May 4, 1984 Pg. 8-9 |
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May 4, 1984 May 4,1*84 To fly like a bird, to be free as Ihe air: Most han( glider pilots agree, there is no other feeling in the world when you're in a glider sailing in the skies. shore below an aerial show of crace and elegance Off to the right, a blue and gold glider's nose is tipped upward, wafting it into the air another 15 feet. It hovers for a few seconds and then, with its nose ic beach at a sand dune 200 yards round an invisible- axis. ay. I be'glide . across the shore and is pushed up until it is almost perpendicular to the hcach. It slowly descends and Ihe pilot's feet touch down. Icaviny him earthbound once This is ha ng gliding a sport most pilots consider to be "the ultimate" in aeronautics, and perhaps me closest man will ever come lo being a bird on wing. Jim Johns, a pilot for nine years and a certified gliding instructor at Kittv Hawk Kites, in Marina, remembers well a time when he almost felt he was a member of the feathered family. — -^. I he air was very calm one day not too long ago when he was gliding. A couple ol sea gulls flew by and hovered as if watching him. he said. "The simple flapping of their wings created a small turbulence that my kite wavered on. "Ill never forget that feeling." said Johns. 29. "Most guys here will agree that there's nothing like it." said a 48-year-old electrical engineer while he w setting up his glider on Marina Beach, wL other pilots were gathered. "Once you're airborn it's not too difficult." he said, ,:4t:A.:. ■■■ ■■ : about 25 "You go through some simple cc just listen to the wind go by." "When the wind is real smooth you can control your glider with jusl you're fingertips on the bar." Johns explained. "With time.and practice, control move¬ ments become almost automatic. You just decide where you want to go and respond naturally." Dave Shelton. another instructor at Xitty Hawk, said it is the "smooth and predictable winds"found at the beach that makes coastal flying. like that done in Monterey County, so enjoyable. But pilots in Kresno also enjoy their flying. According to Bob Duely. a local pilot, there are approximately .10 pilots in Ihe Fresno area. They can be seen air sailingat Millcrton Lake. ToIlhocSe and at Dunlap. off the Kings Highway. _ These pilots generate "a lot of enthusiasm." he said. It is because of this that he decided to open up his own hang gliding school near Tollhouse this summer. Duely said Fresno flying conditions are a "little different" than coastal flying. "Beaches have smooth winds most of the time." Duely said. "Here we fly on thernials of warm air that ■ are moving upwards." Though there arc hundreds of miles between the two flocks of gliders, the attitudes of the pilots are much.the same. "Hang gliding is a natural high." Duely said. "At time.s il takes little concentration. You just check out (mentally) and relax." the Fresno pilot said, echoing the expressed feeling of the coastal enthusiasts. Ben Reese. 25. flies both at Fresno and Marina. After flying for six years. Reese won third place in a DDfSimc 12-mile race held in Marina last year and said he "hopes to take first" this year. But. he added, flying does not come naturally. "How well you fly depends on how much time you take to learn to fly and how often you train, he said just before he took off for a practice run at the Marina "Hang gliding is an art form, which takes a lot of practice and a lot of time." Shelton said. It also lakes the insights of instructors who have been certified by the U.S. Hang Gliding Association. To guarantee this type of qualified instruction. Kitty Hawk has a carefully scheduled way in which they go ab<>ut teaching its students. Beginning students are shown a movie that "tells them what they can realistically expect out on the slope." Shelton said. Once on the slope they go over the glider's pans and control movements. They then watch a demonstration flight given by the instructor. "A lpl of our students are afraid we're just going to hook them up to a glider and throw them off a cliff, but that's not how it is," Johns said. "Learning to fly a glider is different than learning how to fly an airplane because we can't take over if a student starts to lose control. So we keep it slow and low to the ground." After several of these lest flights, where the in¬ structor runs along the side of the glider holding on. "the students are slowly weaned until they can handle flying in controlled situations on iheir^own," Shelton Johns estimated that it takes about 12 lessons and $400 for a student io become "fairly confident with the basics" of hang gliding. Then the student can go out a nd buy his own glider and begin practicing by himself or continue with the lessons. Because of the cost of lessons and equipment. Johns ca I Is his hobby "somewhat of an elitist sport," but even so. more than 1,000 students annually come to the bright blue school jusl across the highway from Mar¬ ina beach to begin to learn "the basics." Most of the students come to the school "just for the ex perience," but Johns added that about 10 percenrof ihem will continue taking lessons until they reach a high proficiency level." These pilots, who tend to be male, young profes¬ sionals between 21 and 30 years old, can be seen converging on beaches and lakes every weekend to ■ spend as much lime as possible experiencing flight. They wear harnesses around their chests and waists, » hich are hooked onto the gliders with the same type <>f hook and clasp used by mountain climbers. 1 n t he air they kick their feet into a long, cacoon-like bag and fly pa ra llel to horizon, controlling their flight by manipulating the bar of the A-shaped frame hand¬ ing down from between the two wings. Pilots say the amount of time they spend in the air depends on how long tney want to be up and what the conditions will allow. When all is wejL a single flight can last for hours. *• • "Nothing beats being in the air," Johns said. "It's almost hard to put into words. "When I'm flying I just lie in a prone position and relax." he said. "I cant even see the wings. I just look out and enjoy the |
Object Description
Title | 1984_05 The Daily Collegian May 1984 |
Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
Publication Date | 1984 |
Description | Daily (except weedends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif.: BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
Contributors | Associated Students of Fresno State. |
Coverage | Vol.1 no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
Language | eng |
Description
Title | May 4, 1984 Pg. 8-9 |
Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
Publication Date | 1984 |
Description | Daily (except weedends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif.: BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
Contributors | Associated Students of Fresno State. |
Coverage | Vol.1 no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
Language | eng |
Full-Text-Search | May 4, 1984 May 4,1*84 To fly like a bird, to be free as Ihe air: Most han( glider pilots agree, there is no other feeling in the world when you're in a glider sailing in the skies. shore below an aerial show of crace and elegance Off to the right, a blue and gold glider's nose is tipped upward, wafting it into the air another 15 feet. It hovers for a few seconds and then, with its nose ic beach at a sand dune 200 yards round an invisible- axis. ay. I be'glide . across the shore and is pushed up until it is almost perpendicular to the hcach. It slowly descends and Ihe pilot's feet touch down. Icaviny him earthbound once This is ha ng gliding a sport most pilots consider to be "the ultimate" in aeronautics, and perhaps me closest man will ever come lo being a bird on wing. Jim Johns, a pilot for nine years and a certified gliding instructor at Kittv Hawk Kites, in Marina, remembers well a time when he almost felt he was a member of the feathered family. — -^. I he air was very calm one day not too long ago when he was gliding. A couple ol sea gulls flew by and hovered as if watching him. he said. "The simple flapping of their wings created a small turbulence that my kite wavered on. "Ill never forget that feeling." said Johns. 29. "Most guys here will agree that there's nothing like it." said a 48-year-old electrical engineer while he w setting up his glider on Marina Beach, wL other pilots were gathered. "Once you're airborn it's not too difficult." he said, ,:4t:A.:. ■■■ ■■ : about 25 "You go through some simple cc just listen to the wind go by." "When the wind is real smooth you can control your glider with jusl you're fingertips on the bar." Johns explained. "With time.and practice, control move¬ ments become almost automatic. You just decide where you want to go and respond naturally." Dave Shelton. another instructor at Xitty Hawk, said it is the "smooth and predictable winds"found at the beach that makes coastal flying. like that done in Monterey County, so enjoyable. But pilots in Kresno also enjoy their flying. According to Bob Duely. a local pilot, there are approximately .10 pilots in Ihe Fresno area. They can be seen air sailingat Millcrton Lake. ToIlhocSe and at Dunlap. off the Kings Highway. _ These pilots generate "a lot of enthusiasm." he said. It is because of this that he decided to open up his own hang gliding school near Tollhouse this summer. Duely said Fresno flying conditions are a "little different" than coastal flying. "Beaches have smooth winds most of the time." Duely said. "Here we fly on thernials of warm air that ■ are moving upwards." Though there arc hundreds of miles between the two flocks of gliders, the attitudes of the pilots are much.the same. "Hang gliding is a natural high." Duely said. "At time.s il takes little concentration. You just check out (mentally) and relax." the Fresno pilot said, echoing the expressed feeling of the coastal enthusiasts. Ben Reese. 25. flies both at Fresno and Marina. After flying for six years. Reese won third place in a DDfSimc 12-mile race held in Marina last year and said he "hopes to take first" this year. But. he added, flying does not come naturally. "How well you fly depends on how much time you take to learn to fly and how often you train, he said just before he took off for a practice run at the Marina "Hang gliding is an art form, which takes a lot of practice and a lot of time." Shelton said. It also lakes the insights of instructors who have been certified by the U.S. Hang Gliding Association. To guarantee this type of qualified instruction. Kitty Hawk has a carefully scheduled way in which they go ab<>ut teaching its students. Beginning students are shown a movie that "tells them what they can realistically expect out on the slope." Shelton said. Once on the slope they go over the glider's pans and control movements. They then watch a demonstration flight given by the instructor. "A lpl of our students are afraid we're just going to hook them up to a glider and throw them off a cliff, but that's not how it is," Johns said. "Learning to fly a glider is different than learning how to fly an airplane because we can't take over if a student starts to lose control. So we keep it slow and low to the ground." After several of these lest flights, where the in¬ structor runs along the side of the glider holding on. "the students are slowly weaned until they can handle flying in controlled situations on iheir^own," Shelton Johns estimated that it takes about 12 lessons and $400 for a student io become "fairly confident with the basics" of hang gliding. Then the student can go out a nd buy his own glider and begin practicing by himself or continue with the lessons. Because of the cost of lessons and equipment. Johns ca I Is his hobby "somewhat of an elitist sport," but even so. more than 1,000 students annually come to the bright blue school jusl across the highway from Mar¬ ina beach to begin to learn "the basics." Most of the students come to the school "just for the ex perience," but Johns added that about 10 percenrof ihem will continue taking lessons until they reach a high proficiency level." These pilots, who tend to be male, young profes¬ sionals between 21 and 30 years old, can be seen converging on beaches and lakes every weekend to ■ spend as much lime as possible experiencing flight. They wear harnesses around their chests and waists, » hich are hooked onto the gliders with the same type <>f hook and clasp used by mountain climbers. 1 n t he air they kick their feet into a long, cacoon-like bag and fly pa ra llel to horizon, controlling their flight by manipulating the bar of the A-shaped frame hand¬ ing down from between the two wings. Pilots say the amount of time they spend in the air depends on how long tney want to be up and what the conditions will allow. When all is wejL a single flight can last for hours. *• • "Nothing beats being in the air," Johns said. "It's almost hard to put into words. "When I'm flying I just lie in a prone position and relax." he said. "I cant even see the wings. I just look out and enjoy the | |