The pilots blog

Our team pilot Jakob Schrödel took part in his first serious competition, the Pyhrn Priel Cup/Austrian championship and finished 2nd in the Sport category, flying the Volt 4. Here is his story, along with some tips for who might get into comp. Worth the reading!

Felix Wimberger has only been flying for two years but already clocked in more than 150 hours on his Soar. The X-Race in Salzkammergut (Austria) was his first hike-and-fly comp and he ended second in the Adventure category. An amazing achievement of which he decided to tell us the story.

The concept of Everesting is fiendishly simple: pick any hill, anywhere in the world and ride repeats of it in a single activity until you climb 8,848m. That's exactly what Raphael decided to do, hiking up 10 times and flying down 9 times the Kreuzjoch in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with his beloved SuSi for a total of 9500 meters vertical elevation.

Loïs Martin is a french pilot passionate about hike and fly. Last autumn, he participated in the Mont-Blanc Airtour, a new event in the hike-and-fly scene organised by Rémi Bourdelle (another AirDesign team pilot!) for which we were main sponsor. Well, that's an AirDesign story!

Alone in the mists I go, with only my inner compass for direction, passing Rakaposhi 7788m base camp I hike the 3 day trip in a morning. Over gaping glacier mouths and slippery scree slopes I make my way to the hidden green valley that beholds a solitary team in the magical meadows of Diran 7266m base camp, high in the Karakoram mountains.
Through the sleet dripping wet I arrive into camp a smile so wide my teeth collect the rain drops.

Michael Kraeftner has been flying since 1987. What he loves most is to combine different mountain activities, and to fly from a beautiful summit is always a box to tick. This time, he spent "4 crazy days" of climb &fly adventure in the beautiful dolomites.