Industry Aerospace Divisions Charly-Products Founded 1974 | Founder Thomas Finsterwalder Headquarters Munich Type Privately held company | |
Products Hang gliders, Paragliders and accessories Website www.finsterwalder-charly.de | ||
Finsterwalder GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturer specializing in hang gliders, paragliders and related accessories. The company is headquartered in Munich.
Most of the company's hang glider designs are intended to be folded down to a small size for man-packing up mountains.
Finsterwalder GmbH is made up of two divisions. The headquarters is in Munich and focuses on hang glider design, production and repair along with helmet design and production. Charly Products is located in Seeg and produces paragliders, harnesses and rescue systems.
History
The company was formed in 1974 by Thomas Finsterwalder as a kayak design and production enterprise. The first hang glider designed and produced was the Finsterwalder Bergfex (English: Mountain Freak), which weighed 11 kg (24 lb) and could be broken down in 8 minutes to a package 1.80 m (5.9 ft) long for ground transport.
In 1985 the factory and all equipment were destroyed by a fire, delaying production until the following year.
In 1990 the company bought out Charly Products adding paragliders and parachute systems to the company line. Since the take-over the company has done business as Finsterwalder & Charly. In 1994 Charly started a partnership with Nova Paragliders.