Dances with Helicopters

Crash Course in Meteorology or Stubai Cup 2004

There are places that do not obey the laws of meteorology, as we have learnt them. Stubai Valley is such a place. A storm of more than 100 km/h at Mount Patschenkofl. Never mind! About 20 km from that stormy area, there are dozens of paragliders in the air at the Stubai Cup.

Mad Mike Küng is among the pilots. After a short time of doing spirals in the foehn, he shows his full Acro programme twice.

Absolute concentration before the show Mad Mike and Thomas Lednik getting on board the helicopter

On Saturday, there was another 100 km/h storm and a blizzard with it. These are perfect conditions to check if the new gliders are any good at deep stall.
At least that’s what manufacturers seem to have thought when they sent their promotion pilots up into the air. And right they were, the gliders glide quite well even though they are covered with snow.

If there is a chance for flying Mike takes it. So he got up to Mount Kreuzjoch. You couldn’t see a thing. But that’s no problem. Markus Gründhammer leads the way. He knows flying conditions in Stubai very well.

let me jump !

“Can you see anything?” Mike cries after flying in the clouds for some time. “No, nothing. Cool, or what?” A short time later, Mike has reached the middle of the valley above the exhibition centre where there are no clouds. Now Mike bursts into activity: Helicopter, AssChopper, Tumblings, the lot. You can see that Mike is enjoying himself with his new smaller Acroglider.

“Now I’m going to fly to Mount Elfer, visibility is better there.” This was true before Mike and Tomas Lednik went up there. Not to worry. So they walked uphill for another 200 m. Up there the wind was so strong that Mike was able to soar a bit above the clouds and then touch down again.

Mike and Tomas waited for a gap in the clouds for about an hour, but in vain. Then they just took off. This time Tomas was Mike’s scout. The Stubai Valley was covered in clouds, almost to the ground. There! Mike appears at the far end of the cloud cover. An AssChopper elegantly turning into a Tumbling, and there he is, Mike, standing at touch down with a broad grin.

Just crazy! Not the normal way to take off

There had been plans to do three helicopter jumps on Sunday. At 11 sharp, Mad Mike Küng, Christian Amon and Tomas Lednik get into the helicopter carrying their meticulously packed gliders.

Dancing in the Air

800 m above the Cup area, Mike climbs onto the skid. “Ready, set, go!” And he jumps down backwards. The glider opens within seconds though there is a strong downwind caused by the rotor. Mike ignites his smoke cartridge and starts writing his latest AcroFigures into the air.

During the last months, Mike has been busy practising. He wants to fly his
manoeuvers without any breaks. He fluently gets from Helicopter to AssChopper, doesn’t break the enormous power of this figure but uses it without any hesitation for Tumblings. It looks like a dance in the air, full of harmony.

Christian and Tomas follow him a short time later. Their gliders also open without any troubles and the two of them perform their show.

Touchdown!

Slowly, it begins to snow. “I can do another jump without any bother!” Mike says and begins to pack his glider again. Mike’s glider opens at once, and the show begins. Mike finishes his show with a perfect ground spiral.

Later, Tomas Lednik got bored with paragliding, and he jumped out of his harness, using a parachute, of course. Shortly after his touchdown, the rest of his equipment got to the airstrip.

Mike and Johanna smiling:Back to Earth

The blizzard got worse. So the third jump was cancelled. Instead Mike took five-year-old “Crazy” Johanna Eller on a tandem flight. Fullstall, WingOver, Spiral. She has definitely got a flyer’s vein.

Hooray! What a crazy event!

A most successful Stubai Cup weekend! Many thanks to the organisers, Monika and Hans-Peter Eller and their Parafly Team, for doing their job so perfectly.

Mad Mike Smiling contently after the Stubai Cup 2004	VideoClip Mad Mikes helicopter jumps (Windows Media Player Format)
	More news , photos and videos at www.dhv.de. MadMikeKüngs Acroshow at DHV-TV SHOW-Clip.

text: Ines SATtler | photos: Frank A. / Hans-Peter Eller