Pioneer Spirit
From barnstormers to vol-bivouacers the sky is wide-open to overnight adventures, from weekend blasts to season-long epics. Ed Ewing packs his sleeping bag
Call it barnstorming, vol-bivouac, aerial migration or simply sky-camping, the idea is perfection. Pack a lightweight tent, a sleeping bag and some coffee and take off destination only vaguely known. Travel by compass, GPS or the sun. Land where you can, camp under the stars, and then take off again in the morning. Either fly home if it’s a weekend trip, or carry on wherever the wind will take you. In this way you are free.
Back in the 1920s in the USA pilots of fixed-wing bi-planes toured the tiny airfields and outback towns of rural USA. They would drop into town, take people for paid joy-rides, and fly out again with a roar. They would sleep under the wing of their planes, drink acorn coffee and count on the generosity of the people they met to get by.
Almost 100 years after the height of such romantic piloting, some of us still hanker after such an adventurous existence. Some of us actually do it.
Heading for the horizon in England. Photo: ben Clowes
Laurent Salinas is a French competition pilot whose latest passion is multi-day flying adventures. He’s planning a big one for later this year. “It’s a bivouac flight from Mont St Michel [in the north] to Collioure near Perpignan [in the south],” he says. “A crossing of France over about 10 to 15 days without assistance.”
“The flight will be over 1,000km long,” he adds, “from the Channel to the Mediterranean.”
He plans to discover rural France “with new eyes” and find hospitality and accommodation at the farms and villages he passes through, “trusting to chance encounters!”
“It is a way to discover the variety of the scenery and of French culture,” he explains. “It promises to be a beautiful mosaic.”
Yes, he says, he expects certain problems along the way, but these, he says, “will make good memories.”
The Unexplored
Laurent, 33, has been flying since he was a teenager and has competed at the World Championships several times as part of the French team. He came second in the World Air Games in Turin in 2009 and has flown around the world as a demonstration pilot, competitor and instructor. As well as paramotoring he flies paragliders, skydives and is learning to fly ultralights. He’s experienced.
And yet vol-bivouac still for him holds a big attraction. “For me it is an aspect of flying that is not yet fully explored,” he says. “And it’s one that can offer unforgettable life adventures and experiences.”
There is still “so much” to discover about our sport he explains, “to discover and imagine in this aspect of our discipline.” Piloting skills, navigation, equipment and decision-making all come together when flying away from home and beyond.
As well as that there is the experience of it all. “The social bonds that can be formed, the new people who I meet, who very often I ask for help in refuelling, in hosting me or even for food.” It is, he says, the adventure of discovery.
Motoring through France on the Raid Montagu Aurillac, a 450km multi-day adventure. Photo: Gavin Zahner/Flyozone.com
You can read the rest of this article, and find out how to go about becoming a paramotor vol-bivouacer, in issue 26 of Paramotor Magazine
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