European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 7, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Photos by Lynda Sparks Mark Bennett left checks out his hang glider at the championships in by Joe Mapother staff writer Idle talk stops As Luigi Chiarani enters the hotel breakfast room that moments earlier resounded with Good natured jibes about the Lack of Peanut its just after in and the National hang gliding teams assistant is about to Brief the team on the most important topic of the Day the for a Navy Seal team member Rich the weather report will Likely mean the difference Between a at the individual world championship and failure to make the approaching weekend Cut from 220 fliers Down to 40 the world of Competition hang gliding has changed during the past Pfeiffer and his fellow fliers have left the single foil kites of Early hang gliding Days behind for double foil wrings equipped with compasses and Battery run instrumentation to measure Altitude and rate of digital altimeters and sensitive Vari meters Are part of world class hang with a hang glider Pilot can soar to feet and travel 150 Miles or More in a despite the Hitech the pilots Are believers in flying by the seat of their we Are the ones who inherited the dream to says american team coach Brian sitting inside aluminium bodies powered by Jet engines is a Pale version of True according to any great hang glider Pilot is a hang glider Pilot by the seat of his Milton but his admiration for seat  was tempered by his Job to discipline the americans straight ahead gliding style to conform to world championship Competition we had to adopt our style to which was a major Milton several observers cited the example of Pfeiffer As a situation where caution would have left him in a competitive the californian outflow the Man Many observers consider the one to beat John Pendry of but the judges awarded Pfeiffer a Zero score for the Days Effort because he landed in West the late Rule change Banning landings outside Austria dropped him from first to the Middle of the pack in his group of 55 teammates Chris Larry Mark Bennett and Rick Rawling half of the american team the weekend Pfeiffer did the americans were holding Down third place by midweek in the Competition which concludes this the weather that morning was not Chiarani began his breakfast dialogue about Cloud wind direction and the al important question of available freezing temperatures would be encountered above two hours and a precarious vow bus ride Pfeiffer was one of a Small army of Birdman meters above mayrhofen setting up in a Snow flecked location above the Alpine thirty eight countries sent teams to this years the Small austrian Host town of Kossen is just Over the a half hours drive from the arc recreation Center at the team is considered Strong this it is one of Only a few teams that arrived Early to practice in the Tricky weather of the surrounding Alpine the team roster is studded with former National champions and runner ups in the world Mark another was the second american flying in Pfeiffer heat last a Sharp cracking sound interrupted Bennetts efforts to stretch tight the Nylon covering the 20foot wings of his one of the Wing an Arrow had assistant team Leader Jeff Burnett began making the rounds of competing teams using similar glider models in an Effort to locate a the mexicans and japanese like the without Burnett settled on using a splint a solution suggested and supplied by the canadians with the australians tossing in some it theres an amazing amount of camaraderie among the said Burnett when asked if it was unusual for championship competitors to help out an there int As much among the politicians that run he Burnett was still smarting from the Pfeiffer the american teams gliders generally Are on loan from stateside they Cost about the accompanying instrumentation and a camera can add another a Good beginners glider and extras can be bought used for about Many team members make a living Selling hang gliding equipment or teaching the but the limited Money available to the team has posed financial said several team love of the sport leads to sacrifices in a Field where prize Money is some 50 Kilometres away on the a Peak above the pilots went off shortly after for 20yearold Chris Bulger it was an Opportunity to build a comfortable Lead Over the other competitors in his sitting on a 125point Lead that Bulger himself was stretched out underneath his glider catching some rest before the Start of a flight that could keep him airborne for five or six the 1983 National Champ said he began flying eight years ago at age but still considered himself one of the new generation of hang often you have pilots up Here refer to their gliders As i have an awfully hard time with that because Kite to me is something on a several american team members said the attention Given hang gliding in past years has people really dont have any idea where the sport is said world championship flying involves assembling the glider and waiting for the Best flying conditions a Pilot May wait for hours before taking the plunge on what could become a flight of 200 Kilometres or Points Are awarded a Pilot for the number of times he covers a triangular the Pilot is required to keep a record by taking pictures of the checkpoints As he flies Over How Well the Pilot flies is largely determined by his wits and the weather he is flying theres a certain amount of in the said but you have to be Able to create that kind of Page 14 the stars and stripes june the stars and stripes Page 15