Hang Gliding & Paragliding Vol45/Iss01 Jan2015

JANUARY 2015 Volume 45 Issue 1 $6.95

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

coring out in Malawi, Africa | photo by Nick Greece. MEANWHILE, Chris Valley flying Yosemite on opening weekend.

WARNING

ON THE COVER, Gavin McClurg

Hang gliding and paragliding are INHERENTLY DANGEROUS activities. USHPA recommends pilots complete a pilot training program under the direct supervision of a USHPA-certified instructor, using safe equipment suitable for your level of experience. Many of the articles and photographs in the magazine depict advanced maneuvers being performed by experienced, or expert, pilots. These maneuvers should not be attempted without the prerequisite instruction and experience.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine is published for footlaunched 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.

ADVERTISING ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE

SUBMISSIONS HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine welcomes

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING (ISSN 1543-5989) (USPS 17970) is

editorial submissions from our members and readers. All submissions of articles, artwork, photographs and or ideas for articles, artwork and photographs are made pursuant to and are subject to the USHPA Contributor's Agreement, a copy of which can be obtained from the USHPA by emailing the editor at editor@ushpa.aero or online at www.ushpa. aero. HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine reserves the right to edit all contributions. 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 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.

published monthly by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., 1685 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904, (719) 6328300, FAX (719) 632-6417. PERIODICAL postage is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices.

SENT TO USHPA HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS. All advertising is subject to the USHPA Advertising Policy, a copy of which may be obtained from the USHPA by emailing advertising@ushpa.aero.

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COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 2014 United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., All Rights Reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc.

Martin Palmaz, Publisher executivedirector@ushpa.aero Nick Greece, Editor editor@ushpa.aero Greg Gillam, Art Director art.director@ushpa.aero C.J. Sturtevant, Copy Editor copy@ushpa.aero Beth Van Eaton, Advertising advertising@ushpa.aero Staff Writers Christina Ammon, Dennis Pagen, C.J. Sturtevant Ryan Voight Staff Photographers John Heiney, Jeff Shapiro

JANUARY 2015 FLIGHT PLAN

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AIRMAIL

8

FLYING YOGA

14

CENTERFOLD

34

RATINGS

60

CALENDAR

62

CLASSIFIED

63

THE 1

66

20 Best Seats in the House

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Violations

by Frank Drews

Flying Class 2 at the Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014

by Stephen Morris

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Cold-air Advection and Divergence

by Rich Jesuroga

26

36 The Bad Old Days of Hang Gliding

"To Valle or Not to Valle..."

That is the Question

by Claudia Mejia

A Coming-of-age Story

by C.J. Sturtevant

Human Error

52

Jailbird Finding Flight in Prison

by Christina Ammon 56

44 So, This Year I Went to...

The Coupe Icare

by Tim Meehan

A Whirlpool Story

by JDB

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

FLIGHT PLAN 2

014 has passed and the USHPA magazine covered a lot of ground. From inspiring flights, to world-class photography, to instructional lessons from seasoned veterans we strive to keep things exciting and progressing. But it is on the foundation of member’s contributions that this publication is built and, like in our flying careers, it is nice to appreciate and revisit those building blocks. For example, in this issue we have a piece about the longest hang gliding flight in 1977. My new year’s resolutions returning to the training hill to ground handle more, seeking out tutelage from expert USHPA instructors who work to increase our collective knowledge base on a daily basis, working on getting as many flights as possible, and even giving pre-flight yoga a try as taught

by Sofia Puerta Webber later in this issue. In my advanced-syndrome behavior I have passed too often on the opportunity to work on my fundamentals, to work on the very things that lead to more and more complex flights, and while my behavior has been rewarded, only good can come from returning to the roots.

Hopefully, you’ve met your goals for last season and while you have a bit of time during the off-season, you can look into what fundamental skills are dusty and develop plans for training that will solidify your foundation, thus leading to a higher margin of safety while practicing our sports.

The January issue starts out with two fantastic Airmail specials, one from Adam Bain who stopped in and chatted with Flytec distributor Steve Kroop, and the other from Julie Spiegler reporting a correction to an article and a bit of history about the first SIV in the USA in 1991.

Frank Drews writes in on a very relevant and topical topic in the outdoor community about the human-error model. Look for articles on this topic in [Outside] magazine, the Black

Diamond website, and here in the USHPA magazine.

Sofia Webber sends in her first installment to help pilots feel better before, during, and after flying with a yoga specific to airborne athletes.

Rich Jesuroga reported that flying conditions this fall at his local hill were abysmal but left him a lot of time to study cold-air advection and divergence aloft, and pull together a piece to teach us all a bit about it.

Stephen Morris recounts the thrills and spills of flying a lower-performing Class 2 rigidwing glider that has an incredible glide ratio compared to a flex wing but is not quite up to snuff when compared to a Swift.

Claudia Mejia reports back from the Pre-World Championship in Valle De Bravo, Mexico where some controversy swirled from the hang gliding community on the rough conditions and tough landing fields. The Worlds are set to take place in Valle this winter and the world will be watching how the mountain flying will treat the field.

C.J. Sturtevant is back with an instant classic of learning to fly hang gliders in the early 1980s, and Tim Meehan reports back from the 41st installation of the Coupe Icare free flight bonanza in Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet. If you haven’t made a pilgrimage to this awesome annual event, please consider it next year!

Christina Ammon writes about dreaming of flight while walking through our normal day, albeit while visiting Alcatraz, and James David Braddock sends in an epic tale of the longest hang glider flight of his time—20 miles.

We wish you a healthy and prosperous new year and hope you continue to send in your stories, articles and photos that create the foundation of this magazine. This is your communal fire-pit. Don’t be shy. Let’s get your tale out there!

left Gavin McClurg flying toward Mt. Mulange,

Malawi | photo by Nick Greece.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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AIRMAIL STEVE KROOP

F

lytec is one of the companies known throughout hang gliding and paragliding circles for well-crafted products and generous customer support. The brand is evolving with the sport, in part, because of Steve Kroop, owner and operator of Flytec USA, which is the North American distributor for Flytec instruments from Switzerland. I went to talk with Steve about Flytec, but within minutes decided that Steve was the story.

When I arrived at the Flytec office, Steve met me and instantly started asking me what stage of training in hang gliding I had reached at Lookout Mountain Flight Park. In a very short period of time, I felt as if I were his flying buddy. He gave me a lot of encouragement, even telling me to contact him when I finish training and am ready for an instrument.

Steve is not your run-of-the-mill business owner. He has been in the air since the early ‘90s and has no plans of stopping any time soon. In 1997, Steve took over the helm of Flytec USA. Instantly investing “sweat equity” in Flytec, Steve started developing his own regional Flytec web presence, operating manuals and documentation as well as working with instructors, top pilots and factory engineers to help improve the product line. “Jumping in with both feet, being professional and treating all pilots as flying buddies,” Steve told me, is his attitude in dealing with everything altitude (vario joke). Before long, he could see this philosophy had a beneficial impact in both sales and happy customers.

The support Steve gives to events such as the Flytec Americus Cup, East Coast Championships, Santa Cruz Flats, Rat Race, and almost every other paragliding and hang gliding event for the last 15 years has made a big impact on the sport. Steve’s association with the non-profit Cloudbase Foundation, that works with people in some of the more impoverished spots we fly, leaves not only the site but also the people who live there better off, something I think we should all do for the sport we love. With money being hard to come by for full-time pilots, Flytec USA sponsors many pilots who are living the dream one XC flight at a time. Steve also feels very strongly about supporting our sport’s instructors, schools and flight parks, as “they are the ones bringing in new pilots, growing and advancing the sport and without them paragliding and hang gliding would fade into obscurity”.

As I left, Steve handed me a new Flytec wallet, made by one of his team pilots, and reminded me to call him if I needed any help advancing as a pilot. Steve is doing what he loves and is passing that love along.

- Adam Bain

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MORE ABOUT SIV

I

wanted to offer a small correction to Annette O’Neil’s article “All About SIV” in the August 2014 issue of this magazine. The first SIV clinic in the US was not in the mid-’90s, but in 1991.

That first US “Safety Clinic” was held over the 4th of July holiday in Northern California near Lake Shasta Dam, and pilots came from all over the country. I’m sure my husband Gever and I are not the only ones still flying, but there were so many new faces and names I can’t clearly remember them.

ProDesign USA (the Yates brothers) and Ed Pitman hosted ProDesign’s designer to come to the States and offer the first such clinic here. The weather was uncooperative, boat towing of paragliders hadn’t been invented (or at least perfected—although the event was possibly Ed Pitman’s inspiration to create the Super Tow hydraulic pay-out winch), and some of our wings were not capable of the maneuvers—my Firebird Twist had only two risers, each with two lines, and no speed system, so I had to borrow a different glider in order to even do big ears.

The plan had been to launch from “Mammoth Butte” (that’s what my logbook called it, although I think it was also called Shasta Mines) and thermal up a bit to get over Lake Shasta with sufficient altitude to safely practice maneuvers. Unfortunately it was hot and stable and there were few thermals.

With the long turnaround to drive back up to launch, most pilots had only two short flights that first day, practicing big ears, asymmetric tucks, and perhaps a frontal. We also got to practice our spot landings on the tree-lined spit of beach below launch.

Martin Palmaz, Executive Director executivedirector@ushpa.aero Beth Van Eaton Operations Manager & Advertising office@ushpa.aero Eric Mead, System Administrator tech@ushpa.aero Ashley Miller, Membership Coordinator membership@ushpa.aero Julie Spiegler, Program Manager programs@ushpa.aero

USHPA OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The rest of the week the weather was even less amenable to flying, as the winds kicked up, keeping us on the ground. More or less. The first day of high winds we watched Ed Pitman ridge-soar Shasta Dam. The remaining days we watched Ed Pitman motoring overhead in his new-fangled paramotor; meanwhile, some pilots decided to water ski with the rescue boats (at least they were good for something!), and many pilots took off from a small cliff along the shore of Lake Shasta, seeing how big a spin they could throw before splashing into the water.

Despite the conditions, many of us felt that we learned as much—or even more!—than we could have hoped for, listening to Ed Pitman and the ProDesign designer (whose name I unfortunately can’t recall) talk in great detail about paraglider aerodynamics, design, and recovery.

I still have my clinic checklist—it was printed right on the front of our T-shirts.

- Julie Spiegler APA #487 USHPA #54168

Rich Hass, President president@ushpa.aero Paul Murdoch, Vice President vicepresident@ushpa.aero Steve Rodrigues, Secretary secretary@ushpa.aero Mark Forbes, Treasurer treasurer@ushpa.aero

REGION 1: Rich Hass, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Jugdeep Aggarwal, Josh Cohn, Jon James. REGION 3: Corey Caffrey, Dan DeWeese, Alan Crouse.

REGION 4: Bill Belcourt, Ken Grubbs. REGION 5: Josh Pierce. REGION 6: David Glover. REGION 7: Paul Olson. REGION 8: Michael Holmes. REGION 9: Felipe Amunategui, Larry Dennis. REGION 10: Bruce Weaver, Steve Kroop, Matt Taber. REGION 11: David Glover. REGION 12: Paul Voight. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Ryan Voight, Bill Bolosky, Steve Rodrigues, Dennis Pagen, Jamie Shelden. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR: Art Greenfield (NAA).

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Inc. (USHPA) 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.

For change of address or other USHPA business call (719) 632-8300, or email info@ushpa.aero.

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.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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HUMAN ERROR Violations in Paragliding and Hang Gliding

by Frank Drews

P

aragliding and hang gliding require pilots to not only be aware of the conditions they fly in and be familiar with the equipment they use, but also to be aware of the factors that impact pilot performance. To better understand what affects pilot performance, we need to understand what increases the likelihood of error and violations, since those can ultimately result in equipment damage, injury, or death.

Psychologists have studied error for about a century, and over time the ideas of what causes erroneous behavior have changed dramatically. Initially,

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

researchers thought that error-prone people made mistakes and, as such, were solely responsible for their failures. Today, researchers believe that error results from the interplay of several factors.

A model of human error can be applied to paragliding and hang gliding.

The goal is to help pilots gain insight into what factors may affect their behavior and outcomes. Understanding these factors can help pilots avoid falling into some typical traps that lead to accidents, thereby helping us to fly more safely.

Figure 1 (following page) provides an overview of one model of human error that will be discussed in detail.

(Terms used are defined in the text that follows.)

Components of a human error model Latent conditions. Latent conditions are factors that indirectly influence safety, because they are removed from our direct actions. For example, glider certification and training requirements can create latent conditions that might influence your safety while flying.

Some recently released paragliders are faster and more dynamic than their advanced-level predecessors, but were certified in an entry-to-medium level glider category. This situation creates a latent condition and raises doubts about certification procedures and their

LEFT Launching from Steptoe Butte, WA | photo by Karl Specht.

credibility. By purely relying on the certification class, a pilot may expect a certain glider recovery behavior.

However, because of the changes in flight characteristics of the gliders, the recovery behavior is potentially more dynamic (possibly due to the behavior observed within the narrow certification conditions, not mapping into behaviors outside the certification context). If a pilot avoids flying in challenging conditions by soaring ridges only, he would not be aware of these glider characteristics, making this a latent condition, because other factors need to be present as well in order to contribute to error.

Another example is how the stabilo line is visibly marked on paragliders.

Recent gliders identify the stabilo line by using a different thread color for the loop, rather than using a distinct color for the line (at least in the lower cascade). This more subtle indication in itself does not create problems. But in combination with a pilot’s flying the wing in active conditions, this can result in problems when a cravat cannot be removed because the pilot cannot find the stabilo line as a result of its lack of distinctive marking.

Latent conditions can be present for a long time without any impact (think of the ridge-soaring-only pilot).

However, in conjunction with other factors (that is, active failures), they can result in negative outcomes.

Error-producing conditions.

Error-producing conditions make it more likely that an error will occur.

Among the error-producing conditions in paragliding and hang gliding are: unfamiliarity with the equipment, terrain, or conditions; time pressure; misconception of risk; inexperience; and sleep deprivation. For example, flying at an unfamiliar launch, performing an

unfamiliar maneuver, and flying sleepdeprived will all together increase the likelihood that an active failure occurs.

Violation-producing conditions.

Violation-producing conditions make violations (for example, deviations from the preflight checklist) more likely. Experiencing peer pressure (that is, seeing all of my buddies launch quickly) may make it more likely that I will omit my pre-flight check to quickly join my friends in the air.

Inconvenience (having to walk back to my car to get my radio) and copying peer behavior (“none of my friends repacks their reserve annually”) are other examples of violation-producing conditions. In the first case, they may make it more likely that I will fly without my radio, in the second, that I may not get an annual reserve repack. However, as a safety-aware pilot, I understand that these situations may tempt me to fly without a radio/not repack my reserve, but I can decide not to commit these violations of best practices.

Active failure. Active failures, in conjunction with latent conditions, can lead to hazards. Active failures occur in the current situation, and they include slips, lapses, mistakes and violations.

The difference between the first three and the last is that their occurrence is not intended, while violations are intentional. For example, after hearing that none of my friends repacks their reserve annually (violation-producing condition), I may decide to intentionally violate the common best practice of an annual reserve repack (an active failure in the form of a violation) and copy my friends’ behavior.

Slips are errors of execution; that is, although I have the correct intention, I execute the action incorrectly. For example, I may pull the outer A-line instead of my stabilo line when at-



Elements of a theory of human error based on work from James Reason ORGANIZATIONAL

LOCAL CONDITIONS THAT COULD PRODUCE:

LATENT Indirect Contextual

ERRORS Unfamiliar Unprepared

VIOLATIONS Peer Behavior Inconvenience

Design of equipment changes: new reserve handle an inch further (compared to old harness)

Arrive at new site late Not enough sleep

Rushing to catch up with pals

+

FACTORS

CONDITIONS THAT EXIST:

ACTIVE FAILURE

(This is where Human Error actually occurs)

SITUATION

Slip: Grab a strap along with reserve handle Lapse: Improper hook-in, due to lack of sleep Mistake: Wind switched and did not plan for rotor off launch Violation: Decided to skip reserve pin check in order to catch up with pals

HAZARDS

=

Weak launch into rotor, harness does not shift weight correctly, very low, so decide to throw - but the reserve doesn’t come out cleanly....

OUTCOME

DEFENSES

(Actions and Conditions in place to prevent an Adverse Event - injury or damage) You have a second reserve and did a clinic where you practiced a double-deployment scenario.

ADVERSE EVENT Reserve deployed successfully, but you broke your leg due to an improper PLF!

tempting to deal with a cravat, partly because the lines look similar (latent condition). A lapse is a memory problem that involves forgetting a step in a procedure. I may forget to check the position and attachment of my reserve handle during my preflight check (partly because I feel time pressure— error-producing condition). Finally, a mistake is when I have a plan that is incorrect to begin with. For example, I may fly close to terrain in hopes of finding some ridge lift, but since I did not think about the dominant wind

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direction, I may end up in a rotor.

Hazards. A hazard results from the combination of an unsafe act with a latent condition. The difference between a hazard and an adverse event is that the latter results in harm (by definition), while a hazard may not.

An adverse event may be prevented by defenses (see below) that are in place. However, if the defenses do not work or are ineffective, a hazard may result in an adverse event. Hazards are frequent, and often pilots may not be aware of them, since there is

no negative outcome. However, good pilots recognize hazards and avoid them. Analyzing when we realize that we were exposed to a hazard is important. We need to understand when “we got away with it,” so we do not repeat such potentially dangerous behavior or put ourselves in those potentially dangerous situations.

Defenses. Defenses are put in place to protect or reduce the likelihood of negative outcomes as a result of your errors or violations. Two types of defenses exist: hard defenses and soft defenses. Our reserve parachute is an example of a hard defense. If successfully deployed, the reserve likely saves us from injury. Soft defenses involve people. For example, training may allow a pilot to address the hazard of a full frontal collapse after flying into a lee rotor. Having the skill to deal with the predictable collapse provides a defense that may work many times, but that also may fail. A better defense is to avoid flying into rotor! Equipment redundancy serves as a defense; for example, flying with two reserves will likely allow deployment of at least one reserve, even in the case that the other reserve cannot be deployed.

Adverse event. An adverse event involves an injury to us or to others, or damage to our equipment or the property of others. However, we can distinguish non-preventable adverse events where there is an injury despite the best of all preparation and caution, from preventable adverse events where there is an injury due to a non-intercepted serious error. Because not all factors that influence an event are within our control, there is always a good chance that we may encounter non-preventable adverse events in paragliding or hang gliding. However, knowing what we can control allows us to manage the risks that are associated with our sport.

Where does this leave us?

Having learned about human error and its contributors can make you a better pilot. If you fly mindfully and know and analyze the potential contributors to error and violations, you can fly more safely by actively managing the risk. The problem in our sport is that our wings do not have high resilience: a single problem can escalate quickly and force us down, while other aircraft are more forgiving. Thus, understanding the precarious nature of paragliding and hang gliding, and preparing for it, will help you to have many safe flights in the future.

It is a common misconception that the success or failure of a flight starts with the takeoff. With this article I have tried to demonstrate that many factors that contribute to success or failure of your flight are put into place well before your takeoff, or even before your launch preparations. By recognizing these factors we can be a little bit more insightful about what makes a flight safe and, hopefully, we will have more safe flights as a result.

Frank Drews is a Professor of Cognition and Neural Science at the University of Utah. His areas of research include cognition in context, human error in medicine, human factors, and visual attention. He is an H-2 and P-3 pilot and member of the Accident Reporting committee. Frank won the 2014 Rat Sprint on a Gin Carrera.

1 This article applies to both sports, but is written primarily from the perspective of a paraglider pilot.

2 The term violation is used broadly; it includes deviations from recommendations, safe operating practices or procedures, standards, or well-established rules of thumb.

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FLYING YOGA by Sofia Puerta Webber W

elcome to Flying Yoga. I will help you create a healthy routine and incorporate endurance, strength, balance and flexibility into your flights by sharing with you simple yoga postures and exercises, which can become an important part of your flying lifestyle.

In our sports we really don’t strive to develop balance or flexibility, but we do consider concentration as a key attribute. We can agree that pilots need to be focused: Focused pilots are safe pilots. Nevertheless, it is difficult to concentrate when you have physical pain—pain that forces you to land right away or prevents you from flying on a good day.

Do you feel pain when you turn in

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a thermal? Does folding your wing give you pain?

How will you be able to lift up your glider and walk a few miles with that pain in your shoulder? What can you do about shoulder pain?

A “friendly shoulder” and a yoga posture that will be good for you— Child’s Pose—can help.

• Kneel down. Open your knees slightly until you feel comfortable.

Lower your hips/buttocks as close as possible to your heels while you bring your chest and head forward towards the floor, with your head down and arms stretched out in front of you.

Inhale and exhale deeply through your nose. Close your eyes. Take five deep breaths. (Picture 1)

• Variation: If you do not quite reach the mat with your chest, no worries! Make a tower with your fists to support and relax your forehead.

(Picture 2) • Side Child’s Pose: This is a posture that gives a deeper stretch to your shoulder. To execute it, place one arm under the other. Close your eyes and breathe deeply for a few minutes.

Slowly switch arms. (Picture 3) Practice the Child’s Pose as often as you like. I recommend that you do it as soon as you wake up in the morning and before or after flying.

If you are self-conscious about doing this in public, the Child’s Pose can be hidden while you push the air out of your folded glider after a long flight or

disguised when you pick up the ribs of your wing.

Benefits: This pose makes your shoulders strong and flexible. It also alleviates pain and discomfort in your lower back and neck. It is a very good posture in which to relax and recover, and it also helps you connect with your inner child, your inner self.

Tips: Keep your shoulders straight and away from your ears when you fly.

Switch shoulders when you lift up or carry your glider. Remember to bend your knees before lifting to provide support.

Tell me how you feel. Shiwido@ gmail.com Sofia Puerta Webber is a journalist, certified yoga therapist, fitness instructor, and pilot in the San Diego area. She conducts Flying Yoga sessions on Fridays at 9:00 a.m. at Torrey Pines Gliderport, La Jolla, CA. www.shiwido.com

Cold-air Advection and Divergence Aloft

by Rich Jesuroga

B

efore we go flying, most of us begin looking at the weather a day or two ahead to assess where and when conditions look favorable at our nearby flying sites. I typically start looking at weather model forecasts a couple of days out (see “Favorite Weather Models”, June 2014, Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine). One reason for doing this is to determine temporal consistency in the weather model forecast with each updated model run. For example, if the wind speed and direction forecasts remain consistent with each updated model run, the more likely the forecast will accurately verify on the day I’m planning to fly. Likewise, if there are changes with our favorite weather parameters with each update, it’s at least possible that the weather model may not be so accurate on game day. But that’s looking ahead from a couple days out.

What about the early morning data we look at on the day we’re going to fly?

Most of us have our favorite weather web sites that we look at before going out to fly that set our expectations for the day. Wind speed and direction, cloud cover and the chance for precipitation are typical weather parameters we want to know about. Some of us delve further to determine how strong upper-level winds will be and try to ascertain the expected stability of the airmass. By doing that, we can get some sense of thermal trigger temperature and thermal height and establish various launch window times for flying.

Two very key weather parameters that almost no one looks at, however, are cold air advection and divergence aloft.

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These two weather events can play a critical role in resolving how soarable our day will be. Here’s how each one affects our flying and what to look for the morning of your flying day.

Cold-air Advection Aloft This one is pretty simple. One way to generate soarable conditions is to add enough heat on the ground from the sun, warm the low-lying air close to the ground and produce thermals that rise aloft. Another way to do the same exact thing is to cool the air aloft. As long as the relative difference in temperature between the surface and the air aloft is large enough, the airmass will desta-

bilize, vertical mixing will occur and thermals will form. “Cold-air advection” is a term used to describe the transport mechanism that moves cold air (either at the surface or aloft) from one location to another.

On the morning of the day I’m going to fly, I look at tropospheric temperature data upstream from the site that I want to fly in order to determine the potential for cold-air advection. If I’m planning to fly my home site, Villa Grove in south-central Colorado, I’ll look at early morning 500mb temperatures (roughly the 18,000ft level) at Flagstaff, AZ, Grand Junction, CO, and Albuquerque, NM, in an effort to



determine what’s coming upstream that will affect conditions at Villa later that afternoon.

In Figure 1, we can see an example of cold-air advection at 500mb in the Northwestern US. In this example, Great Falls in west-central Montana has a southwest wind with a 500mb temperature of -12°C. Upstream in the southwesterly flow, we see that Boise, Idaho, has a 500mb temperature of -14°C. And upstream in the southwesterly flow from Boise, we see that Reno, Nevada, is colder at -15°C. If we were flying at a site near Great Falls, MT, and assuming there’s enough temperature spread between the surface and 18,000ft to destabilize that layer, we would expect soaring conditions to improve as the day goes on, as colder air aloft moves over our flying site.

Likewise, we can also determine the potential for warm-air advection aloft which would have the opposite effect; it would stabilize and cap the airmass, thereby limiting soarable conditions.

What temperature difference do we need between the surface and 500mb to make soarable conditions? Generally speaking, in dry western climates 2.75°C of cooling per 1000ft of altitude is enough to present soarable conditions. In more humid climates, approximately 1.9°C of cooling per 1000ft of altitude is needed.

 

Divergence Aloft The troposphere is where nearly all of our weather occurs. The top of the troposphere is “capped” by the tropopause that serves as a lid or barrier, much like the ground does on the surface. In the case of divergence aloft, diverging winds in the upper levels of the troposphere create upward motion beneath them, as shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3. Divergence aloft refers to diverging wind direction and/or speed that lead to a reduction of atmospheric pressure of the airmass above a particular loca-

tion. The reason that’s important to us is because divergence aloft often means there will be rising air from the surface that goes up to the divergence above.

And we like rising air! When looking at meteorological data, there are two ways to identify divergence aloft. Both are described below.

The first and perhaps the easiest method to identify divergence aloft is to draw a line directly down the center of a 500mb trough axis. The area of

divergence will be to the right of the line, as illustrated in Figure 4. As the flow of air travels through the trough, there is typically diverging directional wind as it passes through the curve at the bottom of the trough. Think of the trough as an automotive racetrack. As cars race down and around the turn at the bottom of the track, there is a tendency to slide off the track. The wind does the same thing of rounding the curve at the bottom of the trough. This

 

divergence.” Speed divergence is simply winds aloft departing an area faster than they are being replenished. In the case of speed divergence, air is drawn vertically upward to replace air aloft that is being depleted.

An example of what to look for on a 500mb weather map with wind barbs is shown in Figure 5. In this illustration, we see a northwest wind in central Illinois of 55kts (a black flag and small wind barb). Upstream from central Illinois in the northwest flow, we see 45kts at Davenport, Iowa. And upstream from Davenport in the northwest flow, we see 30kts at Chanhassen, MN. Thus, the area in central Illinois is undergoing speed divergence or a depletion of air aloft, and it is likely that air is being lifted from the surface to replace the upper-level faster-moving air exiting to the southeast.

Summary

is illustrated in Figure 4 by the “diverging” arrows representing the wind on the east side of the trough axis. While the illustrations here are shown on a larger scale, the same thing occurs on a much

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smaller scale, with various weather changes passing over a particular part of a state.

The second way to identify divergence aloft is referred to as “speed

While cold-air advection and divergence aloft are commonly referenced in the meteorological community, these are relatively new areas of attention for free-flight pilots. Identifying cold-air advection to help determine our soaring expectations on a given day simply means looking upwind at nearby upperair data to view the temperatures aloft of the airmass approaching our respective sites. Divergence aloft greatly contributes to our potential soaring weather, and learning to identify when and how this happens will help improve our ability to predict soarable weather.

As we fly higher and farther, the astute pilot will delve further into the meteorological medium in which we fly our aircraft. We live on the surface, and that’s what we know. But the true benefit of taking full advantage of our craft’s capabilities lies in learning more about meteorological processes that occur in the atmosphere above us.

Contact the author at rich@jesuroga.com.

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Class 2 Flying at the Santa Cruz Flats Race 2014

F

or the last eight years, competition pilots have been gathering in Casa Grande, Arizona, to compete and experience desert XC flying at its finest, the Santa Cruz Flats Race (SCFR), held each September since 2007. Steady lift that rises over two miles above the ground, abundant landing fields with roads nearby, the relentless heat of the desert, and a host of dedicated meet organizers and tug pilots make it all happen. The SCFR is unique because it is the only USHPA-sanctioned national points meet held in the Western US. And it’s also a towing meet, so the hassle of mountain launches and their fickle winds are minimized, resulting in more chances to fly safely.

The competition is based at the Francisco Grande Hotel (also known as goal on most flying days) in Casa Grande, Arizona, roughly 40 miles south of Phoenix. Each year a temporary airfield is created within walking distance of the hotel, so you have access to everything you need during your stay, including a swimming pool shaped like a giant baseball bat. It’s the ultimate in hang gliding convenience and perfect for spoiled, lazy pilots like me who don’t want to have food and lodging adventures mixed in with their flying adventures. The location also motivates me to make goal, because I’m usually fantasizing about a cold beer and a swim in the pool as I’m working my way around the course, a more pleasant fantasy than landing out in the hot desert.

Casa Grande field elevation is only 1400ft MSL, so when you climb to over 10,000 feet, you have a lot of useful altitude for long glides between thermals. The winds are usually light, which allows us to fly triangle tasks on most days, reducing the burden of a lengthy retrieve for those who make it into goal.

This year the weather featured moisture from hurricane Odile that was pushing up from Baja Mexico, resulting in cumulus clouds on most days with bases around 7500ft MSL, almost a mile lower than what we’ve experienced in past years. This made for spectacular sky-scapes but required more climbs to get around the course. We also had two of the days cancelled, due to wind and rain, something unusual for this meet. But frankly, I enjoyed the time off;

it was a great opportunity to hang out with other pilots. I find seven straight days of competition flying to be mentally grueling, and there are plenty of fun things to do around Phoenix and Tucson if you have time off. The Pima Air Museum kept us busy on one of the rain days, and a large group of pilots went to Maricopa for Karaoke, laser tag, video games, and drinking.

This year’s event served as a memorial for Mark Knight, one of the originators and ardent supporters of this competition, who lost his life last year while flying a Dragonfly tug.

The hang gliding community is a small one, and the competition community is even smaller, so Mark was well known to all of us who have flown this meet. It’s sad to return to an event knowing you’ll not see a familiar face that’s been there since the beginning, but that sadness was somewhat balanced by our gathering to honor Mark’s life and his contribution to ours.

My summary of the competition flying is written from a perspective different from most competition articles, because you’re going to read about what it’s like to fly the meet as a “second-class hang glider pilot.” Specifically, I mean a Class 2 competitor, a rigid-wing glider with aerodynamic controls, not a weight-shift flex-wing or Atos-style glider.

Class 2 hang gliders have been around since the beginning of the sport of hang gliding, but have not been as popular as the more plentiful and convenient Class 1 flex-wing gliders. My Class 2 friends all flew flex-wings for decades but switched to Class 2 and never looked back.

Many pilots who are new to the sport never may have seen or heard of the gliders we fly, the Swift and Millennium, which were designed 25 and 17 years ago, respectively. The Swift is still the highest-performing hang glider ever produced, with a lift-to-drag ratio over 25:1. In the 1990s, many of us flew these gliders regularly in the mountains, but as we grew older, we gravitated towards coastal flying and tow meets, mainly for the convenience and the reduced strain on our backs.

There were four entrants in Class 2 this year, including Brian Porter, former multi-time world and national cham-

LEFT Brian Porter steadies his Swift during a gust front after landing on Day 7.

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pion, and Chris Zimmerman, an accomplished flex-wing competitor trying his hand at Class 2 flying for the first time. I’m the odd-man in Class 2, flying a lower-performance Millennium originally designed as a beginner version of the Swift. My glider has been outfitted with a Swift-style pilot fairing and achieves glide performance similar to an Atos with a clean pilot harness, roughly a 19:1 L/D. This means I can out-glide flex-wings, but have to struggle to stay anywhere near my Swift friends. What I like most about flying Class 2 is that I get just enough extra performance to occasionally let me follow the best flex-wing pilots around the course and watch them in action, despite my inferior flying skills. I truly have the best seat in the house!

At the start of Day 1, Bill Bennett towed up before the launch window opened and scattered Mark Knight’s ashes high above the airfield, next to the Francisco Grande Hotel.

It was an emotional moment for everyone to see Mark’s final journey take place in the sky above us.

We kicked off the meet with a 75km task shaped like a bowtie that allowed us to share a portion of the course with the Sport Class pilots (there were 16 Sport Class pilots this year, a record for SCFR!). This may not sound like a long task compared to meets like Big Spring, Texas, but the SCFR meet is held later in the year, and each day’s soaring window is not very long, usually from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., before the lift shuts down. The longest tasks we fly aren’t much more than 100km, because of the narrow time span when the lift is good.

In years past, Class 2 launched before the other gliders, which allowed us to be in a good position at the race start but gave us the disadvantage of an additional one to two hours of thermaling in the start circle gaggles. If you’ve never flown a competition, it’s usually agreed that the gaggles that form in the start circle can be some of the most mentally fatiguing and stressful experiences of the entire flying day, because of the number of gliders that usually end up crowded into each thermal. I was happy to find that this year’s Class 2 would launch after the Open class pilots, which meant I’d be spending less time hanging out in the start circle but would be starting the course one hour behind the lead gaggle.

On Day 1, the lift carried us to about 6000ft AGL, which was acceptable but not spectacular. Brian Porter and Chris Zimmerman left me in the dust after the second glide, but I found some flex-wings to keep me company later in my flight.

Most of my cross-country flights have that moment where I’m uncomfortably close to landing, yet still determined to get back up. Twenty-nine miles into the flight, I got low, and, with 1000 feet of altitude remaining, I met up with Steve Pearson and Matt Barker near Casa Grande Mountain,

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desperately searching for some lift. We were able to locate a thermal near the peak that eventually got us back up to 6000ft AGL, high enough to glide the remaining 16 miles to goal with plenty of height to spare. After that, it was straight to the pool for a cool-down swim and some beer!

The second day’s task was longer, a 100km triangle out towards Newman Peak, then back to the hotel. The weather was changing as the moisture from the hurricane remnants pushed into the region, and we started to see a few cumulus clouds on the course. The first leg took us over Casa Grande Mountain and 30 miles along the flats to Newman Peak. I wasn’t far behind Brian and Chris for the first 30 miles, but I got low before the peak and spent too much time climbing back up near the town of Eloy. The first turnpoint is at the end of the mountain range in some inhospitable country, so it’s best to get altitude before proceeding to the turnpoint. I climbed above the peak, made the turnpoint, and started looking for a good climb, after returning to the peak. This is where I hit some of the biggest bumps of the entire contest, nothing dangerous, but the kind that slams you negative and twists your glider in strange ways that make the wing rumble and shudder. Brian had climbed to 9000ft AGL here 30 minutes earlier, but I could only manage 6000 feet before I lost track of the rough lift.

No other gliders were in sight, and I realized I was probably on my own for the rest of the day, a theme that repeated itself for the remainder of the meet. I often wondered how hard it would be to run the course without the help of friendly, flex-wing gaggles, and now I have the answer to that question. I glided out into the flats for 10 miles towards the prison grounds, knowing it to be a somewhat reliable thermal generator. Unfortunately, high clouds were moving in, blocking much of the sunlight and weakening the lift. I only gained 1000 feet at the prison, but that got me past the second turnpoint and aimed back towards goal. I was 2000ft AGL and in need of a real thermal, so I followed the road below me, hoping something would lift off from the asphalt surface. After a few miles, my vario beeped slowly and steadily enough to entice me to circle, and I began a lethargic climb back to 5000ft AGL. This allowed me to glide another nine miles, until I was directly over the middle of Casa Grande with only 1500 feet altitude and seven miles to goal. I had never flown low over an urban area while looking for lift, and I kept a keen eye out for landing fields, especially as the altitude slowly disappeared. Suddenly my vario began chirping, and I put my Millennium on a wingtip and began climbing in my final thermal of the day. When my flight computer indicated I had goal with 1000 feet to spare, I commenced my glide and made goal at 5 p.m. Soon I was

back in the pool with my cold beer—heaven!

That evening, lightning, rain, and wind moved into the region, and we had to tear down our gliders to keep them from being blown away in the approaching gust front. The bad weather kept everyone grounded for the next two days, except Joe Bostik, who drove to Mt. Laguna in Southern California and flew a seven-hour XC to Redlands before returning to the meet. Some pilots simply can’t get enough!

Brian, Chris, and I checked out the Pima Air Museum and the Casa Grande Ruins. We also spent time hanging out with the Sport Class pilots, listening to their stories of what it’s like to get started in competition flying. New pilots experience many “firsts” at these meets, and those experiences create a level of excitement and energy that you don’t always feel hanging with the more seasoned competitors. My friend and Sport Class entrant Zach Hazen was flying in his first meet ever and made goal for the first time during the competition, quite an exciting accomplishment for a newcomer.

The flying resumed, with spectacular cumulus clouds dotting the 100km course on Day 5. We rarely get this kind of flying in the desert, and the beauty of the clouds was breathtaking all day long. I decided to fly with my camera pod and take some video with my homemade gyro-stabilized GoPro system. I soon found out that this created a lot of extra drag, taking four points off my glide, essentially the same as the flex-wings, but the video was worth it. This day we flew another 100km task, zigzagging past goal before heading to Arizona City and back to the hotel. The start was interesting, with some pilots racing out early at cloudbase, passing through and around gaggles waiting for a later start.

At times it looked like the Battle of Britain at cloudbase, with gliders weaving past each other at differing speeds.

Once we were on course, a juicy thermal awaited us at Casa Grande Mountain after our first glide, and a large group of us shot back up to cloudbase before tagging the first turnpoint. The first part of the day was fairly easy, running under the clouds, but by the time I arrived at Arizona City, the clouds had dissipated, and I was in need of a small climb to make goal. I made a big mistake by deviating back to Casa Grande Mountain, hoping to find lift there, but instead lost over 1000 feet in less than two minutes during a massive sink cycle. After that, I made the “glide of shame” towards goal and, finding no lift, I landed 4.5 miles short. Almost half the field made it in this day, which is quite a good showing in the SCFR meet. Sometimes the biggest challenge of a typical SCFR day is simply finishing the course; racing isn’t always an option.

Fewer clouds greeted us on Day 6 when the task was set at 120km, an obtuse triangle course that would take us southeast 13 miles, followed by a 30-mile leg northwest to Maricopa, and then back to the hotel. The lift dropped off noticeably as the day unfolded, so getting on the course early was the best strategy. Unfortunately, this wasn’t possible for pilots at the back of the launch line. By the time I was high enough to head out, I was already an hour behind the lead flex-wing gaggle.

There was also a 10mph headwind on the 30-mile leg to Maricopa, making matters much worse. Eventually, I caught up with some flex-wings, and as we approached the Phoenix Regional Airport, we started to get low (2000ft AGL) and were in need of a thermal. I went out ahead and started searching in the small hills north of the airport, eventually managing a climb to 3000ft AGL. That’s when I saw several flex-wings landing almost in unison at the airport, not a good sign. Without any gliders to help search for lift, I was

ABOVE Chris Zimmerman in his Swift and a host of flex wings thermaling near Casa Grande Mountain.

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on my own, with 10 miles to go upwind and another 16 miles to goal. After gliding a few miles towards Maricopa, I was down to 1000ft AGL and spent the next 20 minutes clinging to any shred of lift I could find, often losing ground due to the wind drift. Eventually, I gained 1000 feet and glided to the edge of the housing development at Maricopa, hoping the houses would shield some air from the wind and allow it to cook off a more powerful thermal.

This strategy paid off. Twenty minutes later, I was at 4000ft AGL, within gliding range of the last turnpoint.

After I reached the turn point, a most welcome tailwind pushed me down the course, but I was only 1800ft AGL and looking for landing fields. Conditions often shut down abruptly in the evening, and I feared the day had already passed that point. The best hope seemed to be following the Maricopa highway, looking for a thermal that might be triggered from the still-heated asphalt. If nothing else, with the help of the tailwind, I might make it back to the airport for an easy retrieve. Brian and Chris had raced ahead early in the day and caught the lead flex-wing gaggle, arriving at goal while I was still fighting it out on course. We were talking on the radio, and from the chatter I heard in the background it seemed a group of pilots at the hotel had bets on whether I’d make it in, since I was the last pilot in the air only an hour before sunset. Luckily, I stumbled into some 100fpm lift that lasted an entire 360, so I set my glider in an appropriate bank at min sink speed and waited for it to develop or die out. The wind was pushing me towards goal, so being in even the lightest lift was a very good thing. I kicked back, listening to the slowest beeping of my vario I’d ever heard, and 15 minutes later, I had reached 4000ft AGL, where my computer said I could make the 14-mile glide to goal. Using my instruments, I flew best L/D over the ground and made goal with 500 feet to spare. I was elated. I was in the pool with a beer before dark; it doesn’t get much better than that!

This day was one of the toughest of the meet for most pilots, only seven flex-wings and three of the Class 2 gliders made goal, 1/6 of the field. Day 6 taught me much about being persistent and methodical while searching for lift and constantly keeping an eye out for landing fields. Now there was only one day left in the meet, and I hoped it wouldn’t be as grueling as this one had been.

The moisture returned for Day 7. Cloud development started early and in earnest. The clouds were shooting up from their bases, reminding me of a recent magazine article

by Ryan Voight in which he mentioned to watch out if clouds are taller than they are wide. In the hour or so it took to launch the Open Class pilots, the clouds upwind of launch had coalesced and developed into an anvil head with a dark base that reached the ground— definitely not

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a good sign! When I asked some of the local pilots and people on the launch line their opinion about conditions, the consensus was that it was launchable, but pilots needed to be cautious. More dark clouds formed downwind along the courseline. I’d have liked the day to be cancelled but neither Chris nor Brian seemed concerned.

This brings up one of the major challenges of running a meet: how to administer it in a manner suitable for the wide range of pilot skills and experience, while keeping everyone safe. Unfortunately, the task committee and others were already heading down course as competitors in the meet. I made a decision to fly, knowing this day was going to be a total waste of time, given the deteriorating weather conditions. Class 2 gliders have an advantage in bad weather, because they’re easier to fly in strong conditions and also have the option of landing on wheels; that’s why I decided to go ahead and fly. If I had been on a flex-wing, I wouldn’t even have bothered towing up into the approaching storm.

One flex-wing pilot was smart enough to make that decision and pull out of the launch line. I commend him for showing good judgment.

Just before I launched, the ground crew told me that a gust front was approaching with a line of dust devils being kicked off in front of it, about eight miles upwind. Yikes!

The tow was fairly bumpy. I locked into the first thermal I could find, while keeping the option of landing back at the hotel in my mind, before the gust front hit. I was able to climb close to cloudbase before the weather reached the hotel, and then turned downwind to distance myself from the bad weather. There were clouds dumping and gust fronts developing to the south of the courseline, and the ground was quickly falling into shadow, killing the remaining lift.

Chris, Brian, and I were fairly close to each other, while gliding 25 miles to the first turnpoint. We found little lift after the town of Casa Grande and continued our glide onward, under clouds depositing rain on us. Before long, Chris radioed that he had sunk out a few miles past the first turnpoint, while searching one of the few sunlit areas for a thermal. Brian and I discussed the situation and, since a dark cloud was dumping close to the turnpoint, we decided to land near Chris, so we could get torn down before the dust storm hit. This would also make the retrieve easy for our driver, since we’d all be in the same field. (Coincidentally, this was the exact same location where a gust front forced us down in the 2012 SCFR event.)

We landed within a few feet of each other as an ominous cloud dumped and headed our way. We took a few pictures and started tearing down. Within 10 minutes, the gust front hit, blasting us with dust, but luckily nothing blew away.

About that time, the National Weather Service emergency

alert flashed across the screen of my phone, warning us of winds and dust in the area. No one was injured on this day and no one flew even halfway around the course, highlighting how pointless it was to be taking such risks in that type of weather—something I hope to never do again. The good news was that the meet was over, and it was time for the awards and celebration!

All of us gathered at a local Mexican restaurant for the awards ceremony and dinner, which began with a remembrance of Mark Knight by his wife, Marla. We were all pleased to hear the competition would continue to be held.

We thanked all the organizers, especially Jamie Shelden and Jonny Durand, for running the meet, Claudia Mejia (a.k.a.

Maria) for handling the scoring, the tug pilots and line crew, and all the people who helped the pilots over the last seven days.

Each year, money raised by the competitors is donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Casa Grande. This year, we were able to contribute over $4000 that had been raised at SCFR. The Open Class top three winners were Kraig Coomber, Robin Hamilton, and Michael Bilyk, all flying Moyes gliders.

Each demonstrated amazing consistency throughout the meet, despite the highly variable conditions we experienced.

If you fancy yourself as competitive XC pilot, you must come to the meet and see how these guys do it. But prepare to be humbled!

The hotly contested Sport Class had 16 entrants. The top three finishers were Cory Barnwell, Michael Williams, and Jim Weitman, all flying Wills Wing gliders. Anna Eppink was one of two female Sport Class pilots, and SCFR was her second competition ever. Anna held her own against the guys, finishing eighth overall. Jim Yocum was the winner in Class 5 (Atos), racing consistently hard throughout the event, even though he was the only Class 5 entrant. Chris Zimmerman’s attempt to beat Brian Porter was unrelenting and impressive, considering it was Chris’s first experience competing in a Swift. Brian managed to win four of the five days and took the overall championship in Class 2 (Swift).

I was glad to see Brian having to work at winning this year.

He is usually just flying against me, which means he doesn’t have to try hard to win. Chris was pushing Brian; each day their finishes were very close. It’s a spectacular sight to watch two Swifts racing hard from the air, at least when you can still keep them in sight.

SCFR 2014 was a fantastic competition with weather conditions that challenged us. The large turnout in the Sport Class was particularly encouraging to see and hopefully will be a continuing trend in years to come. Arizona rarely fails to deliver excellent XC flying and SCFR remains a unique competition for those who seek new cross-country flying experiences. Please come join us next year for the big show in the sky!

ABOVE The clouds on Day 5 were unusual for the SCFR event and made the sky even more scenic.

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"To Valle or Not to Valle..."

That is the question.

by Claudia Mejia

I

went to Valle last year planning to fly the pre-worlds.

But after I arrived, I realized I was not yet prepared to compete in Valle so withdrew on the first day of the competition. I spent the week as a mere “observer” and gathered the information you’ll find below. There have been concerns that the site may be too strong in the middle of the day, or that landing fields are too scarce, but during this event, 73 pilots from 13 countries competed in an arena that has witnessed countless tasks over the last 20 years.

Valle de Bravo is an old site Mexican pilots have been flying since 1978. I first heard about it in the early ‘90s when the Mexicans came to fly the Colombian Nationals in Roldanillo. Around 2000, Valle held a couple of editions of the Millenium Cup, which had enticing jackpots that attracted hotshots like the mighty Austrians—Manfred Ruhmer, Josef “Zwecki” Zweckmayr and Robert Reisinger, whose name I just saw on this year’s pilot list. I remember hearing about their flying adventures and their comments about the conditions being “strong,” but also that they definitely liked it! Of course, they were some of the best pilots in the world at the time, and also ones who were used to flying in strong Alpine conditions and, therefore, trained to deal with the type of conditions common in Valle.

The competition at Valle in 2014 was definitely one of the most demanding, due to the following factors: launching, flying and landing at high altitude; strong conditions; limited or challenging LZs; areas without good access roads; and seven consecutive days of competition, with all tasks being over 100km (shortest 104.1, longest 126.5km). The average task time (not counting the pilots’ in-air time before the start gate) for the fastest pilots was around 2:30 (17.5 hours in seven days) and for the slowest, 3:50 (almost 27 hours in seven days). And some pilots had very long retrieves, arriving back in Valle late at night.

When I talked with Larry Bunner about Valle, he said, “Before coming into Valle de Bravo I was intimidated.

Initially, I was concerned about the launches and landings; the turbulent conditions did not really bother me too much, LEFT First glide from launch to El Penon is always a test of how nice the day will progress.

Photo by Antione Boisselier.

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because I’ve flown in some pretty rough places. But what I’ve learned is that the launches are very consistent and very forgiving and, in regard to the landings, a pilot has to pay good attention to the field he/she is going to land in, keep the wings leveled and make sure to have a good final with plenty of speed. The one disconcerting thing I would say about the flying here is that the landing zones are rolling and sometimes sparse. So pilots who fly here, first of all, need to make sure they are safe before they push too hard, because if they don’t, they can put themselves in an uncompromising position where they have to choose a less-than-satisfactory landing zone. I think that has been demonstrated here by the number of people who have gotten hurt and the number of people who have damaged their gliders. But my overall experience here has been absolutely fantastic. The city is great.

We, my wife and I, were a little worried about that, but we learned to love Valle de Bravo, and I hope that I get to come back next year!”

The 2014 competition was held the second week in March, which typically is a month with very strong conditions. Earlier in the season there is mostly paragliding activity going on, so hang gliding comps are scheduled later. Pedro Garcia asserted that during March conditions are in fact

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strong, making it easier for hang glider pilots to pass tough areas with a better safety margin and better chances to make it to goal.

The organizing team, led by Miguel Gutierrez, has a lot of experience in general, including organizing Paragliding World Cups and the Paragliding Worlds in 2009. The prices for Category 1 events are rising; entry fee last year was $450, including retrieve if needed. This year the fee is $640 and, hopefully, the retrieve option is still included. The organizers secured a lot of sponsors, as we could see from banners

displayed everywhere, and small gifts were given to the pilots.

The opening and closing ceremonies were official and informative, with folklore shows, parades, media coverage, local food tasting, and plenty of spectators. A welcome dinner was held at a local restaurant and another social event took place after task 2, when the local government of Metepec, a city famous for its pottery (see http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Pottery_of_Metepec), put up a small artisan fair during which three local artists created a “Tree of Life,� one of which was given to each of the first three pilots who landed there

during a small unofficial prize-giving ceremony.

General information about the Valle area and event, to help those of you who have never been there to get a better taste of this place: Glider transport was either easy for some or a nightmare for others. If gliders are shipped by cargo, the process is quite complicated, involving extra fees and the state of mind of the agent you deal with that day. Pilots who flew AeroMexico seemed to have felt pleased with their transport and service. The organizers had contacted that airline previously, which seems to have helped.

Getting to Valle from Mexico City was, once again, an easy ride for many, but a traumatizing experience for others, like Wolfi, who had most of his electronic gear (including laptop and expensive cameras) stolen out of the car at the OPPOSITE TOP Zac Majors flying tandem just before the comp. BOTTOM Antoine Boisselier during his hang check for task 1. LEFT Giders staging before launch (task 3), Johnny Nilssen (NOR) in front. Photos by Claudia Mejia. ABOVE Caption | photo by Antoine Boisselier.

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curb, while loading gliders at the airport. If you were driving very early in the morning (around dawn) or late in the evening, the traffic in the city was not too bad, but if you got caught in traffic, it was horrible. The drive to Valle took about three hours, on decent roads, with several toll payments along the way; however, the town of Valle has cobblestone roads, which are beautiful but sometimes difficult to navigate.

Staying in town is probably the best choice for accommodations; there are plenty of places to go within walking distance, and you avoid any traffic jams that seem to occur regularly, especially from Friday to Sunday, when those who come to stay at their weekend homes flood the town. Another option is staying closer to launch in the “country,” which makes driving to launch easier. However, you still need to drive into town for GPS downloads and such. We stayed in a really nice hostel last year, in a hilly part of town about 15 to 20 minutes away from HQ, and it was great. The facility had a fantastic terrace with a beautiful view, but, just like the previous options, you really need to have your own car to be able to move around.

Overall, accommodations are expensive, compared to other South American locations; nevertheless, most of the hotels or apartments in Valle are very nice.

Food should not be an issue, but you do need to be prepared to encounter very spicy stuff anytime, including breakfast and desserts. There are a couple of Italian restaurants and a very nice vegetarian place as well as local Mexican fare. Downtown Valle is beautiful with its colonial architecture, large square plus shops, ATM machines, bars and restaurants.

Back to flying. Two new items I found there: wingtips and full carbon leading edges. Despite the fact that raked tips have become quite popular, the Pre-Worlds was the first international comp where several pilots flew with wingtips. We saw the carbon-fiber Aeros tips, which have been available for a while, the “original” Icaro flexible tips, the new Wills Wing “raked tips” and the ones made by Yon Bárcenas in Spain, who makes different versions for different brands, including the Moyes gliders, which did not yet have tips available for their gliders. Yon’s tips are halfway between the rigid Aeros wingtips and the flexible Icaro and Wills Wing tips, made of a fine sheet of Carbon-Kevlar.

Most Aeros pilots always use their tips and have no doubt about them; however, in regard to the flexible wingtips, some pilots seem convinced that they work while others have serious doubts about them. I asked Christian Ciech, who flies Icaro gliders, Pedro García who flew Aeros for a long time and Wills Wing for the past two years (he was also one of the first WW pilots to try out the wingtips in competition

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flying) and Paris Williams, who flies Aeros, for their comments.

Pedro recalls that flying his Aeros without the stiff wingtips made the glider’s handling “…less comfortable, especially in thermals. The glider was more ‘nervous’ in the air without them.” The flexible tips on his Wills Wing have a similar effect: “I think these tips are really good for thermaling, because despite the difference in handling at low speeds (a little stiffer), the wingtips give the pilot a higher level of comfort, which allows him/her to be more at ease and able to climb better. When I fly fast, I don’t really feel any real improvement and, overall, I like to fly with them.”

Christian describes his Icaro experience: “I find that in flying with the wingtips I may compromise a little bit of handling, but at the same time, I win on thermaling and on mid- to low-speed glides. These wingtips make the glider a little bit more stable; therefore, the wing’s stall characteristic

in thermal also changes, where it will take longer for you to achieve a stall, allowing you to fly even slower; this is an advantage 99% of the time. Nevertheless, I know there are times where being able to quickly stall your wing in a thermal to make a tighter turn (like when thermaling towards the ridge, and you push your speedbar a bit further to tighten the circle), but with the wingtips, this maneuver will probably not be as easy to perform as it is without them. Therefore, it is just something to keep in mind.”

Paris says that he chose the “short” wingtips over the “extended” ones for Valle because “the extended ones help on glide, because they keep the glider more stable, more straight, with less yaw, but when thermaling, those tips make the glider want to track really clean, which a lot of people really

like. But I like to be able to stick the glider up on a wingtip and spin it a little more.” Despite liking both types of tips, the shorter ones better fit Paris’s flying style, and he says his glider is already quite stable in flight, so it does not need that extra stability. “I really like to use the proverse yaw when thermaling to get a tighter radius in the turn, and the shorter tips are a little better for that.”

I tried out the tips on my T2C 136 this summer in Annecy, France, for several flights and also found that the glider felt stiffer. I definitely felt the almost two extra square feet when flying it in those strong conditions. Since I am already on the very light side of the weight range for that glider and did not want to compromise any handling, I have decided not to use them. However, I would definitely consider

ABOVE Valle is a mixture of mountain thermal glory, convergence flying, and flatlands | photo by Antoine Boisselier.

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Task Winners TASK

PILOT

GLIDER

1

Christian Ciech (ITA)

Laminar

2

Antoine Boisselier (FRA) Laminar

3

Suan Selenati (ITA)

WW T2C 144

4

Paris Williams (USA)

Aeros Combat 12.7

5

Pedro Garcia (ESP)

WW T2C 144

6

Zac Majors (USA)

WW T2C 144

7

Pedro Garcia (ESP)

WW T2C 144

Top 10

32

PTS

PILOT

GLIDER

6274

Christian Ciech (ITA)

Icaro 2000 Laminar

6090

Zac Majors (USA)

WillsWing T2C 144

5925

Antoine Boisselier (FRA) Icaro 2000 Laminar

5880

Mario Alonzi (FRA)

Aeros Combat GT

5843

Filippo Oppici (ITA)

WillsWing T2C 144

5826

Jonny Durand (AUS)

Moyes RX3.5

5470

Pedro Garcia (ESP)

WillsWing T2C 144

5467

Gerd Dönhuber (GER)

(not reported)

5259

Paris Williams (USA)

Aeros Combat 12.7

5186

Gianpietro Zin (FRA)

Icaro 2000 Laminar

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

adding the extra surface in very weak conditions, especially if I am competing.

Regarding the new “full carbon” Aeros gliders, all the pilots flying them seemed quite happy with the glider’s weight and its overall characteristics. I asked Paris about this new experience, especially since it was the first time he had competed on a small glider (12.7m2), and he said: “It’s the sweetest glider I’ve ever flown; it’s amazing! They finally made a little glider that performs like a big glider, because big gliders always outperform little gliders. It is the first time I have been on a little glider that kept up with everyone. What interested me about the glider was that I was able to outclimb everybody, which is weird for a little glider. It has a really high aspect ratio, which I think is the reason it climbs so well. That really helps at low speeds, you know, the long thin wings; plus, it is so light, and the handling is really nimble.”

While talking to Paris, I asked him his opinion of Valle.

“When flying in Valle, make sure you are comfortable with your landing approaches. I came out here to check it out, but I’m probably not going to come to the Worlds, because I think it might be a little bit too crowded; but otherwise, I think it is great! I am OK with the landings, even though they are pretty advanced. I enjoy how technical it is: You have to get into a lot of gear shifting, you have to continually read the weather, you need to ‘hit the brakes’ and get high when about to cross an iffy area, then get back into that ‘race, race, race’ mode… I love flying at different altitudes, often going over valleys that are actually higher than where we launched from, cloudbase constantly changing, always going up and down, lots of things to think about. I felt it never clicked for me in this comp; I did not get in the groove. All my choices felt like they were out-of-synch, whether it was clouds, direction or which start to take; I always seemed to be outof-synch. It happens, you know. Sometimes you have good meets, sometimes you have bad ones.”

Despite not having felt “clicking in the comp’s groove” and flying a new glider, Paris did not do poorly at all, ending up 9th in the overall results and winning task 4.

So the Pre-worlds took place, and the Worlds are coming up in a couple of months. Despite doubts, pilots are signed up and the curtain will rise for task one on March 1, 2015.

The US, second in the FAI ranking list of nations, just 79.5 behind Italy after having been so close in Australia in 2013, hopefully will be very motivated to kick some serious butt again in Valle!

There are definitely a lot of pros “to Valle” and some cons “not to Valle,” but it seems that the answer to the question is definitely “to Valle.” Then, let the best pilot and the best team win. Good luck, everyone!

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Zac Majors flying the South Side, Point of the Mountain, Utah.

The

"Bad Old Days"

of Hang Gliding

A Coming-of-age Story by

36

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

C .J. S T U R TE VA N T

With massive input from Paul Dees and Danny Uchytl. Photos courtesy Paul and Danny.

M

y husband George and I took our first hang gliding lesson in 1982. Our instructors and mentors—the ones we considered “old timers” even though many of them were considerably younger than we were— had already been flying for a decade or so. Almost without exception, they commended us on our wisdom (ha!) in waiting to take up this “extreme” sport until it had become relatively safe and sane. “Back when I first started hang gliding,” they’d begin, and then continue on to recite a litany of hilarious and horrific examples of their early experiences attempting to get airborne.

With 21st-century pilots receiving USHPA membership numbers coming up on 100,000, more than 90% of today’s pilots have learned to fly after George and I did, and many of you newer guys and gals have never had an opportunity to hear those tales, first-hand from those who lived them, about the “bad old days” of hang gliding. Given today’s wealth of readilyavailable information about everything hang-gliding related, it’s nearly impossible to imagine the depth of these early hang pilots’ ignorance regarding every aspect of their flying equipment, and the air they flew through.

So, on a recent wintry November evening I invited several of our longtime hang gliding buddies to a taletelling fest. “I’ll bring the Scotch,” volunteered Danny Uchytil, USHPA #12761. Paul Dees (USHPA #6274) and his wife Kay brought their amazing scrapbook chronicling Paul’s 40 years of flying history. Prominently pasted on

June 7, 1973: Dan’s first attempts at flight on the Kilbourne kite. He did several “ostrich hops” down the hill but never got truly airborne.

Note the wiggles in the downtubes, and the swing seat almost lifting him off his feet.

LEFT

the scrapbook’s opening page is a priceless piece of hang gliding memorabilia: National Geographic’s February 1972 “Happy Birthday, Otto Lilienthal” article. The rest of the album contains hundreds of Paul’s hang gliding photos, carefully laid out in chronological order and captioned with names, dates, locations and occasions. What a lot of memories he and Kay have captured on those pages!

Danny and Paul are both as talented at story-telling as they are at hang gliding. For all of my 33 years of flying, I’ve been entertained, amazed and, on occasion, horrified by their tales of their coming-of-age concurrently with the sport of hang gliding. Now, before those memories start leaking out of these aging brains, I bring you these old-time pilots’ unique and colorful perspectives on the “bad old days” of hang gliding.

“Wait a minute!” objects Danny.

“Those old days weren’t so bad!” But the rest of the pilots and spouses in the room loudly disagree, and jump right in with their own version of the “real” story of hang gliding in the 1970s and ‘80s. Lubricated with Danny’s Scotch, and with Paul’s pics springboarding reminiscences off in every direction, the pilots’ stories roll non-stop for nearly three hours.

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How It All Began Danny first encountered a hang glider in 1973 when he bicycled over to his brother’s house in Superior, Wisconsin.

“What’s that?” asked the 15-yearold, pointing to a tubular object tied atop their friend Paul Westby’s jeep.

“A hang glider,” replied Gerry, three years Danny’s senior. “Yeah, OK,” said Danny, “so what’s THAT??”

Gerry (USHPA #4103) had happened upon a Popular Mechanics magazine that included an article on building a hang glider; at the article’s end was a list of people to contact for information about this new sport.

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Dave Kilbourne was on that list; from him Gerry and Paul had obtained a kit for a 16-foot Kilbourne Standard hang glider, and had built the kite that the three of them now proceeded to figure out how to fly. On this day they jumped into Paul’s jeep and drove to nearby Duluth, to a hill on the UMD campus. “It was a flip of the coin that determined who got to go first,” Danny recalls, “very melodramatic!”

Backtracking a bit, he explains, “The kit had included a blueprint, raw aluminum, wires, wood doweling, the sail, a swing seat. You drilled all the holes, did all the swaging—but my brother didn’t have a swager so he used a hammer—and put it all together.

No sail bag, so Gerry had just rolled it up and tied it onto the top of the jeep.

The only instructions that came with it were: Launch into the wind and land into the wind.”

And now, the moment of truth. At the hill, they assembled the glider and carried it up to where they planned to launch. Gerry, an all-American line-

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

backer, picked up his wing and powered down the hillside, fully expecting to get airborne but quickly discovering that with the wind NOT blowing in, there was no chance of that happening.

After some discussion, the three boys concurred that a 60-foot hill closer to home would be ideal with this day’s wind direction. Ignored by all of them was their knowledge that this “ideal” hill was also popular with kids who

ABOVE Paul with his $10 biplane before the

lower wing was covered, 1975. BELOW Paul flying for the first time in his Icarus II, June, 1975. pushed cars down the slope for the excitement of watching them smash to pieces. More on that later…

Sure enough, the wind was coming straight up the slot in the trees. In spite of obvious pieces of car littering the slope below him, Gerry “picks up the

It’s all about the flying | www.WillsWing.com

glider, runs down the hill, gets up in the air and then BAM! He crashes and breaks it,” Danny recalls. Disappointed but undaunted, they gathered the wreckage and carted it back to Gerry’s house for repairs.

Two weeks later, Gerry called his brother: “Danny! I flew today! I really flew!”

“Wow!” Danny exclaimed, then cautiously inquired, “How’s the glider?”

“It’s broken,” was Gerry’s rueful response.

And that became the pattern of their aerial adventures: Gerry or Paul would attempt to fly the glider, breaking it after nearly every flight, and making repairs. “We spliced everything together,” Danny recalls. “That leading edge was spliced in a bunch of places— we figured six inches on either side of the break was good enough.”

In all this time, Danny had yet been allowed to fly. “I was on the ground taking stats,” he explains. “How high did they get? A couple feet off the ground, at best. How long was the

flight? Maybe 13 seconds.”

And then, finally, one day Gerry asked him, “You want to try it?” Well, d’oh! So Danny picked up the glider and gave it all he had, running downhill with Gerry yelling advice and criticism.

“I push out a little bit and my feet get maybe this high off the ground”—he indicates about a foot or so—”and I ostrich-hopped for probably 30 feet, AND landed without crashing!”

What followed was inevitable: Danny, with a passion that every pilot can relate to, suddenly simply HAD to have his own wing. But how to make that happen? “No way could I come up with $400 for a kit!” he realized, but Gerry’s magazine had some pictures of a glider made of bamboo and plastic.

“I can afford that!” Danny thought.

A capable artist and tinkerer, he used the pilot in the pictures as scale to determine the dimensions of his wing and figure out how much bamboo and plastic he’d need.

Danny called every carpet store nearby—carpet came rolled on bamboo

poles back then—but nobody had any bamboo lying around. Still too young to drive, Danny hitchhiked 50 miles to a sporting-goods store in Minong, Wisconsin, that sold bamboo fishing poles, bought all the bamboo they had in stock and hitchhiked back home with a dozen or so poles. “A friend’s father gave me the plastic sheeting for the sail,” he recalls. “He thought it was better to have me doing this than hopping trains, (which I did anyway…)”

Before long he’d completed his “Bamboo Butterfly” and carted it out to a field behind his house where he towed it up like a huge kite. It seemed to fly OK, so the next step was to get it to a hill to try it out for real. The closest hill— that one with all the wrecked cars—was six miles away, so “I built a trailer to tow behind my 10-speed bike, collapsed the glider down and tied it on. I had maybe 15 kids following me the whole way,” he laughs, “all of them pointing out that I was freakin’ crazy.”

He re-assembled the wing and ran down the hill, and “it almost flies”—we

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39

could hear the longing in his voice as he tells us this, 50 years later—”I can feel it lifting, but it’s not quite happening.”

Ignoring the jeering of his peers, he loaded the glider back onto his trailer and pedaled home. He tinkered with it a bit, adjusted the hang cage position, took it back to the hill, almost got airborne, and brought it back home for some more tinkering. He repeated that sequence several times.

Then one day super-jock big-brother Gerry came along to see how things were going, and Danny generously allowed him to see if he could convince the Bamboo Butterfly to fly. With Gerry as pilot, Danny ran down the hill alongside him, holding onto the keel until Gerry was hanging from his armpits in the hang cage and his feet were off the ground. Danny could no longer keep up, “so I let go of the keel and right away, BAM!” Gerry impacted right into the smashed-car detritus; quite a few stitches in Gerry’s knee sidelined him on the playing field, and the training hill, for several weeks.

And that, says Danny, was the Bamboo Butterfly’s first, last and only flight. Rather than considering the project a failure, though, he philosophically declared it “a learning experience”

that, among other things, cemented his commitment to becoming a hang glider pilot.

Just out of curiosity I asked Danny why, since he and Gerry started flying at about the same time, Danny’s USHPA number is so much higher than his brother’s. “You have to remember I was 15 years old and broke,” he reminds us. “Gerry joined up before me and I just read his Low & Slow newsletters. I didn’t see any benefit to joining at first—this was before the rating system came into being. I finally joined in 1975, just to have a rating card when we started to travel out west and all over Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario, Canada. I wanted a card so if I was asked what my rating was I could show them. But funny thing, no one ever asked to see it. Who knew at the time it would come down to bragging rights, to have a lower number?”

As a young teen living in Illinois, Paul Dees encountered that February 1972 National Geographic article and thought, “I just have to do that!” Like the majority of pilot wannabes in the early ‘70s, Paul was young and broke— ”I happened to be 13 at the time and my source of income was mowing lawns,” he says, but “the possibility

of being able to fly like a bird for a very low cost” totally captivated him.

Forty years later, he’s still captivated, although as an aeronautical engineer at Boeing, he’s a bit less “broke” these days!

Paul’s earliest experience at aeronautical engineering was the Batso, a “plans-built rogallo made out of bamboo and a 4-mil plastic drop cloth, held together with copious amounts of tape. There were exactly three bolts on the whole thing and they were on the noseplate, which was made out of a 2x2! I never got off the ground in the Batso because I didn’t know there was a ‘right’ angle of attack. My nose was too high so I just crow-hopped down a 30foot hill at a nearby under-construction overpass in central Illinois.”

Nine months later, Paul had his first “real” flight from that same hill, in an Icarus II—a biplane design with tip rudders—that he’d bought used from “an older gent who’d built it from a kit. But the old guy had made some construction errors, like putting the struts the wrong way, but I didn’t know that.” With a couple of friends as support crew, Paul “ just ran down the hill into the wind and got swept off my feet into the air.” The glider of course didn’t fly right and immediately stalled, and he whacked in, breaking a few tubes, one of which stabbed him in the calf. “None of my buddies had taken any pictures,” Paul says, “so we hauled the glider back up the hill and I proceeded, with all the damage and absolutely no common sense, to launch—and crash—again. This time we got a picture, and since the bleeding wasn’t really stopping, we called it a day and went home.”

His next ambitious plan was “to LEFT The tire staircase built by Danny at the 1974

Frankfort Festival. OPPOSITE Dan’s stepmother snapped these photos of the Bamboo Butterfly under construction.

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

build a glider over spring break, for $10.” Amazingly he kept to both his time frame and his budget; after a week of feverish work in his garage, he emerged with a biplane he’d built “using broomsticks for struts, and slats from blinds for ribs that I lashed to the spars—bamboo poles—with baling wire. I had a piece of waterski tow rope that I used for rigging, and the sail was left-over plastic from the Batso.” He and his Dad took this new biplane to that 30-foot hill on the edge of town and, Paul recalls, “after setting it up I left it sitting at launch for a few minutes while I went back to the car to get something. I like to think God in his infinite mercy saw fit to send a thermal, which flipped it and wrecked it so I never got to try and fly it, and that is probably why I am still alive today! I still grin when I look at the photos, though, as it was great fun to build, even if it was a total aerodynamic disaster.”

Clearly personal safety was not a high priority in these early endeavors.

“Safety??” exclaims Danny incredulously. “You mean ‘safety meetings’?

We were kids—we didn’t care about being safe!” Or perhaps this cavalier attitude derived, at least partly, from these kids’ unfathomable depths of ignorance. Paul labels his new-pilot self as “ignorant and self-taught. I waited until the wind was blowing and went

to a hill without permission in hopes that I could maybe get airborne for a few seconds and not get hurt before somebody busted me—or I busted my glider—and I’d have to leave.” Even had he sought out instruction, Paul figures he probably would have come up empty in those very early days. “It was rough,” he concedes. “I wanted to fly so badly but I had no money, and there were no instructors. I had no clue about where to find instruction until the sport grew enough that contacts could be found.

The best help I got was from Kitty Hawk Kites, six years after that first attempt at flight on the mis-assembled Icarus. Thank you, John Harris and Randy Cobb!”

“As for learning curve,” Paul continues, “it was more of a cliff than a curve. If you did not die trying in your first 20 or so flights you were an ‘expert.’ We learned from our mistakes. For example, one time I took my Standard Rogallo to a 25-foot hill near the University of Illinois campus.

The wind was cranking. There were a lot of trees, but I’d never heard of wind gradient or rotors, which meant I was going to have a bad day, I just didn’t know it yet. As soon as the nose lifted, the glider got flipped end over end and within seconds every tube was broken.

Miraculously I was only scratched up—the glider took it all. The next day I did the first smart thing in a long time

and bought a helmet. I see this as some proof that there must be a god who looks out for fools…”

Danny adds, “We’d fly whenever it looked, or felt, flyable—even if it was snowing so hard we couldn’t see the ground.” Or, he casually adds, the other gliders, but since this was mostly before anyone was soaring, being whited out in a snowstorm with other gliders usually wasn’t a huge issue.

Still on the safety theme, Paul continues, “I started to meet other pilots in Illinois, Michigan and Missouri—the typical pilot back then was in his 20s and was a free spirit, an adventurer.

Many were Vietnam vets and now they could let their hair grow long. To fly free was the best, and nobody could tell any of us to wear a helmet, because you had to feel the wind in your hair. These were the badass kind of people mamas do not like, but who have a very good time. Many of them did not live to become old…”

It wasn’t just the pilots’ mindset that made hang gliding risky. “The gliders and harnesses—compared to today’s equipment—were terrible,” Paul points out. “No pitch stability. You could barely make the LZ from the top of the hill. My Cirrus 3 required piano-tuning skills to keep all the deflexor cables in tune, and it would randomly and inexplicably go into a turn after launch when during the last flight it flew great.

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41

ABOVE An unknown pilot launching a Rogallo

wing at the 1974 Frankfort Festival | photo by Paul Dees. RIGHT C.J. and George Sturtevant, Danny, and Jean Dawkins at the 1985 Nats in Chelan, Washington.

If you did crash, you bent the unbroken tubes back somewhat straight and flew again. Our control bars had all kinds of wiggles in them, and we thought nothing of it. Parachutes did not exist until the late 1970s so if you lost control of your glider, your only option was to ride it down to the ground and hope you crashed into something soft. Doing a 360-degree turn was considered an advanced maneuver in a Standard Rogallo, because if you messed up and got in a dive you would not be able to recover.”

But The Times They Were a’Changin’…

Up until the summer of 1974, the Uchytil brothers and Paul Westby were the only pilots accumulating massive amounts of experience in miniscule bits of airtime at any of the sites they frequented in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Back in Illinois Paul Dees, whose glider was still mostly in the imagination stage, had yet to see a tangible hang glider, or meet a hang glider pilot. That status quo was about to change, big-time.

In 1974, 200 hang glider pilots from all over the country converged on a long dune above Lake Michigan for the Frankfort Hang Gliding Festival. The participants included many of the best pilots in the country at the time; Danny reels off a list of names: “Dennis Pagen,

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Tom Peghiny, the Eipper guys, Jack Schroeder, a guy from Colorado for the Sun gliders— everybody was represented.” And among all these big dogs was 16-year-old barely-fledged Danny, who’d somehow gotten himself to Frankfort a week before the meet. He walked into the local shop and introduced himself as a hang glider pilot who wanted to fly with the big boys. Gerry and Paul Westby were supposed to be driving to Frankfort a few days later with all the gliders, but when they showed up with only two wings—”We didn’t have room for yours,” was the excuse Gerry offered his brother—Danny was drafted to be launch director. “I’m 16 and I’m telling all these guys to keep moving and get their butts off launch so the next guys could go,” he laughs, still reveling in having held that position of power all those decades ago.

Keeping moving and getting off launch were not trivial tasks. The first take-off point was 100’ above the LZ, the next one 170 feet higher; flights were sledders to a spot-landing contest on the beach. In the days leading up to the meet a continuous line of pilots trudged with their mostly-set-up wings from the beach back up the dune, where there was room for only two or three gliders at a time to re-assemble. The

long slog back up that steep, slippery sand slope was time-consuming, tedious, and exhausting, until someone came up with an ingenious solution. “We put an old tire down, near the bottom,” Danny explains, “filled it with sand, put another one above it, filled that one with sand, and built steps all the way up.”

Construction was energy-intensive for the constructors, but for the pilots, their conserved energy converted to another flight or two on each competition day.

More than 8000 spectators showed up to watch the event; 13-year-old Paul Dees was among them. This was the first time he ever saw actual hang gliders actually flying. “I was just a punk kid from Illinois who wanted to learn to hang glide,” he recalls, “and I talked my dad into going on this camping trip.

We camped out on the beach the entire week, and by the end my dad was pretty excited. ‘We should get one of those!’ said Dad, but once we got home, and he talked to my mom, he never mentioned that again…”

Not surprisingly, spectator Paul and launch-director Danny don’t recall ever crossing paths that week; it wasn’t until years later, when both were Pacific Northwesterners sharing tales of their early flying experiences, that they discovered they’d both been at that Frankfort festival in 1974.

In the minds of those 8000 spectators—Paul Dees and his dad included— pilots were rock stars. As Danny tells it, his brother Gerry had the longest flight of the meet—a mere 1 minute and 56 seconds—but to those watching from the ground, that seemed an almost miraculous feat. Even to the pilots, who as yet had no concept of soaring, such an extended sledder conferred bragging

rights.

But the definition of an “epic” flight was rapidly expanding. “In Illinois in the early ‘70s,” Paul explains, “any flight that lasted longer than a minute and included a landing that didn’t break anything was ‘epic.’ As pilot skills and equipment improved, ‘epic’ became the hallowed soaring flight, which,” he laments, “for me did not happen until I had been flying for nine years and had moved to SoCal.”

Maybe Those WERE the Good Old Days?

Paul’s favorite site back in the ‘70s was Warren Dunes State Park in SW Michigan, not all that far from Frankfort. “Warren Dunes was a 150-foot-high sand dune where I really learned to fly, and where I first saw others soaring. I used to skip college classes for a day and drive four hours each way in hopes of flying there.” He got to fly the Dunes again in 1996 when he test-flew a replica of an Octave Chanute biplane glider, 100 years after the original flew. “It is a beautiful, magical place for me,” he says, “and yes, people still fly there.”

But Paul’s first soaring flight eluded him until 1984, after he and Kay had moved to Southern California, where he met John Heiney, who introduced him to a “bandito” site on the north

side of Dana Point and swore him to secrecy. He soared for the first time at Dana Point, and during those two hours of airborne bliss he became totally hooked, addicted. “It was like the world had changed,” he muses. By one of those weird twists of fortune, Kay had Saturday appointments with her allergy doc right in the Dana Point neighborhood. Typically Paul, being a considerate spouse, would accompany her and “sit in that waiting room, my soul dying” if it looked like good flying at the Point. One day, a few months after that first soaring flight, Paul negotiated with Kay to drop her off for her appointment, go fly and be there to pick her up when she was done at the doc’s.

When he arrived on launch, conditions looked perfect! Checking his watch, he mentally noted his land-by cutoff time, hooked in, took off, and soared—and soared, and soared. Of course, during all those ridge passes the land-by time had come and gone. In hopes of reducing his degree of lateness, he did his first-ever toplanding, left his glider set up tail into the wind, and rushed down to retrieve Kay. She, being an understanding spouse, agreed to do some shopping at a nearby mall while Paul collected his glider. When he arrived back on launch, it was STILL SOARABLE! So, since his glider

was ready and waiting, Paul hooked in, launched, flew around for another half-hour or so “until my conscience started to really bother me,” toplanded again, packed up, and drove back to the mall, where Kay was just finishing her shopping. “Everything was good,” Paul concludes, and Kay concurs: “Big grins all around.”

As for Danny, he still insists that those bad old days were all (or at least mostly all) actually rather good. Ask him about any of his myriad early flying experiences, and he’ll soon have you convinced that in spite of the trials, setbacks, challenges and, yes, some truly awful things that happened back then, those early days were among the best.

Perhaps time has softened some of the sharp edges, and maybe our memories have a way of holding more strongly onto the things that made us smile at the time. Consider taking these pilots’ tales with a grain or two of salt. Thank your lucky stars for all the authors, instructors and pilots who’ve shared the knowledge that’s been accumulating since those early days and has made you a safer pilot. And if you were there and would like to inject your version of how things REALLY were back then, a well-crafted letter to the editor (editor@ushpa.aero) just might get you in the mag.

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So, this year I went to the

COUPE ICARE by

I

magine the biggest party you’ve ever attended. Bigger than that. Imagine yourself at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but with flying. Everywhere. Everything is flying-related and there’s beer. And rich European food. And music. Live music. Add a helping of outrageous costumery, happy singing, amazing scenery, exceptional flying garnished with a broad variety of foreign accents, more flying and there you have it. The Coupe Icare in St Hilaire, France.

This year marked the 41st edition of the Coupe Icare, an annual event in France celebrating free flight in all its forms.

A carnivale, a mardi-gras, a celebration of all things flying, the Coupe Icare is a gathering, a performance, a show, an exhibition, a convention for pilots and everyone who is in any way associated with what we do.

But calling it an event isn’t accurate; that short-changes the experience. Think of it as a show, an experience.

And like all great experiences, you cannot fully appreciated it the first time you attend. You must plan to return in subsequent years to see all that you’ve missed during your first visit. Think of it as a Phish concert for pilots…

It’s in France.

The Coupe Icare is held in the Rhone-Alpes region, between Grenoble and Chambery at Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet and Lumbin, on the natural limestone plateau of the Chartreuse Mountain Range.

It’s a mecca of free flight. Saint Hilaire du Touvet is located on the southeast balcony of the mountain range in the heart of the Regional Park of the Chartreuse, only 25 km from Grenoble, on the Plateau of the Petites Roches at an ideal altitude of 1000m. This charming village and exceptional site has become a favorite resort spot for hikers, pilots and tourists, offering indescribable views, great European high-alpine hiking and, for the aviation-inclined, remarkably good flying opportunities.

The festival itself is publicly supported by a variety of local

T I M M EE H A N

and regional entities, without whom the festival could not continue. Among these: The Rhône-Alpes Regional Council, the City of Grenoble, the FFVL, the villages of St Hilaire and Lumbin and, like all free-flight events worldwide, a community of volunteers and supporters who give their time and resources to make it better every year. Imagine that kind of support for the next US-based competition you attend.

This is its 41st year.

Coupe Icare began in 1974 with a competition among 50 hang glider pilots. The main event was a spot-landing contest that caused enormous traffic jams still talked about locally. Popularity grew as it became more of a festival than a competition, and last year it attracted over 100,000 attendees, making it the largest paragliding and ultralight sports event ever to be held in the world.

Seriously, there’s something for everyone.

The event itself has so many facets and attractions that it can’t easily or accurately be described. There truly is something for everyone, pilot or non-pilot, every single day of the event.

It’s an Air Show.

Each day of the Icare, there was a showcase of aerobatic demonstrations on equipment from the best pilots in the world, including paragliders, hang gliders, paramotors, microlights, gyroplanes, biplanes, gliders, parachutes and wingsuits, kites and even boomerangs.

Hot-air balloons, including shaped balloons and airships, provided a ballet in the sky early in the morning and at the end of each Coupe Icare day. On the last day of this year’s event, pilots were offered the opportunity to launch into the gaggle of hot air balloons and fly around, above, and below, as close as they wanted. It was a beautiful and unbelievably photogenic event that would be hard to replicate anywhere else in the world.

LEFT Flying cave men–the next evolutionary step from flying monkeys | Tim Meehan.

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It’s a Carnival.

There’s a Cinema.

When you think of the Coupe Icare, it’s likely the first image that comes to your mind is the crazy carnival of costumed flight contraptions and aerial Mardi-Gras floats. These performances run all day, all weekend and are worth the trip, just for the colorful and creative spectacle they provide.

Teams of pilots dressed in spectacular costumes put on entertaining pre-shows in character with the nonsensical flying machines they’ve crafted for the event. It’s difficult to describe; you have to see it to believe it.

Whenever we pilots get together, whether it’s at our local club meeting or a cocktail party, one of our favorite distractions is watching cool flying videos. The Coupe Icare sports a full-on theatrical cinema that runs every night in a comfortable hall at the acro launch site. Outside the hall is a big, drive-in sized digital screen projecting the movies being seen inside. If you aren’t lucky enough to score a ticket, you can catch all the action outside, while you enjoy an adult beverage at one of the outdoor bars.

There’s an exhibition hall.

Got Kids?

One thing pilots like to do when they get together is talk about flying. What better place could there be than a 54,000-square-foot exhibition hall with all the biggest (and smallest) designers, manufacturers, suppliers and pilots in the world to answer questions and show you all the latest “stuff.”

More than 200 international exhibitors and all the big names you’ve ever seen in the videos or read about in all the online forums and magazines were present.

Any good event of any appreciable size has plenty to offer the entire family. Coupe Icare hosts educational activities of discovery for the children (and adults) all day, every day, activities with an educational twist that relate directly to the theme of the event. Mini workshops of an hour or so that teach kids about nature, flight, weather and more are presented frequently. Families and school groups rotate between paper-airplane workshops, getting up-close-and-personal

ABOVE A genuine festival atmosphere pervades the spectator crowds for the Coupe Icare follies.

OPPOSITE Speed wings launching at the Coupe Icare follies. Photos by Tim Meehan.

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with large birds of prey and learning to kite mini-wings all day. Guaranteed fun for the entire family.

And when it’s over…

When the event itself is over, be sure to take a day to hike the Dents du Crolle (French for “crow’s teeth”) Mountain, directly above and behind the town of St Hilaire. The hike is about two km, ascends about 1000m and culminates at a breathtaking launch site with a view of the entire area (providing it’s not raining). It only took us two hours to make the hike up and three to hike down. It was raining.

The Coupe Icare Interviews.

Here is the news: It rained this year. Every day. Perfect opportunity to spend as much time as possible in the exhibition hall, shaking hands and asking questions of all the big names in the business. People you’ve heard about, read about and seen in all the cool videos. What an opportunity.

I asked each of them the same basic handful of questions: “What’s new? How is it different/better? How soon will we see it in the US market?” And, in some cases, “What about that thing that happened last year, at that event, where everyone was so (concerned, upset, amused, disturbed, bent, insert leading phrase here)? You know what I’m talking about. That

thing. What’s up with that?”

In no particular order: NOVA was outside the main hall in their own house-sized tent, displaying their new logo, brand identity and wing graphics, a modern throwback to their original look.

By now, you’ve already heard that they’ve announced the Mentor 4, the next ascendant in the venerable Mentor lineage. Phillipe Medicus, the Mentor 4’s designer, tells us that Mentor 4 is a new design with a revised airfoil, increased cell count and improvements in materials and design that offer improved stability and performance.

Improved construction includes lighter cloth on the bottom surface and more durable leading-edge fabric. Cell count is increased from 51 to 55, with no increase in weight.

Nova listened to their test pilots who asked for more directional and yaw stability; the resulting design improvements added a half-point to glide ratio, a smoother ride and increased roll damping. The total net benefit is handling and behavior similar to the Mentor 3, with no increase in pilot demands.

GIN was present in a corner booth where they were showing their new harness, the Genie Race 3, and announcing the new high-performance wing, the GTO 2.

Andy Beavers, Gin’s marketing and communications

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manager, tells us that the GTO 2 is the update to the popular GTO and represents a whole new generation of technology. Based on the Boomerang X-Alps design, it sports a new leading-edge shape and Gin’s patented EPT interior tech, which helps maintain internal pressure, a smoother airflow and lower stall speed. Pilots will enjoy easier launch characteristics and the ability to make tighter LZs. Gin’s new high-performance harness is the Genie Race 3, a more aerodynamic design with a new leading-edge nose and an inflatable fin. The Genie Race 3 was developed by Swiss fluid dynamics engineer, Koni Schafroth, who works for the European Space Agency.

We talked about the Carrera. Pilots in the US seem to have strong opinions about the Carrera, both positive and less so. The Carrera was designed as a replacement for Gin’s XC wing, the Tribe, EN-C. Surprising everyone, somehow it passed with an EN-B certification. Make no mistake about it; the Carrera was designed for the experienced, advanced, XC pilot as a fast, XC wing.

BGD (Bruce Goldsmith Designs) had a booth manned by none other than Bruce Goldsmith himself and worldfamous acro/test pilot Anthony Green. Bruce talked about how BGD wings are more interesting and more fun to fly, because of their unique CCB (Cord Cut Below) design and

Three-D panel shaping design, which places the transverse cut farther back on the leading edge, thereby providing a smoother airflow at the laminar-to-turbulent transition space.

According to Bruce, this results in more stability and better performance, while yielding reduced wear porosity and a longer glider life. And they’re fun to fly.

In addition to an updated Tala (the Tala 2), BGD is talking about a new performance wing tentatively called BASE to be introduced in 2015.

SUP’AIR and Clement Latour tell us that Sup’Air isn’t just making awesome harnesses anymore. They’re now manufacturing their own wings as well. The Sup’Air Sora is their first entry into the glider-design market and is a tandem wing designed by and for professional tandem pilots. It comes in a single 42m2 size and promises easy takeoff characteristics and soft handling in the air.

Sup’Air is also developing a basic school glider for release sometime in 2015.

Sup’Air’s new harness, the Delight 2, features an optional narrow seatplate that offers more comfort and precision in flight. The pod is removable and is attached with a zipper and Velcro. It sports a new, more aerodynamic cockpit with a larger deck to accommodate more instruments. It also has a new size-adjustable reserve pocket with special soft-zip riser covers, perfect for lightweight and extra lightweight reserves.

The pocket interior is a bright green color, instead of the usual black, to make it easier to see the contents or notice if the container is open pre-flight.

Sup’Air’s headquarters are in Annecy, next to the landing field of this world-famous flying site.

GRADIENT’S booth was located near the main entrance to the hall. They are proud of their newly released Aspen 5, a completely redesigned EN-C glider, built with expensive SkyTex material, that has a new planform and a different aspect ratio that features a higher maximum speed and flatter polar curve.

Among other new product news from Gradient is their 2014 new Bi-Golden 3. Look for a new model of the Freestyle 3, Bright 5 (2015), and Avax (EN-D) XC wing, as well as a brand new lightweight mountain wing called the Eiger, Every new glider from Gradient is test-flown before being shipped to their distributors. This year’s special incentive offer to new buyers is free service and repairs on all wings for one year from date of purchase.

At the OZONE booth, there was news of a new (but as yet unnamed) beginner motor wing and a new Swift 4 Lite,

ABOVE Green, grassy campgrounds, home to thousands of Coupe Icare visitors at the base of the Dents du Crolles. NEXT PAGE Costumes and colors. Photos by Tim Meehan.

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described as being a lightweight Rush but lighter than the Swift 2. Also in the news, the Enzo 2 had been certified in small and large sizes and should be shipping by the time you read this.

The next six to12 months should see a new Mojo 5 and a new, very basic school glider called “Elements,” more pod harnesses and a new XC harness based on the Ozium. The Magnum 3, the next iteration of their popular tandem wing, is due to begin design in 2015 as well.

Ozone’s big news at the show was their new, ultra-superextra-lightweight harness, the F*Lite. Weighing UNDER 100g, made mostly of Dynema thread, it was designed on a bet and has an expected worldwide market of (maybe) 50 units.

This whimsical effort of fancy is indicative of the way Ozone likes to design and build their products. Their teamof-four design engineers collaborate on all projects, all the time, while sharing office space and flying together every day.

In the words of Fred Pieri, “Good wings attract good pilots.” And on their production/release schedule, “We release it when we like it,” prioritizing design above schedule and reinforcing the concept that there’s better value in the product when the designers, not the accountants, decide that it’s ready for market.

Ozone’s main factory is in Viet Nam, where they also produce the popular line of Squirrel wing suits.

NIVIUK is celebrating their tenth year in business and hosted a great party in their booth that seemed to go on for the entire event. Founded in 2005, Niviuk is an Inuit phrase expressing “the importance of small things,” which is represented in their high quality and pilot satisfaction ratings.

Niviuk is headquartered in Spain and produces a full line of gliders that are manufactured and assembled in China.

In 2015 they will be launching the Artik 4, a more comfortable and “good going” EN-C XC glider and a new Takoo 3 tandem wing. Their highly regarded Icepeak 7 is already shipping in the US. The Artik 4 is a completely new glider, not just an upgrade, featuring new design features like lighter-weight bottom-surface fabric and the omission of the trailing-edge rods, in an effort to mitigate premature wear and tear. It’s being positioned as a “grand touring” glider for advanced pilots doing big XC flights who want to enjoy flying.

Shane Denherder at Team Fly Halo is distributing Niviuk’s motor products in the US. Kougar 2 and Doberman are said to be the first motor-wings to use the patented “Shark Nose” design features.

ADVANCE’S Valery Chapuis explained that Advance was not at the show to sell products. They are focusing on displaying new products, like their new harnesses, the Lightness

2 and the Progress 2.

The Advance Lightness 2 is a lightweight harness with pod (or “speed bag” in their parlance) that promises to be more comfortable, with better passive security and an integrated reserve. Announced at the Coupe Icare, the Lightness 2 is shipping in all three sizes now.

Advance was showing their new all-around, reversible harness, the Progress 2, a split-leg harness with no seatboard.

Weighing in at just under 3kg, Progress 2 makes for the perfect companion for a lightweight hikeable kit, when paired with the new Sigma 9.

Advance was also talking about the latest version of their popular XC glider, the Sigma 9. Designed for the skilled and experienced XC pilot, the Sigma 9 sports a slightly smaller aspect ratio (5.8) and a better profile, which makes for a more agile and precise wing with better speed, stability and passive security. All that and a nearly 11:1 glide.

By optimizing their materials use, they’ve created the lightest wing in its category, weighing only 4.5 kg. With their new lightweight harness, the entire, all-up kit weight is less than 10kg.

Advance has managed to improve handling and performance without increasing demands on the pilot, making for a less “busy” flight. More precise handling characteristics allow the pilot to fly more reflexively Unannounced at showtime was their new category entry, a high-end B wing, the Iota. Designed using software developed by former Nova designer Hannes Papesch, the Iota promises to be an exciting new category of high-performing but comfortable wing.

Summing up The Coupe Icare is an experience not to be believed. If you haven’t been, then you owe it to yourself to add this event to your collection of flying memories.

Find out more about Coupe Icare: www.coupe-icare.org.

Tourist Office Plateau Petites Roches will advise you on accommodation options in and around the Plateau: camping, cottages, hotels, bed and breakfast: otpetitesroches@orange.fr.

An active mountain pilot and a vocal proponent for the sport and the organization for 20 years, Tim has enjoyed thousands of hours of airtime around (and above) Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado, over the past two decades. He’s flown paragliders and made friends at flying sites around the world. He holds USHPA T-3 and P-4 ratings.

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Gadgets & Gizmos for sale at the show Pilots love their technology. Altimeter-varios, GPS, SPOT trackers, cell phones, e-readers, anything with a digital display. And if it has a solar cell to power it, all the better.

Le Bip Bip audio-only varios This solar powered audioonly vario was designed and built by an engineering student paraglider pilot in France. On a full charge it will run for 100 hours, and it sounds clear and easy to understand in the air. Perhaps what’s most remarkable about this project is that the assembly of the vario is done by disadvantaged and disabled people in the designer’s hometown. This sounds like a brilliant, community-centric solution that casts us all in a better light with the locals. The show special was €95, including shipping anywhere in the world.

ASI FlyNet Connected Vario/GPS It’s always fun to see new technology develop. The ASI FlyNet vario series lets you leverage your other technology investments by using the vario as a semi-remote sensor that links with your smart phone, tablet or e-reader via bluetooth or wi-fi, essentially allowing you to choose your own best display solution for their instruments. Don’t like/can’t read the tiny LCD display on your instruments? Why not buy a cheap non-reflective e-reader to use as a big-screen display on your flight deck?

There are two models. One is a vario-only and costs $259. The other is vario/GPS and runs $359. The ASI software runs as a free app on your smart phone or tablet.

Perhaps what is most magical about the technology is that ASI hosts a server to track all participating pilots in real time via their bluetooth-linked smart-phones or GPS trackers, giving comp pilots and stay-at-home spectators a real-time view of where all the other pilots in the comp are located and heading.

ASI FlyNet Varios are sold in the US exclusively by Super Fly, Inc.

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JAILBIRD:

Finding Flight in Prison by

I

C H R IS T I N A A M M ON

was in the Bay Area in late October when a few pilot friends tried to lure me on a local hike-and-fly adventure. The day was sunny, the winds favorable, and with the onset of autumn, there were precious few flying days left. I declined.

I had plans to go to jail instead.

Alcatraz Island was featuring a historic exhibition: an installation called “@Large” by the Beijing activist-artist, Ai

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PHOTO S By

T I M DAW

Wei Wei. A prison doubling as an art gallery was unexpected, but Ai Wei Wei’s work thrived in the setting. His works, inspired by flight, conveyed the notion of finding freedom within confines, and paid tribute to political prisoners past and present—like Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Nelson Mandela and others. While Alcatraz held its share of bonafide criminals, it also had a host of wrongly held dissidents: WWI conscientious objectors and Hopi natives who

refused to send their kids to white-only government schools.

Until now, I’d avoided the craggy penitentiary in the middle of the Bay. So much about the place seemed offputting: the potted lobsters boiling by the departure pier, the tourists stocking up on ball caps and on jailbird PJs at kitschy Fisherman’s Wharf. In my mind the island seemed more Disneyland than historical site—hardly a place to squander an epic flying day. This seemed confirmed on Pier 33 when my companion and I were herded into the line, shuffled through a compulsory photo booth, and onto a boat stocked with potato chip bags and Coca-Cola. Indeed, as we coursed across the water toward that weathered tourist trap, I concluded that going to Alcatraz was the very opposite of flying.

When we stepped onto the island, though, I encountered something decidedly more complex. This prime real estate with views of all three bridges held a strange paradox. As far as prison digs go, it couldn’t be a better location. What a view! But it was this soaring expansiveness that tortured the inmates: They could see freedom, but couldn’t have it. To relate this experience to free-flight, imagine sinking out into some desert wasteland while your friends soar among perfect cream-puff cumies. Now multiply your angst by a million.

Times have changed a lot since those lock-down days; Alcatraz is no longer a hold-up for dangerous, but a refuge for endangered: gulls, cormorants and night herons stalk the shorelines and perch on wire security fences. Pelicans soar and veer over the agave-lined shore. This jolting interplay

between freedom and oppression, dalliance and confinement defined the island, the Wei Wei exhibit, and in a comparatively trite way my own feeling of having skipped out on a flying day to brood in a dank prison.

We walked alongside the main compound toward the door, taking in the bleak beauty of its weather-stained walls.

Inside the air felt cold and institutional and hard-luck stories seemed stacked, layered, and mortared into the ambiance like bricks. I immediately longed for my wing.

Had I made a mistake? No doubt my friends were cresting the peak now, taking in the perfect autumnal weather, an upslope breeze, and the anticipation of flight.

I found some relief when we entered the cavernous washroom where prison uniforms were once laundered and folded.

The normally sad-soaked place was energized by the centerpiece of Wei Wei’s installation: “With Wind” is a giant flying dragon made of colorful kites, each writ with a quote about freedom. Bright paper birds dangled alongside in positions of zealous flight. The effect was that even amid the shattered windows and peeling paint of the compound, my spirit felt totally unbounded. It turned out that I wouldn’t be without airtime afterall—at least in a metaphoric sense. “We can stay free even in captivity,” Wei Wei seemed to be saying.

Next we peered into the gun galley and spied a massive incarcerated metal wing that could easily be read as a testament to how Ai Wei Wei probably felt at that very moment.

Forbidden to leave China for his anti-authoritarian views,

LEFT Prisoners at Alcatraz lived in cells barely wider than an armspan, but sought “flights-of-the-mind” through books and writing. ABOVE RIGHT Ai Wei Wei’s kite birds fly at Alcatraz.

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he had to direct the entire @Large installation from 6000 miles away. To do this, he made liberal use of blueprints, film, imagination, and a big dose of resignation that he’ll never get to see his own work.

We moved on into the hollow heart of the prison, down the aisles of the claustrophobic cells where prisoners once cowered like caged birds. One cell emitted music from dissident Russian punk band Pussy Riot, another the words of Martin Luther King. The hold-ups were bleak, sunless, and hardly wide enough to extend one’s arms. Can you imagine living that way? I couldn’t. How would the spirit endure this sort of confinement?

R

obert Stroud found a way. Known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz,” Stroud raised flocks of canaries, which he sold from his prison cell—a rather gentle vocation for one of the most notorious criminals in American history. When denied his winged companions at Alcatraz, this unexpected orithinologist went on to write a few field guides. Psychologically speaking, writing—or reading books—offered the prisoners a flight of the mind.

The prison library offered Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel and

other free thinkers. Whether the birdman was rehabbed by his pursuits is debatable, but he is a testament that wherever the circumstance, freedom-seeking can’t be squelched by a wheelchair, nor an office desk, or even a prison cell.

I began to grow wary. The space was filling in with a gaggle of other tourists and I longed for spaciousness. But before escaping we stopped for a spell in one of the closetsized rooms where prisoners underwent psychiatric evaluations. Wei Wei had the rooms filled with the chants of Tibetan monks, a people known for looking inward for freedom. I stared at the pink tiles trying to liberate my spirit knowing that somewhere out there my friends had just launched their gliders into the wild blue.

Wei Wei’s exhibit culminated in the lunchroom where visitors were penning postcards to political prisoners. As I perused the binder full of addresses and stories, it was hard not to notice that many were people not unlike you and me.

They just said the wrong thing, at the wrong time, at the wrong place. “Every one of us is a potential convict,” Ai Wei Wei inscribed on one of his kites.

I wrote my postcard missive to Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a labor-rights activist and journalist who was convicted for

ABOVE “With Wind” is the centerpiece of Ai Wei Wei’s installation. The dragon represents finding flying and freedom within confines. RIGHT TOP Alcatraz. BOTTOM A caged wing made out of Tibetan solar cookers.

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criticizing the King in Thailand. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison. While the postcards we wrote that day would likely be intercepted before ever reaching the prisoners, the point was to let governments know that people were paying attention. This was interactive art at its finest.

We escaped that dark haunt of contained chants and confined kites into the ocean light and view of the San Francisco skyline city. About now my friends were probably sailing toward the ocean to land at Stinson Beach, the afternoon sun illuminating their wings. They would soon land and probably talk of winter flying trips. It sounded lovely, but I didn’t regret my choice to spend the day in a prison. I felt a renewed gratitude for the money, the leisure and the freedom to fly—to actually fly—not just have to resort to flying metaphors like books, kites, chants, and canaries.

Christina Ammon writes from The Crash Pad at Woodrat Mountain in Oregon. Reach her at woodratcrashpad@ gmail.com.

For more information about Ai Wei Wei on Alcatraz, visit: www.for-site.org.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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A Whirlpool Story

by James David Braddock

O

n October 9, 1977, I had just turned 19. It was a beautiful day, with high well-formed cumulus clouds developing over Lake Michigan like popcorn in a skillet.

Wind was westerly and building, with surf pounding against our seawall like a clarion call to the sky. I gathered my things and headed for The Midwest School of Hang Gliding, 28 miles to the south in Bridgman.

When I arrived, two cars were waiting in the parking lot with kites on the roof. The increase in barometric pressure had others travelling as well, hoping to grab some airtime.

Larry Mansberger and Phil Russman jumped out of their cars the second I halted, and both began talking at once. “The wind is too west for Tower Hill,” they exclaimed in unison. I told them it might be a good day to launch from a forbidden place and fly anyway.

Larry, who was a coworker at the kite shop, responded, “The bluff in St. Joseph is a place where gliders go to die! My girlfriend made me promise never to fly there again.” Phil, who was pre-med at Northwestern in Chicago, commented, “It can’t hurt to drive up there and take a look. I didn’t drive all this way to watch sand blow in the parking lot at Warren Dunes.”

We had been flying from the bluff south of St. Joseph for five years, but

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

as a flying site, it had a minor defect. It was dangerous—a hundred-foot bluff that overlooked the lake with steep terrain that went on uninterrupted for four miles. The lift was smooth and steady in a westerly breeze, but when the lake came up in the early ‘70s, the road commission had to put in a seawall. So instead of the wide sandy beach of Warren Dunes, St. Joseph had boulders the size of automobiles along with kite-eating surf that pounded the base of the hazardstrewn bluff. If you did not have the skill to topland there, you could wreck your kite or body or both! Authorities who were less than enthusiastic about the never-ending rescues they’d had to execute had banned launching from the clearing in the scenic overlook that spring. So a beachfront house on the lake two miles to the south that was rarely used became the new secret launch spot.

I had sold my competition glider over the phone only two days before, and needed to get an alternative wing.

After scanning the racks of gliders, I spotted one that Bill Moyes’s Australian National Team had left behind earlier that season. Surely it would be up to the task of an afternoon of aviation pleasure. Opening the bag partway, I could see it was a hideous orange-and-black color

combination but seemed to be intact.

Phil exclaimed, “The Great Pumpkin kite! Won’t be hard to see you in that.”

Laughter ensued, I re-closed the bag, and we put all three kites on Larry’s VW Bus. Just then, my father called and reported, “Just got back from breakfast, and the wind is coming straight in here at Hager Shores.” After I told him who was with me and what our current strategy was, he replied, “Bring the kites up to the Whirlpool Administrative Center, and I will make sure you all launch safely. If the wind holds, you could shatter the state cross-country mark by eight—or more—miles!” Holding my hand over the phone, I convinced the other two that flying a heretofore-unflown ridge for this potential was a viable proposition. “Done,” was my response to father.

As we headed north, Larry, who was overly excited, was blasting along at 70 in a 55 zone. When red and blue lights suddenly appeared in the rearview, he hit the brakes so hard that all the gear in the back made it halfway to the front. But to our amazement, the officer pulled out and around us! Phil, who had endured the brunt of the low-flying gear, yelled, “We can’t fly if the kites get impounded with the van.

SLOW DOWN!”

We stopped at the kite-eating bluff in St. Joseph to check the wind’s velocity and direction. Straight in, slightly to the left with whitecaps as far as the eye could see. Seagulls who migrate south this time of year came soaring by in massive flocks. The waves and clouds were all suggesting, “Today you will soar like never before.”

This new flying site was an open field situated between M-63 and the lake’s edge, directly across the street from the Whirlpool World Headquarters and roughly two miles north of Benton Harbor. When we arrived, my father was already there, wild with excitement and pacing up and down the edge of the bluff. He raced over and started undoing the gliders from the rack. We walked to the edge of the ridge and looked at the raging surf that was making its way almost to the base of the bluff.

With father’s expert help, we set up all three gliders in minutes flat. Bad surprise for me when I realized “the Great Pumpkin” was not the sleek competition kite I was expecting, but a mid-level trainer. Nothing I could do at this point so, I was designated “wind dummy”; my father guided me to the edge of the bluff for my launch. Suddenly a pickup truck with “Whirlpool” emblazoned on its doors

sped up. Father walked over to talk with the red-faced, balding driver and proceeded to construct a whopper of a story about having been given permission to fly there by the Upton family.

Since they were the founders and still major shareholders of Whirlpool, my father thought he might buy us some time. However, the gentleman wasn’t convinced. He jumped out of the truck, causing his comb-over to flip to the wrong side from the blasting wind, approached me, and proclaimed: “I’m not clear by what authority you think you can be on this private property!

You are not permitted to fly here until my return. Are we clear?” My father stood behind him, nodding his head like a plastic dashboard Dachshund.

“Yes, sir!” I replied.

As soon as the Whirlpool rent-acop was out of sight, father mobilized the troops. With a conspiratorial wink, father said, “We have maybe 10 minutes before the police arrive. Can you guys launch and turn downwind as quickly as possible?” A unanimous “yes!” erupted from the throats of three eager-to-be-airborne fellows.

Dad grabbed my nose-wires once more, and I dropped into my harness to make sure everything was on straight and attached. Shouldering the previously unflown-by-me glider, I leveled my wings, yelled “CLEAR!” and

immediately went straight up 30 feet and leveled off just below the treetops.

Turning upwind to the south, the glider climbed out another 60 like a homesick angel. The only problem was that this trainer kite had been rigged for a seated harness, so the control bar was at the top of my helmet rather than at my chin, as was traditional for a prone harness.

But there was no time to fret about minor details, so I turned north, downwind, and started heading away from the scene of the crime. Soon Larry was not far behind, with Phil maybe a quarter-mile on his tail. Both of their wings were not only faster

than mine but also capable of greater altitude in the same lift.

The first six miles or so were unbroken ridge, so I tried to go as fast as possible, in the vain hope of breaking the state record ahead of my friends.

As I flew, I continued to catch sight of my father’s “Baja Bug,” with its kite racks and distinctive paint job, tearing along the highway that runs parallel to the bluff all the way north. Whenever he could pull off to the bluff’s edge, he would be there grinning and waving us on!

By the time we reached the first gap to be crossed, Larry was right on my tail. So we both worked figure-eight patterns over the last dune knob at the beginning of the tenth-of-a-mile gap in the lifting air that was required to sustain flight. Larry got higher sooner and, consequently, shot across about three minutes ahead of me. The gap between us widened with each passing minute, and, to make matters worse, Phil was now on my tail, pressing to get by. The next gap was not as huge as the last, but still required more figure eights to gain the necessary altitude.

Phil and I grinned at one another, and he gave me a thumbs-up from less than a kite’s wingspan away. We were all having an epic day, and in spite of the competition for the state record, it was impossible not to enjoy the

moment.

Now both of my friends were well in the lead. Nothing to do but enjoy the panoramic view of autumn leaves on the rolling sand hills, the architecture of various beachfront homes, the patterns that breaking waves make when seen from the air, cumulus clouds filling the sky above and thousands of migratory seagulls: the equivalent of the best ever-changing postcard I had ever seen. I sang every song in my memory and whistled once no more memorized verses were available. My father was again waving furiously, his enthusiasm for life contagious even from ground to air.

I spotted the Palisades Nuclear Plant, the most formidable gap of the whole run so far. The plant’s main office structure was situated about 150 feet inland from the sand ridge proper.

To my surprise, I saw a glider on the beach. Larry had landed near the beginning of the plant’s infrastructure and was already beginning to disassemble his glider. Phil was working the hell out of the ridge just above Larry, trying to gain the extra lift required to shoot over this daunting gap.

I pulled in, sacrificing altitude to arrive at the plant quicker. In the meantime, a thermal had come through, placing Phil at the highest point he had been all day. While

I scraped the treetops coming in underneath him, he began his journey across the humming power plant below, from an angle that looked as if he easily would make it. Once he was beyond the magic lift of his gift thermal, Phil experienced considerably more sink than any of us would have imagined. As I began to go up in the lift at the south end of the plant, he was sinking lower than I was at the northern end. He bravely attempted a save by hugging the sandridge treeline that he was now below, at the far end of the gap. As the wing began to lift, Larry and I both let out a cheer. But at that very moment, he made contact with an outstretched tree limb with his right leading edge, causing the kite to spin towards grabbing branches. He recovered, but this momentary bobble had cost him 50 feet of altitude.

Consequently, he turned and began his final approach to the beach.

So there I was—the last man flying. I seriously doubted I could cross the gap in a lesser glider than Phil’s, unless the lift gods were going to give me at least 30% more altitude than he was blessed with. So I kept turning over the safe dune below and rethought my options. What if, instead of shooting the gap straight line, I worked my way inland and used the lift off the plant’s offices? Even if I

He recovered, but this momentary bobble had cost him 50 feet of altitude. Consequently, he turned and began his final approach to the beach. So there I was—the last man flying.

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barely made it to the far side, a downwind landing would secure the record for the moment.

Taking a deep breath, I turned north and angled towards the threestory building with the 90-foot rounded reactor tower alongside it.

To my absolute joy, the lift was not only adequate but also better than the small sandhill I started from. Gaining almost 100 feet in two passes, I made it with plenty of altitude to spare. Phil clapped his hands over his head from the beach below and let out a howl of approval. My friend had accidentally sacrificed his chances by showing me how not to do it. I resolved to repay him in alcohol later.

My eyes could see my goal, the South Haven Lighthouse, quite clearly at this point. The path ahead had a few more blowouts in the ridge to come, but nothing as drastic as the power plant. The first was Van Buren

State Park. But by following a similar tactic as I did at my last crossing, I was able to grab some lift from the concession stand midway across and made it with 45 feet to spare.

Once again, my wild-man father came whipping into the parking lot waving his newly bought park pass out of the sunroof. The remaining miles were easy cruising, as the lift was great and no obstacles remained. As I sailed along, spectators occasionally waved from below, without having the remotest idea of what they were witnessing.

I continued to grin and sing. It was a great day to be me, and I was fine if only three other people on the planet knew it.

My landing adjacent to South Haven’s south beach was a good one, partially aided by my father’s playing the role of ground control.

He had arrived when I was on my final downwind leg towards the pier.

Skidding to a stop, he emerged from the vehicle cheering at the top of his lungs. I myself now know what it feels like to be a proud father, and he was as jubilant as I’ve ever seen him.

The press was initially skeptical of this wild tale of flying for such a great distance. Luckily, our new friend from the Whirlpool security squad had, as predicted, contacted the authorities as to our nefarious activities and had impounded Larry’s kite-mobile. This was proof enough of our launching point. We modified the story slightly to protect the innocent Larry and Phil who had to violate some major private property markers while “dropping in” at the north and south ends of the nuclear plant. “Yes, they had both landed at the State Park,” we reported, in case federal warrants had already been sworn. The record, 20 miles, held for five years, and that flight is still one of my fondest memories.

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RATINGS ISSUED IN SEPTEMBER HANG GLIDING

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1 2 3 4 4 4 5 6 7 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 11 12 2 3 3 4 4

Erin Carter Ron Barry Russell Conte Harold Dodson Iii Michael Carpenter Ryan Bowcutt Justin Woods Tristan Maddux Jon Dekam Steve Hennessy Richard Ruggiero David Gills James Coulton Steve Berwick John Dorrance Satoko Katagiri John Maddux Henri Myftiu Edward Lasquete Russell Conte Sheldon Butler Ushpa Test-account Jared Wilson

AK CA CA CO NM UT MT OK MI MA CT PA PA PA VA MD TX NY CA CA CA CO CO

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1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2

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OR AK WA OR OR OR NV CA

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-4 H-4 H-4

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3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 8 8 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 12 1

Jeff Oxford CA Mark Duerr CA Jenny Todorov CA J. George Jimenez CA Marc Pelberg CA Charles Moore CA Jaroslaw Szulik UT Sherrie Mcconaughey AZ Mitchell Shacter AZ Max Montgomery NM B. Keith Hayse CO Trenton Rich UT Jess Ivie UT Michael Roy CO Zabrina James UT Marc Mcgregor ID Dorene Carney ID Anneka Herndon ID Courtney Smith WY Jake Maclellan ID Jesse Jacques Joanne Weggery Jonathan Lui Barfungpa Karma Thinlay Topgay Per Andersson Nicolas Croly-labourdette Maxime Hacker Harry Hanscomb Mateusz Voit IL Tom Lanning MA Susan Smith VT Wesley Johnson GA Joel Campos-brandani FL Federico Wood FL Marc Angelo FL Van James TN Robert Glazier FL Donna Glazier FL Dave Koons GA Paul Gela TX Christian Moya TX Carlos Villa NJ John Wendling WA

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-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

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1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

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Scott Wallig OR Keyvan Yousefian WA Brett Gorbett OR Joshua Peckham AK Brendan Flynn AK Dirk Larson OR Daniel Powers AK Joseph Treftz WA Zachary Bell AK Amber St. Amand AK Daniel Maccarone AK Taylor Cox WA Dan Astefanei WA Shayla Hayward OR Bryan Brashear OR Mark Zeleznock CA Sean Gallagher CA Kyle Vance NV Paulo Miguel Cacione Zapparoli CA Daniel Kelley CA Molly Rogan CA David Hawley CA Jeffrey Beckman CA Jacqueline Allen CA J. George Jimenez CA Charles Moore CA Andre Elwes HI Jaroslaw Szulik UT Travis Evans CO Sherrie Mcconaughey AZ Mitchell Shacter AZ Chad Cleerdin NM B. Keith Hayse CO Trenton Rich UT Jess Ivie UT Michael Roy CO Arash Farhang UT Zabrina James UT Clark Steed UT Anneka Herndon ID Courtney Smith WY Jake Maclellan ID Jesse Jacques Don Mcmanus Kevin Pinson MO Stacy Street MO Jonathan Lui Barfungpa Karma Thinlay Topgay Per Andersson Nicolas Croly-labourdette Maxime Hacker

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CALENDAR & CLASSIFIED

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can be submitted online at http://www.ushpa.aero/email _ events.asp. A minimum 3-month lead time is required on all submissions and tentative events will not be published. For more details on submissions, as well as complete information on the events listed, see our Calendar of Events at www.ushpa.aero 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 80901-1330. 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) 632-8300. Fax (719) 632-6417 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), reused 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.

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APRIL 5-11 > Groveland, Florida. The Green

Swamp Sport Klassic at Quest Air Hang Gliding.

Come be a part of the growing Sport Class competition scene. Experience our huge LZ, full fleet of tugs and park like facilities. Come early and brush up on your XC and aero tow skills or just to have fun. This will be a race to goal format for Sport Class pilots only. Technical support for instrument related questions will be available prior to and during the competition. In addition to the excellent flying conditions this time of year, take advantage of this opportunity and go for a discovery flight in the Dragonfly, Flyboard or Hoverboard on Lake Carl or visit any of the Orlando attractions. More information: Mark Frutiger, 352-429-0213, or email info@questairhanggliding.com.

MAY 9-15 > 2015 Quest Air Open National

Championships. "National competition comes back to Florida and to Quest Air. We'll be flying in the best time of the year for big cross country triangle and out and return tasks up, down, and across the state. Quest provides full flight park services with plenty of Dragonflies on site, camping, clubhouse, kitchen, rental rooms, flyboarding, swimming, sun bathing, huge field for launching in any direction. More info: Belinda Boulter and Davis Straub, http://ozreport. com/2014QuestAirOpen.php, or belinda@davisstraub.com, or 836-206-7707.

MAY 17-23 > Flytec Race & Rally. The Flytec Race & Rally is back! We will follow the Quest Air Open, starting at Quest and flying (hopefully) north toward some of our favorite airfields in Georgia and South Carolina including Moultrie, Americus and Vidalia. Late spring in the southeast generally brings southerly winds driving us toward the north and we plan on aggressive tasks between 80-200km each day. We have arranged to have goal and tow out of dozens of beautiful small airfields as well as a whole fleet of Dragonflies following pilots on course each day and then towing them all up again the following day. If you missed out on our last Rally in 2012, now's your chance to come join the traveling flying circus once again. More info: Jamie Shelden, www.flytecraceandrally.wordpress.com, or naughtylawyer@gmail.com, or 831-261-5444.

MAY 31 - JUne 6 > Ridgley, Maryland. East

Coast Hang Gliding Championship. More info: Highland Aerosports, http://www.aerosports. net/ecc.html., hanglide@aerosports.net, or 410634-2700.

JUNE 14-20 > Rat Race/Sprint Paragliding

Competitions Woodrat Mt. Ruch, OR. Thirteenth annual Rat Race/Sprint Paragliding Competition 2015. Practice day June 20th. Two parties, daily lunches, retrieve and mentoring provided. Join the experience, travel southern Oregon, bring your family and see why the Rat Race is more than the largest paragliding festival in the USA. Go here to see what southern Oregon has to offer. http://southernoregon.org Registration opens February 15, 2015 $495.00 until April 15th, 2015.

More info: mphsports.com, and 541-702-2111.

Sign up at MPHSports.com.

AUGUST 2-8 > Big Spring Nationals. The Big Spring Nationals is the premier hang gliding competition in the US with the best and most consistent racing conditions. Tasks average 100 miles. Many days we are able to come back to the airport and your glider can rest the night in the hangar. We usually fly every day. No other city supports a hang gliding competition like Big Spring, with use of their air conditioned terminal, hangar, free water and ice cream, golf carts, runway, welcome dinner, prize money, and much more. As a national competition it will again be a high NTSS points meet and count toward the National Championship. More info: Belinda Boulter and Davis Straub, http://ozreport. com/2015BigSpringNationals.php, belinda@davisstraub.com, and 863-206-7707.

AUGUST 9-15 > 2015 US Nationals Race the Wasatch. Inspiration Point, Provo, Utah. 2015 US Nationals, Race the Wasatch - Inspiration Point, Provo Utah. Hosted by White Owl Paragliding, and Fly High. More info: Kimberly Phinney, whiteowlpg.com, info@whiteowlpg.com, or 707508-5431.

AUGUST 30 - SEPTEMBER 5 > DINOSAUR

2015 More info: Terry, and Chris Reynolds, rockymountainglider.com, terryreynolds2@gmail. com, 970-245-7315.

SEPTEMBER 13-19 > Santa Cruz Flats Race - Mark Knight Memorial Competition . The Francisco Grande Resort is once again welcoming us back for another week of great flying. If you're up for 7 out of 7 days of awesome technical flying conditions, come join us for the 9th Annual Santa Cruz Flats Race.

Registration opens at noon eastern time on April 11th. More info: Jamie Shelden, www.santacruzflatsrace.blogspot.com, naughtylawyer@gmail.com, or 831-261-5444.

SEPTEMBER 20-26 > OVXCC - Owen's Valley Cross Country Classic 2015. More info: KARICASTLE.COM, Jugdeep Aggarwal, kari@karicastle.com, or 7600-920-0748

FLY-INS JUNE 20-28> King Mountain Glider Park Sa-

fari. Free Annual Idaho event. Fly the longest days of the year just east of famous Sun Valley.

Paragliders, Hang Gliders, Sailplanes, and Self Launching Sailplanes are all welcome. Awesome glass off and cloud bases up to 18,000’. Fly to Montana or Yellowstone. Wave Window. Campfire, Potlucks, Star Gazing, Hiking, Mountain Biking and Fishing. Free camping at the Glider Park.

Big Air and Big Country! For an outtake about King from Dave Aldrich’s awesome movie production seevimeo.com/104771241 Explore kingmountaingliderpark.com for directions and more info. Spot Locator with tracking function or equivalent required. Call John at 208- 407-7174.

clinics & tours January-MARCH> Costa Rica. Costa Rica Paragliding Tour. Come fly over the tropical forest of Costa Rica! For the 8th year. Advanced paragliding instructor and guide Nick Crane will be leading paragliding tours for pilots of all levels. We have pioneered and have unique access to many of the best sites in the country, some of the most beautiful sites anywhere. Transportation, rooms, guiding and coaching for all levels, from P-1 to P-4. We fly every single day. Prices are $1295 for one week, with discounts for couples or two-week tours. More info: nick@paracrane.com, 541-840-8587, or http://www.costaricaparagliding.com.

January-March > Winter Flying Tours, Valle De Brava, Mexico. Think about your Winter flying. Are you going to join FlyMexico for some fun and airtime? Week long packages Sunday to Sunday and we can tailor things for Bronze, Gold, or Platinum levels. Big quiver of hang gliders, best fleet for transportation, most reliable drivers, and most knowledgeable guides. Come fly Mexico with FlyMexico. Contact Jeff Hunt at 800-8617198, jeff@flymexico.com or http://www.flymexico.com JANUARY 11-17> Phetchabun, Thailand.

Mountain flying/thermal clinic with Pete Humes.

This 7-day clinic is for P-2 pilots who want to learn mountain/thermal skills. Also P-4 pilots who want to set new XC records. We’ll be flying Phu Thap Boek, Phetchabun, the highest and best flying site in exotic Southeast Asia. For more information contact Pete at www.paraglidetandem. net, or pchumes@gmail.com

Jan 31, Feb 8, Feb 21, Mar 1> Roldanillo, Colombia. Eagle Paragliding is running 4 tours over 4 weeks. We guarantee unforgettable flying in Roldanillo, Colombia. Read about our Colombia Tours in the August 2014 issue of the USHPA magazine. The Paragliding World Championships will be held before our tours at this world-class site. The tours are for pilots of all levels. We offer coaching on thermaling, XC flying, tandem XC flying, and race-to-goal tasks for those interested.

We have been offering tours for over a decade all over the world. The number of high-caliber staff members supporting pilots at Eagle clinics and tours is unprecedented. Let Rob Sporrer, Brad Gunnuscio, and our highly qualified staff of instructors support you in achieving your goals for the week. Visit www.paragliding.com, or contact us at rob@paraglide.com, 805-968-0980, and www.http://eagleparagliding.com/?q=node/27.

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JAN 15, 23, 30 & FEB 6 > Anserma and Roldanillo, Colombia. Escape the winter and join us in sunny warm Colombia. Light winds and good thermals allows excellent conditions for students to learn and improve their thermal and XC skills. Great from the beginner to the advanced pilot. We fly multiple sites around Valle del Cauca including world-class Roldanillo and Anserma Nuevo. Fly with Terry Bono, advanced instructor and guide with over 12 years of experience. Our focus is your thermal and XC skills using visual and radio contact, air-to-air guidance, and analyzing your flights in a 3-D flight program. Options to come for one week, 10 days and two weeks. maria@pennsylvaniaparagliding.net, 610-3920050. http://www.pennsylvaniaparagliding.com/ Pennsylvania _ Paragliding/Colombia _ Tour. html JanUARY 18-28 > Governador Valadares, Brazil. One of the best known South American World Class flying sites. All your flying needs provided by Adventure Sports Tours. Master rated advanced instructors make your trip worthwhile.

Whatever your goals from novice to comp. GV is a fun, flying friendly town with all the conveniences. Close to the Mt Ibituruna site of world championships as well as epic days of local and x-c flying. Tour includes; pick up at GV airport, hotel accommodations, rides to launch and retrieval, local guiding. In addition we will help with travel planning such as Brazilian Visas, best airline prices as well as local accommodations to suit your individual lifestyles. Contact Ray at skybirdwings@hotmail.com, 775-883-7070, or www. skybirdwings.net

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JAN 18-25 & FeB 1-8 > Tapalpa, Mexico Fly Week

Parasoft has been guiding pilots to Mexico in January since 1990. In 2002 we discovered world-class Tapalpa, with four other sites close by. With big launch and landing areas this is the best in Mexico! Tapalpa is a 2500’ vertical drive-up site located one hour from the Guadalajara airport. To prepare for the 2004 World Cup competition, a restaurant and bar were added. Our trips include six days of flying. We see these as both a fun flying vacation and a learning experience. To guide our clients well, we limit group size to four clients and offer tandem flights to improve flying skills. More info: granger@parasoftparagliding.com,303-494-2820, or http://parasoftparagliding.com/mexico-flying/.

JUNE 3-13, SEPTEMBER 21 - October 1 & October 1-12> Paracrane European Tour.

Austria, Slovenia, and Italy. "The Sound of Music" meets the X-Alps! Early summer and early fall are perfect times for flying in Austria, Slovenia and Italy. We’ll base in Zell am See, Austria, with tram access to excellent flying. Other great sites are close by. On to the Alps of Slovenia, plus a stop in Venice. After classic Meduno, we shift north to some of the most spectacular flying in the world, the Dolomites. More info: nick@paracrane.com, 541-840-8587, or http://www.costaricaparagliding.com/europe.html.

CLASSIFIED

january 20 - february 15 > Valle del Cauca, Colombia. 7-14 day tours, south to north and back south again. This is a vehicle- and hotel-supported vol-biv style tour. Pilots will fly daily from one of the epic sites along the Valle de Cauca landing at the next site with nice accommodations and XC retrievals. Advanced instructor/guide David Prentice with over 20 years experience will guide pilots along this crossing of the Valle del Cauca. Great XC conditions and breathtaking views make this tour worthy of your vacation time. More info: earthcog@yahoo.com, or 505720-5436.

A GREAT SELECTION OF HG&PG GLIDERS (ss, ds, pg) -HARNESSES (trainer, cocoon, pod) -PARACHUTES (hg&pg) -WHEELS (new & used).

Phone for latest inventory 262-473-8800, www. hanggliding.com

February 5-20 > Medellin, Colombia. 2015 Co-

HARNESSES

lombia Top Pilots Paragliding Tour. Colombia Dream!

We will paraglide in SEVEN wonderful sites around Medellin, Cali and Bogota including Sopetran, Jerico, Damasco, Anserma Nuevo, Roldanillo, Piedechinche and Sopó. We will stay in fincas or traditional farms.

Breakfast and ground transportation included. $2,000 two weeks. For more information contact Sofia Puerta Webber at sepuerta@yahoo.com.

FEBRUARY 6-12> Philippines. Come fly Saranagni, the Philippines best flying site! Open to experienced pilots looking to get their USHPA P-2 rating or P-2 & P-3 pilots looking to upgrade to P-3 or P-4 ratings.

Bring your flight logs. We had a similar event at Carmona in Cavite, November 7-10, 2014 it was so popular the organizers decided to sponsor this event early next year. Sarangani is a most awesome site in a beautiful coastal/mountain site very similar to S.California.

Very inexpensive. Come for 2-3 days or all 6 days.

More info: pchumes@gmail.com, or www.paraglidetandem.net.

MARCH 3-12, DECEMBER 7-16> Brazil. Paraglide Brazil with Paracrane Tour. We’ll start in magical Rio de Janeiro, flying over the tropical forest surrounded by granite domes and landing on the beach, or try a flight to the world famous Christ statue! After 3 days we head to Governador Valadares, for incredible XC opportunities. Depending on conditions other sites we may visit include Pancas, Castelo and Alfredo Chavez in Espirito Santo. Brazil is a unique paragliding and cultural experience! Open to strong P-2’s and up.

Please note, you will need a Brazilian Visa. More info: 541-840-8587, or nick@paracrane.com.

FLEX WINGS

FLY CENTER OF GRAVITY CG-1000 - The most affordable single line suspension harness available. Individually designed for a precise fit. Fly in comfort. www.flycenterofgravity.com; flycenterofgravity@gmail.com; 315-256-1522

SCHOOLS & INSTRUCTORS ALABAMA LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - The best

facilities, largest inventory, camping, swimming, volleyball, more. Wide range of accommodations.

877-HANGLIDE, 877-426-4543, hanglide.com.

CALIFORNIA PARAGLIDING - Year-round excellent instruction, Southern California & Baja.

Powered paragliding, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier 760-213-0063, airjunkies.com.

AIRJUNKIES

EAGLE PARAGLIDING - SANTA BARBARA offers the best year round flying in the nation. Awardwinning instruction, excellent mountain and ridge sites. www.flysantabarbara.com, 805-968-0980 FLY ABOVE ALL - Year-round instruction in Santa Barbara & Ojai from the 2012 US Instructor of the Year! More students flying safely after 10 years than any other school in the nation. flyaboveall. com

Mission Soaring Center LLC - Largest hang

gliding center in the West! Our deluxe retail shop showcases the latest equipment: Wills Wing, Moyes, AIR, High Energy, Flytec, Aeros, Northwing, Hero wide angle video camera. A.I.R. Atos rigid wingsdemo the VQ-45’ span, 85 Lbs! 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 408262-1388, mission@hang-gliding.com, Mission Soaring Center LLC, leading the way since 1973. www.hang-gliding.com

World famous historic TORREY PINES

GLIDERPORT: Incredible Flying – food – fun. Come enjoy coastal San Diego flying year-round! We offer USHPA-certified instruction for all ratings, as well as tandem, instructor, and SIV clinics and local flat land towing. Call us for details on our domestic and international clinics and tours or join us in our 4x4 12-passenger tour van for 15 other flying sites opportunities in SoCal and Baja California. We have expanded product lines including Ozone, Skywalk, Sup Air, Independence, Woody Valley, Sky, Gradient, Niviuk, Paratech, Plussmax helmets, Crispi boots, Gopro, Flytech, Flymaster and a lot more. Come test our new mini wings from Ozone. We have a huge selection of Demos on site. Our full service shop offers reserve repacks, annual glider inspections, repairs and more. We also carry an extensive new and used inventory of certified gliders and harnesses. Check us out at flytorrey.com, facebook. com/flytpg, info@flytorrey.com, or call us at 858452-9858.

WINDSPORTS - Train in sunny southern Cal. 325

flyable days each year. Learn modern flying skills safely and quickly. Train on sand with professionals at Dockweiler Beach training slopes (5 minutes from LA airport.) Fly any season in gentle coastal winds, soft sand and in a thorough program with 1 of the largest schools for over 40 years. 818-367-2430, www.windsports.com

FLORIDA 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.

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WALLABY RANCH – The original Aerotow flight

park. Best tandem instruction worldwide,7-days a week , 6 tugs, and equipment rental. Call:1-800WALLABY wallaby.com 1805 Deen Still Road, Disney Area FL 33897

GEORGIA 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, 1-877-HANGLIDE, 1-877-426-4543.

HAWAII 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.

MARYLAND HIGHLAND AEROSPORTS - Baltimore and DC’s

full-time 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 410-634-2775, 24038 Race Track Rd, Ridgely, MD 21660, www.aerosports.net, hangglide@aerosports.net.

MICHIGAN TRAVERSE CITY PARAGLIDERS - Soar our 450’

FLY HIGH, INC - Serving New York, Jersey, New

England areas. Area's exclusive Wills Wing dealer. Also other brands, accessories. Area's most AFFORDABLE prices! Certified instruction since 1984. Excellent secondary lessons! Taken lessons elsewhere? Advance to mountain flying with us! www.flyhighhg.com, 845-744-3317

SUSQUEHANNA FLIGHT PARK Cooperstown

New York Serving the North East since 1978. We have the best training hill in New York. Dealers for Wills Wing and others. Trade-ins welcome www. cooperstownhanggliding.com 315-867-8011

NORTH CAROLINA KITTY HAWK KITES - The largest hang gliding

school in the world, teaching since 1974. Learn to hang glide and paraglide on the East Coast's largest sand dune. Year-round instruction, foot launch and tandem aerotow. Powered paragliding instruction.

Dealer for all major manufacturers. Learn to fly where the Wright Brothers flew, located at the beach on NC's historic Outer Banks. Also visit our New Hampshire location, Morningside Flight Park.

252-441-2426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, www.kittyhawk. com

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. 787850-0508, flypuertorico@gmail.com

TENNESSEE

sand dunes. Full time shop. Certified instruction, all levels. Sales, service and accessories for all major brands. Call Bill at 231-922-2844 or email at tchangglider@chartermi.net Your USA & Canada Mosquito distributor, www.mosquitoamerica.com

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - Just outside Chattanooga. Become a complete pilot -foot launch, aerotow, mountain launch, ridge soar, thermal soar. hanglide.com, 1-877-HANGLIDE, 877-426-4543.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

TEXAS

MORNINGSIDE - A Kitty Hawk Kites flight park. The

FLYTEXAS TEAM - training pilots in Central Texas for 25 years. Hang Gliding, Paragliding, Trikes.

Hangar facilities Lake LBJ, Luling, Smithville www. flytexas.com 512-467-2529

Northeast's premier hang gliding and paragliding training center, teaching since 1974. Hang gliding foot launch and tandem aerowtow training.

Paragliding foot launch and tandem training.

Powered Paragliding instruction. Dealer for all major manufacturers. Located in Charlestown, NH. Also visit our North Carolina location, Kitty Hawk Kites Flight School. 603-542-4416, www.flymorningside. com

NEW YORK AAA Mountain Wings Inc - New location at 77 Hang Glider Rd in Ellenville next to the LZ. We service all brands featuring AEROS and North Wing.

845-647-3377 mtnwings@verizon.net, www. mtnwings.com

UTAH

INTERNATIONAL BAJA MEXICO - La Salina Baja's BEST BEACHFRONT

Airsport Venue: PG, HG, PPG: FlyLaSalina.com. by BajaBrent.com, He’ll hook you up! Site intros, tours, & rooms. bajabrent@bajabrent.com, 760-2032658

EXOTIC THAILAND X/C CLINIC - Phu Thap

Boek,Thailand's most awesome,highest flying site 5,200ASL.Open to P-2 and above.Come learn how to fly high and far! Very inexpensive! More info: pchumes@gmail.com

FLYMEXICO - VALLE DE BRAVO and beyond for HANG GLIDING and PARAGLIDING. Gear, guiding, instruction, transportation, lodging - www.flymexico. com 512-467-2529 / 1-800-861-7198 USA

CLINICS & TOURS COSTA RICA - Grampa Ninja's Paragliders' B&B. Rooms, and/or guide service and transportation.

Lessons available from USHPA certified instructors.

USA: 908-454-3242. Costa Rica: (Country code, 011) House: 506-2200-4824, Cell: 5068950-8676, or Kathy @ 506-8918-0355 www. paraglidecostarica.com ITALY - Fantastico! Great flying! Great food! Great weather! ALL inclusive service suitable for all levels of pilots. Round topped grassy mountains and large flatlands. Flying with culture! www.flytaly.com

PARTS & ACCESSORIES HALL WIND METER – Simple. Reliable. Accurate.

Mounting brackets, control-bar wheels. Hall Brothers, PO Box 1010, Morgan, Utah 84050. 801829-3232, www.hallwindmeter.com..

SPECIALTY WHEELS for airfoil basetubes, round basetubes, or tandem landing gear. 262-473-8800, www.hanggliding.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.

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 - Virginia's full time, year round HG

SERVICE CLOUD 9 REPAIR DEPARTMENT - We staff and

maintain a full service repair shop within Cloud 9 Paragliding; offering annual inspections, line replacement, sail repair of any kind (kites too!), harness repairs and reserve repacks. Our repair technicians are factory trained and certified to work on almost any paraglider or kite. Call today for an estimate 801-576-6460 or visit www.paragliders. com for more information.

School. Scooter, Platform and Aero Tow. Custom sewing, paragliding, powered harnesses, trikes, representing most major brands. 804-241-4324, www.blueskyhg.com HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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The 1

by Cory Barnwell

We know there was a day when it all worked for you. When your training clicked, the conditions were perfect, the stars aligned, and you soared to new heights (real or imagined.) Send in your tale of “The 1” flight you'll never forget, and we'll print it right here. You'll be entered into the annual drawing for USHPA soft shell jacket.

T

he last task of the 2014 East Coast Championship at Highland Aerosports was a 53-kilometer downwind run. I was flying my 11meter Pulse with my good friend, Richard, who was flying a Sport 2 155.

Richard and I had learned to hang glide together at Lookout Mountain Flight Park, and we had been looking forward to flying together in this competition.

Before the launch window, Richard and I discussed the best way to fly the task. Although we could see cumulus clouds down the course line, there were none for several miles. We asked open-class pilots Greg Dinauer and Davis Straub for their thoughts on how to fly XC on this blue day. They both suggested that team flying is the best way to maximize your chances when it’s blue, so Richard and I resolved to stick together as much as possible to increase our odds of reaching goal.

Richard and I were on the radio together, practicing the things that the open-class pilots had told us about flying as a team. On glides we would spread out and call each other when one of us found lift. We could see those cumulus clouds, but we would need at least a few thermals to reach them. But team flying really worked for us—every time we would go on glide one of us would find the next thermal and radio to the other.

After about 10 or 15 miles, we were working some lift between 3000 and 4000 feet when we looked down the course line and saw two gliders climbing ahead. They both had kingposts— more sport-class pilots! After reaching

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the top of our climb and establishing that the other pilots were still climbing, we headed over to join them—it was Dana and Soraya—in their thermal.

It was such a cool feeling to be flying miles away from the nearest flight park and suddenly meet up with other pilots seemingly out of nowhere.

Now we were a team of four and, eventually, we made it out of the blue hole and were all working a thermal upwind of a large area of trees. I was practicing looking down the course line while climbing, trying to figure out the most likely place to find the next thermal. I spotted a small wispy cloud forming, breaking up, and reforming farther along the course line. Once I reached the top of the climb I radioed Richard, who was still climbing, and told him that I was going to head on. I lost quite a bit of altitude on that glide but, sure enough, there was a thermal right under where that little cloud was again forming. As I worked the climb I radioed Richard, who had topped out the previous thermal, and he, Dana and Soraya headed over. It was such an awesome feeling for me to be able to confidently lead out by myself and find lift right where I thought it would be!

After a few more thermals I was almost ready to go on final glide, but Richard was low. As I climbed, I watched the numbers on my GPS as it calculated the L/D I would need to get to goal. When it said I needed a 9-to-1 glide I left Richard (sorry, buddy!) and headed down the course line, watching those numbers the whole time. As I glided downwind the numbers slowly

started creeping upwards, and I looked down course and aimed for a cloud that seemed promising. When the GPS read 10-to-1, I knew I would need one more climb to make it. Thoughts filled my head of landing just inches from goal, and I could feel my chest start to tighten as I listened to the sink alarm on my vario. I needed a climb, as soon as possible.

I desperately headed for the closest cloud, and as I got closer I spotted Dana circling underneath it. Oh, joy and rapture! It took all my self-discipline to maintain best-glide speed and not stuff the bar and dive straight for the climbing glider. I came in underneath Dana, found 300 fpm, and stayed with it until my GPS said 7-to-1 to goal.

I glided into goal with 1000 feet to spare, hooting and hollering and laughing. I could see Dana and several other gliders already there. After I landed, we all shared congratulations and stories of how we did it. But one thing was still bothering me; I radioed to Richard to see how he was doing, expecting the worst. I was so excited when he replied that he was at 4000 feet and had goal within easy glide! When he landed (a perfect no-stepper), we were all smiles and laughs. Our entire team of four made goal—the perfect ending to this awesome day.

And that is my favorite flight ever.

It’s extra special to me because I shared it with my friends, and I was able to put into practice several things that I had been taught—and, of course, because I made goal!

From your first soaring flight to becoming a world champion, success depends on thermalling well.

That is why we pressure chamber test and calibrate every instrument to yield the most sensitive, responsive and precise vario possible.

Cutting edge technology, precision and superior service for over 30 years.

www.flytec.com

info@flytec.com