[JoeF]

Fit for flight?
1. Getting fit for flight.
2. Right now, am I fit for this flight?

"2." is to be answered at every flight start; and the same is to be answered during a flight. Fitness decays during long flights. Aim to land with the fitness needed; allow safety margins.

See: http://www.pilotworkshop.com/tips/fit-flight

Recreational hang gliding may be delayed when fitness is lacking.
Recreational hang gliding's joys are most probable when one is fit for flight.

[JoeF]

In advertising and public communications, the law of primacy in persuasion as postulated by Frederick Hansen Lund in 1925 holds that the side of an issue presented first will have greater effectiveness than the side presented subsequently.

If the aim is to be a recreational foot-launching hang glider pilot,
then run a wing first.
The wing need not be big. But imprint in the mind and body the target pattern.
Avoid other firsts (tandem rides, towed rides, motored rides, pushed rides, PG rides, aero-tow rides, etc.)
Get fit in the running of wing windward; there is much to learn and practice in the first realm.

Face the dream. Look at the horizon. Get the feet moving with skill. Take time to grow muscles and coordination for foot-launching a gliding winged flight system. Timing, walk, move faster, pace, sense apparent wind, grow awareness of wing attitude, check shoes, know the ground, awareness of environment, and more. Skipping first things will be a source of later regrets.

[Craig Muhonen]

CHECK THIS OUT

What about a prone Hang Glider Harness and a rudder on your feet.
Then this from Lee Eyerly and the Eyerly Aircraft Company in 1930.
A ground-based flight training device patented under the name, "Orientator".
Air from the electric propeller passed over the wings and rudder, and the operator controlled the movements of the plane in a manner similar to a real aircraft. (OR HANG GLIDER HA).

[Craig Muhonen]

Here are some notes and sketches ...

Hang Glider Sky Tower1.jpeg (77.04 KiB) Viewed 2794 times

Hang Glider Sky Tower2.jpeg (76.23 KiB) Viewed 2794 times

Hang Glider Sky Tower3.jpeg (34.16 KiB) Viewed 2794 times

This 5 minute, very rough sketch, is just an idea, but a well engineered device could be really good as a training aid to get the excitement and inspiration going. You gotta get the wind in your face, and "bugs in your teeth", which you don't get while you're sitting.

[Craig Muhonen]

In advertising and public communications, the law of primacy in persuasion as postulated by Frederick Hansen Lund in 1925 holds that the side of an issue presented first will have greater effectiveness than the side presented subsequently.

If the aim is to be a recreational foot-launching hang glider pilot,
then run a wing first.
The wing need not be big. But imprint in the mind and body the target pattern.
Avoid other firsts (tandem rides, towed rides, motored rides, pushed rides, PG rides, aero-tow rides, etc.)
Get fit in the running of wing windward; there is much to learn and practice in the first realm.

Face the dream. Look at the horizon. Get the feet moving with skill. Take time to grow muscles and coordination for foot-launching a gliding winged flight system. Timing, walk, move faster, pace, sense apparent wind, grow awareness of wing attitude, check shoes, know the ground, awareness of environment, and more. Skipping first things will be a source of later regrets.

[Craig Muhonen]

Being "Fit For Flight",(Thanks Joe), is a lost art today, and what does it really mean? It depends what the meaning of "fIT, Is".
When I first learned to fly, (Cessna 150), my Dad said, "there is only one thing you need to know, to be a good pilot". We were passing through 5,000 feet, with the nose high and at full power, and I replied, "what's that Dad", and as the plane started to snap roll over in a power on stall, he said, "how not to throw up".
Watch this video below starting at 0:59, and ends at 2:13. This is "The Orientator". Where is your stomach?



Confronting our fears of flying is being "fit",

The more you know the more you'll go.

[Craig Muhonen]

Being Fit for Flight is so much more than being able to "push the stick forward, when you're looking at the ground"

The song from Hot Tuna is, "Death Don't Have No Mercy", picked by John for this video.
This Man (and Craig, RIP) are "Fit For Flight", and they set their affections on things above.

[Craig Muhonen]

"Mentally fit for flight", begins with the choice of an "Air Foil", and a confident body position, to fly it. Here are two completely different air foils and body positions, both tandem harnesses. One prone for fun and the other prone for disaster.

A FUN AIR FOIL

OR A, NOT SO FUN, AIR SPOIL


An airframe has one "seeable", C/G, that doesn't move, and a "comfortable" pilot (watch Ryans hands) and passenger, LOOKING FORWARD
A parachute glider has an invisible C/G, that is constantly moving, and an uncomfortable pilot and passenger, LOOKING UP , like "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" , and a change of underwear needed. Adrenaline is Brown.

GO FIGURE

[Craig Muhonen]

THANKS JOE for your spot on posts on "Training", should be "Hot Topics" every day.

Watch & Listen to this video
Turn off at 1:27.



Then picture yourself "Dancing With A Glider"

Dancing With A Glider.png (193.38 KiB) Viewed 2674 times

Thanks Bob for posting this picture of 'regular people' with a 'regular hang glider', and a, "regular smile'

When the "Wind is Right" , and with your instructors, "anyone" can experience what these Professional Hang Glider Pilots in the video (THANK YOU JOHN HEINEY), feel when they 'take off''.
On a windy day, "Little Hawk", and Franks Training Glider, and Joe's, "Suit Case Glider, could be set up, and with instructors on the corners of the glider, and a volunteer 'strapped' into the harness, they could learn how to control the glider on the ground, and really learn the wind, and this new thing, called a Hang Glider. Everybody watching, can get a first hand account of what's going on by listening to the instructor as they talk to the "Pilot".
They would be getting feed back from the instructors as they "Flew", and their confidence levels could go "Sky High" .
If video cameras were set up, then the volunteer(S) could have his own video (and music) to show all their friends, that would be the best 'Advertising' a "Hang Glider" could ever want.
Since good 'Ground Schooling' is at the core of every flight experience, and first impressions mean allot, "Seminars" like this.. "Put Your Thinking Caps On"..could help, "quench the thirst for gravity", in a very safe and exciting way, weather these people ever go on to "Fly", or not.


Clubs could/should have "Dancn' In The Wind" seminars. (where they could circulate the
HG Days, and the PG Days, petitions, when written. AND!, show people a good time.
"Point of the Mount" is a good starting point,
and Frank from day one, and US Hawks, have been advocating for "common sense rules", and adequate training.