The Nyos 2 RS is an update of Swing's high-end EN-B. With four EN-B's, Swing is a steady contributor to the populair EN-B class. Erwin Voogt investigates how the Nyos 2 RS stands out from the crowd.

Designing a paraglider without a computer is unthinkable nowadays. But for most of us the design software is mainly appreciated for the colorful images it creates. However, new developments in software mean our gliders get much better, much faster. Let's take a closer look.

Is minimum sink on a paraglider with brakes at 30% or hands-up? Advances in paraglider design mean things have changed - and that means updating teaching and flying techniques.

Just announced as the new race director of the Red Bull X-Alps we talk to Ferdinand Vogel. “I’m going to watch and learn in 2023,” he says.

Bastienne Wentzel joined a beginner's XC course organised by Parafly and guided by Ferdinand Vogel. Here is what we learnt.

Bastienne Wentzel took Skywalk’s new reversible harness for a spin during a week of XC flying in Bassano.

Is it a speed glider, paraglider or kite? It’s a Moustache! Seb Ospina and Luke Nicol flew one of the first production wings. Bastienne Wentzel finds out more. (Photo: Miriam Joanna)

"I am a former competition pilot from Feltre, Italy. I started flying in 1987 in Feltre on a Brindazur 24K. The K is for kevlar, it was one of the first paragliders with lines of kevlar. I was lucky because it was one of the best gliders at that time. To launch it you had to pull hard with your hands over your head and you had to yell 'Banzai!'"

“I pull to the right and instantly know I shouldn’t have. Too late. The lines go slack.” Bastienne Wentzel joins an all-women SIV / Acro course with Rise Paragliding in Oludeniz, Turkey.

An acro wing suitable to learn your first tricks and have fun, says Erwin Voogt.

"I am the first woman from Qatar to register and own a microlight aircraft. I am a sports coach from Doha, Qatar. Flying is my passion. I fly a weightshift microlight aircraft, a paramotor and a paraglider. I am learning to fly a fixed wing ultralight aircraft and I plan to obtain my gyrocopter licence."

Women's World Champion Yael Margelisch on chasing records, doing the X-Alps and winning the Worlds,

"I am a retired Airforce fighter pilot from Cologne. You sign up with the Airforce for twenty years and when you turn 41 you stop flying. I did a tour in Afghanistan which was really hard. Four of my friends didn't make it. So it was time to leave."

Acro World Champion Victor 'Bicho' Carrera about his dreams, the mental game, fast air and new tricks.

How much do you know about paragliding? Bastienne Wentzel, Erwin Voogt and Cross Country developed a quiz to find out. There is a quiz for everyone: newbies, beginners and experienced pilots.

Find the quizzes at beginnersguidetoparagliding.com/quiz

The web engine behind the quiz (developed by Erwin Voogt) is fully functional examination software used in schools. Send us an email (info@bmedia.nl) to find out more.

"I grew up in a mountain village in Switzerland, it was paradise. We went hiking, skiing, climbing and motorbiking. But ever since I was young I dreamt of flying. At 17 I started to fly a sailplane, that was my biggest passion. I was on the air field all the time but the summer flying season was short."

When the wind is strong even the lowest dunes offer the potential for some fantastic days out. Bastienne Wentzel heads to the coast to power up the mini wing and finesse her high-wind skills.

"I've been flying all my life. I grew up in Graz, Austria, where my dad, Willi Friedrich, ran the Flugschule Steiermark. I'm 19 years old now and I still live in the house where I grew up."

"I grew up in Bucaramanga, Colombia where we taught ourselves to fly paragliders in 1994. The first foreign pilots only arrived here two years earlier. There were no instructors or schools. I remember my first flight where my friend said: “Just run and when your down there, put your hands down!”

"I'm a 29 year old pilot living near Stuttgart. In daily life I am an orthopedic technician, I build prosthetics. But in the evenings, weekends and vacations, everything is about flying activities."

If you are looking for a top quality glider, Skywalk has always been the go-to brand. Skywalk say an important part of their market demands durable gliders, because of the rough and rocky take-offs and landings for example in Turkey, Iran, Spain and Brazil. But somehow, they've managed to outperform themselves with their new sports class glider, the Cayenne 6.

Vera: "In '85 a hang glider pilot invited me to fly with him. I had never seen a hang glider flying, I was stunned. I didn't know you could fly like that. The flight was a mind-blowing experience and changed my whole life. I left my job and became an instructor in paragliding and hang gliding, I met Wolfgang in 1995, we moved to Bavaria and we started Icaro paragliders.

The trademark BGD colors radiate rather boldly while I'm preparing the Cure 2 for my first flight. It seems as if all available shades of cloth are present in the 'Alkaline' colored review glider. More than the in-your-face colors, the sheer number of parts dazzles me. It looks like great skill is needed to sow all these parts together flawlessly.

"I always knew I wanted to fly. My parents are both hang glider and paraglider pilots. We lived in Frankfurt in Germany and all our holidays were flying holidays. I first flew when I was six but my mother did not really want me to fly. She told me if I wanted to fly I would have to make my own money, so I delivered newspapers until I had enough. At 13 years old I did my first course in Wildschönau in Austria."

All Swing paragliders are now equipped with a RAST partition, which causes parts of the glider to inflate or deflate slower or quicker depending on the situation. This gives for example remarkably easy launching behaviour and dampens the adverse effects of collapses. But such a complex internal structure would surely result in a heavier glider, right? Swing now proves that it doesn't have to be with the new lightweight hike&fly performance glider Helios RS.

A little over a decade ago, U-Turn launched the Morpheus, an acro glider which was developed together with Mike Küng. He wanted a dynamic glider capable of all manoeuvres but with a safety margin for performing shows. After many customers' requests, U-Turn now launches the Morpheus Next Generation based on this popular 'legend' as they call it. Just as the old Morpheus was a mild version of their professional acro wing G-Force, the Morpheus NG is the little brother of the very popular Blackout+ and Joker. It will replace the freestyler RedOut.

"My name, Peter Renner, means Peter the runner. I was born Oberholzner but I adopted my wife's last name. People say it is an appropriate name for a hike&fly sportsman. I live in the German Alps near the Berchtesgaden nature reserve."
Photocredit: Agata Antonowicz.

"My name is Luke de Weert, I'm 19 years old from the Netherlands and one of the youngest acro pilots on the acro competition scene."

"I am a nuclear engineer originally from Izmir, Turkey. During my study in Ankara there was a paragliding club where I learned to fly in 1999. It started as a hobby next to my study but soon I was addicted. I got my license and became an instructor. In 2007 I started as a professional tandem pilot at Sky Sports in Ölüdeniz. I also moved to Fethiye."

Cross Country magazine published a report on the 2018 Stubai Cup in Austria in issue 189, May 2018. BMedia contributed many of the 'weekend pilot reports' in this article as well as a number of photographs.