Jouni Makkonen flew across Finland on 11 June 2021 to set a new European paragliding record for open distance. The flight is also the first 500km paragliding flight made in Europe and followed a 432km flight he’d made just 12 days before. Four days after his record-breaking flight we gave him a call.
Jouni, 50, is well known on the international scene, and has competed in the Paragliding World Cup for years. He also has two Red Bull X-Alps (2009 and 2011) under his belt, coming top 10 both times. An architect and property developer, he is a key figure in developing Finnish paragliding and has consistently shown the potential of his home country. “Finland is pretty tricky,” he says about flying there. “You can’t fly sideways, you can only go up and down. And you can’t cross the Russian border, that would be a big problem.”
Jouni, congratulations!
Thanks, yeah. It’s been a good summer.
500km is amazing. The first thing that struck me though was it was south to north. I can understand going north to south in those Arctic air streams, but this looks new
Well, we have been doing pretty long flights already from south to north, but it’s more common to fly from the north, yes. The wind doesn’t come from the south so often, so that’s the main reason. I don’t know if there’s any meteorological reason, like the air is drier from the north or warmer from the south.
Tell us about the flying in Finland. Your photos always show a lot of forest and lakes
Yes, up in the north! The further north you go the fewer people there are. It’s small farms and all forest. I live in Lahti in the south, where we tow. We use two sites, a small airport and a field that we rent.
Tell us about the 400km flight
It was actually quite easy. The thermals were good, it was cloud hopping, pretty fast. Flying south, the only problem was the sea and I ran out of land. That was the first time I had flown 400km in Finland. Last year I realised there is huge potential here if the weather is good. But from this I realised that actually, if you have a little wind, even the world record could be possible.
600km?
Yeah, 600! I think it’s possible. In Brazil the flying day is 11.5 hours, from 6.30am to 6pm – and the record is 588km. In Finland you can start at 10am and we land about 9pm; my big flight I landed at 9.40pm, so it’s similar. People think because we have 22-hour daylight mid-summer we can fly all day, but actually the flying day is max 11.5 hours, although we don’t need to worry about landing after sunset. On my 500k flight I didn’t actually think the day was such a big day. I got to the airfield late, so I lost a usable 90 minutes.
So you didn’t even rate the 500k day at first?
For the first 150km there was not a lot of wind. Average speed a lot less than 40km/h. I thought, “OK, it’s not going to be a record but I fly anyway.” But it started to be epic at 150km. Cloud streets developed and it was amazing. I thought “OK, now we are going strong”. The cloud streets ended a couple of times, but there was always another.
This is your PB too, right?
Yes it is. I did a declared goal world record in Brazil, but at 479km it was less than 500k.
Have you always had 500k in mind?
Well, after doing 400k I had 500k in mind. And now I have done 500k I’m thinking about 600 because I know it’s possible. You have to be there at the right place at the right time.
What weather conditions do you need to go so far in Finland?
You need some wind of course, you don’t fly a long flight without wind. We have stronger wind up high, but lower down it’s not so strong because we have a lot of trees, so the friction layer is pretty established. You can launch in 5m/s (18km/h) and it can easily be 10m/s in the upper levels.
So the take-off is ok?
It’s pretty safe. The launch field is a very wide area, it’s turbulence free, so if you have to land it’s not a problem.
When you were at 150k and it was turning on, did you think, ‘OK now it’s a record day?’
I was calculating I could do 350, maybe if I’m lucky I could fly 400. But I never thought I would go all the way to 500.
What were conditions like from around 200-300km?
Very smooth. It’s hard to imagine any better. The best climbs were 7m/s, but typically they were around 4m/s. I was trying to follow the best line, so I moved around a bit. I crossed cloud streets a couple of times, because at the beginning there was this upper cloud coming from behind, so I had to race that. But I managed to get away.
Was there anyone else with you?
I very rarely fly with anyone else! Sometimes I might meet someone, but it’s a very brief moment. I have my own style, and if I have to wait, I can’t do it!
What were you thinking when 400km was on the cards?
At one point I realised I could get the European record. But I had done a very long glide from cloudbase and I hadn’t had any thermals at all. And it was already 9pm. I thought I’d glide to 420km, and miss the record.
But then, at 300m AGL, I hit this last thermal. It started slow, I was drifting with it, and usually when you do that it means you can find a better one nearby, and actually I did. It was 3m/s and it went all the way to cloudbase again. I was so happy I was shouting!
As I was climbing I could see this cloud street stretching out to the north, and I thought if I can get up again this cloud street will float me a long time. And it did. My final glide was between 50 and 60k. It was incredible. So smooth, so beautiful. I didn’t push any bar, I just floated along. I knew that was it, and I was just looking at where to land. It was all forest and a lot of mosquitoes! They eat you alive.
Did you have a net or anything to cover your head?
No! Nothing. I managed to reach this little village, Pudasjärvi, and I landed in a football field, perfect. There was nothing else around. But when I started to pack the first breath I took I inhaled mosquitoes! There was a dark, thick cloud of mosquitoes around me. I had to run circles.
Who else was around?
When you land in Brazil there are going to be at least 20 kids, but when you land in Finland there is maybe one guy. This time no one came to ask anything. This is Finland you know, they are not rude it’s just that way.
So you’re up there, surrounded by mosquitoes, no one about. How did you get home?
At this point I really have to thank my partner, Taina Takanen. She is really precious. When I fly long, she always follows with the car. She is gold. She flies too and we talk a lot on the radio when I’m flying.
I had to wait in a gas station for a couple of hours, but it was nothing. Physically I was feeling very cool actually. I was not tired. The flight was so easy, it was more like resting! Of course, I was happy, except for the mosquitoes. From there we went to visit some of my relatives and they took care of me. In the morning we started the drive back.
So on XContest it is 508km, with a couple of turnpoints. But the straight-line distance, which you need for an official FAI European record, that looked like 499km.
Yes. Well we checked it all out and filed the application claiming 500.8km. So we hope to get that ratified as the new European paragliding record, I don’t see any reason why not.
Is there airspace that far north?
There was one controlled area, but in Finland we can fly through active airspace if we use aviation radios. It’s not a problem.
Tell us about the equipment you fly.
I fly an Ozone Enzo 3 and Woody Valley X-Rated 7 harness, two reserves. I use an old Braüniger, which I love. And I have this new little box – the XC Tracer – with a 10-inch tablet and XCTrack. It’s the same as my competition set-up.
And how do you stay alert in flight, what do you eat and drink?
I do a lot of other sports, it helps in the air to be in good condition. I eat energy bars, I have an apple, I like to eat apples in flight, but I don’t eat a lot, just a little to keep the sugar levels up. And I put sports-carbohydrate powder in my water bag. I used to drink plain water but it makes a big difference.
Finland now joins the exclusive club of places where paraglider pilots have flown 500km – South Africa, Brazil and Texas. Have you had calls? Are you going to do an XC camp next year?
Maybe. We have had some discussions but I don’t know how serious that is. The problem is in Brazil you know there will be good days every second or third day. But in Finland it’s hard to predict. It changes a lot and by July it gets hotter and more stable. All I can say is if someone wants to fly distance you have to be around mid-May through June. That’s the season. And if it’s a good day, we’re going to try!
Explore Jouni’s tracklog on XContest.
