A Wing and a Prayer He’s gone scuba diving to a depth of 124 feet off the coast of West Palm Beach, flown a single-engine fixed-wing aircraft over the mountains of Gatlinburg, went hanggliding in Chattanooga, has traveled the world and had a career as a nurse for over 20 years, but Dan Hartley insists he’s not an adrenaline junkie. Despite this self-admission, Dan’s latest hobby involves harnessing himself to a motor-powered trike that can lift him into the air, with the help of a parachute-style wing, and give him an unobstructed view of the world below his feet. A trip to Gainesville in 2019 introduced Dan to the concept of paramotor flying. Watching strangers float above the clouds instantly captured his attention, and after a lengthy period of research, he found a company called Flight Junkies, which offers both equipment and training through their bases in Ohio and Florida. With the company’s seasonal stint in Florida coming to an end, Dan drove to Ohio to experience the act of flying without the comfort of an enclosed plane to keep him at ease.
By Hayli Zuccola
“I was absolutely beyond belief terrified, I was ready to sell it as soon as I got back on the ground,” Dan recalls of his first ride. “I only went up maybe a couple hundred feet—if that—and it just absolutely terrified—it was exhilarating, but it was equally terrifying—and I was just, I was really having doubts.” Undeterred by his initial fears, Dan flew a few more times before he packed up his new, rather unusual flying machine and headed back to Florida. Since he returned, Dan has clocked in around 30 to 35 flights and, although he’s become more confident in the sport, he still ensures an overall sense of safety before and after takeoff by repeatedly checking the weather, doing a detailed precheck flight, monitoring the wind speed and wearing a radio-capable helmet to keep tabs on local aerial traffic. “My instructor said, ‘There’s something you always need to remember: It’s better to be on the ground and wish you were up in the air, than be up in the air and wish you were on the ground’ and so I try to live by that,” he says. “I get close to Jesus when I’m flying. I pray before I leave and I pray up in the air so—I just want to be prepared if something were to happen.”
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