Interested in hang gliding? Currently learning to hang glide? Post your questions here.
This forum is open to unregistered users

Moderators: sg, mods

User avatar
By networkZombie
#265837
Hi!
I'm a 16 year old high school student from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada who is fascinated by birds and aircrafts :)
I've wanted to fly like a bird for a long time but I wasn't confident enough till now. I've been doing a lot of research on hang gliding and decided that this the closest I can get to fulfilling my dream.

I spend a lot of time building model airplanes and toy helicopters. Long distance running, swimming, sledding (not sure if that counts as a real sport) and taking pictures of birds are also some of my hobbies. When I finish high school I want to be an aircraft mechanic.

I really wanna learn to hang glide but I can't because I cant find any instructors in my city. I'm gonna have to wait till I finish high school which is a LONG TIME! I joined this forum so I can get help finding an instructor buying the stuff after I learn to hang glide etc.

So that is some stuff about me =D
User avatar
By dievhart
#265838
Welcome to the addiction young lad, I was wishing I could fly at your age also....I wish I had someone to teach me back then (also)....you might just find one :-).
What you can do is fly RC gliders and get to know air currents and how they flow (like water) and what to look for to get lift and dangers etc etc.....I also recommend (still) to new students a PC game called "HangSim"...well worth the $ to actually fly a glider and get to know how to control it (remotely mind you) but still...
Also I would hope you start with the HG training book you can get on-line....just buy them all and do the rest of your school reports on all the stuff you learn in them :-)) (kind of kidding but there will be a lot in them to soak up)...
Enjoy the learning experience and record as much of it as you can (not the reading the books part :roll: ) but when you get under a wing :-).
Again welcome to the dream of flight....
Diev
User avatar
By red
#265839
networkZombie wrote:Hi!
I'm a 16 year old high school student from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada who is fascinated by birds and aircrafts :)

I really wanna learn to hang glide but I can't because I cant find any instructors in my city. I'm gonna have to wait till I finish high school which is a LONG TIME! I joined this forum so I can get help finding an instructor buying the stuff after I learn to hang glide etc. So that is some stuff about me =D
NZ,

:welcome: . . . to the HG Forum !

You have found the right place. This is a good group for questions, watching videos, and learning about hang gliders. We might be noisy at times, but it's mostly in good fun.

You can find a lot of Canadian pilots on these other groups, too, and they might have information on HG instructors near you. These Yahoo groups run more by email than this place does, but they are free also, and easy to join. The Towing group is loosely based near the Great Lakes, but they have HG pilots from both the USA and Canada. We have a number of BC-based pilots on this forum, and I think some of them will chime in, here.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hpac/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SOGA/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/

:mrgreen:
User avatar
By Stoubie
#265849
Hi Zombie,

Welcome to the support group "Free and Clear" for men who have overcome their issues with blood parasites.

Oh wait that's the other forum.


Either way you will need a support group once you start flying. Since you are 16 and a minor there are a ton of things I can't recommend that you do to quench your thirst for adventure and excitement. For example I would never recommend that you pack up a 1974 VW Super Beatle with a Mountain Bike and climbing shoes and set out on the road on your own. I would not recommend that you sleep outside or then attempt to ride your bike across the country once your car broke down in say Colorado or something just to get to a climbing site or flying site. I would not recommend sleeping on stranger's couches or cleaning truck stop urinals or working at a Pizza Hut as a cook simply so you could eat and climb and ride or in your case fly. I would not recommend that you spend the formative young adult years chasing down any dream doing whatever it takes to accomplish those dreams. Whatever you do, don't do that.

Here is what I would do.

Do everything your parents and friends tell you to do and expect you to do. Don't deviate from the formula one bit. Find a girl when you are very young and start a family that you can't afford. I also highly recommend you get credit cards and then strangle yourself in debt. Go to a really expensive school and study something that will make you money, but not really happy, and then get in with a huge corporation or maybe a government job where you can watch your life tick away in a traffic jam every morning while listening to AM radio. I also recommend that you marry someone who doesn't support the goals in your life and wants to use you as her own piggy bank to fund her endless online purchases or parade of crap at Wal-Mart.

Lastly, I recommend that when you are 38 that you look up from the life you've created. Look up high in the sky and you will see someone up there, maybe just a glimpse or a flash of red. I recommend you look at it a long time and pull over to the side of the road ignoring the sounds of the horns and screeching tires around you just so you can see what you think you saw; a man on a hang glider. I recommend you get out of your car in your suit and tie and keep looking up, because at that moment you will realize that what you had been doing up to that point was wrong and that you've been off track your whole life. I recommend that you get back in your car and cry in frustration that you didn't have the guts to reach out and do the things we as humans are meant to do; have a spiritual and physical connection to the world and nature all around us.

This is what hang gliding has become for me. People say its an addiction. No, man it's no addiction, its a religious touch the face of God kind of experience that will bring grown men to cry in traffic at its beauty and simplicity.

So have at it young blood. Dream away. Make your choices. Follow that passion and do whatever it takes to get where you want to be while finding the right balance in life to make it all happen. If its RC planes then do it. If its flying a Cessna 150 then do that. If its going some place when you are old enough to learn to fly a hang glider than do that. Just whatever you do, don't let the things you dream still be a dream because you let obstacles and expectations get in the way of following those dreams.
User avatar
By therms
#265852
welcome,maybe in a few years you can hed down to australia some cool places to fly here. jony durand was make n goal at age 14 and look at him now :mosh: ,so when you can go to a rated instructer and start flying. :thumbsup:
User avatar
By ChattaroyMan
#265864
Stoubie wrote:..... kind of experience that will bring grown men to cry in traffic at its beauty and simplicity.
Yeah! I took a 29 year absence from flying hangs.... started up again in the fall of 2010. Having one heck of a sweet time back @ it! Screw that "you can never go back stuff"! You can!

Hey Zombie - follow Fred's links. You'll find connections in Edmonton sooner or later. Just keep looking. Only time I was up in Edmonton was to test fly a Chinook: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdman_Enterprises - Links at this wikipedia page may help you find hang pilots in your area. Also "Skeeter" on the org is a hang pilot from southern Alberta. PM him - he'll help you out.

Good luck!
User avatar
By networkZombie
#265881
I didn't expect that many replies haha!

I have been reading a lot and watching a lot of videos on hang gliding. I learnt a lot of stuff from them already like setting up a hang glider, classes, how hang gliders work, thermals, ridge lifts etc. but I'm sure there is still a lot more to learn! I'll continue looking for an instructor in Edmonton. =D

Thanks for the replies everyone!
User avatar
By AirNut
#265885
ChattaroyMan wrote: Yeah! I took a 29 year absence from flying hangs.... started up again in the fall of 2010. Having one heck of a sweet time back @ it! Screw that "you can never go back stuff"! You can!
Good luck!
Old saying: best way to cure mid-life (or late-life) crisis? Think back and remember what you did that was fun when you were young, and do that again.

I'm doing the same as you, Chattaroy Man (22-year break), so good luck with it :thumbsup:
User avatar
By Windlord
#265886
:welcome:
This is a good time of the year to catch up on your reading material. When you can, pick up a copy of
Hang Gliding Training Manual by Dennis Pagen
This will give you a head start on what is to come and what is expected of you.
When you finally start your training, you'll have a better understanding.
Good luck and keep us posted. :mosh:
User avatar
By Terry from Toronto
#265910
Stoubie wrote: .......

This is what hang gliding has become for me. People say its an addiction. No, man it's no addiction, its a religious touch the face of God kind of experience that will bring grown men to cry in traffic at its beauty and simplicity. ...... .
Woah;.... love it. Read it twice. Especially I liked the "endless crap at Walmart" bit.
.......
...... uhm, .... how well do you know my wife ??

:-)
TR from T.O.
User avatar
By jacof
#268433
Welcome Zombie !

I'm new, just like you :). I started about 3-4 months ago, and I reached this forum asking for help before doing it JUST LIKE YOU :). The difference is that you're 16, and I'm 26.

I'm telling you: If you keep looking, and persevere, you'll get it, and better yet: If you start now, you'll be REALLY GOOD at my age. Don't wait any longer !!

My instructor started at 13 y/o, with his family.

But, if you're going to start young, beware: Don't do stupid things to impress girls / anyone, ever. Specially around the age 18-23. That's how you get accidents. Keep the sport close to you and intimate :), and don't leave it, never.

I have to travel 280 KM (~120 Miles..?) every week to get to HG class, because there isn't any instructors in my city either :). Its not that hard, and the happyness of going every week overcomes the lazyness of the travelling.

:mosh:
:punch:
User avatar
By knumbknuts
#268437
You are lucky to start so young! A lifetime of hootin and hollerin awaits.
User avatar
By Fred Wilson
#268445
Stoubie wrote: ... This is what hang gliding has become for me. People say its an addiction. No, man it's no addiction, its a religious touch the face of God kind of experience that will bring grown men to cry in traffic at its beauty and simplicity cont...
Permission to Publish, please Stoubie. I am thinking Cross Country Magazine maybe.
===> That is Wow stuff. <=== :thumbsup: Nicely done!

Got any more of that quality? Our lives would all change for the better if so!
User avatar
By jj colorado
#268507
Just whatever you do, don't let the things you dream still be a dream because you let obstacles and expectations get in the way of following those dreams.
Stoubie. Beautiful. Agree

A few things to think about
#1. It can actually be easy and you may find people support your various interests (If you're very lucky),
#2. Have patience (this is very hard),
#3. Re-vist joys of life, but never go back.

re:
#1. If your friends or mate don't let you pursue your dreams, they are not your friends or mate. Good news is that you have friends that you may not realize. You are just considering Hang Gliding and you have friends all around the world here.
#2. Hardest for me to deal with. Hang Gliding and most great things in life take patience. It takes decades to gain slight bits of patience. It may take you years to get a few flights in which seems like an eternity. It is, but hang in there.
#3. Assuming you live a long life you will occasionally need to put things on hold for a while. It is cool. Then you pick them up again, smile and re-visit your joys, but know that you are not re-living a prior joy but appreciating a great experience in a new setting. It is even better.

So, glad to have you in the community. Keep in touch along the way so we can help and celebrate your achievements.

Disclaimer: Hang Gliding is fun, but it has serious risk that could result in death, or worse. You will find the community to be very serious about risk management. Risk can only be managed, not eliminated. Some risk associated with hang gliding is beyond the control of the pilot.

BTW, with hang gliding you will find very vibrant, exciting and fun people. Some will be near your age, others 20 years older and some 40 years older. In time you'll find that some 20 year olds are dull and dying, while some 60 year olds are having a blast flying and hangin out with cool people. Start doing the latter now and do it for another 40+ years. You can live an amazing life.
:mosh:

Past performance is no guarantee of future results, but so far it has pretty much worked for me.
By pegasus
#268546
Stoubie wrote:Hi Zombie,

Welcome to the support group "Free and Clear" for men who have overcome their issues with blood parasites.

Oh wait that's the other forum.


Either way you will need a support group once you start flying. Since you are 16 and a minor there are a ton of things I can't recommend that you do to quench your thirst for adventure and excitement. For example I would never recommend that you pack up a 1974 VW Super Beatle with a Mountain Bike and climbing shoes and set out on the road on your own. I would not recommend that you sleep outside or then attempt to ride your bike across the country once your car broke down in say Colorado or something just to get to a climbing site or flying site. I would not recommend sleeping on stranger's couches or cleaning truck stop urinals or working at a Pizza Hut as a cook simply so you could eat and climb and ride or in your case fly. I would not recommend that you spend the formative young adult years chasing down any dream doing whatever it takes to accomplish those dreams. Whatever you do, don't do that.

Here is what I would do.

Do everything your parents and friends tell you to do and expect you to do. Don't deviate from the formula one bit. Find a girl when you are very young and start a family that you can't afford. I also highly recommend you get credit cards and then strangle yourself in debt. Go to a really expensive school and study something that will make you money, but not really happy, and then get in with a huge corporation or maybe a government job where you can watch your life tick away in a traffic jam every morning while listening to AM radio. I also recommend that you marry someone who doesn't support the goals in your life and wants to use you as her own piggy bank to fund her endless online purchases or parade of crap at Wal-Mart.

Lastly, I recommend that when you are 38 that you look up from the life you've created. Look up high in the sky and you will see someone up there, maybe just a glimpse or a flash of red. I recommend you look at it a long time and pull over to the side of the road ignoring the sounds of the horns and screeching tires around you just so you can see what you think you saw; a man on a hang glider. I recommend you get out of your car in your suit and tie and keep looking up, because at that moment you will realize that what you had been doing up to that point was wrong and that you've been off track your whole life. I recommend that you get back in your car and cry in frustration that you didn't have the guts to reach out and do the things we as humans are meant to do; have a spiritual and physical connection to the world and nature all around us.

This is what hang gliding has become for me. People say its an addiction. No, man it's no addiction, its a religious touch the face of God kind of experience that will bring grown men to cry in traffic at its beauty and simplicity.

So have at it young blood. Dream away. Make your choices. Follow that passion and do whatever it takes to get where you want to be while finding the right balance in life to make it all happen. If its RC planes then do it. If its flying a Cessna 150 then do that. If its going some place when you are old enough to learn to fly a hang glider than do that. Just whatever you do, don't let the things you dream still be a dream because you let obstacles and expectations get in the way of following those dreams.
epic.... i will copy paste to my evernote....
User avatar
By Stoubie
#274671
Zombie,

So what did you decide to do? Are you doing it?
User avatar
By Hangskier
#274698
:welcome: to the sport, the life, the addiction!