APA Paragliding Vol2/Iss5 September/October 1991

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Vol. 2 No. 5 September/October 1991

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FEATURES 2

Editorial, subscription and advertising information:

3314 West 11400 South South Jordan, Utah 84065 (801) 254-7455- FAX (801) 254-n01 Cover Photo: Robbie Whittall flying Firebird Ninja at the World Meet 1991 France.

Response To Wills Wing Report

11

Line Test Report

Encounters With Thermals Part 1

by Tom Bradbury

24

Summer Lake 4th Of July Fly-In

by Peter Keane

Paragliding, The Magazine is published six times per year for a subscription price of $26.00 per year by: PARAGLIDING PUBLICATIONS, INC. 3314 West 11400 Ssouth, South Jordan, Utah 84065. Absolutely no articles, advertising, photos or other published materials of the magazine may be reproduced in any manner without express written permission of the publisher. © Copyright 1991 PARAGLIDING PUBLICATIONS, INC. All rights reserved.

POSTMASTER: send address changes to: Paragliding, The Magazine 3314 West 11400 South, South Jordan, Utah 84065.

Paragliding, The Magazine

52

Taiwan Anyone?

by R.L. "Bob" Chavez

54

FAI Officers 1991

by Wills Wing

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Paragliding, The Magazine is published for members of the paragliding community as well as other interested parties. It is the official voice of the American Paragliding Association (APA). Article submissions are welcome, however Paragliding, The Magazine reserves the right to edit any contributions. Further, the magazine reserves the right to edit any advertising which may be deemed objectionable or damaging to the publication by the staff of the association. The magazine and the Association do not assume any responsibility for the contents of any published articles, advertising or for the opinions in the magazine by its contributors.

Notes From New Zealand

by Raleigh Wells

by Elek Puskas Para-Flite Inc.

Photo By: Fred Stockwell Subscription rate for the USA: $26.00 Overseas subscription rate: $44.00 (postage included)

50

by Scott Gressitt

10

Second Annual Aspen Fly-In

by Mike Reeder Big Sur Fly-In APA fund raiser. Photos on pages 4 & 5

Paragliding, The Magazine

48

27

World Meet 1991 Photos on pages 30 & 31

by John Bouchard

32

Telluride Hang Gliding & Paragliding Festival

by Jeff Schultz/Team International

36

Flying Fun In The Lands Of Down under

by Steve Stroming

44

Day Of Saves

by Sean Dougherty

Ro.bbi(I Whittall, British, 22 years old, professional factory pilot, has been flying paragliders for 3 years and hang gliders for 6 years. Robbie has won most of the world's major hang gliding competitions, including the '89 Worlds, and has carried his skill over easily into paragliding. He was one of the first pilots in the UK to start serious cross country flying on a paraglider in Britain. In 1988 he set a new distance record of 20 km • compared to the existing record of 2 km! His years of experience in hang gliding have given him great decision making ability.

DEPARTMENTS 8 17 38 52 60

Flight Lines

APA News

News & Noteworthy

USHGA New Pilot Ratings

Classified Ads

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by Scott Gressitt

and landing zones and many other duties during the event.

+ John Yates and Bill Laurence who came three days

T

he First Annual American Paragliding Festival, held at Pacific Valley, California on September 27, 28, and 29 was a success. The event, attended by over 175 pilots, was the first large fund raising gathering of American pilots and was free of any injuries. A spectator did sustain a broken wrist while hiking up a the hill and a pilot from Tennessee injured his knee attempting to launch on the evening before the festival.

Other than a student who flew into the poison oak, there were no accidents or incidents during the three days of flying.

Working closely with the local landowners, the event was scrutinized and video-taped by Ray Gould, special representative for the US Forest Service, many local residents, hang glider pilots and Harry's wife, Fran Harris, our hostess for the weekend. The feedback from all the parties involved was totally positive and the general consensus was that the festival was safe, the participants well behaved, and the impact on the hill was nil. The feedback from the pilots was mixed, with most claiming to have had a good to excellent time, and a few who were angry that they had to "pay a $50 registration fee for nothing". So it goes ...

There are a number of people who stepped forward as volunteers, without whom, the event would have failed completely. + Kathy Gressitt, who covered my action for the past three months and then efficiently ran the festival office which was a truly thankless job.

+ Alex Pereira and John LeToureau who licked stamps and stuck labels in July, as well as running launch 2

early to clear the old cow trail to launch, and performed countless other tasks during the week.

+ Ken DeRussy, who spent time prior to the festival writing the flying procedures and coaching me on how to cover the safety angles, and then spent hours of peak flying time working as Launch Director. He also gave "good megaphone" and ran a very successful auction.

+ Ted Boyce, who did a super job keeping launch procedures safe and well organized.

+ Jack Franklin one of our EMT's who drove the shuttle tirelessly and then spent Saturday afternoon pulling a student pilot and her wing out of the poison oak.

+ Bruno and Tracy Seeman who helped in the festival office, baby-sat, and offered much needed moral support.

+ Ed Pitman who ran launch, helped coordinate air traffic and dealt with some of the pilots who broke festival protocol.

+ Eileen Maurer who spent the whole afternoon Sunday running and judging the spot landing contest.

+ Ken Baier, who gave a clinic on speed seat technique and kept an eye on some of the younger pilots.

+ John Heiney, who worked all day Saturday and Sunday to do an aerobatics hang gliding routine, only to get fogged out. His on-board video tape shot above the fog was fantastic.

+ Phillipe Renaudin of GMI who donated the artwork for the festival T-shirt.

Paragliding, The Magazine

BIGSDR cM/~

APA Festival

1991 Top Row - left to right Pilots and organizers, included Bob and Hiker Evans, Ted Boyce, Dave Whaley, John Yates Ed Pitman and Ken Baier Bob England hits the spot More of the crew include: Scott Amy, Dave Sharp Jody Lucas, Dr. Rico Jan Stenstadvold, Brian Porter and Scott Gressitt

Center Row - left to right A view of the LZ from Harry's Place Truck load of pilots going up Peter Zimmerli, Ray Gould (from the Park Service) and Harry Harris Last flight of the day

Bottom Row - left to right Landing approach Dr. Rico and Wencil with their Liftback Simulator Colin Zink focused on the spot Ken Baier flying in Ken DeRussy with megaphone running the auction One of the locals?

Photos and Layout by Fred Stockwell

4

Paragliding, The Magazine

Paragliding, The Magazine

5

BIG SUR FlV-IN

+ Ray Gould

of the US Forest Service, who championed the cause of the APA with the "powers that be".

+ Peter Zimmerli, who traveled 3000 miles to attend, worked all weekend putting out political fires, managing launch, interfacing with the Forest Service and managed to squeak off one flight.

I know I'm forgetting some folks but many thanks to all you volunteers who made this event safe and smooth running. ~ Sponsors, Firebird and Hanwag Boots represented

by Dave Whaley gave generously with donations of an R2 reserve canopy for auction and a pair of Hanwags as a prize for the spot landing contest. ~

Dr. Rico was present with his partner and donated two of the amazing "Liftbacks" as prizes for costume and spot landing contests.

~

Ball Vario donated an M22 for auction.

More great prizes were donated by the following businesses and manufacturers: Ailes De K, Hall Brothers, Skywalk, Paraflight, BRS, Pacific Valley Center, Little Black Bag, UP, Pacific Airwave, Pro Design

USA, Airman of Japan, Cloudbase Video, and Ed Pitman/Mariposa Sports.

The event raised over $8700 for the APA and will be followed up with a spring fly-in at the same location if the landowners and authorities approve. There are still festival T-shirts designed by artist Phillipe Renaudin for sale. If you want one, call 619 632-7762. If anyone has any pictures or video which they would like to contribute to a festival scrapbook, please call.

Thanks to Fred and Claudia Stockwell who came a long way to cover the action. In the next issue of Paragliding, The Magazine, we will list the names of all the participants and their individual cash donations. To each of you who came, contributed, flew safely, and had a good time, thank you!

A special thanks to Fran and Harry Harris who had the courage to open their home for this event. Their hospitality and vision has set a precedent for others to promote our wonderful sport on private property in other parts of the country.

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Paragliding, The Magazine

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!Ill

I Dear E d i t o r , - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Paragliding's ongm and the paragliders appearance, maneuverability, control, construction, ability to deploy from an aircraft, etc, etc are all related to the modern day high performance parachute. Therefore, it must be a Hang Glider??? I find something wrong with this reasoning.

As hang glider pilots, we are forced, because paragliders are similar in the ability to foot launch, thermal and ridge soar and in some cases fly the same sites, to recognize them as hang gliders, or a class of hang glider. It seems to me that since other types of aircraft can also thermal and ridge soar and use the same sites, that the only real reason that paragliders are being classed as hang gliders is their ability to foot launch. That, and politics! I find these reasons objectionable.

This brings me to the reason I'm writing. "The United States Hang Gliding Association (USHGA) Plan for Regulating United States Paragliding Pilots" (Adopted by the Board of Directors in November of 1990 and as of July of 1991 never published in Hang Gliding Magazine) clearly leaves the USHGA vulnerable to control by paraglider pilots. Here's how; We (the USJ--JGA) currently "... provide access to association membership and membership services to paraglider pilots on an EQUAL basis with hang glider pilots". It should be known that while I have the utmost respect for the sport of paragliding and for those that participate in it, I have no desire for paraglider pilots to control the USHGA. The USHGA Secretary, and Region ll Director, Russ Locke has recently (in the July issue of Hang Gliding Magazine) had this to say about the potential for take over; "If the number of para glider pilots expands like it did in other parts of the world, then believe it or not with some adaptation we wouldn't be all that much different than we are now". It concerns me that Mr. Locke offers no insight into what "all that much different" means, and gives no details at to what "adaptation" would be required of us. Mr. Locke continued by saying; "If we become a small part of a larger organization, we would have the same power base that we have now". I believe it's naive to think that if the number of paragliders "expands" (and it's certainly possible) to twenty thousand or more within the USJ--IGA, that we, the minority of eight to ten thousand hang glider pilots would have any significant "power"!!

1l1e USGHA's monumental "plan" for paragliding has been shrouded in mystery. Little if any information has been published in our national publication, nor have we heard much from those that implemented the plan. I've personally had to rely on paragliding publications and the minutes of the USHGA Board of Directors meeting to learn of the actions of the USHGA and our own elected officials.

I'm thankful for the American Paragliding Association (APA) and the success they're having.

They're proud of their sport, and appear determined to stand on their own two feet, relying on paraglider pilots and a paragliding association to better provide for their future. I believe the USHGA should have remained undivided in it's commitment to Hang Glider pilots and should not deviate from it's obligation to hang gliding's future. Leave paragliding to the APA! I've supported the USHGA for nearly half my life (seventeen years) through membership and participation. I cannot sit idle as the future of the USHGA is gambled away. Those who covertly instrumented the merging of paragliders into the

8

USHGA have provided nothing that would divert the passing of control from hang glider pilots to paragliding pilots if their numbers grow beyond ours" ... like it did in other parts of the world ... " If I've misrepresented the USHGA's position in any way, or supplied any misinformation then I sincerely apologize, that was not my intention. But I wouldn't have needed to write this Jetter if the issues that face us now, such as what effect the merging of the two sports will have on hang gliding and the USHGA, and what adaptation I will be required to endure, etc, etc would have been addressed in the pages of Hang Gliding Magazine BEFORE the merger with paragliding occurred.

Phil Sergent, Redding, CA

Dear E d i t o r , - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1just made it through the July I August issue of "Paragliding", and I'd like to congratulate you on the most informative issue to date. In particular, the accident reports allow me to add hours to my flight experience and potentially years to my life. Until now, I thought the European magazines were my only source of such wisdom. (I hope to add a report by a French HP employee who was paralyzed two years ago near San Francisco when his bad inflation dragged him into the side of a building.)

Especially noteworthy was the piece by Wills Wing, containing some ideas that will probably benefit the whole industry. They've hit on an important truth - a rigid system needs strain relief. While their glider demonstrated the problem, others doubtless share it. If you read the Mountain Dew commercial anthology, you know that some gliders have their strain relief built into the canopy! Other gliders may be less prone to problems - they horseshoe or take some shape that doesn't snap open all at once.

For what it's worth, Wills Wing might look at some of the ideas developed with the concept of energy-absorbing bumpers and seat belts. One of the most elegant was developed by Omark Industries but never made it to market because it was a one time disposable. Picture a steel rod with a hardened steel sleeve around it. The sleeve is free to slide along the rod, except a cutting edge is biting into the rod. An impact causes the cutting edge to peel a layer off the rod, absorbing a large amount of energy in a very smooth and predictable way. Something similar like a rotary spool might be small and simple enough for a glider, but make sure the hot metal can't melt the webbing!

As for the lines, I'm surprised no one sells kevlar jacketed in polyurethane. PUR, unlike vinyl, is nearly abrasion-proof and has enough elasticity and strength of its own that it might survive the failure of the kevlar.

Keep up the good work- and with any luck my knowledge and the industry's equipment will keep ahead of this pilot's "intermediate syndrome"!

Mike Steed Hewlett-Packard engineer and Meteor pilot Corvallis, Oregon Dear E d i t o r , - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Regarding the Line Comments article in Paragliding, The Magazine, Vol. 2 No. 4, July/August, 1991, page 18, I believe that some of the information is misleading, if not downright erroneous.

The statements that "Lines that have been daisy chained or flexed a lot, or have been wet and then dried, seem to Jose up to 75% of their strength," is ambiguous at best. The recommendation that "all types of lines should be changed periodically, an-

nually at minimum" is particularly bo~s, where is the data to support such statements. What tests were performed on which Jines to make such a broad determination? Why didn't you exercise your reserved right to edit this type of contribution? You are doing a disservice to your customers, subscribers, APA members, and paraglider pilots by publishing such drivel.

The test data shown for "Kevlar Lines" certainly does not present any definite or conclusive evidence concerning "line strength or durability". If Ed Pitman wants to recall his canopies for inspection or have his customers replace the Jines on the canopies he sells annually, Jet him specifically state just that.

There is no test data in your article for Spectra line, other than the melting point of Spectra material, which incidently does not name any testing source, time and date of tests, or laboratory where tests were performed, just some obscure statements, including: 1) Spectra seems to break more than once each with a distinctive pop and each consecutive break occurs at much lower loading (about 50%). 2) The initial break is usually not detectable by feel but by vjsual inspection. 3) The core is damaged but there are no external signs. 4) The initial break is not tolerant of heat. Where is the data back up those ridiculous statements? What about the ludicrous warning not to expose Spectra Jines to any form of heat. Comparing Spectra lines to video tapes exposed to heat in a closed vehicle in the sun is asinine.

Woven Spectra line is widely used in the Sport Skydiving industry. The lines are routinely exposed to heat from friction caused by line contact against other Jines, friction from reefing devices sliding on the lines under high speed conditions, strain, multiple flexing, daisy chaining, packing and storage in 180 degree loops, friction from rubber bands and surgical tubing stows deployment, UV, dust, and moisture exposure, and routine 120+ mph opening shock loads of multiple g's. Routine inspection is all that is required to insure pilot safety and continued performance.

Thousands of skydivers all over the world continue to enjoy optimum performance year after year from Spectra line equipped canopies.

All major U.S. Sport Skydiving canopy manufacturers feature Spectra lines on their canopies. As an APA instructor, dealer, skydiver, and pilot who uses Spectra line canopies exclusive1y, I have never had any problems from normal use of Spectra line canopies. Which Spectra rigged canopies where inspected and tested for the article

by Ed Pitman. Where did Ed get his information on Spectra line? Did you even question this?

It would have been very easy for you or anyone on your staff to check on the widespread use of Spectra line; if there had been any interest in presenting the facts to the members of the APA, instead of a Jot of hype. Pe~er Zimmerli, APA President, and Para-Rite employee would have been a ready source for information on Spectra line. Bill Coe, President of Performance Designs, one of the largest U.S. paragliding manufacturers would have been another easily available source. Tony Domenico, master rigger and head of Performance Designs Paragliding would have been a third. l called Vic Logan, manager of SQUAREONE

Paragliding, The Magazine

Parachute Sales and Service, The largest retail supplier of Sport Skydiving canopies in the world to ask him about Spectra line. Vic has sold thousands of canopies with Spectra lines. He has never refunded or replaced a defective Spectra line canopy. He recommends Spectra lines on canopies and freely states that "Spectra is the greatest thing since sliced bread".

Annie Helliwell, loft manger of SQUAREONE, the largest non-military skydiving equipment inspection and repacking facility in the world, and her staff of FAA certified parachute riggers routinely inspect hundreds of Spectra line canopies. She has not noticed any of the liabilities attributed to Spectra line in your magazine. Both of these professionals and thousands of others like them jump sport skydiving canopies that are rigged with Spectra line. Hundreds of satisfied paragliders in the U.S. fly Spectra line paragliding canopies, and none of them have noticed or complained of any problems with Spectra line.

The printing of such biased, unprofessional, and un-scientific data in your magazine concerning line wear causes me to question your objectivity, your attention to information published in your magazine, and your journalistic integrity. This, coupled with the sloppy reproduction of the Wills Wing "Report of Fatal Paragliding Accident" on page 52 of the same issue, casts doubt on the reliability of your magazine.

Perhaps it is time to question whether "Paragliding, 111e Magazine" should continue to be the "official voice of the APA".

Steve Byt>rs, APA Region 6 Director

Dear Editor,-------------A t the Novcm ber, 1990 board of Directors Meeting, the USHGA Board voted to incorporate paragliding into the USHGA structure on an equal basis with hang gliding. This decision carries the most potential for essential change in the nature of our national association since the USHGA's decision to oversee ultrlight activity some 10 years ago. In conversations with fellow pilots, I repeated)y find either the misconceptions regarding the nature of the decision or concern for its potential long-range results. I think it is imperative to review our situation as a national community of pilots, try to understand how we arrived here, and consider where we next want to go.

The USHGA's position regarding paragliding has changed over the last two years. During the Fall 1989 BOD meeting a roll call resulted in as "no paragliders are not hang gliders" vote. The April, 1990 BOD meeting saw several specific decisions on a structure for paragliding activity, including recognizing the APA as an affiliate organization.

Paragliding pilots now were required to join the APA for ratings and the USHGA for insurance ("a double fee"). This structure provided the flexibility for both the APA and the USHGA to accommodate an evolving situation.

At the fall 1990 meeting, Honorary Director Mike Meier presented a proposal to fully incorporate paragliding into the USHGA. The initial proposal was seen by some as an unsolicited "take over" by USHGA and was sent back to committee for revision prior to acceptance by the board.

Key aspects of Mr. Meier's revised proposal included: 1) The US]-IGA now provides membership to paraglider pilots "on an equal basis with hang glider pilots." No paragliding division exists. TI1e only distinction concerns which magazine a member receives. 2). The USHGA has, initially, adopted the APA pilot rating and instructor certification programs so that APA-rated pilots and instructors will automatically qualify for USHGA paragliding ratings. 3) The USHGA formally expressed its intent that, within 18 months of the institution of this

Paragliding, The Magazine

proposal by the USHGA Board (i.e., Spring of '92) should the APA wish to "merge the existing APA membership into the USHGA, the USHGA will assume administrative responsibility for former APA members who elect, at the time of the APA merger, to join the USHGA. If, at the end of 18 months, the APA has not merged and believes that paragliding pilots can best be served by a separate organization, the APA will declare its intent to remain a separate organization and maintain the separate administration of the APA member services." 4) Site administrators (local dubs, etc.) are officially encouraged to rate their local sites for paragliding in accordance with the APA rating system.

Mr. Meier stated that the "double fee" previously mentioned is likely to "discourage both paraglider and hang glider pilots from joining the APA, the USHGA, or both, "resulting in these pilots operating outside the system. However, the APA has offered insurance comparable to the USHGA's since March of 1991, so the "double fee" issue becomes a moot point. And there is nothing to prevent the continued dissemination of safety-related information through a nationally circulated magazine, local club newsletters, from instructor to student, or from experience pilot to less experienced pilot.

There is no provision for reexamining the situation as it will exist next spring when the artificial 18 month time limit is reached. The APA may very well wish to remain a separate organization, yet not be in a position to provide member services efficiently. Does this mean we, the USHGA, will either drop them like hot potato or swallow them up? This is already the cause of substantial friction in some areas. Surely a positive relationship can best be developed by coming together on shared areas of interest and need rather than unnecessarily forcing organizational issues when we already had a workable arrangement in existence.

Our sites, our most precious assets, are regulated by volunteer effort. It is unrealistic to expect one group to take responsibility for overseeing the activities of the other group when we can barely muster up enough willingness amongst our own ranks to take care of site administration. Furthermore, hang glider pilots are not necessarily qualified to oversee paraglider flight or vice versa. Then there's the issue of how to regulate a sport in which the craft can be hiked into any location. How do we decide who can fly when overuse becomes a problem? Several European sites which have been flown for years by hang glider pilots are now dosed to all flying due to overuse by paraglider pilots.

What about the similar looking rating cards?

It's fine for the USHGA to "encourage" its chapters to rate their sites for paragliding, but realize that the USHGA had deprived both its paragliding and hang gliding chapter members of the ability to choose how to best regulate because it's difficult to make a distinction between the two sports when both fall under the auspices of one organization.

Ultimately, both groups will need to cooperate with each other on issues of mutual concern. Fred Stockwell recently suggested that this could best be accomplished by a committee made up of members from both communities with guidelines issued by the APA and the USHGA. Each group could then take responsibility for its own activity, yet an effective means of working together would exist.

Our Board is composed of volunteers who must donate time and money, so those who are more willing to participate will be those who have the most to lose if they relegate control to someone else. Two thirds of the Board is made up of individuals with a commercial interest. Although this does not necessarily mean conflict of interest, members can certainly have more confidence in the

Board's decision when the USHGA leadership is forthcoming in communicating with the membership. In this case, most of the directors had no idea that a new proposal on paragliding was to be presented at the November 1990 meeting and, therefore, had no opportunity to consult their constituencies. Our editor has not received a copy of Mr. Meier's proposal for publication in our magazine. The roll vote on this issue should also be published.

So where does this leave us? The USHGA Planning Committee has predicted that our membership will double in the next five years. This would obviously be advantageous for the USHGA Financially, but the price for financial gain could be the creation of division amongst our membership. and remember, only elected directors can vote on a proposal. If half the USHGA Board are paragliding directors, we risk creating division amongst our Board. We must have a cohesive Board in order to function efficiently.

Rapid membership growth may result from the fact that pilots tend to learn the basics of controlling a paraglider much more quickly than a hang glider, but this ease of learning can also be a source of problems, as evidenced by a recent alarming number of paragliding accidents. We must consider the consequences of this, such as potential insurance problems. And we must recognize that those most qualified to set up an accident review program are those with the most paragliding experience, that is, the APA. In fact, the APA is currently forming an accident review program as well a glider certification program. What will happen to these programs if the APA goes away?

Internationally, the FAI has decided that paragliding is a form of hang gliding, but the FAI cannot dictate the USHGA's level of involvement with paragliding. All this really means is that the very small percentage of paraglider pilots who wish to participate in world record attempts or internationally sanctioned competitions would have to join the USHGA. The FAA does not state that paragliders are hang gliders. Paragliders simply fall under the FAR 103 along with hang gliders and ultralights.

In the long run, any structural format that does not have the support of the pilot population at large will not work. This is another way of saying that paragliding must survive on its own merits and efforts. There are as yet unexplored organizational options. If the APA prevails, perhaps the best means for the two groups to work together would be via a committee made up od members from both groups, similar to the format suggested for resolving site regulation issues, but on a national scale. Under such a scenario, both groups could come together on areas of mutual concern or dependence, a format for the resolution of problems would exist, and some services such as those offered through the NAA and FAI could be shared.

Paraglider pilots would not be placed in a position of divided loyalty and could feel that their interests were properly represented. We could avoid a forced marriage in which one group feels shut out and the other feels encroached upon and could focus instead on our common ground and on building a relationship of trust and respect.

Weegie McAdams

In Resp

RE: Fatal Paragliding Accident Report and Analysis by Wills Wing, Inc. It is apparent both from the accident itself and. the W_ills Wing report on that accident, that the effects of dynamic load mg on an inflating paraglider are not understood by Wills Wing.

Further, their report indicates that they are unaware of (or unwilling to recognize) the inevitability of collapse and re-inflation of paragliders, regardless of the intent and behavior of the pilots.

Collapse (either partial of complete) can result from intentional or unintentional pilot input, atmospheric effects, etc, and must be taken into account during the design of the paraglider.

Wills Wing's assumption that the pilot can avoid flying in a mode that will result in collapse is simply unrealistic and dangerous to the customer.

Because the report and analysis is technically deficient and appears to have been written to mislead the public, and because there is a safety issue at hand, we feel it is imperative that the errors, blunders and omissions of the Wills Wing report be identified.

We are not a direct competitor of Wills Wing, and while we do not have an axe to grind with them, we do have an interest in making the sport of paragliding safe and safety starts with some standards for the manufacture of paragliding devices.

RE: "Facts of Which We are Certain at This Time" 1. The problem with the Wills Wing report begins with the statement of facts wherein the point of the failure of the suspension lines is not identified. One can read between the lines and surmise that the lines failed at the connector links; however, where was the point of failure? Did they all fail at the same point?

Was it at the connector link where the line wraps around the link, was it at the junction where the line is sewn, knotted or attached through some other means, or was it above the connection point?

What kind of line was it?

The "significant damage" that the harness sustained: Was that related to the line separation (if so what was the nature of this damage), or was it sustained on impact?

RE: "Results of the Accident Investigation to Date!'

The first paragraph omits crucial pieces of information. Such as how many lines were tested, what was the breaking strength of the lines, how were the lines tested, ic. with the identical junction that connects it to the connector links and canopy or the line by itself, what was the breaking strength of the weakest in the group of lines tested.

The statement that average failure strength times the number of lines on the canopy is an indication of the total strength of the canopy is dangerously wrong and raises the question of the author's technical competence. If the author is not technically incompetent then this must be a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.

Firstly, the lines on a canopy start breaking not when their average strength is exceeded but when their weakest breaks.

Secondly, even loading of all suspension lines is impossible. Even in static steady state flight the ratio of the load between the highest loaded and the lightest loaded Jin~ is_ likely to be_ at )east 3 or 4:1 and possibly as high as 20:1. While ma dynamic s1tua-

10

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tion, such as re-inflation after collapse, that ratio becomes infinity.

In other words, the load is likely to be carried on much fewer than all the lines and the lines carrying the load will not share the load equally.

RE: "Analysis of Possible Accident Scenarios" In the first paragraph the author calculates a maximum speed of approximately 34.5 mph for the pilot falling past his canopy and a resultant load of 5.3 g's. By the author's calculation then the anticipated load on the canopy is equal to 5.3 g's and the wing is certified and tested to 6.3 g's, leaving an unacceptably small margin.

However, the author's calculation of maximum speed is incorrect. In fact the minimum speed is equal to 34.5 mph based on the assumption of a zero starting velocity of the freefall. A zero starting velocity is practically impossible to achieve and the starting velocities in ad ynamic situation similar to the one that set up this accident may in fact be quite high. The most probable velocity under the conditions described is more like 50 mph rather than 34.5 and the maximum speed is considerably higher than that.

Therefore, using the author's method of calculation, it can be shown that the 6.3 g's can be exceeded quite easily.

Of course, the entire exercise is academic because it assumes that all the lines are loaded which is at least a highly improbable condition if not an impossible one.

The next four paragraphs are an attempt by the author to calculate the "snatch loads" due to the inertial effects of a deflated canopy. His analysis is simply wrong and it is a totally wast~ effort in as much as he merely needed to contact a parachute engineer to obtain answers to his questions, or at least consult some references commonly used by parachute engineers.

Because the approach used by the author is faulty, his conclusions are faulty as well. Not only can the snatch forces due to inertial effects come no where near 6,000 lbs, they do not even generate loads of any great significance. The author's calculations are more than an order of magnitude too large.

The greatest error of the author is the assumption that the load is carried by all lines and that the combined line strengths, whether the average of the minimum, somehow relate to the problems that led to this fatal accident. His approach to solving the problem, of course, is wrong because it is based on faulty physics and mathematics. Wills Wing is not addressing the real problems and issues that have led to this fatal accident, namely insufficient line strength and/ or line attachment joint efficiencies.

We disagree with Wills Wing recommendations as well. Our recommendation would be that these wings all be grounded until the wings can be equipped with lines and/or line attachment junctions with sufficient strength and safety margin to allow the safe use of these devices.

We would be willing to apply free of charge our experience in designing gliding parachutes for 20+ years to help Wills Wing solve the problems with their suspension system.

1

Regards, Elek Puskas, President, Para-Flitc lncorporateil

Paragliding, The Magazine

Follow Up Report Of Investigation of Fatal Paragliding Accident

Drop Test with 225 lb. Dummy In Free Fall

Written October 3, 1991

by Mike Meier of Wills Wing, Inc. This 1s a follow up report by Wills Wing of our investigation of the fatal paragliding accident which occurred on July 14. 1991 in Hawaii. in which the pilot separated from the canopy in flight due to the failure of all supporting lines.

No attempt can or will be made here to report on all of the questions which we have considered. nor all of the information we have gathered which may relate to this accident during the course of the 1nvest1gation to date. We will instead try to summarize in brief the specific information gained since our last repor: which we feel is most relevant to pilot safety. and to shedding light on possible causative scenarios of this accident.

One of the most important questions we have attempted to address is whether a manufacturing defect in the incident-involved canopy contributed to the accident. We have conductec all of our testing since our last report on AT 123 canopies from the same manufacturing run as the 1ncident-1nvolved canopy. In particular. we have tried to shed light on the question of whether the 1nc1dent involved canopy. both as manufactured and 1n its likely state at the time of the accident. would have met the industry standards for structural strength.

The industry wide testing and certification standards for structural strength of paragl1ders are those contained in the two structural tests which are incorporated in the AC PULS · SHV testing program.

One test is a static (steady load) test requiring that an ultimate load of 6 Gs (If tested prior to April 1991) or 8 Gs (after Apri' 1991) be sustained for five seconds without failure of any lines or any part of the canopy. The other test is a shock load test in which the canopy 1s snatched by a 50 meter long cable attached by a weak link to a truck accelerating through approximately 35 mph. The weak link 1s a shear pin calibratec to fail at 6 Gs. The AT 1?.3 design was tested and certified 1n January 1991 (under its European designation of the "AGT 121 M'l During the static test. the load reached the 8 G level for four seconds. though at that time the 6 G static load was the requirement.

Paragliding, The Magazine

Static Test To 2000 lbs Without Fallure

60 mph Snatch Test With 225 lb Dummy

We obtained a canopy from the same manufacturing batch as the incident-involved canopy and tested it to these standards. The canopy we tested had 12+ logged hours of flight time over 47 days. which included 36 logged days of use on the training hill. and a total of 230+ hours of logged ultraviolet exposure. This canopy passed both certification tests we performed on 11. and in the process was taken to an ultimate load in the static test of 2000 lbs. or 9 Gs. at a speed of 60 mph. There was no failure of any line or any part of the canopy. We are not willing to draw conclusions from this testing as to the airworthiness relative to prevailing industry standards of the incident involved canopy at the time of the accident. however. the tests provide no evidence of any lack of such airworthiness.

We have also tried to investigate what types of shock load can occur when the mass of a moving pilot hits lines attached to a canopy witr a different velocity.

The results of our AC PULS SHV shock test give information on this. In this test a 6G (1320 lbs for the 123) weak link is broken by this shock load. normally at a speed of 35 mph or less. By comparison. in Wills Wings static test of the AT 123 a speed of 35 mph produced a load of 710 lbs. A static load test speed of 48 mph was required to produce a load of 1320 lbs.

Specifically. we have tried to determine at what speed ol pilot relative to the canopy will this shock load be sufficient to fail all of the lines. We have conducted three types of tests. In the first series. a 225 lb dummy in a Wills Wing paragliding harness was attached by a 50 meter 313" diameter cable to the paraglider being tested. The dummy lay on a board on top of an array of rollers 1n the back of a truck. The canopy was draped above the ground in the vertical plane. so as to present approximately 75% of it's normal area at right angles to the d1rect1on of travel of the truck and dummy when line stretch was reached. Seven runs were made at varyi~g speeds up to 45 mph. In each case when the lines went tight. the dummy was snatched out of the back of the truck and the canopy and dummy accelerated each other to a common velocity.

During each of these tests we were able to break

some lines. though never more than 25% of all the lines. (10 out of 42 lines 1n the lower array) with the number of lines generally increasing with increasing impact speeds.

In the next series of tests. the dummy was dropped vertically from a platform suspended above the canopy. which was itself deployed in the horizontal plane by being clipped beneath a 30' by 6 aluminum frame. Varying free fall distances were used. from 30' to 50'. yielding impact speeds of 30 to 38 mph. Again. some lines were broken. but in no case more than six out of 42 lines in the lower array.

The final shock test was designed to utilize a very high impact speed with minimal addition of elasticity to the system. (All the shock tests except the 30' crane drop required some additional connecting cable or cables between the dummy and the risers. which added some elasticity to the system and reduced the effective shock load.i This final test was performed on the same canopy which we tested to the ACPULS 'SHV requirements immediately after those tests were performed. It was done by snatching a cable loop attached to the vertically draped canopy with a grappling hook attached to the dummy as the dummy went by in the back of the truck. The speed used was 60 mph. which was the same ultimate speed attained in the static test in which a 2000 lb load was reached without any line or canopy failure. In this high speed snatch test. 28 of the 42 lines in the lower array were broken in the shock loading event Significant information about the loads incurred in the accident is indicated by the harness damage.

After a total of 11 snatch tests. including the 60 mph snatch test. the dummy s harness had sustained cumulative damage at the carabiner attachment points which was less than that shown on the incident-involved harness.

Wills Wing has come to no conclusions at this time regarding the cause or causes of the fatal accident.

At this time we have only the results of a very limited number of tests which are very specific 1n scope. We make no assumptions regarding the relevance or applicability of these tests or these test results to the wide range of possible in-flight

situations into which a paraglider may be flown. We have still. at this point. many more questions than answers, and we plan to do further testing and investigation. We reiterate our initial recommendations that pilots abide by the placarded operating limitations. maintain their equipment. and wear and be trained in the use of reserve parachutes. We further advise and remind pilots that the attainment of very high speeds in an aircraft which can develop one G of lift at a very low speed has the potential to create extreme loads on the aircraft's structure. Maneuvers such as prolonged, steep banked spiral dives or extended high speed free fall may compromise your safety.

RESPONSE TO ELEK PUSKAS, PRESIDENT OF PARAFLITE Incorporated

by Mike Meier of Wills Wing We at Wills Wing were somewhat taken aback by the acrimonious response. written by Mr. Puskas and published in this issue, to our original accident report. Mr Puskas has apparently had questions regarding the report, and rather than contact us for further information, he has chosen to write a response which is both accusatory and defamatory.

We would prefer not to engage in adversarial confrontations with our fellow paraglider manufacturers. (whether or not they feel themselves to be our competitors). but Mr. Puskas· statements require some response.

In fact. Wills Wing has never assumed or stated or implied that paragliders can or should be operated without ever undergoing collapse and reinflation.

Wills Wing's Paragliding training manual contains an entire syllabus of maneuvers that involve deliberate pilot induced collapses and reinflations. Wills Wing sponsored and conducted the first large scale organized training seminar in such maneuvers ever held in the United States. The only 1hing we said that a pilot should never do is to allow his canopy to get below him. When I went through my firs1 training in advanced maneuvers at 4000 feet over Lago D1 Gard a Italy. this was the first and last thing my instructor said to me. "Don't get the canopy below you. It's about the only way you can get in trouble."

The wisdom of this advice was proven. tragically. in Colorado a few days prior to the Hawaii fatality. when a pilot whose canopy did get below him fell in1o the canopy and fell to his death with the canopy wrapped around him. His lines were never loaded. they certainly didn't break. and he had a reserve parachute. He died anyway. Anyone who 1ruly does not believe that it is possible for a competent and prudent pilot to always keep his canopy from passing below him should seriously consider whether or not he wants to continue flying paragliders.

I am sorry Mr. Puskas felt our identification of the line failure point was ambiguous. It wasn·t meant to be. For those not familiar with such things as the normal mode of overload failures of such lines. page 476 of Dan Poynters The Parachute Manual. contains a drawing which shows that the normal failure point of a sewn line of the type used on the

12

AT 123 occurs at 1he end of the sewn joint where the line transitions from double to single strand. The only purpose of saying that 1he lines failed at the expected point was to let the reader know that there was no evidence that localized damage to the lines had contributed to the failure. (Also. although we have actively looked. we have found no evidence. from any of our tests that overheating by any means. or salt water, or ultraviolet exposure, or towing of the canopy, or other maintenance related items contributed to the failure).

The significant harness damage was at the carabiner connector loops. Mr. Puskas could have asked: we would have been happy to tell him.

Regarding Mr. Puskas·s complaint about omissions of information. there is simply no way we could have published (nor could we now publish) every detail regarding the investigation of this accident. It was also never our intent to state or imply that the total combined strength of all lines in the lowest level of the array was equal to the total strength of the canopy. We specifically stated that. "It is not known

by Wills Wing at this time what total combined line strength is required to meet the minimum 600 kg certification reqwrements." We believed 11 to be below 4482 lbs. We still believe that this is likely. In fact. if the line array 1s well designed. then under a pred1c1able static distribution of aerodynamic loads the total canopy strength could approach the combined strength of the line array. However. we very deliberately did not make that assumption. (nor do we now) and we so stated. And. of course. under snatch loads the load distribution is much different. as our tests have confirmed.

I am sorry about the 34.5 mph misunderstanding as well. I shouldn't have said maximum with regard to that. Maximum referred only to the qualification that air resistance would make the true speed from a 40 foot free fall slightly (though insignificantly) lower. It was never our assumption that an initial speed prior to the fall could not have resulted in a higher ultimate speed. I agree that 50 mph is more than possible. In fact it now looks as if it may have been higher still. The point was. we were trying to determine whether the failure could have taken place at a lower speed. If we had wished to postulate unlimited speed. there would be no longer any mystery to the incident. nor any reason to suspect defective equipment. The tests have shown that at 60 mph. 9 Gs is achieved at trim angle of a1tack. Since the industry standard until recently was only 6 Gs. a failure at 60 mph would not necessarily be any mystery.

The entire explana1ion of the dynamic interaction between the pilot mass and the canopy mass in our initial report was never intended as a cone/us/On regarding what happened in the accident. We specifically stated that. "We are unable. however. at this time to determine whether or not this effect was. in fact. involved tn the incident." We further stated that. "The investigation of the accident is continwng." The explanation was meant only to show one direction we intended to investigate. Mr. Puskas slates that such inquiry is "simply wrong. and a totally wasted effort 1n as much as (we) merely needed to contact a parachute engineer to

obtain answers to (our) questions. or at least consult some references commonly used by parachute engineers." He further states that "Not only can the snatch forces due to inertial effects come no where near 6000 lbs., they do not even generate loads of any great significance."

Of course Mr. Puskas does not know with whom we may have consulted. nor what references. In fact we have in the course of this investigation consulted a number of people with significant experience in parafoil dynamics, including Roy Haggard of Vertigo. Inc.. a research and development company with extensive experience in parafoil research and testing for the United States military, Gary Douris of Free Flight Enterprises. a major manufacturer of parachute systems, and Ulrich Oprech1, the engineer in charge of the Swiss paraglider and hang glider testing and certification program. All of these people have indicated to us that an inquiry into the shock loads incurred during canopy acceleration was a worthwhile area of investigation in regards to 1.his accident. Our estimations of the possible apparent mass of the canopy were based on calculations done for NASA

by Robert l Jones. and included in NASA Technical Memorandum TM X -73.228 Dynamics of Ultralight Aircraft - Motion In Vertical Gusts. And our test resul1s to date indicate that shock loads arising from snatch loads are capable of causing line failures at speeds well below those which have been shown not to cause a line failure from a static aerodynamic load.

Mr. Puskas· conclusion that "the real problem and issues that have led to this fatal accident" are "insufficient line s1rength and/or line attachment Joint efficiencies" reflects an observation that is both trivial and useless. The lines broke. We knew that.

It was right there in the very front of our first report.

They broke because they were not as strong as the load which was applied to them. Obvious. And useless. The question is. how strong do the lines need to be? Can this accident be avoided in the future with the present industry standards for paraglider strength testing? We don't claim to know.

We suggest only that there are questions worth asking. A paraglider is not a skydiving parachute. it is a soaring aircraft. Its opening after a collapse is not staged or delayed by a deployment bag or slider system. nor is its speed range and parasitic drag largely irrelevant to its primary function. Since paragliders are neither being µsed for the same purposes as skydiving parachutes. nor are they being certified to the same test standards as skydiving parachutes. the answers to some of the questions inherent in paragliding may need to come from sources other than the previous experience of parachute engineers as recorded in parachute manuals. Perhaps from further testing of paragliders themselves. We acknowledge Mr. Puskas· generous offer to use his 20 years of parachute experience in assisting us in the design of a line array. In turn we could offer him the benefit of our 17 years of experience in the structural testing of soaring aircraft. Perhaps the sport of paragliding as a whole could benefit.

Paragliding, The Magazine

Part 2, More Complex Patterns

By Tom Bradbury

I Tom Bradbury continues from the last issue, getting you ready for the soaring days ahead article courtesy of Sailplane & Gliding

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nly the smallest short-lived clouds are the result of a single thermal. Most are the work of a series of thermals. The individual turrets of large cumulus clouds show that there must have been several closely spaced thermals. Cloud streets show that thermals may be organized in a regular fashion which has little to do with hot spots on the surface. There are other influences too such as the interaction between downdrafts or the result of outflows.

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Multiple Thermals Thermals are not necessarily isolated columns of lift. Several can exist close together as shown in Fig 1. Such a group may be unsuspected when flying alone. One usually discovers these near a busy gliding site where a number of pilots are marking lift in diilerent places. Quite often rates of climb seem to be similar in each column. At level 2 the circles are far enough apart to allow each group to climb safely. By level 3 turns are becoming uncomfortably close and at level 4 the overlap means someone must shift circles. At level 5 the columns have merged to form one of those comfortably wide thermals which occur well after midday and especially late in a summer afternoon.

Fig 2

Cloudless Streets Streets can also exist under cloudless skies. The circulation pattern precedes the appearance of clouds. When cumuli do appear the clouds may actually extend upwind of a fixed spot on the ground as well as moving downstream.

Lift is not as regular as one might suppose from the diagram; the vortex pattern stimulates ordinary thermals under the streets and inhibits them in between so that the initial gain of height can be made by regular circling in a region of stronger lift. Then one can dolphin along the street at high speed maintaining or even gaining height. On a cloudless day one may remain ignorant of the pattern of streeting over fairly uniform ground whenever there is a wind of 15kt or more, and particularly of the wind becomes much stronger. Unusually frequent encounters with thermals or alternately an alarmingly long period of sink may mean that streeting has occurred.

Fig 2 shows a plan view of the lift distribution between levels 3 and 4. Beside it is a crosssection of the lift encountered by an aircraft hurrying straight through along a line A-B. Some clusters of thermals have far more cores weigh less sink in between. When lift is distributed like this it is difficult to know whether one should tighten up the turn in a surge of lift or take off bank. If you are the only one in such a thermal and in no hurry to press on, the pattern of lift can be explored for a long time. However, it is hard to build up a mental picture of it. The only certainty is that a cross-section of lift is not circ~lar.

Streets of Lift Horizontal Vortices O

The upper part of Fig 3 shows a familiar pattern of clouds in long regularly spaced streets aligned parallel to the wind at their level. Such streets occur when the tops of cumuli are restricted by an inversion or stable layer so that all reach approximately the same level. If there is also a moderate to strong wind a convective circulation develops in the form of long lines of parallel contra-rotating vortices. These produce lines of lift under the clouds with lines of sink in the clear air in between. By tracking constant pressure balloons researchers have found that air is following a helical path. The cross-section in the lower half of the diagram illustrates a twodimensional circulation.

Fig 1

Paragliding, The Magazine

Such streets do not depend on any hot spots on the surface; they form spectacularly well over the ocean where strong winds bring cold air spreading out from polar regions. The circulation of these cloud street vortex rolls extends from the surface up to the base of the inversion. The spacing depends very largely on the depth of unstable air, the deeper the layer the wider the gap between streets. If the depth of unstable air increases, the widSRing of the cloud free lines is achieved by destruction of some of the intermediate streets, not by a fanning out of all streets. Streeting breaks down when the air becomes too unstable and tops are no longer at a uniform level.

Fig 3

Chimney Vortices Old fashioned steam locomotives sometimes emit a series of perfect smoke rings if the puffs leave the chimney with just the right force.

These are true vortex rings initially but they usually break up after a short time. The gases from a factory chimney never come out in the sluggish series of puffs or, if there is a breeze over the top, form a small air of contra-rotating vortices. Looked at from downwind (see the left hand side of Fig 4) they appear like a twodimensional cross-section of an ideal thermal bubble. Instead of a complete ring rising almost vertically there are two horizontal rolls trailing downwind. These rolls have an updraft in the center and downdraft at the outside. The rolls occasionally spread apart leaving a clear gap in between where clean air from outside has been pulled into the circulation. This is a two-dimensional example of the kind of circulation which produces a doughnut shaped hole in a 3-D thermal bubble.

Knife-edge "Thermals" On rare occasions one may encounter an extremely narrow line of lift which gives the im-

13

ENCOUNTERS WITH THERMALS height where another climb is needed. First one runs through the strong sink so often found on the edge of a good thermal. Then the sink stops quite suddenly, so suddenly that it gives the impression one has run into a surge of lift. At the same time the vario gives a frantic burst of squeaks. A turn takes the pilot straight back into sink for a complete circle. Straightening up and continuing on the original course one eventually finds the real thermal is actually quite a long way further on.

Fig 5 is an attempt to show how this deception occurs. The airflow in and around a cumulus

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Fig 4 pression one is flying along a knife edge of rising air. I believe this is a much larger version of the chimney vortex pattern illustrated in Fig 4. The suggested circulation has been drawn on the right hand side of the figure. Its size probably lies between a full sized street and the tiny chimney vortices. These vortex rolls produce a very narrow line of lift. One may encounter the effect after leaving a thermal. This lift is usually weak, often barely 1kt, but it can extend for a mile or more. The line is much too narrow for circling, unlike a cloud street where one can stop and circle for extra height. Circling between these vortex rolls invariably takes one into sink whether the turn is to left or right. Straighten up on to the original course after turning 360 degrees and the lift returns.

Misleading Indications It is a common fault for pilots accustomed to the narrow thermals found over the British Isles to turn too soon on finding lift. This is more likely to happen when one has been flying fast between thermals and is now approaching a

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The little glider on the left (not properly to scale) has a pair of dotted lines from the cockpit to represent the sector being scanned by the pilot. At this position one has the impression of being just under the cloud although really still a little way outside. (Pilots seldom look vertically upwards unless they are in a gaggle.) When point "A" is reached the glider flies through one of the side eddies and the cessation of sink is followed by a sudden increase in airspeed due to the horizontal gust. The total energy system interprets this as lift. Perhaps the sudden increase in g enhances the effect.

Three factors, the belief you are already well under the cloud and have reached point "B", the seat of the pants feel of a surge of lift, and the burst of excitement from the vario, all combine to fool simple pilots into starting a turn. It catches me out regularly, particularly after rounding a turning point and beginning an into wind leg. I used to keep quiet about such lapses but was cheered recently to hear that competent pilots have been fooled the same way. The problem doesn't arise when you still have lots of height; then you just pull up and climb straight ahead, increasing speed again if it turns out to be a false indication. It doesn't matter if there really was a little thermal there or not because it was not needed.

Whenever there is a stable layer above the level of any mountains and the wind speed increases with height (while remaining fairly constant in direction) there is a possibility of waves.

In the early morning or late evening one may see some indications in the shape of clouds.

Often the air aloft is too dry for any lenticulars and during the heat of the summer day the lower levels are too churned up by convection currents for waves to exist low down.

14

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~/: b:~~fec~~~l~cs~:~ds~h~; 11' 11 E of the complexities were discovered by sending _ --.."....L;..;:oa..aw.:..-_ up a barrage of balloons which supported a chain of anemometers attached ~o the cable at ~ 17', (' different levels. When all the readings were com- © "~ ):,_ 2 bined streamlines of flow were drawn. These @ '::}1 ~ were not at all what one might expect. The flow went up, down and horizontally in a surprising manner.

Fig 6

Influence of Waves Aloft

Fig 5

than before. This is particularly distressing when heading into wind, for example when flying from the east towards Wales. If nothing odd had been noticed earlier one's first suspicions are likely to be aroused on approaching the line from the Forest of Dean to the Malverns, Kidderminster and Bridgnorth. Further north is the lee side of the Pennines where thermals are most likely to be affected by wave. Over Scotland one automatically looks for wave.

It is not unusual to complete a flight using thermals and be quite unaware of wave lift above. Far away from the hills any changes in the thermals may be put down to normal variations. As your flight comes nearer the hills it may become apparent that some thermals are remarkably strong, the sink in between has got worse and some of the gaps are much wider

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Waves aloft tend to boost the thermals which occur under wave lift and suppress those trying to rise into wave sin~. Wave troughs coincide with blue holes. Fig 6 illustrates the sequence. Be warned that the gaps between the cumulus are normally larger than shown here. At first conditions seem to be improving as you fly from east to west (right to left on this diagram).

Thermals become much stronger and some may be twice the average found further east. Then there is a gap where the post-thermal sink is unpleasantly strong and go~s on far too long.

Relief at reaching cumuli on the far side turns to frustration when it seems that none of them are working. Going downwind across such a gap is far easier. The tail wind reduces the time spent in the blue and the very first clouds on the far side work well.

It may be possible to get into the wave from the last strong thermal before the gap. It may not be necessary to make a cloud climb first though one should take the climb right up to cloudbase if possible. While climbing in the last thermal it may be necessary to straighten up each time the circle brings you into wind, This is because the normally circular pattern of the lift is distorted into an oval or race-track shape by the wave. If one makes perfect circles the lift will apparently decrease as height is gained. By constantly shifting upwind one can keep in the best lift.

(The same technique is useful when using thermals coming off a ridge.) In both cases a long lasting thermal "plume" is being triggered off from a particular place. If you are climbing in a single bubble where the central core is ascending more rapidly than the entire bubble the effect of the wind may not matter. In a plume whose base seems to be anchored to a ground feature one tends to be drifted out of the best lift.

One indication of wave is the continuation of lift (usually very weak) upwind of the last cloud. If the lift persists when you make a crosswind tack it probably is due to wave.

Patient working of this lift, which is usually very feeble to start with, may eventually get you up to a level were there is a respectable rate of climb.

If you are racing round a triangle the time wasted becoming established in wave will sel-

Paragliding, The Magazine

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ENCOUNTERS WITH THERMALS dam be regained, however, if the blue gap upwind proves too wide there may be no option but to turn tail and try for the wave.

Triggers For Thermals Cloud streets and upper waves are examples of methods of setting off a series of thermals. If one excludes the very first thermals of the day, ii is likely that many new thermals are dislodged from the surface by sink from air displaced by older thermals coming right down to the ground and then spreading out horizontally.

Over flat ground a shallow layer of air can be warmed to a temperature well above what is theoretically necessary to set off a thermal. The lapse rate is then called "super-adiabatic" because it is much greater than the dry adiabatic lapse rate found between ground and the base of cumuli. Despite the excess of temperature the over-heated air seems reluctant to produce a thermal. It waits for some trigger like the downflow from a previous thermal to stimulate activity. The downflow acts like a wedge detaching new plumes from the surface.

The arrival of these wedges can often be felt as a gust of wind. Sunbathers on a typical English day may notice that such chilly gusts often coincide with the arrival of the cloud shadow from a passing cumulus. A number of thermals seems to be triggered off when the shadow from an advancing cloud comes across.

One can observe this while waiting to escape from ridge soaring. If many minutes of continuous sunshine have failed to set off a thermal the arrival of a cloud shadow may do the trick.

Presumably the activity in initiated by the downflow from the approaching cloud.

Lesser Convergence Lines There are many days when the air is too stable for cu-nims but some feature of the wind flow produces an almost continuous line of cumulus. These are often called convergence lines and forecasters can seldom tell when or where they will develop. With sufficient observations one may find that the low level winds do really converge along a well defined line. Large scale charts may show a kink in the pattern of isobars but this usually appears after the event.

Sea breeze fronts are one type of convergence line and satellite pictures have shown a line of cloud starting over the Cornish Peninsula where two sea breezes meet and then growing to extend all the way to London. Such convergence often makes cumulus grow far larger than one would expect from looking at the temperature trace of the latest upper air surrounding.

John Findlater reported an occasion when sea breeze fronts coming from different directions met over East Anglia and thunderstorms developed at the crossing points.

Thunderstorm Outflows and Convergence Lines The down-flow from a moderate sized cumulus is negligible compared to that from a full grown cu-nim. When big cumulus reach the shower stage the mass of falling water, perhaps weighted down by hail too, can combine with evaporational cooling to produce powerful downdrafts that reach down to the ground and

Paragliding, The Magazine

spread out horizontally for many miles. In the extreme case the downdraft may be termed a microburst with storm force squalls. (The strongest gusts so far recorded from a microburst in the USA was 130kt) More often the outflow only forms a vigorous gust front which spreads out to trigger off new shower clouds.

American meteorologists have observed that thunderstorms are often initiated at convergence lines and where two such lines collide the result may be a very severe storm. The collision of two gust fronts can set off a great fountain of rapidly rising air. Sometimes one gust front spreads out to undercut an existing storm, greatly adding to its vigor and possibly setting off tornadoes. At other times the arrival of the gust front at a range of hills is enough to set off new storms.

Developments like this are best watched from the ground or from a powered aircraft which can turn tail and get well away when conditions begin to look dangerous. Even in England, where the majority of thunderstorms are babies compared to the American monsters, the collision of two gust fronts can be followed by extremely rapid extension of the storm area.

::io

20

HI

Thermal Detectors I have not yet heard of any successful way of detecting thermals instrumentally. Very many years ago it was hoped that sensitive thermistors in each wingtip could be made to show which way to turn on encountering a thermal. In recent years some hang glider pilots have used an instrument to detect temperature gradients in the air they fly through. The device is said to distinguish between the turbulent fluctuations which always exist in thermic conditions and true thermals. There seems to be some doubt if the detector really works at high levels but at the very low levels where hang gliders begin thermalling the instrument may be helpful.

Cold Thermals The problem with any temperature sensing scheme is that thermals are only warmer than their surroundings at low levels. The original temperature difference usually disappears when the thermal rises well above the ground.

Towards the top the air rising is usually cooler than its environment. This is illustrated in Fig 7.

In this figure the actual temperature has been converted to "potential temperature", this is the temperature which dry air would have if it descended to the surface, (it is usually calculated for the 1OOOmbar level). The advantage of the potential temperature is that you can compare the air temperature at different levels to a single standard. If the temperature follows a dry adiabatic lapse rate its appearance on this diagram is a vertical line.

In Fig 7 the solid line represents the thermal rising from the ground while the pecked line is the environment temperature. The stippled area at the bottom shows the thermal starting off much warmer than the environment. This part has a super-adiabatic lapse rate. By the time it has reached about 500 ft (sometimes sooner) the thermal will have cooled to about the same temperature as its environment. The two lies overlap with only small wiggles. Near the top where the environment becomes stable its potential temperature rises with height. (The pecked line curves off to the right.) There is then

s FT )(

100 1~ 2~ 2~C POTENTIAL TEIIIPEIIATUIIE

Fig7

a widening gap between the temperature inside the core of the thermal and the air outside. The shaded section shows this change. Eventually this cooling stops the thermal rising any further, but it may go up quite a long way before stopping.

How Moisture Helps Thermals usually carry up moisture from low levels and this acts to reduce the density of the air inside the thermal. Water vapor is lighter than dry air so humid air is less dense than dry air at the same temperature. Meteorologists find it simplifies many calculations to use the "virtual temperature" of the air instead of the actual temperature.

Virtual Temperature The virtual temperature is higher than the measured temperature by an amount which exactly balances this change of density. For example if the pressure was BOOmbar (6394 ft on the altimeter) the temperature 14 degrees C and the humidity just over 90% the virtual temperature would be two degrees higher than the actual temperature of dry air. Put another way the air in the thermal could be nearly two degrees colder than the dry surroundings and still have a tiny amount of buoyancy. In real life the surrounding air also contains some moisture so the difference is rarely so great but the effect is still important.

The extra buoyancy due to added moisture and the momentum of the rising air combine to help strong thermals penetrate some distance into a temperature inversion.

15

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A Word From The President Dear Fellow Members, In the last month I have received letters regarding the APA direction. It forced me to give some thought to what the APA is and where the APA should go. Ultimately, it is up to the membership to feed us with that information. However, it gives me the opportunity to bring the discussion out into the membership. I am hoping for a wide range of reaction back, and objective discussion.

I am the president but it is not my view that decides on the direction of the organization, it is the membership's decision.

I'm happy to inform you that the APA is alive and flying, contrary to any rumors you might have heard.

Obtaining our own insurance was surely an accomplishment - especially since so many advocates of a merge didn't think we ever would. However, carrying our own insurance doesn't indicate we are against a merger either.

The membership shall have the ultimate say as to whether the APA merges with the USHGA. There are both benefits and disadvantages in that move. The USHGA is an established organization and had experience in running a membership organization. Their headquarters is staffed with full time employees who handle all the administrative work. So far our APA HQ is functioning up to expectations without a hitch. I feel paragliders will be giving up their identity, being represented for a certain time by hang gliders. The USHGA board is coming to support paragliders in a great effort, but in the end they represent hang gliders. At present time USHGA has approximately 7,500 members compared with 650 APA members. The numbers alone tell us that we are outnumbered as far as representation goes.

True, we are still a fledgling organization - but we are growing on a daily basis. We are paragliders exclusively, being represented by paragliders. In my opinion, a strong national organization has to come from within, with interested experts and qualified, dedicated professionals at the helm. We don't want to get lost in the shuffle of hang gliding concerns even if it were to be reversed in a few years when paragliding grows. I'm sure their intentions are honorable. In a letter to Greg Lawless, I addressed this concern and included suggestions. I'm looking forward to his answer.

I am glad that the issue of a merger with the USHGA is finally being discussed openly. It is just what is neces• sary to come to the right decision. Unfortunately, I have to say that this issue is way out of proportion in importance for the future of paragliding. Occasionally it will happen that individuals are using the issue to play both organizations, the USHGA and APA, against each other for their own benefits. I hope that our membership and directors will decide what is best for paragliding, not for USHGA or APA. The APA's mission statement states: "The APA is a

Paragliding, The Magazine

non-profit, self regulating, membership organization.

Developed by paragliders, for paragliding pilots, established to promote, maintain, and preserve the safe and healthy growth of the sport of paragliding in the U.S." Looking at that statement, I am questioning the structure of both organizations in achieving that goal. All the policy making is provided by volunteers at a great personal sacrifice. It is necessary for policies to exist, to measure skills, experience, and promote the sport, but not necessarily to police the membership. A national organization should be a market-driven service industry.

The future of paragliding, or any other recreational aviation sport, will depend on developing, implementing and executing the most important projects in a timely fashion, especially if the sport is growing fast. I consider promoting the sport, opening up new sites, and providing educational courses and documentation as the most important tasks at hand. These tasks have been rated as top priority by the membership survey, as well.

If we want the sport of paragliding to grow, both safely and healthy, new sites must be made available and current sites secured. I believe that owning the sites is the only secure solution. What you own can't be taken away.

PR programs should be created, coordinated and executed. The members are hungry for any news, information, books and manuals that will broaden their knowledge and skills of the sport. It is the fi.rst time that an aviation sport was not developed in the U.S .. We are looking to Europe for any information and new trends.

Don't we want to change that?

To be effective these projects must be executed by professionals to improve services and programs to the members. Insurance, magazines and pilot ratings are basic benefits. To advance the sport, additional benefits, services and programs are necessary. Our sport has exceptional growth potential. With regard to European aviation srort statistics, the USA is lagging far behind.

There can t even be an equal comparison made between them, indicating the potential. One example is Switzerland. Their m"Eimbership ratio among the aviation sports of skydiviJ\g, · nggliding,and paragliding is 6-21-73. In the YSAttt: ..2;7~z ~.completely reversed. We have a prc:,mi1:1 .. . want to use it for the benefit of all.

We . . . ~perts ln the field of sport promotion, sport ed;ucat~imJilhdsit.e;a'cqu· n working for the membersh~p. "):'ot.nutKli!Jh\s w.o .... iently, authority must be plac~ atof rimning the organi,zation in ·1:h•.· .. eff:!cient way, with the Board setting,gener . . ~nd·di~ives. .· .fhopem#yfiw~onlhe subject will cause others to . reflect on these i~$ue, .....·,

Wit1MI.J~t

Rift~l;i

AMERICAN PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION, INC. The following companies are APA company members supporting the paragliding community with ther membership. While the APA takes no position on the value of equipment offered by these members it is important to remember and recognize that they actively support and promote the sport of paragliding and the APA.

OREGON PARGLIDING ASSOCIATION, INC. P.O. Box 7002, Bend, OR 97708 Phone:(503)389-5411, FAX (503) 389-5411 School, Sales, Instructions

K & C HIGH TECH, INC. 6299-7 Powers Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32217 Phone:(904)739-0042 Importer; Alti Plus Varios

FIREBIRD USA P.O. Box 12343, Boulder, C080301 Phone:(303)440..0803 Importer, Distributor; Firebird Canopies, Harnesses, Flywear, Accessories, Emergency Canopies

PARAPENTE USA 2442 NW MarketSt#31, Seattle, WA 98107 Phone:(206)GOSKYHI School, Importer, Distributor, Sale Canopies, Harnesses, Instruments, Flywear, Accessories, Media, Travel

MARIPOSA SPORTS INC.

GLIDELLLTD

2649 Park Marina Dr., Redding, CA 96001 Phone:(800)759-7456, Fax:(916)245-0738 Importer; Loft Comet, Inferno, Edel and Para-Delta Canopies, Harnesses, Reserves, Accessories

555 Bryant Street, Suite 256 Palo Alto, CA 94301 Phone:(415)424-9704, Fax:(415)424-9704 Importer, Distributor, Sale, School Canopies, Harnesses, Instruments, Flywear, Accessories, Media

UP INTERNATIONAL 4054 West 2825 North Mountain Green, UT 84050 Phone:(800)COME 2UP, Fax:(801)876-3003 Manufacturer; UP Canopies

PARA-FLITE, INC. 5800 Magnolia Ave., Pennsauken, NJ 08109 Phone:(609)663--1275, Fax:(609)663--3028 Manufacturer; Birdwing Canopies, Specialized In High Quality Products, Workmanship And Other Customer Service

SKYWALK

ABOVE & BEYOND

447 Lambert Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306 Phone:(415)493--3192, Fax:(415)493--3192 Manufacturer, Dealer; Spirit Canopies and Harnesses

3314 West 11400 South South Jordan, Utah 84065 Phone:(801)254-7455, Fax:(801)254-7701 School, Sale, Canopies, Harnesses, Instruments, Accessories, Media, Specializing In Instructions, Clinics, Towing

P.O. Box 1839, Nayes Head, NC 27959 Phone:(919)441-4124 Sale, School Canopies, Harness, Instruments, Accessories

KIITY HAWK KITES

LAMINATED PRODUCTS LIMITED 17 IF, Unit C, Block 1, Tins Center, 3 Hung Chung Road Tun Mun, NT. Hong Kong Phone:011-852-466 0208 Fax: 011-852-4561266 Manufacturer; Canopies, Harnesses, Accessories

PERFORMANCE DESIGNS PARAGLIDING 12650 Softwind Dr., Moreno Valley, CA 92388 Phone:(714)924-5229, Fax:(714)242-4718 Manufacturer, Importer, Distributor, Sale, School, Loft Excalibur Canopies, Harnesses, Instruments, Flywear, Accessories, Media

A PLACE OF WINGS 1464 Falcon Stret, Sunnyvale, CA 94087 Phone:(408) 736-1222 School, Instruction, Sales

CALENDAR OF APA PARAGLIDING EVENTS 1991 Mar 1 - Oct

31:

18

APA i 991 XC Challenge. Contact APA Headquarters. Registration fee $ 25 per submitted flight. Cash prizes and Ball M22 Instrument Panel.

Oct 5 -13:

Paragliding US Nationals, Owens Valley. Organized by Mark Axen.

Class II pilots only.

Oct 9 - 13:

APA General Membership Trade Show and Fly-In.

Oct 13:

APA General membership Meeting Bishop, California, 8:00 am - i 2:00 am, Contact APA Headquarters.

Oct 16 - 17:

APA BOD meeting Salt Lake City, Double Tree Hotel.

Oct 18 - 20:

USHGA BOD meeting Salt Lake City, Double Tree Hotel.

Paragliding, The Magazine

APA INSTRUCTORS 332. Patrick Sugrue P.O. Box 655, Eagle, CO 81631 (303) 422· 7200 357 • Alan Chuculal11 Box 83305, Fairbanks, AK 99708 (907) 455-6379 10 • Clark Saunders P.O. Box 1887, Palmer, AK 99645 (907) 745-3097 74. Norma Juan Saund11rs P.O. Box 1887, Palmer, AK99645 (907) 745-3097 111. Mark D, Aleen .

P.O. Box 1632, Bishqp, CA93.515 (619) 0n1-0367 ·· ·. · 782 • Kevin Kl11lnfalt11r 5201 Wes1eridge Rcf;Rt:2.

BishopuCP.93514 (619) 387•211l73 681 • . .

Christian Walk 23229 HimlockAve. Moreno Valley, CA 92257 408 • Bradley J. Heinzen PO Box 522, Moss Beach, CA94038 (415) 726-7459 119 • Andrew Whitehill 488 Manor Plaza, Pacifica, CA 94044 (415) 359-6800 403 • Joe (llu;i:lnskl Jr. PO Box 353, Perris, CA92370 (7'.14).94~86$4 .

11 • Claudia Stockwell 3314W. 11400$.

South Jordan, UT 84065 (8Q1)254-7455

51111. • Mkil111el E~ Eb*l'III [Sox 4, EllensburgiWA 98926 (509) 925,5565 . .

6$2 • Mark A. Chirico 24.42 . fSti #Si

:1

~alflQS M; Yali,s .

. .. . . . . . [;Jne; 19edcliog, 2" . . . . CA;911l.Pfl? .• . •

D-8958 Fussen Truckee, CA 95737

St.Fl

.er

_~l:!J }i82·0527 · i:lo11aJd O. Wilkinson

1:4

Hi:iost.on, TX 77055-4411 (713) 973-9546 12 • Jay Hauth 1130 East 4045 South Salt Lake City, UT 84124 (801) 268-9369 101 • Dr. Kory Branham 715 E. 3900 S. Suite 109 Salt Lake City, UT 84107 (801) 268-8090 726 • David Frank 55 Hartwell Ave., SLC, UT 84115 (801) 484· 7565 1 • Fred Stockw11II 3314 11400 s.

South Jordan, UT 84065 (801) 254-7455

w.

:" •3SOS:Summer Breeze Dr. .. ; Colorado Springs, co 80918 (7.19) 594-0498 Ciro Toepel 29007 Richmond Hill Rd. Conifer, CO 80433 (303) 670-0301 Phillipa Villard RR#1 , Wellfleet, MA 02667 (508) 349-9377 Bll!Fi111r 1509 E. 8th St. Traverse City, Ml 49684 (616) 947-3365 Flog11r G. Cox11n P.O. Box 1839 Nags Head, NC 27959 (919) 480-1835 Flay Leonard 3680 #6 Research Way Carson City, NV 89706 (702) 883-7070 Samual W. Nowling P.O. Box 782 Carson City, NV 89702 (702) 887-9022 Nancy Jo Stanford 12602 Andromeda Cove Austin, TX 78727 (512) 836-3858

Marie K Osowski 12602 Andromeda Cove Austin, TX 78727 (512) 832-0516

tors .and Instructors signed new members up in the period of July 1, to August 31, 1991 liding ...................21 ........................... 7 aglJdlng .................... 4 ............................... 4 , ............................ 4

Ing ......................... 3 agllding ...................... 3 .................................. 2 EagleParagliding .. , . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . 2

ity ................................ 2 &.Beyond .•...............•.......... 1 l:iOVe & Beyond . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . • . . . . . . . . . 1

s ..................................... 1

Paragliding, The Magazine

Tony Domenico, Performance Design Paragliding ................ 1 Phil Pohl, Oregon .....................•.................. 1 Kevin Arends, Oregon Paragliding ..............•......••..... 1 Dale Covington, Missoula .....................•....•...•... 1 Bob England, Sylmar ....•.•..........•.................... 1 Charles Fontenot, Texas Paragliding .............•......•..... 1 Jeff Nicolay, Mornignside Flight Park ..•.............••...••... 1 Mark Wright, Moreno Valley ...•............•.•.............. 1 Roger Coxen, KittyHawk Kites .........•.......•............ 1 Scott Amy, Daly City ...................................... 1 Cary Mendes, San Jacinto ..1 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 Mark Chirico, Parapente USA ...•........................... 1

19

AMERICAN PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION, INC. OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS PRESIDENT PE;TeR.ZIMMERll 25 S Y 10314 {71 VICE f'RE:llli)ENT KEN 'e,6.l liR 151 Tamarack, Carlsbad, CA92000 (6.19) 120-97'i5

TAEASURIUI JAYHAUTI-I 1130 lillllt4Q45S¢uth, SLC, UT 84124 (801) :;168-.9369 SEPRET~RY ED PITMAN P:O. B.QX188; Shasta, CA 96(:)87 (916) 3!i!il,~392

REGIG)NAI,. DIRECTORS

Region 1. ~ AK

CLARK SAUNDERS PO Box 1887, Palmer, AK 99645 (907) 745-3097 Region 2 • Southern California, HI KEN BAIER 151 Tamarack PO Box 400, Carlsbad, CA 92008 Region 3 • Northern California GREGG PUJOL 1484 Falcon Ct., Sunnyvale, CA94087 (408} 736-1222 Fh1glon 4 • OR, WA PHllPOHL PO Box 812, Bend, OR 97709 (503) 389-4086 Region 5 • UT, 10, NM, MT FRED STOCKWELL 3314 w. 11400 s.

South Jordan, UT 84065 (801) 254·7455

Region 6 • CO, WV, ND, SD STEVE SIVERS PO Box 213, Crested Butte, CO 81224 (303) 349-5961 Region 7 • TX, LA, OK, MO, KS, NE, IA RICHARD JOHNSON 919Pecore St NJ,, Houston, TX 77009 Regi<in 8 • OH, IL, IN,WI, MN, Ml Vacant Region J • WV, VA, KV, TN, AL, MS, GA, FL, NC, SC ROGER COXON PO Filox 1839, Nags Head, NO 27959 (919) 480-1835 Regic:m 10 • ME, NH, VT, MA, RI JORN BOUCHARD PO Box 4QO, North Conway, NH 03860 (603) 356·6907 R11gl9n 11 •>CT, NV, NJ, PA, DE, MD

PETER ZIMMERLI 25 Goller Place Staten Island, NY 10314 {718) 698-5738 Region 12 • AZ, NV WALTER BENOIT 4185 Christy Way, Reno, NV 89509 (702) 747-0683 DIRECTORS AT LARGE ED PITMAN PO Box 188, Shasta, CA 96087 (916) 359-2392 CURTIS WOODMAN 332 Richardson Dr. MIit Valley, CA 94941 (415) 381-4414 TONY DOMENICO 12650 Slftwlnd Dr. Moren.o Valley, CA 92388 (714) 924-6229

763 • Limy D. Friend Rohnert Park, CA· 7/1 /91 , C. Woodman 863 • Stuart D, Pollack · Modesta, CA· 7/1/91, C. Woodman 813 • Fletcher Anderson Glenwood Springs, CO 711/91, J. Stenstadvold . . .. .

884 • Barry Cox 8190, Stockwelll,Axen .Springfield, MO. 7/2/91, J. Stenstadvold A. 1211190, G. PuJOI 885 • Krlstlnne Cox .886'. Thamas Ehrene .

Spnnglleld, MO· 712/19, J. Stenstavold Emmau$, PA. 1!1/91, s. ·Byers 939 • Jack Cahn 1194.· Robert M, Pelletier Boulder, CO· 7/3/91, D. Whaley Santa Ana CA. 1/25191 C Stockwell 680 • John D. Johns 634 . '. I L. Llg1,111U , Englewood, CO· 7/4/91, C. Stockwell 7 Sa a, QA · 907 • S. Patrlk Jarveroth 91 112 .. · en S-11255Stockholm,Sweden C 735 •·PaMl, $lll<ickw11ll·Jr, 7/5/91, J, Stenstavold 91 Keeene,NH • 2/l;)/91,C.:i::o~el 901. David N. R9911rs Crystal .871 .

Portland, OR· 7/7/9Y,P. Pohl 998 • Raymond •J. ,1atn11<. · • Ahl , M..S~lvemlnl 906. Peterzrelet!>n Boise, ID· 8/3/91; H.H.ub • .•. ·• . . . .

1 J.'fat® 8113 Aspen, CO 944 • Edw111rd 'f. Pow.en, 8114 • La,rrV,. E; Plnd•r ... · · T.Di:mienico 7/8/91, J. s enstavold Medfield, MA· 8/4;191, F. Stockwell Gresham, 01=1 • 9/11/91, P:Pohl 934 • Fl!>bln L. Sharpe 92tl • P1111.1.I H111mllton 965 -·Hans Sessar · Aspen,CO Reno, .NV - 815191, R. Leonard A-6900 Bregenz, Au~tria 1111191, J. Stenstavold 589 • Robert S. Smith 9/13/91 . K. Baier 8911 • Paul W. Sharpe Wellfleet, MA - 8/5/91, C. $mith 977 • Alek Kirstein Aspen, CO· 7113/91, J. Stenstavold 827. Hagal Golan Newport Beach • 9120/91, R.·Pelletler ,Di~11.1 896 • Daniel c. Walker.. · Newtonvme, MA· 8/7/91, C. Smith CLASS II .

Fa! , 51~4/9~ K. Bai er Snowmass VIiiage, CO Ri>nli!ld HO$d 332 • Patrick Sugrue 888'· . Dcriilld I.•. Sheldon 5/19191, J. Nicolay Den Helder, Netherlands Eagle, CO· 1/20l91, C. $to,;:kwell Baker11lieild, CA· .5/26/91, 8. England 900 • Ramo Hoch11trasser 8/!l/91, ·S. Byers 405 • Jack Bo.nar 292, ~" lll!lludrexl San Diego, CA· 7/14/111, M. Salvemini ~;,.Jeinathlii'I D. Voiles $t. ~q1,1is,, MO· 5131/91, G. Banks San DI.ego, CA $1lf)F:rarialscq,OA·8/11/91, G. Banks 7/11/91,M,Salve.tr)ini 8411• Wfl!klr(I 0~111 .. . 'nS ond L. Sauceckl $an , CA- 6/1/91, Gre$i,ltt ~i. J.1111an Krawiec 361 •.Joe,11. Parl<er . .· · M,Phlrjpo dlial;ld Hills, CA· 8/15/91, B. England Telluride, cq. 7/Hl/91, El.Pitman li!ill!i!ll!lf Travers City, Ml • 6/13/91. s. Byers , Patrick. J. K11n11y 313 • R.lcharcl VOMle, - 8/16/91, D. Covington Aspen, CO· 7/:18/91, E. Pitman AaronL.111111 Bau.er 270 • i:;rlc Tro?m.mer San Jose, OA • (1124,191, C.. Mi!!rida!)l 8/16/91, Amy Telluride, C9 • 8/18/91, J. Stenst$void 248 • Mark L. L!lngenftlit · I lllalr 304 • Tim Domenl¢o · .

Madi$On, WI : .

16/111, J. Stenstadvold Marina Del f:ley, CA ·.8/20/91, Tor:,y 49~·.M•~ r . 986 • Richard Pro'.\111soli · A· 8/11/91, R. Leon$rd larkspur, CA· 9/1 G/91, C.Vi/(;)()dman 96~. •: 1,:is; (1111!.11'1$ 800 • Micha&! Mel11r Orestfld eu e, • 8/18/91, $. !iJyers Santa Ana, OA • 9114/91, C. Mendes 942. AheU K; Vance 398 • Mike Reed11r Por~and, OR· 8/19/91, K. Arends Lakewood, CO· 9120/91, P. Sugrue

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114~•·

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Paragliding, The Magazine

1991 APA Membership Survey Results in percentages of respondents to questions

Subjects to be addr1Hstd by the APA Number of Repondents: 158

PRIORITY LEVEL

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

8

Ill

10

11

PHC!I Rating Sl!eAceess Magazine lflstruotor Programs · Fie ports lns~ra:nee ranee n I Certification

23% 39 8 15 9 15 2 2 20 3 12

18%

18% 6 8 9 9 9 3 3 13 3

8% 10 9 8 9 6 3 4 9 2 5

7%

3% 2 8 6 6 3 2 6 3 1 3

0% 2 4 3 5 3 1 3 4 1 5

0% 1 4 1 4 3 3 4 1 1 4

0% 0 3 1 0 3 6 4 2 3 2

1% 1 1 1 1 1 6 2 3 7 1

0% 0 1 1 0 0 5 1 1 9 1

20 4 11 11 11

1 6 14 1 7

8

8 6 4 8 6 2 6 4 1 6

Vlf:h;ih~ Direction should the APA be concentrating In the future?

11{(:t~r ofReporidents: 152

Pfi!t~AITY LEVEL 49% 16 35 18 14 1

g pa:rawllders r arag 1ders catlonal programs with other foot-launched associations with other aviation associations

2

3

4

5

6

17% 14 22 14 8 2

13% 16 14 14 7 3

2% 12 5 15 10 3

1%

0% 3 1 1 2 20

5 0 5 18 8

Site Access Should 1131 Addressed Number of Repondents: 142 Renting:11%

Leasing: 49%

Owning 30%

Site Access programs should be run by: Number of Repondents: 145 APA:46%

Volunteers: 20%

Separate Organizations: 13%

Professional: 19%

The members would support a site access program In the amount of: Number of Repondents: 143

< $10: 23%

$11 • $25: 38%

$26 - $50: 22%

>$51:17%

Importance Of Buying Decision (1 highest): Number of Respondents: 149

PRIORITY LEVEL

1

2

3

Price Performance Workmanship Service/Support Brand Name Delivery Colors New Used Guarantees Dealer Reliability Safety Product Certification

9% 30 6 5 1 1 1 3 0 3 1 9 43

17% 22 7 3 1 2 1 2 0 2 1 8 15 14

17% 17 10 4 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 7 6 8

11

.II 11% 6 12

11 1 5 1 1 1 3 2 7

3 7

5

6

1

8

9

7% 1 8 6 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 7 1 9

2% 0 6 7 0 2 1 3 0 3 1

1% 0 1 6 1 1 1 0 0 4 3 3 1 1

2% 1 0 3 3 3 0 0 0 1 2 2 0 1

3% 0 1 0 2 2 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 0

3 1 5

10 0% 0 0 1 1 0 2 3 1 3 1 0 0 1

11 1% 0 0 0

1 2 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0

12 0% 0 0 1 1

1 0 0 1 2

1 0 0 0

13 0% 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0

14 0% 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0

Plan To P1.m::hase The Following Equipment Within: Canopy Harness Emergency Instruments Radio

1 • 6 Months 49.4% 55.9% 48.6% 52.9% 43.4%

6 • 12 Months 27.2% 23.7% 35.1% 27.6% 32.1°/o

12 • 18 Months 9.9% 8.5% 6.8% 12.6% 5.7%

15 Months 12.3% 10.2% 8.1% 5.7% 18.9%

Responded 81 59 74 87 53

$2001-$2500 24.7% 4401·$500 51.2% $101·$150 18.6%

$2501-$3000 29.2% $501-$600 17.5% $151-$250 28.9%

:.$3001 28.1% :.$601 30.0% :.$251 49.5%

Responded 89

Price Range They Want To Spend: Price Range: Glider/Harness Emergency Chute Instruments

$1500-$2000 16.9% c$400 0.0% <$100 2.1%

Paragliding, The Magazine

80 97

21

APAl 90 A CIDENT BEPOBTS submitted by Mark W. Shipman, M.D.

APA Accident Chairman

Age: 30 years Wealght approximately 180 lb (82 kg.) Date of accident: Wed. March 13, 1990, approximately 1640 hours.

Experience: Extensive sky diving experience with over 1000 parachute jumps; but essentially no previous paragliding instruction or experience ( 4 or 5 previous paraglider flights).

Location: The Bowl, Yakima River Canyon, mile post 23 SR 821 near Ellensburg, Washington.

Conditions: Clear, winds light 2-4 mph, very light thermals. Paragllder: Edel Aero 24. Manufacturer: Dae Kyo Ind., Inc. Date of manufacture: January 1990. PIiot weight range: 60-SO kg. Manufacture No.: No. 224193 Kontrolle: Nunlar OHV Gutesiegel Made in Korea This paraglider is considered to be a relatively advanced glider, requiring a certain amount of input to correct collapses, spins, etc. It is not suggested for beginners.

HarneH: Charly-Edel Flip. Hialmet: Gyro bicycle helmet. Reserve: None Description by wltneHe111: The victim had three flights on the above described glider the same day. Each witness had also had a flight on the same glider, all without Incident All flight characteristics of the glider were felt by all pilots to be unremarkable.

The victim was described as quite self assured and had repudiated any organized instruction on paragliding, apparently considering his parachuting experience as adequate to safely exempt him from the need for instruction on paragliding. He had also~/:ilined all put a modicum of instruction from the pilot who was offering the paraglider for sale.

He launch uneventfully, flew 150 yards, turned 180 degrees apparently to stay in some lift, and headed back toward the launch site. He then encountered some mild turbulence. He was heard over the radio to exclaim "Whoa!" or "Oh Ohl" as his sail rocke(I pack approximately 10 degrees and then forward about 10 degrees.

His left wing tip was then seen to deflate. This was a small deflation and would not have been much concern in most .sit1;1ations. p)r)e ~f. the observers radioed to the pilot, "Brake right." The pilot began a series of small pumps to the right brake toggle in~ im,hin9,:eroen~, The observer, an experienced paraglider pilot radioed several more times ·Brake right! Brake right!" .· .. • ...

The pilot seemed to ignore the commands. The wing further deflated on the left and began to spiral to the left. The deflation andthe·$pit;al continued lo worsen until the glider completely deflated and the pilot was free falling straight down. He had continµedJo pump the rigM brake in small increments. Neither observer can recall what the pilot was doing with his left hand.

Neither observer witnessed the impact, he was just out of view. We do not know if a PLF was attempted, but with as much sky divirig experience as he had, it is very likely that a PLF was attempted.

The observer reached the victim within 5 minutes. He was not breathing and had no pulse. CPR was started and continued until paramedics arrived nearly an hour later.

Cause of death: No autopsy was performed. Injuries included a major depressed skull/facial fracture, rib fractures, pneumothorax, and fractured femur.

D!souaslon of cause of death: It was suggested by at least one investigator that had the pilot been wearing a more substantial helmet, perhap& one with face protection, he might have lived. However, the victim was pulseless and apnaic within 5 minutes of impact. It is highly unlikely that the heart of a previously healthy 30 year old person would stop beating so soon from a head injury alone. It is more likely that the victim also suffered a major deceleration injury such as a transected aorta.

Examination of paragllder: The above described paraglider was held by the Kittitas County Coroner and I was allowed to examine it.

(The usual chain of custody procedures were followed. Once signed out to me, the glider did not leave my possession until it was signed back in at the sheriff's department the same day.) ~i.ke Eberle, an APA certified instructor and one of his students Carl Zapffe and I carefully inspected the glider: One of the shoulder straps had l:leen cul from the harness by rescuers. The harness was otherwise intact and unremarkable. Risers and quick links were likewise intact, l.ines,were .remarkable for the following: 1) Right side rear riser 5th line of 5 shows significant fresh abrasion at the quick link. 2) Left side rear rl$er 4th line of 5 shows significant fresh abrasion at the quick link. 3) Right side A-lines 6 and 4 are slack at all times when the wing is kite(! and when flCilwn. 4) Brake lines are intact and correctly adjusted . .The sail for the followinQ: 1) Porosity tests revealed no abnorf!)ality and therewere no significant tears. 2) There are . dilr)p[(i)S wh ....en.the sail is bei.ng kited or flow.n correspo.ndi!'l~ti!lthe sla ·. A-lines 3 and 4, 3) The bottom SLJrf wn when the sail is being kited or.flown, · side A-lines 3 and 4. This corresponds to nth(i)Jight. 4) This paragUder is.unusual in lhl\'I,. s at the leading edge. The 3rd . baton in from

aduated instruction such as that ~st.iMe for paragliding experience.

ts ess~ntially never a factor.

certainly appropriate to

.an amount of knowledge,

22

Paragliding, The Magazine

High Performance Paragliding • • • As easy as One Two Three !

or...

Two Two Three!

or...

One Two One!

Steve Pearson pulls up the Wills Wing AT 123 Photo by Mike Meier Helmut Walder soars the Wills Wing AT 223 Photo by Aki Kibe Linda Meier flies the Wills Wing AT 121 Photo by Mike Meier

or... Two Two Five! or... One Two Five! or ...

Wills Wing has brought true high performance to the entry level and intermediate soaring pilot with the AT SERIES ONE line of paragliders . (AT 121 , 123, and 125) Specially designed for the more demanding conditions of U.S . flying , the Series One paragliders feature speed range and glide performance previously unavailable in a Level One canopy , while retainSPECIFICATIONS ing the forgiving stability and recovery characteristics that Model AT 121 AT 123 AT 125 inspire your confidence as an advancing pilot.

27 .2 ft 30 ft Span 32.9 ft Area 257 sq ft 282 sq ft 315 sq ft The Wills Wing AT SERIES TWO paragliders offer a A.R .

2.9 3.2 3.4 competitive level of soaring and cross country performance Weight 13.2 lbs.

14.3 lbs .

15.4 lbs . for the advanced (APA I USHGA Class II ) pilot in a well 21 23 25 Cells mannered Level Two canopy that is a joy to fly! (AT 223 and 120 - 155 165 - 210 185 - 240 Pi lot Wt. 225) Class 1 Class 1 Pilot Rating Class 1 All Wills Wing paraglider models are tested to SHV certif ication standards prior to shipment of the first production AT223 AT225 Model unit , and each canopy is manufactured of the finest mate31.3 ft 34.2 ft Span rials , carefully inspected , line tested , line spec'd , and fac255 sq ft 282 sq ft Area tory test flown prior to shipment to the dealer for delivery to 4.1 3.8 A.R. the customer. Wills Wing paragliders are backed up by Wills 15.4 lbs .

16.5 lbs .

Weight Wing's eighteen years of experience in serving the needs of 23 25 Cells foot launched soaring pilots throughout the world. Contact 130 - 200 165 - 220 Pilot Wt. Wills Wing for the dealer nearest you to arrange a demo Class 2 Class 2 Pil ot Rating flight , and discover the Wills Wing Experience!

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Dealer Inquiries Invited

SECOND ANNUAL

Summer Lake Fourth of July Fly-in July 4-7, 1991

By Peter Keane

After a minute or two, I'm above the top of the ridge. As the thermal spits me out on top and I try to regain a level flight path, 1 take a minute to enjoy the view. AhhhSummer Lake, Oregon, what a great place to fly.

The Second Annual Summer Lake Fly-In was a huge success - mostly due to the approximately 30 pilots who showed up for the event. Folks came from as far away as Wyoming, Colorado, and Southern California, with experience levels ranging from beginners to seasoned Class II pilots.

I he view eastward Ed Pitman from Mariposa across the shimmering Sports came and showed lake is brilliant. A few us the incredible Edel ZX birds are out in front of and Paradelta Bullball the ridge lazily turning gliders. Ken deRussey in circles, climbing into a was present flying for deep blue sky. Finally, Wills Wing. Rich Vossler the streamers lift up and from Nova North I feel the warm wind in America also came to my face. Taking hold of show off the new Nova my front risers, I pull my Phantom, and Joe glider overhead, jam on Ernie Smith just after launch. Photo by Peter Keane Gluzinski from Perforthe brakes as it tries to mance Designs came to overshoot me, and run fly and demo the Excalibur and UP gliders. off. As I fly out over a rock promontory, I feel the sudden tug on my lines as my vario begins to scream to 800 fpm up.

Winter Ridge, the main site selected for the fly-in, rises Nervous but excited, I throw down my right brake and bank above the waters of Summer Lake. It is a 20 mile Jong eastmy glider into a tight spiral. My vario stiIT tells me I'm going facing ridge that is 3000 feet high in some places. Stable high up as I continue to hold the tum. Around and around in the pressure usually is needed to make the site work, and the circle I go, my arms getting more tired with each revolution. weather during fly-in couldn't have been better. We enjoyed

Here I am, poised at Ponderosa Launch. The air is crisp, but I can tell it's going to get hot today. At twenty-two hundred feet above the valley floor, I'm waiting for the perfect cycle to blow up the gully for launch.

T

24

Paragliding, The Magazine

SUMMER LAKE FLY-IN

four excellent flying days in a row, something that doesn't usually happen in the Pacific Northwest. Typically, thermal activity shuts down flying in the mid-afternoon, but we managed to fly until about 4 pm every day before the prevailing northwest wind took over.

On Thursday, the first day of the fly-in, we flew the east face of Winter Ridge until mid-afternoon. During peak cook-off, Ed Pitman blew us away with his fifteen-mile flight down the rim. Hans Hub, from Sun Valley, Idaho, logged a fantastic six-mile flight as well. When the prevailing north wind began to build down the valley it became time to take a long siesta. The extremely hot (100 degree) temperatures made lounging around in the shade high priority as we waited for the winds to calm down. In the evening, we headed out to Buck Launch which faces north - usually perfect for evening flying. Four of the pilots managed to take off and barely escape the hill when the after-sunset winds picked up to over twenty miles per hour.

The rest of us reluctantly drove down.

On the second day Winter Ridge produced some tur. bulent and punchy thermals. Most people found it difficult to really go anywhere, but Phil Pohl of Bend, Oregon managed to squeak out a five and one-half mile flight down the rim. In the evening, the north wind ripped down the valley, much to the chagrin of those who wanted to fly. But for the people who were camping out, the wind was greatly appreciated to keep the man-eating mosquitoes away.

On Saturday, the ground heating conditions were fantastic with some people logging their longest thermal flights. In the evening some of the pilots went down to Lakeview, Oregon to check out the large hang gliding meet there. We found an abundance of hang gliders waiting to launch Black Cap, only to be shut down by a quick switch in wind direction. There were reports of thirty-mile hang glider flights that day, and it was clear that excitement was in the air.

Sunday, the last day of the fly-in was a repeat of Saturday with fantastic thermals, lots of comraderie, and great flying.

Congratulations to Wendy Hoisington and Dave Rogers for demonstrating skills and earning their Class I rating. The award for best launch technique goes to Wendy Hoi sington, who consistently showed us how fast humans can sprint over rocks and redefine the meaning of being committed on launch. It was clear she hadn't watched the Corrado Video yet. Ed Pitman takes the longest flight award. His fifteen-mile ride on an Edel ZX illustrated the finer points of thermal flying. Clearly, the best maneuver prize goes out to Joel Parker from Telluride, Colorado for doing a negative spin. We all held our breath for a second or two on that one.

Last, but certainly not least, the "Best Flying With The Most Primitive Gear Award" goes to Luke Madsen of Jackson, Wyoming. He consistently got high over launch flying his Condor SP-10 with a rock climbing harness, no vario and always with ripped and dirty clothes. When Luke gets a high performance glider, some instruments, and some new clothes, watch out Andrei.

Thanks goes out to Phil Pohl for such great organization, and the cooperative local residents for kindly letting us land in their fields. Thanks also to all the pilots who came and made the 1991 Summer Lake Fly-In a great success, we hope to see you all again next year!

26

WORLD MEET 1991 APA Report

by John Bouchard

Summary The US Team finished a respectable 9th out of 17 countries.

The top U.S. finisher was in 38th place with the remainder of the team in 53, 55, 65, and 72 . Considering the experience level of our pilots and the resources available to them, these results are more than honorable. The best U.S. finish in the Pre-Worlds was 68th in a field of much lower caliber, so a considerable improvement was made over the year.

That 120 pilots were able to fly over 17,000 km in eight days with only one accident is a good indication that there is a future for the sport. This can be attributed to the expertise and maturity of both the pilots and the organizers who have well recognized the attributes and limitations of the aircraft. A barograph of a typical task clearly showing the flying conditions is included at the end of the report.

Within the top 25 pilots there were 11 different glider models - the industry is still healthy and competitive.

The competition shows that this is not the beginning of the end of paragliding but the end of the beginning of paragliding.

Background The Pre-Worlds had tasks of 30-50 km which was astonishing in 1990. There was only one pilot in the U.S. who had flown even close to these distances. Not only had there been no real contests in the U.S., but there was no mechanism available for selecting a team.

In the fall of 1990, we had to come up with a ranking system as well as some sort of training to prepare a team for a most challenging competition.

We proposed a plan to the APA Board where the prospective team would train on the site in St Andre and the team would be selected based on the results of the camp and the 1989-1990 competitions. The method was vindicated before the World Meet when at Sun Valley, the only real competition of 1991, the first alternate won and a U.S. team member who finished 4th in the Camp came in second.

P(1.01•·

j

SPAiNG PT$.

f.BQPCHARD

. 87:5 ·

3. ~IBLEitl

881 1000

'd\~IW.·· s..1~ORJ:!:R

. . 5.24 '947:

2, f'fl)M/1.N

6: STl;IN 7;1(AIS1:R

88.8

OLDPTS.

1000 7:06 0

423 0 0

Training Camp The training camp took place from May 16-30. There were 8 participants. We all stayed in the same hotel which served the

Paragliding, The Magazine

meals which the team took together. This format is essential for future camps and world meets. We flew on the four World Meet sites and met with the four Site Directors who flew with us on the sites and explained how they planned to set the tasks. We also had Ali Gali #2 French paraglider pilot for 1991 as our guide and coach. His years of hang gilding experience in the area was valuable to us.

We flew eight days with six competition days where we used cameras.

PILOT BIBLER PORTER SlEIN PllMAN BOU.CHARD AXEN SHIPMAN WHALEY

SCORE

NORMED

3366 3190

1000 947 888 881 875 524 408 259

2985 2968 2948

1765 137:5

825

There was a misunderstanding between me and the hotel over reservations and I had to pay an extra $600 to cover three days of meals when the group was not there.

I also spent two afternoons apartment hunting for the group in September. There was a $400 deposit required which I paid May 30.

We met with a young man who wished to be our team manager. He would volunteer if we paid his expenses which we agreed to do.

The team selected was Ed Pitman, John Bouchard, Todd Bibler, Brian Porter, Ed Stein, and Mark Axen with Lee Kaiser as first alternate. Mark d rapped out in mid July which put Lee on the team.

Organization The registration fee for the meet was $500 per pilot ($3000 total) which had to be received in Digne by July 31. As of July 30 I had received $1500. I made up the difference. I did not receive the last $500 fee until the last week in August.

The apartment had to be paid in full by august 7. The total cost was approximately $1300. Again, I paid the full amount, although I did not receive all the money from the team until the end of August.

Future Team Leaders should consider this behavior a sure bet.

World Meet At the last minute, the team manager found a more lucrative project and we were left with no ground crew. I persuaded my boss to send Albert Baud with a van to be our ground crew.

Albert is an old time hang glider pilot and has also run the Avoriaz Competition for the last two years (Avoriaz is one of the 3 big international meets held every year - Albert not only knows everyone but also knows how they fly).

27

WORLD MEET 1991

Registration involved the usual hassles when some of the team forgot some of the required documents, but our being there in the Spring made the process easier since the officials all knew us fairly well by then. There were also two fewer beds in the apartment than indicated in the floor plan by the rental agency.

The result was that I had to find a room in a local hotel.

The teams were divided into two groups for the thn.>e preliminary rounds to make a cut. Ed Pitman was the leader for one group and I was the leader for the other. My group had Albert as the ground crew, Ed's group had to rely on Lee Kaiser's girl friend. Only one of us, Ed Stein, did not make the cut.

The next five days provided the finest flying any of us have ever had on paragliders. Tasks were either to goal or minimum time to goal with courses ranging from 24 to over 60 km. Flawless organization, near perfect weather forecasting, and incontestable results made a perfect championship. After eight days of competition, over 300 km of tasks with more than half the field flying more than 200 km total, there were no questions as to the validity of the results.

OVERALL

PILOT

SCORE

38 53 55 65 72

BOUCHARD BIBLER KAISER PORTER PITMAN

3159 2285 2212 1802 1379

Our team had perfect films. The team work could have been better, but as I understand it, this observation is always made for the US Hang Glider Team as well. Although our results were modest, they showed real progress on our flying skills. In the Pre-Worlds last year, our best finish was 65th and the competition was nowhere near the level of the World Championships.

An examination of the results and the accompanying bar graph show that we placed in approximately the median area.

Recommendations for the Next World Meet The bets are on Verbier for 1993 followed by Brazil. Assuming Verbier is selected we have to consider the following: 1) Verbicr is French speaking Switzerland.

2) Verbier is extremely expensive.

3) All the top pilots have extensive experience flying there there have been contests here since 1987!

1) Besides the Pre-Worlds which will be held in August, we should also fly the Chamonix and Avoriaz Opens. They are in the same area as Verbier and will involve the same contestants. This will get the future team ready for the conditions which are not the same as the in U.S. 2) Book rooms in a hotel which serves meals ASAP. It is essential that the team stay in the same building and cat its meals together. Girl friends and wives should not be with the team.

3) Look for the team manager/leader now. We need a Swiss or Frenchman whose English is passable. Most important, he should be extremely familiar with the site and with the organization.

28

4) Prepare ourselves for spending money! It will cost $60100 / day to stay in Ver bier. Airfare to Geneva from New York is $1000-1400. The Pre-Worlds will cost at least $3000 per pilot for 2-3 weeks.

5) Have 5th place as a goal and develop a method for effective team flying.

MAX RECORDED CLIMB RATE: 649 Feet Per Minute.

MAX RECORDED SINK RATE: 673 Feet Per Minute AVERAGE RECORDED CLIMB RATE: 202 Feet Per Minute ALTITUDE: MIN: 4086 Feet AVG: 6261 Feet MAX: 9437 Feet <ii

FILE

OOUJ,L01W

PL NATION 1 Switzerland 2 Great Britain

PlOfH!I

CUT M1

M2

M3

M' MS

TOTAL

2773 2918 2757 2136 2346 2785 15715 2788 2813 2777 2278 2148 2779 15583 2942 2894 2805 1349 2633 2864 15387 3 Germany 2540 2848 2308 2450 2047 2715 14908 4 France 2707 2868 895 1669 2228 2817 13184 5 Austria 2707 2718 1769 1731 1l91 2780 12896 6 Italy 1968 781 1561 1131 2$39 2561 10341 7 Japan 1911 1450 1333 1210 1t30 934 8650 8 South Africa 1902 1942 977 979 1097 929 7826 9 USA 1996 647 866 973 843 2136 7461 10 Yugoslavia 1635 490 1162 917 7$6 1761 6700 11 Spain 1256 1058 1205 768 6~8 1134 6069 12 Luxemborg 103'3 181 289 663 4~3 1170 3789 13 Brazil 376 969 540 433 2p6 1036 3610 14 Norway 723 723 561 497 530 509 3643 1/.i New Zealand 1079 413 354 772 3~6 374 3387 16 Belgium 530 575 270 639 3i12 925 3251 17 Sweden 989 172 457 519 342 438 2917 Korea 18 ' 755 289 600 406 ~76 432 2768 19 Australia ' 272 2494 576 417 1;41 20 Czechoslavakia 1023 66 337 139 270 220 220 286 1472 21 Columbia

Paragliding, The Magazine

WORLD MEET 1991

PL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

NAT GB CH CH FAG CH F GB I FAG FAG AU FAG AU GB AU GB CH

F I L I F GB AU JPN CH

I CH GB FAG F SAF F SW E AU

F USA

vu

JPN

PILOT CUT 11111 11112 11113 M4 MS TOTAL WHITTALL, Robbie 940 977 986 1000 776 936 5615 HEDIGER, Andre 587 1000 978 996 776 935 5272 HAAR!, Urs 968 942 971 569 813 923 5186 BENDER, Toni 888 976 1000 389 757 922 4932 GRAHAM, Robert 952 976 808 399~ 757 927 4819 GALLON, Richard 651 943 666 765 789 939 4753 GOLDSMITH, Bruce 974 935 819 290 776 920 4714 BERTONI, Sylvia 935 893 821 765 320 911 4645 WIESMEIER, Uli 972 981 808 571 324 933 4589 TORSTEN, Hahne 970 833 997 389 321 938 4448 MITTEREGGER, Toni 911 962 286 985 312 934 4390 KIRSCH, Christoph 707 937 671 290 776 958 4339 EDER, Armin 931 944 298 290 776 986 4225 PENDRY, John 849 897 972 310 312 884 4147 TSCHANHENZ, Ewald 747 921 296 290 996 897 4123 TURNER, Mark 754 901 666 550 329 923 4118 BOHREN, Ulrich 745 862 680 571 344 916 4022 EXIGA, Didier 736 806 296 983 313 888 3993 DALLA ROSA, Carlo 668 901 662 569 193 1000 3950 LINTNER, Louis 689 835 968 379 333 846 3878 PRINOTH, Lorenzo 896 924 270 387 532 869 3846 REMOND, Xavier 974 978 821 208 572 293 3846 SILVESTER, John 874 573 291 384 596 889 3607 AMANN, Andrea 865 881 296 290 342 884 3558 TANAKA, Miyuki 675 55 782 392 776 855 3536 HEFTI, Robert 805 873 244 405 316 879 3522 FELLICETTI, Luigi 876 802 270 300 326 861 3435 ENZLER, Mario 863 826 275 374 757 332 3417 CARTER, Richard 536 902 648 728 336 258 3408 STROBL, Ernst 1000 223 0 208 1000 968 3399 BONNEFOND, Patrice 629 927 666 290 585 281 3378 VAN DEVENTER, Jay 582 472 777 409 777 296 3313 BERGER, Nathalie 791 202 821 387 201 861 3263 NOICHL, Marcus 530 575 270 639 321 925 3251 IZQUIERDO, Carlos 713 78 580 366 583 865 3185 STOCK, Jurg,n 812 938 289 394 451 291 3175 WEALI, Michel 775 223 300 315 673 887 3173 BOUCHARD, John 646 840 376 409 585 303 3159 OOMEN, Siana 1000 295 300 290 324 925 3134 IKEDA, Keiichi 610 71 479 290 790 848 3088

Paragliding, The Magazine

PL NAT 41 N 42 JPN 43 AU 44 FAG 45 F 46 SAF 47 GB 48 CH 49 BZL 50 vu 51 JPN ex 11 52 FAG EDEL 53 USA EDEL 64 $AF AIRWAVE EDEL 55 USA 56 NZ APEX 57 E P4 58 SAF GVPAILLE PA RADELTA 59 L 60 I 61 I OMEGA OMEGA 62 AV 63 BZL ITV 64 vu EDEL NOVA 65 USA 66 B SWING 67 KOR EDEL 68 B P4 NEW APEX 69 AST 70 COL FLASH NEW APEX 71 CZ 72 USA 73 JPN OMEGA 74 NZ EDEL ITV 75 E 76 KOR KARAT 77 AST ADG 78 CZ ITV EDEL 79 N NOVA 80 SAF

GLIDER NINJA P4 NOVA NOVA OMEGA EDEL AIRWAVE OMEGA NINJA FLASH

PILOT CUT 11111 IKEDA, Keiichi 606 899 OWIN, Kindem 680 536 HANGAI, Sadao 645 962 HOLZMULLER, Walter 736 909 BEROD, Patrick 604 0 ATWELL, Craig 476 894 SYRETT, Alison 655 576 SIEGRIST, Silvia 596 433 MARRA, Rui 560 74 KLEMEN, Kobal 511 129 KONISHI, Hirokazu 613 174 LACROUTS, Barbara 618 163 BIBLER, Todd 664 575 SMITH, Andrew 830 84 KAISER, Lee 592 527 379 575 BANKS, Rog" ALTIERI, Juan 538 189 CARTER, Pierre 581;i 60 LOETSCHER, Erich 667 223 BOTTEGAL, Maurizio 696 72 GAOENZ, lvo 593 209 KRAFTNER, Michael 587 145 MENESCAL, Bruno 473 107 MARKO, Malovrh 485 223 PORTER, Brian 368 219 BAPTIST, Michele 374 204 394 27 KIWAN, Lee 705 209 HANOTEAU, Eli, WEBB, Brian 410 204 BARBAGLIA, Gerald 337 139 BARTOSIK, Bretislav 494 66 445 206 PITMAN, Ed WAKASHIMA, 470 56 Kasunori 344 148 MCMANAWAY, Mike 384 223 GINSEOK, Son9 695 145 DE WALL, Alexander 345 85 ALT, Radovan 529 0 ROLF, Mos&id 376 70 WALLENDA, Peter 457 13

M2

M3

270 290 296 407 301 290 312 135 310 702 279 400 577 290 270 300 669 290 291 339 300 290 803 195 270 399 199 394 294 290 291 363 296 193 277 409 237 389 270 397 290 383 296 396 289 373 275 344 307 290 307 394 288 224 47 378 293 198 270 220 275 265 270 161 0 332 270 144 286 358 169 295 307 208 301 212 270 143 0 0

M5

1'1114 182 202 456 672 344 466 316 194 129 329 773 214 74 461 186 315 72 500 316 333 223 313 324 190 321 201 342 194 194 220 61 191 180 215

939 0i;a 297 211 888 312 286 863 875 881 299 297 303 296 323 286 896 326 288 299 282 128 295 330 297 300 438 74 291 286 272 107 316 223

llO

0

0 82 80 74

0 141

D

0 97 0

TOTAL GLIDER 3086 FLASH 2979 EDEL 2951 CXII 2875 NINJA 2848 EDEL 2817 FUN FLY 2699 NINJA 2656 P3 2597 FLASH 2480 EDEL 2449 NOVA 2290 EDEL 2285 ITV 2264 NOVA NOVA 2'112 2199 OMEGA 2184 CXII 2137 FUN FLY 2119 ;1066 1980 EDEL 1865 CXII 1861 OMEGA 1847 EDEL 1802 SPIRIT 1780 OMEGA 1713 EDEL 1607 EDEL 1590 APEX 1472 APEX 1422 1379 CXII 1354 NINJA 1344 P3 1331 APEX 1204 FLI\SH 1168 SWING 1122 FREE FLY 1030 FLASH 470 NOVA

29

, ...franrea

Paragliding, The MagazJM

South Of France USA Team Members - left to Right Brian Porter, John Bouchard Ed Stein, Ed Pitman lee Kaiser and Todd Bibler

Top Row - left to right Tanak Miyuki of Japan Michel Werli of France Teams Arriving for Opening Ceremonies Center - Edel ZX thermaling with other glider Teams of the World being welcomed by the FAI President Opening Ceremony - Town Square, Digne Brian Webb of Australia flying Falhawk Apex

11111

Conseil Regional

ProvenceAlpes Cote d'Azur

Bottom Row - left to right View from launch of Montclair Alps Robbie Whittall - (1st place) being interviewed by local TV P4 - Louis Lintner of Luxembourg ADC on launch at St. Andres

Photos and u,yout by Fml Slodwell logos of World Team Sponsors

Telluride Paragliding/Hang Gliding Festival 1991 Story by Jeff Schultz

Photo by Doug Berry/Team International

Driving into the canyon utopia located in southwest Colorado known as Tel1uride has been known to have a startling affect on people.

Awestruck visitors have stumbled out of cars and into their friends mumbling things about lost lands. Telluride sits in a valley surrounded by the flawless San Juan Mountains, a range that mountain travelers call the most beautiful in Colorado. Most locals are avid abou t a sport or two. Skiing, of course, is at the top of most lists and the reason many live here, but there is a small group of dedicated pilots that now take to the sky as fervently as skiers to powder.

Until recently hang glider pilots have ruled the sky. Then about 3 years ago, paragliders began utilizing the big air potential. Although the t-shirts didn't say it, this year was the 1st Annual Telluride Para/Hang Festival, thanks to the efforts of the local para-pilots. It was the 18th annual hang gliding festival and paragliding was well represented here this year. 136 pilots trekked to Telluride to fly, about 20 of them flying paragliders. They were very much a part of the festival this year.

The festival was a Class II even t for paragliders. Nom1ally, Telluride provides Class I and Class II flying when accompanied by a local guide pilot. The Telluride Air Force will provide non-locals with a guide pilot for flying. Contact Eric Trammer or Joel Parker.

Unfortunately, there was not a great day for flying during the

32

whole festival. All week it rained in town. The snow line dropped to 12,000 feet, and strong south winds brought wave after wave of bad weather. By Thursday 25 to 30 pilots had left according to Festival Director Hugh Sawyer, "This is the worst weather I've seen in 8 years," he said. The hardier souls flew, some resigned themselves to sled rides, others, locals mostly, drove out to other launch sites.

The flying started Wednesday, a little after noon, when UP test pilots Greg and Chuck Smith took off from "Joint Point" ski run. Greg had several huge collapses behind Coonskin Ridge in the house rotor. Later that day the winds had their way again, blowing an un suspecting pilot into a tree as he was attempting to land in the "seizure zone" in "secret spot".

"We were getting flights all week long there" said T.R. Youngstrom.

"Bad weather ... no biggy, we know where to get the rides". Also during the week was Tom Tatum's promo filming for Wills Wing.

Mike Meyer, Rob Kells, Rob McKenzie, Cary Mendez, Andrew Whitehill, and Larry Tudor were the featured pilots. The group flew every day but had no notable flying.

The best day of flying occurred on Sunday, the day after the festival. Jan Stenstavold, Dick Jackson, T.R. Youngstrom, Eric Trommer, Joel Parker, and Rich Vossler flew off the out of bounds ski run "Tempta tion", 3500 feet above the town park. When the chute was accessible, over half a dozen skiers bought the farm in avalanches there. The Telluride Ski Company closed the chute last year. The view from a 1,000 feet was "a lot better" according to T.R, local pilot and photographer.

Paragliding, The Magazine

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The very smooth and flat spanwise shape of the canopy leads to higher lift performance.

The quadruple cascading of the suspension lines results in the use of the minimum number of lines and reduces line drag while it maintains re"CnTITaTIUclTTlQf

shape, chordwise and spanwise.

The use of the best available materials combined with parachute construction techniques adds to the performance and durability of the Birdwing 300 series.

Flying a Birdwing 323 or 325 will convince you of the performance and handling advantages these canopies have.

Please contact Para-Flite or the nearest authorized Para-Flite dealer for additional information.

PA~E Incorporated 5800 Magnolia Avenue • Pennsauken, NJ 08109 U.S.A. (609) 663-1275 • TLX 831355 • FAX (609) 663-3028

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION 0

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Trial membership includes Paragliding, The Magazine and liability insurance.

Magazine Mailing Air mail add : O Canada & Mexico $6.00 0 Europe $11 .00 0 Other $19.50 Make check or money orders payable to AMERICAN PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION. Payments from outside USA only

by International Money Order (Foreign bank checks with US bank name AND bank routing code printed on check or money order).

Membership Information Sponsor:

First and Middle Name: - - - - - - - - - - - Las t Name : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mailing Address : - - - - - - - - - - - - - City: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ State : _ _ _ _ Zip : _ __ Country (Foreign membership only) : - - - - - - - Phone H: _ _ _ _ _ _ Phone W : - - - - - - Date of Birth : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Sex : _ _ _ __

Flying Information Flyi ng Since (Year) : Total Flights to Date : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Total Flight Hours to Date: - - - - - - - - Injuries related to Paragliding in the last 12 months: Current Canopy Flying (Model and size, current canopy one only): _ _ _ _ _ __ Do you fly with an emergency (Backup) parachute? O Yes o No If yes, what model , type and size? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Wtth wh~h instruments~ you fly? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Other Aviation Activities: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Other Activities : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I ce rtify that all statements in this application are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.

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Insurance Information The cost of insurance is included in the full membersh ip fee with the member as additional insured. APA provides a Combined Single Limited Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability Master Policy in the amount of $1,000,000 per claim which covers all recreational flying. APA's insurance is valid ONLY while flyi ng in the U.S., U:S. Properties and CANADA.

AMERICAN PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION 25 Goller Place, Staten Island, NY 10314, (718) 698-5738 Office Hours : TUE . & FRI. 12 :30 pm, WED. 9 :00 am - 3:00 pm ET, WEEKDAY EVENINGS 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm ET \01991 American Paragliding Association • July 21, 1991

Paragliding, The Magazine

35

f~f~ In lbe Lands Of Down Ond•

for a very long time.

The best paragliding is to be found in the area around Wanaka and Queenstown.

In Wanaka, check in with Paul Aubrey and Richard Van Nieuwkoop of "Air Action". Treble Cone Mountain is a premier 2600 ft drive to site with a ten minute turn around. be Hike up to the sumFlying Treble cone Mou11tai11 wit/1 Lake Wanaka and Mt. ray in the background. Cross mit for a 5800 Ft thinking about packcountry fliglits /rave been made from Treble Cone to Mt. roy to Wa11aka 40km away! flight! One of the ing away the old spectacular features paraglider until the of this site is the spring. great soaring to be done above and beside waterfalls spilling But wait! Summer sunshine exists in other parts of the world. down a 600 foot cliff face. Another good site is Mt. Roy, a 2000 ft Maybe now is the time to head Down Under... Way Down walk up which makes for one or two wonderful morning fights Under to mysterious lands where they speak English in a funny prior to heading over to Treble Cone Mountain. way and consider Vegimate to be a true delicacy! Yes, we are In Queenstown, stop in and see Marc McIntyre and Roger talking about Australia and New Zealand.

Banks of "Max Air". Queenstown is unique in having a landing zone in the middle of town. Skyline Ridge is a 2000 ft site with One of the premier flying areas is the Australian alps which run from northeast Victoria into the southeast corner of New gondola access and a short hike. Be sure you understand which South Wales. Now to most people the term "Alps" conjures up part of the mountain is in a helicopter flight path! Outside of images of steep and snowy peaks reaching skyward. This doesn't Queenstown is Coronet Peak a 2500 ft drive-to site. In December quite fit the reality of the situation, but the Aussies are very (which is summer if you still haven't' caught on) the chair lift is proud of the "Alps" they have. running to the summit which gives it easy access to a 4000 ft flight. Of course you can hike up as far as you please if the lifts Even though the term "Alps" may be a slight exaggeration, are not operating. Be sure that Marc and Roger explain exactly the radical booming thermals that exist there are not. More than where the landing zone is lest you incur the wrath of farmer one proud Euro-pilot has been veiy humbled by Aussie theiDagg who has been known to run over a hang glider with his mals. But do not let this scare you away. Excellent thermal soartractor, and punch out paraglider pilots who have landed on his ing is to be had and Australia offers a great place to learn and property!! Also near Queenstown is a good ridge soaring site perfect your skills. called Crown Terrace. This site also happens to be somewhat in A major center for all this fun and excitement is the cozy the flight path of the Queenstown airport, so you must be inlittle resort town of Bright, Victoria. Brian and Nikki Webb run formed as to the air space to remain in, unless you want to end the Alpine Paragliding school there. They are more than happy up hugging the nose of a whisper jet! to share their flying sites with visitors from way up over. Brian Many other flying sites exist in the South Island around such and Nikki are so familiar with certain "resident thermals" that places as Nelson, Dunedin, and especially around Christchurch. they have given them whimsical names such as Emily, who hapThe folks at Para Pacific in Christchurch can put you in touch with pens to be a most reliable thermal. And that's fair dinkum! a number of local pilots. For the very hardy, adventurous, and The New Zealand Alps, on the other hand, are no exaggeradaring crowd, alpine flying can be had in Mt. Cook and Mt. Aspirtion. Stunning and beautiful scenery fill the South Island. The ing National Parks. Mt. Cook National Park is congested with opportunity to fly the hills and mountains in "God's Country" is helicopter and fixed wing air traffic which is something of a negative not to be missed. for paraglider pilots. You must check in at the airport control tower New Zealanders have a rather curious nickname for themso they can warn aircraft of your presence in the area. selves: Kiwis - who by definition are a flightless bird indigenous to the islands. Fortunately the human Kiwis are enjoying terrific Not to be totally neglected is the flying on the North Islands. flying which their feathered cousins seem to have missed out on There are some good coastal sites around Auckland and sites in

As the chill of winter approaches and you find the ice buildup on your wing to be rather annoying.

You may

36

Paragliding, The Magazine

FLYING FUN IN THE LANDS OF DOWN UNDER the Kaimai range near Matamata. Also some flying has been d one off the volcanoes in To ngariro Na tional Park.

The fo llowing list of co ntacts will help you r paraglid ing adventure Down Under get off to a great start. As always, check-in with the locals before you fl y so you understand the rules and condi tions of the site. Happy Flying!

• Australia Brian and Nikki Webb - Alpine Paragliding Bright, Victori a (057) 551-753

• New Zealand : North Island Christian Gu t - Free Flight Auckland (09) 832-3037 • Mark Poole - Kiwi Parapente Mata ma ta (07) 888-5389

• New Zealand: South Island Paul Aubrey and Richard Van Nieuwkoop- Air Action Wan aka (03) 443-7930 • Marc McIntyre and Roger Banks - Max Air Queenstown (03) 442-7770 • Bruce Parlane - Para Pacific Christchurch (03) 652-554 • Martin Cox - Sum mit Wind Dunedin (03) 479-2890 • Martin Hartman - Airborn Nelson (054) 32-669

New Generation

SpiritFXC

Steve Stroming - A Little About Myself I am 32 years old and have been a 20 year resident of Washington State, which I guess qualifies me as a local.

On a trip to Europe in 1989 I first saw the sport of paragliding. That same year I began paragliding lessons in Washington and have been a paragliding addict ever since. In 1990 my wife Susan and I quit our jobs to burn around the world . During that time we flew a lot in France, Australia, and New Zealand. Since April of this year we have again taken up residence in Seattle and have been flying virtually every weekend and days in between. I probably fly more than just about any other local, except Mark Shipman. One thing I am virtually sure of is that we are the only paragliding couple in the state!

Oh, I almost forgot: I fly a Fun Air Cairon.

Happy Flights!

Steve Stroming

NEWS • & • NOTEWORTHY

Super Small Winch New Towing System Ellipse is a French hang glider manufacturer and inventor of this very popular towing system. It was used by Xavier Remond for the worlds longest distance with a paraglider in Africa (1991). The winch takes eight minutes to set up and could almost be packed a way in your glove compartment. The front left wheel of your car or truck spins on two cylinders connected to a magnetic clutch attached to the drum where 3000'-6000' of cable can be used.

The drum can be removed for

38

storage. Safety wise one can find a powerful "guillotine" or cut cable, spring loaded, with a steel blade for an instant cut, a weak link near the pilot, and a very precise electronic tension meter connected to a gauge with visual and audio warning signals (vario like) .

Finally the drum can go in reverse in case of sudden powerful wind gusts. This system can also be used for step towing. Xavier Remond released at 3800 ft for his successful attempt in Africa. Ellipse is currently working on a s pecial towing winch mounted on a boat that will be used for the world' s highest tow. The cable specially made will be 45000 ft (15 km long) and the pilot's goal will be to release at 15000 ft (5 km).

For more info contact

Phillipe Renaudin, Correspondent France USA for the magazine "Parapente Mensuel" 516-676-7599.

Did You Say Bizarre?

A New Prototype

From Ailes de K Designed by Laurent deKalbermatten and tested by the two factory pilots Gerald Maret and Richard Vemizzi, the "Magistair" has a span of more than 12 meters, a cord of less than 2 meters and a surface area close to 21 square meters! The "Magistair" has a flexible batten on the leading edge. It is shaped like a

boomerang viewed from directly below and the point of an arrow from a 3/ 4 point of view. The pilot finds himself 7 meters below the canopy. This design is in total contradiction with what we are accustomed to seeing in the paragliding community. It is said to fly very well. All this to show us that creative minds are still at work with surprising results. Who said that paragliders were at the end of major innovations?

Contact Phillipe Renaudin Correspondent France USA for the Magazine "Parapente Mensuel" (516) 676-7599.

Paragliding, The Magazine

When you buy a Spirit FXC from SKYWALK you are automatically enrolled in our program which allows you to earn PAR.ADOLL.ARS™ while you fly. If another pilot purchases a SKYW.ALK glider using your name as a reference you will receive $100 in P.AR.ADOLL.ARS.™ You I' P.AR.ADOLL.ARS™ can be used towal'ds the purchase of any SKYW.ALK product or service. It's that simple.

PARA.DOLLARS™ can be used to buy any of our products such as new harnesses, speed systems, reserve systems, replacement line, additional carabiners, parakites, parapals, flightbooks ... ect SKYWALK is a full service and support manufacturer. Our 100'% spectra, replacement line is the highest quality material available today. Your PARADOLLARS™ can be used to purchase any kind of repair service from our factory in California.

Simply refer people to purchase a glider from SKYWALK and you can really save on a future paraglider purchase. Five referrals will earn you $500 towards a future purchase and Ten will earn you $1000. It's possible to GET YOUR SECOND GLIDER FREE! The Spirit FXC is Hans Mad.reiter's most advanced paraglider design. Years in development, it's one of Europe's most rigorously time and trial tested performance paragliders.

The combined levels of stability and performance it offers are simply unequaHed.

Other pilots wm approach you wanting to know more about the Spirit J?XC. Only SKYWALK offers you the opportunity to profit while you fl.y.

It's a p:auraglider you can't outgrow. Just ask Brian Porter, a U.S. Nationals and World Open Hang GRiding Champion. He has chosen the Spirit FXC as his competition paragHder.

As your skiHs develop simply adding our speed/trim systeims will unlock its competion level of performance for you.

EWS•

OTEWORTHY

Many competitors set new personal records as well, with four pilots flying over 70 km.

nificent settings, and is for all levels.

On day three the task was a

The video starts out explaining the great experience of flying, and about people who do it! It features:

26 km race to goal, completed

by two competitors who landed within 3 seconds of each other!

Golden, B.C. August 3.. 5, 1991 Golden, B.C., the site of many hang gliding records in Canada, is now also the site of paragliding records, thanks to the great weather enjoyed at the first cross-country paragliding competition held in W. Canada. Twenty-one competitors flew over 1200 km in 3 days, reaching heights of up to 4300 m.

On day one, an unofficial Canadian record of 110 km was set by Peter Maclaren, while on day two an official (barograph and official observers were involved) record of 109 km was set by Chris Muller; Willi Muller set a new Canadian record of 110 km for distance via a single turn point.

wing and the basic principles of lift and drag, with a comparison of the performance differences between hang gliding and paragliding.

+ Learning to fly, and progressing up the Alps to learn to fly different types of thermals, including the famous glacier thermal.

+ Mountain ridge lift with the

THERMIK .. "The Art of Flying"

resultant rotor on the back side shown with realistic animation.

+ The basis of thermal forma-

The new video "THERMIK the Art of Flying" is just released for distribution in the USA! This video is a professional European video covering hang gliding and paragliding aspects of thermaling, hence the title "THERM I K". This is a very informational video in mag-

Longest X-C

100

Total Ats. 350

120

330

50

500

25 70

350 412

Katana 22

45

120

Holland

Meteor

Swrtzerland

20 60

100 320

City Cochrane

Glider

Hrs.

5

Pilot's Name Chns Muller

Hilrte 3·24, 26

8

Peter Maclaren

N. Vancouver

Edel ZX 27

4

Willi Muller

Cochrane

Hilrte 3-26, 29

7 6

Stewart Midwinter Sean Dougherty

Calgary Calgary

AT 121 Hilrte 3-24

17

Dan Redford

N. Vancouver

16 13

Joop Bernard Andi Stricker

tion, with time lapsed photography of thermal clouds fonning. paragliding canopy collapses, full stall with recovery, and spiral dives are performed. + Flying at King Ludwig's

DAY1 SCORES Points Pos. Dist.

600 2 109

DAY2SCORES Pos. Time Dist Points

DAY$SCORES Pos. Total Pts. Poe.

Dist

101

PD. 25

78.2

Points 474.36

78

25

110

600

1

101

25

72.4

443.27

3

109

600

1

10

278.46

44

18.6 16.3

237.64 219.27

4 5

72.5 79.6

41606 472.11

6 3

23.5

495.38

101

25 25

7

186.92

5

30

0

100

11

36

262.11

8

436.92

[ 799.0

6

10 10

30 30

0 0

100 100

11 11

144.22 23927

13 9

526.15

6

I 770.4 697.0

7 8

4

124.55

10

275.78

7

15 8

357.69

30

17.5 32.5 37

20 25

12 5 3

878.3

15

220.Tl

30

0

100

79

45991

4

0

50

10 16

621.1 609.9

9 10

28

202.75

11

7.5

203.85

11

575.7

11

227.43

10

8.3

234.92

9

562.4

12

19

Joris Moschard

Whistler

15

Glenn Derouin

Can more

Katana 26

18

Janet Moschard

Whistler

Trilair24

1000

30

8

16909

11 7

9

Jacek Chodanowski

Toronto

Fl 27

48

420

30

0

100

11

1000 100

"THERMIK - the Art of Flying" costs $49.95 plus $4.00 S&H. Contact Adventure Video, 10950 Silver Knolls Blvd., Reno NV 895q6. (702) .

972-3518.

+ Spectacular

Phantom45 Advance

5

79

459.91

1

90

26

600

1

[1674.4

1

4

90

26

600

1

'116599

2

7

i1321.7

4

i 1149.1

3 4

11

Glen Comfort

Calgary

H,lrte 3-26

25

95

30

10

186.36

6

32 7

75.688

16

9

254.62

8

516.7

13

14

Ken Frocklage

Calgary

Speedstar 25

14

55

30

5

138.36

9

15

125.05

14

0

80

13

14

21

Garth Henderson

Can more

UP Stellar 27

16339

12

0

50

16

P. Georae

Tinos 27

6

110

100 100

20

Gary Nesbrt

0 0

11

20

30 30

I 343.2 I 313.4

11

8

89.358

15

0

13

12

John Eaves

Calaary

Genair 26

100

300

16

30

0

100

11

6.25

62.936

17

0

80 80

13

i 269.4 I 242.9

16 17

10

Steve Cousins

Whistler

22

30

7

155.45

8

0

30

18

0

50

16

235.5

18

Roger Hollingsworth

8

25

0

100

11

0

30

18

0

80

13

210.0

19

Cameron Mackenzie

1

Anthony Detering

0 0

20 20

22

Mike Potter Ron Ford Donna Ford

Victoria Vancouver Victoria Can more

Comet CX2-25 AT 123

380

2 3

23 24 25

40

+ Animated air flow over a

There were no accidents thanks to the perfect "paralaunch" near the summit and the careful attitude of the competitors. Next year, flights of 120 - 145 km are possible.

Tola!

No.

Castle, and slow motion hang gliding loop sequences. + A "semi-bungie ji,imp" off a high rock in the Alps with a reserve parachute deployment.

Henry Hauck Productions in Germany wqrked on "THERMIK" for 2 y~ars and at great expense. It is: half hang gliding and half paragliding. It won the Critics Prize at the 1990 European Filip. Festival.

Henry Hauck has been making films as a career. He has made 4 other hang and paragliding videos in Europe, and it shows with the professional mastery of the subject we all love flying. It features :European world class pilots Jop.n Pendry, Robby Whittell, and Tony Bender.

This video is for everyone because it covers all aspects of gliding.

Bill McNair

Brizair AT 123

Calgary Calgary

Twist 25 Twist 25 Alien

26 27

Wayne Bertrand

Calgary Kelowna

Alexandre

France

28

Richard Ouellet

Calgary

635

5

25 25 20 20

Day 1 Longest Flt (km): Pts. for distance: Pts. for position:

Hilrte3-26

'

Day 2 110 longest Flt (km): 400 Pts. for distance: 200 Pts. for position:

Day 3 109 Longest F It (km): 400 No. to goal: 200 Percent:

15

26 Total km Day 1: 329.5 2 Total km ~ay 2: 767.35 185.3 10 Total km pay 3

Pts. for distance:

40 Total km 1n Meat: 1282.2 1 360

Pts. for position:

200

Pts. for speed:

I

Paragliding, The Magazine

6595 Odell Place Suite C Boulder, CO 80301

{303) 530-4940

nounces The Model M22.

Bau Proudly

The new standard for paragliding.

Whether you compete or not, we'll help you be a soar winner.

Comes with our standard 1 year warranty (void if submerged).

See your local Ball dealer for details.

call 1-800-729-2602. ~ Fax: (303) 530-4836.

STANDARD EQUIPMENT , 1,000 ft. or 5 MIS VSI Scale • 1 ft. or 1 Meter ALT Increments (MSL) , RF Shielding • Relative Altitude • 5 Stage Vario Damping • Barometric Pressure (Hg or Hecto Pascal) • Adjustable Audio Threshold , Choice of Piezo Audio Sound: VARI-PITCH - BEEP - INTERRUPT· VARI-BEEP

, 4 Stage Averager , Mount (Velcro Strap, Steel Bracket, or Ball Clamp)

WARRANTY , M22 flight computer and accessories are warranted for a period of 1 year from date of purchase (with proof of purchase via warranty card) or 1 year from date of manufacture (including software updates).

Submersion In Waler Voids Warranty. , Specifications Subject To Change Without Notice.

OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT , Barograph with Flight Linker and Software , Total Energy (TE.) Probe

SPECIFICATIONS , Operation Altitude - 2,000 ft. to 27,000 ft.

609 Meters to 8225 Meters , Operation Temperature - 13 to 113 deg.

Fahrenheit - 25 to 45 deg. Celsius

M22 (Standard Model Shown)

After watching Seth Foerster out sky everything (including all the factory pilots on the latest and greatest rigid and inflatable wings) from the E Launch at Lake Elsinore week~ end after weekend we just had to ask him his thoughts on flying the Excalibur 39 Cell:

"On days when the high performance imports are getting 80% collapses, my wingtips might tuck a bit - always instantly reinflating, all by themselves. 80o/o collapses - they call this flying? How do they find the core without a whole wing above their head? The 39 Cell Excalibur is a top-of-the-stack glider with 95% of the speed of the leading, high per! ormance import - when the import's inflated. Performance is not the issue "" stability is. All this stability and great performance for under $2300 "" what a deal!"

Seth Foerster

libur!

Hang 4/Ciass II

Stability - Performance - Reliability Performance Designs Paragliding, Inc.

Phone

425 Rider Street - Suite BS, Penis CA 92571

FAX

714 .. 657 .. 2664 714 .. 657 .. 4062

From Second Chantz Recovery Systems To all pilots using a "Pocket Rocket" recovery system It has almost been two years since the first "Pocket Rocket" recovery systems were released to both paraglider and hang glider pilots. In that time our systems have been used by four paraglider pilots, and three hang glider pilots successfully in emergencies. We thank all of our supporters for making our systems the unit of choice for serious pilots.

I3eca use of a recent incident in which a paraglider pilot accidentally fired his rocket motor into his backpack in a panic flight situation, we are urging all pilots, both hang glider and paraglider, to reevaluate their particular mounting and emergency procedures. In particular, we are asking a II pilots to se Ifevaluate their Pocket Rocket Rescue System mounting location.

Second Chantz asks the hang glider pilot or paraglider pilot to do the following: While in flight, or hanging in a simulated flight position on the ground, make sure that your container is secure in its mount location and not able to angle back into the harness when the ripcord handle is pulled from any direction, with either hand. Have a friend grab your harness and shake it to dis tort your normal flight position while hanging.

If you are a hang glider pilot, drop down into a landing position and check the angle of parachute deployment.

Remember, that a pilot can be violently thrown around during a spinning malfunction or tumble.

42

EWS•

OTEWORTHY

Ask yourself this question after these simulations:

This cannot be done without deliberate and constructive involvement from every level.

Su unto USA feels that providing financial assistance toward improving our environment is an important step.

"Can I, in any conceivable emergency, possibly fire my rocket motor into anything other than clear air for a successful deployment?"

Above all, please develop a healthy respect for all rocketdeployed parachutes. Treat them with more respect than you would any firearm!!"

We here at the Second Chantz factory want to hear your feedback, comments, and suggestions about the way our "Pocket Rocket" recovery systems are mounted and used in the field. We have always taken seriously both negative and positive input from our users, and we are constantly trying to improve our products.

If there is any doubt about

the safe mounting or use of your "Pocket Rocket", or if you have comments, please call us immediately on our toll free phone 1 800 342-1601. Thanks for your continuing support!

John Dunham, President, Second Chantz, Inc.

Working For Our Environment Suunto USA is proud to announce that for every cartridge of Camping Gaz fuel sold beginning November 1, 1991, Suunto USA will donate $0.05 to different organizations involved with improving the outdoor environment.

The possible organizations will include those groups working on improving hiking trails, preserving wilderness areas, participating in cleanup activities, etc.

As more and more outdoor enthusiasts partake of our natural wonderlands, we must all strive to maintain healthy and productive areas.

For details about participating in this exciting new program, pl,ease contact Victoria Battison, Suunto USA, 2151 Las Palmas Dr., Carlsbad, CA 92009. 619 931-6788

March 7 -11, 1993 The Parachute Industry Association has selected the site and dates for the International Parachute symposium 1993!!

The Clarion Hotel, Orlando, Florida will accommodate the symposium March 7 - 11, 1993. (PIA Board meetings will be held March 5 and 6.)

We have negotiated an extremely favorable price for the hotel rooms for the registrants as well as for the manufacturer's display booths.

Initial response from all over the world indicates the next Symposium will probably be about three times as large as the last.

Symposium registration Packets will be available after the PIA meeting in Seattle, Washington, Sept. 15-17, 1991.

For general information concerning exhibits, sponsorships, accommodations, etc., contact: Lucia Furry, 5308 Ambrose CT., Tampa, Florida 33647 U.S.A (813) 972-4029; FAX (813) 977-1288.

Voodoo ACPULS Certification With Flying Colors E

•

The Voodoo 26, recently flown to a new British Record

by Bruce Goldsmith, was put through the ACPULS flight tests recently an~ came out with flying colors - of the 12 flight tests (with trim tabs on and off) the Voodoo passed 11 with Grade A's (A being recovery in 4 seconds without pilot input) and 1 Grade Con asymmetric front, deflations ADD's (C on ABl)'s indicate that the paraglider goes into a stable tum needing pilot input as per the manufacturer's instructions to recover normal flying mode within 4 seconds).

With the Voodoo Airwave have achieved their aim of safety coupled with the ultimate in high performance paragliders. subject to load tests (to be carried out shortly) the Voodoo 26 will be gong into production in the near future.

Bruce Goldsmith will be flying the Voodoo at the Paragliding World Championships in France in September.

What's N~w Up North? J In order to minimize the increasing impact on training sites and in an attempt to more effectively unify the already close-knit pilot community in Alaska, Raven Adventures Paragliding, owned and operated by Norma & Clark Saunders, and Golden Eagle Paragliding, owned and ~perated by Tami and Bruce Hamler, have entered into a merger of schools effective immediately.

Although Raven Adventures will continue to operate their skiing, mountaineering, and

Paragliding, The Magazine

EWS•

OTEWORTHY

sea kayaking adventures as a separate entity, all paragliding activities including instruction will be handled entirely through Golden Eagle Paragliding.

Design and Bob Evans flying a Spirit FXC, pilots were able to demo gliders and take a closer look at a Jot of different designs. In all we counted at least 15 different models.

I visited him the week before he died and he was still talking of designing a new and better wing, a true inventor and pioneer.

For further information pkase contact Bruce or Clark at Golden Eagl,e Paragliding, 500 West 42nd Ave., Anchorage, Alaska

After the low clouds cleared, light to moderate winds made launching easy and it turned out to be one of those great flying days with everybody getting in 3 to 5 flights per day and enjoying the magnificent scenery at Point Sal. Brian Porter was leading the Spot Landing Contest with 3 bulls.eyes out of 5.

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Point Sal Brian Porter, brakes pulled to his knees hovered over the bulls-eye and brought his Skywalk down to a perfect landing on the target.

The place was Point Sal, north of Santa Barbara where the first annual Lilienthal Flyin took place on August 10th and 11th. About 40 pilots, mostly from Northern and Southern California enjoyed 2 days of perfect conditions and Jong soaring flights.

Thanks to Chuck Smith from UI~ John Yates from Pro

Paragliding, The Magazine

Conditions stayed good till after 7:30 pm and we must have seen over 250 flights that day. From the moment the launch window opened until sunset there wasn't a moment without a paraglider in the air.

After a Jong evening at the camp site, things started early the next day, some of the pilots were in the air by 7:30 am. The day saw some 200 flights, conditions were a little bit weaker, but still good for soaring flights. Some pilots took off from the 50 foot cliff at the parking Jot and gained several hundred feet. Unfortunately, we had 3 injuries by pilots with low hours, all made very basic judgement errors, check the accident report for details. It just shows that we all need to put a lot more emphasis on launch techniques, approaches to the landing field and especially stalls and collapses.

Achim Hageman

June 26i 1991 I have been notified that Dom Jalbert the father of the ram-air canopy, passed away on June 26, 1991 at 8:30 am in the Boca Raton Hospital in Boca Raton, Florida. He had been in the hospital for the last six weeks.

PARAGLI IGH

G

by Dennis Pagen

Ted Strong

Due to the sheer number of paraglider pilots who come to Utah to fly the point, UHGA membership will be strictly enforced. Regular membership is $25 per calendar year.

Out-of-state pilots also have the option of a $10 one month membership. When you sign up you will receive a sheet of the site rules to help you fly safely in traffic.

You will be identified by skill level or out-of-state status with a Colored Streamer System.

Help us keep the point a fun, safe place to fiy.

Thanks.

We wish to express our appreciation for your support through subscriptions, articles and photossentin.Ifyouarean APA member or plan to join in the near future, you should note that APA membership includes a subscription to Paragliding, The Magazine.

We are constantly receiving new stories and photos which we want to publish and no doubt will in future issues.

We try to do our best with your work, and would Jove to learn a bit about you as a paragliding pilot. If you submit an article, feel free to include a short paragraph about yourself and include a small black and white photo.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn more with the most widely used training manual.

208 pages, 170 photos & illustrations Also FLYING CONDITIONS $6.95 A complete guide to sport aviation weather.

Send total for books plus $1.60 shipping to: Sport Aviation Publications P.O. !Box 101 . Dept. P Mlngoville, PA 16856

Ju

7, 1991

- - - - - · ·--··-~--

DAY OF SAVES

by Sean Dougherty

iles and miles of rain - that's all I'd seen in the past week on a trans-continental search for good weather.

And this was supposed to be THE year, the year of big distance flights - more like the year of the big swim.

The prairie flying season in the Spring was a wash out, and to boot, I had an accident that grounded me for six weeks. So the big flights had to happen in the summer, if at all. More miles of rain and I eventually arrive in Golden to join a cast of other big distance hopefuls.

Rain and strong south winds put us on the golf course the first day; the second was blown out; and then out of nowhere a day of sunshine and great promise. Yes, this was THE day- it would turn out to be an amazing day, with three paragliders flying 101.5 km to a declared goal, another managing 94 km and many others clocking major airtime and first XC's - a truly great day.

n By noon, launch at Mt Seven was abuzz with numerous hang glider and paraglider pilots anticipating a great day of flying on the range of mountains between Golden and Radium. I was apprehensive since I hadn't had more than a few minutes of airtime since my accident and I had also bought a new glider.

Regardless of any concerns I had, Chris's enthusiasm had both of us

44

Chris Mu lier, Willi Mu lier and Sean Dougherty

filing for a flight to a goal in Juniper Heights, 101 km away, seemingly a wild idea but, what the hell, why not? A desire to get off the ramp and in the air saw me off first. And immediately I start to sink out.

Figuring out how to thermal the glider takes me lower - much lower.

3000 feet to the Nicholson LZ allows for a lot of figuring and being a slow learner I continue sinking - sinking - sinking. 2000 below launch I get a burble, not much but enough to hold off the imminent disgust of landing at Nicholson. Fifteen minutes later I grovel up the summit of Mt Seven. Thankfully, I'm unaware that the immediate past is only the beginning of the "day of saves".

I see Chris launch and he immediately gets up - no problems. I go back to my own problems by contemplating the crossing to Mt Kapristo and the main range heading south. Arriving at Kapristo too low I sweat for awhile as I get up the side of the mountain. Meanwhile, Chris catches up! Already? Together, we scrape around the front side

of the peak - he gets up; I follow, I sink out. As Chris flies off tb the mountains beyond I continue trying to back up. Takahashi and Toki to join me in their huge CX 31's, pumping the tips c;,f their canopies as each tip collapses in turn. Th~ir flight regime seems td be a constant stream of collapses and pumping'.sessions. Pumping or not, they both get up! I attempt to follow but, guess what, I sink even lower! Eventually I find a rib where I can ridge soat and hang out, a pal try t.yo hundred feet above th~ talus at the base of the p~ak. After what seems liije forever and a few too many close passes to the cliffs, I manage to get up a little, then a little more, and a little more.

The leeside thermal I'm in is a tad rough (if it sounds rough in the story, I assure you it was a lot rougher at the time!) but at least it gets me ~ack up. Shaken AND stirred I cross to the main range, save number two rapidly dwindling to a memory.

At Parson, I'm scooting along just above ridge top in hot pursuit of the others, getting royally beat up ih the turbulence of the ridges. To escape, I aim skyward in the hope that things are smoother at cloudbase. So there I am, whipping around in a great core, rocketing up to the clouds, having a great time ""'.hen suddenly Whack! "What the ... ?"

The g's start to rise and I

Paragliding, The Magazine

t last - after centuries of experiment and adventure in the air - the perfection of evolution. A range of paragliders to help you to achieve excellence in this most exhilarating of sports. A quarter of a century of close involvement with paraglider pilots has led Harley to design and develop these magnificent machines. A finely tuned combination of performance, stability and style.

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DAY OF SAVES

look forward (yes, forward) to sec my canopy half-folded up and making like a brick towards the ground with me in tow. First reaction - PANIC!! As images of life race through my mind I eventually start sorting out the bundle of nylon spinning wildly groundward.Judicious steering and pumping docs the trick and straight and level flight rapidly resumes. After raising numerous questions about the sanity of the sport and about my own sanity, I calm down enough for rational thought to return ... I fly on! but resolve to avoid going to cloudbasc, and stay away from whatever hidden demon was lurking up there. Meanwhile, Toki to is gliding out to the valley, towards the cold beer store at Harrogate; Takahashi is skying out, pumping furiously on his brakes; and Chris is crossing to the front range at Spilly.

The Back-to~Front Range At 45 km the main range splits into two ranges: a front range of three low, tree-covered mountains leading to a huge gap, the Brisco Gap, the guardian of flight to the mountains further south; and the rocky, high peaks of the back range, a range of big lift (and big sink) that leads directly to the mountains further south. Sink out in the back and its a long, long walk out, whereas sinking out in the front is no big deal - the road is right there. Needless to say, most people think a few times before embarking on a trip down the back range. No one had ever gone down there in a paraglidcr - mind you, only two paragliders had ever had to make that decision before!

Chris squeaks out to the front via a col but the lift looks good as he continues southward. Takahashi stays skied out and cruises across, and could have cruised just about anywhere from the height he's at. Yours truly is still at ridge level or a little above it and is busy recalling last year when an attempted crossing from this height saw me going to the deck.

Seeing no other alternative I opt for cruising down the back range a few kilometers to a second col I can sec leading to the front. Sometime later I'm crossing this col to a saddle in the front range, thinking how smart I am at making it out to the front so easily. Just as I'm on the brink of catching Takahashi I get stuck in a slight headwind right at the saddle. Trees everywhere - not a place to put down. I find lift, only it drifts me back over the valley at the back, a place I'm keen to avoid.

So I try to head out and end up going down again. After going up and down in the saddle a few times I get sick of thinking about landing in the back or in the trees and attempt to slip out the side of the saddle to the front. After a close examination of the variety of pine cones in the trees on the saddle I squeak out to the front side of the front range. Though I'm still not out of the fire, I start to breathe a little easier knowing that the highway is an easy glide as opposed to a long hike.

The Brisco Gap Thirty minutes of pine cone collecting leads south to the end of the front range and the Brisco Gap. From my now familiar position low, low down on the front side of the front range it looked wide, too wide. I notice Chris on the other side at Edgewater, scraping around really, really low and starts me dreaming of being at cloudbasc, exactly where Takahashi is, having a ball and making the crossing, still skied out and pumping furiously. Figuring Chris is toast, I go back to my dilemma of finding a ride to cloudbasc before I get hopelessly low. Scooting across the tree tops everything seems lost and I contemplate a glide out. However, in the nick of time I happen across a tiny cliff face at the very end of the range that offers a

Paragliding, The Magazine

slim chance. Arriving just above the cliff, I immediately find lift. It's as ratty as hell but enough to save my ass. I have to work for quite a while to get up but eventually I'm halfway to the sky, high enough to go for the crossing. Making like a torpedo in the harness I set off on the glide of no return. Seemingly an eternity later I reach the "bump" in the middle of the gap and get enough off it to reach the Edgewater range. True to form, I'm lower than I'd like to be, but at least I'm across the gap. Looking at the dead, burnt out, stumpy trees of Spur Valley is enough to inspire anyone to get back up, and much sooner than later I'm climbing out in lift that seems to be coming from everywhere, shooting up to 11,5. Looking down I wonder about Chris's fate, and looking around the clouds I wonder why Takahashi isn't up here somewhere.

The Final Glide This is great, flying in a straight line a few thousand above the range. The turbulence is still there, tossing me around, but by now it has quit bugging me- five hours of flying does that for you!

And then I see Radium, and get way too excited before I realize there is still a little work left before the flight is over - Sinclair Canyon. Thoughts of sinking out in Sinclair, 92 km out, start to get to me. A big bummer, to work your ass off to get this far and then screw up at the threshold of 100 km. With all this going on in the back of my mind I make li kc a torpedo again and make Red streak, the mountain on the south side'of the Canyon. Unfortunately I arrive only about half way up. Thankfully, sinking out isn't a problem with so much lift around and I am soon soaring my way to ridge level in the omni-present lift. Popping out over the ridge level, I see Juniper and start working out which col I have to fly through to make the last 8 km. On the final glide I cross the final col with a by now obligatory low pass over the trees, and onto the landing field with lots of spare height.

The landing Field Coming in I notice Chris is there. Amazing - what a save that must have been. Takahashi isn't here, which surprises me. Later, I find out he managed to get his Band D lines knotted(!) on one of the numerous occasions his tips collapsed and he had to glide out just south of Radium. 96 km but he was ecstatic nevertheless.

I land and promptly fall over from the fatigue of being airborne for almost six hours. As Chris and I swap tales of turbulence and big saves Willi appears out of nowhere. He'd taken off late and raced along the range, watching where I sank and where I climbed out, making great time. So there we were, three babbling, smiling, laughing, immensely happy pilots - all three of us, 100 km. Yes, it was the BIG day. Hopefully, we'll have a few more.

Footnote:Chris Muller and Sean Dougherty have filed for a world record flight to goal which is now awaiting the outcome of other claims. Canadian open distance and flight to goal records of 101.5 km have been accepted.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sean Dougherty was born in Yorkshire, England 29 years ago.

He has been in Canada for 9 years and is currently attending the University of Calgary working on his PHD in Astra-Physics. His research is on "Young Hot Stars". Sean is an accomplished climber and has published "Bow Valley Rock", his new book "Selected Alpine Climbs in the Canadian Rockies" will be released in November at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Sean is a member of the British Skeleton Sliding Team. He started paragliding in February, 1990 and recorded the longest XC flight in Canada for 1990 with 57.5 km from Golden, B.C.

41

by Mike Ree.der

I

t' s that time of tho yea, In Colorndo again when the Aspen trees are turning their brilliant yellow and golden hues, and the town of Aspen named for its abundance of these beauties hosts their annual fly-in.

This year the Aspen Air Force, Parapente Association had planned a full weekend of fun and competition flying for pilots of all skill levels, plus two nights of barbecue and beer parties, for everyone interested.

Crossing Independence Pass I am disappointed to find the valley totally socked in and light rain falling. However, upon arrival at the Aspen Paragliding Shop, I find the ever irrepressible Jan Stenstavold loading any volunteers deranged enough to head up in the rain for a flight and landing at the rugby field in downtown. Of course, I eagerly jump right in, if there is going to be any flying I intend to be in on it.

As we approach the top, it appears that the sky is beginning to lighten somewhat, however the rain continues. There are 6 of us,and about half want to drive back down. The other half, myself included, plead to wait just 10 more minutes. At this point the paragliding gods must have smiled on our enthusiasm. As the rain ceases, six pilots leap from the vehicle, and within minutes the first launches begin. We're launching from a ski run called Aztec, and are out of sight of the rugby field. Jan leads the charge, and reports on the radio that all is clear at the rugby field. One after another we all launch, with some spacing in between so as not to all arrive at the small LZ at once. What a blast, one by one we make our approaches and landings. A good crowd has gathered, so the natural temptation is to do a little showboating. For me its some good sized wing overs then pulling in the outside "B" lines on my Saphir Must, I dive for the field. Just on the perimeter of the field there is a good stand of tall spruce trees, as I continue my dive I can't resist threading the needle between the two tallest ones. I'm through, I let go the "B" lines, flare, glide half way across the field, and land near the crowd. A most memorable flight!

That evening there's a great barbecue and party at Dick Jackson's old place. By the time I arrive, things are well underway. Many U.S. paragliding reps are in attendance, the UP Smith brothers, Greg and Chuck, Tim Domenico from Perfor-

48

mance Designs, Circ and Cindy Toepel of Skyclimbers, Granger Banks from Parasoft, Dave Whaley of Firebird USA, and numerous other well known pilots from around the country.

The morning flight is off Walshes, a 2900 foot vertical site over the main valley. Greg Smith unpacks a factory fresh UP Stellar, launches in light air, gets out over the valley with at least 2000 vertical, and puts on an astoun,ding air show, including every Gutesiegel maneuver, and th(!n some. We all watch with envy, and appreciation. Just as S\lddenly as the sky was clearing, the OD begins again, we all hurry to launch before the rain starts. In the LZ Jots of goocJ. natured pilot camaraderie is evident. It appears that even the crumby weather can't dampen the spirits. Tim Domenico is one of the last to come out over the valley. He does some wing overs then some full stalls, suddenly he enters a violent spin, he goes for his reserve, which appears to fall straight down and does not deploy. It instead wraps up his lines and canopy,and Tim spins in. He lands in a very marshy soft a~ea of the valley and suffers only a mild concussion and bruisep ego. With the rain again falling all flying is over for the day; Sunday dawns with low clouds, and snow on peaks over 11,000 feet. However, not to be defeated many of us once again load up for the trip up. Once at the top we look out over the valley. The conditions are flyable, but Jess than ideal, rain falls, then snow, then sleet, then more rain. The wind is very light so pilots are anxious to get out and down. I make the mistake of laying my canopy out before I'm ready to fly, as r, result rain drenches it before I can roll it up.

As clouds rapidly close off the valley below, I decide its now, or stand here and get wetter. I back up to my Saphir which is not known for easy light air launches. I run like a banshee, hit the end of the lines and strain to drag the soaked beast off the ground, I'm delighted to feel the thing slowly rise, I look up to see water cascading off the trailing edge, then I'm off and flying. Jan at the LZ radios that there is a robust wind coming up the valley. Jan has set up a spot landing contest, so I figure to do it right. As I tum up wind for landing, the waterlogged canopy staggers ;into the wind.

What followed, Jan described to those watchjng as someone doing something unspeakable to a Buffalo. :I go to my "B" Jines to increase my sink, knowing that when I Jet off, the canopy will pick up good horizontal speed, which it does, however the wind goes slightly cross and now I'm in terrible shape to make the spot. I leap back in my speed seat to decrease my sink, but again the wet canopy feels like it does not want to go forward, I leap forward, the canopy trudges onward and drops, I jump back, the canopy staggers and slows, I make a last second tum to the spot and miss by a '

Paragliding, The Magazine 1

21f11d ANNUA.l ASPEN FlY-IN

good 15 feet. Everyone roars, I tum red. So much for my spot landing demonstration.

When I pick up my canopy to walk over to the fold up area, I'm shocked, it must weigh at least 50 pounds. Well I've never flown in the rain, and hey you have to expect anything at the Aspen Fly-In. This day is also marred by another unfortunate crash.

Jay Jamison from Salt Lake, gets into a severe spin, fires his pocket rocket which somehow goes through his harness and does not deploy. Jay is severely injured. While the flying conditions were not contributory to either crash, Jan and Dick decide to call off the rest of the event.

As I drive back to Denver, I attempt to put everything in perspective. I had an incredible time, the Aspen guys and gals really know how to put on a fun well organized fly-in. After all, no one can guarantee the weather.

The accidents bother me however, two crashes, two attempted but unsuccessful reserve deployments. I am beginning to wonder if maybe we should carry two when doing extreme maneuvers. I have also become convinced that all gliders, no matter what brand or rating, can and do fail unpredictably. All of the hyperbole of late by competitive manufacturers, criticizing each others equipment should cease at once, with this reminder, "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".

Paragliding, The Magazine

Raleigh Wells flying from Treble Cone. View is looking 11p the Mat11kituki ValleyWest Wanaka, 1991. Canopy is a Pacific Monarch 24.

ello American paraglider pilots; greeting from a fellow paraglider pilot - down under in New Zealand.

I am an enthusiastic reader of "Paragliding, the Magazine" and decided to write this article to let you know about our scene, because I get heaps of enjoyment from reading about you, your activities and flying sites.

Just a little about myself -48 years young guy, who has been paragliding for three years and feel privileged to acknowledge that I am the local club's Safety officer. I fly a "Pacific" model "Monarch 24" canopy and propose to fly until the devil takes me away. However, in the meantime 1want to promote the sport and see people fly responsibly and safely.

Paragliding in New Zealand is controlled by the New Zealand Hang Gliders & Paragliders Association Inc., who administer both sports (recreation activities for and on behalf of the New Zealand Governments Civil Aviation Authority.

50

The New Zealand Hang Glider Association is then represented by 14 regional groups or clubs, who try and provide a social outlet for their members.

All paraglider pilots are required by Jaw to be members of the New Zealand Hang Gliders & Paragliders Association, however, this requirement is nOit policed.

There are approximately 170 regist~red paraglider pilot owners spread throughout Ne"Y Zealand and another estimated 170 who chose not to belong to the official body.

Our country is well suited to paragliding, with an adventurous sporting type population. Both islands have large hills and high mountains, with the South Island having a backbone range of mountains, (Mount Cook being the highest at 4,300 meters) offering the best paragliding sites.

In general, land owners react favorably to paraglider pilots and the laws governing the sport are not restrictive Paragliding, The Magazine

NOTES FROM NEW ZEAlAND

when compared to other countries.

It is generally accepted that paragliding in New Zealand started in 1985 and has increased since then with an accelerated rate in the past two years, with an expected peak in 3 to 5 years.

From my understanding, paragliding in New Zealand appeals to the same types of people as in other countries where the sport is being practiced, and by people in the 18 to 40 years age group.

New Zealand lacks two things when compared with some other countries; one is our poor access to the tops of hills and mountains (i.e. not so many roads and gondolas), the other is media coverage. This means some people are deterred from taking up the sport because of walking up hills and mountains, while others never sec or hear of the activity because they are not exposed to paragliding advertisements, or see articles in magazines and features on T.V. However, after making such a statement, I am surprised at the number of young women (20-30 years age group) who wish to try this sport; (probably equals the same as the male age group), but from my observations once they have mastered paragliding they lose the competitive spirit found in men.

New Zealand has two magazines devoted to the sport of paragliding. One magazine called "Airbom" which is the New Zealand Hang Gliders & Paragliders Association's official publication; while the other is a privately produced magazine and known as "Parapente News", both publications have a similar subscription; in the order of 320 bi-monthly issues.

Officially recognized paragliding schools number 10; 7 of which are in the Sou th Island; one paragliding manufacturer (whose product is well received by the average paraglider pilot) and the 3rd National Championships were held last January.

My feeling is; the average New Zealand paraglider pilot has developed a sense of sophistication and is ready to go out with the latest high performance canopies and compete competitively with other world class pilots.

Best regard, Raleigh Wells, Dunedin, New Zealand

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by R.L. "Bob" Chavez USAF Senior Master Sergent, Retired USPA Member# 74903 APA Member# 809

aiwan, for those who have not been here is gorgeous for sport flying. Only a few sites have been established, the mountains have many sites yet to be discovered.

However, Taiwan is in the dark ages of sport flying. There is no FAI, student training, or instructor programs. Anyone becomes an instructor after 4-5 glider flights. Many accidents occur, nobody cares about weather conditions.

Taiwan weather is superb for sport flying. Last winter while Japan and Korea were snowbound we didn't lose a single flying day. Two hour glider flights are common.

There is no leadership in the sport, older fliers refuse any responsibility except taking money from students for what they call training class which is less than an hour including practice launch.

On August 4, 1991, a paraglider lost his life. He was allowed to take off as a squall approached. The storm took him miles away depositing him in a river where he drowned. There is no launch

control to prevent pilots launching in unsuitable conditions.

Several pilots doing so took frightening rides, luckily those pilots were able to land safely but were badly shaken.

The elevation of the South Taiwan launch is 1400' (AGL), with mountains on three sides. Half a mile in front is the landing zone, which is larger than a football field surrounded by low mango trees and pineapple fields.

The area is designated an air park for gliders, ~kydiving, and as an ultra-lite airport at the edge of the park. In the cienter is a sprawling one story building with a dormitory and semi,private air conditioned rooms (cold shower only), large party, kitchen, dining, and TV room. Pilots rent rooms over the weekends or holidays at the U.S. rate of $5.00 per day. The air park is donated by the local city government and is otherwise free to all sport gliders.

On flying days the crowds gather at the launch and LZ to watch the pilots fly. Local vendors set up portable stands offering spicy BBQ chicken wings, Chinese sausage and colq drinks. Married pilots bring their families who have their own (pcxl and portable hibachi to spend the day cooking and eating undfr a mango tree.

The beauty of it all is marred by the conditio~ of Taiwan sport flying. A few are trying to make improvements. We are in contact with FAI Paris, USHGA, APA and a USA Instructor who is due here in October '91. It will not be easy to change, many pilots think they know it all about glider flying. But we have an ace in the hole, FAI pilot rating. Word is in the grape vine and pilots now realize an FAI rating is a ticket to international events.

I intend to remain in this retirement paradise and we hope to invite foreign sport fliers in the near future. J::.. rated instructor could do well here, too bad I'm hooked on skydiving. It's a great place for a foot loose hang gliding or paragliding instructor.

Taiwan Anyone?

P.O. Box 6300, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80933

(719) 632-8300 (719) 632-~417 FAX

CLASS I RATINGS NAME

INSTRUCTOR

CLASS I

DATE

MAURER, Wade TADEO Jr., Edward KELLEY, Gregory LANGENFELD, Mark ONSTOTT, Joe REEVES, George ONSTOTT, Leslie LINNEY Jr., Ernest LINKER, Preston HOISINGTON, Charles HOISINGTON, Zachary HOISINGTON, Wendy LEVENTHAL, Robert ROWIN, Tim WOLF Jr., Frank FANDEL, Alexandre TUDOR, Larry MC CLEMENT, Timothy KIRSTEIN, Alek

J. RYAN B. ENGLAND G.BANKS C. STOCKWELL T. BOYCE T. BOYCE T. BOYCE J. RYAN R. PELLETIER, Jr. J. YATES J. YATES P. PAHL T. BOYSE C.MENDES T. BOYCE J. NICHOLAY M. MEIER J. GREENBAUM R. PELLETIER, Jr.

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

08/28/91 08/11 /91 04/214/91 06/28/91 07/2;2/91 08/115/91 07/214/91 07/25/91 07/31 /91 06/12/91 06/12/91 06/05/91 08/11 /91 08/15/91 08/14/91 07/07/91 09/05/91 06/07/91 09/20/91

A A A

08/05/91 09/14/91 07/02/91

CLASS II RATINGS SWIFT, Carl MEIER, Michael FARLEY, Tom

52

L. LACROIX C.MENDES M. SALVEMINI

Paragliding1 The Magazine

FRANCISCO, INC..

Since 1973 488 Manor Plaza Pacifica, CA 94044 {415) 359-6800

All MAJOR BRANDS OF GLIDERS AND ACCESSORIES

COMPLETE SALES, SERVICE & INSTRUCTION

HANG GLIDING AND PARAGLIDING

Air® jun® Ides n i: person who loves to fly above all else 2: person seen hanging out at flying sites for long duration usually kicking rocks, telling stories and hoping to fly 3: professional, full time paragliding business dedicated to 'turn you on' to paragliding!

" LESSONS " DEMOS SALES: ITV •Edel • Second Chance 'Pocket Rocket'• Brauniger and Ball Variometers

0

GUIDED TOURS: San Diego• Southern California• Mexico• etc., etc.

®

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KEN B IER

151 Tamarack Ave. • Carlsbad, CA (619) 720-9775 92008

FEDERATION AERONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONALE Founded in 1905

Secretariat: 10-12, Rue du Capitaine Menard, 75015, Paris, FRANCE Telephone 33-1-45-79 24 77 Telefax 33-1-45 79 7315 Telefax FAINTER 201327 F

OFFICERS OF THE FAI 1990al991 Presidents of Honour M. Bregon (Columbia) Dr. J.K. Gaisbacher (Austria) Prof. E. Wegclius (!'inland) A.O. Dumas (Canada) B. Duperier (France) D. Kelly (Austrailia)

A. Ishai (Israel) H.H. Prince A. de Llnge (Ilelgium) Dr. C. Kepak (Czechoslavakia) G.A. "Peter" Lloyd (Australia) Gen. C.F. van Kann (USA)

Member of Honour: Jean Bleroit (France) President: Olavi A. Rautio (Finland) First Vice-President: Dr. !-lanspeter Hirzel (Switzerland) Treasurer General: Amos lshai (Israel)

Top of the line: Instruction in Personal FUght PARAGLIDING Lessons Clinics .. Towing @

Vice-President Members Of Council M. Vincente De Salvo (Argentina) C.V. Gillard (Australia) ]. Gaisbacher (Australia) B.A. Lagasse de Locht (Belgium) Maj. Brig. P. Costa (Brazil) D. Medarski (Bulgaria) R.P. Purves (Canada) E. Grisolia Corbaton (Chile) Q. Duxun (China) M. Evangelides (Cy[rus) P. Jirmus (Czcchoslavakia) P.V. Brue! (Denmark) N.A. Farghal (Egypt) Dr. H. Culmann (Germany) R. Makkonen (Finland) Y. Tayssier (France) Capt. M. Anthirnos (Greece) Dr. D. Hegedus (Hungary) Capt. S.K. Sharma (India) Gen. A. Khamas (Iraq)

R.L.T. Hudson (Ireland) A. Sinai (Israel) Avv. M. Testa (Italy) H. Hirasawa Qapan) P. Klein (Luxemburg) W. Kroes (The Netherlands) Ray Woolford (New Zealand) E. Ness (Norway) Dr. H. Seinkiewicz (Poland) 0. Corneanu (Romania) S.R. Murray (South Africa) C.K. Cho (South Korea) A. De Orleans-Borbon (Spain) C.G. Sundstedt (Sweden) Dr. 1-I. P. Hirzel (Switzerland) Prof. Dr. A. Tacoy (Turkey) Dr. T.S. Zealley (UK) M.J. Gross, Jr. (USA) Y. Postnikov (USSR) Col. V. Kucera (Yugoslavia)

For brochure write or call:

Fred and Claudia Stockwell 3314 West 11400 South South Jordan, Utah 84065

(801) 254-7 455

Presidents of FA! Sport Commissions W. Kroes (The Netherlands) General Commmission I. Mazzola (Switzerland) General Aviation Prof. Dr. P. Ryder (Germany) Gliding R. Fenwick (Prance) Helicopter Dr. U. Beckman (Genna.ny) Parachuting

S. Pimenoff (!'inland) Aeromodelling M.R. Heuer (USA) Aerobatics Col]. Bede! (!'ranee) Astronautic Records T. B. Boss hard (Switzerland) ]-fang Gliding D. Cole (UK) Microlights K. Stefan (USA) Ballooning

Presidents of FAl Technical Committees Wg. Cdr. M. Bishop (UK) Aerospace Education B. Nelson (South Africa) Amateur Built Aircraft Dr. C. Killeen (Israel) Medico-Physioloi;ical

President of Committees of the FA! Council Dr. H.P. Hirzel (Switzerland) Statutes A. Ishai (Israel) Finance F.O. Marsh (UK) Membership Expansion and Public Relations Dr. C. Kepak (Czechoslavakia) Olympic

Secretariat Secretary General: Dr. Cenek Kepak Technical Counsellor. Yan Whytlaw Executive Secretary: Annie Seguier Secretaries: Annie Gerbeaud & Josaine Guiloux

GLIDER MARKING INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

Telephone: (516) 676-7599 Fax: (516) 676-0106

54

Paragliding, The Magazine

COMETCXII

Performance That Grows With The Pilot The most expensive aspect of paragliding has always been the that pilots' skills outgrow their wing and the switch to more performance was quite costly. We have solved this with the CX 11.

The standard configuration that the CX II is sold in is a stable Class II. This allows the pilot to gain the skills and experience under a forgiving canopy.

As your skills grow and you demand more performance out of your wing, we can give you some trim changes over the phone that bring you closer and closer to competition trim . You can make these changes in a few minutes. This also gives the pilot a better understanding of the performance changes that take place.

With a change of lines and risers it becomes the same competition paraglider that is flown by Ed Pitman in World Competition . Class Ill in every aspect.

For safety reasons we strongly recommend that all lines on all paragliders be changed annually!

COMET USA Division of Mariposa Sports, Inc. 2649 Park Marina Drive Redding, California 1-800-SKY-PILOT Fax: 916-245-0738 Ed: 916-245-0736

Paragliding, The Magazine

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PAGO JET M3 ENGINE:

COOLING: EXHAUST: PROPELLER: STARTER: CONTROLS: FUEL: PERFORMANCE: BODY: CONSTRUCTION: OVERALL WEIGHT: DIMENSIONS : *OPTIONS: COMPLETE UNIT:

PRICE: WARRANTY:

Konig SC 430 special PAGO JET 2 stroke, 3 cylinder radial engine, 26.3 cu. in., 24 HP, membrane carburetor, low vibration, easy to start.

High perlormance cylinder cooling heads, which also function as engine supports/mounting points.

Special double level PAGO JET muffler {very quiet) 44", 2 bladed, plywood, standard propeller.

Hand pull-start.

Mouth throttle, choke , automatic ignition switch off.

Capacity 3.5 US gallons (enough for 4 hours!)

Range : 80+ miles , Rate of climb: 400 ft per min., Speed: 25 mph.

Ultralight reinforced synthetic materials, anatomically designed for pilot comfort, superior aerodynamics.

All components made from top quality materials.

22 kg . (48 lbs) empty weight (without fuel).

51 " X 20" X 27" overall .

2 bladed "Silent" propeller, hand throttle.

Fully assembled and ready to fly including: 2 bladed standard propeller, harness, tool kit , carbines, suspension bracket, fuel tank, funnel, hand pump, mouth throttle, flight manual, log book and transport bag. $6 .900 (without paraglider).

6 months on all construction and material defects.

The PAGO JET being flown with the Harley Typhoon • Fits in back of car (no trailer needed)

The PAGO JET ready to fly detachable prop cage, snaps on in 2 minutes and splits in two for maximum portability.

• Take it with you on your vacation: It's small enough to be checked on the airline as baggage.

• Fly over the pyramids in Egypt or take it for a trip down the Amazon - Your IMAGINATION is the only limit!

Dealer inquiries for PAGO JET and Harley Chutes welcome.

Green Valley Country Club, APT 4133, 1no Nth Green Valley Parkway· Henderson, Nevada 89014 (702) 896-6000 • 896-6022

If you're a sport aviation enthusiast, you should join NAA, "the National Aero Club of the United States."

• Soaring • Ballooning • Ultralights • Aeromodeling • Aerobatics • Homebuilts • Parachuting • Helicopters • Hang Gliding NAA is the umbrella organization for all majorair sport organizations, and represents U.S. sport aviation intern ationall y. It is the nation's o ldest and most p rest ig io us aviation organization. Supported by thousa nds of ind ividuals, aero clubs and corporations, NAA is also the nation's offic ial av iation record keeper, as we l I as the custod ian of many of the most presti gious aviation awards. Gain access to info rmati on on all air sports by joining Chuck Yeager, Dick Ruta n and thousandsofother air sport enthusiasts. Become a member of the National Aero Club of the U nited States.

-----------

~ ' wish to app ly for membersh ip in the Nationa l Aerona utic Association. I have enclosed my check fo r $22 ( please enclose $37 fo r fore ign mai li ng) .

Black Magic - hailed as the best of its type. It may be a recreational glider but it is a performance recreational! If you want a Class I paraglider that's easy to ground handle, easy and reassuring to fly and also very safe, then the Black Magic Is the one for you.

The Black Magic has undergone extensive flight tests passing the most stringent tests of the DHV and ACFPULS with flying colors. Thats a nice thought when you find yourself in some unexpected turbulence.

Name Address City

State

Zip

Signature

Nationa l Aeronautic Association 1815 N . Ft. Myer Dr. - su ite 700 Arli ngton, VA 22209 • 703-527-0226

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AIRWAVE PACIFIC

AIRWAVE

P.O. Box 4384,

Sallnas, ca11forn1a 93912 USA <408> 422-2299 fax, 758-3270

Hang Gliding!

Paragliding!

See What The United States Hang Gliding Association Can Do For You!

Your Membership in the United States Hang Gliding Association entitles you to:

• • • • • •

A 12-month subscription to Hang Gliding magazine or Paragliding, The Magazine beginning with the next issue Liability insurance and property damage insurance Membership voting privileges The new, revised edition of the USHGA Handbook Pilot Proficiency Program ratings Lilienthal awards and flight achievement awards

Additionally, you will be eligible to apply for any of the following special programs: • Theft of glider insurance • Participant accident insurance • USHGA's VISA Gold card • USHGA expanded merchandise program Your membership also helps support: • USHGA instructor certification programs • USHGA membership development programs • USHGA administrative operations • USHGA special projects and events A full Membership (U.S. Only) In USHGA ls only $49.00

UNITED STATES HANG GLIDING ASSOCIATION, INC.• P.O. Box 8300 • Colorado Springs• Colorado• 80933 (719) 632-8300 or FAX (719) 632-6417

CLASSIFIED• ADS TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD: send text and $10 per ad, per issue to: 3314 West 11400 South • South Jordan, Utah 84065 FUN! FUN! FUN!

FOR SALE

For Sale Katana 25 , 3 months old. Perfect condition w/UP harness. $2700. Includes free back up chute. Skiing season coming, will be taking a break from paragliding. Jais 213 859-9780.

Voilerie Soubeyrat , V-S 28 (French Sail) excellent Class I wing for beginners. Flown in France by Pierre Bouilloux. Perfect condition, less than 5 hours.

Glider and pack for only $700!

Jeff 408 296-6602.

WINGS FOR SALE KATANA 25 demo, pink w/ harness $2400; CXA 22 pink w/ harness, good condition $1900 ; MONARCH 26 demo, red and blue , w/harness $1900; MAX AIR 9 (23m), great training or mountain canopy, never flown $1 ,000; MAX AIR 9 good condition, w/harness $700. NOVA TREND 21 , excellent 1st glider, good condition w / harness $1 ,900 . Parasoft Paragliding 303-494-2820.

SELL OR TRADE Pacific Airwave Vision Mark IV Hang Glider. High energy cocoon harness, 2nd Chantz ballistic chute. MINIMUM 16 hp power system and engine instruments.

Fly with or without power. Think of it as the hang glider version of a powered paraglider. $3500 for all or trade for a suitable paraglider. Will sell separately, (904) 767-5768 Frederick.

FOR SALE Corrado 12 - Great condition, less than one year old. Pilot weight range : 60-90 kg (132-198 lbs) $1500, includes trim risers and bag/pack. (818) 841-9239.

EXCELLENT COND. 1990 Pro Design Kestral 204 2 0 . 4 meters, blue w / neon stripes. Includes Yates harness and pack. $1600 . Call Reid at 602-881 -7300 or 602-299-9704.

FOR SALE UP 27 Stellar, purple w/harness $2550 . 150 flights . EDEL 20 gore reserve, 1 month old $400 .

303-927-3258.

WINGS FOR SALE

LOTS OF GOOD GLIDERS CHEAP!

1989 ITV Aires-23, pilot weight range 110-145 lbs (LID 5 :1) $700; 1990 ITV Meteor 100, pilot weight range 150-175 lbs (UD 5.8:1) $1550; both in excellent condition, both with !TV's patented weight shift harness.

Call Mark Shipman at (509) 663-5238.

School demos and factory demos; Aile de K, ITV, UP, Custom Sails, Firebird and more. For more info call Claudia. Also kevlar helmets (new) used reserves and instruments. (801) 254-7455.

FOR SALE New and demo Katanas, Stellars, Wills Wings, Excaliburs, instruments, reserves. Harley Elite $495, Corvette $1795, 20 gore Pocket Rocket $750 . Solar power airspeed indicators, warm mitts that attach to brake hand1es . Class 11 instruction at Soboba. (714) 654-8559.

FOR SALE Sportlite British Paraglider excel1en t condition , very safe paraglider for beginner pilot. With harness $850. Without harness $700. Angelo (916) 541-6412.

FOR SALE Harley Paramount 454, the perfect tandem towing canopy! 600 payload! Solid as a rock on tow! $1800. UP Jazz 25, intermediate canopy, crispy new demo, less than 2 hours airtime, asynmetrical design of blue w,1uchsia stripe on right wing, pilot w1 range 143198 lbs, includes backpack/harness, color coded lines, brake handle retainers upgraded from snaps to velcro, closeout special $1800 . Giant tow rope recovery chute . Flowform design w/zippers for venting!

This chute will keep your rope off the ground in the lightest wind no matter how much rope you use or how slow your rewind is! $150. 907-455-6379.

UP EASY New, 5 to sell, asst. colors, includes harness and backpack.

Price reduced $1500 each .

Peter Ming 303 453-4815 .

A MUST BUY!

WILLS WING AT 123

1991 Saphir Must 105, great shape $2000 firm . Bob (801) 359-6036 atter 6pm.

W/deluxe harness and 18 gore P.D.A. FREE flight reserve chute .

Like new. $2,900. 805 522-6892.

AILES D

K ••• LA RiFER

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0•• of .25.000 All•• de K peregllder•

f81d••·•ff I• Conic•. IJCperfenced II•,. ,wfF •• fll• oJCperlence of All•• • IC • fll• werlfl'• loading peraglld•r•.

(Matthias Pinn with a Genair 226)

AUTHORIZED DEALERS: OREGON: SKY HOOK SPORTS • Phll Pohl, 503 389-4088 UTAH: ABOVE & BEYOND• C Stockwell, 254-7485 WASHINGTON: NORTH AMERICAN PARAGLIDING Michael Eberle, 509-925-5585

AILES DE K Performance, made In Swltzerland Ailes de K - USA

281.41, 235th Avenue S.E. - Maple Valley, WA. 98038 Phone: 206-432.8.900 · Contact: Christian Mulack

Designed to meet the very highest standards.

- A special profile selection, and re-inforced construction of the canopy. ensure good performance under the varied conditions of flying, as well as good-naturedness in difficult piloting situations.

- Firmly dedicated to the Intermediate Class: its balance and simplicity are a delight in flight.

- With triple risers, which make for elegant 8-line stall techniques. i.e. safer altitude control.

- A new type of SPEED SYSTEM extends the speed-range to more than 40 km/h!

- For the FUN of flying. The new CHALLENGER Series.

PRO DESIGN USA

Yates Gear inc.

1600 E. Cypress Ave., #8 (9161222-4606 Fax: (9161222-4640

,~ • SKYDANCE PARAGLIDING CO. Sausalito, CA 415/332°1928

• SKYDANCE PARAGLIDING of Southern Callfornla I 800·8 GLIDER 0

• AIRTIME ol SAN , ....asco San Francisco, CA 415/SKY-1177

• A l"<ACE a, WINGS

• PARAPENTE USA

• THE UIJ"IMATE HIGH

Seattle, WA

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Sunnyvale, CA 408/736-1222

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