Mention you’re a hang glider pilot, and often you wish you’d kept your big mouth shut. Most folks haven’t really got a clue about hang gliding. Sometimes they even believe you when you tell them that if the wind stops you get stuck up there until it blows again.

Hang gliding has come a long way since poorly trained Icarus flying untested wings made a grave pilot error and paid the ultimate price. Todays hang gliders are carefully designed, safe aircraft, and the pilots well versed in the lore of the sky.

But what about the thrills? Well, some pilots do work up adrenalin in aerobatic flight or in the new speed gliding competitions. Others, however, discover the serenity of floating in a silent sky, or simply enjoy flying with friends. For many, competition is the key, while many strive to set new personal bests.

In August, 2000, a hang glider pilot flew 555km in one flight to set a new World Record.

Of all the ways a man can fly, probably hang gliding comes closest to what it probably feels like to be a bird.
 

What’s a hang glider?

The days of the old delta-wing kites that most people think of when they hear about hang gliders are long gone. Just as a modern light aircraft is related to the Wright’s first plane, most modern hang gliders share the basic heritage of these older machines, but don’t look a lot like them.

Hang gliders are divided into three basic types.

Flex Wing hang gliders are familiar to most people, and are the most closely related to the old delta-wing "Standard" hang gliders of the early 1970’s. They have a basic tubing structure and a flexible wing made of sailcloth, stiffened into an aerofoil shape by aluminium battens. They are usually wire-braced, and controlled purely by shifting the pilot weight, and are launched and landed on the pilots feet. Flex wings come in many shapes and sizes.

"Floaters" are designed for new pilots or for those who want an easy to fly, light, and simple machine. They’re great for just getting out and having a great time, no matter what your experience level. "Intermediate" gliders provide better performance for the advancing pilot, but are a little heavier and require more skill. "Advanced" wings tend to be heavier still, with excellent performance, but require an experienced pilot’s skill and judgement to fly safely. Many of the most recent advanced wings do away with much of the wire bracing in favour of cantilever composite structure, and explore the frontiers of foot launchable aerodynamics.

Rigid Wing hang gliders resemble aeroplane wings without tails. Although they are designed to fold up into a transportable package, in flight the whole wing is entirely rigid, the main stars being manufactured of carbon fibre and epoxy for strength and weight. They are usually controlled either in part or whole by control surfaces on the wings. Because the aerodynamic characteristics can be very precisely controlled, they generally have better performance than the flex wings, though the drag of the pilot limits the glide angle somewhat. They are designed to be launched and landed on foot This sort of hang glider is gaining popularity very quickly, although they are very expensive.

Ultralight Sailplanes can’t be foot-launched or landed, as they usually have tails, a cockpit, and wheels for takeoff and landing. Because of the low drag, they also have the greatest performance. However, they are expensive, and difficult to transport. (In Australia, as long as a glider weighs less than 70kg empty, it’s classified as a hang glider.) Examples include the homebuilt "Carbon Dragon", and the Moyes Microlights "Tempest".

History – The Beginnings

Hang Gliding has been around for a very long time. Otto Lillienthal built and flew basic wood and fabric hang gliders in Germany in the late 1800’s. Even the Wright brothers’ earliest experiments were flown as hang gliders. However, it took the invention of a basic flexible wing shape by Francis Rogallo for use as a spacecraft recovery parachute (abandoned by NASA as too complex after some testing) and the inventiveness of some inspired men to make hang gliding cheap and accessible to all.

Australians played a major role in the birth of hang gliding. The catalyst that started the huge boom in hang gliding in the late 60's and early 70's was the design of a ski kite using the (now ubiquitous) pendulum harness and triangular braced control bar  by an Australian engineer, John Dickenson. In 1963 as an alternative to the unsafe flat kites used by water skiers and towed behind boats, and armed with only a magazine photo of a Rogallo NASA Gemini recovery wing, he built a kite (mating a wire braced control bar and pendulum harness system with a spar-framed wing similar to those already tried by NASA and others for various applications) that set the standard for the next 12 years, (in about 1974/75 through 1981 hang glider wing technology evolved rapidly, though most popular hang gliders, even if they have completely changed the wing design, retain the triangular control bar and harness system to this day)

This, then revolutionary kite was taken up by a number of Australian water ski kite fliers, and before long, John and they had discovered its ability to glide free of the rope as well as be a kite.

In the USA, there had been some less advanced experiments with hang gliding using the Rogallo type wing with rigid spars, mainly using bamboo and plastic sheeting, but the control was inadequate for much success. However, entrepreneurial Australian ski-kite fliers like Bill Moyes and Bill Bennett soon introduced Dickenson’s version to the rest of the world.  Suddenly recreational hang gliding began its biggest boom. For only a few hundred dollars, you could own a flying machine weighing less than 20kg!

You can read more about John Dickenson and his pivotal role in the early evolution of the hang glider at: http://www.JohnDickenson.net on the web.  However, according to that site, this site is one of a number of "Websites that deliberately and knowingly give a dishonest account of hang gliding history" in defiance of their claim that John Dickenson "invented the modern hang glider".  Let's just say we have a difference of opinion about what is meant by a "modern" hang glider after over 45 years of subsequent hang glider evolution!

Getting Into the Air

Jumping off cliffs! That’s the way most people think about hang glider takeoffs. In fact, even when hang gliders fly from cliffs, they don’t "jump". The idea is to run with the glider and fly off the edge, (preferably!) in full control. Most mountain and coastal cliffs used for hang gliding have launch areas that allow the pilot to make a controlled run, and be flying by the time they reach the edge. Many sites have been improved with ramps or surface treatment to assure a safe launch and help minimize inpact on the local enviroment.

But launching from a high place is only one way of getting a hang glider into the air. The earliest hang gliders were often towed on a rope behind a boat before cutting free to glide down. In the 1980’s Donnell Hewitt introduced new methods of controlling the force on the tow rope with a tension meter and rope bridle, making towing behind a car safer, and recently, ultralight aircraft capable of aerotowing hang gliders at the required low airspeeds have become available. Recently, very lightweight engine and propeller units have been designed that turn hang gliders into self-launching soaring machines.

Staying Up

Like soaring birds, hang gliders depend on rising air, called "lift" to stay aloft. Cliffs facing an onshore wind supply a steady stream of air, although you’re usually limited to flying along the cliffs. Thermals, or rising areas of warm air from land heated by the sun, provide an abundant source of lift for flying high and far. They can also be deucedly elusive sometimes! There’s an old soaring proverb: "Lift is where you find it…", which sometimes seems to sum the whole exercise up pretty well.

Nevertheless, an experienced pilot learns to read terrain and weather clues to predict where the next thermal may be coming from. Discontinuities in the landscape, or cumulus clouds, which often form at the top of thermals, are often great indicators, as are soaring birds. (Except Wedge-tailed Eagles in nesting season, who get very protective and have been known to put holes in sails!)

How a hang glider is controlled

Most hang gliders don’t have ailerons, rudders or elevators. They are controlled entirely by shifting the pilot body weight either to the sides or fore and aft. However chancy this might seem, it actually provides considerable control.

A modern hang glider is very pitch stable. This means that if you speed it up or slow it down, it will try to return to normal cruise speed by itself. It’s usually "neutrally stable" in roll, meaning that if you put it into a turn, it will tend to stay in the turn until you take action to straighten things out.

Stalls always seem to be the major concern for prospective hang glider pilots. Generally, a stall is a non-event in a hang glider. Most flying takes place at only a few km/hr above stall speed, and particularly when flying in thermal turbulence, stalling’s something you tend to do occasionally. Recovery is undramatic. Most of the time, the glider will just drop the nose for a few seconds till speed is regained, and you may lose 10m or so of altitude. The only time a stall is of real concern is close to the ground, either on takeoff or in the landing approach. Students are taught the importance of a fast, positive take-off technique, and the importance of keeping speed up in the landing phase.

Most hang gliders will not spin unless deliberately provoked! Beginner hang gliders are designed to be unspinnable.

Landing a hang glider consists of decending until you are very close to the ground, then easing the control bar forward gradually to try to keep it flying as long as possible. As soon as the pilot detects that any more pushout is not arresting descent, he/she must push the bar out firmly to roate the wing as perpendicular to the airflow as possible. The wing suddenly becomes a giant air brake, and with practice, you can stop without even having to take a step.

Safety

Hang gliding doesn’t have a great reputation for safety to most people. When hang gliding first became popular, there were plenty of accidents. The equipment was basic (and often dangerous) and training often non-existent. And sensationalising the accidents was a great way for journalists to sell newspapers. A "Glider Man In Death Plunge" headline hit the front page all too often.

Since the early 1980’s the accident rate has become quite low, mostly because now, pilots are required to go through formalised training. Pilot error, even in the early days, was usually the reason for accidents. Errors in judgement, or decisions made in ignorance killed many early hang glider pilots.

Also, the equipment has also evolved, and all commercially available hang gliders must be certified for both strength and stability. They also have the performance to fly in a wider range of conditions.

Most hang gliders are controlled entirely by weight shift. Basically, you shift your body in the direction you want to go. To go faster, you move forward; to slow down, rearward. Unfortunately this means that you can only control it if the aircraft is experiencing positive "G" force. Hang gliders are not designed to do barrel rolls. It also means that in some extreme situations, such as turbulence-induced dives, the pilot may not have direct control. Fortunately, the design of modern hang gliders includes features that will automatically recover normal flight. Dive recovery is built into the wings in the form of an automatic "up-elevator" system in the sail which comes into play when the wing is at low angles of attack. In general, hang glider pilots can be assured that as long as they fly in sensible weather conditions, their wing will handle anything the air may throw at it.

Certification is also the reason it’s not generally practical to build your own hang glider from scratch any more – apart from some old, basic rigid wing plansets, there are currently no commercially available plans for home-built hang gliders. It would cost you more to build one than to buy a good second hand machine anyhow.

Most people don’t realise that all hang glider pilots carry emergency parachutes. These are designed to bring both glider and pilot down together, so you don’t have to "cut loose" first. They are for use only if the glider has suffered a structural failure or a mid-air collision. They’ve been known to save pilots from altitudes of only a few hundred feet.

There are legal limitations, too. Hang gliders are not allowed to fly over built-up areas, controlled airspace or above 10,000 ft without special dispensation. This isn’t usually a problem!

Learning

These days, all new hang glider pilots are required to have qualified by going through an accredited school.

The best way to learn is to take a concentrated course over a week. Often this can be a live-in course. Over this time, you will be taught the basics of ground-handling, launching, flying and landing a hang glider, usually to the point where you will be allowed to fly under minimal supervision on sites appropriate to novice pilots. You will also be taught, and be required to pass an exam on basic hang gliding theory.

Although each school is required to graduate pilots at the same level, they often take different approaches. Some offer tandem flights from tow to get the student used to the in-flight controls, whilst others use mainly hill-based training. A school based in a flight park usually offers the most consistent training, as they are not so dependent on specific sites. It’s a good idea to ask around to see what sort of reputation your proposed school has.

Later, as you progress in skill level, you will take examinations to increase your pilot rating or obtain endorsements for alpine flying, towing or auxiliary powered flight.

Equipment

If you take up hang gliding seriously, as well as a hang glider (from $1000 second hand to $4000 new for a novice wing) you’ll need a harness (up to $1000 new), a parachute (about $600) and instruments (from about $400 new). The most common instrument is a combination electronic altimeter and variometer (rate of climb indicator). You may also choose to use an air speed indicator and for serious cross country or competition flight, a Global Positioning System receiver.

Australia has two local hang glider manufacturers, Moyes in Sydney, and Airborne Windsports in Newcastle

"Trading Post" Bargains

Ocasionally you’ll see a hang glider or hang gliding equipment advertised in a market magazine for a bargain basement price. Very often this gear is old and/or obsolete. Never buy any of this stuff before having it checked out by an experienced and current pilot or assessed by a professional. It’s usually best to wait until you’ve completed your trianing course before making decisions on what glider will suit you best.

Hang Gliding as a Sport

If you thrive on the cut and thrust of competition, hang gliding competitions offer some serious challenges. Most competitions are races in thermal soaring conditions, either to a declared goal or around a triangular course. Often these courses are over 160km long, and require both skill and stamina just to complete, even if you’re not a placegetter.

The new "speed gliding" competitions are more like slalom skiing, with the idea of completing a course around a set of pylons in the minimum time, with plenty of exciting and spectacular flying at low altitude.

Flight Parks

One of the problems with hang gliding has always been the logistics of getting a flight. All too often, you can spend the day kicking rocks on top of a hill somewhere, because the wind isn’t just right, or go out for the day only to get a few minutes in the air. This might be fine for people with plenty of time on their hands, but many of us are sadly short of this luxury…

Some enterprising operators are now opening flight parks dedicated to hang gliding. Along with nearby hill launches, they usually offer towing and social facilities, so that you’re guaranteed as many flights as you want to take, and can do it in civilised surroundings. They will even come and retrieve you with a cold drink after that long cross-country flight, (for a price). A bit like a ski resort (but sadly usually without the bunnies).
 
 

Which Wing is right for you?

Sailplanes offer substantially more performance than hang gliders, but most people can’t afford their own sailplane and as a result share club aircraft. Even if you own your own sailplane, the logistics of getting airborne can be daunting.

Paragliders are lighter and more portable than hang gliders. However, they have a narrower range of conditions for safe flight, lower glide performance, and wear out more quickly from ultraviolet light exposure. Hang gliding purists prefer the prone "Superman™" flying position, preferring "flying like an eagle" over "flying like an armchair"!
 

Who can Fly?

You can legally solo a hang glider when you are 14 years old, and some pilots are still flying well into their 70’s, so age is no barrier to learning. The new lightweight floater class gliders are light enough to be easily handled by just about anyone. A moderate level of fitness is an advantage, though, especially while you’re learning, and essential if you are hoping to do well in competition.

More Information

You can find out more about Hang Gliding by visiting the Hang Gliding Federation web site: www.hgfa.asn.au, or giving them a call on (02) 6947 2888

Schools