VTPR "Made in America"

VTPR stands for "Voltige très près du relief", and is a flying style that has been created in France a long time ago, more specifically in Britanny. It consists of flying aerobatics very
close to the ground, without any inertia and with extreme agility.
Airframes have been especially developped for this purpose. The main characteristics are very light wings, usually only ailerons and no flap (to save weigth).

Few years ago, several american pilots got interrest in this new approach of aerobatics, and introduced it in California, trying to design new sailplanes, like "Le Fish", freely inspired by the EPP Minitoons. Steve Lange is one of them and a very active actor on the VTPR scene. Steve is running the website http://www.slopeaerobatics.com/ where you will find lots of information, videos, links, etc ...

More recently, his friend, Swiss Peter, worked on extralight EPP airframes. After making an ultralight Spindrift and Le Fish, He managed to build a 2.1m big Fish only at 635 g which is incredibly light !

Here are 2 videos from Steve (aka Surfimp):









For information, a VTPR meeting is organised the 9th of July at Temple Hill (South-California).