Spring has sprung and all that and its back to the flying after the winter lay-off. I'll re-iterate the “Ides of March warning in Skywings – watch out for those thermals. Most of you won't have flown much over the winter and will be rusty at the roughest time of the year, so take it easy. But do make the effort to get out and fly if you can. Some of the guys have been to foreign places and actually written about it (guess what, Julian still hasn’t written about Brazil and I'm starting to think he's illegitimate, I mean illiterate). Then again, Scott is from the Lucas model of correspondent and has written an essay, though at least it has a few pictures. Bob has some words about site issues, so continue reading for information as well as entertainment.

The AGM – November 25^th 2005

Those present: Charlie Ingram, Bob Dunthorn, Bill Connon, Brian O’Donnell, John Newton, Graeme Ferguson, Adrian Smith, Julian Robinson and Matt Church. Five minutes into Charlie’s speech Simon Lucas and Guilleme Perrin arrived. Apologies from Scott Mather, Kevin Will, Grahame Smith, Gustav, Steve Wright, Giles Adam and Big Ian Smith. Duncan Booth almost made it but didn’t quite and so had to apologise. Ross Paterson apologised later and had a good excuse of a maths exam.

Charlie opened proceedings by thanking all the committee for their work over the year, and to his daughter for driving a jeep down from Craiglich (she's 13, so wait a few years and will be the perfect retrieve driver).

Julian, just back from Brazil, wasn’t quite ready with the accounts but by the end of the meeting came up with the number: started the year with £2000, finished with £2200 which included some money from Simon Lucas who “sold” his old reserve parachute for a donation.

Bob gave the low-down on the sites. There were the usual restrictions on some sites due to nesting birds (St Cyrus) or birds being shot (Pressendye). An agreement was reached with the Invercauld estate for driving up Morrone. This has been utilised a fair bit and we hope that the trial period will become permanent. The chairlift at Cairnwell was opened during the summer and was used by a few visitors from Glasgow, but our “teenage parathugs” all walked up. The track at Tap was roughly graded but needs more, so Bob will talk to the farmer when delivering the Christmas bottles. The landowner of Leadlich has not responded to the possibility of clearing of trees in front of the launches but we're not pushing it for fear of annoying him.

An initiative for setting up a web-based sites' guide to Scotland has been started by Cliff Smith from Edinburgh-way. He has contacted the clubs and our response was debated a bit and then voted upon. Jules' motion of all our sites to be included received 2 votes, Matt acting as Devil's Advocate got no votes for suggesting not having any sites on the web (didn't even vote for it himself). Bob's suggestion of giving details of 4 sites that are fairly public anyway (Cairnwell, Tap, St Cyrus and Morrone, leaving out the details about driving up) got the rest of the votes. Bob will email Cliff and also check with landowners to check they don't mind.

After a well-needed beer break, John Newton gave his safety round-up. There have been 2 incident forms submitted: Brian Sandison's bouncing on Pressendye and Simon Lucas' spin at St Cyrus. Other incidents have been Alex Tup and Ralf at St Cyrus (both very low airtime and not heeding advice) and Charlie's prang on landing too hard at Tap (breaking both uprights). Bob had a scare on the ramp in Guatemala and another at Tap when he took off without enough commitment, just missing the ground as he literally flopped off. John said pilots are reminded to wear a helmet when flying, and in fact should put their helmet on before clipping in.

The usual suspects were re-elected to the committee, and Ian Smith was voted into a new position of Trophy Officer as he ought to be doing in his spare time.

President – Charlie Ingram Secretary – Bob Dunthorn

Treasurer – Julian Robinson Safety (PG & HG) – John Newton

Sites – Bob Dunthorn Trophies – Ian Smith

Newsletter & Website – Matthew Church

Other business discussed included SHPF plans to run a first aid course and parachute repack this year, and the club will try to organise another repack here in Aberdeen.

The rate of subs for the club was held at £20 for 2006. Bob tried to get it reduced but it was felt that this is still pretty low and covers costs for the year without eating into the funds in the bank. Charlie produced his chequebook straight away and paid up (for 2005 as well as 2006 as he kept on forgetting to pay).

Julian proposed supporting the Braemar Mountain Rescue, just in case we need them, and a one-off payment of £100 was passed, with subsequent donations to be voted on each year.

The Ozone Chabre paragliding competition is being run in France again in 2006 and was mentioned as a good place as an introduction to large (but friendly) competitions – John will try to drum up a posse to go from Aberdeen. Which led nicely onto …

Club Competitions

Nobody can remember if the MacRonald Spring Trophy was held so as Brian O’Donnell was certainly the best newcomer onto the XC scene we awarded it to him.

The Big Stiff One went to the Big Stiff One, otherwise known as Ian Smith. However he had to share it with Ross Paterson and Steve Blackler as they all flew to Portsoy together from Craiglich (61km). Unfortunately none of them was at the AGM to receive their trophy.

The Big Soft One was won by Matthew Church, who flew from Morrone (on the first day the hill was drivable) and got beyond Pitlochry (45km).

Julian won the Autumn Pilchard quite convincingly, being the only one to manage to fly that day and got 20km.

Julian deserves special mention for coming 2^nd in the serial class of the Brazilian Xceara competition, flying over 150km twice.

Meanwhile some late entries by the paragliders in the form of Scott Mather (broken line) and Kevin Will (line ripped out, £45 repair and postage £40) didn’t stop Charlie from winning the Crash Test Dummy. He broke both uprights at Tap, though we’re a bit disappointed there are no photos.

Bob won the prestigious and unique Floofie to the Bottom for consistently providing entertainment, the highlight being his crash on the ramp in Guatemala. Though Ian Smith almost got the award for his video footage of the event and the rest of the trip (order your copy of “Dead Dogs and Dysentery; the Movie” from Ian). John Newton also deserves honourable mention for his balls in France, flying over the back of ridges at 200 foot and then juggling them to keep us entertained when not flying.

Matt also rather convincingly won the George Watt Memorial XC Handicap League and his 12 flights won the Over the Back bottle of whisky as well.

	PILOT		POINTS TOTAL	OTB	Total Km Flown	Wing Factor	Km behind
1	Matt	Church	15.46	12	123.7	8	0.0
2	Simon	Lucas	9.10	0	9.0	8	50.9
3	Ian	Smith	6.24	3	104.0	12	81.6
4	Julian	Robinson	7.68	0	4.1	8	62.3
5	Ross	Paterson	4.07	1	61.0	15	170.9
5	Steve	Blackler	4.07	1	61.0	15	170.9
7	Brian	O'Donnell	3.18	2	25.4	8	98.3
8	Richy	Grundy	2.23	2	17.8	8	105.9
9	Kevin	Will	1.96	2	15.7	8	108.0
10	Giles	Adam	1.44	2	11.5	8	112.2
11	Adrian	Smith	1.41	2	11.3	8	112.4
12	Scott	Mather	0.63	1	5.0	8	118.7
13	Graeme	Connelly	0.54	0	4.3	8	119.4
14	John	Newton	0.25	0	2.0	8	121.7

Total Distance Flown: 576.4km

And with that we got some more beers before heading off for what is becoming a tradition of a post-AGM curry.

All Go in Algo by Scott Mather

After enjoying a pleasant summer of flying mainly at Morrone, including my first journey to cloudbase at over 5000 feet and an XC dash to land in front of Mar Lodge, it was time to get my CP! Some might say I have done this in the wrong order, possibly the BHPA, but that’s one of the joys of flying here in NE Scotland where the nearest instructor is either Tinto or Arran.

Anyway, after much trawling of Skywings, the Internet and discussions with my wife I decided that Dean Ashby's Active Edge CP course at Algonadales, Andalucia, Spain would be the one for me. I thought the weather would be bit cooler but still good compared to a roasting in Cyprus or taking my chances in the UK.

So it was off early one September Saturday morning to catch the plane from Edinburgh to Malaga.

Upon reaching Malaga the first thing that hit me was the heat, I thought it would be warm but that was bloody hot for a lily-skinned glenner like myself. This is where I met the rest of the group: Errol, Colin, Adam and his girlfriend Lynn. All had been learning the flying with Dean in the Yorkshire Dales and were all at different stages. Errol had actually got his CP but had not experienced a thermal (should have been in Scotland)!

We were driven up to Algo by Sam Rhodes from Andalucian Experience, which is one of 2 guiding companies in the town (the other being FlySpain), to be told that there had only been one day's flying the previous week due to wind and rain. So much for my thinking! It was an interesting 2 hour trip from the coast into the mountains, past the villages that were spread throughout the parched countryside, with their Moorish towers and Christian churches side by side on rocky pinnacles. Once at Algo it was 20mph winds and heavy showers: surely this wasn’t the great weather I had been expecting. The village itself stands to the south side of Lejar, is the main departure point for most XC’s.

We were decanted at our accommodation that was to be our base for the week and got sorted out before meeting up with our instructor Dean, and Baz Rhodes of Andalucian Experience. We had our first of many visits to Canijos, the best eating place in the village. After a couple of refreshing cervezas it was arranged to meet up in the morning to give a run down of the course and a check of equipment.

On the Sunday afternoon it was off to the Montellano site about 45 minutes to the north, over looking over the plain. The northerly wind is uncommon at this time of year and when we got to the site it was quite light and variable but very hot, a recurring theme for the week. There were a couple of local pilots out but not flying so it gave us a bit of time to discuss the site. As with all the sites we went to, except Lijar, Montellano is tight and surrounded by nasty thorny bushes so competent ground handling is a necessity. Most sites also have an interesting obstacle but more of that later. Eventually the breeze did lift and the locals took off for a quick flop.

Great: spend £800, travel 5 hours, get boiled alive and this was it?

Thankfully it wasn’t. Watching the swallows follow the rising thermals, it seemed they were cycling steadily every 6 minutes or so. Time to unpack and get ready, and I elected to go second. Adam, a Robbie Williams tribute artist, went first. Everything went fine except the flying wasn’t exactly to do with angels ... more paper darts, top to bottom. My turn, time not to show yourself up in front of everyone. Thankfully it all went well, but after two short beats with little lift I too was heading off to land. I flew through a couple of buoyant areas ... maybe things would get better. Errol came next and he seemed to stay up a bitty longer. We waited for the last guy, Colin, but there was no show. A few other gliders appeared and were holding height so it looked good but still no Colin. Would we get a lift up to the top for another flight? Dean came to pick us up. It turned out that it was while since Colin flew and that Dean considered the site a bit tight for his experience. Up top we discovered it was a group from Flyspain flying. They were getting plenty of time in the air so we were eager to get off. And off we went. This time there was lift and the occasional thermal coming through easily spotted by the swallows, dust and insects rising up through the air. After 20 mins of flying on this small site it was time to go and land to let the Flyspain lot off for their second flight, just as a C141 Starlifter flew over about 2000 feet above. As the evening approached it became cooler and more pleasant: even the poor donkey that was tethered in the landing field looked happier. So a quick stop at a roadside café and the first day was done.

Next day we met up with Jose, the school owner and our local instructor. It was off to Montellano again as the wind was still northerly but forecast to swing to the west in the afternoon. The wind was very light when we got there and there was a very visible inversion. Again the Flyspain collective turned up. While Jose got myself, Adam and Errol off for what was a very short barely buoyant float down to the bottom, Colin was at a gentle slope to brush up his forward launches. We were all packing up when the Flyspain lot followed almost the same flight pattern, except one of them who appeared to be a bit confused by the light and changeable wind and decided to do a very low 180 and narrowly miss a collection of olive trees. She got away with it but more was to come from this lady who became known as Wily Coyote to us for her amazing proximity flying or collision with ground objects. Jose came up trumps on the food side at lunch time. In Montellano village is a western style bar with wagon wheels outside and sherry barrels as places to rest your drinks: the equivalent of a spit and sawdust pub here. It was one of the best feeds of the week with calamares, chicken wings, pork kebabs and more, all for less than £5, including beers.

In the afternoon it was off to Ronda de Reica (old Ronda), a limestone escarpment that had been the site of a Roman City. The site is being excavated and an amphitheatre was already visible, but only if you got a few hundred feet above launch. This site was again fairly tight and had as it interesting obstruction a pair of iron posts with serrated edges. Initially the wind was to strong for us, but we could see a number of gliders had got off Lijar, 18 km to the northwest, so it was expected to weaken in a while. Jose had a flight to test conditions, doing some ground skimming, winding up his dog, Rocco, before getting a thermal and climbing to over 1500 feet above launch. At least he got a view of the old ruins. As the wind dropped we got off for a very weak soaring flight. Colin was left practising his ground handling and as we returned to the top of the hill it was getting stronger again and unfortunately Colin's glider met with one of the iron posts and serrated a couple of lines, so no flying for him. Baz Rhodes flew over and had an asymmetric, stalled the glider and narrowly missed the hill; a fortunate guy. We did get another flight, this time a good half hour ridge soaring until it was almost dark. Back at the village it was off to JJ's, a local bar run by a Dutch German couple that are into paragliding and motorbikes, and as such was popular with visitors to the village. It was planned that the next night Adam would do an acoustic Robbie Williams tribute; however much drink had been taken.

So it was to Tuesday and our first trip up Lijar. First thing to note is that this is a long drive, over half an hour to the top but once there you get a great view of the surrounding area, as does the bloke in the firewatch tower! The S.E launch is a large clear area without any obstructions. Height-wise it is about the same as Morrone. Today's exercise was to get out over the landing field and do 360s, in the thermals if possible! Being under instruction you had to listen to your instructor and after having radio problems over the first couple of days Dean could have been mistaken for thinking I wasn’t listening to him. I got plenty of lift close to launch but I was told to push out in front of the hill. I could have gained a bit of height here but thought I'd better do as told and had a steady 30 min flight down to the landing field, picking up small bits of lift from piles of stones in the fields or the back of trees. Meanwhile Errol got his first thermic flight, along with his first collapse and first real wish to get to the ground quickly. Of course it was starting to really work and it took him over 40 mins to get down. In the meantime the Flyspain crew were trying to get away to the southeast but failing due to an inversion. Colin got the first of his tandem flights. Wily Coyote put in another appearance, this time over-flying the only building in this 120 acre field by all of 3 feet. When she did land she annoyed the shepherd by frightening his sheep and spreading them around the field!

In the afternoon it was off to El Bosque about 35 mins to the west within a national park that is home to Gryphon Vultures. You can see Cadiz from here, where the French navy left before the battle of Trafalgar 200 years before. The site is in a clearing among the pine trees and its interesting obstruction is a pollarded tree. This time I was 3^rd off and had pretty much a top to bottom while Adam, at the bottom of the weight range of an old Nova wing, had trouble with penetration as he went off. But he was ok later as the thermic activity died down. That night it was Errol’s show in JJ's, which was so well attended that a second show along with accompanying musicians was organised for the following night.

After being woken at a wee-bit-too early hour by a cockerel in the neighbour’s garden, it was up Lejar again. Whilst setting up in very light conditions a dust devil came through, leaving our gliders were in a tangle. I blame this for my rubbish forward launch which ended up with me just running off into the bushes. All that effort when it was so hot! “When did I last forward launch” I thought to myself? Over a year ago, at Menstrie. I sorted the wing out for the second attempt and launched cleanly, followed by a steady float down to landing with little to report. We headed to El Bosque for the afternoon as it was very windy and only a couple of hang gliders were at it, but true to form the wind dropped with the sun. Once at the top it was already completely calm so while the other two guys set off for a top to bottom. I choose to drive down while Jose flew my glider. I could hear Dean on radio being calm and telling “me” to come in, in my own time, only to suddenly hear him on the radio going “calm down” and “take it easy”. Apparently Jose had spiralled it in to the landing field and Dean was on his feet pretty sharpish. The rest were fairly amused. On the way back Jose had a phone call saying that due to military flying there would be no flying in the area allowed until Friday afternoon. It transpired that an English guy in the village had a close call with a jet during the day. The evening at JJ’s went well for Adam and his newly formed band, including a debut by the German bass player. The place was pretty full and the atmosphere good. The event was such a success that the bar owner invited Adam back next year and offered to put him up for a fortnight if he played two gigs. By the sound if things it will happen; he enjoyed the night and the flying even more.

With no flying the next day, Colin went off with Dean to do some forward launching practice and I went along to do my CP exam. Afterwards Jose took us to a lake for a swim then off to the town of Zahara, which is in a brilliant location with a tower, church and white house on a pinnacle of rock over looking the lake. The rock is actually soarable in the right conditions and many try to over-fly the town to get to a good range of hills to it's south before heading off for Ronda further to the SE.

So it was Friday, last day of the course and off to El Bosque for the afternoon. It was very windy when we got there but headed up to launch to wait for it to drop, as it had done so quickly on Wednesday. We were getting ready to unpack when the Flyspain group rolled up. Perhaps being too courteous we let them set up before us. Mistake, as plenty of parawaiting while they faffed in what appeared to be perfect conditions. Three of them got off before the wind switched off the hill and when it came on again it had dropped so much it was forward launches. After seeing a couple of “interesting” attempts I decided to pack up and while doing so saw the Wily Coyote launch into a tree, which she proceeded to get hung up in ... nice! Thankfully she was alright, just a small bruise and lots of embarrassment. And that was the end of the course.

While the others went home, I joined Baz for a day's flying, again to El Bosque with 6 others including Iain Hyslop of Extreme, who was kindly putting me up and taking me to airport. Lejar was being used for a hang glider comp that day and early on they were heading through town for launch.

The first flight was under an inversion and due to my previous lack of success at this site I wasn’t hopeful. And so it was to be 15 mins of getting boinged around at the inversion and then a steady 2.5m/s down all the way to the landing area where very small thermals were coming off the road and rocks in the area making approach interesting. The afternoon was much more promising with cumulus forming but the wind was still strong-ish at launch. The more experienced guys took off into very strong lift and it wasn’t very long before they were at cloudbase. Remembering how quickly it dropped off I got ready and was off as soon as possible for what was a lovely smooth flight with gentle steady 0.5 -2m/s thermals. I got above take-off and able to have an explore out front with the other 3 guys. We had missed the boat on the trips to cloudbase though as the inversion had set in again but this time it was only gentle boings. It was so gentle you could big ears down 200m and climb back up in about 3 mins. The vultures were out and came alongside and there were spells you were flying above them. Unfortunately I’d left the camera in the harness as the first flight was so rough I thought it wasn’t worth the bother. It would have been fine to have got more flying like this during the week.

So was it a good place for doing a CP? If you are competent at ground handling and can make your own good decisions then on balance, yes. It is possible to get a fair amount of airtime and do the required exercises (bar the fact that the sites aren’t conducive to top landings) while experiencing thermal flying to some extent. The down side being the smallish sites (in a Scottish context) and the thermals can unnerve some, particularly while trying to get to landing fields. With the Monarch flights to Malaga from Aberdeen and reasonable rates while out there I dare say it may be tempting to head out for a long weekend during the winter months.

Airspace Issues

There have been a few changes around Scotland that I've noticed. Four new class D CTA's around Edinburgh have been introduced, replacing parts of the Class E Scottish TMA (see Skywings November 2005, page 26). Three start at 3500' and one at 2500' (to the W of Edinburgh) and all go up to 6000'. Check if you are going to be flying that way.

Argyll and Bute council have requested for an ATZ at Oban Aerodrome in the hope of enticing commercial flights. The BGA and BMAA are a bit wary of this restricting glider and microlight operations, but we'll have to see. Don't know if anyone has flown around here, or intends to, but be aware if you are heading that way that there may be changes.

Site Information Update by Dr. Bob, Sites Officer, AHPC 

SNH have requested that the club restricts our flying at St. Cyrus again this year due to Raptors breeding on the cliffs. As before, flying should be restrcted to north of take-off where the track goes past the Kirk and ends at the cliff top. The effective dates are beginning of April to middle of August. A further update will be provided in due course.

A Message from the El Ex-Presidenté Geoff May

On April 22^nd -23^rd I will be cycling in the 2006 MS150 bike tour. This is a 180mile ride from Houston to Austin through the Texas Hill Country (no, it's not just you - I'm not sure why it’s called the MS150 when it's actually 180 miles either). It's in aid of multiple sclerosis charities, split between research programs to find the cause, cure and treatment of MS and charities that provide a variety of much-needed services and programs that directly help people living with MS and their families. I did a practice 40 mile ride last weekend and my a**e and legs were killing me, so you can rest assured that I will be suffering by the 180 mile mark! If you would like to sponsor me you can do so by logging-on to the link below:

http://ms150.org/edon.cfm?id=185027

Alternatively, if you don't trust websites for making payments drop me an email and I'll see if we can work out some alternative way of doing it. I promise that anyone who donates will have a fantastic time flying that weekend while I'm slogging my guts out. Unless you have given-up the sport, of course....

Any amount you feel comfortable giving is very much appreciated. Thank you very much for your support.

Staying with the USA, Bob is heading out there from 26^th April to 12^th May, so expect a write up next issue.

A Pokhara Stopover by Simon Lucas

Australia is too far to fly in one leg, so I decided I needed a stopover. Having previously spent weekends in the obvious places, I quickly argued myself into a quick trip to Nepal, which soon escalated to several weeks.

Hence in early December I landed at Kathmandu to be met by a man in a suit and another in white coat - representatives of Blue Sky Paragliding, who had come to take me away (ha ha). After a night in Kathmandu it was straight to Pokhara's Lakeside area – which turned out to be the most laid back and easy going part of Asia I've ever been to. Hotels about £3 a night and food about £5 a day, loads of restaurants, quite a few tourists although the locals said it was relatively quiet. You can buy any walking gear you need for good prices – most of it locally made but serviceable. Great views of the Himalayas and Buddhist meditation centres if it all gets too stressful. Hmm, perhaps I should go back....

There are two paragliding businesses in Pokhara. Zabdi Keen (CFI from Flying Fever, Arran) instructs with Blue Sky paragliding, while the other is Sunrise Paragliding. Both operate launch areas on Sarankot hill, the principle takeoff. The main landing area is in the paddy fields or along the road next to the lake (difficult for hang gliders). Both offer various side trips and courses, with Blue Sky's SIV/Acro course being run by Herve Cerutti and David Arrufat – experienced instructors and acro competitors. I found Blue Sky pretty professional – having internal flights arranged and being met at the airport is a luxury I could get used to! I also undertook 3 days tandem training with Zabdi. Having never flown tandem before it was very interesting to see how other pilots do it. It was good to join other learners and discuss approaches to flying – Zabdi has wide experience from instructing in different areas and systems, as an “experienced” pilot I still learnt a lot.

Weather in the area was the most reliable I think I have ever experienced in 12 years of flying. I flew 17 out 19 days, one was lost due to a weather front and the other because the King was flying a chopper in the area and we were grounded for security reasons (a rest or arrest – you choose!) However conditions were routinely inverted with thermals being fairly punchy and topping out quite low. It was possible to fly for several hours most days but XC conditions were quite demanding. I made several short flights up to the end of the Sarankot ridge, landing out and getting the local bus back, jammed full of people, chickens etc. Rides and retrieves cost £1-2 each by 4WD navette or local taxi, sharing with other pilots.

It's also possible to fly at other sites – Dicki Danda is another hill to the NE of Pokhara, where its easier to get to the “Green Wall” - a longer, higher ridge that forces thermals up through the inversions. The flying was strong and punchy, but enabled us to fly closer to the bigger mountains and get a taster of the higher Himalayan landscape. XC conditions get better in February-March, with higher bases. Endless long ridges march down from the high mountains - if the inversions break, you can go more or less anywhere you dare – but there are few roads for retrieve, so you would need to walk and porter your way out. Radio and telephone communications are also variable so you need to be self sufficient. XC routes are gradually being opened up by visitors and a few dedicated (and good!) local pilots.

The Pointy peak is Machapucchare

After the best part of three weeks it was time to move on, after a quick stop in Kathmandu to look round the “old town” with its world heritage Hindu temples.

A note on security – ongoing tension between the Maoist movement (actually pro-democracy and not very Maoist) and the King is evident. The tourism industry (and tourist areas) are not targeted by either side, however there are many roadblocks and a strong army presence. During my time I did witness some tense demonstrations in Pokhara town centre which escalated into violence. Take an informed decision before you go - the likelihood is that you will not see anything unless you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Letters to the Editor, News and Gossip

Fiona Work, who wrote the article about flying red wings in the previous Dangler, has piled-in whilst on holiday in Spain with Budgie last November. She has broken her back and, so rumour has it, the arm of the bloke she landed on. Apparently she was caught in a strong valley breeze and had a major collapse just off the deck. I hope to have more details once I’m back in Aberdeen.

John Newton has also had a bit of a prang, trying to top land at Leadlich. He claims it was just a bit of a bump and drag, but I’ve a feeling it may have been more as he has bought a new glider, a Gradient Aspen 2. Large size as befits his current lardy-boy aspect.

Scott Mather and Graeme Connelly have been flying a few times this year. Even had gentle, oh so gentle, thermals at The Cairnwell in late January, and half an hour up at Glen Clova. Quoting: “Whoopee!”

Dr Bob went to the Tap with Big Ian and Steve the Student, meeting up with Bill Connon - they all had a nil wind top-to-bottom, except Bob who nobly drove the jeep down rather than crash trying to run off.

Here's a glider Simon didn't get to test, the prototype Water Melon which manufacturers hope will pass DHV 1 with Teddy Test pilot in control. Scott's daughter, Caitlin, sees a picture of a paraglider in Cross Country or Skywings and everyone is Daddy, even Alex Hoffer. If only Alex could father a kid like Caitlin, or Scott was as good a pilot as Alex!

For those that maybe missed the smartgroup email, John Pendry, an old-time hang glider and paraglider world champion, is running a kite surfing school at La Franqui in France. See www.adrenaline-kitesurf.com

Sarah and Kirk Milligan in New Zealand have had another sprog, this one a boy called Alistair Armstrong Milligan. You would have thought after Lucy they would have worked out what causes them. But that doesn't stop visitors from calling in to admire him, or a doss and fly.

Gustav Fischnaller has a new address in Austria:

Cairnwell Mountain Sports Ltd
Ebnersteig 12
A-6166 Fulpmes
Tirol
Austria

Phone: 0043 5225 62942, Mobile: 0043 6508941 687

Email: info@cairnwellmountainsports.com

Webpage: www.cairnwellmountainsports.com

He has got accommodation in Fulpmes, with skiing and flying right there. The Schlick 2000 just a mile as the crow flies and The Elfer in Neustift is 10 minutes drive away. Skiing in the winter, naturally, but also in the summer on the glacier. Have a look at the webpage; there is a very active club in Fulpmes and in Neustift, with also Airwave and Wills Wing 4km away and Wings of Change paragliders in Fulpnes itself. So if you fancy some Alpine flying, get in touch (it’s a nice place to fly).

Winter Height Gain Trophy 2005-2006

Pieced together from various emails and telephone conversations, the following table shows the results so far. Any more flights to add, then let me know. By the way, the trophy is a bottle.

Scott Mather 11/02/06 Glen Clova 320ft

Julian Robinson 14/01/06 Ben Gulabin 20ft

John Newton 14/01/06 Ben Gulabin 10ft

Glider Testing by Simon Lucas

Here’s the low-down on three DHV-2 gliders I tested in Bright, Australia. I currently fly a Windtech Quarx 27 (an old DHV-2), 80-105 kg. My all-up weight is 98 kg. I’ve been flying for 12 years but only have 300 hrs (but I’m working on that!).

Gliders tested were Advance Sigma 6 (size 28), Gradient Aspen 2 (26) and Nova Tattoo (M)

I managed to get several flights on these gliders, with most airtime in fairly strong conditions (4-6 m/s cores) with 2 or more turbulent inversions. I flew short XCs on most gliders (13-20km) and also flew them in calm evening conditions. Manoeuvres undertaken were wing-overs, asymmetric collapses at trim speed and on full bar, symmetric collapses and spiral dives. In most cases I put in collapses with a bit of roll and pitch rather than just level flight. Collapses were counter steered where necessary to stabilise direction. (I am not a test or acro pilot but I like to be able to handle these manoeuvres on any glider I intend to fly XC!).

With all these gliders the most noticeable thing compared to the Quarx (and the Nova Xyon I had before that) is that they are more pitch damped, carrying more energy out of turns. I find this makes them easier to fly.

Glide performance

We managed to glide the 3 side by side for about a kilometre, but the air was mildly thermic and we did not ballast up to equal wing loadings. Gliders with high loading braked slightly to maintain station. Thus the attempted test gave a rough indication rather than any accuracy. All 3 gliders were very similar in performance in these conditions - height difference after a kilometre was minimal. Differences in wing loading and resulting hands-off speed were the dominant factor.

Advance Sigma 6 28

I found the glider to be a good performer, but less agile than the other two tested. The brake feedback is outstanding – while thermalling I could feel every nuance of energy in both sides of the wing, enabling me to squeeze every bit of possible height.

However I found the feedback through the risers somewhat unclear, with a tendency for the load to switch suddenly (rather than progressively) between risers in strong conditions. The glider also sits back slightly on entering thermals, which delays the turn-in a little. (Wing loading and harness settings might be a factor).

In manoeuvres, this glider is the most benign of those I tested. Induced asymmetric tucks go in and out slowly and progressively at trim and on full bar. Small inputs stabilise the course OK. I found symmetric tucks also benign – the wing regains shape quickly, although the tips stayed in and had to be pumped out. The recovery was slow and controlled with little direction change. Spiral dives take a while to lock in, I found the exit very smooth with the glider damping out surge very effectively. Over all it struck me as very benign with little tendency to build up large amounts of energy which get more difficult to handle.

On evening flights, the glide performance was very noticeable – the glider seems to damp out pitch/roll and maintain glide performance with minimal pilot input.

++ Glide performance in floaty conditions, brake feedback, safety / low energy build up in manoeuvres

-- Riser feedback, lower agility (but not a barge)

‘Accessible svelte performance cruiser out flies sporty posers’

Nova Tattoo Medium

As soon as I took off it was immediately apparent that this is an agile sporty machine. Roll damping seems minimal. Initially the sporty feel makes it seem that pitch damping is also low leading to cautious over control, however after a bit of airtime and a few manoeuvres I found that pitch is very well balanced and you can safely let the glider have its head.

In light conditions this is a dream – riser feedback is excellent, and small light thermals can be worked very easily. It is tempting to turn this glider too much when it would be more efficient to fly it straight! After the Sigma 6, I found the brake feedback somewhat flat and uninformative.

However in strong punchy conditions I found the roll sensitivity somewhat irksome. It was difficult to punch into bullets - I suffered from being punched out of cores (and pulled down into big sink pockets) and having to whip the glider round parallel to the ground and back onto course. From a stability point of view doing this with the glider was no problem at all, and it carries through the energy very well, but it takes mental concentration and keeps you very busy in such conditions. Discussion with other Tattoo pilots showed they were generally flying slightly higher in the weight range than I was (100-105 kg on the medium) which may be a factor. This is not a criticism but is intended to be indicative of the flying style of the glider. Other than the roll in punchy conditions, in the air the glider feels very direct and simple to fly – just weight shift and brake one side and off you go!

Given the agility and energy retention I expected this glider to be more of a handful in manoeuvres, but found that this was not necessarily so. The glider has very good behaviour with asymmetric tucks, after the collapse it turns a little, the partially collapsed wing stops and sits at a certain point/attitude, holds in that position for a split second and then progressively reinflates. This seemed to be consistent for me, accelerated asymmetric tucks were similar with a little more attention required to control the direction. Symmetric tucks went in and came out smartly with no direction change. Leading edge resistance felt higher than on the Sigma and the Aspen.

Weight shifted wingovers were very coordinated, however a little brake input results in a rapid build up of bank angle and energy so care is needed. Given this fact I expected spiral dives to be feisty – however I found them very progressive, winding the energy in and out with really precise brake inputs was a treat. Winding out the energy over 1 rotation and coming out was fine, with the glider damping out the surge very well. However I would say that this is not a glider to learn to spiral on – ham-fisted brake inputs will have a sudden and dramatic effect!

++ Agility, sporty handling, energy carry through

-- Low roll damping (unless you like it that way), perhaps sensitivity to wing loading, energy build up if you are not used to it.

‘Gully gobbling mountain glider gives Ozone a run for its money’

Gradient Aspen 2 26

My initial flight on this glider was on a very rough day, but the combination of the glider and my being high in the weight range resulted in a really easy XC. The ability of this glider to smooth out the air and let the pilot get on with thermalling and XC decision making was admirable. I twice deliberately flew into air where other gaggle members had tucked badly, and had no problems at all.

Feedback through risers and brakes was excellent, giving the wing a very coordinated feel, although brake information is not quite so detailed as the Sigma 6. The wing felt very accessible using a similar flying style to the Quarx, coordinating both sides of the wing with the brakes and weight shifting round the sky. Low saves were a treat, with the glider very manoeuvrable in gullies and not over-reacting to bullets. The wing tells you very clearly where the energy is in the thermal and it’s easy to dial into tight 360’s in the core.

Flying the glider in light conditions was less rewarding than the others tested, high wing loading making a difference. It did not feel as easy to “glide on’ with this glider as the Sigma 6, requiring more pilot input to maintain a level canopy.

In manoeuvres, this glider felt slightly ‘older style’ than the other two tested. Asymmetric tucks at trim went in easily and then came out in a continuous sequence rather than with the ‘stabilised pause’ that I seemed to experience on the Tattoo and the Sigma 6. Accelerated asymmetric tucks felt more extreme than on the other gliders but were still easy to stabilise. Symmetric tucks went in and came out quickly, with little direction change. Wingovers were very progressive with a linear build up of energy with brake input. After initiation, spirals tended to tighten somewhat requiring a little opposite brake to stabilise, but were easy to exit bleeding off the energy in one rotation and the glider damping out the surge.

Finally this glider is noticeably lighter than the other gliders (5.4kg versus 6.5kg+).

(As may be detected, I personally like the handling of this glider and hope to test the next size up!).

++ Coordinated handling, agility, handles rough air, light weight

-- Not much

‘Versatile all rounder with sport and cruise settings all in one'

In summary:

Glider	Weight Range	DHV 2s	Comments	Flights
Gradient Aspen 2 26	80-100 kg	12/34	++ Coordinated handling, agility, handles rough air -- Not much ‘Versatile all rounder with sport and cruise settings all in one'	4 hrs
Advance Sigma 6 28	85-110 kg	4/34	++ Glide performance in float conditions, brake feedback, safety / low energy build up in manoeuvres -- Riser feedback, lower agility (but not a barge) ‘Accessible svelte performance cruiser out flies sporty posers’	5 hrs
Nova Tattoo Medium	90-110 kg	15/34	++ Agility, sporty handling, energy carry through -- Low roll damping (unless you like it that way), perhaps sensitivity to wing loading, energy build up if you are not used to it. ‘Gully gobbling mountain glider gives Ozone a run for its money’	4 hrs

As a postscript I flew Matt’s new Ozone Mantra, a DHV 2-3. OK, it was only a late-evening top-to-bottom but I immediately noticed the difference in handling and landed with a huge grin. However while I am current at the moment, I think I’m a bit chicken to fly this standard of glider without being so all the time. But then that's a good excuse to fly all the time.

Curious About Its Colour ... Ratho Reserve Throw by Scott Mather

Shortly after I had got my wing and harness, I decided to get myself a reserve just in case anything bad were to happen. I saw it as cheap insurance and so did my wife who paid for half of it as a birthday present. It was one of those presents that you sure never wanted to use, just like the blow up sheep you got for your 21^st birthday from your mates.

With help from Billy Valentine, I put it in the harness and understood the bits that would require to be checked once in a while to ensure that it should give a positive outcome if used. I was quite happy with removing it from the harness and putting it back in, but I still never knew what colour it was.

That was to be changed. At the end of February the SHPF had organised its annual chuck and repack event at Ratho adventure centre, to the west of Edinburgh. I duly sent of my £20 registration fee and form, and got up very early on the Saturday morning to get down there in time for the start of proceedings. I recognised a few people such as Logan Nisbett and a few guys from Bishop Hill days. There was good array of different harnesses and reserves so it would be interesting to see how they deployed during the day.

First up was the biggest guy at the event who strapped into his Gin harness and had a tandem reserve stuffed in it. There we were up on the roof of the café some 70-80 feet above the climbing area watching the first victim, sorry, participant get checked that all his straps were in place and he was properly attached to the zip wire itself. He was ready to go: feet over the edge ... sitting on the edge ... trying to shuffle over the side ... then he was off. Reserve out and inflated before he came to a halt. His was yellow. As I was sixth to go I stayed up already in my harness and getting slightly more nervous as somebody else threw their colourful nylon reserve. They had all worked fine so far, though some seemed quicker to actually inflate than others, but that could be to do with the speed and strength of the throw and your travel down the wire.

“Scott Mather?” Damn, it was my turn. It is fair to say I do not like heights, 15 foot up a ladder can make me nervous, so I checked everything myself as they checked it as well. They screwed closed the Karabiners on the harness loops and checked they were attached to the zip line, as I checked myself as PIC or plummeter in command. “Sit on the edge and just shuffle yourself off”. Try it with a partially inflated harness and very tight straps, “try to be a bit straighter”, then I am off twisting one way, then the other, grab the handle and throw back hard. My helmet has moved on my head and I grab where the risers would be: it is now truly a free ride! I hear the fabric rustle out behind me and feel the snap as the reserve is fully inflated and slows you down just as we run out of wire. That was good.

From time of initial drop to chucking the handle was 2 seconds, barely 2 for the lines to be fully extended and around 1.5 before the parachute started to open and another 2 until it was fully deployed. It is easy to see in the worse case it is easy to see that a 100m sprinter could be over the line before we have stabilised to the rated 4-5 ms-1 descent rate. During the remaining throws there were a few incidences like the reserve being folded inside out, and lines in the reserve bag slowing the opening of the chute itself. In the end 35 people including 2 hangies threw their reserves. The majority were for the first time who were reassured by the fact they work and had a better understanding of the actual process.

Then of course came the repack. It was fair to say that each type was different. The newer apex pull down models with tabs on them were relatively straight forward to do, those without the tabs a bitty longer to do. The next ones which seemed to take a while to do due to the meticulous folding required were the popular Metamorfosi chutes that were invariably matched up with Woody Valley Peak harnesses. We were organised so that we saw how to do our type of chute and were assisted by Dave Thomson and Logan (among others) who also offered advice on maintenance and what to check for. After 3 we could do it all ourselves with Dave and Logan checking as we moved from one stage of the packing to another. I never saw the end of the steerable chutes repack, it just seemed to take for ever.

All in all it was good experience to learn more about the sensation of the deployment and how your reserve is put together and packed. It is not rocket science at the end of the day but for piece of mind you could always pay for someone to do it. Or learn for that time you are on holiday and it is deployed by a twig on the handle and needs repacked. As for next year I may well go back down, but if I do I will pull the reserve and pack it again before I go, as this may be the only time I can take the chance of it not deploying correctly. And it was yellow at the end of the day!

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Safety Notes

The Flying Safety Committee is keen to encourage pilots to have their gliders serviced regularly and to help have published an Annual Canopy Inspection form for use with paragliders. If you are going to get your wing serviced then enclose a form, getting one either by downloading from the BHPA website, or contact Matt

It has been noticed in other parts of the country that some low-airtime pilots are spending far too much time looking at their wing while flying. I've noticed it with some experienced pilots as well (not AHPC members I hasten to add). Presumably they are trying to reassure themselves that its still there, or not collapsed, or something. Anyway, they're not looking around so much. Make sure its not you, especially if I'm flying as well.

A Trip Down Under by Matthew Church

For those who have problems reading, see www.ahpc.org.uk for the story in little words and big pictures.

With winter looming I found my thoughts turning to the southern hemisphere again. Australia beckoned, due to the good flying and the offer of Christmas dinner from Karen and Simon Allen in Tasmania. Add in a friend who's just moved to Kuala Lumpar and the flights just had to be booked. I also treated myself to get a new wing and ordered an Ozone Mantra from Fred Gungl of Active Flight in Bright in Victoria.

Good food in KL aided the recovery from the long flight and got us prepared for 8 hours to Melbourne. More R&R then we headed to Bright to see if my new wing had arrived. It hadn't but Fred had a spare Nova Xact I could fly. I'd not flown a Nova for long, just the odd flight here and there, but I found Xact a rather nice wing. It gave good feedback on what is happening in the air and was solid feeling in the turbulence I met. I didn't get the large flights I’d hoped for, but had quite a few little bimbles around, getting used to the wing and the air.

Then all of a sudden it was time to head for Tasmania to join the Allen's. Since Simon set the state record of 20km there has been new interest in XC flying and a handicap based on the AHPC one has been set up. The main sites in Tassie have really just been used for sea-breeze soaring since early hangy times but have XC potential before the breeze kicks in.

Rob Steane was to be my partner-in-crime during the week while everyone else was working. However, while flying at Winton on the sea breeze while we were landing at Hobart, he decided to top land in dodgy air on a borrowed wing and pranged in, breaking his arm. Not a good start to the season, and ruled him out of the comps at Killarney and Bright.

Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate for me and I got very little flying in (along with the rest of Australia), though December is a bit early in the Tassie season. I just had a brief flop at Winton, which is a 120m top to bottom but quite a few km long. Several hang gliders were also out and one also braved the flop just for practice, but unfortunately slipped while trying to run his glider nearer the track after landing (perfectly) and twisted his ankle. Luckily Lu was there with her veterinary skills, so was able to put it in a sling (after his boot had been cut off). I had more luck at nearby Jews Hill with some thermic flights and even a little XC

Several new places are also being explored and I ended up helping. Mount Pleasant is sort of Tap shaped, mostly clear of trees round the sides, though with few landing options on the south. However it's unfortunately just too small. Top to bottom of 100m or so is enough, but with the longest side being only 50m or so, there's only the one chance of flying, ie when the thermal comes up. The two days I went there were blowing a hoolie, until the afternoon of the 2^nd day when the sea breeze came in. I was out with a low-airtime pilot visiting from the mainland and we both managed a top to bottom on the west face. By the time we'd walked to the top again (not long) it was blowing too strongly from the east. But there's a good view of the long East-facing ridge of Mount Franklin.

Another new site was 5 minutes from Simon and Karen's, on the coast. As it happened, my new Mantra turned up on the same day as Simon's new Swing Astral 4. We were both very good and had a half hour of ground handling the new wings before flying the new site (as befits Simon's post of safety officer at the local club).

Back to Bright for the first comp of the trip – a fun one called the Australian Festival of Free Flying, Fun and Frolics. Or something like that anyway. This was a 4 day event with both hangy and para sections. Spot landings for those that wanted it (hangies did better than the paras!) while the XC bit was fly where you wanted and dwnload your GPS into CompeGPS for an optimised score. Best score wins. We picked Simon Lucas up at Melbourne on the way, along with the 4x4 were hiring. The comp went well, 3 days flyable, and we had fun and frolic-ed. I ended up 10^th in the paras, and actually came 2^nd in one task, which I was rather pleased with. The Simons came 17^th and 18^th, Allen not quite able to get past Lucas who bombed twice on the final task. A last day had a fancy dress fly-down, except it was blowing too strongly even for the hang gliders, so there was a parade around the LZ.

A few more days free flying at Bright saw Simon Lucas doing his first flight as a tandem pilot, having been a passenger with Zabdi in Nepal, then Simon Allen took him on their dual. And who was his first passenger? Why, Karen:

As a thank you for not killing her, Karen took Simon and her kids gold panning. They even found some gold.

While the Allens went their own way for a family holiday and the Lucas went to Perth for a look-see, Lu and I moved on to Corryong, a farming centre and flying site 100km from Bright. Three days of excellent flying, starting with a hard 50km cross-wind flight and finishing with a 27km evening triangle proved that the locals hadn't been wrong about the site. It's also a friendly site in that it doesn't normally start to work until 1 o'clock – none of this getting up at the scrape of dawn. That 50k flight was fun as another Mantra turned up 10km into the flight and we flew together, joining a Litespeed. We actually kept up with the hang glider as he did a lot of searching for thermals before joining us in ours. At one point all 3 of us were getting ready to land when we got the climb; the hangy was out of his harness, we were that low.

After a few days of tourist stuff (looking for wombats) I dropped Lu off at the airport and picked up Simon Lucas (I’m sure I lost out on that one). We went back to Bright and Simon did his glider testing before ordering the Sigma 6. We moved on to Manilla hoping to pick up the Sigma from the dealer, Godfrey Weness (owner of Mt Borah). Unfortunately the wing coming in that week turned out to be an Epsilon, so Simon bought the demo wing, which had gone to the south coast so had to be posted up. We got some pretty good flying in, though nothing epic. The one day that was particularly good and 2 of the locals flew over 190km, Simon bombed on the wrong side of the Borah ridge and had to walk the same 7km flown back to the landing field. I also went down, with Dan, another British pilot, only 25km out. As we packed up a group went over low and got the thermal we’d missed. But there was a fair bit of over-development about, as there was all week, and so it wasn’t too bad being on the ground (as we had to keep telling ourselves). I had a couple of terrible days following that, with 5 flights to the bomb-out LZ’s, though nobody was going far. Would have nice to stay in the air for all that. In penitence after the 5^th top-to-bottom I walked back to the farm, a 7km walk. After 6.5km one of the locals driving back up the hill convinced me to go for another flight, and I broke the pattern with a lovely flight to Manilla town and almost back to the farm. There were some fantastic afternoon thunderstorms, with torrential rain and wind gusts over 50 knots. The town lost power one afternoon and we had to go to Tamworth for food, catching a pretty good band at the same time.

Next stop was Killarney for the Open competition there. Simon got his Sigma from the post office and Katka from the bus station, so immediately liked the place. This site has been a hang gliding place for donkey’s years for pilots from Brisbane, but not so much recently. A paraglider pilot has bought the launch and is tidying it up. It’s on the west side of the Great Dividing Range, with the west launch overlooking the flats and the east launches over an impressive gorge. The wind all week was quite strong from the east, with 3 out of 8 days cancelled due to it being too strong. The other days were also strong and I landed backwards once. Twice I managed to scrape along for 5km in zeros just 50m off the deck before getting the thermal, desperately trying not to land as the wind was that strong. But the flying was good, neither of us ending up in the bomb-out LZ. Simon started well with a few 30-40km flights before changing tactics and landing in a field 7km over the back, not just once but 2 or 3 times. I had a slow start, but came good on the 3^rd task making the 95km goal. I then took another climb and flew on until my GPS read 100km for the first time. Yippee. However, while everything was getting very buoyant, I had to get back to score and so flew back to the road and landed. I had to remind myself of my instructor’s warning of not to rush a landing after a good flight as it took me over 20 minutes to get down.

The next task was in the same direction but I just missed goal (70km out of 76) by keeping too far from the convergence cloud, having been sucked into it the previous day and “wasting” 10 minutes getting out of. The last task should have been cancelled but wasn’t, just stopped once the leaders landed at goal in the rain – the clouds were massive – which is why I opted to land. But I just finished the comp at my target of top half of the field.

Simon then took Katka off for a drive around Oz while I went with Max (from Greenland) to Bright for the next competition, stopping off at Manilla for a couple more days. The NSW hang gliding championships were on at Mount Borah and it was an impressive sight watching them gather on launch and then climb in gaggles and go racing off. Again there was nothing epic but we had some nice flying, keeping it relaxed before the comp. In Bright I didn’t have such a good comp, landing twice due to misreading the conditions, on days that half the field got to goal. But I had my revenge by deciding the last day was going to blow out and hired a bike. While I was out cycling around the hills the rest sat on the hill for ages before a few got trashed in the crappy air and then it finally blew out. But the other days were fun, though I rushed a bit when I shouldn’t have and paid the price by landing before goal.

And suddenly it was time to go home. Three months away isn’t that long after all. But I’d had some great flying, putting over 70 hours and 900km on my new wing, seen some old friends and made some new ones. And best of all, missed the Aberdeen winter.