Nancy and Carlo met up with the PHI team at the Coupe Icare Expo 2018. Hannes Papesh’s young company has already proved to be a big hit amongst both pilots and schools. One thousand gliders produced in its first year is pretty impressive! Also impressive is the range of wings which PHI have already produced, and have in development.
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Here's a unique opportunity to work for Flybubble, helping pilots fly. We are looking for a crew member with freeflight knowledge to manage our customer sales and support. If you're adaptable, practical, well-organised, and enjoy doing things well (especially helping others) this is for you.
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The Supair DELIGHT 3 is a lightweight pod harness with a fairly upright seating position which makes it easy to transition to for pilots unfamiliar with the reclined style of harness. With the traditional rear position for a reserve parachute and a simple ‘get-up’ leg strap design it is easy to get into and prepare for launching. It has a well-finished look and eye-catching style, but what is it really like in the air?
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The Woody Valley GTO LIGHT is a sleek pod harness with an aerodynamic tail fin, designed to be a comfortable ride for cross country pilots despite being lightweight. It takes a whopping 2kg off the weight of its predecessor, the X-ALPS GTO (5kg). We test the stability, agility and piloting features and analyze the strengths and weaknesses to help you make an informed decision. Is this the right paragliding harness for you?
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If you have an ALTIRANDO harness from Supair, please take note! Two safety issues have been identified relating to the reserve parachute rotating inside its pocket and possible damage to the reserve pocket.
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The Supair STEP is a 'high B' suitable for pilots with some experience wanting to 'step up' from their first wing or progression wing into the top part of the EN B category focused on XC flying. Carlo and Nancy flew the wing in a range of summertime conditions in the UK, with some good thermals and quite choppy conditions that gave the STEP a good testing.
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A good pilot knows where the wind comes from. Always! The wind direction determines your flight path, it dictates where the turbulence areas are, and it reduces your landing speed to survivable levels (if you’re smart enough to line up your landing into wind). Let’s explore air speed, wind speed and ground speed to clear up one of the hardest concepts in freeflight.
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Hike & Fly is a great way to explore: spend the morning ascending a new peak, spend the afternoon flying around, and finally, back down. But what if you want to take a friend, to enjoy the experience? Go easy on your pack-mule with these lightweight tandem Hike & Fly kit lists.
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The Genie Race 4 is a paragliding harness for competition racers designed for maximum aerodynamic efficiency. It offers an inflated tailfin, a sleek pod with a windscreen and integrated containers for the two reserves. Phil Clark analyses his new purchase.
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A cravatte is a nasty kind of collapse, where the fabric of the wingtip becomes trapped in the lines. This can cause a significant turn towards the cravatted side, which if left unchecked will become a rather radical spiral dive. Let's look at how they are caused, how to prevent them, and what to do when you've got one.
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