Postponed due to the security breach a paraglider might pose to the Olympic games 200km away in Athens, and followed by great uncertainty as to whether it would take place at all, the 2004 Europeans finally took place in the planned location, Kalavrita in Greece. Despite exceptionally good conditions, the event was marred by yet another tragic accident. Silver medallist Bruce Goldsmith reports

Bruce Goldsmith takes us on a cautious glide…
Every pilot learns at paragliding school not to fly in the lee side. Flying in the lee is obviously dangerous because of lee side turbulence and rotor. This rotor can be violent leading to collapses and accidents.  In the lee side even a reserve parachute may not work if the air is too turbulent. However, a meteorologist once told me that all thermals start in the lee side and if you fly in major competitions you’ll see top pilots flying in the lee on a regular basis. And what about protected flying sites such as Greolieres where you often fly the lee side? Why is it sometimes perfectly safe to fly in the lee and at other times extremely dangerous? And what exactly is conical hill convergence? None of these are easy questions to answer, but I hope that this article will give answers to at least some of these questions.

Ian Blackmore reviews the latest in a long line of pedigree wings from Switzerland’s Paratech.
Mention the name Paratech to any pilot who’s been around for a while and one of the first images likely to pop into their head is that of a frightening beast called the P3. Paratech used to be one of the leading players in the competition scene back in the early 90s and the P3 was one of their more memorable designs. High aspect ratio, pointy tips, a ridiculously shallow aerofoil, bright yellow and with blazingly good performance for the era…if you dared fly it that is! Not that the competition were much safer. The Firebird Ninja didn’t have the best of reputations either but the P3 looked so radical (and so unstable) it became lodged in the memory as being just that little bit special.

Bruce Goldsmith brings us up to date on glider behaviour during full frontals.
A full frontal collapse is basically the same as an asymmetric collapse, but instead of the collapse being on one side of the glider and progressing towards the middle, a full frontal collapse progresses outwards from the centre of the wing towards both tips. This type of collapse can be so big that it even takes out the entire leading edge of the glider from tip to tip.