Cross Country magazine has been at the forefront of writing about, photographing and reporting on hang gliding and paragliding around the world for more than 20 years. We love flying as much as you do.

Doing it doesn’t come cheaply – writers, photographers and film makers have to make a living like everyone – and we try to pay them the market rate for their work.

That means we can’t release all the content from the magazine onto the web – the free content model simply wouldn’t work for us, and there would be no more XCmag.

But while we do, where appropriate, retain copyright of everything that we publish, we do however release some articles online, and have a 10 year archive of material on adventure flying, comp reports, glider reviews and more on our site.

We’re more than happy for pilots, schools and organisations to use this content online too – it’s what we’re here for after all – but please do it fairly and don’t rip it off and claim it as your own. A mention of Cross Country magazine and a link, either to the site or the original article is all we ask.

Please don’t reproduce anything from the website in print without asking first: email Bob Drury at editor@xcmag.com. We’re more than happy to help out schools, clubs and pilots – we just like you to get in touch first.

Thanks very much

Blue Skies!

Bob Drury
Editor

• Got news? Send it to us at news@xcmag.com. Fair use applies to this article: if you reproduce it online, please credit correctly and link to www.xcmag.com or the original article. No reproduction in print. Copyright remains with Cross Country magazine. Thanks!

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Inspired by the Red Bull X-Alps but tailored to be possible to a large number of pilots, the Cross-fly set pilots the task of flying the French Alps from the southern Vercors all the way to Mt Blanc in five days.

The race was divided into achievable day-stages, beginning on 6 July at Gresse en Vercors and arriving at Chamonix’s Plaine Joux on 10 July. Plenty of help and advice was on hand for pilots, including weather briefings, route advice, no-go areas etc. Bivouacs and meals were organised, and navettes used to transport pilots to take offs and bivouac sites if necessary.

96 pilots took part in the event. Top of the men’s results were Olivier Henry, Sylvain Dhonneur and Alain Finet. Sophie Verhaege was first lady, ahead of Bénédicte Saury-Jourdain and Catherine Bartholdi. Top team was ‘Benny’s’, comprising Olivier, Bénédicte and Gerard Legras)

www.cross-fly.com

Apco have launched a new version of their classic trainer: The Prima IV now replaces the Prima III, and has been designed for both free flight and paramotor training. Apco say that in comparison to the first Primas it is much better performing, safer and lighter with nicer handling. The only aspect which has remained largely unchanged is the price – still the same affordable nostalgic price of the nineties – quite an achievement and regarded with envy by the competition

The Prima IV has the leading edge Flexon batten system, pioneered by Apco and now seen on various brands of wing. It is still made from the bomb proof, indestructable and highly regarded, siliconised Gelvenor cloth, combined with heavy duty kevlar lines to ensure longevity, but the modern Gelvenor cloth is significantly lighter than the original, which also helps improve launch characteristics.

www.apcoaviation.com

The new GoPro helmet-mounted video camera, the Hero 5, is now available and in stock at www.xcshop.com.

The new Hero 5 sports a new 5MP sensor, improved low light performance, faster “Photo every 2 seconds” mode, and mega-wide 170 degree lens. Its quick-release mount enables it to be easily attached to any helmet, bike, board etc and it is waterproof to 30 m.

It has 16 MB internal memory but you can also use a SD card.

Click here to see some videos from the camera: http://vimeo.com/user619797/videos

The Acroaria team are very pleased to have been assigned the task of running the second FAI World Aerobatic Championships in Omegna, Italy from 6 -15 August 2010.

Acroaria ‘09 (9 – 16 August) will serve as a pre-event.

Despite their 8 years’ experience of running acro comps, the team are still keen for any input from pilots regarding how they would like to see the event run. Any comments please, to formulavolo@libero.it

www.inaria.org

Extreme sport and travel film-maker, Peter Chrzanowski, (“Heart of the World”, issue 118) is doing a guided trip to the Sierra Nevada De Santa Marta in North East Colombia that the article documented. The area is inhabited by indians that live like they did 2,000 years ago, and is graced with some of the most diverse flora and fauna in the world, due to its 6,000 m peaks, contrasting with the caribbean coastline only 30 km away.

If you fancy joining him for a three week trip in February, and are fit and prepared for a 3 day trek in (using 4×4 and mule) then there are places for a maximum of 8 people.

Email Peter at petercperu@yahoo.ca.

More on the incredible area on www.freewebs.com/ecoturismoserrano/

The final round of the 2008 PWC was held in Castelo, Brazil from 27 September – 4 October.

Swiss pilot, Andy Aebi, is the new champion, with Jean Marc Caron of France in second and Stefan Schmoker (CH) in third. Anja Kroll (CH) narrowly beat Ewa Wisnierska (DE) into the top women’s spot.

www.hipoxia.com.br/pwc/

The lightweight Race version of Gin’s cross country glider, the Rebel, is ready and certified LTF 2 in sizes S, M and L. The XS is EN certified.

Gin say it offers more performance and more precise handling than the standard Rebel, yet it maintains the same level of security and ease-of-use. Weight savings having been made by using thinner lines and lighter materials, which Gin believe offer the best compromise between lightness and durability. The XS size is 4.9kg, and the L is 6.1kg. The use of lighter materials has also had the effect of improving the performance of the wing in several areas: trim speed, glide ratio, climb rate and headwind penetration.

www.gingliders.com

Version 61.0 of the firmware for the Leonardo is now available for download from Digifly’s website, www.digifly.com.

The new software improves the vario responsiveness and the GPS sensitivity, making recording of turnpoints virtually instantaneous.

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”, Didier Favre’s, “CAP444″, in which he traversed 444km (straight line distance) of the Alps unaided, walking only to reach take off points (not to gain distance).

www.kap444.org