USHGA Paragliding August 2000

.__) August 2000 • $3.95

PARAGLIDING .. AUGUST 2000

PARAGLIDING PHYSICS - PART II © 2000 by Stuart caruk

HARNESSES: A CLOSER LOOK

text and illustrations l:!:)J Jean.Paul Budillon and Philippe Renaudin, with Luke Gardner

PARAGLIDING BETWEEN SAHARA AND SAHEL

by Alex Rauter

THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

by Scott Ferguson, photos by Maxim de Jong, Thin Red Line

A COMPARISON OF FATALITY STATISTICS

by Jack Doughty

DIXON'S NOTES

COVFR: Ricli Higgins (yellow glider) and Steve Roti kiting APCO Allegms at Torrey Pines, California. Photo © 2000 by Ancil Nance.

AllCllST

2000

by Dixon White

GEEKS ON HoTWINGs

by Mike Steed, with second opinions by Steve Rott

DISCWMEROF WARRANTIES IN PUBLICATIONS: TI1e material presented here is published as pa1t of an information dissemination service for USHGA members. The USHGA makes no warranties or representations and assumes no liability concerning the validity of any advice, opinion or recommendation expressed in the material. All individuals relying upon the material do so at their own risk.

Copyright © 2000 United States Hang Gliding Assn., Inc. All rights reserved to Paragliding and individual contributors.

3

Gil Dodgen, Managing Editor/Editor-in-Chief Steve Roti, Contributing Editors Dave Pounds, Art Director Will Gadd, Dennis Pagen Staff Writers

Office Staff

PhU Bachman, Executive Director, phbachman@ushga.org

Jeff Elgart, Advertising, jjelgart@ushga.org Joanne Peterson, Member Services, rjpeterson@ushga.org Cleda Ungles, Member Services, cungles@ushga.org Natalie Hinsley, Merchandise Services, njhinsley@ushga.org USI-IGA Committee: David Glover, President, david@davidglover.com Mark Ferguson, Vice President, mark@ballvarios.com Bill Bryden, Secretary,bbryden@hsonline.net Geoff Mumford, Treasurer, gmumford@apa.org

REGION 1: Steve Roti. REGION 2: Jamie Shelden, Ray Leonard, Gasparian. REGION 3: Ken Baier, John Greynald, Gregg Lawless. REGION 4: Mark Ferguson, Jim Zeiset. REGION 5: Frank Gillette.

REGION 6: Jeff Sinason. REGION 7: Bill Brydon.

REGION 8: Doug Sharpe. REGION 9: Randy Leggett, Geoff Mumford. REGION 10: David Glover, Matt Taber. REGION 11: Kent Robinson. REGION 12: Paul Voight. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Ed Pitman, Paul Rikert, Dan Johnson, Jan Johnson, Dennis Pagen. HONORARY DIRECTORS: C.W. Meadows, Bob Hannah, Randy Adams, ·John Harris, Steve Kroop, Larry Sanderson (SSA), Chris DuPaul, Gene Matthews, Lars Linde, Ken Brown, Rob Kells, Michael Robertson, Liz Sharp, Russ Locke. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTORS: Art Greenfield (NAA).

The United States Hang Gliding Association Inc. is an air sports organization affiliated with the National Aeronautic Association (NAAI which is the official representative of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), of the world governing body for sport aviation. The NAA, which represents the lJ .S. at FAI meetings, has delegated to the USHGA supervision of FAl-related paragliding activities such as record attempts and competition sanctions.

PARAGLIDING magazine is published for paragliding sport enthusiasts to create further interest in the sport, and to provide an educational forum to advance paragliding methods and safety. Contributions are welcome. Anyone is invited to contribute articles, photos and illustrations concerning paragliding activities. If the material is to be returned, a stamped, self-addressed return envelope must be enclosed. Notification must be made of submission to other paragliding pL1blrcations.

PARAGLIDING magazine reserves the right to edit contributions where necessary. The Association and publication do not assume responsibility for the material or opinions of contributors. PARAGLIDING editorial offices: 31441 Santa Margarita Pkwy., Suite A-256, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688, phone (949) 8887363, fax (949) 888-7464, e-mail: GilDodgen@aol.com.

The USHGA is a member-controlled sport organization dedicated to the exploration and promotion of all facets of unpowered ultralight flight, and to the education, training and safety of its membership. Membership is open to anyone interested in this realm of flight. Dues for full membership are $59.00 per year (of which $15 goes to the publication of Paragliding), ($70 non-U.S.); subscription rates only are $35.00 ($46 non-U.S.). Changes of address should be sent six weeks in advance, including name, USHGA number, previous and new address, and a mailing label from a recent issue.

PARAGLIDING (ISSN 1089-1846) is pL1blished ten times a year (Jan./Feb., March/April, May, June, July, Aug., Sept.,Oct., Nov., Dec.) by the United States Hang Gliding Association, Inc., 559 E. Pikes Peak Ave., Suite 101, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903-3657 (719) 632-8300. FAX (719) 632-641 7. PERIODICAL POSTAGE is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: SEND CHANGE OF ADDRESS TO: PARAGLIDING, P.O. BOX 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330.

AUGUST

2000

VOLUME

THE SEASON IN REVIEW Dear Editor, I took a moment to reflect on the past season and made a few observations that might be interesting and even informative.

If you have a moment, please read what I have to say and add my comments to your "big" picture of how things work Clearly, my ideas are not the only ones. In addition, I don't pretend chat my ideas are necessarily correct, this is, in no way a handbook or manual. Ultimately, you and your instructor work together to create your version of what paragliding is all about.

I'd like to discuss last season's events, changes in the U.S. paragliding scene, some sobering truths about paraglider technology, some advice about how to think about paraglider dynamics, and my outlook for this year.

Last season was the best ever for paragliding in the United Scates. There were three USHGA-sanctioned competitions: Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Telluride, Colorado, and, for the second year in a row, we enjoyed the support of Red Bull at Wings Over Aspen (Colorado). In addition, the first-ever aerobatic paragliding competition took place in Seattle (Aerobatde). Hundreds of people took part in over-the-water safety training in all parts of the country. The U.S. tandem record was broken in New Mexico and the first-ever U.S. Paragliding Team Course took place in Chelan, Washington.

The most refreshing change in the U.S. paragliding scene has been that hundreds of new and seasoned pilots enjoyed the new, friendlier, DHV 1-2 technology.

Even competition-level pilots moved from their uncertified ships to the new DHV 2-3 gliders. All chis marked a positive change from years past.

Still, this is the first year that we had people attempting the "barrel roll" or "loop." And, this is the first year we had pilots fall into their gliders while attempting barrel rolls, each with different outcomes. Apparently this maneuver is better left to the professional pilots.

All told, the talk on the street is healthier than it has been. Pilots are learning to say and do the right things. It has become

11,

ISSUE

#6

fashionable to fly friendlier gliders, sites and conditions. It has become fashionable to throw a reserve parachute in time of need, and it has become "cool" to not fly sometimes. Most importantly, less value is being placed on the length, height and duration of a flight. Rather, the enjoyment-level of a given flight has become the barometer of a successful flight. Most importantly, pilots are beginning to take pride in being able to inflate and launch on the first try, and in being able to make smooth landings in which the glider sets down nicely behind the pilot.

While all this is very positive, a slightly sorer subject deserves attention. The fact is, there have been four (in the U.S.), inflight structural failures this season. One involved line breaks during a spin exit, two others involved line breaks with some associated sail damage, and one involved a riser that came unsewn. We have to begin to ask ourselves what this means. I personally believe it means that we all have to take personal responsibility for evaluating the construction and condition of our equipment. It means chat even though we buy new, certified gliders and/or harnesses, and even though we have them inspected regularly, the equipment still might fail. I will not mention the specifics about the equipment that failed, because it is not important. It is important that we embrace the fact that we could all suffer an in-flight structural failure at some point, and that we have to be prepared to use our reserve parachutes in this event.

Also, I feel compelled to reiterate some things that I have said over the last two years regarding maneuvers dynamics.

First, avoid deep stall at all cost. There are only two ways to end up meeting your sail. One is to mismanage a barrel roll. The other is to cause or allow the glider to stay in an extended state of aggravated deep stall over an extended period of time. The resulting surge, when your glider does scan to fly again, can send you toward your glider. I have seen it twice and I know of multiple other occasions when it has happened. While all gliders are certified to recover from deep stall without pilot input, gliders are not certified to recover from this "aggravated deep stall." The bot-

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tom line is, seek to gain a greater understanding of this dynamic. lr·ain yourself to recognize situations that could result in deep stall. If you think you might be in deep stall, put your hands up. Please, don't misunderstand chis message. Putting your hands up is the very best that you can do to combat this potentially dangerous eventuality, even if you think you may have been in deep stall for a period of time.

Second, beware of spirals, because of the tremendous forces on the equipment and on the pilot. These forces are significant and they can increase quite quickly, if not incrementally. Don't think that you can go out and "do" a spiral. Spirals are an extension of the first 360's chat we ever do.

It will take hundreds and hundreds of flights and days to safely execute what is commonly referred to as a spiral. Spirals can become unmanageable. Spirals can happen inadvertently -- while exiting a spin, stall or asymmetric collapse. If your paraglider is making 360's (spiral) that you don't want it to make (especially if the intensity of the turn is high), throw your parachute immediately.

All pilots struggle to manage the recovery from an asymmetric deflation. We have all been taught to "steer and clear" and our instincts support this, in that we immediately sit up and pull brake in response to the deflation. News Flash!

"Steer and clear" is no longer the best information. Our instincts do not serve us well. Replace "steer and clear" with "head back, hands up." In an effort to combat our natural reaction to pull excessive brake on the open side of the glider, we have to memorize and internalize this new mantra.

By leaning back and waiting a moment, with hands up, we eliminate the possibility chat we will over-brake the open side of the glider, thereby causing an inadvertent spin. Rather, we train to be able to take a moment to 1) evaluate the situation, 2) allow the glider to recover on its own (as it was certified to), and 3) begin to gradually exercise some weight shift and brake on the open side of the glider. Gone is the need to "steer" as most modern gliders don't turn more than 180 degrees during a recovery. Gone is the need to "clear" out the deflation by pumping the deflated

6

side. That side opens on its own when the recovery is executed properly, when the pilot goes "head back, hands up" for a moment.

Clearly, a large deflation that takes place near terrain may necessitate some deliberate heading control. Still, we are most prone to over-braking in just chat environment. We don't need to chant "steer and clear"; our instincts take care of chat.

If you cause an inadvertent spin, simply put your hands up. Allow the glider to recover as it was certified to. Allow the glider to surge. Allow the glider to surge until it deflates and then delicately manage the recovery. Don't over-brake the surge as most pilots tend to do when they are recovering from an inadvertent spin.

The 2000-2001 season also looks good. The USHGA tests are being rewritten, the new instructor certification program is in place, and there is a remarkable number of new instructors. Stationary winches are being implemented throughout the country and powered paragliders are becoming very popular, even among seasoned and advanced paraglider pilots.

The powered paragliding community is very, very active, and they offer the newcomer and the experienced pilot some great options.

As we move through the flying season many pilots who have been flying DHV 1-2 gliders will consider moving to DHV 2 gliders. If you are a recreational pilot who flies less often than twice a week, consider moving to a new 1-2 instead of a 2.

Leave the DHV 2's for the pilots who are more than weekend flyers. Likewise, some will even consider moving from a 1-2 to a 2-3 glider. Our more-experienced and knowledgeable European counterparts tell us that moving from a 1-2 to a 2-3 is a bad idea.

Consider reviewing the DHV report for the glider you are considering, and realize that some gliders are sold as a I or a 2 when in reality they are l-2's or 2-3's respectively. They are oftentimes referring to a glider configuration that doesn't include a speed system. All gliders are delivered with speed systems. It is therefore wrong to talk about how a glider is certified without the speed system. Please remember to test-fly the proper size glider in familiar conditions with radio guidance.

In closing, watch the trends. Make sure you are in on the movement toward an increasingly healthy approach to paragliding. Study paraglider technology and maneuvers dynamics. Our wings fit into backpacks, so there are details that we need to be very intimate with. Rehearse the challenging scenarios in your mind and think through your contingency plans for the many and various eventualities. Be open to new ideas and information, and formulate your own educated opinion about paragliding. It is not yet an exact snence.

Chris Santacroce Sandy, Utah

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They are excited to give pilots a chance to try these new wings that have already gained a big following in Europe and elsewhere.

Gradient wings can be seen see at the importer's website: www.skycosports.com.

The 2000 product line features the Impulse, an entry-level Afnor Standard, the Onyx, a wide-ranging intermediate Afnor Standard, and the Saphir 2000, an exciting and surprisingly stable Afnor Performance.

An Afnor competition wing, the Avax RX and the tandem BiOnyx are also available.

Check out the review of the Saphir 2000 in the April/May issue of Cross Country or read the translated reviews on the Cloud 9 website.

Cloud 9 has also just received their first shipment of the new lightweight wing from Edel, the Edel 8000. The glider weighs in at under 10 lbs. and has an Afnor Standard rating. Cloud 9 is also pleased to welcome their newest instructor, Mark Davis, who joins Dexter Clearwater and Steve Mayer.

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How To Get Into A PWC

by Josh Cohn n the last column I made the case that competition is the best way to improve your cross-country flying, and the higher the level the better. As the highest level of paragliding competition, the Paragliding World Cup (not to be confused with the biennial World Championships) is a fitting topic for this column.

The Paragliding World Cup Association, a nonprofit based in the Haute-Savoie region of France, has been managing the PWC since 1992. Most of the five meets are usually held in Europe, but meets have taken place in venues as diverse as China, Brazil and Argentina.

The PWC has enjoyed a growing reputation among pilots along with increasing media coverage, including shows on several European television networks and 22 airlines' transatlantic in-flight videos. An added bonus is that the official language of the PWC is English.

I

The PWC format is different from that of most other paragliding competitions.

Since the worst one-third of your task results arc dropped, the emphasis is on flying fast and making your own decisions.

While in standard meets one can often do well with slow but consistent flying, in the PWC there is a heavier emphasis on racmg.

To train for the PWC, once you have good competency at thermal and X-C flying in your local area, fly a lot of different sites in different conditions. If you only fly when you know you can get up, you won't learn to scratch in marginal lift and make low saves.

Practice flying with the fastest pilots you can keep up with, but don't just follow them. Lead out in front sometimes and share the risk of sinking out. If you find yourself in the lead, don't wait for the others to catch up unless you need help for a tough section. Practice flying with your friends and helping each other through tough sections by flying together effectively.

One of the hardest things to learn is when to stick with a gaggle and when to blaze ahead. This will give you speed and consistency if you can master it. It seems to take at least several years of flying meets to begin to get the hang of this.

When you feel ready, start to pick your meets strategically, based on what they are likely to be worth in terms of the PWC selection. I'll describe how to do that next.

The process of qualifying for the PWC can seem mysterious at first, but it's not really that hard conceptually. There are more pilots registered than there are places (125) for the PWC's in recent seasons.

The PWC Association has done its best to come up with objective selection criteria for the meets. It is based on a pilot's best two results in recent years, which are translated to two letters. The procedure for translating results to letters is beyond the scope of this article, but can be found in the Rules section of www.pwca.org.

For example, the first 21 selected pilots for the Granada PWC have an "AA," and the first on the waiting list has a "CD." So, to be assured of a place on the list by getting a "CC'' you would have to have

either won the U.S. Nationals and scored in the top 10 at the Red Bull Wings over Aspen contest, or scored in the top five in two of the Swedish, Czech, Portuguese, Danish, or Slovenian Nationals. So, it's not exactly easy. But, there are also 10 wild-card spots, which often go to the pilots of the nation hosting the PWC, or possibly to up-and-coming pilots from underrepresented nations. So, good ways to get in are to convince someone to organize a PWC in the U.S. or to write a very nice letter to the organizers of a meet.

When you do decide to register for the PWC, do it as soon as the registration opens (check www.pwca.org), as preference is given to those who register early in the event of a tie on the selection list.

Don't be discouraged if you're not going to qualify for the PWC tour next season.

Every meet on the way there is good training and fun, and some are even starting to have decent sponsorship and prize money.

Speaking of sponsorship, if you can find a sponsor(s) that will pay for some or all of your expenses to compete, it can help your attitude enormously as well as your bank account. It's much easier to spend a week in rainy weather when you're not solely funding the trip.

Of course, it is hard to find the time to compete, hold down a job, seek sponsors and get the media attention that keeps the sponsors happy. This is where professional team managers have been of great assistance to the Swiss, French and German teams, to name a few. Since the U.S. Team does not have a full-time team manager, this can be looked upon as an excuse for not being competitive with these countries, or as a challenge to learn from their success. Paul Klemond has done a great job as volunteer manager for two World Championships, but he is increasingly busy with a growing family. A huge thanks goes to Windtech Paragliders, Starkhealth.com, Serengeti Eyewear and Ball Variometers for making my trip to Europe possible this summer for most of the PWC's. I'll be keeping you posted on the trip in the next several columns.

I hope to see you out there at the meets. Ill

---------------·------------------------------------~

12

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Why?

Paragliding Physics - Part II

© 2000 by Stuart Caruk, all rights reserved

L

ast month we learned how a drag curve for an aircraft was generated.

If you were to mirror the total drag curve of a wing shown last month in Figure 1, it would closely approximate the polar curve generated for that particular wing. An example of a polar curve is shown in Figure 4. The manufacturer of every glider should be able to provide you with a copy of the polar curve for their wing. This information is critical when comparing the performance of different gliders, and can easily prove or disprove manufacturer's claims. In the event that the information is not provided or readily available, you can easily generate your own polar for any wing you fly using some of the newer variometers coupled with a speed probe.

A point that causes considerable confusion among pilots trying to compare the statistical performance of different wings is that some manufacturers use projected area, span, or aspect ratio, while others use flat. Projected is the actual vertical component you should experience in flight, whereas flat is what you would find by measuring with the glider laid out on the ground. Due to the many ways manufacturers rig their line sets, comparing projected measurements is probably a better way of getting the true performance criterion than using flat. You should be especially cautious of manufacturers' claims when they choose not to provide all the data a pilot should reasonably expect. When a manufacturer tells you that their glider has an extremely wide weight range, and a top speed almost double that of most competing wings, but refuses to provide the stall speed and/or sink rate of their glider, would you not be a little suspicious?

Looking at the polar you can readily see the speeds at which your glider would stall, and the speeds at which you would want to fly to obtain minimum sink or the best glide speed in a no-wind condition. Why is

16

this information important, and how can we use it? Remember how landing your older glider on a dime was a relatively simple process. Many people claim that the steeper approach angle of older gliders makes them easier to land, and they float less. What they may or may not be aware of is how flying at different speeds could dramatically increase their sink rate.

On an older glider, if you were a little high you could either speed up and sink faster, or you could slow down and increase your sink rate, making glide path control fairly easy. Of course, pushing it too slowly could also result in stalling the wing, generating the glide of a greased anvil. In extreme cases, or where approach planning left a little bit to be desired, the use of canopy reduction techniques was also available to help come down more quickly.

As a practical matter, you should be able to determine the approximate brake positions to achieve the in-flight performance you desire. At this point I feel obligated to add the standard disclaimer, "Don't try this at home, unless you talk to your instructor about it first." On a smooth sledder type of day, and at a safe altitude, relax almost all the brake pressure on your glider, and note the sink rate on your vario.

Slowly and smoothly apply an inch or so of brakes, and wait for the sink rate to stabilize. Apply another inch of brake and wait.

As you continue this process you should find your sink rate gradually reducing to a point, and then it will start to increase.

Once it starts to increase, let up on the brakes an inch or so and you should be flying at the minimum sink rate of your glider. Make note of your hand position, since this is a great reference point from which to be able to work.

Once you have identified the minimum-sink brake position you should be careful about experimenting with further brake pressure because of the possibility of

stalling your wing. If you wish to continue the experiment you can gradually increase the brake pressure symmetricaUy and you will note that the sink rate will increase until the point at which the wing stalls. Naturally, this would best be performed under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and at an appropriate location. If you find the brake pressure suddenly getting lighter, you should take appropriate action to regain flying speed, since you are on the verge of stalling you wing!

It is important to recognize chat this brake position for minimum sink will not be the same on every flight. Changing the weight of the glider, by physically loading it with a more gravitationally challenged pilot, or subjecting the glider to higher wing loading by turning, will slide the polar laterally, requiring you to fine-tune your hand position for each flight.

Realizing that there is a front and a back side to rhe polar curve should help you achieve higher performance levels from your glider. As an example, if you find yourself in a position where you need to maximize your airtime in very light or no lift while waiting for the next thermal to come through, the speed at which you fly is important. If you fly too quickly, the increased drag will cause you to sink faster than you need, while just jamming on the brakes and hoping for the best might put you on the back side of the drag curve.

This would cause you to sink faster, and put you much closer to the stall point of your wing than you need to be.

The problem with older-style gliders is that if you want to maximize airtime you need to minimize sink. This creates problems for pilots seeking cross-country performance since speeding the glider up to transition between thermals caused unwanted higher sink rates, but if they flew at minimum sink they couldn't go anywhere. Looking at Figur,: 5 we have a comparison of the polar curve typical of the older-style glider, as compared to one of the more modern gliders available today. What is really interesting is that the polar curves of some of today's entry-level gliders show performance approaching that of competition gliders of just a few years ago. Notice how the newer gliders have a flatter polar. In the real world they have a much flatter glide angle as well.

The great part of this is that we can get pretty darned good performance from a PARAGLIDING

wing without the sometimes questionable handling performance of some of the older "hot ships. " When transitioning to newer gliders pilots have been caught by surprise in confined areas when their gliders simply didn't want to co me down, and they were running our of room to set the glider on the ground. If yo u're used to coming in a bit high on landing, and then either speeding up or slowing down to increase your sink rare, you might be surprised as you come smoking into the LZ and it seems the glider just doesn't want to quit flying. Looking ar the polar explains why. Since rhe performance of today's gliders is much higher, changing the speed just doesn't have as dramatic an effect on the sink rare as you may have become used to. When yo u combine this with the higher speeds at wh ich these gliders approach, it is very easy to overshoot the intended landing area unless you have carefully planned your approach.

If you're a competition or cross-country pilot you will really appreciate chis type of polar since yo u can slow down while thermaling or speed up when transitioning between thermals wirhour incurring a heavy sink penalty. In many cases rhe newer gliders ach ieve their best glide performance ei ther hands off the brakes, or in a few cases just after the pilot has engaged his speed bar.

Ir has been said that landing the newer gliders is much more difficult than landing the previous generation of gliders, and the difficulty in handling makes them more

AUGUST

2000

0

AIRSPEED

•

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SINK RATE

Minimum Sink

St

Best

Top Speed

Figure 4. Polar curve.

o.-~A_IR_S_P_E_E_D~ ~ ~·~~~~~ SINK RATE

'

Figure 5. Polar curve. dangerous to operate. My personal belief is that the newer gliders are probably safer than the older-style gliders, but they require pilots to understand how the performance is differenr from older gliders to operate chem safely. Being able ro glide farther and fly at higher speeds gives you many more options when choosing a suitable landing area than in years past. If you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, being able to slow down to minimum sink allows you to maximize your airtime to assess your op tions, or wait for a thermal to come through ro help rake you out of your predicament.

One of the nicer features of the newer gliders is the adop tion of split A-riser systems. Smaller pilots on older gliders often had difficulty reaching the individual A-l ines, so using this canopy reduction technique was nor always available. The manufacturers of newer gliders realize the importance of the use of little or big ears as a canopy reduction technique for glide path control, and have made the controls easier to use for all pilots. While ears can help yo u fine-rune yo ur glide path, it is my belief that they should be used when needed, bur proper piloting skills will make yo ur approaches far easier and safer.

If you have been used to just pointing toward the LZ and hoping for the best, perhaps a better approach technique is in order.

Inreresringly, a si mple technique for increasing drag, thus steepening the glide path and reducing the distance yo u fl oat over rhe ground, is not even used by many pilots. A simple method of increasing your sink race is ro stand up in your harness. This exposes more surface area ro the wi nd, increasing the drag and hence causing you to sink a bit faster. This gives rhe added advanrage of putting yo u in a position fo r a stand-up landing or a PLF (Parachure Landing Fall) position if things don't work out as planned. ext month we'll look at differenr methods of fine-tuning your approach technique so you can hit the spot where you wam ro land, every rime. •

17

00

CLO

text and illustrations by Jean-Paul Budillon and Philippe Renaudin, with Luke Gardner

During the Middles Ages in the criminal courts of continental Europe, the accused sat before the court on a very uncomfortable stool throughout the course ofthe trial, and it is from that dubious tradition that we get the expression "being on the hot seat. "It was, and remains today, symbolic for a person facing a very uncomfortable situation. evertheless, in our sport, the "seat" is a crucial part of our equipment affecting comfort, flying pleasure, and above all, safety.

Your harness is to your paragliding performance and overal! flying experience what a skier's boots are to his or her skiing performance and pleasure - - in short, the most crucial item you will purchase as a paraglider pilot. When paragliding "pros"

switch from one wing to another they will almost always keep their "personal" harness. Switching to a new harness can drastically alter your sensations under a wing.

One of my worst flying memories was of a flight I made using an excellent school wing, while sitting in an old harness adjusted in a hurry. After stuffing the backpack in the dorsal pocket I found myself in an impossible flying position, and I have never since freaked out as much as I did during the time it took me to reach the LZ. The ruler in the graphic shows the areas of the spine most likely to experience problems (shock injuries - stronger color intensity= more problems): the lumbar vertebrae (with highest intensity on L1), followed by the dorsal vertebrae, which are subject to fracture when the pilot bends too far forward (with pressure points on 05 and 09). Proper lower spine curvature (lordose) is crucial to maintaining efficient spinal compression.

EFFICIENT PROTECTION? Medical studies have demonstrated the importance of the harness. Approximately one quarter of all paragliding injuries are spinal, and this is an essentially constant statistic from country to country.

Furthermore, 60°/ci of the time, injury is

18

isolated to one area. Damage sustained in the spinal area is greater with an equal shock force than in all other activities associated with an elevated risk of spinal injury, including driving, other sports and work.

To counter spinal injury risks, paragliding harness manufacturers developed dorsal protection for placement in our harnesses. In a few cases, particularly those involving certain "hard shell" solutions, the remedy only aggravated the problem. In other words, we began to see a trend toward fewer minor injuries, but an increase in the number of more serious injuries (spinal fractures at higher points).

Thanks to subsequent medical research commissioned by the FFVL (Federation Franc;:aise de Vol Libre, the Free Flight French Federation) we now know which types of back protection are outright dangerous, which are largely worthless, which are somewhat adequate, and which are quite effective.

Generally, the best and most efficient back protection is at least 20 cm thick and made of medium-density foam. The Sup'Air "BumpAir" is one example. As for all thin-protection schemes (less than 17 cm thick), they are about as effective in preventing serious spinal injury as a layer of wishful thinking. ln a word: useless.

PARAGLIDING

The Germans, as usual, went at it by the book: lt is illegal to fly with a non-certified harness. In France, it is just a matter of time before paragliding harnesses will have their own mandatory certification label proving that the manufacturer's equipment conforms to the FFVL medical commission's recommendations.

Many in the industry think that back protection schemes will fall under strict requirements analogous to rhose that have already been imposed on helmets. A genuine concern is that certification standards will be overdone and duplicative of other tests.

G-FORCE AND HARNESS SAFETY A dummy is released from various heights and the protection has to cope with a 20-G force. The dorsal protection is tested and dropped from a height of 1.85 meters which corresponds to a six meterper-second fall. A pilot cannot absorb more than 20 C's, which is the height and speed equivalent of a man jumping from a tabletop. If he lands legs first, with secondary impact on his backside (rear end), no injuries will occur. From this height back protection reaches its maximum level of efficiency.

FROM BAD TO WORSE Pilots can now fly with adequate dorsal protection and take falls up to 1.85 meters which corresponds to a fall rate of six m/s (calculated impact speed ofa paraglider pilot in distress). Oddly enough, since effective back protection designs have reached the marker, we have yet to see a corresponding decline in the injury curve; indeed, superficially, it would seem that the opposite has occurred.

There are three explanations for this apparent discrepancy in the injury statistics. First, the lack of a decline in the injury rate may simply be statistical; an improvement in rhe injury curve should become apparent with time as pilots replace their older harnesses with new ones incorporating new and better protection design.

Second, pilot behavior and attitude play the biggest role in increased risk of spinal injury - the ABS syndrome (AntiBalancing System). Careless and overcon-

AUGUST

2000

fidenr pilots take greater risks and land more often on their backsides.

Third, there is a clear biomechanical link to spinal injuries. Most doctors would likely agree that there is no protection available, nor will there ever likely be, rhat would completely mitigate or remove the consequences of bad flying posture in the event of a hard butt landing. A combination of the right, properlyadjusted harness and good flying posture has a more significant impact on reducing the risk ofspinal injury than does the best protection you can put in your harness.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO FALL "THE RIGHT WAY" The spine is an architectural wonder, bur homo sapiens has evolved to adopt a constant upright stance, resulting in a lessrlun-optimal distribution of body weight across the entire spine. Between each vertebrae a disk similar to a sponge, and saturated with fluid, acts as a shock absorber.

However, under rhe effect of constant compression, the disks leak throughour the day losing fluid and hardening (they rehydrate and decompress at night during the resting "bed position"). The lumbar vertebrae support rhc greatest weight and are also the vertebrae which absorb the highest proportion of shock; statistically they are also the vertebrae most often hit during a hard landing. Nevertheless, the human spine is capable of enduring considerable compression shock provided that it is properly aligned!

However, when the back is not in its

optimal posture, by flexing brutally forward (anti-Hexion), the spine can snap like a tree branch. Anti-flexion fractures generally appear higher along the spine, in the dorsal vertebrae group, and can be very severe, often resulting in severance of the spinal cord and permanent paralysis.

By falling "the right way," assuming rhar your back muscles arc warm and well hydra red (always drink a lot of water), your back should be able to sustain a fairly strong shock. Proper flying posture coupled with high-end back protection should be sufficient to protect you from crippling injury. But if you fall with a rounded back you will get hurt! Do nor kid yourself by counting on the foam to save you. The best tested, proven and certified back protection technology won't protect your back if your posture is bad.

Conclusion: As is nearly always the case, even the best equipment cannot protect you from your own bad habits, which in the case of paraglider pilots very often means bad flying posture. There is no "magic bullet" in the form of a series of tests or certification requirements that will curve the accident line at a 90° angle.

We all now have access to the right protection, and it is up to each pilot to make a decision to manage his own safety by: 1) making proper harness adjustments, 2) adopting a good flying posture, 3) choosing the best high-end back protection tech no logy available.

Modern wings are safer, instruction is better than ever before, and back protection is now efficient and optimally designed, yet pilots still manage to kill themselves by forgetting to attach their leg straps! There were 10 recorded deaths in Europe last year, while chis type of accident was extremely rare at the beginning of the sport. Ir seems that more pilots today are nor thorough enough about their preflight checklists. Perhaps on a good flying day the thought of being in the air and rhe excitement level are so intense that from time to time a pilot will forger ro buckle up, as has happened in the sport of hang gliding.

FOUR WAYS TO APPROACH THE PROBLEM l) Checklist - the simplest method and the most common in all aviation

19

chm str@p ccu, be c:10:Na without the interlocking 1t>sC1,urw, u""·"'''l:i coming end att<ac::hed to left leg strap. If the pilot .,.,...,,..... +41' close three out of four straps not slide out of the hdrMSS.

wm

Woody Volley...

No independent leg strops. dre linked to chest strop. "'"'·-···-- them secures alt Inconvenient : of the seating con"pt. loose leg strops, tested Chang-test.

Charty...

No compromise I A unique interlocking secures chest strop, streps and The paNglider releosed harness it not closed I

activities. Before taking off, touch the five attachment points successively (legs straps, chest strap, risers).

2) Do it by the book- Throwing the harness on your back like a bag is asking for trouble, such as a leg strap wrapping itself around another piece of webbing or the speed bar line, twisted straps, etc.

Proceed methodically and always stick to the same procedure. Follow your mental checklist as a scuba diver does when getting ready before a dive. Being in the air is not the time to play mechanic.

3) Eliminate the problem - Do not open your leg straps (just loosen them to get in and out of them and then tighten them again). Enter the harness like a pair of shorts. This is a popular method for tandem passengers with a simple and light

20

harness.

4) The equipment solution - A number of harness manufacturers offer "AntiSliding Straps," which is an equipmentbased solution to the slide-out accident scenario. Sup'Air, Charly and Woody Valley offer systems based on the general concept of connecting the leg straps to the chest strap(s). The pilot either forgers all or none!

It is important to consider the fact that with these systems the harness has been redesigned to address safety concerns.

Make certain that the new "gadget" does not affect your sensations while flying.

And what if you still manage to forget?

Pilots have been known to fly with the side straps stuck under their armpits. In this situation there is nor much to do but

cross your arms and try, to the best of your ability, to steer the glider toward the trees. It would be safer to crash-land in a stand of trees than to fly away from the mountain, eventually losing strength and letting go. Climbing back into your harness in mid-flight is not a realistic option; it is very difficult, if not impossible, for the average person to do. Try this with a hang test on the ground, your clothes corkscrewing up your torso, wearing gloves, and your chin stuck over the chest strap. Unless you can develop an infallible method for climbing back into your harness, this exercise should motivate you to adopt a strict, rigorous, and "by-thebook" preflight check of your harness connections!

MANUFACTURING: A PUZZLE As Philippe Clerjon (Sup'Air vice-president) has noted: "The paraglider is the noble element. For manufacturers it is a passion and performance is associated with the wing. Producing harnesses is more of an industrial situation."

A paragliding seat is a real puzzle: 70 pieces for a school harness, about 100 for a middle-of-the-line model, and more than 250 for top-of-the-line seats. A 12meter-long webbing piece loops around the harness and makes the "skeleton."

Between two and three square meters of cloth is required, heavy nylon of the Cordura type, or a lighter nylon gauge and more neoprene material on the latest designs.

The seat alone is made of about 15 panels. A simple reserve parachute pocket is made of more than a dozen parts (reinforcements, windows, velcro, eyelets, bindings, etc.). Dense foam and fibers are used to strengthen the pocket and thick foam is incorporated to ensure pilot comfort.

PARAGLIDING

, Ph(lippe_Clerjon continues: "Twentyhve miles of cloth, 95 miles of webbing, and 20,000 to 30,000 buckles of various types are used yearly. For the cloth and webbing material we adapt ourselves to what the manufacturers, such as Porcher/NCV (Porcher cloths), have to offer. They use an old, tested technology and they know the requirements of our activity." With respect to the needs of the paragliding market, they are the most informed company in the cloth industry.

According to Philippe, hardware is where R&D can be the most creative. Air Bulle (the world leader in climbing gear, headquartered near Petz! in the town of Grenoble, F'.·ance) and Sup'Air in Annecy, as well as a few other harness manufacturers in the region, have access to a network of highly specialized machine shops using very expensive, state-of-the-art equipment. A harness manufacturer's R&D department may seem to be a chaotic environment; they may offer between three and six models, with each model produced in four to six sizes. Pierre Bouilloux of Sup'Air, who, in addition to designing tht Sup'Air line also dtsigns harnesses for other paragliding brands under their labels, has 55 models under his belt. This number translates to about 1,000 production patterns.

Tht various sizes arc not proportionally smaller or bigger. You can't just scale up the medium size to get the larger sizes.

"We design the stat around the client.

The small Cocoon was molded around Sandie Cochepain (current Women's World Paragliding Champion), and the extra-large size in the Evolution line was molded around an Italian client," txplains Pierre Bouilloux. . The last stop before actual assemblyl111c production is structural-integrity and static traction testing required by ACPUL/Al~NOR/DHV standards.

"Germany has decided to require an 'upside-down' test. I still do not understand why," comments Pierre Bouilloux.

Depending on the model, it rakes betw_een four and 10 hours to build a production harness, but even after complet111g the tests a prototype is not ready to be handed over ro a seamstress. It is then time to finalize assembly procedures, eliminate the "whacks and quacks," and AUGUST

2000

The pilot seats with an upright torso which generates parasitic drag. a great amount get all in proper order for the 50 or so sewing machines.

The next step is to gather the various components and materials (webbing, cloth, foam, thread, buckles, etc.) and negotiate with Customs Services to obtain the special authorization required to send it all abroad to a subcontractor. finally, w~cn th~ products come back, the only thing left is to offer the latest toys to the pilots. But that is another story!

HARNESS FLYING POSITIONS In rrancc there is an old saying, "One is better off standing than sitting, sitting than lying down, and death is worst of '.di." C:o'.1ecrning harnesses, the philosophy 1s that if you do not want to bt dead y_m'.'rc better off standing than sitting, and sitt111g than lying down. This brings to mind the story of a pilot who foolishly dtcided to demonstrate the effectiveness of his "airbag" back protection by deliberately crash-landing on his rear tnd. The demonstration was a failure and he suffered a fractured spine. Tests have proven that a damaged scam or cloth damaged by abrasion will Gtust degradation of an airbag's effectiveness. So, be good to your equipment and do not drag it on the ground.

The best harness is one that will allow you to quickly transition into a standing, upright position at the first sign of trouble. Fall on your legs, then on your butt.

It is only then that back protection will do its job. A harness that keeps you in a seated position during an emergency is like an automobile airbag that deploys before an accident and prtvents the driver from using the steering wheel. Before making a harness purchase every pilot's first requirement should be the east with which the harness allows ft)r a rapid transition from a seated ro a standing position.

In the same position, a large dorsal protection reduces the amount of turbulence. The drag factor remain the same but the trailing cone decreases !

The pilot accelerates. Straight legs create turbulence, the drag tactor with the back protector 1s greater, but the trailing cone decreases, canceling the previous example's benefits.

D

In a racing harness : the position is not c~~fortable, the drag factor ,s important, the trailing cone is reduced. The decrease in parasitic drag is noticeable.

Continued on p,zge 27.

21

PARAGLIDING BETWEEN

Sahara &Sahel

by Alex Rauter

A

nyone who would like to experience limirless freedom should not miss the opporrunity to go paragliding in the world's biggest sandpit. Bernhard Erz! and Armin Eder traveled to Niger and Libya to do just this to fly in such a mystical place.

We had traveled across Tunisia and Libya in two four-wheel-drive trucks and were soon on a rough road on the way to Niger. Mohamed, our guide friend from somhern Libya, signaled us with hand signs to keep going straight ahead, and soon we saw a gigantic, br ight-yellow plain that melted into the horizon , pan of the Erg Murzuk dunes that were not far away from where we found ourselves. As far as the eye could see there was not a single ripple in the flat plain, and our trucks took turns sinking axle-deep into the soft sand. The thermometer indicated almost 40° C in the shade.

We kept passing huge trucks com-

muting berv:een Libya and l'Jiger, loaded with numerous barrels and bags, with perhaps 100 people sining on top of the luggage. They were mosdy people from the poorer southern Sahara countries on their way to "rich Libya," hoping to find work there.

Our trip took us along an ancient trade road, the legendary Bornu Road, along which many slaves , gold and ivory had been transporred from the Tshad Lake region to the Mediterranean Sea. The first people who explored Africa had taken this caravan route to get ro central Africa . Near our campsite Mohamed found a camel pack that surfaced from the sand, filled with colored clay pearls and broken clay pieces with painted ornaments. These were probably remnants of clay jugs in which water

22

PARAGLIDING

CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT: Soaring Lake Mandara. Kiting the Effect at Akakus.

Djado from the ail'.

The Effect. Djado from the ground.

AUGUST

2000

23

had been carried for the caravans. Not far from the pearls we discovered a human skeleton. Along this trade route thousands of slaves, weak and exhausted from the long and strenuous travel, had died of thirst.

Wide, endless plains of the eroded African mountains are characteristic of this area. In the Sahara, the old mountain massif of the Air and Djado Plateau offer a bit of variety in the monotony of the desert. In between these mountains lies the vast sand plain of the Tenere Desert. The ruins of the town of Djado, built of clay, are situated near the extremely eroded Djado Plateau. It is a magnificent view. Walls, castles and towers remain, several stories high.

Thousands of people lived in very limited space in this town that, from a distance, looks like it is made of rocks. The Tuareg people had founded this town in the early to late Middle Ages. After its

24

destruction in the 15th century the Kanuri (a black African tribe) settled in the newly rebuilt town.

In order to take aerial photographs of Djado we used our backpack motors.

This gigantic aerial playground is ideal for fans of motorized flying. Once you've managed to fly across the border to Libya you can run the propeller day and night thanks to cheap fuel prices.

The unpredictable wind, primarily blowing from the northeast, was only kind to us after four days of waiting.

Bernhard used the good conditions to gain altitude quickly and took off toward the town. The ruins look like the inside of a wasp's nest - an almost surreal scene. It is exhilarating to fly in such a unique place. The thermals which were developing above the town enabled him to fly for two hours, and a flock of children expected Bernhard on the ground.

Several Tubu families live here in small huts made of palms, cultivate their gardens in the palm groves, and keep goats and chickens. "Tubu" means "people of the rock." No other tribe is tougher or more frugal. The son of the village chief, Derde, led us through the dilapidated village. Within a radius of 800 km there is no larger town, no paved roads, no electricity, and water only from wells. On the Djado Plateau we discovered rock carvings from ancient times, a time when elephants, giraffes and other wild animals roamed here.

Our next stop was the Akakus Mountains. Mohamed, our guide, thought we could make it there in three or four days if all went well.

FLYING IN THE AKAKUS MOUNTAINS Armin took two new Pro-Design Effect PARAGLIDING

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CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LE'FT Soaring a dune in the Effect. Flying at Lake Mandara. The overloaded truck. Ancient rock carvings.

gliders with him, the objective being to fly over the Saharan sand dunes. This dream, to fly over the biggest sandpit in the world and to gaze into the distance, came true for him during this expedition. With a bit of luck we almost always found a sand dune to soar, and enjoyed the breathtaking scenery.

No weather forecasts were available, but you don't need one to fly here.

There is never a cloud in the sky. The only thing that changes is the wind direction, which is easily ascertained from the top of the dune. With the weather knowledge of an experienced pilot, paragliding in the desert is easy and lots of fun even for beginners.

Armin took his Effect and walked up a dune, checked the wind direction on

26

top, and off he went. With a bit of thermal wind he quickly got up to 300 meters AGL. He glanced across the endless dunes, and this was his reward for the exhausting climb up the dune. After extensively testing the glider and three hours of great soaring he became thirsty and landed in the camp.

The Effect proved great for soaring.

Reverse launches are easy, and it comes up quickly with no tendency to overshoot. Even though the Effect is rated DHV 1 it had plenty of penetration in the sometimes strong Saharan wind. The glider can be accelerated ro 51 km/h using the speed system.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS In the desert it is impossible to prevent sand from getting into the canopy on takeoff and landing, and this can wear a glider considerably. Despite the fact that the sand is soft, you must be aware that the nearest hospital is often very far away, so don't take any unnecessary chances. The best season for desert flying is October/November and february/March. The main wind direction is northeast, and the best flying is during the morning and evening hours when the wind dies down a bit. A guide is mandatory if you want to visit the Djado Plateau and southern Libya, and you'll need a visa to visit Niger/Libya. You should prepare for your trip to this region carefully and rake a minimum of two 4WD trucks. •

PARAGLIDING

Continued from page 21.

JUST LIKE IN YOUR CAR Another concern is your body's position in flight (upright to lying down). Why reinvent the wheel? Thousands of posture specialists have done a whole lot of research concerning this, and there are now answers and standards. Observe and measure your car seat. Its design cost huge sums of money and you will spend thousands of hours in it during your lifetime.

You will find that the best sitting posture for paragliding is close to that of your car seat. In short, the backrest angle relative to the vertical position should not be greater than 25°, the legs creating an angle with the torso close to 90°.

All of the hammock-style, or worse, fetal-position (legs up) harnesses give a false sense of relaxation. They may look "cool" during a hang test but they are not adapted to physical activity. Worse yet, they entice the pilot to adopt a sloppy sitting position: a curved back with a resultant loss of structural muscle support. If you move your arms around while your back is slumped in your seat, expect at the end of your flight to be plagued with cramps and backaches, even though you thought you were comfortably seated!

The body's infrastructure subtly uses the back muscles even when you are not moving. The pilot will be in better physical condition at the end of the flight, and obviously during a hard landing, if his back is reinforced with strong muscles.

One can exceed the 25° sitting position while paragliding. To maintain the proper posture the arms must create an angle of about 10° forward relative to the torso, forcing the shoulders backward in AUGUST

2000

order for the hands to fall naturally under the toggles. We cannot be too stringent about our paragliding harnesses, but keep in mind that any angle greater than 30° will be detrimental to the safety of your back.

Beyond this we enter the domain of the "flat racing posture position," a flying posture that cannot be justified for the weekend pilot.

RACING POSTURE Some very skilled pilots who have a high level of expertise adopt a "racing posture."

They steer through the shoulder straps by using a twisting motion of the entire body. However, this flying position used by expert racing pilots is completely inappropriate for the average paraglider pilot.

Physicians working with competition pilots prefer a true racing harness. When the pilot is seated in such a harness his back is in a natural, relaxed, sleeping position, and the intervercebral disks are not compressed and stay hydrated and flexible. In any case, if it's bad for a pilot to land on his rear end, imagine how bad it would be for him to land on his back!

Certain models of the "cocoon" type, such as the Evotop or Profeel-Top from Sup'Air, are, in fact, standard upright harnesses in disguise (the right choice for the weekend pilot).

However, some pilots adopt a semireclined sitting posture in a conventional harness, and a few "bastard" seats on the market take advantage of the gray area to confuse the buyer. In these cases, the FFVCs physicians shout "danger!" A "lounge chair" posture, with the torso leaning backward with a rounded back and arched shoulders, is a physiological catastrophe which could result in vertebral disk compression and dehydration. The only marginal argument pilots who adopt a reclined flying posture can offer is "aerodynamics," and that is a weak argument!

PARASITIC DRAG In 1988, Europe saw Japanese pilots from the company Falhawk using seats equipped with an enormous, protruding cone attached to the rear section of the harness. Lacer, the company AirBulle came up with a fairing for their comp harness. Since it was incompatible with the

use of a speedbar, it was abandoned. In theory the Japanese had it right; a fairing in the rear is more efficient than one in front when it comes to reducing parasitic drag. (In motorcycle racing a big rear seat section is better than a frontal fairing.)

There was also the "Big Butt" harness, which in fact did reduce drag when properly designed.

But all turns sour when the pilot pushes the speedbar. By screeching his legs he creates a fair amount of turbulence in front of him, increasing the drag factor.

But by leaning back and flattening himself, resistance to the air can be reduced.

Footrests and speedbars entice cramped pilots to recline. But for what gain exactly?

It is the manufacturer's job to design harnesses that are tested in wind tunnels and that offer the best safety-efficiencycomfort compromise. The pilot who flies in a reclining position for the sole purpose oflooking "cool," or looking like a competitor, is nai've. He is exposing himself to danger for an uncertain gain in performance.

INERTIA AND YAW Here's an easy experiment. While seated in an upright, stair-step posture, you can easily spin around a vertical axis from left to right on a stool. Stretching out and reclining will increase inertia and the rotation will slow. This is the principle used by figure skaters while in a fast, tight spin.

As soon as they reach out and extend their arms they slow down and stop.

If your wing is hie hard and you are forced into a sudden yaw motion, you had best react instantly and be one with the general movement of your spinning glider, otherwise you could end up in a flat spin. An upright, seated pilot can fly with a tighter chest scrap than can a pilot lying back with a wide adjustment setup designed to prevent excessive yaw motion (flat spin), and who will be bounced around quite a bit more.

Remember, you are the one who is ultimately responsible for your own safety.

If you fly in a reclining position you risk serious spinal injury. Respect aerodynamic and anatomical principles while cruising the skies. "Move with your harness, not in your harness! •

27

THE

•

by Scott Fe1guson, photos by Maxim de Jong, Thin Red Line

n ~1scovere ount

A HELICOPTER PARAGLIDING ADVENTURE IN THE PRISTINE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA MOR_NING PREFLIGHT BRJEFING

1:

1e helicopter deposits yo u on the knife edge of the ridge, rises up and dives straight down the sheer north face co the Aadands almost 7,000 feet below. The inseam silence, sharp coldness and beauty of che snow-covered moumains complete the sense of coral isolation. Im pocem wo rds hang frozen in the air, unable co describe the experience as other than "religious. " Neurons fire in the same pattern as that emotional charge when a paraglider first lifted you off che ground and coward d1e sky. For d1e first rime in your life you are truly alive - again.

Thar first experi ence at Mo um C heam in British Columbia, C anada held che illusion of going where no man had go ne before, yet the peak had actually been flown before and many rimes since. So, at che invitation of C hristian Mulack of Alpine Marine in W ashington, a small group of N orthwest pilots - Bill Holzgrove, Brady Evans, M urdoch Hughes, Christian and I - visited the Skagit Range of che Cascade Mountains near C hilliwack in southern British Columbia co introduce some of the peaks there to the relatively unknown sport of heli-paragliding.

O ur guide extraordinaire fo r che expedition was Maxim de Jong of T hin Red Line in C hilliwack. If yo u've ever sipped water from an open fire hydrant you can appreciate meeting Maxim fo r a preflight briefing on che early morning of day one. Armed with pages of weather info hot off che Intern ee, an impressive command of meteorology and many years of experi ence fl ying in the Chilliwack River Valley, Maxim prioritized d1e h igh-alcirude Aying sires most li kely to be conducive to safe Aying given the day's conditions. We arrived in early fall precisely because the boo ming thermal acciviry of summer in che region co uld make flying hazardo us fro m high peaks that no one had ever flown . Sti ll , one doesn' t scoff at che 20- co 30-rninute sled rides yielded by the 5,000- co 6,000-foo r vertical elevations of chese mo umains.

Laurie Yo ung, Maxim's beautiful wife, partner and paraglidi ng instructor in her own right, acted as groun d crew and air traffic contro ller for helicopter pickups. Laurie said the helicopter would meet us at the pickup spot at 8: 17 AH Vlado, our Macedonian pilot, handled the Bell Jee Ranger with a fea ther-light co uch and such precision chat even afrer landing d1ree or fo ur loads of fliers you could only see one sec of skid marks in che snow. H e may have been a couple of seconds lace.

FLIGHT # 1 - THE BORDER PEAKS LAUNCH: BORDER PEAKS (-6,500') LANDING: SLESSE DEMOLITION RANGE (- 1,200') For our firs t adventure che chopper carried us co the saddle between che Canadian Border Peak and che U.S . Border Peak, cleverly named peaks on opposite sides of che US .Canada border. A long, wide snow fie ld wid1 a

gradual slope makes for a nice launch . But if you blow che launch too badly and too long, the steep, rocky drop-off makes for a mosdy unsurvivable experience. M axim had his ice axe at che ready, just in case a would-be flier became a luge champion. W atching the snow and rock drop steeply away from u nderneath yo u wich a full y inflated glider overhead was a m uch more satisfying and exhilarating experience (I assume) .

The Slesse D emolition Range wo uld make a good-sized LZ except for the possibility of unexploded ordinance within the surro unding fence. The actual landing target northwest of the fence was m ade small er by the p resence of a priso n wo rk derail clearing and burn ing brush on a large bonfire. Afrer landing, slide past che Canadian Army troops and you're home free!

FLIGHT #2 - MOUNTAIN MEADOW LAUNCH: NEAR MOUNT MACFARLANE (-6,200') LANDING: TREE NURSERY (- 1,200') Maxim would go up with the first Aighc co assess locatio ns and find the sire most ideal for d1e co nditio ns. So, che afternoon of day one fo und us in a large meadow area composed mosdy of soft alpine heather somewhere between M ount Pierce, Pierce Lake, Mount Macf arlane and C rossover Peak, a site not really close enough to any of chese to truly deserve its name. Christian and I chose a steep but soft slope for beautiful launches toward the C hilliwack River Valley. The designated LZ was in a tree nursery wich large, grassy fields bur a longish glide distance of about fi ve miles.

Perhaps I could have made che nursery, but che gravel pit landing zone was a sure thing below and the challenge of fo llowing Canadian pilot N ick Rowe into chis eight spot was too much to pass up. An alternate small, grassy fi eld also

Continued on page 34.

28

PARAGLIDING

Slesse Mountain, one of North America's most challenging mountaineering objectives. During a winter storm in 1956 a Trans Canada Airlines North Star crashed into this side ofthe peak, killing all 62 passengers on board The wreckage was not discovered until six months later.

Scot Ferguson pulling up his wing on Baby Munday Peak.

AUGUST

2000

29

Calendar of events items WILL NOT be listed if only tentative. Please include exact information (event, date, contact name and phone number). Items should be received no later than six weeks prior to the event. We request two months lead time for regional and national meets.

COMPETITION UNTIL DEC. 31: The Michael Champlin World XC Challenge. No entry fees or pre-registration requirements. Open to paragliders, hang gliders, rigid wings and sailplanes. For more details visit the contest's Web site at http://www.hanggliding.org or contact: John Scott (310) 4476234, fax (310) 447-6237, brettonwoods@email.msn.com.

AUG. 12-19: First World Paragliding Accuracy Competition. Full details available from the BHPA at: http://www.bhpa.co. uk/bhpa/about/ contact.html.

AUG. 19-27: Ball Varios!Ultra-FreeX Paragliding Open. USHGA-sanctioned meet at Lookout Mountain, Colorado (near Denver). Pilot meeting night of the 19th, first competition day the 20th. 27th reserved as rain day. Low entry fee of $95.

Foot-launch flying from Lookout has taken place since hang gliding began.

Contact: Mark Ferguson, mark@ballvarios.com, (303) 439-8542.

AUG. 26-30: 2000 French Open National junior Championship, at la Vallee de la Blanche (Dormillouse/St. Vincent !es Forts) and la Vallee de l'Ubaye (Barcelonnette). Organized by Lame in Air and Les Ailes de la Blanche clubs. 21 years old and under only. Contact: http://www.citeweb.net/lpvl/ parasoljr/ ang lais/ anglmen u. html, parasol.jr.2000@mailclub.net.

SEPT. 9-16: Snowbird XC Competition.

Open-distance event and new state record

30

attempt. No turnpoints, no race. CPS required. Contact: Ken Hudonjorgensen, Two-can Fly Paragliding, 474 E. Tonya Dr., Sandy, UT 84070, (801) 572-3414, khudonj@uswest.net.

SEPT. 23-24: Fly and Bike Festival, Chelan, WA. Spot-landing contest at Chelan Falls Park, scored on accuracy and landing form. Three best landings count.

Contact: Marilyn Raines (509) 682-2251.

For accommodations call Chelan Chamber 800-4CHELAN.

FUN FLYING SEPT. 2-4: 10th Annual Pine Mountain Paragliding Fly-In, Pine Mountain, Oregon. Contact: Raven Young (541) 317-8300.

SEPT. 4-8: 2000 Mauna Kea Fly-In, Hawaii. Weather is more favorable in September, airfares lower and accommodations and car rentals more easily available. Fun fly-in designed for intermediate to advanced pilots. Entry fee of $250 includes airport pickup, five days of 4wd transportation, retrieval, guide and stateof-the-art weather information. HG and PG pilots invited. Contact: Achim Hagemann, (808) 968-6856, tofly@excite.com.

OCT. 28-29: Womens Halloween Costume Fly-In, Chelan, WA. Prizes for best costume, best food, best flying contraption and more. Contact: Marilyn Raines (509) 682-2251. For accommodations call Chelan Chamber 800-4CHELAN.

CLINICS/MEETINGS/TOURS OWENS VALLEY 2000: Fly with a World Champion, 10-time National Champion and X-C world record holder Kari Castle as your guide in the Owens. Private oneon-one or group instruction available.

Further your flying education. Contact:

Kari Cascle (760) 872-2087, karicastle@telis.org, www.northwestout doors.com/fly/ FEB. 1-28, 2001: Brazil Paragliding Tour 2001. Warm X-C flying in the middle of winter! Experienced U.S. instructors guide you to one of the premier flying sites in Brazil. Governador Valadares, north of Rio, is a popular site for worldclass competitions. Mild thermal conditions, light winds and gentle terrain allow magnificent flying from morning until dusk. Fly X-C or locally; the best midwinter flying anywhere. Hospitable city, pleasant entertainment and dining are abundant. Transportation to launch and retrieval available. Lodging and two meals per day provided. $1,200 for any 12 days.

Contact: Adventure Sports, (775) 8837070, www.pyramid.net/advspts.

UNTIL OCT. Two-Can Fly paragliding clinics, by Ken Hudonjorgensen, Point of the Mountain and Utah mountain sires.

AUG. 26-SEPT. 9: XC Intensive and Snowbird/UT XC Competition. SEPT. 1-3: Thermal. SEPT. 22-26: XC Training Competition. Friendly comp with instruction from Ken Hudonjorgensen, Dale Covington and U.S. team members Todd Bibler, Bill Belcourt and Mary Anne Karren. OCT. 7-8: Mountain Flying.

OCT. 13-16: Instructor Training. OCT. 21-22: Tandem (T2 and T3). OCT. 28-29: Instructor Recertification. Contact: Ken Hudonjorgensen, Two-can Fly Paragliding, 474 E. Tonya Dr., Sandy, UT 84070, (801) 572-3414, khudonj@uswest.net. For clinic descriptions and prerequisites visit www.rwocanfly.com.

AUG. 11-12: Powered Paragliding Clinic

by USHGA Certified Advanced Instructor Hugh Murphy. The California's central coast is the most beautiful place in the country to develop the skills unique to motorized paragliding. Syllabus covers a smooth transition from paragliding to motorized paragliding with a safe, easy

PARAGLIDING

learning curve. AUG. 18-19: California Coast Ric{r,e Soaring Clinic by Hugh Murphy. Soar the Colden State's beautiful coastal sites from Monterey Bay to Santa Barbara in smooth ocean breezes. AUG. 25-26: High Wind Uinic by Hugh Murphy. Take your paraglider confidently all the way to the top of its speed range in the ultimate safety of our sofr sand dunes.

Clinic will increase pilot's control authority and confidence in strong-wind launch and landing techniques. Make reservations early. Contact: SurfThe Sky Paragliding, (805) 772-8989, www.bmac.net/paragliding.

AUG. 20-26, SEPT. 3-9: Cross-Country

Excellence Clinics. Join Airplay X-C and thermal specialists Mark Telep and Dixon Whire for intense thermal and cross-coun-

Board of Directors REGION 1 Bill Bolosk¥ fuR - 00) (425) 557- 9 1 bolosky@microsoft.com Steve Roti (R - 01) (503) 284-0995 sroli@uswest.net Gene Matthews (H - 00) (206) 488-1443 skydog@gte.net Bob Hannah (H - 00) (206) 328-1104 paraskr@aol.com REGION 2 Ray Leonard (R - 00) (775) 883-7070 advspts@pyra mid. net Jamie Shelden (R - 01) (408) 353-5159 jrshelden@aol.com Scott Gasparian (R- 01) (650) 218-3984 gaspo@igi.org Ed Pitman (l- 00) (530) 359-2392 epitman@c-zone.ne!

Russ Locke (H - 01) (408) 737-8745 russlocke@juno.com Ken Brown (H - 01) (415) 753-9534 kennyb2u@aol.com

try skills development. Thorough training on active piloting, reading terrain, weather, reserves and more. Air-conditioned luxury retrieval vehicles, glider demos and more. Lodging options available with complete transportation. Seven-day cl inics, maximum of rciur clients per clinic.

Sign up now for the most valuable clinic you'll ever rake. Cfake more than one!)

Contact: dixon(£Dparaglide.com, (509) 782-5543. [

AUG. 25-27: Grouped Pairs. OCT. 20-22: Baja Thermal Clinic. Best thermal skill development sire in the western hemisphere, just 40 minures south of San Diego, CA. Three days of intense rhermal flying development and fun. Fees include pickup and delivery from resort to LZ every day, breakfast buffet, campsite fees,

shower, pool and spa. Bring a friend or spouse, only $225. Contact: Torrey Pines (C:A) Cliderport, Delbello or David Jebb, 1-877-RY-TEAM, (858) 452-9858, (619) 665-3477, aircal@ix.netcom.com.

NOV 20-DEC. 27: Fly Nepal 2000.

Three l 0-day tours in the Himalayas, the most stunning, exotic country imaginable. Friendly and consistent thermal conditions. Guidance from Master-rated instructor Dale Covington. Logistics handled by Nepal expedition specialist Kellie Erwin-Rhoads and friendly Sherpa staff Limit 7 per trip, $1,800. Conran: www.razors-edge/flynepal, (208) 2531380, or Dale Covington (801) 4742380.

REGION 3 Ken Baier (R - 00) (760) 753-2664 airjunkies@worldnet.att.net

REGION 6 Jeff Sinason (R - 01) (314) 542-2473 jsinason@swbell.net

REGION 10 Matt Taber (R - 01) (706) 398-3433 fly@hanglide.com

John Greynald (R - 01) (805) 682-3483 lhrogrog@aol.com

REGION 7 Bill Bryden (R - 00) (812) 497-2327 bbryden@hsonline.net

David Glover (R - 00) (706) 657-8485 david@davidglover.com

Gregg lawless (R - 01) (858) 484-2056 glawless@sempra-slns.com Rob Kells (H - 00) (714) 998-6359 rob@willswing.com Gil Dodgen (Editor) (949) 888-7363 (949) 888-7 464 fax gildodgen@aol.com REGION 4 Mark Ferguson (R - 00) (303) 439-8542 mark@ballvarios.com Jim Zeise! (R - 01) (719) 539-3335 jimzgreen@aol.com Larry Sanderson (H - 00) (505) 392-1177 larryssa@aol.com Liz Sharp (H - 01) (303) 530-0718 eas@cmed.com REGION 5 Frank Gillette (R - 00) (208) 654-2615 Watercyn@cyberhighway.net

Dan Johnson (l - 00) (651) 450-0930 CumulusMan@aol.com REGION 8 Douglas Sharpe (R - 00) (978) 318-9714 dsharpe@tiac.net Randy Adams (H - 00) (603) 543-1760 randyadams@cyberportal.net

G.W. Meadows (H - 01) (252) 480-3552 info@justfly.com John Harris (H - 00) (252) 441-4124 ucanfly@outer-banks.com Steve Kroop (H - 00) (352) 331-6729 usaflytec@aol.com

REGION 11 Kent Robinson (R - 01) (972) 960-0516 REGION 9 David "Randy" Leggett (R - 01) flydallas@aol.com (610) 258-6066 ias@ot.com REGION 12 Paul Voight (R - 00) Geoffrey Mumford (R-00) (914) 744-3317 (202) 336-6067 flyhigh@frontiernet.net gmumford@apa.org Jan Johnson (L - 00) Dennis Pagen (l - 00) (914) 695-8747 (814) 422-0589 hm janj@uarc.org pagenbks@lazerlink.com Paul Riker! (l - 00) Chris DuPaul (H-00) (914) 946-9386 (540) 672-0065 Krisdupaul@aol.com Lars Linde (H - 00) (732) 747-7845 larslinde@compuserve.com Art Greenfield-NM (X) 1-800-644-9777 awgreenfield@naa-usa.org

REGION 13 (Int'!)

Jan Johnson (l - 00) See Reg 12 Michael Robertson (H - 00) (905) 294-2536 flyhigh@inforamp.net USHGA Executive Director Philip Bachman PO Box 1330 Colo Springs CO 80901 (719) 632-8300 wk (719) 632-6417 fax phbachman@ushga.org ushga@ushga.org EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE President-David Glover Vice President-Mark Ferguson Secretary-Bill Bryden Treasurer-Geoff Mumford KEY: (R)-Regional (l)-At Large (HJ-Honorary (X)-Ex Officio COMMITTEE CHAIRS: Competition-John Borton CompCommitte@ao/.com

Membership & Dev-Steve Roti Site Mgmt-Randy Leggett HG Accident-Bill Bryden PG Accident-Paul Klemond Awards-Jan Johnson Bylaws-Paul Rikert Nat'I Coordinat.-Dennis Pagen Planning-Geoff Mumford Safety & Training-Bill Bryden Tandem-Paul Voight Towing-Geoff Mumford Publications-Dan Johnson (03114100)

AucusT 2000

31

2001 USHGA Regional Director Nominations Solicited USHGA is issuing its annual call for nominations to the national Board of Directors. Ten positions are open for election in November 2000 for a two-year term beginning January 2001.

USHGA members seeking position on the ballot should send to headquarters for receipt no later than August 20, 2000 the following information: name and USHGA number, photo and resume (one page containing the candidate's hang/paragliding activities and viewpoints, written consent to be nominated and that they will serve if elected).

Candidates must be nominated by at least three USHGA members residing in the candidate's region.

Nominations are needed in the following regions. The current Directors, whose terms are up for reelection in 2001, are listed below.

Ballots will be distributed with the November issue of HANG GLIDING and PARAGLIDING magazines.

USHGA needs the very best volunteers to help guide the safe development and growth of the sport. Forward candidate material for receipt no later than August 20 to: USHGA, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901-1330.

Reg# 1 2

3 4 5 6

Current Director Bill Bolosky Ray Leonard Ken Baier Mark Ferguson Frank Gillette Nominations are not needed in Region 6for this election.

7

Bill Bryden

8

Douglas Sharpe

9

Geoffrey Mumford

10

David Glover

11

Nominations are not needed in Region I I for this election.

12

Paul Voight

States within region Alaska, Oregon, Washington Northern California, Nevada Southern California, Hawaii Arizona, Colorado, El Paso TX, New Mexico, Utah Idaho, Montana, Wyoming Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont Washington DC, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico Texas (excluding El Paso), Louisiana New Jersey, New York

The following form is for your convenience.

****************************************************************************************** REGIONAL DIRECTOR ELECTION NOMINATION FORM I hereby nominate · - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - - - - - - - - as a candidate for Regional Director for Region # _ _ _ __ ! understand that his/her name will be placed on the Official Ballot for the 2001 Regional Director Election if three nominations are received by August 20, 2000.

lJSHGA MERCHANDISE ORDER FORM

CALENDARS

~ICE

QTY Total Weight TOTAL

11b

$ 6.00

$ _ __

-tr PARAGLIDING: FROM BEG. TO XC. By SollomlCook For the advancing pilot. ............. 2lb -tr TOWING ALOFT by Dennis Pagen/Bill Bryden. Covers ALL aspects of towing. 372 pgs .. ...... 3lb -tr PARAGLIDING-THE COMPLETE GUIDE by Noel Whittall. Comprehensive, color. 200 pgs .... 2lb

$29.95 $29.95 $26.95 $19.95 $19.95 $19.95 $14.95 $ 9.95 $ 2.95 $ 1.95

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

$39.95 $35.95 $29.95 $19.95 $35.95 $35.95 $34.95 $33.00

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

USHGA 2000 HANG GLIDING CALENDAR - Excellent hang gliding photography. *SALE*....

PUBLICATIONS UNDERSTANDING THE SKY by D. Pagen. THE most complete book on micrometerology ........ 2lb PARAGLIDING-A PILOT'S TRAINING MANUAL by M.Meier/\Nills Wing. Covers all aspects ..... 2/b ACCESS & THE GENERAL AVIATION AIRPORT ENVIRONMENT by 8. Moorman . ................ 2lb SKY ADVENTURES 36 hg stories by 32 hg authors. Informative & entertaining. 240 pgs ........... 1/b A RISK MGMT MANUAL by M. Robertson. Includes Charts/Reliability. Become a better pilot! ... 11b FLIGHT LOG BOOK The Official USHGA flight log book. 40 pages. Log those flights! .... 2oz CERTIFICATION BOOKLETS Document your skill level sign-offs. Specify PG or HG ....... ..... 2oz

VIDEOS -trWEATHER TO FLY Dixon White educates us on this very important question. (50 min) ... 1lb -tr TURNING POINT-PG & HG Tame the elusive alpine thermal. Beautiful Euro footage.(24 min) 11b r'.. STARTING PARAGLIDING- Covers the basics of your first flights. (30min) ............................. 11b MASTERS AT CLOUDBASE-A paragliding music video, set to hard hitting music. (20 min) ....... 1lb FLY HARD-Rob Whittal & C. Santacroce paraglide the westcoast. Rock soundtrack. (36 min) .... 1lb PG: THE MOVIE-Owen's Valley world competition. Hot action, rockin' soundtrack. (40 min) ....... 1lb CLOUDBASE PARAGLIDING-Great intro. video. Meet the hot pilots, fly the hot sites. (36 min).1lb HAWAIIAN FLYIN'-HG & PG in Paradise. Amazing launches & awesome scenery! (46 min) ...... 11b All our videos are in USNVHS NTSC format only.

MISC. WINDSOK™ 1.5 oz. ripstop nylon, 5'4" long w/11" throat. Pink/yellow or pink/white (circle one). 21b $39.95 ZING WING Flying toy. Launch it skyward and watch is soar. Seti 2 ................... .................... 8oz $ 5.00 WINDSEEKER Hang glider flying model. It loops & soars. Lots of fun to fly, you'll want two ...... 8oz $ 3.00 USHGA EMBLEM DECAL Our original logo, in its original colors, on a 3" circular sticker ........ 1oz $ .50 USHGA SEW-ON EMBLEM Our original logo, in its original colors, on a 3" circular patch .. ..... 1oz $ 1.50 LICENSE PLATE FRAME Chrome plated. I'd Rather Be Paragliding. . ..... 1lb $ 6.50 PAYMENT must be included with your order.

SUBTOTAL WEIGHT (for shipping) _ _ NON-USA orders must be in U.S. FUNDS drawn on a U.S. BANK!

SHIPPING (USA)

CHARGE MY VISA or MASTERCARD

Under 16oz ADD $1.50 Acct# 1 LB .......... ADD $4.00 2 LBS ......... ADD $4.75 expires 3-4 LBS ...... ADD $5.50 5-6 LBS ...... ADD $6.00 7-8 LBS ...... ADD $6.50 signature _ _ _ _ _ _ __ 9-10 LBS .... ADD $7.50 Over 10 LB .. Call/fax/email NON-USA SHIPPING-Ca/I/fax/email

SUBTOTAL

$. _ __ $_ __ $_ __ $_ __ $_ __ $_ __

$_ _ __

Colorado residents add 3% tax $_ _ _ __ Shipping (see chart) $_ _ __

TOTAL$_. _ __

Send to:

Street Address (if possible)_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

United States Hang Gliding Assn., PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901-1330 (719) 632-8300 1-800-616-6888 www.ushga.org fax (719) 632-6417 email: ushga@ushga.org

Continued from page 28. looked possible, but the high-securi ty fence surrounding the Detention Center's exercise yard seemed even less inviting than a greeting from the residents.

FLIGHT #3 - BLUEBERRY HILL LAUNCH: FOLEY GLACIER AND BLUEBERRY HILL (-7,200' & 6,200') LANDING: FOLEY LAKE (-1,800') Maxim, Christian and Bill Holzgrove found conditions at Foley G lacier to be less than optimal, so Maxim and the rest of us diverted to Blueberry Hill just below (so named because of the copious quantities of small, delicious blueberries found all around).

Conditions at the glacier improved enough for Christian and Bill to launch and soar overhead momentarily. Bue they found turbulence as the prevailing wind rorored over the rocky ridge, and Bill suffered an impressive series of seven asymmetrical deflations before making for clear air roward the Foley Lake LZ, where plenty of fresh water facilitates the requisite trouser cleaning after such an experience.

Having witnessed chis lesson in wind dynamics, the rest of us waited in the meadow below for berrer conditions as Maxim ex plained how che prevailing meteorological wind direction would be pushed above us by the growing thermal conditions. Sure enough, about two hours (and many blueberries) lacer, conditions improved and we all launched and flew safely. Landing was on the chin sand bar at the ease end of stump-filled Foley Lake, surrounded by trees and Foley Creek. The hardest part of the flight was balancing a heavy wing bag on your back while crossing the makeshift log bridge over the creek back co the truck.

FLIGHT #4 - MOUNT CHEAM LAUNCH: MOUNT CHEAM (-6,800') LANDING: BRIDAL FALLS GOLF DRIVING RANGE (-150') Cheam was the only peak we encountered wich previous paragliding experience. The snow had mostly fled the early fall landscape, buc the beauty remains. A light breeze blew up the hill, but the late hour and descending sun added urgency to launch preparations as the screamers twitched and floundered. Launch is to the southeast from very near the peak at about 6,800 feet, but the Bridal Falls Golf Driving Range LZ is 180 degrees back through a gap in the ridge coward the flatlands of the north. Otherwise, it's a helicopter retrieval or a long walk out of the valley. Fear not, you've got a few hundred feet of altitude

34

to the gap, and if yo u don't dally you' re almost sure to make it! Landing was in a smallish triangle sandwiched between the Bridal Falls Golf Course driving range, Canada's Highway 1 and a service road. A shore final over the busy highway provides a rush for drivers and pilots alike.

During a previous experience at Cheam years ago we witnessed Bryce James reach the gap with insufficient clearance, make a spectacular hillside ridge landing, hike several hundred feet through deep snow to higher ground and relaunch ouc over the gap. Only a serious hiker would go to such effort to save a helicopter retrieval charge!

FLIGHT #5 - BABY MUNDAY PEAK LAUNCH: BABY MUNDAY PEAK (-6,700') LANDING: FOLEY LAKE (- 1,800') Precious few activities could have caused me to rise so early for a third consecutive day. So,

for a brief instant my sluggish brain tried to decide whethe r to prepare for skiing, scuba or biking. Tripping over a wing bag on tl1e way to rhe toilet served as both an effective wake up stimulant and quick reminder of plans for our third and final day of fl ying adventures which started from Baby Munday Peak. But this baby is no slouch. A ridge capped with sharp, rocky peaks made for good ridge soaring, wi rh just the right amount of sphincter-tightening fear factor to allow one to truly appreciate the long sled ride down .

Landing was again on the sand bar at Foley Lake where we were greeted by Laurie and Maxim's dog. Cochise is part shepherd, part husky, part wolf and - with maybe 10 flights under his collar - part paraglider pilot. While he was miraculously capable of spotting Maxim in che air at great distances from rhe ground, he seemed incapable of dis-

P AR AG LID ING

Bill Holtzgrove launching from Rexford.

Alpine Marine, Inc.

Eighty-five-pound Shepherd!Huskyl\Volfcross "Cochise, "suited up and ready to launch in his custom paragliding harness.

Bill Holzgrove and Christian M ulack at Foley Glacier launch.

tin guishing pepperoni sticks from fin gers, as Murdoch discovered.

FLIGHT #6 - MOUNT REXFORD LAUNCH: MOUNT REXFORD (- 7,200') LANDING: CHILLIWACK RIVER (- 1,300') The las t assault fo r this trip was on Mo unt Rexford , across from the Slesse M ountain Range with a beautiful view of Was hingco n State's Mo unt Baker in the distance.

Condi tions at launch were very pleasa nt, as indi ca ted by the sight of a Jet Ranger helicopter sitting on idle while its pilot enjoys a ro ll in rhe snow. Rock climbers would fi nd another El D orado here in th e unusual granite fo rmati ons reminiscent of rhe Iralian Dol omites th at provided cinematic background for The Spy W'ho Loved Me. Bur the urgent miss ion for our 007 age nts this day

A U G U ST

2000

was to drop silently and safely into rhe few, right, alternate landing spots scattered among endless stretches of wildern ess on the long glide to the primary LZ, made unreachable by increasing valley winds, ano ther good reason why this site had remained unflown for so long.

Soon the intact heli-paragliding team regrouped fo r a fi nal debriefin g and cheerful good-byes with huge, permanent grins, all ecstatically grateful fo r a short , intense experience immersed in Mo ther Nature's beaury.

Fear not, Mother, we will return home ro the Undiscovered Country!

See the whole story i11 words, pictures and video athttp:!!www.forestmoon.com! For information on helicopter paragliding trips contact: Alpine Marine Inc. at Alpmar@Compwerve.com. - Ed. •

Christian Mulack(http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/alpmar/), is an instructor, purveyor of fine paragliding equipment, adventure organizer and friend. Our 1996 paragliding adventure through the Austrian and Swiss Alps was a memory of a lifetime. Christian, at just over two meters call, is himself a product of precision German engineering with a Jong history in hang gliding and paragliding. While lanky on the ground, I've never seen anyone more graceful or confident in the sky. To paraphrase Chuck Yeager, "There are bigger pilots and there are better pilots, but there are no bigger, better pilots. " MAXIM DE JONG Maxim de Jong owns and operates Thin Red Line Equipment, Inc. (http ://www.thin-red-line.com/) and designs ultra-lightweight paragliding harnesses. In addition to paragliding as an advanced tandem instrucror, his expertise in ocher extreme activities includes mountain guiding, helicopter rescue, meteorology, geology, avalanche dynamics and, undoubtedly, every other skill essential to getting in and out of the mountains safely. Maxim is a selfdescribed compulsive analytical type with a need to plan extensively. Good thing.

He has my vote as the "man I'd most wane ro be stranded wirh" on a remote mountam .

SLESSE MOUNTAIN Slesse Mountain, che highest peak in the vicinity at 8,002 feet, is the sire of a notable aviation disaster where, on September 12, 1956 a Trans Canada Airlines DC-4M-2 Northstar, returning ro Vancouver after an engine failure and severe icing, failed to clear the peak, resulting in 62 faraliries . le was not uncil the following summer chat the face of the flight was discovered, where debris scattered down-slope from the point of impact is still found by hikers and climbers.

35

A COMP FATALITY

I

by Jack Doughty

Modern hang gliding has been around for over 30 years and paragliding, for nearly 15 years. During the early evolution of recreational soaring flight, gliders were either home or factory-built in the absence of any manufacturing or certification standards. Understandably, the fatality rates were high.

I

n 1973, one of the larger hang gliding clubs in California transformed itself into a national organization. It is now known as the United States Hang Gliding Association (USHGA). Slowly, over the years, the USHGA and manufacturers established a set of standards for gliders, along with safety and certification programs for flyers. The efforts of the USHGA and hang glider manufacturers can clearly be seen in the subsequent years as evidenced by a dramatic drop in raw fatality numbers even as participant numbers continued to increased from l 974 to the present.

Unfortunately, the stigma of a high-risk activity has remained with the sports of paragliding and hang gliding. The public's first impression has turned into a belief, which has perpetuated itself over the years.

This belief is now so ingrained in presentday society that it has become dogma. And herein lies the problem. Established flying sites continue to be closed due to increasing pressure from land development and fear of litigation, while few new flying sites are being developed for the same reasons.

Is there a solution to this problem or will it ultimately lead to the extinction of our sports? It is difficult to answer at this point.

However, there is one logical alternative: Establish more flying sites on local and national public lands. These areas are immune to land development and litigation is oflesser concern, particularly at the federal level.

One of the key stumbling blocks to public land use is that our sports are not generally considered a traditional or acceptable recreational activity as implied in a 1982 Notice of Proposed Rule-Malung (NPRM)

36

and its associated 1983 Final Rule. A relatively obscure section (36 CFR 2.17 A-1) of this final rule in fact classifies our sports along with general aviation (which includes jets, powered ultralights and other motorized aircraft) and prohibits it in all parks and most other public lands except under special, limited circumstances. Thus, a request to use a federal park for the purpose of hang gliding or paragliding is subject to complex Special Use Rules (SUR's) and requires Special Use Permits (SUP's) before it can even be considered.

To make matters worse, SUR's and SUP's are usually associated with activities that are widely believed to be inappropriate, unintended, or high-impact uses of public lands. A case in point is the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS recently defined the meaning of "special use" by citing numerous examples of non-traditional activities that are considered beyond its regular programs. Examples ranged from large wedding parties to commercial profit-center operations, and even sewer-line rights of way! Our sport clearly does not in any way fit the special use definition represented by these types of non-traditional activities. Yet, the NPS continues to invoke the 1983 final rule which suggests that paragliding and hang gliding are indeed an unintended, inappropriate, or high-impact use of public lands. The rule thus classifies our sports as a special use to be allowed only by additional rulemakings requiring full public involvement and policy reviews on a park-by-park basis. In essence, it effectively prohibits our sports in all national parks except those in which an individual park manager has gone to the trouble of following cumbersome

notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures before authorizing an SUP, a difficult task at best. Furthermore, SUP's almost always apply more stringent restrictions than the so-called "traditional" activities and are sometimes worded in ways that are open to a wide array of interpretations. With this in mind, one can easily see that the probability of acquiring such a pe~mit is low. To be blunt, it is currently much easier for a park manager to say "no" to a special use permit than it is to say "yes."

We believe that our recreational activities simply do not fit the special use model ascribed to by many federal agencies. For this reason the NPRM objective was initiated by the Water Gap Hang Gliding Club and later supported by the USHGA. The NPRM objective is simple, to reclassify our sports as a traditional, low-impact, and generally acceptable use of public lands. If we are successful in this endeavor we will negate the need for SUR's and SUP's. It will then be easier for a park manager to say "yes" to hang gliding and paragliding than it will be to say "no."

In order for this to be accomplished, two questions have to be answered for the park systems: 1) What is the potential environmental or ecological impact on the park system? 2) What is the associated risk of such activity to both participants and other park visitors? The first question is addressed by estimating impact usage based on prevailing winds and microclimate for a specific area.

This is covered under the weather statistics section of the NPRM and will be the subject of a future article for this magazine. The second is answered by comparing the fatality statistics of our sports to activities already

PARAGLIDING

classified as traditional and commonly practiced on public lands.

FATALITY STATISTICS PROTOCOL FOR ESTIMATES This report compares the fatality statistics of hang gliding and paragliding to the following activities: scuba diving, swimming, biking, boating, mountain/rock climbing and personal watercraft (PWC). In order to compare these diverse activities one cannot solely view just the total number of fatalities (raw fatality numbers) per activity per year.

To appropriately express the data the fatalities for each activity should be normalized according to the number of participants.

This is known as the fatality rate and it is often expressed as function of the fatalities per year per 100,000 participants.

Initial review of the raw data (participant numbers and total fatalities per year) revealed higher than expected participant numbers for the more common recreational activities practiced on public lands. Upon closer inspection of the data it became apparent that reported participant numbers were defined somewhat differently for each type of activity. For example, boating uses the number of registered boats, skiing uses reported ticket sales and other unspecified factors, and surveys of the general public are used for still other estimates. Furthermore, active participants were not differentiated from casual participants (as low as once a year).

Thus, it becomes clear that how an activity defines its participants ultimately affects the calculations of the fatality rate for that specific activity. In order to realistically compare paragliding and hang gliding fatality rates with these other activities, it was necessary to develop estimates of participant numbers based not only on registered USHGA members but also on actual field data from training schools and other sources.

Accordingly, we initiated an electronic survey to quety both hang gliding and paragliding schools for participant numbers.

A participant was defined as an individual who 1) wanted to experience paragliding or hang gliding through a one-time tandem flight, 2) took a single lesson or series of lessons but did not become a USHGA member, 3) is not a USHGA member but flies on a regular basis. The first two groups are defined as first-time participants (FTP's) and the third group is defined as a nonmember. Our rationale for including these

AUGUST

2000

Table 1 Sh c 001 Cawgory *Extra large Large Mid Small Total:'

Number of Reporting; FTP Schools ·Sum of reported values 1 15000 6 10100 7 2530 3 105 17 27735

FTP Mean 15000 1683 361

Estimate of FTP School# Calculated Totals 1 1500C 10 1683, 105 3795C

45

35

157!

71351

161 Registered Members: Non-member:

1000C 500(

Estimate of Total Participants:

86358

'Kitty Hawk Kites Table 2

Year 1998 1997 1996 1995

Mean

Fal Tola!

Free 4 4

Fal Tandem Pas 1

Fat Non Member

Fat Raw Total

Total

'H-Factor

"D·FTP

M&mber

Fal/1001<

Fatl100K

1 1

10300 10150 10000 9900

35.3 29.4

5.8

35.3

2.3 6.9

10070

31.8

6.3

2

0 0

0

6

0

0

6 5 2 6

4.6

0.2

0.6

5.4

Partioipants

FTP=First Time Partt~lpants Fal= Fata!ttles ·H-fiactor 1985, Hildrelh eitimate ..O·FTP 1999 Doughty estimate of FTP

11.8

6.9

17,000 86,358

Table 3 Years Hang Gliding 1994-1998 Mountain Climbing 1992-1996 Skiing 1998 PWC 1992-1997 Scuba diving 1996 Biking 1992-1997 Boating 1992~1997 Swimming 1998

Mean Fatl~ear 5 31 39 56 85 785

7'93 1500

Percent of Particieants National Pop. 86,358 0.035% 400,000 0.160% 10,400,000 4.2% 714.471 0.286% 2,400,000 1.0% 80,600,000 32.2% 11,628:390 4.7% 58,200,000 23.3%

Mean Fat/100K Part.

6.25 7.75 0.38 7.79 3.54 0.97 6.82 2.58

Hang Gliding Fatalities 50 45 - - - - - · - - - · - · - - · - · - - · - · · · -

40

I 35 ...g30

o 25 +----+--A+·----r--·-

j 20 ··i--··---..----c-;>'~----·-··-· "

Z 15

5 +-··-·······-· · · - - 0 - -

o ,~-~~r.,...-,~-~~·····~.,.,...,.~~,-,-rl 1970

1980

1990

2000

Year

groups is based on the fact that a fatality occurring within these groups would be recorded as a fatality for our sport. Thus, the total participant number would be the sum ofUSHGA members, FTP's and non-members.

Using the http://www.websearch.com/ school.html website as a source for hang gliding and paragliding schools, 70 e-mails

were sent out. We received 17 responses, which equates to a 24% response rate. The schools were then broken down into three categories based on the number participants: large, mid-size and small. Schools that were classified as large had more than 1,000 participants per year, mid-size schools ranged between I 00 to 1,000 participants, and small schools had fewer than 100 partici-

37

pants per year. 1otal participant numbers for each school size was then calculated using the following protocol: (average number of participants) x (estimated number of schools).

There were seven schools that responded to the electronic survey that met the large school criterion. A conservative estimate for the total number oflarge schools nationally would be 10. This is based on prior knowledge of well-known large schools. Matt Taber, owner and operator of Lookout Mountain Flight Park, provided the information and contacts for most of these larger schools. The total number of mid- to smallsize schools nationally was estimated using a calculation based on the percent of return for each category times the total number of schools nationally. There were approximately 100 e-mail addresses listed on the abovementioned website. It would be fair to assume that not every hang gliding/paragliding school in the U.S. is listed on this site. In fact. one school in the survey was contacted by phone since it was local and not listed on the website. If we speculate that the website listed between 50%-75% of the schools in the U.S., that would give us a range of schools somewhere between 100 to 200 nationally. We believe that a conservative estimate for the total number of schools in the U.S. would be the mean of that range, or 150.

RESULTS A total of 17 schools responded to the e-survey with a total FTP number of 27,735. One school, Kitty Hawk Kites, reported an FTP number which was almost 10 times the mean FTP reported for the large school category, and it was therefore removed from this group and given its own category (Table 1). We have estimated that there are 150 schools nationally that fall into the combined category of mid to small size. This combined category had a total of 10 responders, with 700fci of the responses obtained from mid-size schools and 30% from small. These percentages were then used to calculate the estimated number of schools in each of these two categories.

Based on these calculations the total number of estimated participants for the sports of hang gliding and paragliding is approximately 86,358. Non-member estimates were based on three responders who indicated that non-members represented more than half the population of practicing pilots.

38

Total fatality numbers for paragliding and hang gliding were provided by Bill Bryden, USHGA Accident Review Chairman. These numbers are broken out by category: free flight, tandem and nonmember. Fatalities direccly involving motorized towing be.fore release were excluded.

However, once a successful release was accomplished, the flight was considered a free flight and was included in the raw fatalities (Fat) number. The Fat rates per 100,000 were calculated using both the Hildreth estimate from 1985 and the newer estimates based on thee-survey (Table 2). The Hildreth number for participants is based on only two groups, members and nonmembers. It does not include the FTP esti-mate.

The Far raw numbers over the past 20 years have shown a significant decrease (Graph 1). Applying a regression trend analysis to these data shows a decreasing trend line, which plateaus out after the year 1990.

A comparison of fatality rate statistics per 100,000 participants for eight common recreational activities reveals that hang gliding and paragliding rank fourth among these activities (Table 3). Although it had the lowest number of raw fatalities per year, hang gliding and paragliding also had the lowest number of participants, thus yielding a mean fatality rate of6.25.

Participant numbers and mean fatality per year data were obtained from the followmg sources:

due to the proactive approach of the USHGA from 1974 on. The data show a steady decline in fatality rates over the past 25 years. '!,·end analysis indicates that it has reached a baseline chat equates to about five fatalities per year. This rate, based on FTP's, registered members and non-members, is consistent with and comparable to rates for other traditional sport activities that are now practiced on public lands.

The use of FTP's is justified from two important standpoints. First, fatalities occurring within chis group would definitely be registered against hang gliding and paragliding. Second, other sport activities inherencly use FTP's, although they are frequently not defined as such. As examples, if you just purchased a new boat, tried skiing for the first time, took a one-time rockclimbing class, or took a scuba diving class during an island vacation, you would be included in that sport's participant numbers.

It is evident from the data presented here that the voluntary development of glider standards, safety regulations and operator certification programs over the past 25 years has dramatically reduced the fatality race to a level comparable to or better than that of commonly practiced, so-called traditional outdoor activities. It is our contention chat the sporrs of hang gliding and paragliding should therefore finally be classified and viewed for what they are, traditional recreational activities suitable to be practiced on public lands.

Mountain Climbing -Accidents in North American Mountaineering and Outdoor Recreation Participation Study (ORCA)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several people were very helpful in the formulation of this report. Special thanks go to Matt 'faber (Lookout Mountain Hight Park) for his help, enthusiastic support and the information he provided about large schools. Thanks also to the following: the people who maintain the Sky Adventures website that was crucial in obtaining contacts for the electronic surveys; Bruce Weaver of Kitty Hawk Kites, for the information he provided on his very large school; Stacy Gardner, NSM Director of Communications, for providing the fatality statistics on skiing and other recreational activities; Region 7 Director Bill Bryden, USHGA Accident Review Chairman, for providing the hang gliding and paragliding fatality numbers; and, last but not least, Mr. Jack Eckert, Secretary of the WGHGC, who plays a great "devil's advocate" when considering information and ideas. Ill

Skiing -

National Ski Area Association,

NSAA Safety initiative 2000 Fact Sheet Boating and PWC ~ U.S. Coast Guard, Recretttion{ll Boating t1nd Accident

Statistics, 1997 Biking - - Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute Swimming and Scuba Diving -~ National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and National Ski Area Association, NSAA Safety Initiative 2000

F{lct Sheet DISCUSSION From its inception hang gliding has been viewed as a high-risk sport. In the early l 970's fatality rates were inordinately high.

This rate has substantially decreased mainly

PARAGLIDING

T

his is the third article in a series that will review step-by-step concepts concerning weather and flying pointers. If you're a new subscriber to the magazine you may want to order the previous two issues from the USHGA to stay on track with the flow of these articles. Get together with your local instructor and club to discuss these topics in greater detail. Be sure to expand your library of books and videos. This column will recommend certain books and videos, but realize that there may be some ideas that are arguable. Practice the weather concepts daily, even when you aren't going flying. Begin to identify the trends that make for the best coastal flying, thermal conditions or exhaust-heat (glass-off) sessions.

Give your chums a call who flew on days you couldn't and see how close you got to predicting the conditions. Be thoughtful about going to new areas and how powerfi_d some atmospheric influences may be in contrast to your home sites. There are some sites that become unruly by 9:00 AM in August but others that can be flown all day.

Hire a local instructor to guide you when visiting new sites.

Be sure to study the actual soundings of the upper atmosphere prior to flying each day. These soundings are taken by the National Weather Service at 5:00 l'M and 5:00 AM throughout the U.S. This information can be found on a number of websites as well as through a phone call to Flight Service (1-800-WX-BRIEF). The www.paraglide.com website has a weather section that will lead you to a number of great weather information sources. Select the "Soaring Forecast" and choose the "Complete Report" for your area through 18,000 feet MSL. You will see a few tables and a graph. Take a look at the wind direction and strength. Direction is given in compass headings (i.e., 0 or 360 degrees is north, 180 degrees is south). The wind strength is given in knots, and a knot is 150fci faster than a mile per hour reading.

Your analysis is to determine if it is blowing too hard to fly at your local launch, or if it might start blowing too hard at some point during the day. Air can layer itself horizontally throughout the atmosphere due to temperature, and thus be blowing at different intensities and directions at different altitudes. It's possible for there to be a "river" of air just a few hundred feet overhead or below your launch area that's blowing the opposite direction and harder than you like.

On clear nights cool air can "puddle" up

AUGUST

2000

Dixon's Notes

by Dixon White on the ground for hundreds or thousands of feet in depth. This is called an inversion. As you ascend from the ground through the lower atmosphere you will often find that the air actually gets warmer. This puddle of cool air is sitting underneath slightly warmer air and it's very possible that an uninformed pilot might not !mow that the winds above this layer are actually very strong. Different temperature layers of air don't mix, similar to oil and water. As the sun warms the ground the ground warms the air, and the puddle of cool air warms up and mixes with the upper level "river" of air, and within seconds you can find yourself in strong wind.

You will also rind temperatures-aloft information on the Internet or through a call to Flight Service, and this information helps us predict stability. We will discuss the thermal and lifted indexes in the next article.

The reverse launch gives a pilot far more control over the glider. When a glider is inflated in a reverse position it can be carefully examined for snags, knots and sticks, and be adjusted to a symmetrical inflation very easily. When a glider is brought up in a reverse position the pilot has the ability to abort the launch much more easily.

Standing in the reverse position while waiting to launch is more sensible, and you can more easily prevent the glider from getting the best of you in windy or gusty conditions.

The reverse launch is harder than a forward launch because you must rotate to a forward position without losing control of your glider or your footing. It's the first launch technique you should learn, and take the time to learn it successfully before learning forward launches. The reverse launch can be mastered in no-wind as well as highwind conditions. Most people gravitate toward what's easiest and what they learned first, thus the reason for learning this technique first. Once the reverse launch is mastered the forward launch is a cinch to learn.

Those pilots who have mastered the reverse launch may find themselves never doing a forward launch. Practice is the mother of skill.

Take your time learning each step of the reverse launch. Be sure to review the previous articles about how to hook in to your glider in the reverse position.

Let's start the exercises by leaving the control toggles (a.lea. the "brakes") clipped in and out of the way. Become competent at raising the glider so that your right hand is controlling what you sec as the right side of the glider and vice-versa with the left hand. Don't cross your hands. Become completely proficient at bringing the glider up slightly and reaching for the "c/d" or "rear" risers. As your hands let go of the front risers you should swing your hands down and around with the palms up as you bring them up to the rear risers; this way you will find them more easily.

Do this exercise 50 times and vary the point at which you let go of the front risers to reach for the rears. You need to develop perfect "body memory" of the riser positions.

Begin learning to bring the glider up slightly crooked so you can move the glider laterally.

Overhead view ofpilot Learn how to with risers crossed in bring the glider up font. slightly and allow it to pull you downwind.

This practice will be a huge help in learning how to inflate your glider smoothly for every launch. This practice will also help you learn how to kite up a slope to your launch.

The next article will expand on the skill oflearning the reverse launch. In the meantime, add the David Sollom book

Paraglidingftom Beginner to Cross Country to your library. Review inversion topics in Pagen's Understanding the Sky. Renner's book, Northwest Mountain Weather, is an interesting weather book. The videos Starting Paragliding and Weather to Ffy are also excellent resources. •

39

HOT GS

ut guess what, the 2-3 wings are getting better too, and they'll continue to have a performance advantage. Even if you'll never fly a D HV 2-3 wing you may want to see how they' re being built, because the same technology tends to appear in the more popular models a year or two later.

First, in the spirit oflate-night television, here's my top-ten list of reasons to buy a DHV 2-3 wing:

Join the geek major and geek minor as we overanalyze DHV 2-3

IO) I need more distance to get a record.

9) My flying days are ve1y limited and I don't mind "cheating" to get a few extra minutes in the air.

8) I fly in competitions.

7) It's safer than an unrated or "comp" wing.

G) I don't mind paying more for a wing.

5) I don't care that it will have little or no resale value.

4) I never fly in third-world countries and there's always a friend or cell phone to summon help.

3) It won't spoil my day if my wing wads up in midair; I can handle it.

2) In case I'm wrong about #3, my medical and disability insurance is excellent.

1) I have plenty oflife insurance coverage.

may it rest in peace.

B

Kidding aside, this is not a bad list to consider. Reasons IO through 7 are optional, but the others all deserve an honest answer. Most of your safety is determined by your judgement and the risks you are willing to talce, plus your ability to keep a cool head when you get a surprise. But higher-performance wings do demand more skill and attention, so if all else is held equal, these wings are not as safe to fly.

In the last two years a "serial class" was created in paraglider racing, which is limited to wings certified DHV 2-3 or better. This has put more emphasis on racing in this category, and the newer wings are designed to fly heavy and fast. This does not necessarily malcc them better at scratching in light conditions. Iflow sink rate is what you want, you can probably ....~~-~-~-t:_e_':.~.Y flying in the low end of the weight

40

wzngs. Why should you care about DHV 2-3 wings? Chances are, you're among the 80% ofpilots who won't buy one, or the 10% of pilots who shouldn't have. Today's DHV 2 wings can outjly yesterday's 2-3 wings, and even the 1-2 wings are catching up to my old Energy,

range on a more stable wing, like an Apco Allegra or even an Edel Adas. What you get with the performance wings is the ability to cover more distance with the same sink. This is useful when searching for thermals, jumping from ridge to ridge, or just penetrating back to where you started after drifting downwind with a weak thermal.

To keep the DHV 2-3 wings all straight, it helps to have a background in science: Ozone Proton, Nova Argon, FreeX Oxygen, Firebird Rocket and others. Most are capable of fullyloaded speeds above 50 km/hr. Even intermediate wings are starting to maize such claims: Firebird Matrix (52), Pro-Design Effect (51 ), Flight Design SX (50), and Nova Phelix (50).

We're guessing the DHV 2-3 wings tend to have better glide slopes at these speeds. One of the big design challenges is to recover safely from a collapse at this kind of speed.

Accelerated asymmetric collapse tends to be the worst score in DHV testing, and is sometimes the only reason a wing is rated 2-3. Paratech P70, Gin Bonanza and Edel Response are in this "low 2-3" group, along with the Sigma 4 tested. Others test without the speed bar or limit its travel for better DHV scores. Trim systems have largely disappeared from DHVrated wings; their benefits don't justify testing at both extremes of trim adjustment and the consequent worst-of-both rating.

For this article I obtained the Advance Sigma 4, Nova Argon and Ozone Proton.

Steve Rori and I flew them all, and I collected dimensions for the comparisons below. As you'll see, these are not quite birds of a feather; the latter two are pretty much designed to race, while the Sigma 4 is more of a "kinder/gentler" performance wing. Advance took the unusual step of getting DHV listings both with and without speedbar, and the Sigma 4 is officially rated DHV 2 without speedbar. We wanted to compare it to other low-end 2-3's like the Paratech P70 or high-end 2's like the Apco Bagheera, but neither of those found its way to my front porch. At the other extreme, Nova took the unusual step of getting DHV ratings with both standard and skinny lines. The Argon is rated DHV 2-3 with either set of lines, qualifying the Argon to race in the serial class with the faster/less durable unsheathed lines.

WING SHAPE The Sigma 4 and Argon have a remarkably similar flat shape. The leading edge is swept back, the wingtip is wide (70 or 71 cm) and squared-off at the rear. The wide wingtip allows a brake line to attach at or near the tip with minimal risk of tip stalls. (The Sigma 4 has even less risk; see the photo showing how the brake line runs through loops, causing the tip to gather more than pull down.) The Proton has a shape much closer to the theoretically ideal lifting shape - elliptical, less swept back, tapered to relatively narrow 44-cm tips.

PARAGLIDING

The brake lines stop short of the tip, the last one being attached where the wing is 97 cm wide. We judged the Proton to be slightly easier to turn than the others. More about handling below.

LAUNCHING All of these wings come overhead easily, bur there the differences become apparent. The Sigma 4 will kite comfortably overhead, or launch immediately. The Argon feels identical up to the point of being overhead and will stop there without brakes, bur you soon discover that the wing is thinner, has less lift at this speed, and is easily smacked down by turbulence. The trick is to accelerate immediately and get yourself to a speed where the wing is more comfortable. The Proton comes up much more quickly than the others, in part because rhe lines are a bit shorter, but also because the trim seems to be faster. This quickness is fi.)Und in all aspects of its flight behavior. During launch, the Proton needs a pop of the brakes to decelerate it overhead, then run and launch like the others.

The Importance Of Angles As the number of lines and attachments is reduced, the load on each line and attachment point increases. The diagonal ribs inside higher-performance wings serve to distribute this increased load toward the gaps between. But if the gaps are large and the ribs try to reach too far (high rib angle), the structure can buckle, causing part of the wing to fold up like an accordion. Buckling is prevented by a combination of internal pressurization and tip-to-tip tension. High loads and larger rib angles require more tension. But tip-to-tip tension doesn't come for free, it is created by shaping the wing with more arch, so that the wingtips pull against each other. This pull is generated aerodynamically, and wherever there is aerodynamic "lift," even in a horizontal direction, there is aerodynamic drag. Add in the parasitic drag from the larger wing area and you see why a high-arch wing is less efficient. Wings with smaller rib angles need less tension to prevent buckling, so such wings can have less arch and be more efficient.

The line attachment angles have similar importance. You can reduce line usage by moving cascade points higher, but wing tension is needed to counteract the angular pull on the wing. High-performance wing designs will increasingly reduce the need for tension in order to flatten the wing and increase performance. This will be done with low angles for both ribs and lines.

RIB STRUCTURES These days. high-performance wings include internal rib structures that permit fewer attachmcnr points and therefore less line drag. In order to discuss these structures we'll need some naming conventions. I'll propose naming the structures by the shape of the cells between attachment points, as shown in the illustration.

The cell shapes correspond to the letter shapes: three-sided cells are either "V" or A" depending on orientation. Four-sided cells arc "O" and are not necessarily rectangular.

The plain O structure will always be the choice for low weight, simplicity and low cost.

This is the structure usl:d on al11ine descent wings, plus most beginner and many intermediate wings. The additional lines add little weight and expmse, bur there is a drag penalty.

The 00 structure works if the cells are relatively tall and narrow, bur the unsupported rib in the middle tends to bulge toward the top side. This structure is found on some older performance wings. Virtually all wings use 00 or 000 structures at the D lines; the rear of a wing isn't thick enough to fit good diagonal ribs, loading is low, and the shape of the wing is not as critical.

The V AAV structure appeared briefly as manufacturers first brought our ribbed designs.

Ir improves on the shape of the 00 structure but weighs more, and has one big disadvantage: Triangular cells arc relatively rigid when inflated, and this wing consists entirely of triangular cells. Any slight defect in design or manufacturing causes the wing to buckle somewhere, and the resulting bulge is unsightly if not inefficient. It's also been suggested that these wings were more difficult to rein flare

AUGUST

2000

after a collapse.

The Sigma 4 improves on the VM V by using the similar OMO structure. The short fourth wall gives the wing just enough flexibility to avoid unsightly bulges. They also place ribs (straps, really) only at the line attachment points, saving weight for the considerable amount of reinforcing and other features in various other parts of the wing. No stitching is visible on the Sigma 4's top side, unlike the others tested.

But to really minimize parasitic drag you need structures that can space the lines even fitrther apart. Here the structures begin to approach the limits of what is possible with a tension-only structure.

The V AOA V structure is probably the most

""''"''''"''''43'

OAOAO

vov

VOOV

OVAOAV

VAOAV

ovoov

OAAO

VO

VAAV

VOO

00

The Proton would fit neatly under the Argon, while the Sigma 4 overlaps both.

popular for performance wings today. It limits the attachment points to every third cell, and cell counts are identical top and bottom.

Where the diagonal ribs end (typically at the C lines) there is no sudden doubling or tripling of the cell width. The Proton uses this structure.

The "non-A" structures consist entirely of V and O cells. Cell counts are higher on the top side where the wing shape is most critical. The front portion of the top surface sees the greatest lifting forces, so frequent ribs help to minimize bulging of this area. Stitching is visible on the top of the wing; typically the ribs are single-sewn to the top. On the VOOV structure, used on the Argon, it is worth mentioning that the unsupported center rib does not bulge toward the top side like on the 00 design. This is because pressure forces on the smaller top surface are approximately balanced by forces on the larger underside area.

The "compound" structures (0: ... ) insert a single O cell between segments of one of the other structures. This spreads che attachment lines even further apart, at the expense of a short cascade for the extra cell. The overall line usage can be less than on the simple structures, but the additional cascade increases the chance ofline tangles. Literature for the Ozone Octane shows the 0: VAOAV structure, but the O:VOOV structure hasn't appeared yet.

These structures have evolved about as far

0

as they're going co, given the current design assumptions. But change one assumption and there are some new possibilities. Specifically, why must all the seams be parallel? What if the cell structures could taper in and our in more organic shapes? This adds complexity to an already-complex sewing job. It also makes the VO and YOO structures practical, and the compound structures become more attractive if the added cell can change width toward the rear of the wing.

BACK ON TRACK Whew, we're back. All chat so we can say the Proton has a VAOAV rib structure, The Sigma 4 has an OAAO structure, and the Argon has a VOOV structure. The Sigma 4 has the most attachment points. The Argon's diagonal ribs extend all the way to the trailing edge of the wing, adding some weight but also marginally improving wing shape and eliminating bumps at sudden transitions. The Argon's additional top-side panels serve to reduce the rib angles, and the design tal,es advantage of this difference; the wing is unusually flat (low arch) in flight. In the table you'll see that the Argon's similar flat span becomes the largest projected span in the group, and the weight range is consequencly higher. The "span ratio" measure in the table is a good way to compare the arch shape of wings, where 0.8 is typical for a paraglider and 0.9 would be extremely flat.

The Sigma 4's leading edges feature mesh-covered slits on the outermost cells and rounded openings on all other cells, giving the leading edge an especially smooth and consistent shape. The outer brake line feeds through two inboard eyes. Photos by Valery Chapuis.

44

The other way to flatten a wing is to make the lines very long, so the pilot hangs far below the wing rather than between the tips. The cradeoff is increased line drag, but chis is not such a big factor with reduced line counts. All of the wings in this group have relatively long lines.

HANDLING So a flat wing is good for efficiency, which relates mostly to straight glide. But what about turning? Beginner wings tend to have an advantage in turning simply because of their compactness. Within a performance category the sense of control changes with line length and wing shape: If you' re hung high, directly between the wingtips, every wing twitch will be felt immediately. With long lines and a relatively flat wing you get more of a limousine ride; you' re more distant from the bumps and changes are not as dramatic. This is good and bad. Good because you'll have time to react to problems, but bad because you may not realize immediately that there is a problem. For a given wing, the "feel" is likely to improve toward the heavy end of the weight range because the wing reacts more quickly at speed.

The Argon has excellent proportional brake force through a long travel, partly because only one brake line engages at first. By the time all the brake lines engage (as you might prefer for active flying) you are flying at less than minimum sink. The Argon flies willingly in this range, but remember that you need to ease off the bral,es when you can. The Proton turned slightly better than the others in this group, perhaps because of its fast trim. It also engages a single brake line to begin, but through a shorter range, and the lines are probably all engaged at minimum sink. The Sigma 4 uses all bral,e lines about equally and still has good brake travel, perhaps assisted by the eye-and-loop attachment at the wingtip. In Steve's opinion, in thermal conditions, the Sigma 4 provides the best feedback to the pilot of the three gliders reviewed.

SPEED All three wings have 3: 1 speed pulley systems.

I prefer these to the 2: l systems in spite of the

PARAGLIDING

long travel because they work more smoothly. We weren't able to compare speed directly, but all of these wings can go fast when you get on the bar. The Sigma 4 has an aggressive speed system that pays a stiff price in glide angle to get maximum speed. Steve also discovered that you shouldn't stomp on the bar immediately after launch as this can cause a frontal collapse. By contrast, the Argon speed bar should be used liberally, since best glide appears to happen with no brake and a significant amount of speed bar. At half speed bar you can listen for thermals on the vario, and your climb rare won't change much when you slow down! The Proton's speed system performance is reasonably good as well; it has the longest travel of the three, too long even for my long legs were it nor for the nice two-step speed bar Ozone supplies with the wing.

EMERGENCY DESCENT Advance does not recommend a B-line stall for the Sigma 4, in part because the descent rate is not much better than big cars. This is apparently a downside of a relatively stiff wing. The other wings claim B-line stalls are okay with the usual disclaimers. \X'e didn't try these stalls, but I expect you'd need tremendous strength to pull B-lines on the Argon since most of the pilot and harness weight hangs on the B-riser. The Proton, with an additional riser and wingtips anached to the C-riser, should be easier, but the manual warns about requiring strength. All manufacturers mention the use of steep spiral dives as the most extreme descent technique, with appropriate cautions about the hazards involved.

SAFETY I'd rather let someone else be the crash-test dummy, so these wings have already been tested for safety. While several groups do safoty testing, Dl-!V has probably the most comprehensive testing program. When you're considering a new wing get the whole safety report, not just the rating.

There's a big difference between a D 1-!V 2 wing with eight 2's in the report and another with just one 2; the former is more like a 2-3 wing, and the lartcr is nearly a 1-2 wing. Also, compare weight ranges. The manufacturer can set these numbers somewhat arbitrarily, and they may be skewed toward passing the DHV test more easily. Be suspicious of unusually narrow weight ranges, or ranges that call for an unusually large wing. Among the tested wings there are two where the weights listed by DHV don't match the manufacturer's current recommendations. I would go with the manufacturer's range (especially if there has been lots of flying experience since the test was done) but be cautious about the unrated end of the range.

Another measure of safety is the shape of the wing.

Longer, skinny wings will be more "twitchy" and prone to collapses than shorter, fatter wings. For this measure I would look at two lines in the table: the flat aspect ratio and the wing thickness. The flat aspect ratio is better than the projected measure because it tells you how long and flexible the fabric is, and therefore how prone to get wiggly or tie in knots. The wing thickness relates to speed and rigidity. A thick wing flies better at low speed for launching, maneuvering and landing, plus the larger cross-section increases the rigidity due to internal pressurization.

Finally, there is one downside to a low-arch profile: a

Size Listed flying weight including wing, kg Weight of wing, bag, backpack, kg (note 1) IChp-m weight, kg (pounds) Count of DHV 2's (note 2) Count of DHV 2-3's (note 2)

Advance Sigma 4 27 80-100 (DHV 75-95) 6.76, 0.12, 1.29 [6.7] 72-92 (158-202)

Flat surface area, m2 (note 1,4) Projected surface area, m2 (note 1) Chord at center of wing, m (note 1) Flat wingspan, m (note 1,4) Projected wingspan, m (note 1) Span ratio, projected/flat span (note 3,4) Flat aspect ratio (note 1,4) Projected aspect ratio (note 1) Wing thickness at center, m Rib angle at B lines, degrees

Ozone Proton

Nova Argon

72-97 (159-214)

13-14

10-11

16

1-2

4-5

4-6

Siliconeimpregnated nvlon top

Polyethylene (Dyneema) uooer lines

A:3/3 B:3/3 C:3+S/3 D:2/3

A:3/3* B:3+S/3* C:3/3*/2(C/D) *outer is 4

25.31 r25.58l 22.73 123.0l 2.71 [2.7321 11.60 [12.091 9.83 [9.9721

26.42 [26.61 24.00 r23.91 2.70 [2.711 11.88 r11.911 10.37 r1 o.361

0.845 [0.824]

0.847 [0.825]

0.873 [0.870]

5.08 15.231 4.07 f4.091

5.32 [5.721 4.26 r4.32J

5.34 r5.331 4.48 M.491

0.51

0.47

0.47

-30-33

-22-32

-18-31

A:4/4 B:4+S/4 C:4/4* D:3/4 *outer is C/D 25.95 r26.80l 23.13 f23.301 2.77 r2.801 11.48 [11.841 9.70 [9.761

M

I

24 80-110 (DHV 85-110) 6.69, 0.10, 1.44 [7] 72-102 (158-224)

Unusual materials Risers and low/mid/top cascades (S=stabilizer line)

l

80-105 6.57, 0.12, 1.39

note 1: All measurements and calculations are mine. [manufacturer's in square brackets for reference] note 2: DHV reports have up to 32 numeric grades, but often a few are left blank. The low score ignores the blanks; the high score assumes blanks are equal to the adjacent number. note 3: numbers in brackets calculated from manufacturer numbers note 4: my flat measurements are of the underside; Advance measures a hypothetical plane through the middle of the wing -- hence the difference between my number and theirs.

Continued on page 48.

AUGUST

2000

··················4°s·

---" "-------------------~

pe dIs Your Fr1

by Peter Reagan student on his 25th flight launched well, then seven seconds later raised his hands, waited a second, then slammed on the brakes and held them there. He went into a parachucal stall and landed hard on his air bag, bruising his back. From our experienced vantage point it is easy to see this student pilot's error, but before we all get too complacent, read on.

An experienced X-C pilot was I 00 feet above the ground and deep in his brakes.

He initiated a turn and went into a full stall leading to a spin. The pilot knew he was low and decided not to deploy his reserve. The impact broke his wrist and several ribs, leading to a several-day stay in the hospital. A good friend of the pilot commented: "I did not see it happen but after going over it with the pilot and talking to a hang glider pilot who witnessed the fall, it seems that the victim had simply slowed the wing too much while attempting to turn in a thermal at low altitude. He inadvertently flew out of the thermal and experienced a stall followed by a spin. Since he was 100 feet or less above the ground he decided to try to recover rather than throw his reserve.

After that everything happened very fast.

The pilot is very skilled and conservative.

However, I do think that his wing is the least stable of any we have flown with."

GLIDER: INTERMEDIATE-CLASS CAGE. NO RESERVE. LATE SUMMER AT A CLIFF LAUNCH. INJURIES: FRACTURES OF BOTH HEELS, OVERNIGHT HOSPITALIZATION. An experienced pilot launched well, he reports, then turned right and immediately had "a full-frontal and a 60%-70% right asymmetric collapse." He cleared

these while steering away from the vertical cliff, but then suffered a 50% left asymmetric collapse. He had no time to respond and did a PLF on the vertical wall, fracturing both heels. He reports that another pilot experienced a similar event the next day but was able to avoid impact, and surmises that a rotor may have been responsible. Most local pilots were launching 70 feet away to the right of the victim. The victim didn't speak the local language (Portuguese) and had no conversations with the local pilots.

Collapses occurring during or immediately after a turn are caused by insufficient airspeed leading to a spin. Airspeed is often marginal as one leaves the ground. It may take 50 yards to reach full flying speed. In this period one is especially vulnerable to collapse, and the results are more likely to be disastrous. The stronger the wind or the more dynamic the thermals, the higher the risk of collapse or stall just after launch. Especially in a highly committed situation, like a vertical cliff with potential rotor, it is critical to reach full speed before doing any maneuvers, including simple turns.

DESERT SITE: LAfE AFTERNOON GLASS-OFF A very experienced, older pilot had not been flying for several months because of health problems and was demoing a new DHV 1-2 wing. He launched in light soaring conditions and pulled quite a bit of brake to cry to maximize lift. One pilot radioed him to raise his hands and fly faster, but he didn't hear the advice. He encountered a gentle thermal, tried to turn in it and stalled the inner wing, resulting in a negative spin into the ground.

He lay on the ground for several min-

utes as pilots ran to him. He was able to stand and reported that his shoulder hurt but that there were no other problems, so he slowly retreated to his vehicle, protesting that he was okay and that others should go have fun. An hour later a pilot checked on him and found him ashen and short of breath. He was taken to the hospital by private car and spent several days there stabilizing with a collapsed lung and rib fractures.

Here is another example of insufficient airspeed causing a stall at the initiation of a simple turn. Don't ever forger: SPEED IS YOUR FRIEND! It is always a compromise how deep in the brakes to fly when one is scratching for lift, but always remember that stalling near the ground is very dangerous.

The question was raised about the pilot's age, his health issues, and lack of recent experience. It's very hard to figure out when a pilot should quit flying, seek remedial training, or just limit his ambitions. We all will eventually face these decisions. We need to take a lot into account as we make them, and it's often helpful to discuss them with our pilot friends.

There was a lot of controversy among local pilots concerning the rescue in this case, especially concerning the fact that the injured pilot was left alone for an hour and another pilot just happened to check on him. Pilots are embarrassed by their accidents and their injuries, and in general will minimize them. If a pilot hits hard it is very important to remain aware of his condition for at least an hour or two afterward, much longer if any deterioration occurs. Critics also suggested that an ambulance should have been called. In this case the outcome would have been the same but at greater expense, and arrival at the hospital would have been later. These may be difficult judgment calls. Try to make them as wisely as you can.

Thanks to all of you who have reported these incidents. Humans can understand statistics, but they are more likely to learn from experience. Ill

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46

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Continued Ji'om page 45. large collapse leaves th e pilot under a sloping wing. This collapsed wing will rnrn more before recoverin g, and pilot inputs ro prevent rhe rum may be more likely to cause a sraJL In rhe DHV's asymmetric co llapse rest, where the wing is allowed to recover from a large collapse without pilot input, rhe Argon turned more than 360 degrees. The other two wings we rested are listed as turning between 180 and 360 degrees.

BOTTOM LINE So how did we like chem? Steve flew lors of hours on the Sigma 4 and we borh liked rhe feel in thermals. We do n' t like rhe speed system, but many pilots rarel y use a speed system. Steve didn't get much time on the Argon bur I liked its behavior in mild thermals. We reviewed the Proton last, in June thermal conditions, so it certainly got the roughest conditions for testing, plus the

only significant cross-counny flight. Steve liked th e turning quickness of the Proton, The Proton reinflared quickly and cleanly after the unavo idable tip collapses or frontals yo u get when wandering in and out of strong thermals. The silicon-impregnated fabric was initially a dust magnet, bur chat seems to have abated with time. I'd call rh e Proton a good choice for the experienced pilot who likes its combination of extreme quickness and well-rounded behavior. Go with rh e Sigma 4 if yo u'd rrade a lirrle of char quickness for a more forgiving and secure ride. I don ' r think we rested the Argon enough ro compare ir accurately with the ochers; I'm guessing it will prove itself on rh e competition circuit chis year (as rhe Proton did last year) with a combination of speed and efficiency. I'm less certain about its behavior in big air, so I've ordered one to continue resting.•

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Tel. (305) 639 3330, Fax (305) 639 3055, inlo@aerolighl.com,http://www.aerolighl.com

48

One of the first things we learned in aerodynamics class is that the optimum shape for a wing is an ellipse: almost straight in the middle, then tapering smaller toward rounded tips.

This can be proven mathematically. Furthermore, the optimal wing will be straight along its center oflifr, which roughly corresponds to the B-lines on a paraglider. The result is a slightly "forward-swept" wing. Fixed-wing aircraft seldom achieve such an optimal shape; their wing roots are fat and wide for strength, and the rest of the wing is outlined with straight segments for ease of manufacture. Fast jets also sweep the wings back so they can fly a bit closer to the speed of sound.

Paragliders also have a structural limitation - they must have an arched design in order to stay inRated. This adds acreage and drag to the wing. But the sewn fabric of a paraglider allows curves that can give an almost perfectly elliptical projected shape, so the wing can be nearly optimal in terms of projected shape.

Two manufacturers, FreeX and Advance, design their wings with distinctive wingtip features unlike those on other wings. My first reaction is that any extra frills beyond the basic ellipse are going to be a waste. But in aerodynan1ics class we also learned about winglets, small fins extending upward (or downward) from the tip of a wing. The advantage of a winglet is that it makes a wing behave as if it is a bit longer, without actually making the wing longer. This is important when your wing is a rigid structure, but it doesn't explain winglers on a paraglider where span can be added with little structural weight.

The winglet on Advance wings is a topside fin, extending up and out from the wing.

Aerodynamically it is somewhere between a vortex generator and a wingler. A vortex generator encourages the air to swirl as it passes over the top of a wing. The low pressure of a vortex can increase lift locally. A fin can also play a "fire wall" role in preventing a stall from spreading. Advance makes few claims about the winglers, but this last item seems to be the subject of a line in the owner's manual: "The use of winglets delays laminar flow detachment at the wing tips, resulting in more precision when rnrning. " The FreeX wingler extends downward and inward along a stabilizer line. This line attachment gives it more rigidiry than a topside fin. On their older wings the extension was quite large, and the transition from wing to winglet was sudden. The result is a separation of duties. Whereas most wings transition gradually from the "lifting" portion of the wing to the "tensioning" portion of the wing, FreeX had a sharp angle between the rwo. The winglec played a role in steering, but mostly provided tip-to-tip tension. Now, on the newer FreeX wings, the extension is smaller and more integrated with the wing. This design seems intended more for steering than tensioning. Steering is an aspect of paraglider design with lots of room for improvement, so I'll withhold judgement until I fly one.

Bur let's not neglect the obvious. Brand identity is important in any business, and discinctive visual features contribute to that identiry. So long as the functional merits of rhe fearnres are at least plausible, the company gains by having a more distinctive brand.

PARAGLIDING

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From one client who has just recently joined the long list of pilots who walked away from serious injuries after crashing.

This past week I had an experience which clarified to me, the huge importance of flying the safest, most padded harness available. I was with 2 other pilots at a new site in Eastern , WA. Conditions were light and variable with the occasional 8-1 O mph breeze. I was first and launched my Firebird Ignition (friendly beg - int wing ) at approximately 4:30, into a 5-7 mph wind cycle . The wing came up straight and beautiful, all looked good. Less then 3 seconds after my feet left the ground (no more then 1O feet up) I encountered a powerful dust devil. It violently grabbed my glider, yanked it forward and ahead of me (I am facing the ground at th is point), straight up, then off sharpiy to the ieft were ii slammed me into the hard rocks over 75 feet away. Observers stated my wing was picked up 3-4 more times , each time slamming me into the rocky launch .The most vivid memory is the feeling of being dragged along by an amazingly powerful force , barely above the ground , FACE DOWN , and totally out of control. As I prepared for a final impact , I recall twisting with all I could muster to get my harness padding around to take the hit. When I hit.. it was hard and on my right hip (which I am convinced would be broken if not for the side protection of the Sup'Air Profeel harness . After the initial impact, I reached up to pull in any lines I could grab, but before I could get control , I was slammed 4 additional times on my back (gotta love Profeel's big , padded back protector). My buddies came over picked me up and dusted me off and told me what a horrible site that was to witness . Together, we reconstructed the events.

After taking inventory, I was simply scraped up on my shoulders ... fine condition considering. My harness is scraped and torn over the right side protector where I first took impact. My helmet looks chipped up but otherwise fine (observers noted I whacked my head pretty good , too ). If someone had told me that I would take a hit like that when I bought my Profeel Harness ($775) , and that the side protection would be what will keep me from ending up broken and hospitalized , I would happily have paid 5x the cost. BUY THE BEST PROTECTION !!!!!!!!!!!! Later that evening Jeff Davis , Ed Lantis , and I soared Rest Haven , here in Yakima, for 2 hours until the sun set, in very smooth conditions.

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UP VlS ION S - Like new, 60-90kg., IO hours airtime, packsack, harn ess, rese rve, helm et, A STEAL DEAL. $3,00 0 wo rrh , ASKING $1,000. (7 03) 620- 1952 . rad ikal@erols.com XIX \VINGS - New and used, demos, excellent co ndiri011 , from S 1,800 . Arr, Inter. Form. Ordering LO for big discount, ger in on this and save hundreds. Also Fireb ird Flam e, exce ll ent co nditi o n , 209 -264 1bs $ 1,300 . Ca ll (858) 279-6997 or email skypilorbrian@v;1hoo.com BRAND NEW EDEL GLIDERS - Fo r sale ar Dealer cosr. Order Now 1 New Edel Response Med.I l g. .. .. S2,650 New Edel Promise ............................ ....... .. $2,450 New Edel Confidence Med.I l g.. ... $2,35 0 New Edel 8000 /Vim. G lider/ Harn ess ........ .$2.650 New Edel Prime Tandem. .. ..... $2,95 0 .. ... $ 195 Edel Gorrex Flight suits.. ..

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51

NORTH CAROLINA

SUNSPORTS PARAGLIDING - I load River, Oregon. Beginner lessons, tandem flights, advanced instruction, consignment sales. Rick Higgins, Master rated pilot, Advanced Instructor, Tandem Administrator. (541) 387-2112, SunSportsPG@aol.com TEXAS

at Killy Hawk Kites Outer Banks, NC Lessons Daily Towing & Foot Launch Ycar Round Sales & Service CALL TODAY! 800-334-4777 252-441-4124

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WHAT HAPPENS when you combine the largest paragliding school with the largest paragliding and hang gliding shop? Introducing the new CLOUD 9 SOARING CENTER. We are open 7 days a week for lessons, sales and tandem flights for both hang gliding and paragliding. The shop is now owed by Steve Mayer. Our new repair facility run by Bill (Bad Bones) Anderson, is ready for any repairs or repacks. for more informationwww. paragl iders. com or stop by at 12665 S. Minuteman Dr., just a few minutes from world famous Point of the Mountain. info@paragliders.com 1-888944-5433. In Utah, call (801) 576-6460.

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WASHINGTON

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(503) 667-4557, fax (503) 666-6979. Email: othpara@spiritone.com web: http://www. overt heh ill paragliding.com

52

DIXON'S AIRPLAY PARAGL][)INC Dixon White: USHGA's Instructor of the Year! Airplay: Top ranked school for years and fearnred in the best selling videos "Starting Paragliding" and "Weather to Hy". This Northwest training center is located on the Eastern side of the Cascades where the weather is dry and beautiful!

Open May through October this 2,000 acre private flight park is ideal for the beginner with drive-up wideopen launches and large landing fields. Individualized rraining with state-of-the-art equipment, 2-way radios,

comprehensive ground schooling with an emphasis on micrometeorology. Dixon's srndents have won the US Narionals Sport Class and set many records. Crear new and used inventory. On-site climbing wall, skiing, mountain biking, etc. Dixon's Paragliding in Washington and Arizona (appointmenrs required), 8 IO I Hay Canyon Road, Cashmere WA 98815. (509) 7825543. www.paraglide.com or dixon~',paraglide.com

IS IT SOARABLE? - Be sure with a USJ-JGA Windsok. Made of I. 5 oz. ripstop nylon, UV treated, 5'4" long w/11" throat. Available colors fluorescent pink/yellow or fluorescent pink/white. $39.95 (+$4.75 S/H). Send to USHCA Windsok, P.O. Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330, Cl 19) 6.32-8.'lUO, fax (719) 632-6417. VISA/MC: accepted.

PARAGLIDING

SOARING - Monthly magazine of The Soaring Society of America, Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring Hight. Full membership $55. Info. kit with sample copy $3. SSA, P.O. Box 2100, Hobbs, NM 88241. (505)

VIDEOS

MINI VARIO- World's smallest, simplest vario 1 Clips to helmet or chinstrap. 200 hours on batteries, 0-18,000 ft., fast response and 2 year warranty. Great for hang gliding too. ONLY $169. Malletrec, PO Box 15756, Santa Ana CA, 927.15. (714) %6-1240, www.mallettec.com MC/Visa accepted.

PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS

'NEW* WEATHER TO FLY, by Adventure Productions. A much needed instructional video on micrometeorology. Dixon White, Master pilot and USHGA Examiner, takes you through a simple step-bystep process showing where to acquire weather data and how ro interpret it. For pilots of any aircraft. Learn about regional & local influences and how to determine winds aloft and stability. "Weather To Fly" is an over-all view packed with useful derails and includes great cloud footage. A srraight-fo1ward presentation that is easy to follow. 50 min. $39.95.

TURNING POINT IN ALPINE THERMALLING, by Dennis Trott/ Alpine Flying Centre. 50% HG, 50% PG. Discover techniques to tame the elusive alpine thcnnal. Beautiful footage set

comments from top pilots & great animation. 24 min

PARAGLIDING: From Beginner to XC - By Sollom/Cook. A great addition ro your paragliding library. Wonde,fol XC rips. Sec Steve Rori's review in the M,lrch/ April 200 Paragliding. Over 120 pages wirh superior illustrations & color phorographs, $29. 95 +$4.75 s/h. USHCA, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs C:O 8090 I. (719) 6.12-8300, fax your MC/Visa ro (719) 632-6417.

AUGUST

2000

FLY NEPAL POKHARA - Winter 2000. Three 10 day tours starting November 20th - December 27th, $1,800.00. www.razors-cdgc.org/flynepal, (208) 233-1380 or Dale Covington (801) 474-2380.

against Europl'.'s most dran1atic n1ounrains. Also features

PARAGLIDING: THE COMPLETE GUIDE - By Noel Whittall. The most complete guide ro paragliding on the marker. Over 100 color photographs & illustrations, 200 pages, $26.95 +$4.75 s/h. USHGA, PO Box Ll30, Colorado Springs CO 8090 I. (71 9) 6.U-8.100, fax your MC/Visa to (719) 632-6417. Our most popular book!

MISCELLANEOUS

$35.95.

STARTING

PARAGLIDING

by

Adventure

Productions. c:ovcr.s hasic preparations, weather, proper

attitude, ground handling & those first exciting launches. 30 min $29.95.

FLY HARD: Viking Films newest release. Rob Whittall, Chris Santacroce & a vintage Buick convertible full of paragliders. Outrageous flying at several west coast flying sires. Meet I-IC acrobatics champion Mirch McAleer along the way. Excellent rock soundtrack, professionally filmed & edited, 35 minutes $35.95.

PARAGLIDE: THE MOVIE by Viking Films. Rock-nroll world class competition at Owens Valley.

Professionally filmed & edited, 35 minutes $35,95.

Call or fox USHGA (719) 632-8.300, fax (719) 6326417, please add +$4 domestic s/h (+$5 for two or more videos). Grear to impress your friends or for those socked-in days.

Classified advertising: new life for your equipment and cash in your pocket.

What a deal!

VIDEOS, BOOKS & APPAREL - Call USHGA for your Merchandise order form (719) 632-8300, fax (71 9) 632-6417, email:ushga@ushga.org,www.ushga.org DON'T LEAVE YOUR GROUND-BOUND EQUIPMENT SITTING IN THE GARAGE. SELL IT IN THE CLASSIFIEDS, CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES The rate for classified advertising is $.50 per word (or group of characters) and $1.00 per word for bold or all caps. Phone number=2 words, PO Box=2 words, weight range i.e.

1.37-l 85lbs=2 words, web site or email address=3 words.

MINIMUM AD CHARGE $5.00. A fee of $15.00 is charged for each line arr logo and $25.00 for each photo. LINEART & PHOTO SIZE NO LARGER THAN 1.75" X 2.25". Please underline words to be in bold prim. Special layouts of tabs are $25.00 per column inch. AD DEADLINES: August 20th is the deadline for the October issue. Please make checks payable ro USHGA. Send to: PARAGLIDINC MAGAZINE, Classified Advertising, P.O. Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330 (719) 632-8300 or fax (719) 632-6417, email jjelgart@ushga.org with your Visa or Master( :ard.

STOLEN WINGS & THINGS "AMERICAN FLAG" PARAGLIDER - Lost by 1-'edX, identical to the one Scott Alan is flying in the inside back cover Paraborne display ad. (407) 935-9912, scott@paraborne.com FLIGHT DESIGN S2VT - Two paragliders lost by the US postal service, shipped from CALil-'ORNIA to HAWAll parcel post on August 19th, 1999. One large w/purple top, one medium w/orange top. Lois Hulmes (550) 542-4937.

AT BAG/FlREBIRD G-SPORT L - Lost at LAKE CHELAN, WA launch area by the towers on May 16th, 1999. AT bag is purple/green, Glider is pink/white. Also SupAir purple/white harness, reserve, Piccolo vario.

Darren Hart (970) 925-2483.

53

EDEL CORVETTE 24 PG - Stolen from storage locker in CLARK FORK, ID on May 4th, 1'J'J'J. Hot pink/lime green, with trim tabs. Also CQ security chute, burgundy "vctter" helmet w/several site stickers on it (h,nston, WOR, Dunlap, Ed Levin, etc.) And older red helmet. Rhoda, (208) 266-1 505.

FREE-X FLAIR M - Stolen from a vehicle in SAN FRANCISCO, CA area on April 20, 1999. Red w/white LE. Advance harness attached, purple/black/yellow. Call Stephen Ainge (516) 28.1-.1240, aingc~"hamptons.com STOLEN WINGS are listed as a service to USHCA members. There i~ no charge for thi.s service and lost and found wings or equipment may be called in (71 'J) 6.>28300 or fax it in (719) 6.02-6417 for inclusion in Paragliding & Hang Cliding magazine. Please call to cancel the listing when gliders arc recovered.

Periodically, this listing will be purged.

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

Paraglider.nct ........................................ .47 Pro-Design ............................................. 49

Adventure Productions ............................. 9

SkyCo Sports ......................................... 47

Aerolighr USA .......................................... 5

Sky Gear .................................................. 9 Sport Aviation Publications .................... 25 Sup' Air ................................................. .49 Super Fly, lnc ........................ 2,Back Cover Thermal Tracker .................................... 11 Thin Red Line ....................................... 15

Aircotcc .................................................. 54 Airplay Paragliding ............................ 28,29 APCO Aviation Ltd .................. 8, 10,48,50 Baja Clinic ............................................... 5 Critter Mountain Wear .......................... ! I Flight Design ........................................... 9 Flyrcc ....................................................... 7 Hall Brothers ........................................... 9 Mojo's Gear ........................................... 25

Torrey Pines Gliderport ........................ .47 USHGA .................................... 6, 13,25,33 Wills Wing ............................................. 55 Women Fly .............................................. 5

-------------------·-----·-----·------------------------"

r------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------, USHGA CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ORDER FORM 50 cents per word, $5.00 minimum Boldface or caps: $1.00 per word. (Does not include first few words which are automatically caps.) Special layouts or tabs: $25 per column inch. (phone numbers: 2 words, P.O. Box: 1 word, E-mail or Web address: 3 words) photos: $25.00, line art logos: $15.00 (1.75" maximum) DEADLINE: 20th of the month, six weeks before the cover date of the issue in which you want your ad to appear (i.e., September 20 for the Nov./Dec. issue).

Prepayment required unless account established. No cancellations or refunds allowed on any advertising after deadline. Ad insertions FAXed or made by telephone must be charged to a credit card.

Please enter my classified ad as follows:

Number of months: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ SECTION J Paragliders J Emergency Parachutes J Parts & Accessories J Business & Employment J Miscellaneous J Powered Paragliders J Videos

Begin with _ _ _ _ _ _ 19

0 Towing 1J Schools & Dealers J Ultralights J Publications & Organizations J Wanted J Harnesses

issue and run for _____

consecutive issue(s). My O check, I..J money order is enclosed in the amount of$ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ NAME: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ ADDRESS: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ CITY: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STATE: _ _ __ PHONE: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Number of words: _______ @$.50 =_____ Number of words:

@$1.00 =_____

USHGA, P.O Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901 (719) 632-8300 fax (719) 632-6417

L------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~ 54

PARACLIDING

t h

e

a

n e

w

s w

C

u

r

i n

g

s

"The ARCUS is the best all around paraglider that I have ever flown.

It has it all; speed, glide, sink rate, great handling, light brake pressure, excellent thermalllng characteristics, quality of materials and workmanship, as well as superior stability.

There Is no need for a pilot to even own a DHV-2 or DHV 2-3 to get performance anymore. Everybody from new P-2's to veteran P-4's will be happy with this glider."

Wally Anderson Merlin Flight School

"I found the performance and flying enjoyment of Swing's new ARCUS beyond my expectations. Swing's ARCUS has raised the bar with this newly released entry level glider.

All the speed, performance and looks of a performance glider, in a DHV 1 paraglider. Any student choosing this glider will llkely wear it o u t , rather than sell It off for greater performance as they progress down the line.

Advanced pilots will rediscover the sheer fun of safe flying without feeling overly restricted.

My DHV 2-3 is going to have to share air time with the ARCUS as I ended up buying one for myself."

Rob von Zabern Paragliding Magazine. July 99

" I never expected a beginning paragllder could have such a fantastic combination of great thermalling performance, eye-watering speed capability, rock-solid stability. and carefree maneuvering. The ARCUS Is my Idea of a flying dream come true."

Mark " Forger" Stucky Paragliding Magazine, July 99

~

LLS~

Qual ity

aircraft

NG fer

ex ce ptional

p eop l e.