Hang Gliding & Paragliding Vol46-Iss1 Jan-Feb 2016

HANG GLIDING

PARAGLIDING &

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 Volume 46 Issue 1 $6.95

CALLING ALL PILOTS TOGETHER WE CAN WRITE OUR OWN

INSURANCE POLICY EMPOWERING OUR EFFORTS TO

SELF-REGULATE MAKING OUR COMMUNITY

SAFER

STRONGER

FOREVER. DONATE NOW at www.USHPA.org

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

from Paul Murdoch, USHPA president

W

e are at a place in our organization’s history where the actions we take, or don’t take, will determine the fate of our sports in the United States. Because you, like all of us, love to fly, you've most likely heard about efforts to form our own Risk Retention Group (RRG) so we can self-insure and better self-regulate.

Still, many remain unsure of exactly what is happening. For each and every pilot, and for those to come, clarity at this moment in time is tremendously important.

Who IS AFFECTED? The impending loss of insurance affects all USHPA members, whether you fly insured sites or not. Recreational pilots will not be able to fly at insured sites from Crestline in California to Ellenville in New York. We will not have coverage for those landowners.

Instructors and schools will no longer have indemnity for their commercial operations and will need to close or find alternative coverage. Comps and fly-ins will not be able to secure coverage for their events.

What HAS CHANGED? In August we learned that nine large flight schools were losing their commercial coverage. We subsequently learned that USHPAs policies would also not be renewed. USHPA's policies are the general third-party liability policy that protects recreational pilots and landowners, and the professional liability policy that protects instructors.

Without coverage, many sites will

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

close. Many states do have recreational land-use statues on the books. While those laws protect landowners from having to pay a judgment, they do not pay for the landowners’ defense of a lawsuit. The advantage of our current coverage is that it steps in immediately upon notice of a claim to pay for a landowner’s defense.

Without coverage, many schools will close. They will not want to risk their personal assets to lawsuits. Some will continue to operate, but they will not be as plentiful. A lack of schools will impact recreational pilots as well. It will be more difficult to find instruction and to source equipment.

Although you may be able to do both, you will have to travel some distance and order gear from far away. A lack of schools will result in fewer new pilots entering the sport. Clubs will drop in numbers and resources. Those site improvement projects you had planned will have fewer bodies to assist.

What is an RRG? A Risk Retention Group is a model used for self-insurance. The RRG is a legal format used by groups who are not easily insured by conventional means; by groups whose activity is not well understood by insurers; and by groups who stand to gain financially by self-insurance. Doctors use them; niche recreation groups use them.

We will self-insure for the first $250,000 of liability. This constitutes the vast majority of past claims.

We will purchase reinsurance from a traditional insurance company for policy limits above that. An RRG is a standalone for-profit company. Our company would be run by members of our flying community, selected by shareholers of the RRG. The CEO, CFO, secretary and risk manager will be members of our community. It will have a board of directors, four members of which also come from our community and one member with significant self-insurance experience. Shareholders of the RRG will be its policy holders USHPA, Foundation for Free Flight, Professional Sports Association and a number of schools. The shareholders’ say in the management of the RRG is proportional to the percent of the total $2 million capital contribution.

USHPA’s expected shareholder contribution (including member donations) will be $1.2 million. Foundation for Free Flight’s shareholder contribution will be $500,000. Each participating school will make a shareholder contribution between $500 and $100,000.

Therefore, the RRG will be owned by pilots and run by pilots, for pilots.

Over the past 10 years, we have paid much more in premiums than what our insurance has paid in connection with claims. So we should benefit financially by self-insurance. Historically, some claims have been settled for amounts greater than we think was justified.

That is due to the structure of conventional insurance funding, and due to a lack of knowledge about our sport.

We think we can reduce claims with better management. The RRG would pay claims where there is liability, but we would aggressively defend those in which there is no liability. Finally, our activity is not easily insured by conventional means. Conventional insurance does not completely understand what we do. That and the way claims are settled make us seem to be a higher risk than they wish to accept. As a result,

our rates increased significantly over the years until, finally, the insurance company decided that no amount was worth the risk.

WHY DID THIS HAPPEN? Insurance is a simple proposition.

Insurance companies want a profit they want premiums to be consistently higher than claims. We are in our current position because insurance companies have not made the level of profit they want. Remember, though, that the cumulative premiums we have paid over the years remain significantly higher than cumulative claims—just not enough higher.

So where have the claims come

USHPA’s coffers 15 years previously.

Most of those resources have been set aside, part of the $2M we need to raise.

So we saw the fuse being lit, but we did not foresee the speed with which the last length would burn. Given the difficulty of putting this RRG together, self-insurance did not make sense as long as conventional insurance was available. And lastly, I don’t think we could have done it. Raising the funds is hard enough with a foreboding deadline looming. Without that deadline, soliciting donations would have been a greater challenge.

WHEN MUST WE ACT? On March 1st our present policy runs

more pilots known to take unnecessary risks. We all must join the effort to shore up our risk pool. We can compassionately pull those pilots aside and firmly guide them towards less risky flying decisions. This will cause some friction, but it’s how society works. We MUST improve pilot decisions that directly impact safety.

Finally, here is how this RRG will benefit every pilot. As I’ve said, we’ve paid more in premiums than has been paid out in claims. The RRG will have much lower overhead than a conventional insurer. It will have direct access to reinsurance markets. It will be able to stabilize premiums. It will be able to customize coverages that we need

“The actions we take, or don’t take, will determine the fate of our sports in the United States.” from? There is a link in the FAQ to a chart showing the types of claims and the related percentages There is no clear trend or single smoking gun. As a general rule, property damage costs a lot less than damage to people, so the things that tend to be expensive are pilots crashing into spectators, pilots crashing into other pilots, or students getting hurt during training. The USHPA waiver, recreational immunity, assumption of risk laws and the liability standard set by the FAA when it adopted Part 103 ("every ultralight pilot assumes responsibility for his/ her safety”), ultimately blocks liability for most claims. But these waivers and laws do not address the cost of defending those claims. Our coverage does that.

Many others have asked why didn’t USHPA see this bomb coming. The answer is that we did, many years ago.

USHPA’s board back then began a financial strategy that resulted in roughly $1 million above what had been in

out. That doesn’t mean that we can wait until February 28 to raise all the capital. We need some time—as much as possible—to coordinate the transition.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS There are some other things we need to understand about why this is the right thing for us, if a bit rushed.

Our organization has to get a handle on accidents and improve decision making across our community. An RRG is required to run risk management programs. Those programs will likely include knowledge, judgment and skills refreshers upon USHPA renewal; better incident reporting and underwriting feedback for site risk management based on claims histories.

Furthermore, we’ll be enhancing our training protocols for both instructors and students.

Many of our membership abhor playing safety officer for the local hill.

That is a role each one of us must get used to. Virtually every site has one or

in order to grow the sport. It will have reduced governmental regulation and interference. Ultimately, it will give the organization more control over claims handling. If we manage risk and reduce claims, our RRG will show a return.

Surplus funds will go to retiring debt, rebuilding coffers, and ultimately to reducing the insurance portion of membership dues. If we get this right, we can gain control of our claims, expand the safety culture within our community, and gain control of our finances. Only in that way do we gain control of our future.

If we successfully implement our RRG and realize those fiscal returns, we will already have won the larger prize. By way of the process, we will have improved safety and secured free flight for future generations. Our donations of $200 or $500 or $1000 pale in comparison.

We have only a very limited time left before we’re without insurance. Let’s get this done!

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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How I'm Donating $100,000 from an anonymous pilot

I

started flying in 1974 when I got my first hang glider. Over the decades since then I have been engaged in an array of different flying experiences, all of which have contributed significantly to the quality of my life. Now I am older and I fly less, but I still have a deep, rich appreciation for what free flight has meant to my life. And I would not want to have been without it. In fact, I also have developed a keen sense of wanting others, drawn to it, to also be able to appreciate it as I have. And I find many do.

As you have all heard, there is a present free-flight insurance dilemma. This makes me profoundly troubled. Due to the current loss of USHPA free-flight insurance coverages we are at risk of losing many of the free-flight flying sites, instructors and flight schools that members of USHPA and the community have worked so long and hard to develop in this country. I feel that protection of our assets is part of our national flying community’s legacy. I want this legacy in the US to thrive, not to weaken.

Valuable parts of this legacy are now at risk of being lost.

Hang gliding is really important in my life. I feel privileged to be engaged in the sport during my lifetime. Now that we are in this time of insurance difficulty I feel it is important to give back to that community that has been so meaningful to me. I have even tried to look at the situation optimistically and see it as an opportunity to give back to something that has contributed so much to my own life’s satisfaction. In my imagination, many pilot or ex-pilots that have been greatly moved by this sport feel similarly.

A Call to Action For me, free-flight sport has been community-based in addition to being personal. In my experience things that

have been achieved in the sport that let it exist the way it does today are due to a lot of hard work and commitment that members of the flying community have put into it. Right now I believe we need that same level of commitment in our relationship to the current insurance situation as we have had to other times of development in the sport in the past. If we are committed and aware about solving our insurance issue, this will translate into an impact that will have important bearing on the future of the sport. If we are not committed, and nothing is done, it will translate into a loss in the future. I am interested in supporting and insuring that the sport does have a strong future. That is why I am willing to make a large contribution towards USHPA’s RRG (Risk Retention Group) initiative now. (The RRG is the new self-insuring entity that USHPA is trying to create.) I encourage others who may have similar feelings to also participate as best as they can. Please don’t push this out of your consideration if flying means a lot to you.

Please recall flying experiences you have had with hang gliding or paragliding over the past years and ask yourself if you wish to see them continue in a healthy way moving into the future. If the answer is yes, then take this insurance situation seriously and I challenge you to contribute in whatever way you can to the USHPA RRG initiative.

Every bit will be needed to reach the $2M amount needed to launch the effort. Don’t worry about how much to contribute, just contribute.

This is a time that the free-flight community is being called into action.

The USHPA leadership that deals with the way our industry, sport hang gliding and paragliding, is insured and protected, has been giving us insight about changes that are being forced upon our community by the insurance industry.

We need to listen to what they are

saying and come together as a national pilot community. If we do not take ownership for today’s current insurance issue, then no one else will. Others outside our sport don’t care enough about the passion of flight to allow it to go on as we would. Rather, it may be more purely a business proposition for them.

For us in the free-flight community it is a lifestyle, and it is fully commanding, hence we cannot ignore this attempt to instigate our own self-insurability via the proposed RRG effort. It is a matter of the survivability of that lifestyle.

Right now we have a true opportunity through the idea of the creation of an RRG that allows our community to take the risks of insurability into our own hands. And even with this it will take extraordinary work to get what USHPA is proposing done. We still ought to try.

I challenge us all to put ourselves on the line as much as we can right now and raise the money that will be needed, $2M, to initially capitalize the new RRG. If we don’t do this now, flying will be forever changed. When this happens the kinds of flying experiences you have all had in your lives may be lost to future generations of pilots. Is this the type of legacy we want to create and leave?

Please give generously, and give before it is too late. The RRG can’t get off the ground unless it is adequately financed and capitalized. Regulators of RRG insurance businesses will not let them exist unless it is done right and with enough substance to meet needs that are put forth. Please be a part of the team that is actively doing something to contribute to USHPA’s best thinking and doing something to provide solutions to this situation.

There is urgency right now, because the insurance carriers that have supported hang gliding and paragliding activity in the past are deciding for various unfortunate reasons to let our coverage go. This puts schools and sites, and land-

owners and pilots that currently rely on the existence of insurance coverage at risk. We have been told that present levels of current insurance coverage will end by early to mid 2016. This means the loss of coverage leading to the possible closure of presently insured sites, due to loss of landowner third-party liability coverage and loss of specific site insurances; or closure of flight schools due to too much instructor liability exposure; or exposure of member pilot risk due to loss of third-party liability coverage for them. This is why we need to create successful strategies that allow our risk to be managed and insured.

I

n the recent decades, much time and effort has been spent to secure flying sites and creating schools and clubs across the US. This allows for great flying by many pilots. There is essentially no way to put a value on the amount of effort that has been invested by the US free-flight community except to say that it is priceless. The sites we have developed are like our gold. By not having a viable insurance strategy for our sport we put our most precious assets in jeopardy. And once sites or schools are lost, the odds of getting them back are low.

A Charitable Investment I want to share some of my own rational for making a large charitable gift to USHPA in hopes that it might help.

I am making a matching gift challenge for USHPA that will both benefit me and help USHPA from a charitable perspective to create the RRG. I feel it is important for others to understand this perspective as it may apply to other prospective donors who might similarly contribute to this initiative.

The matching challenge grant will be to USHPA’s RRG initiative for the final $100k needed to fund the program. I will donate to the initiative by matching other contributions that come in toward this cause up to a maximum of the first $100K. If the gift is not used for the USHPA’s RRG initiative and the project fails to come together, the

balance of the gift is to be redirected to the Foundation For Free Flight to its Site Preservation and General funds.

This assures the donation will still go toward important preservation and development work within the sport in any circumstance.

Donating the $100K to make this match is the best way I know of to support USHPA’s current need, but there are certain aspects of the tax laws I am able to take advantage of in making this challenge.

I intend to make this donation to USHPA using $100K of appreciated securities. The sale of these securities would generate substantial capital-gains taxes. However, the tax law provides that these appreciated securities can be donated to a qualified charitable organization, which permits the donor to take a tax deduction for the full fair-market value of the securities without the need to sell them first. The charitable deduction for donated securities is a direct offset to taxable income. The highest tax rate is more than 40%, so this deduction is extremely valuable.

A gift of $100,000 saves $40,000 in taxes. This means that the $100,000 gift actually cost $60,000 out of pocket to make. Hence, I will give it as a charitable gift this way. This benefits USHPA and it benefits me.

Additionally, I can take charitable deductions for 501C3 organizations up to 50% of my adjusted gross income in any one year. This gives me and/ or others a measure of how much they might be able to take as a charitable deduction this way toward a charitable gift. This also may further leverage possible tax breaks.

Clearly one has to be highly motivated to give a large gift to an effort like this, but taking advantage of the provisions of the tax laws allows me to leverage my gift. It works well for me and it works well for USHPA. Talk to a tax accountant or talk to USHPA if you have more questions about how this works. Maybe it’s a consideration for you.

Martin Palmaz, Executive Director executivedirector@ushpa.aero Beth Van Eaton, Operations Manager office@ushpa.aero Ashley Miller, Membership Coordinator membership@ushpa.aero Julie Spiegler, Program Manager programs@ushpa.aero

USHPA OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Murdoch, President president@ushpa.aero Jamie Shelden, 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: Ken Andrews, Pete Michelmore, Alan Crouse.

REGION 4: Bill Belcourt, Ken Grubbs. REGION 5: Josh Pierce. REGION 6: Tiki Mashy. REGION 7: Paul Olson. REGION 8: Michael Holmes. REGION 9: Felipe Amunategui, Larry Dennis. REGION 10: Bruce Weaver, Steve Kroop, Matt Taber. REGION 11: Tiki Mashy. REGION 12: Paul Voight. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Paul Murdoch, Steve Rodrigues, Greg Kelley, Jamie Shelden, Mitch Shipley. 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.

Happy New Year?

by C.J. Sturtevant

I

’m writing this on December 28, as 2015 draws to a close.

It’s been an amazing year in the free-flight world, with pilots posting reports of incredible aerial experiences — incredibly scenic, or distant, or challenging, or satisfying, or many of the above at once. Will 2016 measure up? The optimists among us declare, “For sure!” while as I’m writing this the realists are going with a more cautious forecast: “Probably, but not without some assistance from every one of us.”

If you’ve already received an exuberant email from USHPA headquarters announcing, “We’ve met our goal! Our insurance crisis is over! Free-flight forever!” then skip the rest of this paragraph and just enjoy the testimonials. But if by the time this magazine reaches you we’re still short of the needed funds, then we’re coming right down to the wire, and every day, every pilot, every dollar is critical. As of December 28, USHPA reports, “We have raised $1,386,458 to date, and must raise an additional $613,542 by March 1st, 2016 to continue protecting our sites, schools, and members. We have received a $100,000 challenge grant from a member, meaning that once our membership raises that additional $513,542, this donor will provide the $100,000 needed to complete the capitalization.” So, between the first days of winter to several weeks before spring even arrives, we the pilots and instructors must somehow come up with more than half a million dollars.

Daunting, but not impossible. The pessimists who say, “We’re never going to make that goal, so I’m not putting my money on the table” are missing an important detail: If we don’t reach the $2 million, you can ask for your donation to be refunded.

No risk, huge potential reward—why would any active pilot, or any pilot with fond flying-related memories, NOT make a donation? Check out some of the creative fund-raising projects from the last couple of months of 2015, and be inspired. * Chris Santacroce is as passionate about free flight as anyone could possibly be, and has aggressively put social media to work for the cause, posting numerous challenges that have brought in significant $$. His most recent one: a white elephant sale specifically for hang gliding and paragliding gear.

Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/223994341265209/ to participate.

Chris started it off with several items, and the list keeps growing. Clean out your storage cabinet, treat yourself to a gear upgrade, keep hang gliding and paragliding alive. *Cowboy Up Hang Gliding’s Tiki Mashy and Bart Weghorst add their voices to the others who have been so vocal in pleading with members to help fund the RRG (Risk Retention Group). “This campaign is OURS, folks—yours,

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mine and ours. If our membership fails at this one task, our best days are behind us. It really is pony-up time—the lights will dim and go dark if this goes sour. It’s up to each of us to keep that from happening. Let’s just get it done. Donate now!

Do it at https://ushpa.aero/donation_form-RRG.asp.” Texas pilots, take note: Bart and Tiki offer some additional incentives for you to “pony up”—give them a call before you make your donation. *The shuttle driver at a hugely popular NW site, realizing that without USHPA’s insurance for this site he’ll be out of a job, on 12/18 offered a 2016 season shuttle-ride pass to anyone who donated $900 to the RRG before 12/21. He raised $3000 in those three days. *Several tandem pilots who are renowned for their frequent XC flights along routes through breathtaking mountain scenery are auctioning off tandem flights into an area most of us would find too intense to explore on our own. *The Hawaii Paragliding Club used USHPA’s Film Festival, along with some of their favorite films of Hawaiian flyin’, as a fundraiser to “spread awareness and solicit taxdeductible donations for the USHPA emergency effort to set up a Risk Retention Group to provide our own insurance for pilots and sites.” They pointed out that the donations will help “to keep our USHPA sites open, not just Makapuu and Kahana here on Oahu, but 200 sites around the country, not to mention any future sites that need to be insured. With our support, this effort will succeed in preserving our flying privileges at premier sites around the country. Each of us needs to consider what those privileges are worth and what we can afford as individuals to ensure they are not lost.” More than 30 people attended the Festival, which raised about $2600. Club president Alex Colby adds that so far the Hawaii pilots have raised almost $13,000, with 16% of the state’s 198 pilots participation so far (they’re pushing for 50% participation before the March 1 deadline). * In Oregon’s Applegate Valley, the Woodrat Mountain flying site would be lost if we lose our insurance. RVHPA club treasurer points out, “Without liability insurance for the landowners, our ability to land at Hunter LZ, LongSword LZ, and Fiasco LZ are in jeopardy. That insurance also protects us pilots from liability for damage we might do to people or property wherever we are flying. Your donation is urgently needed.

Just a $100 donation from each member nationwide would be enough for USHPA to reach its goal. So far we are way short of that. Please donate as much as you can. If we’re able to come together as a community of pilots in this effort, we’ll secure the ability to fly for pilots all across the US for 2016 and the years to come. If you’ve already donated, see if you can dig a little deeper to make an extra contribution before the end of

the year, or forward this email to a pilot or friend of a pilot who might need an extra nudge.” RVHPA is offering a unique T-shirt as incentive to those who donate before January 31; go to http://rvhpa.org/about/ and click on the “details” button below the T-shirt image to learn more. *All across the country, pilots are using their club websites and Facebook pages to remind those who need reminding: “If you haven’t donated, please do it NOW—Santa will remember you as being nice!” or “Don’t put it off any longer—you know you want to fly…” Humor, sarcasm, or just a brief, terse reminder has helped keep our insurance plight in the headlines and on everyone’s personal radar! *Mark Forbes (Region 1 director, chairman of the Insurance committee, and USHPA treasurer) assures us that “this is a ONE-TIME EFFORT. Once we get the capital funding together, we won’t need to come back again and ask for even more. Premiums will cover the running costs, and we think those will come down over time and save us all money in the long run. This is a one-time investment that will pay off for years to come. But we have to do it, and we have deadlines coming up that won’t wait.” He’s kept the West-coast pilots informed re: the percentage of pilots in each state who have contributed. Apparently that has had some effect; two days after reporting that only 17% of the Washington pilots have pitched in, the rate went up to 21%, and the amount donated rose to just over $48,000, second only to California’s almost $93,000, from 12% of the California pilots. C’mon, folks, do you really mean for so few of us to support what we all hold so precious?

“Please donate whatever you can spare,” Mark says, “and do it soon. It’s tax-deductible, some employers will match it, and it’s vital to our future as a sport.” Whatever you can spare means just that. If 100 pilots each donate $10, that’s another $1000. If we’re not at goal by the time you’re reading this, please make your donation today.

Bart Weghorst, the 2015 USHPA Hang Gliding Instructor of the Year points out that, if we’re still short of our goal at this late date, “It is entirely too late for criticism—that’s the thermal of Christmas past. The time to act is now; we have to get this one right. Call it shameless begging, call it self-serving, call it whatever you like—we are all in this together. Free flight/free lunch—no one rides for free.”

Please don’t be a free-loader. If we’re still short of our goal, and if we want to continue to be able to fly at the 200 or so sites whose owners demand liability insurance, we all need to be on the bandwagon, whether it’s through a single-digit donation or a check for a six-digit figure. Https://ushpa.aero/donation_form-RRG.asp is where you can make it happen.

SITES AT RISK Alaska Alyeska Baldy Glen Alps Hatcher Pass Mt. Roberts

Soboba St John Mountain Sugar Loaf Mountain The Stables The Whaleback Tollhouse Waddell Creek Windy Hill Yosemite

Arizona A-Mountain Ak Chin Airport Apache Maid Colorado Box Canyon Bellyache Ridge Cottonwood Copper Mountain Airport Crested Butte Echo Cliffs Lookout (Mt. Humboldt Zion) Mountain Pearl Property Miller Canyon Red Mountain Mingus Mountain Ruthies Mount Lemmon Skinny Mt. Eldon Storm Peak Oatman Mountain Telluride Ski Shaw Butte Resort South Mountain Walshes Whetstone Wonderland Lake Mountains

Nevada Goodsprings

Sacramento Templeton

New Hampshire Mt. Washington

Tennessee Chilhowee Mountain Henson Gap Whitwell

New Mexico Blue Springs Dry Canyon Guadalupes La Luz Sandia Crest Sandia Peak Sod Farm

Texas Lake Conroe Wharton Airport Utah Commadore Cove Mountain Grandeur Peak Inspo Monroe Peak Mt. Edna Mt. Olympus Point of the Mountain The V West Mountain Yuba Lake Tow Site

New York Bristol Dansville Draht Hill Ellenville Genesee Airport Hammondsport Harriet Hollister Italy Valley Labrador Mossy Bank Park Mount Utsayantha Connecticut Arkansas Mt. Brace Talcott Vermont Mt. Magazine Padgham Hill Burke Mountain Nebo Randall Airport Georgia Mt. Ascutney Whiteface Bell Mountain Sugarbush Mountain California Pigeon Mountain West Rutland Bacchi Ranch Bidwell Park North Carolina Hawaii Virginia Big Black Blue Ridge Kahana Bay Daniel’s Launch Blue Rock Cotton Gin Kealakekua Crestline Currituck Airport Dickey’s Ridge Makapuu Eagle Rock Cronan Park Edith’s Gap Dunlap Sky Park Mount Haleakala Ohio Hogback East Beach Edgewater Idaho Ed Levin Park Richmondale Massanutten Peak King Mountain Millers Head Elings Park WesMar Mt. Baldy Raven’s Roost Fillmore Hills Palisades Woodstock Fort Funston Oklahoma Reservoir Goat Rock Buffalo Mountain Sky Ridge Washington Horse Canyon Heavener Area 151 Kagel Mountain Little Yancy Kentucky Baldy Butte La Cumbre Peak PG Point Blanchard Hisle Field Laguna Oregon Mountain Lake McClure Peterson Butte Chelan Butte Maryland Little Black Pine Mountain High Rock Dog Mountain Marina State Sunset Beach Pulpit Rock Eagle Butte Beach Woodrat Saddle Mountain Mariposa Airport Mountain Tiger Mountain Massachusetts Mission Ridge Mt. Tom Montana de Oro Pennsylvania West Virginia Plymouth Mori Point 501 (Bethel) High Point Tanner-Hiller Mount Diablo Bill’s Hill Mount Saint Blue Mountain Michigan Wyoming Helena Elisabethville Green Point Grand Targhee Mount Tamalpais Fisher Road Resort Mt. Bullion Hyner View Montana Rendevous Bowl Oat Mountain Kennedy Ellis Sandturn Palomar Kirkridge Mount Sentinel Snow King Little Gap Parma Park Story Hills Sagebrush Quakertown Field

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WARNING

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.

SUBMISSIONS HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine welcomes 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.

ADVERTISING ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE 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.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING (ISSN 1543-5989) (USPS 17970) is published monthly by the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding

Association, Inc., 1685 W. Uintah St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904, (719) 632-8300, FAX (719) 632-6417. PERIODICAL postage is paid at Colorado Springs, CO and at additional mailing offices.

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COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 2015 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.

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13

ACCIDENTS “There is an upside to an accident or incident. Fellow members of our flying community who sustain minor to major injuries have the ability to help prevent others from suffering similar fates.”

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

HAPPEN

by Josh Pierce PG co-chair of AIRS committee

I

f you’re reading this magazine, there is a good chance you can count yourself as one of the lucky ones who has been fortunate enough to not only dream about flying but also to experience the feeling. As I’m sure many can attest, it’s an addicting sensation, one that becomes a part of life, like eating and sleeping. Inherent to any activity where your feet leave the earth, risk of injury is always present.

Our sport is all about enjoyment and self-fulfillment. An injury, either to you, a friend, or a student, makes this enjoyment impossible. Mitigating risk will help to maximize your enjoyment and ensure a long, happy flying career.

Accidents happen, period. Many of us have seen or been involved in accidents within our community. No one is proud of his or her accident, and sustaining injuries can be disappointing during a short flying season. There is, however, an upside to an accident or incident. Fellow members of our flying community who sustain minor to major injuries have the ability to help prevent others from suffering similar fates.

The rest of us can be helped only if all pilots report their accidents and incidents. Analysis and understanding of an incident, whether minor or severe, requires a pilot to get past insecurities for the betterment of the community.

For as long as I have been in the flying community, ego has reigned supreme.

No one wants to admit a fault or

be called out on a mistake. It’s time for a culture shift. Last year was a rough year for accidents and incidents throughout USHPA paragliding and hang gliding.

Close calls and minor accidents make a difference. Back when I was a new pilot, I was standing on launch one afternoon under a sunny sky, with smooth winds at 8mph. This particular ridge-soaring site has a decent-sized rock outcropping, just downhill from the grassy launch area. In my inexperience, I was unaware of the turbulence this outcropping could produce. I brought my paraglider over my head on a reverse launch, turned, and began to run downhill. Just as I took my last step, my left wing collapsed from turbulence created by the outcropping. I swung in a large left-hand arc, just above the ground at high speed.

My wing caught the bottom of the rock outcropping and a tree, and I swung through, with my wing tangled overhead. I walked away completely uninjured (I can’t say the same for my wing) and thankful to be walking down the hill.

That geographical feature isn’t unique to this flying site. Turbulence at launch caused by topographical, manmade, and other protrusions is identifiable at many flying sites. I wasn’t injured and, compared to some of the major accidents and incidents around the country, my incident was minor. Imagine for a second that my left-wing collapse had taken place two seconds later. My minor incident could have turned into a fatal-

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ity, because I would have been 60 feet higher off the ground. The cause of the incident remains the same, with two very different potential outcomes.

I am embarrassed to say that I didn’t report my incident. The effect of my lack of reporting could be devastating.

What would happen if another new pilot was in a similar situation and remembered reading an article in the magazine about turbulence at launch?

It’s highly possible that my report could easily save her from a long and costly recovery or maybe even save her life.

USHPA receives, on average, 20 incident reports a year. I am aware of 20 reportable incidents in my region alone last year, meaning a very large majority of incidents are going unreported.

We are a tight-knit, small community of free-flight enthusiasts. I personally know 95 percent of the pilots in my state (Montana is a small community).

By reporting an accident or incident, I am helping to ensure the safety of my friends, both near and far. This is where the culture shift begins—with me, and with you.

USHPA is planning a new series of articles to be included in the magazine, focusing on accident reporting. These

articles will highlight accident and incident trends among both disciplines and focus on teachable moments to be shared with Hang Gliding & Paragliding readers. Fear not, all incidents and accidents that are reported will remain anonymous, and articles will lean more towards trends in safety rather than specifics. These articles will be published in alternating months, so stay tuned and help us help the flying community stay safe by reporting your accidents and incidents.

As I mentioned, last year was a rough year for accidents and incidents within USHPA. Very experienced pilots made some unfortunate mistakes with grave consequences. I often see an experienced pilot walk up to a new pilot to check his leg straps, or make sure his A-lines are untangled and on top. Very rarely is that action reciprocated. Just because a pilot has a H-4 or P-5 doesn’t mean he’s impervious to mistakes. This is another part of the cultural shift we need to assure we are safe.

During a preflight check, don’t be afraid to be the new pilot checking people’s leg straps or the experienced pilot checking another experienced pi-

lot’s carabiners or speed systems. Have a group conversation about conditions, hazards and the decision to launch.

Last year’s accidents could have been avoided with better preflight safety.

The flash of a camera, racing to catch friends, or changing weather conditions can force someone to rush while preparing for launch. This is a perfect opportunity for mistakes to happen.

Slow down, do your preflight check, and check each other. USHPA has created preflight safety apps for both hang gliding and paragliding. Use them, get familiar with them, and make preflight safety a priority. You’ll find them at http://www.ushpa.aero/preflightsafety.

One of the things I love about paragliding and hang gliding is the community. We share meals, transportation, and rising columns of hot air with each other. Why not share accidents and incidents with each other as well? By doing so we can make safety a group concern. So please take a moment and post this article at your club, talk to your fellow pilots about safety, and encourage them to report their accidents and incidents—go to http://airs.ushpa. aero to make a report and help make our flying community a safer one.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

15

Holding on to

Hang Gliding History

by C.J. Sturtevant

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F

ree flight has been around for almost 50 years, barely more than an eyeblink in the timespan we humans have been dreaming of soaring with the birds. And yet what an incredible amount of experimentation, innovation, frustration and exhilaration has been packed into that short journey! If you haven’t been around since the very early days, you probably have NO IDEA how we got from there to where we are today, but if you’re curious about any of the steps in that journey, Ken de Russy is your man.

Ken learned to hang glide back in 1973 in southern California. His brother, whom Ken describes as “an accomplished liar,” brought tales of people flying—actually getting into the air and flying!—from a 300’ hill nearby. At the time, Ken recalls, the words “hang gliding” meant nothing to him or anyone he knew; who could even imagine a real person doing that? His brother’s tale “sounded so preposterous that it had to be a lie,” Ken recalls, and adds, “Thinking about flying felt like thinking about doing something impossible, inconceivable, magical. And that was a huge part of the culture in the beginning: young people doing this impossible thing.” Achieving the impossible was a perfect fit for an obstinate, contrary young man like Ken—and, as soon became

obvious, for so many of the young folks in the early ‘70s.

Before long, hang gliding was spreading like an epidemic all across the country. Ken describes a “sudden influx of flying humans in ‘73 and ‘74—just exploding.” Hang gliding went from “no such thing” to “right there in your face.”

Anywhere a hang glider was seen flying, enterprising young men and women with access to a pop rivet gun and some plastic and an interest in getting airborne got to work. The ease of copying these early wings, and having those copies actually fly, led to vibrant flying communities springing up wherever there was a flyable hill.

Ken says he saw so many self-built gliders on the training hill in Santa Barbara that he became convinced that you could get “ just about anything” to fly. “The world had never seen an aircraft that was so easily flown by anyone—so forgiving, so intuitive,” he muses, adding with emphasis that the early hang gliders did not deserve their reputation as deathtraps, in spite of the frightful number of deadly accidents in the 1970s. “Most fatalities were due to ignorance, and the result of situations that are still killing us

OPPOSITE Taras Kiceniuk’s school friend built this Batso, probably the

oldest in existence. ABOVE More than four decades of written hang gliding history.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

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today,” Ken points out. “If flown with just a modest amount of respect for ‘aviation’ those first hang gliders were totally flyable.”

As Ken’s life began to revolve more and more around hang gliding, he was struck by a thought that, eventually, inspired the creation of his hang gliding museum. He’d seen a TV show about how the WWII warplanes had been totally salvaged, all their parts used for something else or some other version of a flying machine—hardly a one has survived intact, he says, clearly appalled that such a hugely significant bit of aviation history has been mostly lost. But he could relate to that salvage mentality. His dubious financial situation in the ‘70s led him to save and re-use every re-purposable part of every hang glider, and he quickly made the connection: If somebody didn’t do something about preserving these early hang gliders, they, too, would exist only as random parts or designs on paper or in the memories of

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

those who’d flown them. So, Ken says, he “ just wanted to get ahold of this stuff before it all went in the trash.” And it was ridiculously easy to collect gliders and other hang gliding paraphernalia in southern California—so many people were moving on (or out) and were looking for a place to get rid of that glider in the garage, or that stack of newsletters and magazines and memorabilia they’d saved over the years.

Any collector of big stuff will already have anticipated Ken’s developing dilemma: where to put his expanding accumulation. His wife Bonnie had a suggestion: Why not move to Washington State (where she really wanted to live, to be closer to her family)—unlike in expensive SoCal, in the Northwest they could afford to own a large enough house and enough land to create a real hang gliding museum.

“At first,” Ken recalls, “this whole idea of moving north and having a hang gliding museum was sort of a joke, Bonnie’s ‘carrot’ to entice me to leave Santa Barbara and the almostperfect hang gliding situation I had there.” Almost-perfect included a conveniently located training hill, a nearby city population to provide a steady influx of students, and that consistent southern California sunshine that enables training—and flying—almost every day. “I was a real Mr. Hang Gliding in California,” Ken recalls, and deep down he realized that he’d be leaving that identity and lifestyle behind if

he moved up to northwestern Washington.

Still, Bonnie’s strong desire to live closer to her mother was pushing them towards relocating; perhaps the possibility of turning his collection of free-flight memorabilia into a real museum finally tipped the scales toward actually making the move. In May of 1998, Ken and Bonnie packed their entire household into the biggest Ryder truck they could rent without a special driver’s license, piled 15 hang gliders on the roof rack of their Toyota pickup and stuffed the several file cabinets and boxes of hang gliding-related books/mags/photos/newsletters in among the rest of their belongings, and headed north.

Fast-forward to the 21st century. Ken’s collection has now been in its more-or-less permanent home for more than 15 years. What will you find if you make a visit to the Museum of Hang Gliding in northwest Washington State? “Actually, it’s not really a museum,” Ken ruefully admits, “because it has no patrons—it’s pretty much just an enormous collection in my garage that nobody comes to see. But,” he is quick OPPOSITE TOP Ken’s collection, displayed in his garage. BOTTOM

The black magic vario—just a Delrin block with holes for the plastic bullets to float up or down; to zero it, just turn it upside down.ABOVE Ken at the Soaring 100 celebration at Kitty Hawk, 2013 | photo by Paul Dees.

Browse Ken’s museum online at https://picasaweb.google.com/101853141446931050654/KenDeRussySHangGlidingMuseum Ken’s personal history in hang gliding also includes a lot of captivating tidbits of the world of hang gliding as he lived it. Find his story here: https://picasaweb.google.com/101853141446931050654/KenDeRussyBiographicalInfo Ken offered a short list of topics for a time-sucking, mind-boggling, action-packed Google exploration of the early days of hang gliding—pick a rainy or blown-out day, and dive in! Include “hang gliding” after each name when you search to avoid irrelevant hits.

John Dickenson Taras Kiceniuk Batso Alec Brooks Barry Palmer Kasperfest Escape Country

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

19

to add, “anyone who has an interest in hang gliding history can call me or come by,” and Ken promises he’ll devote a day or as many days as it takes to help “patrons” locate the stuff they want to see or learn about. He’s pretty familiar with everything on his shelves and walls—books and newsletters and other publications dating from back in the ‘70s right up to the present, bins of hang gliding-related ephemera and paraphernalia covering more than four decades, racks of intact hang gliders of every description and from almost every manufacturer since the days of home-builts.

I asked Ken what he considered the most significant bit of hang gliding history in his collection. After a bit of pondering, he suggested a few worthy candidates. Probably the oldest item in his collection is the original flight log of Barry Palmer, starting in 1961. (Palmer, Ken elaborates, was “the first person to fly a bi-conical or bi-lobed hang glider, what we would call a rogallo wing.”) He also has a bamboo-andplastic glider, built and flown by Alec Brooks, that Ken says is representative of the original bamboo-and-black-plastic

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

Batso. And then there’s the replica of John Dickenson’s wing; John, a good friend of Ken’s, helped fabricate the parts and assisted in the construction of the wing Ken has on display.

Ken particularly enjoys the reactions he gets when he shows off the antique floating-bullet Makiki vario, introduced at the very beginning of the sport, advertised in the 1973 or ‘74 Groundskimmer. This unique little device catches everyone by surprise—”It’s almost like black magic,” Ken says, because it does just about everything a modern vario does, but uses no electricity. Unlike most wizards, Ken willingly reveals the secret to anyone who asks.

We were chatting a few days before Halloween, and perhaps influenced by that context, Ken brought up some truly scary bits of historical hang gliding included in his collection.

There’s the aluminum D-shaped carabiner made by Seattle Manufacturing Corporation (SMC) that was the industry standard for hooking into hang gliders in the 1970s into the ‘80s—until one broke into two pieces in the hand of a Wills Wing dealer, much to the horror of all the manufacturers

(who quickly switched to steel carabiners). And then there was a bizarre device that was designed to provide a range of attachment points to adjust a glider’s trim but had potential unintended consequences of hatcheting the head of a pilot who whacked hard and fell headfirst into the top of the control bar. The danger was made worse by the fact that many pilots in 1973 flew without helmets.

There’s an obvious “cool” factor of having all these pieces of hang gliding history in one place, but, I asked Ken, what might this collection contribute to the sport of hang gliding today and in the future? Ken considered the question for a bit, then admitted that he’s not at all clear about the real value of his collection. Perhaps reflecting back on the fate of those WWII warplanes, he suggests that “the main thing I’ve done is getting my hands on stuff and keeping it. I’m persuaded that there’s enough substance to this collection that I need to figure out where it can go, and I definitely need to inventory it—without a catalog, when I kick the bucket, it’s all going to be just a pile of stuff.” I could hear disappointment and, perhaps, bafflement in his voice as he mused, “Not many people care now, and probably not many

will care in the future. I don’t know who might want it, or what somebody might be able to do with it.” He’s open to suggestions.

But it’s history, Ken insists, and he’s adamant that it shouldn’t be allowed to just get lost. Still, he laments, “Even if we could magically construct an institution and create a well illustrated, well built, well curated museum, probably nobody—not even hang glider pilots!—would flock to see it.

Hang gliders hanging from the ceiling are not interesting— it’s not really hang gliding, unless there’s motion and activity.”

Well, maybe. But the crowds I encountered during my recent visit to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space museum on the mall in Washington DC, and its recently opened extension at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport, suggest that Ken’s being too pessimistic.

Aviation nerds are captivated by more than the crowd-appeal of flying machines in motion.

If you’re nodding in agreement, I’d suggest you contact Ken, and have a chat about whatever hang gliding historyrelated topic has captured your interest. You won’t be disappointed.

OPPOSITE Ken tells the story of hang gliding | photo by Rich Harman.

You can email Ken at WeFlyUniv@aol.com, or call him at 360293-8621. He’ll enjoy hearing from you!

ABOVE John Dickenson, Pete Brock, Barry Palmer and Ken DeRussy at

Ken’s hang gliding museum in 2011 | photo by Paul Dees.

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 that can become an important part of your flying lifestyle.

Our sport requires a little bit of fear, good training, and tons of respect. If you are in the air and something goes wrong, you may express your frustration by thinking: Enough of this… If your flight is going well, but an inexplicable fear overcomes you, you might exclaim to yourself: Mayday! What am I doing here?

If you feel insecure, endangered, trapped, anxious or tense, you might decide to abandon your activities. Your fears may be real enough or seem real enough to ruin the fun of whatever you are engaged in, regardless of where you are: in the comfort of your home, driving, partying, at work or in your harness.

Specific occurrences may stimulate fear. When you are in the air, for example, a malfunction of your wing, a dangerous landing, an encounter with an aircraft or a dust devil or a poisonous snake, might cause you to be hesitant to fly again. Most of us have something to worry about that can produce a certain degree of anxiety, stress, or discomfort.

We need to learn how to best cope with fear or anxiety when it arises, because sometimes our nervous system, along with our endocrine system, can have deleterious effects.

On the other hand, fear can be useful as part of our survival instinct that protects us from danger. Remember that as pilots, we have learned the skills to make the right decisions that help us fly away from danger. And as yogis, we know how to distinguish what is real from what is not real. A great master

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FLYING YOGA

once said, “Since everything is a reflection of our minds, everything can be changed by our minds.”

With practice, we can attain the skill of turning our minds into our friends and get the concentration to focus on the positive instead of the negative. It is important to keep calm and act with awareness in every situation. If we are mindful, we will be able to turn fear into an opportunity for growth. I urge you to let your inner power blossom!

An asana that can help one deal with fears—Sirsasana, the headstand—often frightens some students away from attempting. I hear comments like, I am too old to do this, or my neck is not ready for that, or I don’t want to fall. I respect each student’s decision to perform, or not, a posture, but as a teacher I encourage them to try it in nine steps. I suggest that my students should visualize themselves going into a headstand like a flower that starts blooming—little by little, step by step.

HEADSTAND in NINE STEPS:

engage in a comfortable position on the floor and bend your knees toward your chest. (picture 7) 8. Bring your knees up to the sky and keep your balance. (picture 8) 9. Stretch your legs and focus on your breath. (picture 9) By practicing the headstand, you will learn to hold this position for at least three minutes, which is the length of time it takes the blood to circulate throughout the body.

To come out of the pose: Slowly bend your knees toward your chest. Bring your feet down to the floor and rest in the child’s pose for a few minutes. * If you are four or more months pregnant, have high blood pressure or glaucoma, ask your doctor before practicing the full headstand.

BENEFITS Increases oxygen supply to the brain and sympathetic nervous system. Slows rates of respiration and heartbeats. Improves sensory faculties and concentration.

Gives you lots of energy, confidence and relaxation.

Start by kneeling on level ground.

1. Hold your elbows with your hands TIPS to measure the appropriate distance.

Keep your arms firm on the ground (picture 1) and feel the weight of your body in your 2. Bring your elbows down to the mat and firmly press them onto the floor. belly area, not on your neck or head.

If you fall, do a somersault. Chin in (picture 2) and roll down.

3. Interlace your fingers to create a If you’d like to explore the pose by space to support your head. (picture 3) using the wall for support, do so, but 4. Rest the front part of your head don’t get attached to the wall. in the space formed with your fingers. (picture 4) Sofia Puerta Webber is a journalist, 5. Lift up your hips. (picture 5) certified yoga therapist, fitness instructor, 6. Walk your feet toward your and pilot in the San Diego area. She is forehead until your legs and back are the founder of Paragliding and Yoga tours straight. Stay there for a few deep and conducts private and group Flying breaths. If you are not confident to go Yoga sessions in La Jolla, CA. For more up, do the pose up to this step. That is information visit www.shiwido.com. perfectly fine! (*) (picture 6) 7. Let your head rotate slowly to

now with topo maps, roads and cities

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Fly for the View O

n Monday evening, Raul called me and asked, ‘’What are the plans for tomorrow?’’

Since I had flown for the first time over Sauris from Meduno (my local takeoff in Italy) on Friday and over the beautiful Mt Kanin and Mt Montasio on Sunday, I was very motivated to continue trying nice flights. I thought Raul would be the perfect mate with whom to try flying a particular route, so I suggested we should take off from Forni, head toward Auronzo, Cortina, and Longarone, and then fly back, staying close to some of the most beautiful Dolomites.

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

by GABRIELE PITTARO TRUANT

On Tuesday morning, we went up to Forni, a little wary because of weather forecast changes predicting more northeast wind than we’d expected. We arrived at launch, and were quickly ready to take off. Raul went first. He realized the day was strong and turbulent but there were great cloud bases, so he started to go east and waited for me.

When I reached cloudbase, I contacted him by radio and started going towards Auronzo, but at that point, something like 20 km/h of northeast wind generated really strong turbulence, making me feel happy that I was under a Mentor 4, instead of a higher level wing!

Raul was a little perplexed when by radio he heard me say, ‘’Here, it’s hell!’’ and, after I had taken some pictures with my phone of the beautiful valley that leads one to the spectacular Tre Cime di Lavaredo, I decided to change the plan.

At the moment I was thinking about landing, but Raul said he was going forward to Mt Antelao to fly over more open valleys where the wind would be less influential on the flight. His experience paid off; we were quickly flying together over that beautiful mountain.

When we headed from Mt Pelmo toward Mt Civetta, both of us were amazed at the view.

After flying over Longarone, we decided to go up to the Settimana Valley, even though I was hesitant ABOVE Chasing Raul over Mt Antelao, day 1.

because it was late. We tried a new way (I’m not sure if other pilots have done this before) and climbed up the Piave Valley, on the east side, with wind coming from behind the mountains. It worked! Although there was some difficulty in finding places to rise, I was able to pass a beautiful fork mountain that sent us directly to the landing on Forni Valley. I emitted a scream of happiness when I was able to close the flight on the landing field! Raul had some problems getting altitude, but after 20 minutes, I heard him shouting on the radio, “This is beautiful!” when he passed that amazing fork. We had a beer together and started planning the following day.

We decided to take off from Piancavallo. Our flight plan was ambitious, and the morning forecast got worse, predicting rain in the middle of our track. Raul is very experienced and didn’t believe the forecast was correct, so

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

25

we went for it. A strong east wind wouldn’t let as take off early, but at noon we went forward with our plan. Raul quickly got very low but patiently ascended again, and we went towards Belluno. We passed Belluno at San Gregorio, intending to cross the mountain and go to the valley behind. Raul, who was behind me, told me the place to pass, and I tried.

We weren’t sure if this had been done before, so we were excited. We continued pointing towards Cortina, where I was able to reach my personal altitude record (4000m), passing close to the west part of Mt Civetta. A strong descent took me very low; I had to use lots of patience to climb up, while Raul passed in front of me and went straight to Cortina.

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I was very low again, under the beautiful Tofane. It was really amazing to be able to fly under these fascinating mountains and climb up close to them!

On the way back, Raul told me he was landing in the Zoldana Valley after a big descent. I was able to fly past Mt Pelmo and headed to Longarone with some weak thermals. The last part of the flight was quite relaxing and, after turning around the Alpago Mountains, I was able to pass a fork that brought me to Piancavallo. I was home, and I couldn’t have been any happier! We had flown 147km—the longest FAI triangle from Piancavallo—but, more important, it was a nice technical flight with incredible views!

These were some of the most beautiful flights I’ve ever

done in my life. I didn’t focus on the best way to fly kilometers. I just wanted to go to the nicest places, over new routes and possibly leave from our takeoffs. This idea kept us at local takeoffs when nice days arrived, instead of traveling to great places for XC. We tried to demonstrate the possibilities we have here, hoping to stimulate locals pilots to do better flights and to explore our mountains.

Big congratulations go to all those pilots who have done great flights from Grente and Speikboden during these three days, keeping Nova always on the top of XC flights!

OPPOSITE Mt Pelmo, day 1. TOP Very happy after passing the last fork

and going for the last glide to the landing. MIDDLE Mt Civetta, day 2.

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THE

DEEP Line

by Gavin McClurg

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T

he Red Bull X-Alps is billed as the “toughest adventure race on Earth,” and for good reason: Thirty-two athletes and their support teams race by foot and paraglider across the Alps, from Salzburg to Monaco, via a series of turn-points. Through 2013, only 11% of the field had completed the course. The 2015 edition was the longest and hardest course yet, covering over 1100 straight-line kilometers. Gavin McClurg was the first American to reach goal in the race’s history. The following are excerpts from a book he is writing about the race, The Deep Line, Inside the Hardest Adventure Race on Earth, which Gavin hopes to publish by the end of 2015.

Editor’s note: Gavin was supported in the race by Ben Abruzzo, who was in charge of Gavin’s ground game and physical training leading up to the race, and Bruce Marks, who was in charge of Gavin’s flight strategy and overall logistics. This is part one of a two-part series.

Day 1, Out in Front The big day finally arrived. Months and months of training and preparation and doubts and fears and excitement were now officially relegated to the past. It was GO time. And it was excruciatingly hot. Thirty-two athletes were gathered

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under the huge Red Bull tent in downtown Salzburg, Austria, hiding from a vicious sun. I drank a few bottles of water, sank into a beanbag, shut my eyes and instantly fell asleep.

I’d dreamt of this moment for so long it felt surreal for it to finally arrive. I was unreasonably calm; I could feel my heart ticking as if it were just another day. Since I’ve always had trouble sleeping, I’d become accustomed to operating on way too little, and had added sleeping pills to my nightly routine, seemingly to no avail. Consequently, I was shocked and concerned that now, a half-hour before the start of the race, my body finally gave me a reprieve?

I’d heard stories about pilots in previous races actually catching themselves dozing in flight. Others talked about having hallucinations, which were, obviously, incredibly dangerous. Paragliding is intense even in calm conditions.

I hoped my sleep deprivation wouldn’t cause me to take catnaps in the sky!

My internal clock gave me a shake a few minutes before the start. I grabbed my backpack and lined up with Paul Guschlbauer and Stanislav Mayer, who had placed first and second, respectively, in the Prologue, while I had placed third. We top three finishers were awarded an extra night pass as well as a five-minute head start in the main race. Chrigel Maurer, who had won the previous

PHOTOS

© zooom.at/Vitek Ludvik.

three X-Alps and was a clear favorite to win again, came over and shook our hands, wishing us luck.

And then we were off, running through the cobbled streets of Salzburg, with throngs of people cheering us on towards the first turn-point, the Gaisberg.

As the ascent steepened and the pace slowed, I checked my heart rate. I was using the Garmin Fenix watch (Garmin was a major sponsor of the race) and heart-rate monitor, instead of my trusty Suunto and wasn’t familiar with how the watch worked. I hoped I had misunderstood the instructions when it said my heart rate was 188. That was not only well above my maximum but also untenable for any length of time. I felt great and couldn’t understand why my heart was beating so fast. Was it heat? Adrenaline? I knew I wasn’t working any harder than I had in training. But it didn’t drop. About six kilometers into the race, I met up with Ben, as planned, who had walked down from the launch with extra water and a few packets of Gu. I told Ben about my heart rate, which at this point had been above 180 for over 30 minutes. I was afraid I was going to pass out, even though I felt fine.

“What the hell is going on, Ben?” I asked.

“How do you feel?” Ben asked.

“I feel great, man, awesome. I’m worried my heart is going to explode, but it feels fine.”

“You’re fine, then; you know your body, and you know your heart rate better than any monitor does. Trust your training.”

Thank god! This would be the first of literally hundreds of times Ben’s confidence put my mind at ease. We rallied the rest of the way to launch, arriving in eighth place amongst a sea of screaming fans.

My team was ready with a big lunch, extra water and all the non-mandatory gear that I would take with me into the air—crampons and via-ferrata harness for the Dachstein, in case we had to hike to the turnpoint over the glacier instead of flying to it, extra clothing, a dry shirt, gloves, sun block and electrolytes. In this heat, water and electrolytes were critical. Our second biggest fear, behind bombing out, was bonking. Bruce brought out our airspace maps to refresh me. The airspace all the way to the Dachstein and then towards turnpoint 3 at Aschau is really tricky. Violating airspace meant, at best, a 24-hour penalty, and, at worst, a disqualification. Screw it up and the race is over. This restriction was one of my greatest worries.

I’d flown the route only once during scouting a few days before; airspace is my Achilles heel. At home it is a

non-issue; we don’t have airspace anywhere I usually fly, and in Europe I always flew with Bruce, who can read airspace maps like most people read road maps and can talk me through the route on the radio. To me, those maps are incomprehensible hieroglyphics.

I slugged down a can of Red Bull, adding to the adrenaline pumping through my veins, and took stock of my surroundings. There were throngs of screaming fans, the Red Bull filming helicopter buzzing loudly overhead, and more than a dozen athletes laying out their gliders, preparing to fly. I was so excited and pumped I felt like screaming, but I tried to keep a calm demeanor. Be cool, Gavin, be cool … I kept repeating to myself.

Nick Neynans (New Zealand) launched into the air, followed quickly by Aaron Durogati (Italy) and the Eagle himself, Chrigel Maurer (Swiss 1). They were climbing easily. Time to go. I pulled my IcePeak 7 into the gentle breeze blowing up the hill, gave my team a nod and turned and lifted off the ground. Flight number one of the 2015 X-Alps. The plan was simple: Don’t go into airspace; fly conservatively; stay in the air; don’t do anything stupid.

No fewer than 20 gliders climbed up to within a few hundred meters of prohibited airspace and went on glide

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towards turnpoint 2, the stunning Dachstein, the highest mountain in Austria, 50 kilometers down course line. I counted maybe 16 wings in front of me as I, too, went on glide, but chose a more direct line out front. And as I hammered down on my speed bar, I began to quickly pick them off. I looked up at my wing and smiled. Flying a higher-performance glider was going to be, of course, more risky, but the decision was already paying off. Let’s go, baby!

Twenty kilometers into the flight, I’d pulled into third place, behind Pascal Purin (Austria 4) and Maurer.

Maurer was leading the charge, as expected, on a deep line, but he was getting held up, so I stayed wide out front, linking onto a long spine that leads directly onto the Dachstein. We were in the big mountains now. The climbs were strong and the wind was very light. A perfect flying day to start the race. The only real stress was staying below airspace, which I was still having trouble figuring out. Nearly all of the pilots chose the deeper line behind Chrigel, and since they were all higher than I, I

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figured I must be OK. I liked my line better out front and in no time was coming in high over the glacier and the turnpoint, flying fast. I was in fourth place. What an amazing start!

The lead gaggle then broke up. Nearly all of the pilots

headed southwest in the direction of my planned route, towards the town of Bischofshofen, where we could glide onto the impressive walls beneath the Hochkonig.

This led us to a very well traveled glider “highway” that heads off in a northwest direction toward turnpoint 3 in Germany. It was a route I’d flown twice during our scouting missions and was the sensible way to go, but the conditions were so good I felt a more direct line was possible, if I shaved the corner and dived behind the Hochkonig. I set off on glide and was suddenly totally alone, right up in first place.

Even though I was in the lead, I was starting to get nervous about my call to take the deeper line. But I got jumped by Stephen Gruber (Austria 3), who was not only an amazing pilot but, more importantly, lived nearby and probably knew this area better than anyone else in the race. Lead on! Then a wing I recognized was suddenly ABOVE, LEFT © zooom.at/Felix Woelk. LEFT & ABOVE

© zooom.at/Vitek Ludvik.

right next to me. Chrigel! He’d crawled up from way back in the pack, after getting stuck before the Dachstein, and was skillfully picking off pilots one by one. He looked up, and, while I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was smiling, as he seemed to find another gear and accelerated past me as if I were standing still. You son of a bitch.

But knowing Chrigel was taking the same line gave me a huge boost in confidence, and I set off on full bar, trying to reel them in. The Red Bull helicopter swept in to film the lead three pilots as we found our next climb. You couldn’t have wiped the smile off my face with a cheese grater. The Aschau turnpoint was only 70 kilometers away, and I was one of the top three. If we could stay in the air, we could cover 15% of the course on the first day.

Chrigel and Gruber got a small jump on me at the next climb, and I couldn’t hang onto them. Two pilots working together are always faster than one working alone, but they were easily within reach; I just had to fly fast. We were high, the flying was magnificent, the scenery mindblowing, and, as I went on glide towards the Hochkalter,

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I thought it was doubtful anyone on Earth was having more fun than I was at that moment.

At 1900 hours, Bruce called with a strategy update.

“Listen, Skipper (Bruce always called me Skipper, a leftover from my sailing days), you need to slow down, stay high, stay in the air. Change gears, stop racing. STAY IN THE FUCKING AIR. I don’t want you to land until 9 p.m.!” The race regulations allowed us to move between 0530 and 2230 hours, but we could only fly between 0600 and 2100.

I was now a couple of kilometers behind Gruber and Chrigel, and, as I posted up on a beautiful spire about 50 kilometers from turnpoint 3 while trying to find a climb, a gaggle of recreational pilots and one X-Alps pilot joined me. It was Paul Guschlbauer (Austria 1), being helped out and pulled along by some clearly talented pilots. It pays to have friends in Austria. I gaggled up with this unexpected good fortune. We found a nice climb to cloudbase and set off northwest.

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And then I made my first big mistake of the day. The terrain was getting lower as we headed towards the Bavarian Alps, the day was later, the climbs slower and, as we all transitioned to the Sonntagshorn (1961m), which would be our next obvious climb, it was clear that the day did not have much more to give. We patiently worked the peak, but the climb wasn’t there. When Paul and his crew headed off on glide nearly straight north, I wondered if they knew something I didn’t, because the direct route, the one I chose, was much more to the west. I was silly to leave a gaggle, and even sillier to leave a gaggle of Austrians who fly here all the time.

I limped onto a shaded hill above a lake, thinking my day was over, but as I ground around to the west, still sunny-side, I found an agonizingly slow climb. I worked ever-so-slowly higher, and, just as I got to where I could have some breathing room, Guschlbauer flew right over my head. I should have stayed with Paul and his friends.

I squeaked over a treed col to the east of a small town

LEFT © zooom.at/Vitek Ludvik.

called Unterwossen, while attempting to get my absolute maximum glide, and landed near a small airstrip just after 8 p.m., where we’d identified an easy hiking path up to Aschau. My instrument said I was nine kilometers away, a distance that wouldn’t be possible to cover in less than an hour, which was all the time I had left before no flying was permitted. There was no reason to rush, but I did, anyway, making my second big mistake of the day.

As soon as I landed, I started ripping off my gear, instead of neatly piling it, as I’d practiced so many times.

When Bruce called, I impatiently tried to give him directions to my location, but he had no data and couldn’t pull up Google Maps. I just said, “Goddammit, I’m on the airstrip, come find me!” and hung up. I packed up my wing, lost my Bluetooth earpiece in the grass and ran off in the wrong direction. A woman who had been watching the race on live tracking ran out from her house, offered me some food, asked where I was going and handed me a glove I’d dropped. I’d been running towards the turnpoint but hadn’t noticed a large river blocking my path, because I hadn’t taken the time to check my maps. The woman informed me that I either had to wade across or backtrack a kilometer to the main road. I thanked her for the food, grabbed my glove and ran back the way I’d come, cursing myself for being such a disaster. I was making a rookie

mistake that many of the race veterans had warned me not to do.

Our beautiful van, easily recognizable with its huge Patagonia stickers, pulled up, and Bruce and Ben hopped out, smiling. After they handed me an energy shake, we briefly discussed strategy. I was in fourth place. There was no chance of flying off Aschau before the deadline.

The correct move would have been to relax, set up camp and hike up to the turnpoint at the crack of dawn. But the adrenaline and excitement of the day had us all talking past each other. I knew there was a hotel at the turnpoint, so Ben and I raced off, thinking there was something to be gained by hauling ass. There wasn’t. It was our team’s first big lesson of the race. SLOW DOWN. In our rush, we forgot spare batteries and chargers; my mouth-guard, which I can’t sleep without; money for the hotel or dinner and appropriate clothing for the storm that was on its way, which we knew nothing about.

The author would like to thank the Foundation for Free Flight, and all the donors of the US Team for their generous support. Thank you!

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WORDS I

t’s epic to run off a mountain into flight. But how amazing is it to hook into a strong thermal, one that allows you to turn like a bird until you are able to see the world from the base of clouds? And, even further, how amazing is it to feel the freedom of being able to pick a direction and reach out for an adventure through the vast sky?

I think adventure with some level of uncertainty attracts

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TO FLY BY

by Jeff Shapiro

us all in the same way it did the early explorers. The opportunity to set out into a realm, one that promotes awareness of our own insignificance, is an opportunity that speaks to the need to grow as people, to learn about ourselves.

Those of us who are attracted to human flight feel a pull when our flying skill-set reaches a particular level, a stage that tickles our curiosity regarding “what’s out there.” Flying

LEFT Montana delivers on all levels.

F

or me, efficient cross-country flying evolved from a long history of making choices, before a flight as well as during, by building on a repertoire of experience. Based on the outcome of individual flights, I can easily determine whether decisions have been good or bad. But, as the cliché, why learn from your mistakes when you can learn from someone else’s?, suggests, I’ve learned much over the years from trial and error, but I’ve also picked up many beneficial lessons from the mistakes and triumphs of fellow pilots.

Below are some “golden nuggets” of wisdom, written by some of the best pilots in this country (and beyond), in response to my question: If you could transmit some useful knowledge from your flying experience that could help other pilots achieve their goals in cross-country flying, what would you tell them?

Many of these bits of flying sagacity might provide what one should consider before settling on a direction or strategy on your next cross-country flight. The themes, mantras, and statements that are repeated are obviously important, indicating they might have a strong impact on the safety and success of your flights.

Davis Straub

cross-country, cutting the cord from our launch origin, and heading into the travel paths of birds is one of the greatest adventures we as hang glider and paraglider pilots can have.

Yet there are many lessons to learn regarding how to be efficient and make good decisions: intuitive and linear choices that in the end will determine how far we fly and where we land.

How do you tap into a force that most often is invisible?

How do you do this when you are under a lot of stress which interferes with your highest-level mental processes, the very mental processes that you require to do well in stressful situations?

You are essentially relying on the instincts you have developed from years of flying cross-country. Oh, wait. You don’t have years of cross-country flying? Then you are relying on your diminished mental faculties to come up with a solution to an invisible problem.

Not only that, but your experiences in the air, experiences that form the basis of your instincts, are heavily influenced by the probabilistic nature of, well, nature. So you are up there rolling the dice.

The nice part about this is that you can improve your chances. Flying with other pilots doubles, triples, and does even more to help your chances of finding the next thermal.

Flying to cumulus clouds dramatically ups your odds. Going back, even when in a competition, to find lift, when it looks

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bleak ahead, is an excellent strategy. Remembering that height is 10 to 20 times as valuable as distance should help you weigh your options.

When faced with excellent conditions in terms of your height above ground, with abundant cumulus clouds or plenty of markers out in front, be sure to fly really, really fast. Pull in that bar, especially to keep up with other pilots.

Pilots are often far too cautious, because they have been burned and think they have to fly slowly, or at least no faster than best glide. You have a full range of speed on your glider.

Use it.

Larry Bunner Always fly with intent. Intent is the ability to focus on the task at hand, regardless of various distractions that are preying on your mind. To achieve this state, one must eliminate those distractions such as fatigue (not physically fit), lack of comfort (harness doesn’t fit properly), too cold (or hot), instrument set-up, radio (too loud), glider tuning, scrambling on launch (no mental checklist), lack of awareness (unfamiliar with the terrain), etc. Any of these will detract from your ability to fly your glider with the most efficiency.

Words I try to live by: Fatigue is for the meek; comfort is for the soft; fly today as if it will be your last; don’t give up.

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Pain is a constant reminder; acknowledge it and get over it.

James Stinnet I would say that what’s important for efficient cross-country flying, not unlike racing, is to be able to evaluate the day’s conditions. Not the decision of to go or not go, since we will assume the day is good for XC. So then, what does one have to judge? The daily dynamics.

If you have been flying for a few years, you will begin to understand that most days start with marginally soarable conditions, typically followed by a period when everything is “ just right” to move quickly across the ground, i.e., thermals that are abundant and easy to locate. In other words, you may have 1-1.5 hours of decent conditions early, during which time you need to advance, but you are not getting blistering climb rates, followed by 2-3 hours where the conditions are really strong. Next comes the inevitable “end phase,” maybe 1.5 hours, with lighter climbs than you previously experienced.

These are three distinct phases of a “good” cross-country day. So, if these are the metrics, what does one do with the evaluation? Shift gears! This means that in the early part of the day you may stay around 1st to 3rd gear. Next, in the prime part of the day, you turn it up to top gear, 5th, and

then back to 2nd or 3rd, as the day is past peak. These gears just relate to how quickly you fly, how much you push your glides before you stop to turn, and how high you climb in a thermal. When it is early and late, you take anything you can to keep from landing, gliding at, or around, best glide speed. While in the peak of the day, you should be flying well above best glide and only taking the best climbs. During this peak period, you may leave a thermal if the climb rate slows down enough that your speed is decreasing. It’s all about flying in the power band of the sky. You must climb fast to glide fast. The race is up. And you are racing the sun.

Zac (Zippy) Majors Confidence is a major factor in flying cross-country, and it’s all in your head. We all know about the intermediate who has too much confidence, but there are lots of pilots with a solid skill set who don’t have as much confidence as they should or need. In all aspects of flying, balance is important.

For example, landing confidence is very critical, because it allows you to think about staying up, rather than where you’ll land, and how you’ll set up an approach.

We all have a limited resource of awareness, so the more time/focus you can use finding the next source of lift, while paying attention to the air you’re gliding through, the more successful you’ll be. There won’t always be a cloud, bird, or glider marking that next climb. You just have to believe, as you glide on, you’ll find something based on your observations of the day. The higher you start, the more you know about the day; these things help, but until you leave your comfort zone and push on towards the horizon, the adventure has yet to begin. This requires that confidence I’m referring to, trusting that because you’ve found lift to get up, there’s bound to be more lift out ahead of you. So venture on!

Matt Barker Make a decision and fly in that direction. I often see new XC pilots wandering about the sky. It is clear they are trying to make a decision or have made one but keep changing LEFT & AbOVE Cloud streets lead the way.

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their minds. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. You may understandably have to deviate some for a climb or terrain, but point your wing and GO! You might make a wrong decision and deck it, or you may make a good choice and continue on. Either way, a lesson is learned. We have all decked it early in a flight and will do so again. What’s important is to analyze your decision-making process and figure out what worked, what did not, and apply that knowledge next time.

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Jeff O’Brien You must stay in the “power band” when the day is “on.”

Don’t milk thermals for every last fpm when the “meat” of each climb is strong. When lift drops, and you see a likely thermal source ahead, leave for it immediately. “Topping out mid-day” wastes time. On the other hand, when lift is light, (at the beginning or end of the day, degrading conditions, uncertain conditions ahead), be willing to hang out in zero sink, or even decreased sink.

LEFT Jeff Shapiro carving down to land.

Identify when “gear changes” are needed quickly. When it’s weak, slow down. When it’s strong, race. If you can stay up, launch. Even if you don’t go “on course,” launching early in the day helps you assess the day as it develops.

Be as current as possible. If you can talk on the radio, look out at the horizon for your next thermal, and center the core you’re in, all at the same time–that’s being current.

Never give up. If you think you’re going to land, you will.

My 2 cents One of the most helpful suggestions I want to add to the wisdom above is simply to make a conscious effort to remain relaxed. Like the beginning pilot who is doing his or her best to keep a light touch on the bar, when I’m relaxed, I can feel what the air mass is doing with greater sensitivity. In the three phases of a long flight—scratching early, shifting gears to race when the day is strong, and slowing down to survive until the lift is no longer usable—the times that I’m close to the ground during any or all of these phases count most toward having a long flight. When I’m tense, concerned, and stressed out, I usually migrate toward the worry of landing and then, guess what happens? I land. If I stay relaxed, focused, and enjoy the act of flying my hang glider, I feel and

see the sometimes-elusive clues that allow me to climb back into the game.

I remember Kari Castle once writing that after a long and tiring day of trying to go far, she tries to pretend that her flight just began or that she’s just trying to find lift at her local site, after just launching into a routine day out.

Essentially, this puts her in a relaxed state, without the stress of self-expectation. I try to remember that every time I’m tired and start to succumb to gravity. The other useful quote I remember when the ground is pulling at me is from my good friend, Dustin Martin. We were turning in “zero’s” on a ridge at the end of a difficult “basket-weave” task in Oregon. The remaining field of pilots began to land in masses under weakening conditions. I thought about giving up and was going to head out to land, tired, and a bit “over it.” I asked Dustin on the radio, “What are you going to do, man?” His reply was logical: “I’m going to keep turning! You got something better to do?” Believe it or not, that memory has kept me off the ground more than once and almost always makes me laugh, which makes me relax, which keeps me off the ground. Never give up. If you’re still in the air, it can’t be that bad.

Now, cast off and have your adventure. Only epic memories and an increased perspective await!

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GOLD KNOB, WYOMING | photo by CEDAR WRIGHT

Coupe Icare 2015

by Tom Frazer

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very year, tens of thousands of free-flight enthusiasts gather on a little hilltop in France to experience magic.

Since 1974, pilots and their friends have descended on Saint Hilaire du Touvet and immersed themselves in the culture and energy of free flight. Coming from our tightknit but far-flung paragliding community in the US, this event was a revelation to me.

The night before the start of the festival, I arrived in Geneva, carrying both rucksack and briefcase. It was pouring rain and the wind was howling—a dark, angry night that foreshadowed the tricky weather that marked this Coupe Icare. My AirBnB guesthouse owner neglected to give me an address or detailed directions to my home for the next few days, so I was forced to compare the photo of the house on my phone to every house in St Bernard. I was finally indoors about three hours later having acquired intimate knowledge of each of the area’s roads and chalets.

The next morning was still dreary, wet and totally blown out. Reading, coffee and croissants was the order of the day. I stopped by the festival grounds, picked up my pass LEFT A small hot-air balloon carrying a huge Coupe Icare banner high into the sky. RIGHT, TOP Parabatix dropped by.

BOTTOM The author, stoked after a beautiful flight.

and saw the exhibitors setting up their booths. All the big names were there along with dozens of companies that were completely new to me. Seeing all the wings, harnesses, rescues and everything in one place was overwhelming. It underscored how established and accepted the sport is in Europe, compared to the paucity of gear and pilots in North America.

The weather this year remained challenging through the entire festival, but it did little to dampen the spirits of the 90,000+ attendees over the four days of the festival.

The mountaintop village of St Hilaire hosts the launches, the trade fair, film festival hall, air show, camping, kids’ events and the music in the food tents. Down in the valley, Lumbin has the landing zones, a smaller trade fair, and the radio-controlled airplane field. The organizers arranged buses to move attendees and pilots from the LZ to St Hiliare. There is also the beautiful old Funiculaire de Saint-Hilaire du Touvet that will transport you and your rig from landing to launch while providing a stunning view.

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On Friday morning, I grabbed my rig and made my way to launch. There was a lengthy line, but no stress. Everyone was in a good vibe with happy chatter in many languages distracting me from the 45-minute wait to punch off. A really sweet German woman gave me the pilot’s briefing then put the Coupe Icare sticker on my helmet. I then shuffled off to the wide, panoramic and gorgeous launch.

Kind assistants helped lay my wing out quickly. I then caught a gentle cycle and punched off into the French sky.

There was a bit of lift and a lot of traffic. The air was gentle and buoyant and I was able to climb, then maintain for a bit while soaking in the spectacle. Dozens of paragliders were boating around the cliff face. Small waterfalls cascaded from limestone walls while a forest of green blanketed the ground. I could hear tandem passengers exclaiming and laughing. The postfrontal clouds diffused the light. It was one of my most beautiful flights since I started paragliding.

I landed at the huge LZ at the same time as a few dozen

of my new flying friends. The size of the landing area readily accepted everyone without conflict. There was ample area to pack up and a great little restaurant for lunch and beers across the street. I dined with a large group of UK pilots and we shared our stories. Excellent times.

While waiting for the Funiculaire de Saint-Hilaire du Touvet to return to launch, I met Carina Tschuschnigg and Thomas Schwaiger. They were both dressed in traditional Austrian clothes, and had big backpacks and cool folding bikes. We started chatting and I learned Tom made their special bikes to fit into a paragliding harness so they could fly with their transportation. They were on the last leg of a trip from their home in Salzburg, Austria, to Coupe Icare, traveling only by paraglider and bicycle. You can read about their adventure and gear at www.tonkelom.com and see the bike in action at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=OJ8WUgjlOgc. It’s reaffirming to see creative people doing really cool things.

I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the trade

LEFT TO RIGHT Tom and Carina flew paragliders and rode folding bikes all the way from Salzburg–Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=OJ8WUgjlOgc. Giant puppets roamed the crowd and interacted with people–only in France. There are strong pilots in France. If you’re not committed to speedriding, try the award-winning Wingjump!

show, checking out all the stuff you see in magazines but seldom in person. The booths were every bit as professional as any trade show. Lots of people familiar to me from magazine articles were there. I chatted with Bruce and Tyr Goldsmith, ran into Tony Bender over and over, and saw the dapper François Ragolski next to a stack of the board games that he played while infinity tumbling in the epic fifth episode of Don’t Try this at Home. Representatives from flying sites like the Azores and Slovenia tempted me with stories of epic conditions, friendly people and great food and lodging. One could spend entire days checking out everything on offer and chatting with people from around the globe.

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A big part of Coupe Icare is the film festival. Movies are screened, discussed and lauded with awards. The screening takes place at a big tent near one of the launches. One evening at intermission I walked outside for some air and

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refreshment and was greeted by a black sky illuminated by thousands of flying lanterns. People were all working together, using matches and lighters to set the heat sources aflame while keeping the thin envelope from burning. Accompanied by giggles and sighs, the little balloons drifted into the sky. It was one of the most moving things I’ve seen—completely unexpected, and magical.

Coupe Icare is renowned for the masquerade flights, where pilots launch wearing costumes that vary from simple to completely outrageous. It’s hosted by two announcers and a roving comedian/singer/actor, and it felt like a TV variety show from the 1970s. The downslope winds again prevented everyone for launching, but these three hosts improvised and kept the audience of thousands entertained with dancing, singing, interviews and skits. Their banter kept the show moving, despite the adverse winds that halted launches for a time. We have all seen the photos of the huge dragons and crazy outfits, but a photo can’t capture the sheer wonderful madness of a guy skateboarding off launch in a giant monkey suit. That

was worth the trip by itself.

It’s not all show biz. One of my favorite memories is of watching a little boy being hoisted on his dad’s shoulders while kiting a practice wing, shouting with glee as they ran down the training hill together. The distance contest was great fun, watching two-liners ghost their way down the mild slope, almost to the road. The happy, mellow energy and fellowship was contagious.

I got a chance to hang out with the Parabatix team my first evening in the band/food tent. I chatted with Pascal Campbell-Jones and Matt Minyard and heard stories of paramotoring around the world over dinner. Great conversation and way better food than we’d normally have in the States—Indian, Moroccan, French and Italian cuisines were all represented and were terrific. One warning: Green beer. Don’t go there. Ever. Really.

If you’d ever like to experience an undiluted taste of French free-flight culture and join in with the international sky tribe, a few days at Coupe Icare is exactly what you need.

TOP LEFT

Even Vikings had issues with the tricky conditions

ABOVE Grommet pilot shows commitment. BOTTOM LEFT

The weather was gloomy at times, but bright wings brightened up launch. RIGHT Hundreds of flaming lanterns escape into the night sky.

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Going the Distance:

193-MILE

State Distance & North America FAI Triangle Record

by Mike Bomstad

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M

y alarm goes off early on Thursday morning. No, not for work…but to get gear packed to return to the “Mansfield Encampment.”

What is that? Just ask Martin Henry: http://towforce.blogspot.com/.

“For the past 18+ years I have centered my summer vacation around flying out of Mansfield, Washington, a location known as the Mansfield Encampment.

Flatland flying in what is commonly known as Washington State’s ‘Columbia Basin’ can be some of the finest crosscountry flying to be had anywhere in the world. Every year, while my primary goal is to fly safely and enjoy this area’s spectacular air, my secondary goal has been to try to outdo my previous year’s personal best On Line Contest scores.”

While I was at work the previous day, I followed Martin’s Spot track of his epic huge flight (http://preview.tinyurl. com/q7aqw4w). I thought he was going to get the “mythical” 300km FAI tri-

angle, a goal for many pilots about which I have heard for many years. In fact, invaluable knowledge can be obtained from all of these flights—the attempts, out-landings, the lay of the land, the do’s and don’ts and the “there I was” stories.

One just needs to listen.

Now, back to packing. At the local store in Mansfield we had depleted the supply of our favorite “washing the dirt out of our mouths” beverage, Becks, the previous week, so I search for a new supply and finally secure two cases.

On the road and and feel I’m running behind, but discover I’m just in time when I reach Mansfield. We load up the truck and off we go. After setting up and trying to plan something “big-ish,” like 275 km, Martin chimes in: “Conditions look similar to yesterday; let’s have a go at the 300.”

LEFT & ABOVE Over Coulee City,

Washington | photos by Mike Bomstad.

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“Yeah, sure.” But I think to myself, There’s no way I could fly eight hours. I’ve seen Martin’s track logs before, and the time it takes to do the flights. I don’t think I am up to the task.

It’s late to be launching: 12:40 on tow, with lots of smoke. However, we should be able to get established with this late start. I have a long tow, about 5.5 miles.

Nearing the end of the tow, I go through a section of 400 fpm down… on tow! Oh boy…what will the day bring?

Twenty-five minutes later, on glide over 12,000’ asl, it is looking great. I have a very strong, smooth climb. Get going now! I keep telling myself: You are going to run out of daylight, with all of this smoke. After passing Wilson Creek (I’ve really never gotten much past it before) I am in new territory. Martin has often said, “…going this way there is a blue hole to get through to Lind, and this area can be hell.”

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The smoke has really taken the edges off (smoothed) the very strong climbs so far. This blue area, though, doesn’t have much smoke. It ends up being very rowdy and filled with broken lift. I get slow and struggle to hang on to what I can. I need to make it to those cu’s, I tell myself. (There’s about 20 miles of blue to get across.) Once I come close to Lind and the edge of the cu’s, it is a rodeo.

On the radio I ask Martin how I was doing on time. “By 3 p.m. you need to be moving to your next turnpoint.” After I work all this broken, rowdy stuff, until about 3:15, it’s time to go towards the next TP that’s about five miles short of Lind. My thinking is that I can extend it north, past Davenport, to compensate.

As I push NE, things settle down, as I encounter more smoke and smoother climbs. Clouds still look good, giving me something to fly fast toward and faith that there is still good lift. I need to jump a blue hole to Davenport, but it isn’t too bad; a nice high climb allows me

ABOVE Looking at Lake Pend Oreille near

Sandpoint, Idaho | photo by Mike Bomstad. to glide most of it. “How am I looking for time?” I ask again.

“About 5 p.m., you need to be pushing towards home,” he says. I push about 4.5 mile north, trying to make up for turning short of the Lind turnpoint.

It’s a little after 5 p.m. and time to push towards home.

Now you need to change gears, I tell myself, from lessons of past don’t get in a huge hurry, but don’t dilly-dally; there’s work to do. (I’ve landed on the east side of Banks Lake a few times on previous flights.) It’s about 64 miles back to takeoff to close the triangle. There are still some cu’s to help me pick some good lines through the increasing smoke.

The day is deteriorating; I catch up with Mia shortly before the edge. She also is flying what will be her largest flight, on her ATOS VQ and is just enough behind that she doesn’t fare so

well. She’s having a tough time digging up enough to get across the lake. As we look back, we see the clouds receding (Come on, Mia, you can make it!) I have a great crossing at Banks Lake (it can be treacherous some days) and have the LZ on glide. I opt to push an extra 8.5 miles to the northwest, to help extend my distance. A few small climbs ensure plenty of arrival height. My final glide back to the take-off yields a very nice sunset.

Mia and I both rendezvous with Martin in the LZ, where he has Becks and a report of ground conditions awaiting us. (Thank you, Martin!) We have excellent, nose-up landings, followed by a beautiful sunset to break down with.

Mia had flown a 109.6-mile FAI triangle!

At this time, I really have no clue as to how far I’ve flown. When I uploaded it that night, I discovered I had flown a 311-km (193 mile) FAI triangle!

This was the longest distance flown in Washington State, as well as what is believed to be the largest FAI triangle in North America.

Martin, just the day before, had set a record by flying a 183.5-mile FAI triangle! We had completed two back-toback, BIG flights, both flown with a fair amount of smoke. Mansfield is amazing!

This flight is my personal best for distance and duration and also is only a few hundred feet short of my highest altitude. What a spectacular day!

Special thanks to Martin and Mia for providing all the towing and local knowledge a person can absorb. It was your help that made it possible for me to attempt, let alone accomplish, this remarkable flight. I was fortunate to have had perfect conditions and the knowledge of where to go to make the best of that. Thank you!

My video of the flight can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=9JKnAOV8LAY

Flying the

HIMALAYAS in Bir, India

by Alex Gagarin

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B

ir Billing, a small village surrounded by majestic mountains in Himachal Pradesh, India, is famous for paragliding. The best time to visit is either during the fall, from October through November, or the spring, in April. Fall is more popular with most pilots, because of its milder and more consistent weather.

The trip from the United States to Himachal Pradesh seems interminable. In fact, it took me 42 hours doorto-door. One can either fly west through China or Japan or east through the UK, UAE, or Germany. No matter which way you go, it takes 20 to 24 hours to get to New Delhi. And from Delhi your options are limited.

The most convenient and most expensive transportation available is a taxi, which costs from $120$150, depending on the size of the car, and takes about 12 hours. You can order a taxi through the hotels in Bir. The other option is a bus that departs from Kashmiri Gate, costs only $20, and takes about

the same amount of time as a taxi.

Residents of most nations, including U.S. citizens, must apply for a visa. A regular visa, which is good for ten years, is $100; a single entry or e-tourist is good for up to 30 days, stamped on arrival.

I stayed at Sangrai Guesthouse, a neat hotel two km from the main landing field. There are a dozen other very affordable places where you can stay for $5 to $15. You can make reservations via email or phone. Some hotels even provide Wi-Fi, but I was only able to access it for three days out of 12 at my hotel. Since most of the places are in a Tibetan colony, a Protected/ Restricted Area Permit is also required. Permits were available in Bir, because of the PWC, but all future travelers will have to go to OPPOSITE Sergey Vinyukov on the

way to Dharamsala. ABOVE Alexander Maskov trying to pack all bivi stuff on Bir launch. LEFT Prashar Lake ridge. Photos

by Alexey Gagarin.

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Dharamsala to get that permit.

The food is good. My favorite place for breakfast was the Garden Café, and I liked Nyingma Kitchen for dinner. Hotel Surya also serves excellent food, but it’s slightly more expensive and crowded. A typical meal costs around $3-$5. Make sure you try Ginger Lemon Honey tea and Masala Chai. Because cows are thought to be sacred by the Hindus, no beef is served, but you can order mutton or chicken. I also recommend that you try Momo (dumplings) and Thukpa (soup), delicious Tibetan foods. Expect 30-40 minutes delays for service, if a place is crowded.

On the way to launch, you will encounter a block station and someone who issues flying permits. The permit costs $8 per week. To obtain it, you need to provide a copy of your passport’s main page and your Indian visa, two photos and a copy of your national flight license. As long as you pay for the permit, you can be admitted and bring your missing documents later. You also must sign a waiver stating that you are not going to fly into the big mountains, which is a bit tough to enforce from the

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ground.

On good days you can launch as early as 10:00 am. A typical flight is 60 miles out-and-return to Dharamsala.

Overdevelopment is common and cloudbase keeps getting lower during the day. Conditions are relatively mild, compared to southern California and, especially, the Sierra Nevada and Owens Valley.

In terms of skills, you should be at least P-3 to fly comfortably. Most of the time launch is in no-wind conditions. The main landing area is huge, but it’s on a slight down slope, so overshoots and stalls close to the ground are common here among unprepared pilots. I recommend walking the LZ before your first flight. If you fly to Dharamsala and don’t make it back, landings become very difficult, due to lots of power lines running in all possible directions. There is also a military base near Palampur.

I recommend that you upload a list of good LZs into your GPS and rely on them. Another good and common flight is the one to Mandi, in the opposite direction from Dharamsala. It’s more technical, because of lowering terrain, but this area usually stays clear of overdelopment

later in the day.

The big mountains are inviting, but don’t underestimate the skills needed or risks involved in flying them.

The deeper you fly, the fewer people and roads you will encounter. Therefore, a hike out can take several days.

And, in the case of a serious injury, your chances of surviving are slim. Even if you push the “SOS” button on your SPOT or are lucky to have cell phone reception, no one is going to come and rescue you. There is no such service in India. You will have to rely only on yourself and your good friends.

Our group was fully prepared with bivi gear, water, and food for a couple of days, as well as tree-rescue gear and first-aid kit. But, most important, we had a support team

in Bir. Both SPOT and DeLorme satellite trackers work fine, but they are illegal in India. (The worst thing you can do is to call from a satellite phone to another phone with an Indian sim card; police will show up sooner than you think.)

OPPOSITE, TOP LEFT Svetlana Pozharskikh on Niviuk Artik 4 and

Alexander Kulishov on Niviuk IP7, flying north back to Bir. BOttom When you land in India there are always a gang of people that show up to lend a hand. ABOVE Alexander Kulishov crossing the first valley into Big Mountains. RIGHT My landing spot a few miles from “360” launch. Photos by Alexey Gagarin.

LEFT Camping at “360” launch. RIGHT

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Now back to the flying. To start the flight, you cross the valley to the north and climb up, using ridges, to 14K peaks. The typical wind aloft is from the northeast (head wind). Wind strength is very important. If it’s more than five miles per hour at 14K, you don’t want to continue.

You can glide out south, back to the main ridge. If the wind is light, you can cross the next valley to the east and continue to the lake. From there you can continue flying east toward Manali, or turn south and exit to the main ridge. A later flight, called “Big Loop,” is a 25-mile FAI triangle. I did this flight three times, with the highest cloudbase being 16K and the lowest, 12.5K. My best flight of the trip was on my last flying day in Bir. We started from the “Big Loop” flight and debated whether to continue to Manali or try to fly to Prashar Lake, located near Mandi. The flight to Manali would be more spectacular, crossing higher terrain, but seven hours on the bus to get back was discouraginag, so we chose

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Prashar. We followed a distinctive mountain range that runs to the lake and a nice cloudstreet that runs above it. However, with a low cloudbase, it took me a while to establish on the range.

We were probably seven miles from the lake when one pilot in our group had a cravat very close to terrain and was forced to throw his reserve. He landed 100 meters from the top of the ridge in the forest, unscratched. There was a good field for top landing a bit lower, and, after considering our options, a second pilot landed to assist with the hike out. It was long night for both of them; they covered more than 15 miles, navigating via goats’ trails.

I could not join the party, since I was leaving Bir the next day, so I attempted to fly back. I tried to cross the main ridge near Mandi, but there was a strong valley wind from Kullu Valley down low, almost causing me to land. Defeated, I scratched for half an hour, drifting back north to the higher mountains. Eventually, I topped out

under the clouds. The clock was running out fast, the day and conditions were fading, and shade from an enormous cloud on my course line became bigger.

I made one more attempt to cross the main ridge near the only paved road across it, and I failed. All was going well, until I got closer to the ridge with probably 200 meters to spare, but flying though the lee, I lost my spare altitude and faced a difficult landing in the small village.

After a good approach and a few wingovers, I was on the ground in one piece, happy to be alive. The entire village was there to greet me and watch me pack up.

Two men enthusiastically helped me carry my 50pound backpack and accompanied me to a paved road.

It took us two hours to get to the bottom of the canyon, cross a small river, and hike back up to the road. Fifteen minutes later, a taxi stopped, and, after another two hours, I was back in Bir, buying my bus tickets. My flying buddies returned in the middle of the next day. We were very fortunate that no one got injured.

While I was in India, 120 PWC pilots and probably 200+ free flyers were participating, and there were accidents almost every day. After I returned, I was upset to learn that there was one fatality. So let me list a few very important suggestions for safe flying that are worth repeating over and over again.

1. Launch. Bir has an excellent launch, in my opinion, but still some pilots had issues. Practice no-wind launches.

2. Flights. The flights were usually straightforward, but there were at least two mid-air collisions, and cloud suck can be an issue, so make sure you have a compass; the GPS can freeze or simply not work in the clouds. Pay atOPPOSITE Prashar Lake ridge. ABOVE LEFT Big mountains, ready to cross the second valley to the east. ABOVE RIGHT Over the main Bir LZ. RIGHT The author at Taj Mahal in Agra. Photos by Alexey Gagarin.

tention to cloud development and leave a good margin for escape if it’s going to over develop.

3. Landings. Don’t stall your glider if you overshoot.

Land as far from houses and villages as possible, since there are a lot of power lines. Practice top landing and spot landing at your home site; these skills will be very useful in India.

4. Carry a tree-rescue kit and practice using it. At minimum, basic mountaineering experience is mandatory for any serious XC pilot.

5. Wearing warm waterproof clothes, and carrying enough water and food for two days are mandatory, in case you land in a tree or in the mountains. Don’t try to hike out during the night.

6. Have fun. If it’s not fun anymore, go to land.

Turkish

DESPAIR

Adam Fischbach Breaks His Back in Turkey and Lives to Tell the (Kinda Funny) Tale

by Adam Fischbach (as told to Annette O'Neil)

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L

oading my broken body into the back of the ambulance was more like a skit from Three Stooges than a scene from real life.

Our scene unfolds with Larry sitting dumbly in the driver’s seat, while Moe and Curly slide my gurney into the back. I’m 6’6” tall—not a great fit for this particular ambulance—which my hapless emergency responders don’t really work out. They launch me into the cab with the ambulance ramp, then smash my head repeatedly against the front passenger seat in an abortive attempt to close the door. When that fails, Curly then proceeds to repeatedly smash the ramp against my feet in attempt to fold it back into place. I accordion between the ramp and the front passenger seat. My feet still hang out the back.

I scream for him to stop, but Curly continues to work the medieval torture machine. He’s smushing inches off my height while Moe mutters comforting words as if this is all standard procedure. Since I don’t speak Turkish, I can only imagine he’s saying: something like, “It’s going to be okay, buddy.” I’m not buying it. I’m howling.

My friend Mike, who has been watching from the sidelines with utter horror, finally springs to my rescue. He leaps over and delivers Curly a sturdy spank to the head.

That seems to snap him out of the endless loop; he walks around to the front and slides the front seat forward.

Then he returns to the back, slams the ramp up and the door closed.

It only gets worse from there.

Some 45 minutes earlier…

I’m standing on the rocky peak of southwestern Turkey’s legendary Mount Babadag.

The mountain looms over the pretty little resort town of Olüdeniz, with its shingle beach full of beached tourists and cherry-red umbrellas. We can’t see them from here, though. There’s too much overcast. Max Marien, Mike Branger and I watch as the wind pushes a mass of thick clouds around, blocking our vision—and, of course, the opportunity to launch our paragliders.

There’s a lonely concrete watchtower perched next to us on the crest of the peak. A friendly, crinkle-faced Turkish

man invites us inside for some tiny thimblefuls of strong tea—the local specialty—while we wait for the weather.

In broken English, assisted with copious gesturing, we talk about his job. He tells us he lives for weeks in the lonely mountaintop tower and watches the world below for forest fires. A few goats and chickens run around up there to keep him company.

Finishing our tea, I remark if we aren’t set up to fly, we’ll likely miss our small window to launch. Mike and Max agree. We thank the man and head over to the launch to set up our gear.

As we start to set up on the mountaintop’s uneven, rocky surface, a dust devil rolls along the top of the mountain, tossing around a few of the unattended gliders. It’s unnerving, but I’m immediately distracted by a clearing that has split one section of the clouds. Emboldened, I walk up in front of the last set of gear, lay out my wing and ask a bystander to move to the side so I can launch.

Looking at the video from the other side, I could smack myself. As I palm my toggles, I look forward and clearly remark, out loud: “I wish I had more running room.” I begin my run forward when the first gust hits my face. I feel the glider behind coming up oddly behind me, the lines having snagged on one of the of the slope’s proliferation of jagged, loose rocks. The rock releases; the glider comes up lazily and lopsidedly behind me. I attempt to correct, as aborting this launch now is no longer an option, but it’s a foregone conclusion—I’m going down.

As I briefly leave the cliff face, I realize that I’m loading my weight onto a nearly stalled glider. My body swings hard toward a group of bathtub-sized boulders, and my stomach drops. I put my feet out in front of me. I hit with such force that the impact blows a hole in the top of my shoe. I crumple, then promptly bounce forcefully back into the air. A bolt of pain shoots down my spine. While briefly re-airborne, I look down at what will certainly be my next impact, already sure my back is broken.

I finish my tumble through the boulders, ending up in a heap on my right side. The worst-case scenario, of course, OPPOSITE Gavin McClurg flying in Oludeniz | photo by Jody MacDonald.

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is at the forefront of my mind, so the first thing I do is wiggle my toes. I can feel them moving inside my busted shoe. I register being deliriously happy about that.

Max and Mike call out to me, alternately yelling back to the tandem van drivers to get an ambulance and backboard. As they holler, I reach back and feel along my spine.

One vertebra feels different from the others. My friends reach me quickly, along with some other pilots. They check my neck and note an ugly gash on my knee, but I know the real problem: my back. As carefully as possible, they attach a neck brace, strap me onto a backboard and carry me gingerly up to the ambulance at the top of the rise.

It’s there that I meet the Three Stooges—and the ambulance door.

The hour-long descent from the peak of 6000-foot Mount Babadag down to the regional hospital in Fethiye is a bumpy, uncomfortable ride for a person at the peak of health. In my condition, it is the seventh circle of hell.

The road consists of a set of steep, hairpin switchbacks carved into the shale mountain. It’s partly paved, partly dirt, glaringly unfitted with guardrails—and it’s a road Larry is obviously excited to race down. Due to my height, I’m still pinned head-to-toe in the swaying, bouncing ambulance, begging in English to raise my knees, something our language barrier just doesn’t allow.

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Being strapped down—arms and all—to the comically undersized backboard, I am held prisoner. I must escape.

I slowly work my hand to a buckle, free my arm, unlatch the neck brace and tilt my head sideways to relieve the pressure. It is not until I’ve thrown off my fetters does Moe realize the situation and move the stretcher to the center of the ambulance, allowing my head to hang over the center console.

I look up at Larry and Curly as they sit in the driver’s and passenger’s seats, helpless and miserable. They look down, laugh innocently, and continue their off-road derby.

It feels like years before we finally screech up to the hospital.

As soon as I’m decanted, I immediately begin a gurneytop version of musical chairs: x-rays, ultrasounds, scans, blood work, and lots of poking and prodding. To me, the search for what’s wrong with me is a farce. The answer is already crystal clear: My back is broken.

My friend Max and his partner Karina catch up to me in one of the waiting rooms. Max graciously offers his hat to pad my head, which is hanging halfway off the dinky-toy-sized backboard. Meanwhile, a team of nurses is stitching the bottom of my foot and knee while about ABOVE Photo by Jody MacDonald. OPPOSITE The Blue Lagoon |

photo by Jody MacDonald.

10 others look on, discussing something in Turkish, looking like a scene out of Scrubs. They are likely discussing my injuries for training purposes, but to me it sounds like judgment. “Look at this idiot, guys,” I imagine them snarking. “He broke himself and he’s too freakishly tall for us to fix.”

A physician who speaks English decently enough enters the scene. He explains that my back is broken.

Shocker. He adds that surgery is necessary. Gulp. He tells me that they’re going to prep the operating room and perform the surgery the following morning. My heart starts pounding.

I am carted up to a hospital room to, ostensibly, “rest.”

On delivery, the nurse notices that the lights aren’t working in my room. She calls for a fix, which results in the arrival of a security guard and a bulky handyman in a green shirt and tool belt. The hefty green-shirted man sets up his ladder beside my bed and balances creakily on the paint-holder step. (You know: The one that says “do not stand.”) He doesn’t seem to be the athletic type. I pray he doesn’t fall on me.

I help out, unpacking the new bulbs handing them up to him as he hands me the old ones. He clambers down and throws the switch, the lights coming to life in a small shower of sparks. I thank the two men in my terrible Turkish and they leave.

It’s time to call mom The phone call is very difficult. She is as supportive as can be, but I hate having to tell her that I broke myself.

There are a lot more calls home that night, discussing the surgery and options—even though there really aren’t any options. Luckily for me, this hospital and surgeon are up to the task.

After I talk to my mom, word spreads quickly.

Encouraging messages start coming in and bring my trampled spirits up. My friends Mike and Elif sweep in that night, bringing flowers, drinking water and my much-needed phone charger. At this moment, I realize how lucky I am to have such amazing friends.

The next morning, a nurse walks in. She explains in broken English that she’s going to shave me.

Bemused, I assume she’s talking about my back (which doesn’t have any hair) or my chest (not much there, either).

The shaving cream ends up landing on my face. I’m bummed—I had been working on a good beard the first half of our trip, and was happy with the progress. I resign myself. I’m going to be a smooth-faced patient.

It plays out like a scene out of a movie—me, a cripple in a hospital bed, with a petite, pretty Turkish woman gently shaving my face. The nearby mosque blares morning prayers over the city, a dark and moody a cappella that seems strangely fitting. The nurse giggles from time

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to time as I contort my face to help with the shave. Her short, dark hair waves in time with her movements.

Though it feels like every cell in my body is in pain, I can’t help but laugh. It’s a sweet moment in a sea of misery, and I’m so grateful for it.

Freshly smoothed, I’m wheeled down to the surgery center. When the anesthesiologist explains that he’s pushing the drugs into my IV, I begin to count to 10 in my head. I somehow know I won’t even make it to 6. I don’t.

In what seems like the very next moment, I wake up in excruciating pain.

This pain is far worse than the crash. My teeth clatter together as my body shivers and convulses. I scan the room desperately, and I see my friend Karina beside me. I beg her to know if something is wrong—did they botch the surgery? My lower back muscles seize. I scream. I’m delirious with pain, and I see tears in Karina’s eyes. She summons the strength of a mother bear and bolts from the room to demand help. She drags in the cavalry.

As it turns out, my painkiller IV isn’t working. The machine isn’t pushing any drugs whatsoever. After a surgery that manipulated and detached several major back muscles, put eight screws and a selection of metal rods into my spine and closed up the gore with 32 staples, my body is not having it.

Finally, with the machine fixed, the crushing pain

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subsides. As I began to drift off, the last thing I remember is Karina tucking me under a blanket to fight the shivering and rubbing my feet. She’s my saving angel in this moment, for sure.

The next five sleepless days and nights comprise a marathon of 50-plus needle sticks. The sticks continue, even though the nurses already have three separate IV ports running. Puzzling. My body is pockmarked with half-inch round band-aids, one fixed over each individual puncture.

On day two, I take my first walk with a walker. They are the most painful 10 steps of my life.

Two tiny nurses half my size line up on either side of me. If I should start to fall, there is little they could do to help besides watch. Undaunted, they grab hold of my arms (which are nearly above their heads). I feel like a crippled giant. I’m determined not to keel over and crush them. So I don’t. It’s beyond horrible, but I lurch until they let me back into my chair.

Omar, a Lebanese acro pilot I met in town a few days earlier, comes to visit. He bursts in, kisses me three times on the cheek, and offloads an armful of fruit as a gift. He is greatly saddened by the accident, seeming almost as though he takes it personally. Omar’s warmth amazes ABOVE Caution sign on top of the Babadag launch.

me—we’d just met briefly and exchanged pleasantries as I helped adjust his brake handles. This goes on for all of my freshly minted Turkish friends: Elif, Sedef, Condri, Hackmed and an ever-expanding crew of well-wishers.

Friends new and old write encouraging comments on Facebook, send emails, texts, and the occasional phone call. The support means everything.

My mom declares that she’s coming to Turkey to take care of me. I’m hesitant for her to be here while I’m in so much pain, but she insists. She even undertakes the massive intercontinental flight on September 11th.

Mom stays at my side in the hospital from the moment she arrives. She encourages and assists me through my first walker-independent steps. On day five, I’m released from the hospital and spend the next five days in Olüdeniz, waiting for my hemoglobin to reach levels deemed safe for clot-free airplane travel. We make the most of it, discovering some great restaurants and lounging by the pool. I take short, achy walks. Since we need to make frequent trips back and forth to the hospital, we end up making friends with a taxi driver named Sedat. He’s a kind man, quick to offer homespun therapies for my back: eating copious fish oil, lying on hot sand, etc.

Finally, on the final visit, I get a blood test with the result I’ve been waiting for. With a flourish, the doctor hands me a certificate: “Fit to Fly.” It bears the surgeon’s

signature and everything. Priceless.

I determine to frame it when I get home.

P

aragliding is dangerous. We hear it when we start flying, and we hear stories of injuries—fatalities, too—all along the way. Somehow, though, it’s easy to forget.

My injury taught me a lesson I am lucky to walk away with: Listen to my intuition. I knew, and my gut knew, that the launch conditions were not right. I ignored that intuition and I chanced a risky launch. I paid for it. I will not make that mistake again.

People have asked me if I’ll keep traveling to fly. My answer is, unequivocally, yes. Though this isn’t true for everyone, I find the extra risk of traveling to fly well worth the reward—even in light of this singularly challenging experience.

The risk of flying varies a lot while you travel. It’s possible to be a conservative pilot and enjoy relatively low-risk travel flying. Personally, however, I still choose—and will continue to choose—to fly in off-the-map places, away from good health care, due to the amazing experiences and friends you get to enjoy during those trips.

Friendships made through true adventure are irreplaceably precious. And so, as I have learned, are spines.

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Looking Back at

2015

A Retrospective by CLAUDIA MEJIA

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ooking back over 2015, I’d like to take you through four different events and trips, two at the beginning of the year and two during the summer, in Europe.

Sweet & Sour Mexico Instead of going to Colombia as Pedro Garcia and I initially planned, we opted to go straight to Valle de Bravo and take a chance on experiencing what it would be like to live in Mexico. It is such a well-known country and culture, and this was the perfect opportunity to do it. So we began our adventure on New Year’s Eve. Going back to Valle a year after the pre-worlds in 2014 was an experience full of surprises: We found about twice as many local hang glider pilots there as last year; we experienced their excellent set-up for pilots who show up without retrieve, which, by the way, runs practically all year. There are, at least, four different vans set up for hang gliders that, for a very reasonable price, will take you up to launch, and, if you land in one of the several designated LZs (or close enough), will pick you up, and provide a friendly, helpful service.

Being able to fly during January and February gave us the opportunity to experience the appealing Valle de Bravo flying conditions. It is true that cloudbase is lower at that time, making it harder to cross or fly over certain areas, but the conditions are “organized,” yet strong, and I think more enjoyable.

We set up “camp” in Valle with a little help from our friends, who played an important role in making it possible for us to live there and combine work with lots of flying and training equipment preparation and spending time with friends. For instance, from January 1 until mid-February, I took over 30 flights, which meant having fun all day long—

from takeoff to landing to after-flight drinks.

We were lucky to be there for a couple of special events, the yearly fly-in, organized by Fabian Gremión in honor of his father and brother, and the special visit of “Captain America” (see the picture if you don’t believe it) and the “Peñón Classic Race.” We also stayed for the Worlds and left shortly after.

I received a great offer by the local club to organize and run the Peñón Classic Race and was happy to accept the challenge. It was a successful event for which I had help and support from several people, like Rudy (Vuelo Libre Mexico: Tandems, Tours and Flight School), Manuel Ruíz, Majo, Efrén, and the Mexican Federation. The event was designed to serve two purposes: 1) To give Open Class pilots an opportunity to warm up and get ready for the Worlds over a three-day comp, which proved to be a good exercise. For instance, Attila Bertok, who had not competed in a while, had forgotten to change his GPS recording interval from eight seconds to two and noticed it after Task 1. During the Worlds, this could have made a difference in the tracklog and, subsequently, in his scoring. 2) To provide Sport Class a twoday training camp, with Rudy Gotés and Pedro García as the guest speakers/mentors, plus a three-day comp where they could apply what they had learned during the previous days.

Both parts of the event were fun and interesting, but I have to admit that working with the newcomers, several of whom had OPPOSITE Fabian Gremión (Sport Class) taking off at “Peñón Classic

Race.” ABOVE LEFT Checking harness (& having fun) at launch | photo by Noni Alva. TOP RIGHT Unloading gliders at launch for the “Peñón Classic Race” | photo by Maria. BOTTOM The whole gang at launch - last day of “Peñón Classic Race” | photo by José Manuel de Caso.

TOP From Rio, one of the of transport possibilities up to launch.

MIDDLE After take-off with Governador Valadores and the river in the back. BOTTOM Break down area just above the hang gliders’ beach LZ in Rio de Janeiro. Photos by Maria.

two got 47.3 and 42.8 WPRS points, respectively, making Jeff Bohl go from 16th to 6th in the International Ranking and Alfredo from 7th to 4th—not bad.

The Open Class had 21 participants from seven different countries. They went straight into racing with their three tasks: 52.6mi (nine pilots in goal) won by Attila, with Rudy 2nd and Pedro 3rd; then 65.2mi (five pilots in goal) won by Attila, with Swiss Peter N. 2nd and Rudy 3rd and, finally, a 62.5mi task with four pilots in goal, won by Swiss Peter N., with Rudy 2nd and Attila 3rd. This resulted in the top five being Attila Bertok (HUN), Rudy Gotés (MEX), Balazs Ujhelyi (HUN), Fredy Bircher (SUI) and Peter Neuenschwander (SUI). This comp gave Attila 52.5 WPRS points, allowing him to go from 25th to 16th place overall and Rudy got 48.0, climbing from 32nd place to 25th. This jump made a difference in their launch order during the World Championships.

This competition ended a week before the Worlds began, which was the main reason we had gone to Valle de Bravo.

We had spent seven fantastic weeks and were definitely looking forward to the BIG event. Unfortunately, we were not able to enjoy the competition. But being in Valle before the Worlds and enjoying the great weather, the flying, and ending up feeling like “locals” allows us to look back happily on our time in Mexico.

Now we jump to the next stop. We took a quick flight back to the US in order to board our flight to Brazil.

Evocative Brazil never gone cross-country, was a real thrill. I still have a vivid image of scoring the first task with half of the Sport Class pilots’ eyes glued on my computer, impatiently waiting for me to hit that final “enter” command to get the results.

You may have read about this comp in other articles or on the official blog, so I’ll give a quick summary and some pictures.

The Sport Class had 15 participants, mostly Mexicans, with a Guatemalan, a Colombian, and two Americans making the mix more international. There were five flying days in total, with three tasks in ascending level of difficulty: The first one was 15.5mi long (five in goal), the second was 24.6mi long (five in goal) and the last was 34.6mi long with six pilots in goal. The top five were Jeff Bohl (USA), Alfredo Grey (MEX), Mark Vanderwerf (USA), José Luís Jaramillo (MEX) and his cousin Alberto Jaramillo (MEX). The top

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For several years in a row I visited Brazil once or twice a year.

One year, I even spent over two months there. I also took a couple of semesters of Brazilian Culture and Literature in college.

That said, Brazil is one of my favorite places in the world, a place where I enjoy the flying, culture, music, landscape, people, food, and language. In other words, I like waking up and knowing I am there. My last trip had been in 2010, so I was delighted when we ended up in Rio de Janeiro in March.

We wanted to fly in the Governador Valadares (GV) meet and get in a quick trip to Andradas for a few more flights. GV is about seven hours to the north-northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

We landed in Rio on March 24 and were picked up by Max Turiaco, who decided we would drive straight from the airport to Governador Valadares (we really loved his idea, despite making our trip harder). Governador Valadares lies next to the Rio Doce (Sweet River) and an isolated mountain, with a road to the top and launch possibilities on both sides

(northwest and southeast). It is surrounded by small rolling hills, and there are several roads throughout the area.

March 25 was a well-deserved rest day. We sorted out our equipment in order to begin our new “flying spree” on the 26. We flew for three days before the comp, and then, out of the seven scheduled days, we were able to fly five tasks. One of the many things I like about flying in Brazil is that they have quite an impressive hang gliding scene: There are many active competition pilots. Most of their comps have over 40 Brazilians participating and, in this particular one, out of the 52 pilots, only six were foreigners. Brazil holds about three FAI Cat. 2 HG-sanctioned events a year; their flying level is quite high, and the overall atmosphere is fantastic!

For instance, this comp awarded 72.2 WPRS points to the winner, a number determined by the combination of the number of pilots entered, having Jonny and Pedro—top 10 WPRS pilots—among them, and the number of days flown.

This was higher than most comps this year, except maybe the Italian Nationals, Forbes, Pre-Euros or the Worlds. I remember talking to Pedro about “the Brazilians” on our way there and he was able to confirm it later, saying what a great surprise it had been to meet up with this “new gaggle,” where so many pilots were able to keep up a pretty steady pace, flying really fast. Moreover, with the Worlds being scheduled in Brasilia for August 2017, Brazil will be one of our travel priorities in the near future.

This was a difficult one to win for Rafael S. de Mello (BRA), with Jonny Durand (AUS) right behind him, and Andrè Wolf (BRA) in third place.

After GV, we drove back to Rio de Janeiro for a couple of days, where we were able to visit the now super-famous tandem flying site “Praia do Pepino.” I had been there and flown off the “Pedra Bonita” (Pretty Rock) a couple of times, but back before the tandem boom, things were mellow. This time, we encountered a literally non-stop hang gliding and paragliding tandem operation, which was closely monitored, with an automated sign-in process where each pilot has to use the computers at the clubhouse and, at least for the hang glider pilots, the number of flights is limited to four per day.

We hung out around the landing area for a couple of hours and were in awe watching glider after glider after glider come in to land. I don’t know if there is a larger operation in the world, but it would be hard to beat this one. In addition to the large number of flights, you have a lot of people who work in this operation: the pilot, the person who takes the paperwork in the office and signs them off, the driver who brings them up the hill, the guy who helps set up the glider, the ramp assistant, the launch director, the guy who walks the glider up to the breakdown area after the landing, and the person who breaks them down—at least eight persons are involved per flight.

We still had about six days left in Brazil, when our friend Max came to us with the good news of having organized one last flying trip before our departure. Off we went to Andradas, to fly off the “Pico do Gavião” (Hawk’s Peak), another typical destination in the area around Rio (actually between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo).

The drive out took a full day. We went for three days of great flying, packing everything up after the last flight and driving straight to the airport the next day. It was a fantastic trip, which included two interesting sightings: encountering a hawk face-to-face on one of my hikes and watching it abruptly take off, and having my best “close encounter with birds of the third kind” so far—a king vulture. I had only seen this bird in a zoo in Cali, Colombia. I had even used its image on a set of T-shirts for one of the flying clubs I helped found down there (it has a very special meaning for me), so I was familiar with this bird; however, it took me a little while to realize what I had next to my wings and then, I cannot describe how thrilled I was! And this is how the Brazilian Adventure came to an end!

Now let’s fast forward past the spring competitions, which I am pretty sure you already read about, and go all the way to the summer, back in Europe.

Breathtaking Italy The Italian Nationals were held in Pfalzen or Falzes, same town/different names, because it lies in the northeastern part of Italy, the “Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol” autonomous region, next to the Austrian border, where both cultures coexist. Therefore, everything is expressed in the two languages, and most everyone in the area is bilingual. Actually, it is more complex than that, because there is also a third language co-existing within this part of Italy: Ladin. According to the numbers, out of the 516,000 inhabitants, 62.3% have their dialect of German as the mother tongue, 23.4% Italian and 4.1% Ladin; the remaining 10.2% other languages. For instance, Alex Ploner is fluent in Ladin. I can only pick up some words when he speaks it. This is an interesting subject and, if you feel like reading a bit more about it, take a look at the links provided below.

What we found to be really special about this comp, besides the obvious high skill level of many of the pilots flying in it, was the opportunity to go flying in the Dolomites—the mythical Dolomites!

The comp took place from July 5-12, and we arrived just in time for registration on Saturday afternoon. We were extremely lucky to get five good competition days in an area that is very unstable and gets lots of rain, snow and/or hail all year round (one of the canceled days we got hail). Yeah, that is exactly why the place is so green! The surroundings are beautiful; even the ride up to launch using the cable car or the

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LEFT TOP The Kronplatz (Italy) take off seen from the cable car station

| Photo by Maria Luisa Fronteddu. BOTTOM Karl Reichegger (top pilot and Italian Nationals organizer) landing at official goal | photo by Maria.

OPPOSITE Full group picture during UK Nationals prize giving | photo

by Michelle Taylor.

trail we took to go down on the other canceled day (strong winds) are picturesque.

The gliders were loaded up by the cable car personnel and competition staff, using special wooden gadgets specifically built to transport our gliders. We pilots would drop them off at the entrance and board the cable cars with our harnesses.

Once up the hill, we would wait for the gliders and carry them over to the set-up area (luckily it was a downhill walk).

All five tasks set were over 100km (62mi), the first one being the longest, since the forecast was outstanding. During the pilot briefing, they mentioned that such a day was quite unusual; therefore, the meet director’s and task committee’s decision had been to “go for it,” setting a 203.1km (126.2mi) route!

Many of us expected one of the locals to win the day, most likely Alex Ploner; however, Austrian Seppi Salvenmoser was the big surprise who, despite being 0.2mph and 01min41sec slower than Christian Ciech (2nd for the day), managed to keep his first place with the leading bonus he got, especially since Christian took the second start, 20 minutes later, and caught up along the way! Out of the 14 pilots in goal, only Christian and Suan Selenati (seventh for the day) took the later start. Seppi completed the task about 20 minutes faster than the rest of the group he had started the race with. Alex was 3rd, Elio Cataldi 4th and Pedro 5th.

Christian was definitely the most consistent pilot

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throughout the comp, alternating between second and first places on all 5 tasks (2nd, 1st, 2nd,1st and 2nd) and earning that very well deserved title of ITALIAN NATIONAL CHAMPION 2015. Alex Ploner, another favorite to win the title, and flying in his local area, finished 2nd overall, 450 points behind, despite winning two tasks and placing quite well in the others. He had a relatively huge delay on task 2, placing 9th and coming in about 30 minutes slower later than the lead group, which made it impossible for him to catch up to Christian. Karl Reichegger, another incredible pilot from that same area, who was part of the organizing committee of the event, was 3rd.

Talking to Pedro about the entire event, he said: “This place has now become the best site I have ever flown; it’s just spectacular! I love mountain flying, I find that it’s more demanding and requires more and better skills. The Dolomites offer very high and steep mountains, a big altitude difference with narrow landable valleys in between (impressive contrasts), strong conditions, and high cloudbase. Combine all that with the excellent weather we had, the deep knowledge of the area and its possible routes the organizers had available, the fact that they were not afraid to set challenging, long tasks, and you end up with this amazing cocktail of a fantastic flying site.”

For me, it was a very demanding event, indeed, taking us into difficult conditions, but breathtaking scenarios. I personally felt that it was more than I could handle at that time and had no chance of making a “decent” performance; however, I absolutely loved this opportunity and enjoyed the adventure. Plus, it is always a pleasure to take part in the Italian Nationals. As I was making my way down to land, realizing where I was flying, and gazing at the spectacular landscape around me, I was thrilled. Now, I feel I am thirsty for more. I want to go back maybe next year to give it another try, even if there will be no competition.

After this event, we drove back to Spain for the Spanish Nationals, where we met with our friends from the Sylmar (California) Hang Gliding Association, Ron Kienan and Rob Burgis, who decided to come over and join us on a flying vacation, making our week even more fun. Then we drove back to Italy for the Monte Cucco Open (one of our favorite comps), after which we returned to Spain. I could not compete or be involved in either one of these events because I had tons of work to do, but I was lucky to have the opportunity to be there. I enjoyed it because it allowed me to stay inside the “Hang Gliding Bubble,” which is my favorite place to be.

Pedro and his Wills Wing, on the other hand, flew for both of us, maintaining his Spanish National Champion title and winning the Monte Cucco International Trophy.

Good Old Spain Àger is definitely one of the best and most consistent spots in our world, offering flying and much more. The people in town (non-flying, passive participants) are very enthusiastic about our activity and always helpful and friendly. This year we had the “Àger Open 2015” from August 9-15; it was special event for me, but also had some very difficult moments to deal with.

This competition was the UK Nationals, one of Europe’s most important and classical competitions, and I was in charge of organizing and directing it. Like the Dutch and the Belgians, the British hold their nationals in a different country, looking for better conditions than back across the Channel. The weather was not the best; rain and strong wind made us cancel and stop a couple of days, leaving us with four valid tasks in total. We had Open, Sport, and Rigid classes, for a total of 51 pilots; take a look at the web address below.

You will find a very good page with results, tracklogs, and pictures of the winners of each class.

We had a nice venue for a banquet on Thursday, some days before the end of the meet; it took place in a beautiful ancient monastery (initial building dates from the year 1166), and we even got a personalized menu. The town’s annual festivities took place in Àger from Thursday until Sunday of the same week, so the pilots had many activities, including concerts, to go to. All of these were definitely a bonus, because of the op-

portunity we had to see a lot of the culture. One of my favorite and most enjoyable parts of the event was getting to know and work with the group of helpers we had; they worked very hard and really made a difference.

The day after this comp was over, I was on my way to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYRoM); my mission, which I chose to accept, was to be the FAI Steward for the Pre-Europeans—Class I and Pre-Worlds—Class V. It was a new place for me and turned out to be a great experience that you’ll read about in the next article.

I landed back in Barcelona late on August 22, and a couple of days later I was back on a flight to LA to go to Dinosaur and the Santa Cruz Flats Race. The SCFR is a comp we always enjoy and, since we were “in the area,” how could we skip it? Moreover, this year we had the opportunity of visiting Sonora Wings for our warm-up flights and, actually, their warm-up flights, too, because their season goes from September to May. And we were among the first pilots there this year. We were delighted by their friendliness and great service, plus very happy to go flying before the comp.

That was the end of the adventures and the competition flying this year; this concludes my 2015 retrospective.

As you see, we did a lot of jumping back and forth between continents; we invested a lot in trying to improve our skills, to learn more, to see the people we love, and to have fun, lots of fun with our friends and family. Not all of our goals were met, but every second of it was lived intensely. The conclusion, as simplistic as it may sound, is that it definitely was one hell of a year!

Thinking Outside the Blocks

The Times They are a-Changin' by Dennis Pagen

W

hen we started flying hang gliders in the ‘70s, or even when we started flying paragliders in the late ‘80s it was summertime and the living was easy. But complications of modern life and technology have brought some unwelcome changes.

Change is inevitable, and often good.

If we didn’t change we wouldn’t grow. If we didn’t grow we wouldn’t have sprouted wings. But sometimes change is less than desirable. This month we are going to look at changes to our flying environment that are decidedly not good.

But we are not going to simply spout a fountain of negativity, for we’ll also explore what we can do about reversing the change or minimizing its effects.

CORN AS PORN An ocean of corn may invoke a bucolic image from some old musical, but to me it represents a plague of epic proportions. For the past 20 years the planting of corn in this country has about doubled, although in some areas it has increased even more. This green encroachment is as pervasive as Internet porn. You can hardly avoid it and it keeps on spreading. The increased planting of corn is directly tied into the EPA’s requirement that all gasoline must contain 10% ethanol. So we’re up against the season of green.

What’s that got to do with flying? A lot. Anywhere east of the dry line—not far from the vertical eastern borders of Montana/Wyoming/Colorado/New Mexico—landing fields have shrunk and fields that once were in landable alfalfa or crops like wheat that disappeared in July are now in corn, a crop that lingers well into the fall. Even in early summer you could land in wheat in an emergency and walk away.

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here, but Lord knows something’s gotta Landing in even half-grown corn is an give. You don’t have to be Malthus to emergency. know that geometric growth isn’t susWhere I live and fly we have lost a tainable. At some point there won’t be site we have been flying since 1979 due to corn being planted in the entire valley. enough farmland left to feed the hungry Previously there was plenty of grass and mouths, let alone land in. If you fly anywhere near habitation you probably alfalfa fields to touch down in. Other have seen landing areas get obstructed, area sites have smaller landing fields limited or disappear due to new houses that often cause stress throughout the going up. Happens all the time. No use community. In fact, if we all started me telling of our local woes, because you flying right now, we would probably all know a personal story. have very few sites since we wouldn’t Like I said we aren’t going to effect a acquire sites that can only be flow in late fall, or had very small landing fields due cultural change here in this article—it would take draconian measures like to corn borders.

China’s former one-child law (and still What is the way out of this corn they are bursting at the seams). But maze? I’m not big on mysticism, but we what we can do is take the bull by the can pray for the slow wheels of government to spin a few degrees. The word on horns and as much as possible buy landing fields. Yep, it sounds drastic, the street (or through the airwaves) is but it’s being done here and there along that the EPA is reconsidering the cornwith the help of the Foundation for Free subsidy policy. Turns out they finally Flight. The FFF will match funds, so evpaid attention to the environmental erything just went to half price. No one studies that have been published for a can resist a half-off sale. With the aging decade showing that corn is not good of our population comes the fattening of for Mother Earth—or us. The planting portfolios as long as China and the Fed and production of corn puts as much don’t do something stupid. Getting 10 carbon into the atmosphere as it takes pilots together to chip in a few thouaway, simply because such a nutrientsand each is not unreasonable nowadays. depleting monoculture requires tons Think about it and make it work. This of fertilizer, and guess where fertilizer approach may be the only way we keep comes from. The price of corn doubled flying into the future. in a few short years. If the EPA reduces its push for corn and switches to THE SHRINKING AIR switchgrass or algae (two much better sources of ethanol) we’ll probably regain The volume of air we fly in is getting our landing areas. We can probably land virtually smaller as it gets more occupied. In general, general aviation (small in switchgrass, and algae too if we don’t private planes) is diminishing, but that mind getting a little gooey. reduction is more than made up for THE HUMAN CONTAGION by the increase in air-transport traffic.

In the same manner that corn has What’s worse is that at some time in the spread to cover our landing areas, so near future air traffic will be following too has the human race. I’m not trying direct precise GPS routes. What this to be a Planned Parenthood promoter means is the big hulks will not follow

air routes, but will be all over the place.

There is no doubt in my mind that the FAA will eventually feel compelled to limit airspace even more (the greatest good for the greatest number). Our little flying world doesn’t account for much. Already in some countries in Europe—Italy and Holland, for example—free flying is limited to 1000 feet above the terrain. Wave that luscious thermal goodbye.

Another fly in the ointment is the drone craze. Well, I guess it’s not a craze because a craze comes and goes.

I think drones are here to stay. What adolescent can resist the voyeur aspects?

What Amazonian company can resist the pizzazz of dropping product from the sky? Even God did that back in Exodus. Sometime soon the FAA is going to have to get serious about limiting and policing the airspace of these ad hoc pilots. There are already hundreds of violations of airspace and there have been scores of encounters with airlines up to 1000 feet above the surface.

Make no mistake about it, many of our pilots fly RCs and some now operate drones. There isn’t much difference, other than drones may be autonomous.

Our pilots know how to fly around personal aircraft; most drone flyers don’t.

The FAA is issuing exemptions as we speak. These exemptions allow the commercial use of drones and in some cases operation outside the 400-footaltitude current limit. So far it looks like they are still limited to line-ofsight, but that’s what the pipeline and power-line interests are pushing against.

Think of the money they save by being able to patrol miles and miles of utility installations.

The danger to us is that they may be flying with blinders, looking down and not concerned with aviators such as ourselves. Once you get hit with a 50pound drone going 50 mph, your attention will be focused (probably on your parachute handle if you are conscious).

The other danger is that drones might have stronger rules designed for

them and these rules may affect us. As you know, we fly under Part 103 rules, a document that gives us plenty of freedom. If our sport sprang up today, we would never have such liberal rules.

Drones may shake things up.

What can we do? Several of us on the USHPA board along with a few others are monitoring and responding to FAA notices about drone exemptions and possible rule-making. This is an on-going process requiring vigilance and hours of work. But it is our best defense. Our position is twofold: We have extensive programs in place to keep pilots aware (and out of) airspace.

In addition, we have been operating under Part 103 since 1981 with little or no conflict with other forms of aviation.

So please, mister FAA man, don’t take away our playground. What can each individual pilot do? You can help educate any drone Sky King you encounter, and you can also help by being damn sure you don’t violate airspace or have a conflict in this sensitive period.

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You may be aware of the fact that this past August we sent in the GPS locations of most of our flying sites to the FAA. This data is intended to help them put us on the charts as an area to see and avoid. Along with this process comes some hopes: I hope they don’t limit us to flying only from the sites we sent in because there are many places we fly that are more or less secret/guerilla/ bandito sites. I also hope they realize that we are as different from drones as a right-leaning elephant is from a lefthanded donkey. The FAA is generally overwhelmed, and may let sleeping dogs lie, (in our case, let sky dogs fly).

LOL LOL is no laughing matter, for it stands for Local Obnoxious Lawyers. You know the ones I mean. They come on during a break in your favorite TV show pointing a finger and promising to “Get money for you!” Their modus operandi is to sue anyone and anything that has the slightest chance of filling their coffers. You all know the lawyer jokes. They’re true, mostly.

The problem with this liability lottery is it has made everyone hostile to anyone using their land without a quintillion dollars’ worth of liability insurance. If you knew what our insurance problems were and how much of our dues goes to pay for insurance so we can continue to use our insured sites, you would go load your shotgun. Seriously, folks, we are insurance poor and getting poorer. It wasn’t this way 30 years ago.

We had plenty of landowners welcoming us on their property, mainly because they wanted to see the show.

What we can do about this is keep our ear to the ground and vote for any candidate pushing tort reform. For better or for worse, these politicos tend to be the rightward leaners since they represent business rights. To be sure, you have to always balance good and evil, but tort reform would benefit us all in the form of less expenses for all goods

74

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

and services (all businesses have to be insured to the max). Another thing you may do is invite the Amish community to move into your area. They don’t worry about liability and here in central Pennsylvania they have always welcomed us onto their land. One Amish man said to me when I asked him if he owns the field I wanted to use: “God owns this land, I just farm it. What can I do for you?” We have been landing there for over 35 years with no hint of insurance or lawyer contagion.

FEELING THE HEAT If it weren’t for a couple of self-serving Texas billionaires propagandizing for their own short-term and short-sighted benefit, most US citizens would join the rest of the human race and realize we are facing a crisis. That crisis is the destabilization of our global climate. Let’s assume that we don’t care about the millions of individuals who are going to lose their homelands; let’s say we are callous to the suffering of those who are going to starve to death as water sources dry up and crops fail; let’s pretend that our immediate personal financial gain is more important than the stabilization of the world order, at least let’s sit up and reckon with the detrimental changes to our flying.

Yes, I have written about this before, but here’s an update: Worldwide, this past year was the hottest on record. One dramatic data point: Iran had a heat index of 163 (!) degrees F. for a couple days last summer. Mind you, global temperature records have only been kept for a bit over 180 years, and anyone with just a casual or careless understanding of the subject could easily say that the heating we are experiencing is just a normal perturbation. But a little deeper digging reveals that all the natural cycles in the system (solar cycles, earth orbit changes, earth rotational changes, volcanic cycles, etc.) are fairly well understood and combine to create natural global-temperature cycles that

go up and down on the order of 19,000 to 44,000 years. We know this by examining ice-core samples at the poles, tree-ring correlations and alluvial-fan deposits (every year melting snow brings down a new layer of deposits that vary in composition and depth according to the climate).

The stark reality that climate scientists are staring in the face is that we should be on a distinct cooling trend due to these natural cycle, but we just ain’t. We are heating globally at a rate that is unprecedented in any form of record available. And we are already feeling the effects of that heating. Drought has caused some of our food prices to rise, and remember that it was drought-induced crop failure that initiated the protests that led to the unfortunate situation in Syria and the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. The jet-stream pattern has been altered and it is expected that arid areas will get dryer; moist areas wetter. More heat means more water vapor in the atmosphere due to more evaporation, so expect more cloudy days in the moist areas and more frequent storms with more intensity. Of note is the occurrence of tornados in Brazil and Europe for the first time in recorded history.

Also, we are losing ice at both the poles, which is reducing the reflection of solar radiation, so get ready for a positivefeedback roller coaster ride.

If we choose to ignore the consequences to the whole of humanity and only look at the self-interest of our little flying community, what’s the big deal?

For one, pilots all over the world are saying their weather has changed over the last 10 to 15 years. For the most part, this change has been for the worse.

Yes, there are pockets of drought that in some cases are conducive to more flying days with thermals, but much more common is an increase in rainy days. Sites that used to host competitions with almost 100% reliability now are disappointing organizers and pilots

alike. Locally we are saying that the system is broken. We used to get cold fronts coming through bringing us three days of NW thermal-studded winds. Now we are lucky to get half a day of reliable post-front soaring.

Even if we avoid weather extremes, the blah conditions tend to linger as the jet stream sets up a persistent pattern steered by recalcitrant highs.

OK, we are not going to solve a problem as complex and pervasive as global climate destabilization with gentle nudges or a Jeremiah rant in these pages. But we all can do our part to help reduce the pollution that contributes to the problem. Some of the payoff is personal: At least you’ll feel a little less guilty when the sleet hits the fan and your grandkids ask you how your generation could be so monstrously stupid.

Also, we can make our political leaders (many who have their pockets stuffed with filthy lucre from the big polluters) wake up by pelting them with the rotten eggs of reality and voting them out of office. This coming crisis is the most inimical matter to our future, and yet they are fiddling while the earth burns. It is

telling to note that in many countries of Europe it is the conservative parties that are leading the fight against global climate destabilization. That’s because they know that our whole world will be disrupted, and change is the antithesis of the conservative platform. You have to ask yourself, what went wrong that our own lovable conservatives have lost their way? The answer is quite clear.

Of course, the weather is so complex that no one can say for sure what the near- or long-term effects will be. But we can see the sea levels rising, the water tables falling, the glaciers melting and the tornados spreading. We can also foresee all of these effects getting much worse. Humans have a great capacity for denial, even in the face of dire threats.

If you care about your flying, your offspring, other species or humanity, resolve to do your part. If we don’t wake up, we’re in for it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

ON THE UPSWING I promised not to get too negative, so let’s salvage this thing. There is a really bright streak on our horizon that has

been around for a bit. That is the wonderfully evolved gliders—both para and hang—that we now have. The designers have continuously improved safety and performance in incremental steps.

Today’s gliders are more stable, easier to control and easier to launch and land than ever before. We have the designers and market pressures (capitalism?) to thank for that.

But, of course, we also have a responsibility to use these fine flying machines responsibly. That means we have to be responsible for our own (and our flying buddy’s) safety. We have had accidents, accidents that we can ill afford. Besides the pain to pilot, family and friends, accidents hurt us all. Complacency and the lack of knowledge or awareness seem to be at the root of most accidents.

We can all resolve to do better. Once we are as accident-free as possible, we can focus on improving our flying environment by combatting the outside forces outlined above.

In the ‘70s we used to intone: “Pray for peace.” Now let’s pray for salvation from the seemingly inexorable forces eroding our flying freedom.

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

75

RATINGS ISSUED 2015

SEP

Take your ratings and expiration date everywhere you fly.

Download from the Members Only section of the USHPA website. Print, trim, and store in your wallet. Great for areas without cell coverage.Always available at www.USHPA.aero Save the PDF on your mobile device for easy reference.

HANG GLIDING RTG RGN NAME

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

1 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 10 10 11 11 12 12 12 12 2 2 2 8 9 1 2 2 3 8 8 9 10

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

Steven Wright OR Katy Bigelow WA Yeugemy Zebrov CA Bret Rossi CA Iraj Shahmohammadi CA Sawyer Brooks CA Shawn Oconnor CA Bryan Murphy CA Mark Johnson MI Karl Hranka IL Irv Paton NH Sarah Purdy VT Gregg Kelley PA Joshua Miller VA Jeremy Miller NC James Waldrop TN Philipp Neumann GA Adam Caudill TX Amber Atkins TX Leonardo Silver-salvati TX Jeffrey Wendinger TX Naveen Havannavar NY Dwarakaprasad Thakku K Damodaran NY Vijender Kumar Yadav NY Chad Schultz WA Tanyel Yildirok OR Tod Wooldridge OR Yeugemy Zebrov CA Adam Grossi CA James Spence CA Grant Kleinman CA Regina Donovan CA Cy Grimsich CA Iraj Shahmohammadi CA Sawyer Brooks CA Shawn Oconnor CA Bryan Murphy CA Mark Johnson MI Jedidiah Scharmer MN Matt Pruett MN Karl Hranka IL Michael Snell MI Alfred Morris Jr CT Michael Asel NH James Waldrop TN Philipp Neumann GA Leonardo Silver-salvati TX Jeffrey Wendinger TX Sara Fort NY Conor Nimmo NY Naveen Havannavar NY Zachary Hill NY Scott Hermann CA John Lampe CA Daniel Ellison CA Rosen Dimitrov CT Jeremy Stevens PA Mark Andrews OR Alejandro Perez CA William Sprague CA Kory Griggs CA Greg Saracino CT Ilya Rivkin MA John Dorrance VA Theodore Hurley GA

Charles Baughman Larry Jorgensen Barry Levine Richard Palmon Dan Deweese Rob Mckenzie John Heiney John Heiney Paul Olson Michael Van Kuiken Josh Laufer Michael Appel Randy Grove Steve Wendt Steve Wendt Aaron Johnson Aaron Johnson Jeffrey Hunt Daniel Jones Mark Moore Iii Mark Moore Iii Rick Brown Matthew Hickerson Matthew Hickerson Lyndon Thomas Josh Laufer Charles Baughman Barry Levine John Simpson John Simpson Robert Booth Robert Booth Robert Booth Dan Deweese Rob Mckenzie John Heiney John Heiney Paul Olson Doyle Johnson Rik Bouwmeester Michael Van Kuiken Tracy Tillman Rhett Radford Josh Laufer Aaron Johnson Aaron Johnson Mark Moore Iii Mark Moore Iii Greg Black Matthew Hickerson Rick Brown Matthew Hickerson Jon James Patrick Denevan Dan Deweese Eric Meibos Kevin Koonce David Brose Arturo Melean Eric Hinrichs Dan Deweese Rhett Radford David Baxter Kevin Koonce Scott Schneider

PARAGLIDING

RTG RGN NAME

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1 P-1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Barte Masciarelli Cathy Cunningham Margaret Walsh Sean Rielly Marty Stangland Raymond Arthur S Peter Severtson Patrick Gannon

OR WA WA AK WA AK WA WA

Samuel Crocker Craig Cunningham Gilead Almosnino Michele Mccullough Denise Reed Scott Amy Douglas Stroop Stefan Mitrovich

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

1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Soeren Sauer David Ryan Shawn Witt Tim Coahran Ean Flockoi Richard Palmon Jim Nelson Nathaniel Balos Sohrab Gollogly Robert Duke Jasper Bruinzeel Stewart Abbot Erik Schilling Jenny Li Myles Connolly Iii Justin Hoggatt Judith Constantine Robert Mcrae Bryce Packham Piotr Trzeciak Mark Tatham Nichola Loudiadis Keats Maxwell Kim Fei Tang Patrice Hiddinga Alastair Green Krishna Rajbhandari Milko Mihalkov Veselin Georgiev Chan Chin Hei Jeux Sebastien Gardner Broadbent Mike Upchurch Vincent Greff Joel Strickland Ehren Inkel Osvaldo Perez Trina Turer Tim Coleman Kenneth Racicot Nicolas Prevot Cody Decker Joseph Sherman Lynn Grabowski Thomas Huber Sarah Fontenot Kevin Clabert Jon Schoenfeld Barte Masciarelli Cathy Cunningham Heather Amaryllis Chad Winthrop Jason Groshong Drew Elliott Sean Rielly Marty Stangland Raymond Arthur

OR AK WA AK OR CA CA NV CA CA CA CA HI CA CA CO CO UT UT CO UT

Stephen Mayer Frank Sihler Bob Hannah Frank Sihler Mark Rich Jeffrey Greenbaum Jeffrey Greenbaum Jonathan Jefferies Rob Sporrer Stephen Nowak Danielle Kinch Danielle Kinch Jonathan Jefferies Giuseppe Free Rob Sporrer Kay Tauscher Denise Reed Jonathan Jefferies Jonathan Jefferies Granger Banks Jonathan Jefferies James Reich Scott Harris Steven Yancey Steven Yancey Steven Yancey Peter Humes Seyed Alireza Amidi Namin Seyed Alireza Amidi Namin Ma Chiu Kit Steven Yancey Jeffrey Greenbaum Scott Harris Jonathan Jefferies Kevin Hintze Emily Wallace Terry Bono John Dunn John Dunn John Dunn Denise Reed James Griffith Nickolas Lopez David Hanning Jonathan Jefferies Ryan Taylor Jonathan Jefferies Terry Bono Samuel Crocker Craig Cunningham Chris Santacroce Jake Schlapfer John Kraske Marc Chirico Michele Mccullough Denise Reed Scott Amy

MT

IA WI IL MI MN CT NH NH MA PA PA VA TN FL TX LA NJ OR WA OR AK OR WA AK WA AK

RTG RGN NAME

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

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

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

S Peter Severtson WA Patrick Gannon WA Soeren Sauer OR Taylor Wimberley OR David Ryan AK Edward Sitver OR Shawn Witt WA Brett Ingalls WA Kevin Bao WA Tim Coahran AK Michael Downey AK Chris George WA Ean Flockoi OR Joachim (jochen) Bekmann CA Hilary Bekmann CA Stephen Buckingham CA Mike Nekouasl CA Peter Heatwole CA Terry Wickum CA Kelly Phillips CA Courtney Austin CA Martin Rosengreen CA David Jaggard CA Nathaniel Balos NV Carl Weiseth CA Sohrab Gollogly CA William Harris, Md HI Robert Duke CA Brian Stiber CA Edward Matus CA Austin Sonnier CA Erik Schilling HI Myles Connolly Iii CA Justin Hoggatt CO Rachel Wagner CO Ryan Mcaffee UT Judith Constantine CO Robert Mcrae UT Bryce Packham UT Piotr Trzeciak CO Carl Martell CO Chris Cranor CO Mark Tatham UT Aaron Christiansen UT Don Croft ID Nichola Loudiadis

Douglas Stroop Stefan Mitrovich Stephen Mayer Denise Reed Frank Sihler Granger Banks Bob Hannah Douglas Stroop Marc Chirico Frank Sihler William Brown Andy Macrae Mark Rich Jeffrey Greenbaum Jeffrey Greenbaum Jesse Meyer Jesse Meyer Jesse Meyer Jason Shapiro Jesse Meyer Jesse Meyer Danielle Kinch Jesse Meyer Jonathan Jefferies Hayden Dudley Rob Sporrer Pete Michelmore Stephen Nowak Danielle Kinch Danielle Kinch Danielle Kinch Jonathan Jefferies Rob Sporrer Kay Tauscher Bill Heaner Chris Santacroce Denise Reed Jonathan Jefferies Jonathan Jefferies Granger Banks Granger Banks Granger Banks Jonathan Jefferies William Purden Jr Denise Reed James Reich

RTG RGN NAME

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

5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 6

United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association

2016

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

Keats Maxwell MT Roy Justus Samuel Cullingworth Michael Yeung Andrew Gridley Rena Brown OK Michael Hampton OK Krishna Rajbhandari Milko Mihalkov Veselin Georgiev James Wen Jian Hui Wai Man Ng Vincent Greff IL Joel Strickland MI Ehren Inkel MN Tim Coleman NH Matthew Dittman OH Cody Decker PA Michelle Sciumbato TN Paul Zeedyk TN Thomas Huber FL Chris Kerley TN Jason Tilley TX Sarah Fontenot TX Kevin Clabert LA Nathan Fligge OR Kathy Case AK Randolph Ruffin OR Nathanael Mokry WA Solomon Reisberg OR Soeren Sauer OR Shawn Witt WA James Labarge CA Guido Zavagli CA Peter Pivka CA Luke Stebick CA Daniya Lukmanova CA Russ Dryer AZ David Peck UT Randy Hughes CO Austin Aaron CO David Whitmore UT Johannes Schachenmayer CO Charity Harper ID Richard Grove WY Samuel Cullingworth

Scott Harris Jonathan Potter Murat Tuzer Steven Yancey Steven Yancey Ron Kohn Ron Kohn Peter Humes Seyed Alireza Amidi Namin Seyed Alireza Amidi Namin Alex Tang Chi Vi Yuen Wai Kit Jonathan Jefferies Kevin Hintze Emily Wallace John Dunn David Hanning James Griffith David Hanning David Hanning Jonathan Jefferies David Hanning Hadley Robinson Ryan Taylor Jonathan Jefferies Samuel Crocker Jake Schlapfer Chris Santacroce Marc Chirico Brad Hill Stephen Mayer Bob Hannah Jesse Meyer Jeffrey Greenbaum Jerome Daoust Gabriel Jebb Robin Marien Gabriel Jebb Jonathan Jefferies Jeremy Bishop Granger Banks Chris Santacroce Granger Banks Stephen Mayer Scott Harris Murat Tuzer

RTG RGN NAME

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

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 10 10 11 11 12 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 4 4 4 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 8 9 9 11

STATE RATING OFFICIAL

Nishesh Upadhyay Herve Lhostis Jing Xiao Cen Krishna Rajbhandari Milko Mihalkov Veselin Georgiev Simon Fallone Abdulkadir Arslan Vincent Greff Michael Marino Kirill Barshevsky Lucas Soler Bruno Azevedo Matthias Jaffe Subodh Pandey Jorge Larrauri Violeta Jimenez William Hudson Christian Gordon Geoff Graves Mike Bomstad Jake Jacobs Keita Sakon Michael Brown Matthew Huntington Johnathan Ross Soeren Sauer Ron Andresen Elwin Parr Dan Slover Nile Brewer Eckehart Zimmermann William Stevens Richard Grove Samuel Cullingworth Milko Mihalkov Veselin Georgiev Fahri Ozdemir Sezai Eryilmaz Yann Gallin Eric Esser Austin Kasserman George Huffman William Hudson

IL MA MA VT CT MA KY FL GA TX TX NY WA OR OR AK WA AK OR CA CA CO UT CO CO WY

IL VT OH MD TX

Peter Humes Jonathan Jefferies Bo Criss Peter Humes Seyed Alireza Amidi Namin Seyed Alireza Amidi Namin Murat Tuzer Murat Tuzer Jonathan Jefferies Peter Humes Heath Woods Calef Letorney Davidson Da Silva John Gallagher Jonathan Jefferies Luis Ameglio David Hanning Kari Castle Britton Shaw Ray Leonard Robert Hecker Ken Hudonjorgensen Ron Peck Jake Schlapfer Douglas Stroop Chris Santacroce Stephen Mayer Rick Ray Jeremy Bishop Chris Santacroce Stephen Mayer Blake Pelton Blake Pelton Scott Harris Murat Tuzer Seyed Alireza Amidi Namin Seyed Alireza Amidi Namin Murat Tuzer Murat Tuzer Jaro Krupa Calef Letorney Matthew Ingram Peter Van Oevelen Kari Castle

2016 ORDER YOUR

United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association

Calendar AT ushpastore.com

USHPA Calendar 2016.indd 1

8/30/15 12:54 PM

USHPA Calendar 2016.indd 1

8/30/15 12:52 PM

HOW TO USE

CALENDAR & CLASSIFIED CALENDAR, CLINIC & TOUR LISTINGS can be sub-

mitted 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), re-used Nyloc nuts, loose thimbles, frayed or rusted cables, tangs with non-circular holes, and on flex wings, sails badly torn or torn loose from their anchor points front and back on the keel and leading edges.

PARAGLIDING ADVISORY: Used paragliders should always be thoroughly inspected before flying for the first time. Annual inspections on paragliders should include sailcloth strength tests. Simply performing a porosity check isn’t sufficient.

Some gliders pass porosity yet have very weak sailcloth.

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

CALENDAR BOARD MEETING March 9-11 > Golden, Colorado. USHPA 2016 Spring Board Meeting at the American Mountaineering Center. For more info go to http://ushpa.org/ page/ushpa-board-meeting

clinics & tours THROUGH APR 17 > Valle de Bravo, Mexico -

JAN 22-29, JAN 29 - FEB 5 & FEB 5-12 > An-

serma Nuevo, Colombia - Colombia Thermal and XC Clinic Roldanillo & Anserma, Colombia. Pennsylvania Paragliding is running a thermal and XC clinic in sunny warm Colombia. Escape the winter and come to fly with us! Our focus is on improving your thermal & XC skills using both visual and radio contact and air-to-air guidance. Daily analysis of flights in a 3-D simulation program will give you a great insight. Contact maria@pennsylvaniaparagliding.net, 610-392-0050 or http://pennsylvaniaparagliding.com/Pennsylvania _ Paragliding/ Colombia _ Tour.html

Yes, great flying and fun during the months Nov. through April in central Mexico. Hang gliding and paragliding. Team FlyMexico has been at this over 20 years and continues to offer packages for all levels, big selection of wings, more local knowledge than anyone, and the attitude to keep it all fun and safe. Basic package is in and out on Sundays with lodging and airport pickup and return included. Thinking about your winter flying? Think FlyMexico based in Valle de Bravo, Mexico More Info: Jeff Hunt, 800-861-7198, 512-656-5052, jeff@ flymexico.com, www.flymexico.com.

FEB 5-13, 13-21, 21-29 > Eagle Paragliding is running 3 weeks of tours in Roldanillo Colombia.

We guarantee unforgettable flying. Pilots of all levels can expect coaching on thermaling, XC Flying, Tandem XC flying. We’ve offered tours for over a decade all over the world. Our high-caliber staff members that support pilots during Eagle tours are unprecedented. Let Matt Beechinor, Marty DeVietti, Brian Howell, Rob Sporrer, and Dave Turner support you. Visit www.paragliding.com, contact us at rob@paraglide.com, or call 805-968-0980.

THROUGH Jan 17 > Valle De Bravo, Mexico - Fly

FEB 7-21 > Medellín, Colombia - Paragliding &

Cuervo! Fly south this winter! Fly Cuervo! The bestvalued tour package available. World-class lodging and logistics in one of the most flyable winter destinations on planet Earth, Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

Improve your thermal and XC skills with advanced instructor/master guide David Prentice, aka Cuervo, with more than 20 years of paragliding experience and 16 years guiding in Valle. We fly twice a day, every day! Valle de Bravo has something to offer for every skill level of pilot and is very family friendly. More info: call 505-720-5436 or email earthcog@yahoo.com.

Jan 17-24 & Jan 31 - Feb 7 > Tapalpa, Mexico.

Tapalpa, Mexico Fly Week. Parasoft has been guiding pilots to Mexico in January since 1990. In 2002 we discovered Tapalpa, site of a 2003 World Cup event. With big launch and landing areas and no crowds, this is the best in Mexico! With three other sites nearby, you soar in any wind direction. To guide our clients well, we limit our group size to four and offer tandem flights to improve flying skills. More info: parasoftparaglding.com/ mexico-flying, granger@parasoftparagliding.com or 303-494-2820.

JAN 18-28 > Valle de Cauca, Colombia - Fly Cu-

ervo! Fly Colombia! Fly south this winter! Fly Cuervo! The Valle del Cauca, Colombia, has quickly become one of the most popular winter vacation destinations for paragliding, with amazing XC potential and breath taking views, Valle del Cauca is world-class paragliding. Improve your thermal and XC skills with advanced instructor/master guide David Prentice with over 20 years of paragliding experience. Enjoy world-class lodging and logistics as we fly several sites along the Valle del Cauca, Colombia. More info: 505-720-5436 or email earthcog@yahoo.com.

Yoga Tour Colombia 2016 We will we paragliding in seven sites along the Cauca River for two weeks.

We start in Medellín on Sunday, February 7 and finish in Cali Sunday, February 21. Yoga in the mornings before breakfast and briefing. Cross-country and instruction P-3 and P-4 pilots only, all levels of yoga. Accommodation, breakfast, ground transportation and guidance included. $2000. More Info: Sofia Puerta Webber. 818-572-6350 sofiapuerta@gmail.com www.shiwido.com

FEB 25-28 > Lake Berryessa, CA - SIV/Super Acro Clinic This clinic will be hosted by Torrey Pines Gliderport Master Pilot and SIV/Acro Coach Gabriel Jebb, while Max Marien will coach the advanced acro pilots. This will be a super clinic and cover everything from deflations, to helicopters, tumbles, misty flips, etc. Pre-requisites for acro pilots are to be able to bring it and go big! More info: www.flytorrey.com, email at info@flytorrey.com, or call us at 858-452 9858.

MAR 31 - APR 3 & Apr 4-6 > Yelapa, Mexico.

Yelapa,Mexico: SIV maneuver clinics. Join us for another great learning and fun experience in beautiful tropical Yelapa. Tow up and land on the beach in a warm friendly location with lots of great places to stay and eat. Brad Gunnuscio world class xc and acro pilot will be teaching the courses. As Brad says “Yelapa is by far the best place to do an siv clinic.” More info: Les at www.paraglideyelapa. com, or Brad at www.paraglideutah.com, or 801707-0508

6030

CLASSIFIED CLINICS & TOURS Costa Rica Paragliding Tours 2016 10th year with Advanced Instructor and guide Nick Crane week long tours most of January, February and March 2016 "We missed 2 days of flying in 3 months last season!" www. costaricaparagliding.com nick@paracrane.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

Paracrane Tours to Brazil December 7-16, 2016 led by Advanced USHPA Instructor and seasoned guide Nick Crane www.costaricaparagliding.com nick@ paracrane.com

PARTS & ACCESSORIES GUNNISON GLIDERS - X-C, Factory, heavy PVC HG

gliderbags $149. Harness packs & zippers. New/used parts, equipment, tubes. 1549 CR 17 Gunnison, CO 81230 970-641-9315

SPECIALTY WHEELS for airfoil basetubes, round ba-

setubes, or tandem landing gear. 262-473-8800, www. hanggliding.com.

POWERED & TOWING Pilots: FREE Crossover Training when you purchase your Miniplane Paramotor! Instructors: Add PPG to your offerings and watch the fun begin! Visit our website for more info: www.Miniplane-USA.com/ USHPA

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 AIRJUNKIES PARAGLIDING - Year-round excellent instruction, Southern California & Baja. Powered paragliding, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier 760-213-0063, airjunkies.com.

EAGLE PARAGLIDING - SANTA BARBARA offers the

best year round flying in the nation. Award-winning instruction, excellent mountain and ridge sites. www. flysantabarbara.com, 805-968-0980

FLY ABOVE ALL - Year-round instruction in 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 wings- demo 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 408-262-1388, mission@hang-gliding.com, Mission Soaring Center LLC, leading the way since 1973. www. hang-gliding.com

COLORADO GUNNISON GLIDERS - X-C to heavy waterproof HG

gliderbags. Accessories, parts, service, sewing. Instruction ratings, site-info. Rusty Whitley 1549 CR 17, Gunnison CO 81230. 970-641-9315.

FLORIDA FLORIDA RIDGE AEROTOW PARK - 18265 E State Road 80, Clewiston, Florida 863-805-0440, www. thefloridaridge.com.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - Nearest

mountain training center to Orlando. Two training hills, novice mountain launch, aerotowing, great accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-HANGLIDE, 877426-4543.

MIAMI HANG GLIDING - For year-round training fun

in the sun. 305-285-8978, 2550 S Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, Florida 33133, www.miamihanggliding. com.

WALLABY RANCH – The original Aerotow flight park.

Best tandem instruction worldwide,7-days a week , 6 tugs, and equipment rental. Call:1-800-WALLABY 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.

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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.

MONTANA Bozeman Paragliding - Montana’s full time

connection for paragliding, speedflying, & paramotoring instruction & gear. Maneuvers courses, thermal tours abroad, online store. www.bozemanparagliding.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE MORNINGSIDE - A Kitty Hawk Kites flight park. The

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. 603-5424416, www.flymorningside.com

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

TENNESSEE 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.

TEXAS 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

UTAH CLOUD 9 PARAGLIDING - Come visit us and check out

our huge selection of paragliding gear, traction kites, extreme toys, and any other fun things you can think of.

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

VIRGINIA BLUE SKY - Virginia's full time, year round HG School.

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

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, 760-203-2658

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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 512-4672529 / 1-800-861-7198 USA

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.

RISING AIR GLIDER REPAIR SERVICES – A full-

service shop, specializing in all types of paragliding repairs, annual inspections, reserve repacks, harness repairs. Hang gliding reserve repacks and repair. For information or repair estimate, call 208-554-2243, pricing and service request form available at www. risingair.biz, billa@atcnet.net.

WINGS & HARNESSES 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 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

US pilots aren't the first to feel like an endangered species. In this reprint from a 2003 issue of Cross Country Magazine, Ian Blackmore investiages all-too-familiar insurance challenges in the UK. HANG GLIDING AND PARAGLIDING: POLITICS OF INSURANCE

I

n the beginning, there was Otto Lilienthal. Otto was probably considered a bit of a lunatic by many. An eccentric, but without a doubt a genius who worked out the theory of flight, built himself a glider, and flew.

How many of us would have the courage to do that today? Very few, I suspect. But thanks to the efforts of legends like him, it’s now possible, in a short space of time, to do what not long ago would have seen us branded as lunatics, eccentrics, and many other titles even less complimentary.

We should count ourselves lucky to have been born into an age where we can indulge in these activities without the risks our sport’s pioneers endured. A combination of highly trained instructors, well-developed training programs,

and remarkably safe equipment has allowed most of us to enjoy the freedom of the air, without feeling our lives are constantly on the line.

Those on the outside may still perceive what we do as “extreme,” but to most of us, learning to fly a glider has involved no more risks than learning to ride a horse. Our sports may not be considered mainstream or as sensible as sailing or horse riding, but at least we are no longer considered hare-brained crazies.

But what of the future? What chance will our children have to enjoy the freedom of free flight? The storm clouds are gathering, and many factors are conspiring to restrict or even ultimately curtail our freedom to fly.

I spoke to Harriet Pottinger, chair-

woman of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, and asked her what she perceived to be the greatest risks to our sports’ continued existence.

“If you’d asked me this a few weeks ago, I’d have said European airspace restrictions, but now it’s insurance again.”

In the minds of most pilots, insurance is probably the most boring topic of conversation that ever gets bandied around a hillside. Sadly, however, it is a topic that affects us all, especially instructors.

We need insurance to be able to fly.

We’re no longer one person building a glider and asking the local landowner if we can run down his field. We are now large numbers of pilots in public places, with either fast, pointy hang gliders or giant kites with lines like cheese wire.

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It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination for members of the public and landowners to realize the injuries our machines can do to people or property.

It is, thankfully, a rare occurrence for third parties to get injured as a result of our activities, but it is certainly wise for all pilots to insure themselves against getting sued as a result of such an accident.

Thanks to the low incidence of claims in this area, and the fact that a large number of us require this insurance, it has proved cheap and readily available. Insurance is a business, and will continue to be available provided the money received via premiums is greater than the amount likely to be paid out in claims. In almost all countries, this third-party liability insurance is provided as part of our membership fee paid to our national associations.

Third-party insurance is, however, not the only part of the package. If a member of the public or even the pilots themselves are injured whilst flying on someone else’s land, then it’s not unknown for a compensation case to be brought against the landowners who permitted the activity to take place on their property.

Hence, the insurance policies negotiated by most countries’ national hang gliding and paragliding associations also include cover for the landowners who kindly allow us to fly from their sites.

Without this cover, it would prove extremely difficult for us to negotiate access to our sites with the landowners. Earlier this year, the Canadian Association failed to find appropriate cover for a short period of time, and

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flying ceased on certain sites until a new insurer was found.

Thanks to the lack of claims in this area, this insurance remains fairly readily available and relatively cheap.

Provided this remains the case, those of us who already fly will continue to be able to do so, although, no doubt, with ever-rising premiums.

However, if you don’t yet fly, but want to, you have a problem. The early pioneers simply built their own wings and flew them. Nowadays that’s not really an option. For starters, few people would be prepared to take the risk.

Without being a trained pilot, it can prove hard to get third-party insurance.

Without insurance you are not allowed onto existing sites, and, personally, from a purely practical and selfish viewpoint, I have no desire to share our crowded airspace with untrained and incompetent pilots.

So, if we want a continued flow of new members to replace the large percentage who give up the sport after about four years, we need schools and instructors. And here lies the problem. No matter how experienced and cautious the instructor, accidents in training do happen. Not very often, but they do happen. Even with the best equipment, training, and procedures available, it’s impossible to eliminate them completely.

In the UK, as part of our BHPA insurance package, we’ve been fortunate to have a policy that covers schools, tandem pilots and instructors against getting sued by their students and passengers.

Despite the UK’s inclement weather,

British schools are pretty busy and attract a lot of clients. The most common question they ask is usually, “How safe is it?” And the answer is, “Pretty safe: statistically safer than riding a horse.

There are accidents, but very few major ones.” And that’s an honest answer.

The student is prepared to take a small risk and is helped in that decision by knowing that the schools and instructors are insured. Should the student get seriously injured whilst training as a result of poor instruction, then there’s insurance to claim against.

He signs on the dotted line, and all being well, safely learns to fly.

However, if students knew that there was no insurance, they might well think twice about taking up the sport in the first place.

Here, in the UK, there have been relatively few major accidents involving students, and only a couple of serious ones involving tandems. These accidents though, have resulted in several potential claims involving sums of around several million pounds each. By this, I mean that either a claim has been filed, but not yet settled, or the insurers know about an accident and are expecting a claim to be filed.

The BHPA’s insurers have simply looked at the roughly 300,000 pounds they receive in premiums each year, and the likelihood of paying out a couple of million every few years, and re-evaluated the risk.

They are prepared (for the present) to cover qualified pilots, the landowners, schools and instructors for two million.

But from September 1, the schools, instructors and tandem pilots will only

be covered for a maximum of 25,000 pounds.

Which, in the current claims culture, is nothing. They are still covered for third-party liability to two million, but not with respect to students and passengers suing them.

BHPA insurance officer Martin Heywood says the association’s insurers are estimating they will receive one profound claim a year exceeding two million pounds. “To keep the current level of cover, we could be looking at 10 to 20-fold increases in our premium, which is simply not feasible.

“As a result the insurers have refused to cover the schools, instructors and tandems for more than 25,000 pounds instead of the previous two million.”

The BHPA expected several schools to close, rather than take the risk of operating with limited cover. BHPA thinking is that although this would result in a drop in the number of schools, this might mean more business for others.

In recent years, though, many schools have cited that their main problem with teaching has been a lack of qualified instructors. Several initiatives have been put in place to try and address this shortage, but without much effect overall.

One of the longest running schools in the UK is Michel Carnet’s Sky Systems. Michel says he hates insurance. “It’s a rip-off. I only bother with the legal minimum for insurance nowadays.” Michel didn’t seem too worried about the drop in insurance cover, provided the premiums to the schools and instructors dropped along with the

cover.

“My instructors, however, are very worried that in the event of a claim, the lawyers might go after assets like their houses. We’re taking legal advice on who would be liable: the school or the instructors.”

Another school proprietor told me a similar story. Dean Crosby is seriously considering closing his school when the changes come into effect. Dean’s business encompasses an importership, a retail outlet and a school. He said that without decent insurance, the risk to assets like his house and business was too great, and the school side of the business might have to close.

Dean said that even if he kept the school open, his instructors might stop teaching. “Several of them are excellent instructors who have been with me for around 10 years but feel the risk to their assets will be too great for what is, effectively, a part-time job.”

So it looks as if we may well see a large drop in the number of schools and instructors and, consequently, new pilots within the UK. The only people who might consider teaching are small one or two-man operations with limited or zero assets. But what happens if they get a large claim against them?

The 25,000 pounds is probably large enough to make it worthwhile for lawyers to take on the case, but a mere pittance against a larger claim. If the instructor has no assets, who could they go after next? A possible target is the BHPA itself. With the association’s own cover also cut to 25,000 after 1 September, the BHPA’s 400,000 pounds in assets may itself appear to be

a possible target.

I put this possibility to Martin Heywood, who agreed that it was a possibility and that the BHPA were taking advice on the matter.

There’s nothing to stop a school or instructor operating without insurance, but it’s a very risky business in our current litigious society. Individual schools can purchase their own insurance provided they have no claims history, but it works out to be far more expensive than what was available under the BHPA scheme and becomes unavailable as soon as they get any claims history.

No one I talked to could see a solution to the problem, other than a highly unlikely change in the law limiting claims to a sensible level. The schools and instructors would simply have to operate either with reduced or no cover.

In the current climate, that’s bound to deter anyone with any assets from opening a school or taking up teaching.

We need instructors to train new pilots. Without an influx of new blood each year, our national associations will shrink to a far smaller size over a period of three or four years as pilots give up or move on to other sports. This might make the hills less crowded, but with fewer pilots, the cost of our third-party insurance and sites insurance will go up.

In addition, economies of scale mean the cost of running associations like the BHPA will increase. This means a big reduction in funds to fight off all that nasty European legislation, which ultimately, is the real threat to our continued existence. So support your local instructors. It’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it!

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