The Magic Of Hang Gliding — Pitr Suchanek
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. — Isaiah 40:31
Sisu is a Finnish word that loosely translates to “resilience in the face of all adversity”. This character was on display in World War II when the Finnish army, outnumbered three to one by the Soviets, and with sparingly few resources, held off an invasion by Stalin’s forces far longer than anyone expected. Sisu was channeled by pioneers like Livingstone, Magellan, and those on the Mayflower. Sisu was channeled by Sir Ranuplh Fiennes when he crossed Antarctica unassisted. Sisu is regularly channeled by hang glider pilots — to strap an elegant and simple wing to your back and then trust it with your life requires immense courage and spirit. Pitr Suchanek, our Salon speaker, discussed the magic of aviation and man’s immense desire through the ages to reach for the skies.
Hang gliding is a recreational activity where a pilot launches an aircraft by foot or is towed in the air by a motorized ultralight airplane. Pilots leverage air and weather conditions to stay airborne for long periods of time.
The origins of hang gliding are hard to pin down exactly. In the 6th century AD in China, early concepts involved kites that people would pull to launch themselves in the air. The first working hang gliders we can identify were the prototypes produced by Otto Lilienthal and the Wright brothers.
Otto’s prototypes worked but he died on one of his flights doing what he loved best — taking to the skies.
This was a very early period in aviation. The New York Times reported on this incredibly important event in a very lax manner. A stray paragraph said that a “box kite machine” was built by a couple of brothers and it didn’t crash. As future events would dictate, the Wright brothers changed the course of human civilization forever.
Audience Question (A.Q.) — What altitudes did Lilienthal’s flights reach?
Around the 50 ft. mark.
Hang gliding’s biggest moments, the boom so to speak, happened in the late 60s and 70s in California. A lot of the early pioneers were concentrated in the area. They didn’t quite know what they were doing, it wasn’t clear what tools and techniques had to be applied. These folk were using a wide variety of materials like aluminum and wood for construction and a lot of different kinds of sails to fly.
Unfortunately there were a lot of deaths in this period. The sport was highly dangerous and the complete lack of knowledge about the dangers came with dire consequences. The modern iteration of the sport which is very safe owes an enormous debt to these early pioneers. Without that experimentation, we wouldn’t know what works. Modern hang gliding technology is very safe in comparison.
The earliest hang gliders featured very rudimentary construction.
Modern hang gliders look highly sophisticated.
This is probably one of the best hang glider on the market today — the Ferrari of hang gliders so to speak — the absolute best in performance.
A.Q.: How much does it cost?
About $11,000.
Audience comment: That’s amazing! In how many fields is the peak of performance 11,000?
Peter sort of stumbled onto hang gliding. During his childhood, in his native country of Slovakia, he was surrounded by aviation. He spent a lot of time building aircraft models from parts he could salvage. Close to his childhood residence was Slovakia’s major hang gliding site. The place hosted hang gliding competitions and a lot of hours from his youth were spent looking at pilots soaring at great heights.
Peter moved to California with his wife Nataliia later. A couple of weeks before his birthday, the couple was relaxing in a park and Peter saw a bird flying. He thought out loud that he wanted to fly like that. Nataliia looked up hang gliding, discovered a local hang gliding school run by John Simpson — one of the few licensed tandem pilots in the Bay Area. Peter flew tandem with John Simpson and was hooked.
Tandem flights are a great introduction to hang gliding.
The tandem flight kickstarted Peter’s amazing journey into hang gliding.
A.Q.: How much damage can the passenger do?
Quite a lot actually. There is a thorough debriefing session before the flight. Typically though, the passenger in a tandem flight is so overwhelmed by the sights and the experience that they are not too inclined to grab onto things.
The following video was shot by Peter using a GoPro on one of his flights there. The coastline, the lush greenery and being one with the elements is a tremendous experience.
This experience led to the first lesson. Like all skills, hang gliding is a gradual process where you start from small heights and progress onto tougher challenges. The first lesson involves attaching yourself in a harness to a glider and running down shallow slopes. The instructor gauges your progress and then introduces you to a variety of configurations to hone your skill.
A.Q.: How long does it take to fly solo?
Typically from 3 moths up to one year. You do fly solo a lot but to actually take off from a mountain solo, it takes about a year of lessons. During the training process you are always under supervision and an experienced instructor keeps an eye on you and takes care of you. It takes about a year to get a Hang 3 rating to be able to fly solo at most of the California flying sites
A.Q.: How many hours is one year of lessons?
Hang gliding ratings are handled by USHPA. To get the Hang 3 rating, you need 10 hours of solo airtime — not just 10 hours of lessons but 10 hours of being in the air, able to launch, in control of the aircraft and so on.
A.Q.: When you take off once, how long do you stay in the air?
When you start, it is from a small height and you can expect about 5 seconds of airtime. When the instructor feels you are ready for more, you go to a higher hill and can expect about 2–3 minutes. Proficient gliders have been airborne for 11 hours. In fact the world record in Hawaii was 36 hours! Hawaii is unique for this activity because of the consistent winds. FAA however has banned this and if any other person tries to break this record, it is illegal and you are breaking the law. Peter’s friend took off on that world record with the record holder, landed and then boarded a flight later in the day out of Hawaii. He reported that from the plane he could still see the pilot flying.
Audience Comment: 36 hours is a day and a half. That is some insane airtime!
The training gliders look quite big and imposing. They are easy to launch, handle and land. They are perfect for landing. They are also fairly slow so if the student messes up, they won’t hit the ground with any significant velocity. There is occasional damage but it is rare.
A.Q.: How expensive are these?
They are no longer produced. They are probably $1000 if you can find one. But they are the preferred starter glider. They are great to teach on. Most hang gliding schools own these. Students don’t need to buy any of these gliders.
In their first lecture students are asked to walk in the air. This helps beginners with landing since they land on their feet and can finish the flight in the right stance.
A.Q.: What sort of height can you hit on your first flight. How exciting can it get?
Expect about 5 seconds in the air and maybe 10 feet if you’re lucky. Instructors don’t want things to get too wild on the first flight since it can frighten the student.
Audience Comment: (My first lesson) was an amazing experience. I went straight to the lesson without a tandem or even knowing what a hang glider was. But when I went airborne, I knew I was one with the sport. I knew I wanted to get good at this and pursue this regularly.
This experience is what instructors want the student to experience on their first flight. For one of Peter’s students even 2 seconds of airtime was enough to convince the student to come back.
A pilot stays airborne by using several kinds of lifts. Ridge lifts, thermal lifts and conversions are typical lifts used.
A ridge lift happens inland or on the coast but the typical location is on the coast. A coastal ridge lift occurs when the cold air at the coast gets sucked inland, hits a ridge, changes the wind direction upwar, and this produces a lift. Depending on the wind velocity, you get a lift-band.
A.Q.: Does the wind direction matter?
When you use a ridge lift, you can only follow the ridge. This is because the band is along the ridge. The lift is stronger or weaker depending on the features of the ridge. The actual mechanics are complex but the basic principle is simple.
The next kind of lift is a thermal lift. When the ground heats up, you get a rising column of hot air and this provides you with lift.
Hot ground results in expanding air — almost like a bubble. This bubble pops and then starts to rise up in a column. If the lift rate of the column is more than the sink rate of the aircraft, you can use this lift to fly.
A pilot can’t see a thermal. You only feel the thermal when you enter it and then exploit it in real-time. To a pilot, flying over a thermal is felt as a sharp upward force on the glider. The pilot then turns to stay over the column of rising air and makes circular motions to gain altitude.
Thermals are exploited by birds all the time. When you see a bird circling in the air, it is using the rising air of the thermal to gain or maintain altitude.
A.Q.: Do you know a-priori if there is going to be a thermal? How else do you get started?
Before a flight we study the weather conditions (usually the day before). This is a lot of micro-meteorology; pilots want to know ahead of time what the weather is going to be like and what sorts of lifts they can use at a site.
Thermals are Peter’s favorite type of lift. Primarily because they happen inland and the views are amazing. When using thermal lifts, you fly with the birds. Sometimes a bird joins in the action and while you are circling, you see the bird while it looks at you partaking in this amazing activity.
Thermals have a certain width, their “cores” come in varying sizes. Sometimes the thermals are very tight and those require tight turns, some thermals are quite wide and you can take it very easy and relax and make a large turn.
A thermal feels like a burst of energy “hitting” your glider — when you feel one “hit” your glider, you really feel it — it is a powerful force of nature.
You also have electronic aids to help you with your flight. Hang gliding pilots carry something called a variometer (vario) that measures a variety of factors like altitude, air pressure and so on.
Modern varios beep when there’s a sudden altitude change and when your vario beeps you can tell that you are experiencing the effects of a thermal.
It is indeed feasible to fly without a vario and in fact a lot of hang glider pilots do like to fly without one. It is fun even. Flying around and developing a feel for the terrain without any aid is an enriching experience.
Shear lifts are the next type of lift hang glider pilots exploit. A shear lift occurs when two air masses collide into each other they cannot merge together due to temperature differences. These masses cannot push each other away or merge and this results in a shear. The air is turbulent, the winds turn super strong and you get this incredible lift. Shears typically result in clouds and the lift lets you fly above the cloud. A shear lift is a badge of honor for a pilot. As you soar above the clouds you see a rainbow called a glory. The first time a pilot sees a glory is an experience like no other.
Shear lifts are the most comfortable ways to fly — they are entirely out of the pilot’s control but when they happen, you get a great lift, amazing views and a great memory for life.
A.Q.: How much does pilot weight affect glider choice?
It does influence choices. Manufacturers provide weight charts for their gliders. You can buy gliders that are bigger but you compromise on control.
A.Q.: What sort of safety features do you need when you fly?
The gliders are very safe. You always carry a parachute; it is only a reserve parachute but typically only those who push the boundaries deploy them. Good judgement makes parachute deployments unnecessary.
In most situations the gliders are really well engineered. Peter himself had a minor scare when he was landing. While the incident looked dangerous, he stayed focused and managed to turn the event around and walked away without a scratch. The gliders are extremely well designed and it is really hard to get them to misbehave if you stay on top of your game.
Cross country flying is a badge of honor for a pilot. Typical flight sessions start and end at fixed points on a site. On cross country flights you leave the site and aim to fly as far as possible.
Peter recently finished a 53 mile cross-country flight starting at Slide, NV and ending at Doyle, CA. During the course of the flight, he achieved a max altitude of 13000 ft. Preparing for such a flight involves studying the weather conditions ahead of time, making sure things aren’t going to get rough. Altitudes above 10000 ft require additional hardware like oxygen systems. The decision making during the flight involved passing on two landing locations, backtracking when decisions don’t work out. The following is a small gif of the cross-country trajectory. The full video is available here.
In Doyle, CA, Peter landed in a small farm where the farmer had never seen a hang glider before. Post-landing encounters can be tricky. At times, farmers can ask the pilot (in threatening ways sometimes) to leave the property. Peter was thankfully greeted amiably and it ended up being a great experience for all parties.
Hang gliding is an amazing hobby with an active community in several countries. Free flight is close to what man always dreamt of — soaring like the eagles.
Peter Suchanek is a hang gliding instructor. He regularly posts about hang gliding at https://petersuchanekblog.wordpress.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/peter_flieshigh/
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