hang gliding & paragliding vol45-iss12 dec2015

DECEMBER 2015

Volume 45 Issue 12 $6.95

2 HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

http://flyozone.com

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

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) 2015 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.

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.

WARNINGABOVE Paul Voight taking in a bit of chilly winter flying in Ellenville, NY | photo by Ryan Voight.

http://flyozone.com

FLIGHT PLAN

HEADS UP

SAFETY FIRST

CENTERFOLD

RATINGS

CALENDAR

CLASSIFIED

OVER

7

8

10

34

60

62

63

66

16 Aerotowing

At Crystal Lake Aerosports

by Tom Phillips

24 Flying Yoga

by Sofia Puerta Webber

42 IOS Apps for Pilots

The winners & losers

by Steven Carter

48 Life on the Wing

photos by Cade Palmer

52 California Dreaming

photos by John Taylor

58 Learning from the Fear

by Kirsten Seeto

PHOTO BY RYAN VOIGHTKissing the sunset over Point of the

Mountain near Draper, Utah.

MENTOR 4 – gets you further “ The MENTOR 4 climbs very efficiently, which is reassuring at the beginning of the day when thermals are weak. It is also a great advantage in the evening when you want to use the last bits of lift to get back to your start. The MENTOR 4 really shows its class when accelerated – the flat polar really excites. But the thing I value most is how calm it feels in the air. To conclude, I am completely happy with the MENTOR 4!” Bernhard Peßl | Record holder flying an EN/LTF B wing (FAI triangle of 300.4 km)

www.superflyinc.com | [email protected] | 801.255.9595 www.nova.eu

LOVE TRIANGLES

Martin Henry & Mia Schokker and their

Chelan world record factory.

by Annette O'Neil 36

Funtastic fall Biwingual fly-ins

Autumn's destinations for pilots of any persuasion.

by C.J. Sturtevant 26

CROSSING THE LINE

Feeling like a mouse in a wheel, Ben Jordan

decides it's time to go big. Seriously big.

by Ben Jordan 20DECVolume 45 ISSUE #12

2015

Martin Palmaz, Publisher

[email protected]

Nick Greece, Editor

[email protected]

Greg Gillam, Art Director

[email protected]

C.J. Sturtevant, Copy Editor

[email protected]

Kristjan Morgan, Advertising

[email protected]

Staff Writers

Annette O'Neil

Dennis Pagen

Jeff Shapiro

C.J. Sturtevant

Staff Photographers

John Heiney

Jeff Shapiro

6

ON THE COVER

http://superflyinc.com

PHOTO BY RYAN VOIGHTKissing the sunset over Point of the

Mountain near Draper, Utah.

MENTOR 4 – gets you further “ The MENTOR 4 climbs very efficiently, which is reassuring at the beginning of the day when thermals are weak. It is also a great advantage in the evening when you want to use the last bits of lift to get back to your start. The MENTOR 4 really shows its class when accelerated – the flat polar really excites. But the thing I value most is how calm it feels in the air. To conclude, I am completely happy with the MENTOR 4!” Bernhard Peßl | Record holder flying an EN/LTF B wing (FAI triangle of 300.4 km)

www.superflyinc.com | [email protected] | 801.255.9595 www.nova.eu


7HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

In any community there are folks who push the boundaries, pioneer new ideas and/or push development. Those people often document their experiences, possibly because they may have moved to a place with extra bandwidth not only

to participate but also to chronicle. Many of us have been inspired to make a life-changing decision by these people. In fact, I have hoped through my work as editor of this publication, photographer, writer, and video producer to do my small part to inspire the next generation to reach for personally inspiring accomplishments on whatever level that may be.

There is, however, a potential negative result of pushing forward some of these adventures. A USHPA board member and friend recently brought up the fact that due to the proliferation of documentation of hard-core and very advanced feats of flying, less experienced pilots can be pushed to reach beyond their abilities.

After much soul searching and initial knee-jerk defensive reactions, I agree with his theory with one caveat. Our tribe needs to do a better job of promoting “ordi-nary” flying endeavors. We need to highlight and showcase educationally oriented material and material that focuses on the type of flying done by more of our mem-bers.

I would like to send out a challenge to our instructors, schools, and thought leaders to participate in a new section that focuses on growing our education base and highlighting achievements of newer members. One very valuable contribution will come from CJ Sturtevant, who will head up a new accident-reporting column.

Malcolm Gladwell surmises that to become world-class in any particular en-deavor, a practitioner must complete 10,000 hours of “deliberate and correct” prac-tice. In fact, many of the people who now push our sports' limits have far exceeded this number in terms of hours of deliberate study. I think their success is often just taken for granted, since we don’t get a chance to see films or articles of those people when they are at hour 100.

But that is where many of our members are, and the magazine in the new year will focus on getting those folks from 100 hours to 1000 hours.

A concern that must be addressed is that while we need to address outside factors that have increased our risk taking as a whole, we simultaneously need to remember a golden rule of aviation—pilot in command. It is up to each and every one of us to work diligently to increase our individual safety margins by making safe and deliberate choices of when and how to fly, based on a very realistic inventory of one’s skills and abilities. Each of us must identify what we can do to ensure safety in our personal practices that will move us toward that 10,000-hour mark. Write it down for the coming year in your log-book; make a “deliberate” effort to address this aspect of your practice.

This publication is about promoting all of our events from all of our members, from first flights to bivy expeditions. We are a communal fire-pit and we all need to focus on how to make our personal journeys the safest, and most rewarding, that they can be!

LEFT A nepali pilot gets ready for his 100th flight in Pokhara, Nepal | photo by Nick Greece.

Martin Palmaz, Executive Director

[email protected]

Beth Van Eaton, Operations Manager

[email protected]

Ashley Miller, Membership Coordinator

[email protected]

Julie Spiegler, Program Manager

[email protected]

USHPA OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Paul Murdoch, President

[email protected]

Jamie Shelden, Vice President

[email protected]

Steve Rodrigues, Secretary

[email protected]

Mark Forbes, Treasurer

[email protected]

REGION 1: Rich Hass, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Jugdeep Aggarwal, Josh

Cohn, Jon James. REGION 3: Corey Caffrey, Pete Michelmore, Alan Crouse.

REGION 4: Bill Belcourt, Ken Grubbs. REGION 5: Josh Pierce. REGION 6:

Tiki Mashy. REGION 7: Paul Olson. REGION 8: Michael Holmes. REGION 9:

Felipe Amunategui, Larry Dennis. REGION 10: Bruce Weaver, Steve Kroop,

Matt Taber. REGION 11: Tiki Mashy. REGION 12: Paul Voight. DIRECTORS

AT LARGE: Paul Murdoch, Steve Rodrigues, Greg Kelley, Jamie Shelden,

Mitch Shipley. 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 [email protected].

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.

FLIGHT PLA

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NOVA IBEX 3 & MANTIS+“By mountaineers, for mountaineers”:

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Depending on the weight of the pilot,

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with the Montis reversible harness

(with airbag), the whole kit can weigh

in at 3.8 kg (just over 8 lbs). More info

at superflyinc.com.

ADVANCE LIGHTBAG & LADYBAGThe Lightbag is a small ultralight ruck-

sack with plenty of room inside. The

Lightbag, constructed from paraglider

material, is available in a selection of

colors. When it’s folded and stowed in

its bag, the Lightbag fits anywhere: in

a jacket, trouser pocket, handbag.

The stylish, colorful, and just a bit

hip Ladybag is made with women in

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holds a lot and can be folded into a

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one need?

NAVITER OUDIE 3+ Oudie 3 is a

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users: Don’t forget to get the latest firm-

ware update at http://www.oudie3.com/

install-the-latest-firmware-for-oudie3.

GIN GENIE LITE 2Drawing on our technology from the

Genie Race 3, the Genie Lite 2 has been

designed for maximum XC comfort. The

back of the harness is robust, and it

contours and supports the back in all

the right places, thanks to the 3D shap-

ing. A removable lumbar support can be

adjusted to give the perfect fit. Much time

was spent in its development to make the

profile as clean and wrinkle-free as pos-

sible. Four sizes are available: XS, S, M, L.

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Easy Performance

The new IOTA opens the door to the world of long

cross-country flights. As a High-Level EN B glider it offers

the ideal balance between performance and ease

of piloting. Thanks to computational structural weight

optimization and the use of high quality materials,

it delivers big value for its small weight, starting at 4.45kg.

More information and films on www.advance.ch/iota

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Easy Performance

The new IOTA opens the door to the world of long

cross-country flights. As a High-Level EN B glider it offers

the ideal balance between performance and ease

of piloting. Thanks to computational structural weight

optimization and the use of high quality materials,

it delivers big value for its small weight, starting at 4.45kg.

More information and films on www.advance.ch/iota

The new IOTA Series

FROM AND YOUR LOCAL DEALER

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by Martin PalmazUSHPA Executive Director

BACkGROUNDSince its incorporation, our orga-nization has encouraged members to report accidents and incidents they have witnessed or experienced. Initially, these reports were dis-seminated through our magazine on a monthly basis, as long as the report reached the editor in time for the next edition. For many pilots, however, having an experienced pilot provide an assessment of the causes, circumstances, and lessons learned is much more valuable. Since our community is small, some members have had concerns about privacy, fearing that details of an incident might directly identify who was involved. Therefore, accident reports were placed under stricter guidelines to protect the identities of those involved. This confidentiality, com-bined with aging technology, created a system that restricted the flow of educational information to members.

After much discussion and head scratching, the Board of Directors figured out how to protect our

members’ confidentiality and privacy, while providing more robust tools for reporting and analyzing incidents. This solution involved developing a formal scientific study, with the goal of better understanding the root causes of accidents and incidents in our type of aviation.

CERTIFICATE OF CONFIDENTIALITYResearchers interested in socially sensitive matters have faced a similar dilemma: how to collect sensitive, potentially damaging information, without revealing personal informa-tion about the research participant (which could expose the research par-ticipant, the investigators, and those associated with the study to legal consequences—for example, studies involving illegal drug use). In comes the Certificate of Confidentiality or CoC for short.

The CoC is a legal protection extended by the Federal Government to research studies that have been approved by a research institu-tion’s Human Subject Protection Committee. When a study is pro-tected by a CoC, the research team, as well as the information collected

A I R SREPORTING SYSTEMACCIDENT/INCIDENT

Solving an Old Riddle

“WHEN A STUDY IS PROTECTED BY A

COC, THE RESEARCH TEAM, AS WELL AS THE

INFORMATION COLLECTED AND THOSE WHO REPORT

IT, ARE PROTECTED FROM DISCLOSURE OF

ANY INFORMATION; EVEN COURTS ARE PREVENTED

FROM ORDERING THE RELEASE OF THE

INFORMATION.”


and those who report it, are protected from disclosure of any information; even courts are prevented from order-ing the release of the information. So a small group within USHPA went to work creating a data registry protected by a CoC and approved by a human subject protection committee. Data registries provide a method of collecting information in an orga-nized manner for later research. Case Western Reserve School of Medicine’s Human Subject Protection Committee reviewed and approved our proposed study.

THE DATA REGISTRYThe Accident/Incident Reporting System, also known as AIRS, is an online, confidential data registry for the collection of information about adverse outcomes in our sport. This data is protected from subpoena in response to civil or criminal action, so the confidentiality of participants is absolute. All of the data will be avail-able for ongoing analysis of trends and unusual events.

Anyone with information about an incident in our sport can submit information confidentially, using a

simple website form. The website form walks the reporter through dif-ferent menus of questions describing the accident/incident that occurred. The reporter can upload various types of content, including video, sound, track logs, pictures, etc.

AIRS is a work-in-progress and the information collected is likely to change in the coming years, based on our experiences along the way. The goal is that easy reporting of incidents, along with the extra protection given to ensure confidentiality, will make it more likely to have accurate num-bers and details of all the incidents that occur in our sport. With better information, we should have a better understanding of how we all can avoid these incidents.

Your participation and input is essential in improving the quality and usefulness of this project. Thank you in advance for submitting your report!

The Accident/Incident Reporting System can be accessed at: http://airs.ushpa.aero

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by Mitch ShipleyUSHPA Director at Large and HG Co-Chair of the Accident Review Committee

The above quotation describes our goal, our motivation, and our hope for the implementation of the new

Accident / Incident Reporting System (AIRS), within your Accident Review Committee (ARC): to learn from the reports of our member pilots; and to take a solid look with resources of time, experience and diligence to determine if there are lessons learned we can capture and get out to the membership.

This is why both of us co-chairs took on high paying, prestigious, volun-teer (unpaid!) positions on the Accident Review Committee. We were sought out by the management of our organiza-tion (USHPA) to do what all pilots feel is universally important: capture lessons that can be derived from our accidents and present them to the membership to improve both safety and enjoyment of the free flight experience we all pursue. So Josh Pierce (the paragliding chair of the committee) and I (his hang gliding compatriot) have stepped up to the plate and are more than a year into trying to do just that. Amazing how time flies!

THE REPORTING SYSTEM (AIRS) The key to the success of our endeavor is your accident reports. No reports? No

analysis, no lessons learned. Hence, we all risk committing the same mistakes over and over again out of ignorance and complacency.

We figured that in order for there to be reports: 1) Making a report had to be easy, straightforward and accomplished quickly, 2) Reporters needed to be as-sured that the report was only be used to derive lessons learned that would be shared with the membership, and 3) The information in the reports needed to see the light of day as lessons learned, with that information being put out to our membership, instead of falling into a “black hole.”

That might sound easy and straight-forward, but it took your USHPA team two years of hard work to put all of these pieces together to get AIRS online. A huge piece of that was securing a federal Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC) for the system (see companion article by Martin Palmaz). With the CoC in place and a new, technically capable USHPA website to host it (another huge and necessary building block) AIRS is now up and running!

You can get to AIRS by a link on the USHPA website in the Safety section (or http://airs.ushpa.aero). The entire site is designed to make reporting an in-cident quick, easy and complete. AIRS offers helpful tool-tips and primarily

A I R SAND YOUR ACCIDENT REview

COMMITTEE

ACCIDENT REVIEW COMMITTEE

Now a standing committee (was a

sub-committee of Safety and Training)

Governed by its own SOP 03-16

Very clear requirement that accident

reports cannot be used for disciplinary

action

Implemented a federal Certificate of

Confidentiality (CoC) to protect the

confidentiality of reporters and report

information (such as others involved)

New online Accident /Incident

Reporting System (AIRS) makes

reporting quick and easy

Data structure of AIRS allows

easier analysis and dissemination of

accident information of interest to the

membership

“TO ARRIVE AT LESSONS LEARNEd TO HELP OTHER PILOTS AVOId A SImILAR FATE.”

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uses check-box or radio button question fields for all of the relevant factual data fields (e.g., weather, launch, landing, etc.). In each report area there is also a text box to capture the reporter’s unique thoughts and observations, along with any other pertinent details.

How the report information can be used is crisply spelled out in the new Standard Operating Procedures (SOP 03-16) for the ARC. It specifically de-fines the confidentiality and uses for our accident reports. As quoted in the intro-ductory paragraph of SOP 03-16, “The Accident Review Committee is a stand-ing committee of the Board of Directors. The Committee’s primary purpose is to serve as an independent committee advocating and promoting pilot safety through a better understanding of ac-cidents and incidents. The committee gathers and evaluates accident reports and shares its findings with the Board of Directors, USHPA oversight commit-tees and the membership in a fair and objective manner. The Committee does not apportion blame, suggest punish-ment or advocate for revocations.”

WHEN TO MAkE A REPORTWith the CoC and AIRS in place, it is easy and secure for pilots to make a report, so the next question is, “When do I make a report?” To determine the answer to that question, ask yourself: “Did I do (or witness) something that caught me by surprise and led to (or almost led to) an injury to me or others or resulted in significant equipment damage?” If the answer is yes, then your fellow pilots might learn from your experience if you file a report. Multiple reports (or views) from different people on the same accident are fine, as they will be linked together and used as a group to analyze the event. It should be noted that other circumstances might require a report as well, such as an accident or incident that occurred under instruction, during a sanctioned competition, or involved a third party (such as a spectator). What

is universally true is that there is no downside to filing a report. Something good might come from doing it, so just make a report!

Individual reports will not end up as magazine articles, but trends do sometimes emerge from many seemingly insignificant and trivial occurrences. AIRS is designed to capture the data in a way that makes it easier to figure out.

USING YOUR ACCIDENT REPORTSAccident reports are now easy to do, confidential, and can’t be used for disciplinary actions, but what about all that bad press my site, myself, my business, etc., is going to get when the report is published? That’s a good question and a concern that deserves some discussion. First, when something happens in our free-flight community, thinking that “nobody is going to find out” is generally unrealistic. Word gets out through a variety of sources that are

sometimes uninformed and inexperi-enced. However, your Accident Review committee is fair, factual, and experi-enced. We have no stake in this other than to learn and share helpful informa-tion with our pilot community. What is shared will be carefully considered and will typically be the lessons learned from a trend in several accident reports. These summaries won’t contain raw accident report information identifying any site, instructor, or individual by name. Those identifiers are most often not relevant to deriving and explaining lessons learned from an accident.

What is the ARC going to do with the reports? First and foremost, we want to make sure we get the entire story of the what/why/how of the accident, before that information is lost. That means making follow-up phone calls and encouraging others to lead a fact-gather-ing effort and submit follow-up reports, as well as seeking points of view from

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other witnesses. From that information, we will decide if any immediate commu-nication needs to be made and recom-mended to the appropriate committee. For example, we would alert the Safety and Training committee if it looks as if the accident involved a training issue, in order to inform all instructors through an email.

The data gathered also allows us to take the long view in identifying trends that warrant crafting articles for the magazine regarding the lessons to be learned. Additionally, the online AIRS data makes it possible to provide useful yearly statistical summaries for the magazine that could be available to members on the USHPA website. (Statistical facts, such as how many accidents involved flying in winds over 10 MPH or occurred during springtime conditions between 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.) We would like to have such information available to the membership, and the online AIRS is the key to making that possible. So send in those reports!!

MEMBER INVOLVEMENT This summarizes USHPA’s goals for the new Accident/Incident Reporting

System. Since none of the goals are achievable without member involvement and reporting, we actively encourage you to contact us with your ideas and con-cerns. Historic reports also are encour-aged to be made in AIRS. Remember details about a past experience? Valuable information can be derived from the

past accidents/incidents as well as cur-rent ones, so make those reports, too! Your input is vital to the success of the effort.

To contact us with feedback, either use the USHPA Online Feedback Form or send an email to [email protected] or [email protected].

READY TO REPORT? GO TO HTTP://AIRS.USHPA.AEROAfter filling out the Report Summary, please provide as much detail as pos-

sible using the Detailed Report form (shown below). Feel free to report all

accidents and incidents, even if they happened years ago. The more data we

have the better our analysis can be!


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Tennessee

In the early ‘80s, Crystal Air Sports was a hang gliding school and dealer-ship in Chattanooga, TN. Dan

Johnson had started the shop in the ‘70s, and it was the only shop for a long time in what was the center of hang gliding in the eastern U.S. I joined the business at the end of ’79 as a partner and took over the day-to-day operation. We sold gliders and offered training to people who came from all over to try hang gliding.

Crystal was located in a campground

at the foot of Raccoon Mountain. Access to the training hill and top launch was provided by an aerial tramcar operated by the campground. Training was offered seven days a week year-round, weather permitting. Crystal was a focal point for the community of pilots and had grown with immigrants who moved to the area specifically for the hang gliding that was possible from the bluffs of the Cumberland Plateau and Lookout Mountain.

But Crystal had one big problem: Its training hill was less than optimal. The hill faced northeast, and the winds

in the area almost never blew that way. Any significant wind was usually over the back or crosswind, limiting training to early in the morning, when it was calm, or a time when there was a slight anabatic flow. What the hill had going for it was its steep incline that made launches easy in no or light wind. But it was narrow, cut out of the side of a heavily forested mountainside. It was rocky and rough and difficult to climb when carrying even the lightweight trainer gliders, which students were re-quired to do between flights. Five flights constituted a typical lesson, due to the

ABOVE Cliff Whitney tows up behind tug pilot Leon Richie | photo by Cliff Whitney.

AERoTOWINGAT CRYSTAL AIR SPORTS

by Tom Phillips


extreme effort required.There was what could be described

as a boat dock at about the 60’ level that attempted to replicate the style of mountain launch ramps then cur-rent. Students worked their way up the hill on successive flights, until they could qualify off the ramp for their first mountain flight from Raccoon or Lookout. All training flights, includ-ing the first mountain flights, were solo. Even before the shop had local com-petition, Dan and I knew we needed alternatives to that hill. The rigors of trying to learn to fly there, while it created some very good pilots, probably discouraged many from further pursuit of the sport.

We looked at several options. Ultralights were just coming out of the build-it-yourself stage, and we became dealers for the Eipper Quicksilver and the Flight Designs Jetwing Trike. We spent a lot of time developing the Crystal Simulator, which was essen-

tially a zip-line, with a fully flying glider tethered under the wire, on a pulley, that could be flown by students to learn to control the flight path in complete safety. And we bought a stationary hy-draulic winch to tow gliders into the air. That never worked out; we had no place to use it effectively.

Towing Rogallo wings was actually the genesis of the modern sport of hang gliding. They were first used as replace-ments for flat kites in water-ski shows by Bill Bennett and Bill Moyes, Australian showmen. The story is that an employee of Bennett’s, Dave Kilbourne, was the first to take a ski kite to a hill and launch it. From there the sport grew to what it is today.

But towing remained the only way for flatland pilots to get airborne, and a fairly large group of pilots in central Florida, who had grown out of the Cypress Gardens water-ski scene, devel-oped the boat-towing techniques that let them enjoy the air. They were loosely organized, but centered on the lakes where they got together regularly, pro-ducing some of the best pilots at finding thermals down low and soaring. They used both static line and boat-mounted winches, and their gliders were modified with float systems and control frames made of stainless steel with built-in rope releases. The standards for the tow-bar modification were designed and built by Bob Emerson and Bobby Bailey and

“WE SPENT A LOT OF TIME DEVELOPING THE CRYSTAL SIMULATOR, WHICH WAS ESSENTIALLY A zIP-LINE, WITH A FULLY FLYING GLIDER TETHERED UNDER THE WIRE, ON A PULLEY, THAT COULD BE FLOWN BY STUDENTS TO LEARN TO CONTROL THE FLIGHT PATH IN COMPLETE SAFETY.”

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were beautifully crafted.But this method of towing had a

major drawback. In a weight-shift glider, control is effected by the pilot’s moving the center of mass, himself, to control the speed and direction of flight. When the towline is connected to the control frame of the glider, it begins to compete with the pilot’s efforts and can overpow-er him. This condition is known as a

“lockout,” and the only recourse the pilot has is to release. Failure to release or be released by the boat crew will inevitably lead to a high-speed impact with the ground or water. Many pilots were seriously hurt or killed by lockouts. In fact, in the early ‘70s, when I told pilot friends in California that I was moving back to the Southeast and was going to try boat towing, they were horrified and strongly warned me against it.

Coincidentally, while passing through Chattanooga on my way back east, I met some of these Florida pilots at Lookout Mountain, and they invited me to come down and fly with them.

Jim Johns, Campbell Bowen, and others gave me my first taste of towing not long after. I was not too excited about it, so I remained committed to foot launch. A few years later, after I was established in Chattanooga, I visited them again for another good scare. By then, I had gotten to know many more of them. Chattanooga was the closest mountain flying for them, and they made regular road trips to the area for some moun-tain soaring.

In a way, hang gliding has replicated sailplane soaring in its evolution. The first gliders were rolled off mountain launches, then went to winch and vehicle towing, and, finally, to towing by powered aircraft. Somewhere, there is a video of Bill Bennett being towed in a “standard Rogallo” glider by a Cessna, so the idea of towing hang gliders with aircraft was not new. When Dan and I first started talking about towing, he told me his former partner and my predecessor, Paul Burns, had considered the idea, and Paul’s father had even worked on a design for a tug.

In about the winter of ’81, I loaded a Jetwing trike onto the back of my VW Fastback and headed to south Florida, where I met up with Doug Barnett in Miami. Doug was a friend of Dan O’Neil. Dan had an ultralight dealership and flew an ultralight called a Pterodactyl Fledge, based on the Manta Fledgling rigid-wing hang glider. Doug and Dan wanted to try towing Doug’s 180 Comet with the P-Fledge. Doug had an Emerson Bailey tow bar on his Comet, and we went out to the cane fields to try it. While I buzzed around in my Jetwing, they made try after try, with Doug locking out very low to the ground each time, resulting in some exciting recoveries and landings.

Back in Chattanooga, we were still looking for alternatives. Through Dan’s extensive contacts via his publishing enterprises, we heard about a fellow named Donell Hewitt, who was propos-

ing a new method of towing weight-shift hang gliders. He called his innovation center-of-mass towing. The idea was so simple that we were amazed no one had thought of it before: Tow from the pilot, not the glider. This way, instead of com-peting with the pilot for control, the tow will actually enhance his control.

Right away, I started experiment-ing with release designs and, eventually, took some with me when I attended the Wills Wing dealer seminar in California. I had not had a chance to try out the releases yet, but someone at the seminar had a truck-mounted winch. Since many at the seminar were interested in towing, we all met up on the dry lakebed at Lake Elsinore. The releases worked as advertised, and I was able to try my first truck tows. Others got to try as well, and the results were great, with one exciting mishap.

The design at the time had two re-leases and a “V” bridle. One release was at the top of the control frame, while the other was on the pilot’s harness. The top release let go for one pilot during a particularly hot tow. This resulted in a loop, with the pilot and glider pancak-ing in to the hard pan. He recovered, but it was a sobering incident.

I had been planning all along to try the new center-of-mass technique by towing behind an ultralight. Fortunately, big enough engines were starting to become available, so Dan and I bought an Eipper two-place Quicksilver. Its main purpose was to help us get our ul-tralight business going by offering flight instruction and, though technically illegal, rides for money. But personally, I wanted to get aerotowing going.

Our friend and fellow adventurist, Leon Richie, was an accomplished pilot who did most of the tug driving. I was the main equipment developer and test pilot. We basically had great success with no scary or hairy incidents. Leon towed me on one flight to over 6000 feet. Cliff Whitney was then getting into the

newly available VHS video equipment, so he and his pal Tim Orr documented our efforts. Cliff also served as a test pilot, as did Gary Engelhart, B.J. Shulte and a few others. Our flights established the viability of the concept of ultralight towing with the center-of-mass connec-tion. We also learned that the available ultralights were too fast to tow a hang glider comfortably. Pilots on tow had to have the control bar sucked in all the way, in order to keep from out-climbing the tug. At that speed, roll control was difficult, at best.

We discovered we weren’t the only ones working on the idea. Not too long after we were figuring out all of this, Gerard Thevenot from France visited Chattanooga with his Cosmos trike. It had a huge engine and a unique attach-ment point for the tow rope, through the center of the propeller. The Cosmos was powerful enough to tow two glid-

ers side-by-side. Dan and I bought the Cosmos trike, mostly because if we hadn’t, we were afraid our competition would have. But it, also, was too fast and a pig to fly.

Dan and I were not able to make aerotowing a paying proposition for Crystal, but others saw the potential. The Florida gang was still making their mountain trips and, while at first ex-pressing doubt about the center-of-mass idea, they saw that we had something interesting going on. Bobby Bailey of the Emerson Bailey Tow Bar, as well as many other innovations, was then working for a Florida ultralight manu-facturer. He saw the need for a specific design to tow gliders at a comfortable speed. Lots of camber in the wing, full-length ailerons, a barn-door rudder and a big engine were all it took. Mike Pleskavitch’s launch dolly completed the package.

The Florida crew called it the Draggin’ Fly and took that plane out to the Florida cow pastures. From those excursions grew the Wallaby Ranch, Quest, and all of the current flatland flight parks across the world of hang gliding. It would be great if someone would write up the Florida history and tell the story from their end. I visited a couple of times, while members of the Flying Gators club were flying out of various pastures and later, when Wallaby and Quest got started. Hang glider people are the best, no matter where or how they get off.

Even Lookout Mountain Flight Park and Kitty Hawk Kites offer aerotowing now, because the wind doesn’t always favor the mountain or sand dunes, and towing to 2000 feet beats foot launch from 1500. For newbies, doing it with an instructor on board beats humping the training hill in summer.

http://willswing.com


“WOULD YOU LIkE TO DANCE?” I ASkED.From that point on, only two outcomes were possible: exhila-rating success or epic failure.

Except that this was not grade six—this dance was in the sky, and the girl towards whom I hesitatingly shuffled was none other than the Bugaboo Spire herself.

This is how an aerial novice like me wound up on the aerial adventure of a lifetime.

I travel around the world in search of places to fly long dis-tances, safely. “How’s the flying up in Canada?” fellow addicts often enquire.

“Great, if you enjoy flying over tiger country, without landing areas or roads to escape,” I respond cynically. The conversation always ends there. But that’s what I love about

Canada and, in particular, British Columbia’s Slocan Valley. The local flying community, all two of us, routinely launch from the majestic Idaho Peak, do a couple of turns over the lake, and land at the local campground, the only clearing for 30 km in any direction.

A couple of weeks ago, I slipped into a deep state of depression. At first, I thought it stemmed from after having traveled for two years, I returned alone to the home I had once shared with the love I had lost during that time away. But my sad feelings turned out to be caused by something far different. Through journaling, I realized I was feeling like a mouse on a wheel, stagnating—not in life, but in the sky. I hadn’t flown cross-country in months and, however beautiful my narrow valley of trees and lakes was, I was shackled there,

CROSSINGTHE LINEby Ben Jordan


as long as I feared paragliding over remote terrain.I imagined for a moment walking in the shoes of Will

Gadd, the only pilot I know to have taken this landscape by the horns, most notably on his 2011 hike-and-fly from Vernon, BC, to his Alberta home, 300 bear-laden kilometers east. What made Will tick? What did he know that I did not? Where did he draw the line?

However intimidating the gap between Gadd and me, one thing was certain. Getting from here to there would begin with a single step. For me, this looked as if I needed to be flying with food, a long rope, and a sleeping bag. To my sur-prise, no longer did the fear of a forced landing in a tall tree or high alpine meadow feel like a life-or-death situation. Routes across the wilderness were becoming obvious. The landscape of opportunity was being transformed before my eyes.

My opportunity began with an 80km flight from Idaho Peak to Nakusp and back, which I later learned had never been done. The next step was committing to flying over the mountain pass, east to Kaslo, across 30 km of beautiful nothingness—also a paragliding first. I couldn’t stop. Every day was bigger and bolder; my fear became ambition, and depression surrendered to awe. But there had to be a line not to cross, a point where bold became stupid and risk was no longer manageable. Perhaps this was a natural and psycho-logical border I would not know, until I’d flown far beyond it.

It began like any other flight, with my eye set on the next possible landing, just 10 km beyond my previous flight—over the Goat Range, to the fertile fields of Argenta. Late-summer forest fires, burning far and wide, painted the sky with smoke and my ambitions with doubt, as they prevented the sun’s energy from creating the thermal lift required to fly high and far. It was getting late and, since the hitchhike home would only become more difficult as the sun set, I resigned myself to a prior landing area and began my descent.

Just then, a bubble of warm air was released from the forest below. The pine trees a-bristle, their lovely scent stoked my heart to respond like a junky who had just scored. Slowly, I guided my kite to richer and purer scents until its dopa-mine receptors were throbbing as well—not from the rush of what now felt like huffing Pine-Sol cleaner, but by the vast expanses of glaciated summits that lay out like red carpets to adventure. It was late, I was tired, and there were so many reasons not to continue. Was this the line? There was only one way to find out.

In bewilderment, I bounced from peak to peak, mouth agape, drool smearing my frozen cheeks. Below were ancient

glaciers, revealing secrets as they morphed into massive wa-terfalls. The sun pierced through the smoke, as birds swirled around whitetail deer grazing in high alpine meadows. I’d seen nothing like it and felt as though I’d arrived at the great-est party on earth. As the fool, or guest of honor, was still unclear. About 25 km north of Argenta, sobering turbulence broke the trance. As a section of forest was burned below my feet, the lift became weaker, and my only landing options were now a dirt road, too narrow for my glider, or Duncan Lake. I needed a diaper.

Just then, it appeared: a grassy, domelike feature, oddly jutting out between two intimidating rocky ridges. Without thought, I used what little height I had to make a single turn and land softly on this remote island in the sky. No words could describe the high, as peak-joy flushed from my heart out to my extremities. Not only was I safe, I’d just bought myself another day of flying this incredible landscape and was now within one 50km mountain range of safe landings in the Columbia Valley.

Elated, I set out on foot, marveling at the lush home these vast glaciers and alpine flowers had welcomed me into. Along the way, I discovered a turquoise lake and was struck by a memory of seeing a similar one the first time I’d taken a passenger jet over the Rockies. The idea of swimming in one had planted the seed that ultimately flowered into my leaving my home in the East for Canada’s Rocky West. Everything was beginning to make sense. That evening, I digested ramen

LEFT Day 1: Crossing the north end of Kootenay Lake. RIGHT Getting dirty in the clay-lined lake.


noodles and experienced a new sense of self, as I lay back and marveled at the Perseid meteor showers dancing the night away.

At daybreak, I observed that the ridge I’d chosen to launch from was not facing east, meaning I would have to wait until mid-day for conditions to become thermic enough for me to avoid landing in the lake below. The smoke had gotten heavier; it wasn’t until 2 p.m. that the lift broke through the smoggy inversion and cumulus clouds appeared in the sky like beacons of hope.

I quickly packed up camp and launched back into the big air and spectacular views. My first move north was a 10km valley gap that put me on a low ridge lining the beach-less body of water below. I worked hard to get up but could never regain the kind of height needed to escape. At 4 p.m., still staggering at the same elevation, I was suddenly overcome by intense frustration. Bottled up feelings of hurt and betrayal came bubbling to the surface, while faces from incomplete past relationships whizzed by my periphery, demanding that I put more and more energy into the one-sided conversations cluttering my mind. I was miserable. Splashing down into Duncan Lake felt like a great way to end a situation that was tearing me to shreds.

Right then, a small, red-tailed hawk flew below me and, as if she had said it herself, a voice in my head reminded me: “If

you want to produce the same results, keep behaving the same way.” Feeling desperate, I began channeling love and gratitude toward the same situations that had upset me. In time, my spirit lifted, and soon I was back to flying 100%. I watched as the bird flew over a shallow part of the ridge that I dared not cross so low. She was headed for bigger hills farther north and, to my surprise, was not sinking at all. Though I knew my glider couldn’t perform as well, it was the lightness of heart that gave me the self-confidence to follow her lead.

Before I knew it, I was in those big hills, too, and banking hard turns in massive lift. I watched my GPS in awe, as the bird and I climbed shy of 2000 meters in just a few minutes. My body trembling with excitement, I no longer needed to force feelings of love; I had simply become it.

There they were—Bugaboo and Howser Spire—the crown jewels of the Kootenay region, within 25 km of the magnificent, glaciated landscape below my dangling feet. The bird took off in the opposite direction, leaving me to my own devices and with a tough choice to make. Considering the unforgiving nature of the terrain, most pilots, including me, would have thought that committing to this line was a bad idea. Very, very bad.

“I’ll just go a little way,” I thought. A few selfies later, sud-denly committed, I was just 10 km from the spires when I re-alized I was trying to fly southeast ridges late in the afternoon,


while the lift was coming from the opposite, northwest side. And while there were a few logging slashes on my side, the opposite, lifting, valley was remote-beyond-remote, and my ramen noodles had no business being there. The increasing wind and dropping sun worked together to worsen my situa-tion. Still 35 km from the Columbia and long past the chance to make wise decisions, I chose to roll the dice and soar the ridge between evil and less-evil, until I found myself staring straight at the “Bugs!”

Quick! Where’s my camera? Shit! Where’s my wing!?...that’s a summary of what followed. The converging of so many valleys, all at one pass, had charmed my relatively safe, En-B glider into a snake of turbulence I could barely recognize. I had just enough height to clear the mountain pass and, unsure of what lay beyond, I went for it, thinking my situa-tion couldn’t get much worse.

The west wind rushed over the Bugaboos and dragged me down the eastern side like a lead weight. Without a doubt now, the line was that mountain pass, prescribing failure as my fate. Though frightened, I smiled in satisfaction, proud of myself for simply making it so far. With at least another minute before impacting a tree or stream, I relished a state of bliss, feeling as if my accomplishment had won me a tempo-rary place alongside my paragliding heroes.

Then, like some impossible plot twist in a cheesy super-hero flick, there, deep in the valley was what looked like a giant Swiss chalet, complete with mown grass and an airstrip! In order to avoid the helicopter shuttling tourists to and from the lodge, I hopped to the far side of the valley and, to my surprise, the air was lifting. I played around until reaching ridge height and realized the wind was too strong to get above it. With that knowledge came the stark realization that it was also too strong to make it back to the lodge. This was a one-way valley, and the direction was set to get the f**k out!

Ridge by ridge, I vividly recall soaring up one face, then hopping to the next, doing everything I could to manage the turbulent transitions. When I reached the last one, I looked back upon the Bugaboo’s great spires, said thanks, and got flushed out into one of the first landable cut-blocks of the great Columbia Valley.

And while the mosquitoes tried to bring me back to a place of darkness, their efforts were fruitless, as I had already asked her to dance and she had shown me the light. For when crossing that line, there is not just Failure or Success, but a wide spectrum of stumbling blocks in between, each with its own lines to cross, each presenting opportunities to become exactly what I have always wanted to be.

OPPOSITE Day 2: Crossing the Bugaboos TOP Ramen and dry socks are a man's best friend. MIDDLE About to launch from Mt. Macduff.

BOTTOM What a prime bivy spot looks like in the Canadian Rockies.


Welcome to Flying Yoga. I will help you create a healthy rou-tine and incorporate endur-

ance, strength, balance and flexibility into your flights by sharing with you simple yoga postures, exercises and tips which can become an important part of your flying lifestyle.

When we are fatigued the con-sumption of caffeine, sugar, bars or energy drinks are never enough to bring vitality back into the body that feels like it is in a full stall most of the time. In a regular workout the burn-ing sensation of the muscles indicates fatigue and that creates muscle’s change, therefore in a regular workout fatigue is a good sign.

However, when we are in the air, muscle fatigue can be exasperating and it might become a good reason to land or even avoid flying. Fatigue is not easy to disguise or ignore, espe-cially when you are flying in a compe-tition, teaching or taking lessons, have

passengers for tandem or more flights to get your next rating.

When something unexpected or undesired happens at takeoff, tur-bulence, thermal traffic or obstacles when landing, drastic changes occur in our bodies, transforming our inner weather dramatically. This is marked by a change in our breathing patterns.

When our life is threatened the fight-or-flight response turns on, in-creasing the heart rate and dilating the respiratory airways; as a result the breath becomes rapid and shallow. When we realize our life is not in dis-tress the rest-and-renew response turns on, slowing and calming the system down, and the breath becomes steady and deeper.

Our breath is the code of our prana, the vital force that provides health and balance to our physical and mental self. The rate and depth of our breath can be controlled and used as a tool for energizing because it

has direct influence on our autonomic nervous system, which carries all the information to the muscles and glands and appears to govern itself without conscious knowledge.

In our lives most of the threats we face are not even physical. Typical stressors are also mental, such as nega-tive thoughts, frustrations, worries, fears and the famous “what if?”.

Which response do you have more activated? The fight and flight? The rest and renew? When we fly we need to be in “alert mode,” but if the fight-and-flight response is on all day long, the body has no time to rest and renew. This unbalanced situation generates fatigue and can also lead to anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, bad moods and even panic, to name a few.

The fight-and-flight response is useful for survival, but this drive can also be useful in case of challenging situations in the air. The rest-and-

FLYING YOGAby Sofia Puerta Webber


renew response is great to have in order to be focused and make good decisions. Yogis work hard to have both in balance and to have the endur-ance to respond instead of react. How? With the practice of pranayama, the cultivation of prana, life-force energy. Pranayama promotes health and equilibrium in the entire system, body and mind.

I would like to share with you one pranayama exercise called Anuloma Viloma, Alternate Nostril Breathing, to avoid fatigue and gain real and last-ing energy.

Prepare your body and mind:Find a quiet place. Sit in a comfort-

able position on the ground with your back straight. Keep your head aligned with your spine, chin slightly in and shoulders away from your ears. Feel the stillness of the body and soften the muscles. Pilot your mind to be in the present moment, right here, right now.

Perform two Mudras with your hands:

Mudra means “seal” and it is a way to channel energy flow throughout the body and stimulate different areas of the brain that secrete chemicals that trigger our fight-and-flight response.

Raise the right hand and make the Vishnu Mudra by folding down the index and middle fingers. Extend your thumb, ring finger and pinky. Keep the shoulders relaxed and the elbow facing down. (Picture 1)

With your left hand perform the Chin Mudra connecting the tips of your thumb and index finger. This mudra helps to calm the mind and improves relaxation and concentration.

Six steps to do one round of Alternate Nostril Breathing:

1. Softly close the right nostril with

your right thumb. Inhale completely

through the left nostril counting men-

tally “4” (Picture 2)

2. Seal both nostrils with the pinky

and the ring finger. Retain the breath

for a count of “16” (Picture 3)

3. Open the right nostril and exhale

for a count of “8” (Picture 4)

4. Inhale deeply through the right

nostril for a count of “4”

5. Close both nostrils and retain the

breath for a count of “16”

6. Release the left nostril and exhale

completely for a count of “8”

I encourage you to practice daily this great pranayama exercise for 10 rounds, it takes 10 minutes and it is free, only requires practice!

Benefits of Anuloma Viloma* Stores and controls the prana.* Activates the parasympathetic

nervous system, the rest-and-renew response.

* Harmonizes the body and the mind.

* Helps to calm the mind and its “gusty” tendencies.

* Cleanses and strengthens the lungs and the entire respiratory system.

* Purifies the nadis, psychic merid-ians.

TIPs Work in harmony with your body and the world instead of against it. The way to do it is through the breathing, with the prana. By controlling and regulating this vital force you increase your health, your wealth and your performance in the air. The pilot is the nervous system of the glider!

Tell me how you feel, [email protected]

Sofia Puerta Webber is a journalist, certified yoga therapist, fitness instructor and pilot in the San Diego area. She is the creator of Paragliding and Yoga Tours. Sofia conducts Flying Yoga sessions on Fridays at 9:00 a.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. at the Torrey Pines Gliderport, La Jolla, CA. www.shiwido.com

You SHould've BeEN THERE.


FUNTASTIC FALL

FLY-INSby C.J. Sturtevant

BIWINGUAL


Back when we started hang gliding in 1982, George and I decided to make flying a variety of sites a priority: at least five new ones a year, we vowed. Well, it’s 33 years

later and we’ve flown at almost 300 sites, easily surpassing our self-imposed quota. But it’s getting harder and harder to find new sites near home—and that’s given us good incentive to take to the road or travel the globe in search of new places to fly. In the process we’ve become quite proficient at turning every family- or business-related trip into a flying adventure. Read on to discover three late-summer/early fall fly-ins that took us across the country to try our luck again in New York State, and continued our once-a-year tradition at a site just across the Cascades from our home, and bagged one new site for us and put us in position to connect up with some Oklahoma pilots who could introduce us to their new-to-us favorites. Here, in chronological order, is the short version of our end-of-season adventures.

ALMOST-ANNUAL ELLENVILLE FLY-IN Labor Day weekenD In new york sTaTePaul Voight, meet organizer, says the 2015 fly-in was the 30-somethingth round of this event that’s been attracting hang glider pilots and, for the last couple decades, paraglider pilots as well, to the tiny town of Ellenville since the early ‘80s. George and I had flown Ellenville once, years ago when we were relatively new paraglider pilots, and we weren’t successful at soaring. We were optimistic that our refined skills would garner us some coveted airtime on our second visit to this beautiful setting.

Why we went: George and I had to make a transcontinen-tal trek anyhow to celebrate my sister’s 70th birthday on the East coast the weekend after Labor Day, so it made almost good sense to tack on the 2015 USHPA National Fly-in at the beginning of that trip.

What we found: About 60 other pilots, from new H-2s

and P-2s to old-timers who’d earned their master rating way back when, gathered in Ellenville for the Labor Day weekend event. It was typical end-of-summer New York weather: HOT!! What was not typical, the locals repeatedly em-phasized, was three consecutive days of over-the-back wind. Fortunately, that “wind” was barely a breeze, and the sun beating on launch was so intense that there were manageable cycles every day for those with patience and reasonable launch skills.

In between trips up the hill, or whenever they needed a break from the heat, pilots and their families and pets would schlep their floating toys and beach chairs down to the cool, crystal-clear stream that ran just behind the campground, to dabble or immerse. Closer to the LZ action, under the pavil-ion, paraglider pilot Dalton had laid out a display of amazing artwork he’d sculpted from those yellow pencils you used to do your math homework with, back in grade school. Picture (for example) a tiny, perfectly detailed candle carved from the pencil’s lead, with the wooden part of the pencil as the candle stand. When I first looked at the miniature sculptures safely displayed behind glass in shadow-box frames, I thought, Oh, those are pretty cool! But when I looked again through the magnifying glass Dalton provided, it was a real OMG! moment, as the exquisite detail was revealed. Google “Dalton Ghetti” and, keeping in mind the scale, you’ll be amazed and delighted.

Why you should consider the 2016 Ellenville Labor Day Weekend fly-in (even if it’s not the National Fly-in next year): The entry fee was a measly $45, and in spite of the less-than-perfect flying weather, nobody was grumbling about not having received their money’s worth of fun. The fee included camping in the shade at the far end of the LZ, daily flying fees, ice-cold beer on tap all day Saturday and until it ran out on Sunday, an event T-shirt, the Saturday-night party that started early and ran late and included a live band (and, for a


LEFT Hang pilots on a windy launch at Sheba Crater | photo by Noah Grezlak. BELOW George running aggressively off Baldy’s NE slope in no wind. RIGHT C.J. on her way to a scenic soaring flight at Baldy on Sunday afternoon. Photos by Bonita Hobson. PREVIOUS PAGE A skyful of happy pilots enjoying the evening air at Sheba Crater | photo by Noah Grezlak.

small additional fee, a delicious BBQ supper). And, of course, the flying, which, odds are, will be better next year.

The real winners for this fly-in’s flying were the H-2s who made trip after trip up to launch, and waited patiently in the heat for the slightest puff of an “in” cycle to launch. Some of these guys managed to fit in several no-wind launches and landings on each of the three days—that’s persistence and determination! I spent some time chatting with Thad, a new H-2 who’d learned from the Ellenville instructors via scooter towing and, having just returned from his honeymoon, was hoping to get in a few mountain flights before the responsibili-ties of a new wife and a middle-school teaching job left him with minimal time for hang gliding. Thad expressed some anxiety at having so many expert pilots watching him as he prepared for his second-ever high flight, but then, he says, he realized that “having more eyes on me simply meant more experienced pilots to watch my launch and landing and offer suggestions and advice.” When it was his turn to stand on launch, Thad patiently waited until he felt a “light cycle, just a few mph, but it was enough to give me an extra boost of con-fidence as I walked, jogged and ran my way into the air.” All who witnessed his launch and landing agree that his takeoff and landing were smoothly and skillfully accomplished, espe-cially given the challenging conditions.

Thad’s experience suggests yet another reason why you should make a point of showing up at this (or any other) fly-in: If you’re a new pilot, you’ll have an opportunity to chat with and learn from pilots who have been flying for years. If you’re one of those old-timers, your presence greatly enriches the experience of the newer pilots, who are the ones we’re counting on to keep our sports alive and thriving into the future.

THE ANNUAL BALDY BUTTE FUND-RAISER FLY-IN enD of sePTember near yakIma, washIngTon,A week after George and I flew home to Seattle from our East Coast shenanigans, we packed up our tiny trailer and headed east again—this time just across the Cascades, for the annual fund-raising fly-in for Baldy Butte. In spite of the horrendous fires that ravaged eastern Washington this summer, and are still not yet fully contained as I write this in early October, our weekend at Baldy was blessed with sparkling-clear air and perfect fall flying conditions on Friday and Sunday.

Why we went: Baldy is one of the NW flying community’s most expensive sites to maintain; Northwest Paragliding Club pays the landowner an annual site-use fee that allows qualified hang and para pilots access to launch through a locked gate, and the use of a somewhat-sloping pasture LZ that’s an easy reach for hang gliders but a bit of a stretch for

FUNTASTIC FALL

FLY-INSBIWINGUAL


paragliders if the air is sinky. The NWPC counts on this annual fly-in to raise at least a couple thousand dollars to put toward that fee, but instead of setting a high entry fee, the organizers have traditionally kept the fee at a low $40 to encourage more pilots to attend the fly-in and, hopefully, to fall in love with the site. For many of us less-adventurous pilots, Baldy’s peak-season big air and unpredictable winds are beyond our comfort level, but September typically brings mellower air and beautiful soaring flights, with clear views of two of our iconic volcanoes, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. The event organizers aggressively advertise the fly-in, and the Baldy “regulars” typically encourage their Baldy-shy and lower-airtime friends to take advantage of the fly-in’s many perks, including free camping on the landowner’s property ad-jacent to a huge flat pasture that’s usually full of grazing cows that, for our convenience, are moved to the sloping pasture to provide us with a novice-friendly (and cow-pie-free) LZ for the weekend.

For many pilots, fly-ins provide the structure and support to allow them to fly comfortably at a new site. P-3 pilot Janell is one of those pilots—her first flights at NW sites Blanchard, Oceanside and Baldy were all at fly-ins, she points out, adding that her Baldy first on Sunday at this event was exception-ally exciting. After what she describes as a “super-thorough site orientation” with meet organizer Naomi, she launched just as the conditions were turning soarable. “There was lift everywhere,” Janell recalls, “and I got to almost 5k without even trying!” But, she emphasized, good flying doesn’t provide the only, or even the main, high at fly-ins; “I love meeting new people at fly-ins, and I really appreciate the support and the community that are integral ingredients at every fly-in.” George and I share Janell’s perspective regarding the real highlights of a fly-in, and I strongly believe that’s why we have never been skunked, even when the flying has been totally disappointing!

What we found: The 2015 Baldy fly-in had some challeng-es (a forecast for high wind on Saturday, and the uncertainty of the air quality with all those fires), but more than 60 pilots registered and enjoyed one or more flights during the week-end. Those who arrived early on Friday were treated to some delightfully boaty conditions that allowed an hour or more of ridge soaring, right up to sunset. By Saturday morning the wind had developed to near gale force; there was no flying at Baldy, although a handful of adventurous explorers found a site several hours away that was low in a canyon and protected from the winds. Others went out hiking, or just hung around visiting until the BBQ crew fired up the grill and the potluck dishes began to appear on the tables. Unfortunately the ex-treme fire danger in all of eastern Washington precluded the traditional bonfire in the campground, and the ferocious wind turned a chilly evening downright frosty, driving many of the tenters into their buddies’ trailers for rounds of Crazy 8s and adult beverages until it was time to crawl into sleeping bags.

Sunday, however, brought perfect Baldy fly-in conditions. Gliders were in the air shortly after sunrise, as soon as the breeze started wafting in at launch, and the lemming rush off the hill continued just about non-stop all day. Up until almost noon all flights were sledders, with novice-friendly take-off and landing conditions and an easy glide to the big pasture. Gradually, pilots began to latch on to bits of rising air, and by early afternoon those who wished were able to climb out sev-eral thousand feet over launch and venture out into the scenic Yakima River canyon before coming back to land at the LZ.

Why you should consider making an appearance at next year’s Baldy Butte fly-in:

You can’t beat September weather in the Pacific Northwest, for spectacularly scenic flying or just about anything else you’d like to do in the mountains or on the water.

At the Baldy fly-in you’ll spend a weekend with a group of pilots who are as passionate about hang gliding and paraglid-ing as you are, and who are exceptionally resourceful at gath-


ering a group to go off on some other local adventure (there’s no shortage of wineries in the Yakima valley…) should the flying conditions be less than optimum. And of course your contribution to the Baldy site fund will be much appreciated.

And from the melting-pot of pilots of different craft and experiences comes a rich opportunity for all to learn more about new sites and equipment, local lore and free-flight ancient history. Around the campfire, or crowded around a table in the biggest motor home in the campground, commu-nities are built and strengthened, and all who participate are enriched by the experience.

THE ANNUAL DIXON WHITE MEMORIAL FLY-INnear fLagsTaff, arIzonaDixon White was one of the most highly respected paraglid-ing instructors in the country, until he died suddenly from a heart condition in 2004. The almost-annual early October fly-in at The Craters began back in the pre-paraglider days as a “Demo Daze” for hang gliders and, when they joined the USHPA ranks, paragliders. In 2005 the fly-in was re-named to remember Dixon and honor his many contributions to the sport of paragliding. Now it’s a multi-wingual event, with hang and para and miniwing pilots camping together in the LZ and enjoying the opportunity for closer inspection of the

“other” sports’ gear and techniques. Event organizer Gingher Leyendecker reports that this year’s event had the best-ever attendance: 60 pilots!

Why we went: The USHPA fall BOD meeting was in Texas in mid-October. Sturtevant philosophy suggested that rather than spending all those hours in airports and aboard airplanes getting to Texas for the three-day meeting, we’d rather hitch up our little trailer and make a three-week road

trip through the southwest and a bit beyond. We’d make the Dixon White fly-in, held the first weekend in October, our first destination, then move on to Oklahoma City to hang out with some long-time hang gliding friends we hadn’t seen in years, maybe catch some flying in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and finish with the BOD meeting in Austin as our final stop before driving back home to Washington State several weeks later. Makes perfect sense, right?

What we found: Beautiful fall weather, all the way from Washington down and across to Arizona. We pulled into the LZ at Sheba Crater late Friday afternoon, and found a sizable contingent of pilots already established or in the process of setting up their camping rigs; a mini tent-and-trailer city, with dogs and kids and kites and Frisbees, was springing up clus-tered around the windsock. Ah, yes, and there was the wind, making erecting tents a challenge and launching a wing of any sort or size out of the question. Still, the infamous shuttle, affectionately known as The Beast and expertly driven by PG pilot and Beastmaster Travis Tarr, made a run up so the optimistic could check out launch when the wind appeared to be dropping to a manageable level just before sunset. No such luck, but the crew who’d piled in for the ride to the top launch received a consolation prize of a spectacular sunset view from the lower “bench” launch before driving down in the dark.

The next morning The Beast was ready to roll before the sun was up, and those intrepid pilots who took advantage of that early morning run (brrrrr!) were able to log some air-time—some sledders, some soaring—before conditions once again tipped towards too strong. George and I got our act to-gether in time for the second round, but by then it was clearly blown out for all on the top launch, and quickly became too strong for most, even on the lower bench. While the high-wind-proficient pilots were able to get off safely and manage not to blow back, most of us either jounced down the rough, steep road in The Beast or opted for the less bone-jarring walk

LEFT Flying with white streamers to remember Dixon White | photo by Noah Grezlak. BELOW LEFT The Beast at Craters | photo by Gingher Leyendecker. BELOW RIGHT National Fly-in. RIGHT The National Fly-in saturday night party getting underway. Photos by George Sturtevant.


the 500 feet down to the LZ.Camping in the LZ has many advantages, not the least of

which is a front-row seat for the entertainment of watching skilled pilots landing in an active, windy LZ. There were no whacks, no drags—clearly those with the skills to launch in the windy conditions were also able to get themselves back to earth gracefully and safely.

By late afternoon it appeared that the wind was abating; Travis fired up The Beast, and pilots began piling gear aboard and scrambling for a seat or a secure spot to stand. We were packed in tighter than sardines in a can, wings stacked in the center, pilots squished together on the bench seats or braced between the benches and the gearpile. The consensus was driving to the top would waste precious moments—with 36 of us (somebody did a body count as we all clambered out of the scrunch) wanting to get off the hill before sunset, time was of the essence.

And the bench launch was perfect! Everybody got airborne, some taking the available lift up high enough to find them-selves parked in the stronger flow above, many of us opting to stay low enough to assure we’d make it down to the LZ before dark. I arrived above the windsock high enough to make some turns before landing right near our trailer; look-ing back towards the hill before setting up my final approach, I was amazed by the sight of probably 20 paragliders at all elevations between me and the crater, all pointing in the same

direction, facing into the wind and the sunset. That alone was worth the price of admission!

Later, as we packed our wings in the deepening twilight, someone pointed out the space station flying across the sky above us, setting us all wondering if the astronauts were expe-riencing a flight as magical as ours had been.

Sunday morning George and I got up before sunrise, early enough to be on the first Beast run up to launch. It was al-ready blown out on the top, but conditions were quite doable, although a bit cross, on the bench. Many pilots flew with long white streamers, in memory of Dixon and anyone else they wished to keep close in their hearts during their flight. George and I both launched as soon as we could get set up, yester-day’s experience suggesting that he (or she) who hesitates is likely to be stuck on the ground. Sure enough, shortly after our brief sledders, a handful of pilots launched into soarable air, and then the game was over. The Beast came down laden with more gear than bodies, many disappointed pilots having opted to walk down the rough road rather than enduring the enhanced jouncing of a lightly-laden Beast.

Clouds were developing to the south and moving rapidly towards the LZ. By 10 a.m. the wind was strong enough to make the final few landings tricky, and packing up wings and tents worked best as a community effort. Clearly there was rain moving in, and the flying was over. As everyone scurried around to say goodbyes and trade hugs and phone numbers,

http://flytorrey.com


the first drops of rain arrived, and soon the last of the camp-ers headed for home.

Why you should put next year’s Dixon White Memorial Fly-in on your list: Participating in a flying event that’s been ongoing for decades can be a surprisingly educational experi-ence—there’s so much history in our sports that gets passed on only around the campfire by those who were there in those early days.

On a less esoteric level, this fly-in has so much to recom-mend it. A partial list: The $50 entry fee included camping in the LZ, rides to launch in The Beast, a dinner party at a local restaurant on Saturday evening, and a T-shirt. Women pilots take note: There were 10 of us registered, 1/6 of the entrants, offering a rare opportunity to share our impressions of small gliders and harnesses, and trade suggestions on aspects of flying that are unique to us gals. Pilots of all skill levels, flying hangs, paras and miniwings, from all across the country, were mixing it up in the air and the LZ. Some wing-specific ste-reotypes were re-considered, and some preconceptions about safety and performance and required skills were, perhaps, debunked. When we’re all in the air together, it’s easy to see that all of us free-flyers, regardless of wing choice, have more in common than we might have realized.

After the fly-in Lindsay Matush, a P-3 pilot from St. Louis, told me, “The Arizona flying community is amazing. I was

able to tack on a weekend at the fly-in a couple of days before a conference in Phoenix. It was fun to watch a small adventure-city erect in the middle of the desert—with over 50 tents, RVs, and vehicles carrying pilots from all over the region. From a night at the brewery and artwalk in Flagstaff, to a weekend of fun flying and high-wind kiting, an exploration of some local (waterless) waterfalls, a great fiesta at the 2 Bar 3, a bonfire-gone-tumbleweed-incinerator, listening to the lore of the legends of our sport, and the highest ratio of female pilots I’ve ever seen— this event was an all-around blast, and the Arizona pilots made a Midwest gal feel really welcome.”

So there you have it. I’m writing this article in the Buffalo Mt. LZ, near Talihina, Oklahoma, after spending the day with instructor Ron and his two new P-2 students,

flying extended sledders at Panorama Point and Buffalo, both new sites for George and me. Back home near Seattle it’s raining, and we’re grateful for this opportunity to stretch our summer season a bit, and to enjoy the camaraderie that seems inherent in road-tripping to sites beyond your home turf and with pilots outside your own community. I urge you to take advantage of some of the many fly-ins that are an integral part of our national flying scene. Maybe I’ll meet you at one of them in 2016!

http://flytorrey.com

34 HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINEEDGEWATER PARk near CLEVELAND, OHIO | photo by Brian Fowler

EDGEWATER PARk near CLEVELAND, OHIO | photo by Brian Fowler


From a satellite photo, the wheat fields of central Washington look like the swirling, golden eye of a storm, tucked under the arm of the Cascade rain

shadow. The sky lives up to the impression of the land-scape, for sure. According to Martin Henry, “Chelan can have some of the meanest, roughest, air in the world.

When it wants to, it can deliver a very bad day. But if you take the time to understand the beast, it can also deliver some of the sweetest, strongest, cross-country conditions imaginable—the kind of conditions that can deliver a lot of world records.”

Martin Henry knows what he’s talking about. He and

LOVE TRIANGLESMartin Henry, Mia Schokker & their Chelan World-Record Factory

by Annette O'Neil


his wife of almost 40 years, Mia Schokker, have been pur-suing records out there on their beloved “flats” for decades. Between them, they have knocked out a couple dozen records, both Canadian and World, and they’ve done it without jostling other pilots at a crowded competition launch waiting for a stranger to call the day.

“It’s simple. It’s carving turns, climbing in the invisible air and making the glide,” Martin adds. “It’s dust, wind, wheat and sun. It’s perfect.”

Martin was in high school when he learned to fly. One of his schoolmates showed up in class with precisely the same issue of National Geographic that hooked Bob Wills on the sport—the 1972 Otto Lilienthal Meet issue.

“When you consider that flying a sailplane was very, very expensive and these were the days when anyone could run off a hill with a rickety thing made of bamboo and

plastic, it makes sense,” Martin explains. “Lots of people got into flying hang gliders because it fit their budget. I was a high school kid with a Volkswagen Beetle and not much else, so I certainly qualified. I found some plans and built one. In 1973, I ran my wing off a tiny little hill near Vancouver and never looked back. That was the spark that inspired me for the next 42 years and keeps inspiring me today.”

Martin had taken a break from flying when he and Mia

OPPOSITE Martin and Mia celebrating Mia’s 2008 150km FAI (class 05, rigid wing) world record (with her favorite Dutch beer). LEFT Mia paragliding training, Burnaby Mountain Park, Vancouver B.C. Canada. TOP Mia’s early hang glider flights, Sumas Mountain, Fraser Valley B.C. Canada, 1979. BOTTOM

Martin, 1973 home-built glider.


met. A couple of friends had suffered grievous recent ac-cidents, from which one had died. Perhaps drawn upward by the punchy thermals of the new romance, he came back to the sport, and Mia came with him. Now, as well as bagging record after record in hang gliding, the two fly paragliders (for fun, not comp) and have quietly risen to the status of great pilots. You won’t find them courting sponsorship online or off or pouring buckets of gasconade all over the Internet; instead, they’re contented to fly over Chelan like happy-go-lucky stone-cold pros and do some interesting storytelling on their personal blog.

The pair—arguably, one of the all-time-great airsports couples—has a lot to share with the rest of the commu-nity. Some examples:

1. Choose your sTuDenTs weLL.“I met my best, and only, hang gliding student at an

outdoor club in 1979,” Martin grins. “And then I married her. She regularly teaches me a thing or two. The day she flew a women’s distance record at the Canadian Nationals, I was one proud husband, watching my student becoming the teacher. Of course, I sank out that day and broke my glider, so I was a combination of bitter and delighted.

“We’ve been flying together now for 36 years, and this has included a lot of competitive flying in there. Mind you,” he laughs, “the stress has cost me most of my hair.”

2. ThInk ouTsIDe The ComP.“At the beginning,” Martin remembers, “We had a fever

for competition. We started going to competitions for the

challenge, for meeting of people, and for improving our cross-country skills. Every single weekend, we drove 400 miles or so to compete. It was crazy.”

In the very beginning, when the couple started on the circuit, hang gliding competitions were much more casual. They were organized fly-in style and were mostly about duration in the air.

“If the wind got really strong,” Martin laughs, “some-body would get blown somewhere and that was called cross-country. Soon, competitions started to change. Pilots suggested we should try to go someplace. Maybe the organizers would assign a goal, or maybe they’d just call it open distance and the pilot who flew the farthest that day would win. Gradually, the comps got more regi-mented.”

In 1989, both Martin and Mia represented Canada in the world championships in eastern Switzerland.

“It wasn’t a very good competition,” Martin remembers. “The weather was bad, and a fatality occurred that wasn’t related to the meet but really put a damper on things. At that point, we realized we’d spent a lot of money getting there (we had to pay our own way) and didn’t get much return on the investment, so we kind of soured on compe-titions.

“It hurt our flying,” he continues, “concentrating on trav-eling to events that never really produced what we were in the sport for, which was flying. We also took issue with other people instructing us to fly when our better judg-


ment was telling us no, today isn’t a good day.”Around that time, the couple started to fly the Chelan

Cross-country Classic, a contest with a completely differ-ent format. The contest allowed you to pick your day. You could either choose not to fly or throw out your worst day and pick the value of your task. Closed triangles had high value; open distance had less. That way, you got to pick what you felt comfortable with, and that flexibility really sparked the direction the couple ended up taking in the sport.

The location was reasonably convenient—just across the border from their Canadian home—and Chelan gave them their first taste of big flatland flying. Almost imme-diately, they developed a passionate interest.

“At that time,” Martin says, “in order to get onto the flats, we had to launch off Chelan Butte. The bulk of flying takes place only 700 feet over the edge of the flatlands, near Lake Chelan and the Columbia River. So we had this mountain to take off from, but you had to get lucky. Back then, with that equipment, you had to be lucky to get away, or very good or very good and very lucky.

“When we first went to Chelan, in the early ‘90s,” he continues, “it was a bad time for fires, and there was talk

about restricting access to the launch. We loved flying out on the flats but realized that getting out to the flatlands from the Butte would be difficult, so we started to think about alternatives. We had seen pilots from Minnesota get up using a tow, and we had close relationships with pilots from Alberta, where there was a fair bit of towing going on, so in the mid-’90s, we ended up following suit.

“I’m a mechanical guy. Why would I buy a winch for $2000 when I could spend $20,000 building one, y’know?” he says, good-naturedly. “So I designed the Towforce pay-out winch myself.”

Later, the Towforce winch evolved into a specialized tow system for rigid-wing hang gliders. The rig soon became the way the couple pursued records, and it ended up being a very important turning point in their flying ca-reers. “We welcome inquires on towing, especially towing rigid wings and payout-winch systems,” Martin says.

“Through the years, we’ve acquired a lot of knowledge on the topic. We’re more than willing to share it.”

Missing the challenge of competition but not the com-

LEFT Towforce tow rig rolling up to cruise. ABOVE GoPro snap taken over Waterville, WA, with Chelan Butte in the background.


petition format, Martin and Mia looked to the solitary pilot’s best goalpost: the list of world records.

“The records that we both have are basic triangle records, flying closed course,” Martin says. “We learned to hate open distance. Actually, now that we fly rigid wings, I can comfortably say that flying open distance on a rigid wing is flying a straight line to divorce. And to no friends. Nobody’s going to like you anymore.

“Now,” he continues, “flying open distance just doesn’t make sense, especially in an area where you can fly around and come back. We’ve focused a lot on the 100km, 150km and 200km triangles. We’ve been trying to crack a de-clared 300km triangle. That’s the ultimate goal for both of us.”

“At this point in our careers,” Mia adds, “we’re going for quality of flights, not quantity.”

3. aPPreCIaTe your moDern TooLs. reaLLy.The closed-course triangles that the couple flew back in

the late ‘90s were declared via FAI protocols. “You’re going to have to appreciate that we didn’t have

GPS back then,” Mia says. “You had to use photographic evidence, have witnesses, and a barograph. You had to have paperwork and official observers.”

The two managed to jump through the hoops regard-less. “We managed a few records back then,” Martin quips,

“But the records were easy…the paperwork was killer!”Finally, in the early 2000s, GPS started to come into

play—and, with it, the OLC (On-line Contest) brought the ability to compete on your own schedule.

“We just started to look at flying big triangles, learn the area and fly them a lot,” Mia explains. “We focus on the FAI triangles, because they’re worth more points. The OLC satisfies the competition bug and makes a huge dif-ference in our flying: It lets you pick your days, so you fly the big stuff when it’s available. Now, in all of our flying, the overall goal is just to get out and come home. On the right day, records can be a part of that goal, and that works out great for us.”

4. reConsIDer your equIPmenT.“I know a lot of people don’t agree with this statement,”

Martin says, “The young bucks really enjoy those twitchy thoroughbreds. But high-performance flex wings are brutal on the body. We’ve flown practically every contest wing. But a high-performance flex wing will wear you out.”

He finally hit a point where he was consistently landing with painful joints from flying big, rough air. At the end of his tolerance for pain, he decided to give a rigid wing a try. Mia, at the same time, had a bit of neck surgery for a compressed vertebra (unrelated to flying), so she followed suit.

“Immediately,” Martin says, “we found that the differ-ence between flying a high-performance flex wing and a


rigid wing was night and day. It makes such a difference for your body, and the stress is so much lower when you’re flying. Especially with the tail, it’s a little bit like a sail-plane: graceful, like a Cadillac ride instead of a tiny sports-car. I can’t go hotdogging or buzz launch like I did on my flex wing, but the benefits, for us, are enormous.

“It’s also longer-lived,” he notes. “I would change a high-performance flex wing every two to three years. I’m flying a rigid wing glider now that’s a 2005. That thing has 10 seasons and almost 900 hours on it. I put a second sail on it, but it’s pretty much as it was—and it’s still capable of keeping up with the latest wings.”

5. make greaT PILoT frIenDs—Then, share DIrT PaTroL.

“In the old days,” Mia notes, “you’d just get a driver and go up the hill. Everybody flew. Nowadays, with the towing, we have a small team of trusted pilots, and we take turns crewing for each other.”

“Towing is complicated with the rigid wings,” Martin adds. “Nobody operates our tow rig unless they’re a pilot. So: We split our flying. It works best for us with a crew of four people; you just switch off and, when your turn comes to run the tow, you just enjoy that rest day.”

“Our flights tend to be anywhere between four and seven hours,” Mia says. “Honestly, if I fly for five or six hours in one day, I’m OK not to fly the next. It doesn’t have to do with being an aggressive pilot or not—at our age, it’s just preservation!”

6. CaLL LuCk for whaT IT Is.Martin and Mia are staunch proponents of personal

risk management. That said: In 40 years of flying, some-thing’s bound to go wrong eventually.

“In the late ‘80s,” Martin remembers, “There was one dramatic event in the Canadian Rockies that left behind a pretty distinct memory. I was out on a cross-country flight, and I tumbled my Wills Wing HP. I miraculously recovered—all luck, no skill—and flew a slightly bent glider out to a safe landing in the valley. To say I was lucky is an understatement. I’m still amazed I made it through that. It’s a real testament to the strength of my old Wills Wing HP.”

7. gIve baCk.In addition to the flying, the Henry-Schokker jug-

gernaut is a great contributor to the hang gliding commu-nity. Through the ‘80s and ‘90s, Martin (and Mia) served in several capacities—from local director, all the way up to president—of the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada.

“A very proud moment for me, back in 1992, was pass-ing into regulation a special document that gave hang glid-ing and paragliding legal access to a very large portion of Canadian airspace,” Martin says. “It was a very long, hard-fought battle—our whole community got into it. I was fortunate to have the pleasure of being a pain in the side of all the government officials who would have preferred to have kept us out of nearly all Canadian airspace. Sad to say, this battle may never be over.”

Maybe so, but this author’s bet is that Martin and Mia will prevail.

OPPOSITE TOP Martin paragliding off Chelan Butte, 2013. BOTTOM Mia parahiking, Mount Cheam, Fraser Valley, B.C. Canada. BELOW Martin & Mia's favorite tow site.


for Pilots

IOS

by Steven Carter

APPSI

f you own an iPhone, then you’re likely taking it with you on every flight now, but probably only as a backup for your radio to use for calling for retrieve or rescue. It’s capable of

doing much more. There are now several iOS apps can make your iPhone a powerful flight instrument with features not offered by most hardware-based devices.

A conventional hardware-based vario has every feature that it will ever have on the day you buy it. That requires that you guess which features you’ll need in the future. If you’re wrong and buy a vario that’s too simple, then you have to buy an entirely new device at considerable additional expense. Many iOS flight apps have in-app purchases. That allows you to use the app for free or at reduced cost now and add additional functions à la carte later if you decide that that you need them.

A conventional vario requires you to choose all the func-tions that the device will ever have when you decide which model to purchase. With an iOS app, pilots chose the func-tions from a comprehensive list that includes every feature from the most basic to specialized features used in competi-tion or when flying in crowded airspace.

A conventional vario limits your control of the device to the physical buttons provided by the manufacturer. iOS apps do not use any physical buttons after they’re started. If you need to switch screens, waving your hand over the iPhone’s proximity sensor in the top portion of the bezel accomplishes it without even touching the device.

A conventional vario has fixed locations and sizes where data is displayed on the screen. Most iOS apps allow you to easily chose what appears, where it appears, and how large it


appears.If you already own a vario, then iOS apps for pilots and a

Bluetooth GPS/Vario can provide a source of redundant data using something that you likely already have with you.

If you’re new to the sport, and you haven’t yet purchased a vario, then using your iPhone as your flight instrument could save you money. Using the iPhone allows you to accrue the cost acquiring your instruments over time rather than in a single purchase. You can begin with a free or paid app. Later, you can add a Bluetooth GPS/Vario to supply additional data to your apps.

A conventional vario has no use outside of flying and an iPhone alone has little use in remote areas without any cel-lular data signal. In both cases, they’re a big investment for devices that are useless in much of the USA. Connecting an external Bluetooth GPS/Vario makes your iPhone a more useful flight instrument and powerful navigational tool for driving, hiking, sailing and other activities done where no cellular signal is available.

WHY IOS?An August 2015 study of the Android OS market by Open Signal found an extremely challenging and time-consuming market for software developers. Fragmentation had more than doubled in two years to over 24,076 distinct devices, running 21 different versions of Android OS, and using dozens of different screen sizes and user interface details.

The iOS market was more consistent and simple. As of September, 86% of the users were using iOS 8. That ensures that nearly every user can use the apps reviewed in this article. With only three iPhone screen sizes, those apps will fit the display and resolution of the iPhone used.

The majority of motorized aviation pilots who use an elec-tronic flight bag use an iPhone or an iPad. The development of apps for paragliding and hang gliding is following a similar path with best apps being created first or exclusively for iOS.

THE BEST APPSAll of the apps have some basic features in common and those are listed below. To my surprise, only one, the SensBox app, includes a graphic or analog vario. By that, I mean the half circle that usually appears on the left side of a vario.

sensboX This app is the result of contributions from market-leaders Flytec, Brauniger, and ButterFly Avionics. As a result, the same app is called Sensbox, Butterfly FreeFlight, and Butterfly FreeFlight Pro.

The free app can be supplemented by the following in-app

purchases:• Social Functions ($11) — Displays other LiveTrack24

users in the vicinity• Competition Features ($28) — Competition tasks and

numerous task-specific features including start and finish lines; cylinders with start, in, out, and finish.

• Cross-country Features ($34) — Direct upload to online contests, OLC optimization, FAI optimizer, and climb optimizer.

The $120 Pro version includes all the in-app purchases available in the $45 version, but inexplicably costs two dol-lars more than simply adding them to the $45 version. The total cost for a usable combination of hardware and software ranges from $304 to $569.

This is the most expensive of the apps included in this review, but worth it. No other app more closely replicates the features of a standard competition-level vario or offers as many configurations for flight parameters. The developers have incorporated their many years of knowledge and experi-ence to produce an app that has the features of a competition-level hardware vario with the ease-of-use of an iPhone app. This is the only app that can meet all the needs of a competi-tion pilot without any functional compromises.

The SensBox is the only app that requires the use of an external Bluetooth GPS/vario. Without one, it’s useless. Many other apps need a Bluetooth GPS/Vario for best per-formance, but will rely on the internal GPS and barometric sensor in the iPhone 6 if the external device is not available or if it fails in-flight. That ensures no data loss so long as either the iPhone or the external Bluetooth GPS/Vario is recording.

The SensBox app works only if the SensBox ($449) or Flynet ($259) external Bluetooth GPS/Vario hardware is present. These are two of the more expensive Bluetooth GPS/Varios. Other external Bluetooth devices are not usable with

FEATURES COMMON TO EVERY APP

AUDIO VARIO

DIGITAL VARIO

ALTITUDE

FLIGHT DURATION

GLIDE RATIO

HEADING

GROUND SPEED

MAP THAT ROTATES AND MOVES

THERMAL MARKER

FLIGHT LOGGING


this app. However, it has the advantage that it will continue recording data if the iPhone fails. In that instance, you lose only the display.

fLyskyhyThis $9 app is a remarkable combination of low cost and excellent functions. It’s ideal for pilots who want to try using an iPhone as a flight instrument but who aren’t ready for the financial commitment required to use the solution offered by the Flytec, Brauniger, and ButterFly Avionics trinity.

A Bluetooth GPS/Vario is recommended for accurate altitude and climb-rate information, but FlySkyHy will work using only the GPS, compass, and barometric sensor built-in to the iPhone 6. In my experience, that built-in hardware was acceptable for casual flying. The principal issue is that the iPhone 6 takes up to 1.3 seconds to deliver barometric altitude data to the app. If you want more rapidly deliv-ered information about your climb and descent rates, then FlySkyHy is configured to work with a greater variety of external GPS/Vario hardware than other apps. FlySkyHy can form a Bluetooth connection to the SensBox, FlyNet, iPico, and XC Tracer.

The best feature of the FlySkyHy is the extent of its customization. Every element of every screen is fully configu-rable. At any time, the user can use a finger to select, position, resize, delete, and add elements. If you accidentally switch it into configuration mode while flying, then you need only wait a few seconds and it’ll exit to the run mode.

FlySkyHy also offers a few unique features. For example, wind direction data is used to move thermal markers to their most likely location given your glider’s current altitude.

skyLoggerThis $6 app has more in-app purchases than any other app. That allows the user to pay only for the features he or she needs. Options include maps from third parties ($12), live tracking ($3), track traces ($1), airspaces ($5), accelerometer ($3), maps from third parties ($12), connecting to a FlyNet vario ($10), and connecting to a Masqott altimeter, a com-pany that’s now out of business ($2).

The app comes configured to work with FlyNet Bluetooth GPS/Vario and the SensBox Bluetooth GPS/Vario. It offers a large variety of helpful features, some of which are not of-fered by any other app. An example is “climb-rate traces.” For a specified amount of flight time, the map shows circles where one has climbed in green and where one as descended in red, with the size of the points proportional to the rate of change.

No other app has as many export options for file formats, competition-compliant files, logbooks, flight information, and statistics. Every commonly used file format is supported and all diagrams, maps, and charts can be emailed or copied, al-lowing use of the data in ways not yet anticipated.

SkyLogger offers large instruments that are easily custom-ized including an unusually large compass rose. Previously flown flights can be visualized on a moving map. Its cost, long list of features, and customizability make it most comparable to the FlySkyHy app.

SkyLogger is being actively developed and frequently im-proved through free updates. The current version is 10.2 and it was released on August 10, 2015.

ThermogeekThis $4 app includes access to a database of over 40,000 ther-mal locations to help you know where to fly at a new location before you even launch. Unfortunately, those locations are all in southern France, central Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. Thermogeek can import airspace data for USA and many other countries as well as use of any user-provided URL, but airspace files do not include thermal locations, thereby depriving pilots in the USA of one of its best features.

Thermogeek offers a “coring view” for visualization of thermals found while flying. The last 100 locations are shown as a line that is either in red, to indicate climbing, or blue to indicate sinking. The length of the line indicates the time spent climbing or sinking. I found this unusual presentation created a scattered pattern of lines on the map that were pointing every which way and too difficult for me to interpret while managing the other complexities of thermal flying.Freeflight Pro


The Thermogeek app connects to numerous Bluetooth GPS/Vario including the FlyNet, SensBox, and devices using the Texas Instruments SensorTag.

Thermogeek is the product of Thomas Bähler, who up-dated it as recently as June 2015. It’s an impressive production for a single person and it reflects Mr. Bähler’s love of free flight, but it lacks the sophistication of other offerings.

LIveTraCk24+This is the official app of LiveTrack24.com and one of the more unique offerings. It’s the only free app of sufficient qual-ity for me to include it in this review and it barely qualified.

LiveTrack24+ requires a cellular data signal for full functionality, but an innovative triple-buffer allows it to immediately detect and cope with signal loss and all kinds of interruptions by compressing the data and transmitting it whenever the signal is restored. LiveTrack24+ can achieve up to 95% data compression to minimize data traffic and in-crease successful transmission if you briefly fly into areas with weak signals. The level of data compression and the frequency of transmission are also dynamically adjusted so that it sends more frequent reports when you fly faster or are rapidly descending in an area where a signal is available.

A unique feature of the LiveTrack24+ app is that a pilot can use it to send messages, including SOS. This feature makes it similar to a SPOT tracker, but of course this feature works only when a cellular signal is available, making it a less robust solution.

The LiveTrack24+ is focused on the Group Monitor feature that is similar to the social functions that are an $11 in-app purchase for the SensBox app. Group Monitor allows a group of pilots to see each other’s position and instrument details in real time. Instrument details shared are vario, speed, altitude, wind, and distance and direction to the other pilot in radar mode or on a map. This feature could be useful for retrieve drivers and cross-country pilots.

Group Monitor requires a paid subscription to the LiveTrack24 service, but the free version provides altitude, course, vario, and wind info in an easy-to-read and intuitive interface even without a cellular data connection.

APPS NOT RECOMMENDEDFlyNet App (Advanced Sport Instruments)—This app was written for use with the FlyNet range of tiny and lightweight Bluetooth GPS/Varios, but it is only intermittently available in the US App Store and has no documentation.

ParagliderX ($4, Erika Ishikawa, http://paraglidex.com)—Primarily a flight logger. It offers in-flight real-time data but with an interface that is impractical for use while flying. The publisher’s website offers no useful information.

iVariometer ($7, KS0ft, http://ks0ft.com)—Feature-rich, but has a wildly complex, awkward, multi-colored display that is very difficult to read. Its Russian developer last updated in June 2012 and the publisher’s website no longer exists.

Winpilot (free, Jerry Plaszowiecki, http://winpilot.com)—Designed for use by sailplane pilots, but potentially useful for paraglider and hang glider pilots. It offers a User’s Manual updated as recently as June 2015. That’s a rare feature in this market, but despite that, I found the operation of the app utterly indecipherable and unusable. If you’d like to try, a Facebook page offers direct interaction with the developer and other users and the app allows users to send messages directly to the developer.

iXTremeGlider ($2, Yannick Vennet, no website)—All the standard features but in a very cluttered display with tiny text and no support from the app developer.

OPERATIONAL CHALLENGESgPs & baromeTrIC DaTaOnly the iPhone 6 and new models have a barometric sensor. The sensor is accurate but it reports data only every 1.3 seconds and lags about three seconds behind the actual move-ment.

FlySkyHy overcomes that limitation by using GPS to calculate a baseline altitude before launch and the barometric sensor for altitude during flight as required by many competi-tions. It works, but it is still not as accurate and responsive as a dedicated variometer.

The optimal solution is an external hardware-based GPS/

LiveTrack24+


Vario. These can connect via the Lightning port or Bluetooth.The best options for pilots are listed below. The Bad Elf

Plug-in connects directly to the Lightning connector on the iPhone. It has zero configuration: Just plug it in and apps immediately start receiving GPS data. There are no batteries to charge and pass-thru Micro USB connection allows charg-ing of the iPhone while it’s connected. However, this plug-in model has no barometric altimeter and works with only a single device at a time. The Bluetooth models offer far more features.

A Bluetooth vario has a barometric altimeter and can si-multaneously stream GPS data to up to five devices. It works without a cellular data connection and with any location-based app that uses GPS data. That makes it useful for many other outdoor activities (e.g., driving, hiking, cycling, boating, running, etc.). The versatility mitigates the additional cost.

The SensBox external GPS/Vario stands apart from the other Bluetooth varios. It is a powerful, free-standing computer that records data up to 20 times a second making it useful for acrobatic flying. It offers full redundancy with the iPhone app ensuring that you do not lose your data if the iPhone shuts down.

vIsIbILITyUsing an iPhone as your flight instrument requires precise control over the angle of your flight deck. The iPhone is bright enough to read in direct sunlight, but only if it’s facing more directly at the pilot than is required for a conventional vario.

The iPhone screen can act as a mirror reflecting the sun di-rectly back into your eyes. Most screen protectors do nothing to reduce glare. Instead, you need an antiglare filter, like those made by 3M, or vertically-polarized sunglasses.

The safety of polarized lenses for pilots is a source of debate; however, all the sunglasses sold at Flytec.com are po-larized and in 2015, XX2i Optics, an eyewear brand popular for polarized lenses, became a sponsor of the US Paragliding Team.

PoweriOS devices use a lithium-ion polymer battery that is one of the best of all mobile computers. It’s designed to retain 80% of its capacity after 1000 charging cycles and has no memory effects so you don’t need to completely discharge before recharging. In fact, Apple states that daily use of the battery (i.e., partial discharge and full recharge) results in the best lifetime performance. Daily flying will also improve your paragliding performance.

Apple states the battery life is around 10 hours for normal use. Pilots can expect it to last about four hours when simul-taneously running the onboard GPS and an aviation app. That’s longer than the typical paragliding flight. Apple’s tips for maximizing battery life are here: http://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/.

envIronmenTaLParaglider and hang glider pilots regularly fly in conditions far harsher than those for which the iPhone was designed. This is one of the key disadvantages of using an iPhone as your primary flight instrument.

The iPhone has a storage temperature of -20ºC (-4°F) to 45ºC (113° F) and an operating temperature 0ºC (32ºF) to 35ºC (95ºF). Cold will temporarily reduce battery perfor-mance but heat can permanently reduce battery life. An iPhone attached to a flight deck has the entire back without any cooling airflow. If left lying in the sun, the black screen will rapidly heat above ambient temperatures and beyond its operational limits. It will then enter thermal protection mode to prevent damage. Never leave your iPhone in a closed ve-hicle, never leave it in the sun unnecessarily, and never charge it when it’s 35ºC (95ºF) or warmer. Very bad things happen when lithium batteries overheat.

IOS APPS REVIEWED

FEATURE SENSBOX FLYSKYHY SKYLOGGER THERMOGEEK LIVETRACK24+

creator FlyTec Renevision Skywind Thomas Bähler Emmanouil Andreadakis

URL http://www.flytec.com/SensBox.html http://flyskyhy.com http://www.skywind.eu/SkyLogger/EN/index.html

http://thermgeek.bähler.ch

http://www.livetrack24.com/docs/mobile

price free, $45, & $120 versions $9 $5.99* $4 free

Bluetooth vario integration requires SensBox recommended yes yes no

wind speed & direction yes yes yes yes

airspace maps & warnings

visual & acoustic with profile view and free updates $6 in-app purchase yes yes no

live tracking $11 Social Functions in-app purchase for LiveTrack24 LiveTrack24 & LocToMe.com $3 in-app purchase;

LiveTrack24 or VGPS serversLiveTrack24, DHV Live

XC, Skylines-Project.orgOfficial app of

LiveTrack24.com

waypoints and task inputs

$28 Competition Features in-app purchase $6 in-app purchase yes no

export file formats (e.g., ICG, KML, KMZ, GPX,

IGC, CSV, LiveTrack.com)

IGC, KML, XML, CSV, & Dropbox IGC, KML, livetrack.com, XContest, ParaglidingForum, DHV, email

IGC, GPX, KML, Leonardo, XCCup, XContest, XC globe-

based OLC servers, emailIGC, XContest, DHV LiveTrack.com

import file formats CUP, DAT, GPX, PLR, dhv.de, OpenAir.net, ParaglidingEarth.com WPT, GPX IGC, CSV, GPX, KML, SkyView

database

URL for airspace, thermal database for Europe, any

airspace file in openair format

no

Bad Elf Pro+

SELLING PRICES FOR BLUETOOTH VARIOS

$100 Bad Elf Plug-in GPS with Lightning Connector

$100 Dual XGPS150 Bluetooth GPS

$130 Garmin GLO Bluetooth GPS

$150 Bad Elf Pro Bluetooth

$259 ASI FlyNet 3

$300 Bad Elf Pro+ Bluetooth

$359 ASI FlyNet XC

$365 XC-Tracer

$449 Flytec SensBox


Prevention is easy. Ensure that the screen is always angled as steeply as possible relative to the sun. In many cases, your flight deck will accomplish that for you. If not, anything that increases the angle or shades the screen can help. If you’re using a thigh mount, try rotating it to the inside of your leg when you’re not using the screen. If you’re flying with an external battery, don’t charge the device unless necessary and wait until you reach the cooler temperatures at higher altitudes before starting the charge cycle.

If your device overheats during flight, you have few options. Turn it off as soon as possible. Use anything handy to shade it. If it’s securely tethered, you can detach the Velcro from the flight deck and let it dangle in the passing airflow to expose all sides to the air, thereby accelerating cooling.

One insurmountable limit is altitude. The maximum op-erating altitude for the iPhone is 3000 meters (10,000 feet). If you regularly fly higher, then the iPhone is not a viable option for you.

CONCLUSIONSUsing an iPhone as a flight instrument allows a level of customization not currently offered by single-purpose flight instruments. It can save you money. When paired with an external GPS/Vario with Bluetooth, an iPhone is useful for flying, driving, and other sports even when no cellular signal is available. The iPhone requires more protection than a dedi-cated vario because it was never designed for use in the harsh environments in which we fly.

My review found that the best overall app for use by free-flight pilots is the SensBox (AKA Butterfly FreeFlight, and Butterfly FreeFlight Pro), but it’s also the most expensive and

it requires purchase of a GPS/Vario with Bluetooth.The next best app was FlySkyHy. It cost only $9, and

although it works best with a Bluetooth GPS/Vario, it is useful without one. It is the most easily customizable and understood of all the apps reviewed.

The following people and organizations generously supplied the hardware and software necessary to write this article:

• Paul Warren loaned his XC Tracker GPS/Vario.• René Dekker, Renevision, provided FlySkyHy app.• Butterfly Avionics provided Butterfly FreeFlight Pro app.• Hartwig Wiesmann, Skywind, provided Skylogger app.• Steve at Flytec USA supplied technical consultation and the SensBox manual

IOS APPS REVIEWED

FEATURE SENSBOX FLYSKYHY SKYLOGGER THERMOGEEK LIVETRACK24+

creator FlyTec Renevision Skywind Thomas Bähler Emmanouil Andreadakis

URL http://www.flytec.com/SensBox.html http://flyskyhy.com http://www.skywind.eu/SkyLogger/EN/index.html

http://thermgeek.bähler.ch

http://www.livetrack24.com/docs/mobile

price free, $45, & $120 versions $9 $5.99* $4 free

Bluetooth vario integration requires SensBox recommended yes yes no

wind speed & direction yes yes yes yes

airspace maps & warnings

visual & acoustic with profile view and free updates $6 in-app purchase yes yes no

live tracking $11 Social Functions in-app purchase for LiveTrack24 LiveTrack24 & LocToMe.com $3 in-app purchase;

LiveTrack24 or VGPS serversLiveTrack24, DHV Live

XC, Skylines-Project.orgOfficial app of

LiveTrack24.com

waypoints and task inputs

$28 Competition Features in-app purchase $6 in-app purchase yes no

export file formats (e.g., ICG, KML, KMZ, GPX,

IGC, CSV, LiveTrack.com)

IGC, KML, XML, CSV, & Dropbox IGC, KML, livetrack.com, XContest, ParaglidingForum, DHV, email

IGC, GPX, KML, Leonardo, XCCup, XContest, XC globe-

based OLC servers, emailIGC, XContest, DHV LiveTrack.com

import file formats CUP, DAT, GPX, PLR, dhv.de, OpenAir.net, ParaglidingEarth.com WPT, GPX IGC, CSV, GPX, KML, SkyView

database

URL for airspace, thermal database for Europe, any

airspace file in openair format

no


CADE PALMERlife on the wing | PHOTOS BYCade Palmer flies full time, year round, all over the world. Check out a few select shots from his year.


TOP LEFT Launching! Volcan Acatenango couldn’t be more perfect for flying, Guatemala. TOP RIGHT Taking the easy way down from Volcan Atitlan, after climbing and spending the night on top, Guatemala. BOTTOM LEFT The best view of the Makapuu lighthouse and its rugged coastline is from above. Jorge Atramiz below. Oahu, Hawaii. MIDDLE Working hard with Rebecca Bredehoft on a rare, clear volcano-viewing day. Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala. RIGHT Rebecca Bredehoft taking her Delta 2 out over the crystal-clear sea at Makapuu, Oahu, Hawaii.


LEFT Volcan de Fuego emitting a cloud of ash as we fly from Volcan Acatenango, 13,045’, Guatemala. ABOVE Going inverted on the rim of Ilopango in El Salvador. HERE Clouds of Guatemala. RIGHT

Rebecca Bredehoft taking in the view of Volcan de San Vicente across Lake Ilopango, El Salvador. BOTTOM

LEFT Todd Weigand and Herminio Cordidio gliding out tandem over North Vancouver, British Columbia. MIDDLE Lakefront property, Panajachel, Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala. RIGHT Gliding in formation with Rebecca Bredehoft and Manuel Laengle looking down over Panajel, Guatemala


JOHN TAYLORCALIFORNIA DREAMING | PHOTOS BY


LEFT Soaring above the Ganung Payung launch site. The Kutuh temple on the point in the distance, and the vast Indian Ocean stretching out beyond.

LEFT Ryan Goebel soaring the lower bluff over the beach at Waddell Creek, CA. HERE High clouds, high winds over Lake McClure, CA. BELOW LEFT Glenn Zapien’s attention-catching custom sail sitting in the Lake McClure LZ. RIGHT Charlie Nelson flying as the fog rolls in during sunset at Waddell Creek. BOTTOM LEFT Colorful spring flowers in the LZ at Yosemite. Craig Stanley walks his glider to the breakdown area after a perfect landing. RIGHT Chris Valley & Brian Foster mentally preparing for launch at a challenging site. Don’t worry, be happy!


LEFT Pak Ketut Manda, a steady, reassuring voice of wisdom and advice as I slide along the jungle cliff, setting up to top land.

LEFT Colin Perry's post-flight beverage. HERE Wayne Michelson. RIGHT Carmella Moreno's preparing-to-launch face. BOTTOM LEFT Tim West ‚Cap “Tim” America. BELOW Brian Foster & John Taylors. BOTTOM

RIGHT Joy & Mike Jefferson.


ABOVE Charlie Nelson at Waddell Creek. HERE John Taylor at Yosemite (Glacier Point) | photo by Wendy Valley. RIGHT Brad Martin, pre-flight.


I highly value paragliding—not only because I love to fly. I love the impact it has had on other areas of my life.

What I have learned about myself from flying would have cost me a fortune from a qualified psychologist!

I now realize that fear has stopped me from achieving much of what I have aspired to in life. Understanding how I react to fear and how I overcome fear in paragliding has allowed me to deal with fear outside of flying.

Everyone has his or her own fears; some are common and some, unique. That’s why when we share our fears, we are sometimes able to connect with others. In paragliding, some of us fear collapses, some fear throwing a reserve, and others just fear injury. Regardless, most pilots empathize with any of these fears. But occasionally, fears appear that don’t make sense.

I did an SIV course last year at the end of the 2014/15 season, after having around 250 hours under my belt. I signed up and made the hefty financial investment, because I had run into a cranky thermal that left my wing a ball of washing during the last season. In the heat of the moment, I looked up and knew I wouldn’t be able to pick it out, so I calmly, but quickly, brought the wing to the point of stall and recovered. The

wing popped out and I flew away. Pilots with more experience, with

whom I shared my story, told me I should have tried to pick it out before stalling. They emphasized that I was lucky I had recovered the stall properly, because that could have gone badly. (I had learned how to stall from a training video.) Maybe it was time to get some professional training.

The SIV course scared the hell out of me. We towed up from a lake and for five of my six flights, I found the tows excruciating, knowing that my perfectly inflated wing was going to be forced to do ugly stuff soon.

The first tow wasn’t bad, because I didn’t know what was coming. On the second tow, however, I experienced an uncontrolled spin that was uncomfort-able, to say the least and, quite frankly, terrifying. I froze. In every collapse I had dealt with prior to this one, I had been pleasantly surprised to find that I would enter an uber-state of flow during which I was razor-focused. This time I froze with fear. I could hear the instruc-tor on the radio telling me over and over again what to do, but I couldn’t react. Eventually, I got my act together and did as the instructor had instructed and recovered.

I think I had another uncontrolled

spin on the fourth flight. These spins made stalls feel like a walk in the park. Anyway, I was OK; we debriefed and all was good.

The resultant problem was that I was now terrified my wing would collapse at any moment, even though that made no sense. I had handled every collapse prior to the SIV course without incident. I should have been even better equipped to handle collapses now. But I was afraid during every flight. I’d look up at my wing and cringe, as it bobbed in turbulent air.

During my first trip a few months after the SIV, I flew in a competition in the US and did pretty well. But I wasn’t enjoying my flying much, because all that “watching the wing” was pretty tiring.

I talked with many people about my fear and finally deduced that I was afraid of freezing again, not of collapses, per se. A much more experienced pilot assured me that if I found myself in an uncontrolled spin again, I would react better. Maybe not perfectly, but the next time always would be better. Guess what—that released me. My flying from that point on got a whole lot more enjoyable. I didn’t care so much whether my wing moved about, because I knew if I had to deal with a spin, I would do

LEARNINGFrom the Fear

by Kirsten Seeto

better than last time, and the last time I had survived.

So I learned from this experience. First, talking about your fears helps. I actually didn’t find anyone who could say they had suffered the same experi-ence. But talking about my fears before they stopped me from wanting to fly helped me start to articulate what I feared.

For a long time, I thought I was afraid of my wing collapsing. That was frustrating, because I’d never been afraid of this before, and I’d handled many collapses just fine. Talking about it helped me work out that I was afraid of freezing and being unable to make decisions when I most needed to. This I could understand—this was a new ex-perience for me, and it made sense that this would shake me. Understanding it meant I could work on it.

Second, by talking about it I didn’t feel as if I had to pretend I enjoyed every minute of each flight. It’s not a great feeling to be on the ground after a flight, surrounded by excited pilots, having to pretend you had as great a flight as they did. I could say, “I really didn’t like the conditions at that second turn-point—that scared the hell out of me.” And other pilots’ reactions would help me gauge how I was progressing

with controlling my fear. I might even find a pilot who’d talk it through with me.

I am pleased to say that I have been able to shake this fear and move on to enjoying more of my flying again. This doesn’t mean that I don’t experi-ence fear, though. I have been lucky to spend the winter this year working in San Francisco and flying during their summer around California on week-ends. California is good place to train for Australian flying conditions; it can be really active during the height of the season here. I have been scared at some point on just about every flight I have taken. But I have developed some strategies to deal with my fear. These include:

Determining if the fear is real or imagined.

Reminding myself how I was rewarded with awesome flying in previ-ous flights by resisting the urge to land early, remembering that conditions can improve.

Recognizing when I have a low reserve of courage and moving into different air BEFORE I use up all of that courage.

Reminding myself that flying away from the rest of the gaggle to find nicer air is better than just landing.

I’m not suggesting that these strate-gies will work for everyone, but by con-tinuing to work on your fear, you can come up with a list of mechanisms to use when you recognize fear is making decisions for you.

Dealing with fear has not only been great for my flying, but also has had an impact on what I have been able to transfer to my daily life. I have learned how to identify fear and separate it from gut feeling. Once I recognize fear, I know how to handle it. I know I can get through fear by taking my time. I know not to give up on something immediately if I am frightened, and I will be able to find the courage to get to my goal if I take some interim steps. I know not to ignore fear and throw myself into something quickly that might cause me to squander my cour-age and leave me hanging. I also know not to get frustrated, if I feel scared of something that seems illogical. Given time, I will work out exactly why I am frightened and be able to deal with it.

The mind is crafty, but you can influence it if you learn how it operates. That is an on-going project, for sure, but just to know it’s possible gives me enormous hope that I can achieve many things that I aspire to in life.

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HANG GLIDING PARAGLIdINGRTG RGN NAME STATE RATING OFFICIALRTG RGN NAME STATE RATING OFFICIAL

H-1 2 David Egli CA Michael JeffersonH-1 2 Daniel Ellison CA Dan DeweeseH-1 3 Kevin Collins HI Jon ThompsonH-1 4 Chris Summers CO Mark WindsheimerH-1 7 Emanuele (manny) Nordone IN Scott SchneiderH-1 8 Shawn Carmody NH Michael AppelH-1 9 Matt Koepsell PA Randy GroveH-1 9 Tyler Jenkins OH John AldenH-1 9 Russel Miller Jr PA Billy VaughnH-1 9 Igor Negrashov VA Aaron JohnsonH-1 10 Pallavi Ghole GA Aaron JohnsonH-1 10 Liam Pearson NC H Bruce Weaver IiiH-1 10 Spenser Walker SC Aaron JohnsonH-1 11 Chad Garrett TX Jeffrey HuntH-1 11 Hazem Arafeh TX Clifton BryanH-1 12 Jim Black NY Rick BrownH-1 12 James Olendorf NY Amy RoseboomH-1 12 William Just NY Amy RoseboomH-1 12 Noran Malouf NY Justin LamarcheH-1 12 Zoe Sheehan Saldana NY Josh LauferH-2 1 Brandon Fowler AK Lyndon ThomasH-2 1 Joshua Rybar AK Lyndon ThomasH-2 2 Ryan Matthews CA Barry LevineH-2 2 James Kundrat CA John SimpsonH-2 2 Mike Crowell CA Robert BoothH-2 2 Travis Knight CA Robert BoothH-2 2 Peter Suchanek CA John SimpsonH-2 2 Daniel Ellison CA Dan DeweeseH-2 3 Kevin Collins HI Jon ThompsonH-2 4 Chris Summers CO Mark WindsheimerH-2 7 Emanuele (manny) Nordone IN Scott SchneiderH-2 8 Joseph Stearn MA Josh LauferH-2 8 Steve Hennessy MA Eric MeibosH-2 9 Eric Kriner PA David ZeiglerH-2 9 Michael Bauman MD Steve WendtH-2 9 Eric Lloyd MD Adam ElchinH-2 9 Tyler Jenkins OH John AldenH-2 9 Jason Scheurer VA Adam ElchinH-2 9 Igor Negrashov VA Aaron JohnsonH-2 10 Branden Gary SC Aaron JohnsonH-2 10 William Freund NC Michael AppelH-2 10 Pallavi Ghole GA Aaron JohnsonH-2 10 Spenser Walker SC Aaron JohnsonH-2 11 Matthew Croix Nelson Parrott TX Josh LauferH-2 11 Hazem Arafeh TX Clifton BryanH-2 12 Michael Gorenflo NY David ZeiglerH-2 12 Thaddeus Knouse NY Matthew HickersonH-2 12 Jim Black NY Rick BrownH-2 12 James Brindley NJ Michael AppelH-3 2 Irvin Bough CA Eric HinrichsH-3 4 Stephen Gal UT Kevin KoonceH-3 4 Matt Meibos UT Jon ThompsonH-3 9 Ric Caylor PA Thomas JohnsonH-3 9 Alan Friday PA Jon ThompsonH-3 9 Nolan Hollingshead VA Jon ThompsonH-3 10 John Goodwin GA Matthew TaberH-3 10 Christopher Parrish GA Clifton BryanH-3 11 Osvaldo (bins) Ely TX Michael HowardH-3 12 Hunter Hollingshead NJ Jon ThompsonH-4 4 Melissa Axen UT Kevin KoonceH-4 8 Crystal Wolfe ME Michael HolmesH-4 8 Michael Abdullah CT Justin LamarcheH-4 11 Greg Fergus TX Gregg Ludwig

P-1 1 George Tolbert AK Charles (chuck) WoodsP-1 1 Anjin Herndon WA Denise ReedP-1 1 Andrew Moore WA Jonathan JefferiesP-1 1 Theresa Fielding WA Jonathan JefferiesP-1 1 Conrad Chapman AK Evan MathersP-1 1 Samuel Brewer AK Evan MathersP-1 1 Teri Neilsen WA Michele McculloughP-1 1 Paul Singer OR Joshua Harbick

P-1 2 Joseph Finkel CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 Mark Stiving NV Mitchell NearyP-1 2 Larry Ostheimer CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 Martin Rosengreen CA Danielle KinchP-1 2 Dale Hall CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 Brad Forde CA Daniel RibasP-1 2 Dzmitry Lazerka CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 3 David Maples CA Danielle KinchP-1 3 Logan Maples CA Danielle KinchP-1 3 James Borgman CA Marcello DebarrosP-1 3 Brian Stiber CA Danielle KinchP-1 3 Edward Matus CA Danielle KinchP-1 3 Austin Sonnier CA Gabriel JebbP-1 3 Edward Huckle CA Rob SporrerP-1 4 Max Mcgowan CO David BoueresP-1 4 Reuben Sadowsky CO Etienne PienaarP-1 4 Gregory Seiver CO Kay TauscherP-1 4 D. Scott Drinkard CO Kay TauscherP-1 4 Brad Welch UT Stephen MayerP-1 4 Tyler Anthony UT Jason LaughlinP-1 4 Steve Mallory UT Nathan (alex) TaylorP-1 4 John Baker UT Ken HudonjorgensenP-1 6 Aidan Evans Rob SporrerP-1 6 Thomas Martin OK Chris SantacroceP-1 6 Ng Ka Lok Tung NgP-1 7 Mark Langenfeld WI Jaro KrupaP-1 7 Marshall Macfarlane MI Stephen MayerP-1 7 Allen Missenis MI Keith RiemersmaP-1 7 Noah Weber MN Steve SirrineP-1 7 Joseph Mikrut MI Michele McculloughP-1 7 Marjorie Dejongh WI Gabriel JebbP-1 7 Jay Bohnert IN Chris SantacroceP-1 8 Eric Turer NH John DunnP-1 8 Dennis Mackey NH John DunnP-1 8 Igor Santos MA Joseph SeitzP-1 8 Subheet Sood MA Mert KacmazP-1 8 Cliford Shelton MA John DunnP-1 8 Oleg Sychevsky NH Joseph SeitzP-1 8 Fred Delano ME John DunnP-1 8 Yuriy Degtyarev MA Heath WoodsP-1 9 Roland Sommers OH Jaro KrupaP-1 9 Ted Grove OH Marcello DebarrosP-1 9 Andrea Lee OH Mert KacmazP-1 9 Brian Boger VA Kevin HintzeP-1 9 Robert Arthur VA Kevin HintzeP-1 9 Nathan Contreras VA Kevin HintzeP-1 10 Katie Dunn TN David HanningP-1 10 Carlos Delahoz FL Pete MichelmoreP-1 10 Leo Siqueira FL David HanningP-1 10 Kelly Myrkle GA David HanningP-1 10 Joshua Gantt NC Marco StelterP-1 10 Markus Kainulainen GA David HanningP-1 10 Josiah Rich NC Michele McculloughP-1 10 Bradley Tudor GA Stephen MayerP-1 10 Antonio Moutinho FL Michele Mccullough

RATINGS ISSUEd

2015AUG

RTG RGN NAME STATE RATING OFFICIAL RTG RGN NAME STATE RATING OFFICIAL

P-1 12 Mack Carr NY Clark (paco) CarrP-1 12 John Mcconnell NJ Danielle KinchP-1 12 Anja Hampson NY Terry BonoP-1 12 Isaac Councill NY Joseph SeitzP-1 12 Yuliya Zabiyaka NY Joseph SeitzP-2 1 Antonija Ventenbergs WA Douglas StroopP-2 1 Eric Toshalis OR Maren LudwigP-2 1 Dan Hutchinson WA Brad HillP-2 1 Richard Tseng OR Kelly KellarP-2 1 Mark Larson WA Denise ReedP-2 1 Jonathan Spengler AK David HanningP-2 1 Anjin Herndon WA Denise ReedP-2 1 Mary Juliano WA Denise ReedP-2 1 Andrew Moore WA Jonathan JefferiesP-2 1 Theresa Fielding WA Jonathan JefferiesP-2 1 Stuart Burns AK Scott AmyP-2 1 Conrad Chapman AK Evan MathersP-2 1 Samuel Brewer AK Evan MathersP-2 1 Keith Hoffman WA Douglas StroopP-2 2 Jesse Mccrosky CA Jesse MeyerP-2 2 Chris Carolin CA Jesse MeyerP-2 2 Carl Braun CA Jesse MeyerP-2 2 Arthur Korn CA Jesse MeyerP-2 2 Angela Bickar CA Jesse MeyerP-2 2 Shahrouz Deyhim CA Jesse MeyerP-2 2 Aurore Develay CA Jesse MeyerP-2 2 Richard Hart CA Wallace AndersonP-2 2 Larry Ostheimer CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-2 2 Brad Forde CA Daniel RibasP-2 2 Darlene Nyswonger CA William LaurenceP-2 3 Daniel Cortez CA Richard KennedyP-2 3 James Borgman CA Marcello DebarrosP-2 3 Denise Garrison CA Danielle KinchP-2 3 Filip Menovsky CA Danielle KinchP-2 3 Mark Faulkner CA Philip RussmanP-2 3 Edward Huckle CA Rob SporrerP-2 4 Max Mcgowan CO David BoueresP-2 4 Jonathan (derrek) Haft CO Etienne PienaarP-2 4 Reuben Sadowsky CO Etienne PienaarP-2 4 Gregory Seiver CO Kay TauscherP-2 4 Allison Beggs CO Gregory KelleyP-2 4 D. Scott Drinkard CO Kay TauscherP-2 4 Bruce Stott CO Chris SantacroceP-2 4 Brad Welch UT Stephen MayerP-2 4 Michael Noel CO John DunnP-2 4 Martin Johnson CO Etienne PienaarP-2 4 Tyler Anthony UT Jason LaughlinP-2 4 Robert Talbot CO Etienne PienaarP-2 4 Chad Johnson CO Granger BanksP-2 4 Steve Mallory UT Nathan (alex) TaylorP-2 4 John Baker UT Ken HudonjorgensenP-2 5 Joshua Woodard MT Joshua WinsteadP-2 5 Paul York MT Joshua WinsteadP-2 6 David Shaw OK Britton ShawP-2 6 Tang Siu Tong Ma Chiu KitP-2 6 Aidan Evans Rob SporrerP-2 6 Thomas Martin OK Chris SantacroceP-2 6 Gleb Semerenko Murat TuzerP-2 6 Can Eroglu Murat TuzerP-2 6 Gaurilov Dmitry Murat TuzerP-2 6 Douglas Martin Ray LeonardP-2 7 Mark Langenfeld WI Jaro KrupaP-2 7 Marshall Macfarlane MI Stephen Mayer

P-2 7 Allen Missenis MI Keith RiemersmaP-2 7 Noah Weber MN Steve SirrineP-2 7 Nick Stoner IL Marc RadloffP-2 7 Joseph Mikrut MI Michele McculloughP-2 7 Joshua Hoffer ND Andy MacraeP-2 7 Jay Bohnert IN Chris SantacroceP-2 7 Delvin Martin WI Steve SirrineP-2 7 Adriel Martin WI Steve SirrineP-2 7 Doran Martin WI Steve SirrineP-2 7 Jadon Martin WI Steve SirrineP-2 7 Ethan Martin WI Steve SirrineP-2 7 Scott Jaeger MN Andy MacraeP-2 8 Tom Lanning MA Joseph SeitzP-2 8 Philip Rossoni MA Joseph SeitzP-2 8 Michael Freedman MA Joseph SeitzP-2 8 Marcin Drochomirecki NH Joseph SeitzP-2 9 Roland Sommers OH Jaro KrupaP-2 9 Ted Grove OH Marcello DebarrosP-2 9 Brian Boger VA Kevin HintzeP-2 9 Patrick Golden PA Terry BonoP-2 9 Brian Levy DC Terry BonoP-2 9 Robert Arthur VA Kevin HintzeP-2 9 Nathan Contreras VA Kevin HintzeP-2 10 Katie Dunn TN David HanningP-2 10 Leo Siqueira FL David HanningP-2 10 Kelly Myrkle GA David HanningP-2 10 Chase Wilson FL Chris SantacroceP-2 10 Jeremy Barr TN David HanningP-2 10 Kyne Marshall TN David HanningP-2 10 Robert Lee SC David HanningP-2 10 Thomas Jaeger FL David HanningP-2 10 Markus Kainulainen GA David HanningP-2 10 Josiah Rich NC Michele McculloughP-2 10 Bradley Tudor GA Stephen MayerP-2 10 Antonio Moutinho FL Michele McculloughP-2 11 Kyle Oglee LA Britton ShawP-2 11 Colton Parker TX Marc ChiricoP-2 11 Jeff Sandefer TX Alejandro PalmazP-2 11 Hunter Ryffel TX Andy MacraeP-2 12 Richard Stein NY Benoit BruneauP-2 12 Ryan Mcgraw NY Benoit BruneauP-2 12 Thomas Allen NY Joseph SeitzP-2 12 Tanner Penzabene NY Benoit BruneauP-2 12 Varick Stringham Iii NY Benoit BruneauP-2 12 Jacob Kitchen NY Benoit BruneauP-2 12 Sherri Liang NY Benoit BruneauP-2 12 Urs Morgenthaler NY Ray LeonardP-2 12 Glen Hampson NY Terry BonoP-2 12 Isaac Councill NY Joseph SeitzP-2 12 Yuliya Zabiyaka NY Joseph SeitzP-3 1 Johnathan Nordstrom OR Justin BoerP-3 1 Scott Geuss AK Jake SchlapferP-3 1 Christopher Masteller WA Gabriel JebbP-3 2 Kevin Petrik CA Gabriel JebbP-3 3 Christopher Cram CA Gabriel JebbP-3 3 Paul Mattson CA Stephen NowakP-3 3 Urszula Clemins CA Gabriel JebbP-3 3 Christopher Tillier CA Marcello DebarrosP-3 3 Eddy Borysewicz CA Jerome DaoustP-3 3 James Borgman CA Marcello DebarrosP-3 3 Timothy Gundlach CA Robin MarienP-3 4 William Stevens CO Blake PeltonP-3 4 Ben Abruzzo Jr NM Charles (chuck) Woods

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P-3 4 David Cox CO Brad GunnuscioP-3 4 John Heinle CO Brad GunnuscioP-3 4 Chris Craig AZ Aaron CromerP-3 4 Charles Martin CO Michele McculloughP-3 4 Rob Gowler CO Stefan MitrovichP-3 4 Cedar Wright CO Matt HenziP-3 4 Ryan Runolfson UT Chris SantacroceP-3 5 Jason Mullins ID Charles (chuck) SmithP-3 5 Aaron Schreiber WY David ThulinP-3 5 Anneka Herndon ID Matt HenziP-3 5 Courtney Smith WY Scott HarrisP-3 6 Ming Kei Yun Peter HumesP-3 6 Yat Hing Wong Peter HumesP-3 7 Marshall Macfarlane MI Stephen MayerP-3 7 Patrick Joyce IN Jaro KrupaP-3 7 Adam Lepczak MI Marcello DebarrosP-3 7 Peter Weldon SD Christopher GranthamP-3 8 Rogerio Nascimento MA Jonathan AtwoodP-3 8 Susan Smith VT Heath WoodsP-3 9 Roland Sommers OH Jaro KrupaP-3 9 Ted Grove OH Marcello DebarrosP-3 10 Leo Siqueira FL David HanningP-3 11 Gabriel Harrop TX Jerome DaoustP-3 12 Dansi Qian NY Benoit BruneauP-3 12 Greg Martin NJ Terry BonoP-4 1 Douglas Paeth WA Jim HarmonP-4 1 Paul Barron WA Douglas StroopP-4 1 Howard Sill WA Richard ShallmanP-4 1 Tom Keefer WA Marc ChiricoP-4 1 Coty Hollifield WA Marc ChiricoP-4 3 Gareth Ashworth CA Marcello DebarrosP-4 3 David Hogan CA Rob SporrerP-4 3 Robert Echt CA Bob Hammond JrP-4 4 Keith Brown CO Ryan TaylorP-4 4 John Wolfe AZ Aaron CromerP-4 4 Dustin Lutomski CO Alejandro PalmazP-4 5 Jeff Silliman WY Scott HarrisP-4 6 Patrick Potgieter Rob SporrerP-4 6 Erdem Celik Murat TuzerP-4 6 Ozer Sarisakal Murat TuzerP-4 10 Steven Larson FL David HanningP-4 11 Kelly Miller TX Riss (rc) Estes

RTG RGN NAME STATE RATING OFFICIAL

CALENDAR, CLINIC & TOUR LISTINGS can be sub-mitted online at http://www.ushpa.aero/email _events.asp. A minimum 3-MONTh LEAD TIME is re-quired 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 in-clude 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 clas-sified to [email protected]. 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 inspect-ed carefully for fatigued, bent or dented downtubes, ruined bushings, bent bolts (especially the heart bolt), re-used Ny-loc 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.

CALENdARCLINICS & TOURS

Through aPr 17 > Valle de Bravo, Mexico - Yes, great flying and fun during the months Nov. through April in central Mexico. Hang gliding and paragliding. Team FlyMexico has been at this over 20 years and continues to offer packages for all levels, big selection of wings, more local knowl-edge than anyone, and the attitude to keep it all fun and safe. Basic package is in and out on Sundays with lodging and airport pickup and return includ-ed. Thinking about your winter flying? Think Fly-Mexico based in Valle de Bravo, Mexico More Info: Jeff Hunt, 800-861-7198, 512-656-5052, [email protected], www.flymexico.com.

Through Jan 17 > Valle De Bravo, Mexico - Fly Cuervo! Fly south this winter! Fly Cuervo! The best-valued tour package available. World-class lodging and logistics in one of the most flyable winter des-tinations on planet Earth, Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Improve your thermal and XC skills with advanced instructor/master guide David Prentice, aka Cuer-vo, with more than 20 years of paragliding experi-ence and 16 years guiding in Valle. We fly twice a day, every day! Valle de Bravo has something to offer for every skill level of pilot and is very fam-ily friendly. More info: call 505-720-5436 or email [email protected].

DeC 7-16> Brazil. Paraglide Brazil with Paracrane Tour. We’ll start in magical Rio de Janeiro, flying over the tropical forest surrounded by granite domes and landing on the beach, or try a flight to the world-famous Christ statue! After 3 days we head to Governador Va-ladares, for incredible XC opportunities. Depending on conditions other sites we may visit include Pancas, Castelo and Alfredo Chavez in Espirito Santo. Brazil is a unique paragliding and cultural experience! Open to strong P-2’s and up. Please note, you will need a Bra-zilian Visa. More info: 541-840-8587, or [email protected].

Jan 17-24 & Jan 31 - feb 7 > Tapalpa, Mexico. Tapalpa, Mexico Fly Week. Parasoft has been guiding pilots to Mexico in January since 1990. In 2002 we dis-covered Tapalpa, site of a 2003 World Cup event. With big launch and landing areas and no crowds, this is the best in Mexico! With three other sites nearby, you soar in any wind direction. To guide our clients well, we limit our group size to four and offer tandem flights to im-prove flying skills. More info: parasoftparaglding.com/mexico-flying, [email protected] or 303-494-2820.

Jan 18-28 > Valle de Cauca, Colombia - Fly Cu-ervo! Fly Colombia! Fly south this winter! Fly Cu-ervo! The Valle del Cauca, Colombia, has quickly become one of the most popular winter vacation destinations for paragliding, with amazing XC po-tential and breath taking views, Valle del Cauca is world-class paragliding. Improve your thermal and XC skills with advanced instructor/master guide David Prentice with over 20 years of paragliding experience. Enjoy world-class lodging and logis-tics as we fly several sites along the Valle del Cau-ca, Colombia. More info: 505-720-5436 or email [email protected].

Jan 22-29, Jan 29 - feb 5 & feb 5-12 > An-serma Nuevo, Colombia - Colombia Thermal and XC Clinic Roldanillo & Anserma, Colombia. Penn-sylvania Paragliding is running a thermal and XC clinic in sunny warm Colombia. Escape the winter and come to fly with us! Our focus is on improving your thermal & XC skills using both visual and ra-dio contact and air-to-air guidance. Daily analysis of flights in a 3-D simulation program will give you a great insight. Contact [email protected], 610-392-0050 or http://pennsylva-niaparagliding.com/Pennsylvania _ Paragliding/Colombia _ Tour.html

feb 5-13, 13-21, 21-29 > Eagle Paragliding is running 3 weeks of tours in Roldanillo Colombia. We guarantee unforgettable flying. Pilots of all lev-els can expect coaching on thermaling, XC Flying, Tandem XC flying. We’ve offered tours for over a decade all over the world. Our high-caliber staff members that support pilots during Eagle tours are unprecedented. Let Matt Beechinor, Marty DeViet-ti, Brian Howell, Rob Sporrer, and Dave Turner sup-port you. Visit www.paragliding.com, contact us at [email protected], or call 805-968-0980.

feb 7-21 > Medellín, Colombia - Paragliding & Yoga Tour Colombia 2016 We will we paragliding in seven sites along the Cauca River for two weeks. We start in Medellín on Sunday, February 7 and fin-ish in Cali Sunday, February 21. Yoga in the morn-ings before breakfast and briefing. Cross-country and instruction P-3 and P-4 pilots only, all levels of yoga. Accommodation, breakfast, ground trans-portation and guidance included. $2000. More Info: Sofia Puerta Webber. 818-572-6350 [email protected] www.shiwido.com

feb 25-28 > Lake Berryessa, CA - SIV/Super Acro Clinic This clinic will be hosted by Torrey Pines Gliderport Master Pilot and SIV/Acro Coach Gabriel Jebb, while Max Marien will coach the ad-vanced acro pilots. This will be a super clinic and cover everything from deflations, to helicopters, tumbles, misty flips, etc. Pre-requisites for acro pi-lots are to be able to bring it and go big! More info: www.flytorrey.com, email at [email protected], or call us at 858-452 9858.

HOW TO USECALENDAR & CLASSIFIED

http://www.flymexico.com

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.shiwido.com


6030

mar 31 - aPr 3 & aPr 4-6 > Yelapa, Mexico. Yelapa,Mexico: SIV maneuver clinics. Join us for another great learning and fun experience in beau-tiful tropical Yelapa. Tow up and land on the beach in a warm friendly location with lots of great plac-es to stay and eat. Brad Gunnuscio world class xc and acro pilot will be teaching the courses. As Brad says “Yelapa is by far the best place to do an siv clinic.” More info: Les at www.paraglideyelapa.com, or Brad at www.paraglideutah.com, or 801-707-0508

CLASSIFIEdBUSINESS & EMPLOYMENT

pROFLYGhT pARAGLIDING, ON MAUI hAWAII is always looking for talented Paragliding Instruc-tors. Must have years of experience in light wind, mountain conditions. Please contact Dexter: [email protected]

CLINICS & TOURS

COSTA RICA pARAGLIDING TOURS 2016 10th year with Advanced Instructor and guide Nick Crane week long tours most of January, February and March 2016 "We missed 2 days of flying in 3 months last season!" www.costaricaparagliding.com [email protected]

ITALY - Fantastico! Great flying! Great food! Great weather! ALL inclusive service suitable for all levels of pilots. Round topped grassy mountains and large flatlands. Flying with culture! www.flytaly.com

pARACRANE TOURS TO BRAzIL December 7-16, 2016 led by Advanced USHPA Instructor and seasoned guide Nick Crane www.costaricaparagliding.com [email protected]

PARTS & ACCESSORIES

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

SpECIALTY WhEELS for airfoil basetubes, round ba-setubes, or tandem landing gear. 262-473-8800, www.hanggliding.com.

POWERED & TOWING

pILOTS: FREE CROSSOVER TRAINING when you purchase your Miniplane Paramotor! Instructors: Add PPG to your offerings and watch the fun begin! Visit our website for more info: www.Miniplane-USA.com/USHPA

SCHOOLS & INSTRUCTORS

ALABAMA

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGhT pARK - The best facilities, largest inventory, camping, swimming, volleyball, more. Wide range of accommodations. 877-HANGLIDE, 877-426-4543, hanglide.com.

CALIFORNIA

AIRJUNKIES pARAGLIDING - Year-round excellent instruction, Southern California & Baja. Powered paragliding, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier 760-213-0063, airjunkies.com.

EAGLE pARAGLIDING - SANTA BARBARA offers the best year round flying in the nation. Award-winning instruction, excellent mountain and ridge sites. www.flysantabarbara.com, 805-968-0980

FLY ABOVE ALL - Year-round instruction in Santa Barbara & Ojai from the 2012 US Instructor of the Year! More students flying safely after 10 years than any other school in the nation. flyaboveall.com

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, [email protected], Mission Soaring Center LLC, leading the way since 1973. www.hang-gliding.com

COLORADO

GUNNISON GLIDERS - X-C to heavy waterproof HG gliderbags. Accessories, parts, service, sewing. In-struction ratings, site-info. Rusty Whitley 1549 CR 17, Gunnison CO 81230. 970-641-9315.

FLORIDA

FLORIDA RIDGE AEROTOW pARK - 18265 E State Road 80, Clewiston, Florida 863-805-0440, www.thefloridaridge.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:1-800-WALLABY wallaby.com 1805 Deen Still Road, Disney Area FL 33897

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, 1-877-426-4543.

http://www.flytec.com

http://flytec.com

http://parasupply.com


HAWAII

pROFLYGhT pARAGLIDING - Call Dexter for friendly information about flying on Maui. Full-service school offering beginner to advanced instruction every day, year round. 808-874-5433, paraglidehawaii.com.

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, [email protected].

MICHIGAN

TRAVERSE CITY pARAGLIDERS - Soar our 450’ sand dunes. Full time shop. Certified instruction, all levels. Sales, service and accessories for all major brands. Call Bill at 231-922-2844 or email at [email protected] Your USA & Canada Mosquito distributor, www.mosquitoamerica.com

MONTANA

BOzEMAN pARAGLIDING - Montana’s full time connection for paragliding, speedflying, & paramotoring instruction & gear. Maneuvers courses, thermal tours abroad, online store. www.bozemanparagliding.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE

MORNINGSIDE - A Kitty Hawk Kites flight park. The Northeast'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. Located in Charlestown, NH. Also visit our North Carolina location, Kitty Hawk Kites Flight School. 603-542-4416, www.flymorningside.com

NEW YORK

AAA hANG GLIDING Teaching since 1977, Three training hills, certified, adv instruction with mtn launch, tandems, towing, pro shop, pilots lounge, camping. We carry North Wing and Moyes, 77 Hang Glider Rd Ellenville, NY www.mtnwings.com 845-647-3377

FLY hIGh hG Serving the tri-state area with beginner and advanced instruction- the only school with THREE USHPA Instructor-of-the-Year recipients! Area's exclusive Wills Wing dealer. Superior customer service, lifelong support, the most competitive prices. Just 90-minutes from NYC. Come Fly High with us! www.FlyHighHG.com 845.744.3317 [email protected]

NORTH CAROLINA

KITTY hAWK KITES - The largest hang gliding school in the world, 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. Learn to fly where the Wright Brothers flew, located at the beach on NC's historic Outer Banks. Also visit our New Hampshire location, Morningside Flight Park. 252-441-2426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, www.kittyhawk.com

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, [email protected]


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

FLYTEXAS TEAM - training pilots in Central Texas for 25 years. Hang Gliding, Paragliding, Trikes. Hangar facilities Lake LBJ, Luling, Smithville www.flytexas.com 512-467-2529

UTAH

CLOUD 9 pARAGLIDING - Come visit us and check out our huge selection of paragliding gear, traction kites, extreme toys, and any other fun things you can think of. If you aren’t near the Point of the Mountain, then head to http://www.paragliders.com for a full list of products and services. We are Utah’s only full time shop and repair facility, Give us a ring at 801-576-6460 if you have any questions.

VIRGINIA

BLUE SKY - Virginia's full time, year round HG School. Scooter, Platform and Aero Tow. Custom sewing, paragliding, powered harnesses, trikes, representing most major brands. 804-241-4324, www.blueskyhg.com

INTERNATIONAL

BAJA MEXICO - La Salina Baja's BEST BEACHFRONT Airsport Venue: PG, HG, PPG: FlyLaSalina.com. by BajaBrent.com, He’ll hook you up! Site intros, tours, & rooms. [email protected], 760-203-2658

EXOTIC ThAILAND X/C CLINIC - Phu Thap Boek,Thailand's most awesome,highest flying site 5,200ASL.Open to P-2 and above.Come learn how to fly high and far! Very inexpensive! More info: [email protected]

FLYMEXICO - VALLE DE BRAVO and beyond for HANG GLIDING and PARAGLIDING. Gear, guiding, instruction, transportation, lodging - www.flymexico.com 512-467-2529 / 1-800-861-7198 USA

SERVICE

CLOUD 9 REpAIR DEpARTMENT - We staff and maintain a full service repair shop within Cloud 9 Paragliding; offering annual inspections, line replacement, sail repair of any kind (kites too!), harness repairs and reserve repacks. Our repair technicians are factory trained and certified to work on almost any paraglider or kite. Call today for an estimate 801-576-6460 or visit www.paragliders.com for more information.

RISING AIR GLIDER REpAIR SERVICES – A full-service shop, specializing in all types of paragliding repairs, annual inspections, reserve repacks, harness repairs. Hang gliding reserve repacks and repair. For information or repair estimate, call 208-554-2243, pricing and service request form available at www.risingair.biz, [email protected].

WINGS & HARNESSES

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

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.com; [email protected]; 315-256-1522

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RENEW your membershipat USHPA.aero to participate in our 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 must contact the USHPA office.

I must go up to the peak again, To the beckoning peak in the sky,And all I ask is a sturdy wing, And wind to lift us high.Bright sun, blossoming clouds,on top a straight-in breeze. Roiling leaves up the mountain’s face, And a strong launch made with ease.

I must go up to the peak again,For the call of the cloud streets highIs a wild call but a clear callWhich very few deny.And all I ask is a circling hawk, And a vario chirping loud,Tight turns in a thermal coreWhich take me to a cloud.

I must go up the peak againand climb towards the clouds and sun,And high aloft plot a course downwind,And let the glider run.And all I ask is a strong tailwind,A thermal if I sink low,A smooth green field at a long flight’s end,And to land in the sunset’s glow. With many thanks to John Masefield for Sea Fever.- Ralph E. Miller, Bluegrass Buzzards, Lexington , KY.

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http://www.flytec.com

hang gliding & paragliding vol45-iss12 dec2015

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