No. 372 APRIL 2020 The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association2 SKYWINGS APRIL 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 Skyman’s Markus Gründhammer works out on the new CrossCountry 2 all-rounder (review next month) Photo: Markus Gründhammer THIS PAGE Malachi Templeton aboard Ozone’s Spyder 3 at Raglan, New Zealand. Photo: Matias Nombarasco 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 SKYWINGS ONLINE Go For the April issue enter the username Apr_2020 and the case- sensitive password kZ+W#@6f For the May issue enter the username May_2020 and the case- sensitive password egPE3#vn DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the June 2020 issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by Friday May 1st. Letters for the May Airmail pages should arrive no later than Friday April 17th. Advertisement bookings for the May edition must arrive by Saturday April 11th. Copy and classified bookings no later than Saturday April 18th. regulars features regulars reviews 4 SKYWINGS APRIL 2020 attitude The BHPA has approximately 7,500 flying members. BHPA members have suffered a total of 20 fatalities over the five years since January 1st 2015 – an annual average of 4.0 per year. In the same period a further four accidents have resulted in life-changing injuries. Most pilots would consider that the risk of permanent disability is at least as much of a concern as death; if we add those to the statistics we have 24 very serious accidents in total – 4.8 per year. If we assume that the mean average of days flying per member is in the region of 40 a year, and the mean average airtime is 40 hours a year, we can extrapolate the following risk. (Obviously there are huge variations in actual days and hours between pilots). Working on these figures, which could best be described as educated assumptions, all the members combined accumulate in the region of 300,000 flying hours each year. Therefore there is one fatality or very serious injury per 62,500 hours flown – or per 1,562 members each year. Thus an average pilot flying 40 hours a year has a one in 1,563 risk of a fatal or life-changing accident each year, or around 0.067%. At first glance this seems quite reassuring; the odds are on your side. However, if you consider that you might fly for another decade, the percentage rises to slightly less than 0.67% – greater than one in 200.1 If you fly more hours in a year than the average figure of 40 your risk also increases. An active pilot at average risk, flying 100 hours a year for ten years and logging 1,000 hours, has odds of approximately 1.67% of a very serious or fatal accident over that period. There are lots of assumptions in these figures, for example the average hours flown, and classifying all pilots and flights as having the same risk. Clearly launching in strong thermic conditions in mountainous terrain is riskier than boating around for hours on a coastal site (when the tide is out!). We like to think that as we get more experienced we become safer. There is an element of truth in this, but as pilots gain experience, flying less-forgiving aircraft and tolerating more challenging conditions can cancel out any benefits. As pilots we conspire to justify our decisions and minimise the perception of risk, both to our loved ones and ourselves. We also like to think that we are flying with an above-average safety margin, and often consider that someone else’s accident was unlucky. Disregarding unwelcome data is known as cognitive dissonance, something many of us have honed to a fine art. In fact half the pilots reading this will be below average on any measure of skill or safety. As for luck, the statistics show that the level of accidents remains broadly consistent year on year. In other words, you can be lucky sometimes, but in the end the odds will even out. The accidents noted above occurred to hang glider and paraglider pilots, and to new club pilots and seasoned XC and competition pilots. There are some trends: flying in strong conditions, and paraglider pilots suffering a large collapse at low altitude and being unable to recover, are the biggest risks. For hang glider pilots it is the risk of mid-air collision and landing in zero-wind conditions.2 The BHPA urges all pilots to take care in assessing the conditions, and recommends that paraglider pilots should attend Advanced Glider Control training courses to learn how best to recognise and deal with departures from normal flight. All pilots should ensure they are familiar with their emergency parachute system, and be prepared to deploy without delay if they are in a dangerous situation. Hang gliding and paragliding clearly entail significant risk. Pilots should be honest in acknowledging that risk and deciding whether it is acceptable to them. For those with dependents, at least, it means that suitable insurance cover is critical. If you don’t have this you should. Much of the work of the BHPA is in promoting safety. There is no doubt that training, knowledge and equipment are far better now than at any time in the past, yet the accident rate does not change much. The only way to reduce the risks is for pilots to change their behaviour and lower the risk threshold they are prepared to tolerate. In The Risk Of Dying Doing What We Love, US sailplane pilot Clemens Ceipek writes, ‘I believe we should all be fully aware of the risks we take, and that we should let our awareness of these risks be an incentive to take the appropriate preparations and precautions to reduce them as much as possible. Most fatal accidents in sports are at least in part the result of human error and could have been avoided. If we close our eyes to the risks, as we are naturally inclined to do, we are unlikely to do what it takes to keep the risks contained.’3 A good first step is to understand and acknowledge what those risks really are. 1. The ten-year risk is not quite as simple as multiplying the annual risk by the number of years, although close enough for a short-period approximation. The Binomial Theorem is used to calculate accumulated risk; for longer periods it makes a significant difference: doing an activity with a 1% fatality risk for 100 years does not give you 100% chance of being killed – in fact it is about 63%. 50 years at a 1% annual risk factor yields a total risk of 39.5%. 2. This article refers to BHPA members only. The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) enlists BHPA help to investigate fatal accidents involving non-BHPA pilots. We know of a further nine British paramotor pilots who died in the same five-year period. This means that an average of 1.8 non-BHPA paramotor pilots have died each year. We have no data on life-changing injuries for this group. We estimate that there are probably about 1,000 - 1,500 active paramotor pilots who are not BHPA members. Assuming the higher figure, and that the average annual hours flown is the same (40), this equates to one fatality per 33,330 hours flown for this group. Thus an average non-BHPA power pilot flying 40 hours per year has a 1 in 833 risk of a fatal accident each year – around 0.12%. Over ten years this equates to a chance of slightly less than 1.2%; if a pilot flies more hours per year this risk is multiplied accordingly. 3. Risk analysis IAN CURRER, BHPA TECHNICAL OFFICER Sometimes student pilots on their first day ask, ‘How dangerous is the sport?’ Instructors are usually pretty good at making it clear there are significant risks. Despite this, very few people change their minds at this point! In fact almost no-one, other than the insurance underwriters and the technical staff who investigate accidents, really knows what the risks are. To remedy that, here are some basic figures. Everything is Changing! Regardless of what else is happening around the world, I’m making sweeping changes at the Flying Circus – changes that will reflect my desire to slow down and maximise my enjoyment of life. For starters, I’m giving up several of my UK distributorships, some of whom have been my suppliers for thirty years. I will carry on representing Charly and Finsterwalder exactly as I have done for the last 30 years, but everything else will be handed over to new dealers. That does mean that I have a considerable amount of stock to clear out, whether by handing over to the new dealers, or through reducing prices to clear. The website is being altered to reflect these changes: I have new and used instruments from Renschler, Flytec, Naviter and Skytraxx. See whether there is anything that takes your fancy in the relevant sections. I have just a few pairs of Whoosh Wheels in stock, which are clearly the best wheels available for hang gliding. Brad is going to supply direct in future, so this may be your last chance to get UK-based Whoosh wheels without the hassles and uncertain costs of importing them! You can still buy the excellent Skyman paraglider range from Steve Purdie at Airworks, of course, but I have a few items to clear out at very sensible money. I don’t have many new paragliders to clear out, but I do have a good selection of used ones – some of which are not far off new. Others are ridiculously cheap and still very flyable. Value for money? Oh yes. No need to collect - we deliver by post, UPS and CDS (Cosmic Delivery System)! I don’t have any new hang gliders to sell, but some of my used ones are in superb condition, and others are cheap, so there is an excellent selection. This Litespeed RS3.5 has outrageous performance for not a lot of money. You may never need a reserve parachute, but if you do…… Well, I have a lot of new and used reserves from Independence and Charly, and many are at reduced prices. Get one while you can! Help! I need to clear lots of hang glider harnesses from various manufacturers. Pilots could choose from knee-hangers to low- drag XC harnesses, new and used! There are paragliding harnesses, too: Reversibles, standards and just one lightweight Pod. New or used, all are in good condition, or very cheap indeed. Check out the selection, and grab a bargain! 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 tel: 01404 891685 Turfhouse, Luppitt, Honiton, Devon, EX14 4SA 6 SKYWINGS APRIL 2020 news Paramotor pilot fined for low flying At Taunton Magistrates Court on February 17th, David Hoare of Somerton, near Yeovil, was convicted of flying a paramotor below 500ft at Burnham-on-Sea on three occasions last year. The court heard that Hoare, 64, committed the offences over the beach on May 1, and above Burnham Esplanade and the celebrated Burnham Pavilion on May 21st and July 5th. Hoare was found in breach of the Air Navigation Order 2016 and issued a restraining order banning him from flying any aircraft over an exclusion zone at Burnham and nearby beaches. He was also fined £450 and ordered to pay costs of £200 plus a £32 victim surcharge. Four similar charges, which he had denied, were dismissed. Paramotoring is an expensive pastime for Hoare. In 2016 he was fined £400 with costs of £160 at Weston-Super-Mare Magistrates Court for breaching Temporary Restricted Airspace at the 2015 Glastonbury Festival. He had been convicted of an identical offence in 2011 and fined £250 with costs of £100. David Hoare is not a BHPA member. Jack and Théo in new school venture Acro stars Jack Pimblett and Théo de Blic and have joined forces to create an SIV and acro school, running courses at Lake Garda in Italy and at Oludeniz in Turkey. Both have coached acro and taught SIV for some time, having met at the acro pilots’ training Mecca of Organya in Spain. Jack (pictured, top) bought his first wing at 15, recently picked up 2nd spot at the Red Bull Acro Cross and finished 6th on the Acro World Tour. Théo has been flying since the age of 12 and has three acro World titles and six World Cups to his name. ‘We realised this was a huge passion of ours and it was only natural to start something together,’ says Jack. ‘We have focused all our time and energy into progressing whilst maintaining the highest possible level of safety, and now we have created Rise to share our ethos. We have developed structured courses tailored to pilots of all abilities to ensure progression and safety, and to inspire confidence in the pilots we work with.’ For details and dates go to Buried treasure! Ever lost anything while flying? Batteries, a map, a sandwich? There can be few XC pilots who haven’t lost some useful item at some time, and there are tales of people losing phones, turnpoint cameras (remember them?) and, occasionally, even varios. One overseas operator – nameless of course – once dropped a wallet containing the entire cash funds for the trip at Oludendiz (it’s probably still there, about 500ft below the high launch!). Consider, then, the excitement that ensued when an elderly couple living not far behind Milk Hill found something unusual buried in their garden last month. Down at the pub the item was identified as some kind of electronic instrument, its purpose unknown. In the way of all things the story went ‘viral’ and was picked up by John Lundstram, a long-retired hang glider pilot in the North of England. Photographs were exchanged and the mystery item was finally identified … a Lindsay Ruddock LR3 vario, last made in 1993! Some long-in-the-tooth hang glider pilots will tell you that the LR3 – three altimeters, averager, adjustable thresholds and sensitivity, etc – was one of the very best and most sensitive varios money could buy. The best bit? Shortly afterwards, John happened to be in the area and called in. When he removed the back of the instrument and fitted a new PP3 9-volt battery (remember them?), the long-buried device immediately emitted the fabled LR3 warble! Lindsay Ruddock – hang gliding salutes you! Edinburgh airspace rebuffed The first stage of the latest proposals to change flight paths and controlled airspace at Edinburgh Airport has been rejected by the CAA. Airspace change proposals must follow new rules, laid out in CAP1616 (see news, March), consisting of seven stages and four ‘gateways’. Stage 1 is the involvement of all local interested parties, and more work needs to be done for the CAA to be happy their concerns have been heard. Over the last five years Edinburgh have made repeated attempts to alter the airspace around the airport. Local communities have mounted strong objections, as have the Lanark and Lothian club; these appear to have been successful in making the airport think about local air users. Whilst local clubs may be disappointed that the situation remains unresolved, it does show that with keen club interest the process does work. Edinburgh can and will reapply in a bid to keep their ACP alive, but must now rework Stage 1; it may be some time before the proposal is resubmitted. Bristol airport expansion rejected A scheme to expand Bristol airport has been rejected by North Somerset Council. Despite the recommendations of planning officers, councillors voted more than 2:1 against the plan. Council leader Don Davies said that the detrimental effect of the proposed expansion and the wider impact on the environment outweighed the narrower benefits to airport expansion. In 2011 the airport was allowed to expand from 7 to 10 million passengers a year; it now wants to increase capacity to 12 million by extending the terminus and taxiways and adding 3,000 car parking spaces. More than 8,000 people objected to the plan; Extinction Rebellion organised a three-day protest nearby and around 5,000 people watched the debate online. Opposition centred on the conflict between airport expansion and the global environmental crisis. Consultant Adrian Gibbs told the meeting, ‘Our house is on fire. To expand an airport is to throw fuel on it.’ The decision is not final; if it is ratified at a further meeting the airport can lodge an appeal, leading to a public inquiry. Nevertheless the decision is a significant milestone in which residents and activists, motivated by concern for the planet, have headed off, if only momentarily, the expansion of a regional airport. Two weeks later the Court of Appeal ruled that the government’s decision to proceed with a third runway at Heathrow were unlawful as commitments to the Paris Agreement on climate change had not been not taken into account. Heathrow has announced its intention to appeal to the Supreme Court. Receivers in at Bautek German hang glider manufacturer Bautek, started in 1971 by brothers Harald and Horst Zimmer, has been placed in receivership. Initially making roofing products, in 1976 the pair started hang gliding and soon won a glide-angle competition with a bowsprit design that would become the celebrated Fafnir. Serial production began in 1981, and within two years Bautek had become Germany’s largest hang glider manufacturer. Roofing products were wound down in favour of a string of successful designs – the Saphir, Zephir, Zephir CX, Pamir, Sunrise, Astir and Twister – and in 1989 the company moved into a new facility at Kenn on the Mosel. In 2000 a series of trike wings appeared, led by the Pico and followed by the Pico S and high- performance Spice. In 2005 the high performance Kite, a conventional hang glider (pictured), appeared, but in 2007 tragedy struck when Horst died in a hang gliding accident. Since the very beginning Bautek had focused on better performance within strong safety parameters, avoiding difficult- to-fly competition wings. They were highly regarded in Germany and further afield; later models of the Kite and Fizz were imported into the UK in small numbers. In recent years Bautek were surviving in a shrinking market and praised for their hang gliders and trikes, but voluntary liquidation became inevitable when Horst’s heirs sought to extricate themselves from the business. The company will continue for the foreseeable future as Bautek Vermögensverwaltungs (Asset Management) GmbH to manufacture and distribute spares. Harald Zimmer writes, ‘In 1976 my brother and I started hang gliding. We turned our hobby into a profession; with diligence and ambition we developed aircraft for series production and successfully marketed them. I would like to thank all customers and friends for their long-term cooperation and trust in our work.’ It was recently reported that a Bautek Skycruiser trike had clocked up 2,300 hours flight time, still on its original engine and wing, at the hands of Austrian pilot Ernst Vallant. ‘Too bad,’ says Harald, ‘that production of such a good aircraft has to cease.’ Bautek’s Astir SE is reviewed on p 32. Gradient no more? In late February Czech manufacturer Gradient was closed down by Supair ‘for the time being’. Supair, who purchased the brand in 2017 following years of successful collaboration, reported, ‘Gradient is not in liquidation and is continuing to deliver stock to customers, but time is needed to see what can be done.’ In 2017 the plan had been to develop Gradient and to use the production facility for Supair gliders too. Continued on page 9As a child Len remembered seeing the R100 British airship pass over his home in 1929, and, aged 12, delivering newspapers for five shillings a week (25p), of which he gave four shillings to his mother. Harry Gabriels abandoned his wife and three children when the second world war began, and Sallie worked nights in a munitions factory to support herself and her three children. Len left school at the age of 14 and became a passionate aeromodeller, co-founding the Oldham and District Model Aero Club which still exists today. Without formal training, he was a natural engineer; in 1953 he made his own black-and-white television set, on which most of his neighbours watched the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Hang gliding began in Southern California on May 23rd, 1971, Otto Lilienthal’s 123rd birthday, and a year later Len found a cartoon illustration of a Rogallo wing in a Look and Learn book. From this drawing he made two large models which he tried, without much success, to fly himself. It was always his own neck at risk rather than anyone else’s. The third model, the famous Skyhook 3A, was flown from a steeper slope than those on which earlier models had failed to achieve flight, and actually became airborne. Local publicity soon led to hundreds of demands for a kit to build Rogallo wings, and Len started to build them himself. ‘It was as if hang gliders were the answer to everyone’s flying dreams,’ said Len. ‘People who had wanted to fly for years became interested all at once. I used to supply flying instructions with each machine, and taught loads of people to fly. After talking for half an hour about what they had to do, I used to take them to the top of a steep hill, get them to hold the glider and talk them through the movements. I would set them up, holding the keel to show them what angle the thing should fly at, and slowly run them off the hill. I told them, “Hold the bar here,” and off they went. They would fly down 100 feet or so to start with. After two hours of this the average guy would be flying fine. Nobody ever hurt themselves learning this way, either. The glider was so stable it would just fly in a straight line. If it was stalled it would just mush …’ On November 11th 1973 Len established an early British hang gliding duration record of 25 minutes 46 seconds, at a time when being able to stay in the air for more than five minutes was something to boast about. Demand for his Rogallo models was such that young northern flyers like Graham Hobson, Bob Calvert and Keith Cockroft bought them and became so skilled that, in 1978, they were among a team of ten sent to Tennessee to take on the best of the mighty Americans. The American Cup competition was modelled on the 1951 America’s Cup yacht race: held in America, under US rules, on US hills, with the British limited to British kites only. In what the French called a ‘watershed’ in the sport, the British thrashed the Americans seven rounds to two. A British team returned to Tennessee the following year, facing other giants such as the Canadian and Australian teams, and repeated the win. In 1985 British hang glider pilots became individual and team world champions. By now managing director of Skyhook Sailwings, Len took up powered hang gliding, supplying more than 900 sails for another small local company, Mainair Sports. In 2000 one of these machines, piloted by Colin Bodill, made the fastest single-engined, open-cockpit round-the- world microlight flight. Len Gabriels made his own personal contribution to powered flight records in 1979, by flying the English Channel en route from London to Paris in his own version of Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. It was a feat that attracted little public attention, occurring on the same day that Lord Mountbatten was murdered by the IRA. It is a measure of Len Gabriels’ humanity that, when he retired in 1996 after 28 years of trading, he ensured that everyone working for him was safely placed in a new job before winding up the company. Len was married for 55 years to his beloved wife Hilda, who died in 2011. He leaves two daughters and a son, and a number of grandchildren. [Brian Milton] 8 SKYWINGS APRIL 2020 news Len Gabriels 1926 - 2020 Len Gabriels was a pioneer of British hang gliding. His early Skyhook 3A wings were the way into the sport for many of the best British pilots, some of whom later became world champions. Born in Oldham, Lancashire, Len was the eldest son of Harry Gabriels, a Catholic electrical engineer working for Ferrantis, and his Welsh wife Sallie (née) Griffiths, a nursemaid steeped in Welsh chapel culture. Apart from National Service with the RAF in Singapore he lived all his life in Oldham.APRIL 2020 SKYWINGS 9 This went ahead in 2018 and new premises were secured to enhance production; there were also organisational and personnel changes. For reasons unknown this hasn’t worked out quite as expected and Gradient sales have been declining. Gradient, started in 1997 by respected competition flier Ondrej Dupal, produced many well-regarded gliders. The DHV 1-2 Golden of 2004 eventually led to 2014’s EN B Golden 4, one of the great all-rounders. The EN C Aspen series had some competition success, and in 2012 the Nevada was one of the first designs to exploit the very top end of EN B certification. The Avax series, culminating in the Avax XC5, spent a decade showing well in high-level comps and the Agility wing took successive Acro World Cups from 2017-19. In the UK Gradient were well supported by Snowdon Gliders; Brad Nicholas handed on the baton to Gareth Aston’s V12 Outdoor in 2017. Only in January this year Gradient had announced the EN-A Go, aimed at students and newly-qualified pilots. Supair say they expect the situation to become clearer in the near future. World Air Games cancelled The 2022 World Air Games planned by the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK), have been cancelled. The FAI were to postpone the event until 2025 due to Turkey’s current difficult economic situation. The FAI Executive took the decision to cancel rather than postpone, and to undertake a review of the WAG concept and format before deciding on any future iterations. In brief BHPA subs increase. As reported last month, most BHPA subscriptions have been increased with effect from April 1st. Details of the increases – of between 2.4 and 2.8% – can be found on page 43 of this issue. The Skywings subscription (£47) and Family Annual (£114) and Non-Flying (£47) memberships remain unchanged, as does the £7 discount for Direct Debit payment. Despite these rises, BHPA insurance remains the best value third- party liability cover available for the sport in the UK. Pandemic reactions. In the light of the coronavirus pandemic the DHV have recommended that their members reduce their flying activities and follow all national and local government advice; German towing and tandem operations have been suspended along with buses to take-offs. The FFVL have recommended that French clubs cease all activities and cancel or postpone scheduled events or competitions. The Norwegian CAA have suspended all unnecessary VFR flights. Considered advice would be to abandon plans to travel to these countries or anywhere else overseas until the situation improves. Comps cancelled. The lengthening list of comps. cancelled or suspended due to the pandemic includes the PWC Superfinal (March) and the women’s hang gliding and Class 2, 5 and Sport Class Worlds at Quest, USA (April). In the UK BOS 1, scheduled for early May, and the 2020 BPCup series have been cancelled. More will follow – keep an eye on the relevant websites and Facebook. BHPA 500 Club WIN CASH PRIZES AND HELP THE ASSOCIATION! February winners Anne Breckenridge £129.20 Hugh Hutchinson £64.60 Henry Hookings £32.30 David Hayes £19.38 Irene Carson £16.15 Barry Woodhead £16.15 John Blofield £12.92 Sandy Cooper £12.92 John Mills £9.69 Donald Carson £9.69 BHPA 323.00 If by the time you read this you have not received your cheque, please contact me on 07802 525099. Marc Asquith Continued from page 7:Next >