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By the_end
#1882
If i recall, it's mentioned briefly in his biography as well. Pretty cool. :)

Magnus
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By CHassan
#1883
Way back when Chuck tried his hand at hang gliding. He coined the phrase, "The flyingest flying."
At least that is what I hear.
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By gbx5150
#1905
How about we recrute Chuck for some advertising on the new poster , A picture of Chuck saying "the flyingest flying there is"
Lets invite him out to Lookout for free lessons.
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By gbx5150
#1909
I've always thought one good celebratety getting serious about hang gliding could double our membership in a year or 2.
If I were USHGA or Matt Tabor or someone with the power to back up the offer, I'd send video's , info. and offer free lessons to :
Travis Pastrana
Shawn Palmer
Jeremy Magrath
Chuck Yeager
Jeff Ward
Micheal Jordan
Picabo Street
Kelly Slater
Bode Miller
Matt Hoffman
etc.......

the problem with USHGA and their attempts to promote Hang Gliding is the powers in this Org. are so old and out of touch with whats cool that they probably only know who 2 of these people are. If we want to have a future generation of Hang Glider pilots we have to look to people who are part of the future generation to promote our sport.
Gotto forget this stupid idea they've been on for the last 15yrs, trying to bullshit everyone into thinking hang gliding is a safe and reasonable activity like golf.

"HANG GLIDING !! THE ORIGINAL EXTREME SPORT"

that should be our slogan, now get Travis Pastrana on our poster and TV saying it and our membership with explode !!

We have so missed the boat !! for the last 15 yrs anything labeled extreme sport has had huge growth and we truely are " the original extreme sport " and we are nearly extinct.

I think we should sell speed Gliding to ESPN as a winter XGAMES event .
they are already at a mountain site,
Ski lifts to haul gliders up for fast turn around time between runs,
thermal activity is low in the winter so it could be held all day rather than 7 am,
you could put on a spectactular show landing in a tight section of parking lot
( imagine 40 yard skidder landings on a icey snow covered landing strip with a big net at the end for the dudes that over shoot and go skidding long into the net)
We gotto decide if we want real growth and a future generation of if we just want to maintain enough members to have 3000 old men hanging out flying $20,000 rigid wings at the 6 remaining flight parks and sites still alive 10 yrs from now .
I think our current BOD is only interested in the second option and scared to death of the first, it would really make them feel old if we suddenly got 5000 new members in the 20 to 35 yr old range, because hang gliding became cool again.

Whatdoyathink ???

Gregg
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By tizeagle
#1910
Im dying to try speed gliding has it made it to the states yet, and who can I contact?

I love snow skiing and have watched a ton of Gin Skiing videos.
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By gbx5150
#1912
Great Idea SG,

If we sincerely asked Chuck Yeager , a guy who is already familar with Hang Gliding, to help us promote our sport , do you think he'd turn us down??? I think not !! in fact I bet he considers Fransis Rogallo a personal friend from his days at NASA.

Gregg
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By gbx5150
#1913
yep,

And the old dudes on the BOD always say those young guys don't have the money and or attention span to commit the time to learn HGing . That is absolutely bullshit ! they find the money for a nice truck and $6,000 worth of motorX gear in the back of it. And as for attention span and commitment , I know first hand it takes a pretty big commitment to practicing just to place 3rd in novice class at a Motorcross race.
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By PilotGuy
#1916
gbx5150 wrote:If I were USHGA or Matt Tabor or someone with the power to back up the offer, I'd send video's , info. and offer free lessons to :
Travis Pastrana
Shawn Palmer
Jeremy Magrath
Chuck Yeager
Jeff Ward
Micheal Jordan
Picabo Street
Kelly Slater
Bode Miller
Matt Hoffman
etc.......

the problem with USHGA and their attempts to promote Hang Gliding is the powers in this Org. are so old and out of touch with whats cool that they probably only know who 2 of these people are.
Now I don't feel cool. I'm 24 and only recognize 3 of those names :(
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By CHassan
#1917
Skaters, motoX, and skiers I think, I recognize most of the names, but can't place all the activities.
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By gbx5150
#1918
All motorcyclist should be our number 1 target group, instead of setting up a display booth at the Oshkosh Airshow for guess who to see ( a bunch of 40 to 70 yr old fat dudes)
Set up at the Sturgis Rally.
Daytona bike week.
Tow up 3 glider at an AMA national motorcross race , 2 do arobatics and one flys in a big Flag for the national anthem .

I think we need a USHGA sponsored 6 man exibition team, 2 trike tugs do dual tows of 2 pilots each to get 4 glider in the air for a group Areobatic routine.
Air shows
Fairs
Motorcross races
memorial Day weekend at Lake Havasu
major Surfing events
etc. etc......

And after landing all 4 glider are put on static display with a tent, the team van etc. for the crowd to come and watch videos and ask the pilots questions.
I bet RedBull would put up enough money for this team to buy the Van and Trailer and gas to Haul it all around the country. Just picture the paint job on that RedBull hang gliding team van !!

There are so many excellent ways to promote Hang Gliding that are within our financial means . I just can't help getting pissed off that USHGA has done nothing but put up road block to our sport.
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By gbx5150
#1919
Ah man sorry Pilot Guy ! I didn't mean to make you feel un-cool , you Hang Glide so you gotto be cool :wink: I think even those old hang glider dudes I rip on are cool . they just need to get out their old pictures from 1978 when they were a cool ,young, long haired hippie in bell bottom jeans running off a mountain with a kite, And after looking at those old pics maybe they won't be so afraid to welcome into our club , the new kids with shaved heads, tattoo's and a bolt thru thier nose, hahaha!!!
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By gbx5150
#1920
AWSOME POSTER SG !!!!!

ITS TIME TO CALL CHUCK !!!

EVEN THE OLD DUDES WON'T BE ABLE TO OPPOSE THAT ONE.
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By gbx5150
#1921
Oh and by the way PILOT GUY, I"m 39, boardering on being one of those old dudes. Since I know who all those guys I listed are, maybe I need to grow up , hahaha!!!!
Nah nevermind plenty of time left to be old.

Catchyalater, Gregg
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By wannahg
#1922
gbx5150 wrote: There are so many excellent ways to promote Hang Gliding that are within our financial means . I just can't help getting pissed off that USHGA has done nothing but put up road block to our sport.

If ushpa is a roadblock, then we should just go around them. They seem clueless about even basic marketing concepts. Even bad marketing is good marketing. Get your sport out there! Any way you can!

I read the marketing plan being proposed by dennis http://speedgliding.googlepages.com/marketplan , and it seems so brain dead obvious. Like duh, its 2006 people, marketing via the internet is already an old idea.
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By mochamon
#1957
WOW, you guys have some great ideas. My heart is pumping just thinking how much hang gliding would grow if even one of these ideas were executed. The only problem I see is that hang gliding is too safe. Most people enjoy watching extreme sports to be amazed at what people can do, but also to see that good crash/wreck (ie. see Nascar) which most likely won't happen in hang gliding, although there will probably be some close calls. I propose that someone needs to be sponsored to crash, you know to keep the ratings up, if no one is interested I will volunteer :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

PS I have been injured enough in motocross racing to know what I am getting myself into lol