[wingspan33]

Hello Folks,

I haven't been active here in a while but stopped by last night and got into reading Rick Master's PG thread. At the bottom of page 4 Bill Cummings reported on a couple recent hang gliding fatalities. I was personally shocked to see that one of them involved Adam Parer of Australia.

Adam was once a regular on the "org" and I got to know him there. I happened to "PM" him on a number of occasions and he was the type of person you don't forget. He was a GOOD guy! Even though he was on the other side of the world, he made a number of heart felt gestures encouraging me in regard to a couple (potential) projects that I happened to write him about. I have to say that I have had very few close (and local) friends who have been so encouraging.

For those of you who didn't get to know him or meet him, he was an expert aerobatic hang glider pilot - an aerobatic artist, in fact. By profession he was a fireman. As to flying, he was so good at piloting a hang glider that he could have looked down his nose at almost any other pilot - but he did not. Instead, he treated other people and pilots as equals. And my impression was that he wanted (and knew) that he could learn something from everyone.

My personal experience also showed me that Adam positively encouraged those around him (and even half way around the world!) to be the best they possibly could. To not be afraid and to move forward toward that challenging goal. Adam was an exceptional person. I will never forget him.

I'm very sorry to hear he's gone.

S C Wise

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hello Scott,

Thanks very much for sharing that personal perspective on Adam Parer. One of the saddest things about Jack's control of hanggliding.org is that he's silenced your ability to share thoughts like that with the many other pilots you've come to know on that forum. Thanks for taking the time to share it here.

Sincerely,
Bob Kuczewski

[wingspan33]

Bob,

I know that many other pilots on the ".org" enjoyed Adam's (AP's) participation on the site. I do believe, however, that Adam stopped his participation on the ".org" sometime in the last couple/few years. I'm not sure of how many of the current ".org" members would appreciate a "memorial" comment.

[AirNut]

Adam was one of the smoothest fliers that I've seen, and he's posted some fairly amazing and memorable videos over the years.

Here are a couple of my favorites (the first one shows his skills and the second one is just plain scary).



This one features arguably Australia's most aggressive (and pretty scary) creatures. Most of us Aussies have at least one traumatizing memory of being attacked by these guys (and yes, Adam is actually flying backwards at one point).

[wingspan33]

I just found this one -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfwgje35Cl4

Adam was one amazing guy!

[JoeF]

http://tinyurl.com/AdamParerHANGGLIDER

[AirNut]

In many ways, Adam's sheer natural flying reminds me of another Australian great from the early days, Tim Travers (he's an icon in Australia, at least among the old farts).

I knew Tim in the old days and his flying and general antics (for which he was famous) were nothing short of spectacular, if not a little out there (again, a bit like Adam). I hope it's not too out of place in this thread to post Tim's wonderful tribute video (he died of cancer some years back), but it really shows the beauty and emotion of our sport and the heights that a few of us can rise to.

[JoeF]

http://tinyurl.com/TimTraversHANGGLIDER

[wingspan33]

I don't even need to look at the video. I know exactly who you are talking about! The Aussie pilot who could land on a deck rail - then re-launch? LOL Simply AMAZING!

Inspirational even.

[AirNut]

I don't even need to look at the video. I know exactly who you are talking about! The Aussie pilot who could land on a deck rail - then re-launch? LOL Simply AMAZING!

Inspirational even.

Yeah, well he landed on just about everything that was possible to land on. He's the only person who's ever flown off our Harbour Bridge (illegally), getting arrested in the process. I think he got fined something like $10.

I remember one time at Hill 60 he landed on a picnic table where some unsuspecting civilians were sitting and having a quiet lunch. They ended up with salad spread liberally all over the table and themselves as Tim skidded in and then off again These days, you'd be arrested for doing that kind of stuff! We were all a little crazy in those days.