Dear friend of glider aerobatics,
Thank you for contacting our homepage. To have done so, you are obviously interested in aerobatics,
or at least you are curious about this fascinating aspect of gliding.
What can we offer you?
At present, our homepage does not include a lot of information in English. However, we would like
to present a short description of our club and our activities.
In addition, we prepared for you a guide to our pages in German. This may help you to find interesting
topics despite the language barrier.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like more specific information. Naturally, you can write to the webmaster in English. If you are interested in any specific part of our website, we will try to provide a translation.
Swiss Aerobatic Gliding Association (SAGA)
or
Glider Aerobatics in Switzerland - yesterday and today
Attempts of Swiss pilots to do aerobatics with gliders date back many decades. The first official international event was an aerobatics competition in 1948 in Samedan, Switzerland. It took place within the framework of the first FAI World Gliding Championship after WW II.
Swiss glider pilots went on to interrupt their “normal” flights doing loops, but it was not until 1975 that a few aerobatics enthusiasts decided to found the Swiss Aerobatic Gliding Association (SAGA). Its first president was Hermann Fuhrer. He was truly a leader for the Swiss pilots, as president as well as an instructor and trainer. In addition, most SAGA members flew on his Pilatus B4 or his Salto at that time.
A few years later, SAGA became a regular member of the Swiss Gliding Federation within the Swiss Aero Club and its championships were upgraded to official Swiss Championships. Futhermore, Swiss glider aerobatic pilots began to compare their skills with those of pilots from other nations by participating in international championships. The highlight was a silver medal for Walter Martig and a third place for the team at the 1989 World Championships in Germany.
Today, SAGA has about 100 members, and the club owns a Fox two-seater and a Pilatus B4 single-seater aerobatic glider. We regularly have training camps, and we organise regional events and the Swiss Championships. Our top pilots compete at European and World championships.
And we all still thoroughly enjoy to go up and draw more or less perfect figures into the skies.
Here is a summary of the pages you may call up from here or via our German index :
| SAGA-Vorstand | The executive committee of SAGA |
| Aktuelles,Termine | Coming events in glider aerobatics; news and data (with emphasis on Switzerland) |
| Infos zum Segelkunstflug | A short introduction to glider aerobatics and some hints on getting started in competition glider aerobatics |
| Ausbildung | How do I get
an aerobatic rating with my glider pilot licence? A summary of the requirements according to Swiss regulations. |
| Eintrittsgesuch | Application form for SAGA membership (PDF) |
| Statuten | By-laws of our club (PDF) |
| Reglemente | International and national sporting regulations for glider aerobatic competitions |
| Leistungsabzeichen Segelkunstflug | How to get a glider aerobatics Bronze, Silver or Gold badge |
| SAGA-Shop | We offer a small collection of attractive articles adorned with the SAGA logo |
| Segel-Kunstflugzeuge | An (incomplete) list of gliders which are or were used for aerobatics with technical descriptions and pictures |
| Mini Chronik | A short history of SAGA |
| Archiv | Reports on past events in glider aerobatics |
| Anekdoten | Anecdotes - aerobatic pilots (and judges) have lots of fun too... |
| Links | Links to other sites dealing with aerobatics or glider aerobatics |
Many happy landings!
The SAGA webmaster
