Lessons include class time, ground training, and tandem training. Long Weekends or Training Camps – This is the fastest and easiest way to learn.After approximately 16 to 22 lesson-days, most students achieve solid Hang II-Mountain skills and can fly solo at many sites, under supervision of an instructor or trained observer. Some people earn their Hang 1 rating after 3 or 4 lessons while other people take 10 to 12. Tandem ride: 10 to 20 minute flight to 2,000 – 2,500 feet.Ĭomplete Course To Fly Solo: $1,800 to $2,200Įarning your Hang 1 Beginner and Hang 2 Novice ratings requires a substantial investment of time, energy, and money.You’ll get between 5 and 7 chances to do this, and once you get the “hang” of it, you’ll get 5 to 10 feet off the ground and hang glide for anywhere from 10 feet to 300 yards. Training flights: The goal of the lesson is to foot-launch by running down sand dunes or gentle slopes, fly in a straight line, and land standing up.Classroom instruction: how the hang glider works, harness details, how to hold the crossbar, body position, flying tips.If you’re really interested in learning to hang glide, this is the best one-day course to start with. Full Day Introductory Combo Lesson: $200 to $250 Tandem flights usually last between 10 and 20 minutes. Your instructor will land and the hang glider rolls to a stop, very much like a small plane. Once you release from the ultra-light, you will have the opportunity to fly the hang glider yourself for a few minutes. Your instructor will teach you hang glider basics and procedures and then the two of you will be aero-towed (by an ultra-light aircraft) to 2,000 to 2,500 feet. You can take a tandem flight with an instructor connected to you via harnesses which will allow you to experience a flight at an altitude of up to one-half mile, or you can fly on your own on day one, but you’ll stay within 10 feet of the ground! Intro Tandem Flight: $95 to $145 If you want to learn how to hang glide, there are numerous ways you can determine whether the sport is right for you without a major upfront investment. The USHGA has five levels of ratings, beginning with Hang 1 Beginner (low altitude solo gliding on training hills) going up to Hang 5 Master (at least 10 years experience, most likely an instructor). Hang Gliding Association (USHGA) created pilot proficiency ratings to measure and monitor the experience and skill-level of pilots. Today’s designs allow pilots to control and change the tension of the sail during flight, making flying much safer and flights longer and higher.Īs the hang gliding population grew, the sport became organized. In 1980, the free-floating internalized crossbar was introduced, along with double-surface sail construction. The slack sails and seated harness of the Rogallo model have been replaced with drum-tight Dacron sails, prone body position, and a heavier rig made of high-tech aircraft quality aluminum and stainless steel cables. Since then, hang glider design has gone through dramatic changes. Not surprisingly, this was also a time of serious accidents. All you needed to make a “rigid wing” hang glider was a few hundred dollars, a sewing machine, a double layer of sailcloth, a pattern to follow, and some aluminum tubing. By the 1970s, some people were building them at home. It wasn’t until the 1960s, though, that more recreation-minded individuals like aeronautics engineer, Barry Palmer, and Australian enthusiast, John Dickenson, began modifying and testing variations of the Rogallo wing for hang glider use. The technology that finally made hang gliding possible was developed in1948, when NASA engineer Francis Rogallo invented the self-inflating “Rogallo wing” as part of a spacecraft recovery system. Although he made over 2,000 test flights, his gliding career ended in disaster when, in 1896, he crashed from 56 feet in the air, breaking his spine. Hang gliding has come a long way since the 1890s when Germany’s Otto Lilienthal designed, built, and tested his series of gliders. Ballpark Estimate: $5,500 to $7,000 (lessons and new gear)
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