SYLMAR : Norwegian Team Gets the Hang of It

An unusual international odyssey to the mountains above Sylmar continued Monday as members of a Norwegian hang gliding team practiced for the upcoming world championships in their daredevil sport.

“This is perfect,” Finn Spjelonaes said after taking off from the 3,300-foot summit of Kagel Mountain, spending an hour and a half in the air and landing in the Pacoima Wash. “It’s really good to feel how everything works in this kind of air.”

“Just a training trip,” was the matter-of-fact comment from Nils Henden, whose personal gliding record is a seven-and-a-half-hour flight.

Spjelonaes, 34, and Henden, 33, are part of a six-man team from Norway. They are in Sylmar for a few days gearing up for the World Hang Gliding Championships to be held later this month in the Owens Valley. Teams from Brazil and Czechoslovakia have already taken time to practice at Kagel Mountain, one of the country’s most popular gliding sites.

“They just want to spend some time flying,” said John Wickham, director of the Sylmar Hang Gliding Assn., which is based at the Pacoima Wash landing area. “They come off the plane at LAX and they want to fly.”

Conditions in Sylmar are not an exact replica of what the Norwegians can expect in the Owens Valley where the wind patterns high up in the White Mountains are expected to be much more unstable. But Spjelonaes and Henden, whose team came in second in last year’s European championships, are grateful for the practice time.

“It’s a chance to tune up our gliders and make sure everything is perfect before we go to the Owens Valley,” Henden said.

“And there are hundreds of friendly American pilots here who can give you all the advice you need,” Spjelonaes added.

The local Sylmar pilots are sharing the airspace with the world competitors and trying not to be too awe-struck. “We’re kind of jaded because we fly with a lot of really good pilots,” Wickham said. But those at the landing zone Monday seemed suitably impressed.

“Good approach, real good landing,” one said after Henden swooped down to the ground. “Under control, no step, very nice.”