Stumbled across this video on a rainy Friday and had to share it. Speed-flying Mont Blanc to beautiful piano music… lovely.
Watch it in HD if you can – it’s worth it.
Category Archives: Fun
SA needs more snow:
So that we can do some of this:
SpeedFlying – France 2012 from bartoszplewa on Vimeo.
For the uninitiated, this is “Speedflying” – a crossover sport that amalgamates downhill skiing and paragliding. The speedflying wings are very small (down to as little as 8m2, compared to around 26m2 for a normal paraglider) and are designed for speed and stability, with a large chord and narrow wingspan. The very high wing loading (mass per unit area) combined with this profile means that the wings are very resistant to collapse, but they are also exceptionally responsive and lose dramatic height in turns.
Not all speedflying is done on ski’s: there are wings available for foot launching that have slower take-off and landing speeds, but trimmers allow them to be accelerated for descent. They tend to be compact and light. Another advantage is that they can be flown in stronger winds, allowing the hike-up-fly-down philosophy to expand into weather conditions not conducive to normal paragliding off mountain summits. The big drawback is sink rate and glide angle: these are not cross-country machines. I’ve flown the brilliant Ozone XT16 a few times, including soaring it at Dasklip Pass in strong winds that would prevented anything else launching. Awesome.
The new classes of hybrids (somewhere between a speed wing and a paraglider) and miniwings (small wings with a normal paraglider profile) deserve to be watched with great attention by the mountaineering pilots…
Another Hofmeyr Adventure(r)
We Hof’s are fairly well known to be difficult to pin down w for too long: the call of the wild is too strong to resist. My younger brother Stephen (not to be confused with the singer of the same name) is no exception. Although he is often to be found tweaking a PC or other gadget for it’s last speck of performance, he’s an accomplished outdoorsman in his own right. We share a love of mountaineering and the backcountry, and he takes great pleasure in reminding me that he has bested my highest climb (sans aircraft) when he summited Kilimanjaro.
Steve has taken some time off now to lose (or find?) himself in the wilderness, and in searching for a suitable challenge discovered the Pacific Crest Trail in the USA. The PCT covers more than 2600 miles (4200km) as it traverses wilderness areas right up the west coast of the USA from the border with Mexico to Canada. It’s more than just a walk in the park; around 300 hikers set out each year to complete the full distance, and only half make it all the way. Click on the small map image for much more detail.
Steve is blogging his experiences on the trail whenever he stumbles across a campsite with any form of internet access (much of it written on his Kindle, believe it or not!), which allows a lot of insight into the mindset of the lone thru-hiker. He’s currently hunkered down in a shared hotel room in a place called Idylwild due to an unexpected 8-inch snowstorm. Go check it out on SteveHof.com
PS – You can subscribe to either of our blogs by entering your email address in the “Subscribe by Email” field on the right-hand-side of the screen – that way, you’ll receive instant notification of new posts to the blog without having to keep checking. It’s also great for us to see the subscriber list grow and know you’re interested!
King Vision Self-Laryngoscopy
Some time ago I posted a video clip of self-laryngoscopy with a C-MAC. For the sake of proving I don’t necessarily endorse on product over another, here’s a shot from a recent airway course…
Yes, I do have a gag reflex. These video laryngoscopes are remarkably atraumatic when used carefully, allowing this kind of visualisation without discomfort. Don’t try this on sick patients, however.
Evaluating the risks of extreme sports
I stumbled across this article examining the risks of various extreme sports from a statistical viewpoint on the BBC Future webpage. It makes makes brief, interesting reading… and I was particularly attentive as I enjoy several activities that are mentioned. Bottom line: BASE jumping and high-altitude mountaineering are a fairly effective way from dispatching yourself from this mortal coil (pun intended), whereas sky- and SCUBA-diving are fairly equally safe. Of course, this analysis doesn’t assess the potential physical and mental health benefits to be gained from spending lots of time getting exercise in the fresh air (or water!). For a wider discussion, see the preceeding piece on micromorts as a measurement tool.
Wedding photos
Still haven’t uploaded a proper ablum of wedding photos to the blog, but you can see them on FaceBook by following the links below…
Album 2 – Ceremony on the beach
Powered Hang Gliding
Let me see, the short story: Even though I have been paragliding for quite some time, I did a hang-gliding course back in 2009 because, well, it looked like fun and I had always wanted to try it. This year my instructor posted some pictures of his newest creation – a super-light-weight powered hang-glider (PHG) trike. It looked like fun… so I had to try it. Here are some shots from my conversion course in Wilderness last weekend – click on the image for a larger view. Aerial photos by me on my cellphone (don’t ask!) and the rest by my increasingly talented brother Stephen.my brother, Stephen.
Thick sea mist limited morning flying activity but was beautiful to behold.
Preflight checks on Kleinkrantz beach
“Magneto’s on… Clear Prop!”
First take-off!
Cruising along Paradise Ridge
Sedgefield from above Gericke’s Point
Enjoying the high life.
Kleinkrantz dune, setting off on an XC flight.
First solo out-landing
Gorgeous machine in a gorgeous spot… deserted beach for kilometers in either direction, dolphins playing in the surf, smooth firm sand to land on…
The sky is the limit…
1000ft ASL, heading back towards Wilderness.
Sure blows your hair back, baby. Cockpits are for sissies.
Coming in to land on the Wilderness Green.
Successful short-field landing.
Marvelous machine.
The wing is a normal Will’s Wing Falcon tandem hang-glider, with no special modifications other than a ring on the keel to prevent the pylon tube for the power unit from slipping. The power unit has a three-wheel undercarriage, making take-offs and landings much easier and safer than the traditional prone PHG designs. Motor, undercarriage and airframe weighs in under 50kg fully fueled, falling easily within the weight range of the wing. Another advantage of the supine design is that the flying characteristics of the wing with and without power are very similar, making it more pleasant for the pilot. I enjoyed turning the engine off in flight and transitioning to soaring, then switching power on again and flying off to the next spot great view.
See www.hangcheck.co.za for more information about the aircraft and learning to fly it…
The eccentricity tumour explains it all…
This was forwarded from my boss (an anaesthetist) who though it very funny, who got it from a surgeon, who thought it very accurate. That figures 😉
