Hang Gliding In the 70s (?)

iWantWings

iWantWings

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I might soon have to say "arrivederci", "auf wiedersehen", "good bye" to part 91 general aviation for a while. So I'm looking for alternate ways to "get high" and because I always had interest in "soaring", I wanna learn more about hang gliding and paragliding. And what better way to learn about anything than to watch youtube ;-)

While looking at hang gliding videos I came across this youtube video that was compiled some time in the '70s: it's is over 50 minutes long and I can't believe that I never blinked and watched it all. These guys were nuts back then. It's funny how they called hang gliders "kites". Too bad they didn't have GoPros back then, ha-ha, but it's still pretty impressive the in-flight footage they video taped. The video starts a little slow but gets better and it's pretty funny too.

Fifty minutes is a long time, but maybe somebody likes this stuff as much as I do for the "kite" flying, crazy dudes, and the 70s stuff (makes me wanna wish I had lived during that time).

Youtube title: "The beginning of Hanggliding / Playground in the Sky Full Movie"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyPszC_Jqaw
 
I was one of those guys. We flew off the Sandias outside Albuquerque, so there wasn't a lot of fooling around. The mountain would chew you up if you didn't respect its thermals.

I will admit to full moon flying at Torrey Pines and Merriam crater near Flagstaff.
 
3393RP said:
I was one of those guys. We flew off the Sandias outside Albuquerque, so there wasn't a lot of fooling around. The mountain would chew you up if you didn't respect its thermals.

I will admit to full moon flying at Torrey Pines and Merriam crater near Flagstaff.
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Ha! Amazing, and you're here now so you must have done it right :thumbsup:

(someone posted a comment on that video saying something like "back then, hang gliding was dangerous and sex was safe. Now, some 40 years later, things have changed". Funny).
 
iWantWings said:
I might soon have to say "arrivederci", "auf wiedersehen", "good bye" to part 91 general aviation for a while. So I'm looking for alternate ways to "get high" and because I always had interest in "soaring", I wanna learn more about hang gliding
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I am about ready to toss the towel as well. I got my H2 rating earlier in the summer and just bought a new wing, a Northwing Horizon 180. I am enjoying the peace of hang gliding, it is a much more zen way of getting in the air. It's also nice that your aircraft folds up, transports on top of the vehicle, and easily stores in the garage. I live 35min from a good mountain launch, so I'm having a lot of fun and meeting interesting new people. Hang gliding is a very social activity with a good spirited community. I'm loving it!

Some pics of my new wing. Sorry about the quality of the photos, iPhone doesn't deal well with high contast scenes. I hope to get some better pics with a real camera soon.

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Great! Thank you for posting the photos, they're very useful. I'm glad to see that what seems to be the entire hang glider can be "rolled" into a long pole. There are lots of things i'm trying to figure out, but one thing at a time I suppose.

About 30-40 minutes from where I live there is a place where gliders launch - in fact, the area is even marked on the aeronautical chart for "high glider activity" or something like that; I've flown within line of sight of it and saw hang gliders and paragliders. That's where I'm gonna go and take a tandem flight, and see how it is. That's the first step ;-)

A question for you, Bill: I understand you make the hang glider change pitch and bank by shifting your weight, causing the CG to move left/right, fore/aft. Does it not feel weird to push forward on the control to pitch the glider up? And the reverse is true for pitching the glider down? Just the inverse of what you do with the stick/yoke when pitching up/down.
 
Looks like a blast other than all those guys crunching in.

Were those (mostly) newbies losing control, or were some of the "tumbleweeds" experienced guys?

Rule 1: "You're attached to a big sail. Keep it pointed in the right direction or you'll go for Mr. Toad's wild ride."
 
kyleb said:
Looks like a blast other than all those guys crunching in.

Were those (mostly) newbies losing control, or were some of the "tumbleweeds" experienced guys?

Rule 1: "You're attached to a big sail. Keep it pointed in the right direction or you'll go for Mr. Toad's wild ride."
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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.

It was pretty routine to fly that kite for an hour or more from Sandia Crest, and on good days I could get up to 13,500 MSL or about 3,000' above takeoff. In a Rogallo it was a quick fifteen minute ride to the LZ. The video posted is early early stuff, around 1973.

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.

The Sandias produced such violent convective action we never flew before 4 PM in the summer.
 
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iWantWings said:
Great! Thank you for posting the photos, they're very useful. I'm glad to see that what seems to be the entire hang glider can be "rolled" into a long pole. There are lots of things i'm trying to figure out, but one thing at a time I suppose.

About 30-40 minutes from where I live there is a place where gliders launch - in fact, the area is even marked on the aeronautical chart for "high glider activity" or something like that; I've flown within line of sight of it and saw hang gliders and paragliders. That's where I'm gonna go and take a tandem flight, and see how it is. That's the first step ;-)

A question for you, Bill: I understand you make the hang glider change pitch and bank by shifting your weight, causing the CG to move left/right, fore/aft. Does it not feel weird to push forward on the control to pitch the glider up? And the reverse is true for pitching the glider down? Just the inverse of what you do with the stick/yoke when pitching up/down.
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If San Bernardino is convenient to you, go see Rob McKenzie: http://flytandem.com/

To answer your question about controlling the glider, it's very natural, pull yourself forward to speed up, let yourself go back to neutral to slow to trim speed, pull yourself to the left to turn left, and so on. You won't get confused with what you'd do in an airplane, the control bar is used to position your body relative to the glider. People fly solo at 5 feet of altitude on their first day. Here's a hands off takeoff using a training glider:

 
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evapilotaz said:
A dangerous sport if you ask me.
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It can be, but I fly airplanes and ride motorcycles as well. I have over 500k on two wheels, statistics says I should have been squished like a bug years ago, yet I'm still here, still sport riding on mountain roads and dicing with commuter traffic.

Get good training, maintain your equipment, keep your skills sharp, buy the best safety gear you can afford, and go have fun!
 
iWantWings said:
That's where I'm gonna go and take a tandem flight, and see how it is. That's the first step ;-)
Click to expand...

That is how I started, I did a tandem to see if I would like it, then started lessons.

Does it not feel weird to push forward on the control to pitch the glider up? And the reverse is true for pitching the glider down? Just the inverse of what you do with the stick/yoke when pitching up/down.
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It did a little bit, but harder for me was flying in ground effect and the flare. We're used to coming in at 60-65kts, flying in ground effect, slowly pulling back, stalling, landing. On the glider, you come in at 20mph or so, then slow to just above running speed, then aggressively flare and totally stall the glider to drop to your feet. Do it right and it's a no step landing.

I still have big wheels on my glider because I'm still not consistent on the landings.

Here's a nice compilation vid of decent landings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sBv1KezPzM

Good sites to visit if you're interested in HG:

http://www.hanggliding.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.ushpa.aero/

http://user.xmission.com/~red/

Red's site is very good, I reference it fairly often.
 
My Dad worked in Yosemite in the mid-70's and we used to go into the park an watch the morning hang gliding activities off of Glacier Point.

One summer a guy hauled a glider up to the top of Half Dome. The rangers new about it all day and were giving updates on the radio to his launch status. It was great flight, and they just waited in the El Cap meadow to haul him in when he landed. \
 
Here's a guy whose speed is all over the place. You can tell by the wind noise that his pitch control leaves a lot to be desired. Right after takeoff he stalls a couple of times, just sloppy flying. He seems to be enamored with doing wingovers, notice how little consistency there is on entry and exit of the maneuver. He's all over the place.

I always aimed for smooth pitch control and awareness of my airspeed, particularly in steep turns. You might have noticed how many times the guy stalls in the wingovers. That's some pretty rough flying IMO.

 
Can't believe I watched that whole video. Everything reminded me of that time period; the music, the clothing, the hair...

The video also reminded me of why I wanted to try hang gliding and why I didn't. :rofl:

I'll still sometime go watch them at Fort Funston, just like I did back in the 70s.
 
3393RP said:
Here's a guy whose speed is all over the place. You can tell by the wind noise that his pitch control leaves a lot to be desired. Right after takeoff he stalls a couple of times, just sloppy flying. He seems to be enamored with doing wingovers, notice how little consistency there is on entry and exit of the maneuver. He's all over the place.

I always aimed for smooth pitch control and awareness of my airspeed, particularly in steep turns. You might have noticed how many times the guy stalls in the wingovers. That's some pretty rough flying IMO.

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Not much in the way of a plan 'B' if the occupant suspension cord breaks. I like plan 'B's. Maybe the paragliding.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Not much in the way of a plan 'B' if the occupant suspension cord breaks. I like plan 'B's. Maybe the paragliding.
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Nearly all of us use redundant hang loops. The carabiner would be the single point of failure that would have you pulling your reserve 'chute immediately.
 
FormerHangie said:
Nearly all of us use redundant hang loops. The carabiner would be the single point of failure that would have you pulling your reserve 'chute immediately.
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Yes, primary and secondary hang strap, most harnesses have multiple lines as well, and the steel carabiners are rated at 11000#. And as FormerHangie states, if all else fails you throw the chute.
 
Ah - hang gliding and the 70s. What a combo.

Men wore bell bottom pants. Women lost bras. Shag carpet. Afros on white guys. And - hang gliding.

I was lucky enough to grow up in SoCal in that time, and being an adventurous sort, of course, I turned to hang gliding. I had three of the low aspect ratio, single airfoil Rogallo wing gliders back then. Taught myself, got banged up some but survived it. My favorite place to launch was the Rocketdyne facility in the hills above Simi Valley on a breezy day. Didn't get a ton of lift, but enough to make it fun. A few times, I was able to get far enough to land at the old Warner Bros western set that was down in the valley below. The security guys would see me coming(of course) and send the golf cart to come get me and take me to the gate where I bummed a ride up and got my car. Or, my GF would drive down. After a couple of times, they told me to knock it off.

If you are in SoCal, and want to teach yourself possibly the best learning conditions and a bunch of fun can be had south of the border in a little village called Ejido Primo Tapia. It's a sand dune right on the beach about 30 miles south of TJ. I haven't been there for centuries, but I taught a couple of friends to glide there. Maybe they don't let people on the dunes anymore, I don't know but it's a natural incline right up from the beach to a peak about 400' high. There was a group from Sandy Eggo that used to go down there are teach new students, but again - this was a long, long time ago. There's a clip of me being towed awkwardly behind a sand buggy out at Glamis back in the 80s on VHS. I forgot the name of the production co and the video. Mostly sold in SoCal where sand buggies were built. Pretty funny to see me flailing around trying to stay upright!

Of course, Torrey Pines glider port, but that changed when I was there after Conner Mangiani killed himself on the cliff by doing some kind of split-S. After that, there was a fence, and you had to 'sign in', and ultimately they had a security guy stopping people from launching unless they had a registration card. Fooey on that BS. Don't know what the situation is now, but betting it's even worse.

Anyway, back to gliding. If you understand CG well, learning to handle the trapeze is one of the easiest parts of flying the wing. Take offs were hardest for me, to transition from running to control is a tricky maneuver. It is very peaceful once you get over the initial control willies.

The sport has evolved a lot since I left it in the early 80s. Hope you have a good time learning, I know I did. Maybe look into a club and ask if they still use Primo Tapia in Mexico anymore. It was a neat trip.
 
There was always an eclectic array of vehicles at launch sites. :D

I had an old Dodge pickup with a pipe frame rack used for local flights. It wasn't up to cross country trips so I purchased a new 3/4 ton 4WD Suburban in 1975. It was maxed out on options and was a great travel wagon. We could drive it to the top of just about any launching site. Drive out cost from the Chevy dealer was $7,700. Same truck is what, $75K now? :D

I modified the roof rack mounting by installing a Phillipine mahogany 1X4 running the length of the rack. It was screwed to the roof and the rack was remounted on top of the wood so the weight was distributed better. Ten gliders weighed about 600 lbs.

Morgan3820 said:
Not much in the way of a plan 'B' if the occupant suspension cord breaks. I like plan 'B's. Maybe the paragliding.
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No way I would fly with single rope like that. I used double hang loops manufactured with 1 1/4" nylon webbing strap that had double stitched eyes on both ends. The carabiner was a forged steel locking type.
 
3393RP said:
I was one of those guys. We flew off the Sandias outside Albuquerque, so there wasn't a lot of fooling around. The mountain would chew you up if you didn't respect its thermals.

I will admit to full moon flying at Torrey Pines and Merriam crater near Flagstaff.
Click to expand...
So didja ever put it down on Blacks Beach?
 
Guy I used to fly for used to be a hangie (or whatever they call it) he always spoke highly of it, but doesn't do much of it anymore.
 
Awesome video. Thank you. I watched it all. I'm looking to move to San Diego soon and will definitely be spending some time at Torrey Pines. I'm even thinking about building a Sandlin Goat!
 
Direct C51 said:
Awesome video. Thank you. I watched it all. I'm looking to move to San Diego soon and will definitely be spending some time at Torrey Pines. I'm even thinking about building a Sandlin Goat!
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Those goats are bad ass machines. Very cool!
 
I started in 75, still flying. Super dangerous back then, but gliders have gotten so much better.
 
There’s an old guy across from my hangar who has a Mooney but he also keeps a powered paraglider trike on the hangar too...says he flies the powered paraglider a lot more.
 
I didn't do any hang gliding in the 70s, but I sure hung out at some seedy street corners hoping to get laid......
 
Here's what it looks like now. Sorry for the lame music.

 
luvflyin said:
So didja ever put it down on Blacks Beach?
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Nope. With the consistent ridge lift, you almost had to intentionally fly out of it to land on the beach.

It was a PITA to get back to the launch site, and besides that most naked 1970s hippie chicks weren't exactly alluring.
 
I had a college classmate who was into hang gliding. This was around 1974/1975. I recall he came to class one day on crutches with a broken heel due to a bad landing. I think they flew in the Snake River breaks near Pullman back then. I never did try it, but I rode a motorcycle in those days (and have the screws in my left ankle to prove it), so I had my own dangerous activity.
 
3393RP said:
most naked 1970s hippie chicks weren't exactly alluring
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So true, so very true....

Fortunately, when the hippies realized that they were not going to change the folks minds in Texas and left, the pretty Texas girls came back out. Not naked in public though...
 
3393RP said:
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.
<...snip...>
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.
<...snip...>
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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!
 
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.
 
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