English
Hello air-traveler,
Welcome to our flying home
Here you can find a brief information about our town and its possibilities for flying. It is situated in north-eastern part of the Bulgaria and is known as the most thermic country part. Not by chance in the near past, during the years of communism, here was located the National unpowered gliders educational center. The good thing for paragliding is not only the thermic area but the possibility to fly with every wind direction – there are three main takeoffs on Shumen’s plateau (for east, south and north winds) and one more situated on Madara rocks for west winds (about 20km from town). Be careful – the displacement everywhere is about 250m so you need to be very patient sometimes until you get a good thermal. But once you get it there are big horizons in front of you which you can conquer. In case you land somewhere in foots of plateau, the retrieval is easy – if there’s nobody to bring you back to the takeoff you can catch “yellow thermal” (cab) for about 3 euro. Ask in the forum for cabs companies phone numbers and proper instructions what you should say to the driver.
The national record for open distance long flight was made by the honored member and chairman of our club Yavor Plashilski on 28.08.2008 starting from the east takeoff – 242.8 km. So, are you the next record holder? Yes? Ok, just come and fly… :-)
General view of the plateau
As we mentioned there are three main takeoff places on the plateau and we would like to describe them in order to get a better picture. All the places on the plateau could be reached by car in 15 minutes. What is important and this you have to keep in account is that they are not very big and wide, so if you get used to run 50m down on the hill until start flying they’ll be difficult for you :-)
East takeoff
GPS coordinates:
N 43.258377
E 26.926317
Height: 446m above sea level.
The place is suitable for east, north-east and south-east winds with dominant east component. If the north or south component is stronger there’s risk to stick into the airflow and go down. Landing could be done in a big meadow in front of the takeoff or if accidentally – in some of the school yards that are closer.
South takeoff
GPS coordinates:
N 43.251452
E 26.925203
Height: 440m above sea level
Suitable for south, south-east and south west winds with dominant south component. There’s a rotor before the takeoff when the wind is south-east. The closer landing place is a small meadow next to the main road which connects Shumen with Divdiadovo village. It is small but if you hit it it’s very convenient to be picked up by car afterwards. In case you miss there are big fields in front of you where you can land.
The landing place
North takeoff
GPS coordinates:
N 43.242365
E 26.921227
Height: 450m above sea level
The place is situated exactly above the visitors’ place of monument “1300 years Bulgaria”. Suitable only for north winds, the place is featured with its “step-shape”. It is not recommended to try taking off in light winds and it is not possible to do it in windless conditions. The closest landing places are the school yards situated from the right.
West takeoff
GPS coordinates:
N 43.280721
E 27.119599
Height: 425m above sea level
Nicely nested above Madara horserider – one of Bulgarian national symbols. Suitable for west, south-west and north-west winds, it is very pleasant and beautiful place for thermalling and soaring. In case of taking XC to the east, glissade of Varna airport should be taken into account and Varna to be approached from south rather than going there directly on a straight line. If you dive somewhere in the fields close to the Madara there are two options for retrieval:
1) to climb the stairs engraved in the rocks (recommended only for fitness maniacs!)
2) to wait for a car to pick you up back to takeoff (sorry, there are no cabs there)
The training hill
This is where we’ve all got our plumage for first time. Located about 15km north from the town, near to Kabiuk village (which is famous with its horse growing traditions) it is very thermic place, suitable for both soaring and thermal flying. The hill’s displacement is about 50m and it faces south. Because of its low height it is good to fly there in stronger winds.
Got interested? You can ask whatever else you wish in our forum or to dial the phone numbers below. The guys that respond could assist you in finding a place to stay (actually there are many hotels in the town, prices start from 10-15 euros for a bed), can bring you to the takeoffs and of course to fly together.
Yavor Plashilski – +359 (0)899 907 909 (English)
Valeri Mladenov – +359 (0)899 218 565 (Turkish, Greek)
We wish you many happy flying hours!
Shumen-XC team