And the gondola was full of pilots, and the question came up: who became world champion now? In Garmisch, on the same day. No one knew. That already made us wonder. Do people even care anymore?
Podz-Glidz, the Lu-Glidz podcast.
Stories from the cosmos of paragliding.
Today with Wolfgang Lechner. And Lucian Haas on the mic. The
The paragliding scene is currently experiencing a gradual but interesting generational shift. Many of the protagonists who shaped the early and boom years of paragliding are slowly reaching retirement age. They can look back on a time when they did real pioneering and foundational work, helping paragliding mature into a form of aviation suitable for the masses. Wolfgang Lechner can certainly be counted among these pioneers. In 1989, the now 62-year-old founded the Nova brand together with Hannes Papesch and other shareholders. For more than 30 years, he ran their business. Recently, he has started calling himself a pensioner, as it's so beautifully put in Austria. He has handed over the management of Nova to younger people.
He still looks after the distribution for Austria, albeit without a salary. In this 52nd episode of Podz-Glidz, Wolfgang Lechner tells his story of the Nova era. From the wild beginnings, his time as a jack-of-all-trades, to his somewhat involuntary existence as a test pilot, Nova's dominance in the competition scene of the 90s, and later the conscious withdrawal from it, combined with a reorientation of the brand toward the broader mass of XC pilots. Wolfgang also gives insights into how the paraglider scene has become increasingly professional over the years and where, in his opinion, there is still potential for development in the future.
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Wolfgang, you're a retiree now. What's that feel like?
Actually, a very good one, I have to say. I feel very comfortable in this role. I have time for my hobbies. And I'm not actually quite a retiree, since I'm still looking after the Austrian market. The only difference is that I no longer receive my money from Nova, but from the state.
So you're still doing something for Nova, but you're doing it for free now, basically? Right, yeah.
I'm doing it free of charge because I just enjoy it. And I believe that continuing to do it is also good for my mental well-being, for my mind.
You ran the business at the paraglider manufacturer Nova for over 30 years and basically co-founded the brand, building it from the ground up. In a way, you could say that's a life's work. But basically, if I'm calculating this correctly, you were already 30 when you founded Nova. So there was a life before that, before this work. What did you do back then?
So, at that point, before I founded or co-founded Nova, I was at the sewing supplies manufacturer Haas. I don't know if that name rings a bell for you. No, my name is also Haas, but... they make pudding, they're a relatively large manufacturer for Austrian standards, and they're based in Linz. And they make pudding, mustard, yeah, various food products. And maybe you know Beets. Yeah. Those little children's candies. Yeah, exactly, that's also Haas. And I was employed there as sales manager. And then Nova came along.
How did you get into paragliding in the first place? I mean, you were working there and all that. Were you already an athletic person and said, I want to try paragliding? Or what were your beginnings like? Yes,
In my youth, I spent a lot of time in the mountains. I used to go climbing. And many climbers or many acquaintances got into paragliding through climbing. Like Uli Wiesmeier, Sepp Schwendner, and so on. I already knew them from climbing.
The story of how I got into paragliding was quite funny. A friend told me he was doing something really cool, something new. And I asked him, what is it? He's currently doing the training to become a paraglider pilot. And that's very difficult. I mean, you need a week for it. And he says, what is paragliding? And yeah, it's a new sport. You jump off a mountain with a parachute and can fly. So fly into the valley. And what is that? I then asked what's so difficult about it? Yeah, mainly the takeoff and the landing. And I was quite athletic back then, I have to say.
And I thought to myself, that can't be that difficult. In any case, it came to a bet. And this bet was about whether I could launch the glider. And of course also land without falling on my butt. That was the bet. And then we went to Patscherkofel with the whole family. It was way down in the valley. And that was the final goal, so to speak. And we went up a hill. They explained to me how to launch the glider and how to land. Yes, and thank God, it worked. I won the bet. That was your first
attempt? First attempt, yeah. Right on the first attempt, you got these weird bags from back then with their huge openings and stuff, you pulled them up, did a little hop, and you're
landed. Yeah, exactly. And yeah, that was a Comet 27 back then. I don't know if you still know that aircraft. Yeah,
that was before my time. Before your time. So
I was
already born back then. In any case, it is
successful. I won the bet and paragliding was off the list for me. Like, done. I won and that's that.
Well, then later at a meeting, I think it was half a year later, a colleague told me that he does this sport, paragliding. And then I said, well, I do that too, I can do that too, yeah.
And then he said, okay, if you also fly paragliders, next time I'm in Tyrol, we can go flying together. Yeah, sure, we can, no problem. Then I forgot all about it. Half a year later came the call. Wolfi, I'll be in Tyrol, let's go flying. Oh my goodness, I was really startled. What do I do now? So I called my acquaintance, or friend at the time, we met up, and I said to him, there are two things: first, you have to lend me your glider, and second, you have to explain to me again, how did that work with the takeoff, what exactly do I have to do there? He explained it to me, lent me the glider. And I met up with Hermann, Hermann Habe, a later co-founder of Nova,
in Aksamalizum. We then went up, or we took the cable car up to the Hordl, which is the ladies' run, so it's a real mountain. And it was spring, everything was still full of snow. Yes, in any case, we laid out the glider, or the gliders, and my launch succeeded. Hermann's didn't, though; he had several failed launches. And I landed then at the valley floor, full of pride. And that was the moment when paragliding fascinated me so much, and I was infected by this sport. From that point on, I bought myself a glider,
an Edelweiß—I don't know if you know that brand, it was a French brand—and I went flying every day. It was incredible, and yeah, of course there were many, many experiences in this
Time. But you didn't actually take a course, it was really learning by doing what you did back then. Yes,
Yeah, learning by doing. I never took a course, not even at a later point. The only course I did was for the special pilot's license. But the basic training itself, I taught myself.
That was, I mean, you founded Nova in 1989, so that happened in the years before. Yeah, yeah, that was '87. Okay. So how did Nova come about? I mean, how do you get the idea, when you're a sales manager for a food manufacturer, probably making not-so-bad money and all that, to say, I'm going to start some weird little paraglider company?
Yes, back then the preparation for the Stubai Krab was underway, and we were at the Patscherkofel almost every day, whenever the weather allowed. That was like the local mountain of Innsbruck. And that's where the whole paragliding scene, the Tyrolean paragliding scene so to speak, met up. Among others, Hannes Barpesch was there too. That's where I met him for the first time, and he told me that he had his own glider, which he had sewn himself on his mother's sewing machine. Hannes was a student at the time and didn't have the money to buy a glider. That was actually the reason why he developed the glider himself.
Anyway, it took a while, and then he lent me his glider once. And that was on the Hafele K. And that was the first time I was able to gain altitude. I mean, I was above the launch site and flew back and forth. And Hannes shouted at me, be careful, be careful. He didn't know how the glider would react. But it was already incredible. Before, it was just pure glide flights. And that was the first time I could do the launch lift. It wasn't because of me, but simply because of the good glider. Yes, and to get back to the story at Bad Schakowl.
At that time, there was a huge event in the Stubai Valley, the Stubai Cup. And all the good pilots were represented there. They were flying in competitions. And we wanted to fly along too. Of course, we didn't expect to be at the front somehow. But we wanted to take part. And we practiced those precision landings at Bad Schakowl. Yes, and Hannes Papesch was there for those precision landing attempts too.
And word had already gotten around, and André Bucher established contact with Ernst Steger. And Ernst Steger signed Hannes right away. It was a license agreement. Hannes gets a bit of money per sold glider. And that's what Hannes told me back then. And at the same time, he was in a difficult position because Ernst Steger could pass on this license. And he had no influence over that. And that naturally bothered him. If his gliders are now being flown under another brand—so the same glider under another brand—and he gets nothing for it.
And he told me about that and asked if I could help in some way. And I was ready to. Then we met with the people, the licensees, the future licensees, and negotiated a licensing fee. And we were completely naive, we had no clue about anything. And I thought to myself, if I demand a licensing fee per unit, there's no way I can control that. Then I thought, I'll just demand a one-time fee for them to use Hannes's design.
Yeah, where do you start? You just put it out there once. And then you see the reaction. So, at that time, I asked for a million schillings for the license—that was an insane amount of money. And my negotiation partners weren't even shocked. It was actually a sum they could imagine. Well, we parted ways again. And on the way home, I thought to myself, yeah, if that much money is involved, why don't we do it ourselves?
I put that question out there on the way back. And Hannes said, yeah, he doesn't know how. No idea. Yeah, wait and see, I have acquaintances and I'll talk to them. And so I called Hermann Habe and told him about it. And he already knew the story about Hannes Pappesch, that it would be such a great glider and so on. And I asked him the question too: why don't we do it ourselves?
Well, we had to meet up, we had to talk about it and all that. And we met up, back then in Angad, at a rest stop, a highway rest stop, maybe you know it. And we took a meeting room, and we thought about what kind of projections we need to hit so that the whole thing doesn't go south. We then realized, yeah, we have to sell 400 gliders for it to work in the first year. And I should be the only employee, because we obviously have to build up the sales side so that it works, I have to be ready to say goodbye to Haas and take on Nova as a full-time job.
Yes, there was some skepticism, of course. 300 gliders. That seemed like a lot to Hannes, less to us. We were actually very euphoric that it would work. And that's how it happened, that we founded Nova. How many gliders did you sell in the first year?
So around 700. It was very successful. But was that just a single glider model or was it already a
Glider? No, no, back then there was only one glider model. That was the Nova CXC, based on the Comet CX. That was Ernst Steger's glider or Hannes's first glider. And the improved version was supposed to be the CXC. It was one model. In the past, there was always only one model. In the first year, it was the competition glider, and in the second year, it was the school glider.
And in the second year, there was again the first year of a new competition glider, which was then somehow the slightly improved model. Now, as a manufacturer, if you say 700 gliders, they have to be sewn and all that. Where did you have them sewn back then?
Yes, we looked around back then to see who could sew something like that. And a certain Olesko also wanted to produce gliders and knew the Hungarian manufacturer Magic Ballon. It was actually a mining company that sewed uniforms and balloons. But they already had some experience with paragliders, as they had already sewn gliders for a manufacturer in Italy. They had experience. However, it wasn't very positive, because apparently no money ever arrived. And that was already the next hurdle.
Anyway, I drove to Petsch back then. They're based in Petsch, in Fünf Kirchen. There's a nice bar there. My father was in the hospital in Petsch during the war when he got injured. It was Fünf Kirchen where he was stationed. Anyway, to get back on track, I drove to Petsch with Olesko to talk to the people there to see if they could potentially produce paragliders for us. And my boss at the time, Dr. Gerhard Reus,
the later general director of ÖAMV, I don't know if that means anything to you, but it's a very large company, the largest company in Austria, he was my boss so to speak at Haas back then. And I would always call him whenever there were any difficulties or if I didn't know what to do anymore, I would leave the negotiation room back then and ask him for advice. So it's a very funny story. In any case, it came to the point where they basically gave us their trust and produced the first gliders for us. And that worked well from the beginning, didn't it? Actually, yes. In the past, the gliders weren't as complicated as they are today.
That was all much simpler. They had far, far fewer cells and so on. And it wasn't as precise with the trim. So there were already huge differences compared to today. But they produced very well and, yeah, that's how the whole thing happened.
achieved. In the meantime, or what does that mean now, it's been a long time since this operation actually became your business, or at least you're part-owners of it. Did you just buy it out or how did that happen?
No, that was that whole restructuring of the Eastern Bloc.
So this mining company closed down. And that gave us the opportunity to take over the company. We founded a company back then and the majority owner became Nova. And we naturally had Hungarian partners who had already been working in the plant before.
Were you actually the first brand to have your own production back then?
I don't think so. I don't think so. But I'm not so sure anymore if we were the only ones. It's hard to say.
Let's stick with the Nova story for a bit. At the beginning, you say, you always released competition gliders, and then the following year they became school gliders and so on. But you were also really successful in that competition scene, especially in the 90s.
Would you consider that period to be the great or the greatest era for Nova?
No, I don't think it was the greatest. It was perhaps the most successful period in terms of competition. But we also had great success with the Philou. I don't know if that means anything to you. That was a beginner glider that we sold for over ten years. And those were already insane numbers. So from the Philou alone, we produced 10,000 paragliders. That's unimaginable today. So it was already very successful.
And the competition scene,
...or the success we had back then with the Xenon. That was one of your most successful competition lines, the Xenon. Yes, absolutely. It was very, very successful. You have to imagine it for a moment. We had twice as many points in the BBC as all the other brands combined. That was incredible dominance with the Xenon. However, we didn't sell the glider because we couldn't create a seal of quality with it. And we made, so to speak, a little brother, the Xion. And that was also very, very successful. A great glider, yes.
But then in the 2000s, I think 2005 or something like that, you completely pulled out of the competition scene.
Yes, that had two reasons. First, we had a sponsor, FDI, who also supported us financially with this competition team. In the past, the pilots were paid, and that cost a lot of money. And on the other side, a lot of our resources were also tied up because you always had to stay up to date. You always had to bring new developments. And every one of these pilots, of course, wanted the newer glider, and always in different sizes. So it was already very difficult to implement all of that. So first, the financial side. And FDI then pulled out of this sponsorship agreement.
And the decisive factor was actually the World Championships in Garmisch.
We were there as spectators. Our pilot, of course, too. But the company was there. And we went up the Wank, I think, by gondola. And the gondola was full of pilots. And the question came up: who became world champion now? In Garmisch. On the same day.
No one knew. But these were pilots who hadn't flown with us, but were just hobby pilots? Exactly, hobby pilots.
And that made us wonder. Do people even care anymore? And then we arrived. And somehow the conclusion was reached that it might not be that interesting at all. And it was also out of reach. That means the competition gliders could only be flown by specialists anymore. The transition downwards didn't really happen. It was difficult. Those were completely different pieces of equipment. And then the decision was made, okay, we'll focus on equipment for the average pilot. That was actually the point, to [address] the competition scene
to back out. Was that actually a decision that everyone in the company agreed on at the time? Like, did they say, "Okay, we're really going this other way"? Or were there also people who were disappointed because they were like, "Oh, this successful competition brand, Nova, is just scrapping the competition stuff?"
There are always, of course, different opinions, clearly. And you discuss them, you listen to them. And then a decision is made. And this decision went in favor of the gliders that are actually more suitable for the masses.
After that, you were mainly—first with Mambu, but then especially with the Mentor—where that's basically your, the term, where you say you were successful with it. And you have, for a while, the Mentor was something like, he was really such a trendsetter and he basically had his own class. Many people said there's this Mentor class. Would you just say, from the perspective of this switch, that it was a particularly big success in the company's history, where you really say you're defining something for an entire industry? Where many then try to copy exactly that kind of glider or at least this trend or this performance of the glider in some way?
Yes, of course. The story with the Mentor is a great one, naturally. It was a very great Mentor, and actually still is. It was about being able to fly long distances in a relaxed way with a wing that is relatively safe, that is forgiving, and that allows you to focus on the task of cross-country flying. And that was very successful. And it's of course beautiful when you manage to describe the epitome of cross-country flying with a glider title, so the Mentor class, as you said. That is, of course, the goal you have. Yes, logically.
Now many also say that the Mentorklasse became so successful because so many very good pilots essentially stepped into the ring for NOVA and said, you've actually founded the NOVA pilot team as NOVA, and as you said earlier, you're now flying with our gliders. Yes. You're going out there as ambassadors for NOVA and, especially in the early days, it was really that the XContest was absolutely dominated by these NOVA pilots and such. Was it actually a strategic decision to say we're founding this NOVA pilot team, or did that happen en passant and the success just happened to grow like that? No, it was a coincidence.
it wasn't. That was, of course, calculated. Yes.
But it
it wasn't just about buying or hiring pilots who fly very, very well. It was also about them simply being great guys who are friendly and helpful. It was always about not putting performance in the foreground. And they weren't that good at the beginning, either. They developed over time. And we were a bit lucky that people like the engineers, the Austrian engineers and such, became so successful. But they weren't like that at the start. At times, they were also very young people who were enthusiastic about free flight, so to speak.
And yes, it was simply successful, but I have to say, it was also associated with a lot of work. Our team captain, Till Gottbrath, did an outstanding job then and still does. It's not that easy to keep these pilots together, to make them truly feel like a team, because they are scattered across all sorts of countries. That's not easy. But he does it excellently, just really, really great. But primarily, it was about the message. It wasn't about going all out to fly the longest distances possible. That's still true today, I'd say.
With the founding of this team and having them as ambassadors, you were basically a bit of a trendsetter. And you already did something with that back when things like social media and stuff weren't even active yet—where people say, "Now we have our influencers and other people as ambassadors." Today, with Theo de Blick, the Agro World Champion, you basically have a world champion in influencing in the paraglider field, who always puts out great videos. And Nova, of course, always looks good with that. But even back then, these people told their stories or had their flights. They spoke for themselves. From a marketing perspective, that was an incredibly smart move. Yes. In retrospect, you can
How can I put that? Can you say it like that, yeah. But as I said, there were very many pilots involved with whom we've had contact for a long time. And there are also very many pilots who have since left Nova. That has to be weighed up, of course. But when I look back at who was all in the team, it's just incredible. Guschlbauer, for example. Guschlbauer. I think Durogati was with you too, right? Durogati was also with
us. Yes, yes. For a long time. Yes, yes. Now, in the Nova story, there are also other, how shall I put it, yes, legends of the paragliding scene who are associated with the Nova brand. Hannes Papisch as a designer, who today has his own brand Fieder. And of course, Toni Bender. How did Toni actually end up at Nova?
Oh my god, that's a funny story. I first met Toni at Bad Schokowel. He was the big star, and I admired him. The only negative thing about Toni was always his reliability. I once waited for Toni for eight hours in a parking lot in Switzerland at Lake Walen. You have to imagine that. Eight hours. Well, Toni... and he was. At the time, he was friends with Hans Bausenwein. And Hans Bausenwein was, at a later point—so, let's say, at that time—the first general representative of Nova in Germany. And that's how Toni Bender came to us as well.
And we obviously wanted to benefit from his tests, so we basically hired him as a test pilot at Nova. But that didn't work out for very long because Toni got injured.
And I don't know, Doctor, were you already involved in the scene? No. That was 1991, I think. 1991 or 1992, there was this world championship. And Toni was supposed to fly our glider there. But he had injured himself. And Toni was also supposed to test our gliders. And yes, Toni couldn't because of the injury. And then we were naturally looking for a replacement, exactly.
As a replacement test pilot.
Since we couldn't find one, there was Wolfi, the jack-of-all-trades. He then became the test pilot. Under instructions via walkie-talkie. Under instructions from Toni Bender. That
That means Toni was sitting up on the mountain or down on the landing field.
Down on the landing field. I went up and followed his instructions. It was already an exciting time. There's actually a maybe nice story there. I was most afraid in my life. I was flying the test program under Toni's guidance. And it was maybe one more time. In the middle of the lake, at Walensee. And 100 meters high. And I thought to myself, yeah, a collapse, I can still manage that. I have a collapse, I have a hang-up. And I couldn't reach the landing field anymore. Then I looked for a spot. There was this wedge wall. And a ladder into the water. A ladder for the boat pier. And I land there in the water.
Go outside. And I'm on a property. A huge villa.
And that was about, yeah, maybe 50 meters to the house. I was right in the middle of this garden.
And then it hit me.
Five Rottweilers. Not Rottweilers. Dobermans. Five Dobermans. Came towards me. I didn't know what to do anymore. I had the paraglider over my shoulder. And I stood there. These Dobermans then stopped about a meter away from me. They stood there. So well-behaved.
And I just kept walking forward. I couldn't run back. And those Dobermans... my heart just stopped. I thought, if they attack me, that'll be my last hour. And those Dobermans were so well-trained. They didn't do anything. Didn't bark. Nothing at all. And they actually escorted me all the way to the exit. You can't imagine how my heart was pounding. It was unbelievable. That means,
this moving away from your crashed landing, so to speak. That was the biggest fear situation in your paragliding career. No,
I don't know. But it was already... I also had it once while testing in the Ötztal. Not in that situation, actually. But the one following it, I was very scared. We had a school glider there—it was supposed to be a school glider, a prototype. And we went to the Ötztal to test it. And Hannes says to me.
Start very carefully. Try out the deep stall. And I pulled the glider into a deep stall. Never got it out again. Seriously. It was spinning. I had a shape. I did everything. Especially shooting it out. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. It's always said. And then I look at the vario and think to myself. Okay. Sinking five meters. I don't need to throw the reserve parachute. I can forget about it. And just land in the forest. Said and done. And I thought to myself. I can hold on to that treetop. And you think. It doesn't work. The force is way too great. So I really flew through. Through the branches. And thank God the glider. It got caught there. In the branches. And I was hanging there on a spruce. That was 20 meters high.
So.
Hannes then said, okay, the glider was set too slow. He trimmed it, and the next day I was supposed to fly it again. And try the maneuver again. With the same glider you had already landed in the tree with. Of course. Yes, yes. Of course. And I thought to myself, shit. What are you doing? I'm definitely not going to the Ötztal anymore, where it's all trees. I'm going to the Zillertal. There are giant meadows there. I'll fly over a meadow, and then hopefully it'll be better if I crash. But you can't imagine how exciting it was.
To fly out. And to know that in 5 minutes, if everything is right, I'm going to initiate the maneuver again. Hopefully, it works. Thankfully, it did work. The glider came out of the deep stall. But those are the moments where your heart starts racing. It's not that easy. But the most dangerous situation... I don't know if I should still tell it. Yes, please, go ahead. Yes. That was in Monte Carlo. And at that time, Toni was fit again. And we were testing gliders. And at the end, when everyone felt that their glider was good, we swapped them. I took the small one from Toni, and Toni took my size.
And I think back then, I flew the first Infinity. By accident. Unintentionally. Yeah, the glider just shot out from Toni—the small glider. And I flew above it. Then I had a tangle. And yeah, I had no idea what was happening to me. Luckily, it went well. And I was still able to land at the landing field. It worked out. That was it.
How long did you work as a test pilot for Nova then? Was it just for a short time, or was it really over the years? It was already over
years. That was over the years. That was... especially in the early days, that was of course an issue—the fact that I was testing it. And then all of that became much more professional. And we brought test pilots into the team.
brought in. There were quite a few. And from then on, you only had the classic management for Nova. Exactly. Exactly. If you look back now at these 32 years of Nova, at some of the developments that took place or that existed, what are you perhaps most proud of?
I'm not proud. I'm not proud of anything. I think I'm rather grateful that I... that I was allowed to work in an industry that was very close to my heart. That inspired me.
But proud. You can't call that proud. No. So like I said, I'm more grateful. Not proud.
And are there things on the other side where you say, I'm not proud of that at all? So, were there incidents during that time where you'd say, I was the managing director, but I didn't feel comfortable in my own skin?
Of course there were. Every time there were separations. I mean, I'm a very harmony-seeking person, and it's very difficult for me to have very serious conversations with people.
And that's something I'm not very proud of. When you have to make decisions that might have consequences for one person or another.
bring. That means, for example, Hannes' departure, when he left Nova, was a very hard moment for you. Of course. Of course, it was
not that easy. But, yeah. You can't stop people. If they... if they... if they... if they... if they want to leave the business, then you have to let them go.
Sure. Yeah. Everyone has to be happy with their own dreams. You say it. When you... I mean, you've had this paragliding scene shaped for over 30 years. And you've certainly also always observed it. You always observe something, right? What the competition is doing and other things. Are there developments happening right now that you would say aren't moving in a positive direction? Or would you say that, actually, the paragliding scene has matured well over the years?
I think it has matured well. But I was already afraid, or something like that, at the beginning. In the middle, I was afraid that it would all become far too specialized. I can remember the development of the towerless wings.
That was already a story for me where I thought that if the whole thing develops like this and it can only be practiced by specialists anymore, then...
I know that it's going in that direction. Yes.
Was that also one of the reasons why you're moving away from this competition scene? No, the fear that that might...
competition. To deploy it correctly. It was about us also having the time to develop gliders that are suitable for the average pilot. And that actually happened during this time. And I believe that was a good way, if I look at the entire paragliding scene. Others have specialized in competition gear, in high-performance gear, and we have served the market below that. It is a
Good way, I think. If you also look at the Nova story a bit, you can see, yeah, you've got...
At least, you try to cover that. Also to say, with the brand, I naturally have brand loyalty from the people. Then maybe they'll want my stuff too.
To develop. Because
It used to be... yes, we started with that, of course.
It's good stuff to live under your own brand, then to sell it. But it didn't move the paraglider market forward. That means if I copy, it doesn't do that. It's not the brand that's being copied. So it was a real, necessary step that we build our own independent development at Gutzeuge and also for rescue parachutes—so, full-service providers. So that's very important, I believe. Yes, but it's a process. It's a process, of course. Now.
That's right. For years, it's been happening over and over again. There will probably be a major market shake-up soon. Only a few large manufacturers will be left because everything is becoming more professional. That's how you have to do it. And at the same time, if you look at the last few years, new small manufacturers keep popping up, who also celebrate their successes and somehow manage to break into the market, and in a certain way, get their piece of the pie, and survive with that.
It also applies to being successful with a small team, and especially to occupying niches. And that's good. I believe the diversity...
It enriches our sport as well, and I think it would be really bad if there were only one, two, or three big manufacturers and the rest disappeared from the market. I wouldn't feel good about that.
Do you see any major trends or anything like that where the paragliding scene will continue to develop in the coming years?
Well, what's striking, I think, is the safety with high-performance gear. It's really great when you look at things like two-liners, like Safety—how stable they are. And that's a development that is very positive and might also push into areas where the two-liner isn't necessarily the one, but will push into areas that are flyable for all of us hobby pilots together. So, the trend of what's happening there is really great.
You'd probably say that too.
performance-wise. Maybe not even that much anymore. At some point, with fabric and lines, you just...
A bit. Yes. At least. Well-integrated. How can you sell this flyable performance, or this safety, or something like that, technically? So far, marketing has mostly been like, okay, this glider performs better. The glide ratio has increased by another 0.3 or 0.5. We've saved another 200—no, not 200, 20 meters of lines, or something else. And you always get something out of it up to a certain point. But you can't go any further. At some point, you can't save much more lines or anything else. How can you...
the safety aspect. Yes. Also, marketing it in a way that pilots can understand and that is honest.
This marketing is, yeah, generally a difficult topic. You can have many good things, but telling the client that is not so simple. I can remember, for example, NTT. They always give you...
NTT. That's your Nova trim tuning. So, trimming the lines after just one year. And something like that, which you always offer. That's a great thing. A
Good thing. But of course, it's immediately interpreted negatively too. Yes. No, they have bad lines. They have to do that. We all use the same ones, and everyone knows that they won't stay stable. And if you do something against that, it's very positive. But telling the customer, telling the pilots, is associated with difficulties. You naturally get immediate headwind. It's said, yes, they have bad material, that's why they have to do that. We don't have to do that. Yes, that's absolute nonsense. But yes, you get this headwind, and it's also very difficult in all things to really tell the market. Even if it's a great thing. To really tell the market.
Saying it like that, it's so good. That is always very...
Very difficult. Where do you see Nova in the future? Where will Nova's priorities lie as a full-service provider?
And
We want to be an honest, open brand. And we want to be that in the future, too—something people can rely on. There are no smoke and mirrors. Yes, I see that for the future, and we are on a very good path.
Two years ago, you officially handed over the management. You stepped back a bit from the management, or something like that, and then, above all, you hired Sisi Eisel, a woman, as the managing director. And for many, that was surprising at first, because in such a male-dominated...
Scene. Actually, it's not—it's not just my decision, but it's always a team decision. There's more company involved, Nova, and we always decide things together. So, not my decision alone, but we look for the best possible option, and Sisi Eisel does a great job. She flies herself, is highly intelligent, and does it very, very professionally—more professionally than I ever have—and is the right person for this position. So, I'm very proud that we succeeded in getting Sisi Eisel so enthusiastic about this job.
You're saying she does it more professionally than I've ever done it. Would you say the paraglider scene, or the work for paraglider manufacturers in general, has professionalized to the point where you're practically an old hand now? Absolutely, yes.
Yeah, I believe that. Everything has to become more professional. And there are specialists for every single sector, so to speak. These days, it's no longer possible to do the marketing yourself, to do the advertising yourself.
There are specialists for that. And they do it. It's much better than what you can do or what you've been able to do. I know, we used to do the advertising ourselves. And today, there are people who do that professionally. Or, yeah, in certain areas, there are specialists. And you should use them if it's affordable. You have to.
That's what I'm saying, if you need specialists for everything, it means there are always more overhead costs involved. Actually, always. Because now you're saying, I have to pay my graphic designer. I have to pay my...
Influencers. And everything else. Actually, the paraglider industry has become less lucrative over time. In any case, so.
It applies to all areas. Gliders are significantly more complex, even though the selling price hasn't risen to that extent.
And as I said, today you have to have a professional website. You have to have great films for people to watch. And we are being compared to very large corporations. If Mercedes makes a commercial today, yeah, it doesn't matter whether the film costs 500,000 euros or a million euros. For us, of course, there are limits, and it's always a low budget. So it's never the case that we can just throw money out the window. The people who are involved and who work for Nova don't make huge amounts of money; they're involved with enthusiasm because it's also their sport. It has to look that way, otherwise the whole thing...
...not work. But they are professional, and they are specialists. That wasn't the case in the past. Not that long ago, you did everything yourself. Girls for everything. What role...
Are you going to be less professional, or what, in the future for Nova? How much of a say do you still have in that?
I am allowed to.
That's a different story. But I can definitely have a say in things, and I'll continue to look after the Austrian market. So I'm still right in the middle of everything, and I'm having a great time with the whole thing.
Is there a wish related to paragliding that you still want to fulfill? One that you maybe only have the time to do now.
Yes, I wanted to fly a bigger triangle with Toni in the Stubaital. A bigger one for my standards. I really wanted to fly from the Kreuzjoch into the Ötztal, then out over the glaciers and back into the Stubaital. So, do a nice loop. Maybe it's not 120 kilometers, so it's nothing special, but for my standards, that would be an amazing experience. And that's what we planned to do. And it would also be great to go high up at the Eiger. That's what I'd wish for. Why specifically the Eiger? Yes, because from my climbing days, it's already a magical mountain. 1,800 meters. That must be an amazing experience.
If you can fly up there and like that.
In the spider, we didn't do the small bend for the Phantom in the end. That also provided some scene for waves back then, where it builds Nova there with BNB, but with 99 counts. What was it?
That was such a gut decision, saying we'll just try it and see if people are even willing to pay that kind of money for a paraglider. We already had that.
For a long time, I had this in my head that we say we're putting everything into the development of a paraglider. It doesn't matter what it costs. It's only about developing a very safe piece of equipment with bomb performance, no matter what it costs. That was the story back then. And then we decided, and yes, the Phantom came out. And for me, that's a fantastic, a dream glider. I love flying it so much, it's unimaginable. Before, I flew a high-performance one, and I had the same flight feeling. That's what excites me so much. But I know in the back of my mind, I know the glider is totally safe. And I'm just satisfied. But that...
feeling I had.
From a high performer, it will become a Phantom Two, or was that a one-off throw where you say, you're trying it out?
Alright, Wolfi. Then let's leave that as a nice outlook. Nova will eventually develop a Phantom Two, and you'll maybe [go] to the Eiger with it.
North Face. White. This narrative from the 30-plus-year Nova history. Now, and over 30 years of history as the managing director of Nova. Now, on his old part.
Retiring. Wishing you a happy life ahead. All the best for that. Thank you.
For the nice conversation. That.
Was Wolfgang Lechner in conversation with Lucian Haas. If you want to learn more about the story of Nova, you can find some more links in the show notes for this podcast episode on the Lu-Glidz blog. If you enjoyed this episode, then please continue to recommend Podz-Glidz. You can find this and all other podcast episodes on Lu-Glidz and Soundcloud, as well as on well-known audio catalogs like Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, etc. To make sure you don't miss any episodes, you can also subscribe to Podz-Glidz right now in your podcast app of choice. Perhaps you also have suggestions for other interesting conversation partners. There are surely many untold but worthwhile stories from the cosmos of the glider. Just send me an email at lugleitzkontakt@.
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