Tek Flight Products
Colebrook Stage
Winsted, CT 06098
(U.S.)
(860) 379-1668 Serving the hang gliding community for over 25 years with hang
gliding instruction, new and used hang gliders and hang gliding
accessories
For any other purchase - including non-US you may use
the PayPal link
below where you can fill in the appropriate information and price
including shipping as arranged with us.
For any purchase - including non-US you may use the PayPal link below
where you
can fill in the appropriate information and price including shipping as
arranged with us.
For additional information on any of the above, contact:
Tek Flight Products
Colebrook Stage
Winsted, CT 06098
tel:(860) 379-1668 To write us Put "hang
gliding" as subject.
Hang Gliders, Hang Gliding Instruction, hang glider repair,
custom
fabrication.
The sky's not the limit.
Tek Flight products in Winsted, CT is New England's oldest
established
hang gliding school and hang glider dealer. They have been serving the
hang gliding community for over 30 years. The school owners are active
hang glider pilots who wish to help create hang glider pilots who will
join them as they explore the beauty of flight powered only by nature. Information on what is involved
in hang gliding.
Misc. hang gliding links: Wills Wing Gliders
If someone truely wants to fly and is willing to go to the effort
of learning the necessary skills to fly a hang glider with confidence
and competence,
they too, can join us in the sky, looking down at the earth-bound who,
not understanding the joy of flight, call us "crazy".
What is involved in learning to fly a hang glider?
Good instruction, a lot of flying and work are the key
ingredients to learning to fly a hang glider.
Good hang gliding instruction: Sure, we taught ourselves over
20
years ago and a lot of us paid a high price. Man, were we lucky. Things
like proper "hang checks" were developed after watching someone launch
while not properly hooked in. The need for building various physical
responses as conditioned reflexes was learned as we cleaned the dirt
off our harnesses and faces. The need for understanding
micrometereology was discovered after watching someone get pounded into
the ground by an unanticipated rotor. The list goes on. A little
knowledge would have been great and if it had been available and used,
there would probably be three or four times as many pilots enjoying
hang gliding today.
A good instructor is an active hang glider
pilot. Their rating is not as important as their ability to "get into
your head" and find the best words to generate the most complete
understanding of what you are supposed to do and why you are supposed
to do it. A good hang gliding instructor is a cost effective investment.
"But I want to get in the air fast and
don't want to be bothered with a bunch of things that the lessons will
waste time with".
Gravity has a way of dealing with mediocre
pilot skills. and so -------------
Work: The only way to become a good hang glider pilot
is to fly and
fly and fly in controlled/supervised conditions so that you generate
the proper habits that make it virtually impossible for you to behave
incorrectly. These
"habits" are both mental and physical. Every one of us is unique and
learns
in somewhat different manners. Hang glider pilots fly using senses not
instruments and each of us take different amounts of time to develop
the
use of and coordination of those senses to become a safe/good pilot.
Nature does not care about us at all, so we have to take the time to
learn how to deal with what she (p.c.?) may throw at us and learn how
to make sure that
we are always in a manageable environment. It doesn't take magic. It
just takes work. The rewards fulfill the soul of that unique breed--the
"Hang Glider Pilot".
The neat thing is that this work involves flying. The down
side is that the work may not seem proportionate to the immediate
reward if you
are seeking instant gratification---like being at cloudbase on day 1,
day2, day 3. The ultimate reward however, is beyone description.
What about the cost of gliders? Here we get into a very
sticky
area. We have older gliders that are very inexpensive that we would
love to get rid of. Would we be doing you a favor selling one of them
to you?
What is the better investment, a glider that you can fly easily and
that will safely take you up to the clouds or one that is stiff
handling,
hard to land and that leaves you white knuckled every time you get
hit by some little thermal? Sure, you are smart and good and can
overcome
all the little problems that will arise. Sure you are. My bet is that
if you were to get one of these treasures, you would quit wanting to
fly and so--------
The proper hang glider for you is one that
you can have fun flying. Many pilots have stopped flying hang gliders
because they were hyped into buying a glider that did not fulfill their
dream of flight (or because "It was cheap and all I could afford" while
they went out and blew their money on video games or 5
days of vacation or beer). Just because someone's article or some
dealer felt that a particular
hang glider was the ultimate flying machine, does not mean that it is
fun to fly-- for you. I have found that I tend to stay up twice as long
in the
winter, when I am test flying a glider that we are selling to one of
our
new pilots as opposed to flying some "hot damn" super ship. For some
reason
I don't seem to get cold as fast. So which is more fun?
And now, the $$$$ -- You can get a brand new glider that is the same as
I fly 90% of the time (with over 25 years of experience and a bunch of
gliders to chose from) for $3075.00 plus shipping and tax. Sound like a
lot? Well, think about it. The glider will take you up to the clouds,
last for years with virtually no maintenance, requires no fuel to
operate and is undiluted fun to fly. You can spend more to get more
speed, you can spend less to get ----- well, there will be a bunch of
trade-offs. Glider condition may be one of them. Handling and landing
characteristics will be critical factors and one of them may be why the
glider is being sold. Look well and think before going cheap. Something
that is not fun for you to fly is worse than worthless as it will nudge
you out of hang gliding simply because the flying although managable,
is not fun.
People invariably ask "How long does it take to become a
hang glider pilot?"
That is about the same as asking "How long will it take me to learn to
play a guitar?".
You will probably be flying and be a pilot the first day on the hill.
How
soon you will be able to be on your own, properly evaluating
conditions,
responding properly to the varying conditions that you encounter in
flight
varies with each individual. It helps to fly as often as possible. The
more
you fly, the better you get and the closer you get to that first
mountain
flight. Just remember that if you jump ahead of your
competence/confidence
level, you may either hurt yourself or, (possibly worse), start to fear
that
fantastic world we live for---flight with nothing getting us high but
our skills and nature.
Before you chose an instruction source, consider
that the quick way may not be the best. I'd love to find out how to
prepare a pilot well for all that can be tossed at them by an
infinitely variable nature in 5 (or so) lessons. You will invariably
see the better trained new pilot getting many times the hours of
airtime of the "We'll get you off the mountain quickly" pilot. Often it
takes the pilot that took the shortcuts years to catch up -- if they
ever do.
Do you need some kind of license? Most hang
gliding sites require that
the pilot is a member of the United States Hang Gliding Association and
that they have a certain minimum proficiency rating. Particularly
the first two ratings are task and skill oriented so having the ability
to demonstate the skills consistently is not a burden to the pilot. The
instructor/school that the new pilot goes to can issue the rating. The
only government requirements are that the hang glider pilot adhere to
FAA "VFR"
restrictions/regulations which include behavior near controlled
airspace and
altitued/oxygen requirements.
Do you have to be a certain age to fly a hang glider? Well, on the
"young"
end of the spectrum, the pilot has to have enough maturity and judgment
to think ahead and plan for what might happen if nature throws a curve
at them. At the upper end of the age spectrum, there is really no limit
as long
as the pilot is in reasonable physical condition. Learning foot
launched
flight will be work and it would not be wise to ----- well let's say
the pilot
has a slow launch so that they can only launch safely if the wind is
blowing
in at 10 mph or more. That would not be safe. Either the pilot works to
develop
a fast launch or they should not foot launch. Yeah, maybe they could
get away
with windy cliff launches but "get away with" is not an acceptable hang
gliding
term.
Towing (aerotowing in particular, has
become quite popular) can be an option
for those not fleet of feet (or without hills)
as the pilot and glider can launch from a towed dolly on flat land but
there are certain
inherent dangers that are associated with mechanical force applied to
you when you are close to solids. The whole system becomes more
complex.
For those on the flatlands, there is no option but to tow. There are a
host of advantages to have the facilities to do it BUT towing is more
complex than running and flying off a hill/mountain so learn the skill
well with
qualified instructors and appreciate, respect and avoid the hazzards.
How do hang gliders go up? On any
good active day, hang gliders can get up the the clouds (and sometimes
above), subject to FAA restrictions which exist for good reason. So how
do they go up? First, all gliders are constantly flying down through
the "local" air at rates between ~100 and 200 feet per minute. If the
air is going up faster than the glider is going down, you gain
altitude. Ridge lift and thermals are the primary source of sustaining
air and thermals are the number one source of the 10-15-20,000 ft
altitudes that you hear of. The rate of ascent that you will achieve in
a thermal ranges from anything that is better than the minimum sink
rate of the glider to "drop your socks" thermals, well in excess of
1500 feet per minute. "Simply" core the thermal, sometimes standing the
glider on a subjective wingtip to stay in it, go around and around and
go up. That "simply" is a developed skill.
"Do you need wind to fly? What
happens if the wind stops?" Actually for training we are hoping for the
calmest days we can get. The air that the glider sees and the airspeed
that gets it flying is created by the pilot's launch (run or tow). It
can make things easier if you have a headwind but it is not necessary
in order to simply launch or fly. Tailwind launches are a "NO!".
Once the pilot can handle relatively calm
conditions then they can graduate to more active conditions. There are
a multitude of learned "tools" that the pilot uses to judge the
suitability of any day for safe flying. Once in the air you are in much
the same situation as a boat in a stream. You are flying in an air mass
and you control your airspeed the same way regardless of the wind
velocity. The times the wind velocity becomes particularly important
are when you are launching, landing, and as the air hits things that
disrupt its flow. As the force of the wind/air is proportional to the
square of its velocity, higher wind speeds need to be treated with a
great deal of respect.
"What is the difference between
an entry level glider and
an advanced glider?" Primarily the difference is in the performance of
the gliders at higher speeds and the top speeds of the gliders. The
"advanced"/faster gliders will go faster but will almost invariably be
stiffer handling and harder to land. From my perspcecive, the primary
purpose of having a faster glider is to enable you to go further on a
cross country flight. Well, look at the results of The Falcon X-C
contest
where pilots are getting some quite respectable milage with the same
glider that you could use to start your hang gliding career.
How can I avoid all that repetitious training
that is wasting my time?
Somebody just posted a letter on a news group after spending a half day
on a training hill, wanting to speed up their training process. The
following is an unedited quote of an answer that he received from an
experienced pilot:
"Some day you'll be standing on the mountain with
the wind in your face and your glider on your shoulders and you will
realize that the mountain and the winds don't give a shit about what
that USHGA card says in your pocket. What will matter is how good you
are and how well you have developed your judgement and that will be a
direct result of how seriously you approach your flying."
There are no shortcuts. You practice until you are
consistently good. Gravity and solid objects have their way of dealing
with those who are too lazy or in too much of a rush to take the time
to learn how to do things right every time.
Now, here are some pages where you can find out
about the experiences
of some pilots who may just possibly be able to get you to feel what
you will experience as you grow from whatever you are now, into a hang
glider pilot. If you really want
to, you too can do it and join them looking down on the poor earthbound
who will never have the slightest idea of what it is like to actually
fly using nothing but yourself -- the glider will be a part of you. Peter
Perrone's Hang gliding page Bruce Stobbe's
Hang gliding page
Information and entry forms for the Falcon X-C Contest
Great prizes, no entry fee. (Apr.-Dec. for the entire
world)
"What is the cheapest glider that you have (because I want to
get one
and teach myself to fly)?" is a question that we are getting with
increasing frequency. I can sympathize with the "sticker shock" that
people get when they hear the cost of lessons that will get them off a
mountain----
"What is all this cost for something that looks so simple"? So why not
get a cheap glider and carefully teach yourself? You will read all
about it and know the rules and what you have to do and will do it by
the book. Yes, you could teach yourself and you might succeed without
incident. Unfortunately, there are very significant odds that you would
get into an "OOPS?!*" situation from ignorance of one of the myriad of
little things that you were not aware of and which caught you and
planted you hard on the ground or in a tree. Give a single lesson from
a good instructor a chance then decide what you want to
do and how you want to do it.
For a list of the schools in your state, you can go to the USHGA
(United States Hang Gliding Association) page at "www.ushga.org" where
I appologize
in advance for the scarcity of instruction.
