Eagle Attack

Soaring at 8,000 feet, paraglider Nicky Moss was ready for anything. Except this.

Surge of Adrenaline

A thousand feet above a rocky red plain stretching to a distant ridge of eucalyptus trees, a woman stood on the crest of a hill. She took a deep breath, then three running steps, and launched herself into space. Nicky Moss felt a surge of adrenaline as she was lifted by an updraft of air. Clad in a black Gore-Tex flying suit, her dark hair in a long braid to minimize wind resistance, she hung on delicate nylon lines 20 feet below the rainbow arc of her paraglider. She had become a bird.

Moss was competing in the trials for the 2007 Killarney Paragliding Classic at a spectacular site 100 miles southwest of Brisbane, Australia. Professionals from all over the world had come to compete to see who would be top gun.

Only five-foot-five, Moss, a British champion, was trim and toned, and possessed the strength and discipline of an accomplished yoga teacher.

The night before, she had carefully gone through her safety routines, making sure her flight instruments, including a pair of Global Positioning System (GPS) units, were working. She packed her flying suit, helmet, gloves, goggles and walking boots.

It was 1 p.m. by the time Moss launched. There were about 30 other gliders already in the air around her, circling like colorful butterflies.

Paragliding competitions are similar to yachting events in that participants are assigned tasks and have to go around certain markers, such as a church in a village 30 miles away. The task might be to fly within 1,200 feet of the steeple, then head off to a second point. Each maneuver is recorded by pilots’ GPS units for scoring by the competition’s judges. Today’s first task was a 20-mile flight from Killarney in Queensland to a town called Woodenbong in Australia’s Northern Tablelands.

At launch, paraglider pilots search for thermals—rising air currents generated by the heating of the earth. These are what enable gliders to climb. Pilots watch for large soaring birds because they, too, ride thermals. If you spot an eagle, conditions might be just right for flying.

The weather at the launch site that afternoon was wonderful. Fluffy cauliflower-shaped clouds hung in the bright blue sky, and a gentle breeze flowed over Moss. The fiery yellow canopy of her glider glowed gold in the sunlight. The canopy, or wing, was made of 77 separate cells for safety and stability. With an arching span of 38 feet, it now carried Moss over a range of red rock mountains and plunging waterfalls.

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