No. 359 MARCH 2019The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association2 SKYWINGS MAR 2019 THE BHPA LTD 8 Merus Court, Meridian Business Park,Leicester LE19 1RJ. Tel: 0116 289 4316.Skywings magazine is published monthly by the British HangGliding and Paragliding Association Ltd to inform, educate andentertain those in the sports of Paragliding and Hang Gliding.The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily thoseof the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, theirCouncil, Officers or Editor. The Editor and publisher accept noresponsibility for any supposed defects in the goods, servicesand practices represented or advertised in this magazine. TheEditor reserves the right to edit contributions. ISSN 0951-5712SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DELIVERY ENQUIRIES Tel: 0116 289 4316, THE EDITOR Joe Schofield, 39 London Road, Harleston, Norfolk IP209BH. Tel: 01379 855021. COVER PHOTO Dave Aldrich flies the Wills Wing Sport 3 at MountTamalpais State Park, California. See Flight test on P36 Photo:Dave AldrichTHIS PAGE Malcolm Wood flies the LevelWings Fizz 11.5 at VerbierPhoto: Guy BoltonDESIGN & PRODUCTION Fargher Design Ltd. Killane House,Ballaugh, Isle of Man, IM7 5BD.PRINT & DISTRIBUTION Newman Thomson Ltd, One Jubilee Rd,Victoria Ind. Est, Burgess Hill, RH15 9TL.ADVERTISING Tel: 020 7193 9133 SKYWINGS ONLINE Go to For theMarch issue enter the username Mar_2019 and the case-sensitivepassword D2x#3tS9For the April issue enter the username Apr_2019 and the case-sensitive password S6dBq7F?DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the May2019 issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by MondayApril 1st. Letters for the April Airmail page should arrive no laterthan Friday March 15th. Advertisement bookings for the April editionof Skywings must arrive by Monday March 11th. Copy and classifiedbookings no later than Monday March 18th. regulars regulars reviews features Hang glider landing in nil windSTEVE YOUNG, VETERAN HANG GLIDER PILOTattitude4 SKYWINGS MAR 2019Hang gliders are said by some to be difficult to land, and it’strue that there is more horizontal airspeed during the finalapproach than on a paraglider. This brief article is simply tomake pilots think about what they do during the final approachand, I hope, to improve safety and reduce the number of ‘arrivals’.A bad landing in nil wind usually only means grass stains onyour flying suit, but there are times when it could be a bentupright or worse. You may not agree with my approach, but I hopeit at least makes you think.I usually find UK landings reasonably OK as there is nearlyalways some wind at ground level. However I try to make at leasttwo trips to the Alps each year, and there you will find landingfields at up to 4,500ft, higher air temperatures and often no wind.All of these concentrate the mind as you are coming in very fastover the ground. In the diagram you can see two types of approach I havewitnessed many times. There is the stooge-it-in-at-min-sink type,followed by a splat or wheels landing, or there is a higher-speeddive at the ground. This last is followed by a period in groundeffect and then a flare and, if you have got it right, a nice stand-up landing with the glider gently lowered onto your shoulders. The bottom graph shows the movement over the ground relativeto height in nil wind; the top graph shows the relationship toairspeed if you are landing in nil wind. Let’s consider the slow approach (blue line) first. In thisapproach you come all the way to the ground at min sink oreven slower, often barely above the stall. This gives rise to twoproblems. Firstly you have less control if you hit a thermal orturbulence, and secondly, as you approach the ground you do nothave enough energy to put a good flare into the glider andconvert any remaining energy to lift. Also, as you are coming invery slowly, your sink rate is increasing and you compound theproblem by having more vertical speed.Please note the airspeed (top graph). It’s just above the stalland not all of your glider is flying. Some of the centre section isjust about to stall, and if you put in a small flare only the centresection stalls, leaving the tips flying and still creating lift – whichpushes the nose down and resists the flare. I can understandhow this happens, particularly to UK pilots. We get mesmerisedby the ground-rush and the speed over the ground in nil-windconditions which are faster than we are used to. The desire is toslow down as you do not want to try and run that fast.Now consider the higher-speed landing in ground effect(orange line). On this approach you keep up a higher speed andcut through any turbulence safely. I would always be out ofprone in a reasonably upright position – I don’t want to bechanging position and looking for the uprights only a few feetoff the ground, and you are also far less likely to be hit on yourhead by the keel. Once in ground effect you can just relax andkeep your eyes on the end of the field – it’s much easier to judgespeed and when to flare when looking at the end of the fieldand not the grass.The tricky bit is to know when to flare. My advice would beto flare earlier rather than later so you still have energy in theglider to get it above and behind your head. Some pilots keepnudging the glider to feel if it responds and flare when theresponse is slowing. This does help – just make sure they areshort, sharp nudges so you don’t gain height.Remember that all of the wing does not stall at the same time.The centre section is at a higher angle of attack than the tips andstalls first. The tips are still flying and if you don’t flare hardenough they will continue to fly and push the tail up, causing theglider to accelerate over your head and try to recover the stall. Indoing so it deposits you onto your knees and drops the nose.Flare hard and upwards to stall the complete wing. This killsthe lift and generates massive drag, with the added bonus ofcausing you to swing forward, aiding you in keeping the noseup and before lowering the glider onto your shoulders. Ontopless gliders you can get a benefit from putting some VB on.This flattens the wing and helps the tips to stall soon after thecentre of the glider – the downside is slightly less roll authorityand a slightly faster approach.This short article is just to make you think about the landing.Feel free to disagree or to offer other suggestions. But most of thetime this works for me.In the interest of honesty I have put some of my less successfullandings on YouTube for you to learn and laugh at: Health Check!Reserves 2019tel:01404 891685 email: Turfhouse, Luppitt, Honiton, Devon, EX14 4SA It makes sense to buy your reserve parachute from me. I’vebeen selling reserves for over 40 years, and have myself hada successful real-life deployment. I am UK distributor forreserves from Charly, Skyman and Independence. My brandshave sold tens of thousands, and have hundreds ofsuccessful deployments to their credit.My own deployment was beneath a Charly Revolution 1, and Iregard that reserve as my best ever investment – it probablysaved my life. Read the full account on my website, or justask me about it! I also make a point of holding stock of second hand reserves,because not everyone can afford new, My experiencesuggests that it is wise to always fly with a reserve installedin your harness!Charly 2nd Chance from £399 Charly Revolution, from £505.Charly Clou 2 from £620 Independence Annular Evo,from £545Charly Diamond Cross, from£699Skyman Ultra Cross, from1kg and £825This is the Charly Revolution1 that probably saved mylife - it was that veryreserve!My recent health scare has prompted me to reconsiderthe way I conduct my business. It is basically designedto generate as much fun as possible for all concerned,but perhaps I should reduce the burden a little?My plan is to have a sale of gliders, starting in March. Ihave a lot of delectable machines for sale, and some ofthese will be on offer at reduced prices. It will all be on thewebsite, but how about this gorgeous Avian Evo, that gaveme some amazing flying. Was £2350, let’s knock £500 off!Another rare and special glider is my superb IcaroStratos – basically an Atos with a sail made by Icaro. Itwasn’t for sale – until now! Into Vintage? This Airwave K2 is in stunning condition –the best I have seen in years. Was £399, will be cheaper:I doubt this Moyes Malibu will go in the sale – they are allorgasmic, and it is well worth the asking price of £3200!This Finsterwalder Funfex packs down to 2m and fliessuperbly. It will surely be sold before I get around tofixing sale prices. An as-new Clubman 140 is rare, too! Was £450, but therewill be a few bob off this one!The Moyes Max is a great intermediate glider, but theyalso go really well with a motor harness – will bereduced from £1250 to something below £1000: I’ve got a fewparagliders whichhave amazed me bynot sellingimmediately Iadvertised them. ThisDHV 1-2 FirebirdPhoenix is gorgeous,and was already toocheap at £599:Just in is a beautifulmedium Firebird Raven,which will be under£1000:If you are a beginner on a budget, you could do worsethan buy this medium Firebird Grid which will be reducedin price, and was only 6 SKYWINGS MAR 2019newsFarewell Tornado!They are not universally loved, but many pilots willmourn the passing of the RAF’s mighty Tornado jet.Eight aircraft returned to these shores from Cyprus inFebruary to join the few other airworthy examples atRAF Marham in Norfolk, all to be withdrawn fromservice this month. Designed and built by the UK, Italy,and West Germany, first flown in 1975 and used by theRAF since 1979, the immensely powerful and adaptableswing-wing Tornado has soldiered on and on. The RAFforce has survived redesigns, upgrades, retasking,mothballing, cannibalisation and scrapping and yetremained at the top of its game. A total of 385eventually went into RAF service and a number ofBHPA/RAF pilots furthered their careers on them; oneor two members even managed to wangle a back-seatride. Frequently heard before being seen, a Tornado outof the blue at low level was always a stirring sight. Nowreplaced in RAF service by the Typhoon and F-35, thewithdrawal of the Tornado after nearly 40 years ofnear-constant deployment and well over a millionflying hours represents the end of an era in RAF flying.By the time production ended in 1998 nearly 1000 hadbeen built. Pictured in 2002 is ZA606 of 14 Sqn, built in1982, converted to GR4 standard in 1998 and scrappedin 2015. Although Germany hopes to keep its Tornadofleet flying for a few years yet, we are unlikely to seethe mighty ‘Tonka’ in our skies again!Flybubble WeatherFlybubble have come up with an innovative free tool forparaglider and hang glider pilots. Built on the RASP forecastingmodel and using the known parameters of flyable conditions ateach site, Flybubble Weather makes finding good conditions easy.Its two-page presentation offers an overview map for spottinggood days and promising areas, and a site detail page where youcan scan through the next five days’ weather to see the besttimes to fly. It includes airspace at selectable levels, Notams and a‘low cloudbase’ filter, while ‘amber alerts’ warn of strong windsaloft. It covers all of the UK and Ireland, and over time willprovide a reliable match between the forecast model and whatreally happens at specific sites. If pilots flying 20 years ago hadseen this they wouldn’t have believed it possible – hats off toFlybubble and to team pilot Caedmon Mullin who developed anddesigned it. Find it at Free Flight Academy acroFree Flight Academy, recently returned from successful XC tours inSouth Africa and Colombia, have joined forces with the UK’s numberone acro pilot Jack Pimblett to bring a new dimension to SIV andacro training. Jack has been working on a completely new acrotraining course, and with Free Flight’s help he’s now ready to assistbudding acro pilots take their flying – and understanding – to thenext level. ‘There has been a real hunger for acro throughout the UKand beyond,’ says Free Flight’s Lee Tryhorn, ‘and our formidable newpartnership offers a correct and safe structure for pilots to trainunder.’ In time it is hoped that pilots on the scheme can be broughtup to competition standard. For further details go toSkywings advertising rates to riseAs of the April edition of Skywings, all commercial advertisingrates will be subject to a 3.5% rise. The increase will not beapplied to existing series bookings or non-commercial classifiedads. To view Skywings' 2019 full rate card, visit:news8 SKYWINGS MAR 2019PWC Superfinal infoThe Paragliding World Cup Superfinal takesplace at Baixo Guandu in Brazil from March19th - 30th. Supporters can follow the eventon the PWCA website at where theywill find live commentary and live tracking,plus pilot profiles, or via the PWCA appwhich now features photos and a ‘follow’button to allow you keep up with yourfavourite pilots. British pilots will include GuyAnderson (Ozone Enzo 3), Idris Birch (GinBoomerang 11), Harry Bloxham, Martin Long,Russ Ogden (all Enzo 3), Julian Robinson(Boomerang 11), Theo Warden and AndrewWilliams (both Enzo 3).CIVL Plenaryround-upThe 2019 CIVL Plenary took place atLausanne, Switzerland from January 31 toFebruary 3. Amongst the many, many itemsunder discussion the following proposalswere passed. The maximum number ofpilots in an FAI sanctioned paraglidingcompetition will remain at 150; the list ofapproved navigation instruments will beupdated daily; a working group is to defineminimum anti-doping criteria for Category 2XC events; and Domina Jalbert, inventor ofthe ram-air wing, has been nominated forthe FAI Air Sport Medal. The followingwere among the successful bids for FAIcontests: 2020 Paragliding Aerobatics Worlds(Trasaghis, Italy); 2020 Pan-American HangGliding Class 1 Worlds (Big Spring. Texas);2020 Sport Class Hang Gliding Worlds,Women’s Hang Gliding Class 1 Worlds, HangGliding Class 2 and Class 5 Worlds (Quest Air,Florida); 2021 Hang Gliding Class 1 Worlds(Krušhevo, Macedonia); 2021 ParaglidingWorlds (Annecy-Chambéry-Passy, France)and the 2021 Paragliding Accuracy Worlds(Prilep, Macedonia). A full report on thePlenary meeting is at New website forflying stuff Delta Goodies is a new website offering smallfree flight manufacturers an opportunity toshowcase their products on a smart,accessible platform. Currently available arecamera mounts, vario pods, calendars,helmets, apparel, etc, and a Bluetooth 4.0/4.1headset solution compatible with Kenwood,Baofeng and Motorola radios. The setupconsists of a miniature transmitter with aninternal battery, a separate PTT button and aseparate helmet speaker/mic headset, allcharged via a micro USB cable. The whole setretails at 55 euros. Everyone is invited tocollaborate and promote their products onthe site; find it at Skywings 2018indexJohn Owen-Jones has again applied forensiclogic to produce an index to feature articles,flight tests, competition reports, letters andsafety items from every issue of Skywingspublished in 2018. That’s 548 pages of free-flying excellence! This year we areexperimenting with publishing this onlineonly. Find it at byentering the username Mar_2019 and thecase-sensitive password D2x#3tS9. We are,as ever, indebted to John for his exactingwork of compilation.Buttermere BashThe legendary Buttermere Bash free flight festival, and the Lakeland Charity Open paraglidingcomp, will take place on Friday May 31st and Saturday June 1st at the usual beautiful location onthe shores of Buttermere. Plans are being made to attract some of the world’s top acro pilots tothe UK’s only acro display. In addition, several fantastic bands will fill the night with music.Camping will be available from Tuesday May 28th – details are Detailsof the charity paragliding competition, consisting of A and B comps and a coaching group forlow-airtime pilots, are at BHPA 500 ClubWin cash prizes and help theAssociation!January winnersJohn Vernon £133.20Ed Cleasby £66.60Simon Raven £33.30Edward Weare £19.98Kaine Joel £16.65Mayola Bandawe £16.65John Taylor £13.32Barbara Keyworth £13.32Katherine Smith £9.99Charles Blount £9.99BHPA £333.00If by the time you read this you have notreceived your cheque, please contact me on0780 2525 099.Marc AsquithMAR 2019 SKYWINGS 9RAeC Trust bursaries - finalcall! The closing date for Royal Aero Club Trust bursary applications isMarch 31st. This is free money for young pilots and would-be pilotsto progress their flying careers. Last year the trust awarded 48bursaries of up to £1,000 to young people – between 14 and 21 – fromparagliding, hang gliding and paramotoring, as well as from gliding,ballooning, parachuting, light aircraft and microlight flying. Follow-on bursaries can be awarded to those who have already received anaward up to the age of 24. Recent BHPA recipients include TheoWarden in 2015, now reigning European Paragliding Champion, andJack Pimblett in 2017, recently 7th at the Acro World Tour final. Lastyear Isabel Mackintosh of the SE Wales club received financialassistance to help her train to CP level, and John Delves of GreenDragons had help towards a paramotor conversion. John is now aUP/Thermal Chasers sponsored pilot. It’s quite simple: if you are anaspiring BHPA pilot under the age 21, apply now for assistance tohelp you achieve your flying goals. Full details of the rules of thescheme and application forms can be found at Applications must be submitted througha sponsoring organisation (eg the BHPA). The BVHGR returns!The British Vintage Hang Gliding Rally (BVHGR) will return toParafest for 2019 with displays of gliders and nostalgia galore. ‘Wehad everything in place for a fantastic rally in 2018,’ writes BVHGRChairman Steve Pionk, ‘but were stymied at the last minute by theweather. We think we’ve found the correct weather God to pray tothis year and are planning to coax a few old hang gliders out oftheir bags to spread their wings. Parafest is the best flying festivalin the calendar and we are looking forward to working with MarkMeadows again. Roll on July 11th, and we’ll see you there!’Keep an eye on for the latest info. Tickets for Parafestcan be found at In briefLynx changes hands. Bespoke headset and interface builderLynx Avionics has been acquired by industrial outdoor phonemanufacturer DAC of Blackburn. The change has allowedrestructuring and relocation to a larger facility. Lynx plan toincrease production, reduce delays and improve order responsetimes while continuing to provide high quality products andcustomer support. Their new phone number is 01284 47000; othercontact details remain unchanged.Snake-Grif record. David Broom’s 34.54km distance-in-a-straight-line-without-engine-power microlight flight of June 15th last yearhas been ratified by CIMA as a previously unset world record.Thus the Airplay Snake/Grif 3DC nanolight enters the record booksand sets the bar for thermal-only trike flights. David now offersthe Snake with the lighter (28kg) Grif Zip wing giving slightlymore leeway for sub-70kg pilots. Details fromBPCup entries. Entries for the BPCup are now open at The two rounds are at Parlick (May 3rd - 6th)and Austwick in the Dales (August 8th - 11th). A new XC element,intended to cover against tasks lost to weather, allows pilots toadd a capped number of points from their overall XC Leagueresults to their final BPC score. The exact scoring formula will beannounced at the Parlick round.Skywings online. The online version of this (March) issue ofthe magazine can be found at Enter theusername Mar_2019 and the case-sensitive password D2x#3tS9.For the April issue enter the username Apr_2019 and the case-sensitive password S6dBq7F?. These details can also be found onthe contents page of each issue. Magazines with a cover date oversix months old can be viewed online or downloaded without theneed to log in.Next >