Ozone Vibe In the works

Ozone Paragliders has announced that it has the Vibe in the works and should be ready for the 2002 season.

Apco Presta set to go

Apco Paragliders has announced its newest edition to its line of paragliders, the Presta. The glider is DHV 1-2 featuring semi-closed leading edge.

Gin Oasis passes DHV

Gin Gliders has announced that the Oasis has recently passed the DHV 1-2 certification and should be available in the near future.

Litespeed advisory

Nova Pheron certified

Nova has announced that its newest glider, the Pheron, has been certified as a DHV-1 glider. The Pheron is a glider for pilots just leaving the school and doing the first flights on their own.

2001 US Hang Gliding Nationals

The US National Hang gliding competition was held from 8-11 to 8-16 at Hearn Texas. While Paris William on his Icaro, Laminar, took first in Class 1, the big story was the domination of the Swift gliders in the Class II.

Robin Hamilton and Brian Porter both flew a Bright Star Swift to a 1st and 2nd finish easily outflying the rest of the field. During most of the tasks, the first place Swift were arriving more than an hour earlier than the Atoses. Robin Hamilton took 1st in every task while Brian Porter took 2nd on his swift in every task except one.

Earlier this year at the Florida Championship, pilots filed a protest with meet organizers that flying with Brian Porter on his Swift devalued their score. Porter won both the Flytec Championship and the Wallaby open on his Swift.

Cohn Sets US Paragliding Record

Josh Cohn set the US paragliding distance record of 200 miles during the Flytec World Record Encampment in Zapata, Texas earlier last week. Josh feel short by 8 miles of setting the world record.

Consecutive Looping Record

Chad Elchin of Ridgely, Maryland has set a new world record for 95 consecutive loops on his Aeros Stealth Combat hang glider. Chad is the co-owner of Highland Aerosports Airpark.

"When I found out that I broke it I was very happy ... I lost count of the number of loops at 20 while I was up in the air, but thought I had to be at least close to 90 when I decided to stop," Chad said.

Chad was towed to 16,000 where he began performing his loops at 15,900. "Down at only 1,000 feet you burn up at least 130 feet with each loop," Chad said. "As you go higher and the air is thinner, you burn up even more elevation when doing each loop. The maximum speed in a loop is 70 mph with the slowest at 18 mph. I just fixed my eyes on one point and started. When I got down to 700 feet from the airport I decided it was time to stop," said Elchin

The previous record was set by Mitch McAleer back in 1998 with 76 loops over Rio De Janiero. Mitch says "No telling when a new attempt may be made by myself, a few things must happen in order to make it worth the effort". In other words, Money Loops!

Zapata Does it Again and Again

What was once thought impossible is now a reality. The 400 mile barrier has been broken by Manfred Rhumer on a flex wing hang glider. Manfred managed 432 miles in a 10.5 hour flight at the 2001 Flytec World Record Encampment in Zapata Texas.

During that same day, Davis Struab managed a new rigid wing record at 407 miles. Kari Castle also has set the women's distance to declared goal at 217.5 miles. Previous women's record was held by Tiki Mash at 190.5 miles.

So Far, there has been several world records set during this event sponsored by Flytec. All records are subject to verification by the FAI.

Marion Takes Paragliding Nationals

Scotty Marion, out of Draper, Utah, has earned the title of US National Paragliding Champion. The Championship took place during the first week in July at Chelan, Washington.

Scotty, who was an alternate member at the World Championship last month, edged out the US Paragliding team captain, Josh Cohn, who placed in 2nd. Prior to this competition, Marion had not placed first in a competition since 1999.

Unlike last year's competition, the event did manage to fly 5 tasks. Last year, all tasks had to be canceled due to unfavorable flying conditions which left no National Paragliding Champion. Last year's event was held at Aspen, Colorado.

Mitch takes 1st in RedBull

Mitch McAleer has once again shown his talent during the hang gliding aerobatics competition in Aspen, Colorado after taking 1st place and a $4000 top prize in the RedBull Wings Over Aspen Competition. Second place went to veteran aerobatic competition pilot John Heiney followed by Eric Raymond in 3rd.

This competition was part of a trio of events that also included paragliding acrobatics and a hang gliding speed run.

Scott Angel took home the $4000 top prize in the hang gliding speed run followed closely by veteran speedster Aaron Sweptson.

Hang Gliding World Record

Mark Poustinchian has set a new world hang gliding record of 369 miles at the 2001 world record encampment in Zapata Texas. The old record was 347 miles held by Davis Straub during a previous world record encampment in Zapata Texas.

Mark is an engineer, resident of central Florida, and often frequents Quest Air Soaring Center.

Hang Gliding World Championship

The US Class I Hang gliding Team pulled in an impressive 8th place in the World Hang Gliding Championship last month. William Paris was the top US Finisher in Class 1 with an 11th place individual finish in a field of 140.

The US Class II team also placed in 8th place with Brian Porter on his Swift leading way with his 14th individual finish.

Paragliding World Championship

The US Paragliding team finished an impressive 18th of 36 teams in the World Paragliding Championship held last month.

The team captain, Josh Cohn, was forced to pull his reserve chute on the first day of the competition. Josh was unhurt from the reserve ride but was forced to fly the rest of the competition on his slower serial glider.

The slower ride allowed Josh to take some really nice photos during the competition that can be seen on the official page along with the results.

RedBull Wings Over Aspen Aerobatics

With a first place of $4000, Mike Kung of Austria outskilled his fellow pilots to claim the Paragliding Aerobatic Championship at Redbull's Wings Over Aspen Competition. Chris Santacroce of the US pulled in 2nd place and a $2000 check.

This competition was part of a trio of events that also included hang gliding acrobatics and a hang gliding speed run. Total prize money for the event was $30,000.

Mt Everest Tandem

On May 24, Bertrand and Claire Roche, from Grenoble, France, summited Mt Everest and paraglided down to base camp, 1800 ft below the summit in a 10 minute sled ride.

This is not the first time someone has attempted and succeeded in paragliding off the world's highest mountain. Back in 1988, Jean Marc Boivin is believed to have been the first. Mt. Everest peaks at over 29,000 ft.

This year was favorable to the climbers, as 12 out of 12 teams completed the assault on Mt Everest. Included in this group was the youngest ever to climb Everest, a 16 year old school boy from Nepal and the oldest, a 64 year old doctor from Connecticut.

Fly across America

Will Gadd and Jim Grossman offer detailed reports in their Paraglide America tour. Check out the daily events as they report in from various locations across the U.S.

USHGA President resigns

David Glover has resigned his position from the USHGA as president. It seems there was a conflict of interest for David to continue his position as President because of his relationship with Jayne DePanfilis. Jayne was recently hired as the CEO of the United States Hang Gliding Association. Good Luck David in Colorado!

Florida Championships are Swift

Brian Porter took both of the recent Championships in Florida on his Bright Star Swift in the classII division. Amongst protest from his fellow classII pilots, Porter seemed to easily outfly his competition.

An official protest was filed with meet organizers on behalf of many of the pilots that scoring Porter and his Swift with the other classII gliders was unfair and that it devalues the other pilots scores.

According to Aeriena, one of the manufacturers of the Swift, the Swift is a "high-performance foot-launchable sailplane". Does a sailplane belong in the same class as a hang glider?

Since this was a big money event, it is likely that this is not the last to be said about this. Look in the future for organizers to put Brian and his Swift in a class by himself.

Talon Takes Hold

After six months of preparation, Wills Wing announces the new competition glider "The Talon". This glider is designed to grasp hold of the competition pilot.

The Talon features a curved tip planform, composite tip wands, spring tip battens, a newly designed cam VG system with expanded range, and a four sprog stability system.

The Talon starts out at $5,450.00. Some of the standard features are an extended range cam VG, spring battens, streamlined downtubes, and a speedbar basetube. Some of the options available include: choice of colors,carbon leading edge inserts, folding speedbar upgrade, and a slipstream control bar w/ carbon basetube.

Paragliding World Records

Two new records have been verified and accepted by FAI. Richard Westgate of Great Britain with his passenger Jim Coutts must have of had a good week in Brazil as they set the world tandem record for straight distance (137 miles) and straight distance to a declared goal(97 miles).

The records were set back in November of 2000 but are just now getting certified. Previous tandem records were 132 miles for straight distance and 88 miles for distance to declared goal.

Climax in Production

Airborne Glider Company in Australia has finished the fine lining of the Climax and are now offering the competition glider to the public. The Climax is being offered in two sizes, the 13m (141 sq.ft.) and the 14m (154 sq.ft.).

Some of the standard feature included in the Climax are an improved Cam VG system, enclosed spring battens, and a lightweight 7075 airframe. Options available are a streamline control frame and a folding speed bar.

Two New Eagles Set to Soar

Wills wing has put into production two new sizes of the Eagle glider, the 145 and 180. The Eagle's market leans towards those who are seeking better performance than that offered by a Falcon but are not quiet ready for the performance of the Ultra Sport.

Some of the standard features on the double surface Eagle includes a vertical stabilizer, speedbar basetube, and a streamlined kingpost. At additional cost, streamline downtubes and a folding speedbar are available.

The Eagle starts out at $3475. Gliders are expected to begin shipping sometimes after March 15th.

Hang Gliding Millennium Cup

Paris Williams on his Wills Wing Prototype took 4th in this event behind the Austrian invasion who took the top 3 positions in the Millennium Cup in Mexico. The US competitors overall did very well in this event while placing three in the top ten.

There was no prize money this year due to the changing of ownership of the sponsor. Meet organizers are sure they will have a new sponsor for next year's event or renegotiate current sponsorship.

PG Millennium Cup

Congrats to Josh Cohn, who placed in the top 5 of both the open and serial class of the 2001 Millennium cup in Mexico. Chris Muller, of Canada who won the meet overall last year, was notably absent as an incident with a tree on the first day left him out of the competition.

Despite winning two tasks, Josh's first day task left him catching up with the others. Last year Josh was second in the open class and first in the serial class in this competition.

There was a smaller than normal showing of pilots this year possibly due to the lack of prize funding.

Last year there was more than 40 pilots compared to less than 30 in 2001.

2001 Bogong Cup

Congrats to Mike Barber and Kari Castle, who placed in the top 10 of Bogong Cup. Mike Barber, 22nd after the first day, managed to find the lift to finish in 5th. Kari Castle was 19th on the 4th day and managed to take 8th place overall.

This event is getting a more international flavor as it becomes an Australian classic. The U.S. had a total of 6 six pilots this year, most of them competing in the Forbes Odyssey as well. Last year only 2 Americans competed in this event and in 1999 there was nobody from the US to compete.

Forbes Hang Gliding Odyssey

With the hottest temperatures in over 60 years in Australia, 113 degrees in the shade, two Americans finished in the top ten of the 2001 Forbes Odyssey. Congrats to Mike Barber who finished 3rd on a Moyes Litespeed 4. Bo Hagewood, after being ranked 17th after the first day, finished in 6th on a Wills Wing Fusion.