The company was initially formed as Ultralight Products, later Ultralite Products and was also known as UP Europe and finally UP International.[1][2][4]
With Roy Haggard, Brock designed the UP Dragonfly, the first hang glider that did not use a Rogallo style wing. The UP Condor set a world record duration flight of 16 hours and 4 minutes in 1979. In 1980, Yuseke Yamazaki, a Japanese investor supported the company and it expanded into Asia.[2]
Haggard designed the UP Comet in 1980, a landmark hang glider design that set many records, sold in large numbers and was widely copied.[2]
By the mid-1980s Brock and Haggard decided to leave the business and Japanese investor Yamazaki took over the company, changing the name to UP International. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Isomura, Inc. The company expanded into windsurfing equipment, ultralight aircraft and clothing. The company maintained a diverse series of locations, including the UP Soaring Center in Salt Lake CityUtah, where the UP TRX hang glider was developed.[2]
In 1990 the company expanded into paraglider building and hired South Korean designer Gin Seok Song to design the company's first paraglider, the UP Flash. The design sold well, but Song did not design another glider for UP and instead went to work for Edel Paragliders. He later founded his own company, Gin Gliders.[2]
In 1992 Ernst Schneider established UP Europe in Sindelsdorf, Germany and company paraglider development shifted to that country. Rasso von Schlichtegroll developed the new line of gliders, including the UP Katana, UP Vision and the tandem two-place UP Pickup. Von Schlichtegroll later went on to found FreeX. Company Chief Test Pilot, Ernst Strobl, won the 1992 European Paragliding Championships on a Katana. UP employee Uli Wiesmeier won the first Paragliding World Cup series also flying a Katana. Wiesmeier also designed UP's Skywear clothing line. French UP pilot Richard Gallon won the 1994 Paragliding World Cup and, in 1995, World Champion Stephan Stiegler and other top paragliding pilots all became members of the UP flying team.[2]
With this success, Schneider established an UP Europe hang glider design operation under Bernd Weber's management. This resulted in the UP Speed hang glider design in 1995 and the Speed TL model in 1997.[2]
Schneider sold UP Europe in 1997 to Daiichi Kosho of Japan, who invested in the company, expanding it in Europe to 20 employees and it relocated to Kochel am See. This period the company produced the UP Escape paraglider, which sold well, although the paraglider market was in contraction then.[2]
Daiichi Kosho sold the company in 1999. The hang gliding business was wound up and the paragliding division sold to Christian Rönning, a pioneering Swedish paraglider pilot. Rönning reorganized the company as UP International and consolidated operations, with Torsten Siegel, Georg Maier and former World Champion Stephan Stiegler taking on glider development. This team developed the UP Pulse, UP Makalu, UP Summit, UP Gambit and the UP Sherpa Bi as well as the UP Targa and UP Trango. Siegel went on to work for Swing Flugsportgeräte, and Stieglair left to start his own company, Air Design.[2]
Since 2010 the design team has been made up of Czechs Frantisek "Franta" Pavlousek, Michal "Snajby" Sneiberg and Jirik "Jirka" Dlask, German aerospace engineer Matthias Hartmann and Stefan "Boxi" Bocks.[2]
Aircraft
Summary of aircraft built by UP International GmbH and predecessor companies:
Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered with synthetic sailcloth to form a wing. Typically the pilot is in a harness suspended from the airframe, and controls the aircraft by shifting body weight in opposition to a control frame.
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like 'speed bag' suspended below a fabric wing. Wing shape is maintained by the suspension lines, the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing, and the aerodynamic forces of the air flowing over the outside.
Francis Melvin Rogallo was an American aeronautical engineer inventor born in Sanger, California, U.S. Together with his wife, he is credited with the invention of the Rogallo wing, or "flexible wing", a precursor to the modern hang glider and paraglider. His patents were ranged over mechanical utility patents and ornamental design patents for wing controls, airfoils, target kite, flexible wing, and advanced configurations for flexible wing vehicles.
Powered paragliding, also known as paramotoring or PPG, is a form of ultralight aviation where the pilot wears a back-pack motor which provides enough thrust to take off using a paraglider. It can be launched in still air, and on level ground, by the pilot alone — no assistance is required.
Paramotor is the generic name for the harness and propulsive portion of a powered paraglider ("PPG"). There are two basic types of paramotors: foot launch and wheel launch.
Hang gliding is an air sport employing a foot-launchable aircraft known as a hang glider. Typically, a modern hang glider is constructed of an aluminium alloy or composite-framed fabric wing. The pilot is ensconced in a harness suspended from the airframe, and exercises control by shifting body weight in opposition to a control frame.
A foot-launched powered hang glider (FLPHG), also called powered harness, nanolight, or hangmotor, is a powered hang glider harness with a motor and propeller in pusher configuration. An ordinary hang glider is used for its wing and control frame, and the pilot can foot-launch from a hill or from flat ground, needing a length of about a football field to get airborne, or much less if there is an oncoming breeze and no obstacles.
A glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against its lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine. Most gliders do not have an engine, although motor-gliders have small engines for extending their flight when necessary by sustaining the altitude with some being powerful enough to take off by self-launch.
Bruce Goldsmith is a British paraglider pilot, paraglider designer, and the 2007 Paragliding World Champion. He won the title at Manilla in Australia, flying an Airwave Magic FR3.
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.
Finsterwalder GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturer specializing in hang gliders, paragliders and related accessories. The company is headquartered in Munich.
The Daiichi Kosho Whisper is a Japanese paramotor that was designed and produced by the Daiichi Kosho Company for powered paragliding.
The Daiichi Kosho DK 472 is a Japanese aircraft engine that was developed by the Daiichi Kosho Company in the early 1990s for powered paragliding. The company had been previously noted for producing electronics, particularly karaoke equipment.
The Paraborne Backplane is an American paramotor that was designed by Scott Alan and produced by Paraborne Aviation of Kissimmee, Florida for powered paragliding.
Aerodyne Technologies was a French aircraft manufacturer based in Étrembières and previously based in Talloires. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of paragliders and reserve parachutes.
Airwave Gliders was an Austrian aircraft manufacturer based in Fulpmes. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of hang gliders and paragliders.
Independence Paragliding is a German aircraft manufacturer based in Eisenberg, Bavaria and founded by designer Michaël Nesler and test pilot Christian Amon. The company is a division of Fly-Market Flugsport-Zubehör GmbH & Co. KG and specializes in the design and manufacture of paragliders in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft as well as reserve parachutes, harnesses and paragliding accessories.
Ozone Gliders Limited is an aircraft manufacturer based in Le Bar-sur-Loup, France, although it is registered in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of paragliders in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft.
Sol Paragliders is a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer based in Jaraguá do Sul and founded by Ary Carlos Pradi. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of paragliders and paramotor wings in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft. The company also produces paragliding harnesses, rescue parachutes and accessories.
References
1 2 Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04, page 34. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN1368-485X
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