And it's also kind of like, the longer I fly, the more fascinating it is, because basically we only have a piece of fabric with a few lines; you can stuff it into a backpack and use it to fly somewhere where maybe no one else has been before, or at least no one knows the perspective from.
Podz-Glidz, the Lu-Glidz podcast. Stories from the cosmos of paragliding. Today with...
So, I'm Michi Sommerauer.
And I am... Lucian Haas. In cross-country flying in the Alps, there are quite a few, let's say, magical boundaries. When a pilot crosses them, or rather flies over them, the awe of others grows. A 300km FAI triangle, for example. Or crossing the main Alpine ridge. Looking at it from this perspective alone, the Austrian Michael Sommerauer completed a flight in the summer of 2020 that made even many seasoned cross-country pilots' jaws drop. Because SOMI, as he is commonly called, flew the first 300km ever from the Stoderzinken and opened up a completely new route in the process, which took him over the main Alpine ridge twice.
The fact that he completed this mega-triangle on a day that didn't look like classic XC record weather at all, with lots of wind and a low base, was an extra cherry on top. Not just since then, but especially since then, many Austrian pilots have stopped. For example, the currently 25-year-old SOMI is considered one of the country's greatest young talents. He has only been doing serious cross-country flying since 2017, but has already become national champion twice. Before that, SOMI was actually only interested in agro-flying. In this 42nd episode of Podz-Glidz, SOMI talks about, among other things, the beginnings of his flying. How he moved from agro- to cross-country flying, how his extreme glider mastery clears his head for XC flying, what flaws he has in this process, what point he sees in some PWC pilots, how he prepares for long-distance flights, why flying still fascinates and captivates him even more deeply, and where he experiences his greatest moments of happiness while flying.
Before we dive into SOMI's world, just a quick note. Perhaps listening to Podz-Glidz will also offer you moments of happiness, or at least good entertainment and inspiration. If you want more of that, I invite you to become a supporter of Podz-Glidz and Blue Glides. Because while podcasts and blogs are freely accessible, I can only maintain and expand this offer in this professional and ad-free form if listeners and readers like you support me. You can find out how to become a supporter on the Blue Glides website, specifically on the "Support" page. How much you want to give, of course, is entirely up to you. If you're unsure, I recommend a non-binding one euro per podcast episode and two euros per reading month on Blue Glides.
Michael, what do they call you?
what do your friends actually call you? I mean, I've been Somi since almost primary school. And only my mom calls me Michael, so you're welcome to call me Somi too. How did you get that name? Because you mentioned primary school, did that...
did anyone ever call you that once and then everyone said Somi? Yeah,
So it wasn't my idea. It just happened that way. I don't know exactly either. Actually, it was just "the Somi." That was just how it was. Does the title Captain...
Somi something? No, nothing at all. Lex Robbe, a major long-haul pilot from Austria, told me that his daughter Lilly calls you Captain Somi now. Really? I had no idea. Cool. Well, I've just let you in on a secret. Apparently, she calls you that because she says you're a relatively athletic person. And then she said there's Captain America, and for her, this is Captain Somi. How cool.
How do you actually feel about Lex? We're pretty good friends. And for a few months now, we've also been, let's say, working together. More or less, he's been sponsoring me since the summer. And we also enjoy going flying together a lot. And I've learned quite a bit from him regarding long-distance flying. That
That means a major cross-country pilot in Austria is sponsoring the next one. That's how it looks. Lex also told me, or said, that the Somi is the best youth glider we have in Austria.
Oh, wow. Thanks. Do you see it that way too? It's always hard to say because, with slope soaring, what's good about it always depends on which disciplines you're looking at or what you take as the basis. But I definitely feel honored to hear that.
I mean, if you look at your performance this year, you finished fourth in the global XContest, so in the open class standings, where everyone is counted together. And you were the only pilot who managed that without doing any long-distance flights over the flatlands in Brazil. The three ahead of you really scored points there with massive flatland flights last autumn. And then you're standing behind them, having scored huge points in the Alps, where you flew, among other things, two three-hundred-kilometer FAI triangles from the Stoderzinken and even closed them perfectly. Many would even say one of those was THE flight of the year in the Alps. Because you were on a new route twice that, I believe, no one had ever flown from the Stoderzinken before, and you flew over the main Alpine ridge twice.
How did you
How did you come up with that? Well, the plan for the flight has actually been in place for over a year, since last year. The idea behind it was simply that I wanted to expand the typical Stoderdreieck that we always fly. The problem is that if you try to expand it by going higher up through the north, you end up in the lowlands. That's obviously not great for flying, especially in the transition from the mountains to the lowlands, with a lot of wind and so on. And if you want to expand it further south, you have to fly over the main ridge anyway. So I thought, well, if we're flying over it anyway, we might as well do it properly and fly all the way down. I just looked at where all the typical race routes are that everyone knows. And well, connecting those resulted in this route.
That means you're supposed to start at the back, over towards the Dachstein, which goes pretty well. Then further on to the Pinzgauer Spaziergang, out towards the Gerders Pass. Then you have the difficult key section flying down from Pinzgauer towards Lienz, so the main combat ferry. Down below, past the Emberger Alm, that was also more or less a race track. And back up, that was also a race track. It was a bit more difficult, but definitely doable.
Was that a plan you developed for yourself? Or since you say you fly with Lex a lot and stuff like that, are those things you guys talk about? Or was it basically a secret plan you had in your head?
Yes, we did talk about it. I also spoke with other people and asked how it is there for flying, because I'd never been there myself. I also asked a few locals who are out in East Tyrol or towards Lienz what it's like there, where it's best, and so on. But I also talked about it with Lex. But on the day I flew, he unfortunately didn't have the time. That's why he wasn't there.
On the day you flew, many people are saying the conditions were actually pretty intense. If you look at it, not many other big flights were made at all that day. And you're out there doing such a...
...thing out there. Yeah, I think the next best flight was a 200 or something. So, a lot was definitely missing. Yeah. When people say,
the conditions were intense, what was intense? I mean, how should one imagine that?
Well, what I can say is, it was relatively windy for a good cross-country flight day. We had quite strong south winds, especially along the main ridge. The whole thing was combined with a relatively low base. So, definitely lower than normal. And the combination of the two was a bit tricky. Especially on my flight, that stretch down from the main ridge to Lienz—those kilometers underneath—they were really demanding to fly. Because there was really an extreme amount of headwind. Although there were relatively strong thermals. But I couldn't get up high because the base was just so low. It was exhausting, let's put it that way.
With a base that low, I mean, you did it, but can you seriously think about actually hopping over the main Alpine ridge twice?
Yes, although I have to say, the day I flew now, well, it wasn't as good as we'd hoped from the forecasts. And the plan was actually for me to just fly the route once, you know, just try it out and see how far I get. So that I'd already know the route for a real attempt, which I already know in part. But it actually went better than I expected. And then I ran out of juice on the way back. And the base was, well, not super deep, but definitely deeper than on normal, nice days. So it was already over the main ridge, that much. But not high up, no. You said you basically just wanted to scout out the route first. Yeah, exactly.
That means the biggest
Were there parts of it you didn't know at all? Exactly, that's the thing. I mean, I know the area beyond the Sturz hinkenden Tag. I've also flown out of Pinzgau a few times. But I've never flown from Pinzgau down towards Lienz. I've flown Embergalm once, just a short local stretch. So I know the launch site, but not much else. And back down over Katschberg and so on. That was also mostly unfamiliar territory.
So that means it really wasn't flying blind. You probably set your turnpoints where you say, "Okay, that's definitely going to be somewhat fixed, I want to fly that, then I'll manage about 300, then probably close it there," probably from a planning perspective. Exactly. But what you actually fly in that terrain, were you basically flying by sight? Yes, already,
Exactly. So what I always do, when I'm planning longer distances, I put all the turnpoints into the vario so that I have the corner points and I know how far I have to fly. And something I really like to do is just look at the terrain in 3D on Google Earth, so I know what the mountains look like, what it looks like there, and where it could go. And then, in principle, I already fly the flight mentally—that's a help from the Google Earth side—I go through the flight so that I also know where everything is. And that actually helps me quite well. Can you
Because what you see on Google Earth, you store it mentally and visually, so when you're flying in the terrain, you can say, "Ah, I've seen that before, so I know this valley is the one coming in from the left," and then I fly towards that corner up ahead and...
then it goes on and on like that? For the most part, yes. For the most part, yes. There are some bits, though, some parts, sub-sections, where I'm not entirely sure. If I already know it beforehand or if I notice in advance that, okay, it looks pretty similar, then I also save other waypoints, so I just know where I have to fly now to catch the right valley to keep the connection going. How much time, would you say, did you put into preparing for this flight? Well, I'd say the plan itself, the idea of it, came up last year, and then it's been looking at the routes bit by bit, optimizing a little, seeing where it can probably be extended so that it works out well. I also had to talk to other people about how it's going,
and summarizing that in hours, well, it's hard to say, but it's quite a bit. You are
the route too, I mean, otherwise you wouldn't even manage to put those 300 kilometers together, flew an astonishingly high average, almost 27 kilometers per hour. And if you say now that you actually didn't know most of the route yet, that's also something special, because you have to say, hey, if you know a corner, then you probably know much sooner where you can fly fast or where you can't. Until someone just says, okay, I'll just push it and then, I'm digging myself out again and again, right?
Exactly, yeah. I mean, the average speed wasn't that great. Normally, when things are really good, we fly routes at 30 knots or more. But it still sufficed, from the looks of it. And because of the, as you say, warming up and pushing it to see if it's possible. If you really want to fly long distances, you have to take some risks—you have to step on it and risk crashing. If you're going slowly, you'll just run out of time.
But there's always risk involved. And when it's a good day, you can still get out pretty deep. So that, yeah, is doable. Let's say. What kind of glider did you fly that with? With the new New York Ice Big X -1. That's a CCC glider. A CCC glider, yeah, exactly. High aspect ratio, I think the aspect...
But there's always risk involved. And if it's a good day, you can get out quite deep again. So, yeah, that works. Let's just say that. What kind of wing did you fly with? With the new New York Ice Big X -1. That's a CCC wing. A CCC wing, yeah, exactly. Large span, I think the span is...
I think 11.5 hours. Or
11.5 hours.
In the past, many people always said, yeah, with these competition machines, you can maybe do 3 hours of competition flying, but actually flying for 10 hours straight, concentrated under such demanding gliders, that's basically impossible. Sure, a few people probably manage it somehow. How do you do it? Or how exhausting do you find it?
Flying with gliders like these? I mean, I also think that flying used to be more exhausting than it is today. There are more regulations now and so on. And for me personally, as far as the flying itself is concerned, I'm actually always quite fit. So that's not a problem. But I do notice it when
I then
land and then drive home or be at home, that it just completely switches off mentally. You can really notice that. But in terms of flying itself, I'm actually always fit. That means the body handles it well and then you notice
it's just at the end, that was a real feat of concentration, trying to...
to push through. What was also intense was a few weeks after the first 300, there was a weekend—so it was Friday, Saturday, Sunday, three days in a row—where the weather was also extremely nice. I was in the air for three days, I think 30 hours in total. And then on the Monday after, on the fourth day, I was pretty exhausted mentally. I can already tell. But as I said, the flying itself goes pretty well. That's not a problem. That means, also
after the
first 10
-Hours - day, the next day, as soon as you're in the air, you're fully there again? Exactly, you could put it that way. For you, the
Is the air really your element? Yes.
Well, I definitely like being up there. I feel comfortable. In that sense, it's nothing. On the website...
from the flight school Sky Club Austria, where you also work as a flight instructor, it says you started at the age of eleven...
started flying. Is that right? Well, that's not quite right. I started at 14 and got my license at 15. And since then, I've basically always been up in the air. As much as I can manage, anyway.
How did you get into flying? I always meet a lot of younger people who usually say, "Yeah, my father or someone else already flew, or he owned a flight school, or something like that."
How did you get into flying at 14? For me, it was a bit different. My father flies too, but he only started after me. Or because of me, let's put it that way. For me, it was like flying itself was always cool, always something interesting. And Clemens Schrempf, the son of Walter, the head of the flight school, was my classmate and was and still is a good friend of mine. And we once got to talking at school. Yeah, what do you do? And so on and so forth. Yeah, he flies, okay, yeah. I said,
Yeah, sure. And since then, he'd already done a course and been involved. That hooked me pretty quickly. And then the whole thing got started. But you finished school properly alongside your flying. Yeah, exactly. I finished it, even graduated. And then I got into flying for real pretty soon, with the flight instructor. And yeah.
If you look at your CV, at least the short version you can read on the internet, you can see that at the beginning, you weren't really interested in cross-country flying at all.
That's true, yeah. I actually started flying, well, with flying, very, very early with battery-powered flying. The stunt flying and so on. And this cross-country flying, this long gliding, that was actually never really interesting. Because you just sit inside and wait until you get to the next mountain again. And only since three, four years, when I had the first better gliders, so quieter gliders, plus also liege harness, did it somehow become more interesting,
that you're out there for as long and as fast as possible. And that's what eventually annoyed me a bit—that you can actually cover real distance with just a piece of fabric and a few lines.
Let's stay with the paragliding for a moment, what you did at the beginning. Did you mostly teach yourself, and were you always flying over land? Or were you flying over water a lot with some flight instructor supervision and so on, doing your first...
tried maneuvers? I did have a coach for some of the first things at the beginning, let's say. So, a good friend who always helped me out and gave me some tips. But at a certain level, it's hard to coach. Because it's really such small things you have to do. You can't just feel it yourself and actually do it yourself. And I'm still one of you who still really loves paragliding. That means, if it's not high damage, I'm usually out with the small glider and still doing my maneuvers.
And when I'm doing something new, I fly over water. Actually, I usually do. But if I know I can do the maneuver and the risk of really messing it up is pretty low, then I'll fly it over ground too. What's your favorite maneuver?
My favorite maneuver? Well, right now I'm in the process of perfecting the "Quark." It's just a pretty cool feeling. Basically, you do one, let's say,
you pull a glider off when it's right under you. Then you rotate negatively and go into the helicopter. That feels pretty cool.
Mhm. You also master the Infinity Tumbling. What does that feel like? Is it actually cool? Or is it one of those things where you say, once you've pulled it in, okay, then it just keeps flipping over the canopy, but eventually, it might even be boring?
No, in terms of feeling, especially the first time, it's of course mega cool because you're really flying over it the whole time, and in the phase where you're above the glider, you naturally have almost no forward force. You're almost flying over it freely. But now, in terms of difficulty—it sounds stupid, but it is—it's a relatively simple maneuver. You just have to pull in once and the glider does the rest. That means once you're in, it keeps flying, flying, flying. And whether you pull a few centimeters more or less during the initiation, it almost doesn't matter, I'll say that much. Those are the negative things, some tight connections or something in that direction. Before the technique, it's much harder than actually mastering it well, because it really comes down to a few centimeters of what's being braked more or less. Infinite, well, it looks extremely intense, of course, and feels cool too, but as I said, it's just,
you pull in, let it run, if you're the work, you get it out and you're set. Do you also fly
Agro competitions with them, or is that not really your thing, but something you do privately?
On one hand, because I actually fly Agro mainly for myself, or rather for the glider feeling. The other thing is that flying Agro competitions plus cross-country competitions is both a bit time- and money-consuming. And it just doesn't quite add up. That's why I said, okay, maybe cross-country competitions, I get more out of those personally because you also learn an extreme amount there. In Agro competitions, you just fly down once and, yeah, I can do that at home too, to put it bluntly. These many
The experience you gained during your first years of aerobatics, how does that help you today?
in cross-country flying? Well, I definitely think that all that agro flying provides an extreme amount of
provides glider feel. That means I feel quite comfortable with a cross-country glider, even when it gets a bit more turbulent. For example, during the 300er flight, where as other people say, conditions were wild, I still had the possibility to keep flying further and keep the glider open, or steer the glider however I wanted, even though it was a bit bumpy.
That helps, and another thing—especially in competition flying, but also in cross-country—is that once you have the glider under control, or rather, you don't really have to think about exactly what you're doing with the glider handling anymore, so that the glider stays open and so on, then you have much more options or much more headspace to think about where you're flying now, where it's better, which line you're choosing; you can simply make more flight tactical decisions or make them better because the capacity—well, the head—doesn't get overloaded, let's say.
Would you basically advise every pilot who wants to do serious cross-country flying to do at least a bit of agro [flying]?
do? Definitely. Now, of course, you don't have to do any super maneuvers, but understanding and being able to do the basics, like full stall or side-wing-over, definitely helps. Because even if, for example, you have a collapse, or if you have a vertwister or a hang-up, the whole recovery process isn't anything new, I'd say. If you learn agro flying, or even if you master full stall, you know what you have to do, you know what the glider is doing. And that way, you can also reset the glider relatively well, or rather bring it back to the normal flight state. And then there's no more shock moment, but, yeah, it's like that once and you just keep going. How
is that a thing for you, when you switch back and forth between these gliders? On one hand, your agro glider, which will probably be significantly less stretched out than your cross-country glider and so on. Does it always need a phase where you say, ah, I have to get used to the new thing first, or do you have both basically in your muscle memory so that you say, I'm hooking myself under this one and I know immediately what I have to do now?
No, I generally fly with several gliders, so even at the flight school or with a tandem, I'm always on something different. It's, yeah, the first 1-2 minutes might feel weird, but then once you've flown a few turns again, you know where the control pressure is, what the glider is doing, and then it's completely normal again. So switching goes pretty well. And
when you're out there with your stretched cross-country wing, your machine, how much agro do you still factor in? Maybe just for fun, like, what's possible with one that's so stretched?
With such a long wing? Well, I really try to fly my current glider as little as possible, meaning I try to overfly it as little as possible so that it stays on track as well as possible, so that it doesn't get displaced or distorted. But I also fly my old Boomerang for fun—that's also a CCC wing—and with that one, you can actually do wing rolls; I've even flown helicopter maneuvers with the full-sol deep stall, that all works pretty well. That actually means
these stretched wings might not be built for that, but theoretically they're just as capable of
...many agro maneuvers it's even capable of. Yeah, I wouldn't fly those exact high-G loads right now, so I wouldn't pull off a Dumbling, but negative stuff where something technical happens, like with helicopters, that's definitely harder, but it's doable. I mean, it turns away well too. Which maneuvers would you definitely not want to fly with a machine like this?
Anyway, something like a tumbling, where you really pull the glider through under you, where high G-loads occur and the entire canopy bends quite significantly, wouldn't look good especially with competition gliders and probably wouldn't go that well either. Especially regarding canopy bending
concerns, there are videos of you showing how you, I think it was in Slovenia once at Kobala or something, where you land top-tier at a competition, and there, I think it was still with the, probably the Boomerang. The one you were using there, and the glider bends, I mean, you're pumping yourself down towards the launch site and really right up to the limit, and the glider bends and one wingtip goes pretty far back. The people who filmed it, you only hear O and A and M, because everyone thinks you're about to crash or something. Don't you feel any fear during maneuvers like that, or is there really such a glider feeling that you say, I always have this in my...
handle? I'd say I feel it well enough to know I can do it. It also comes from free-flying, where you just notice, okay, when the pressure is off the brake, when the airflow is still there, and when it's already gone. You just have a feel for it. But you also have to say that with the stretched gliders, it obviously looks extremely wild because usually, they're built so that the outer brake catches first, meaning the outside will tear away first. That means if the glider is now flying halfway, already half torn away, it's usually the case that the ears are no longer flying and are just bending back accordingly. But the middle still flies well because it's holding me up. It's actually more pleasant in terms of feeling than it might look. If I were to do the same with a different glider that wasn't so stretched, it obviously wouldn't look as intense because the ears wouldn't tear away as quickly.
That means for the viewers, it looks
it looks worse than it actually is in reality. I'd say that, yeah. And how do you actually fly something like that just by feel, like the pressure sensation and stuff, or do you also look up at the canopy to see how much is actually bent back already or what?
When landing, when top-landing, it's actually just by feel, because I want to look down to see where the ground is, how far away the ground is. If I were to stand up there, I'd hit the ground, which wouldn't be so cool. And as I said, the brake is relatively easy to manage by feeling, once you've done it often enough before, with the Akkuschirm, with other gliders, and the tearing with the streckenschirme isn't something I do for the first time over the ground; I do it way up high to see what it looks like, to try a full stall deep stall, so that you get a feel for it too.
Did you have to try the deep stall or that thing with such a wing like a hundred times before you'd say, "Now I dare to do that close to the ground"? Or does it happen much faster, where you'd say, "I basically had to do a full stall with a wing like that about ten times, and then I'd roughly have explored the limits," and then for me, in my...
Is it in your head? Exactly, so with a new glider, with a different piece of gear, you do five or six full stalls, five or six deep stalls, and then it fits. Then I know where the brake pressure is, I know how the glider feels, I know how it feels with that glider when the flow breaks away and how it feels just before that, and it works out pretty well.
There are also other videos showing you doing some really playful soaring at the Stoderzinken, where you're also flying very close to the slope again, I think with the Boomerang too, where you glide in once, land on a rock for a split second, say hello, and then keep flying. There's another photo where you can see you at the top—I think that's even the summit cross of the Stoderzinken—where you put your foot down once and then probably kept flying again. Is this very playful form of flying also...
Every day? Every day would be nice, the problem is just that weather-wise it doesn't work every day, but in and of itself, I really love doing it because even with boomerang flying you can really feel what the glider is doing, whether it's rising or sinking, or if you're flying a hard turn or a light turn, you feel the whole thing sinking and you notice exactly what's happening right away. And exactly that connection between flying and standing on the ground, this real playing around, that feels really, really cool too, because you really have a connection to the ground and you really notice that you're flying. If you're just flying around at 300 meters, you can't really... you just sit there, look down, but if you're really just a few meters off the ground, it's something else entirely. It's a lot of fun. You basically become a mountain nut.
Exactly. Just playful flying. Now, of course, flying close to the slope is also associated with significantly increased risk, because you might say, okay, you can see how you're flying, but you only have to drop for a split second—it doesn't even have to be a crash or anything—but it could be that a brief sink occurs somewhere and then, instead of being a meter above, you're already hanging on the rock. Has anything like that ever happened to you, or not at all?
Well, not yet. No, not really. But when I'm flying really close to the mountain, it only actually hurts if it's really nice for soaring. So, nice laminar wind. If it's just thermalling up and really fluctuating, I don't do that anyway. So I make sure that I stay safe out there. And if it gets really, really close, it would also be great, it's also great to do in the winter. Because if you fall into the snow, it doesn't hurt as much. Have you ever hurt yourself in any way while flying? Nothing serious, no. Luckily. Just small scrapes on the ground, sometimes from a botched launch or something. Then once I twisted an ankle, but that was fine again after a few days. But otherwise nothing serious. You
You're also competing in larger competitions now, including the PWC and so on. When you see the other pilots there, there probably aren't many among them who have such good glider handling as you do. Now, you see there, there are 80 pilots participating. Are there any where you'd say, from watching, that in this round there are actually pilots who you'd say don't really belong there? Or not under such a glider that they're actually flying with?
Unfortunately, yes. I mean, when it comes to flying, flying is all great, but if you just stand at the launch site and watch people take off, it's sometimes catastrophic. You also have to say that the gliders are of course harder to launch, but if I fly a glider, I should also be able to launch it. And it should be really safe and look good. There are plenty of videos on YouTube of all the PWC launches. Take a look—most of my students launch better than a few of them. Not all of them, of course there are some very, very good ones, but there's a small percentage where you'd say, hey, taking one step back would be better, but man, their...
decision. Is there a specific technique you need to be able to launch those particularly stretched CCC gliders well? Do you have to adjust anything compared to a normal glider? Like, a normal PWC glider that the usual people...
...are out there? No, the technique itself stays pretty much the same, but you have to make sure that the glider really comes up nicely, meaning the ears don't come first or the middle, or the ears don't hang. You just need a bit more feel for it, or if it gets a bit windier, which is often the case in competitions, you should already know techniques, know techniques so that the glider doesn't lift off uncontrollably and I'm standing in the wrong position or things like that. So the technique itself stays pretty much the same, it's just that the consequences of a mistake are definitely greater, let's put it that way. But can
can you still control a 2-liner that well on the ground? Because I mean, if you have a 3-liner or something else, you can just rip the C-straps down, you get a C-stall, and then the canopy is basically down. With a 2-liner, if you were to pull on the B, you'd only increase the angle of attack, so it would actually lift upwards more, and if you go over the brake, probably in a similar way.
At the very least, the options are probably significantly more limited.
Yeah, so it works pretty well with the B-risers too. It's pretty much the same with the 3-liner; if you tighten the C-risers slightly, you get a higher angle of attack for a short time. If you tighten them even more, the flow breaks away. It's exactly the same with 2-liners, of course. If you tighten the B-risers slightly, of course, as long as the flow is still attached, you get a higher angle of attack. If you tighten them even more until the flow breaks away, it won't fly anymore. So it's possible, it does work. Do you...
with your 2-liner feel, do you also do ground handling, or do you say that over the years you've developed a technique where you don't need it?
I don't do it at all? Well, yes and no. I rarely do ground handling, like how they move with the thing. What I also like to do, if there's really good wind, is just at the launch site. At the launch site, I'll set it up, play around, I'll do that for about fifteen minutes or so, and then I go out and fly. That's what I do. And what
would you advise these PWC pilots who can't take off? Or what would you say to them if you approached them now as a flight instructor and said, "Okay, let's learn how to get this up"? What steps would you most likely recommend to them on how to do that?
how can they improve that? Yes, definitely go do some ground handling. So, really inflate the glider on the ground, play around with it, and don't just think about taking off, but first inflate the glider, check it, stabilize it, and then go out. You also generally notice with a lot of people that they have an extreme amount of stress during the launch. That means many people you can watch—not just PWC pilots, but generally as well—already make the launch decision while the glider is still on the ground. They inflate the glider, turn around, and run, run, run, no matter what the glider does above them. But actually, if you take it precisely, it should be that the launch decision is only made once the glider is stable above you. Because everything before that is actually just launch preparation. Inflate the glider, get it into the air—meaning into the wind—see if everything fits, and only then is it launch, yes or no.
Once that's in your head, you have much less stress when inflating and stabilizing the glider, because you don't have to head out immediately.
Well, that's mainly a psychological thing. It doesn't have that much to do with physical technique, but really with making that decision for yourself—okay, first inflate it and see, or whatever. You're a flight instructor. How do you teach your students to understand that inflating doesn't mean taking off, and how do you manage to separate those things so they don't develop as much stress during the launch?
Ground handling is really important—actually going on the ground and then pulling up the glider, and once you're confident with that, if it goes really well, you can do it at the launch site too. You feel safer and you know the glider is under control, so you can also just take more time because you don't have the fear that you'll somehow take off uncontrollably or that the glider will pull you back or something. So, mainly training. Like I said, it goes relatively well on the ground. I'm also—like how I started flying, I started at 14, finished my license at 15, and during that one year between 14 and 15, I wasn't allowed to fly yet, of course, but I unpacked a glider from a good friend and I was out on the ground with it almost all the time. So, for a year before I started flying,
doing ground handling for a year, and I think that helps an extreme amount.
Maybe that could even be an idea for basic training—that you'd actually say the best thing would be for people to maybe not for a year, but before they even go flying, to do only ground handling for two weeks first?
That would be perfect, tactically speaking. The problem is just that if you offer that, nobody will come because they want to get their license faster. They want to go flying.
That's the thing.
And how do you get people? Do you have a trick for people who are just really stoked about flying, but aren't actually that stoked about learning the safe starting technique—how do you get them excited about that?
No. Well, it's not that simple, but you can also do some tricks and challenges if you're playing around on the ground—or doing ground work, I mean—and usually, they're very motivated, then they're also very motivated to achieve something, to take on some challenges, and then it goes quite well. Jumping.
let's dive into the topic a bit. If you look at your CV, it says you were in the Austrian Armed Forces for two years. What did you do there?
done there?
I'm currently in Klagenfurt with the 25th Jäger Battalion. I was also deployed abroad for six months. Where abroad? In Kosovo. And after that...
It also says in your CV that you did a bodyguard training in South Africa. How did you come up with the idea to go to South Africa and...
to become a personal protection officer? After the mission, my time was up, and I looked around for other opportunities. I had a few connections down in South Africa, and it actually worked out quite well with this training. Why not? Let's give it a try. It sounds interesting, and that's how it happened. How long does such a training course take? It lasted for a while; it was a compact course, six weeks in total, so a month and a half. What do you do as a personal protection officer? Like, what kind of techniques? Well, from various shooting techniques and weapons knowledge to all that stuff, all the way to driving. Like, really, how to get away from somewhere quickly, how to somehow...
...escape routes, and so on and so forth. But also, when you're on foot with the person being protected, what techniques there are, what tactics to use, what you need to look out for—that's basically all of it in a nutshell. And
Do you get a diploma or something at the end? Where does it say state-certified personal protection officer? Yes,
Exactly. So I'm officially a personal protection officer now. I also get a medical certificate and a weapons license and things like that. So that's pretty cool. Did you ever work as a personal protection officer after that?
No, not really. After that, it just became even bigger with aviation, or rather, it worked out well with the flight instructor role. It was also a bit coincidental, a bit random, but it fit well and I've been a flight instructor ever since. Is there...
Things you learned as a soldier or now as a security guard—where you might say some of those are mental techniques or something like that—do those help you with aviation? Maybe in terms of strategy, or perseverance, or digging yourself in or out, or other things?
It's hard to say, but it might help me in more stressful situations—for example, if only half of the glider is left—to stay calmer, to really take a look at the situation, see what it actually looks like, and then draw conclusions about what's best and how I should act. It might have helped. It's hard to say if that was already there or if it came later. I don't know.
And does your high level of athleticism and this relatively athletic figure you have come from your training time in the Bundesheer, or were you always someone who was very athletic?
No, I've actually always been pretty motivated to do something, you know, to do sports. The Bundesheer helped a bit, of course, but I'm still out and about quite often doing something for my body or with my body. So it doesn't have that much to do with that. Do you do much hike and fly? No, I'm too lazy for the hiking part.
That means Hike and Fly pipes aren't for you at least for the time being, either.
interesting, because you say you're too lazy to hike. There are extremely many people who ask me that. When are you going to do the X-Hull, how do you do that? But as you correctly realized, I'm not interested in that at all right now. Maybe sometime later, in a few years I'll take a look. But for now, I'd rather just focus on flying. Flying routes, flying batteries. And Hike and Fly, if I do that, it'll be with gondolas, a means to an end, but not voluntarily.
If
So you're saying you want to focus on flying, also flying long distances—what are your plans for the near future or for next year? Have you already thought of new routes, or are you saying, "Ah, this 300er with the two Alpine crossings from the Stoderzinken, that can be expanded really well"? What do you think?
Is that possible? I mean, this 300er with the two Alpine crossings, that can definitely be expanded. As we've already said, I've flown at an average of about 26, 27 km. If it goes up more now—say, a 30-plus average over 11 hours—then it's definitely possible to do more. And it's also planned that next year, with a few people—so me with some good friends—we're going to go flying together. And when you're out there together, you can help each other out quite well, and because of that, you can also significantly increase the average. And we're hoping that we'll all get together sometime when the weather is right and really make something beautiful out of it.
Regarding flying together, I saw a flight where you flew with Lex, also from the Stoderzinken, but then Lex wrote at some point, "Yeah, Somi just flew away from me. I couldn't keep up or something." Is it maybe a danger that you're just too good in terms of performance? No. Or would you hold back just to...
to be able to fly together? It depends on how far ahead or behind we are. But generally, in terms of performance, of flying, there are definitely still other people who are still moving fast. At least in competitions, you can see it in the results. But let's just say, if we really have people together who are roughly equally good, it's usually the case that you stay pretty close together, because the first one who flies ahead, the faster one, naturally takes longer to look for the thermal, to center the thermal, and the ones following behind already know where the thermal is, can fly directly towards it and then make up some time with it again. That means the whole thing balances out pretty well again, and exactly because of that, you can also fly faster, because you pull the ones behind along quickly, and when you're traveling together, you also have a larger area to search, to
...better climbs, and that allows you to increase the average quite well. Are you more the type who flies out in front? Yes.
That's also cost me more than once in competition training, because I don't really like just following behind and waiting to see what the others do. Sometimes you have to do that, that's clear. But if it's possible, I'm more the type to push forward and give it a try. If it works, of course, great; if it doesn't, well, it stays on the ground. But it's definitely more fun. This
300er - Stroder - Zinken - Dreieck, how far do you think it can be extended in a meaningful way? I mean, what could...
what else can you get out of it? I mean, from a geographical perspective, you can obviously expand it very, very far. You can push the turning points further out; from a race track standpoint, that's definitely doable. And well, if you fly a 30 or a 32 as an average, the whole thing takes 11, 11.5 hours, then you'll get a good result. So 340, 350 should definitely be within reach. Have you basically already planned that? We're in the middle of it, yeah. A few ideas keep coming up about how we'll do it, how we'll do it, a few key points. But we still have the winter period to finish the planning. Have
Do you have other route ideas in mind, or are you saying no, I want to fully work out this one first and fly it more often, so I can get to know it all better?
That's obviously one of the big goals, expanding it. What would also be nice—which isn't really a long-distance route or anything, but would be nice and has been planned for a while—would be flying from Sturz Hinken near my home down to the sea. That's about 200 kilometers, 180 as the crow flies. It's not that far, but the idea is pretty cool for me. Has anyone ever done it? I don't think so, no. Where would you come out at the sea? South of Liag, although it's still questionable whether that's doable, flying over the lowlands at the end. At the moment, maybe down there by Trieste, I think it's called, a bit west of there, somewhere nearby, if nothing else comes up.
Well, you're one of those people who flies a lot with these high-performance two-liners now. Would you advise pilots who seriously want to do cross-country flying to upgrade to a two-liner, or would you say, "No guys, stick with the traditional three-liner, that's actually still the better solution for most pilots"?
It depends, of course, on how much the pilot flies and how much experience they already have. If you're just starting out with cross-country flying, for learning, of course, a three-liner is the way to go to ensure you're safe out there, that's for sure. But if it's getting boring with the three-liner and you just notice, okay, this thing is too slow, it's not cutting it anymore, then switch to a two-liner, definitely. There are already two-liners now, like the Zeno for example, which does well but is also still relatively easy to fly, I'd say. So, in terms of two-liners, it's just easy to fly. Of the gliders,
the ones you know, would you see the Zeno as the best or a good beginner two-liner?
I'd say yes. They're all pretty happy with it, and performance-wise it fits quite well, so it works.
At SkyClub Austria, where you work, do you also offer SIV training? How often do people with those paragliders come there to try something more over water or...
to take off? Personally, I don't do the SIV training at all, so I don't do SIV training, but from what I've gathered, it's rather rare. Mostly it's more like casual flyers, flight beginners, who come with normal gliders. Sometimes there are even more stretched wings involved, but rather rarely. But it would actually make sense to do that too, wouldn't it, or is
the material is too sensitive, so you say, no, better not, and I just hope nothing ever happens to me?
It's hard to say in terms of the material. So generally, in terms of the idea, it would of course make sense to fly it with the Siegel, that's clear. But a friend of mine also did an SIV training that summer with the same glider I have. And as far as I know, well, from what he told me, it wasn't a problem materially, but it didn't displace anything, didn't distort anything, nothing at all. So the glider handled it easily, so it shouldn't be a problem. If you now go into it a bit...
Looking at the future or planning for yourself, how do you see your next few years? Will you definitely still be doing more paragliding, or what? Maybe you can't do any more. Can you imagine that paragliding will continue to shape your life for years to come? Or can you imagine doing it so intensely that maybe it will...
does it just get boring? I really hope I stick with it, that it becomes even more of a part of my life. And I find it hard to imagine it getting boring. It's also the combination of cross-country flying and paragliding, which is what keeps it so exciting. I have to be honest with you, if I go out and do nothing but cross-country flying for three weeks, I'm already really looking forward to paragliding again—that variety is just there. The other way around too; if I'm only paragliding, it's always a great day, but I start looking forward to cross-country flying again. And I believe that this combination of both—which are actually quite different sports, quite different directions—means that it doesn't really get boring because of the variety. If you now
so in Meteo
-When you look at the forecasts, what's a really good day for flying for you? It depends on what I have planned. For cross-country, of course, good thermals, little wind, high base. But especially in the autumn, so right now in the autumn, it's also enough if it's a nice day with a light wind, before a real direction. And then I can do a few battery runs. That's also a great day. If you fly battery-powered in your area, where do you start most often? So, what's really good for training, for doing new things, is at the Krippenstein. We also have a lake underneath there. Extreme height, that's cool. What's also great is the Bischling. There you have, well, a lot of—so the height is quite okay. You can do quite a few runs. Or very often I'm just at my place, at the Hausberg, at the Stoderzinken.
It's a bit more involved to get down, I mean to get up. But for something like a flight in the evening after work or something, it's also perfectly fine. And at the Stoderzinken
there's no lift going up there. You still have to hike up. But you're willing to put up with that. Because you say you don't like running.
Most of the time. Well, there is also a road up to about 200 meters and then a launch site. Usually, we're there with a colleague, with a few friends, where we go to get the car later. And the last 200 meters, 200 meters of elevation, those are to be walked up. That's true. But it's just once. That's okay. And it's not that long either. We walk up for about half an hour, 20 minutes. That's bearable.
If you imagine it now, even if you say, yeah, I want to keep flying for years to come. But imagine if there was another big Corona lockdown or something like that. You have a few days left where you can go flying one more time. The flying weather is good. What would be your...
ideal farewell flight for a certain period where you say, I definitely want to take this as an experience with me. What would that look like?
Hmm, the ideal final flight. I'd say it should be similar to that one flight, that was once...
Sunrise, soaring with a nice, sweet easterly wind where everything goes smoothly. Foggy down in the valley, a real layer of fog inside. Clear above it. And there were just a few wisps of clouds drifting low over it. And I circled around there beforehand. And the sun rose again. Something like that again would be great.
That means it's actually more about these small experiences for you that make the fascination of flying. It's not about you saying it's the number of 300s anymore, but it's really these things for the feeling, for the
Emotions. Yes, already. I don't fly the 300er just because I want to cover a distance now, but I also enjoy flying there and doing it, really the challenge, overcoming the challenge. Or as I said, just small things. In some beautiful cross-country flights, even in autumn when the thermals aren't that good anymore, you can fly into some main ridge, look at some side features, and then comfortably fly out again; three hours later, you're back where you started. It's just beautiful.
And can you still enjoy that after all these years? Yes,
Definitely. And it's also kind of like, the longer I fly, the more fascinating it is somehow. Because basically, we only have a piece of fabric with a few lines; you can stuff that into a backpack and use it to fly somewhere that maybe no one else has been before. Or at least, no one knows the perspective.
Why do you say that the longer you fly, the more it becomes? Can you enjoy it more deeply now because you're less occupied with the actual flight technique and so on, and your mind is free, and you can say, wonderful, what I'm experiencing there, I can just
take in? Yeah, probably also. I think what also plays a role is that simply when you fly more and get better, you have more options. That means at the beginning, the glider is already the peak of the feelings. If you fly longer, if you have the options, you can then go flying in conditions or, with weaker thermals, turn up and fly somewhere that otherwise wouldn't be possible. And you just have so many options and so many new things still, that it's still pretty, pretty cool. Speaking of turning up in weak thermals.
When you fly with Agro gliders, which aren't necessarily the best thermals wings, does that also provide good training, especially regarding thermal flying? Do you learn technique just from flying the Agro wings because you basically have to fly the circles more finely or accurately to still have lift despite the slightly higher sink rate? Is that something you actually don't really...
would you dare? I almost don't think so. I don't think so. I have to say that I rarely turn around with my Agro glider because I simply fly with quite a high load. That means it has to be a really, really good day for me to get up and then go up everywhere. Turning around in weak thermals with an Agro glider, that's just not for me. You say flying with a high load. Give me some of your physical data. How tall are you, what do you weigh? Well, I'm 1.92 meters tall, I weigh about 100 kilos.
So you also fly a competition glider, which is always an L-glider, so the large size and such. From that perspective, you have almost ideal proportions because you say that in terms of performance, you are
Yeah, you're always in good shape with the large gliders. Exactly, in terms of performance and body build, it fits pretty well. Like I said, I always fly in the large size. Right now, I have a glider that goes up to 130 kilos, 132 and such. And my takeoff weight is 128, which is pretty much the ideal weight. And right now, I only have a water bottle as ballast, nothing more. So I'm heavy enough to fill the glider. And they always say that the large gliders glide a bit better. And the whole thing without ballast is of course much more pleasant to fly, much more pleasant to take off. So that is definitely an advantage, that's true.
Now you're very versatile. Is there any flying discipline where you'd say, "I want to learn that too"? Or where you want to do more?
...to go in? Yeah, all that speedriding and speed flying looks interesting too. But there's the problem again: when you fly like that, the flight time is relatively short. But tearing down the slopes in the winter is always really fun. Now, you're also a flight instructor,
...at least with the things where you have to work as a flight instructor. How do you deal with it when you say, today is actually a great day, I'm standing here with my students on the slope, but actually, you could fly some really great cross-country flights today. How
Does a situation like that hurt? Yes, I see flight instructing as a normal job. So, if I had a normal office job and had to work and the weather was nice, it would be the same problem. The advantage for flight instructors, however, is that I get to be outside. And I can be outside and still get my work done. Sometimes, when we have a cross-country flight seminar or a thermals course, I fly with the people as well. That means even if the weather is just okay, I can still get some flying in at work. Which wouldn't be the case with an office job. And if it really is the case that I'm standing at the practice slope and everyone else is flying above it, yeah, that's the moment, it's a job, it belongs like that. It wouldn't be any different in an office job. You're working too.
Have you ever done tandem flights or worked as a tandem pilot? Do you sometimes use the tandem to take flight students or those who want to progress along with you to teach them things in the tandem?
Yes, we do that quite regularly, especially during the basic courses. If we have people who are rather anxious or haven't mastered taking off yet, let's just say, I take them along on the first flight in the tandem so they can get a feel for flying. They can also steer and fly for themselves for a bit. So they know what it feels like to be in the air, what it's like. And they're also better prepared mentally. And then the second flight—the first solo flight, usually—works out pretty well too. That would be
isn't a good technique to say, it's best if we introduce every student to a lot of things first with tandem flying, and once he can fly solo, you as a flight instructor can basically be much more relaxed on the ground because you can say, I know that he basically already has the basic principles.
understood. That would be perfect, of course. The problem is just that, yeah, you need a separate instructor for every student, or an extreme amount of time to get them all through. That means it's not really economically viable. Which is a shame. Yeah, actually it is. Otherwise, you'd have to offer the courses much, much more expensively and a lot more money for it to be profitable. Yeah, it's difficult. Would owning your own flight school ever be an option for you?
Maybe sometime. But not right now.
First of all, I'm just going to spend the time like this. I'm enjoying my freedom.
That means if I'm just employed, I don't have to worry about an extreme number of things. It means when I have time off, I'm really off. And that's a good thing too. How much can you actually fly for free in the summer, on top of your job? Well, it's like I can organize my work relatively well. If you plan further ahead. That means I have time off for all the applicants. I take time off for that. And in between, there are always a few days where I'm off and can go flying. Weekends are also free, especially Sundays, definitely. And there was also the luck that most of the good days were on weekends. That means I always really had time when the weather was nice. And it worked out that I could manage the big flights. Last year, for example, it was like that too; I didn't actually get around to flying the routes at all.
Because either the weather was nice and I worked, or it was shitty and I had time off. So luck plays a part too. One year of luck, one year of luck. Looks like it, yeah.
Alright, Somi, then I wish you many more lucky days regarding the weather next year, so that everything goes well and you can actually realize your plans for the 300 plus X and a big X—let's say, from the Stoderzinken. And yeah, I wish you all the best for that. Perfect, thanks a lot.
That was Michael Sommerauer, aka Somi, in conversation with Lucian Haas. In the show notes for this podcast episode on Lu-Glidz, you'll find some additional links. Among others, to YouTube videos where Somi shows and tells about some of his flights in a likable "explanatory bear" style. If you enjoy this podcast, please recommend it. To make sure you don't miss an episode, you can also subscribe to Podz-Glidz right now in your podcatcher. Otherwise, you can find all nearly 50 hours of the previous podcast episodes on Lu-Glidz and Soundcloud, as well as well-known audio catalogs like Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, etc. And don't forget, by becoming a supporter of Podz-Glidz and Lu-Glidz, you're helping to ensure that many more interesting episodes will be released there.
Until then, keep your wings and ears open. Ciao!