Final Flight of the Happy Icarus

With Toni Bender, the scene has lost not only one of the most gifted pilots of all time, but also one of the most extraordinary and influential personalities in the worlds of both hang gliding and paragliding.

He started windsurfing while still at school and, thanks to his natural athletic ability and an exceptional feel for the wind, quickly became very good. When Mike Harker made his legendary hang glider flight from the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain, in 1973, 15-year-old Toni happened to be in the area.