Unexpectedly to the German champion: This Hohenbrunner is a real high-flyer

Created: 08/26/2022, 13:30

By: Helena Grillenberger

Proud of the certificate: Axel Dwyer is German champion in ultralight flying.

© Private

Axel Dwyer from Hohenbrunn unexpectedly wins the title of German Champion in ultralight flying.

The passion for flying came with a very special journey.

Hohenbrunn

– When Axel Dwyer started his ultralight training in 2009, i.e. his ultralight flying training, he would not have expected to qualify for the world championship in this sport 13 years later.

Let alone that he would take sixth place there.

Flying over the Irish coast changed everything

In 2008, the 52-year-old lawyer from Hohenbrunn flew along the Irish coast in a Cessna.

Back then as a guest.

His pilot: the youngest license holder in Ireland at the time.

“A great experience,” Dwyer enthuses to this day.

A year later, the father of three began his UL training.

He wasn't thinking about competitions at the time: when he finally had the license in his pocket, he chartered an ultralight aircraft and simply enjoyed flying and the occasional trip abroad, including to France and Italy.

When Dwyer later obtained the licenses for four-seater aircraft and the TMG authorization for motor gliders, he joined the Albatros Air Sports Association in Erding.

Despite the new possibilities, ultralight flying remained his greatest passion.

For this reason, the 52-year-old took part in a championship for the first time in 2020, back then in Mühldorf.

Fun turned into success

"It was pure fun and without any preparation," he says.

Despite this, he managed to take third place.

When the next German UL championship was announced in 2021, the demands that the hobby pilot had on himself were different.

So last year, Dwyer used his private flights to practice.

And also to estimate the distances required for the championship.

On the one hand, the German championship is about mastering precision landings and take-offs over obstacles.

On the other hand, there are also various navigation tasks in the competition program.

They work in such a way that you first get a word problem from which you have to calculate a route and draw the course on the map.

The routes are usually between 150 and 200 kilometers long.

These routes then have to be flown without navigation devices, i.e. solely on the basis of map material.

Invisible Gates

The route is provided with virtual, i.e. invisible gates.

The more of these you hit, the more points you get.

There are also additional requirements such as maintaining a certain speed over the ground or flying through gates at certain times.

The egg timer brought in especially for the championship became one of the most important instruments on the plane, says Dwyer with a grin.

With 34 other participants, the hobby pilot then took off in May at the Rheine airfield near Münster.

Dwyer had missed the previous training days.

Although he knew the map and had a strategy in place, it was only on the first day of the competition that he was able to familiarize himself with the local team conditions and points of orientation.

The wind also presented the lawyers with a problem: at around 20 to 30 knots, his aircraft was significantly displaced during the flight - a challenge for orientation in an already unfamiliar area.

Dwyer almost got carried off the map on the first task.

Shortly before the Dutch border, however, he realized that he had been driven west.

In the search course, he just managed to make the turn to thread himself back onto the course.

Bad Luck of the Day Medal

The little adventure earned him the Unlucky Guy of the Day medal.

And yet: Despite his difficulties, Dwyer had even won the navigation task, as he found out the next day.

He held this lead to the end - and won the title of German Champion in ultralight flying.

This qualified him to take part in the World Championships, which were recently held in Hosin (Czech Republic).

At first everything went well for the 52-year-old.

For a while he was even in fourth place.

But then he thought to himself: "Either one of the top three places or none." Dwyer and put everything on one card, but luck was not on his side: He finished the championship in sixth place.

“I did it more for fun,” explains Dwyer.

With the new experience he has gained, he is now considering taking part in the European Championships next year.

He has already qualified for it.

"And I'll definitely be back at the next German Championship in May 2023."