Flying Thread

[Waiex191]

I'm at 27.0 hours so far.

[red]

I'm at 3000+ hours across thirty years and counting . . .

No motor, no crashes, no fuel, no oil, no TBOs, no license, no inspections, no property taxes, no airports, no airport fees, no towing fees.
All VFR, and oxygen on demand.  17,999' MSL sometimes, that I'll admit.
I ride.  I fly with the eagles and hawks.  A man's gotta do something for fun, and I can't dance (due to a forgotten war).

My Moyes X2

[fj1289]

Red - that's awesome!

[Waiex191]

Very cool.  I used to fly gliders at Harris Hill and other places, and the hang glider guys have a launch there too.  I've shared the ridge and some thermals with them before.  Those guys are nuts!

[fj1289]

Bryan - how many hours to fly off your local area restriction?

[Waiex191]

Bryan - how many hours to fly off your local area restriction?

27 down, 13  to go.  I turned on the preheat and the local weather is forecast for decent VFR by 1500 local time.

[red]

Very cool.  I used to fly gliders at Harris Hill and other places, and the hang glider guys have a launch there too.  I've shared the ridge and some thermals with them before.  Those guys are nuts!

Waiex191,

Well, I might agree, there.  We call that "fishbowl flying," as opposed to open distance cross-country flight.  I fly for scenery, altitude, and joy.  Some just fly for distance, which is easier to measure, but distance does not "grade" my my flight as good or bad.  I'd rather fly formation with an eagle or a hawk for half an hour, rather than fly 75 miles out to any particular place.  The local HG club here has a yearly competition that you can enter, with any flight over 100 miles long that starts here.  To me, hang gliding is like sailing: you are out for the great cruise, not a race to a destination.  I don't want to land anywhere, before sundown.

With a GPS tracker, mapping, and some software, some HG pilots (not me) generate "tracklogs" that show every turn along the way.  You can watch them circling up in thermals, and going on glide across the countryside.  Watch in Full-Screen mode.  Here are a few:

1. Highland is a tow-up HG center, not my cup of tea, but a fair tracklog and flight, 28 miles across flat ground
https://youtu.be/FRDbJAwG91w

2. 60 mile tracklog to the pub.  Kinda jumpy zooms and pans, but a decent little flight.
https://youtu.be/e_-aaXduzhU

3. Jonathan D (NMErider) takes us on a long duration flight, with tracklogs and narration included, for 30 miles.
https://youtu.be/x8vhJmUpjNc

[Waiex191]

Due to family and time restrictions, I never really got to do any serious glider XC. Lots of flying with hawks and eagles.  Down in Florida it was turkey buzzards. Soaring is the purest form of flight and I've heard the rational argument that hang gliders are even more so. I'm just not sure I'm up for jumping off a cliff!  We always had aging hang glider pilots in our clubs as gliders are a lot less physically demanding.

Edit: I did a lot of towing also, and I really liked it. Proficiency flying with a mission.

Yesterday was MVFR and I beat up the pattern for 90 minutes. For those unfamiliar with experimental amateur built aircraft, there is a phase 1 flight test period of 40 hours before you can leave your designated test area or take passengers. I'm at 28.5 hours now.

[Waiex191]

New private pilot, 1990

[red]

Due to family and time restrictions, I never really got to do any serious glider XC. Lots of flying with hawks and eagles.  Down in Florida it was turkey buzzards. Soaring is the purest form of flight and I've heard the rational argument that hang gliders are even more so. I'm just not sure I'm up for jumping off a cliff!  We always had aging hang glider pilots in our clubs as gliders are a lot less physically demanding.

Waiex191,

In all my decades of flying HG, I may have launched from four cliffs, for maybe a total of twenty flights.  Except for the launch, these flights were nothing remarkable.  I was a rated expert HG pilot beforehand, and I went back for some advanced education from experienced HG instructors before I even tried a cliff launch.  Launching from a slope is the norm, not from a cliff.  Even when a cliff launch is available, I can usually find a nearby slope-launching site instead. 

These are some low-time (student) pilots with some good launches, with a few sloppy launches in the mix.  The wheels you see on some gliders just let a new guy roll to a stop, if necessary, on a poor landing.  I recommend the use of wheels, when learning to fly HG.

https://youtu.be/5bKgfNm27rI

[Pat Conlon]

Hey Red, my friend flys sailplanes and he mentioned about a ballistic parachute he has in the unlikely event of wing or airframe failure from wind shear....do you use anything like that for your hang gliders?

[red]

Hey Red, my friend flys sailplanes and he mentioned about a ballistic parachute he has in the unlikely event of wing or airframe failure from wind shear....do you use anything like that for your hang gliders?

Pat,

Yes, certainly.  The ballistic systems launch the parachute out with a rocket (no foolin') or explosive charge.  The parachute has an umbilical line, so the parachute can open clear of the aircraft.  We can get the same stuff, but the airlines and TSA take a dim view on allowing such gear aboard airliners.  So we use the same basic set-up, only the parachute container is hand-deployed, with an umbilical line so the parachute opens clear of the glider.  You can find hang glider/parachute "saves" documented on YouTube.  They do the job.  We repack the reserve parachute once a year, more or less, which is the only time I ever get to  see my parachute out of the pack.  If you look at the picture I posted above, you can just see a small bump at my chest, which is my chest-pack reserve parachute.  Don't leave home without it.
 

[red]

Pat,

Maybe I spoke too soon.  YouTube has mostly paraglider failures, not hang gliders.  Even a reserve parachute may not save a paraglider, then.  Found some drogue 'chute HG landings, where a hang glider pilot deploys a tiny parachute as glide-path control on final approach (like sailplanes using spoilers).

I did find one HG reserve parachute "save" video on YT.  The HG pilot was stunting, doing stalls, loops and spins, which are all great fun if your gear is stout and well-maintained.  I think this guy had a side-wire failure, because the glider went pigeon-winged at the high-Gee part of a pull-out.  No problem.  Applause, no less.

https://youtu.be/M5Wg45jRr1g

[Waiex191]

Many of the serious glider guys wore chutes - either for doing acro or more commonly because they all flew close together and a midair was a possibility.  I never knew of a midair in my clubs but one day when I was towing this guy showed up all bloody and scratched - turns out he had a self-launcher that had a wing fail and he bailed out, but ended up going through some trees.  Shaken but ok.  He called somebody at our club to pick him up.  The chute worked.  I had a chute but ultimately sold it.  I've got a new one on the way so I can do acro in my airplane.

Here is my older son on his first glider ride.  I had to keep the kids in the back until they got to 60 lbs for CG reasons.  This is the same kid that logged over 600 hours building our airplane and is nearly to his masters of mechanical engineering.

[red]

Here is my older son on his first glider ride.  I had to keep the kids in the back until they got to 60 lbs for CG reasons.  This is the same kid that logged over 600 hours building our airplane and is nearly to his masters of mechanical engineering.

Waiex191,

In favor of obtaining his degree, I suggest that your son should include complete documentation of his work to construct that airplane, maybe even minimizing what others may have added to the project.  Colleges and universities are very willing to give real credit to people who produce real products in real life, instead of just seeing their usual fare of pie-in-the-sky ideas on paper only.  The school will want to see his papers too, of course, but any practical applications of his education (so far) will score big points there.