Lake District Sports - Lake District Hang Gliding

Unlike a paraglider, a hang glider is a rigid frame steered by a control bar.
Lying suspended from a special harness under a sophisticated wing, you can launch into the wind under your own power or get a tow from a winch or a microlight. Offering greater range, higher speed and a wider window of
weather conditions in which to operate, hang gliders seem tailor-made for the landscape and climate of Cumbria.

Many-faceted sites facing every direction of the compass, booming thermals, easy launch and landing areas, convenient road access – everything is laid on for high climbs and amazing cross country adventures.

Operators

Cumbria Soaring Club

Classes of Hang Glider

For competitive purposes, there are three classes of hang glider:

The flexible wing hang glider, having flight controlled by a wing whose shape changes by virtue of the shifted weight of the pilot. This is not a paraglider.

The rigid wing hang glider, having flight controlled by spoilers, typically on top of the wing. In both flexible and rigid wings the pilot hangs below the wing without any additional fairing.

Class 2 (designated by the FAI as Sub-Class O-2) where the pilot is integrated into the wing by means of a fairing. These offer the best performance and are the most expensive.

In addition to typical launch configurations, a hang glider may be so constructed for alternative launching modes other than being foot launched; one practical avenue for this is for people who physically cannot foot-launch
 

Hang Glider Training & Safety
 
Learning to hang glide.Hang gliding has traditionally been considered an unsafe sport, ever since its inception. Otto Lilienthal died of a fractured spine from a glider crash after a gliding career lasting only five years. Modern hang gliders are very sturdy when constructed by HGMA, BHPA or DHV certified manufacturers using modern materials, though they remain lightweight craft that can be easily damaged, either through misuse or by continued operation in unsafe wind/weather conditions. All modern gliders have built-in stall recovery mechanisms (such as luff lines in kingposted gliders). Nevertheless, the inherent danger of gliding at the mercy of unpredictable thermal and wind currents, has resulted in numerous fatal accidents and many serious injuries over the years, even to experienced pilots, and the resultant adverse publicity has affected the popularity of hang gliding.

As a backup, pilots carry a parachute in the harness. In case of serious problems the parachute is deployed and carries both pilot and glider down to earth. Pilots also wear helmets and generally carry other safety items such as hook knives (for cutting their parachute bridle after impact or cutting their harness lines and straps in case of a tree or water landing), light ropes (for lowering from trees to haul up tools or climbing ropes), radios (for calling for help) and first-aid equipment.

An aspect that has dramatically improved the safety of the modern hang glider is pilot training. Early hang glider pilots learned their sport through trial and error. Many of those errors have led to effective training techniques and programs developed for today's pilot, with emphasis on flight well within safe limits, as well as the discipline to cease flying when weather conditions are unfavorable.

Soaring Flight in Hang Gliders

Glider pilots can stay airborne for hours. This is possible because they seek out rising air masses (lift) from the following sources:

Thermals

The most commonly used source of lift is created by the sun's energy heating the ground which in turn heats the air above it. This warm air rises in columns known as thermals. Soaring pilots quickly become aware of visual indications of thermals such as: cumulus clouds, cloud streets, dust devils and haze domes. Also, nearly every glider contains an instrument known as a variometer (a very sensitive vertical speed indicator) which shows visually (and often audibly) the presence of lift and sink. Having located a thermal, a glider pilot will circle within the area of rising air to gain height. In the case of a cloud street thermals can line up with the wind creating rows of thermals and sinking air. A pilot can use a cloud street to fly long straight-line distances by remaining in the row of rising air.

Ridge lift

Ridge lift occurs when the wind meets a mountain, cliff or hill. The air is deflected up the windward face of the mountain, causing lift. Gliders can climb in this rising air by flying along the feature. Another name for flying with ridge lift is slope soaring.

Mountain waves

The third main type of lift used by glider pilots is the lee waves that occur near mountains. The obstruction to the airflow can generate standing waves with alternating areas of lift and sink. The top of each wave peak is often marked by lenticular cloud formations.

Convergence

Another form of lift results from the convergence of air masses, as with a sea-breeze front.

More exotic forms of lift are the polar vortexes which the Perlan Project hopes to use to soar to great altitudes [3]. A rare phenomenon known as Morning Glory has also been used by glider pilots in Australia.[2]

Cross-country flying

Once the skills of using thermals to gain altitude have been mastered, pilots can glide from one thermal to the next to fly cross-country (XC). Potential thermals along the route can be identified by land features which typically generate thermals, by soaring birds or by cumulus clouds which mark the top of a rising column of warm, humid air as it reaches the dew point and condenses to form a cloud.