- Mon Mar 07, 2016 7:11 pm
#384554
Most of these pondering occurred after watching "Playground in the Sky" so, take them in that context.
It seems to me like the initial popularity of hang gliding was largely due to the fact that it was dirt cheap, and almost anyone could try it up on a whim. Of course, once people tried it, many of them liked it and kept doing it. The problem now, is that relatively few people try it because lessons and equipment cost many thousands of dollars. It's not something that many people can do on a whim.
Why not go “Retro-HG” and organize some old fashioned fly-what-you-built events?
Obviously this would have to be at training hill kind of sites, and we'd have to resurrect the "don't fly higher then you care to fall" motto, but I think it would be great fun. It would be a very different kind of fun from running off of high mountains and soaring for hours, but I think training hill fly-in days would be great fun in their own way. Add a 4 wheeler and a cart and folks could get in 15 or 20 short flights in a day. Low time, as well as experienced pilots could stay more current on landing skills. Prospective pilots could be introduced to the sport on the cheap. And, it would appeal to people who like to design and build their own toys, and I think that could be a big crowd.
Since this kind of event would, by design, attract untrained pilots with home-made wings, I think liability would be the biggest problem. USHPA would obviously have to steer way clear of this. It would probably have to be on unregulated public land (which there isn’t any of anywhere near me). And, it would have to be very informally promoted, as anybody who could be named as the “organizer” of such an event could have liability problems.
So, what do you think? How am I?
It seems to me like the initial popularity of hang gliding was largely due to the fact that it was dirt cheap, and almost anyone could try it up on a whim. Of course, once people tried it, many of them liked it and kept doing it. The problem now, is that relatively few people try it because lessons and equipment cost many thousands of dollars. It's not something that many people can do on a whim.
Why not go “Retro-HG” and organize some old fashioned fly-what-you-built events?
Obviously this would have to be at training hill kind of sites, and we'd have to resurrect the "don't fly higher then you care to fall" motto, but I think it would be great fun. It would be a very different kind of fun from running off of high mountains and soaring for hours, but I think training hill fly-in days would be great fun in their own way. Add a 4 wheeler and a cart and folks could get in 15 or 20 short flights in a day. Low time, as well as experienced pilots could stay more current on landing skills. Prospective pilots could be introduced to the sport on the cheap. And, it would appeal to people who like to design and build their own toys, and I think that could be a big crowd.
Since this kind of event would, by design, attract untrained pilots with home-made wings, I think liability would be the biggest problem. USHPA would obviously have to steer way clear of this. It would probably have to be on unregulated public land (which there isn’t any of anywhere near me). And, it would have to be very informally promoted, as anybody who could be named as the “organizer” of such an event could have liability problems.
So, what do you think? How am I?
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