The glider appears high in the sky as a tiny speck and gradually descends in long, lazy circles, coming closer and closer to Telluride, Colorado's ballpark.
The transformation from air to land is achieved as the pilot, slung in a harness below the glider's forty-foot nylon wings, tries with quick, running steps to bring his contraption to a halt. But at the last moment, the craft gets the better of him, plowing its nose into the ground with a resounding thump.
"Whaaaaack!" comes the cry from the group of hang gliding pilots assembled at the landing field, adding a good-natured insult to his noninjurious but ungraceful arrival. "Well, that's one way to land a hang glider," says the pilot, grinning sheepishly as he hauls his craft out of the landing zone. Several other pilots land with "whaaaacks" that day, showing that not all participants at this weeklong festival are expert pilots. But the meet also attracts the skillful, who come to affirm their love for a dangerous and often misunderstood sport.
Becoming Airborne
Becoming airborne by running off steep cliffs thousands of feet high is only the beginning of the sport. "The challenge is to stay up as long as the body can go," says Jim Lee, the top long-distance flier at Telluride's 1988 annual festival. Some hang gliding pilots can withstand the gravitational forces exerted during intricate maneuvers such as loops, wingovers, and spins. And when hang gliders compete with each other, it's usually in multiday cross-country races along specified courses. The participants' scores are determined by the time taken to go the distance, and flight positions are verified by onboard cameras.
"Cross-country is the ultimate," says the 35-year-old Lee, one of the few hang gliding pilots good enough to earn a sponsor contract. "I enjoy competition, and it builds flying skills and makes you a better pilot." Lee does no special workouts for hang gliding ("I lift weights a little"), but like most gliding enthusiasts, he keeps his body in optimal condition for this rigorous sport. "It's important to be strong enough to handle the craft," Lee notes. "You don't have to train specifically for hang gliding, but if you're not in shape and get tired you could get in trouble."
Gliders Don't Make Mistakes
People can and do die while hang gliding. As recently as last year, one Telluride competitor lost his life during a practice session for the aerobatic contest when his glider broke and plummeted to the ground. But the promoters of the festival say that hang gliding is only as dangerous as the fliers make it.
"Gliders don't make mistakes, people do," says Hugh Sawyer, event director and unofficial "commander" of the town's funky flying association, the "Telluride Air Force."
In the seventies, hang gliding deservedly earned a reputation as an extremely dangerous sport. The worst year for hang gliding fatalities in the United States was 1974, when the sport claimed forty lives. Since then, advanced glider construction technology and the pilot-proficiency program have made the sport a much safer pursuit.
...
Read Full Article
|
