hang gliding & paragliding vol38/iss10 oct 2008

OCTOBER 2008Volume 38 Issue 10

$4.95

www.USHPA.aero

MAGAZINE STAFFUSHPA, Publisher: [email protected]

Nick Greece, Editor: [email protected] Greg Gillam, Art Director: [email protected] Palmaz, Advertising: [email protected]

Staff writers: Alex Colby, Steve Messman, Dennis Pagen,Mark “Forger” Stucky, Ryan Voight, Tom Webster

Staff artist: Jim Tibbs Staff photographers: John Heiney, Jeff O'Brien, Jeff Shapiro

OFFICE STAFFPaul Montville, Executive Director: [email protected]

Rick Butler, Information Services Director: [email protected] Palmaz, Business Manager: [email protected]

Erin Russell, Office Manager: [email protected] Burtis, Member/Instructor Services Administrator:

[email protected]

USHPA OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEELisa Tate, President: [email protected]

Riss Estes, Vice President: [email protected] Rich Hass, Secretary: [email protected]

Mark Forbes, Treasurer: [email protected]

REGION 1: Rich Hass, Mark Forbes. REGION 2: Dave Wills, Urs Kellenberger, Paul Gazis. REGION 3: David Jebb, Rob Sporrer, Brad Hall. REGION 4: Mark Gaskill, Jim Zeiset. REGION 5: Lisa Tate. REGION 6: Gregg Ludwig. REGION 7: Tracy Tillman. REGION 8: Gary Trudeau. REGION 9: Felipe Amunategui, L.E. Herrick. REGION 10: Dick Heckman, Steve Kroop, Matt Taber. REGION 11: Gregg Ludwig. REGION 12: Paul Voight. REGION 13: Dick Heckman. DIRECTORS AT LARGE: Leo Bynum, Riss Estes, Mike Haley, Jon James, Dennis Pagen. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR: Art Greenfield (NAA).

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

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine is published for foot-launched air-sports enthusiasts to create further interest in the sports of hang gliding and paragliding and to provide an educational forum to advance hang gliding and paragliding methods and safety. Contributions are welcome. HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine reserves the right to edit contributions where necessary. The Association and publication do not assume responsibility for the material or opinions of contributors. HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING editorial offices email: [email protected]. ALL ADVERTISING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MUST BE SENT TO USHPA HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS.

The USHPA is a member-controlled sport organization dedicated to the exploration and promotion of all facets of unpowered ultralight flight, and to the education, training and safety of its membership. Membership is open to anyone interested in this realm of flight. Dues for Rogallo membership are $270. Pilot memberships are $75 ($90 non-U.S.). Dues for Contributing membership and for subscription-only are $52 ($63 non-U.S.). $15 of annual membership dues goes to the publication of Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Changes of address should be sent six weeks in advance, including name, USHPA number, previous and new address, and a mailing label from a recent issue. You may also email your request with your member number to: [email protected].

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

POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine, P.O. BOX 1330, Colorado Springs, CO 80901-1330. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement #40065056. Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING magazine welcomes editorial submissions from our members and readers. We are always looking for well written articles and quality artwork. Feature stories generally run anywhere from 1500 to 3000 words. News releases are welcomed, but please do not send brochures, dealer newsletters or other extremely

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 [email protected], 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, [email protected], (516) 816-1333.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES IN PUBLICATIONSThe material presented here is published as part of an information dissemination service for USHPA members. The USHPA makes no warranties or representations and assumes no liability concerning the validity of any advice, opinion or recommendation expressed in the material. All individuals relying upon the material do so at their own risk. Copyright © 2008 Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine.

For change of address or other USHPA businesscall (719) 632-8300, or email [email protected].

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.

H A N G G L I D I N G & P A R A G L I D I N G M A G A Z I N E

Ph

oto

by N

ate

Nib

s

HANG IN THERE | owENs vAllEy TAkE 1Forger's at it again.

FIRsT TImE ovER THE FlATs Enjoy the view.

TRIPlE HEAdERTales from the Rat Race.

A NEw woRld RECoRd...AlmosTDon't you hate it when they take away your GPS?

THE INCREdIblE doRIs PollARICelebrate the social director to beat all social directors!

by Heather St. Claire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

by Mark "Forger" Stucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

by Orlando Stephenson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

by Unknown Soldier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

by Denny Pistoll and Tosh Hopkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

0810EdIToR

PIloT bRIEFINGs

AIRmAIl

UsHPA

sAFETy bUllETIN

CENTERFold

dIsPATCH

RATINGs

UsHPA sToRE

PAGE 78

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Scott Harris on the Chilean coast | photo by Mike Crothers.

October 2008 | Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA.aero 5

CloUd CoNsCIoUs v :EAsy sTREETsThe series continues with more on the boulevards above.

sCHIZoPHRENICListen in on an odyssey of the mind.

GAllERyKing Mountain

by Dennis Pagen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

by Mike Vorhis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Just returned from guiding a cross-country course in the French Alps. Every visit to the supposed

birthplace of free flight reminds me of Europe’s grand standing as one of the world’s greatest air playgrounds. Almost every hill is a launch replete with windsocks and tell-tales. During peak heating hours, the skies are dotted with hang gliders and paraglid-ers emanating from all points of the compass.

Another amazing feature of the European mountain range is the variety of folks who are at the hill. The group runs the entire gamut—from geriatric Germans who fly two weeks of the year on their holiday, to young French acro pilots looking to make a name for themselves, to the Annecy transsexual pilots association. ( I’m positive there has been many a “Crying Game” moment in the Doussard landing field when she/he was breaking down a flex-wing.) Each pilot is as fired up as the next as they propel themselves from every hillside imaginable.

I was heartened to see all types of pilots thoroughly enjoying them-selves and was reminded of the many different reasons we choose to fly. If you love sledders—get Santa’s Sleigh stitched into your harness and rock that for all it’s worth. If you like being inverted—get some. If cross-country is your thing—take the slow ride and milk it until the sun shrinks behind the horizon. In such an individual and risky sport, it is critical for each of us to maximize our pleasure return—whatever that may mean individually.

I guess the adage “there’s some-thing for everyone” really applies to our airscape. The zest for flying on both sides of the Atlantic is both ener-gizing and enviable. While it may be a challenge to carve out the time and means to chart a path over there…the European flying experience is certain to pay a high return on investment. And, by the way, it’s sure fun!!

| EDITOR

7

[left] Jamie Messenger and Karen Hulame at Plane-Joux, France

October 2008 | Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA.aero8

ALEX RAUTER TAGS SEVEN SUMMITSAlex Rauter, a 37 year-old

Tyrolean, ascended a combined

29,000 feet in 17 hours, flying

down from several summits

with his special mountaineer-

ing paraglider. Alex started

his adventure by climbing

the 7200 feet to the top of

the Kohlbergspitze and flying

down to Lähn. There, he went

on to the second summit,

Daniel (7600 feet ), followed

by a flight to Ehrwald. After

flying from Germany's highest

mountain down to Weidach,

Sonnenspitze was his next goal

to reach (7929 feet). Landing

in Biberwier was followed

by the ascent of Grubigstein

(7382 feet), the flight down to

Leermos and the climb up to

7300 feet – the Bleispitze. Alex

landed in Bichlbach to prepare

himself for the last summit,

getting up to the 5900 foot

Almkopf.

APCO SIDE PROTECTORSFor a number of years, our

harnesses (Edge and Finesse)

were offered with an option

of integrated side protec-

tors made from Polystyrene

- simple, but effective solution

saving many injuries in the

hip area. These side protec-

tors proved to be popular and

effective, so now we at APCO

took the next logical step,

creating EPS side protec-

tor covered by an additional

composite shell from hand laid

fiberglass, so the side protec-

tors offer multi-layer protection

working on principles similar to

helmets. The multi-layer side

protector turned out to be very

efficient as it optimally com-

bines impact absorbing quali-

ties of EPS with hard object

penetration prevention of

composite fiberglass, not only

padding your hips, but also

providing protective armour.

Perhaps it’s only a small step,

but it is a logical and effective

improvement of pilot’s safety,

and that’s why its important.

Trials were also made on EPS

side protector covered with

carbon fiber - despite the

excellent results, they will not

be offered due to the expen-

sive cost. APCO Multi-layer

side protector adds very little

to the harness weight and is

an excellent trade-off in price

and weight for extra lateral

protection.

SUP'AIR SAFETY NOTICE A few harnesses equipped

with light quick release buckles

have experienced involuntary

releases of the locking mecha-

nism in flight and primarily with

the front ( red ) Safe-T buckle.

The two small protruding re-

lease mechanism on the female

side of the buckle, do not come

back in place to secure a fully

locked position.Here are the

harnesses equipped by the fac-

tory with these quick release

buckles:

2008 models : ALTIX -

VAMP - HYBRID - ALTIRANDO

XP - VAMPAIR - X-ALPS

- EVASION - XC - KINDER

Airbag 2007 models :

ALTIPLUME Airbag - ESCAPE

Airbag - X-Ride - X-Ride Airbag.

If your harness was upgrad-

ed with the light quick release

buckles, make certain to verify

the stamping on the buckles

and find out if they are part of

the above potentially problem-

atic series. This problem is not

relevant to the harness itself

but rather to the quick release

light as well as the “ Safe-T “

buckle. The possibly malfunc-

tioning buckles are stamped

with the following markings :

A08 or B08 which corresponds

to their manufacturing date

(date also indicated on the

harness’s label), valid between

January 2008 and July 2008.

For more info go to Sup’Air’s

website. Please contact your

nearest distributor if you have

any questions.

SO CAL XC LEAGUE LAUNCHESThe Southern California XC

League kicked off this August

and has 5 events planned for

2008 and a preliminary sched-

ule of nine events for 2009. The

league is open to both Hang

Gliders and Paragliders with

separate tasks run for each dis-

cipline. More information can

be found at: http://www.usx-

cleague.com

USHPA NOTICE TO MEMBERSUSHPA occasionally makes

important changes to the

Association’s standard operat-

ing procedures (SOPs) and

other documents, especially

documents used in the rating

system. This column appears

in the magazine only to notify

the members when important

changes are made. Please

review the latest documents

in the Members Only section

of the USHPA web site. If you

have any questions about

these changes, please contact

your Regional Director. To all

paragliding pilots:

SOP 12-02: PILOT PROFICIENCY SYSTEM

The USHPA has changed the

paragliding Para-Ski special

skill task from Intermediate

and above to Novice and

above. There have also been

minor changes to the require-

ments for this task.

Please review the latest SOP

12-02 on the web.

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WEATHER WOES I wish to thank Greg Kelley,

and the organizers of the Vail Teva Games,

for giving the free flight folks a chance at

some big time TV coverage. The weather

didn’t work out for that weekend but it was

exciting for a P-3 to have the chance to

compete close to home.

I know a lot of work went into this event

for it not to happen but all of us with the

Vail Soaring Club appreciate the opportu-

nity even though it didn’t work out like we

had hoped. Mr. Kelley did an amazing job

making this a possibility, and I thank him

for his hard work. I hope the folks with the

Teva Games understand the uncertainty of

weather conditions and have us back next

year. I know I’ll sign on for next year, if they’ll

have us. Pretty please!

Submitted by Chris Ahrens

GAP SNAP In the August 2008 issue of the

magazine a picture was published of me

flying off of the Henson’s radial ramp on

page 38 in the story “Year of 100 Milers” by

Pete Lehmann. There are a couple of issues.

First and foremost, the photo was taken by

Linda Wright, wife of longtime pilot, Larry

Wright from the greater Columbus, OH area

(email: [email protected]). She’s

followed Larry around for years and knows

the best vantage points of many sites. This

remains one of my favorite photos as the

composition is perfect and of course that

it’s me taking off.

This photo represents several “firsts”

for me. This was my first launch off of the

Henson’s ramp, my longest flight to date,

and the day Larry gave me my H3 rating.

The other (very minor) issue is that my

wing is an Airwave Pulse 10M, not a Falcon.

I have since bought a WW Sport 2 and am

quite happy with the new wing.

When this photo was taken I had only

a few short XC flights but since getting

the Sport 2 have started to go farther out

with the other Ohio Flier pilots, 25 miles in

September of 2007 my longest to date. I’m

signed up for this year’s Team Challenge

at Henson’s to work on improving my skills

for even longer XC’s. I really enjoy the chal-

lenges of XC as well as the freedom to go

with the wind.

Submitted by Christopher Thale

EDITOR’S NOTES : I am very sorry, and

thanks for the sending in the correct infor-

mation. Thanks for all you do Linda!!!

Rants | Raves | Ramblings

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

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USHPA TAPS KOENIGSBERG PUBLIC RELATIONS The

United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding

Association has hired veteran public rela-

tions specialist Stephen Koenigsberg to

handle media and public relations support

for the association. Koenigsberg brings

more than 25 years of PR and marketing

savvy to USHPA, including a strong history

of placing positive stories in the national

media on behalf of corporations and non-

profits. His appointment is effective July 1,

2008.

Since 2004, Koenigsberg has been

president of Stephen Koenigsberg Public

Relations, a communications agency spe-

cializing in helping companies enhance

their reputation with key stakeholders,

through strategic public relations counsel

and successful high-impact media outreach

campaigns. He was also Director of Media

Relations for Rowan & Blewitt, an issues

and crisis management firm serving multi-

national organizations, from 1997 to 2004,

where he provided clients with high-level

strategic counsel on the management of

controversial issues, preparation for crisis

situations, and effective response to poten-

tially damaging events.

“Steve has an impressive track record of

working with reporters and getting positive

stories in the press,” said USHPA Executive

Director Paul Montville. “I am confident

that he will be an extraordinary plus in se-

curing targeted, consistent national media

exposure for the sports of hang gliding

and paragliding, and with his diverse PR

background develop a cohesive strategy to

support USHPA’s integrated marketing and

communications goals. We are fortunate to

have him on board.”

In previous projects, Steve has worked

with several major land conservation groups

in Colorado helping to protect high-priority

landscapes coveted by outdoor recreation

enthusiasts of all kinds. Through his work,

Steve has developed close contacts with

editors of newspapers and magazines, radio

and television news producers and broad-

casters, and the spectrum of business, tech-

nology, financial, consumer, broadcast and

trade press. His regular editor contacts in-

clude: The New York Times, The Wall Street

Journal, Time, Newsweek, and a wide vari-

ety of outdoor recreation, adventure sports

and travel industry publications.

A native of New York, Mr. Koenigsberg

has lived in Denver since 2006. He cur-

rently serves on several committees for the

Colorado Chapter of the Public Relations

Society of America and is a performer and

writer for the Denver Press Club Gridiron

Show. He is active in hiking, skiing, road

biking and traveling, and plays guitar and

piano.

ReachingOUTMission | Policy | Membership | Involvement


The following statements have been

provided by candidates for election to

the position of regional director for the

2009-2010 term. These statements are

unedited and should not be construed

as an official position of USHPA. They

have not been reviewed for accuracy.

Mark G. Forbes, USHPA elections committee chairman

REGION 1 | RICH HASS Time flies–it seems like yesterday that I was running for one of two Region 1 director positions--the one vacated by our past President, Bill Bolosky. After two years on the board--here’s what I am up to at USHPA: Joining the board with a background in commer-cial real estate investments, I was asked to serve on the Finance Committee, which I can assure you is one of the plum as-signments for new regional directors. Naturally, when asked, I volunteered. By the end of the first meeting, I was elected committee chairperson. Wowza. Things are looking good, I am thinking. Dealing with finance is pretty heady stuff.

But my big break came at last Fall’s re-gional director’s meeting when I was asked to run for Secretary. Liz Sharp, USHPA’s long-standing secretary extraordinaire de-cided to retire after many, many years of doing an awesome job. Stepping into her shoes would most assuredly be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Naturally, when asked, I volunteered...

So here I am--after just two years on the board, I’ve managed to find myself up to my ears in all things USHPA. And the ‘bonus nut pack’ for being USHPA Secretary is serving on the Executive Committee. (Who else would talk the minutes???)

OK, so what have I done to earn your vote? Here’s how I see it: All of us are in

USHPA because we love to fly. In a perfect world, we could fly to our hearts content w/o having to go to meetings and deal with budgets and take notes. But this world is far from perfect and that’s where I come in. You can vote for me, knowing I will do my best to go to all the meetings and work hard to make sure you don’t have to unless you want to. I’m all for pilots who love to fly and don’t mind supporting USHPA as the organization to help make it all possible.

I’ve been flying paragliders for about 15 years. I can still walk erect and, on an good day, find myself out on-course with the big guns. I’m not really a comp pilot but I have lots of friends who are. I’m not a hang glider pilot either--I’ve promised to save something special in life for when I’m old. I am a member of Northwest Paragliding Club and Cloudbase Country Club and I attend those meetings on a regular basis. Please vote for me--I need all the votes I can get!

REGION 2 | MICHAEL JEFFERSON Since I first learned to fly, I’ve wanted to share the sport of hang gliding with not only other pilots, but also those who have never seen nor heard of a hang glider. I feel I bring a passion to the sport and to the role of Region 2 Director more than a specific agenda. I look forward to working with the other Region 2 Directors to help not only grow the sport of hang gliding, but to preserve what we already have.

I feel one of the biggest responsibilities of a RegionalDirector is to treat people with fairness and respect. I realize there is a push to market the sport for growth and I feel with time those goals will be obtained by USHPA andour fellow pilots.

I was once asked if I had a real job that would qualify me as Regional Director. The answer to that question is no. I live

for hang gliding. I install floors, I weld, and I do construction work to keep a fresh supply of gliders in the garage.

As the owner of Bay Area Hang Gliding, I’ve seen the joy that comes to a new pilot’s face after their first flight. I’ve seen the joy that comes to a pilot’s face after their 1000th flight. Many of us have dreamed of flying and hang gliding allows us to live those dreams. It is my goal to help people bring their dreams to life.

REGION 2 | DAVE WILLS Dear Region 2 Pilots: Two years ago I asked for your sup-port and you responded by electing me as one of your Regional Directors. Prior to being elected I had been active on the Safety and Training Committee and was a member of the Membership and Development and Internal Marketing Committees. I also participated at the previous two Board meetings. At the local level, I have been an active Examiner for many years, supporting the Observer program.

Since being elected, I have learned a lot and have actively participated on the Board. One area I have focused on is the Safety and Training program. I continue to work on training material for Examiners and Observers. Another area is internal marketing. Internal marketing encompasses USHPA programs directed towards current members. The largest part of this effort is the Mentor program. I developed the Mentor program and wrote the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that formalize the new program in the organization. Subsequently, the pro-gram was turned over to the new Mentor Coordinator, Wayne Michelson and rolled out to the pilot population.

Last year, I was asked by Lisa Tate to chair the Organization and Bylaws Committee and I accepted this position.

ElectionSTATEMENTSMission | Policy | Membership | Involvement


This committee is responsible for main-taining the procedures which define the operations of the USHPA. Though this might seem boring as compared to flying-related activities, our organization relies on the SOPs for much of its operation. For example, any time a change is needed to the pilot proficiency program, the change is made in the SOPs. I have been work-ing hard to make sure the Bylaws and the SOPs reflect the way USHPA does busi-ness.

As you can see, I’ve been very busy as your Director. But there is still much more I would like to do. I plan on continuing to work on Examiner and Observer train-ing. I hope to push for more programs such as the Mentor Program that provide additional services and benefits to mem-bers of the USHPA. I plan to continue my efforts on the Organization and Bylaws and Safety and Training Committees, as well as my efforts to support the local chapters.

It has been an honor and a privilege to represent Region 2 on the Board of Directors of USHPA. I ask for your sup-port to continue this work.

REGION 3 | DAVID JEBB Today many of us sense the apprehension and uncertainty of the times, but the one thing that remains constant is our love of hangliding and paragliding. We take refuge and salva-tion from our passion to live and fly free. During the past four years while serving as your Regional Director we have seen many positive changes within our organization that will help ensure the future of our sport. I have dedicated my life to the sport of hangliding and paragliding for the past fifteen years and hope that I can count on your support in selecting me as your regional director for one more term. My hope is that we can continue to improve the safety and enjoyment of our sport.

REGION 3 | BOB KUCZEWSKI I can sum up my platform in two sentences: Flying should be fun. Flying should be fair. I be-lieve USHPA should focus on the fair part. That leaves the fun up to you.

It’s no secret that my candidacy is founded on restoring fairness at the Torrey Pines Gliderport. We’ve seen too many pilots (both hang gliding and paragliding) be mistreated there in the past 10 years. I believe USHPA should take a more active role in resolving whatever problems exist to ensure that all qualified pilots can have fair access to that site. I will work toward that goal.

Of course a Regional Director must serve more than one site. We deserve a Regional Director who visits Kagel, Crestline, Elsinore, Soboba, Horse, Little Black, and many others. Is that what we have now? I will work to protect all of our fragile sites.

But most of all, we need a Regional Director who cares about pilots and pilot issues. We have many Regional Directors who run businesses, and I think run-ning a hang gliding or paragliding busi-ness is very good for our sports. But we are an association of pilots not businesses. Fortunately, most business operators who are also Regional Directors can separate the two and do a good job represent-ing pilots while running their business. Several great examples come to mind, and I applaud them. But I do not believe this is true of the incumbent. If I am elected, I will be a voice for you. I will work to represent your views. You can be sure that Mr. Jebb will continue to have influence at USHPA whether he is Regional Director or not. But who will speak for the pilots in our region? I will.

There’s a lot more to say about many topics (site preservation, growth of our sports, mediation, HG/PG balance, etc.),

and there’s so little space here. So let me offer a few resources. Please read my state-ments and endorsements at torreyhawks.org/R3. Please write to me at [email protected]. Most importantly, please call me at 858-204-7499 anytime. I want to be YOUR Regional Director, and I will work for YOU.

Finally, the obligatory flying resume...I began flying steerable canopies at

Fort Benning in 1976 (US Army Jump School). I began flying airplanes in 1978, earned a private pilot’s license in 1979, and a sea plane rating in 1980. I flew my first hang glider flights in 1978, first para-glider flights in 1990, and I currently hold an H4/P4 rating. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 1983, and my senior proj-ect was a wind tunnel test of a model hang glider. In 2007, I began flying sailplanes and became the first pilot to fly a hang glider, paraglider, sailplane, and RC in one day at the Torrey Pines Gliderport (see “Pilot Profile” in August 2007 maga-zine).

Thanks for reading this, but please take just a few more minutes to make it count. Please mail in your ballot!!

REGION 4 | MARK GASKILL My first intro-duction to hang gliding was in the early 80’s. I was in the military and stationed at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. I had always been interested in the sport and signed up for hang gliding lessons at a school just outside DC. The class consist-ed of a Thursday evening classroom ses-sion followed up by numerous Saturday trips to the training hill. Twenty five years later I do not remember the name of the school but I certainly remember the experience of sliding down the hill on my training wheels and through many cow patties. In 1996 I returned to the sport by taking paragliding lessons in North


Carolina. After being signed off I was drawn to the mountains of Colorado and eventually Utah where flying was a little more accessible and the community slightly larger. Been flying every since.

I am now a fair weather pilot, spoiled perhaps. If it’s L&V I’m there. My in-terests these days seem to center around introducing the sport to others through tandem instruction and by supporting our local site and national organization. Ihave no aspirations of being a great comp pilot nor doing anything that places me much higher in the air than my wing. I am now working to develop - with the help of many others - a formal disabled flying and instruction program. I think ’08 is the year that will see this project moving forward.

Some other achievements have been writing the grant, presented by Ty McCartney, that won the Utah Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association $760,000 to improve the North Side of the Point of the Mountain – check out the construction progress on our local site www.UHGPGA.org. During the last couple of years we have seen a lot of en-croachment at the Point of the Mountain. This sometimes leads to conflict among members of the local flying community. Encroachment requires increased orga-nization of the local flying community who inevitably must partner up with en-tities who have the power to protect the site (usually state or county agencies and representatives). This may lead to better infrastructure but also seems to spawn additional rules and regulations – the scourge to many within the flying com-munity. Supporting smooth transitions is something I’m interested in and will con-tinue to support as RD.

I have been the VP of our local club for going on four years now and am sur-rounded by some remarkably gifted pilots, instructors, and administrators – too many to mention. Seeing these people do their stuff has been a great experience and provided insight that I hope to bring to the Region 4 Director position.

Finally, it seems as if I have competi-tion for the RD spot. That’s great! This kind of interest is a good thing – helping to raise the bar a bit. It’s great to see the enthusiasm.

REGION 4 | MEL GLANTZ With the ‘80’s coming to past we have witness our big-gest change to the sport. Don’t reinvent the glider just improve it the process is seemingly endless. That’s just one aspect of improvement, the people training new pilots, the instructor training(IP’s) and the use of purpose built gliders we use today also have changed the face of the sport. New methods of instruction have given these instructors the flexibility to provide more direct contact with the stu-dent making for a safer leaning environ-ment.

I consider myself a fortunate person to have taken up the free flight sport when I did, back in the day of the Comet and Raven. Having learned on Standards I do appreciate today’s equipment.

As is paragliders are our younger brother, opening freeflight to a larger population of pilots. We are witnessing a boom in light flight. Many forms of power-enhanced gliders are seeing their way to market. As an organization of free flight we should seek a union with power enhanced free flying pilots in order to expand the USHPA’s horizons.

As an instructor in the Albuquerque area for some 16 years having been a Hang Glider pilot for 28 years I’m always thrilled by my students passion for learn-ing this sport. Besides flying a trike tug and being a GA pilot my passion for free flying has already wore off on my son, he has become an accomplished hang glider pilot himself. I’m looking forward to rep-resenting Region 4 I would appreciate your support in becoming the Region 4 director.

REGION 4 | RYAN VOIGHT For those that don’t know me, I’m new to region 4 (origi-nally from Ellenville, NY)... But I’m not new to flying. I’ve been flying since I was four (tandem), and flying solo since I was thirteen. I now live at the Point and own/operate a hang gliding school there.

My father has been on the BOD for a while now, and through him I have had the opportunity to attend board meetings and learn quite a bit about how the board functions. I feel that I would do a great job of representing our region, and I hon-estly feel that I could help the organiza-tion do great things for this sport.

As a younger-generation pilot, the future of this sport is of great concern to me. It is my goal to ensure a long and thriving future for foot-launched free flight aviation (hang gliding and paraglid-ing).

REGION 7 | TRACY TILLMAN I have served two terms as Region 7 Director, and would be happy to serve for another term if elect-ed to do so by the USHPA membership in Region 7. Over the last four years, I have participated on and completed projects for the Safety and Training Committee, Tandem Committee, and Towing Committee. Since towing is the predomi-nant method for launching hang gliders and paragliders in our region, I have been primarily involved with towing-related USHPA committee work, including the renewal of our aerotowing and tandem ex-emptions with the FAA, standardization


of towing training curriculum, adoption of the new FAA Sport Pilot regulations for aerotowing and instruction, and revision of several written exams.

I started hang gliding in 1976, and started Cloud 9 Sport Aviation in Minnesota in the late ‘70s, teaching flying in an Icarus II, Easy Risers, and other ul-tralights from that era. I am now a profes-sor of engineering management at Eastern Michigan University, a commercial and multi-engine instrument-rated airplane pilot, a commercial-rated sailplane pilot, a sailplane tug pilot, and a safety counselor for the Detroit FAA FSDO area—and I am a very active advanced/tandem hang gliding instructor and aerotow pilot. For the past 12 years I have operated Cloud 9 Sport Aviation and the Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club (DFSC) with the help of my wife, Lisa Colletti, at Cloud 9 Field in Michigan. We have also just started a new company, North American Soaring, specializing in ultralight sailplanes and motor-gliders.

As an active instructor, knowledgeable pilot, and FAA safety counselor, I believe that I can provide good representation for all of the pilots in our region to the USHPA, help our organization deal with many of the challenges that face our sport, and help to provide a good interface for us with the FAA and other aviation orga-nizations.

REGION 8 | JEFF NICOLAY As a 30 year + member of the US Assoc. and 34 year pilot in New England, I hope to work with clubs in New England to further protect our sites and bring hang gliding and para-gliding closer together. We have a lot of young pilots who will be our future, and I hope to give them a historical understand-ing of how we got to the present and what it takes to keep our sites open and our special interest in aviation legal for future generations. More fun and fewer rules!

REGION 9 | L. FELIPE AMUNÁTEGUI Fellow weight-swingers from region nine, it is time once again for me to ask for your vote on my behalf for the position of Regional Director. Between L E Herrick and me we have you in Region 9 covered. I promise to continue to attend all meetings as if it was my religion, and I will continue to represent the diverse interest of our region. Thank you for your support!

REGION 10 | STEVE KROOP I have served the USHPA in various capacities for more than 12-years years. First as an Honorary Director, then as Director-at-Large, and now as Regional Director. I have chaired the Towing Committee for several years and actively participate in the Safety and Training, Tandem and Competition Committees, all of which address issues that are important to Region 10. I am an advanced tandem instructor, tug-pilot, instructor administrator and aerotow su-pervisor. Because of my association with Flytec USA, I am directly involved with hang gliding and paragliding on a full-time basis. This allows me to talk with pilots every day and also means that I am easily accessible by phone and email. I have not missed a single BOD meeting in 12 years, I believe I bring integrity, hon-esty, and good judgement to the BOD (at least I think so). I am dedicated to the growth, survival and long-term health of hang gliding and paragliding in the U.S. and would like to continue to represent Region 10.

REGION 12 | PAUL VOIGHT Hello, Region 12! Did two years go by already? Cheese and rice!

Well … it’s election time again, and I’ll give you some broad and vague reasons to vote for me (Paul Voight) to continue on in my capacity as Regional Director of Region 12.

I enjoy being on the Board, and haven’t missed a meeting since spring 1989. I’d probably go to the meetings regardless, as I still hope that I can have some effect in voting against things I don’t want to see adopted. (It doesn’t always go my way, but I try.) Obviously, I vote in favor of things that I feel will improve the sports and the organization.

I do get satisfaction in working both at and in between meetings to develop and refine our programs and policies, all in an attempt to help steer the course of the ship in a good direction.

There are some good new members who have come on the Board as well, and I feel it’s important to have a few of us vet-erans around to keep a nice balance and keep some consistency flowing from one reign to the next. (and to keep the Wills Wing conspiracy alive!)

Lastly (but not least), my bi-annual offer always stands! I’ll buy you a beer if you vote for me!

Fly high!


PREFLIGHT PARABLES I offer my sincere

thanks to Rob for answering my last-min-

ute plea for instructor input on the events

reported in this month’s column. I appre-

ciate the chance to share the benefit of

his years of expertise in our discussion of

safety. Teaching since 1997, Rob was award-

ed the 2002 USHPA Instructor of the Year

and holds USHPA appointments as both

tandem and instructor-administrator.

Although not every contributor is named

on the byline, each installment of this column

is the result of a concerted effort: It is draft-

ed by your humble USHPA accident review

subcommittee columnist, augmented when

possible by commentary from luminary

guest instructors like Rob, reviewed and

improved by the other dedicated members

of the subcommittee, and submitted to our

infinitely patient magazine editor minutes

before his publication deadline.

This column serves an educational func-

tion for our organization, by providing a

periodic analysis of selected incidents sub-

mitted through our official reporting system.

It is primarily intended to help new and in-

termediate pilots who are on the steeper

end of the learning curve (or the riskier side

of the risk/reward curve), by analyzing in-

cidents for valuable safety lessons and of-

fering constructive and non-judgmental

advice. Of course, new and intermediate

pilots aren’t the only ones having accidents,

as our annual statistics can substantiate, but

their inexperience and ripeness for correc-

tion make them our ideal target audience.

All pilots are encouraged to confiden-

tially report any accidents or close calls

they may have, or that they witness. We try

to analyze as many of them as we can in

the column, while aggregating the informa-

tion in each report for our annual statistics,

whether or not they are discussed in the

column. We also encourage pilots to file

a report in anticipation of making a claim

under the USHPA insurance policy.

In light of many recent submissions by

pilots with obvious axes to grind about

other pilots at their local sites, I would like

to clear up an apparent misconception: The

accident reporting system is not an appro-

priate or effective venue by which to air

grievances or complaints about anyone—

the sole purpose of the reporting system is

to provide educational advice based upon

submissions that must remain anonymous.

A better approach to improving safety

at our local sites would be to work within

our local clubs or to discuss the issue with

our regional directors or members of the

USHPA safety or instruction committees.

By all means, keep those reports coming,

but let’s keep them focused on our educa-

tional goals.

Now, on to this month’s lessons! The

most explicitly educational reports were

notable for their emphasis on two common

preflight safety themes: weather assess-

ment and preflight gear checks. Preflight

preparation can go further to protect us

than any amount of skilled flying. This is a

continually recurring topic in our safety dis-

cussions. It covers all the activities leading

up to our launch on a given day: checking

weather reports, inspecting gear, assessing

our mental state. Often the best and most

important preflight decision can be simply

not to fly, as illustrated in the first report.

SafetyBULLETINAnalysis | Preparedness | Incidents

by Alex Colby, staff writerGuest Commentary by Rob Sporrer


SUDDEN STORM An intermediate pilot sub-

mitted a dramatic report early this year,

regarding an accident he suffered last fall.

In spite of a forecast predicting potentially

strong winds and a 20 percent chance of

thunderstorms, the pilot headed up to his

local central western mountain site to check

on conditions at launch. After spending half

an hour at launch, conditions appeared fa-

vorable for flying, with the nearest clouds 20

miles away. The pilot noted a pronounced

haze in the air, which he thought likely to be

caused by the smoke of distant wildfires.

The pilot launched and flew for half an

hour before suddenly noticing bolts of

lightning flashing below and to the side of

his location. At the same time, he realized

that the wind was growing too strong to

allow him to reach the designated LZ, and

the lift was too strong under the mammatus

clouds forming overhead for a B-line stall

to have much effect. The pilot decided to

flee downwind to clearer skies, and after

covering five miles, he was able to descend

towards a gravel pit to make his landing ap-

proach. The last thing the pilot remembers

is descending in strong surface-wind at a

steep angle into the pit from about 50 feet.

He doesn’t know if the wing collapsed or

just hit massive sink in the shadow of the

upwind wall of the pit, but he was knocked

out by the impact. A passing hiker used the

pilot’s cell phone to call 911 and notify the

pilot’s wife of the accident. After four days

in the hospital, the pilot was released in a

back brace with a stable vertebra fracture

that had mostly healed by the time he made

his report. The pilot offers his own analysis:

“I’m planning to fly again, but with better appreciation for how fast conditions could change. Also learned to appreciate that when the air is unstable, storm clouds don’t need to blow in, they can materialize in clear air. The haze I saw wasn’t the smoke that I rationalized, but was an indicator of high moisture and instability in the air all around me. It was a bad choice to fly, even though conditions seemed stable while I was waiting, and even looked great when I launched. Things went to hell in about 10 minutes, and I was lucky not to get electrocuted by lightning or sucked up into mammatus and class B airspace (or higher). Pulling a reserve was no option, because I was stuck over a heavy residential area and freeway with no major collapses. I didn’t want to risk coming down in an area

with lots of power lines or traffic without directional control. If I hadn’t been in such a hurry to get down, and had calculated the potential for the rotor, I might have landed on the side of the pit or the mountain and have been fine, presuming the south winds weren’t too strong to land in.”

We often find ourselves making de-

cisions to fly in spite of an awareness of

less-than-ideal conditions, and we often

get away with it. A successful outcome to

a risky decision tends to reinforce our poor

judgment, and we may begin to mistake

luck for skillful piloting. But few of us have

enough of that kind of luck. Instead, let’s try

to build up a reserve of good judgment and

genuine skill that we can rely on to keep us

safe for the duration of our flying careers.

The report doesn’t explicitly state this,

but it appears that the pilot was flying alone.

Some of us appreciate the occasional sweet

indulgence of flying alone, but we need to

remember that solo flying deprives us of

the usual network of human sensors many

of us take for granted to help us monitor the

air and the weather conditions. Flying with

others can also dramatically improve our

chances of rescue when things go wrong.

In this case, the pilot was fortunate that a

passing hiker found him and was able to

help out. While it’s not always possible to

round up flying buddies for every adventure,

it behooves us to exercise increased caution

and awareness when we don’t have others

around to help. Rob offers his advice:

“We need to realize that choosing to fly on a day where there is even the slightest chance of thundershowers is a risk. We need to constantly be scanning the sky in all directions on these days. As pilots, our first clue shouldn’t be lightning: we need to be on the lookout for over- development, especially darker clouds. We need to give the forecasts more respect, and we can’t afford to get lost

in the moment up there. We must land inconveniently to be safe, and if conditions are windy, we must find a spot with no rotor, if possible. Pilots who are forced to land in an area with heavy vegetation often look for a small open space or a field of some sort. But what we really need is an undisturbed airflow. Avoid landing in a little field if it shows potential for mechanical turbulence. We are conditioned to find an open space to land, but sometimes a patch of bushes or trees with clean airflow would be better for a safe landing. Safe landings are the primary objective and should take precedence over convenience or worries about damaging our equipment.”

COMPRESSION KNOT The next report was

submitted by an experienced tandem pilot

flying an inland west coast mountain site.

The pilot launched without realizing there

was a tangle in the C lines on one side, and

though he attempted to clear the knot, the

effort only made the wing deformation

worse as some of the tangled lines were

pulled more taut. After the pilot applied

opposite brake and weight shift to counter

the deformed side, slowing the glider down

quite a bit, he decided to aim for a closer

alternate LZ. As he continued to work on

clearing the knot, without success, at about

700-feet above the ground, the deformed

side of the glider stalled. The pilot threw his

reserve, but the deployment bag went four

feet and stopped. He grabbed the bridle

and yanked, but instead of deploying its

contents, the bag was returned to the pilot.

He found the handle again, shook the bag

until the contents started coming out, and

then threw it again, after which the reserve

finally inflated and brought the pair down

for a landing. There were no injuries aside

from a sore back sustained by the passen-

ger, confirmed during a subsequent visit to

the doctor.

This incident illustrates the importance

of the final portion of the preflight process:

inflating the wing and checking for clean in-

flation and clear lines as it comes overhead.

This is tougher when forward launching, or

when launching in strong winds that tug

you off the ground before you have time

to assess the inflation, but it’s important to

make the effort nonetheless. Most pilots

have experienced the disconcerting or dan-

gerous results of inattention at this critical

stage, and we could all afford to improve

“I'm planning to fly again, but with better appreciation for how fast condi-tions could change.”


Love Canopy Flight?Come Play with Us!

How big was it?

the techniques we use to abort our launch-

es at the last minute when necessary. Rob

makes some great points:

“I often see pilots trying to sort out a line snag or folded tip just after taking off. Sometimes pilots launch even when they realize they have an issue, assuming they will sort it out once airborne. Both of these options are bad ideas. Anytime we have an issue with our wing, we need to get on a heading using weight shift and brake input. Pilots who begin attempting to sort things out immediately after launch are asking for trouble. This is usually the way pilots let situations get away from them, by trying to fix the problem before getting the wing to fly straight on a good heading. One of the big reasons we do SIV clinics is to show that your glider can fly straight in most asymmetric configurations as long as you make heading your primary objective. It is natural for pilots to want to sort out the problem once they have established a heading and have enough ground clearance for a reserve deployment, should it become necessary. But we need to remember that if we can’t sort out the problem, we can most likely land the glider even with the presence

of line tangles and/or knots. We can’t sacrifice our altitude and come up short of an LZ because we were so focused on fixing the deformity in the wing.”

This incident highlights another critical

preflight issue: repacking and checking our

reserves. This is especially important for

tandem pilots who are taking responsibility

for the safety of their passengers. As Rob

notes:

“Tandem repacks happen far less frequently than solo reserve repacks. I guess it could be that tandem pilots think the possibility of throwing their tandem reserve is very unlikely. We need to get our tandem reserves repacked just as often as we do our solo gear.”

STOWAWAY Another close call was re-

ported by a very experienced pilot flying

at an east coast inland mountain site after

driving all day on a road trip up the coast.

The pilot stopped at the end of the day at

a familiar site to sneak in a late flight from a

high mountain launch. The pilot headed up

to launch, despite feelings of rustiness and

fatigue, and after getting some help laying

out the wing, executed a successful reverse

launch. The pilot reports that the glider

began to sink right away, and the wing re-

sisted turns into the strong lift encountered

in front of launch. As the pilot continued to

try to get into the lift, the glider continued

to sink inordinately fast. After an inspection

of the lines for any kind of tangle, the pilot

finally noticed the silhouette of a brick-sized

rock lodged in the center of the trailing edge

“I know we have all found stones of

various sizes floating in our wings from time to time, but hopefully we will

notice any that are the size of bricks...”


of the canopy. Just as the pilot realized that

the landing zone would be out of reach at

this sink rate, the wing encountered sudden

turbulence, possibly from a thermal, and

pitched up and back. The pilot responded

with raised hands, but the glider came back

overhead in an unexpected horseshoe con-

figuration. Shortly thereafter, the glider re-

inflated and surged forward, expelling the

stone in the process, just in time for the pilot

to clear the trees and drop safely into a back

yard at the nearest edge of the woods. The

pilot describes some likely factors contrib-

uting to the incident:

“Probably a series of bad decisions involving being tired after a long drive. I also did not lay out and preflight the entire glider by myself as I normally do and missed the offending rock. I should have at least chosen a better area without so many loose stones to lay out the glider. I was very lucky—and I hate counting on luck for a flight’s outcome (except finding thermals).”

I know we have all found stones of vari-

ous sizes floating in our wings from time to

time, but hopefully we will notice any that

are the size of bricks before we become

airborne. I think the pilot in this case must

have used a strong and confident reverse-

launch technique, thereby pulling the brick-

laden wing cleanly overhead and into the air.

Thankfully the pilot was unhurt, after pulling

off the heroic last ditch spot-landing in the

yard. Rob reminds us that:

“It’s obviously a better idea to spend a day at your local training hill knocking the rust off instead of heading for a high flight. Sometimes the excitement of flying clouds our judgment, and we need to check in with ourselves before flying.”

TANGLED SPEED LINE An intermediate pilot

flying at a southeast central mountain site

reports a late afternoon launch in condi-

tions that were clearly too windy. The pilot

observed that other pilots who were already

in the air were using speed bar to penetrate

the strong wind. After launching, the pilot

realized that the line to the speed bar on

one side was wrapped around the leg strap

of the harness. The pilot was being blown

back and was sinking, and the LZ would be

unreachable without additional speed. The

pilot engaged the speed system, but the

wing instantly collapsed on the side with

the wrapped speed line, and the glider spi-

raled back towards the hill, impacting the

crown of a tree and dropping the pilot to

the ground. The pilot landed feet first, but

sustained a minor back injury. The pilot

notes a combination of factors that contrib-

uted to the incident:

“I made several mistakes that day. First of all, I should not have launched. Second, I did not check the glider properly. Third, I should not have used the speedbar. I could have used the trimmer system, or I could have simply unbuckled the leg strap and untwisted the line. And finally, I did not react properly when the canopy collapsed

“I was very lucky–I hate counting on luck for a flight's outcome (except

finding thermals).”


and I let the glider spiral.” These are all insightful points. It can be

hard to make the decision not to launch

when others are airborne and apparently

having nice flights. We could all afford to

improve our decision-making in this area.

We also need to develop and exercise a ha-

bitual and thorough preflight check of our

gear. Come up with a system that works for

you and stick with it. And sometimes the

most obvious solution to a problem evades

us in moments of stress: I’m not sure I would

have thought of unbuckling the leg strap,

but assuming no further complications, that

approach could well have spared the pilot a

sore back. Rob adds:

“Launching when other pilots need to use speed bar to penetrate is a mistake. What will you do if you break your speed stirrup in flight? All of these accidents point to a lack of a thorough preflight routine. Everybody seems to get lazy about doing their preflight as time goes by. We have to get centered and take a deep breath before we fly, and focusing on checking all our gear every time we fly is huge.”

BACKSIDE LAUNCH A novice pilot executed

a forward launch into light upslope airflow

near the summit of a central western moun-

tain site. After encountering some minor

initial turbulence near the hill which caused

the wing to surge forward and suffer tip

collapses, the pilot proceeded to track

away from the terrain. Within 30 seconds

to a minute of total airtime and at around

750 feet above the ground, the pilot’s wing

surged violently forward into a horizontal

position facing the ground, then collapsed

and remained folded as a spiral dive quickly

developed. Unable to slow the spiral, the

pilot decided to throw his reserve, which

deployed only 2 seconds before the pilot

fell through a dead tree and impacted the

ground. The pilot landed on his back, with

the harness and helmet taking the main

force of the impact, and the pilot was for-

tunate to sustain only cuts, scrapes and

bruises.

The pilot describes a situation that very

likely resulted from launching into the

leeside of the prevailing wind, where me-

chanical rotor turbulence can commonly

masquerade as light upslope winds behind

the top of a hill. This is another case where

better preflight weather assessment would

have spared the pilot a very unpleasant

outcome. Even at our familiar local sites, we

can be fooled by unusual or unexpected

variations in the conditions. It is rare that we

don’t have a surfeit of real-time weather in-

formation at our fingertips these days. We

need to make ourselves very familiar with

these sources of information from the earli-

est stages of our flying careers. Also, in this

case the pilot doesn’t explicitly state that he

was flying alone, but again, having a flying

buddy along in this case may have made

the difference. Another pilot may have

checked recent wind readings or insisted

on hiking to the top to check the airflow

at the summit.Rob highlights the textbook

nature of this incident:

“There are two questions on this exact topic on the P2 test. Doing a basic winds aloft forecast and hiking to the top of the ridge to check the wind if you can’t get a wind talker report from the peak is absolutely necessary on every flying day.”

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Although the pilot in this incident was

flying his local site, Rob also points out the

greater likelihood of misreading launch con-

ditions for pilots who are visiting unfamiliar

sites:

“It’s always a good idea to check in with local pilots anywhere you go. This is why I’m not a big fan of all the websites which describe where launches are located. We need to be sure to check in with locals and find out the site specific rules so the site is not jeopardized by our lack of knowledge of the local rules. The other benefit is you get local pilots to tell you if the conditions look good for any given day.”

BACKWARDS LAUNCH Our final report

comes from a very experienced tandem

pilot who was flying the first of two sched-

uled passengers at a northwestern site.

Feeling rushed for time, the pilot deviated

from his usual preflight routine of connect-

ing the wing to the spreader-bars on the

pilot harness first. In this case the pilot con-

nected the two harnesses together with the

spreader-bars first and then connected the

spreader bars to the wing. After executing

an assisted reverse launch, the pilot was

surprised to find that both pilot and pas-

senger had become airborne in a reversed

configuration, facing backwards. Taking

quick stock of the situation, the pilot calmly

steered the glider out of air traffic, using D

risers and weight shift, and then pulled big-

ears to descend quickly to the LZ, where he

executed a soft one-step backwards land-

ing, with the passenger gently landing on

the pilot’s lap. The passenger was unaware

that the flight had featured an unusual ori-

entation and was pleased with the experi-

ence, but the pilot felt obligated to explain

that flights are normally conducted in a

forward facing direction. The pilot shares

some lessons:

“I learned the importance of following a standard preflight procedure without ANY deviation, and have reorganized my tandem schedule to avoid time pressures and feeling rushed on launch. I have seen the effects of failing to preflight tandem paraglider hook-ins, and I resolve to be extra vigilant in always following my standard preflight checklist, and never detaching or reattaching the tandem glider while on launch. I will

work with my Tandem Administrator to do a check flight and review my safety procedures and preflight checklist.”

This incident is similar to many we see

that involve insufficient preflight gear

checks, but tandem flying obviously re-

quires a greater attention to these details.

Of course, we shouldn’t be willing to risk a

sloppy preflight procedure when flying solo,

but surely when flying tandem, we owe it to

our civilian fans to give them nothing less

than a calm and thorough preflight proce-

dure in every instance. As Rob notes:

“Being a tandem pilot is a huge responsibility. There are quite a few days during the busy season when commercial tandem operators are hustling to make a buck. We can get caught up in the moment of rushing these flights. The tandem exemption is the Achilles heel of our organization. This is not the first time this has happened, and these flights can be landed safely. Pilots need to remain calm and focus on getting to the LZ.”

09UNITED STATES HANG GLIDING AND PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION INC.


2009

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OWENS VALLEY TAKE 1 Owens Valley is approximately 100 miles long and bound-ed on the south by Owens Lake, on the west by the Sierras and on the east by the Inyo and White Mountain ranges. In the early 1900’s the valley was lush with veg-etation and bustling with activity. Silver was being mined from the slopes of Cerro Gordo and the ore along with salt from the neighboring Saline Valley were car-ried by tram down to the nearby town of Keeler. There the ore and mineral were loaded onto ferries for transport across the deep blue waters of Owens Lake and then transferred to mule teams for the long trek to the southern California coast. The Los Angeles metropolis was thriving but the naturally dry LA basin couldn’t sustain the city’s water needs and through a series of contentious and often unscru-pulous land grabs, the LA Department of Water and Power was able to construct a 233-mile-long aqueduct to divert the Owens River to the coast. In a few short years Owens Lake was dry.

In the years hence, Keeler’s population has dwindled from over 5,000 to around 50. Many of those that haven’t relocated suffer from lung cancer, which most at-tribute to the abnormally high concentra-tion of airborne particulates carried aloft from the now-dry lakebed by the strong mountain wave conditions that prevail in the winter and the abundant thermals in the summer.

Ringed by 14,000 ft mountains on both flanks and with a valley floor that dips below 4,000 ft, Owens is America’s deepest valley. The long slopes and strong solar heating generate tremendous ther-mals that rip loose from the valley floor

and scream upward to heights that can exceed the legal limits for ultralight air-craft.

Any novice hang or para pilot knows the valley is a Mecca for long distance XC flying for it was there that the 100 and 200-mile barriers were first broken. The valley’s potential was publicized in the latter ‘70s and I remember my astonish-ment when Chris Price wrote that on an average summer day an average pilot could fly an unheard of 25 miles!

XC flying really took off in 1980 when the Roy Haggard-designed UP Comet set a new performance standard, putting flex-wings on par with the popular rigid wings of the time. The Owens Valley meets were the premier world XC meets and were held at the 8,200-ft MSL Gunther Launch – nothing more than a series of switchbacks in a 4-WD dirt road over-looking the town of Bishop. Competition tasks often exceeded world records set just a few years prior and pilots flocked to the valley eager to prove their mettle in the strong conditions.

In June of 1981 I was ready to experi-ence real thermalling flight. Up until this time I could count my thermalling experi-ence on one finger. And I don’t mean that I had had one thermalling flight, I mean I had successfully climbed in one ther-mal – and that was under full Soarmaster power.

So how does an unknown hang glider pilot with one thermal to his credit get to fly with his idols in the Owens XC Classic? The answer is simple – volunteer to be a wind dummy and hope you’re not carded.

My marching orders were to launch

early and hang out around the launch window marking thermals and char-acterizing the conditions until enough competitors had launched and headed downrange.

All of the competitors had CB radios for communication, some had sailplane oxygen systems, and all carried copious amounts of water. I had none of these things and was surprised to see how much water everyone was carrying. I figured the flights would be several hours long at best and everyone would go as far as they could before they had to leave the range to make the retrieval highway that ran along the foot of the White Mountain range. I had never had to take a drink in flight and I had once climbed Pike’s Peak with a single can of soda that I held in reserve to savor on the summit. My Navy ejection seat harness contained an 8-oz flask of water to hold a downed pilot for a few hours until a rescue helo arrived so I figured that flask would last me until the retrieval truck arrived.

Larry Tudor was one of the first to get ready to launch. I noted that Larry had a 2-liter plastic bottle taped to his cross-bar with a drinking tube running down a downtube. “Now that’s a lot of unneces-sary weight to carry around,” I thought. Tudor was a top-rated competition pilot and flexwing distance record holder but he still surprised everyone by suddenly charging off the mountain. Apparently he was so skilled that he didn’t need to wait around for no stinking wind dummy.

The other pilots watched as he searched for lift but slowly sank out. Soon Larry was busily working bug farts in a valiant effort to escape the invisible tractor beam that seemed to emanate from the bailout LZ, a couple of small salt flats appropri-ately referred to as “the pits.” I learned the true nature of competition when many of the competitors began cheering as the shadow of Larry’s glider rose closer and closer toward his all-white mylar-coated sail. But Larry’s skill and determination eventually paid off and his circles started slowly ascending and drifting downrange. The other competitors were panicking, they didn’t want to give him a head start but they were unsure if they’d enjoy his success. I noticed more and more silent glances in my direction and knew it was time to test my mettle.

HangInTHERETechnique | Safety | Training | Flights

by Mark “Forger” Stucky

[opposite] Forger Comet climbs out in his UP Comet over Owens Valley.


The dichotomy of flying in the Owens is that although the temperature on the valley floor is in the triple digits, the thermals can carry you well above the freezing level. So everyone sat around in running shorts and t-shirts until just prior to launching when they would layer up as if they were embarking on the Iditarod. I bundled up in multiple layers of ski cloth-ing and was sweating profusely by the time I launched.

Conditions had obviously improved dramatically during Tudor’s extended scratchfest because I blundered into a thermal within a minute of launching. For the better part of an hour I soared thousands of feet above launch enjoying the cool air and abundant thermals. I was also pleasantly surprised that the legend-ary Owens Valley turbulence wasn’t that bad.

By now the rest of the field was run-ning off the mountain like lemmings so I decided my official duties were over and it was time to go for distance. The canyons that ran from the valley floor to the top of the range were renowned for strong sink so I topped out above 14,000

ft before racing across each one. Since the lift was abundant halfway up the slopes I never worked my way back over the main spine. Rarely getting below 11,000 ft, the turbulence – although not severe – meant the flying was quite physical. The exertion, coupled with the lack of oxygen, had me flying with my mouth wide open gasping for air. I had not anticipated just how de-hydrating the prelaunch and flying condi-tions would be and drank my entire flask of water as soon as I topped out in the first thermal. With my mouth open as wide as a windsock I quickly experienced thirst beyond belief, my throat feeling like it was stuffed with fiberglass insulation, my lips dry and cracked like never before.

By the time I passed the White Mountain summit I was happy that I was having trouble finding another thermal and pointed the glider towards a large crop field next to the highway that was being drenched with agricultural sprin-klers. I had no idea if the water was po-table but at that point my thirst was so severe that quenching it would be worth a case of dysentery.

That night I proudly entered into my

logbook a single flight entry containing my longest duration (2:02), farthest dis-tance (19 miles), highest altitude (15,300 ft), and greatest gain (7,100 ft). I also pur-chased a 16-oz bottle of water, somehow thinking that doubling my water would be sufficient. The next morning Tudor, who had placed 2nd for the day, men-tioned that although he wasted a lot of time getting to altitude, once he topped out he headed for the spine and basically ran the range at will. The seed was plant-ed; this time I would fly to the top of the range a few miles behind launch before heading downrange.

My schedule (or wife, I can’t remember which) only allowed for two days in the Owens so I wanted to make the most of this next flight and not waste time hang-ing out over launch. Unlike the previous blue day, a beautiful cloud street sat di-rectly over the spine and ran the length of the ridge, serving to cement my flight plan of immediately heading towards the high country.

I decided that I wouldn’t be too derelict in my wind dummy duties if I was the first to launch. The conditions were stronger,


my logbook indicating continuous mod-erate to occasionally strong turbulence and gusts above 20 mph. I wired off suc-cessfully and immediately snagged a rip-ping thermal, happy to be drifting back towards the spine. I topped out at only 12,000 feet but stuck with my plan and turned directly towards the high ground. Ignoring the wail of my sink alarm, I dove through the sink towards the lift that I knew awaited me. My vario was soon pegged at 1200 fpm down but I doggedly continued downwind, arriving under the cloud street at 10,800 ft (~800 ft AGL). There was a 500’ bump of a hill atop the plateau and I was a couple of hundred feet below its summit when I finally found a thermal. I only gained 1000 ft in it and drifted further back in the process. It was then that I noticed the stiff winds at the top were being compounded by the ven-turi effect of the canyons that funneled into it. I stuffed the bar to penetrate out but was using up all my altitude trying to make forward progress. I scanned around me and noted a small dust devil just to the south. Desperate, I projected where I thought the thermal would be and flew

into it at 400 ft., ready to reach for my reserve if the glider tucked. Surprisingly, the lift was smooth and this time I gained 2,000 ft. but drifted a corresponding dis-tance downwind and still couldn’t pen-etrate out in front. The cloud street that had looked so promising prior to launch had overdeveloped and blanketed the ridge in shade. After 30 minutes of fight-ing the headwinds and chopped up bub-bles of lift I decided it was time to face my fate while I still had plenty of daylight left. I touched down smoothly on top in 30 mph winds next to the dirt road leading to the White Mt. research station.

I had just completed bagging up my glider when low and behold a Forest Service truck appeared, driving down the mountain. I was amazed at my good for-tune and when the ranger asked if I was OK, I happily replied, “Yes, I’m fine!” He then told me that he could only give me a ride if I was injured and drove away, leaving me dumbstruck. Luck really was with me, however, because less than half an hour later two campers drove by and not only offered me a lift to Bishop, they first took me to their camp site and filled

my stomach with fresh trout and corn-on-the-cob roasted over their campfire!

And so ended my first trip to Owens Valley and my first XC attempts. I cer-tainly learned some valuable lessons about preparation for flight, being knowl-edgeable of current and forecast condi-tions, reading the weather while flying, and striking out alone. I also eventually learned that my encounter with the dust devil was luckier than I initially realized, for the previous year another pilot had died on the spine under near-identical cir-cumstances. The day I left, Dick Cassetta flew into a dust devil immediately after launch and was tossed over backwards into an inadvertent loop. (Dick pulled out just prior to impact and went on to complete the task. His luck eventually ran out in another competition when he was killed while trying to navigate through a mountain pass in strong winds.)

I was anxious to return to the Owens Valley but my military duties took me far away and it would be six years before I was able to fly there again. In the mean-time there were still plenty more lessons to be learned.

October 2008 | Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA.aero 25Tyler Horne | Photo by Jeff Annetts.


This was THE day—Sunday, the 15th of June, 2008—the day of my best flight ever. While driving to launch, I decided I was going to fly

from Chelan, Washington, cross-country over the flats. I’d flown Chelan a few times before and, all but once, had landed at the soccer fields. To me, it was a scary place. I’d heard the stories of reserve-throws and worse, but I erased those thoughts from mind since they are not part of my preflight routine. Instead, I thought of all the awesome flights friends had successfully taken from there—to Wilbur, Hartline, Coulee City, Mansfield, Brewster and back.

I became interested in flying Chelan while I was talking on the phone with my friend, Meredith Malacosay. She and Joe Sullivan had just fin-ished competing in the West Coast Paragliding Championships at Woodrat, Oregon, and they wanted to fly Chelan the next day. Did I want to come? Yes, of course. (The forecast at Chelan ap-parently looked so good it was worth the all night

drive.) I was delighted with the invitation. I’d spent the week at work distracted, hearing of their great flights at WCPC, and was eager to get in the air with them. Six-out-of-seven days-flyable at Woodrat and they still needed more. I love my obsessed friends.

When early morning came, we were all wired up. We get to fly! As I looked at the sky, I could see cum-mies forming, but not much wind was showing on the trees or flags on our drive toward the Butte. We discussed the weather, looked at the map, and made a simple plan: get high, at least 8,000 feet, cross the Columbia River, get another climb at the canyon and fly over the flats as far as possible. My goal for the day was Mansfield, about 30 km east of Chelan Butte, a seemingly realistic goal once I succeeded in crossing to the flats.

On launch we watched the streamers show thermals coming up in every direction. We couldn’t decide where to launch—the Rocks or Ants? A few dusties came up on the flats in the distance, which made me think I should already be in the air. A couple of hang gliders launched between the Rocks and got up. Then, we realized it was coming up better at Ants. It wasn’t far to the other launch, but it was hot walking around all suited up!

We finally launched from Chelan Butte, the first of a group, at about 12:50 pm. Joe got to 10,000 feet, called it on the radio and headed to Farnham Canyon. I worked to get high around launch and reached 9,500 feet. When I attempted the crossing, I initially hit some heavy sink but then found another climb just north of the soccer fields. Holding on and drifting north with this climb, I crossed at McNeil Canyon. The road was closed and I knew that sink-ing out could result in a long walk but that’s always a chance you take flying XC. Maybe, if you’re unlucky, you have to walk a distance. I decided I was willing to take that chance.

by HEATHERST.CLAIRE

Over The FlatsFirst Time


During this crossing, my GPS flashed a message to me: low battery. Whoops. (That morning fresh batteries were offered up more than once, but I didn’t think I needed them.) I scratched over McNeil Canyon at around 4,000 ft. I knew I’d find some-thing on the sunny south-facing part of the canyon and did find bubbles of lift off the sunny, rocky spots. Eventually, I climbed out of McNeil Canyon at about 6,000 feet.

I began my journey over the flats. Clouds formed over my head and dusties whirled in the brown fields below. Cool! This is what I’d heard about, read about, dreamed about. This was it. There were signs of lift everywhere and wide open spaces that went on forever. Wow! I knew I’d find ripping thermals over the flats, so I was ready for them. And there

they were. I decided I preferred to look up at the clouds rather than down at the dusties. What lovely clouds I was approaching at 7,000 then 8,000 then 9,000 then 10,000 feet! Five digits, I’d never seen five digits on my vario. Finally, I came so close to the clouds that it was time to stop circling. I needed to fly to the edge.

At 10,000 feet, Mansfield was in sight. I was NW of my goal with a bit of S wind and lots of altitude. When I spotted Bridgeport way out to the left, Mansfield way out to the right and Banks Lake out in the distance, I decided my new goal was Banks Lake! Since I wasn’t familiar with the area and couldn’t use my GPS, I had to make part of my flight decisions on roads and signs of civilization. By this time, I was cold and a bit tired so wanted to


land where I could easily reunite with my friends. As I flew closer to Banks Lake, I saw a town toward the north that I thought was Coulee City and this became my new goal.

After I changed gloves to warm my frozen finger-tips, shook my arms, talked on the radio, took a few pictures, flew on glide to rest, my thoughts of land-

ing faded. Clouds kept forming over my head. Big beautiful clouds with amazing lift. What could be better? For hours I didn’t fly below 9,000 feet; I just stayed under the clouds. My vario showed 10,000+ at least five times! I had never been that high. My highest altitude during this flight was around 12,000 feet. Heavenly.

I kept looking for destinations for landing, and Coulee City still seemed the best option. As I got closer, I saw the Grand Coulee Dam. Wow! When I talked with Joe on radio, he cautioned me that I was looking at Electric City, not Coulee City. Did I real-ize there were lots of power lines around? Definitely. On glide at 6,600 feet, I noticed a big ball-field in town. A few minutes later, I hit a big sink, going down to 3,500 feet. It was 5:30 p.m.; the day was

“Big beautiful clouds with amazing lift.

What could be better?”


winding down. I finally found some real light lift that took me, slowly, back to 7,000 feet, which was a much more comfortable altitude to cross the maze of massive electric transmission lines. The contrast between this light lift and the earlier thermals made me appreciate super strong lift and how efficiently you can fly xc when you find strong thermals.

After crossing the town with tons of altitude, I took time to shoot some photos and listen to the water spilling over the dam. (I later learned that it’s unusual for water to flow over the dam. Our rainy spring resulted in the run-off that created a waterfall effect at this massive manmade structure.) Now, I had to concentrate not only on finding the right place to land but also on landing safely. I decided to land in the Lake Roosevelt High School baseball

field in the town of Coulee Dam. Located in a small depression with a small power line at one end, the field is well lighted. Fortunately, no wind was show-ing in the trees. I actually had other landing options, but this was the biggest, nicest grassy field. And, this is where my buddies knew I’d be.

I landed with no idea of how far I’d made it over the flats, but I was so happy. Within minutes of my landing, Joe arrived in Meredith’s bad-ass retrieve vehicle. How great to get a warm welcome and big’ol hug at the end of my best flight ever!

A short time later, we tracked down Mer. She landed further away to the north. That made it three personal bests for the day. After being in the air five hours, we each flew around 80 km. Awesome to share this incredible day with friends!


My vacation was a Rat Race! I’m a Seattle-area P-2 pilot who learned to fly in August of 2007 at Aerial Paragliding in Cashmere,

Washington. When I showed up to volunteer as “wind tech coordinator” at the 2008 Rat Race, I had 30 hours of flight time, mostly short hops and sled-ders at Aerial Paragliding and Tiger Mt. Since my volunteer duties allowed me to fly each day before the competitors launched at Woodrat, I had great expectations of expanding my horizons.

On day five of the comp, as on every other day, I rounded up enough wind techs to test the day’s conditions, and prepared to join them in the air. I entered the day’s 47-km task in my 5030 (Woodrat launch to Rabies Peak, Burnt Ridge, Wellington Ridge, Cemetery, and goal at Donato’s) and was in the air before the launch window opened. My goals each day were simple: be patient, get high at each chance and tag as many points as possible. In the previous three days’ tasks I had tagged a total of two waypoints. I did not have high hopes of getting very far along this challenging course, but I knew it would be fun to try.

At the race start-time, I was immediately left behind as gaggle after gaggle of competitors headed across the valley to Rabies Peak. The excitement of the race made it tempting to follow, but I knew I needed more height in my DHV 1-2 wing to tag Rabies. Finally, when satisfied with my altitude, off I went. A crosswind made it slow going across the valley to Rabies Ridge, but I cleared the ridge top and went for the lift that had been revealed by earlier wings. Tag #1! I turned and headed back across the valley to Burnt with plenty of alti-tude. Tag #2! Lift was working very well here, so I turned my wing upward until I thought I could head back across the valley over Rabies Peak to the farthest and hardest point—Wellington, almost

seven miles from where I started. There were wings everywhere—in front, behind, above and below me. The view was amazing! I could actually pick out the location of the next waypoint where wings were making a 180° turn and retracing their path. They were not circling, indicating that there was no lift near the turnpoint, so I continued climbing in my thermal. Four wings close to me left for the way-point, but I stayed behind, climbing and watching as they got low, probably too low, so I kept circling. While climbing, I could see many pilots low in the Applegate Valley struggling against a headwind to get back to the consistent lift at Rabies and Burnt before heading on to the final waypoint and goal.

I finally had enough altitude to reach Wellington on glide—Tag #3—and new personal record! I turned north towards the Cemetery turnpoint, still 16 km away. At this point I really thought it was over for me. The route below looked like a wing graveyard, like a flea convention with all the scratch-ing at ridge level. I was al-ready too low to cross back over the peaks that had brought me here and feared I was destined to join my friends below.

Because of the north wind, the south slopes I was flying towards were in the lee, and I quickly discovered what the term “ratty air” means. This lift was rough but it was lift, more-or-less, and I was not ready to give up! I went from lift to glide, to lift to glide, until I had worked my way along China Gulch toward the Rabies back bowl. I spotted a couple wings turning low in the bowl,

words by RANDYLETTAU photos by DEANSTRATTON

TripleHeader

[opposite] Big Len Sfarayn, Lead Mentor Coordinator. [below] Faiz Kayem is congratulated by Matty Senior at his first goal experience.


so I joined them in a slow climb. Soon I could see over the ridge, but I kept telling myself, “keep turn-ing,” and “get higher.” I could now safely make the main LZ, so some pressure was off.

It was at this point that I noticed the sparse number of wings ahead of me. Where did they all go? “The lee side of those hills was not kind to many

pilots,” I thought.To get to Cemetery I had to

cross (again!) the main valley and tank-up with altitude at Burnt Ridge before heading off again, following the direction arrow on my GPS to some place out there in space where I had never been! I topped-out in my thermal and went on glide towards Burnt, directly into the wind. My GPS showed single-digit ground speed; it was now obvious that my glide angle would land me at the foot of Burnt Ridge and end my race. I quickly assessed my options to find lift and decided to turn 90°

to my right and search for lift along the ridge that runs from launch to the LZ. Soon I was very low, a couple hundred vertical feet above the LZ. The decision to fly off-course worked. I quickly climbed back above launch. Now, I had enough altitude to cross back to Burnt’s consistent lift, and I was able to work along the ridgetop to position myself for a run at the Cemetery point.

I went on glide into a crosswind from my left, heading for Jacksonville which I could see in the distance. After some time, the 5030 Flytech signaled my arrival at Cemetery—Tag#4! At last, I was pointed to my final destination which was to my right and some 11 km downwind. I needed to get a lot higher to reach goal, but I headed that way, looking for safe landing spots and hoping to stumble into lift. A few minutes after going on glide, I encountered light lift. I thought briefly about con-tinuing, in order to find something stronger, but the voice in my head said, “Turn in this; it is lift and not sink.” So I turned and turned and, as I climbed, the lift improved, and I drifted slightly towards goal. At six-grand I went on glide, occasionally spotting a wing far below searching for lift, frequently check-ing my 5030 instrument to follow the arrow and

[above] Getting ready on launch. [below] Faiz Kayem,

Melanie Pfister, and Rob Sporrer. [opposite] Goal!!!!


rejoicing in the steadily decreasing distance to goal.Since I’d never flown a task before, I had no

idea what “goal” would look like. Even before my vario sounded my arrival, my eyes were searching the land, now 1500-feet below me, for anything that looked like a place to end a race. I spotted two wings circling far below and realized that they must be right above the LZ! Finally, I was able to relax and enjoyed several spiral turns that helped me lose altitude while I observed the approach path needed to land. A spot-landing ended a great flight of three hours, 15 minutes, and 47 km! I was greeted and congratulated almost before my wing hit the ground by my good friend, Matt Senior, demonstrating his contagious joy, ear-to-ear smile, and New Zealand accent!

I later learned that of the nearly 90 pilots at RatRace only about 25 completed the course this day with me at about 21st into goal. I had fun on this day of motor-less cross-country flying and want to thank all my special friends in the flying com-munity who’ve shared their lessons learned and words of wisdom with this beginner. I

have much to learn yet and am anxious to continue this exciting journey!

A great day, a great flight and a great memory fill my thoughts as I recorded my triple-header: First cross-country flight, first goal on a task, and longest duration flight!

[below left] Steve Forslund serves up a hot mess. [below right] The Brown family eats.


Forget about Zapata, forget about Larry or Davis or Manfred, forget about needing to be a great pilot and forget about having to fly a

topless glider. I had studied past world record at-tempts, and they all had the same things in common: great pilots, great gliders and a convergence, some-times, of great conditions. Sure, eventually those guys managed to get some recognition and set some records, but at what price? They often spent months and months of falling short. Day after day of almost surpassing the old distance only to miss that last thermal. Endless days of long retrieves followed by early drag-yourself-out-of-bed-again mornings because conditions looked even better. The whole thing seemed like torture to me.

I had a different plan. Take an average glider and put an average guy on it. But put him in the right place with the right support team, and he will blow away the old record. All of the recent record-holders like Davis or Manfred or Robin had been converg-ing on Zapata in recent years. In that location they were completely dependent on the combination of thermals and wind conditions to get them high and

somewhere north of there, hopefully far enough north to set a new record. I wasn’t patient enough for that. I needed a sure thing. I had money, I had time, I had the desire, and I was sure I had the place.

If you look at a map of Africa, you can see an escarpment that runs from near Beira, in the south of

Mozambique, through Tanzania and Kenya, almost into Ethiopia. When conditions are right, this area has a long run of consistent ridge-lift that doesn’t depend on sniffing out thermals. I thought the only problem would be that I had to fly from south to north in order to take advantage of the wind flow, ending in Ethiopia—a scary prospect.

The glider I intended to use was an intermedi-ate level glider with VG that I flew mainly because I could land it—actually, precisely because I could land it. Forget all those high performance ships. For a pilot like me who flies maybe once a year in Florida and another time with Jeffo in Mexico, flying a topless was a guarantee of broken-down tubes and, possibly, a broken me.

The disadvantage was speed. I would have ridge-lift all the way but, without the higher performance that a topless would give me, I also needed a tailwind component or I would only get as far as Songea, in Tanzania. That leg of the trip would be more than one thousand kilometers, a certain record, but I wanted it all. I wanted to push the two thousand mark. I wanted a record that would be impossible to beat.

Preparation took six months. Six months of red tape, of getting visas, of lining up helicopters along the route for retrievals, of bribing local officials and getting my equipment into Mozambique. Then it was another month of waiting for the convergence of southeast winds that hit the escarpment just right, coupled with a southerly component above the shear layer to give me the boost I needed to sustain enough groundspeed to average at least 120 km/hr. Stay with me here. The glider was easily capable of 70 km/hr and, at certain times of the year, the south component could be 80 km/hr or more, so this was

“doable.”The last night before the flight I camped on the

by ORLANDOSTEPHENSON

World Record...Almost

New


side of Mt. Binga, about two hundred kilometers west of Beira. One of my helicopters had dropped me at the base of the mountain, and money had bought me three locals to carry my glider and har-ness up to a natural take-off spot about 800 meters above the valley floor. Before dark, I set up the glider and my harness. I needed an early start as every hour of daylight translated into more distance, and more distance meant a bigger record, a harder record for someone to beat. As the sky lightened and I stood there in that final moment before my run, my mind drifted along the 2000-plus kilometer route, visual-izing the incredible ride I was about to take. I felt a bubble of heat start deep inside my chest. That feel-ing hammered at me; I knew that by nightfall I was going to be the undisputed world-record holder.

My take-off was a piece of cake (which is another reason I like flying intermediate gliders). I turned left toward my destiny and the southeaster lifted me 200 meters over in a flash. Oh my god! I had experi-enced similar conditions at Echo Canyon in Arizona once before, but this was better! My instruments showed that the shear was producing more tailwind than I expected, causing that bubble in my chest to expand like a live thing wanting out. I was on my way to hang gliding history, and I was stoked!

In addition to not flying a state-of-the-art glider,

the rest of the equipment I used was a bit over-the-hill. My helmet was an Icaro full-face that I had been flying with for over ten years, my harness a Wills Wing Z-4 that I had bought new in 1993, and my vario (a Flytec 5030), although fairly new, was chock-full of features I hadn’t a clue how to use. My main instrument for telling me how I was doing was a handheld GPS that I had purchased at Boats-R-US, along with a chip that displayed a regional map of the east coast of Africa.

As the initial adrenaline rush wore off, I started paying attention to my GPS and the terrain below me. After being aloft for less than two hours, I was astonished to see that I was already crossing the Zambeze River at Gaia, Mozambique, about 300 kilometers into the flight. Below, I could see the massive black river filled with a herd of wildebeest stretching as far as the eye could see. There had to be more than a million animals. Their yearly migration brought them to the river, and the hordes behind them forced the leaders to cross. The crocs in the river were having a feast and so was I.

After the river, my path turned more to the north toward my next checkpoint, Blantyre.

That turn to the north added about 20km/hr to my groundspeed. The ground was a blur below me.

Now I was on my own until I crossed into


Tanzania, just south of Songea. It was three hours into the flight and my GPS indicated I had gone 480 kilometers. I was elated and I was bored. It was clear that I was well ahead of schedule and, bar-ring some mishap, would easily beat the record, but it had stopped being fun. Incredible scenery was rushing past me every mile, but I hadn’t time to look. Elephants, tigers, acres of wildebeest, antelope, water buffalo, zebra and rhino all flashed past, and I couldn’t stop to enjoy them. My arms were painfully sore from holding in the bar in order to keep up my speed, and the bubble in my chest became an ache. My dream was turning into a nightmare. I won-dered how those guys who flew seriously like this for months on end could keep it up.

After another brutal two hours, I crossed the edge of the Reserva do Niassa. Originally founded when Mozambique was still Portuguese, the park is part of the eastern Miombo Woodlands, containing African elephant, wild dog, antelope and hartebeest—none of which I saw at my speed. Thirty minutes later my GPS told me I had crossed the border of Tanzania. Not even six hours into the flight, and I had passed the 900 kilometer mark! I could quit now, and it would be a new record.

It was at this point that I got a tiny glimpse into the minds of those pilots who do this on a regular basis. How much dedication it must take, how much willpower and downright guts to keep pressing on when your body says “enough!” When every inch is screaming in pain and your mind is foggy from fatigue, and yet you go on.

I called my crew and checked in. The first of my helicopters was stationed in Songea, so when they knew I was going to make it there, they lifted off and headed north to the next checkpoint of Morogoro, 500 kilometers to the north. Just before Morogoro was the first of several trouble spots where I might

be slammed to the ground while negotiating a pass between the Rubeho Mountains to the west and the Uluguru Mountains to the east. My luck held; I cleared the pass 350 meters over, crossed Mikumi National park and left Morogoro to my right- side as I screamed onward toward the next turnpoint. After I called my crew, they departed for Tanga on the coast.

Morogoro is a mid-sized town about 200 meters east of Dar Es Salaam and, if my indulgence had ended there, I would have flown 1400 kilometers. Think about that—twice the current flex- wing record with my day only half over. Fourteen hun-dred kilometers! Boredom and fatigue were my con-stant companions now, but the pain in my chest had flopped back to a good one. I was doing something others only dreamed of! Any time I stopped now was an unbelievably new record!

In order to make the corner at Tanga, I had to fly perilously close to the coast. I feared that the effects of the sea-breeze from the Indian Ocean would interrupt my flight, would put me on the ground way short of the crazy goal ahead of me that I was starting to believe was possible. In fact, I lost so much altitude that I was scraping the ridge by the time I turned 90 degrees to the northwest and headed toward Moshi. Further ahead on this line lay Nairobi, where my second helicopter was sta-tioned. As I moved away from the coast, my altitude increased. Soon I was 500 meters above ground level (agl), with my instruments telling me that the tailwind had become a hurricane at my back. My ground speed was registering over 200 km/hr as I skirted the border between Tanzania and Kenya.

This part of Kenya contains one of the two great not-to-be-missed parks of the many that Kenya has to offer. Tsavo National Park is the largest of the parks in Kenya, containing all of the big five species:


elephant, black rhino, lion, leopard and African buffalo. Ahead of me and to my left I could see the snowcap on Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Beyond it lay the other great park, the Masai Mara National Reserve, home to one of the world’s fiercest fighting tribes of the same name. I skirted along the border for twenty miles with the cap of Kilimanjaro looming ever larger in my view before I was able to turn northward again. My intended path would keep me well to the east of Nairobi, where my second helicopter was waiting for a possible retrieve out of the Dida Galgalu Desert.

This desert was by far the most challenging part of my trip, as the ridge evaporated at the point where there were 150 kilometers of desert to cover before the Ethiopian border. I got lucky and found a couple of thermals right away, which managed to keep me above 3000 meters for the next 85 kilometers. Unfortunately, the lift died, and I went on glide for twenty kilometers into the desert toward the border. When I was down to only 1200 meters agl and seri-ously thinking about setting up for landing, that first soft beep hit my ear. I banked hard to keep it.

If you’re a hang glider pilot, you’ve been there. The ground is filling your vision, your mind is in a funk, you’ve no sign of lift, your day’s over, de-pression is seeping in and then, beep! Your world changes, your attention focuses like those who don’t fly can never know. That sound becomes your whole world, and you follow it relentlessly until the beeps come faster, the ground begins to drop away, and you get another life. I have tried many times to explain that moment to friends, the moment when defeat turns to a second chance. That sweet instant when you know that somehow your skill has saved you. Their eyes always glaze over. They don’t get it. They never will.

That was the last thermal of the day, and it took me to 3746 meters before I lost it and went on final glide to the Ethiopian border. I crossed out of Kenya into Ethiopia 800 meters agl and stretched the glide to the town of Mega on the southern border. My GPS said I had gone 2737 kilometers in the sixteen hours and twenty minutes I had been in the air. No one was going to believe it, but I had the proof in my hands. I had a record that would stand forever or at least until some real pilot duplicated my foolishness. I just needed to be picked up by my support team, to verify my location and my instruments, and I had it—the new record! I was reaching for the radio when some serious weaponry stopped my hand. To the right were three barrels pointed at my head, and to the left, two. I put up my hands.

The next three months were the worst of my life. I was kept in an eight-by-eight cell until I managed to bribe a guard and walk my way out of Ethiopia. It

took me another two weeks to make it to the coast at Mombasa where I took passage on a tramp steamer as a deckhand. Two more months got me to New Orleans, and my thumb got me home.

I lost everything. My glider, my harness, my radio, but, most important, the proof of what I had done. I had flown more than 2700 kilometers in a flex-wing, and all I had to show for it was the loop that played in my head over and over, reminding me that things in life always come with a price. I had gotten a tour of Africa that normally would have taken weeks or months. I had seen more wildlife in one day than most do in a lifetime. I’d set a record that would have astounded the world, and all I had left was the memory of how I’d been king for a day.

Ah well, next year in Valle de Bravo I’ll have those moments when I think I’m king again, even if it’s just for an hour!

“The next three months were the worst of my life. I was kept in an eight-by-eight cell until I managed to bribe a guard and walk my way out of Ethiopia.”


Ph

oto

by J

am

es

Ha

rris


words by DENNYPISTOLL & TOSHHOPKINSphotos by RAYHELMAN

TENNESSEE

As you pull into the pavilion parking lot in front of Lookout Mountain’s forty-four acre Landing Zone,

there is only one reserved private parking spot with a sign that reads: Doris Pollari,

Social Director. Beware; it is universally accepted protocol that visitors, regard-less of status, purpose, miles flown or hours logged, respect that sign! Doris is the human dynamo behind the social life, wonderful camaraderie, and so much more that thrives in rich abundance at this flight park. However, It wasn’t always this way. Unlike much that is good in our sport, this convivial atmosphere didn’t materialize out of thin air. Excellence is never an accident; it is always the result of commitment, plan-ning, and focused effort.

No story about Doris would be com-plete without recalling her late husband who was the love of her life for almost three decades, Kenn Pollari. Kenn’s day job was that of a computer engineer, but off duty he was an adventurer extraordinaire who was an accomplished skydiver and skier before discovering hang gliding.

After a whirlwind romance that led to marriage, Doris left her position as an ex-ecutive assistant for an engineering firm to travel with Kenn, and travel they did! Criss-

Doris PollariThe Incredible


crossing the country, they settled in various locations from a few weeks to a few months before moving on. “It was a vagabond-type life but very exciting,” says Doris, brimming with enthusiasm. “We met and made friends with all kinds of people from all over.”

Business and serendipity found them in northwestern Georgia in the early ‘90s where they met a young hang glider en-thusiast cum entrepreneur, Matt Taber—the owner and operator of the Lookout Mountain Flight Park. The sport of hang gliding, though fully mature, was hardly a mainstream activity when Kenn decided he wanted to add this experience to his growing list of adventures. Over time, a cohort of fliers gradually came together. Though small in number, it was a tightly knit and very social group. Back then, the Lookout Mountain Flight Park consisted of a platform launch, a partially cleared field and a moldy picnic table. Nevertheless, they flew, experimented, pioneered... and partied hard. It was this last factor that set Kenn and Doris to thinking how they might im-prove things.

These thoughts led to their organizing cookouts so that the participants didn’t need to venture into town, thereby allow-ing everyone more time to spend together. Thus began what has become a time-hon-ored LMFP tradition: Saturday socials (and more) at the flight park. And many im-provements were made. Today the facilities have grown to a state-of-the-art radial ramp, groomed LZ, clubhouse pavilion, bunk-

house, swimming pool, condos and even an RV park!

Kenn retired early. While he was travel-ing through Arizona in 2001, tragedy struck in the form of an18 year-old recklessly drag racing down a suburban street. As his car careened out of control, it hit Kenn who sustained mortal injuries. The effect was devastating. In the immediate aftermath, more than three dozen people descended upon Doris and Kenn’s home to help and offer solace in her critical time of need. This, no doubt, resulted in Doris’s bonding even closer to her ever-growing extended family.

Doris possesses an extraordinary spirit that led her to aspire to conquering her grief rather than simply coping and surviving. Kenn’s loss became an epiphany for Doris as she boldly stepped out of Kenn’s tall shadow and stood, once again, firmly on her own. In reaching out, Doris gradually began helping others by becoming more active not only with the Lookout Mountain Flight Park but also within the broader community. When Doris found that volunteering and assist-ing others with their projects and problems helped resolve her own, she began escalating her community involvement.

One example of Doris’s activism is the self-initiated and personally financed cre-ation of the Kenn Pollari Scholarship Fund. Far from being bitter at teens for the loss she personally suffered, Doris created this fund especially for teens. Each year she bestows one (and sometimes two) $1000 scholarships to deserving eighteen-year-olds.

“Bitterness is a debilitating emotion” says Doris. “What happened to us was tragic, but it was an accident, not something to dwell on. I want to do what I can to make a positive difference for others.” Like the mountains we treasure, life’s unpredictable events provide peaks from which one may fall as well as platforms from which we may soar. Doris elected to soar.

Every Saturday evening throughout the flying season and well beyond, Doris is the driving force that organizes the buying, preparation, serving and clean-up for dinner socials and parties which routinely include well over a hundred people per event.

Doris has spearheaded numerous com-munity enhancement projects, includ-ing the Adopt a Highway program, in which she organizes (and hectors) sleepy pilots out onto the roads to pick-up litter. She started the Animal Rescue and Spaying program in addition to organizing fund raisers for the Dade County Mountain Rescue. Due entirely to Doris’s personal efforts, Lookout Mountain Flight Park has become DCMR’s largest single benefactor. She is also involved with the Scenic Byways Program of Georgia as well as a number of fund raising events and activities under the auspices of the

Doris Pollari


Dade County Chamber of Commerce. Daily exercise with friends keeps Doris

in super physical condition, which paid divi-dends after she severely injured her shoulder. She paid no heed to nay-saying Earthlings from outside the flight park community who predicted that things would be going downhill after such an accident. “Not so,” she declared with her signature ebullience and, after a very painful rehab, bounced back even more energized than before. According to Lia Harrell, a close and dear friend, Doris lives for the moment, possess-es irrepressible enthusiasm and always sees the best in people.

Doris Pollari is, unquestionably, The First Lady of the Lookout Mountain Flight Park and, though not a pilot herself, has become both an eloquent and articulate spokesperson for our sport. She is a role model of high moral character and inde-fatigable spirit. From the devastation of a tragic accident, Doris has forged a tra-dition of fellowship and generosity that has demonstrated the incredibly positive effect one person can make. Doris Pollari is revered and loved by all who have the privi-lege of knowing her.

AIRTIME


Easy StreetsC

louds are simply the best indicator of how the air is behaving, because they render it visible. With a little

thought and experience we can use the visual clues to help us excel and propel to greater heights, greater distances. There is perhaps no cloud formation more welcome than a cloud street—if it is going our way—for it indicates a line of fairly reliable lift. As long as we are heading in the same di-rection as the street we can take advantage of it well, but if fate or a perverse competi-tion task committee has us crossing streets, these formations are about as welcome as Nigerian scam-spam. So streets can be a mixed blessing and it gives us a wing up to understand as much as we can about them. Our photos start the process.

STREET CRED Look at photo 1 below. Here we see cloud streets in a shot from an air-liner taken at 30,000 feet by my friend, Ron Waclawik. These are typical streets and our high vantage point lets us see two important things. First, note that the streets aren’t solid lines of clouds. There are breaks in the continuous stream. That means when we are flying along a street we shouldn’t expect to find solid lift 100% of the way. Sailplanes with their superior glide and sink performance may be able to cruise along under a street without turning, but we usually have to stop in the hot spots to top up when streets are similar to those in the photo.

The second thing to observe in the photo is how the streets often stop abruptly and sometimes even wander a bit (see the

bottom of the picture). It should be clear from these observations that even when we are in a street we may not be on “easy street.” We normally have to be planning where to climb and where to glide, when to cross to another longer street and when to continue straight through a gap. The crossing from one street to another should not be taken lightly (in fact, usually we sink like a lead brick). I have lost nearly 3,000 feet crossing in a 10 to 1 hang glider. Perhaps I wouldn’t have made it in a paraglider.

Ideally we should be flying close to cloudbase in a street, but it is hard to look ahead to see what the street is doing due to the lack of perspective; it is hard to make strategic decisions as to when to change paths. Here, the trick is to look at the cloud shadows on the ground. Determine which shadow you are currently sailing in by using the sun’s position in relation to the cloud, then look along the shadow to see if you need to cross to another longer

or more solid cloud and projected shadow. Note that in the photo the sun is from the left and the solid cloud deck on the upper part of the photo is shadowing the ground so we cannot see this effect.

Looking at the solid cloud in the back-ground, we can observe an important matter: the streets continue into the solid cloud layer, although in a more random manner and with shorter lengths (I can blow this photo up on my computer and see streets extend well back into the vis-ible cloud). This observation should be a reminder for pilots flying under a solid deck to expect or look for lift lines related to streets.

Now let’s look at photos 2 and 3. I took these shots at a competition in Hearn, Texas. The first shows at least five parallel streets that continue unbroken, but do not indicate continuous lift along them. The next photo is more from the side and you can see that there are some areas of good

by DENNISPAGEN

Cloud Conscious Part V


lift—nice dark bottoms—along the street and areas of weak or no lift (gaps or fuzz clouds). These photos clearly show the need to thermal at the hot spots, even on a good street day. Yes, there are occasionally streets that are solid as a boa constrictor for as far as the eye can see, but they are rare and these days in the photos aren’t them.

True cloud streets—as opposed to linear clouds based on waves, convergence lines or active ground sources—often appear after a cold front has passed. They are most common in the East of the US and tend to be in the eastern sector of a high-pres-sure system. I have several satellite photos showing this effect, but unfortunately they are too low res for publication.

FLYING IN STREETS Most thermal pilots have had the experience of flying toward a promising cloud only to have it dissipate or dry out as we draw nigh (careful study has shown that cursing does not change the outcome in this case). Fortunately, streets tend to be quite persistent and last longer than the typical thermal because they are based on a continuous feed process.

But streets do disappear eventually as dryer air or a high-pressure-related inver-sion moves into an area. But even with blue skies, it is possible to have thermal street-ing action, and in this case we call them blue streets. One of the main reasons for looking at cloud streets in the first place is to try to fathom the sky’s behavior on blue street days. The only way to do that is to study its behavior on cloud street days.

When leaving a thermal on a blue day, it is always useful to try to track directly parallel to the wind. This advice applies for orbiting the local site (flying upwind to the front of the mountain you are soaring) or

going XC (downwind). The only time to deviate from this practice is if there is an obvious climb you can get to or the day has exhibited severe sink directly up or down-wind from the thermal. More often than not you will find a lift line—a street—that includes the thermal you visited.

We saw from the cloud photos that streets are not continuous. We should expect the same when they are blue. They will be much harder to exploit, of course, but they will be there many times. The problem is, when the lift quits do you juke left or right or stay the course? Maybe it’s a roll of the dice, but perhaps there are subtle clues that can be picked up by the sensitive pilot. That’s probably not me, for I remem-ber one comp flight when I totally lost the street, wallowing in the sink until I hit the ground. Talk about misery…

I own most sailplane and weather books that deal with these types of atmospheric effects. I have rooted through one of the biggest weather libraries on the planet. I have searched the OSTIV publications (the organization for technical soaring). I have never come across any real testing of blue streets. Nonetheless, my experience and that of others has shown that they are quite frequent in the East. I do know that lift lines exist more often than not when there is wind. My bet is that much of the times this is due to true streeting action. It behooves all pilots to follow the smart

money and try to fly as if streets were around, even on cloudless days.

A serious aspect of streets is the sink street in between the lift street as alluded to above. We should expect the sink to behave similarly to the lift: it intensifies in some stretches and may even disappear altogether for short lengths between the clouds. If you get caught in the sink be-tween streets, it is best to turn 90 degrees to scram from the vicinity. ASAP. On blue days it is hard to determine exactly where to head, but all things being equal, perhaps back the way you came as soon as you hit the sink is the best choice. But note, even when flying along a street, there will be lapses of lift and maybe even light sink. Strong sink is the alarm that should have you scrambling for the safety of your lift lifeboat.

A final note on flying in streets is that often they impinge on our Eastern long mountain chains. In that case we cross streets frequently when flying along the ridges. There are times when the sink be-tween the streets destroys the ridge lift, even though the wind may be quite vig-orous. I have seen the trees whipped to a frenzy on the mountaintop by the wind, only to find no lift. The wind is fast moving sink that doesn’t deflect upward from the mountain enough to provide lift. Such sink can put you on the ground on strong street days. The best plan here is to treat the area between the cloud streets as a large gap you have to cross, climb high before it, barrel through it, then climb again for the next one.

STREET QUIZ Here are a few more photos to contemplate: Photo 4 is another Hearn, Texas shot. It is intended to show how par-

“When leaving a thermal on a blue day, it is always

useful to try to track directly parallel to

the wind.”


allel streets can look divergent—that is, not parallel. This is a parallax problem and indicates how it is difficult to tell the true direction of a cloud line at a distance.

The next photos are a little quiz. Can you identify which photos are cloud streets and which are not? See below for the answer.

Photo 1 by Ron Waclawik.Photos

2,3,4,5 and 6 by Dennis Pagen. Photo 7 by

William Olive. Photo 8 by Jeff Goin.

Answer to the quiz: None of the photos depict cloud streets. We will be discussing each of these photos and many more in future installments of Cloud Conscious.

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I’ve long said piloting requires a rare breed of person—someone with not one but two domi-nant sides. We need a normally-in-charge per-

sonality, cautious, doubtful, pessimistic—a finicky “sane” creature who triple-checks batten cambers and overrules exuberance when launch conditions are just south of perfect. And we need another far cockier side, who typically hangs back casually, but who, when conditions turn nasty in flight or landing options become nightmarish, elbows the sane twin out of the way, crowing, “Move over grandma, this is a job for ME!”

Recently I had the opportunity to eavesdrop on a heated argument between these two sides of my own pilot mind. I sat quietly in the shadows taking notes while they slugged it out. Thought I’d share it with you:

“We’re all blithering fools, I tell you,” Cautious began. “We lull ourselves into believing in that stuff you call ‘skill.’ It’s ill advised if you ask me. Damned ego trip.”

“What’s eating you? Ain’t nothing wrong with believing in your skill. Keeps you executing at your best,” Bold replied ambivalently.

“There’s everything wrong with it. And you’re as guilty as the worst of us, and far worse than most. You been relying on skill to goad us into some damned iffy stunts.”

“Worked so far, hasn’t it?”“Sure, it works. As long as the real stuff is also

working -- luck.”“Dude, anyone hearing you right now would be

laughin’ their heads off.”“More like forming a lynch mob. That’s because I

dare smudge the golden calf.”“So what’s wrong with skill?”

“Nothing! Try to keep up here. Skill is a good thing, but it will let us down. Our faith in it is misplaced. Regardless of how much we have, there are flying conditions that’ ll squash it. We say we take that into account but there are cases within the most conservative envelope that’ ll still do us in.”

“And so no one should trust their skill? Dude, people know their limits. We’re not completely dim. None of us…”

“…few of us…” interjected Cautious.“…okay, few of us…are idiots.”“Granted, grudgingly. Doesn’t change what I’m

saying.”“Why would smart pilots depend on a thing we

can’t trust?”“Flying’s a personal thing, dude. We’re proud of

it. We’re not just out there gawking at scenery from great heights you know. We’re quite literally defining ourselves.”

“Oh I see, Dr. Freud.”“Yes. We are. Defining ourselves, to ourselves, and

to the world. On every flight. We are the Intrepid! We are the Courageous! We are the Skilled.”

“So?” Bold’s interest was waning.“Nobody intends to let go of that. We’ ll defend

waaaay past logic our right to believe in skill. We’ ll hang onto it as the best insurance there is. Great to have, I agree, but insurance it is not. And when we think it’s enough, we’re poised for the fall.”

“I can see you’re about to go on.”“The problem is that we deploy gear, adopt pro-

cedures, form habits and nurture pilot culture that takes us only up to where we expect skill to take over.”

“Take over what?”“The job of keeping us in one piece. Then we take

those things no farther—gear, procedures and such I mean. When good habits or hardware performance reaches the skill line, we think the damned job is

Schizophrenic by MIKEVORHIS


done. Let’s look at a few examples, just off the top….”“Oh craters, here we go.”“No, really. Okay, wheels. They exist, and can

save life and limb, right? But pilot culture discour-ages them without coming right out and saying so. A

‘real’ pilot should be skilled enough to figure out wind direction, pick a clearing, land on foot. When any of the hundred possible variables turns sour, that doofus must just not be skilled. Few of us seriously question the dubious habit of flying ill prepared for the unex-pected. That’s just one good example.”

“A doozy,” Bold said mockingly. “Got more?”

“How about this one? Like I said, we stop design innovation where the gear’s performance curve meets the typical skill curve. Gliders with decent L/D all land at around 18 to 22 mph airspeed, depending on the wing and air density. Why? Because pilots of sufficient ‘skill’ can run fast enough and flare well enough that about 20 mph does the trick almost all the time. No one has felt a burning need to inno-vate much past that speed. We’re into the “skill” zone when the Halls hits 20, so all is well. Dude, there ain’t no overwhelming reason, no intrinsic barrier of physics, why we couldn’t have 14:1 flexwings and 19:1 rigids that land at sub-12 mph airspeed...except that it costs time and probably more complexity to make it happen. But the reason we’re still landing at 20 is that a pressing need hasn’t been felt. As a sport and a pilot community, we accept the level of risk that exists with landing at 20 because skill fills in from there. Now, if you’re trying to land downhill or downwind? Our answer has always been, ‘Don’t do that.’ Avoid those bonehead moves. Get on the skill curve, dude, that’s what’s gonna save you. Pretend that skill con-trols all the random variables that lurk out there, like dust devils, wind shifts, gophers, or invisible hunks of rusty fence across the damn field.”

“Where’d you get 12mph? You and I can’t run any faster than that???”

“You’re missing the point. How about training? We teach a so-called ideal landing method that has us all stretching out in the least protected posture imag-inable! Exposing our vulnerable underbellies to hard, unforgiving terrain, locking our arms…”

“…and we gotta remember to keep ‘em locked no matter what.”

“No!” Cautious exploded. "That’s pure Spiral

Fracture Worship! It’s what I’m saying -- we’re out there doing our flares, arching our spines completely counter to the sensible instinct that tells us to ball up and live. Don’t you see? We consider this reasonable advice, we proliferate it down through the ranks. We claim if your landings are ‘skilled’ it will work grace-fully and well--until the unexpected of course, and we all just accept the minimal odds of that happening.”

“Part of the game.”“Doesn’t need to be, that’s my point. Why not have

a saner technique of some kind? The unexpected is the one thing a wise pilot should always expect, and prepare for with habits that don’t hang us out to dry in some extended posture.”

“You sound like Mom.”

“Are you even listen-ing?”

“So your main point,” Bold simplified, “is we put our faith in an ‘insurance’ that doesn’t live up to our reverence for it. You can’t blame

that on skill.”“I know that. We just expect far too much from

it. We don’t plan our techniques and design our gear waaaaaaay past the typical skill point like we should. That’s a mistake. It ain’t insurance, dude.”

“You really think I’m one of the worst? Is it because I said we should try flying naked?”

“Your whole safety philosophy boils down to ‘suck it up and run harder.’ You’re drunk on pretending you’re invincible.”

“Hmm. Surely you know I believe in margin too.”

“Well we’ve got a lot less of it than you think. It rarely shows because you get the job done, I gotta admit. Got your moments anyway, and your share of guts, but I just don’t think that’s a good substitute for advanced prep – you know, gear and habits.”

“But come on, there’s plenty of good sense in the pilot culture. People invent things like drogue chutes, humped-up camber flaps, variable twist…alternative moves like rear wire landings, knees on the bar…stuff like that.”

“That’s all good. Even great. A good start. I tip my helmet to those guys, and the mainstream design-ers too, don’t misunderstand me. A lot of that extra inventing is still fringe though.”

“Well we consider XC a specialization rather than standard fare. Same with fly-on-the-wall landings and aero. That’s all good sense.”


Cautious only half-nodded. “But we have no formal guidance in place for them. We just accept that each interested pilot will stumble on the gotchas. Worst of all, we revere those who manage to figure that stuff out. They’re ‘skilled,’ and we aspire to having the same right stuff. We assume ‘ having it’ is why they’re still with us.”

“Why don’t YOU get out there and develop some margin stuff? Why fault everybody else?”

“Dude, I’m not faulting anybody. I know it’s a process. Takes time. Hell, we’re only a 40-year-old sport. I’m just saying we’re fools if we don’t see it every time we stand on launch. And every time we buy a glider.”

“Okay, you think skill is unreliable. I think it’s repeatable and just as reliable as designing better gear.”

“It’s about the margin,” Cautious reiterated con-descendingly, “the overlap of what the gear can do vs. average skill. If you can run fast enough to land your glider right about as it stalls, you’ve got around zero margin there. Don’t you want to survive the next oddball conditions we encounter?”

“I just like relying on me rather than some push-button gizmo. What’s the point of getting out there then?”

“Sure, heady stuff. Who wants to give up the ‘there I wuz’ stories? That’s why we’ve never solved it.”

“Some older dudes hang it up…bloody shame but I guess maybe that’s why. You know,” Bold conceded, “if I could get a wing that had awesome performance but stalled real slow, and I mean real slow, I think I might grab it. Why not? We fly thin air a lot. And it’s just margin. I could still do things my own way.”

“Now you’re talking. None of us are getting any younger. If we really want to retain members…that

means us…we’ d give ‘em the flight experience they expect WITH the survivability of a single-surface billboard-sized pig-wing. We’ d give ‘em not only enough handling to make the normal envelope doable, but enough to make every conceivable scenario of bad luck a piece of cake. That’s the line we’ d design to...not just to the reasonable skill curve. Old timers have kids and grandkids to go home to.”

Bold was still struggling with it. “But, I mean, there’s no scoop here. This ain’t no big news flash. You and I been doing okay for…what, 18 years?”

“Known a few guys who’ve not come home in those 18.”

“Yeah…but I mean, me…us….”“Dude, last year we sank out of an hour in fluffy

light air, threw that big drogue chute…oh yeah, we thought we were prepared, no underestimating the high desert, not us…we rounded out on final, and what happened?”

“…Yeah…Ma Nature gave us a nice 8 mile-an-hour tailwind.”

“Thereabouts, anyway. I don’t need to remind you the LZ was at five grand or better. We screamed past all that bare turf into the thin chest-high grass. Dude, you flared hard, and I yelled my damn head off. Seismic event. Probably went in at 28 or 30 mph. You remember how violent that was?”

“Freaking instantaneous. Would have screamed my bloody head off too, but there wasn’t time to open my mouth.”

“You did get one toe down,” Cautious admitted, “but we were yanked to the sod in a microsecond. Just another piece of wreckage. Meat. I can’t even say the word ‘skill’ in a microsecond.”

“Just a fluke we got hurt, though,” Bold pointed out. “Shoulder broke only because we landed on the trailing edge of that dang faired downtube. What are the odds of that?”

“Like being chopped in the arm by a dull axe blade. I gotta tell you, I don’t intend to make ‘what are the odds’ my big plan for avoiding a repeat.”

“…Yeah…I remember lying there wondering if any of our limbs were gonna work. Just kept seeing the kid’s face, too.”

“We were lucky it was just a shoulder. Our head hit hard, dude. Gentlest day you could imagine and it almost got us.”

Bold had an epiphany. “Okay, that’s why you’re going on about this now. Dude, when we hit your head…maybe something’s not right.”

“We hit your head too, moron. Let’s just say my eyes popped open. I mean, we made our best call on the streamers, the approach, all of it. You know the other pilots out there, even some we knew for years, all went right with the version they’ d pre-memorized – the one that upholds their sacred icon of Skill –

“If we really want to retain members...we’d give ‘em the flight experience they expect WITH the survivability of a sin-gle-surface billboard-sized pig-wing.”


rather than evaluate what they really saw. Said we ‘blew’ our landing, hadn’t flown enough that year, all the usual. Their proof was that nobody else broke their arm. Said we were in denial….”

“…we can take that kind of talk. Keeps us humble.”

“No doubt…don’t blame ‘em I guess…but there’s denial in the other side too, and I don’t want that either. Everybody assumes some lapse in judgment or skill, so we don’t have to face the fact that s**t can just plain happen and we don’t have the margin to handle it all.”

“Dude, s**t happens? That’s heresy.”“Yeah, laugh it up,” Cautious said in annoyance,

“I’m serious. Up until that day you were the guy pass-ing judgment on other peoples’ wreckage. You gave us a congratulatory backrub every time somebody had an ‘ incompetent’ accident.”

“And you’re throwing Karma in my face now.”“I’m saying accountability is good, but the knee-

jerk kind has a dangerous assumption buried in it. The whole ‘pilot in command’ thing—in charge of our own fate. Meaning ‘execute and you’ ll be safe.’ We leave out the ‘maybe.’ Regardless of skill and judgment, I now think it’s really just a matter of time.”

“Dude, you are just a downer today. There’s not a pilot out there who wouldn’t say you’ve lost your nerve.”

“I bet there’s a lot who think this way but just don’t lay it all on the table.”

“Hope not,” Bold said definitively. “Now let me say a few things, although I don’t need as many words as you. You’re not putting skill into perspec-tive, you’re eroding it. You know as well as I do that the psychology of flying is as important as the mechanics. Doubt breeds indecision and lousy ex-ecution. You’d call me cocky, but I’d say I have a positive attitude. Put another way, I believe in my skill because believing in it amplifies it. I’d rather get my margin by boosting skill than by adding huge flaps to gliders. I stay safe by being sure.”

“It’s not sure, it’s wishful. Why do you think phras-es like ‘Intermediate Syndrome’ are born? That’s us lulling ourselves to sleep. But one day our ‘advanced’ skill will drop a notch – age or leg cramp or bug in the eye, pretty much anything – and that’s our day in the papers.”

“Okay, you think I’m a fool, and I think you’re a sanctimonious granny. How the hell do you know a high-performance glider can be designed that stalls at 10 or 12 mph?”

“Come off it, we’re an engineer. Anything is doable if the need is recognized. Think of it, dude – tomor-row’s down-winders would be as easy as up-winders today!”

“Then do it.”“Starts with the idea,” Cautious said defensively.

“Remember when that aerospace engineer…Bob Ormiston…challenged everybody to make tumble-proof wings? Big ruckus, but it got some serious attention.”

“Heartwarming tale, dude, but you ain’t Bob Ormiston.”

“No doubt. Hell, maybe I’m seeing late what everybody else has known for years. About expecting the unexpected I mean.”

“Maybe you’re advocating major design and training philosophy re-think, without offering to do it yourself.”

“Or maybe I’m just discovering Humility. Any way it’s sliced, I doubt I’ ll agree to fly the high desert again….”

“Awwww, dude…!”“Not until we come up with something better than

drogue chutes, flaps, and wheels. Even with ‘em I can still think of too many scenes where we never come home again. No, I’m serious, dude.”

“You are the Heretic Fringe, dude, do you know that?! I love XC! Don’t veto XC, dude…!”

At that point my pencil broke, and so I left them to their argument. It doesn’t matter, they’ll never agree. And they shouldn’t. That’s why two opposites generally make such a strong team. Each has thumbs-down power, each sees a different view. Schizophrenic. Neither makes complete sense…and yet neither is wrong.

I wonder how they’ll settle it?

“You know as well as I do that the psy-chology of flying is as important as the mechanics. Doubt breeds indecision and lousy execution. You'd call me cocky but I'd say I have a positive attitude.”

GALLERY | KING MOUNTAIN

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[previous page] Retreiving a glider. Not a house for many miles. Photo by Gerry Pesavento.

[above] Burger and tots anyone? Arco's fine dining. Photo by Jamie Messenger.

[opposite] Climbing over King with Ben R. at 10K. Typically we climb to 14K (turn on the oxygen) and leave. Photo by Gerry Pesavento.

ARiver Runs Through It And Suddenly Disappears. There are lava beds you can’t sleep in, Craters

Of The Moon, and the Big Pickle. This is Arco, Idaho, the first city in America pow-ered by atomic energy. It’s also the home of the Atomic Thermal, much to the delight of soaring pilots.

The Lost River Range has its humble beginnings on the edge of the desert at Arco, then rapidly becomes majestic as the spine juts dramatically upwards above the little burg of Moore, a few more miles up the road from Arco. From there the Lost River Range becomes absolutely spec-tacular, with crimson and golden rock faces, rough crags punctuated with emer-ald lakes and streams—ultimately capped with poofy pillows of cumulus clouds. This is the infamous Route One, arguably the most popular route during the King Meet, and probably every-day soaring.

While the Lost River Range is magnifi-cent, it has a tendency to get over-excited sometimes and produce more than the friendly cumulus, thereby dictating an alternate soaring route, typically Route Three. This northeasterly route gives a pilot a choice of soaring the edge of the desert, or the Lemhi and Bitterroot mountain ranges. The Lemhi are the slightly smaller cousin to the Lost River Range, parallel to, and with about a 15 mile-wide valley separating them. The Howe (also known as the Little Lost) valley can be a challenging crossing, but gives pilots a session of flat land soaring in between mountain ranges. Continuing past the Lemhi Range offers the choice to search lift sources among cultivated fields scattered along the desert, or fly deeper into the Bitterroot Range that forms the Continental Divide.

Then, there is Route Two. It has only been flown during competition three times in the last 10 years. If a pilot completes the task to Three Forks, Montana, there will be seven mountain ranges to navigate. A retrieve driver will have an equally scenic drive and be astounded at the large expans-es of unoccupied landscape.

This combination of desert and moun-tain region gives the soaring pilot opportu-nities for a really big adventure. There’s a lot of relief in the topography around this section of Idaho. Come enjoy some!

words by DANGRAVAGE

October 2008 | Hang Gliding & Paragliding | www.USHPA.aero

[opposite top] Photo by John Blacet.

[opposite bottom] Climbing out with Ben D. on the flats. Photo by Gerry Pesavento.

[below] Chris Kurowski flying in an evening glass. Photo by Jamie Messenger.

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[previous page] Matt Beechinor cranking over launch, Big Southern Butte in the background. Photos by Jamie Messenger.

[above] Andy McCrea over launch. Photo by Jamie Messenger.

[opposite top] Looking North from King Mountain to the Lost River range. Photo by Bruce Bousfield. [opposite bottom] Matt Beechinor. Photo by Jamie Messenger.

[next page] Wayne launching with Bruce thermaling out front. Photo by Gerry Pesavento.

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1. Publication Title: Hang Gliding & Paragliding2. Publication Number: ISSN 1543-59893. Filing Date: August 7, 20084. Issue Frequency: Monthly5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 126. Annual Subscription Price: $52.007. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 1685 West Uintah, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado 80904-29698. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: 1685 West Uintah, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado 80904-29699. Full Names and Complete mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor: Publisher: United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., PO Box 1330, Colorado Springs CO 80901-1330. Editor & Managing Editor: Nicholas Greece, PO Box 2183, Jackson, WY 8300110. Owner: United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc., 1685 West Uintah, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado 80904-2969. 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages, or Other Securities: None.

12. Tax Status. The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes: Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months.13. Publication Title: Hang Gliding & Paragliding14. Issue Date for Circulation Data below: August 2008.15. Extent and Nature of Circulation15a. Total Number of Copies: 8,670 Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 months; 8,579 No. copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date.15b. Paid and/or Requested Circulation.15b1. Paid/Requested Outside County Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541: 8,352 ave./issue preceding 12 months; 8,229 for August 2008.15b2. Paid In-County Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541: 0 ave./issue preceding 12 months; 0 for August 2008.15b3. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribution: 0 ave./issue preceding 12 months; 0 for August 2008.15b4. Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS: 54 ave./issue preceding 12 months; 54 for August 2008.15c. Total Paid and /or Requested Circulation: 8,406 ave./issue preceding 12 months; 8,283 for August 2008.

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CALENDAR ITEMS will not be listed if only tentative. Please include exact information (event, date, contact name and phone number). Items should be received no later than six weeks prior to the event. We request two months lead time for regional and national meets. For more complete information on the events listed, see our Calendar of Events at: www.USHPA.Aero

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, ad-ditions & cancellations must be received in writing 2 months preceding the cover date, i.e. September 15th is the deadline for the November issue. ALL CLASSI-FIEDS ARE PREPAID. If paying by check, please in-clude 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 previ-ous information and classified to [email protected]. 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 business-es will be happy to give an objective opinion on the con-dition of equipment you bring them to inspect. BUYERS SHOULD SELECT EQUIPMENT THAT IS APPROPRI-ATE FOR THEIR SKILL LEVEL OR RATING. NEW PI-LOTS SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL INSTRUC-TION FROM A USHPA CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR.

COMPETITION

HG SePtember 28 - october 4 Dunlap, Ten-nessee. The 2008 Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Chal-lenge. Pilot check-in and registration starts Saturday September 27. Competition strategies with a focus on mentoring, and fun. More information: treetoppers.net.

PG october 4-6 Dunlap, Potato Hill and Owens Valley, California. 2008 Northern California XC League. $10/task for pre-registered pilots. Prizes awarded on Saturday nights. For more information email Jug at [email protected], or go to www.santacruzparaglid-ing.com.

HG PG october 4-6 Owens Valley, Califor-nia. Southern California XC League; open to both Hang Gliders and Paragliders. Separate tasks run for each discipline. For more info email [email protected] or visit www.usxcleague.com.

HG PG october 31 - November 2 Puebla, Mexico. Vuela Puebla 2008, Paragliding and Hang Glid-ing Open Championship. FAI/CIVL Category 2 Events. Competitions will occur at same time at two different launches. Great flying, and cool colonial city. $75 entry fee. More information: www.vuelapuebla.com.

HG PG November 15-16 Santa Barbara, California. Southern California XC League; open to both Hang Gliders and Paragliders. Separate tasks run for each discipline. For more info email [email protected] or visit www.usxcleague.com.

HG PG December 6-7 Santa Barbara, Califor-nia. Southern California XC League; open to both Hang Gliders and Paragliders. Separate tasks run for each discipline. For more info email [email protected] or visit www.usxcleague.com.

FLy-INS

HG PG october 9 - october 14 LA SALI-NA, BAJA Mexico. Third Annual Full-Moon “Fiesto Del Cielo” Fly-in at La Salina Flying Ridge. Inter-mediate equivalency ( and above) paragliding and hang gliding pilots welcome (others check first). La Salina is Baja’s most diversified airsport venue with various glider launches and LZ’s. Launch from 700’ ridge, located 1⁄2 mile east of Pacific Ocean. Soar for hours, climbing 2000 ft+ in strong ther-mals, and land on big/beautiful sandy beach, or cross country 30+ miles into wine country. Event sponsored by TEAM FLYLASALINA.com, and Ba-jabrent who will handle accommodations at his sandy beachfront B & B (complete with carpeted target LZ), or elsewhere. XC comp and flying task competitions Fri-Mon. More information: www.FLYLASALINA.com or www.BAJABRENT.com , or call Bajabrent at 760-203-2658 or 01152-646-155-4218 or email [email protected].

CLINICS, MEETINGS, TOURS

october 1 - November 30 Phoenix, Ari-zona. Fly Arizona with the locals this fall and win-ter. Improve your thermal and XC skills with a comp pilot Carlos Madureira. Just fly to Sky Har-bor in Phoenix and we’ll pick you up at the airport, set up hotel, transfers and full retrieval. Coaching for all you’ll need to fly safely. P2 with strong skills or higher are welcome. More info: www.flyhigh-paragliding.com, or call (480)266-6969.

october 3-5 Santa Barbara, California. Instruc-tor Certification Clinic with Rob Sporrer of Eagle Para-gliding. This three day clinic is open to basic and ad-vanced Paragliding instructor candidates, and those needing recertification. More information: www.para-gliding.com.

october 8-12 Bishop, California. Wel-come to the Owens 1. Site intros, thermal and XC coaching. Great time of year for mellow conditions open to strong P2 - P4. FLY THE OWENS VALLEY WITH KARI CASTLE. Three time world champi-on, umpteen time National Champion pilot in both hang gliding and paragliding. The fall is my favor-ite time of year for flying the Owens, let me show you around my backyard!! More information: [email protected], or (760) 920-0748.

october 10-31 Tapalpa, Mexico. Fly south this winter, Tapalpa offers world class, mel-low to moderate thermal conditions. Improve your thermal and x-c skills with David Pren-tice. Lodging,transportation, and guiding includ-ed. More information: [email protected], or (505)720-5436.

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

october 23-25 USHPA Board of Directors Meeting. Visit www.ushpa.aero for more info.

october 25-29 Bishop, California. Wel-come to the Owens 3. New to thermals and fly-ing XC this is for you. Enjoy some mellower and light XC conditions. FLY THE OWEN’S VALLEY WITH KARI CASTLE. Three time world champi-on, umpteen time National Champion pilot in both hang gliding and paragliding. The fall is my favor-ite time of year for flying the Owen’s, let me show you around my backyard!! More information: [email protected], or (760) 920-0748.

october 25 - November 1 Nicaragua. Join Nick Crane and Paracrane for the third an-nual paragliding tour to Nicaragua. This is the best time of year to fly Nicaragua, a little known and great place to paraglide with tons of potential. You’ll fly beautiful Laguna de Apoyo, near the his-toric Colonial town of Granada, as well as Mom-bacho Volcano. This is a trip for experienced pi-lots comfortable with top landing, small LZ’s and XC flights. More information on this trip and oth-ers to Costa Rica: www.paracrane.com, or call (541)840-8587.

DISPATCH


November 3-17 Iquique, Chile. Paragliding Instructor Clinic with Luis Rosenkjer. Limited po-sitions. Open to basic and advanced paragliding instructor candidates. Contact: [email protected], or call (404)931-3793.

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

November 6-25 Iquique, Chile. Join Luis Rosenkjer and Todd Weigand to fly the never end-ing thermals where the Atacama Desert meets the Pacific Ocean! As Co-Chilean Open Distance re-cord holder (193 km) and Iquique Open Competi-tion Champions, Luis and Todd have over 11 years of combined guiding experience in Iquique. Mul-tiple tours for all levels and USHPA certified in-structional courses available. Fly everyday or get money back! Don’t believe us…. check out our program for more details! www.paraglidingtrips.com.

November 7-9 Florida. East Coast SIV clin-ic. More information: [email protected], or (505)720-5436.

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

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

November 8-15 &/or November 15-22 Iquique, Chile. Flying sites w/Ken Hudonjorgensen , Bill Belcourt and local guides. A great trip to what many pilots consider to be the best place to fly in the world. Phone (801) 572-3414, or email [email protected]. More information: www.twocanfly.com.

November 21-23 Florida. East Coast SIV clin-ic. More information: [email protected], or (505)720-5436.

December 5 - JANUAry 16 Valle De Bravo, Mexico. Fly south this winter! Improve your thermal and X-C skills with David Prentice World Class El Pe-non site, which is the launch for the 2009 world cham-pionships. Lodging, transportation, and guiding In-cluded. More information: [email protected], or (505)720-5436.

FLEX WINGS

EVEN-UP TRADES - Looking for a different glider, but can’t put up cash? (262)-473-8800 www.hanggliding.com

FALCONS, EAGLES, SPECTRUMS, PULSES - Wide variety of gliders for sale, inspected & test flown.(262)473-8800, www.hanggliding.com

WW SUPER SPORT 153 - One owner. Never crashed - not even a downtube. Flies great. $1000 OBO. 541-479-6289

PARACHUTES

INSPECTED RESERVE PARACHUTES - For HG or PG $199 & up. Quantums and LARAs from $499. Some trades accepted. (262)473-8800, www.hanggliding.com

BUSINESS & EMPLOyMENT

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

HARNESSES

HARNESSES - All sizes. Trainers $99 & up. Cocoons $125 & up. Pods $200 & up. Some trades accepted. (262)473-8800, www.hanggliding.com .

SCHOOLS & DEALERS

ALABAMA

ATLANTA PARAGLIDING - 20 years of experience, top instructors, top pilots and very consistent weather conditions all year around, make us your best choice on the east coast. www.atlantaparagliding.com (404) 931-3793

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN FLIGHT PARK - The best facil-ities, largest inventory, camping, swimming, volleyball, more. Wide range of accommodations. hanglide.com, 877-hanglide, (877)-426-4543, hanglide.com.

ARIZONA

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

USHPAUSHGA stickers in limited supply so...

Stock up! Order online at

www.ushpa.aero/store or call 800-616-6888


CALIFORNIA

AIRJUNKIES PARAGLIDING - Year-round excellent in-struction, Southern California & Baja. Powered paraglid-ing, clinics, tours, tandem, towing. Ken Baier (760)-753-2664, airjunkies.com.

EAGLE PARAGLIDING - SANTA BARBARA offers the best year round flying in the nation. Award-winning in-struction, excellent mountain and ridge sites. www.Fly-SantaBarbara.com, (805)-968-0980

FLY ABOVE ALL - Year-round instruction in beautiful Santa Barbara! USHPA Novice through Advanced certi-fication. Thermaling to competition training. Visit www.flyaboveall.com (805)-965-3733.

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

MISSION SOARING CENTER - Largest hang gliding center in the West! Our deluxe retail shop showcases the latest equipment: Wills Wing, Moyes, AIR, High Energy, Flytec, Icaro. West Coast distributor for A.I.R. Atos rig-id wings including the all-new VX Tandem Atos. Parts in stock. We stock new and used equipment. Trade-ins welcome. Complete lesson program. Best training park in the West, located just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Pitman Hydraulic Winch System for Hang 1s and above. Launch and landing clinics for Hang 3s and Hang 4s. Wills Wing Falcons of all sizes and custom train-ing harnesses. 1116 Wrigley Way, Milpitas, CA 95035. (408)-262-1055, Fax (408)-262-1388, [email protected], www.hang-gliding.com, Mission Soaring Center, leading the way since 1973.

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

WINDSPORTS - Don’t risk bad weather, bad instruc-tion or dangerous training hills. 350 flyable days each year. Learn foot-launch flying skills safely and quickly. Train with professional CFI’s at world-famous Dockweil-er Beach training slopes (5 minutes from LA airport.) Fly winter or summer in gentle coastal winds, soft sand and in a thorough program with one of America’s most pres-tigious schools for over 25 years. (818)-367-2430, www.windsports.com.

COLORADO

AIRTIME ABOVE HANG GLIDING - Full time lessons sales and service Colorado’s most experienced! Offer-ing foot launch, tow and scooter tow instruction. Wills Wing, Moyes, North Wing, AIR, Altair, Aeros, High En-ergy, Finsterwalder, Flytec, MotoComm, and more sold and serviced. Call for more info (303)-674-2451, Ever-green Colorado, [email protected]

GUNNISON GLIDERS - Serving the western slope. In-struction, sales, service, sewing, accessories. Site in-formation, ratings. 1549 County Road 17, Gunnison CO 81230. (970)-641-9315, 1-(866)-238-2305.

PEAK TO PEAK PARAGLIDING LLC - THE Front Range paragliding school, located in Boulder, Colorado. Offer-ing excellent state-of-the-art instruction. Specializing in over the water & safety training. Equipment & tandems. Phone 303.817.0803 [email protected] www.peaktopeakparagliding.com.

CONNECTICUT

PLANET PARAGLIDING - New York City Area Finest In-struction. Come fly with us. Beginner through Advanced Instruction. Best prices on new gear. Bill (203) 206-3896, www.PlanetParaglidingTours.com.

FLORIDA


FLORIDA RIDGE AEROTOW PARK - 18265 E State Road 80, Clewiston, Florida (863)-805-0440, www.the-floridaridge.com.

GRAYBIRD AIRSPORTS — Paraglider & hang glid-er towing & training, Dragonfly aerotow training, XC, thermaling, instruction, equipment. Dunnellon Airport (352)-245-8263, email [email protected], www.graybirdairsports.com.

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

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

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

6020


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, 877-hanglide, (877)-426-4543.

HAWAII

ALOHA! ISLAND POWERED PARAGLIDERS/THER-MALUP PARAGLIDING - The Big Islands only choice for USHPA certified instruction. Both free flight and pow-ered tandems year round. Dvd of your flight included. One on one lessons from our private oceanside launch-es and training facilities. Contact Yeti, (808)-987-0773, www.ThermalUp.com or www.IslandPPG.com. Aloha

FLY HAWAII - Hawaii’s hang gliding, paragliding/para-motoring school. Mauna Kea guide service. Most expe-rience, best safety record. Big Island of Hawaii, Achim Hagemann (808)-895-9772, www.aircotec.net/flyha-waii.htm, [email protected].

PROFLYGHT PARAGLIDING - Call Dexter for friendly information about flying on Maui. Full-service school of-fering beginner to advanced instruction every day, year round. (808)-874-5433, paraglidehawaii.com.

INDIANA

CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - See Cloud 9 in Michigan

MAINE

DOWNEAST AIRSPORTS - paragliding & hang gliding instruction using tandems & scooter towing for easy safe learning. Quality equipment sales. www.downeastair-sports.com, in _ a _ [email protected], Marc (207)-244-9107.

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 Re-hoboth 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, [email protected].

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

MICHIGAN

CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - Aerotow specialists. We carry all major brand hang gliders and accessories. Cloud 9 Field, 11088 Coon Lake Road West, Webber-ville MI 48892. [email protected], http://members.aol.com/cloud9sa. Call for summer tandem lessons and flying appointments with the DraachenFliegen Soaring Club at Cloud 9 Field. (517)-223-8683, [email protected], http://members.aol.com/dfscinc.

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

NEW yORK

AAA MOUNTAIN WINGS INC. - New location at 77 Hang Glider Road in Ellenville next to the LZ. We ser-vice all brands featuring AEROS and North Wing. Con-tact (845)-647-3377, [email protected], www.mt-nwings.com,

FLY HIGH, INC. - Serving New York, Jersey, and Con-necticut areas. Area’s exclusive Wills Wing dealer. Also all other brands, accessories. Area’s most INEXPENSIVE prices! Certified instruction/service since 1979. Excel-lent secondary instruction! Taken some lessons? Ad-vance to mountain flying! www.flyhighhg.com, (845)-744-3317.

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

PLANET PARAGLIDING - New York City Area Finest In-struction. Come fly with us. Beginner through Advanced instruction. Best prices on new gear. Bill (203) 206-3896, www.PlanetParaglidingTours.com.

SUSQUEHANNA FLIGHT PARK COOPERSTOWN NY - 40 acre flight park. 160’ training hill with rides up. 600’ ridge-large LZ. Specializing in first mountain flights.Dan Guido mailing address 293 Shoemaker Rd Mohawk Ny 13407 Home (315)-866-6153 cell (315)-867-8011 [email protected]

NORTH CAROLINA


KITTY HAWK KITES - FREE Hang 1 training with pur-chase of equipment! The largest hang gliding school in the world. Teaching since 1974. Learn to fly over the East coast’s largest sand dune. Year round instruction, foot launch and tandem aerotow. Dealer for all major man-ufacturers. Ultralight instruction and tours. (252)-441-2426, 1-877-FLY-THIS, www.kittyhawk.com


for Airfoil BasetubesWHEELS

Raven Hang Gliding LLC(262) 473-8800

www.hanggliding.com

Raven Hang Gliding LLC(262) 473-8800

www.hanggliding.com

OHIO

CLOUD 9 SPORT AVIATION - See Cloud 9 in Michigan

PUERTO RICO

FLY PUERTO RICO WITH TEAM SPIRIT HG! - Flying tours, rentals, tandems, HG and PG classes, H-2 and P-2 intensive Novice courses, full sales. (787)-850-0508, [email protected].

SOUTH CAROLINA


TENNESSEE


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

TEXAS

AUSTIN AIR SPORTS - Hang gliding and ultralight sales, service and instruction. Steve Burns (512)-236-0031, [email protected]. Fred Burns (281)-471-1488, [email protected], WWW.AUSTINAIR-SPORTS.COM.

GO...HANG GLIDING!!! — Jeff Hunt. Austin ph/fax (512)-467-2529, [email protected],www.flytexas.com.

UTAH

CLOUD 9 PARAGLIDING - Come visit us and check out our huge selection of paragliding gear, traction kites, ex-treme 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 re-pair facility, Give us a ring at (801)-576-6460 if you have any questions.

VIRGINIA

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

WASHINGTON

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

INTERNATIONAL

BAJA MEXICO - La Salina: PG, HG, PPG www.FLYLA-SALINA.com. by www.BAJABRENT.com, He’ll hook you up! site intros, tours, & rooms [email protected], (760)-203-2658

COSTA RICA - Grampa Ninja’s Paragliders’ B&C (Bed And Coffee). Rooms, and/or guide service and transpor-tation. Lessons available from USHPA certified instruc-tors. Open January thru April. If enough interest, Decem-ber. USA: 908-454-3242. Costa Rica: 506-2664-6833 www.paraglidecostarica.com

MEXICO - VALLE DE BRAVO and beyond for hang glid-ing and paragliding. Year round availability and special tours. Gear, guiding, instruction, transportation, lodg-ing - all varieties for your needs. www.flymexico.com 1-(800)-861-7198 USA

PARTS & ACCESSORIES

ALL HG GLIDERBAGS, harness packs, harness zippers and zipper stocks. Instrument mounts and replacement bands. Mitts, straps, fabric parts, windsocks, radios. Gunnison Gliders. 1-(866)-238-2305

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

FLIGHT SUITS, FLIGHT SUITS, FLIGHT SUITS, Warm Flight suits, Efficient Flight suits, Light weight Flight suits, Flight suits in twelve sizes. Stylish Flight suits www.mphsports.com (503)-657-8911

FOR ALL YOUR FLYING NEEDS - Check out the Avia-tion Depot at www.mojosgear.com featuring over 1000 items for foot-launched and powered paragliding, hang gliding, stunt and power kiting, and powered parachutes. 24/7 secure online shopping. Books, videos, KITES, gifts, engine parts, harness accessories, electronics, clothing, safety equipment, complete powered paraglid-ing units with training from Hill Country Paragliding Inc. www.hillcountryparagliding.com 1-800-664-1160 for orders only. Office (325)-379-1567.

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

MINI VARIO - World’s smallest, simplest vario! Clips to helmet or chinstrap. 200 hours on batteries, 0-18,000 ft., fast response and 2-year warranty. ONLY $169. Mal-lettec, PO Box 15756, Santa Ana CA 92735. (949)-795-0421, MC/Visa accepted, www.mallettec.com.

OXYGEN SYSTEMS – MH-XCR-180 operates to 18,000 ft., weighs only 4 lbs. System includes cylinder, har-ness, regulator, cannula, and remote on/off flowmeter. $450.00. 1(800)468-8185


RISING AIR GLIDER REPAIR SERVICES - A full-ser-vice shop, specializing in all types of paragliding repairs, annual inspections, reserve repacks, harness repairs. Hang gliding reserve repacks and repair. For informa-tion or repair estimate, call (208)-554-2243, pricing and service request form available at www.risingair.biz, [email protected].

TANDEM LANDING GEAR - Rascal(tm) brand by Ra-ven. Simply the best. New & used. (262)473-8800, www.hanggliding.com

WHEELS FOR AIRFOIL BASETUBES - Moyes/Air-borne and Wills Wing compatible. (262)473-8800, www.hanggliding.com

WINDSOKS FROM HAWK AIRSPORTS INC - 1673 Corbin Lake Rd, Rutledge, TN 37861, 1-800-826-2719. World-famous Windsoks, as seen at the Oshkosh & Sun-N-Fun EAA Fly-Ins. [email protected], www.wind-sok.com.

PUBLICATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS

SOARING - Monthly magazine of The Soaring Society of America Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring flight. Full membership $64. SSA, PO Box 2100, Hobbs NM 88241. (505)-392-1177, ssa.org.

MISCELLANEOUS

ATTENTION PILOTS! Bamboo Chutes recycles grounded paragliders and parachutes into enviro friendly tote bags. We pay shipping and send you a tote! 541-301-3101 or [email protected]

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

STOLEN WINGS AND THINGS

STOLEN WINGS are listed as a service to USHPA mem-bers. Newest entries are in bold. There is no charge for this service and lost-and-found wings or equipment may be called in to (719)-632-8300, faxed to (719)-632-6417, or emailed to [email protected] for inclusion in Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Please call to cancel the listing when gliders are recovered. Periodi-cally, this listing will be purged.

GPS GARMIN 76 CSX. The last day of the Rat Race, af-ter the track log information was downloaded, someone picked up my GPS from the table. It had white tape in the upper left corner with my pilot number 326 written on it. If you discover that this GPS in your possession, please contact me at USHPA. Martin 800-616-6888. This GPS was borrowed from a friend, so it would be an enormous relief to have it returned.

HANG GLIDING INSTRUMENT FOUND on Tennessee Tree Topper site. Identify for return. [email protected]

STOLEN FROM THE ANDY JACKSON AIRPARK CAL-IFORNIA, MAY 14TH 2007. FALCON 195 #25038. Silver leading edge, red bottom surface white trailing edge. If found please contact Rob or Dianne through www.flytan-dem.com or (909)-883-8488.

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

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HANG GLIDING

H-1 1 Gavin Clifford Lynnwood WA Michael JeffersonH-1 1 Warren Patterson Seattle WA Gordon CayceH-1 2 James Henson Fresno CA Dan FlemingH-1 2 Ganz Sauco Daly City CA Arturo MeleanH-1 2 Jessica Williamson Stateline NV Patrick DenevanH-1 3 David Boggs Beaumont CA John HeineyH-1 3 William Grossman Simi Valley CA Chad Bastian, FlyaboveallH-1 3 Huy Anh Tran Pomona CA Lynden VazquezH-1 3 Charles Gliden Culver City CA Dr Lawrence MaceH-1 5 A Gene Meyers Wolf Creek MT Alan PaylorH-1 7 James Banks Farmington MN Diana KoetherH-1 7 John Souther Northville MI Gordon CayceH-1 7 Chris Hughes Naperville IL Gordon CayceH-1 8 Michael Appel Biddieford ME Thomas BaumannH-1 8 Micah Beckman New Britain CT Edward GermainH-1 8 Yan Tran Dracut MA Edward GermainH-1 9 Christopher Lewis Woodbine MD Andy TorringtonH-1 9 Katherine Phillips New Springfield OH Thomas BaumannH-1 9 Dustin Conley Chesapeake VA Andy TorringtonH-1 9 Andrew Prats York PA Gordon CayceH-1 10 Scott Matherne Olive Branch MS Gordon CayceH-1 10 Bryan Strong Southern Shores NC Andy TorringtonH-1 10 David Broyles Kill Devil Hills NC Thomas BaumannH-1 10 Ingrid Hale Nags Head NC Thomas BaumannH-1 10 Robert Morrell Kill Devil Hills NC Thomas BaumannH-1 10 Nichole Haake Charlotte NC Andy TorringtonH-1 10 Antonio Maurao Sebring FL Malcolm JonesH-1 10 Jesse Cayce Wildwood GA Gordon CayceH-1 10 James Romer Andersonville TN Diana KoetherH-1 10 Miro Samek Chapel Hill NC Christopher BodinH-1 10 Nelson Willis Smyrna TN Gordon CayceH-1 10 Cody Valentine Ballground GA Gordon CayceH-1 10 Michael Kemmler Trenton GA Gordon CayceH-1 10 Osama Idlibi Harrisburg NC Gordon CayceH-1 10 Michael Glasgow Cleveland TN Gordon CayceH-1 10 Colin Dupee Atlanta GA Gordon CayceH-1 12 Jonathan Clark Beacon NY Steven PrepostH-1 12 Darrick May Syacuse NY Henry BoesslH-1 12 Alex Mykyta Rochester NY Henry BoesslH-1 12 Caitlin Johnson Lyndonville NY Henry BoesslH-1 12 Brian Vogel Rochester NY Henry BoesslH-1 12 James Donovan Tarrytown NY James Louis DonovanH-1 12 Harris Jones Ithaca NY Greg BlackH-1 12 Jordan Gianfonte Cazenovia NY Daniel GuidoH-1 12 Timothy Higgins, Jr Schenectady NY Daniel GuidoH-2 1 Warren Patterson Seattle WA Gordon CayceH-2 2 Michael Freed Carson City NV Alex CuddyH-2 2 Ben Curren Sunnyvale CA Patrick DenevanH-2 2 Robert Fleshman Fresno CA Robert SoaresH-2 2 James Henson Fresno CA Dan FlemingH-2 2 Peter Mu Milpitas CA Patrick DenevanH-2 3 David Boggs Beaumont CA John HeineyH-2 3 William Grossman Simi Valley CA Chad Bastian, FlyaboveallH-2 4 Ed Gerber Corrales NM Lawrence WestH-2 4 John Glime Salt Lake City UT Thomas WebsterH-2 5 A Gene Meyers Wolf Creek MT Alan PaylorH-2 7 James Banks Farmington MN Diana KoetherH-2 7 John Souther Northville MI Gordon CayceH-2 7 Chris Hughes Naperville IL Gordon CayceH-2 8 Stacy Patterson Hanover NH Steven PrepostH-2 8 Michael Appel Biddieford ME Andy TorringtonH-2 9 Charles Okeeffe Iii Winchester VA Steve WendtH-2 9 Bob Filipchuk Ellicott City MD Paul VeneskyH-2 9 Andrew Prats York PA Gordon CayceH-2 10 Scott Matherne Olive Branch MS Gordon CayceH-2 10 Antonio Maurao Sebring FL Malcolm JonesH-2 10 Jesse Cayce Wildwood GA Gordon CayceH-2 10 James Romer Andersonville TN Diana KoetherH-2 10 Nelson Willis Smyrna TN Gordon CayceH-2 10 Cody Valentine Ballground GA Gordon CayceH-2 10 Michael Kemmler Trenton GA Gordon CayceH-2 10 Osama Idlibi Harrisburg NC Gordon CayceH-2 10 Michael Glasgow Cleveland TN Gordon Cayce

RTNG REGN NAME CITY STATE RATING OFFICIAL


P-2 1 Rebecca Knowlen North Bend WA Denise ReedP-2 1 Ryan Mcdonald Entiat WA Stefan MitrovichP-2 2 Spencer Arton Los Altos CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-2 2 T Berkley White Monterey CA Rob SporrerP-2 2 Jessica Wheeler Monterey CA Rob SporrerP-2 2 Nathan Perry Livermore CA Jonathan JefferiesP-2 3 Robert Anderson Silver Strand Beach CA Kevin McginleyP-2 3 Chris Nash Manhattan Beack CA Kevin McginleyP-2 3 Kevin Sullivan San Diego CA Roy ZaleskiP-2 3 Craig Mason Corona CA Rob MckenzieP-2 3 Nils Davis Bishop CA Kari CastleP-2 3 Nikilaus Schuhl Mammoth Lakes CA Kevin McginleyP-2 3 Lauren Glick Venice CA Kevin McginleyP-2 3 Kevin Hanson Venice CA Kevin McginleyP-2 3 Jeff Chasney Goleta CA Kevin McginleyP-2 3 Michael Paul Santa Barbara CA Kevin McginleyP-2 3 Stephen Mclaughlin Santa Barbara CA Rob SporrerP-2 4 David Elliott Midvale UT Ken HudonjorgensenP-2 4 Kimberly Shelton Tempe AZ Chandler PapasP-2 4 Van Baehr Santa Fe NM T Lee KortschP-2 4 Mike Benzie Denver CO Granger BanksP-2 4 Jim Schwendeman Golden CO Granger BanksP-2 4 Joe Herrera Deming NM T Lee KortschP-2 4 Paul Mortenson Logan UT Stephen MayerP-2 4 John James Sandy UT Cade PalmerP-2 4 Donald Hannah Jr Telluride CO Ryan TaylorP-2 4 Brian Trick Draper UT Mike SteenP-2 4 James Woods Salt Lake City UT Ryan TaylorP-2 4 Ron Carter Farmington UT Kevin HintzeP-2 4 Conrad Snyder Telluride CO Ryan TaylorP-2 4 Eldon Lee Provo UT Jonathan JefferiesP-2 5 Eric Holifield Sheridan WY Kay TauscherP-2 5 Reston Condit Idaho Falls ID Chris SantacroceP-2 7 Moises Romero Milwaukee WI Kevin HintzeP-2 7 Eric Coronado Lombard IL John KraskeP-2 8 Paulo Gusman Framingham MA Jeffrey NicolayP-2 8 Alex Hornstein Boston MA Kevin McginleyP-2 11 James Overton Dallas TX Mike SteenP-2 12 Sam Sokolovsky New York NY Philippe RenaudinP-2 13 Doug Scott Edmonton, Ab Kevin McginleyP-3 1 Francisco Henriquez Seattle WA Stefan MitrovichP-3 1 Shannon Olivarez Portland OR Kelly KellarP-3 1 Ted Shepard Puyallup WA Lan ChiricoP-3 1 Brett Kerin Bellingham WA Delvin CrabtreeP-3 2 Dudi Shmueli Cupertino CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-3 2 Joshua Marks Merced CA Kevin McginleyP-3 3 Kamyar Haghani Encinitas CA Steve StackableP-3 3 Dietrich Schuhl Sherman Oaks CA Kevin McginleyP-3 3 Alan Peterson San Diego CA Steve StackableP-3 3 Brian Jacobs Laguna Beach CA Marcello De BarrosP-3 4 Stephen Donnelly Tempe AZ Carlos MadureiraP-3 4 Josh Frank Aspen CO David FrankP-3 4 Kevin Kohler Boulder CO Granger BanksP-3 4 Nicholas Hintze Riverton UT Kevin HintzeP-3 6 Paul Condron Fayetteville AR Ron KohnP-3 7 Rafal Jakubek Riverwoods IL Ken HudonjorgensenP-3 7 Vladimir Gedgafov Glenview IL Rob SporrerP-3 8 Kristopher Emery Milton VT Rick HigginsP-3 9 Ronald Hott Lehew WV Elisabeth KimP-3 11 Vikram Doddi Austin TX David PrenticeP-3 11 Willis Akin Round Rouck TX David PrenticeP-3 11 Jon Spencer Irving TX David BroylesP-4 1 Wil Brown Anchorage AK William RossP-4 1 Chester Lindgren Portland OR Brad HillP-4 2 Juan Dobovsek Palo Alto CA Juan LaosP-4 3 Robb Milley Moorpark CA Robert PeloquinP-4 4 Becky Miller Salt Lake City UT Chris SantacroceP-4 4 Viktor Fedorov Glenwood Springs CO Etienne PienaarP-4 8 Bill Lockwood Oxford CT Sander KoyfmanP-4 10 Luis Ameglio Sunrise FL David PrenticeP-5 1 Maren Ludwig Warrenton OR Ken Hudonjorgensen

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PARAGLIDING

P-1 1 Hiroshi Yamasaki Bellevue WA Steven WilsonP-1 2 Justin Maccallum San Mateo CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 John Peterson Santa Cruz CA Wallace AndersonP-1 2 Sylvain Florand Sunnyvale CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 Derek Calhoon Oakland CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 Olivier Bernard Menlo Park CA Jeffrey GreenbaumP-1 2 Gary Lloyd Davis CA Joe Daryle CruzP-1 2 T Berkley White Monterey CA Rob SporrerP-1 2 Jessica Wheeler Monterey CA Rob SporrerP-1 2 Nathan Perry Livermore CA Jonathan JefferiesP-1 3 Kevin Sullivan San Diego CA Roy ZaleskiP-1 3 Craig Mason Corona CA Rob MckenzieP-1 3 William Von Blohn Kahalui HI David BinderP-1 3 Stephen Mclaughlin Santa Barbara CA Rob SporrerP-1 4 David Elliott Midvale UT Ken HudonjorgensenP-1 4 Van Baehr Santa Fe NM T Lee KortschP-1 4 Joe Herrera Deming NM T Lee KortschP-1 4 Paul Mortenson Logan UT Stephen MayerP-1 4 Donald Hannah Jr Telluride CO Ryan TaylorP-1 4 Dave Lynch Laveen AZ Rob Von ZabernP-1 4 Brian Trick Draper UT Mike SteenP-1 4 Ron Carter Farmington UT Kevin HintzeP-1 4 Erik Mulder Greenwood Village CO Granger BanksP-1 4 Conrad Snyder Telluride CO Ryan TaylorP-1 4 Eldon Lee Provo UT Jonathan JefferiesP-1 5 Eric Holifield Sheridan WY Kay TauscherP-1 7 Moises Romero Milwaukee WI Kevin HintzeP-1 10 Adrian Dybwad Champions Gate FL Adrian WitcombP-1 11 James Overton Dallas TX Mike SteenP-1 12 Sam Sokolovsky New York NY Philippe RenaudinP-1 13 Alan Callow Somerset Murat TuzerP-2 1 Martin Hill Snoqualmie WA Steven WilsonP-2 1 Jennifer Messick Girdwood AK Peter GautreauP-2 1 Joshua Harbick Redmond OR Kevin LeeP-2 1 Rebecca Peace Bellingham WA Denise ReedP-2 1 Casey Veranth Seattle WA John KraskeP-2 1 Joe Stermitz Camas WA Denise ReedP-2 1 Andrew Stermitz Camas WA Douglas Stroop

R A T I N G S | J U N E 0 8



H-2 10 Colin Dupee Atlanta GA Gordon CayceH-2 11 Jon Spencer Irving TX David BroylesH-2 12 William Becher Pompton Lakes NJ Bryon EstesH-2 12 Darrick May Syacuse NY Henry BoesslH-2 12 Alex Mykyta Rochester NY Henry BoesslH-2 12 Brian Vogel Rochester NY Henry BoesslH-2 12 Harris Jones Ithaca NY Greg BlackH-3 2 Scott Pierce Milpitas CA Michael JeffersonH-3 2 Vann Pelham San Francisco CA Michael JeffersonH-3 3 Pete Plumb Shafter CA Daniel ZinkH-3 3 Roberto Hernandez Wasco CA Mike ButlerH-3 4 Rick Maddy Denver CO Mark WindsheimerH-3 4 Jeff Johnson Phoenix AZ Kevin KennedyH-3 6 Travis Hall Stillwater OK H Bruce Weaver IiiH-3 6 Kent Harman Pacific MO Daniel ZinkH-3 8 Douglas Hirsch Pelham NH Jeffrey NicolayH-3 9 Christopher Bodin Richmond VA H Bruce Weaver IiiH-3 10 Johnathon Bland Raleigh NC Andy TorringtonH-3 10 George Brisson Rising Fawn GA Daniel ZinkH-3 10 Antonio Maurao Sebring FL Malcolm JonesH-3 12 Richard Bryant New Egypt NJ Paul VoightH-3 13 Catherine Gagnon Val Morin Qc Daniel ZinkH-4 1 Paul Dees Woodinville WA Russell GelfanH-4 1 Robert Stephens Hillsboro OR Raymond BergerH-4 1 Russell Vanlandingham Scio OR Raymond BergerH-4 1 Roone Maier Hillsboro OR Raymond BergerH-4 2 Armand Petersen Pleasanton CA Eric MiesH-4 2 Randolph Tribe San Jose CA Eves Tall ChiefH-4 3 Richard Eunice Riverside CA Daniel ZinkH-4 3 Alan Crouse Cherry Valley CA Rob MckenzieH-4 8 Dean Slocum Richmond VT Gary Trudeau


BOOKS | FILMS | APPAREL

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THERMAL FLYING | $52.95

2009 HG & PG CALENDARS | $15.00 USHPA HOLIDAY ORNAMENT | $12.00

FLEECE VEST | $35.00ADULTS & KIDS TEES | $8.00 - $18.00

APRES-VOL CLUB POLO | $30.00

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Brad Sander | Gear Guide | HG World Record

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bE SurE to chEck out our EntirE SELEction At thE onLinE StorE!

By Steve Messman

A year ago, I was a science teacher. I taught middle school for ten years, and during that time, I considered

it my greatest challenge to get young kids to open their eyes, to look at the world, and to at least question what they were look-ing at. Often, I failed. Enticing kids to look past the screens on their ipods or cell phones was a very tough assignment, but then, any teacher thrives on those relatively few “Aha!” moments when a kid wakes up long enough to say, “Wow. That’s cool.” before losing him/herself, again, in the latest Miley video. Personally, even though I am no longer teaching, I continue to look, to question, to try to explain what I see.

I live on five acres that are tucked neatly into the middle of the woods. About a third of my property is in grass, most of which I refuse to mow. On this particular day I was trekking through the property on my way to split a stack of wood, and I made the most interesting observation about grass and dandelions. I noticed that in the grassy area that I don’t mow, where the grass is at least a foot tall, the dandelions were HUGE! I’m not talking about the flowers, but their bases. Those leaves were long and broad; the diameter of a single dandelion was easily ten inches. They blanketed the roots of the grass and smothered it like flat predators with green bodies and yellow

eyes that swayed with the winds. I theo-

rized that the dandelions had assumed a mis-sion in life--to overtake the

grass, and if pos-sible, wipe it out. I

easily tested that theory, and yes, I know that this isn’t truly scien-tific. When I pulled

those huge dandelions out of the ground by their roots, what was left was an equally huge bare spot where the grass had once been thick. I interpreted this as evidence that the weeds were, in fact, taking over the grass, choking it out of existence.

Interestingly, I also noticed that adja-cent to those giant weeds were other dan-delions of the same species that grew in the shorter, mowed grass. These, however, re-mained miniature: very low to the ground, very small, three inches in diameter instead of ten, but thriving none the less. These did not have to kill the grass, but simply shared space with the grass. I pondered, “Why? What caused the size difference between these dandelions of the same species?”

I answered my own question with one word—competition. It appears to me that the huge dandelions grew to monstrous proportions because they had to compete with the taller grasses. Ultimately, if those big dandelions were to continue living, they had to beat out the taller grass. They had to steal the sunlight, soak up more water, blanket the grass to keep it from growing. Basically, they had to win. And in order to win, they had to become larger, more powerful, more aggressive competi-tors. Those dandelions that lived in the shorter grass remained smaller because they did not have to compete in order to survive. They could gather all the sun and water they needed without having to win. They had no competitors, no competition, and therefore, no reason to grow bigger, faster, fatter.

Being a good science teacher, I like to apply what I see to life, so I started to think. Is competition something that makes us humans bigger, better, badder? Where would Ford be without Chevy, or for that matter, Toyota? Where would Gates be without Jobs? In the world of foot-launch pilots where would any of our

world champions be if it weren’t for those coming in second—this week? Is it a fact that competitors serve to make those who compete more competitive? Is it true that those who compete in earnest work harder and try harder than the rest of us because they compete? Do they challenge them-selves more? Expand their envelope beyond normal (some would say sane) limits? If top competitors weren’t in it to win, would they strive to set new records? Go farther? Loop infinitely plus one? Scream down a mountainside at ninety miles per hour, or faster if the other pilot is already doing 91? Is a competitor one who thrives at his/her peak simply because someone else is close on their heels? Is it the competition? Or, is it the win?

Like a lot of science teachers, my favorite answer to such questions is, “I don’t know. That looks like something you might spend time on to figure out.” Today, I don’t have answers, just questions. The only thing I know for certain is--I fly in the short grass.

Of Grasses and Weeds

Ph

oto

by N

ate

Nib

s


hang gliding & paragliding vol38/iss10 oct 2008

Documents

sports of hang gliding

related hang gliding

paragliding association

paragliding activities

paragliding methods

executive director

art director

mark forbes