Pierandea Patrucco has done it! Flying solo with minimal ground support he left Monaco on June 19th and successfully traversed the entire Alpine chain during the worst Alpine summer for 40 years, landing at the Adriatic sea on July 15th. The project was a true vol-bivouac, using the principles of French “Vagabond of the Sky”, [...]

With over 14 years’ experience of flying and guiding in Nepal, and always keen to introduce pilots to the joys of the country, its people, culture, landscape and flying sites, ‘Frontiers Paragliding’ are offering 10 day tours into the heart of Nepal. Nepal is an ideal introduction to the Himalayas with easy, consistent conditions and [...]

French flying school, Ascendance, based on the Cote d’Azur will be running three cross country coaching trips of 14 days each to the Annapurna region of Nepal this autumn. An action packed itinerary includes flights from various sites around the Pokhara valley, and two expeditions, one of which includes a dawn trek to then fly [...]

New for 2008, Nervures’ Faïal replaces the Valluna as their travel and adventure flying wing. It is certified EN B/C in sizes XS – L and Nervures say it shows improvements particularly in its speed and glide into a headwind. It has been well-finished, with attention to detail, ergonomic neoprene handles and 110 litre bag. [...]

The Montana is Gradient’s successor to the ever-popular Delite. Designed as a lightweight mountain glider, Gradient say the Montana has similar performance to the Delite but with greater (~12%) weight and volume reduction. Light 15mm wide risers with extra light Ronstan pulleys and specially shaped light-weight Peguet (Mailon Rapide) carabiners are standard. It is produced [...]

On Saturday 21st June a collection of vintage hang gliders, collected by Gery de Clerck and donated to the French free flight association, was set up in the landing field of Laragne Monteglin, France. The following image is an extract from a panorama taken by Ali Gali, courtesy of Davis Straub’s Oz Report.

Conceived for the sport of speed flying (flying fast downhill from foot launch, as opposed to speed riding which is on skis), Gin say this solid, simple glider enables expert and experienced pilots to fly down the mountain in wider aerological conditions and to have fun with strong wind ground handling and soaring… Gin caution [...]

On 22nd June, pilot Brad Sanders flew his Ozone Vulcan 249.29km from Booni in the Hindu Kush to Hunza in the Karakorum. Here’s an extract from Brad’s entry on xcontest.org: “I thought it would be a bivy flight but the conditions were amazing and got it done in a day. Landed and walked to the [...]

An XS BLUE wing has now been certified LTA 1 -2, to complete the series. It covers all-up weights from 55 – 75kg and Team 5 say it has the same extraordinarily easy launch characteristics and handling as the other sizes. www.team5.at

Team 5′s DHV 1-2 and EN class B certified BLUE TWO tandem is now available. It is fitted with a zip that enables its surface area to be changed according to take off weight, either 38.6 m ² with zip closed (for 110 – 180kg), or 42.5 m ² (for 180 – 230kg) with the [...]

The 4th incarnation of this FAI cat 2 acro competition takes place at Zell Am See, Austria from 16 – 19 July. The film, ‘Champions take nothing’, which documents the history of acro, will be shown on 18th July at 8pm. www.acro.cc

Potties B and B has changed its name to De Aar Lodge

Horacio Llorens Fernandez won the title both in solo and synchro paraglider rankings

Orlin Dimov (Bulgaria) came first and Slawomir Matras (Greece) second in the pre Paragliding World Cup round held in Drama from 25-28 June 2008

On 3 July 2008 the Norwegian and Scandinavian paragliding XC record was well and truly shattered

Canadian Mia Schokker set a new record for speed over a triangular course of 100 km

Following four successful tasks in Laragne (June 25 – July 5), ranging from 70 to 129.5km, Scott Barrett (Aus, Airborne C4) took first place

The Tennessee Tree Toppers club, USA, are running another Autumn teaching meet this year

The Swedish ski resort of Are is to play host to the Downteam acro challenge on 4th – 6th August this year, to find the Swedish acro champion

ProDesign have a choice of three innovative brake handle designs.