UP team pilot Markus Henninger bid a fitting farewell to his old MERU - with a spectacular week of flying in Bassano, Italy.
What do you do when a paraglider that has provided years of wonderful flights is, unfortunately, slowly reaching the end of its service life? Markus decided to take one last trip to Italy with his MERU - the predecessor to the current MERU 2 (EN/LTF D). Here is his report:
"At the end of October, everything fell into place. The vacation plans I’d made a year earlier for the last week of October coincided with a stable high-pressure system lasting several days over Central Europe, with a slight northward pressure gradient in the Alps. Where do you go if you want to enjoy some great flying to wrap up the season? Bassano, of course! I wasn’t the only one who thought so - many other cross-country pilots did too. So on Sunday afternoon, October 25, I jumped in the car on a whim and raced to Bassano in 10 hours so I could spend the first day - which had been forecast to be good - right away in the air. We were greeted by bright sunshine with T-shirt and shorts weather on the ground. Up in the air, however, it was going to be quite autumnal and cool.
I brought along my 8-year-old MERU, which I still enjoy flying from time to time. After all, UP’s chief checker, Bernd, had trimmed the lines of my oldie - with over 300 flight hours under its belt - “one last time” back in the spring. He shouldn’t have done that for nothing, I thought to myself, and so the MERU came along on the trip, essentially on its farewell tour. We never imagined it would turn out to be such a spectacular one. I logged nearly 20 more flight hours over those few days, and between Cavaso del Tomba and Schio, my MERU got to see everything the Monte Grappa massif has to offer one last time. Who would have thought that at this time of year, cross-country flights lasting more than 6 hours and covering up to 100 km would still be possible? The slight northerly pressure made it possible.
Incidentally, national team pilot Pepe Malecki proved that it’s possible to fly the 100 in Bassano in under 4 hours even at the end of October; flying low with an average speed of just under 27, he showed everyone how it’s done. The airspace was packed, since Bassano seemed to be the only spot offering such cross-country flying opportunities this late in the year. With each passing day, it became clearer which pilot was flying which glider - and whom you’d run into on the cross-country route the next day. I briefly shared thermals a few times with UP teammate Josef Steiner in his MERU, and then I was off again.
Just in time for the end of the vacation, the high-pressure system died down, giving the MERU veteran one last quick cross-country flight on Saturday - so that, like many others, we could land on schedule and head straight by car on the 10-hour journey home to it`s winter quarters… and who knows, maybe I’ll break out the old MERU again 😉."
P.S.: When Markus isn’t flying his “oldtimer,” he’s out and about in the MERU 2, TORRE, or K2 5. Sometimes he flies far beyond the country’s borders to Poland - and when everything falls into place, he might even end up at a spontaneous pool party.