No. 390 OCTOBER 2021 The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association2 SKYWINGS OCTOBER 2021 attitude Another route to success? COLIN FARGHER, LONGTIME HANG GLIDER AND PARAGLIDER PILOT Following Andrew McNicol’s excellent September Attitude article, let me add a some detail to the similarities and differences we share with our Gallic cousins across the Channel. Training and education. The French, just like we Brits, have specialist schools and scholarships to pursue excellence in sport. L’École Nationale de Ski et d'Alpinisme is one such, where students study a broad range – and can eventually specialise in – a number of mountain- based activities including free flying. Although there is no special state-run paragliding school or university as such, it is an area of study in two specialist mountain sports schools. Entrance is selective and very competitive; young paraglider pilots don’t always get in. Funding. In Britain the approach to sports funding is to spend lots on areas of prestige at the expense of all other areas. The BHPA receives no funding at all from UK Sport. In France, funding for sport in general is on a much broader and fairer basis. Because of this France tends to end up with less presence on the Olympic medals leaderboard than the UK. The French spend is spread more evenly, but more thinly, over many more sporting activities than just the prestige areas. France still retains much more of the egalitarian culture we Brits once enjoyed, and of course it’s part of their constitution - Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. All sports receive a more equal amount (by participation) of government funding, plus help in administration and publicity. But don’t kid yourself, by the time they’ve doled it out to everyone no-one gets much! Publicity and marketing. Those of a certain age will remember all kinds of sports being featured on Grandstand and World of Sport. Showjumping, water-skiing and all kinds of stuff – even the national motocross championship series was covered on primetime weekend TV. Today the choice is much narrower, but across the Channel the opposite is the case; if anything coverage has become even more diverse. Free flying and microlighting feature on TV because it’s beautiful, promotes France and … it’s culture, just like the Tour de France. The French media is pro paragliding and many other sports which echo its constitutional ethos of liberty. Environment. France is an Alpine nation and many flying sites are in tourist areas; everyone has seen and perhaps even tried paragliding. Ozone’s JC Skiera – a one-time BHPA member who now lives in Annecy – told me that (before Covid) the paragliding businesses around the lake were doubling their seasonal employment of tandem pilots every year. They can’t get enough pilots to fulfil the demand! Paragliding in France is almost mainstream. Tell the average UK-dweller you fly paragliders or hang gliders and you’ll get a dumbfounded look of incomprehension, or a sideways glance with a raised eyebrow. Most people either don’t know what it is or think we’re bonkers! Pro pilots? As for state-sponsored professional French comp pilots, frankly, it’s been well overstated. Although there are French team pilots who receive financial help through the FFVL (French BHPA) plus payments from Pôle Emploi (French dole office) for training, in general the amounts are below the minimum wage and limited to the duration of any specific training period. Almost all of the so-called pro pilots actually work for flying schools and paraglider manufacturers. Thomas Gury, a local champion and personal friend, has competed at the highest level for a decade. He runs his own sports shop selling athletics equipment and is a part-time Sapeur Pompier (fire and rescue service). He has never been paid to fly; each year he does the rounds for private sponsorship so he can afford the latest comp wing. Maxime Pinot, who finished second to Chrigel Maurer in this year’s X-Alps, is definitely not a state employed paraglider pilot – he works for a flying school. Although highly touted by some, I’ve yet to meet a single professional French competition pilot. Flying cultures. In September 2019 my son and I were asked to speak to a packed secondary school hall in Vesoul, Eastern France, about a microlight record we’d recently broken. Afterwards we spent three quarters of an hour answering really good questions about microlighting, free flying, paramotoring and aviation in general, some from kids who spoke really good English. The same week I was interviewed by a Manx radio station; the first question they asked was, ‘Colin, tell me, what is micro- gliding?’ That’s how much the average UK journalist knows. We’ve a long way to go, but my advice on the route to success in competitive paragliding, for any up-and-coming Brit, would be to learn French, German, Italian or Spanish. Go to an Alpine country and get a job flying tandems for tourists, or teaching SIV and XC – as some notable young British pilots are already doing. You may not even need to learn a new language straight away as the Germans and Austrians speak very good English. Then, fly, fly, fly and fly some more. And … start young! 4 SKYWINGS OCTOBER 2021 regulars reviews features OCTOBER 2021 SKYWINGS 5 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: Colin Fargher test flies BGDs Base2. Full report next month THIS PAGE: Richard Sheppard and Aeros Combat 13.2 GT over Rhossili beach 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 The BHPA Exec have determined to remove password protections for a trial period of six months. All issues of Skywings magazine are now freely available at DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the December issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by Monday November 1st. Letters for the November Airmail pages should arrive no later than Monday October 18th. Advertisement bookings for the November edition must arrive by Monday October 10th. Copy and classified bookings no later than Monday October 18th.6 SKYWINGS OCTOBER 2021 news Idris – 201km to goal! On August 24th Idris Birch and Kirsty Cameron arrived early at Sharpenhoe in the hope of a big distance flight. Conditions weren’t ideal, with good thermal activity under a low cloudbase, but streeting was already in evidence at 10am. Having set a bold 201km goal at Taunton station, both were soon at cloudbase. ‘We were a bit shocked,’ reports Idris, ‘and not sure if we should go over the back at 10.15am!’ They pushed on, the low cloudbase making Luton airspace above easy to avoid. They pressed on, with Kirsty eventually a bit behind and lower; she was finally forced down east of Swindon at 95km. Idris pushed on as the cloudbase lifted, but began to struggle among blue holes when about 30km from goal. Things picked up, and over Taunton he considered flying on. ‘But I was tired of scratching low and the wind was around 30km/h – I decided to just land by the station and get home at a reasonable time.’ ‘Sharpenhoe is not for the faint hearted – it’s tiny and rough, and you need to hug the trees after take-off!’ said Idris afterwards. ‘It was one of those days where the weather didn’t look great – but let’s try anyway. Funnily enough, it’s days like these that are often the most rewarding. It’s important to have flying buddies to motivate and support each other in the air – and it’s always a pleasure to fly with Kirsty, famous for her pleasant radio manner!’ As we go to press Idris leads Alex Coltman in the UK XC league by just over 200 points. It’s all to play for! Carl Wallbank – more records! July 22nd saw Carl Wallbank take the UK’s two hang gliding out- and-return records at 130.79km. Carl launched from the Malvern Aerotow base at Croft Farm and reached his declared goal at Dan Jones Paramotorist Dan Jones marked the end of his second year in flying on August 3rd, just three weeks after finishing third in the British Paramotor Open. On August 16th he took off from John O’Groats, and eight days later landed at Land’s End after 800 miles and 35 hours in the air. His flight had raised more than £9,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK, in memory of his grandparents who died within a fortnight of each other three years ago. ‘I wanted to do something to get younger people talking about dementia,’ he said afterwards, ‘and to help fight a disease that shouldn’t happen to anyone.’ Dan’s flight was supported by his father, following on the ground in a half- converted camper van. ‘It was as tough for him as it was for me,’ said Dan. ‘We were getting up at 04:30 and not sleeping again till 23:00 each day. Dad drove over 2000 miles in total.’ Dan’s Bulldog Atom 180 and equipment weighed around 50kg on take-off, easily borne by his Dudek Nucleon 27, flying three or four hours between refuelling stops. Further assistance was provided by the flying community and people the pair met along the route. ‘I can’t thank them enough for their kind words, beds to stay in, showers to use, food (and cream teas) and generally cheering a small team on!’ he reported. Dan suffered only one serious mishap, losing power to a fouled plug when leaving Weston-super-Mare and getting his canopy tangled in a tree, and lost only one day due to rain. On landing at Land’s End he said, ‘The whole trip has been amazing. The support has been overwhelming, from people turning up at the landing sites to say hello and bring snacks, to those who’ve donated what they can to help the fundraising.’ He was also assisted by Bulldog Paramotors who supplied engine spares, Pooley’s Flight Equipment who provided charts, and Original Cottages who match-funded his original target of £2021.It has been a rough couple of years, and the time seems right to clear out my heavy and bulky stock. I’m open to offers for all my stock gliders. The most famous of these is the Moyes Litespeed RS 3.5, currently on tour with Soperman. Former World Champion, 2020 British XC League winner - make me a sensible offer. I also have several tasty intermediate wings, many of which will be reduced. Details on the website: Paragliders too! This immaculate Ozone Mojo L is only £400, but I may take a little less. Again, they are all listed on the My mate Bob is 83, and has decided to hang up his harness, which is a desirable Skyhook stirrup, fitted with an almost new Apco Mayday 16 reserve. Bob’s glider is an amazing Flex – it weighs 17kg, has DHV 1 certification, and has flown about 15 minutes from new. Probably the only Flex in the UK, and probably the lightest hang glider anywhere! Open to sensible offers. Great News is that we have finally started receiving stock of Charly’s brilliant new Vitesse helmet. We haven’t got all colours and sizes yet, but they are all on order. Some are bright colours, some fairly subdued, like these. Customers are agreed that their very light weight (380 gm), excellent fit and superb quality more than justify the price. If you can afford one, get in touch now! I still have one carbon-look X-Alps XL Plusmax to clear out at half price, and also this white Charly Breeze in any size you like for £55. Last chance! With autumn and winter coming on, Hang Glider and microlight pilots will be getting cold fingers, and wondering where to buy their Zoot Bar Mitts. Here, of course! £29.95. I still have some Xcertina and Ozone Saucisse concertina bags. New and used at bargain prices. Check out the Jezzer is in Europe, where he has bought himself a Litespeed RX. He is using it to great effect – seen here way above the Marmolada. Still the top British pilot in the XContest World XC rankings, he seems understandably reluctant to come home! 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 £230. 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 £165, and weight is only 660gm! The stylish Charly Loop costs £125, 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 £85. The Charly Breeze is being replaced by the new Vitesse, and I have a small selection in all sizes, white or black, price reduced to £55 each! 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 Simon Murphy’s Flying Circus tel: 01404 891685 Luppitt, Honiton, Devon, EX14 4SA Charly Helmets Cancer, Chemo and Covid! Run away FROM the Flying Circus?!news Cherwell Services on the M40 near Bicester before turning for home. His five and a half hour flight, reaching 6,000ft, netted both defined and open out-and return records. The previous open record – 108km – had been held by Johnny Carr since 2012 … until Carl flew to near Ironbridge and back for 123km on July 19th, three days before adding another 7km! (the defined UK O/R record hadn’t been set before). Carl now owns every single UK flexwing out-and-return, triangle and goal-flight distance record! Not for the first time, he was accompanied on the 22nd by Nick Collins on his Atos; however the Class 5 out-and-return records remain in the hands of Steve Cook at 180km (2007). Four days later the pair set off on a 101km triangle from Croft Farm; Nick got round but Carl went down at 85km. ‘A silly mistake of overconfidence and passing weak climbs spoiled my day far too early, he reported. ‘But what a fantastic day to be in the sky! Well done Nick, who took his time in the difficult bits and made it all the way round.’ For the July 22nd out-and-return see Paraglider supply chain problems It has been apparent for some time that all is not well in the paragliding industry. Covid and its knock-on effects are causing serious supply problems affecting all stages of the production process. During the early lockdowns the two major fabric suppliers, Porcher Sport and Dominico, stopped producing paragliding cloth to concentrate on PPE materials. When paraglider sales began to pick up manufacturers could not obtain cloth as both suppliers had stopped taking new orders due to backed-up demand. More recently, several paraglider manufacturers’ production facilities were running at reduced capacity as measures were imposed to restrict the spread of Covid. The two factors together caused the factories of several leading brands to close altogether; there are few paraglider components that haven’t been subject to some kind of supply issue. Further to these difficulties, shipments to the UK are getting stuck in customs for up to six weeks; often these are returned to sender as a result of Customs issues – a direct result of Britain leaving the EU. Import costs have increased too as extra duty is applied to most paragliding equipment when it enters the UK. Meanwhile items that have already entered Europe from Far- Eastern factories, or are built in Europe, are free to move around the EU without further taxation. Shipping costs have increased further as handlers and couriers apply extra charges, and secondary issues such as the availability of international transport are escalating too. Worse still, UK importers are unable to re-export paragliders and accessories to European customers – it’s all classified under the ‘Aircraft’ commodity code and thus prohibited for many countries, just like UK meat and fish! There are workarounds … all involving costs and more hassle. UK hang glider importers are reporting similar issues. Supplies are getting through both ways, but the extra admin and paperwork adds cost. Small orders aren’t viable at all – eg at least £20 in fees for a £10 bolt! The export of spares has dropped off a cliff due to increased shipping charges for the sender and hassle for the customer. Tight profit margins have been eroded, prices have had to be increased and the amount of paperwork and bureaucracy needed has gone through the roof. A UK pilot ordering a new paraglider that hasn’t been pre- ordered will have to wait for it to be made, shipped and received by the importer, taking from six to ten weeks. Many pilots may have to wait until next year for their wing; the production schedules for many brands are already pre-sold. It’s also proving difficult to get much hard news for Skywings’ Product News pages, and to get hold of gliders for flight tests. The situation is being mirrored in many sectors across the UK, notably food supply, but the free-flight industry doesn’t have the deep pockets or logistical clout to absorb the extra cost and inconvenience and minimise their effects. 600kg microlights are go On August 19th the CAA announced its long-awaited revision of the UK’s Microlight Aeroplane definition, incorporating the new ‘600kg Microlight’ classification into law. This restructures the microlight market by raising the weight limit (and minimum stalling speed) for aeroplanes in this category with up to two seats. It also creates a factory-build category; in the past all aircraft at this weight had to be amateur-built or on a Certificate of Airworthiness, not a Permit to Fly. The decision is the culmination of a three-year review process in partnership with the wider GA community. Practical issues were explored through a working group involving key manufacturers and the associations. Later consultation gave rise to over 1,300 responses (the highest response rate on a GA issue in recent years), of which over 75% favoured bringing these aircraft into the microlight category. The regulatory changes are summarised in CAP2163 – Reforming the microlight aeroplane category In time the new class of 600kg/45-knot stalling speed microlights is likely to take many pilots wanting to trade up out of the ‘farm strip’ environment and into the hands of larger airfields with higher costs. The change may offer cheaper flying for GA types who don’t need to fly a Certificate of Airworthiness aircraft; for those at the lower, slower, less-expensive end of the spectrum, raising the definition of microlight from 450 to 600kg doesn’t offer much, if anything. Sub-70 pilots – carry on bimbling! (Photo: Steve Uzochukwu) BHPA AGM The Association’s 2022 AGM will revert to the Nottingham Belfry hotel to run alongside the BGA conference and trade fair again. The date will be Saturday Feb 12th. Subject to possible future curtailment of movement, the meeting will be held in a real room with real people, but will also be available to watch online via the BHPA Facebook page. The AGM includes the election of officers the BHPA Exec. If you think you might want to join the team that steers the Association, contact the BHPA office for a nomination form. If you are unsure of what is involved, contact any Exec member for details, or contact Chairman Marc Asquith on 07802 525099, t be received at the BHPA Office by Friday November 26th. Nominations are also sought for BHPA Merit Awards. If someone you fly or work with has put commendable effort into the sport over a number of years, please consider writing a citation to arrive at the BHPA Office by Friday December 31st. Certificates will be presented at the AGM. 8 SKYWINGS OCTOBER 2021New services from Green Dragons Within easy reach of Greater London and the south of England, Green Dragons at Woldinghham are now able to offer a dedicated workshop for pilots to self-service their own hang gliders, paragliders and paramotors. Owners will be able to check their paraglider’s porosity and trim, strip down their hang glider, service their paramotor engine or repack their own parachutes using Green Dragons’ workshop and tools under Andy Shaw’s expert supervision. GD are also offering hang glider, paraglider and paramotor storage with 24-hour access, and of course local flying opportunities. Green Dragons Services – just off the M25! For info FAI award for Team Fargher The father-and-son team of Colin and Louis Fargher have been awarded the FAI’s prestigious Ann Welch Diploma for their 783.9km straight-line flexwing microlight (RWL2) distance record flight of September 2019. Colin and Louis flew an Air Création Skypper from Vesoul in eastern France to land just 3km from the Atlantic coast after nearly eight hours in the air. Their richly-deserved award will be presented at a virtual FAI ceremony in November. Colin is also Skywings’ talented designer. In brief AIS website confusion. Apologies to anyone confused by last month’s news item on AIS changes. The links provided by the CAA worked when they announced them; by the time of publication they did not. The CAA have admitted to ‘teething troubles’. The AIS website is now new system is at IBS2_IBS2_UMAN_V1.4.pdf. For convenience we have reduced these to up the address for the new CAP2163 document (see above) – less than three weeks after announcing it!] Climate Challenge odyssey ends in tragedy. On Sunday September 19th, close to completing her Round Britain Climate Challenge, Sacha Dench was involved in a midair collision in the Scottish Highlands with airborne cameraman Dan Burton. Dan died as a result of the incident and Sacha suffered serious injuries. The incident occurred in remote mountainous terrain in Sutherland. Dan Burton was a highly experienced pilot, a professional diver and underwater cameraman, and a prolific contributor to Skywings. Sacha’s circumnavigation of mainland Britain on an electric paramotor, drawing attention to climate issues, began in June and was planned to end at the COP26 climate conference at Glasgow. A BHPA Formal Investigation has been convened to investigate the circumstances and a report will appear in due course. We offer our sympathies to Dan’s family and friends. Next >