The HG Worlds 2011 at Monte Cucco – Action at launch

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Yesterday, we went up the hill and the pilots set their gliders up. However, cloudbase was very low, and we were not sure whether it would soon start to rain. So setting a task would have been unsafe, and the day was cancelled. Most pilots flew anyway, and some of them were happy to play - which included flying closely over launch at high speed. I will post some videos.

The shock of the day was when we saw a parachute deployment above a paddock just outside Sigillo. It later turned out that the pilot had attempted a wingover, and when after speeding up he pushed the bar out, one of his wires broke, which caused the glider to completely break. He threw his chute and landed on the ground without being injured. The glider is a wreck. Now the theory is that his wires were worn out because he had flown his glider many hours without exchanging them. The manufacturer recommends to change them after about 70 hours of airtime. In any case, we were glad to hear that he was alright.

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