Back in the States

Well, shortly after getting to Tannheim yesterday Michelle called to tell me my Grandfather had passed away. So I'm back in the states (Philly airport) to attended to somethings and help my family out.

On the flying front, the boys had an "epic day" (their words) today at Tannheim. Tomorrow looks to be even better but there is rain in the forecast for mid week. I'm debating flying back over on Wed to finish out the final 4 days of the trip and try to get some flying in Depends on how I feel once I get things settled with the family. I've spend 27 of the past 48 hours on airplanes or trains, so I'm exhausted and still have a 2 hr flight home. ugh.

No flying yet

But lots of beer.

Made it to Tannhiem, Austria

This is where we are staying. Just a short walk to the lift up the mountain.

Freising, Germany

First Class

Remains of a mimosa.

On My Way

Headed out for the Alps. First stop - Philly.

Addict 2 - Flew it

Wow. Finally flew the A2 today. Love this glider. You know how on some gliders you can be ahead of the glider, it just doesn't react to what you want it to do fast enough? Or how on others it gets ahead of you and you are chasing the glider to keep it where you want it? Well, with the Addict 2, Ozone nailed it, right in my sweet spot. The glider and I are in perfect harmony. It seems to know what I want to do and reacts perfectly. It wants to turn into the thermal. It doesn't want to get pushed out. It wants to go up.

Plus, it feels rock solid. More like a 1/2 than a 2. Maybe it's because I am so in tune with this glider. I typically keep a 1/2 glider in my arsenal for those days that look squirrelly but with the A2, my 1/2 gliders are now up for sale.

I'll write a full review soon, but Dave and Robbie really nailed it with this one.

(btw, the A1 is sold. Stinky bought it)

Got my Addict 2!

Received my new Addict 2 today. The custom color scheme looks really good. I can't wait to fly it. BTW, anyone wanting a good deal on a 1 year old Addict 1, drop me a note.

Grant Turns 1

Today's Grant's first birthday. He had his first trip with Chucky Cheese with big sis Sophie and cousin Jack and loved it. Slides are fun!

Happy Birthday Sophie!

I can't believe we have a 9 year old!

Lord Stanley's Cup

We had some leadership training in Tronto this week for work and the second night they surprised us with an event at the Hockey Hall of Fame. We had the whole place rented out, had dinner in the Hall of Records, and then got to hear Jimmy Craig (goalie from the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team) speak. Was a great event and Jimmy Craig was phenomenal. Yes, that is crappy cell phone pic of THE Stanley Cup.

Ozone Releases the Addict 2

Ozone just released the Addict 2, the follow-up to the Addict that I currently fly. New color scheme, comp lines for the uppers, and supposedly better performance and handling. Mine is on order now.

On a related note, anyone want to buy a slightly used Addict 1 for a great price? If so, please drop me an email.

Cali PG Trip

Stinky, Scooter and I just wrapped up a great PG trip in Northern Cali. I was already in Menlo Park for customer meetings, so I picked them up at the San Jose airport and we started off towards Dunlap. After stopping in Milpitas to introduce the MC's to the joy of In-n-Out Burger we noticed that the forecast was starting to look good at the Dumps.

A quick change of direction and 45 minutes later we were soaring at the Dumps for the reminder of the afternoon. After it got dark we stopped in San Fran for some sushi and then headed off for Fresno. The next day we drove to Dunlap, got to see Connie again and then had some really nice flights from one of my favorite sites in the US. The weather was worse on Saturday morning so we bailed on Dunlap and drove to the Owens Valley. Spectacular place with some awesome flying sites.

On Saturday, after some early morning sled rides we headed back to SF via Yosemite. We dropped Scooter off Sunday for his flight and then Stinky and I headed to Half Moon bay to play golf with some of my co-workers.

Our annual user conference is in SF this week and starts tomorrow, so I'm prepping for that now and wishing I was still flying in Dunlap.

Introducing Grant!

The new little one is here.... Grant Michael Reynolds was born last night at 9:29pm. Michelle and baby are fine and big sister Sophie is excited too!

More pics at www.robandmichelle.org

40 Mile XC

Did a 40 mile XC from Warrior Field to Gerald's today. Lots of sink and not much lift, I was near full power the entire way, fighting a nice cross wind too. Trip took 2.5 hours and almost an entire tank of gas. Once I got to Gerald's and shut down the motor, I stumbled into a nice thermal and let me stay up and play for another 20 minutes. Bruce and Ron drove up from Warrior to fly and give me a ride back to my truck. (BTW, still loving the Addict!)

Here's the KMZ file of the flight, for review with Google Earth.

Reeder Mesa, Colorado

Escaped the bad weather in Rifle and flew Reeder Mesa, near Grand Junction today. Great little ridge soaring bowl. Would have liked to have consistent winds, as we all sunk out at least once and I was only able to top-land after getting a half a turn in a thermal. The hike up is not fun, as the slope is covered with large rocks and boulders.

Easy Big Ears Mod

Here's an easy mod for those of you that are flying with PG risers and higher attachment points. I've been using this on my gliders with split-A's for years with no issues. The concept is simple, you are just adding an extension to the split-a's to make them easier to reach in flight.

First get a length of stiff, brightly colored nylon cord, about a 18 inches longer than your risers. Tie your favorite looping knot (figure 8 loops, or butterfly knots work well) in the middle to get a loop big enought to get a couple fingers into. Position this loop somewhere near the middle of your risers - make sure its in a place you can easily reach, but not so low as to restrict the distance you can pull the loop. I like mine just below the speed bar pulley.

Now take up the slack and affix one end to the outside of your outside-A mallion and the other end to your hook-in loop. Don't make it too tight, you want some slack when you are flying. Also, don't make the knot on the riser attachment point too tight as to stress or rub your riser material. I use bowline knots on each end.

Now you are ready to fly. The loop should be easy to access in flight, just remember that since your hands are in a lower than normal position, you may need to let of your brakes to pull really big ears.
more pictures

(Note that the photos are from an Ozone Vibe, which is a 3 riser glider, the cord really is attached to the outside A riser, not the B riser).

If you don't have split A's, you can do the same mod, by attaching a small brass pulley to your outside A line, and tying the cord to the pulley. Gin has used this in their production gliders for years.

New Fresh Breeze Suspension

Gerald got a new motor this week. Another Fresh Breeze Simonini, but with the new suspension. Since I missed the Convention this year, this was the first time I have seen it in person. Wow. That's all I can saw. Wow. This thing rocks.


Good (not great) weight shift, and ZERO torque. Now they need to get this suspension on the titanium framed Sim, and I'm in heaven.

Here's a review by Mike Brown.

Bay Area PG

So Stinky and I had to be in the San Fran area for business (both our companies are based there) so we extended the business trips and did some flying, as you can tell from the camera phone pics posted below.

On Friday, we flew the Stables but it was strong and cross, so we headed south to San Jose and got signed off to fly from Ed Levin park in Milpitas. This is a nice 1800ft vertical mountain with 3 launches and a huge LZ. Of course, we also found out why the locals call it "Sled Levin".

On Saturday the bay area was socked in so we headed down the coast to Big Sur. After a 2+ hour drive, we found the entire central coast was socked in to. So, we then drove 3 more hours inland to Dunlap, CA, near Fresno. Here we were treated to 2 days of ok thermal flying from a really big mountain. I think it is 2400ft agl. Also got to meet a bunch of super nice pilots from all over NorCal.

We both worked on Monday, but managed to sneak out for a 2 hour late session at the Stables. It was really nice - managed to transistion up the Westlake cliffs and make it to the Dumps and back. Then, at 4:20 exactly, the wind stopped. I ended up on the beach, landing next to a couple of lesbian lovers that really would have liked more privacy. Good times!

More Ed Levin Flying

More Ed Levin Flying
Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

This shot is from last Friday's sled ride at Ed Levin Park.

Rob C at the Stables

Rob C at the Stables
Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

Rob C and I soared the sables in San Fran on Friday.

Ed Levin Park

Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

Stinky Rob launching at Ed Levin Park.

San Fran

San Fran
Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

According to the NeverLost, I'm in San Francisco.

Ed Levin Park

Ed Levin Park
Originally uploaded by GliderRob.

Ed Levin Park in Milpitas (near San Jose) is a very nice place to fly...even if it's a sled ride.

Baja 2006

Team Merrycone (less Skyking, who's wife won't let him out of the house due to the new baby) headed to Baja again for their annual Mexican throw down. Pilots attending were Stinky, Scooter, Skybrake, and G-Rob). Stinky got hooked up with a bad ass ride by the Hertz crew - a jet black Ford Expedition, so we rode around Mexico Jack Bauer style.

We flew our asses off for 4 days at San Antonio del Mar, stayed in the local roach motel, got the truck stuck, stranded GRob in the desert, and then had an awesome 2 hour sunset session at Torrey on the way back to the airport. We flew so much, no one really had time for pictures, but Stinky and Skybrake got tons of video. Here's a sample:

Arizona Trip

Stinky Rob C, Scooter Jeff T. and I took a quick weekend trip to Arizona to fly the Craters near Flagstaff. The Craters was where I first learned to fly paragliders under the instruction of the great Dixon White and Marty Dieveitte.

Pictures Here

We didn't get much flying in, as the winds were howling all weekend, but we did play a hell of a lot of PSP. I think we all got about 3 extended sled rides over a 4 day period. Was fun to visit the old stomping grounds, but since Deb White sold the 2-Bar and Dixon passed away, its just not the same. Here is a shot of the memorial to Dixon at the north bench of Merriam Crater (the big one above).

Baja Trip - Day 3 (Part 1)

Friday, July 15, 2005 (Morning)
After the past 2 days, we were itching to fly. We awoke to the entire coast fogged in, but we expected it to lift. After breakfast we did some motoring as we waited for the sky to clear. The winds were slightly South and by 10:00 cloud base was up to around 800 feet. With the southerly winds, the La Salina ridge was out, but we figured that once the fog burned off thermal heating in the flats in front of launch would have it blowing in.

On a previous trip Jeff and Stinky had soared a small hill with condominiums and houses on top at the golf course about 2 miles to the south. It’s a small site, definite bandito territory as you have to get past the guards to get into the gated community. The site is slightly south facing so we hatched a plan where Jeff and I would motor down and see if there was enough lift to stay up while the rest of the crew avoided the guards in the truck.

Jeff and I launched and we flew down the coast. Once we were past the La Salina marina, the coastline changed drastically, becoming rocky and gnarly. On the way down we saw some interesting things, including some very expensive homes hidden in with the typically Mexican shambles. We even saw the fuselage of an old prop powered airliner that was up on stilts and being used as a home.

Upon arriving at the golf course hill it was obvious that there wasn’t enough wind rolling up the hill for us to stay up. We made several passes, waving at the condo owners having breakfast on their balconies. On the way back to Brent’s, I swung over to the ridge to test the lift and found the wind starting to turn to the west.

Once the truck crew made it back, Steve and Brad did some motoring. Steve headed back to the ridge and found it starting to pick up. We load up the gear and headed to the top, with Steve electing to top land with the motor and wait for us. (No small feat for a guy with zero PG flights, but Steve is a great motor pilot and he had no problem.)

Getting kinda long here, so I will post the afternoon activity in a seperate post.

Baja Trip - Day 2

Thursday, July 14, 2005
Still wake up early, as do most of the crew (obviously seasoned pros at drinking, as no one shows any ill effects from last nights fun). While Rob C. (Henceforth known as ‘Stinky Rob’, or just ‘Stinky’) motored on the beach, Jeff, Steve and I headed to K58 for some breakfast. When everything is closed at K58, we swing north a few miles and find a great little place in La Mision – 3 tables, 1 lady working there (cooking, waiting tables, and cleaning). A hearty breakfast of chorizo con huevos and beans ensures we have adequate propulsion for flying later in the day.

The ridge at La Salina is still socked in and the weather reports don’t show it clearing. So we elect to head south to try and find the ridge at San Antonio del Mar. This is supposed to be a primo soaring spot, with a 200 ft cliff right on the beach. We have the GPS coords and a general idea of where to go, so we head south. We pass through the tourist town of Ensenada (first stop for all the south bound cruise ships out of LA) and a couple of small villages before hitting our first military checkpoint. They waive us through, but the experience freaked out Brad. Supposedly, you are required to have a tourist visa to go south of Ensenada. We didn’t have them, but it really didn’t matter.

A little over 3 hours after heading south, we find the turn off to San Antonio. The GPS says we are 10 miles away, but we spend the next hour trying to find the spot. The coast is completely fogged in, with only a couple hundred feet of visibility, making it hard to get our bearings. Steve works the GPS and naviates like a pro.

We finally find the lower launch (60ft) and on it, 3 old-timers from LA camping. These guys have been coming to Baja on an annual camping trip for over 20 years and they had the coolest restored 1946 Army bus. Check out the photos.

It was blowing in slightly and you could almost see the beach, so Brad decided to try his luck. A 60 foot sledder later and he was packing his glider up and hiking back to us. We packed it in after that and started the journey back north.

The drive back didn't seem quicker than the one down, but maybe that was because Skybrake was driving. Again we were waved through the checkpoint, and again Brad was pretty nervous about it all. We did stop long enough to buy some cups of fresh sliced mango from the lady’s selling them at the checkpoint. They squeeze a bit of lime over them and dust them with chili powder. Yum!

We stopped at Ensenada for groceries and made it back to Brent’s by 4:00 pm. We could just barely see the top of the ridge so we decided to do some recon to try and find the road to the top (and hopefully save us a hike when it was flyable).

Jeff and I strapped on the motors and the rest of the team went in the truck. The plan was for us to fly up and find the road and radio control the truck to the top. By the time I covered the mile between the beach and the ridge, cloud base had dropped to almost ridge level and more low clouds were blowing in from the north. Jeff and I radioed the truck through a few back roads and a gated subdivision before base dropped to about 350ft and it got too rowdy for us to hang. We headed back to the beach and left the guys in the truck to finish the task of finding launch on their own.

Turns out, we didn’t even have them close, but instead we had them on a dead end road up the wrong side of the mountain. Thankfully, when they crashed the gate into the subdivision, the security guards noticed them and were in hot pursuit. With Stinky’s asi-asi Spanish skills, the security guard was able to give them directions to launch. All this took about 2 hours after Jeff and I left going back to the beach, and we were out of radio contact the entire time.

Finally, Jeff and I gave up waiting on the other guys and walked down the beach to the Baja Seasons for some dinner. We got in contact with the truck guys after they made their way down and they meet us for a late dinner.

Not a great PG day, but everyone but Steve did fly at some point and we found the road to launch as well as how to get to San Antonio del Mar.

Baja Trip - Day 1

Wednesday, July 13, 2005
I wake up very early (my body still on Central time) so I do more work until the Mexican place next to the Hampton opens up. At 8, I head over for a plate of churizo con huevos (hmmm, pork fat and eggs!). The boys won’t arrive until noon so I kill more time working on a proposal and doing paperwork.

Around 11:00 I get a call that Jeff, Rob and Steve have arrived, Brad’s flight is delayed. I head over to meet Rob at Avis where we load all my swag from Wal-mart into the Expedition and return my rental car to Hertz. We pick up Jeff and Steve and head out to the El Cajon airport to pickup the motors Jeff and Steve shipped out. We get to check out the shop of Steve’s competition in the prop business (nice folks) and we transfer the gliders and other assorted gear to the roof of the truck so we can load in the motors in the back.

After getting everything loaded, we head back into San Diego, to the North Park area to meet Phil Russman for lunch. The great sushi place I ate at last time was closed at lunch so we settle for Thai next door. After lunch we head back to the airport to pick up Skybrake and then head south for the border.

On the way south, we stop off at an ATM for Rob C to get cash and I am thoroughly ridiculed for wanted to stop and buy toilet paper before crossing the border. We then hit I-5 south and are soon in Old Mexico. Once we get south of Rosarito, the coast is fogged in and it gets worse as we drive south. Within an hour we arrive at Baja Brent’s beach house and unload most of the gear and put the motors together.

We also find that the house is completely out of toilet paper! Vindication!

We then head north to the sand dunes about 10 miles north in hopes soaring twin tuned exhausts, burning nitro. The kid on it was racing up the dunes at around 70 mph. After realizing that he is a pretty good rider (and we won’t get to see any carnage) we head to the liquor store and then to dinner at a local place. After dinner, we engage in some moderate social drinking to the tune of a couple cases of beer and a bottle of rum and them hit the sack.

Baja Trip - Day 0

Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Get up and do some work, head to the airport for the 5+ hour (and 2 stop) flight to the west coast. Arrive in San Diego around 2pm and head out in search of supplies. Quick stops at REI and Wal-Mart nets me new sunglasses, a battery for my Sunnto watch, 6 cases of bottled water, and a cheap cooler. Head to the hotel to finish some work and then fish tacos for dinner followed by more work.

New Snap 100 Prop

Fresh Breeze has released a new Snap 100 prop and I just got mine and did a quick test in the backyard. The prop is slightly shorter than the original, but I haven't measusred it yet, but it is much wider. I put it on my Snap and wound it up. Its a bit quieter and boy, does it kick up the thrust. I would guess it in the 115lb range now. My normal full throttle RPM with the original prop was 9650, well with this one I'm only getting 9070, but I may need to do some carb tuning. Its raining now, but I will test fly it tomorrow and report back to the troups.

Full-size images-> Image 1. Image 2.

Update: Had a chance to fly the new prop this past weekend. I got 4 flights and 2 hours total time on it. It delivers as promised. I would guess thrust is in the 115-120 pound range. Max RPM's dropped from 9500 to 8950, but that is normal. My fuel efficiency also increased slightly. Good points - Its quieter, more thrust, and less fuel burn. The only slight negative is that it takes a bit longer to spin up the wider prop than it did the thin one.

Note to those Snap owers NOT flying a Fresh Breese, to upgrade to this prop, you will also need to get the custom mounting plate that Fresh Breeze bolts onto the prop flange. This plate is machined to fit the flange and bolt on to the 4 holes and then allows the mounting of the 6 hole bolt pattern Fresh Breeze prop.

Don't Tie Knots in Your Lines

Gin test pilot Norman Lausch died last week testing a protoype glider. He wanted to test it with shorter lines so he tied 3 knots in every line. They broke and tragicly, Norman could not get his reserve out. Tying a knot in a line weakens it by 50%. Tying 3, well, you get the picture. In response to questions asked about this accident, Gin Gliders has posted some info on line strength that all pilots should take a look at. Here is the Link.

Titanium Fresh Breeze Cages

News from Fresh Breeze:

Fresh Breeze is now offering prop cages and suspension frames made from high grade Titanium instead of aluminium. The first Titanium cage will be made for the Simonini 122 ORC. The main advantage will be a much higher strength of all frame parts and a decreased weight. An additional feature are streamlined tubes which reduce air drag and noise. The prop runs in smoother air with an increased efficiency.

Southern Skies has new Simonini's with is cage in stock. It is a $500 upgrade over the standard cage, but it weighs 3 lbs less. Contact your local Fresh Breese dealer for more info or to purchase.

New and Improved PPGInfo

Matt Unger has brought his PPGInfo website back online with a great new format and a pretty comprehensive set of links and other great info. It's worth checking out. Kudo's to Matt for providing the PPG community such a great resource.

Suspension Options and Weightshift for PPG

Many PG pilots are making the transition to PPG these days. One of the most frequent discussions with those making the transition is the harness setup and weighshift. Here are my thoughts on the different harness suspension types and their ability to initiate a weight shift turn.

I was a PG pilot first, and the majority of my PPG flying is of the launch, climb,shutdown, thermal variety. For a PG pilot that is hoping to move to PPG as a means of getting air timeand soaring, there are two main things to consider.

The first is obviously weight shift, but the second (and more important) is the ability to feel the wing. As PG pilots, we get lots of input from the wing transferred to our hips via the harness. This input is more important than you would think, andits something that most motor harness can't provide, regardless of weighshift ability.

A third issue is how the weight shift is engaged. In a PG harness, a quick roll of the hips will initiate a turn, that is not the case with most motor harnesses and takes some getting used to.

First, there is the common misconception that a low attachment point on a PPG means better weight-shift. Low attachment points have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with weight shift. It just happens that a couple of motors with good weight shift have lower attachment points. To get good weight shift, you need to separate the pilots weight from the motor, and have the risers as close to vertically aligned with the hips as possible. Lower attachment points are often associated with increased ability to weight-shift turn (though not always the case) because several brands that have low attachment points are also good weigh-shifters. Good weight-shift can also be found in mid-level and higher attachment points (depends on the manufacturer).

Good weight-shift is observed when the suspension allows differential movement of the left/right riser attachments relative to pilots center of gravity.

Ok, here's the run-down. There are 4 types of harness suspensions out there that are known to give good weight shift. This may not be an all inclusive list, but these are the ones that I am familiar with and have personally flown. So, in no particular order:

1) PAP/Airfer/Bowles System
The PAP style system, also used by Airfer and on modified Fresh-Breeze units by Chris Bowles. This was one of the first harness suspensions to give good weight shift. It consists of low mounted distance bars that pivot up/down independent of each other. The bars attach to the harness where the normal biner connection would be and the glider is clipped into a shackle or biner on the distance bar (where depends on the pilot weight).


This system allows a standard PG harness to be used, assuming it has been modified to provide points on the back to hang the motor. The best advantage of the Pap style system is that it closely mimics the feel of a PG harness and does a good job of transferring input from the wing to the pilot. PG pilots are used to a certain about of feedback, and its not just feedback from the brakes and this system delivers that. It also allows more natural PG style weight shift, initiated by a quick roll of the hips. This is the system that Will Gadd used on his XC across America.

This system gives the best combination of weight shift and feeling that a PG pilot would be used to and does a moderate job of reducing motor torque. Launches are sometimes tricky due to the torque twisting the motor around since this is a relatively loose harness setup.
Available on PAP, Airfer units standard, and an upgrade to a Fresh-Breeze unit (Chris custom machines the parts for his mod)

2) Fresh-Breeze Floating Suspension (soft j-bars)
The standard suspension on all Fresh-Breeze units. It consists of an aluminum boomerang that you attach a biner to clip the wing into, along with a short webbing connection to the motor and a longer webbing connection to a biner in the normal hook-in position on the harness. Just about any PG harness can be used, but back protection and airbags could hang down and restrict airflow over motor (needed for cooling). A Thin Red Line harness, or any other harness without a seat board, should NOT be used. The results are not pretty, not comfortable, and not kind on the family jewels.


I feel that this over shoulder suspension gives the best weight shift of any suspension out there. Torque is moderate on this suspension, and can be lessened by loosening the shoulder straps after takeoff and with weight shift. This system gives a good 'feel' from the wing also. The method of initiating the weight-shift for this suspension (and the rest of the list)is quite different than the PAP system or a PG for that matter. Instead of rolling the hips, you have to push down with your thigh, and then roll your hips. Takes a bit of getting used to.

Another benefit is that this suspension allows the pilot to ditch the motor if necessary but remain connected to the glider. The main disadvantage is that it is a relatively high hook in point and most pilots lower their brakes to give a more comfortable hand position. Pain in the butt if you fly the same glider PG and PPG and move between the two often. This is also a very comfortable harness that allows you to recline more than most.

Available on FB motors stock, and can be retrofitted on just about anymotor.



3) Movable Distance Bars
Moveable distance bars are similar to the Pap system, but instead of the glider hooking in into the distance bar, it hooks into the harness at a point along the hypotenuse of the triangle formed bythe distance bar and the upper frame of the harness. Decent weight shift and really good torque reduction. Another good compromise, and its comfortable.


One down side is you can't ditch the motor. Another is that you are sitting very upright, something that PG guys have a hard time adjusting to, and probably sours as many on motors as the weight and the noise. Paralite (out of business now) developed a version of this system that has a mechanism that physically forces the distance bars to move opposite each other, rather than being independent. So, if the right side goes down, the left side is forced up. This gives incredible weight shift and great response to WS inputs. This mod is availalbe from ParaCruiser and can be adapted to call Paralite, Paracruiser or FB units.

4) Ridged, Low Attachment Points. (ie. Walkerjet)
Even though it has a ridged attachment point, the WalkerJet motor has such low attachment points and a wide seat board that it actually does allow some weight shift. I've only got 2 flights on a WJ, and I didn't observe as much WS as the other systems, but I was able to get around 3 inches of riser differential. Another pilot I trust says he can get about 4. Others claim more, but due to its low hook-ins, it a more natural system for PG pilots and its a comfortable harness setup.

Available only on WalkerJet units (that I know of)

In Summary:

• Best Weight Shift: #2 FB Suspension
• Best 'PG Feel': #1 PAP Style

When to Buy a New Wing

Everyone gets caught up in the 'new wing-itus" this time of year. Really, there are only a handful of reasons to buy a new wing:

1) your current wing is worn out
2) you have gotten too fat/skinny to fly your current wing
3) you bought a dog to begin with

Otherwise, there isn't much difference in the motor wings that keep popping up. Seriously, look at the Sting - its an Arcus, not the Arcus 3, a plain ole Arcus. The same Arcus that came out in 1999, five years ago. But if you put motor risers on it and rename it the wing suddenly is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Once more info is available, we will likely see that the Sting isn't alone in this catagory. For some reason motor pilots seem to buy into the 'latest and greatest' hype. The PG guys do to, but all they care about is preformance - show them a .01 increase in glide and you have a new best seller on your hands.

PPG wing evaluation is more subjective, and unfortunately, those doing the majority of the evaluations have a vested financial interest in seeing certain brands succeed over others (myself included). Motor pilots flying low rated wings really don't need the performance that the PG guys obsess about (and causes them to buy a new wing every year).

After having been involved with this sport for 5 years now - I think the real difference between PG and PPG pilots is that PG pilots are all about performance and PPG pilots are all about saving a buck. That's why a 5 year old wing can be the hot ticket - good wing, yes - but its the price that makes it a best seller, not the wing itself. You don't need great sink rates when you have a motor. Another prime example of this is the Fiesta, - Aerolight and Paratoys sold a boat load of these to PPG pilots for one reason, they are cheap

My advice is for us all (self included) is to stop obsessing about our equipment and start enjoying it. Fly enough to wear something out, then worry about the replacement. And this is coming from a DEALER. :)

See How it Flies

If you haven't read it yet, John Denker's e-book See How It Flies is a must read for all pilots, no matter what aircraft you fly.

While it was written from the persepective of a General Aviation pilot, it goes a long way toward not only explaining the basic physics of flight, but also how to apply some practical lessons to your flying. His description of energy management is a must for paraglider and paramotor pilots. Go read it, then read it again - it will make you a better pilot.

Prefiltering Fuel

Ok, most of our motors have an inline fuel filter on our motors, but how many of us prefilter our fuel before using it?

I learned the hard way that prefiltering is a good idea. I ruined a carb when I got water in my gas, and recently I bought some avgas from EKY that had some kind of impurity in it. I wouldn't have caught it if I hadn't let the fuel sit for a few days - it was in translucent white gas can. After sitting in the garage for a few days, I noticed a 1/2 inch of crud had settled to the bottom. I would have hated to run that through my engine.

I've found that the best filter our there for prefiltering your gas is a Mr. Funnel. It will take all kinds of crap out of your fuel, including water.

They come in three sizes and I find that the small is best suited for my purpose, it has a flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute. I often buy my fuel in one can, filter it into another can before mixing, and then filter it again as I pour it into the tank.

Tom Olenik at Olenik Aviation carries these filters at a good price, a small one will run you $15 plus shipping. Here's the link.

Vario's 101

I originally wrote this for Andrew, since we are going to do some more thermal practice tomorrow, but when I was about to send it then I figured you guys might get some use out of it.

So, you went and bought a vario - now how do you use it? Well, first lets go over what it does and talk about setting it up to be useful. A vario is short for 'variometer', which means it measures variations in pressure.

Most varios actually contain two different varios - an analog and a digital. Other than the obvious altimeter function, the main purpose is to tell you if you are in rising or sinking air. It does this by using a temperature calibrating pressure sensor.

The analog vario is usually a visual meter, either a speed-gauge looking thing or a volume meter looking thing. I'm being very technical here. :)

The digital vario is a digital display that shows the rate of climb/descent in number format, either in feet per minute or meters per second. I use feet per minute mode since I'm allergic to the metric system.



It’s important to note the difference here between the two. The analog is an up to the minute reading - if it says 200 up, then you are going 200 up. The digital vario on the other hand is an averaging vario. It takes a running sample and updates the digital display with the average climb/descent at a given interval. Most varios have a standard setting of 5-10 seconds. I like to set mine to a minimum of 15 seconds and usually keep it at 30 seconds. I keep mine high since if I'm struggling to find a thermal, having it set to a long interval lets me know if I'm in a general area of lift or sink. I may not be in a thermal, but if the air is buoyant in the area, I'll know it with the higher interval and I may hang out in the general area a little longer. For a beginner, I'd say keep the default from the factory.

Now lets talk about the audio output of a vario – yup, they make noise too. With the motor at idle, you can usually hear the vario, even at the lowest sound setting (they have three sound levels, loud, louder, and silent). It beeps when you are going up, buzzes when you are going up -the faster you go (up/down) the faster it beeps/buzzes.

Not much too it, but you can set the threshold for when the beeping/buzzing starts. Why is this important - well, most varios were first made for hang gliders and the default buzz/beep is set to around 100 feet per minute. Your average paraglider has a hands off sink rate of around 220 fpm in calm air. If you go with the default, you gotta listen to lots of buzzing. This is annoying, frustrating, and can lead to unnecessary stress when trying to avoid sinking out.

I have my climb beep set to start at 200 fpm and the buzz to start at -400 fpm - I'd rather not hear the buzz, but if I hit moderate sink I'd like to know about it (not like the glider won't have already given me the feedback - its more of a motivator, I hate the buzz, so I have to get out of the sink to get it to stop). BTW, the sound is linked to the analog (instant) vario, not the digital one.

So, now you are flying. You have the vario strapped to your left leg. You climb up to 1200 ft and idle the motor and start heading to the edge of the field that should be going off. You get halfway across the field and hit some light sink and decide to turn. You crank an hard right hand turn and mid way into it your vario starts to beep - Thermal!! ..... NOT! You just cranked such a hard turn that you swung out, and up, to the left and that set the vario off. Its something to watch, especially if you make hard banking turns (yet another reason to keep your turns flat, as if the increased sink rate of a high bank turn wasn’t enough of a motivator).

I won't get into thermal technique, but don't fixate on the vario - just fly and listen for the beep and when you snag one, use it to stay in it and find the core. If you loose it and aren't getting any lift (or zero sink) then just pick a direction and head that way. Go straight until you find anther one. And remember, zero sink is just as good as lift - going up us good, but as long as you aren't going down, then that’s good too. Hang out in areas of zero sink because they might lead you to boomer.