Polling threads

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When did you learn to fly Hang gliders?

Before 1970
1
1%
1970-1980
50
36%
1980-1990
22
16%
1990-2000
9
7%
2000-2010
19
14%
2010-2016
30
22%
Currently learning
7
5%
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By zamuro
#390368
Just curious... Please indicate when you learned to fly HGs (no PGs, sorry), for the first time, in case you came back to r-learn after a rest period.
If in between bins choose the decade when you started.
By lynntalon
#390394
my first glider was a sun in 1974 then I bought a electraflyer wildflower trainer in 1977 I got flipped up sidedown and it was flying with me laying in top no chute I climed to the front and got it to flip over at 5k feet I still have that glider but I did stop flying it then I bought a wills wing raven , was great , then a up comet then sensors , then pacair gliders and on and on
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By Cloudhopper
#390395
I would never have guessed so many from our first decade would still be here.
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By ChattaroyMan
#390398
Cloudhopper wrote:I would never have guessed so many from our first decade would still be here.
I'm with you on that one. I thought it would be significant but not 47% (as of my vote). I learned in 75.
What I do like seeing is what appears to be a positive trend for 2000 on. Maybe that trend will help attract an instructor to Spokane, WA. We have a good one but he's retiring after this season. Spokane will be without a hang gliding instructor for what may be it's first time. We also do not have a paragliding instructor. We've got lots of sites and a few newbs but ....... without instruction within 200 miles ....... that can't be good for our area's future.
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By zamuro
#390399
ChattaroyMan wrote:
Cloudhopper wrote:I would never have guessed so many from our first decade would still be here.
I'm with you on that one. I thought it would be significant but not 47% (as of my vote). I learned in 75.
What I do like seeing is what appears to be a positive trend for 2000 on. Maybe that trend will help attract an instructor to Spokane, WA. We have a good one but he's retiring after this season. Spokane will be without a hang gliding instructor for what may be it's first time. We also do not have a paragliding instructor. We've got lots of sites and a few newbs but ....... without instruction within 200 miles ....... that can't be good for our area's future.
Agreed. It is still a very small sample (50+ responses) but it does appear that there is a steady trend of new pilots coming since 2000. :thumbsup:
By Roadrunner
#390407
Hi Guys:


I Began flying Hang-Gliders back in 1991. I can still remember myself achieving my first Cliff launches off that cliff-Launch At the Kariotahi Beach site. I had a great time! I had a gas learning to fly.

Fast forward to now. I'm o eager to develop a feel for flying that Grobe Sail-Plane. I'm so keen to get a hold on my ability to control the Air-Craft. I'm having difficulty with where I tend to over correct the craft in the Roll-Axis. When the glider is under tow will roll say to the Left. I will apply some right aileron.

Well my first high performance wing, my second hang-Glider that I had. Well when I got back to California. I had Dan-Fleming down in fresno who owned a shop called the Air-Craft hanger. I had Dan order me a Wills Wing Falcon 225. That Falcon was my first Glider, I flew the heck out of that Glider. Well then, I chose the Altair-Predator as my second Hang-Glider. The Predator 158 turned out be be the prerfect Glider for this Pilot to have as his second glider. You know looking back on my choice of buying a 158 Predator was a great move for this Pilot to make, as his transitional glider to the wonderful world of having a great flying, and a superb landing High-Performance Glider.

You need to know that I flew and landed my glider while flying with Ballast. I fmy honking fast double surface glider while hooking in at 340 lbs. NOTE: I enjoyed landing my Predator. Even though my Hook-In weight was 340 LBS. I enjoyed no-Step landings.
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By lukef
#390516
lynntalon wrote:my first glider was a sun in 1974 then I bought a electraflyer wildflower trainer in 1977 I got flipped up sidedown and it was flying with me laying in top no chute I climed to the front and got it to flip over at 5k feet I still have that glider but I did stop flying it then I bought a wills wing raven , was great , then a up comet then sensors , then pacair gliders and on and on
Holy C**p ! That is one of the wildest flying tales I have heard.
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By NMERider
#390518
lynntalon wrote:my first glider was a sun in 1974 then I bought a electraflyer wildflower trainer in 1977 I got flipped up sidedown and it was flying with me laying in top no chute I climed to the front and got it to flip over at 5k feet I still have that glider but I did stop flying it then I bought a wills wing raven , was great , then a up comet then sensors , then pacair gliders and on and on
The Sun Swift was notorious for diverging and tucking.
Tom Peghiny wrote a song about it:
:"It's not too Swift
when you're punching out of lift
When you find you're in an inverted spin
It's not too Swift."
Terry Sweeney added the refrain:
"It's hard to fly
With your feet up in the sky...."
By lynntalon
#390520
Hi , old gliders my wild flower did not have luff lines , now they are called reflex lines and with a flat sail people would luff dive to the ground or in flat upside down and kill pilots back then in thermal air then came luff lines wills wing had them on the raven and stoped that problem many others too I lived thru that . if anyone wants I have many old leaflets bill bennet s hand outs I have them and mannuals
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By lukef
#390527
lynntalon wrote:Hi , old gliders my wild flower did not have luff lines , now they are called reflex lines and with a flat sail people would luff dive to the ground or in flat upside down and kill pilots back then in thermal air then came luff lines wills wing had them on the raven and stoped that problem many others too I lived thru that . if anyone wants I have many old leaflets bill bennet s hand outs I have them and mannuals
Do you happen to have them in PDF or Pics be very interesting
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By red
#390540
lynntalon wrote:Hi , old gliders my wild flower did not have luff lines , now they are called reflex lines and with a flat sail people would luff dive to the ground or in flat upside down and kill pilots back then in thermal air then came luff lines wills wing had them on the raven and stoped that problem many others too I lived thru that . if anyone wants I have many old leaflets bill bennet s hand outs I have them and mannuals
Lynntalon,

In the USA, our unofficial keeper of the archives of all things HG is Ken DeRussy. You are welcome to keep or share what you have there, but I'd bet he would be interested in any materials that you might want to share. Even scanned copies are better than nothing, when it comes to our history. You can email him at We+Fly+Univ+@+aol.com (just remove all of those plus signs). You can PM him here (he drops by, now and then) if you click the PM button in any post, and change the recipient's name to
Ken.de.Russy

I'm a history buff for HG, and those old materials are great to see, for those who were there in the early years of HG.

:mrgreen:
By Dave Gills
#390965
My 1st glider would have been an Eaglet :mrgreen: back in 1982
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By tom emery
#390966
I'll chirp in for the newbies.2001-56 years old-Wills Wing Falcon III. Progressed to a Predator142. I once flew into a tree. That was my scariest flight.
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By AIRTHUG
#390975
zamuro wrote:
ChattaroyMan wrote: What I do like seeing is what appears to be a positive trend for 2000 on.

Agreed. It is still a very small sample (50+ responses) but it does appear that there is a steady trend of new pilots coming since 2000. :thumbsup:
IMHO- based on first hand experience AND my time on the USHPA Board- we don't so much have a problem with getting new people or pilots (although hang gliding is a small niche, and only appeals to a small % of total population).

It's a problem with RETENTION. H1's that fade before H2, H2's that fade before H3, and H3's that get out. H4's statistically stick around...

So these numbers showing how few people we have from the late 90's, I believe that reflects that problem of retention. The larger numbers for the early 2000's, and larger still for 2010+, maybe hasn't had enough time to see which of these newerish people stick around, and who gets busy or other interests and heads a different direction in their life/recreation...

Just something to think about I guess... RETENTION is a great place for focused improvement.
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By Mr Pou
#390976
AIRTHUG wrote:
It's a problem with RETENTION. H1's that fade before H2, H2's that fade before H3, and H3's that get out. H4's statistically stick around....
I started early spring of '15, earned H2 May '15, and flew with a lot of other new pilots last summer. This summer, most of the folks I got to know last year aren't at the mountain.

Getting to know a new group of folks...
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By Jason
#390988
AIRTHUG wrote: maybe hasn't had enough time to see which of these newerish people stick around, and who gets busy or other interests and heads a different direction in their life/recreation...
I know i find fewer and fewer oppurtunites to fly.......I flew this weekend.....I think its the 4th day I got to fly this summer...... :cuss:
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By zamuro
#390991
Jason wrote:
AIRTHUG wrote: maybe hasn't had enough time to see which of these newerish people stick around, and who gets busy or other interests and heads a different direction in their life/recreation...
I know i find fewer and fewer oppurtunites to fly.......I flew this weekend.....I think its the 4th day I got to fly this summer...... :cuss:
I used to fly reasonably often until I moved back to the East Coast. Although, I live relatively close to a pretty good place (Ellenville 1-2 hours away). The unreliable weather mixed with new work and family obligations put a brake to my beloved flying time . :( :(
By yarosebas
#391061
I learned back in 1979 in Ecuador on a Seagull 4, then went to a Phoenix 6c, Phoenix 6D quit in 1983, moved to the States and back to the sport in 2012, currently flying a U2.