Hang Gliding In the 70s (?)

[MajTbird]

The early Rogallo wings had a 4:1 glide ratio and responded to control inputs with an "I'll think about it" sense of urgency. By 1978 I was flying a third generation high aspect ratio wing.
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As someone noted, yeah, it.was dangerous. I went to a couple of funerals and there were a couple of spinal cord injuries too. Well known pilots died. The Wills family lost Chris and Bob, but Wills Wing is still in business today.
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Great watching the videos and reading this thread! My high school friend and I built two "hang gliders" back in the early 70's. His was made of (get this) square aluminum tubing with clear plastic and mine was a huge bamboo Rogallo with black plastic sail. Each flew once and crunched. I actually got a little air time as it slowly drifted me down a shallow hill at a local college while the campus police, who had seen us setting up, was giving chase. I left the broken mess and sprinted away.

Later bought a Wills Wing Alpha (with deflexers) from the father of a fellow who got killed. He wasn't hooked in and stepped off. Terribly sad. But I sure enjoyed flying that hang glider! Learned to fly at Raccoon Mountain in Chattanooga but quit after a couple of lessons as they were brutal. On the drive home after a lesson one Sunday I stopped at an 800' hill near home and launched into a wonder wind. Just WOW!

Thanks for the nice memories of some fun--and some scary--times!

 

[3393RP]

There have been more than a few deaths from not hooking in before taking off. Not newbies, either. I guess it's from complacency or distraction.

I always did a hang check before takeoff, and spoke up if someone was about to take off without doing one.

It's like running an airplane out of fuel. There's no excuse for it but it happens regularly.

 

[MajTbird]

There have been more than a few deaths from not hooking in before taking off. Not newbies, either. I guess it's from complacency or distraction.

I always did a hang check before takeoff, and spoke up if someone was about to take off without doing one.

It's like running an airplane out of fuel. There's no excuse for it but it happens regularly.

It sure got my attention. While his dad was a fine man and didn't make us (I bought the wing with a friend) feel awkward buying his deceased son's hang glider it was most certainly a sobering meeting. So I never forgot--either the gentleman himself and or what a tragic oversight could do to a family.

 

[FormerHangie]

There have been more than a few deaths from not hooking in before taking off. Not newbies, either. I guess it's from complacency or distraction.

I always did a hang check before takeoff, and spoke up if someone was about to take off without doing one.

It's like running an airplane out of fuel. There's no excuse for it but it happens regularly.

I favored using what's called the "Australian method". That's where you attach your harness as part of assembling the glider, and climb into it while it is still attached to the glider. You don't detach the harness from the glider until you are ready to break it down. If for any reason you detach it from the glider, you get out of the harness and do a full preflight inspection before climbing back in.

There are some places that have a nice slope launch where if you were unhooked you'd just lose hold of the glider if you started off while not hooked in. But if you did it at a cliff launch or a ramp launch like Lookout's, things wouldn not end well.

 

[Flyhound]

I started building my own hang gliders in 1968. First with bamboo poles and later with aluminum. The sail was 6 mil polyethylene with duct tape reinforcements and grommets for tying the sail to the frame. I finally graduated to store bought gliders. I flew them for about 30 years, but getting caught in a dust devil while setting up for a landing shattered my right arm and I haven't flown one since. The consequences of freak accidents like having a dust devil pop up at the last minute are just too severe and the wing loading is too light to fight it. It was a good ride while it lasted. I also had some wonderful flights off of Sandia Crest. Mostly good memories.

 

[3393RP]

It's nice seeing your shot of the Crest and the microwave towers. It brings back some good memories.