As we early knew him. In the images you will see him after a terrible crime was committed against him... very beaten. And then he rose again to great adventure and gift to others ..
Mike Harker, 1947 - 2011. Part of his start was with the extremely low L/D Tibado kite-gliders (L/D was so low that the custom was to stay with towline tension as much as possible; gliding was not the first focus). But then he got into kite-gliders of higher L/D with better gliding opportunities that started a new realm for him. (Sample Tibado kite shown in this post is not of Mike flying).
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General IMAGE set ---some are not our Mike Harker, but many are: http://tinyurl.com/MikeHarkerIMAGES
In 1973 the ZDF German Television produced a 30 min documentary on Mike Harker's world record hang glider flight from Mt. Zugspitze in Germany.
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In 1977, Harker fell 400 feet in a horrific hang-gliding accident, breaking more than 30 bones and leaving him in a coma for more than 11 months. Source.
Random start video for this topic: Mike Harker - Courage Countdown - OLN -TV.wmv
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In 1968 I flew a flat kite (Tibado) for the Cypress Gardens Ski Show. This had a rope attached to the control bar between where my hands could steer the kite and at the bottom of the rope was a round piece of wood where I could straddle between my legs. This put most of the weight at the center which made control easier.
He then saw a Rogallo kite at Cypress Garden being towed for trips around the waters by Bill Bennett; Mike bought a Delta Wing from Bill.
As we early knew him. 
In 1973 the ZDF German Television produced a 30 min documentary on Mike Harker's world record hang glider flight from Mt. Zugspitze in Germany. 
