![]() Wright Brothers Innovation and inspiration- thousands of flights go down before they add engines!.Octave Chanute carries on the legacy of Lillienthal and the Wright brothers take notice.The first “hang gliders”, taking from Divinci and Lillienthal Otto Lillienthal and then up to the Wright Brothers.Subscribe to the Cloudbase Mayhem Podcast on Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Tune In, or ITunes! We also accept donations via cryptocurrency: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin What’s next for the sport, and has what’s happened to hang gliding foretelling of paragliding’s future? This is a remarkable tale told eloquently by the legendary Bruce Weaver from Kitty Hawk Kites, the president Wills Wing Steven Pearson, the former president of USHPA and former world record holder David Glover, the “Dark Prince” Larry Tudor and the current world record holder, Dustin Martin. In 2012 Dustin Martin flies an unbelievable 475 miles in Texas, the farthest anyone has flown on unpowered aircraft but the future of hang gliding is anything but encouraging. Gliders continue to innovate at an insane pace and incredible distances are flown- the first 100 mile flight goes down, then Larry Tudor flies 200 miles, then 300 but as wings get more and more sophisticated and fast, they also get more difficult to fly and importantly- to learn. In the late 70’s the Hang Gliding Manufacturers Association creates a certification process and the sport becomes more interested in safety than just getting off the ground at any cost. The sport goes crazy in the early 70’s, over a hundred manufacturers get into the game, performance gains go through the roof, but then so do the accidents. Suddenly we can chase the birds, fulfilling a shared dream that has existed from the beginning of human history. Interest in unpowered flight returns after the Wars and the arrival of Francis Rogallo and his genius leads to Hang gliding as we know it. Imagine picking up a 150 pound glider built out of bamboo, balsa and muzzen cloth in 30 miles per hour of wind and actually soaring! Their flights in 1911 wouldn’t be matched until the early 1970’s! Their passion for flight lead to the rapid development of powered aircraft which had a massive impact in the devastating air campaigns of World War I and World War II. Orville and Wilbur Wright’s flights in the early 1900’s are still hard to wrap your head around. His wings inspired Octave Chanute and his assistants to make thousands of flights at the turn of the last century on the shores of lake Michigan which led to the Wright Brothers’ remarkable inventions- and humans take to the skies. Drawing inspiration from Leonardo Davinci, Otto Lillienthal built the first foot-launched hang gliders in the late 1800’s. Well, flying an Ultralight is an affordable alternative that is 10 times the fun at 1/10th the cost of any other form of aviation! An Ultralight Course is less than half the cost of a Private Pilot License! And after spending well over $10,000 for your Private Pilot License, you would have nothing to fly once you are done! But for less than $10,000 you can complete all your Ultralight training, plus have enough left over to purchase a used Ultralight! The training takes only 25 hours to complete, so in as little as one week’s time, you can obtain your Ultralight Pilot’s Permit!Ī Licensed Private Pilot who is current can be qualified to fly an ultralight with additional training in weight shift 2-axis control and equipment setup/maintenance.Hang gliding is arguably the first “extreme sport” in human history and its influences radically changed the world. Have you ever dreamed of owning a small plane, but found that the cost of lessons and ownership is outrageous?
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