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WALLABY RANCH, FLA. — In a rare state of upset, the focus of American hang gliding — even the focus of the world, perhaps — is on the eastern half of the U.S. In two remarkable back-to-back weeks, Florida took center stage of world of hang gliding competitions. It all started with the Wallaby Open and ended with the U.S. Nationals, however, as this column tries to sneak off to the printer at the last possible second, I’ll speak about the already-concluded Wallaby Open this month and next month will report more from GW Meadow’s U.S. Nationals at Quest Air. Fair enough? ••• Malcolm Jones’ kingdom of flight was the site of the Wallaby Open and I was able to make the opening once again as it trails the Sun ‘n Fun airshow which I attend for work. • With good lift, fast racing, and superlative hospitality, the Wallaby Open was well received by a number of pilots who made comments, including the top two finishers, Manfred Ruhmer and Oleg Bondarchuk.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Well, whaddya know… this particular "Product Lines" column marks the end of 20 full years and the start of year #21. Sometimes that just sounds kinda unreal to me; 20 years of putting out this column every single month (except one where I was one day late on deadline and the publication went to press without "PL"). Anyway, I’m proud to do my little piece of work for our wonderful sport and I sincerely appreciate those loyal members who send me stuff for consideration in this column. I also appreciate the many comments I get from readers who often tell me "PL" is one of the first things they read in HG. • Finally, I want to repeat my thanks to Bill Allen who inspired this column with his own "Flying Bull" of the 1970s. Though his effort ran only for a short time (or so it appears with my ancient 20-year hindsight), his folksy style literally gave birth to "PL." He called for someone to take over "FB" in HG mag, and when no one did, I borrowed the style for Whole Air magazine which I’d begun to publish back in 1978.

KNOXVILLE, TENN. — This edition of "Product Lines" comes to you from the combined convention of the Soaring Society of America, USHGA, US Ultralight Association, and the International Aerobatic Club. Signs showed the general public how to enter, referring to the event simply as "Air Expo 99." ••• Thanks to outstanding preparatory work by Yoo-shga Executive Director, Phil Bachman, the event generated a large amount of TV, radio and newspaper attention. At least two live broadcasts occurred from the convention floor, all three major network affiliates gave coverage, and the ABC affiliate Channel 6 repeatedly used the daily theme "Flying High Week" leading up to the convention. Radio station 98.7 gave a steady series of ads to get their place on the radio dial printed on convention badges. I’m not aware of this sort of market media saturation since all the Chattanooga TV affiliates and newspapers fawned over American Cup pilots back in the 1970s.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Before we get started this month, I want to make note of HG editor Gil Dodgen’s passage into his third decade of preparing our monthly magazine. If memory serves (and it occasionally doesn’t these days), Gil has logged 21 years as this is written. Starting in January 1978, he preceded my own entry by a year or so. "Product Lines" is approaching a big birthday as well, clocking a full 20 years with the upcoming May issue. Geez! Twenty years of a column a month (I think I missed only one along the way)… gosh, are we all getting old? Naaah! We’re all getting higher in better gliders and with greater ease than ever. What’s to lament? So, on with the show. ••• Info arrived from a small survey of leaders in the worldwide hang gliding community coordinated by Dutchman Bart Doets, whose writing I long followed in Britain’s SkyWings.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Based on the flow of information, the last year in the current millennium could be interesting. I have news about Altair, Wills, Brightstar, US Aeros, and the Exxtacy. As the first snow finally flies in a weirdly warm winter in Minnesota, all this flurry of news seems positive for an exciting 1999. Let’s run through each briefly, but first a last minute gift mention or two for those of you who got cash for Christmas. ••• Lisa Tate has started Soaring Dreams, and offered a color catalog of tasteful gifts you might want to consider. Fortunately it isn’t all Christmas oriented although some attractive ornaments are part of the inventory. Tate also has some very distinctive trophies to use for competitions, plus mugs and mobiles, wood and glass picture frames and more. Art takes form in several mediums and although we’ve seen gift offerings before, Lisa achieves a singular niche.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — At the recent Board of Directors meeting in Colorado Springs (USHGA’s home), our capable Executive Director Phil Bachman presented a typically thorough report. In his presentation, Phil referenced several recent statistics which might interest you. • Membership sits at a bit over 9,500 members of which 71% are HG pilots and 35% are PG. The numbers don’t add to 100 as they include Dual memberships. We’re almost exactly a two-thirds, one-third split these days. • Nearly 20% of all members are new, a figure that surprises many old timers. In fact, though, we lose about 20% every year as well, so we’re staying about even. If we could trim some of those losses and keep adding a few extra new members, we could grow at a comfortable pace. Attrition comes from HG; growth in PG makes up for the difference numerically. • Thirty percent of HG ratings are Is and IIs, a healthy total of learning pilots, I feel.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — I recently paid a visit to Lookout Mountain Flight Park. What changes! Back in the early ’80s, I ran a flight shop and school called Crystal Air Sports. I’d been at it five or six years when Matt Taber came to Chattanooga. He took over the already-well-known site at Lookout and quickly proved to be a worthy competitor. Eighteen years after his arrival, his business shows the results of long hours and hard work. Its a sprawling, ambitious enterprise of million-dollar proportions. ••• Recently, Wallaby Ranch’s David Glover jumped tracks and took employment from Lookout after several years with Malcolm Jones’ operation in Florida. On my visit, Glover had logged a couple months in north Georgia and was becoming quite comfortable with his new digs. He and Taber gave me the royal tour of the place, although they couldn’t produce quite the right conditions for me to sample some of the park’s flight toys.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Following on bits left over from October’s "Product Lines"… ••• In the land of hurricanes and tropical storms, we find the East Coast’s Turbulent Talent Triangle… I’m referring to the movement of talent, to headhunting (yes, within our little sport!) and to new relationships among leading east coast centers of hang gliding activity. But let’s set the record straight. The east may not have the mountain peaks or the sky-high reputation of the west coast but more students are trained in the east than anywhere in America. Look at the list published every month. Nine months into ’98, three schools accounted for 45% of all Hang Is issues and 35% of all Hang IIs issues (LMFP has 28% and 24% by themselves). From these flight factories come people with experience and that’s the point here. • David Glover, until recently manager of Wallaby Ranch is now at Lookout Mountain Flight Park.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — I very rarely refer to something already Published in Hang Gliding MagazineHG mag, but this time I feel driven to make an exception. The subject is accidents, a topic eruditely addressed (as always) by Mike Meier in the September issue. ••• Before getting to his essay, I first read what I viewed to be a disturbing set of statistics: 10.1% of respondees to USHGA’s survey (of 1,169 members) reported an injury accident. Two thirds of these among hang glider pilots and more than half the time medical or professional treatment was needed; one sixth required overnight hospitalization. Good heavens! Odds of one in twenty needing a doctor in the next year are not encouraging. Over half appear to be at launch or landing. ••• Combine those sobering facts with Meier’s compelling message about pilot decision making as the primary determinant of safety. We’ll need to work hard if we are to alter the scenario.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Response to the mention of Mondial De L’Air (the French light aviation airshow) was surprisingly strong. Though I believed Americans were only mildly interested in international hang gliding news, evidently some readers perceive that European innovations are worth following more closely. Examples of recent impactful developments include topless gliders and D-cell rigid wings… both ideas sailed across the Atlantic to significantly affect the wings we buy and fly here at home. Fascinating. • Anyway, let me provide an address to write for info (several of you asked). Contact: Edition Retine (the same as the publishing office of Vol Libre), 3 rue Ampere, 94200 Ivry-sur-Seine, FRANCE. Call: 011-33-1-46-72-74-60 or fax to 011-33-1-46-58-97-52. Though a 1999 event appears certain, no date has been announced to my knowledge. ••• John Heiney’s new Altair company is about to offer their new Saturn hang glider, proving this isn’t a one-glider company. Every now and then a new glider comes along, but failing to acquire enough market mass, it disappears without a follow-on design ever emerging.