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Official Publication Of
The Hang Gliding
Federation of Australia
Skysailor appears 12 times per year
as a service to members. For non-
members living
in Australia the sub-
scription is Aus. $50
pa. Overseas
magazine subscription
is Aus. $65
(sent Economy Air),
Aus $95
Airmail. Cheques should be made
payable
to and sent to HGFA.
Contributions are always needed.
Articles, photographs and illustra-
tions are all acceptable although the
editor and the HGFA Board reserve
the right
to edit or delete contribu-
tions where necessary.
Articles
of unknown origin will
NOT be published. All contributions
should be accompanied
by the con-
tributor's name, address and HGFA
number for verification purposes.
Neither HGFA nor the editor assume
responsibility for the material or
opinions presented
in Skysailor.
Copyright
in Skysailor is vested in
the HGFA. Copyright in articles and
other contributions
is vested in each
of the authors
in respect of their
contribution.
ALL SKYSAILOR
CONTRIBUTIONS to:
Marie Jeffery
PO Box 401 ALSTONVILLE 2477
Fax: [phone]
Ph: [phone]
8am-8pm
E-mail: [email protected]
Keep
the articles coming!!
We will give $50 per month for the
best cover photo sent
in. It can be a
black and white, colour photo or
slide.
All photos and material will be
returned if a stamped, self addressed
envelope is supplied.
Market Place ads are to be direct-
ed to the Editor.
DEADLINE
15th of the month (for the following
month's issue!) for contributions,
market place, etc. Market Place are
free to financial
~lembers -please
quote your number -otherwise a
charge of
$5 per ad per 2 issues is
applicable. A fee of $8 per ad per 2
issues
is applicable for commercial
operators.
ADVERTISING
Advertising rates are:
Back cover $225
Full page $150
Half page $75
Quarter page $40
All ads must be paid in advance.
Layout, separations
and extra work
incur additional costs.
April 1996
ADDRESSES
All correspondence, including mem-
bership renewals, short term mem-
berships, rating forms and other
administrative matters should
be
sent to:
Hang Gliding Federation Of
Australia
Executive Director: Ian Jarman
PO Box 558, TUMUT NSW 2720
Tel [phone], Fax [phone]
President: Rohan Grant
002 311112 H, 002 337638 W,
002 333311 Fax
Operations Manager
Craig Worth, PhlFx 065 592713
Mobile: [phone]
For information about site ratings,
sites and other local matters, contact
the appropriate state association!
region or club.
Vice-president: Andrew Humphries,
42 Cunningham Tce, Daglish
WA
6008, 093816053.093882401 Fx.
018917537
Secretary: Shaun Keene, PO Box
81, Lyons ACT 2606, 06 2998792
H, 018 697820 W
Treasurer: Mark Pike, PO Box 102 ,
Lara Vic 3212, 019 404299, 052
279348 W, 052 279497 Fx
Board Member & Competitions
Committee contact: Paul Mollison,
8 Brown St, Adamstown NSW
2289,049570216 H, 049 499199
W. 049 499395 Fx
Board Member: Michael Zupanc.
PO Box 507 Redbank Plains Qld
4301. 078142113 H. 018 662328 W
Board Member: Robert Woodward,
38 Addison Rd . Black Forest SA
5035, 08 2977532 H, 08 2325405
W. 08 2237345 Fx
Board Member & Women's
Committee contact:
Jenny Ganderton, Boganol, Henry
Lawson
Way, Forbes NSW 2871,
068514148 H, 068 521455 W
Paragliding Convenor
Fred Gungl, U2/47 Walkers Lane,
Bright
Vic 3741 , 015 854455
PHG Committee Convenor: Kevin
Magennis, PO Box
291 Laurieton
NSW 2443, 018181071
PHG Registration: Neville Hoger,
Mackay 079 597105
H, 079 576483
W (Forward PHG Registrations
to
HGFA Office, Tumut)
PHG Public Relations contact:
Paul Haines, Public Relations, 042
941031 ph/fx/tam
Coaching Committee contact:
HGFA Operations Manager
States & Regions
Southern Region NSW
IB Park Ave, Tahmoor NSW 2573
Pres. James Nathaniel [phone]
Northern NSW Region
Pres. Dane Snelling 02 99384420 W,
02 99799069H: Sec. Ian Duncan 02
9189962; Treas. Glenn Salmon 02
9180091
ACTHGA
PO Box 3496, Manuka 2603; Pre s.
Duncan Kelly 06 2805605 W. 06
The Hang Gliding Federation of Australia is a
member of Federation Aeronautique
Internationale (FAI) through the Australian Sport
Aviation Confederation (ASAC).
The Hang Gliding Federation of Australia is
assisted
by the Australian Sports Commission.
CONTENTS
HGFA Executive, Board & Committee members3
Club List 4
Letters
New HGFA Board
Aero Towing at the Words
Competitions
Operations Manager's Report
The Australian Nationals Paragliding
Championships
Bright Paragliding Pre-world
Aviator's Camaraderie
Dog Bites Hang Glider
The World Hang Gliding Series
Can You Read Me?
A Cross
Country Flight
Around About
PWC Venezuela 1996
Ramp Rebuilding at Corryong
Incident Analysis: "The ReseNe Just Fell Out"
State, Region and Club News
Market Place
COVER PHOTO
6
6
6
7
9
11
11
12
13
14
16
19
21
23
26
27
28
31
AirBorne Windsport's new Shark 156 above the AirBorne
factory at Redhead NSW. Photo by Max Weiner.
CREDITS
Cartoon
Typing & Layout
Printer
2814556 H, 018 625091 ; Sec.
Catherine Thorpe 06 2896456 w.06
2917978 H, 018630496 : SSO. Peter
Dall 06 2813746 H, 062684139 W
Nth Qld:
12 Van Eldik Av. Andergrove Q
4740. Pres. Gerry Gerus 019
617935,070341451 ph/fx: SeclTrs:
Ron Huxhagen 079 552913. 079
555133
Fx
HGAWA
John Carter
Marie Jeffery
Quality Plus, Ballina
4585454 H: Trike Rep Graham
McDonald 09 3649226 H, 09
4186461B
VicHGPA
PO Box 400. Prahran 3181 : Pres
Rob
Van Oer Klooster: 052 223019
AH , 052 272523 BH ; Sec Tony
Hughes:
052438245 AH , 052
641091 BH
TasHGA
PO Box 543 Mowbray TAS 7248.
Sec. Steve Orinkald 003 267327 H
SAHGA
PO Box 82 , South Perth 6151 ; Pres
Doug Trent: 09 4594702 H,
09
4516990 W; Sec Keith Lush 09
3673479 H, 09 3679066 W, fx:
4741202; PG Rep Evan Williams 09
I Sturt St, Adelaide SA 5000; Ph 08
2130660, Fax [phone]
3

Clubs Treas Steve Duncan 065554077 Mudgee District
Sport
Sec. John Carter
077 734930 H Sec Steve Tinson Aviation
Club Inc
037285203 H
Whitsundays
HG Club
065558091 Sec. Darryl Ashlin SSO Harry Summons
Pres. Wayne Smith 065545700 W 063742536 059646055 H
079513392 SSO. Bob Barnes SSO. Bruce Barcham Meet 3rd
Wed York-On -
Queensland
Gladstone HG Club Secrrreas
Ron
065540416 063742092 Lilydale, Lilydale
Cairns
HG Club
4 Caimcross St Huxhagen 079 552913,
Illawarra Hang
Newcastle HG Club North East Victoria
Pres Luke Walker Gladstone Q 4680 079 555122
Fx
Gliding Club Inc
Pres Peter O'Loughlin HG Club Inc
070514659 Pres. Pat Purcell
New South Wales Meet: Mountain Top 049430158 Pres & SSO Geoff
015675109
079793414
Byron Bay HG Club
Cafe, Mt Keira 1st Wed
Sec John 0 'Donohue White
Sec Anton Rath Sec. ,sandy Gemmell
Inc
Pres George Barrie 049549084 057501244.018
070537149
079750232
Pres Joe Barton 042855567 "PG" Ian Ladyman 052793
Treas. Nadine Condon Publicity Officer 066803229 Sec Warwick Kelly 049498946 Sec
Karl Texler Jnr
070531877 Hans Respondek SSO Neil Mersham SSO Ross Duncan 057501733
Vice Pres
Nev Akers 079721203 066858768; 018 SSO. James Nathaniel 049431900 Treas David Romeril
070512438 S
unshin e Coast HG
441742 046810641 meet last Wed Souths 057562216
Capricorn
Club (Qld) meet
1st Wed 7pm ea Kosciusko Alpine Leagues Club Club meets
1st Saturday
Skyriders Club Inc
53 Yungar St Coolum month Bangalow Paragliding C
lub
Northern Beaches HG
ea month Bright Shire
Pres Brian Hampson Qld 4573 Bowling Club
Pr. Roger Lilford Club
Inc (Sydney) Offices 7.30
pm
079226527 Pres. Mal Price
Centra l Coast HG
062815404 h Pres: Jim Allen Southern HG Club
Sec Geoff Craig
074480038
Club (NSW) Sec. Lisa Ryrie 029711715 H Pres. Mike Slape
079923137 Vice-Pres Geoff Pres Russell Skillen 062359120.
Sec: Mike Warner 035438331
AH
Brian Smith Bor.thwick 018404254 062359060 024521217 H
1st Tues Anchor &
079287858
074760784
Sec Mark Steele SSO.Heinz Gloor
02 99555099 W Hope Tav Church
St
Canungra HG Club Secrrreas. Cathy 043321277 064576019
w. 02 99555991 W fax
Richmond
Edmunds Treas Mick Hoipo 064567171 h SSO. Forrest Park Sky High PG
c)ub
Inc 074463421 024502674
Pres. Dave Staver 043282871 Lower Blue Mts
HG
Pres & Sec. David Mills
0755453391 SSO.Dave Cookman SSO I
an Duffy
Club Inc Stanwell
Park Club
03 98 1927 12 H
Sec. Gordon Bieske
074498573
018439612 Pres. David Middleton
PO Box 258
03 92822448 VI
07555435149 H Townsville HG Assoc 2nd
Wed The Entrance 026236961 Helensburgh
NSW 2508
1st Wed ea month Vine
SSO. Geoff Dossetor
Inc
RSL Club 7.30 pm
Sec. Neil Glennon Pres. Rob Fakes Hotel, 59 Wellington St,
0755435631 Pres Gary Rogers Central West HG Club
SSO. Nigel Felton 042942273 H Collingwood
PG Rep. Phil Hystek 077 792645 H, 077 Pres Len Paton 026282609 015237565 Southern Cross
0755437237 538565 W 068537220 Mid North Coast HG Sec. Karen Lederer Paragliding
Inc
Vice-Pres Peter Scar.fe
Sec. Jenny Ganderton Assoc (NSW) 042942273 Pres. Kevin Gingell-
Conondale XC Fliers 077 212666 H, 077
0411 362273
Club
Inc
068511533 Pres.
Paul Hazelgrove Kent
721766 W Tres. Mark Madden 018657366 Treas. Ian Lobb Sec. CraIg Martinson
13 Cottman St, Buderim SSO Graeme Etherton SSO Pascal Ferret
Q 4556, 063622927 Sec & SSO. Lee Scott 035928382
077 724467 065565265
042 943533 Meet last
Wed of ea
Fax: [phone] Sec Dave McManus
Great Lakes HGC Inc
Ben Leonard
Next meeting noted in
month Anchor & Hope
077 723043 H Pres. Jim Parsons 065821966 newsletter. Hotel
481 Church St
Sydney
HG Club Richmond
Pres Dick Heffer Western Victorian
023872613 Hang Gliding Club
Sec John Trude Pres. Phillip Campbell
028873371 053428569
Treas Greg Wilson Tres. Andrew
028184704 McKinnon
03 4371069
PR Mark Hellier
Vice Pres. Nicole
023515475 Shalders 053 318 1
78
ICap 9.00 Initial issue (12 mths)
$150 pa Sydney
Paragliding
Sec. Meg Bailey
ILeather Key Ring -metal with full
(3 mths) $40 qtr
Club 053492845
colour enamel logo 6.95 Instructor with Passenger Carrying
Pres Peter Bowyer SSO. Rohan Holtkamp
IMetal Lapel Badge 4.95 Endorsement annual renewal fee $250 025254175 053492845
ICar stickers 2.00 Training Facility -Inspection and/or
Vice Pres Tim Gearing Club meets last
Sat ea
Embroidered badge 2.95 042681725 month
at Golden Age
ITopographic maps for all areas at discount prices Approval fee
$80 * Sec Deirdre Skillen Hotel Beaufort
I Please add $2.50 ppfor all orders. Discounts PHG Instructor Examination & check- 027275087 Western
Australia
I flights (payable to PHG Examiner)
$50
Treas Roger
available for bulk purchases. Cheque, money PHG Aircraft Registration (Initial issue) $100 Montgomery Avon Valley Hang
I
order. bankcard, visa and mastercard accept- 022203199 Gliding Club
I
ed, phone orders welcome. Actual prices may PHG Aircraft Registration (Renew)
$50
SSO Mark Mitsos Pres. David Drabble
vary from those shown. Terms: payment with Level I Club Coach (Valid for 4 yrs. 042674570 093071816
I
order. Delivery 14 days when ex,stock. Issue & renewal -includes FAI Sporting
Vice Pres. Rob
: HGFA Schedule of Fees Licence, manuals, etc) #
$30
TamworthlManilla Stevenson
09 3647872
HGC Sec. Mike Field
Level 2 Competitions Coach (includes Andrew Pepper 094097903
IMembership Fees ACC training course, registration & 067654520 Treas. Michael Derry
1 12 months (FULL) Membership $125 manuals, etc)
##
$30
Richard Riley 093415271
(SA) 12 mths FULL membership $135 FAI Sporting Licence (incl. HGFA 067821073 Cloud Base
I(WA) 12 mths FULL Membership $130 Comp Manual, Section 7 FAI Sporting 067821267 Paragliding Club Inc
IAdditional Family Member (12 months) SSO.Pat Lenders
$50
Code, Records Claim Pack (initial issue)
$20
067729272 Pres Evan Williams
IShort Tenn Membership (4 months) $45 FAI International Pilot Proficiency
PG SO Godfrey 094585454
IVisiting Pilot Membership (4 months) $45 Identification Card (IPPI) Non-
Wen ness 067 856545 Sec Julian McPherson
ITrainee Membership (TM) 10 Days
competition flying overseas
$10
093881584
ACT
Meet 1st Wed.
Iavailable through instructors only
$15 Competitions Manual
$10
Canberra Sports Boulevard Ale Hou se
1(12 issues)"Skysailor" Subscription only
$SO
Tow Guidelines $nil Aviation
Club Inc East Vic Park
Overseas (sent SAL) $65 Replacement Operations Manual
$10
Pres. Allan Taylor Dalwallinu HG Club
IOverseas (Sent Airmail) $95 Replacement Ops Manual Binder $
15
06 2886311 Pres. Gary Bennell
ICertificate & Insurance Fees NB: *Charged
at $80 per half day of inspection plus Sec. Robert Burns 093804357
IPowered Operations Insurance Levy
travel expenses (max. $250 per
06 258 11 81 Sec Anna
MUll!
$20
Meet 1st Tues ea mth 093772021
IPassenger Endorsement annual inspection/approval). The George Harcourt
I renewal fee $150 #
To be introduced late 1 995 or early 1996.
Inn Gold Creek Rd
The Great Sandy
Desert HG Club
IInstructor Certificates (12 mths) $150 pa, ## Includes
all updated material from Level I. Gungahlin 8
pm
Pres. Ian Sallie
IInitial issue (3 mths) $40 qtr
There is no charge for PHG Temporary Satellite Victoria
091 798487 H
IInstructor Certificates annual renewal fee$150 Facility approvals. Eastern
HG Club Sec Joe Langford
Passenger Carrying Endorsements: .J
Pres . Lance Sheppard 091 798655 H
~-----------------------------
059623570 H
4
SKYSAILOR

As this goes to print a new HGFA Management
Board has been voted
in by the members. See page
6. There is some 'new blood' and a few untiring
'o ld faces'. Congratulations to you all!
By the time you read this, the new Board members will
have been shown some
of the ropes at the March Planning
Meeting, and no doubt will already be pursuing some of
their tasks. Information Bulletins dealing with current mat-
ters are sent out to clubs regularly for members or Board
members can be contacted. We'll endeavour to publish
updated phone number for the new Board members next issue.
It's that time
of the year again for pilots in SE Queensland,
Northern
NSW and of course some further areas. The annual
Inglewood
f1yin is to be held over the weekend of the 4-6 May
1996. See the Around About section for phone numbers etc.
(which I have o
nl y just received). Last year saw many long XC
and personal bests, lots
of aerotowing and flying of demo glid-
ers. A weekend guaranteed to provide excellent flying and
socialising!
I haven't had any reports from comp directors
or participat-
ing pilots so far so stories from the comp season are non-exis-
~ins in the Canadian Rockies?
Check out
Wasa Lakeside Bed & Breakfast and
More ,
the ultimate pilots' accommodations!
James Swansburg
http://www.cyberlink.bc.ca/-swanys/
Email [email protected]
604 422 3551 voice/fax,
Box 122, Wasa Lake, BC Canada VOB 2KO
tent. Perhaps now that the autumn weather is setting in some of
you will find time to put your experiences on paper.
Richard Nevins is calling for all trike/tug pilots who may
be interested
in providing this service at the World
Championships in 1997.
Also you will notice that we are looking for a new editor
for Skysailor. Yes, after much agonising,
I've decided it is time
for a rest (and some flying!).
If you believe you could do the
job, call Ian for the specs.
Happy reading and safe flying!
TV Documenta~
Now available on video
I
for some of Austral
An intrepid band of thirty avl~tor6 and the
Battling the be5t that mother nature could offer, our""
ed their weight 5hift microlight5 from Sydney to the Dalntree
'z
Stopping along the way to meet the kld5 who 11't5 Ired their arauD
Post orders to: Mark Walker
L.C .A. Productions
C05t: $49 plU5 $5 p05taet: and handline
327 North Rocks Road, NORTH ROCKS NSW 2151
----------------------,
IName: .................................................................................. .. .
IAddress: ................................................... .. ... .. .... ....................
I
I .
.. .......... . .............. ....... . .. ....... State: .. . .. ......... .. .......... .. ... .... ... ..
IPostcode: ........................ .... Phone No.: . .. ...... ... ................. ..
:No. of copies: ..................... Total cost: ........................ .. .......
IPlease make cheques or money orders payable to:
I L.C.A. Productions, 327 North Rocks Road,
I North Rocks NSW :2. 151
L ______________________ ~ __________________________________________ -J
April 1996 5

To The Editor
A girl doesn't tum 30 everyday! So to
make it special and memorable, I was con-
vinced to try a tandem hang glide. Mind you
it did not really take MUCH convincing.
My
husband has recently completed his pilot
training for hang gliding, so a tandem ride
for my birthday seemed like a natural pro-
gression. I guess this letter
is to say a big
thank you to Lee Scott and Jason from High
Adventure Air Park, Johns River on the Mid
North Coast
of New South Wales!
What a glorious morning it turned out to
be! Even the professionals deemed it
to be a
real 'corker'
of a day! We definitely take for
granted the beauty
of the region in which we
live and work, until we
become airborne and get
the proverbial 'bird's eye
view'! A perfect tow up
with the trike, and a per-
fect glide over the
Camden Haven's North
Brother mountain, at a
stature
of 1500 f1. The
Pacific in the not-too-far
distance, coastal rivers
and lakes beneath, the
Great Divide to the west and a perfect land-
ing. Safety being
No. I on the agenda, I felt
secure in the knowledge that Lee and Jason
are definitely an exceptional team working
together.
I have an understanding now
of what all
pilots enjoy, no matter what their aircraft
may be, and why they have that special glint
in their eye when they peer skyward! Thank
you to my husband for the suggestion of a
tandem flight to make my day special, and
thank you to High Adventure Airpark, Lee
and Jason, for such a memorable morning.
And yes, I would do it again
in a trice!
Yours graciously,
Cath Corthals * •
Stop Press - New HGFA Board
The new Board will be comprised of:
Mike Zupanc, Queensland
Jenny Ganderton, New South Wales
Rob
Woodward, South Australia
Rohan Holtkamp, Victoria
Rohan
Grant ,Tasmania
Lee
Scott , New South Wales
Shaun Keane, ACT
Keith
Lush, Western Australia
Rachel Bain, ACT Congratulations!
Bright Hill landing paddock in the late afternoon. Photo Glenn O'Grady
•
Skysailor
Magazine
Expressions of Interest
are invited from any
persons to produce
Skysailor.
It is anticipated that the
successful applicant will
be expected to begin
production with the July
1996 issue.
Contact Ian Jarman at
the HGFA office,
069472888.
AERO TOWtNq AT
THE WOWS
An invitation to any tug pilots
who would be interested
in partici-
pating at the Pre World
or World
Championships in Australia
in 1997
and 1998.
Discussions over the past few years at
the Flatlands Competitions have lead to
some concern over the perceived advan-
tage Aero Towing has at a tow competi-
tion.
To address this and to provide the
best World Championships yet we would
like to offer competitors at these competi-
tions the option (at
an expense to them) of
Aero Towing.
As Australia has probably the highest
ratio
of tugs to pilots in the World, we
hope this can be achieved.
We need to
have
an idea of how many tugs would be
available and an indication of the costs
involved before we can offer this option.
We feel at the Flatlands we have the
best venue
in the World for this type of
competition. So if you are interested
and/or have any constructive ideas and
wish to be involved
in another first for
Australia, please
contact
Richard Nevins, fax [phone],
phone [phone] or write to P.O. Box
950, Nerang Queensland 4211.
SKYSAILOR

Australian Competitions
Barossa Birdmen Annual Flyin
18-20 May 1996
Where: Truro Flats Airpark
Accommodation: Limited
Fuel: Please order
Competitions: Yes
All types of aircraft are welcome to attend. Contacts for further infor-
mation are: Ian Shaughnesy 085 23 I751, Dennis Martin 08 2630553,
Kim Eddowes 085 640040
Overseas Competitions
.......................................................
South African National Microlight Championships
Date: 25 April - I May 1996
Entries required
by 5 March 1996. Contact The Aero Club of South
Africa, tel.
(01 I) 805 036689, fax (Oil) 895 2765
8-14 June 1996
Castejon de Sos Spain
World
Hang Gliding Series
Location: Castejon de Sos, Pyranees, Spain.
Participation limited
to 170 pilots for cross country & 30 in each of
the other disciplines.
Entryfee: 15,000 Spanish peseta for 1 discipline, 20,000 for two dis-
ciplines and 25,000
for all three. It is mandatory to enter before
May 8th. Transport to take off and retrievals are NOT included in
the fee.
Organiser: Ana Lopez Calle Rocafondo No 5 Local 08301 Mataro
Spain; tel [phone], fax [phone]
Contact the HGFA office on 069 472888 for further info and applica-
tion
form.
Russian Comps
17-27 June -Altai Cup
27 June -10 July -Russia Nationals (HG)
II -22 July -Russia Cup (HG)
30 July -10 August -Siberia Cup (PG)
The competitions will take place at "Kayacha" launch near
Onjudai village in Altai Mountains. Take off point for HG pilots
is 960 m above the valley; for PG pilots 830 m. The site has
good
XC potential, much of which is yet to be explored by
pilots.
Please contact Vladimir Mitin, President of Altai HG & PG
Assoc. fax [phone], phone [phone] or write Lenin
Prospekt 69, POB 67, 6560 IS Bamaul, Russia.
...........................................................
1996 Canadian National Hang Gliding Championships
Dates: 30 June - 6 July 1996
Fees: CDN$70.00
Site: Eastend Saskatchewan Canada
Type: towing with ridge days (weather permitting)
April 1996
Contact: Mike Rebling w 306 352 3337, h 306 586 8679, Garth
Hemming w 306 259 3233, fax [phone]
Hang Gliding & Paragliding X-country Invitational
Date: July 28-August 2 1996
Where: Golden BC Canada
Entry Fee: $250 CDN
Prize money: $20,000 CDN
Categories: Hang gliding: light weights- 50-300 hrs, middle weights
-300 -600 hrs, heavy weights -600 hrs +; Paragliding: light weights
-50-150 hrs, middle weights 150-250 hrs, heavy weights 250 hrs +
Prizes: Isl place -heavy weights $5000 CDN; Ist place -middle
weights $3000 CDN; 1st place
-light weights $2000 CDN
Entry deadline: 15 May 1996 Fee payable to Fly West Hang Gliding
Ltd,
199 Marlyn Place, Calgary Alta, Canada T2A-3K9. Further
information: fax [phone] or email to [e-mail]
Sponsors welcome. Be part
of the largest money meet in the history
of foot launch flight.
6th World Microlight Championships South Africa
Date: 31 July - 10 August 1996
Entries required by 5 March 1996. Contact The Aero Club
of South
Africa, tel.
(Oil) 805 036689, fax (01 I) 805 2765
Gajah Mungkur Cup 1996 Wonogiri Java Indonesia
Date: 14-25 August 1996
Opening ceremony 16th, comp days 17-25th, closing 25th
Entryfee: USD $150 or Rp 345,000. This includes discounted airfares
& excess baggage, accommodation discounts, one film & map, glider
transport & retrieval.
Possible total prize money US $7,500-10,000.
Initial registration for Australian pilots C/- HGFA office 069 472888.
International Pamukkale Paragliding Cup '96
Test competition for 1st World Air Games
Anatolia,
Turkey
Date: 7-19 September 1996
The 1st World Air Games '97 will be organised at the same venue on
the same dates.
For further information contact HGFA 069 472888.
World Hang Gliding Series
8-14 June: Castejon de Sos, Pyranees, Spain. Organiser: Ana Lopez
Calle Rocafondo No 5 Local 08301 Mataro Spain; tel +34 3 790
8482, fax [phone]
:::. . ... -;:
619392
7

16-22 June: Sierra Nevada, Spain.
Organiser: Juan Morillas, Grapada; tel +34
58488560, fax [phone], mob +3408
366146
23-29 June: Piedrahlta, central Spain.
Organiser: Steve Ham, Avila, tel/fax: +34
20
36222215
24-31 July: Reno, Nevada (USA). Ray
Leonard, 3650 Research Way #22, Carson
City, NY 89706 USA. Tel: + I 702
883 7070,
fax [phone]
20-25 August: Preddvor, Slovenia. Bojan
Marcie, Ziebe Li, 61215 Medvode, Slovenia.
Tel/fax: +386
61 612646.
PWCA Provisional Calendar 1996
Grisivaudan (Grenoble) France
7-12 May, Sylvian Piroche, Open
International de Parapente. tel. ++33
76459125 or
7608339, fax ++33 76082806
or 76459125
Ziliertal, Austria
25-30 June. Monika Eberharter, tel ++43
5282 228I, fax ++43 5282 228 I
80
Grant Heaney, Paul Haines, Peter Kestrel. Peter being instructed by Grant.
Grindelwa/d, Switzerland
3-7 July. The Secretary, Sportzentrum, tel ++
41 3653 1212, fax ++41 3653 3088
Granada, Spain
15-20 July. Club de Parapente Draco, tel ++ 34 58 488560, fax ++34
58488726
8
Australla's first. utterly affordable,
totally transportable. fOot launched
powered paragUder.
Flying tra1nlng with accomodatlon available
at the Ught WIng Flying Academy.
Turbo-chute Info Vldeo............ t35 Inc P/H
hI" 1((Jf"e- ;~!Wati(l~ eat!
HOWARD HUGHES ENGINEERING l'IY LID
BAI.UNA AIRPORI'. SOUTHERN CROSS DRIVE
P.O. BOX 89 lWLlNA N.S.W. 2478
PH (06b1 86 8658 OR FAX [phone]
Grant being instructed by Paul!
Chamonix, France
27 Aug - I Sep. Yves Mollier, tel ++ 3350555281, fax ++335054
5295 ~
SKYSAILOR

Fatal Accident
A student microlight pilot was killed on March 2 when the micro-
light he was flying apparently tumbled and broke up at about 1000'
agl. A Coronial enquiry into the cause of the accident is currently
being held, with assistance from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
The microlight was a certified two-place model (CAO 95.32).
The
wing had been rebuilt 37 hours prior to the accident. Earlier on the
morning
of the accident the student had conducted his first solo after a
consolidation session with his instructor. It was during the student's
second solo flight that the accident occurred.
The instructor was dis-
tracted briefly and did not witness the accident, though preliminary
inspection revealed that the wing of the aircraft had broken negative,
with the aircraft upside-down, probably following a tuck. How the
aircraft came to tuck is yet to
be determined. There has been no evi-
dence to suggest that the tuck resulted from any structural failure
of
the aircraft. A full report will be published once the Coroner releases
his findings.
Microlight Pre-Flight Procedures
It has come to my notice that many microlight pilots are neglect-
ing
to carry out a fuel drain as a regular part of their pre-flight prepa-
ration. For those unfamiliar with the procedure, it involves draining a
small sample of fuel from the base of the fuel tank and checking for
any presence
of water. If water is found the tank can be drained fur-
ther until
all water is removed. The fuel drain is an essential proce-
dure and has come about as a result of engine failures due to water in
the fuel. Not
to carry out the check is inviting engine problems.
AccidentAnalysis
I received a letter from Phil, a Newcastle pilot hang glider pilot,
regarding Accident No 3 in my February report. Phil pointed out that
this accident report posed more questions than it answered and asked
that I provide the glider make and model, hours flown. details of any
relevanl incidents or damage, pre-flight check details and the attitude
of the glider prior to it breaking. On reading my report again I have to
agree with Phil (that) the report was inadequate. However I must
point out that as space
in Skysailor is limited, I usually abbreviate
reports and provide only the information I see as necessary to inform
and educate pilots. The aim is to prevent other similar accidents and
encourage pilots
to fly safely. This is obviously the prime purpose of
accident reporting, aside from being able to gain data to ascertain
trends or deficiencies in our pilot training and education system. Once
deficiencies are determined systems can be amended and improved to
increase safety.
My prime emission in reporting the accident in question was
that I neglected to state that after the glider had stalled at the top
of the attempted wing-over (though the exact attitude was not
provided I believe it was in excess
of 90p), the pilot had fallen
into the sail and the glider had tumbled. This is a common result
of stalling a hang glider in a bank greater than 90p. This accident
was
in fact better detailed by the pilot himself on page 13 of the
January Skysailor
in the article "Tossing Silk".
The message I was attempting lo get across was the danger
associated with performing aerobatics. No matter what make,
model or age
of a hang glider, it will most likely tumble and
break after
is stalled inverted. I have found with aerobatics that
no matter how steep a wingover you do, someone will come
along and do a steeper one. Eventually you might end up doing a
loop, but after talking to several pilots who have been involved in
failed loops, lhere isn't much
joy in those either. My advice to
f's ' teporf
pilots wishing to do aerobatics is to go and buy a Pitts Special and go
for
it. At least the aircraft is designed for it.
Whilst talking accident analysis, I hear on the grapevine that the
HGFA Board is considering forming an Operations and Safety
Committee to assist me in analysing accidents and accident trends.
Sounds great to me. The Coaching and Training Committee have been
involved in this task in the past, though the scope
of analysis has gen-
erally been limited to training accidents.
Accidents / Incidents
No 1
Pilot:
Experience:
Aircraft:
Pilot Injury:
Aircraft Damage:
Conditions:
Location:
Intermediate Pilot
65 hours
Advanced hang glider
Nil
Nil
6-8 knots
Inland ramp launch (Mr Buffalo)
Description: During the launch run the pilot noticed that his run
was impeded, though the launch was made satisfactorily. In the air the
pilot was unable to locate the harness zip cord to close the harness.
On landing it was found that the cord and metal zip tag had broken
off.
Comments: Though there were no witnesses to this launch,
apparently the zip cord had become snagged on the wooden ramp and
had broken during the launch run. This
is not the first instance I have
received
of similar occurrences. When using a launch dolly when
towing a snagged harness cord has led
to several instances of the pilot
dragging the dolly off the ground.
One such incident led to the pilot
landing back on top of the dolly and suffering a severe cut to his leg.
The pre-flight check should include safely stowing the harness
cord.
No2
Pilot:
Experience:
Aircraft:
Harness:
Pilot Injury:
Aircraft Damage:
Conditions:
Location:
Intermediate Pilot
80 hours
Advanced
hang glider
Vest style front entry with side mounted
parachute
Nil
Nil
Not provided
Inland tow paddock
Mark Newland wins
the NSW State title6
on a Shark 156
AirBorne WindSports, 22/30 Kalama Road,
Redhead NSW.2290
Phone · 049 .. 499199 fax b494~9395 ..
b. '. ····i·· .•••. ••••... •••••••• ;.... ••.•••.•• •••. ., •.•••••.•.•.•.•••• , •.••.•.•.••••••.•.• . •.•.•.•....•••••.•••••••••.•.•.•••••••••••••••• ; •••• • ••••••••••••••••••••.••....
April 1996 9

Description: Car towing using a payout winch. During launch the
side mounted parachute snagged on a rear wire
of the glider, opening
the outer container.
The parachute deployed at about 20' agl, the weak
link broke and the pilot and glider landed heavily.
Comments: The pilot was fortunate not to have been injured. On
the accident report he commented that he had no such problem when
foot launching
or launching from a dolly, though he had heard of
other pilots experiencing problems with the 'chute catching the rear
wires when foot launch towing. It is critical to ensure that the para-
chute is stowed securely.
The system used on side mounted 'chutes
where a length
of cable is threaded through several bungy loops to
locate the stowage container should not easily snag on the wire,
though here it has. Most harnesses also use a velcro strip on the han-
dle and outer container to assist in securing
the handle. Check it regu-
larly!
No3
Pilot:
Experience:
Aircraft:
Pilot Injury:
Aircraft Damage:
Wind:
Location:
Microlight Instructor
12,982 hours
Two-place microlight
Nil
Nil
12-15 knots
Inland airport
Description: During a circuit training exercise, the rnicrolight
completed a landing and having turned through
90p to back-track,
was forced to stop quickly to avoid a collision with a
GA aircraft
landing on the same runway. The GA aircraft passed within 2-3
metres
of the microlight. The GA aircraft was conducting circuits
without radio.
Comments: Had the rnicrolight pilot not been keeping a sharp
lookout and reacted quickly to stop the taxying microlight, a collision
would have occurred. Subsequent discussion with the GA pilot
revealed that he was aware that the radio in the aircraft was not opera-
tional and that the runway on which he was landing was occupied. As
the airport is a CTAF area,
VHF radio is recommended only, though it
is common practice for all aircraft to carry and use radio (and also
good airrnanship).
It seems that this GA pilot has little respect for cir-
cuit procedures and was subsequently disciplined by the local aero-
club. This is not the only incident
of this nature I have had reported. A
good practice is to land adjacent to the runway
(if possible) and when
turning
to back-track, turn away from the runway, thus never crossing
over it and placing yourself in a possible conflict situation.
Do
not rely on the other pilots doing the right thing -keep a
sharp lookout at all times.
No4
Pilot:
Experience:
Aircraft:
Pilot Injury:
Aircraft Damage:
Conditions:
Location:
Restricted Pilot
12 hours
Intermediate paraglider
Nil
Tom canopy and several broken lines
15 knots, squalls to 20+ kts
Coastal site
Description: Pilot had launched into a breeze which was within
the speed range
of his glider. After soaring for twenty minutes the
wind began to strengthen as a squall approached. Pilot flew off the
edge
of the hill to land and could not penetrate forward to the beach
and landed in trees behind beach.
Comments: The need to closely monitor conditions whilst in the
air cannot
be overstressed. With the comparatively limited speed
range
of paragliders, vigilance is paramount.
Fly safely,
Craig Worth $
FLy TilE EUROPEAN ALps
10
Hang Glider and Paraglider pilots welcome
23rd June to 21 st July 1996
Tour operator is Konni Konrad, an
experienced hang glider and paraglider
pilot, as well as a han, 1!9~9~/id~i;ngllllllllll
instructor. Ii
For more details contact:
Konni Konrad fax: [phone]
Purchase a glider tax
exempt in Australia,
have it freighted to
Munich at reason-
able rates and get
set
for a flying
holiday you will
never forget in the
amazing European
Alps.
or Rob Hibberd at Airborne Ph: 049499 199 or fax: [phone]
SKYSAILOR

The Australian Nationals
Paragliding Championships
The Australian Nationals
Paragliding Championships
concluded yesterday. The
competition was a resound-
ing success with some
of the
best weather
for competi-
tion
for several years.
The new Australian champion is Rob
Schrottner from NSW, very narrowly beat-
ing the pervious title holder and local Bright
pilot, Fred Gungl into second
pl ace. In third
place was Brian Webb, also from Bright,
flying well despite a recently dislocated hip.
The competition was also the venue for
the inaugural "Trans Tasman Challenge". A
team
of six pilots from New Zealand were
resoundingly thrashed in every round, every
day.
They will be looking forward to
revenge next year at Nelson, in New
Zealand. During the competition the pilots
collectively flew over 3,500 kms without
incident.
Our deep thanks go out to the local
land owners, particularly in the Harrietville
valley, who have tolerated the chance 'drop-
ping in'
of these pilots for the last week.
Brian Webb
Competition Organiser
Paragliding Pre-
World Cup
Bright
By Ian Ladyman
IrecentlY returned from the .most expen-
sive paraglIdmg compe
tItIOn held m
Australia. The entry fee of $220 and neg-
li gible prizes surely reduced the entries to a
measly 30 or so pilots. But my choice to
attend this competition in preference to
cheaper alternatives was to be a part
of our
"Open" for the season and to participate in
the first paragliding Pre-World Cup held in
Australia. Brian requested the high sanction
for the event promising to run the competi-
tion at the
hi gh service level required. In the
past
it has been said that we don't run real
competitions
in Australia. This inspired
Brian to ensure that everything was covered
correctly in a professional manner.
I was very pleased with the entire compe-
tition and felt the entry fee was worth every
cent. The competition included 7 very valid
tasks which were well set requiring challeng-
ing yet achievable goals. The competition
added
21 hours to my log book of very
enjoyable flying
in lovely surrounds with
wonderful friends. That is around $IO/hr
of
entry fee.
Sometimes in the past
it has been diffi-
cu
lt to launch when you may have liked. The
April 1996
new launch order rul es brought a smile to my
face to see them working so well. They
enabled any pilot
to virtually launch whenev-
er they liked with preference to the leaders,
yet no one was forced
off when they didn't
want to. Harry Buntz told me that he would
be recommending our launch order rules to
the next world cup meeting.
Thank you Heather Stricek and all of
your assistants for a wonderful competition.
Also I must thank the two "ford
's" . The
weathermen Barry Rentford and Don
Whitford gave us wonderful weather reports.
On the Sunday morning Don allowed me to
help with his data ga
th ering in preparation
for the 9.30 am briefing. It began at 7 am
when most were asleep. From releasing and
tracking the balloons, calculating their path,
downloading from Avfax, Bureau, Internet,
and temp trace via radio Don
didn't stop
once right up to the meeting. And of course
the data did not match so his experience and
knowledge was able to blend the most cor-
rect data into what was the correct forecast.
The trans Tasman Challenge was won by
Australia.
The trophy will be displayed at
Bright Backpackers and we must now plan
our defence in New Zealand next season.
Results
Rob Schroettner Aus
5738
2 Harry Buntz Ger 5663
3 Fred Gungl Aus 5647
4 Brian Webb Aus
5217
5 Ian Ladyman Aus 4841
6 Craig Collings NZ
4676
7
Ron McKenzie Aus
4529
8 Yoshiaki Nakagaw J 4292
9 Andrew Kemp Aus 4119
1O
Enda Murphy Aus
3983
Ladies
Christy Bishop Aus 1742
2 Fran Ning Aus
129O
3 Barbara Utech Aus 1181
Tran Tasman Challenge Bright
1996
Aus
NZ
Task I 3,022
2,624
Task 2 3,118 2,728
Task 3 2,281 1,436
Task 4 3,574 1,990
Task 5 2,871 2,377
Task 6 2,987 2,435
Task 7 3,133
2,424
Totals 20,986 16,014
/
Australia's
intention for thi s COffi- ; ~
petition is for ,~
developmental teams to par-
ticipate at international level. This
means you may be able to represent Australia
even though you are not on top
of the ladder.
If you are interested in participating in New
Zealand next season please contact Andrew
Kemp
or myself.
While on
th e subject of great competi-
tions this season, I remember the terrific flat-
lands organised by P
ete r Champion. He put
in a tremendous effort to yet aga in improve
the competition. He would have loved to
fly
in it himse lf and hopefully will be able to
tind someone to organise next year's flat-
lands to let him achieve that. At
$120 and my
17 hours airtime gives just $7/hr for organis-
ers cost. A bargain
due to Peter 's enormous
voluntary input. And every single entrant
won a good prize
of their choice if they came
to the closing ceremony! Thank
you very
very much Peter and
Lisa (Lisa, like all vol-
unt eers' better halfs, knows what time it
takes). *
11

Aviators'
Camaraderie
On the morning of 27th January I awoke
to a beautiful
day. Peifect for an ama-
teur but very enthusiastic ultralight pilot
like myself. I've been waiting for weath-
er like this
for the last three months of
this crazy summer. I quickly got up, got'
dressed and hooked up the trailer with
my trike and
headedfor Smithy's airport .
at Hexham.
On arrival I assembled my three wheeled
beast, did my pre-flight check and took
off
into the blue wonder. I saw a group of three
trikes coming from the west prior
to take off,
so after gaining 2,800 feet altitude I headed
after them, towards Rutherford
to see them
in action. I decided to use North Rothbury as
tumpoint to fly back.
On the way back at 1,800 feet altitude
above the edge
of Hexham swamp I hit some
The Sydney Microlight Centre is Sydney's closest
approved microlight training facility, located at
Wollongong Airport, south of Sydney on the F6.
Learn to fly at our fully eMlicensed airport and avoid
hours spent travelling to distant country airst
ri ps .
12
THE SYDNEY MIC RO LIGHT CENTRE
Trial Instruction flights and flight training
available seven days a week (weather permitting) .
PAUL
HAINES (Chief Flying Instructor)
Telephone:
[phone] (office) 018603 009 (airfield)
Steve Ruffels and Dave Allen. Photo by Chris Monshing
nice thermal lift. I released the throttle, let the engine idle and began
soaring flight. Because I was quite enjoying this and was close to
Smithy's airstrip I had the somewhat, in retrospect, reckless idea
of
cutting my engine so that I could glide better without propeller drag.
I figured that
if I began losing altitude I could always make it back
to the airstri
p.
The events of the day took an interesting tum when I lost the
thermal lift and began to lose altitude. I pointed the trike towards
the airstrip, but I could see that I would fall short
as I was flying
into oncoming wind which was increasing
in strength. Needless to
say, I tried restarting the engine and needless to say I was unsuc-
cessful
in this passionately pursued endeavour.
To cut a long story short, I ended up landing about 60 metres
short
of the edge of the airstrip in a 2 feet deep swamp overgrown
with 8 feet tall reeds. Luckily
my predicament was observed by
chief pilot Shane Moore and his student, who saw my "nice land-
ing" from their bird's eye view, as did R Smith and P Bryant from
the airstrip. First to approach me was Mr Bryant and then I was
somewhat disturbed to see Mr Smith beat the swamp undergrowth
with a shovel as he approached. This feeling turned to something
close to severe apprehension and hurry to get out
of the swamp
when he told why he was doing that. To scare away the black
snakes that are apparently rife
in the swamp area. Anyway my avia-
tion comrades eventually succeeded
in releasing the scratched but
otherwise healthy trike from the swamp and transporting
it onto
firmer terra firma.
I have no doubts however that
if it wasn't for the generous and
much appreciated help
of aviation comrades, I would be a "sitting
duck" at Hexham swamp today, maybe in the company
of a few
black snakes. I want to take this opportunity
to sincerely thank R
Smith, P Bryant, S Moore, A Feneley, A Carvana.
You saved the day and made my day at the same time. Thank
you, have happy safe flying!!!
Yours sincerely
_Zdenek Jerabek *
SKYSAILOR

~ ..
very unfriendly looking dog of the pitbull
persuasion appeared from behind the shed
and lunged towards me. Wonderful,
I've sur-
vived a helicopter attack, a horror landing,
and now
I'm going be ripped to pieces by a
dog. There was no escape, I was still
strapped into the glider, and even
if I wasn't,
I doubt that I could outrun this animal. I
stood wondering
if my harness might offer
some protection. Suddenly, the
dog stopped
short about 20
ft away, straining and salivat-
ing. With immense relief I realised that it
was
attached to a running leash which was stop-
ping it getting any closer. I thanked the Don't
Get Ripped To Pieces By A Dog
God , moved
my glider as far away as I could and derigged
as fast as possible. All the while, the dog
struggled to reach
me , making the sort of
noises that suggested it would take the great-
est delight in tearing me limb from limb. I
kept eyeing the leash, hoping it
wouldn't fail.
Clearly there was no-one at home, so after I
had finished, I carefully edged past, keeping
as far away from
The Dog as possible, hid
my glider beside the fence and walked out to
the road. The road into the house was
blocked by a huge gate, locked by a number
of large padlocks, and festooned with 'Keep
Out' signs.
By David Phillips
There has been a rash of reports
in the papers recently about dog
attacks. This story recounts
how,
even in the comparative safety of
the air, we are not immune.
Drifting over a forest near Cessnock
(NSW) at about 2500 ft agl, concentrating
hard
to stay with some very light lift, I heard
the familiar clatter
of a helicopter. Looking
down I saw one
of the local operators flying
low over the forest, obviously
on a sightsee-
ing tour. I watched him for several minutes
and decided he was no threat and returned
to
the more pressing task of trying to maintain
enough altitude to safely cross the forest.
You can imagine my dismay when the sound
began to get louder. Looking down, I saw the
'copter
in a spiralling climb heading directly
towards me. I was now a little worried, and
began concentrating more on him and less on
the thermal. He continued to climb until he
was level with
me , where he began to circle,
about 300
ft away. The pilot had obviously
seen
me , and I could imagine him pointing
out the strange craft to his passengers. I was
now seriously alarmed and started a series
of
tight turns and spirals, trying to look as
unfriendly as possible, hoping this would
frighten him away. It worked, because he
seemed to lose interest and began to track
away.
Relieved, I returned
to the task of cross-
ing the forest. I had lost the thermal. and a
good deal
of height, and now had no hope of
getting to the edge of th e forest unless I
could find more lift. With sweaty palms I
glided towards the nearest edge, all the while
listening
to the steady drone of the sink
alarm. A house and clearing near the edge
of
the forest appeared as the only hope within
gliding distance. With little height to spare, I
set up a landing approach into what looked to
be a reasonably sized clearing near the
April 1996
I've survived a
a horror
now I'm going be
pieces by a dog. I got the message, snuck out
of there as
quickly as possible, and vowed never to
return. *
house. As I got lower, I
could see that it had
been carefully planted
with young saplings.
These were about
10ft
high and about 20 ft
apart and all over the
clearing. Very useful
for repelling attacks
from hordes
of maraud-
ing hang gliders. The
only alternative was a
very small clearing
between the house and
a nearby shed.
Somehow we cleared
the roof
of the house,
squeezed between the
trees, and managed to
flare before hitting the
wall
of the shed. It was
one
of those landings
where in the silence
after everything stops.
All I could hear was the
thumping
of my heart.
Whispering a prayer
of
thanks to the Landing
God, I gratefully put
th e glider down in the
shade
of the shed wall.
As turned
to
unclip from the glider, I
heard a noise, and a
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.. ": :'
••••• • ~ •. ~ • ..
The Figh ./ Back Begins!
World class events that bypass the politics and hassle of
national selection; World Cup Grand Prix that bring togeth-
er cross country, speed gliding and aerobatics; affordable
international competitions; these were
just three of the objec-
tives set by Dennis Pagen, Spanish 10 Hayler
and myself at
the WHGS formation meeting
in early '95.
What really clinched the idea
of the
WHGS for me, was the consensus
that hang gliding needed some
serious marketing. Because, in the race for
membership, we are in competition with
some very good sports. And
we're losing.
Marketing success ?
$26 million, that's how much Michael
Schumacher will get for driving a Ferrari in
the 1996 Formula One World
Championships. And that doesn't include
what he will receive from product endorse-
ment, branding on his helmet etc. This driver
will eam more in one year than all our manu-
facturers and top pilots put together.
What's really significant about this is that
it's just a small fraction
of the total money
sponsors invest in Formula One. And that,
crucially,
is a direct measure of how well
motor racing has marketed itself
to the out-
side world.
Or failure?
Now, you can't accuse Hang Gliding's
administrators
of having a failed marketing
policy, because, unfortunately,
it looks like
they never had one
in the first place. The rea-
son may be the sport's rapid growth in its
early years.
SPEED GLIDING
-WORLD CUP-
14
In those
days, gov-
erning bod-
ies struggled
with grow-
ing numbers
of pilots and
making
rules to con-
trol them.
Membership
appeared to
be doing
well enough
in i t i all y.
Marketing the sport never found its way onto
their list
of priorities. Why should it? If cop-
ing with growth was a problem, why make
things worse by advertising?
It was a golden era, a period of plenty,
but sadly, no provision was made for the
future.
So when the inevitable downturn
occurred, there were only rule books
to turn
to. And they didn't contain the answer.
CIVL and national clubs are still not
geared for promotion and pUblicity. They are
about control and administration. So, if we
leave
it to them to stop the rot and get the
sport growing again,
it won't happen. The
best we'll get
is well ordered decline.
Perfect timing
We've a lot of catching up to do. To turn
things around, we need committed marketing
at an international level. The problem is,
there
is not enough cash left in the sport to
aggressively promote itself. But, here's the
good news, some people do have the money.
Sponsors.
The trick will be to get them to
part with it.
The first thing
to understand about spon-
sorship is that it's not a free lunch, it's a busi-
ness deal. Sponsors will want a return on
their investment: exposure. And for the first
time,
we're in a position to deliver the goods.
The sharp growth
of satellite, cable and
dedicated sports channels, means that there's
now an awful lot of airtime to fill. So there's
hot competition between them
to screen the
most popular sports.
And by buying up the big events, the
more powerful
of these media moguls have
even put a squeeze on established national
broadcasters.
For them, the dilemma
is this. There are
not enough top division sporting events
to go
round. And they're being forced
to look out-
side traditional sports like football and rugby
for good alternatives. For hang gliding, there
FAI
WORLD
HANG GLIDING
SERIES
has never been a better time for an outfit like
the WHGS to take the initiative.
Hang gliding has got a lot going for
it. It
offers something that main stream sports
haven't got;
an extra dimension - up. It's
adrenalin raising, high tech and dynamic. It
also has star quality pilots, and the media are
always hungry for personalities -for
Schumacher read: Suchanek, Ruhmer.
Tudor,
Leden, Arkwright, Pendry, Harvey... I could
go on. These are the basic ingredients that
make hang gliding capable
of being project-
ed and promoted as a major sport -synchro-
nised swimming it
is not.
So, if HG has all this. why isn't it up
there on TV with the best of them? In its XC
form,
HG competitions are a problem for TV
producers and broadcasters. Their main
objections are: that it's invisible -most
of the
action takes place away from the cameras
and therefore,
it isn't a spectator sport: for
the cameras to follow the action would be
incredibly costly; and finally, (the event that)
should be our show piece, the World
Championships, only take place every two
years. The time between these competitions
is far too long.
Size counts
Now you can see why bringing XC ,
Speed Gliding and Freestyle together in one
location and using one landing field, appeals
to the media. There'll be plenty
of action and
all
of it will be in front of the cameras. It will
draw
in
spectators ,
which will
give that
ex'tra atmos-
phere. The
TV images
will not sim-
ply be excit-
ing, they'll
be unique.
Imagine the
pictures
FlU
CROSS·COUNTRY
WORLD CUP
SKYSAILOR

FlU
FREESTYLE
from an on-
board cam-
era, speed
gliding! This
is hot stuff.
And from all
this, they
will be able
to develop
audience
WOIlLD CUP interest both
1IIiIII_1IIiIII __ IiIIIIiII_ZIllliEIiIIIIiIIUl§lliI! in the sport,
and in the pilots as personalities.
But this is still not quite enough. For
broadcasters, building up audience awareness
and loyal following, is imperative. Their rev-
enue comes from viewer subscription or
advertising or both. Whichever way, size
counts. For them, the bigger the audience the
better.
But, it takes time to build audience size.
And
in the UK for instance, terrestrial com-
mercial channels need to hit around 1.8- 2
million viewers before serious advertisers get
interested. The producers really sweat until
that figure
is reached, and then they have to
maintain
it. For this, they need a regular fix
for their viewers. It 's easy to see why a
World Championship that takes place every 2
years
doesn't get a look in. And that's why
the WHGS which has 5 events in its first
year. has grabbed the imagination
of
Eurosport. Skysport. Transworld Sport,
Gillette World Sport Special, Reuters and
major networks around the world.
WHGS competition structure counters all
the criticisms the TV media have traditional-
ly made. It is a platform from which we can
start the rejuvenation
of hang gliding. But, it
will still need something else: entry from the
pilots and commitment from the manufactur-
ers.
Pilots -bypass the politics
The series IS going to be a lot of fun
in a lot of great places. And for those
who have previously been excluded from
international comps, the low entry fees
make
it a real, andaffordable opportunity
to mix it with the high fliers.
If you
want to reach the top or
just learn from
the best, you
can do
it without having to go
through the process
of pain, politics and
downright unfairness that some countries
ca
ll national team selection. All you need
is your FAI Sporting Licence and you
can enter any or all
of the WHGS series.
So, the motto should now read;
if you
can't beat 'em,
jOil1 us!
Get sponsored...
New ideas create new possibilities.
For the first time in HG, there's an inter-
national comp circuit that provides an
attractive environment for sponsorship.
Pilots who want to fly professionally are
in a position to go out and seek sponsors
to provide the funds to do so. And pilots
April 1996
should do just that, because they now hold
the key to what sponsors really want; media
exposure.
... Manufacturers too
There's a lot at stake in the constructors'
championship, and the
's witched on' won't
take long to realise that the media is going to
pay plenty of attention to it. It's a separate
area
of competitive intrigue. And just like
Formula One, good media exposure means
that to get a slice
of the action, sponsors will
want to invest in teams as well as individu-
als.
So, all the spin-offs for pilots, also apply
to the manufacturers, only more so. In fact,
they probably have more to gain from the
Series than anyone. By getting right behind
the WHGS and giving it their support, manu-
facturers will actively do something about
claiming back the territory lost to other
sports.
Re-take the initiative
Manufacturers should remember that
serious growth
in the sport started with avail-
ability
of commercially produced hang glid-
ers. It
wasn't bureaucrats that made the sport.
Pilots bought gliders, not rule books.
This may sound dismissive
of the work
done by the sport's administrators. However,
it is not meant to be, what they have done
contains a lot
of good and hard work. But,
their endeavours have lacked the balance
needed to keep the sport healthy and grow-
ing.
Given the current state
of hang gliding,
increasing overall market size may be more
important than increasing a market share
in a
declining sport. After all, bills
don't get paid
with a 100 % share
of nothing.
Manufacturers have to decide whether to
be market makers or market traders. And
there 's a big difference between the two.
Market makers are proactive companies like
Sony,
who created a demand for their
'Walkman' from a public who never knew
they needed them. Market traders
just sell to
an existing market without having any con-
trol in its direction.
Originally, whether they knew it or not,
manufacturers were the sport's market mak-
ers, and they're going to have to take on that
role again.
Only when the turn-arounds been
achieved will fighting for market share make
real sense.
Don't get eaten!
What's been written so far about the
WHGS has only covered some
of the issues,
and only a very few
of the possibilities that
the Series will stimulate. From the outset, the
design
brief was to create a series that would
be great for the pilots, and at the
same time
publicise the sport.
There's been a lot of
work done behind the scenes and there are a
lot
of people who intend making sure that the
best
is yet to come. The WHGS message is
simple: satisfy the customers
you've got then
appeal to a wider audience; turn the appeal
into interest -into greater membership.
This is not the time to take things easy
and there's a great quote by William
Knudson that clearly states why:
"The competition will bite you if you
keep running:
if you stand still it will
swallow
you"
Well, we've been bitten! Let's not get
eaten.
Murray Rose, Media & Sponsorship
Director
WHGS Tyle Llwyd, Llanfrynach, Brecon
Powys, UK
Tellfax [phone]
Ken Cooperflying Warriewood, Northern Beaches. Photo David Ferreira
15

How often do you transmit
this message and get no
answer? It is always time to
think, What is wrong?
Besides flat batteries or
nobody else on channel there
is one more thing to consider.
Do I have a proper antenna?
Re
worry about the physical length too much. It is the electrical length
which counts, and it is usually
114 of a wave length or of its multiples.
This
is achieved by a variety of dirty tricks, the explanation of which
are beyond the purpose
of this article. Antenna theory is full of witch-
craft and beside a pure maths there is plenty of trial and error stuff in
it as well. By all means, it is worthwhile looking at least at the surface
" ... UHF waves travel only by
line
of sight path and get
absorbed or reflected by
obstacles. "
of this wizardry.
How much energy can an
antenna really radiate?
Well, as much as the transmitter
generates (legal limit for CB
is 5
Watts), minus losses. These are caused
by the resistance
of the antenna and
feeder plus energy reflected back
to the
transmitter, due to bad tunning or
wrong impedance matching.
The latest,
if it exceeds a certain limit, can actually
damage your radio!
Antenna is the simplest looking part
of your radio, yet there is more about it than the appearance
suggests.
The general belief is: The longer antenna is, the
more energy it radiates. This is, lets say, imprecise. Antenna, despite
its simple look, is a very accurately tuned device.
The length of it is
critical and making it longer is as bad as making it shorter. Do not
An ideal, omnidirectional antenna
would radiate the energy in globular pattern, the field strength weak-
ening with the square of distance. The bigger the distance. the bigger
is the surface of our imaginary globe, which has to be covered by the
given amount
of energy. It is amazing, that even our humble 5 watts
can still produce a detectable signal at well over two hundred kilome-
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SKYSAILOR

tres distances. Unfortunately, there are catches here: UHF waves
travel only by line
of sight path and get absorbed or reflected by
obstacles. The curvature
of our planet is the biggest of all. On per-
fectly flat ground, with the antenna at your head height, the range is
a mere 10 km. To fully exploit our 200
km limit, one station has to
be 3000 m high, or both of them at 800 m above the terrain. Also,
our signal is not the only in the air and the receiver tends to pick up
the strongest one, which, especially further up, doesnt have to be
the one we want. For this reason, we often change our simple quar-
ter wave antenna (which has a radiating pattern close to the ideal
omnidirectional one) for a different gadget, antenna with a gain.
What is a gain?
Like many other technical terms, it is an incorrect expression.
Antenna, being a passive element, doesnt gain anything.
In fact, it
always has losses and ironically, the higher gain
of the antenna, the
more losses it usually has!
If you find this hard to follow, do not
panic, keep reading
... If we talk about gain, we always talk direc-
tionality. Our antenna
is not omnidirectional any longer. Instead, we
concentrate
THE SAME AMOUNT OF ENERGY (or even a bit
less) in certain direction(s).
As a result, we have only a part
of our imaginary globe to
cover, ie a stronger signal in the desired heading, but weaker
or no
signal in the other directions.
This might explain why you, with your superb, high gain, heli-
cal antenna, cant contact somebody a couple
of hundred meters
away but substantially lower or higher than you are, especially over
a flat terrain (no ground reflections) and
if the receiving station is
fitted with the same type
of radiator (receiving pattern is a lw ays the
same as the transmitting one). I had
some inexplicable problems
during towing myself. As soon as I reached some 100 m
of height,
my driver stopped, lost contact with me
.. .
Helical antenna (do not confuse with helical beam antenna)
doesn
't come from hell, as we might easily conclude: the name
originates
in Greek heli, meaning circle. This antennas radiating. ..
pattern is a fairly flat disc, only slowly thickening with diameter.
Anything below or under it is simply out. However, the signal with-
in the circle can reach a gain
of some 8 Decibels. This unit is slight-
ly confusing. Gain
is expressed as a numeric comparison on a loga-
rithmic scale, with the signal
of either the ideal omnidirectional
antenna or half wave diPole. Nobody usually bothers
to say which
standard
is being used, despite there being a considerable difference
here.
The term GAIN is meaningless by itself. It makes sense only
if we know in which direction. The best way to show it is a dia-
gram, which should be available for any high gain antenna. To get
at least some idea, 3
dB means a double fold, 6 dB four fold and 15
dB a thirty fold of the field strength of the respective simple anten-
na,
in the direction of the maximum radiation. Anyway, in the stick
like, vertical antennas we use, GAIN is usually meant
as an
enhancement
of a horizontal radiation in 360 dg angle at the
expense
of vertical emission.
A UHF
15 Db antenna would be most likely Yagi (commonly
used for
TV reception), about 2 m long, with some 12 elements. A
bit impractical for our handheld baby. Also its forward radiating
pattern, being roughly conical with about
30 dg angle between 1/2
power points, would cause inconvenience in the air. 1m using it on
my base station to access a busy channel 3 Melbourne repeater.
If
needs be, I do not have to beg for a break. I simply press the PPT
button and talk, over virtually anybody else, from the distance of 50
kilometres. Not too considerate, you might say... If you listen to this
repeater, you will realise that
it has to be covering at least one men-
tal institution, where the venerable schizophrenics and manic
depressives have a free access to UHF radios. You cant seriously
expect somebody who
is burping and f#$%ing in the mike, or
worse, re-transmitting Heavy Metal from his car radio, to give you
a break when you politely ask for it!
What
I'm getting to is , there is not such a thing as the best
antenna. There are only suitable
or unsuitable devices for each par-
ticular job. High gain can turn quite bad in
our application because
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17

it always means directionality.
The way we usually use our
radios, too much of this stuff is
certainly no good. Lack
of the
overall signal strength is rarely to
blame. Our problem usually is
an
obstacle or an inappropriate
directional characteristic.
Only
removing the former (or chang-
ing your position
if it is a moun-
tain) will help in the first case. A
different, often less powerful
antenna is the remedy for the
later. No conceivable increase
of
total power will help in eithcr
case. Lets face it, we rarely com-
municate over more than fifty
kilometres. On this short distance
a simple quarter wave
or some of
its derivate, with gain of 2-3 Db
horizontally, is more than ample.
But the radio is normally hanging
very close to
our body, which
readily soaks in the
RF energy -
about fifty percent
of it -convert-
ing it into heat. In a higher alti-
tude you might find it handy,
but
this form of heating is hardly
doctor recommended and
the
effective distance of the radio in
the direction
of your body is
drastically reduced.
Unlike in other handheld
applications
we have the advan-
tage
of suspension lines. It is
tempting to place antenna higher
up on one
of them and connect it
through a feeder to the radio.
Unfortunately, the quarter
wave
antenna needs a groundplate at its
base for a proper function.
In
handheld operation this is nor-
mally provided by a metal frame
inside the transceiver. Stuck
again
...
I
\
Can we win? Yes. A vertical
dipole is ground independent, has
a convenient radiating pattern
and the greater length
of it doesnt
bother us. Its zero radiation, a
couple
of dg around vertical axis,
is not an obstacle either.
The dis-
tance between stations
in this
direction is rarely more then 2
kilometres and communication
is
Gerry Stipekjlying his Excel over Bright Victoria
happily conducted through strong
ground reflections.
It also has some modest horizontal ga in (1.6
against the ideal omnidirectional model. Besides, this position puts
our body out
of harms way. There are many designs of a halfway
dipole and impedance matching circuits.
The one I went for would be
definitely scowled upon by purists, trying to squeeze every miliwatt
from their radios; we can expect some
5% loss here. Still, comparing
with those
50% while the antenna is sitting on our lap, it is a big
progress.
The vertical position of the antenna is important. By agree-
ment, the CB waves are vertically polarised.
In an extreme case, with
our antenna being horizontal, we have a loss
of about 20 dB , meaning
only
1180 th of the available power being utilised. That would be
BAD!
Sacrificing some efficiency
to simplicity we end up with thi s.
Take 105 cm of 72 coax cable (unlike in a properly matched design
18
the length of the feeder is critical here) and fit an appropriate connec-
tor for your radio to one end. Then strip the outer insulation from 13
centimetres of the other end. Remove the shield, leaving only I cm
above the unaltered cable and pull it
down over the outer insulation.
Cut a 12 om wide strip of cooking aluminium foil and wrap it ti ghtly,
4 tImes, around the unaltered part covering the naked shielding
as
well. Put 14 cm of heat shrink over it and run the cable from your
radIO pocket, along the risers to one of the most vertical suspension
hnes. A couple
of strips of insulation tape will hold it securely in
place. All done in 15 minutes for the cost of less than $10.00. Another
way
is to purchase one of these from a Dick Smith store. For $30 you
get a perfectly matched dipole with a minimum loss but also a rather
awkward stick to
fit on the line. The choice is yours.
Happy talking and listenin
g! * SKYSAILOR

By Paul Tanner
Sunday 19 November 1995
It looked like another flying day; should I go to Flinders
or
maybe Mt Donna Buang? Could I get up and go to it or just get
a sled ride?
After ringing around we took a chance on Donna. Lothar (pro-
nounced Lotar) and
myself waited at the landing paddock for Steve
but it didn't look good. Cloud covered the top but as we waited the
cloud lifted.
At the top it looked promising.
For once an actual decent
breeze. Maybe we could ridge soar and go to sleep for an hour
or
two. Vince and Andrew rolled up as we set up, so that was a good
sign.
Lothar was
off first and appeared to ridge soar at about 8-900'. I
was
off next. Where the hell was that lift that Lothar had?
Out I went, following the eastern spine, or as close as I was
happy to be, getting booted around. This was rough.
Finally a bit
of a core, but very lumpy. Hadn't had time to look
at my watch for take
off time because it was so rough.
Slowly climbing, Lothar tried to get in my thermal but he was
too low.
Steve radioed for info, but I quickly called back, 'I'm too busy '.
At about take off height, but near Ben Cairn (the thermals dis-
appeared) I tried to ridge soar Ben Cairn but nothing was there.
Oh
well.
Another rough thermal -rough today! I managed about 8-900
above Ben Cairn, but the drift was quite strong. I wasn't climbing
fast enough
to stay and get too far over the back.
Off I went to Mt Toolbewong which was a bit smoother at last ahd
there was a hawk
or eagle about 1000' below which was nice. But the
thermal wasn't much.
At
lea st I'd gotten away from
the mountain.
I managed
12 km point to point and a height gain above TO
around 800 ' for approximately a 3/4 hour flight. OK when can I fly
Donna again? Next time with a camera.
The cream on the cake was that I was home before dark!! *
A bit later I was safe to
hop over to the Healesville
road. Th
:: thermal had dis-
appeared again. I was then
ab
le to head north for some
ni ce landing paddocks (and
Healesville
).
David Petrie launching from Mt Blackheath. Ph oto by Bronwyn Petrie
One football oval.
Looks good. Wind
is fresh.
Speed on. Last 50 feet are
rough, but a good landing.
Radios are useless when
you
've got hills to get
through. I got a reception
from the school students.
It
was an aboriginal reserve of
some kine. The y were a
nice bunch
of kid s; one was
interested
in my vario and
another had a go at picking
up my glider.
Later I was
in a taxi and
Lothar met me half way.
Great. I saved some money
a
nd Lothar had found me!
April 1996
19

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