News Update 17.07.25

Visit from Australia with paramotor

Report from the Stuttgarter Zeitung
Australian flies across Europe with a paraglider

The Australian adventurer Tim Rowlinson is flying from Great Britain to the Ukrainian border – with a stop in Schramberg.

When Australian Tim Rowlinson (54) takes off early in the morning together with two friends in Dover, England, he faces an hour-long flight over open water. Below him: the English Channel. Above him: only the wing of his motorized paraglider. It is quiet in the air – and freezing cold. At around 6,000 feet, his fingers are almost freezing. But turning back is not an option. The flight is part of a mission that will take him to the Ukrainian border.

A daring venture – for a good cause
His journey starts at Land’s End in southwest England and goes through France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania to the Ukrainian border. Along the way, he plans to stop in Schramberg, in the central Black Forest. His goal: to collect donations for two aid projects in the war-torn country – a soup kitchen in Kharkiv and an emergency vehicle that is to save lives at the front. The van is being converted for this purpose and accompanies the three adventurers – Rowlinson, Gary Bell, and Nathan Ward – on the ground.

The idea for this daring journey came when he heard on a podcast about British cyclists who raised money by riding to Ukraine. “I thought: maybe I can do something similar with the paramotor.”

Inspired by aviation pioneers
This isn’t Rowlinson’s first bold flight. He has been flying paramotors – paragliders with backpack engines – for seven years. Inspired by aviation pioneers like Charles Kingsford Smith, the first person to fly across the Pacific from the U.S. to Australia in 1928, Rowlinson wanted to test limits himself. In Australia, he has already crossed the Torres Strait, about 150 km of ocean between Australia and Papua New Guinea – back then, as now, only with a floatation device and emergency transmitter, no escort boat.

Crossing the English Channel – a symbolic act
Flying across the English Channel was a symbolic act: the 40-kilometre crossing is a "well-known milestone", he explained in a video call. Many people have swum or flown this route. "People have been doing this for 100 years, and we even looked at the plane of Louis Blériot, the first to fly from France to Dover in 1909." Blériot took 37 minutes for the journey.

The adventurers must always keep an eye on the weather. “Paramotors are very wind-sensitive – it’s like a parachute with a motor on your back,” said Rowlinson. “So we always try to fly with light wind or preferably no wind.”

They were also warned that fog often reduces visibility over the Channel, but this week the air was so clear that they could see France from the cliffs of Dover the day before. During the actual crossing, they were lucky – they reached the French coast in less than 70 minutes.

Next stop: Schramberg
They landed at 8 a.m. local time and were so early that no one was there to greet them at first. But then came the warm welcome – despite some language barriers. Rowlinson said that so far everyone they had met was friendly, generous, and helpful.

From France, they are heading to Germany – planning to land near Stuttgart over the weekend or early next week. A local flight school in Schramberg, about 100 km south of Stuttgart, has already offered their “lovely little airfield.” On the trio’s Facebook page, Germans left a message inviting them to stop by, offering “any support imaginable” – barbecue, shower, electricity, and technical help. “We’re happy to accept,” said Rowlinson.

From Germany, they plan to continue through Austria – with a two-day stop in the mountains southwest of Vienna – then through the Czech Republic and Hungary, and finally to Romania. At the Ukrainian border, they plan to hand over the van personally, and Rowlinson, a mechanic back home, wants to help convert it into an ambulance.

Rowlinson has felt connected to Ukraine for some time. He traveled there in 2023 with tools, hoping to help with reconstruction. What he saw left a lasting impression. “I met people who lost their homes, their families, their livelihoods,” he said. With his current mission, he not only wants to collect donations but also raise awareness. “I want to remind people what’s happening in Ukraine and help them get through this terrible war,” he said.