A 4 AM start here in Marseille. Everything has to fall into place travel wise if I am to have any chance of making registration and the mandatory pilots meeting at 0930 in Laragne. 0615 - Hotel Shuttle After a quick breakfast, the hotel shuttle drops me off at the bus stop in front of the …
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Planes, trains, et les automobiles.
Thursday starts with my very own personalized "The Terminal" experience. Advancing a paraglider laden cart through a patrol circuit of domestic, international and US departures. For 8 hours. The only thing breaking the monotony - a visit to the bag wrapping store. Ten dollars for peace of mind that I won't need to dry a soaked through reserve from a …
Divide ‘EN’, Conquer.
Limitations One of the lessons I learned while on my paragliding pilgrimage last summer was that the statement, "I fly an EN-B wing because it is safe." frequently heralds the presence of a pilot who is courting a tree landing. This is in part because the pilot places too much emphasis on the rating of …
Fizzy Easter Gathering at Mount Woodside.
Easter Sunday morning and the club LINE chat group was abuzz aplenty. Despite dire forecasts, including "Paragliding not recommended today in Vancouver, Chilliwack, Whistler, Pemberton, Bellingham or Seattle.", options were being put forth - Blanchard, Whitby, Pemberton and Woodside. By 1030 a consensus with a group heading for Woodside, expecting little more than sled rides. The …
Sports Psychology and Paragliding: Here and Now.
Evolution is not out friend We are engaging in a activity for which evolution did not equip us and has potentially life threatening consequences. What nature did equip us with was a sense of 'this isn't right' and the thought of dangling below a collection of lines and fabric (especially in less than stellar conditions) …
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Those of you about to fly, we salute you.
On the threshold of your flying career, a school selected and dreams of joining your winged brethren. Counting down the days till the commencement of training, you have likely scoured the internet in search of information. Inevitably that search will come across video of flights with less than ideal outcomes. These outcomes are entirely preventable, …
Attitudes towards Paragliding Safety.
Judith Mole provides a great podcast on Safety - human factors, simulation, training, mindset, and the need for candid discussion/examination of issues regarding it. Part of the discussion brings up the idea of the 'snuff list' - an informal list of pilots who are likely going to hurt/kill themselves that is shared word of mouth. Invariably …
Reminiscent. First flight.
A query on paragliding forum: do you recall your first 'solo'* flight? ... License in hand, having only been issued two weeks prior after a weekend of SIV flights. A beautiful Saturday afternoon in early fall. Fall days are tame days, forgiving and gentle - a near guaranteed sled run punctuated with the rare bump. …
Homeward Bound and musing on Paragliding Safety.
Eleven thousand meters over the arctic circle, in a metal tube hurtling through the atmosphere at an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound. I look back on my experiences over the past four weeks, a few epiphanies come to mind: Seize every chance to learn. Every pilot, novice to master, has something to share. …
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Final Cross Country Exam.
A rare west wind. Kelly has ambitions of a twenty-five kilometer FAI triangle. Landing options abound within a single glide of the ridge until past Paderno. Our XC quartet are becoming accustomed with the rougher air over the ridge and have started demonstrating the ability to carve and coarsely map thermals. In essence, we are …
FlyinOrange 