Hang Gliding & Paragliding Vol38/Iss08 Aug 2008

www.USHPA.aero

AUGUST 2008 Volume 38 Issue 8 $4.95

H A N G

G L I D I N G

MAGAZINE STAFF USHPA, Publisher: info@ushpa.aero Nick Greece, Editor: editor@ushpa.aero Greg Gillam, Art Director: art.director@ushpa.aero Martin Palmaz, Advertising: martin@ushpa.aero Staff writers: Alex Colby, Steve Messman, Dennis Pagen, Mark “Forger” Stucky, Ryan Voight, Tom Webster Staff artist: Jim Tibbs Staff photographers: John Heiney, Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro OFFICE STAFF Paul Montville, Executive Director: paul.montville@ushpa.aero Rick Butler, Information Services Director: rick@ushpa.aero Martin Palmaz, Business Manager: martin@ushpa.aero Erin Russell, Office Manager: erin@ushpa.aero Michelle Burtis, Member/Instructor Services Administrator: michelle@ushpa.aero USHPA OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Lisa Tate, President: lisa@lisatateglass.com Riss Estes, Vice President: parariss@yahoo.com Rich Hass, Secretary: richhass@comcast.net Mark Forbes, Treasurer: mgforbes@mindspring.com REGION 1: Rich Hass, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Dave Wills, Urs Kellenberger, Paul Gazis. REGION 3: David Jebb, Rob Sporrer, Brad Hall. REGION 4: Mark Gaskill, Jim Zeiset. REGION 5: Lisa Tate. REGION 6: Gregg Ludwig. REGION 7: Tracy Tillman. REGION 8: Gary Trudeau. REGION 9: Felipe Amunategui, L.E. Herrick. REGION 10: Dick Heckman, Steve Kroop, Matt Taber. REGION 11: Gregg Ludwig. REGION 12: Paul Voight. REGION 13: Dick Heckman.

DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Leo Bynum, Riss Estes, Mike Haley, Jon James, Dennis Pagen. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR: Art Greenfield (NAA).

Photo by Jeff O'Brien

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

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P A R A G L I D I N G

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine is published for foot-launched air-sports enthusiasts to create further interest in the sports of hang gliding and paragliding and to provide an educational forum to advance hang gliding and paragliding methods and safety. Contributions are welcome. HANG GLIDING & 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.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING editorial offices email: editor@ushpa.aero.

ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE SENT TO USHPA HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS.

M A G A Z I N E

lengthy items. Please edit news releases with our readership in mind, and keep them reasonably short without excessive sales hype. Calendar of events items may be sent via email to editor@ushpa.aero, as may letters to the editor. Please be concise and try to address a single topic in your letter. Your contributions are greatly appreciated. If you have an idea for an article you may discuss your topic with the editor either by email or telephone. Contact: Editor, Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine, editor@ushpa.aero, (516) 816-1333.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES IN PUBLICATIONS

The material presented here is published as part of an information The USHPA is a member-controlled sport organization dedicated to the dissemination service for USHPA members. The USHPA makes no exploration and promotion of all facets of unpowered ultralight flight, warranties or representations and assumes no liability concerning the and to the education, training and safety of its membership. Membership validity of any advice, opinion or recommendation expressed in the is open to anyone interested in this realm of flight. Dues for Rogallo material. All individuals relying upon the material do so at their own risk. membership are $270. Pilot memberships are $75 ($90 non-U.S.). Dues Copyright © 2008 Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. for Contributing membership and for subscription-only are $52 ($63 nonFor change of address or other USHPA business U.S.). $15 of annual membership dues goes to the publication of Hang call (719) 632-8300, or email info@ushpa.aero.

Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Changes of address should be sent six weeks in advance, including name, USHPA number, previous and new address, and a mailing label from a recent issue. You may also email your request with your member number to: info@ushpa.aero.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING (ISSN 1543-5989) (USPS 17970) is published monthly by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., 1685 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904, (719) 632-8300, FAX (719) 632-6417. PERIODICAL postage is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine, P.O. BOX 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement #40065056. Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3 HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine welcomes editorial submissions from our members and readers. We are always looking for well written articles and quality artwork. Feature stories generally run anywhere from 1500 to 3000 words. News releases are welcomed, but please do not send brochures, dealer newsletters or other extremely

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, a division of the National Aeronautic Association,

is a representative of the Fédération Aeronautique Internationale in the United States.

0808 EDITOR

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PILOT BRIEFINGS

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AIRMAIL

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SAFETY BULLETIN

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USHPA

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CENTERFOLD

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DISPATCH

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RATINGS

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USHPA STORE

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HANG IN THERE | POWERED FLIGHT Staff writer Mark "Forger" Stucky's sketchy ode to the Soarmaster.

by Mark "Forger" Stucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Concertina folding bags Zip it up and run. Are the new crop of fancy bags worth your while?

PAGE 78

by Dean Stratton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

transitioning to high performance In the final installment of a three part series, high performance harnesses are examined.

by Dennis Pagen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

XCSKIES.COM A bevy of cool tools flesh out this online weather analysis site.

by Katrina Mohr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

YEAR OF THE 100 MILERS It was one of those epic years in Region 9.

rland .

sch Switze

Ph

n, Fie Zimmerma s u rk a M y oto b

by Pete Lehmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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bali Flying over seaweed farms and perfect beaches. Post flight massages. Why aren't you in Bali?

by Heather St. Claire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Spreading our wings Hit the road for a tale of two who would dare to fly.

by Margo Starbuck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Q&A felix rodriguez He's a one-eyed wonder.

The one and only.

by Nick Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

JEWEL OF THE FLYING SITE Every XC pilot wants this arrow in their quiver–the perfect retreive driver.

Read, learn and treat them well.

by Theresa Epperson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

GALLERY Jeff O'Brien Page 54

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J

une 21st—the longest day of the year. As I sat listening to the morning lecture on cross-country flying at the fourth annual Jackson Hole Aerofest, I smiled to myself recalling numerous tales of getting home.

“Getting home after you’ve landed is half the adventure.” For instance, once I got picked up hitchhiking close to the Pinedale oil fields in Wyoming. A very excitable Judas-Priest-blasting, vodkadrinking, speed fanatic scared me significantly more than I was at any point during my 60-mile flight over the Gros Ventre mountains. With tales of evening glass-offs I eventually persuaded my inebriated chauffeur to release me on the side of the road near another flying site.

The day of the Aerofest felt different. With 50 or so pilots flying, the potential for a ‘bomb -out’, which would provide a proficient retrieve driver, was high. We called Dubois as goal and pilots started hucking off into the building-day. It was tough going. I was a bit tired, but with the feeling of camaraderie high, I headed across the valley with Jon Patterson, Pete Thompson, and Jon Hunt. I knew from 14000 feet that we could make the town of Kelly, Wyoming, and thus would not land in Teton National Park.

Over Kelly we caught a nice climb and took it to well above 16000 feet.

I called a friend on my cell phone to see what the retrieve status was before committing to crossing the wilderness and the Continental Divide. A good buddy was en route, hauling a cooler topped-off with tasty beverages. With a 100-mile cloud-street just one glide away, Jon Patterson (aka the Birdman) and I went on glide as I yelled, “We have to keep going to maximize the day!” Leaving a good climb, we plunged deep into the Gros Ventre wilderness, heading for sun-ladened peaks shadowed by growing cumulus clouds.

We pushed deeper and deeper, looking for the source of the magnificent cloudstreet. No one sinks out in the mountains, right?

Five minutes later we were both

pinned in thermal-shredding 20 mph winds, low, in a tightly knit valley system, leading to the 9200-foot pass located just one decent thermal away. After diving over several spines, fighting the good fight, we made our stand on a spine that had one decent landing option. I watched as Birdman returned to terra firma. It felt like a donkey had punched me in the stomach to see my wingman on the deck. I caught a little thermal that forced me to drift back into a canyon, but toward the road. When I spotted a cruising car, it was a siren singing the sweet tune of roadside service. So I made a desperate play. I went back for another sub-ridge, thus putting myself in a position that necessitated many promises in exchange for a safe landing.

It all worked out and I happily folded up chuckling at some of the promises I would have to keep. After an hour Birdman and I had connected and decided to head uphill towards the road, which as the crow flies was only eight miles away. My running sneakers were already wet, but with a relatively short distance to go, I wasn’t concerned. However, the hiking halted after about a half-mile, and the post-holing in a weak snowpack commenced. Hour after hour passed as we trudged along with our huge cross-country packs. The amount of equipment that I carry around in my refrigerator-sized hiking pack is remarkable.

At the first river crossing, we took pictures, laughed at our misfortune, and chuckled at my poor choice in foot wear for this experience. By our second, and after four hours of post-holing, I couldn’t feel my legs below my knees. However we were never in any real danger, except for the fact that we were in a notorious grizzly environment. We had tons of dry clothes, food, a glider to sleep in, and fire. Just as darkness enveloped the Divide, we spotted the road with cars on it! I never realized how melodic a Jake brake could sound.

A new sound arose as we finished our five hour post-hole session. A final river crossing beckoned about a half-mile from the road. As we approached the water in darkness, it became crushingly evident that this was the biggest and baddest of them all. The second one had almost swept the Birdman, and we were exhausted. We made the call to stay the night and cross under first light with visibility when the 8

[previous] Nick after the first mile. Good thing I had plenty of ballast to drink. | Photo by Jon Patterson [left] The start of the glorious flight at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. | Photo By Jon Hunt [bottom] What made that? | Photo By Jon Patterson [below] The retrieve car we should’ve been in. | Photo by Jon Hunt

river was down. The fire we lit was awesome, and Bob Marley helped us settle into our nests for the evening. A wing makes a great sleeping pad and bag. It was a bit crushing to see the road and cars driving by without the ability, or fortitude, to cross the river that divided us. We awoke early and made the crossing using big sticks for support.

As we waited for Cameron, my better half, to come get us from the Hatchett resort, we soaked our frozen feet in a luke-warm hot tub. We couldn’t help but chuckle at that statement the Birdman had

made during the lecture. IFR from now on, we agreed. “I Follow Roads.” I used to tell students…one must have the willingness to be inconvenienced to succeed at crosscountry flying. In the future, I might look into hut-to-hut bivy flying, topping out every climb, and flying in nice waterproof boots!

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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New | Improved | Buzzworthy

PilotBRIEFINGS  

 SIGMA 7 CERTIFIED We are pleased to inform you that our new SIGMA 7 passed certification, and is now in production in the four sizes.

The SIGMA 7 has direct and pleasant handling with low brake loads. This provides precise turn entry, makes progressive radius adjustment possible at all bank angles, and gives you effortless flying. The balance of profile and twist give the required thermal bite. A welldefined max-lift point on the wing profile and optimal internal pressure characterise the SIGMA 7. These make the glider distinctly more stable, and this also means that it can be flown faster in turbulent air. This puts it wholeheartedly within the trend for faster transiting, that is becoming ever more popular with recreational cross-country pilots.

More information, and the ability to book a test flight, at www.advance.ch

 NEW OWNERSHIP IN ASPEN For Aspen Paragliding the Sky Is the Limit. The Spring/Summer 2008 season launches the new brand identity for locally owned and operated Aspen

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Paragliding. Alex Palmaz, owner, partnered with New York graphic designer Garland Lyn to craft the new look.

Aspen Paragliding was founded by Dick Jackson in 1991. Palmaz has been flying for 15 years and is a Master Rated Tandem Instructor. He became partner in 2000 and recently purchased Jackson’s interest to become the sole owner of Aspen Paragliding.

Aspen Paragliding’s team of tandem pilots are certified by the United States Hangliding and Paragliding Association. Their base camp is located at 414 East Cooper Street, inside Durrance Sports on the Cooper Street Mall and provides all equipment, flight gear, and guidance. Ski equipment and all weather clothing are available through AP’s partnership with Durrance Sports.

Palmaz explains, “I’ve been so fortunate to share the experience of free flight with people in an environment as unique as Aspen. There’s that moment when you feel yourself lift away from the ground and instantly you are soaring above the valley. With panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains, we are able to

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view our surroundings from an entirely new perspective.

Most often people are hard pressed to find words to describe the sense of freedom they experience during the flight. When we land, the excitement and cheers of our passengers and observers are exhilarating and extremely fulfilling.”In addition to paragliding in both Aspen and Snowmass, Aspen Paragliding hosts one of a kind excursions in the world’s most dynamic paragliding destinations throughout North, Central and South America as well as Europe.

Aspen Paragliding has been featured in a PBS production of “ PBS Kids”, an HD production called “Out of Bounds” and a Telemundo production in Spanish called “Nitido”.

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set out with Petra Lindbichler, a close friend, on a renewed hunt for distance—and straightaway set a new world record with the Bibeta 4!

The result of this five and a half hour flight was a 112 km triangle—a new world tandem record! “The glider’s perfect. Perfect to take off, nice to thermal, a perfect tandem glider”, said Lois, who had only made one flight with it before the record flight!

 LUCA DONINI JOINS GIN Luca Donini joins the GIN Team. Italian pilot Luca Donini (paragliding World and European champion) is joining the GIN team and is now flying the Boomerang 5. He already won his first World Cup task with in Italy last week!

 BIBETA 4 BAGS RECORD

 MOYES MALIBU TO MARKET

On May 9th, Lois Grugger from the Salzburg Flying School staff flew a 112 km FAI triangle with the new Advance BIBETA 4.

Professional tandem pilots don’t usually do much cross country—when the weather’s perfect they’re doing tandem lessons. After years of cross country abstinence the Salzburg Flying School pilot

The new Moyes Malibu offers unsurpassed levels of handling and safety to ensure that your flying experience is as good as it can be.

Whether you're a newbie to the sport and want a safe and rewarding glider to further develop your skills, or an experienced pilot seeking fun on the sand dunes, you’ll really appreciate the features

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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and flying characteristics of the Moyes Malibu.

The new Moyes Malibu offers a frame built from 7075 aluminium tubing with 6061 aluminium crossbars that are covered with a 4oz dacron sail. The sail is shaped and supported by 15 battens made from 7075 aluminium, as well as a unique leading edge insert manufactured from Mylar and foam.

Considerable effort has been made to ensure the sail design is efficient, and as a result the Moyes Malibu is a sweet handling glider that is capable of flying in very light conditions.

The Malibu offers an extremely slow stall speed with a very forgiving and progressive stall. Tip stalls are almost impossible, and the glider is very easy to recover from most difficult situations. Due to the advanced aerodynamic design of the Moyes Malibu, you’ll find yourself enjoying the flying in conditions that are lighter than you would ever imagine.

This is the glider that will stay up the longest, and keep you flying while the others are walking.

 DISCOVERY WATCHES WILLS The Discovery Channel did

a show on how hang gliders are made at Wills Wing, in Orange, CA. You can watch the seven minute video on your in HD at: http://www. vimeo.com/1161514.

OZONE "BECAUSE..." WINNERS Ozone have chosen winners for the Because… film presentation and contest. Go to www.flyozone.com/because to see / download the free film and read the answers from the contest.

OZONE RUSH 2 XS, XL CERTIFIED Ozone’s latest ‘performance intermediate’ 1-2 / B wing is now certified in all sizes. The Rush 2 is the successor to the original Rush, and Ozone claims it has the highest overall XC performance of any 1-2 / B wing that they have produced, or flown.

 OZONE ADDICT 2 XL CERTIFIED The Addict 2 XL is now certified EN C along with the S, M, and L sizes. Ozone says that S, M, and L sizes are now shipped out to all major markets and demos are currently available.

GIN SAFETY NOTICE As is indicated in the owner’s manual: Gin Competition Paraglider

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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models (Boomerang Sport and Boomerang) should be checked regularly: at least every 100 hours of flight, or every year.

Gin Yeti Paragliders should be checked every 50 hours.

There are additional, specific instructions regarding Competition Level Boomerang models; please refer to the owners manual: http://www.gingliders.com/ downloads/manual.php.

It is imperative that pilots respect these inspection intervals as these gliders are very sensitive to any changes in the line’s breaking strength and/or total line length. The aerodynamics, performance and safety of these models can be negatively affected by these changes.

During inspection of some Boomerang Sports’ with 100+ hours of use, it was confirmed that some gliders have lines that have changed length and are no longer within the 1-2 cm tolerances.

It was observed that some gliders with 100 hours+, experienced shrinkage in the middle lines constructed of “LIROS DC 120.” The changes were seen mainly on the D cascade, and brake lines.

This line shrinkage can

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be easily detected during the normal line length check as part of the required 100 hours, or one year inspection.

As a precaution, Gin decided to offer replacement middle, and upper line sets free of charge, to all owners of Boomerang Sport, and Yeti 08s that are fitted with LIROS DC 120, and DC 60.

Owners manuals for most Gin models are available at: http://www.gingliders.com/ downloads/manual.php Contact: Super Fly Inc. 801 255 9595 Sandy, UT 84070

 GIN GINGO AIRLIGHT ARRIVES The Gingo AirLight is the Air Bag version of the Gingo 2, our intermediate harness suitable for all pilots.

Certified EN and LTF, the Air Bag back protection makes the Gingo weigh only 3.7kg.

Not only is the Gingo AirLight a light harness (3.7 kg), it is also supremely comfortable. Our objective was to create a light and compact harness with which we can fly for several hours with a high standard of comfort.

More information: chris@ superflyinc.com

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A Closer Look

TriwingualAIRPARK KING MOUNTAIN, IDAHO  Is the world ready for triwingual? Construction is underway for a world-class glider airpark at the base of King Mountain, Idaho. John and Rae Kangas are building a three discipline soaring facility that will accommodate hang gliders, paragliders, and sailplanes.

The King Mountain Glider Park is being constructed as an open and flexible facility that will accommodate three major soaring disciplines at one location.

The grading and planting of a 3900-foot long turf runway, designed to FAA part 77 standards, has already been completed. In addition to the foot-launching opportunities available above the site at King Mountain, the 120-foot wide runway will make it possible for both aero-towing and winch-launching operations to be conducted safely at the base of the mountain. An RV park with 80-foot pullthrough spaces, an open tent camping area, and a fishing pond are currently

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by John Kangas

under construction.

King Mountain and the Lost River Range are some of Idaho’s tallest mountains. The area has abundant ridge, thermal, and mountain wave soaring conditions. John says, “We believe that King Mountain and the three major mountain ranges that comprise the Idaho- Montana border region have world-class soaring conditions that will continue to attract soaring enthusiasts from all over the world.” For a glimpse of the airstrip location and surrounding mountains, Google Earth at N 43-45-50 and W 113-20-40.

The Paragliding Nationals were held last year just 40 miles west of the site in Sun Valley, Idaho. Paraglider Pilots from all over the world fly King on a regular basis. King Mountain is famous for evening glass off conditions that allow gliders to soar to well over 12,000’ feet.

Idaho’s Hang Gliding Distance Record of 182 miles was set from King Mountain

on a flight northeast towards Bozeman, Montana. The King Mountain Hang Gliding Championships are held at the mountain each summer. Sailplane Pilots also hold a regatta in the Big Lost River area each summer. The Soaring Society of America region 8 triangle speed record for 300 kilometers has been set in this area in four out of the last five years.

The soaring season begins as early as April, with outstanding conditions continuing through September and October.

Given all the recreational activities that the Sun Valley region of Idaho has to offer, the King Mountain Glider Park is in a perfect location for folks to fish, hike, soar, and explore Idaho and Montana. A place where paraglider, hang glider, and sailplane pilots, and their families can all sit around the campfire in the evening and share their extraordinary experiences. The King Mountain Glider Park will be a world class facility where “All Birds are Welcome!”

For more information contact John Kangas at (208) 407-7174 or j_kangas@ msn.com

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

Technique | Safety | Training | Flights

GPS|XCRETRIEVE When I went to a fly-in several years ago, the unusual happened: the XC conditions were perfect. On the first day, one of my friends flew through three states and landed 90 kilometers out in the desert. Since he flew over a major highway, it was easy for him to keep in radio contact with his chase driver.

Once he was on the ground, they continued to have good radio communication with each other. However, even with all their gadgets and communication devices fired up and working, they didn't find each other until after midnight; then, they began the long drive back to camp. What a frustrating way to end such a sweet flight!

But there is a way to make retrieves easy–use a GPS. This invaluable device will help you get back to the campfire in time to tell your “and there I was” story, instead of being lost in the desert after dark.

Luckily, you only need to know a few things about a GPS to make the retrieve go smoothly. Let’s start with a really simple scenario: you fly into some uncharted territory and wisely land next to a paved road. Luckily for you, your flying buddy sank out and is packed up and sitting in your car when you call him on his mobile.

You read your GPS coordinates to him; he punches them into his GPS, does a “GO TO,” and follows the arrow until he finds you.

Simple enough, right? Simple, yes, but kind of fairy-tale like, too–it’s a little more complicated than that.

Your driver needs to know how to enter coordinates (latitude, longitude) into a GPS as well as how to navigate roads using a paper map. One complication you may face is that the two GPS units might be set up to use different coordinate formats; it doesn’t matter which format is used, as long as it’s the same on both units. So if your driver is not GPS savvy, save yourself a headache by asking for his coordinates first. If they aren't the format your GPS is using, change your coordinate format to match his and give your driver your coordinates in the common format. You should be able to talk

by Brett Hardin

your retriever through the process of entering coordinates into his GPS when you land, but it might be wise to practice before you launch.

One tip: If your mobile is getting some signal but not enough to make a call, you can SMS your coordinates to your driver’s mobile. This allows you to avoid transposing digits and other errors. In an emergency, you can always SMS your coordinates to someone who you know will be in an area with good mobile coverage, and they can contact the appropriate people or authorities for a rescue effort if needed.

Now, let’s take our retrieve scenario up a notch in complexity. Suppose you are specked out with a solid tail wind, enabling you to bounce effortlessly from cloud bottom to cloud bottom and fly over vast stretches of tiger country. You are more likely to enjoy that exhilarating experience if you have confidence that your retrieve driver is skilled enough to find you when you land. On XC’s like this, no one knows

where you are going to land or if you’ll have mobile coverage once you do. Taking the time to get a good driver equipped with a map, mobile phone, GPS and a radio will surely pay off.

The best way to keep your driver nearby while you blaze toward the sunset is to radio your distance and bearing from launch. Do this every time you go on glide; those two pieces of information are all he needs to find you. To report your location say “This is Billy Bob, I’m at 55 miles, 76

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

degrees, over.” It works like this: you and your driver press “Mark/Enter” on launch so both your GPS’s have a common point.

Then you both perform a "GOTO” launch.

With both GPS’s heading to the same point, your driver just tries to match your reported distance, bearing to the distance, and bearing shown on his/her GPS. Bearing is a user-selectable display field and is simply your current position in degrees. Of course, your driver has to stick to the roads, so his bearing won’t exactly match yours, but he can tell if you are to the left or right of where he is and how far ahead you are.

One important point to remember: Before you get low, be sure to radio your distance and bearing, because your radio signal travels a lot farther when airborne than it does on the ground. If there are any hills, you may lose radio contact with your driver once you land. If you do lose contact, your driver should try to radio you from each hilltop or other elevated terrain feature as he drives in your direction. As a pilot, you should try to land on a higher feature, not in the bottom of a canyon where your radio and mobile will be useless.

One catch: For the Distance and Bearing method to work, both GPS’s must have the same North Reference setting. The simplest is to choose True or True North; this tells both GPS’s to use the actual North Pole (versus magnetic north) as the compass reference. To be fair, I should mention one other GPS setting named Map Datum. For cross-country retrieval, it is not critical that both GPS’s have the same Map Datum selected, but it is slightly more accurate if they do.

Most GPS’s use WGS 84 as the default Map Datum.

One last tip to drivers: The best drivers use a GPS with built-in maps, such as the Garmin GPSMAP series. Once you download the maps into the GPS, you can see which road you are on and which roads lie ahead. This takes most of the guesswork out of finding the most direct route to get to your pilot. Mapping GPS’s are great for a pilot, too. You can make route decisions in the air, as it shows cities, roads, lakes, mountains, rivers and even airports (which you might want to avoid) that lie ahead.

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Rants | Raves | Ramblings

AirMAIL

The opinions expressed in the letters published in this column are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the magazine staff or USHPA officials. While every effort is made to verify facts stated in letters, readers are urged to check the accuracy of any statement before taking action or forming an opinion based on the contents of a letter.

FINAL FLIGHT  I beg to use your publication as a venue to update your membership on the failing health of one of your members and of the outstanding efforts of three more of your members to make a dream come true.

My brother, Vern Ostdiek, formely of Muscotah, Kansas, and now a resident of the Good Samaritan Home, Nelson, Nebraska, has been an avid hang glider pilot for over 25 years. He has flown in several states as well as several countries.

In July of 2007, Vern was diagnosed with stage four-brain cancer. He has undergone two surgeries as well as chemo and radiation therapy. His prognosis, however, is glum. As of now, he is able to interact socially, both verbally and via email.

Vern had a dream of hang gliding at least one more time, so he contacted Len Smith of Overland Park, Kansas, who owns a tandem hang glider. Vern asked if Len and some of his flying friends would be willing to give him a chance to fly again, and they agreed. On May 16th, Len Smith, Jim Gaar, and Mike Russell, all from the greater Kansas City area, made the four-hour trip to Nelson, Nebraska, to give Vern his opportunity. After finding the right spot, they completed some test flights and prepared to take Vern the next day.

On Saturday, May 17th, just before noon, with an audience of family, friends, Good Samaritan employees, several hospice workers, reporters from a local newspaper, and a local television crew, Vern was once again airborne. The flight went will with much cheering and applause. Vern was extremely happy!

Vern has known Len, Jim, and Mike for years. I cannot overstate how thankful all of Vern’s family is for what these three men did without asking for anything in return. We would also like to commend them for the good manners, grace, and patience exhibited while they accomplished all of this. They are gentlemen of the finest sort who will be fondly remembered by all of us.

Vern is still “up in the clouds.” If any of 14

your readers care to congratulate him on this occasion, his address is Vern Ostediek, 150 West 8th St., Nelson, NE 68961. His email is verno1@superiorinet.net, and his cell phone number is (402)621-0440.

In closing, we ask that if the USHPA has an awards program to honor members for special acts of kindness, we wholeheartedly nominate Len Smith, Jim Gaar, and Mike Russell to be considered as recipients of said award. They will be remembered with affection forever by the family and friends of Vern Ostdiek, and will be welcomed back anytime.

Submitted by John F. Ostdiek jostdiek@gtme.net

TO LIVE IS TO FLY 

I attended the awards ceremony at the spring BOD meeting, in Colorado Springs. I was very happy to learn that Nick Franczyk had received an award for his film “To Live is to Fly”, an excellent documentary on hang gliding in Missoula, Montana and events surrounding the closure of the site. My article about the situation appeared in the February edition.

Many of us working to resolve the problems with the airport tower chief wanted to minimize publicity while we were negotiating with the players involved. We were worried that the release of Nick’s film would bring publicity and an unpredictable reaction (safety vs.. tradition). As it turned out it was public sentiment that made all of the difference in reopening Mt. Sentinel, and Nick’s film was instrumental in the initial awareness and portrayed a positive perspective on our flying there.

Nick’s essential role in reopening Mt. Sentinel should have been made more clear in my article. I would like to recognize him for that here, extend my congratulations on his award, and urge everyone to view this excellent film at www.mtnick. com.

Submitted by Leo Bynum

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

Mission | Policy | Membership | Involvement

SafetyBULLETIN

by Alex Colby, Staff Writer Commentary by Dale Covington

Thanks to Dale for his instructive com- to describe the extent and focus of a ments on the accident reports this time pilot’s attention during critical phases around. Dale is one of the most re- of flight. It can describe a pilot’s awarenowned paragliding instructors in the ness of environmental variables such as West, having been teaching since 1990. terrain clearance, localized airflow and He was not only one of the first instruc- turbulence, changing weather conditors in the U.S., but also one of the first tions, variations in the stall point of the pilots to receive a USHPA Master rating. canopy, or any of the myriad of factors We are lucky to receive occasional input that vie for a share of our limited powers from instructors of Dale’s caliber, and of concentration during a flight. we hope we can continue to bring you Let’s consider our first unfortuinsights from guest instructors in future nate pilot, a very new and enthusiastic columns. novice pilot who had just launched into We received many thoughtful and very light thermal conditions at a northdetailed reports from our pilots, re- western foothill site. While thermalling garding more than a dozen accidents very close to the hill, he crashed into over the last four months since the last the terrain downwind before he could column, and I hope to cover as many complete the turn, injuring both ankles. of them as possible in future columns. In the pilot's own words: For now, I would like to focus on four of the recent accidents that speak to one “I decided I was not going to hike back up a of the most fundamental themes in our second time due to the effort involved, and, discussions of safety: situational aware- therefore, before the flight even began, I ness. Aviators commonly use "this term" became fixated on one thing and one single

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

thing only—not sinking out. I was even more intent on having a nice long flight to altitude, after having waited over four hours at launch for conditions to improve. (The air was extremely calm and a haze layer seemed to be suppressing thermals even though we had strong sun). When I finally did launch, the wind and thermals were still so mild that anything other than an extended sledder was probably impossible, as the two (more experienced) pilots who went before me had just demonstrated. But this reality did not sink in; I was still obsessed with catching something and specking out. This attitude guaranteed disaster before takeoff.”

“Actual impact occurred when I encountered the merest of lift and decided instantly to engage a tight turn, in keeping with my priority. (I will not say “priorities” plural because in my mind there was only one at the time.)

I didn’t even spend a fraction of a second thinking about my position relative to the hill before initiating the turn, as my position relative to the hill had nothing to do with my desire to catch lift. As soon as I began moving downwind and the hill swung into view, I realized I was in for it. At this point I probably did freeze for a second as my brain struggled

15

to incorporate reality.”

“My error was single-mindedness. If I had given my desire for a good flight an appropriate ranking amongst the other thoughts that also should have been present in my mind, the day would have been uneventful. Safety should always be the primary focus—in practice I believe this is accomplished by keeping a keen situational awareness and comparing it constantly against the desired goals (amongst which the first one is to avoid injury).”

Two expert witnesses contributed separate accounts of this accident—both of them confirmed the basic details of the incident, and both lauded the quick and efficient rescue operation. In slight contradiction to the other two accounts, one reporter indicated a moderate amount of wind was blowing, which he believed contributed to a higher downwind speed. He also noted, “I think this was a case of trying to combine too many new lessons in the same flight.” The other witness summed up his report by noting that “this is a new pilot with more to learn about how cautious to be in thermalling close to the hill.”

I think these are excellent points.

Newer pilots should strive to keep the number of new lessons in their early flights to a manageable low number during each flight. Let’s take our time learning those lessons! As for being cautious when thermalling close to the hill: while I think we are all constantly refining our judgment in this area, newer pilots should certainly take their time and exercise loads of caution as they figure out what kind of terrain clearance is required in a given turning situation.

Dale’s input:

turning too soon into the sink. Combine these years ago, involving a pilot who got infactors, and you see how quickly trouble com- jured while landing in the same wind pounds in this scenario. Make sure you have direction. Landings at this coastal site adequate terrain clearance before you commit are known to be potentially challengto a 360 close to the hill and anticipate things ing when the wind direction puts the not going as you would like.” landing zone in the shadow of a large upwind island located a mile or so offIn a subsequent conversation, Dale shore. Pilots need to keep an eye out for also mentioned the difficulty that many signs of this type of mechanical turbunewer pilots have in keeping a turn lence and vary their landing patterns evenly banked all the way around a accordingly. At coastal sites like this circle, because of the tendency of the one, cats’ paws or other unusual texture glider to flatten out after the initial input. on the water often indicates that you Learning to coordinate your weight shift should use an alternative landing zone. and braking inputs to enact smooth It’s also worth noting that the pilot turn can take some practice. was flying with an older harness that The second accident took a very ex- had no padding. Not only that, but the perienced pilot by surprise: a slow and dorsal reserve parachute mount on unfocused reaction to unexpected tur- the harness fits right between the two bulence at the landing zone of a coastal points of the back injury. One witness site caused him to crash into the road guesses the pilot fell from a height of 15 and break two vertebrae. The pilot sub- feet. But even from that height, it’s posmitted a detailed report that attributes sible that a modern harness with a foam the mistimed approach to rapidly rising or airbag cushion could have mitigated and sinking air, recalling a final moment or prevented his injuries. Dale’s note: of unexpected free-fall above the road just before he reached the landing “The underlying theme of paying attention seems to be the best conclusion that can be zone.

We also have reports from two wit- drawn from this. Once again, situational nesses on the local club forum: one awareness—giving the flying our undivided describes very light winds at the land- attention—is our top concern.” ing zone and remembers uncharacterThe third accident involved a student istically aggressive turns on the pilot’s final approach that appeared to end who was finishing a prolonged course in a spin. Another airborne witness of instruction, culminating in the comwho landed just after the accident de- pletion of the last of five required spotscribes turbulent air that caused him to landings as witnessed by his instructor. almost overshoot into a stone wall with The instructor reports that his student’s a tandem passenger (and his canopy approach brought him in too high. And draped across the road). Both pilots in his zeal to make the spot, he tried to were extremely lucky that no cars were slow the glider down too much, resultpassing in either direction at the time of ing in a spin from which he was unable to recover before impacting the ground their landings. In the pilot's own words: at a high rate of descent. In this case, “The real culprit here was the fact that I was the pilot’s harness had extremely thick not giving flying my undivided attention—I padding, and he got away with a stable was flying on autopilot. I was not thinking compressed vertebra. As the instructor about my landing; in fact, it seemed like a notes:

“This sounds like a fairly typical mistake. The pilot hit the nail on the head with his assessment. His single-minded focus on staying up diverted his awareness from the big picture.

Situational awareness is the priority when flying, and it is easy to focus on staying up when a safe landing is the obvious priority.

Beyond that, the first few turns in lift near forgone conclusion while I was still in the air. the hill are often fraught with danger. The As a result, my mind was fixated on the spot “Landing on the target became the ultimate terrain is close and rising at you once you turn where I wanted to land at the LZ. Landing priority to him. Throughout his training, he downwind towards it due to your ground- down at the bottom of the LZ or in the dunes had been told about the speed range and brakspeed increasing as you turn downwind, and didn’t even enter my mind.” ing height limits, but his answer after returnsink rate increases as the turn radius increases. ing from the hospital was, ‘I forgot’.”

You often find small bubbles of lift close to the This accident bears some similarity ground, and it’s easy to fall out the back by to a previous mishap at this site a few This is a classic example of a very 16

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

new pilot becoming fixated on a goal to perspective and keep us from thinking clearly both lungs. The pilot tells a dramatic the exclusion of basic flying techniques. about the other factors of safe flight (in this and terse story in his own words: Understanding the importance of not instance, not stalling).” slowing down the glider too much “In these three reports, we’ve seen pilots with “What the hell happened?! I wondered, as I lay there gasping to breathe. One moment I should certainly take priority over spot either too much attention focused on only landing proficiency. But brake input on one aspect of aviating, or not focused enough. was on the downwind leg ready to turn into the wind for landing, and then, WHAM! a paraglider can be a confounding mys- Either way, it’s a matter of attention, and tery to the uninitiated; we are all taught WHAT we choose to focus our attention on. I’m on the ground listening to the shouts of that we can use them a little, but not It’s important to maintain situational aware- ‘call 911!’. Five minutes ago, I’m sinking out and setting up for my approach to the field. too much, except just before we land, ness regarding the BIG PICTURE, while we when we suddenly use the entire range. manage the glider in whatever kind of air I dawdle too long away from the field; that It takes some experience to know when we’ve bumbled into. We also need to look bit of bad judgment leaves me coming in too to override our natural instincts to in- down the barrel of our decision chain, imag- low on the downwind, so I’m holding a bit of crease our brake input when we want ining the various outcomes of our decisions brakes to fly at minimum sink and preserve and realizing that our options become fewer altitude. There is a good 5-7 mph tailwind. to go just a bit slower. Dale’s comment:

“Would this qualify for one of his spot-landings? Once again, the pilot was too focused on the wrong things. A safe landing is top priority while in the air, even when you are focusing on other things, like getting and staying up, or a spot-landing. It always will be there, underlying all of your other decisions. It sounds as if the spot- landing in question might have been the final piece in his P2 rating, making it an inordinately loaded task. Emotions and expectations can distract us from an objective

the lower we get. As has been pointed out many times before, accidents in aviation are rarely the result of one bad decision. They are the result of a snowball effect of many smaller ones, as the next report points out.”

I throw in some left-weight shift to start the turn, but the wing isn’t responding normally.

This is my first time flying a bikini-mountain harness with this wing, and it’s very difficult to get good weight-shift input to the wing. So I pull a bit more brake to get the turn to carve In our fourth accident, an intermedi- and the whole left wing just goes away. I’ve ate pilot used too much brake to turn stalled the damned thing. I’m about 20-30 back from the downwind leg of a final feet off the ground, and the right wing flashes approach to the landing zone, spinning by in front of me, the leading edge parallel to the canopy and dropping to the terrain, the ground, as I race it back to earth. I land breaking a rib and partially deflating flat on my right side, right elbow smashed

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into the ribcage. It appears that four things had combined to cause the crash—being too low on approach, holding the brake instead of maintaining good speed, having bad harness/ wing combination and being too heavy on the brake. A fast downwind landing would have been much less painful.”

It’s not uncommon for pilots to experience unintentional spins when making a highly banked turn back upwind from a downwind heading, if they are not careful to minimize the inside brake to allow the low half of the wing to maintain airspeed. This also can be exacerbated when landing in the presence of a wind gradient—another reason to keep some airspeed in reserve during our landing approaches. Dale’s thoughts:

“Sounds as if the pilot was not anticipating the landing quite enough. Like the first report, the pilot may have been so focused on being in the air/staying up that all of a sudden, the planet sneaked up on him. This accident is once again a result of a number of contributing factors, but the situational awareness

18

is a large part of the picture. Where is the LZ, what’s the wind direction and speed, what are my wing’s limitations (glide, sink rate, speed, turning capabilities? The harness is not necessarily at fault, but the pilot’s lack of awareness of the reduced weight-shift capability and resulting over-control play a big part in this accident as well.”

“I think the awareness priorities should be: (1) Aviation. Control the wing, keep it flying and going where you want it to go. (2) Situational awareness. What is going on in the big picture? Not what you’ d like to have going on, but a clear honest assessment of the situation and an honest assessment of your abilities. (3) Anticipation of the inevitable landing. Make sure you have an easy glide to a reasonable LZ, while avoiding terrain until you are intentionally and thoughtfully setting up your approach. As I get lower, the landing increasingly gets more of my attention, and, on final, I’m pretty much totally focused on the aviating. The more instinctive active flying becomes—i.e., the aviating bit—the more your brain is freed up to focus on the big picture stuff.”

Dale is right-on here. Our skills in maintaining situational awareness will increase over time as we gain experience under our wings. In a subsequent phone conversation, Dale also talked about the notion of bandwidth and how newer pilots start out with a limited amount of data they can process at once. An experienced pilot will be processing a lot more data to make more sophisticated decisions, but when he’s starting out, he needs to try to focus on just a few primary directives—like avoiding the terrain.

Please keep those accident reports coming! Submitting a report can be a great opportunity to think through an accident you’ve experienced or witnessed, and by sharing it with your flying community, you are giving us all a chance to benefit from the lessons you are learning. You don’t need to wait until someone gets hurt; reports of close calls can hold valuable lessons as well.

Thanks for all your contributions to our collective understanding of safety.

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

Mission | Policy | Membership | Involvement

AwardNOMINATIONS Every year, the USHPA issues awards and commendations to those people making contributions to our sport that their peers consider worthy of recognition.

In order for this process to work, nominations must be submitted to the Awards Committee by any individual prior to the Fall BOD meeting.

PRESIDENTIAL CITATION  This is the USHPA's highest award, and is awarded to a member or non‑member who has made significant contributions to the sport. The contributions need not have been made during the previous year.

This special award may only be awarded to a single person once.

USHPA EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE AWARD  This

award recognizes outstanding service to the Association during the year by any member or non-member.

NAA SAFETY AWARD  The NAA Safety Award is given to an individual who has contributed to safety promotion in some significant way that should be recognized.

CHAPTER OF THE YEAR  This award recognizes the USHPA Chapter/club that has conducted successful programs that reflect positively upon the Chapter and the sport. Activities include, but are not limited to: site procurement, development and retention, safety, membership development, and beginner & novice programs.

NEWSLETTER OF THE YEAR  This award recognizes an outstanding club publication (printed or web-based) that has been supportive of the sport and the sponsoring Chapter's activities.

The award is based on service to members, layout, article variety, safety promotion, and promoting the sport.

THE INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD  The Instructor of the Year Award recognizes the importance of our certified hang gliding and paragliding instructors in promoting safe flying practices and contributing to the positive image and growth of our sport. Nominations should include letters of support from three students and the local Regional Director. Considerations will include effectiveness as a teacher, being a safety role model, and other factors that the nominating parties deem worthy of recog-

nition. One award per sport per year will be given.

SPECIAL COMMENDATIONS  USHPA Special Commendations are awarded to any number of non-members and organizations who have done exceptional volunteer work that has significantly enhanced and promoted our sports in the U.S. The Special Commendation is a way for our organization to recognize landowners, drivers, restaurant owners, government officials and any others who have contributed in a non‑member capacity during the year.

COMMENDATIONS  Commendations are awards to any number of USHPA members who have contributed to hang gliding and/or paragliding on a volunteer basis in any areas including site development and retention, competition organization, public relations, heroic rescue efforts, and/or basically getting off their duffs and doing something for someone else's enjoyment of flying and the promotion of the sport.

BETTINA GRAY AWARD  The Bettina Gray Award was created to honor the woman who contributed so much to our sport through her photography. This award is issued to the photographer (male or female) whose work (three examples needed for review) is judged best by the committee in consideration of aesthetics, originality, and a positive portrayal of hang gliding or paragliding. One award will be given each year.

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BEST PROMOTIONAL FILM  This award recognizes the videographer, whose work is judged best by the committee in consideration of aesthetics, originality, and a positive portrayal of hang gliding or paragliding. One award will be given each year.

For more information contact Brad Hall, chairperson for the Awards committee, brad.reg3@ gmail.com. Solicited Nomination is important It WORKS! For submissions , please send your nomination(s) and materials to:

info@ushpa.aero http://www.ushpa.aero/emailaward.asp USHPA | PO Box 1330 Colorado Springs, CO, 80901‑1330

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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Technique | Safety | Training | Flights

HangInTHERE POWERED FLIGHT  I doubt the Wright brothers decided to add a noisy engine and twin ear-splitting propellers to their glider because they found soaring flight too tranquil. No, I figure they invented the airplane because they wanted to be able to takeoff from flat ground. As hang glider designs became more efficient, it was only natural for those who were geographically challenged to look for engines that would them help slate their thirst for flight.

The Soarmaster was the first commercially successful strap-on power pack that allowed a pilot to takeoff from level ground, climb a couple of thousand feet and fly for a few miles on a small tank of gas. In 1978, you could purchase a top-of-the-line hang glider for $1000, and for a similar amount,

by Mark “Forger” Stucky you could add a Soarmaster that would transform your high-performance hang glider into a low-performance motor glider.

The motors of motor gliders are not powerful because they are designed to avoid extra weight. This was especially true of the Soarmaster, since the pilot’s legs carried the full weight of the aircraft during launch and landing.

Unlike the current crop of powered harnesses, the Soarmaster was rigidly attached to the airframe via bolts at the control-bar apex and the rear keel. A 10-hp engine drove the pusher-prop via a reductiongear drive and an internal-drive shaft. The added 35 lbs of weight not only decreased the glider’s response to weight shift, it also added a couple of unique issues.

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The thrust line of the Soarmaster was well above the aircraft’s center of gravity.

If you stall a powered aircraft, the instinctive (and normally proper) reaction is to add power, in order to help recover needed airspeed and minimize altitude loss. A hang glider—like a normal aircraft—wants to pitch down when stalled. However, because of the excessively high thrust-line of the Soarmaster, adding power in a stall caused an abrupt and severe pitch down, with the resulting dive recovery taking several times the altitude of an idle-power recovery. Too many pilots learned this the hard way, and more than one suffered a broken neck because of it. In order to climb out of ground effect, the Soarmaster had to be flown at the speed for maximum-excess power that equated to minimum-sink speed. This meant the Soarmaster pilot was always within a few knots of stall speed; it didn’t take more than a bit of turbulence or a turn before the pilot would be nibbling at stall and have to momentarily reduce power to avoid nosing over!

The Soarmaster also had another exclusive characteristic—if you pushed-out fully, it was possible to amputate your own toes (imagine having to land after doing that!).

Both of these issues were well known by the time my Soarmaster was delivered to my college apartment.

The Soarmaster was designed to strap onto an Electra Flyer Olympus that had a straight keel tube and a high vertical keel pocket. My Pliable Moose Elite had an S-shaped keel and a horizontal keel pocket.

It took me a few hours of experimenting before I had an installation that I felt properly mimicked the photos. Even though it was late in the day, I just had to go for a test flight.

For my maiden flight, I decided it would be best to launch from a slope, so I chose a small bowl-shaped dike on the east side of town. There were large power lines directly in front of me, but they were far enough away that I figured I would have the distance either to climb above them or to turn away. With winds that were light, it took almost the full slope to get airborne.

The glider climbed smoothly but slowly.

Because I was uncomfortable with the altitude that I would have for crossing the power lines, I made a quick turn downwind.

Not only did I stop climbing, I also lost alti-

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

[right] Black & yellow Comet on landing approach after engine failure. [below] Stucky honors the "don't fly over an open assemply of people" rule. | Photo courtesy Manhattan Mercury.

tude in the turn and wound up flying downwind in ground-effect with the dike rapidly approaching, now above me.

Although launching from the dike had seemed like a good idea, I now realized I might be trapped between it and the power lines. I made a more gentle turn to parallel the dike and, thankfully, started climbing. I climbed out steadily at 200 fpm and literally flew around the perimeter of the town.

I was thrilled to reach over 2000 feet AGL before the engine began sputtering as the fuel ran out. The view was tremendous; I couldn’t help but notice the Kansas State University football stadium ablaze as technicians checked out the lights and scoreboard in preparation for the next day’s game.

In those days, the KSU Wildcats were notoriously kitten-like and although I had a season ticket, I decided it would be more exciting to fly my motorized hang glider around the stadium during the game.

Besides the crowd would be filled with awe and amazement to see such an amazing aircraft!

Since the 15-foot tall dike hadn’t worked

out too well, I searched for a larger dropoff to launch from. A couple of miles north of town was a broad plateau crowned by a small hill. The eastern slope had been blasted away to facilitate a north/south highway and the resulting 40-foot cliff made for an easy launch.

I expected to lose some altitude immediately after launch, but for some reason I continued to descend until I was buoyed by ground effect. So now I was buzzing along at full power just over the heads of a large herd of cattle. They didn’t appear overly concerned, but I sure was. Flying at minimum sink, I was continually nibbling at stall and repeatedly having to come off the power momentarily to ensure I didn’t nose into the ground. If I didn’t start climbing, eventually I was bound to hit a bovine; there were too many of them to simply cut the power and land. After some tense moments, I saw a gully that fell away to the north, eventually dropping into the surrounding prairie a couple of hundred feet below. I turned to follow the gully.

The ground did drop away, but once again I was faced with a large array of

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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power lines stretching across the ravine and blocking my flight path. All bush pilots know not to fly down the middle of a canyon.

It’s smarter to stick to one side in order to leave yourself turning room to reverse course if necessary. Unfortunately, I didn’t know “squat” about being a bush pilot. Concerned with making it across the wires, I swiveled my head in a search for other flight paths. As I frantically scanned for options, the terrain magically started dropping away. I gazed forward and the power lines were no longer an issue. I was perplexed as to the cause of this radical change in performance when it hit me—a thermal! I banked the glider and began climbing quickly under full power. Glancing at my vario for the first time, I was thrilled to see it pegged at 1200 fpm. In no time at all I had gained 1000 feet, so I turned to point toward the stadium. As soon as I did so, I began descending again. I then realized that a large area of sink was the reason for my poor climb performance.

I reversed course and was grateful the thermal was right where I had left it. This time I took the magic elevator to 3,000 feet, leaving the lift only because the stadium was now an easy 5 to 1 glide.

I was tempted to stay in the thermal until I topped out, but figured I’d have plenty of opportunities to do that in the future.

I may have been stupid, but I wasn’t completely ignorant and knew that flying over a stadium full of people probably wouldn’t be a smart idea. So I circled around the stadium until I ran out of fuel, spiraling down for a smooth landing in an adjacent lot. The local press reported that I disappointed the spectators by not landing in the stadium. I’m sure that the majority of fans would have loved such an ending but it only takes a single complaint to give the sport a black eye or have the feds make things miserable for you.

Those first two powered flights filled me with great hope that thermalling flight would now be commonplace for me. But it was not to be. A few days later when I let another pilot give

22

the Soarmaster a try, he blew his launch, bending the prop. It was never the same again. To this day, I regret not topping out in that first thermal.

Years later I was stationed in the flatlands of Texas and decided to see how the Soarmaster would work with my then top-of-theline double surface UP Comet. The Comet was significantly heavier than my Elite and tougher to land. I rigged up a cable-braced stinger with a lawn mower wheel to help guard the prop. I launched from a large field but once again found myself stuck in ground effect and couldn’t turn without dragging a wing tip. In short order I was whizzing around the countryside just above the branches of the mesquite trees. It took me fifteen minutes of death-defying brush skimming before I found a bubble of lift. I was just starting to relax as I climbed above 200 ft AGL when the engine quit. I squeaked out a nice landing, counted my blessings, and permanently retired the Soarmaster.

Power packs have improved since then, but there are some truisms that continue to apply, regardless of whether it is a powered harness for a hang glider or a paramotor for a paraglider. You should always take manufacturer’s performance claims with a grain of salt and remember: an aircraft that climbs at 200 fpm on a cool day at sea level probably will not climb at all on a hot day in the higher elevations. The difference between upwind and downwind climb gradients is dramatic on a slow speed aircraft. In a ten mph headwind, an aircraft that has a climb rate of only 200 fpm at 25 mph of airspeed will climb at a respectable 9° angle. If the same aircraft turns downwind, the climb angle with respect to the ground drops to less than 4°. Do not launch from a spot where you cannot do a rectangular pattern while maintaining a safe altitude and a positive climb-gradient.

Just like other forms of powered flight, too many accidents occur due to flying too low or doing aggressive maneuvering too close to the ground or water. The highest single risk for a fatal accident while paramotoring comes from attempting extreme maneuvers close to the ground. You should never fly at an altitude from which you cannot glide to a safe landing in the event of a sudden loss of power, or fly over water without proper flotation equipment that is sufficient to maintain your head above water without effort.

Those with experience in single engine two-stroke aircraft know it is not a matter of if they will have a power failure; it is a matter of when, so always leave yourself in a position to handle it. If you must fly low, remember that by flying into the wind you will slow your groundspeed, thereby giving yourself more time to see hazards and making an immediate landing much less hazardous than if you were flying downwind.

Flying low also exposes you to the invisible but deadly hazard of power lines. If you maintain an altitude greater than 200 feet above the highest terrain, you will greatly reduce your chances of encountering an unseen wire. If you must cross power lines, fly directly over the towers themselves (this helps avoid optical illusions or unseen upper wires). If possible, plan to cross at a minimum of twice the height of the tower, perpendicular to the wires, to minimize your exposure time.

Like towing, motors can add a new dimension to your flying but they do so with added complexity and new risks. Never underestimate the value of proper instruction.

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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by DEANSTRATTON

CONCERTINA C

’mon - do we really need one more item to fumble with and take up precious space in our glider bag? That was the perception I had before our new magazine editor, Nick Greece, sent me an Xcertina folding bag to try. I’m about as skeptical as they come, but after I used the bag the first time, I was a believer.

Paragliders are evolving and so is our awareness about how best to care for them to ensure maximum life and performance.

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Folding Bags

A

major factor in maintaining the integrity and quality of your glider is how you fold and pack it. There are two schools of thought about the best way to fold a glider.

The majority of pilots fold their gliders in half, repeatedly, from the tip to the center on both sides, and then, again, down the middle. This is the easiest and, generally, the fastest way to fold a glider, but not necessarily the best way. If you’re not concerned about the structural integrity of the Mylar leading edge of the glider, and folding in high winds provides entertainment for you, then this method is fine.

The other method, which is not so widely used, but is catching on quickly, is folding your glider accordion (concertina) style. I believe this is the superior method because it helps preserve the integrity of the Mylar strips in the leading edge of the glider, which is crucial for getting the top performance from your wing. This method usually takes a little more time and sometimes requires assistance, especially in high winds, but it’s certainly worth it.

Improper folding will crease and damage the Mylar panels, decreasing the performance of the wing, lessening the life of the material and negatively affecting its launch characteristics. Many high performance wings now have small plastic battens sewn into the leading edge for increased rigidity at high speeds. The accordion-fold method protects these battens and helps keep the leading edge of the glider in optimum condition, preventing deformities that ultimately lead to collapses. I’ve been using this method for the last few years, and I definitely see the benefits.

Concertina bags are designed to accommodate the accordion folding method; they serve to keep the glider in the best shape possible. One of the advantages a pilot has when using a concertina bag is the ability to accordion-fold his glider in high winds without assistance—an ability that is necessary at times. At first, folding your wing using the accordion method takes a little longer and might seem a bit tedious, but with practice, it’s easy. Not only will the bag keep your leading edge in great shape, it will also limit fabric abrasion and reduce panel stretching. Panel stretching can be caused by the compression of your glider when it’s packed within your glider bag. The folding bags contain your glider to minimize the expansion when it’s being compressed.

The well-conceived design and construction of all the concertina folding bag models are similar. Some have subtle differences that may appeal to a particular customer, but all are made from rugged materials and rip-stop fabric, with drawstrings at both ends of the bag and integrated straps that secure the leading edge within the bag. Mesh is used in all of the models in order to allow the glider to breathe, an important feature if a glider is packed while damp.

The main body of the bag is composed of water-resistant fabric. All the bags pack easily into your harness, taking up very little room.

General dimensions of a compacted bag are roughly 7 in. x 5 in. x 1 ½ in.

I’ve profiled four popular concertina bag models on the following pages, noting what sets each of them apart from the rest, along with general information. For this review, I had access to all four of these models and thoroughly examined them. I think you’d be happy with any one of them—your choice may simply come down to a unique feature or color that you like best.

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

Step 1 [opposite] - Lay the folding bag flat on the ground, unzip the zipper, and fold open the bag. Rosette the glider and center it on top of the bag with the leading-edge close to the straps at the top end of the bag.

Step 2 - Gather all the leading-edge Mylar panels together making sure they’re all flat and tight.

Step 3 - Use the strap that’s attached to the bag and wrap it around the glider just below the gathered panels. Tighten just enough to keep leadingedge in place, but not too tight. Some of the models have an additional strap that needs to be wrapped around the panels, and others have a mesh and Velcro sleeve that needs to be secured as well.

Step 4 - Once the leadingedge is secured, place yourself at the trailing edge of the glider and pull down the panels, taking out the slack, and gather the wing in from both sides in small folds.

Step 5 - Return to the top end of the bag and place the leading-edge bundle under the top end of the bag where the zipper begins. Gather the glider into the bag, pulling the zipper down as you go, all the way to the end. Pull drawstrings located at both ends of the bag closed.

Step 6 – To make sure the leading-edge panels lay flat within the folds of the bag, turn them 90 degrees before clipping them in or flip the entire bag 90 degrees after zipping it up so that the zipper is facing sideways; either way will work. Last step: start from the top end of the bag and fold the bag into quarters, making sure the leadingedge panels are parallel to the fold to keep them flat.

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XCERTINA MK II  The Xcertina MKII bag has an extra Velcro and mesh sleeve built in to hold your leading edge a little snugger. It also has clip near the bottom of the bag for riser attachment. Available at http://www.xcshop.com/ Sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Small, Large Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yellow w/ Black Mesh Weight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 oz.

Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $69.95

AIRWAVE MAGIC BAG  The Airwave bag is the lightest and smallest of the group when compacted. Available at http://www.eagleparagliding.com/

Sizes. . . . . . . . Short (2.3m), Long (3m) X Long (3.9m) Color. . . . . . . . . . Grey with blue logo & black mesh Weight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 oz.

Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $69.00

FLYGEAR ACCORDION BAG  The Flygear has a well-designed pouch within the bag for placement of risers and lines, a great feature if you unclip your harness each time. Available at http://www. flygear.us/ Sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Small (110"), Large (116") Color. . . . . . . . . . . . Red and black with grey mesh Weight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 oz.

Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $79.00

GIN CONCERTINA BAG  The Gin has extra protection built in to clip in leading edge. This bag keeps the glider a little more compact than the others. Available at http://www.superflyinc. com/catalog/ Sizes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . One Size Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yellow Weight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 oz.

Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $65.00 26

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

to HIGH PERFORMANCE

PART 3 : High Performance Harnesses

Florida | Photo by Jeff Shapiro

TRANSITIONING

by DENNISPAGEN

The last couple months we looked at how least six lines or ropes in addition to the because tight is right. Our advice: get a friend to help you with the measuring to safely and painlessly move up to high mains.

The back plate feature normally has because unless you’re a contortionist it’s performance topless gliders. But to realsome sort of slider mechanism so that the hard to get a true reading (and if your ize the maximum performance potential position of the pilot’s center of gravity can friend is of the opposite sex, who knows of these gliders, most pilots opt for a high what may develop). Many harnesses have be altered relative to the harness’ main performance harness as well—when the afwide front zipper Velcro that allows for straps.

This slider lets the pilot hang more tershocks in their bank account have settled head down or up, and also allows some some girth adjustment—a nice feature out. The thinking is: what’s the use of dragamount of rocking up to a more vertical for those on yo-yo diets. ging around in a saggy old sack with enough position for landing (more on this below).

An important point to note is that all lines to rig a paraglider when you have a Hi-per harnesses often have a faired the top harnesses house the parachute on glider set to stun in your hands? Why settle tailpiece, a faired parachute container the side rather than in front.

The reason for a partial redo when you have the means placed on the side and sometimes other is simply for drag reduction—a lot of to go whole hog? If you’re gonna go, go all fairings such as for head and shoulders drag reduction.

In fact, it is this author’s the way.

But the new harnesses have their own or underarms. All of these features add belief that if you don’t want your paraunique demands that every pilot should cost and complexity, of course, but they chute on the side, it isn’t worth getting understand before jumping into them. To are worth it to the performance minded a top-of-the-line harness. Here’s the pros and cons: harness in front gives you better avoid surprises or worse, an eager pilot with (obsessed!) pilot. belly flop crash protection. Also, the paraa new harness should know the details of the chute handle may be easier to locate in an differences. We review them here.

THE SETUP  First we’ll look at the inciemergency.

Parachute on the side reduces dentals such as how the harness fits and drag, as implied, and also allows a lower WHAT IT IS  A high performance (hi-per) its setup. The whole idea of a high perforhang.

You can lower yourself as much as harness is a sleek body glove intending to mance harness is a tight fit, a minimum four inches when you move the parachute smooth out the airflow around the pilot number of protruding pockets, fairing from your chest.

This lowering results in while providing good long-term com- in of all bulges and maintaining a flying lighter roll forces, which is very desirable fort for those record or extended flights. position aimed directly into the airflow. on high performance gliders since they To do all of the above, most hi-per har- Low drag is the quest and the secret to tend to be stiffer than intermediate glidnesses incorporate a backplate that helps better glide performance. ers.

Maybe lighter roll forces can be consupport the body while allowing fewer So you want your harness to fit tightly. sidered a safety enhancement that offsets external lines. Some hi-per harnesses If you fly in colder weather, it will have to merely use main risers, although more accommodate your coat and woolies, but the loss of crash protection, who knows?

This whole matter of hang position commonly they will also have a shoulder don’t get it too big. Usually a hi-per harneeds a little looking at. It would be nice if line. Contrast this with the harnesses on ness manufacturer will ask for quite a few we could all agree on a hang position and the next tier down that usually have at measurements before making the harness, August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

27

be done with it, but different folks like different slopes. Be that as it may, there is one ideal hang position: tilted slightly head downward so the body is perfectly aligned with the airflow. A pilot can achieve this ideal position from slightly different hang strap lengths simply be having his or her chest closer or further from the base tube. There’s the difference in flying styles. It is important for every pilot flying a hi-per harness to set the hang strap length for the glider and flying style so the ideal position is achieved or it’s a waste of money to buy the harness, drag being what it is. Sometimes it is helpful to buy a harness from the glider manufacturer for they have already worked out the desirable angle of the dangle for their equipment.

One other matter to set up is the leg strap length (most of them are adjustable).

You may be tempted to snug them up, but that action restricts your run. More importantly, tight leg straps hinder your dropping down into a semi-squatting uptilted position for landing. On the other hand, too loose leg straps let you drop too

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low and the flare action isn't as effective.

About 2 inches between your leg and the leg strap seems about right, but you may have to experiment a little for the best setup for your physiology.

Here are a few more incidentals to apprise you of the joys of owning a hi-per harness. First off, they weigh more due to the back plate design. They normally have a slider mechanism that requires more hardware and thus poundage. Secondly, they don’t fold up into as small a package.

The back plate is the reason for their larger folded length. Finally, when you are wearing them and walking around the longer tailpiece (necessary for fairing in the feet) invariably drags on the ground. You look and feel like an alligator storing winter fat in it’s tail. Most of these harnesses have some form of protection on the tailpiece, but every one I have ever used or seen eventually wears through. I have solved this problem on my own harnesses by coating the area with silicon glue. So far I haven’t had to replace or redo it.

Here’s a pro-tip: the conical boots on most hi-per harnesses are ideal for stor-

ing a roll of “mountain money,” known as toilet paper to the layman.

FLYING THE HI-PER HARNESS  We already mentioned the tail-dragging aspect of high performance harnesses. Some of them (including mine) actually inhibit you from standing perfectly vertical. On launch this feature may appear to be disconcerting, but in fact, it soon becomes unnoticeable since you should normally be leaning forward a bit as you start your run. The hi-per harness forward lean goes naturally with the grapevine grip. These harnesses do not block your running any more than does other style pod harnesses on either takeoff or landing. Within just a few flights the feel will become the new normal.

Right after launch we have to get our legs into the harness boot to zip up. You will be pleasantly surprised to find that with a full backplate harness this action tends to be easier than older harnesses without back plates. That’s because the boot is held up in near flying position and it remains fairly open. No flopping

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

KEEP YOUR EYE ON ASPEN. around of the boot. If you are a bit busy right after launch scratching up, it is easier to relax with your feet in the boot even though you haven’t zipped up. These are all plus features.

On the other hand, you may find that a hi-per harness takes a bit more effort to zip closed. The main reason for this result is that the boots tend to be tighter. In fact, many of them come with knee pads. My advice is to toss them out (they are usually held in with Velcro or a cloth pocket). It will give you more room and prevent your back from arching so much. I don’t know who or why they were invented, but they seem to be one of those things that someone thought was cool and everyone else copied without really thinking as to why they are there. I have never found that removing the knee pads add to kneecap fatigue and anyway, I can’t zip up my harness with them in. You do plan on flying with your cover stuffed in the harness, don’t you?

So it’s time to close the harness boot with your legs inside.

You will find it easiest to do by pushing your legs straight to get your knees up. I give a good long pull on the zipper chord and let it go. Usually this gets the zipper half to two thirds of the way up unless I have silicon sprayed it recently. In any case, I usually need to reach down with a hand, grasp the zipper tag and finish the job. I don’t want to do this when I have just launched into the midst of a gaggle or I am scratching close, so sometimes it takes a while before I am clear enough to handle this job. In this case, I try to keep my knees up so I don’t put too much weight on the harness zipper, or repeated flights like this would wear and eventually break the zipper. If your hi-per harness doesn’t close readily, it’s better to leave it open until you have lots of clearance than it is to zip it part way. Whatever you do, don’t let harness-closing distractions make you lose the lift right after takeoff. All the performance in the world does you little good when you are on the ground, unless you are really good at spinning a story.

In flight the hi-per harness should feel fairly normal, at least once you get used to the tighter enclosure. Remember, it’s a body glove, so enjoy the mental image of your new aerodynamic bird body.

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tation to try to get too upright. To do so you have to climb the uprights and hold yourself there, which reduces your sensitivity to feel turbulent inputs and to feel the flare timing. Secondly, be aware that there is a tendency for the glider to slow quite a bit when you rotate to your partial upright position due to the fact that when you are tilted forward it is hard to pull the uprights back far enough. I find I have to consciously pull extra on the uprights when I rotate up or the glider will zoom. The zoom isn’t too much of a problem unless the air is turbulent and a stall can occur. Guard against it by holding the glider’s airspeed as you rotate. It is actually easier to do this if you let your final approach speed bleed off quite a bit in ground effect, LANDING  Here we arrive at the real difference in a hi-per harbut this practice is totally unsafe if turbulence can threaten to ness compared to those without back plates. Almost without spill you.

Remember, the upright position is a safety position if exception, the hi-per harness will keep your body tilted more unexpected ground contact occurs. downward than will other harnesses. This means that you will be leaning forward and cannot assume the upright position you I like to get upright early in a hi-per harness so I am not met may have been used to during final approach. What to do? The by surprises and I can maintain a steady control down to flare solution is to adopt a new perspective. Rather than thinking you time.

Personally, I feel a hi-per harness is easier to land in than have to be upright with your feet dangling down and perform any other type of harness, just because it holds me in a good flare a flare forward and up, rethink: now you will be leaning forposition.

Try ‘em, give ‘em time and I think you’ll like ‘em. ward, with your hands as high as you can get them comfortably So while I’m not trying to be a hi-per harness salesman, I am and your legs trailing. Then when it’s flare time, push mainly their advocate.

They have a few quirks and convenience penalforward. In your forward leaning position, the flare becomes ties, but also a good bit of performance and comfort rewards. upward once your body rotates with the glider and your legs With a grand or so of folderol you can be the proud owner of drop under you. In other words, you don’t do anything special the best there is in sleek body styling. Change yourself from and the flare is almost always in the correct direction because it a frumpy, drag king or queen into an aero facsimile of Cedric is aligned through your body for maximum weight shift backthe Entertainer.

Your self-image will be enhanced even if your wards. flying isn’t.

There are two caveats (warnings) here. First, avoid the tempAugust 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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XCSKIES.com

by KATRINAMOHR

I

t was one of the first flyable days of the season. A group of pilots were taking their time getting ready to launch from East Gros Ventre Butte in Jackson, Wyoming. For an hour the site’s homemade windsock fluttered steadily as the breeze came in perfect cycles up the hill. However, once everyone had laid out their wings, the wind suddenly shifted and started coming from the back. Helmets on, lines in hand, the group couldn’t avoid participating in an oftentimes frustrating offshoot of their sport: parawaiting. Most of the pilots sunk out that day. They watched from the ground as other pilots launched from a different butte and disappeared into the horizon, wishing they could’ve known that the wind was likely to change direction that afternoon.

It is impossible to predict the weather, but one website, XCSkies.com, is trying to help pilots make informed decisions on when and where to fly. XC Skies provides them with XC Maps, an interactive forecast tool that gives soaring conditions for most flyable loca-

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tions in the world. Unlike the plethora of free weather forecasts available on the Internet, Chris Galli, Jay Mace and Sally Benson created XC Maps specifically to provide consistent and reliable information for the soaring community in one cohesive website. Several years ago, Galli, a research associate at the University of Utah, and Mace, a Ph.D. meteorologist and associate professor at the University of Utah, both paraglider pilots since 1997, were planning a trip to Mexico and had little information about what to expect for flying conditions. Both realized an obvious need for global flying predictions for the soaring community, but in 2005 affordable computer servers were incapable of handling the data and generating the necessary processing power to create useful and timely forecasts at a resolution high enough for soaring pilots to use.

“When we started this project three years ago, Jay and I agreed that it was silly and impossible to try to parameterize soaring forecasts for every square kilometer on the planet,” Galli says. “Computers just weren’t

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

Three-day soaring forecast for a single location. This interactive map shows the time series of the winds aloft, and the predicted thermal tops and top of usable lift. Other overview parameters include low, mid and high cloud cover percentages as well as the estimated average thermal strength. Several different overlays can be reviewed, with this layer showing the Thermal Index analysis and winds aloft over the flatlands to the east of Chelan, WA. Review of these maps provide a detailed glimpse of the atmospheric stability across a single point over time.

Thermal updraft velocity predictions over central Colorado. XC Maps displays color contours of soaring parameters across any region. Multiple layers can be viewed at once and interactively investigated via Google Maps.

fast enough. But suddenly technology caught up to the idea and it was possible. XC Skies didn’t go online until spring of 2007 because it wasn’t until then that our application was able to provide predictions in a timely enough manner to be useful to pilots.”

This is how it works: XC Maps is an interactive internet application that contains visual layers of useful soaring parameters computed at one kilometer resolution in three-hour intervals for the next three days, taken from three global forecast models. These models are the Global Forecast System (GFS), a popular global model run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that can predict up to 16 days in advance, the North American Mesoscale Model (NAM), a continental model run

by National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) that can predict up to 84 hours in advance, and the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC), a one-hour forecast model also run by National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) that was designed

for weather-sensitive users, such as the soaring community, because of its short-term (0-12 hour) weather forecasts.

XC Maps acquire data from, and analyzes, the GFS once a day and the NAM and the RUC twice a day; a model run schedule is available on the website. The three models differ in their usefulness to pilots, depending on whether they are trying to plan a trip for the upcoming months, figure out where to fly over the weekend or what the flying conditions might be that evening. The GFS is best for getting global predictions and longer-range planning while the RUC is best for very short-term forecasts. The NAM falls in the middle, but it is not a global model and is only useful for getting predictions for North America.

The flying parameters included in the XC Maps application include four categories: thermal maps, cloud cover and weather maps, winds and turbulence maps, and surface temperature and surface flux maps. Some parameters are well-known to pilots and are forecasts

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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The top of usable lift along the Wasatch mountains near Salt Lake City, UT. Map layers can be made semi-transparent and smoothed to investigate Google terrain and satellite imagery geo-referenced to any given soaring parameter. Here the winds at the top of usable lift are also displayed with discreet numbers for easy review of the winds aloft for planning cross-country flights.

they probably already check when planning flights, but others are more experimental and are useful as supplements to create a better understanding of the overall weather pattern. All of the parameters are explained in greater detail on the XC Skies website.

Bill Belcourt, a paraglider pilot since 1989, says he used the National Weather Service websites in the past, but now he looks to soaring specific sites, such as XCSkies.com, because they are more detailed and tailored to the needs of pilots. He says the top three things he looks for in flying forecasts are: wind, lift and cloud formation.

“XC Skies does a pretty good job with those three things,” says Belcourt, who holds the paragliding open distance record of 151 miles in Utah. “The best days wait for nobody, so the maps have helped me prepare for the best long flights because I could identify early which days would give me the best chance. It also increases the chances of having a driver if you can get people organized in advance.”

“We’ve received feedback from pilots in places like China who are very happy to have any forecasts,” Galli says. “Before, they had nothing to go on, and some information is better than none. It may not be perfect, but it’s giving them a frame of reference and they’re forming a community and finding better flying sites because of this.”

Galli says the website will continue to evolve as the demand grows and more funds are raised to implement changes. Currently, Galli and Mace are working on creating more personal features such as, sending notifications of certain parameters in a flying site to a user by text or email and giving users more options for saving location and parameter preferences. XC Skies 32

has a group forum where users can discuss weather forecasts or post feedback about XC Maps, such as how accurate predictions were and features they’d like to see on the site. Overall, predictions have been accurate or at least useful, but Galli and Mace want users to know what the limitations of the models and XC Maps are so they don’t get the idea that what is shown on the maps is what is guaranteed to happen.

“XC Maps is another tool for pilots to use,” Mace says. “Use good flying sense. Most of the time the maps don’t capture the things that make flying dangerous. If XC Maps says it’s a fantastic flying day, you still can’t fly behind a ridge. Forecasts can’t supercede common sense or local knowledge. Look out the window. See what’s going on.”

Galli adds, “The forecast is going to be wrong somehow, but just how wrong is the question. You can never assume, because they’re predictions, not absolutes. Looking at one layer is not enough to make an informed flying decision.”

“The three major limitations of XC Maps,” Mace says, “are predicting valley flows, overdevelopment and shear layers. These extreme weather changes won’t show up on the maps because of how small in scale they are, compared to the scale of the models. The models are very good at showing large scale events and what is happening up high, but the important details pilots need to know can get lost because of topography and other highly variable data that goes into the models.”

“The model’s inability to detect these small-scale changes is a problem for pilots that won’t be resolved in the near future,” says Stan Trier, a Ph.D. scientist specializing in mesoscale convective systems research

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

Comparison of predicted cumulus cloud field over the Tibetan Plateau for a random day (June 6, 2008 6UTC) and the actual imagery captured by NASA’s MODIS AQUA satellite. In areas with little or no local forecasting, global forecast models can provide invaluable resources for winds aloft and other soaring parameters.

at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The model is unable to detect these smallscale changes for several reasons, including 1) its limited spatial resolution, which cannot represent important small-scale details in the terrain, and 2) errors and incompleteness in atmospheric observations that provide the initial condition for the model.

Trier says, “You could have the perfect model, but slight errors in the initial condition can amplify with time, leading to significant errors in the forecast. The models are doing a good job, considering there are very complicated small scales of motion going on that don’t have representation yet.” He adds that, “while overall, the models are very useful for weather predictions, their inability to resolve small-scale motions necessitates that human knowledge of the local weather be used to refine these forecasts.” Dennis Pagen, hang glider pilot since 1974 and paraglider pilot since 1989, agrees completely.

“I do use XC Maps and other weather forecast information for competitions, but I think a lot of people spend too much time looking at the weather instead of going out flying,” says Pagen, author of Understanding the Sky: A Sport Pilot’s Guide to Flying Conditions.

“Too much information inhibits the everyday pilot.

They’ll look at the lapse rate and it won’t be to their liking so they go mow the lawn, and they miss out while we’re skying out.”

He thinks that it’s important for pilots to develop a sense and understanding of the air and fly according to what they see and what they encounter instead of what they expect. Pagen says that looking in retrospect at trek and GPS logs in comparison to weather reports is a great teaching opportunity. “The sharing of flights

is good to help form a sense of community and jealousy,” he says.

As far as the future of XC Skies and the technology it utilizes, Galli and Mace agree that it’s difficult to tell what technology will give them. However, they think that the website in general could be a fantastic tool for local and global flying communities. Whether it’s helping pilots in Jackson, Wyoming, pick the best flying site for the day or pilots in China find new flying sites in their area, XC Skies is providing a service that any pilot can use to enhance his flights.

“With XC Skies we really want to help create a strong flying community,” Galli says. “That can be defined in so many ways, but every pilot has weather in common. A place to meet in that commonality is very useful to the soaring community.”

ACCESS  To get access to XC Maps, simply sign up by creating a user name and choosing preferred settings such as wind units, default to English or Metric, and time zone, and then choosing a subscription option ($5 for a month, $20 for 6 months or $30 for a year). Galli said that subscriptions are necessary to maintain the XC Skies website and help improve the XC Maps application by enabling them to get faster computers with better data processing capabilities. He says the site would need to include lots of advertising if it were going to be free and that wasn’t an option they wanted to pursue. XC Skies also donates a portion of the subscription to a National Hang Gliding or Paragliding team of your choice.

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

33

9 REGION

YEAR OF THE

100 MILERS

by PETELEHMANN

A

fter several abominable cross-country seasons, Region Nine (Washington, DC, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia) finally experienced an abundance of long flights in 2007, including seven hundred-mile flights. If one could complain, it would be that the best regional cross-country flying of 2007 was remarkably concentrated during a few weekends in the spring—only one truly long flight occurred later in the year. In fact, the concentration can be narrowed further to one extraordinary day, April 29, at which time four hundred-mile flights were made from two Virginia sites. Still, there were three other days with hundred-mile flights to round-out an unusually fruitful cross-country year.

OPEN CLASS  The longest flight of the year is Nelson Lewis’ 135miler from Tobacco Row, VA, to near Lasker, NC. It is Nelson’s longest flight in the East and continues his long tradition of excellent cross-country flying. As the flight has been described previously, I will simply recap its highlights. The day began promisingly with early cumulus development; however, the cumies soon overdeveloped and began to shade the vicinity of launch. When the clouds finally broke-up, the resulting sunshine brought howling winds. Fearing that the day would be blown-out, Nelson and his companions had to wait until 1:30 p.m. for the winds to back off enough to permit safe launches.

Two other pilots who launched with Nelson—Steve Kepler and John Harper—also flew over a hundred miles. One after the other, the three of them climbed off the ridge in 700fpm lift, getting above 7,000msl before heading over the back. Steve left first, followed by John and Nelson, flying together. In varying degrees and combinations, the three of them flew together for about eighty miles, although Nelson eventually got out in front and never saw the others after the fifty-mile point. In the end, Steve landed near 35

9 [previous page] Paul Tjaden. [below] John Simon on tow. [opposite] John Rowan launching his Sport 2 at Spruce Knob, WV.

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Emporia, VA, good for 109 miles and fourth place in the contest, while John landed on the North Carolina border for 103.3 miles and sixth place. Noteworthy is the fact that Steve’s hundred-miler was the only one flown with a king-posted glider, a Moyes Litesport 4.

It should also be pointed out that not only did Nelson make the year’s longest flight, he was also the Region’s only pilot to make two hundred-mile flights.

The other flight of 103 miles was made in frigid conditions from Tobacco Row on the remarkably early date of March 18. It was 30 degrees at launch, and Nelson got to 8,900msl where the temperature would have been in the neighborhood of zero F. He had quite a year!

The year’s second longest flight, and the only big flight achieved outside the narrow March-May window, was Larry Bunner’s July 21st, 123.1-mile flight from the Sac to the Highland Aerosports Flightpark in Ridgely, MD. Following in the footsteps of a past pioneering flight made by Ric Niehaus, Larry launched in the mountains, crossed the Pennsylvania coastal plain, and then departed the North American mainland and flew down the DelMarVa Peninsula. The flight took a bit over five hours, but could have been substantially longer as he had topped out at 5,800msl shortly before deciding to detour back to land at the flight park. The flight was an interesting lesson in thermal generation.

After launching in the mountains of Pennsylvania, Larry experienced an unusually strong summer thermal, averaging 548fpm, which got him to 7,000msl.

But by the time he made it out into the coastal flatlands, the climbs seldom averaged better than 300fpm and topped out at an average of 5,500msl. Mountains do have their virtues.

Placing third in the contest was John Simon, who may have made the year’s toughest hundred-miler, flying what is, in some respects, the reverse of Larry Bunner’s above-mentioned flight. On May 23, John towed up at the Highland Aerosports Flightpark in the company of Paul Tjaden. Together they worked their way 45 miles due north to escape the confines of the DelMarVa Peninsula. Upon reaching the mainland, they began a gentle bend to the northeast in the direction of Allentown, PA. Their flight saw only moderate climbs (averaging 250-300fpm), and they were seldom much above 5,000msl. However, the lift was reliable

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

until late in the day when they got into some wooded terrain in Pennsylvania. Up to this point, they had been swapping the lead as first, one, and then, the other, would get ahead. But John was leading when the two of them finally got low, and Paul landed at 93 miles. John was last heard from radioing from 1,000agl that he, too, would soon land. However, he didn’t land; instead, he found a 100fpm climb that soon turned-on and got him to 5,300msl. After four and a half hours in the air, John eventually landed at a golf course with the new Ridgely site record of 109.8 miles.

Finally, adding insult to his having scraped-off Paul in the boondocks, John and his glider were driven to the clubhouse where he was toasted as a conquering hero, while Paul sat alone in a bug-infested field to contemplate life’s injustices.

In fifth place with a straight-line flight of 107 miles was Tom McGowan, who flew his Litespeed from Woodstock to the Blue Sky Flight Park in Manquin, VA, on the fabled April 29. Readers of my earlier article on Region Nine’s spring contest may remember that Tom’s flight was described there as being 143.6 miles long. The reason for the different measurements is that the longer distance represents the sum-total of all the legs flown by Tom, whereas 107 miles is the single longest straight line distance between two points.

Tom’s flight was not a random event. It had been planned by two of his friends, Hank Hengst and Bruce Engen, and the three of them all began the flight together. Unfortunately, Bruce was scraped-off when he couldn’t find a climb to cross the Blue Ridge to get into the coastal plain. Hank did get across the

Blue Ridge with Tom, and was doing the better job of finding lift. However, since he didn’t have a goal waypoint in his GPS, he was floundering in his navigation. After Hank found Tom some needed lift, Tom ungratefully scraped him off and continued on to his declared goal. Still, Hank had an excellent flight of 65.6 miles.

The seventh and last of the hundred-milers was my 101.9-miler from Templeton, PA, to McConnellsburg, PA, on May 19. The day began with some of the best xc conditions I have seen in 24 years of Region Nine cross-country flying. Two of the first three thermals averaged about 750fpm over four-thousand-foot climbs, which is extremely rare in the East. Just as beneficial was the fact that cloud base was above 9,000 msl. I was certain I could achieve my dream of making it to the Atlantic Coast since I had a ripping tailwind as well.

Unfortunately, 70-miles on-course, and at 9,000msl, the dream dissolved when I encountered a completely overcast deck that eventually put me on the ground.

Still, the flight was a quick hundred-miler, taking only 2:37 from the beginning of my climb off the ridge.

FIFTY-MILE CLASS  Pat Halfhill, who launched behind me on his manly, pig-sticker Sport2-175FB, also exploited the excellent conditions on the day of my long flight. Getting to 8,500msl in lift that touched 1,000fpm,

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

“I was certain I could acheive my dream of making it to the Atlantic coast since I had a ripping tailwind...”

37

[above] Chris Thale launching a Falcon from Henson's Gap, TN | photo

by Harry Lewis. [below] Pat Halhill on tow.

38

Pat attained a personal best 79.9 miles that put him in ninth place overall, and in first place in the Fifty-Mile Class.

The second place flight was Hank Hengst’s 65.6mile flight made on April 29 in the company of Tom McGowan on the flight to Manquin. Hank made his crossing of the Blue Ridge in good shape and got very high over the flatlands beyond it. However, he then experienced the agony of an uninterrupted 8,000ft descent to land at Lake Anna, VA. Still, it was a fine flight, and his longest ever.

Taking third place was Craig Hassan, a new face from southwestern Ohio. In late September, he flew 43 miles off-tow from Careys, a site near Cincinnati, on his Wills Wing Sport2. Craig experienced exceptional lateseason conditions that got him to nearly 7,000msl. He is one of four pilots from that area who entered flights in the contest, reminding those of us in the Region’s eastern parts that there is hang gliding west of the mountains. It’s especially noteworthy that three of those pilots are either new or returning pilots who are just embarking on xc adventures with their eminently suitable Sport2s.

It’s refreshing to have Hang 3 cross- country pilots entering

flights in this contest.

THE RIGID FLIGHT  The one rigid-wing flight registered

is good enough to warrant inclusion in this overview of the Region’s xc flying. Christian Titone flew his Millenium 63.4 miles southeast from Ridgely across the DelMarVa Peninsula to Snow Hill, MD. It was an almost effortless flight, attaining over 6,000msl at one point. Christian was only once below 4,000msl before deciding to land to ease the retrieve for his girlfriend Debra.

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

Photo by Jeff O'Brien

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

41

BALI

M

atty Senior, my flying buddy who ing September, I jumped at the chance to grew up in Australia, has been join him. A dozen Seattle area paraglider surfing the Indonesian Island of pilots and I spent ten days flying Bali. For Bali for fourteen years and flying Bali for some, it was their first time overseas. For five. Last summer, when he told me about others, it was the most exotic place they’d the good soaring conditions in Bali, and ever been. For all of us, it was the trip of a that he’d be guiding pilots there the follow- lifetime.

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Bali

Bali is a beautiful, chaotic, and an exotic place to visit. From its lush, green hillsides covered with terraced rice-paddies to its ancient, intricately carved Hindu temples, Bali has everything the sightseeing traveler could want. But it’s the great ridge-soaring that makes it one of the best destinations

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

by HEATHERST.CLAIRE for the traveling glider pilot. If you ever get the chance to fly Bali, you won’t be disappointed. It’s a paragliding paradise where you can fly for hours daily.

Like Hawaii and other South Pacific islands, Bali is blessed with predictable trade-winds that are steady, warm, and per-

fect for ridge-soaring. At the beginning of the trip, we flew at Timbis, a coastal ridgesoaring site along the southern tip of Bali.

After a leisurely start to the day— enjoying breakfast by the pool, getting a massage, or “playing” on the amusement-park-sized waterslide in our resort hotel—we made the ten-minute drive to launch. By late morning, the smooth trade winds began to flow in from the Indian Ocean and continued until after sunset on most days—making it possible to soar for hours. Even after sunset, there was abundant lift.

Timbis is located near the center of the southern tip of Bali, on the Bukit Peninsula.

The cliff-launch creates a challenge, as the light wind creates a pressure band that makes it tough to control the rotation of the wing of the glider. However, help is at hand. Local instructors have trained Balinese men, who have more kiting experience than most of us, to assist pilots on launch (even though they are too scared to fly). For a small price, they are right where you need them to grab the correct line/riser or provide ballast to launch, and, at the end of the day, to fold up your wing and pack your gear. If you land on the beach or hang your wing in one of the trees near launch, they are on their way to haul your gear back up or get it out of the tree for you. Several Balinese women come to launch each day bringing coolers full of drinks and ice, which is a good thing to have in the hot Balinese sun. I truly felt pampered.

Flights were awesome, with eleven miles of coastline to soar—from Uluwatu on the western tip of the Bukit Peninsular to the

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

[main) Soaring over seaweed farms. [bottom from left] Soaring the tradewinds | Temple monkey | Above the Nikko hotel | Post-flight massage.

spectacular Nikko Resort on the eastern tip. The ridge is lined with luxury houses and hotels, as well as Hindu temples, many of which are frequented by wild monkeys.

On one flight alone, I counted over 20 monkeys scampering over a temple.

Local seaweed farmers harvest seaweed from the shallow waters below launch, creating a spectacular patchwork of seaweed that resides below the tide. Because of the clarity of the water below, we could spot dolphins, sea cows, manta rays, and giant turtles as we soared.

The next site we flew was located in Candi Dasa, a two-hour drive to the northeast. Candi Dasa is a southeast-facing mountain on the coast. It’s about 1000feet high and different from Timbis in that you can’t drive to launch. It's a nice hike up the hill that passes through a Hindu temple that belongs on the set of Raiders of the Lost Arc. Here, we hired local people to carry our gear up the hill; it was quite nice to hike without my pack in the 80plus-degree heat. This area of Bali is very lush, replete with rice farms terraced up the hillsides and coconut palms as far as the eye can see. Launch at Candi Dasa would have seemed spacious if it hadn’t been for the 10-15 locals hanging-out to watch all of us take-off. After landing on the mile-long, black sand beach, we were greeted with a warm welcome by the local kids.

We took a day off and journeyed up the

43

coast to check out Bali’s number one diving and snorkeling spot at Tulumben—where there’s a 400-foot US WWII shipwreck sunk close to shore.

After flying Candi Dasa and Timbis, we decided to hike and try to fly a volcano so we moved on to Lake Batur to stay one night. Well, nearly one night. Local guides knocked on our room doors to wake us at the unwelcome hour of 3:30 a.m. By 4 a.m. we had begun our hike up Mt. Batur to watch the sunrise. Pilots hike up not only to watch the sunrise, but also to arrive on launch before it gets blown-out. Again, we were fortunate in being able to hire local men and women to carry our gear. At this hour, walking in the path of our headlamps, we didn’t talk much. It was a pleasant, quiet hike in the cool pre-dawn morning. We reached the top in time to see a gorgeous red sunrise. Looking east from Mt. Batur (5600 ft), we could see the even larger Mt. Agung (10300 ft). What an amazing and breathtaking view at sunrise!

Mt. Batur is still an active volcano with steam rising out of the earth—steam hot enough to cook eggs. Because the winds were strong, only a handful of pilots flew, while the rest of us hiked back down. The beauty of the sunrise made the hike worthwhile, and with Timbis only a few hours away, we were still able to fly later that day for hours.

The flying on this trip was the most relaxing paragliding airtime I have experienced. One of the reasons I fly is to reach the state of peacefulness and calm that only comes from getting my feet off the ground.

Flying in Bali provided such tranquil/serene conditions (the air, the sights, the sound of the ocean), it was easy to reach that peaceful state. Many other experiences on the trip were nearly as incredible as the flying—sunrises, sunsets, snorkeling/diving, wandering through beach caves, watching native ceremonial dances, moonlight fires on the beach with good friends. Words and photos cannot recreate the marvel of it all.

I definitely plan to return to Bali. There are many things I still want to see and do. For such a small place, it has so much to offer.

Bali is definitely paragliding paradise!

[top left] Pre-dawn hike-and-fly, Mt. Batur. [left and opposite] Above the cliffs of Bali.

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NORTH CAROLINA

Spreading Our Wings

by MARGOTSTARBUCK

I

n fifth grade, my best friend Melody dreamed that one day she would fly.

Seven years later, in celebration of our high school graduation, we actually did. To the distress of our parents and the envy of our friends, we spent the last semester of our senior year planning a road trip adventure from our suburban Chicago home to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to go hang gliding.

Okay, to call it “planning” might be a bit of a stretch. We pretty much planned our outfits.

CAUTION: PARENTS ON BOARD Our original plan was to travel across the country on bikes because of the totally cool biking shorts we’d designed. When our parents balked at that dangerous idea, we compromised by offering to drive one of their cars. Truth be told, I secretly had some concerns about whether or not I would be able to hang glide after biking one thousand miles. And we always could wear the cool shorts on the dunes. As soon as biking was off the table, the parent team 46

switched tactics. “Do you know how many high-tops that reached halfway up our legs. people get killed in car accidents?” Mel’s They totally rocked. Mel’s were grey and mom demanded. pink and mine were neon-orange.

We silently suspected car accident fataliOkay, yes, I looked like a couple of trafties were probably neck and neck with hang fic pylons. But I was very safe. The release gliding ones, but we wisely kept our big form asking you to sign your life away gave mouths shut. The trip should have taken me pause. It asked for my weight. Though about sixteen hours. Thirty-six hours after we left, we had arrived at the Outer Banks.

FUN IN THE SUN Our first priority when we arrived was getting to the beach. Moments after we’d dipped into the icy-cold Atlantic, a couple of guys strolled up and offered to show us how to body surf. I only could assume that was how guys in North Carolina picked up girls. After two or three waves, I had so much sand in my swimsuit that Superman couldn’t have picked me up.

In the morning, we showed up at Kitty Hawk Kites for our first hang gliding lesson. In addition to sporting stylish airplane-shaped earrings, in honor of Orville and Wilbur, we wore some crazy Converse August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

I normally had no particular scruples about fudging a little bit on the digits, this didn’t seem like the moment for creative math.

I wanted to make sure they knew exactly how much weight that kite was going to have to carry.

The beginner’s hang gliding manual provided in our brief training course promised: “Over 50,000 students have been taught safely.” Well of course! Watching the video in the classroom was a piece of cake. It’s not the training that’s the problem. It’s the actual falling out of the sky and crashing to the ground that’s unsafe. Trust me on this.

FLYING HIGH While sporting attractive day-glow crash helmets, Mel and I were harnessed into a shoulder-to-buttocks safety diaper and forced to trudge up what felt like a particularly steep sand dune. “Don’t they have a chair lift?” one student wondered.

Now there’s a good idea, I thought. Right about then I was feeling pretty happy that I hadn’t cycled one-thousand miles to get to that lesson.

Our instructor, named Tyson, was really cute. While Tyson was coaching Mel, the wind picked up and started to blow her away like Dorothy on her way to Oz. (Poor thing, with her petite figure she’d always been gravitationally challenged.) It was hysterical. Thankfully, Tyson grabbed her wires and proceeded to fly her. Like a kite.

“Did you notice he was holding onto the wires on our hang gliders the whole time?” she asked later, unable to mask her excitement. “Yeah. I’m not sure that means what

you think it does. It might just mean we’re bad.”

GONE TO CAROLINA If we were bad, I was baddest. After Four lessons, 2097 miles, 17 bruise clusters launching from the top of a dune, I flew and 112 photos later, we’d arrived back at about forty feet in the air, parallel to earth, home in Illinois. When we pulled into town before plummeting head first toward the at 10:30 on Saturday night, we stopped by ground. With the nose of the glider wedged several of our friends’ homes to show off firmly in the sand, I hung there helplessly a little. All right, a lot. No one was really by my safety-diaper until I was rescued. It quite as impressed as we were. was completely humiliating.

Our hang gliding adventure before leavFilled with compassion, Mel ran over ing for college turned out to be a great way to console me. Explaining how the glider for these two birds to leave the nest. blocked most of her view she explained, “All I could see were two little flesh sticks, Margot Starbuck is a writer and speaker who has now made her home in the state with shoes and socks on the end. “I feel like where flight was born. Although she is something in a microwavable dinner.” forced to drive a minivan, which is admitMy only comfort from that particutedly less than adventurous, at least North lar crash is that I was allowed to keep the Carolina license plates have a picture down tube that I broke with my forearm. of Kitty Hawk on them. Learn more at Free souvenir!

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

www.MargotStarbuck.com.

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F R ELIX

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ODRIGUEZ

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

Q&A

by NICKGREECE photos by OLIVIERLAGUERO

F

elix Rodriguez spins, stalls, and tumbles from the sky with effortless precision. Along with his older brother, Raul, who was fourteen at the time, Felix started flying when he was twelve at his father’s school in Granada, Spain. Together, they have won the Aerobatic World Cup in Villeneuve six consecutive times. Rarely in any sport does an athlete so convincingly dominate their sport—let alone, two at the same time! A founding member of the infamous SAT team, Felix is no stranger to films and acro events worldwide. He recently jumped on board with Ozone paragliders and helped design a new wing that has been named after him. Even though Felix is blind in one eye, he hasn’t been slowed down a bit. I caught up with Felix on the beach in Tenerife where he was resting in between impressive acro laps at Flypa 2007.

When did you start flying acrobatics?

“After Raul returned from the 1997 Paragliding World Cup in Venezuela where he saw Andi Hediger loop for the first time, we started to try acro on our own. I was in shock when I saw the pictures, and I knew I would definitely loop soon.”

What is your favorite part of the sport?

“The family of pilots that we all have. We have instant friends all over the world. We are all together and passionate about the same thing everywhere we go. It’s awesome! I love flying with others. When I fly alone, I have less fun.”

What one thing would you change in the world?

“I would like to have 18 months in a year so I could have some 49

50

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

Q&A extra time to go on holiday.”

What’s the best and worst thing that has happened to you in the last 12 months?

“The best was winning Villeneuve again this year. It was like succeeding in my final test at university. The pinnacle of my climb has been revealed and the pressure is off. It feels wonderful!”

And the worst?

“The worst was when I broke my back training for Villeneuve. A pilot must always respect flying at all times. I took for granted the strong wind in the landing field and slammed into a goal post doing a death-spiral. As it was only three months before the Acro World Cup, I thought I would miss the event. The doctors originally said a four-month recovery at minimum, so I got a second opinion and ended up leaving the hospital against doctors’ orders. I stayed in bed without moving for four weeks, then after seven weeks, I started walking a bit. Three weeks before the competition, I went flying for the first time and started with helicopters, as they have little g-force. Only two months after the injury, I went to a competition in Italy and won the solo and synchro events. I guess I was feeling better.”

Mosquito Power Harness

What’s your favorite move?

“Rythmic SAT. It is crucial for linking tricks together. It helps when I go from rhythmic to infinite tumble to helicopter. It is the glue.”

What advice would you give to someone who is trying to learn paragliding acrobatics?

“The way to learn is already a given. Go to other acro pilots and ask them for advice; hire them if you have to. Don’t go out there and try to learn on your own. I don’t keep any secrets from anyone. When the SAT team learns a new manoeuvre, we teach anyone who is interested to keep the spirit alive. We must teach and help each other—after all we are playing with our lives.”

If you were a car, what type would you be?

“Something that does everything. A Volvo 4x4. Something that can go fast but still have a lot of security for a family.”

Where do you see acro in the future?

“All over television. Acro is extremely conducive to the television format. It will make the sport bigger, maybe even help it get into the Olympic Games.”

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

Pilot: Paul Farina Photo: Greg Dewenter

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of the

The Jewel Flying Site

by THERESAEPPERSON 

I

t’s indisputable what a successful hang gliding but the alarm on the driver’s “What-the-?#$!” meter pilot “can’t do without.” The answer, of course, goes off. is their driver. Being a Driver 4 (D-4) for six A serious D-4 realizes the magnitude of the job, years has given me a unique perspective on the and subsequently departs the beloved mountain intricate habit-forming sport of hang gliding, and its last. The extended sentences I’ve spent on the hill pilots. make this D-4 an expert in hang-checks, as well as The character makeup of this extraordinary the greatest wire-person in the West. Bag pilots, do animal, the hang glider pilot, is apparent to a widenot fear. I’m also an accomplished line-clearer, and eyed onlooker. The pilot crouches down, sheltercracker jack wing-spreader. Why, if it weren’t for this ing himself from rain under a sopping wet glider. transport service, there’d still be 20 pilots struggling Clawing the side-wires, he fights the 20- mph back past Hang 3, and 50 mountaineering pilots ascendwinds to preserve. Peering over the fog-banked ing for their cars. A free-flight pilot without a driver launch, he declares, “I’m thinking it’ll be flyable is like a pilot without V.G.—neither is getting where soon.” This optimistic outlook is typical. they badly crave to go.

I have witnessed many artful articulations of From this vantage point, I am able to bestow sayings, such as, “They call this hang waiting,” and upon you the information needed to safeguard your the popular, “It’s better to be down here wishing you rare majestic D-4 dragon: were up there, than up there wishing you were down here.” Being well versed in this creature’s language 1. A Clean Car  No one enjoys digging through helps one interpret their behavior. For example, crumpled hamburger wrappers to unearth the gearshift.

“He was banking and cranking as he slipped a turn, stuffed the bar, ground effected in,’ til he threw up 2. Deep Appreciation  This can be demonstrated his arms and parachuted down.” Translation— the by opening a few of those beloved gates. A couple of pilot landed. It seems that birds-of-a-feather not only “thanks” over the radio tops it off. (Yes, a D-4 has a flock together— they also speak differently. ham license.)

Even with knowledge about this winged beast, certain behaviors are still questionable. Such as, why 3. Carry Snacks  An expert D-4 must be kept well does it celebrate the pre and post-storm conditions nourished, so bring treats. by leaping off mountains, eagerly anticipating the potholed airways? Its pulse races as it soars up a 1500 4. R&R  Due to reoccurrences of “ hang waiting,” feet-per-minute thermal—only to realize, like a great always provide a comfy camp chair for your driver. ride on any rapid, that the falls are soon to come. For a lo-o-o-ng split-second it free falls, until the chilling, 5. Perfect Patience  Never, ever complain when everything but the “ kitchen sink” is brought on a hang twang of the glider’s side-wires ring true. One wongliding trip. ders what goes through its mind when heading into a landing zone, starting the turn as the earth hurtles Use this information wisely, and you too will have past at 50 mph. It oddly draws in the bar to increase a happy driver. A content driver means more flights. speed. Just inches from the hard unforgiving surface, As for the extraordinary animal clawing the sideit lowers down the landing gear (its legs.) The pilot decelerates from 20 to 0 mph in two seconds flat. But wires, more flights mean a smarter and stronger pilot.

Fly safe and have fun. don’t worry; if the animal misses a beat, they cling to their down tubes. I’m not sure about their variometer, 52

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August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

GALLERY | JEFF O'BRIEN

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August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

Jeff O'Brien on the salt flats | photo by Adam West

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

ď ° Jeff O'Brien | As the magazine goes to print Jeff took 10th overall at the 2008 pre-worlds. Check out his amazing blog at http:// hang6.blogspot.com/ for more great shots, and stories of his travels. You can also support his competition pursuits by purchasing a full size poster of some of his photographic work.

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August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

Ed Levin, California | photo by Theresa Epperson.

DON’T MISS OUT. BE SURE TO RENEW.

If your USHPA membership expires on 8/31 we must receive your renewal by 8/15 or you will miss the September magazine. If your membership expires on 9/30 we must receive your renewal by 9/15 or you will miss the October magazine.

NO LONGER FLYING? Become a Contributing Member.

Participate in elections!

Receive the monthly magazine!

Application at

www.ushpa.aero/forms or call 1-800-616-6888

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Interested in joining USHPA? Download an application at www.ushpa.aero/forms or call 1-800-616-6888 August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

The Infinite I

by BENROGERS

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

still get quite scared and even completely terrified.

However, in the throes of flying back and forth with the birds, I forget the terror and realize something that little else can give me. I can’t articulate it, of course. The awesome intensity of a cloud’s perspective certainly overwhelms the pursuits of my trivial day to day existence.

We have short lives. You may realize love once in a while. Nature may show you God occasionally. But in flight you are often unwillingly stripped of your fears, and desires, and forced to gaze on the naked awesomeness of real life.

It seems true that when we are forced to confront our frail existence, and limited time here, the infinite presents itself for inspection. It’s a real challenge sometimes to even take a look.

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DISPATCH CALENDAR ITEMS will not be listed if only tentative.

Please include exact information (event, date, contact name and phone number). Items should be received no later than six weeks prior to the event. We request two months lead time for regional and national meets. For more complete information on the events listed, see our Calendar of Events at: www.USHPA.aero

September 14-20  Bishop, California. Owens Valley US Paragliding Nationals. Registration opens April 1. Contact: Kevin and Kristen Biernaki. More information: www.2008USParaglidingNationals.com.

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES - The rate for classified advertising is $10.00 for 25 words and $1.00 per word after 25. MINIMUM AD CHARGE $10.00. AD DEADLINES: All ad copy, instructions, changes, additions & cancellations must be received in writing 2 months preceding the cover date, i.e. September 15th is the deadline for the November issue. ALL CLASSIFIEDS ARE PREPAID. If paying by check, please include the following with your payment: name, address, phone, category, how many months you want the ad to run and the classified ad. Please make checks payable to USHPA, P.O. Box 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 809011330. If paying with credit card, you may email the previous information and classified to info@ushpa.aero. For security reasons, please call your Visa/MC or Amex info to the office. No refunds will be given on ads cancelled that are scheduled to run multiple months. (719) 6328300. Fax (719) 632-6417

PG August 9-10, September 6-7, October 4-6  Dunlap, Potato Hill and Owens Valley, California. 2008 Northern California XC League. $10/task for pre-registered pilots. Prizes awarded on Saturday nights. For more information email Jug at scpjka@ gmail.com, or go to www.santacruzparagliding.com.

HANG GLIDING ADVISORY: Used hang gliders should always be disassembled before flying for the first time and inspected carefully for fatigued, bent or dented downtubes, ruined bushings, bent bolts (especially the heart bolt), re-used Nyloc nuts, loose thimbles, frayed or rusted cables, tangs with non-circular holes, and on flex wings, sails badly torn or torn loose from their anchor points front and back on the keel and leading edges.

PARAGLIDING ADVISORY: Used paragliders should always be thoroughly inspected before flying for the first time. 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.

If in doubt, many hang gliding and paragliding businesses will be happy to give an objective opinion on the condition of equipment you bring them to inspect. BUYERS SHOULD SELECT EQUIPMENT THAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR SKILL LEVEL OR RATING. NEW PILOTS SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION FROM A USHPA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR.

Sanctioned competition PG July 28-August 2  Chelan, Washington.

Chelan Paragliding XC Open. Registration opens March 15, $285 by June 26, $325 after. More information: chelanXCopen.com.

HG August 2-9  Big Spring, Texas. Big Spring International. Registration opens April 15th. Entry fee is $325, late fees TBD. More information: www.flytec. com.

HG August 17-23  Lakeview, Oregon. Hang-on Hang Gliding Nationals. Registration opens March 15, $295. More information: mphsports.com.

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PG

Competition

HG PG July 27- August 2  Boone, North Carolina. 3rd Annual Tater Hill Open. XC and Race for paragliders and low performance hang gliders w/ concentration on new XC pilots. Registration opens April 1, $175 until August 1. Per day rate for weekend only.

More info: www.flytaterhill.com or contact Bubba Goodman at 828-773-9433.

HG September 28 - October 4  Dunlap, Tennessee. The 2008 Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge. Pilot check-in and registration starts Saturday September 27. Competition strategies with a focus on mentoring, and fun. More information: treetoppers.net.

HG PG October 31- November 2  Puebla, Mexico. Vuela Puebla 2008, Paragliding and Hang Gliding Open Championship. FAI/CIVL Category 2 Events.

Competitions will occur at same time at two different launches. Great flying, and cool colonial city. 75$ entry fee. More information: www.vuelapuebla.com.

Fly-Ins HG PG AUGUST 29 - SEPTEMBER 1  Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Please join the Storm Peak Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association for the fourth annual Airmen's Rendevous - Wild West Airfest. Fabulous flying, parties and awards. Bring the family to enjoy the many activities available in Steamboat Springs (hot springs, gondola rides, river activities, mountain biking, etc.). Tasks, T shirts and lots of airtime. Please contact any of us for info:; Mark Cahur, paramark1@ msn.com; Roberto Frias, robfrias@gmail.com; Debbie Funston, dkfunston@yahoo.com; Ken Grubbs, kengrubbs@msn.com; or look to links at rmhpa.org.

PG August 30 - September 1  Bend, Oregon. 18th annual Pine Mt. Fly-In. Pine Mt. is located 25 miles East of Bend Oregon. Come enjoy free flying, good food, a huge raffle, live music and your fellow pilots. Demo gliders, free camping, reliable conditions and fun daily tasks. For more information go to www. desertairriders.org or Contact Wade Holmes at wade. holmes@gmail.com.

HG

September 25-28  Chattanooga, Tennessee. Lookout Mountain. 2008 Women’s Hang Gliding Festival. Join us for a celebration of women in hang gliding. Beautiful mountain and aerotow flying, clinics, discounted training, fun flying tasks, raffle prizes, food, parties and camaraderie. Lots of non-flying activities for family members. Registration is Thursday afternoon. All female and male hang glider pilots welcome. More information: www.hanglide.com. Contact: Jen Richards, 706-398-3541 or fly@hanglide.com.

HG PG October 9-October 14  LA SALINA, BAJA Mexico. Third Annual Full-Moon “Fiesto Del Cielo” Fly-in at La Salina Flying Ridge. Intermediate equivalency ( and above) paragliding and hang gliding pilots welcome (others check first).

La Salina is Baja’s most diversified airsport venue with various glider launches and LZ’s. Launch from 700’ ridge, located 1⁄2 mile east of Pacific Ocean.

Soar for hours, climbing 2000 ft+ in strong thermals, and land on big/beautiful sandy beach, or cross country 30+ miles into wine country. Event sponsored by TEAM FLYLASALINA.com, and Bajabrent who will handle accommodations at his sandy beachfront B & B (complete with carpeted target LZ), or elsewhere. XC comp and flying task competitions Fri-Mon. More information: www.

FLYLASALINA.com or www.BAJABRENT.com , or call Bajabrent at 760-203-2658 or 01152-646155-4218 or email bajabrent@msn.com.

clinics, meetings, tours August 9-21  French and Swiss Alps. Join Rob Sporrer, Jamie Messenger, Bob Drury, Nick Greece, and our local guide and weather guru for amazing flying during what is typically the most consistent part of the Alpine summer. This annual tour to the Haute Alps, will be based in Grand Bornand, at our own flying lodge, we will work on cross-country flying strategies and tactics in the finest terrain imaginable. Every night eat five star meals after our debriefs. Plan on flying at least six different sites ranging from Grand Bornand to Interlaken depending on the weather. More information: http://eagleparagliding.com/?q=node/27#30.

August 28-30  Utah. Central Utah Thermal Clinic with Stacy Whitmore, Ken Hudonjorgensen & Bill Belcourt. Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@ gmail.com. More information: www.twocanfly.com.

SeptEMBER 6-8  Utah. Thermal Clinic at Utah flying sites with Ken Hudonjorgensen. Phone (801) 5723414, or email twocanfly@gmail.com. More information: www.twocanfly.com.

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

September 13-16  Ridge Soaring Clinic, near Grand Junction, Colorado. Otto's Ridge is an undiscovered ridge-soaring paradise. We soar above our tents in the morning, midday we tow up in building thermals, and in the evenings we enjoy glass-off flights. P-2 pilots will learn to ridge soar and tow up into thermals.

Details at http://www.parasoftparagliding.com/lessons/ridge _ soaring _ clinic.php.

September 23-28  Santa Barbara, California. Instructor Certification Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding. This three day clinic is open to basic and advanced Paragliding instructor candidates, and those needing recertification. More information: www.paragliding.com.

SeptEMBER 26-30  Bishop, California. XC GO FAR. Have you been dreaming of achieving your personal best flight...this might be the time to do it!!! Let me me help you. FLY THE OWEN’S VALLEY WITH KARI CASTLE. Three time world champion, umpteen time National Champion pilot in both hang gliding and paragliding. The fall is my favorite time of year for flying the Owen’s, let me show you around my backyard!! More information: karicastle@telis.net, or (760) 920-0748.

SeptEMBER 27-28  Utah. Mountain Flying and learning how to pioneer new sites with Ken Hudonjorgensen. Phone (801) 572-3414, or email twocanfly@ gmail.com. More information: www.twocanfly.com.

October 3-5  Santa Barbara, California. Instructor Certification Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding. This three day clinic is open to basic and advanced Paragliding instructor candidates, and those needing recertification. More information: www.paragliding.com.

OctOBER 8-12  Bishiop, California. Welcome to the Owens 1. Site intros, thermal and XC coaching. Great time of year for mellow conditions open to strong P2 - P4. FLY THE OWEN’S VALLEY WITH KARI CASTLE. Three time world champion, umpteen time National Champion pilot in both hang gliding and paragliding. The fall is my favorite time of year for flying the Owen’s, let me show you around my backyard!! More information: karicastle@telis.net, or (760) 920-0748.

October 10-31  Tapalpa, Mexico. Fly south this winter, Tapalpa offers world class, mellow to moderate thermal conditions. Improve your thermal and x-c skills with David Prentice. Lodging,transportation, and guiding included. More information: earthcog@yahoo.com, or (505)720-5436.

OctOBER 16-20  Bishop, California. Welcome to the Owens 2. Site intros, thermal and XC coaching. Open to strong P2 to P4. FLY THE OWEN’S VALLEY WITH KARI CASTLE. Three time world champion, umpteen time National Champion pilot in both hang gliding and paragliding. The fall is my favorite time of year for flying the Owen’s, let me show you around my backyard!! More information: karicastle@telis.net, or (760) 920-0748.

OctOBER 25-29  Bishop, California. Welcome to the Owens 3. New to thermals and flying XC this is for you. Enjoy some mellower and light XC conditions. FLY THE OWEN’S VALLEY WITH KARI CASTLE. Three time world champion, umpteen time National Champion pilot in both hang gliding and paragliding. The fall is my favorite time of year for flying the Owen’s, let me show you around my backyard!! More information: karicastle@telis.net, or (760) 920-0748.

November 5-30  Iquique, Chile. Join Luis Rosenkjer and Todd Weigand to fly the never ending thermals where the Atacama Desert meets the Pacific Ocean! As Co-Chilean Open Distance record holder (193 km) and Iquique Open Competition Champions, Luis and Todd have over 11 years of combined guiding experience in Iquique. Multiple tours for all levels and USHPA certified instructional courses available. Fly every day or get money back! Don’t believe us…. check out our program for more details! www.paraglidechile.blogspot. com www.atlantaparagliding.com.

November 7-9  Florida. East Coast SIV clinic. More information: earthcog@yahoo.com, or (505)720-5436.

November 8-16  Phoenix, Arizona. Come to warm Phoenix for some last flights before winter. Parasoft offers pilots rated P-2 and higher a chance to improve your skills in warm thermals. Fly into Sky Harbor on these dates and we will take you flying nearby. We have hotel, transport and guiding all arranged. Details at http://www.parasoftparagliding.com/travel/phoenix. php.

November 10-15  Florida Ridge. First annual East coast X-C team challenge. This event will be based around a X-C clinic to help pilots improve thermal, and X-C skills. Format: Five pilot teams will be formed to compete in classic task and open distance tasks. Each team will have an experienced mentor pilot. This is a tow launch event. Limit if 50 pilots. More information: earthcog@yahoo.com, or (505)720-5436.

NovEMBER 8-15 &/or NovEMBER 15-22  Iquique, Chile. Flying sites w/Ken Hudonjorgensen , Bill Belcourt and local guides. A great trip to what many pilots consider to be the best place to fly in the world.

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

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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November 21-23  Florida. East Coast SIV clinic. More information: earthcog@yahoo.com, or (505)720-5436.

December 5 - January 16  Valle De Bravo, Mexico. Fly south this winter! Improve your thermal and X-C skills with David Prentice World Class El Penon site, which is the launch for the 2009 world championships. Lodging, transportation, and guiding Included. More information: earthcog@yahoo.com, or (505)720-5436.

FLEX WINGS BRAND NEW MOYES SUPER SONIC 190 VG - Flies like a dream, hands off, perfect glider for a new pilot or just fun flying. Barely out of the bag with only 1 hour 40 mins air time and stored indoors. Absolutely no whacks!!

Beautiful dark blue under surface with bird log on top, spare set of down tubes and Moyes up-graded 1/8" side wires. Reason for sale - unrelated accident. $4,200 new, a peach at $3000 firm. Must see pictures available.

(702) 595-7190 or rhicks24@cox.net

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EVEN-UP TRADES - Looking to move up from your beginner or novice glider, but can’t put up cash? (262)473-8800, info@hanggliding.com, www.hanggliding. com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

FALCONS CLEARANCE SALE - School use, one season. Falcon 1s and 2s. All sizes $1,250-$2,500. (262)473-8800, info@hanggliding.com, www.hanggliding. com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

MR700 2002 LAMINAR 14M - Purple and Red. Excellent condition. Never whacked. Asking $2500. Michael 803-617-8206 UV PROTECTIVE TOPLESS GLIDER COVERS - Protect your sail while glider is assembled. Custom Cocoon Harnesses also. Chris Smith - Cloudbase Harnesses.

Since 1972. Email: ihangglide@hotmail.com, (423)653-0922.

WILLS WING XC 132 - Awesome glider for small pilot. Thermals beautifully. Excellent condition. Like new.

White Upper. Blue/White Under. Fin included. (423) 653-0922, ihangglide@hotmail.com

PARACHUTES INSPECTED RESERVES - For HG or PG $199+up.

Used Quantum, all sizes $475+up. Some trades accepted. (262)-473-8800, info@hanggliding.com, www. hanggliding.com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

BUSINESS & EMPLOYMENT NORTH WING DESIGN - is accepting applications for metal shop/wing and trike airframe mechanic. Also accepting applications for sail maker and sewing machine operator. Send App. To: 3904 airport way, E. Wenatchee, Wa. 98802 or Fax 509-886-3435 (www.northwing. com)

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HARNESSES COCOON HARNESSES CUSTOM FIT - UV Protective Topless Glider Covers. Protect your sail while glider is assembled. Chris Smith - Cloudbase Harnesses. Since 1972. Email: ihangglide@hotmail.com, (423)-6530922 HARNESSES - 5’0”-6’5”. Cocoons $125+up. High Energy Cocoons $200+up, Pods $200+up. Inventory, selection changes constantly. Some trades accepted.

(262) 473-8800, info@hanggliding.com, www.hanggliding.com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

SCHOOLS & DEALERS ALABAMA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the east coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com (404) 9313793 LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - The best facilities, largest inventory, camping, swimming, volleyball, more. Wide range of accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877)-426-4543, hanglide.com.

ARIZONA FLY HIGH PARAGLIDING.COM - over 10 years of experience, offers P-2 certification, tandem flights, towing, new and used equipment, the best weather to fly in USA. (480)-266-6969.

CALIFORNIA AIRJUNKIES PARAGLIDING - Year-round excellent instruction, Southern California & Baja. Powered paragliding, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier (760)-7532664, ` airjunkies.com.

EAGLE PARAGLIDING - SANTA BARBARA offers the best year round flying in the nation. Award-winning instruction, excellent mountain and ridge sites. www.FlySantaBarbara.com, (805)-968-0980 FLY ABOVE ALL - Year-round instruction in beautiful Santa Barbara! USHPA Novice through Advanced certification. Thermaling to competition training. Visit www. flyaboveall.com (805)-965-3733.

THE HANG GLIDING CENTER - PO Box 151542, San Diego CA 92175, (619)-265-5320.

MISSION SOARING CENTER - Largest hang gliding center in the West! Our deluxe retail shop showcases the latest equipment: Wills Wing, Moyes, AIR, High Energy, Flytec, Icaro. West Coast distributor for A.I.R. Atos rigid wings including the all-new VX Tandem Atos. Parts in stock. We stock new and used equipment. Trade-ins welcome. Complete lesson program. Best training park in the West, located just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Pitman Hydraulic Winch System for Hang 1s and above. Launch and landing clinics for Hang 3s and Hang 4s. Wills Wing Falcons of all sizes and custom training harnesses. 1116 Wrigley Way, Milpitas, CA 95035.

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

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

TORREY PINES GLIDERPORT - Come soar in San Diego! This family-owned and operated flying site offers USHPA certified instruction, advanced training, equipment sales, tandem flight instruction, motorized pg/hg instruction and site tours. We also have an extensive pg/ hg outfitting shop offering parachute repacks and fullservice repairs. Bring your family for our amazing sunsets and dining at the Cliffhanger Cafe. Importers for Paratech and Independence gliders. We also carry AustriAlpin, Center of Gravity, Crispi and Sup’Air. Check us out online for sales and questions at: www.flytorrey.com, or call toll-free at 1-877-FLY-TEAM (359-8326). Also, tune in to the Internet Paragliding Talk Show at www. worldtalkradio.com every Tuesday 9-11:00 a.m. (PST).

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

Train with professional CFI’s at world-famous Dockweiler Beach training slopes (5 minutes from LA airport.) Fly winter or summer in gentle coastal winds, soft sand and in a thorough program with one of America’s most prestigious schools for over 25 years. (818)-367-2430, www. windsports.com.

COLORADO AIRTIME ABOVE HANG GLIDING - Full time lessons sales and service Colorado’s most experienced! Offering foot launch, tow and scooter tow instruction. Wills Wing, Moyes, North Wing, AIR, Altair, Aeros, High Energy, Finsterwalder, Flytec, MotoComm, and more sold and serviced. Call for more info (303)-674-2451, Evergreen Colorado, Airtimehg@aol.com GUNNISON GLIDERS - Serving the western slope. Instruction, sales, service, sewing, accessories. Site information, ratings. 1549 County Road 17, Gunnison CO 81230. (970)-641-9315, 1-(866)-238-2305.

PEAK TO PEAK PARAGLIDING LLC - THE Front Range paragliding school, located in Boulder, Colorado. Offering excellent state-of-the-art instruction. Specializing in over the water & safety training. Equipment & tandems.

Phone 303.817.0803 Info@peaktopeakparagliding.com www.peaktopeakparagliding.com.

FLORIDA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the east coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com (404) 9313793 FLORIDA RIDGE AEROTOW PARK - 18265 E State Road 80, Clewiston, Florida (863)-805-0440, www.thefloridaridge.com.

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

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - Nearest mountain training center to Orlando. Two training hills, novice mountain launch, aerotowing, great accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877)-426-4543.

MIAMI HANG GLIDING - For year-round training fun in the sun. (305)-285-8978, 2550 S Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, Florida 33133, www.miamihanggliding. com.

WALLABY AEROTOW FLIGHT PARK - Satisfaction Guaranteed. Just 8 miles from Disney World. Year-round soaring, open 7 days a week, six tugs, no waiting, every direction. 50+ nice demos to fly, topless to trainer gliders: Laminar, Moyes, Wills, Airborne, Airwave, Exxtacy, La Mouette, Sensor; also harnesses, varios, etc. Ages 13 to 73 have learned to fly here. No one comes close to our level of experience and success with tandem aerotow instruction. A great scene for family and friends. 10 motels & restaurants within 5 minutes. Camping, hot showers, shade trees, sales, storage, ratings, XC retrievals, great weather, climbing wall, trampoline, DSS TV, ping pong, picnic tables, swimming pool, etc. Flights of over 200 miles and more than 7 hours. Articles in Hang Gliding, Kitplanes, Skywings, Cross Country and others. Featured on numerous TV shows, including Dateline NBC, The Discovery Channel & ESPN. Visit us on the Web: http://www.wallaby.com. Please call us for references and video. 1805 Dean Still Road, Disney Area, FL 33837 (863)-424-0070, phone & fax, fly@wallaby. com, 1-(800)-WALLABY. Conservative, reliable, stateof-the-art. F.H.G. INC., flying Florida since 1974

GEORGIA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the east coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com (404) 9313793 LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - Discover why 5 times as many pilots earn their wings at LMFP. Enjoy our 110 acre mountain resort. www.hanglide.com, 877hanglide, (877)-426-4543.

HAWAII FLY HAWAII - Hawaii’s hang gliding, paragliding/paramotoring school. Mauna Kea guide service. Most experience, best safety record. Big Island of Hawaii, Achim Hagemann (808)-895-9772, www.aircotec.net/flyhawaii.htm, flyaglider@yahoo.com.

ALOHA! ISLAND POWERED PARAGLIDERS/THERMALUP PARAGLIDING - The Big Islands only choice for USHPA certified instruction. Both free flight and powered tandems year round. Dvd of your flight included.

One on one lessons from our private oceanside launches and training facilities. Contact Yeti, (808)-987-0773, www.ThermalUp.com or www.IslandPPG.com. Aloha PROFLYGHT PARAGLIDING - Call Dexter for friendly information about flying on Maui. Full-service school offering beginner to advanced instruction every day, year round. (808)-874-5433, paraglidehawaii.com.

INDIANA CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - See Cloud 9 in Michigan

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

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NEW BO $3 OK! 2.9 !

5

MAINE DOWNEAST AIRSPORTS - paragliding & hang gliding instruction using tandems & scooter towing for easy safe learning. Quality equipment sales. www.downeastairsports.com, in _ a _ cloud@hotmail.com, Marc (207)244-9107.

MARYLAND

Order online at www.ushga.org/store or call 800-616-6888

for Airfoil

WHEELS

Basetubes

Raven Hang Gliding LLC (262) 473-8800 www.hanggliding.com

HIGHLAND AEROSPORTS - Baltimore and DC’s fulltime flight park: tandem instruction, solo aerotows and equipment sales and service. We carry Aeros, Airwave, Flight Design, Moyes, Wills Wing, High Energy Sports, Flytec and more. Two 115-HP Dragonfly tugs. Open fields as far as you can see. Only 1 to 1.5 hours from Rehoboth Beach, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia.

Come Fly with US! (410)-634-2700, Fax (410)-6342775, 24038 Race Track Rd, Ridgely, MD 21660, www. aerosports.net, hangglide@aerosports.net.

MARYLAND SCHOOL OF HANG GLIDING - Sales, service, instruction since 1976. Specializing in Foot Launch. www.mshg.com (410)-527-0975 Proudly representing Wills Wing, Flytec & Moyes

MICHIGAN CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - Aerotow specialists.

We carry all major brand hang gliders and accessories.

Cloud 9 Field, 11088 Coon Lake Road West, Webberville MI 48892. Cloud9sa@aol.com, http://members. aol.com/cloud9sa. Call for summer tandem lessons and flying appointments with the DraachenFliegen Soaring Club at Cloud 9 Field. (517)-223-8683, DFSCinc@aol. com, http://members.aol.com/dfscinc.

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

NEW YORK AAA MOUNTAIN WINGS INC. - New location at 77 Hang Glider Road in Ellenville next to the LZ. We service all brands featuring AEROS and North Wing. Contact (845)-647-3377, mtnwings@verizon.net, www.mtnwings.com, FLY HIGH, INC. - Serving New York, Jersey, and Connecticut areas. Area’s exclusive Wills Wing dealer. Also all other brands, accessories. Area’s most INEXPENSIVE prices! Certified instruction/service since 1979. Excellent secondary instruction! Taken some lessons? Advance to mountain flying! www.flyhighhg.com, (845)744-3317.

LET'S GO PARAGLIDING LLC - Paragliding flight school offering USHPA-certified instruction for all levels, tandem flights, tours, and equipment sales. More information: www.letsgoparagliding.com, (917) 359-6449.

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SUSQUEHANNA FLIGHT PARK COOPERSTOWN NY - 40 acre flight park. 160’ training hill with rides up. 600’ ridge-large LZ. Specializing in first mountain flights.

Dan Guido mailing address 293 Shoemaker Rd Mohawk Ny 13407 Home (315)-866-6153 cell (315)-867-8011 dguido@dfamilk.com

NORTH CAROLINA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the east coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com (404) 9313793 KITTY HAWK KITES - FREE Hang 1 training with purchase of equipment! The largest hang gliding school in the world. Teaching since 1974. Learn to fly over the East coast’s largest sand dune. Year round instruction, foot launch and tandem aerotow. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Ultralight instruction and tours. (252)-4412426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, www.kittyhawk.com

OHIO CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - See Cloud 9 in Michigan

PUERTO RICO FLY PUERTO RICO WITH TEAM SPIRIT HG! - Flying tours, rentals, tandems, HG and PG classes, H-2 and P-2 intensive Novice courses, full sales. (787)-850-0508, tshg@coqui.net.

SOUTH CAROLINA ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the east coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com (404) 9313793

TENNESSEE ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the east coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com (404) 9313793 LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - Just outside Chattanooga. Become a complete pilot -foot launch, aerotow, mountain launch, ridge soar, thermal soar. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877)-426-4543.

TEXAS AUSTIN AIR SPORTS - Hang gliding and ultralight sales, service and instruction. Steve Burns (512)-2360031, sburns@austinairsports.com. Fred Burns (281)471-1488, austinair@aol.com, WWW.AUSTINAIRSPORTS.COM. GO...HANG GLIDING!!! — Jeff Hunt. Austin ph/fax (512)-467-2529, jeff@flytexas.com,www.flytexas.com.

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

DISPATCH UTAH CLOUD 9 PARAGLIDING - Come visit us and check out our huge selection of paragliding gear, traction kites, extreme toys, and any other fun things you can think of.

If you aren’t near the Point of the Mountain, then head to http://www.paragliders.com for a full list of products and services. We are Utah’s only full time shop and repair facility, Give us a ring at (801)-576-6460 if you have any questions.

VIRGINIA BLUE SKY - Full-time instruction at Blue Sky Flight Park near Richmond. Scooter, platform and aerotowing available. All major brands of equipment, with Mosquitos and Doodlebugs in stock. Steve Wendt, (804)-241-4324, www.blueskyhg.com.

WASHINGTON AERIAL PARAGLIDING SCHOOL AND FLIGHT PARK - Award winning instructors at a world class training facility. Contact Doug Stroop at (509)-782-5543 or visit www.paragliding.us

WISCONSIN WHITEWATER HANG GLIDING CLUB-Hang gliding school and club using aerotow and scooter tow training.

We are open for the season.Contact Rik 608 206 9939 608 842 0480 Whitewaterhangglidingclub.com

INTERNATIONAL BAJA MEXICO - La Salina: PG, HG, PPG www.FLYLASALINA.com. by www.BAJABRENT.com, He’ll hook you up! site intros, tours, & rooms bajabrent@bajabrent. com, (760)-203-2658 BALI - Ridge soar in warm breezes over aquamarine surf for hours every day. 3 sites. Hike and fly an active volcano. Immerse yourself in exotic culture. Two 2-week tours in Sept. Experienced USHPA instructors with 16 years experience in Bali. mattysenior@yahoo.com (206)2082430 MEXICO - VALLE DE BRAVO and beyond for hang gliding and paragliding. Year round availability and special tours. Gear, guiding, instruction, transportation, lodging - all varieties for your needs. www.flymexico.com 1-(800)-861-7198 USA

PARTS & ACCESSORIES ALL HG GLIDERBAGS, harness packs, harness zippers and zipper stocks. Instrument mounts and replacement bands. Mitts, straps, fabric parts, windsocks, radios.

Gunnison Gliders. 1-(866)-238-2305 CRITTERMOUNTAINWEAR.COM is your one stop website for paraglider equipment and accessories. You can find a full line of backpacks, stuff tarps, flight suits, clothing, GPS and vario holders, flight decks, ballast containers, radio holders, tow bridals, windsocks, boots, helmets, hook knives, varios, wind speed meters and much, much more. Everything you need to have the ultimate day flying your paraglider. Critter Mountain Wear also imports and distributes lightweight wings and harnesses from Nervures. 1(800)686-9327

FLIGHT SUITS, FLIGHT SUITS, FLIGHT SUITS, Warm Flight suits, Efficient Flight suits, Light weight Flight suits, Flight suits in twelve sizes. Stylish Flight suits www.mphsports.com (503)-657-8911 FOR ALL YOUR FLYING NEEDS - Check out the Aviation Depot at www.mojosgear.com featuring over 1000 items for foot-launched and powered paragliding, hang gliding, stunt and power kiting, and powered parachutes.

24/7 secure online shopping. Books, videos, KITES, gifts, engine parts, harness accessories, electronics, clothing, safety equipment, complete powered paragliding units with training from Hill Country Paragliding Inc. www.hillcountryparagliding.com 1-800-664-1160 for orders only. Office (325)-379-1567.

GLIDERBAGS - XC $75! Heavy waterproof $125. Accessories, low prices, fast delivery! Gunnison Gliders, 1549 County Road 17, Gunnison CO 81230. (970) 641-9315, orders 1-866-238-2305.

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. ONLY $169. Mallettec, PO Box 15756, Santa Ana CA 92735. (949)-7950421, MC/Visa accepted, www.mallettec.com.

OXYGEN SYSTEMS – MH-XCR-180 operates to 18,000 ft., weighs only 4 lbs. System includes cylinder, harness, regulator, cannula, and remote on/off flowmeter. $450.00. 1(800)468-8185 RISING AIR GLIDER REPAIR SERVICES - A full-service shop, specializing in all types of paragliding repairs, annual inspections, reserve repacks, harness repairs.

Hang gliding reserve repacks and repair. For information or repair estimate, call (208)-554-2243, pricing and service request form available at www.risingair.biz, billa@atcnet.net.

TANDEM LANDING GEAR - Rascal™ brand by Raven, Simply the best. New & used. (262)-473-8800, www. hanggliding.com, info@hanggliding.com, http://stores. ebay.com/raven-sports.

WHEELS FOR AIRFOIL BASETUBES - WHOOSH! Wheels™ (Patent Pending), Moyes/Airborne & Wills Wing compatible. Dealer inquiries invited. (262)-4738800, www.hanggliding.com, info@hanggliding.com, http://stores.ebay.com/raven-sports.

MISCELLANEOUS WORLDWIDE INTERNET PARAGLIDING TALK SHOW — WWW.WORLDTALKRADIO.COM. Listen live or to the archives! Live Tuesday 9-11:00 a.m. (PST). Call toll-free, 1-888-514-2100 or internationally at (001) 858-268-3068. Paraglider pilots and radio hosts David and Gabriel Jebb want to hear about your stories, promotions/events or insight; they also take questions!

STOLEN WINGS AND THINGS STOLEN WINGS are listed as a service to USHPA members. Newest entries are in bold. There is no charge for this service and lost-and-found wings or equipment may be called in to (719)-632-8300, faxed to (719)632-6417, or emailed to info@ushpa.aero for inclusion in Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Please call to cancel the listing when gliders are recovered. Periodically, this listing will be purged.

GPS GARMIN 76 CSX. The last day of the Rat Race, after the track log information was downloaded, someone picked up my GPS from the table. It had white tape in the upper left corner with my pilot number 326 written on it.

If you discover that this GPS in your possession, please contact me at USHPA. Martin 800-616-6888. This GPS was borrowed from a friend, so it would be an enormous relief to have it returned.

HANG GLIDING INSTRUMENT FOUND on Tennessee Tree Topper site. Identify for return. JamesPAnde@aol. com STOLEN FROM THE ANDY JACKSON AIRPARK CALIFORNIA, MAY 14TH 2007. FALCON 195 #25038. Silver leading edge, red bottom surface white trailing edge. If found please contact Rob or Dianne through www.flytandem.com or (909)-883-8488.

GEAR STOLEN FROM MEXICAN PILOT IN MEXICO NIVIUK HOOK XXS (45-65Kg) wing, in orange and white, s/n C20664, and an Ava Sport XS harnes, in blue and black. The reserve is a Firebird R5 S; I don’t have the serial number of these last two. If this equipment is found, contact me pupitetris@yahoo.com or her directly: Vinda Levy, vindalev@yahoo.com +52(312)3097665

WINDSOKS FROM HAWK AIRSPORTS INC - 1673 Corbin Lake Rd, Rutledge, TN 37861, 1-800-826-2719.

World-famous Windsoks, as seen at the Oshkosh & SunN-Fun EAA Fly-Ins. Hawk@windsok.com, www.windsok.com.

PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS SOARING - Monthly magazine of The Soaring Society of America Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring flight. Full membership $64. SSA, PO Box 2100, Hobbs NM 88241.

(505)-392-1177, ssa.org.

REAL ESTATE 10 ACRES IN THE BEAUTIFUL LOST RIVER VALLEY, close to King Mt HG/PG site. Super glass-offs! Fenced.

Partial payment toward well/septic. Don @ 208-5542405.

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding – www.USHPA .aero

Stock up!

Order online at www.ushpa.aero/store or call 800-616-6888 73

August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

Salt Lake City, UT | photo by Jeff O'Brien.

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R A T

PARAGLIDING | APR 08 RTNG REGN NAME

CITY

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-2 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3 P-3

Bow Concord Mountain View San Clemente Los Alamitos Huntington Beach Evergreen Colorado Springs Albuquerque Phoenix Sandy Salt Lake City Denver West Jordan Casa Grande Linvingston Brattleboro Harpswell Pendleton Pendleton Charlotte Hoover Victoria Bc Prineville Redmond Talkeenta Sacramento San Francisco San Leandro Pleasant Hill Reno Mountain View San Clemente Los Alamitos San Diego El Cajon Encinitas Huntington Beach Los Angeles Colorado Springs Albuquerque Albuquerque Sandy Salt Lake City Boulder West Jordan

WA CA CA CA CA CA CO CO NM AZ UT UT CO UT AZ MI VT ME SC SC NC AL

1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 7 8 8 10 10 10 10 13 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 7 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 13 13 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 8

David Hoeft Kannan Sambamoorthy Anindo Mukherjee Douglas Dotter Jon Drindak Philip Turek Mark Denzel Paul Bessell Mark Patel Elena Quinones Corey Newman James Hull Mike Benzie Kirk Thompson Charles Geres Seth Zeman David Bradford Heather Dick Jay Browder Kim Browder Ryan Ratcliffe Sammie Akio Robertson Chris Marion Cory Engel Jason Collins Danial Doty Richard Staudinger Adam French Antonio Mantilla Richard James Jon Schonhardt Anindo Mukherjee Douglas Dotter Jon Drindak Donald Bazille Shane Wimberly Jim Czarnowski Philip Turek James Keough Paul Bessell James Britt Mark Patel Corey Newman James Hull Kevin Kohler Kirk Thompson David Jones Seth Zeman Michael Etzel Jay Browder Kim Browder Jeff Rossney Terry Porter Robert Ledwell Ryan Ratcliffe William Loren Terry King Donald Grenier Jr. Chris Marion Iain Melville Derek Baylor William Deley Richard Horvath Kelly Scoggins Cliff Ryder David Glasser Paul Bessell Russ Bateman Michael Pfau Patricio Forno

Linvingston Richmond Pendleton Pendleton Sarasota Spring Hill St Peterburg Charlotte Boerme Fair Oaks Ranch Cedar Park Victoria Bc Sai Kung Seattle San Francisco San Diego Oxnard Pacific Palisades Boulder Colorado Springs S Jordon Hailey Salisbury

OR OR AK CA CA CA CA NV CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CO NM NM UT UT CO UT MI VA SC SC FL FL FL NC TX TX TX

WA CA CA CA CA CO CO UT ID CT

Steven Wilson Jeffrey Greenbaum Greg Babush Rob Sporrer Rob Mckenzie Bruce Kirk Granger Banks Mike Steen T Lee Kortsch Chandler Papas Dale Covington Dale Covington Granger Banks Stephen Mayer Chandler Papas Stephen Mayer Jeffrey Nicolay Rob Sporrer Christopher Grantham Christopher Grantham Kevin Hintze Jeffrey Greenbaum Stephen Mayer Steve Roti Steve Roti Peter Gautreau Ray Leonard Wallace Anderson Wallace Anderson Jeffrey Greenbaum Chris Santacroce Greg Babush Rob Sporrer Rob Mckenzie Bill Armstrong Bill Armstrong Bill Armstrong Bruce Kirk Bill Armstrong Mike Steen Chris Santacroce T Lee Kortsch Dale Covington Dale Covington Granger Banks Stephen Mayer Etienne Pienaar Stephen Mayer Carlos Madureira Christopher Grantham Christopher Grantham Gregg Mcnamee Gregg Mcnamee Gregg Mcnamee Kevin Hintze Bud Wruck Bud Wruck Paul Greenwood Stephen Mayer Alex Chi Vi Tang Denise Reed Wallace Anderson Bill Armstrong Rob Sporrer Bill Heaner Granger Banks Mike Steen Bill Heaner Chris Santacroce Bohan Soifer

P-3 P-3 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-4 P-5 P-5 P-5

10 12 2 3 3 11 13 4 4 4

Pam Hargett William Becker Pedro Devasconcellos David Haight Aaron Culliney Bud Wruck Brian Webb Stephen Mayer Kevin Hintze Mike Steen

Charleston Valatie Berkeley Santa Barbara Kimei Damon Bright, Victoria Sandy Riverton Sandy

SC NY CA CA HI TX UT UT UT

I

N

G

S

Bill Armstrong Bohan Soifer Jeffrey Greenbaum Rob Sporrer David Binder Chris Santacroce Rob Sporrer Mark Gaskill Mark Gaskill Mark Gaskill

HANG GLIDING | APR 08 RTNG REGN NAME

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

2 2 2 6 6 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 11 12 13 13 13 2 2 2 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 13 13 13 13 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 8 9 10 12 2 10 2

Brian Doyal David Sims Robert Fleshman Alan Wilson Roxy Slagle Devin Wagner Tabor Coates Jonathan Carr Paul Bell Joe Hockman John Nelson Eugne Alexandriin Anne Chase Harry Peppard Audrey Jefferis Eric Lipan Martin Apopot Joseph Mandracchia Graham Reeve Mathieu Berube Catherine Gagnon Vann Pelham William Mallard Thomas Cook Nathan Grimes Alan Wilson Roxy Slagle Michal Moskaliev Devin Wagner Tabor Coates Jonathan Carr Paul Bell Anthony Dilisio Eugne Alexandriin Anne Chase Harry Peppard Audrey Jefferis Eric Lipan Cakra Wicaksono Martin Apopot Graham Reeve Lee Zilberberg Mathieu Berube Catherine Gagnon Uday Illindala Jim Jennings Afshin Sarbaz Charles Fiebig Dirk Morris Mike Quinn Bradley Geary Daniel Arndt Michael Harrison Harry Peppard Ricardo Passy Paul Evander Buddy Cutts Eric Mies

CITY

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

Carson City Santa Cruz Fresno Coweta Dardanelle Yankton Acton Portland Portland Hockessin Lusby Allentown Kilmarnock Middleburg Crystal Beach Eustis San Antonio Albertson London Montreal Qc Val Morin Qc San Francisco Berkeley San Francisco Pinedale Coweta Dardanelle Muncie Yankton Acton Portland Portland Stephens City Allentown Kilmarnock Middleburg Crystal Beach Eustis Denton San Antonio London Ontario Montreal Qc Val Morin Qc Sunnyvale Moss Beach Concord East Palo Alto San Carlos San Francisco Ramona Concord Tunhhannack Middleburg Wayne Tahoe City Montgomery American Canyon

NV CA CA OK AR SD MA ME ME DE MD PA VA FL FL FL TX NY

CA CA CA WY OK AR IN SD MA ME ME VA PA VA FL FL FL TX TX

CA CA CA CA CA CA CA NH PA FL NJ CA AL CA

William Cuddy Patrick Denevan Arturo Melean Gordon Cayce Lauren Lefever Malcolm Jones Malcolm Jones Gordon Cayce Gordon Cayce Adam Elchin John Middleton Gordon Cayce Erik Graper Malcolm Jones Malcolm Jones James Prahl Gordon Cayce Lynden Vazquez James Prahl Gordon Cayce Gordon Cayce Michael Jefferson Barry Levine Tammy Burcar Ryan Voight Gordon Cayce Lauren Lefever John Alden Malcolm Jones Malcolm Jones Gordon Cayce Gordon Cayce Steve Wendt Gordon Cayce Erik Graper Malcolm Jones Malcolm Jones James Prahl David Broyles Gordon Cayce James Prahl Michael Robertson Gordon Cayce Gordon Cayce Patrick Denevan Michael Jefferson Patrick Denevan Patrick Denevan Michael Jefferson Michael Jefferson John Heiney Steven Prepost Paul Voight Malcolm Jones Paul Voight Ray Leonard Malcolm Jones Urs Kellenberger

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Call your order in to 1.800.616.6888 Or enjoy reduced shipping charges when you order online at

www.USHPA.AERO/STORE

BOOKS | FILMS | APPAREL

2009 HG & PG CALENDARS | $11.00 EARLY BIRD SPECIAL The presses are warming up. Which photos have been selected? Who will grace the cover of your favorite wall calendar? Make sure you're among the first to know by pre-ordering your new and improved, freshly designed 2009 paragliding or hang gliding calendar today at a reduced early bird price.

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We know you have many choices in tee shirts, and we appreciate you choosing us.

The inspirational message on the sleeve reads "Looks good, you go first." Adults in Stratus. Kids in Sky & Fog. All sizes listed online.

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WEATHER TO FLY DVD | $39.95

DENIM BRUISER | $30.00

APRES-VOL CLUB POLO | $30.00

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76

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August 2008: Hang Gliding & Paragliding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; www.USHPA .aero

PUBLICATIONS A RISK MGMT MANUAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $9.95 AND THE WORLD COULD FLY. . . . . . . . . . . . $32.95 AVIATION WEATHER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24.95 BIRDFLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.95 CONDOR TRAIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $24.95 CLOUDSUCK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17.95 FLY THE WING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12.95 FUNDAMENTALS/INSTRUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . $12.95 HANG GLIDING TRAIN. MANUAL. . . . . . . . . . . $29.95 INSTR. MANUAL (HG or PG). . . . . . . . . . . . . $15.00 THE ART OF PARAGLIDING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $34.95 TOWING ALOFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $29.95 PG-PILOTS TRAIN. MANUAL & DVD. . . . . . . . . . $39.95 PERFORMANCE FLYING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $29.95 POWERED PARAGLIDING BIBLE. . . . . . . . . . . $39.95 SECRETS OF CHAMPIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $29.95 THERMAL FLYING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $52.95 UNDERSTANDING THE SKY. . . . . . . . . . . . . $24.95 FLIGHT LOG BOOK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.95

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BROKEN TOE ACRO DVD | $44.95 Join Enleau O'Connor and friends as they examine the ins and outs of SIV and acro.

Get out your airsick bag and call the attendant because you're in for a ride. A full 2 hours and 20 minutes!

HG & PG MAGAZINE ARCHIVES ON DVD | $30.00 33 great years of free flight

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fun are packed into these digital archives. Watch technique and technology evolve. Learn how sites have opened and closed.

Get to know the old school.

RED BULL X-ALPS 2005 DVD | $41.95 The race designed to kick your butt and take no prisoners. The 2007 edition, last year's race, is also available below. Grab a bag of chips and watch people hurt. It's fun!

RED BULL X-ALPS 2007 DVD | $45.95 Americans Nate Scales and Honza Rejmanek tested themselves at last year's edition of the Alpine torture device known as X-Alps.

Epic flights. Monster hikes.

Determination. Inspiration.

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us to where we are in our flying lives today, and they will take us to where we ultimateBy Steve Messman ly choose to be—unless crap happens, or unless the “Reader’s Digest” people knock have never been one to believe in fate, we fly, and what we fly. We sit on moun- on our door. or chance, or predestination. I have taintops or on beaches. We thermal with So it seems that most of life is a series never been one to believe that I have hawks, soar with seagulls, stare eagles in of choices. Hopefully, wishfully, we will been chosen for a special path in life, or the eye. Our choices have brought us here. always choose correctly, like right now. My that any such path has been chosen for me Our choices drive us up those mountains wing is in a rosette. I am choosing to wait by another, greater power. I do not believe every weekend. Our choices lead us to yell for that perfect time. I am on my favorite that when I was conceived, my life was sud- “Clear!” and our choices permit us to raise mountain. From my perch in the back of denly and neatly laid out from beginning to our bodies into the turbulent currents of my truck, I can see for miles, lots of them. end in the Messman chapter of “The Great rising air one more time.

I can see some forty miles to the Pacific, in Book of Human Lives.” Maybe it would be And, what of the choices that brought fact, and watch the sun reflect off its mirbetter for me to say that I do not believe us to the mountaintop in the first place? rored surface. I can watch the clouds play that fate has control over our lives. I choose What went into our choice to grab hold of over the valley. I can watch the ravens and to believe that, for the most part, each of us our first wing in possible defiance of par- the hawks play in the breezes before I do, controls our own. We choose our paths and ents, friends, or significant others? What and I can watch the wind take invisible our destiny. We make choices along those decisions were made before we contacted shape as it travels its natural path up the paths that lead us to be successful or to fail our first instructor? How difficult was our west-facing slope. Of all the places on earth, miserably, that lead us to greatness or to decision to lift our feet from the ground this place causes my heart to race and my misery, that lead us to the bliss of spiritual- for the first time? For the second? To con- emotions to thrill. Of all the choices in my ity or to a living hell on earth. Please, don’t tinue flying after our first crash? These are life, this one comes close to being the best. misunderstand. I do, actually, believe that flying choices that we have all made at one Flying is the choice that brought me to the fate brings significant change to our lives. I time or another, and we continue to make top of this special place. My favorite place believe that momentous events over which them, probably on a near-daily basis. The in the world. The place where I choose to we have no control crop up from time to combination of all those choices, and the wait, watch, and learn. The place where I time to shake the branches of our living ones that we will continue to make, lead was born to be. tree. I believe that sometimes crap just happens, and sometimes that crap causes terrible changes in the paths over which we believe we have control. Everyday, someone gets seriously hurt in some unfortunate accident, and probably, most certainly, those people didn’t crawl out of bed with the intention of breaking a bone, or losing an eye, or even dying. At other times, the roll of the dice can be very beneficial. Someone will win a lottery, hit it big in a casino, or come into a large sum of money courtesy of “Reader’s Digest.” Certainly, these are acts of fate rather than choice. By and large, those kinds of events are not in control of our lives any more than we are in control of them. Those are merely happenings, a result of the unpredictable play of numbers, and yes, they most certainly can, and do, impact our choices. They might even provide us a sudden opportunity to change our chosen paths. For me, the choices we make daily are the tools that ultimately lead us to our deserved place in life.

You are probably asking what the heck all this talk about choices has to do with flying. The answer is—everything. Choices have everything to do with why we fly, how

Thoughts | Dreams | Impressions

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