Tag Archives: paragliding

New Extension for SkyDemon available!

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For a couple of days there is a video circulating on social media about an airplane almost hitting the tow rope of a paraglider being winch launched. Understandably discussions erupted what could be done to prevent similar situations from happening again, or worse, ending in a crash.

On the SkyDemon Users Facebook Page we discussed why SkyDemon is not showing these launch sites in their charts. My wild guess, SkyDemon uses mainly the publicly available AIP IFR of the countries they want to provide data for. And at least in Germany §25 LuftVG airfields for paragliding and hanggliding are not even governed by the CAA (LBA, Luftfahrt Bundesamt) but by multiple Aviation Associations and so are not showing up on “official” documentation.

To fill this gap, we compiled the airfield database of the DHV (Deutscher Hängegeleiterverband) into SkyDemon CustomData files and do provide them for download.

Feel free to uses these files and if you should encounter an error, please let me know.

To the Download…

SkyDemon Paragliding Airfield Extension

Paragliding Airfields Extension for Germany

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Extension to show paragliding and hanggliding airfields on the map in SkyDemon. Only includes Germany.

Data Source

All data was sourced from DHV (Deutscher Gleitschirm- und Drachenflugverband e.V.) effective
21FEB2020.
https://www.dhv.de/piloteninfos/gelaende-luftraum-natur/fluggelaendeflugbetrieb/gelaendedaten/gelaendedaten-download

Requirements

To be able to uses the files provided by Discovering Eagle you need to have a
working installation of SkyDemon on Android, iOS or Windows PC and a valid
subscription.

We develop our files with the newest version of SkyDemon at that given time. Even though SkyDemon claims backwards compatibility for custom data, we can’t
guarantee it.

All development and testing including creation of the screenshots included in the archive are done with the default “SkyDemon 3” chart style. We do not check nor do we guarantee that the projected features are displayed correctly with the use of other chart styles.

Cost

Everything on this website is free! Nevertheless I would appreciate if you donate a little via the support page. I do put a lot of work in these downloads and with every donation you help me coming closer to the ultimate goal: Flying around Africa!

Installing

NOTE: At this point, iOS does not allow direct operations on the file system. So the only way to get the data into an Apple device seems to be the import in SkyDemon on a device running either on Android or Windows and then using the SkyDemon cloud to share the data with the Apple device. But be careful, there seems to be a size limit to the SkyDemon cloud!

  1. Unzip the contents of the downloaded archive to your SkyDemon’s CustomData folder. On Windows computers you will usually find this at C:Users< username >DocumentsSkyDemonCustomData. On Android you will find it under < Internal storage >/SkyDemon/CustomData.
  2. After unzipping you should find the following files:
    • README.md (you can delete this one afterwards)
    • LICENSE.md
    • paragliding_de_DDMMMYYYY.airspace
    • paragliding.png (you can delete this one afterwards)
  3. Now startup SkyDemon. If it has been running close and restart it.
  4. On a Windows PC go to the main menu and turn on Mapping > Airspace > Show Sporting Sites. On a mobile device tap the chart layer icon (three panes stacked on top of each other) in the bottom right of the map window and turn on Airspace > Sporting Activity.

Now you should see that multiple dark blue hang-glider symbols have appeared on the map. If you utilize the “Whats here” menu you can check the upper level or contact details, too.

It didn’t work

Make sure, Other / Misc airspaces are turned on as described above. Zoom in closer to prevent the sector boundaries been hidden by SkyDemons automatic decluttering feature. You can check your settings while zooming in to Weser-Wuemme (EDWM) and check about 8nm to the east where you should find three paragliding airfields. See the included screenshot for reference.

If you still do not get any airfields, check if you extracted the archive into your SkyDemon’s CustomData folder without any subfolder. Make sure, you did not change any filename. If you need to correct something here, restart SkyDemon afterwards.

Disclaimer

Discovering Eagle did not and does not invent the data provided. See section Data Source above to learn were the provided data came from. We do rework the raw data from our sources and put them into the SkyDemon format.

Unfortunately, it is impossible the verify the correctness of every given dataset. So we must emphasize that the data provided is an aid to flight planning and navigation, designed to enhance situational awareness. The pilot remains responsible for ensuring they have all information necessary for the safe conduct of the flight and that they adhere to the laws of any states overflown. (Did you recognize this paragraph?)

All data provided come with an effective date of the data of the providing entity. Since Discovering Eagle is essentially a one-man-show, I won’t post a cycle end date nor do I guarantee to update my files when the providing entity does. Nevertheless I strive to provide the most up-to-date data possible. Should you find outdated data, please feel free to drop a note on the contact form.

Versioning/Download

All versions are numbered by their effective date.

download
21FEB2020		 Pull from https://www.dhv.de/piloteninfos/gelaende-luftraum-natur/fluggelaendeflugbetrieb/gelaendedaten/gelaendedaten-download effective 21FEB2020.

Authors

  • Florian Meissner, founder and front-man of Discovering Eagle.

License

This project is licensed under an extended MIT License – see the LICENSE.md file for details

Contact / Bug-Report

www.discovering-eagle.org/contact