Hang Glider Airfield visit one Year on.

Exactly a year ago I had my last hang glider flight, and this last weekend I visited the Suffolk Coastal Floaters Hang Gliding club airfield in Mendlesham to see some hang gliding launches and remind me of the dream of flying across the UK in a doodlebug powered hang glider.


I didn't participate in any hang glider flying as I haven't flown for over a year due to the various reasons, I mentioned in my last hang glider blog post, and I knew my flying skills would be current enough for me to deal with hang glider safely in the conditions of a warm june afternoon.

I stayed around to watch a few hang glider tow launches, renewed my hang gliding club membership, as I could be returning to flying in the autumn when conditions are milder, and hopefully I've sorted out all outstanding personal issues.

Here is a video of some hang gliding activities from my visit to the Mendlesham airfield.

The hang gliding dream lives on

The year 2007 has come and gone, and I didn't do much as far as my hang gliding flying challenge is concerned.

There were many obstacles that I had to overcome in the year, but unfortunately this really meant that I had to put my hang gliding dream on the backburner.

The year started off with family commitments stopping me getting out to the airfield, and I only managed to have one day of hang glider flying in June 2007. Later on in the year other things cropped up that meant I had to completely abandon any thoughts of hang gliding while I sorted things out.

I am still committed to making this challenge one day, and I'm praying that things will turn round soon so that I can get back on track.

In the meantime I wish all of you my hang glider flying adventure supporters the best for the year 2008.



More reading
The beginning of my hang gliding adventure.

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 Glider flying in the Air!

Hang Glider Training in Norfolk

Tuesday the 22nd saw me going to Norfolk to meet up with my hang gliding instructor Tony Webb who normally returns to the UK in the summer, and trains hang glider pilots from his Norfolk base.

I had not flown a hang glider since December 2005 when I got by club pilot hang glider rating, mainly because I didn't have a glider of my own, so the trip was to refresh my skills, but I also wanted to take the opportunity to do a chest bridle conversion, as this is the type of release method used while tow launching a hang glider at the Suffolk coastal floaters hang gliding club where I will be flying from next month.

After a 2 hour drive from London, I arrived at the Fransham farm airfield from where the hang gliding tuition is conducted. After saying hello to Tony Webb, I met Rona, completed the necessary paperwork and was ready.

The first task as always is to rig (prepare for flying) the hang glider, perform the daily inspection of the aircraft to make sure it is airworthy, and there is nothing that requires attention or would make the aircraft un safe to fly.

On completion of this task, I put on a hang glider training harness which has the chest release fitted, carry the glider over to the launch point, where Tony briefs me on the new method of attaching the tow line to the pilot, and the differences it will make to my flying. I am now ready for my first flight which is a low level (20ft) flight to get me used to the chest release as well as remind me how to fly a hang glider. I hook myself into the glider, perform my pre-flight checks, Tony then attaches a single line to my chest via the bridle, I pick up the glider on my shoulders, level the wings and tell Tony I'm ready, and he tells the winch operator "all checks complete, take up slack", the line tightens a bit, I call to Tony "Stand By" which he relays to the winch, the line stops pulling, I check the wings are still level, the hang glider nose is at the proper angle of attack and the wind direction is still correct and call to Tony "All Out", he relays, the line starts to pull, I keep the hang glider control bar pulled toward me as I accelerate forward, a couple of steps and I'm airborne. I shift my weight to keep the glider pointed at the winch, and before I know it, the flight is over. That wasn't bad, but it was hard work, as the I had to work much harder to keep the glider pointed at the winch while being pulled from the chest bridle. I had 3 more flights, the last 2 being up to about 80ft. It was now past noon, and the sun was out, and the thermals were about, making the conditions not idea for training, so Tony called time for lunch, and we'll resume I the afternoon around 4pm, when the conditions would again be suitable for training.

I take my packed lunch back to Tony's chill out caravan where I quickly consume the contents, as I need to try out some harnesses to see which one will fit me, I'm looking for one to buy one that I can use when flying with the Suffolk coastal floaters hang gliding club.

With the help of Stephan the winch operator and the hang simulator I settle on a used purple pod harness. Tony turns up a bit latter with my new reserve parachute, and fits that to me harness (this is one piece of equipment that I hope I never have to use), I already have a chest bridle, so I now have the minimum equipment that I need to be able to fly with the Suffolk coastal floaters hang gliding club, so there is no reason why I shouldn't get some airtime and gain some more hang gliding skills in the club environment.

After the lunch break we (there are some other students there as well) meet Tony at the tow field, and I'm ready to try out my newly acquired equipment. The first thing I notice when I put on the harness is how heavy it weighs. The increased weight is obvious due to the reserve parachute in the front.

The first flight is to 80ft just to make sure I'm happy with the harness, and still remember what I was taught in the morning session. The flight goes well, with the harness not causing me any problems.
The next flight is high one, with the flight plan calling for a circuit of the field once I get to the top of the tow and release the line. This is the first time I'm going to have both line attached to the bridle, so Tony mentions that I should release the top line using the top lever and the bottom lever when I get to the top of the tow.

The launch goes well, and I climb out to about 100ft, where it is time to release the top line, I pull in the control bar, my left hand goes to the middle, and my right hand goes to my chest. "Twang", I see both lines fall away! I had done a double release. I glide down a land, and sigh, as I now have to wheel the glider a long way back to the launch point.

15 minutes later after I get my got my breath back, and go on to have more flights, this time I'm able to do the circuits as Tony gives me a tip to help stop double releases, though I'm not totally happy with my landings. It is now late, so we pack up for the day, and I have to make the 2 hour drive back to London.

Wednesday 23rd August
Having ended yesterday on a good note I was so looking forward to the day.
On the way up to Norfolk, there was a traffic jam on the motorway, this lost me about 15 minutes. Part of the journey to Norfolk takes me past RAF Lakenheath, an American airbase where they have F16s stationed, so I stopped at the viewing area to see if I'd get an opportunity of seeing a F16 take off, after 5 minutes it didn't seem they were taking to the air soon, so I left.

As I got to the training field, I was happy to see that the glider I used yesterday was already rigged, this would save some time getting airborne. As I approached Tony mentioned that rain was forecast for the day, so he had rigged the glider to save time. I got ready, did my daily inspection, carried the glider to the launch point.

The first flight was supposed to be a simple 80ft release job just to make sure I was awake, I launched, the glider climbed, about 40ft the glider started veering left, I was caught napping, I knew I was going to get on top of it, so I released, and belly flopped to the ground, letting go just before the left wing impacted the ground.
The second flight was only slightly better, as I released, but again I veered left, and while I corrected it, and the glider stated going back on course, I didn't have enough height, so I ended partly in some hedges. It seemed I wasn't keeping the bar pulled in enough, and was allowing the glider to balloon up as I climbed. So I needed to keep the bar pulled as I climbed, and once at a safe height, I should left the bar out very gradually to avoid ballooning.
Tony decided for the 3rd flight I should go for a circuit, and this time everything went according to plan.
I had 4 more flights before we had to stop due to the threat of rain called a halt to proceedings for the day. One abort due a slight veer to the left, the next I double released, and the last 2 were good circuits.

It is raining today, so I can't go back today, and I'm back at work tomorrow. I'll see if I can get another day off before Tony Webb goes back to Spain the 1st week of September.

I wasn't able to take any hang glider pictures, so sorry for the long post without pictures to break it up.

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 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 glider plans 2006

Having now qualified as a hang glider pilot, the next objective is to get as much flying experience as I can and then do my powered hang glider training, but there is one main obstacle in the way, lack of equipment!

So the first goal now is to gain sponsorship for my hang glider challenge. I will now be approaching the companies I had in mind to see if I can get someone interested in the project. If anyone out there knows of an individual or company that would be interested in sponsoring my gliding project, then please get in touch. I reckon I will need about £10,000 for equipment and logistics.

I have put a hang glider sponsorship proposal together so if any of you marketing gurus out there have any ideas that will make it more appealing to companies, your input will be appreciated.

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.

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