No. 433 MAY 2025 The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association2 SKYWINGS MAY 2025 attitude Easter Sunday, of the year 1975. Location: Devils Dyke, not far from Brighton. Reason for being there? To see if I could find anybody who had been participating in the new sport/pastime of hang gliding. I knew little about it, other than reading an illustrated Sunday Times article back in December 1974. The full-page piece showed a ‘Birdman’ in flight. Two areas of the UK were mentioned as locations for witnessing this new simple form of gliding. One was Mam Tor in the north of England, not far from Sheffield. The other was this hill on the South Downs. I’d done a bit of gliding at Nympsfield, home of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Gliding Club, but that was on an airfield where we were winched into the air. But to run and ‘jump off a hill’ – that was radically different! Coming back to Devils Dyke, I was there with my beautiful wife of 18 months, and my wonderful, cockney grandparents. I’d promised them a day out at Brighton, but I made a slight diversion to show them all the amazing view, and to get some refreshments from the conveniently positioned public house. After buying drinks and food, I disappeared to look for any birdmen lurking about. Not far from where I’d parked my beloved MG Y-type sports saloon, I found them. I couldn’t believe it! A complete earthbound flock were attached to their flying machines, ready to commit aviation. There was a sprinkling of fine white snow on the ground, but it was wind that they were waiting for. Wind that would inflate their terylene sails and enable them to float off the take-off area into the blue sky above. I chatted excitedly to one or two of the pilots, and was given the name and telephone number of a chap who could help me to fly one of these contraptions. His name was Malcolm Hawksworth. A brilliant pilot and instructor, and the importer of the American Wills Wing hang gliders. Wills Wing Swallowtails, and Super- Swallowtails were much sought-after free- flight wings in those days. After about ten minutes – with no action – I returned to my wife, Maggie, and my grandparents, Jim and Rose. I told them all about my discovery, and after downing my half of shandy we went back outside. As we walked towards the birdmen we heard a triumphant ‘Whoop!’ as the first pilot took off. Within ten minutes all but one of them had launched. The wind had died again but, undeterred, he lifted his Rogallo wing above his head and ran hell-for- leather off the steep gradient to fly down to his buddies in the bottom landing field. I was 27 years old when I bought my first hang glider. Then, once proficient, I did my first cross-country flight from Devils Dyke a couple of years later, in a seated harness. Just one mile, but it got me started. Now, 50 years, on I still fly, but on paragliders. The thrill of Free Flight has never left me! I am very fortunate to have survived many broken bones, especially during my early days of hang gliding and the beginning of paragliding, in the UK. Since those bygone days I now have a strong Christian faith. I’m convinced that my Lord Jesus Christ has kept me safe, and well, through many a serious injury or would-be flying disaster! Of course I’m also fortunate to have an amazing wife and two beautiful grown-up daughters that have not tried to clip my wings. They have given me the freedom to follow my dreams and adventures over the last 50 years and, God willing, beyond. [The photo above was taken in 1975 at Dunstable, by 16-year-old photography student Dave Secker. ‘My brief from the College was to take some action shots,’ he wrote later. ‘I went up to the Downs and shot these hang gliders, which were quite new and controversial at the time. The London Gliding Club, whose airfield was at the foot of the Downs, weren’t keen on them using their airspace; the hang gliders were even banned at one time.’ The pilot is unknown. Note the well-used Wasp 229 B3 ... and the Raleigh Chopper! JS] Getting started … MIKE HIBBIT, LONGTIME HANG GLIDER AND PARAGLIDER PILOT4 SKYWINGS MAY 2025 regulars features MAY 2025 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 Lionel Prisque flying at Mathay, Doubs in the east of France, March 2025. Photo: Lionel Prisque THIS PAGE Frederic Bakken and Wills Wing T2C meet instability in Norway’s Sjodalen valley near Vågå Photo: Frederic Bakken 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 All issues of Skywings magazine are now freely available DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the July issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by Friday May 30th. Letters for the June Airmail pages should arrive no later than Friday May 16th. Advertisement bookings for the June edition must arrive by Monday May 12th. Copy and classified bookings no later than the following Monday May 19th 6 SKYWINGS MAY 2025 news Big late-March day! After an uneven start to the XC season, things came good for many on March 29th. Several paraglider pilots reached 100km from Milk Hill, with over 1300 points logged in the XC League – see Page 12 of this issue. Also airborne from Milk Hill was many-times hang gliding XC League champion Nev Almond (159km). And Steve Blackler made the coast at Southwold from the Suffolk winch. Nev, pictured en route, in company, near Marlborough, writes: ‘The day bode well for late March: good instability, starting light, but quickly picking up by around 1pm. Plan A was to fly downwind for an hour, then try and get back. Failing that, Plan B was some open-XC fun (and try to forget about retrieval). ‘I launched around 11:30, and within minutes was at 1,000ft in buoyant air. I’d launched in the bowl with a few hangies and paragliders, but now ventured out to the ‘spur’ which allows paragliders to launch in stronger winds. Within ten minutes I was part of a well-behaved gaggle of 20+ circling away. My instrument told me the wind was 14 mph, too strong for a return to the hill in March, even on a VR190 at 154kg all-up! After playing with a few sub-gaggles I moved to a good line and progress was fast for around 12 miles – so fast I thought I might be visiting our editor at the east coast! On reaching Didcot my grand ideas were quashed, as the clouds ceased and led into an uninviting blue sky. I trod water for a while, hoping it would change. It didn’t, so I glided crosswind to join various groups of paragliders that I’d been with earlier. Company is always good, especially when there are no clouds and it’s mostly guesswork. We all continued for a while on different glides. Despite no radio, it was soon clear that they were aiming for Milton Keynes at around 100km. With a hang glider Milton Keynes looked less attractive; it would need another journey to the town centre. Instead, I persisted for a few thermals/glides and landed at Huntingdon for 159km. A lovely farming family gave me a lift to the nearby station, and by 9pm I was back at Pewsey. The next day was an arduous 350-mile round drive to collect the glider. But hey, it’s worth it, right? summary of Nev’s flight. Witold: vanished without trace It’s now two months since the disappearance of Polish pilot Dr Witold Gilarski, 69, during a task of the SRS comp at Santa Fe de Antioqua, Colombia. Local authorities, along with hundreds of volunteers, immediately launched a rescue mission to search 600km2 of dense jungle, steep slopes and rapid rivers. This effort included drones from the US and UK scanning the terrain, with 250 volunteers online looking through the aerial photos. Despite the massive search effort no sign of Witold has been found. Colombian officials brought the official search to an end on March 20th but Police, Military, CSI and Red Cross specialists remained in the area. By then more than £30,000 had been raised by concerned individuals across the world, responding to a GoFundMe appeal to cover helicopter and drone cover and logistical support for the search teams. In one way or another over 700 people had been involved. SRS organiser Brett Janaway provided some background but few clues to Witold’s disappearance. ‘We set a task along what is considered to be a sensible, safe route, to the east of the Calentón launch and then south, where we have tracking on the pilots for the majority of the course. It seems Witold had told friends that he would first fly to the north to get some extra km before the task start. This is highly unusual in a competition and was not shared with the organisers until some 24 hours later. His flight would have taken him to an area with no phone signal, very sparse population and no roads. ‘We don’t know how far north he went, but from the phone call we had from him 28 hours later it seems he was returning and had landed on quite high terrain, several km north of the task route. That decision too was unusual as it was just a 5:1 glide to a populated area by the main river, as far as we can ascertain. We think he landed fine, packed his kit and had been walking. Unfortunately we did not hear from him again. Searches have failed to find him despite our knowing the location of the phone call to a reasonable degree of accuracy. He has simply disappeared. ‘The take-home lesson, for any cross-country flight, is to always share your plans for the day with somebody. Carry some form of tracking – there is lots of free stuff available, along with some decent hardware solutions. Be sure to understand the area you plan to fly. And, ideally, fly with others.’ Mandatory EC a step closer? In April the UK Government announced £20 million of future spending to support the introduction of drone and flying taxi services. Of this sum, £16.5m is earmarked for the CAA with the aim of ‘streamlining regulatory processes to support commercialisation of the industry’. A DfT press release makes great play of unlocking ‘barriers to growth’, with benefits for the emergency services and ‘eco- friendly flying taxi services.’ The release is very fact-lite, but ‘streamlining regulatory processes’ and ‘smarter regulation’ is ministry-speak for mandatory use of EC. You can find the complete text at We have known for a long time that mandatory EC is a DfT ambition, yet a reliable, safe ecosystem of compatible conspicuity devices and platforms remains elusive. While there are undeniable advantages for law-enforcement services, and no-one would gainsay the enhancement of effective NHS services, these goals are frequently quoted as cover for the rapid expansion of commercial BVLOS drone delivery services and so-called flying taxis. £20 million towards cutting red tape to ‘allow drones and crewed aircraft to fly safely alongside each other’ has ominous overtones for all in recreational aviation. While we are more likely to see a flying saucer than to be able to access a flying taxi, the government is helping to push the MAY 2025 SKYWINGS 7 CALL THE SPECIALISTS 0800 5999 101 FOR BHPA MEMBERS life insurance EST 1989 Run by Pilots for Pilots We Fly What You Fly! Protect Your Family, Mortgage or Business 205 SkywingParamotors skyscraper ad 0125-297x104.indd 1 idea that these are just around the corner, or ‘in use from 2028’ according to the press release. Its April 1st date invites suspicion, yet we are assured that it’s not a joke. Flying taxis may one day become a commercial reality, but there’s an awful lot of legal and technological work to cover first. X-Alps route unveiled The Red Bull X-Alps organisers have designed this year’s event in June with the longest-ever route. The 1,283km figure-of-eight includes 16 turnpoints across Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Pilots will cross the Alps four times and ascend three via ferrata climbs including one at Mont Blanc. The peak is usually where the route turns east again, but this time contestants must push 100km further into France to a westernmost turnpoint at Les Deux Alpes. The route then passes St. Moritz a second time, before crossing the Alpine divide for the fourth time to Austria’s Zugspitze. Then there’s challenging airspace to negotiate before reaching the finish at Zell am See. X-Alps 2025 kicks off with a one- day Prologue at Kitzbühel on June 12th. New paragliding shop! At the end of March Ginger Nomad moved into a unit near Bradwell in the Derbyshire Peaks. Proprietor Guy ‘Ginge’ Richardson has plans for a well-stocked shop, a reserve packing area and a space for pilots to chill out. ‘Ginger Air Space’ will also house the Ginger Air school and the Ginger Nomad retail business. Along with a display area for 20-something brands – wings, instruments, radios, etc – a simulator rig will allow pilots to try out and set up harnesses. Well-known lines will include Apco and Sol, returning to the UK market, plus newer entrants Flow and Neo, with long-term favourites like Advance also in the mix. There are plans for the social side too. Lectures and training can be accommodated, and the Intrepid brewery next door is planning a free flying-themed beer. Ginger Air Space will open on April 12th. Find it at Unit 12F, Vincent Works, Brough S33 9HG, or go 8 SKYWINGS MAY 2025 news New Mac Para importer Derbyshire Flying Centre is now the UK importer for the Czech manufacturer Mac Para, following ten years as one of their dealers. Mac Para joins DFC’s portfolio of other marques such as Nova, Flow and Swing. CFI Steve Hudson is enthused by the arrival of the new Verve EN C two- liner, and the newly-released high-end B Eden 8. Mac Para is distinctive amongst paragliding manufacturers in offering a very wide range of all-up weights on its most popular gliders. The six sizes of the EN B Illusion 2, for example, covers 55 to 145kg. DFC is also offering half-price servicing, in due course, on the first wings sold. Borders pylon update The relaxation of planning restrictions to encourage wind and solar farms has led to an increase in applications, particularly in Scotland. The need to transfer this energy from source to user has led to the Cross- Border Connection proposal – an 80km power line between Scotland and England. Under pressure, SP Energy Networks have revised their preferred route to take these pylons away from Witchie Knowe, one of the central Borders’ most important flying sites. The new route goes further west, meaning that flying at Witchie Knowe would not be affected and the site would be safe for future generations. This is fantastic news. A massive and heartfelt thankyou to everyone who has made their views known so far. However the plan to put 60-metre pylons through this beautiful wild country is still going ahead, impacting two smaller but still-significant sites, Cacra Bank and Mount Benger. The Wingbeat club are keeping the pressure on SPEN to do their job properly and not wreck the landscape permanently, just to save a few quid today. We are pushing for alternative, less sensitive routes and burial underground where possible. Feel free to hit me up on Telegram if you want to know more. Thanks for your support – the pressure is making a difference! You can sign a petition [Report: Steve Durkin, Wingbeat Paragliding] In brief Tariffs likely to harm US free flying. New trade tariffs from our former friends in the USA threaten to impact the paragliding industry. Several major brands are manufactured in Vietnam, heavily hit by regional tariffs. Even if far-Eastern production can be presented as emanating from Europe there are still barriers. We are unaware that the US has any indigenous paraglider brands, and Wills Wing hang gliders relocated to Mexico in 2021. It’s not a good time to be a US free-flyer. BHPA EP Training Guide. An updated version of the BHPA website. Aimed specifically at EP trainees, who should all receive a print copy from their school, it outlines what the BHPA is about, plus basic procedures, core met and other topics useful to those entering the sport. Neustift, the hosting village, is about 30 minutes drive from Innsbruck. The local tourist office is very supportive of the festival, offering free chair lift/cable car passes through participating hotels, and closing some skiing areas to allow safer and easier flying. They expect over 1,000 visitors, 40% of them non-German speaking. More than 300 local volunteers help make the event happen. The festival was scheduled to run from Friday to Sunday (March 14th-16th). It’s normally based around an exhibition in the landing field, pilots taking the lifts to the closest launches to fly displays or demo the equipment on offer. This year’s poor forecast caused the organisers to swiftly mobilise the best contingency planning I’ve seen at a free-flying event. With low cloud and light drizzle preventing flying on Friday, exhibitors set up at a large community hall. A range of talks and announcements was scheduled on the main stage throughout the day, with further talks and films for the evening. A bar was available to serve food and drink. Towards the end of the day there was a little bit of flying. Friday brought more talks, key news being Ozone’s long-awaited announcement of the Delta 5 EN C two-liner. More surprising was the revelation of an Alpina GT 2.5-liner to satisfy pilots who seek this technology in the EN C class. An Alpina 5 was promised next year as a lightweight version of the D5. BGD’s Bruce Goldsmith announced the Cure 3 and an acro wing called the Ghost. Supair’s designer Pierre-Yves Alloix gave a talk on their new Wild 2 EN D X- Alps lightweight with a technical dive, supported by his design program, into the wing’s construction. On Saturday the weather improved enough for the outdoor element to take place, and several new gliders were flown briefly on display. We saw the Nova Vortex lightweight EN C and Supair’s Wild 2 flown with the new Alp submarine-type X-Alps harness. The Delta too was flown and shown. Harness manufacturers had contingencies for us to access their wares without our muddy shoes on. Of the 30+ scheduled manufacturers, 18 of them were on site defying the forecast. Harness manufacturers have also sorted out how to present their harnesses with rear fairings inflated as they would be in flight. One trend noticed was the move away from round parachutes to square, pentagonal or other polygonal shapes. Weights continue to drop as designs are further optimised, hike&fly/vol biv being the main drivers. Phi announced a lightweight prototype in this genre with novel construction techniques. With no flying to award the ‘worst dressed flyer’ prize, there was a ground based fancy-dress competition instead. App manufacturer Sidekik presented their offering for organising flying challenges at personal and club level. Developer Bernhard Fercher presented it as a social paragliding app, a bit like cycling’s Strava. This would be a simple solution to the ‘turnpoint challenge’ most BHPA clubs have, the app automatically tagging Stübai Cup – making the most of the weather STEVE UZOCHUKWU REPORTS FROM AUSTRIA The Stübai, Austria’s smallest valley, is home to this legendary annual extravaganza. Originally a competition, started in 1988 by Hans-Peter Ella and the Parafly school, it has since evolved into a popular trade fair and testival taking place every March. 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The evenings were well catered for with films and a Wiener Schnitzel grill. Friday night was given over to a film, by Liv Sanson and Zeb Roche, about the first tandem flight from the summit of K2 and its attendant two-month build-up. Saturday had a film on extreme skiing. On Saturday evening it was announced that the festival had been cancelled for Sunday, leaving Neustift marvelling at what the organisation had achieved despite the weather. Zoom – an emerging manufacturer Created in February 2023 by Alex Hoellwarth, the first Zoom product on the market was the X2C, an EN 2-liner (They name their gliders with an X followed by the class, hence a 2-liner EN C glider). Skywings caught up with Alex during a period of poor flying weather at the Stübai Cup. Initially a test pilot at Skywalk, Alex moved to Nova in the same role. There he crossed into design, later becoming chief designer at Skywalk before founding his own company. Since the X2C, and the subsequent light version of it, Alex has designed and certified an EN A glider, the XA, also available in a light version. A B-class glider is very close to being launched, followed by a tandem wing. Zoom is a sister company of Phi, with both makes under the parent company of Papesh GmbH – Phi designer Hannes Papesh mentored Alex when they were both at Nova. Alex explained that he and Hannes cooperate really well together but have very different ideas and objectives as designers. Separate brands allow them to pursue distinct design philosophies and target different pilot groups, whilst sharing key facilities such as a single company accredited for airworthiness certification. Hannes says that Zoom is a consequence of his ‘Free the Competence’ initiative, intended to give designers, test pilots and technical experts more weight. Whilst they pursued differing philosophies, there was a lot of shared knowledge and problem- solving, particularly around experience with materials. The parent company benefits from the diversity of approaches: if one methodology is less successful than another the process provides useful data for comparison. Phi and Zoom had adjacent stands at Stübai and shared a massive trailer to get a large number of demo wings to the event, underlining the potential of the parent company’s shared-load approach. Zoom has a full network of UK dealers listed on its website. Current gliders will be available at European testivals – check to see which ones they are attending. Report: Steve Uzochukwu, Photo: Martin BastowNext >