Fly Morocco 2011 - Latest hang gliding adventure in Africa set world record
Born from the epic Fly Namibia expeditions of 2008-2010, Fly Morocco is the latest hang gliding adventure in Africa aimed at breaking world records and flying big distance. Organiser Erick Angles will be blogging here for the duration of the expedition
The group of top French hang glider pilots has set up camp in the super dry deserts of Morocco. Armed with trikes to aerotow themselves into the big skies of the Maghreb in Africa they plan to fly for a month. Their goal is simple: World Records!
Basing themselves near Ouarzazate, 75km south east of the Atlas mountains in the sub-Saharan plateau that runs into the main desert itself, the expedition will be the first we know of to try big distance flying in the area.
The terrain is dry and rocky with ravines and escarpments criss-crossing the barren landscape. The airmass is generally dry this time of year, giving high bases and good climbs.
If the flying turns on, big distances could be flown, with even longer retrieves if pilots land in any of the vast tracts of uninhabited land.
Blogging from the sub Sahara for XCMag.com is Fly Morocco organiser and pilot Erick Angles. He will be filing daily reports here as and when he can – check back to this page every day for updates from the edge of the Sahara.
The first ULMs and dollies are built and in place. At the end of the afternoon we made our first flights amongst superb colours. It’s magnificent. It’s just like the moon of Tatooine in Star Wars IV, which is no surprise as it was filmed here. It’s a completely incredible landscape. In Ouarzazate we found the film studios used by George Lucus and visited them on foot as we are in the TMA airspace.
We are in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. The Atlas is right in front of us. Mont Mgoun (4,060m) the second highest peak in the range is only 100km away as the crow flies.
