The things you see when flying

[brilin_air]

I just ferried an aircraft from Bundaberg back to Victoria with the owner and when we were near Dalby at 6500 ft we looked out of the windscreen and about 2000 ft above us was a hang glider, it sounded like they were getting towed up and left to slowly make their way back home. It was a first for us to see a hang glider at that altitude.

 

Brian

 

 

[turboplanner]

Was he long and skinny with a big toothy grin?

 

 

[brilin_air]

Didn't get that close, but it gave us a fright to think there may be others around us that we didn't know about

 

 

[Tomo]

There were a bit over 60 odd hang gliders in the air yesterday, friday and Thursday. I believe quite a few got up to 8000ft or more, great weather for it.

 

There were five tugs launching them all

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Double posted.

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

It does provide a new awareness when you read a Notam like:

 

C201/12 REVIEW C60/12

 

HANG GLIDING COMPETITION WI UP TO 80 GLIDERS WILL TAKE PLACE

 

IN CLASS G AND VMC CLASS E AIRSPACE WI 80NM OF S36 11.2 E147 58.5

 

(LAUNCH SITE MT ELLIOT APRX 4NM E OF YCRG AD)

 

ACTIVITY HEIGHT SFC - 10000FT AMSL

 

FROM 01 120100 TO 01 150900

 

HJ

 

One of them landed at Yarrawonga, so I'm told! That is about 170km.

 

 

[HeadInTheClouds]

What do they tow hang gliders with? Wouldn't need to be that big/powerful I would imagine?

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

A guy at work who hang glides and flies sail planes said he was going for a Dragonfly endorsement to be able to tow hang gliders. It isn't an area that I know anything about.

 

 

[skeptic36]

What do they tow hang gliders with? Wouldn't need to be that big/powerful I would imagine?

These seem to be the most popular.

Regards Bill

 

 

[kgwilson]

The Dragonfly is absolutely the best Hang Glider tug available. They were used exclusively at the Pre World Hang Gliding competition in Forbes in January where there were over 100 competitors. Trikes were used in earlier times and there were some Airborne trikes certified for towing. As trikes got more powerful and faster the Moyes Dragonfly came into its own. Most have a Rotax 582 but there are 912 variants. They have a service ceiling of 16,000 feet & a rate of climb of 1400 FPM at about 35 knots.

 

 

[Tex]

I just ferried an aircraft from Bundaberg back to Victoria with the owner and when we were near Dalby at 6500 ft we looked out of the windscreen and about 2000 ft above us was a hang glider, it sounded like they were getting towed up and left to slowly make their way back home. It was a first for us to see a hang glider at that altitude.Brian

Dalby Hang Gliding Club has been having its annual competition all week Sat-Sat... finished yesterday with about 60 competing with 10 or so more free flyers. They had valid tasks everyday though the weather was not the best at the start of the week. Finished with some closed courses of about 120km the last couple of days.

 

 

[Tex]

[media=vimeo]2132597[/media]

 

 

[brilin_air]

Great vid Tex, didn't know they went so high with a hang glider and definitely didn't know that they got towed, just shows you learn something every day

 

Brian

 

 

[Tomo]

Hey Tex, were you there yesterday? I was there helping out with the launches actually. Flew the task to Brigalow and back in Tony's Decathlon to check it out in the afternoon... plus ducked over to Selwyn's. I was in the Yak52 doing aero's with Paul late afternoon.

 

 

[facthunter]

That must have been hard to bear Tomo. I know you are TRYING to make us envious.. Nev

 

 

[AlanB]

While we are on the hang glider education trail, lets have a little quiz... how many hang gliders can you see in this pic?

 

cheers Alan

 

 

 

[facthunter]

3???. Nev

 

 

[Tex]

Hey Tex, were you there yesterday? I was there helping out with the launches actually. Flew the task to Brigalow and back in Tony's Decathlon to check it out in the afternoon... plus ducked over to Selwyn's. I was in the Yak52 doing aero's with Paul late afternoon.

I was out Friday night for the evening then left about 11 Saturday as I have other pressing commitments at the moment... didn't even manage to get airborne at all

 

 

[Tex]

While we are on the hang glider education trail, lets have a little quiz... how many hang gliders can you see in this pic?cheers Alan

2... the Class 1 flex wing in the back ground and the Class 2 Swift front left. To my knowledge the Tempest(?) back right and Goat haven't demonstrated foot launch ability...??

 

 

[Tomo]

What do they tow hang gliders with? Wouldn't need to be that big/powerful I would imagine?

Yeah Dragonfly's and trikes. Had 3 Dragonfly's and 2 trikes going most of the time.

 

 

[Tex]

Great vid Tex, didn't know they went so high with a hang glider and definitely didn't know that they got towed, just shows you learn something every day Brian

If you are ever in an area (like Dalby) where hang gliders fly, expect them up to cloud base (with in permissible limits of course) and on blue days as high as thermal activity goes... 10,000 is the legal limit in Class G and above 10,000 to 12,000 with oxygen.

 

 

[AlanB]

All fly as hang gliders according to CASA.

 

The hang gliders in the pic are back left Moyes Litespeed, back right Archaeopteryx, front right Goat and front left powered Swift.

 

Tex, FAI require demonstration of foot launching and landing for competitions, CASA no longer makes that destinction.

 

Section 2 of CAO 95.8 gives the definitions as

 

empty weight means the actual weight of aircraft to which this Order applies in

 

its airborne configuration including all fittings and equipment but excluding

 

recovery or personnel parachutes.

 

framed hang-glider means a glider that has a maximum empty weight of less

 

than 70 kilograms and some rigid structure.

 

powered hang-glider means an aircraft that would be a glider, in particular a

 

framed hang-glider, if it did not have an engine attached.

 

Along with gliders, paragliders, balloons etc it's important to know what else is possible to be flying in your airspace and their mode of operation.

 

cheers Alan

 

 

[djpacro]

That must have been hard to bear Tomo. I know you are TRYING to make us envious.. Nev

Nev, you are always so much more polite than I am - there should be a law against Tomo's activities.And, to try to stay on topic - I had a look at that video but couldn't watch it for long as I am scared of heights.

 

 

[Tex]

All fly as hang gliders according to CASA.The hang gliders in the pic are back left Moyes Litespeed, back right Archaeopteryx, front right Goat and front left powered Swift.

Tex, FAI require demonstration of foot launching and landing for competitions, CASA no longer makes that destinction.

 

Section 2 of CAO 95.8 gives the definitions as

 

empty weight means the actual weight of aircraft to which this Order applies in

 

its airborne configuration including all fittings and equipment but excluding

 

recovery or personnel parachutes.

 

framed hang-glider means a glider that has a maximum empty weight of less

 

than 70 kilograms and some rigid structure.

 

powered hang-glider means an aircraft that would be a glider, in particular a

 

framed hang-glider, if it did not have an engine attached.

 

Along with gliders, paragliders, balloons etc it's important to know what else is possible to be flying in your airspace and their mode of operation.

 

cheers Alan

Hm interesting, I hadn't checked the changes to 95.8.... never realised they were that dramatic

 

Who certifies you to fly 3 axis under 95.8?

 

 

[AlanB]

Good question Tex.....

 

There's nothing in the HGFA ops manual that references 3 axis, so there's no additional sign off required. It's a grey area that's never been rectified, probably due to the low number of this type.

 

The pilots I know that fly them (including myself) were existing HGFA members before flying them and sought 3 axis training (sailplanes) to solo level.

 

The operation of powered hang gliders and paramotors took a bit of time to address at an organisational level and they had a bigger groundswell than 3 axis hang gliders may ever have.

 

Perhaps the next update of our ops manual will address it?

 

cheers Alan