pilot profile / Iris, 28, Austria

Ása and Iris during the interview in a beach bar in Goa after a full day of flying.

Name
Iris Saskia

Age
28 years old

Home/country
Werfenweng, Austria.

I live in a camper van for 6-8 months of the year, moving between flying sites in Austria with my flying buddies. We have fun in the air behaving like monkeys but training hard, taking the cable-car up 14-15 times a day and acro-ing down. The rest of the year I share a flat with other pilots and we travel a lot to paragliding festivals.

Employment/studies
No job. I study Graphic Arts, Analog/Digital

Marital/family status
Not married! she laughs at the question. And she doesn’t have a boyfriend because she only wants to fly.

Do you want to have children in the future?
There are too many homeless children in the world, I would rather adopt. I have a dog from a previous relationship. (The ex was a pilot too)

When did you start paragliding?
4 1/2 years ago.

Why did you start learning?
It was on the ski slopes that I saw some acro dudes fly over me and do their maneuvers. I decided then that I wanted to be an acro pilot.

Why do you paraglide?
The adrenalin – the drug, it’s addictive! It helps me react in different situations and gives me a yes, I did it! feeling.

What about competitions?
What I find interesting during an acro competition is how to call up the flying skills for one moment. But the boring thing at a competition is that it is an aesthetic action and it is very hard to judge this objective. And I hate the battle with the boys!

She admits to being scared in the air sometimes but deals with it by doing a kind of in-air yoga by watching her breathing. She often flies with music to block out the sound of collapses.

XC or acro?
Acro pilot for 4 years, but she has both XC and Acro wing.
It’s important for a pilot to do both, I think, as it makes you a better overall pilot.

And she loves groundhandling.
One hour of groundhandling equals 10 hours of flying. Good groundhandling skills can save your life on a bad take-off. I broke an ankle while groundhandling before a competition in Ecuador last year, so couldn’t finish it. But I hurt my ankles about every two months.

She needs two reserve parachutes for the acro flights and the kit is very heavy.
Too heavy for girls, she says with a cheeky laugh.

Glider
Acro: Ozone Octane FLX Freestyler
XC: Skywalk Cayenne 3

She only had the Acro wing with her in Goa, didn’t want to use the XC one because of the sand.

She gets a new kit every year and donates the older one to someone who needs it. She has left gliders and harnesses with pilots in Chile and India among other countries.

Harness
Acro: Sup Air Acro 3
XC: Sup Air X-Alps

Vario/gps
Only a helmet vario. It’s best to feel it by your arse if you hit the thermals!

Sponsor
She gets some sponsorship, mostly with some of the gear.
My parents are also very good sponsors, she adds with a wink.

What does freedom mean to you? What gives you freedom?
Freedom is a part of me and nobody is allowed to take it away. I have a passport, I can do what I want, I am free.

If you had one wish in the world, what would it be?
Give peace a chance!
And she means it, even has it written on her glider.