This past XContest season (2025) Ariel Zlatkovski decided to take on a fantastically bold and totally mind-bending mission: Fly 100, 100km flights in a single season. To pull it off he’d have to spend a full 10% of his hours on Earth flying (nearly 20% of daylight hours), he’d cover 12,000 kilometers of open distance, and rack up 893 hours in the sky. He’d live the entire year away from home in India, Colombia and the Alps and while one imagines this would be most pilot’s dream year, it was often lonely, and often very intense. Much of it was a real grind and subjected Ariel to too much risk. Ariel shares his rather obsessive journey into paragliding, how Project 100 took hold, and the challenges and emotional highs and lows he faced along the way. The discussion delves into the balance between the joy of flying and the pressures of competition, as well as the lessons learned from a year of very intense flying. Ariel reflects on the endurance required for such a project and the darker side of chasing numbers in the sport. Tune in, this is a remarkable feat of endurance and dedication.

Check out Ariel’s zero turning 100 he discusses in the show in Bir, it’s pretty remarkable.

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Takeaways

Ariel started flying in 2019 and quickly became passionate about paragliding.
He logged 893 hours of flying in the last XC contest season.
Project 100 aimed for 100 unique 100-kilometer flights in a year.
The project turned out to be more about endurance than enjoyment.
Ariel faced many challenges and scary moments during his flights.
He experienced a mix of amazing and mediocre flights throughout the year.
The competition with fellow pilots added pressure to his flying.
Ariel’s lifestyle revolves entirely around paragliding and travel.
He learned that chasing numbers can lead to risky decisions.
Despite the challenges, Ariel remains passionate about flying and future projects.

Sound Bites

“I was just really into that.”
“I made tons of stupid decisions.”
“It was a wild year.”

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background
03:00 The Journey into Paragliding
05:53 Project 100: The Ambitious Goal
08:59 The Challenges of Chasing Numbers
11:48 The Experience of Flying
14:51 Reflections on the Project
17:43 The Dark Side of Competition
20:01 Lessons Learned and Future Aspirations

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