[Chris McKeon]

It is quite odd, it is very strange for Me to be sitting Here this Sunday Morning. While I really am ready willing and able to fly My Kick-Ass Glider My Altair Predator 158 . Yet It will stay on it's rack in the Garage. For I do not have a Drivers License that I need in Order to get My totally Smoking Hot King posted Altair 158 to get it to launch. Make no doubt. I will get My license reinstated. My real Primary reason is so that I will be able to Drive Myself to work. See I am a Building Contractor. One is totally dead in the water if One needs to contemplate using Public Transportation in order to Work as an Contractor. No you can not lod all your tools onto a Bus in order to get to work. Or you can not load your Predator in order to get to launch either.

[Bob Kuczewski]

No you can not load all your tools onto a Bus in order to get to work. Or you can not load your Predator in order to get to launch either.

I don't know about tools or a Predator, but Joe Faust is working on a hang glider that can be taken on a bus. Search our forum for the word "busable" and you will find many of Joe's posts.

[Chris McKeon]

A Glider that could Be taken on a Bus. Now that would be something else. I so want to fly once again. Well this Morning I got a possible reality check from John Heiney regarding how well My Predator will perform compared to Todays current Topless Gliders. Todays Topless Gliders might have finally been able to out perform a Predator. My last flight where I could draw a realistic performance comparison between my Predator and a Topless Glider was when Scott and I both Launched from Wolf's Peak California. I Landed in Gardnerville Nevada. While Scott landed short while Fly His Laminar MR700 Topless. But I found out this morning from my talk with John Heiney that the New Topless Gliders now might have enough Performance to beat a Predator. I really want to be up front and clear regarding how Scott really is a better Pilot than I am. I know that my saying this is a redundant statement. But Scott really is a Better Pilot than I am. All That being said, The Predator might finally will meet it's better regarding being able to fly further than a Topless Glider. Well it has been a great run for My Predator. But as time has gone on, it seems that the Predator is no longer the Glider that rules!

[Bob Kuczewski]

Well it has been a great run for My Predator. But as time has gone on, it seems that the Predator is no longer the Glider that rules!

Chris,

If you watch "Big Blue Sky", you'll find that over 90% of that movie shows people flying what we now consider "outdated" gliders.

How could the people flying those old gliders have been having any fun at all with such poor equipment?

How could skiers have ever had fun with wooden skis? How could bicyclists have had fun with old carbon steel bicycles? How could computer enthusiasts have had fun with 5 megahertz computers?

These can be puzzling questions until you realize that fun isn't measured by absolute standards. Fun is a state of mind within ourselves. Fun comes from challenging ourselves to do better than we have done before. Fun is a personal reward for improving ourselves.

Fun is always available to us - with any technology - when we focus on our own activity without trying to compare ourselves to others.

My lowly Falcon would have been the hottest glider at the 1971 Otto Meet. If it had been there, should its mere presence have diminished anyone else's fun?

As human beings we are in a perpetual competition. We compete with others for food, for mates, for jobs, and even for parking spaces. Competition is vital to us, but I think it's also good for us to have some parts of our lives set aside from competition where we can enjoy our recreation for its own sake. That's how I enjoy hang gliding. It's about me improving me ... on any glider. It doesn't matter if I'm flying an old Falcon or Condor. My fun comes from being the best Falcon or Condor pilot that I can be on any given day.

James Taylor said it very well: "The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time."

Chris, when you fly your Predator again, it can still do everything that it ever did. It can still give you every moment of fun that it ever did. But only if you don't kill that fun by focusing on what someone else can do with some other glider. Fly to fly. That's the dream.  

[Chris McKeon]

I whole heartily agree with Bob regarding our motivation to Fly I so agree with Bob's thoughts regarding that we should embrace the experience of Flight. I simply love to Fly, To Fly, TO FLY! When I am up in the air Flying I truly so enjoy the experience.

And one more time I really want to get things straight regarding my friend Scott and My flying abilities. The Day when Scott and I were flying from the Wolf's peak Launch on the sierra Nevada Mountains. Scott and I were not in any way in any kind of a competition hat Day. WE Both flew simply because we wanted to Fly. I really did not know were I was heading that Day. I got up and then I flew towards the West, Maybe a little North West I Headed, I really can not say where I headed. Also it was not like I was sinking out or anything. I remember looking at My varmeter and I remember seeing 14,850 feet. So for No reason at all I do member turning around and heading in an Easterly direction. Through out my Flight, I never saw Scott. I only saw Scott When Ken Muscio drive up to where I had landed in Gardnerville Nevada. I do not want to come across as being redundant. But I really want to say that Scoot was, and He is, He must be a better Pilot than He was on that Day. That day was I am not sure but it Must have been Fifteen Years ago. Maybe 20 Years ago. I really mean this, I flew farther than Scott simply because I was Flying the better performing Glider, My Altair 158 Predator. I do not know the Size of Scots Laminar MR 700. But Scott who is a smoking hot Go For It XC Pilot was flying a Glider with less performance than My Predator. I simply love my Predator! It is the Glider that I learned how to land the Glider on an Mountain side Down-Wind Up-Hill.

It a nutshell though I simply just love to fly. I took another avenue to be up in the Sky. I had two flights in a Grobe two-seat Sail Plane, on my second Flight I flew the entire flight. After my instructor and and landed . I said to Mike, Mike get your head up feel good about yourself. We had a nice tow, we flew well, we stayed up, and I greased the landing. Be happy. So what We did not Fly XC we can do that when I have had my third Sail Plane Flight.

[Chris McKeon]

Hello Everyone:


I was talking to John this morning. We were talking about Flying. what else would I talk to John about but Flying. Well I found Myself talking about how awesome it will be when I once again Fly My Predator. I found my self in the unreal position feeling the need to defend The Predators Performance. But after I got over this quite odd situation of having to try to convince John that The Glider is a killer Glider. I calmed down and John informed Me that the Newest Top-Less Gliders have enough refinement's that would allow a Topless Glider to be able to fly further than a Predator.

MY PREDATOR PERFORMANCE THOUGHTS: The Predator in My Opinion: Chris McKeon CCMCK@GOLDSTATE.COM 925-497-1059. The Predator' was and I believe the Predator still is a Kick-Ass Awesome Glider. It was the Glider that I Flew while taking My Landing Skills to New Heights. To Date, and this after I have completed Dozens and Dozens of Down-Wind, Up-Hill lands. I have yet to ever whack a single Down-Wind Up-Hill Landing.

John I must say that You designed an Awesome Glider!

[Bob Kuczewski]

John I must say that You designed an Awesome Glider!

Yes he did.

It's important to remember that any machine can only be fairly compared to other machines from the same time frame. The original Apple Macintosh was an amazing machine for it's time. But it can't hold a candle to a modern run of the mill cell phone. That should not detract from it's place in history.

[Chris McKeon]

Bob Your Point is well taken. And John Himself told Me the other Day that I would see that Topless Gliders have been refined to increase their Performance so that I will be seeing the Performance advantage that They have myself. That may very well ight be the case. maybe a new topless will be able to out fly an Laminar MR 700. Or Heck maybe a new Top less Glider will be able tout Fly Me and My Predator. Bot if this Is the case, The Predator 158 set the Bar high, very High, way Back oh I do not know how long ago John designed the Predator. But oh what a Glider a Predator was!

[Chris McKeon]

First off I want to say that I sure do hope that my actions, my typing up posts on this board do not cause the Powers to be from finding it necessary to Ban Me. Trust Me that stung. I still have no idea what I typed on that Forum. Whatever I said to cause my dismissal.

Look You Guys just need to understand that it really does not matter How good A Pilot that I may have been. But when on March 28th 2010. I experienced a Crash that so called experts, my attending Doctors had speculated saying to My friend Pilot-X that ; "My Family should get my things in order, for I would not Survive" My having my attending Doctors showing so much confidence in My ability to survive, and to recover, NOT! Or when one Doctor said to my sister: "Why Bother, you can't have a conversation with a Potato He called me a Potato! regarding my sister request for an MRI be performed on My left Shoulder. Can You say Hate? I was in a Coma at that point in my journey towards recovery. I should say right here and now. I want to say that I am in this recovery progress. To attain a One Hundred Percent Recovery. I was talking to John Heiney one Day on the Phone. So I had said to John; " I fully intend on on achieving a One Hundred Percent Recovery" John replied to what I had said by saying: "Your One Hundred Percent recovery is a very large number" It has been so cool to have friends of mine who knew me before I Pounded so severely on that March Day, say things such as what John said to Me. Hearing statements such as what John said, it softens the sting from what n ignorant Quack had said about me while I was in a comma in the Hospital.

FUN STUFF< HAPPY THOUGHTS:

My Sister was asked by Kaiser to write a paper listing what she had done to enable Me to recovery and improve to the degree that I have been able too recover.

I am fully intending on Flying again. It will most likely will be after I regain my Drivers License. Then I will drive Myself down South to Dockweiler Beach California. Where I will fly with the guys who operate winds ports. I will also hopefully will Fly Franks Condor.

[Bob Kuczewski]

First off I want to say that I sure do hope that my actions, my typing up posts on this board do not cause the Powers to be from finding it necessary to Ban Me. Trust Me that stung. I still have no idea what I typed on that Forum. Whatever I said to cause my dismissal.

We started the U.S. Hawks Hang Gliding Association in August of 2010 because hang gliding pilots were being mistreated by organizations such as USHPA, hanggliding.org, and ozreport.com. We have always supported treating people fairly and giving people a fair playing field for discussions. That's what has made us different from those other organizations.

I am fully intending on Flying again. It will most likely will be after I regain my Drivers License. Then I will drive Myself down South to Dockweiler Beach California. Where I will fly with the guys who operate winds ports. I will also hopefully will Fly Franks Condor.

Lots of us will be there for that great day of celebration Chris!!