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

Moderators: sg, mods

#399426
In 2002 I flew Dockweiler Beach in Los Angeles on the 20 foot bunny hill over sand. When I graduated to Sylmar and flew my first solo from 3,540 ASL it was just like the beach but instead of sand it looked like a tapestry from a satellite photo that had been spread out over the sand just 20 feet below me. The mountain launch ramp and my launch was exactly the same as it was on the beach bunny hill except I got a much longer flight(2.5 miles). I had 2 radios mounted on my control frame incase one failed as the windsports flight school supervised my flight. It was a right of passage, something you will never forget.
#399428
You may be the only person I've heard of that made that drastic a transition. For me it was bunny hill, 200', 600', one or two 1000', and finally 4000'. I'm glad for all those transitional steps, because that's where I really learned to plan turns and set up approaches.
#399431
Ah, I missed the word "solo." But I'm an old fart who learned to fly in the pre-tandem days, when every single flight was a solo flight (except when I took Opus Penguin up for a short spin at Marina Beach).
#399460
jlatorre wrote: Sun Jul 02, 2017 1:05 pm You may be the only person I've heard of that made that drastic a transition. For me it was bunny hill, 200', 600', one or two 1000', and finally 4000'. I'm glad for all those transitional steps, because that's where I really learned to plan turns and set up approaches.
Back in the late 80's my sister went from Jockeys Ridge (80ft sand dune) to Woodstock in VA. (2000 ft Mountain slot launch). Was the program at Kitty Hawk Kites before towing. But you did have to be able to soar the dune before you went to the mountains. That really only left the approach as it takes pretty good pilot skills to soar that dune..... :thumbsup:
#399470
There were a few tandems but the solo was way more memorable as this was 14 years ago. I remember the tandems felt very safe as the instructor had a hold of the rear flying wires so basically nothing could go wrong. I do remember a tandem where I was flying directly perpendicular behind the ridge and trying to turn around to get back but found my self unable to turn as I was locked out by a thermal under the wing side in the direction which I wanted to turn. I made a second attempt in which I used my entire body in an extreme weight shift to make the turn and that worked. If that didn't work I'd be making an emergency landing in a rotor behind the dam and Pacoima reservoir. I did my final tandem in the morning and my first solo in the afternoon and it was way more memorable because of the reality of doing your first mountain solo. And when I landed from my first solo they gave me a beer.