Looping Deconstructed – with Lucas Ruffieux

“What I really remember is seeing the lake below the wing for so long and just slowly passing over the wing. That feeling was really crazy.” Lucas Ruffieux, 23, an acro pilot from Interlaken, is sharing the moment he did the first loop on a parakite last August. “You’re so long above the wing it feels like everything is happening slowly, but at the same time it feels quite easy because the wing is just flying normally. In the end, you’re just braking.”

Afterwards, it didn’t take long for the inevitable question to surface. Could this be done on a paraglider, not a parakite? “It came to my mind really quick because I think parakites are amazing, but I also really love paragliders,” Lucas says. “In my mind, I wanted...