Contents

• Did anyone ever sell plans?
• So why did they stop?
• I'm still keen. What is available?
• There's a chap selling a hang glider in the local paper for $100. Should I snap it up?
• Training - who needs it!???

Question:

Did anyone ever sell plans?

Answer:

Yes, indeedy! The mid to early 1970's were the heyday of plans-built hang gliders. They were also the heyday of self-taught pilots and an appalling accident rate. 

The hang gliders of the day were very simple, and you could build one for only a few hundred dollars. The frame was simple, there was no special hardware involved, and the sail was nothing but a flat double-triangle of sailcloth with pockets for the keel and leading edge tubes, with a bit of reinforcement in places. Anyone with a sewing machine could sew one. (I did, and I'd never sewed before!) 

You could also get plans for a number of "rigid wing" hang gliders, such as the Quicksilver and Icarus which were well within most home-builders reach, but suffered from longer setup times and were less convenient to transport. Others, like the Mitchell Wing and VJ series, required many, many hours to build, and were very hard to transport. 

There were two major problems with the simple "rogallo" gliders. Put bluntly, the performance sucked and many of them were actually quite dangerous. The ever present danger of an unrecoverable "luffing dive" dogged many designs. There were no standards for testing these gliders to assure they met minimum stability or strength criteria. 

Question:

So What Happened?

Answer:

The mid to late 1970's and early 1980's saw a revolution in hang glider design. Manufacturers were bringing out new models at a rate that made them obsolete within 6 to 9 months. From the simple structures of the early 1970's, the aspect ratio (span squared over area) of the gliders increased dramatically, sails became tighter, battens became the rule, and the structures needed to be beefed up to take the extra stress. They got heavier and heavier. 

In the late '70's pre-formed aluminium battens became common, and in 1980, the Comet by UP took the industry by storm and popularised the free-floating internalised crossbar and double-surface sail construction that has since become the standard. 

In addition, the industry had become organised and manufacturers had agreed on a number of strength and stability criteria to be met before a design could be sold. This usually involved testing of a glider on a mobile test bed on which its pitch characteristics could be measured, then testing to determine the maximum load the structure could take. 

The cost and complexity of bringing a safe, state-of-the-art design to market rose sharply. 

Impatiently you interject...

OK, OK! I understand the history. So why aren't there plans available?

Answer:

Alright, we'll cut to the chase. Here's the main reasons: 

• Old 1970's plans are for machines with doubtful strength and stability. In addition, the performance will be abysmal compared with a modern machine.
• It costs a lot to certify a design. Manufacturers are unlikely to release plans for current designs, as it would erode their market for finished machines.
• While a good home handyman could easily build the frame of a modern hang glider, the sails today are very complex, and need to be sewn by an experienced sailmaker in possession of an accurate set of mylar templates. In fact, most now use computerised LASER cutters. A few millimeters error in manufacture can lead to major wrinkling and unwanted flying characteristics.
• And the clincher - it will cost you considerably more to build a hang glider than to buy a second-hand reasonably new certified machine. Gliders less than 5 or 6 years old can be had for half the price of having a new sail made!

Question:

I'm still keen. What plans can I get?

Answer:

The only real practical option these days is to look at rigid wing hang glider plans Try the Rigid Wings Site for information on what's available. 

Right now, there's also a grass-roots level return to the days of slower, simpler gliders (called Skyfloating), and it may be that some enterprising soul could aquire the sail pattern to one of the earlier, certified wings of the early 1980's and market sails and plans.... could it be you?

Question:

I've seen a cheap hang glider advertised in the paper. Should I buy it?

Answer:
 

HANG GLIDER Green and Red. $100 ONO. Phone 919-555-1000

Beware folks advertising cheap hang gliders in the local paper. Or even expensive ones! I recently saw an advertisement for a model I knew to be over 22 years old, for one thousand dollars. Imagine your chagrin on forking out a grand on a glider that cost half that new, which even in mint state would fly abysmally compared with todays trainers, and at 20 years old, would be in suspect condition structurally! (Gliders of this vintage used wooden dowell plugs for re-inforcement, with the attendant danger of trapped moisture and hidden corrosion). 

If offered a cheap hang glider out of someone's garage, get it checked out by a local hang gliding shop or instructor first! This will cost you very little, and probably nothing if the instructor recognises the model from the description. 

Question:

Do I Really Need Training?

Answer:

Well, if you value your time, money and health, you do. 

I can personally testify that teaching yourself to fly can be a frustrating, slow and expensive business. But then I have an excuse. There were no instructors when I started. This is the reason I have a lot of old bent aluminium tubes in my garage. 

Call a reputable school. Take an introductory lesson. Take a tandem flight. You'll get into the air faster, spend less time driving to places you won't be able to fly at, and minimise the chances of a hospital stay. Modern hang gliding schools have the equipment and knowhow to get you started fast at minimum risk.