru-

nominate them again. We are inter-

regional director, the responsibilities that

ments will include world airspace

ested in having other members bring

go with it, or the election in general, feel

maps, altitude over the ground and

their skills and experience to the board,

free to send me email.

geographic data.

so if you’d like to run for office, you’re

This new series of instruments is

As with the previous series of instruments, these instruments have

8

the following features: 16 user-defined

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

welcome to put your name down as a candidate.

The election starts in November

If you have questions about the job of

Mark G. Forbes USHPA Elections Committee Chairman elections@ushpa.aero

AIRMAIL There is a lot of history that is foundational to our sport. I was reminded of this recently when sorting through some old papers. I stumbled on a letter now more than 50 years old that was sent to me by Francis Rogallo who very deservedly is credited as the father of our sport.

First, a little background. In 1963 I was serving my Army time at the Engineer Research and Development Lab located at Ft. Belvoir, VA. I had been drafted as part of a call-up directed by President Kennedy in response to the building of the Berlin Wall. At the lab we were involved in many advanced developments of interest to the US Army. I also had access to technical papers and, since I had an avid interest in free flight, I sought any available information in that area.

At the time the country was heavily committed to the space race aimed at landing on the moon before 1970.

NASA was busy developing and testing Apollo predecessors Mercury and Gemini. There was a lot of thought and development effort put into the use of a steerable parachute approach with heavy emphasis on the two-man Gemini program. This effort was led by Francis Rogallo, who was working at Langley AFB at the time. Unfortunately there were a lot of problems with deployment of a Rogallo-type parachute from a returning spacecraft and as a result the steerable chute program was cancelled. The return systems from then on went with simple non-steerable parachutes.

Rogallo’s wing concept was then

picked up by other pioneers in our sport. At the time many were trying to develop flyable kites, wings and gliders. I still remember testing a six-foot model of my own design. We towed it behind a station wagon on the Washington, DC circumferential highway, which was under construction at the time. My poor wife was the designated launcher who had to run until the glider took off. The lockout phenomenon was clearly evident in these early tests.

I wrote to Mr. Rogallo, expressing some observations of examples from nature of what looked very much like multi-lobed Rogallo wings. Bat wings and pterodactyl wings are two examples. Mr. Rogallo responded thoughtfully to me at the time and referred to me to his technical papers.

In retrospect I find the last paragraph of his letter prophetic and compelling in that he was most eager for people to take his concepts forward.

He really believed that his invention would be the means for many people to enjoy the thrill of flight.

At 76, I guess I’m an Old Dude now. I hold member number 2582 and still have some original Ground Skimmer magazines around. My first glider was a second-hand Seagull purchased in 1974. It had all the characteristics that killed so many great pilots before the invention of defined tips. The nose often seemed to get heavier as one headed down. My next glider was a Bobcat, which liked to drop a wing at unexpected times. In 1981 I purchased a Comet that I flew for many years. What a great design improvement and wonderful ship!

Martin Palmaz, Executive Director executivedirector@ushpa.aero Beth Van Eaton Operations Manager & Advertising office@ushpa.aero Eric Mead, System Administrator tech@ushpa.aero Ashley Miller, Membership Coordinator membership@ushpa.aero Julie Spiegler, Program Manager programs@ushpa.aero

USHPA OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Rich Hass, President president@ushpa.aero Ken Grubbs, Vice President vicepresident@ushpa.aero Bill Bolosky, Secretary secretary@ushpa.aero Mark Forbes, Treasurer treasurer@ushpa.aero

REGION 1: Rich Hass, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Jugdeep Aggarwal, Josh Cohn, Jon James. REGION 3: Corey Caffrey, Dan DeWeese, Alan Crouse.

REGION 4: Bill Belcourt, Ken Grubbs. REGION 5: Josh Pierce. REGION 6: David Glover. REGION 7: Paul Olson. REGION 8: Michael Holmes. REGION 9: Felipe Amunategui, Larry Dennis. REGION 10: Bruce Weaver, Steve Kroop, Matt Taber. REGION 11: David Glover. REGION 12: Paul Voight. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Ryan Voight, Bill Bolosky, Steve Rodrigues, Dennis Pagen, Jamie Shelden. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR: Art Greenfield (NAA).

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Inc. (USHPA) 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.

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.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

9

You are invited to Fly a Sailplane Today (FAST). Purchase a voucher (only $139.00) from The Soaring Society of America, Inc. and redeem it at a gliderport near you.

You receive: • 30 minutes ground lesson • 30 minute flight lesson • An instructional book • A glider pilot logbook • Introductory 3 month membership in The Soaring Society of America, Inc. • A copy of Soaring Magazine So, Fly a Sailplane Today!

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My Comet memories include: Being the wind dummy at Ellenville and watching the crowd scurry to get airborne when I went up instead of sinking out.

Catching a thermal at Altamont, NY, when I was setting up to land, and then working it back to the top for another hour of glass-off flying.

Circling around and above the tower on the top of Equinox, VT, after launching from that beautiful ramp.

Soaring from the top of West Rutland after that interesting 4-wheel-drive to the top.

Looking back on my tracks as I walked out after landing in the in the middle of a snow-covered field in Cambridge, NY. Soaring at Altamont, NY, during the height of fall color in upstate New York while a redtail hawk circled below me.

The friends that I met while actively involved in the sport.

I had to give up flying when a job change took me to California in 1987. The new job took all of my time. Safety requires “BEING CURRENT.” I was not able to stay “CURRENT” so I had to stop flying. My last two flights were tandems in the Crestline area with Rob Mackenzie. Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Francis Rogallo. We all owe a debt to the pioneers of our sport. And one final observation: If you have flown and enjoyed the thrill, as I have, you will never stand on the top of a hill feeling the incoming breeze and not want to lift off even when you are as old as I am.

- John Mayer #2582

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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ASSOCIATION

For all your member info needs:

New Membership Card System

by Julie Spiegler USHPA Program Manager

A

new Membership Information System has been crafted to better support communication about membership ratings and status, as well as increase efficiencies in the USHPA office. We’d like to introduce you to the new system, and explain how it all works.

There are now three different ways you can carry information about your

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

USHPA membership: 1: A new, permanent physical card (above) 2: A new, digital version of the card (that can also be printed and carried) (opposite, top of page) 3: New “key tag” cards (far right) There are also now three ways to positively verify membership and rating status: A: Scan the QR code on any card (this requires scanner software and an internet connection)

B: Go directly to the USHPA.org membership page (this requires an internet connection) C: Send (and receive) a text message (this requires cellular connectivity) Based on a survey of all USHPAinsured sites in the US, one of these three methods should work for the vast majority of instances where you need to check on the currency of a member’s rating. As a backup, your digital card (available as a PDF) can be printed or stored on your smartphone.

Why create a new system?

There are several key benefits to the new system. Currently, a huge amount of office staff time is required to print and mail cards to new and renewing mem-

bers. Permanent physical cards (with automatically generated PDF digital cards) frees up the time associated with renewals so the staff can work on other projects and provide additional member services.

The cards themselves have been redesigned to serve multiple purposes.

In addition to identifying the member and the organization, the physical cards provide a representative image of our craft—great for explaining to landownOPPOSITE Front of new, permanent USHPA

membership cards. ABOVE “Front” of new PDF version of USHPA membership card (example shown for an instructor) and back of the new, permanent card.

FAR RIGHT One set of three key cards.

ers and other members of the non-flying public what we do. The digital cards include all identification, rating, special skill, and appointment information for each member—so everything is available in a single “card.”

The newest element is the “key tag,” a small plastic card that is 1/3 the size of the wallet card. It has the QR code on it so your information can be easily accessed via the mobile website, and the tag can be kept on your wing bag, instrument bag, or (surprise!) key chain.

All members will receive a set of three key cards.

The “flip side” of the new membership cards is the new membership status mechanisms.

If you have an Internet connection, the QR code is a quick and easy way to pop open the mobile-friendly membership status page—with no log-in required. You can also navigate directly to the membership status page: http:// ushpa.org/m/##### (where ##### is the USHPA membership number).

The page includes all publicly available information, ratings, special skills and appointments—plus a very visible confirmation of the member’s status (current or expired).

If cell coverage is weak, sometimes the only communication possible is a text message. If you send a member number (or last name & zip code) via text message to 719-387-4571 you will receive a message back automatically with the member’s expiration date, ratings and instructor appointments.

The message size is limited so for more details a link to the member web page is provided.

How Do I Get My Card?

As this article goes to press we are finalizing the production process for the new cards. Soon after you read this we will start shipping the new permanent cards to new and renewing members. Note that all current (“old”) cards are valid until their noted expiration date. Each year when you renew you will receive an

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email with your new digital membership card and a reminder of how the new system works. The physical card (along with a set of key tags) is only sent once (or when your information changes).

Replacement physical cards and key tags will be available for a small fee.

Future This new membership verification functionality is just the beginning. We are working on more web-based features for members that can be tied in to the QR code, such as competition/event registrations, sharing favorite links, and tools for instructors. Stay tuned for more to come!

RIGHT Txt message response from 719.387.4571 FAR RIGHT http://ushpa. org/m/95133 viewed on a mobile device.

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

15

How

Majo Gularte e

Gained Her Dependenc

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

Two broken arms and a 6000-km motorcycle bike ride later, this ambitious hang glider pilot has lost her independence. And she says that’s a good thing.

by

C H R IS T I N A A M M O N

W

hen Majo Gularte looks back at her first hang gliding flight, she can recall a few red flags. The wind was a bit strong. The fence line too close. And then there was that bad feeling in her stomach. But when the tow-line tugged her hang glider, and her instructor said “go,” she bagged her hesitations went with it. Next thing she knew she was writhing on the ground with two shattered arms. She’d hit the fence. Hard.

So much for the freedom of flying.

Like many pilots, Majo had been hankering for free flight since she was a child. The 31-year-old grew up in Guatamala, surfing her palm on the air currents out the car window, watching birds, and having fever-dreams of donning her own wings. Flight resonated with her independent streak: She’d always wanted to do her own thing, break from the weighty expectations of her family, and defy the macho-vibe of Guatamalan society—which insisted that women had to get

LEFT Majo arrives in Florida | photo by Majo Gularate. ABOVE Flying lesson in Florida with Zac Majors | photo by Zac Majors.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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married and have kids.

She hopped a commericial plane ride the first chance she could get, but it was ultimately a disappointment. “I could not hear or feel the wind, or admire the view through a small window. It just was not the flight of my dream.” Parasailing came next, which although it was better, still lacked something.

Then she saw a hang glider. “The first time I saw a pilot taking off from a mountain, my heart was hooked. Three days later I started my flying lessons in Guatemala.”

Through hang gliding, she’d intended to throw the shackles off and escape into the wide open sky.

A

fter her accident, with metal plates and nails fixing her bones, Majo had to face a painful irony: For all her independence-seeking, she was now back at her mother’s house, as dependent as a baby with no use of her arms for eight months. “I could not care for myself,” Majo remembers. “I could not do anything. My mom had to bathe, wash, feed me, take me to the bathroom.“ The closest she would get to flying was watching birds out the window.

ABOVE Majo’s second flight | photo by Zac Majors.

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

Weeks passed and she wondered if she’d ever find the courage to fly again. “I felt so useless, but tried to stay strong despite the situation.” Then one day, holding a stick between her teeth, she found herself typing out the following words:

THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE DREAM. IT’S THE OPPOSITE. THE DREAM LIVES.

O

ne year later , Majo began to tell her story online and posted a video of the accident. An outpouring of support came in and soon enough, hang glider pilots in the U.S. heard Majo’s story and began to offer lessons. She started cooking up a plan to embark on a 6000-km motorbike ride through Guatamala, Mexico and then eventually to Florida, where she would meet up with instructors Zac Majors and Steven Larson and resume her dream to fly.

“My mom was freaking out. She wanted to take me to a

psychologist,” Majo laughs. But as she began to recruit support for her plan from companies as big as Honda, her mom’s attitude began to change. “She saw I was part of a bigger project,” Majo recalls.

She would approach this next go-around with flying with a different mindset. Majo still believed in living her dream and her sense of self-creation was still strong, but as she packed her motorbike with the supplies for the journey, she also packed along this: a new awareness and gratitude for her dependence on others. This trip would not be so much about “breaking away” as it would would be about connecting.

Making the most of her contacts and Facebook friends, she strung together a chain of people and places she would visit along the way.

W

ith both arms back in working order, Majo set off from Guatalmala on February 22 and quickly took to the rhythms of the road. She rolled through vast stretches of solitude, which gave her plenty of time to think. Her days were punctuated by both bliss and hardship as she encountered small delights—like five kinds of mezscal to taste in Oaxaca—and challenges as well–like traversing 500-km stretches of desert populated by drug traffickers and fast speeding vehicles. She explored San Cristobal de las Casas and Guanajuato and eventually found her way to a milestone: Valle de Bravo, where pre-world competition had attracted some of the best pilots in the world. There she scored a tandem flight.

Majo had found her flow.

Mexico, Mexico, Mexico... What can I say...? Impossible not to love Mexico: natural landscapes, imposing cities, magical people, delicious meals, but especially its warm and friendly people. Although I am eager to see what is on the other side, I will definitely miss Mexico and all the friends I have made in this wonderful country. To my Mexican friends that opened to me the doors of their homes and their hearts, a thousand times thank you!

The kindness continued in America. One night Majo was resigned to camping overnight at a gas station, but then was taken in for the night by friendly strangers. “This really poor family made a huge meal for me,” she reminisces. “The humanity of these people is amazing.” In Houston, Majo struggled through high winds, almost falling off her bike, and

when she stopped at a restuarant demoralized and ready for a break, a man gave her some perspective on her great luck and fortune. “I realized it was just one day of suffering,” says Majo.

Finally, she was approaching her destination: Wallaby Ranch. “I saw in the distance a Dragonfly towing a hang glider. It was very exciting to know that after this long journey, I was finally at my destination.” She spent a week there and then moved on to Florida Ridge for her hang gliding lessons.

wo years have passed since the accident, and now Majo is in Florida. Although there were emotional hurdles to clear and the process was slow, Majo finished up her hang gliding lessons and took her first solo flight on April 22. “That moment I will never forget,” she says. “It was a beautifull sunset. I was a little nervous on tow, but as soon as I released the feeling was indescribable. I felt free, peaceful, complete, and happy. I imagined the moment for a long time. I dreamed it many times. I knew that it would be wonderful—but it was a thousand times better.”

But she hasn’t forgotten the accident, and even looks back with a sense of gratitude. “I’m really thankful for that accident,” she explains. “Before the accident my relationship with my family wasn’t good. I was too busy doing my own thing. I realized how much I need my family and how much they care about me.”

Majo’s next vision is to find her way back to Guatemala, taking a different route, and raising money for charities as a way to return the many kindnesses she has received on her own adventure.

“We all depend on each other,” she says.

Not to say her independent streak has gone away entirely.

“Fairy tales do not exist,” Majo concludes. “These magical things girls expect—like someone to arrive with a magic wand and make a dream come true—do not work. I could not wait for someone else to come get me and take me on a bike.

I had to find opportunities and get them. It was I who had to go looking for them.”

T

Christina Ammon writes from The Crash Pad at Woodrat Mountain in Oregon. Contact her at woodratcrashpad@gmail.com.

Majo’s Website: www.majogularte.com

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Crossing California a 510-mile Solo Expedition by

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Dav e T u rne r

S

ometimes the way one chooses to play out an adventure is as important as the trip itself. This spring I decided to make a vol-biv crossing of California, south-to-north, via the Coastal Mountains, the Mojave Peaks, and the Sierra Nevada. Big adventures with intense experiences are what I thrive on, so for this one I decided to go alone, completely unsupported, to help guarantee a good time. This is usually my style—go solo on big, committing adventures in order to receive the full experience the trip offers.

Even though there has been previous vol-biv activity in California and the Sierra, no one has ever flown the entire range in one trip. I have made some smaller vol-biv trips throughout the Sierra a few times, but none that were very long. Two years ago, a group of pilots made a good-sized traverse of the central and northern part of the Sierra with truck assistance, and I even joined them for a short section.

But no one has traversed the entire range, and no one has ever gone the distance self-supported, without assistance.

I started scanning maps and plotting a possible route for this spring, as I wanted to make the full traverse a reality.

Not only was I planning to make it north past Lake Tahoe for my finish line, I also chose to start farther south, on the Pacific Ocean in Ventura, California. Adding to the mix the Coastal Mountains and Mojave Peaks seemed to round out the course line, and made it an even 500 miles to shoot for.

After finishing my winter work season in Santa Barbara as a paragliding instructor and tandem pilot, I was ready to leave. I set off on foot from the beach in Ventura on the LEFT Leaving the beach in Ventura during sunset.

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19th of April, after having one last giant steak dinner with a friend. I had just finished an amazing work and flying season with the Santa Barbara pilot community, and now it was time to head back home to the Sierra. I left the beach at sunset, too anxious and excited to wait for the next morning to start. I hiked into the night, thrilled to be on the trail. The next morning I made my way to the NutHouse launch above Ojai for my first flight.

The flight from Ojai was great. I flew on up to Chief Peak, top landed, and started hiking towards the Sespe Wilderness and the rest of the route. But for the first third of my route, I was plagued by horrible, windy weather that was mostly un-flyable. Aside from two short flights during the first 200 miles of the route, I was forced to make most of my progress by foot. Now, I love hiking, and I love the mountains. But I had come here to fly north, not walk. I had told myself at the beginning of the trip that in order for this vol-biv route to be valid, I had to fly at least 50% of the total straight line distance; otherwise it would just be a lot of heavy hiking. This first section threatened the validity of the trip in my eyes, and it made me realize that I would have to fly almost the entire second half of the route for my ratio to approach acceptable terms.

When I packed my backpack for the trip at home, I was able to get the weight down to a total of 37 pounds, without food, fuel, or water. Once I tried to add in a week of food and four liters of water, my little X-Alps pack soon burst at the seams. I had to go with my bigger Ozone pack, in order to carry all of the supplies needed to cross such a remote mountain range. The pack started out not feeling too heavy at first, but that didn’t last long.

After hiking and flying for the first five days, I crossed Interstate 5 and my first re-supply point. The next section was to be very remote, with no easy re-supply points for two hundred miles. If I wanted to get more food during this section, I would have to deviate at least 20 miles each way to hit even the smallest town or gas station, so I knew that I’d pretty much be on my own from this point on.

I took on 8+ days of food and supplies at I-5, struggling under the 73 pounds that my pack had become. Somehow that trim kit became a monster, and the weather forecast was very bad for the entire next week. At this point, I just had to laugh at the situation: hiking through big peaks ABOVE One of my campsites, this one was in the Sespe Wilderness of the Coastal Mountains. OPPOSITE TOP Hiking along Lake Tahoe and its beautifully crystal-clear water. BOTTOM Fresh bear tracks.

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with a crushing load, with no hopes of any XC conditions in the coming days. I focused on making some distance by hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail during the bad-weather days, and promised myself to give it my best once I could get the wing off my back and into the air again.

After hiking for almost a week during this bad-weather

system, the conditions finally started to improve. I was a few miles north of Highway 58 at this point, and found a launch close to Wiley’s Knob that would get me back in the air. After camping out close to the top, I launched the next morning and started making progress north towards the Sierra. I was hoping to make it towards the High Sierra this day, but the ever-present north wind was creating difficult headwind conditions. I made it past Highway 178 before having to land up high due to the difficult north wind, at yet another perfect summit campsite. From there, I was able to fly the next day all the way up to Kennedy Meadows at the foot of the High Sierra, and I landed at the little country store for a much needed re-supply and burger. Great food and nice people greeted me at Kennedy Meadows, but so did another four days of bad weather.

I hiked north to Walt’s Point over the next two days, but that was it for hiking. No longer, from this point on, would it be practical or desirable to continue hiking for

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distance through this rough terrain. Once you head north of the infamous Walt’s Point launch site, the true High Sierra shoots up and becomes very remote, high, and increasingly difficult to traverse. I told myself that from now on it was going to be flying or waiting. No more deathmarch hikes up hot, dry peaks with a heavy load. It would be relaxing, fishing, light hiking, camping, or epic flying from now on. And that’s what I was rewarded with. The following good-weather flying day I had an epic 90-mile flight from Walt’s to Mammoth in crazy conditions.

From the launch at Walt’s, I overloaded my little Ozium pod harness and LM5 glider way past their normal capacity and launched off into the strong Owen’s Valley conditions alone and excited. I was at my home launch site and flying very familiar terrain; I was happy. I pushed on past Mt. Whitney and the Southern Sierra, trying to make quick progress, since the cumulus clouds were already starting to overdevelop and give warning of the day’s instability. The top of lift was not high at all by Sierra standards; cloudbase was at maybe 13,500 feet. As I passed the

Palisades and Big Pine, it started to snow. I think it was the first time ever that I was in a full-on light snow flurry with totally overcast skies, while simultaneously being ripped upward at over 2000 feet per minute. The GoPro’s battery died because of the long flight and cold conditions, but the mental image of the LM5 cutting through the snow shower high above the Sierra summits, while cruising on all alone on the flight, will stick with me forever.

After passing Bishop and Mt. Tom, the predictable afternoon west wind kicked in and did not want me to continue on towards Mammoth Lakes. I tried to hide in the lee of Wheeler Crest, as I passed the dividing point between the Owen’s Valley and the Mammoth area, but the strong wind was making it nearly impossible to continue to Mammoth. I sneaked on past Mt. McGee but had to land beside the hot springs outside of town. Just like that—the tables had turned, and I had covered 90 straight miles in five hours. That same distance would have taken me 12 days or more of hiking through the snowy peaks at a fast pace. I rested in Mammoth Lakes for the next three days

ABOVE Mt. Ritter and Banner Peak. OPPOSITE Gliding into Nevada, Lake Tahoe in the background.

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as the wind whipped back up. No worries, as I was able to hang with family and friends, and eat in tasty restaurants.

Even though I was back home in Mammoth Lakes, the trip was not over. I still had another 200 miles to cover before I was finished. I was planning to head towards Honey Lake or use Interstate 80 as a finish line, and I still had a long, difficult way to go. From Mammoth, once the weather improved, I made my way on foot up towards the resort. I was pleasantly surprised to be joined by another pilot friend, Huntley, who showed up and wanted some XC action for the day as well. We hiked up together, launched with high expectations, and proceeded to immediately bomb out into the difficult forest below the next peak north. We got separated, as I got slightly luckier than he and was able to side-hill land close to the next peak. I camped out for the night, and he had a long hike back to Mammoth.

The next day looked as if it would be similar day to the one before, with high pressure, weak lapse rate, and a light to moderate headwind from the north. At launch I had somewhat low expectations, but was extremely psyched and motivated to make the best of it. I hiked on up and launched around 11:30 a.m. into very weak conditions.

I figured I was taking an extended sled ride and tried to extend it all the way to the small town of June Lake. I had the mental picture of the big breakfast in the cafe there, but as I rounded Carson Peak, my little Sonic vario started slowly beeping its happy sound at me. The “sled ride� turned into an amazing 50-mile flight through some very scenic terrain, all the way past Mono Lake and northern Yosemite to a landing at Sonora Pass on Highway 108.

Some of the most beautiful peaks, meadows, and granite towers are on this leg of the journey, and on this day I got to see them all. Sometimes the days you expect to work great do not, and others turn out to be amazing. Flights like these are why I live in the Sierra.

Before landing in Sonora Pass, I scoped out the next launch while on final glide. Little Cannon Peak had an amazingly clean southeast face overlooking the Sonora Pass basin, and just begged to be flown from. As I hiked up to camp close to the top that evening, Huntley joined me.

I warned him that the next section, from Sonora Pass to Tahoe, was notoriously remote and committing, and that landing out would probably entail an extremely technical landing followed by a two-day hike out. He understood completely.

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We decided to wait until just after midday to launch, as we wanted to be as high as possible while we crossed this next section. The plan worked perfectly at first. We cruised up to the first backcountry peak together, after having great launches. But then Huntley got very low over the side of the peak, and I lost sight of him from up high.

I assumed he had top-landed, as I could not see him at all, and never saw him glide out to the forest. I continued towards Tahoe alone, only to later find out later he had scraped his way through and made it to Markleeville. On my way to Tahoe, I encountered very rough air at times, got a whole bunch of riser twists during one incident, and lost thousands of feet before I could recover it. The High Sierra has teeth, and she keeps them sharp. Pilots must realize that this place is for real and plays for keeps. Be humble, fly in conditions that you can handle, and only bring a wing that you are very comfortable on.

I landed at the border of Nevada and California that day, just east of South Lake Tahoe. I had passed the more remote sections at this point, and the highest peaks had been crossed. I breathed a long sigh of relief, but by no means was the trip over. I was close, but I still had another day or two of flying before I was north of the Tahoe peaks.

I camped out behind the store at Woodford’s Canyon, after wolfing down one of their deli sandwiches. The next morning I hiked on up to the peak immediately above the store and set off on what would be my last flight of the trip.

Well, kind of. I bombed out, because I chose to launch at 10:20 a.m.; the birds were making it look good. I was wrong and was rewarded with a sled ride down the peak.

I tried to make some progress north to the next peak, as it looked like a better place to try for a re-launch from. I had a problem sidehill landing; it was too dangerous to stuff it in mid-mountain, due to the erratic wind gusts. So I had

ABOVE Just climbed out from launch at Walt’s, this is my first view of the High Sierra to the north.

OPPOSITE, TOP TO BOTTOM Beautiful Lone Pine Peak on the left center, and Mt. Whitney on the right.

Getting low in Whitney Portal, as the summit towers far above. Some stormy conditions started to develop as I closed in on the Palisades. Some light snow flurries were encountered.

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to land at the base of the peak, only to shove the kit quickly in the bag and race back up the slope.

I hiked up 1200 vertical feet in 45 sweat-filled minutes and found another small perch to take off from. I slowly climbed up in the weakest of thermals after launching from the bushes, trying my best to climb out. After 10 agonizingly slow minutes, I gained a few hundred feet and found the base of a good thermal. I happily climbed up over the summit and immediately got blasted by the west wind once again. It was almost noon by this time, because of my wasted first attempt, and the west wind was already ahead of schedule. I understood how rowdy it was potentially going to become, and the incident the day before was still fresh in my mind. I pushed on towards Reno, got pummeled as I crossed Kingsbury Grade, and was forced to land in Genoa, Nevada. It was too rough to fly safely.

The next three days were windy again, so I proceeded on foot along the NE corner of Lake Tahoe on my way north. On my last day, I crossed over the top of Mt. Rose en route to fly from Chimney Peak, but I was unable to fly down to goal at Interstate 80, due to a wildfire with air support shutting down the airspace. I had wanted to land in goal at Verdi, Nevada, but instead I happily skipped down the final few miles of trail to finish it up. I arrived down at the highway the morning of May 19th, 30 days after setting off from Ventura.

This trip was not only an amazing adventure filled with difficulty and challenge, but it also showed me that sometimes big “expedition level” adventures can be had right here at home in one’s backyard. The sport of vol-biv is young and still developing, with thousands of miles of never-before-flown mountain terrain just asking to be explored. My generation might have missed the Golden Era of exploring Yosemite’s rock climbs or the pioneering era of high-altitude mountaineering. But I assure you that we are living in the day when pilots will be heading away from the beaten track and shouldering their “magic backpacks” to set off on new, wild vol-biv adventures. Today’s pilots will be establishing what will become the classic vol-biv routes of tomorrow. We are lucky to exist during such an exciting time. I am looking forward to seeing where we can take this.

For this trip I chose to fly an Ozone LM5 glider and Ozium harness combo: a great performance-to-security ratio for such a lightweight setup. I would like to thank my sponsors for all of their help and support: Ozone Paragliders, Patagonia, Black Diamond, Asolo, and High Adventure.

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Feeding the DOG by

D

og Mountain, western Washington’s premier hang gliding site, is one of only a handful of US sites whose landowners require an additional $1million in USHPA liability insurance. Dog is managed by Cloudbase Country Club, whose bylaws require that every site be self-supporting, so each year the Dog Mountain site stewards must hold a fund-raising fly-in to bring in enough cash to cover the expenses: site insurance, portable toilets on launch, keys to the locked access gate, mowing of the summer

C .J. S t u rte vant

LZ pasture. And every year, thanks to a combination of dedicated site stewardship by Family Jorgensen, and the equally dedicated pilots who call Dog their home site, the Dog bowl is filled to overflowing.

Winter and early spring flying in western Washington is often a chilly, damp endeavor, with those pilots who brave the weather logging more hang waiting than airtime on many weekends. For the less hardy, hang gliding season ends in November, and they pursue other passions until the official

ABOVE C.J. just off the north launch of Dog. OPPOSITE, TOP A double rainbow brackets Dog Mountain launch at Frostbite 2014. CENTER The camp area at Dogpatch. Photos by Christine Nidd. BOTTOM The shelter project under construction | photo by C.J.

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season opener in April: Frostbite!

The name doesn’t quite say it all; while some years are truly frosty, with clear, cold days and frost-feathers curling up out of the damp campground gravel overnight, other years Frostbite offers the full gamut of April capriciousness. Whatever the weather forecast, though, the Dog pilots show up with kids and dogs and potluck dishes, ready to party and to feed the Dog.

Frostbite 2014 Tina Jorgensen, who has been the mastermind behind the Frostbite festivities for decades, felt an all-too-familiar nervousness when the April 19-20 weekend weather forecast looked about as far from ideal as it could be. She’d ordered T-shirts, purchased burgers and hot dogs and rolls and condiments and the rest of the potluck staples, made sure there would be freshly serviced potties on launch and in the Dogpatch LZ—but with the weather guessers calling for heavy rain and high winds on Saturday, it didn’t sound like a family-friendly camping weekend. Would any but the hardiest die-hards come?

Not to worry, Tina! Forewarned that Saturday might not be flyable, dozens of Dog regulars skipped work and school on Friday to enjoy some fine spring soaring, and to take care of registration and waivers and entry fees and T-shirt purchases, just in case a window of early-morning conditions materialized on Saturday before the big wind arrived.

Tina’s spot-landing judges were on duty at 9:00 sharp on Saturday morning; the serious contenders were already set up and pre-flighted and in line for the lemming rush into the stillfriendly air well before then. Keeping an eye on the clouds, and the virga that began to develop to the west, a steady stream of pilots aimed for a graceful spot landing in Dogpatch, then hustled back up to fly again and, perhaps, yet again, until whitecaps on the lake signaled an approaching gust front and an end to the day’s flying.

Meanwhile, as the lemmings were racking up landing points, the more down-to-earth pilots and friends were also keeping an eye on the approaching weather and creatively plotting how to keep the crowd covered during a potluck and bonfire party in a major wind-and-rain event. Long driftwood poles were dragged in from the lake shore and expertly lashed together to create a framework for a shelter. Cross-bracing was added, and many guy lines, and holes were dug deep into the gravel for the poles. Once the pole structure passed the designer’s muster, a tarp was added and secured—no small task in the increasing wind—and the guy lines were staked out. By the time the full force of the storm arrived, the construction crew had erected sufficient shelter to keep pilots and kids and

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friends and dogs reasonably dry—good thing we’re a close-knit group!

While the shelter-building contingent was lashing and tying and bracing, the last few spot-landers were struggling to pack up their flapping sails in the blustery wind. But then the gust front arrived, and suddenly the glider-packers desperately needed assistance. I left my little Falcon on the ladder roof rack on our Sorento, not yet tied down, and ran to help. When I returned to secure my wing, I found the Falcon had flown off the roof and was lying on the ground next to our car. Luckily it had blown out past the mirror and landed in a rock-free patch of gravel; a close inspection by Aaron the next morning determined it was unscathed. But what a gust that must have been!

Those morning flights on Saturday, along with brief windows of favorable winds on Sunday, made it possible for everyone who wanted airtime to get it. Eighty-one pilots signed up for the spot-landing contest; all the winners are pilots who are respected for their flying and landing skills, and who can be found at Dog on most weekends.

Jazzy Jorgensen Himes has been part of the Dog Mountain regulars since, well, before she was born! Spending weekends at Dog with her parents, Larry and Tina, she’s had the advantage of being part of the extended hang gliding community since babyhood. Larry and Tina taught her to fly as a teenager, insisting she stay on the training hill until her skills and judgment were “better than perfect.” Now a 27-year-old mother of a toddler, Jazzy demonstrated her finesse at Frostbite, winning the Hang-2 category with grace, style and accuracy. She somehow managed to get in 10 flights during the weekend; her two-year-old daughter Hazel would point excitedly to the sky each time her mom approached the LZ, then toddle off to chase dogs and dig in the dirt with the rest of the Dog Mt. youngsters.

Kerie Swepston has been flying since 1988, and was a member of the 1998 US Women’s Team that competed in the World Championships in Hungary. With a helmet covering her peach-fuzz pate, and no diminution of her characteristic textbook-perfect landing style in spite of the rigors of recent

ABOVE The two-day full-on bonfire is an essential element of Frostbite festivities. OPPOSITE, TOP LEFT Hazel helping her dad pack up before the weather goes bad. Photo by C.J. BOTTOM First-place spot-lander Kerie Swepston—chemo didn’t ground this spunky pilot. TOP RIGHT Frostbite organizer Tina Jorgensen.

BOTTOM Kerie’s signature landing style. Photos by Aaron Swepston.

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chemo, Kerie won the kingpost division. Given the skill consistently demonstrated by Jazzy, Kerie and Tina, is it any wonder that many of the guys who fly at Dog aspire to “land like a girl”?

Aaron Swepston, world-renowned for his aerobatic and speed-gliding skills, and his in-depth knowledge of anything hang glider related, has been tearing up the skies for more than 30 years. He may not fly like a girl—it’s a rare flight

when he’s not upside down at least once—but he certainly can land like one, even on a topless glider, and he won that division.

The real winners, of course, are the pilots and families who came out in spite of the weather forecast, grabbed what airtime there was to be had, partied hard around the bonfire, and made their contribution toward feeding the Dog for the coming year.

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Tennessee Tree Toppers @ Valley Fest

F

or the last three years in The Hang Gliding Capital of the East, the city of Dunlap and the SequatchieDunlap Chamber of Commerce (of which the TTT is a member) have sponsored a new Spring Festival called Valley Fest. The organizers, proud of our local distinction among the hang gliding community, have wanted to display our aviation activity in this grand celebration of their community from its inception. They’ve invited us every year.

Before the 2013 festival, Sequatchie County even bought the old “Payne Field” at the corner of Pine and Wagner Streets. They cleaned it up, mowed it, and informed the Tree Toppers that it

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by Dan Shell

was now public property, and hang gliders were welcome to land there any time, smack dab in the middle of downtown Dunlap... especially at Valley Fest.

After all their effort, they were pretty keen on the chance our wings would be decorating the skies over their midway.

Imagine our delight to find, on the morning of last year’s festival, eminently soarable conditions that would make a flight across the valley a walk in the park. In fact, it was too good. Pilots who had planned to be part of the show arrived at launch to find their ambitions swelling and quickly announced their preference to spend this day pursuing more distant goals. So, though it was

a great day with lots of hang gliding activity in the air within a few miles and a few thousand feet over their heads, our Valley Fest visitors saw none of it.

Why should we care? As Dunlap celebrations go, Valley Fest is only second to the Fourth (as in “of July,” a notorious Sequatchian spectacle). A great many of our local residents, including farmers and other large field owners, tour the grounds. When they see pilots conspicuously walking around the festival (identifiable by their Tree Topper and USHPA T’s, of course), a glider displayed at a booth staffed by a nice pilot with whom they can exchange pleasant conversation regarding aerodynamics and mental

LEFT Sebastian and the Pilot Band’s Chattanooga local ‘70s hit on “Glider Records,” “Hang Glider Man.”

health, and gliders flying overhead (almost) then landing in the field, it could occur to them that “hang gliding looks pretty cool, doesn’t seem to hurt anything, and here’s the local club supporting our community activities.” That recognition and awareness can save XC LZs and help prevent landowner hostility, among other things. Around here, it’s all about who you know, who knows you, or at least who knows of you, and hopefully in a good way. In Dunlap, PR just doesn’t get any better than that.

Therefore, this year the Tree Toppers aspired to offset the “problem” of excessively optimal cross-country conditions with the usual incentive... money! The TTT BOD approved a cash award of $50.00 for the first five pilots to land within the perimeter of the “Downtown LZ” and an additional $50.00 for the pilot landing closest to the target. Furthermore, even those landing late and long would be greeted with a cold beverage before they could step out of their harness, a cheeseburger hot off the grill by the time they could break down, and a rockin’ party with live music all around when the glider was back on the truck.

Of course, declared-goal cross-country hang gliding is not quite reliable transportation, so we needed some visibility on the ground in case we couldn’t get any in the air. It may be a one-thermal flight from Henson’s to Dunlap, but it’s not a noTOP Al Sasser just landed first at Valley Fest!

LEFT Tim Cocker provided the “TTT Historical

Display” (glass case), documenting hang gliding in the Chattanooga area from the 1970s with paraphernalia from T-shirts to country tunes. RIGHT Ever heard “Hang Glider Man”? It was a hit on local radio in the ‘70s. Future Tree Topper peruses the USHPA bling.

thermal flight. We had a display with a glider, two tents, a Southern Para Pilots paragliding display, information on hang gliding and paragliding, a 60-inch HD TV (generously provided by First Baptist Church, Dunlap) playing hang gliding videos, and folks staffing the booths from opening ‘til closing, chatting it up with the locals, et al., about our favorite aerial activity. The USHPA came through in a big way with a last-minute request and enhanced our display immensely with bling like logo stickers, T-shirts, calendars, and mags, and even included a couple of promo videos for display.

From our booth, we could step sideways a few feet either way to peek around the library and view launch. Conditions were strong up there early, but several set up to wait it out with hopes of diving for dollars.

It seemed to be laying down some when I visited about mid-afternoon, but I was still a little surprised when I got a phone call later in the festival field telling me to look up. There were hang gliders over Valley Fest!

That’s what the organizers really wanted, our psychedelic sails overhead and landing right next to the festival in the “Downtown LZ.” Al Sasser landed first, claimed the first $50 prize, and marked his spot, which remained closest to the target through the next four landings. Jeff Laughrey, Ollie Gregory, Rob Dallas, and Eric Donaldson also won $50 prizes for landing second through fifth respectively. Then, as we were preparing the pilot cookout in the shade on the edge of the field, thinking that Al had taken first landing and spot landing prizes, we looked up to see one more on approach. Kenny Sandifer said he never saw the target until he turned onto final, but he made that turn at exactly the right place anyway, landed 7 1/2 feet from the target, and took the landing prize.

All six pilots won an award! The first five won $50 for being the first five and Kenny won $50 for winning the spot landing. Al generously donated his remaining $50 prize to the TTT’s Whitwell LZ fund. We all then enjoyed a cookout in the field to the

sounds of distant country music streaming across a freshly cut field in the spring evening mountain air, surrounded by the cliffs of the Cumberland Plateau.

Thanks to so many who made it happen.

Clark Harlow set up the display glider and broke it down. Rick Jacob prepared the LZ with a huge windsock and streamers. Rick Jacob, Marco Weber, and Ollie Gregory set up the tents for the booths, which were provided by Michael Bradford and Ollie Gregory. Tim Cocker provided his “TTT Historical Display.” James Anderson helped tote the TV from the church and back and staffed the booth for nearly the entire festival, except for a couple of short breaks. Rick Jacob and Marco Weber broke it down and hauled it off in short order when it was all over. Southern Para Pilots stepped up and pledged the awarded prize money. Jackson Shell was our right-hand man running all over town and the festival grounds, chasing down the critical stuff we had to have at the last minute, then forfeited nearly an entire day of techno-media engagement to sit in the shade, listen to good tunes, and be friendly to people, real sacrifice for a teenager.

There were others who hung out at the booth for a while and carried on conversation with visitors, all of which helped more than they’ll know. We had a great time and got some valuable local exposure for the TTT and the USHPA. As the smoke clears, the dust settles, and the last leftover hot dogs are eaten, it’s worth noting how far we’ve come approaching a half-century of hang gliding. There’ve been times when hang gliding was an “underground” aviation, sneaking around places where gliders on vehicles were “probable cause,” and times when we’ve been outright run off, especially from municipal grounds. Thanks to the hard work of lots of pilots over many years at both the local and national levels, Tree Toppers and USHPA, we now enjoy a relationship with our community that gets us an invitation to the party. Let’s do it again next year!

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Ryan Kern California

T

he Eagles landed in Colombia during the months of January and February 2014. Yes, we’re talking about Colombia, South America. It’s warm down here, while most of the USA is in a deep freeze covered in white stuff. Here, we fly in the mountains.

We fly in the flat valleys. We fly when a few raindrops fall, and when the sun shines, and when clouds dot the landscape like icebergs in the North Sea. And mostly, we fly in gaggles. It’s safer. We sink out less. We go farther, and fly longer, and land together in places where we can pack up and head to the center of the nearest village for a refreshing drink.

From the east-facing main launch above the town of Roldanillo, (dominant winds in the southern hemisphere

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come from the east), the mountains flow both north and south, up to 3000 feet above the valley. Here, the last vestiges of the great Andes spine begin to fade into the sea.

XC flights are possible in either direction on most days.

However, the real challenge begins when the valleys heat up. As the mountains often overdevelop in the afternoon, the safer and smoother place to fly is out over the Valle del Cauca. Pilots must choose when to leave the safety of the house thermal and take their chances soaring over sugarcane fields, grapevines, and other lush green crops.

But valley flying isn’t as simple as it sounds, so having a gaggle of pilots spread out to find lift makes sinking out less of a worry. A little bit less, anyway!

The milk run from Roldanillo is about a 30-km square

by

Gaggle Flying in

around the valley. Launch on a grassy slope, and explore the mountains while waiting for the flats to turn on. Then cross the valley to the small town of Zarzal, which the guides like to call a thermal factory. From Zarzal, fly north to the village of La Victoria, and finally back across the valley to the little town La Union, tucked into a curve of the mountains.

There it is usually possible to land in the soccer stadium to the tune of friendly kids cheering us on.

The drive up to launch is entertaining, too, guided by Chipri in his custom-built yellow bus, beautifully hand

Daw n W e str u m

Roldanillo

painted inside and out by students from a local school. His unique horn, blared often to announce his passing, is recognized by everyone in town. Retrieves in the valley are pretty simple as well, because main roads form a square around the valley. Jeep driver Flacco hunts down grounded pilots and returns them to Chipri or to the town square, allowing them to rehydrate with pitchers of fresh-squeezed juice, or fill up on rotisserie chicken while people-watching on the square. For those pilots who decide to send it long, public buses are plentiful, making it easy to find connections back

OPPOSITE Chipri driving the party van up to launch | photo by Dawn Westrum. ABOVE Dawn Westrum flying her Delta 2 over the valley | photo by Matt Beechinor.

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to La Union.

During the first week of the Eagle tour this year, a big competition was held in Roldanillo: the 2014 Colombia National Championship and FAI Open. This resulted in the launches being very crowded; the number of wings in the air was staggering to some of the newer pilots. So the Eagle tour participants started adding streamers to their harnesses to be able to find each other in the air. By the middle of the week, the gaggle of flying streamers had become so popular that non-Eagle pilots were asking to use them. Even a few competition pilots, (it was rumored) started flying with us instead of competing!

The people of Colombia are super friendly, too. They are eager to show visitors that Colombia is now a safe, beautiful place to visit, and are happy to have pilots flying around in their skies. Often the first question a local asks is: “How do you like our country?” or “How are the people here?” My response is always: “La gente son muy amables!” (Everyone is very friendly!)

During one month of flying, only four days were lost due to rainy weather, which is amazing! Also amazing are some of the flights by Eagle pilots during the tours, including XC distances of 60, 80, and 99 kilometers, including 80km on a tandem. And the tandem only landed

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after 80km because the passenger had to (ahem) use the facilities.

The tour was led by US Paragliding Team Coach Rob Sporrer and his wife Marite, out of Santa Barbara, California, along with Brad Gunnuscio out of Utah.

They were accompanied by some highly talented guides, including Brian Howell, 2013 USHPA Paragliding Instructor of the Year Jesse Meyer, and US Paragliding Team pilots Marty Devietti and Matt Beechinor. All guides were also tandem pilots, and as part of the tour, participants could use tandem flights to accelerate their learning curve. There were often two or three tandems out a day, flying with the gaggle.

This is Eagle Paragliding’s fourth year of leading winter tours down to Colombia, and this year the participants and guides really synced up and flew like a convocation of eagles! The Eagle tour guides were able to give personalized attention to each pilot, flying in small groups and helping individuals set personal bests and accomplish many flying goals. Next winter, escape the frozen north and come stretch your wings with the Eagles in Colombia.

OPPOSITE The Eagle Paragliding Tour group: Week 1 | photo by Marite Montero. ABOVE TOP The Eagles’ gaggle over rolling hills near La Victoria | photo by Matt Beechinor. BOTTOM Gaggling over the Valle del Cauca | photo by Josh Walldrop

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Have Glider

Will Travel by

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K e nt W ein

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H

igh pressure. You need a high pressure day,” the local Rio tandem pilot and instructor, Flavio Dias, said, when describing what made for the perfect “Christ the Redeemer” day.

For the next 14 months, I enthusiastically carried my paraglider in the cockpit while on trips to Brazil from New York, seeking that perfect day. Combining my love for paragliding with my day job as an airline pilot has been the ideal match, as I now seemingly get paid to go on short paragliding holidays every week. Pure nirvana.

I mostly eschewed trips to Zurich, Milan, or Barcelona, favoring instead the longer Rio trips, because of the more consistent weather. Besides, I figured if I flew Rio often enough, eventually I’d hit the jackpot and arrive on a Christ day.

While pursuing that goal, trip after trip, the real prize would be found in the friendships I developed with local pilots.

Like a contagious disease, my enthusiasm spread to a captain I was flying with last July. A friend and fellow coworker, Mike, knew a tandem flight wouldn’t satisfy him, so he insisted on lessons straightaway. He worked with Flavio and earned his rating in two months while on layovers. Now the pressure was on to see which one of us would be first to the statue of Christ the Redeemer, a mere 15km roundtrip, but seemingly impossible on all but the most ideal “high pressure” days.

At the end of April, I met up with Mike at the hotel, and we rented a car to go flying a few hours north of the city in Petropolis at a site more conducive to nice XC flights than Rio. Mike flew a half-hour longer than I did, so I explained to him the etiquette of not outperforming his “mentor.” I teasingly told him I would be ruthless on our next flight. Little did I know, I’d be getting my “revenge” the very next day, but Mike wouldn’t be there to see it.

Our good-natured competitiveness was a product of a friendship developed while flying together on the Boeing 757 and 767 during the past 12 years. Unfortunately, Mike had to fly back to New York a day earlier than I, so he wouldn’t be able to fly his magic backpack on what looked like the perfect Christ day the next morning.

That night, I checked the weather and discovered the pressure was forecast to be 1024 millibars, better than the 1020 recommended by Flavio. The winds would be light and out of the south. As Mike lined up for his flight back home, he noted the same rising pressure and, realizing I had a good chance to make a Christo flight, scanned the instruments to see if anything might cause his flight home to be cancelled, leaving him (and his 200 passengers) with an extra day in

Rio. No such luck, he thought, as he advanced the throttles for takeoff.

The next day I met up with my local friend, Jesse Di Giacomo, who was flying a new Alpina 2, like me. Jesse had been flying in Rio for three years but had yet to “see Jesus.”

He pessimistically told me he didn’t think we’d make it that day as the wind was more east than south, which meant we’d be bucking a headwind most of the way.

At the Pedra Bonita ramp, he pointed out a fellow local pilot with an Israeli sticker on his helmet.

“He’s a Christ addict,” Jesse remarked.

The pilot had managed the trip five times, in fact. Our Chili-3-flying Christ addict launched at noon, but we chose to wait and watch, as the lift was lighter than expected and many tandems were only able to achieve sled rides to the LZ. Jesse launched at 12:30 and struggled a bit to gain altitude.

I went next and lucked into some lift to the left of launch, before benching up to the right, over the top of Pedra Bonita.

Heading on glide to the iconic monolith rock that is Pedra da Gavea, I mounted a camera to my carabiner and discovered a continuous smooth climb all the way there. I enjoyed the silky elevator ride to 3500 feet, with Jesse joining me. I pointed to our next goal, a ridge that our Christ-addict friend was milking and said, “Let’s go!”…a pointless statement , since Jesse was already pointed toward the goal.

Over that ridge we easily reached 4000 feet, and I knew the next hill, just above the city of Rio and with radio towers perched at the top, would produce the last bump we’d need to get to the Christ the Redeemer statue. We elected to do just a few turns over this hill, since it appeared to be an easy LEFT Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Flying the Christo.

ABOVE Kent on a lay-over in Brazil.

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sprint to the statue that would surely be thermically productive. Although I hadn’t noticed, at the top of our first climb a local tandem pilot and good friend, Vinicius, sent me a text, saying, “Go to Jesus, man!”

Reaching the mountain 200 feet below its summit, within two tight passes I was eye level with the famous Rio landmark. A few onlookers waved as I passed by. They couldn’t possibly have gotten the view that a paraglider affords, I thought.

I pondered why everyone doesn’t do this, and then, when I looked down at the millions of residents of the city of Rio de Janeiro, I was thankful that not everyone flew.

Jesse and I stayed over the statue for almost 20 minutes, before he decided to seek a way home. I wasn’t in a rush, so I bid him good luck as he proceeded out to an anticipated thermal over a racetrack in Rio, which is also an excellent bailout option if you can’t make it back to Sao Conrado, where the main LZ is located. The racetrack, I was briefed, charges 50 reals ($23) if you land there, so it’s a good idea to plan accordingly and carry some cash.

Finding no lift over the track, Jesse proceeded straight for the ocean and made an uneventful landing on the relatively empty beach. After three years of landing at Sao Conrado, he was thrilled to make it to Ipanema.

I spent another 10 minutes over the statue, collecting a few pictures on my camera, which required a couple of descents to get close enough to the monument for good shots.

ABOVE Magic in one carry-on is an airline pilot's dream.

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Helicopters tour the statue regularly, but we didn’t see any during our visit.

Content in knowing I had experienced a Christ day (which is much better than not, considering that would be an anti-Christ day), I proceeded back to launch via the same route I’d come. Since there was a tailwind most of the way, I only needed three climbs to make it back. I enthusiastically embraced the final thermal that was just over a favela riddled with power lines and shoe-horned homes with prickly antennas and nowhere to land.

Because my goal was bagged, I finally bid Zurich the next month. While I enjoyed the first of those trips, flying in Fanas, Engelberg and Rigi, I found that rain was often forecast for Switzerland, so I ended up trading back to Rio flights for most of the following month.

Now that Jesse and I are full-fledged Christ addicts, we will be looking closely for days of high pressure and light south winds to make our next attempt.

If you’d like to take a spin around Christ the Redeemer, bring your USHPA card (they check for it) and plan to fly not only the popular Sao Conrado, but also soar the nearby site at Niteroi—a site that affords a great view of Rio—as well as Petropolis, which is two hours inland for some thermal flying—while you wait for ideal conditions to arise in Rio. The best chances for a Christ day are in October and November, their spring. Good luck and bon voo!

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HG 401: Advanced Techniques & Concepts Flare Physics

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by Ryan Voight

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A

s pilots we tend to focus a lot of our thoughts on flying. The sad fact is, no matter how epic the flight, all flights end. We’ve all seen that some pilots end their flights with a little more flair than others. Landings are an unavoidable necessity, so we should give them much respect. We talk of various landing techniques and applying them in different ways much like an artist creating a masterpiece. What I’d like to delve into is not the art of landing, but the science. I like science because it’s concrete and repeatable. Science follows rules and knowing these rules helps us land well consistently.

Since we have no choice but to work within the laws of physics, let’s define a few real quickly. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet since I’m no scientist.

Inertia is an object’s tendency to resist changes in motion, and it is measured in “mass.” Objects with more mass are more resistant to changes in their velocity—if you’ve ever run out of gas and tried to push your car you know what I mean!

Momentum is almost the same thing, but incorporates velocity into things.

Momentum is defined as the product of mass times velocity, which mathematically tells us what we already know: It takes a lot of force to stop a heavy object that is moving quickly. It’s harder to stop a bowling ball than a ping-pong ball rolling at the same speed.

An object in motion will remain in

LEFT The ground is rushing by horizontally

as master pilot Paul Voight flies through his “ground skim” waiting to flare. > As Paul starts his flare, we can see he still had significant ground speed. > He times his flare so he has enough kinetic energy to climb just a little, and flares smoothly so that the glider transfers that energy efficiently. > At the top of his “1/4 loop” flare, we can see that the glider did climb a little, but more importantly we can see that he now has little or no forward momentum. Voila! > Paul Voight has used the laws of physics to perform a no-step landing in no wind!

motion until acted on by an outside force.

Our gliders and bodies disturb the air we fly through, and we end up pulling some of that air along behind us. Air that is being pulled behind an object is called “entrained” air. The force required to continually pull this entrained air is part of what we refer to as “drag.”

The amount of drag created is equal to the square of airspeed. Going twice as fast means four times as much drag.

Three times as fast is nine times as much drag, and so it goes.

Gravity sucks, everything and always.

But it’s not fair and sucks things with more mass harder than things with less mass… Think of “weight” as a measure of how hard gravity pulls on something.

Although there are some technical differences between weight and mass, they are directly related and for our simplistic purposes we can consider them the same.

A stall is the separation of airflow over the top surface of the wing, which is the result of too high an angle of attack.

This can occur at any airspeed.

Energy comes in two states. There’s potential energy, or stored energy—in hang gliding this is altitude. And then there’s kinetic energy, or energy in motion—in hang gliding this is airspeed.

Energy can be transferred from one kind to another, but energy cannot be created or removed entirely. We’ll come back to why this is so important…

The goal of every landing is to get both our altitude above the ground and our groundspeed to zero. Our landing approach determines where this occurs, but it is our FLARE that actually accomplishes this—so that is where we will focus.

We all know we should be flying our whole approach with additional airspeed, carrying that airspeed right to ground level. In physics terms, what we are doing is taking potential energy—altitude—and transferring it into kinetic energy—airspeed. As we round out at

www.flymaster-usa.com

LEFT Flaring a little early is no big deal—just

slow your flare motion even more so that you end your climb with the nose up, and hold it. Unless you’re ridiculously high, physics guarantees you’ll come down softly. This landing was super-soft!

RIGHT Landing on a hot day in Utah, Tom Galvin flares. Flaring hard would rotate the glider but not fully stop his forward momentum. Flaring smoothly allows the glider to climb and transfer the energy of that momentum away. BOTTOM A late flare is a tough situation either way: not enough energy to climb for a “1/4 loop,” and not enough airspeed to make enough drag for the “air brake” method. If you wait too long it’s physically impossible to achieve a full-stop landing. ground level we have a “ground skim” period, where we are using that kinetic energy to offset the force of gravity.

Without this ground-skim phase, our flare is trying to offset the force of our forward momentum AND gravity’s pull, and that’s a lot to ask of even the most perfect flare. Since gravity doesn’t stop sucking, it’s best to eliminate all descending momentum well before we try to stop our forward momentum.

While in our ground skim we still have “drag,” due in part to the entrained air we pull behind us, so kinetic energy gradually decreases. As we’re bleeding energy, we’re approaching the point where we have to flare before the root of the wing stalls and the nose drops and we whack.

In physics terms, there are actually two very different types of flares.

First is the idea of using the wing as an air brake. This is how many people envision our flare working, and in most cases it’s effective—but this flare will never produce a no-step landing without a headwind. For this flare (I call it the “air-brake flare”), we push out very quickly, and the glider rotates nose-up with very little direction change taking place. Now we have a nose-up wing traveling horizontally through the air and creating a lot of drag, so kinetic energy (airspeed) drops off very quickly.

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The main issue with this, if we want our ground speed to be zero, is that the drag created by the wing is equal to the square of our airspeed. By the time we’re going half as fast, the wing is making four times less drag. Once we’re going one-third as fast, the wing is making nine times less drag. Because the amount of drag drops off much faster than our airspeed, we’ll never reach zero airspeed without having to run. If we have a headwind we might reach zero groundspeed, which is what we really care about when landing.

This style of flare works best on lower performing gliders, which weigh less, and therefore carry less momentum (less force is needed to stop them).

Lower performing gliders also have a greater sail area and therefore create more drag when the wing is used as an air brake. The “air-brake flare” is NOT particularly effective in no wind or at high altitude, and it’s especially ineffective on high-performance gliders that weigh more—which means more momentum so they’re harder to stop—and have less surface area (which doesn’t create as much drag to slow you down). Another issue with this flare is that when the wing stalls the mass of entrained air behind us, which was travelling with us, is now detached from our wing and tries to continue travel-

ling past us. If you’ve ever landed in no wind and felt like you got pushed from behind just after you flared, that was your entrained air slamming into you!

The other type of flare embraces the physics law that states energy can be transferred but not eliminated. If it’s physically impossible to eliminate our forward kinetic energy, we need to get creative and transfer it somewhere else.

If the push-out in our flare is slower so that the glider transfers kinetic energy (airspeed) into potential energy (altitude) as efficiently as possible, we take our forward momentum and turn it into vertical/climbing momentum.

Since gravity sucks, we don’t climb for long before coming back down. I’ve taken to naming this type of flare the “¼-loop flare”; it’s an excellent way of visualizing it, albeit not exactly what we are performing. It’s not entirely accurate because, as we climb, our airspeed decreases and as the wing begins to stall it’s losing its ability to create lift and continue changing our direction of travel. Unless we flare really early, and climb really high, we’re not really going to be climbing vertically—so it’s not really ¼ of a loop (but that is a great way to visualize it). Since we’re not climbing perfectly vertically, we haven’t eliminated ALL of our forward momentum yet. But since we climbed a

little, we’re not done and on the ground yet, either! As gravity sucks the last of our upward momentum and we begin to descend toward the ground again, our glider is forced into a tail slide. Up high this would be terrifying and we’d surely throw our chute, but it’s ideal in this situation because the tail-sliding glider creates a force pulling against our forward direction of travel. One other thing that makes this type of flare so effective is that, when the wing stalls and separates from the entrained air we’re pulling behind us, that air has an upward component. I’m not really sure if the upward component of that air helps us land softly, or if it just passes over us rather than slamming into us… but either way climbing a little before separating from that mass of entrained air is very helpful.

This “¼-loop flare” is particularly effective on high-performance gliders, because they efficiently transfer that kinetic energy back into potential energy as we climb a little in our flare.

High-performance gliders also weigh more, which means gravity sucks them harder, which makes it hard to climb to an uncomfortable height during our flare (although it can be done). If there is any drawback to the ¼-loop flare, it is that it requires the glider to be balanced prior to your flare. If the wings aren’t level,

or there is any amount of yaw oscillation going on, you’re probably better off combining the air-brake flare with running it out. My favorite thing about the ¼-loop flare is that, because the push-out motion is done pretty slowly, it gives my brain time to process how the glider is reacting to my push-out. If I start my flare and climb quickly, I know I had a little too much energy, and I can hold that bar position until I stop climbing before finishing my flare (commonly called the “two-stage flare,” which works great). I feel this flare technique eases the pressure of perfectly timing the flare, because if we’re a little early on the flare the physics just works that much better, and we have time to adjust the pitch-rate of our flare so we don’t zoom way up high.

I will point out that waiting too long to flare means we do not have enough energy to climb a little, so flaring a touch early is much better than being even a tiny bit late. The same can be said for the “air-brake flare”—since that is a very fast nose-up rotation of the glider, and we barely change direction at all, if we’re a little early it’s not so bad because the wing is making a lot more drag at that higher airspeed. The air-brake flare can really save your bacon if you misjudged your approach and NEED to flare early because you’ve run out of LZ or there is an obstacle in your way. And just like

the ¼-loop flare, if you are too late with the air-brake flare the wing isn’t making much drag to slow you down, so you’d better plan on running (running more and faster than usual, since the air-brake flare almost always requires running already).

Looking at the bigger picture, all of the landing techniques we talk about are just different ways of accomplishing a safe return to Earth. It makes little difference to our wing or to gravity which techniques we select, or even how well we execute them. Our fate is in how well we apply and abide by the laws of physics, and it is these laws that determine the outcome of our landings. By understanding the big picture of what we must do, we can truly see what we need to accomplish. We need to approach the ground with extra airspeed so that we can round out and have a “ground skim” phase so that we only have horizontal momentum.

Unless we have a strong headwind, we want to flare smoothly and with enough kinetic energy (airspeed) to climb just a little. In the ¼-loop flare it is the slower flare motion and the little bit of climb that really make the physics work toward a complete stop and a no-step landing.

And because this is science we’re talking about, it works every time! We might need to alter the inputs or techniques we use from one landing to the next, but following the laws of physics will result in soft landings every time!

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All About SIV Disable Your Wing to Improve Your Skills

by ANNETTE O'NEIL

To be a safe paraglider pilot, you need to cause your wing to malfunction.

...of course, 10 out of 10 femurs prefer for pilots to do so in the context of an SIV course.

The acronym “SIV” derives from French. It’s short for “Simulation d’Incident en Vol,” which roughly translates to “simulating unstable situations in flight.” Indeed, the French were the first to organize an official course: In the mid1990s, a who’s-who of the best paragliding teachers in France came together to produce a rubric for instruction, and that general list of maneuvers is still in use today.* It’s an ongoing discussion in the sport of paragliding whether or not completing an SIV course is necessary to a pilot’s development, and the discus-

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sion is valid. After all, a poorly-run SIV can—at best—scare a new pilot right out of the sport. In a worst-case scenario, it can end a promising flying career.

The general consensus is that solid, active flying skills prevent most malfunctions before they become serious.

That said, a well-run SIV course that takes into account the pilot’s skill level and disposition can teach an enormous amount about a wing’s unique “borderline” behaviors in a reasonably controlled environment.

Why SIV? Frenchman Fred Escriba, who heads the safety department for the Fédération Française de Vol Libre, is one of those in strong favor of instruction. That’s unsurprising; after all, he’s in charge of

everything SIV-related for the FFVL (for example: management of Annecy Lake SIV courses, SIV monitor training, writing up FFVL’s rules for SIV and incident training for the high-level French PG competitors, among other duties).

“Paragliding with an open wing that’s flying happily above the pilot’s head is the situation 99.9% of the time,” Escriba notes. “But there’s that 0.1% that remains. Because abnormal flight always happens at least once in a paragliding career, everybody in the air must be able to safely handle it. Part of every pilot’s learning progression—from the newest student to the highest-level competitor— must be invested in the recognition of an abnormal configuration and the means to produce the correct technical answer.”

That “correct technical answer” is what you learn to find in a well administered SIV course: the skill set required to recover a glider from severe situations.

Beni Stocker, head of Training and Safety for the Swiss Hang-Gliding and Paragliding Federation, explains: “A pilot should know that SIV is not an acrobatic clinic, and it’s not meant to teach scary maneuvers for heroes.” He continues, “It’s a structured format for learning how to prevent and deal with unexpected situations in normal flight, such as side tuck, a front tuck, the beginning of a flat spin, the beginning of a stall, and so on.”

What to Expect Stocker notes: “A good SIV should start with a briefing that reviews the most important theoretics—not too much, as a pilot will forget the details under stress—and then proceed with a step-by-step overview of the maneuvers.”

Personalization is key to quality, too.

He elaborates: “The course must always adapt to the pilot’s level and psychology, carefully proceeding in a way that delivers confidence and knowledge without being unnecessarily scary.”

After ground school, the SIV course structure is simple: using a one-way radio, the instructor talks each pilot through the creation of each malfunction and the recovery therefrom. Maneuvers are progressive, becoming more challenging in tune with the pilot’s current skills, experience level and comfort with experimentation.

Just Add Water?

For some years, the working definition of an SIV course has defaulted to suggest a course conducted over water. It might surprise pilots to learn that this is not, in fact, a necessary element of SIV. “From a logical point of view,” explains Fred Escriba, “SIV maneuvers are a part of the normal modern paragliding progression, so the delineation between ‘a classical course over the earth’ and

‘an SIV course over water’ is blurred.”

Escriba recommends that the network of schools under his jurisdiction begin SIV-style instruction, working within small pitch angles, from student pilots’ very first courses. From there, taking into consideration the competencies of the instructor, the altitude of the site and the receptiveness of the student, the work can continue significantly without requiring a watery dance floor.

However, as Escriba goes on to explain, there is a limit. “When students reach what we call ‘advanced pilotage,’ meaning, when the amplitude of the maneuver reaches 90°, then it’s time to go over the water. In France, these advanced courses over water must consist of two one-week modules: The first is based on individual practice, and the second requires the instructor to manage students over the water using radio communication.”

Where to Start If you’re an USHPA pilot looking to hook up with an SIV instructor, the best place to start is with your favorite teacher. Ask for his/her best recommendation, and be ready to travel—not every US region has a great SIV setup. For Beni Stocker, the criterion for a suitable SIV teacher is dead simple. “If you’re going to take part in an SIV, do it with an instructor who takes it seriously.”

Another great suggestion: Familiarize yourself with the coursework by checking out a video on the subject (such as star SIV instructor Jocky Sanderson’s DVD, Security in Flight). Stocker notes that “anybody participating should have a general sense of what’s happening: the general background, and some idea of what the experience will be.”

Finally, relax. At the end of the day, SIV exists to give a pilot the confidence to have more fun in the air. So, while it must be taken seriously, the process should arise from a sense of play. When you show up with your wing, remember to breathe. And smile!

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SITE PRESERVATION A Model Partnership

by Patrick F. Terry

J

ohn Heywood once said, “Many hands make light work,” and Henry Ford, “Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” These sayings are true and essential for successful flying site preservation.

We have a great story of ongoing success for free flight on public lands. The Capitol Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (CHGPA) has a 25-yearlong history of flying in the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest as well as in the Shenandoah National Park. These public lands are distinctly unique recreation areas in the

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United States. Eighty-nine years ago, many volunteers committed themselves to working on behalf of establishing and preserving this valuable open space for future generations. We are forever indebted to them.

On a sweltering June weekend, a crew of 30 CHGPA members cleared a southeast-facing launch at Edith’s Gap along the eastern border of the George Washington National Forest. A friendly landowner permitted us access rights and allowed us, with the assistance of heavy earth-moving equipment, to clear a massive landing field below launch as well. As luck would have it, the winds were perfect and, as soon as it was pos-

sible, Tom Ceunen was the first off, to the cheers and celebration of the workers and the assembled public. As a result of being right along the roadway that crosses the mountain pass, we had a crowd of onlookers and lots of interest in flying.

We could have recruited many willing tandem passengers in the excitement of the moment! Many area landowners had come up to the launch and asked if we would please land on their properties. It was great for public relations.

The current CHGPA’s National Forest site reclamation and renovation projects underway are located in Luray and Woodstock, Virginia. These sites are located along several parallel ridges

in Virginia mountain ranges running north/south, one for 45 miles and the other for 105 miles. Ridge soaring and cross-country travel into the Shenandoah Valley region are amazing mid-Atlantic flying resources. Traveling over ancient mountains, historic Civilwar battlefields, wineries, dense forest, winding rivers, and prolific farmland is a wonder to be experienced.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of volunteers and US Federal employees we shall maintain free flight on these public lands well into the future. The US Forest Service now has both sites formally listed as approved recreation sites for free flight.

We hope our success with these federal agencies, land owners, and the collective effort of the flying community inspire you and your local USHPA chapter to take on similar projects.

Our work and collaboration with the Shenandoah National Park and the 200,000 acres along the Blue Ridge Mountains will be the subject of a separate article.

Patrick F. Terry President, Capitol Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (CHGPA) Email: PatrickFTerry@gmail.com URL: www.chgpa.org

LEFT Woodstock Virginia. BELOW Joint Collaboration for Edith’s Gap Launch Luray Virginia.

Photos by P. Terry.

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Thinking Outside the Blocks PART VIII: HANG GLIDING BY THE NUMBERS

by DENNIS PAGEN

I

notice that there are so many mathophobes around that even Sudoku puzzles have to announce, “No math required.” So we should likewise assure the reader that despite our subtitle, there is “no math required.”

But you do have to pay a little attention or you’ll be left behind, or more appropriately, below. We’re going to talk about certain aspects of hang gliding that we can put numbers on. Apologies to our paragliding readers; this one is more hang gliding specific than usual.

ORBIT TIMES Recently I was steward at the hang gliding Pre-world Championships in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Among other things, one of my duties was to monitor safety and so I got to watch about 700 launches. I also spent a lot of time watching pilots scoring and coring their first thermal right after launch as well as the initial climb-out to altitude.

After time I could recognize different pilots’ styles. I could certainly see who climbed best and I closely monitored their thermaling technique. Since I was on the ground, I figured I should make good use of my idleness. I started timing circles (360s).

In any competition there is a big difference in skills (and at any local site, too, in general). There are perhaps 20 to 40% of the pilots with superior thermaling skills; there is a middle group with good, but not outstanding skills; then there is a lesser skilled 10

or 20%. I could see differences in climb rate quite readily as they all worked right in front of me up to 500 to 1000 feet above before moving over to other thermal hot spots or toward the start gate. They all could hook a thermal, especially with other pilots marking it, but they were not all equally able to climb as fast or stay in the best lift.

I started paying attention to the very top pilots to see if I could observe, or discern, what they were doing.

What I saw is the best pilots turned more tightly in the thermals. Smaller circles put them in the best meat of the core, but also made it easier for them to follow a moving thermal. If you make bigger, wider, slower circles, the thermal may move and you’ll fall out the side. A smaller circle means the glider is spending less time pointed in any given direction, so the pilot can make a position correction sooner to follow an elusive core. Figure 1 illustrates this principle.

Of course, to make smaller circles

we have to bank more steeply. It is hard to determine bank angle when a glider is above you, but a good determinate of bank angle and circle size is the amount of time it takes to complete one 360. I counted many of them. Lesser skilled pilots’ 360 time ranges from 20 to 30 seconds. Middle pilots’ 360 time: 15 to 25 seconds. Top pilots 360 in12 to 16 seconds.

In other words, top pilots would often make a thermal circle in half the time of a lesser skilled pilot. We know that conditions and thermals vary, so pilots vary their technique, but I found these numbers to be remarkably consistent.

We also know that banking more steeply increases our minimum sink rate, but unless the core is very large, a steeper bank than most recreational pilots perform is warranted. Here are some numbers to ponder (see Performance Flying, page 56 en suite for much more detail): These numbers are calculated

Bank angle

30 degrees

20 degrees

Time for one 360

10.7 seconds

16.3 seconds

Circle radius

53.8 ft.

78.6 ft.

Min. sink rate

230 FPM

200 FPM

A smaller circle means the glider is spending less time pointed in any given direction, so the pilot can make a position correction sooner...

If you make bigger, wider, slower circles, the thermal may move and you’ll fall out the side. examples and will vary according to the glider design and wing loading, but they provide a general idea of what’s happening up there in the blue. The point to note is that the sink rate only increases 30 feet per minute with a 10-degree increase in bank angle, yet the circle radius decreases by about 25 feet (50 foot smaller diameter). Usually that radius reduction is worth it. Think about it and try it.

FLYING TIMES A very useful number concept to have in your head is the amount of time it takes to reach a distant point, whether it is a landing field or a thermal that other pilots or birds are marking. In competition it is extremely important to know these numbers when waiting for a start gate and trying to take the start exactly on time. If you arrive too soon you may have to lose precious altitude waiting for the moment. If the start point is in sink that you can’t leave, you’re hosed. If you arrive late, well, you are playing catch-up.

There is no great mystery to this matter, because what determines the time it takes to cover a distance in zero wind is given by the relationship: rate times time equals distance (R x T = D). The easiest way to see the numbers is to look at a chart. Let’s assume minimum sink rate is at an airspeed of

20 mph. Let’s then take best glide to be 27 mph and also use 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 mph. Note, we are talking airspeed, but with our glide ratios airspeed is very close to ground speed in zero wind (of course, with the new, more elaborate instruments we can use the ground speed displayed). Many sites where I fly have the landing fields about one mile out from launch, so let’s use a mile for ease of concept: Of course, in a head wind we have

Note at 20 mph airspeed the time to go one mile doubles. The additional time needed becomes a smaller percentage of the initial (no-wind) time as we go faster. At 50 mph we have only added 18 seconds. If you want to reach the mile point with as much height as possible you would have to fly at 30 mph (speed-to-fly for best distance over the ground in a 10 mph headwind—I took this airspeed from a typical hang glider polar). In this case you would get to

Airspeed

Time to go one mile

Time in a 10 mph headwind

20 mph

180 seconds or 3 minutes

360 sec or 6 min

27 mph

133.3 sec or 2 min 13 sec.

211.8 sec or 3 min 32 sec

30 mph

120 sec or 2 min

180 sec or 3 min

35 mph

102.9 sec or 1 min 43 sec

144 sec or 2 min 24 sec

40 mph

90 sec or 1 min 30 sec

120 sec or 2 min

45 mph

80 sec or 1 min 20 sec

102.9 sec or 1 min 43 sec

50 mph

72 sec or 1 min 12 sec

90 sec or 1.5 min

to speed up to make best glide over the ground (something you would normally do in competition or going to a thermal, although if you are going to a landing field with plenty of height, you don’t have to conserve altitude).

In a tailwind we would slow down.

A crosswind has you speeding up also, although not as much as with a headwind. Let’s assume a headwind of 10 mph and redo the calculations.

The results are in the third column.

your point in three minutes, the same as flying at 20 mph in no wind.

One thing to observe here is that it typically takes longer than we realize to go a given distance. If you’ve ever tried to hang out as long as possible in sled-ride/almost-soarable conditions, or tried to set a free-dive underwater record, or watched an infomercial on hemorrhoids, you will probably know how long three minutes seem. What if you are headed to a thermal a mile

away and have to traverse through constant sink? Do you have enough height? What if you got sucked into a cloud a mile wide and try to fly through it? Could you hold your course and be patient for three minutes? Being aware of these numbers helps us be prepared for the unexpected.

And this awareness makes a good segue to the next section…

JUDGING GLIDE Every year I teach a cross-country course, usually in Europe. One of the first things we get the students to do is learn to judge glide angle. Most of us do not have this experience unless we fly cross-country. Sure, we glide out to the landing field, but generally we leave enough safe height to do so and we are looking for traffic and not trying to reach a distant point, so not developing glide judgment. Of course, our glide angle over the ground is affected by headwind, tailwind, crosswind and lift or sink. So judging glide on the fly cannot be developed in a few flights— there are too many variables. But the judgment does develop over the years so that we can make pretty educated guesses. That is part of the skill that an expert pilot has.

One of the first things we do with our students is to stand at launch and have them point out what field they think they can reach in no wind on pure glide. Usually they underestimate

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because they simply haven’t had the experience of flying straight to a point, at least from significant altitude. In addition, when pilots develop, they fly local sites and all their gliding is out into a headwind to a landing field, or later, they tend to glide a relatively short distance to thermals. When they first fly downwind on XC flights they become amazed at how far they can go with the altitude they have in the bank. All this learning and judgment takes time to sink in, but we can begin the process by looking at the numbers involved.

What we will do is simply make a picture of the glide paths. Figure 2 shows some glide paths in zero winds and various headwinds and tailwinds.

We are going to assume that the pilot flies best speed-to-fly in all cases (see Performance Flying for much information on speed-to-fly).

We could discuss these matters in great detail, but a picture replaces a thousand words, at least in a popular cliché. Let’s just note a few pertinent points. Obviously gliding in a tailwind carries you along much further than gliding in zero wind or a headwind.

Also note how steep the glide path

gets with increasing wind. In fact, if we double the headwind from 10 mph to 20 mph, the glide path drops off from 7.7 to 1 down to 4.5 to 1 (assuming you fly the best speed-to-fly for the given headwind). The actual angle goes from 7.4 degrees with the horizontal to 12.5 degrees. From these numbers we can see the great effect wind has on our glides and the ease of reaching a point, a landing field, a thermal.

EXTRA CREDIT Once in a while it is good to have our minds boggled. It helps clear the cobwebs and the sticky gunk that builds up from years of watching TV. Nothing boggles my mind like the sheer unfathomable large numbers that pop up all around us. Such as the number of grains of sand on earth, the number of stars in the sky, the number of cells in our bodies, the number of dollars in Bill Gates’ bank account or the number of times I have cursed out Microsoft.

I read recently in Science News that a researcher estimated the number of viruses in our environment worldwide was 10 quadrillion. Don’t ask

What if you got sucked into a cloud a mile wide and try to fly through it? Could you hold your course and be patient for three minutes?

me how he did that, but that’s a lot of little critters to dodge (except they aren’t all bad). That got me thinking: I wondered how many air molecules there are in our world. How many do we affect (or how many affect us) in a flight or a lifetime of flights. Could it be estimated? Would it be more than 10 quadrillion? What’s a quadrillion* anyway?

I decided I could estimate the air molecule numbers as well as anyone.

However, estimate is the operative word because we run up against several problems. One: How thick is the atmosphere? Two: It is impossible to tell how much water vapor is in the air.

Water vapor changes all the time and thus constantly changes the air’s density all over the globe. Three: What do we choose as the diameter of the earth?

Here is my line of reasoning: First, we know that to a good approximation half the atmosphere lies below 18,000 feet (we know that because the pressure at 18,000 is half that at the surface). So if we can get the number of molecules below 18,000 we can double it for the total air volume. Second, I didn’t worry about water vapor; I merely used the values of air density in the Standard Atmosphere charts. This standard was set to be a good approximation for calculation purposes, especially for aviation when determining relative altitudes. It recognizes that the atmosphere changes all the time, but this is the average value of all the factors (pressure, density, temperature) at the various given altitudes. I used the values for 10,000 feet since they are readily available and that is near the midway point of our 18,000 ft layer (the density is nearly linear for the first 10,000 feet). For the earth’s diameter I choose the equatorial diameter, even though it is smaller at the poles. The reason I did this is the atmosphere itself bulges at the equator, so the larger

value of the atmosphere diameter sounds right.

Using the above, I found an 18,000foot layer of air above the earth gives a total volume of 3.9636 x ten to the 20th power (I didn’t worry about all the mountains poking up). I then found the weight of the air at 10,000 feet to be .056 pounds per cubic foot (the mass 0.001756 slugs times 32.143, the force of gravity at this altitude). So, multiplying the total volume of air by the weight per cubic foot, I arrived at an atmospheric weight of 2.22 x ten to the 19th power pounds (if you want to put a number on it, that’s 22.2 quintillion pounds). Of course, that is half the atmosphere, and you can double it to get the total weight. That’s a heavy load on our poor earth.

There’s a nice relationship in physics or physical chemistry whereby a given weight of a gas equal to the atomic weight of the gas always has the same number of molecules in it. This number is called Avogadro’s number (named after the Italian physicist, Guacamole Avogadro). This number is 6.022 x ten to the 23rd power (that’s 23 places after the decimal). For example, oxygen, which is a double molecule in the atmosphere (O2), has an atomic weight of 32, so 32 grams of oxygen will contain 6.022 x 10²³ molecules.

Likewise nitrogen exists in the atmosphere as N2 , a double molecule. Its atomic weight is 28 as a twin, so 28 grams of the gas will have Avogadro’s number of molecules.

Now we can put it all together.

Our atmosphere is about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen with about 0.9% argon. If we combine their percentages and atomic weights we find that we need 28.9 grams of this mixture to get the number of molecules in Avogadro’s number. We change our half-atmosphere weight (that below 18,000’) to grams and divide the total

weight by 28.9 grams and multiply it by Avogadro’s number and we get our approximation of the number of molecules in the lower 18,000 feet to be—hold on to your seat—about 21 x 10 to the 43rd power. That’s 21 followed by 43 zeros. That’s 210 tredecillion! Of course, you have to double that to include the entire atmosphere, but the lower 18,000 feet is enough to contemplate.

If we consider that we have to give enough downward momentum to the air to offset the acceleration of gravity on our wings and bodies, a 270-pound pilot/glider combination has to push down an aggregate of 270 pounds of air to keep the glider flying at a steady state. Of course, it isn’t all accelerated at the same rate or entirely vertically, but on the average it takes a sea-level air volume of 3552.6 cubic feet, which includes about 2.55 octillion (2.55 x 10 to the 27th power) molecules per second. In an hour of flight that’s 9.2 nonillion molecules. We’ll leave it up to the reader as an exercise to figure out the number for a lifetime of flight hours. But the main thing to remember: If your cup is half full, you have 9.2 nonillion chances in an hour’s flight to do things right. If your cup is half empty, well, maybe you better stick to golf. * Big numbers all have names, and as our national debt gets bigger we all learn them. We now know what a trillion is (a thousand billions), well, a thousand trillions is a quadrillion. A thousand quadrillions is a quintillion. This goes on to sextillions, septillions, octillions, nonillions up to decillions. A decillion is one with 33 zeros after it. After that comes undecillion, then duodecillion, then we are at tredecillion, our air molecule number. The numbers go on from there, but who cares but us number geeks?

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RATINGS ISSUED IN APRIL HANG GLIDING

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STATE RATING OFFICIAL

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Brent Canaday Adrian Lamy Gary King David Ebert Nathan Bormann Amanda Crawford Helen Hsueh Sean Layerle Jason Cheng John Lampe Shawn Jennings Kevin Kader Tom Gunnarson Samuel Coenen Paul Brayton Chuck Campbell Andrew Mclemore sPatrick Young Robert Ellison Briggette Farley Ronald Jensis Adrian Lamy Gary King

OR OR OR CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA KS WI ME GA GA NY NY NY NY OR OR

P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1

1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3

Christopher (kit) Taylor WA Keyvan Yousefian WA Kyle Vance NV Chase Nebeker CA Kris Daehler CA Taylor Alexander CA Daniel Frohlich CA Bryan Marincic CA

Kevin Hintze Marc Chirico Mitchell Neary Jeffrey Greenbaum Rob Sporrer Daniel Ribas Rob Sporrer Rob Sporrer

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-4 H-4 H-4 H-4

2 2 2 2 3 3 3 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 6 8 8 9 3 8 9 9

Michael Bock CA Lauren Pedrazzi CA Ricardo Gonzalez CA Edward Kiernan CA Noel Dilks CA Faye Whitear CA Shawn Jennings CA Samuel Coenen WI Malcolm Laplante CT Paul Brayton ME Abraham Smith MD Blaine Cover PA Chuck Campbell GA Andrew Mclemore GA Aaron Varricchio GA Ismael Osta GA Dennis Norris TX Jud Hobbs WA Michael Evans CA Jeremy Herzog CA Norman (scott) Macleod CA Michael Dunham CA Pedro Enrique CA Michael Bock CA Ryan Brown CA Brian Bronzo CA Soraya Rios Krassimir Kaltchev MA Vitaly Pogrebnoy MA Matthew Masters MD Michael La Tour CA Kevin Byler CT Paul Mazzoni PA Jonithan Brantley VA

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

3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 12 12 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

Brad Duns CA Stacy Street CA Peter Richner CA Russ Dryer AZ Robert Richter AZ Jeffrey Randleman NM Scott Engel CO Ian Buckingham UT Scott Rumble Azizan Bin Mohamed Noor Boris Barshevsky MA Kirill Barshevsky MA Thomas Nahrath PA Sharon Terry MD Ben Kidemu VA Christopher Hewat VA Merin Sazinas NC Joshua Mccoy NC Tonya Serino FL Stephen Curgan SC Andrew Ekstrom NY Matthew Conrad NY Tom Stotts WA Johnna Jones WA WA Michael Coppock Mark Geuss AK Joseph Mclaughlin AK John Hall WA Horacio Leyva WA Christopher (kit) Taylor WA Yong Pil Kim CA Nadeem Minhas CA Sallie Mcelrath AP Thomas Salge CA Mark Playsted CA Schuyler Greenawalt CA Mark Zinkel CA Mikhail Levitskiy CA Viet Vu CA Dmitriy Litvak CA Alberto Montaudon Ferrer CA Kris Daehler CA Brian Tulley CA Michael Rapp CA Daniel Borrero CA Taylor Alexander CA Daniel Frohlich CA Bryan Marincic CA Brad Duns CA

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James Tibbs James Tibbs James Tibbs Patrick Denevan Robert Booth Robert Booth Robert Booth Robert Booth Robert Booth David Yount William Dydo Andrew Beem Malcolm Jones Spencer Kindt Malcolm Jones Christian Thorenson Christian Thorenson Greg Black Greg Black Greg Black Greg Black James Tibbs James Tibbs Patrick Denevan Eric Hinrichs Robert Booth Robert Booth Lynden Vazquez-tompkins Greg Dewolf William Dydo Spencer Kindt James Tindle Malcolm Jones Steve Wendt Adam Elchin Christian Thorenson Christian Thorenson Christian Thorenson Christian Thorenson Christian Thorenson Jeff Beck Harold Johnson Kurtis Carter Rob Mckenzie John Simpson Harold Johnson Patrick Denevan Harold Johnson Harold Johnson Jon Thompson Eric Meibos Eric Meibos Robert Reynolds Steve Stackable Malcolm Jones Jon Thompson Steve Wendt

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

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

Peter Richner CA Russ Dryer AZ Kevin Koonce UT Kit Eizenga UT Dale Ellis AZ Robert Richter AZ Jeffrey Randleman NM Kelly Rasmussen UT Scott Engel CO Ian Buckingham UT Joe Loidolt CO Jason Joseph NM Lucas Piontkowski CO Jason Hirt CO Tyler Lucas ID Azizan Bin Mohamed Noor Ramzi Sabbagha Mouzahim Tarabzooni Maged Alghuneim Mohammed Alghuneim Abdul Rahman M Al-dakhel Ibrahim Al Hajjaj Eric Vandernoot MI Matthew Vernon MI Kyle Lukey WI Matt Erdmann WI Boris Barshevsky MA Kirill Barshevsky MA Thomas Nahrath PA Sharon Terry MD Ben Kidemu VA Ryan Sharp KY Christopher Hewat VA Merin Sazinas NC Joshua Mccoy NC Tonya Serino FL Andrew Ekstrom NY Matthew Conrad NY Marcelo Ibarra NY Kasha Farrington WA Joanna (jolyn) Gillie WA Johnna Jones WA Jason Scott Houston WA Andrew Goessling CA Ulf Schwekendiek CA Justin Perocco CA Merrill Moses CA Peter Fay HI Eric Van Name CA James Shelby CA Michael Rapp CA Angelo Guevara CA Zahra Panahi CA Arthur Kurkowski CA Kevin Christini UT Keegan Stoorza CO Garrett Baker AZ

Rob Sporrer Rob Sporrer Ronald Allmon Chris Santacroce Sean Buckner Stacy Whitmore Kevin Hintze Chris Santacroce Rob Sporrer Kevin Hintze Granger Banks Chris Santacroce Andy Macrae Andy Macrae Andy Macrae Peter Humes Murat Tuzer Murat Tuzer Murat Tuzer Murat Tuzer Murat Tuzer Murat Tuzer William Fifer Rob Sporrer Andy Macrae Andy Macrae Heath Woods Heath Woods Jaro Krupa Christopher Grantham Peter Humes Steve Van Fleet Rob Sporrer Kevin Hintze Jonathan Jefferies David Prentice Jaro Krupa Jaro Krupa Miguel Afanador Chris Santacroce Marc Chirico Marc Chirico Chris Santacroce Jeffrey Greenbaum Jesse Meyer Jerome Daoust Max Marien David (dexter) Binder Max Marien Gabriel Jebb Jerome Daoust Jerome Daoust Hadi Golian Hadi Golian Kevin Hintze Chris Santacroce Bradley Chastain

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4 6 6 6 7 8 8 8

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MA PA NC TX NY NY NY WA WA

P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-5

WA WA CA UT UT

8 9 10 11 12 12 12 1 1

Jochen Rau Thomas Nahrath Michael Stein R. Adam Basden Ruslan Kudryavtsev Andrew Ekstrom Matthew Conrad Shaun Macleod Robert Irwin

Stephan Pfammatter Jaro Krupa David Prentice Chris Santacroce Ray Leonard Jaro Krupa Jaro Krupa Rob Sporrer Rob Sporrer

1 1 2 4 4 6 6 6 10

Darryl Stevens Matthew Henderson Dan Brennan Jeff Salisbury Jason White Erdal Gurhan Bahar Turkbey Damodar Parajuli Luis Rosenkjer

GA

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Buzzing the Olympic golf course | photo by James Harris

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CALENDAR & CLASSIFIED

CALENDAR

CALENDAR, CLINIC & TOUR LISTINGS

SANCTIONED COMPETITION

HOW TO USE

can be submitted online at http://www.ushpa.aero/email _ events.asp. A minimum 3-month lead time is required on all submissions and tentative events will not be published. For more details on submissions, as well as complete information on the events listed, see our Calendar of Events at www.ushpa.aero 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. AD DEADLINES: All ad copy, instructions, changes, additions & cancellations must be received in writing 2 months preceding the cover date, i.e. September 15th is the deadline for the November 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 security reasons, 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 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), reused 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.

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.

If in doubt, many hang gliding and paragliding businesses will be happy to give an objective opinion on the condition of equipment you bring them to inspect. BUYERS SHOULD SELECT EQUIPMENT THAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR SKILL LEVEL OR RATING. NEW PILOTS SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION FROM A USHPA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR.

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AUGUST 3-9 > Big Spring, TX. Big Spring Nationals. Strongest, smoothest, most consistent conditions of any US competition. Air-conditioned pilot lounge, hangar, paved runways, ice cream, water, all facilities. More information: Belinda Boulter and Davis Straub, 1-863-2067707, belinda@davisstraub.com, or http://ozreport.com/2014BigSpring.

SEPTEMBER 14-20 > Francisco Grande Golf Resort, Casa Grande, AZ. Santa Cruz Flats. More Information: Jamie Shelden 831-261-1544naughtylawyer@gmail.com, or santacruzflatsrace. blogspot.com.

NON-SANCTIONED COMPETITION SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 4 > Dunlap, TN.

The original Tennessee Tree Toppers’ Team Challenge brand of fun cross-country hang gliding camp! Bring your A, B, or C-game self and team up with other pilots in a low-key safety and learning-centric competition. Cross-country aces (Apilots) team up with B-pilots (H-3+ with some XC experience) and C-pilots (H-3 pilots new to XC) and fly cooperatively to complete A, B, and C level XC tasks with a unique scoring system that’s heavily weighted to reward safe B & C-pilot XC miles and A-pilot assists. Daily seminars on all aspects of hang gliding led by some of the very best XC pilots around. This benefit alone is worth a million and can help you become a better pilot! Launch off the world famous Tennessee Tree Toppers’ Radial Ramp and soar the beautiful Sequatchie Valley. http://www.tennesseetreetoppers.org/

MARCH - OCTOBER > United States informal

race-to-goal events at sites across Northern California. Aims are to get pilots to fly farther than they would on their own. More information: Jugdeep Aggarwal, 831-566-8652 scpjka@gmail. com, or www.santacruzparagliding.com.

FLY-INS AUGUST 23-30 > Villa Grove, CO. Colorado Fly Week presents: Rocky Mtn Airmans Rendezvous & Mountain Flyer Championships. We're back this year with big air & smooth lift along the Sangre de Cristo Range. Tiffany's Tavern greets you in the LZ w/refreshments. Live music, food vendors, stage shows, awards dinner & more. This is the fly party of the season! It'll be great to see old friends & make new. This event caters to accomplished H2 & P2 pilots seeking their first mountain experiences. A fundraiser for our launch, consider a donation &/or register early until April 1 for $100 & get the 2012 Fly Week DVD. $140 at the door. For comp info contact Fred Kaemerer, mountainflyercomp@gmail.com. Event info Tiff Smith, tiffanyandlarrysmith@gmail.com & www.facebook. com/ColoradoFlyWeek

AUGUST 30 - SEPTEMBER 2 > Ruch, OR.

38th Annual Starthistle Fly-in at Woodrat Mountain, Oregon. New groomed launches & landing zones, spectacular end-of-summer flying, plus new team XC, out-&-back, open distance and of course spot landing contests! Plenty of camping and lodging opportunities at RVHPA club member sites & local venues. Great live music at the RVHPA Saturday night charity dinner! Practice fly day Friday Aug 29th. Pilot meeting Saturday 10 a.m. @ Fiasco Winery LZ. Awards presented Sunday evening. Who will smash the distance record of 100 miles in 2014? PG, HG & Rigid classes for all events. Fly-in pilot fee TBA. T-shirts, awards, breakfast & charity dinner party. More info: Dave Palmer at 541-261-3645, President2014@RVHPA.org, or FiascoDave@gmail.com.

SEPTEMBER 29-4 > Richfield, UT. Red Rocks Fall Fly-in. Fall colors, beautiful mountains and flying activities for all levels and interests. Thermaling clinics, spot-landing contest, ridge-soaring task competition, morning sledders, and distance challenges. Low pressure, fun flying activities to give everyone a chance to mingle and enjoy flying from central Utah’s many world-class flying sites, at a most colorful time of year. This is a biwingual event. More info: Stacy Whitmore, 435-979-0225, www.cuasa.com, or stacy@cuasa.com.

OCTOBER 3-5 > Flagstaff, AZ. Dixon White Memorial and Craters Demo-Days Fly-In. AZ Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association is calling all HG and PG pilots to join us at the Craters. October conditions are excellent. Equipment dealers please bring demo wings. Registration $50. Call to let us know you’re coming or with any questions. Contact: Steve Konves at stevekonves@cox.net, or 928-699-9362, or www. azhpa.org. clinics & tours AUGUST 7-9 & 10-12 > Northern Califor-

nia Over-the-water Maneuvers Clinics in Northern California with Eagle Paragliding. America’s top all-around acro and former national champion Brad Gunnuscio will be coaching you over the water with our state-of-the-art towing setup. Eagle is known for high quality tours and clinics with lots of staff, and this clinic is no exception. We encourage you to make the time for this important safety training with any qualified SIV instructor.

More information: Rob Sporrer 805-968-0980 rob@paraglide.com, or www.paragliding.com.

SEPTEMBER 5-9 > UT. Cross-country and

thermaling clinic with mentoring. Paragliding intensive with Ken Hudonjorgensen and other mentors. Inspiration Point, Jupiter, West Mt. and Monroe, Utah, wherever the weather tells us to go.

Phone: 801-971-3414, e-mail twocanfly@gmail. com, or www.twocanfly.com

SEPTEMBER 18-20 & 21-23 > Northern California Over-the-water Maneuvers Clinics with Eagle Paragliding. America’s top all-around acro and former national champion Brad Gunnuscio will be coaching you over the water with our stateof-the-art towing setup. Eagle is known for high quality tours and clinics with lots of staff, and this clinic is no exception. We encourage you to make the time for this important safety training with any qualified SIV instructor. More information: Rob Sporrer 805-968-0980 rob@paraglide.com, or www.paragliding.com.

SEPTEMBER 20-28 > Owens Valley, CA. Owens Valley Go Big XC Clinic. Geared for Very Strong P3/H3 pilots and above that are ready to fly XC in pretty sweet conditions.

Owens Valley with Kari. Fly one of the best sites in the US with one of the best pilots in the world.

Let Kari’s 33 years of flying and 26 years of living/flying the Owens Valley, be your guide! We work on anything that has to do with high altitude mountain flying from launching thru record setting XC flights and everything in between the sky is the limit!!! More Information: Kari Castle 760 920 0748 kari@karicastle.com, or KARICASTLE. COM.

SEPTEMBER 27-28 > UT. Mountain Fly-

ing and learning how to pioneer a new site. Utah sites with Ken Hudonjorgensen. Phone: 801-9713414, e-mail twocanfly@gmail.com, or www. twocanfly.com

SEPTEMBER 27-28 > Dunlap, CA. Dunlap Thermal and Cross-country Clinic with Eagle Paragliding. Dunlap offers some great flying in the foothills of the west side of the Sierras. This trip is one of our favorite two-day excursions. Join us for some nice flying with some great people.

More information: Rob Sporrer, 805-968-0980, rob@paraglide.com, or www.paragliding.com.

SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 4 > Red Rocks Fall Fly-In. Fall colors, beautiful mountains and flying activities for all levels and interests. Thermaling Clinics, spot landing contest, ridge soaring task competition, morning sledders, and distance challenges. Low pressure, fun flying activities to give everyone a chance to mingle and enjoy flying from Central Utah's many world-class flying sites, at a most colorful time of year. This is a biwingual event. Contact Stacy Whitmore at 435-979-0225 or stacy@cuasa.com. More Info: http://www.cuasa.com OCTOBER 1-5 > Bishop. CA. Owens Valley

with Kari. WWW – “Women With Wings.” The third annual gathering of women pilots! Geared for P3-4s. Fly one of the best sites in the US with one of the best pilots in the world. Let Kari’s 33 years of flying and 26 years of living/flying the Owens Valley be your guide! We work on anything that has to do with high-altitude mountain flying from launching through record-setting XC flights and everything in between—the sky is the limit! Limited number of pilots to keep the instructor-to-pilot ratio down as well as keeping pilots with similar skill level and goals together! Sign up early to secure your spot! More info: Kari Castle at kari@ karicastle.com

OCTOBER 1-5, 10-20, 24-27 > Owens Valley, CA Women With Wings- The Third Annual gathering of women pilots!

Geared for P2-P3’s but all are welcome!

Owens Valley with Kari. Fly one of the best sites in the US with one of the best pilots in the world. Let Kari’s 33 years of flying and 26 years of living/flying the Owens Valley, be your guide! We work on anything that has to do with high altitude mountain flying including launching to record setting XC flights and everything in between. The sky is the limit!!!

More information: Kari Castle, 760-920-0748, kari@karicastle.com, or KARICASTLE.COM.

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OCTOBER 3-5 & 10-12 > Elephant Butte Lake,

NM. SIV: Over the water maneuvers training. Boat tow to 3000 ft and gain priceless knowledge and experience under your wing. Advanced instructor/ guide David Prentice, with over 20 years of experience, guides each pilot at their own pace. From the most basic to the advanced maneuvers. More info: earthcog@yahoo.com, or 505-720-5436.

OCTOBER 10-13 > Bishop, CA. Owens Valley

with Kari. Geared for strong P2-H2 and up, pilots.

Fly one of the best sites in the US with one of the best pilots in the world. Let Kari’s 33 years of flying and 26 years of living/flying the Owens Valley be your guide! Work on anything that has to do with high-altitude mountain flying from launching through record-setting XC flights and everything in between—the sky is the limit! Limited number of pilots to keep the instructor-to-pilot ratio down as well as keeping pilots with similar skill level and goals together! Sign up early to secure your spot! More info: Kari Castle at kari@karicastle.com

OCTOBER 17-20 > Bishop, CA. OVXC - Geared for strong P2-H2 and up, pilots. Fly one of the best sites in the US with one of the best pilots in the world. Let Kari’s 33 years of flying and 26 years of living/flying the Owens Valley be your guide! Work on anything that has to do with highaltitude mountain flying from launching through record-setting XC flights and everything in between—the sky is the limit! Limited number of pilots to keep the instructor-to-pilot ratio down as well as keeping pilots with similar skill level and goals together! Sign up early to secure your spot!

More info: Kari Castle at kari@karicastle.com OCTOBER 24-27 > 2014 Bishop. CA. Owens

Valley with Kari. WWW – “Women With Wings.”

The third annual gathering of women pilots!

Geared for P3-4s. Fly one of the best sites in the US with one of the best pilots in the world. Let Kari’s 33 years of flying and 26 years of living/flying the Owens Valley be your guide! We work on anything that has to do with high-altitude mountain flying from launching through record-setting XC flights and everything in between—the sky is the limit! Limited number of pilots to keep the instructor-to-pilot ratio down as well as keeping pilots with similar skill level and goals together!

Sign up early to secure your spot! More info: Kari Castle at kari@karicastle.com

NORTHWINGSPORTS.COM

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NOVEMBER 1-3, 7-9 & 14-16 > Sebring, Florida. Boat tow to 3000 ft. and gain priceless knowledge and experience under your wing at one of the best SIV locations in the world. Advanced instructor/guide David Prentice with over 20 years experience guides each pilot as their own pace from the most basic to the advanced maneuvers over white sand beaches and crystal clear water just minutes from downtown Sebring. More info: earthcog@yahoo.com, or 505-720-5436.

DON’T MISS OUT. RENEW ONLINE.

Be sure to renew your USHPA membership online to participate in the USHPA Green initiative.

Online renewal is only available to current members, and members who have been expired less than 3 years. Members who have been expired more than 3 years will not have access to online renewal.

NOVEMBER 3 - DECEMBER 1 > Iquique, Chile.

With the most consistent thermals on earth, we guarantee you will fly everyday! After 16 years of leading trips, wining competitions, and working as a local guide/tandem pilot, Luis Rosenkjer and Todd Weigand offer the most professional guiding service available in Iquique. With 20 year of combined guiding experience in Iquique, nobody can lead new pilots to this region with the expertise that these gentlemen provide. Beginner to advanced instruction available with everyone progressing at an extraordinary rate! More XC offered during the last segment. Last year a few clients completed our classic 115 km flight back to the hotel! Join Luis & Todd so you can improve your flying skills, break your personal records, and enjoy the best of Iquique! www.paraglidingtrips.com

NOVEMBER 5-19 > Fly Atacama Desert Paragliding Adventure. We take you to South America to fly over the driest desert in the world - The Atacama. It is our seventh consecutive trip to what many pilots consider to be the best place to fly on the planet and more consistent than any other flying location. Iquique, Chile offers pilots of all levels plenty of XC miles and endless thermaling days. Year after year our guests beat their personal distance and air time records. With us you get to fly with Jarek Wieczorek - multilingual paragliding guide, XC specialist and site pioneer with unsuppressed knowledge of the desert. Our topnotch logistics, stunning locations, in-depth local knowledge, deluxe off-road trucks, and gorgeous beachfront accommodation will make your flying experience in Chile unforgettable. Contact: jarek@antofaya.com / (303) 800 6340. More Info: http://www.antofaya.com NOVEMBER 8-10 > Santa Barbara, CA. Instructor Certification Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California.

This three-day clinic is open to Basic and Advanced Paragliding Instructor candidates, and those needing recertification. We invite you to apprentice with us anytime to get as much handson experience as possible before the clinic. More information: Rob Sporrer, 805-968-0980, rob@ paraglide.com, or www.paragliding.com.

NOVEMBER 11-12 > Santa Barbara, CA. Tan-

dem Paragliding Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California. We will be doing classroom and practical training at the best year-round training hill in North America.

More information: Rob Sporrer, 805-968-0980, rob@paraglide.com, or www.paragliding.com.

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NOVEMBER 12-14 & 17-19 > SIV Clinic. Ye-

lapa, Mexico. SIV/Maneuvers flight camp clinic.

Join us for another great learning and fun experience in beautiful, tropical Yelapa. Tow up and land on the beach in a warm, friendly location with lots of great places to stay and eat. Brad Gunnuscio, world class XC, acro pilot and Instructor of the Year, will be teaching the courses. As Brad says, "Yelapa is by far the best place to do an SIV clinic...." Contact Brad at brad@paraglideutah. com or (801) 707-0508 and Les in Yelapa at: 011 52 1 322 142 5804. More Info: http://www.paraglideyelapa.com

November 30 - january 18 > Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Fly south this winter! Come fly the world-class air of El Penon in Valle de Bravo. Improve your thermal and XC skills. Advanced instructor/guide David Prentice with over 20 years experience has been guiding in Valle for 15 years.

World-class lodging and logistics, airport transfer, local transportation, in-air guidance and XC retrievals included. We fly twice a day every day.

More info: earthcog@yahoo.com, or 505-7205436.

JAN18-25&FeB1-8>Tapalpa, Mexico Fly Week Parasoft has been guiding pilots to Mexico in January since 1990. In 2002 we discovered worldclass Tapalpa, with four other sites close by. With big launch and landing areas this is the best in Mexico! Tapalpa is a 2500’ vertical drive-up site located one hour from the Guadalajara airport. To prepare for the 2004 World Cup competition, a restaurant and bar were added. Our trips include six days of flying. We see these as both a fun flying vacation and a learning experience. To guide our clients well, we limit group size to four clients and offer tandem flights to improve flying skills. More info: granger@parasoftparagliding. com,303-494-2820, or http://parasoftparagliding.com/mexico-flying/.

January 20 - february 15 > Valle del Cauca, Colombia. 7 to 14 days “Vol-Tel” tours while flying the epic sites of the Valle del Cauca, Colombia. World-class lodging and logistics. Roldanillo, La Union, Anserma Nuevo and beyond. Improve thermal and XC skills with inair radio guidance from advanced instructor/ guide David Prentice with over 20 years experience. Airport pick-up, local transportation, lodging included. More info: earthcog@yahoo.com, or 505-720-5436. january 20 - february 15 > Valle del Cauca, Colombia. 7-14 day tours, south to north and back south again. This is a vehicle- and hotel-supported vol-biv style tour. Pilots will fly daily from one of the epic sites along the Valle de Cauca landing at the next site with nice accommodations and XC retrievals. Advanced instructor/guide David Prentice with over 20 years experience will guide pilots along this crossing of the Valle del Cauca. Great XC conditions and breathtaking views make this tour worthy of your vacation time. More info: earthcog@yahoo.com, or 505-720-5436.

CLASSIFIED FLEX WINGS A GREAT SELECTION OF HG&PG GLIDERS (ss, ds, pg) -HARNESSES (trainer, cocoon, pod) -PARACHUTES (hg&pg) -WHEELS (new & used).

Phone for latest inventory 262-473-8800, www. hanggliding.com

HARNESSES FLY CENTER OF GRAVITY CG-1000 - The most affordable single line suspension harness available. Individually designed for a precise fit. Fly in comfort. www.flycenterofgravity. comflycenterofgraity@gmail.com, 315-2561522

Mission Soaring Center LLC - Largest hang gliding center in the West! Our deluxe retail shop showcases the latest equipment: Wills Wing, Moyes, AIR, High Energy, Flytec, Aeros, Northwing, Hero wide angle video camera.

A.I.R. Atos rigid wings- demo the VQ-45’ span, 85 Lbs! 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. Pitman 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, Mission Soaring Center LLC, leading the way since 1973. www. hang-gliding.com

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World famous historic TORREY PINES

SCHOOLS & INSTRUCTORS ALABAMA LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - The best facilities, largest inventory, camping, swimming, volleyball, more. Wide range of accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-HANGLIDE, 877-426-4543, hanglide.com.

ALAska AK Paramotor - Paragliding & Paramotor

School. Year-round: USHPA+USPPA certification. Novice, Refresher, Training, Equipment.

Frank Sihler 907-841-7468 www.USAparagliding.com

CALIFORNIA PARAGLIDING - Year-round excellent instruction, Southern California & Baja.

Powered paragliding, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier 760-213-0063, airjunkies.com.

AIRJUNKIES

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.

GLIDERPORT: Incredible Flying – food – fun.

Come enjoy coastal San Diego flying yearround! We offer USHPA-certified instruction for all ratings, as well as tandem, instructor, and SIV clinics and local flat land towing. Call us for details on our domestic and international clinics and tours or join us in our 4x4 12-passenger tour van for 15 other flying sites opportunities in SoCal and Baja California. We have expanded product lines including Ozone, Skywalk, Sup Air, Independence, Woody Valley, Sky, Gradient, Niviuk, Paratech, Plussmax helmets, Crispi boots, Gopro, Flytech, Flymaster and a lot more.

Come test our new mini wings from Ozone. We have a huge selection of Demos on site. Our full service shop offers reserve repacks, annual glider inspections, repairs and more. We also carry an extensive new and used inventory of certified gliders and harnesses. Check us out at flytorrey. com, facebook.com/flytpg, info@flytorrey.com, or call us at (858) 452 9858.

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. 818-3672430, www.windsports.com.

COLORADO GUNNISON GLIDERS – X-C to heavy waterproof HG gliderbags. Accessories, parts, service, sewing. Instruction ratings, site-info. Rusty Whitley 1549 CR 17, Gunnison CO 81230. 970641-9315.

FLORIDA FLORIDA RIDGE AEROTOW PARK - 18265 E State Road 80, Clewiston, Florida 863-8050440, 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.

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.

WALLABY RANCH – The original Aerotow flight park. Best tandem instruction worldwide,7-days a week , 6 tugs, and equipment rental. Call:1-800WALLABY wallaby.com 1805 Deen Still Road, Disney Area FL 33897

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GEORGIA 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, 1-877-HANGLIDE, 1-877-4264543.

HAWAII PROFLYGHT PARAGLIDING - Call Dexter for friendly information about flying on Maui. Fullservice school offering beginner to advanced instruction every day, year round. 808-874-5433, paraglidehawaii.com.

ILLINOIS Twin Oaks Hang Gliding Center Whitewater, WI - Bunny hill, scooter towing and aero towing. Training and Discovery Tandems. Ric - WisconsinHangGliding.com. Paul - ScooterTow. net. Danny - 608-469-5949

MINNESOTA Twin Oaks Hang Gliding Center Whitewater, WI - Bunny hill, scooter towing and aero towing. Training and Discovery Tandems. Ric - WisconsinHangGliding.com. Paul - ScooterTow. net. Danny - 608-469-5949

NEW HAMPSHIRE

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.

TENNESSEE LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - Just

outside Chattanooga. Become a complete pilot -foot launch, aerotow, mountain launch, ridge soar, thermal soar. hanglide.com, 1-877-HANGLIDE, 877-426-4543.

TEXAS

Twin Oaks Hang Gliding Center Whitewater, WI - Bunny hill, scooter towing and aero towing. Training and Discovery Tandems. Ric - WisconsinHangGliding.com. Paul - ScooterTow. net. Danny - 608-469-5949

Morningside - A Kitty Hawk Kites flight park. The north east's premier hang gliding and paragliding training center. Teaching since 1974.

Hang gliding foot launch and tandem aerowtow training. Paragliding foot launch and tandem training. Powered Paragliding instruction. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Charlestown, NH. Also visit our North Carolina location, Kitty Hawk Kites Flight School. (603) 542-4416, www. flymorningside.com

INDIANA

NEW YORK

CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - See Cloud 9 in

AAA Mountain Wings Inc - New location at

77 Hang Glider Rd in Ellenville next to the LZ. We service all brands featuring AEROS and North Wing. 845-647-3377 mtnwings@verizon.net, www.mtnwings.com

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.

FLY HIGH, INC. - Serving New York, Jersey, and

VIRGINIA

IOWA

Michigan

MARYLAND HIGHLAND AEROSPORTS - Baltimore and DC’s

full-time flight park: tandem instruction, solo aerotows and equipment sales and service. We carry Aeros, Airwave, Flight Design, Moyes, Wills Wing, High Energy Sports, Flytec and more. Two 115-HP Dragonfly tugs. Open fields as far as you can see. Only 1 to 1.5 hours from Rehoboth Beach, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia. Come Fly with US! 410-634-2700, Fax 410-634-2775, 24038 Race Track Rd, Ridgely, MD 21660, www. aerosports.net, hangglide@aerosports.net.

MICHIGAN Cloud 9 Sport Aviation (hang gliding equipment), North American Soaring (Alatus ultralight sailplane and e-drive systems), Dragon Fly Soaring Club (hang gliding instruction), at Cloud 9 Field, Webberville, MI.More info: (517) 223-8683, Cloud9sa@aol.com, www.DFSCinc. org.

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OHIO

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.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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, 845-7443317.

SUSQUEHANNA FLIGHT PARK Cooperstown

New York Serving the North East since 1978. We have the best training hill in New York. Dealers for Wills Wing and others. Trade-ins welcome www. cooperstownhanggliding.com 315-867-8011

FlyTexas / Jeff Hunt - training pilots in

Central Texas for 25 years. Hangar facilities near Packsaddle Mountain, and Lake LBJ. More info: www.flytexas.com, (512)467-2529

UTAH

BLUE SKY - Full-time HG instruction.

Daily lessons, scooter and platform towing. AT towing part time. Custom sewing, powered harnesses, Aeros PG , Flylight and Airborne trikes. 804-2414324 , www.blueskyhg.com

WISCONSIN Twin Oaks Hang Gliding Center Whitewater, WI - Bunny hill, scooter towing and aero towing. Training and Discovery Tandems. Ric - WisconsinHangGliding.com. Paul - ScooterTow. net. Danny - 608-469-5949

NORTH CAROLINA Kitty Hawk Kites - The largest hang gliding

school in the world! Celebrating our 40th year!

Teaching since 1974. Learn to hang glide and paraglide on the east coast's largest sand dune.

Year round instruction, foot launch and tandem aerotow. Powered Paragliding instruction. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Fly at the beach!

Learn to fly where the Wright Brothers flew!

Located on the historic Outer Banks, NC. Also visit our New Hampshire location, Morningside Flight Park. (252) 441-2426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, www. kittyhawk.com

INTERNATIONAL 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 1-800-861-7198 USA

CLINICS & TOURS COSTA RICA - Grampa Ninja's Paragliders' B&B. Rooms, and/or guide service and transportation.

Lessons available from USHPA certified instructors. USA: 908-454-3242. Costa Rica: (Country code, 011) House: 506-2200-4824, Cell: 506-8950-8676, or Kathy @ 506-89180355 www.paraglidecostarica.com

3 NEWto WSuappyorst your Sport just follow the links at

USHPA.aero/STORE

Spring, Summer, Fall - Woodrat Mountain,

OR. Hostel / Camping / Rooms below launch.

Heated pool, hottub, internet. Shuttle/guide service. ravencyte@hotmail.com, 541 951-6606 or Facebook-Raven's Landing

PARTS & ACCESSORIES

Shwag OUT With new print-on-demand products.

Gunnison Gliders – X-C, Factory, heavy PVC HG gliderbags $149 Harness packs & zippers.

New/used parts, equipment, tubes. 1549 CR 17 Gunnison, CO 81230 970-641-9315 HALL WIND METER - Simple. Reliable. Accurate.

Mounting brackets, control-bar wheels. Hall Brothers, PO Box 1010, Morgan, Utah 84050.

(801) 829-3232, www.hallwindmeter.com.

OXYGEN SYSTEMS – MH-XCR-180 operates to

18,000 ft., weighs only 4 lbs. System includes cylinder, harness, regulator, cannula, and remote on/off flowmeter. $450.00. 1-800-468-8185.

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! s D V D n o 1 r o f 2 : E L A S T HO HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

65

The 1

by STAN PRICHARD

We know there was a day when it all worked for you. When your training clicked, the conditions were perfect, the stars aligned, and you soared to new heights (real or imagined). Send in your tale of “The 1” flight you'll never forget, and we'll print it right here. You'll be entered into the annual drawing for a USHPA soft shell jacket!

A

fter a long ski season of guiding at Silverton Mountain, and pockets full of cash, my friend Travis and I had gone to Salt Lake and hit it hard everyday, twice a day for two weeks. We flew the north side, we flew the south side, we kited, we did ground school, we made a field trip to Randolph, and were so focused on paragliding—we just couldn’t wait to be pilots!

During the mornings and evenings, we would fly and practice our skills, during mid-day we would head up Little Cottonwood Canyon to rock climb, and fill the down time between sessions.

After about two weeks, we completed our required flights, launches and landings.

We both acquired paragliders, reserves, harnesses, and helmets. It was official; we registered with the USHPA and were full-fledged P-2s.

On our way home to Colorado, we discovered the Paragliding Earth app for my iPhone, and were amazed at the huge amount of potential within a few hours of Durango.

Western Colorado has dozens of sites in and around the southern Rockies. Our local sites are Smelter Mountain, Mancos Hill, and Fall Creek, just to mention a few. The one, however, that really left an impression on me was a little place called Villa Grove. It’s about 2 ½ hours from Durango and I had driven by it hundreds of times over the years, on my way to and from the Arkansas Valley and the Front Range. Every time I passed, even before I was a paraglider pilot, I would see the windsocks, feel the magic, and occasionally see the hang gliders soaring above the valley.

On this particular day, however,

66

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

my paragliding career would forever be shaped. I had spent the night camping on Poncha Pass and had awoken around 6:30. The central valley is a magical part of Colorado, framed in by wilderness and 14,000-foot mountains like Kit Carson and Ellingwood Peak.

After finding the LZ, I made my way up into the mountains toward launch.

From here I could see the well-manicured site, the wind socks, and the entire San Luis Valley unfolding below us.

I had wanted to be at launch by 7:00 a.m., but due to our somewhat late start, and the unexpected hike to launch, it was now more like 8:30. On launch I could feel consistent winds and lift cycles rolling through with gusts up to 18mph or so. I took out my trusty anemometer and began to plot the wind. Sustained at 12mph, gusting to 15, 18, and 22, back to 12, back to 15, 10 and so on. As a new pilot, I remember that as paraglider pilots, we like 12, right? I brought my wing up over my head, and was instantly 200’ over launch. It was strong. Very strong. A better pilot on a faster wing and with some seasons under his or her belt would have been loving the conditions.

I, however, was working with a limited skill set, and an Apco Vista 2, possibly the slowest wing around. Since I had no vario, it was hard to gauge my climb rate, but I know it was fast, really fast. Judging off the mountains, I had to have gone over 14,000’, because I was looking down at the tops of those peaks. I was barely moving forward and had concerns about getting blown back. The lift was smooth, but the ease with which I stayed in the air made me feel like I would never get down, and I knew that as the day progressed, condi-

tions were only likely to get stronger. As I worked my way out in front of the lift band, things began to settle down. I felt like with more skills, I could have worked the lift band, and made it all the way up and over Poncha Pass and on to Salida.

Having decided early on in my flight that conditions were too strong for my limited skill set, I turned back to the west, and began making little S-turns to get farther out into the valley and continue to lose elevation. As I approached the road, I could see that my glider was too slow for me to make it back to the true LZ. However, I was descending at a reasonable rate, and I decided to set it down in the sage brush about a mile north of the standard landing zone.

I know now that conditions that day were too strong for my slow glider and limited abilities, but thanks to excellent instruction and a calm mind, I was able to use what skills I had to safely return to the ground. I remembered some of my instructors words at the moment of take-off: “It’s better to be on the ground wishing you up in the air, than to be in the air and wishing you were on the ground.”

I realized very quickly that my “go-for-it” attitude that I had brought with me from skiing and kayaking had no place in my aviation career. I have since adopted an ethic that if I have two choices to make when it comes to flying, I will ALWAYS make the more conservative choice.

Though it was a series of poor decisions that led to that decision to launch on this day—time, conditions, desire—this flight remains the one that has most significantly shaped my flying career, and I am a much better and safer pilot because of that experience.

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