Skywings news items published in 2017 are displayed below.
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100km+ in February
The 2017 XC season started with a bang on February 24th with a 100km+ Ozone Zeno flight by Graham Steel. Graham left Selsley Common near Stroud at 11.30, and landed nearly four hours later at Wokingham after 114.5km.
The same day saw Richard Osborne (Zeno) fly 92.5km from Woolacombe and Remi Pickett (Icepeak 7) make 70.8km from Selsley in company with Graham.
Posted: 9 April 2017
By: Paul Dancey
Bordairrace!
Billed as a 'semi-official' European Hike-and-fly championship, the Bordairrace series has run in Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia since 2008. From a common starting point pilots choose a distant personal turnpoint and attempt to make it back to the start within 33 hours.
A ground crew of one or two supporters is allowed but not obligatory. Several successful X-Alps pilots cut their teeth on the Bordairrace, not least Paul Guschlbauer, Thomas Hofbauer, Sebastian Huber, Chrigel Maurer and the late, great Steve Nash.
This year's series starts at Aschau (Chiemgau, Germany) on May 5th-7th and takes in Austria's Ramsau am Dachstein (June 22nd - 24th) and Kössen (September 1st - 3rd). For details please visit the Bordairrace website or the Bordairrace facebook page.
Posted: 9 April 2017
By: Paul Dancey
Magical Hang Gliding talk
Tom Weissenberger's Magical Hang Gliding show in Sheffield in March was a real treat. His series of very well shot and edited XC videos, backed with superb music, covered the entire hang gliding spectrum from low-level dune flying to astonishing ten-hour triangle flights.
Additional examples of sheer devilry included a half-kilometre 'swoop' about ten feet off a mountain lake ('500m is exactly the distance a hang glider takes to stop!'), and diving between two tower blocks just 30m apart at Iquique. Tom's presentation starts with a 15km overwater glide and ends with him gliding with golden eagles. In between you begin to understand his belief in hang gliding as the Last Adventure.
The man is hugely experienced and very determined; his 353km and 340km out-and-return records were gained in Chile in 2013 after four years of trying, during which he flew 80 hours and 3,000km. Tom is currently raising money for the forthcoming World Championships at Brasilia. ";Red Bull don't sponsor me for comps," he says, "only the crazy stuff!"
Posted: 9 April 2017
By: Paul Dancey
A secure future for Avian
Last June Steve Elkins announced that he was putting Avian up for sale after running the business for nearly 30 years. It is now clear that engineer, hang glider pilot and Hang Points columnist Tim Swait will be taking Avian on.
Tim will be taking over all aspects of the business but Steve will remain involved as a consultant, training Tim and providing assistance with new designs. Avian will continue to manufacture and sell Avian gliders, provide factory support, servicing and repairs for all models of hang glider, and act as agent for AIR rigid wings, High Energy Sports parachutes and Icaro gliders, helmets and other accessories.
Tim's first priority is to maintain continuity in all Avian's services; in the longer term he plans to implement further innovations. To raise capital for this he is launching a crowd-funding campaign offering rewards such as substantial incentives on gliders and servicing. For further details please visit the Avian website.
Posted: 9 April 2017
By: Paul Dancey
Kenya o/r record falls
Brit Hunter Marriam's world tandem paragliding out-and-return distance record, set two years ago at Nyaru, Kenya, has been broken by Slovakian pilot Miroslav Matovič.
Miroslav flew his Axis Vega XCT 219.2km from the same site in January, exceeding Hunter's record by 4km.
Posted: 6 March 2017
By: Paul Dancey
Nova XC-Challenge
Nova's own-brand worldwide online XC contest continues in 2017 for a third year.
To participate, pilots simply upload their flights to XContest.org and Nova's own system generates the XC-Challenge rankings. Note that it's important to use the correct model name as the system will not recognize flights with incorrectly named wings.
The XC-Challenge ends on September 30th; it includes five categories covering Prion, Ion, Mentor, Triton and Phantom (pictured) gliders. The winner of each class will receive a Nova harness of their choice. For further information please visit the Nova website.
Posted: 6 March 2017
By: Paul Dancey
Carl's European record
Carl Wallbank's 264.99km straight-distance-to-goal record of last April has been recognized by the FAI as a European record. Carl's flight, on Moyes Litespeed RX 3.5, retraced the route of his 2012 UK record flight from Llangollen to land at goal at Weymouth (in 2012 Carl missed out on a similar goal by a few hundred metres).
In 2015 Carl topped the hang gliding XC league with over 1100km; last year he won again at 1,197km.
It's worth noting that the European obsession with alpine triangle flights for big records means that record straight distances and flights to goal are less common.
As a result Carl's 2016 flight stands as a previously unset European-area record, surely a unique distinction!
Posted: 6 March 2017
By: Paul Dancey
Glasto helicopter infringer prosecuted
Helicopter pilot Mark Matthews, 49, was prosecuted at Bath Magistrates' Court in January for flying his helicopter into and out of the 2016 Glastonbury Festival without permission. Matthews was seen to have landed his Robinson R44 at the Love Fields on June 23rd, and was later photographed and filmed taking off again.
Since 1998 regulations have prohibited aircraft from flying below 3,100ft amsl within 2.5 nm of Glastonbury. Matthews, of Radstock, Somerset, did not have the required permission from the police to enter the TRA; he pleaded guilty to two charges and was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.
Readers may recall that paramotor pilot David Hoare was similarly prosecuted by the CAA and fined for landing at the site in 2015 and 2011.
For those of us that wonder why there aren't more prosecutions for illegal flying, it's clear that if enough people witness someone doing it - and take pictures - the CAA will see them in court.
Posted: 6 March 2017
By: Paul Dancey
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