There are plenty of stories to tell about cross-country flying. One person who does this in great detail is Dmitry Balabanov. He reaches a large audience with his elaborately produced videos, which he uploads to YouTube. But it's not just his stories of cross-country flying, often from Roldanillo or Bassano, that he has to tell, there are also other aspects of his flying life that make him an interesting interview partner.
Where can you fly 100 or even 200 XC kilometres? What should I bear in mind? What equipment should you have with you? What skills should you have to fly such distances? How can I plan routes? What tools will help me to find the next thermal in flight? Questions upon questions, which I get to the bottom of in an interview with Ulrich Scheller, an experienced cross-country pilot.
A FAI triangle around the Kreuzeck Group. Start at the most famous take off in southern austria, flying along the river Drau, enter later Möllvalley and back to the Drauvalley.
The Karwendel Triangle - the classic near Munich to fly a 100 km triangle according to FAI rules from Brauneck. I myself have tried it 3 times, but unfortunately have failed early so far. I hope, with good planning, that it will be in 2023.
The flight from the Wallberg, close to the lake Tegernseee, to Koessen is a challenge for XC beginners, or pilots like me which are new in this area. I guess the key point is to cross the Inntal valley, but I think on a good thermal day the task is manageable.
With ThermiXC, Bernd Gassner has provided us paragliders with an excellent tool to plan longer distances. How I want to increase my efficiency in cross-country flying with the help of this website in combination with other sources such as books, YouTube videos, magazines, blogs, etc., I explain in this post.
