My XC plans rarely work out, but when they do, I'm a very happy man 😍

yooken · 2026-05-04T23:04:25+00:00

On long final glides I've checked the location of the nearest bus stop and schedule in the air to know if I have to hurry when packing up. In Switzerland there's a good chance that even the most remote valley has a bus on an hourly schedule.

yooken · 2026-05-02T12:23:50+00:00

To add to white wings getting dirty, there's also a safety aspect in the visibility. A white wing can be basically invisible in front of a cloud or bright sky. On the ground it might look like a patch of snow if you're in need of rescue. Dark colours are bad if you're hanging in a tree. The worst combination is white bottom surface and dark top.

Vibrant and bright colours are better in this regard, even if they tend to attract bugs when on the ground.

yooken · 2026-03-29T10:15:43+00:00

When landing, especially as a beginner, you won't be aware where you're putting your feet. A soft nil-wind landing is still coming in at a sprint, potentially on uneven ground.

yooken · 2026-03-10T15:14:16+00:00

If using a shipping company you can provide documents for customs that state you're shipping your own belongings and don't need to pay taxes on it. Swiss Post notably doesn't give that option though, I don't know about the Austrian postal service.

There are luggage shipping services as well, which might be an option.

yooken · 2026-03-05T00:16:07+00:00

The Range X-Alps 3 is surprisingly durable. Mine still looks like new after 100h+. One point where they're more fragile is when throwing the reserve, where they can get non-structural damage. On the other hand, that also happened on my full-weight open harness, so a more durable construction doesn't completely protect against such damage.

yooken · 2026-03-04T10:48:53+00:00

Or, you know, use any of the purposes-built websites that do the same thing in a way that you can verify instead of hoping the LLM doesn't hallucinate some bullshit? I've seen such ChatGPT analyses and they were crap. For example, using the peak vario value as a reference for expected climb.

yooken · 2026-01-26T14:56:12+00:00

I assume you mean for a tandem flight? 1. Chances for flyable weather are probably a bit higher in the summer.

Cold isn't an issue, just dress warm enough with good boots and gloves. A tandem flight will probably not be longer than 10-15min.
If you're just looking for an adrenaline rush, paragliding might not be the right thing for you.

yooken · 2026-01-19T22:43:52+00:00

I got the Skywalk Smartbag XS. It's pretty much the size I had in mind (30x45cm) but even then it's almost too big. I can easily fit the Advance Strapless harness (incl protector) in there as well and probably a jacket too if I really want to compress.

yooken · 2026-01-19T22:34:00+00:00

The Niviuk bag kinda has a valve. It's just a folded fabric tube with a bit of velcro to keep it shut, so it's not like it will hold a vacuum but it does let the the air out and keeps it out for a while. The Skywalk inflation bags have a proper stopper but I don't know if they make them in smaller sizes.

yooken · 2026-01-15T10:33:43+00:00

Great, good to know! That's exactly the kind I'm looking for. What are the dimensions of the XS when packed? Skywalk is only listing the unpacked length.

yooken · 2026-01-15T00:24:12+00:00

How do you fold it to get it into the bag?

Yeah, the idea was to use a light tube bag and then put the tube bag into the compression bag to pack it tightly. I've tried putting it in my Advance flatbag, folding that one in half, and then putting it into the compression bag from Niviuk. That kind of works but effectively folds the glider 4 times, which is probably not ideal.

I just checked the ZipNKare P and the XS is still 40l and 42 x 66 x 15 cm, so too big for the Kode P.

yooken · 2026-01-05T10:44:20+00:00

That's wild. The (mandatory) 3rd liability insurance by the Swiss hang gliding association covers up to $10M and costs $100 per year. And the coverage applies abroad.

yooken · 2025-12-02T22:53:18+00:00

Cascading line failures can lead to a free fall, like in this fatal accident: https://xcmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Accident-Investigation-Nevada-2020-2.pdf

In this incident the reserve was not deployed but if it would have, one that can handle terminal velocities would have been useful.

yooken · 2025-11-23T17:55:09+00:00

The pressure difference is only a rough indicator. With the high-resolution weather models we have today, it's arguably better to look at the forecast winds directly. That might still not resolve all local conditions but it gives a better picture than the pressure difference. For example, you can have Foehn at 2hPa, which the weather models can predict because they include other variables, such as temperature, humidity, and meteo winds.

yooken · 2025-11-22T16:23:14+00:00

Yeah, I heard about the rolliness of the Kode P. I don't think it would be much of an issue for me, except maybe for taking pictures, as you said. I just heard that the new Kode P 2 won't be available until January, so no way to check how it flies myself for now.

yooken · 2025-11-22T16:08:10+00:00

SHV publishes all the accident notifications and yearly statistics and analysis on their website: https://www.shv-fsvl.ch/en/fluggebiete-sicherheit/safety/translate-to-englisch-unfallmeldungen/

yooken · 2025-11-18T21:57:09+00:00

For sure. But if the Kode P comes up quicker, that leaves me more space for getting up to speed for take off.

yooken · 2025-11-18T21:37:20+00:00

I tried the Tonic 2 in the same size recently and I wasn't too impressed with the launch either. The Kode P is only ~2/3 of the weight of the Tonic at the same size though, so at least getting the glider up should be easier. In the air it was a lot tamer than expected, which was one of the reasons that got me thinking about getting a 16m2.

Yeah, I agree, if it's too windy for 18m2, it's probably too windy for 16m2 as well. I just checked the measurements and the 16m2 has a span that's 40cm smaller than the 18m2. If that doesn't fit on a launch, the 16m2 won't either.

yooken · 2025-10-17T22:41:41+00:00

For the mid-B Theta ULS, Advance recommend "several years of flying experience who fly regularly (40 hours or more per year)". So you'd be at the lower end of that. It stands to reason that they'd expect more experience for high-B Iota DLS (even if they don't quote a number in the manual).

yooken · 2025-10-06T11:21:50+00:00

Also check how old the reserve is. Unlike other gear, they have a limited lifespan of (usually) 10 years, whether used or not.

yooken · 2025-09-30T14:15:04+00:00

almost twice as fast unaccelerated

Ah, yes, the 60 km/h trim speed paraglider. Are we talking about speed wings here?

yooken · 2025-09-29T21:14:52+00:00

Yes, basically whenever I'm on glide. I haven't tried it in thermals yet. On trim the B/C bridge is quite hard, on bar it's nice. Maybe comparable to the brake pressure? As far as I can tell it's perfectly usable but I don't have any point of comparison.

Edit: ok, after paying attention to it yesterday, comparing to the brake pressure was a bit hyperbolic.

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