No. 370 FEBRUARY 2020 The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association2 SKYWINGS FEBRUARY 2020 THE BHPA LTD 8 Merus Court, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1RJ. Tel: 0116 289 4316. Skywings magazine is published monthly by the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Ltd to inform, educate and entertain those in the sports of Paragliding and Hang Gliding. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, their Council, Officers or Editor. The Editor and publisher accept no responsibility for any supposed defects in the goods, services and practices represented or advertised in this magazine. The Editor reserves the right to edit contributions. ISSN 0951-5712 SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DELIVERY ENQUIRIES Tel: 0116 289 4316, THE EDITOR Joe Schofield, 39 London Road, Harleston, Norfolk IP20 9BH. Tel: 01379 855021. COVER PHOTO Winter wonderland above El Cuchillo, Lanzarote, aboard Wills Wing’s Sport 3 Photo: Colin Fargher THIS PAGE January sunshine for members of the Manx Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club at Sartfell, Isle of Man Photo: Chris Gulland DESIGN & 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: 07624 413737 Email: SKYWINGS ONLINE Go For the February issue enter the username Feb_2020 and the case-sensitive password j3UmY*x8 For the March issue enter the username Mar_2020 and the case-sensitive password B3bLg1=T DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the April 2020 issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by Friday February 28th. Letters for the March Airmail pages should arrive no later than Monday February 17th. Advertisement bookings for the March edition must arrive by Monday February 10th. Copy and classified bookings no later than Monday February 17th. regulars reviews features regulars reviews 4 SKYWINGS FEBRUARY 2020 attitude I arrived at about 8 and mingled with the pros, thinking how limited my experience of paragliding was. To put myself into context, I had only been qualified as CP for a year, and the weather and my free time had only permitted a handful of flights. At about 9am three separate talks were taking place on the hill – Greg with his Flybubble XC comp; SHGC head coach John Turczak with his New to XC talk, and SHGC Coach Phil Ettinger’s Red Ribbon site brief. I tried to run round all of them and listen in, even if some of it was above my head. During the talks some pilots that were already prepped on the hill began to take off one by one and the sky started to fill. As a low-time pilot I don’t like crowds and I decided to wait it out. I thought that if everyone was here for XC they would get some height and go, leaving me with the ridge to soar and hone my basic skills. An hour went by and paragliders went up and down. The bowl on the Dyke was filling, then all of a sudden people began to thermal. At around 1030 I saw an opportunity and took it. As I took off I went back into training mode: looking left and right, up and down. I almost immediately turned left to fly parallel with the ridge. I continued to do a few beats but then, with paragliders around me in all dimensions, I bottled it and bailed out. I turned out towards the LZ which was, luckily, in a ploughed field. As I slowly descended the unstable air kept lifting me up and I was thrown all over the place. I wondered if onlookers could see me getting thrown around or if it was just all in my head. Then I remembered that if I look up I put my hands up. I did this, but the response wasn’t as quick as I hoped. I slowly came back to horizontal and continued to fly S- turns to terra firma. As I turned into wind, which with the bowl’s venturi was in the mid-teens (mph), I nearly hovered. This feeling was quite new to me. Even though I knew I had airspeed my groundspeed felt slow, which made me feel like I was going to stall. My lack of experience was beginning to show, but my training continued to help me S-turn until I got low enough for my final approach into wind. Once I landed I was relieved, but highly disappointed, that after flying qualified for a year I could still bum out like this. I was tempted to walk back up the hill and sell all my gear to the highest bidder. Luckily, on approaching the summit, I decided not to, but I did decide to go home. I pondered over my future with paragliding and decided what to do next. Later that evening, my club’s group chat was filled with positive talk about the day’s flying and conditions. I wondered if I had been the only one that had been terrified of the crowds and the bumpy conditions. I decided to ask the group if there was any radio-style coaching that could be done. I received some good feedback, especially from an experienced pilot who messaged me privately. All I needed was a confidence boost and for someone to say, ‘Yeah that happened to me a few years back,’ or something like that. After a few pieces of advice I have decide to enroll in some post-CP instruction. I think just hearing someone on a radio to even agree with what I’m doing in the air would be beneficial for my continued progress. Photo: Martin Strom Even when you only have ten hours, the help you need is out there … DANIEL NAGRE, RED-RIBBON PILOT One Friday night I received the go-ahead for flying down at the Dyke on the following Sunday morning with the SHGC’s Red Ribbon Club. With the August weather having been, as the Chairman called it, the worst in his 26 years of flying, I was excited at the prospect of actually getting off the ground. After overdosing on Greg Hamerton’s instructional videos and watching snippets from the recent X-Alps, I was pumped up and ready to go.All Change! Charly Helmets The aerodynamic Charly NO Limits is available as an open - or a full-face helmet. The pressure-formed aerodynamic Kevlar- reinforced fibreglass shells are renowned for their quietness, and come in four colours and four sizes, starting at £225. A clear visor comes as standard with optional Tinted visors available. The Charly Insider is probably the top-selling free flight helmet of all time. The Kevlar-reinforced fibreglass shell is fully-lined, and I stock eleven colours and six sizes from XS to XXL! Prices start at £158, and weight is only 660gm! The stylish Charly Loop costs £120, weighs around 505gm and comes with a helmet bag included. There are three sizes and six colours: Gloss White, Matt Blue, Matt Black, Matt Red, Matt Orange and Nova Silver – see them all on my website: The Charly Ace has a polycarbonate shell and comes in four sizes, with a choice of Gloss White, Matt Red, Matt Black or Carbon-look. Weight is around 560gm, and prices start at £84. The Charly Breeze has a swoopy polycarbonate shell, comes in four sizes in either White or Matt Black - with contrasting removable ear covers to suit different seasons. There is also a version in two adjustable sizes for commercial operators schools and tandem. It weighs about 480gm, and costs £87. I stock all the Charly helmets optional accessories, too! The Ace, Breeze and Loop will all accept the optional visor, available in Grey, Yellow, Orange and Mirror finishes. Prices start at £28 per visor, with the fixing screw set costing another When I get back home towards the end of February I will initiate changes at the Flying Circus. After almost 44 years in business I’m no longer a spring chicken, and last year’s health scare highlighted the fact that I have to get on and enjoy life to the full. That means flying, of course, and the Malibu and Cure in these pictures will feature, for sure. I want to have less stress and more free time so, for starters, I will be reducing my vast stocks of flying equipment. As well as my ranges of new products that you all (should) know so well, I have a huge amount of secondhand kit to move out. The Malibu is one of two I have in stock, so one has to go. The Cure is one of three BGD wings I have for sale. Would you like a nice Cure for just I have accumulated vast stocks of hang glider frame components over the years, mostly Moyes of course, but also uprights for Aerial Arts, Avian, Finsterwalder, Airborne and Airwave. There’s no harm in asking whether I have what you want. Prices will be slashed! I have secondhand wings in profusion, all sensibly priced to give mega value-for- money. This hardly- used Ion 4 is as rare as rocking-horse poo, and I also have very tasty older paragliders and hang gliders. Check out the website:- Needless to say, I have a good selection of harnesses too. This immaculate Woody Valley Flex is great for a beginner, and is unusual in that it is built for a very big pilot. The WV size scale is on the interweb, and if you are a big person, look up their measurements for 5XXL+. Rare, or what? Even more unusual is this Suppair Access airbag paraglider harness that comes complete with a supine spreader bar for hang gliding, and a reserve too! Just add a hang glider! Or use it for paragliding. Bargains, Talking of Suppair Airbags, this Evasion is rather tasty, and very cheap at £175! Grab it before it is gone! Harnesses need reserves and, as well as my new stock, I have a very nice selection of used ones. Among the latest arrivals are a U-Turn Protect 3 (up to 140KG) at £125, and a very rare Apco 18 Bi Tandem HG (up to about 220kg!) They won’t be on the website for a while, so call to ask for more details. Naturally, there are LOADS of accessories for both disciplines – far too many to mention here. This Gin Flightdeck is just one of hundreds of items, stashed away in boxes waiting for a buyer. I have to get all this sorted out and sold – I really need the space. Perhaps in time I’ll get them all on the website? If the weather is good for flying, that will be one of my priorities…. tel: 01404 891685 Turfhouse, Luppitt, Honiton, Devon, EX14 4SA 6 SKYWINGS FEBRUARY 2020 news CAA invites views on airspace redundancy In October 2019 the Secretary of State for Transport wrote to the CAA to put forward a new role regarding the way in which airspace is classified. This means that they must now regularly consider whether to review the classification of airspace, consult airspace users as part of that review, and amend airspace where changes can be made. To that end the CAA are now beginning the first airspace classification review and have published an online consultation. Respondents are invited to identify volumes of controlled airspace where the classification could be amended to better reflect the needs of all users. Using consultation responses and analyses of use, they will shortlist areas for potential amendment using and developing solutions to enable reclassification. To take part go visualisations and identify which volumes could be reviewed. The consultation closes on March 3rd. Top speedflying video Banish the February blues with the Prospeedflying team’s spectacular video from their recent winter hike’n’fly trip to Chile. Alexander Deyev and Tess Ivchenko, an intrepid pair from Crimea, spent five weeks in a camper van with a couple of Ozone Rapi-Dos wings, skiing and speedflying volcanos at Villarrica, Llaima, Lonquimay and Osorno. Find it at stirring stuff! BHPA AGM Don’t forget the BHPA’s 2020 Annual General Meeting at the National Sports Centre at Lilleshall, Shropshire on Saturday March 7th. The BHPA Trainers Conference runs at the same location from Friday March 6th to the Saturday morning, and the AGM follows at 2.30pm. The current BHPA Exec will report on their work and members will be able to cross-examine them on their achievements. This issue contains the voting form for elections to Exec; note that members can vote in person at the meeting, by proxy by giving the form to another member, and remotely by posting their voting form or scanning it and sending it to the BHPA Office – see the voting form for details. Dan Burton secures OLC trike win Well-known trike and paramotor pilot (and Skywings contributor) Dan Burton won the trike category of the online 2019 XC Contest after a busy year of XC flying. Although several leading pilots had submitted flights of over 350km during the year, on 28th December Dan was in second place, needing 324km to overtake leader Martin Lexa of the Czech Republic. Early on the 29th Dan flew for seven and a half hours in challenging conditions to record a 326km triangle and take the top spot with 6,878 points over six flights. These were all FAI triangles, the shortest being 264.35km. His route from Topsham near Exeter took him west against a strong headwind to Start Point in South Devon, then north to Martinhoe on the North Devon coast, and finally to Frampton near Dorchester before turning into the headwind again for home. Landing his Fresh Breeze Bullix 4T/Gin Falcon 34 combo at 4pm with four litres of fuel left, Dan calculated his fuel-burn rate at 3.5l/hr. His average groundspeed over the route had been 43.13km/h. Dan also finished third in the Open Class ranking against more than 400 pilots worldwide British Championships invites new pilots The BHPA Paragliding Competitions Panel are seeking to encourage pilots who have not yet competed in the British Championships to join this year’s event at Grand Bornand in France. Pilots will need to have some XC or competition experience, but should not feel that the level of competition is out of reach. Grand Bornand, in the heart of the Alps near Annecy, can offer spectacular flying. The dates (Saturday June 20th to Sunday June 28th) coincide with the area’s historical ‘magic week’ of superb Alpine weather. Late June last year saw dozens of pilots landing on nearby Mont Blanc, and some great tasking by the Belgian Nationals to take advantage of cloudbase at 3,000m. Eight possible task days will maximise the opportunities for good flying. It’s not certain yet, but the Comps Panel is likely to bring in a new scoring factor to benefit pilots flying Sports Class (EN C and below) wings. 75% of places in the Championships are reserved for British pilots. However registration will open to non-BHPA members just seven days after this magazine appears so don’t delay. The £245 entry fee includes lunches and live trackers. Online registration is open now at information go to the BHPA paragliding competitions website at Continued on page 8On December 14th 2019, Dr Markus Raffel's 1895 Lilienthal hang glider replica flew alongside an authentic replica of the Wright Brothers' 1902 glider. This remarkable event took place at Kitty Hawk on North Carolina's Outer Banks, close to the scene of the Wrights' early gliding experiments and their first flight of a powered aeroplane in December 1903. Dr Raffel's Lilienthal replica has been well documented in these pages; the Wright machine had originally been built for the Centennial of Flight celebrations in 2003. The Lilienthal machine was flown by Andy Beem of California's Windsports school; the Wright glider by Billy Vaughn of local operator Kitty Hawk Kites. ‘It was one of the best days of my life!’ reported Andy. ‘I got to fly an authentic replica of a Lilienthal glider side-by-side with the 1902 Wright.’ Equally elated, Billy Vaughn said, ‘I had the presence of mind to look out through the structure of the Wright wing to see the Lilienthal glider flying next to me. It was humbling.’ In that moment two seminal aircraft, groundbreaking critical steps to the invention of the aeroplane, were in the air together – Lilienthal having working directly from bird anatomy, the Wrights coming after, their design pointing to the aeroplane. Respect to the teams that built both replica aircraft, and to their determination in getting them to this historic spot for their mementous meeting. A video of the flights is at Kitty Hawk time machines!news 8 SKYWINGS FEBRUARY 2020 Richard Shaw and Mark Meadows are both standing down permanently from Exec; Marc Asquith, Martin Baxter and Paul Dancey also stand down in accordance with Exec’s rotation policy and will stand again. Tom Prideaux-Brune and Simon Walker of Parajet are also standing, as is sub-70kg pilot Julie Drake. The meeting begins with the election of officers to Exec, followed by the presentation of awards, Officers’ reports and a members’ open discussion forum. The event proceedings will again be streamed live to the internet – just search for the In brief Airplay flies North. Airplay Aircraft is moving from Sutton Meadows to the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Dave Broom says the move brings better workshop facilities and stunning scenery to fly in; he hopes be able to offer guided tours in the future. Dave also reports that development at Grif Italia has made the Snake/HX high-speed touring combo now fully compliant with sub-70kg limits: with the HX11 wing the trike stalls at 22mph at 165kg all up; a vortex- generator option can reduce this still further for heavier pilots. His new address is 19 Geary, Hallin, Isle of Skye IV55 8GQ; phone (07773 253454) and e-mail Flight Culture goes Latin. Flight Culture travels to central Argentina in March, when flyable conditions are all but guaranteed. It’s an opportunity to get two solid weeks of flying in time for the UK spring. The tour starts in Cordoba to head into the Central Sierra. Accommodation is in luxury cottages with a communal swimming pool. Attractions include flying with condors and the opportunity for 100k+ XCs. The tour runs from March 14th - 27th; pilots will need to have some pre-trip XC experience. Details are at Rona Webb. It is huge sadness that we report the passing of hang glider pilot and instructor Rona Webb, 63, following a combined stroke and heart attack in Spain. Rona was a very accomplished aviator and a role model for women hang glider pilots. She won the coveted Dave Loxely trophy in 1991 and again in 2000; her winning total in the 1991 national tow XC League was not bettered until 2015. One half of Lejair with husband Tony, Rona helped to train hundreds of today's hang glider pilots since 1985. The loss of her quiet competence will be felt throughout the hang gliding world. However two serious accidents forced the underwriters to review our risk profile, and subsequently our premiums have risen substantially. Insurance costs increased by £51k in the year to March 2019 and by another £105k in the current financial year. As Martin Baxter wrote in his Skywings article in July, bulk purchasing and the assurance the underwriters get from the work of the FSC, mean that the BHPA insurance is still by far the best value third-party liability cover available for the sport in the UK. Membership over the year to March 2019 grew from 7,266 to 7,590. The Association’s income matched this increase, growing over the year by 4% to £876k. On the costs front I am pleased to report that FSC, other membership costs and office and support costs were all lower in 2019 than in 2018. The costs, after advertising revenue, of producing Skywings rose to £125k from £116k in 2018, representing a 3% increase in cost per member (each magazine now costs £1.37). Overall BHPA costs per member, including the impact of the increased insurance premiums, remained almost unchanged over the year at £113.44, and the overall surplus for the year was £15k compared to £17k in 2018. Overall reserves stand at £550k, of which £328k is invested in our freehold office. We pay our subscriptions annually in advance so the BHPA continues to hold reasonable levels of cash, but unfortunately interest rates are very low and our interest earnings remain disappointingly small. The BHPA holds reserves for three important reasons. Firstly they allow us more flexibility in budgeting; making a loss in a single year is possible provided we make up for it in the next, so subscriptions can be lower than they would otherwise need to be. Secondly they provide us with a fighting fund should we have to face an existential threat to our sports, and thirdly they provide funds available to support site purchases. We have adopted a policy of maintaining the value of reserves in real (inflation-adjusted) terms over the BHPA Financial Report for the year ended March 31st 2019 I’m writing this year’s report against the background of the large percentage increase in our membership subscriptions needed to cover the jump in our insurance premiums. Our insurance premiums had been on a downward trend over the past years following the hard work put in by FSC and the technical team to improve training and safety. BHPA 500 Club Win cash prizes and help the Association! December winners Rodney Latham £131.80 Adam Dullage £65.90 Richard Holland £32.95 Scott Machin £19.77 Ian Henderson £16.48 Mik Gold £16.48 Colin Chapman £13.18 James Petts £13.18 Shaun Sunderland £9.89 Dave Sheppard £9.89 BHPA £329.48 If by the time you read this you have not received your cheque, please contact me on 07802 525099. Marc Asquith This year I want to... Get stuck into flying... 6-8 day CP extra courses including accomodation & all kit Become a Thermal Master... CP Mentor plus weeks, small groups, experienced instructors & lots of flying Learn to fly paramotors... 6 day paramotor conversion including accomodation and equipment. Only £850 or less if you buy an engine! Don’t panic! Siv & Pilotage courses can really help! Book a course in Turkey this May, prices from just £630 Get a Free Holiday on my next new wing... Fly a demo Ozone, Gin or Advance wing while I’m on holiday so I can compare.Next >