My Hang Gliding Odyssey - A Photo Essay

My 10th grade English teacher allowed us to select research paper topics to work on and I chose a "then" new air sport called hang gliding.  Here, purchased with my own money at age 16 in 1976, is a very early hang glider that was supposed to have a 4:1 glide ratio.  In reality, it was probably more like 3:1 at best.  It could charitably have been called a rock.  Still, it gave me my start in a great sport that was about 98% comprised of men.  I held my own with them throughout my flying years.

 

This was one of the early training hills some of my flying pals and I used.  We called the little club we formed the Susquehanna Sky Surfers.  At the time, this location was called Skimont.  It was a small ski resort not far from Penn State University.  It allowed us to progress up the hill little by little, adjusting to our increasing skill as we went.

This is a foot launch shot at another training hill, about 350 feet high, that was on a sheep farm.  Note that I'm using a new, much higher quality glider.  This one was called a Cirrus V and was rated at about an 8:1 glide ratio.  I designed the color pattern myself and had many great flights with it over about 3 years.

This was the closest mountain launch to my home.  We had a ramp launch on the "front side" and a hill launch on the "back side" of what we called Trout Run, which was actually the name of the small town at the base of the mountain.  We cut a slot out of the forest for this front side launch and flew over the valley below.  If we were very lucky, we could soar for a bit in the ridge lift, but most flights were simple glides to the ground about 850 feet below.  We would do figure eights, 180s and 360s before eventually setting up for landing.  Then, we would come in and flare to land on a very small grassy area beside a trailer park at the end of a corn field.  This site taught me to make tight landings.  I flew there often.

 

Here, I had just foot launched on the back side of Trout Run.  It was only about 50-75 yards behind the front side, but significantly lower...perhaps 600-650 feet above the valley below.   In hang gliding, like any flying really, wind direction made the difference on where we could fly at any given time, which is what made Trout Run a particularly nice site.  If one side was unflyable on a particular afternoon, the other side might work out just fine.



This shot was taken shortly after takeoff on the back side of Trout Run.  You can see by my body and its position on the control bar that I'm in the process of starting a right-hand turn.  We had to do this at this particular site shortly after takeoff in order to follow the best path to our eventual landing area.



This is a nice shot of me flying out over the valley on the back side at Trout Run in the fall.  I spent about 4 years flying kites, well, being taken aloft by my kites, sometimes for mere moments, but one time for about an hour and a half.  These are great memories.  When I subsequently sold my Cirrus V, a one-time national champion hang glider pilot informed the purchaser that I was the finest female pilot in Pennsylvania.  That was a wonderful compliment that I obviously treasure to this day.