The writer

Burkard Martens was born in 1962 in Lower Saxony, Germany. After completing his studies in 1989 he moved to the south of Germany and took up paragliding. For several years he managed to work as an environmental engineer AND be a very passionate pilot, but from ‚94 his life has been inseparable from flying. From ‚94 to ‚97 he worked for paraglider manufacturers, and from ‚97 to 2003 he owned and ran a paragliding school.
Since ‚03 he has worked freelance as a instructor pilot, journalist and author. He took up hang gliding in 1998.
For 7 years Burkhard did the comp thing, flew in the German League, the Nationals and in the World Cup. He bagged several national and international records during this time, and some of them still stand.
Burkhards passion is the cross country flight, and after flying in the German XC League for ten years he finally managed to win the Sports Class in 2004.
This success was followed by the publication of the book „Das Thermikbuch für Gleitschirm- und Drachenflieger“ in 2005. This book has already been translated to several languages.
In April 2007 the next book in the series, „Das Streckenflugbuch für Gleitschirm- und Drachenflieger“ (The XC-Flying guide for paraglider and hang gliders) was published. Although it has only been on the market for a very short time the sales figures are already impressive.“