Airwave Gliders was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

based on the Isle of Wight and later in

Fulpmes Fulpmes is a market town and a municipality in Stubaital, Tyrol, Austria. In 2015 it had a population of 4,250, of whom 14.5% did not have Austrian nationality. Fulpmes is the center of iron production in the area, and lies at the base of the Schl ...

. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

s and

paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched Glider (aircraft), glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a :wikt:harness, harness or in ...

s.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 12. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. The company was founded in 1979 and went out of business circa 2009. As of 2019, the Airwave website still exists, but it just refers visitors to

Bruce Goldsmith Design Bruce Goldsmith is a British paraglider pilot, paraglider designer, and the 2007 Paragliding World Champion. He won the title at Manilla, New South Wales, Manilla in Australia, flying an Airwave Magic FR3. He has been British Paragliding Champion ...

for support for Airwave products. The company produced a wide range of aircraft including Bruce Goldsmith paraglider designs, such as the Airwave Magic,

Scenic Scenic may refer to: * Scenic design * Scenic painting * Scenic overlook * Scenic railroad (disambiguation) * Scenic route * Scenic, South Dakota, United States * Scenic (horse), a Thoroughbred racehorse Aviation * Airwave Scenic, an Austrian ...

Sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

Ten Ten, TEN or 10 may refer to: * 10, an even natural number following 9 and preceding 11 * one of the years 10 BC, AD 10, 1910, 2010, 2110 * October, the tenth month of the year Places * Mount Ten, in Vietnam * Tongren Fenghuang Airport (IATA c ...

and the

Wave In physics, mathematics, engineering, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from List of types of equilibrium, equilibrium) of one or more quantities. ''Periodic waves'' oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium ...

History

Airwave was formed in 1979 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as a hang glider manufacturer. Its early designs were flown by the leading British hang glider pilots to many World Hang Gliding Championships. Bruce Goldsmith started the paragliding division of the company's business in 1989. In 1997,

John Pendry Sir John Brian Pendry, (born 4 July 1943) is an English theoretical physicist known for his research into metamaterials and creation of the first practical "Invisibility, Invisibility Cloak". He is a professor of theoretical solid state physics ...

took first place in the World Paragliding Championships with an Airwave paraglider. Goldsmith later left Airwave to work for other companies. In November 1999, Markus Villinger bought the company and moved it to the

Stubaital The Stubai Valley or Stubaital () is an alps, alpine valley in Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria. It is the central valley of the Stubai Alps. The river Ruetz (river), Ruetz flows through the valley. This 35-km long valley runs in northeastern dire ...

, Austria, located in the

Central Eastern Alps The Central Eastern Alps (), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps () or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent regions of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and Slovenia. South of them is ...

region. He had previously run Wills Wing Europe, the distributor for

Wills Wing Wills Wing, Inc is an aircraft manufacturer originally based in Orange, California. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of hang gliders in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft, plus hang glider harnesses and accessories.Bertrand, ...

hang gliders. Villinger persuaded Goldsmith to return to Airwave in May 2000 and his paraglider designs were produced by subcontractors. Goldsmith worked from his home in Gréolières,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, which has a climate that permits year-round paraglider flight. Villinger eventually sold the company and went into the field of

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

instead. Villinger later bought the company back and relocated it to

, where he produced his own hang glider designs and Goldsmith's paraglider designs. By 2008, company had ceased production of its own hang glider designs and became an importer of Wills Wing hang gliders, while continuing to have paragliders manufactured by contractors. It seems to have gone out of business about 2009 as part of the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. As of 2016, Goldsmith was still providing technical support and spares for Airwave gliders, through his new company

Aircraft

Summary of aircraft built by Airwave Gliders: Paragliders * Airwave Alpine Extreme * Airwave Burn * Airwave Gecko * Airwave Kiss * Airwave Logic * Airwave Magic * Airwave Mustang * Airwave Scenic * Airwave Slingshot * Airwave Sport * Airwave Ten * Airwave Wave

References

External links

*
Company website archives
on

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

{{Airwave aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Austria Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Hang gliders Paragliders