USHGA Hang Gliding September 1983 by US Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association

EDITOR: Gil Dodgen ASSOCIATE EDITOR LAYOUT & DESIGN: Janie Dodgen. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS: Leroy Grannis, Bettina Gray STAFF WRITER: ERIK FAIR ILLUSTRATORS: Harry Martin, ROd Stafford EAST COAST CORRESPONDENT: Gretchen Niver OFFICE STAFF: MANAGER: carol Velderrain Cindy Mosquera !Advertising) Amy Gray !Ratings) Mary Marks !Membership! Terrie Jo Nelson !Acc. Rec.l

ISSUE NO. 128

Hang Clding (USPS 017-9701

USHGA OFFICERS: PRESIDENT: Dick Heckman VICE PRESIDENT: Steve Hawxhurst SECRETARY: Elizabeth Sharp TREASURER: Doug Hildreth EXECUTIVE COMMITIEE: Dick Heckman Steve Hawxhurst Elizabeth Sharp Doug Hildreth USHGA REGIONAL DIRECTORS: Regional Directors elected to 12/31 /83 indicated first, these elected to 12/31 /84 Indicated second. REGION 1: Doug Hildreth, T. Michael Boyle. REGION 2: Pat Denevan. Gary Hodges. REGION 3: Steve Hawxhurst. Bettina Gray. REGION 4: Ken Koerwitz. Bob Thompson. REGION 5: Mike King (12/31/83). REGION 6: Ted GIimore (12/31 /83). REGION 7: Henry Braddock. Dean Batman. REGION 8: Charles Laversa !12/31 /84). REGION 9: Dick Newton. Vic Ayers. REGION 10: Scott Lambert. Steve Coan. REGION 11: Hardy snyman !12/31 /83l. REGION 12: Steve Ostertag. Paul Rlkert. 1983 DIRECTORS·AT·LARGE elected to 12/31 /83: Jan case, Dean TanJI, Dennis Pagen, Dick Heckman, Elizabeth Sharp. EX-OFFICIO DIREC· TOR: <With vote) NATIONAL AERONAUTIC ASSOCIA· TION Everett Langworthy. HONORARY DIRECTORS !Without vote! elected to 12/31 /83: BIii Bennett, John Harris, Hugh Morton;Vic Powell, Mike Meler The United States Hang Gliding Association Inc., is a division of the National Aeronautic Association !NAAl which is the official u.s. representative of the Federation Aeronautlque Internationale !FAil, the world governing body for sport aviation. The NAA, which represents the u.s. at FA! Meetings, has delegated to the USHGA supervision of FA!· related hang gliding activities such as record at· tempts and competition sanctions. HANG GLIDING magazine is published for hang gliding sport enthusiasts to creat further interest in the sport, by a means of open communication and to advance hang gliding methods and safety. Contributions are welcome. Anyone is Invited to contribute articles, photos, and illustrations concerning hang gliding activities. If the material is to be returned, a stamped, self-addressed return envelope must be enclosed. Notification must be made of submission to other hang gliding publications. HANG GLIDING magazine reserves the right to edit contributions where necessary. The Association and publication do not assume responsibility for the material or opinions of contributors. HANG GLIDING magazine IS published monthly by the United states Hang Gliding Association, Inc. whose malling address is P.O. Box 66306, Los Angeles, Calif. 90066 and whose offices are located at 11423 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90066; telephone !2131 390·3065. second· class postage is paid at Los Angeles: Calif. HANG GLIDING magazine Is printed by Sinclair Printing and Lithographers. The typesetting is provided by 1st impression Typesetting service, Buena Park, Calif. Color Separations are provided by scanner House of Studio City, Calif. The USHGA is a member-controlled educational and scientific organization dedicated to exploring all facets of ultralight flight. Membership is open to anyone interested In this realm of flight. Dues for full membership are $29.50 per year ($32.50 For foreign addressesl:subscription rates are $22.50 for one year, S40.00 for two years, $57 .so for three years. Changes of address should be sent six weeks in advance, including name, USHGA membership number, previous and new addres~. and a mailing label From a recent issue .. POSTMASTER: SEND CHANGE OF ADDRESS TO: USHGA, P.O. BOX 66306, LOS ANGELES, CA 90066.

SEPTEMBER 1983

CONTENTS

FEATURES

10 14 17 21

SKYTING - center af Mass Bridle System 221.5 MILES ON A COMET2

26 TEXAS HANG GLIDIN' 30

article and photos by Rick Masters

THE MOUNTAIN Hang Gliding Nostalgia THE REGION II REGIONALS

©by Donne Ii Hewett

by WIiliam Le Mer

by Terry Ferrer photos by Tim Fleming by Hardy snyman

DEPARTMENTS 2 ULTRALIGHT CONVERSATION 2 USHOA CERTIFIED SCHOOLS 4 EDITORIAL 7 NEWS AND NEW PRODUCTS 34 MEDICINA AVIBUS by Fred Leonard, M.D. NEWLY ACQUIRED USHOA RATINGS AND APPOINTMENTS 36 38 MILESTONES 38 USHOA REPORTS 41 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 44 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS 44 STOLEN WINOS

COVER: Larry Tudor and comet 2 break the 200-mlle barrier - by 21.s mlles1 Photos by Pete Brock.

CONSUMER ADVISORY: Hang Gilding Magazine and USHOA, Inc., do not endorse or take any responslblllty for the products advertised or mentioned edltorlally within these pages. unless speclflcally explained, performance figures quoted In advertising are only estimates. Persons considering the purchase of a gilder are urged to study HOMA standards. Copyright© United States Hang Gilding Association, Inc. 1978. All rights reserved to Hang Gilding Magazine and Individual contributors.

\JLTRALl<it1T CONVEKJATION

existing glider, then one with your ideas incorporated. Flying the two side-by-side should show the differences in performance. Even if your ideas don't work out you'll still have something that's fun to fly. Model hang gliders make good wind dummies, stand crashes incredibly well, and can be flown in conditions no sane full-scale pilot would try. Nickolas Hein Seattle, WA

Thanks Fred Dear Editor,

Larger Than Life I don't usually write letters to the editor but I wanted Dr. Fred Leonard to know that his "Medicina Avibus" is read regularly, and highly appreciated. The information is timely and practical and the writing style is a delight to read. I hope that lots of other pilots feel as I do because I'd sure like to see more installments in the series. In a similar vein, I'd like to recommend that as many pilots as possible look into Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training. The course is not hard and should be offered at local colleges or Red Cross centers; check with your state's Emergency Medical Services office or its equivalent for more information. Here in southern New Mexico, I know of at least one instance where paralysis or death would have resulted except for pilots with EMT training being around the crash site; the victim is now perfectly alive and well. A substantial fraction of the pilots here have had the course. Keep healthy and keep flying - and keep on writing, Dr. Leonard! Robin Hastings Las Cruces, NM

Model Tes ting Dear Editor, I read Mike Meier's article in the June issue about designing your own glider. Although I agree with his bottom line, I also have Dennis Pagen's desire to build a glider myself to learn about design, and maybe introduce some new ideas to it. But I also value my life. I've found that building model hang gliders is a good, safe and cheap way to learn glider design and try new concepts. In airplane design, companies often spend more money on a test model to verify a design than on the fullscale craft. Grumman and Beechcraft are wellknown for their work with flying scale models. A model hang glider, with appropriate attention to scaling detail, should exhibit the same relative performance and flight characteristics as a full-scale glider. A good way to approach a design would be to build a scale model of an 2

Dear Editor, I really liked Balloon Drop - Mama's Repray in the July issue. It sort of went "higher" than normal articles; it made me feel more than an ordinary article would. I felt how Mrs. Carlton felt about her son doing that. Her style is to me larger-than-life; it is art. Thanks Mrs. Carlton, and keep the faith! Jerry Bard Los Angeles, CA

Disturbing The Birds Dear Editor, As of July 1983 the Bureau of Land Management has banned hang gliding on Yaquina Head, one of the most consistently soarable headlands on the Oregon Coast. This action was taken after the federal government purchased the property from a private landowner. The government states that they assume hang gliding excites the nesting birds and that the birds could relate the large shadows of hang gliders to those of predatory birds. The BLM readily admits that they have no empirical evidence that hang gliding adversely affects the bird's habitat or that birds assume we are predators. In fact, due to the location of the soarable portion of the ridge and the everpresent rotor the shadows from the gliders don't even pass over the nests. I have flown there for over nine years and have never seen any raptors preying on the nests. No one in the decision making process has ever seen a hang glider fly at the site. Their knowledge of our actual activity is very limited and they have specifically refused to visit the site and watch us fly. Meanwhile at the site, blasting and quarrying continue, hundreds of tourists walk within feet of the nesting areas, packs of dogs roam unleashed and a multitude of other activities including boating, fishing, surfing, and birdwatching continue with no restriction on their activities. Two years ago, when we learned that the

USHGA CERTIFIED SCHOOLS GOLDEN SCHOOL OF HANG GLIDING 15912 w. 5th Golden, CO 8040 l FREEDOM WINGS, INC. 9235 S. 225th \YI. Sandy, UT 84070 FREE FLIGHT, INC. 7848 Convoy Ct. San Diego, CA 92111 KITTY HA WK KITES (East) P.O. Box 340 Nags Head, NC 27959 SPORT FLIGHT 9040-B Comprint Gaithersburg, MD 20760 HANG GLIDERS WEST 20-A Pamaron Ignacio, CA 94947 WASATCH WINGS, INC. 700 E. 12300 S. Draper, UT 84020 HANG GLIDER EMPORIUM OF SANT A BARBARA 613 N. Milpas Santa Barbara, CA 93103 HANG GLIDERS OF CALIFORNIA 2410 Lincoln Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 ROCHESTER HANG GLIDER, INC. 2440 Brickyard Rd. Canandaigua, NY 14424 JERRY NOLAND AND CREW 1415 Pacific Mall (P.O. Box 2118-95063) Santa Cruz, CA 95060 MISSION SOARING CENTER 43551 Mission Blvd. Fremont, CA 94538 CHANDELLE SAN FRANCISCO 198 Los Banos Daly City, CA 94014 W.W. HANG GLIDING SALES 3083 Woodway Road SE Roanoke, VA 24014 ULTIMATE HI SCHOOL OF HANG GLIDING 13951 Midland Road Poway, CA 92064 FLIGHT REALITIES 1945 Adams Ave. San Diego, CA 92116 SAN FRANCISCO WINDSPORTS 3620 Wawona San Francisco, CA 94116 TRADEWINDS HANG GLIDING P.O. Box 543 Kailua, HI 96821 KITTY HA WK KITES WEST P.O. Box 828 138 Reservation Rd.) Marina, CA 93933 THE HANG GLIDING COMPANY 410 Leoni #1 Grover City, CA 93433 FREE FLIGHT HANG GLIDING SCHOOL 684 Hao St. Honolulu, HI 96821 AERO-SPORT ULTRALIGHT GLIDERS INC. 898 S. 900 E. Salt Lake City, UT 84102 MAUI SOARING SUPPLIES RR #2 Box 780 Kula, HI 96790 EASTERN ULTRALIGHTS 128 Richmond Ave. Lancaster, NY 14086 (716) 681-4951 HOLE IN THE SKY, INC. 5835 Main St., Box 368 Fogelsville, PA 18051 (215) 395-8492

HANG GLIDING

federal government was going to be purchas· ing the headlands we requested involvement in the planning process. Except for after-the-fact notification we have been ignored. This action sets a very dangerous precedent as the BLM controls a number of flying sites throughout the United States. We have one more chance to provide input before the deci· sion is cast in stone. Please, if you have any data pro or con indicating the affect of hang gliding on birds and/or bird habitat get this in· formation to me as quickly as possible at the following address: Bruce Waugh, P.O. Box 96, Newport, Oregon 97365, or call me collect at (503) 265-2802 or 265-2362 during business hours or 765-2757 after 7:00 PM. If you disagree with this type of govern men· tal decision making please voice your opinion to: Mr. Joseph Dose, District Manager, Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 3227, Salem, Oregon 97302.

Corner Reflector

tor so it could be permanently stored inside the glider. A corner reflector 12" x 12" has enough surface to be misinterpreted on a radar screen to be the size of a jet, although the big· ger the corner reflector the better; a 6" diameter is perfect! y adequate. If anyone would like plans for a corner reflector, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to High Energy Sports, 2312 W. 2nd Street, Santa Ana, California 92703. The total cost will probably be less than SM including postage. Betty Moyer Santa Ana, CA

There are eight more true and false questions. If you are interested in seeing them, pick up the June '83 issue of "Reader's Digest." Gerald Bond Oracle, AZ

Weather Quiz Dear Editor, I was reading the June issue of "Reader's Digest" and came across a quiz feature on weather lore which I thought would interest other pilots. Here are some of the more in· teresting T/F questions and answers:

Dear Editor, During a recent discussion about the number of near misses hang glider pilots have had with both military and civilian jets, Oscar Higgins suggested the placement of a corner reflector inside the double surface of our hang gliders. When hit by a radar beam the corner reflector directs the beam back to its source and shows up on the radar screen as a large metallic object. (Just imagine the confusion you can cause when a radar operator spots a large metallic object which appears almost sta· tionary on his or her screen!) A corner reflector uses three flat planes which intersect at right angles to produce eight internal corners. It can be made inexpensively out of cardboard and aluminum foil. (Remember, radar waves permeate cardboard thus only one side of the cardboard needs to be covered with aluminum foil.) The corner reflector can be mounted inside any double surface glider which has an opening. A very creative person may even be able to figure out a method of collapsing the reflec-

A. True. The ears of swallows and bats are very sensitive to changes in air pressure. When the barometer begins to fall, they must fly closer to the ground to equalize the pressure. Another reason they fly lower is that insects they eat also descend when the barometer falls. Since the barometer starts to drop about 12 hours before a storm, such behavior can be a first indica· tion of bad weather.

Q. A RING AROUND THE MOON SIGNALS RAIN. A. True. The ring is created when tiny ice crystals in fine cirrus clouds refract the moon's light into a halo. These clouds form in the upper atmosphere when a warm front approaches cooler ground air. Since a collision of air masses brings stormy weather, rain or snow is quite likely and should arrive within 36 hours. Q. A MACKEREL SKY MEANS RAIN WITHIN 24 HOURS. A. True. A mackerel sky is a system of high cirrocumulus and/or altocumulus clouds resembling fish scales. These clouds are the vanguard of an approaching warm front, which will ride over cooler ground air, form thicker clouds and produce rain, usually within a day.

More on Balloon Drops Dear Editor, I would like to answer Dan Chapman's question regarding the first balloon drops by a hang glider in the U.S.A. or indeed the world, for a Rogallo type wing. The first balloon launch was very nervously accomplished at Lake Elsinore in the summer of 1971 by me, and the feat was immediately followed by a young pilot by the name of Bob Kennedy, who was later killed when he flew into the vortices of Blue Angels at EXPO 1972 during a towing exhibition at Dulles air· port in Washington, D.C. The next balloon drops were performed at Lake Elizabeth in California by me and Dave Kilbourne, who went on to do several more drops in the San Francisco area. In the film "Phoenix Country I", the first balloon drop is recorded. I hope this satisfies your curiosity regarding the first drops, and to add a final piece of information - I believe an attempt will be made in August or September to set a new record of 40,000 ft. by Dave Kirke in the Mojave Desert. Good luck. Bill Bennett President, Delta Wing Kites and Gliders, Inc.

Q. SW ALLOWS AND BATS FLY LOWER BEFORE A STORM.

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SEPTEMBER 1983

EDITORIAL

CATERINO T·O THE NEW PILOT

NOONE BASA SIMUIATOR LIKE OURS

by Gil Dodgen

et's face it, hang gliding has become too elitist. Over the years the manufacturers have gotten used to, in response to the market, promoting a new design about once a year of greater sophistication and performance. A small cadre of pilots has been forced to buy the latest, hottest design to keep up with his flying buddies. The schools, each year in turn, have converted to training on the new designs as it became apparent that the "Hang IV only" claims were exaggerated. But at last it has caught up with us. We are not recruiting new pilots like we used to. The established pilots are not buying a new glider every year like they used to. We have stagnated; in fact we are shrinking quickly. In addition to these woes, many hang gliding schools have jumped on the powered ultralight bandwagon, supposing, erroneously, that this is the path to certain riches. In fact, the fierce competition in this field has resulted in a mind-boggling rate of business failures. I started flying back in '73. I built my own Velderrain standard (recognize that name?) and taught myself to fly with the crash-andburn method. But those of us who remember those days recall with infinite pleasure those Sunday afternoons on the hill, the picnic lunches, the endless hours of glider talk and the thrill of leaving the ground, if for only a few seconds. I think the biggest thrill of my life was my first 90-second flight, in a straight line, during which I got 200 feet otT the ground. Hasn't our sport lost sight of something? Not all hang glider pilots want to fly in the Owens Valley. Not all enthusiasts care to compete. And not all of us want a glider that doesn't turn or land because it gives us a half a point of extra glide. This brings me to the real point of all this. Recently I've noticed a trend when talking to people who have taken their first hang gliding lesson. Common comments are: "Those things weigh a million pounds." "They fly too fast." "They're impossible to land." And in

general I've noticed a lot of potential enthusiasts turned otT by their initial experiences. No doubt they go home and tell their friends what a pain flying a hang glider is. I think the casual flyer has been ignored. It's a natural trend in any sport for the biggest, fastest and most dramatic to attract all the attention; and certainly who can deny the significance of a 220-mile cross country flight in a hang glider? We will all be forever fascinated and inspired by the accomplishments of the pioneers in the sport. Hats otTto them\ But let's not let the elite determine the standard for the rest ofus. Otherwise we risk turning into a non-existent sport. This year has been bad. At the height of the season the sport is very slow. The manufacturers are not selling gliders like they used to. The schools are not attracting students like they used to. And, although our association's renewals are as good as ever, we are not attracting new members like we used to. It is time to re-evaluate our priorities. The real appeal of hang gliding is leaving the ground in a foot-launched set of wings that weigh one-third what .the pilot does - flying in the purest form ever realized by the creative powers of the human imagination and intellect. Let's not lose sight of that. And let's start catering to the new pilot.

FINGER FAIRINGS ;

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"Cry!ltal~ is no ordinary school. In the USA, several other schools can boast such professional equipment, facilities, and personnel such as Crystal offers. But no others have a Crystal Haug Glider Slnndator. We invented it. We designed and built every component. We put it into operation, and we have now served over 3,000 students (from 5 to 81 years of age), all in complete safety.1bat last word is a key one. Oh sure, it's all for fun. We guarantee the fun offlying and the eye.opening thrill of a unique sensation. But we offer all that in safety which has never been compromised. Never will be either. The Cry8tal Haug Gilder Slnndator is a one·of·a·kind, patent· pending, revolution in flight training. Statistically, C'.rylltal students learn faster, safer, and more thoroughly because of the Simulator. "Just for students," say you Sky Gods? Not at all! Think for a second just how much you could learn if you could deploy your back•up chute, just for practice. Sound useful? Well again, only at Crystal, you can! Without a single exception, every pilot who has tried this special advanced form of training has felt much, much·better about his or her back· up system after, shall we say," ... trying the real thing." The safe thrill of learning is yours today ... but ouly at C..,,lltal.

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HANG GLIDING

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PHONE (

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INSURANCE PLANS AVAILABLE D Plan A: Single Foot-Launch Gliding Coverage (included in Full & Family Membership fee) D Plan 8: Powered Ultralight (add $160.50 to Membership fee)

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I HAVE ENCLOSED A CHECK OR MONEY ORDER PAYABLE TO: USHGA, BOX 66306, LOS ANGELES, CA 90066 USHGA will ONLY accept foreign checks payable on a U S bank in US funds. (US dollars or International Money Order) Allow 4 to 6 weeks for processing. I received this application form from:

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(Plan B add $160.50) D FAMILY MEMBER(S) ($14.75 each) D SUBSCRIPTION, one year ($22.50, $25.50 foreign) D SUBSCRIPTION, two years ($40.00, $46.00 foreign) D SUBSCRIPTION, three years ($57.50, $66.50 foreign) D TRIAL SUBSCRIPTION, six months ($11.25, $12.75 foreign) _ _ __ TOTAL D I would like $1.00 of my membership dues to be used for WORLD TEAM expenses. Charge my C MasterCard

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P.0.Box 66306, Los Angeles, California 90066 USHGA Item #4

Revised 9/81

(213) 390-3065

USHGA thanks the following businesses for their membership referrals from April to June, 1983. 1. Flight Realities 2. Hawk East 3. Mission 4. Flight 5. Chandelle 6. Free Flite (CA) 7. Gliding Tradewinds 8. S.F. Windsports Sky bound Nova Air 9. Golden Sails 10. Hawk West Free (HI)

Wills Wing announces the release of a new harness, the Flylite Plus. The Basic Flylitc Plus features adjustable padded leg straps, padded shoulder straps, and adjustable sccurback strap. The Flylite Plus with parachute container features all of the above and, external faired parachute container with Wills Wing's curved safety lock system. The Flylitc Plus with parachute comainer and ballast comes with all of the above, plus triple ballast, map and chart case (zipper ac·· tool srnragc container (velcro The new Flylite Plus has also been re-designed for increased overall comfort. It has been tested to federal government low TSO standards, and has met or exceed .. cd all low TSO Standards. Prices: $150, w/chutc container Flylitc Plus w/ballast $230.

Santa Barbara Gliding in hang gliding safaris to Europe, Africa, Hawaii and California. Their recent trip to Europe with the World Team resulted in flying 22 days out of 24. Right now they are putting together a ten· day Christmas trip to Hawaii to discover the SEPTEMBER 1983

famous flying sites of Oahu (Makapuu Point). Also planned for 1984 is a 24-day safari to East Africa to fly Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya (19,340 feet). This expedition takes a lot of preparation and will only be available to pilots with high altitude experience. Contact: Achim Santa Barbara Hang Gliding, P.O. Box 1386, Goleta, CA 93116.

USHGA Region 9 got its national directors involved in the regional championship, July 2-4, 1983 at View, PA. Left to right, former director W.W. Richard was a com .. Dick Newton, Vic Powell and Vic helped to plan and operate the meet, and Dennis was also a competitor. Trophies for the Region 9 championship were gold, silver and bronze giant-size wing nuts created by Joe Clements of Rockville, MD. Dennis Pagen won first place, John Cochrane 2nd, and Steve Schaeffer 3rd.

CRYSTAL BAY, NEV. Second Chantz Corporation debuted its Aerial Survival tern at the First Annual West Coast Manu-

facturcrs show in Bakersfield, California May 27th. Steve Lantz, company president and of the device explains that it is a "back to basics" parachute recovery system with a new concept of deployment. himself, is a veteran sport parachutist with over 500 jumps, ex-navy pilot, and by trade is an airline captain. (He has been involved in hang gliding for ten years and more recently in ultralight flying.) Lantz says the system is activated by pulling a rip cord handle. The rip cord is routed to the eight-pound aerodynamic pod mounted on an outboard compression strut or structural member of the aircraft. Plastic bombay doors covered with 6 oz. dacron now open to return t:o a "memorized" open position. The parachute remains attached to the outboard portion of the wing by a 4,000 lb. test bridle as it goes through a normal low opening shock deployment cycle. It is not only gravity assisted as in a hand deployed system but a pilot chute aids in maintaining proper deployment sequence and speed. Full canopy inflation takes place in 3.5 seconds. The standard parachute supplied with the system is the new security 5.2 meter (app. 27'). Testing by Second Chantz over the past eight months consisted of 102 test drops from a 20-foot tower mounted on vehicle. Speeds were maintained at exactly 25 miles per hour indicated air speed. Deployment times were consistently under 4 seconds. Contact: Second Chantz, P.O. Box 1817, Nevada 89402.

Who drivers? We do, and to prove it we're going to devote whole to drivers. This affair will begin with a well deserved weenie roast during which any mention of or reference to hang gliding will result in public ridicule and embarrassment. The entertainment schedule will include a sing .. a-long-fbllow-thc-bouncing ball theme song, the cars' perspective of hang gliding, an AAA safo driving a lecture on driver maintenance, and lots of driver stories. All stories will be awarded appropriate prizes by our fine panel of judges (a mechanic, body man and used car salesman). Come join the fun and appreciate your driver (or come alone and appreciate other 7

system in the Gulf of Alaska cool air and strong winds to the Owens and conditions, virtually of the contest. Although there were several cellcnt contest flying this weather was the unkindest overall since the first Classic in 1978. The contest format was this year to ease problems, and to offer making decisions. Three tasks were established, which could be flown on any at the option. The Chalfant Task con sisted of a run north to Benton from Gunter

is the a camera mount imported from Italy. is constructed from light aluminum which over any tube up to in diameter; it will even over on edges to make side shots easier withom cutting a hole in the sail. An extension arm is included for bcncr side view tivc, vertical or horizontal. postage included. Contact: Colville

How about a harness with a self-contained hack pack that can hold all your flying a Santa Ana-based hang accessories manufacturing company has introduced this back option on all harnesses. When the harness is open, to fly the back lies flush with the harness shell pro· storage container or foam insert Folded up the back pack option has more than room to comfortably fit all normal accessories. For more information contact: 12 W. 2nd Street, Santa Ana, CA !I) 972-8 l 86.

Kent Owens introduces the Owens bar u,co1,;11,.u ten inches in tube to or more comeither direction for greater fortablc slow The bar 1s constructed of I" .058" aluminum which into 1-1/8" .058" The machined aluminum brackets slide over the base tube and the bar is held secure by two bolts that com· press the brackets to the base tube. The bar can he folded up with the . Price is $1115. Contact: Kent Owens, 2311 Monte Alto NE, Albuquerque, NM 87123 (505) 2%·6116.

ilots who arrived in the Owens for the 1983 rov,n,._,.,P,H'P•'1

summer's

even temper and were rewarded with numerous outstanding Tudor's lcgen·· I-mile flight and other very long flights were flown in charmed conditions a few days after the Classic ended. Unfortunately, for much of the contest, a strong low pressure

task was a The Tonopah Task course. All tasks were considered (about 98) and scored on actual consisted of his fastest task, and any pilot with three beat any pilot with two, etc. Pilots needed to achieve the

Task finishers had a fair mainder of the On July !Ith, the headed for Gabbs, with l and Dave Gibson the Ed Goss, Tudor, John and Brown all made it, as well as completed Chalfant, and had a clear lead on the rest of the Jim suffered an unfortunate landing accident, and out of the contest with a shoulder. July 5th, outstanding weath,:r! Seventeen made it to Gabbs, ·rudor turns in the fastest time of 187.43 minutes; that's an average of over 31 miles per hour for 99 miles! was among the finishers, and turned in a respectable time of 206.35 minutes. Since it was on in the contest, all the pilots who achieved Gabbs headed for the and landed there to receive credit for their flights, although many were beHANG GLIDING

moaning their early landings, since the weather remained perfect until the sun went down, on what likely could have been some impressive distances. At this point, no one realized that the sun had also set on typical July soaring weather. July 6th saw moderately strong southwesterly winds and only eight hearty souls pointed their noseplates to the north. Rik Fritz, well out in the ozone on his way to a long flight, suffered a structural failure in a gnarly thermal just north of Ione, Nevada at about 113 miles out, abruptly ending his 200-mile dream flight. Small consolation coming: as the only pilot applying for the open distance award, and the rules not specifying whether or not parachute landings were OK, Rik received the award, a custom carved belt buckle. The next two days were dusty and blown out; Klaus Kohmstedt provided launch entertainment with live rattlesnake wilderness demonstration and educational lecture, combined with hair-raising tales of his snakeexport business days during Uganda's better times ... Alas, although the contest was extended an extra day, no pilots were able to achieve any further goals during the contest, with no pilots at all able to make the Tonopah Goal, although several pilots (Rich Grigsby?) were rumored near. Half of the competing pilots had achieved at least one goal during the contest, but the other half were disappointed, in many cases by landing a few miles short. Tony Hughes beat Larry Tudor by 5.31 minutes, and won the 1983 XC Classic, and custom Jeff Steber stained glass window. His outstanding time for the Chalfant Task, and fast finish on the Gabbs task earned him victory. Larry Tudor and Ed Goss both placed "in the glass" by finishing 2nd and 3rd. Larry's revenge: on the very day the British team was headed over the mountains for the airport and home, the 200-mile barrier was shattered. British team leader Andy Wilson was rumored to have been forced to handcuff several of the lads to their seats to prevent desertion.

FINAL RESULTS XC CLASSIC '83 1. HUGHES, T. 2. TUDOR, L. 3. GOSS, E. 4. PENORY .1. 5. BROWN, ~.C. 6. DEGLANVILLE 7. DENZ, H. 8. ZINKE, T. 9. CLAUSON, C. 10. GORDON, D. 11. HUEY,J. 12. MOYES, S. 13. HAY, R. 14. HARRISON, B. 15. BURGE, M. SEPTEMBER 1983

16. GIBSON, D. 17. FRITZ, R. 18. VOLK, G. 19. DUNCAN, R. 20. BIRKBECK, T. 21. BULGER, C. 22. FAUCNIER, J.F. 23. LEE, J. 24. RAWLINGS, R. 25. ARAI, C. 26. GRIGSBY, R. 27. BLENKINSOP, S. 28. KOHMSTEDT, K. 29. WOODRUFF, W. 30. MATSUO, E. 9

CENTER OF MASS BRIDLE SYSTEM © by Donnell Hewett

o far in our series of articles we have emphasized the importance of having a gradual advancement program and discussed the importance of utilizing various types of tension limiting devices while skyting. In this article, we shall explain why skyting restricts itself exclusively to the use of a particular type of bridle system - a bridle system which is unlike other systems used in the past.

FREE FLIGHT To understand why the skyting system is preferred, let us again review some of the basic fundamentals of hang gliding flight as we did in the previous article. In that analysis, we treated the weight of the glider-pilot system as a single force acting on the center of mass of the system. This time, we shall distinguish between the weights of the glider and the pilot in order to better understand how the various forces affect the flight characteristics of the glider. · Figure 3 shows the forces acting on a hang glider freely flying "straight and level" in trimmed flight conditions. Figure 3a is a side view of the hang glider-pilot system and illustrates the weight ofthe·pilot Wp; the weight of the glider W g, and. the force A due to the air acting on the glider. Just as fo the previous analysis,. we will not find it necessary to resolve the force A into the lift L and drag D components perpendicular and parallel to the flight path of the glider, and only rarely will we refer to the angle of attack a that the keel makes with the flight path -0f.the glider. Figure 3b shows a back view of the same system with the same forces. Notice that under trimmed flight conditions {when the pilot is applying no force to the control bar), all three of the forces WP' W g' and A lie ·along the same line whether viewed from the. side or from the back. Figure 4a illustrates the same thing without showing the pilot and glider. In the rest ofour analysis we shall utilize such simplified force diagrams to illustrate the forces of interest and

the geometrical relationships between them. These force diagrams are drawn to scale with the glider weight W g corresponding to 50 lbs., the pilot weight W p corresponding to 150 lbs., the pilot-glider distance equal to 3 ft. and the dashed .glider .reference line (control bar) of length 4 ft. In figure 4a the air force A can be measured to be 200 lbs., as it must be to support the weight of both the 50 lb. glider and the 150 lb. man. Figure 5b shows what happens to the forces when the pilot pushes out on the control bar with a force Hg. The control bar pushes back on the pilot with the equal and opposite force HP. The control bar moves forward (and the glider's nose rises) while the pilot moves backward. The center of force due to the air A is no longer located at the heart bolt (point of suspension of the pilot) but moves backward just enough to keep the glider-pilot system in transitional and rotational equilibrium. (In other words, all of the forces and all of the rotational torques cancel one another out so that the glider will continue moving in a straight line with constant speed without spinning, tumbling, or turning.) The reason that the center of.lifchas moved

rearward is because the angle of attack increased as the control bar was pushed forward. Another effect of the increased angle of attack is an increase in drag and therefore a slowing of the glider. You already know what happens when the angle of attack is made too great the glider stalls. Obviously too much of figure 4b is to be avoided if at all possible. Figure 4c shows what happens to the forces when the pilot pulls the control bar backward. The pilot and the center of lift move forward, the angle of attack decreases, and the speed increases. Too much of figure 4c should also be avoided if one is not to exceed the maximum design speed of his glider. This is especially true in gusty conditions when high speeds can result in excessive structural loads on the glider.

SINGLE POINT BRIDLE Let us now see what happens when the glider is under tow. The result obviously depends upon how thfi tow line is attached to the glider. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if the tow line is attached to the nose, the tail, or one wing, then the glider will never get

Wp a, SIDE VIEW

b. BACK VIEW

FIG. 3. TRIMMED FREE FLIGHT DIAGRAM.

HANG GLIDING

off the ground. But there are many other points where the tow line could be attached. Figure 5 illustrates three obvious possibilities. Figure 5a shows what happens when a horizontal tow force of50 lbs. is applied to the heart bolt of the glider. (A force of 50 lbs. was selected because it is approximately the minimum force required to keep a hang glider in flight. If the glider is to climb, a larger force would probably be required, say 100 lbs. or so.) As the glider is pulled forward, the glider adjusts itself by raising its nose until the air force A not only supports the glider and pilot, but also balances the tension in the tow line. The net result is that the glider flies under trim conditions with the control bar rotated roughly one ft. forward. The effect is somewhat similar to what would happen in free flight if someone moved your control bar one ft. forward and left everything else essentially the same. Similarly, if the tow force were sideways at 90 ° to the glider as it would be if the glider somehow got turned crossways while under tow, the glider would bank as shown in figure 5a and the effect would be considerably different than that normally encountered in free flight. In short, towing from the heart bolt is possible, but certainly less than ideal. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention another prob!em with heart bolt towing, namely where do you put your head when you get to high tow angles, and the tow rope squeezes your head between the two down tubes and your hang strap? Figure 5b shows the forces resulting from attaching the tow line to the center of mass of the pilot (his abdomen). Yep, you heard right. Nope, it's not crazy. Think about it, typically 3/4 of the hang glider system's weight is located

in the body of the pilot, so that pilot towing should more closely approximate center of mass towing than does glider towing. Figure 5b demonstrates that this is, indeed, the case. Nevertheless, the result is not ideal. The pilot is pulled through the control bar about four inches. This makes controlling the glider somewhat difficult because oflimited backward correction possibilities and because a person finds it awkward to shift his weight when his hands are located slightly behind his body. OK then, why not attach the tow line to the center of the base tube of the control bar? After all, this is the way it was done originally, right? To learn why, look at figure 5c. Notice that in order to fly in trimmed conditions when base tube towing, the pilot has to pull his own body forward through the control bar almost one ft. in order to counteract the torque caused by the tow force. Measurements of the diagram show that the pilot must exert a force of about 65 lbs. himself even though the tow force is only 50 lbs. Have you ever tried to exert 65 lbs. with semi-outstretched arms to pull yourself through an opening? And what happens if the pilot exerts less than the 65 lbs? The glider's nose rises, the angle of attack increases, and either the forces increase or the glider stalls. No wonder it didn't take long for the early tow pilots to attach a line to the heart bolt to limit the angle of attack. By the way, notice what happens when the tow force gets off to the side as would happen when the glider turns crossways to the tow line. Figure 5c is then the pilot's view of the forces. A side thrust to the left of 50 lbs. causes the glider to bank to the right, so that the pilot must move his body to the left just to maintain equilibrium. Ifhe cannot exert the required 65

.-~~~~~~~~~~------~~~~------~~~~--~~

All right, so none of the single point bridles would seem to be adequate. What about using a double or triple point bridle system? After all, that's what everyone else does. OK, let's look at what everyone else does. They apply a bridle system which distributes the tow line force at the top and bottom of the control bar. As the glider noses up, more force is applied at the heart bolt, and as it noses down, more force is applied to the base tube. Under trim conditions the top and bottom force must adjust themselves until they effectively act through the center of mass. Figure 6a illustrates the result. Notice that every force is applied along the line of A just as they are in free flight. As a result, the flight characteristics of the glider will be the same as for free flight. Unfortunately, in order to maintain this equilibrium, the pilot must again exert a considerable force with his own arms. In this case, the force is only about 40 lbs., but even this is beyond the capabilities of most pilots. And if the tow force were allowed to increase beyond the 50 lbs., as it must if the glider is to climb appreciably, the forces would exceed the limits of any pilot. You will also notice that the lockout phenomenon is less pronounced but

T.tg

/W~ I

ct.TRIM

I I

iwp

b. SLOW

FAST

FIG. 4. FREE FLIGHT FORCE DIAGRAMS

SEPTEMBER 1983

lWp l'Wp Q.

H9'

I I

MULTIPOINT BRIDLES

~----~~--~~~~~~--~--~~~~------~~~~~~~

lbs., the glider banks even more. This increases the tension in the line, requiring even larger corrections by the pilot. Once the correcting force exceeds the pilot's weight, it becomes impossible for him to stabilize the craft, and unless an emergency release is activated, the glider is going to keep right on banking into the ground. Hmm, I wonder if there's a name for this phenomenon?

HEART BOLT

b. PILOT'S

BODY

, ,'-.._ Hg Wp C. BASE

TUBE

FIG. 5. SINGLE POINT BRIDLE FORCES.

just as real in this case as in the single point base tube case. So what happens when the pilot does not exert the force required for trimmed flight? The glider flies out of trim, as shown in figure 6b. As long as there is any force on the base tube, the glider increases its angle of attack and the center of lift moves backwards (as in the free flight case shown in figure 4b). The pilot is now able to fly essentially hands off, letting the bridle and flight characteristics of the glider do all the work. But there are two major weaknesses in the system: (1) the glider is not flying under proper free flight trim, and (2) the pilot's control is limited by the stabilizing influence of the bridle. The first weakness means that the glider does not behave as it would if it were in trimmed flight. Specifically, the control bar is about 1.5 ft. forward like Sa, and the center of lift is about 7 inches backward like figure 4b. This makes the glider harder to control and more subject to stalls and to excessive gust loads. The second weakness means that the pilot had better be good and know what he is doing in order to make corrections and give signals to the tow crew before conditions get out of hand. It also means that the tow crew had better be good and know what they are doing because their control over the glider is greater than that of the pilot under the more demanding situations.

THE SKYTING BRIDLE In the skyting system, the tow line forces are distributed between the heart bolt and the pilot. Ideally the system should be designed to distribute the tow force proportional to the

weights of the glider and pilot. For our example of a 50 lb. glider and 150 lb. pilot, this means that the bridle should distribute the forces in a ratio of three to one (3:1). Figure 7a shows the result. Notice that all forces are applied along the line of A, that the combined tension and weight line up along the same line for both the glider and the pilot, and that the pilot is properly positioned in the trimmed position without applying any additional force of his own. In fact, the case is essentially identical to that of trimmed free flight as shown in figure 4a, except that the diagram is rotated. This means that the glider will perform the same under tow as under free flight (see part 2 of this series). This is true even if the glider is flying crossways at 90 ° to the tow line, as well as when flying straight behind the vehicle. There is absolutely no tendency at all to lock-out. WARNING: The above statement is valid only for the specified conditions, namely (1) that the bridle touches the glider-pilot system only at the heart bolt and at the pilot, and (2) that the tow forces are distributed between the glider and the pilot proportional to the weight of each. If any part of the bridle comes into contact with one of the flying wires or the control bar, as it must if the glider is turned severely crossways, then the stated conditions are not met and a lock-out or a tuck does become possible. It is strongly recommended, therefore, that extreme caution be exercised whenever one of the bridle lines touches a flying wire or the control bar. Having obtained a bridle system that is theoretically ideal, the next step is to devise a more practical system. Suppose, for example, that we simplify the bridle from a 3: 1 to a 2: 1 sys-

tern. What would be the difference? Well, figure 7b shows that there is a difference, but the difference is relatively minor. The control bar moves forward about 2 inches and the effective weights are slightly altered and misaligned, but in practice, the difference is hardly noticed at all. In fact, if a short bridle is used instead of the infinite length bridle assumed so far, the 2: 1 bridle does as good a job as the 3: 1 bridle in most cases. For the sake of simplicity, all ofour previous illustrations have assumed a horizontal tow force. This is strictly true only at the point of take off. In general, the towline makes some angle and pulls down as well as forward on the glider system. Each of the previous figures could be redrawn at various tow angles, but the results would be qualitatively the same. Figure 7c shows the forces for a 2:1 bridle when the tow angle is 30° (on a 200 ft. rope the glider would be 100 ft. high). As you can see, the result is essentially the same as that in figure 7b. One of the problems with the skyting bridle is the same as that encountered with the heart bolt bridle, namely that at large towing angles, the upper bridle line gets in the way of the pilot's head. Our solution has been to move the point of attachment forward along the keel about 16 inches. At small tow angles there is almost no difference in performance, but at larger tow angles, the upper attachment tends to pull the nose of the glider down slightly. The theoretical result for a 100 lb. pull at a 60°tow angle is shown in figure 7d. Since the glider is slightly out of trim (similar to the free flight situation illustrated in figure 4c) in the hands off situation, the result is not ideal. (continued on page 35)

Tg I

/wg Tp i I

:t Hg I

~WP a. HANDS ON

-1Wp

Tb~

~Wp

b. HANDS

FIG. 6. MULTIPOINT BRIDLE FORCES

OFF

Q. 3:1

b. 2:1

c. 2:1 (3 O")

FIG. 7. SKYTING BRIDLE FORCES.

HANG GLIDING

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Getting you

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The faniliar VE-10 (including its predecessor nodels A, B, and D) is five years old now, And over the years \le have. built about 9000 of ther:i, We get node.l A's in for repair (crash danage c)r =ny seasons of rough vear) and they go back out as quickly and cheaply as a new one, A typical repair bill for crash daaage usually runs less then 30,00, With a background S1Jch as this, it makes a good investnent at 179,00 (still), You hardly ever see thel'l on the used r..arketplace, Instead they are out at the flying site on gliders all dented up and taped up, "Why do you keep it?" "Because the thing still works like it did when I got it," Sor.e of our dealers: Sunrise Country Inc,, Tokyo, Japan 03-!+33-0063 Tunnis Been Chandelle SF, Daly City, CA 415-756-0650 George Whitehill David Mandel, Port Elisabeth, South Africa 041-335-364 Mission Soaring Center, Frec1ont, CA 408-656-6656 Pat Denaven Winje & Co, Lillehamner, Norway 47-62-55875 Leif \'1inje Windsports, Van Nuys, CA 213-789-0836 Joe Greblo La Houette, Dijon, France 33-(80)-56 66 47 Leading Edge Air Foils, Colorado Springs, CO 303-632-4959 Bill Raisner RAE Harketing Ag, St Gallen, Switzerland 071-23-39-62 Walter Roosli Skysoaring Industries, Toirroul, Australia 61-42-671794 Steve Kennard Sky Sailors Supply, Applegate, OR 503-846-7385 Steve Bissett Hainair Sports Ltd, Lancashire, 'England 44-706-55131 Jim Hudson Murdock Sales, Christchurch, ~ew Zealand 529-285 Kevin !lurdock

l / T[ K

4326 Fish Hatchery Road, Grants Pass, OR 97526

221.5 MILES ON A COMET 2 article and photos by Rick Masters Larry Tudor prepares to launch at Horseshoe Meadows.

Larry Tudor Breaks The Magical 200-Mile Barrier!

n July 13, Larry Tudor launched from the most treacherous site in the Owens Valley, Horseshoe Mt 'Jws, and flew north until the sun went down. At the point where he matched the 168-mile distance record of Jim Lee, he had just reached the beginning of a mountain range capped by a new cloud street. After nine and a half hours of flying, he headed over the flatland expecting to descend and found that the whole valley was lifting off. When he finally decided to land - in the middle of nowhere - there were two FAI official observers and an independent witness waiting in the landing area. When he looked at a map to find out where he was, he learned that he'd won five thousand dollars. When he wondered ifanybody'd believe it, he realized that he'd been filmed and followed by a documentary filmmaker and journalist. When he figured he was so tired that he'd just collapse where he stood, he fell into the embrace of a lovely woman. How can anybody be so lucky? Actually, it was a race. A very special race because no announcement had been made. No letters had been sent. No invitations. No entry fees. No awards. No spectators. No date. No rules. No window. No site. No nothing. It was a gravitational event. Everything was decided by gravity. The players would simply gravitate to some very special spot on the planet and go for it. It happened (to no one's surprise) in the Owens Valley in the middle of July. I flew Horseshoe Meadows for the first time a couple of years ago. I flew up by Mt. Whitney. It was really beautiful. It was one of the most scenic flights I've ever made in my life. Because of the

good road and the easy turn-around, I figured that it would be a good spot for people to fly. I went home to Draper that winter and all the rest of the year I was looking at maps, thinking, "Wow! You could take off here real early and cruise all the way up the Sierras. You could get in a bunch of miles before anyone normally took off of the White Mountains!" The next year, I came back with Monty Bell and Lori Judy. I mentioned to Monty how I thought you could go cross country off there. Lori and I flew up to Whitney again but Monty continued north and landed at Bishop Airport. When word of that got out, a whole load of people went down to Horseshoe Meadows the next day and started making hundred-mile flights!

The first of the players, Klaus Kohmstedt, came from Monaco on the coast of France. He had been with the load of pilots who launched off Horseshoe that incredible June day in 1982. How, they had wondered, "Can we really jump across the valley? Can we really get to the White Mountains from here?" It seemed so laughable now! Six pilots in six Comets had made it across to Black. All six made it to the end of the Whites - a hundred miles! But Klaus had fought on. Onward to Pilot Peak. Damn the torpedoing sink, full speed ahead! But then, with Gabbs in sight, with Jim Lee's record surely doomed, with only 23 miles to go - the sudden sink. The drop. The ground. The anguish. The walk out ... This year would be different. This year he was prepared. The '83 Classic was over and he held the longest flight out of the Owens since Tudor and Kreyche .-in 1981. The longest flight, ever, from Horseshoe: 145 miles. And yesterday he had declared a goal at

Mina Junction and made it! A new world record. He stood at launch watching the early morning sun warm the granite towers. This year, Klaus was flying as good or better than I've ever seen him fly. He was really determined to set some meaningful records. He had incredible drive and energy. He employed every piece of advanced equipment he could find, whether it was a streamlined harness or fairings or a Comet 2. He had the best of everything and he was constantly going for it every day after the Classic.

The second player was hot-dogger Rik Fritz. First to launch in the wild, windy days of the '83 Classic. Diving deep into canyons where no one would follow. Flying so fast in the world's tightest Sensor. Assuming Pfeiffer's style in Pfeiffer' s conspicuous absence. Fritz The Cat, drawing on another of his nine lives. His chute repacked, his new glider drawn tight as a bowstring, he gazed out across the valley, beyond the obscuring spines, beyond the curve of the earth to a mountain above Ione where his glider had broken during the Classic. The fall, the spinning, tangled upside down! The impact, on his back, the glider pounding upon him! The wind, rotoring down the backside, pulling the parachute, dragging him ... He had been far from Gunter. The day had been so good. Jim Lee's record had been within his reach. And then, the turbulence like a giant's fist ... Fritz wanted Ione. He would thumb his nose at the mountain. "Today is the day," he thought.

HANG GLIDING

You can take off much earlier at Horseshoe Meadows than you could expect to anywhere else in the country. It's so high and vertical that it's almost always soarable in the morning. And it gives you the Sierras with real predictable thermal spots all the way north as far as you can see. And also, the mountain ranges in central Nevada all line up fron the southwest to the northeast and the cloudstreets tend to run that direction, too. The open desert likes to put off really good thermals. And it's really nice for landing in. You can cruise downwind until you absolutely have to point it back into the wind and land. There's no problem with finding decent landing areas almost the whole flight. The only problem is in getting so far removed from civilization that you land and have not a clue as to which way to walk out.

The third player was mop-headed John Pendry of Brighton in the south of England. "Peanut Man," they'd called him in the Classic. He'd won the sponsorship of Planter's Peanuts and his glistening mylar coat Magic 3 carried him through the sky, the real Mr. Peanut nodding serenely from the undersurface, as John hung below, enclosed in his yellow Supp harness, looking for all the world - honest to God - like an aerobatic peanut. John was a threat on the XC circuit, a rising star spiraling up through the established ranks of British pilots, but he was bored with the competitions in England. He wanted distance. He wanted flight time. Back home, it just didn't exist. But here! This was like Australia. Better, on a good day, you could fly forever. Before his fourth place win in this year's Classic, he'd flown 117 miles from this spot. Today he planned to do better. Much better. The day before, I was watching everybody fly off Horseshoe but I wasn't really prepared mentally, physically or logistically for going far that day. So I didn't fly. I saved my energy for the next day because I heard the weather was going to improve. Then I talked to the sailplane pilots that night. They said it had been a really good day and the next day was going to be better. On that particular day, the people who got the fastest times in the sailplane competition were the people who stayed high. That's where the best thermals were.

The fourth player was World Champion Steve Moyes of Sydney, Australia. Today he found himself in a dilemma. Despite having done some of the finest flying in his life, he had been scored poorly in the Classic. And this year, with the introduction of the new curved-tip Moyes GT, he had needed to place well - like he usually did. He desperately wanted to show pilots that this was the best Moyes glider ever. But now the Classic was over. There were the scores: Steve Moyes, 12th place. He shook his head in disgust. How could he salvage this?

SEPTEMBER 1983

There was only one way. Break the open distance record. Do it at Horseshoe, this site he'd never flown. It certainly looked like it had the potential. But he wanted to do it back home in Australia. Anyone who flies Horseshoe should definitely have their steep launches down. They should be aware of the local conditions so that they don't take off when it's getting ready to blow downhill because it can get really trashy and dangerous. They should be aware that it's a long glide out to the highway if they get too low. There's the problem of landing up near the lava beds which are an area of large, jagged lava rocks. They're really dangerous and unlandable. Also, there's quite a bit of military air traffic up and down the Sierras. That could pose a problem if they didn't see us and cruised through a gaggle of hang glider pilots.

The fifth player was Larry Tudor of Draper, Utah. Every summer since the beginning of it all, he found himself drawn to the Owens Valley. First there had been the early excursions to Cerro Gordo, then Don Partridge's invitation to the first XC Classic, the

"I think a flight of over 300 miles is a real possibility from Horseshoe Meadows, especially if you had a good tailwind and decent cloudstreets, which didn't really happen the day I flew 221 miles." first hundred mile flights, George Worthington's crusade for world records, the losses to Pfeiffer, then the back-to-back wins in the Open and the Classic in '81, the surprising defeat by Jim Lee in '82 ... Some claimed that Larry was the most natural pilot in the world. He flew six hours a day above the Wasatch Front back home. He was an expert at aerobatics. The Japanese had brought him all the way to Japan just to watch him fly. In the air, he was the soul of perfectiorr. On the ground, he seemed an awfully nice guy - but a hang glider pilot? He looked too normal for that! He'd been flying Roy Haggard's gliders forever. He had a tremendous loyalty to Ultralite Products. It was Pete Brock who'd made it all possible. Pete understood what it took, what it cost. He never would have made it without Pete. The sport wouldn't be anything like what it was today, either, without Pete's support through the year~, Now he was about to try for the longest flight. Pete had put up a $5,000 prize for

whomever could fly 200 miles. On a Comet, of course - Pete was no fool. Let the other companies put up some money if they thought their gliders were good enough! We got up early and went to the Pines Cafe in Independence. Rick Masters was there. And Lori Judy and Klaus Kohmstedt. We decided we were going to fly Horseshoe Meadows. We left about 8:30 and we were ready to launch about 10:30. I think I had a big advantage over almost all the other pilots because I had covered all the ground between Gabbs and Austin in previous years. I knew the mountains up there pretty well. And I knew where the roads were. That was a big help. I just wasn't scared about flying there. I know that when you're flying in unknown terrain and there's desert as far as you can see, it can make you pretty nervous because you don't want to get lost. But I felt pretty confident. I took off to the right of Klaus about a minute after he launched. We caught a thermal together and climbed out to 12,000', then proceeded north along the Sierras. We weren't taking much time to get high because the lift was so good. And as we went north, the lift got better and the thermals got stronger. A little bit south of the cinder cone, there's a big black mountain along the Sierras that I cruised up to 13,500' on. I decided to cross the valley. I got real pointy and went for my best glide. I didn't hit any lift until the other side of the valley! I caught a thermal before Black Mountain that got me high enough to cruise over to the southeast side, where the wind was coming up the face. I worked a couple thermals before I was comfortable about going over the back. On the next mountain, I was working a fairly weak thermal to save my height when I saw a sailplane back toward the spine going up a lot better. When I went over there and joined him, I started climbing out real good. Then he got disgusted and left. I got up to 13,000' and from there I was able to make it all the way to Paiute without working anything. At Paiute, I joined another sailplane and another hang glider that had launched from the Whites. I got up to 14,500' and it was an easy glide to White Mountain Peak. There were really good thermals over White Mountain Peak, but I didn't bother getting over 15,000'. I pretty much flew straight to Pellisier Flats, where I hit some strong sink and got down to 11,000'. I started working another thermal, then, and after a couple of minutes it turned into 1,200 fpm that got me pretty high above Pellisier. There were some good clouds forming over Boundary Peak. I was hitting lift all the way there but I didn't bother to work it. At Boundary, I began working a 600 fpm thermal. There were some clouds that started working to the north, so I headed for those. I was going up all the time. Then it started to get turbulent, so I held on tighter. I kept going up and up without working any thermals. My hands were getting colder

thermal. Above 13,000 feet, the lift would almost double. And the sink between thermals was really light at high altitudes. And it was a better direc· tion for where l wanted to go more of a south· west direction up high compared to a southeast direction down low. Generally, it was much better to stay high. When it got real late in the day, l just decided to stay high and work whatever l could from then on.

Rick Fritz.

and colder. By the time I crossed Montgomery Pass, l was at 18,000 feet and my fingers were feeling frostbitten. I left the cloud street there and headed towards Miller Mountain. I took my fingers out of my glimes and made some fists. They started hurting pretty bad. At Miller, there wasn't much lift so I kept going, over to the Excelsiors. I was hitting some pretty good sink and turbulence. I got to the Excelsiors but l still wasn't getting any {1ft. l was getting a little bit nervous because I'd come so far, so quick, l didn't want to go down. 17zen, as l was heading for the flats at Mina .Junction, I hit a real good thermal that got me back up to 12,000'. I thought I had enough altitude to make Pilot, but I hit a pretty strong southeast wind and got down to 9,000'. I worked a thermal but it drzfted me out over the 1;al/ey, so I left it and went back for Pilot. This time I was going for broke. I went through a few small ther-· mals, knowing there'd be some better lift on Pilot. But when l got there, the !(ft wasn't as good as l expected, so l followed a small thermal up the side. As soon as it went above the top of the mountain, it turned into l,SOOfpm. l climbed ro 17,000 feet. As l was going to Gabbs, there was a lot of sink, really strong sink. l kept going down and down. L got down to .9,000 feet and decided I'd better start working something. I saw a bunch of pointy mountains halfway to Gabbs. I went in there, and sure enough, there -was a thermal, but it drifted me away Ji-om my course. l worked that for a long, long time. lt was just a really large area rl lift without strong cores, so l just made big, flat circles. At 13,000' above Gabbs, l decided it was time to go for the mountains above Gabbs where it looked like the lift would be better. l flew that way and there was a really, real~y good thermal right where l expected it. l climbed pretty high again and as soon as it started to slack off, l decided to go for the cloudstreet that was starting to form o·ver the Shoshones. For most of the way, the worst sink l was hit· ting was 200 fpm. Then, as I approached the Shoshones, there was really good thermal !tft. l got up to 18,000'.

"Larry Tudor, give me your position," I radioed. We hadn't heard from him for 40

minutes. He was way ahead of us. "I am at eighteen thousand feet five miles north of Gabbs," his voice came back, slow, low and syrupy. Lori was immediately scared. "He's hypoxic," she said. . Larry," I sent back. "Lori says you're hypoxic. Keep it together." "I am without a doubt hypoxic right now. We were climbing the pass out of Luning. Rik Fritz had been drilled at the south end of town. Klaus had put on a marvelous struggle, dropping to within a few hundred feet of the Excelsior foothills west of town, then riding a thermal right over our heads, making an overflight of his declared goal a new world record, 139 miles! and continuing toward Luning Pass. But now his luck was running out. At 6:37, he landed on top of the pass, 151 miles from Horseshoe. Ironically, he'd beaten Bob Thompson's official record for distance. But it didn't look like it was going to last very long. Klaus grabbed some milk and food out of the car. "Keep going!" he said. "Go get Larry!" 17ie lift was really better up high. ln fact, above 13,000' out 01;er the desert, the lijt increas·· ed really well whenever you were going over a

Judy Lacl11n flaw 141 mllas.

"Rick," Larry called, "You'd better hurry if you want to film this!" I couldn't hurry more than I was. We were south of Ione, climbing a steep grade into the Shoshones. I knew Larry was at the northern end of the range, 30 miles of dirt roads ahead ofus. "I have plenty of time," I lied. "Listen, don't come down! Keep going! We're catching up with you." On our CB, we were picking up patches of Steve Moyes transmissions. He was very low over the Gabbs Valley Range and was worried he might not make it out of the mountains. John Pendry was crossing near Gabbs, heading for the Shoshones. Judy Leden, an English pilot here to set world records, had just landed north of Luning with a new official and unof, ficial record of 147 miles for a woman on a flexwing. We slid through Ione and down the moun· tains to the Reese River Valley where the road straightened out. I decided that the fastest speed I could safely travel was just shy of where the speedometer needle would snap off and I held it there for 20 minutes. At 7: 54 Larry radioed down from 13,000'. "Hey, Rick! April Fool! I'm really at White Mountain!" Lori asked him ifhe could sec our roostertail of dust. It was 100 feet high and four miles long. But we were still too far south. "It sure is pretty up here. The sun is setting," he said. "R.ick, please hurry, it's get· ting dark!" At 8: l 5 we were racing up the Battle Mountain highway, blinking our lights on and off in the dusk. A truck driver thought we were pulling him over and eased onto the shoulder. "I'm at 11,500'. I have the bar pulled halfway in and the whole valley's lifting! I'm getting nervous! I don't want to land in the dark!" Then suddenly, we saw him, directly overhead. I slammed on the brakes and jumped out into the road, waving my arms at the truck coming up behind us. It was the only vehicle we'd seen since leaving Highway 50. The driver, Pat Alles, was willing to watch Larry land and sign the landing certificate. Ten minutes short of ten hours iu the air, Larry touched down. It was the longest hang gliding flight in history, 53 miles beyond Jim (continued on page 35)

HANG GLIDING

by William Le Mer

an Antonio Peak, Double Mountain, Saddleback Mountain, whatever you call it, the words start a pleasant glow in my mind. When, on some excursion to the east, I actually see the mountain looming out of the smog, in summer or in the crystal, snowcapped clarity of a good winter day, I can feel again the tightening of the stomach that comes with the echo of an old thrill. Real triumphs are not something that happen often and Saddleback Mountain and a beautiful day in November brought me one of my most pleasantly remembered. Let me flip back the page to 1973. The sport of hang gliding was in its infancy and I had been bitten by the bug. Actually, I was a gliding enthusiast with a lifetime standing, since I had flown gliders in World War II. I had, however, long since learned that gliding or soaring was a sport which was expensive in both money and time, and I have never found myself with a large surplus of SEPTEMBER 1983

either commodity. The exciting advent of hang gliding brought this adventure to me for the price of a Rogallo kite and a twenty-minute trip to the beach cliffs at Redondo, California. I could not pass it up. I was in my fifties and most of my friends and family thought I was undergoing early senility! Nor can I explain the reason why I needed it. Those people who would understand need no explanation, while those who need an explanation would never understand. I loved hang gliding, but make no mistake, I was lousy at it. There were then no schools, and flight instructions were the words of advice from the person who supplied you with your glider or kit of materials to build one. The person who built my first glider, Dave Muehle, later became world champion in the standard class. Even he could not keep the dirt off my face. I stalled and crashed constantly. I could not run fast to take off well. The tortuous climb up the hill with the glider on my back sapped Photo by Bill Aller.

my strength, and to top it all, the glider controlled in the exact opposite manner from all the other aircraft I had flown. My attitude went from one of supreme confidence to utter dejection. Scarred, scratched, bruised, and scared - dejection! I debated giving it up, since every indication was that my survival period was going to be shorter than the learning phase. Yet, when I managed to get the thing in the air, the thrill was indescribable; it is truly the · flyingest flying of all. Finally I began to get a little better at taking off and a lot better once I was in the air. Still, the way the youngsters could fly never ceased to amaze me. The scratches, bruises, skinned knuckles and charlie horses began to be less frequent and I began to visit popular flying sites away from the beach: Llyn Hill, Sylmar, the Lookout in the mountains abovt; Lake Elsinore, and finally, Escape Country, near the foot of Saddleback Mountain. An early hang gliding meet was held at 17

Escape Country. It was called the Lilienthal Meet after one of the fathers of hang gliding, and while there I was privileged to see three of the best pilots in the country fly from Saddleback. (This after eluding forest service guards on a road closed because of fire season.) Only one of these experts made it all the way to the landing area. This man, who later died in a crash at Escape Country, was acknowledged as probably the best pilot in the world at that time. Escape Country was a large private park for outdoorsmen of all types and since it was in very hilly country, had takeoff sites at many different elevations. One of these was at 1,800 feet, and I had, with some trepidation, flown from this point several times. To make up for my lack of speed on takeoff, I developed a technique which involved standing on the edge of the cliff, balancing the kite on the breeze with the nose as low as I could hold it, then stepping off the edge and taking a few lurching, lunging steps on the side of the cliff until enough velocity to fly was obtained, then shoving the bar forward to swoop rapidly away. This is quite definitely not the method you will find in use at your friendly neighborhood flight park. Among other faults is the fact that a small fluctuation in the breeze can cause the glider to either stall or slam into the slope, and this can certainly bring on grievous injury to the pilot. I have interesting scars to prove the truth of this statement. On reflection it seems suicidal, but at the time it seemed to fit my style and I continued to use it in spite of warnings from my fellow gliders. With this background, let us turn the pages to the weekend before Thanksgiving in the same year. I arrived at Escape Country at mid-morning, slipping and sliding my old pickup through the inevitable mud puddle at the entrance to the landing area. This 150-yard-square patch of flat ground was already ringed by a variety of motor vehicles, the only common denominator being one or more hang gliders roped to the roof. The midday breeze had not yet begun to blow and most of the glider pilots seemed to be having some sort of meeting at a picnic table just outside the landing area. It looked like a bunch of high school students between classes. If you are over thirty and want to feel like a senior citizen, just join a crowd of hang glider pilots. Although there have been a few very active or productive hang glider people from older generations - Volmer Jensen and George Worthington come to mind - most of the tremendous advancement in both the sport and the science have come from young minds, those with intelligence enough to conceive a design and with brass enough to test it off some cliff. For raw courage, you need a young strong man who has never been badly hurt. I opened my thermos and poured the top

full of coffee, got out of the truck and glanced up the hill at the lower launch level. The flag was just beginning to flutter limply. Further back and high up, atop the ridge at the 1,800-foot level, a few gliders pointed their noses to the ground, set up and waiting for the wind. Saddleback Mountain was sharply outlined against the blue sky and splashed with fall colors. Looking back at the group at the table, I spotted Kaz DeLisse, then vice-president of the Southern California Hang Gliding Association. I put the cup back on the thermos and walked over to see what was going on. My approach brought a lull in the babble of voices and Kaz took a few steps to me. "Hi Bill," he said. "We're organizing a kind of Thanksgiving turkey shoot. We are going to fly off Saddleback and the first three pilots to reach the landing area get a turkey. Do you want to enter?" A thrill went through me; I

considered the group around the table, all of them highly skilled, owners of the latest gliders, most of them young. My entry into this contest would be ridiculous. Not only ridiculous but dangerous. While my cool and calculating mind was telling me, "No way will I get into this," incredibly I heard my voice saying, "Sure, I'd like to go. How do we get there?" "OK," said Kaz, "we've got six vehicles signed up. You'll be in the white van, over there. Put your kite on it. We're almost ready to go." Mentally calling myself a fool, I got my glider off the truck and one of the youngsters helped me tie it down with seven or eight others on top of the white van. Mine was the last on, and the van was jammed with glider pilots, the retrieve driver and his girlfriend. The first half hour of the drive was on paved roads and relatively comfortable. However, after passing through the gate to the forest ser-

HANG GLIDING

vice's unpaved road the van bucked and rocked constantly, jouncing people against each other and equipment in the van. For a good portion of the year this road was four wheel drive only. Fire season was just over and the mad newly opened to the public, and the public had certainly taken advantage of it. The road and surrounding terrain was alive with hikers, on horses, four wheel motorcycles, and vehicles I had diF ficultics in classifying. Not that visibility was that good. The van had no side windows and only fleeting glimp .. scs through the rear windows or windshield, at the risk of stepping on someone, were possible. After half an hour of jouncing, a break was called, and everyone piled out to get a little air or a lung foll of smoke. I strolled over to the steep slope of the mountainside. The view was splendid, clear to the Pacific with the country a colorful mosaic. One of the young men joined me. "This is way higher t ban I've ever flown," he said. "How abo111 "Ycs it is," I "In a hang glider it is, but I have a regular pilot's

/Ii. whistle from the van alerted us that the van was ready to leave. "What landmarks do you plan to use?" he asked. We started walk .. ing toward the van. "I'll decide that when I see the launch point," I told him. I paused. "I have a theory that there is a point in elevation where a hang glider pilot has to stop orienting himself primarily with ground features and start using the horizon. We'll have to develop a little air sense." One of the other pilots spoke, "Boy, I hope I develop some air sense in a hurry!" It was then that I noticed the rapidly developing tension in the van; drumming fingers, tapping feet, and absent-minded preoccupation became the abnormal norm. Some of these guys weren't as sure of themselves as they tried to project. The van finally stopped and we waited a few minutes until someone came by yelling, "Everyone out!" Everyone tumbled out and I caught my breath. We were standing at the edge of an abyss, several thousand feet deep, on a narrow road cut into the side of the mmm .. tain. To this clay I do not know why we did not finish the ascent to the summit and use the excellent launch sites I now know to be there. Six vehicles stopped on that narrow road, jammed traffic in both directions and I knew we'd soon have a crowd. Some of our people were already setting up their gliders, com .. pletely jamming the narrow road. This blockage certainly couldn't last long. I walked back down the slope a short distance, with my glider on my shoulder, trying to find a spot not choked by brush or weeds to launch from. When I found it, I started, with frozen determination to assemble the glider. /li.s I was tightening the last wingnut, some .. one tapped my shoulder and I looked at him. SEPTEMBER 1983

"When do you plan to go?" he asked. I turned and looked around. There were gliders already set up for a hundred yards along the road plastic rigid wing gliders, the latest factory jobs, backyard creations, and all of their pilots had decided that I had the only spot feasible for launch. Not only that, there was a growing crowd of sightseers packing the road and spreading out on the steep slope above the road. The narrow width of the road made any sort of a takeoff rnn impossible and the breeze was hardly enough for a normal rnn. I swallowed hard, and turned to my impatient young friend, "I'm going just as soon as I can hook

photo hy Pc1c Brock

OPPOSITE: Bob Wills and Swallowtail, an early modified standard. Nole !airings on crossbar. ABOVE: The Escape Country landing area. BELOW: Unidentified pilot on an Ullralite Products cut,keel standard. Photo by Pete Brock.

in," I told him. I slid under the kite, hooked up my "D" ring and lifted the glider from the ground. There I stood, strapped to a contraption not notably different from the double parasol rig which I had used to launch myself from the garage roof back in the brave days of pre·· adolescence. I pushed the depressing results of this experience to the back of my mind as a shouted, "Which way are you going?" reached my ears. I considered for a moment. The little lake which marked the landing area at Escape Country was about five miles straight ahead. Both to the right and to the left, lower limbs of the mountain reached out toward it, rather in the shape of a horseshoe, with the landing area a short distance from the open end. The left side of the mountain had been the one used by the pilots who had made the flight at the Lilienthal meet. However, it seemed to me that what small wind component there was would impinge on the face of the slope to my right. "To the right," I yelled. Gathering all my nerve and calling on all my strength, I stepped off the brink, made several bounding steps, burst through a clump of sagebrnsb and (continued on page 37)

Region II National Qualzfier (Northern California & Nevada). Dunlap Valley Flight Park, Dunlap, CA. June 6-12, 1983 (LZ-2,000 ft. MSL, T0-4750 ft. MSL). Flight Park Owner/ Competitor - Ms. Connie Work. Meet Director - Dave Bowen. Chief Scorekeeper - Ms. Liz Sharpe. Number of contestants - 38. Qualify for Nationals - 8 with 1 alternate.

THE REGION II REGIONALS

The Pre-Meet Psyche-Outs

ick Cassetta flys upwind 23 miles on a mellow day, emulating Steve McQuilliams' flight of 1982 when Steve won this meet. Steve tried again this year but was forced down on Bald Mtn. and had a threehour hike out to Highway 180 to be retrieved. But Steve still had an ace up his sleeve - a teeshirt that read, "If you're so good," on the front, and, "Then how come you can't beat me?" on the back. After spending the weekend in Dunlap practicing for the meet, I had to be back in the Bay Area for business on Monday and Tuesday then drive back down to Dunlap real early Wednesday morning to make it in time for opening ceremonies and the mandatory pilots' meeting at 8:30 AM. Arriving in time but half asleep, one of the first things my eyes focused on was the constant seed and heat list. My eyes couldn't believe it! The very first heat was myself, seeded 20th, against Kenny Brown, seeded first. "There go any chances of catching some Zs on launch," I thought. As it was, sleep crept up on me during the pilots' meeting. What a way to begin my first competition. Well, I was here to learn, practice thermalling, have as much fun as possible and soar. My entry fee had been paid so there was no turning back now. The opening ceremonies were outasight! Captain Steve McQulliams heats up his hot air balloon with Dan Racanelli suspended below it in Ted Hill's Duck. Nervously anticipating his first balloon drop, Dan went prone in his harness as they lifted off the ground. Completely letting go of the control bar he ascended under the "captured thermal." "You don't even have to circle!" Dan exclaimed to the crowd gathered below. Steve's daughter, Ruth, had been up early filling 500 small helium balloons under a tarpaulin for release after Dan had dropped from Steve's hot air balloon. Steve's wife, and partner in their balloon business, Rose, was giving a running commentary of what was actually happening: "This isn't a very good idea" ... "This isn't a good place to launch a balloon, but it's half his" ... "There are too many trees in this valley" ... "We don't know where we'll land, but he owns half of it" ... "The wind may take him anywhere" ... "I don't think the timing is right, but it's half his!" So when asked

SEPTEMBER 1983

by Terry Ferrer

why he was doing it, Steve replied, "It's half mine!" At an altitude of3,000 feet the drop came off perfectly. Dan executed beautiful loops and wingovers through the gaggle of helium balloons released by Rose, bursting some of them with audible pops that we could hear from the ground. "I'll release a thousand balloons for the Nationals," said Ruth. Rob Kells gets to do the balloon drop for the Nats. By then we might even hear Steve say about Rose and their balloon, "It's half hers." Wednesday's first round began as Ken Brown and I launched and flew directly towards the starting gate at Sontag Point. Key was flying his tricked-out, faired, tempercoat Streak over Highway 180 and I was behind him closer to the mountain to preserve precious altitude in my three-year-old Mega that I had bought used about four months ago

- the only single-surface glider in the meet. We both made the gate and our four-pylon race was on. Now for the flight upwind past other gliders heading for the gate we just came from, to the Delilah turnpoint, miles away and 2,000 feet higher. Kenny hooked a thermal and flew out upwind. Arriving too late for Ken's thermal I began searching for others and immediately got drilled in sink. There was no lift next to the ridge either. Then I was down to the lower finger ridges below Highway 180 scratching like mad trying to stay in the tiny thermals at that level as I watched Kenny, a thousand feet higher, heading for Delilah. Damn, we were the first off and a lot of folks are watching us. "I just can't geek out this early", I thought. One of the other pilots had said to me earlier, "You're crazy trying to compete in that Mega against all these hot ships." Hell, I didn't know any better; the Mega was all I had to

"Ray and Tom had collided, each in a dive, head on, leading edge to leading edge. Tom's glider folded up, inverted and spun in fast." compete on. Besides, if I wasn't just a little koo-koo I probably wouldn't even be here, right? My personal goal for each day, win or lose, was to reach Delilah at least once for every round that wasn't just a duration event. After what seems like hours of crankin' and bankin', the Mega slowly gained altitude as the ground heated up and the therms got better and bigger. Finally, "we" worked the lift until we were back 1,000 feet over takeoff and heading out towards Delilah. Whew! My self esteem was still intact and I didn't feel like such a dumb turkey anymore. Even though that heat was lost, I did make the Delilah turnpoint and was congratulated upon landing for a seemingly impossible low save. After landing we had to fill out little orange cards for Liz Sharpe, the scorekeeper. Liz, being the diplomat she is (and worth her weight in gold as a scorekeeper) has instituted the orange cards for the competing pilots to gather together after their heats, rap, figure out who did what first and generally get to know one another a little better. Thank you Liz for improving the comraderie and fellowship amongst your fellow and women pilots. I hope it becomes a standard item of each meet as I enjoyed meeting my competitors - the ones I beat and even the ones who beat me. Pilots had claimed that the course was too easy but only 25% of all contestants even completed the entire course that first day. "Make 'em fly a single surface wing if they think it's so easy," I said to Dave. There was a friendly atmosphere with no real heavy competition vibes. The only minor argument between pilots was Lee Gardner (Pro Star) getting mad at Norm Castagneto (Sensor) for diving under him to go for the spot while they were both on their final glides to the LZ. I turned in early Wednesday evening knowing I'd need the rest for the tough day ahead. It would be six pylons on Thursday and two rounds. We got up to take off early on Thursday. Dave Bowen said, "I was hoping for a fast first round ... for pilots to fall out of the sky (in the weak morning air) in time for a second round." But some of the late heat pilots stayed up for hours because they got to launch when things started crackin' on the mountain. The early heats were all extended sled runs. There were some easy (lucky) wins. For example, I watched my opponent, Mark Grubbs (Duck) go for the gate while I held back over the mountain. Mark got flushed between the

gate and ridge. I hung on in weak lift near the mountain and on the finger ridges as I slowly sunk out behind him. I felt I had a slight advantage in early or late duration events as the Mega could still 'float' and scratch with the best of the new double-surface ships. Another easy win was recorded by Mark Andersen (Shadow). Asked why he had landed so soon, Mark replied, "I won. My opponent stuffed his launch." Sontag gate/pylon (nicknamed rattlesnake pylon, because of all the rattlers seen and/or killed there) was moved from under a big oak tree - some pilots complained that they couldn't see it from the air - to an open area on Thursday, then moved back again under the shade of the oak so the pylon judges could keep from getting fried in the heat of the day. Round two began late that fateful Thursday afternoon, approximately 3:30-4:00 PM. The very first heat pilots, Ray Parsons (Comet) and Tom Kityama (Duck), were scratching in front of takeoff in marginal lift. The later heat pilots were setting up their wings when all ofa sudden we (the ones closest to the launch) heard a loud 'CRACK!' that sounded like a rifle shot. "Mid-air" flashed into my mind. Someone next to me said, "A glider just broke up!" We ran to the edge of the ridge just in time to see Ray, whose glider had a severely dimpled leading edge with the sail all screwed up around it, fighting to maintain control of his glider, do a 180 and flare into a large bush about I 00 yards below takeoff. Confusion reigned on launch. "Wha' th' hells goin' on?. . . They were the only two guys in the air!" Ray and Tom had collided, each in a dive, head on, leading edge to leading edge. Tom's glider folded up, inverted and spun in fast. Missing potentially life-saving trees and bushes, Tom impacted on a large rock, his glider's wings supported by the branches of the trees he missed. A quick passage into the spirit world. Tom did not suffer; death was instantaneous. There was a sense of shock and confusion on launch until John Minnick {who was one of the first of all the folks rushing down the mountainside on the rescue attempt) returned with the bad news. Ray was in shock and wept on the shoulder of one of his buddies who reached him first. Some of us on launch wept unashamedly for Tom. I didn't know him but nevertheless he was one ofus and the kinship was felt for him even then. Like myself it was Tom's first competition too. "There but for the grace of

God ... ," I thought. It could just as easily have been Tom Kityama writing these experiences of his first hang gliding tournament and not I. The round was cancelled and some of us opted to fly off before a rescue helicopter arrived, while others were content to fold up and ride down. Wanting to be alone in the sky with my thoughts, I was never as nervous in my life as I was when launching that afternoon. Curiosity got the best of me and one pass at takeoff indelibly etched in my mind the tragic sight of those two gliders, one white one all folded up crazily among the trees and the other one nestled gently in the bushes. Poor Tom. It happened so fast and so low he had no time to throw his chute even though he tried. Flying out in the valley towards the LZ I was thinking that Tom's spirit might stay over the mountain for the duration of the meet and watch over us all. It was a somber Thursday evening. Someone played a "space music" tape which set a mellow mood unlike the rock 'n roll that was usually played at night. A pilots' meeting that night went over the facts, preventions of future mid-airs and a vote whether or not to continue the meet. The consensus of opinion was voiced by an unknown pilot who stated, "They don't stop the Indy 500 after an accident do they?" Dave Bowen talked to Tom's father who said that Tom wouldn't have wanted the meet to end and for all ofus to give him a moment's thought on our way up the mountain the next day. We consoled ourselves with the fact that Tom, along with the rest of us, was doing what we loved the most - soaring. An aside to that unfortunate incident was the newscaster and cameraman on launch who said they only filmed the tail end of the mid-air but were proved to be liars when the folks who own the home at launch saw the whole scene on the evening news along with the names of the two pilots involved even before the names were released to the next of kin. A few angry pilots found out what station was responsible. Jim Leech finally succeeded in reaching the station manager after the usual run-around. (The station in question had broadcast the entire film of the incident to all their affiliates in California.) The station manager told him that the names had been released by the authorities but he couldn't name which ones. We all knew that was baloney! He said it wouldn't happen again and Jim replied that they could be sure the FCC would hear about it if they did. The station later told Jim he could obtain a copy of

HANG GLIDING

KEEPS YOU FLYING

Jim Leech waits to launch.

the film so we, could reconstruct those final moments and come up with some answers that may possibly save a life in the future. If so, then Tom Kityama will not have died in vain. A few pilots understandably chose not to fly on Friday morning. There was a low-keyed competition atmosphere. Dave said it would be a mellow day with only one round and asked for volunteers to help retrieve the two gliders still on the mountain. Friday, hot and clear, was a great racing day even though we had to see the two wrecked gliders every time we thermaled near launch. It was a disconcerting sight. I made it to the Delilah pylon only once, but before my opponent, Ron Edmunson (Duck), which meant he had to make it to Delilah twice to beat me. Ron made it once, but was goin' for it again in mellow late afternoon lift which didn't allow him to do it a second time. He was in the air a little over four hours. Meanwhile, Ken Brown, John Dunham (Comet), and Dudley Mead (Fledge III) were moving up in the ranks of the unbeaten pilots. All I know about John Dunham is that he flys sailplanes near Reno and he did a number on a few dudes at Dunlap. Watch for him in the Nationals. Dudley, who was so proud that he just obtained his CFI license just before arriving in Dunlap, kept on beating everyone he flew against. Lightly loaded on the Fledge III, he was consistently on top of the pack in most thermals he chose to enter, yet still had the speed to 'book it' around the course ahead of his competition. "Our mellow" day turned a little sour when Dave announced a second round that afternoon to more than a few complaints from tired soaring pilots, yours truly among them. We knew this surprise round would be strictly

SEPTEMBER 1983

duration, in the same kind of marginal conditions as the day before when the mid-air occurred. But our feeble protests fell on deaf ears. "Ours is not to reason why ... etc., etc." Dudley and I were going to pool our money for an official protest ,when Dave nixed that idea by stating that it was against the rules for pilots to pool their money for one protest. Anyway, our worst fears went unrealized, the round came off flawlessly and only one pilot elected not to fly in order to pick up his girlfriend at the bus station 45 minutes away in Fresno, which prompted Tommy Vayda (Fledge III) to say, "Now there's a man who knows where his priorities lie." Saturday began with a heavy overcast over

the entire valley. The ceiling didn't lift over the mountain until l PM. Dave announced a triangular course with the Dunlap elementary school in the middle of the valley as a turnpoint. Today's round would be another duration event because the cloud cover kept the valley from heatin'g up like on most cloudless days. The early heats were flown in marginal lift with everyone slowly sinking out and landing. My opponent was Jim Leech in his Duck. I resigned myself to my third loss, knowing that Jim had a better glider, more experience and knew the mountain better than I did. But one of Liz Sharpe's one-on-one unwritten rules is: "Don't let your opponent think he can't win because he may be losing but find that lucky thermal and sky out!" So after launch Jim went right, I went left; he sunk out and the Mega and I bumped into Liz's lucky thermal. Not letting this warm little beauty out of my sight I did tight 360s in front and above the spine off the left side of takeoff. Ten minutes later I've screwed the thermal up to the low cloudbase, looking down on everyone else. "I musta done somethin' right for a change," I said aloud, "This should do wonders for my self esteem." I secretly hoped the TV video cameras on launch were picking this flight up on tape as I went into the clouds and whited out. With no other gliders even near me I wasn't worried about avoiding anyone. But a new worry hit me like a shot; I don't. have a compass! "Shit" I said aloud. Taking a calculated guess as to where the cliffs were when I had entered the clouds, sucking the bar in, preparing to see myself going over the back and planning my next move if that should be the case, the Mega and I emerged from under the clouds exactly where I'd hoped we'd be - 900

Dudley Mead took first place In his Fledge.

feet over takeoff pointed away from the moun· tain. Thanking my lucky stars for making the right decisions, and out on the control bar, we went back into the clouds for a while only to emerge to keep tabs on Jim's pro· gress. Jim had found his own therm hut sunk out after making the gate. I loitered long enough over the mountain to watch him land then I did the same. Later heats had more thermal activity as the ground heated up when the cloud cover began to dissipate. Dan Murphy (Shadow), flying against Ken Brown, was the only pilot to complete the triangular course that day. Nice flyin' Dan! Afl:cr that marginal round we were all looking forward to the final two rounds on Sunday because the post-frontal conditions that were promised to make it a crackin' day. The hot cool dewy nights and windy soaring combined to give mild cases of laryngitis to Dan Racanelli, Rich Sauer (Comet), and Selena Hill (pylon judge). They were all kidded about it being the first symptoms of the dreaded disease AIDS. Sunday dawned bright, clear and hcau1iful no duration events this morning. A collec· tion was taken by Dan Racanelli for the pylon judges at Sunday's pilo1's meeting. The pylon people got five bucks apiece as our way of thanking them. They did a hell of a joh and as volunteer officials helped keep our entry fee to only forty dollars. For the first time in the meet we were get-· ting cold on the way to takeoff. What a lapse rate. Everyone dressed warmly for anticipated flights at or near cloudbase. The task for that day was the triangle course again, a 25-30 mile round trip, (fly to the gate, race to Delilah, to the elementary school, back to the gate, then to the There was lift everywhere. It took a lot of work but I made 1hc course anyway. Some pilots landed out. My opponent, Dick Cassetta smoked me in his Comet 2. I felt like I was moving in slow motion compared to Dick and everyone else but I was having a ball anyway! The following is a direct quote from Dave's rule book. The Final Rule: "The meet director is GOD. He may change any of these rules, at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. His commitment is to run the most valid contest (not necessarily the most fair contest) that he can, and will make whatever decisions necessary for that end. It is the responsibility of the pilots to keep informed of changes to rules and procedures, and to roll with the punches without whining. Above all, Fly High. Sky Out. And Eat Oat· meal." That afternoon (iod showed us that he was mortal after all when he attempted to walk his Whitehawk off the left launch, stalled, and with the help of a cross gust flew hack into the hill. Heavy duty double sleeved clowntubcs

came into rapid comact with fragile human ribs and the outcome was predictable. Dave, in a stretcher in the back of Connie's truck, was driven down off the mountain by hang driver/ pilot Chuck Boss to have his ribs taped up so he could continue his role as God and run the meet. bump the truck bit on the slow way down was met with an audible, "Oh God!" and "Take it easy Chuck!" from Dave lying in the rear. "But I'm only doing five miles an hour," replied Chuck. For the Nats I think the role of King would suit Dave better. Flights between six and seven thousand feet were happenin' to most of us that Sunday as we worked lifi under and in the puffy little clouds forming over the mountain and the valley. It was a day everyone had wished for, win or lose. Working a powerful therm near the school turn point out in the valley, I I'd better make the pylon after about twenty minutes of thcnnaling so I left the therm, made the turn and went back and played out that particular thermal before

was thrown in the lake for smokin' the opposition by winning all seven of his rounds. Some of us thought his Fledge was an 'ET' (extend· ed tip Fledge III) because he could float around like a feather. Actually it wasn't Dudley's glider at all. And it wasn't even an ET. It was Manta's Billy Armour's personal glider that's had over 100 hours on it with the single place and tandem FoxBat powered trikes mounted beneath it. So watch out Nat's pilots! Dudley's back, and so is the Fledge. He may even fly an ET by then, who knows. As a "Bay Arca Fort Funston Marine Air Mount Ham Coastal Ridge Lift Sled I ,evin Geck," I wondered why no Bay area shop or school was represented at our Regionals? Where was Walt, Pat, Banana et al? Thanks for not showing up guys. I probably would have had to fly against y'all and there· fore not place as well as I did in the meet ( 18th place).

POSTSCRIPT: Cable TV Channel 4 had been filming the final two days of the competi·· tion and interviewing pilots when one of the interviewers asked Dan Racanelli (Pro Star) if he thought hang gliding was just an escape from reality. Dan's answer? "Totally!"

FINAL RESULTS (TOP TEN)

Name & Location

Erle Robinson squeaks Into the landing area over the lake.

deciding to go on. Even though I lost that round I hit the bull's eye on landing, made the final cut and had to go back up the mountain for the final round. That final round was destined to be another duration event which I proceeded to lose to Tommy Vayda when I got flushed afi:er mak· ing the gate at Sontag Point. This time it was my turn to be out-sunk as I hung out as long as I could over the finger ridges until I had no choice but to land. I was tired, hot and sore but I felt extremely happy that the big, strong, stiff Mega and I had successfully completed my first official competition. At the awards ceremonies that evening it was Dudley Mead who got the first place trophy, a hug and kiss from Miss Fresno and

Seed

Score

Glider Model

I. Dudley Mead Pacifica) CA

7-0

Fledge lll

2. John Dunham Reno, NV

6-·l

Comet

3. Steve McQuilliams Aptos, CA

5-2

Duck

5-2

Streak

4. Ken Brown Van Nuys, CA 5. Shannon Raby Campbell, CA

5-2

Streak

6. Erik Robinson Tahoe City, CA

5-2

Streak

7. Dennis Yeomans Lake Isabella, CA

5-2

Comet

8. Ted Hill San Jose, CA

5-2

Duck

4-3

Pro Star

4.3

Fledge lII

9. Dan Racanelli Pacifica, CA 10. Tom Vayda Chico, CA

..... HANG GLIDING

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by Hardy Snyman

C"·

or the second consecutive year, Packsaddle Mountain was designated the site for the Region Eleven Hang Gliding Championships, hosted by Packsaddle Flying Club and the Houston Hang Gliding Association. The mountain, leased by the Packsaddle club, is located 60 miles west-northwest of Austin in the Texas hill and lake country (near Kingsland and Lake LBJ). The site has a beau· tiful, 420-foot high soarable ridge and bowl, about a half mile long, and faces south. The 1983 Regionals Committee formed and began planning for this USHGA-sanctioned event in early March. The committee met twice and sometimes three times a month from March through May. Plenty of work was cut out for everyone to accomplish by the May 28th (Memorial Day - holiday weekend) contest date. As many of you USHGA members are becoming aware, 1983 is an inaugural year for

public relations concerning our organization and our great sport of hang gliding. The time has come for reaching out to our American public, both directly and through the news media, making them more knowledgeable of: who we are, what we do and what a fantastic flying activity we engage ourselves in. It's time we stopped ignoring the public as well as our public image! No wonder wild stories are conjured about the kind of "flying crazies" we are ... they don't know any better because they have never been informed by us. They think we are a bunch of suicidal radicals and we think they are a bunch of stupid wuffos and so goes our plight. I believe Region XI has been one of the first in the country to make a giant step in public relations. We put forth a big effort to make our regional contest appealing and convenient to the spectators and public, as well as to the pilots and their friends and families. If some of you from other regions have tried to accommo-

date the public in some manner, I would appreciate hearing about it. Write to me c/o the editor of this magazine (USHGA head· quarters). REGION ELEVEN REACHES OUT TO WELCOME & ACCOMMODATE PUBLIC, SPECTATORS AND NEWS MEDIA We indeed put on a show as well as a hang gliding contest! A large portion of our regional fund was allotted for financial support - to rent, transport, and erect a mammoth tent. Most funding came from donations during the event, including a $100 sum from the Southwind Soaring Association of Austin. Thanks! Steve Brenner and I formed the backbone of the "tent operation." However, without Steve spearheading the effort, obtaining the tent would have been impossible. I certainly thank him for that. HANG GLIDING

The giant shelter tent provided plenty of cooling shade fbr spectators and others at headquarters (adjacent to landing zone) during the long hours of scorching daylight sun. It covered a 30' 70' floor area and stood 20 feet high at the three center-pole supports. Our big red, white and blue sunshade remained at the site from Friday through Monday the first weekend of our regional event. In addition to the tent, the site was adorned with other items to delight both the spectators and the pilots: official (national and state), directional banners, and lots of pennants (long of colorful red, white and blue triangular flaglets), a sofr drink con· cession, hundreds of helium balloons for some colorful fanfare, an incredibly fine pilot· identification bulletin board sign (Steve, the of this 4' x 8' masterpiece on sole poles), and lastly, a public address system, complete with professional announcer (Mar· shcila Hailey). Debbie Brenner diligently manned the soft drink booth the whole weekend. News releases about the contest were distri· buted several weeks in advance to newspapers and radio stations around the state as well as to a couple of local TV stations in Austin. Our reporting paid off because many visitors reported that they had heard news of the event on radio, in the newspaper, or both. Then on Saturday morning, just as the contest was beginning, a helicopter arrived on the scene and landed near the tent. A team of video reporters from two Austin ·rv stations had arrived we were all so pleased they had come especially those ofus who had cont:acted the media. The television people were driven up the mountain to launch where they hustled about, interviewing pilots and officials with their video equipment: for almost an hour before leaving. Two-minute segments of the hang gliding footage were shown during newscasts on both the TV stations later that same evening. The overall reporting was good, except for one statement on one station, that said something like, "However, hang gliding is not without its dangers ... ten people were killed last year!" What a let-down! I never found out where they got that information, but that figure relates more to nationwide rather than to Packsaddle alone. There has been one fatality at Pack in the past, involving a pilot attempting to fly a Soarmastcr··powercd hang glider.

THE CONTEST All the above activities and facilities for public relations were successful, but unfortunately that Memorial Day weekend turned out to be a drag regarding flying, because there was no soaring to be done. What a shame the TV reporters visited us on a day when the hang gliders could only go down instead ofup. The air was stable with lots of high pressure in SEPTEMBER 1983

Hardy Snyman soars below Sleva Brenner (above) and Joel Doonan. Photo by Rich Diamond. INSET: View of set,up and launch. Note 200' antenna tower with roosting buzzards. Photo by Gordon Cross.

the area and no wind. The occasional puffo of breeze that floated through were also variable in direction; mostly cross to launch and landing. Due to the lack of wind, a dead· air, sled ride contest was begun Saturday mor· ning. There were no traces of lift anywhere, in spite of sunny skies, as the pilots flew off in one-on-one heats for the first round. It was a sink rate task. T'hc pilot with the maximum time aloft won his round. In many cases, pilots won over their opponents by a mere few seconds. Sunday would have been a carbon copy of Saturday except that a very weak north front eased in during the afternoon, bringing light

downwind breezes to the main launch ramp. The contest was held until the following day with round two being only half finished. Sled ride conditions again persisted Monday morn"° ing, enabling the meet and launch directors to run off the remaining pilots to complete the sc· cone! round. Conditions worsened later and so the contest was postponed for two weeks ... until the weekend of June 11th, with about a third of the pilots eliminated (two losses elimination). There was one serious accident during the above weekend which would be the only one to be recorded for the total contest. This was event in considerably better than last

which there

transport. he was found to have a hairline fracture in one of his vertebrae. Other were minor. The weekend of the finals arrived and the winds had gone from one extreme to the other. were in bUI with occasional gusts to 40. Sometime later the winds diminished a hit and the contest was on. Pylon tasks were, of course, the order of the day wilh two pylons and one out in the Most pilots had trouble and when my tum came to I found out why. The wind was strong and with lots of laminar flow even over the ridge. Steve Stackable (last champ) and I had been for this heat, and we launched one afler the other first) the three-minute launch window and in a 25 mph wind. We both were lifted up 3 to 400 feet and then were able to jockey into our positions without any problem. . . the sound of our in· air start (air horn blast from launch). Alter the horn, Stack made it round the first pylon just ahead of me and then we were headed slowly for the second one at launch. I say slowly because we could only creep toward the caster·· ly direction due to the strong wind, quartering from a direction. Penetration became an extreme problem for me and the 16'5 Comet over this east point of the mountain. noticed ollcn that I would be backward over the The wind had in· creased some 10 knots since our takeoff and wasn't about to "blow itself out" soon! Steve had cased round the bit of altitude and was out toward the field bar pulled to his knees. I the "Dutch roll" with the Comet; the would yaw, tum and dive, one way and then the next, when I would in hard on the bar. I hardly ever had to it back past my waist (lots

'Typical takeo!I. CENTER: Pearson lands. Photos by Hardy Snyman. ABOVE: The winners, lell right S!ovo Bronner (7th), Steve Burns (51h), Randy McCleave (6th), Dave Pearson (4111), l<arl Herrmann (first), Stackable (2nd), and Gordon Cross (3rd). Photo by Holly Cross.

HANG GLIDING

of force). Two factors: it was the first expe1:·1e11ce I had flying that hang glider in such strong conditions, and I was probably over· controlling. Also it was about 2:00 PM and due to circumstance, I had missed eating any lunch. After the long, hot on top before I knew my strength and stamina were way below par. Stack was getting trashed in his Comet 18'5, but not nearly to the extent I was on my flight. When I was just able to depart the ridge, Stack had already rounded the field pylon and was headed back to the mountain for the repeat of the course. Aller a painstakingly slow flight out and lots of dives and Dutch rolls, I made the field goal and then let the Comet zip downwind, hack to the ridge. Conditions at the ridge only seemed worse and when I even· tually returned over the launch pylon, I found it was all I could do to keep from being blown back over the mountain. "Enough of this!" I decided, with a healthy dose of fear welling up inside. I could try for another contest another day. It took all the strength I could muster to keep the bar sucked in, fight the rolling and to finally ease away from the east point. From the west point, I headed out and over the field making slow-descent passes until with exhaustion and great relief, I was able to set up an approach and land. This was my second Joss and therefore, elimination. Steve had done well, making the entire course. The contest was put on hold for two hours after which the wind subsided to a safer level. The rest of the day remained flyable with a stout, soarable wind. David Klein and Carl Boddie really kept the remaining pilots mov .. ing. There were a number of exciting, close pylon races, and the contest went well until after 7:00 PM, grinding out the finish of the fifth round. The final day would simply show the order of the seven finalists. Seven pilots were left the exact number to fill our allocation for this year's Nationals. The contest was to start late and in the meantime, ten other "wind dummy" pilots and I were allowed to free-fly for a spell. Some of us were flying with streamers and smoke bombs and in general, everyone was having fim in some primo ridge-soaring conditions all the way past the gap and into the second bowl to the west. Conditions were excellent, smooth, and with intervals of mellow thermal lift. Round six began and by mid-day it became a real test of the pilots' skill, because they had to fly past the gap and round a pylon in the sc· cond bowl. Winds were lighter than earlier and they bad to gain or scratch to make it back to the primary and LZ. Several couldn't make it and landed om in the field of that far bowl. Finally in the afternoon, four pilots were left for the last task, round seven: a pylon course (including the far bowl) and snbsequent XC SEPTEMBER '1983

race to the I(ingsland airstrip, about three miles beyond the back side of the mountain. the one-hour lrmnch window, the four pilots were off and running the site pylon course. These pylons had to be visually spotted the pilot and later verified. Each pylon had a large, secret, color panel on its far side, The color had to be seen. Karl Herrmann surcvcryone, coming back with a narrow lead over the others. Then over the ridge he risked gaining only enough altitude to barely carry him the distance to the airfield. He was about 500' over the top of Pack when he departed. No one had ever attempted the airstrip run with so little initial altitude. Incredibly, Karl made it, but with not much room to spare, After crossing the Llanno River, he had only 50 feet left when he came over the run· way, downwind! He flew a short distance further to clear the goal line, banked sharply and had to let the glider nose-slam into a crash Ian,, ding. Karl was OK, but the kite was damaged with a broken downtube and damaged keel. Champion Karl was followed by Steve Stackable who made it with a more comfortable altitude margin and then likewise, for third place winner, Gordon Cross. Dave Pear· son (4th place) never left on the XC segment and landed at the site. Later at sunset, the ofllcials and the winners were all back at the site and assembled for the awards ceremony. Everyone was jubilant and kept exclaiming: "It's over! ... It's really over ... The contest is finished! ... We've done it ... Thank God!" Carl Boddie broke out the champagne and cigars for "The Seven," and then presented trophy plaques to each from seventh to first, in that order, Our winners are as follows:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Karl Herrmann (Houston) Steve Stackable (Austin) Gordon Cross (Houston) Dave Pearson (Austin) Steve Burns (Austin) Randy McC!eave (Houston) Steve Brenner (Houston)

Pro Star II (190) Comet 185 Duck 160 Harrier 17'1 Missile Sensor 510 Harrier 177

A round of applause is also in order for all our hard-working meet officials, judges and drivers. I'd like to especially thank meet direc" tor David Klein for keeping everybody "on their toes," and launch director Carl Boddie for "hanging in there" on top, and for showing individual concern for all pilots. Remain· ing officials: Hardy Snyman Meet Chair .. man, Administration and Public Relations; Joni Klein and Karen Misiaszek Chief Scorekeepers and Registrars; Mark DcMarino Operations Manager; Bill Misiaszek Ad, visor; Brian Craig Facilities Support; Gordon Cross Advisor; Steve Brenner Commercial and Public Relations; Bob Rouse Technical Consultant and Cartographer; Bob Fisher Special British Consultant.

Stack wails to launch. Photo by Hardy Snym1111.

INGY ER---

© 1983 by Dennis Pagen For some strange reason, I can never cover a subject concerning hang gliding with the brevity I originally intend. For example, this series of articles on design was originally planned as two installments and already we are at the seventh part with more articles in preparation. Perhaps my enthusiasm for the sport is the cause for my expansive writing in most cases. However, in this instance, it is the enthusiasm of the readers that keeps me filling these pages. I have been overwhelmed with mail containing photos, plans and ideas relating to glider design, as well as interesting reminders of past projects. In this and the following article, I will pass some of this material along in the hopes of sparking a bit of experimentation or at the very least piquing a few imaginations. I will start with the oldest designs first, since chronological order is as reasonable as any.

THE HORTON FLYING WINGS For our first look at past designs, we will turn back time to prewar Germany. The treaties of WWI intended (in vain) to prevent Germany from becoming militarily capable in the air by banning the development of all powered craft within her borders. Consequently, pilots and designers turned to sailplanes to satisfy their flying desires during the 20s and 30s. Two brothers, Reimar and Walter Horton, did their homework and began building flying wings as early as 1931. Now a flying wing - a tailless aircraft may be quite a natural concept to hang glider pilots, but back then it was a unique and radical concept. The brothers worked with models and found the flying wings flew better than any other configuration. Following the inspiration of the famous Dr. Lippisch, Reimar and Walter worked out the problems of stability and control by the use of fixed washout and sweep as well as some ingenius control systems. Let's look at a few of their designs and ideas to see if anything can be applied to hang gliders. First, I would like to thank Harry Sudwischer for providing me with over 200 pages of documents copied from practically all the text available on the Horton wings at the 30

Library of Congress. (Note: an expensive book - part in English, part in German- has been recently published about the Horton design projects.) Also, Scott Whittet sent along a copy of an article from Soaring magazine discussing some of the finer points of the Horton sailplane designs. The very first full-scale craft designed by the brothers was called, simply enough, the Horton I. It featured a 132 ° nose angle, an aspect ratio of 7.4 and 226 square feet of area. The trailing edge was straight across the back (see the figure). The maximum glide ratio was supposed to be 21 to l and the minimum sink rate 168 feet per minute at a wing loading of 1.91 pounds per square foot. (Note: all measurements and performance data must be considered approximate since sources disagree slightly.) The wing was constructed of wood and fabric. It was heavy - 264 pounds - and thus a large size was required. The pilot sat mostly inside the wing, reducing drag. The Horton's flew the craft about 7 hours but were unsatisfied with the control, so they burned it in 1934, after completion of the Horton II. The "HO II" looked very similar to today's hang gliders in planform. With a nose angle of 121 °, an aspect ratio of 7.2, an area of 334 square feet, a maximum glide ratio of 24 to 1 and a minimum sink of 156 fpm, this glider was successful indeed. Again, the construction materials resulted in great weight which meant a large size was required. The controls of the HO II were quite satisfactory with two trailing edge surface controls per side and a drag rudder at the leading edge

towards the tip. The inboard control surfaces controlled mainly pitch while the outboard surfaces took care of roll. However, these surfaces were mixed somewhat so that a forward or back stick movement would also move the outboard ailerons slightly while greatly deflecting the inboard elevons. Similarly, the inboard controls would move slightly while much deflection would occur in the outboard surfaces with a side to side stick action. Since the Horton wings didn't possess much dihedral (except the HO IV), roll and yaw were fairly uncoupled and the drag rudder was required to control yaw. The rudder consisted of a flap that opened up at the leading edge (top and bottom) to increase drag. A number of HO IIs were built and the wellknown Hanna Reitsch test flew one model quite thoroughly. She didn't like the spartan appointments, but found the craft to perform quite well and be incapable of dropping a wing or spinning. Sounds rather like some hang gliders to me. The next jump forward came in 1938 with the Horton III. This craft had a welded metal fuselage with the remainder made of the traditional wood and fabric (remember, aluminum was hard to come by at the time in Germany). This was a step up in performance with a nose angle of 132°, an aspect ratio of 10.8, a maximum glide of 28 and a minimum sink of 128 fpm. The weight was 550 pounds with a wing loading of l. 91. The control of the HO III was similar to its predecessor except a third trailing edge surface was added inboard to serve as landing flaps.

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Quite a number of the HO IIIs were built and this seems to be the Horton's most commercially successful design (the impending war curtailed the sale of later sailplane designs as the brothers devoted most of their attention to designs for the Luftwaffe). Many experiments with controls, canards and power were performed on the HO III. Next, the Horton's got radical and built a high aspect ratio wing - the HO IV. The aspect ratio was 21.7, the nose angle 140° with 203 sq. ft., maximum glide of 37 to 1 and a minimum sink of 106 fpm. The craft weighed 440 lbs. yielding a wing loading of3.5 lbs. per square ft. The HO IV supposedly was one of the top performing sailplanes of its day. The controls were again altered consisting of three trailing edge panels further outward than on the HO III. The panels would deflect in unison with the furthest out panel always deflecting up more and down less than the middle panel. The inboard panel always deflected down more and up less than those further out. In this manner, washout (more reflex further out on the wing) was always preserved, thus preventing stalling of the tip area. The tip rudders were replaced with platetype spoilers on top and below the wing. Also,

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a dive brake was added inboard that automatically deployed at high speeds. A laminar flow wing was tried on the HO IV, but the stall characteristics were so severe that the glider eventually spun in, killing the test pilot. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the HO IV is the fact that the pilot sat prone (semi kneeling). This is one of the first aircraft to use

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SEPTEMBER 1983

the prone pilot pos1t1on since the Wright Brothers' experiments at Kitty Hawk. It was felt to be so radical that a conventional glider was modified to see if the position was feasible. It worked fine. (I guess we hang glider pilots don't have to be told that!) Not only could the pilots control very well, but the prone position was very restful and the pilots could withstand-.much more G loading when prone as opposed to sitting. The Horton's next designed the HO V, a power craft. Then came the Parabel, a design based on two parabolas intersecting at the wing tips. This craft was damaged in transit and never flew. It had an aspect ratio of only 4.37 and a weight of 198 lbs., but was projected to glide 19 to 1 with a minimum sink of 128 fpm. It seems that a smaller, lighter version might make a very nice hang glider. The last real sailplane the Hortons designed before the war was the HO VI. This craft had an aspect ratio of 32.4 with 191 sq. ft. No flight data is available on this wing, but reports indicate the wings were flexible yielding it unweildy on the ground and possibly difficult to conrol. No doubt modern technology would have helped solve this problem and the Hortons would have had another leading sailplane design. Various other designs were completed for the German war effort following this. Not until after the war did the glider experiments continue with the HO X. Actually, the HO X was being built in Germany in 1945, but wasn't completed until Reimar Horton settled in Argentina. I have no flight data, but the wing had only a 23 ft. span, weighed 84 pounds and could be foot launched and landed. I have photos of flight and takeoff. Reimar Horton went on to design other very advanced sailplanes, some of V{hich were foot operable. Most of them hang unused on the walls of the local airports' hangars - victims of the nemisis of all designers: they were ideas too far ahead of their times.

APPL YING THE LESSONS Now all of this discussion would be a history lesson if there weren't a few ideas to be glean· ed from the Horton's experiments, one of which is the fact that practically everything on a modern hang glider (except the control bar and flexible wing technology) was developed many, many years before the rebirth of our sport. In truth, all the early Horton wings would have been suitable as hang gliders if the weight was reduced. This brings up our first point. Perhaps our most important consideration when designing a hang glider is construction materials and methods. It seems that with our batten· supported sailcloth construction we have come up with the lightest way to produce a defined wing and airfoil (of course, we stole this from the sailboat designers). If this technology could be applied to the Horton designs, we might have a real high performer. In fact, my next project is a cantilever wing with a D-tube leading edge covered with a bat· ten supported sail (more details will be given in a later installment). Weight should be com· parable to the current flex wings by virtue of the "cascade" effect. The cascade effect ap· plied to aviation means when you lighten up a structure you can make the wing smaller since it doesn't need to carry so much weight. Mak· ing the wing smaller again makes it lighter, so it can be made a little smaller still, and so forth. Each increment of reduction is smaller than the one before, so there is an ultimate limit to the reduction in size. A simple rule is, the denser your structure is (the more weight per volume), the greater it will benefit from the cascade effect. As an illustration to the cascade effect, note that the Mitchell wing with essentially the same construction and shape as the Horton III weighed over 450 pounds less! Yet both were designed for one pilot. Incidentally, it would seem from appear· ances that the Mitchell wing designer was quite familiar with the Horton developments and took the flying wings one step further. Note that in the original Mitchell wing the pilot was prone inside the wing similar to the Horton arrangement. Now, the challenge is to continue progress by making a wing similar to a Mitchell wing but foldable like a flex-wing hang glider and just as "light." I believe this can be done by using a combination of conven· tional and flex-wing technology. The chal· lenge is there for all you dreamers. One interesting possibility is to eliminate the sweep in the wings. This allows the lightest of all structures with a flex-wing design since sail tension is mainly compressing the leading edge structure rather than bowing it. Furthermore, with a fixed leading edge (D·tube) controlling washout, great sail ten· sion isn't required. We will address these ideas

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in later articles, but I hope the reader's cranium gears are whirling. Perhaps one of the keys to the success of the Horton wings is the method of putting the pilot in the wing lying semi-prone. Reimar Horton wrote an article that appeared in Soar· ing magazine, August, 1980 describing the advantages of this position. In my view, one of the most important results is the reduction of drag possible with the pilot encased in the wing. Currently, I know of a couple of hang glider designs being built using this arrangement. As most designers know, ifwe could get rid of the pilot's drag our hang gliders would experience a major jump in performance. The flying position used in the Horton IV is

shown in figure 1. Note the forward skid that was folded back in flight. The pilot had a chin rest (something we could use) and comfortable padding. Flights of over 10 hours took place with this arrangement with the pilots report· ing more comfort than when in similar flights with conventional sailplane seating. Visibility both up and down was good - something we only halfway achieve with our hang gliders. In the foot-launched Horton wings the pilot kicked up into a sling after getting airborne. Again I recommend studying these arrangements when contemplating a new design. The next idea I'd like to pass along is the Horton method of actuating control surfaces. Although most of our wings are weight shift, I HANG GLIDING

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am convinced that our next major step will be towards more rigid designs which will require some sort of aerodynamic contols. At any rate, the ingenius method the Hortons used on most of their designs consisted of a push-pull rod from the pilot's stick to a lever attached to the aileron. The aileron end of the lever had a socket that was tilted with respect to both the vertical and the horizontal so that as the lever was swiveled from side'to-side, the aileron swiveled up and down. This is shown in figure 2. The positioning arms held the lever from moving up and down itself. The action is hard to visualize from a drawing, but a small model will make things clear. Note that the angle the socket is attached to the lever determines how much aileron movement occurs with respect to the lever angular displacement. The beauty of this system is that everything was entirely enclosed within the wing. Even 50 years ago, the Hortons were striving for maximum cleanliness of design. Our last point of discussion is very intriguing. It seems that through tests, the brothers found a significant loss of performance due to interference at the center of the wing. This flow interference was caused by the discontinuity of the lift distribution (see figure 3) as a result of the swept wing format. The ways the

REPLOGLE

brothers devised to solve this problem was to add a scalloped tail as with the HO IV and HO VI or use a gradual leading edge sweep as with the HO V and the Parabel. This allows a smooth transition of the center of pressure as shown in the figure. Some designs, such as the Accipiter described in an earlier article, use the curved leading edge method of smoothing the transition, but for the current flex wing designs, the problem of interference may be significant. For this reason, I urge some manufacturer somewhere to try adding a scalloped tail a la the HO IV to their glider. This can be accomplished simply be sewing the extra piece on and extending the keel pocket. Caution must be taken to avoid adding instability. It won't do too much good, however, if this add-on section is greatly reflexed. Reimar Horton was very adamant in stating that this added section is an important factor in flying wing performance. It should be noted that the Wills Wing SST designs had a tail similar to the one described and it flew very well for its day. Who knows ... This concludes our discussion of the Horton flying wings. Like so many potential designs, their usefulness as hang gliders .suffered due to portability. However, there are many ideas to

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be gleaned from such advanced developments. Reimar Horton is still living in Argentina and is interested in passing on his ideas. It may be worth communicating with him, for he is far in advance of the average designer. It should be noted that he used the first supine pilot position (on the HO I through III) as well as the first continuously successful prone position. He also was using the word "hang glider" as early as a July-August, 1949 article he wrote for Thermik magazine (a German publication). Finally, he continued the development of foot-launched soaring machines and even used chest pack parachutes as we do today! Truly the Hortons' contribution to our sport have been there all along whether we knew it or not. -..

Light Wing Insurance

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WOULD YOU PAY 25¢ FOR A MAGAZINE YOU DON'T RECEIVE? HELP US ELIMINATE COSTLY POST OFFICE RETURNS Your USHGA now pays a quarter for every member who moves and doesn't report his or her address to the USHGA in time to make the change on the mailing list for the next issue of HANG GLIDING magazine. The Post . Offi~e returns undeliverable magazines to us and charges us 25¢ In the final analysis we are all paying for magazines that never get read. Please remember to let ·the USHGA know immediately when you move. Th:ank you fo1 your cooperation.

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by Fred Leonard, M.D.

n the June issue of Hang Gliding Erik Fair offered some much needed advice on how to break your glider instead of yourself if you have to crash. However, since some of us have had less experience crashing than others, and since most skills (e.g., takeoffs, landings, brain surgery, and crashing) require practice, this month we'll talk about what to do with your cuts, bruises, and broken bones if you find yourself in a situation in which you could have used a little more (or maybe a little less) practice at crashing.

Soft Tissue Injuries Soft tissue injuries are the lacerations (cuts), abrasions (scrapes), contusions (bruises), and avulsions (tearing or loss of tissue) so common to the training hill. The objectives of their first aid treatment are to protect them from further contamination and to control bleeding. For minor injuries, washing with soap and water, a clean dressing, and the application of an ice pack if there is significant swelling are all that is generally needed. For more extensive injuries first aid consists of direct pressure to control bleeding, coverage with a clean dressing, and transport to an emergency department where further evaluation, cleaning, and repair can be accomplished. One specific soft tissue injury worthy of mention is the impaled object. This injury was most common when people settled their differences with spears and arrows, but it has become less common now that we settle them with more civilized means such as bullets, land mines, and nuclear weapons. In hang gliding, an impalement injury can occur when you land on something sharp and pointy and it re-

mains stuck in your body. The single important principle to remember is not to pull the object out, despite what you may have seen in old John Wayne movies. To do s,o may cause further injury or life threatening internal bleeding. Stabilize it with any available bulky dressing and arrange transport to an emergency department.

Sprains and Strains Sprains and strains are a common group of athletic injuries which result when there is stretching or tearing of muscles, tendons, or ligaments. Typically they are the twisted ankle or knee, the jammed finger, or the wrenched back. They result in pain, swelling, bruisiI)g, and decreased mobility of the injured part. Immediate treatment consists of immobilization, ice, elevation, and rest. X-rays are often required to be sure there isn't also a fracture. Subsequent treatment may include splinting, casting, physical therapy, and sometimes (especially with knees) operative repair. Now I know there's got to be at least one of you out there who's wondering when to apply heat and when to apply cold. Well, when it comes to injuries the answer is easy. Always use cold (ice) for the first 48-72 hours. The proper application of ice and elevation to an injury during this period of time can significantly reduce swelling and make the difference between a short or long period of rehabilitation and recovery.

The Injured Spine The spinal cord is the major neural pathway between the brain and the rest of the body. It

is composed of a delicate substance, not much more substantial than jelly, which is encased and protected by the bones of the spine (the vertebrae) and their reinforcing fibrous attachments (ligaments) and muscles. With excessive force, the vertebrae and ligaments can break, injuring or making the spinal cord very vulnerable to injury. Injury to the spinal cord results in paralysis and tingling or loss of feeling below the damaged area. The most common sites of injury are the neck (cervical spine) and the low back (lumbar spine). The former can leave you paralyzed from the neck down, and the latter from the waist down. Most people would agree that of all possible traumatic injuries, spinal cord injury is way up there on the list of those you'd just as soon not have. However, it turns out that you can have bone and ligament injury without initially injuring the spinal cord itself. Further movement, though, can press the now unstable bones and ligaments against the cord and result in permanent damage. Proper first aid to prevent that movement, then, can make the difference between a complete recovery or permanent paralysis. When should you suspect spine injury? You should suspect it in any accident in which the victim is unconscious, has injury to the head or face, complains of neck or back pain, or has numbness, tingling, weakness, or paralysis of the arms or legs. When in doubt, always assume that spine injury exists. If the pilot is awake, ask if he has pain, numbness, or tingling, and see if he can move his fingers and toes. Remember, the majority of pilots who have just stuffed their glider will tend to minimize their injuries. After all, it's embarrassing enough to have crashed right there in HANG GLIDING

front of Mom, your girlfriend, and untold numbers of wuffos, no sense making it worse by actually admitting you hurt yourself. "My leg? Yeah, it is bent a little, but just let me walk a few steps on it and it'll be all right." Further, with the initial shock of an injury people often aren't aware of what hurts, what is numb, or what doesn't work quite right. How then do you approach the pilot with possible spine injury? Ifhe is unconscious you have to rapidly assess ifhe is breathing and has a pulse (the ABC's for those of you who know CPR), but you need to be careful not to move his head or spine. If possible, stabilize him in the position found until the paramedics arrive with the appropriate backboards and splints. If you absolutely have to move the victim to initiate CPR or to prevent further injury (e.g. falling further down the clifl), obtain as much help as possible and move him as a unit without allowing his neck or back to bend forward, backward, or from side to side. For the specifics of moving and immobilizing spine injured persons check your first aid manual, and for some guidance in separating a glider from an injured pilot take another look at Lynda Nelson's article "The First Thirty Minutes" in the January issue of Hang Gliding. Again, when in doubt, always treat as if spine injury is present. Immobilize the victim in the position found unless CPR or further danger to the pilot absolutely requires movement. Then move the victim as little as possible, as a unit, and using the techniques outlined in your first aid manual. Immobilizing a normal spine may result in a few moments of inconvenience to you and the victim. Not immobilizing an injured spine can result in lifelong paralysis or death.

Fractures and Dislocations Fractures (broken bones) come in two main varieties for first aid purposes - open or closed. An open fracture is one in which the broken end of the bone is sticking out through the skin, or one in which there is an open wound over the fracture site. A closed fracture is one in which there is no break in the skin over the fracture. A dislocation is simply the loss of alignment of bone ends at a joint surface. This may occur with or without an associated fracture. Virtually any fracture or dislocation can result from a hang gliding mishap, though fractures of the arm seem to be the most common. With fractures and dislocations there may be pain, tenderness, swelling, bruising, deformity, and decreased range of motion. Without X-rays it may be impossible to distinguish .between some fractures and sprains. Associated problems can include infection (with open fractures), bleeding, and injury to nerves, blood vessels, ligaments and tendons. The objective of first aid for fractures and

SEPTEMBER 1983

dislocations is to keep the broken bone ends and adjacent joints immobilized to prevent pain and further bleeding or injury. There should be no attempt in the field to set or straighten fractures or dislocations (though the paramedics sometimes do this, you shouldn't) or to push or pull bone ends back through the skin, as these maneuvers can result in further damage and disability. If there is an open fracture, cut away the overlying clothing, control bleeding with direct pressure, and cover the area with a clean dressing. All fractures should be splinted in the position found, and if possible the joint above and the joint below the fracture should be included in the splint. Your first aid manual gives you specific instructions for splinting various fractures, but it is not important what technique you use just so you follow the principles just mentioned. Almost any material can be used as a splint including blankets, pillows, towels, magazines, rolled newspaper, cardboard, sticks, and various glider and harness parts. Qne readily available splint is the rest of the (hopefully uninjured) body. Fingers can be splinted to fingers, arms can usually be put in a sling and splinted to the chest, and legs can be strapped to each other. Finally, if possible, elevation and the local application of ice may help to reduce swelling. Remember, though, in the multiply-injured person fractures have a low priority and should only be cared for after the airway, breathing, circulation and bleeding, and spine have been assessed and stabilized.

A Few More Thoughts On First Aid Kits

Well, that's it for this installment on some of the possible outcomes of untimely arrivals. With a little luck and Erik Fair's advice, these injuries shouldn't be a problem for you. However, if by some twisted stroke of fate they are, then hopefully someone like Lynda will be ~ around to help you out. (continued from page 17)

(Skyting) However, by pushing out slightly on the control bar, the pilot can overcome this nose down tendency and put the glider back into the proper flight attitude. In practice, therefore, the glider tends to slow its rate of climb as the tow angle increases, but it can be made to continue climbing by having the pilot push out on the control bar. In summary, we can say that for every pilotglider combination there exists a theoretically ideal skyting bridle which eliminates the lockout phenomenon and provides flight control while under tow essentially identical to that experienced in free flight (as long as no part of the bridle touches the flight wires or control bar), and that the 2: 1 skyting bridle is a reasonable approximation to this ideal, under most practical situations. Next time, we will describe how skyting is currently being practiced in South Texas, including certain details for constructing and assembling together the various components. ~ (continued from page 16)

(221 Miles) After reading the May issue.of this column, Lynda Nelson wrote and offered some,suggestions regarding her experience with first aid kits. Her first observation is that people seldom seem to crash where· your car (and first aid kit) is parked (see Murphy's Law - Hang Gliding Corollaries), so she keeps a second kit ~n her harness. She notes that a mountaineering supply company (Early Winters, Ltd., 110 Prefontaine Place South, Seattle, Washington 98104) sells first aid kits that have convenient pockets, zippered pouches, and elastic straps. They come in two sizes, and they are sold both with and without supplies. She has the larger size (abut $20 without supplies) and has filled it with: 3 cravats (folded triangular bandages), 2 roller bandages, 2 4 x 4 dressings, a large wound dressing (she notes a disposable diaper works well for this), a thermal "space" blanket, a knife, scissors, penlight, hacksaw, and a variety of smaller first aid and survival supplies such as bandaids, aspirin, first aid cream, and .windproof matches. She estimates the cost of the supplies (minus the knife) at about $25, and the whole kit fits neatly in the storage compartment of her cocoon harness. It sounds .like an excellent kit, and it's certainly right where it's needed the most.

Lee's previous record. 221 miles! "My arms never got tired," he said. Steve Moyes reached Gabbs with 165 miles. John Pendry made it to the western edge of the Shoshones with 187 miles. I think that someday, somebody's going to take off Horseshoe Meadows in just the right conditions early in the morning and cruise down the Sierras, possibly clear to Lee Vining, before they start out over the desert. And then they're .going to cruise up by Hawthorne and end up landing near the Idaho border. I think a flight of .over 300 miles is a real possibility from Horseshoe Meadows, especially if you had a good tailwind and decent cloudstreets - which didn't really happen on the day I flew 221 miles. It's the hot spot, for sure!

Rick Masters is an independent cinematographer and journalist who was awarded the 1982 Gray Prize for his film AOLI, COMET CLONES AND POD PEOPLE. He invites pilots interested in a detailed study of 1983 flight and weather conditions of Horseshoe Meadows to contact him at Box 478, Independence, CA ~ 93526.

NEWLY ACQUIRED USHGA RATINGS AND APPOINTMENTS BEGINNER RATINGS Name, City, State Michael Ansaldi, Sunnyvale, CA Karen Bacon, Walnut Creek, CA William Bannister, Santa Rosa, CA Stephen Graves, FPO San Francisco, CA Gary Kuhn, Pacific Grove, CA Kevin Puliatch, Walnut Creek, CA John Schreiner, Saratoga, CA Dale Schuck, Fair Oaks, CA Antoine Thomas, Beadseley, CA Gus Vezaldenos, Stockton, CA Bill Vogel, Pleasant Hill, CA Carl Ferreira, San Jose, CA Renny Barta, Walnut Creek, CA

Mitch Airington, Schofield Bks., HI Debbie Dillan, Del Mar, CA

Jerry Grogan, Mesa, AZ Chris Huckins, Palmer Lake, CO Robert Motz, Casa Grande, AZ Franklin Reimann, Longmont, CO Craig Thompson, Tempe, AZ

Region

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

4 4 4

Randy Richardson, Dallas, TX

Bonnie Hall, Glen Head, NY

NOVICE RATINGS Name, City, State John Cook, Yakima, WA Art Lembechler, Issaquah, WA Kenneth Manly, Gaston, OR Mike Roberts, Seattle, WA

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3

Jeff Reider, Olathe, KS

Kenneth Davis, Galesburg, IL

Matthew Brisse, Glastonbury, CT Daryl DeReus, Ashland, MA Glenn Foster, Mansfield, MA Michael Kelleher, Glastonbury, CT

8 8 8 8

James Bell, Albuquerque, NM Boyd Manning, Farmington, UT Steve Marcum, Flagstaff, AZ Daniel Maslanik, Boulder, CO Charles Swatzon, Salt Lake City, UT

Kenneth Baumer, Missoula, MT

Kevin Claypool, Dayton, OH Norman French, Woodford, VA Dennis Monteiro, Philadelphia, PA Thomas Neal, Glen Bernie, MD Richard Pond, Waverly, VA Kent Rothermel, N. Canton, OH Alvin Simpson, Brunswick, OH Ken Springer, Senecaville, OH John Taylor, Richmond, VA Jeffrey Vaughn, Westchester, PA Warren R. Bassett, Falls Church, VA Randy McClellan, Springfield, VA Rhonda Yasinski, Manassas Pk, VA Ned Backs, Carrboro, NC Randy Baker, Concord, NC Rick Bequette, Emerald Isle, NC Bill Bloodgood, Goldsboro, NC Udo Hildebrandt, Raleigh, NC James Radigan, Hollywood, FL Kenneth Rumbley, Greensboro, NC Ann Stiles, Fayetteville, GA Blake Stiles Jr., Fayetteville, GA Clayton Summerlin, Charlotte, NC Charles Weinburg, Atlanta, GA

9 9 9 9 9 9 9

Michael Boska, Berkeley, CA Kirk Garetz, Foster City, CA Kurt Luft, Capitola, CA Bob Lynch, Sacramento, CA Gary Melot, Santa Clara, CA Thomas Palmtag, Scotts Valley, CA Dale Schuck, Fair Oaks, CA W. Page Stegner, Eureka, CA Jim Woodward, Morgan Hills, CA Bryan Anderson, Loma Linda, CA John Boland, Redondo Beach, CA Gilman Carr, Loma Linda, CA Marcy Carreras, San Diego, CA Rochelle Champion, Oxnard, CA Sean Eckstein, Orange, CA Dan Evans, Santa Ana, CA Rogelio Hernandez, Downey, CA Larry Johnson, Costa Mesa, CA Gary S. Litwak, Van Nuys, CA James Monti, La Palma CA

4 4

Region

3 3 3 3 3 4 4

10 10 10

10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Lance Anderson, Pinedale, WY Daniel Baker, Belgrade, MT Del Belyea, Belgrade, MT Harold Holloway, Bonners Ferry, ID James Maxfield, Moyie Springs, ID Craig S. Austin, Duluth, MN David Herrmann, Bethalto, IL R. Jay Schultz, Carmel, IN

7 7 7

Michael Barry, Plymouth, NH Michael Christie, Greenwich, CT Craig McMillian, Granby, CT Victor Neumayer, Weymouth, MA Edward Pirog, Boston, MA

8 8 8 8 8

Barbara Beach, Falls Church, VA Fred Blackburn, Bradford, PA David A. Ewen, Lexington, KY David Johnson, Booth, WV William Loomis Jr., Newbury, MD Timothy Pitts, Virginia Beach, VA Carol Rauch, Bethlehem, PA Michael Sydoriak, Vienna, VA Cindy Williams, Brecksville, OH

10 10

Bill Hanson, Austin, TX

Christopher Coffey, New York, NY Michael Felano, Altamont, NY Don Hammer, Monsey, NY Alan Kachalsky, Ellenville, NY Joseph Mickey, APO NY, NY Andrew Newitt, Briarcliff Manor, NY Thomas Podominick, APO, NY Charles Putnam, APO, NY James Stephanoff, Lake Katrine, NY Tracy Settle, APO, NY

12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

10 10

Darryl Bradley, Windshiem, W. Germany Foreign INTERMEDIATE RATINGS Name, City, State Don Gill, Montesano, WA Steve London, Seattle, WA

Region

Brian Campbell, Los Altos Hills, CA Bob Cartier, Los Gatos, CA Kurt Dilley, Menlo Park, CA Joe Cooper, Carson City, NV Dean Lake, Las Vegas, NV Scott Malerbi, Petaluma, CA Brian Melot, Aptos, CA Richard Nowack, San Jose, CA Tom Slevin, Sebastopol, CA Larry Smith, Miranda, CA

2 2 2 2 2 2

2 2 2 2

Allen Kelly, Balboa Island, CA

9 9 9

Howard Barnett, Raleigh, NC Kate Dunn, Lookout Mm., TN Michael Pyne, Thorn Hill, TN Stephen Smith, St. Croix, USVI Daniel Wertman, Chapel Hill, NC

9 9 9 9 9 9

Tony Boccio, Breckenridge, CO Larry Clark, Ft. Collins, CO Michael Gregg, Albuquerque, NM Doug Knowlton, Albuquerque, NM Tom McDonald, Albuquerque, NM Dennis Morrison, Albuquerque, NM R. Blake Nielsen, Provo, UT Jim Painter, Boulder, CO John Shook, Denver, CO Hebert Wissman, Tempe, AZ

4 4 4 4 4 4

4 4 4

Ira Foster, Whitefish, MT Gerald Kubena, Casper, WY Rudolph Foshee, Kansas City, KS

Jean-Paul Fandel, Amherst, MA

Bill Lefelhoc, Eastlake, OH Walter Smith, Riverdale, MD Dawn Wolcott, Williamsport, PA

9 9

Robert Austin, Valle Crucis, NC Allen Denton, Chattanooga, TN Clark Harlow, Largo, FL Peter Magras, St. Croix, USVI Richard O'Brien, Delco, NC

10 10 10 10 10

HANG GLIDING

Ann Hoehn, Graham, TX Jim Taulman, Arlington, TX

11 11

Dan Demaree, Kill Devil Hills, NC Steve Rudy, Austin, TX

Robert Boolukos, Beacon, NY Thomas Dennen, Staten Island, NY Stephen Des Roches, Smithtown, NY Patrick Maher, W. Henrietta, NY Richard Maley, De Ruyter, NY Stephen Taylor, Montclair, NJ

12 12 12 12 12 12

INSTRUCTORS

ADVANCED RATINGS Name, City, State Dave Ahrens, Olympia, WA Dan McLuen, Renton, WA Lee Potter, Olympia, WA

Region 1

10 11

B - Basic A - Advanced * - Recertification

B-Chris Wilson, Albuquerque, NM B-Joh Glynn, Lombard, IL A-Gary Pozzato, Rockville, CT *B-Lynda Nelson, Chattanooga, TN

4 7 8 10

LILIENTHAL AW ARDS Bronze

Tony Barbarite, Fresno, CA Matthew Orey, Tahoe City, CA Daniel Goeson, Lakewood, CA Raymond Henry, San Diego, CA Carl Raley, San Diego, CA Rob Rudisill, Redondo Beach, CA Dale Sherman, Santa Ana, Ca Gerald Smith, Huntington Beach, CA Mike Trozera, Del Mar, CA

3 3

Jack Steelsmith Greg Weiner Leslie Krause Lori Judy Fred Blackburn Bob Lafay Rob Cristofoletti Rick Wade Silver

Leo Dyksman, Sandy, UT Edmund Ward, Las Cruces, NM Jeff Wolford, Albuquerque, NM T.J. Wirth, Salt Lake City, UT B.J. Schulte III, Mascoutah, IL Matthew Carr, New London, CT

4 4 4 4 7 8

David C. Brown, Reading, PA Randy Cohick, Williamsport, PA Karl Fischer, Va. Beach, VA Richard Lowe, Middleburg, VA

9 9

Richard Meriwether, Birmingham, AL Keith R. Richards, Orlando, FL Rex Schlegel, Ft. Rucker, AL

10 10 10

Kurt Aronow, Beaumont, TX

David Roth, Bloomingburg, NY

John Green, Monte Carlo, Monaco Bruno Moser, Dietikon, Switzerland Guido Risch, Dietikon, Switzerland

Foreign Foreign Foreign

OFFICIALS EXAMINERS Name, City, State Jim Bowman, Dayton, WY Gary Harkins, E. Lansing, MI

Region 5 7

OBSERVERS Ric Bailey, West Linn, OR Dave Lindberg, Snohomish, WA Marc Doerner, Waimanalo, HI Curt Graham, Ruidoso Downs, NM Scott Trueblood, Ruidoso, NM Gary Harkins, E. Lansing, MI John Woiwode, Sank Rapids, MN John Armstrong, Montpelier, VT

SEPTEMBER 1983

Jim Taulman Randy Chavez John Rourke, Jr. George Stebbins Lori Judy Rick Wade Philip Vangel

3 4

4 7 7 8

{continued from page 19)

(The Mountain) shoved out the control bar. Instant flight! Not only flight, the glider got into a little ridge lift and actually gained a little altitude almost immediately. Pent up tension released itself in a Geronimo scream. Feeling with my feet for the stirrup, I glanced back at the hill and saw someone stall in and crash on the steep slope. I took stock of my position. The heavily wooded canyons and hills were passing steadily beneath me with dreamy quiet smoothness. Bubbles of rising air rocked the flimsy glider and I was tempted to try soaring, but I realized that the slightest mistake meant an out landing, quite possibly in the trees. The rising air seemed stronger near the crest of the ridge, so, keeping an eye on the little lake at the landing area, I moved to take advantage of it. When I felt that the air was rising, I pushed the nose up and flew slowly; when the lift dissipated, I dropped the nose and picked up speed. All too soon I realized that I would have to leave the ridge or miss the target. I made the turn and put the nose directly on the landing site. At the time there appeared to be so much extra altitude that a few 360 degree turns would be needed to bleed it off, but I was soon

disabused of that notion. The glider had entered rapidly sinking air. With a shock, I decided we were barely going to make it! Kicking out of the stirrup, I trundled my numb legs a few times, flared and made a perfect landing in the center of the landing area. With a sigh of relief, I unsnapped my "D" ring and picked up the glider to move it out of the area and make room for the next man. In that moment I heard the strangest noise. I took note ofmy surroundings. The landing area was ringed with hundreds of people and they were all clapping! Strangely embarrassed, I hustled the glider off the field and joined Kaz DeLisse to watch the rest of my group fly in. Some landed in the trees on the wooded slopes and some in the huge ravine below the landing area. A few came close, but no one made it all the way. I heard later, that the lack ofa takeoff run had caused many stalls and broken gliders and that the precarious launch had caused immediate altitude loss for many. At last Kaz turned to me. "Well, Bill," he said, "I guess you should get all the turkeys, since you're the only one to make it all the way, but do you mind if I spread the others out?" "Surely not, Kaz," I replied, and we shook hands. If you have followed me closely this far, I can hear the words forming on your lips now. "Pure dumb luck, pure stupid luck!" So OK, you know it and I know it. Everybody who flew with me that day knows it. So, what made me pound on the steering wheel every few minutes, all the way home, and shout out the window of my rattly old pickup at amazed passersby: "I WON, I WON!" I don't fly hang gliders anymore. I hurt an already arthritic back in a bad landing with a rigid wing glider at Sylmar, and it hasn't been the same since. During and immediately after the period I flew them, I had two hernia operations. These had to be added to the three already given me by one of my other loves, motorcycles. I quit with about the same feelings as the sensible poker player, who throws his third-ina-row busted flush on the table and gets up while he still has a few bucks in his pocket. Instead, I've been building a sailplane, for much longer than it should have taken. Facing the truth, hang gliding came along after my time had passed. But I was there, for a little while, when it was new, and everything was such a challenge and I still have some of the most fantastic memories. There I was, see, with about twenty crazy guys on top of old Saddleback. The wind was cycling up the mountain about ten miles an hour and there wasn't any room to run and ...

Rougemont and made her first XC, three miles, in reply to her friend Jacinthe. In two days, more than 300 miles were accumulated from Mont Yamaska.

ANOTHER FUN X-C

USHCA REPORTS

A Column For Unusual Flights

X-C FLIGHTS AT MONT YAMASKA, QUEBEC,CANADA by Jacinthe Dupuis On May 17th and 18th, the Montreal, Quebec region had two exceptional days for XC flying. Even during the week many pilots managed to get to their favorite site: Mont Yamaska. On Tuesday the 17th, with moderate winds blowing from the north, nine pilots went cross-country. Pilot Robert Boileau Marc Chicoine Luc Boucher Daniel Ouellet Robert Fortin Normand Michaud Gilles Bernard Jacinthe Dupuis Michel Gingras

Glider X-200 Duck 180 Vision 180 Duck 180 Gemini 164 Comet 135 Gemini 164 Gemini 134 Duck 180

Distance 28 miles 28 miles 22 miles 22 miles 15 miles 15 miles 14 miles 5 miles 3 miles

The takeoff is at I, 150 feet and the cloudbase that day was at about 6,000 feet. Around Mont Yamaska there are no prairies or mountains, just fields, forests and villages. But in springtime, especially those days, there were fabulous cloudstreets. On the next day, Wednesday the 18th, with light winds from the southwest, two pilots took their revenge. Being seconds the day before, Daniel Ouellet flew 82 miles while Luc Boucher made 67 miles. Luc landed at IslandBrook, 20 miles east of Sherbrooke, and Daniel went to Stratford near Aylmer Lake. It was Daniel's longest flight and he climbed to more than 8,000 feet and said: "I knew that I had flown more than 50 miles but never guessed I had made more than 80 miles. That flight is proof that 100 miles and more is possible from Mont Yamaska." The same day, Normand Michaud went for a six-mile XC and another member of the Yamaska Club, Maryse Perron, went to

n June 13 Bob Beck was fortunate enough to be at the Little Gap site (in Pennsylvania) for what was to be a primo conditions day. The day before, Sunday, Eric Newhard had gotten 6,540' above launch and had gone 14 miles over the back. The high that produced those conditions hadn't moved so Bob was hoping there was a little left over for him on Monday. While there were clouds on Sunday, Monday was perfectly cloudless with a light 10 mph wind with higher gusts in thermals coming up the mountain face. He launched at 1:25 pm and ridge soared at 500' for just a few minutes and thermaled up to 1,500'. He was getting too far back so he left that thermal and worked back out front and caught a very mellow thermal and worked up to 4,200' above launch and about two miles behind the mountain. The air felt perfect so Bob left the ridge down and crosswind to avoid the A.B.E. Airport traffic area. He was a little bummed about going over the back only 15 minutes into the flight because one is often on the ground shortly after you do. Bob glided in smooth air down to about 2,500' and started to work a very weak thermal. It was small and weak but after wrestling with it for about 12-15 minutes he had gained another 800' and that gave him some hope. To make a long story short he was able to circumnavigate the A.B.E. area in more very weak thermals and get over Phillipsburg, PA and head straight downwind while thermaling. He would glide to about 2,000'-3,000' above the ground, work a thermal up to 4,000'-6,000' and resume another downwind glide. Over Ottsville, PA Bob worked one that started very weakly, up to 7,410' above launch (about 9,000' MSL). That one thermal helped the mileage a lot. Finally after two hours and 45 minutes with 3,000' of altitude remaining he called it quits. Bob was over a shopping area in the middle of a rural area that he knew had what he needed: a cold beer, a landing witness, a cold beer, a telephone, and a cold beer. He landed at a place called Peddlers Village in Lahaska, PA, a straight line distance of 42. 5 miles from launch, although the dog leg distance was closer to 45 miles. One of the nicest parts of the flight was that the air was smooth and mellow and almost all of the thermals were only 50-200 fpm up. That made for a very tiring flight but thermaling XC over flat ground makes fun that can't be beat. Bob thinks his 7,410' altitude gain may be a Pennsylvania record. ~

1983 ACCIDENT REVIEW COMMITTEE REPORT by Doug Hildreth There have been four free-flying fatalities reported thus far this year. There has been one towing fatality. Accident reporting has tapered off somewhat as enthusiasm has waned. (Remember that report that you were going to send in, but ... ) We have received only 40 reports. There have been three mid-air collisions, two at Regionals. There have been three failures to hook-in. There have been several successful parachute deployments; stalls on launch, stalls on landing and in-flight stalls continue at the same frequency. Essentially all 12 student reports involve fractured arms or forearms. The five fatalities are listed below in hopes that you will provide us with details on them, as well as reminding you, the one you heard about has not been turned in yet. James Larkin - January, 1983; Torrey Pines, CA; details unknown. Don Farmer - March, 1983; Pacifica, CA; landed in surf and drowned. Tom Kityama - June, 1983; Dunlap, CA; mid-air collision. Neil Hockell - July 1983; Owens Valley; strong winds with turbulence. Dennis Guessford - May, 1983; Watertown, NY; auto towing. Keep the cards and letters coming. We need all of the information that we can get. Ifit happened in 1983, we want to hear about it, even if there were no injuries, even if you are a famous pilot. Doug Hildreth Chairman, Accident Review USHGA I 025 East Main Street Medford, Oregon 97504 HANG GLIDING

USAir. Aneww9Yto Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. USAlr is flying to California! So now, whether you're traveling for business or pleasure, you can choose the right flight at the right fare to suit your needs. USl\ir operates daily morning and evening nonstops from Pittsburgh to both Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as one-stop seNice to San Diego through Phoenix. There are also one-stop flights from Buffalo and Rochester to Los Angeles and San Francisco plus connections from more than 40 cities in the. East. For more information on schedules and fares, call your travel agent or USl\ir.

NOVA l 90 - Good condition, crossbar fairings, excellent intermediate, $700. OBO (213) 784-8814. PHOENIX 12 (185) For sale. Multicolored, excellent condition, $600 or best ofTer. (212) 892-2868. PHOENIX 60, 210 - Good condition guaranteed. Priced for immediate sale, by reluctant ex-flyer., $295. (415) 595-8765. PRO AIR 140 - Excellent condition. Fae ory mods for better penetration. Reasonable. Will ship. C II (619) 456-1959 (best 9-1 l AM, PDT). PROSTAR l 60 - excellent condition. ~easonable. Will ship. Call (619) 456-1959 (best 9-11 AM, PDT). CONSC'MER ADVISORY: Used hang gliders always should be disassembled before flying for the first time and inspected carefully for fatigue - bent or dented tubes, ruined bushings, bent bolts (especially the heart bolt), re-used :-!yloc nuts, loose thimbles, frayed or rusted cables, tangs with non. circular holes, and on Rogallos, sails badly torn or torn loose from their anchor points front and back on the keel and leading edges. If in doubt, many hang gliding businesses will be happy to give an objective opinion on the condition of equipment you bring them to inspect.

Rogallos ANT ARES 190 Excellent Condition with Bag Harness Helmet $575.00 or ofTer. (619) 481-6132. BENNETT TRIKE - 1983, like new. Robin Twin, must sell, make olTer. (816) 483-5379, K.C. CAN WE HELP YOU GET INTO THE AIR? Do you want to fly, but are short of funds? We will trade anything to help you fly. Contact Delta Wing Kites & Gliders, (213) 787-6600. CLEARANCE SALE - Comet 135 $800, Super Lancer 200 new $825, Moyes Mega $800, Oly 160 $450, Flexi 2, Seagull III, harnesses,parachutes, other items. Contact Earl Christy Jr. Box 38 Hesperus, Colo. 81326 (303) 533-7550. COMET 135 - Black L.E., White Main, Rainbow DBL Surface excellent condition $1350. Condor 224 $450. OLY 140 make·offer. Phone (209) 226-6516.

PRO-STAR 160 - New, must sell, mak ofTer. 166 mosquito cocoon harness $75. New ball v trio $175. (619) 743-2245. PROSTAR II 195 - Brand new $1,650. Rainbow sail Reason? No time to fly. (716) 586-5733 o (716) 244-9757. FOR SALE: Raven 229 Xlnt Cond. $ 000; Omni 187 Good Cond. $300 (714) 645-8232, Eves. STREAK 130 - New $1650. Odyssey A edium size cocoon harness $85. Willie Cann, 2739 'olonial Avenue Roanoke, Virginia (703) 343-5606. SUPER LANCER 200 - Good condi ion $750. Also harness, helmet, parachute, vario. Must sel. (213) 988-1638 Day. SUPER LANCER 200 - Excellent condition. Best offer. UNEMPLOYED (412) 728-2237. 1535 I . Ave. Monach PA 15061. TWO 165 COMETS - Exe. condition both fly great. $1,150 - $1,000. B.O. Joe (213) 287-917 WANTED - Used Hang Gliding Equip nt. Gliders, Instrumenis, Harnesses and Parachutes. H \NG GLIDER EQUIPMENT CO., 3620 Wawona, Saru Francisco, CA 94116, (415) 992-6020. X-180 - Excellent condition. Green upp< r surface, white lower surface. Purple leading edge. $1100 213) 447-8444. X-200, Custom sail work, Ex-shape, $1,3 •O. shipping included. Call Marty (716) 873-9742.

COMET 165 - Excellent condition, a perfect glider, $999. (805) 685-2586.

Schools and Dealers

COMET 165, August '82 - Excellent condition. I'll pay shipping. $1350. (213) 863-4218. COMET 185 - Good condition. New flying wires, proven 100 mile performer. Yours for a grand, (1,000). Woody (619) 429-FROG. COMET 185 - Excellent condition. Dark Blue & Pacific Blue, $1200. (619) 271-8106. COi'vlET 185 - Excellent condition. Reasonable. Will ship. Call (619) 456-1959 (best 9-l l AM, PDT). COMET 165 - Excellent condition, low airtime, must sell. (714) 534-4256. COMET 165 (519) 453-2489.

Orange, gold, white. Super flyer, $950.

COMET 165 (714) 391-5194.

Good condition, rainbow, $1300. Bob

DUCK 180 - Excellent condition, with low airtime. White/Blue/Green/Yellow Keel Pocket. Superb handling. Sacrifice at $1400. Why spend $8.00 more and have to wait? Call Greg at Sky Bound Hang Gliders. (602) 997-9079.

ARIZONA DESERT HANG GLIDERS -4319 W. dale, AZ 85304 (602) 938-9550.

arkspur, Glen-

SKY BOUND HANG GLIDERS - Full t me, full-service shop. New and used gliders and equipme tt, certified in'. 19th Ave., struction, repairs, accessories. 10250 Phoenix, AZ 85021. (602) 997-9079. CALIFORNIA BRIGHT ST AR HANG GLIDERS - Certified Personal instruction for all levels. Proudly re >resenting UP, Wills Wing and most major manufacturers. ~uality restorations, parts and accessories for Northern alifornia. 3715 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95401. ( 07) 584-7088. CHANDELLE SAN FRANCISCO, lang Gliding Center. USHGA certified school. Stocking ealer for Wills, UP and FD. Come visit us! (415) 756-0650

DUCK 180 Spare LE, Price XL Harness, Chute, Ace Pouch, $1500. (805) 688-6205, Leave Number, Dee. FIREFLY 216 - Very good condition, two hrs. airtime, cover, Getting out of sport. $700 or olTer. (313) 728-1230 evenings. GEMINI 134 - Excellent condition, $1100 Negotiable. Parachute $225, with harness $250. Ruth (619) 286-6189. HARNESS AND PARACHUTE - Pilot height S'S" 5'10". Bennett Cocoon and Bennett MK chute. Will ship. $300.00. Evenings (202) 223-1888. LANCER 190 - Good Condition with Harness, Extras, $400.00. (916) 583-2174. Tahoe. lvlOYES MEGA II - Excellent condition, with harness, $900.00. David (816) 531-8799. MOYES REDTAIL 160 - Orange & gold. Excellent condition, $550. Tow bar and floats, $275. (702) 885-9196.

SEPTEMBER 1983

ELSINORE VALLEY HANG GLIDING! CENTER phone: (714) 678-2050, night: (714) 781-92:h FREE FLIGHT OF SAN DIEGO. Exp rt instruction utilizing modern, safe equipment. (714) 56 -0888. HANG FLIGHT SYSTEMS - Certified i istruction program, beginning to advanced levels. Featuri 1g Wills Wing and Ultralight Products gliders and acces ories. *Duck, Comet, Gemini, Harrier demo flight availa le to qualified pilots. 1202 E. Walnut Unit M, Santa A1 a, CA 92701. (714) 542-7444.

SPEAK SOARING

If flying under power is your thing, we think you're lucky . . . you've several magazines to choose from. But if soaring is your pleasure, we're lucky 'cause it's ours too. Unfortunately you soaring enthusiasts have got to look harder for information. Because in the world of ultralight soaring, only two magazines give full and continuous coverage (Whole Air and

Hang Gliding). Hang Gliding gives national association news and concentrates mainly on the West Coast. Whole Air covers the ultralight soaring world, but features more East Coast information. Whole Air also leads the industry in new ideas and directions. Whole Air gives you "Product Lines, the Hang Glider Bluebook, Statistics, a Reader Response Card system, the Glider Survey, an Accessory Buyer's Guide, more Pilot Reports than anyone, and much more." Any soaring pilot worth his or her vario ought to read BOTH magazines. So, when should we start sending you Whole Air ... ?

THE MAGAZINE OF HANG GLIDING ANDULTRAUGHTSOARING YES, sign me up for Whale Air

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D $12 - 1 year (6 issues; SAVE 20%) D $20 - 2 years (12 issues; SA VE 33%) D $27 - 3 years (18 issues; SAVE 40%) Canada: ADD $4/year (U.S. Funds!) Other Countries: ADD $8/year (U.S. Funds!) WRITE FOR AIR MAIL RATE INFORMATION

Name Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Zipcode - - Mail to: Box 144, Lookout Mtn, TN 37350

AUSTIN HANG GLIDING CENTER - Lessons, winch tow to 2000'. (512) 255-7954. UTAH

NEW & USED PARACHUTES bought, sold & repacked. HANG GLIDER EQUIPMENT COMPANY, 3620 Wawona, San Francisco, CA 94116. (415) 992-6020.

Business Opportunities

AERO SPORTS !NC. - USHGA instruction, sales & service since 1974. 898 So. 900 E., SLC, Utah 84102. (801) 364-5508.

CRYSTAL AIR SPORTS MOTEL - Male/Female HELP WANTED: 15 hrs./wk. Exchange for lodging in Original FLyers Bunkhaus. Call or write Chuck or Shari, 4328 Cummings Hwy., Chattanooga, TN 37409 (615) 821-2546. Home of SKY GEAR, Apparel & Accessories. Also, vacationing? Private Rustic Rooms. Waterbeds, Video Movies, Color TV, Pool.

FLY UTAH WITH

Delta Wing Products, certified instruction, twelve days $250.00, new & used gliders, accessories, 9173 Falcon Cr. Sandy, Utah 84092 (801) 943-1005.

Parts & Access·ories

QUICK RELEASE CARABINER - Pull 5/!6 in. dia. stainless steel ball lock pin and you're out. One hand operation. This quick release is designed for hang gliding. Harness straps are on 5/!6" bolt. Tested breaking load 10,000 lbs. Machined from. 2024-T3 aluminum, anodized, lx2x3 1/,, $18.95, CA add 6% sales tax. Extra pin, $5.00. Kalember MFG, 19431 Business Center Dr., #41, Northridge, CA 91324.

CB Radios - Mobile and hand held. Top quality, excellent condition. Very reasonable. Call (619) 456-1959, (best 9-11 AM, PDT).

Publications & Organizations FREE AOLI, COMET CLONES & POD PEOPLE PEOPLE POSTER!! Box 3094, Shell Beach, CA 93449.

WASATCH WINGS INC. - Located minutes from Point of the Mountain. Safe, personalized, instruction beginning through mountain flight. Custom harness manufacture and repair. 700 East 12300 South, Draper, Utah 84020, (801) 571-4044.

SOARING - Monthly J(1agazine of The Soaring Society of America Inc. Covers all aspects of soaring flight. Full membership $28. Info kit with sample copy $3.00. SSA, P.O. Box 66071, Los Angeles, CA.90066.

WHEATLEY BRO. HANG GLIDING SUPPLY CO. New and used gliders and supplies. Dealers for. Delta Wing "Streak." Rte. l, Deweyville, UT 84309 (801) 257-0379.

Ultralight Powered Flight

WASHINGTON CAPITOL CITY GLIDERS - New and used glic\ers and ultralights, accessories, service. Certified instruction. (206) 786-9255, (206) 456-6333.

International Schools & Dealers

HANG GLIDER EQUIPMENT COMPANY - For all your Hang Gliding needs. We are dealers for all major brands. Write or call for free price list. 3620 Wawona, San Francisco, CA 94112, (415) 992-6020.

KITTY HA WK KITES - Training specialists for ultralights. FAA certified Flight Instructors. Quicksilvers, parts in stock. P.O. Box 340, Nags Head, N.C. Within site of where the Wright Brothers made their first historic flight. l-800-334-4777.

HELMET F.M. Radio, voice activated transmit with press-to-talk feature. $59.95. Other styles also available. For full specifications send to: B.G. & A. Radios, P.O. Box 15798, Phoenix, AZ 85060.

JAPAN SUNRISE COUNTRY INC. - Distributor Japan: Manta, La Monette, Delta Wing, Flight Designs, Winter, Litek, Hall Bros., Ball Varios, Altimaster, Quick-N-Easy. 1104 Rekku Shibakoan 2/1 l/!3. Shibakoan Minatoku Tokyo, 105 JAPAN. Tel. 03/433/0062. SWITZERLAND SWISS ALP HANG GLIDING SAFARI - For complete documentation of this high adventure alpine tour send $5.00 to cover airmail postage to: RON HURST, Kurfirstenstr. 61, 8002 Zurich, Switzerland, Airmail.

Emergency Parachutes

Para

~ Publishing Books by Dan Poynter Post Office Box 4232-314 Santa Barbara, Ca 93103

NEW RAPID DEPLOYMENT B.U.S. FLY AWAY CONTAINER SYSTEM is the world's newest, fastest and most reliable system. By the originator of hang gliding parachutes. Bill Bennett Delta Wing Kites & Gliders, Inc., P.O. Box 483, Van Nuys, CA 91408 (213) 787-6600, telex no. 65-1425.

Telephone: (805) 968-7277

PLANS FOR 64 ULTRALIGHTS! All kinds - cheapest building - illustrated plans catalog, $10. U.S. Aero-Fun, Box M-27, Salida, CA 95368.

Miscellaneous AOLI, COMET CLONES & POD PEOPLE - Award winning film of Owens Valley hang gliding. VHS/Beta. One hour. $64.95 postpaid airmail. (PAL $69.95) Rick Masters, Box 3094, Shell Beach, CA 93449. ROG.

Send For FREE Brochure r-----------------------------------------------------------· Bumper Stickers - "HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR HANG GLIDER TODAY?" White w/blue letters. $l.75 each (includes postage). P.O. Box 66306, Los Angeles, CA 90066.

USHGA CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ORDER FORM

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Photos - $10.00 Deadline, 20th of the month six weeks before the cover date of the issue in which you want your ad (I.e. March 20, for the May issue). Bold face or caps 50¢ per word extra. (Does not include first few words which are automatically caps). Special layouts or tabs $20 per column inch. Payment for first three months required In advance.

Emergency Chutes Ultralight Powered Flight

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L----------------------------------------------------------~ 42

HANG GLIDING

HANG GLIDER EMPORIUM - Quality instruction, service and sales since 1974. Full stock of new and used UP and Wills gliders, harnesses, helmets, instruments, ac-

cessories and spare parts. Located minutes from US IOI and flying sites. 613 N. lv\ilpas, Santa Barbara, California 93103. (805) 965-3733. HANG GLIDERS OF CALIFORNIA, INC. USHGA certified instruction from beginning to expert levels. All brands of gliders, a complete line of instruments & equipment are available! For information or catalog, write of call: Hang Gliders of California, Inc., 2410 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405. (213) 399-5315. HANG GLIDERS WEST-DILLON BEACH FLYING SCHOOL - USHGA Certified instructors, observers serving Northern California since 1973. Expert quality repairs. Complete lesson programs. AFTER THE SALE IT'S THE SERVICE THAT COUNTS! All major brands, parts, accessories. Call or write for brochure. 20-A Pamaron

Way, Ignacio, CA 94947. (415) 883-3494. Now offering ULTRALIGHT POWERED FLIGHT INSTRUCTION. All equipment provided. We Believe-SAFETY FIRST! ,vl!SSION SOARING CENTER - Test fly before you buy. Demos, new & used gliders in stock. All major brands available. At the base of mission ridge in the "Old School." 43551 1\\ission Blvd., Fremont, CA 94538. (415) 656-6656. SAN FRANCISCO WINDSPORTS - Gliders & equipment sales & rentals. Private & group instruction by U.S.H.G.A. certified instructors. Local site information and glider rental. 3620 Wawona, San Francisco, CA 94116. (415) 731-7766. WINDSPORTS INTERNATIONAL, INC. since 1974 (formerly So. Cal. Hang Gliding Schools). Largest and most complete HANG GLIDING and POWERED ULTRALITE center in Southern California. Large inventory of new and used gliders, ultralites, parts and accessories. Com-

plete training program by USHGA certified instructors. 5219 Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys, CA 91411 (213) 789-0836. COLORADO FOUR CORNERS HANG GLIDING & ULTRALIGHT AIRCRAFT - since 1974. Major Brands, Sales, Service, Professional Instruction. Fly "Earl's -Ranch". Box 38, Hesperus, CO 81326. (303) 533-7550. PROGRESSIVE AIRCRAFT COMPANY OF DENVER - Featuring the exceptional Pro Air line. Carrying the finest in accessories, Ball varios & Handbury chutes. Very

competitive pricing. 3545 S. Brentwood, Denver, CO 80235. (303) 759-1230 D., (303) 985-3167 N.

AIR WISE INC., 15 Long Ridge Road, West Redding, CT. 06896, (203) 938-9546. Training programs for beginner to expert by USHGA certified instructor/observer staff. Dealer for all major product lines, featuring Flight Desigss, UP, Moyes. CONNECTICUT COSMIC AVIATION - 14 Terp Rd., E. Hampton, CT 06424, c/o Bart Blau, Lynda Blau, (203) 267-8980. Hang glider dealer for Wills and UP. Ultralight dealer for Vector 610, winner of London to Paris Ultralight race. USHGA certified instructor. HAWAII

Certified instructioni sales, service, rentals, repairs. 493

Lake St., Benzonia MI 49616 (616) 882-5070. SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN HANG GLIDERS - Sales and instruction in Ultralights, Free Flight and towing.

Dealers for Eagle, UP, Flight Designs, Delta Wing and Soarmaster. 24851 Murray, Mt. Clemens, MI 48045 (313) 791-0614 - Since 1975. MINNESOTA NORTHERN SUN HANG GLIDERS, INC. Dealer for all major non-powered and powered brands. USHGA certified instruction. Owners/managers of the Hang Gliding Preser\'e) soarable ridge with tramway lift. When in the

North Country stop by and test our line of gliders and enjoy the sites. 2277 W. County Rd. C., St. Paul, (Roseville), MN 55113 (612) 633-3333. NEW MEXICO BUFFALO SKYRIDERS, INC. - Southwest's hang gliding headquarters. Instruction, sales and service for all types of gliders. Coronado Airport, P.O. Box 4512, Albuquerque, N.lv\. 87106. (505) 821-6842. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEW YORK

c~~-- ..'.Iv:. -

MOUNTAIN WINGS INC. - 6 miles from Ellenville. Learn to fly on one of our five training hills by USHGA certified instructors or fly one of our five mountain sites.

Dealers for most major brands of gliders. Featuring the

Streak and Vision. Repairs on all brands. Down tubes in

';\

/ . ~-

11,

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stock for all gliders. Acc. RIC equipment. Main St. Kerhonkson, New York 12446 (914) 626-5555. NEVADA HIGH SIERRA HANG GLIDING & WINDSURFING - 1087 N. Carsort, Carson City, NV 89702. (702) 885-1891. Northern Nevada's complete Hang Gliding shop. Featuring Wills Wing gliders and accessories. Also, dealers for U.P. Sports, Flight Designs, Seedwings and Pacific Windcraft. Dealers for Bic and U.P. SailboardS. USHGA certified Instruction beginning through advanced. Region II instructors, observer and examiner. Parts, service) gliders in stock, also towing instruction.

NORTH CAROLINA KITTY HAWK KITES, INC., - P.O. Box 340, Nagshead, N.C. 27959 1-800-334-4777, in North Carolina, (919) 441-4124. Learn to fly safely over soft sand dunes through gentle Atlantic breezes a few miles south of where the

gliders, accessories and parts in stock.

OREGON EASTERN OREGON ULTRALIGHTS - Certified instruction. New and used. 500 S.\YI. 11th, Pendleton, Oregon 97801. (503) 276-2329. PENNSYLVANIA SKY SAILS LTD Hang Gliding School. USHGA certified instructors. 1630 Lincoln Ave., Williamsport, PA 17701. (717) 326-6686 or 322-8866. TEXAS

Cer-

tified instruction, sales, service and rentals. 684 Hao St.,

Hon., HI 96821. (808) 373-2549. TRADEWINDS HANG GLIDING - USHGA Certified School. Box 543, Kailua, Hawaii, 96734. (808) 396-8557. IDAHO IDAHO MOUNTAIN AIR - Sales, service, insruction. Dealers for U .P. & Bennett. New & used gliders in stock. 945 No. Harrison, Pocatello, ID 83201. (208) 232-3408, 234-1228. SUN VALLEY SENSOR - New and used Sensor 5 IO's. Sales, service, demo. Bruce McKeller, P.O. Box 3696, Ketchum, Idaho 83340. (208) 726-5399. TREASURE VALLEY HANG GLIDERS - Service USHGA Instruction - dealers for most major brands, accessories - great site info, ratings - Box 746, 1':ampa, ID 83651 (208) 465-5593. ILLINOIS PROAIRIPROSTAR/FLEDGE Ill/FOX BAT sales, service, flight accessories and Ball variometers - Midwest

SEPTEMBER 1983

MICHIGAN ECO-FLIGHT HANG GLIDERS & WINDSURFING.

Wright Brothers learned to fly. Beginning/Novice packages and ratings available daily. Complete inventory of new

CONNECTICUT

FREE FLIGHT HANG GLIDING SCHOOL -

Motorglider Supplies, 2638 Roberts, Waukegan, IL 60087, (312) 244-0529.

AUSTIN AIR SPORTS - The central Texas outlet for those who like to fly. We sell & service hang gliders, ultralights, windsurfers & landsailors. We stock gliders & equipment from U.P., Wills Wing, U.S. Moyes, Bennett & Manta. USHGA certified instruction & demos available. Call us about our Mexico safari. 5508 parkcrest, Austin, Texas 78731. (512) 451-2505.

Time to renew your USHGA Membership? A phone call and a credit card number is all it takes! Call our office at: (213) 390-3065

WAT Wolfe Aviation Company has refined the trike concept into a highly portable, light-weight accessory power unit with true soaring capabilities for today's advanced hang glider designs. The many advanced and original design features of the WAT(WolfeAviation Trike) are available now at prices far more reasonable than present conventional trikes. Send $2.00 fcJr an injcJrnwtiun packa[.;e: $3.00 furei[.;n.

J::

WOLFE AVIATION COMPANY

PO BOX 59

ElYRIA. OHIO 44036

PHONE 216 ,i 32-4-7621

PATCHES & DECALS - USHGA sew-on emblems 3" dia. Full color - $ l. Decals, 3 1/," dia. Inside or outside application. 25¢ each. Include 15¢ for postage and handling with each order. Box 66306, Los Angeles, CA 90066.

TYPE: Quicksilver MX and Doublequick #10696 and l0875. WHERE AND WHEN: Dayton, OH, Dec. 14, 1981. Probably sold in Chicago area. CONTACT: Gary Meddock, 1334 N. Lutheran Church Rd., Dayton, OH 45427 (513) 854-4973. Reward.

Powered Ultralight Training Course - By Dennis Pagen. Now available from USHGA. Lessons, Groundschools, tests, FAA Regulations, 8 1/, x l l workbook format. $12.95 (incl. postage) P.O. Box 66306, Los Angeles, CA 90066.

TYPE: Comet 165 #1651222. WHERE AND WHEN: Lookout Mt., TN Nov. 7, 1982. SAIL PATTERN: Custom: burgundy LE, black and yellow TE, black tips. Undersurface: burgundy LE, spectrum, yellow TE, left corner has black "UP." Keel pocket black with white "UP." Bag blue with yellow tips. CONTACT: Dave Freeman at Lookout Mt. Flight Park (404) 398-3541. Reward. No questions.

REAL PILOTS FLY HANG GLIDERS - Bumper stickers. $1.50 ea., including postage, quantities less. Write: Stickers, 29 Willis Ave., Cresskill, NJ 07626. TEE-SHIRTS with USHGA emblem $8.00 including postage and handling. Californians add 6% tax. Men's sizes in BLUE - S, M, L, XL. Limited supply of ORANGE, sizes S, M, X-L. USHGA, P.O. Box 66306, Los Angeles, CA 90066. WOMEN PILOTS to interview for WOMEN PARTICIPANTS IN DANGEROUS SPORTS. Reply M.K. Jones, P.O. Box 731. Ketchum, ID 83340 (406) 689-3626 (208) 726-9016.

Movies AOLI, COMET CLONES & POD PEOPLE - Award winning film of Owens Valley hang gliding. 60 minutes. $64.95. THE SKY BLUE MOVIE - Epic quest for true flight. 100 minutes. $74.95 postpaid. PAL or foreign add $5. Free poster. Rick Masters, P.O. Box 478, Independence, CA 93526. The rate for classified advertising is 35¢ per word (or group of characters). Minimum charge, $3.00. A fee of $ l 0. is charged for each photograph or logo. Bold face or caps 50¢ per word extra. Underline words to be bold. Special layouts or tabs $20.00 per column inch. AD DEADLINES - All ad copy> instructions, changes, additions and cancellations must be received in writing 11h months preceding the cover date, i.e., November 20 for the January issue. Please make checks payable to USHGA: Classified Advertising Dept., HANG GLIDING MAGAZINE, Box 66306, Los Angeles, CA 90066.

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS Alrworl<s ....................................................... 4 Ball var1os ..................................................... 25 Bennett Delta Wing Gliders .......................... BC Crystal Air..................................................... 4 Eco Nautlcs ................................................... 3 Flight Designs............................................... 6 Fllghtech ........................................................ 3 Glider Rider ................................................... 13 Hall Brothers ................................................. 25 1nternat1ona1 Sailboards ............................... 25 Llghtwlng ..................................................... 33 Lltel< .............................................................. 13 Lool<out Mt. .................................................. g Moyes ............................................................ 20 Pagen BOOl<S ................................................. 13 Para Publlshlng ............................................ 42 Replogle ........................................................ 33 seedwlngs .................................................... 39 south coast Air ............................................. 15 svstel< ........................................................... 25 USHGA ...................................................... 5, !BC WAC .............................................................. 43 Whole Air Magazine ...................................... 41 WIiis Wing, inc.............................................. IFC

AD DEADLINES All ad copy, Instructions, changes, additions and can·

cellatlons must be received In writing 1v, months pre· ceding the cover date, I.e. Mar. 20 for the May Issue.

TYPE: Comet 135 No. UPCMT135054. SAIL PATTERN: White body; gold dbl. surface. LE & keel pocket no insignias. WHERE & WHEN: Oct. 11, 1982 10 mi. east of Mt. Wilson in San Gabriel Cyn. (Azusa) CA Los Angeles area. Thief known to drive brown jeep-type vehicle. Glider has mountings for french connection on keel. CONTACT: Jerry Bard (213) 851·8869.

TYPE: Comet II 165 #1631. WHERE AND WHEN: Sandia Peak, NM, May 16, 1983. PATTERN: Black LE, spectrum dbl. surface, white main body, blue keel pocket. CONTACT: Chuck Woods, 1905 Driss Pl. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112 (505) 298-2740. TYPE: UP cocoon harness, Advanced Air chute, Theotek vario, altimeter, Radio Shack 6-channel, helmet, Hall wind meter, all in blue UP harness bag w/"Owens Valley Pilot" patch sewn to lower packet. WHERE AND WHEN: From camper parked at Perkins Restaurant in St. Paul, MN April 24, 1983. CONT ACT: John Woiwode, RR #3, Box 255, Annandale, MN 55302 (612} 274-8064. TYPE: UP Gemini 164, light blue w/dk blue LE. Flight Designs Super Lancer 200, yellow w/purple LE, tips and center. US Lancer 190, multi-striped from center out: purple, yellow, orange, red, purple tips. WHERE AND WHEN: From garage at 1342 Henderson Ln., Hayward, CA May 4, 1983. CONTACT: Mike McDonald (415) 782-5119. TYPE: Boom Stratus V. PATTERN: All dk blue except 1 panel of rainbow near each tip. WHERE AND WHEN: Canoga Pk., CA June 14, 1983. CONT ACT: Kevin Anderson, 13261 Herrick Ave., Sylmar, CA 91342 (213) 367-3562. Reward. TYPE: Sensor 510 180 #225. PATTERN: Red LE, orange bottom. WHERE AND WHEN: Switch Back Mt., Eagle River, Alaska, June 15, 1983. CONTACT: Bob Adams (907) 694-2763. TYPE: All black Northstar harness for Casper wing (supine). Windhaven chute. CONTACT: John Fetter (619) 420-1706. TYPE: Dk blue and red gear bag w/black Flight Designs cocoon harness with Advanced Air chute in red container, orange Bell helmet, Ball vario w/bracket. WHERE AND WHEN: San Francisco, May 7, 1983. CONTACT: Joel Greger (415) 824-4826. Reward. TYPE: Bright red harness with matching chute. Chute has white lettering "go security/' hand embroidered patch on left shoulder patch. Reward. CONTACT: Sue Gale, Box 13, Elmira, NY 14901 (607) 733-9738. TYPE: Harrier 147 #6444. 3SA!L PATTERN: Orange LE, brown dbl. surface, gold and white spanwise, gold keel. WHERE AND WHEN: October 13, 1982, Vernon B.C. CONTACT: lSimon Mitchell (604) 357-2400 collect. Reward. TYPE: Duck 180 #10486. WHERE AND WHEN: Feb. 1983, Buflalo Skyriders. SAIL PATTERN: Black LE, spectrum, white TE. CONTACT: Buffalo Skyriders, P.O. Box 4512, Albuquerque, NM 87196 (505) 821-6842.

TYPE: Moyes Maxi Mk. !IL SAIL PATTERN: Black leading edges, center panels and tips. Assymetrical rainbow pattern (white, gold,. orange, red, purple, blue, lt. blue, green, yellow). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTER· ISTICS: Negative deflexor posts missing. Blue bag with 6"

tear. TYPE: Bobcat Ill. SAIL PATTERN: Orange leading edges and tips. Center out: lt. blue, gold, green. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: Gold anodized frame. Blue control bar, raked 21" forward. Faded orange and gray two-piece bag. WHERE & WHEN: San Diego, CA September 3, 1982. CONTACT: Torrey Pines, (714) 455-6036 (daytime). Paul Gach (714) 279-5403 (evenings). Reward. TYPE: Gemini #UPG13400M. SAIL PATTERN: Dk blue LE, Pacific blue center, white TE. Tape on LE. WHERE AND WHEN: 6/28182 W. Jordon Utah, taken from car. CONTACT: Claudia Holbrook (801) 561-1974 or 571-4044. TYPE: Eipper Flexi !IL SAIL PATTERN: White, blue, green, yellow and white. New, or no control bar. Tear in keel pocket. Reward .. CONT ACT: Will Richardson, Rte. I, Box 167, Trout Dale, VA 24378 (404) 436-8504. TYPE: 172 Moyes Mega. WHERE AND WHEN: March 20, '82, 80 miles north of Flagstaff, AZ (Echo Cliffs area). SAIL PATTERN: Lt. blue, with dk blue lightning bolt on right wing. CONTACT: Sky Bound Hang Gliders, l0250 N. 19th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021 (602) 997-9079 TYPE: 1982 177 Harrier II #6744. WHERE AND WHEN: Fountain Hills area, NE of Phoenix, AZ, April 15, 1982. SAIL PATTERN: All.white upper sail, blue lower sail, rainbow center panel. CONTACT: Sky Bound Hang Gliders. .~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TYPE: UP Gemini 184 #UPG 184032. SAIL PATTERN: Yellow nose, orange middle, red trailing edge (span-wise cut) with white leading edge and keel pocket. WHERE AND WHEN: Alameda, CA July 2, 1982. CONTACT: David Catlett (415) 521-7633. Reward TYPE: Pterodactyl with Cuyuna 430 reduction drive #11 lOOO. LE, yellow, TE, white. Center, brown. Tips, brown. Rudder, white with brown & black stripes. Canard, brown, yellow and white. CONTACT: LEAF, 331 South 14th St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904 (303) 632-4959. TYPE: 209 RAVEN #4402. SAIL PATTERN: Center out: Brown center, two white, two orange, white tips. Brown LE. Orange keel pocket. WHERE AND WHEN: El Centro, CA April 26, 1982. CONTACT: Mike Sorgaard (714) 352-2116. TYPE: Fledge IIB #1032. WHERE AND WHEN: March l, 1982 Denver, CO. Glider is incomplete. SAIL: White with dk blue LE, tips and keel panel. CONTACT: Richard Siberell, 711 55th Des Moines, Iowa 50312 (515) 255·1456. TYPE: 1982 Super Lancer 200. WHERE AND WHEN: Binghampton, NY 4/18182. CHARACTERISTICS: Will not fly as is. No base tube, battens, or washout tubes. One down tube replaced with stock 606 l tubing. SAIL: Blue and white, orange bag. Stolen by wuffo expected to be sold in southern California. CONTACT: James McLaughlin (607) 771-1583 days collect. $500 reward for arrest and con· viction.

HANG GLIDING

USHGA MERCHANDISE ORDER FORM

BOOKS

PRICE

MAHBIRDS by Maralys Wills. Entertainingly takes the reader from hang gliding's past to its soaring present. 8 pg color, 150 Blk & Wht photos, 40 pg appendix. USHGA INSTRUCTORS CERTIFICATION MANUAL. Complete requirements, syllabus, teaching methods. HAHG GLIDING by Dan Poynter. 8th Edition. Basic Handbook for skysurting. FLYING CONDITIONS by Dennis Pagen. Micrometerology for pilots 90 illustrations. HANG GLIDING AND FLYING SKILLS by Dennis Pagen. Beginners to exper1s instruclion manual. HANG GLIDING TECHNIQUES by Dennis Pagen. Techniques !or cross-country, competition & powered !light. POWERED ULTRALIGHT AIRCRAFT by Dennis Pagen. Complete

$17.95

QUANTITY 8-1

8-2 8-3

8-5 B-6 B-7 B-8

AMOU HT

S 2.00 $ 7.50 $ 7.50 $ 7.50

$ 7.50 $ 8.50

instruction manual.

B-9

POWERED ULTRALIGHT TRAINING COURSE By Dennis Pagen. A manual for self-training & training schools. 11 lessons, tests and FAA Regulations. MANNED KITING by Dan Poynter. Handbook on tow launch flying. MAN.POWERED AIRCRAFT by Don Dwiggins. 192 pg history of flighl. features flight of Gossamer Condor. FEDERAL AVIATION REGULATIONS FOR PILOTS. 1983 Edition. Hang gliding pertinent information FAI SPORTING CODE FOR HAHG GLIDING, Requirements for records, achievements & World Championships. HANG GLIDING MAHUAL & LOG by Dan Poynter. For beginners An asset to instructors. 24 pgs. USHGA OFFICIAL FLIGHT LOG. 40 pgs. Pocket size, skills signofls (all levels), glossary of terms, awards.

B-10 B-11 8-12 B-13 8-15 B-16

$12.95

$ 4.50 $ 6.50

$ 4.50 $ 1.00

S 1.50 $ 2.95

ITEMS 1-1

"HEW" USHGA 'HANG GLIDING' T·SHIRT. 100% heavyweight cotton. WHITE or TAN. Men's sizes: SM L X-L (CIRCLE ONE). USHGA EMBLEM T·SHIAT. 100% heavyweight cotton. TAN or LIGHT BLUE. Men's sizes only. S M L X-L (CIRCLE SIZE & COLOR) USHGA EMBLEM CAP. One size lits all. Baseball type/USHGA emblem. NAVY ORANGE GOLD (CIRCLE ONE) .. HEW .. USHGA BELT BUCKLE. Solid bronze, custom design, relief sculpture. 31;, x 21;._ USHGA SEW-OH EMBLEM. 3" dia., full color (red wings, sunburst wlblack print). USHGA EMBLEM DECAL. 3'12'' dia., full color LICENSE PLATE FRAME. "I'd rather be hang gliding." White on Blue. WALLET. Nylon, velcro closure, mach. washable, water resistant. ROYAL BLUE color.

1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-8 1-9

$ 8.00

------

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HANG GLIOING/GROUNO SKIMMER BACK ISSUES "'SPECIFY BY CIRCLING ISSUE NUMBEA""ISSUES NOT NUMBERED ARE SOLO OUT"" PAINTED COPIES:

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S 100

105 - Current Issue

S 2 00

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