I think I've also motivated a few people to go paragliding. So, if you ask about being a marketing ambassador for paragliding, I sometimes get messages from women who say, like, yeah, they'd thought about starting but didn't dare, and then they saw the videos and really enjoyed them or got the urge to get their own license. Sometimes it's also from men who already got their license and say, yeah, years later I've got the desire to fly again because of your videos. That's really cool.
Podz-Glidz, the Lu-Glidz podcast.
Stories from the cosmos of paragliding.
Today with Sophie Päupelmann. And I'm Lucian Haas.
Today on Instagram, you can find a whole range of pilots who draw attention to themselves with regular reels and stories. Some call themselves influencers, others content creators. Many have a sense of purpose and want to contribute something to the paragliding scene. Maneuver tutorials, "Don't Do This At Home" experiments, error analyses, scary moments, or "10 Places to Fly Before You Die." Okay, that's a bit one-sided and said with a wink. But in reality, there aren't that many channels that primarily convey the fun of flying. Without any performance claims, "Look what I can do," or "How to be perfect" attitudes.
Maybe that's exactly why Sophie Päupelmann has so many followers with her Insta channel MissSoFly, even though she only produces in German. Sophie shows how you can simply have fun flying and still find joy in failing. In this episode of Podz-Glidz, I talk to her about her approach to flying, life in a camper, the bonus of small side goals, and what it's like in the Colombian wilderness right next to a paraglider. Sophie shows how you can simply have fun flying and still find joy in failing.
By the way, I can only present these kinds of special conversations in Podz-Glidz because there are sponsors who financially support my work on the podcast and blog. Are you in? You can find all the necessary information about this in the Gleitschirm-Blog Lu-Glidz, specifically on the Fördern page.
Sophie, give me the definition of a Flugmaus.
Oh, that word came about because I occasionally drive Sophie too much. And there are racing mice and running mice, and somehow I never saw myself in that with paragliding. And then, in a conversation with friends, I sort of realized, like, hey, I guess I'm a "Flugmaus" now, and I started calling myself that. And a Flugmaus is, I believe, a very enthusiastic paragliding pilot.
Isn't that term also a bit sexist?
"Maus" always sounds like something cute or something like that. Are you that? A "Flugmaus" in this definition?
That's a good question. I hope people can tell from my videos that I'm a fan of irony and sarcasm. And that I don't always mean what I upload and comment on very seriously.
Have you ever received comments about calling yourself a "Flugmaus"? I mean, there are quite a few videos you've recorded—for those who might not know yet—where you say, "I'm Sophie, a Flugmaus, and now I'm doing this and that and that." So, were there any comments about that at all?
Not at all. I have a really nice following that understands my humor and I think they're on the same wavelength as me.
What do you actually want to convey with your Insta reels?
That's also a good question. I think I'm not giving it enough thought right now in this conversation. I just love producing. I love making content and sharing a bit of the joy of flying. I especially like motivating women to fly, to be a bit braver. And I want to take some of the seriousness out of the glider sport. That's something I think I notice a lot with men. Whether on the mountain or digitally, it's always about very goal-oriented flying. That's something I think I notice a lot with men. And they are very or very competition-oriented, always on the go, that everything always has to be better.
Who did the most extreme flight? Who takes off better? Who has the best glider, who did the longest flight? Yeah, and I just want to break that a bit and maybe also remind people: Hey, we all started this sport because it's fun for us, not because we wanted to prove something to someone. I'd be happy if my videos convey that a bit. I don't know what we're doing, but at least I get very positive feedback sometimes.
But would you say the paragliding scene is actually too serious?
That totally depends on the mountain. I mean, there are a few mountains that I find are too serious and too...
For example? What's a "serious" Flugberg from your experience?
Well, actually, even though I'm in the Munich area, if this were my home mountain, I'd avoid the Pro Neck if possible. I know
I don't know if you've ever flown there. To be honest, I haven't flown there yet. I hiked up once, wanted to fly, but it just didn't work out that day. But I always heard that a lot of people from Munich go there. But I mean, people from Munich can be fun too. Why is even Braunegg considered a serious mountain?
Munich people can be funny, too. But there are also a lot of older, white gentlemen who take aviation very seriously. And they'll sit at the launch site and fuss around a bit.
Is white the skin color or the hair color?
So, a bit of both.
A stereotypical Munich guy, I'd say. And they're sitting up there at the launch site and Braunegg is now... sometimes it can be a very demanding mountain with exciting conditions. And especially the north start, I'd noticed how it could throw you off a bit at the start, then you'd have a false start and somehow roll halfway down the tree. So it looked dramatic. And then there are three old, white gentlemen sitting up there who just go... well, if you can't start, you don't have to show your face. And then I just thought to myself, hey, go down first. Ask if the person needs help. And then you can talk about whether it was a smart decision to want to start now or not.
Depending on the skill level. But this... I just didn't like the vibe. And I've observed that quite a few times. That's the kind of dynamic from the people there that I don't really like. But there are also so many other mountains where the community is really great and where people support each other and just have fun with it, without taking the whole thing so seriously or being so overanalytical or competitive. I'd rather stick to those.
In that regard, what would be your favorite mountain?
That's a good question.
I can't really answer that for you. I fly in Kössen a lot, simply because it's the cheapest option for me financially. There's an affordable season pass and it's not too far from here. And it's in Austria, where you can train maneuvers more easily, from a jurisdictional standpoint. But there's also a lot of tourism and people who haven't quite... well, haven't quite grasped the vibe there yet. But there's also an incredibly great community on-site. And I really enjoy flying with the people there. The atmosphere is always good. It's fun. You support and motivate each other. I think that's also very important.
But couldn't that maybe also be due to the fact that you have friends you fly with there? And they have a good vibe. They all meet up in Kössen. Then you have your community and you say, they're fun. And right next to them, maybe, are those three older gentlemen. You just don't notice them because in this case, you basically have a bubble of nice people around you where you can just tune out the comments from others, who might say the same thing if someone pulls off a stupid launch. At least in Kössen, I've also had quite a few muppet-show-like people who are sitting up somewhere on a pedestal, making fun of the people.
That's true. Someone once explained to me how I should launch or lay out my glider. You can find that everywhere, of course. It's probably also the case that we just have a larger counter-community in Kössen, so we can push back a bit, or that there are more young people at the launch site and not just these older guys—yeah, I think in the Bavarian region they call them Krandler.
Are the films you have in Kössen, the ones you make there, are they also mainly fun-centered?
They're mostly concept-free. Most of them just happen in the moment. There are a few things I really film with a specific intention behind them, but that's maybe about 20 percent of my content. And I have so much fun paragliding. So yeah, I'd say they're primarily fun-centered.
You said most of them are conceptless. But when I watch your little films, I don't find them conceptless at all. At least they have a certain consistent narrative style that you have, which also somehow lets you recognize the thinking a bit in the storyline. Where does that come from?
Thanks a lot. I've been trying to shift things a bit over the last few months, moving away from just pretty pictures and fun videos to provide a bit more context and tell a bit more of the story behind it. I actually used to be, to use that term again, a "TV mouse." That's really terrible with the mouse.
Now this term is being flipped in your films. I'm sorry. No, please keep using it.
Not at all. I just found it kind of funny, ironic at the time, and thought, that's just how it is. Especially when you put it into context. The first video I uploaded with it was something like, Hey, I'm Sophie. I'm not a running mouse or a racing mouse. I'm actually mostly flying, so a flying mouse. And that's sort of how it came about. Yes, but back to the topic. I've actually worked in the media and television sector for a very long time and worked as a TV journalist and producer until before Covid. That means I have a professional background in storytelling, and since Covid, I've been more in an analytical project management office job, also in the media sector.
But that's the thing, it's not creative. You can find creative solutions, but I do miss the whole thing I used to do with producing TV reports and telling stories a bit, and I've transferred that into my private life and my hobbies to some extent. That's why it's such a great compliment that you gave me, that my reels also have a bit of context and let a bit of a storyline be recognized.
Yeah, they have a certain professional touch, though I wouldn't go so far as to say they're filmed with a super professional camera or anything. So, there's that element, but you can tell that someone actually took a moment to think about it—like knowing how to place certain cuts or, above all, how to handle specific things. They're not long, these little clips, so what can you actually tell in two minutes or one minute? But it's not just... just some stupid rambling into the camera, but it actually fits with the corresponding visuals.
Yes, thank you very much. It's always such a balancing act between it just being a hobby and me—I mean, the videos are made on the side, and the story maybe a bit afterwards, when I'm not currently flying, and then I sit down and say, okay, I'm going to tell you something about it. Exactly, but I don't have such high quality standards for myself either, which is why it's rare that I... I'm not even really out there with a proper professional camera for my private stuff. But it's a very good balance that I think I've found for myself.
Your channel is called Miss So Fly, or I don't know how you exactly pronounce it, but why that title?
That's also a good question. So
That's also a good question. So I don't always worry about so many things beforehand. Somehow the mis... You can already tell, I
I don't always worry about so many things beforehand. Somehow
You must have realized that. You typed it in like that on Insta at some point.
Exactly, I was called Miss Sophie for a long time, with a Y over the i—we all know it, I think, Dinner for One, Miss Sophie. And I don't know how people choose Instagram names. They just happen, you take something that's available, and at some point I realized that instead of Sophie, you could also use So Fly because it sounds so similar. It's like the name is in there. Flying fits. So Fly is, I think, also a bit... that's like an English expression for, yeah, it's fresh and cool and laid-back. Exactly, and then I changed it somehow and I've been called that ever since.
The "Miss" at the beginning, do you take that as "the woman" or is "Miss So Fly" more like... It could also be, I miss flying so much. So, it was kind of a "think through the chest into the eye" kind of thing.
I think it's good that it can be interpreted that way. I haven't really thought about it yet. Yeah, why not? It's a very ambiguous... name, at any rate.
How often do you miss flying?
Oh, especially very often, or generally.
I currently have a minor leg injury and I find that you always notice a bit how dependent you are on that mental balance. So, I haven't been able to go for many walks or be out and about in general over the last few weeks. But above all, flying and not being in the air. And I actually miss that more than I thought. Yes, quite often, especially right now.
A plane crash? And
...walls too. Was that? No, no, nothing. I don't want any rumors starting either. My colleagues at work, I came back from my annual leave and had... Well, it's just a muscle tear, it's nothing dramatic. But it takes a little while to recover. And my colleagues saw me right away with this nice orthopedic shoe. And then... Everyone, I mean everyone asked, like, hey, did that happen while paragliding? And then I didn't do anything to stop the rumors.
Actually, the flying thing is a bit of a topic at my work, because I have to say, not everyone really understands it.
Do they not understand that you go flying at all because they say it's too risky? Or do they not understand how much time you put into it? Or what is it they don't understand about it?
So it's obviously a completely different life reality. Many people... don't understand that. I have many colleagues for whom the most exciting thing they do on the weekend is go to the playground with their kids. And that's great, it has its place. But that's just not how I spend my weekend. And I actually had some tough discussions with a colleague of mine because I actually tore my ACL while flying two years ago and then had a bit of... yeah, well... Then you have about four to six weeks of rehab and some time off, you get surgery. And the colleague told me very, very clearly that he can't deal with me flying a paraglider.
That it's a sport for him where you take calculated time off. And if he had known, or if he had had a decision in the company about whether I should work there or not, then he wouldn't have hired me—he even said I should have communicated that beforehand. And I found that quite harsh. Because I think... well, I believe paragliding is still not a risky sport if you ask the insurance company. And I don't live to work, I work to live my life. My comparison... the colleague also has a child. That you shouldn't hire people just because they have children.
He didn't find that so funny anymore. And I'm thinking, that's basically the same thing. You also take calculated risks. Your child gets sick. And I have to say, I felt a bit discriminated against as a paraglider pilot.
But most of my colleagues think it's cool and they're into it too. And I've already asked if I can take them along for a tandem.
Do they watch your little films too? Like, do they follow you on Instagram and watch Missaufly? Where was she off to again? What kind of flight adventures did she have last weekend?
Sometimes, sometimes. I actually had a bigger meeting once where I explained what Infinity Tumbling is. I think that took people out of their everyday reality a bit and, I don't know, broke the ice in the meeting a little. That was cool, but most of them don't follow me. But I actually always had to be careful about what I share and what I don't.
By now, you've reached a certain level of recognition with your channel. I just checked again, and there are nearly 30,000 followers listed there. Do you have any idea if that's about 20,000 paragliders and 10,000 others? Or how is that distributed? And to what extent are you, in a way, basically doing marketing for paragliding? Are you perhaps advantageous for the scene because of that?
That's funny you say that. I find that these nearly 30,000 aren't real in my head. It's a very abstract number. I was once in a stadium where, I don't know, 10,000 people fit in. And then you think to yourself, huh, wow, three times as many people are following me. It's a super absurd number. And I don't feel like an, what's the word? Influencer or something. If I did, I'd describe myself more as a content creator. But yeah, there are already very many pilots, male and female, who follow me. I always notice that through the interaction or when people write me messages.
And sometimes, when someone follows me, I'll take a quick look at their profile. And sometimes it's really cool people following me. Like some hardcore skydivers who do stunts or people who jump off bridges. And I always think, wow, you guys are so cool. And then you follow me and find what I'm doing interesting, I always find that really cool. And I think I've already motivated a few people to go paragliding. Like, because you asked about being a marketing ambassador for paragliding. I sometimes get messages from women who say, yeah, they thought about starting. Starting. And then they didn't dare.
And then they saw the videos and really enjoyed them or got the urge to go get their own license. Sometimes it's from men who already got a license once and then say, yeah, years later I've got the desire to fly again because of your videos. That's really cool. And that's obviously a very good reach in this scene, probably. And especially a very potent focus group, if we're talking in marketing terms, if I may put it that way.
Well, you have these 30,000—if you imagine them in a stadium, you'd say that's an incredible number of people who might be following you. Yeah. Does that mental image, or just that number alone, which you can see has grown—at the beginning you had a few hundred, then a few thousand or something—has that changed your approach to your own flying in any way?
Not really. Not really, because online is somehow a different world for me. After all, it's still mostly just me hanging under the glider making some videos. And that's still how it is for me. Although, this past year, it happened to me from time to time that people actively approached me, saying they know me from Insta and from my account. That actually influenced me a bit, because... how can I put it, I started paying a bit more attention to starting off clean, because you get the feeling that you have to somehow meet an expectation.
Though it's actually nonsense, because most of what I upload are some kind of fails or just that human side of flying, and that not everything is always perfect. That's why I don't really have any expectations I have to meet. But somehow you're... And then you still find it weird.
Then you actually shouldn't become too perfect, otherwise you'll run out of footage.
That's true, that's true. I actually haven't had any major fails since I tore my ACL. And I thought to myself, man, I don't know if I've become more cautious, but for bad footage, that's really an issue. Like, I slip at the launch site and roll. That hasn't happened to me that often lately, and those are great videos—I mean, they look good when they're distorted.
Are you actually making any money with Insta yet?
No, I don't. I mean, I don't put enough effort into it, I'd say. I've heard that people with smaller accounts make good money. So yeah, like I said, I don't put in the effort. But it's also an exciting niche. As for paragliding, I don't think there's that much money in it. I don't think there's that much money in the entire industry. You'd probably have to look around a bit at some general outdoor gear manufacturers and sell them a bit of airtime. Yeah, but no, unfortunately not. I've had one or two product deals in the past. I was really happy about that, but not making real money. And I got a bit of a discount on two pieces of gold gear.
That was the best thing I've achieved so far. Yeah.
That's why, at least now you're featured as a photo model in a Wodi Valley advertising campaign with a
or two
different harnesses. How did that happen? Did it have something to do with your channel, or was it more of a coincidence? Were you at the launch site and a photographer said, "Hey, I need some photos of you, do you want to slip into one?"
No, unfortunately not really. It's still my biggest dream that someone will just approach me on the street or at the launch site and say, "Hey, you look cool. Do you want to join?" No, but I've been in contact with Wodi Valley for a few years and, as I said, they gave me a bit of a discount on two gold items. In return, I made them a few Instagram Reels. It was a good deal for both of us, but I'd always told them, "Hey, you guys do professional shoots too. If you ever need someone, feel free to ask me." And after mentioning it several times, it finally worked out. And it was a totally great idea. It was a really exciting experience to stand in front of one of Detlef's professional cameras and just do a professional shoot, especially as a model.
I know that feeling from my time in TV production, being on the other side of things, but actually being in front of the camera was a different story altogether. Did you like the photos?
Yes and no. I mean, they're the classic, clean outdoor photos. Great weather, great bathrooms. Great panorama, nicely styled hair, and everything else is just shiny. But honestly, I like the real Insta pictures you post more; that's definitely more you. That was my impression of them.
Oh, that's true, yeah. But that's a different medium. Like I said, I don't have any quality expectations for my Instagram content; you can just be your authentic self there. And in that case, it was really an advertising campaign that also appeared in, I think, the DHV magazine, where they run ads and then review the products online. That's why it's a bit different in terms of character, but I, yeah, I'm okay with it. Of course, it's also about the product and not about me, so it fits. I mean, they didn't hire me because I have almost 30,000 followers on Instagram, but simply because they needed models.
On social media, like on Insta where you have your channel, there's always the problem of these haters who leave stupid comments and stuff like that. How often do you experience that?
I have a super lovely bubble on Instagram. I don't experience that very often. Funnily enough, when I notice the first one or two hate comments coming in, I always think, "Yeah, the reel is successful now." Because it reaches people outside of my bubble, the circles I usually move in, and somehow another circle of people. So when something like that happens, I always find it remarkable what people get upset about.
And what is that, for example?
So, I once had a video where I was talking to myself in the air somehow, and then this guy came along like, yeah, do you want to, like, basically just fly and shut up. And not somehow disturb. And I was like, hey, chill out, I'm on my own base. Like, how did I disturb you with that? You don't have to watch it if you're not interested. And I had a video of Dani and me, where I do a wingwalk on her. Like, sliding my feet along her glider. And then people sometimes wrote underneath, ah, I hope we never meet in the air. And if you did that to me, I'd kill you. Like, really, really harsh stuff.
So I thought, hey, I don't think we're going to meet in the air. And I wouldn't do that with some random person either. And yeah, it's interesting what kind of need to express themselves people sometimes have on the internet. Or people, like, a lot of men plan it too sometimes. I'm currently uploading a bit more camper content because I just moved into my van full-time. Just a few months ago. And now I also catch, sometimes, a different type of people who then explain to me how a heater works and how I should handle my gas cylinders and stuff. And that's interesting.
Yeah, I have to see how I handle that. With some people, I just think, yeah, okay, I read your comment. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. There were two times when I actually deleted comments. Because there's a real term for that on the internet—for people who just hate randomly and want to express themselves. And I thought to myself, hey, this is still my safe space here on Instagram. And yeah, I usually leave all the comments up. But I'm not your platform for you to express yourself and just spread hate. You're welcome to do that on your own channel, but I don't want to provide a platform for it here.
Are they
Are those the ones leaving the hate comments? Or the ones giving you so many tips? Have those always been men, or are there women involved too?
No, I mean, I hope I'm not saying anything wrong. But it's, I don't know if it's 100 percent, but definitely 95 percent men. Unfortunately.
Do you experience that too at starting lines? Like, when you get comments or something, that it's actually always men who want to explain something to you or whatever?
True, yeah. Women have a more relaxed approach to it. I think they know themselves what it's like to be a woman at a launch site.
No, it's mostly men, if anything. Although I have to say, I think because of Instagram and the fact that the account has become a bit more well-known, people trust me more. I've actually noticed that. So maybe I'm just imagining the dependency. No, but since I've had a bit more reach on Instagram, the attempts to explain the launch site have decreased. It still happens every now and then, but not with the same regularity as it used to be.
So, does that mean you've earned the respect of the men, or have you made money from Insta?
Yeah, or generally in the glider scene, which is actually total nonsense, because we've talked about it. I primarily upload fails, and always when things don't go well. That's why I don't know why people assume that I manage on my own, because obviously I don't.
But no, it's actually like, apparently having a lot of followers on Instagram is proof that you can fly well, which isn't true at all. Yeah, but it's interesting how that works in some people's heads.
How well do you fly from your perspective?
Who should I compare myself to?
No, I don't want a comparison. How well do you fly from your perspective?
I fly okay.
That's why the question of comparison comes up. It's always a question of what your surroundings are like. I'd say my dad flies too, but he's a real vacation pilot. He can take off and land, but he has no routine. He flies in a plane three times a year. Then he has vacation and maybe flies another five times somehow on a slope in the lowlands, but otherwise, he doesn't fly much. Compared to him, I'd say I fly very well. The people I hang out with are all ultra intense and very admirable. Compared to them, I fly super badly. That's why I'd say I manage just fine in the air.
I have fun, I can definitely take off and land. I can also manage to stay up there if I want to. Yes.
Isn't that a bit... isn't that a bit of an understatement? I think I've already seen you fly Infinity-Tumbling. And probably at most less than one percent of classic paragliders can do something like that. So, you have to have a certain skill level too. Or would you say it was completely by chance?
Yes and no. Well, that was my 2025 side quest. I live for side quests and for small challenges. And at some point, I started with maneuver training. And back then, Infinity Tumbling was such an absurd thing where I thought, hey, I'll never manage that. Only hardcore people do that. And in early 2025, something in my head shifted a bit, where I thought, hey, actually the maneuver is relatively simple. So sure, you need the balls in my case to catapult yourself over the glider. But in terms of the skill level required for Infinity Tumbling, you have to consider many things and you have to be aware of the risk.
But it's not that technically demanding. And I still can't do it. I just tried it now and yeah, I happened to land in there because you just asked. Sometimes I hit the direct entry so well that I landed straight into the infinite. But I still can't do the maneuver. That's why learning how to correct it—how to get out of it—is on the list for this year. I think it's a bit of both. It's a lot of training, a lot of flying, a lot of practice. And that's how the skill develops. But I wouldn't say I'm overly talented. I just enjoy being in the air and practicing.
That doesn't look like a lucky answer.
That has nothing to do with luck or lack of luck at all. It was more that I was concentrating on thinking about the next question. I don't think that has anything to do with... What does that have to do with your explanation?
So, I'd say, just to get to your next question briefly as well. If I, I got my license in 2018. If I had known back then that I'd be flying Infinite at some point.
Well, I wouldn't have believed that. That would have been really far from my reality. And when you look at it that way, it's actually crazy how far I've made it.
What did you do to get this far? Is it just a lot of flying? Like, do you go every weekend, fly wherever you can, head to Kössen or somewhere else and say, "I have to fly now," and even during the week, if you can still take the afternoon off, are you out there again? Or how does that look for you?
Yeah, pretty much. It actually involves an insane amount of flying. And I've done it gradually. I think if someone flies ambitiously—we all know this—life starts to adapt to the flying a bit. Of course, at the beginning, your circle of friends changes. You surround yourself with people who are just as enthusiastic about flying as you are. You start getting a camper, then you're sleeping in the bus at the airfields on weekends. You go to courses and further training that focus on flying. And eventually, you end up like I did, living full-time in the camper and trying to get into the air every spare minute you can manage.
Since we're on the subject of the camper. Full-time. That means you don't have an apartment anymore; you only live in the camper.
How did you come to this decision? I mean, owning a camper and saying, okay, I can go anywhere every weekend and stay there overnight, that's one thing. But the other thing is really saying, I'm giving up my apartment and living in the camper now. So why did you decide to go that far?
Living full-time in a camper has always been a big dream of mine, actually. Over the last few years, I had a small, cute old police Sprinter that I traveled in a lot, spending all the weekends and sometimes even weekdays in it, so over the last few years—especially in the summer—I maybe slept in my apartment once a week, and otherwise the apartment was like a big storage room. And then it was actually the next logical consequence to say, hey, I don't need this apartment. I've had this dream for a very long time to try out what it's like to live full-time in a van like that. I'm just going to do it now, I'm going to go through with it, and then I have all the excuses and...
reasons that have kept me from doing it until now. To look at them individually and see if they're actually reasons or just excuses. And then I actually got a new camper. I said, okay, for what I'm paying in rent now, I can also finance a camper. It's a total upgrade from the Sprinter I had before, by the way. I have a shower now, I have heating, a toilet, everything. I even have an air fryer in here.
Yeah, and then. Then I decluttered my apartment, went very minimalist in terms of, at least, the things you need in life. You don't need much. So I might need two to ten gliders, but otherwise, it's really not much that you actually need to live. And then I moved into this camper full-time last May and haven't regretted it since. It just made my life much better. I have way less stress because I don't have to go somewhere every time, having to drive for a long time. I always have everything with me. Yeah, it's really great.
And sure, there are a few limitations compared to living in an apartment. But they are totally worth it. For me, the advantages outweigh the downsides. And I mean, I'm even in there a bit during the winter now. Before that, I was a bit afraid it would get cold. Right now, I think it's minus three degrees outside or something. But it works too. I just have to change the gas cylinder a bit more often. That's it. Yeah, it was the best decision I made in 2025, I think. Besides the idea of learning Infinite.
Does it also end up being cheaper for you financially? I mean, is living in the camper cheaper than having a rental apartment and then maybe a smaller car or something else?
For me, it is. I'm actually looking at the costs right now, because I did some "girl math" and said, okay, what I was paying in rent—that was about 1,000 euros a month in Munich alone—I'm now paying off the camper instead. That's why my expenses have stayed relatively the same. But in the end, I own the camper. And it's not like rent, which just disappears forever. And at a certain point, I think, it's an investment. It's an asset because, theoretically, I have the resale value of the camper. It feels better. So even if there's not more or less in the account because of it, it's a much nicer expense to be financing something of your own.
Did you ever have to take the camper to the workshop?
Actually, no. That was also a reason, for an oil change that has to be done as standard. But nothing has happened yet. That was also a reason, sort of, for me to get a new vehicle. To be able to say, hey, I have a warranty on this. Everything is probably fine. My Sprinter had always had a few problems towards the end of its life. And when you live in it full-time, of course, there's a certain risk that the van suddenly breaks down, is no longer drivable, or in the worst-case scenario, is a total loss.
I imagine that would be interesting too. Even if you say it doesn't have to be a total loss. But you get somewhere and they say, oh, there's something wrong, the fan belt or whatever. And we can't get the spare part immediately. So that takes at least four days or something. And then you always have to say, okay, I'm leaving my home with my mechanic now. And well, we'll have to see. Do I go to a hotel or do I go to a friend's place or somewhere else?
So I have a budget in my account for cases like that. Yes, I've factored that in. But you can always talk to people. And I think to myself, these aren't all big problems anyway. So you find solutions for things like that. I actually find that great about flying, too. This is a bit of a transition, I know. But people don't have real problems anymore. They stress out at the airport if the flight is delayed, or the car is broken and has to go to the workshop, and then they have so much stress. And they get upset. And I think to myself, hey, these aren't real life-threatening problems. So even I, who have my whole household in this car, even if something happens with it, it's not a drama.
You find a solution for it. There are solutions for everything.
You linked the transition with flying a bit. How does that connect to flying for you now?
I think flying can be, it's very real. So you... You just have yourself and a few lines attached to some cloth. That's a way, I believe, a very, very
...really to live. Very, I can't express it well right now. I don't know if you know what I'm getting at. This, it's just a real situation. And if I have a problem in the air, that's also one, that's a thing where you can actually get scared. Or where you can say, hey, this is now really something life-threatening, where something can go wrong. But, well, that would stress me out much more or at least occupy me much more than if I were to say, okay, my car has to go to the workshop.
So flying makes you more relaxed in everyday life?
Yeah, I do. I think so. So, aside from it being a great mental balance, I get much less worked up in everyday life, yeah. Because I just think, it's not all that bad.
What's been the worst thing you've experienced while flying so far, where you thought, oh, that was intense?
Oh, ha, I'm very defensive. I always try to level up very, very carefully. But I actually had my first rescue, which didn't go so well. I made quite a few wrong decisions beforehand, which then led to me throwing my rescue, and I did it very poorly too. It wasn't ideal.
Was that also during aerobatics?
Yeah, exactly. It's funny because I don't really see myself as an aerobatic pilot either, but at some point I started practicing maneuvers. Should we do the loop-de-loop still? It's actually a funny story how I
how I got into aerobatics.
Anyway, we can still do three loops.
How did you get into aerobatics? Now, for an official question about that.
At the end of 2021, I did an SIV training at Lake Garda. Before that, I hadn't done much with maneuver flying. And the SIV training wasn't exactly exciting either. But that was right before Neverending Summer started at Lake Garda. And that is—I don't know if you know it—it's like a season-ending festival.
All the aerobatic pilots meet up again and do a fly-out.
Exactly, exactly that. And doing a flight and actually doing quite a bit of nonsense in the air.
And aside from the super cool people I met there, doing that nonsense in the air really impressed me. I was hanging there as a passenger on a tandem doing a D-Bag. I don't know if D-Bag is a term for most people.
That's a bag that the glider is packed into, and then you just release one, whatever it is, a fastener, and you fall downwards. And the glider zips out and opens in flight.
Exactly, it looks like a bag, like a paraglider is being born. Super, super cool story. And I was hanging there as a passenger, looking at it underneath me, and I thought, hey, I want to do that too. It looks totally cool. And Tobi, who I flew with back then, said to me, hey, I'll do that with you, yeah, but you have to learn stalling first. Because just... having the rescue as a second option if something goes wrong, or as the only option if something goes wrong, that's a bit too little. But if you learn stalling and you can stall, then I'll take you with me. And then that was my goal for the 2022 season, learning stalling. And that's a bit like what I meant, I'm so driven by side quests.
I never really had that big goal; I never had the goal of flying Infinite back then either. I just wanted to fly this D-Bag because it looked funny. And then in the spring of 2022, I spent a lot of time at Lake Garda and ruined the whole height with stalls. I mean, honestly, it wasn't fun at all.
But I have a goal in mind: I want to eventually jump out of the D-Bag.
Exactly, exactly. And then I kept getting unhooked from it. I mean, really, I don't know how many Theo-de-Blick tutorials you've watched, but he always makes it look so easy and says, "Hey, you see, it's easy and flyback is your safety position." I'm thinking during all that, how can this flyback, this flight state, ever feel safe? The glider is just fluttering over you.
...forward and back, forward and back, and all sorts of other stuff. And you're saying, I can't seem to get a clean flyback.
Not at all. Even if it was clean, it didn't feel good. Which is also interesting, how reality changes like that. Because now, when I'm practicing maneuvers and somehow feel like something isn't right with my glider, I also have Theo in my ear and think, oh yeah, Flyback is your safety position, go into the Flyback, and that's cool. But in 2022, I never would have thought that I'd always reach such a point in my life. Well, in any case, I learned stalls then. Then we did my D-Bag on my birthday. And that was ultra funny and cool. It worked great too. So I didn't have to do a stall or throw the rescue. And then my... my season goal was sort of already over. Well. And then in 2023, I was at Lake Garda with other friends and also tried out one or two Akkuschirme in the winter.
Exactly, then I happened to get an Akkuschirm, which is a story in itself, but to get back to my reserve throw. It all went a bit poorly, let's just say. I actually wanted to get a harness with two reserves first, because that's safer. Then this Akkuschirm just happened to be cheap somewhere, so I got it and went back to Lake Garda with it. I had already flown a few helis on another Emily before, and they worked really well. And on the weekend I was at Lake Garda, I'd had a skiing accident a few days before; I hit my head really hard on the ski, maybe had a slight concussion, flew the first day, landed, and my vision went black, so I said, okay, I'm not flying.
And then the next day I thought, I want to fly helis again, I have my own Akkuschirm now, and I went out, but I had no understanding at all of what the glider does and how it's supposed to work. I let it oscillate extremely. Like I said, I wasn't really fit either. That means my reactions were way too late and wrong. And then I got into a memory, into a twisted sat-auto rotation, then threw my one rescuer—since I didn't have an acro harness yet—and threw it right into the lines and into the twist. And then I was in a sat-auto rotation where the rescuer was hanging in the glider. And that was really, that was a situation where I thought, okay, this is just stupid.
I then, yeah, well, that's, I also thought about that for a very long time. Everything went well, by the way. I then grabbed the lines, pulled the rescue [parachute] out, it opened up, and I landed safely in the water. But that was one of those things where I thought, that's why I'm giving this long preamble, I really made a lot of stupid decisions beforehand. Like, flying with only one rescue [parachute]
to ignore that maybe slight tremor and just say, I'm getting out of here. Plus, a lot of the maneuver understanding. So there were really, there were really many things where I could have made better decisions. And I've been trying to do that ever since, generally when flying and also in life, just to think a bit more ahead and maybe not just live for the fun of it. That was a very big detour just about how I got from the agro-flying back to that critical situation. But
that's how it is with flying sometimes. You do big loops, sometimes small loops. What actually gives you satisfaction when you're flying? What is it?
Hmm, a lot. When it comes to that, I think I'm very simple. I get incredibly happy about every sunset I see from the air. And it doesn't have to be a spectacular flight. If I'm just hanging out in the air over Lake Garda or here in the alpine region and watching the sun set in these incredibly beautiful colors, that gives me so much satisfaction. And yeah, that... achieving side quests, of course. Like when a maneuver works out well or I just have cool experiences. Or something like that wingwalk with Dani or something. Or a funny situation at the start.
So for me... I don't get satisfaction from just flying for a long time or from achieving something that others would find intense. I'm more of a "moment" person.
So you're not much of a long-haul flyer either, because you say you don't want to fly for a long time or anything like that, but
rather a
a bit of adrenaline for now, and then you can gear up again and somehow tackle the next side quest.
I'm in my early 30s now and I always think to myself, yeah, I can still do cross-country flying at 50. Whether I can still do aerobatics then, I don't know. But I do... I mean, sometimes I do fly cross-country and I enjoy that too. I like the variety in flying. I like that it's really so diverse—that you can completely destroy yourself in the air while practicing maneuvers, but that you can also just go for a few hours like this, or really go cross-country and cover a very, very long distance with just a single cloth over you. Yeah, but I haven't flown the extreme cross-country routes yet.
But you've also been to Colombia for cross-country flying, if I saw that correctly.
Yeah, that was also... Yeah, I... I thought, I'll give the whole thing a chance. It was very, very funny and cool. But of course, I also had, yeah, my learnings. I mean... I have to say, as a woman, it's always really an issue, how do you stay in the air for a long time and take care of your bathroom breaks.
That's why, I think that's also something that bothers me about long-haul flights—that I still haven't found a good solution for myself.
You have to find a way to miss the -OP then.
Yes, I think there actually is one, it's called something similar. It's called Sheepie, I think. But you've never tried it, have you?
or am I?
No, not yet, but a few other things. The thing is, like I said, I'm not some hardcore long-distance pilot, and I think to myself, when you... So, there are a few things that I think you have to piece together in a complicated way and really... I mean, it takes a bit of time to prepare and it's a bit of an act. And I'm never quite sure,
so, if you end up on the ground after 20 minutes, is it always kind of a wasted effort? But like I said, I haven't really tried it intensively yet.
But maybe you don't always end up on the ground after 20 minutes. And if you set a side quest for yourself, like I want to fly for five hours straight, maybe you'll get there eventually. Speaking of side quests, I wanted to ask about that because you said that's kind of your thing, always setting yourself these tasks. Do you believe that right now...
First of all, you, but maybe also generalized. Do you think that with these side quests, it's actually meaningful for making progress? Because you said, okay, I wanted to do a D-Bag. That was my side quest. But then it goes, yeah, for that you first have to learn Infinity and so on. And with that, you've bitten your way through something that you actually... I didn't have any fun doing it. I spent hours dismantling it and did the whole height with full stalls. But I didn't have any fun.
And I think that's very dependent on the individual. You have to know what motivates you and how to motivate yourself. And of course, it's a question of whether you have a goal in mind. That's why, for example, if you start flying now and say I want to learn Infinity, there's a good way to get there. You have your maneuvers that you can do, and you can do them relatively quickly. Especially if you're a 17-year-old Frenchman, they always manage to get there in what feels like four months. But you can get there relatively quickly.
But I think most paraglider pilots aren't 17-year-old French guys anymore.
Yes, that's true. That's true. For me, the thing is, I never... I never had a real goal when it comes to paragliding. Like, a big goal. I didn't start paragliding to... do something specific. That's why these side quests work so well for me. Infinite was, in principle, or is in principle, also like a side quest, because at some point I thought, hey, it's actually not that complicated. And I can probably learn that too. This approach works great for me. These are small, defined goals where I know how to get there. And that's how I make progress as a pilot.
Isn't having fun actually a big goal too?
Because you said I don't have big goals and all that. And then you always think, yeah, the big goals, I have to do the 100, I have to do the 200 or something like that. But isn't it actually great to be able to say, okay, if at the end of a season I could say, I don't know, I did 100 flights and I can say about 98 of them, hey, I had fun. That's actually a great result.
Totally. So that's true. For me, that's also... that's the... the vision behind it.
But yeah, that's of course... it can be defined very broadly, what having fun in the air means. That's why I think small milestones are good. But yeah, that's sort of why I fly and what I always look for. Even when I'm making videos or if I'm in a situation that might be a bit critical, I think to myself, hey, the main goal is... it's having fun and it's cool. And if it's just something that potentially isn't fun, that's dangerous or something, then of course that's the reference to say, hey, is it worth it? Does it need to be? Yes, fun... So for me personally, fun is my metric.
Do you have fun flying, Lucian?
I'd say that's definitely one of my metrics. I mean, there are many things, they're always like little tasks, actually. With every flight. So I always want to take off as relaxed as possible and I want to land as precisely as possible. And I actually always set that for myself as—if you want to call it a side quest or whatever—as a little task. And when I say, I want to... Well, there are really things where I say, okay, I'm going to stop flying now, so I'm trying to stay up there. I'm going to land now. That I then really consciously say, okay, that's my landing point and I want to hit it as well as possible, not just crash down, but so to speak... fly into that exact point as cleanly as possible. And those are always like little fun quests that I give myself, and that's how I have fun with it.
Do you sometimes need that too, when you... I think you test an incredible amount of gliders for your blog and everything. Is how much fun I'm having something you take into account there? Yes, for you, the line between what's work and what's... a hobby and fun, it gets very blurred.
Do you enjoy doing things like that, like testing gliders?
In any case. Or do you
Do you find it fun?
No, well, testing gliders is a lot of fun because there's always something to figure out, like how this thing actually works. And especially back in the day, for a while, I'd sometimes get new gliders and think, oh my god, it doesn't work the way I want it to or it doesn't fly the way I want it to. And it's a terrible glider. And then at some point I realized, no, it's playable. The fun is actually figuring out how I can still have fun with this glider or still fly well. And then at some point realizing, ah, it's on me that the glider isn't flying so well. I just have to fly it differently. Of course, there are still differences where you can say you can't turn every simple glider into a Mercedes or I don't know what. But still, it's often the things where you first say, ah, it's not working quite right, that are actually just a matter of technique, how you do it accordingly.
With Akku, there are probably more limits where you'd say there are some things a glider really can't do well, or you'd have to exert so much force or force it so much, that makes it more difficult. But for normal flying—I don't do Akku, what I do is already interesting. Yes, and the challenge of getting the fun out of such gliders, saying that it works, that it's also fun. What's also fun, or what I find fascinating again and again, is especially when you fly more and also fly many different gliders that are sometimes so different in terms of performance, that you eventually notice, ah, you have this basic gut feeling that even with a new glider that's brand new, if you say I want to make a precision landing, that you have a relatively—not automatically, but relatively good—gliding angle feeling.
you get relatively quickly. That's great, yeah. And it's not about saying, oh, with this glider I'm now 30 meters too short or with the next one I flew 30 meters too far or something, but that it's possible. And that's also fun when you realize, hey, I think I've gained quite a bit of experience by now.
Yeah, that's also great, such positive feedback indirectly, that you're like, hey, what I've been doing all this time has really helped me progress. Yeah, incredibly cool. Look, it's all a mindset question—how I perceive things. And not so much what you actually do. Yeah, that's great.
Speaking of fun, I have one more question, especially about Colombia. I heard a story that you supposedly landed on a drug farm during a cross-country flight. How much fun was that, then?
That was actually the coolest story from Colombia. I was, well, I was alone, I mean, I'd made plans with someone I only knew through Instagram. And then the two of us traveled around Colombia a bit. But we were without a flight school and without a guide and everything. So, it was a bit of a solo adventure. And that was, I was in Roldanio on the first day. Have you ever been to Colombia? No,
Unfortunately, no.
There are, well, there are a few spots where all the pilots go. Roldanio is one of them. And I was very naive. I just took off and thought, okay, I'll just try to stay up and fly for a long time. And it went ultra well that day. I very obediently turned every thermal and was in the air forever and did a really great route. Then the next day I thought, it'll be the same again. I took off again and was maybe a bit lazy. I maybe flew into the lowlands a bit too early. I maybe didn't fully turn every thermal because I thought, hey, it went so well yesterday and it probably goes that crazy every day here.
And then I somehow managed to crash-land in the middle of nowhere. Because, yeah, as I said, lack of flight planning, not engaging with the material, whatever. And I looked at Google Maps and the next road was like eight kilometers away or something. I mean, the next big one. And normally in Colombia, people always come by on scooters and stuff, but there it was really in the middle of the pampa. So I packed up my glider and just started walking along some farm tracks that pointed in the right direction. And then I walk past a sugarcane field and hear music. At first, I thought, okay, I hope no pilot crashed or something and landed in the sugarcane field. Maybe he needs help.
I walked around the corner and there was a single house standing in the middle of nowhere. And in front of this house, about 20 Colombians. Shooting at beer bottles with air rifles and having a fat party. I don't know if it was a drug farm. It definitely gave off cartel vibes to me, and well, if you haven't been to Colombia, maybe you wouldn't have been scared, but I've heard so many stories or warnings from pilots on-site that pilots were sometimes killed and their equipment stolen, that really crazy things happen in Colombia and it's not always all so cool.
But I had to pass that house, and then I really went over to the other side of the field path. And like, there's nothing there, it's just... I couldn't really hide, but I was like, hey, please don't look at me, and tried to sneak past, and of course they mocked me, and then one of them came out a bit towards the motorcycle and then... there was an old grandpa sitting in there who stopped everything and was like, come, come here, come in, and like, God, it can't be. I had seen a little baby somewhere, so I thought, okay, maybe the situation isn't quite so dramatic if they have kids there, but who knows, and then I went in and they were just the loveliest people, but like, they then said, no, we're taking you into town.
Don't worry, just sit down for now and have a beer with us. And then I was there for two hours, partying with what were probably Colombian drug dealers. I even had to shoot at beer bottles with an air rifle. Did you hit them? I hit them. Everyone celebrated. There's a very funny video of it. Is that on your channel too? No, it's not. Maybe I'll cut the podcast snippet out now and put the video over it. We'll see. No, what happened after that was actually even more interesting, because there was this Rhinegau woman, she's gone, she was like, wait, wait, wait a second, and then came out with a Glock and pressed it into my hand. So it was a bit of a... like I said, it was a borderline situation.
They definitely had some kind of track going, but they were super nice and friendly to me and I had a wonderful time there. I talked to them—I don't speak Spanish very well, so I mostly communicated with them using my hands and feet—but somehow we talked about football and Shakira, which are topics Colombians love. Yeah, and like I said, they were great and one of them even drove me all the way back to Roldanillo and didn't even want any money. So that was really, that was a super, a super funny, cool situation, but it could have gone completely wrong too. Yeah, that
those are the surprises you can experience when hitchhiking, when you get stranded somewhere and then manage to make contact with people.
Totally, yeah.
Sophie, I have one last question to wrap things up. Now, you live in your van or your big camper, you still work and stuff, so you're still earning money to finance the whole thing. If you didn't have to earn money for your living expenses anymore, because you somehow had enough or something like that, what would your life look like then? What would you do then?
Oh,
That is a super interesting question. I don't ask myself that very often. I do allow myself to dream, but always with a certain weight, with a certain reality filter. What would I do? I think, well, if my situation were like it is now, I would just head out and look at as many launch sites as possible, get to know as many flight areas as possible, exchange a lot of ideas with different people and mindsets, and travel the world a bit. I think that's what I'd do first. Yes, and then find out the different ways of paragliding. I've been thinking about whether I should start with speedflying.
I'd like to get tandem equipment, maybe to share the joy a bit too. Things like that, I think. But I guess that's what comes to mind spontaneously right now. If I think about it longer, I'll probably dream a bit bigger. This sounds very...
But it would still be all centered around flying.
Exactly. That is really the thing that gives me the most in my life right now. Definitely.
Sophie, let's leave it at that. Paragliding is always the thing that gives the most in life. And you center a lot of things around it and show a lot of it—at least your fun. Not just the fun, but also your mishaps or whatever else on your Insta channel, which people can enjoy following, and which I also really like following. It's always entertaining. So people, if you don't know it yet, go check it out. Maybe we'll push it. With this podcast, you'll cross the 30,000 mark. I think you're at 29.6k or something like that, I saw it there. Maybe we can make it happen. Sophie, thanks for sharing. And yeah, the weekend is coming up. I hope the flying weather is at least usable for one day somehow, so that you can once again,
although with your leg it's probably not that bad.
Yeah, that's... I really need to be more responsible with myself. But I actually already checked the flight weather and was thinking—I'm actually doing some math right now on how much wind I need so that I don't have to put too much strain on my foot during takeoff, so that I don't have to run down the slope. And what the maximum wind can be so I don't get too much pulling and pushing movement in my foot. Let's see if the weekend is up for it. Otherwise, I'll be an adult and try to recover from my injuries, even though it's hard. And yeah. I'm not actually supposed to put that much strain on my foot yet.
Alright. Then it's better to recover and do it as a side quest. You build yourself a start cart or something. Anyway, thanks for your story.
Thanks. I wanted to ask if you've ever started with a sled. I was actually just thinking about whether you could just sit on a sled and...
can start the glider. I haven't yet, but I spoke with a wheelchair pilot who also said that starting is actually possible, at least with a bit of wind, and you have the slope where you can roll, where you don't need one that pushes you forward a lot, one that maybe just gives you the initial push,
that starting with a wheelchair is then super easy, because you just roll and the wheelchair automatically adjusts to the speed that the glider actually needs at that moment. And if the glider is at the back and stops you, where a person might run full-on into it and exert more force, then the power of the glider is just enough to stop the wheelchair that far, and when it then comes up slowly, it automatically accelerates slowly forward again because it starts rolling further, so you actually always get those super smooth starts accordingly. And I could imagine the same thing with the sled. You just need the appropriately slanted slope so that the sled can start off on its own, and that it's maybe not quite so steep that the glider constantly slides into the back of the glider because it's not holding onto the snow at the top.
Yeah, but maybe I'll get a wheelchair too.
Or a wheelchair.
I'll think about it. Thanks. So, that makes total sense. Yeah, powerful. I think, yeah. Good. Now you've got me on
got me thinking. I'm looking forward to the next videos. The woman, the "Flugmaus" from the camper, who's starting with a wheelchair now because she has a spot. She
has a
Plastic casing still around her ankle.
Look, I think I've told you several times during our conversation, there are solutions for everything. There's definitely a way for me to get into the air somehow without damaging my foot any further.
You'll find it. Sophie, thank you very much.
Thanks a lot too.
You can find Sophie Peupelmann's Insta channel if you just type the words Miss, So, and Fly with a period between each in the Instagram search. If you enjoyed this episode of Podz-Glidz, then pass the joy along. Tell your flying friends about it, leave a five-star rating on the podcast platform you use, or write a corresponding comment under the shownotes on the Gleitschirm-Blog Blueglides. If you want to hear even more inspiring stories from the cosmos of paragliding, then subscribe to Podz-Glidz in your podcast app of choice so you don't miss an episode. Also, why not become a supporter of my work? On Gleitschirmfliegen.de, under the "Support" section on the Gleitschirm-Blog blueglides.blogspot.com, you'll find all the necessary information and links on how you can continue to provide a basis for this project with a freely chosen, large or small financial contribution.
I want to thank all the supporters. Take off early, land late, fly far. But above all, don't lose the fun in the process. See you soon, your Lucia.