And then it started out completely harmless in January, when I just entered those short flights you do in the winter, and eventually, around May or July, I went from, I don't know, 40 to 30, then to 20, and then I kept moving forward until I realized, okay, yeah, it could work for me to be playing along up there.
Podz-Glidz, the Lu-Glidz podcast.
Stories from the cosmos of paragliding. Today with Hannes Veth.
And I'm Lucian Haas.
Especially when you're at the beginning of your flying career, the motto "flying time is everything" often applies. You sometimes hear that for hours in front of a small ridge, completely fascinated and without any thought about whether it might eventually become boring. The main thing is being in the air. However, if you listen to Johannes Veth, it quickly becomes clear that it can be done differently. The 34-year-old from Murnau near Garmisch-Partenkirchen won the DHV Fun-Cup ranking last season. That means he also accumulated an incredible amount of flying time. But not just at one spot, but at many different launch sites.
And not just soaring, but also with several cross-country flights. I was simply interested in what drives a pilot like Johannes to enter a competition with others so early in his flying career. And specifically a competition that requires you to fly with an A-glider. So I invited Johannes to this 126th episode of Podz-Glidz. In the conversation, he talks about, among other things, his motivation, his systematic approach to flying, what helped him make fast progress, and why he also sees it as an advantage not to move from an A- to a B-glider so quickly.
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You can find out how it works so easily on my Gleitschirm-Blog Lu-Glidz, specifically on the Fördern page.
Hannes, you sent me a video, and I'm going to play a short clip of it for you now as just audio. Of course, we can't see it here. After that, you can briefly explain what it's about.
Alright, dear 10th grade, it's Friday. We'll see each other soon today. But I'm just taking a little trip right now and wanted to give you a look at the surroundings here. The topic today is flying, the principle of flight. And I thought I'd do a practical test.
Alright, and now we're heading towards the landing spot to join you. I'm looking forward to it.
Apparently, you fly and also somehow teach, because you have students you want to tell something about flying to. Exactly. Do you actually use paragliding in the classroom?
Yeah, well, I'd say that's an example of blending your professional and private lives. It was a specific project where the class decided to do the physics of flight at the end of the school year. And the idea was very specific—it was a Friday, and I had another class canceled. So I did some quick math to see if it would work if I drove from Murnau to Garmisch. And then I actually did it, so I was in the air before class and recorded a video for them. And that was the lesson opener for my tenth graders.
And yeah, when a tenth-grade class applauds you at the start of a lesson, you can certainly be happy about that.
So it's well received. But first, just... you have a school in Murnau and then you quickly drove over to Garmisch, took the train up, flew down. You recorded the video during that time, then landed and quickly got back to Murnau. And all that in one class period.
All in one morning. I had the class at half past eleven, it was summer, and then it's doable. Have you...
...actually students who already fly themselves? So, those who are also in a class like that and then say, "Hey, look at what my teacher can do." They probably won't say "Hannes," but "Mr. Veth." What Mr. Veth can do there. I can definitely keep up with that.
Yes, well, mainly two things. One, as part of this project for flying, I brought my gliders and we tried them out a bit at the sports field. And I noticed pretty quickly that some of them, yeah, liked doing that and had a smile on their faces. And I could certainly imagine that they notice it and maybe do something like that later on. Currently, I don't know of anyone who would do something in that direction. In our mountains, you can do all sorts of things, and paragliding is just one aspect. And the other thing, we can maybe talk about that. I once made a PowerPoint regarding circular movements and took a maneuver from my safety course, the SAT.
And then one of the students spoke up after about three minutes and asked, sounding unsure. Because they didn't know about the paragliding beforehand. And "Mr. Veth, is that really you in the video, or is that just, like, an actor or whatever you want to call it?" Then I said, no, that's actually my
video.
You already flew a SAT, which was visible in the video, and then you somehow had someone calculate what you can do with this SAT or what forces are at work there. Or what did you calculate there?
let? So that was SIV training at Lake Garda. And they did it quite nicely there. One
has such small
Video recordings from the landing field, and the topic was circular motion in the 11th grade. And for circular motion, the SAT is quite suitable because it's such a stable maneuver where the orbital speed and orbital period are pretty much the same. They don't change much if you pull harder or softer. And then you can calculate things like, for example, the weight force acting on someone.
The centripetal force and the orbital period, frequency, speed, things like that. And you basically gave them all of that as an assignment? I first showed them a PowerPoint. Then they calculated some of it themselves. And the great thing about it was that it's a practical example, with all its advantages and disadvantages. It's usually the case that when you go into practice in physics, it gets more complicated. And with this project, it was specifically that the G-forces we got out of it were way too high in that manner. I mean, we would have gotten something like 5 to 6 Gs, which is towards the point of losing consciousness. That didn't fit.
What was the reason? Well, you have to look into that afterwards, you can't just leave it like that. I looked at a second method. I took a screenshot and looked at the angle the glider stands at on its own. And that gives you better values. But then I wanted to know why the first method doesn't work so well—the one where you investigate it with forces and speed. So, I specifically wrote an email to Hannes Papisch because he had the corresponding glider. I asked him what the reason was, and he said that with the SAT, the axis of rotation isn't in the middle, but between the glider and the pilot.
Both rotate around a common center of mass. And that's where the issue was. And then I had another great example to compare it with Earth and the Moon. They also rotate around a common center of mass, and it's not the Moon orbiting the Earth. Instead, they have a common center of rotation. And the SAT works exactly the same way. So the Moon is actually in a SAT around the
Earth, more or less.
Hmm, I would
say... If I were to take the pilot in relation to the paraglider. I would
Let's say the moon can be the glider because it's the lighter one. And the earth is more like the pilot, because it's the heavier body. But they have a common center of rotation that lies between the two. So, a nice
new picture. When you see a SAT, you can now always think of the moon and the earth orbiting each other. Yes, that fits. From this involvement with paragliding, I mean as background material, did you learn anything for yourself for flying? Not just what you were able to teach the students, but where you were like, oh, haha, now I finally understand for myself what I'm actually doing.
Yes, well, regarding what I just said, I needed that feedback to work out the calculations. The two methods didn't quite add up. One was better than the other. And then I asked the manufacturer for specific details again. That definitely helped me understand it better. So, this... this SAT maneuver and then the evaluation is an example of that. I definitely understood more about it afterwards.
With your tenth grade, you also said that you dealt with the physics of flight. Did you learn anything for yourself during the preparation or something like that, where you said, hey, I didn't know that about the paraglider before? Did you only take that as an opportunity to say, haha, I learned something again.
So my paraglider was more of an introduction to flying. The thing is, you have to be careful not to make it too narrow because of your own interests, let's just say. If it's called the physics of flying, then it's not just paragliding; for example, they tried to build a wing in a wind tunnel, explained the Frisbee disc, or built a water rocket or something like that, yeah. You have to be careful not to limit it too much, but rather let the students push forward with their own topics as well. But as an introduction, it was of course a nice thing.
When you started paragliding, did you already think back then, "Hey, I could use this in class sometime"? Or was it just a random byproduct that happened to come up eventually?
That's more of a side thing. But what does carry through is that if you have a bit of a physics background, it helps you better understand the maneuvers and how to handle the technique in the air. I think you can definitely compare that to your meteorology, where you have an above-average amount of background knowledge and are therefore better prepared. And for me, it was maybe with the technique, where I understood the maneuvers in training relatively quickly from a physics perspective. That's how you can...
I guess you could say. Do you think you can fly better if you understand the physics of what's happening? Or does it maybe hinder you sometimes? Too much theory?
I think it helps in the background, but there are many people who just have it intuitively, simply through talent, so they might not need it as much. But it helped me. How long have you been flying, actually?
Since 2022. I finished my training in July, and the year before that, I started my training in September. And that was actually a nice thing, because you notice yourself—September, and then the year after, getting your license in July—there's a winter season in between. And that actually had a few nice side effects. Nice side effects? What do you mean? I mean that you start out highly motivated in September, and then eventually winter comes and the course is basically over. If you don't power through it in ten days or whatever, but do it normally, like it was usual at the flight school, then it just takes a few months.
There was this winter break in between. And I have to say, it did me a lot of good because during that time I bought a used glider from the flight school for I don't know, 200 euros, and went out to the field with it and practiced in the winter. And not just a little. And when it started in the spring with these high-altitude courses, suddenly everything worked. There were definitely people in those high-altitude courses who had basically just started in the same year, like doing the basic course in March and then the high-altitude course in April.
And for me, it was September and then April for the high-altitude course. And in between, there was this ground handling. You could really notice a difference then, especially with the take-offs. And that was very pleasant.
for me. That means when you got to the high-altitude training, you could already do all the types of starts because you did so much ground handling. So you had already practiced starting backwards, too. Exactly, forwards,
backwards. I could choose that and was very happy that I got a bit of confidence right away, and also a direct comparison, that it's probably because I practiced on the meadow.
I noticed you when I read a report about this year's DRV Sportlertag. You were one of the prize winners as the winner of the so-called Fun Cup. I then wondered, what drives someone to participate in a competition like that? I mean, what's the motivation behind it? But before you explain that to me, first explain to me what the Fun Cup is all about in the first place?
So the Fun Cup, it's listed among these different awards at the German cross-country flight championship, that's what the DHV calls it, sort of for yourself. And I already have the impression that with all the other awards, you have to be very routine-oriented, experienced, and so on. But with the Fun Cup, the focus is on being in the air for a long time with a safe glider. Specifically, you have to fly with an A-glider. And then it depends on who collects how much time in the air. So in short, airtime is everything. That means,
You don't have to stay up as often as possible, but for as long as possible in the air. And the sum of all your flights that you do in one season is then, in a sense, your score? It's given in hours, exactly, who has the most hours. And what motivated you to participate? You can just fly for yourself. You don't have to say, I have to measure myself right now and say I'm taking part in a Fun Cup and want to see if I can collect more hours than my competition.
Yeah, well, first of all, it was almost like a byproduct, I'd say. I mean, the season starts in September, and I only noticed the competition in January. It was because I uploaded my flights once. More in the sense of, yeah, if you're getting your B-license, it's nice to have a bit of flight documentation in there. And then this DHV website kept asking me, do you want to enter your flight in the standard log, or do you want to enter it for the Fun Cup? So I took a look at what this Fun Cup was all about. And then it started out very harmlessly in January, with me entering those short flights you do in the winter.
And at some point around May or July, I moved from, I don't know, 40th to 30th, then to 20th, because logically the others were ahead. So, at the very top, there were initially people who had gone to fly in Colombia during the winter and stuff like that. But then I kept moving further up, and at some point I realized, okay, yeah, it could work, that I could actually compete at the top.
Was was there like a specific point in the season where you felt you realized, "Okay, now I'm getting ambitious"? Because you saw that you were suddenly moving up in the rankings. It can be interesting, maybe I really can make it to the very front. So was there a tipping point where you suddenly noticed, "Okay, I'm hooked"?
So, in June, we did some hike and fly in the Oberinntal. And the focus there wasn't really on long duration, because then you'd be doing cross-country, but we were already hiking up ourselves. The focus was more on exploring new launch sites and trying something new. But at that time, I was in 10th, 9th, 8th, 7th place and so on. And suddenly, I was up there at the front. And I'd say that's when it really grabbed me, yeah.
Were there flights that you, let's say, did deliberately just for the ranking, or that you intentionally extended just for the ranking, where you'd say, "Actually, my hands are already cold, I'd already go down to land now. But hey, for the Fun Cup ranking, I'll push a bit more, I'll put another hour on top. I'll just keep soaring, it's doable."
Hardly. And it's more about the fact that I love being in the air so much; it's not a compulsion for me, but rather that I always enjoy flying as long as possible, even until sunset and so on.
I also looked at the Fun Cups from previous years. I think you're up this year—what was it, 134 hours, or rounded off, I don't know, you got to about 134 hours. Exactly. Second place was only 73, so almost half of that. In other Fun Cups, I mean in other seasons, there were times when there were significantly more hours than you had, even more than 200 hours in a year. But there, between first and third place, there was hardly any gap. Yeah, so they were all in the 200s or something. Can you explain why you basically won the Fun Cup this year with such a lead? What was the reason for that?
I think it's down to who felt like doing it this year, you could say. I believe there were years where the competition was bigger, which is something you might also have to consider, like the weather and so on. That was also mentioned during the Sportlertag, that in the summer, for example in early August, there were sometimes more difficult times where I still managed to find my niche. And the mix probably contributes to the gap, but as I said, in another year, it could just as easily have been close, but then I probably wouldn't have 134 hours, but more, because at some point I realized, okay, this seems to work, and then I tried different gliders.
...that aren't allowed in the competition. You live in Garmisch? In Murnau, that's about half an hour from the Kreuz-Eckbahn in the Garmisch district, so away from the standard flight area, yeah. That would be the Osterfelder,
So that's the standard flight area, right? Yes, exactly. So, if that's your standard flight area and you live there and work as an instructor, of course you'd say, "Well, maybe I'll have some time off later in the afternoon, then I can go," or "I have the morning off because something was canceled, then I'll go fly there in the morning." Out of those 134 hours, did you fly 70 percent of them at Osterfelder?
No. I don't have the exact number of hours ready right now, but I can tell you that I've been to 68 different launch sites since my training. 68? Yeah, and I don't think you can get that if 70 percent of them were at Osterfelder.
You only started in September 2021. So 2022 was basically your first year of flying, and 2023 was your second.
So I've had my license for a year and a half now.
And then you've already visited 68 different flying areas yourself and flown there.
gone. Flight areas? Yes, airfields. I don't want to exaggerate now, but these are individual launch sites. I know them so precisely now because I've written down what the specific characteristics are for each one, so that if you get there again, you know a bit about them. That means you keep a statistic—not a statistic, but basically a list of your launch sites. An overview where the special features are listed. So, let's get concrete: for Garmisch, it's written there—and maybe someone else could even read this—that you shouldn't go to the tandem launch site at Osterfelder, but to the one behind it, that launch site. That, in my opinion, the launch orientation there is east and southeast, northeast is okay, and others are not.
That there are alternatives, like the Kreuzjagd for the north and so on. And I've done that for every launch site I've visited so far. I can easily imagine that if I ever have, I don't know, a few days off and I'm thinking about where to go, I'll look at the list and think about where it might be good to go again. Are you always such a systematic person? I mean, with math and physics as subjects, you probably can't deny that. And it brings a bit of order, I'd say, to what I do. And I think that in return, I always get a bit of security from it.
You've already accumulated 134 hours in total this season alone, so you must have flown significantly more. I'm guessing you're slowly approaching 200 hours of total flight time now. Yeah. That's actually the point where other pilots start saying, "I've got 50 hours now, I need a B license." Not a B license, I'd rather fly a B glider now. Yeah. You're still flying, or at least still flying an A glider this season. Did you stick with it because you saw, "Hey, I'm doing so well in the Fun Cup, if I switch to a B glider in the middle of the season, I won't be able to score points anymore, I won't win anything"?
So, maybe first regarding A and B. I'd certainly dare to do it and I've already flown in the B-class. But the A-class also has certain advantages. So, specifically, this is the Viola from Fi, and it's my training glider with an A. But you can also do great flights with this glider, and what I've also noticed is that in the thermals, almost everyone is the same. It only becomes interesting with these glider classes when you want to go far, when you want to move from A to B. And even then, I'd say that my glider isn't, how shall I put it, less...
or the flight is less demanding. Because what happens if I do a valley crossing going from A to B? Then I come out 300 or 400 meters lower than everyone else and have to fight my way out. So from that perspective, it's just a slightly different way of flying, where maybe there isn't such a big number at the end. But the journey there can also be exciting.
That means, if I understand you correctly, you're doing cross-country flights now too. Your hours aren't just from me soaring around over Osterfelder or at another launch site where you are, out of the 68 you've already tried, but you're actually going on cross-country flights as well.
Yeah, I don't know exactly where the limit is or what qualifies as a cross-country flight. But with this glider, my longest flight so far is 67 kilometers as a flat FHI triangle. But even then, the time listed next to it was five hours and 18 minutes. So, forever, so to speak. My average speed there is of course a joke. But the same rule applies again. I feel like I'm still learning something there, and you can get faster later on. It doesn't matter to me. So, fully circling a thermal because it's only then enough to keep moving forward, then entering low again—it all sounds a bit more laborious. But you learn at least just as much.
Just a bit different. Has it
...not get annoyed at some point in the middle, saying, hey, the stuff I have to crank back up from the bottom now, if I had a slightly more powerful glider, I might only have to fight my way out from the bottom half as much after a valley crossing? So that desire for performance, from time to time, maybe that's something I haven't experienced as a pilot yet, but I can maybe compensate for a lot of that with a corresponding more powerful glider.
So you're right that the possibility exists, but you always have to be aware that you're trading something off for it, namely safety. My approach is more to take it slow with the gliders and build a good foundation, and then change classes, for example. And I don't want to do that too early, because that foundation is allowed to be broad. You as a systematizer,
Did you basically set a learning program for yourself or say, I'm going to write down everything I want to do? I want to do an SIV training. I want to have done at least this many cross-country flights or something else before I move up a class, or what will define that for you? So
I'm a systematizer, specifically when it comes to SIV training, for example. I can remember at Lake Garda in April, I think I was the only one sitting there with a pen and paper, writing down the sequence. First this, then pulling the line, then hauling it in, and so on. And I was also the only one who took out that paper at the top when there was too much wind or something and basically went through it mentally. So, specifically with that example, I thought again: if someone does this professionally, if someone does it often, then they also train in their head, and that's actually independent of the sport again.
Skiers do that when they're at the start; they go through the slalom course in their heads. Climbers do it when they're at the bottom, visualizing the climb up the wall. And I think that can be done with maneuvers, with SIV training just the same. Also, what happens to you in the wild, so to speak, at the cliff edge and so on. I believe you can practice that at home on the couch. Now, you're not...
...not just a theorist, but also a practitioner. That's shown by the fact that you've gone flying so much. Did you also say to yourself, okay, I'm looking for challenges to develop further there? For example, saying, okay, until now I've had training launch sites, now I want to pick out some steeper back-slope launch sites somewhere, specifically choose them. Or I know, today there's a bit stronger wind somewhere. It might be a bit more difficult to fly with that. I'm consciously putting myself out there for that now. And also as a training program.
to see. So let's stick with the launch sites. With the glider, you've already noticed that I'm relatively conservative. But with the launch sites, honestly, I've taken them all from the start. So without any restrictions, either hike and fly up and then see if it works. I'd say even official launch sites, I've never had to pack up because the launch site was difficult. And it's the same with the wind. That complements this conservative approach with the glider. If it's gusty at times or the conditions aren't completely easy, then this helps me.
conservative glider choice. Yeah, I'm not the first person who has to pack up because of that, and it always works. And if I were flying B-class, say Highway, where there's a bit more energy involved and you really have to watch what you do when accelerating and so on, then it might be different. And that's what I mean. I'm building my foundation there. I'm by no means conservative when it comes to the conditions. Only with the choice of my equipment. That also applies to the harness. I'm still flying in a seated position.
Well, you said it yourself, you did a lot of ground handling during that first winter, which of course also contributes to safety, meaning you can take off from many different launch sites. Is that still part of your flying life today, that you still regularly do...
...fields? Absolutely. And I sometimes have the impression, so if I compare the time spent practicing on the ground one-to-one with being in the air, that I sometimes feel like I've learned more, taken away more, than if I had gone flying during that time.
Well, you've also done long flights, over five hours or others. Many, if I look at your list, many are around three, three and a half, and so on. That's maybe almost a standard flight time that comes up often for you, I got that impression when I looked at it. Would you say that you also learn more on longer flights? Or is it actually better for learning success to do many short flights?
I think you have to be careful with your concentration. You have to watch out on these long flights. If you were driving a car, you probably wouldn't think of driving from Murnau to Hamburg in one go without a break. And that's effectively what we do in the air. And I think it's good if you balance that out a bit with routine and experience. And since I don't feel quite that far along myself yet,
...are only really long flights, I think, for later on.
Well, you've already done that flight to Slovenia, which was over five hours. Was that the kind of flight where you realized at the end, "That really pushed me to my limit"? Were those five hours basically the most I could handle, mentally speaking? Yeah,
I can tell you very specifically what it was like. So I reflect on a flight like that, especially when it was a special one—in this case, the longest. And I would say that during that flight, the best word I can find is risk-taker. I became a risk-taker. Admitting that, saying, "Yes, that was the case," is very important for next time, especially when it gets longer, I believe.
How do you mean, how does it relate to you becoming more of a risk-taker with...
at the time? At the beginning, you're much more present, you perceive everything more closely, and later on, you think to yourself, "that worked for three hours now, and it'll work just the same." But I mean, an unpleasant gust or something like that can hit you at any moment, and during the cross-country flights and so on, you somehow get a bit braver—like flying at a lower altitude and so on, which, in my opinion, is something I wouldn't do for the first two hours, but later I think to myself, "yeah, I'll just try it and see what happens." Would you also say that this longest flight you did was also your most beautiful one? You might laugh now, but my most beautiful flight was from my training, when I think about it.
The best flight was during your training? Yes. What was so great about it or what made it special? This might be unusual, but one reason could definitely be that we did our high-altitude flights in South Tyrol, in Sand in Taufers, and there's also this launch site there. And yeah, as I already mentioned, I came out of winter relatively well, and your flight instructors notice that in a way—whether you're moving safely during the maneuvers or if there's still a bit of work to do. And then there was this evening flight, and during that flight, my instructor let me take off.
and that's a valley end in Sand in Taufers where the valley wind hits the slope as a lee slope. That means you can be relatively relaxed, so to speak, and then he really said that evening and in that moment, Hannes, you just fly out to the right towards the slope, park there, and I'll pick you up again, and then the wind was such that it was laminar and steady, totally beautiful for a beginner, well-suited, and you weren't standing on the ground after five or ten minutes like usual, but it actually worked there. That was in April, the ski resort had already closed, but there was still snow up there, while down below it was already the green of spring,
Plus, there was the sunset beginning to show, that's what stuck in my memory, it's burned into my mind. Yeah, like a movie in my head. It was simply from
Setting-wise, what was the most beautiful flight for you?
Yeah, and you always approach it with certain expectations. So today, you might see that as normal, as a standard flight, but if you're coming from nothing and then get to see something so beautiful from a perspective that almost no one else gets to have, what you experience is actually unique. And that was probably it, this combination. And what are you looking for today when it comes to beauty in flying? I mean, these different launch sites already have a certain appeal, in all sorts of countries, and being able to pick them out, to keep changing the setting—I really like that.
But nothing's against that, like an evening flight in Garmisch, where you can really fly until sunset because there's such a nice valley wind there that you can use, with a slope like that again, that can be just as beautiful, and I'd say the variety is what really makes it.
Is that the main appeal of flying for you, that you say you see many new landscapes from above, or are there other things where you say, hey, that's actually it—maybe a sporting challenge or a thrill associated with flying, whether it's paragliding or whatever, where you say that's actually what my body craves, that I keep heading back to the launch site
Two things, and the combination of those two things is what I really like. One is that you're somehow out there on your own and can pick out a specific challenge for yourself, whether it's staying in the air for a long time, going far, whatever, or a special maneuver. And the other is sharing it again with your flying friends, meeting up, helping each other out, talking about it, being out there together—and the combination of actually having the sky to yourself, but then being out there together again, I find that to be a very beautiful thing about our hobby.
Have you ever had any real setbacks yourself during your career?
I'd say no. I can think of very few, very few situations where it was critical. It's more that I observe a lot and look at what can go wrong, and then I try to evaluate that, incorporate it, and then, for example, not have a meltdown during a specific type of weather or something. That's not necessary when you're allowed to fly so much, precisely because I've seen, no matter where, that things can go wrong. And thank God you don't have to experience all of those things yourself. You don't have to make all the mistakes that happen there,
experience yourself; you can also certainly learn from others.
How do you do that? Are you the systematic type again, who says, okay, I'll watch all these crash videos and try to figure out what I could have done differently if I had been in that person's or those people's situation, maybe to avoid a negative experience like that?
So, crash videos have one disadvantage: you never get the whole situation that goes along with it. In the rarest of cases, it mentions the pilot, the launch site under these conditions, the glider, the pilot's experience, and so on and so forth. Where a lot of that, and we're back to the term systematic, is listed in this DHV database that Karl Sresak has been maintaining, or rather has to maintain, especially lately, because it usually contains very serious accidents. But they are very well analyzed, and I think you can get quite a lot out of them; I've watched quite a few of them, and I believe you get a bit more out of that than just watching crash videos on YouTube or something.
More so, reading the good analysis because then you really know what could have... I mean, you get explained what actually went wrong and what could have been done differently, and what the surrounding setting might have been, because maybe the weather or other things are also explained in these analyses.
Exactly, it's all in there, and I think the motto should be that such a mistake shouldn't have happened for nothing; you can definitely learn from it. From the
What experiences have you gained in this, let's say, relatively short time of your flying career? And if you say that you can always learn from others, what can someone—especially if someone listening right now hasn't been flying for very long—what could they learn from you, or what would you say they should take a page from your book on?
Maybe approaching the whole thing with a certain sense of calm, even if others, in my opinion, are already moving a bit faster in the glider classes. I don't mean to say that automatically means they fly better or perhaps more error-free or anything like that, but rather that you get that safety in total peace of mind. If you go slow and practice a lot, whether on the ground or in the air—but also on the ground—then I believe you get much further, and maybe I already do that above average. How does
how do you want to proceed with your flying career? So, the next season is coming up, it's still winter, you can do ground handling again, work through all the theory, and reread all sorts of things, but the next good flying season is coming around again—what will you do then? I mean,
cross-country flying is getting more and more interesting for me now, because I'm slowly getting the feeling that I have a basis there that I can build on. So, to be concrete, I'd be happy if a 100-kilometer flight works out this year; maybe with those 67s with the ass, and in Greifenburg it's also been over 50 a few times, not forever away, that could be a goal for the season. And the other thing that interests me would maybe be doing the tandem training, because when you're at the landing field and see how he arrives, when people are out there in pairs, the one in the front—who might be doing it for the first time or something—usually has a huge grin on his face.
and if you were allowed to share that, to make it possible for someone else, I'd actually think that would be a nice thing.
A tandem pilot once told me that he never flies with his guests for longer than 20 minutes because after 20 minutes, the adrenaline level is so high that they all land with huge grins on their faces. If you fly a bit longer than that, the adrenaline starts to break down slowly—the body has had its peak and then it goes down naturally—and if you fly a bit too long, you might have had a great flight, but the person sitting in front, whose first flight it is, might remember it even less well or not be as enthusiastic about it as they would be with a shorter one. So, if you were doing tandem, you could at least—or what I mean is, you could, but you probably shouldn't—fly for that long.
That's not worth remembering; I'm speaking from the experience of experienced pilots.
Johannes, I find it very exciting to see how someone, yeah, I just found it interesting how someone discovers the Fun Cup for themselves and what they then do with it. I think it's great how systematically you approach it. I think that's really something many people could learn from—that regular training like ground handling, but also the theoretical engagement with so many things and thinking them through, and flying on the sofa, and then just going through certain things in your head, that brings an enormous amount. So, thanks for your story as well.
One more thing I wanted to ask you. It's something I noticed again during the preparation. If you were asked, what would you say to the listening pilots? I'd like to know one thing, either from you or through the comments, depending on whether I include it or not. And I noticed this regarding the second-hand market, the paraglider second-hand market. It clearly states for many gliders that there's no SIV, no sand, or little to no ground handling, depending on the case. And I'm wondering a bit, what does that say about us pilots? I mean, what's behind that? Because it just doesn't add up for me. I couldn't write "no SIV and no ground handling" behind my own gliders.
That wouldn't fit. But I think something is going wrong there. So, do you have an idea what that could be due to?
That's because people obviously want to sell their gliders well. And if you know someone has already done SIV training and maybe flown a Sat or only did proper spirals to the right, then maybe the glider is messed up or the ground handling is neglected. He has 100 ground handling hours on the glider, but has only flown it for 10. But the glider is still ruined because, depending on where he did the ground handling, he might have treated it pretty badly on the ground, dropped it on the leading edge five times, or something like that. Basically, it's like how a checkbook is maintained or something for a glider like that. So if you write that down, people assume, okay, the glider seems to be in order at least mechanically. Then I'm there...
...maybe a bit too naive, in the sense of the pilot community, and then it actually ends up being at the expense of the next pilot.
Yeah, I mean, you can never verify whether someone actually didn't do any ground handling or not. But there are certainly some people who never do ground handling with certain gliders, like you. You also said you got a ground handling glider for 200 euros for the winter, and maybe other people have done the exact same thing. At the same time, there will probably be many people who write something like that in; if it's not a very performance-oriented glider or something, people will always say, yeah, maybe you as a pilot missed out on something here. Probably with a bit more ground handling, your glider might have been a bit more worn out. You wouldn't be able to get the price you might be getting now, but actually, you as a pilot would have gotten more out of it. I'm looking forward to comments on this. Yeah, guys, feel free to write in the comments how you generally
found this episode, but specifically on this point, what your assessment of it is.
Hannes, I thank you and I wish you much success in future glider cross-country flight competitions, where maybe you'll eventually—I'm curious to see—have your name listed somewhere there. I've seen old Fun Cups and read through the names; some of them became really good cross-country flight pilots later on, so they became known by name in other circles, and because of that, you still have a lot of future ahead of you.
Regina Glas said exactly the same thing at the awards ceremony.
That was episode number 126 of Podz-Glidz with Johannes Veth. If you enjoyed the episode, then please subscribe to Podz-Glidz. You can do that anywhere podcasts are available. If you also leave a positive rating there, you're helping to make Podz-Glidz even better known, or just tell your friends on Flickr about it. Podz-Glidz and Fluglight are free of paid advertising. I do this out of conviction and in the interest of independence. Nevertheless, a lot of professional work and, of course, costs are involved in these offerings. To finance them, I rely on the concept of voluntary support. If you've listened this far, the podcast should have provided some value for you. As a supporter, you can simply give something back.
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