mattboy wrote:Being a pilot, you know how rough and turbulent the air can be. Hiking up a mountain and flying off sounds like a great dream, but you don't know anything about the air around the area. You could be jumping into a huge sink, collapse your wing and die. And you know what people would call it? Pilot error.Hey fellow Washitonian! I disagree a wee bit regarding your conclusions. In defense of my bag head pals - when they walk up a hill they're observing the conditions the entire time - more so than riding in a vee-hickle. Also, I'm EXTRA keen on flying a new hill. I'll trade 5 minutes off a new hill for a couple of hours off the tried and true one. You can also think of it this way - if you go XC you're flying new hills pretty much all the way. The site may be established but the route may not be. One more observation in our parts (eastern WA) is that we hangers and baggers fly together often and many of us fly both (not me - yet). The more of us in the sky the more we can see how the air is behaving. There are a lot of times one can't fly a hang where one can fly a bag. Sure, wind is the key. Luckily we don't get a heck of a lot of wind in our area + we have some wide open spaces (lots of land to be drug across!). We're a small group (20+) and we help one another out. Bags are not the enemy - they are allies - brothers of the sky. When I see them off flying before I'm set up is the only time I'm angry with them!
Flying at safer and known locations where people know what areas are more safe to fly means you'll be at an established HG/PG site anyway, no hiking required.
Sorry that I've divulged from the scope of the post. But, when folks see flying, bag or hang, they are more likely to get interested in one or the other sport. Since many of us fly both (or intend to) - what's the difference. We support both industries. Not everyone is cut out for one sport but they may be for the other. With more of us regardless of what we fly we have larger work parties on new sites, more driver possibles, etc. etc. We're also lucky that we have many potential new flying sites. Only thing holding us back is our total numbers. I'm hoping that changes as we fly new sites near areas known for outdoor recreation.
Out - Steve