Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Cross Country

The route of the Red Bull X-Alps 2023 was revealed in March and it is a pure race around the Alps. At 1,223km long it is not the longest X-Alps route ever – that was 2021 at 1,238km – but it definitely looks like one built for speed. In a break from recent tradition the race will start in the centre of Kitzbühel, the Austrian ski resort, rather than in the centre of Salzburg. From there, pilots will have to hike, run and fly around 15 turnpoints that will take them anti-clockwise through five countries – Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy. Like the 2021 route the race will take the 34 pilots out to Mont Blanc (4,809m) before bringing them back to finish in Zell am See, Austria. Notably,…

Well known test pilot Mike Küng has joined ProFly. Set up by Michael Nesler and Gudrun Öchsl ProFly currently sell their high-B Leeloo direct to pilots with a ‘fitting’ service to trim the wing to your weight. Mike said: “I’m looking forward to making cool wings for pilots. It’s important to have a safe glider with nice handling rather than chasing performance all the time. I love that we have such direct contact with the pilots, it makes the work more interesting, more fun.” The team are working on a new high-A and a tandem. profly.org…

One of the first things to catch our eye was the Hike&Cruise from Dudek – so much so that three of us took it for a test fly together. It’s a new concept, which aims to do several things. The obvious weird-looking thing is that there are a lot fewer panels on the bottom surface than the top surface. So while the top surface has 65 panels, the bottom surface only has 21 – it’s a ratio of 3:1. You might think that this would make it a sort of jellyfish, or like a single-skinner, but it has an aspect ratio of 5.6 and is designed for thermalling and flying XC and is eminently manoeuvrable. The big benefit of this cell-count shenanigans is that because less material is used the…

I learnt to fly because I wanted to explore New Zealand’s Southern Alps, but as I did more flying I realised that the air is also an interesting thing to explore. My first flights around Mum’s place in New Zealand were short, but interesting and memorable. On this particular day I went for a hike with my two sisters but brought a wing. By Lake Wakatipu (about 80km long) at the confluence of the Greenstone and Caples rivers, between two mountain ranges is a large round hill, circumnavigated by a walking track. I left the track to bash my way through the manuka scrub on the hill until I found a patch of grass where I could launch. Then I took off and flew around to the north-facing cliffs, to…

This is the fourth iteration of AirDesign’s mountain wing. I flew the first version but did not fly the Susi 2 or 3. That first wing was an EN-D mountain wing aimed at adventurous pilots or high-wind soarers, but the subsequent versions have democratised the wing. The Susi 4 is now available in six sizes with four of them certified EN A, the two smallest sizes are EN B for their narrow ranges. All sizes have extended weight ranges, with the four bigger sizes being EN B and two smallest EN C and EN D. The new Susi 4 gives you plenty of flexibility in the range to find the wing that suits your purposes, from flying the banshee 14 at 90kg with EN-D certification to learning to fly on…

My Oudie N has a very clean layout. I moved away from a grid layout after observing how my eye moves around the screen. When there was a delay in finding a field I needed, I moved it somewhere else, iteratively, until my eye moved directly to the field I needed, more or less. I’m still experimenting. People have asked me if having some of the data boxes overlaid over the centre gets in the way of seeing the map. It doesn’t in the slightest. Combined with the automatic zoom function, I experience it like a head-up display. Early in my hang-gliding career I used feet, feet per minute, and miles per hour, but I’m now metric all the way. A unit I would like to use is metres per…

Would I like to go tandem-acro with Artoosh Ghafourian or Luke de Weert? asked Sky boss Vita Richter. As well as using the Stubai Cup to launch their new Gaia 3, an EN-A beginners’ glider, Sky were also keen to promote their new Kooky 2 Bi a dedicated acro-tandem wing. Designed for pro tandem pilots to give acro-experience flights, or acro instructors to teach, the Kooky 2 Bi is specially reinforced for all the tricks, including the infinite tumble. Deciding I did not want to infinite tumble above the ground at Stubai with 150 other gliders in the air, I said I’d happily go with either. In the end I went with Artoosh. “Let’s go up after lunch,” I said, in one of my more dim-witted moments. On launch Artoosh…

The island of Tenerife is a classic winter or early season getaway destination for hundreds if not thousands of pilots each year. Most pilots head to the south of the island where a micro-climate offers protected flying in the lee of Mount Teide, the 3,715m active volcano that dominates Tenerife. One of the world’s tallest mountains when measured from the sea floor, Teide is relatively young geologically speaking – just 170,000 years old. Before Teide came on the scene Tenerife was made up of three smaller islands that formed about seven million years ago. The remains of those islands have now eroded out, leaving impressive towers still standing in places. Next to the Ilfonche paraglider launch Roque de los Brezos, pictured, is one of those towers. Each of the seven…

HOW SOLUTION-FOCUSED FLYING CAN HELP Solution-focused coaching is – as you might imagine – an approach where the coach helps their client focus on what they’d like to be different, and what needs to be done to get there. A session often starts with a “miracle question” where you’re asked to imagine, down the line, that the problem has gone away or the goal has been reached – how do you feel, and what is different? As such it’s slightly different to “problem” orientated therapies. In paragliding, it can be used in a number of ways. Most simply, perhaps, if you’re struggling with being dragged on launch in high winds, then you’d be encouraged to think of ways to practise asymmetric reverse launches or cobras to get to your goal…

The Mac Para Elan 3 is a three-line sports class wing suitable for “ambitious XC pilots who require an extraordinary glider with excellent glide, pleasant behaviour and easy handling.” Designer Petr Recek says that after several prototypes, which included 2.5 line designs, the result is “a balanced glider with good feedback and a high degree of stability.” I got to fly the wing in the winter thermals of southern France. Build and materials This is the third iteration of Mac Para’s EN C wing. I reviewed and flew the original Elan for a year. It was an easy-to-fly EN C that put very few demands on the pilot making it an easy step into the class. I missed out on flying the Elan 2 but reviews suggested a slightly more…

Switzerland’s Umbricht Fabian (Ozone Zeolite GT) logged the first 200km flight of the Alpine season on 15 March with a 220km tour through the Jura Alps. Enrico Casarin (Swing Sphera RS) was next, flying 212km the next day in Bassano, Italy. Marcel Schmid (Ozone Zeno 2) flew a 203km flat triangle in Switzerland on 20 March, and Edouard Potel (Ozone Enzo 3) flew a 208km FAI triangle from Col de Bleyne, France on 22 March. You get the idea – it’s time to get out those heated gloves. xcontest.org.…

Tom de Dorlodot and Horacio Llorens’ new film Flying Between Giants about their K2 paragliding adventure last year was released in March. The 33-minute film captures some of the most stunning high-altitude flying footage ever seen. We asked Tom what flying in the Karakoram has taught him. Preparation is key to success. Make sure you are prepared and have the right gear. You might want to use oxygen if you are going to fly high. Be physically fit, it can help to access take-off or get out of a remote valley. Logistics take a lot of time. Do it properly, plan accordingly. Surround yourself with the right people and local agencies. Weather is a lottery. You never know what to expect. I have spent six summers in the Karakoram. Once…

The Stubai Cup in early March is the first big “testival” of the year and is traditionally where manufacturers launch new products at the start of the European season. This year saw excellent flying conditions on all three days, which meant it was busy – 800 pilots attended over the long weekend, and there were at least 1,000 launches a day. Flying started early, and manufacturers reported queues of pilots waiting to pick up gliders from 8.30am. There was a lot of interest around the new class of two-line EN-C paragliders (although supply did not meet the demand for testing). A year ago, AirDesign were the first company to unveil an EN-C two-liner in the form of the Volt 4. Concept proven there were six new wings unveiled at the…

Four years ago I made a major change in how we teach our students, by introducing virtual reality (VR) technology. I focused first on SIV preparation and thermal flying, then on landing, and finally on simplifying reverse-launch training. My idea was to use VR to increase the safety and efficiency of training, and not to replace the fun and experience of flying – after all, that is what awaits pilots in the air during a real flight. Today, after using several VR training applications across 250 novice pilots I have some concrete results that I am able to share. I will focus on the last concept we taught – reverse-launch training using VR. Creating a motion map The idea of training with the VR headset is to create basic movement…

Sitting around the campfire Martin suddenly said to me, “I felt a drop.” Hasim and I laughed before we also felt one. A few minutes later it started to rain. Hasim said the last time it rained here was 10 years ago. We hadn’t pitched a tent, which meant that our already heavy camel-hair blankets looked set to become even heavier… Like many children I was fascinated by the history and culture of Ancient Egypt. My grandfather gave me a book about the pyramids of Giza and, as a Tyrolean nestled in high mountains, I became mesmerised by the idea of the endless desert. I found everything about Egypt exciting. But as is so often the case as a child, they were only dreams, and in the course of time…

I had a glorious pair of days just past. On the last weekend of February I realised I had the chance to make good on a plan I’d had in mind for six years, since I first ventured into Fisherfield Forest and stayed at Shenaval bothy. (A bothy is an open hut in Scotland, free to use by anyone, and Shenaval is one of the remoter ones.) Back then I enjoyed a run of winter bluebird days with nil wind, and resolved to return with a wing and use the bothy as a base-camp to hike-and-fly some of the majestic peaks that surround it on all sides. At the time I was unaware that the Fisherfield Forest, also known as Scotland’s Great Wilderness, is home to the Fisherfield Six, some…

he Solo is a reflex paramotor wing aimed at the recreational and intermediate market – that’s weekend pilots. Its launch was overtaken by the pandemic lockdowns, and there have been plenty of good things said about it since then. So although I was late to the party I was keen to test it out for myself and have been flying it for the last year or so. For testing purposes I was using the MacFly 185 and the Solo 24 with an all-up-weight (≈ six litres of fuel) of around 112kg giving me a wing loading of 4.66kg/m2. Build and construction The Solo has a relatively high aspect ratio for its class of 5.4, which sits above the Ozone Roadster 3 at 5.1 and the Gin Vantage 3 at 5.05.…

What does flying mean to you? Liberty! It’s my life. How and when did you start flying? I was less than two years old when I first flew with my Dad. He owns Provence Parapente, a paragliding school in Sederon, France. Flying tandem with Dad while he taught his students, it was only natural I’d want to fly alone. At six, I started groundhandling with mini wings, then I went solo at nine. What keeps you flying? It’s a good question! I love feeling the energy of the wing, to try to imagine what the air is doing around me, and around my wing. What has flying given you so far? The power to escape everything. In competition flying, it’s a way to get out of my comfort zone in…