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ST. PAUL, MINN. — Time is growing short! Perhaps by the time you read this, FAA
may have issued their new rule called Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft
(SP/LSA). Why should you care? Well, perhaps you don’t.
If you fly solo in your hang glider or paraglider and are not towed aloft by a tug
of some kind, you may continue to operate under F.A.R. Part 103 as blissfully as
ever. However, if you’re one of the many who enjoy aerotow launches, you may be impacted
by this rule. The good news is| the trio of Jayne
Depanfilis, Mike Meier, and Bill Bryden have been pursuing actions on the new rule
and have the matter quite well in hand. The issues of two-place flying have been
addressed and face few obstacles. Aerotowing, however, is less certain.
Operations such as Lookout Mountain Flight Park have been fighting local battles
with adversaries who brought FAA into the picture.

St. Paul, Minn. — You’ll probably be amazed to hear that Wallaby Ranch and Quest
have merged. Yes, unbelievably, the two rivals flight parks signed an agreement
to become as one. This stunning development comes just
after Wills Wing purchased Moyes “for a song” crooned WW president, Rob Kells.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” he added. How much more shocking news can
you withstand? Well, in keeping with a few fun items elsewhere in this magazine,
the above is pure April Fools fiction. I’ll leave more inventive humor to others
and return to what this column does best.
Amid all the excitement, I completely forgot to blow my own horn| Yup, with the February
2004 issue, “Product Lines” finished 25 years of continuous publishing. In
all that time, the column never missed an issue. As I am working to post all
these columns on my long-in-development Web site, someday you’ll be able to scan
through a lot of hang gliding history presented in a familiar format.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — As I write this up here in the southern tundra, the wind howls
and the snow flies and the joy of hang gliding or paragliding seems quite distant.
Soon enough, though, the thaw will occur and life takes on a friendlier look that
invites soaring flight.
While huddled inside, I heard from Gerry Charlebois who told me the temperatures
in his native state of Hawaii: high of 86° and low of 72°. His invitation
to come fly Kauai sounds mighty inviting this time of year.
The real reason Gerry wrote was to report how his DVD production, Extreme Kauai,
is doing. His commercial venture is a means of interesting non-flying folks in
what the rest of us enjoy. Gerry wrote, “It has been 11 months since [Extreme
Kauai’s] release and four months since the main distributor for Hawaii picked
it up. It is now in 280 stores statewide, including Walmart, Kmart, Costco,
and Borders.” His DVD may well be the first flying-based production to go mainstream.

ST. PAUL, MINN., — As we head in winter and the holiday season, news for the next season appears to continue a focus on rigid wing hang gliders. Flexwings continue to do well in contest flying (and sales) but we simply aren’t hearing as much about new developments as we have in years past… for example, the topless buzz is now getting to be some years old. ••• U.S. Aeros is preparing for sale of their new rigid wing, ominously named the Stalker. It either sounds like a challenger trying to take on the leader (Exxtacy and ATOS, by almost any reckoning), or like a johnny-come-lately rigid wing design. Certainly for a company that has shown the ability to compete in the worldwide hang gliding community — for both sales, at which they’ve done excellently, and in competitions — Aeros is somewhat tardy bringing their stiffwing to market. • On the other hand, this is a second generation offering like the Ghostbuster and ATOS.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Airwave is back! Not long after I announced that the enterprise was for sale (June ’99 "PL"), a deal was done and former European Wills Wing distributor Markus Villinger is the owner. By now, the new Austrian base for Airwave Gliders should be running and shipping gliders. They plan to add paragliders to the mix once again, although like so many PG vendors, they will have the wings sewn elsewhere. • Villinger Birdmen Enterprises will start by marketing the Pulse and Fly 2 (known to Americans as the Double Vision). Villinger also reports they will offer the Skye, which he calls "the next generation skyfloater." Most credit Villinger with inspiring Wills Wing to market their then-new Falcon for use in skyfloating — and the recent 95 mile flight by David Glover using this posture proves it is viable for more than simply drifting around the launch site.

ST. PAUL, MINN., — The 1999 World Championships are over, and ho-hum, Manfred Ruhmer won… again. I don’t mean to sound jaded by Manfred’s winning performance but it sure seems predictable. He is indeed the undisputed champion, although he did have to prove his ability; it was not a runaway victory. In hot pursuit were some of the same Brazilian experts that did well at Wallaby and the Quest U.S. Nats earlier this year. Of course, Ruhmer flew the Laminar ST (topless) that has been his choice for many contests. • Andre Wolf was 2nd in his Laminar ST followed by Pedro Matos on a Laminar ST, and in 5th, Gordon Riggs on another Laminar. Betino Schmidt managed to squeeze in a La Mouette Topless in 4th to keep the Icaro model from totally dominating flexwings at the ’99 Worlds. Richard Walbec and his Wills Wing Fusion represented the highest American brand in 6th place.

ST. PAUL, MINN., — I don’t believe I’ve noted so much buzz about a harness since Wills Wing first introduced the Z1-2-3… series. Maybe the Woody Valley from Europe, but even that popular brand name never created what you’d call a "stir." ••• Regardless of the past, Jay Gianforte’s CG Carbon Harness has people talking (and writing in the case of Internet messages). Jay’s enterprise, called Center of Gravity, first became known nationally in 1984 with the C-G 1000 and 2000 models. He says "We have created the Carbon C-G with carbon graphite molded into a durable aerodynamic shape and glass smooth finish." Gianforte says 30% of the drag on a hang glider can be caused by the pilot, so his sleeker solution may boost your glide angle. Certainly Jim Lee’s futuristic hard-shell harness of year’s back had some of this advantage, but the harness was not widely available. Center of Gravity is clearly hoping to capitalize on that interest only they’ll do like the Dorito chip people… they’ll make more.

ST. PAUL, MINN., — The tragic death of Michael "Hollywood" Champlin sent a wave through the hang gliding community recently. While others will surely document the incident, it causes me to think about my longtime support of rigid wings as a form of glider to supplement the flex wing. One thing we’ve added to the equation is control surfaces and for HG pilots without "stick time" (or something equivalent), the experience is genuinely new. That’s a good thing except… When an expert tackles anything new, doubt can enter the equation. Experts don’t always know they’re in "learning mode." While discussing the loss, my wife Randee (an HG pilot herself) reminded me recently of the old hang gliding axiom that advises you only change one thing at a time. In learning to fly rigids, one encounters several new things at once, among them the use of controllable surfaces. ••• In the case of the Millennium, one further adds the joystick, and that’s how I relate the story to Champlin.

ST. PAUL, MINN., — The glare of spotlights this month turns to GW Meadow’s U.S. Nationals which took place at Quest Air the week after Malcolm Jones’ Wallaby Open concluded. ••• Weather wasn’t quite as cooperative and the organization was different, but the U.S. Nationals are now history and Jim Lee is our national champion, edging out top-ranked Mike Barber by a mere seven points (nothing, really, in the course of a whole contest week). Prior to the two Florida events, Barber had been #1 ranked in the U.S. team scheme though new stats will now be needed. • Neither man outdid the dynamic duo of Manfred Ruhmer and Oleg Bondarchuk (ranked #4 and #1 in the world scheme prior to these two meets). In addition, web writer Davis Straub also indicated several pilots from Brazil did well… as all these non-USA pilots had done at the Wallaby meet. • All in all, Florida was host to two grand events and both are angling for a repeat next year, so say the rumor mills.