First hang gliding flight 2007

On saturday 2nd June 2007 I had my first hang gliding flight of the year 2007. Due to one reason or the other, I have not been able to make it out to the hang gliding field.

I'm still building up experience for my challenge, and it is taking longer than I would like, but I really can't do much about that. Many thanks to all members of the Suffolk coastal floaters hang gliding club for their support.



First flight 2007.

I hope very soon I will be experienced enough to attach a camera to my hang glider, for now you'll have to make do with shots taken from the ground.

The Ghana Hang Gliding and Paragliding Festival

I'm planning to go to the Ghana hang gliding and paragliding festival next year, and hopefully fly in it! Work commitments prevent me from going this year, and I think another year of hang gliding will mean I'm better prepared to fly in African conditions.

Ghana hang gliding festival

It is a pity that the tourist industry in Nigeria is virtually non existent. I was thinking that when I complete my challenge of attempting to hang glide across the UK, it would be nice to fly in Nigeria, but my recent trip doesn't give me much hope, unless I get full government sponsorship complete with security detail.

Ghana got their independence just 3 years before Nigeria, yet while things are not 100% okay there, they are miles ahead of Nigeria in development. In fact many Nigerians are setting up businesses in Ghana due to better conditions. I was told during my recent trip to Nigeria, that Ghana recently celebrated 10 years of continuous electricity supply. What are our Nigerian government officials doing, surely there are people that would be interested in fly hang gliders in that part of West Africa?

My hang gliding Video is on US TV

The hang gliding video I submitted sometime ago to Al Gore's Current TV is now airing.

http://www.current.com/pods/video/PD05642

If you are in the US, and can get the station, then please do watch the hang gliding video, and tell me how it compares to my original, I'm in the UK, so currently can't see it.

As for my hang gliding challenge, it is March, so we should soon see some better weather, and hopefully I'll be flying my hang glider again.

No hang glider flying this year yet

I haven't flown my hang glider this year yet, so I need to remind myself my flying dream.



Hopefully the flying weather will improve, and I'll be able to get back to hang gliding in the air again.

Hang Gliding Blog Hijacked!

Having had my hang gliding blog for over 18 months, I was disappointed when recently while updating one of my flying blog posts I found out I could no longer update or post to my blog url.

Over the last 3 weeks I have been trying to get support@blogger.com to help me, but all to no avail.

The last stroke came yesterday when someone finally made a post to my old hang gliding blog url (some of you might have received the feed update by email).

I have moved my hang glider diary and amended the feedblitz feed so you should only get my hang gliding updates from now on.

As for my hang gliding adventure, so far I have had about 9 short free flights as an independent tow launched hang glider pilot. I'm hoping to be out this Saturday hang gliding weather permitting, and will also have someone shooting some video footage for me so I can put together a short clip for an American internet TV station.

I still have some more work to do before I'm ready for my third and final hang glider training course which will see me converting to powered hang gliding. If all goes well, this autumn/winter will be enough for me to gain the required experience, so I'll be ready by early 2007.

I'll keep you updated, so for those of you that don't check here regularly, why not use the subscribe option on the right so you can get email notification of hang glider updates.

My Airwave Calypso hang glider

Yesterday I picked up my Airwave Calypso hang glider from a member of the Suffolk Coastal Floaters hang gliding club. It is a used glider, but is in very good condition, and I am looking forward to flying it in the Autuum.

I had the oppoutunity of rigging up the Airwave hang glider, and Phil one of our club members also checked it out for me, and gave it a thumbs up.

I have 2 days booked with my hang gliding instructor Tony Webb of Lejair in Norfolk next month where I will be converting to a chest release which will allow me to fly with the Suffolk coastal floaters hang gliding club. Not having my own glider has meant that I haven't flown a hang glider since I qualified as a club pilot in december last year, so I will be using the 2 days to polish up my skills and get used to the chest release and harness which I should get before my scheduled training in August.

My next update will be in August when I've had my training so check back then for more details of how I'm getting on, or subsribe to my hang gliding blog by entering your email address in the box provided to recieve an email when my next update is posted.

Hang Glider Flying in Suffolk

I finally was able to make it down to Suffolk for the first time this year yesterday to see pilots of the Suffolk Coastal Floaters hang gliding club do some flying.

Unfortunately I was not able to perticipate myself even though I have my CP hang glider flying rating, I had not done a chest release conversion, did not have my own hang glider, and the conditions were not good for a novice pilot anyway. I was able to keep myself busy by taking some video footage, and chatting to the glider pilots. My turn will come soon, so there is no need to be in a hurry.

A full report with hang glider flying video footage will be posted later.

Hang Glider Training Video

Here is a clip of me training to fly a hang glider in Spain.



High quality versions are available below:

Quicktime users can click hang glider training video.

Windows Media Users click hang gliding training video.

If you are also thinking of learning to fly a hang glider, I would highly recommend my instructor Tony Webb who operates in Algodonales, Spain.

Hang Glider One year ago!

Hang Glider Adventure

It is one year since I dreamed of flying a hang glider across the UK.

When I came up with the idea, I had not physically seen a hang glider before, let alone fly one. Since then I have learnt a lot about the sport of hang gliding, have obtained a flying club pilot rating and flown a glider off the top of a 2,500 feet mountain.

While I'm still not ready to take on the hang glider challenge yet, my idea is no longer a pipe dream and I'm much closer to fulfilling the dream now than when I started out in 2005.

Safety is one of my main concerns, and I have learnt from several people that you should never be in a hurry in this gliding sport, so I intend to make sure I gain enough experience to keep me safe when I attempt the challenge and also increase the success rate. So once I get my hang glider flying kit, I will be gaining experience by going out there and enjoying the sport and improving the skills I've already learnt while picking up new ones.

I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead in the year, but if I could over come the hurdles I encountered in 2005 (particularly when it seemed that I was not going to get through the hang glider training due to various issues), then I'm sure at the end of the year I will have more successes under my belt.

Check the hang glider milestones of my progress since I started out in 2005.

Hang Gliding Photos

I will be posting my hang gliding photos from my recent trip to Spain in my Hang Gliding Photos blog over the Christmas period, so have a look.

Flying with Condors

There was a programme on BBC last night about a hang glider pilot who wanted to fly with Condors in the Andes.

The programme was more about the Condor birds than hang gliding, but the few clips of Judy Lenden (the glider pilot) flying in a hang glider rekindled my interest in wanting to be able to join in the sport of free flight, and have my own adventure.

It's just 9 more days before I go to Spain for my hang glider training, and everything is almost in place, just need to make final payment for the flying training course, and that's it.

Plane tickets, insurance, car rental all sorted, looking forward to it, I hope I'm not too rusty, and that at the end of the week I do gain my hang glider club pilot rating.

I hope to be able to post from Spain using my Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone, will have pictures and if I do find the time to spend at an internet cafe will have detailed reports of my hang glider activities.

New hang glider training date.

I will now be going to Spain on the 10th of December to continue my hang glider training with Lejair Hang Gliding School.

I haven't completed all arrangments yet, but have at least got the time off work. The plan is that this time I will be able to complete my hang glider training and get all the paperwork necessary for me to join a local flying club here in the UK and gain experience required to continue with my gliding challenge.

Here is to hoping to me returning as a hang glider pilot.

Update on my hang glider training program

Just a quick flying update, as nothing much is happening at the moment with my hang glider training program.

I've decided that I'm going to have to take another trip to Spain in order to continue with my goal of achieving a hang glider club pilot rating.

I have made an initial enquiry with Lejair School of Hang Gliding and am just waiting for confirmation of dates, so I can make the travel arrangements.

I still have a half day credit of flying training with Green Dragons school of Hang Gliding, so I will give Andy a call when I've got a spare day off work.

In the meantime all I can do is continue to read my BHPA Pilot's Handbook and Dennis Pagan's Hang Gliding training manual, these books are very informative, and I highly recommend them to anyone thinking of learning to fly a hang glider.

Hang Glider Publicity Drive

As part of the publicity drive for my hang glider challenge, I today appeared on BBC London Sports Show, and had an oppourtunity to share my flying dream with London listeners.

Another flying article also appeared in the Edingburgh Evening News.

Short break in Hang Glider training

There will be a short delay in updates to my hang glider diary, as I don't have anything scheduled until my visit to Lejair School of Hang Gliding on Monday 22nd August.

In the meantime I will be revising my theory knowledge by going through the Hang Glider Pilot's Handbook published by the BHPA.

If you have any questions leave a comment or email me via my hang glider website.

Don't forget you can subscribe to my hang glider flying diary to receive email alerts when I update my blog, enter your address in the box provided on the right, your address will not be used for anything else including passing onto 3rd parties I hate spam just as you do (I spend 8 hours of each working day getting rid of it), you will only get my hang glider updates!

Hang Gliding in May?

My next hang glider training date is Tuesday 10th May, and it is booked with Green Dragons hang gliding school.

I'm hoping that the weather is now stable enough for something to be done, as I really want to get things moving again, not just reading about someone else's hang gliding activities.

Suffolk Coastal Floaters Hang Gliding Club

I was able to pay the Suffolk Coastal Floaters Hang Gliding Club a visit today, as the weather was very good and there were quite a few hang glider pilots out flying.

The setup was very impressive, and hearing those famous words "All Out" brought back memories from my hang glider training, and made me more determined to get my CP so I could join in on the fun

For some reason I had imagined Richard Hunt to be older than he turned out to be.

A good day, with 2 of the pilots managing to go cross country in their Hang Gliders, Richard being one of them, how he managed to persuade Glen to retrieve him in a microlight I have no idea.

Hang Gliding training costs.

This hang gliding experience is becoming expensive, and my bank manager is starting to compain.

Let's see where the money is going:

BHPA Membership £92
BHPA Pilot's Handbook £14.99
Hang Glider Training Manual £25
EP/CP Tow Hang Gliding course (Spain) £1000
Accomaodation (Spain) £168
Hang Gliding Insurance (Spanish HG Association for 3rd party liability) £50
Return Air Ticket £80
Travel Insurance (includes repartriation and Hang Gliding activity) £35
Car Rental (sharing a car with another student) £80
Stansted Express return ticket £25

You do the sums! I still have to buy a hang glider and other associated equipment, gain enough experience, before I can even think of the next course! Help please Sir Richard?

Edit 18th March 2005: The final bill for my trip to Spain included the following extras

Extra hang glider training £50
Expenses £170

Edit 17 Dec 2005: Here are the addtional expenses incured to get my Club Pilot (CP)hang glider rating

2nd trip to Spain
Training £960
Accomodation £84
Hang Gliding Insurance (Spanish) £50
Air Ticket £45
Travel Insurance Hang Gliding cover included £35
Car Rental £110
Train Tickets £25

I'm Joining a Hang Gliding Club

I've decided that I need to join a local suffolk hang gliding club, the nearest tow club to me within the M25. While it is about 100 miles from my home in London, it is not uncommon for hang glider pilots to travel these type of distances to enable them to fly in the sky and enjoy their free flight sport.

I've made contact with the club secretary, but won't be able to join the club untill I've got my hang glider Club Pilot qualification, but I will be making a social visit shortly if weather permits to see how they operate and meet my future hang gliding colleagues, as well as get to know some of the typical hang gliders used in the sport.

Hang Gliding Challenge Introduction

For full details of the my proposed hang gliding challenge, visit my hang glider website.

Summary: In Jan 2005, I decide that I would like to fly across the UK in a hang glider, meeting the locals along the way. not a bad idea, the only quirk being I've never flown a hang glider, and I'm from African origins!

This hang gliding blog in addition to my website will detail how I get along from the initial training to become an elementary pilot, then getting my CP rating that will allow me to fly in a club environment through to motorised doodlebug powered hanglider training, raising sponsorship and planning the flying adventure itself.

Shola Ogunlokun The first Nigerian Hang Glider pilot of the MB Challenge fame