Hangglide

If you long to slip the surly bonds of earth and soar like a bird, yet don’t want to invest the time and expense of learning to fly an actual airplane, then hang gliding could be for you. It’s one of the simplest, safest, and most accessible ways to fly.

Men have theorized about strapping on bird-like wings and taking flight for centuries, but practical designs didn’t appear until the late 1800s. A controllable glider was first invented by Otto Lilienthal in 1894, and 1948 saw the introduction of the flexible wing design so familiar today.

A hang glider is basically a small non-motorized aircraft with a flexible airfoil made to carry one or two people. It’s launched by foot power off of an incline, with the pilot hanging in a harness secured to a frame, which is controlled by the shifting of body weight. At one time, hang gliding was confined to soaring down small hills and valleys, but with modern materials and new technologies, hang gliders can climb thousands of feet on rising thermals and stay in the air for hours. So make sure you use the restroom before takeoff.

Making It Happen

Learning to fly a hang glider is very easy to learn and only takes a short time, as little as a day. It also doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, at least as long as you avoid hard landings. Rimshot. Seriously though, hang gliding has proven to be very safe, but not without an element of danger. Which is, of course, part of its appeal. Wills Wing dumbs it down thus, Hang gliding shares with all other forms of aviation the inherent danger of being high above the ground. Anytime a pilot loses control of an aircraft, there is the potential to hit the ground at a high rate of speed, which is dangerous.

The ease of learning and the low cost of hang gliding have made it an extremely popular sport. Gliding clubs and flight centers offering lessons and adventure packages can be found almost everywhere. The best place to start is the U.S. Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association, where you can find clubs and lessons near you.