well goal is to do it internationally so not too much i can really do with that but yeah any hike i do i let someone know in paper where when etc etc with all the tech these days you can just quickly press a couple buttons on your phone it takes a front and back photo with a gps coordinate and sends it to an email while makeing a call to a pre configured number be it family friends npws cops whatever. so its not as harrowing as old days given solar panels that charge your phone that are basicly a bit of paper you can clip on.
theres alot of you older pilots on here so may aswell ask, why is it all so secretive ? in australia at least. we never publicly advertise the flying sites and when we do its allmost a secret handshake and join the club for $50 with kiteing and other things you just jump on a location database like splocs and hit the forums. i can see the benefits you dont get strangers getting themselves into trouble and looseing the site but is that all there is to it? what would happen if someone were to publish the sites with just a contact link to the club reps and say that they must be contacted first before flying? really looking forward to putting the kiteing on the backburner for a bit and get back in the air.

Kozzie said..

Gorgo sorry i only got a couple minutes into your first video before i had to ask what the devil is going on with your vario?!?! that is your vario right the droneing mosquito tone my god i thought beeps were bad enough youve got 20 odd years on me so im all ears also im thinking useing gaggle app on a galaxys4 as a replacement ive heard there upto scratch now with the stand alone varios do you know much about it?
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That's the sink alarm. We're going on a long glide and I have the sink alarm set at 2 m/s. Some people have them set at zero so you always get sound whether going up or down. I find the sink alarm a bit depressing so I usually set it so it t a higher figure.

A lot of people are dicking around with smart phones or tablets and XCSoar. They have to run external batteries to get decent battery life and sun shades so the screen is visible in bright sunlight, and sew conductive thread into their gloves so the touch screens work. It all sounds like a pain in the bum to me. I only know a couple of good pilots who do that. It's mostly newbies or the somewhat incompetent who waste time with technology when they would be better off getting better at flying.

The state of the art in dedicated devices is a thing called the Oudie 3 from Naviter. It looks pretty good and most of the problems have been addressed (15 hour battery life, works with gloves, mostly visible in sunlight).

I use a Aircotec XCTrainer, which is fantastic, with a solar powered audio only backup vario and a little Garmin as backup GPS. It's all really good and really reliable.

Kozzie said..
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allso bir in india right? i hear its an absolute mecca is it worth going all way there? what level ippi do i need before theyll let me solo there without safety officers onsite etc? is there much hike and glideing? and lastly did you get jumped by eagles :P


gradient those movies are awesome. im a bit surprised by how freely your allowed to just fly around where ever you want. are you a safety officer or anything like that? very cool videos.

Bir is in India and it's fairly legendary. I go there for three reasons:

1. you can fly all day every day (mostly). I got 40 hours in 17 days without trying hard.

2. It's part of the Himalayan range, ie. ****-off, big mountains. It's awesome to cruise around at 4500-5000 metres.

3. This is the big one. Himalayan Sky Safaris run guided flying tours with one to one guiding. John Silvester is a flying legend. Eddie Colfox and Jim Mallinson are legends but not as famous. It's a bit like going surfing and having Wayne Lynch or George Greenough or Gerry Lopez with you as your own personal wave caddie. It's much safer because those guys have been going there for 12 years and have flown every route and dealt with most things that can happen.

You can go there as a newbie but I wouldn't. It's a dead easy place to fly but the consequences of screwing up are massive. Even with all the best preparation if you have an accident it is highly unlikely that a chopper will come and pluck you out and take you to a nice hospital. The best results come from when there are local people on the ground with the right contacts who can apply pressure to make stuff happen. See 3. above.

I was attacked by an eagle in NSW once in 1994. In India there's huge gaggles of vultures. They're great for marking lift. The seem mostly curious and kind of friendly. It's a good idea to make some noise when you approach. They're more interested in looking for lunch than numpties flying around under plastic bags.

wonder when seabreeze will get a paragliding forum? i really dont like useing the big international one. and there are many young kiters getting into paragliding....