Such a great video, good pick. As I watched it, and maybe you too Frank, I couldn't help but remember when David Cronk watched our friends build a cool bamboo and drop cloth glider and run down the hill and catch a little bit of air and a whole lot of sand. He went to the drawing board and built and tested and then flew his new glider for the first time, and the rest is local history. He did exactly the same thing Otto did, but without all the "extra" parts, using the proven Rogallo basic design, which Otto would have used if he'd had his druthers. He designed and built it in his back yard for a fraction of the cost and who was thinking of that, And the cool thing was that we all had our perfect steep sand hill and cliffs, which were a challenge, to watch from, and we all watched in awh. And we didn't need to build a hill. Within no time, Cronk had built another glider that could turn and ride the cliff band "forever", and then go in a tube like his surfboard on a car. Every body knew exactly what you were doing, and think of it, if Otto had lived, would his glider design be sold to the public? I'm sure that David didn't build kites and gliders, thinking he could make allot of money, he sold plans for $5 for Gods sake. . In 74' David brought a Quick Silver glider to our 800' hill outside Telluride, and did a spot landing after flying to town and back, which won him first place out of 15 other fliers that day. (I think Beardsley was there), . Then,.. Then in 75',he built another glider and took it to Europe and won National title, against 50 fliers. It might be in the Smithsonian now. So the "Hang Gliding" die had been cast by the mid 70's and now it's been 46 years or so with basically the same set up and take down and pre-flight. Pretty sturdy craft is an understatement, and I go back to when. after a tandem flight with Captain Jack (RIP), Chuck Yeager told us, "that's the flyn'est flying I've ever done", and he was winded when we got him to take off at 12,200' and that was saying something. Meeting a friend and "crazy" fellow flier who could motorize the hang glider wing was another point in history that David was a big part of. That ultralight was/is the best, but they wouldn't be the same without that great, old school, foot launched wing that you could trust.
. Dave did run into some nasty "political" interests, sorta like you Bob, that thought hang gliding along their back yards, when most thought it was cool, was an "invasion of privacy", and actually got the cops and bull-horns ready to arrest him, but Dave just waived and flew down the esplanade. They "illeagally" got him and everybody banned from flying the cliffs, and he did nothing at all to deserve it. This was in the early 70's, but does it sound familiar? No big deal because the launch site became the coolest place to be, unless it was off-shore and glassy. ha. Nobody cared about much, except about flying qualities of these new crazy contraptions. That is why when the parachutists first came to launch sites, they had no cool contraptions to talk about, they had something with strings inside a bag, and an "attitude" about free flying, but there were so many of them all at once, we just said, "Oh Well". There are so many gliders on racks hidden away, that there could maybe a push to have a National (executive order) "Show Your Historic Glider Day", along with a "rebel fly-in" and air shows at all the USHPA sites, and be proud of being it's pilot in command, and being the exactly right camera platform is a great advantage. . A Foil is a Foil. This could be David on his surfboard going fast and flying his hang glider fast, same thing, "pull forward". I'll put John Heiney's video and music on, it's spot on. The kryptonite is the foil talking. 0:38 YEA! If you just watch the still photo, you can hear David.
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by choppergirl » Sat Jan 04, 2025 12:07 am 
