About Hang Gliding

Throughout the ages people have dreamed of being able to fly like the birds, but only within the last thirty years has this become a real possibility. The modern hang glider, a simple yet sophisticated blend of aluminium tubes and high-tech sail fabrics, allows you to soar like an eagle, circling upwards to cover huge distances or simply to admire the finest vistas imaginable. Hang gliding is real, in-the-breeze flying, limited only by your own ambitions and emerging abilities. The perfection of this graceful and efficient machine allows you to transport it to a launching site it on the roof of a car, assemble it in minutes and take-off into the heavens - where you and your glider will merge into a single entity bent on enjoying the purest form of flight ever invented!

What exactly do you do?
Hang glider pilots, suspended from their gliders by a special harness, launch from hills facing into wind, from winches on flat ground or by being towed aloft from a flying strip behind a microlight aircraft. The objective is always to stay airborne in lifting currents of air and - for many - to undertake long cross country flights. Flights of over 150 miles have been made in the UK and the altitude record stands at an astonishing 16,000 feet. The world record for distance flying is currently a remarkable 435 miles!

Do they cost a lot?
A top-of-the range competition hang glider costs as much as £5,000 or more new, although sports machines with only slightly less performance cost from £2,000 and second hand ones much less. A full training course will cost around £6 - 800, much less for a shorter introductory course. Pilots also need a harness, helmet, flying suit, boots, etc; additional bits of equipment such as instruments may be required as you progress.

How do you make it go where you want?
The pilot launches his or her machine by running to accelerate it to flying speed, then relaxes into the comfortable prone harness while controlling the glider by moving their weight in relation to the control bar - weight shift control. Flying a hang glider is a little more demanding than flying a paraglider and not quite as easy to learn, but the machine is capable of much higher speed, better gliding performance and can be flown in a wider range of wind strengths.

Where do you fly them from?
Pilots fly hill and tow sites controlled by one of the numerous BHPA clubs dotted around the country. The accent is on hill flying but tow operations and aerotow facilities are normally in lowland locations. Competitions are held at club, national and international level and OThe Brits¹ have often led the way in competition at World level.

And where to?
Circling up to cloudbase on a summer¹s day and setting course on a long cross-country flight over patchwork fields is one of the wonders of the modern world. Landing out after a long flight, having used only the natural power of the atmosphere and your accumulated knowledge of the sky, gives a hang glider pilot an unsurpassed feeling of accomplishment.

Hang gliding has joys in store outside of the challenge of cross-country flying. In the long summer evenings pilots often congregate after work to soar a nearby hill, united in the pursuit of an hour or two¹s soaring in the face of life¹s pressures - and the setting sun. To be aloft on the breeze seems to them a rare privilege made more precious by the fact that so few of the teeming millions seem to know about it. It¹s not really a secret; come along and share it with us!

Learning to hang glide
It normally takes between eight to ten days of flyable weather to train a would-be pilot to Club Pilot level, although two-day Otaster¹ courses are offered and a limited Elementary Pilot certificate is also available.