My First Hang Glider

I cannot remember which magazine it was that I saw the photo. It was probably Popular Science or Popular Mechanics. But the image had an immediate effect on me. I can remember the large triangular shaped craft hanging in the air with a guy hanging from the bottom. Well.... this certainly looks interesting. The article spoke about the new sport of Hang Gliding. You could buy these plans, and be flying in just a few days. Well that sounded pretty good, but I figured it may be best to find out as much info as I could before "jumping" in.

I was living in San Bernardino California, and after some research I located a company in Sylmar California called Free Flight Systems. They were not offering plans, but would sell instead, a kit with all the parts needed to build your own for $250.00, or they would sell a complete glider for $500.00. They also offered lessons!

They told me that if I could round up a half dozen people for lessons, that they would come up to San Bernardino and provide the equipment and lessons at $25.00 per person. A week later I and almost a dozen others were seeing our first hang glider. Our instructor, Rico Blair gave a demo flight off of the 500 ft. Little Mountain, located right in the middle of San Bernardino. We were all quite amazed at his 2 minute flight. Then it was off to find a training hill.

We gathered on a small hill on Kendal Drive. There was a 20 foot high slope and another hill at about 30 ft. Rico spent a good amount of time showing us how to assemble the gliders, gave a short explanation as to how these aircraft flew, and then taught us all that we would need to know to make our first efforts at trying to fly. One by one, a student would pick up the glider and with a million things running through their minds, they would run down the slope with hopes of flight. Some never got air born, and would run all the way down the hill like a giant Gooney Bird. Others would become air born for only a moment and then would stall, and thump to the ground skinning knees and elbows. Then it was my turn.

I pull on the harness and helmet, hook into the glider, pick it up and wait for instructions from Rico. I am watching some wind streamers on the hill and at the bottom that indicates from what direction the breeze is coming. Rico wants me to wait until the wind is straight in when I make my effort to launch.

After a few minutes of waiting, the light wind starts blowing in straight. Wings level... Rico tells me to lower the nose a bit... nose pointing into the wind... Rico says I am clear to launch and tells me to run hard.

I start running down the hill, and I feel the wind filling the billowing sailcloth, and then my feet leave the ground. Not wanting to experience the stall as I had observed others perform, I pulled in a little bit on the control bar, and I could immediately feel the speed of the glider pick up. And just a couple seconds later, it is time to land. Rico had told us that as our feet approach the ground we would need to flair the wing by pushing out on the control bar.

I pushed out and pulled off what was the first really successful flight of the day with a two step landing. I had several other flights that day, all with great success. The smile on my face could not be any larger. A few others caught on and I could tell that they too were hooked. The bulk of the students left that day probably electing NOT to become hang glider pilots.

That evening after helping to disassemble the training gliders, I and a couple others talked with Rico about purchasing gliders from Free Flight Systems. I chose to go with the kit, while the others could afford the fully assembled. We got to select our custom sail designs and colors and would be waiting a couple of weeks for our sails to be sewn and then the gliders would be ready for pickup.

The kit consisted of a number of large diameter aluminum tubes. These would have to be cut to length according to the plans. There was also a large collection of aircraft quality bolts and nuts, and a large spool of aircraft cable that would have to be cut to various lengths. There was also some copper tubing that would be used to make bushings. Also supplied were a couple of special tools. One tool was used to compress the nicos for securing the cables through thimbles and onto tangs. The tangs would be attached to the various points of the frame. Where the bolts passed through tubes, an over-sleeve of tubing would be secured in place with the copper bushing for extra strength. The bushing flange was made with the special flairing tool provided. Fortunately the sail was complete and would only need to have the tubes inserted and secured to the frame. It took me two days to build my first hang glider. It looked great!

The very next weekend my brother and I were out at the training hills. Within a week I was flying of the 500 ft. Little Mountain.

This was a very exciting decade in which to fly hang gliders. Manufactures sprung up everywhere, and every year there would be the need to buy the "Next Generation" of glider. These were also some very challenging days as well. Not all the designs were entirely sound, and the casualty rate was very high. Some pilots took unnecessary risks and would pay dearly for their lack of caution with injuries or death. Some just made mistakes and did not understand weather conditions and would find themselves in terrible predicaments. I am glad to have participated in the first decade, but am also simply glad that I survived. I credit Rico Blair for being an excellent instructor, and also a great mentor through the first few years.

Now close to 4 decades later, the hang gliders that we fly are amazing and provide soaring craft that are aerodynamically sound, with excellent performance. There are excellent training programs throughout the world. And now with the recent advent of the Paraglider, we now have another option for foot launching from the mountains.

Related Links

United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association

Ouachita Hang Gliding- Where I currently do most of my flying

My YouTube Hang Gliding Playlist

Return to Flight!

I started hang gliding in 1973 in Southern California. I was fortunate to hook up with a start-up company called Free Flight Systems, located in Sylmar, California. They along with many others such as Wills Wing, and Bill Bennett's Delta Wing Kites and gliders were building business on the newest craze of Hang Gliding. All the gliders looked pretty much alike at that time as they were based on the basic "Rogollo" wing design that came from NASA. For the first time, a fairly practical flying machine could be had by anyone with nerve enough to give a go at this new sport.

I mentioned I was fortunate to hook up with Free-Flight Systems. What was fortunate was I received excellent instructions from Rico Blair on the training hills on Kendall Drive in San Bernardino California. He was probably in his 50's at the time and I was 21. He not only taught me the rudiments of how to fly, but also served as a mentor through my first couple of years of flying. His constant reminders of how to go about making sure that we were making the fights as safe as possible, are lessons that I retain even to this day. Fortunate indeed, as in those early days, many pilots did not have the luxury of having formal instructions on professionally made equipment. Many self taught, and on craft that they built from plans that were passed about. Some were successful but often many were not and and suffered injuries or worse.

My first hang glider was a kit from Free Flight Systems. I spent $250.00 for a bunch of tubing and cable and sailcloth. I was able to construct it in a just few days, and I was the proud owner of a Hang Glider!

These were pretty interesting times in the history of foot-launched flight. We pilots were truly discovering what our gliders limits were as well as our own limits. Some were willing to seek the furthest boundaries of the gliders performance limits while most tried to stay in a comfort zone. I most definitely was a "comfort zone" pilot.

My first two years of flight I had hundreds of flights with none lasting more than 5 minutes. I flew mostly at what was then called "Little Mountain" in San Bernardino. I was afraid to venture up to the big mountains like Crestline where icons such as Bob and Chris Wills of Wills Wing would launch and wow us with their skills.

1974-75 saw gliders that started to look different. The manufacturers were seeking to design gliders that would glide better, and handle better. Some were successful and some were not. Over the next decade great advances were made in glider design, and by the late 70's they looked nothing like the original Rogollo design.
The gliders performance had increased more than two fold and now were true soaring machines, with flights that would last for hours, and fly for many miles. And I would be remiss if I failed to mention my loyal hang driver through those years, my lovely wife Sue. She dedicated many hours to driving us up mountains so that we could fly.

It was in 1982 that my flying came to an end due to financial concerns, and I will save that for another Blog, and an interesting story it is.

So I was out of flying for over 20 years. I only occasionally would peek into the world of hang gliding. During these non-hang gliding years, I had moved to Arkansas, built a home and started having babies. Our growing family enjoyed the many outdoor activities available in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. Mountain Biking was our main family recreation. This was a great family activity and I do not at all regret my non-flying years.

So about 5 years ago, the boys are all out of high school. I have been driving over to Mt. Nebo and Mt. Magazine in Arkansas to see the gliders fly. On my way home from one of these trips, I see a flash of color on a small hillside. Well look at that! It looks like someone is giving hang glider lessons on a hillside near Belleville, Arkansas. I drive around and figure I will watch some of this action.

I was greeted by Tony Middleton, the instructor. I watched a few of the students making there first efforts at flight. Watching and listening to Tony reminded me of my instructor, Rico Blair, back in 1973. Tony seemed to have a keen eye and was very good at picking up what a pilot was doing wrong. So many things you have to pay attention too when launching. Kind of like a golf swing. Wings level, glider nose not to high, check wind, and so on.

I shared with Tony, my experiences from back in the 1970's and at the end of the session for the students, he says.... well I guess it's your turn. Boy did I jump at this opportunity. I had no idea, that this day would end with flying. He started me out at the very bottom of the hill, just like any other student. I slowly worked my way a bit further up the hill with each flight. Within a half dozen flights I was launching from the top. All the old muscle memory of flying kicked in and I new that I was again.... a pilot!

The very next day I met with Tony again and he brought out a used Ultralight Products TRX that was for sale. I made a few launches from the top of the training hill and boy.... was I surprised at how far it glided. I purchased that glider that day, and have been enjoying my return to flight since then.




Most of my flying takes place in the Ouachita Mountains or Arkansas and Oklahoma. We do not get as many "flyable" days as I can remember from Southern California and our mountains and weather presents something very different than what is found in Southern California. Challenging mountains and weather, but I have enjoyed some really great flying and enjoy the great community of fliers that fly the Ouachita Mountains.

If you are a pilot and have not heard of the Ouachita Mountains, take a look at what we have for flying in Arkansas and Oklahoma at http://www.ouachitahanggliding.com/.

If you are not a pilot, but have and interest in Foot Launch Flight, Visit the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding web site at http://www.ushpa.aero/.

And if you have read this far, it seems you have a lot of time to waste... so you might as well take a look at my YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/user/menamiketrx. Here you will find several videos that show flying in the Ouachita Mountains as well as some of the old vintage film I converted to digital from the 1970s.