Discussion on PG Forum

From the Paragliding World Cup website:


During Thursday's task, Russian pilot Dmitry Maslennikov suffered a fatal accident.  It is likely that he had a major collapse, pushing him to a rock wall that he hit hard without giving him any chance to use his reserve parachute.  Nobody witnessed his accident as he was late in the task and away from the direct task route.  After search operations by helicopter, his body was found on Friday.


Dmitry was 26 and living in Moscow.


A mass dedicated to Dmitry took place this morning in Castejón de Sos church. 

 Impressions of a Pilot 

Flight is freedom in its purest form,
To dance with the clouds which follow a storm;

To roll and glide, to wheel and spin,
To feel the joy that swells within;

To leave the earth with its troubles and fly,
And know the warmth of a clear spring sky;

Then back to earth at the end of a day,
Released from the tensions which melted away.

Should my end come while I am in flight,
Whether brightest day or darkest night;

Spare me your pity and shrug off the pain,
Secure in the knowledge that I'd do it again;

For each of us is created to die,
And within me I know,
I was born to fly.

— Gary Claud Stokor

This competition was stopped.

Information on the official websites seldom tell the full story of what is going on at the competition itself.  It is by reading the personal blogs that a person can sometimes piece together a better picture of what the pilots are experiencing.

When I saw the impressive distance these pilots were flying, I could not help but get excited.  But then I translated the various languages of the pilot blogs, people who are actually flying the tasks, and a more complete story unfolds.

And with that - a sad report. Not one but SEVEN pilots were injured yesterday 19 June, including lady pilot Dorothea Stichlmair (Klaudia's blog), and worst of all, a pilot who went missing was found dead today (PG Forum and Klaudia and other blogs).

21 June 2008 The pilot is Dmitry Maslennikov.

I am very sad for all who took part in this competition and for Dmitry's family and friends.
Death and injury is not why we fly.  We live to fly and we fly to live.  And sometimes we don't get it right. 

To those competing and keeping their blogs updated - thank you for your insight.

The Provisional scores are in for 19 June Task.

94km Task was set and 79 pilots in goal.  Fantastic stuff!

1.  Karlo Bonacic Croatia
2. Russuell Ogden UK
3. Stefano Sottroi Italy
4. Jean Marc Caron France
5. Borja Rodrigues Spain
6. Denis Cortella France

The girls all seem to have stuck together:

68. Ewa Wisnierska Germany
71. Klaudia Bulgakow Poland
74. Elisa Hourdy France

The latest scores and info here

HOT DAMN!!!!  Spain is COOKING!

Yesterday, 18 June,  a 138.7km goal was set and........ 85 pilots made goal!!!  Freaking amazing!

Stefan Wyss from Switzerland was first in, with Aljaz Valic from Slovenia (De Aar 426km wonder boy) hot on his tail 19 seconds later!

Third was Czech pilot Tomas Brauner.

First lady was Ewa Wisnierska flying for Germany, coming in at 15th overall.  Ewa flew a 300km German Record flight in De Aar in December 2007. The lady is fast!

The other lady in goal was Anja Kroll from Switzerland, finishing the task 44 overall.

Hugo Robben who recently set a new Dutch record of 220km straight distance, 278km XC calculations in De Aar is also flying in this competition and finished 95....after flying 131kms!  Competition is tough, but then these are the worlds best pilots!

Two of the Brazilian trio World Record Holders of 461.5km, Frank Brown and Raphael Saladini are also flying, but had mixed fortunes yesterday.

Maxime Bellemin (All Africa competitor) has posted a photo album.
The official competition site is in Spanish so you might need to use on of the Internet translation services, but what is great about this site are the photos they recently uploaded - really nice images.

102 pilots flew over 100kms a piece. Europe is providing some serious cross country flying which I must admit gets me quite excited, but then I read the French and Spanish blogs and if I understand them correctly, it is pretty hectic with another pilot going down.

Oh for the XC Open World Series format on a day like this!  Can you imagine what is possible when you have the freedom to choose your own route, working with the conditions on the day as they unfold and flying the way you want to fly them for the love of cross country?  One chappie in the competition was complaining that it took him over six hours to fly the task!  How different are we - the marathon cross country enthusiast and the traditional 'race horse' enthusiast.  For me, 6 hours of flying is pure Nirvana!

I expect the air will tame itself come the autumn XC Open World Series in Piedrahita, Spain in Aug/September and provide its famed enjoyable cross country flying without the acrobatics.  What an event to look forward to.

I enjoy following blogs and reports on competiton daily events and normally find something good to read about on www.pgforum.com

Tom Payne and other pilots have made some links available to this PWC event in Spain and Klaudia Bulgakow from Poland is attending the event and keeping a blog in both Polish and English and posting a few photos.

For those who know the little pint sized Russian lady pilot, Marina Olexina - Marina was hurt in the early stages of the comp and seems to have fractured ribs and hip.  Otherwise, relatively speaking, she is reported to be OK.

Klaudia also posted a few photos of that awesome weekend in Poland recently where  Marcin Gorayski flew a new Polish record of 302km - a few kms short of the European record. More on PG Forum