Cloudbase Mayhem Podcast

The Cloudbase Mayhem podcast is where you will find fascinating and educational interviews with the best free-flight pilots in the world. If you fly a hanglider or paraglider, if you fly acro or cross country, the Cloudbase Mayhem podcast is where we glean how the great pilots of the world get there. Hosted by Red Bull X-Alps pilot, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and current holder of the North American foot launch record, Gavin McClurg. Follow me on Instagram @gavinmcclurg or on Facebook @ facebook.com/gavinnmcclurg or Twitter on @cloudbasemayhem.

https://www.cloudbasemayhem.com

subscribe
share






Episode 126- An oldie but goodie with the legend Pal Takats


This week we’re doing our first “rerun” as Gavin is in the field deep in remote Nevada on a major SAR effort to find our good friend James “Kiwi” Johnson, who was recently on the show. We will get caught up with new shows on schedule soon. This is our most popular show to date and we’ve cleaned it up for your listening pleasure. Listen and learn!
Pal Takats began flying 16 years ago in the flatlands of Budapest, Hungary and has since created a career any pilot would envy. One of the first Red Bull acro pilots and the man responsible for many of the current and modern acro combinations (the Joker, Cowboy, Esfera, etc.) Pal does paramotor demos for Red Bull at air races around the world, base jumps in his free time, founded JustAcro.com, flies speed wings, has twice competed in the Red Bull X-Alps (he was 8th in 2009 and 7th in 2017), is an exceptional cross country and World Cup competition pilot but it hasn’t all been a walk in the park to get there. In 2012 Pal had an accident flying a 6M speed wing that put him in a coma and nearly ended his life. Later the same year he demolished his knee cap making a poor decision on landing after a base jump. What can the rest of us learn from his mistakes and how can we eliminate a huge, huge percentage of accidents in our sport? How paragliding schools are missing out on the foundational stuff, the importance of ground handling and how this is leading to way too many accidents. This talk covers a lot of ground. A fascinating discussion with a fascinating, passionate individual.
Show Notes:

* Brief history of Pal’s many, many accomplishments
* Pal breaks the Tandem Infinity Record
* Moving from caving to flying- the inception
* Becoming a professional pilot and making a living from flying
* How not getting into University became a blessing
* Transition from Acro to Cross Country and getting disillusioned with Acro and judging
* Pal’s accidents in 2012, coming back from a coma and the takeaways
* Becoming a Red Bull athlete
* How does media, sponsors and making films affect decision making? What are the bad and good sides?
* How to avoid bad situations and the IMPORTANCE of training
* The IMPORTANCE of groundhandling and where the schools fall short and why the basics are being skipped and how this is failing new pilots
* Where to learn acro, and what wing to start on
* When to move up to a higher aspect wing? Beware!
* How paragliding doesn’t have structured rules across the board and why that’s bad for our safety and our sport
* Highs and lows of the 2017 Red Bull X-Alps

 
Mentioned in this episode: Nik Hawks, Red Bull Media House, Reelwater Productions, JustAcro.com, Sidetracked Magazine, Squash Falconer, Will Gadd, paragliding schools, Theo Le Blic, Cody Mittanck


fyyd: Podcast Search Engine
share








 August 29, 2020  1h31m