What I definitely experience, both in the aviation scene and in myself and many others, is that in our very individualistic society, people are increasingly longing for connection, for community. What I often experience is, basically, a kind of spirituality, or many people who say, I don't believe that there's nothing.
Podz-Glidz, the Lu-Glidz podcast.
Stories from the cosmos of paragliding.
Today with Timon Weber and Lucian Haas at the microphone.
The Evangelical Church and paragliding are certainly not the kind of institutions or activities where you'd necessarily assume there's a close connection. That's why a project that still aims to bridge both life and thought worlds together is so exciting. Timon Weber, who works as a youth coordinator for the Evangelical Church in Carinthia, founded an association together with some fellow activists. Its goal is to bring Christian ideas of lived community and helpfulness into the paragliding scene. Even the name says it all: Paradise. Appropriately, the prefix Para is already included.
In this episode number 61 of Podz-Glidz, Timon explains what the work of Paradise looks like in practice. It's about cross-country flying, feelings of freedom, but also the offer to transform the solitary nature of paragliding into a larger whole. For example, in the form of a special aid project called Fly and Share, where the goal is to convert flown kilometers into donations. Timon Weber also talks about his personal story—how he first got into flying and then into faith, how he sometimes seeks a dialogue with God while in flight, and how he earned the unusual nickname Man of the Sun.
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Timon, to what extent do you feel that paragliding is a privilege?
I feel that flying is a total privilege. I mean, if you look at world history, we are probably the first generation, or maybe at most the second, to get into the air in such a simple way as with a paraglider. And then, double that. I come from the German lowlands, and there wasn't a paraglider for miles. If my father hadn't flown or didn't fly, I probably wouldn't have discovered it either. So I try to enjoy every flight because it is a privilege.
Your father is also from the German lowlands. How did he get into flying there?
That's a good question, maybe something for a podcast with him. To be honest, I really don't know. I know that he started with kite flying and was already drawing planes and dreaming of flying as a little kid. And then I know that at some point he stood on the Tegelberg with his kite and saw the first paragliders. And when my mother saw his longing look, he was given a kiss, I think even at the wedding back then.
And that was kite flying. Can he also do paragliding? No,
no. He was with a kite at Tegelberg and saw the paragliders there. And he was so fascinated by the simplicity. And then he got the paragliding course as a gift back then. And since I've known him or consciously noticed it, he's been paragliding.
So you did your first flights with your father too?
No, I did my first flight back then at the age of ten with a tandem pilot in the Gasteinertal. My father doesn't have a tandem license. And also, during the first years of my flying career,
we were more, let's just say, the classic type of people who went to the Alps to fly for maybe two or three weeks a year.
And you were always like, "Dad, Dad, I want to fly too. Buy me another tandem flight." Or how did it go?
Well, we had pretty good contacts with the flight school where I eventually did my training. And we were there often on vacation. And then I was always allowed to squeeze in for a little flight every now and then. And at 14, which wasn't that long anymore. From ten, then at 14, I was allowed to start on my own.
That means, at the youngest age you can even start, you said, "Now I want to do this." Then you probably definitely had your license by 16.
That's how it is, exactly, yeah. So I started at 14, then did a lot of ground handling at my place, somewhere on a field. And then for 14, 15, 16, I actually only did one week of training per year. And by 16, I had my license, exactly.
What does the glider license mean to you personally? I...
I'd say that since I've been flying gliders, it's always been a bit of a shift. From the very beginning, I've been fascinated by flying away, exploring new things, maybe even pushing some limits, and achieving performance. So, especially during the first years, and even still today, cross-country flying and long-distance flying—well, they've totally fascinated me.
And after those first years of flying—or well, for the first few years I was still out and about a lot with my parents. And then at some point, at 18 or 19, the focus was completely on cross-country flying. And now, over the last few years, I'm trying—or actually, I'm experiencing it more often—that one hour in the evening, just soaring at Kobala or somewhere, landing nicely.
...are the things that really fascinate me or make me happy or bring me great joy. It's always a bit of both, or maybe sometimes it's one thing, sometimes the other. And I think that's a good thing, too.
Did you ever have a time during that period where you planned to dedicate your life to aviation in some way, like becoming a flight instructor or studying something related to aviation or something like that?
Yeah, well, flying has actually been the thing I thought I definitely wanted to go into since I was, as I said, about ten. And I never really had it in my head to become a flight instructor first. That's just a new idea right now. But I wanted to study aircraft construction. That was my goal shortly before my high school graduation. And I've also toyed with the idea of getting into the competition scene or doing a lot of competition flying. That hasn't really developed yet. Or rather, in the last two years, I've also been joining a few competitions again to learn a bit of fast flying from many of those who can do it well.
Exactly.
Why did nothing come of this degree—I assume it was aerospace engineering or something like that?
It's mainly because, besides flying, which has been my great passion since I was ten, a second passion came along at eighteen. At eighteen, Christian faith became personally important to me. And I have to say, I'm a bit of an all-or-nothing type. Back then, it fascinated me so much that I said—or rather, I withdrew my application at Airbus. And... when I then did a theological education. I was in Wuppertal for three years, did a theological training within the Protestant church, and for the last few years, I've mainly worked as a youth coordinator in the Protestant youth here in Carinthia, where I'm currently living.
Well, you said you came to faith at 18. That sounds like it just happened to you out of the blue or something. How does that work? How do you come to faith all of a sudden at 18?
Well, it wasn't exactly like that. Faith was, or still is, an important topic in my family, especially for my parents. I have to admit, throughout my teenage years, I mostly experienced faith as something restrictive or freedom-depriving, where you might want to break out and just go your own way, which is of course completely normal. And overall, I viewed faith more as something I'd just checked off, like you just have to be a good person or follow some rules or go to church on Sundays.
And at 18, based solely on my personal experiences, I got to know God all over again in a completely new way. Not as someone who just says, "live like this and that," but as someone who simply has an interest in me as a person first. And that fascinated me so much back then that it really turned my life upside down. It's hard to describe. It was really during a week of preparation for a year abroad, where I spent a year in Botswana. And yeah, in that week, I somehow got to know God all over again in a completely new way.
Can God, can faith, be connected to paragliding in any way?
Well, on the one hand, maybe you also know those moments when you're just out there in this wonderful nature or environment, God is sometimes someone to whom I, as an interlocutor, can say thank you. That's how I experience it. Someone you can share your joy with, maybe just all by yourself up there in the air. And otherwise, in a figurative sense, I think there are many parallels. Especially this aspect of freedom—what I mean is, I believe it now in a completely different way than I experienced it as a child or a teenager; I experience it as freedom now. And in flying, I often experience freedom or moments of freedom where I can just be with myself, just be in nature, because nothing else matters.
Exactly, I think that's a term that's really important to me.
Faith, at least in the classical conception of church and such, has a lot to do with community, with fellowship and so on. Totally. If you look at flying now, and especially paragliding, in a way, it's quite, how should I put it, quite I-centered or something. You fly alone, you expose yourself to these elements alone, you have to survive in some way, you head into the air, and from that moment on, you're basically on your own, more or less.
Totally. How
do you experience that, I mean, how does that all come together, how do you experience that?
I have to say, for me, flying is also increasingly finding its appeal in the exchange with others. So I think, as you say, it's also a lot about relationships, about connection with one another, and where that happens in the paragliding scene—among fellow pilots, among competition colleagues, among cross-country flight colleagues—I think that has a special appeal. Now, just driving to the border alone to fly 250 plus, I don't think I'd even do that anymore. But driving there with three friends, arriving in the evening and still seeing the stars, and then in the morning, sweating and crying our way up the mountain together, and then being in the air together for ten hours—that's what really brings people together.
and where I think you can also experience a very strong sense of community in flying. Besides those, as you already mentioned, many moments where you're of course fighting the elements alone or enjoying them.
In 2019, you founded a very special club where you want to combine your faith and paragliding. It has a very nice name, Paradise, so with the Para and so on. It's nicely formulated. What is it all about and how did you come up with it?
So, first of all, I didn't come up with this alone; it's a process that I approached primarily with my wife, where we got close to this idea of Paradise, and now also with over 20 people who are part of the club and participating. But right at the beginning, as I said, with flying as the first passion at 14 or 10, then faith somehow also as a great passion, and then again and again having good encounters with others in the flying scene, where other topics besides flying became important, where in the evening you might philosophize about God and the world, as they say so nicely, by the fire, or where you might even be allowed to pray for someone in that situation, or were allowed to, or are allowed to again and again.
Actually, based on those experiences, like being in the scene as Christians, we eventually came up with the idea: what if we had more time for that, to really be out there in the paraglider scene, either as a church or first of all as individuals? And from this idea, at some point, a very concrete vision emerged—we really said, it's important to us or we want to create or shape a space in the paraglider scene where people can experience truly good community with one another. That's actually where we're currently putting the biggest focus with all our offerings. We want to create space for truly good connection with one another, but also create a space where other topics can have their place too—very personal topics, faith issues, life questions, exactly.
You
You just said we had a vision. What is the vision of Paradise, if you could summarize it briefly?
Yes, happy to summarize it again briefly. So, really, we have a sentence that summarizes it all in one go: we want to create a space where people can build and experience good community with each other and with God. That's a very short summary, and it's then differentiated again through the various focus areas we have at Paradise.
And how can one imagine the work of Paradise in practice? I mean, what do you actually do there?
Well, we've also built ourselves a good bridge there. We have three bullet points that, so to speak, describe Paradise. Those are fly far, come home, and be free. And actually, our work or our offerings are oriented around these three focal points. We are pilots and we love flying. And that means, so very concretely in practice, we are in Greifenburg for example and we simply organize things that group around and about flying. That means I give lectures on the topic of cross-country flying. We do fun competitions on-site. We organize hike and flies. We have a tent at the landing field where you can stop by after landing and have a beer.
We host pilot meetups, always as completely open invitations. You don't have to register for them. If you feel like it, you can just drop by, and if you don't feel like it, you just don't. That's the first focus. And what might play a slightly more special role in there, which we might talk about later, is the Flying Share Camp—a cross-country flight camp that we organize. Then, as I said, what's very important to us is this "come home" blog. And just last night, we sat down with many people again by the campfire, roasting bread on sticks together. We simply organize "Bring and Share" barbecues where we set up grills. Everyone brings something to eat. So, it's just very important to us to bring people together.
People who travel in groups, people who are maybe just looking for connection—there are certainly some of those in our scene. And the last point, "Be Free," is a bit ambiguous. On one hand, of course, there's the freedom we experience in flying. And on the other side, there's the freedom that, at least for my wife and me right now as we're traveling with Paradise, we experience in faith. We offer a morning meditation by the lake every morning at 7:30, which is designed to be completely, completely open. We often meditate with people who would identify more with Buddhism themselves, or who say they can't do anything with faith but want to dip their toes in. So, during this morning meditation, a lot happens between the lines, where people just exchange thoughts about what's important to them, what's important to others, what we believe, and what they believe.
How we see life, how they see life. It's a beautiful way of being together and sharing thoughts with one another. That's how I experience it.
You mentioned earlier that you normally work as a youth coordinator for the Evangelical Church in Carinthia based in Tyrol. How do you get the Evangelical Church to invest in something like the paragliding scene, so to speak, and make time available for you for such a project? And perhaps also provide resources in some way, to say, yeah okay, Timon, do something with these paraglider pilots.
Good question. I'd say it's a two-way street. For one thing, Steff and I simply said we'd give up half of our salaries to get the space, to have the room. And the church met us halfway and allowed me to provide those 50 percent—or in this case, for me to provide those 50 percent over the winter—so that I'm actually completely released in the summer to just try things out with Paradise. On top of that, the church also supported us with some seed funding at the beginning. So, at that point, I can only say thank you that it was made possible. And then, of course, it's also the case—I don't think that's a secret—that the church is fundamentally, perhaps, currently in a bit of a crisis.
And at least here in the church, the Evangelical Church in Austria—it's the same in Germany—the church or many regional churches are simply also... I mean, people say you still have resources and opportunities right now, so let's try something out. Let's just rethink the church entirely and give space to other things. And yes, we were lucky that the church here supported us as well.
To what extent does Paradise also have a somewhat missionary character?
So we definitely don't approach it with the mindset of saying we're doing Paradise because we somehow want people to rejoin the church as soon as possible or convert or something like that. For us, the exchange is really the most important thing. And I believe that if God really exists, if there really is someone who is truly an "other" and someone else experiences that as true for themselves, then faith will develop in them one way or another anyway. So I think what we want is actually to create spaces of experience, I believe. I don't think [it's something else], it's that. Creating spaces of experience where people can just see for themselves: is this something for me? Does this interest me?
Or does that sound good? Does something resonate with you? And if it does, that's great. And if not, that's also great. So, exactly, I think I'd say we're looking forward to the encounters, to the exchange.
Do you think that people in the aviation scene can be reached in a particularly easy or different way regarding topics like faith or spirituality compared to people who don't go up in the air?
That's a good question, because of course, besides my... I just said, regarding the focus areas in youth work and otherwise privately, I am very, very much active in the flyer scene. Because of that, it's hard for me to really draw comparisons right now. But what I definitely experience, both in the flyer scene and with myself and many others, is that in our very individualistic society, people are increasingly longing for connection, for community. And that is, I believe, also—or at least that's how I experience it—something that resonates somehow with Christian faith or faith in general. Whether that is more or less, I don't know.
In any case, maybe what I often experience is, fundamentally, I'd say, a basic spirituality, or many people who say, I don't believe there's nothing. So, exactly, that's what I would say, yeah.
Paradise is organized as an association, you said. What do you get out of becoming a member? Or what would one get out of becoming a member? I mean, you offer that as a service anyway. But if I were to say, for instance, that I could also become a member, what do I get out of it?
You get the fact that you're standing up for this idea. So our members, the ones who are currently members of us, they simply say, "What you're doing there, we like it." Or we have similar thoughts about or from church. Maybe broken down in the direction of saying,
Don't always think of the church in the sense of "come to us, take a look at our place, and maybe become like us, like we are in the church." Instead, it's more about turning the whole thing around somewhat and saying that we, as a church, are making our way to where the people are. In this case, simply into the paraglider scene. And the people who become members of ours find exactly that kind of thing good. But they don't actually have much to gain from it; rather, we as an association gain more, because most of the members we have are also supporters of Paradise, they support Paradise financially as well. So without our members, we and the work, which of course costs something, wouldn't actually exist at all.
You're in Greifenburg right now. Is that your main base, where you say our Paradise tent or whatever you have there is always set up? Or do you travel with it and say you're on the road across the entire Alpine region, or how does that work?
So as of now, it's really true that I've developed Greifenburg a bit as a home base. And that's for several reasons. First, the infrastructure there is perfect for us, especially regarding morning meditation. I also know the terrain very well. So I think I can claim to be able to pass on quite a bit regarding the flying side of this terrain. And there just hasn't been anything lately, or in recent years, at the landing field where you can still sit together nicely. But beyond Greifenburg, we've mostly been touring with the German, or rather Austrian, league last year and this year. And actually, it's still our plan to head to the Sotschertal starting in mid-August.
However, it's just that my wife and I are expecting our first child at the end of August, so the Sotschertal is out for this year.
You just said that for the German and Austrian paraglider leagues, you were there on-site. Do all these competition pilots basically come to your tent? I mean, you probably can't teach them much in terms of flying or anything else where they'd say, "I can benefit from Timon," even though you're certainly a good pilot. But what's the interest there? Or what kind of people come to you? Or what kind of questions or conversations arise there?
So far, we haven't set up our tent at any competitions. It's always very important to us to create win-win situations and not to compete with people anywhere. And usually, the competitions are organized by a competition or a club that then sells their own sausages or is involved in some other way. And we just ask about that at the beginning and otherwise we're really just there to join in.
And our interest in it, or my interest in it, is personally for me about progressing in flying and then simply building contacts. We just find it really lovely to be part of it, to meet people. And even then, it's just that sometimes, quite naturally, a conversation develops on the sidelines somewhere.
And that's maybe more of an attitude we're trying to take with it. To say that I'm not just here for myself or because I want to fly on the podium as much as possible, which I'm far from doing,
...but also to simply keep people in mind. And if that resonates somewhere, that's nice. Otherwise, we're just happy to be involved right now. To be honest, we're still just trying things out. Like I said, we started last season. And being part of the league, we're still finding our way. It's also possible that we won't do it in two years because we'll say, "Exactly, we're not the right fit" or we'll only do it privately because we'll say it's not really adding any value for the people there. We'll see. I don't know, or we all don't know yet, what Paradise will look like in two or three years.
You've mentioned your wife Steph several times now, who also takes part in Paradise. Mhm. As far as I know, she doesn't fly at all. Why is that?
Well, maybe this question would have been answered differently if she hadn't gotten pregnant. She thought about starting last year because she was really enjoying ground handling and stuff like that. But that's off the table for now. And it's also just that Steph brings so many other passions with her, which also make Paradise beautiful. Steph is a freelance graphic designer. And often, when we go out for a flight for just two or three hours in the morning, she works and designs things. And especially with all these community things and so on, she's involved and helps design them. And that's actually a really nice addition, I think. So Paradise would be without me, without me, without Steph,
less beautiful and less colorful. And exactly, I think it's really nice that we can do this as a team. That
The keyword was already mentioned earlier, or it was called a very special event that you also organize with Paradise. That's Fly and Share. What is it all about?
Yeah, it's actually a crazy idea that came to us during the first Corona lockdown, and it quickly fascinated and motivated me and many of us. Fly and Share is a charity flight event where it's not just about win-win, but actually win-win-win-win.
On one hand, I think it's really just a really cool and well-staffed cross-country flight camp. That means we have real heavyweights from the paraglider scene helping to shape the event, where we have lectures, workshops, and so on here in Greifenburg. But then it's also more than that, because with Fly and Share, we want to motivate ourselves and others to do the event. And then it's also more than that, because we motivate ourselves to simply look beyond our own horizons and, exactly, do your charity flight, which you can't really imagine, like maybe a Wings for Life run. The pilots are invited to find sponsors in advance who sponsor them per kilometer. And the money that comes together, last year it was already over 8,000 euros,
went last year and will be donated again this year for Karma-Flights in Nepal, which might be a known term for some in the scene.
It's convenient for me, but I think it's also a convenient term for me. But maybe not for some of the listeners. So, explain briefly, what is Karma-Flights and what's behind it? What do they do?
Karma-Flights is a humanitarian organization in Nepal. I've never actually been there myself, so I only know about it from the internet for now. It was founded in 2011, I think, by two adventure pilots and a Nepalese teacher. And they've been doing a lot of work there ever since. In Pokhara, they work on education, basic necessities, menstrual health care—I can't think of the German word for it right now, so basically supporting young women. And now, since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, which hit Nepal very hard in recent months, they're also providing support with oxygen, medical supplies, and again, basic necessities, because so much has collapsed.
Yes, and we came across this organization last year. And we find what they do very worthy of support. And we're happy that with what we're organizing here in Greifenburg, or also worldwide—you can also just fly along without being there in person—that we can support them to some extent.
This event in Greifenburg takes place in early August.
August 5th to 8th, yeah. If
If you wanted to participate, do you have to register somewhere or how does that work?
Pretty soon, because as of now, we only have 14 spots left.
Out of how many in total?
We've capped it at 80 participants for now, so with our speakers and staff, we'll hit 100 in total or at least only go slightly over. We've set that as the number for this year. Exactly, and you can still register on our website. There's also information there about Paradise in general—paradice.org—and you'll find the Flying Share Camp pretty quickly under the tab at the top.
And if I wanted to join in somehow on a global level, is there a way to sign up somewhere? Or is it more like, I just say I'm going flying this weekend and then I basically enter the mileage of the route I fly to raise some donations accordingly?
Exactly, something like that. But there is also a global landing page for it, which will hopefully be heavily promoted in the English-speaking world this year as well. We already cooperated with the Cloud Base Foundation last year, which is, exactly, a foundation in the paraglider field based in Australia, I believe. And they are organizing Flying Share worldwide this year. If you go to the Cloud Base Foundation website, you'll find a tab or a sub-section for Flying Share. And exactly, it works like this: I might take my five buddies along and say, "Come on, we're going flying this weekend anyway. We're doing what we enjoy. And now, for fun, let's try to find two or three sponsors, or sponsor each other, and support the projects in Nepal with that."
And then, as I mentioned, there's that page on the Cloud Base Foundation website where you can simply donate via PayPal or other options.
Well, one thing about Flying Share is a bit tricky. With something like a Wings for Life Run, you can say, okay, the road is always the same. So you know roughly, yeah, he can manage 20 kilometers. Then I know he'll probably be able to run that on that day. Then I tell him, okay, you'll get one euro per kilometer from me. Then I know I've donated 20 euros. That's roughly what he'll get in total. But with something like Flying Share, you're totally dependent on the weather. And it could be that one person says, hm, the weather is crap, then he only gets 20 kilometers. The weather is great, he gets 200 kilometers. That's... that's a real bit of a gamble if you want to approach it as a donor.
That's true. That's why in our donation template, we've also included, at least as a precaution, the idea for people that donors can specify both a minimum and a maximum to somehow hedge their bets a bit. Last year we were monstrously lucky and had amazing weather. And it was really the case that someone, I think, had put together some amount—I don't even know how many euros per kilometer—and then flew much further than they thought. One person alone flew out over 1,500 euros. That was pretty insane. Yeah, that's true. It's a bit harder to estimate for the donation in that case than with, for example, the Wings for Life Run. But what I find really cool about it is that it basically doesn't matter at all whether you're a cross-country flight beginner or a highly experienced competition pilot.
And that's how it looks with our participants right now as well. We have total beginners and people who have flown, I don't know, 200 of them, so in the end, everyone can contribute something. And then you tell your donor, "I'll fly 10 or 20 kilometers on a good day," and the other person says, "I'll fly 100." And accordingly, they'll specify cents or euros per kilometer. I actually really like that about the concept.
This whole thing already took place last year. You mentioned that 8,000 euros were raised. What other experiences did you have with this event—what was it like on-site?
Well, that's also important to us from our side, and I think, conversely, people who like that kind of thing might sign up. It's also important to us that, yes, flying is the focus, but the community shouldn't be overlooked either. Even at Fly &Share, we have a Bring &Share BBQ where we really sit at 10 grills at the landing field and just start talking to each other about a flight topic together with the speakers. We have a Pilots Dinner where everyone sits down together. We're going to have a bonfire on the first night again, and I've experienced that accordingly. So, it's simply about being together, learning from one another, being able to ask each other questions, and that's something that, well, it warms my heart. I just have so much fun with it because I think it's great on both sides.
It's really wonderful to pass on knowledge, and on the other hand, it's also great when I experience an atmosphere where I feel I can ask questions and take something away for myself. That's important to us for Fly &Share, and it wouldn't work without the participants. But I find that the participants actually help shape that as well.
Let's change the subject a bit, although it's really only a little. Let's talk about flying too, especially cross-country flying. You're, I'd say, a pretty experienced and successful cross-country pilot. Last year, you flew a 268-kilometer FAI triangle, which shows that you have to be able to fly quite well to pull that off. So, when it comes to passing on knowledge, if someone comes up to you at an event like this and says, "Hey Timon, how can I become a good cross-country pilot?" what do you tell them?
Good question. If he did it differently than I did, I'd probably tell him that because, as I said, I was totally hooked on cross-country flying right away and didn't do anything else. No SIV training, never had a collapse, nothing at all. And then, about five years ago, I got hit pretty hard.
What
That sounds like a pretty bad experience? What happened?
Just a simple collapse, reacted wrong, the glider got ripped off, ended up way behind me, got scared, let the glider drift, and then it was completely under me and I flew past the canopy and even swatted it away with my hand. So, it was a pretty intense experience that really set me back mentally for a year or two, where I barely flew in the speed bar and was pretty skittish. That's why I definitely tell people you don't need some hot High-B or C glider right away. There are such good gliders now that are in the Low-B or even High-A range. Do something, take gliders that you feel comfortable with first,
go out to the field, do ground handling non-stop, sign up for SIV training, and I think those are important fundamentals so that you can really fly further without any stress. And then, of course, after these safety aspects, which I think are just an important foundation, it's also just fun for me to learn things like how to fly good lines, how to center in thermals with the wind, and so on. And the best part is—that was just like the day before yesterday again, when I did a detailed terrain briefing for Greifenburg and explained the 80er-Dreieck all the way to the power line and over the Weißensee—when the next day the people come and say, "Hey, awesome, I got over to the Weißensee for the first time today and the valley jump worked out exactly like I was supposed to do it."
Yeah, that just brings me a lot of joy again, yeah.
You just said that in connection with your near-miss—let's call it an accident, but one you walked away from unscathed—you said it set you back quite a bit for the next two years. How did you manage to get past that?
I finally actually signed up for an SIV training. I'd say that helped me quite a bit to feel more comfortable again, and then, to be honest, it also just took time. I don't know if I'm being particularly scared out there or if that's maybe just normal. Yes, it really just took time until I trusted myself more again, until I rebuilt more self-confidence. Also to realize that, well, the glider was safe back then, that wasn't actually my fault, it was really just my mistake. Yes, actually really trusting myself again and, exactly, giving myself that trust again. But it's also like, even now, there are days where I'm just totally in the flow.
I notice, wow, today I'm somehow fully present, and I believe—or maybe you feel it that way—no matter what comes next, I'm just here, I have a good feeling. And then there are days when I don't have a good feeling, where I notice I'm somehow insecure, or not quite as focused, maybe even a bit anxious in some places, and then the flight doesn't go so well or maybe not with much fun.
Are there moments, going back to your faith, where you also enter into a dialogue with God during the flight?
Yes, there are. So yes, it happens again and again, both in the moments when I'm totally happy or also in the moments when I'm totally afraid. So it's both, yes.
And what do you say then, or do you pray, or how can one imagine that?
Yeah, I do pray sometimes. There have also been flights where, all of a sudden, I'd start singing—that was more out of joy—or of course, I just cheer when there are just awesome moments with other people or just with nature.
And there's no, I don't have a fixed ritual or anything, it's sometimes out loud, sometimes just an internal "wow, please let me get out of here safely again," or of course sometimes it's a conversation with myself, telling myself, "hey, calm down, it's not that bad," it's all very different, yeah.
Are there also moments where you, as a pilot, feel safe with God in some way, even in the air? Where you feel that you truly benefit from your faith in some way as a pilot?
That's a good question, whether I benefit from that as a pilot. So, as I've said before, definitely with God as an interlocutor, whom I can also simply thank for beautiful moments. But I do experience it like this, both when flying and in life, that even when I have moments where I'm not doing well with myself or while flying, God is a bit like a climbing rope—so, a climbing rope as something that gives me security while climbing, but also gives me freedom because I'm securely attached.
and if I fall, I fall into this safety rope, so to speak. And I really experience that. So both in flying and in life, when I turn to God, it's something that gives me peace, or helps me calm down or gather myself again. Others might experience that through meditation or something else. I truly experience it as a great freedom and joy, experiencing it in this relationship with God.
You've mentioned special flight experiences several times. Which specific ones have really burned into your memory, that you say you always draw on as a source of strength from time to time?
Actually two, which immediately come to mind. One was during a cross-country flight or cross-country day that we perhaps overestimated out of optimism or whatever, compared to what it actually was. And in the Defregental, on the way back from the first turn point, we had a lot of headwind and it was totally grueling. And then just before the jump to the Staller Sattel, we couldn't gain any altitude at all. And then I was wing to wing with my best friend and suddenly an eagle pair emerges, turns up, and keeps diving into a herd of chamois. And that was really a moment where we immediately switched completely from cross-country flight and collecting points to just how brilliant what we were experiencing right then was.
Experiencing that with someone else, being able to talk about it afterwards, made it even more special. And the eagles even showed us the thermals to get back to the Staller Sattel, which was also great. That was a beautiful experience, and maybe there's a second one. Also a cross-country flight, in this case from Goldeck here in Carinthia, and I got completely washed out in Greifenburg and just decided to fly back home to Villach. You have to fly east, and we often have a very strong east valley wind there. And just before Villach, there's another big peak where I was actually sure there was no chance of getting past it. It was completely shaded. And then, for the first time, I really got to experience a rotor effect and was lifted butter-smooth in the lee of that big mountain with a huge swarm of swallows, and was then able to fly over the mountain home.
And those are the kind of experiences that don't give you points or anything, but they just stick with you. There are certainly a few more, but those are two that I just always love to look back on.
Are those really exciting experiences for you, spiritual moments?
Sometimes. Sometimes I just enjoy it for myself. Sometimes it's maybe relatively similar for me in my relationship with God, as I would describe it, as well as with other people, with friends, acquaintances, my wife. Sometimes it's really, really intense and you can't help but share that right now with that person or, in this case, God. And sometimes you just enjoy it yourself. When it comes to me or when it just fits, I also experience that as very spiritual moments. Sometimes they're just moments where I'm simply happy for myself and just present there.
A question about Paradise just occurred to me again. Have you ever experienced, for example, a rejecting attitude from pilots where someone comes up and says, "Stay away from me with religion," or "What does the church want here now, what else do they want out of my paragliding hobby? Where can I take up space and set up their tent at my landing field," or something like that?
From the paragliding scene, people haven't actually approached us like that yet.
There was some friction with the kite flyer once, but that was for other reasons. So, at least from the way he put it, it had nothing to do with us somehow coming from a church or anything like that.
Maybe that's also why, because it's important to us and we live it that way, and I think people experience it too, that we don't go there to convert people or run after them with a bucket of water to baptize them, but because it's really just important to us to be a value-add in the scene and to create space for community. And I believe, and hope, that comes across.
And accordingly, we were also very curious, but as I said, at least so far no one has approached us and asked, what are you doing there, what's the point of that?
Now, at the very beginning, you also mentioned that this topic of being a flight instructor has become more relevant for you lately. Is that an option where you're saying, I could become a flight instructor and then basically combine Paradise, or a project like Paradise, with a flight instructor existence—meaning, I'd weave in things like faith relationships, training, travel stories, or whatever else?
Exactly, that's sort of the idea or the new vision we're tinkering with right now; we don't know yet if it will become a reality. But right now, the idea is really to potentially become a flight instructor, maybe even help shape a flight school, open a new one, take over one, or whatever. And then, above all, to offer trips that are a bit different. For example, we can very well imagine offering trips to Nepal where, of course, you go flying, but also get to know the local projects. I can really imagine something like Hike and Fly with a kind of pilgrimage involved. And what we're envisioning is that in this space, which so far only exists in our heads,
...there are seminar rooms, flight school facilities, but also meditation spaces, and the possibility for guests to simply be there, to experience it, either during non-flying hours or while flying. Yes, so Paradise, somehow at least in the off-months, to give the core months around summer a sense of place. Like I said, these are really just ideas for now. Whether it actually becomes something will be something we see in a few years.
Okay Timon, to wrap up, you can enlighten me on one more thing. Please. I looked at your Facebook account and there's a strange addition next to your name. It doesn't just say Timon Weber, it says Timon Ralezzazzi Weber.
Right, yeah.
What does Ralezzazzi mean or where does it come from? What is it?
Ralezzazzi is Setswana, the language of the indigenous people of Botswana—or not indigenous, rather, yes, English is the official language now, but many still speak Setswana—and it means Man of the Sun. Now you could say, wow, that's quite a great attribute. But it was only given to me because during my voluntary social year down there, a few people thought I was stupid because I set up a swing in the middle of the blazing summer midday sun. And that's why I got this nickname back then. I added it to my Facebook at the time and somehow never deleted it again. That's the little backstory behind it.
Man of the Sun, because you built a swing. But you weren't flying in Botswana back then, were you? Or were you?
Yes, I even went flying in Botswana. There's a small hill right next to Gaborone, which is the capital.
But that's, I'd say, you're just happy if you manage to come down safely. And then I was in South Africa, both in the Karoo, out in the desert, and I also flew in a small national park, yeah.
But the "Man of the Sun" - did that only refer to setting up the swing and not because you flew in from the sun?
Unfortunately, I can't. It's really just the working in the midday sun that earned me that name.
In any case, you're one of those people who puts in a lot of sweat to get things moving. So, Timon, great. Thanks so much for your story. It's a great project you're doing with Paradise, and especially this Fly and Share. I hope for you, but also for the people in Nepal and everywhere else, that it resonates a lot. And maybe it'll become even better known in the coming years. And that then, just like Wings for Life, this Fly and Share will have a much larger following, or whatever you want to call it, that it could maybe even become a major international project. At least the idea is good, it's definitely worth supporting. Exactly. I hope it comes to that.
Me too. Us too.
It's great that you're pushing for something like this. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
That was episode number 61 of Podz-Glidz, featuring Timon Weber in conversation with Lucien. If you want to learn more about the Paradise association and the Fly and Share donation project, you can find the relevant links in the show notes for this podcast episode on Lu-Glidz. Did you enjoy this episode? You can find many more episodes of Podz-Glidz on Lu-Glidz or Soundcloud. They are also available in well-known audio catalogs like Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, etc. You can simply subscribe to Podz-Glidz in your podcatcher of choice. By way of supporting Podz-Glidz and Lu-Glidz, you are also helping me to continue presenting more stories from the cosmos of paragliding in the future. You are completely free to choose the amount of your donation.
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