Pull the cord!

He dreamed of flying even as a small child. On the take-off ramp in Schwangau: hundreds of meters down to the right, steep slope to the left. A short time and a few steps later, he really took off for the first time. Since then, he has regularly soared in the thermals, enjoying the change of perspective and the bird-like view down into the valley. As a trained pilot and flight instructor. Far away from the stress and hustle and bustle of everyday life, he likes to race the birds all over the world with a gentle pull on his control lines. Daredevil maneuvers included, as people still talk about at his regular flying table today. "Tame birds sing of freedom, wild birds fly!" he quotes music legend John Lennon with a wink and a mischievous grin. He has always been a wild bird, or as they say in the Allgäu, a wild dog.

From tough field hockey games and fast ski turns

His father was already an ice hockey legend: So his skate and ski boot stood side by side in the garage. From a sporting point of view, Harti's father didn't live out his life paragliding, but on the ice: as a teenager, he played for his home club (EV Füssen), later moving to FC Bayern Munich's senior league team, where he attended master school at the same time and completed his professional qualification. In 1968, his team took another step "up" into the Bundesliga. Hartl even played an active part in the Olympic Games. Ascent instead of upwind. His son Harti was to follow in his father's footsteps. After completing his apprenticeship at Bihler, he took over his electrical business in Füssen. As a child, Harti himself played ice hockey in Füssen, which was "quite normal for children and young people from Füssen". He also took part in ski races. The Olympic motto "Citius, altius, fortius - faster, higher, stronger" could easily have come from him. After all, performance is everything for him and he needs a sporting change of perspective like the updraft when flying. But Harti decided otherwise. For a life high up in the air. A life from a bird's eye view.

A life in “flow”

Harti started "flying" in 1979 at the age of 14. The first small jumps and flying sessions were attempted with schoolmates at Galgenbichl in Füssen. At a time when there were fewer guidelines and controls. His father was a good "spezl" of Christoph Müller at that time. Christoph and Harti's father flew together a lot back then. Christoph Müller is co-owner of the Hotel Müller in Hohenschwangau as well as managing director of the local carriage company. There was a lot of equipment in the garage at home. Harti took what he needed and off he went - without any prior flying lessons, theory or the like. And so he taught himself to fly, very much in the style of "learning by flying". First, Harti dutifully completed all the compulsory flying lessons and acquired his official flying license. He started with hang gliding, which is much more complicated to assemble, however; the equipment is many times heavier1 . Unfortunately, according to Harti, hang gliding has declined sharply due to the lightness and practicality of paragliders and their less complicated construction2. Harti Waitl was already flying in the German national hang gliding team at the age of 22 and took part in international competitions involving long-distance flights of up to 100 km. What the camera did back then is now done by modern GPS tracking. When the flying school finally came up for sale in 1993, the gifted hang glider pilot reacted quickly and took it over without further ado. At that time, the flying school was still located on Bullachberg and was called the "Aktiv" flying school. After Harti had turned over every conceivable penny and guarantees were provided, Harti acquired the flying school, which he ran for a remarkable 25 years from then on. And he did so successfully until 2022.

Despite every effort at the time, the 58-year-old, who is still young at heart today, has no regrets about this decision. During his flight instructor training in Ruhpolding, he initially only assisted, underwent many theoretical and practical tests until he finally completed his final flight instructor exam. At that time, however, the school only offered hang gliding. But over time, the focus shifted more and more to paragliding. Harti has already flown halfway around the globe: in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, over large parts of Asia and in the US lowlands near Miami, as well as in South America (Brazil) and South Africa. There he went on a "flying safari", as Harti calls it. From Durban to Knysna, along the south-east coast. The classic way in a bucket truck with stopovers for "flights out". With a grin, Harti recounts an unusual experience: the first flying spot was in Durban; however, the challenge was that the take-off site was also the landing site, making a U-turn unavoidable if the pilots wanted to reach safe ground under their feet again. If they didn't succeed, the only option was to land on the roof of a highway tollbooth. Poor prospects with a small landing area. There were no other landing sites due to the dense population and large areas of forest. He had no choice but to trust the locals. Harti still shakes his head at this today and laughs: "You won't find this anywhere else in the world!"

His home: his local mountain

Although the globetrotter has already seen almost the whole world from above, Harti's favorite place and box seat remains his local Tegelberg: a fantastically situated mountain with a royal backdrop and the best view of the world-famous royal castles, nestled in the picturesque foothills of the Alps with its rolling hills and deep blue lakes. The Königswinkel and "his" mountain, where his flying students also learned to fly, are simply the epitome of home for Harti Waitl.