Hang Gliding & Paragliding Vol40/Iss05 May 2010

www.USHPA.aero

MAY 2010 Volume 40 Issue 5 $6.95 Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

On the cover, Jeff O'Brien takes in Yosemite. Meanwhile, it's a launch party at Edwards, Lake Elsinore, California | photo by RC Dave Freund.

MAGAZINE STAFF Paul Montville, Publisher: paul.montville@ushpa.aero Nick Greece, Editor: editor@ushpa.aero Greg Gillam, Art Director: art.director@ushpa.aero Martin Palmaz, Advertising: martin@ushpa.aero Staff writers: Alex Colby, Chris Galli, Steve Messman, Dennis Pagen, Christina Ammon, Mark “Forger” Stucky, Ryan Voight, Tom Webster Staff artist: Jim Tibbs Staff photographers: John Heiney, Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro

OFFICE STAFF Paul Montville, Executive Director: paul.montville@ushpa.aero Martin Palmaz, Director of Business Operations : martin@ushpa.aero Robin Jones, Information Services Manager : robin@ushpa.aero Beth Hollendorfer, Member/Instructor Services Administrator: beth@ushpa.aero Monica Wright-Tafoya, Office Coordinator : monica@ushpa.aero

USHPA OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

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 editor@ushpa.aero or online at www.ushpa.aero. HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine reserves the right to edit all contributions. We are always looking for well written articles and quality artwork. Feature stories generally run anywhere from 1500 to 3000 words. News releases are welcomed, but please do not send brochures, dealer newsletters or other extremely lengthy items. Please edit news releases with our readership in mind, and keep them reasonably short without excessive sales hype.

Calendar of events items may be sent via email to editor@ushpa.aero, as may letters to the editor. Please be concise and try to address a single topic in your letter. Your contributions are greatly appreciated. If you have an idea for an article you may discuss your topic with the editor either by email or telephone. Contact: Editor, Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine, editor@ ushpa.aero, (516) 816-1333.

Lisa Tate, President: lisa@lisatateglass.com Mark Gaskill, Vice President: airutah@hotmail.com Rich Hass, Secretary: richhass@comcast.net Mark Forbes, Treasurer: mgforbes@mindspring.com

ADVERTISING ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE SENT

REGION 1: Rich Hass, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Dave Wills, Urs Kellenberger, Bill Cuddy. REGION 3: Bill Helliwell, Rob Sporrer, Brad Hall. REGION 4: Mark Gaskill, Ken Grubbs. REGION 5: Lisa Tate. REGION 6: David Glover. REGION 7: Tracy Tillman. REGION 8: Jeff Nicolay. REGION 9: Felipe Amunategui, Hugh McElrath. REGION 10: Bruce Weaver, Steve Kroop, Matt Taber. REGION 11: David Glover. REGION 12: Paul Voight. REGION 13: Tracy Tillman. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Dave Broyles, Leo Bynum, Riss Estes, Mike Haley, Dennis Pagen. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR: Art Greenfield (NAA).

The USHPA is a member-controlled sport organization dedicated to the exploration and promotion of all facets of unpowered ultralight flight, and to the education, training and safety of its membership. Membership is open to anyone interested in this realm of flight. Dues for Rogallo membership are $270. Pilot memberships are $75 ($90 non-U.S.). Dues for Contributing membership and for subscription-only are $52 ($63 non-U.S.). $15 of annual membership dues goes to the publication of Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Changes of address should be sent six weeks in advance, including name, USHPA number, previous and new address, and a mailing label from a recent issue. You may also email your request with your member number to: info@ushpa.aero.

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.

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 the Publisher at publisher@ushpa.aero.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING (ISSN 1543-5989) (USPS 17970) is published monthly by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., 1685 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904, (719) 632-8300, FAX (719) 6326417. PERIODICAL postage is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine is published for foot-launched airsports enthusiasts to create further interest in the sports of hang gliding and POSTMASTER Send change of address to: Hang Gliding & Paragliding paragliding and to provide an educational forum to advance hang gliding magazine, P.O. BOX 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330. Canadian Post and paragliding methods and safety.

Publications Mail Agreement #40065056. Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3

DISCLAIMER The publication of any submissions, articles or advertising in HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine does not constitute an endorsement of the authors, advertisers, products, services, apparatus, processes, theories, ideologies, opinions, advice and/or recommendations presented, nor does it constitute an endorsement of the authors or companies involved. The statements of fact and opinions as well as any product claims in the submissions, articles, advertisments, artwork and photographs appearing in HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine are those of their respective authors, contributors and advertisers and not of the USHPA. The USHPA makes no representation, express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, nor assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, advice, opinion, recommendation, apparatus, product, product claims or process disclosed, in such submissions, articles, advertising, artwork or photographs. All individuals relying upon any materials published herein do so at their own risk. The USHPA is not responsible for any claims made in any submission, article, or advertisement. Advertisers may not, without USHPA's prior written consent, incorporate in subsequent advertising that a product or service has been advertised in a USHPA publication.

COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 2010 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.

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.

For change of address or other USHPA business call (719) 632-8300, or email info@ushpa.aero.

10MAY EDITOR

7

PILOT BRIEFINGS

8

ASSOCIATION

10

The Flying Effect

AIRMAIL

10

by Christina Ammon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

FOUNDATION

12

SAFETY BULLETIN

14

SITE HIGHLIGHT

CENTERFOLD

40

Hang Glider Hill | Bakersfield

TANGENT

64

DISPATCH

66

RATINGS

75

SITE HIGHLIGHT

76

Gold Hill | Telluride

USHPA STORE PAGE 78

PILOT PROJECTS

by John Fritsche. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

by Jeff Cristol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

SITE HIGHLIGHT Mt. Sentinel | Missoula

by Ian Freemole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

SITE HIGHLIGHT Glacier Point | Yosemite

by Adam West, Jeff O'Brien & Chris Valley. . . . . . . . . . . 36

N. CALIFORNIA CROSS COUNTRY LEAGE 2009 Everyone is a winner

by Jugdeep Agarwahl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

AYACUCHO Paragliding the Central Andes of Peru.

by Jeff Cristol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

GALLERY

58

Chelan in the Spring. Chelan will host the 2010 Paragliding Co-Nationals, and North America Paragliding World Cup | photo by Doug Stroop.

7

S

ome postulate that the free flight culture of today resembles the surfing community of the 1950’s. It is possible to go anywhere in the country where a free-flight group exists and get dialed into a scene with only a minor inconvenience.

We take part in a sport but, in reality, when the flying season kicks into gear, it becomes a lifestyle we base our daily, weekly, and monthly schedules around.

Weddings of members in the flying community, for example, can’t be planned until the flying event calendar is released. Fashion is dictated by its practicality for flight. Free flight specific jargon like specking out, dusty, feet-per-minute, and coring up dominates our shared parlance. We read and discuss monthly free flight periodicals, web discussions, and current thermal literature theory books—all preparing us to congregate and search for the glorious flying days of summer.

Regardless of wing type, our communal culture, made up of a diversified group of individuals, is committed to the search for the perfect climb, sledder, and acro lap and enamored with the life surrounding journeys in the skies.

No matter what aspect of the sport/lifestyle calls to each of us, we cherish the opportunity to harness the invisible waves that catapult us upward toward the clouds, to camp with our friends, to share ideas on meteorology, and to leave daily routines behind. This is flying. This is freedom.

USHPA’s magazine for May is focused on exploring flying sites, both classic and lesser known. Telluride, Colorado, Yosemite and Ant Hill, California, and Mt. Sentinel in Missoula, Montana, form a compilation of challenging Western destinations.

And, finally, the gallery in this issue is dedicated to David Barish, who died several months ago. Barish, Francis Rogallo, and Domina Jalbert all worked on NASA projects to design manned space capsule reentry systems. However, Barish’s vision of slope soaring these crafts, and the community and culture that grew from such an amazing sport, was distinct. After the NASA tests, he took the Barish Sailwing on tour to various ski resorts and performed demonstrations for spectators, hoping his Sailwing would take off as a summer activity. It took some time, but clearly ski resorts worldwide are now dazzled with many flights throughout the summer.

Thank you, Mr. Barish. Your vision was incredible!

New | Improved | Buzzworthy

PilotBRIEFINGS

 

 EAST COAST AEROBATICS The first ever East Coast aerobatic hang gliding meet will take place June 10th through June 13th at Highland Aerosports in Ridgely, MD in conjunction with the East Coast Championships competition. The primary purpose of this event is to train a cadre of judges on the eastern seaboard, and to showcase the talents of east coast aerobatic pilots. Thanks to a very generous grant from the Foundation for Free Flight, and matching funds from USHPA, we are able to bring head judge RC Dave Freund out from Southern California to lead the judge training and provide expert evaluations of all competitive rounds.

Sport Class, or limited difficulty, entrants are encouraged to attend to help define a working set of rules for this new class of aerobatic competition. Every sport class flight will be carefully watched and critiqued by an open class pilot to provide immediate feedback to help safely grow the sport of aerobatic hang gliding.

Total pilot and judge trainee numbers are limited to 10 and 7 respectively. Rounds will be flown in the mornings and evenings during the calm air portions of the day with a goal of having six total rounds flown.

8

 

Competitor costs are $395 per pilot which includes tow fees and smoke bombs, pre-registration is appreciated and encouraged. Judge trainees are volunteers and are responsible for their travel, room, and board.

However, one aerotow per judge will be provided daily.

Non-flying judges will receive an equivalent non-monetary gift. For more information and to register visit http:// www.usaero.org and http:// aerosports.net/ or contact Dallas Willis at dallas_willis@ yahoo.com

 GOLDEN 3 RELEASED Gradient’s new intermediate glider Golden3 successfully passed certification in three sizes (26, 28, 30). All sizes have been classified with EN/B LTF 1-2, and passed the test flight procedure without any problems. The result of the test flights confirmed the development team’s success (Dupal/Sykora) in designing an intermediate wing for a wider range of pilots. The small sizes 24, and 22, are passing the certification at this time. According to Gradient the whole Golden3 range will be certified by the beginning of the season. international: www.gradient. cx US: www.atlantaparagliding.com

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

 

 SKYWALK'S CHILI2 Two additional sizes of Skywalk's Chili2 have been successfully LTF09-B (1-2) homologised: size L (takeoff weight 100-120kg) and XS (60-80kg).

Innovative 3-Line technology and an aspect ratio of 5,67 points have allowed the CHILI2 to advance into new dimensions performancewise, at least in the 1-2 class.

Info: www.skywalk.info.

TTT GOES COMP WILD The Tennessee Tree Toppers are increasing opportunities for our members to participate in fun competitions in 2010. The TTT have several different formats planned, and competitions spread out over the entire flying season.

We intend to host the most comprehensive competition schedule in the nation!

There will be a monthly fun weekend series, a race to goal sprint series, an open distance within the Sequatchie Valley meet, and of course another Team Challenge! This is a total of 31 days of organized competition!

The TTT Weekend Series was conceived to encourage camaraderie and fun flying for all our members. We will host a fun competition every second weekend of the month from March through

November. TTT BOD meetings are also held the second weekend of the month and members are encouraged to attend.

The Weekend Series will feature a full range of events including spot landings, streamer drops, and total number of flights in a day. There will also be a cross country competition.

All events will have scoring formulas and weighted tasks posted so pilots may choose to participate in anything from landing skill competition to XC tasks.

Competitors score points to determine winners for the weekend, and accumulate points toward the Weekend Series Champion at years end. We will award winners in XC, spot landing, streamer drop, and even most flights in a weekend.

All contests will be divided into Rigid Wing, Topless, Double Surface and Single Surface categories. We’ll have many out and back, triangle and goal tasks posted on a Google Earth map for pilots to study. Values of each predetermined task will be posted. Pilots will log in and report their flights to a special program written

by Jeff Nibler for this series, scoring on the honor system.

There will be cookouts in the camping area after Saturday’s flying so everyone can hang out and share tales of the day’s events. The TTT Weekend Series will cost $20 to enter for the entire year!

More info: http://www. sequatchiecompetition.com/ index.html, http://tennesseetreetoppers.org, and http:// www.facebook.com/pages/ Tennessee-Treetoppers.

Photos: Jérôme Maupoint ©

::: high performance The Boomerang GTO is the highest performance glider designed by Gin that has been certified. Like the world famous Ferrari GTO and Pontiac GTO – Gran Turismo Olomogato – means a race car that has been made street legal. The Boomerang GTO was designed with this concept in mind.

The GTO shares all of the great qualities found in the hugely successful Boomerang Sport; refined and direct handling along with excellent stability. >>> Aspect ratio 6.68 for 77 cells ::: EN D www.gingliders.com ::: GIN GLIDERS USA - SUPER FLY, Inc - tel. 801.255.9595 - Email. info@superflyinc.com

GO FURTHER.

Membership | Policy | Involvement

TheASSOCIATION USHPA NOTICE TO MEMBERS  USHPA oc- minimum of 25 flights above 299’ which casionally makes important changes require a landing approach. to the Association’s standard operating Please read the appropriate sections of procedures (SOPs) and other documents, SOP 12-02, Pilot Proficiency Program. especially documents used in the rating system. This column appears in the magazine to notify the members when imporInstructor Administrators tant changes are made. Please review the and Tandem Administrators latest documents in the Members Only section of the USHPA web site. If you The FOI requirement in SOP 12-05 has have any questions about these changes, been clarified. The FOI exam must be please contact your Regional Director. successfully completed prior to certification as an Instructor.

Please read the appropriate sections Paragliding Instructors of SOP 12-05, Directors/Examiners/ and Beginner paraglider pilots Observers/Instructors.

At the paragliding Instructor workgroup in 2009, the paragliding Instructors reAll members quested an addition to SOP 12-02 which was subsequently approved by the Board In addition to the changes above, there of Directors. The addition is as follows: are administrative and documentation 12-02.14(B)(1)(b) (Novice paraglider changes to SOP 02-02, SOP 03-03, SOP pilot requirements) Must have logged a 03-04, SOP 12-02 and SOP 12-07.

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

AirMAIL PENGUIN PENANCE  I'd like to apologize for my April Fool's absurdity "Saving Al Gore". It wasn't nearly as funny as my Parawhaling or Paradonking adventures.

And it was in no way meant to disparage environmental conservation. If anything, beyond pure absurdity, I was commenting on how a telegenic crisis tends to eclipse the little things we can all do every day to make a difference. Al Gore is an inspiring leader who has addressed the environmental crisis eloquently and unfailingly. I really would name a polar bear after him should I be honored with such a task. But no, I would never eat a penguin. I'll just go back to laying out the magazine and leave humor to the humorous in the future.

Greg Gillam, Art Director

Paradonking in 2009

Parawhaling in 2008

Fail in 2010

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

11

Preservation | Safety | Education | Competition | Competition Excellence

TheFOUNDATION

by Ken Swarm

SITE PRESERVATION MADE PAINLESS  Site used to launching and landing in remote Preservation might seem a topic that has terrain, with no neighbors. It became imgotten plenty of coverage in our magazine portant to create and solidify relationships and websites, but no other topic hits home not only with landowners, but also with like the loss of a flying site. Nothing re- our fellow non foot-launched aviators.

This has been a positive trend for site duces membership and the flying population like the loss of a place to launch and preservation. When we meet and cultivate land. Site preservation should be, and is, a friendships with aviators who are willtop priority and primary stated goal of The ing to share their site (airstrip), we have a Foundation for Free Flight. While this stronger and better chance at preserving might seem obvious, until you experience that site. By partnering with these aviators and interact with the Foundation, you and the Foundation for Free Flight, we’ve might not realize the powerful ally you been able to secure our home flying site for the foreseeable future. We worked out have on your side.

Flying participation in our little corner a lease arrangement at the Far View airport of the world was in a fragile state not long with landowners and fellow flyers (other ago. We’d lost sites due to encroachment light sport pilots). The one area where we by housing, litigation fears, landowner were most in need of assistance was fundturnover, as had other parts of the country. ing, and the Foundation came through in But we had not anticipated an advanta- a big way.

The process of applying for a grant and geous situation that arose when aerotowing took on some prominence. At that time, getting it approved is straightforward. You we found ourselves sharing our flying sites merely fill out the grant application, statin Ohio with other forms of aviation (at ing your goals and needs. If your request airfields). This was new for folks who were is valid, the Foundation will work with

Fly

the

Alps

with Todd Weigand and Luis Rosenkjer

June 2010 Switzerland France Italy

www.paraglidingtrips.com 12

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

you to help you provide the documentation needed to ensure fulfillment of your grant. For example, you must have done due diligence and made significant financial contributions on your own before they consider your request. It’s important to start early, as the process is usually iterative. We found it very easy and painless. Just keep talking and working with the Foundation, and they’ll guide you to success.

Some history will shed light on how we got to where we are now. In the late 70’s, when most were thinking about how to make ends meet, worrying about gas shortages, and other concerns of the day, a small group of pilots began meeting once a month. These pilots were mainly concerned with how to get more airtime, how to fly safely, and how to acquire more flying sites. In the shop of the now defunct CGS Aviation, the pilots of northern Ohio began to loosely organize into what would eventually become part of the Ohio Flyers Association.

Over the years, the concerns over airtime and site acquisition and preservation, never seemed to abate, but the list of flying

sites stabilized. We managed to get permission to fly from a state park on Lake Erie (Edgewater State Park in Lakewood, Ohio) and established with the state the procedures to keep the flying safe, thus preserving the site.

Like many other groups in the flat areas of the country, we needed a means to get aloft without leaving the area for the weekend. So an effort to establish aerotowing locally was begun in 1983 by Jon Leak and a band of earnest volunteers.

In other areas of Ohio, pilots had also organized, started to procure launch sites, and begun to use aerotowing. These groups joined forces to become the Ohio Flyers Hang Gliding Association. The coalition of the pilots in the state was used to help procure more sites, maintain them, and insure them via the USHPA. This secured a number of sites indefinitely and helped others to be opened.

One of those sites, Far View, a small grassy airstrip in Hiram, Ohio, was secured because of the support of the Ohio Flyers. Initially, the airstrip was only used by the aerotowing group based there, but, eventually, other forms of aviation began to use the field.

Powered paragliders showed up for a few years. An Ultralight/Sport Pilot instructor moved in next door and set up an operation teaching new pilots how to fly.

Ultimately, the popularity of these operations provided the means to create a more formal arrangement with the landowners. We proposed an arrangement where the airstrip facilities would be secured for a fixed period of time and the landowner agreed.

Now all we needed was to acquire the funds to make it happen. Thanks to the generosity of the Ohio Flyers and Daedelus Club members, as well as support from the Foundation for Free Flight, we have assured the preservation of this site for the next ten years. A number of pilots freely donated additional funds individually.

The Far View site has given our flying group an operational base during the flying season. The grass runway is perched on the highest spot in the area. It’s about two miles south of Hiram College and one

mile east of the John Johnson Farm House, a Mormon historical site. Originally home to a crop-dusting operation of the 1940’s, it is now an active organic farm. Some of the pilots in our area actually used to play there as children.

The area is mostly farmland with rolling terrain and large wooded areas, truly scenic, and the surrounding airspace is very friendly to all types of aviation. There is an ultralight school across the street, and homebuilt biplanes and balloons are common sights in the evening sky. There is even an active parachuting operation about six miles north. Commercial air traffic is low, and we are well outside of the controlled airspace surrounding Cleveland.

Far View is the source of several hundred hang gliding flights each season. It is also the source of several cross-country flights for many Pennsylvania pilots who get pushed home by the prevailing winds.

We have yet to have a 200-mile flight from this site, but several respectable crosscountry flights take place each season, and a 100 plus miler is definitely possible— ask Pete Lehmann and Larry Huffman or some of the other regular XC pilots who fly there.

The Foundation of Free Flight, combined with the donations of pilots, has ensured that this site will stay open long into the future. With their amazing support, we were able to secure access to this flying site for the next ten years. Not only were foundation members very encouraging of our project, they were readily available for technical assistance with the grant application process. I encourage anyone attempting to keep a site open to contact them.

For most individuals the whole grant funding process is a mystery. The Foundation made the grant application a simple and straightforward process. We encourage you to contact them.

We want to express our deep gratitude to the Foundation and to the many generous pilots in our region for supporting our efforts to preserve this aerotow site well into the next decade. If you are in the area and have a current USHPA rating, you are welcome to join us in the air. Contact one of the local pilots via the Ohio Flyers [http:// www.ohioflyers.org/] for directions to our site and contact info. It is easily found on Google maps. Search for Far View Airport.

It is designated 86D on the sectional.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

13

Analysis | Preparedness | Incidents

SafetyBULLETIN 2009 HANG GLIDING SUMMARY ď ľ This month we summarize those accidents reported during 2009 that have not been described in earlier columns. It is almost a given that these eight reports represent but a small subset of the total number of mishaps actually occurring in 2009; the remainder represent many, many lessons lost to the community as a whole. If you experience an event from which others could learn a valuable lesson (and virtually every mishap qualifies in this regard), please report it. Better yet, consider sharing your experience by writing a “There I was‌â€? story‌and help others benefit from your hard-won experience.

by Bacil Dickert, staff writer

and the downtube as the pilot’s body impacted the left downtube. Aid was given to the pilot in the form of two cold packs and a sling. The pilot’s family came and took the pilot to the hospital. There was no report on the injuries to the left arm of the accident pilot.

The conditions were very light, with winds around 3 to 4 MPH up the lower face of the training hill. The pilot launched into the 3 to 4 MPH wind, which was accompanied by a light crosswind gust that lifted the pilot to 10’ to 15’ off of the ground. Lesson learned: The first flights that a beThe pilot was used to ground skimming, ginner has that are not much higher than and the sudden height may have taken ground skimming height are some of the the pilot by surprise. No control inputs most dangerous during training. Those occurred, and the crosswind gust turned heights may not allow for complete correcthe pilot to the right and towards the hill. tion if the flight path is altered by errant The pilot reacted, turning the glider away gusts. The conditions for these flights from the hill. The glider continued to should be very calm and, preferably, very turn around, slowing down as it turned. early in the morning or quite late in the The glider then mushed into the ground afternoon. This is to ensure that the sun in a left turn. According to witnesses, the hasn’t gotten high enough to start stirring impact did not look severe. An instructor up the atmosphere too much or is very at the training hill was first to arrive at the low on the horizon, and the atmosphere Time of Year: Spring impact location. The pilot’s left arm was is settling down. Minimizing the chance Accident Site: New York hurting. According to the pilot, the glider for gusts is key. These are the ideal trainType of Launch: Foot Launch bounced once, causing the pilot to lose the ing conditions; it does not always go this grip on the downtubes. The final bounce way. Taking baby steps in your training Summary: A beginner pilot was poised to launch from the lower third of a 100’ train- caused the pilot to swing towards the left is key to advancing slowly and delibering hill. The beginner pilot had attempted side of the glider. The left arm was prob- ately, giving time to gather the experience a previous flight but with little success. ably sandwiched between the pilot’s body needed for the muscle memory required to

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

keep the glider flying in the right direction with the right speed.

Lesson learned: The accident pilot felt the landing approach, and ended up flying that the primary cause was getting hit by a base leg to the ground and landing nearly the thermal from the side, that had he/she 90 degrees from the intended direction.

Time of Year: Spring been flying more into the wind, the landAccident Site: California ing may have been more controlled. That Lesson learned: The nosecone of all glidType of Launch: Foot Launch may or may not be true. However, take ex- ers is not just cosmetic; it is necessary for treme care when landing in an LZ during optimum wing performance. Serious deSummary: A pilot launched and soared springtime midday thermal conditions. grading of flight performance may occur along a ridge in thermals. The lift started Plenty of speed for control and flying di- if the nosecone becomes loose or detaches fading and the pilot flew out to land in an rection into the relative wind is the best in flight. Ensure that the nosecone attachRLF LZ. On an uphill final into a quarter- you can do. Having the maximum wing ment is flight-worthy during preflight. If ing wind, a small strong thermal lifted the loading for your wing is something to con- it is not, get it repaired before taking flight. pilot’s left wing. The pilot has no memory sider. It provides more stability, something It is not worth the risk of flying a wing that past turning on final. One eyewitness that helps when landing during midday behaves completely foreign to the pilot, esclaimed the left wing went completely ver- thermal conditions. pecially in demanding landing conditions. tical. Another eyewitness said that the accident pilot had plenty of speed, but since Time of Year: Summer Time of Year: Summer the pilot’s hands were on the downtubes, Accident Site: California Accident Site: New York there was no chance of recovery. The acciType of Launch: Foot Launch Type of Launch: Foot launch dent pilot believes that if one hand was on the downtube and one on the basetube, an Summary: The nosecone of a rigid wing Summary: Pilot attempted launch with a immediate correction may have been pos- came loose during a flight and seriously high nose angle and wings not level. A sible to enable a more controlled bad land- degraded the flying characteristics of the weak run exacerbated an already bad situaing. The ensuing crash broke a downtube rigid wing. The pilot noticed the tail os- tion, and the glider mushed into rocks and on the glider. The pilot suffered a worse cillating back and forth and an increase in bushes down the slope. The control frame fate, suffering a concussion, a dislocated the sink rate. Unprepared for the altered was damaged. The pilot suffered bumps shoulder, a fractured shoulder, and minor flight characteristics, the pilot misjudged and bruises. The accident pilot had blown lacerations of the face and shin. the turn from downwind onto final during a launch at this same site five years earlier.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

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According to the pilot, that blown launch was due to a too low nose angle, causing the glider to get ahead of the pilot.

Lesson learned: Solid and consistent launch skills are perhaps the single most important flight skill in terms of safety.

Habitually weak launches are a condition that no pilot should tolerate. Returning to the training hill and practicing launches with the correct nose angle and strong and aggressive runs are the key to building and maintaining solid launch skills.

Time of Year: Summer Accident Site: Utah Type of Launch: Foot launch Summary: The pilot described the day as a beautiful one, with light thermals. Late in the day the lift started shutting down, so the pilot went out to land in the normal landing field. There was no wind in the LZ. The pilot saw that they were going to overshoot the intended landing spot, so the pilot made some turns to lose altitude.

Even though there was no wind in the LZ, the pilot fixated on trying to turn into the normal wind direction. At a low altitude the pilot tried to execute a left turn into the nonexistent wind and impacted the

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

ground. The pilot’s left hand became Summary: A pilot attempted to launch an trapped under the basetube and the mo- ATOS at a site late in the day with conmentum from the sudden deceleration ditions ranging from 90 degrees cross to swung the pilot forward. The pilot’s hand blowing down the slope. Other pilots was jerked from under the basetube, tear- were present and elected not to fly. The ing the rotator cuff in the pilot’s shoulder other pilots asked if the accident pilot was and scraping the skin from the back of the going to set up and fly. The pilot said yes, pilot’s hand. and stated that he/she would wait for a lull before launching. The pilot launched into Lesson learned: Having flexibility in your 90+ degree-cross conditions with a high landing approach is key for choosing the nose angle. The glider mushed into the air, right approach for the conditions in the LZ. stalled and the right wing dropped. The Being fixated on one approach is very risky right wingtip dragged on the ground for and dangerous if the conditions demand a a short distance before the glider rolled different, safer approach. Too many turns left, almost to a wing’s level attitude. The can distract the pilot and rob him/her of glider impacted the tops of trees at the some situational awareness, namely one’s bottom of the launch and fell 80’ to soft height above the LZ. The accident pilot dirt, barely missing a huge boulder. The also mentioned that he/she did not put his/ pilot was discovered lying on top of the her wheels on the basetube, and that he/ upside-down glider. The pilot suffered a she only had 4 flights in 2009. Having mild concussion and several damaged verwheels available to slow the deceleration tebrae. The glider was severely damaged, rate once the basetube met the ground with one leading edge completely crushed could only have been a good thing in this and completely destroyed. It’s believed situation. Being more current could have that the tip struck the ground first and colhelped as well in the decision making pro- lapsed, keeping the pilot from impacting the ground at a much higher speed. cess for the landing approach.

Time of Year: Summer Accident Site: Nevada Type of Launch: Foot Launch

Lesson learned: The accident pilot had been flying for a very long time and has a lot of experience. The pilot had the habit of

showing up late and launching in less than ideal conditions many times previously, Time of Year: Winter and getting away with it. Reinforcing bad Accident Site: New York habits is a dangerous practice.

Type of Launch: Foot Launch Continually launching in marginal conditions with poor launch technique is Summary: A Hang 2 pilot with less than a recipe for disaster.

10 mountain launches and an hour of airtime launched from a mountain site with Time of Year: Fall expectations of soaring for the first time.

Accident Site: California Prior to the launch, the observer recomType of Launch: Foot Launch mended turning right into the crossing wind, towards the main LZ. The pilot exSummary: A pilot attempted a flight from ecuted a good launch, flew out away from a 300’ hill. The flight plan was to launch, the mountain and experienced lift. The execute an S turn into the LZ, and land pilot did not turn to the right as recominto the wind. The launch was fine, and mended because of the conditions. The the pilot executed the first part of the S pilot allowed turbulence to turn him to turn. The pilot hesitated to complete the the left, downwind and further from the second part of the S turn, resulting in main LZ. After some altitude was lost, the pilot flying downwind with a high the pilot realized that it was time to try groundspeed. The pilot then attempted to to land. The pilot turned back into the turn into the wind towards the hill. The wind to attempt to reach the main LZ, but turn was completed at a low altitude close could not penetrate sufficiently to enable to the hill near a barbed-wire fence. The the glider to reach the main LZ. Realizing glider sideslipped, and the wing closest to this fact, the pilot then opted for a closer, the hill was impaled on a fencepost. The still upwind LZ beyond two rows of trees. pilot “landed” relatively safely three feet Off to the pilot’s left was an open field, but from the fence, suffering only minor cuts the pilot continued to try for the upwind on the arms and a bruise above the left LZ. The pilot realized that he/she could knee. The glider got the worst of it (the not clear the two rows of trees, and now best scenario), with a dented leading edge, he was boxed into a field ringed by trees two major tears in the sail, snapped luff on three sides. The pilot turned right towards a treeline, rather than left towards lines, and a frayed side wire. the middle of the field. The pilot flew into Lesson learned: The accident pilot stated the trees at ground level, between two tree that he/she had needlessly panicked after trunks. The glider suffered a broken leadcompleting the first part of the S turn, ing edge. The pilot escaped injury. from a combination of flying in higher winds than the pilot was used to and being Lesson learned: The pilot was very eager at a lower altitude than expected. The en- to have a first soaring flight. The pilot did suing turn at low altitude near the barbed- not obey the observer’s recommendation wire fence obstacle most probably did not of turning right into the crossing wind. have enough airspeed to combat the gradi- The pilot’s inexperience caused him/her to ent present near the hill surface. The wing get into a very undesirable position in relaclosest to the hill entered a probable stall, tion to the main LZ, requiring decisions resulting in the sideslipping of the wing that were a bit above the pilot’s experience onto the fencepost. Always maintain a level. Inexperienced pilots must stick to healthy margin of airspeed and altitude the flight plan outlined by their observers. above obstacles on the ground. Turning The observers are there to provide a plan upwind close to the ground has the po- that has plenty of safety margin to allow tential of stalling the wing closest to the for a relatively low stress flight to occur. ground, due to a wind gradient that exists This is key to building experience and efclose to the ground. A hillside can have fective decision making. Setbacks such as a more pronounced wind gradient than this incident in a new pilot’s flying career flat ground, so be especially careful when can discourage and in the worst case cause turning upwind close to areas that may the pilot to quit flying. Not the desired have a sizable wind gradient. result.

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coastal flying.

Talk about your inspiration and the effect you hope to have.

We were inspired by the liberating feeling of freedom we experience in paragliding.

We were also fueled by a passion for traveling. Through our discussions about the Making a Difference lack of women in the sport, the project almost took on its own life and showed us the way. We were curious: how do various people across the world experience FREEDOM FLYERS  Christina Ammon talks stats and study gender theories. Instead, freedom? to Icelanders Anita Hafdís Björnsdóttir and they did what any pilots worth their GPS As women traveling the world with Áslaug Rán Einarsdóttir of The Flying Effect: would do: planned a round-the-world paragliders, we felt we had a great opparagliding adventure.

Paragliding for Women and Freedom. portunity to do this project, focusing on Along the way, they’d spark conversa- giving women a voice, and promoting eeing a woman in the sky some- tions and give women the opportunity our right to freedom everywhere. times feels a bit like spotting a to communicate their views on freedom California Condor: they’re brave, through words, photographs, videos and So, what is freedom to you? beautiful, and, well, sort of rare. Sure, it’s drawings. Anita and Asa’s findings would the “post-feminist era,” and women have then be presented as an exhibition. Ása: Freedom to me is to be able to travel To fund this “adventure with a pur- the world, not to have any commitments broken through all sorts of glass-ceilings (at least in the western world). All the pose,” they sold all their belongings and that tie me down in one place, or debts same, less than 10-percent of pilots are recruited sponsorship from UNIFEM that make me stuck in life. Freedom is to female—proof that, when it comes to (United Nations Development Fund for be able to live in the “now.” flying, women are yet to bust through the Women).

I first met Anita and Asa online. The Anita: I very much agree with Ása. inversion of gender inequality.

One day while para-waiting on launch Facebook profile for The Flying Effect Essentially, a mind free of worries and a in their native homeland of Iceland, pilots was passed around, and I found myself body free of earthly boundaries.

Anita and Asa asked the question: What scrolling through their blog, which features their itinerary, profiles, and discus- It’s still early in your trip, but have you gives?

In the way that conversations tend to sions on topics ranging from the ethics had some inspiring encounters? meander when it’s blowing over the back, of hiring women porters to the rights of On a paragliding site in Panchgani, India, this question led to bigger, more abstract widows in Nepal.

I was psyched to learn that The Flying we met India’s youngest paragliding pilot: inquiries. Like: What is the relationship between freedom and flying? How do Effect was visiting Pokhara, Nepal, at the a 13-year old girl who learned paraglidwomen in other countries view freedom? same time I was. But I scouted the lake- ing when she was only ten! Shrikanta is a side LZs to no avail; Anita and Asa were fascinating, focused young girl with big What does freedom mean in general?

To find out, Anita and Asa might have nowhere to be found. As it turned out, plans for the future. holed up in a library to collect boring they’d been laid up with food poisoning.

We were invited to a dinner of real It wasn’t the most auspicious start to their Indian curry at her parents’ house. We two-year journey, and the irony of being learned that when she was nine-years old, chained to the bathroom on their “free- she swam 42 km in the Indian Ocean, dom journey” wasn’t lost on them. But, setting an Indian record. Her story is one soon enough, they were circling in view of many inspiring ones we plan to publish of Machapuchare with the rest of us. on our website.

I recently contacted them for a progOverall, we are quite surprised at how ress update. They responded to my inqui- much is going on in Asia in terms of projries from the sunny beaches of Goa, India. ects to help women help themselves. For There they were enjoying good health, example, there is a trekking company in morning yoga sessions, and some mellow Pokhara run by three sisters who employ

PilotPROJECTS

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“I haven't missed any of the things I gave or sold for one second, which tells me I did the right thing.”

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

“I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“Make your ideas happen now; don't store them at the back of your head for another day.”

of accumulated things didn’t add up to much: just a one-way flight to Asia and two months of living costs.

to point out inspiring women (pilots or not) to whom you think we should talk or have suggestions regarding our project, we would appreciate it.

Ása: I don’t think I am very attached to my things. One or two dresses I gave to Advice for pilots wanting to make a my sister. Pots, pans, TV and old junk positive impact? from the storage room was easy to sell.

Books I found quite difficult to get rid of We’ve met many pilots over the past two since they have been my passion since I months who have given up their “normal” was a little girl, so I stored some favorites lives to follow their passion of paraglidand coach other women to be guides. We in a box alongside some other things of ing. Some are on an extended holiday didn´t really expect to find this sort of sentimental value. and some quit their daily job or work thing, and it’s very inspiring.

I sold my apartment to a neighbor from the road. They don’t all know what for a very low price, due to the collapsed will happen next, but what they have in The biggest challenge? housing market. I didn’t gain any value common is the comfort of knowing that from it, but not having to worry about living today is more important than worTwo months ago, the challenge was re- fire, floods, broken windows, paint and rying about tomorrow. We think followsigning from our jobs, selling all of our constantly fixing something is priceless. ing your true inspiration, whatever it may belongings, leaving friends, family, and be, is the most positive impact you can our comfort zone. But, looking back, have. these seem like baby steps. After hitting the road, the challenges have changed to What else? include food poisoning, new flying sites and weather patterns, lack of “proper” Make your ideas happen now; don’t store bathroom facilities, exotic creepy crawlies, them at the back of your head for another power-cuts, heat exhaustion, local poverday. ty, tourist scams, seeing burning bodies.

We never know what to expect next!

Our biggest challenge at the moment t might not be an accident that a is time. We wanted to do so much and project like The Flying Effect was have so many ideas waiting to be realized. birthed in Iceland. According to There are many women to see, sites to a recent study released by the World fly, photos to upload, blogs to write, and Economic Forum, that Nordic country videos to edit. Maybe we should get better has the highest gender equality index at planning, but we enjoy the freedom of I haven’t missed any of the things I of 134 countries analyzed. Iceland also the non-plan plan too much. gave or sold for one second, which tells boasts the first woman in the world— me I did the right thing. It is absolutely Vigdís Finnbogadóttir—to be elected How did it feel to sell your belongings in liberating and I feel freer not carrying (and re-elected) head of state in a national order to fund this project? election. this stuff around.

Their travels are already putting their Anita: My flat is very tiny, and I felt like What are you “getting back”? good fortune in perspective. Anita writes, I was suffocating in stuff. After a few “I’ve never had to worry about where my cycles of getting rid of things, I decided Freedom, fun, happiness and perhaps a next meal would come from. I never had to let it all go. I thought long and hard little tan. to console my mother or reassure her that about whether I could part with old diamy brothers, her sons, would return alive ries, photos, books and favorite clothes. I What would help? from a war. I never had to fight for my concluded that I would allow myself to right to religion.” fill one small box of personal belongings People. Bits of advice and suggestions go The Flying Effect has a long journey in for storage. a long way. Through meeting and talk- front of them. Upcoming destinations inEverything else was sold or given away ing to local people and pilots from all clude Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, through Facebook, web-based classified over the world, we’ve found our way so Slovenia, and France. They’d love to hear ads, and, eventually, a yard-sale. Anything far. If someone reading this article wants from you. that didn´t sell went to the Red Cross. to share information regarding paraglidwww.theflyingeffect.wordpress.com Letting go was easier than I expected. ing sites and seasons, traveling, or tips on It was liberating-- like a weight had been how to earn enough money on the way, theflyingeffect@gmail.com lifted off my chest. But a lifetime’s worth we’re happy to hear it. Also, if you want

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Site Highlight

HANG GLIDER HILL | BAKERSFIELD

by John Fritsche

and pretty obscure, but many spectacular flights have originated from all of them. few flying sites not far from Relatively few pilots have ever flown them.

Bakersfield, California, are awe- If you contact me, I’ll be happy to tell you some and famous, like the Owens more about all of these places, but in this Valley, Kagel, and Crestline. article I’d like to call attention to a little There are several other great mountain ridge site on the east side of town, actusites even closer to Bakersfield—in the ally, within Bakersfield city limits. It has a Tehachapi, Taft, Porterville, and Lake rich history, will probably soon be closed Isabella areas. These sites are unregulated to flying and, I believe, serves as a classic example of how and why many great sites get closed down.

Local pilots most often refer to this little ridge site as “the little hill” to differentiate it from the mountain sites that surround the city. Bakersfield residents have been calling it “Hang Glider Hill” for over twenty years. Maps label it Ant Hill, and that seems to be the name best-recognized by the few out-of-town pilots who know anything about the place. Ironically, paraglider pilots seem more inclined than hangies to call it Hang Glider Hill, even though it’s definitely seen far more use by paragliders than hang gliders over the past fifteen years.

A strange set of circumstances led me from my longtime Wisconsin home to Bakersfield in 1994. I had been flying for six years at the time, and I was a total air

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“There’s always hope that we can reopen closed sites somehow, someday…but not when they’re closed by development that covers every possible launch and landing zone with houses.”

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junkie—far more addicted than I am now.

Aerotowing had just come to the Midwest, making it far easier and more practical to hang glide there, but I couldn’t take the long, harsh winters anymore. I was also really poor and desperate for a job, so when I got an offer from Bakersfield, those strange voices in my head screamed, “Go West, young man!!!” The Internet was in its infancy, but I had heard and read that there was good flying to be had in Southern California.

Upon my arrival, I got a lot of puzzled

[above] Hang gliders over Ant Hill. [below] John Fritsche airborne at the Ant Hill. Photos by John Stokes.

Celebrating 13 years of making Flight and Dreams come together! looks from Bakersfieldians when I asked about flying in the area, but a few people mentioned “Hang Glider Hill, out there

by Hart Park.” The name certainly sounded promising. I couldn’t find any Hang Glider Hill on the map but Hart Park was there. It took a little exploring around the park to figure out where the flying site was and how I could get up to launch in my 1985 Oldsmobile sedan. It took longer to get in touch with the few local pilots and get introduced to what I came to consider “the real sites” in the area—the ones in the Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi Mountains, and Temblor Range. By the time I moved away thirteen years later, I really loved Hang Glider Hill, had some of my most memorable hang gliding and paragliding flights there, and was downright depressed at the thought of its getting closed down.

Ant Hill is 400 feet high and at 1000 feet MSL. It faces northwest, which is the predominant wind direction nine months of the year. The soarable portion of the ridge is usually only a quarter-mile long but, under ideal conditions, that doubles.

It’s part of the Kern River Bluffs, which extend from Kern Canyon in the Sierra Nevada foothills west to Bakersfield College on the northeast corner of town.

400 feet doesn’t sound very high, but I’ve been several thousand feet over that hill many times, and several pilots have flown 20+ miles downwind. It’s probably bestknown, however, for early evening glassoffs in which novices can safely rack-up their first hours of airtime. After a few paragliding lessons in 1999, I had a ball practicing the finer points of the sport at Ant Hill. Locals can often head out here after work to fly until sunset, ending their flights very close to their cars with an easy, low-stress top landing in a huge field that is free of obstacles.

If Ant Hill were an hour closer to LA, it would be cherished by hang gliding and paragliding schools in light winds, and swarms of more advanced pilots would soar it in the afternoon when steady winds in the 15-25mph range kick in. In the early days of hang gliding, I learned from local old-timers, it was common to see ten-totwenty pilots at Ant Hill on a Saturday or Sunday. Even in recent years, big groups from the Kagel area have come over occasionally on post-frontal winter days, when strong northwest winds make the LA-area

mountain sites unflyable.

Ant Hill felt like a very secure site until about 2003. Until then, the launch, LZs, and full length of the ridge were crawling with hikers and their dogs, mountain bikes, motorcycles, horses, and OHVs. RC sailplane enthusiasts could be found standing on launch flying their models. I often recruited these folks to be my wire crew.

Although mostly private property, the whole far-east side of Bakersfield, encompassing many square miles, was predominantly open space and alive with the aforementioned activities. It was a giant playground! Most of the landowners didn’t live in the area and since it was probably too expensive and impractical to patrol and fence their properties, they turned a blind eye to us. As far as I know, the hundreds (probably thousands) of regular trespassers never caused any problems and never sued anyone. Many had no idea they were even on private property because there was no such signage.

Everything changed when a new water treatment plant was completed within view of Ant Hill. The insane real estate boom was in full force at the same time, and Bakersfield was rapidly growing. Eastside property values skyrocketed, and the landowners began selling out to developers.

Money talked and zoning changed. Huge, high-density developments were approved that will ultimately add well over 5,000 new homes to the once rural area.

The city council and planners thought this was a good thing, hoping it would slow the loss of prime agricultural land on the south and west sides of town (it didn’t).

These officials didn’t, at first, realize how numerous and passionate the east side’s recreational users were.

Various conservation and recreational groups, including the small group of local pilots, began protesting. Some landowners suddenly wanted all of the trespassers, especially the motorized ones, to disappear.

Many felt that their rights to do as they wished with their land (especially the right to get rich by selling it to big developers) were threatened. Few of them seemed interested at all in preserving the open-space feel of the area.

City council and city planning commission members met with property owners and anti-development group representatives. Ultimately the following basic agree-

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[left] Launching at Ant Hill. [opposite] John Fritsche airborne over Ant Hill.

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ments were made: Motorized recreational use of the area had to stop. Landowners and new residents did not want the noise, exhaust, or impact on their land. Police would patrol the area and cite motorized users for trespassing. But passive recreational use, including that by hang gliders and paragliders, could continue on undeveloped properties. Several city council members pledged to prevent development of the most prized recreational lands by encouraging developers to preserve these spots with a parks and trails system in exchange for more liberal development rights in other areas.

That remains the current situation. Over the past few years, there has been a lot of residential development close to Ant Hill.

Some of it makes some old cross-country flying routes prohibitive, or at least trickier, but so far the launch, bluff, and top and bottom LZs are still intact. There is no significant guarantee that it will remain this way.

I’ve seen situations like the one at Ant Hill occur at several sites that I’ve flown in several different states, and I’m sure plenty of other sites that I know little about must be threatened by similar circumstances.

Although a couple of great mountain sites remain nearby, Ant Hill is a unique gem because it is so close to town, so safe for novices, so consistently flyable, and so user-friendly (i.e. no driver necessary). It’s one of the few things I miss about living in Bakersfield.

We all need to do what we can to secure our remaining flying sites from this type of development. There’s always hope that we can reopen closed sites somehow, someday…but not when they’re closed by development that covers every possible launch and landing zone with houses.

John Fritsche is a bi-wingual pilot living in Lompoc, California. If you want more information about Ant Hill, he can be reached at: jfritsche2@juno.com or by phone at: 661-204-6875. If you go to Google Earth, Ant Hill is located across the street from the California Living Museum, 10500 Alfred Harrell Highway, Bakersfield, California.

You can also type in: Ant Hill, Bakersfield, California.

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

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Site Highlight

GOLD HILL | TELLURIDE

“It just hurts to see visitors not be able to fly on the one or two days they have dedicated to Telluride.

Even if it takes more than one visit to catch it right, believe me, it’s worth it.”

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

by Jeff Cristol

winter-like, but the air is smooth and kind. leave the launch first and find the air Below us the others are still near launch, light and lifty. It is enough. Soon I enjoying their piece of air, their time aloft. am above my earthbound friends. We continue back from Palmayra Peak, Both hang gliders and paragliders join climbing again over Silver Mountain me, frolicking to-and-fro above the rocky, and Ophir Valley. This is a confluence tundra-covered ridge. It is the final day of of several ridges, but they come together the summer season, with winter and cold randomly. The thermals reflect the terweather coming soon. But today is our rain below, and it’s usually hard to get day. high here.

Hang pilots Craig Pirazzi and Kevin At least a thousand-over, we leave for Smith join me over the high peaks. It’s the next row of mountains further back. light, but lift is everywhere. We follow the Ballard and Wasatch sit due east of launch, ridge as it drops and climbs, past golden but it takes an hour of fun flying to finally sunlit spires. We circle close, sometimes arrive. Low, below the summit, there is laughing with each other, sometimes again enough lift where we expect it, exdancing with the ridge. Conditions feel actly where we need it. After a short in-

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terlude over these peaks, we head across the valley. Once more we arrive below the summits, but we are at the house, and it provides. We bench up. Soon Mendota Peak is below us and the prickly San Sofia Ridge is our dancing partner.

It took hours to get here, and it’s now late. The sun is low over the La Sals and Utah. The day is closing, but we try our best to stay high and fly along the serrated saw-blade mountains, flying into the wind. We make it just a short way; crossing Greenback and below Dallas Peak, I finally give up. Craig is not far behind; as shadows cross the valley below us, we head out to land. It is a perfect end to another summer season and a classic valley tour with friends.

FLYING SEASONS

Telluride, renowned for the scenery, the great skiing and summer festivals, is famous among pilots for spectacular flying.

The views are awesome, with snowy peaks and yellow fall colors, but words fail to do justice to the beauty, so photos give the best description. A usual high cloud base, rugged terrain and beautiful flying from the 12,250’ site is simply huge. Living here, I am allowed to feel it’s the best flying site in the world.

“Best” of course is relative. What one pilot covets, another dreads. Visiting pilots often have horrible mountain weather and can only look up at the sky above the cliffs and mountains surround-

ing the town. Others pilots are intimidated by the high peaks and complicated topography. With launch at 12,250’ and the LZ in town at 8750,’ launches and landings are fast. Spring is often wet and windy, while summer comes with monsoonal moisture. This leaves fall with the predictably best flying weather.

A small resort ski town deep in the San Juan Mountains in Southwestern Colorado, Telluride is one-hundred-ten miles east of Moab, Utah, and about the same distance south of Grand Junction.

Because it’s high in the mountains, weath[opposite] Shooting a Busch Beer commercial featuring paragliding in Telluride. [above] The peaks above Ophir.

Photos by Jeff Cristol.

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er is a big issue. Besides jet-stream winter cally made this an H4 site. From the west winds, we also have long off-seasons launch, you must fly out and over the high when launch is inaccessible. We can’t fly Coonskin Ridge to get to town as well.

Sometimes pilots are fooled into no matter how good the day looks, between the ski area’s closing day in April launching west too early, before the sun and the snow melt sometime in June. In has made it over to the west side. They October, snow closes the road to launch; launch into cool sinking air and land on then we wait for the ski area to open for the ski area. This is not only dangerous, but potentially causes us to get in trouble Thanksgiving. with the ski area that owns the launch and THE SITE allows flying access.

Telluride Ski and Golf has been a great When we can get to launch, we are blessed supporter of free flight for decades and with an above-treeline ridge with launch- allows us to fly the insured USHPA site es on either side. In the morning we take- with an annual contract. Needless to say, off east on a steep and committing slope you must be a USHPA member and comabove three-thousand-foot cliffs. In the plete a ski area waiver. Pilots are also reafternoon, a more gradual grassy slope quired to get a Colorado Hiking Permit, a just on the other side of the ridge allows great deal at only a few dollars, which proless stressful departures on the west face. vides search-and-rescue insurance. Our Because the prevailing wind is from club website, tellurideairforce.org, lists the west, the morning launch also entails pilot requirements and displays photos launching and flying the lee while one of launches and landing zones, as well as climbs-out. Fortunately, climbing-out downloadable waivers and contacts and is usually straightforward, with a dozen the obligatory weather links page.

Guide pilots from our club, the likely thermal triggers and house thermals on the way down the ridge. You can’t see Telluride Air Force, are required for all the LZ from either launch, which histori- pilots. Paraglider guide pilots can guide 28

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[above] 95+ gliders on launch. [opposite] Can you feel the anticipation of the Gold Hill launch? Photos by Paul Voight.

for visiting hang glider pilots, though visiting hangies have a poor record of listening to any advice that’s given. (Yes, it is hard to land a hang glider on the ski area, and, again, it risks losing our annual contract with the ski company).

In the summer most pilots fly Telluride with oxygen, at which time we have refill tanks at the bottom of the hill. Many San Juan summits top fourteen thousand feet, so a base at eighteen is only four thousand over the high terrain, which makes a very high base necessary for cross-country.

Hang glider pilots are still celebrating the town’s acquisition of the valley floor, where the Oops Field LZ sits, just outside of town. After a long legal battle, the town condemned the valley floor and, with an amazing fundraising effort, raised fifty million dollars to buy the huge landing zone. Many contributed, including the Foundation for Free Flight. (See sidebar).

Paraglider pilots often use the closer and smaller Pearl Property, the first field on the edge of town. We also have per-

mission to land in the town park, but it’s you get to the Ophir valley. The open rarely used in summer when it’s filled with fields make a good LZ, but often pilots music festivals, soccer and baseball games. continue on a couple more miles, fly over It’s easier to hit in winter as well, with Yellow Mountain and land on Lizard Head groomed cross-country ski tracks and an Pass, which is a wide open LZ, nice even area cleared for folding wings. for hangies. Flying to the north over the Sneffles Range and landing in Ridgway is CROSS COUNTRY another classic short cross-country that has been done countless times. It’s a bit When the flying is good—not too windy longer than the flight to Silverton, but the with a nice high base—we have great retrieve is much simpler. cross-country potential. With high peaks Nick Kennedy holds the hang glider in every direction, there is always a ther- site record, making it almost to Taos, mal source to head for. Downwind is New Mexico, after one hundred thirtyusually over the imposing mountains to four miles and six hours in the air. On the east. After a dozen miles, the deep August 8th, 2000, I headed in an unusual Animas River Valley, with the small town direction to the southwest. I flew out of of Silverton, must either be crossed or the mountains and into the desert in eight landed in. It’s a quick and easy flight but hours and set the Colorado PG distance a long drive back around. It’s not diffi- record with a hundred-and- twenty-mile cult to continue over yet higher terrain, flight. and there are four-wheel drive roads with some traffic, but getting back gets more HISTORY difficult. Creed is fifty miles away, just past the Bristlehead Butte flying site. A Hang gliding began in Telluride after Jeff couple of ninety-mile flights have been Campbell learned to fly in Steamboat, made in this direction.

Colorado, and moved to town in 1972.

When you head south up the ridge, During the 1974-75 seasons, pilots from

around the state were invited to come to Telluride during carnival, and thus began the Telluride Air Force. The World Aerobatic Hang Gliding Championships were first held here in 1981 and ran continuously through 1999.

At that time, we lost use of the main valley floor LZ and were left with a field that was sufficient for paragliders but not for most hangies on modern wings. In the mid-to-late 80’s, the aerobatic comp hit its peak with around three-hundred pilots.

There were several paragliding comps as well as a mixed Airmen’s Rendezvous, but they were usually poorly attended.

One year we hosted one of only two points PG competitions in the US the entire season; only a dozen pilots showed up to compete. In 2003, longtime local paraglider instructor, Scott MacLowry, hosted the US Paragliding Nationals, with almost eighty pilots entered. For the second competition in a row we had a fatality, when Washington pilot Bruce Tracy crashed on Palmayra Peak. With daily reserve deployments, it became clear that Telluride was too big a venue for long, skinny comp wings. After the thirtiethHang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

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THE VALLEY FLOOR

[right] Paul Voight over the Telluride ski area.

The Valley Floor, Serious Fundraising and The Foundation for Free Flight Just west of Telluride, an open expanse of wetlands and grassy valley floor extends for miles. For decades this was the traditional landing zone for hang gliders. Historically, the Telluride Air Force leased Oops Field (named after a local cowboy, not the countless whacks taken there) for three-hundred dollars a year. The expense was our biggest of the year. Ironically, the landowner was the notorious Neal Blue, one of the richest men in the US and owner of the military contractor General Atomics (anyone heard of Predator drones?). Here was one of the poorest nonprofits giving our little pittance to the richest. In trade, we could land there, so it was worth it, especially when no one else was allowed on the field but cows.

When Blue threatened to develop the land, we lost access to it along with hikers and skiers. Telluride decided to condemn almost six hundred acres, using eminent domain, and a long legal battle began. After years of litigation and one town vote that refused a compromise, the valley floor price was set in a local court. The effort at times seemed impossible, but the small town raised fifty million dollars. The Foundation for Free Flight gave ten thousand dollars, one of its biggest grants, matching local pilots’ donations.

The traditional and safe hang glider LZ is ours, and the number of hang glider flights outnumbered paraglider flights the last two summers. This is a recovery from what seemed like the end of hang gliding in Telluride, which makes public ownership of the valley floor that much sweeter.

something Airmen’s Rendezvous, the club lost enough momentum that no one put on a fly-in. We have tried to do simpler, organized fly-ins the last few years, but almost no one shows up, and, of course, if they do, the weather sucks.

THE PRESENT

The Telluride Air Force still has approximately twenty members. A couple of them are tandem pilots and one is an instructor, Ryan Taylor, who is on the Telluride Ski Patrol. Someone in town acts as guide pilot for visitors, but it’s important to get in touch with them before arriving. We have a reliable vehicle for the shuttle to launch (private vehicles aren’t allowed by the ski area) and even a dedicated tow vehicle that rarely gets used. The desert is just a couple of hours away, where towing-up offers incredible views over Canyonlands, but it’s hard to drive out of the box canyon and leave our normal site.

I’ve been a little negative about the weather and pilots’ odds of flying, but I think all mountain sites share these conditions. Telluride is full of fun things to do if the flying isn’t happening. It just hurts to see visitors not be able to fly on the one or two days they have dedicated to Telluride.

Even if it takes more than one visit to catch it right, believe me, it’s worth it. I was waiting on the Phillips Ridge launch near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and a new pilot was telling me about all the sites in the area. She asked about Telluride and I explained we only have one site. She obviously wondered how Telluride could be so good with only one site, until another pilot commented that with a site like Gold Hill, you don’t need any others.

Jeff Cristol is a tandem pilot and photographer in Telluride Colorado. Through his company, he offers paragliding tours to such remote locations as Peru, India and Kyrgyzstan as well as to flying sites throughout the Southwestern United States. See adventuretourproductions.com for more information. Gold Hill is located at N. 37° 54.246’ W. 107° 49.320.

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Site Highlight

MT. SENTINEL | MISSOULA

by Ian Freemole photos by Jeff Shapiro

T

he spring semester of my freshman year of college I knew for certain that I wanted to fly. I was living on campus at the University of Montana, which sits snuggly against the base of Mount Sentinel, in Missoula. Mt. Sentinel is an iconic backdrop for the university and a bold feature of the skyline of the city of Missoula. Once I decided that I was going to learn to fly and that hang gliders were my wing of choice, my conception of Mt. Sentinel began to change. Instead of being an icon for the entire university and Missoula, Sentinel was now the symbol of my ultimate goal in flying.

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Unfortunately, ordinary life conspired against me, putting my desire to become a pilot on hold. But the seeds of desire that had been planted were strong enough to remain dormant, patiently waiting to sprout at the right opportunity.

Flash-forward to a fall day: I was playing soccer with friends near the golf course on university fields, and out of thin air a gaggle of hang gliders began to descend and gracefully land. I slowly took leave of my friends and approached them with a slack jaw and glazed eyes. The pilot I approached introduced himself as Craig Johnson. He was a bearded, tattooed guy who flew a glider with a skull and flames on it. Despite the obvious (incorrect) stereotype, Craig graciously answered all my

[above] Jeff Shapiro over Mt. Sentinel. [opposite] Jeff Shapiro helps Ian Freemole launch Mt. Sentinel for his first flight.

questions about learning locally, including the expenses and time it takes to learn.

Then he introduced me to his teacher, Jeff Shapiro, who gave me his card, after which I meandered back to the soccer game. My feet were on the ground, but my head was a mile high in the clouds.

The cold, dark grip of winter was slowly loosening by the time I called Jeff. We had an informative meeting where he gave me necessary paperwork and information.

Jeff is such an easy-going, humble guy, especially for someone who is so experienced and knowledgeable, that I committed to taking lessons before I left the house.

“It was a long time coming—my dream of flying Mt. Sentinel.

There were many obstacles and long stretches of no flying, but in the end it was definitely worth the effort.”

My lessons began at a local park in everything I had hoped and dreamed it only two or three times my first season as Missoula after the snow melted. It was would be. a pilot. a Saturday, early in the morning, and I However, everyday life once again The following summer, I was so dewas a college student. I should have been conspired against my plans to fly. It was termined to fly more often that I stayed sound asleep in bed, recovering from the summer, and I had to leave town to work in Missoula and became self-employed, night before, but I was up and out of the fulltime. I needed money to be able to allowing me to cut out of work any afhouse before sunrise. Braving the cold afford a hang glider and figured I would ternoon when conditions were ripe and and frost in the early mornings on my be able to fly on my days off. I gave it my I could find an intermediate pilot to fly weekends was actually my idea of a good best go for a summer, but ended up flying with me. I had an open schedule and a time for several weeks. After a half-dozen lessons with Jeff by my side giving me support, I was ready for my first altitude flight at Tarkio.

Tarkio is about a 40-mile drive west from Missoula on I-90. After arriving Dealers Wanted! at the LZ, I began to feel nervous. On US & Canada the ride up the mountain, I felt butterflies in my stomach as the elevation increased, Options: but Jeff was right there, providing reassurance by talking about the flight plan, • Internal Fuel Tank conditions, and keys things to remember • Dual-start Engine from training.

• Folding Prop I was on launch, looking down the side of a mountain, when my brain began to High Performance Exhaust now Standard second-guess itself. Was I really about to run off of a mountain with a giant kite strapped to my back? I closed my eyes and put the doubts to sleep by reviewing the general plan, the landing options, and the launch sequence. I picked a light cycle coming straight-in up the hill and yelled “Clear!”

I anticipated sensation overload, but I Dealers across America & Canada didn’t know that it might translate into www.mosquitoamerica.com blacking-out for a few seconds. The next Traverse City Hang Gliders/Paragliders thing I remembered was Jeff talking to Bill Fifer • Traverse City, MI 231-922-2844 phone/fax • tchangglider@chartermi.net me, his calm voice transmitting experiPilot: Paul Farina Photo: Greg Dewenter ence over the radio. That first flight was

Mosquito Power Harness

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hang glider; now I only had to coordinate As the flying weather picked up, a small the flyable conditions with the availabil- gang of regular Tarkio pilots emerged. ity of intermediate pilots willing to skip Without the help and mentoring of Craig flying Mt. Sentinel to go out to Tarkio. J. and Rick G., a couple of H3 pilots with The scheduling dance had begun.

H4 life experience, magic summer days at

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Tarkio wouldn’t have been profitable. But these guys provided an unofficial mentoring program dedicated to ensuring that novice pilots would be given every opportunity to fly. They actively cultivated and monitored my experience and ultimately helped me acquire the skills needed to fly Mt. Sentinel. Under their watchful eyes, I progressed from twilight sledders to evening glass-offs to being able to soar alongside them. I spent the best days of summer on that mountain, enjoying every bit of time and knowing there was nowhere else in the world I would rather be. Yet at the end of each magical evening at Tarkio, Mt. Sentinel came into view as I drove home, and I recalled my dream of flying off of it. When summer came to a close, I was happy I had diligently kept flying as my highest priority. I felt I’d had a great season!

Last spring I graduated from college and still had flying Sentinel at the top of my to-do list. I began heading out to

[above] Jeff Shapiro over Mt. Sentinel. [opposite] Jeff Shapiro helps Ian Freemole launch Mt. Sentinel for his first flight.

Tarkio again, flying every time the forecast looked decent, in hopes that by the end of summer I’d be ready for Sentinel. Midway through the summer, it happened. I had displayed enough skill and sound judgment to earn the rank of H3!

When the phone call came that conditions were light enough for an introductory Sentinel sled ride, I couldn’t believe it. While getting my gear together and making it to the LZ, I felt as excited as I had for my first altitude flight. Fittingly, Craig was there and was the one who gave me a comforting walkthrough of the landing approaches and options. Jeff also was there; having him alongside me, talking plans and conditions, brought back the comfort I had experienced during training.

The ride up the hill was exhilarating, with butterflies coming back to my stom-

ach, a feeling I hadn’t had since the days of my first flights. On top of Mt. Sentinel I set up and began to prepare myself for flight. The flight plan was straightforward.

I knew just what I needed to do. The biggest variable to flying Sentinel (other than the weather) is the fact that the LZ, located at a convergence of a golf course and sports complex, is sometimes constricted with people playing soccer. On this day it was wide open, which meant plenty of extra room for landings, and the wind was nearly dead.

Everything was in place and looking good as I walked up to launch, performed a hang check, picked a cycle, yelled “clear,” and launched. This was it—the flight I had been imagining for several years!

From launch, I rounded the ridge and flew over the edge of Missoula from a premiere vantage point. Approaching the LZ, I began circling over the golf course, watching as ant-sized people stopped in place and stared up at me. At this point I began to realize I had reached my goal!

That first flight from Mt. Sentinel was amazing. It will live vividly in my memory for eternity. Since that flight, I have flown Sentinel a few more times. The last time I flew there I encountered additional pressure from an ongoing game of soccer cutting the LZ in half. No problem, I thought. I began my final approach and brought the glider down right in the middle of the primary LZ. It was a long time coming—my dream of flying Mt. Sentinel. There were many obstacles and long stretches of no flying, but in the end it was definitely worth the effort. The journey was as exciting and enjoyable as reaching the goal, and it also gave me a group of friends who are second-to-none!

Looking back now, I see that I have played many of the roles that exist in the Missoula hang gliding community. I have been the spectator, the soccer player out on the edge of the LZ, the student learning how to fly, the new pilot, the driver, a Tarkio regular, University Club president, and, most recently, I have donned the role of new intermediate pilot.

In this last role I look forward to continuing the unofficial mentor program. I’m eager and willing to take the next novice pilots to Tarkio so they, too, can achieve their flying dreams!

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Site Highlight

GLACIER POINT | YOSEMITE 36

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

by Adam West and Jeff O’Brien

moment. [opposite] The South Wall | photo by Jeff O'Brien. [above] This all began with my attempts to Launch. [inset] Launch | photos by Chris Valley. better get some of this down before get the “three amigos” back together for it all fades. As Jeff said this morn- a weekend. Jeff O’Brien, Alex McCulloch, challenge. This is the only national park ing, “Dreams of Yosemite keep me and I have had a history of “hang gliding in the US in which flying is permitted. As from slipping back into reality.” I must say, epics.” Trips to obscure places with uncon- you might expect, it is highly regulated. In the whole trip had a dreamlike quality— ventional flying experiences. I was in the order to fly there you have to coordinate intense, fleeting and other-worldly. Only states for work and hadn’t seen my Utah the tricky balance of pilot’s schedules and ratings, the presence of an apfifty-seven hours passed from proved site monitor, a driver, when I boarded the bus to vehicles and equipment, leave for Yosemite to when I got Yosemite Ranger bureaucracy, back home to Berkeley. Fiftyaccommodation in one of seven hours to make memories the busiest national parks in that will be slow to fade and the world, and, of course, the will bring a smile to my face weather. when I think about them for It was even more chalyears to come. It strikes me lenging, considering who was that life’s really valuable exinvolved. I was in Berkeley, periences are often contained jetlagged after having arin these small packets of time. rived from South Africa two Fleeting, intense experiences days prior, with NO gear, my whose impact on one’s life far wife and our five-month old outstrips their relative length.

I am glad I learned this lesson relatively flying mates for two years. After going back baby. Alex was in Boulder, but scheduled early in my life: grab these opportunities and forth for a month or two via e-mail, to be on a flying trip (as an airline pilot) to North Dakota and beyond. It was highly with both hands, whatever the risk. I am one day Jeff wrote to say: “Yosemite.” lucky to have an understanding wife and It was an improbable call. Flying questionable if he would be able to get good friends who collectively seize the Yosemite is a rare privilege and a logistical off work in time to catch a flight to join

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us. Neither Alex nor I held a current H4 rating from USHPA, which is required to fly Yosemite.

This is when Jeff stepped in to coordinate. He’d acquire demo gliders from Wills Wing, and a spare harness for me, along with peripheral gear. Jeff Shapiro over-nighted a temporary rating form to convert my SAHPA HG rating to a US one, while Alex managed to get his H4 rating in Colorado. Southern California pilots arranged for Greg Lawless to travel 1500miles to act as our site monitor for the weekend. (Big thanks to Greg for his time, resources, and food!) It was left to Alex and me to see if we could get ourselves to Yosemite by Friday night. I found out I could get from Berkeley to Yosemite via a

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nine-hour-bus-and-train journey. Alex was going to try to fly into Fresno, hopefully in time to meet Jeff on the way through.

My bus pulled into the valley at 8:30pm on Friday night. I was met by Jeff, his truck loaded with gliders. We laughed at the epic nature of our reunion and headed to the campsite where I met the others and caught up with Jeff over a bottle of cheap red wine. Just like old times. Alex ended up being scheduled for a trip on Friday and eventually showed up Saturday, after an absolute epic involving unmentionable commercial flight ops en route, so he could get into the gate early enough to catch the flight to Fresno. He made it by seconds, leaving his laptop on board the plane. Nice one, Captain! From there he

[above] Sunrise behind Half Dome | photo by Jeff O'Brien. [below] Photos by Jeff O'Brien.

rented a car and met us in the valley on Saturday afternoon.

Flying in Yosemite is tightly regulated.

It is only permitted from Glacier Point and only for an hour a day. In order to fly there, you have to hold an advanced rating from the USHPA and have an approved site monitor with you from the Yosemite Hang Gliding Club. (http://www.yhga.org) The monitor radios park rangers at 8am for clearance to fly. Launches are allowed between 8am and 9am, and all pilots must be on the ground by 10am. Normally the weather and clearance is a non-issue, but forest fires were burning in the park, and

FLY YOSEMITE

By Chris Valley

Before you know it, summer will be here, and you’ll be taking part in the numerous hang gliding road trips you’ve been planning since the start of the new year. Maybe you set higher goals for this flying season and will compete in a comp, or maybe you’re just pushing for your own personal best hang gliding experiences...or...maybe...you’ll fly Yosemite.

Think about it. You get up before sunrise and drive up to Glacier Point.

Wiping the sleep from your eyes, you begin to set up your glider. You have a feeling you’re about to do something extraordinary and with that comes apprehension, but, at the same time, you know you’re ready for this moment in your flying career. Whether you’ve just earned your H4 or had your H4 rating for years, it is time to take the leap off Glacier Point in your hang glider. This is your Right of Passage: the moment is yours to see Yosemite Valley from the air.

As a monitor for the Yosemite Hang Gliding Association, it is an honor and a thrill to help you live the dream of flying Yosemite. Nothing beats walking you out to launch while the morning tourist crowds begin to gather, many having never seen a hang glider before. You are about to show them something new—a hang glider launching off Glacier Point.

Our job as monitors is to get you out to launch safely and then get you safely off launch! We may give you some last minute pointers, like getting that hang-strap tight, or tell you simply to relax and enjoy the view. After that, it’s your show. You pick up the glider, take a deep breath, lower the nose, take that first step, and before you know it—you have a bird’s eye view of Yosemite Valley.

The once silent group of spectators behind you has now erupted into shouts of jubilation and disbelief at what they’ve witnessed. You have just made their day and may have inspired a future pilot!

A Yosemite site monitor gets to meet visiting pilots from all over the world.

Some people make flying Yosemite part of their annual road-trip trek around the U.S. It is a privilege to be a part of your journey. Last year I had the opportunity to monitor Stan Boehm and his sons, Jason and Erik. This was Erik’s first flight at Glacier Point and more-than-likely a first where a father and both his sons flew Yosemite for the weekend. It was fun to be a part of their adventure. Then, there is the first pilot I ever launched at Yosemite, Canadian pilot Luc Maillux. Luc and I have become good friends as a result of our flying at Yosemite and have met at various locations for some hang gliding and a beer or two.

The Yosemite Hang-Gliding Association invites you to fly Yosemite in 2010.

Please check out our website: www.yhga.org for more information. We look forward to seeing you!

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Yosemite high | photo by Jeff O'Brien Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

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[left] Jeff O'Brien snaps another classic.

helicopters were working to contain the blazes. Smoke was thick in the valley. We kept our fingers crossed and were happy to be in pristine surroundings.

We got up at 5am and were on the road in the dark before six. On the way up, we passed a black bear with two cubs in the twilight. The air was crisp and cold, warming by the minute from the sun, as we carried our gliders to the edge of the rim and rigged in the early dawn light. After rigging, we signed the waiver, had our licenses checked, and received a pre-launch briefing. The steep granite slab launch faces east toward the rising sun with Half Dome directly ahead. A breathtaking vista.

For most, it’s a life highlight just to take in the view. We got to launch right at it!

There were tense moments as the site monitor wrangled with the park ranger over the radio, requesting permission.

Only with an understanding ranger and an eloquent monitor was the fire operations captain convinced to let us fly. We efficiently donned our harnesses and lined up to traverse the steep granite face one at a time to launch. When it was my turn, I sidestepped my glider out along the face.

You have to do this unhooked, which is a bit nervy. When in position, I hooked in; Greg gave me a hang check, cleared and I was off.

The early morning air was buttery and the valley spectacular in all directions. A 360 degree feast for the eyes. I saw Jeff ahead and below and after a tour of the valley, I met up with him next to a sheer granite wall. We traversed the immense face together for awhile, dwarfed by the immensity, getting a couple of photos as we flew. After breaking from our formation, I was first to set up an approach. Jeff was seconds behind and beside me, and we alighted in the dewy thigh-high grass of the meadow. We’d managed to pull logistics together and had our flight. We were missing our third amigo, though, and hoped the fires and fire personnel would stay calm enough for one more morning flight.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the shade, swapping stories. We stopped by the base of El Capitan and had a look through a photographer’s telescope. He

was focused in on a climbing party 2000ft. off the valley floor, the leader blazing up the face barefoot! Alex had called to say he’d made his connection, and, before sunset, the three of us got caught up with a ceremonial swim in the crystal clear, cold Merced River.

The next morning’s light revealed the valley was full of smoke as we made our way up to launch. We were hoping for Alex’s sake that we wouldn’t be shut down by smoke or firefighting aircraft. We rigged in the shadow of Half Dome, accentuated with smoky yellow-orange dawn light. The scene was ineffable. When the site monitor called for clearance, the fire operations captain granted our request. The party was on and Alex would get his flight! We lined up without delay. Jeff was to launch first, with me immediately after him. The plan was to hook up again for some photo opportunities. Alex was going to go third and just enjoy his first flight at Yosemite.

Jeff and I took a tour of the granite spires on the south side of the valley peppered with giant fir trees. We glided over sharp fins thousands of feet high, just off the treetops. It’s inspiring to see such forbidding terrain from literally a bird’s eye view. Arduous or impossible to view this terrain with human eyes any other way.

Approximately 12 minutes later we found ourselves with feet on the ground, legs wet with dew from the LZ. We watched the rest of our mates make successful flights punctuated with great landings.

Our objective had been realized, but our journey was not yet over. We hurriedly broke down our gliders, then the camp. Flash drives flew from hand to hand, transferring media from the weekend, hugs and smiles were exchanged, and Jeff gave me a ride out of the valley to the train station. As I gathered my bags, I spotted Jeff’s new flying helmet unused in the back seat. After a quick exchange, Jeff said, “Yeah, I’ll never transition to that new helmet unless I get rid of this sweaty old thing.” I replied, “Well, why don’t you give it to me?” Jeff picked up the sweat-caked, scratched lid and said with a smile, “If you want this slimy thing, you can have it.” I saw Jeff peering at me from his rearview mirror with a wide smile as he drove away.

I walked away toting my bags in the 105 degree heat wearing my new (stinky) fullface helmet.

Ayacucho

Paragliding the Central Andes of Peru

by JeffCRISTOL

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[previous page] Flying above launch with other pilots. [above] The author with his son at launch | photo by Ursula Cristol. [opposite] Pilots wait for the morning thermals to begin on Capanallo Launch | photo by Jeff Cristol.

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A

s I watch the sun drop behind a nearby ridge, (four in a seat) can’t stay awake and bobs his head on I happily climb into the back of an open panel my shoulder. truck half-full of locals. The truck drops us It is impossible to count how many people are at intersection at dusk where a group of weary look- crowded in here, in addition to boxes of produce, ing people assure me that something will come along. bags of potatoes, bunches of greens for guinea pigs Three old women sit sewing, backs against a nearby and small children wrapped in colorful mantas. The building, their feet reaching toward a tied up pig driver of this overloaded van takes the corners too and a handful of chickens. I am dismayed when the fast; as we round one, he jerks the wheel in order to women get up, shrug and wander off. It’s dark now. avoid a truck that lies on its side with the contents of Finally, our ride comes—a minivan, or “collec- its bed spilled across the road. Obviously, the truck tivo,” an apt name, for it not only describes the col- driver lost control, hit the mountainside and rolled lection of humanity that packs in, but also the way over. Everyone crosses himself, but no one suggests the van stops in the road every few miles to collect we stop to help or see if anyone is hurt.

After crossing a high pass, we start to descend the next fare. I toss my glider on top and find a seat.

The farmers, who have been out in the fields working into the city. The driver is going even faster now and all day, emit an acrid smell of sweat that fills the van. waits to brake until already in the curve. Just a few The fumes irritate my eyes and keep me awake, like miles from town, he pulls off the road, and we resmelling salts, but the old man crammed next to me alize he’s fried his brakes. We unload to stretch as

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the smell overwhelms us. He pours water over his brake pads, unconcerned with warping the hot metal. ( When you paraglide in Peru, adventure often starts on land. A several-hour cross-country flight can be easier than getting to launch or back.) The lights of the city below are just a few minutes away.

Ayacucho, Peru, a city of one hundred twenty thousand, sits at nine thousand feet above sea level, in a bowl surrounded by the high altiplano of the Andes, nine hours southeast of Lima. The drive from the coast is typically harrowing. After countless switchbacks, the road crosses the Abra Apacheta at 4800m (15,748feet). For hours the highway winds across high, barren and beautiful altiplano, mostly above 14,000 feet, finally dropping down to the city. Compared to other prime paragliding centers in the Peruvian Andes—Huaraz, Cuzco and Huancayo— all of which are at 10,000 feet, Ayacucho sits a little lower, Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

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at 9,000 feet. Thinking of 9,000 feet as low elevation is a good way to start a paragliding trip to Peru.

Like much of Peru, the rich culture surrounds the visitor and is as much a reason to visit as the wild topography. My Lonely Planet Guide says Ayacucho “… is arguably Peru’s most fascinating Andean city after Cuzco and is well worth a visit.” Founded by the Spanish in 1539, there are supposed to be thirty-three

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historic churches; in fact, there are many more.

I first visited Ayacucho in 2002 on a paragliding trip, and, although we flew, we didn’t find the at-that-time-unknown launch. An American living in Ayacucho, who learned to paraglide in Lima, pioneered the site a couple of years ago. May through October is the dry season in the Andes, during which time the coast has heavy fog that typically clears enough for good flying several days a week. Last summer the fog was thicker than usual and the coastal flying awful, motivating the Lima pilots to visit the mountains.

In June of 2009, some pilots invited me to join them for a weekend in Ayacucho. Several Belgian pilots flying a site just above the city were logging great flights. I left Lima at two in the morning with a new pilot, Gustavo, and a Colombian pilot, Andreas, and his Canadian girlfriend, Laicie,. By sunup I was feeling sick. As we crossed the Abra Apacheta after the long climb from the coast, Gustavo drove fast on the winding road. By the time we reached Ayacucho, the sun felt strong, the air extra thin.

A dozen pilots, including the Europeans, gathered in the central plaza. Surrounded by colonial buildings, couples walked hand-in-hand, and shoeshine boys looked for work. It seemed as if things hadn’t changed here for years.

In fact, Ayacucho has an infamous recent his-

tory as being the location of the base of the Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path. The Maoist radical political group terrorized the country from the mid-eighties through the nineties. Up to seventythousand people disappeared or were murdered during this devastating time. While the Shining Path started as a pro-peasant land reform movement advocating for the rights of the common man, it soon spun out of control when opposed by the government.

During what was essentially a civil war, the local population was caught between a military struggling to maintain control in the central Andes region of Peru and an armed insurgency that increasingly used violence in an attempt to destabilize the entire country. Infrastructure, politicians, and even the tourist industry were targeted.

With the 1992 capture of the Sendero leader, Abimael Guzman, the movement was beaten; however, the problems and inequalities which led to the movement still exist, and political and police killings still occur. The government blames recent events on narco-trafficing, but the situation is more complicated. While the civilian population for now is safe, clearly violent radical reformers are still interested in changing the status-quo.

A couple of weeks before my visit, a dozen police were killed just west of the city, in an area closer to the jungle and the drug trade. I promised my wife,

who is from Lima and follows the news, that I would [opposite below] Light refrain from flying in that direction on any cross- reverse launch above Ayacucho, Peru. [top, from country attempts.

Since the millennium, more aid and attention have left to right] Heading out been given to the needs of poor farmers. While na- on a XC, the altiplano too tional politics remain mired in predictable scandals, close below. Heading out over town. Flying above the infrastructure throughout the country is improvAyacucho with other pilots. ing. Countering these gains is the huge influence of Photos by Jeff Cristol. the narcotics trade, since coca production is a large part of the economy. As poor campesino farmers take a bigger part in the production and refinement of coca, they are caught between a world economy that penalizes them because cocaine is illegal and the poor alternative of traditional farming.

This complex history is the canvas on which local Ayacuchanos go about their lives. Few tourists are aware of the depth of the problem or its possible consequences. For now, though, daily life is mostly quiet and safe in the high Andes.

In Lima, my wife Ursula gave me a tee shirt depicting a coca leaf below the phrase, “La hoja de coca no es droga.� The coca leaf is not a drug. Bolivian President, Evo Morales, gave this phrase world prominence; as the first leader of his country with an indigenous background, he also worked with coca growers. The statement evokes the broader question of which drugs are controlled throughout the world, why and by whom. We joked that the shirt portrays Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

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[above] Local children playing “Lets get tangled in the lines” | photo by Jeff Cristol.

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me as pro-coca in the drug war, which might save me doned roofless buildings and livestock. The main obstacles are high-tension power lines just uphill of this from trouble if things ever get ugly.

As for the flying, during the weekend everyone area. The tall towers are obvious, but the power lines had great flights. Thermals were mostly three-to-five cross the best landing approach.

Halfway down the road from launch is another hundred up, the sink rarely strong and the turbulence correspondingly mild. The land was beautiful, big field also used as a landing zone. It makes a quick a checkerboard of small plots set across the hillsides. turnaround for tandems and is an option if you’re The campesinos (country folk from the Andes) speak nervous about crossing the power lines. Though less Quechua as their first language, and women still dress used, the higher landing zone is safe and wide open, in traditional clothes. Children wrapped in mantas though less convenient if returning to town.

Take-off is on a north-facing hill (the sunny aspect are carried across their mothers’ backs. People walk along narrow paths with huge loads of straw on their in the Southern Hemisphere) at 10,800,’ a relatively backs. Wheat is threshed by hand on the top of hill- low elevation for the Peruvian Andes. Remember, the sides, and squat adobe buildings dot the landscape. pass on the way to the coast is almost sixteen thouAll of this is spread out below the thermalling pilot. sand feet, and the high rolling altiplano is often over The factors that most make Peru a wonderful retreat fourteen thousand. There are several nice topographfor me, the romantic ideas that an average American ical features to fly over, a long ridge, and a couple of significant summits, all of which produce thermals. tourist arrives with, are all well nourished.

The weekend was a huge success. Many coastal Launch sits near the top of a hill named Campanallo, above Carmen Alto on the edge of the pilots had their best flights. A week later I planned to city. There is room for one glider cleared above the return with just my wife and our ten-month-old son, dirt road. It’s not unusual for pilots to either hit the but an even larger contingent from Lima showed up, road or the cactus growing on the far side, with the with fourteen pilots on launch one day.

Andreas, the dreadlocked “piloto biplaza de road directly below launch. Still, the launch is more than adequate and cycles regularly come up the hill. Columbia” with a great sense of humor, joined me for On the glide to the city there are many thermal both visits. As we passed a church with open doors sources and chances to climb out. The landing zone on Sunday afternoon, he noted that after two visits closest to town is among piles of adobe blocks, aban- to Ayacucho, a city with thirty-eight churches, he

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

hadn’t visited one. He did do several tandem flights a day, mostly with volunteers at various NGO’s, some of which are orphanages (a result of the bloody nineteen-eighties, the Sendero, and narco-trafficking).

I sought out some of the cross-country potential after several long flights around the hill. Generally, light winds prevailed from the east. The only paved road to Ayacucho comes from Pisco on the coast. It quickly winds its way up to a small pass at 12, 300,’ about 10km from launch, just downwind. Two days in a row I flew to this pass but didn’t commit to the valley beyond. Cross-country flying here required more than just the 16,500’ height I’d gotten to. I needed knowledge of the surrounding area and higher thermals further away from launch. It frustrated me to land, check my vario, and see I was still above 12,000.’

One morning in the busy streets of Ayacucho we came across women selling coca leaves from a cart in front of an old church. In theory, coca is illegal everywhere in the world. However, the leaves are used in several ways—in tea, (which can be bought commercially processed into tea bags) chewed with a lime catalyst, or in ancient Andean ceremonies. The “pay to the earth” or pachamama ceremony involves ritual centered on coca leaves. The ceremony gives thanks for what has been provided by the earth and is an opportunity to ask for future blessings. After a serious

flying accident in the mountains above Huaraz, Peru, a couple of years ago, I take these ceremonies seriously, if only as a reminder of the wonder and magic of free flight.

After eight days of flying above Ayacucho, I had four days of short cross-countries and over thirteen hours of airtime. I almost never reached the nearby cloud base and never sank out off launch. I flew often enough that I needed to refill my oxygen bottle and found the regional hospital happy to help. It was an interesting afternoon wandering through town to find the busy hospital (no taxis were running because of a typical work strike). The hospital was crowded with people, and it occurred to me what a bad idea it is to get hurt in remote areas of the Andes.

The Ayachucha paragliding club is named Pawasunchik, a Quechua word, though almost all of the members are Belgian. Pawasunchik means “let’s fly” in Quechuan; “pawa” means fly, “sun” let, and “chik” us. (In Spanish it would be Volemos).

I kept trying to get high enough to cross the altiplano and finally caught a good thermal away from the hill. It took me back up to almost 15,000.’ From this vantage point, I could see that I didn’t want to cross the ridge into the next valley, as I’d hoped.

Instead, I followed a dirt road that eventually leads to Andehuaylas, one hundred kilometers away (and a daunting ten hours by bus). The road slowly climbed Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

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[left] A woman threshing and winnowing wheat. [right] Heading for a sweet cumulous on a XC flight. Photos by Jeff Cristol.

from my last landing spot at 12,300’ and, once again, the ground came up much too quickly. Fortunately the entire area is wide open fields, allowing one to land anywhere.

Just a couple of hundred feet over, I found my first lift in fifteen minutes. I began turning, slowly gaining height and drifting along above the road. After twenty minutes, I had drifted to the end of the ridge and was seven hundred feet higher. The road turned west, into the wind, and I left for an obvious round mountain, once again above the highway, but beyond the scary valley that made me change course. I got over the small peak and found lift. It drifted back away from the road that now turned east. Another thousand over, I left for nice looking fields on track above the highway. Beyond these, the pavement disappeared into a tight canyon. Unless I found some extraordinary climb, this would be it.

I landed above the small pueblo of Angasmayo, around fifty km by road and maybe twenty-five km by air from launch. A family, complete with children, who were gathered around piles of freshly cut wheat, seemed unimpressed with my arrival. I finally flew beyond my ten-km mark, with a fun, challenging low save, and happily packed my bag for the hitch back. The adventure began again once I was on the ground. (I described the nerve-wracking drive back at the opening of this article.)

Pilots often ask me if Peru is safe. Like most places in the world, it depends what you do and where you go. While the political situation can change, for now the country is pretty stable and improving, much like Colombia. Mexico and Brazil are plagued with much worse crime and violence and that doesn’t keep pilots away from those destinations.

The Campanallo site is very consistent and has abundant and friendly thermals; the clouds form all around but almost never over launch. Cloud base is not much above the surrounding altiplano, but serious cross-country, while safe and challenging, is perhaps too challenging. Still, this ranks as yet another great flying site in the Andes of Peru. While not as big as the air around Cuzco or as scenic as the mountains around Huaraz, it’s a great place to visit and fly.

Jeff Cristol is a tandem pilot, photographer and videographer in Telluride, Colorado. Through his company he offers paragliding tours to such remote locations as Peru, India and Kyrgyzstan as well as to flying sites throughout the Southwestern United States. See adventuretourproductions.com for more information.

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

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Northern California Cross

by Jugdeep Agarwhal

T

he league seems to be getting better each year, with more and more pilots coming out. Despite being scuppered by poor weather on the first meet of the year, the turnout was exceptional. October was crazy, with over 30 pilots coming out to the Owens Valley, despite the forecast for really bad weather. Even though the distances flown this year were nearly half that of previous years, the amount of fun pilots had was a gaziillion times more. Maybe it’s time to reflect on why.

We definitely have a pilot community that wants fly-ins that help push pilot skills and exploration of the local area flying sites. How better to do this than with your friends? It also seems that once pilots have found the league meets, they return. Maybe it’s the camaraderie, the flying, the informal learning environment, and/or bettering personal distances that keep folks coming back. With the goal of “a fly-in with a mission,” these league meets also provide a training forum for the larger sanctioned competitions.

As in previous years, tasks ranged from very modest to the positively, completely ridiculous. Early season tasks were short, sometimes less than 10 miles, but at the

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height of the season distances were over ting terrain, where the aim is to stay in the the 100km mark. They were all challeng- air to avoid a horrendous walkout. These ing in their own way. legs are set to give the better pilots a runSetting tasks has sometimes been dif- for-their-money. ficult, since the aim of the tasks is to keep While the skill level for the pilots is even the most junior pilot appropriately clearly not equal, the competition is set challenged. The tasks are composed of up so that pilots only compete against three parts. The first part is set on easy their equally skilled peers. Hence, three course lines across easy terrain, with the categories have been set up: those flying competition and DHV2-3 gliders (Category 1), those flying DHV 2 gliders (Category 2), and those flying DHV1 and 1-2 gliders (Category 3). This has resulted in a leveled playing field.

One of the key objectives of the league is to give those pilots who cannot complete all 17 tasks an opportunity to win. So, similar to the PWC league, pilots’ final scores are determined by their scores for half of the tasks set, enabling a pilot to win even if he/she did not attend all tasks.

Clearly, however, it is more advantageous to attend as many tasks as possible.

Since this is really only a aim of ensuring that even the most junior fly-in with a mission, registration costs pilot can experience the fun of competing have been kept to a modest $10-per-perwithout being overtaxed. The second part son per-race. For this amount, pilots get of the task is usually more involved, with to compete and score in tasks that are perhaps a valley-crossing-or-two and more scored in a manner identical to the scoring challenging terrain. This section is meant in bigger competitions. Non-competing to test the more able pilots. The final part pilots are always welcome, since this helps of the task is set up across more commit- map out the air for the competing pilots.

Country League 2009

I have been running the league for five years, and one of the most rewarding aspects has been watching pilot ability Regular attendees have gotten into the progress over the years. For the first time swing of things, substantially reducing the since I assumed this position, we had an task load on the organizer. They are able occasion when no pilots landed in the LZ, to download waypoints before the week- with all pilots leaving the valley. Because ends from the website, sign-in and pay we had only one dedicated retrieve driver, each morning, submit GPS for scoring on the logistics of getting everyone back Saturday evening, and email tracklogs for became very involved. League meets defiSunday’s task. Using this procedure has nitely take over where formalized training resulted in a smoother running operation stops, by providing pilots a chance to fly for all participants. Keeping track of pilots with, and learn from, very skilled pilots. has been difficult, because of the large I am also pleased to see that Dean numbers. However, the buddy system, Stratton’s league, the Southern California which allows pilots to sign-in their buddy Cross Country League, (www.usxcleague. as being safe, has proven to be a success. com), has had a successful year. More Then, the only issue is retrieval. leagues appear to be gearing up for 2010, The dedicated website for all informa- with the Intermountain League and tion for the league, (www.santacruzpara- Oregon leagues well poised. It would gliding.com), has proven to be a great be fantastic to see these leagues grow in resource for keeping pilots informed the same way the Northern California throughout the season. The 2010 website League has grown. Maybe we could have has a section dealing with competition a “league-off “at the end of the season to strategies that provides tips and tricks for see which region has the best pilots! flying in these league meets as well as the With the 2010 season about to kick off, larger ones. it would be great to see new pilots coming As in the previous year, scores are out to the league to see what they have posted on the Leonardo website, (http:// been missing. Keep it fun. See you in the norcalxcleague.pgcomps.net/comps/), air! which gives pilots the opportunity to view their flights, download their tracklogs and Pilot Stories: Jay Gordon: play animations for the competition. In addition, Leonardo offers sponsors much My first season of flying the Northern higher profiles by showing logos on every California XC League was very exciting. webpage.

Meeting a great cast of characters who all [above] Owens Valley launch | photo by Jay Gordon. [inset] Staying warm at Dunlap | photo by Peter Reagan.

2009 WINNERS Category 1 First place: Josh Cohn Second place: Eric Reed Third Place: Steve Young

Category 2 First place: Jason Shapiro Second place: Patrick Allaire Third Place: Jay Gordon

Category 3 First place: John Caletti Second place: Reavis Sutphin-Gray Third Place: David Ismay

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Total number of tracklogs

53

Total number of participating pilots

4317.14

Total kilometers flown of all competing pilots

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

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2010 DATES

with provisional locations

POTATO HILL March 20th and 21st April 10th and 11th: TDB May 22th and 23th : TBD June 26th and 27th: TBD July 24th and 25th: TBD August 21st and 22nd : TBD September 11th and 12th: TBD

OWENS VALLEY September 25th, 26th and 27th or October 2nd, 3rd and 4th

had something in common was cool. Even though tagging goal was not met the first or second season, there were many benefits from retrieving sky gods. There are some very talented XC pilots in Northern California, and the knowledge I gathered from them was quite rewarding. I chalked up the season as a great foundation for XC flying and was compelled to come back again.

About three-quarters of the way through the third season, I finally tagged goal. I WAS frustrated in the beginning of the season, almost making goal a few times. But I knew lacking patience and sound decisions would not deliver me to goal. So when I finally settled down and started being more patient, it all came together. I only made it to goal once this season, but knowing it’s possible by adding a little persistence will keep me coming back.

Now I can see the addiction with tagging goal, something paraglider pilots would only understand. I look forward to hanging next season with a very colorful bunch and tagging a few more goals.

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Submit horizontal photos in digital format with a MINIMUM of 3120 W x 2400 H pixels (7.5 megapixels). Please submit unaltered at the highest resolution you have. Photos must have been taken no earlier than January of 2008. Each submission MUST INCLUDE: Signed contributor agreement (1 per photographer) photographers name, mailing address, phone, email address AND a photo caption, location, site name, pilot name, wing type, month & year of photo. Please submit digital photos on CD or DVD if possible, but FTP is also available at the link below. SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE IS MAY 31ST.

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All contributors will receive confirmation of receipt and photos will be returned upon completion of the project. Contact Martin with questions at 1-800-616-6888 martin@ushpa.aero.

Sometimes the league meets provide a special kind of adventure. Since retrieves are not organized in the way that they are in larger competitions, occasionally making your way back to the LZ can be an exercise in logistics. Usually, some early landings occur, and those pilots generously drive retrieve for the other pilots. Sometimes the retrieve doesn’t arrive. Sometimes you see the best in people and really enjoy the process. It helps if you have good karma.

That’s the way this weekend worked out for me.

The weekend had some of the SoCal crew joining the BAPA XC league regulars in Dunlap. The weather was stellar; great cumulus cloud streets indicated likely lift sources and very light west winds. The only overdevelopment was in the East, over the high Sierra, so it was not a factor.

Perfect weather for XC. The task on Sun. was a leg from Dunlap to Orosi, then up Hwy 63 to the 180 junction, back to launch, then to the ranger station. Josh Cohn was very patient on

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with that?” “SHEYA” I responded, not realizing how many had come before the one in his hand. We (his name was Dean) Sunday and waited for the gaggle to form made a stop in Orange Cove for some before starting his transitions. He basical- kick-ass burritos, and he dropped me off ly ran a clinic for a few of us by throttling at my truck 40 minutes later. It was an back. I was with him until a few km short enjoyable ride and I made a new friend. of the Orosi turnpoint, when I managed I must be living right, because this reto find a sink-hole that put me on the deck trieve could have been a four-hour fiasco. east of Orosi, 20+ miles from my truck.

Instead, it was efficient, quick, and enjoyFive minutes after getting to the able. If you are ever driving along and see road, a pickup stopped and the driver a guy next to the road with a floppy hat, asked me where I was going. “North,” I sunburned nose, big-bag, neoprene purse, said. He asked where I wanted to end up. and hard-to-read sign that says, “GLIDER “My truck is at the Dunlap Community PILOT NEEDS RIDE,” stop and pick me Center,” I responded. “Well, hell’s bells, up. Your adventure will be part of mine. hop in!” he yells, “I’m going to Dunlap Hopefully you will enjoy your adventures myself . . . But I’m drinkin’ beer, ya OK as much as I do mine. [above] East side of the Sierras watch the launches of the Norcal League Meet | photo by Peter Reagan.

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GALLERY |

DAVID BARISH

David Theodore Barish, an aeronautical engineer and inventor who has been called the “Forgotten Father of Paragliding” died on December 15 in New York City. He was 88.

D

avid Barish was born in 1921 in Passaic, New Jersey.

Full of wanderlust, he frequently ran away from home and had adventures that he loved to retell throughout his life. In 1939 he found a way to leave home permanently and see the world, training as a pilot through a government program established to expand the number of pilots available for the country’s needs. Afterwards, he worked as a flight instructor on Long Island. He became a co-pilot for TWA, flying transatlantic routes, and then joined the Air Force. Ready to join the war effort once he was trained as a fighter pilot, he graduated in the P-51 on V-J Day, the day Japan surrendered.

The Air Force then trained David at the USAF Institute of Technology, where he earned a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering and sent him to the California Institute of Technology where he obtained his Master’s and Professional degrees in theoretical aerodynamics. Taking this knowledge to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio, he worked in the Research and Development division. He became a test pilot, flying modified versions of the T-6 training aircraft, and the P-47 and P-51 fighters, and an early model of the first jet aircraft developed for the Air Force. Leaving the service in 1953 as a Captain, he continued as a test pilot for Grumman Aviation flying amphibious aircraft.

Once, while landing at a lake in Connecticut, he struck a newlyinstalled power line, flipped in the air, hit the water upside down and woke up in the aircraft on the bottom of the lake. He escaped uninjured. Later, he worked as a consultant while developing an idea for a new form of parachute that would allow much more control, a slower descent, and use far less material than the standard form. This would become the Vortex Ring Parachute, a patent for which was granted to him in July 1957. This light, flexible parachute consisted of four fabric panels rotating on an axis, like a helicopter rotor. It was developed in several sizes for uses as far ranging as delivering tiny payloads to landing space capsules.

They are still in use by the American military today.

In the 1960’s Barish began working on a new design that addressed the need for a high-performance gliding parachute. This would eventually become the Barish Sailwing, a lobed parachute with a rounded self-inflating leading edge. Originally developed in 1965 as a controllable method to return space capsules safely

to the earth, David manufactured a lightweight, smaller version for testing. Barish or his son, Craig, would attach themselves to this wing-shaped parachute that measured 44 feet across and run down a steep slope until the parachute’s canopy was lifted overhead by the air rushing against it – and lift the “pilot” off the ground. The successful first flight occurred on October 15th, 1965.

In the 1970s this new idea of flying from the ground using a wing-shaped parachute began to be referred to by those who witnessed it as “slope soaring.” It was thought that this would become a sport among the thrill seekers who already were jumping out of airplanes in an activity now known as sky-diving.

Eventually the slope-soaring sport, redubbed paragliding, would flourish.

Other patents granted Barish include the Flexirotor, a flexible helicopter blade system -- and a series of vortex ring modifications, the latest in 2006. Constantly trying to perfect each of his aeronautical inventions, Barish was frequently found towing parachutes behind his personally modified automobile, filming and adjusting tailoring and suspension lines. His children learned at an early age how to safely hang out of a moving car window with a movie camera focused on a rotating or wing-shaped ‘chute.

In 2000, at the annual Coupe Icare international paragliding event in St. Hilaire, France, where he was honored for his contribution to the sport, Barish had his first tandem paraglide at the age of 79. In 2004, Barish was recognized by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association with the Presidential Citation for his work, “In recognition of outstanding contributions which have significantly enhanced and promoted the sports of hang gliding and paragliding in the United States.” In 2009, a reconstructed replica of his original design was flown before an amazed crowd in St. Hilaire.

His family announced his death, which was the result of Multiple Myeloma. Predeceased by two wives, Kavvy Kosunen and Frances Lyons, and two sons, Steven and Philip, David will be mourned by his third wife, Johanna Roman, and three children, Craig Barish of Manhattan, Dana Barish of Buffalo, NY and Wendy Barish and her husband, Michael Greenstein, both of Woodstock, NY.

An Interview with David Barish by Steve

Roti

SR: As far as I know, nobody else was launching off hills with parachute-like aircraft in the 1960s. What made you decide to build and fly the Sail Wing?

DB: The slope-soaring Sail Wing was an outgrowth of the Sail Wing used for skydiving, which existed much earlier than the slope-soaring version.

NASA was looking for alternate means for recovery of their capsules, and it became obvious that something with higher performance than the skydiving version was needed. We developed a higher-aspect ratio version and took it to Hunter Mountain in New York in September of 1965. The aspect ratio went up from 3 for the skydiving version to 5 for the slope-soaring version. There were other people involved in the development, including Dan Poynter and my son Craig.

Slope- soaring was a way of testing out the higher-aspect ratio version of the Sail Wing.

SR: What educational background led you to develop the Sail Wing?

DB: I earned masters and professional degrees in aeronautical engineering from Cal Tech, graduating in 1950. I spent nine years in the Air Force as a pilot, including my time at Cal Tech. After the Air Force, the first parachute I worked on was the vortex ring parachute, from 1954 to 1957. In 1964 I really got going on the gliding parachute, as a result of work I was doing under contract for the Army.

SR: Is there anyone in particular who inspired you to pursue this form of aviation?

DB: My own interest led me into the gliding parachute area.

Of course, Lindbergh inspired my whole generation.

SR: Were you aware of Francis Rogallo and the work he was doing?

DB: I was, and after we got into the NASA work with the higher performance version, we did a lot of our wind tunnel testing at Langley, where Rogallo was working.

Our work started out quite differently because Rogallo was interested in using metallic structures, and all of my work was without rigid structures. While we were testing at Langley one day, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Rogallo looking at the models we had hanging in the wind tunnel and taking notes. Of course, he followed quite a different path. [previous page] Pioneering foot launched flight at ski areas in Catamount, 1964. [top] Newspaper excerpt. [bottom] One of the Sailwing prototypes in 1966.

SR: Dan Poynter’s book, Hang Gliding: The Basic Handbook of Skysurfing, published in 1973, uses the term “paragliding” to refer to your activities with the Sail Wing. Do you know when and where the term “paragliding” originated?

DB: Not really. At the time we called it slope-soaring. Someone else originated the term “paragliding,” but I’m not sure who it was; it might have been Dan. Interviewer’s note: A phone call to Dan Poynter verified his use of the term “paragliding” in the 1973 book, but he wasn’t sure where the term originated. Dan also mentioned that 1973 was right about the time when the sport of hang gliding standardized on using aviation terminology rather than sailing terminology.

Paul Klemond informed me that NASA used the term “paraglider” in the early 1960s to describe developments such as the Rogallo wing and the Parasev (Paraglider Research Vehicle).

In summary, it appears NASA originated the term “paraglider” in the early 1960s, David Barish invented the practice of foot- launching gliding parachutes in the mid-1960s, and the term “paragliding” was first used to describe foot-launching of gliding parachutes in the early 1970s.

SR: Did anyone else fly the slope-soaring Sail Wing?

DB: Yes, other people, including Dan and my sons, flew it around 1966 or 1967. My son Craig was in his teens and he loved it.

SR: You mentioned flying at Hunter Mountain in New York State. Where else did you fly?

DB: I’ve always been a skiing enthusiast myself, so I got the idea of taking advantage of the ski lifts. I was sponsored by Ski Magazine to travel around the country looking for the best ski areas for slope-soaring.

The best one I found in the East was the Stowe ski area.

Unfortunately, the trails at Stowe were fairly narrow, and I wasn’t very skilled at staying over the trails and away from the trees, but I only had a couple of tree landings. I was discouraged at the other eastern ski areas, because I thought there were too many trees. I went out West, but the weather wasn’t cooperative at the times I could get out to the slopes.

A notable aspect of the 1965/1966 time period is that I wasn’t aware of the advantage one could get out of thermalling, so I was always flying under calm conditions and not getting any thermal lift. It wasn’t until a few years later that it became obvious that I could use the thermals.

SR: What kind of response did you get from people who saw you out slope-soaring back in the 1960s?

DB: Well, there weren’t many people around; the slopes were mostly deserted at the times we picked to do the flying.

SR: What were your thoughts on the safety of what you were doing back then?

DB: We were young and foolish. But, in all fairness, I’ve never been injured on a paraglider, nor while skydiving.

SR: Is there any particularly memorable experience from your early slope-soaring flights with the Sail Wing?

DB: I’ve always tried to be pretty careful, and in those days we were using the slopes as a way of checking out the effects of changes in the rigging and the aspect ratio and the cloth we were using. Our flights were really engineering flights. We weren’t trying for spectacular flights.

SR: Did you have a vision for the future of recreational slopesoaring back when you were experimenting with the Sail Wing?

DB: Probably because of my ignorance of the effects of thermals, I didn’t really think about the amount of flying you could do. Again, that was largely due to ignorance on my part.

SR: Modern paragliders have advanced quite a bit in the last 20 years. Do you think we’ve reached the performance limits of paraglider wings, or are there still advancements ahead for the sport?

DB: There are still advancements being made, and they will continue to be made. I’ve continued working to explore the extremes of designs to see where we could expand the envelope. I fly a paraglider that is probably somewhat higher performing than most. I currently have a glider with a flat aspect ratio of 8. I think there’s still plenty of room for improvement in materials and aerodynamic shape.

SR: Where do you fly your paraglider?

DB: These are still engineering flights, and I have a training hill that’s adequate for that kind of testing.

SR: One instructor I know describes paraglider pilots as people who feel they are birds trapped in human bodies. Does that description apply to you?

DB: I don’t know if it applies to me, but I can certainly believe that it applies to a lot of other people. One is reminded of the old saw: “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are very few old, bold pilots.” [left] David Barish ground handling one of his. [opposite, top left] David Barish looks into new developments at St. Hillaire, France. [top right] Comparing notes with Gin Seok and David Gibus at St. Hillaire, France. [below] David and Joanna Barish.

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T

here is a photo revolution that’s in the mail, and GoPro HD is spearheading the charge. Santacroce has sent in a dozen terrific shots from the little video workhorse over the last two issues. Many of the top instructors in the US are dealers for GoPro, so get yourself lined out and send in your best flying shots for the USHPA magazine.

While the resolution isn’t exactly enough for a full page cover shot, or center spread, it certainly rings true when cropped. Top-notch photography is no longer reserved for those with massive cameras and the USHPA editorial staff is thrilled to see what gets submitted this year!

Chris Santacroce winding it down in Mexico | photo by Chris Santacroce.

DISPATCH

C A L E N D A R

&

C L A S S I F I E D

SANCTIONED COMPETITION

NON-SANCTIONED COMPETITION

HG April 17-May 23  Florida Ridge, La Belle, FL. 2nd Annual Rob Kells Memorial . AT Race to Goal XC .Register Dates: 12/15/09 - 04/17/10 More info: contact the organizer, James Tindle, at www.thefloridaridge.com. New and seasoned comp pilots welcome. Sport class participation encouraged.

PG May 22-23  Nothern California. Northern California Cross Country League. 2010. The Cross Country league is an informal series of cross country competitions running from March through to October held at flying sites within driving distance of the Bay Area.

The league is set to help pilots of all abilities in improving their flying skills by flying set courses with other pilots. These are essentially a ‘fly-in’ with a mission. For more information check out www.SantaCruzParagliding.com or email Jug at scpjka@gmail.com

PG MAY 2-8  La Belle, Florida, ECPC (East Coast Paragliding Championships) Florida ridge flight park, La Belle, FL. This USHPA sanctioned event is the only flatland PG race-to-goal comp in the USA designed for intermediate and advanced pilots who want to test their flatland flying skills. Entry fee: $275. This includes retrievals. Tow fees are separate. Organize your own tow team! Tow operators needed. Contact: David Prentice (505) 720-5436, or email earthcog@yahoo. com.

HG june 6-12  Ridgley, MD. East Coast HG Championship at the Highland Aerosports flight park. AT Race to Goal XC. Register Dates: 12/14/09 - 06/06/10.

More information contact the organizer, Adam Elchin, at http://www.aerosports.net/ecc.html, or hanglide@ aerosports.net.

PG June 13-19  Ruch, OR. Rat Race PG Competition at Woodrat Mountain. FL Race to Goal XC. Register: 01/01/10 - 06/13/10. More information contact the organizer, Gail Haley, at mphsports@charter.net, or http://www.mphsports.com.

PG July 10-15  Chelan, WA. Chelan XC Open and PG Nationals. FL Race to Goal XC. Register: 01/01/10 - 07/10/10. More information contact the organizer, Doug Stroop, at doug@paragliding.us.

HG jULY 19-24  King Mountain, ID. 2010 King Mountain Hang Gliding Championships. Located at King Mountain, in Idaho’s Lost River Range,near Arco and Moore, Idaho. Open Distance NTSS points awarded. Possible tasks include OD along specified routes, shot gun open distance, triangles, out and return tasks. Open, recreation, and team classes, drivers awards, raffle, trophies, educational seminars and more! Collectors edition shirts designed

by Dan Gravage! Free camping, hot showers, breakfasts, BBQ’s, prizes, and tons o fun...PLUS some of the best XC flying the sport has to offer! For more information and registration forms, go to www.flykingmountain.com OR call Lisa Tate (208)376-7914, lisa@lisatateglass.com.

HG august 15-21  Big Spring, TX. Big Spring US Nationals. AT Race to Goal XC. Register Dates: 12/14/09 - 08/15/10. More information contact the Organizer, David Glover, at http://2010BigSpring. blogspot.com, or david@davidglover.com.

PG august 28-september 5  Sun Valley, ID. 2010 USA PG Nationals. FL Race to Goal XC. Register Dates: 12/14/09 - 08/28/10. More information contact the organizer, Michael Pfau, at www.usparaglidingnats.com, or pfauboy1@yahoo.com.

HG september 12-18  Casa Grande, AZ. Santa Cruz Flats Race. Francisco Grande Hotel. AT Race to Goal XC. Register Dates: 12/14/09 - 09/12/10 More information contact the organizer, Jamie Shelden, at naughtylawyer@gmail.com.

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PG May 28-31  Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah AAA Paragliding & Hang Gliding Sprints–a development comp at the Point of the Mountain. The Utah AAA Paragliding & Hang Gliding Sprints, a race to goal competition for those who have little-to-no competition experience. $75 for four days. The Sprints resemble other race to goal comps, but with tasks set to ensure a high percentage of pilots make goal.

Tasks designed to expand skills and are appropriate for most novice-intermediate pilots. Pilot development workshops conducted prior to each task covering topics critical to race to goal competition flying (race strategy, GPS, flying in gaggles, previous day analysis, individual coaching, etc). More information: www.AAAsprints.com.

PG June 26-27  Nothern California. Northern California Cross Country League. 2010.The Cross Country league is an informal series of cross country competitions running from March through to October held at flying sites within driving distance of the Bay Area. The league is set to help pilots of all abilities in improving their flying skills by flying set courses with other pilots. These are essentially a ‘fly-in’ with a mission. For more information check out www.SantaCruzParagliding.com or email Jug at scpjka@gmail.com HG PG July 3-8  Chelan, Washington. The Chelan XC Classic is designed to be fun and challenging for XC pilots of all skill levels. Rather than having declared goals, pilots at the Classic choose their own tasks, and can fly straight-line distance, out-and-return or triangles. A pilot’s four best days of the six-day event are scored. PG pilots: a great site intro before competing in the Chelan XC Open or the Chelan PWC. Entry fee: $80 through April 30, $100 from May 1 on; includes a T-shirt and BBQ. If you want to be scored, but can’t make the whole week, $25 a day will get you in the competition. Payment by PayPal or check; more details on www.cloudbase.org.

HG july 19-24  King Mountain,ID.2010 King Mountain Hang Gliding Championships.Located at King Mountain, in Idaho’s Lost River Range,near Arco and Moore, Idaho. Open Distance with new task formats added. Entry fee 100 dollars. Tasks include OD along specified routes, shot gun open distance, out and return tasks. Open, recreation, and team classes, drivers awards, raffle, trophies, educational seminars and more! Collectors edition shirts designed by Dan Gravage! Free camping, hot showers, breakfasts, BBQ’s, prizes, and tons o fun...PLUS some of the best XC flying the sporthas to offer! For more information and registration forms, go to www.flykingmountain. com OR call Lisa Tate 208-376-7914 lisa@lisatateglass.com.

PG July 24-25  Nothern California. Northern California Cross Country League. 2010. The Cross Country league is an informal series of cross country competitions running from March through to October held at flying sites within driving distance of the Bay Area.

The league is set to help pilots of all abilities in improving their flying skills by flying set courses with other pilots. These are essentially a ‘fly-in’ with a mission. For more information check out www.SantaCruzParagliding.com or email Jug at scpjka@gmail.com HG PG AUGUST 1-7  Boone, NC. Tater Hill Open.

XC and race for paragliders and low performance hang gliders w/ concentration on new XC pilots.

Handicapped scoring so everyone has a chance to win. More info: www.flytaterhill.com, or contact Meet Director Bubba Goodman at (828)773-9433.

Registration opens March 15, $175 includes rides up the hill, retrieve, T-shirt and awards party Saturday night.

PG august 21-22  Nothern California. Northern California Cross Country League. 2010. The Cross Country league is an informal series of cross country competitions running from March through to October held at flying sites within driving distance of the Bay Area. The league is set to help pilots of all abilities in improving their flying skills by flying set courses with other pilots. These are essentially a ‘fly-in’ with a mission. For more information check out www.SantaCruzParagliding.com or email Jug at scpjka@gmail.com PG september 11-12  Nothern California. Northern California Cross Country League. 2010. The Cross Country league is an informal series of cross country competitions running from March through to October held at flying sites within driving distance of the Bay Area. The league is set to help pilots of all abilities in improving their flying skills by flying set courses with other pilots. These are essentially a ‘fly-in’ with a mission. For more information check out www.SantaCruzParagliding.com or email Jug at scpjka@gmail.com PG september 25-27 or OCTOBER 2-4  Owens Valley. Northern California Cross Country League.

2010. The Cross Country league is an informal series of cross country competitions running from March through to October held at flying sites within driving distance of the Bay Area. The league is set to help pilots of all abilities in improving their flying skills by flying set courses with other pilots. These are essentially a ‘fly-in’ with a mission. For more information check out www.SantaCruzParagliding.com or email Jug at scpjka@gmail.com

FLY-INS may 1-2  Oceanside, Oregon A fun Hang and Paragliding event with over 30 years of history. See website for more info. More Information: Mark Sanzone (503)292-1753, msanzone@yahoo.com, or oceansideopen.com.

may 14-17  Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Kill Dev-

il Hills, NC The Hang Gliding Spectacular and Air Games is a true example of what hang gliding is all about, fun! Originally named the 1st Annual Tactile Meet, the Spectacular has endured over 30 years of continuous years of fun flying, good times and the creation of life long friends. Competitors from all over will travel to Kitty Hawk Kites on the Outer Banks of coastal North Carolina to fly, party and meet old and new friends! For more information visit the website, www.hangglidingspectacular.com.

More Information: Bruce Weaver (252)441-2426, bruce@kittyhawk.com, or www.hangglidingspectacular.com.

may 21-23  Greer, South Carolina. South Caro-

lina Springtime Fly-In, at Glassy Mountain near Greer, SC. Come and enjoy flying and competing (spot, duration, X-C, balloon toss, etc.) at this beautiful south-facing mountain. Plaques awarded to all 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers in all competitions (except balloon toss). $20 entry fee for competition flying and $10 for fun flying. Fly-In T-shirts are available. Glassy launch is 1500’ AGL. Contact: Paul Peeples, PO Box 2121, Brevard, NC 28712; (828) 885-2536 (home); (828) 553-3777 (cell); pbrannenp@msn.com. Due to tree restrictions at launch, paragliders cannot be flown at this site.

may 29-31  King Mountain, Idaho. 8th annual “Spring Fling at King”. Cash prize for longest XC. BBQ, mild conditions in early spring, and a chance to meet new pilots. Open our link at www.kingmountaingliders.biz, or call (208)390-0205. may 29-31  Ruch, Oregon. Join us May 29, 2010

at Woodrat Mountain for the 34th Starthistle Fly-in.

The fabled event offers hang glider and paraglider pilots powerful thermals and a great party. Come to Southern Oregon Memorial Day weekend for three days of fun, food and flying. More posted soon!

More Information: Don Fitch (541)821-4269, DonFitch2000@yahoo.com, or www.RVHPA.net.

may 29-31  Alamogordo, New Mexico. 2010 Memorial Day Dry Canyon Fly-In. The Rio Grande Soaring Association will host a Memorial Day FlyIn. Contests will include Spot Landing, Race to Goal, Bomb Drop, Duration and Open XC. Minimum H-3 and P-3 with mountain experience. Additional this year: Platform towing at the nearby Alamogordo Airport! Enjoy desert thermals with tall, cool mountains right at hand for family trips. Trophies, friends, a barbecue, good flying and a welcoming community. Contest cost: $20. For additional information, please contact Robin Hastings at (575)541-5744, or rnhastings@zianet.com. For forecasts and club information, check our website at www.rgsa.info. See you in the sky!

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June 1-5  Grandfather Mountain, North Caroli-

na. Mountain to the Sea Morton-Rogallo Memorial Fly Over. In honor and memory of previous Grandfather Mountain owner and Hang Gliding Promoter, Hugh Morton and NASA Engineer and Flexwing Inventor, Francis Rogallo, powered hang glider pilots from all over will come together for a five day flying and camping adventure that will begin at Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina, cross their beautiful home state and end at Kitty Hawk. For more information or ground crew volunteers, please contact David “Toad” Smith at (828)758-7590, or shendren05@charter.net

June 13-19  Lumby, British Columbia. Based at

main landing zone at the Freedom Flight Park just one mile north of the town of Lumby. The Hang Gliding event will follow the very popular 5th annual “Lumby Air Races”, June 11-13 2010, which has always been held in conjunction with Lumby Days and includes both Hang Gliders and Paragliders. Both competitions will be exciting triangle, rectangle and open distance races measured by GPS. For more detailed information and registration links for both events, please visit WWW.LumbyAirForce.com.

More Information: Randy Rauck (250) 547-6841, or Randy@BeBOLD.com.

JuLY 1-11  Villa Grove, CO. Duluth, Minneso-

ta’s Skyline Sky Dogs & Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Northern Sky Gliders OLD TIMERS REUNION. These 2 clubs enjoyed relentless rival flyin meets in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s boasting some 300+ members. Everybody is now dispersed all over the country after following their flying dreams. Let’s meet and fly together again -- come one come all - everyone is welcome! For more info, tiffanyandlarrysmith@gmail.com, or (970)209-5212.

AUGUST 6-8  Maple Falls WA, Silver Lake Group Camp Ground. Black Mountain 34th Annual Hang Gliding Meet of the Canadian & American Hang Gliding Associations. "The Can Am". Come fly one of the oldest sites in the Pacific Northwest. Spot Landing, Speed runs, Fun Fly-in Potluck Saturday night.

More information: Della Miller, (360) 421-6995 august 13-15  Silver Lake Park, Whatcom Coun-

ty, WA. 2010 Black Mountain Fly-In is scheduled for the weekend of August 13-15. New event organizers and proceeds to support local site maintenance fund.

Friday evening registration, pilot’s meeting Saturday 10am. Potluck/BBQ Satuday evening and hosted breakfast Sunday morning. Fee for the weekend, including camping is $35. More Information: Jim Wagner firstdescent@hotmail.com.

AUGUST 14-22  King Mountain, ID. Annual Safari

at the King Mountain Glider Park in Idaho. Awesome glass off and cloud bases at 18,000’. Hang Gliders, Paragliders, and Sailplanes all at the base of King Mountain. Campfires, potlucks, star gazing, hiking, mountain biking, and Fishing. Free Camping at the Glider Park just east of Sun Valley. See the pictures from last years Safari in our gallery. Call John at (208) 407-7174. Go to www.kingmountaingliderpark.com for directions and more info.

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clinics & tours May 1-2  Salt Lake City, Utah. “Get the Rust Off”

Clinic. Kick off the 2010 flying season with Wings Over Wasatch and your fellow pilots at this FREE clinic! Our instructors will watch, evaluate and provide feedback to any rated pilots looking to “get the rust off” and prepare for a great flying season. For more information visit wingsoverwasatch.com.

may 1-2  Utah. Tandem (T2 & T3) with Ken Hudonjorgensen. Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@gmail.com. More info: www.twocanfly.com.

MAY 5015  Salt Lak City, Utah. P2 Course: Point of the Mountain, UT. Now is the time to schedule your lessons. Super Fly offers lessons throughout the year but from May 5-15 we are gearing up to take a select handful from zero experience to fully qualified pilot in ten days. This is paragliding boot camp. Dawn till dusk, day after day. By the time you are finished you will have done everything up to, and including, advanced maneuvers over the water. No better team, no better time. Contact: info@superflyinc.com may 6-7  Torrey Pines Gliderport, CA. Earn your T1, T2, T3 ratings with the tandem instructors at Torrey who fly the most tandems per year! More Information: Robin Marien / Gabriel Jebb (858)452-9858, info@ flytorrey.com, or www.flytorrey.com.

MAY 8-9  Salt Lake City, Utah. USHPA Instruc-

tor Training. Join the ranks of other experienced and enthusiastic pilots who have become a hang gliding instructor. Successful completion of all requirements is required for USHPA Instructor Certification.

Re-certification participants are also welcome. For more information visit wingsoverwasatch.com

may 8-10  Torrey Pines Gliderport, CA. Earn your USHPA Basic/Advanced Instructor ratings with the Torrey team. More Information: Robin Marien / Gabriel Jebb (858)452-9858, info@flytorrey.com, or www. flytorrey.com.

MAY 13-16  Grand Junction, CO. Ridge Soar-

ing Clinic at Otto’s Ridge and Reader Mesa. Enjoy hours of smooth flying and perfect your top landing skills with Parasoft PG. Details at http://www. parasoftparagliding.com/lessons/ridge _ soaring _ clinic.php

may 15-16  Salt Lake City, Utah. Tune Up/ Mtn.

Thermal Course. Want to explore the mountains of UT, brush up on the latest techniques, have the flight of your life? Spend three days with us and we will help you to make it happen. Contact Info@superflyinc.com

may 15-17  Sebring, Florida, SIV Clinic. Three day over the water maneuver training course. Contact: David Prentice (505) 720-5436, or email earthcog@yahoo.com. may 15-17  Utah. Thermal Clinic. Utah flying sites with Ken Hudonjorgensen. Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@gmail.com. More info: www. twocanfly.com.

may 20-23  Utah. Cross-country competition clinic; a friendly introduction to cross-country flying with instruction from US and North American XC record setter, and 2005 US XC Competition Champion Bill Belcourt, and Ken Hudonjorgensen who held the xc record in Utah for 7 years and has won the Utah xc cup for 6 of the 14 years it has been run. All aspects of XC & Competitions will be covered. Utah XC sites.

Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@gmail. com. More info: www.twocanfly.com.

MAY 21-23  Yuba Lake, Utah. Maneuvers Course (SIV): Comprehensive Chris Santacroce style maneuvers session. Pay by the tow and take your flying safety and skill to the next level. All experience levels welcome. We do maneuvers with our students as a part of their P2 program. If you have ten flights, you have plenty to enjoy and over the water experience. All levels of aerobatic/acro coaching are available. Yes, we are talking about SIV. Contact: chris@superflyinc.com to get your free maneuvers prep DVD. may 20-25  Over-the-water Maneuvers Clinics in Southern California with Eagle Paragliding. America’s top all-around acro and competition pilot Brad Gunnuscio will be coaching with our state of the art towing set up. Visit www.paragliding.com , or call 805.968.0980 for more information.

MAY 28-30  Jackson Hole, WY. Tandem Paragliding Clinic at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort presented by Scott Harris. For more information call or e-mail (307)690-8726 scott@jhparagliding.com may 28-30  Lake Isabella, CA. Build your confidence in your flying and maneuvers recovery with the Torrey crew. More Information: Robin Marien / Gabriel Jebb (858)452-9858, info@flytorrey.com, or www. flytorrey.com. june 2-3  Tandem Paragliding Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California. Classroom and practical training at our world class training hill. Visit www.paragliding.com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information. june 3-8  Over-the-water Maneuvers Clinics in Southern California with Eagle Paragliding. America’s top all-around acro and competition pilot Brad Gunnuscio will be coaching with our state of the art towing set up. Visit www.paragliding.com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information. june 4-6  Instructor Certification Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California. This three-day clinic is open to Basic and Advanced Paragliding Instructor candidates, and those needing recertification. Visit www.paragliding.com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information. june 4-6  Jackson Hole, WY. Instructor Certification Clinic presented by Scott Harris, (307)690-8726 or scott@jhparagliding.com

JUNE 11-13  Bear Lake, Utah. Wings Over Bear Lake. PG and HG aerobatics competition: Bear Lake, UT. Boat tow, over the water aerobatics at a world class resort. Cart launch and boat launch HG tows.

Landing on a grassy beach. Contact: chris@superfyinc.com for registration.

june 25-27  Lake Isabella, CA. Build your confidence in your flying and maneuvers recovery with the Torrey crew. More Information: Robin Marien / Gabriel Jebb (858)452-9858, info@flytorrey.com, or www. flytorrey.com.

june 12-26  France, Switzerland, Italy. Experi-

the perfect destinations. Chris Santacroce and Jeff Farrell along with local guides will show you some of the most incredible destinations. Contact info@ superflyinc.com for details.

ence the Alps where it all began! Fly world famous sites everyday such as St. Hilaire, Annecy, Chamonix, Mieussy, Verbier, La Madeleine, Les Saissis and more.

Join Luis Rosenkjer and Todd Weigand on an unforgettable tour to some of the most beautiful flying sites in the world! Luis and Todd have 11 years of combined experience guiding international pilots to the Alps. Fly from the Aiguille du Midi on Mont Blanc, launching at 12,000 feet and landing in Chamonix, 9,000 feet below! www.paraglidingtrips.com More Information: Todd Weigand & Luis Rosenkjer , or www.paraglidingtrips.com.

June 18 - July 5  Peru. Touching the Andes of Peru Tours. Join Jeff Cristol and Adventure Tour Productions for another paragliding tour to the Andes of Peru. This will be Jeff’s 15th trip to the high mountains of Peru where he intimately knows sites throughout the country. Please visit www.paraglideperu.com, www.adventuretourproductions. com/articles/touchingtheandes.htm and www.adventuretourproductions.com/articles2005/sacredvalley.htm to read about these adventures and for any questions or to reserve a spot. Contact: (970) 728-1754, or write jeff@adventuretourproductions. com.

JUNE 19-20  Salt Lake City, Utah. Landing Clinic.

Where better to practice landings repeatedly than the Point of the Mountain? This comprehensive clinic will involve evaluation and instruction of pilot landings at both Point of the Mountain sites and potentially a third location. Using video analysis participants will gain big insights into become a consistent and safe landing pilot. For more information visit wingsoverwasatch.com

june 19-20  Utah. Mountain Flying and learning

how to pioneer a new site in Utah with Ken Hudonjorgensen. Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@ gmail.com. More info: www.twocanfly.com.

June 22-24 and JUNE 25-27  Lost Creek Lake, Southern Oregon. Maneuvers/SIV Clinic over beautiful Lost Creek Lake in Southern Oregon. Coached

by Brad Gunnuscio and hosted by Kevin Lee. Brad is renowned for his excellent maneuvers coaching, was the 2008 USHPA Paragliding Instructor of the Year, and Ranked #1 US Pilot. Kevin was the 2006 USHPA Paragliding Instructor of the Year and has been passionately teaching others to fly Paragliders since 1995. Join a perfect crew, have a great time, and come to understand your glider more in three days then most hope they could in a lifetime!

Then stick around and fly famous Woodrat Mountain right here in Southern Oregon. More info: (541)8907142, or email info@thermaltracker.com.

JUNE 26-july 4  Slovenia Tour. The perfect time,

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JULY 9-11  Salt Lake City, Utah. Aerobatics Clin-

ic The third annual Wings Over Wasatch Aerobatics clinic is back! This year WOW will improve on this popular, action-packed weekend by including truck and/or boat towing. With 2500-3000 ft tows, participants will have ample opportunities to explore and perfect their maneuvers! For more information visit wingsoverwasatch.com

july 15-16  Torrey Pines Gliderport, CA. Earn your T1, T2, T3 ratings with the tandem instructors at Torrey who fly the most tandems per year! More Information: Robin Marien / Gabriel Jebb (858)452-9858, info@ flytorrey.com, or www.flytorrey.com.

JULY 15-19  Colorado Mountains Get out of the

heat and camp with us at the 10,000’ launch and enjoy long scenic flights. Details at http://www. parasoftparagliding.com/lessons/mountain _ flying _ clinic.php

july 17-19  Torrey Pines Gliderport,CA. Earn your USHPA Basic/Advanced Instructor ratings with the Torrey crew. More Information: Robin Marien / Gabriel Jebb (858)452-9858, info@flytorrey.com, or www. flytorrey.com. july 29-31  Over-the-water Maneuvers Clinics in Southern California with Eagle Paragliding. America’s top all-around acro and competition pilot Brad Gunnuscio will be coaching with our state of the art towing set up. Visit www.paragliding.com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information.

AUGUST 1-3  Over-the-water Maneuvers Clinics in Southern California with Eagle Paragliding. America’s top all-around acro and competition pilot Brad Gunnuscio will be coaching with our state of the art towing set up. Visit www.paragliding.com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information.

AUGUST 11-21  French Alps Paragliding Tour with Eagle Paragliding. This flying location is amazing.

Call 805.968.0980, or visit www.paragliding.com to get more information, and view the images from previous tours. august 21-22  Tandem Paragliding Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California. Classroom and practical training at our world class training hill. Visit www.paragliding.com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information. august 26-28  Utah. Central Utah Thermal and XC Clinic with Stacy Whitmore, Ken Hudonjorgensen.

Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@gmail. com. More info: www.twocanfly.com.

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AUGUST 27-29  Salt Lake City, Utah. Wasatch

Mountain Tour There are few states more synonymous with world-class flying than Utah, and now with the WOW Wasatch Mountain Tour, you can experience all of its greatness for yourself. All within 90 minutes of Salt Lake City, WOW will introduce clinic attendees to numerous sites with epic flying conditions via a guided tour. Flying fun at its best.

For more information visit wingosoverwasatch.com

september 3-5  Utah. Thermal Clinic. Utah flying sites with Ken Hudonjorgensen. Phone (801) 5723414, or email twocanfly@gmail.com. More info: www.twocanfly.com.

SEPTEMBER 4-6  Provo, Utah. Inspiration Ther-

mal Clinic. Join Wings Over Wasatch for an in-depth instructional review of one of the best sites in the US. This clinic will cover the intricacies of flying Inspiration Point, as well as the various thermal techniques required at such a site. Open to all pilots, from those that have not yet flown “Inspo”, to those that fly it regularly and would like to increase their working knowledge of the site. For more information visit wingsoverwasatch.com

september 6-17  India: Bir Billing, Dharamsala, Manali. Local instructors and guides in India.Includes transportation, accomodation, guide service.

Novice/Intermediate/Advanced rated pilots. Side trip to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama residence. The selection of the sites and take off points will be made according to the skill and experience of the individual pilot. Questions about the trip’s itinerary, difficulty, transportation, accommodations, etc., should be addressed to your trip leader Achim Hagemann, (808) 895-1690, or email: flyaglider@yahoo.com. september 9-14  Over-the-water Maneuvers Clinics in Southern California with Eagle Paragliding.

America’s top all-around acro and competition pilot Brad Gunnuscio will be coaching with our state of the art towing set up. Visit www.paragliding.com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information.

SEPTEMBER 16-21  9th Grand Junction, Colora-

do Ridge Soaring Clinic at Otto’s Ridge and Reader Mesa. Enjoy hours of smooth flying and perfect your top landing skills with Parasoft PG. Details at http://www.parasoftparagliding.com/lessons/ ridge _ soaring _ clinic.php

september 25-26  Utah. Mountain Flying and

learning how to pioneer a new site in Utah with Ken Hudonjorgensen. Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@gmail.com. More info: www.twocanfly. com. october 15-17  Owens Valley Thermal and Cross Country Clinic with Eagle Paragliding. Many pilots are sure to get personal bests. View photos and videos from our last clinic at www.paragliding.com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information. november 5-7  Instructor Certification Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California. This three-day clinic is open to basic and advanced Paragliding Instructor candidates, and those needing recertification. Visit www.paragliding. com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information.

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november 8-9  Tandem Paragliding Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California. Classroom and practical training at our world class training hill. Visit www.paragliding.com, or call 805.968.0980 for more information. november 9-16 &/or nov 18-25  Iquique, Chile.

Join Ken Hudonjorgensen, and local guides. A great trip to what many pilots consider to be the best place to fly in the world, certainly more consistent than any place I have ever flown. Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@gmail.com. More info: www. twocanfly.com.

November 10-29  Iquique ,Chile. Join Luis Rosenkjer and Todd Weigand to fly the never ending thermals of the Atacama Desert! Soar endless sand ridges high above the Pacific Ocean, then land on the beach next to our 4 star hotel. As Chilean open distance record holders and Iquique Competition Champions, Luis and Todd also have 15 years of combined guiding experience in Iquique! A variety of trips for all levels, plus XC guiding, Acro displays, and master kiting tips! The conditions are so good at this time of the year that we guarantee you will fly everyday or get money back! More Information: www.paraglidingtrips.com. december 12-13  Thermal and XC Clinic with Rob

Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, California. This two-day clinic is open to pilots of all levels.

The clinic includes ground school, and ground-toair radio coaching in our local mountains. Visit www. paragliding.com , or call 805.968.0980 for more information. february 2-7  Southern Cal. flying trip. Join ken Hudonjorgensen on a trip to thaw out your bones and get your flying brain cells activated and ready for the new flying season. Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@gmail.com. More info: www.twocanfly. com.

FLEX WINGS A GREAT SELECTION OF HG&PG GLIDERS (ss, ds,

pg) -HARNESSES (trainer, cocoon, pod) -PARACHUTES (hg&pg) WHEELS (new & used). Phone for latest inventory (262)473-8800, www.hanggliding. com.

PARAGLIDERS PARAGLIDING GEAR - Windtech Tempus, DHV-1, size Large, grey & gold, only 10 hours of airtime $1200. Comes with stuff bag and original backpack (which has a few broken buckles). Flytec 6030 Vario - NEVER USED - new in box - $1000. Racer XC Harness, size L, with brand new Large Airwave Reserve $500. 303-805-7536.

PARACHUTES RESERVE PARACHUTE - Free Flight Enterprises.

L.A.R.A 250 (equal to Quantum 330) 320 sq ft. Newly repacked & in perfect condition. Deployed once during maneuvers course. Always repacked yearly and never been used for emergency deployment. $500 (normally $625-$675 new retail). Call 719-2442494.

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

CALIFORNIA AIRJUNKIES PARAGLIDING - Year-round excel-

lent instruction, Southern California & Baja. Powered paragliding, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier 760-753-2664, 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 beautiful Santa Barbara! USHPA Novice through Advanced certification. Thermaling to competition training. Visit www.flyaboveall.com 805-965-3733.

FLY AWAY HANG GLIDING - Santa Barbara. Best hill/ equipment, glider shuttles up hill, tandems, sales, service, 20 years experience, Instructor Administrator Tammy Burcar. 805-403-8487, www.flyawayhanggliding.com.

THE HANG GLIDING CENTER - PO Box 151542, San

Diego CA 92175, 619-265-5320.

Mission Soaring Center LLC - Largest hang gliding center in the West! Our deluxe retail shop showcases the latest equipment: Wills Wing, Moyes, AIR, High Energy, Flytec, Aeros, Northwing, Hero wide angle video camera. A.I.R. Atos rigid wings- demo the VQ-45' span, 85 Lbs! Parts in stock. We stock new and used equipment. Trade-ins welcome. Complete lesson program. Best training park in the west, located just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Pitman Hydraulic Winch System for Hang 1s and above.

Launch and landing clinics for Hang 3s and Hang 4s.

Wills Wing Falcons of all sizes and custom training harnesses. 1116 Wrigley Way, Milpitas, CA 95035.

408-262-1055, Fax 408-262-1388, mission@hanggliding.com, Mission Soaring Center LLC, leading the way since 1973. www.hang-gliding.com

TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT — This historic site,

established in 1928, offers all of the services you need. We provide USHPA certified instruction, advanced training, equipment sales, tandem flight instruction, paramotor instruction, SIV clinics, cross country clinics, tandem instructor clinics, paragliding instructor clinics, and a fully staffed cafe. We also have an extensive glider sport shop offering parachute repacks and full-service repairs. We are importers for Paratech, Ozone, Skywalk, and Independence gliders and are dealers for all brands! We also carry an extensive certified used inventory of gliders and harnesses.

We are the primary Ki2Fly dealer, and also carry AustriAlpin, Crispi, Black Hawk Paramotors, and too much more to list! Check us out online at: www.flytorrey. com or give us a ring at (858)452-9858.

WINDSPORTS - Don’t risk bad weather, bad instruction or dangerous training hills. 350 flyable days each year. Learn foot-launch flying skills safely and quickly.

Train with professional CFI’s at world-famous Dockweiler Beach training slopes (5 minutes from LA airport.) Fly winter or summer in gentle coastal winds, soft sand and in a thorough program with one of America’s most prestigious schools for over 25 years. 818367-2430, www.windsports.com.

COLORADO APCO AVIATION DEALER - COLORADO'S FIRST &

ONLY DEALER - Paragliders,harnesess,rescue systems and accessories call Ken (303)775-8676 or email:flyboy91369@hotmail.com

FLORIDA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 21 years of experience,

top instructors, top pilots, very consistent weather all year around. Your best choice on the east coast. www. atlantaparagliding.com 404-931-3793.

FLORIDA RIDGE AEROTOW PARK - 18265 E State

Road 80, Clewiston, Florida 863-805-0440, www. thefloridaridge.com.

GRAYBIRD AIRSPORTS — Paraglider & hang glider towing & training, Dragonfly aerotow training, XC, thermaling, instruction, equipment. Dunnellon Airport 352-245-8263, email fly@graybirdairsports.com, www.graybirdairsports.com.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - Nearest moun-

tain 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.

Quest Air - Home to the champions—is dedicated

to your success, whether you want to learn to fly, are honing your landing skills or hoping to medal at the next World Championships. (352) 429-0213, Groveland, FL, questairforce.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 ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 21 years of experience,

top instructors, top pilots, very consistent weather all year around. Your best choice on the east coast. www. atlantaparagliding.com 404-931-3793.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - Discover why

5 times as many pilots earn their wings at LMFP. Enjoy our 110 acre mountain resort. www.hanglide.com, 1-877-HANGLIDE, 1-877-426-4543.

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.

INDIANA

Supe r Fly GTX

CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - See Cloud 9 in Michi-

gan

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

(sky GTX also available)

apexbase.com 951.940.1324

MICHIGAN CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - Aerotow specialists. We carry all major brand hang gliders and accessories.

Cloud 9 Field, 11088 Coon Lake Road West, Webberville MI 48892. cloud9sa@aol.com, http://members. aol.com/cloud9sa. Call for summer tandem lessons and flying appointments with the DraachenFliegen Soaring Club at Cloud 9 Field. 517-223-8683, dfscinc@aol.com, http://members.aol.com/dfscinc.

TRAVERSE CITY HANG GLIDERS/PARAGLIDERS

Put your knees in our breeze and soar our 450’ sand dunes. Full-time shop. Certified instruction, beginner to advanced. Sales, service, accessories for ALL major brands. Visa/MasterCard. 1509 E 8th, Traverse City MI 49684. Offering powered paragliding. Call Bill at 231-922-2844, tchangglider@chartermi.net. Your USA & Canada Mosquito distributor. www.mosquitoamerica.com.

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NEW YORK AAA MOUNTAIN WINGS INC. - New location at 77

Hang Glider Road in Ellenville next to the LZ. We service all brands featuring AEROS and North Wing. Contact 845-647-3377, mtnwings@verizon.net, www. mtnwings.com, FLY HIGH, INC. - Serving New York, Jersey, and Con-

necticut areas. Area’s exclusive Wills Wing dealer.

Also all other brands, accessories. Area’s most INEXPENSIVE prices! Certified instruction/service since 1979. Excellent secondary instruction! Taken some lessons? Advance to mountain flying! www.flyhighhg. com, 845-744-3317.

LET'S GO PARAGLIDING LLC - Paragliding flight

school offering USHPA-certified instruction for all levels, tandem flights, tours, and equipment sales.

More information: www.letsgoparagliding.com, 917359-6449.

PLANET PARAGLIDING - New York City area's finest instruction. Come fly with us. Beginner through advanced instruction. Best prices on new gear. Bill 203-881-9419, 203-206-3896, www.planetparaglidingtours.com.

SUSQUEHANNA FLIGHT PARK COOPERSTOWN, NY.

160' training hill with rides up. Mountain site. Bunk house. Camping. Contact info: home (315) 866-6153 cell (315) 867-8011. dan@cooperstownhanggliding. com, www.cooperstownhanggliding.com.

NORTH CAROLINA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 21 years of experience,

top instructors, top pilots, very consistent weather all year around. Your best choice on the east coast. www. atlantaparagliding.com 404-931-3793.

KITTY HAWK KITES - FREE Hang 1 training with pur-

chase of equipment! The largest hang gliding school in the world. Teaching since 1974. Learn to fly over the East coast’s largest sand dune. Year round instruction, foot launch and tandem aerotow. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Ultralight instruction and tours. 252441-2426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, www.kittyhawk.com

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.

CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - See Cloud 9 in Michi-

AUSTIN AIR SPORTS - Hang gliding, and LSA weight

shift control sales, service and instruction. Steve Burns (512) 736-2052, sburns@austinairsports.com.

WWW.AUSTINAIRSPORTS.COM. FlyTexas / Jeff Hunt - training pilots in Central

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

UTAH 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 801-5766460 if you have any questions.

Super Fly Paragliding – Come to world famous

Point of the Mountain and learn to fly from one of our distinguished instructors. We teach year round and offer some of the best paragliding equipment available.

Get your P2 certification, advanced ratings or tandem ratings here. We have a full shop to assist you with any of your free flight needs. 801-255-9595, info@superflyinc.com , www.superflyinc.com.

VIRGINIA BLUE SKY - Full-time HG instruction. Daily lessons, scooter, and platform towing. AT towing part time.

Custom sewing, powered harnesses, Aeros PG , Flylight and Airborne trikes. More info: (804)241-4324, or www.blueskyhg.com

WASHINGTON - Award winning instructors at a world class training facility. Contact Doug Stroop at 509-782-5543 or visit www.paragliding.us

gan

INTERNATIONAL 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. 787-8500508, tshg@coqui.net.

TENNESSEE ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 21 years of experience,

top instructors, top pilots, very consistent weather all year around. Your best choice on the east coast. www. atlantaparagliding.com 404-931-3793.

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Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

gliding and paragliding. Year round availability and special tours. Gear, guiding, instruction, transportation, lodging - all varieties for your needs. www.flymexico.com 1-800-861-7198 USA

TEXAS

AERIAL PARAGLIDING SCHOOL AND FLIGHT PARK

OHIO

MEXICO - VALLE DE BRAVO and beyond for hang

Canada - Raven Aviation Hang Gliding Lessons (USH-

PA certified) and Trike Lessons. One week full immersion courses. Lumby BC Canada. On-site camping.

More info: www.RavenAviation.ca, (250)307-7553 COSTA RICA - Grampa Ninja's Paragliders' B&B. Rooms, and/or guide service and transportation.

Lessons available from USHPA certified instructors.

USA: 908-454-3242. Costa Rica: (Country code, 011) House: 506-2664-6833, Cell: 506-8950-8676, www.paraglidecostarica.com<http://www.paraglidecostarica.com>

PARTS & ACCESSORIES CRITTERMOUNTAINWEAR.COM - is your one stop website for all your flying equipment and accessories.

Gear from Critter, Nervures, SOL, Sup'air, Swing, Digifly, and more. Specializing in vol bivy, sky camping and hike & fly adventures. 1-800-686-9327, critter@ crestedbutte.net.

Flight suits, Flight suits, Flight suits.

Warm Flight suits, Efficient Flight suits, Lightweight Flight suits, Flight suits in twelve sizes. Stylish Flight suits, www.mphsports.com, (541)702-2111.

FOR ALL YOUR FLYING NEEDS - Check out the Aviation Depot at www.mojosgear.com featuring over 1000 items for foot-launched and powered paragliding, hang gliding, stunt and power kiting, and powered parachutes. 24/7 secure online shopping. Books, videos, KITES, gifts, engine parts, harness accessories, electronics, clothing, safety equipment, complete powered paragliding units with training from Hill Country Paragliding Inc. www.hillcountryparagliding. com 1-800-664-1160 for orders only. Office 325379-1567.

HALL WIND METER – Simple. Reliable. Accurate.

Mounting brackets, control-bar wheels. Hall Brothers, PO Box 1010, Morgan, Utah 84050. (801) 829-3232, www.hallwindmeter.com.

OXYGEN SYSTEMS – MH-XCR-180 operates to

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

SPECIALTY WHEELS for airfoil basetubes, round

basetubes, or tandem landing gear.(262)473-8800, www.hanggliding.com.

PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS SOARING - Monthly magazine of The Soaring Society

of America Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring flight.

Full membership $64. SSA, PO Box 2100, Hobbs NM 88241. 505-392-1177, ssa.org.

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.

Get your annual inspection, repair or reserve repack done quickly and professionally. Super Fly does more inspections, repairs and repacks than any service center in North America. Call or email for details and more information. 801-255-9595, info@superflyinc.com.

RISING AIR GLIDER REPAIR SERVICES â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 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, billa@atcnet.net.

WANTED WANTED - Used variometers, harnesses, parachutes, helmets, etc. Trade or cash. (262) 473-8800, www. hanggliding.com.

WANTED - New or used apparel with old USHGA logo / artwork. Size L. Please contact Theodore at (530) 222-2447

MISCELLANEOUS kootenaytwistedflyers.ca - Handcrafted copper PG & HG models & mobiles that capture the energy & motion of flying. Make great trophies, or home and office accents. More info: www.kootenaytwistedflyers.ca, or (250) 358-2511.

STOLEN WINGS & THINGS It was a sad end to a three month paragliding trip to Mexico when our van was broken into at a truck stop in Buttonwillow, CA. All my paragliding gear was stolen. UP Everest med harness, Niviuk Hook wing small s/n D21110. Ozone Rush2 wing med s/n R2MK33B-005, UP profile reserve 20 parachute, Flymaster B1 variometer, SOL flight deck, Garmin GPS 72, Yeasu FT60 radio, ICOM 2200h 50 watt mobile radio. Contact Forrest Brault at boatguardian@hotmail.com or (530)533-5018.

STOLEN GEAR - Please keep an eye out for a stolen custom colored blue and yellow ProDesign Accura 100 wing, and a blue and black Apco ChairBag harness with a front deployed reserve. Taken from my car in Las Vegas 9-26-09. Contact with any info mftreacy@msn.com or (425) 444 2344.

STOLEN - WW Sport 2 155, white, orange and yellow/ green. Also an old paraglider Airwave Fusion, medium blue and white. Both stolen 10-30-09 Stockton, California. Call Tim at (208) 861-9489

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Telluride and the San Juans at their finest | photo by Paul Voight.

J A N U A R Y

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PARAGLIDING

HANG GLIDING

RATINGS

RTNG REGN NAME

CITY

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

RTNG REGN NAME

CITY

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-1 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-2 H-3 H-3 H-4 H-5 H-5 H-5

Albany Los Gatos Los Gatos Arlington Covington Wlison Schenectady Espoo Laval City, Quebec Berkeley Berkeley Berkeley Los Gatos Newport Covington Wlison Espoo Laval City, Quebec Cool Laval City, Quebec Ellenville Birmingham Wildwood Rising Fawn

CA CA CA VA GA NC NY

P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-5

Grants Pass Seattle Hood River Union City Las Vegas Oakland Santa Clara Fairfax Las Vegas Honolulu West Hills La Jolla Santa Barbara Waialua Mililani Farmington Moab Lonoke Jericho Memphis New York Iqaluit, Nunavut Grants Pass Aumsville Seattle Hood River Las Vegas Las Vegas Honolulu West Hills Santa Barbara Waialua Mililani Chandler Farmington Moab Lonoke Atlanta New York Iqaluit, Nunavut Richmond Grants Pass Kailua Pagosa Springs Telluride Goodyear Aspen Chubbuck Medford Moss Beach Grand Junction Alpine Framingham Framingham Buford Toronto, Ont Rising Fawn

OR WA OR CA NV CA CA CA NV HI CA CA CA HI HI UT UT AR VT TN NY

2 2 2 9 10 10 12 13 13 2 2 2 2 9 10 10 13 13 2 13 12 10 10 10

Ashwin Manthripragada Anthony Coute Brent Sumner Jesse Yoder Jason Brown Jim Snell Matthew Helm Jukka-pekka Kaikkonen Jean-claude Corbeil Michael Lichterman Henrik Bengtsson Tina Soggemoen Anthony Coute Scott Keyser Jason Brown Jim Snell Jukka-pekka Kaikkonen Jean-claude Corbeil Jason French Jean-claude Corbeil Kenneth Foldvary Don Murdoch John Rex Lisle Daniel Zink

CA CA CA CA PA GA NC

CA NY AL GA GA

Barry Levine Patrick Denevan David Yount John Middleton Gordon Cayce Daniel Zink Daniel Guido James Tindle Malcolm Jones Scott Seebass Scott Seebass Scott Seebass Patrick Denevan Randy Grove Gordon Cayce Daniel Zink James Tindle Malcolm Jones Christopher Valley Malcolm Jones Tony Covelli Daniel Zink Daniel Zink Matthew Taber

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Kerry Smith Jay Ferguson Erik Boomer Marco Guzman Brian Miller Kyle Kearney Pravin Chikkathimmaiah Dan Ferrando Benjamin Ellingson Gage Galle Ben Anvar Salar Atabaki Josh Voth Andrew Ross Richard Doppelmayer Jesse Tuttle Diego Calderoni Lawrence Williams Daniel Smith Mackenzie Woods Rephael Baehr Sarah Mcnair - Landry Kerry Smith David Krocker Jay Ferguson Erik Boomer Brian Miller Benjamin Ellingson Gage Galle Ben Anvar Josh Voth Andrew Ross Richard Doppelmayer Andrew Juszczyk Jesse Tuttle Diego Calderoni Lawrence Williams Charles Davis Rephael Baehr Sarah Mcnair - Landry Gary Pyles Kerry Smith Thomas Therrien Jesse Rader Kyle Swenson Sean Buckner Paul Gurrieri Ben Anderson Flauvio Braz Gomes Jim Jennings Rick Baars Neil Hansen Geovani Alves Davidson Da Silva John Frazier Mukrim Sisic Erik Graper

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Kevin Lee John Kraske Patrick Johnson Jeffrey Greenbaum Ron Peck Jeffrey Greenbaum Jeffrey Greenbaum Jeffrey Greenbaum Ron Peck Pete Michelmore Rob Mckenzie Max Marien Bruce Kirk Pete Michelmore Pete Michelmore Jonathan Jefferies Chris Santacroce Pete Michelmore Doug Gotthard Charles Woods Bruce Kirk Patrick Johnson Kevin Lee Kelly Kellar John Kraske Patrick Johnson Ron Peck Ron Peck Pete Michelmore Rob Mckenzie Bruce Kirk Pete Michelmore Pete Michelmore Chandler Papas Jonathan Jefferies Chris Santacroce Pete Michelmore Luis Rosenkjer Bruce Kirk Patrick Johnson Ron Peck Kevin Lee Pete Michelmore Bruce Kirk Ryan Taylor Chandler Papas Alejandro Palmaz Chris Santacroce Ricardo Maciel Jeffrey Greenbaum David Prentice Mike Steen Ricardo Maciel Ricardo Maciel Luis Rosenkjer Robert Roth Jr Daniel Zink

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

75

USHPA STORE

B O O K S

|

F I L M S

|

2010 CALENDARS | ONLY $7.50!

UNITED STATES HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION

And here they are–the 2010 Hang Gliding and Paragliding calendars. Available right now.

Light the candles and move that bust of Elvis to the basement because there's a new king of your living room shrine. OK, it's functional and all that. Whatever.

You might want a second one for your office. But it's the one hanging in your shrine, next to the autographed Mariah Carey CD cover, that will give you goosebumps every time.

2010

UNITED STATES HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION

2010

A P P A R E L

BIG BLUE SKY DVD | $29.95 FOR SALE IN THE US ONLY.

Big Blue Sky is a feature length documentary about hang gliding, the first extreme sport, and how it started. Big Blue Sky is the story of the Lost Frontier of flight, tracing the origins of hang gliding from the 1880s thru today, focusing on the golden years of this exciting sport, the 1970s. The story is told by the pioneers of the sport, and their stories are illustrated by exciting neverbefore-seen vintage movie clips and still images. They describe their part in history, and the profound effect hang gliding had on their lives. Big Blue Sky is written, directed, produced and edited by Bill Liscomb, a pioneer in the sport of hang gliding. Through his experiences and personal friendships with the pioneers of hang gliding, Big Blue Sky tells an engaging story in a way that no one else can…..

Ydays of bamboo and plastic to the present.

ou hold the history of our sport, from the earliest

MAGAZINE COLLECTION 1971-2008

HG & PG MAGAZINE ARCHIVES ON DVD | $30.00 38 great years of free flight fun Within these pages you’ll find the evolution of foot-launched flight from the first days of bamboo dune-skimmers to the modern variety of hang gliders, paragliders and rigid wings.

Each PDF file is one complete magazine, just as originally published. Pages with color have produced as color scans, the rest scanned as black and white images. Blemishes or imperfections are present in the original source magazines, some of which were the only known copies remaining.

are packed into these digital

Complete

MAGAZINE

COLLECTION

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1971 - 1973 Low & Slow 1972 - 1976 Ground Skimmer 1976 - 2003 Hang Gliding 1993 - 2003 Paragliding 2003 - 2008 Hang Gliding & Paragliding

Get to know the old school.

1971-2008

than a Mariah Carey holiday

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The inspirational

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same polo shirt we wear to

Future issues will be available on an update disk. Compilation copyright. 19742008, US Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association. All rights reserved. Other material republished by permission of copyright holders. Please don’t duplicate or reproduce this work without permission. For limited reprint permission (club newsletters, etc.) contact the USHPA office at 1-800-616-6888 or E-mail: info@ushpa.aero Pages scanned and indexed by Scandoc, Inc. of Aracata, CA. www.scandoc.com. Cover design by Gregory Gillam, greg@gillamdesign.com.

Each disk includes Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 7 for Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems.

reads "Looks good, you

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CAPS $20 | OUTBACK HATS $24

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This thorough guide by Dennis

Excellent illustrations and a

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As an introduction or a refresher reference you'll find what you're looking for.

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Thermal Flying is a compre-

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This DVD features great footage

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Dixon White left a powerful

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thermal smarter, have more fun and sample French wingovers. "Light in zee seat, heavy in zee brake..."

78 |

Broken Handles

by Steve Messman

M

y dad, bless his hard-working soul, is surely smiling right now.

I can almost see the twinkle in those blue eyes, and I’m sure he’s shaking his head in resignation like he used to when I was a kid. I can practically hear his ethereal chuckle resonating off my walls, a ghostly echo from my long-ago childhood.

I used to work with my dad when he did his almost daily odd jobs around town. For all my hard work, I got paid well—at least according to dad. I got the clothes on my back, a bed to sleep in, and three meals a day. My dad thought that was more than sufficient payment; I thought it was harsh, especially since I was in constant need of an ice cream or a new Batman comic book.

But, I did manage to get my youthful version of revenge: I broke his tools. I didn’t mean to, of course. I never intentionally broke a single one of dad’s tools but, for some reason, I always broke some kind of handle. If we were doing construction, I always broke at least one hammer handle.

If we were replacing sidewalks or driveways, I broke the sledgehammer handle or the pick handle. If we were splitting a load of wood, sure enough, I broke the ax handle. Today, that problem continues.

But today, it’s bigger and more impressive, and it’s dad’s turn for revenge because, now, I’m the one who pays. In just the past week, I broke the giant teeth off a bulldozer’s blade, and while raking my dozer handiwork with a tractor and rake, I split that rented brush rake into two perfect halves. Hear it? Do you hear that sound that skipped past your ears but managed to haunt the middle of your brain? That’s my dad, laughing.

This dubious talent of breaking things continues to plague every aspect of my life to include that of flying. I became abundantly aware of my flair for breaking airplane parts when I learned to hang glide.

I replaced downtubes as frequently as dad replaced hammer handles. Only once, though, did I break a leading edge. I’m guessing that’s a good thing. Flying my

78

Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA .aero

ultralight brought an onslaught of similar form of genetic leprosy. It took me more experiences. I replaced the rear axles on years than it took my dad, but I finally figthat cage at least twice in as many years, ured it out, too. It’s a disease. My dad recand of course, there was that very expen- ognized that fact when I was young, and sive propeller. that explains why he would merely smile Having flown paragliders for more and shake his head. What else was he to years than either hang gliders or ultra- do—except replace handles? There’s aplights, the list of broken things continues parently nothing I can do about it. I just to grow. It now includes lines, torn lead- wish the “handles” I keep replacing didn’t ing edges and trailing edges, zippers, and cost $100.00 or more a pop. Go ahead, all sorts of those little plastic snaps. Other, dad. Laugh. more expensive items get broken way more frequently than I would hope, and that should be somewhat strange, considering that these appear to be stored securely out .............................. of danger’s path. I’m pretty certain that my vario was never intended for use as a kneepad, but one day I landed on a short, rocky beach and accidentally gave it a Content closes 5/15/2009 try. It wasn’t very effective as a kneepad, and once I had finished using it as such, USHPA STRATEGIC PLAN it wasn’t at all effective as a vario, either.

Hidden as they might be, those smaller .............................. things just keep getting broken—truly a mystery. While blowing a launch in a high-wind situation, I got toppled, and the screen on my Garmin was crushed while being scoured across the single Content closes 6/15/2009 rock in my path. While that has happened only once, I can’t help but wonder BIWINGUAL ISSUE what line, what zipper, what mischievous gremlin keeps plucking those rubber but.............................. tons off that same GPS. I guess I should be thankful that Garmin keeps replacing the unit—but then, I do keep paying for it. Each time I call the company for some kind of repair, I imagine daddy Garmin Content closes 8/15/2009 looking at me through soulful eyes, smiling, and shaking his head in mock resigTRAVEL ISSUE nation. Then, every single time, I hear that ghostly laugh. ..............................

I fly with a very small group of pilots, but I’ve noticed that none of them have lines that get mysteriously broken. None of them land on their varios or drag their GPSs through rock gardens. I’ve also noContent closes 10/15/2009 ticed that very few pilots on my current email lists admit such accidents. I’ve, PHOTO ANNUAL therefore, come to believe that breaking things is my personal plague: something I was born with, like some non-contagious

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