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The Green Swamp Sport Klassic Catalyst A pilot's beginnings to XC flying by Ric Caylor
: My dream was to pilot my hang glider as far and long as I wanted to fly. I never could have imagined all that I would need to learn for that seemingly simple dream to become a reality. Attending the 2018 Green Swamp Sport Klassic (GSSK) turned out to be the biggest step toward achieving that dream. The GSSK is an annual mentored hang gliding event designed to improve cross-country skills and introduce pilots to competition flying. Since then, my life has never been the same. In March 2017, I visited what is now Paradise Air Sports in Groveland, Florida, just a few days before the 2017 GSSK. I was a new H-3 pilot and had an unquenchable desire to fly cross country (XC) when I met Tom Lanning. He was a sage pilot who was working with two other pilots, reviewing a video that Lanning had taken while flying above them. They were analyzing their ICG track logs with a software
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