Videos and articles

Knowledge

To read

• 
  Why do experienced pilots crash on good days?

  What the accident analyses of the Swiss federation (SHV) show, what I went through with my reserve on 30 April 2025 and which three moments we can practise: the day, the collapse, the reserve. The article is in German.

• 
  Climbing efficiently in thermals

  How to climb better in thermals: turn in smoothly, fly an even circle and move it step by step towards the core. With exercises for weak days. The article is in German.

• 
  Practising active flying in autumn

  What you do with the brakes when it gets bumpy. Three axes, two situations and exercises for the calm air that autumn is bringing right now.

• 
  Is that lee or not?

  A crossing over the Lauterbrunnental. How I tell whether there is wind below cloud base, what the cloud can tell you about it and what it keeps quiet about. And why the way back carries the decision.

To watch

• Communication in the air

  2:39 minutes · in German

  How we talk to each other in the air. The button sits on the riser, the outer hand stays on the brake. You listen via bone conduction, your ears stay free. Together it runs over a push-to-talk app (Zello) wherever there is mobile coverage. Where there is none, the radio stays as the backup.

• Spotting thermals with wind drift

  2:42 minutes · in German

  Where the thermal really releases when the wind comes from the side. I show the collector area, that is the slope that heats up. Above it the trigger point. If the cloud sits offset from the edge, the thermal between them stands at a slant. In the video I draw in where you aim then.

To listen to

• Ulligunde (P)lauscht, episode 131 (in German)

  Ulli Gunde invited me onto her podcast. It is about the wind, about Valais and about flying towards four-thousanders. Among other things the crossing over the Lauterbrunnental comes up, which the article above is also about.

  Listen on ulligunde.com