This is probably the most ambitious paramotoring expedition planned in the history of our sport. This spring (May 2007), two British pilots will attempt to fly over the highest mountain in the world, the Everest, to an altitude of +10,000m (33,000 feet) using their powered paragliders. The flight will take the athletes from a base camp at about 3500m and some 30 km south of Everest, all the way up over the Himalayas and to their goal, for at least 4 hours of flight. The GKN team will use Paramania Revolution gliders (36 m2) and special Parajet paramotors designed for extreme-altitude flying. The machines carry a single rotor, four-stroke rotary engine capable of delivering 85 horsepower (150% more than a conventional two-stroke engine) and with a fuel capacity of 30 litres. The units will incorporate ultra-lightweight carbon fibre winglets (designed by Mike Cambell-Jones and Pete Searl) fitted into the underside of the PPG harness, “which effectively give the pilot wings – the attitude of which can be controlled independently in flight” explain at the GKN expedition. The winglets may be used to help the pilots climb faster for Mission Everest and cut through turbulent air more efficiently.

In the thin Everest air and with a total weight of gear at around 100kg, the GKN Mission Everest machines will fly at up to 160km/h! Once airborne and at altitude, they will utilise a special predictive fuel injection system to deliver exactly the correct volume of fuel for any speed or altitude. Each paramotor will be equipped with the latest flight information computer which updates five times per second with fuel consumption, engine data, wind speed, wind direction, aircraft airspeed and ground speed, current altitude and climb and sink rates and, crucially, the aircraft’s flight range in any given direction in relation to fuel capacity.

For safety reasons –considering the risky conditions the pilots will fly in- their harnesses have special quick release systems and each pilot will carry an emergency skydiving rig, to skydive down thousands of feet and land in the lower valleys in the case of a serious emergency. They will also carry a basic survival kit.

The training of the pilots for this demanding adventure include skydiving, SIV courses, mountain climbing and even the use of special re-breathers called Hypoxicators to pre-acclimatise before leaving the UK.

The Pilots
Bear Grylls became known in 1998 as the youngest British climber (23) ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest and return alive –and this, only 3 years after suffering a serious parachute accident. His book on this extraordinary story, Facing Up, soared into the Top 10 Bestseller List. In 2003, Bear led the first team to cross the frozen North Atlantic unassisted, travelling just below the Arctic Circle in a small, open rigid inflatable boat. He has also been involved in TV series about adventures and survival.

Gilo Cardozo is an aviation-engineering specialist, a pioneer in the field of personal aviation and founder and Managing Director of Parajet, manufacturer of paramotors. He is personally devoted to the development of the machines that the GKN Mission Everest will use. Gilo managed the flight technology of Bear Grylls's most recent expedition: Paramotoring deep into the Venezuelan jungle for a TV series.

+Info: www.gknmissioneverest.com

Posted: January 24th, 2007

Click here to see a big picture of the PPG

+Info: www.xcopen.org

*See our Calendar of events

The idea of the XC World Series is to fly with friends, have fun, fly far and beat your personal best distance in a safe XC area. The Tour 2007 will bring pilots in different locations around the globe the opportunity to compete in consistent and safe conditions, all in FAI cat. 2 events. The dates and locations are:

Manilla, Australia, February 14-21
Piedrahita, Spain, September 01-08
Valle de Bravo, Mexico, December 15-22

The organizers offer the following reasons to convince you to participate:

· The best safe flying areas on our planet
· The most consistent conditions to fly far and safe, not the time of the most radical thermals and strongest winds
· Good infrastructure for easy retrieves
· New: A Tour Calendar with dates outside the main flying season in the northern hemisphere, so that you can get additional flying time
· New: Open distance tasks or open distance via a turn point - you will get the maximum out of your flying day - not the fastest pilots wins, but the one with the longest distance
· New: All scoring is done life and online. All you need to do is upload your tracklog to the xcopen server and your score will immediately be visible to the world
· New: 8 day competitions with the best 4 days of each pilot taken for the scoring
· New: We will have winners of the whole XC Open Series as well. 50% of the flown tasks will be taken for the overall scoring. Even if you don't fly in all three of the 2007 events, you still could be the overall winner of the XC Open World Series.
· 150 pilots can take part in each event (for the XC Open final 2007 in Valle de Bravo Mexico the maximum number of pilots is 125)
· We score: Open Class, Serial Class (DHV 2-3 max), Ladies and Masters (+50 years)
· For the team score (4 pilots, the best 3 score each day) Ladies and Masters get a bonus of 25%”.

Posted: January 22nd, 2007

Petra Krausova is now Petra Slivova!
The female World/European champion and 3-times PWC winner Petra Krausova has finally taken the vows to start a new life as a married woman. Last year, during the Europeans, she told us that she was looking forward to this new step in her life but at the same time she did not feel capable of putting paragliding aside… Sure it will not be easy to dedicate more time to family than to paragliding but we are sure that Petra will count on a strong support from her husband (also a PG pilot). Best wishes to you both, from Ojovolador!

*Read the interview to Petra after winning the Euros here

The season that just finished was one of the best for setting world records, specially for the exceptional Spanish pilot Ramon Morillas, who was able to break a total of four paramotoring records officially certified by the FAI: Straight distance of 951 km, speed over Japanese slalom with 56.95 seconds (obtained during the European Championships), gain of height with 6102 meters, and time to climb to 6000 meters with 4 hours 40 minutes and 27 seconds. Now, if you think that the athlete is satisfied with these achievements then you don't know him. Ramon is already thinking about new incredible feats to do during this new year, hopefully with as much success as last year. Ramon flies a paramotor PAP and Advance gliders.

+Info: http://records.fai.org/microlight/current.asp?id=RPF1

Posted: January 16th, 2007

The FAI has certified the world record of speed set by Bulgarian pilot Venelin Staikov with his Paramotor and an Apco Thrust glider, last year: 51,67 km/h. On the morning of June 10, 2006 Venelin took off from Kazanlak, Bulgaria in an attempt to break this record. Less than an hour after starting he closed the 50 km triangle and landed back in Kazanlak with a big smile of victory. Staikov, aged 42, started paragliding in 1998 and took up paramotoring in 2002, a hobby that takes most of his free time as president of a TV company in Bulgaria. Before this record, he had attempted other 2 feats, a flight of +500 km and another up to +5000m.

+Info: www.apcoaviation.com

Posted: January 15th, 2007

By Godfrey Wenness – event organiser

The 2007 Paragliding World Championships at Manilla on February 24th -March 9th, is inviting all pilots to attend and be part of the excitement.

Paragliding Worlds events have in the past failed to attract significant numbers of visitors and spectators. Mostly it's due to remote locations, limited visitor flying and the lack of lack of a simple invitation! The Manilla event will be unique in that spectators and visitor pilots are encouraged to attend and fly before and after the competition pilots have left Mt Borah. Spectator pilots will be able to follow the course to goal with little or no interference with the comp pilots - and they'll have the chance to attend one of the best ‘free' XC skills clinics ever and support their national pilots. Imagine flying XC and seeing thermal's many km's ahead. That's exactly what Manilla 2007 will provide for visiting pilots. It's also the reason for theme of the event slogan – “See the Sky Come Alive”.

Manilla offers a variety of landscapes including river valleys, rolling hills and plateau country (300-1000m), low ridges (600m) and a volcanic peak at over 1400m. Only after 50-100kms, depending on direction, will you see pure flatlands. Conditions vary from strong but smooth 5-8 m/s blue days to 4,000m+, to easy-cruising 3-4 m/s up days. The classic comp task is the downwind blast or up to 200kms, but it's not as easy as it sounds! It's XC and racing that is very different to that in the alps or mountainous areas, and those in the lead have no one around to watch as is the case in out and return ridge style tasks.

The 2007 event will start with a street parade, huge airshow, opening party, fireworks and a concert. A purpose-built town square will be open for the duration of the comp, with food outlets, a big screen and nightly entertainment. Manilla 2007 will have its closing ceremonies on the last task night in the form of a street party, ensuring everyone stays in town to cheer the new Champions.

The Manilla area is cheap to stay in by European standards. Rental cars can be organised for as little as 15 euros a day, and all important beers in “schooner” glass (375ml) are <2 euros. Manilla is five hours northwest of Sydney by car. Don't forget when coming to Australia its important to learn the local greeting – not “hello” but rather you should say “G'day”. Manilla is looking forward to saying G'day to pilots around the world.

Posted: January 4 th, 2007

The World Record Safari leaded by Slovenian top pilots Aljaz and Urban Valic (Mac Para Magus 5) has achieved its goal of breaking world records in the skies of De Aar, South Africa. On Thursday 7th of December the Valic brothers flew the longest individual open distance in the world: 426 km. On the same flight they set a new distance to goal record at 368,2 km; and the new world distance on a tandem was set at 356km by British pilots Richard Westgate and Phil Bibby, who also traveled to SA for that. All the pilots spent over 7 hours in the air.
Despite tough and very strong conditions, and after spending 6 and half hours in the air, both brothers made the declared goal, and had enough height and time to continue to fly further, eventually landing within 400 meters of each other! Launch was in Vosburg, with the declared destination in Jamestown, 368 km away. The pilots flew at over 5200 meters above sea level, almost as high as Kilimanjaro and higher than Mont Blanc. The records now need to be verified by the FAI.
Since arriving in South Africa the brothers Aljaz (27) and Urban (26) have both flown a handful of flights over 300kms in their bid to break the standing record set by Andre Fleury in Brazil last year at 353,4 km. The current straight distance mark was set at 423,4 km by Will Gadd (CA) in 2002, in Texas, USA. The tandem distance record was set at 314 km by Andre Fleury and Claudia Ribeiro only two months ago, and it has not even been ratified by the FAI yet.
Des Pansi, Marketing Manager for South African Hanggliding and Paragliding Association (SAHPA), stated: ‘After working to get the world record back in South Africa for the last three years, we are proud and immensely excited to have not just one record, but three world records back in our country.’
De Aar is a popular destination during the December months for paraglider pilots from all over the world as it has the weather conditions conducive to breaking records in this free flying sport.

Flight details:

Aljaz: 426,8 km
Start time: 10.57
Landing time: 18.29
Avg. speed: 56,6 km/h
Duration: 7.31 h
max. Altitude: 5367 m
Max. Speed: 120 km/h
Open distance: 426,8 km

Urban: 426,4 km
Start time: 10.35
Landing time: 18.05
Avg. speed: 56,8 km/h
Duration: 7.27 h
Max. Altitude: 5604 m
Max. Speed: 118 km/h
Open distance: 426,4 km

Posted: December 20th, 2006

Photos: Macpara.com

Photo: Fly-safary.com

+Info: www.fly-safary.com

*There are special guiding-retrieving-accommodation packs for visiting pilots including free registration for the Challenge, available from the Palmaclub

Read our article of the 1st Challenge here.

+Info: www.flylapalma.com

Posted: December 19th, 2006

December 1st was the starting date of a new paragliding Challenge in the sunny Canary island of La Palma (Spain). Its successful first edition attracted some of the best pilots of the world for a total of 115 participants, and for this 2nd Challenge there’s interesting news: 24,000 euros will be handed to the best pilots in 3 categories: general, pilots with DHV1 and 1-2 gliders, and pilots with gliders up to DHV2.
With these prizes, the organizers want to attract pilots of all levels to try and fly XC in the “pretty island” of Canarias while they enjoy a great flying holidays. Money prizes will be given to the 6 first pilots in each category and to those who score the highest number of flights of +15 km, but surely all the Top pilots will fight hard for the big prize of 8,000 euros for the overall winner!
This special paragliding competition has 2 phases: the first will last almost a year – from 1 December 2006 to 10 November 2007 – and works like a free distance event, where the pilot simply has to make as many valid flights as possible during this period. With 3 good flights the pilot will have options to enter the Final phase, as the score will be the average of his/her 3 best flights (1 point per km) plus a 20%. The final phase (December 1-8, 2007) is designed more like a traditional competition in which the best 50 pilots of the first stage will have to complete imposed tasks, usually races over a set circuit in a limited time frame. Last year, the Final resulted in exciting races around the west coast of La Palma, which gave a fantastic spectacle and were great fun for the competitors.
Organized by the Sport Association Palmaclub, the aim of the 2nd Challenge Island of La Palma is to promote the beauty and conditions of the island to pilots all over the world, as it is a privileged place for free flight with more than 300 flyable days a year. The best conditions for paragliding are found when the rest of Europe is in winter, which makes La Palma a fantastic winter escape easily reachable from most countries in the continent, according to the organizers. Add to this the stunning landscapes of the island, the variety of outdoors activities that can be practiced there (trekking, mountain biking, scuba diving, water sports), and the good beaches and tourist infrastructure, to make this Challenge a great opportunity to combine vacations, XC flying and competition.

On Sunday November 19th, our Ojovolador pilot Daniel Crespo set a new record of speed over straight course of 15-25 km in paramotor with trike: 59,53 km/h , for a course of 15.36 km . The average speed achieved (flying twice over the course) is more than 2 km/h faster than the current world record in this modality (57,2 k/h) and we hope to fulfill all the requirements to be certified by the FAI as an official new world record. Daniel took off in his trike with a paramotor Airfer VR200 and an Ozone Viper 26 glider, at 13:04 on Sunday, from an airfield in Tomelloso , Spain . After taking some altitude, he started the route that had declared before the flight, crossing the start point at 13:09:21 hrs, according to the GPS. The pilot reached the end of the course at 13:25:04 hrs. The second flight over the section started at 13:25:52 hrs, and ended at 13:41:07 hours. The average speed obtained in both directions, according to our calculations and pending verification, is 59,53 kilometers per hour. Daniel's goal was to exceed 60 km/h, but he says that this has only been the first attempt to make it: He will soon try again this and other records of speed in paramotor with trike, as he is sure that he's capable of flying at more than 60 km/h using the trimers totally open and full speed bar of his paraglider.

Daniel is a member of the Spanish Team of PL1 (paramotor with trike) that obtained Silver medal during the FAI European Championships held in August in Leon, Spain (read our article here), and he hopes to represent his country again at the Worlds in China, in September 2007.

Posted: November 21st, 2006

After 6 valid tasks flown in the warm island of La Reunion and a victory in the last event of the year, Christian Maurer kept the title of the top level competition circuit, the Paragliding World Cup, for a second time in a row. Maurer won 2 of the previous four World Cup competitions and was leading the overall ranking.

Photos: Martin Scheell

Posted: November 17th, 2006