The Paraglider
May 24th and 25th saw the first ever X-Alps warm-up event. Organised by Flugschule Chiemsee with support of Red Bull, Nova and Skywalk, the event used the turnpoints at Kampenwand /Aschau and Lermoos to test-hike & fly the third leg of this year’s X-Alps route.It was open to all interested pilots in a relaxed non-race-format.
Kathleen Rigg is an extremely accomplished hang glider pilot based in Derbyshire, England. She has flown at the top level of the Women’s World Hang Gliding Championships for years, has been the British Women’s Champion numerous times and has been awarded the Royal Aero Club Individual Gold Award.
With the number of hang gliders declining in recent years, paraglider pilots are getting less opportunity to fly with hang gliders and are therefore often unaware of their flying, launch and landing characteristics, difference in speed, etc. This lack of understanding had sometimes inadvertently caused problems for hang glider pilots and lead to friction between the two communities.
In this podcast Kathleen explains some of the issues about sharing the sky from the hang glider perspective and talks about what we can all do to make things easier for everyone – and that includes paraglider pilots as well!
Listen to the podcast below:
Ziad Bassil (Dust of the Universe) is passionate about testing gliders. He has flown a staggering number of them over the past 20 years. With his friends, he flies the mountains of his native Lebanon and makes glide angle comparison tests in moving air and writes up his reviews on his blog at www.dustoftheuniverse.com. He is completely independent and is not aligned to any company or brand. In this podcast we talk about what he does and he offers useful advice for other pilots on testing gliders and how to choose the wing for you!
Listen to the podcast below:
Our latest podcast is on flying as a group and making the most out of sharing – whether that be info, lifts, thermals or retrieves. The Pennine Posse is a loose gaggle centred around Phil Colbert, Phil Wallbank, Mark Wilson and Barney Woodhead, although many others join them to fly big distances all over the UK. What distinguishes the Pennine Posse is that their strategy has made them one of the most successful flying buddy groups in the country. And it works – the Pennine Club have won the UK XC league every year since 2011. In this podcast Barney and Phil talk about their philosophy, the secret of their success, the tools they use and how good sharing useful info can be. And anyone is welcome to join them…
Listen to the podcast below:
In June 2014, 26 year old Berni Peßl from Styria (Austria) was the first pilot to complete a 300+ km FAI triangle on an EN B paraglider (Nova Mentor 3). In July he completed another XC hat-trick, flying 687 km in three days. Read his report about his 30 hours of happiness and satisfaction.
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