Home
NOTICE: The early San Diego area hang gliding association is to be distinguished from contemporary distinct Ultralight Flyers Organization, Inc. Such distinct body is Chap. 26 of US Ultralight Association (USUA).
We concern in this topic thread with a 1970s born hang gliding organization:
Neil Larson noted in US Hawks forum: "Ultralite Flyers Organization (UFO) formed and holds the first meeting at the home of Bob Fronius. Later, the UFO changed its name to the San Diego Hang Gliding Association, Inc., which later became the San Diego Hang Gliding/Paraglider Association, Inc ".
Best history notes will probably come from the Fronius family archives, I bet. Notes in Low & Slow and also Ground Skimmer and Hang Glider Weekly will probably give gems for the UFO deal.
Founders?
Dates?
What happended?
Publications?
Members?
Communications?
Interfaces?
Progress Bulletin, Pomona, 1973, Aug. 29, page 23
Sue Weiniger, 26, who first tried the sport reluctantly. Miss Weiniger made her first glider flight a few weeks ago and is doing okay for a beginner. She is one of the first women in San Diego to fly a hang glider and join UFO (Ultralight Flyers Organization.) “I went up 200 feet on my first flight,” Miss Weiniger remembers. ‘‘It was a thrill and I wasn’t even scared. You feel like you’re just floating through the air like a bird.” Practice needed In a sport as dangerous as hang gliding, a few hours of preparation aren’t wasted. “At first they had me practice by running down the hill with the wings,” says Miss Weiniger. “When you’re just about ready to take off, it only takes two steps to get into the air.” She was flying a Black Hawk glider made of black plastic sheeting stretched on aircraft tubing and cable. It has a 38-foot wing span and a 15-foot keel. Modern technology has crept into the sport. If you’re willing to pour out a few bucks, you can motorize your glider wings. Kim Rushing, a UFO member, flies a delta wing glider pulled by a motor boat. Rushing has tried a few dare-devil stunts but Miss Weiniger says: ‘‘We normally don’t do that kind of thing. We just promote the sport and go out and jump off a steep hill lor the fun of it.” She insists the few people injured suffered because of their own inexperience. The UFO club goes out on weekends to places selected for good soaring conditions. Simple process Bill Gianz, a San Diego hang glider distributor, said. “When you get there, you untie the kite from the top of the car and carry it up the hill. You open the wings and adjust the cables and then you climb into the standard parachute harness beneath the wings and you’re ready to• fly.” With the glider and pilot ready for flight, two people hold the wing tips and run with the glider until it is airborne. In the air, the glider is controlled by the pilot shifting weight on the control bar. While in flight, the pilot holds on to the control bar, which allows him to move left or right, skyward or down> ward. A good jump will send a person from 500 to 3,000 feet high, but there’s a drawback. The flight lasts only about two minutes, and once on the ground, there’s that long walk back up the hill. Source: http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/77167596/%20%20"
