Hand Gliding

 

Hang Gliding

                        Once while sitting and aiming at surfers at Merewether beach in Newcastle, Australia near Cuckoo hill, suddenly I taken aback by hooosh like sound just passed over me, as I was also basking in the lovely and warm sun of the winter, and searching some good actions frames of the surfers, so for that purpose I was carrying two cameras one with long zoom of 400 mm lens and another short zoom 16-35 mm as per the requirement of the situation. So both surfers and Para gliders needed long zoom for composing and shoot. The next time the Para glider just encircled again and I was ready with my long zoom and put the camera on high servo and shot multiple frames in one go. And after analyzing the frames I sorted out one which I am presenting before my friends.

            While sojourning in Australia I found the Kangroos (Aussies) very sporting and loving people, they take any kind of sports either sky, sea, racing, Kayaking, swimming or any other sporting activities very seriously so either boys and girls, young and octogenarians everybody are indulge in sporting activities everywhere. There is lot of training centers of sports all over. Just for flying for example there is lot of small aerodromes only in a small place like Newcastle. One is commercial airport, another small airport is at Hunter valley and 3^rd one is at Belmont and enthusiasts are seen flying, skydiving on different kinds of flying machines, I also saw one fellow flying a by plane which may be of 1st, world war is obsoleted long back and comes into vintage category.

            As I came to know that hand glider is very popular air sport or recreational activity is liked by young and old, boys and girls it comes in affordable price like of a SUV, than an aircraft and anybody who knows car driving can fly it as said. But a person must be matures and strong enough to make his decision mentally than physically as per requirement of this sport. At initial stage it is difficult to operate but at later stage it is very easy. It is none motorized but heavier than air, this aircraft is made of aircraft aluminum or carbon fiber, stainless steel cables and weight 45 to 90 Lbs, which a pilot flies. Only precaution a person who is flying he/ she has to strap an emergency parachute with his body. While there is heavy storm then this flying is not advisable, but in light shower it is ok. Taking off can be done from a hill or a cliff by an expert pilot. This none motorized aircraft was made by the German Pilot Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger in the early 1810, later his concept was taken by 1890 by another German aeronautical Pilot. The glider glides at the speed of 20-30 mph and can reach speed up to 80 mph and have glide rate 16:1. The hand glider pilot use his weight from side to side to turn the craft in the air and to gain speed they shift their weight forward by pulling on the control bar, for slow down they shift their weight back by pushing the control bar. Hang gliders are not flown at night, because proper navigation is not possible at night.

            There are many gliding centers of this mechanical birds in our country such as Pune, Nasik, Kanpur, Banglore, Shimla, Manali, Kalahari, Chandigarh and Delhi the charges are not so high from Rs 150 to 300 ( Latest tarriff is not known) per person for 10 minutes but it also depend upon the wind speed and direction. If the wind speed is high then gliding may not be possible. A private pilot-glider license is needed for flying hand glider. David Cook was the first hang glider pilot who firstly crossed the English Channel successfully on May 09, 1978. Later motorized gliders, two seated gliders  came and become very popular among the enthusiasts.

Text and Photo by-Ashok Karan,

Ashokkaran.blogspot.com,

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