Cross Country October 2020
Cross Country is the world’s leading voice for hang gliding, paragliding and paramotoring pilots. Ten times a year, our magazine content reflects our obsession with flying, and we express it by packing each issue with the most imaginative, inspirational photography and writing we can lay our hands on.
in dieser ausgabe
how dangerous is paragliding?
How dangerous is paragliding? I used to think of it like motorcycling: we could buy any bike we liked, pass our test, but then it was up to us whether we rode sensibly or stupidly. The risks were there, but they were largely in our hands. While that line of thought was helpful on an individual level, it couldn’t really be applied to the sport as whole. As I got more involved in paragliding safety research, it became clear that we needed to find a way to compare our sport to other forms of aviation, and to assess the effectiveness of new equipment or safety initiatives. We needed to know not just incident numbers but incident rates. Incident numbers are the total number of incidents in any given year, like saying…
the naked pilot benedikt bös
I’m 29, and live near Stuttgart. In daily life I am an orthopaedic technician – I build prosthetics. But in the evenings, weekends and vacations, everything is about flying. I got my paragliding licence at 16. I was on vacation in Austria, hiking up the Neunerköpfle. It was hot, my knees hurt and I still had to walk down. I saw these paraglider pilots, who only took a few steps before taking off and flying down. I decided right there that I needed to learn this. I still love to go free flying. When I’m in the mountains I always bring a paraglider. But at home I didn’t get much airtime. I could only fly in the evenings but there were not enough thermals at the small hills in my area. I…
feeling thirsty?
Thirsty? Maintaining proper hydration is one of the most important aspects of health, performance, and recovery. A long day in the sun, whether it is in a harness on an XC flight, hiking up a mountain, or just doing chores around the house can leave you feeling the effects of poor hydration. Pilots often talk about a lack of focus or clarity four and six hours into a long flight. While there can be many contributing factors, often dehydration is near the top of the list. It’s simple enough to get it mostly right and with a few additional tips you will be at the top of your hydration game. How much to drink? “DITCH THE JUNK DRINKS, DRINK WATER AND MAKE A MENTAL NOTE TO DRINK WHILE FLYING” Let’s start with the two…
how to thermal by feel alone
As an acro pilot I have never really flown with an instrument. When I started, flying with a vario was not that common. In fact, people criticised instruments, saying they killed the purity. I have nothing against pilots flying with instruments, but I have seen pilots land early or not go XC because their vario’s batteries died, and I do think that’s a shame. A pilot’s skills should not be related to their instrument, and instruments should be a bonus rather than a mandatory tool for flying. So here are a few tips on how to fly without a vario. It’s all in your butt cheeks. A very good sign that I am in a strong thermal is when I feel my harness putting pressure on my butt cheeks. It’s like…
back in the day
25 YEARS AGO XC41 (Oct/Nov 1995). The Paragliding World Cup was in its second season, in Piedrahita, and hungry! Ambitious tasks were set: 140km was declared “impossible” by pilots, but they went for it anyway. “The day was to prove them all wrong: 60 made goal.” Two days later the bar was raised even further: 170km to Segovia. “This time there were no questions about the possibilities, they were gone before we realised. The goal team driving as fast as legally allowed to get there first. When they arrived there were already 30 pilots above the field waiting for the goal line to appear! Some of them had been flying at 90km/h ground speed. Pilots, who’d been flying for years, described the task as one of their best ever flights. Xavier…
designed to fly
Paragliding: The Beginner’s Guide is a new book for new pilots – from those taking their first steps into the world of free flight, all the way up to pilots stretching their wings flying XC or learning advanced skills on SIV courses. It has an international flavour, designed so it can be read and understood by pilots from Australia to Alaska. It’s published by us, Cross Country magazine, and our editor, Ed Ewing, coauthored some of the chapters, while our design team, Marcus and Charlie King, took many of the photographs and created the illustrations. But the real driving force behind the book is paraglider pilot and science writer Bastienne Wentzel. We asked her all about it. Bastienne, tell us a bit about yourself. Where do you live? Lage Vuursche, The Netherlands.…
