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By DaveB
#115720
This is my first post here so be gentle :wink:

I started flying in April of '77, learning on Green Mountain, Golden,CO. From the very first time my feet first left ground on my first lesson, I got hooked worse than any crack- head. I started flying every single day it was flyable and some that weren't (learning experience, won't do that again). I had saved up enough money by Spring '79, being young and having no possessions besides my glider and gear, that I sublet my apartment for 4 months, and flew from CO to Cali and back, just driving from hill to hill, asking the locals where the next nearest site was. Some places I'd stay a week, some just overnight. Lots of locals would invite me back to their pad to crash, sleep in their basement, shower up and then give me a locals private tour.

I repeated the same routine for a couple more years, bust a$$ all winter/ spring to afford a 2-3 month road trip each summer fall, before settling down, getting married, buying a house, having kids, starting my own business, etc.. Flying time got farther and farther apart until my last flight ~ '90. I'd flown from a Seahawk, a Seagull VII, a Cirrus 3, a Seagull 10.5, and finally a Proair Prostar 160 dbl surface. I had about 1200 hrs accumulated at my last flight in '90.

Fast Forward.......I'd been appointed our Family Historian due to my photo archiving capability with my film scanners and had been cataloging all of my Grandfathers and Fathers slides......then I started in on my own. Seeing all the photo's of my hang gliding days is about to throw this former junkie off the wagon. I've gotten in touch with the owner of the store where I took my first lessons, to see about getting back into it..

Hope to see you back in the skies soon.



This was my 3rd lesson, my first Big Air flight, April '77
(Good old fashion seat harness)
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By NMERider
#115723
:welcome: Is that gentle enough? I'm sure we all look forward to reading about your re-entry into the sport. I came back last year after a 26-year hiatus. Old photos are always fun to see, in case you post an online album.
Cheers, Jonathan
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By DaveB
#115732
Lesson 4, first prone flight, Green Mountain, Golden,CO April '77

The landing field got buried under by few 100 McMansions, as well as most of the former hillside all the up to the upper take-off, as were MANY of our old sites. Another reason my flying time got scarce.
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By DaveB
#115738
First Road Trip / XC/ Big Air. Crawford Mtns, Memorial Day weekend, '78.

All I could manage with my old primitive glider was a 1600' gain and a 4 hr 20 min, 3 times 7mi out/ back (42 mi total) ridge run. Only about 15 hrs for 3 days worth of flying :wink:
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By spekkinout
#115743
great pics, Dave. Thanks for posting them, and welcome back! :thumbsup:

You were getting out around the same time I was getting in. I think you'll be pretty stoked by the gear available to us today. :mosh:
By blindrodie
#115744
Hey Dave. Welcome back. Of course, you never really left did you? 8)

In 77 I was 17 with a fair amount of GA flying in the right seat, Dad in the left. What wonders I failed to realize were yet to come...
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By DaveB
#115745
My favorite old glider on her maiden flight, Labor Day weekend, '78 Masonville, CO. It was a 20 min drive from my apt. to get there (now closed).
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By DaveB
#115746
Which then led to this, in '79 and so on.
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#115748
Does that Seagull have a faired crossbar?

You have already done a few things many of us are still hoping and dreaming of doing.
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By soarass
#115750
Hell, Dude at least your sail was dacron. 6Mil Visqueen was all we could afford.(1969) Didn't do any XC but we talked to the ravens over the face of the flood control dam when we soared the ridge lift of our little 140' hill, in Hesperia, CA. The Corps of Engineers probably STILL has nightmares over it. Welcome back to the fold, we need all the pilots we can get. Currently I'm asking my parents to find old pics of us flying the dam. I came back after 38 years and asked Rob McKenzie, the BEST hang gliding instructor in the F'n World to get me back in the air. Got my own Tandem 225, now and just made the best flight of my short career; 2 hr 11 min at Crestline, on 3/1/09 when EVERYBODY was posting great flight times. I don't know how people in other parts of the country DO IT, waiting for the spring to bring out the thermals. WAIT......Yes I do, cause if I was there, I'd do the same thing NO BULL. Please accept our best wishes that you continue and enjoy your flying, and find yourself MORE able to love the life you have, and find the ability to pass that on to others. After all, that's what we do, show other people they can LIVE life, not just be life. Oddly enough, part of my family lives in Colorado Springs, Maybe we'll hook up sometime in CO. Joel :thumbsup:
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By DaveB
#115759
blindrodie wrote:Welcome back. Of course, you never really left did you? )
:wink: Truer words were never spoken.


Everyone, while they are asleep and dreaming, have flying dreams.

Ever since my first flight, when I have a flying dream now, I have to go through the control bar motions even in my dreams to fly. My favorite recurring dream is seeing a huge dust devil in front of me while I'm just out walking, and spreading out my arms and launching myself straight into the core and watching the ground disappear. :wink:
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By Lobido
#115784
:thumbsup: :welcome: :yay: Good to have you aboard!
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By DaveB
#115793
bobk wrote:
DaveB wrote:This is my first post here so be gentle :wink:
I wonder how many pilots have followed the pattern of early flight, long gap, return to flight?

My story was similar. I had taken some lessons back in 1978 and made a few flights from a ridge (nothing like your early history though). I loved it, but I was working on my private pilot's license, then my degree, then my career.... Life gets in the way of living.

Then about 5 years ago I was teaching a friend how to sail (boats) in Florida, and she commented "Isn't sailing about the most wonderful thing in the world?". I replied wistfully, "Yeah, it's pretty good, but there was this thing that I tried called hang gliding and it was even better."

She made me promise to take it up again, and to send her a photo of my first flight from Torrey. I keep my promises, and she has the photo. 8)

I have to say there's just something about flying a hang glider that rises above everything else. I'm glad I found the time so late in my life to come back to this great sport. :thumbsup:
Before I started flying, I was hard core rock climber...and SCUBA diver. I've gotten back into them both to the point of training and losing weight to get back down to 140 lbs and climb 5.12/13 just 5 yrs ago and swam with sharks.

Image


Image


I'm preaching to the choir here, but there is nothing like flying !

Of all my pursuits, Hang Gliding, Rock Climbing, Mt biking, Scuba Diving........


Only Hang Gliding filled my soul. :thumbsup:
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By DaveB
#115806
bobk wrote:Are you sure you didn't accidentally rotate that photo...

Welcome to the Org! :lol:

I'd have a hard time looking that pumped if I was crawling horizontal ! :wink:

Can anyone name the gliders I've posted already ?

Here's a few more

Image


Image

All from Glacier Pt launch '79
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By CHassan
#115813
DaveB wrote:My favorite old glider on her maiden flight, Labor Day weekend, '78 Masonville, CO. It was a 20 min drive from my apt. to get there (now closed).
That's a Seagull! There's one for sale on e-bay right now!


(Don't ask what model it is cuz I don't know!)
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By red
#115816
DaveB wrote:Can anyone name the gliders I've posted already ?
Here's a few more
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6383/unknown2.jpg
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3899/glider1.jpg
All from Glacier Pt launch '79
DaveB,
:welcome: :thumbsup:
Welcome back! Great history, and just wait 'til Vol.2 is up. :)
I think the new wings today will impress you.

You probably know what the first pictures are showing, Seahawk, Seagulls, et c.

On the last two pictures,

Unknown2 is a Voyager (The Fledgling IIB, as done fer-real by the designer, when he disliked the way Manta did it. 'Way good. Eric Raymond flew one, and so did I.) Eric's:
http://www.hanggliding.org/files/eric_r ... nt_408.jpg

Gilder1 is a Seagull V (Seagull Five) , a serious attempt at steering a HG with a rudder.
http://www.delta-club-82.com/bible/phot ... &langue=en
Both are really rare birds. :thumbsup:
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By pud
#115817
DaveB wrote:
I started flying in April of '77.....
Hope to see you back in the skies soon.
This is exactly what happened to me '74 to '84 then a long 'rest' until I got
involved in a history project for the local club. As I wrote down some of my
experiences I started to relive them. One day, I thought, I would like to do
it all again.
Then it hit me, one day, tomorrow, next week, never? I'm not a youngster any more!
So last August, again I became a hang glider pilot.

I've noticed several re-born flyers on these pages. Welcome to the club.

:)