Gravity is overrated

[gsxrpilot]

Of all the things I'm licensed and rated to fly, paragliders are my least favorite. But if you like flying, this video is worth 6 minutes of your life. Go full screen and enjoy the music that goes with it.

 

[kerry]

Leonardo Da Vinci would be proud

[Bart Chilcott]

Loved this!  Thanks for sharing!!

[Marauder]

Nice.


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[1964-M20E]

sweet I love when they just glide right at the surface.  Just like a pelican gliding inches above the water.

[Jerry 5TJ]

55 minutes ago, 1964-M20E said:

....Just like a pelican gliding inches above the water.

Well, Pelicans have been practicing for millions of years.  

[gsxrpilot]

The paragliders are fun but I much prefer the hang gliders. And I actually have a lot more experience/hours in hang gliders.

Here is my good friend Wolfi, one of the top hang glider pilots in the world doing a long swoop under a bridge in his home country of Austria.  Notice how active he is on the pitch, roll, yaw while right down on the water.

Enjoy.

 

[kerry]

WOW, thats cool.  Now he needs to come to America and try it under the Golden Gate bridge.

[Kyoshiskip]

On 1/17/2018 at 4:31 PM, gsxrpilot said:

The paragliders are fun but I much prefer the hang gliders. And I actually have a lot more experience/hours in hang gliders.

Here is my good friend Wolfi, one of the top hang glider pilots in the world doing a long swoop under a bridge in his home country of Austria.  Notice how active he is on the pitch, roll, yaw while right down on the water.

Enjoy.

 

Hang gliding is on my bucket list.  Thank you for sharing.

[carusoam]

Great demonstration of energy management...

Wouldn't want to land in the water before achieving the under the bridge part of the flight...  

Best regards,

-a-

[gsxrpilot]

Wolfi also set a world record for distance while in ground effect in a hang glider. Just over 600 meters and stuck the landing on a barge in the river. The distance is one thing, the accuracy is the other. I've been privileged to fly with Wolfi quite a few times. He's an amazing pilot.

Hang gliding is an amazing way to fly. Just wait until you smell the thermal for the first time, hook a hard turn and climb 10,000 ft. It's unreal.

[carusoam]

It is evident he knows how much energy he is carrying...  dragging a foot to dissipate the last amounts prior to the spot landing...

Running out of energy over water, can't be very friendly... is there a quick release to get out of the harness?

Best regards,

-a-

[gsxrpilot]

15 hours ago, carusoam said:

Running out of energy over water, can't be very friendly... is there a quick release to get out of the harness?

No there isn't a quick release. And therefore landing in water is extremely dangerous. The glider will quickly attach to the surface and the only way for the pilot to surface is to get out of the harness and swim out from under the glider.

I learned to fly on the Sydney Australia coast. We were asked questions about choosing emergency landing options. They were cliff, rocks, trees, houses, water/surf. The answer was always something other than water. Water is always the worst option. 

[thinwing]

I can see why ,your in a sleeping bag with a collapsed tent over you

[flyboy0681]

The scenes in this video must have taken a phenomenal amount of coordination from many people.

[kris_adams]

Very cool. Looks like a ton of fun

[steingar]

On 1/18/2018 at 9:55 PM, Kyoshiskip said:

Hang gliding is on my bucket list.  Thank you for sharing.

Me too.  Not the easiest thing living in flatistan, though.

[gsxrpilot]

5 hours ago, steingar said:

Me too.  Not the easiest thing living in flatistan, though.

Some hang glider pilots still launch off hills. But the majority now launch with a tow behind an ultralight. Bill Moyes and Bob Bailey designed and built an ultralight called the Moyes/Bailey Dragonfly, just for towing hang gliders. It has lots of power but flies very slow. I once was able to catch a tow behind a Dragonfly with Bob Bailey himself at the controls. At 2500 ft I pulled the pin and released my hang glider. It was the coolest thing ever to see Bob cut the power and roll the Dragonfly inverted and proceed to do a full aerobatic routine as he fell back to earth. It included a couple of rolls, an inverted spin, a loop, stall, and landed on the grass dropping the line right beside the next glider in line ready for a tow. I meanwhile hooked the thermal he'd dropped right in the middle of... and climbed out to nearly 10K feet. 

If you're ever in Orlando, FL or Chattanooga, TN there are options to go up in a tandem hang glider. Try it, you might like it.

[steingar]

Just now, gsxrpilot said:

If you're ever in Orlando, FL or Chattanooga, TN there are options to go up in a tandem hang glider. Try it, you might like it.

There is an outfit here that does that, though I doubt our thermals are all that strong.  Still, I'd love to try it.  Looks really cool.

[gsxrpilot]

5 minutes ago, steingar said:

There is an outfit here that does that, though I doubt our thermals are all that strong.  Still, I'd love to try it.  Looks really cool.

A hang glider typically descends on glide at 200ft/min. So as long as you have a thermal that exceeds 200 ft/min up, you'll be climbing.

[steingar]

2 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

A hang glider typically descends on glide at 200ft/min. So as long as you have a thermal that exceeds 200 ft/min up, you'll be climbing.

I suppose we can get stuff like that, since gliders fly here all the time.