A liightbulb goes off over my head... hang gliding?

Early December 2006

In November of 2006, my brother Brad (www.brewright.com) came out for a rare visit. He had a conference in L.A. for Sociology, a subject in which he is a professor at U Conn.

"Hey," he asked, "could you find a place for me to take a hang gliding lesson?" Or two. I googled 'round and found Rob McKenzie's FlyTandem.com. Rob is one of the most (if not the most) experienced Hang Gliding pilots and instructors in the US. Shortly after getting Moses to a Hang 2 rating, Rob got the FAA's first (and last?) FAA Tandem License.

I have always wanted to pursue some form of aviation. Schlepping a Cessna around the sky is expensive, and though the view is nice, the power of a Cessna is riveled by a... Soviet-era Lada? And the expense makes boats look like a bargain. Soaring gliders seem pretty cool and I think a fair few hang pilots go that direction, but there seems to be a lot of monkey biz involved in getting a glider and getting towed up. So, when Brad asked for a place to train out here, to compliment his training at Morningside in New Hampshire, he talked me into taking a tandem familiarization flight.

Editor's note: the East Coast sucks. You have to love the California sun.

It was not only a fun couple of days getting a taste of hang gliding, it was the most fun I've had with my Wright Brother in years.


Brad and I took tandems the first day, after which I ran up and down a thirteen foot bunny hill like Corky trying to get off a short bus with his seatbelt still on.



The quote of the day: Right before launch, Rob turned to me and asked, earnestly:
"You're not going to hyperventilate, are you?"

The second day, I took another tandem, but the big story of the day was Brad's first solo!!!! (video here) Big bro had brass ones. When he first launched, he put in a pound of pressure to turn right, when an ounce was needed. The hard right he took made Rob think he had tried to get his feet in the harness with a bit of difficulty. After that, he was as smooth as butter. I hope my first solo is as slick. Great job, Brad!

Watching him land, I decided I had found the form of aviation I'd been looking for, the hobby my stressful So Cal life needed, the release from the grind.

So, where do I start? FNG on teh hill.

Rob warned me that Nov/Dec was the worst time of the year to learn, but I decided that I had waited long enough. The first hang gliders I saw would run off of Sky Harbor Road above Millerton Lake and go up, not down. Until then, I thought all hang gliding flights were "sled rides." A sled ride is when there is no lift, you just run off a mountain and go down. Turns out, there are two types of lift: ridge lift, which is what I saw at Sky Harbor road, where wind hits the side of a hill or mountain and goes up, and thermals, where hot spots of land (or me after some Taco Bell) cause pockets of air to rise. In November and December (and January), the winds tend to blow down the ridges, nullifying any thermals that might break through the winter skies and making launches and landings unsafe, to put it mildly. And, of course, there's rain. This is not to imply that I want to live on the East Coast, where everything is flat-out shut down.

Well, despite the Santa Ana winds that have been plaguing us, I have managed to get a third tandem in, this one an hour and ten minutes long. On top of that, altruistic Rob referred me to a (closer) beach training site, operated by a competitor, to do my initial takeoff and landing practice. The instructor there, a super nice guy named Paul Thornberry, helped me quite a bit. In this part of the training, you run off sand dunes only 25 feet high, but consistently good winds make it an ideal spot to learn how to do takeoffs and landings. This bit is the only strenuous part of learning the sport, as you have to hump the glider back up the hill. The wind makes carrying it easier, the sand makes it harder.

Here are my initial thoughts on Hang Gliding:
- I'm surprised it's not more popular. The danger is overrated (11 mos. into 2006, no fatalities nationwide). It's not that expensive ($4k to $8k to get into, gas money after that). And, it's, as Chuck Yeager said, the "the flyingest flying there is."
- I've scuba dived, bungee jumped, flown, flown in a helicopter, flown in a glider, and dated a redhead. There's no thrill quite like looking down on top of a red tailed hawk (no, that's not another reference to the redhead). Hang gliding is both peaceful and thrilling at the same time. It's like an interesting woman who knows when to stop talking (that's definitely not the redhead).
- The biggest challenge for me to learn is scheduling. You have to book a couple of days a week and hope one holds. That's not easy while running a business. That's probably impossible for a nine-to-fiver.
- Every person I've met through hang gliding is nice. Maybe the assholes auger in. Or, I'm the first one. News at 11.
- I wish, for yet another reason, that my brother lived in California.
- Hang gliding feels to me like surfing with no wave below you, or skiing through powder, with no mountain under your feet.
- My wife is totally cool about this. First of all, she has a horse, which makes this hobby look cheap and safe. Secondly, she's glad I have an outlet.

So, I am looking forward to my first solo, then my first unassisted solo ("solo" still allows for radio assistance). My first glider is on order from Wills Wing. I want to get out to Morningside to fly with Brad and to drag his sorry butt out here. On top of all that, it sure would be nice if a friend or two got into this with me.