Especially with PWC or even at the WMEM, it's like this: you're doing a 180-degree turn in the thermals with 1,100 pilots against you. Sometimes you don't even have the chance to complete that circle in the thermals and basically have to line up behind them again. That's why it's important to carry that line as well as possible so that you can break away from the pack a bit on the long glide, ideally while gliding. Because then you also have the advantage of being able to turn freely in the next thermal. And that, in turn, gives you the advantage of climbing significantly better.
Podz-Glidz, the Lu-Glidz podcast.
Stories from the cosmos of paragliding.
Today with Philipp Haag, and I'm Lucian Haas.
When you look at the results of major international competitions like PWCs or paragliding world championships, there is almost always a name among the top ten as the best German. Philipp Haag. The 28-year-old from Rottweil in the Black Forest stands out not only with his results in the KOMS scene but also with his flying style. He is known for having a knack for choosing very good lines, which often gives him a height advantage over the main field. Much of that stems from an intuition that Philipp has had since childhood. Long before he was allowed to get his actual pilot's license, he already went up in tandem with his father regularly and was allowed to steer and work the thermals.
In this 113th episode of Podz-Glidz, Philipp Haag talks about that time, but of course also about today's competition flying. He explains some special steering techniques and how his racing strategies have evolved over time. We also talk about, among other things, the dominance of the French racing line. And why the trend towards wind-slippery U-boot harnesses isn't necessarily an advantage for the sport. If you enjoy Podz-Glidz, please support my work as a patron. You can find out how easy that is on my Gleitschirm-Blog Lu-Glidz, specifically on the "Fördern" page.
Philipp, can you still remember your very first flight?
Even
...very good. I was in France with my parents. In the Vergesen. And I was six or seven. And my mother was still in bed. And my father woke me up and said, come on, get out quickly. We're flying to the practice slope now. And yeah, I went up quickly. And when I landed again, I was so happy. My
My mother, but not her. That means your father woke you up so your mother could still sleep. So that he could already take you to the practice slope. Exactly, exactly. At six, what kind of glider was that? I mean, you're just so light then. How much did you weigh, 35 kilos or something? Yes, around the
Turn. That's why it was also very early in the morning. There was no wind yet. Everything was calm. I had been given a glider. I used to run around the meadow a lot with my steerable kite. And then one day he told me he still had an old glider. I think it was from 1989. It had 14 cells. I still remember that. Square. I then got it as a gift. I used to run around the meadow with it all the time. And then, of course, I wanted to fly at some point too. And because I was so light, my father was always able to fly kites with me. That means we just took a few meters from the cable winch. And then he basically let me rise in the wind. And I was able to fly.
He stood down there as the anchor. Exactly. And the wind was just strong enough to lift you up. Exactly.
Yeah. Because it was a pretty large glider and I was very light, I was like a feather in the wind. And my father could basically let me soar.
What interested your father so much about introducing you to flying at such an early age?
I think the interest came from my side too. He used to spend a lot of time in the air back then. And whenever we were on vacation, my sister and I would always say, "Dad is in the air the whole time. We have to wait for him all day. And we want to do it ourselves too." And that's how we got into flying. So the enthusiasm was there from my side, but also from my father's. I think it's always really nice when you can share a hobby with your kids.
Your father could have gone tandem flying with you instead of pulling you up like that. On a rope. Yeah, that wasn't quite...
...been enough. I mean, before I started my license, I had over 250 tandem flights with him. I flew with him for the whole ten years. And the appeal was simply to fly there alone.
250 tandem flights. That's more flights you did as a kid than many people probably do in their entire flying career in the end.
Yes, every vacation. I always had to take turns with my sister. And my father had to keep up and fly tandem.
Would you say those early tandem flights gave you something, that you were already flying along? Like, did you basically train a pilot's brain back then, because as a small child you were already up that high in the air, probably always flying in thermals too, and with that you were already picking up on all the movements and probably feeling how it makes the air move. And if your father would say, for example, "now we're going up into the thermals" or something. So that you were picking up on a lot of that subconsciously, in any case, even if you didn't mentally realize it at the time, but as a child you really developed a sort of intuition for it.
Yes, I think that helped a lot. So even now, when fellow pilots ask me why I made a certain decision, I often can't say why I made that choice; I do a lot of it based on gut feeling. And I think that came from all that tandem flying as a kid. It was like we'd both get motion sickness while flying. And that's why we'd always hand over the control line. Then I'd fly for a while again, and then my father, until I felt sick again. So we'd keep switching off and of course communicated a lot during that time. Like, why are we heading into the thermals now, or why is a thermal coming up here at all?
And I think that helped a lot for later on.
But that means, if you're saying alternately, you were already flying thermals at maybe eight or nine years old. Also, yeah. With a tandem. Exactly. And then Dad said, here you have the brakes, you do it. And did he act like he was getting sick just so you could fly for a bit? Because I mean, normally you don't get sick that easily. If you fly regularly, you actually don't get sick anymore. Maybe in the front of the tandem, though.
It's the other way around. I mean, when you're flying yourself, you don't get sick. But I got sick. And that's why I got the control line, so I wouldn't feel as sick anymore. Because then I was able to concentrate much more on the flying. But then my father got sick. And that's why we had to switch again.
Were your arms actually long enough to be able to steer properly in a tandem like that, when you're hanging small underneath it?
It went pretty well. Because I was very light, the tandem spread goes upwards. That means I'm hanging higher too. And because of that, I was able to get to the brake line better. It was more a matter of strength then. When you're really leaning into the Tarmek, I basically did a pull-up on the control line. And that's why I was helped there.
Did your dad explain a lot to you during that? Or did he just let you do your thing? Or did he say, "Look now. Now pull like this. Now let the outer brake off a bit. Now pull inward." So was your dad really your first flight instructor?
In any case, yeah. We really communicated a lot in the air.
Well, at the beginning, that was clear—it was always more from my dad. But in recent years, there's been more discussion about why you're making this decision now and why you're doing it.
From when were you, so to speak, better than your dad, maybe?
I don't want to say that now. No.
What
what would he say if you asked him? Let's put it very diplomatically this way. What do you think he would say?
Yeah, I think pretty much right after getting his A-license. I think so.
We often fly from Schwarz at the Kandel. That's about 40, 50 kilometers back home. It's always been a goal of his, to fly home. Home for you means Rottweil, right? Rottweil, exactly. And I think after my second or third flight, I landed at home. And my father, in the 20 years he's been flying, hasn't yet. It was already like that back then.
But the luck or the joy, all the more
bigger. Where he then landed at home. But that was already with the A-license. That means you were at least 16 back then, I think. Or maybe you didn't get the A-license earlier. You might have started learning it sooner. I mean, you learned a lot of it much earlier. But learning officially. What was it actually like with your flight instructors? When someone comes along who can actually do everything. And maybe even some things better than the instructors themselves.
I had a very laid-back flight instructor. That was Thermik Grau from Freiburg. He taught me a lot about equipment knowledge. But when it came to flying, he'd say, just do it. Whatever you think is right is certainly good. And that always worked. He gave me a lot of freedom. So, during my 15th tow—I got my A-license at the winch—I was already able to turn thermals on my own. And he just said, well, do whatever you want.
That was pretty good.
But he already knew you before that. Or he knew about your flights with your dad. And all that other stuff.
Exactly. Because I was at the winch a lot back then. Or was there with them. And I spent the whole day groundhandling my old glider. So the flight instructor already knew me. But I wasn't allowed to start officially until I was 14. And I just had to wait that long.
Then I got my license at 16. How quickly did you actually get into the competition circuit after that?
Relatively fast. It was because I spent a lot of time on vacation with my parents. We also went to the Junior Challenge back then. I was 15. And I got a flight assignment. And I was allowed to fly officially at the Junior Challenge as well. And I was able to get a taste of competition flying pretty quickly. But flying in competitions wasn't my goal at all. I always wanted to go cross-country flying. And that's why I always saw the Junior Challenge as a huge opportunity. To learn a lot about cross-country flying.
Are you a big cross-country pilot now too? Or, I mean, most of the time when I read something about you or something, is it always about competition?
Yeah, that's just changed lately. You have a job and just don't get to fly as much anymore. That's why I can plan the competitions. I know those. In June, I have this and this competition. I'll take the time for those. But when it comes to cross-country flying, you have to act pretty spontaneously. And yeah, the best weather is usually during the week. And unfortunately not on the
weekend. And that's when you have to work.
Yeah, exactly.
And you're not so flight-crazy that you're saying, oh, I have to find a job that gives me so much flexibility that I can go flying too.
Yes, I have a job that I can make quite... flexible. But more in the long term. If I know, okay, I have my competitions this year, I want to do them here and there and there, I can plan that in. But I can't say spontaneously, okay, it looks good this afternoon, I'm going home early.
But if you could decide freely, would you still prioritize XC flying over competition flying for yourself today? In terms of the thrill?
No, no, not that. Also, for the reason that I've made many friends through competitive flying by now. It's great to see them. You have a cool community. And of course, you're somewhere different in the world every time.
What does competitive flying mean to you? I mean, why do you want to compete?
I wouldn't say it's directly about competing. In the past, I always did it because I just wanted to learn, to keep learning. Because I just saw that you never stop learning when you fly. No matter how, so even when I talk to Pepe, he just had his 100th PWC in Romania. Pepe Malecki? Pepe Malecki, exactly. And he still learns something new every single time. And I think that's what makes it so interesting. That has also changed lately. I also really like going to new places again and again. And competitive flying simply makes that possible for me. I know, okay, I've never been to Mexico. I can go to Mexico.
There are contacts there. I can maybe tack on another week afterward and then go on vacation there too. That's also part of the appeal, how should I put it, I want to come back in the top ten.
If you say you're going somewhere you've never flown before, like Mexico for example. The Superfinal in Mexico was in the spring. You flew there. Is there anything where you say, I'm preparing specifically for that?
Or do you fly into an area, like over to Mexico, and just say, I'll just figure it out on-site. I'll somehow find the good lines for myself there.
I go there, let's just say, pretty unprepared. I do look at the flights, what was flown before, what kind of launch sites there are, where the landing sites are. Maybe also what kind of tasks were flown. But I find it quite hard to always make it directly comparable, because there are different pilots in that competition. The weather conditions can be completely different, and so everything is new anyway. I place a lot of value on the training flight or on the flights beforehand. I also find that quite relaxing. Because, especially with the competition co-flyers, you so rarely fly freely without a competition. And it's also really nice to just have a casual chat with the pilots for a round.
And by then, you know the area quite well.
Now you're at this PWC Super Final in Mexico, where you flew with them for the first time in Mexico and finished second right away. How did that happen? What was it about that time where you say you were particularly on top of your game and ended up finishing second?
I think, as we said before, with intuitive flying and going with your gut, there are always phases—some are good, some are bad. And in Mexico, I had a pretty good run. The decisions were difficult, always being at the front because a lot of it was simply luck as well. It's a combination of factors that allows you to perform well in such an area with so many pilots. And I think, during this time, over these two weeks, I just consistently made the right decisions.
You just mentioned luck, but if you look at your flights there, you were really one of the ones who consistently flew at the front. Someone who always managed to catch those good, lifting lines. In Mexico, where there's a lot of convergence flying and stuff like that, you also have to know where it's currently sitting for the day and so on. How do you figure that out? It can't have been just luck in the end, if it's such consistent luck, I'd say. That's where intuition comes back in. But is there anything, when you think about it or if someone asks you, like, hey, Philipp, can't you give me a tip? How did you find your line? How do you find the lifting lines?
The cloud picture is always a thing, although under a convergence, it can shift by several hundred meters. What I always pay very close attention to is like with a thermal—when it detaches, it's basically, as Fadi explained it really well once, with the tablecloth effect. If a thermal detaches somewhere, it's like a point; if you take the tablecloth with a point and pull it upwards, it pulls the surrounding air with it. And I imagine that with the lines too. If there's an upward air mass somewhere now, then something has to come in to replace it. And I try to spot that on the horizon when I'm flying straight ahead. If I notice, okay, something is lifting somewhere in a certain direction,
in which direction is it pulling me? Is it pulling me more to the right or more to the left? And I also like to hover up and down with the glider sometimes and then I get this gut feeling that tells me, okay, it's pulling me more to the right.
Do you just let yourself get carried to the right, or do you also actively steer to the right? Or is a lot of it actually intuition, where you say, I basically let the glider do the work, and I've learned to pull back enough so that I'm not really interfering with the glider anymore. That's also an important part of the intuition.
Yes, well, lift obviously plays a role too. It doesn't always have to be lift, that's enough. A sink of minus 0.5 also means I have lifting air mass. If I can use that for longer—meaning, let's assume everyone is flying in one direction and I'm flying 20 degrees off course, but I can use this lifting air mass with minus 0.5 meters for longer—then it's possible that I still gained altitude, relatively speaking, compared to the others. That's one point. And of course, if I see others who are shooting up three meters next to me, then it's clear that I also use the brake to get there as quickly as possible.
When flying with carrying lines, it means a lot of that climbing or reduced sinking, as you called it, should basically be taken along in a straight glide. How do you do that in that moment? Do you still use the brakes a lot, or do you actually fly it all slightly accelerated and then, when braking—maybe if you say I want to fly a bit slower in the rising areas, I go to the B-plane and pull them back down so that I'm basically continuing in trimmed flight. How do you do that? I try to
actually do everything with the gas, because as soon as I take the brake into my hand, I get a deformation in the glider, which in itself means a loss of performance. And I actually try to do a lot of steering with gas and with my body. But if my glider now has the tendency, like I want to fly more to the left now, then I press with the B once. If I'm flying into strong thermals now, then I basically bring my Bs together in the middle. I don't pull them down at all, but first both to the middle, and then I can still pull down. The advantage is, I first slow down the ears and can then glide more.
like when I pull the entire B-riser back at once.
Did you get tips like that from yourself or from someone else? Or is it something you've tried out repeatedly through a lot of flying and noticed that it works better somehow, like I can get into those thermals more easily or I have a bit better lift in there?
Once
I always discuss a lot with others about what works better or also watch what they do. I think with the French one, you can always copy a lot, but it's difficult. It depends, of course, on the weight, the glider size, and the line he's currently on. But most of the time, you just have to try it out. Especially when you see, okay, I somehow have an advantage on Logan in straight flight. What I did couldn't have been bad. Especially when entering the thermals, I now use the same principle as in line flying. I try, when a thermal comes, not to let the glider pick up immediately and go straight into the thermal,
...instead, I try to avoid that S-turn where the glider starts to pendulum. That means I fly into the thermals, come out of the lift, and immediately bank a bit to the right, for example. When the glider is above me, I bank left. The advantage is that if it's just a bit of lift I can catch during a straight glide, I'll stay in that lift longer than if I were just flying straight ahead.
Because you're basically doing this semicircle in the bubble, so to speak. Exactly. How much does something like that help? And is it decisive for winning a PWC or something else to have those kinds of fine tricks down as well?
Yeah, so how much does something like that help? It's always hard to say. Sometimes it helps—it makes a significant difference—and sometimes you lose out. The only thing that matters is that when a thermal starts or you fly into a thermal together, you belong to the higher one. Especially with PWC or even the WMEM, it's like you do a 180-degree turn in the thermal and 100 pilots are coming towards you. Sometimes you don't even have the chance to complete that circle in the thermal and basically have to line up behind them again. That's why it's important to carry this line as well as possible, so you can break away from the pack a bit on the long glide, ideally while gliding.
Because then you also have the advantage of being able to turn freely in the next thermal. And that, in turn, gives you the advantage of climbing significantly better.
Are you someone who likes to fly ahead? Or are you someone who prefers to control things a bit from the back, which also allows you to set your lines better visually?
Sometimes, sometimes. Well, I used to fly more aggressively. But by aggressive, I mean more ahead on Leading Points. That has changed a bit. You can see that more in the results too. If you want to win PWC, you need this task, where you break out and take first place sometimes. Because if you always, let's say, fly into the top ten, then you just get those second, third, fourth places. Of course, there's a lot of risk involved in ending up on the ground. I felt like the risk of me ending up on the ground was tendentially higher for me. And that's why I've been flying more controlled lately,
because I always want to fly towards the goal. Why is the risk tendentially higher for you? Can you explain that? I don't know why. I have no...
No idea. I once had a time at the World Championships in Macedonia, no matter what I did, I ended up standing on the ground. I even had to write a little sticker on the cockpit telling myself to always stay with the group. It was so educational for me that I had to change my flight strategy. I can't say. So sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. That has changed in recent years, too. For this reason, if someone flies an unknown line, no one follows. The pulks, meanwhile, follow the French. You have to see it that way. So Maxime, Honorat, Pierrimidi, Luke.
If someone breaks away, the whole Pulks group follows them. That might not always be the best decision. But because of that, they have an advantage, because everyone is in that situation. And if someone else flies their own line or breaks away, no one follows. And thus, it's harder because they're alone. And that can work out well if the line is significantly better. But if not, then first of all...
Are you still left alone when you break away? Or, with your 2nd place at the PWC and your other good results you've achieved lately—like 6th place at the World Championships and such—do people now say, "Hey, Philipp knows what he's doing. If he breaks away, we'll follow him too"? So, have you perhaps become the rabbit that people are sort of chasing now?
Unfortunately no. France proved that again. Ferdi and I were just a few meters ahead. I turned into a thermal that was actually better, but everyone else flew over to the French. And it's always interesting to watch.
But if you were already ahead, couldn't you have used that to your advantage, saying, everyone else is turning toward the French and hey, we actually have the better thermals?
Yes, for that point, exactly. But if the race still has 40 or 50 kilometers to go, you just have to stay in the group because the group is always significantly faster. If it were 10 kilometers from the finish, you could try something and say, okay, one or two thermals and then I can fly to the finish. But if it's still over an hour of flying left, it's difficult to break away from a group like that. There aren't any bad pilots in those leading packs, either.
Now you've always said the French fly ahead. What's up with the French? What do they do differently? What do they do better? Why are the French currently so leading in the competition business?
Well, it all starts with youth development for them. For example, they have a boarding school. The pilots go there, they have school in the morning and then they go flying together in the afternoon. And that's one point. The other is that they communicate significantly more over the radio during the World and European Championships. They practice that in free flight. And for us, those are points that get lost.
If I look at our situation, it's all a hobby for us. With the French, you have the manufacturers, the designers from Ozon, test pilots, and flight instructors. They all do this full-time. They get a fee, and they have 600, 700 flight hours a year. We're nowhere near that.
Funken basically means they also do a certain form of team flying. Exactly. At the World Championships, it's also about team flying. At the PWC, okay, there are teams sometimes. But actually, at the PWC, the individual pilot is still more important in the end. Do the French also fly with Funken at the PWC?
It's not allowed, but I can't imagine it either.
At the PWC, it's an individual competition. You're only allowed to communicate on the safety frequency if something has happened or to check in for the level. But normally, team radio is forbidden in other competitions.
And at the World Championships or European Championships, you could actually tune into the French team flight frequency and listen in on what they're saying. Have you ever done that? Yeah, if you knew French, you could.
That wouldn't do me much good. I don't know, I'd probably have to somehow integrate an automatic translator. Then it might be quite interesting. But you can also see their flight strategy. At the PWC, they're completely focused on individuals. Everyone fights everyone else. And right now, at the World Championships and European Championships, it's a completely different style of flying from them. They're fully in a team mindset. That means, for example, there are four pilots and one woman who compete for the team. But I don't know, I think there were three or four more who were there, flying along but not scoring for the team. They let them fly ahead in critical situations.
That means we were just in the first task, and it was critical. Because we flew into a large formation. And then they sent Luke ahead. And he could then signal back, please brake, do it slowly. Here, it's now only about
Survival. But if the PULCs then follow these French guys and you maybe also say in the PULC, oh, everyone's following the French, so I'll follow them too, then it's a bit of a team flight in a way. Does the signaling actually still provide an advantage there?
Yeah, because they—I don't know how they do it—they let themselves fall back bit by bit. And in competition, you're always in the zone. And then you just keep flying and flying and flying and flying. And at some point you ask yourself, where did the French actually go? And then they very comfortably do two, three, four, five more laps. And then they suddenly just drift along. And that's the art of recognizing those things. That something was communicated and everyone suddenly flies slower, even though it's actually competition and it's all about speed.
Are those things where other teams—I mean, you're observing this. You're also saying we see the sparks more with each other. You fly much more as a team. Is that something where you then sit down as the German national team and say, hey, what can we learn from the French? How can we learn proper sparking? How can we learn to fly more strategically?
Exactly, that was also a major point this year where we can improve. We've invested in communication devices now and have simply tried to communicate more and better over these two weeks. That has also brought us significant added value.
What gets radioed over there, for example? I mean, what do you pass on to each other? This thermal is rising best, or watch out, there's one up ahead, the Frenchman is following it, or what do you say?
So if, for example, someone is a bit further behind and finds a strong thermal, they just quickly give the name and then you know, okay, it's turning behind, there's a thermal there, so the pilot can still decide for themselves whether to keep going or turn around. Normally, you don't see that at all if someone behind you turns again. The other point is, if someone breaks out of the group, then we know—especially us Germans—and we don't know why is he doing that at all? What does he see on the other side or what are his thoughts? Then he can share his thoughts, why he's doing this situation now, taking this path.
and then we can still decide, okay, I'll stay with the group or I'll go along. That helps a lot because if we're just flying along in the pack and someone flies off to the right, you have no idea what they're thinking. Or if they're currently "pissing," that could also be the case.
You could also, instead of radioing, use things like Farnet, Flam, or live tracking, where you can now have all of that displayed on the XC track or something like that. Where are my buddies right now, and stuff like that? Do you use those kinds of techniques, or in those packs where 80 pilots are flying at the same time, do you say your glider is so cluttered and overloaded that you can't see anything anymore? In that case, it wouldn't be of any use to me at all.
Yeah, that's too much. And you always have a slight delay. Even if it's in the live track, you have this 30-second delay, and that's way too late for it to even register. Sometimes it's a matter of seconds when you have to make a decision. That's why it's not really interesting for us anyway. What's more interesting in the live track is when the group splits up and you lose visual contact; then it can be really useful because you can just see, okay, the group is still 10 kilometers from the turn and we still have 15 kilometers and need to pick up the pace.
Are these things that you actually pay attention to in practice, where you really watch it and say, I'll zoom out a bit on my screen and see where the main glider of the others is currently heading, and then you do the math in your head and say, that's roughly 15, they have 10, so I'll pull out now. And then you're completely on the gas.
Exactly, yeah. Because it's all about the leading points, and you just can't be too far behind. That's why I do keep an eye on that, whenever time permits.
Well, that sounds like a lot of maneuvering, almost like playing chess a bit. Is that how you experience it?
Yeah, sometimes more, sometimes less. Well, it naturally depends on the task. On the task setting. You can set a task quite easily. If we're flying from A to B, there's a rib, then it's obviously clear where you fly along it. It gets exciting with an in- and out-cylinder. That is, you have a small cylinder in the middle and then a large cylinder on the outside, where you can fly in all directions. Then it gets interesting. Usually, there are two or three groups. Then you have to look, okay, what does it look like for the others?
What types of tasks do you like best?
Sometimes, sometimes. I don't usually stick to one. I'm always looking forward to the goal. So I wouldn't say that the... Well, normally I prefer the task when it's broken down a bit. Simply because it takes the pressure off. It means it's not quite as tight in the air.
Where do you personally see your strengths in competition flying? Now, maybe also in comparison to the French, where do you say, where do you perhaps even surpass the French?
Phew, that's a difficult question.
I think I can make pretty intuitive decisions. So, especially during the briefing before takeoff, I tend to hold back. The reason for that is that I don't want to commit too firmly to how I'm going to fly a task right now. I think that's actually an advantage for me because when I'm in a situation, I don't have the image from the task briefing in front of me—like, we agreed we're flying in this direction—instead, my mind stays open for route selection and I'm always quite flexible in that regard. Yeah, I'd actually say that I have a pretty good gut feeling about that, I think.
What do you mean by you hold back during the task briefing? The others are hovering over the map, discussing the exact lines that you probably should fly best that day, and you say, "I'm going to turn away and go grab another coffee." Or what does that look like? Exactly.
Exactly, mostly like that.
So, I'm actually never there for the official task briefing. I just listen to the weather briefly. The wind. And then, during the big task briefing, they just talk about how we're flying in this direction, that direction, that direction. I look at that too. I can check it on my device. And now, for the WM and EM, it's important that we have our task briefing together. Discussing these points as well, especially addressing valley winds or if there could be critical situations anywhere, those points already. But when it comes to, yeah, we're flying from there to there and then we have to go over there and over there and over there, I'm out. Because I'd rather do that without restrictions.
Or what do you mean by restrictions? There aren't any. But if I've already had those thoughts, I always think to myself, okay, he told me we have to fly over there. And then sometimes it actually works better on the other side of the valley.
How often does it happen that your team members, who are always advising you, radio you and say, "Hey Philipp, where are you flying to now? We said over there and there." Or that they get totally confused because you're choosing a different line than what they just discussed.
That actually almost never happens. Because we're always flying in a group, yeah, it basically never happens.
Let's talk a bit about the gear you need for flying at the world elite level. What glider do you fly? An Enzo 3 in M. Did you consciously choose an Enzo? I mean, why not a Boom 12 or an Icepeak? Or what's it called, the X1? So I have, oh boy,
I think I need to go back a bit further.
When I was still in school, I had to watch my money. And then the M6 came out, the Mantra 6. Then I bought the LM5. I thought, yeah, the difference won't be that big. But the difference was actually relatively large, especially in top speed. Then I switched to the Enzo 1. The Enzo 2 had just come out. Then I thought, ah, the difference won't be that big. But it was actually relatively large. And it just kept going like that. I always flew the small size, too.
And I went from Enzo 2, Boom 10, Boom 11, Boom 12, so Enzo 1, 2 and 3. I also had the Spectra at one point. I tested the whole range. But I ended up with the Enzo 3 because I'm super happy with the wing. And I think the whole topic I mentioned before with the Enzo 1, I was always, let's say, a small class worse. But it was quite good for my learning because on every glide stretch or in every thermals I always had to concentrate especially and get the best out of it, because I couldn't just always glide along and accept it like that,
because I often had to accept losses. Simply because of the glider, with the small size or because of the old model. When I switched to the Enzo 3, I then had to take significantly more water with me in the next larger size, so in M. But that was when I had my first competition and it was such a real wow effect for me. Like, yes, I'm flying along, I'm gliding along, and I'm still up there at the front. That was the reason why I switched to the larger size.
So, you basically had to train harder with the slightly inferior gear, and once you could keep up with them, when you switched to the Enzo 3—which was the most powerful gear out there, the kind of thing people were actually flying—you were suddenly right up there at the front.
Exactly, yeah, it was just a question of money. I couldn't afford a new Enzo back then. When it first came out, I preferred to buy something used.
Nowadays, the global elite are almost exclusively flying with those new, streamlined, inflated harnesses like the Ozone Submarine. You probably have one too, right?
Exactly, yeah.
Do you like that?
Yeah and no. Well, I actually resisted it for a while, especially from the protector's perspective. But then I got a really good offer. I ordered a new Enzo for the Superfinal and then Ozone contacted me, I looked at the offer, and then I gave in. I mean, I love flying with the harness, but all the stuff around it really takes away the charm of paragliding. The preparation, the equipment you need for it—it's a significantly higher effort. And I always say, it doesn't have much to do with it anymore being the simplest aircraft in the world.
How
how long do you need by yourself to put on the submarine, until everything is in place and you've slipped into it, so that it's ultimately as airtight as it's supposed to be?
I'd guess about ten minutes.
Ten minutes just to put on the harness?
Yeah, well, it's also about the clothing alone. You can't wear a hood, and you have to zip up your jacket, but not all the way, so the hood still sits flat. And yeah, then you have two cockpits—one lower cockpit with water in it, I have five liters in there, plus another liter of water that I hang on the outside of the cockpit. Then there's the other cockpit on top of that, and yeah, fasten all the straps. And then, of course, there's the radio, which has to be looped through specifically because everything is a closed system. All of that just takes its time.
How often has it happened to you that you've taken off and then realized, crap, something is wrong, something's hanging crooked. And I can't get to it at all because you can't reach into a harness like that while flying.
Thank God, never. I mean, I once forgot to plug in my phone.
But those are all such minor things; you can just quickly unzip it during the flight and fix it then. What's obviously more dangerous is when the harness is completely closed for takeoff—other people won't be able to see whether he has the leg loop closed or not.
Has anything ever happened, like someone falling out of their submarine with open leg loops while doing a PWC?
No, I haven't heard of anything like that.
Does a submarine actually provide a significant, decisive advantage?
No, no. Well, Martin Petz is the best example at the World Championships. He has a, let's say, normal competition harness and also a task hona. So it's doable. What makes the difference are not major differences, but I always see these nuances. A nuance here, a nuance there, a nuance there. And over three hours, these nuances then make that small
advantage. But if all of that is, let's say, exhausting to deal with and has such disadvantages in handling, why don't you pilots say, if we give up these nuances, aren't we all actually on equal footing? I mean, we don't have to put ourselves through it if we just say, hey, we're not flying those parts at all. Racing is ultimately about the places. It's also about who is the best pilot and not about who has the streamlined, perfectly quiet, straight harness, whatever it is they have to work around. So why do you play this game of minimal performance gain with maximum load for the pilot, why do you play along with that?
Yeah, that's also starting to come up at the World Cup. Whether there will be rules for such a short construction. I'm not that deep into it myself. I just know that something is being discussed, which also concerns the protector, the visibility around the cockpit, and the tail fin.
What will happen or if anything will happen will have to be seen, but it will surely, surely take one, two, three, four years for rules to come out and then be published.
But from my point of view, it would be perfectly fine, because if everyone has the same equipment—like with the CCC class, for example, where the open class was banned and then the CCC class came out. We have our rules of the game there; everyone has the same performance from the gliders. In the end, that's what makes the pilot.
What disadvantages does such a harness still have? Other than you saying, okay, I need ten minutes to put it on and then everything has to be completely tight and all that. In practice, when you're actually flying, do you still feel any disadvantages from it?
Yeah, well, when flying, for one thing, it's the visibility around you. You have to imagine it's like having a balloon in front of you. There have already been a few collisions like that,
simply because you can see the pilots and the operators. If they're briefly under you and get into a steep climb, they just collide. I see that as a critical point. And what's also negative, of course, is the visibility of the instruments or the ease of use. I always have to contort myself to see my instruments. I've even gone so far as to have my display inside the goggles now. Like a head-up display, so to speak? Exactly. A small head-up display in the goggles. I have my most important data in there. It's paired with XC-Track. I can just quickly read the most important data. I don't have to contort myself to be able to see anything in the submarine.
Which data points are the most important ones you have in your goggles?
I have quite a few. So I have time to the turn, distance to the turn, glide to goal, current glide, speed, time to start, and speed at start.
That
is it all in the glasses at the same time, or do you have to switch over to something in some way?
That's all in there. And even a small thermals assistant.
How are you supposed to imagine that? Like, these little thermal dots, which get bigger and smaller, just sort of float around in front of your eye? Yeah,
So, in the right eye, in the top left, you basically have the glider. And just like in XC-Track, you can configure it freely however you want, what kind of data you want to display. And the thermals assistant is then inside a data field. So nothing different from XC-Track either. There's this thermals assistant. And the stronger the thermals are, the thicker the points it draws in are. Unfortunately, it's not like in Top Gun, where the whole field of vision is displayed interactively. Like, there's my next wingman or the thermals are right there. But it is already a significant added value. But I probably wouldn't use it if I were flying a normal piece of junk.
Because it's also distracting, or why?
No, it's also just associated with effort. I have to reload it. I have to make sure the goggles are on right. I have to turn them on. I'm wearing a visor helmet. That means everything has to fit. If I forget, I have to take the gloves off again and turn them on.
Yeah, that's why.
Is it the case now that most submarine pilots are also saying, "Hey, I need a pair of glasses too, because I can't see my instruments properly anymore"?
Yes, actually. There are more and more buyers out there now. I probably could have opened a small shop for that.
But that also means, okay, what does a Submarine cost? I think over 2,000 euros. You first have to shell out 2,000 euros for a Submarine, and then another 400 euros for a data visor so you can see again what you can't see because of the Submarine.
Exactly, yeah.
That solution doesn't actually sound very intelligent.
Right, yeah. That's why I'm hoping for some kind of regulation from the higher-ups.
One problem you just mentioned is that you can't see people below you very well because the thing is kind of inflated at the front sides like a Zeppelin, which gives you a poorer field of vision. Isn't that actually an almost unacceptable risk for paragliding? You're supposed to be able to see as well as possible there.
I think paragliding in the Tarmik goes pretty well because the pilots are hanging in one direction. Either left or right. And because of that, they can see, okay, there's someone right in front of me or under me. And you look around much more at what's happening around you. It's more with the long glide paths. There, maybe someone is 2 km/h schneller and flies under you. And the higher one doesn't see them. And now the lower one just has to do a short lift and comes out of the glide. Then that's 10, 15 meters. And then a collision can happen. And the upper one has no chance of seeing them.
Have you ever experienced those kinds of stupid situations yourself?
I haven't experienced it myself, but I've seen it, yeah. Then they just go down for the rescue, yeah.
And the pilots who do that, do they still stick with their submarine and say, okay, that's the risk I just have to accept with competition flying? Or how do they deal with that?
Some, some. So there are some who sold right away. But also some who then said, okay, I can keep going without Richter.
Are there people who sold directly again? Did they go back to their normal other stuff and say, okay, I'm really not going to deal with this drive for performance at this point? Or do they eventually step out of competition flying altogether because they say this drive for performance goes too far for them?
Yes. Yes, so that's the direction it's going. So others are switching back to their previous gear. But also pilots who have quit. For example, I know it from Jael Maglisch from Switzerland. She also got hurt. She has now stopped competition flying as well. And I think it's quite brave to take that step. But also completely right; if someone doesn't feel safe, then that's definitely the right decision. What I also like about it now is that there are other manufacturers with some setup where, first of all, the visibility is better and also the protector.
That means, in the end, it's also a question of competition among the manufacturers, so that better solutions will slowly develop again. Exactly.
It's like with everything that hits the market. The first product is kind of a shot in the dark, then the competitors come along with small improvements, and eventually, I think it'll all work itself out.
What's it like flying with such a huge rear brush? Do you feel any advantage from it?
That's super pleasant. I think flying with the Submarine is really great. Of course, if the air pressure isn't quite right, it wobbles at the back. And because the tail boom is so long, it's like someone is pulling on the hood from behind, to the left and right.
But of course, when you're on the gas, you have more pressure in the harness and it feels like you're on rails. It's not comparable to a normal lying harness. Because it aligns the long tail brush, it stabilizes you and you hardly pendulate anymore.
I saw a video the other day—unfortunately, it's no longer available on YouTube—where someone had a disturbance and went into a flyback, but the brush swung so far that it hit him right in front of his goggles and he was blinded. And in that case, his GoPro camera was blinded just the same. You could only see a bluish color in front of it, and you could hear him swearing quite a bit. It's a huge, well, actually a major danger when something like that happens. Because for you competition pilots with the big scythes, this flyback is a very important maneuver to get certain disturbances out of the way in the first place.
Yes, sure. You probably also read it on the DHV website; Torsten Siegel wrote it quite humorously. Our next SIV training will take place with sleep masks, so that we can basically do it in our sleep. No, the risk definitely remains. I don't know how it looks with other harnesses either. What I could imagine is that at some point, the wingtip will be stabilized so that it can't happen anymore.
Doesn't that pose other risks if you only have a maybe rigid, inflated root at the back? I mean, I think a
There won't be a rigid harness. So, for example, building a fan in the back. Someone has tried that now. But I don't see the future in that. It's more like using flexible rods, so that nothing happens then.
But isn't that a problem if you, for example, get twisted? That you might have a hard time getting out because you basically have to work against that fin, which always provides a huge lever arm at the back and also aerodynamically. You'd have to push a lot of air to the side just to be able to untwist yourself at all.
That's clear, yes. But you have that risk with the standard competition harnesses too. They're usually higher, but not that long. I don't actually know if there's that much more surface area with the Submarine compared to another competition harness.
Let's take one more small jump towards the end. You recently tried something different and took part in your first Hike and Fly competition. The Speezer Trophy. And nicely enough, you won it right away too. How did that happen?
Yeah, that happened, especially with this whole submarine business. I said earlier that paragliding is actually the simplest aircraft or the easiest way to get into the air. And I've been missing that more and more lately. So I thought, okay, I still like competition flying and there are just other ways to do it. That's why I signed up for the Speezer Trophy. Luckily, I was able to fly well, and that's how I was able to win it. I'm not the fastest runner, but I think I'm not too bad.
But the guys from Allgäu, they sprint up the mountain. They make you look old. But my luck was just that the thermals kicked in quite late, and I was able to fly thermically pretty quickly. Yeah, that was something new. I didn't expect it to go so well at all. But that made me even happier.
The Speezer Trophy is also something like a one-day race, right? Where you have to reach several turning points in one day, either by running or flying. And you had the advantage that you could probably fly the whole task basically, after you had climbed up to the first one.
Almost, yeah. So we had a shadow at the beginning. Then we had to climb up to the Speezer. After that, I think we could head out around 8 o'clock.
And I could then glide down, but then I had to climb back up again at noon. That was enough for me, thank God.
But did you enjoy it? I did, yeah. A different kind of flying. Very simple. You just have 9 kilos on your back. You go up a mountain somewhere. And yeah, it was a cool experience for me.
So that means people will be seeing Philipp Haag at some kind of hike-and-fly races more often soon?
I'll have to see. I've signed up for a day race in the Stubaital now. Maybe I'll go to a Border Race at some point. But I see that more as a balance, rather than some new path.
So, at some point, Red Bull X Alps or something like that, that wouldn't be an option for you? No, no. Is something like that so exciting that you'd follow a race like that? Or would you rather go flying yourself and say, "What's the Red Bull X Alps, how do they fly across the Alps like that?" I don't find that very interesting at all.
Well, yes, I do. I mean, it definitely stays on my mind because there are a lot of people involved that I personally know. You get happy for them when they're doing well. That's why I don't really watch the small Hike-and-Fly competitions anymore. I'd rather go flying myself if the weather is nice on the weekend.
Last question. Or can you give a tip? Mhm. If people want to develop well, well, not everyone learns paragliding as early as you did, flying at the front of the tandem with your dad and already mastering thermals at about eight years old. But where would you say the points are particularly important for developing there, and how can one practice that as well as possible?
So, to train as well as possible, I'd just say fly with others a lot. For instance, when I fly alone on the mountain and fly down, I can feel good. But I have no point of comparison if a buddy flies with me and he can, for example, turn, and I'm underneath him—then you can just talk about it better and learn from each other. I also emphasize the other thing: I always have all the pilots at heart, come to the Newcomer Challenge. There are many new people there, but also many who already have cross-country flight experience, but also people who have just freshly gotten their first B license.
There are briefings every day. I would always highly recommend that. It's structured like a small competition in itself, but from the very beginning, the focus is actually on the other learners.
Well, looking at your story, you've basically learned a lot through tandem flying as well. First as a passenger, getting the explanation from your father in that case. Wouldn't that be something that could be pushed or promoted much more—saying, "People, if you want to progress quickly, find good pilots to go tandem flying with and say, 'Explain to me what you're doing there,' or 'Let me fly for a bit and explain what I might be doing wrong and what I could do better in that moment.'"
That would certainly be a good point, yes. The tandem pilot would have to play along, of course. I think it would be rather difficult for a newcomer; they would have to know someone and say, okay, take me along for a tandem flight. That, for sure. But I think for the general public, it would be difficult for everyone to just go along for a tandem flight somewhere.
That might also be a question of price. But if you say, okay, I'm booking some kind of flight school training somewhere and paying 500 euros for it, but then I'm flying around a bit myself and maybe getting a few briefings from the flight school along the way. Or I pay 250 euros for a really good tandem pilot, and I say, for the 250, you fly with me for an hour and a half in thermals now and do real one-to-one training in that moment. And then, in that hour and a half, you probably learn ten times more than you would likely get from flying for a week with supposedly a bit of flight school support. That
That's definitely true, yeah. Maybe that's a small gap in the market. Who knows. Would you offer something like that? No.
I also enjoy tandem flying, but I like doing it with colleagues and friends who have nothing to do with flying. Because people often just say, "Oh, Philipp, he's always out there, always flying. What does he even do?" So I'd rather take my friends along just to show them my sport.
Alright. So, listeners, I'm sorry if you're flying. You have no chance of being with Philipp. Unless you befriend him as a non-flyer, and then you can go up into the air with him. Philipp, thank you for your lovely story about competition flying, and I wish you lots of success with everything that's still to come.
I've been suggested from several sides that I should do a podcast with you. And there was always something like, "Yeah, he's the best one you have right now," wrote an Austrian. I got something from Germans, like, "A star is born" after you came in second at the PWC and stuff like that. It also said, "Why don't you interview Philipp?" So, I'm curious to see what else you have to say about the very intuitive flying and the ever-increasing experience you'll probably have with the big competition flying and watching the French perform their arts at some point. At some point, you'll put the French in your pocket too. Yeah, I wish you...
at least. Yeah, hopefully, hopefully, yeah. Yeah, thanks a lot for your time. It was fun. Thanks to you too.
That was the Podz-Glidz episode "Line Choice" with Philipp Haag. I'd like to give a thanks here to Lex Robel. He not only warmly recommended Philipp for the podcast but also sent along a whole series of interesting questions that he himself would have liked to have answered by Philipp. Some of those were incorporated into this episode. If you would also like to hear specific pilots on Podz-Glidz, then get in touch with me. It's best if you just send me your suggestion along with a brief explanation and background info via email to lugleitzkontakt at gmail.com. Whether they are well-known flying personalities or underdogs doesn't matter at all. They just need to have an interesting story to tell from their part of the paragliding cosmos.
I am Lucian Haas and the producer of Podz-Glidz and Lu-Glidz. They are passion projects for me. However, as a freelance journalist, I also make a living from these offerings. That said, I deliberately opt out of compromising advertisements, annoying paywalls, or subscription models when it comes to funding. Instead, I rely on the fact that just as nature gives me lift while flying, you as an enthusiastic listener and reader give me financial lift. As a supporter, you can give as much as you want, or decide for yourself what such an offering is worth to you. A frequently chosen contribution amount is 5 euros per month. But no matter what you pay, every amount contributes to the important goal of ensuring that Podz-Glidz and Lu-Glidz can continue to be operated and developed in the service of the paragliding scene in the future.
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