ParaglidingEarth Site Link (None)
Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador, has a surprisingly small paragliding community for a city of its size. The area seems like it has potential for a lot of great flying but few pilots. Through another contact in Baños I was able to get in touch with some locals here who took me out one day. I do not recall the name of this launch. Launch area was an extremely steep back-yard type of area next to a house above the city.
I had only one sledder flight here so am not intimately familiar with it. A spine leads down the mountain from launch and looks to have some good thermal-generating potential.
A caution: although in the whole flight I diverged only once from a straight path towards the indicated LZ (attempting to turn into a thermal), my elevation was insufficient to reach the LZ and I had to bail out early. Be prepared to do the same.
Notes on Launch: The launch area was one of the more challenging I have used in my flying career. A small cleared area on a steep slope lies on the downhill side of the GPS coordinates indicated here. If you are not safely in the air after a few seconds sprint, you will probably need to abort launch.
From here, a pilot should be able to make several back and forth passes to gain elevation and rise towards cloud base.
Notes on Landing Zone: A number of large fields below are visible from launch. Bisecting the fields at various points are dirt roads- these are the preferred landing points as landing on the fields may destroy crops and upset locals. Paralleling these roads are sometimes power lines.
You will pass by the landing zone on the way up to launch (GPS coordinates indicated). If you are going with local pilots, ask them to point it out to you.
Hazards: All of the usual.
Launch (S 02°53’12”, W 79°04’54”) 3109 m
Landing Zone (N 02°53’29”, W 79°03’29”) 2719 m
Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador, has a surprisingly small paragliding community for a city of its size. The area seems like it has potential for a lot of great flying but few pilots. Through another contact in Baños I was able to get in touch with some locals here who took me out one day. I do not recall the name of this launch. Launch area was an extremely steep back-yard type of area next to a house above the city.
I had only one sledder flight here so am not intimately familiar with it. A spine leads down the mountain from launch and looks to have some good thermal-generating potential.
A caution: although in the whole flight I diverged only once from a straight path towards the indicated LZ (attempting to turn into a thermal), my elevation was insufficient to reach the LZ and I had to bail out early. Be prepared to do the same.
Notes on Launch: The launch area was one of the more challenging I have used in my flying career. A small cleared area on a steep slope lies on the downhill side of the GPS coordinates indicated here. If you are not safely in the air after a few seconds sprint, you will probably need to abort launch.
From here, a pilot should be able to make several back and forth passes to gain elevation and rise towards cloud base.
Notes on Landing Zone: A number of large fields below are visible from launch. Bisecting the fields at various points are dirt roads- these are the preferred landing points as landing on the fields may destroy crops and upset locals. Paralleling these roads are sometimes power lines.
You will pass by the landing zone on the way up to launch (GPS coordinates indicated). If you are going with local pilots, ask them to point it out to you.
Hazards: All of the usual.
Flyable days per year: Unknown.
Best times of the day: After noon, mid-day.
Cost: No launch fees.
How to get there: As I was given a ride and went only once, I do not recall the route up to launch. Contact local pilots for details.
Website: None. If you are interested, contact me (see “Contact Me” box on right hand side of this page) and I will put you in touch with the local pilots.
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| My landing zone. |
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