author: Jan "Hraďák" Jaško (the article was published in Pilot magazine 01/2024)
Tenerife is one of the few places in the world where you can fly tandems practically all year round from morning to night. I have been flying here for the last three years employed as a professional tandem pilot. The first season I flew here on Magnum from Ozone, the second season on Paš 7 from Mac Para and the current one on Fuse 3, all from Gin.
I fly for the company Sky of Tenerife Daniel Crespo and his long-time colleague and friend Carmine Penettiere. Together, they very carefully assembled a team of great, seasoned pilots with many years of experience and a zero accident record. In ten years, Daniel and Carmine have thus created a functional group of pilots who complement each other, trust each other and together improve and support each other in flying, which is quite easy in Tenerife when you imagine that some of the best tandem pilots in the world are employed here today .
A little about the topography and nature of the island. Tenerife is the largest island in the Canary Islands archipelago and, thanks to tourism, also the most populated island in Spain. The shape of the island resembles a triangle, in the center of which is a 3718-meter high conical mountain with a flat peak of volcanic origin called Pico de Teide. This "cone" spends most of its time in the air flow from the north and north-east, leaving the west and south-west of the island in a weather flow that is so large in area that we have perhaps the most curious conditions I have experienced paragliding. Just look at Windy.com. While it is mostly "fun" on the northern and southern tip of the island, we take off from the Taucho or Ifonche airstrips and fly in unexpectedly diverse, mostly "climbing" conditions. In the rather small "backyard", which is intended for our flights, it is possible to perform a variety of performances that can be easily observed from the ground and from the air. The busiest starting point Taucho is located in the southwest and is at a height of about 780 meters +/-... it depends on how much the island is immersed in liquid...
During the season, the imaginary course is abundantly accompanied by higher cumulus clouds, beautifully mapping the risers of different speeds. This year we often climbed up to fifteen hundred meters here, but more common accesses here are up to twelve hundred. Sometimes we also have Kalima, a wind that brings dust and sand from the Sahara, which means poor visibility, often strong winds or, on the contrary, very stable conditions with a light breeze from different directions... With the arrival of spring, the conditions gradually stabilize and in the summer it's a clear "piste" for landing.
The pilot's goal is, if possible, to fly to La Caleta beach six kilometers away (Fig. No. 1) or Bahia Principe beach five kilometers away (Fig. No. 2)... Both usable beaches require the pilot's dexterity and advanced precision when landing not only because of the small landing area, but mainly because of the constant movement of people on and around the beaches…! In addition, Bahia Principe is often very turbulent, especially with westerly winds. Fortunately, there are alternative landing areas of different sizes and difficulties on both flight paths (that is, towards Paraiso and La Caleta). One large, but uneven terrain, called Leroy Merlin (picture no. 3), and one, slightly smaller, flat surface, but "bumpy" thermal, surrounded by cacti and banana trees called Camellos (picture no. 4). Its name comes from an interesting history, when camels were still abundant on the island. Camellos is suitable for pilots who still struggle with budgets. All the airstrips are dusty, surrounded by cacti and rocks, and in close proximity to development, so it takes a patient budget. The stony environment, ubiquitous cacti, dense buildings, but mainly the human factor result in us witnessing accidents of immature BC category pilots. During the six months of the post-covid season, I counted 15 helicopter rescue operations and many minor injuries due to sharp stones at the borders of the landing, and especially those cacti... Last season, the number was twice as high... The vast majority were excursion pilots from Poland, Austria and Germany. These are mostly pilots with a small number of hours in the air on the wings that did not correspond to their abilities or pilots who did not research the place where they decided to fly and were wise to ask local pilots what and how…
Let's focus on the pleasant! The starting point named Taucho is more or less covered with a carpet (Fig. 5). When the wind is good enough, three tandems take off here within half a minute, and in two more minutes another trio starts, and then another, and then another... Then the "solos", and so it goes on, until the polished vans stuffed with pilots, passengers, they don't quite empty the parachutes and good spirits and everyone is not in the air! Really interesting "stories" could be written about the local pilot community! But that would be for a long time, so maybe next time 😀
Professional pilots mostly fly Magnum gliders from Ozone and Fuse3 from Gin. Then there are a couple of Bibet6 from Advance, which fly really beautifully, and to my delight, two Tandems from Mac Para Pasha 7 also appeared this season. There are also a few pieces from other companies flying here, but these are mostly wings that the pilots here just try out. and which, due to its weaker performance, usually disappears into the dustbin of the history of tandem flying on Tenerife.
Tandem pilots here rely a lot on the performance and nature of the wing launch. Starting on a small area topped with sharp rocks and cacti with people who can't run much because of their age forces the pilots to use the best we have on the market. Also, a direct flight to the beach in stable conditions is an ideal moment to "look" at someone who is having a good time! So it is a fact that tandems go through a real and uncompromising test here, and if they fail, they simply don't fly here.
Sometimes we are forced to fly here without the possibility of climbing, simply using the glide of the parachute to the destination, even for more than a week. We often fly up to five times a day in various weak, stable conditions and hypnotize a distant landing field, betting mainly on the performance of the wing. Sometimes it's really exciting theater especially for those who understand it! If the pilots keep the best possible line, then you can see who will be gliding above the beach at what height and if they will get there at all! It is true that a lot is in the hands of the pilot, but often it is only about what you are flying and how you use the potential of the wing with the necessary trim tuning!
For example, my friend, local native Felix, who has flown more than sixteen thousand tandems here, will fly to the beach in ninety-nine percent of the cases... If he doesn't fly to the destination that day, almost no one will! Its success depends on "choosing the line", which it slides more or less directly towards the target. With a small change in wind direction, the ideal "line" shifts even hundreds of meters to the right or left. When we have a breeze from the southeast, the pilot has to bite through it towards Las Américas and then carefully feel if he has chosen the right line. If three parachutes fly to land at the same time, they look for the easiest way together to fly as high as possible above the beach. If the day is demanding, we often fly at a height of fifty meters. Pilots who make even a small mistake on the way land on alternative surfaces. The greenest area on the way to La Caleta is a huge golf course. It happens that uninformed pilots choose the field as an ideal emergency landing. But the opposite is true. The golf course is very challenging both in terms of topography (which the pilot finds out too late), erratic turbulence and detached palm trees! Plus there are golf balloons whizzing around your ears. A dangerous place indeed! If the pilot decides in time and lands on Leroy Merlin, which is located a little before the "golf" (Fig. 6 and 7), nothing will go wrong. Another alternative is the more demanding, but suitable, green place Concertos (picture No. 8), where the budget is really the alpha and omega of everything. The land is fenced, but some exits somehow appeared in the fence. On the western part, the fence is even finished so that you can simply go around it.
When flying to the Bahia Principe airport, you fly over the already mentioned Camellos alternative. First, I would like to stop a little at the "camels". The landing pad is neither small nor large. It's just right. The surface has a maintained wind sleeve and several flares. This area is also an area widely used by local motorized paragliders, mainly in the form of tandem tricycles. Landing here is ideal, but transportation from the landing pad is a logistical issue that is handled by organized pickups and exports. Flying to Bahia Principe is easy in southeast and southerly winds. In the western situation, the flight is quite demanding. When we have a westerly situation here, the wind is often stronger, so it is better to glide on La Caleta, accelerated by the wind. In a westerly situation, La Caleta is generally much easier to land.
The most interesting and also the most important finding for me is the fact that here the pilot encounters interesting thermals and the possibility of advanced slopes. The rugged terrain and built-up area offers a great opportunity to improve your flight tactics depending on the direction of the wind. From the starting point to the sea, the terrain is a slope and the highway is an imaginary thermal boundary. Even above Camellos or Leroy Merlin you will find a great elevator, but this rule only applies on certain days. All high-quality, and above all, easy climbing takes place especially up to the imaginary border, which is highlighted by the highway (Fig. 9). The exception is morning flights with a weak SW wind, when you can climb up to approx. 1000 mv near the beaches, but this situation is very rare.
Our team: Daniel Crespo - Venezuela, Mike Kung - Austria, Martin Jovanoski - Macedonia, Carmine Panettiere - Italy, Korad Warzolek - Spain and our great driver Maximo Marcucci - Italy, and I, here we fly as one of the best Teams in the world. It is a pleasure to fly with pilots with a pure passion for flying and the ability to handle passengers from all over the world!. It's a pleasure to sit with us over a beer and learn how to be a better pilot. (Unfortunately, we don't even talk about anything else here.) Flying tandems with pilots with a pure passion for aviation and the ability to handle passengers from all over the world is not only educational, but also safe!
As for the equipment of pilots flying to Tenerife and other flight terrains (which are not so busy), that would be enough for another thousand words. I'd be very happy to write some time next time.
The Spanish islands are part of the European Union, so the following applies here: If you have adequate equipment, a pilot and insurance, you can fly here in areas where it is officially allowed. However, I recommend everyone who is going to fly here to call and get advice on what and how, or to prepare really well. Here, as a company, we organize tours of take-off sites and all landing sites (even those that I preferred not to mention), exports and pickups, and I personally am able to help with accommodation to a certain extent. It's beautiful here, but it's not easy here! Friends and comrades, I wish everyone safe take-offs and landings. At the starts, help yourself responsibly and concentrate!
Good luck with safe flights, freedom and love!