USHGA Paragliding Vol13/Iss4 April 2002

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SUPER FLY, INC. · EXCLUSIVE NORTH AMERICAN l:1PORTER/OISTRIBUTOR · [801] 255-9595 · mfolal4superfly.com · www.4superfly.com · 552 W. 8360 S. ,

PARAGLIDING• APRIL 2002

AIR MAIL

INCIDENT REPORTS

UPDATE

USHGA REPORTS

DIXON'S NOTES

CAtENDAR OF EVENTS

THE NATIONAL SPORT FLIGHT CoNF.ERENGE bJ, Mike Vorhis, Competiti.on Enhancement S11:bcommittee, USHGA Competition Committee

'

FLYING KIRKRIDGE, PENNSYLVANIA .

by Matt Gaskin

VIDEO REVIEW: FROM NOWHERE TO THE , MilJDLE OF NOWHERE

by Steve Roti · COVER: Lisa Donohue prepares for a snowy launch at Bowan Mountain, Washington.

Photo by Mark Dale.

Mark is this month's featured photographer in ourphoto gallery. See page 38.

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

OISCLA1Mml0l;l

WARID\NtJ:ES)N l'UBLICA-

TJONS: it11e-material presented hete is publl~h:ed its part of an inf,;J1111atio,n dis-

semin.ation serviue for tJSHGA members. The USHGA makes n~ war-

THE FAA SPORT PILOT NPRM by foe Gregor

ranties oi; represeQt,'lt.ion,5 at1d M$;\lnles;no lial,illty concerning the validity of :my adviee, oplnion,or re.~-

onuncndation expressed1n the material. .All individu.1!~ relyi11gJ •!Xln the material d<>

PARAGLIDING PI-LOT@ GM.J..ERY This momh's featuredpho'togr:aphert Ma.rk Dpfe ,

so at ihdf (>Wll risk.

Copyright©: 2002 United St,a.tcs HM,g Gliding A:s.511., ):nc. &JI tights resetvcd to Paragliding and individual conttibt1tQ1'S.

APRIL

2002

3

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

Jayne Depanfilis, Executive Director, jayne@ushga.org

Jeff Elgart, Advertising, jeff@ushga.org Paul Defranco, IT Administrator, paul@ushga.org Sandra Hewitt, Member Services, sandra@ushga.org Natalie Hinsley, Member Services, natalie@ushga.org ·uSHGA Officers and Executive Committee: . - - - - Jim Zeise!, President, jimzgreen@aol.com Mark Ferguson, Vice President, mark@ballvarios.com Russ Locke, Secretary,1t1ss/ocke@juno.com Bill Bolosky, Treasurer, bolosky@microsoft.com REGION 1: Bill Bolosky, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Ray Leonard, John Wilde, Tim West. REGION 3: David Jebb, John Greynald, Alan Chuculate. REGION 4: Mark Ferguson, Jim Zeiset. REGION 5: Frank Gillette.

REGION 6: James Gaar. REGION 7: Bill Bryden.

REGION 8: Doug Sharpe. REGION 9: Randy Leggett, Felipe Amunategui. REGION 10: Tiki Mashy, Matt Taber. REGION 11: R.R. Rodriguez. REGION 12: Paul Voight. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Jan Johnson, Dennis Pagen, Russ Locke, Steve Kroop, Chris Santacroce.

HONORARY DIRECTORS: Aaron Swepston, J.C. Brown, Ed Pitman, G.W. Meadows, Bob Hannah, John Harris, Larry Sanderson (SSA), Dave Broyles, Gene Matthews, Ken Brown, Rob Kel Is, Liz Sharp, Dan Johnson, Dixon White. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTORS: Art Greenfield (NAA).

States Hang Association Inc. is an air sports organization affiliated with the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) which is the official representative of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), of the world governing body for sport aviation. The NAA, which represents the U.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 arc 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 publications.

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) 888· 7363, 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 published 11 times a year: Jan., Feb., March, April, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. by the United States Hang Gliding Association, Inc., 219 W. Colorado Ave., Suite 104, Colorado Springs, CO 80903 (719) 632-8300. FAX (719) 632-6417. PERIODICAL POSTAGE is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices.

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

APRIL

2002

VOLUME

A NEW NAME FOR USHGA Dear Editor, The most recent issue of Paragliding magazine continues the long and ongoing debate over whether to merge the two USHGA magazines into one. As a former magazine editor, I understand many of the complicated issues involved, especially the potential economies gained by publishing one magazine.

However, there is a more fundamental issue that needs to be addressed before I would welcome and support a combined magazine - a new name for the organization that recognizes and gives equal footing to the sports of hang gliding and paragliding. It makes great sense (and it would be a way to put this simmering issue to bed) to unveil a new name at the same time you launch a combined magazine. I have been a subscriber of Cross Country almost as long as Paragliding.

Cross Country demonstrates that a magazine can provide a viable, informative, and visually appealing vehicle that holds the interest of a biwingal readership.

Since I joined USHGA in 1993, the fact that paragliding is not mentioned in the name of the Association has been a source of irritation to me and other paraglider pilots. To summarily lose a magazine focused on our type of flying would only add another irritant. If clubs like Utah and New England (the former being one of the largest and oldest clubs in the U.S. and the latter being a smaller, by-the-seat-of-its-pants club) can change their names to reflect the diversity of their pilot members, shouldn't USHGA, our national leader, be stepping up to the plate?

It is my experience that when an issue hangs around too long it acquires more stature than need be, and takes away from other more important concerns like flying safely and often, together in one or two gaggles over the hill.

I urge USHGA Board members to throw internal politics to the wind and finally take on and resolve this issue. Then we can all move on to more important concerns like site development and pro-

13, ISSllF #4

tection, safety, competition, and pilot education.

Dear Editor, I personally feel as a paraglider pilot that being represented by an organization whose name does not accurately describe the membership tends to devalue the importance of the sport of paragliding.

We in the organization should coexist in harmony, and the name of the organization appears to discriminate against approximate 42% of the paragliding membership at large.

The step to combine the magazines into one biwingal publication should also incorporate changing the name of the organization to more accurately represent the membership. If a name change occurs, I feel that this would be a major step toward peaceful coexistence. USHPA is what the name of the organization should be. I wholeheartedly support the combining of the two magazines and reiterate that the more important step is to change the organization's name. Thus, the magazine would reflect who and what the orga-

Phillip Martin

Since hang gliding is two words and paragliding is one word, the name should be the USHGPA, the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. - Ed.

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Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~ - - - - - ~

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

BE

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Lifting Air - Part I

by Dixon White ou may want to read through the previous "Dixon's Notes" to follow the terminology and concepts. You can order back issues of the magazine by contacting the USHGA, or me. The website www.paraglide.com has a reprint of these articles and the books and videos recommended in the articles.

It's once again spring, and keeping an eye on gusty, glider-tossing conditions is very important. The upper atmosphere is still cool, but the ground is being heated for longer periods of time, thus, there are strong thermals. Anticipate erratic, sharpedged thermals, particularly at higher-elevation desert sites this time of year. You may want to fly your more solid glider throughout the spring. We've noticed a great deal of downslope surface flow in the Southwest, sometimes very strong, as a result of near-record valley heating that drafts cooler air from the higher elevation areas. When morning inversions have melted away, this flow can arrive very suddenly and intensely.

Now that you have carefully refined your kiting, launching, landings, speed bar use, big ears use, and your sense of the atmosphere, you may want to try flying in lifting air. Try to embrace a patient learning process; pushing your progression may cost you unnecessarily.

When pilots find themselves in situations that may be beyond their skills and understanding, they not only put themselves, the site and their equipment at risk, but they jeopardize their confidence.

If this sport puts you in a position of "surviving" flights, you'll soon find yourself afraid of flying. You'll find yourself getting butterflies and coming up with excuses to avoid flying. Back off from putting yourself in situations that might scare you.

Paragliding is loads of fun when you know what you're doing, and it doesn't have to be a battle you hope to survive.

Many pilots begin flying in lifting air before their basic skills are fully <level-

6

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oped, and this can be very scary. It really takes practice, time and exposure to the sport to develop intuition and skill, which is necessary when flying in air that can lift you. When you have confidence in the conditions and your ability to manage them, you'll look forward to bumpy or lifting air. You'll know what you're doing and have a great time.

Athletically, you'll want to refine your "dance" with the glider on the ground.

The more you can kite around in a forward-facing position the better. Try to find an open, shallow slope facing an eight- to 14-mph wind and hop/skip down the slope. Try to feel what more or less application of the brakes does to your weightlessness. Try to focus your attention on the glider. Maintain 80% focus on what your glider is doing and what it's about to do -- keep it in the zone. This awareness is crucial to having more fun with lifting air. Get good at surge and roll control, and stay ahead of your glider. If it seems to always get out in front of you and suffer frontal folds, stall or roll off to one side, you aren't ready to fly in demanding air.

When preparing to fly in lifting air you'll want an academically clear model of what the air is doing, and what it may do as the day progresses. Make sure to check the upper atmosphere on the Internet or through WX briefs to confirm that it won't eventually blow so strongly that you could find yourself unable to penetrate.

As mentioned, we've seen days this year when the upper level is fairly soft, but the surface develops a downslope flow that gets very strong as a result of lower elevations getting super hot and drafting cooler, higher-elevation air. Run a thermal index and note the pressure level. This can help you determine how gusty the thermals may become.

If there's a healthy breeze of eight ro 12 miles per hour, with gusts not exceeding five mph in five seconds, you're within the guidelines. The USHGA guideline of "five in five" is pretty much on the money, and it's very telling of turbulence when you note gustiness on the ground. You'll notice that you can launch in slightly

stronger conditions at higher elevations due to density altitude. You'll also note that cold days make the air more dense and you'll want to launch in lighter conditions.

Be sure careful to confirm that the wind flow is pretty straight into the slope or ridge. We'll call the point at which the wind flows perfectly against the slope the "seam." You'll want to launch into the seam as much as possible, and stay close to the seam as you fly back and forth across the hill. If you have to launch off the seam into a crosswind, be careful that it's not more than 25° off a straight seam, particularly if launching out of a slot between rocks or trees. You don't want to get rotored, which is a sure-fire way to ruin your flight. Watch out for being pushed off the seam as you launch. It's not uncommon for pilots to stare at the ground as they run off launch, and during landings as well, and then start turning more and more downwind. Keep your eyes on the horizon and know when you're off the seam. You might want to take some chalk and draw a line straight into the seam from where you're launching, and note how well you can stick to that line during your launch run.

When landing you can also note the seam and that you're landing straight into the wind by checking your ground track.

If you're being pushed to the right while facing your landing target, you've got a crosswind. If you're moving across the ground faster than normal, you must be in a crosswind or downwind. Develop a sense of the normal speed of your glider and make a mental note of your ground speed when flying.

We'll continue this thread in the next issue. Check out the following book. It's new and has some great diagrams, etc.: Mountain Meteorology, by C. David Whiteman, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195132718.

The video, The Art ofKiting, offers an excellent review of glider-management skills. The video, Speed to Fly, will help you model lifting air and is an excellent resource. II PARAGLIDING

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BACKDATING OF USHGA MEMBERSHIPS

D

ue to a recent USHGA policy change we wilJ be unable to backdare your membership ro ensure uninterrupted magazine delivery service. Until recently, a full member or subscriber could allow rheir full membership or subscription to expire and rhe dacabase would automatically backdate rhe renewal rwo monrhs to facilitate uninterrupted magazine delivery service. USHGA's renewal forms also had a check box enabling members co backdate rheir membership for continuous magazine delivery service.

Insurance considerations prevent USHGA from backdating memberships.

Backdating also requires rhe staff to ship hundreds of magazines first class each month because members renew after rhe mailing labels are generated for the next month's magazine(s) .

We are mailing a flyer wirh rhe renewal norices informing you char you must renew your membership by che zoth of the month rhat your membership expires in order to receive the next month's magazine(s). If USHGA has not received your renewal by rhe 2orh day of rhe month that your membership expires, you will not receive the next magazine wich your renewal until rhe monrh after next and your membership expiration date will change.

For example, if your membership was scheduled to expire on Januaili 31st and you waited uncil after che 20 of January co renew, you would not receive February's magazine unless you purchased it separately at full price plus shipping.

The mailing labels for che February magazine would have been printed before you renewed and your name would not have been on rhe mailing label report for che February magazine(s) . The March issue will be your first issue with your renewed membership, and your new expiration will be February 28. You will still receive J 2 monthly issues. If you renew by rhe 20th, USHGA guarancees uninterrupted magazine delivery service.

Members may wane co consider automatic renewal as a great way co ensure continuous magazine delivery service. If

8

you select rhe automatic renewal function, your membership and/or subscription will renew aucomacically ar l :00 AM on the first day of the month your membership expires. Be sure char your credit card expiration date exceeds your next membership renewal date or the auromatic renewal function will fail. USHGA requires your e-mail address so an automated e-mail message can be sent to you confirming char your membership has been automatically renewed. If rhe aurorenewal function fails for any reason and we have your e-mail address, an aucomated e-mail message will also be forwarded ro you asking you to either go online to renew or to call the office for assistance.

Thank you for your understanding as we strive co improve membership services.

Jayne DePanfilis Executive Director, USHGA

KING MOUNTAIN, IDAHO UPDATE

F

or many years King Mountain has been a great place for X-C, specracular wonder winds and breath caking views, but the King Mountain experience has become even more incredible. King Mountain Gliders (KMG) is proud co announce a full-rime hang gliding and paragliding score in Moore, Idaho located at che base of King Mountain. $cop by on the way co launch for all your Aying needs.

KM G's store grand opening is May 25-27. Hang gliding and paragliding pilots and guests are welcome. There will be an X-C contest, line and rriangle racing, a pig roast, volleyball, horseshoes and more.

The score offers hang gliding instruction, hang gliding and paragliding accessories, parts, service, maps, and authorized dealerships for Wills Wing, Aeros Paragliders, Mrn. High, High Energy Spores and many others. In addition co hang gliding and paragliding gliders and accessories, KMG offers antiques, collectibles and unique gift items. Check our www.kingmounraingliders.com, call (208) 554-2224, or visit the score.

P A R AG LIDI NG

Coming in May! You've heard about it and it's nearly here.

The May issues of Hang Gliding and Paragliding will be combined into a single, exdting, more robust magazine. THIS IS A TEST. Read it and let us know your thoughts. The results will be published in a following issue.

For more Information go ID; ht1 \' "· http:1,www.u;;;nga,9rg11m1c;:1e";:i

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BLUE SKY AVIONICS

Within the May issue you will find a postage paid ballot card. Fill it out and send it back to be automatically entered in this drawing. You may be the Lucky winner of a Flytec 4005, a Ball M-19, or a Brauniger Sonic.

Thanks to USA Flytec, Blue Sky Avionics, and Wills Wing for their generous donations to this test issue survey.

Calendar ofevents items WILL NOT be listed if on9, 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 USHGA-SANC710NED EVENTS PARAGLIDING X-C MEETS PG Nationals/Owen's Valley, Sept. 10-16.

SnowbirdX-C Comp, Aug.31-Sept. 7. Contact:

Ken Hudonjorgenson, 474 E. Tonya Drive, Sandy, UT 84070, (801) 572-3414.

US Nats!Kari Castle Classic. Contact: Chad Bastian, (805) 895-2133.

Southern California PG Open, May 23-27.

Meet Director and Steward, Mitch McAleer; Peter Swanson, Safety Director; Ken Howells, Safety Director. Contact: Mitch McAleer, 29120 Melby Dr., Lake Elsinore, CA 92532, (909) 674-8844.

UNTIL MAY 27: 2002 Region Nine Regionals and Region Nine Yearlong X-C Contest. The Regionals adds up a contestant's three best weekend flights between March 16 and May 27, inclusive. The yearlong contest is to honor longest individual flights of the year on any day between February 15 and November 15.

Classes for Rookies, Sixty Miles, Open, Rigids and Paragliders. Entry fees $10 and $5 respectively. Contact: Pete Lehmann, lplehmann@aol.com, (412) 661-3474, 5811 Elgin St, Pittsburgh, PA 15206.

MAY 3-5: Ninth Annual World Invitational Paragliding and Hang Gliding Air Races, Torrey Pines International Gliderport in San Diego, California. Race entry fee is $150 USD. Cash and prizes in sport and open-class elimination series. The races will be held in conjunction with the West Coast Paragliding and Hang Gliding Exposition and Demo Days taking place from May 1-5. Contact: aircal@ix.netcom.com or phone (858) 452-9858.

MAY 19-25: Canadian Paragliding Open Championships, Lumby, British Columbia (north of Chelan, Washington). Prize money.

CIVL Class 2 sanctioning and U.S. NTSS Sanctioning. Visit www.dowsett.ca/cdnnats for more info.

MAY 23-27: So Cal Paragliding Open Meet.

Format: GPS verification as used in the 2001 HG and PG Nationals. Meet Director/USHGA Meet Steward: Mitch McAleer. Scorekeeper: Jim Macklow. Safety Director: Peter Swanson. Entry $225. May 22: Mandatory pilots meeting, 8:00 PM in Riverside. Complimentary dinner for pilots, sponsored by Von Zabern Surgical at the Old Spaghetti Factory Banquet Hall. May 23: First task. May 26: Pilot dinner and party. May 27: Final task. Awards ceremony, 6:30 I'M at Andy Jackson Air Park. The meet is USHGA Class A sanctioned, CIVL 2. All are welcome. Limit of 40 pilots. Thermal skills strongly recommended. See the website for details and registration online: http://www.socalpgopen.org. Register

of Paragliding

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APRIL

2002

11

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by mail: Send check payable co Mitch McAleer, 29120 Melby Dr., Lake Elsinore, CA 92532, (909) 674-8844.

JULY 6-7: Torrey Pines Paragliding And Hang Gliding Costume Fly-In. California's most extreme, fun costume fly-in. Dress up your paraglider and fly free. Games, contests and prizes for the most outrageous and original flying costumes. All pilots welcome to camp overnight on the property. Saturday night cookout and party for all attendees. Media and filming bluffs welcome. Contact: David Jebb, Director of Operations, Torrey Pines Gliderport, Air California Adventure, Inc., D&M Distributing, LLC, 1-858-ZULU (9858), Toll Free: 1-877-FLY-TEAM (3598326), www.flytorrey.com.

JUNE 1: Tiger Mountain Fly-In at Tiger Mountain, Issaquah, WA. Events include barbecue, raffle, spot-landing and uphill race. Area tandem pilots are offering reduced-price tandem flights for the day. A perfect chance to introduce a friend or family member to the sport of paragliding. Contact: Bob Rinker, Brinker@roadway.com.

AUG 31-SEPT. 7: USHGA-sanctioned Snowbird X-C competition. Register early; space is limited. Contact: Ken Hudonjorgensen, 474 E. Tonya Dr. Sandy, UT 84070, (801) 5723414, khudonj@qwest.net, www.cwocanfly.com.

JULY 3-7: Lakeview Umpteenth Annual Festival of Freejlight, Lakeview, Oregon. Lots of fun flying with your buddies from a great selection of sites and a few friendly contests with cash prizes for the winners. Registration ($10) Wednesday, July 3, fly July 4-6, awards at 10:00 AM on the 7th. Pilot's meeting July 4, 9:30 AM at the Chamber HQ. Cumulative distance contest for paragliders. Annual Sugar Hill-Lakeview trophy dash on Saturday for hang gliders. Spot-landing contests Saturday afternoon. Adult beverage party at Jules and Mary's July 4, Chamber barbecue on Saturday at Geyser Hot Springs (formerly Hunter's). Contact: Jules, (541) 9473330, frceflite@centutytel.net, or Lake County Chamber of Commerce, (541) 947 -6040.

FUN FLYING

CLINICS/MEETINGS/TOURS

MAY 25-27: 26th Annual Starthistle 2002 Flyin for hang gliders/paragliders, at Woodrat Mtn. in southern Oregon. Fun flying with pilots from all over the world. A good place to test your skills. Camping facilities. Close to Ruch, Oregon for all your shopping needs.

Reconditioned mid and top launches making this site first class. Enjoy the historic city of Jacksonville. Contact: http://rvhga.org/Starthistle2002.htm, or President@RVHGA.org.

UNTIL OCT.: Two-can Fly Clinics/Competitions, Point of the Mountain and Utah mountain sites. APRIL 14-20: Lake Powell maneuvers clinic (deluxe with houseboat), $1,500. APRIL 21-23: Lake Powell maneuvers camping clinic, $550. APRIL 26-29: Instructor training, $400. APRIL 27-28: Instructor recertification, $200. MAY 11-12: Tandem (T2 & T3), $200. MAY 17-20: Crosscountry competition clinic. A friendly introduction to cross-counny flying with instruction

from U.S. and North American X-C recordsetters Bill Belcourt and Todd Bibler, U.S. and PWC champion Scotty Marion, and Dale Covington and Ken Hudonjorgensen, who both held Utah records. Utah X-C sites. $300 or $100 per day. MAY 24-26: Thermal, $300.

JUNE 1-2: Mountain flying, $200. JUNE 2-8: Lake Powell maneuvers clinic (deluxe with houseboat), $1500. JUNE 29-JULY 1: Aerobatics clinic with Chris Santacroce. Learn how to prepare your routine for an aerobatics competition. Learn and practice new aerobatics. Find out what judges look for when scoring, and much more. $550. JULY 5-7: Thermal, $300. AUG. 9-11: Three-day maneuvers (safety) clinic, $550. AUG. 13-15: Threeday maneuvers (safety) clinic, $550. AUG. 17-19: Three-day maneuvers (safety) clinic, $550. AUG. 31-SEPT. 7: Snowbird CrossCountry Competition, $330. SEPT. 28-29: Mountain flying, $200. OCT. 4-7: Instructor training, $400. OCT. 5-6: Instructor recertification, $200. OCT. 12-13: Tandem (T2 & T3), $200. OCT. 17-19: Lake Powell maneuvers camping clinic, $550. OCT. 20-26: Lake Powell maneuvers clinic (deluxe with Houseboat), $1500. Contact: Two-can Fly Paragliding, 474 East Tonya Dr., Sandy, UT 84070, phone/fax (801) 572-3414, hudonj@qwest.net, www.twocanfly.com.

THROUGH OCT.: Dixons Airplay Washington, a.k.a. the "Ranch" (near Wenatchee) will reopen April 20 for the summer season through October. Specializing in new pilot instruction. Each instructor works with only one or two new students. Excellence in instruction with complete training in weather, flight dynamics, kiting and much more.

Learn at a private flight park, no crowds, per-

o,n.

If Your USflGA Membership Expires On 04/30/02

Tel.I Fax 775-747-0175 Order by web site, phone/fax, email or postal with Credit Card, Check or Money Order.

Paul Hamilton. Adventure Productions 6553 Stone Valley Drive, Reno. NV 89523 USA

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We Need To Receive Your Renewal I3Y APRIL 20th Or you will miss the May Magazine.

If Your USHGA Membership Expires On 05/31/02 We Need To Receive Your Renewal I3 Y MAY 20th Or you will miss the June Magazine.

PARAGLIDING

feet grassy slopes, drive-up 360° launches from 20 to 1,800 feet. Limited weekday and weekend space available. Make reservations early.

Complete paragliding score and service center.

Contact: dixon@paraglide.com, www.paraglide.com, (928) 526-4579.

THROUGH DEC.: Dixon '.r Airplay Arizona open all year (near Flagstaff). Specializing in new pilot instruction. Start out right with thorough training in meteorology, kiting, flight dynamics and much more. Only one or two new students per instructor. 'v(;'ide-open, 360° drive-up launch sites from 20 co 1,200 feet.

Limited weekday and weekend space available.

Make reservations early. Complete paragliding store and service center. Contact: dixon@paraglidc.com,www.paraglide.com, (928) 526-4579.

THURSDAYS: Torrey Pines Gliderport paragliding talk show on Internet radio, airing weekly on wsradio, Thursdays from 5:00 co 7:00 PM. Hosted by Gabriel and David Jebb, open to a worldwide audience. Call in coll-free at 1-800-327-0061 (U.S. and Canada) or 1760-476-4111 for the world audience. Surf to www.wsRadio.ws and click under the "live" section. Contact: David Jebb, Director of Operations, 2800 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive, San Diego, CA 92037, (858) 452-ZULU (9858), www.flytorrey.com APRIL 13-14: !TP with Dixon White.

Comprehensive Instructor Training Program for first-time instructors and recertification.

Flagstaff, AZ. APRIL 15: Tandem Clinicfor T3 ratingwith Dixon White. Contact: dixon@paraglide.com, www.paraglide.com, (928) 526-4579.

APRIL 18-21, 25-28: Texas Towing, From Tandems to Tumbles with Jackson Hole Paragliding. The Wyoming Cowboys are heading south to sunny Austin to do maneuvers training courses. Train with the Jackson Hole Acrobatic T earn, featuring world-class aero pilots Matt Combs and Ranyon D'Arge. Let us coach you to a breakthrough in your flying skills. Progress at your own pace and gain confidence in a safe and fun atmosphere. Clinics begin Thursday evening with syllabus and simulator work. Towing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Weather day Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday are team practice days, inventing new tricks and perfecting routines. Space is limited to provide the best possible learning experience. Contact: Scott Harris, scharris@wyoming.com, (307) 690-8726, www.jhvisionquesc.com.

APRIL 19-21: Tandem !Pwith Steve Stackable, Torrey Pines Gliderport, La Jolla, CA. Contact: Steve (858) 452-9858, aircal@ix.netcom.com.

MAY 3-6: Third Tow X-C Clinic with Chris Santacroce and Granger Banks. Learn the ease ofX-C flying in the flatlands where participants have had flights up to 35 miles. Pilots who have not cowed should come on Thursday to be introduced to an easy way to get high. Clinic stares each morning with breakfast and thermaling and X-C hints before the day's X-C task is set. Details at http://parasoft.boulder.net/XCC!inic.html.

APRIL 27-29: Safety Aerobatics Clinic the weekend before the X-C clinic. Chris and Granger will coach you through B-line stalls, active flying, spiral dives, wingovers and SAT' s.

Clinic structured around each pilot's individual

pass the savings onto you.

$5EACHI Send to: USHGA PG Calendar, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. Call 1-800-616-6888.

Or order on-line.

Shipping cost: 1-2 calendars add $5 (USA

APRIL

2002

needs. Clinic will be held over Jackson Reservoir, one hour north of Denver, next to Pawnee Grass Lands where the X-C Clinic takes place. Details at http://parasoft.boulder.net/ safety.html.

MAY-JUNE: Swiss/French Alps, Chamonix, Mont Blanc!Annecy!Verbier. Fly with Acme Paragliding to the awesome northern French Alps and Swiss Alps. Week- or two week-long tours to suit requirements of the big sites, with all-inclusive transport in country, retrieves, lodging/food in classic Alpine chalets, top-quality flying with a great atmosphere. Introduction to high mountain flying for newer pilots, WX, thermal and X-C strategy for more advanced pilots. Day guiding to all sites available.

Maximum of six pilots per group, three instructors plus drivers and local X-C professionals.

Incredible X-C opportunities for pilots of all skill levels. Over 45 years combined instructional experience with USHGA/BHPNFFVL advanced instructors, all resident in France.

Relaxed and informal atmosphere with an emphasis on safety and fun. Deals on flights and insurance available. Contact: Paul Pearce, Acme Paragliding, (803) 448-7254, www.acmeparagliding.com.

JUNE 13-AUGUST 28: Paraglide in France, IO-day tours, $499. Sites such as Chamonix, Megeve, La Clusaz, St. Andre and many more.

Details at: www.skyingout.web.worldonline.cz/home.htm.

Contact: skying.ouc@tiscali.cz or call Ladio Novotny 011 420 606406952.

OCT 25-27: Fall 2002 USHGA Board of Director's meeting, in the Orlando, Florida area.

Contact: www.ushga.org, (719) 632-8300.

HAND-HELD WIND METER Monitor changing wind conditions. Responsive to slightest variation In wind velociiy.

AIRSPEED INDICATOR use with optional PATENTED paraglider mounting bracket.

Maximize your performance and skill.

RUGGED & ACCURATE: Molded of super tough LEXAN ® resin. stainless steel rod. Cal/brat/on traceable to National Institute of standards and Technology.

$,

ph

h

Hall Brothers, P.O. Box 1010-P. Morgan, UT 84050, USA Mastercard/VISA/C.O.D. Phone (801) 829-3232 Fax (801) 829-6349, hallbros@earthlink.net

13

by Tim Pfeiffer o you want to be a famous paraglider pilot? Dreams of tickertape parades following record-breaking flights fill your delusions, but in reality, the only way you will find yourself on the local news is hanging from a set of power lines.

Unfortunate as it may be, the only time paragliding makes the news is when someone shuts down the power grid while everyone is trying to microwave their Lean Cuisine.

Encounters with power lines are one of the most serious situations that pilots get themselves into regularly. Besides the obvious life-threatening situation for the pilot, power line encounters place others in danger and expose paragliding to unwanted publicity and potential liability. A rescue from power lines can be an expensive proposition, and the cost of shutting down lines during the rescue can be astronomical.

INLAND THERMAL AND RIDGE SOARING SITE A new pilot made the evening news by hanging from power lines on approach to the LZ of a popular flying site. The LZ is small and restricted. Pilots flying this site are aware of the nearby power lines and are advised not to set up their approach beyond the power lines. Apparently, this pilot did not follow this advice and ended up suspended from the lines afrer encountering some sink on final approach. The evening news led with a teaser about a parasailer suspended from high-tension lines. Reportedly, the news got "parasailer" from the pilot who felt that using the incorrect term would help deflect some of the attention away from paragliding. The political ramifications for the site and the local flying community were the only injuries. Neither the DHV 1-2 wing the pilot was flying nor the conditions appear to have been major factors in the incident.

In hindsight, the advice not to set up beyond the power lines appears to be

14

good advice.

Our sites are precious and usually require a cooperative landowner or public agency to let us fly. Nothing puts these relationships in greater danger than hanging from power lines on the six o'clock news.

INLAND THERMAL AND RIDGE SOARING SITE A visiting pilot was flying a site popular for late-afternoon and evening flying. He had not scouted the LZ where there were several landing options. The pilot reportedly became fixated on missing some trees and failed to see the power lines in the evening light. The pilot broke two of the 12-kilovolt lines and ended up hanging from a third. He spent five days in the local burn unit with first- and second-degree burns over seven percent of his body.

During his stay in the hospital, he learned that the local pilots had lost their permission to land in the LZ where he encountered the lines, and that the future of flying at the site was again in question.

This was the third encounter with power lines at this site in less than a year. While in one of the previous encounters the pilot was new and reportedly not behaving responsibly, in this case the pilot was experienced, flying a DHV 1-2 wing and was regarded as a responsible pilot.

INLAND RIDGE SOARING SITE Another paraglider pilot made the national news by dangling from power lines. The pilot, a P3, recorded gusts to 28 mph at the top of the hill and drove down to do some kiting with his new DHV 1-2 wing. He began kiting a quarter of the way up the hill before gliding down a couple of feet off the ground. On one of these little flights a gust of wind lifted the pilot 10 to 12 feet off the ground. He got on the speed system and slowly began to penetrate when a second gust lifted him 30 to 50 feet up.

Standing on the speed system in the turbulent conditions resulted in a couple of frontal collapses but no forward penetration. Big ears caused him to get blown back more quickly. At this point it became obvious that he wasn't going to penetrate, so he planned to get as high as possible and run downwind to find a place to land. It

doesn't get much worse than being blown back into a rotor area with power lines.

As the pilot turned downwind he impacted the power lines at 55 to 60 mph.

The wing wrapped around the wires and the pilot was able to grab onto the wing to avoid falling 75 feet to the ground.

After being rescued he was flown to the burn unit with first- and second-degree burns over 30% of his body. In addition to the extreme pain of burn treatments, he had plenty of time to think about the bad publicity he brought to paragliding.

Feeling like he let the local flying community down was a very difficult aspect of the accident. His only consolation is that by sharing his mistakes, he may be able to prevent another pilot from a similar fate.

Kiting may feel like a benign activity, but every year there are reports of pilots being seriously injured while kiting in high winds.

Considering the obvious risk to life and our flying sites, why are power line encounters occurring with such frequency?

The three examples discussed above all began with different pilot errors, but each could have been avoided by staying far away from the lines. Know your flying site and where power lines are located, and don't get close to them.

Cross-country pilots often need to land in unfamiliar fields and have learned to look for and expect power lines. All pilots should assume that there are power lines paralleling county roads and that there are power lines servicing buildings. The lines themselves can be hard to see, so look for poles, fence lines, roads, linear clearings and farmhouses. Whatever you do, stay away from the lines. If all the advice about staying away from power lines fails to impress you, and you find yourself hanging from high-voltage lines, you should wait for help, and don't touch anything. This is not the time for a heroic self-rescue. It may be embarrassing if you are not injured, but call 911 and take your medicine.

Several pilots have used unflyable winter days to go back and fill out accident reports for incidents that occurred last summer or before. Keep up the good work. 1111 PARAGLIDING

The National Sport Flight Conference A NATIONWIDE COMPETITION SYSTEM IS LAUNCHED

by Mike Vorhis, Competition Enhancement Subcommittee, USHGA Competition Committee

Last year the USHGA Competition Committee, in an effort to address the interests ofthe larger membership, proposed a new system for recreational pilot competition called the National Sport Flight Conference {NSFC). Since it was born at the eleventh hour with respect to the two big April Class-I Florida meets, a write-up in the magazines would not have been printed in time, so we tried to announce it via the Hang Gliding E-mail Forum. or several reasons (many of which boiled down co ineffecrive project management on my part), we got a false scan in 2001, and nothing in the end was launched. Thar is to say, we poratoed.

However, we clid get vocal feedback from quite a few individuals who felt char the description at the time was too complicated and did nor address their particular competition interests.

So we rook what commenrary we'd received co heart, realized chat there is no percentage in deliberately aggravating the "math challenged" among us, and over rhe year slowly and subtly simplified and revamped rhe system.

We are launching the new and improved NSFC chis spring (2002) . It will provide an America-wide sport ranking for all NSFC competitors, for both hang gliding and paragliding, using a relatively scraighrforward and uniformly applied poims system (not co be confused wirh rhe National Team Selection System's "NTSS" point sysrem, which is a long-establ ished and completely separate system).

There are rhree ways the NSFC system can be applied in a meet: i) A meet can be run using rhe NSFC scoring system as the only scoring system of the meet; or ii) A meet can be run using its own local scoring system, bur running the NSFC calculations on the side, so char competitors will gee NSFC point creclic for the meet; or iii) A meet can be run using the escablished scori ng system for National Team selection, and can run the NSFC calculations on the side, so char competitors will gee NSFC credit for the meet.

This year, in the big Class-I Florida meets, NSFC points will be calculared on the side while rhe official GAPS point system is used per normal to score the meets. Ocher meets, hopefully all meets, will offer NSFC points as well. AIL pilots who accumulate NSFC points in any meet will be ranked nation-

F

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wide within this new system. Here's your chance co compare your ranking with che besr of rhe besr, in a system designed co give weekend warriors a fighting chance. More imporrantly, here's a chance co smoke your flying buddies and gee national recognition for having done so.

The National Spore Flighr Conference inrends to accomplish several fundamental things: 1) Because the single biggesr morivacion pilots have for attending even rs is chc convenient proximity of the event co their •Personal Target" Base Points

PARAGLIDING

home rown, the NSFC intends co encourage competitions of nearly any size, and nearly any complexity or simplicity, right rhere in rhe various local airspaces. Ir will make ir straightforward co put together and score easy-co-run meets which are comparable in point value co other such meecs across the country. Ir will attempt to incencivize experienced or burgeoning meet directors to srep co the fore.

2) Because participation is the key co improvement, the NSFC wil l encourage participation by summing every competitor's coral NSFC points, rather rhan their average, for the year. If a pilot wanes co improve either skill or standing, racking up another comp or cwo will move him or her further up that range. (And, of course, a per-comp-day NSFC points average will be published coo, so that pilots who don't have access co lots of meets can still see their national ranking based on averaged performance.)

3) Because many (most?) pilots are relative novices regarding comp strategy, most pilocs do not have the benefit of the latest factory equipment, and because most pilocs' employment and family commicmencs keep them more ground-bound than semiprofessional competitors, the handicap-weighted NSFC scoring system compresses points for lower and intermediate experience levels upward coward the cop, forcing cop guns co keep looking over their shoulders, while giving Jo(e) Amateur a fighting chance in meets.

4) Because everyone would like co know where they stand for their efforts, the ranking will be nationwide and will include a final yearly score for every participant who entered even one day of NSFC competition. Want to beat your buddies or take on the big names head to head? This is the arena in which to do it.

knowledge and luck are likely to do. So, with NSFC, a pilot essentially declares what kind of performance is his or her Personal Target for the day. The meet director and task committee still set a t.ask, but the pilot chews off what portion of it he or she wants to shoot for. More on the math details below; just remember chat it is a handicap scheme wherein the entire pilot/wing/harness/brain system is evaluated and handicapped, by the pilot himself. Nothing could be more fair. Yee selecting your Personal Target each day will take some serious thought.

THE HEART OF IT Ar irs hearr, the NSFC amounts co a self-handicapping system.

After all, on a given day, with a given set of conditions, nobody knows better than the pilot what his or her combined gear, skills,

SIMPLICITY IS ELEGANCE When a pilot enters a meet, he or she is still competing for placement by whatever format or rules the Meet Director specifies. If the meet scoring system differs from the NSFC system (which is perfectly legal and allows meet directors with their own ideas full freedom to run the meet they want to run), then NSFC points are calculated "on the side" to ensure that competitors will get their national system credit, even though those points would have nothing co do with the meec's scoring or placement. If the meet is using the NSFC points as its primary scoring system, the NSFC calculations become the primary points used co determine meet place, as well as giving pilots the national system credit.

To participate in the NSFC, a pilot really need only concern himself with a couple of things besides flying: a) If the meet uses its own scoring, you must pay attention co chose local scoring rules if you want to place well in that meet. b) For NSFC purposes, you muse declare before launch how far you intend to go that day (with respect to the day's full task). c) For NSFC purposes, you must provide an accurate location of where you eventually landed. d) For NSFC purposes, you must provide an accurate duration of your flight, afterward.

Thar's about it. Not coo tough.

Figure 2. Max Extra Points added to Base Points

Figure 3. Speed Points Added to Distance Points

APRIL

2 00 2

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Meet Directors will record the daily prediction for each competitor in the morning, and the resulting distances and times at day's end. They'll plug those into a spreadsheet (or in special cases e-mail them to the NSFC National Laboratories where the calculations are performed).

They'll post the results for the pilots that night or the next morning.

AN INTERPOLATED QUARTERHECTARE OF MATH The following description applies to the most common meet format: the X-C Race To Goal: On a given valid day, a competitor can earn up to 100 NSFC points. To get that number you must choose aggressively, fly great, and turn in a fast time.

There are four kinds of points: • Base Points for achieving Personal Target • Stretch-for-1',xtra-Distance Points (if Personal Target is achieved) • Speed Points (if Personal Target is achieved) • Consolation Points for not achieving Personal Target

BASE POINTS When the day's task is declared, of course it has a length in kilometers or miles.

With NSFC, every competitor must inspect that task and route, look at the sky, and decide what percentage of that task he or she wants to declare as a Personal Target. Declarations are in 10% increments (10%, 20%, ... 60% ... 90%, I 00%). The pilot tells it to the Meet Director, who chisels it in stone.

Now, if we were running a straightline 1: l scoring system, declaring 50% and making it would give a pilot only 50 of the 100 max points for the day. Many pilots feel that such a non-skewed system is superior because it lets novices flounder at the bottom where they belong. They like a scheme that hugely rewards the mighty with well-deserved honors far above the rank and file. We have good news concerning these sentiments: That system exists. It's sole purpose is to select a National Team, a job for which it is highly effective, and nothing is going to make it go away.

But with NSFC, declaring as low as 30% of the day's task will give you 54 NSFC Base Points, as long as you make

18

that target. Declaring 60% (and making it) will earn you about 70 Base Points.

Declaring 100% will earn you the max (i.e., 90) Base Points. Everyone who makes his or her Personal Target gets accelerated somewhat toward the top of the scoring range.

Figure 1 shows a diagram of Base Points as a function of Personal Target declared. You can see that the point awards are crowded toward the top, naturally amplifying the efforts of those who need it (as long as they earn it), while keeping competition keen.

Notice, however, that the pilot who declares more and makes it will get more Base Points than someone who plays it safe. So there is still plenty of incentive - plenty of competitive advantage - to declare higher on the chart. The trick is to Know Thyself and Stretch Thyself at the same time.

(A word about distances: Declaring and making 40% of the goal actually means getting closer to the goal than 60% of the overall task distance. That is, the measurement that matters is not the twisted path you flew but what is left in "course distance" between you and the meet goal.

So, you might have gone a helluva long way, but if you're off course you could still come up short. It's what's left ahead of you that determines what percentage of the overall task you flew.)

A word about valid days: Days declared invalid by an X-C Meet Director or Meet Steward are scrapped in NSFC as well.

EXTRA DISTANCE POINTS Once you have achieved your Personal Target, keep going! Try to stretch for more. See what you can do. Because for every course-mile more, you get extra credit added to the Base Points you earned by making your Personal Target.

There is a catch though: Extra Distance Points are awarded on a much lower payoff schedule than Base Points.

You can't declare at 60%, fly an extra 10%, and expect to earn what your buddy earned by declaring 70% and making it. That is called sandbagging, and we know what you're thinking, so think twice.

For example, if Joe declares 70% and makes it, he will earn about 7 4 out of 90

possible Base Points. If Monique declares 50%, yet flies a very impressive 70% and lands right beside Joe, she will earn 54 Base Points and about six Extra Distance Points, for a total of 60. Speed bonuses excluded, Joe would beat her by a whopping 14 points for the day, even though they flew the same distance. That is, Joe would be rewarded nicely for setting his sights higher from the outset, and for selecting a Personal Target nearer his full potential. In a system in which competitors are able to select their own handicap levels, ensuring some remaining incentive for self-challenge (by keeping some slope in the Base Points curve) is necessary to discourage excessive sandbagging.

A little conservatism is probably warranted, however, as you'll see later.

Extra Distance (XD) points are available for flying extra distance beyond your Personal Target, up to a maximum of the distance of the day's complete task (i.e., "course miles"). Like Base Points, XD points are calculated based on what's left in front of you, rather than on how far you fly. Figure 2 shows how your maximum XD points (i.e., making your Personal Target and then stretching all the way to goal) can add to your Base Points.

It's not a bad deal, if you're inexperienced or hampered by low-performance gear. Porosity Pete can declare at only 20%, and still do his best to make it all the way to goal, and if he succeeds, he'll get 70 of a possible 90 distance points.

Instead of being essentially out of the hunt from the first day, distance-pointswise he's only 20 points behind the front-runners. He has a fair chance of closing the gap in the next couple of days, if he can learn the course and improve his declarations and flying.

And yet, if you're a highly skilled pilot and declare at (and achieve) 100%, you're still 20 points out in front of Pete.

That's a significant lead - not enough to ignore him from then on, but definitely enough to go into Day 2 with a· well-earned advantage from Day l.

So lest you think you can sandbag for safety and then make it up by going all the way to goal, think again, because you can only make up so much. This system promotes the setting of realistic but ambitious personal targets, and then achieving them. If you're over-cautious, PARAGLIDING

you'll have to tighten things up in subsequent days. Chronic sandbaggers will find themselves down somewhere lower on the list.

SPEED POINTS "-lotice that Base Points and Extra Distance Points give you an effective ceiling at 90 NSFC points for the day. This is because the top 10 points are reserved for distinguishing the good from the good-and-fast.

A simple equation allows speed points to be awarded on the basis of average speed during the flight: The miles flown divided by the elapsed time produces an average miles-per-hour which the spreadsheet uses to award Speed Points. So, for pilots landing our, in addition to pinning in their location at day's end, they will need to give an elapsed time, to the minute. It's on the honor system (that is, don't cheat or there will be hell to pay), and it ain't difficult; pretty much everybody these days has a watch.

Speed for goal-finishers can be measured however the Meet Director wants.

A meet official timing the launch and the goal crossing? A tarp-to-goal calculation, using cameras or GPS? Time yourself?

Whatever the boss says, goes.

The NSFC Speed Points award schedule is as follows: An average speed of 30 mph or more will yield the max l O speed points; an average speed of less than 12 mph will yield none. Point increments occur every two mph within that range.

Table 1 gives the Speed Point values.

Remember that anyone can earn Speed Points, as long as they make their own Personal Target. Even if you declare 10%, if you make it you could add 10 additional points to your Base score.

(Pilots declaring 0%, alas, will have to stretch for at least some positive Extra Distance if they want to earn Speed Points. We don't want to encourage immediately sinking to the bail-out without a fight, and besides, dividing zero by anything gets you a goose egg in anyone's math.)

While it's true that big-air, downwind meets may favor higher average speeds than triangle New England events, and that rigids will generally out-speed flex wings who will in turn out-speed paragliders, it's also true that the expectations of higher speeds and greater range APRIL

2002

can tend to lengthen daily tasks and amplify mistakes in declaring Personal Targets. So-called access-to-speed-points advantages will tend to even out in other ways. In the interest of simplicity, NSFC will maintain a single, simple Speed Points table for all X-C meets.

You can see that the only way to get 100 points for the day is to declare 100% of the task and then execute at 30 mph average or better. If several pilots accomplish it, and if the meet is relying on NSFC points for its primary scoring system, then meet placement will be decided by the faster times.

The addition of maximum possible speed points is illustrated in Figure 3.

CONSOLATION POINTS In the discussion of Extra Distance poinrs we showed that sandbaggers would be exorcised by this system. Still, sandbagging is not the worst thing you can do.

The worst thing you can do is to declare a Personal Target too aggressive for your abilities and then fail to achieve it. If this happens, you will find yourself denied the Base Points you expected. Instead, you will get the lesser base points associated with the distance you did fly, and no

Extra Distance or Speed Points, and a large penalty subtracted as well. The penalty is small for pilots who declared low Personal Targets, and quite large for pilots who declared high. The penalties for each class are presented in Table 2.

For example, a pilot who declares at the 90% level expects to earn 85 Base Points. (From Table 2, that pilot has a penalty risk of 35.) So, if he fails to get within l 0% of goal, and instead goes only between 40% and 50% of the way, he is awarded 59 Base Points (which are the Base Points of the 40% level), and his 35 penalty points are subtracted from that. His total is only 24 points.

This penalty system is just a bit easier on a pilot who misses his or her Personal Target by only a small margin. A pilot who declares at 90% and expects to get her 85 points plus extras, but who only flies 2% short of her mark, will earn 80 Base Points (for flying 88%) minus 35 penalty points, for a total of 45 points.

Could be worse - it sure beats the 24 points of the example above - but the real answer is to let others make these mistakes while your own consistency skies you to the top of the chart.

Note that a weak pilot declaring 0% of the day's task will still get 39 Base Points for launching and sinking out immediately, but a pilot declaring at 100% and making zero miles will zero the day because of his 39-point penalty.

Fly at the level you declare, or pay a price commensurate with that level. (And saying you thought it was a Speed Gliding meet won't be accepted as an excuse for sinking out.)

THE RAINBOW'S END The NSFC system will produce annual NSFC Champions for hang gliding, paragliding and rigids, and for each category an NSFC Pilot of the Year. That pilot will star in a feature article in Hang Gliding and/ or Paragliding magazine, and will of course get some hot gear. Other placers will enjoy notoriety and will win big too. We also hope to give something good to Meet Directors, and maybe to have a MeetHead of the Year article as well. Thus far, Wills Wing, Moyes America, Arai Design, U.S. Aeros, Flytek, Wallaby Ranch, Quest Air and Lookout Mountain Flight Park have pledged support in the way of prizes for competitors

19

of one kind or another, while others are not on the list yet through no fault of their own, but mostly because we have yet to approach them. We are working on a list of paragliding sponsors, and suggestions and volunteerism are most welcome in this or other areas. We will publish a full list of sponsors and their generosity as soon as we can compile it, but rest assured that the haul will be good.

ONLY

OTHER TYPES OF MEETS Speed Gliding Meets-; Speed meets have typically been the bailiwick of Class I gliders, but we're trying co change that, and to get pylon/slalom paragliding meets up and running narionwide. These meets would also qualify as NSFC-sancrioned events, and heats could be run interleaved with hang gliding Speed meets, earning NSFC points for their entrants. The scoring is much simpler: A maximum of 25 NSFC points can be had per slalom round. There is no Personal Target to declare. First place for the round wins the 25-point max, second earns 23, third receives 21, fourth gees 19, down to a minimum of five points for the round's 11th place and below. Clearly, a pilot scoring a pair of second-place rounds can equal a pilot who wins one round and places third the next. And although speed gliding meetS generally throw out a pilot's fastest and slowest rounds, or sometimes all but two or three rounds, every valid round earns NSFC points regardless of whether it was your best or worse. Speed gliding meets need only a minimum of four competitors in a round to earn NSFC points.

Foreign Slalom or X-C Meets-; Canadian, Mexican, or orher exrranational meets of most formats, as long as they have at least eight competitors for X-C meets or four competitors for slalom rounds, and as long as their Meet Director administers the NSFC concept meet-wide (primary or secondary scoring) , will earn points for the USHGA members entering in them coo.

Pre-Existing or Maverick-Minded IntraUSA Meets-; Inside-USA meets that prefer to score themselves in their own way can still earn their entrants NSFC points if they run NSFC scoring (with Personal Target declaration, for X-C meets) in parallel with their own scoring system.

Wildly Differing Formats-; X-C meets

20

tailored around the open-distance model, or meets using ocher extremely different non-race-to-goal formats, should conracc us ASAP and we will do our best to design special scoring to allow these meets to offer NSFC points co their competitors. You want it and we'll do it, if we can figure a way that's fair.

Season-long Challenges-. Season-long comps are not technically "meets" because nobody comes together. They are difficult to imegrate into NSFC, and classically need no participation encouragement anyway. Moreover, flighrs from ocher NSFC meetS could qualify for inclusion in such challenges, and getting double benefit for a single flight would rend to skew the fairness of the new system. Therefore, at chis point in rime, and for this first NSFC season, we will nor include these comps in the national sport ranking system. We will, however, accept advice on changing that in future, and may even succumb to pressures to include them this year, if chat pressure is universal and compelling, and if mathematically elegant solutions accompany such sentiments.

AGAIN, SIMPLICITY The NSFC is built around simpl icity, for meet directors and for pilots. Bring your favorite old bagwing, or get a hot new airfoil; it's up to you. If you can't fly an entire meer, just fly the day or days you can; you'll still get NSFC points for those flights. Some very basic evenr announcement guidelines are expected to be followed, to ensure that a meet is an "open" event and char no deliberate exclusionary practices prevailed. But there are no provisions for protests or the like; the intent is to fly, and li fe is too short for the rest.

A meet organizer can gee nearly everything he or she needs from us, o r as much as we can provide with sufficient notice. And anything you elect to put together that we could use, we'll make available to the next Meer Head, and so on. Thar includes score sheets, a menu of formats, regisrration advice, promotional and sponsor-finding tips, and good old ever-lovin' Yankee hype.

If the scoring charrs and equations boggle you, forget them. They're only presented here so that everyone knows PARAGLIDING

j

0-10

12+

0

14+

16+

18+

20+

22+

24+

26+

28+

2

3

4

s

6

7

8

9

10

Table 1. Speed Points how it works, and co provide assurance char a meet in Scranton is equal, more or less, to a meet in Spokane. Instead, hang o nro rhe fact thar a competitor need only remember two things ac the day's stare: 1) Declare a Personal Target, and 2) Note your start time on your wacch, and two things at day's end: 3) Pin in your location (if you land out), and 4) Turn in your elapsed time (if you land out).

Nothing to it. Ct ain't exactly glider science.

THE CONFEREN CE IS BORN NSFC is fun. Different. A challenge.

Clubs should throw the gauntlet at ocher clubs. Areas with several clubs should create a regional comp "circuit," wich even rs hosted by each club, and gee on board. Individuals should seek co run meecs small or large. As long as there are eight or more competitors for X-C (or fo ur or more for Slalom), the event qualifies for NSFC poinrs. So far chere is no sanctioning fee, b ur if char price rag has co change, ir won't be by much. (Maybe we'll just double ic.) Mose importantly, we want calls and e-mails announcing intent to host a meet. Ask for the kit; we'll deliver. Then fly, and send in the results.

The NSFC system promotes task cvaluarion, rask definirion, critical flight plan development and incremental improvement fo r every competitor. lt provides an empirical measure of performance looking back and going forward.

Ir delineates between pilots of d iffering skills while keeping the pressure on rhe

0

4

more accomplished, and still awards handicap-cype advantages co chose who need chat extra mathematical tailwind.

This system is not perfect. Neirher is it identical ro each and every pilot's dream scheme, coincidentally weigh red coward individual strengths as those schemes invariably are. Bur for every objection we will have a solution (or at lease an excuse) . NSFC can flex as needed. We will launch ir this year.

Participate. Grow it with us. If you're a hot pilot with World Team aspirations, rake chis system seriously as well.

Compere head-to-head within it, and !er it mean something co you; your attitude will go a long way coward validating che laurels char NSFC offers. If you're a recreational pilot, lee chis new excitement be part of that recreation, get yourself ranked nationally, and go for some great prizes. If you're new co the spore, cur your comperirion reerh, and gain some early notoriety, in chis system; it will lead you co really big things sooner rhan you'd otherwise have thought.

Go co the big meets chis year and declare your Personal Target (if you don't declare, you are auto-declared at 90%, so speak up). Hold orher meets at your favorite sires. Make this your competition conference, and lee's all see what happens.

For more information call Mike at (510) 770-0544, or send an e-mail co mike@vorhis.com. And sray runed via the USHGA website and Hang Gliding and Paragliding magazines for further improvements or extensions to the NSFC system.

P.S.: Have you gor a name for your meet yer? What's keepin' ya? •

8

Table 2. Penalty Points

APRI L 2002

21

METEOROLOGY

Th

tat1 n r 1 v rs

A RARE AND DISCONCERTING PHENOMENON

by Captain Llenray Kram

I must confess that

Im more proud ofmy recent P4 rating than all the

other awards I've received in my 30-year career as a general aviation flight instructor. Those ofus who teach commercial aviation, and certainly those who have logged tens ofthousands ofhours in jet aircraft, have encountered a rare phenomenon that is .frightening yet easily manageable at speeds in excess of300 knots. The textbooks refer to it as a "Stationary Reverse Gradient" (SRG), but most pilots simply call it dead air.

robably out of concern about frightening paraglider pilots or hang gliding enthusiasts, and probably because its occurrence is so rare, no one has bothered to discuss the paragliding ramifications of this meteorological event. In addition, the phenomenon is generally only encountered above 12,000 feet MSL, which precludes a threat to most paraglider pilots under normal circumstances. However, after a recent four-hour ordeal at the Asian Regionals in Sapporo, Japan, it's time to face this potential danger and discuss possible evasive action.

In general aviation, the onset of an SRG becomes apparent when, for no recognizable reason, the airspeed indicator drops precipitously, where it remains for between five and eight seconds, then

22

returns to normal. Although there is no mushing or stall, the loss of airspeed from 300 to 120 knots can be very unnerving even to seasoned veterans. The air density in the vortex of an SRG is such that lift is virtually unaffected by rapid drops in airspeed, which has always been of interest to those of us who fly professionally and enjoy paragliding for sport.

When a report of the only case of a hang glider pilot encountering an SRG was published by the USHGA in 1972, most veterans scoffed at the event because the pilot in question was known to fly "under the influence" and there were no eyewitnesses. Now that we have video footage of this phenomenon, it's time to review safety procedures for those who fly at altitudes exceeding 12,000 feet.

In Sapporo, 40 pilots were in the air when four of them suddenly encountered an SRG at 12,700 feet MSL and became trapped by the gradient. The physics of an SRG are plausible, although improbable.

The forward momentum of an airfoil traveling in excess of 200 knots will penetrate an average SRG vortex rapidly, however, a paraglider, traveling at an airspeed of 15 knots, can easily be forced into a prolonged hover.

Unable to induce forward motion of any kind, two of the pilots began dangerous weight-shifting pendulum swings, none of which triggered a release.

Although they were in no danger (nor is any paraglider pilot trapped in an SRG), the stationary hovering unnerved three of the four pilots to near panic levels. As PARAGLIDING

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most of us who followed this story know, after four and a half hours a temperature drop sheared the SRG and the pilots eventually landed safely. What we've learned from this phenomenon is that nothing can be done until the gradient vortex is lessened by a natural temperature drop, such as occurs at sunset.

The odds are remote that any of us will encounter an SRG, but the following advice should benefit everyone.

1)

2) 3)

Once in a stationary hover, do not attempt to induce momentum by brake input or weight-shifting your wing.

Remain calm and await a natural temperature drop.

When flying early in the day, carry

APRIL

2002

4)

5)

6)

7)

plenty of water in case you are trapped in an SRG for many hours.

Immediately report your position to other pilots so they can avoid the area.

Above all else, wait it out. Do not jump with your reserve, as this is significantly more dangerous.

Do not attempt big ears since an SRG vortex is actually strong enough to hold you stationary with no wing at all.

Avoid the temptation to leave your harness and float around, as an SRG will not hold you following a twodegree drop in temperature. If you are too far from your wing, you will fall. II

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Flying Kirkridge Pennsylvania

by Matt Gaskin

I finally flew the Kirkridge site at the Delaware ~ ter Gap in Pennsylvania. It wouldn't have been so momentous except that the regulations for flying there are so rigorously enforced that you rarely see any P2 pilotsflying.

h

I.,..,. '

,WO clung, that make the site so appealing. Ir faces south and it's only 70 miles from the George Washington Bridge. The next closest flying sire to New York City is Ellenville, and that's 10 to 15 miles farther away and the launch faces northwest. As pilots, we're always looking for nearby sites that face alternate launch directions so we can maximize our opporcunfries to fly.

There's nothing very difficult about the site. The landing zone is clearly visible directly in front of the launch area and the flyable wind direction allows for an easy landing approach. The launch elevation is only 660 feet above the LZ. The ridge extends east to west across Pennsylvania at the Water Gap. The crest of the ridge forms pare of the Appalachian Trail. Hikers will often come across the site and pause to watch the hang gliders and paragliders cake off and fly.

People from a nearby church and conference center will often walk the quarter-mile from the parking area to the launch sire co watch the pilots sec up, launch and fly.

24

PARA G LID IN G

Niels Dachkr launching. The LZ is visible in the background.

APRIL

2002

25

You must be a member of the Water Gap Hang Gliding Club (WGHGC) to fly the site and no signups are allowed on the hill. I've been a member of the club for the past two years, however, this was my first opportunity to fly the site since I recently earned a P3 rating. You must also be familiar with the many rules regarding the operation of the site. These include various flying restrictions, landing restrictions, helmet signoff by a club officer prior to flying the site, and quite a few others. Steve Onstad had spent time with me on another occasion when I visited the Kirkridge site. He had explained the sire's many rules and the reasons for them. I know Steve to be a friend to all paraglider pilots and a good mentor of pilots on the way up in their ratings. Steve, as a lJSHGA-rated Observer, also provided me with the necessary instruction, test, and rating signoff for portable radio operation.

The local club believes that this site will be the model for all the National Parks that may become open to flying.

The National Park Flight Plan was described by Randy Leggett in the November 2001 issue of Paragliding magazine. Some of the site rules that all of us may expect at these new National Park sites will include: Pilots must be members of the USHGA and WGHGC (the local club).

2) Pilots must produce a USHGA rating card and logbook upon demand.

3) You must fly with a helmet and reserve parachute.

4) Each flying day you must notify the LZ landowner of your intent to fly and be briefed on any special landing instructions or restrictions, and then disseminate this information to other pilots (site specific).

5) All pilots must log in at a station set up near the launch area.

6) No more than five vehicles are to be parked in the Kirkridge lodge (launch site) parking area. (This rule is site specific along with the total number of pilots that may fly the site simultaneously.)

7) All pilots must be rated H3 or P3 by lJSHGA to fly without a special selflaunch sticker.

8) H2 and P2 pilots who wish to fly the 1)

26

site must be accompanied by a WGHGC member who is also a USHGA-rated Instructor, Examiner or Observer, until issued a self-launch sticker by the WGHGC. 9) H2 and P2 pilots with a self-launch sticker may fly the site under the supervision of a WGHGC member H3 or P3 (or higher) rated pilot for the same aircraft, who is familiar with the site and the pilot and who will be in radio contact during all flights.

10) All new WGHGC members are to receive an orientation and a copy of the site rules before flying the site.

I met several pilots for the first time that December day. They were Chris Mueller, Niels Daehler and Daniel Menet.

Chris is a manager at a digital document services company, Niels is a cinematographer and Daniel is a corporate attorney.

They welcomed me to join their group, so we left two cars at the landing zone and drove in one car up to the Kirkridge Lodge parking area. On the footpath to the launch we met Toe Odawara, a Japanese pilot I have often seen flying at Ellenville. We each signed in, indicating our name, rating, USHGA number, time of arrival at the site, who spoke to the landing zone landowners, and the number of cars in the launch area parking lot.

The conditions we first launched into were medium with the wind from the south at 10 to 14 mph. We all soared the ridge with varying degrees of success. I found that the area just to the west of the launch site provided the most lift and I was able to gain about 100 feet over launch. I soared the ridge for about 20 minutes before flying out to land with Chris, Niels and Daniel. I would have flown longer but I was the driver for our group's return co the launch area. The pilots who launched after us reported that conditions had picked up and they landed relatively soon. This included Toe Odawara, Steve Onstad and Uvee Schachtely. We packed our wings and picked up one of the vehicles parked at the LZ to return to launch.

I met another pilot on our return to the Kirkridge parking area. His name was Ricardo. I Ie hailed from Brazil. Ricardo is a P2 and has 14 hours of airtime. He started flying several years ago in Brazil and is getting back into the sport here in

the U.S. He had no opportunity to fly that day in Kirkridge, and he had missed the best flying window in any case.

Ricardo accompanied us from the Kirkridge parking area to the launch where we found Randy Leggett and Thad disassembling their hang gliders. They found the conditions on launch to be too strong. We went to the launch area and felt the conditions to be casing up from when we tested them earlier.

Randy came over and agreed that they were now casing but he had other obligations that would keep him from flying. We decided to fly again. Daniel launched first, rose slightly, and began to sink out. Niels launched second and followed Daniel down to the LZ. I hadn't flown since early November, so I was eager to have even a few more minutes of airtime. I launched third with Ricardo's assistance. The launch was uneventful and I turned to the right into the area where I found the ridge lift to be so helpful during my earlier flight. I rose slightly but lost altitude on my turn away from the ridge to reverse direction. I attempted to stay in the area of greatest lift but was forced gradually down the face of the ridge toward the LZ zone. My second flight lasted all of about 10 minutes. As I flew out to the landing zone I had to make S-turns to reduce my glide path to within the LZ area. I touched down about 50 feet from the road and dropped my wing. It wasn't as gratifying as my first flight, but welcome just the same. Launch was easy, landing was effortless, and the flight was very smooth.

My heart goes out to P2's like Ricardo who don't have an opportunity to fly sites such as Kirkridge. I hope that the National Parks Flight Plan or the local clubs will include clinics to qualify P2 pilots for self-launch on a regular basis.

Perhaps USHGA should consider an additional rating that would qualify P2 pilots for self-launch.

Fly safe, fly high, and fly long. B

PARAGLIDING

Niels Daehler, Daniel Menet, and Chris Mueller at twilight after flying the Kirkridge site.

VIDEO REVIEW

From Nowhere to the Middle ofNowhere

by Steve Roti

aragliding in the mountains offers many possibilities. For the pilot seeking smooth air there are big sled rides from high launches. For soaring there are afternoon thermals that can take an experienced pilot up over the mountain peaks. For the adventuresome pilot who likes the comforts of civilization there's cross-councry flying in the Alps, with amenities like gondolas co law1ch. Bue for off-the-scale, our-of-this-world advenrure there is nothing quite like paragliding in the Himalayas.

Alun Hughes and John Silvester, two British pilots, lived the adventure by flying 300 kilometers across Western Nepal, and then they went home and produced a superb film about their journey. John and Alun flew tandem, with John as pilot and Alun as cameraman, carrying only the essentials with them. It was an unsupported flight, over unfamiliar, roadless country and unimaginably extreme terrain. In ocher words, it was the cype of journey chat many of us dream of making, and now we can Live it vicariously through the video.

28

In some respects, From Nowhere to the Middle ofNowhere is similar to the video A Higher Calling. Both involve small groups of Westerners who go ro Nepal to fly crosscounrry in the big mountains (the pilocs in Higher Calling came from che USA). Both have cultural encounters chat are every bit as fascinating as the £lying. Bue there are many differences between the two videos as well. In Higher Calling the flying is centered around Pok.hara, west of the capital of Kathmandu, whereas in Nowhere the flying takes place in che northwestern corner of the country, starring in the vicinity of Dadeldhura and ending in Jumla. And Nowhere features more in-air photography, alternating between a pilot's point of view of the country below and a bird's-eye view with the camera trained on Alun and John as they discuss the flight and the unexpected evencs that befall them. It's the best inflight camera work I've seen in a paragliding video, and when Alun asks, "That was a rough one wasn't ic?" I almost felt like I was up there with chem in che energetic, turbulent air.

This is a great film in the old-fashioned sense of the word great - with a large glider, an ambitious goal, big air and huge mountains. The spirit of adventure is evident chroughouc, from the fl ight planning in Wales at the beginning co the high-wind landing near Jumla in a cloud of dust at the end. And I'm not che only one who Liked this film. Pilots voted it the Best Film in Sc. Hilaire, France, and ic won a Special Jury Award ar che BanffFilm Festival in Canada, along with six other awards. If you missed seeing the film when it toured with che Banff Film Festival show a few years ago, now's your chance co see it on video.

From Nowhere to the Middle ofNowhere is available from John Silvester at his website: www.flyskyhigh.net. It can be ordered in English, NTSC or PAL format, or in French narracion/subtirles, PAL format.

John Silvester can be reached by e-mail ar john@flyskyhigh.net. If you want co order the video by mail, send your name and shipping address and US $35 in cash or check co: 4 Brynteg, Clwc-y-bonc, Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL 55 3DT, UK. • P A R AG LIDI NG

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On February 5, 2002 the FAA released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) for the new Sport Pilot proposed rule, marking the

certificate with requirements and privileges below those of a private pilot, the Sport Pilot certificate, would permit pilots to fly LSA with a minimum amount of training commensurate with safety. Sport pilot certificate holders would be restricted to daytime VFR operations below I 0,000' MSL (or 2,000' AGL, whichever is higher), would not be permitted to carry passengers for compensation or hire, and would not be permitted to tow any object. Additional training would be required to fly LSA with a maximum level-flight cruising speed greater than 87 knots, or to fly in Class B/C/0 airspace.

beginning of a 90-day comment period At the end of this period the

LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT The FAA proposes to create a new "special FAA will consider and respond to comments concerning the impact light sport aircraft" airworthiness certificate, intended for new-built aircraft, designed, constructed and sold under the and structure ofthe proposed changes to Federal Regulation. < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - < new rule. A new "experimental light sport aircraft" airworthiness certificate will be his article presents a summary of the Special Federal Aviation Regulation), the created for certifying existing non-Part I 03 NPRM proposes to change existing regulacompliant ultralights, as well as those newly proposed new certification structure, outlines the specifics of the method protions governing private pilots, and aims to built and sold before the final rule is in place. Aircraft manufacturers would be posed for transitioning pilots and aircraft, eliminate the need for exemptions to Part and discusses some of the implications of l 03. Some of these changes promise to required to meet certain conditions in order have a significant impact on the sports of for their products to qualify for certification the rules for our sports. Much of this material may seem peripheral to you, especially hang gliding and paragliding. as special category LSA. if you arc a mountain pilot, but trust me First and foremost, manufacturers when I tell you that it is relevant. This proOVERVIEW OF THE NPRM would have to develop and adhere to a set posal would affect our sports, possibly sigThe Sport Pilot SFAR is designed to of industry "consensus standards" dictating address three issues of special importance to aircraft design and maintenance, manufacnificantly, and especially with regard to our the FAA: l) safety and rules enforcement turing quality assurance, and production flight parks. This is not a ''fun" article, and for that l apologize, but some knowledge of problems related to the operation of powacceptance and testing. Some of these functhe whole is required in order to underered ultralights, 2) the continued health tions are already being performed in one and growth of the U.S. general aviation sec- sense or another, but compliance would stand both how we fit in and what the likely effect will be on our sports. Please make tor, and 3) the elimination oflong-term require extra effort on the part of manufacan effort to slog through this as best you exemptions to Part I 03. In order to address turers. One manufacturer estimates that it these issues the FAA proposes a comprewould add $6,000 to the cost of the aircraft can - it is important.

What we once referred to as Federal hensive and well-thought-out revision to they produce. The consensus standards Aviation Regulations (FAR's) is now conseveral sections of 14 CFR. The proposed would also require manufacturers to develtained within Chapter 14 of the Code of changes include the creation of a new cateop and implement a system to monitor and Federal Regulation (14 CFR). The old FAR gory of airworthiness certificate and a new ensure the operational safety of the aircraft Part I 03 is now known as 14 CFR I 03. pilot certificate. that they have produced. This means that The "Certification of Aircraft and Airmen Overweight and two-place ultralight manufacturers will be tasked with taking on for Operation of Light Sport Aircraft, aircraft, which exceed the specifications for some of the duties currently performed by operation under Part 103, could be issued a the FAA for the general aviation sector Proposed Rule" (Sport Pilot) is not merely Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) airworthiness to investigate incidents and accidents and a modification of existing regulation. It is a certificate. These aircraft would be limited to issue advisories designed to maintain and well-thought-out system designed to govto two occupants, 1,232 pounds takeoff improve aviation safety. Manufacturers ern the certification and regulation of nonwould be required to monitor the use and Part 103 compliant ultralight aircraft and weight, 39- to 44-knot stall speed (dependpilots. In addition to creating a new catego- ing on configuration), 115-knot Vmax, sin- accident history of the aircraft they have ry of aircraft airworthiness certificate and a gle reciprocating engine, fixed-pitch proproduced, and take action to maintain the new pilot certificate (via the Sport Pilot peller, and fixed landing gear. A new pilot safety of their "fleet." This could impose a

T

30

---'-

-=---------1---------------·~-~ PARAGLIDING

significant financial and legal burden on manufacturers. If a manufacturer fails under such a burden, responsibility for monitoring the aircraft must be transferred to another entity. Otherwise, those now unsupported aircraft may (will) lose their special category certification and be effectively grounded unless the owner obtains an experimental certificate for his aircraft.

Maintenance requirements for LSA would parallel those for the general aviation sector. Aircraft must be maintained to standards mandated by the manufacturer in accordance with the industry consensus standards and could not be substantially modified without losing certification.

Annual condition inspections by certified maintenance personnel would be required.

Aircraft used for flight instruction would require inspection every 100 flying hours as well. Sport Pilot proposes to significantly reduce the burden on owners and pilots by permitting them to perform their own routine maintenance after meeting modest training requirements. These would include completion of a 16-hour maintenance course for the appropriate aircraft, make and model, to maintain an LSA with an "experimental" certificate chat the maintainer owns, or an SO-hour course for an LSA with a "special" certificate. It should be noted that PAMA, the Professional Aviation Maintenance Organization, has already taken a negative position on this prov1s1on.

LIGHT SPORT PILOTS In order to qualify for a sport pilot certificate the prospective pilot would have to meet certain training, flight experience and evaluation requirements. These include completion of an approved ground-training program from a qualified instructor, 20 hours of total flight time including five hours solo, and passage of a written and practical test administered by an FAAapproved, designated pilot examiner (OPE). The required ground training would encompass a wide body of knowledge, including: rules and regulations, weather, the use of aeronautical resources (charts, NOTMfS, the Airmen's Information Manual, etc.), aircraft preflight and in-flight operation, weight and balance, takeoff and landing data calculations, and NTSB accident reporting procedures.

APRIL

2002

First and foremost, manufacturers would have to develop and adhere to a set ofindustry ''consensus standards" dictating aircraft design and maintenance, manufacturing quality assurance, and production acceptance and testing... one manufacturer estimates that it would add $6,000 to the cost ofthe aircraft they produce.

Training from a certified instructor and a logbook endorsement would be required before the candidate could take the written and practical tests. The practical test (check ride) must be administered by an instructor other than the one who gave the initial training and logbook endorsement.

The successful sport pilot certificate holder would be permitted to fly an LSA of the same category/class, make and model as used in training. Pilots wishing to transition to a different make and model within the same category/class (to a Moyes Dragonfly from a Kolb FireStar, for example) would require additional training from an authorized instructor who could grant the new privileges via logbook endorsement. Pilots wishing to transition to an LSA of a different catego1y/class (to a threeaxis aircraft from a trike, for example) must first obtain training in the new category/class, make and model of aircraft they wish to fly from an authorized instructor. They would then be required to pass a practical test administered by a different authorized instructor. The new privileges would again be granted via logbook endorsement.

SPORT PILOT INSTRUCTORS Sport Pilot Instructors, in addition to meeting all of the requirements for the Sport Pilot certificate, must receive and log training in a broad range of categories, including: fundamentals of flight, pre-flight procedures, airport operations, in-flight maneuvers (performance, ground reference, slow flight, stalls, spins, etc.), emergency procedures, and post-flight procedures.

Instructors must also receive and log ground training in the Fundamentals of Instruction.

Aeronautical experience requirements include 150 hours of flight time with l 00 hours as pilot-in-command, 50 hours sin-

gle-engine, 25 hours cross-country, 10 hours cross-country in a single-engine aircraft, and 15 hours as pilot-in-command in an LSA. Once all of these requirements are met, the candidate is eligible to take the written test and practical tests. Instructors will be authorized to offer instruction for any make and model aircraft in which they have logged more than five hours of flight time. In addition, they must have logged up to 150 hours of flight time (depending on type) in the same category/class as the aircraft in which they wish to give instruction.

Given the large number of available makes and models, this could represent a significant burden on instructors, and/or severely dilute the range of choices a prospective pilot has for obtaining instruction in any particular aircraft. The FAA recognizes this, and the NPRM makes some mention of working with the industry to lump together similar aircraft to mitigate this problem. No specifics are given, however, and this compromise may never materialize.

Sport pilots and sport pilot instructors will be required to meet many of the provisions of 14 CFR 61, just like any other certificated pilot. These include medical certification and currency requirements. The medical will be handled fairly painlessly by requiring that the pilot hold a valid driver's license or FAA medical. If a pilot chooses the driver's-license method he would be limited by any restrictions on that license (such as wearing glasses), and if he lost the license, either physically or by court order, he would be grounded until he got it back agam.

Currency requirements include, but are not limited to, the standard three takeoffs and landings per quarter in order to carry passengers, along with a biannual flight review. Instructors will be required to

31

The new rule, as currently proposed, would no doubt have some effect on the continued availability oftugs capable oftowing hang gliders aloft. It can be expected to increase operating costs as well.

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demonstrate a cerrain minimum level of activity in terms of srudems trained and successfully granted sport pilot certificates. lnscruccors falling below the specified level of activity will be required co rake and pass a biannual inscructor check ride.

Inscruccors will be required to log alJ ground instrncrion, Aighr instruction, certificates, ratings and endorsements they give in the course of their duties.

This has been a quick and dirty outline describing the basic fearures of the new system, as proposed. le is neither ex.hausrive nor comprehensive; rhere is a great deal more to digest. Hopefully, ic gives you some idea of the final resuJc the FM has in mind. How we gee from here co there is the next question. There is currently a large community of ulcralighc pilots operating aircraft char will be required to transition to rhis new system - more than 9,000 according co FAA estimates. A great deal of thought has been given to how chis cransirion should be accomplished, and I will discuss char aspect of the NPRM next.

IMPLEMENTING SPORT PILOT Some provision muse be made for obraining the initial cadre of instructors and DPE's needed co train and certify new spore pilot candidates. The FAA plans to leverage rhe existing infrastructure within cl1e uJcralighr community to provide these services.

Advanced instructors who are registered with the three FAA-recognized ultralight organizations - the US Ultralight Associacion (USUA), the Aero Spores Connection (ASC), and the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) - will be given standard FM-designated examiner training and "blessed" under 14 CFR Pare I 83 as represenracives of rhe FM. (Note that the USHGA is specifically not included here.)

This initial cadre of DPE's will train and certify a pool of flight instructors who will, in rum, train and certify new spore pilots.

The FAA realius char this process will rake time. Ultralight pilots currently operating under Parr 103 may continue co do so for

24 to 36 months after final publication of this rule. After chis time, the FAA expects to begin enforcemenc of alJ Parr l 03 provis10ns.

TRANSIT IONING PILOTS AND INSTRUCTORS Ultralight pilots who are current, rared members of the USUA, ASC, or EAA wouJd be given credit for having met the ground training, flight training and flight experience requiremencs for the sport pilot certificate. They would stiJl be required to pass a written and practical test.

Application must be made within 24 months (and completed within 36 months) of publication of the final ruJe. UlrraJight instructors who are members of the "big three" and have passed the Fundamentals of Instruction test would be given credit for having met the aeronautical knowledge, ground training and flight experience requirements for the sport pilot instructor certificate. In order to gee their sport pilot instructor cerrificaces they would first have co obtain a spore pilot or private pilot certificate. They wotlld then have to pass a wricren and practical test for sport pilot instructors. They would still have co meet the 150-hour total flight time in category/class experience requi rement, bur this could be done using time logged previously as a certified uluaJighr pilot.

TRANSITIONING AIRC RAFT There is a large Aeet of existing ulrraJight aircraft char are nor legaJ under Parr 103 and falJ within the parameters of LSA. In order to permit continued operation of these aircraft, once the 36-monch window closes, the FM proposes co create an "experimental light spore aircraft" airworthiness certificate. The "experimental" certificate is intended for those ex.isting aircraft that meec the requirements co be certified as an LSA, but were built before the agreedupon industry consensus standards cook effect. Application co register these aircraft muse be made within 24 months of the

P A RA G LIDING

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effective dare of che Spore Pilot SFAR, and certification must be completed wichin 36 months of this dace. During chis transition period, owners may continue ro operate rhese aircraft for compensation or hire while conducting flight training. After chis time, they may scill be used for training, bm nor for compensation or hire. Owners of"experirncntal" LSA may apply ro the FAA for a "letter of deviation" ro continue ro operate their aircraft for compensation or hire aner the transition period, bur only for rhe conduct of training. A lecter of deviation is sim ilar to an exemption, only the decision authority in this case is the Adminisrraror, and letters of deviation do not necessarily expire as do most exemptions. A letter of deviation is normally granted for a specific event or cype of event, and must be requested at least 60 days ahead of time.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SPORTS OF HANG GLIDING AND PARAGLIDING The long-term implications of Sport Pilot on rhe hang gliding and paragliding community are impossible ro predict with accuracy. The new rule, as currently proposed, would no doubt have some effect on the continued availability of rugs capable of rowing hang gliders alon. It can be expected to increase operating costs as well. Much will depend upon the increased understanding the FM gains, and the adjustments made, as a result of the NPRM comment process.

T he near-term effects of the Sporr Piloc initiative, as proposed, are more easily deduced. In this regard che ultralight soar-

APRIL

2002

ing community can be roughly divided into rwo camps. Mountain pilors who clearly and legally operate under Part I 03 (without the need for exemption) can expect business as usual, at least for the near term. Part l 03 remains unrouched for now. Flatland p ilots who utilize aerorowing will see some changes, however.

EFFECT ON FLIGHT PARKS For reasons of safety and efficiency, many of the rugs used at our flight parks fall ourside the parameters of Pare 103. The power needed ro safely and efficiently row a hang glider alon, cogecher with safety devices like ballistic chutes and sturdy airframes, make these tugs overweight in many cases. The need ro train new rug pilots makes rwoplace capability imporranr. Under Spore Pilot these rugs will be required to register and operate as lighc spore aircraft. Owners will have to register their aircraft with the FM within 24 months of publication of the final rule. The aircraft muse then be inspected by a qualified FM representative and an airworthiness certificate issued within 36 months of char dare. If the aircran was imported, there are additional conditions involving agreemenrs between the civil aviation authorities of the rwo countries char are beyond the scope of chis article, but which may affect some of our operattons.

Once the rug is made legal to fly, flight park operators will need ro maintain their aircraft in accordance with Federal Regulation. Someone ar the shop will probably need to obrain a maintenance certification, so chat the flight park can economically maintain irs rugs and satisfy the peri-

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Key ASC Aero Spon Connection CFR Code of Federal Regulation OPE Designated Pilot Examiner EAA Experimental Aircraft Association FAA Federal Aviation Administration FAR Federal Aviation Regulation LSA Light Sport Aircraft NPRM Notice of Proposed Rulemaking SFAR Special Federal Aviation Regulation USHGA You know USUA US Ukralighc Association odic inspection requiremencs. Presumably, the rug manufacturers will be the ones design ing and delivering these training programs. Maintainers will be required co attend a separate training course of the specified number of hours for each make and model aircraft d1at is owned and operated by the flight park.

Flight park operators would initially have to contend with restrictions on the allowable uses of an "experimental" LSA. The new proposed rule would allow for the use of these aircraft for compensation or hire, bur only while conducting flight training, and only during rhe 36-monrl1 transition period. After this cransicion peri· od, an experimental LSA may no longer be operated for compensation or hire, for any purpose. While the proposed rule does state chat a lercer of deviation can be requested permitting such use, the NPRM also specifically states: "This provision

33

would not be intended w allow commercial operators to establish traini11g schools using experimental aircraft." Given this, we should nor expect to obtain blanker permission allowing our aerotowing operations w continue as before. Expect existing ultralight rugs, as well as any produced and sold before industry consensus standards are developed and implemented, to be restricted in usefulness after the 36-month transition period.

Flight park operators would also need to make provisions for obtaining pilots who can legally fly LSA for rhe purpose of towing hang gliders aloft. While there is no expl icit prohibition against using LSA w row hang gliders, a spore pilot would be explicitly prohibited from cowing any object. The FM believes char a level of experience and training above char of spore pilot should be required for this type of activity. The NPRM points our that the holder of a Private Pilor certificate may, wirh proper training and experience, conduct rowing operations. T his new rule

would amend rhe Private Pilot certificate ro include a weight-shift category/class racing, so char private pilots could, with the proper training and endorsements, fly trikes as well as three-axis aircraft. The implications are clear: flight park owners would be required to have their tug drivers certified co the private pilot level wirh a glider rowing endorsement within 36 months of publ ication of rhe Sport Pilot SFAR. Restrictions on both the spore pilot and private pilot certificates will require char all operations remain on a cost-sharing basis unless rhe tug driver has a commercial or higher certificate.

One change that di recdy impacts upon Parr 103 is not a pare of the Sport Pilot SFAR proper. Rather, it is one of rhe scared goals of the NPRM: to eliminate rhe need for Parr l03 exemptions. Key among these, from our perspective, are rhe USHGA exemptions for wwing and tandem operations. Loss of these exemptions would pretty much shut down many of our fligh t parks, which rely on tandem operations

and aerorowing to perform their functions.

This has been brought up with FM officials working on the Spore Pilot issue, and we have been assured that their intention is nor to mangle rhe sport of hang gliding. Ar the same time, the perpetual-exemption issue must be addressed. Among the proposed solutions is a letter of deviation (as discussed earlier in the context of operating LSA for compensation or hire). There is one wrinkle in this plan: T he regulation in question must specifically stare that deviations may be authorized. This means that an amendment m use be made to Part 103 before we can even apply for a letter to deviate from Parr 103.

POTENTIAL LONG-TERM EFFECTS ON PART 103 T he following is largely speculation, bur the potential long-term effects of this N PRM on Pare I03 - the regulation upon which we rely fo r our primary operation - are too important to ignore entirely. In that spirit I will highlight rwo obvious concerns.

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PARA G LIDI NG

No doubt others will come to light in the course of time.

There arc several provisions within the NPRM that don't affect us directly, but set up conditions that may adversely affect the future integrity of Part 103. One example is the 10,000' MSL altitude restriction on sport pilot certificate holders. This creates a situation in which uncertificatcd pilots flying unregistered aircraft: enjoy greater privileges than certificated pilots flying proven designs. It is easy to see how, in the future, the absurdity of this situation is likely to prompt a call for future amendments to Part 103.

Our chief concern, however, may be for the continued viability of Part 103 itself once the Sport Pilot SFAR becomes law. In addition to service and support, our flight parks serve as an important source of new pilots. Depending on its final form, Sport Pilot may have the effect of reducing our ability to recruit and train these new pilots.

In addition, FM estimates indicate that approximately 9,000 pilots will initially seek sport pilot certification. The vast majority will do so, because they must, in order to continue flying their fat or twoplace ultralights. The flying membership of the USUA is approximately 11,000. The numbers seem to indicate that a large percentage, perhaps even a majority, of pilots will be leaving Part I 03 to operate under the new Sport Pilot SFAR. Legal users and advocates of Part 103 will be diluted significantly, both in numbers and in clout.

Those remaining may be ill equipped to fend off potential future regulatory action aimed at changing or eliminating Part 103.

SUMMARY The Sport Pilot NPRM lays out a comprehensive system to begin regulating those three-axis, trike, and powered-parachute type ultralights that currently fail to meet the requirements to operate legally under Part 103, for reasons of gross weight, fuel capacity, top speed and pay-load capability (namely, the ability to carry passengers). By certifying these pilots and their aircraft the FAA believes that it can improve safety by enhancing training, improving aircraft maintenance, and by providing for better enforcement.

Sport pilots and light sport aircraft, unlike pilots and aircraft operating under Part

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2002

I 03, will have certificates that can be yanked in the event of non-compliance.

Sport Pilot is also designed to act as a low-cost entry point for prospective pilots who, it is hoped, will move on to higherlevel certificates. With the downsizing of the military and the gradual contraction of the general aviation sector, the pipeline for new pilots coming up through the ranks is shrinking. The maintenance of this pipeline is of great importance to the U.S. aviation industry and the economy as a whole. The NPRM proposes to add two new aircraft: category/class ratings --~ powered parachute and weight-shift control (land/sea) - to the Private Pilot certificate. Airtime logged while operating as a Sport Pilot may be applied toward the requirements of a higher-level certificate. Sport Pilot is carefully designed to help rejuvenate the general aviation sector and refill that pipeline.

Public safety and economic security are big issues. It is clear that, barring some unforeseen event, Sport Pilot will not go away. Nor is it likely to undergo substantial modification due to the protests of a few fringe users of the national airspace system.

Given this, what can or should we do?

First, our best intelligence is that the FM is nor out to shut down our flight parks or otherwise compromise hang gliding and paragliding in the U.S. Any negative effects of the Sport Pilot initiative arc unintended. Given this, we can expect officials in Washington to do their best to accommodate our needs, within certain limits. These limits will be set by the resources available to work on the problems and constraints set by the "needs of the many," which this new rule is designed to meet. We will enjoy the greatest likelihood of success if we seek minimal modification of the rule consistent with our own needs.

Rights-based arguments will almost certainly fail. Arguments based on safety and economic impact hold the greatest promise for success. Quantitative justifications (numbers) will carry far more weight than qualitative ones.

We should strive to obtain as much as we possibly can in the regulation itself.

Promises of future exemptions and approval for letters of deviation are fine, bur both are less certain and less durable than being blessed under regulation. The

USHGA Sport Pilot Task Force is working on an official statement and a set of recommendations. These should be out by the time you read this article. Read them and consider them carefully before taking any action on your own. We must act as a team if we arc to obtain a good result for ourselves and the future.

DISCLAIMER I want to emphasize that this article is intended as a primer. There has been insufficient time thus far to conduct an exhaustive or comprehensive study. In addition, I cannot guarantee I 00% accuracy. [ encourage you to use this work as a starting point for your own investigations. II

WWW.SHASTASKYSPORTS.COM PH: (530) 945-5866 or (530) 604-2765

35

USHGA Meets ith FAA to Discuss the NPRM

by Bill Bolosky n the morning of February 9, to us was that the FAA in no way desires 2002, several people from the to compromise hang gliding aerotow or USHGA had the opportunity to meet hang gliding and paragliding tandem with three senior-level people from the operations. Sue Gardner said that the FAA to discuss the implications for hang FAA understands that we have an excelgliding and paragliding operations of the lent safety record and a quality program, new Sport Pilot proposed rule. and that they do not want to stop us.

Attending from the FAA were Mike The current Sport Pilot proposal would Henry, FAA Manager of General not allow aerotowing, but the FAA repreAviation, Sue sentatives discussed Gardner, overseer of several options for The essence ofthe message the NPRM, and accommodating Scott Sedgewick from aerotowing that conveyed to us was that the the Operations Office ranged from a new in Kansas City. exemption to altering FM in no way desires to Representing the the proposed rules to USHGAwere permit towing. They compromise hang gliding President Jim Zeiser, also indicated that Executive Director aerotow or hang gliding and after completion of Jayne DePanfilis, the Sport Pilot and Director Bill Bryden, Light Sport Aircraft paragliding tandem operaMike Meier of Wills rules they wanted to Wing and I. tions. Sue Gardner said that then address "limitMany of us have ed-commercial" had legitimate conoperations in light the FM understands that cerns that the prosport aircraft. posed Sport Pilot and Tandem is a we have an excellent safety Light Sport Aircraft different issue. There rule, if implemented, is currently no intenrecord and a quality prowould limit our abilition by the FAA to ty to aerotow and to gram, and that they do not change Part 103. fly tandem.

The NPRM states Currently, these operthat the FAA desires want to stop us. ations are conducted to eliminate longunder exemptions from FAR Part 103 term exemptions, however, the FAA repthat have been in effect for 20 years. The resentatives indicated that they clearly do NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule not desire to eliminate our two-place Making) states that it is the intention of exemption. They did discuss the possithe FAA to stop issuing long-term bility that it could be converted to a exemptions such as these. Furthermore, "Letter of Deviation Authority" or possithe NPRM is not worded in a way that bly handled in some other fashion. A would allow Sport Pilots to operate tow Letter of Deviation Authority is planes. This is the source of the worry approved by (and renewed by) the Flight that this rule may have serious adverse Standards group at the FAA, rather than consequences. through the exemption process which is The essence of the message conveyed handled by wider array of people, some

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36

of whom may be less friendly toward us.

There will be a follow-up meeting between the USHGA and the FAA at Sun 'n' Fun in April to discuss the details of the plan in order to make the necessary legal requests to have the new exemption and deviation approved. We will continue to report to the membership on the progress of this process.

Many of us came away from our multiple sessions with the FAA with the optimistic viewpoint that our current operations will not only be preserved, but finally be made legal in all phases.

However, the ARAC process in which we have participated since 1993 indicates that the final results the FAA produces are not always what was envisioned. The process of final rulemaking will take several years. It could well be that the personnel responsible for the rule will change, along with the attitude and intentions of the FAA. Therefore, we are convinced that we cannot be lulled into inaction at this point.

We believe that it will be appropriate for USHGA members to send in formal comments to address the problems with the proposed rule. However, the comments that the membership makes will be more useful if they're made in light of the results of the USHGA/FAA meeting scheduled to take place in April.

Therefore, we suggest that you wait to send in your final, formal comments until you hear from us in mid-April. The comment period extends until May 6, 2002, so there will still be several weeks left to do a good job with the final versions. Of course, the sooner you read the NPRM, the more time you'll have to mull over exactly what's been proposed and what you'd like to see happen in the final rule.

When the final version of the USHGA comments are ready, we will make them widely available to interested pilots by posting them on our website and providing links in all of the usual e-mail lists. We hope to have them ready shortly after the April meeting. If any members have ideas that they would like to see in the comments from the USHGA, please send them to us at ushga@ushga.org. Ill PARAGLIDING

PARAGLIDING ADVISORY: Used paraglidcrs should always be thoroughly inspected before flying for the first time. lf in doubt, many paragliding businesses will be happy to give an objective opinion on the condition of equipment you bring them to inspect. BUYERS SHOULD SELECT EQUIPMENT THAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR SKILL LEVEL OR RATING. NEW PILOTS SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION FROM A USHGA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR. PARAGUDERS ADVANCE EPSILON 3 - 30m, DHV 1-2, 105122kg., red w/black trim, Woody Valley airbag harness, reserve, radio and backpack. Under 5 hours on all. Will sell entire package for $2,355 ORO. Steve (570) 3263120, smc@)suscom.net

GIN BOLERO Xl. - Perfect! Includes all accessories.

105-125 kg, DHV 1. First $1,475 karkl@aol.com or (406) 458-0435. Ir won't last long.

ITV AGENA 26 - Beginner-intermediate wing, <40 hours, recent porosity check, includes harness, new Supair reserve, Brauniger IQ Basis vario $2,500 Canadian. (416) 686-7591, (416) 877-6956 Toronto, gjbennet@hotmail.com PRO DESICN RF.I.AX- Small (65-90kg) Crispy! Less than 20 hours, includes Pro Design Jam harness w/ side mounted reserve (never thrown), backpack & stuffsack, Kiwi helmet w/ installed radio earpiece and PTT system.

Everything in excellent shape-$2,000 for the whole package. Erika (307)734--44 50, erikahoggs@yahoo.com

APCO BAGHERA - Small $1,800. Octane M DHV 1-2, 05/01 $1,830. Nova Carbon M, 04/01 $1,995.

Booster M, 65-95kg $1,750. Super Space II, medium, reserve, harness $1,700. Bolero, small, like new $1,900.

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f!REBIRD FLAME XL blue and white low airtime, excellent condition $1,500 l'RODESIGN CHAU.ENGER 27 TANDEM glider 200KG max, excellent condition $1,000 EDEL CORVETTE 22 M with harness $400 EDEL CORVETTE 25 M with harness $400 KITE ENTERl'RISFS, (972) 390-9090

EDEL RESPONSE L - Good performance, very friendly, 100 hours, great condition, just inspected $900. Nate (208) 788-8455.

POWERED PARAGLIDERS

EDEL SABRE - Excellent condition, 90-125kg, 10 hours, military carnmo colors $800 OBO. Shop demo equipment: like new 2 XIX wings. Inter L 28M, 80104kg $1,500. form 28M, 80-I04kg $1,500. Pro Design Compact 33M, fair condition $600. La Mouette motors: 250 with tandem gear $3,000; ?.10 with extra prop $2,500. (509) 886-4605, skypilotbrian@yahoo.com

DK WHISPER GTO, HARNESS & SKYTRIKE DK features an electric starter, 3-blade l'owerrin propeller and 48" cage. Used less than 10 hours. See: http://www.starbuckdesign.com/paraglider/index.htm.

PARAPOWER USA - New paramotors and wings.

Special motorparagliders, designed with safety and easy handling: Silex & Dudek. Perfect balance between motor, harness and glider. Engines: powerful, quiet, reliable Solo 210. Made in Germany. Great prices. (630) 595-9346, www.parapowerusa.com POWERED PARAGLIDER- Solo 210, 42 inch prop, T-6061 frame, 1.3 gallon tank, tiny tach, dry weight 62lbs. Comes with harness, Space 27m wing and new reserve $1,900 080. Call or email me for pictures.

Call (802) 877-2486 or email angierfam@surfglobal.net EMERGENCY PARACHUTES AUTHORIZED CHUTE REPAIR - And service center for APCO, Elan, Chiron powered parachutes and Ul'/Perche/lndependence paragliders and more! We have a full-time loft available with quick turn around for small to huge repairs and annual inspections. Ship your chute to Mo)o's Gear Ltd. Co., 1475 CR 220, Tow, TX 786/2 Attn: REPAIR or INSPECTION. Include a note about the service(s) you require as well as a contact phone number and email. We will contact you with an estimate prior to starting the work. Office: 91 5-3791567, www.mojosgear.com HARNESSES EDEL HERO - Used harness $120. Reserve $270.

Uvex helmet $125. (206) 244-5122, redrisl@attbi.com

Sell your unused equipment here!

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. 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

o Paragliders o Emergency Parachutes o Parts & Accessories 0 Business & Employment O Miscellaneous 'J Powered Paragliders Q Videos

O Towing 0 Schools & Dealers O Ultralights 0 Publications &Organizations UWanted O Harnesses

Begin with ______________ 2002 issue and run for consecutive issue(s). My O check, 0 money order is enclosed in the amount of$ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ NAME: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ ADDRESS: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ CITY: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

STATE: _ _ __

PHONE: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Number of words: _______ @$.50 = Number of words:

APRIL

2002

@$1.00 =_____

USHGA, P.0 Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901 (719) 632-8300 fax (719) 632-6417

37

y interest in aviation goes way back. As a kid I was always building model airplanes, balsa-wood gliders, and kites, and occasionally jumping off the roof of my house!

Actual flight remained a dream for a long time, however.

In 1978 I was hired by the Boeing Company and today hold the position of lead engineer with the flight controls simulation group in the Airplane Systems Lab. In 1986 I obtained my private pilot's license and received a seaplane rating shortly thereafter. My dreams of flight had become a reality.

In 1991 I discovered paragliding, cook enough lessons to figure out the basics, then began flying in earnest with a small group of enthusiastic friends. We were focused on serious mountaineering ac the time, and immediately cried to incorporate our new love of paragliding. Of course, like most climbers turned paraglider pilots, we soon found that a paraglider as a descent rool was impractical for most technical ascents. We still managed to do a lot of "hike 'n' flies" on various peaks around the Northwest, which to this day I enjoy as much as a good X-C flight.

Photography and writing have been hobbies of mine for quite a while, and I've had photos and/or stories published in several periodicals, including Climbing, Rock and Ice, and Paragliding, along with some guidebooks and regional publications.

M

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Comprehensive ground schooling with an emphasis on micromeceorology. Great new/used inventory, specializing in Windtech Paragliding Gear and M2 Harnesses, repair center, and superb customer service. In ARIZONA or WASHINGTON appointments are required.

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Visit our Website at www.flyaboveall.com or call at (805) 965-3733.

OJAI PARAGLIDING - Ojai is Southern California's best kept secret. Year-round, great soaring in this beautiful valley surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest.

Near Santa Barbara and Ventura. Great cross-country possibilities. Courses for beginner to advanced pilots.

Motorized paragliding, guided tour and tandems. New and used equipment, l 2 years in the business! Tel# (805) 646-9660,info@flyojai.com,www.flyojai.com

TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT-Come soar in San Diego! This family owned and operated flying site offers USHGA certified instruction, equipment sales, tandem flight instruction, motorized pg/hg instruction, parachute repacks, repairs, and site tours. We also have an extensive pg/hg outfitting shop and dining with a view when you eat at our own Clifflnngcr Cafe. Importers for ADVANCE, PARATECH, AVA Sport Accessories, Crispi boots, Center of Gravity helmets, fly Mike flight suits, Gut Stuff gloves, and AustriAlpin carabiners and dealers for most other brands. Check us out onlinc for sales and questions at: www.flytorrey.com, or call toll free at l-877-FLY-TEAM. Also, tune in to the Internet Paragliding Talk Show at www.wsradio.ws every Thursday 5-7:00 pm (l'ST).

CALIFORNIA AIRJUNKIES PARAGLIDING - Join KEN BAIER for your "Pursuit of Paragliding Excellence" in the land of year-round, excellent paragliding: Southern California and the Baja. Courses for Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Instructor ratings. Powered paragliding, soaring and maneuvers clinics, guided tours, tandem and towing instmccion and special events. USHGA certified.

Handling the latest equipment. Call (760) 753-2664 for infor1nation 1 airjunkies@worldnct.att.net

EAGLE PARAGLIDING - We are an Airplay sister school, and teach the same high quality program which has made Dixon's Airplay a top ranked school for years.

We specialize in beginner instruction. SANTA BARBARA caters to paraglider pilots of all levels. Our training hill is unparalleled, and offers year round instruction, equipment sales, SERVICE, and support. By appointment only. www.flySantaRarbara.com (805) 9680980."

APRIL

2002

MAUI WOW WEE- l'roflyght Hawaii, first school in Hawaii, located on Maui, is now under new ownership.

THERMAL DYNAMICS PARAGLIDING -~ & FlyaGlider.com Visit Southern California's most consistent flying site' Macshal/Crescline1 We can arrange complete vacation packages, combining the beauty of mountain living with some of the best paragliding in the country. Beginning and Advanced instruction as well as specialty clinics are available. Our Lead Instructor, Tim Nelson, has flown locally since I 993. Currently, he is a Four Diamond Master Raced Advanced Instructor.

With his local experience, we can make your flying vacation one to remember! Go to HyaGlider.com for more information and to see the new live flycam! Or call direct at 1-888-310-8998 and (909) 338-4099.

The best just got better. When it gets cold in the north, Maui is the place co fly, explore, relax and/or learn to fly.

Team Proflyght sports an incredible training facility, wonderful year-round weather, 1,000' training slope, I 00' to 7'000 vertical descents off Haleakala Crater (10,023'). Toll Free 877-GO-FLY-HI. Visit our website WWW.PARAGLIDEHAWAII.COM

MEX[CO- Year-round, summer in Monterrey, winter in Valle de Bravo. 1-800-861-7198, www.flymcxico.com

Renew your membership online!

FAX your classified ad, membership renewal or merchandise order: (719) 632-6417. We gladly accept VISA, Amex and MasterCard.

43

--,-------~--------------~

Sell your unused equipment here.

HOLE SUNSPORTS PARAGLIDING -

Hood River,

()regon. Beginner lessons, sales, service, repacks, tandem

- Put your knees in our breeze and soar our 450' sand dunes. FULL-TIME SHOP. Certified instruction. beginner ro advanced, fool launch and row. Sales, service,

accessories for ALL major brands. VISA/MASTERCARD. 1509 E 8th, Traverse City Ml 49684. Offering POWERED PARAGLIDING lessons & dealer for rhc Explorer & used units. Call Bill at (2.'l l) 922-2844, tchangglider(1lcharter111i.net. Visit our paragliding school in Jackson, Wyoming. Call Tracie at (307) 73')-8(,20.

MONTA'.\/A Hl(;H PLAINS PARACI.IDINC - Superior quality paragliding equipment, Lxcdlent prices, and friendly service. On the web ar: h1rp://hornetown.aol.co111/hiplainz or phone (406) 458-8(,.J(,.

flights. APCO, SUP'AIR, FLYTEC, HANWAG, IN STOCK! We have a complete shop wirh EVERYTHING that you need in stock! Rick Higgins, SunSportsl'C~Daol.com, (541) .l87-21 I 2: Mark Telep rharspec(0 110rmail.com, ( 541) 308-01 0 I Web: http://hometown.aol.com/ rsunsports/ myhornepagc/ inde x.htrnl

Hll.l. COUNTRY PARACI.IDINC INC - I.earn complete pilot skills. Personalized USHCA certified training, ridge soaring, frmt & tow launching in central Texas. MOTORIZED PARAGLIDING INSTRUCTION & EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE. (915) 3791 185. 147'i CR 220, Tow TX 78672.

KITE ENTERPRISES -

Slope, stationa,y winch, pay-

out winch training, sales, rentals and repair. Wills Wing,

l'irebird, Cin, 01one. Dallas, hirr Worth and north Texas area. (972) 390-9090, www.kite-enrerpriscs.com

NEVADA ADVENTURE SPORTS -

JACKSON HOLE PARAGLIDING - Come to Paragliding Paradise and enjoy alpine flying at irs absolute best. Ten sires in a ten-mile radius including the 4.1 :l'J' aerial tram. Jackson Hole Paragliding offers scenic 1andc111 flights, beginner through advanced instruction, mountain thermal clinics, x-c clinics, 1naneuvers training, aerobatic demonstrations, scooter, truck, and hoar

rowing. The Jackson Hole Paragliding team features advanced instructors Scott Harris and Tom Bartlett, x-c

masters Jon Hunt and Chip Hildebrandt, world class aero-pilots Matt Combs and Ranyon LYArge, row tech Randy Alfano, and vidcographcr Demian McConnell.

Call to set up a vacuion package tailored to improve your flying skills and 10 build your confidence. (.107) 690-TRAM (8726) l1yrun@lwyorning.com, www.jhparagliding.com

Sierra soaring at its best.

Tours and tandems available. Instruction from certified

USHGA instrucmrs with 25 year::. experience. Sales, service and instruction by appoint111ent Carson City/lake Tahoe NV. (775) 88.'l-7070 http://homc.pyramid.net/advsprs

PARTS & ACCESSORIES SUPER Fl.Y PARACl.JDINC ACADEMY - The l\1ragliding Academy is the nation's foremost paragliding center offning comprehensive pilot training programs, powered paragliding instruction, tandem flights, maneu-

BRAUNIGER IQ BASIS VARIO - Never used, $300 OBO. Kenwood TH-22AT Radio, like new $200 0!30. Erika or _Jeff(307) 734-4450,

NEW YORK

ver:-. training, towing training/certification, and tandem

erikaboggs(!:1Jyalmo.com

---------------~-----

pilot training. The Paragliding Academy is the closest shop to Point of thl' Mountain, open year round and is

AIR SPORTS USA - Lessons, service, equipment.

Paragliding, hang gliding, powered paragliding, trikes.

Phone (718) 777-7000, WWW.FLYFORFUN.NF.T NORTH CAROLINA

sup110rted by the Super l'ly, Inc. distribution and service center just minutes away. Instructors: Ken H udonjorgensen, Scotty Marion, Kevin Biernacki, Dale

Covington, Bo Criss, Ryan Swan, Jeff Farrell and Chris Santacroce. (801) 816-1372 www. paraglidi ngacademy .com.

DIXON'S AIRPLAY l'ARACI.IDING -

Please sec

our classiflcd ad under Arizona. www.paraglide.com

lISHGA CERTIFIEIJ INSTRUCTION \

Po,vt'red ParagJidingu]bwing!llfootlaunch Tundem o lqu ipmcnt 0 Salese Serv ke

SOUTHERN SKIES - MOUNTAIN FLYING and POWERED PARAGLIDING instruction, sales and service with full-time shop, 1 hour nonh of Charlotte. 7 beautiful !'lying sites nearby. (828) (,.l2-(,000 WWW.SOUTI IERNSKIES.NET

44

Can't afford new equipment? Find great bargains in our classified ad department.

• ORDER ONLINE AND SAVE • Water/Dust Resistant Push Button • Field Replaceable 1-'inger Switch • l leavicr Cauge Wire/Improved Plugs • Increased Strain Relief at Al .I. Joints Price $119.95. Extra linger switch $19.9~ w/purchasc.

Dealer inquiries welcome. Call (785) 843-1842, mikcdillon~1lf]ightconn.com. M( :/Visa. Visit our website at www.llightconn.com

PARAGLIDING

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

L1ndi11g~ becomes a daily rourine. Become immersed

FOR ALL YOUR FLYING NEEDS -

( :heck out the

PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS

Aviation Depot at www.mojm,gcar.com featuring over

I000 items for foot-launched and powered paragliding, hang gliding, stunt and power kiting, and powered parachutes. 24/7 secure onlinc shopping. Book:,,, videos, KITES, gifts, engine parts, harness accessories, electronics, clothing, safety equipment, complete powered paragliding units with training from Hill ( ~ounrry Paragliding Inc. www.hillcountryparagliding.com 800664-1160 for orders only. Office (91 5) }79-1567.

d1is instructional program. Cct in tune with your glider

and improve your flying skills while on the ground.

Various wind conditions are covered with the :-iuccessful ~u1d proven industry-~tandard techniques of' Dixon

\)(!hire-Master rated pilot, USHCA Examiner and USHCA's PG Instructor of the Year. This is for the

HAVE EXTRA EQUIPMENT - That you don't know what to do with. Advertise in the Paragliding cLtssifieds, $. 50 per word, $5 minimum. Call USHCA for details (719) 632-8.100, ushgaG:Dushga.org or fax your ad with a Visa/MC, fax (719) 632-6417.

beginner, intermediate & advanced pilot who wants lO

THE ART OF l'ARAGUDING - By Dennis Pagcn.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Step by step training,

do some brushing up on his skills. Be a master of your paraglider. 44 minutes $56.95 IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT MOUNTAIN By Adventure Productions. Searching for the perfect mountain, perfrct flight, and the perfect experience that challenges our essence and satisfies our quest for adventure.

compl('tc manual about paragliding on the markel.

This paragliding odyssey takes you to Sr. Anton, Austri,1; Carrnisch-l'artenkirchen, Germany; Sun Valley, Idaho; Point o/" the Mountain, Utah; and Jackson Hole,

$.l4.'J5 +$5.00 s/h. USHCA, l'O Box I.BO, Colorado Springs CO 8090 I. (719) (,32-8300, fax your (719) 632-64 l 7, www.ushga.org,

local pilot tours. 44 minutes $36.95.

BAU HIGH, by Sea to Sky Productions. A paragliding

ushga~Dushga.org

,u.ivcnturc film. Crear flying and a grcaL adventure on

'NEW' PARAGLIDING INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL - By Dennis l'agen, available through USHGA. Cover,: Learning to reach/Teaching to learn; school

the exotic isl.md of Bali, Indonesia. A result of wild imaginations, weeks of filming and three unsupLrvi...,cd pilots in a land of serious ti.in. Creat /lying footage ..l8 min $29.95.

WEATHER TO FLY, by Adventure Productions. A

ground handling, soaring, avoiding dangers, and much much more. 274 pages, 248 illustrations. The most

organiz,ltion; teaching heginners; reaching novice;

IS IT SOARABLE? - Be sure with a USIICA Windsok. Made of I. 5 oz. ripstop nylon, LV treated, 5'4" long w/11" throat. Available colors fluorescent pink/yellow or fluorescent pink/white. $39.95 (+$11.75 S/H). Send to USH,;A Windsok, P.O. Box 1:l.lO, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1.BO, (719) 6.l2-8.l00, fax (7 l 9) 632-6417. VISA/MC accepted.

into the Nepal culture upon every landing. Superb editing. 45 minutes $32.95 'NEW' PARAGLIDER GROUND HANDLING & THE ART OF KITING, by Adventure Productions.

I.earn techniques and tips for easy ground handling with

\vcather considerations and much more. 140 pages packed with illustrations. $ l 5.00 +$5 .v/h. USHCA, !'()

Box 1:no, Colorado Springs CO 8090 I. (71 'J) 6328300, fax your M C:/Visa/ Amex to (7 l 9) 652-6417, www.ushga.org, ushga(!:1)lt.<>hga.org

Wyoming. Features in-air footage, aerial maneuver~. and

much lll'c(k<l instructional/educational video on

micrometeorology. Dixon White, Master pilot and USHCA Examiner, takes you through a simple step-bystep process showing where ro acquire weather data and how to interpret ir. For pilots of any aircraft. Learn about regional & local influence:,, and how ro determine

SOARINC -

Monthly magazine of The Soaring

Society o!' America, Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring

flight. hdl membership $55. Info. kit with sample copy $3. SSA, l'.O. !lox 2100, Hobbs, NM 88241. (505)

winds alofr and stability. "Weather To l'ly" is an over-all view packed with useful details and includes great cloud footage. A stn1ighr-forward presentation that is easy to

follow. 50 min. $39.95.

STARTING PARAGLIDING

by

Adventure

Productions. Covers ba.'>ic preparation.'>, 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 /lying sites. Meet I-IC: acrobatics champion Mitch McAlcer along the way. Excellent rock soundtrack, professionally tilmed & edited, 35 minutes $35.95.

MINI VARIO- World's smallest, simplest vario! Clips co helmet or chinstrap. 200 hours on batteries, 0-18,000 fr., fast response and 2 year warranty. Great for hang gliding too. ONLY $169. Mallettec, PO Box 1575(,, Santa Ana CA, ')2Tl5. (714) 966-1240, www.mallettec.com MC/Visa accepted.

'NEW' SPEED TO FLY with Jockey Anderson. A

Call or fax USHGA (719) 632-8300, fax (719) 6326417, please add +$5 domestic s/h for 1-2 videos, add $G for 3-4 videos (lnr'I orders, email us at ushga@li1shga.org for shipping charges.) Great to impress your friends or for those socked-in days. Order online ,tt

complcrc video guide to cross country paragliding. Great

www.ushga.org!

air-to-,1ir and in-board footage with Jockey as he takes

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

What a deal!

APRIL

2002

you around the world, providing flying tips and interviewing 1hc top pilot~. Covers thermaling, decision mak-

MISCELLANEOUS

ing, competition flying and speed to fly. 70 minutes $39.95 'NEW' A HIGHER CALLING by Dawn Treader

FLY BEAUTIFUL CHELAN BUTTE Furnished log home in Chelan, owned by 1'3 pilot, $800/wk or $2,400/mo. Up to 8 people. Call or write l,,r details or reservations. (509) 682-4679 or specker5@aol.com

Production:,,. Winner 'Pcoplc's Choice Award" at rhc 1

Ban ff Mountain Film Festival 2000. A story of six friends attempting to fly cross country together as a group through western Nepal, where finding launches &

45

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11!;;

~

;

"

"'

z

,;

1

P

~ IS~'I llfE/11• , VIDEOS, HOOKS & APPAREL - Call USHGA for your Merchandise order form (719) 632-8300, fax (719) 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.

137-185lbs=2 words, web site or email address=3 words.

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

STOLEN WINGS & THINGS ADVANCE SIGMA 5 - Stolen January 29th from pickup truck at TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT, SAN DIEGO CA. Size 28, white w/blue leading edge, in black stuff sack, serial number 682p-25881. Contact Alan Chuculate, (858) 292-1552, alanc@san.rr.com.

GIN BANDIT - Small purple wired stripe and GIN BOLERO, medium white wired stripe STOLEN along with a car SALT LAKE CITY, UT around December 31, 2001. Both slightly used. Also blue, medium Woody Valley Express air bag harness, reserve, and black open face Lazer Helmet. Contact Ryan Swan, (801) 2559595,ryan@4superfly.comwww.4superfly.com ADVANCE EPSILON 3 - Lost along Hwy 395 just outside VICTORVILLE, CA on August 14, 2001. Has a gold leading edge with a small (3-4") patch near the center; also blue SupAit Evo top harness. helmet, vario, etc. Contacr Jason Gilbert (530) 318-7288, jg! lbcrr@botmail.com

I

ARCUS - Large, Stolen/lost in the MARSHALL PEAK/SAN BERNARDINO, CA area in early August, 2001. Blue, serial #0764, w/blue SupAit harness.

Contact Matthew Sill (646)528-4569, mwsill@hot-

STOLEN WINGS are listed as a service to USHGA members. There is no charge for this service and lost and found wings or equipment may be called in (719) 6328300, faxed in (719) 632-6417, or emailed ushga@ushga.org for inclusion in Paragliding & Hang Gliding magazine. Please call to cancel the listing when gliders are recovered. Periodically, this listing will be purged.

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS Adventure Productions ........................... 12 Aero light USA ........................................ 11 Air Action .............................................. 35 Apco ...................................................... 34 Blue Sky Avionics ................................... 47 Critter Mountain Wear .......................... 23 Dixon's Airplay ........................................ 9 Flytec ....................................................... 7 Hall Brothers ......................................... 13 High Plains Paragliding .......................... 35 Independence ......................................... 15 Sport Aviation Publications .................... 11 Super Fly, Inc. ....................... 2,Back Cover Torrey Pines Gliderport ........................... 8 USHGA ..................... 5, 10, 12,13,20,21,32 Wills Wing ............................................. 29 at's right, e still have a few left, and we'll pass the savings onto you.

$5EACHI Send to: USHGA PG Calendar, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. Call 1-800-616-6888.

Or order on-line.

Shipping cost: 1-2 calendars acid $5 IUSA

46

LONG AWAITED

FIREBIRD IGNITION --- Large. Stolen in the BELLINGHAM, WA area in early August 2001.

Yellow, with black Edel Hero harness with RS2 reserve; black full-face Edel Helmet. AIi items were packed in a black Edel backpack. Con tact Matias Rud back (360)647-8485, rudbacm@cc.wwu.edu

Plus $5 S/H in the USA IB!lI~lci1N@' 'f&!Drnm~~ij'~-ef1:lAQlf~11cillia,tED t~Ar2N P\

1

SmilH®®L @rRGANl!l:!IIION * 'P~A®HING IB61GINN!lrR@ ,* TU®HING N0\/1®~ @IKILL&l * VV~AJHU/' @@NSIIBl~rRA]l@!lN@ * liH~ M,IING IN lH~ AlrR * 1 1IN[t:i'Rfxx1~1i'i)IA[~ ]@I) Al±')MANCrn IN!BrnrRUmlONJ )

I

(

Send to: USHGA PO Box 1330 Colorado Springs CO 8090 l l -800-61 6-6888 www.ushga.org PARAGLIDING

Ball Varios

is now

BLUE SKY AVIONICS

TO DISCOVER MORE:

www. blueskyavionics. com 605.977.3608 1nfo@blueskyav1onics.com

I

DIRECTIONS WITHOUT BOUNDARIES