Heimspiel! Gestern durfte ich ein weiteres Mal den Fotovortrag «Aufbruch ins Unbekannte» halten. Dieses Mal im Kreis von Freunden, Familie und Kunden in der yogacompany in Lenzburg. Die Zuhörer und Zuschauer zeigten sich begeistert, und mir hat es einmal mehr sehr grosse Freude gemacht, die Leidenschaft fürs Fliegen anderen Menschen näher zu bringen. Wobei das Fliegen genau genommen nur eine…
Kategorie: fliegen
Alle Jahre wieder
Heute morgen erhielt ich die Jahresrechnung des Schweizerischen Hängegleiterverbands SHV. Einen Moment lang überlegte ich, ob ich überhaupt Aktivmitglied bleiben will, denn ich bin zuletzt am 18. April 2013 mit dem Gleitschirm geflogen. Es war übrigens mein 999. Flug. Am Nachmittag bekomme ich eine Einladung von der Paragliding World Cup Association: „The 2016 Paragliding World Cup SUPERFINAL will take place in Governador Valadares,…
Vom Abschliessen
Schon lange habe ich nichts mehr geschrieben. Da war nichts, was ich für mitteilenswert hielt. Die Zeit der Gleitschirm-Wettkämpfe liegt hinter mir, und sogar das Segelfliegen – erfolgreich brevetiert im Juni 2011 – habe ich bereits wieder aufgegeben. Keine zehn Mal war ich in diesem Jahr in der Luft. Was ich mir vor einigen Jahren nicht habe vorstellen können: meine…
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…