Mike Küng and Mario Eder have recently rejoined Nova as test pilots
Austrian paralider manufacturer Nova have recently welcomed Mario Eder and Mike Küng back to their test team.
Both men are highly experienced and well-known test pilots who have worked for Nova in the past, Mike for five years until 1998 and Mario for ten, from 1998 to 2008.
Groundhandling guru and author of numerous DVDs on the subject, 42-year-old Mike Küng was in the public eye this summer as a Red Bull X-Alps athlete, an adventure which sadly ended for him when he contracted pneumonia.
Mario has had a lengthy career as a test pilot, having left Nova with ten years’ experience developing and testing wings such as the Artax, Mamboo and Mentor 1. In 2008 he left the company to test fly gliders for Para Academy, and later Airwave. Mario has also built himself a reputation as a photographer, whose portfolio encompasses themes from mountains and paragliding to weddings and portraits.
Nova’s designer Hannes Papesh, and Pipo Medicus and Toni Bender in the development team, are all delighted to welcome the two Austrians back onboard.
Hannes says: ”We have became really good with our Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. Nevertheless, these virtual flights will never replace real test flights. We know Mike and Mario very well. Their flying skills [as] well as their technical expertise is excellent. It was a logical step to engage them.”
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