That's a common misconception with paragliders, that people think if the thing is torn, it's ruined. If you swap out the parts, you can—as I said, it always depends on the age of the glider—but with a relatively new glider, if you were to say, stupidly, replace a wing half where the fabric hasn't discolored yet and isn't dirty, and you sew a new piece onto it, no one will be able to tell.
Podz-Glidz, the Lu-Glidz podcast.
Stories from the cosmos of paragliding.
Today with... Mike Krämer. And Lucian Haas on the mic.
If you miss the right moment when choosing your subjects in school, you might end up doing needlework as a boy. But in life, you should rarely doubt that even apparent wrong turns can lead to a goal. In Mike Krämer's case, the basic knowledge of handling needle and thread he gained in school actually proved very useful later on. Mike works as a permanent test pilot for the Austrian paraglider manufacturer AirDesign. He is, in a sense, the right-hand man of designer Stefan Stiegler. Together, they bring all AirDesign gliders in the Zillertal to production readiness. Along the way, modifications are often required, and for that, Mike's steady hand is essential.
Mike has set up a small workshop at his home with five sewing machines to perform all sorts of work on the glider. Sewing risers and lines, installing tension straps in the glider, but also replacing entire panels and whole cells. For fun and as a small side hustle, he also occasionally repairs gliders and harnesses of other brands. These sometimes include units that were handed over to him cheaply as obvious total losses, for example, after tree landings. In this episode, number 75 of Podz-Glidz, Mike Krämer talks about his work. Among other things, it's about which damages a pilot can still prevent themselves. How to best handle taped sails and when it's better to leave the repairs to a professional.
Besides that, Mike has some other stories in store. We'll be talking about his journey to becoming an accredited test pilot, his most dangerous flight experience to date, and how he ended up launching Turkey's first official paraglider check operation. If you enjoy this podcast, please support my work as a patron. You can find out how to do that very easily on the "Support" page of my blog Lu-Glidz website.
Mike, I heard you caught it. So, at least at the time we're recording this, you're currently in Corona quarantine. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Yeah, it
got me, but it didn't hit me too hard. I'm actually symptom-free. I had a bit of a runny nose, but otherwise I'm healthy enough. Just locked up. How
How much longer?
Now, I think at least eight more days. And that's with the whole family, or how does that work in Austria?
Yeah, exactly. In that case, with the whole family. They've all tested positive in retrospect now, and yeah, it just couldn't be avoided, so to speak.
What do you do when you're not allowed to go out and are stuck inside the house?
Yeah, on one hand, I spend a lot of time with my kids. I try to, at least, but at some point they just don't feel like hanging out with their dad anymore. And then I try to keep myself busy in my workshop a bit. With paragliding, I see what I can, yeah, what I can or can't manage. And yeah, as I said, social media, I'm fed up with that at the moment too, because it's so exhausting for me. And I don't want to be glued to, how do you say, digital media all the time. Do you have your own
A workshop in the house? I
I've set up my own workshop in the house, yes.
So you can sew paragliders there?
Repairing, making modifications for the prototypes, and yes, sewing too, of course.
That means, now, quarantine, you say I have a lot of time, I'm repairing paragliders now.
That too, yeah. So like I said, I see what comes up, I've already picked out a few specific projects, and somehow, like I said, I have to keep myself busy, otherwise I'll go crazy. Because, it's nice for me. Netflix just isn't the solution either.
When you repair paragliders like this, are they all ones that you—I mean, you work for AirDesign, so are they all AirDesign gliders that you have from your company? Or do other people send you their paragliders and say, hey Mike, repair this for me, I've torn five cells or whatever?
Yeah, so basically I do it more for myself, or rather for AirDesign. I do a lot of our demo gliders or prototypes too, because there's a lot of back and forth during testing. And then something breaks again, because we just don't baby the gliders, you have to say that. It can happen.
Yes, and as I said, every now and then I buy something broken, repair it, fly with it, and then maybe sell it again.
So you buy broken paragliders and say, let's see what I can still do with these to get them back onto the market?
Exactly, yeah.
How much does a broken glider cost when you buy one? It always depends
it all depends on the damage.
People, how should I put it, many people think it's no longer repairable. But you can repair much more on a paraglider than people actually imagine. So in the end, you can repair almost everything. Of course, if the damage, how should I say, exceeds the effort and everything, like with a car, then the thing is broken. But if, for example, a stabilizer has been torn off or something, you can sew all of that back on. And as I said, it really depends.
At what point would you say, in your opinion, can you really say a glider is a total loss?
I think it depends on the age. For a new glider, for example, if I say a third of the glider is shredded, that can still be repaired. Anything more than that isn't worth it anymore, simply because of the amount of work involved.
But a third of it, I mean, that's already quite a lot. And if it doesn't come from the factory where they say everything is already pre-cut—or rather, all the design files are stored somewhere on a computer—where you can just have everything re-cut with a laser cutter or whatever. Instead, you have to do all the manual work now. Is it still worth it to basically, I mean, to patch up a glider that's a third destroyed?
It always depends on the damage. It's always, depending on how many lines are also damaged. Are the line attachment points ripped out? Is the internal webbing broken? Is it just superficial damage? Is the front tip of the inlet damaged? Because if it's, for example, split in two, you can usually hardly reconstruct that. But of course, you can get [parts] from manufacturers...
It doesn't apply to all manufacturers, but with some manufacturers, you can actually buy parts for paragliders. That means if, for example, six outer cells on the Stabi are damaged, you can reorder those cells individually. And then you just have to cut off the damaged ones and sew the new ones back on. Or also in the middle. In the middle, if three cells are just damaged for some reason, you cut them out and sew new ones in.
But that really means you contact the paraglider manufacturer. If it's not an AirDesign, then another one. Whether it's Nova, Swing, whatever. Yes, usually a dealer then accordingly. And you say, I have a glider here, the three middle cells or something else are broken. Please send me the corresponding pre-cut fabrics. So then you get the strips exactly as they need to be sewn in. Or what do you get from the manufacturer or from the dealer then?
Exactly, yeah. So basically, if I say I need cells three to six, you have to mark that very precisely. What exactly? Including the rib, without the rib? With V-ribs, with straps and so on. You have to specify that very clearly. And then they'll know what they need to send you or not. And that's actually a job I quite enjoy doing.
How long does it take, I mean, how long does it take for a repair shop to get the corresponding spare parts sent to you, if you say, for example, from a different manufacturer?
It's completely different. It always depends on the production, whether it's possible or not. Like I said, there are manufacturers who don't do that. They won't send you those parts. And yeah, like I said. So you just have to reconstruct it. That means you have a torn piece and you just have to put it back together. Roughly. You do it somewhat roughly or roughly. It has to be pretty precise. Reconstruct it again. And then I basically trace it and transfer it onto a new piece of fabric. That works too, of course.
That means you basically copy the template you have from, say, the other half of the glider. For example, yeah. You break it down a bit, say, I'll make it exactly like that. And then I sew it in on the other side.
Exactly, yeah. Now, if I have to take the opposite side, it's usually really damaged. I don't really like doing that either. But sometimes it can't be avoided. And yeah, like I said, I'd prefer it if I only had to order it and put it on. That's also work and of course costs something, but it's a job I really enjoy doing.
Well, normally, if I'm seeing it correctly, a glider is actually always from the unit.
From one
side, so sewn from one stabilizer to the next. Sort of, yeah. Like, and then sewn rib by rib and stuff like that. Now, if you have to replace maybe three ribs in the middle or three cells in the middle somewhere, can you actually sew that properly, in terms of how you can place the seams there? Yes, of course. Or does it end up looking a bit different than if you had sewn it continuously?
No, you can do that very cleanly. Because in production, for example, they first put together the undersails and ribs, bands, depending on where which parts are installed in the glider. That's how you do it too. And in the end, I start—depending on the glider, as I see fit, sharknose or no sharknose, sometimes undersail or topsail first. It's always a bit dependent on that. Then the panels have to match each other exactly. So if they have design stripes and so on, that simply, that should fit perfectly. But there are markings for that in the glider. If you don't know, you won't see them. But there are small sewing markings everywhere. They need those in production too, just to know where they have to go.
So you have a marking every 30 centimeters. And they have to match up afterwards. The problem there is more that if a glider is already a year or two old, it might have shifted a bit because the fabric simply shrinks or something. And then you have to make sure that you bring it all together properly afterwards, so that in the end it's not five centimeters longer on one side than the other. That's a clumsy way of putting it, or...
That's an exaggeration. But would you say that if you repair gliders properly, the repaired glider is basically, can it be just as good as a new glider that's been completely sewn? Yes, of course.
That's a common misconception with paragliders—people think that if the thing is torn, it's broken. If you replace the parts, as I said, it always depends on the age of the glider. But with a relatively new glider, if you were to, let's say, replace a wing half where the fabric hasn't discolored yet—so it's not dirty and you sew a new piece onto it—no one can see it. So if you do it correctly, someone really has to look very closely during the check for it to stand out, because maybe the binding tape at the back on the trailing edge is split in two or something. But that's really, yeah, it's difficult to see. So there are inspection centers, like Paraklinik for example, where they taught me a lot, where you don't see that. They can do it so well that you really see nothing.
Repairing and repairing is always a bit of a two-fold thing, depending on what you're looking at and what's actually broken. With every new glider, you usually get a piece of repair tape sent along, where you can patch small tears yourself and so on. Where is actually the limit, where would you say from what point is a professional really required, and what can be patched or repaired—what should every pilot actually still be able to do themselves?
Yes, well, a professional—it always depends on the person doing the gluing, because there are things that are very simple, and if you see how people are gluing them, then it should still preferably be done by a professional. Yes, as I said, a lot is possible. Basically, small tears, if they are in there. It always depends on how the person who is gluing it applies it, because simply, you shouldn't overstretch the fabric, you should tension it a little so that you don't have any wrinkles in it, no,
how should I put it, yeah, no wrinkles, and what's important is that you simply cut out the patch cleanly, because I often see this where they write in "repair carried out" and then it looks like it was snipped out with nail scissors or something, like such an ugly thing. If people cut it out cleanly, yeah, mark it out, and then just glue it on neatly, then the whole thing looks proper. Now, I have to say, there are simple repairs, like if a seam opens up or something, a professional should actually be involved to sew it together properly, because even when sewing a paraglider, you need a certain handling of the material, like a specific tension when sewing. Yeah, you should have that down.
How should I put it, people often overthink it too much, that they start to sweat over a small hole already
start sweating. Now, based on your experience, how big can a crack be—or what do you mean by "can"—how big of a crack would you still tolerate where you'd say you can actually still do it properly with a repair patch? Is this like a 2 cm little crack, or can it be 5 or 10 cm where you'd say the repair patch will still hold?
It can be 30, 40 cm; it depends on where it's torn. If it's torn right next to the mounting point on the cell wall, then it belongs in a repair shop, and they have to open the seam, detach the mounting point, and set it back in properly. But if it's just a straight cut in the middle of the cell—which can happen on a sharp edge or something—and if you glue it up cleanly, then it can be 20, 30 cm. But even then, most people lack the skill to glue it up really cleanly. I'd take that to a professional shop as well.
Now let's talk about a small tear, say 2 or 3 cm, that's in the middle of the cell rather than at the edge, so it's not actually under as much stress from any bending or anything. You can lay that down cleanly, glue it down cleanly. In that case, do you only glue this adhesive patch from the outside, or would you still glue something on the inside as well, or how does that look?
Well, basically, it's better from both sides. If they are really small things, up to half a centimeter, then usually from the inside, because then you can't see the adhesive patch. But it also depends—if the adhesive patch or the fabric is a bit distorted, meaning you can see the patch through it, then I would also glue it from the top side, because otherwise, dirt always collects there. So basically, for larger things, anything over a centimeter, always from the inside and the outside, simply so that no dirt sticks to it, and also at the adhesive patch where it's glued, it actually holds up better than the original later on. So if it tears, it's usually next to it.
I heard that you should always round off the corners of the patch. Is it best to cut out a whole round piece right away, or how do you cut the pieces to size?
Yeah, so rounding the corners is definitely a must. It's just about making sure that if you rub against it or get your hands on it, the corners don't peel off so quickly. And it also always depends on the hole. If you have a small hole, of course, you put a round patch over it. But if you have a ten-centimeter tear, you're not going to put a round patch over it, because otherwise you'd have this huge piece on there. Then you just make it—let's say four centimeters wide—plus two centimeters at the top and bottom, and then it's fine.
Should the orientation of the ribstop threads always match the fabric underneath? Or can you do it crosswise or something? Or is it even better to do it slightly crosswise for the adhesive?
Actually, it doesn't really matter. I always do it the same way as the original fabric because then, when you're changing it in the light, you won't notice the difference as quickly, because the adhesive tape just shines a bit differently if you've rotated it 90 degrees or something like that. But if you have it the same as the original material, it's not as noticeable.
Now there are also some gliders, especially more recent ones, that have such highly siliconized fabrics that are completely smooth, where adhesive sails don't even stick to them in some cases. What's the situation with adhesive sails there? Are there any decent solutions at all? Yes,
That's a bit of a specialized question. It depends—usually, these fabrics have one side where it sticks better and one where it doesn't. You have to test it out a bit. For example, there are harnesses that have things like that too, so you have to experiment a little.
And you can't really say, but in the worst-case scenario, you've already gone there and tried using a solvent first and then put something over it. I have to say, at AirDesign we don't work with those kinds of cloths, so I don't have much experience with that. So, if I've had something like that and quickly patched it up for someone, I've always just looked at the side—you just try it out, if you take a piece of adhesive tape and see which side holds better, then you stick it on the side where it holds better.
And if I have a bigger one and say, oh, a professional needs to look at this—whoever that professional might be—how do I recognize a good professional, a good repair shop?
That's a good question. Well, yes, there are companies that offer that. It's a matter of, of course, the people in the shop will tell you what they can or can't do. So, I have to say, there are naturally companies—we have the Paraklinik here at our place—and I'll just claim that it's one of the best repair shops, because manufacturers also give their stuff there to be repaired when they can't do it anymore.
Ritchie simply has the experience, he gathered that experience back then in production and all that. I learned a lot from Ritchie too, and there are repairs where you think it's impossible, but then it still becomes, how should I put it, the impossible, yeah,
It takes a bit of time, and wonders take a bit longer, something like that. But they manage to do it.
Okay. So if I've understood you correctly, you learned to sew paragliders, but also at the Paraklinik—was that by watching them, or did you actually take a course with them or how was that?
Well, I've done a bit of sewing every day through work—it's a bit of this, sewing that, sewing there—and Stefan Stiegler taught me a lot, but there are just things that go beyond these adjustments for testing or are a bit more specialized, and Michi and Ritchie showed me a lot of things at the Paraklinik.
And exactly, a lot of it was self-taught, and I actually even learned it in school back in the day. But I never would have thought that I'd... What have you
learned in school?
Yeah, yeah. Handicrafts. Yeah, because of how it works, you have to sign up for a course and then you do it tomorrow, you do it tomorrow and yesterday, then it was too late and that's all that was left, and I never would have thought I'd ever need that. I just pushed through it for that one year.
and yeah, but like I said, I never thought I'd ever need it again.
Did you still know how to do it when you needed it again? You're saying that was in school? Yeah, yeah, of course. Those are like,
so you automatically have a sewing machine at home somehow. I have no idea why, but you have one because you might need to quickly sew a hole in your work pants or something. But paraglider sewing is very specific.
And yeah, it's actually technical sewing. It's not a T-shirt or a pair of pants; it's really something technical where it comes down to millimeters, like, to half a millimeter.
And you don't learn something like that in school; you have to learn that somewhere else. No.
What's the special thing about it? I mean, you can already imagine what half a millimeter is, but what's the special thing you still have to learn to master this technical sewing?
As I said, for me, I just grew up doing this, so I can't really explain it very well. But there are people I've worked with, professional sewers, who said, "Wow, I didn't know it worked like that," and ultimately, it's all about precision. Because you have to imagine,
Or let's put it this way, people often think a paraglider is just sewn together and that's it, and then it's like a slipper or a jacket. With Primark, sometimes a T-shirt is skin-tight on one side and baggy on the other. That doesn't work with a paraglider. With a paraglider, it really has to be millimeter-precise because it's an aircraft, and if you have a glider with 60 cells and on the right side the seamstress made a millimeter too much everywhere and on the other side a millimeter too little. Now you have a wing that's three centimeters longer on one side and three centimeters too short on the other, and for example, it won't fly straight anymore. And that's why, from a technical standpoint, simply in terms of precision, you have to be very careful.
Especially with the internal construction.
Well, today in the development of paragliders, they're becoming increasingly complex—more cells, and the dimensional accuracy has to be more and more precise, and things like that. Is there actually any limit where you could say that the manufacturing plants simply can't manage to do any better? Have we already reached that limit?
So there will always be small improvements, but I think we're at a point now where there won't be any major or extreme improvements anymore. It's all happening in small steps now, because really,
Yeah, it starts with the measurement of the lines; that's down to the millimeter range now, whereas in the past, it was completely normal for a centimeter to be missing. That's unimaginable nowadays.
And as I said, it's now, well, or also with the sewing, there are many little things that make up the whole picture. So it starts with the thread tension of the sewing machine; it has to be right, because otherwise the glider will wrinkle if there's too little, or it'll fall apart. Yes, you have to take all of that into account.
Can I, as a regular person, who gets a new glider delivered that looks good at first glance, still be advised to really take a look and say, hey, are all the seams sewn properly, or can you, based on your experience, mostly trust it?
Normally, you can trust it to a large extent. I mean, you have to assume that a paraglider is always 100 percent handmade. There are no machines that do that. Yes, there is a webbing machine that puts a webbing loop on the riser, but the rest of the paraglider is always 100 percent hand-sewn. It's manual labor. And of course, sometimes a rib or a piece of webbing might be sewn in the wrong way, but you'll notice that or sometimes you'll see it. It's rare—I mean, it's really, very rare that something gets forgotten or something, but then you either don't notice it at all or you notice it in the behavior of the
glider. As Air Design, how often do you get feedback like, how often do you get gliders back where someone says, "Look, I got this new glider, but the top of it stands a bit weird or something. Something must have been sewn in wrong. Please check it." Is that one in a hundred, one in a thousand, or what does it look like?
I can't say in terms of numbers. We had it once last year, but as I said, it's very rare because we already have quality control in production where the glider is inflated and everything is checked or will be checked.
And normally it stands out. I mean, everything is checked, all the seams are inspected against the light. And like I said, the glider is inflated. And in that case, it was actually just the rib that was twisted inside. No idea why. It was a small repair, but like I said, it was the first time.
What does it mean for a rib to be twisted? Sewn in the wrong way or what?
No, it was just that when you're assembling a paraglider, all those pieces are flying around and you have to pick up this V-rib accordingly, moving it from one side to the other. And it was simply twisted by 90 degrees. But as I said, that's very, very rare. So that's what happened with us, but I don't know of any other cases at the moment because that's already checked in production. But I've seen that with other manufacturers too. It can happen. Like
as I said, it's all just people working there. So it's 100 percent handmade. And sometimes there can be a "Monday morning" unit, but it happens very rarely.
Yeah, normally. That doesn't exist anymore these days. It used to be like that. Back then, with the, how should I put it, the first production gliders—if you look back 10 or 15 years—you often heard that the first production gliders never flew like the others until the seamstresses had familiarized themselves with this specific model. That doesn't happen anymore today.
But you also hear every now and then that there are like the development sewers. Those are the ones who are particularly technically gifted or who always sew along with the prototypes. And those are usually the best sewers who are assigned to that, or sewers who are assigned to that. And then it goes into mass production, where, say, the other 50 sewers sit in corresponding production lines, and then you might not know, or is it really their skill, that you can say they are all so trained that, in the end, the goods coming out are pretty uniform.
So basically, everything is very standardized. The thing is, there are people who have been working there for a long time, they have experience, they're correspondingly a bit faster, and they do things like the protos. But otherwise, that's their job. They don't do anything else. They can do it and they have to be able to do it. Otherwise, they'd be retail salesclerks.
You work as a test pilot for Air Design. Exactly, yeah. But I want to talk to you about that in a moment. Before that, though, just a bit of a preamble. A bit about your background. How did you actually end up becoming Gleitschirm-Blog or starting out with paragliding?
Yeah, I came into contact with paragliding itself very early on. I can't say exactly when. But it was with Durchführung—my uncle has been flying since 1987 and I really wanted to go flying with him back then, but he never took me along. Then, somewhere, someone dragged a paraglider over there and I bought it. Then I was always ground handling, flying down the hill like that. And yeah, then I eventually got to the Zillertal and worked in a hotel here. And then a colleague said he was going paragliding today. And I thought, okay, cool. Where are you going? I'm coming along. Do you have a license too? I said. I have equipment. I don't have a license. And he said, are you crazy? You can't do that.
I said, no one's ever asked me. Everything's fine. And he's like, no, no, you can't do that. There's a flight school down there. Get your license. Then I'll take you with me. A week later, I signed up, thinking maybe he's not that crazy. I don't know what the rules are here. Not that I'd get into trouble. Yeah, then I've had my license officially since 2008, I think.
Did you actually learn anything else in the school? Or did you already have so much down through learning by doing and your own glides and other stuff and ground handling that you said, at least in terms of flying, theory. You probably still learned something there, but for the practice. Yes, of course.
So theoretically, I actually had no clue. Practically, it was really cool because I was actually here at the practice slope with Manfred from the Zillertaler Flugschule at the time, and we went down and I thought, wow, this is all too hard for me, and then in between I asked if I couldn't start backwards. And he looked at me so stupidly and said, "Yeah, like now, I've started backwards, do a backwards start," and I said, "Okay, cool, let's go do some high-altitude flights," because he noticed right away that I actually could do it after all.
And yeah, as I said, it evolved like that. As I mentioned, I hadn't really flown properly before. I'd say those were just hops, glides, from small hills in Germany. Flying actual soaring flights only really happened later in Austria.
You said you got your license in 2008. How did your flying career progress from there until you eventually landed at Air Design? Yeah, I started pretty quickly, aggro...
to fly, because here you had the opportunities, and at Air Design, Stefan Stiegler comes from the Zillertal and, as it goes, you meet at the launch site, logically. Then they asked me once, "Do you have time to fly with us for a photo shoot?" So I said yes and did it, and because I always worked part-time, I always had relatively a lot of time at noon, and it happened quite often that I helped out there. Then I eventually became a team pilot. Then in 2013, I actually started helping out regularly, sort of. Flew along on a tandem, flew a proto once again to take photos, gave my feedback on it, and the feedback was apparently quite well received, so they eventually asked me if I couldn't help out more often.
I did that and basically worked my way into it. In 2015, I got my accreditation as a test pilot according to EN 926-2, and since January 2016, I've been permanently employed at AirDesign.
You said you got the accreditation. Exactly. Do you have to have one as a test pilot?
Have the accreditation? No, theoretically anyone can be a test pilot. There are different types of test pilots, but now through the accreditation—that's actually, how should I put it, it's just a confirmation that you're trustworthy for certification, theoretically. So, I could theoretically or practically certify gliders for the certification body, and in the end, it's sort of a 10-day SIV course where you actually unlearn everything you've otherwise picked up, because... unlearn. Yes, yes, exactly, because I'm saying, if you go to an SIV training, you're taught how to intervene if you're flying a collapse. In that course, you learn that you don't have to intervene, when you have to put your hands up, when you... and so on.
Full stall, hands up, and stuff like that—those are all the things you normally don't do, things you train yourself to do, and you're unlearning all of that there.
So, the accredited test pilot is the ideal potato sack?
The most stupid user, so to speak. Well, there's the EN standard and you're supposed to stick to the standard, and this standard is simple; it only works, of course, if everyone follows the specifications. That means the collapse is evaluated at 75 percent plus or minus 2.5 percent. Anything above or below that simply doesn't count. But you also have to, how should I put it, you're not allowed to intervene even during a collapse. So if I'm flying a full-acceleration collapse right now, I'm not allowed to intervene. For the certification, yeah. It's different from being a development test pilot. Of course, you have to know when you need to intervene, because you don't want to be a backseat driver either.
Are you the only accredited test pilot at AirDesign?
No, we still have Chuck, we still have, yeah, Stefan of course.
And the other one, no, yeah, no. Yeah, there are always three of us.
If you're testing gliders for AirDesign, you just said there's the development test pilot and then there's the so-called accredited test pilot, who has two different tasks from what he usually does. When do you decide during the course of a test procedure or a development procedure for gliders? When am I the development test pilot who is allowed to intervene? And from what point do you say, no, now I'm basically switching mindsets. I'm going to be an accredited test pilot now and test the glider the way it will ultimately be tested for certification. And of course, it has to pass that. So from what point do you start testing it like an accredited test pilot would during the development phase?
Ultimately, you work towards that. I'd say it can be any test pilot, from a magazine, a flight school, or something like that. It's just that the requirements are different. A test pilot from a paraglider magazine flies around, sees how the glider behaves, flies into a collapse, a front stall, or a full stall, or whatever, and then forms an opinion. Then there are the test pilots,
those who, how shall I put it, already work for the manufacturer, they start developing, they trim the gliders, they make small changes at the designer's request. Then, of course, there are the accredited certification test pilots. For him, in the end, he throws the thing under him, says afterwards, it fits, it doesn't fit, and that's it, hands the thing back to you and it either fit or it didn't. He doesn't evaluate anything afterwards. So he only evaluates the maneuvers. As a development or test pilot for the manufacturer, you decide in the end what kind of handling the glider has, how the glider behaves, and so on. So there's a completely different set of requirements behind that.
Because what you do is the final product. The certification test pilot just says it works or it doesn't. And as I said, as a development test pilot, you have to make sure that the thing is fun for you afterwards, that the maneuvers work for the certification test pilot. Because I'm not allowed to certify gliders, since I work for a manufacturer, for example. So I wouldn't be allowed to [certify] gliders from other manufacturers, not from ours, for example.
How often does it happen in development work that you say, "Ah, I've tweaked the glider so that, from a development standpoint, in terms of handling or something, I like it best now." And then you test it with the accredited mindset, where you're not allowed to intervene anymore, and then you realize it doesn't fit anymore.
Yes, the accredited mindset is just different. The accredited mindset only evaluates whether it works or whether it fits the class or doesn't fit the class. If you say I'm developing an ENB glider, then the accreditation test pilot only evaluates, okay, it turned 90 degrees, it moved forward 45 degrees, it's ENB, everything is fine. Yes. The mindset basically, in development, you don't work on it. There are prototypes that fit the collapse requirements from the start, but they don't have nice behavior in the thermals, they have hard control pressure. And that's what you do, you have to work on that to make it better. The certification test pilot doesn't give a damn whether the thing has rock-hard control pressure or not. He only evaluates the maneuvers.
You do everything else, or rather, in conjunction with the designer—so with Stefan Stiegler, for example, you...
collaboration, close collaboration is always important, and good communication. Because if I don't tell Stefan Stiegler exactly what's wrong, what I don't like, or what we could change, then he can't correct it and, as I said, he won't know what to change and you won't get the ball rolling, so to speak.
Let's take an example. If you get to the point where you say, "Ah, we have a nice proto, it flies great and all," but the brake pressure is too high for us, or for you as a development pilot, what can you do then? Can you only give input to Stefan, or can you take action yourself and say, "I'll try something out," and what would you try out? I mean, what can you do to take a bit of the brake pressure out of a glider?
Yes, for one thing, you can change the trim a bit. There are many people who might notice that if they had a trim check on their glider, it suddenly has a bit more or less control pressure. It always depends. It also depends a lot on the profile. There are things where you can't change anything anymore. The internal construction—you can work a lot with the tension of the internal construction. But also, the control pressure is heavily influenced by the overall construction. That doesn't mean that if you change one thing, it corrects it immediately. Sometimes you have to change several things to get the desired result. That means you have to change the trim, you have to change the internal construction; sometimes one is enough, and sometimes nothing works because the overall profile simply doesn't allow for it.
Are you allowed to do that on your own when you're testing, or do you have to coordinate all your steps—for example, if I say, "I'm going to cut a strip somewhere in the back so there's a bit less tension" or something like that—do you have to clear that with Stefan as the designer, or can you say, "I'm going to try it" and then tell him afterwards, "Hey Stefan, I tried something and I liked it"?
It depends. Basically, because I'm always in very close contact with Stefan, he almost always tests along with me, and if he's not there, I decide for myself. There are things where I think it might work, and then I try it out.
For some things, there's a quick consultation, a quick call, or not. It always depends on the situation, and of course, on the specific changes.
Are you involved in all of AirDesign's gliders? Yes. That means in all the gliders, you could also say there's a piece of Mike Kramer in them. At least he's had his hands on them, or in them, so to speak.
Is there anything that's like, how should I put it, not a signature move, but something where you'd say, that's something typical that shows the glider went through your hands? From my perspective, I can...
I wouldn't judge it that way, but I think a lot of Stefan's signature is mainly in there, because you just notice the profile and so, this actual development, where it's about half a percent and such profile changes. And there is already a style we want to have, because, how should I put it, we just, we don't want to overstress gliders either. So I as a test pilot, for example, I tell Stefan quite clearly, if something doesn't feel right to me, if for example a glider, a C-glider or a B-glider is at the limit during a maneuver and you say, okay, it fits the class,
would theoretically be fine from the perspective of the certification pilot, but as a development pilot, I think that's shitty, because I don't really want to be chasing after the glider every second collapse, even if it would be fine for the certification, I'll say, what's up Stefan, and as I said, then we make a change. And Stefan is pretty much the same because he doesn't want to push the class to the limit either. It's like, how should I put it, we want people to have fun and it's not fun for us either if everything is always on the edge.
What's it like from your experience? Are gliders that are almost perfect with the first throw, or where you say it already works well, ultimately always the better gliders? Or are there gliders where you say, oh, we've had 10, 15 protos and still had to trim it and some other stuff, and resewn it three times and I don't know what. And only then did it become the glider we released. Are those perhaps still, in the end, half-development crutches that were just bent into shape? I mean, can you do something like that?
can you recognize that? No, it always depends. I mean, it's often a proto, it's usually based on one, even if it was a production glider. Sometimes you make changes you want to incorporate and they fit better than you thought. But of course, there are also gliders that, how should I put it, are also a first proto. Just because it's a glider doesn't mean a lot of work hasn't gone into it. Because there are also many small things that you often have to change. For example, with the UFO 2, it was the other way around. It took a very long time. We took a lot of time, a lot of practical flying. In between, I think I cut out all the ribs except for two, the very outermost ones, sewed everything back in, and in the end, it fit.
We experimented a lot there, had many protos and all that. And the standards were high, because at Air Design—I'm talking about Stefan and myself here—we are Hike & Flyer after all, so the expectations were probably quite high.
Out of all the gliders you've helped develop or shaped as a test pilot and all that, is there always one where you say, that was my favorite glider, where you're particularly proud of it for whatever reason, or you'd say, if I wanted to fly one, then that one?
Yes, of course there is something like that, it's always a bit depending on the class. For example, with the UFO 2, I'm personally very proud of it because, well, we had a lot of, how should I put it, adrenaline and turbulence and sweat and a lot of work, moments of despair in between, but in the end, it's turned into a really cool piece of gear. And of course there are other gliders, maybe I'm—I'm open about that—but there are gliders I like more, some I like less, but it's, yeah, I can't really commit to one, to be honest.
And if you're now, yeah, constantly working for Air Design for your job and constantly getting into the air with Air Design gliders, how often do you still manage to fly gliders from other brands?
Oh, to be honest, rather rarely. It's like, sometimes I'll switch during tandem flying or someone might want to fly a glider I'm currently flying—not protos, I fly production gliders too, of course—and I'll swap with them, but I have to say, it's rather rare. I have the luxury of having the gliders lying at home, and because of that, you don't even get the idea, because you just take what's there and then it's like that.
Wouldn't that make sense, also in the sense of a test pilot and development pilot, to do a kind of market observation and say, what is the competition doing, how do their gliders fly, and then you take a look at the construction and maybe pick something up from there or simply recognize that we do it better or they might do it better. Is that kind of thing not done very much at all?
No, actually very, very little of that is done, because you, you have your style, your line, as I said, you ride your line and you want to pass that on. You don't want to make a copy of someone else's, because then you might as well just buy their design. So, that's more of a no.
It doesn't have to be a copy of the entire glider, but it could be certain design features or certain things, like how it's built inside, certain technical solutions that were implemented where you might say, they have a certain advantage or purpose, where you say, hey, we could try that for ourselves too.
It is,
there are
Things are just very, very similar, even if they look different. So you have to say, the difference in the gliders isn't that different at all. Yes, that, the shape is just different. How should I put it? It differs less than many people think. Yes, of course, the tension makes the difference, so to speak. In the end, the, the, well, the frame gives the whole thing the, yes. But, yeah, no. So as I said, it's not, it's not like people think. So it's now, in the end, it's a car, just a car.
Now, if you're repairing gliders for fun or doing gliders during your quarantine time, you're probably getting gliders from other brands too.
You also have to dive deeper into the construction of these other manufacturers. Have you ever noticed, for example, while cutting something out, and thought, "How did they do this here? It's different from ours." Or is it really the standard in the paraglider scene, so similar and high-quality, that you'd say most manufacturers build very similarly today?
Let's just say, same same, but different. Because there are many things that look completely different but are the same or have the same effect. For example?
Well,
V-Rips, for example. For instance, ozone goes in and thins out the additions extremely. But in the end, it's the same as the other one. It's just that there are still holes in it. It looks more spectacular. But in the end, the final effect is the same as someone who just sews in a triangle, so to speak.
So, what holds them up, the function is the same. One variant just saves a bit more weight. Exactly, for example.
Well, you'd have to go into too much detail there, like which ones with the internals would make changes. Because in the end, every paraglider is basically built the same way. It's just how the distribution is, where a suspension point sits, whether it's 5 mm further forward or back, whether the V-rip has a bit more tension or the horizontal band has a bit more or less tension, how the sail profile is—that's what makes the difference. But you don't see those differences when you're doing a repair. So there, you'd really have to take it apart in great detail, but that would be insane.
So you only see that in the air? Because you're saying you can't see these differences when repairing it? No, you feel it while flying.
that's the difference. Okay. Because one simply has more control pressure, the other is a bit more agile, yeah, that's also a lot of profile stuff, it depends a lot on the trimming. Yeah, a lot of things come together to form the whole paraglider construct.
How finely have you developed your feel as a test pilot over the years? Like, do you go out flying and notice something and say, "Ah, on the C3, the second one from the outside, I need to shorten it by about five millimeters, something isn't quite right there," and do you feel something like that?
Yeah, you get a completely different perspective on the paraglider because normally you take off, you fly, you look, okay, you think, yeah, okay, cool,
...here a little patch, there a little patch, okay, the line is hanging a bit loose, it could take a bit more tension, the D-line is a bit too tight, the D-line is a bit too, too loose, there, there, so those are things, it also always depends on what happens in the end, yeah, during the maneuvers, you know, as a development pilot, the biggest challenge is understanding what's happening, because anyone can fly a collapse, just rip the side down once and say it worked, the collapse was so and so steep, it was so steep because the glider could take more tension at the back or more pull on the line, you have to work that out and that, that takes time and a lot of patience and a lot of experience, simply and hundreds of flights.
How many years does it take until you can say, there's a...
Development test pilot, an experienced development test pilot? Uh,
Yeah, it's difficult. Well, now, I had the advantage that Stefan always explained a very, very lot to me at the beginning, and even now, we always talk about it a lot because sometimes there are things where I think, "That's how it is," then you look at it on the camera again and it's a bit different, and yeah, you can't say for sure, it always depends on how deeply the test pilot collaborates in the development and so on, how much they are involved and how much they want to take in, because there are test pilots who just say, "Okay, clear to fly, now we're going to do the trim," but they don't want to know what the background was for that at all, and I'm still a bit of a nuisance sometimes, I often ask Stefan twice if I don't get the answer why we aren't making a change the way I imagined it.
And yeah, Stefan always has the patience to explain things to me, as I said, if something is just... well, if I can't really visualize it properly, yeah. But like I said, it always depends—you can't just say that after a year, a test pilot is a good test pilot. It grows; the test pilot grows with the years of experience, yeah. So, I'm claiming for myself now that I'm a good test pilot, but there's something to learn every single day.
Which thermal of being a test pilot do you enjoy the most?
Wow, it's
it's completely different. I like flying myself. What I don't like at all are these comparison flights, because there's just an incredible amount of time wasted there—well, not wasted, it's very time-consuming—just to see a small difference. Logically, I like practical flying, shock and load tests and things like that; I like doing that because it's explosive, things tear, things break. Of course, you hope nothing breaks, and you're sad if it does, but it's still fun. Yeah, sort of like with the Mistbusters, so to speak.
When you're flying constantly for work and have to do it all the time, to what extent can you still enjoy flying privately, or are you happy when you can finally say, "Okay, I don't have to fly anymore"? No,
there are days, especially in the summer, when the colleagues come over and say,
that you've already flown 60 hours during the week or something and then just don't feel like it on Saturday. Yeah, that's always... it depends. There are things I naturally enjoy doing—I'm not really an XC hunter or anything, but I also like flying cross-country, but I'm more the type who'll land somewhere at the top, sit there for half an hour, and then fly on again. I love just doing a quick climb in the morning or in the evening because that fits in between things, or just doing a tour with colleagues and staying overnight in a hut and then flying down the next day and so on. Yeah, I like doing stuff like that. It always depends on the time.
and how to find the time, but of course I still fly a lot privately as well.
What stands out as a special highlight for you from your so-called normal flights?
Yeah, there are many. There are many. Often it's the little things that make the difference. Yeah, I once flew from the Großglockner. We did... we did a super chill overnight stay in a hut on the Alpenhauptkamm, flew down the next day, and landed on a dam wall. That's just... a lot of things come together there. You had an awesome sunset in the evening, slept well. The next day, a super cool sunrise and so on. There's a lot. I can't
I can't really pin it down. And what was perhaps the most dangerous situation you've ever experienced while flying? Yes,
When you're testing, you're constantly in a situation that nobody actually wants to be in.
It was also during testing, but not during testing, because we were actually just ramping up. And I had a very, very close call once, a near-miss situation with a Cessna. What
Does that mean a very close near-miss? 100 meters, 50, 5?
No, 5 meters maximum,
I think so. Oh. And is it passing under you or right next to you? No, eye level,
Eye level. And it was, how should I put it, at the last moment. We were getting up and I could already hear the plane but I hadn't seen it yet. And then I saw a shadow coming and I looked around in a circle—it was snow-covered, it was spring—and in a semicircle, I looked down and thought, my god, that shadow is small. And the next moment, when I looked forward, I was looking directly into the propeller. My heart skipped a beat for a second. I then immediately yanked the glider negatively in one direction. At that moment, the pilot saw me too and immediately swerved to the right, and it was, maybe 5 meters. I could see it clearly, I even remembered the number and googled the Cessna later. You can look it up; based on the number, you can see what kind of affiliation it has.
I don't know anymore, but I googled it later and yeah, it wasn't cool. But it's free airspace. You just can't forget that you're not alone. It applies to paraglider pilots, but of course it also applies to the Cessna pilot, because that was barely 100, 150 meters above the ground, above the ski resort. That was an experience I won't forget anytime soon.
Were you able to keep testing that day, or does your heart really sink so much—basically down to the ski resort—that you say, "Today's my limit, I don't need anything else in the air"?
Normally I'm pretty tough, but I really had to land there because everything was shaking, because it was really close. And when you look into that propeller and immediately think, you're about to become a shish kebab, then, yeah, I landed perfectly again and there was nothing left, I kept flying though, but only downwards, I had nothing left. For me, the day was over. Stefan was there with the Klamik anyway, he was on the other side circling at that moment.
That means it was also relatively close. Yeah, yeah, it was still close with that one. But did you just Google the ID or did you also call the guy and say, hey, I was the one who looked you in the eyes? No, I didn't call him, because I think he also pissed his pants.
...done there. I mean, I did, but the thing is, you're looking him right in the eyes too, because he's right at your height, you looked him right in the eyes. He was an older gentleman, grey hair,
...goggles and yeah, exactly. Does something like that stick with you, like, does it stay with you so that with other things, as soon as you're guided to the plane, you immediately go, where, where, where, where is it? I hear something. Yeah,
That's really how it is, simply because there's a lot of rescue helicopter activity in the mountains. You look, and for a while, I really watched a lot. I still do now, when you're out there, you look at where you're coming from, where he's coming from, where he is, where he could be. That's why I'm also a fan of the flares, for example, because most rescue helis fly with flares, so they can see you. Yeah, even if you don't get the helis on your display, they can see you. Tell me, especially now with the Strato from Skywing, which is still in this beta version, but last week we tried it out here with the local rescue heli and it even showed up. I found that pretty
cool. So that means when you're flying, you always take a flare device with you, even if you're doing hike and fly and stuff, you say it has to be there. No, I don't do that.
No. If I know I'm going cross-country, then yes. And otherwise, when you're testing, we have our box, it's like in acro flying, so you have your box that you move in, it's a bit different when doing maneuvers or over the lake. Of course, there's obviously test flying and test flying, because we're not going to do a cross-country glider now, of course, we don't just hammer out the maneuvers all the time, you actually have to fly it too. And we actually do that quite a bit with almost all gliders. It's also quite fun sometimes.
And I usually have that with me. For example, with the variometers, I'm a bit... for cross-country flying, I have a different vario than for testing, because on the test vario, I've set up the things I need to know, like ground speed and so on, and when it comes to thermals flying, it's different—different settings. What's the sink rate? How high is the sink rate during spirals? Yeah, I've set that up so that a bit of size is displayed, so that I can still see when I'm spiraling out, that I can still recognize how much it's sinking and so on.
For example, with the Testpilot, because of things like that, you basically have to be, how should I put it, mentally quite strong too, even if something like that happens, or fundamentally as a test pilot, because you put yourself in situations every day that you don't actually want to be in. The thing is, with the Testpilot,
if a glider, if you're heading into a collapse or something like that, you know,
now I have to do it again to see if it really was my mistake or if it's the glider. If you then head-butt it again, you have to go to landing, make a change, and then you have to put yourself back into the situation knowing that if it doesn't work now, you'll head-butt the thing again, and normally nobody does that. And that's exactly what distinguishes test pilots from normal pilots.
Do you have specific techniques for dealing with situations like that, or do you do mental training, or is there something like supervision for test pilots or something?
No, well, I have to say, I'm relatively objective about it, I don't know, I can switch it off pretty well. I fly out there, sometimes there are gliders where you think beforehand, "Wow, if this is such a shitty situation," you're nervous beforehand, but the thing is, I can switch off so well that in the moment when I fly the maneuver again, I'm fully focused and then I do it, and I just switch off for the test—it's always only a few seconds.
Yeah, and as I said, regarding tense situations, you have SIV training every day, basically every day, so you deal with it completely differently mentally.
Is there anything in your aviation career that you're particularly proud of?
Hmm, I don't really know what... yeah, training the first check team in Turkey, I'm proud of that, because that's something that obviously leaves a mark in that country, yeah.
Wait a second, wait a second, you went to Turkey, you flew in Turkey to show a check operation there, how to check gliders. Exactly,
how to perform repairs, how to measure lines, how to handle the JDC, and so on, I bought the sewing machines and
and so on. How did they get to you—I mean, how did it happen that you ended up working on that first check operation in Turkey? Yeah, it was a dealer.
from us, and he's already been to workshops here, he traveled here, looked at everything you need for a check operation, for measuring and all that, and then he started buying everything. Eventually, he came back and asked Paraklinik again, "Hey, can you show us how we have to handle the tools? Because now we have almost everything here, can you please show us how it works?" Richie then suggested me because they didn't have the time or had too much work, and then I flew over there—that was also in the spring, I think in February—and was there for two weeks, which was almost too short anyway because it doesn't go that fast, but it was a cool time because I worked a lot with professional tailors, so almost exclusively with professional tailors.
So you learned something from them as well?
No, it's different again, because before they had sewn T-shirts, for example, so some of them sewed T-shirts and one, that was a bit special, I thought that was really cool in hindsight, because he worked in America, a Turk who worked in America, and in America he sewed F-16 flight suits, so flight suits for the F-16 fighter-bomber, and I taught him how to repair a paraglider, and I thought that was cool, when you have someone who actually produces something very demanding or comes from that type of manufacturing, that you can teach them something like that right away.
can do. But it's probably also, I mean, F-16 flight suits, those are probably pressure suits and other stuff you have to wear. Exactly, exactly. They probably have to be sewn very precisely for them to function properly at all.
Yeah, of course. So, for example, he didn't tell me beforehand, but I noticed during the repairs that he was more precise from the very beginning, because the others who were sewing the T-shirts just went, bam, stitch it and that's that. I told him now, this has to be exact, and he had already done everything very precisely from the start. Then I said, you're good at this, and somehow I asked him why he can do it, and then he told me, and I thought that was
pretty cool. Can you speak Turkish? No.
From where? English. It was all in English. I mean, with the American, with the FF, so the Turkish American or American-Turk who read the F-16 stories, he could certainly speak English well. What about the others?
Yes, well, they could all speak English. So, for some, it wasn't. They recorded everything I explained or had a lot, a lot translated. But most could speak English. And it started with simple small repairs, then larger repairs. Measuring was a big topic. So we made some blocks, where some were a bit more specialized in measuring and the others, who could already sew for example, focused more on the repairs. That was very practical. So theoretically, we did everything the same way.
and as I said, the really deep stuff, like actually knowing how to measure the paraglider or how to adjust it later, that was done by a smaller part of the group again.
So the basic framework was there for everyone, but then the ones who were better at it anyway did the sewing, and the others, because they were a bit better at math, started with the paraglider measurements.
And then you can say, I pushed a lot of things forward in Turkey. That's great.
Yeah, it's actually quite cool, because many people might know it, that's Abo, he's the cloud-based travel agency in Olidenis, he opened a shop last year and the other one was in Sakaya, the check operation. He wanted to open a second check operation in Olidenis. There were about ten people or so that I trained there and it definitely developed, because before they were doing a lot of this API thing, so basically a symmetry check, but they didn't have any properly trimmed ones and I saw some things there,
I had to take a breather every now and then and asked if we were actually still flying with that thing, like somehow sewn on with a cotton thread on the outside, or if they'd built risers onto an A-glider from a C-glider and were using them for schools, where I then thought, my god, that thing has four centimeters more of speed bar travel. If he hits a speed bar, that's speed bar to front stall. You can't do that, and you had to tell them—I also explained to them how the certification process works, what the requirements for certification are, that things like using the other riser on the A-glider, that's not allowed, yeah, and things like the fact that the lines make sense if the stability is on the B or on the C, for example.
I was supposed to be there for only twelve days back then, I think, but I stayed for two days longer because it was so stormy and my plane couldn't fly, and in those last four days, we were able to really dive deeper into some things. But it was always from eight in the morning until seven in the evening or so; we were slaving away with them every day.
Mike, let's start heading towards the end. I do have one more question, though. Yes, of course. If you've already looked so intensively into this development of paragliders, are involved, do a lot of sewing, cut things to size, and basically accompany almost every glider from nearly the beginning, when will there be the first glider of yours where it says, so to speak, "Design by Mike Krämer"?
Well, we'll have to see how things develop over the next few years. Being a paraglider designer isn't exactly that simple, of course. And that involves having the prior knowledge. I have the prior knowledge, and as for the rest, let's see how it develops over the next few years. I haven't set a date.
If you could just start right now, what kind of glider would you build for yourself if it were about constructing a glider for yourself?
The first one
The glider I would build would be, I think, a Low-B glider. Why? Because, how should I put it, in the B category, everything is already a bit more open in terms of maneuvers. Developing an A glider so that an A glider is truly an A glider in the end is really difficult, because simply the glider must have no room for error regarding maneuvers. There's no "I'm sinking" or "I'm turning five degrees too far" or something like that. In the B category, it's already a bit more open because the glider is allowed to do more. What many people don't know, for example, is that an A glider is allowed, according to the certification, to turn up to 360 degrees as long as it doesn't pitch forward more than 15 degrees.
How many A gliders actually do that, or do you say as a manufacturer, "it's allowed, but we don't want to do it at all"?
No, everyone says that. But that's only theoretical. I don't think that's anyone's goal, it's just that people know it's theoretically possible. The thing is, it's no one's goal. I don't know of any glider that does that. It used to be more like that in the past.
What would be the special feature of your Low-B glider that you'd then build? The special feature? Where you'd say, it absolutely has to be able to do this for it to be a glider that I can be proud of, to say, this is now designed by Mike Kramer.
Yes, it would probably be more of a Low-B.
Yeah, good question. I'm always someone who enjoys playing around too. So it could easily be a Low-B with a freestyle gene. Although you have to say that a lot of people think they need an akro glider, but it's not necessary at all because you can have fun immediately with many A gliders or Low-B gliders. A normal A glider or something like that is the best gear for all the akro beginners. And I also like to play around here and there after the flights, when you think, okay, it worked or it didn't work, then you just do your little stunts again. What is
your favorite stunt?
Look, it's actually pretty cool. So, for example, I really love flying dynamic full-stalls, when it's possible.
Yeah, so negative. But for example, these are maneuvers that I love flying, but I don't like flying them.
...from test pilot messages. Because the standard full stall, the way I fly it or would fly it, doesn't correspond to the certification. Because the certification full stall is, you have to bring it to minimum speed and the initiation must last at least five seconds, so it has to take five seconds until the glider stalls. And that's just no fun, because it shakes around under the glider. That's like what they do for the first full stalls in SIV training. That's no fun. But a bit more dynamically, that's always a bit of fun, because it pendulates or doesn't, depending on how you do it. But it's simply nicer, more controllable.
Mike, thanks for the great storytelling. I think there was a lot in there that people can actually use in practice. Folks, you now know how you have to apply the sticky tape and other things. So thanks for all these explanations and great job on the work you're doing. Have fun with it. And I'm curious to see when I might get to test your first glider—not as an accredited test pilot, but on my own dime. Exactly,
thanks. Yes, if I may give one more tip to the pilots listening.
You're very welcome.
It's always good when people spend some time getting to know their gear themselves. Because, for example, the full stall, as I just explained from a test pilot's perspective—and many SIV trainers will confirm this—is that people should know the stall limit of their glider, whether in a negative situation or fundamentally. Because the main cause of accidents is actually stalling too early, stalling in thermals and so on. And if a pilot knows what that feels like, something like that can be avoided. And that's just a tip; I'd recommend everyone just do an SIV training. Because that's simply the be-all and end-all.
in my view. If you've already done SIV training and have a rough idea of how it works, would you also say that when you get a new glider, you should go out and fly it, feeling your way up to the stall limit to basically recalibrate yourself with every new glider?
You have to be a bit careful with that statement because people then overdo it. It's only about the feeling, because as I said, for me, for example, I have to do every... that's the first maneuver I do, for example. When I go out flying with a glider, the first maneuver I do is I look for where the stall limit is, how does that feel? Because that decides—that's the key for me for a worst-case scenario—that I know what that feels like, when the glider stalls. And it's not about flying full stops or flying negatively. It's about knowing the feeling at the moment the glider stalls and knowing when you have to put your hand back up. That's from my point of view.
incredibly important for all pilots. And probably with every new glider, you should really try it out at some point to see—one has hard brake pressure, the other less—but it always feels a bit different. Nevertheless, you have to re-evaluate it for yourself with every glider.
Yeah, I do that with the protos after every change, because it can feel different after every change. Different internal pressure from the glider, different control path, brake re-rigged, completely different behavior. I actually do it after every change. Just a quick sink to know, okay, this is what it feels like. That's an absolute standard maneuver.
Important tip. Thanks for that too. You're welcome. And like I said, thanks for the whole video. It was a great conversation. I enjoyed it.
That was episode number 75 of Podz-Glidz, featuring Mike Krämer in conversation with Lucian Haas. In the show notes for this episode on Lu-Glidz, you will find a series of further links to the topics discussed in the podcast. The podcast Podz-Glidz is an offering of the paraglider blog Lu-Glidz. Lu-Glidz is online at www.Lu-Glidz.blogspot.com. Lu-Glidz is spelled l u minus g l i d z. If you find Podz-Glidz to be a valuable resource for yourself, then please recommend the podcast. For example, with a good rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, a post on Facebook or Instagram, or best of all, simply in direct conversation with your flying friends. Of course, you could help Podz-Glidz and Lu-Glidz even more by also supporting my work on them financially as a supporter.
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