What a lovely Summer!

In May we went out to Oludeniz, Turkey to fly and have a family holiday which was great. We went flying, swimming, diving, fishing and on a tortoise safari. Then we returned to the lakes to run the Flyabilty course which was perfect weather. we managed to get pilots soaring and thermalling and hopefully there will be another 4 flyability pilots on a hill near you.

Then straight after that was the lakes charity classic which was a bit windy but, thanks to the effort of Gordie and all the CSC members, it was a fun and successful event. I even managed to get to fly with Mark Weir in is helicopter while he did his aerobatic display! I even flew it which was a lot easier than you might think.

Straight after that magical helicopter flight over Buttermere & honister, I hopped into the car and went down to RAF Valley to fly with James Copple from 208 Squadron. These are the boys who train jet pilots in low flying and weapons etc. I gave a talk to them in February about paragliding and Cross country flying in the UK.

We all agreed that I should have a ride with them on a low level flight to see their perspective and just what they can and can't see in relation to other air users. As you can imagine, it was a once in a life time experience, speeding through the lakes at 250 ft, over my house and the boys school, which we set as turn points. Still there was work to be done, so we cruised past a few flying sites in Cumbria and Yorshire to see how quick we closed on them our view of everything from the cockpit, which was eye opening.

They are incredible pilots who have to multi task, fly a jet at low level, navigate, and keep a look out, all at 400 mph. After the low level flight we returned to Valley to do some aerobatics with sustained 5G manouvres, flying upside down, vertical and generally all over the place. We even did engine out landings and several touch and goes. Stunning! thanks James and the RAF. The very important lesson from this great trip was that all pilots should NOTAM sites that they intend to fly, the sooner the better, because the system works and the RAF do try to avoid all area's that have notified, so please get into the habit and help to keep the skies safe for all of us.

great

BRAZIL 2009, Best flying in 10 years!

What a great trip we had to Gov. Valares in Brazil this February/ March. A total of 6895 km's flown by 23 pilots over 15 non stop flyable days. Personal bests were being beaten every day and people who never thermalled before were flying 60km towards the end of the trip, a truely amazing achievement by all the pilots, well done everyone. Chris, Tim and I had the best time too, we flew between 3 to 6 hours each every day and had such fun flying with the group and each other over the perfect rolling green hills of Brazil. We were exhausted, the best kind of exhausted, flopping onto our beds after relentless flying everyday. Thermalling together at 6,000 feet, after a full days flying, with temperatures of 28 degress at base, we all agreed we have the best jobs in the world! and we have. Thanks and well done to all pilots, you did brilliantly.

Skiing in Tignes, France

Josh, Seb and I went off to Tignes, France for a spot of skiing to take advantage of the fantastic snow conditions and weather that the French alps has to offer.

We were joined by my sister Mads and her lovely kids, who did ski school while we focused on jumps, wizzing down the slopes and floating on the powder. In fact we had so much skiing that the boys decided to spend a day digging snow holes and generally mucking about as a day off. It was a great holiday and perfect break to get me ready for the 36 degrees of the Brazilian weather in just a few days!!

Back from South Africa

I have just returned from a great 2 week flying trip in South Africa. We went to Hermanus, on the coast, where the whales and cage diving trips are, for a couple of days which was ok but not as good as the previous trip. So we headed for Riebeck Kasteel in the Swartland a day earlier and flew from Porterville and Koringberg in sweltering heat. In fact one day it hit a sweltering 46 degrees!

All the pilots did really well and flew big XC's each day. The average distance was about 30-60 km each day and heights gains were about 5000 to 7000 feet AGL. Mind you Alastair Wolf managed to fly 110km and in fact, did consistently well everyday. Together with Anto Baird, he also got the height record for the trip, reaching over 8,000 feet. Perhaps the most improved pilot had to be Simon Meikle, who with just 15 hours airtime managed to rack off a series of big XC's starting with 28km and reaching 42, which is a stunning achievement, so well done everyone. We are all looking forward to heading back there in December 2009. Have a great Christmas everyone!

Ice climbing in Chamonix

I have just returned from four days in Chamonix with the Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, where we were improving our snow and ice rescue techniques. We managed to get the whole team along the Cosmiques arete on the Aguille du Midi, practiced cravas rescues in the Mer du Glasse, and even found some steep gullies full of deep snow and boulder fields to simulate rough lakeland conditions, where we did multi pitch lowers and pick-offs. See it's not all powder snow, alpine sun and blue ice!

Paul even managed to fall in a real cravas after completing the Arete du Laurence. Once his group picked themselves up from laughing, they swung into action and executed a slick cravas rescue. We all had a great time and learnt loads, but more importantly, we feel more confident in moving around and rigging in winter conditions, which is vital to enable us to do a quick and safe winter rescue when the snow eventually comes in the lakes this winter. Also thanks to Glen and Sharon at the yeti lodge for their hospitality.

Weekend in Sweden

I was invited to give a couple of talks on Cross country flying and SIV to a wondeful group of Swedish pilots last weekend, and seeing as I had never been there, I jumped at the chance. The weather was fantastic, blue skies and light winds, with a frost on the ground. The location was a private boarding school which is where the Swedish king attended. The local town has the oldest high street in Sweden and was the first capital. It was very pretty and a morning coffee at Aunty Browns quaint rickety cafe made you feel like you were stepping back in time.

But it was the people and the pilots attitude that really made it a great weekend. Everyone was hungry to learn or at least they sat quietly while I whittered on as usual. Then the party started and the Swedish really know how to have fun! To start was a nice dinner followed by a few team challenges. I think that was a subtle way of slowing the pilots drinking down as I am sure Nina and the team knew what chaos would have happened if the pilots were able to drink from early in the evening. It was a great night and lovely to catch up with old friends, so thanks to all the pilots and organisers for a special time. Lets hope the weather shines for you all in 2009.

Training with the Army in Germany

I have just returned from a fantastic weekend flying with a paragliding group from the joint services, high above the Chiti chiti bang bang castle in Fussen, Germany. The autumnal colours were amazing against the electric blue Bavarian skies. The conditions were very calm and theremals were gentle, but we had fun and did a mini XC to boot. So well done lads and Pinkie & Jen. In addition to the flying, lectures & De-briefs I gave, we had lectures from Stephan Kurrle from Independence on parachutes, and an interesting introduction to glider trimming by Carl who wrote the new Nova trimming system.

All in all it was a great weekend with a nice bunch of pilots who were a pleasure to guide. The instructors and whole teaching operation, was the most organised I have ever seen, so well done to Dickie, Carl, Tony, Ali, Lupo, Roy & the team. Lets get an SIV course organised for 2009.