weegegirl 2 #1 October 2, 2006 Ground school on Tuesday. One more thing on my list........ Check! Anyone got some stories? Advice? Pictures? Etc. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ACMESkydiver 0 #2 October 2, 2006 That shit is dangerous! They used to do a lot of it from the top of the 'mountain' in the small town that I'm from, but I don't know if they still launch there or not. I don't know how they would deal with the winds in that area anyhoo...they shut down the skydiving in that same spot many many years ago because they were having too many issues with the winds that were causing serious injuries/deaths, so I heard. But that was in the middle of a freaking valley between two small mountains with squirrely winds! Who'd do that anyhow? Take pics and have fun. ~Jaye Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monkycndo 0 #3 October 2, 2006 QuoteGround school on Tuesday. One more thing on my list........ Check! Advice? Etc. My brother used to fly over the beach at Santa Cruz. Chicks can't troll the way that guys can. Sorry.50 donations so far. Give it a try. You know you want to spank it Jump an Infinity Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weegegirl 2 #4 October 2, 2006 QuoteQuoteGround school on Tuesday. One more thing on my list........ Check! Advice? Etc. My brother used to fly over the beach at Santa Cruz. Chicks can't troll the way that guys can. Sorry. ??? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
swedishcelt 0 #5 October 2, 2006 Yeah!! What was THAT about? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monkycndo 0 #6 October 2, 2006 When guys fly over a beach and drop their "lures" out of the harness, it's called trolling.50 donations so far. Give it a try. You know you want to spank it Jump an Infinity Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weegegirl 2 #7 October 2, 2006 Uh...... okay. I can give you that one. No problem. So, you like, uh, trolling little boys then, huh? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monkycndo 0 #8 October 2, 2006 Nope, he was/is a bit of a perv. He just biffed in enough that he gave up hang gliding.50 donations so far. Give it a try. You know you want to spank it Jump an Infinity Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonstark 8 #9 October 2, 2006 It's very cool to see the ground rush AWAY. Big Buzz! Have fun. jon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunshine 2 #10 October 2, 2006 They did it on an episode of Chips. I used to watch that show on TBS a few years ago. ___________________________________________ meow I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twoply 0 #11 October 2, 2006 Good on you girl!! I'll ask at the risk of sounding silly, is hang gliding a sport that you should get formally educated in or is it a mentoring kinda thing? Seems to me to be pretty technical that it merits some schooling and not just a 12 pack on a hill and a teacher. I'd like to think I know a good deal about winds and their actions with one another, but talking with a knowledgable paraglider, he stated that there is far more to reading the winds than I had previously thought. We never got into it more than that because I fell off the roof and landed on my back on top of a fire hydrant. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squirrel 0 #12 October 2, 2006 QuoteGround school on Tuesday. One more thing on my list........ Check! Anyone got some stories? Advice? Pictures? Etc. yeah, get an engine! heheheeh ________________________________ Where is Darwin when you need him? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheAnvil 0 #13 October 2, 2006 I've done it - fun as hell. Would like to do it again. I'm too much of a novice to render any advice, though! GET VIDEO! I'd love to have been wearing my camera helmet when I did it! Vinny the Anvil Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL JACKASS POWER!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trae 1 #14 October 2, 2006 Hope you're feeling fit You get to carry the glider up and down the beginners slope oh... about 100 times. With more students you might get a rest but with only one other person in the course it was go go go . Lots of carrying stuff and putting together dismantling loading up tying down things. The early flying from the 20' slope onto sand felt completely non-intuitive to me . It felt more like launching a paper plane than flying & I struggled in general as the winds picked up.I was too light for the glider. My heavier friend did better . The higher I got the more scary as I didn't feel as fully in control as per parachuting. Bit like climbing too high and not knowing how to get back down. While still on the ropes (70' instructor controlled guide ropes tied to each wingtip) things got bad as I tended to over compensate too late and so did they. As they yanked on the ropes I'd lose control of the glider and do something silly. The thing was no way near as responsive as a canopy or as intuitive to fly. IT was definitely flying me more than the other way around. I had many a crash until I fully wrecked a glider ending up hanging upside down in the middle of the crumpled mess. The po'd instructor left me hanging until my laughing friend helped me out uninjured. I learnt that unlike with a parachute the glider can protect you in a crash . The worst part was that at the end of each day we couldn't stay and have a beer at the site but had to pack up and trudge the gear down the beach to the car park. The hot local pilots made it look too easy. It wasn't. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites MarkM 0 #15 October 2, 2006 QuoteThey did it on an episode of Chips. I used to watch that show on TBS a few years ago. They did a skydiving episode on Chips once two. Think they grabbed some chutes, went up, hopped out for their first jump(no ground school needed, of course) and did some points. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites inzite 0 #16 October 2, 2006 Damn straight! Those things are fun!!!!!! And they can climb fast, too! I got to jump out of one on Saturday. We were at altitude in about two minutes...I felt like I was climbing in the lightweight equivalent of a King Air. Climbed to 2100 feet, cut the engine, climbed out underneath the wing, gave the pilot a thumbs up, and jumped. What is it called though? It's not a hangglider. Is it considered an ultralight? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites popsjumper 2 #17 October 2, 2006 The old Training hill...I'm very sure that if they put their minds to it and thought real hard they could come up with something more tortuous. My one and only hang gliding flight went oh...about 6 feet. Watching the guys take about 6-8 running steps down the training hil and off they went flying. My brother strapped me into a hanging harness underneath this contraption and a helmet on my head and stood me at the top of the training hill and told me to run fast down the hill. I took off running and I ran 6-8 steps and nothing was happening so I contuinued running. I ran...and ran...and ran with this "thing" on my back and kept running and still nothing happened. That's when I got the "bright idea" - well, I'll just make this thing fly. I'll lift my feet up!" Bad move. Lifted my feet and the nose dived to the ground and planted itself. Me, in the swinging harness kept going like a battering ram and my head hit the aircraft-grade aluminum keel and broke it..snapped it clean through. So that's what the helmet was for. I got up, shook my self off and realized that I was two inches shorter than before and my neck has never been the same since. My chiropractor loved this story...probably helped pay for much of his Porsche.My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites JackC 0 #18 October 2, 2006 Yep, with teathered flight you're not much more than a glorified kite. Worth it though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites DownWind 0 #19 October 2, 2006 Liz, Have fun with the hang gliding. Where are you taking the course? I am looking into learning paragliding down in Valle de Bravo, Mexico this winter. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites d_squared431 0 #20 October 2, 2006 I hope you have a great time on Tuesday. TPM Sister#130ONTIG#1 I love vodka.I love vodka cause it rhymes with Tuaca~LisaH You having a clean thought is like billyvance having a clean post.iluvtofly Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Thanatos340 1 #21 October 2, 2006 I did the "Tethered" Flight thing alot back in the early 90`s. Same place that I started Skydiving also had a Hang Gliding School (and 185 foot Bungee tower). They basically had a Cable run from the top of a 120 Foot Cliff to the Ground. The Hang Glider was suspended from that cable on another 20 foot Cable and pulley. Once you ran off the cliff, You could fly a little and if you screwed up, You just rode the cable down. Nothing like real Hang Gliding but it was lots of Fun and you did get fly. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Shawndiver 0 #22 October 2, 2006 I went from skydiving to paragliding to hang gliding in 1991. Now doing all three again. As per some of the previous posters, if you are learning on a training hill (as opposed to aerotowing tandem instruction) you will be in the best shape of your life by the time you get off student status._________________ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites HeatherB 0 #23 October 2, 2006 Flaring felt pretty funky. Pushing a bar outwards and up instead of pulling toggles down. It was fun (just did a few flights from a training hill -- sand dunes actually). It'd do it again. On my first try, the guy had to let go of the rope (not enough weight under the thing) so I was on my own and fairly worried that I was about to kill myself. We lived. Very little training for those first flights...we watched a 15 minute stoner video featuring people biffing in and words of wisdom about "being one with the glider" but there wasn't much technical training. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites weegegirl 2 #24 October 4, 2006 Just got back from ground school. Sweeeeeeeeeeet. I can't freakin wait to go try this! He teaches ground launching on foot. A lot of the concepts were the same as skydiving - air foils, thermals, lift, turbulance, flaring, stalling, etc. They have a governing body too... United States Hang Gliding Association... USHGA. They even have a student manual that looks almost like the SIM and Hangling magazine. There are four levels of licensing, similar to the A, B, C, D, the hang 1, 2, 3, and 4, that set restrictions, etc on what is safe and recommended. So now I just have to find a Saturday or Sunday that we can all go. We must have been a pain in the arse class for him. All skydivers and one whuffo. The poor whuffo. Oh, and apparently swooping a hang glider is not a bright idea and is very much frowned upon. Or at least high speed swoops. I'm a rookie all over. This rocks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites jasonRose 0 #25 October 4, 2006 ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS!!!!!! That sounds like a total blast, Be safe so you can skydive more!! Keep us posted. Some day I will have the best staff in the world!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Prev 1 2 Next Page 1 of 2 Join the conversation You can post now and register later. 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MarkM 0 #15 October 2, 2006 QuoteThey did it on an episode of Chips. I used to watch that show on TBS a few years ago. They did a skydiving episode on Chips once two. Think they grabbed some chutes, went up, hopped out for their first jump(no ground school needed, of course) and did some points. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
inzite 0 #16 October 2, 2006 Damn straight! Those things are fun!!!!!! And they can climb fast, too! I got to jump out of one on Saturday. We were at altitude in about two minutes...I felt like I was climbing in the lightweight equivalent of a King Air. Climbed to 2100 feet, cut the engine, climbed out underneath the wing, gave the pilot a thumbs up, and jumped. What is it called though? It's not a hangglider. Is it considered an ultralight? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #17 October 2, 2006 The old Training hill...I'm very sure that if they put their minds to it and thought real hard they could come up with something more tortuous. My one and only hang gliding flight went oh...about 6 feet. Watching the guys take about 6-8 running steps down the training hil and off they went flying. My brother strapped me into a hanging harness underneath this contraption and a helmet on my head and stood me at the top of the training hill and told me to run fast down the hill. I took off running and I ran 6-8 steps and nothing was happening so I contuinued running. I ran...and ran...and ran with this "thing" on my back and kept running and still nothing happened. That's when I got the "bright idea" - well, I'll just make this thing fly. I'll lift my feet up!" Bad move. Lifted my feet and the nose dived to the ground and planted itself. Me, in the swinging harness kept going like a battering ram and my head hit the aircraft-grade aluminum keel and broke it..snapped it clean through. So that's what the helmet was for. I got up, shook my self off and realized that I was two inches shorter than before and my neck has never been the same since. My chiropractor loved this story...probably helped pay for much of his Porsche.My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JackC 0 #18 October 2, 2006 Yep, with teathered flight you're not much more than a glorified kite. Worth it though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DownWind 0 #19 October 2, 2006 Liz, Have fun with the hang gliding. Where are you taking the course? I am looking into learning paragliding down in Valle de Bravo, Mexico this winter. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
d_squared431 0 #20 October 2, 2006 I hope you have a great time on Tuesday. TPM Sister#130ONTIG#1 I love vodka.I love vodka cause it rhymes with Tuaca~LisaH You having a clean thought is like billyvance having a clean post.iluvtofly Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos340 1 #21 October 2, 2006 I did the "Tethered" Flight thing alot back in the early 90`s. Same place that I started Skydiving also had a Hang Gliding School (and 185 foot Bungee tower). They basically had a Cable run from the top of a 120 Foot Cliff to the Ground. The Hang Glider was suspended from that cable on another 20 foot Cable and pulley. Once you ran off the cliff, You could fly a little and if you screwed up, You just rode the cable down. Nothing like real Hang Gliding but it was lots of Fun and you did get fly. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shawndiver 0 #22 October 2, 2006 I went from skydiving to paragliding to hang gliding in 1991. Now doing all three again. As per some of the previous posters, if you are learning on a training hill (as opposed to aerotowing tandem instruction) you will be in the best shape of your life by the time you get off student status._________________ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeatherB 0 #23 October 2, 2006 Flaring felt pretty funky. Pushing a bar outwards and up instead of pulling toggles down. It was fun (just did a few flights from a training hill -- sand dunes actually). It'd do it again. On my first try, the guy had to let go of the rope (not enough weight under the thing) so I was on my own and fairly worried that I was about to kill myself. We lived. Very little training for those first flights...we watched a 15 minute stoner video featuring people biffing in and words of wisdom about "being one with the glider" but there wasn't much technical training. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weegegirl 2 #24 October 4, 2006 Just got back from ground school. Sweeeeeeeeeeet. I can't freakin wait to go try this! He teaches ground launching on foot. A lot of the concepts were the same as skydiving - air foils, thermals, lift, turbulance, flaring, stalling, etc. They have a governing body too... United States Hang Gliding Association... USHGA. They even have a student manual that looks almost like the SIM and Hangling magazine. There are four levels of licensing, similar to the A, B, C, D, the hang 1, 2, 3, and 4, that set restrictions, etc on what is safe and recommended. So now I just have to find a Saturday or Sunday that we can all go. We must have been a pain in the arse class for him. All skydivers and one whuffo. The poor whuffo. Oh, and apparently swooping a hang glider is not a bright idea and is very much frowned upon. Or at least high speed swoops. I'm a rookie all over. This rocks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jasonRose 0 #25 October 4, 2006 ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS!!!!!! That sounds like a total blast, Be safe so you can skydive more!! Keep us posted. Some day I will have the best staff in the world!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
