hang gliding and paragliding contents association of ... · fakaro, dan fabian peter graf, charles...

CONTENTS

Administrator's Reportby Barry Bateman .......................................3

HPAC/ACVL Directors Reportsby HGAC Directors .....................................5

The Good, the Marginal & the Uglyby Steve Best ..............................................8

Equipement Safetyby Willi Muller ............................................10

Golden Opportunityby Mike Cook ............................................11

Airmail..................................................................12

Beyond Whiskeyby Gerry Grossneger ................................14

Winter Flying Expeditionby MHGA ..................................................16

Saskatchewan NewsBy Vivian Hooper ......................................17

How Do I Become a Tandem Pilotby Glenn Derouin ......................................17

The Allianceby Shaun Barry .........................................17

Canada's Teenage Pilotsby Vincene Muller .....................................20

Interview with Ross McEwenby Steve Best ............................................22

What Price Your Headby Mark Dale .............................................24

Thoughts on High PerformanceGlidersby Geoff Dossertor ...................................27

Airspace Reclassificationby Stewart Midwinter ................................28

Competition Schedule..................................................................30

Classifieds..................................................................31

President: Martin Henry3595 Old Clayburn Road, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 6B7home; (604) 854 5950

Vice President West: Mia Schokker3595 Old Clayburn Road, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 6B7home; (604) 854 5950

Vice President East: Jacques Fontaine981 13th ave, Fabreville, PQ. H8R 4N5home; (514) 627 1444

Administrator/Editor: Barry Bateman21593 94a Ave, Langley, B.C. V1M 2A5tel/fax; (604) 882 5090

Secretary/Treasurer: Martin PolachBox 1442 Cochrane, Alberta. T0L 0W0home; (403) 932 3680

Ratings: Rick Miller10435 79th Ave, Edmonton, Alberta. T6E 1R7home; (403) 461 3592

Competition: J.C. Hauchecorne1735 Dublin Street, New Westminster, B.C.. V3M 2Z9home; (604) 521 1559: days; 1 800 283 8530

Airspace/Aero Club: Stewart Midwinter444 23rd Ave N.W., Calgary, Alberta. T2M 1S4home; (403) 230 7769

FAI/Records: Vincene MullerR.R. #2 Cochrane, Alberta. T0L 0W0home; (403) 932 2759

Paragliding: Armin Frei4283, West 15th Ave, Vancouver, B.C. V6R 3A5home; (604) 224 5493

Insurance: Kevin Thomson30 Thistledown Dr., Kitchener, Ontario. N2E 3C3home; (519) 742 5744

Safety: Fred Wilson504, Windthrop Rd, Victoria, B.C. V9C 3B5

tel/fax; (604) 474 5785

Instructor Committee; Chairman: Ron Bennett339 Hawkhill Place, Calgary, Alberta. T3G 3H7home (403) 239 7378; fax (403) 221 6950

Hang Gliding and ParaglidingAssociation of Canada

Association Canadienne de Vol Librec/o 3595 Old Clayburn Road

Abbotsford, British Columbia. V2S 6B7(604) 882 5090

PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATIONS Manitoba Hang Gliding Association200, Main Street, Winnipeg,

Manitoba R3C 4M2

Ontario Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association1220 Sheppard Avenue East, Willowdale,

Ontario M2K 2X1

L` Association Quèbècoise De Vol Libre4545 Pierre de Coubertin, C.P. 1000, Succ, M,

Montreal H1V 3R2

Hang Gliding Association of Newfoundland16, Woodbine Ave, Corner Brook

Newfoundland A2H 3N8

Hang Gliding and ParaglidingAssociation of British Columbia

1367 West Broadway, Vancouver,British Columbia,

Alberta Hang Gliding AssociationBox 2001, Stn M, Calgary,

Alberta, T2P 2M2

Saskatchewan Hang Gliding Association303 Main Street South, Moose Jaw,

Saskatchewan S6H 4V8

HPAC/ACVL

President's Report

This newsletter is produced by the Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association of Canada/Association Canadienne de Vol Libre (HPAC/ACVL) and is published and distributed quarterly toit's members. The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the HPAC/ACVL, its directors or the editor. The Editor reserves the right to edit contributions. This Newsletteris produced on a IBM compatible computer using Microsoft Word and Aldus PageMaker. Contributions may be sent in on a 5.25" or 3.5" kbt disk as an ASCII text file or in any of the majorword processing formats. Written and typed contributions are also accepted. Disk and photo's will be returned if requested and accompanied with a stamped address envelope.Send them to; Barry Bateman, 21593, 94a Avenue, Langley, BC. V1M 2A5. (604) 882 5090 Published on 1st March, June, Sept, Dec. Deadlines are two weeks prior.

Administrators

The other day, a good friend of mine, offered to help me set up theHPAC/ACVL administration books up for this coming year, which wasgreat, for at the time I was busy updating the database program andprocessing memberships. So she proceeded to ask me some questionsabout the HPAC/ACVL membership fees and during the process itoccurred to me that maybe you, the members should also be enlight-ened. It may help solve some of the confusion that exist about why wewish to achieve a direct membership program. The conversation wentsomething like this....

OK, so an individual member pays $75 right? Well that depends wherehis from. What difference does that make? Well if they're from Alta,Sask, or Nfld they are a full members and pay $75 but if they're fromBC or Manitoba they're associate members and pay $65. Why is that?Well, the members that pay $75 send it directly to me, I process theirapplication, send them back their cards, (usually within 3 days), andthen send $10 to the provincial association. What's the $10 for? That'stheir provincial membership dues. We collect it for them. OK, whatabout the $65 members. Well they send their members dues to theirprovincial membership director, they in turn send it to their treasurerwho in turn send it to me. I then process it and sent the cards back to themembers. Doesn't that take a lot of time? Yep, but that's out of myhands. Well who gets the complaints when the members don't get theircards right away? Me. That's what I thought.

Alright, lets forget that. So you have a $75 & a $65 membership feeright? Nope. There is a family membership as well. A family member-ship? Yes, if someone lives at the same house as another member thenthey can pay $15 less and receive only 1 Newsletter per household.That's a good idea. So we have $75 & $65 fee plus a $60 & $50 familymembership fee, right? Weeelll, not quite. What do you mean?

Well they might be from Ontario. What difference does that make? Wellthey don't want the HPAC/ACVL insurance. What? I thought thatmembership in the National Association automatically included insur-ance? Well it was supposed to but Ontario said it's to expensive so theyhave their own. Well if theirs is cheaper why doesn't the HPAC/ACVLtake out insurance with their company? Well we looked into it but wenever receive clarification on some of the wording, and besides that,they have just lost their school insurance coverage. So you allow themto drop the insurance part of the membership then? That was thedecision the Board of Directors made, not mine.

OK then, so what do the members from Ontario pay? $40. How do youarrive at that? I'm not sure. It's made up of from the membership portionplus the Newsletter, $25 + $15 I think. What about Family member-ship? That's not available in Ontario. Why? I have no idea.

Lets see if I have this right. We have a Full member at $75, a Full Familyfor $60, an Asso for $65, a Asso Family for $50 and $40 from Ontario.Have I missed anything? Yep. You've forgotten Quebec. What!!! What'swith Quebec? They don't have to get the Newsletter. Your kidding? How

do they stay in touch with what's happening with the rest of Canada?Ask them, I just work here. Actually their compliant is that theNewsletter is not in French, even though we tried to publish some of itin French. That Bull. I'm from Quebec and most people speak English,at least enough to read it. So what do they pay? $52. How do you arriveat that? Well as far as I can make out there's $25 membership, $25 forinsurance, plus $2 to cover my cost in producing the newsletter as thatis part of the membership fee and that work still has to be paid for evenif they chose not to receive the Newsletter. So, we have all of the othermembership fees plus $52 from Quebec. Have I got it all? Close, but nocigar. The pilots from Quebec can also chose to receive the Newsletter,in which case they pay $13 more. And lets not forget about the guy inOntario who runs a school and needs School insurance. We can forgetschool insurance for now, we're only talking membership here. Wellthat's right but you see, to have school insurance you have to be a fullyinsured member of the HPAC/ACVL which means that a member fromOntario may need to purchase the HPAC/ACVL insurance in able toobtain his school insurance. This is totally ridiculous No wonder thebooks take so much to look after.

Now lets see if I have this right. We have a Full membership fee fromAlta, Sask and Nfld who pay $75, or a Full Family for $60, We have anAsso Member for $65, a Asso Family for $50 for BC, and Manitoba, $40from Ontario, $52 from Quebec unless he wants the newsletter in whichcase it's $65 plus $65 from Ontario if he also wants the insurance. Howcan the Association run this way? I thought the HPAC/ACVL wassupposed to supply an equal service to all of its members? Why doesn'teveryone just pay $75 for everything or $60 for family membership?

You're touching on a sensitive subject there. That is what the Presidentand some others wanted to do, but it would appear that some of theprovincial association thought the HPAC/ACVL was trying to take theirpower away. Interestingly all the volunteers, the ones who actually doall the work, see how ridiculous the situation is, but due to the HPAC/ACVL bylaws they have absolutely no say in the matter. At the lastAGM just about everyone of the National Board of directors said theywere there representing their province, when the HPAC/ACVL Bylawsactually state in part "....Those Provincial representatives shall takepart in the active promotion of the objects of the HPAC/ACVL....."A direct conflict of interest if you ask me. My personal feeling is thatif the Board of Directors were not the Provincial directors then this sortof situation would not arise. Mind you. Having said that, we mustacknowledge the fact we need to work closely with the provinces.Maybe the solution is to have 1 representative from the Provincialassociation and one from the membership at large in each province.

I'm sorry I asked. Back to the membership. Is there any more you haven'ttold me about? Well I haven't mentioned those that pay $25 just tosubscribe to the newsletter and then there's the temporary foreignmembership for $15 and.......

Barry Bateman. HPAC/ACVL Administrator.

HPAC/ACVL DirectorsReports & Updates

HPAC/ACVL 1994 Women's World Team(Fund raising progress report)

1994 Team members include: Jacinthe Dupuris, Maryse Perron, MiaSchokker, with Mark Tulloch as Team Coach.

Supporting Contributors:Wind Lines Mfg., Roger Nelson, Kevin Caldwell, Bill Brass, GeorgeBorridaile, Nick Voss, Steve Wodz, Barry Berto, Geoff Dossetor, JasonFakaro, Dan Fabian Peter Graf, Charles Mathieson, Stephen Noon,Dan Keen, Joseph Mrtka, Frian FellPersonal donations total $619

In addition, the 1994 Club Cup and Wind Lines Towing Clinicin Oliver B.C. raised $205. Mark Tulloch (Team Coach) ran aparachute packing clinic and raised $100 (included in thepersonal donations) and our Quebec team members raised $450in various fund-raising events.

Total funds raised so far amount to $1274 plus funds yet to bedetermined from the HPAC/ACVL.

The Ladies of the 1994 World Team thank all the contributors for theirsupport, and the HPAC/ACVL would like to wish this team success intheir endeavours in Chelan Washington, U.S.A. !)

Martin Henry.

Safety Reportby Fred Wilson HPAC/ACVL Safety Director

After experiencing canopy collapses and a spin in strong thermalconditions, a Cochrane pilot released his hands from the control linesto deploy his reserve parachute. Unfortunately he failed to notice theparaglider had returned to normal flying attitude.

When the reserve opens in conjunction with a functioning paragliderwing the airflow causes the two canopies to pull apart, causing aphenomena called down planing. This is the effective elimination offunctioning lifting surfaces on both canopies. Miraculously the pilotescaped serious injury after a very hard landing.

I am most interested in hearing some open discussion in the Newsletterfrom Paragliding experts on this matter as the options appear verylimited. Could you intentionally collapse the paragliding canopy toregain an effective reserve parachute just before landing or would yourbest option be to use a hook knife to cut free from one canopy? Anysuggestions?

FATALITY REPORT.Our worst nightmares came true when Clinton Erdman was killed April3rd 1994 in Saskatchewan. Clinton had only one previous 25' flight andhad acquired a 1970-1974 18' Standard Rogallo, tied a rope from thekeel to the bumper of his fathers car and crashed while towing

The sail was installed upside down, the king post was replaced with acopper pipe and so on - a shocking list of substandard repairs. He hadno tow training, used no release system, used no weak link and used anunexperienced tow crew - his father. He towed off 1/4 mile dirt road,popped up about 20 - 30' and stalled. The glider pitched down and hitthe ground. He died of head and neck injuries (the force of impactseparated his ribs from his spine).

Before you dismiss this as a fringe element accident, you mustunderstand one fact - that of 28 fatalities in Canada since 1980, fully 18involved novice nonmember pilots. Nine novice towing fatalities werealarmingly similar to this report. Six other Novices died foot launching.These statistics show the highest fatality risk is for nonmember novicepilots. Conversely, proper instruction by a recognized school, guidanceby established clubs and experienced pilots is the safest way to Hangglide and Paraglide. This should be no surprise. Therefore, as a sportwe need to make major efforts to include non member pilots inmainstream flying activities. Attitudes which discourage or put downoutsiders can come back to hurt us - and the sport’s image - in a majorway.

We also need to get these dinosaur gliders out of circulation. Advertiseto the general public when you hold your annual glider inspection clinicand include an appraisal session. You might be surprised by who andwhat turns up.

USHGA Paragliding Committee

Parachutage or constant stall or deep stall is a condition where thecanopy appears normally inflated but has ceased to become a wing dueto detached airflow and flow reversal over the top surface such that thecanopy behaves like a parachute in that it loses its airspeed and exhibitsa negative ground speed in the presence of any headwind, and the sinkrate increases dramatically; the canopy becomes stable in this modeuntil it is forced out by pilot action, such as:1. first dumping a full, abrupt and brief application of the speed stirrup,2. a full frontal closure, to resume the air flow from leading to trailingedge.3. finally a partial or full stall using the brakes to cause the canopy tosurge forward and begin flying again;

I have experienced this twice, and have witnessed this occurring whena visiting European pilot was waked while flying very slow, close, anddownwind of another paraglider when ridge soaring; the pilot had noapparent recognition of the risk of the potential problem due to his flightpath or proximity, and no apparent recognition of the actual problem normade any attempt to recover;

I see this as a continuing problem for visiting pilots to Torrey Pines whoare inexperienced with ridge soaring in close proximity to other gliders;you may want to put the word out to local clubs who regulate Canadianridge soaring sites.

Report by Alan Chuculate

Did you know that it is a legal requirement toreport all accidents,

especially those requiring 911 calls.Submit all accidents (in confidence) to

Fred Wilson, HPAC/ACVL Safety Director


Safety Notice:Airwave Magic IV Update

Issued by Angus PinkertonChairman of the BHPA Flying & Safety Committee, 3 March 1994

The investigation into the fatal accident on 18 January 1994 has not been able todetermine whether the in-flight failure of the Magic IV 166 keel at the rear attachmentwas the primary cause. However, metallurgical examination has revealed that there wasnothing unusual with the mode of failure (simple overload) thus removing the fear thatthis could have been a fatigue failure.

The BHPA FSC have concluded that Airwave Magic IV keels are, if undamaged, perfectlyadequate for all normal usage. So the recommendation that these gliders are not flown iswithdrawn. Information concerning these keels received as a result of the last SafetyNotice has led the BHPA FSC to decide that the integrity of all Magic IVs would beenhanced by the fitting of an Airwave keel sleeve modification. This modificationtherefore is STRONGLY ADVISED.

Owners of these gliders should contact Airwave Gliders for details of local approvedfitting centres and prices. Magic IV owners should note that only this Airwave sleevingmodification has been approved and can be fitted without invalidating the C of A. Anygliders modified in any other way will of course need to be individually registered.

Advice from AirwaveAirwave Gliders Ltd advise that since 1990 they have supplied all their replacement keelswith inner sleeves. "This was not due to lack of integrity in the keel but to overcome aproblem of aircraft abuse which was occurring in Alpine countries where pilots werecarrying out radical flare landings in nil wind and landing on the rear end of their keelscausing damage or in some cases complete failure".

For Canadian pilots wishing to retrofit sleeves to their keels, Airwave can supply kits andinstructions for £10.20 + postage.Airwave Gliders Ltd, Elm Lane, Shalfleet, Isle of Wight PO304JYtel: 1983 531611, fax: 1983 531552

HAGAR EXAMREGISTRATION

Although it's not a requirement at themoment, the possibility exist that theHAGAR may become a requirementfor entry into HPAC/ACVL sanctionedcompetitions. Therefore the HPAC/ACVL has started to record all thosepilots that have taken and passed theHAGAR Exam. If you wish to add yourname to the list, send in your examresults to;Barry Bateman,HPAC/ACVL administrator, orRick Miller, HPAC/ACVL Ratings.(Address's inside front cover)

TRANSPORT CANADALIAISON REPORT

by: Armand Acchione, Ont

For those who are not aware of who I am, ashort story. Once upon a time, I started flyinghang gliders about the Summer of 1980 inAlberta. During the 82 recession, like mostpeople, I was unemployed which gave me lotsof time to go flying at two of my favourite sites,Cochrane Alberta and Wasa, B.C.. In 1985 Imoved back to Ontario and because of the lackof good mountain sites in Southern Ontario, Istarted to do truck towing with the kitchenerPilots. Well recent developments in Aero-towing caught my eye, and in 1992 I starteddoing some Aero-towing in Florida and to the

best of my knowledge, I'm the only pilot inCanada with a USHGA Tug Pilot Rating.

In Canada, T.C. has its own views on Aero-towing which I have been pursuing for anexemption for since 1992.

In the recent past T.C. has been approached forsuch an exemption, but they have viewed it asa request on an individual basis, pursuing thisexemption with the title HPAC/ACVL Trans-port Canada Liaison helps a great deal. T.C.prefers to deal with organizations rather thanindividuals.

I request this position for a number of reasonsbased on my experience in Aero-towing, loca-tion, living in the same time zone as Ottawaand within driving distance. I also seem to be

making some limited progress for an Aero-towing exemption. My request for T.C. Liai-son was granted at the HPAC/ACVL A.G.M.in December 1993.

In a letter notifying me of my appointmentfrom Martin Henry (President), I quote oneparagraph. "Your contact with Transport Can-ada will aid the association in its communica-tion with the government. Any other issuesthat ;may pertain to the contacts you haveestablished with T.C. could be of benefit in thefuture."

I fully agree with this statement and I'm will-ing to hold the appointment until the HPAC/ACVL feels the position can be performed bysomeone more suitable.

As for the exemption, currently a proposal forAero-towing are in the hands of NationalRecreational Aircraft Council Inc. (NRAC)and the Aero Cub of Canada.

These two groups which we are a member ofthe Aero Cub are very influential and withthere help and experience, I'm confident anexemption will be obtained before the end of1994.

If you have any questions or concerns regard-ing this issue, fee free to call, fax or write:

Armand AcchioneP.O. Box 128, King City, Ontario, L0G 1K0

fax: (905) 833-3547phone: (416) 518-0111

(6:00 PM to 9:00 PM weeknights)


FAI Directors ReportBy Vincene Muller

The Cross Country Season has started!Well, in Northern Alberta it has. The first two +100 mile flights wereflown on Sunday, May 8 off tow in the Wetaskiwin area:127 miles Ross Hunter Edmonton122 miles Steve Preboy Wetaskiwin

Kevin Caldwell of Calgary has notified the Record Committee that hewill be filing for a 50km Triangle Canadian Record. Kevin made theflight from Beiseker, Alta on May 14, 1994 off tow.

May 14 - Camrose Flyin:191 miles Steve Preboy Wetaskiwin150 miles Doug Litzenberger Wetaskiwin127 miles Phil Creteau Edmonton106 miles Rick Miller Edmonton

FAI BADGESTHE FAI has an achievement badge program that is worth looking into.To apply for these badges it is not necessary to have a sporting licencehowever, if you want to try for a silver or gold badge it is necessary tohave an approved barograph and have the flight witnessed by andOfficial Observer. When you forfill the badge requirements you justhave to complete the paperwork and send it in. Cost is only $10.The Saskatchewan Hang Gliding Association is planning a day to fly forthe Delta Bronze Badge. The tasks are simple but it is a start and nodoubt the Saskatchewan pilots will have a lot of fun that day.

BADGE REQUIREMENTSHANG GLIDING

DELTA BRONZE: A distance of not less than 2km must beflown over a course of not less than 0.5km, between twoturnpoints, followed by a controlled landing within 25m of adesignated spot.DELTA SILVER: A distance flight of at least 50km A gain of heightof at least 1000m A duration flight of at least 5 hoursDELTA GOLD: A distance flight of at least 300km An out & returnflight or a triangle of at least 200kmDELTA DIAMONDS: There are three diamonds A distance flight of500km A goal flight of 400km An Out & Return or Triangle flight of300km.

PARAGLIDINGEAGLE BRONZE: Distance of 15km OR Duration of 1 hour OR Gainof Height of 500mEAGLE SILVER: Distance of 30km AND Duration of more than 5hours AND Gain of Height of 1000mEAGLE GOLD: Distance of 100km AND Duration of more than 5hours AND Gain of Height of 2000mEAGLE DIAMOND There are two Diamonds Distance of more than200km Gain of Height of more than 3000m

Badge flights do not have to be flown in one flight. However, documen-tation must be completed for each leg.Listed below are Canadian Pilots who have achieved FAI Badges

HANG GLIDINGBRONZE SILVER GOLD

Cliff KakishWilli MullerStewart MidwinterKevin CaldwellRandy HaneyAlexander BahlsenStuart CameronMartin HenryJ.C. HauchecorneJim HoughtonMia SchokkerDoug Litzenberger

PARAGLIDINGSean Dougherty Chris MullerStewart Midwinter Willi Muller

Sean Dougherty PARAGLIDING DIAMOND ALTITUDE

Sean Dougherty

The following Canadian Pilots have completed one leg of a badge flight:Delta Silver: Danny MacDonald (Nfld) has completed and document-ed the duration leg.Delta Gold: J. C. Hauchecorne (BC) has completed the out & return legRandy Haney (BC), Willi Muller (Alta) and Doug Litzenberger Alta)have all completed and documented the distance leg.

PARAGLIDING WORLD CUP& PRE-WORLD COMPETITION, JAPAN,

MARCH 17-27, 19943 valid rounds. (no Canadian pilots entered) 89 competitors

General Female1. Hans Bollinger Switz. 12 Nanou Berger France2. Richard Gallon France 27 Izumi Kyoko Japan3. Stephan Stieglaiar Austria 38 Tanaka Miyuki Japan4 Eric Vonlanthen Switz. 39 Silvia Brandstetter Switz.5 Kaoru Ougiasawa Japan 49 Carmilla Perner Austria

NEWS From Sean Dougherty(Honorary Cunuck, Alias Pom)

Sean flew the same tasks as hang glider pilots at the British OpenHang Gliding Meet at the Dales. He finished about one third downthe field. Conditions were not great but he was really pleased withhis 24km considering the thermals were well spaced and cloudbasewas only 2500ft. Most of the hang gliders never found a secondthermal and went down within 15km. Longest flight was 44km.

Sean reports that it’s been a poor year for flying so far in Britain,he has only logged 21 hours. Other pilots told him that in normalyears he would have been able to fly many more hours by this timeof the year. He ran into Larry Tudor after flying one day. Larry iscurrently in Europe doing RamAir demos and flying competitions.Larry told his stories of long XC flights from Hobbs, New Mexicoand got Sean excited about more record attempts.

OFFICIAL CANADIAN and PROVINCIAL RECORDS(Those submitted with full documentation)


COMPETITION NOTES

The Canadian Team is chosen from pilot's best three results each yearover a two year period. To obtain points at any competition (Hanggliding or Paragliding) a pilot must be a financial member of the HPACand have a HPAC rating (no Canadian rating - no points).

Competitors receive 60% of their points from the previous year and40% from the year before that. In recognition on the fact that somecompetitions are more important that other, meets have their own ratingsystem based on the number of rounds flown, the number of competitorsentered, the types of tasks called and so on. Winning a sanctioned funmeet with few competitors would be worth 20 points, while the WorldCHAMPIONSHIPS WOULD BE WORTH 140 POINTS. The top 1/4 ofthe pilots receive points. Meet Organizers are responsible for notifyingthe HPAC Competition Director of the dates etc., prior to the meet sothat it can be advertised then getting the results sent in by the requiredtime limit. Rules for running a sanctioned meet are available from theHPAC Administrator.

Entering a competition is an excellent way to improve your flying skills.

If you are flying a site where there is a competition, either hang glidingor paragliding, it is recommended that you attend the daily pilotsmeetings, regardless of whether you intend to enter the meet. Informa-tion such as:

* Direction of thermalling after launch (this usually changes daily-free-flyers going the wrong direction can cause many problems).

* Local information (mine-blasting; landing areas, etc.)* Weather forecast.* Notification of other aircraft activity.

HPAC/ACVL1994 INSTRUCTOR AND TANDEM

CERTIFICATION COURSEJUNE 18 - 21, 1994 KELOWNA, B.C.

Hosted by Aerial sensations Paragliding andRocky Mountain Paragliding.

CRITERIA FOR CERTIFICATION:Membership in the HPACHPAC rating and 10 hours airtimeCurrent first aid certificate25 hours teaching experience

PLEASE BRING:Log bookValid first aid certificateHPAC rating card (or membership card showing rating)Proof of teaching experience (i.e. letter from school)Outline of your course syllabus, if you have one.

COST:Instructor course = $180.00 Tandem course = $180.00

If you are interested in the course contactWayne Bertrand at (604) 765 2359 fax (604) 765 8200

and he will send you a package with info on accommodationand course curriculum.

The Savona Easter Meet has, in recent years,been blessed with exceptional cross countryconditions. This year's Easter Meet was bless-ed with an exceptional turn-out, and someweather that was good, some weather that wasmarginal, and some weather that was ugly.

Day One, Round One - The Good.Task: Deadman's Launch, Basil's Bump,Split Rock, John's Jump, Mt. Savona, Inter-national L.Z. 89.8 km.

Good Friday started off really good, with 56pilots signing up at Savona's beachfront park.Conditions on Deadman's 3500' high launchlooked great, and meet director Dave Wagonercalled a 90 km. task, and an early tarp start at1:00. Pilots started launching about a halfhour before the tarp opened. The initial climb-out was slow, with a lot of pilots getting stuckat 6000' for a long time before finally gettingup to cloudbase at 9400'.

A northerly flow aloft made for good lift abovethe front ridges on the way to Basil's and backtoward John's Jump, and 42 pilots made thefirst turnpoint and at least part way back.However, the clouds piling up out front put thewhole valley around the second turnpoint atSplit Rock in shadow. Pilots who headed toSplit Rock early got the turnpoint and headedsouth down the Deadman's Creek valley, untiltheir glide slopes intersected the ground.

Conditions favoured the patient, who hungout in the strong lift at John's Jump, and theslow, who just happened to arrive at the righttime. A break in the cloud put part of the ridgebetween Split Rock and launch in sun. Sixpilots managed to get the turnpoint, and thenscratch back up high enough to glide to thethird turnpoint at John's Jump. John's Jumpwas still pumping, and pilots got back tocloudbase before either heading straight forMt. Savona, or detouring by way of Deadman'slaunch.

Calgary pilot Serge Lamarche had served no-tice at the '93 Nationals that he excels in slow,difficult conditions. Well, today his patientstyle of flying paid off, and Serge was the onlypilot to get the last turnpoint and complete thecourse, making goal after six p.m. MiaShokker landed on the bench below Mt.Savona, in second place with a flight of 78 km.Willi Muller and Ron Bennett were one km.behind Mia to tie for third. Don Glass and yourfaithful scribe had made the mistake of detour-ing past Deadman's launch, sinking out to theInternational L.Z. despite trying to work thesmoke from a small forest fire, tieing for fifthplace. The next seventeen pilots landed withinthree km. of each other.

Wills Wing factory pilot Pat Page was in townwith a truckload of demo Ram Airs and SuperSports. As part of their demo days, the B.C.and Alberta Wills Wing dealers put on a BBQin the campground that night with a keg of freebeer and free burgers. The BBQ and cook wereprovided courtesy of KimJenner (thanks Kim!) andit was just an excellent par-ty. Hats off to Wills Wing.

Day Two, Round Two -MarginalTask: Open Distance.

Saturday's weather was onthe decline, with a highovercast and blowingcross/down on launch.Meet director Dave Wag-oner did the best he couldwith the conditions, call-ing open distance.

In the middle of the afternoon the sun came outbriefly, and there was a short period oflaunchable conditions. Thirteen pilots man-aged to get off before it started blowing downagain. The competitors stuck on launchwatched the thirteen buzzing around in a tight,

The Hang Gliding Associationof British Columbia

EASTER MEET, SAVONA, B.C.

The Good, The Marginal & The Ugly

Victory by FlamingoBY STEVE BEST

Theweak thermal, slowly climbing and driftingback to the east. Most of the gaggle headednorth up the Deadman's creek valley, though acouple headed over the back to land at CopperCreek, and one headed across the lake to thesoutheast.

Don Glass made it the farthest up Deadman'sCreek, landing in a small clearing 33 km.north of launch. The next four pilots, JackShaule, J.C. Hauchecorne, Jim Snell and JohnMcClintock landed within a tenth of a km. ofeach other at the 21 km. mark, in what theythought was the farthest field to the north.There was another window of lauchable con-ditions later in the afternoon, and anotherthirteen pilots got off. Nobody could get up,however, and the second group all ended up inthe L.Z.

Day Three - The Ugly

Rain is a fact of life in B.C., and Sundaymorning did not so much dawn as slosh. Pilotsbroke camp in the steady rain and headedhome. Only the victor and a couple of localpilots hung around for the award ceremony.

Don Glass' fifth on Day One and win on DayTwo gave him the overall victory by a widemargin. Jack Shaule finished second with atenth and a second, and Kevin Caldwell wasthird with a ninth and a seventh. J.C.

Hauchecorne was fourth overall with a twen-ty-fourth and a third. Serge Lamarche didn'tmanage to get off in the first group on DayTwo, and despite his win on Day One, finishedfifth overall.The Fabulous Flying Flamingo Brothers is a

PLACE MAP HERE

group of young hang glider pilots currently centred inKelowna, B.C. For the past couple of years young up-and-comers Don Glass and Jim Snell have been carry-ing their pink plastic standard on the competitionscene. This meet marks the first, but certainly not thelast appearance by one of the lawn ornaments in thewinner's circle. Congratulations to Don, and thank youto meet director Dave Wagoner for a well run meet.

Left: Mark Tulloch launches of Deadman's. Above:The "Flamingo Boys", Don Glass (left) and Jim

Snell with Gary Popoff (meet official) and"Friend"!!!!. Below: The task course on day one.

“FLY NEW ZEALAND ’95"

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PARAGLIDING

Yes, once again we are putting on a tour to NewZealand. Two week paragliding tours in Jan. & Feb.,

flying numerous sites.

Instruction, thermalling, cross-country flights, winetours, and more.

Call or write Glenn Derouin for more details and your

reservations.

P.O. BOX 2662CANMORE, AB, TOL OMO

(403) 678-4973

The AlbertaHang Gliding Association

DEPLOYMENTSEQUENCE

LOOK for the handle.GRASP the handle of the reserve/chute.PULL get the reserve/chute in your hand.LOOK for a clear area (blue sky). THROW

as hard as you can.PULL grasp the bridle and pull back for

faster deployment.

The look and grab sequence should be donewith every flight. Not only will it give you anadvantage in a real emergency situation butyou make sure that the handle is not pushed insomewhere or hard to get hold of.

I have a video of a pilot in a real emergencysituation that took him five seconds just tolocate his handle. 5 seconds is approximately400 feet of altitude. His rocket deployed justas he hit the ground, fortunately, he survived.

Just as important as repacking the reserve/chute every year is to deploy it every year atleast once - BUT NOT IN THE AIR!A controlled deployment in a gym etc. is a nicesocial event and it gives you an idea of what ittakes to get your chute out of the container.

Once you have your chute in your hand - lookfor clear air and throw it into that direction. Ifyou are spinning, throw it into the direction of

This was the 10th year that Rob Kells fromWills Wing, California, has come to Cochraneto check over pilot equipment and practiceemergency deployment procedures. For thepast two years I have used Rob’s seminaroutline to do similar seminars in Lumby andVernon. This year Fred Wilson asked me toexpand the seminars to the West Coast.

There are three basic criteria to make anemergency deployment work.1 You must have the equipment.2 You need to know how to use the equip-

ment.3 Once deployed, it has to stay together.

There is really not much point having anemergency reserve (backup chute) if itdoes not work - sort of like a vario withoutbatteries.

Most of the failures were on older reservesthat had not been repacked for quite a whileand when pulling them out of the container,they just fell straight down or tangled aroundthe pilot. The main cause of deploymentfailures was due to rubber bands that hold thereserve/chute or the lines in the bag, beingbroken or melted.

Some of the older reserves/chutes have 3/4"bridles {which will make excellent glider tie-downs}. Have these bridles replaced with a“Type 18” bridle. If you have an old Bennett10 liner, donate it to a Daycare or kindergartenclass - and replace it.

Deployment bags which have the lines stowedoutside the bag with rubberbands seem tocause quite a few problems - replace thedeployment bag with one that has the linesstowed inside the bag.

There are still a few harnesses around withchute containers that have 2" velcro securingthe reserve/chute - it keeps everything wellinside but you need the strength of ten men toget your reserve/chute out! The velcro shouldbe no more than 1" wide and have a couple ofchute locks to prevent accident deployment.

EQUIPMENT SAFETYBY WILLI MULLER

the spin. After your have thrown the chute,grab the bridle and start to pull it back. Thereare two reasons for this:1 if you throw it into the glider/canopy, you

are well on the way to doing it again.2 it keeps you busy!

90% of this year’s practice deployments wereunder 5 seconds - or if translated into altitude- under 400 feet. And pilots who have beencoming regularly to the seminars - most oftheir deployments were under 4 seconds.Fastest deployment for 1994 was a Cochraneparaglider pilot in 2.19 seconds!

The repacking of the reserve/chute is not allthat difficult and I would advise that youpractice repacking yourself - first under super-vision until you are proficient. This way youcan check your equipment yourself and knowthat it will work.

These seminars are also a great way of check-ing out all sorts of equipment which many helpyou make up your mind which type of emer-

gency reserve/chute sys-tem works the best and isbest suited for you whenthe times comes to up-grade.

If you were not able toattend a seminar thisyear and would like acopy of the Rob Kells(Wills Wing) ChutePacking and EquipmentGuide and the recom-mended size of replace-ment elastics write orfax me at: Muller HangGliding & ParaglidingLtd. RR#2, Cochrane,Alta, TOL OWO ph/fax(403)932-6760 Therewill be no charge for thisservice.

Rob Kells applies turbulence at theCochrane Chute clinic.

If you change your address,notify the HPAC/ACVL.It will not only save your

Association money, it'll also saveyou a call to ask why you haven't

received your newsletter!

“GOLDEN” OPPORTUNITY

One has to ponder, throughout a person’smortal life, how many times he or she achievestheir dreams? And ..... if that vision presentsitself, does one have the mettle or the resolveto transform this fantasy into reality?

I am proud to say, I am one of the fortunate.

My dream began in 1984 on a back-country skitrip, when a friend offered to teach me hanggliding. Soon, I was circling with the eagles Ihad been envying for so many years! After twoWorld Championships and thousands of crosscountry flights, the reverie unfolded even fur-ther .....

Word buzzed through the western soaringcommunity that a sailplane operation was toopen only two hours north of the mining townof Kimberley, BC where I live and work. Tomy wife’s mirth, a “For Sale” sign was placedon my sailboat, unknown to her this revenuewas to sponsor my childhood passion, and notto make amends for hurling her into a coldmountain lake while “flying” a hull on thecatamaran the previous summer.

When I tried to explain that this form of flyingwould keep her high and dry, she was some-how unable to relate to my youthful enthusi-asm. Too late, the decision had been madewhen I was a child, and at age 32 I was far tooold to change. Besides, the boat sold almostimmediately. I was ready to further my dream!

In April of 1992, the Rocky Mountain SoaringCentre (RMSC) started the first privatelyowned sailplane operation in Golden, BritishColumbia. I believe I was one of the firststudents to sign up for the complete lessonpackage. Owner/Operators Uwe Kleinhempeland Aaron Archibald, were friendly and sup-portive right from the start. I needed and tookall the help I could get, since foot pedalsseemed much more difficult than weight shiftin a hang glider. However, once on to thehighly complicated yaw string things began togel and my lessons progressed smoothly andwithout incident.

The small town of Golden is located on theTrans-Canada Highway west of Lake Louise,Alberta and east of Revelstoke, British Co-lumbia. Golden is situated on the northerlyend of the Columbia Valley of Eastern BC,directly on the Rocky Mountain Trench, sport-ing some of the highest and picturesque peaksin Western Canada. The valley at Golden isfairly narrow providing quick and easy accessto the bountiful thermal generators and withinan easy glide of the airport. To the south,toward Invermere, the widening valley pro-vides ample outlanding areas in the lush green

farmland; moisture provided by the ColumbiaRiver (one of Canada’s largest waterways)and the many lakes of the area. Once above thepeaks, a pilot can readily grasp the concept ofnaming this range the “Rocky Mountains”.Over 70% of the landscape is solid rock; onecan easily imagine the lift created along thesesouthwest facing slopes on a sunny afternoon.In fact, a visiting U.S. Hang Gliding team pilotcommented that “this valley had stronger con-ditions than Owens Valley of the WhiteMountains in California, only it was five timesmore habitable”. Lift that day averaged over10 knots!

Travelling further south past the 100 km mark,the valley widens further and becomes theKootenay River watershed. This area is nota-bly dryer with Ponderosa Pine and sage grasscomprising the pasture land. Not to worrythere is three registered airports with numer-ous ultralight or private strips nearby. A flightto the Montana border is not at all out of thequestion from here past Mount Fisher with anelevation of 9,640 ASL.The day is waning and shadows are extending

into the valley, maybe it’s an idea to turn northback to Golden. Often later in the day “wonderwinds” can be found first over the peaks as thesun’s energy is released from the rocks andthen in the middle of the valley as the katabaticwind provides late evening soaring. Once

BY MIKE COOK

back to Golden the 4,000 foot paved strip insight the descent and circuit are fairly routine.One has to be more aware of hang glidingtraffic than fixed wing; in fact in 1986, MountSeven was the launch point for a world recordopen distance for hang gliding. Flex wingpilots from far away as Australia, Britain,Germany and Switzerland travel here to flythis world renown site.

Once on the ground, Rocky Mountain SoaringCentre’s friendly staff are immediately onhand to help push or tow off the runway,relaunch and/or tie down. Their 150 hpCitabria has no problems pulling a fully load-ed Blanik off the ground for training or thePilatus B4 off for scenic or cross countryflights. Both the Pilatus and Blanik are avail-able for rent at hourly and daily rates andretrieval services can also be arranged.RMSC even sports a courtesy fishing boat forthe multitudes of fishing lakes in the area, a flyfisherman is in heaven here! There is also anumber of tourist attractions at hand for themore adventurous, the Kicking Horse Riverhost’s some of Canada’s best grade 5 rapidswith a number of white-water rafting compa-nies offering 1/2, full of 3 day packages. FromPontoon boat rides to canoe trips on the Co-lumbia River, Golden has a multitude of watersports available. There is great hiking, camp-

ing and sightseeing, with hotsprings and spa’s close by. Ac-commodations range amongfly-in lodges, motels, and bed& breakfasts which are all ex-emplary and within two min-utes of the airport. All thismake for an enjoyable holidayboth for the pilot and their fam-ilies.

With two seasons under theirbelt, Rocky Mountain SoaringCentre, now can offer both sin-gle or two place glider rentals,complete instruction in basicand advanced training special-izing in mountain cross countrysoaring, available in both Eng-lish and German.

For myself, this is a dreamcome true! The Rocky Moun-tain trench has incredible fea-sibility for 500 and 1,000 kmcross-country flights as well asoutstanding potential for waveflying. With more and moreprivate owners visiting, theword is getting out. This valleyis going to put Canada on the

map! By the smiles on visiting pilot’s faces,Golden is sure to be one of the world’s sail-plane meccas! This place is what a gliderpilot’s dreams are made of!

Safe circles, Mike Cook

Flying over the BC mountains. Photo by Jim Snell

Airmail.....

Retraction/Apology:by Ken Shackleton

It's amazing how a year can put a new perspec-tive on things. I was out of country for most of1993, and part of 1994. I am back in Canadaand have recently read the flurry of activitythat my letter has caused. After re-reading mysubmission, I now realize that I was very muchout of line. At the risk of flogging this tired oldhorse, please allow me to clarify the situation;no name-calling, I promise. By the way, I havealso renewed my HPAC membership for1994. My letter was not motivated by jealousy,as Mr. Polach has alluded, but by rage, andmaybe a little guilt. Stewart's accident reporttouched a very sensitive nerve. His statementof the facts, while basically accurate, weremisleading; and his comments that dealt withthe "buddy rule" and the helicopter issue aresimply not valid in this situation. In all fair-ness though, Stewart's suggestion on having acellular phone on site is an excellent one, andI have purchased one myself . Mr. Polach didnot see much of a difference between the tworeports, and he may be correct, if you simplylook at the facts presented. The differencecomes into play with the observations andconclusions drawn. When phrases such as"unobserved and alone", "some time later","Ironically, his local club", and "while theothers relaxed in the landing field" are used inthese reports, the slant, or flavour of the eventcan take on a meaning that misleads somereaders, and bitterly offends others. I under-stand that getting the details on these tragicevents is sometimes difficult. That is preciselywhy we asked Stewart to allow us to submitthe report. He agreed, then later reneged,submitting his report the same time that wesubmitted ours. This left us feeling deceivedand betrayed. He claimed in rebuttal that he"had no confidence that any accident reportwould appear unless I myself wrote one", andattempts to justify his position by accusing theLeague of "covering up" an accident that oc-curred the previous summer. Yes, an accidentdid occur; and yes, the instructor was a Leaguemember, but he was teaching for a local schooland was NOT acting on behalf of the League.The instructor did in fact report the accident tohis employer, believing (possibly in error) thatthe owner of the school was responsible forsubmitting a formal report to the HPAC.

Stewart questioned me about the acci-dent after a League meeting somemonths later, and I filled him in on thedetails. Stewart was a full Leaguemember at the time the accident oc-curred, and he attended most meetings,so had the accident become a Leagueconcern, Stewart would have knownabout it. His allegations of a cover upare groundless. Even so, had his con-cern been valid, he could have easily

verified our submission by contacting the Ed-itor of the Newsletter on the deadline date.That simple phone call would have preventedthis entire situation from ever developing. Torespond to Mr. Miller's concerns; my questionto Stewart regarding the Golden HelicopterFund was never intended to appear as anaccusation of misappropriation of funds. I wassimply questioning the practicality of a fundthat I saw as a knee-jerk reaction to the mid-airin Golden. I also took exception to Stewart'ssuggestion that such a fund would have assist-ed in the Longview accident. As Mr. Henrystated, I should have kept to the facts, statedmy concerns, and left any personal commentsout. I realize that my actions, aside fromgreatly offending Stewart and his friends,have reflected poorly on myself and theLeague. My inflammatory comments made itdifficult for the reader to come to an objectiveopinion on the points that I was attempting tomake, and I had effectively reduced my previ-ous letter to a diatribe.

To close, I formally retract any remark madeby me that was seen as an attack on Stewart'sperson or character. I sincerely apologize formaking those remarks, and I hope that Stewartaccepts my apology. I apologize as well to anyothers that I may have offended in this matter,and I will do my best not to repeat this mistakein the future.

Thank You, Ken ShackletonPS. Richard is coming on remarkably well. Heis still hospitalized and undergoing therapy,but he is steadily improving. I would like tothank everyone that has expressed their goodwishes and support for Richard.

Rules Change- Competitors Unaware

Grab a coffee, I ramble on paper. I am quite alaid back guy, ask my wife? I am also very newto competitions, therefore I have some ques-tions and I would like to hear others opinion onwhat I see is an issue.

The issue is day three of the 1994 Oliver meet.While on the ground we are all told by the meetdirector Dan Keen that the landing forms haveto be in by 5:00 PM or you will not be scoredfor the day.

Some pilots get launched soon after the 1:30start time, while I am correcting a radio prob-lem. Then it starts to blow down and no onegets away for quite some time. I'm waiting forany puff, here comes one, someone else getsaway, rats I missed it, I'm waiting again, 3:30comes around, but I wait cause someone toldme you can make the task in 70 minutes. 3:55PM and what's this? Air coming up! I take twosteps, I trip on sage brush, my control bar dropsnear the ground, I'm still running, and I getaway waddling and thrashing down the slopelosing 1500'. I get to the south facing slope lowand scratch my way back up, in time for one ofmy team mates to show up. He got up offlaunch. I just like doing things the hard way!

We climb a bit more and head for Olalla. He isahead of me and slightly higher. We startlosing altitude, we could glide to and land atOlalla but we would like to do better. We turnback south west into the wind. I was flying a bitlow and back of the 2000' cliff, suddenly I feelas though I am strapped to a ping pong ballbeing bounced between a racket and a table; Iconsole my glider, I tell it don't break and I willfly us out of here without tossing my cookies.It doesn't, I do but I don't and we're climbing insmooth ridge. What was that? What am Idoing? What time is it? What was the storyabout? The time was now 4:30PM.

I called my team mate on the radio. We discussgliding and landing at Olalla, we decide we

Linzhou, located in the centre part of China, isfamous for its scenic beauty and pleasantweather, and it is one of the best places fordeveloping the paragliding sports. Severalsuccessful National Championships and Inter-national Tournaments have been organized inLinzhou City. Please do not hesitate to contactus if you have any questions.

Looking forward to meeting your team inChina.Sincerely yours, Wu YingchengChairman of the Hang Gliding Sub-committeeAero Sports Federation of China

LETTER FROM CHINA

Dear Mr. President,To strengthen the friendship amongparagliding pilots of the countries and regionsof the world, the Aero Sports Federation ofChina will host the 2nd InternationalParagliding Tournament from September 10to 17, 1994 in Linzhou City (original LinzianCounty), Henan Province, China.

I have the great honour to invite you to send aparagliding team to the above Tournament.

The above was spotted on a wall surrounding aconstruction site in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which

is well known for its banana growing industry.Photo by Barry Bateman.

cannot glide to, land at Olalla, break down andget our landing forms in by 5:00PM. My teammate says, what about fun flying? I said yeslet's have some fun! There was no longer anypoint in going for the turn point. We spent thenext hour and a half doing what hang gliderpilots do to avoid doing other things (Airplaying).

We landed in the Cawston field, actually I sortof beaked it in again, shame, shame says J.C..We break up our gliders, our tireless drivershows up, happy! How can this be? Haven't Iabused her enough? We load up and drive toOliver Airport.

The awards happen. Good pilots get the recog-nition they deserve. I'm sitting eating a ham-burger which my happy driver got for me,when I hear Dan announce pilots can turn intheir landing forms for points. It was now8:00PM.

It didn't seem right at the time and I knew itwasn't equally fair.

Thursday, three days later I found out from oneof my team mates that the deadline for handingin our landing forms had been extended to6:45PM, I don't know when the extension tookplace?* How can the rules change after one pilot has

launched?* Should there be a set procedure for running

a meet?* Without set procedures what do our points

mean?

Apart for that decision on the last day, Dan dida great job of organizing and running the meet,Thank you Dan!

I am not asking for any changes pertaining tothe Oliver meet, it's history and it was fun. Weshould strive for no changes once any pilot isin the air. I had a great weekend and even madegoal one day which is a first for me.

Jeff Rempel

(Editors Note: J.C. Hauchecorne HPAC/ACVL Competition Director, is aware of theserecurring problems and acknowledges the factthat we desperately need a competition rulebook. Fred Wilson and myself are presentlyworking on an HPAC/ACVL Policy and Pro-cedures manual and I'm sure that if there areany pilots out there who would like to give J.C.a hand they would be more than welcome)

NEWS FROM ARGENTINAby Stewart Midwinter

In December the last of four competitionscomprising the Argentine paragliding cham-pionship was held at La Cumbre, in the moun-tains west of Cordoba (the previous three hadbeen in Tucuman, Mendoza and Bariloche). Iparticipated in the four day event, at which inaddition to locals, there were also some pilotsfrom Germany, Switzerland and Brazil. Thefirst day a 30-km race was run to La Falda,completed by two pilots. Then followed twodays of strong east winds (the site faces north).The final day the same race was run; this timethe best pilot only made it half way. Theoverall winner of the four events was LuisRosenkjer of Bariloche, who had previouslyflown in the world championship in Verbier.There was one incident, in which a visitingItalian pilot blew back into the rotor anddropped several meters onto his back. Hiskevlar back-plate was destroyed and he was

rushed to hospital, where x-rays showed thesevere pain to be due only to bruises, notvertebral damage: another argument for buy-ing yourself a back-protector!

Not much on the local flying scene after NewYear’s Day, as January and February are hol-iday months in Argentina. So many peopletake their entire year’s holidays during thesemonths that morning traffic is notably lighterin Buenos Aires. Most of these people head tothe Atlantic coast, either near Mar del Plata orin Uruguay at Punta del Este. Accordingly the

local flying group was inactive, although somethe pilots went on extended flying holidays.

Reinaldo Niella described an interestingevening glass-off in Camboriu, Santa Catarina,Brazil, where evening condo soaring over thecoastal city turned into night-time soaring asthe lift just wouldn’t quit. And jet-driver Hec-tor Hernandez enjoyed a 190-km triangle flightstarting and ending at La Cumbre; flights likethis contributed to his logging 40 hours duringthe month of January.In early February we regrouped and dusted offthe trailer-mounted winch and the trike. Firstday out, the pilots spent two hours havinglunch, then two hours charging the rewindbattery on the trailer, followed by another twohours waiting for the wind to die down beforegetting down to some serious towing (2 tows).You can see why I’m in the process of buyingmy own portable winch!

The following weekend we set up the trike anda couple of times I aerotowed Ralph Striewsky,a visiting German team member. The Italian-made Polaris trike is ideally suited foraerotowing: the Rotax 503 supplies an accept-able climb rate, and the 22m2 single-surface

wing provides aslow enough air-speed to allow mostany hang glider tobe towed. In fact, attimes I had to speedup in order to pullthe trailing hangglider into a higherposition.

In other trike news,Mario Campellohad some flights onthe Polaris “flyingboat”, a trike withan inflatable rubberboat for landinggear instead ofwheels. He found itsurprisingly ma-noeuvrable andsays the boat caneven land on grass!.

Mario has just taken delivery of a new Polaristrike that has a mylar blade-wing. Anotherpilot, Rodolfo Meardi has recently received anew french Air Creation trike. I hope to be ableto report to your on how both of these fly in mynext report.

The latest fad on the beaches is the poweredparaglider. Several have been seen cruisingalong the coast and public interest is high aftera recent newspaper article on them which

.....continued on page 18

From Across the Countryand around the World.....

the rest of the evening. I couldn’t understandwhy I found myself all alone after three hours,there was plenty of moonlight to see by! A pityto have to wang it down in such smooth lift, butremember to save at least enough energy for aflare at the end...

The next day we set off, with some sketchydirections from the locals, to Inspiration Point.A few questions get us to an overgrown LZ bya church, and following “up” gets us to aparking lot near launch just begging to have 4gliders set up in it. Doug was off sightseeing.The church LZ is a bit of a stretch over the cityof Provo... but see that beaut of an emergencyLZ complete with the nice, tended grass?Those white dots in it turn out to be tomb-stones. I send the rest off in almost 0 wind, tosqueak into the good LZ on the far side of theriver (“Hey Derek, signal before attempting tomerge with road traffic!”). Then I manage toscratch and core to 600 ft over launch for a bitover a half hour. Gee, construction cranes areREALLY high!

Team 1 leaves for home, so I head back toWhiskey with a slight detour through Dino-saur, Colorado. BIG site. There’s only onelocal that flies, you can’t miss his shop intown, but he only gets off on weekends, andthis wasn’t. Excellent top landing area, but theair was a bit light and a 40 mile hike back upand around to launch seemed a bit much, so Ichecked out some really big soup bones, thenkept on going.

I’d missed one flyable day at Whiskey, butgained two, so I figured I was ahead. I had anexcellent flight that day, a personal best of 52miles and just a few short of goal (lost it overthe lake gorge Barry wrote about). Sure gotkicked around behind launch though, butlooking down at all the little white thingslanded out in the middle of some pretty roughcountry kept me determined enough not to bailout of the ripper thermals, despite going neg-ative way too many times.

Out in the prairies it got light, with a few low-altitude saves while searching for lift. Coringwith full VG is a bit tough, but when you needto get the max out of a really light thermal... Alittle tip here. If you have to carry your glidereven 100 yards to a highway through scrubbylittle bushes, set your harness ON TOP of onefirst, to save time searching for it when youcome back! I’d just got a new pod that I’dordered from Barry back home but it was latein getting made. So, Barry had it delivered toCaspar and brought down to Whiskey thenight before. Talk about service! Roland haddropped in from a sailing trip, and he drovechase for us that day and found me just min-utes after I’d landed.

The next day was windless, really weird forthat site. It eventually started building so I setup, just in time to see those little clouds a fewmiles in front of launch get bigger. Muchbigger. Faced with the choice of a ride backdown that “road,” or a quick launch and go likehell before the storm hits... what do I do? Hey,I’ve never claimed to have more intelligencethan your average peanut.

There was much carnage in the air. Gliderswere dropping out all over, getting blown overthe back and other nasty stuff. I grabbed, well,the second thermal that came by which wasn’tany better than the first I’d found and ditched.The sight of all those gliders nosed into andbehind the mountain, one with a chute spreadout behind it, and Barry on the radio saying“Go like hell, there’s a lightning storm com-ing” made me a little less discerning.

There was MAJOR rough lift. I went over thetop and behind with only a few hundred feet.I had NO control of my drift because I wasmaxed out just keeping from getting invertedmore than 120 degrees or so. My thermalactually slewed around the side of the moun-tain, and I rode that one out over smootherground. By then, I was coring such wide circlesthat I decided the lift was everywhere, and Icould go like hell downwind.

I was under partial cloud, and to both my rightand left sides were long, black banks of cloud,firing down lightning as if it was the Fourth ofJuly. I had the VG full off for best handling.The control bar was stuffed as far as I couldreach and I was getting hammered around somuch that I could barely keep it right side upor pointed downwind while climbing so fastthat I was wondering where that space shuttlewas! When I looked down from 15000 ft andsaw solid shadow passing me below, blockingout all the remaining patchy light, I’d hadenough. With me being high in the weightrange on the Pacific Airwave K5, that’s fast!Knees bent, bar pulled down past them, both

Manitoba Hang Gliding Association

It took reading Barry’s and George’s articlesabout the “Great Whiskey Trip” to inspire meto set down what I’d done on that trip. Georgeand Doug Beckingham were long gone.Derek, Terri-Lynne, Dennis and DougKrokosz (Team 1) were a state or two ahead.Barry and James (Team 2) were just gettingthe idea to go. Roland was off sailing some-where by the time I finally hit the road with mycrisp new glider and the spacious HotelToyota. I checked out Mt. Rushmore(“ZZZZzzzz...”), Chief Crazy Dude (“Call mein 10 years”), and the Devil’s Tower (“Rockclimbing heaven!!”). Over 200 documentedroutes, graded 5.8 to Bloody Impossible!Good thing I’d warmed up by climbing the 2-story stone wall inside that last info place...

Then I travelled onto Whiskey through a vi-cious thunderstorm. Does a 20 ft steel tubechained to the roof full of aluminium anddacron attract lightning?? Nahh... I heard thatTeam 1 had just left for Salt Lake City, only toget blasted by 50 mph winds for two days in arow. George came back from Sheridan totallypumped from the great flying, while Teams 1& 2 grumble. Figuring Wyoming to be blownout for at least a few more days, I cruise overto Utah and hook up with Team 1 the nextmorning. I survive yet more stories of excel-lent flying that I missed before FINALLYgetting off the ground!

Point of the Mountain, North Side, is in SaltLake City Utah, an Interesting little place. Thetwo big lakes in the valley set up a fairlyregular sea breeze, for light morning air at theSouth Side (good for training and paragliding,maybe), then an afternoon breeze at the NorthSide. It was an easy launch at the end of acrushed gravel walkway, by the official “HangGlider Flight Park” sign and “Cell Block 9,”which is a concrete dunny (or biffy for you nonAussie types) built to survive WW3, withabout 300 ft over the LZ. The trick is to get acouple hundred over in ridge lift, then grab acore back over the launch plateau and fly upthe 1000 ft ridge behind and then you’re set for

Beyond Whiskey,The Owens Valley!

BY “SCAREY” GERRY GROSSNEGGER

hands in one corner of the control bar to keepit pulled over, I’ve never flown so fast in mylife!! My bank angle was indeterminate, past90 as much as not, with the wires thrumming,the wings creaking and either the sink alarmfull on (“Yes!”) or the climb rate still toppedout (“AARRRGHHHH!!”).

Down to a few thousand feet, with lead forarms, I got upright and opened the harness formore drag, and kept spiral diving. I pulled somany Gs that my feet were swelling and I wasseeing black spots. Finally I achieved groundlevel with a perfect landing (“Can you say‘incentive’?”) except for having been suckedthree miles back TOWARDS the storm fromthe point over which I’d started screaming... Imean, diving.

I must have shaken for an hour, especially afterlooking up and seeing what had been chasingme. You know a cloud is BAD when it hasFEATURES! Gasp! It took Roland and I quitea while to find where I’d left the diver, due tomy brainstorm of taking a short cut drive to itinstead of retracing my path out on foot. He’dgotten a few good flights in, but had to headback home that night.

That being the last day of the competition, Iheaded south to Telluride. The “5 O'clockClub” is the gang of locals that go for a fly afterwork, usually from Gold Hill, 12200 ft MSL.They told me about some foreign pilots thatwere getting hypoxic just sitting on launch!On the first day, I tooled around over themountains at 16000 ft plus for 1 1/2 hours untilthe sun started its landing approach. Condi-tions weren’t quite as good the second day. Bythen I was pretty tired of playing tourist mostof the day. I heard the World’s were starting inCalifornia, and that’s where DougBeckingham was planning to be. Go west,dude!

Bishop was swarming with hang vehicles.Dozens of them were rental vans with instantracks tied on. There was and a big “WelcomeWorld Hang Gliding Championships” bannerover the highway. I was told that, yeah, there’dbeen a Canadian here named DougBeckingham, but he left yesterday.I hadn’t arrived in time for the morning Moun-tain Queen or 4WD bus trip up, but I did meeta pilot named Larry with a steel brace screwedinto his healing arm who said he’d drive forme. Just then two other newcomers show up,Dexa Wolf and Johnna, so I graciously sharemy driver. We all piled into her truck and tearon up to the Gunter Creek launch. It’s amazingto look up and see 180 gliders over launch atthe same time, not to mention Kari Castle inher orange bikini! Got a good intro flight thatday, but didn’t go anywhere.

Luxury accommodations that night and manyof the following nights were at the HotelToyota, next to the hot springs that was a localparty place near Keogh.

Dexa and Johnna had been in the Owensbefore, so with them as my guides I got toMcGee Creek. The site faces northeast andstarts blowing down by noon, so we didn’t getoff. Some kid thought he could get off luckilyhe didn’t break too much aluminium tumblingdown the shallow launch slope.

We tried again the next day with much bettersuccess. I got there from the springs a bit late,but quickly scrounged up a driver, Chet. I alsomet Tammy Burkar and took my driver as wellas her truck up. At the top the thermals werelight, but there was an interesting convergenceat the bottom of a gully filled with snow. It wasroasting hot on the ground, though.

The next day I caught the Mountain Queen upto Gunter and had a three hour out and returnflight along the White Mountains. I landed atthe Bishop airport. I was at 17000 ft plus, forthree hours with no oxygen. Hypoxia is a myth.I only considered firing off my rocket for thefun of it once!

Before this place, I’d never met a thermal thatI was truly scared of. A barely noticeablebubble a few hundred feet over the (4000 ftMSL) desert grows to a solid 500 fpm by 6000ft, passes 1500 fpm by 10,000 ft, and thenREALLY takes off! In the Owens, you feelsink and pull in a little. If you feel lift you pullin A LOT, because you know in an othersecond your nose is gonna point straight upand your vario will spit sparks. Each wing isgoing to spend some time under you, andsomewhere above the freezing level (usually16,000 ft or so) you’re going to want to getOUT of that sucker! The skies are usuallytotally clear so even the tiniest wisp over themountains means something serious. In thetime I was there, three pilots were tumbled,including some of the world’s best.

On the following day, I flew 25 miles straightnorth to the town of Benton, at the end of theWhite Mountains. For the first time in my lifeI flew in shorts (forgotten the long pants at thebottom), and then I landed in a thorn bush... ofcourse. Almost landed on a wolf, but he lookedup and ran!

I’d heard of a really scenic place to fly, Horse-shoe Meadows, so I headed there that night.Launch is a cliff WAY back in a canyon,facing east. You can only launch in the morn-ing because of the Westerlies that start uparound noon. I had an EXCELLENT 4 1/2 hour,60 mile flight that day, north along the SierraMountains until it got trashy, then across the

15 mile wide valley to the Inyo Mountains,then north some more to where that range endsat a huge pass, and then over to the town of BigPine. The locals were amazed that I did thevalley crossing on my first flight there, butcompared to our prairies it was EASY. Thatvalley COOKS! It is cold at night and thetemperature rises into the hundreds during theday. I cored with an eagle for a while justoutside town. After quite a few minutes, hestarted acting as if he was going to attack andI had to do the same to chase him off.

My sixth flight in the Owens was and is mylongest cross country flight to date. It startedfrom the Gunter launch, north to BoundaryPeak at the end of the White mountains, thensouth past Black Mountain at the other ex-treme of the range, and into the valley town ofKlondike. I landed in the competition LZ,which none of the competitors managed toreach that day. The flight was 4 1/2 hours and78 miles long. I had a slow start on this one. Anhour into the flight, I had sunk out and was outof the harness setting up for a landing TWICEbefore I could core over launch to the peaks.

The next day was my last in the Owens. Thatdamned work thing loomed in the near future.I did the flight north to Benton again, butshaved almost 1/2 hour off my time and madeit there in 1 3/4 hours, as the sun was downing.Sometime in that flight, while I was doing alow save over Chalfont, my total air time hitthe 100 hour mark. Hooray! The late start wasbecause of a dust devil I saw kick off just infront of launch. I was in the upper launch area,watching the famous competition pilots go forit, and grabbed the nose wires of an Aussieabout to launch. I just about got a free tandemwhen the twistie went right through us.

Then there was a fuss out in front of launch,and I ran down to help the EMTs with anItalian pilot who packed in across the slope athigh speed. I think the suction behind the dustdevil got him. The chin guard of his helmetwas bashed in, but only his nose was broken.However, he could have had a broken back,ribs, internal bleeding... that kind of nastystuff. When helping at a crash where there aretrained med techs, keep quiet, stay out of theway, and don’t do anything unless it’s reallyobvious or they ask. The Mountain Queen’sseats were removed to make room for thebackboard that we had duct-taped the Italianto. Eventually the twin-rotor helicopter wecalled in managed to set down where we couldmeet it with the Mountain Queen and weloaded him in. I hear he’s OK. Big wind-upparty that night in a local bar, which moved tothe hot springs at closing. Yeah!

.....continued on next page

This winter, several Manitoba pilots bravedthe cold to go out flying in Morden, Sanford,and the Qu’Appelle Valley and were reward-ed with LOTS of air time. Five pilots made thefirst winter trip out to Morden. Nes didn’tshow until late afternoon, after getting lost.Andre went to the wrong Pancake House in themorning and never did find us. Eldon almostgot stranded in the valley when he lost his carkeys while either changing his clothes, orpeeing in the bushes. The winds were strongand gusty out of the southwest. We had clearedlaunch the winter before, but the landing areawas quite far away. Just in case, we spent sometime clearing trees in the landing field so thatJanice would have a place to land if she didn’tsoar.

Mike was the first off launch followed byBarry. Both christened this new site withsoaring flights of 20 minutes each. Eldon waskept busy flipping his glider into the busheswhile setting up. The wind was very turbulent.Eldon and Janice wisely decided to pack up.That evening, we had dinner at the PembinaCrossing Vacation Ranch with double help-ings of lasagna, fruit salad, cream salad, andyummy desert. Next time out, we will rent thecabin and stay over night.

On Remembrance Day weekend, a total of 13pilots showed up in the Qu’Appelle Valleyhungry for air. Barry dragged out his newtrailer tow system and snowmobile. Nesbrought a four Wheel ATC! We were ready forfun no matter what the wind had in store for us.

A few pilots and four students took the day offwork Friday. The winds were light all day andthe students logged several flights, each atWest Indian Point.

Saturday brought winds that were a bit strong-er, but were marginal for ridge soaring atDekker’s. Each gust teased us to set up, butthen crossed out to the west when we wereready. We had a choice to go to West IndianPoint for some marginal soaring, or sky out onthe tow line. Finally all the students and pilotstook a sled ride off Dekker’s and we found agreat tow road a couple of miles north of thevalley.

Almost everyone set up for a tow, and thosewho didn’t raced around on Barry’ssnowmobile. I couldn’t figure out who was

having more fun. The cloud base was about1,500 feet, and several pilots towed until theywere invisible. Nes finally took his first towever, and Eldon almost flew without setting uphis glider properly (again). When darknessfell, Nes, Pete, and Barry continued to racearound on the snowmobile and ATC while theothers headed back to the hotel for dinner.

That night after dinner, we had the obligatorywater and pillow fight. Everyone had turned inexcept for Barry and a couple of girls he met inthe bar. They grabbed the fire extinguisher,and the keys for Johannes and Pete’s room.Johannes and Gerry Lacroix had adjoiningrooms. They were awake giggling and havinga pillow fight, so they went to Pete’s roominstead. Pete was asleep, so they unlocked thedoor and let Pete have it right between theeyes. After running downstairs to hide, theydecided to go after Johannes and Gerry. How-ever, Pete was armed with a glass of water andhad set up an ambush at the top of the stairs.At that point Pete and Barry decided to joinforces against Johannes and Gerry... thusstarting the war of water and exploding pillowfeathers that kept poor Nes up all night! It’shard to tell who won. Everyone was soaked,especially Johannes and Gerry. They had beentrapped at the end of the hall while fumblingfor their room keys and were pelted with waterfrom the fire extin-guisher. Pete’s roomwas full of wet feathers,and Barry’s hair wasdripping with somekind of smelly goop. Wefinally turned in afterPete tricked Johannesand Gerry to clean upthe feathers by tellingthem he was allergic.

Anyway, this is sup-posed to be a flying sto-ry. On Sunday, every-one skyed out at WestIndian Point. Therewere amazing thermalsscooping us to over 700above launch. Barry at-tempted a cross countryflight twice, but cameback to the ridge afterlosing the thermal.Eldon almost flew with-

WINTER FLYINGEXPEDITIONS

BY MR. OR MS. ANONYMOUS

I did some helium with Kari while we were blowing upballoons for the awards ceremony the next day, thenhightailed it northeast. The U.S. team came first, then theAussies and the British. Quote an Aussie, “We just came tobeat the Brits.” The Canadian team did pretty excellent,but lost big points because of a turn-point photo screw upand came in 10th out of the 3 or 4 dozen countries entered.Mark Tulloch got the big bucks in the XC competition. Thetop-ranked pilot was the same guy who had it last year, andthat’s a first.

I made it to Sheridan the next day, to try out this Sand Turnthat George was so wild about, but the clouds were sittingon launch, so I wisely partied all night with the locals. Theclouds were still there the next morning, so I continued therest of the way home. I’ll head back again, as soon as I can.

All told I got 25 flying hours on this trip with 274 XC milesand just over 10,000 km of driving. Worth it? DAMNSTRAIGHT!!

continued from previous page.....

out setting up his glider properly (again) in-sisting that it always flew OK at Kimberly hilllike that, and Pete forgot his nose batten...hanging around Eldon too much, eh? I thinkthat the shortest flight of the day was about 2hours. After landing his glider, Barry got somemore air time on his snowmobile taking thebraver of us flying over jumps. We all wenthome with smiles on our faces, tired butsatisfied.

Winter offers us some of the best flying avail-able. Smooth winds, and denser air makes iteasy to learn to soar, and sky out. On a coldwinter day, you would only need a 8 MPHwind blowing up the hill to soar, whereas inthe summer a 15 MPH wind would be re-quired. We always plan a trip to Morden theweekend after each club meeting, and therewill be another Qu’Appelle trip near the end ofFebruary. So don’t wait for spring, give PrairieWind a call to find out the dates for the nextflying trip.

No rating on your card = No RatingNo Rating = No Comp PointsNo comp points = No Canadian

Team memberNo Canadian Team Member =YOU WON'T BECOME FAMOUS!

SASKATCHEWANNEWS

We've had a busy spring out here in Saskatch-ewan and it's certainly didn't start out verywell. Hang Gliding made the news after a"fringe" fatality on the Easter Weekend. Afterthe initial shock waves, the media coveragewas mostly accurate and fair hanks to MikeReibling. Mike is serving his second year asSHGA director and he has proved to be anexcellent spokesperson for our sport. He re-mained professional and unbiased underwuffo scrutiny. Mikes interview actuallyprompted some other "fringe" people withancient gliders to call him up for advice;perhaps another fatality will be avoided. Acomplete accident report was filled so if yourinterested you can read the HPAC/ACVLSafety Directors report.

On a more upbeat note the 4th annual CraikTow Meet was again organized by the AtlasTow Club of Moose Jaw for the May longweekend. Day 1 was designated as fun flyingdue to low cloudbase and minimal thermalactivity. A 65km race to goal was set on Day 2but with a 4000' cloudbase the longest flightwas made by Carroll Pelletier of the ReginaNOBS and was only 49km. Goal was set for35km to Chamberlain on the final day and wasreached by 7 pilots. Mark Taylor of Moose Jawshamed the HP AT's and K4's by making thebest time in his Comet.

All the teams put out a great effort but everycompetition has to have a winner; the finalstandings were the Regina NOBS 1st, MHGAcontingent 2nd, and the Atlas Tow Club ofMoose Jaw 3rd. For Individual achievementsthe standings were Carroll Pelletier 1st, BobYarton 2nd and Barry Morwick 3rd. BobFielding placed 1st for Level I & II and shouldbe congratulated for making goal on the lastday.

We have organized two year long competi-tions for 1994, Most Miles and Most AirtimeLevel I & II. The cross country potential seemspromising so far with 60+ miles being flownby Craig Lawrence in early May. I took theplunge myself and left the tow site for my firstXC of six miles. On my second XC I went 28miles to McLean. I released the tow line at1200' AGL and immediately caught a thermalto 8900' (10,900' ASL). My drinking tubefroze, I could barely move my fingers, and Ididn't really know what to do with all thataltitude. I played around in a few otherthermals but basically, I just pointed myselfdownwind and took in the scenery. It's anexperience I'd like to repeat.

HAVEN'T GOT YOUR MEMBERSHIPCARDS or NEWSLETTER?

Then give me your correct address!!!Simon Berube, BC; Robert Roehler, BC;Jim Snell, BC; Russell Fretenburg, BC.

Barry Bateman HPAC Administrator

After the early dealings with the media, it'sback to business as usual in Saskatchewan.We continue to be a small, close-knit groupthat just wants to fly and have fun. Simplepleasures like an evening glass or a campingtrip keep us watching the sky and in touch.

Vivian Hooper.

HOW DO IBECOME A

TANDEM PILOT??

It is a question I have been asked a lot lately.The first thing that comes to my mind is, why?The answer is $$$, YES MONEY!! Just thinkof the money I can make and it is so easy!!Wrong!!

Most of the time I try to discourage or slow theeager tandem “want to be’s” down a bit. Thereason is simply that most pilots are not readyor do not have enough flying experiencethemselves. I have watched tandemparagliding evolve from Europe to NewZealand and have seen some serious accidentsoccur. It is not just one person that gets hurt, itis doubled, and the responsibilty restscompletely with the pilot!!

In Europe and New Zealand they have beentandem paragliding for years hopefully we canlearn from their mistakes. The only differencefrom these countries is that Canadians andAmericans alike love litigation and are alwayshappy to sue you at the drop of the hat!! Areyou prepared for this??

What I am trying to emphasize is that ourpresent Instructor and Tandem rating is veryslack. Pilots with low hours and not enoughexperience are capable of meeting the nowpresent Instructor/Tandem Pilot rating. Yes,we are working on it to make it a moreprofessional rating, but it takes time sinceeastern and western Canada don’t always seeeye to eye.

Take a good look at yourself and ask “why doI want to do tandems?, do I really have thehours and experience?”, and “can I handlemyself in any situation that may occur?”. Thenafter you have examined these issues andanswered “yes” to all, ask yourself am Iprepare for heavy litigation in the event of anaccident?

So before you start wanting to fly tandems,don’t just meet the requirements. Invest timeand money in yourself and your abilities todeal with tandem paragliding and theconsequences they may present. Then askyourself not how do I become a tandem pilotbut why do I want to fly tandems.

Thanks for your attention.Glenn DerouinRocky Mountain Paragliding

(The following article taken from "Airbourne"the NZ magazine has been edited to fit spaceconstrients. Barry Bateman, Editor)

No, not the meatworks and Jim Anderton’sparty. Its a group of Queenstown pilots whonegotiated an exclusive concession with theDepartment of Conservation for themselves tofly commercial tandems through the whole ofthe Wakatipu Basin. They persuaded the DOCthat any more than 15 pilots in the WakatipuBasin would be dangerous! They should havegone for a DOC controlled and south of theequator just to be really on the safe side.

Eighteen months and four broken legs, casesof compressed spinal vertebrae, a brokencollarbone, a broken arm, two tree landings,several ugly skin wounds requiring hospitaltreatment and numerous abrasions alter, thisparticular rationale for the Alliance looks alittle wild. If you are surprised by the scale ofthese accidents you are not the only one-accident reports are seldom filed as the DOChas been showing concern at the lack of safetybeing revealed. This summer saw no accidentswith the schools’earners yet two broken legs,compressed vertebrae, one broken collar boneand one serious skin injury courtesy of thesafety conscious tandem pilots. It would bealmost comic were it not for the fact that theinjuries are real, they all involve members ofthe paying public and some of the damage islong term.

In December of last year, mid-flight a tandempilot watched helplessly as the shackleconnecting passenger and pilot to the canopypeeled apart and straightened. It hadn’t beenscrewed closed in the pre-flight. Prayer timeas the riser webbing slid off, caught on the fewmillimeters of screw thread and stayed therefor the rest of the exciting flight.

In January an apparently old tandem with thebrake lines apparently trimmed too tight wentinto a rapidly accelerating steady stall anddidn’t come out. Unexpectedly the canopyregained normal flight some 50 meters above

.....continued on page 26

THE ALLIANCE

continued from page 13.....

NEW ZEALANDPARAGLIDING NATIONALS

By Glenn Derouin

Once again I spent our winter (Canada’s thatis) working in New Zealand. First stop was,Queenstown for the “Nationals” from Jan. 6-14th. This year the competition was looking tobe the best yet!! There was 98 pilots entered,78 pilots in the open competition with 34pilots being from all over the world. This wasmore like being in a “World Cup”! There wasalso an intermediate competition for pilotswith less experience and only a few turnpointsof which 21 pilots entered. Pretty good for acountry with only 3 million people!!

The KIWI’s tend to take the “National” seri-ously and use this competition to help inselecting a national team. The weather duringthe 7 days was lousy producing torrential rainsand floods like they had not seen in years. Inthe end we managed to get in 3 valid tasks, 2tasks were races to goal of about 35km with 5to 6 turnpoints. The 3rd task was a “CatsCradle” where you pick 4 turnpoints and triedto do the longest distance possible within acertain time period and making it back to adesignated landing area. This proved to be anincredible sight as pilots headed off in all sortsdirections. The tasks set were very challeng-ing with only 4-10 pilots making goal eachday. The Nationals were excellently run withgood sponsorship with about $15,000.00 NewZealand to be won. This is a great competitionfor any para-pilot thinking about heading over-sees this year. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hopeto return for next year!!!

didn’t have any mention about such things as“asymmetric leading edge tucks”. So far thepresident’s residence hasn’t had a visit fromthe “Fan Man”, although it appears he’s avail-able after his release by the police at Bucking-ham Palace.

The paragliding world cup in GovernadorValadares, Brazil, ran from February 12th to20th. Five pilots from Argentina attended themeet. Apparently the heat was terrible; pilotshad to fly early in the day to endure it.

The annual free flight festival takes place at LaCumbre the week leading up to Easter. Whilefor western Canadians Easter marks the startof the competitive flying season, for Argentinait draws to a close the competition season,although of course since the country doesn’tget any snow you can fly all twelve months,and, of interest to winter-bound Canadiansmight be the annual x-c meet in La Rioja,tentative date for 1994 is November 12-20th.

5TH ANNUAL BLACKCOMBPARAGLIDING MEET

By Janet Moschard

Miraculously the rains stopped and the cloudsparted to make way for a smooth day of flyingfrom the top of Choker on Blackcomb for 21colourfully costumed parapilots from as faraway as Alberta, Washington and even Van-couver!

Tasks were as follows on the two flights of1000m vertical drop:Flight 1: Kick and go (20 points) with targetlanding (10-30 points)Flight 2: Drop and go (20 points) with targetlanding (10-30 points)

OVERALL WINNERS:Ray Kehl, Seattle 80 ptsDerek Hutchinson North Van 50 ptsMike Roberts Lasqueti Island 40 pts

The undisputed highlight of the day was thecostume category winner, Richard Auer, whoflew in an amazing killer whale disguise.Every competitor showed up in some sort ofcostume - the madonna, space shuttle, nerd,condom, devil and teenage mutant ninja turtlewere among the crowd favourites!

Flying resumes when Blackcomb re opensJune 16 right through until September 5.Come on up and join us for some of thatlegendary evening airtime!

Richard Auer flying in his Killer Whale costume.

1993 ROCKY MOUNTAINLEAGUE AWARDS

Level ResultLONGEST FLIGHT OPEN DIS-TANCE2 Karen Keller 5.8K3 Rob Sivell 55.1K3 Geof Schneider 55.1K4/5 Doug Keller 104.5KLONGEST FLIGHT TURNPOINT 3 Geof Schneider 55.1K3 Rob Sivell 55.1K4/5 Doug Keller 63.9KLONGEST DURATION1 Robin Fernandes 2:102 Karen Keller 1:003 Geof Schneider 3:004/5 Andre Lafreniere 4:00MOST DISTANCE2 Karen Keller 5.8K3 Rob Sivell 215.7K4/5 Doug Keller 866.6K

MOST HOURS1 Robin Fernandes 6:282 Karen Keller 5:083 Rob Sivell 18:364/5 Ron Docherty 49:15MOST IMPROVED PILOT1 Robin Fernandes 19.402 Karen Keller 0.733 Rob Sivell 2.044/5 Doug Keller 0.99

FAIRECORD

CLAIM

Tomas Suchanek has justrecently filed for the 100km out and return speedrecord so at present it isstill "pending".

Tomas set the record atGarie Beach (StanwellPark, Australia) on aMoyes Xtralight 137 on 5March 1994 with aclaimed speed is 51.52km/h.

The previous record washeld by ChristopheAmbuhl (CH) with a speedof 35.90 km/h.

Keith MacCullough; Age 16Paraglider Pilot, Calgary, AlbertaKeith has now been flying just over a year andhe certainly learnt quickly. Coming from afamily where everybody (4) flies he is anxiousto fly higher and further than anybody else.His first XC flight was during the Nationals inGolden in 1993 and so far in 1994 he has hadthe longest flight in Alberta on a paragliderflying 18km in early April (probably the long-est in Canada at that time of the year). Hisbiggest thrill was passing over a national teamhang glider pilot who had just landed. Keith islooking forward to com-petition flying this yearand after paying off hisAstra 27 he plans on sav-ing for instruments! In1995 he is hoping to at-tend at least oneparagliding world cup inEurope.

Kevin MacCulloughAge 18Calgary, AlbertaKevin took beginner les-sons with Keith but dueto school and work com-mitments he hasn’t hadthe time to put into fly-ing. He his hoping thatthis year he will havemore time and he will gethis first ridge soaringflight at Cochrane. Thehighlight of 1993 was a tandem flight at Gold-en with Eric Oddy followed by his first solomountain flight at Golden. Living in the samehouse as Mum, Linda it would be hard not tobe hooked on the sport - she is the mostenthusiastic pilot at Cochrane.

Angie Broad; Age 16Hang glider Pilot, Calgary, AlbertaAngie started with lessons when she was 14.Being rather small she took things easy inclass and has been progressing at a steady rate.Now 16 she bought her first hang glider, aDove, with baby sitting money. This year sheis a regular at the training hill trying to get asmany flights in as she can.

Martina Werner; Age ‘nearly’ 14

Paraglider Pilot, Calgary, AlbertaMartina came along to watch Dad, Miketake lessons two years ago. Mike is aformer hang glider and ultralight pilot so itwasn’t too long before he was hooked.Soon he had his own equipment and was inthe intermediate class, then Martina did alittle ground handling and joined the be-ginner class. She had quite a few flightsover the winter and last spring Mikebought her a used Speedstar. Martina hadmany flights at Cochrane and her firstmountain flights at Wasa, B.C. She wascalm, cool and collected when she flew butMike was nervous while watching her.Martina now has flights at Golden and SaltLake, where she had her first soaring flight.

Her ambition this year is domore ridge soaring at Cochraneon her new Prima.

Tyler Borradaile; Age 16Hang Glider Pilot, Surrey,B.C.Tyler had his first flight withhis dad, George, when he wasjust 3 years old and has beenfollowing him around trying toget into the air ever since. Hetook his first fledgeling stepson the traininghill in May 1992when he was 14,(which is whenhe was bigenough to han-dle a glider),and had his firsthigh flight onJuly 12th the

same year. He says he has topay for most of his own equip-ment, even though his dad's theWills Wing dealer, but admitsthat the Apco harness he re-ceived from Willi Muller andhis dad for his birthday presentthis year certainly helped a lot.

Tyler presently flies a WillsWing Spectrum 165 and is in-terested in competing. Thisyear, at the upcoming WesternCanadian Championships, he'sbeen invited to fly on a team asthe rookie pilot by no less thanfellow team pilots, Steve Best, GeorgeBorradaille and Canadian champ, RossMcEwen. Look out for this guy, he could soon

be a force to reckon with.

Paul Thordason; Age 19Hang Glider Pilot, CalgaryPaul started flying up in Peace River. DadTerry was an avid pilot flying many hours withRandy Haney until Randy moved to Vancou-ver, then Europe. With nobody to fly with,Terry sold his equipment. Paul had been flyingmodels for years and found an old glider andstarted practising. Terry helped him out andthen bought some equipment for them both.When transferred to Calgary two years ago, hespent many hours with Paul on the traininghill, Paul got into ridge soaring in 1993 andthis year, having moved up to a UP Axis 13 he

had his first XC flight during the SavonaEaster Meet with a 60km out and return. Paulis a student enrolled in the Aeronautical Engi-

CANADA’S TEENAGEPILOTS

Compiled by Vincene Mullerwith assistance from Mark Tullochand Barry Bateman

Left, Chris Muller hanging out, age 17;Top right, Keith MacCulough flying at Cochrane, Alta;

Above; Paul Thordason getting ready to fly atCochrane; Opposite page, top left; Bryn Latta; topright, Tyler Borradaille flying from Woodside, BC;Bottom, Angie Broad practising on the training hill.

neering Course at SAIT in Calgary.

Chris Muller; Age 18Hang Glider & Paraglider Pilot, CochraneChris is Alberta’s most well know young pilot. He started flying tandemwith Dad, Willi at age 5. Paragliding came on the scene in Albertawhen he was 11 and this was flying he could do on hisown. He had many sled runs that year andhis first short ridge soaring and mountainflights. At 13 he started hang gliding inearnest having his first mountain flightsduring the Team Meet at Clinton. That fallhe put in many ridge soaring hours atCochrane. Just after turning 14 he had hisfirst 100 mile flight off tow. That same yearhe entered the US Nationals in Dinosaur,Colorado placing in the middle of the packand making goal twice out of the six days. Bynow he was hooked on competition. In 1991, at15 he set a Paragliding World Record Flight toGoal flying from Golden to Invermere(101.5km). He shared this record with SeanDougherty. A year later he broke the record witha flight from Golden to Canal Flats (146.22km).In 1993 he represented Canada at the WorldParagliding Championships in Verbier, Switzer-

land. After a great start hedropped down to 55th place. Howev-er he went on to a World Cup inAvoiraz, France and placed 11th. In1993 Chris was Canada’s top pointpilot in paragliding and he sharedfirst place in hang gliding with MarkTulloch. Chris finished high schoolin January, 1994 and started the com-petition season with the UP Interna-tional at Torrey Pines, Californiawhere he placed 3rd. He is now inEurope working for Randy Haneyand will compete in ParaglidingWorld Cups and the Hang GlidingPre-World Meet in Spain.

Bryn Latta; Age 18Hnag Glider Pilot, Victoria, B.C.

Bryn is a Level 2 pilot who started training when he was 15. He has littlerecollection of exactly what intrigued him about hang gliding exceptthat he had some idea that he wanted to do it. No one in Bryn's familyis active in any form of aviation but they all supported his desire to learn.

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Call Doug Keller (403) 293-4008

SKYWARD SPORT AVIATION23 Taraglen Crt. N.E.

Calgary, Alberta T3J 2M6

He started lesson with Air Dreams Hang Gliding School in Victoria andprogressed rapidly, soon buying his first glider - a Gemini 164. Hisfather built racks on his truck and would drive Bryn to thetraining hill regular since Bryn was still only15. In school he was also in-

volved with basketballand cross country run-ning. Bryn is also anaccomplished pian-ist.

Bryn is known frobeing very quite.Thus when hesoared for twoand a half hourson his tenth highflight whilemuch more ex-perienced pi-lots were al-ready on the

ground, few were surprisedwhen his only comment upon landing was

"tired". Bryn was the Victoria Hang Gliding Club "Rookie ofthe Year" in 1992 and won the Level 1 -3 Division at the 1993 SaltSpring Island Fly-in He has 30 hours of airtime and now flies a GTR162.

After years of flying hang gliders in relativeobscurity in the boonies of Alberta, RossMcEwen burst onto the competition scene in1993, with a 2nd place/top B.C. pilot finish atthe '93 B.C. Provincials, and a 3rd place/topCanadian finish at the '93 Nationals. Ross,33, is a master of light air, and excelled in '93'smarginal conditions. Ross just popped overfor a beer, so pop open a cold one, and join mefor an evening with "The Champ."

S.B.: Congratulations on winning the Nation-als, Ross.Ross: Thanks.S.B.: How long have you been flying hanggliders, and how did you get your start?Ross: I took lessons in '82 from Terry Jones ofBirdman. I was in the middle of going touniversity, didn't have any money, but Imanaged to scratch together enough forthe lessons I always wanted, and tookthem. I had to wait 'till I got out of univer-sity in '84 to afford a glider of any sort.S.B.: That was in Alberta?Ross: Yeah, I was living in Edmonton. Ibought Stewart Midwinter's wife KathyKay's old Gemini 165, went back to thetraining hill and preceded to try andrelearn everything I had forgotten in thepreceding two years. Caused a lot of metalto disintegrate.S.B.: You moved to Vancouver in 1992.What kind of flying were you doing inAlberta before that?Ross: I went travelling between '87 and'89. I hadn't ever ATOLed before, andwhile I was away, ATOL became very bigin Alberta. So primarily when I came back,in the spring especially, on the ATOLsystem. And I did some trips to Golden andsuch in the summer. But ATOL was thefocus of my flying. I had 43 tows over thetwo year period.S.B.: Did you get much cross-country offtow?Ross: Yup. I really enjoyed the time whenI first got back, with the guys, Steve Preboy,Doug Litzenberger and Ross Hunter and CamMason and some others. Everybody had agreat attitude about just trying to fly cross-country. It didn't matter how far you flew, justgo for it. Of course, we didn't have any radios,we didn't have any drivers. Last one to go's arotten egg, and wherever you landed youphoned and tried to hitchhike or whatever.Lots of very late night retrievals and such, but

lots of funny bars. It was great, and a greatbunch of miles flown actually.S.B.: So you moved to Vancouver two yearsago, and started flying mountains. How doyou like mountain flying, verses towing in theflatlands?Ross: I prefer it. Flying in the mountains is alot more interesting. Sure, flying in theflatlands is interesting, and it takes a lot ofskill. But when you're flying in the mountainsyou have to add in the different components ofthe sun direction on the faces, the wind direc-tion, finding lift here and there. It becomesmore kind of a hunt, a little bit more strategic.Especially triangle and out-and-return flying.It adds an element to it. Most of the flying wedid on the prairies was straight downwind, gethigh and turn downwind and see how much

land you can cover. Whereas I really enjoy themore out-and-return, pushing yourself to dothings that you really wouldn't do, doing thingsthat don't come natural. Like trying to go intoa twenty-mile-and-hour wind.S.B.: You seem to have caught on to it prettyquick.Ross: On good days.S.B: Actually, on bad days, based on theresults. The first competition I saw you at was

the '93 Savona Easter Meet, where you madegoal the first day. Had you done any compet-ing before that?Ross: Well, I competed in the 1988 AustralianNationals while I was travelling, and finishedsecond from last. I was away for two years, andin that time I spent two six-month periods inAustralia just to fly. The first time I was therewas during the Worlds, and I met GeorgeBorradaile and Mike Cook. I spent two monthsliving at Mt. Buffalo, flying there and Mt. Emuevery day. I had a great time, and that wasreally where I learned to fly cross-country.S.B.: What sorts of things did you work atwhile you were away?Ross: I worked in the day at an army surplusclothing store, and at night as a waiter.S.B: Waiting tables in army fatigues, no

doubt.Ross: Back to your original question, theAustralian Nationals was the first compe-tition I really entered. I had entered all thelittle fly-ins and stuff around Alberta, andentered this and entered that, but the Na-tionals in Australia was the first one I evertook seriously. As I say, I placed 59th outof 60.S.B.: You did a lot of flying with J.C. whenyou moved to Vancouver the year before.Did that have an influence on your start-ing to compete?Ross: Yes and no. Flying with J.C. a lot,and getting the benefit of J.C.'s advice hasbeen tremendous, and I really do owe hima lot. But he didn't really point me towardcompeting. That was something that justkind of happened on my own. Since Imoved to Vancouver I've been fortunateenough to be able to fly with a lot of pilotswith a lot more experience than me. A lot,like we're talking pilots with over a 1000hours of experience, true "cream of Cana-da" kind of thing, and boy has that beenenlightening. Talking to J.C. or just talk-ing to anybody after the flights, it's beengreat. I even learned to thermal.

S.B.: You did really well in '93 in marginalstuff. Is light air your strongest suit, and whatare the ingredients that go into excelling inlight conditions?Ross: That's a real question. I used to dreadlight air. In light air the most important aspectsare: a) staying positive, not berating yourselfbecause you can't get a handle on the thermal,but just saying "this is a bubble that's movingall over the sky, and this is a real game of tag,"

AN INTERVIEW WITH

ROSS McEWEN1993 CANADIAN NATIONALS HANG GLIDING CHAMPION

BY STEVE BEST

The "Champ" drinks a beer.

not getting down on yourself, and going afterit. And b) being able to keep your concentra-tion. If it takes you a half an hour to climb, wellthat's life. And trying to be as sharp at the endof four-and-a-half hours as you were at zerohours. That was one thing I was really happyabout last year, 'cause it was the first time I wasable to really keep concentration.S.B.: That must have something to do withbeing in shape. How do you stay in shape?Ross: I run and I work out. I'm not in tremen-dous shape, by any stretch of the imagination,but I'm in fair shape. And this winter I've beenworking out a bit more, trying to get in bettershape because it does make a difference, justto your mental alertness.S.B.: You mentioned strategy and reading the

terrain which you seem to have mastered.Ross: I wouldn't say that. I'd say I've donefairly well at it, and I'm happy with that. Theone thing I like about light air is it's not asstraightforward. On a booming strong day, thetrigger points are fairly straightforward, andanyone can read them. On a light day thingsmight drift off before they go up, and youmight find them in a little bit odd places. Youfind something in an odd place early in the day,and you start to look there. It gets to be a littlemore of a game of chess. And some of it's justdumb luck too, because I've been too scared togo way back in the depths when it's a light day,and most of the guys do go back there, and ifyou stay out in front sometimes you do betterat places like Skyline.S.B.: Speaking of Skyline on the last day of theB.C. Provincials at Skyline, you almost com-pleted the 80 km. task, winning the day andflying twice as far as the next pilot back. Youalso won a round and placed well in otherrounds at the same site in the Nationals. Youseemed to have an instant affinity for the site

Ross: That's interesting, because it didn't feelthat way at the time. But that site has workedwell for me, and competition-wise it's beenincredible. I honestly couldn't tell you why.I've been as bothered as anybody else there bylaunching into stuff that it takes you forever toget up in, and you can't seem to get a handle onwhat's going on. All I can say is that I washappy with the way I tended to get a lot sharperas the flights progressed, and get clued into thegame, and realize that it was a game of pa-tience. That, along with a whole bunch oflucky breaks.

Another thing, in light air it tends to be morefly your own game. In light air you can't goracing over to everybody else's thermal, 'cause

they're no better than yours. In stronger air ittends to be more of a gaggle game.S.B.: What is your next goal in hang gliding.Are you interested in international competi-tion?Ross: Definitely. Obviously, I've got a lot tolearn. What I really have to learn is real racing.Flying efficiently, leaving thermals when Ishould be leaving, rather than flying ultra-conservatively and boating about the sky.Though that's what gets you the furthest onlight days.

Starting to be able to read the thermals, start-ing to be able to use other pilots more in acompetition type of sense. This year I'm hop-ing to compete a lot, far more than I have in thepast couple of years. And spend more timewith people in stronger air to learn. I've got alot to learn. My goal is to make the Canadianteam. I've only got two weeks vacation thisyear, so I'll be at Golden for the Nationals, andI'd like to go to one big U.S. meet, to see the fullspectrum of competition.

.

S.B.: Last year was your first year of realcompeting, but you still seemed to come to itwith a fairly relaxed attitude. How would youdescribe your attitude, and is it changing?Ross: I try to remember that it's fun. I getenough stress and drama from 9 to 5, I'm notgoing to spend my weekends getting morestress and drama. On the other hand, you feelgood when you do well, and only you knowwhen you did well, when you learned, andexpanded yourself, and improved your skills.So yeah, I do try and keep a positive attitudeabout it. It doesn't always work. This yearespecially, I'm going to try and make a point offlying the air, and not letting competitionrattle my flying. Face it, you're there to fly,you're there to do tasks that are more difficult,to try and become a better pilot. And also totest yourself, to see how good a pilot you are.But by no means do I want to let my pointstandings get in the way of enjoying a goodweekend of flying.S.B.: Do you have any tips for pilots juststarting out in competitionRoss: Keeping a positive outlook, and essen-tially realizing that, in a field of competition,you can do anything anybody else can. It's notlike there's rocket scientists flying hang glid-ers. If you keep an open mind and learn, andapply yourself and keep positive about it, youshould be able to do whatever you want to do.As long as you're willing to put in the hours.S.B.: Congratulations again on winningthe Nationals, and good luck this year

The Champ flys a hang glider

Wills Wing RamAir 154Grounding Lifted

On May 12 1994, Wills Wing issued a temporarygrounding order for the RamAir 154. This orderfollowed a tumble and structural failure in Germanyand reports of three other turbulence induced inci-dents. The DHV and Wills Wing re-tested the glidersand found that they complied with the certificationtest requirements with the VG in the full on and fulloff positions as required. In the case of the DHVtesting, additional test were carried out in the interme-diate settings and the results showed non-compliancein one tuning configuration and other areas of mar-ginal compliance. The certification standard is thatthe glider should pass at all VG settings and in allallowable tuning configurations.

Wills Wing has since developed a retro-fittable mod-ification which involves a new bridle set, a bridlecompensator adjustment, and added reflex to the 4inner battens each side. This kit is available free ofcharge from Wills Wing and consequently on May17th the grounding was lifted subject to theabove modifications being performed on theglider.

Please contact Wills Wing dealer or Wills Wing ifyou require any further information at (714) 9986359

action of the helmet shell and liner.

Linear acceleration - more on this later..

Angular acceleration. The brain does notlike being violently spun, so helmet test stand-ards try to ensure that the helmet slides in aglancing impact, rather than sticking and ro-tating the head. Recent research seems toindicate that the smooth rounded shape thatintuition suggests would slide most easily, isnot necessarily the best. (Most testing andresearch has concentrated on cycle and motor-cycle helmets, where glancing blows onsmooth surfaces - tarmac, kerbstones - is fairlylikely. The chances of a hill launch hang/paragliding pilot bashing such a surface seemsremote.)

Penetration. As getting a spike through thetop of the head would obviously be a BadThing, the test schedule for motorcycle hel-mets includes a penetration test, with theresult that these helmets have to have a strong(therefore heavy) shell. Interestingly, accidentanalysis has more recently revealed that thissort of accident was/is virtually unheard of,and there is talk of relaxing the severity of thisparticular test. (And the chances of finding aspike to land head first on when out flyingseem infinitesimal.)

So let's look at linear acceleration of the brain.This is where the helmets primary role as ashock absorber comes in. If we take the "aver-

age" brain (some will be strongerand some weaker) and measureacceleration in G's:* Impacts of 150 g's cause littleor no injury* Impacts of 151 to 250 g's resultin light concussion and amnesia* Impacts of 251 to 400 g's causeextended loss of consciousnesswith traumatic amnesia* Impacts of 401 g's bruise andcause bleeding of the brain* Impacts of 700 g's are likely to

cause permanent brain damage and may be life threatening.

The principal helmet standards(British BS, American ANSI &Snell) take 300 g as the maximum

Myth No. 3:A helmet is a helmet is a helmet.Helmet models vary enormously in their effec-tiveness, and this can only be measured byexpensive rigorous testing of transmitted "g"loads etc. A great many of the helmets availa-ble in the UK (for various sports) have neverbeen tested and would fail all recognizedcertification processes i.e. they are next touseless. And they are generally indistinguish-able from good helmets - they may evenappear to be stronger. If we take bicycle hel-mets as an example, there are a number ofthese helmets available which have passed theSB tests and others with large margins - butthere are just as many still on sale which havecomprehensively failed all such tests! (We allaccept the need for proper independent testingof our gliders - apply the same thinking to yourhelmet: look for the certification sticker.)

THE HELMET'S FUNCTIONWe wear helmets to try to prevent head injury,or more exactly brain damage. Brain damagecan be caused by:* Local deformation of the skull* Linear acceleration of the brain* Angular/rotational acceleration of the

brain* Penetration of the brain

Helmets can help to prevent such injuries asfollows:Local deformation of the skull is reduced bythe impact point load being spread by the

HELMET FACT SHEETSEPTEMBER 1991INTRODUCTIONThere are many schools of thought as to whatconstitutes an ideal helmet for hang gliding,but most of the popular "gut reaction" alongthe lines of, "if it's heavy, expensive, and madeof something strong then it must be good."

This fact sheet details some of the science ofhelmet technology, and so should; help thepilot make a more genuinely informed deci-sion on helmet choice.

Fortunately there are too few reports of acci-dents involving head injuries to hang gliderpilots for it to be possible to draw any conclu-sions from these - but banging your head isbanging your head, irrespective of what youwere doing that led to the bang. There has beena great deal of research on helmets for motor-cycling and cycling, which has led to thecurrent British Standards for these helmets.The fact sheet argues that pilots should placetheir trust in these standards and only buy ahelmet that conforms to one of these and is kitemarked accordingly.

POPULAR MYTHSMyth No. 1:Buy a good solid helmet.There is no such thing as a good solid helmet.A solid helmet can only be bad! A helmet'sprimary function is to absorb shock, and asolid helmet will be absolutelyno use in that. (And, except forclimbing helmets, the shellplays little or no part in theabsorption of shock; it is al-most an irrelevance).

Myth No. 2:By the most expensive helmetyou can, preferably purposemade for hang gliding.Cost is no guide to helmet effi-ciency. The only dependableguides are the independenttest standards. As far as I candiscover, none of the "purposebuilt" hang gliding helmetsconform to any British Stand-ard - or to any other standard.

WHAT PRICE, YOUR HEAD?The following paper, written by Mark Dale,Safety Officer of the British Hang Gliding Association.Reprinted with thanks.

Roger Nelson looking like maybe he should be wearinga helmet. Photo by Vincene Muller

permitted deceleration, and they test helmetsat an impact speed of approx. 10 mph for bikehelmets (BS6863 and ANSI Z90.4) and 17mph for motorcycle helmets (BS 6658). Thesetests involve dropping the helmet, fastened toa 5Kg instrumented head form, forward, back-ward and crown first onto various shapedanvils from 1m in the case of bicycle helmetsand 2m in the case of motorcycle helmets. Infree-falling those distances the previouslyquoted speeds are achieved. (NB: The snelltest for bicycle helmets calls for a drop heightof 2m for some tests, so is more rigorous in thatrespect.)

HOW HELMETS WORKThe principal factor in providing the necessaryshock absorption is the helmet's impact liner,which crushes progressively on impact liner,which crushes progressively on impact. Thisis usually constructed from expanded polysty-rene foam some 25mm to 35mm thick, with adensity of between 20 grams/litre and 80grams/litre. The balance helmet manufactur-er's must strike is between thickness and den-sity:

A very thick, low density foam liner wouldprovide ideal energy absorption characteris-tics, but would increase rotational forces onthe head (and would be so bulky that no-onewould wear it.).

A thinner layer of low density foam carries anincreasing risk of "bottoming out" (though thiswill happen with all liners if impacted hardenough. Once this happens they cease to haveany shock absorbing qualities and any furtherload is transmitted directly to the skull.) So abalance is struck which gives optimal protec-tion at the loads required for certification.

Climbing helmets, which are designed to pro-tect the user from falling stones, work in adifferent way to this. They use a fibreglassshell supported away fro the head by a web-bing head cradle. On impact the shock isabsorbed by the webbing stretching and by thefibreglass shell delaminating. There is also athin layer of foam impact liner inside the shellto aid the process if the webbing bottoms outand allows the head to contact the shell. TheUIAA test and certify these helmets to 300 gwith a *17 mph crown impact. But that is theentire test - the helmet is not designed to takeside, frontal or rear impacts and offers verylittle or no protection against these.

* You may be thinking that 17mph is not muchfor a motorcycle impact, but the fact is that ifyou hit a brick wall head first at 50mph yourhead is going to end up somewhere near themiddle of your back, and you will have somefairly serious (and instantaneously fatal) folds

in your spine and rearrangement of your inter-nal organs. The point is that there is no pointin building (or wearing) helmets that protectyour head in accidents that will prove fatal.There is another strand to this thinking: whilstthe danger of overload ("bottoming out") hasbeen mentioned earlier, there is a similar"danger" in underload. A truck shock absorberis designed to operate at loads of say 10 tons,and so will gently give at those sorts of loads.But if you hit your friend over the head with it(say 50lb force) it would not give at all - itwould remain effectively rigid. Helmet shockabsorption will work in just the same way, inthat a helmet designed for high impact veloc-ities would be effectively rigid in less violentimpacts, and so could transmit unacceptableforces to the brain.

The current motorcycle standard (BS6658:85)is the latest development in an evolving serieswhich started back in the early fifties, and therecently introduced bicycle standard(BS6863:89) has benefited from all the ac-quired knowledge. There appears to everyreason to trust in the standard setters work!

A BHGA pilot's recent accident seems tojustify my faith in the level of the helmetstandards. When he stalled in a turn and hit thehill head first, his UIAA certified helmetworked faultlessly, the inner cradle stretchingand the GRP shell delaminating, so absorbingthe energy as intended by these designs. Butalthough his head was undamaged (other thanthe temporary effects of "brain shake"), he stillended up in hospital with more or less total(temporary) paralysis. This was a result of thewrench given to his neck when his body failedto decelerate as quickly and smoothly as hishead. (He tells me that he should make a fullrecovery, though this will involve a very pro-tracted period of physiotherapy.) It wouldseem reasonable to suggest that if the impactspeed had been much higher, the limitingfactor in his survival would have been thecapabilities of his neck foremost, with hishelmet's limits being reached shortly after -which is just as it should be.

CONCLUSIONSJ.L. Firth (Consulting Neurosurgeon at Der-byshire Royal Infirmary) concluded the 1982Symposium at Birmingham University enti-tled "Head Protection: The State of the Art"with the following remarks: "Avoiding over-designed helmets and attempting to survivethe unsurvivable will make possible lighter,cheaper, more comfortable and attractive hel-mets which will save people when they reallycan be saved." I see this as advocating a senseof reality and proportion: if you fall off yourglider at several hundred feet and land on yourhead, you will be killed, irrespective of helmettype. The same will happen if you crash head-on into a rock at full flying speed. What weshould be doing when choosing a helmet istrying to ensure that our heads survive surviv-able impacts, whilst at the same time ensuringthat our safety equipment does not itself be-come a possible cause of accidents or signifi-cantly detract from the pleasures of the sport.(If you want to be really safe, stay at home -though most accidents happen in the home.)

SO WHAT: SHOULD YOU DO?:Use a helmet that conforms to BS6863.89 as aminimum. If it also conforms to ANSI Z90.4and/or has passed the SNELL tests so muchthe better. (Nb. These are all bicycle helmetstandards - the advice I have had from variousexperts in the helmet testing and standardsworld is that these helmets should most close-ly meet our requirements. If you are a real beltand braces person, and can stand the weightand lack of ventilation, a helmet to BS6658.85will provide an even greater (probably unnec-essary) level of protection - but make sure thatyour hearing is not impaired.)

Change your helmet after a bump - once thecell walls of the expanded polystyrene "bub-bles" have been bucked they lose a largeproportion of their strength, even though theyappear to have "spring back" to the originalshape. Otherwise change it every two to threeyears.

Throw away any helmet you might have thatdoes not carry a certification label. It may becompletely useless.

The HPAC/ACVLinsurance stickersthat you receivedwere graciouslyproduced (for thecost of the materialsonly) by SignpostSigns. If you haveneed of a sign,maybe you couldthank them bypatronising them.Barry BatemanAdministrator.

SAFETY HINTS 94

All aircraft pilots have a written check listto follow before going down the runway totake off safely. SO I wrote my own hangglider check list and place it on my controlbar.

1. Helmet chin strap fastened.2. Parachute and pins in place.3. Leg straps on properly.4. Zippers and line done up properly5. Radios, instruments "on".6. Hooked in and carbine tightened.

I read my check list, look at, then toucheach item on the check list. This ideamight save you from not hooking in. If youunhook for any reason, walk away fromyour glider, slow down, then go back andstart over by reading, touching and fol-lowing your check list faithfully.

Another hint I read in the U.S.A. maga-zine was to write your name, address, andphone number of contacts and yourHEALTH CARD NUMBER on a stickypiece of paper and place on the back ofyour helmet just in case of an accident.

One day last year my glider was not flyingquite right, I tore it apart and reassembledit, I also had another level IV pilot checkmy glider and he also missed seeing themylar rolled down causing a stall strip onthe top front of my glider making it diffi-cult to fly and land. So do a good inspec-tion on top of your glider as well as theunder side.

Keep your air speed and good flying.

GUS LARSONEdmonton, Alberta

continued from page 17.....

the deck. I say apparently because there wereno incident reports filled out for either of theseevents - both of which, but for the turn of afriendly card, would have almost certainlyburied both passenger and pilot. It really isirrelevant who the pilots were - we all live inglass houses. The point is accident reports area recognized learning mechanism in allaviation - we are wiser for knowing whathappened to others

But obviously something is seriously amiss inQueenstown. Tandem paragliding should bethe safest experience a person can have undera paraglider. However it is where thetraditional “laissez-faire” fairly deregulatedworld of free flight intersects untidily with theissues of public safety and money. And this isa public safety issue. An acceptable accidentrate is hard to define, but by way ofcomparison in Interaken, Switzerland a groupof some 18 pilots many of whom are wellknown to N.Z. flyers, flew some four and a halfthousand tandems before having their firstaccident. Sytrek Hang Gliding tandems ofQueenstown have not had a single accident inover two years of operation.

The conclusion is hard to avoid. We havepilots flying tandems in Queenstown whohave done little more than glide from takeoffto the landing area, have never been tocloudbase and have almost no thermalingexperience. How did that happen??? In theevent of a fatality here I believe the NZHGPAwould be faced with some very embarrassingquestions.

The response from some pilots is that theyshould be exempt from learning to fly crosscountry. Up, down, up, down all day at thesame site - its not necessary. Its a valid pointperhaps but to me it seems naive and self-serving. Its where the real learning is done Ibelieve. We take our lumps and learn ourlessons. Pilot hopefully intact, the mentalmosaic that evolves is typically one of talentand well honed survival instincts. To dismissthe value of this experience is to dismissexperience.

By some estimates over $400,000 is beingtaken in NZ each year, most of it inQueenstown. There’s pressure on club safetyofficers over accidents, pressure on club sitesover exclusive commercial deals and pressureon pilots to fly in marginal conditions. Plainlythe current qualification is too loose and withmoney like this to be made the pressure is onlygoing to increase. Increasingly the public faceof paragliding, tandems are an important newdevelopment for our sport.

It is up to the NZHGPA now to get ahead of the

play by creating a more credible frameworkfor the certification and administration ofcommercial tandem pilots. As 95% of alltandem flights are commercial it doesn’t seemunreasonable that the costs of thisadministration be paid for by the tandem pilotsthemselves. As an amateur body the NZHGPAand its officers shouldn’t be required to devotea great deal of its time to professional pilots.

I suggest a system that should include:An appointment of a national safety officer fortandems and several practical aspects;-Cross country - there is no more definitiveway of demonstrating a pilots ability. At leastone 1 cross country flight per year by existingtandem pilots of a minimum distance. Newpilots at least five registered flights of aminimum distance or certified competitionresults from overseas.-Safety course over water.-At least 3 years flying experience.-An examiner should be the passenger with anapplying pilot.-A number of takeoff and landings should bewatched by two examiners.

I am not the only one who has watched withincreasing anger as the Alliance pilots havecontinued to have accidents and wonderedwhen the luck was going to run out. A numberof the Alliance pilots themselves willacknowledge privately that some of theirnumber shouldn’t be flying tandems. I knowof only one serious tandem accident outside ofQueenstown over the past two years and itwould seem to me a case exists for a fairlyprompt review of the scene down there by twoor three of the NZHGPA hierarchy. Theyshould have the authority to suspend licencesfollowing written and practical tests ifnecessary, pending the new certificationprocess later in the year.

This may seem severe but how seriously arewe going to take the safety of the public? Flyhow you like on your own but start flying thepaying public and you’re in a whole new ballgame. At least that’s the way I see it. We needto take more seriously the responsibility thatwhen someone’s mother, sister or son isclipped in next to a tandem pilot, that pilot issomeone of genuine experience with aqualification that is beyond reproach. And asin all commercial aviation you are accountablefor your actions.

It has been no pleasure to write this article butI know several things for facts here:

- It has only been through the most miraculousgood fortune that tandem paragliding has nothad a headline tragedy that would havehounded the sport and the people in it for yearto come.

It seems hard work making the club idea workalongside competing commercial interests inthe small free flight world but if you’re into, beinto it. If people operate safely, live and letlive. Your competition may in fact be your best(well almost) friend. Paragliding hardly hasthe level of public awareness andunderstanding that you can afford to denigratethe very people who are advertising andpromoting it! There have been regular tourist“gold rushes” over the past few years. Rafting,bungy jumping and now perhaps tandemparagliding. All have had their tragedies.Let’s just deal with this one with a little moreresolve before its too late and we have ours.

Shaun Barry

THOUGHTS ON HIGHPERFORMANCE GLIDERS

By Geoff Dossertor

performance glider may have in some aspect.The differences between top of the range hanggliders over the last few years are that close.After all, even the best pilots make mistakes.The pilot who wins a competition is usuallythe one who made the least mistakes, whoutilized the most invisible opportunities andwent on the make the glider look good.

Now the manufactures will continue to maketheir performance claims and boast of compe-tition successes. All this is very interestingreading. I believe there is little differencethough in performance between the variousmodels produced by reputable companiesthese last few years. The pilots who have goodresults would probably have done the same nomatter which one of these gliders they flew.

I was fortunate enough to be present at acompetition which held an information semi-nar. Four top pilots gave advice in answer toany questions we had. Tomas Suchanek rec-ommended reading as much as possible aboutflying and meteorology to improve your skills.I'm sure his glider puts him at no disadvantageto his opposition, bit it is his mind that makeshim twice world champion.

In buying a new glider, I think it is best to testall of the available range if possible. At leastdiscuss a glider's attributes with someone un-biased who has flown it. If you can afford it,buy a new one that you like the feel of or youthink goes better in desirable aspects. For thetighter budgets, there are plenty of second-hand high performance gliders on the marketthat, given a couple of wise decisions by you,will better the old owner flying his brand newspaceship.

If you really want high performance, a newglider will certainly help. The model won'treally make a great deal of difference, even itit's a year or two old. Most importantly, get aglider you feel comfortable with, then practiceas often as possible on it. Read as muchinformation as you can about flying and weath-er, because broadening your knowledge willpresent many new options to you that younever realized existed while flying. Fly atcompetitions, even if you don't enter, becauseyou will learn a lot by watching the good andbad decisions other pilots make.

At various times of the month, I eagerly awaitthe arrival of the latest magazine. As I devourat the articles, I am bombarded with claims ofsuperior performance by various parties.

"Brand X wins glide-ratio competition","Brand Y wins first two competitions of theseason", "Brand Z does most ever consecutiveloops"! No sooner than we buy a new "top gun"wing, than we read of something better on themarket. Will my glider to as well as these newmodels or should I trade up to a new one?Carob Fibre, internal deflectors, inlet scoops,reflex at the wingtips. The spaceships of yes-teryear, when more battens were better, havebeen replaced by smaller, lighter, fast to set upmiracle machines. Suppose we were to be-lieve all of the claims and combine them intoone, ultimate hang glider. Surely anyone fly-ing it would be at goal first everyday, loopingas they crossed the line, having out-glidedeveryone from the last thermal. They wouldstill be smiling because their kite is the sweet-est to thermal and they have plenty of energyleft for the next day's competition.

"Wait a minute", I hope some pilots are say.There's more to flying well than being on thebest glider. Imagine that of two similarlyskilled pilots we gave one a frontal lobotomy.Then we hooked him into the ultimate hangglider, whilst his thinking friend was given alesser performing training glider. Even if,with all its superior qualities, the ultimateglider managed to become airborne, the un-thinking pilot would fly straight through allsorts of lift and unbeknown opportunities toutilize his advantage. Meanwhile, the trainingglider would launch, head straight to thenearest trigger point and would most likelyembark on a long cross;-country flight. Fortu-nately the lobotomised pilot, unlike some withall faculties available, would not stamp hisfeet at the base of the hill and blame hisequipment or bad luck; he wouldn't care!

My point is that the brain is by far mightierthan the wing. Sure, if two pilots are in thesame air and making the same decisions, aslight performance advantage could make adifference. I propose however that one gooddecision, one opportunity seized from thethousands of options we are presented bothbefore and during a long cross-country flight,will make up for any advantage another high

So the next time someone harps on about howtheir glider is superior to the rest, be comfort-ed to know that it probably isn't much better.If you haven't been lobotomised recently, goand read a relevant book, practise some moreand you have almost certainly made up for anydisadvantage you had.

(Footnote: Geoff has just recently arrivedfrom New Zealand where he just won the 1994N.Z. Nationals flying a 21/2 year old Enter-prise Wing Combat 152 and has recently wonthe Club Cup in B.C. flying a borrowed 4 yearold Airwave Magic Kiss and a 3 year oldAirwave K2!!!)

The NATIONALFLY-IN

The National Fly-In (which is designed to getHang Gliding and Paragliding pilots to fly andsocialize together) followed by the BCParagliding Championships will explore someof the tremendous flying along the Canada -USA Border. The events will start out at MtKobau, which has S, E and W launches at the6000' level, overlooking the Cathedral LakesProvincial Park and Washington State.

Kobau is a terrific place for level 11’s and III’sfor morning flights and evening glass off’swhile the afternoon XC potential is outstand-ing - so there is air for everyone. If you arelooking for a way to fly away your holidays,this is it. Osoyoos is chock-a-block with alter-nate activities for the whole family. You’llsoon see why it’s the Okanagan’s summertimerecreational Mecca.

Registration will be required for these events.(While the Fly-in is designed as a free event,a token donation may be requested to assist inthe creation of a local club.) The primary LZwill be the Oliver Airport, thus it should comeas no surprise to you that HPAC insurance willbe mandatory. Please note that short termtemporary insurance is available to non resi-dents of Canada only. (We can hold cheap andeven free events like this is because, unlikesouth of the border, organizers are not re-quired to purchase event insurance coverage -if all attending pilots are HPAC insured).

The HPAC National Fly-In is not an exclusiveB.C. event. It is a designated Canadian Na-tional Fly-In and I encourage other provincesto establish the event in their area. This willbecome an annual event, so if you can’t makeit this year, we look forward to seeing you inJuly 1995. If there’s a special flying area youwould like to explore in the company of friends,the time to speak up is now!

AIRSPACERECLASSIFICATION

Transport Canada is planning to reclassifyCanadian Airspace to bring its descriptionsmore closely in line with the latest require-ments of ICAO (International Civil AviationOrganization). Very simply, there is nochange to the rules affecting hang glider pi-lots. Only the name of the airways changes,from Class D to Class E. And uncontrolledairspace is renamed Class G from Class E

Now for a longer explanation: The excitingClass C controlled airspace, usually used forcontrol zones, is being split into two classes, Cand D. The rules of existing C will now applyto D, while the new Class C will provide for anincreased level of service to a limited numberof qualifying major airports with TCA's (ter-minal control Areas); the improved service isin the area of conflict resolution for IFR andVFR traffic.

As a result of the change, the low level airwaysthrough which qualified hang glider pilots(those who have written the Transport Canadahang-gliding air regs examination and followHPAC/ACVL approved procedures) will nowbe called Class E instead of Class D. Special-use airspace, like the hang glider alert areas,will remain Class F. And uncontrolled air-space will now be called Class G instead ofClass E. There have been no changes to theprocedures to follow in Classes D, E, F, or G.

The chart shows the characteristics and fea-tures of the proposed Canadian airspace clas-sification. For more clarity, you can buy anairspace poster from Transport Canada(TP6010).

By Stewart Midwinter

The FAI have a good color glossy magazinethat comes out four times a year called

AIR SPORTS International

It contains interesting articles on all formsof aviation including Hang Gliding,Paragliding, Ballooning, Model aircraft,Powered aircraft, Parachuting, Ultralightsetc., not to mention updates on world recordand official FAI business.

It cost $5 per issue ($20 year) for the 60page magazine and serves to keep all formsof airsports in touch with each others activ-ities.

It can be obtained from;(make checks payable toFederation Aeronautique International)

Air Sports InternationalD - 10 Nizamuddin WestNew Delhi - 110013India

FLY THE CANADIAN ROCKIES!

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Grouse Mountain is a 1224 m (4016') peak onVancouver's north shore (1000 m vertical). A10 minute tram ride followed by a short chairliftride or brief hike takes you to a putting-greenlike take-off. Westerly winds make for pre-dictable ridge soaring on many summer days,and every front that passes tows endless op-portunities for thermaling in its wake. Theview is spectacular.

Grouse mountain is a private ski resort andflying is a hard earned privilege that is jealous-ly guarded by the Grouse Mountain FlyingTeam (GMFT) and by First Flight Paragliding(FFP) - a local school. All flying on the moun-tain is supervised by the GMFT or FFP. FFPhas invested substantial funds and with thehelp of GMFT buckets of muscle and sweat onimproving the take-off area, and on negotiat-ing a CYA for the site with Transport Canada.Our airspace is limited, on top by a busyairway (at 6000'), to the south by the edge of aTerminal Control Area (Vancouver HarbourAirport and Vancouver International Airport),

On Top of Vancouver

Flying at Grouse MountainVancouver, B.C.

and to the east by sight seeing helicopters thatshare the mountain with us. Excursions to thewest are limited by the Capilano watershedthat supplies much of Vancouver's drinkingwater, and the LZ is a playing field in themiddle of a municipality with million dollarhomes. Because of these circumstances (i.e.lots of opportunities for screw-ups), becausethere is always an audience (some days in thehundreds) at take-off and landing, and be-cause we want to preserve our privilege on topof Vancouver, all flying is supervised by GMFT.

You are invited to fly Grouse Mountain as aguest pilot during the summer months, provid-ed that you have:1 An HPAC/ACVL Level Rating or Foreign

equivalent2 HPAC/ACVL insurance (temporary non-

resident insurance can be purchased)3 A Reserve parachute4 At least 150 flights & 25 hours of airtime5 A signed waiver releasing Grouse Moun-

tain from any liability

Paraglider pilots who wish to fly Grouse mustfirst obtain approval from the Paraglidingguest director, a position held in 1994 by PeterGraf (604) 732 0045. Please plan ahead; noapprovals will be made at the LZ or on themountain. Call the guest director well beforeyour arrival in Vancouver, and bring alongyour rating card, insurance, and log book. Ifapproved to fly the mountain, you will have tobe accompanied by a volunteering team mem-ber who will brief you on the site, ensure thatyou sign a waiver, and supervise your flying.Please understand that the team member vol-unteers are not always available and the numberof guests that can be accommodated is limited.

Because of stupid, careless site (endangering)violations by a number of foreign guest pilots,we will retain your rating card while you flywith us. Should a site violation occur, yourrating card and a letter of explanation will besent to the issuing organisation (who may takeappropriate action). Flying Grouse Mountain- on top of Vancouver - is free (though dona-tions for site maintenance greatly appreciated)and always a privilege. Please help us pre-serve and enjoy it.

G.M.F.T.

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