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Edited: june 20th, 2003

Safety Notes! 
*The following safety issues have been dealt with by the DHV.

Break of an Austrialpin carabiner: Recently, an aluminium harnesscarabiner Parafly Automatic by Austrialpin broke while starting a paraglider in the Czech Republic. The carabiner had been used for 2 years in paragliding flights. Immediately, a material investigation was initiated by the DHV, which conclusion should be available by the beginning of June. Meanwhile, the DHV have decided the following precautionary safety measure: "All aluminium harnesscarabiners Parafly Automatic by Austrialpin, regardless the surface finishing must not be used anymore until the material investigation is finished", according to the airworthiness advisory released on May 21st.

The manufacturer Austrialpin also started an investigation to determine the causes of the failure, based on the 2 main facts of the incident: age of the carabiner, 2 years or 60 hours airtime; and rupture immediately after take-off. They informed that "we are not able to reconstruct exactly what happened", but based on the pictures received from the Czech Republic it seems that a fatigue rupture ended with a violent break. But at Austrialpin they do not believe that the time of using was limited to 60 hours: "A fatigue rupture in this size is nearly impossible after 60 hours, when the karabiner is properly used (gate closed!!!). It seems that the karabiner was overloaded permanently or used alienatedly or gate open at take off". From the test series performed by the company to reproduce a carabiner break, they concluded that "it is absolutely impossible that the incident happened as mentioned by the person concerned, because such high load (to break a carabiner) cannot occur at take off". In their report, they say they are totally sure that the accident happened "mainly because of lacking carefulness of the pilot". According to the experts at the company, a fatigue rupture in flight would occur "slowly" and would be therefore visible while checking the equipment. Another reason they report as "possible" for the accident could have been a take off with an open gate "where a pre-damaged karabiner is likely to break".

It is very important that each pilot checks his/her equipment before taking off. All carabiners and maillons must be closed and locked to avoid damage in their structures and/or accidents. In case of any doubt, they are some of the cheapest parts of your gear and can be easily replaced any time.

Proved possible!:
PG to HG conversion in 4 days 

It was a whole new experience for the four paraglider pilots that took part in this experiment: learn to fly HGs and class 5 gliders in one week. The challenge was even greater for the guys who organized this first event in their new flight park in central Spain, Aerotow.com, but the expectations were reached, despite a few problems. The weather played a bad trick on the program and reduced the instruction / flying time to 4 days only. Nevertheless, the training was very intense and some of the best instructors of the UK gave special dedication to their PG students until they succeeded in the task: by the 3rd day, the 4 of them were able to fly hanglider on their own (launching by aerotow), and the 2 most experienced, Bob Drury and Daniel Crespo, were aboard an Atos (class 5 glider). And they loved it!

With them, more than 30 HG pilots travelled to Avila from the UK, Germany, Holland and different regions of Spain, seduced by the idea of being towed up to a thermal, with retrieve in case they'd go XC, and a big hangar to store their gliders rigged everyday, if they landed back on the airfield. During the week, they could also hear lectures about class 5 gliders from the creator of the Atos, Felix Ruhle; 'tucks and tumblings' by Charly Jöst from the DHV; or XC / bivouac flying by Bob Drury, (who's an amazing story teller) with an spectacular slide show. No time to get bored, at least when the weather was ok!

For the 'conversion' experiment, they invited 2 skilled PG pilots: Bob Drury, well-known XC pilot /instructor and writer, and Daniel Crespo, experienced competition and Acro pilot (and Ojovolador designer); and 2 "normal" pilots with less airtime, Graham Brading and Simone Simpson (the only girl). The instructors were Judy Leden (HG world champion many times), Chris Dawes (her husband) and Mark Dale, among others. And the guys of AIR, from Germany, brought 7 of their 'top' class 5 glider, ATOS, with its designer Felix Ruhle to do the briefings before letting the pilots demo them.

"I was very lucky to have Judy Leden as my 'personal trainer'. She is not only an extraordinary pilot in any aircraft (PG, HG, ULMs) but also an excellent teacher, and a great person", says Daniel Crespo about the experience. Judy trained him in a tandem glider until he was ready for going solo. He did so well that Judy was even happier than him with his progresses. Bob did very well too, showing that he could transfer his abilities for paragliding to hangliding very easily. He was not really impressed with the HGs, but when he finally flew the Atos his face changed with the big grin he had after landing.

Simone and Graham could fly HGs with no problem after the same 3 days but they needed a little more time and flights in HG to be ready for the Atos. They said they'd complete the training at Judy and Chris's school in the UK this summer, because this is another form of flying, that gives more possibilities for them as pilots.

"I still love the easiness of paragliders, the dynamics of them and also, as Bob calls it, the 'hedonistic' type of flying you get in a PG. But I'm sure I'll go for another flight in class 5 this summer, if I can! They offer a whole new dimension for free flying" said Daniel.

Check out a photo gallery of the week at Aerotow.com by clicking here.

And more info about the event and the flight park at: www.aerotow.com

Edited: May 27th, 2003

'Wagas Festival'
 at the Dune du Pyla 

24 pilots from different countries have already registered for this original paragliding contest. For those who don't know what a waga is, we are talking about paraglider riders executing figures just above the ground, i.e., touching the sand with one hand while controlling the glider with the other and the body, making high speed manoeuvres only a few metres from the ground, and so on.

For the organizers of the Wagas Festival this is a "convivial and festive event, backed by a wagas contest", and the aim is to bring an exchange between expert pilots and those who want to learn about manoeuvres and full control of the glider.

The Festival will take place at the Dune du Pyla, near Bordeaux (France), from June 4 to June 8th 2003, and the registration fee is 150 €, including accommodation and BBQ onsite. In the program there is the contest, a competition course, a public demo, party and BBQ, and many prizes for those who participate and do well.

The number of participants is limited, and open to pilots experienced in aerobatics. If you are interested, you have to pre-register by email to turbulences@parateam.com

The Festival's website has a stream video with good examples of wagas on the dunes: http://wagas-festival.com

Comparing Spanish Paramotors

The first official Comparison of Spanish Paramotors was organized by Ojovolador.com on April 25-26th, with the participation of 13 of the newest models released by the 4 Spanish manufacturers: Airfer, Clemente, H-E and PAP. We tested each paramotor on a test bank, to measure thrust, consumption, noise level, weight and other more "subjective" features. We saw high quality standards in all the paramotors -even for the newest brands-. The 4 of them are working hard to have a good place in the growing market of paramotoring worldwide. Pap is still leading in sales outside Spain with a well-gained reputation of quality, but Airfer is making a strong bet in the international market, and they are in a good position as exporters of a product of their own (with their new motor Falcon). H-E are just starting their first export trades to Japan and have good expectations, while Clemente, after only one year as a manufacturer of paramotors, is growing at a big pace and is even building a new factory near his home town Sevilla (south of Spain).

The 'Comparison' event attracted dozens of pilots to the airfield (near Madrid, Spain) and we enjoyed wonderful conditions for testing the motors, both on the test-bank and on the air, and also some new paragliders brought by the importers for Spain. The results obtained are relative and are useful only to compare the 13 models tested under the same conditions of altitude, temperature, humidity, pressure, etc.

We were at 700m a.s.l., so the thrust given by each model is lower than the real thrust at sea level. We'll try to make this conversion to the estimated thrust at sea level, to publish it here soon.

Some results: The most powerful motor in this Comparison was the Clemente SIM 135 (Simonini engine), followed by the PAP 1400 CD (Corsair engine) which offered 9 kg less of thrust, and third, the Airfer Bi-Max (Corsair engine) with 11 kg less of thrust than the SIM 135.

From the "light-weight" models (less than 30 kg with empty tank) the strongest thrust came from the Airfer Falcon 120, which weights 24,8 kg, followed by the Pap 1400 TD (Top 80 engine) with 2 kg less of thrust and 23,6 kg of weight. In the third place, the Clemente RAK 135 L: 3 kg less than the Falcon 120's thrust and weighting 22 kg, and the version with electric starter that weights 25,3 kg.

The less noisy motor, measured 1 metre from the engine at the level of the pilot's head, was the H-E Ziklon 115: 98,3 db at maximum power. Second was the Pap 1400 TD (100,1 db) and third, the H-E Ziklon 99 (101,5 db). The noisiest was the Clemente SIM 135 (114,12 db).

About consumption, at maximum thrust the most "economic" was the Pap 1100 TD: 5 litres an hour, and a weight of 22,3 kg (empty). Second were the Pap 1400 TD with 5,07 lts/hr and a weight of 23,6 kg; and the Ziklon 99 from H-E, which weights 26,8 kg. The lightest model in the Comparison was the Clemente Rak 135 L (22 kg), followed by the Pap 1100 TD (22,3 kg) and third, the Pap 1400 TD (23,6 kg). The heaviest was the Pap 1400 CD (31,8 kg). We have published the first results in Spanish and soon they'll be available in English too.

 

Clemente (the newest Spanish manufacturer), and the 'test lab'.

Good news for Acro lovers:
VERTIGO GOES 'WORLD TOUR'