![]() ![]() None of this counts for hang glider ratings nor should it. I had already agreed to buy his half out and will then take the craft to FL (on a truck) where it will live in a corner of the hangar. Sadly, Mike was involved in a Motorcycle accident and is starting the long road to recovery. Alas, Harry sold his share to Mike Koval who never did fly it. ![]() It was at Harry’s place, though so eventually I flew it less and less. Of course when I landed and asked for ballast he said “my 98 pound wife doesn’t need it, just let up on the bar, let it climb and you’ll be fine.” He was right, of course, I just wasn’t ready for that steep climb in spite of his telling me to expect it.Īfter that I started flying the Samba and flew the wheels off it. At least that’s what it felt like as I held the wobbling bar in a nearly vain attempt at going over into a loop. But when I flew that thing alone it went straight up. He’s a big boy - 7 foot worth of 250 pound human - a super nice guy, patient and capable teacher. Jeff finished my training and soloed me in his super beefed up, fire breathing, turbo boosted monster machine. Where had I heard that name before? Yup, hang gliding back in ’98–Oh yeah! He was my tandem pilot. At some point, though, he had to attend to another commitment (yeah, probably got scared) and handed me off to Jeff Neilson. ![]() Pushing forward on the hang glider’s control bar makes you go up. In an airplane pushing forward on the stick makes you go down. I warned him about how much more difficult a student I might be based on every possible control being backwards. “Sure!” I said, and let the training begin. Not sure of the start date but a friend of mine, Harry Rosset, asked me if I wanted to go in with him on a Cosmos Soaring Trike. Totals: 9 FL hill flights, 0.6 hours, 2 flying days, 2 sites. And I knew that a normal glider would take much better reactions.Ĥ FL hill flights, 0.1 hours, WW Condor, San Diego Training Hill I don’t remember the details of whether or not I landed on my feet but I do remember it seemed surprisingly easy at those speeds. I did probably 4 runs down the mountain but that glider was so big it felt like cheating. The year the Wills Wing Condor came out (may not have been 2004) he got a hold of one and gave a couple of us an evening ground session. Before paragliding, though, before I knew him, he was also an advanced hang glider pilot and continued to teach and write for the USHGA magazine. He showed me what was possible if you could really master kiting. 2004 With Alan ChuculateĪlan was a paragliding mentor mostly by example. So I chalked it up as a cool mark on life and moved on.ĥ foot launch (FL) hill flights, 1 Aerotow (AT) launch, 0.5 hours. It felt like a lark because actually learning the sport was too far out of the way. I remember him because several years later, when I went to learn hang glider trikes, he was the guy who soloed me. I don’t remember the hill instructor’s name but I do the tandem pilot - Jeff Neilson. That sounded cool so we flew my Cessna 150 up to Whitewater, WI where we did a half-day of hill flights and one aerotow. It was apparently September, 1998 - I just found the pictures! John Gijsen, a fellow captain from Midway Connection (who had gone to Air Wisconsin) asked if I’d join him for a one-day introductory hang gliding lesson. I asked John Heiney about this and he confirmed that our bunny hill runs count. Even though some of these “flights”, namely the ones in San Diego, only got me airborne going into the flare. In 2014, with aviation career fully engaged, I decided it was time to try “the other page”.įor the purpose of this log, a hang glider flight starts from the beginning of the run/roll to coming to a stop after getting airborne. My parents forbade the hang gliding but let me pursue sailplanes in what became a long aviation affair. I went nuts thinking that I could actually fly at this age. My brother brought home a book showing a hang glider on one page and a sailplane on the next. My first exposure to hang gliding was at 13 years old. This is also as my official hang glider logbook since I’ll lose the paper one anyway. ![]()
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