hang gliding & paragliding vol44/iss08 aug2014

1HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

AUGUST 2014 Volume 44 Issue 8 $6.95

2 HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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behavior, perfor

mance, and sta

bility, at both h

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gles of attack.

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ight, the Shark

Nose prole is

more stable, w

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to the cell ope

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drag at the

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s, and during in

tense brake inp

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prole is highly

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rogressive brak

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he pilot can ea

sily use to their

advantage. Wha

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you is that you

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yHANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine is published for foot-launched air-sports enthusiasts to create further interest in the sports of hang gliding and paragliding and to provide an educational forum to advance hang gliding and paragliding methods and safety.

SUBMISSIONS HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine welcomes 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected], 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, [email protected], (516) 816-1333.

ADVERTISING ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE 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 [email protected].

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING (ISSN 1543-5989) (USPS 17970) is published monthly by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., 1685 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904, (719) 632-8300, FAX (719) 632-6417. PERIODICAL postage is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER Send change of address to: Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine, P.O. BOX 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement #40065056. Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3

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, [email protected]

Nick Greece, [email protected]

Greg Gillam, Art Director [email protected]

C.J. Sturtevant, Copy Editor [email protected]

Beth Van Eaton, Advertising [email protected]

Staff Writers

Christina Ammon, Dennis Pagen, C.J. Sturtevant

Ryan Voight

Staff PhotographersJohn Heiney, Jeff Shapiro

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.WARN

ING

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.

YEARSof

FLIGHT PLAN

PILOT BRIEFINGS

AIRMAIL

ASSOCIATION

CENTERFOLD

PRESERVATION

RATINGS

CALENDAR

CLASSIFIED

THE 1

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AUGUST 2014

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Crossing California

A 510-mile Solo Expedition

by Dave Turner

Gaggle Flying in Roldanillo

Getting High Over Colombia

by Dawn Westrum

Have Glider Will Travel

Christ the Redeemer From Above

by Kent Wein

Majo GularteHow she gained her dependence

by Christina Ammon

Feeding the DogIt takes a village

by C.J. Sturtevant

Tennessee Tree Toppers @ Valleyfestby Dan Shell

HG401: Advance Tips & TechniquesFlare physics

by Ryan Voight

All About SIVby Annette O'Neil

Thinking Outside the BlocksPart VIII: Hang Gliding by the numbers

by Dennis Pagen

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

Manufacturing the highest

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FLIGHT PLAN

The 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 glid-ing. I cant help but extrapolate that their dedication came from not only a passion for aviation, but a passion for adventurous explo-ration 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 Martins world-record flight and I cant 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 dedica-tion 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 adven-ture 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 perspec-tive on the trials of learning to hang glide and whose passion for flight began with carv-ing 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 insur-ance 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 land-ing 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 its 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!

LEfT Coastal flying at its finest | photo by James Harris.


the following features: 16 user-defined

pages (using the free Designer tool),

airspace map, thermal-core map,

zero-thermal indicator, task map, and

conical end-of-speed section for get-

ting to goal. More information at www.

Flymaster-USA.com.

2015 REGIONAL DIRECTOR ELECTIONSUSHPA is soliciting nominations for re-

gional directors, for the 2015-2016 term

of office. The currently serving direc-

tors are listed below, and each of them

is a candidate for re-election. They are

already on the ballot; you dont need to

nominate them again. We are inter-

ested in having other members bring

their skills and experience to the board,

so if youd like to run for office, youre

welcome to put your name down as a

candidate.

WEATHER IN EUROPELuca Aucello from Italy released a

new weather forecast system for

paragliding in three simple colors,

with a time zone that is set automati-

cally on your computer. It has the po-

tential to predict weather in most of

the countries around the world. This

software is freeall thats needed is

a simple and automatically renewed

subscription via Gmail or Facebook.

For more info: WWW.METEOVOLO.IT

NEW FLYMASTER INSTRUMENTSFlymaster announced a new series of

flight instruments comprised of the

VARIO SD (which does not include

a GPS module), the GPS SD for XC

pilots, the GPS SD+ which contains

a GSM module for live tracking, NAV

SD for competition pilots, and the

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

instrument.

This new series of instruments is

more robust and includes a 6-degrees

tilt-compensated compass and SD

card allowing for extended memory.

Using these new tools, the instru-

ments will include world airspace

maps, altitude over the ground and

geographic data.

As with the previous series of

instruments, these instruments have

PILOT BRIEFINGS

The easiest way to do this is via

the website: https://www.ushpa.aero/

member_login.asp. If youre nominating

someone else, please check with them

first to make sure theyre interested, and

willing to run for the position and accept

the responsibility.

The current regional directors whose

terms end this year are:

Reg 1: Rich Hass

Reg 2: Jugdeep Aggarwal

Reg 3: Dan DeWeese

Reg 4: Bill Belcourt

Reg 5: no election this year


Reg 7: Paul Olson

Reg 8: Michael Holmes

Reg 9: Felipe Amunategui

Reg 10: Steve Kroop


Reg 12: Paul Voight

Regional directors serve two-year

terms, so in regions where there

is only one director theres an election

every other year.

The election starts in November

and runs until mid-December. To meet

magazine deadlines for candidate state-

ments, we need to have nominations in by

mid-August, and candidate statements by

early September.

If you have questions about the job of

regional director, the responsibilities that

go with it, or the election in general, feel

free to send me email.

Mark G. Forbes USHPA Elections Committee Chairman

[email protected]


Martin Palmaz, Executive [email protected]

Beth Van EatonOperations Manager & Advertising

[email protected]

Eric Mead, System [email protected]

Ashley Miller, Membership [email protected]

Julie Spiegler, Program [email protected]

USHPA OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Rich Hass, [email protected]

Ken Grubbs, Vice [email protected]

Bill Bolosky, [email protected]

Mark Forbes, [email protected]

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 Fdration 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 businesscall (719) 632-8300, or email [email protected].

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, a division of the National Aeronautic Association, is a representative of the Fdration Aeronautique Internationale in the United States.

AIRMAIL

TheRe Is A loT of hIsToRy that is foundational to our sport. I was re-minded 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 cred-ited 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 heav-ily 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 can-celled. The return systems from then on went with simple non-steerable parachutes.

Rogallos 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 construc-tion at the time. My poor wife was the designated launcher who had to run until the glider took off. The lock-out 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 para-graph of his letter prophetic and com-pelling 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 Im 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 char-acteristics 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!

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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 tan-dems 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


by Julie SpieglerUSHPA 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. Wed 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

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 inter-net connection)

C: Send (and receive) a text message (this requires cellular connectivity)

Based on a survey of all USHPA-insured 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 members 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-

ASSOCIATION

for all your member info needs:New Membership Card system

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 craftgreat for explaining to landown-

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 memberso everything is avail-able 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 member-ship 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 mem-bership status pagewith 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 avail-able information, ratings, special skills and appointmentsplus a very visible confirmation of the members 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 members expiration date, ratings and in-structor appointments. The message size is lim-ited 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 final-izing 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

OPPOSITE 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.


email with your new digital member-ship 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.

FUTUREThis new membership verification func-tionality 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 regis-trations, sharing favorite links, and tools for instructors. Stay tuned for more to come!

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


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Majo GularteGained Her Dependence

How


When Majo Gularte looks back at her first hang glid-ing 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. Shed 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: Shed always wanted to do her own thing, break from the weighty expectations of her family, and defy the macho-vibe of Guatamalan societywhich insisted that women had to get

Gained Her Dependence

How b y C H R IS T I N A A M MON

LEfT Majo arrives in Florida | photo by Majo

Gularate. ABOVE Flying lesson in Florida with Zac

Majors | photo by Zac Majors.

Two broken arms and a 6000-km motorcycle bike

ride later, this ambitious hang glider pilot has lost

her independence. And she says thats a good thing.


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 some-thing.

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, shed intended to throw the shack-les off and escape into the wide open sky.

After 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 mothers 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.

Weeks passed and she wondered if shed 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.

ITs The oPPosITe.

The DReAM lIVes.

One 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 Majos 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

ABOVE Majos second flight | photo by Zac Majors.


psychologist, Majo laughs. But as she began to recruit sup-port for her plan from companies as big as Honda, her moms 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.

With 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 delightslike five kinds of mezscal to taste in Oaxacaand challenges as welllike traversing 500-km stretches of desert populated by drug traf-fickers 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, magi-cal 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 jour-ney, I was finally at my destination. She spent a week there and then moved on to Florida Ridge for her hang gliding lessons.

Two 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 fin-ished 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 wonderfulbut it was a thousand times better.

But she hasnt forgotten the accident, and even looks back with a sense of gratitude. Im really thankful for that acci-dent, she explains. Before the accident my relationship with my family wasnt good. I was too busy doing my own thing. I realized how much I need my family and how much they care about me.

Majos 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 expectlike someone to arrive with a magic wand and make a dream come truedo 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.

Christina Ammon writes from The Crash Pad at Woodrat Mountain in Oregon. Contact her at [email protected].

Majos Website: www.majogularte.com


CaliforniaCrossinga 510-mile Solo Expedition

by DAv e T u R Ne R


Sometimes 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 stylego 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

by DAv e T u R Ne R

LEfT Leaving the beach in Ventura during sunset.


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 didnt 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 Id 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.


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 Wileys 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 Walts 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


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

From the launch at Walts, I overloaded my little Ozium pod harness and LM5 glider way past their normal capac-ity and launched off into the strong Owens Valley condi-tions 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 days insta-bility. The top of lift was not high at all by Sierra stan-dards; 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 GoPros 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 be-tween the Owens 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 thatthe 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.


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 im-mediately 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.


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 Woodfords 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 Walts, 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.


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 poten-tially 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 ones 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 ex-plored. My generation might have missed the Golden Era of exploring Yosemites 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. Todays 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.


the DOGFeedingby C .J. S T u R Te vA N T

Dog Mountain, western Washingtons 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

LZ pasture. And every year, thanks to a combination of dedi-cated 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.


season opener in April: Frostbite!The name doesnt 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. Shed 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 LZbut with the weather guessers calling for heavy rain and high winds on Saturday, it didnt 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.

Tinas 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 still-friendly 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 days 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 de-signers muster, a tarp was added and securedno small task in the increasing windand 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


friends and dogs reasonably drygood thing were 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 deter-mined it was unscathed. But what a gust that must have been!

Those morning flights on Saturday, along with brief win-dows of favorable winds on Sunday, made it possible for every-one 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, shes had the advan-tage 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 judg-ment were better than perfect. Now a 27-year-old mother of a toddler, Jazzy demonstrated her finesse at Frostbite, win-ning 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 Womens 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 Swepstonchemo didnt ground this spunky pilot. TOP RIGHT Frostbite organizer Tina Jorgensen.

BOTTOM Keries signature landing style. Photos by Aaron Swepston.


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 girlits a rare flight

when hes not upside down at least oncebut he certainly can land like one, even on a topless glider, and he won that divi-sion.

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.


For the last three years in The Hang Gliding Capital of the East, the city of Dunlap and the Sequatchie-

Dunlap 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 dis-play our aviation activity in this grand celebration of their community from its inception. Theyve 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

was now public property, and hang glid-ers 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 years 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 cel-ebrations 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 conspicu-ously walking around the festival (identi-fiable by their Tree Topper and USHPA Ts, of course), a glider displayed at a booth staffed by a nice pilot with whom they can exchange pleasant conversa-tion regarding aerodynamics and mental

@ Valley Fest by Dan Shell

Tennessee Tree Toppers


health, and gliders flying overhead (almost) then landing in the field, it could occur to them that hang gliding looks pretty cool, doesnt seem to hurt anything, and heres the local club supporting our community activi-ties. That recognition and awareness can save XC LZs and help prevent landowner hostility, among other things. Around here, its 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 doesnt 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 bever-age before they could step out of their har-ness, 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 transporta-tion, so we needed some visibility on the ground in case we couldnt get any in the air. It may be a one-thermal flight from Hensons to Dunlap, but its not a no-

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 activ-ity. 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! Thats 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 land-ing 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 TTTs 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 eve-ning 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 festi-val, 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, chas-ing 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 conversa-tion with visitors, all of which helped more than theyll 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, its worth noting how far weve come approaching a half-century of hang gliding. Thereve been times when hang gliding was an underground avia-tion, sneaking around places where gliders on vehicles were probable cause, and times when weve 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. Lets do it again next year!

TOP 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.

LEfT Sebastian and the Pilot Bands Chattanooga local 70s hit on Glider Records, Hang Glider Man.

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The Eagles landed in Colombia during the months of January and February 2014. Yes, were talking about Colombia, South America. Its 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. Its 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

come from the east), the mountains flow both north and south, up to 3000 feet above the valley. Here, the last ves-tiges 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 isnt 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


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.

by DAw N w e S T R u M

Gaggle Flying in Roldanillo

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 vil-lage 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

painted inside and out by students from a local school. His unique horn, blared often to announce his passing, is recog-nized 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


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, in-cluding 80km on a tandem. And the tandem only landed

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, includingBrian Howell, 2013 USHPA Paragliding Instructor of the Year Jesse Meyer, andUS 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 Paraglidings 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 individualsset 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


Will TravelHave Glider

by K e N T w eI N


High 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 para-gliding 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 con-sistent weather. Besides, I figured if I flew Rio often enough, eventually Id 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 cap-tain I was flying with last July. A friend and fellow coworker, Mike, knew a tandem flight wouldnt 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 teas-ingly told him I would be ruthless on our next flight. Little did I know, Id be getting my revenge the very next day, but Mike wouldnt 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 wouldnt 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 didnt think wed make it that day as the wind was more east than south, which meant wed 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.

Hes 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 milk-ing and said, Lets 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 wed 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.


sprint to the statue that would surely be thermically produc-tive. Although I hadnt 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 land-mark. A few onlookers waved as I passed by. They couldnt possibly have gotten the view that a paraglider affords, I thought. I pondered why everyone doesnt 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 wasnt in a rush, so I bid him good luck as he proceeded out to an anticipated ther-mal over a racetrack in Rio, which is also an excellent bailout option if you cant 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 its a good idea to plan accord-ingly 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.

Helicopters tour the statue regularly, but we didnt 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 Id 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 anten-nas 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 fore-cast 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 youd 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 Niteroia site that affords a great view of Rioas well as Petropolis, which is two hours inland for some thermal flyingwhile 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!

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


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Flare Physics by Ryan Voight

hG 401: Advanced Techniques & Concepts

As 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. Weve 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 creat-ing a masterpiece. What Id like to delve into is not the art of landing, but the sci-ence. I like science because its 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, lets define a few real quickly. Ill try to keep it short and sweet since Im no scientist.

Inertia is an objects tendency to resist changes in motion, and it is measured in mass. Objects with more mass are more resistant to changes in their velocityif youve 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 mathemati-cally tells us what we already know: It takes a lot of force to stop a heavy object that is moving quickly. Its harder to stop a bowling ball than a ping-pong ball roll-ing at the same speed.

An object in motion will remain in

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 its 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 dif-ferences 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. Theres potential energy, or stored energyin hang gliding this is altitude. And then theres kinetic energy, or energy in motionin hang gliding this is airspeed.

Energy can be transferred from one kind to another, but energy cannot be created or removed entirely. Well 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 ac-complishes thisso 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 energyal-titudeand transferring it into kinetic energyairspeed. As we round out at

www.flymaster-usa.com

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!


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 gravitys pull, and thats a lot to ask of even the most perfect flare. Since gravity doesnt stop sucking, its 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 were bleeding energy, were 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 actu-ally 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 its effectivebut this flare will never produce a no-step landing with-out 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.

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 were going half as fast, the wing is making four times less drag. Once were 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, well 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 momen-tum (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 its especially ineffective on high-performance glid-ers that weigh morewhich means more momentum so theyre harder to stopand have less surface area (which doesnt create as much drag to slow you down). Another issue with this fl

hang gliding & paragliding vol44/iss08 aug2014

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