No. 394 FEBRUARY 2022 The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association2 SKYWINGS FEBRUARY 2022 attitude Modern Sports and Recreational gliders are really capable XC machines (I currently fly a B+ glider) and have much better inherent safety than D and CCC rated wings. There are many ageing pilots (me!), and up-and-coming XC hounds, who are able to fly great distances on these wings. There have always been safety concerns when less-experienced pilots push up through the grades too quickly and encounter conditions they cannot handle. Intermediate competitions like the Gin Wide Open and Bruce Goldsmith’s Weightless event are very popular for this reason. The plan is the result of an initiative by the Competitions Panel and Simon Ford, a software engineer and longtime pilot with a keen interest in XC, who proposes to filter XC League flights (after they have been checked) into whatever category the user requires. It has been necessary to do this as the XC League will not countenance the option to filter glider categories to enable Sports prizes to be awarded. The filtering options can be seen at of all years allows any data to be filtered by selecting the desired options. There is also a public Facebook page called ‘UK Paragliding XC News (Sports Class)’ for the latest news. It is hoped that sponsors will provide prizes for the top three Sports (EN C) and Recreational (EN B/B+) class pilots, and also for the pilot flying the largest FAI triangle. It is also proposed to raise some funding for a cash prize. It is odd that the XC League dropped ‘Sports Class’ awards. In the past there were some tasty prizes (I won some myself) such as paragliding boots or a new glider at half price. I have never been sure of the reasoning behind these awards being dropped. Many manufacturers and dealers are happy to promote their products, and it adds to the competitive fun. The XC League is largely funded by Sports glider pilots anyway; some pilots do fly C and D rated wings, but this is rare and easily dealt with on the database. The great majority of fee- paying XC League supporters fly Sports or Recreational wings, but they rarely win prizes! Some years ago substantial prize money was bequeathed to the paragliding community by the legendary Richard Westgate, who sadly passed away in 2012. When he attended BCC competitions he would often show people what could be done, completing 100k+ flights while lesser pilots did 20 or 30k. I knew Richard well and I am sure he would have supported a Sports prize category. It can sometimes be difficult to get pilots to enter their details correctly in an online league, especially one as hotly contested as the UK XCL. However peer policing has a powerful influence, and Simon Ford and his team will also be closely monitoring the flights to ensure fairness. This would remove the responsibility for Sports awards from the XC League people, who give a lot of time sorting out tracklog issues, etc. The new Sports Class has already received a lot of support. When I polled opinions on an XC pilots’ Telegram site, 34 out of 37 votes (92%) expressed support. Several comments cited the safety aspects of the initiative; others asked, ‘Why isn’t this done anyway?’ Personally, I would also like to see a better multiplier for FAI triangles. Not anything massive, maybe an increase of 20%. While some great triangles have been flown on Sports wings, they can never quite match the higher-rated wings as there is almost always an into-wind leg. Even triangle expert Graham Steel will admit that it makes matters very difficult. Regarding a better multiplier on a downwind XC, I am perfectly happy to take on the big boys with the existing multipliers. After all, Carlo Borsattino won the XC League some years ago (2015) on ‘soft C’ Niviuk Artik 4, having made several 200km flights! However at present all proposals for different multipliers have been rejected by the XC League in order that all classes can be rated against each other. At the end of the day the best pilots will still rise to the top, whatever class of wing they fly. Roll on the 2022 XC season! Photo: K en Wilkinson A new Sports XC League KEN WILKINSON, LONGTIME COMPETITIONS SUPPORTER The Paragliding Competitions Committee have given their full backing to the creation and support of a new Sports League within the national XC League. Cross-country flying has always been close to my heart through 30 years of involvement, first on hang gliders in the 1980s and then on paragliders since 2000, when I took over running the BCC for several years before concentrating more on cross-country flying.4 SKYWINGS FEBRUARY 2022 regulars reviews features FEBRUARY 2022 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: World Championship action at Loma Bola, Argentina, November 2021 Photo: Veso Ovcharov THIS PAGE: Matt Wilkes in the Torridons with with Beinn Eighe and Liathach behind Photo: Kevin Will 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 DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the March issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by Monday February 28th. Letters for the March Airmail pages should arrive no later than Friday February 18th. Advertisement bookings for the March edition must arrive by Friday February 11th. Copy and classified bookings no later than Friday February 18th.6 SKYWINGS FEBRUARY 2022 news EC Rebate scheme closes on March 31st The CAA Rebate scheme for Electronic Conspicuity devices closes on March 31st. The scheme, intended to accelerate the take-up of EC devices across the recreational flying spectrum, is open to all BHPA pilots of CP level or above. There is a finite list of qualifying devices; in our case these are mostly instruments with a FLARM element: Naviter, Skytraxx and XC Tracer. Search ‘CAA electronic conspicuity rebate’ to find the relevant CAA page outlining the application procedure. You will need to register for a CAA Portal account, then complete identity checks; when these have been verified you can complete the rebate form. You’ll get 50% of your expenditure back, up to a limit of £250. Unless there has been a sudden run on the scheme it will continue until March 31st. Given that you need to have ordered your device before you apply, if you want to take advantage now is the time. If the CAA pages don’t explain the potential gains of EC clearly enough for you, it’s time to Skywings. See If you meet the eligibility criteria and your application is successful, you can expect your rebate within about a month. When you have completed the application form, the CAA ask that you don’t chase up your application until at least a month has passed. RAeC Trust bursary scheme It’s also the last call for the Royal Aero Club Trust’s 2022 bursary awards scheme for young people. Several BHPA recipients have gone on to great things in their respective fields – a financial leg-up early in your career can have immeasurable positive effects. Pursuing flying can be expensive; the bursary scheme represents, pretty much, free money at a time when you don’t have much. In the last few years the Trust has awarded over 140 bursaries to young pilots (aged 14-21 or, in the case of a follow-on bursary, up to 24) in a wide range of air sports. Several young paraglider and hang glider pilots have benefited from the Trust’s largesse to further their flying aims, one of whom is now the current European Paragliding Champion. If you want to develop proficiency in your discipline, take advantage of the opportunities offered by the scheme. The closing date for applications is March 31st. Full details and application forms are available BHPA website map locations The BHPA website attempts to accurately represent geographical locations of BHPA clubs and schools based on lat/long coordinates supplied by them and held in the Office database. When this data is not supplied, the first part of the postcode of the correspondence address is used. Some- times these locations are different to the actual operating base of the club or school. A postcode may cover a wide area and could be shared by an adjacent club or school. The resulting map location may be inaccurate and, occasionally, misleading. Schools in particular should note that issues may result from inaccurately entered lat/long data, not least that potential clients may be unable to precisely locate your school training area. The BHPA Office cannot be held responsible for such errors. We advise that schools and clubs check their location on the website map to confirm it meets their purposes. To locate your school or club’s marker more accurately, please email the Office with the relevant latitude and longitude in decimal format, or enter them on your next membership renewal notice in the space provided on the form. Lat and long should be entered using up to six decimal places, which can be read off any correctly set up GPS device. Any other information that needs amending should be sent at the same time to update the Office database; this will in turn automatically update the website within a couple of days. For more information contact Stephanie Blankley at Time-based scoring? In December the Swiss paragliding comps authority agreed to adopt Time-Based Scoring (TBS) for its 2022 competitions. Developed by longtime competitors Exciting response to Great British Aerotow Revival The Great British Aerotow Revival, scheduled for Deenethorpe near Corby (pictured) in May, has generated an unprecedented response. Within 72 hours of going live on Airtribune in December more than 50 pilots had registered. Recreational flying places are still available but all 50 initial places for the competition have been claimed. The organisers are currently looking at ways to increase the number of pilots without detriment to launch efficiency and safety. However, given the frequency of these types of events within the UK, they don’t want to jeopardise safety in favour of numbers. The Revival team grows stronger too, with Chris Jones from the Avon club volunteering to be safety director. Given his experience with aerotowing, not to mention his being a tug pilot, Chris will be a great asset to the event. A huge thankyou goes to the clubs – the Southern, Malvern, Midlands, Avon, Upottery, Cambridge and Scottish groups – that are helping to make the event happen by providing tugs and tug pilots. Although not an aerotow club, Green Dragons, who are looking to train aerotow pilots in the future, are also providing their Fun microlight for the event; a big thank you goes to Andy Shaw and his team too. Whilst the Revival is fundamentally a competition, the event is intended to be much more than this. Other things being organised include training, social events and recreational flying, all aimed at re-energising the UK aerotowing scene … and having a good time. The event promises to be one of the largest gatherings of rigid wings ever seen at a UK competition, with 20 signed up to compete. On the other side of the performance curve, there is also a large sports class with many kingposted gliders already paid up. One thing is certain – the Great British Aerotow Revival will be an exciting gathering of people who are passionate about hang gliding. The official webpage, with further links to the Airtribune page, can be found If I were to tell you that this photograph proves that top paraglider pilots like our Zoot headsets, you might be dubious. But it is true! This is Tim Pentreath, who not only uses our headsets, he also tells people they should buy them, too. Quite right, Tim! There has been a lot of interest in our clearance lines of gliders and harnesses. All my modern hang gliders are sold – apart from my own Malibu 2. But I still have a lovely selection of vintage gliders and a few harnesses. Meanwhile, Jo Binns found a use for my old Hiway Vision! Amongst my collection of vintage gliders, now up for grabs on my website, is this remarkable Eipperformance Flexi-flier from 1974 This Solar Storm is another available vintage machine. Form a queue, make an offer! We have very few paragliders and harnesses left, but it is still worth checking them out on the website. We may have just the thing you want! How about this rare Suppair Bifidus minimal tandem harness for just £125? Bargain! Almost everything is for sale. This unflown Parkzone radio- controlled ME109 features retracting undercarriage and will be about £180. Probably the last one in captivity, only ever used for display purposes! The Charly Vitesse is just arriving in five colours and a multitude of sizes. Weighing only 380 grams, it is a sure-fire winner. Visors are optional. Prices start at £138. 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. I stock all Charly Helmets optional accessories, too - visors and tinted visors. Find them all on the website Charly HelmetsAccessories Forty-one years in the business - my extensive range allows you to choose what best suits your needs. Find lots more on the The new Charly QR tandem karabiners are here! Paralocks are strong and light, and cost just £75 each. I also have a small stock of Quick-outs at £60 each Charly Pinlock alloy Karabiners: Weighs 80gm, certified to 25 Kn. £27.50 each. The Charly Snaplock Titanal Karabiner, weighs 75gm and certified to 30Kn. £23 each. Zoot headsets: Four models for open- and full-face helmets and various radios. Prices from £34.45. Zoot Radio outfits: A great radio and a choice of Zoot headsets for just £77! I stock various speaker/mics and antenna, too! Instruments from lots of manufacturers, new and used, priced from around £70. Hang glider wheels from £51.10 a pair, or £35 second hand. Zoot Camera Mounts £29.50. Zoot Pip-pins, three lengths from £10.75, and Zoot Caps at £2.75. Simon Murphy’s Flying Circus tel: 01404 891685 Luppitt, Honiton, Devon, EX14 4SA “Fake News?”Maxime Bellemin and Joerg Ewald, the new system aims to replace the current GAP system with something that is ‘easy to understand, transparent, and suitable for a racing sport’. The key difference is that a pilot’s performance is expressed in measurable time rather than abstract points. TBS has been available as an alternative scoring system since 2019, since when many competitions have been scored with both systems in parallel to demonstrate the feasibility of TBS and to adjust it for special cases like ‘no pilots in goal’. The forthcoming Swiss Cup, Swiss League Cup and Swiss Open, all FAI Category 2 events, will all use TBS. Initial reception of the Swiss initiative has been favourable. For details of TBS go Forbes Flatlands Seven tasks at Forbes in January saw Attila Bertok take the win from longtime sparring partner Jonny Durand. The pandemic caused a low turnout, with only three non-Australian pilots among the 14 entered for the Open class. Tasks varied in length from 125 to 202km (‘How good is Forbes?’). Everyone flew the Moyes Rx except third-placed Scott Barrett (Aeros Combat). Seven pilots, including one from Japan, contested the Sports class with Richard Hughes taking the win. Equipment was split between Moyes’ incomparable Gecko and Wills Wing’s Sport and U2 models. A number of British pilots, watching from afar, were hoping they’ll be able to attend next year’s Flatlands. 8 SKYWINGS FEBRUARY 2022 news BHPA 500 Club WIN CASH PRIZES AND HELP THE ASSOCIATION! December winners Jonathan Browne £134.40 Merlin Crossingham £67.20 Des Small £33.60 Timothy Chandler £20.16 David Albrow £16.80 William Mallinson £16.80 Chris Wood £13.44 Richard Davis £13.44 Dave Sheppard £10.08 Stefan Smalley £10.08 BHPA £336.00 If by the time you read this you have not received your cheque, please contact me on 07802 525099. Marc Asquith Airprox report: RAF & paraglider/motor At 13:45 on June 15th 2021 a Grob Prefect (the RAF’s turboprop-powered basic trainer) was on a navigation exercise at 5000ft and cruising at 180 knots. It was being handed over from Waddington to Humberside controllers and about to cross the Humber Estuary, heading north, at a point east of Goole known as Trent Falls. As the student was preparing to call Humberside the instructor spotted, at the last minute, a white and blue paraglider in their 11 o’clock position, 100-200m away and roughly 100ft above them, apparently tracking left to right. The instructor took control and positioned the aircraft away from the paraglider’s track. The paraglider appeared to deploy what looked like an orange, circular parachute. There were no NOTAMs or CANP alerts affecting the area. The instructor reported that he had seen paragliders before in hilly country, but not at 5000ft; he assessed the risk of collision as Medium. He filed an Airprox report; although the ‘paraglider’ pilot could not be traced it was thought, given the conditions, that the aircraft was more likely to have been a paramotor. The Prefect crew believed it might have initiated an emergency parachute deployment, and Humberside Police were contacted on landing to check for reported incidents (none was traced). The Airprox occurred in Class G airspace where both parties had a right to operate. The Airprox Board considered that, although a Traffic Service was not being provided to the Prefect crew at the moment of handover, the paramotor was unlikely to have appeared on radar. A lack of Electronic Conspicuity from the paraglider rendered the Traffic Alert System and FLARM redundant; the only remaining barrier was ‘see and avoid’ and both pilots shared an equal responsibility for collision avoidance. The UKAB’s BHPA contributor commented that the incident highlights the need for all pilots to maintain a constant lookout, especially when flying in Class G airspace, even when the area is not considered to be a free-flying hot-spot. Further, aircraft pilots should also be aware that not all paramotorists have had the benefit of being taught how to submit a CANP or NOTAM, although neither format would have covered a paraglider or paramotor pilot undertaking an extensive XC flight in uncontrolled airspace. The Board graded the incident Degree of Risk B: The safety of the aircraft may have been compromised. Details of the incident have been publicised among Prefect crews. Airprox 2021085 can be found safety matters E-exams progress The BHPA is substantially revising the Pilot and Pilot Power written exams. These will be available in an online format and consist of five ‘papers’: Air Law, Meteorology, Principles of Flight, Human Factors and Instruments & Navigation. There is an alternative Principles of Flight paper for hang gliding. Like w format allows a range of question types and the inclusion of useful features such as aeronautical chart extracts. It also offers immediate results, and identifies any incorrect answers, which can be used by invigilators to help debrief candidates. The e-exams are currently being trialled by the Derbyshire Soaring Club; when any issues have been resolved it is expected they will be rolled out for general use. The printed exam format will remain available alongside the e-exams for the immediate future. 05.09.2021. Male pilot aged 65, AP rated Site & conditions: Pinnacle Hill East, 5-10km/h, light turbulence Glider: Avian Cheetah Evo 2 Incident: On approach to landing the pilot did not recognise the light wind conditions, nor appreciate the extent to which the field sloped away in the direction of landing. This resulted in a long, ground-effect glide across the field. Pilot flared hard but crashed into boundary hedge. Injury: Serious: hands, arms, shoulder 10.09.2021. Male pilot aged 41, P rated Site & conditions: Csolnok, Hungary, 10- 15km/h, not turbulent Glider: Ozone Mantra 7 Incident: Mid-air with collision with 25cm drone while ridge soaring drone caused damage to lines and cells in the centre of the wing. The glider pitched back and forward, but then behaved normally allowing the pilot to top land safely. Injury: None 18.09.2021. Male pilot aged 30, P (Power) rated Site & conditions: Wingland airfield, 5-10km/h, not turbulent Glider: Ozone Spyder Incident: Shortly after take-off, while the pilot was getting comfortable, the throttle cable went though cage netting and impacted the prop. Pilot carried out emergency landing. Injury: None 25.09.2021. Male pilot aged 43, P rated Site & conditions: Nont Sarah’s, 10-15km/h, not turbulent Glider: Nova Mentor 3 Incident: Pilot had near miss with a drone he suspects was being flown by a FPV controller. Pilot was unable to locate drone owner. Injury: None 11.10.2021. Male pilot, age not recorded, P rated Site & conditions: Devil’s Dyke, 10-15km/h, not turbulent Glider: Skywalk Cayenne Incident: Pilot turned towards hill while thermalling on busy site, but lost control and landed heavily. Injury: Serious: pelvis 17.10.2021. Male pilot aged 49, CP rated Site & conditions: 15-20km/h, not turbulent Glider: Gin Vantage 3 Incident: Pilot collided with fence on cliff top when attempting to jump a gap on a ridge run. Injury: None 18.10.2021. Male pilot aged 66, CP rated Site & conditions: St Andre les Alpes, France, 0-5km/h, not turbulent Glider: 777 Pawn Incident: Pilot misjudged height on final turn into wind turning, too high. Flared high on reaching the end of the landing field and landed heavily. Injury: Serious: feet, legs 21.10.2021. Male pilot aged 52, CP rated Site & conditions: Westbury White Horse, 15- 20km/h, light turbulence Glider: Wills Wing Falcon Incident: Pilot took off with insufficient airspeed, resulting in 180-degree turn back onto hill top. Landed on one wheel, bending an upright. Injury: None 23.10.2021. Male pilot aged 50, P rated Site & conditions: Compton Reds (IoW), 20- 25km/h, not turbulent Glider: Ozone Zeno Incident: On attempting to land, pilot was going backwards on half bar. Pilot applied full bar too aggressively; the resulting ‘swoop’ brushed the bar against ground, knocking his foot off it. Pilot went up and back, but was able to land safely on road having regained control. Injury: None 03.11.2021. Male pilot aged 37, CP rated Site & conditions: Monksdown, 30-35km/h Glider: Gin Bolero 4 Incident: Pilot was soaring close to trees and began to get blown back. Decided to turn downwind but was caught in turbulence behind the trees; lost control in turbulence and crashed. Injury: Minor: head 13.11.2021. Male pilot aged 27, P rated Site & conditions: Hay Bluff, 25-30km/h, light turbulence Glider: Niviuk Zion Incident: Pilot attempted a tight 360 to try and release a knot in brake line. Underestimated wind speed and distance from hill resulting in a heavy impact with slope. Injury: Minor 14.11.2021. Female pilot aged 52, CP rated Site & conditions: Mam Tor, 10-15km/h, not turbulent Glider: Nova Ion 6 Incident: Pilot made approach with insufficient height and was unable to turn into wind before landing. Landed heavily in a ditch. Injury: Serious: lumbar spine BHPA accident & incident digest The following is an edited digest of Incident Reports submitted to the FSC between September 18th and November 25th 2021. The complete database of reports can be found at Next >