USHGA Paragliding Vol13/Iss9 September 2002

o

74470 90977

4

-fil~o~ June.2002 Longest flight ever in a hang glider Longest flights ever in a paraglider Longest flights to a declared goal Fastest 100 km triangle-Flexwing

438 miles: Mike Barber 240 and 263 miles: Dave Prentice and Will Gadd 321 miles: Pete Lehmann and Mike Barber Bo "Hillbilly" Hagewood

Five flights Five great guys Five varios . . . All Flytec Silting left lo right: Rhett Radford, Bo Hagewood Standing left lo right: Andrew "the Driver" Holupka, Mike Barber, Pete Lehmann, Russell Brown, and Gary Osoba

Dave Prenticeflys 240 breakingprevoius paragliding record, gets back at 5 a. m. the next day and tows up Will Gadd.

Will returns lbe Javor by flying 263 miles.

Will Gadd, high over the Texas bill country, on bis way lo a new record-263 miles. photos by Will Gadd and David Glover, WRE Organizer

We congratulate Mike, Pete, Dave, Will, Bo and all pilots who strive to do their best.

Cfo Tet11H flJftecl

FlyrEc---3s2.429.s600 • 800,662,2449 • www.flytec.com

PARAGLIDING • SEPTEMBER 2002

Ali MAIL

INCIDENT REPORTS

UPDATE

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

GLIDER REvrnw: THE AfRWAVE SPORT © 2002 by Alan Chuculate, photos by Mary Hobson

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

FLYING THE PAMPA CROSS - PART II

by David Salmon, photos by Pavel Sel.esi

I'LL BE DOWN IN A MINUTE OR, WHY I ATTENDED A MANEUVERS CLINIC

by Bruce Wal'4ce sidebars by Pierre Dogan and Ken Hudonjorgensen

COVER: Rick Conger and friend Bella soaring along the Monterey, California coast. Be/ta is securely attached to Rick with two separate harnesses. Photo by Robert Knight.

MAKESHIFT BIG EARS LINES FOR GLIDERS LACKING SPLIT A-RISERS © 2002 by Alan Chuculate, illus'trations by Andy McAvin THE U.S. HANG GLIDING FOUNDATION

by Jim Maze, USHGF President

DlSCl.AlMER OF W.ARRANTIF..S IN Pt:JBUCATIONS: 'f he material pre-

sented here Is published as

part of an infoonation dis~n'llnm1on service for USHGA members. The

USHGA rna.kei, no warranties or representations and assumes no liability c:qnceming the validity of

any advice, oplnlon o.r recommendation expressed in the material. All individuals relying upon tbe mate.dl1.I do

so at their own risk.

PARAGLIDING PHOTO GALLERY This month's featured photographer: Brett Schrec.kengost

Copyright © 2002 United States l-fang Gliding Assn., l.nc. All rights reservc<l ro P(jragliding and individual

conrrlbuto1-s.

SEPTEMBER

2002

3

Gil Dodgen, Managing Editor/Editor-in-Chief,

Gi!Dodgen@aol.com Steve Roti, Contributing Editor Dave Pounds, Art Director Will Gadd, Dennis Pagen Staff Writers

Jayne DeParifilis, Executive Director, jayne@ushga.org

USHGA WAIVER UPDATE

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

USNGA Officer~ and Executive Committee:

Jim Zeiset, President, jimzgreen@aol.com Mark Ferguson, Vice Presiden~ mark@rmparagliding.com Russ Locke, Secretary,russ@lockelectrlc.com

Bill Bolosky, Treasurer, bo/osky@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: Bfll 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 Kells, Liz Sharp, Dan Johnson, Dixon White. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTORS: Art Greenfield (NM).

The United States Hang Gliding 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. fuEther interest in the sport, and to provide an educational forum to advance paragliding methods and safety. Contributions are welcome. Anyone is invited to contribute articles, photos and illustrations concerning paragliding activities.. If the material is to be returned, a stamped, self,addressed return envelope must be enclosed. Notification must be made of submission to other paragliding 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 (articles and photos only): 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. ALL ADVERTJSERING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE SENT TO USHGA HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS. The USHGA is a member-controlled sport organization dedicated to the exploration and promotion of all facets of unpowcred 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.

4

Dear Members, Current USHGA policy requires an original copy of a freshly signed waiver each time a member renews on an annual basis. This policy mal{es our online renewal process cumbersome (and not entirely online). In order to mal(e it possible to renew online without having to send in a signed waiver by U.S. mail, we have implemented a revision to the waiver that will allow us to have only one signed waiver form on file. We will not need to collect a freshly signed waiver every year at the time of your renewal. The old policy of requiring an original signed waiver will remain in effect for the next year, until everyone has signed the new waiver with his renewal. There will be much less paperwork for everyone after we have completed this process.

Many of you may already be aware that the ability to reliably enter into and enforce electronic contracts has not yet come to fruition. The biggest problem is proving that the person claiming to have signed electronically is in fact the person you are attempting to hold to the agreement. USHGA's online registration process was not designed to account for the fact that USHGA's business model required an annually signed waiver.

Implementation of chis new waiver will facilitate online processes such that the member will be much better served and office processes will actually become more streamlined.

Online registration is a very convenient service for the membership and provides a significantly streamlined renewal process for the office. USHGA cannot provide the online renewal process without requiring a member signed waiver on an annual basis until we have updated our membership files with an original signed copy of the revised waiver. This revised waiver will be printed on the back side of a revised membership application. USHGA is revising the waiver and the membership application to complement each other.

The new application will also provide members with e-mail options or preferences for the first time. Your email preferences will let USHGA know if you want to receive special notices or offers at your e-mail address.

You can view USHGA's privacy policy online by clicking on the Terms of Use link on the

bottom of the home page at http://www.ushga.org.

USH GA will begin to distribute the revised membership application/waiver with the mailed renewal notices soon. To view the revised waiver please visit the following URL on USHGA's website: http://www.ushga.org/forms/ membershipwaiver. pdf. You will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.x or above to view the form. If you are unable to view the waiver online, please call the USHGA office at (719) 623-8300 and one will be mailed or faxed to you. Once distribution of the new membership application and waiver begins, USHGA will no longer accept the current application/waiver form.

The USHGA office is no longer accepting faxed waivers for membership renewals or pilot and instructor rating forms. If you are in the habit of faxing your membership renewal or rating forms to the office, please discontinue this practice and mail the forms with the signed waiver to the office. There are no exceptions to this policy. This policy will be in effect until we update every member file with an original copy of the revise membership application/waiver.

Jayne DePanfilis Executive Director jayne@ushga.org

MIRROR HELMETS? Dear Editor, A "disco ball," a multifaceted mirror sphere suspended from a hang glider's kingpost, is supposed to be as good as a strobe light for anti-collision visibility, even in cloudy conditions. Unfortunately, practical ones are hard to obtain.

Here's an idea for free-flight helmet manufacturers. The advent of mirror or chromefinish helmets surely lends itself to a similar thing. Instead of making the mirror-finish helmet rounded, make it faceted.

Because of their upright position and greater distance from the wing, this would make paraglider pilots even more visible.

Everard Cunion Hang Gliding Safety Officer Wessex Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club

PARAGLIDING

GA

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VIDEOS All our videos are in USANHS NTSC format *TO FLY: SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL VIDEO. Check one: 0 PG (7 min) 0 HG (10 min) ...... 1/b *SPEED TO FLY World tour instructional video on XC flying techniques & tips. (70 min) ........... 1/b * GROUND HANDLING & The Art of Kiting (PG). (44 min) 0 Check here for DVD instead ...... 1/b *A HIGHER CALLING Superb paragliding XC adventure in Nepal. Excellent editing. (45min) .... 1/b *THE PERFECT MOUNTAIN Spans the globe in search for the quintessential site. (44 min) ..... 1/b *BAU HIGH An exotic PG adventure on the island of Bali, Indonesia. (38 min). ........... 1/b WEATHER TO FLY Dixon White educates us on this. (50 min) O Check here for DVD instead . . 1/b STARTING PARAGLIDING Covers the basics of your first flights. (30min) ................................... 1/b MASTERS AT CLOUDBASE A paragliding music video, set to hard hitting music. (20 min) ........ 1/b FLY HARD Rob Whittal & C. Santacroce paraglide the westcoast. Rock soundtrack. (36 min) .... . 1lb CLOUDBASE PARAGLIDING Great intro. video. Meet the hot pilots, fly the hot sites. (36 min) .... 1lb

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MISC. PARAGLIDING RED/WHITE/BLUE DECAL Two color on white vinyl, UV coated. .............. 1oz $ 1.00 WINDSOK™ 1.5 oz. ripstop nylon, 5'4" long w/11" throat. O Pink/yellow or O pink/white ......... 2/b $39.95 PARAGLIDING LAPEL PIN Two color enamel. ................................................. 2oz $ 2.95 ZING WING Flying toy. Launch it skyward and watch is soar. ............................................... 8oz $ 2.50 LICENSE PLATE FRAME Chrome plated. I'd Rather Be Paragliding.. ........ .................... 1/b $ 6.50 PAYMENT must be included with your order.

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

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Send to: Name

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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ USHGA#_ _ _ _ _ Phone_ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

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 SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR NEW APPAREL AT WWW.USHGA.ORG

2002 USHGA AWARDS

to the fall BOD meeti.ng which begim on October 18, 2002.

by Jan Johmon, USH GA Awards Committee

In addition to reviewing the yea.r's recipients, a presentation is plan ned for Saturday evening, O ctober 19, 2002. We will be dedicating a plaque honoring past presidents of the Association. T hese Association officers are frequencly criticized but rarely acknowledged for their time, energy and leadership, so this recognition is long overdue.

Please join us at Wallaby Ranch as we toast and congratulate these individuals for their service and contributions.

We believe chat the Awards process offers a perfect opportunity for participation, community involvement and public relations. We look forward to your input.

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Compact yet incredibly rugged, the VX-sc rics 2 meter and Tri -band handhclds arc derived from the Verte x commercial transceiver line, providing

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audio. 2w or 5w nuq>ut, Key-lock, fuU featured!

PTT's and antennas available for all radios .

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adjust to hold an y radio. Features all -Curdura Construction, large bellow cargo pocket an pen/ antenna pouch.

~ ~ ¥1\ii"'015 13cauti fully crafted, anodized aluminum honk knives. J\ 11 feature lightweight construction, replaceable blades and knife pockets. The 8" raptor, designed to fir in your hand while wearing gloves. The 4" single blade is rh e best compact kni fe available.

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G uided To urs - Instruction Sales - Service ~

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ach yea r at this time, the Awards Co mmittee of the United States Hang Gliding Association's Board of Directors begins the process of identifying and selecting the year's award recipients. We agai n ask for your nomin ations, input and involvemem in the process.

The following is a brief overview of the catego ries and criteria for each award .

Presidential Citation: The highest honor given to a member of the Association for outstanding contributions to the sport at the local, regional and national level.

Exceptional Service: This award is given to a member in recognition of outstanding contributions to the Association over the last year.

Bettina Gray Award for photography: Three exa mples of sport-related photography should be submitted . T his award is given to one member per yea r.

Newsletter of the Year: Three sample issues are reviewed and judged in the areas of informati o n content, support to members and clubs, layout, safety promotion and instruction .

Chapter of the Year: T his award is given to an offi cial USH GA C hapter for contributions co members and local communities, fo cus on safety, instruction and activi ties.

Instructor of the Year: There is one award for paragliding and one for hang gliding.

Nominations require three letters of support from students and a recommendation from the Regional Director. C riteria include skills as an instructor, serving as a role model for the sport within the pi lot and general communities, and involvem ent in and suppo rt of USH G A and local club programs.

C ommendations and Special Commendations: These awards are given to USH GA members and individuals o r groups in th e community who have made significant volunteer contributions at the local, regional or national level, which serve to enhance participation in the spo rt and/or the image of the sport and the Associatio n.

C!VL Diploma: The USHGA recommends an ind ividual to the C TVL who has made a significa nt impact on the sport at the international level.

NAA Safety Award: The USH GA makes a recommendatio n to the NAA regarding an individual whose activities have served to enhance safety.

Na.mes, addresses and other contact informati o n must be subm itted for each person or group no minated , as well as fo r the nominating party. All concerned will be informed of the nomination and co ntacted when the recipient is selected. For categories in which several pieces of documentation , support, etc., are requested, only the required number will be reviewed . Please submit these as o ne complete packet. All submissiom should be sent

COMBINED MAGAZINE RAFFLE WINNERS

w:

e could like to congratulate the winners of our May "combined magazine" raffle:

Annette Whitaker, Deltona, FL Vario, courtesy of Flytec USA

Flytec 4005

Kim Raines, Jonesboro, GA - oxygen system, courtesy of Mountain Equipment & Supply Mary Hobson, San D iego, C A courtesy of Blue Sky Avionics

Ball M - 19 Vario,

Erich Richey, Lake Villa, IL - Brauniger Sonic Vario, courtesy of Wills W ing Ken Baier, Encin itas, CA - PTI' II Push-To-Talk System , courtesy of Flight C onnections Josef De Beer, San Diego, CA -

Windsok, cour-

tesy of Hawk Airsports

Joseph Boufford, Lompac, CA; Gregory Lucas, Fayetteville, AR; Robert Hurl.ey, Oa.kland, NJ; Thomas Moorhouse, O gden, UT - Video (four total) , courtesy of Adventure Productions

Roby Sargent, Tigard , OR courtesy of Hall Brothers

Airspeed Indicator,

Robert Moreno, Susanville, CA; Scott Scheider, Wildwood , GA; Amy Tam Badger, Bellevue, WA; Thomas Laux, Santa Ynez, CA - $25 USH GA merchandise certificate (four total) , courtesy of USH G A USH GA wmLld like to thank the sponso rs who donated prizes and made cl1is raffle a success: Flytec USA Mountain Equipment & Supply Blue Sky Avionics Wills Wing Flight C onnections Hawk Airsports Adventure Productions Hall Brothers

directly to the USHGA office at least one week prior

PARAGLIDING

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Calendar of events items WILL NOT be listed

if only tentative. Please include exact information (event, date, contact name and phone nwnber). Items should be received no lacer than six weeks prior to the event. We request two months lead time for regional and national meets.

COMPETITION UNTIL NOV 15: 2002 Region Nine Yearlong X-C Contest. The yearlong contest is to honor longest individual flights of the year on any day between February 15 and November 15.

Classes for Rookies, Sixry Miles, Open, Rigids and Paragl iders. Entry fees $10 and $5 respectively. Contact: Pete Lehmann, lplehmann@aol.com, (412) 661-3474, 5811 Elgin Sr, Pinsburgh, PA 15206.

UNTIL DEC. 31: The Michael Champlin WorldX-C Challenge. No entry fees or pre-registration requirements. Open to paragliders, hang gliders, rigid wings and sailplanes. For more derails visit the contest's Web site at http://www.hanggliding.org or contact: John Scott (310) 447-6234, fax (310) 447-6237, brettonwoods@email.msn.com.

SEPT. 20-28: 2002 US. Paragliding Nationals Cross-Country Competition This 100-mile-long, 20-mile-wide valley has a history of providing conditions for amazing altitude gains and longdistance flights . Many cross-country records achieved by sailplanes, hang gliders and paragliders have begun in the Owens Valley!

Join the best paraglider pilots in the world for a week ofX-C flying and competition in the big air of the Owens Valley! Contact: Chad Bastian (805) 895-2133, or Lee Anne Norris, http://www.flyaboveall.com, leeanne@flyaboveall.com.

FUN FLYING SEPT. 14-15: 12th Annual Pine Mtn. Fly-In, Pine Men., Bend, OR. Contact: Bill Taylor, (541) 408-2408, www.deserrairriders.org.

SEPT. 22: Womens Fly-In. Time for women to fly together! Men can fly after they drive rhe women up co launch. Friendly competition: duration, altitude, accuracy. Hosted by Wings ofRogallo flying club in Milpitas, CA. Mountain site at Ed Levin Park. P-l's and

SEPTEMBER

2002

H-1 's with instructor. H-2's and P-2's are sponsored by intermediate or above pilots.

Contact: Kathy Wilde at wildeblu2@accbi.com, or Carmela Moreno at skyhighwoman@yahoo.com.

SEPT. 28-29: Fly-N-Bike Festiva4 Chelan, Washington. Annual Northwest hang glider and paraglider event. Fun-flying with various rime and strategic target casks. Ten-mile biking event is suited for mountain or hybrid bicycles.

8:30 AM Saturday meeting and registration at Chelan Falls Park, Chelan Falls Road. For information about accommodations call the Lake Chelan Chamber at l-800-4Chelan.

Contact: Marilyn Raines (509) 682- 2251, or Michelle Devoe (206) 714-8824.

OCT. 19-20: Fourth Annual Octoberfest at Baldy Butte. Boch HG and PG pilots are welcome to this 2,000' AGL flying sire char rakes every wind direction. Baldy has seen a lot of use over the last few years, and X-C records are routinely being set and broken. The site is located on private propeccy, and requirements include a site-specific waiver, USHGA membership, P2/H3 raring, and a yearly site fee.

(For this two-day event the site fee will be waived for any our-of-state pilot or local pilot checking it our for the first rime.) Guides will be on hand for pilot briefings starting at 9:00 AM on Saturday. Potluck Saturday at dusk in rl1e LZ where camping at no extra cost is available. Contact: Rich Hass, richh@nwnexus.com, or Mike Eberle, napi@fun2fly.com .

CLINICS, MEETING, TOURS UNTIL OCT.: Two-can Fly Clinics/Competitions, Point of the Mountain and Utah mountain sires. SEPT. 28-29: Mountain flying, $200. OCT. 4-7: Instructor training, $400. OCT. 5-6: Imtructor 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 . JAN. 4-11, 2003: Valle de Bravo trip with Academy instructors Ken Hudonjorgensen and Kevin Biernacki.

Contact: Two-can Fly Paragliding, 474 Ease Tonya Dr., Sandy, UT 84070, phone/fax (801) 572-3414, hudonj@qwesc.net, www.twocanfly.com.

9

PARAGLIDING

THROUGH OCT.: Adventure flying in the Colorado Rockies. Parahiking and para-alpinism near Aspen in spectacular alpine terrain. Climb the highest peak in Colorado, Mt. Elbert, 14,333' and fly from the summit. Many other high peaks are possible. Local transportation and retrievals included. Must be well conditioned with P3 skills. Tandem flights from summits available. Contact: Dick Jackson, AMGNUIAGM mountain guide/ USHGA Advanced Tandem Instructor, Aspen Paragliding, (970) 925-7625, fly@aspenparagliding.com, www.aspenparagliding.com.

THROUGH OCT.: F61Aspen. High Colorado mountain flying in world famous Aspen. Daily rides to launch. Mountain flying, thermal and X-C clinics. PI, P2 and tandem courses. Tandem flights. Contact: Alex Palmaz or Dick Jackson, Aspen Paragliding, (970) 925-7625, fly@aspenparagliding.com, www.aspenparagliding.com.

THROUGH OCT: Jackson Hole Paragliding, WY clinics and courses. Jackson Hole has evolved into a Mecca for paragliding activities, and Jackson Hole Paragliding can help turn flying dreams into reality with their quality instruction and guide service. Three-d4y

Maneuvers Training Courses at the Palisades Reservoir. Aug. 12-14, Sept. 20-22, $550. Tow Tuesday. One-day Maneuvers Training Course, every Tuesday throughout the summer at the Palisades Reservoir, $200. Inter-Mountain X-C Challenge at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Aug. 9-11. Pilots meet for lessons eve1y morning at 7:45 at Nick Wilson's at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort aerial tram.

Contact: (307) 690-8726,www.jhparagliding.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, perfect grassy slopes, drive-up 360° launches from 20 to 1,800 feet. Limited weekday and weekend space available. Make reservations early.

Complete paragliding store and service center.

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

SEPTEMBER

2002

THROUGH NOV: Paraglider Network and Andre Gupta Alps Tours for novice and better pilots. Non-flying companions and aspiring pilots welcome on some tours. Tours include overnight accommodations, breakfast and dinner daily, local transportation, lifts to launch, retrieval, Geneva airport pickup and drop-off, and services of an English- and local languagespeaking certified guide pilot. Introductory tandem flight for non-pilot friends. P2, fiveday course, $350. Contact: www.paraglider.net, freeflight@wanadoo.fr, (703) 273-0123, 9-5 M-F EDT. AUG. 30SEPT. 8: St. Andre les Alpes, St. Vincent les Forts, a flying Mecca. Details to come. MIDSEPT.: St. Hillaire de Touvet flying carnival.

Details to come. OCT.: Festival du Vent Calvi, Corsica. Details to come. NOV. 9-NOV. 17: Flying in the south ofFrance and over MonteCarlo. Details to come.

THROUGH DEC.: Dixons 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. Wide-open, 360° drive-up launch sites from 20 to 1,200 feet.

Limited weekday and weekend space available.

Make reservations early. Complete paragliding store and service center. Contact: dixon@paraglide.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 to 7:00 PM. Hosted by Gabriel and David Jebb, open to a worldwide audience. Call in toll-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.flycorrey.com SEPT. 10-13, 14-17: Two back-to-back AirPlay thermal!X-C clinics, four days each, in Arizona. Minimum P-2 rating, at least 100 flights and reserve required. Instructors will take you tandem if needed, and offer advice by radio. They will also clinic you thoroughly on weather, active piloting, reserve use and all the latest ideas about thermaling and X-C flight.

Clinics are restricted to four students for care-

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11

ful supervision. Sites are mostly drive-up.

Large, air-conditioned, comfortable trucks.

Help arranging lodging and carpooling. The fee is $890 for each four-day clinic or $1,600 for all eight days. Contact: dixon@paraglide.com, (928) 526-4579.

SEPT. 29-0CT. 6: Oludeniz, Turkey tour.

Join Mike Eberle of Worldwide Adventure Tours and North American Paragliding, Inc. for his third trip to the warm and beautiful Mediterranean sea and Babadag's Father Mountain. Enjoy a week of endless soaring, exploring ancient sites, and just relaxing on the beach. This trip is excellent for any intermediate or advanced pilot, or even a newer pilot who is looking to further his soaring skills and increase airtime. NOV. 23-DEC. 2: Chile tour.

Join Mike Eberle on another adventure into the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. This X-C trip is designed for the strong intermediate or advanced pilot who is looking to set personal-best X-C records. Warm up with some casual coastal flying and then quickly move on to serious distance flights. Call today, as this trip usually books by late summer. For more details on these tours, or to suggest and create your own tour, contact: (206) 320-90 I 0, napi@fun2fly.com.

OCT 18-20: Fall 2002 USHGA Board of Director's meeting, Orlando, Florida. Events to take place in the evening at both Quest Air and Wallaby Ranch. Meetings at the Ramada Inn off of 192 and I4. Contact: www.ushga.org, (719) 632-8300.

OCT. 20-NOV 3: Tour to northern India.

Fly the Himalayas, the site that produced the paragliding world out-and-return record for seven years and hosted the 1984 World Hang Gliding Competition. Manali and Billing are renowned for consistent alpine X-C conditions. This year has seen 120-km out-and-returns and 60-km flights with gains to 6,000 meters. Visit Rohtang Pass, 500-year-old castles and Paratrek in the Manali wildlife preserve. Brush up on your thermaling and X-C skills with Dale Covington and local flying guides. Visit Tibetan settlements in Bir and Dharamsala. $1,600 includes food, lodging, all transportation within India and guides. Contact: Big Sky Paragliding, www.bigskyparagliding.com, 1-800-782-9204, (801) 699-1462.

OCT. 23-27: Orlando-Tampa, FL P2 Course with Chris Santacroce utilizing tandem, towing and powered paragliding. For chose firmly committed to becoming the best possible pilots they can be. This intensive course will equip participants to fly successfully throughout the world. Contact Super Fly, Inc., Chris Santacroce, at info@4superfly.com, (801) 2559595 to reserve your spot.

OCT. 24-26: AOPA Expo 2002, Palm Springs, CA, with its popular Parade of Planes. Three daily general sessions, more than six-dozen aviation seminars. Expo 2002 will conclude with a gala banquet, with political satirist Mark Russell entertaining. Contact: www.aopa.org/expo/. Click on "Register for Expo." After registering, select "Expo Schedule," check the items of interest, then click "Print Selected Items" to get a customized schedule of events.

OCT. 25-28: Instructor Training Course, Denver, Colorado, front range location. $400.

OCT. 26-27: Instructor Recertification Course, $200. Contact: KD flying at kdflying@yahoo.com.

OCT. 25-27: Ninth Annual Baja Thermal Clinic, "El Original," Hosted by Air California Adventure, Inc. Escape to Mexico and enjoy three days of luxurious thermal flying and three evenings of happy hours and poolside lectures.

Hone your flying skills, work on thermal tech-nique, or cake a cross-country flight to the beach. Package includes breakfasts, discounted stay at the Baja Seasons Resort, shuttle to and from the coastal flying ridge, and daily instruction from David Jebb and the Torrey Pines Gliderport staff. David has been flying in Baja for over 10 years. Designed for Novice through Advanced paraglider pilots. Bring your family and make it a vacation for everyone! Contact: Torrey Pines Gliderport, info@flyrorrey.com, (858) 452-9858.

NOV. 10-17, 17-24: Parasoftparaglidingtrips to New Mexico. Come to where winter has not arrived. Parasofr Paragliding School, which has organized flying trips to old Mexico since 1992, will offer trips to New Mexico in November. On Sundays we will meet P3 pilots at the El Paso, TX airport and take them an hour north to Alamogordo, NM. Plan to enjoy two, 2,400' drive-up sites (Dry Canyon and

Ruidoso) with Parasofr's air-conditioned 4WD truck. Towing with a payout winch guarantees flying all six days. Hotel, transportation and guide service included. Details at http://www.parasofrparagliding.com/N ewMex. html or call (303) 494-2820.

NOV. 14-16, 17-18: ITP and Tandem with Dixon White. Comprehensive Instructor Training Program for first-time instructor candidates and recertification, Santa Barbara, CA. Nov. 14-16 with a tandem clinic, for T-1 through T-3 the 17th and 18th. Contact: dixon@paraglide.com,www.paraglide.com, (928) 526-4579.

NOV. 24-DEC 8: Fly Nepal 2002. The most stunning and exotic flying site imaginable! Fly near three of the highest peaks in the world with huge birds. Gencle and consistent thermal conditions appropriate for novice chermalers with good canopy control. Guidance from Master-rated instructor Dale Covington, logistics handled by Nepal expedition specialist Kellie Erwin. $1,800 for two weeks in flying paradise. Contact: Big Sky Paragliding, www.bigskyparagliding.com, 1-800-782-9204, (SO I) 699-1462.

DEC. 2002 THROUGH MARCH 2003:

Advanced Paragliding Mexico paragliding tours.

Juan Laos and Fabio Blancarte will host sevenday paragliding tours in west central Mexico, including Tapalpa, the site of the 2002 Paragliding World Cup. One of the best paragliding areas in Mexico, with 10 sites within a two-hour drive. Launch from a 15,000' volcano, soar the coastal ridges and enjoy some of the best seafood in the world at very reasonable prices. Sites include Jalisco, Colima and Michoacan. Tours include pickup and drop-off at Guadalajara International Airport, transportation to all launches, lodging and other accommodations, detailed site introductions with maps, daily meteorology information and retrieves. Thermal flying and cross-country coaching and instruction. $1,500 includes pickup at the airport on a Saturday morning and drop-off at the airport on the following Saturday. $500 USD deposit required. Credit cards accepted. Contact: Juan Laos, (925) 3778810, juan.laos@realpvs.com, www.advancedparagliding.com.

'-------------- - - - -

12

PARAGLIDING

A

lot of accidents are being reported now, and I've collected many in several categories. However, in this column I want to share some samples from my miscellaneous pile. It's a good way to learn about the somewhat-lesscommon but extremely important kinds of accidents and how to avoid them.

BEACH SITE, AFTERNOON, LOW CLOUD BASE, GENERALLY LIGHT WINDS BUT SOME STRONGER PERIODS A beginner pilot waited on launch with locals who were having short sled rides. The fluctuating wind became unlaunchably light, then later began to build again. More short Rights followed, and the victim-to-be set up for a reverse inflation. He was lifted from the ground before he could turn, but rotated easily and flew away down the beach. Almost immediately he found strong lift, and within moments was in the fog.

He could see nothing, and had no additional navigation gear with him. He tried to use his speed bar but then noticed it wasn't hooked up.

He tried to do big ears but had minimal experience with them and became frightened that he might get low out over the water. Then he

decided to try S-turns over the landing zone.

However, he suddenly perceived houses and wires through the fog. His glider was caught in the wires as he crashed through the top of a fence and onto a concrete patio. His injuries included a shoulder separation and a large lower-back bruise. The glider suffered multiple electric burn holes.

There are several lessons here. The first one has to do with margin of safety. This very new pilot had very limited skills and equipment to deal with the possibility of too much lift.

While not expected, good lift was a possibility in this scenario and needed to be planned for.

One could argue that a pilot of this level of training had no business launching into a situation like this. However, once in the air he still had a few safe options.

His strong launch demonstrated to him that there was plenty of available lift, and he would prudently have sought an extra margin by flying out instead of up, entering big ears immediately, or at least very warily evaluating his distance to cloud base and responding to it.

He could have turned back and out as soon as he was aware of the strong lift he found farther

down the beach. He also could have sought clues that might conceivably have helped him maintain orientation in the cloud, such as sun angle, noise sources, etc.

But once in the cloud his situation became immediately desperate. Cloud flying is not legal and near the ground it is always extremely dangerous. Disorientation is the rule, not the exception. When the possibility exists that one might be forced into "the white room" it is crucial to have some way of ascertaining direction, at least if one is close to the ground. (Cumulus cloud suck is almost an entirely different topic and other considerations apply.) A simple compass is extremely useful in this situation. A GPS can be helpful, but of course it only tells you your direction of travel, not the direction you are facing. Sometimes it is possible to sense the direction of the sun when one is in a cloud, and if so this can be very helpful.

Altimeters and varios are not as critical, but also extremely useful. Without them, one can fly ever higher into a cloud without realizing it.

They also help one assess where one is relative to dangers such as a water landing or a ridge.

Once in the cloud, what should this partic-

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2002

13

ular pilot have done? He had no good choices.

If he had had any directional awareness based on sun angle, noises, any faint visual cues from the ground or any instruments - it would probably have been least dangerous to maintain a generally offshore course, perhaps with big ears, until he got below or ahead of the clouds again. This would have kept him facing upwind, and thus moving more slowly, and kept him farther from fixed obstacles like wires. He was preoccupied about landing in the ocean, but after being sucked into the fog one can reasonably expect to have an extremely favorable downwind glide back to the beach.

With no directional awareness, a straight course with big ears optimizes one's chances of survival, since one's forward speed is decreased and hopefully one is losing altitude.

The stakes are very high in this game and the outcome could easily have been fatal.

Prevention and preparedness are the key. I might add that S-turns will almost always increase one's disorientation and thus danger.

Not having the speed bar set up is a significant preflight error. Although a speed bar is

useless in a cloud and should not be used unless you know your heading, it is often a very easy way to stay under a cloud that you are otherwise being sucked into.

This pilot commented in his report that he wished some of the more experienced pilots on site had perhaps warned him of the danger.

While this would be ideal, of course, other pilots do not know whether you can do ears or use your speed bar, or that you don't have a compass. When you launch it is critical to consider all the possible outcomes you can imagine, and make certain you have the skills and equipment to cope with all of them. "I think I can" was good for the little engine pulling the train up the hill, but it is a trap for the unwary pilot.

OCEAN CLIFF SITE, FAIRLY LIGHT CONDITIONS, GOOD LZ A FAIR DISTANCE LEFT OF LAUNCH This is the upside down version of the previous problem. Several pilots had soared and landed in conditions that were barely strong enough. A

very experienced tandem pilot chose to launch with a fairly heavy passenger. He maintained, gained a little altitude and turned right, but then noticed some very gentle turbulence and began to sink. When he turned back left he was already well below launch and the one good beach LZ was not within reach. Sinking rapidly, the pilot was rather miraculously able to land himself and the passenger on a one-metersquare ledge 10 meters above the ocean, and brought the canopy down against the rocks above. The passenger bruised his heel. The two were able to climb back up to launch.

A superior pilot uses superior judgment to avoid needing to use his superior skill. But note that in this case, after two initial errors (launching heavy and turning away from the LZ) this very experienced pilot was able to make a sequence of very timely and effective choices.

It's interesting that for very experienced pilots, time often seems to slow down during emergency situations, allowing for almost miraculous precision. This is usually not the case for beginners.

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14

PARAGLIDING

AEROBATIC FLYING IN FAIRLY STABLE AIR, STARTING A FEW THOUSAND FEET UP Here's an accident that appears to be happening with variants around the country, but is probably underreported.

A very experienced pilot was flying a borrowed DHV 2-3 wing one size larger than one with which he was very familiar. Part way through a routine of SAT's, spins and stalls, the pilot attempted to perform a dynamic (asymmetric entry) SAT for the first time on this particular oversized wing. The pilot was not able to load the glider enough to stay away from the tips, and climbed in an uncoordinated fashion toward the left side of the glider. This allowed a left-side cravat to occur. The pilot swung down and through from the apex, and a very hard spiral ensued starting at 600 feet AGL. The pilot considered spinning to free the cravat but decided to deploy his reserve. He needed two hands to deploy the shoulder-mounted chute, given the G-loading. The reserve slowly started to inflate when the wing swung around in the spiral and plastered the reserve shut against the upper cascades. The pilot tried to reverse this but was unsuccessful, given the short timeframe and the difficulty in raising his hands to the brakes against the G-forces. He impacted at full speed on low bushes, suffering a burst fracture ofL4. He was medevaced, underwent an eight-hour surgery and spent 11 days in hospital, bur suffered no neurological damage.

IN CONCLUSION First, don't underestimate the effect of a wingsize change. Tandem pilots must remember that different sized srudem passengers can radically alter the glider's flying characteristics.

Second, don't underestimate centrifugal force.

Third, a parachute is a second chance; it is not a guarantee. Fourth, aerobatics are very challenging. They take your wing well past what it was designed for. Expert pilots can make them look routine, but for most of us the risks involved in performing maneuvers in unsupervised settings, without backup safety plans (like lakes with rescue boats), are higher than we tend to estimate.

Over the years I've received a lot of thanks for the work that goes into producing this column. This is gratifying to me, but even more it reflects how important your reports are to all those pilots who are just trying to fly safely. I would like to pass along the thanks from out readers to you, the reporters. Keep up the good work.• SEPTEMBER

2002

Full-Time Professional School/Dealer Inquiries Welcome

Glider Review

© 2002 by Alan Chuculate, photographs by Mary Hobson

his review of the Airwave Sport is my 15th glider review and the 14th article for this publication in my series of "Recreational Paraglider Reviews," which began with the November/ December 1998 issue. My recent review of the Sky Paragliders Brontes appeared in the premier issue of the new independent U.S. publication Paraglider Magazine, July 2002. My reviews also include my personal insights on the physics of flight and techniques of safe paraglider piloting.

My review of the Sport was prompted

by Mitch McAJeer, Wills Wing's paraglider specialist. He asked if I would be interested in doing a review of the Sport, and since I have never reviewed any Airwave gliders before, I agreed to do so.

Premiering in this review is my new Glider Ranking Chart. It is a ranking of the glider in a number of categories relative to what would be nominal, that is, typical or average, for a glider of its rating level. If a DHV 1-2 category glider like the Sport is typical in a specific category, its rank would be zero. If it excelled or was deficient in a category it would receive a plus(+) or a minus (-) respectively, and there would be a comment for each of.these differences. So, if a glider is uniformly average its overall

16

ranking would be zero. If it is exceptional it would have some number of pluses, and if deficient some number of minuses. This chart is intended to highlight where a glider differs from the average glider for its D HV rating level. See Table 1.

Airwave paragliders.

In May 2000 Markus hired former Airwave paraglider designer Bruce Goldsmith who had left Airwave in 1998 to form Ozone with partners Dave Pilkington, Robbie Whittall and Mike Cavanagh. Bruce has designed the entire Airwave paraglider product line. The paraglider design and development is done in Austria and southern France, but they are manufactured in Vietnam and China.

Their company philosophy is to produce the best product with the highest quality.

THE COMPANY In 1978 Graham Deagen and Rory Carter founded Airwave in England to manufacture hang gliders. In 1990 they added paragliders. In 1998 Markus Villinger purchased the rights to the company and then relocated it to his home country of Austria. Markus had been the European importer/distributor for Wills Wing hang gliders for 17 years before he sold that business and took a two-year sabbatical from the industry. Wills Wing now manufactures the three Airwave-designed hang glider models, however, they don't distribute Airwave hang gliders although they are the U.S. importer/distributor for

THE AIRWAVE PARAGLIDER PRODUCT LINE Airwave has four paragliders in their product line as listed in Table 2. The Sport is their intermediate glider and is rated DHV 1-2 in the four largest sizes. The fifth and final size, the extra small, is in D HV testing as of this writing and it's anticipated to receive a DHV 2 rating. Since they're satis-

Figure IA: The lines ofthe Logic combine with V-rib bracing to form a rigid connection between the wing halves.

Figure I B: Magic in straight flight. Note absence o/V-rib bracing across the wide flexible center celL PARAGLIDING

Photo 1: Bottom surface showing closed cells, V-ribs and black center cell marker. Note the narrower center cell and the internal reinforcement tapes between the center-most lines of each wing half

Photo 2: Stabilizer trailing edge butt hole with Velcro closure. Note Mylar reinforcement tape on seams.

Photo 3 - Sport pattern and colors.

fied with the performance, handling and safety of the Sport, Airwave has no current plans co produce a DHV 2 category paraglider.

SIZING The Sport is available in five sizes as listed in Table 3, which are more sizes than most companies offer for a given model. Mitch recommended flying the Spore at a lighcerchan-recommended wing loading for recreational flying, noting chat being heavy on the glider (on the cop half of the recommended weight range) was more appropriate for competition and aerobatics. Ac a hook-in weight of about 200 lbs. (91 kg), I was near the middle of the weight range of the medium size and underweight on the large size. Since most pilots fly a glider within the weight range, we agreed chat I would test-fly two sizes of the Spore, the medium and the large.

Airwave uses four types of cloth for their para liders. The cop surface is made of 49 g/m South African Gelvanor. This heavier cloth has a Silicon treatment and feels waxy co the couch, and was chosen for use on the top surface because of its UV (ultraviolet radiation) and abrasion resistance. The vertical ribs are made of French Porcher Marine 9092 because of its strength and dimensional stability, while the bottom surface and diagonal ribs are made of both Porcher 901 7 and Japanese Toray. These latter two cloths are nearly identical and were selected because they have the best screngch-co-weighc ratio.

T he Spore has four closed cells per side for reduced viscous drag and increased performance. See Photo 1. Airwave gliders have nearly a third of the wing's cells (15) open at the center for easy inflations. To either side of the open center is a recurring pattern of one closed cell and three open

2

cells. The three adjacent open cells together form a trapezoidal shaped opening. The stabilizer has only two closed cells. This configuration of closed and open cells allows for a progressive reinflation following collapses. Progressive reinflacions are preferable both aesthetically and structurally because they occur more slowly and smoothly, rather than being dynamic, abrupt and loud.

Each wingtip cell has a Velcro closure on the trailing edge co allow for easy removal of accumulated internal debris, which gravitates toward the lower wingtips.

The Bries affectionately refer to chis as the butt hole. See Photo 2. Mylar reinforcements are used on the leading edge of the open cell ribs for good inflation characteristics. Mylar cape is used on the leading edge for stiffness, rigidity, to reduce flutter and to increase speed, and it's used on the trailing edge co reduce abrasion and wear.

Fabric reinforcement capes are used across

r.1 .

Figure 1C Magi.c with fall weight-shift. Note the 40mm deflection between the two winghalfi, which occurs at the wide flexible center cell.

SEPTEMBER

2002

Figure JD: Sport in straight flight. Note absence ofV-bracing across the na170w flexible cell.

Figure JE: Sport with fall weight-shift. Note the 30mm delfection between the two wing halves, which occurs at the narrow flexible center.

17

Co1nments 5 sizes available

+

+ +

+ +

+ +

0 +

0 + +

0 0

0 0 +

+

0 0 0 +

+

Bruninielhooks, 2 pulleys, 3,;Jreduction ratio Plus if soft toggles preferred Minus lf stiff to les pr!i!ferred Inflates hands off both furward and reversed.

Plus if light responsive handling is preferred Minus if solid dam ened feel is referred Fast within weight range Sink rate comparable within weight range LID comparable within weight range Reopens without pilot input, can be delayed No limitations with orde1wfU$e Plus if pilot is experienced with.spirals Minus if pilot is inexperienced.with s irals Full B~stall requires graspingon the lines Partial B-stall possible grasping on the risers· Recovers with moderate surge Wouldn't arachut e durin recove Could not be induced using onlybrakes 50%: Less than 45 rotation unaccelerated 50%: Less than 90° rotation accelerated

50% +

+ +

+

7

10

I Model

OHV Certification Rating

Logic Sport Magic Sce1:1ic

1

2~3 1-2, bi"'.place

Table 2 -

The Airwave Product Line

18

19

50%: Recovery delayed.< 2 se1conds with accelerator held at 50% Reputation for easy frontals No inadvertent frontals during testing Recovers readily w/ o complication or help Recovers readily/delayed w/ accele1rator held Not tested Not tested High end, multi-featured OHV 1-2

Comments extra small is pending D HV 2 weight range 140 - 220 kg

the center section of all four line-rows between the innermost load ribs to carry the spanwise loading across the flexible center section. You could say they hold the wing halves together. A small black circle is used as the center cell marker. On the medium size the marker was at the leading edge, which is where I prefer it. The large size had it on the trailing edge. The Sport is available in four different color patterns at depicted in Photo 3.

CONTROLLED STABILITY SYSTEM Airwave gliders use a design feature known as the Controlled Stability System (CSS) to adjust the relative rigidity between the two halves of the wing of a paraglider to tune it to feel stable or responsive, as appropriate for the sensitivity desired by the intended pilot skill level. To understand the use of CSS, the center cell structure of the three solo Airwave models must be compared.

The Logic, a beginner wing, has a rigid structure, the Magic, an advanced wing, has a very flexible structure, while the Sport, an intermediate wing, has a less but still flexible structure. See Figures lA through lE. For their beginner glider, the Logic, weight-shift steering is diminished in favor of increased stability by making the connection between the wing halves more rigid as can be seen in Figure lA. To word it differently, the wing behaves as one continuous surface instead of two connected halves. This same effect can be achieved by making the center rib a load rib, by making the lines of each half meet at the center rib.

For their advanced wing, the Magic, weight-shift is maximized by the absence of V-rib bracing within the center cell, which allows the wing halves to move independently of one another. See Figures 1B and 1C. The width of the center cell determines the extent of stability of a flexible center cell.

For the Sport, the center cell is flexible like the Magic, but made narrower than the Magic's to reduce the flexibility in favor of increased stability. See Figures 1D and 1E. According to Airwave, the Sport is the first production glider to incorporate shrinking the center cell to moderate the flexibility. A more descriptive name for the Controlled Stability System may be Planform Shift Control. See Photo 4. A local pilot described the Sport's flexibility as fake handling because he was expecting a quicker turn response as opposed to simply a more PARAGLIDING

flexible feel. I attribute his perceived sluggishness to his being in the lower half of the weight range.

LINES The lines are made of German Edel rid (Edelman and Ridder) HMA (High Modulus Aramid), which is a more flexible and less brittle form of aramid than Dupont's original Kevlar. The line configuration is a double cascade using lower, middle and upper lines. Colored Dacron (polyester) sheathing and lower line distribution is: three orange Ns, four blue B's (includes stabilo line), three green C's, two purple D's and the yellow brake line. I prefer to see a different coloring of the stabilo line for rapid visual differentiation during cravat recovery. See Photo 5.

WING FLEX SYSTEM Many modern paragliders incorporate a line attachment layout originated by Airwave known as the Wing Flex System (WFS). Unfortunately, the name is a misnomer because it doesn't add flex to the wing. The WFS is an innovative method for spacing of the rows of line attachments along the chord (leading to trailing edge distance) of a tapered wing (longer root chord than tip chord). When the accelerator is applied, this row spacing provides a proportional rather than a uniform tension across the span. Figures 2A, 2B and 2C, and the explanation that follows will help clarify this.

Traditionally, designers placed the rows ofV-tabs at a constant percentage of the chord length such as l 0% for the A's, 30% for the B's, 55% for the C's and 80% for the D's. See Figure 2A. This creates a problem when the accelerator is applied because of the wing taper. The tips accelerate more than the root because the same accelerator tension across the span has a greater effect on the shorter tip chord than on the longer root chord, so the faster tips collapse, limit~---------------

Size Extra Small Scale Factor 0.92 Weight Range 50-70 Kg Lb 176-220 Wing Area 22.95 Flat Projected 23.30 Total Line Length (m) 376 Glider Weight 5.1111.2 (Kg/Lb) Aspect Ratio Flat I Projected Cells defined by Ribs Vertical I Diagonal

Medium 1.00

Large 1.04

110 - 154 95-120

65-85 209 - 264

143- 187 110-140

80-100 242 - 308

19.72 29.32 393

24.98 25.20 409

21.47 31.62 425

27.11 27.18 442

5.5/12.1

6.0 I 13.2

6.5/14.3

7.0 I 15.4

5.21 I 4.20

51177

Table 3 - Sport Specifications Leading edge

Leading edge

Leading edge

A -- ---=--=----:-~ -=::::_-::-- -

A

A

B-

B

B

C

~

-

C

-

----

D

Figure 2A -- The placement ofV-tab rows on a tapered paraglider wing using a constant percentage ofchord length far inter-row spacing.

SEPTEMBER

2002

---·Extra Large 1.08

Small 0.96

D

C __ >·<

Figure 2B - The placement ofV-tab rows on a tapered paraglider wing using a fixed length far inter-row spacing. Note how ofthe D-row and C-row fall offthe trailing edge.

D

-

--

Figure 2C - - The placement of V-tab rows on a tapered paraglider wing using a tapered percentage ofchord length far inter-row spacing.

19

for a 3: 1 reduction of the riser tension. The accelerator affects the A, Band C risers. The brake line keepers are the magnetic type.

Photo 5 - The Sport risers showing color-coding, split A-riser and accelerator hardware. Note that a quick link is used to attach the accelerator top pulley and that just to the right and above the quick link there is some sla,ck webbing between the inner A-riser and the split A-riser. This sla,ck adds a dela,y to the tips when the accelerator is applied, which is in addition to the tip acceleration restraint ofthe Wing Flex System. ing the top airspeed attainable.

If the rows of V-tabs have a constant fixed spacing such as 50 cm (20 inches) at both the root and the tip, the entire span is accelerated uniformly, so the tips don't collapse early and the top airspeed is increased. See Figure 2B. With constant spacing some D-row line attachments are eliminated, which reduces the total line length of the glider. When total line length is reduced all the performance parameters are improved. This is due co the reduction of parasitic drag, which is the resistance of motion through the atmosphere.

When the drag is reduced, maximum lift-co-drag ratio increases, minimum sink rate decreases, maximum airspeed increases, and minimum airspeed or stall airspeed decreases. Thus, the boundaries of a glider's flight envelope are improved in every way.

Shorter total line length also makes the glider cheaper co produce and reduces its weight.

One problem with constant spacing is that coo many C-row line attachments are also eliminated, so the wing's profile shape or airfoil would not be adequately controlled. To retain the C-row attachments outboard, the spacing of all V-tab rows is tapered coward the tip. See Figure 2C. This line attachment configuration increases the accelerated stability of a wing without penalty, and can be applied co all levels of gliders, which is why it earned

20

Bruce Goldsmith a British aeronautical technology advancement award. I suggest that a more accurate descriptive term than WFS would be Proportional Accelerator Loading (PAL) or Uniform Acceleration Layout (UAL) or Planform Defined Acceleration Loading (PDAL).

The Sport has a four-riser configuration plus Velcro-attached split A-risers. The A and B risers are color-coded for distinction with red and aqua rape respectively. See Photo 5. The accelerator uses two pulleys

COLORED HANG LOOP Airwave covers the hang loop end of the riser with a red Nylon sheath to protect the risers from the abrasion of repeated carabiner scraping. I appreciate such userfriendly detail because I suspect that many pilots are hasty and careless when hooking and unhooking their carabiners, and these same pilots may also tend to neglect regular maintenance inspections in general and particularly of this critical point. The red covering is particularly good because it makes the internal wear easy to distinguish with the color contrast against the black webbing. Also, it makes the hang loop easy to distinguish if the glider gets blown on the ground in the wind before you hook in.

See Photo 6.

The toggles are soft, using a foam insert rather than a rigid plastic tube, which I found uncomfortable because I usually fly with wraps to raise my arms for better anatomical leverage and less muscular fatigue. If I were co fly a Sport regularly I would shorten the brake lines so I wouldn't need to use wraps except occasionally for landing. An alternative hand placement that worked well for me during testing with the soft toggle was to pass my hand through the toggle and wrap my hand around the top of the toggle on the outside.

See Photos 7 and 8.

Photo 6: The red Nyloncovered riser hang loop.

soft Airwave toggle.

PARAGLIDING

ACCELERATOR I have heard comments from multiple pilots who have flown the Sport or flown with the Sport that it frontals easily, but I never had an inadvertent frontal while at speed or in thermal turbulence on either size of the Sport. The Sport has shorter accelerator travel than many other gliders I have reviewed recently, but it still has a lot of travel. I was able to get close to 90% travel with my two-step stirrup. At about 50% travel, top-surface indentation and bottom-surface flutter begin to appear at the leading edge. See Photos 9A and 9B. This is usually a precursor indicator of pending frontal collapse. The owner's manual specifically recommends to practice using the speed system in normal flying.

Pilots in general, and Sport pilots in particular, should look at the glider's leading edge when applying speed bar to check for indenting and flutter. The greater the flutter, usually the closer a glider's leading edge is to frontaling.

GROUND HANDLING The Sport inflates promptly with no-hands with any wind. I found that the C-risers were the best for post-landing deflation.

Even in strong winds, I could deflate the glider with one finger in each C-riser quick link without even a slight drag-back. For strong-wind landings, the owner's manual recommends grasping the C-risers prior to landing to prepare for deflation after landing. I didn't test this capability.

SEPTEMBER

2002

Photos 9A and 9B - Sport leading edge indenting with accelerator applied IN-FLIGHT HANDLING The Sport is appropriately named because its light and responsive handling is definitely sporty. It can surge quickly when thermaling and must be actively flown to keep it from wandering. I like the handling on the medium size where I was within the weight range. This would not be the best

glider for a new Novice-level pilot, especially at a high wing loading because ofits sensitivi01. However, I know of one local Advanced-level pilot who stepped down from a DHV 2 glider to the Sport because of an irregular flying schedule. He preferred the Sport to other modern DHV 1-2 wings because of its sportiness, and chose the large size to get a better sink rate.

Being underweight on the large size, the thermals pushed me around and the glider felt comparatively sluggish. To enter thermals effectively on the large size I had to aggressively turn using both weight-shift

and brakes. This was additional work so I didn't enjoy flying underweight (below the weight range) in strong conditions.

PERFORMANCE No performance polar was published or measured, but the airspeeds from the DHV report for the Sport are listed in Table 4.

According to flight testing performed by Noel Bertrand of vol Libre magazine, the Sport achieves its maximum LID (L over D or lifr-to-drag ratio, the maximum glide ratio in still air) at an airspeed of 40 km/hr., which is achieved with a small amount of accelerator applied, but designer Bruce Goldsmith hasn't validated this and suggests that it occurs at trim airspeed.

Flying within the weight range on the medium-size Sport, my sink rate was fair to good, but not top of the stack. Flying underweight on the large, the sink rate was superior, as it should be.

21

The split A-risers are easy to use and the wingtips reinflate with a slight delay when the split A-risers are released.

BIG EARS WITH ACCELERATOR Whether initiating ears first or last in combination with speed bar, the Sport remained stable without exhibiting any tendency to frontal. However, some instructors would recommend always initi-

ating with ears and accelerating second, and in turbulent conditions I would agree with this sequence. For flying in general, conceptually it shouldn't matter whether the angle of attack is first increased (ears) then lowered (accelerator) or whether its first lowered then increased.

Airspeeds

Trim Maiihlum

km/hr

. 371 50

fuil hr '23

31

1A~~o.rd{ng to t/Jel)F(Y t~s~ "cepq,:t; th,e ~itrf air;st¢;r{ 11a,r~

ied from.O km/hr to ..:2 ~mlhr VMed wing loading.

on gli'4rsize mid .

Table 4 - Sport Airspeeds SPIRAL DIVE The Sport spirals easily and with a high descent rate. Because of its high speed and

good energy retention, a smooth recovery necessitates an especially slow brake release to avoid a large pitch-up. This is not a good

glider for the fledgling pilot to experiment with during his first spiral dives because it's too easy to overcontrol.

Beginner- and intermediate-level pilots often believe they're performing spiral dives when actually all they are doing are steeper turns. A spiral dive only begins at approximately 45° of roll where the point of spiral instability is exhibited. This is easy to distinguish because the glider suddenly begins to accelerate and roll into the turn, steepening the bank angle rather than simply rotating around at a constant bank angle.

At this point the airspeed, sink rate and G-loading sharply increase in response to the centrifugal force from the increased rate of rotation (angular acceleration).

The length of the B-riser above the accelerator stitching is relatively short on the Sport. This necessitates grasping the B-lines rather than the B-riser to fully induce a B-stall. A partial B-stall is possible by grasping the B-riser, but riser interference limits full engagement. A partial B-stall allows a moderate increase in sink rate while retaining some penetration ability, so I like this characteristic because it offers more options. The owner's manual recommends pulling down 50 cm (20 inches) to achieve a descent rate in excess of 10 ml s (2,000 ft./min.).

Other than this requirement of higher positioning of the hands, the Sport B-stalls normally with a definitive and moderate surge upon release. There was no need to dampen the surge to avoid a frontal while flying in coastal ridge lift and no tendency even with a slow release for it to go parachutal. Even on the large size I could not induce parachurage no matter how slowly I released the B-risers, even with my light wing loading, which is generally more likely to promote this complication.

22

PARAGLIDING

SEARCH FOR DEEP STALL USING BRAKES While slowly applying the brakes in coastal ridge lift there was no tendency for the Sport to enter deep stall. As I approached full arm extension, the sink rate increased noticeably but a forward trajectory was quite evident. The glider accelerated noticeably when the brakes were released but it wasn't as extreme as the moderate surge when exiting a B-stall. The owner's manual recommends using a mild turn as the primary method of recovery if a deep stall occurs, but it also cautions that the turn should not be too fast because it can induce a spin.

or lack of active piloting, or some combination of these. I tend to fly slowly in turbulence and promptly dampen any tendency to surge, and as a result I have found the Sport to be free of frontals. However, I err on the side of safety and caution when flying a paraglider. I'm not a competition pilot and I may not be extracting all of the performance this or any other wing is capable of, because I prefer to keep gliders reigned in with brakes in all turbulence (mechanical, thermal, shear and wake) to prevent collapses, rather than going to the limit and allowing the collapse, then having to recover from it.

OTHER FLIGHT MODES ASYMMETRIC COLLAPSES The behavior of unaccelerated 50% asymmetries was negligible on the Sport. It barely turned and recovered promptly without pilot input. When accelerated with 50% speed bar, the rotation of a 50% asymmetric exceeded 45°, but even when holding the speed bar during recovery the glider rotated less than 90°. With a 50% asymmetric accelerated to 90%, the glider dropped noticeably to the collapsed side and initially rotated very quickly, although the rotation rate slowed and never reached 180°, even with no pilot input and with the speed bar still applied. If the pilot wishes to hasten the recovery, the owner's manual recommends one or two pumps of about 80 cm (32 inches) with the brake on the collapsed side. Note the importance ofa foll arm stroke when pumping out collapses.

Inexperienced pilots tend to make short and rapid pumps, which accomplish nothing.

FRONT TUCKS The medium-size Sport recovered spontaneously upon release from a frontal even when accelerated 50%. The large size exhibited a delayed but definitive recovery surge even when the accelerator was held at 50%. Neither size exhibited any tendency to go parachutal, although an impatient and inexperienced pilot who is underweight on the Sport may become concerned with the added delay of about two or three seconds if the speed bar is held extended.

The Sport has been known to frontal more easily than other wings, but the recovery is prompt and uneventful. Since I have not experienced any inadvertent frontals I attribute these occurrences to extreme turbulence, use of full accelerator SEPTEMBER

2002

TOWING

I didn't have the occasion to tow-launch the Sport so I can't comment on its towing behavior first hand. It is DHV-approved for towing but the owner's manual indicates that the towline tension must not exceed 100 kg (220 lbs.), independent of glider size.

MoroR FLIGHT

The owner's manual specifically states: "The use of this glider is limited to nonaerobatic maneuvers and non-motorized flight, and it must not be fitted with auxiliary power unless designed, installed and tested by the factory." I didn't get to fly the Sport with a motor. Airwave does have a dedicated motor wing in production named the Explorer, and its design is derived from the Sport.

STORAGE A distinctly unusual piece of advice from the owner's manual is to never let your canopy freeze, particularly if it is damp, although no explanation is provided. I was concerned about Nylon fiber brittleness when I lived in the Arctic of Alaska's interior so I contacted Dupont, the inventor of Nylon (polyamide) to check on its cryogenic properties. This testing revealed no deterioration of the fabric's properties associated with cold temperatures below freezing. I can attest to this having flown a paraglider in -20° F (-29° C) once.

SUMMARY The Sport is a high-end DHV 1-2 wing because of its light and responsive handling, energy retention and rapid surge. It has a reputation for frontal collapse when

accelerated, but I never experienced this even when 90% accelerated. In performance, it's more of a racer than a floater. I would not recommend it as a first glider for even an exceptional student, because when maneuvering and in turbulence its tendency to surge significantly and suddenly would probably be too demanding.

If you're a seasoned pilot and enjoy active piloting, it would be a good choice, but if you prefer a more passive glider you would probably find the Sport to be a handful. A couple of local pilots about my same weight have chosen to fly the large size underweight. Being lightly loaded on the glider will definitely improve its sink rate with some compromise in handling. I would choose the medium size Sport for myself, trading off sink rate for handling.

Sport pilots take any frontals in stride.

Knowing that its recovery is forgiving, they're able to retain their sense of humor and remain a good Sport!

About the author: Alan Chuculate lives in San Diego with his wife Mary Hobson who is also his photographer and editor. Hespecializes in offering equipment for pilots ofall skill levels and personalized training at the intermediate, advanced, tandem and instructor levels. Alan will also be offering maneuvers clinics later this year. Contact him for reservations. Ifyou have questions or comments regarding this article you're welcome to contact him directly by e-mail at AlanC@San.RR.com, or by telephone at (858) 292-1552. •

For the 2002-03 winter season, Thermal T ker Paragliding will be carrying on the yearly tradition of winter getaway tours to the bC'autiful, awe inspiring mountains and coastal regions of Ecuador.

Opportunities will abound, with time spent explodng the Hi9h Andes, flyinp among some of the most beautiful peaks in South America. SpPnd time f(l!axing on the warm Ecuadorian coast swimming, fishing, and flying miles of smooth coastal ridge sites!

For pilots and non-pilot~ alike, we have a strong commitment to exploring the ground based beautyof this country, from hiking to mountain biking, touring ruins to river rafting, explormg jungle1, to visiting indigenous markets full of crafls and textiles. Come fly South America!

1'~~~~

~~~-

www.thermaltracker.com 1920 North feast D St. Grants Pass, Oregon, 97526 phone 541.660.8839 thcrmaltrackcr@bigfoot.com

23

p \ ,~ I I\\ ()

Fl)'Iiigt"tlie Pampa-Cross THE EDUCATION OF A NEOPHYTE CROSS-COUNTRY PILOT DAY 3 AT PAMPA-CROSS We left the camp at 10:00 AM. The wind was forecast to be 13 kph, west-northwest at 1:00 PM, rising to 27 kph at 5:00 PM. When we finally stopped and set up for rowing I was eager to go. I ate my sandwich and went through the familiar sequence of preparation.

• Heed any calls of nature.

• Extract the glider from its backpack.

• Adjust the variometer altitude to 0.

• Mark the current location on the GPS and set it to Go To that location. That allows you to report your distance from takeoff every 10 km.

• Secure the variometer and the GPS to the harness.

• Put boors on.

• Stow food in the side pockets of the harness.

• Stow wallet and keys in a backpack pocket.

• Stow the backpack in the back of the harness.

• Stow the camelback water supply in the back of the harness.

• Put the flight suit on (but nor before a launch is reasonably imminent since you start to bake in the desert hear).

• Put on the radio harness, switch the radio on , and check commumcauon.

• Put the helmet on.

• Release the canopy from its carry bag and

24

stow the carry bag in a harness pocket.

• Lay the canopy out across the wind.

• Step into the harness, attach leg and chest straps, and fasten the reserve parachute.

• Open up the glider.

• Put on gloves (stowed in flight suit pocket).

• Attach the towline.

• Wait for a favorable wind cycle, check that the row driver is ready, lift the canopy, turn into the wind and rake off.

I was ready to go, but had the sense to wait for Luis to rake off fuse so I could see how an expert did it. In light wind, he raised the canopy and ran forward . The pull from the tow came just in time and he was away.

I was attached to the towline on the second truck. We waited for the wind to stop being cross.

I raised the canopy, controlled it, turned, and was away. After my foulup the previous day, where my heading got dangerously off course while I fiddled with my variometer, the crew was quick to give me course corrections. "Right David, right!" I stayed with the row for a couple of kilometers and released in a thermal. I concentrated on circling in the lift and not losing it. After a while the lift improved and I turned more steeply, climbing to

1,330 meters above the takeoff. Then I applied the speed bar and headed downwind.

I found another thermal and then another, drifting with the wind and slowly moving away from the launch. Once I saw Luis low down toward the river. I marked his position and saw him again on several revolutions before losing him. Losing my thermal, I turned downwind coward a big dry area looking for the next thermal. I hit massive sink (up to 6.3 mis). Soon I was 200 meters above the ground. I tried to report my location but the radio channel was filled with Spanish conversation. I had to concentrate on landing, and found a small open space, a dirt road near an oilpumping station. I checked carefully for power or phone lines. As I was about to land I finally got some lift. I circled once, twice, a third rime, holding my altitude a few meters above the ground. But the vario sound was off (perhaps I bumped it or perhaps it turned itself off) and I didn't have enough skill to achieve the save without help from the vario. I made a nice landing eight km from the launch site, after a 50minute flight.

Savoring the hot, dry, desert air I was quick to remove my helmet and flight suit. I broke my radio silence and reported that I was down. I was under no illusion that my retrieval would be easy. First, I was down on featureless, flat land crisscrossed by a maze of dirt roads and tracks, so there was no way for me to describe my position. Second, APedro, the retrieval driver, spoke as much English as I spoke Spanish, resulting in a massive language barrier. Third, I had a GPS unit, but little familiarity with its use.

But I was only eight km from launch, and if worse came to worst I could walk back.

I packed the glider up and set off. The GPS indicated the direction and I followed roads and trails going that way. From time to time I got a call from APedro and I read off my GPS coordinates. I gave him my location in degrees, minutes and seconds, south and west. I tried to give him my distance and bearing to the launch sire. After trudging three km through the hoc desert I still had five km to go, which the GPS estimated would take an hour. I received a plaintive message from APedro to the effect that he had gone to the GPS coordinates I gave him and that I wasn't there.

I came to an oil-pumping station and decided to stay there for a while since there was a reasonable road leading to it. APedro,

PARAGLIDING

ABOVE: Landing at the campground.

LEFT: The desert from 2,000 meters above.

the driver, got Pedro Tirado into the loop.

Since Pedro speaks both English and Spanish he could bridge the language gap.

But the radio connection with Pedro was poor and communication difficult. Then a petroleum truck came by and I hailed it and asked the driver to tell APedro how to get to the pump station. The driver spoke no English and seemed to be unfamiliar with portable radios. He tried to help but it was too difficult and he drove off. However, he explained my predicament to a supervisor who came down the road. The supervisor spoke some English and was willing to help.

He confidently gave directions to APedro who soon came down the road.

We were delighted to see each other, APedro because he finally could end a wild goose chase all over the desert, and me because I did not have to walk for another hour. I thanked the supervisor for his help.

Since the arid Pampas area is hardly a tourist attraction, I think he was shocked when an American from the east coast of the U.S. told him he was glad to be there and that the desert was beautiful. APedro and I drove off.

It turned out that I was giving my location in degrees, minutes and seconds, while APedro was interpreting it in degrees and fractions of a degree. Gonzalo adjusted my GPS to display degrees and fractions so the next retrieval would be easier.

This was my first serious cross-country flight and I enjoyed it immensely, including the retrieval. I knew that I could walk back to the launch point with the help of the GPS if it was necessary, and I had a good supply of water, so I was not concerned about getting lost and expiring on the desert floor.

Back at the launch site the wind was now in the wrong direction so we piled into the vehicles and drove back to Carrie!. We stopped at a location where the wind was coming down the road but it was too strong.

I was eager to fly again and we waited and watched for 10 minutes. There were brief periods where the wind was light enough to launch but overall it was far too strong and gusty. We drove back to the camp.

Later I learned that Luis gained 3,000 meters AGL and traveled 40 km. Clearly, my thermaling and cross-country technique had room for improvement. Pedro said I was not drifting with the wind and that I should identify the wind direction by watching the GPS to see where the minimum and maximum ground speeds occur

26

while turning. Luis said that there was a slight ridge in the desert and that thermals were coming up from the lee side of it. The small ridge was not easy to see from the air and I had not observed it. My plan of heading for the dry area was ill conceived and I paid by having to land.

Back at camp I updated my diary, checked the news and read my e-mail.

Mauro had stayed behind to cook and had slowly roasted two sides of goat. Having learned that I prefer vegetarian food he had prepared steamed vegetables, egg, and a delicious vegetarian calzone just for me. We had a nice dinner sitting outside around a picnic table. There was some Argentinean wine, which I enjoyed. The label on the bottle said it cost $2.50. There was also some fine tequila provided by Pedro.

DAY 4 AT PAMPA-CROSS Following the daily routine, Pedro and I were picked up at our hotel at 8: 15 AM and driven to the camp. We went up to the situation room, looked at the weather charts posted by Luis, had breakfast (pieces of bread with butter and jam plus tea, orange juice, or hot chocolate), and discussed the plan for the day. We loaded our gliders into the top rack of Luis's wagon and set off for an hour and a half drive to find the perfect tal,eoff for the wind direction. The goal was to fly a hundred kilometers back to Carrie!.

Pedro was towed first with me next.

Pedro released early in a thermal. I followed suit, released too low in a marginal thermal, and soon landed with Pedro behind me. We carried our wings back to the takeoff. Pedro took off, bur a gust of wind carried him left into the bushes and the launch was aborted.

It was my turn to launch. I saw that Ondrej and Milan were ready to go. Since they had not yet had a flight I offered to let them go first. Ondrej replied that he thought I could rake off without undue delay and that I should go. Now the pressure was on me to perform. The wind was 30 degrees cross, too much for me. I asked Ondrej ifhe could take off in that condition and he said, "Yes, but you should wait, the wind will soon turn." The wind dropped off to nothing. I hoped my practice takeoffs in no wind and swirling winds at Oregon Ridge, north of Baltimore would stand me in good stead. I alerted Alex, who alerted the driver. I lifted the wing and pushed hard, hoping I could hold the wing up until the line tension came on. The driver responded promptly and I was away.

This time I waited longer to release and did so in a satisfactory thermal, which increased in strength as I rode it all the way to 2,000 meters AGL. I concentrated fiercely on staying in the thermal. For the first time I monitored my ground speed as reported by the GPS while turning so I could identify the wind direction. After a while I was near to Milan in a big area of lift. I moved toward him whenever he was in better lift. I tried to turn the same way as he did but was only partially successful as he wandered about the sky, changing his circling direction whenever he wished.

Eventually he left. Perhaps I should have followed him, but I did not at that time know who the pilot was or whether he would be upset ifI tried to follow him.

Later, Ondrej told me that I would not have been able to stay with Milan, who was flying an advanced wing.

I continued scratching for altitude in the same spot. I followed Ondrej's advice to move upwind somewhat on every third turn or so. I followed Luis's advice to really bear down and turn hard at low speed whenever in really good lift. Also, I followed Luis's advice about searching upwind or downwind after losing a thermal. Twice after losing a thermal I found it upwind, and once I found it downwind. Between thermals the sink was extensive and severe, up to 5.4 mis.

Once, I was fast approaching the ground and reported that I was going down, but made a low save and got back nearly 2,000 meters AGL. After riding four or five thermals my luck ran out and I hit an extended band of sink. Even then I found another disorganized thermal near the ground and rode it up a few hundred meters before losing it. I could not clear some power lines across my path, so I landed about 50 meters upwind of them, dropping my wing in the scrub. Pavel, who rode tandem with Milan as pilot the previous day, and had had a frightening tangle with a dust devil while landing, told me I should have given the lines greater clearance. I had gone 33 kilometers and reached a maximum altitude above ground of2,000 meters, both personal records.

The rescue car was hurrying down the road alongside the power lines, with Javier leaning over the roof looking for me, before I had a chance to disentangle my glider from the scrub. The rest of the day was spent in the chase car watching Ondrej and Milan as they traveled 11 0 km and 114 km respectively. Milan's flight took nearly five PARAGLIDING

hours and he reached a maximum of 2,200 meters AGL. Ondrej reached a maximum of 2,600 meters AGL. I was impressed by their patience as they turned and turned in thermals, never leaving lift, and then dashed downwind looking for the next one.

Around 7:00 PM the thermals weakened, the wind switched direction, becoming a headwind instead of a tailwind, and they landed.

TOWING OPERATIONS I had now experienced three towing operations. First was the towing given by the Lucky Montana Flying Circus group for an SIV safety course at Lake Wanaka, New Zealand. The tow was via a speedboat with a payout winch. The launch site was ideal - a gently sloping, pebbled beach with adequate side clearance and a consistent smooth breeze coming off the lake. They insisted on a forward launch. When ready, the pilot adopted an athletic stance to hold against the towrope. The speedboat applied power and the tension in the line steadily increased. At the moment when the pilot could no longer hold position, he raised the canopy and ran forward until airborne. This technique worked well. Our group of five pilots, most of whom had never been towed before, had 20 successful tows and no failures. The boat went across the lake, and then it turned through 180 degrees while the paraglider kept going forward. When the tension was about to take up in the opposite direction, the glider turned, and, as the tension came on, resumed climbing.

When the boat neared the shore from which the tow started, it turned to the right, signaling the pilot to release. In the event of a line break, with significant line still attached to the glider, it was the pilot's responsibility to tow the line into the center of the lake before releasing it. Otherwise the parachute at the end of the line would carry the line over the nearby town with its power and telephone lines. Altitudes of over 700 meters AGL were achieved.

The second towing operation was that of the Dukes of Windsoar at a flat field near Frederick, Maryland. They have modified a motorcycle to reel in the towline on a drum.

The power unit is situated beside the pilot.

The line goes from the winch along the ground, around a pulley attached to a vehicle upwind, and back to the pilot. The tow operator, Dan Kriseler, has made hundreds, if not thousands of tows with students using this system. The pilot can choose whether to launch forward or reverse. If the pilot can

SEPTEMBER

2002

stabilize the wing for just an instant, Dan applies the power and enables a takeoff. If at any stage the pilot loses directional control, Dan cuts the power. When maximum height is achieved, Dan gives the command, "Prepare to release!" He waits for the pilot to acknowledge by waving his legs sideways and then gives the command, "Release!"

This system is easy for the pilot and is very safe if an experienced operator controls the winch. However, only 100 meters of altitude are normally achieved in still air, with a maximum of about 200 meters if there is a good headwind.

The third towing operation was that of the Pampa-Cross. They use a payout winch mounted to the rear bumper of a towing vehicle. The launch situation varies from day to day, and sometimes from hour to hour if the wind is changeable. They choose a road that aligns with the wind. It is invariably a rough dirt road meant to service gas and oil pipelines. They try to find a satisfactory clear space for the glider to be laid out. Usually the location is stony and dusty, with plenty of twigs and rocks to snag the glider lines.

Three people are involved in the tow operation: the pilot, the driver and the tow director. The job of the tow director is crucial. He checks the pilot, attaches the towline to his harness, and stands about 10 meters from the pilot, holding the line.

When the pilot decides it is time, he alerts the director who uses his radio to alert the driver about 50 meters down the road. The pilot lifts the wing, either forward or reverse, and stabilizes it. The director determines whether or not the wing is under control.

When satisfied, he calls for the driver to accelerate. The director continually monitors the flight and issues instructions as necessary to the pilot ("left," "right," "release") or to the driver ("faster," "slower," "abort," "cut the line"). The tow director must be alert to the dangerous possibility of the towline catching in shrubbery on the side of the road and pulling the glider down.

If the line breaks or is cut, the pilot must immediately release the towline. Recently, a pilot was injured when he did not release a trailing line. The end of che line caught in scrub and slammed the glider and pilot into the ground. Given a suitable road, this system can achieve 600 meters or more above the ground. Normally, the pilot waits until he is above 300 meters AGL and in a strong thermal and then releases. The experienced pilots, confident in their thermaling ability, often release at lower altitudes if they

encounter good lift.

Of the three towing operations, the Pampa-Cross system requires the most pilot skill. The reasons are: the launch site is always changing; the wind is usually changeable and gusty, sometimes too light, sometimes too strong, and sometimes too cross, requiring the pilot to use good judgment about when to raise the wing; and there is a delay after the wing is raised before the towline is tensioned, so the pilot must be able to hold the wing in good control for several seconds. Skillful pilots are able to take off safely with the wind cross as much as 30 degrees. They raise the wing while facing the wind and control it so they can run in the direction of the tow. Once they are airborne they allow the wing to drift downwind before following the towline.

DAY 5 AT PAMPA-CROSS The wind at Catriel was forecast to be 16 kph at noon, increasing to 34 kph southsouthwest at 5:00 PM. The maximum gust speeds were forecast to be double the wind speed.

Since the sky was overcast and the wind too strong and gusty, we relaxed at the camp. Twice the towing crew went out a few kilometers to a potential tow site, but wisely the decision was made that the wind was too strong.

DAY 6 AT PAMPA-CROSS EXPLORING THE DESERT The wind was forecast too strong at Catriel, 32 kph and gusting to 47 kph at noon.

Further north at Algarrobo Del Aguila it was forecast to be more reasonable, 13 kph, gusting to 21 kph south-southeast at noon and holding at that level the rest of the day.

The plan was to drive north to Puelen, check the wind there, then possibly drive on to Algarrobo del Aguila. At Puelen there is a road heading west-northwest suitable for an east-southeast wind. At Algarrobo del Aguila there is only one road and it goes west. After traveling 100 km north we found that the forecast was wrong and the wind was too strong everywhere. There are few weather stations and few balloon releases in Argentina, so the forecasts are unreliable when the weather situation is complex.

Luis offered the options of returning to camp or joining him on a trip to the edge of the desert to visit a majestic snow-covered mountain, Sierra de! Nevado, 3,833 meters high. Six of us, Ondrej, Pavel, Milan, Guillermo, Juan and I, decided to

27

go with Luis. We loaded our flying gear onto the roof rack of his van. The other vehicles returned co the camp.

We sec out across a long, straight, dire road, with the Nissan diesel van fully loaded, two people in the front, three in the back, and two packed into the rear compaccmenc along with a box containing the cowing equipment. The roof rack was crammed full of gliders. When the road was relatively smooth, Luis sped along at 70 kph but he was ever alert for danger ahead, which often slowed us to a crawl. Sometimes the road was washed out, leaving a deep depression that had to be crossed carefully. Sometimes the surface was washed away, leaving big uneven rocks behind, and sometimes there was a deep sand drift, but worst of all were the extensive bone-shattering ruts.

We saw almost no vehicles, perhaps one every 100 kilometers, so keeping co the right of the road was not a priority. It was fac more important to find the smoothest available path.

We went through the occasional desert town, perfect settings for an American movie about the Wild West. We asked for directions when we could find someone co talk to, as there ace no signs in the desert.

We stopped at a primitive gas station.

There were two locked pumps, a locked shed nearby and no signs or information.

Without more fuel we would have co return the way we came. After a few minutes a man appeared, sauntering down the hill, accompanied by an impassive boy on a horse. The man unlocked the shed, then the pump, and gave us the crucial supply of fuel. The boy remained on the horse, watching.

Off we went, eventually leaving the desert floor and rising into foothills. The snowy peak of Sierra del Nevado was still elusively fac away but we followed roads chat appeared to go coward it. As the elevation increased, the air was cooler, and it was evident that the land received a little more rain than the desert floor. There were nice green valleys and meadows with rolling hills surrounding them, even a little grass and some cattle. The ground was a soft light green. From a distance it cook on a misty, enchanted appearance.

The mountain was still coo fac away co reach and we stopped for a break. Pavel cook some photographs. We decided co go home by making a loop into territory new co Luis, rather than going back the way we came.

I offered co swap my place in the front seat with Milan's place in the back compact-

28

ment. He declined, but passed the offer on co Pavel who accepted. Soon I regretted my generosity. The back seats faced sideways, were minimally padded and there was not enough space co sic upright. There was barely enough room for two people co sic side by side. The box of cow equipment cook up most of the space where your feet would normally go. Sometimes the back door came loose with the constant vibration, and then diesel fumes and dust came into the back of the van. I wondered if the pressure and vibration on my back would be enough co cause bruising or injury. Sometimes the vibration was so incense that my cheeks flapped up and down and I wondered if my brain was getting scrambled. The lid of the cow box vibrated up and down creating an overwhelming noise.

Gradually I adapted co the situation.

Milan and I put our legs on cop of the box co damp the vibration of the lid, reducing the noise co a tolerable level. By making sure the back door was properly closed, and ask-

ing Luis to increase the airflow from the from, we eliminated the diesel fumes. I discovered a sequence of body positions that were rolerable. The saving grace was that I was sitting next co Milan, a superb pilot. I asked him about his long flight the previous day. He cold me it was his longest flight ever at just under five hours. I asked why he had landed. Ir was due co a combination of factors: a headwind making further progress difficult; the reduced lift at 7:00 PM as the heat of the sun faded; and he was hungry and needed co empty his bladder.

Later, Ondrej yielded his seat inside the van co Milan, and I had a chance co quiz him as well. I asked him about spiral dives. I had done a few of chem but was nervous about the sudden onset of acceleration chat occurs as you enter the dive, and I wondered what the limits might be. Ondrej cold me that you cannot achieve more than four G 's of acceleration in a spiral dive, and that the gliders ace designed co withstand more force than that. He said that you can regu-

PAR AG LID ING

late the severity of the dive by body position and brake pressure. He told me that every glider is different with respect to its behavior in a spiral dive. Later, Luis also gave me

at the top was just below 30 kph and gusting higher. In addition, the surface was rocky and there was no suitable launch area.

We carried the gliders back down the hill and set off again.

We found ourselves on the wrong side of a sizeable river at the boundary between the foothills and the desert floor. There was no way to know whether to head up or down stream. It was clear that we had a good chance of being lost in the desert and our of fuel. While Luis pored over the map a petroleum pickup truck sped by. We chased the truck, caught rhe driver's anention and learned we had to turn around and go downstream. Luis decided that Ondrej and I had spent enough time in the back of the wagon and asked Guillermo and Juan to take our place. It was good to sit again in a padded seat with a padded back, in an upright position, and facing the direction of travel. Eventually, we found a narrow oneway bridge that creaked as we slowly crossed the river. I wondered how deep the turbulent muddy water was.

Asleep, I was startled awake by a sudden silence. We had reached a 50-km section of smooth, sealed road serving the petroleum town of Rincon De Los Sauces. It was noticeable during our journey that the public roads are in a very bad state without evidence of any maintenance whatsoever. Luis said that the public roads are deteriorating over all of Argentina. In contrast, the petroleum roads show the benefit of at least some periodic maintenance.

We stopped in Rincon De Los Sauces around 10:00 PM for fuel and dinner. We had a nice meal of chicken, mashed potato,

good advice about spiral dives. He said:

bread arid cerveza (beer).

"Don't get into a situation where you must use a spiral dive. Use big ears and the speed bar to move sideways to a cloud. If you still need to lose altitude via a spiral dive, make sure you are feeling well before you enter it and come out of it immediately if you feel faint." I have often wondered why a full stall is not used for rapid descent. Finally, I got an explanation from Ondrej that made sense to me. A full stall is an unstable situation, especially in turbulent air, and furthermore it requires a lot of strength to hold the brakes down all the way for a long time.

Luis, continually watching the wind signs, stopped and said, "See if you can soar on that hill." Guillermo, Juan and I carried our gliders up a gently sloping hill about 70 meters high, facing the wind. It was good to be able to stretch and exercise. But the wind

Far too soon the smooth road ended and it was back to ruts and washouts. Luis expertly chose a path that minimized the wear and tear on the vehicle and its occupants. While driving as fast as the conditions permined, he referred to the GPS on the dashboard and the stars in the sky. Still, I have no idea how he confidently chose which one of the many unsigned roads and tracks to follow. We arrived back in Carrie! after 1:00 AM , more than ready for some sleep in a bed. Ir was an impressive display of driving and navigation skill on the part of Luis.

The next day I saw Ondrej: "Did you enjoy our adventure yesterday?" His response was a perfect summation: "For sure. But one is enough. "

SEPTEMBER

2002

•

ONLY

Next month: The adventure concludes. •

29

'11 •

n •

1

Ill

t

-·-·-·-·-·-·- OR-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-

tt n 1n n uv rs

by Bruce Wallace y turn suddenly tightened and, although I was still going up, I wondered if I had spun my Carbon.

However, I was still banked and felt G-forces from the turn and concluded (perhaps incorrectly) that I had entered some kind of devil air vortex rather than having spun. I let up on the inside brake to exit the situation and the inside wing collapsed. I pumped it out and the outside wing collapsed and crevatted. I pumped that out and the wing went into a series of very violent side-to-side surges while heading down. I then pulled both brakes to below shoulder height to try to stabilize things. The wing surged far forward about 40° below me and to the outside. I fell relatively straight down, missing the wing by about IO feet. While falling there was no tension on the lines, and 30% to 40% of the wing folded under and tucked through the lines. As my fall snapped the lines taut, the folded tip was trapped in a cravat and the wing entered a steep spiral dive. The spiral was so fast and the wing was so far through the lines that I figured there was no chance to get it out in the available time and altitude. I tossed silk.

According to my barograph trace, within 35 seconds of the first sign of trouble I had reached a maximum downward velocity of 1,900 feet per minute. The reserve kicked in at about 500 feet below my last high

30

point and about 350 feet above the ground. I tried to pull in the tangled wing as a best I could in the 25 seconds before I landed safely in the brush - 850 feet in 60 seconds, start to finish.

I decided it was time to attend a safety/maneuvers clinic.

I had attended a three-day safety clinic about four hours into my flying career and had learned a lot of valuable things, but not stalls, spins, or appropriate recovery. In fact, I didn't even know what a spin really felt like. Now I wanted to know, and as a P3 with 45 hours under my belt, I felt that I was ready to learn. In order to maximize my instructional time, I decided to attend Two-Can Fly's six-day clinic at Lake Powell in Southern Utah.

Getting there was the hard part. About two hours into the 15-hour drive, my car died. Luckily, Chad Bastian and Lee Anne Norris (coming to both help and learn from Ken Hudonjorgensen and Bo Criss) had not yet left Santa Barbara on their way to the clinic, and were able to stop by my house and pick up another car. I left the old one in a supermarket parking lot and towed it home after the clinic. So, we drove late into the night and ended up making camp around midnight.

The next morning the rising sun showed us that we were in fact at Lake Powell and, against all odds, actually in the right spot.

We should have known right away that we

Hudonjorgensen.

This maneuvers clinic was truly a "rite oflwassage" for• me, an important, longoyerdue tl'ansifionin my paragliding career. My'goal was nono become an aero'barks pilot, but to cross safely and effectively a dividing line . of mental and physical awareness in the sport that would otherwi~e continue blocking my · ability to progress as a recl'eational pilot: The following notes describe some of whatl felt and experienced during this ex~ithig .clink.

INf>MDUALLY 1'.AfLOR:iD CQACH]NG

I was quite pleased with Ken's philosq~ phy of tailoring the maneu.vers training prog:ram to· the individual needs of students. In my case, I was a "clean slate!'; l had e:veryth1'ng,to l¢arn. The only maneu:ved was familiar with was. big ears; andI had ne:ver launched by towboat.

On the first maneuver of the first flyPARAGLIDING

ing day of the clinic, coaeh Bo Chris gave me myflrst command by radio: "full speed bar." There was a good reason for my visible slowness in executihg: I had never dpne such athing.. I quickly figured oU:t what.later, became rpucine - there is aflrst time for evetyihing! Then came big ears vy:ith full speed bar @ngaged and steering with weight shifts only, another first, whkha bit llil.ter in the week led to wingovers by weight shifts only. I had a great sense of accomplishment doing for the first time what became routine later in the '17'\'.eek. l had many firsts during the clinic, eaQh one runctuated by the reassuringfeedbatk ofa coaching radio voice from thousands 0f feet bel0w.

BOATTOWING WITH PAY40UTWINCH An exhilarating part of the clinic was learning to. fake.off fr(')m a beach, pulled by a boat to safely and efficiently reach an altitµde.of 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the lake.atthe end of a towline. Over the week ~uchlaunches became routine for 1:ne, witlr·a total ofll tows, and a cumulative.elevation of38;000 vertical feet. I relate here my very disconcerting firsttime experience, during which all my senses and brain parts were in constant overload.

I found out quii:ikly that piloting a paraglider during a bo.at launch is very different frorn piloting. the same paraglider in ordinary un~ethered flight. There is more to it than the mere fact that the balance offorces acting on the.paraglider are diffetel.lit. Boat towing surrounds the pilot . witha::IIrghlevelof1a¢0Ustic M.ise.

Pra:edqj.radio eom;mµnication ·is not possible ...St~edng ithe pataglider il1 the desired direction t1$l.t:1g bra~s is.ah absolute and con~taq.t necessity; but with several surprises: The amoun~ of force to apply to the l:fra.kesis much.'high<:1r compa.red with untethered flight, and the "desired" direction is not obvious, a:s i:t depends on what stage oi the boat tow one finds oneself in.

From t:he very first seconds after takeoff, the as9ending parngHder pitches backward in the 1nJ1.tlner of a dirnbing kite as the boax Urie pulls forward and downward. A ritch artgle equilibrium is reached rapidly, but the geometric relations of paraglider pitch attitude versus the horizon is different from ordinary untethered paragliding SEPTEMBER

2002

O·

by Pierre Dogan ..................................................... ,.,,,,u,,,, ..•...••..•..••,,,,, •...•..•••..•........... , ..•.. ,u,,,,,,,,,u .. ,, ••........•...•..•.•..•..••.•••..••..••..•

flight! The harness seat is also pitched backward. All this creates an unsettling feeling for a first-timer. I found out that I could not hold both brakes in one hand, a normal, safe posture in ordinary untethered flight. That meant I could not free a hand to correct a seat position, or. to correct anything else for that matter.

I knew that in the initial phase of tow, my main task was to constantly steer to effect yaw control to keep the paraglider aligned with the direction of the first 200 feet of towline. Fair enough, except that this requires frequent (every two seconds), uncomfortable looking up at the canopy located too far up and too far backward from the usual location in ordinary untethered flight, with exaggerated backward bending of the neck and use of peripheral vision to evaluate the direction and amount of required yaw control. On the other hand, I discovered that complacency in effecting correct and. frequent yaw control leads to Vfif)' UndesfrabJe t(')n• sequences: the towline puHingat.i large . angle relative to the canopy's. direction pf flight; at some point great difficulty or the impossibility of making yaw corrections, large or small; interference of the towline pulling sideways on one leg; the rushing wind, high acoustic noise, unintelligible radio commands; the uneven tugging of the boat surging and phch,irig as it crqs~es the wakes of other boats on the lal{e, IY.ly inexperience brought on moments of feeling distress and loneliness.

Later during this first tow, after the paraglider gained several thoµ~.,fnd feet .of altitude, the nature of the challenge changed. The boat makes a wide turn on the lake surface during which the pilot is supposed to steer the paraglider "outside" of the boat wake to manage die slack in the towline. Without anticip~tory pilot action during a boat turn, slack inevitably develops in the towline, which reduces the efficiency of the tow, causing a. lower release altitude for the amount of traction provided by the boat, or perhaps causing something much worse, like underwater

line fouling. lttook me several tows to acquire this understanding, a process accelerated by taking a ride in the tow boat itself alongside the tow operators, a learning step that Ken urged on all clinic students.

The reward for the fortitude I mustered during my first tow launch exrerience was the sudden quiet that rerlaced the turbulent noise upon release of the towline. The thin-air serenity gave me the needed respite to enjoy for the first time the magnificent high-altitude view of the mountains embracing the highly indented Bullfrog area of Lake Powell: peaks, ridges, canyons, geological strata of sometimes outrageous colors lining the lake shore like a delicate embroidery.

I reached a dream state in that luminous morning, aware of the beauty of our planet, feeling very much alive, communing with my spiritual copilot, just before the real fun of burning all that altitude in maneuvers, maneuvers whose myslt~ries I Was about to begin discover· io,g. .

AN;ORGY OF COLLAPSES Prior to the clinic I had. e4perienced a few involuntary collapses during turbulent~air flights, fortunately 1,1.t high altitµde AGL, They always sta.ttled me with their sonoroµs clap in th:e cytjopy. They frankly also seated t:ri<i\ a.s Jnever did anything expHduo recoyer from them except throwing mYhands.up. The clinic taught me to induce and recover from a wide variety of collapses: left or right, withthe traditional handgrip or the "alternate" handgrip, leaning into the deflation or away from it, with small or large amplitude; with quickor delayed release of the A-riser, allowing a specified canopy rotation angle before release, etc.

The coached sequence of commands was at first slow, specifying timid collapses, which then grew to larger ones, until I was able to deliver a rapid sequence of a variety of such maneuvers, often with the coaching prompt, "Notice the differ-

31

were in the right spot, that secret being given away by the 70-foot houseboat that should have been floating there welcoming us, but we didn't because it wasn't. We got together with some of the other pilots (we knew they were paraglider pilots because no one in his right mind would have been there at that hour) to eat the yummy breakfast that Laurel, partner of a fellow student, was dishing out. Little did I know that my luck had just changed for the better because Laurel, Janet (Ken's wife) and Lee Anne would be cooking for the next several days.

And then Ralph Egan and his houseboat arrived. It was great - 70 feet of deck, real beds, bathrooms and a kitchen! Now, I don't mind camping; in fact, I love backpacking. However, when I want to camp, I do, but when I want to fly, I don't. So we performed some sort of ritual boat dance involving ropes and anchors while we bound the boat fore and aft to the shore, and loaded en-mass quantities of gourmet food. We then turned our attention to less important things, like instruction.

Because I had been to an earlier clinic, the ground school was pretty much old hat. However, that was okay. It's nice to review, and I did pick up tips about a

greater emphasis on the use of weight shift rather than bralces as a mechanism for wing control. Then it was up, up and away!

The lake was big, the line was long and the crews were great (thanks Ralph Egan, Chris Galli, et. al.), so we got incredible tows (I got 16), probably averaging close to 4,000 feet. There were eight students for the first three days and four stayed on for the remaining three, so with that much line and that many tows there were the usual snafus and, of course, storms. But we only lost one day to weather and nobody drowned, so we did pretty well.

Ken and Bo, the instructors, were great.

They were calm, thorough, and paced each student's instruction appropriately. We started with basic maneuvers such as speed bar and big ears, so the instructors could develop a feel for their students, and the students for their wings. We then moved on to full frontal and asymmetric collapses, starting small and getting bigger, and continued with wingovers, spirals and B-lines.

All of these were performed to varying degrees and in different circumstances so we could see how our wings performed with minor collapses, major collapses, with speed bar, without, with weight shift into the collapse, and with weight shift away. I

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32

PARAGLIDING

down the sky. But interestingly enough, the hard regimen of inducing and recovering from asymmetrical collapses had already prepared me for the peculiar kinesthetics of full frontal collapses. My pre-clinic dread was gone! Ricky's sense of humor in commenting on his feelings and reactions (F-word used mentally to deal with stress of the unknown, but that F-thought publicly confessed in group discussions) was a great source of entertainment for all.

B-LINE STALL A maneuver I also feared in pre-clinic days. I was acutely aware of the need to maintain symmetry, during both inducing and exiting. During the clinic I executed this maneuver three times, each time perfectly according to coach Bo Chris, without violent surge or asymmetry. I clocked the descent at 1,000 fpm.

SPIRAL DIVE The maneuver I most wanted to learn. It beats all other methods of rapidly losing altitude (big ears with full speed bar and B-Hne stall). The problem is, of course, how to safely exit a spiral dive without violent surge and overshoot. We received dear instructions during the clinic. While executing this maneuver I was surprised by the amount of physical force needed to pull the inside brake and keep it locked in, and by the wing's sensitivity to pilot weight shift. I felt the dizzying centrifugal force, the rapidly rotating earth, the narrowing peripheral vision. What I found most incongruous is the two-step exit from this maneuver: first, a cautious partial exit by slowly releasing some of the inner brake and body shift, followed by a firm and timely "get back into it," as if the pilot had changed his mind about exitingth.e spiral (that is, return to the previously held inner brake and bodyshift positions that first locked the spiral dive), then cautiously release the inside brake ::i,nd body shift for a definitive exit. I am not sure that I understand the physics of this sequence, but it works! l will not argue witp stimething that works. Seared in my mind is .the notion of two turns to get into the locked spiral, and an equal number of turns to exit from it. A spiral dive m,11:1uyei: during which a pilot would hold the locked spiral for two

SEPTEMBER

2002

turns, would thus require a total of six keep it turns (two i:o enter, plu~ locked, plus two to exit), a sequence I am proud to have executed several times successfully.

While executing spiral dives I was twice surprised by the same incident: coach Bo Chris unexpectedly congratulating me on the radio for a "very nice spiral dive exit," when in fact I had not wanted to exit at all; it just happened, and without the violent surge! During later debriefing of the two incidents with the coach, we came to the conclusion that I must have unwittingly exited the locked spiral dive by having unconsciously released some of the inner brake, or unconsciously relaxed body shift, or both, or possibly even by having unwittingly applied some outer brake.

~ot~

TWO MANEUVERS I DID NOT EXECUTE: SPIN AND FULL STALL I received instruction, participated in discussions, watched videos, witnessed real demonstrations by Bruce Wallace, a talented clinic student, but decided against executing these two maneuvers at this clinic. Ken's rule was that no student should try a maneuver with which he does not feel comfortable. My lack of comfort came from a) the fact that these two maneuvers, if badly executed, could lead to a cravat, and b) getting rid of a cravat is never guaranteed, the combination of which would leave a non-flying exit, only an exit by deploying my emergency parachute. I intend to try spins and full stalls at my next clinic.

SAT AND SIT-SAT MANEUVERS Sit-SAT is the humorous name given to a SKf maneuver experienced by the passenger of a tandem paraglider whose pilot executes a SAT I did not even think about trying this cutting-edge maneuver at this clinic, but had the pleasure of hearing the maneuver described in detail, then witnessing it executed by Kevin Biernaky, Chad Bastian, Bo Chris, Ken Hudonjorgensen, as well as by Bruce, the gifted student of our group who learned the SAT maneuver at the clinic and gave us the honor of viewing his first-time demonstration. Fascinating aerial choreography, with the spinning axis of the gyrating canopy/pilot system located

between the canopy and the pilot, giving the impression that the pilot is moving backwards propelled by the centrifugal force. Breathtaking stuff1 A salute to the Rodriguez brothers, the discoverers of this intriguing maneuver.

CROSSWIND On only one day of the clinic did we have a strong crosswind component that prevented routine towing operations. On that day I finished my one maneuvers flight landing at a distance from our houseboat headquarters on a deserted beach washed by the sun and the wind.

For a short while, a lonely Robinson Crusoe t-'Xperience! The respite that afternoon was used for viewing maneuvers videos from the houseboat library and conducting animated discussions which lasted into the night.

PULLING A THIGH MUSCLE JANET HUDONJORGENSEN TO THE RESCUE On the day before last of the clinic, I pulled a thigh muscle when I suddenly started running on the beach for my first takeoff. It was my "pre-flight" error: On that early morning I should have warmed up my body in preparation for the significant physical exertion that running for a boat tow launch implies. The pain was instantaneous and sharp. I almost tumbled while running. Mercifully, I became airborne, and executed the rest of the tow and later landed ignoring the pain. Janet Hudonjorgensen gave me Good Samaritan help, applying "pressure points" technique on the injured leg, an effective treatment for which she is famous. This allowed me to fly once more on that day, and twice more the following day. This gracious medical intervention prevented me from losing the benefit of the last two clinic days.

Thank you Janet!

CONCLUSION A great clinic. I learned a lot. I recommend it to anyone, including lowly P2's like myself. I made many new friends.

Thank you Ken and all at Two-Can Fly Paragliding!

33

think the students, to a person, came away impressed with the stability of their wings and how well they would take care of them. Although my Carbon was clearly the most temperamental of the wings in the class, I was quite surprised to see how large an asymmetric collapse it could take (30%40%) and still fly straight with only weight shift away from the collapse, and how much more quickly it would recover with weight shift toward the collapse.

The learning did not stop when the sun went down. Jeff Sayler took incredible videos of our flights and, after our amazing dinners, we analyzed chem with Bo and Ken and then shared what we had learned chat day. We quickly learned not to share with anyone when we had lost our virginity, because what was learned by one was soon learned by all! Finally, filled with good food, fine instruction and scrumptious desserts, we fell to chatting, singing, jam sessions and games - great company from across the United States. Literally, from Maine to California. fu mentioned, the instruction and maneuvers were individually structured for each student. We each progressed at a rate chat was consistent with our prior experience, the time available to us in the clinic, and the extent to which we loved life or feared death. So, most students chose to devote their time and efforts to the abovementioned maneuvers. However, I came to stall and spin, and stall and spin I did with a vengeance!

Stalls with partial inflation recovery, stalls without partial inflation recovery, incipient spins caught in time, full-blown spins corrected with a stall, full-blown spins corrected without a stall - I did chem all several times and learned from each. Through it all, Bo was great. He explained things before I went up and performed the

maneuvers, and we talked about it when I got down. fu I gained experience he turned me loose to fling myself earthward as I would, asking only chat I delay my aerial masochism until the towline had been completely pulled into the boat. He intimated chat chis was so the tow boat would be better able to zip over and pull me out of the lake if I needed to throw my reserve.

However, I suspect chat he just wanted to be sure chat, as I plunged to my death, I wouldn't land on the boat and sink it.

When all was said and done, I was so successful in avoiding the boat (or the boat me) and in accomplishing what I had set out to do, chat a wonderful thing happened; I learned more than I had intended. In one of the evening sessions, Kevin Biernacki, a friend of Ken's, was talking about how he learned to do SAT's. You know what? It just didn't seem all chat hard! Until chat time I had viewed the SAT as the "maneuver of the gods," something I would never be capable of even attempting. However, having cut my teeth on stalls and spins, I decided to give SAT's a go. Bo, with his characteristic calmness, walked me through what I needed to do and I hit it on my first try.

Wow, what a rush! I did two more after chat, and then strapped on my vario/barograph and recorded traces of a whole string of maneuvers, including SAT's, so we could see the time taken, altitude lost, descent rates, and so on. But, Ken has chat data and I'll let him explain it to you. fu time and I both fly farther from the clinic, after all of the great tows, good instruction and cardiovascular exercise (nothing gets the heart racing like plunging earthward), at the end of the day what sticks in my mind is the end of the day.

That last sunset flight. Astoundingly good cooking. Warm company. And the Aurora Borealis.•

Soar over to the

Aviation Depot

Analyzing Our

Downfalls

by Ken Hudonjorgensen

S

ome of the most frequently asked questions we hear during maneuvers/SN courses are: What is the descent rate in a B-line stall? How much altitude will I lose with a 70% asymmetric fold?

What the heck am I doing here? Yes, here in Utah we say heck!

The barograph traces on the facing page should answer these and ocher questions you may have, and this is our meager attempt to provide a bit of clarification. Of course, we need more data to reach some real conclusions, but this is a start.

Keep in mind chat some of the spikes in descent are simply Bruce Wallace's body catching up with the wing, and it is probably not the case chat his spiral exit from a SAT reached 4,430 ft./rnin.

We are grateful to all of the participants who make this kind oflearning experience possible for all of us. •

1/!f Online Aviation ~ o r e ~~ www.roojosge<r'.corn

~

~ '~

34

PARAGLIDING

Frontal.

Frontal.

Spin, no stall.

Entire flight.

Spin, with stall

SEPTEMBER

2002

35

eshift ig Ears 1n s for Gli ers La king · sers

by Alan Chuculate, illustrations by Andy McAvin

Several glider reviews ago I promised a briefdescription ofhow to add your own big ears lines to your glider, and the number ofinquiries has now escalated to the point where I was motivated to write this. y retrofit is a crude approximation of the Gin big ears line. A paragliding and powered paragliding student, friend and instructor of mine, Nick Scholtes, was the first pilot I am aware of to have used this configuration, so thank you Nick.

Please refer to Figure 1, kindly supplied by multimedia artist and powered paragliding instructor Andy McAvin.

First, buy two little pulleys at a marine supply shop or from a paraglider dealer. I recommend the small, black, plastic ones.

Second, get 12" to 24" ofline (damaged paraglider brake lines work well because the diameter is comfortable to handle).

Third, get 12" to 24" of small-diameter vinyl tubing from Home Depot. The tubing must not be too large in diameter to go through the pulley sheave (roller) hole.

Fourth, cut the vinyl tubing in half (two pieces, 6" to 12" each). You may have to do some iterative trial and error if you want the tubing as short as is workable. The vinyl tubing is used as an offset stop to keep the pulley at a levering distance from the quick link where the outside A-line con-

36

nects to the quick link.

Fifth, disconnect the outside A-line from the quick link. Slide the pulley and then the vinyl tubing onto this line, then reconnect the A-line to the quick link. Repeat on the other riser.

Sixth, cut the line in half and tie one piece onto each pulley attach/ ment eyelet (not through the sheave eyelet).

I recommend a bowline knot (see Figure 2).

Finally, find a convenient place to tie the other end of the line to the riser or a metal slider I on the accelerator. ll~'-1-- ,.."'Y The loop of the +"'b,vi_j riser where your carabiner hooks in works fine, bur there may be another location higher on the riser that will work also and be preferable. You must be able to reach the line while hanging in your harness.

There are two potentially critical precautions during installation:

likely and the consequences could be fatal, so thoroughly check this before flying.

To perform ears you simply pull the added line down. This causes the pulley to move outboard toward the wing tip, pulling the outside A-line down and collapsing the wing tip. You will have to pull the line about twice as far as you would with a split A-riser, but the force required will be about half that required by a split A-riser.

If you let go of your toggle while kiting or performing big ears it can tangle with this big ears line, so mal(e it as short and snug as possible to the riser.

The Gin system adds two very elegant features: • There is a patch of Velcro on the line and the riser so the line stays fixed to the riser when not being used.

• They add a finger loop to the line which makes it a one-finger operation per side.

If you don't have a clear picture, find someone with a Gin glider and copy it, although Gin has some magic in their design that doesn't require the aerodynamically dirty vinyl tubing as a pulley offset.

Alternately, you could just buy a pair of Gin Bandit risers which will look slick.

However, this will change your glider to an uncertified configuration.

Fly safely. II

• It must not interfere with accelerator operation.

• It must not allow toggle entanglement. This potential problem is more

Figure 1: Added big ears line.

Figure 2 ~ Bowline knot.

PARAGLIDING

id you know that there is a chari-

States

ty for the purpose of developing and preserving the flying activities we all love? The sports of hang gliding and paragliding have their own public charity, whose mission is to develop and preserve unpowered, foot-launched soaring flight activities - the United States Hang Gliding Foundation (USHGF). Here is a brief history.

In the mid- l 980's, when USHGA was still in California, some Regional Directors got together and decided that there ought to be a way to raise funds to support U.S. World Team competitors with tax-deductible donations. This organization needed to be separate from the Association, because at that time it was believed that the USHGA was ineligible for tax-exempt status. A separate public charity is not a new concept to support an activity like ours. The Soaring Society of America and the U.S. Olympic Committee each have separate public foundations to attract contributions and grants.

In response to this need, the Foundation was formed in 1987, primarily to help support the U.S. hang gliding world teams.

Unfortunately, not much happened with the Foundation for the next 13 years. Following its formation, a series of events occurred that resulted in the Foundation being essentially neglected for most of the 1990's. Why this happened, and the exact details, are hard to pinpoint, but this is really not important. In late 2000, some members of the USHGA Board of Directors resurrected the Foundation, but with a somewhat different mission. In addition to supporting the hang gliding and paragliding world teams, the Foundation would also support site preservation efforts. A group of trustees was appointed to develop the Foundation, and to put it on a sound business footing.

Our initial efforts were primarily administrative. We worked with accountants, attorneys and the IRS to complete the necessary requirements for 501 (c)3 public charity status. Next, the bylaws were revised to include a new purpose, the preservation of open spaces (site preservation). The USHGF would now fulfill its mission with a focus on site preservation and education (such as soaring-related scientific research), and by supporting a U.S. presence in international competition.

The trustees are focused on establishing the Foundation as a viable and separate entity from the Association. This separation is necessary so that we can comply with the

SEPTEMBER

2002

ang

A Charity Created For The Foot-Launched Soaring Enthusiast

by Jim Maze, USHGF President, Jim_Maze@ushgf.org requirements imposed on us as a public charity. Although the Foundation is separate, the USHGF bylaws do provide that four of the seven trustees be members the USHGA Board (President, Vice President and two others) and the remaining three be selected by the Board from the membership or from outside the USHGA community, a common practice in many successful foundations. See the end of this article for list of current trustees.

While there is a great deal of overlap in the general purposes of the Association and the Foundation, the primary difference is in the type of organization. The Association is a member-supported organization. Funds are raised primarily from members in the form of dues, and for this fee the members receive membership services, including insurance, a pilot proficiency program, a magazine related to the activity, and other member services.

Annual dues are not a tax-deductible expense.

The Foundation, on the other hand, has no members, collects no dues, and provides no direct services. It is a publicly supported charity that raises funds through solicitations and grants to further its tax-exempt purposes, and all donations are tax-deductible. It is easy to contribute, and like any other public charity, donations are tax deductible. Better yet, the Foundation is eligible for matching donations from your employer. Employermatched contributions can be arranged through the completion of a simple form. We will provide the required documentation indicating our tax-exempt status. You can make a contribution on-line at http://www.ushga.org/ contribution.asp, and soon through the USHGF website at http://www.ushgf.org.

Even though both organizations endeavor to support hang gliding-related activities, the IRS looks at them very differently, and there are a number of requirements that the Foundation must meet in order to maintain its exempt status. One of the most important

requirements is that a donor may not incur any economic benefit. In other words, there can be no quid pro quo. Donations to the Foundation may be earmarked for a specific purpose, however, this purpose cannot be so specific that a benefit would be received by an individual. For example, donations may be accepted and designated for the Women's World Team or the Kocsis Site Preservation Fund, but we can't accept funds that are earmarked for a specific competition, competitor or site. Note that if you want your donation to be earmarked exclusively for site preservation, or exclusively for the world teams, that is perfectly acceptable.

Over the next few months you will hearing more about the Foundation, how we are supporting hang gliding and paragliding activities through our efforts to preserve open spaces utilized for soaring, and how we are assisting U.S. World Team competitors. In the meantime, in order to fulfill our longterm mission, we obviously need assistance from you, members of the hang gliding and paragliding communities.

If you would like to learn more about the Foundation, or if you would like to donate time or help financially, please contact any of the trustees. We will be glad to discuss the United States Hang Gliding Foundation, a public charity created to benefit and perpetuate the sports of hang gliding and paragliding throughout the United States.

Officials ofthe USHGF include: Jim Maze, President; D. Randy Leggett, Vice President; Doug Sharpe, Secretary; Steve Onstad, Treasurer; Mark Ferguson, Trustee; Jim Zeiset, Trustee; Jayne DePanfilis, Executive Director.

Jim Maze has been a paraglider pilot since 1994. He holds a private pilot's certificate and is also learning to hang glide. He resides in New Hope, Pennsylvania with his wife Jean.•

37

PARAGLIDING ADVISORY: Used paragliders should always be thoroughly inspected before flying for the first time. If in doubt, many paragliding businesses will be happy to give an objective opinion on the condition of equipment you bring them to inspect. Annual inspections on paragliders should include sailcloth strength tests. Simply performing a porosity check isn't sufficient.

Some gliders pass porosity yet have very weak sailcloth.

You don't wane your glider simply falling apart, especially with you dangling underneath.

BUYERS SHOULD SELECT EQUIPMENT THAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR SKILL LEVEL OR RATING. NEW PILOTS SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION FROM A USHGA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR. PARAGLIDERS APCO ALLEGRA - 2001, AFNOR 1-2, 85-105kg., all up weight $1,500. Windtech Perfect Profile harness $350, 2 certified parachutes (L) $400 ea., Edel Galaxy Tandem $800. Airwave Jive (5)$600. ProDesign Profeel35 (L) $800. All lightly used. Steve Amy {847) 359-8i'67 paracrek@yahoo.com COMPLETE PACKAGE- Medium UP Blues, 2002 certified, 4005 Flytec, harness, reserve, stuff bag, radios, flight deck, etc. $2,000. (361) 960-5358.

Sell your unused equipment here.

WINDTECH SERAK 27 - Medium, DHVl-2, like new only 2 flights $2,350. (214) 695-1666, albertovoli@yahoo.com

Achim Hagemann tofly@exdte.com

POWERED PARAGLIDERS FLY 130 - Brand new, never used $3,495 OBO. (214) 695-1666, albercovoli@yahoo.com

Advance Sigma 4, like new $1,400. Edel Atlas S, excellent, blue $1,300. Airca tandem, harness, reserve, 20 flights $1,800. FreeX Flair S, harness, reserve, vario $1,500. www.aircotec.net!flyhawaii.htm GIN BANDIT - Medium, 87-105kg., turquoise, JOO hours $1,000 plus shipping from Hong Kong. JF Tremblay at mywife@actglobal.net ITV PROXIMA-- Small, DHV 1-2, <5 hours $1,500.

SupAir Evo-Side harness plus reserve, excellent, small $400. Edel Balance harness, small, excellent $250. (707) 480-5548, sarahayag@cs.com

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 SPERWILL RAKET 120-R2 - One of the lightest powered paragliders available today. Tuned Radne Raker 120 Aero engine, electric start, 3 blade carbon fiber propeller, high carbon steel frame and custom designed harness. Packages available, POWER ONLY: $3,900 {motor, harness & communications helmet) or COMPLETE RTF: $6,500 {motor, harness, wing, reserve & communications helmet). Call {860) 989-8401 or visit www.sperwill-usa.com HARNESSES

NOVA CARBON (M) -- SupAir Evo-pro harness, Flytcc 4020 vario, Lara Gold reserve, helmet, radio, GPS and lots more (just purchased - all new.) Call or email for complete list. Greg Wilder (206) 246-2407, fgwilder@msn.com

THIN RED LINE ALPINE - Hardly ever used $200 plus shipping from Hong Kong. JF Tremblay at mywife@attglobal.net

PRO DESIGN CARRIER - Tandem, 2001, good condition, purple top/white bottom $1,900. (808) 5737566, paulflymaui@yahoo.com

r------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------, USHGA CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ORDER FORM 50 cents per word, $5.00 minimum Boldface or caps: $1.00 per word. (Does not include first few words which are automatically caps.) Special layouts or tabs: $25 per column inch. (phone numbers: 2 words, P.O. Box: 1 word, E-mail or Web address: 3 words) photos: $25.00, line art logos: $15.00 (1.75" maximum) DEADLINE: 20th of the month, 10 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 O Business & Employment 0 Miscellaneous 0 Powered Paragliders o Videos

O Towing O Schools & Dealers o Ultralights O Publications & Organizations OWanted O Harnesses

2002 issue and run for _ _ __

Begin with

consecutive issue(s). My O check, O money order is enclosed in the amount of$._ _ _ _ __ NAME: ____ ADDRESS: - - - - · - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CITY: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STATE: PHONE:

Number of words:

- - - · _ @$.50 =______

Number of words: _______ @$1.00 = · · - - - - -

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

L-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------38

PARAGLIDING

have been photographing paragliding ever since I first noticed one in the .fit above Telluride, Colorado when I moved there in 1994. I finally got in the air in the spring of 1999 with the help of friend and instructor Scott McLowrey. Since then I have followed my advanced pilot friends on flying trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Hawaii and Nepal on filming and photo trips. The fact that many of my friends were getting their tandem ratings and needed a USHGA-rated test dummy to fly with enabled me to log some good mountain thermaling hours with my hands free for the camera. The San Juan Mountains and Telluride are still my favorite places to fly and photograph.

The scenic beauty and ever-changing landscape make it the perfect place to get really dramatic images and flights.

My scariest moment was flying alone on my first-ever X-C flight in a gaggle of 30 griffon vultures with seven-foot wingspans in a remote part of western Nepal.

The high point was working on "A Higher Calling" and seeing it win the People's Choice Award at the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

The low point was watching my silver-sparkled motorcycle helmet pick up speed rolling down the Jackson Hole, Wyoming launch after I accidentally kicked it while flaking out my wing.

The images depicted here are all scenes of flying in my favorite place: the San Juan Mountains and Telluride, Colorado.

I

i'a J

•

,, ,. , SEPTEMBER

2002

•

...

EMERGENCY PARACHUTES

i

AUTHORIZED CHUTE REPAIR - And service center for APCO, Elan, Chiron powered parachutes and UP/Perche/Independence 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 78672 Atrn: 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: 915-3791567, www.mojosgear.com

FlySantaBarbara.com

Eagle Paragliding

SCHOOLS & DEALERS ARIZONA DIXON'S AIRPLAY PARAGLIDING - Dixon White: USHGA's Instructor of the Year! Airplay: Top ranked school for years and fearured in the best selling videos "Starting Paragliding", "Weather to Fly" and the "Arr of Kiting". The perfect beginner training areas at both our Washington and Arizona locations. Arizona's "best" beginner season is September through May. Washington is open May through September. At both locations drive-up to 360 degree treeless and rockless launches. Land in wide open fields, enjoy many flights each day! Limited access to the Flight Parks reduce traffic and crowding. Excellent individualized instruction with state-of-the-art lesson plans and equipment.

Comprehensive ground schooling with an emphasis on micrometeorology. Great new/used inventory, specializing in Windrech paragliding gear, repair center, and superb customer service. In ARIZONA or WASHINGTON appointments are required. PO Box 2626 Flagstaff, AZ 86003.

(928) 526-4579 www.paraglide.com or dixon@paraglide.com CALIFORNIA AIRJUNKIES PARAGLIDING - Join KEN BAIER for your "Pursuit of Paragliding Excellence" in the land of year-round, excellent paragliding: Sourhern California and the Baja. Courses for Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Instructor ratings. Powered paragliding, soaring and maneuvers clinics, guided tours, tandem and rowing instruction and special events. USHGA certified.

Handling the latest equipment. Call (760) 753-2664 for information, airjunkies@worldnet.att.net

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

SEPTEMBER

2002

EAGLE PARAGLIDING - We are an Airplay sister school, and teach the same high qualiry 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.FlySantaBarbara.com (805) 9680980."

FLY ABOVE ALL - Experience year-round paragliding instruction in beautiful Santa Barbara, CA! Our friendly. experienced staff offers hands-on, personalized, radio-controlled lessons. Enjoy soaring the best training hill in the Western US and when you land, shuttles will whisk you back to the top for your next scenic flight.

USHGA certified, solo, tandem and powered paragliding instruction, equipment sales and tandem flights.

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

TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT - Come soar in San Diego! This family owned and operated flying site offers: USHGA certified instruction, equipment sales, tandem flight instruction, paramotor instruction, parachute repacks, repairs, and site tours. We also have an extensive pg/hg outfitting shop and dining with a view when you eat ar our own Cliffhanger Cafe. Importers for: ADVANCE, PARATECH, and INDEPENDENCE paragliders; and dealers for most other brands.

Accessories include: Center of Graviry clothing, gloves, UV stuff sacks, and helmets; Crispi boots; AustriAlpin Carabiners; Fly Mike flight suits and helmets; and GutStuff gloves. Check us out online for sales and information at: www.flytorrey.com and email us with your questions at info@flytorrey.com, or call toll-free at 1877-FLY-TEAM. Also, you can tune in to the only Internet Paragliding Talk Show every Monday, from 9:00-11 :00 am (PST) at www.wsradio.com.

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

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

Team Proflyght sports an incredible training facility, wonderful year-round weather, 1,000' training slope, 100' to /'000 vertical descents off Haleakala Crater (10,023'). Toll Free 877-GO-FLY-Hl. Visit our website WWW.PARAGLIDEHAWAII.COM

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 ro advanced pilots.

Motorized paragliding, guided tour and tandems. New and used equipment, 12 years in the business! Tel# (805) 646-9660, info@flyojai.com, www.flyojai.com

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

MEXICO - Summer in Monterrey, winter in Valle de Bravo. 1-800-861-7198, www.flymexico.com

43

PARTS & ACCESSORIES FLIGHT CONNECTIONS, INC. PTT fl

ERS - Put your knees in our breeze and soar our 450' sand dunes. FULL-TIME SHOP. Certified instruction, beginner to advanced, foot launch and tow. Sales, service, accessories for ALL major brands. VISA/MASTERCARD. 1509 E 8th, Traverse City Ml 49684.

Offering POWERED PARAGLIDING. Call Bill at (231) 922-2844, tchangglidcr@chartermi.net. Visit our paragliding school in Jack.son, Wyoming. Call Tracie at (307) 739-8620.

MONTANA

THE MID-ATLANTIC'S - Most experienced paragliding school. All USHGA Ratings from beginner to advanced. Thermal/XC tuition, tow-winching & maneuvers specialist, and National/International guided tours. Contact us for a list of in-stock new and used equipment and/or to inquire about our training programs. Flying sites in North Carolina and Virginia. Call us at (803) 448-7254 or visit our web site:

DIXON'S AIRPLAY PARAGLIDING - Please see our classified ad under Arizona. www.paraglide.com

HIGH PLAINS PARAGLIDING - Superior quality paragliding equipment, excellent prices, and friendly service. On the web ar: http://homerown.aol.com/hiplainz or phone (406) 458-8636.

ADVENTURE SPORTS - Carson City, Sierra tours, tandems, sales. (775) 883-7070 http:! /home. pyramid.net/advspts NEW YORK

TEXAS HILL COUNTRY PARAGLIDING !'.\IC - Learn complete pilot skills. Personalized USHGA certified training, ridge soaring, foot & tow launching in central Texas. MOTORIZED PARAGLIDING INSTRUCTION & EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE. (915) 3791185. 1475 CR 220, Tow TX 78672.

UTAH SUPER FLY PARAGLIDING ACADEMY - The nations foremost training paragliding center offering comprehensive pilot training programs, powered paragliding instruction, tandem flights, maneuvers training, towing training/ certification and tandem pilot training. We are the closest shop to Point of the Mountain, open year round and supported by the Super Fly, Inc. distribution and service center just minutes away.

Instructors Ken Hudonjorgensen, Scotty Marion, Chris Santacroce, Kevin Biernacki, Dale Covington, Jeff 1-'arrell and Ryan Swan. Lessons start at $65. (801) 8161372 or www.paraglidingacademy.com

44

Extra finger switch $19.95 w/purchase. Dealer inquiries welcome. Call (785) 843-1842, mikedillon@flightconn.com. MC/Visa. Visit our website at www.flightconn.com FOR ALL YOUR FLYING NEEDS - Check out the Aviation Depot at www.mojosgear.com featuring over I 000 items for foot-launched and powered paragliding, hang gliding, stunt and power kiting, and powered parachutes. 24/7 secure onlinc shopping. Books, videos, KITES, gifts, engine parts, harness accessories, electronics, clothing, safety equipment, complete powered paragliding units with training from Hill Country Paragliding Inc. www.hillcounttyparagliding.com 800664-1160 for orders only. Office (915) 379-1567.

NEVADA

AIR SPORTS USA - Lessons, service, equipment.

Paragliding, hang gliding, powered paragliding, trikes.

Phone (718) 777-7000, WWW.FLYFORFUN.NET

• ORDER ONLINE AND SAVE • Water/Dust Resistant Push Button • Field Replaceable Finger Switch • Heavier Gauge Wire/Improved Plugs • Increased Strain Relief at Al .I. Joints

JACKSON HOLE PARAGLIDING - Come to Paragliding Paradise and enjoy alpine flying at its absolute best. Ten sites in a ten-mile radius including the 4,139' aerial tram. Jackson Hole Paragliding offers scenic tandem flights, beginner through advanced instruction,

HAVE EXTRA EQUIPMENT - That you don't know what to do with. Advertise in the Paragliding classifieds, $.50 per word, $5 minimum. Call USHGA for details (7 I 9) 632-8300, ushga@ushga.org or fax your ad with a Visa/MC, fax (719) 632-6417.

mountain thennal clinics, x-c clinics, maneuvers train-

ing, aerobatic demonstrations, scooter, truck, and boar towing. The Jackson Hole Paragliding team features advanced instructors Scott Harris and Tom Bartlett, x-c masters Jon Hunt and Chip Hildebrand, world class aero-pilots Matt Combs and Ranyon D'Arge, tow tech Randy Alfano, and videographer Demian McConnell.

Call to set up a vacation package tailored ro improve your flying skills and to build your confidence. (307) 690-TRAM (8726) f1yrun@wyoming.com

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

What a deal!

Windsok. Made of 1.5 oz. ripstop nylon, UV treated, 5'4" long w/11" throat. Available colors fluorescent pink/yellow or fluorescent pink/white. $39.95 (+$4.75 S/H). Send co USHGA Windsok, P.O. Box Ll30, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330, (719) 632-8300, fax (719) 632-6417. VISA/MC accepted.

PARAGLIDING

-----· -----·----- ---------

---- ------------ ------- -----

VIDEOS

minutes $36.95 NOW AVAILABLE IN DVD, same great price.

IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT MOUNTAIN lly Adventure Productions. Searching for the perfect mountain, perfect flight, and the perfect experience chat challenges our essence and satisfies our quest for adventure.

This paragliding odyssey rakes you to Sr. Anton, Austria; Garmisch-Parrcnkirchen, Germany; Sun Valley, Idaho; Point of the Mountain, Utah; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Features in-air footage, acriJ! maneuvers, and

MINI VARIO - World's smallest, simplest vario! Clips to helmet or chinstrap. 200 hours on batteries, 0-18,000 ft., fast response and 2 year warranty. Great for hang gliding too. ONLY $169. Mallettec, PO Box 15756, Santa Ana CA, 92'/35. (714) 966-1240, www.mallcttec.com MC/Visa accepted.

TO FLY: DISCOVER PARAGLIDING TODAY USHGA's 7 minute promotional video, now only $9.95 PLUS FREE SHIPPING (in the USA). 1-800-6166888, www.ushga.org

TOP NAVI GATOR- Flight computer 05/2002 USO $950. (808) 895-9772, h ttp://www.aircotec.net/topnavigator.h tm PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS

THE ART OF PARAGLIDING - By Dennis l'agen.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Step by step training, ground handling, soaring, avoiding dangers, and much much more. 274 pages, 248 illustrations. The most complete manual about paragliding on the market. $34.95 +$5.00 s/h. USHGA, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901. (719) 632 .. 8300, fax your MGVisa/Amex to (719) 632-6417, www.ushga.org, ushga@lushga.org PARAGLIDING INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL - By Dennis Pagen, available through USHGA. Covers: Learning to teach/Teaching to learn; school organization; teaching beginners; teaching novice; weather considerations and much more. 140 pages packed with illustrations. $15.00 +$5 s/h. USHGA, PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 8090 I. (719) 632-8300, fax your MC/Visa/Amex to (719) 632-6417, www.ushga.org, ushga@ushga.org SOARING - Monthly magazine of The Soaring Society of America, Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring flight. Full membership $55. Info. kit with sample copy $3. SSA, l'.0. Box 2100, Hobbs, NM 88241. (505) 392-1177.

SEPTEMBER

2002

*NEW-JUST IN* SUPER FLY HARD by Super Fly. A worldwide flying advemure film featuring Chris Santacroce, Rob Whittall, Otl1ar Lawrence and Pablo Lopez. Filmed at the most beautiful flying locations in the world-Hawaii, Switzerland, Turkey & Utah. This films shows the beauty of flying, the latest acrobatic maneuvers and an introspective look into why we fly. 40 minutes $35.95 *NEW* SPEED TO FLY with Jockey Anderson. A complete video guide to cross country paragliding. Great air-to-air and in-board footage with Jockey as he takes you around the world, providing flying rips and interviewing the top pilots. Covers thermaling, decision making, competition flying and speed to fly. 70 minutes $39.95 *NEW' A HIGHER CALLING by Dawn Treader Productions. Winner "People's Choice Award" at the 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 & landings becomes a daily routine. Become immersed into the Nepal culture upon eve1y landing. Superb editing. 45 minutes $32.95 PARAGLIDER GROUND HANDLING & THE ART OF KITING, by Adventure Productions. Learn techniques and tips for easy ground handling with this instructional program. Get in tune with your glider and improve your flying skills while on the ground. Various wind conditions arc covered with the successful and proven industry-standard techniques of Dixon WhiteMaster rated pilot, USHGA Examiner and USHGA's PG Instructor of the Year. This is for the beginner, intermediate & advanced pilot who wants to do some brushing up on his skills. Be a master of your paraglider. 44

local pilot tours. 44 minutes $36.95.

BALI HIGH, by Sea to Sky Productions. A paragliding adventure film. Great flying and a great adventure on rhe exotic island of Bali, Indonesia. A result of' wild imaginations, weeks of filming and three unsupervised pilots in a land of serious fun. Great flying footage . .38 min $29.95.

WEATHER TO FLY, by Advenrure Productions. A much needed instructional/educational video on micrometeorology. Dixon White, Master pilot and USHGA Examiner, rakes you through a simple step-bystep process showing where w acquire weather data and how w interpret it. For pilots of any aircraft. Learn about regional & local influences and how to determine winds aloft and stability. "Weather To Fly" is an over-all view packed with useful derails and includes great cloud footage. A straight-forward presentation chat is easy co follow. 50 min. $39.95. NOW AVAILABLE IN DVD, same great price.

STARTING PARAGLIDING by Adventure Productions. Covers basic preparations, weather, proper attitude, ground handling & those first exciting launches. 30 min $29.95.

Call or fax USHGA (719) 632-8300, fax (719) 6326417, please add +$5 domestic s/h for 1-2 videos, add $6 for 3-4 videos (Inc'[ orders, email us at ushga@ushga.org for shipping charges.) Crear to impress your friends or for those socked-in days. Order online ,it www.ushga.org!

MISCELLANEOUS VIDEOS, BOOKS & 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 munber=2 words, PO Box=2 words, weight range i.e. 137185lbs=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 phow.

LINEART & PHOTO SIZE NO LARGER THAN 1.75" X 2.25". Please underline words m be in bold print.

Special layouts of tabs are $25.00 per column inch. !'lease make checks payable to USHGA. Send to: PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE, Classified Advertising, P.O. Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330 (719) 6328.300 or fax (719) 632-6417, email jeff@ushga.org with your Visa, Amex or MasterCard. DEADLINE FOR THE DECEMBER ISSUE IS SEPTEMBER 20 TH

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INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

STOLENWINGS&THINGS GIN BOLERO & PARAGLIDING GEAR - Stolen May 17th, 2002 from car at REDMOND, WA. Gin Bolero, blue, X-small. SupAir Eva harness, small red/black w/tan trim & rear mount reserve container w/extra velcro strips along both sides of the reserve container area, it also has black clips attached to the raps of both shoulder straps. Gin SS 30m2 reserve parachute (inside the harness). Tree kit. Contact Annie Sohn, (425) 493-2289, asohn@combimatrix.com SOL AXIOM - stolen with Toyota truck in Salt Lake City, Utah in late March 2002. Wing is size small, purple with pink stripe along the underside; also Sol Charly harness (small/medium), grey Leedom helmet, Flytec vario, reserve. All items were packed in a homemade black and green PG backpack. Contact Damion Mitchell, (80 I) 518-0768 or dzmitchell@hotmail.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, 1yan@4superfly.comwww.4superfly.com

THE LONG AWAITED

Adventure Productions ........................... 14 Aero light USA ........................................ 13 Apco ........................................................ 8 Critter Mountain Wear .......................... 11 Dixon's Airplay ...................................... 47 Fex America ........................................... 14 Flytec ....................................................... 2 Hall Brothers ......................................... 14 Independence ......................................... 10 Mojo's Gear ........................................... 34 North American Paragliding .................... 9 Rising Air ............................................... 14

STOLEN WINGS are listed as a service to USHGA members. There is no charge for chis 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.

Your ad is read by more than 4,000 paragliding enthusiasts. Advertise with us today.

Skyco Sports .......................................... 21 Sport Aviation Publications .................... 32

By Sup'Air ..................................................... 8 Super Fly, lnc. .......................... Back Cover Thermal Tracker .................................... 23 Torrey Pines Gliderport ............... 10,13,15 USHGA ......................................... 5,29,46 Wills Wing ............................................... 7

Plus $5 S/H In the USA.

DON'T MISS OUT ON YOUR MAGAZINE!

i

R:ein,,ew· On, J'i',ffl,e,l

1

1

If Your USHGA Membership Expires On 09/30/02 We Need To Receive Your Renewal l3Y SEPTEMBER 20th Or you will miss the October Magazt

If Your USl·IGA Membership Expires On 10/31/02 We Need To Receive Your Renewal BY OCTOBER 20th

Or you will miss the November Magazine.

RENEW ONLINE WWW.USHGA.ORG

46

Dennis Pagen

LEARNING TO TEACH-TEACHING TO LEARI\I * SCHOOL ORGAI\JIZAflON' TEACHING BEG// JI\JERS k TEACHl~IG i'IOVICE SKILLS k WEATHER CONSIDERATIOI JS ' THE Wit JG II I fHE AIR * INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED l~,ISlRUCTION

Send to:

USHGA PO Box 1330 Colorado Springs CO 80901 1-800-616-6888 www.ushga.org

PARAGLI,DING