Brave Czech hanggliders however, surprisingly, do not use any landing aids. Local inhabitants of the village then watch the ensuing Czech-Moravian aluminum concert with great attention, especially when Lubin and his group hurl towards landing at low altitudes above local vineyards.



    Both landing fields are created by a beautiful meadow on which it is truly a joy to roll around. The area for paragliders is found at co-ordinates: N45°48.652 E011°46.191', somewhat closer to the hill on the northwest edge of the village of Semonzo and is relatively closed in on all sides. Its altitude above sea level is 190m.




    Hanggliders land about 1km further southeast at co-ordinates N45°48.444' E011°47.089' at 170m above sea level. Their landing area is considerably larger, with the possibility of extending the landing into a plowed field. I myself tried out this excellent opportunity during a somewhat longer landing, not knowing that in Spring the local farmers cover the plowed field with a layer of manure.

Can You Drive Everywhere ?
    All runways, upper and lower, can truly be accessed with no problem along very good roads. But be careful! In February and March it is possible to run into snow fields, especially while attempting to reach upper runways. And as this past winter was really not at all skimpy on the snow, we managed on the 19^th of March, just before the Monte Colombera runway, at 1,500m above sea level, to bury our off-road vehicle, the Skoda 105L, in a snow drift up to the axel. Although the sun was shinning and it was pleasantly warm, judging by the rate of melting of the snow, through simple calculation with the aid of a simple equation, we arrived at the conclusion that unfortunately we did not have enough food for 9 days and so took off on foot to seek help at a runway 600m lower down.

    "We can't leave a Czech Skoda stranded in an Italian snowdrift!, Czech paragliders Robert Hartman, David Bzirsky and Robert Berka, with solidarity, as they bravely hopped into the rescue vehicle of the Hartman Sport company and we were rapidly off to the snow fields.



    The Czech paragliders in action were so professional that we could hardly believe that Hartman Sport is not specialized in rescuing stranded vehicles. They uised chains, ropes, a jack, car floor mats, pieces of wood lying about the vicinity and about half the cliff, supposedly for a hard base.



    Order followed command until we could hardly keep track of what was going on. At times the car had up to 3 wheels in the air, which before we'd only seen achieved by David Copperfield, -could he be the older brother?- and within half an hour we were out of the snowdrift. And just so that we didn't think rescue work deserved a break, they broke out their paragliding gear and took off into the air. Because they humbly refused our invitation to pizza, we at least took some pictures of them as mementos. So thanks once more, God will reward your children.