Product Lines – April 2005

ST. PAUL, MINN. – Here’s an interesting perspective on the World Meet in Hay. The
missing Manfred (Ruhmer) saw the event in his own way and expressed himself
clearly. He didn’t go|which also means somebody else got to win after Manfred has
won the last two World Meets. In the fifteen World meets that have been held since
1976, only one man has achieved more. Tomas Suchanek won the event three times
running, a record. Looking at the history of hang gliding’s
main worldwide competition, a New Zealand pilot unknown to most Americans, Terrence
Delore, won the first event. He was followed by Josef Guggenmos, the talented
German wing designer (’79); by Brazilian Padro Paulo Lope (’81); by famous Australian
Steve Moyes (’83); by British legend John Pendry (’85); by another Australian
Rick Duncan, now a partner in AirBorne (’88); by Robert Whittall who also
went on to paragliding competition fame (’89); and then three times in a row by Czech
pilot Tomas Suchanek (’91, ’93, and ’95); by German Guido Gehrmann (’98); twice by
Manfred (’99 and ’03); and now by Ukrainian star, Oleg Bondarchuk (’05). About
their hero, Aeros notes that Oleg has been ranked for for some time but has not won
the big contest. And he did so while flying as the lone Ukrainian while other
country teams worked together for victory. As you can see, an American has never
won the event. So, with a chance to tie Suchanek at
three victories in a row, why did Manfred stay out? It’s about his principles.
According to published letters, Manfred did not like the Hay location. More
than just a remote place with fewer services, Hay would not offer the media attention
to help hang gliding grow, wrote Ruhmer. His other reason is to protest the high-flying
Austrian team not getting their own vote at FAI competition meetings. According to
Manfred, Austria and Germany get one vote between them. He adds, “As weird as it
may sound, the Austrian Hang Gliding Team (yes, currently the best team worldwide,
almost unbeaten since 1994) is not free to express its own ideas when it comes
to voting for the World Championships!” Not that Manfred’s
absence takes anything away from Oleg’s victory but I have to admire his courage
at turning down another possible victory to make his statement.
Speaking of Europeans, Icaro is promoting their success at the World meet
(their gliders placed second and seventh) but that’s not all. Right while Angelo
Crapanzano was busy preparing gliders for the Hay World Meet, he wrote Mike Riggs
to express interest in Mike “ePod” (as it’s becoming known|no doubt in a nod
to Apple’s runaway music success, the iPod). Speaking for himself and Icaro owners
Gianni and Franco, he wrote, “We all like it. The finish looks perfect and the design
very sleek. I’m very impressed!” Icaro currently represents the Swedish Mosquito
but doesn’t have much experience with trikes. “However,” Angelo added, “next year
are planning to enter that market, too, with a new double seater wing we are working
on.” (For those that don’t know, Angelo is the longtime owner of Metamorphosi
parachutes and is now developing new gliders for Icaro.) He punctuated his enthusiasm
with, “I would love to have one for myself.” As I have
long promoted this development, people often ask me how the project is going. You
should get it straight from the horse’s mouth at Mike@fly-seagull.com but the former
Mr. Seagull (hang gliders) reports he’s still on track for an appearance at the Sun
‘n Fun airshow later this month and then he plans a tour of the Florida flight parts
where the unpowered Pod Racer could become a rental hit. (Because this column
was written in February, check with Seagull for the latest.) FMI: fly-seagull.com
Meanwhile,
Mike isn’t the only guy working on such a nanolight soaring trike. Felix Ruhle
and his tandem rigid wing ATOS VX has experimented with Helmut Grossklaus
and his Silent trike. Grossklaus has been developing highly faired trikes
for years and my experience in flying a two place model was very interesting. That
Silent Racer trike had a partial canopy (open only at the sides) and its gear retracted.
But to accommodate two people in an enclosure, the trike got rather large and needed
a much larger engine than a nanolight would use. However, the larger Silent Racer
is only one of Helmut’s designs. Another is the Silent Glider M which you
can see flying under the ATOS VX wing on Helmut’s website (FMI: silentfamily.com;
then click Silent Family, then Glider M). When I flew with Felix last fall, he told
me the combination seemed to work very well. Their experience certainly suggests
that an ATOS VX on an ePod or Silent would make for a self-launched soaring machine
with great potential.
Talk about your high-flying gliders! They may go up noisier than any aircraft
you ever heard, but they come down very quietly|or as much so as very high speeds
allow. I’m referring to the follow-on to SpaceShipOne, specifically to Virgin
Galactic’s plan to fly tourists into space. People
wonder how space tourists will be assured of safety without strict federal rules
that could stifle the industry’s growth. “Consensus industry standards are the answer,”
says Michael Kelly when speaking before the U.S. House Aviation Subcommittee. Kelly
compared such standards to voluntary Underwriters Laboratory approval for electronic
devices but he missed the most obvious analogy|Light-Sport Aircraft and the
consensus standards written by ultralight and kit builders with participation by
hang gliding leaders. Government has shown they are willing to let self regulation
happen. Why not in space? A group of space entrepreneurs announced recently that
they are organizing a new Personal Spaceflight Federation to promote growth and safety
in their new industry. The federation will work with the FAA as it develops industry
standards for passenger safety and crew training. At last
count, Virgin Galactic had 14,000 reservations priced at an “affordable” $200,000
a seat. FAA has already licensed four commercial launch
facilities, in California, Florida, Virginia and Alaska, and several more are in
the works. “In 2004, there were only 15 worldwide commercial space launches,” said
Gregg Maryniak of the X Prize Foundation, one of the organizers of the new Federation.
Initial members of the group hoping to far surpass 15 launches a year include Burt
Rutan, designer of SpaceShipOne.
So, got news or opinions? Send ’em to: 8 Dorset, St. Paul MN 55118. Messages or fax
to 651-450-0930. E-mail to Dan@ByDanJohnson.com. THANKS!