John Pendry (hang glider pilot)

John Malcolm Pendry (b. c. 1957)[1][2][3][4][5] is a British hang glider and paraglider pilot. He was Hang Gliding World Champion in 1985 after winning the World Championship in Kössen, Austria.[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In 1997 he became the Paragliding World Champion[9] after winning the World Championship in Castejon de Sos in the Spanish Pyrenees. He was the European Hang Gliding Champion in four consecutive competitions,[4] in 1986, 1988, 1990[6] and 1992.[10]

Pendry grew up in Brighton,[11][9] and started flying hang gliders whilst still a schoolboy aged 16 on the South Downs in Sussex, England. He graduated from University College Cardiff, Wales in 1980 with a civil engineering degree[2][12][4] and started competing with hang gliders in 1982, gaining second place and winning £2000 in a competition in Italy.[12] From 1983 onwards he was sponsored by Planters Peanuts[1][2][13] and set an official World Distance record of 186 miles in July 1983 in the Owens Valley, Nevada, USA.[12][4][14] He also set a British distance record of 132 miles in 1984.[12][15] From 1981 until 1995 he flew in many international solo and team hang gliding competitions around the world. In 1989, the British team, with Pendry leading, won the World Team Cup in Brazil;[16] they retained it in 1991.[4][17] He was considered one of the few hang gliding pilots to earn a reasonable income from the sport.[3]

In 1987 he became the sales and marketing director of Airwave Gliders, the largest hang glider manufacturer in the world at the time based on the Isle of Wight. In 1991 he started competing in paragliding competitions[4][18] in which he continued until 2000. He received two Royal Aero Club Gold Medals following his World titles in 1985 and 1987 presented respectively by Elizabeth II[12] and Prince Andrew.[2]

In 2000 he created the kitesurf school and shop, Adrenaline,[11] in La Franqui close to Perpignan, France[18] and ran this until 2015.

References
  1. Cockerill, Michael (24 December 1987). "King of the clouds is down to earth". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. p. 24. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  2. Madge, Tim (20 May 1987). "Flying nut is one of the few". The Guardian. London, England. p. 11. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  3. Cockerill, Michael (4 January 1988). "High on glory with the world's best view". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. p. 31. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  4. "1000". The Sunday Times (8966). London, England. 30 June 1996. p. 138.
  5. Brown, Michelle (23 January 1988). "Stepping off cliffs is just a breeze to John". The Age. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. p. 31. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  6. "Pendry takes his third title in a row". The Times (63753). London, England. 9 July 1990. p. 33.
  7. FAI website
  8. "High-Flyer: John Pendry of Brighton, the world…". The Sunday Times (8520). London, England. 22 November 1987. p. 29.
  9. "MONTPELLIER Le kitesurf, né entre Montpellier et Hawaï". L'Humanité (in French). Paris, France. 6 October 2001. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  10. FAI website
  11. Williams, Nicola; Roddis, Miles (2009). "John Pendry, l'uomo che vola nel vento". Languedoc-Roussillon (in Italian). Lonely Planet, EDT srl. p. 234. ISBN 9788860404893. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  12. Abbott, Stan (28 May 1985). "Pendry flying high on a low profile". The Guardian. London, England. p. 25. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  13. "Champion glider". Liverpool Echo. Liverpool, England. 20 January 1986. p. 9. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  14. "Pendry the Birdman". The Sunday Times (8358). London, England. 14 October 1984. p. 31.
  15. "Flying high". Reading Evening Post. Reading, Berkshire, England. 2 May 1984. p. 8. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  16. "Successful flight". The Times (63328). London, England. 27 February 1989. p. 35.
  17. "Male lifts title again". The Times (63962). London, England. 11 March 1991. p. 33.
  18. "We are the Champions. Paragliding". The Sunday Times (9261). London, England. 24 February 2002. p. 19.
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