The Solar Impulse above Lake Zurich On the way from the physiotherapy session back to the office, from the corner of my eye I realized an unusual movement in the blue skies above Zurich: something huge, low, slow, silent and fragile. It took me a second to understand what I saw there: the Solar Impulse majestically cruising above the banks…
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Airborne Again
After 13 hard weeks of deprivation finally airborn again! Last Saturday my first lesson „how to fly a sailplane“ took place on the HB-1778, a Grob TWIN II 103 Acro built in 1980. Roland Odermatt, teacher on duty, took me on a 40 minutes instruction flight. We were towed by a Maule aircraft to a nice altitude above (!) cloud base. Enough…
Aftermath Of Dangerous Flying
For a couple of months my mantra was „all will be well“. However, six months after the accident in Quixada, when I still couldn’t run without feeling pain after a few minutes, it finally dawned on me, that all will be well not automatically. Another month with doctor’s advices, MRIs and X-rays went by. The diagnosis: the posterior cruciate ligament…
One Less On My Bucket List*
When I started paragliding almost ten years ago, I found a lot of convincing reasons for flying with a coloured fabric. Amongst the most important were (and still are): lowest possible barriers to get a licence, aircraft easy to pack and carry everywhere, launchable and landable at a lot of places without need for any further help. The best aircraft…
How to Burn 1000 m of Altitude in a Breathtaking Manner
What a birthday present: an aerobatic flight with a sailplane. Wow! Pilot of the day was Manfred Echter, who got his gliding licence before I was even born. The glider: the MDM-1 Fox HB-3241. Takeoff from Schänis. We were towed up to 1300 m, and immediately after the towing plane left us, Manfred started with the program. On my wishlist were…
Gliding to Meran
A week ago I made one of my most impressive cross country flights ever. Not with a paraglider, not as a pilot. Instead, I spent six enjoyable, relaxing hours in the passenger seat of a power glider, the Pipistrel Taurus HB-5511. The flight showed me a complete new aspect of the beauty of thermic flying. 10:41 The adventure began on…
Wow! We Made It
That was really fun. Klaudia, Karolina, Caroll, Des, Nicky and me held the inaugural meeting of our Womens Paragliding Association. The WPA is a non-profit making society governed by the Swiss civil code. First venue of the Womens Paragliding Association will be the organization of the Womens Open in Àger, Spain. The competition is officially sanctioned by FAI, and we’re…
Valle Leisurely
It was fun. End of January, Jörg, my mother and me visited Valle de Bravo. Jörg competed in the Monarca Open (see his report), and I focused on the holidaily aspects, like shopping flowers, strawberries and clothes, hanging out at the landing zone with my mom, and watching the pilots fly into goal. Of course, I also flew almost every…
Do men fly better?
Yes, they do. If „better“ relates to results in XC-competitions, relates to measurable performance, then it’s obvious, that we, the women, are not as good pilots as men are. I really do not like writing this. But the mere facts lead me to that conclusion. Of course, only 10% of the paragliders in the whole world are female. In competitions,…
Count Down for Quixadá
Only a few more days and nights in autumnly Zürich, and then … Brazil! Tudo bem. Temperatures at my destination now are mostly between and 23°C during the nights and 35°C during the days. Constantly blowing easterly winds around 20 km/h, a zero probability of precipitation. Quite promising weather forecast for two weeks of cross country flying! Check out the…