[bluehawk]

I'm reaching back a long time ago, but my last post reminded me of a story you may enjoy at my expense.

My first altitude flight was from a 750 foot mountain in Oklahoma - launch to LZ. It was a beautiful morning on the mountain. Sun was shining, birds were chirping, etc., etc. However, since it was 8 o'clock in the morning ---- no wind.

O K. KIte ready, hang test good, pick up kite and... something doesn't feel right. Put down kite, unhook, step away a few feet and think about this.

About this time, an old farmer, who came to see these fools jump off of a perfectly good mountain, kind of slips up beside me and says.... "I've got a roll of toilet paper in the truck over there if you need some".('')

That's all it took. I hooked in, picked up the kite and ran my ass off to get airborn. It was the most beatiful elevator ride I've ever had!

I hope everyone else had a good one also. How about it? Any other first time stories out there you would care to share?

Bluehawk

[AP]

Thats a good one Bluehawk. I'll remember the toilet-roll line next time someone is holding up launch.

[xerxes]

It wasn't my first flight, but as I was carying my glider up to launch once, a kid amongst some spectator yelled "Go crazy guy, go!". So I went

[TomGalvin]

It was iffy whether I would be able to make my first mountain flight that evening. The wind direction was strong and cross for that launch and isolated thunderstorms were forecasted. I was leaving for a business trip the next day, so it would be several weeks before I could try again. I hauled my glider up the trail, and got setup just in case. My sons were there with me. As evening approached the winds died down and straightened out some. In the distance you could see the over development. My instructor arrived, took a look and said let's wait and see. Based on what I could see, I was already preparing myself to break down. After a half hour, the winds were just right, but a thunderstorm was going to be passing from the west to our north. We could see the Virga reaching down two valleys over. I was prettty sure I was not flying. My instructor said,

"If you are going to go, you need to do it in the next two minutes or start breaking down."

BAM! Every ounce of adrenaline was dropped into my bloodstream. I picked up the glider, looked left, looked right, barked clear and stormed off that launch. While still pumped from the adrenaline, I looked out over the Roundout river valley and towards Catskill mountains. My brain was washed by a tide of endorphins. I flew the glider straight to the LZ , set up my approach, and landed long. One of my fellow students who soloed earlier that summer, came out hollering. High fives, hugs, and whooping for a minute until the first rain drops fell. We quickly started breaking down but the edge of the storm caught up with us and we were hit with a mild gust front and showers for about 2 minutes. After it passed a rainbow came out.

About three weeks later my feet touched the ground.

[knumbknuts]

Mine was so fun I wrote it up as a movie script for submission to hollywood, with me as "Lahn Dart."

Let's just start at the end of the day:

[Scene is set inside a late model minivan, middle aged yuppie, LAHN DART, is talking on a cell phone]

[L DART] "Hi Hon! I'm on my way home for dinner. I'll be home soon. Hey, guess wha..."

[L DART] "...."

[L DART] "Ho noes, will the ferrier be able to reschedule?"

[L DART] "... no......... that's horrible.......... I'm sure it will work out..."

[He takes a swig from a quick-e-mart soda, adjusts himself, and holds the phone up while he shovels spicy hot munch mix into his mouth."]

[L DART] "I think it's going to rain this weekend, maybe you could go see your horse next weekend."

[L DART] "... The saddle store was closed??? On a Wednesday? Jerks!"

[Camera pans out of the car to show typically packed LA Inland Empire traffic.]

[Speed of film increases to signify passage of time.]

[Camera pans back into the van.]

[L DART] "Hey, let me... Boy, that sounds like horrible service... Yes, yes, I'll fix that tomorrow... No, I'm sorry, I forgot to do that."

[L DART] ".... .... that's... wait... hey... bu.. but..."

[L DART] "WAIT, don't hang up! I have great..."

[L DART looks at phone. Writer's note to producer, check to see if certain levels of profanity can lead to an NC-17 rating]

[L DART] "@*&^%$!©±¾¶§£¥"

[L DART looks at phone, pulls a credit card out of his wallet and looking at it, dials again, 10 digits]

[L DART] "Hi... Lahn Dart... Visa... 4233 8222 8113 1313... expires 09/09... Thanks... ... Hi Krystal with a K, my name is Lahn. No. No No, I mean yes, that's an interesting physiological proposition, but first, let me tell you about my first hang gliding solo."

[L DART] "No, that's not a kinky metaphor."

[L DART] "... A metaphor is something that represents something else."

[L DART] "Look, am I paying four bucks a minute are you?"

[L DART] "No, I didn't whack... though, I did slide on my knees and the wheels a bit, but hey, I hadn't done a bunny hill in a month... Who's Bunny? No, a bunny hill is a hill you practice hang gliding on. Could we stay on target here?"

[L DART] "Anyway, the launch was great, boy was I nervous. But, my instructor talked me down like Leslie Neilson talking down Robert Hayes at the end of Airplane. I was up for about fifteen minutes. That's about average, you say? Yea. Yea it was fun. I can't wait to go again."

[L DART] "Did I have a happy ending? Well, I wasn't thrilled about going to my knees, but hey, I lived, so you could say I had a 'Happy Ending.'"

[L DART] "WHAT? That's extra???!!!"

[Zoom to L DART's face as he screams last line, then pan out as he slams on brakes to avoid rear ending sudden traffic.]

[Scene ends]

[yuvinb]

my story is not that much fun, actualy it is not a first but second flight story.
serch "youtube" for "hang glider's right cable disconected on take off",
the video says it all. (i'm not able to send direct links on this forum yet)
some of you may have seen it before so you'll be happy to know that i finaly got my H-2 a month ago and with it my brand new northwing EZY.

i hope some of you have nicer first flight stories.[/youtube]

[curly_cue]

Hey, all women are not like that!

[curly_cue]

[xerxes]

Link


Damn, that's scary! I hope you had some words with whoever replaced the wires last. Sweet wing by the way.

[yuvinb]

thanks for the link xerxes

[bluehawk]

Ouch!

I'm glad you're O K. That flight would have cost me all of my confidence and a new pair of pants.

If I remember correctly from reading about this one - the kite had the cables replaced and someone used a wrong sized fitting?

I hope your flying experiences are much better now.

[bluehawk]

This was a good topic. How about some more stories!