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Real, Hands-On HG Simulator :
A Head Start to HG Flight Simulator training <-Click this line for the ALL-IMPORTANT full text for this drawing, seen below...
Any old hang glider will do, for this HG Simulator. (Uses steel ring or bicycle rim in the support cable)
A Head Start to HG Flight Simulator training <-Click this line for the ALL-IMPORTANT full text for this picture and video, seen below...
Mantis Simulator Video Screenshot:
RC Soaring for Beginning Pilots
Mantis Simulator Video, as seen on YouTube
Full Featured Simulator
Here are two examples of an excellent full-featured simulator, offering the same benefits as the one shown in the sketch, plus portability. The HG Simulator below is being used by the Torrey Hawks Hang Gliding Club at the 2009 Kick Gas Festival in San Diego. This simulator has a rigid frame which can be disassembled and carried on most hang glider roof racks. It features a fully articulated swivel (possibly from a trike?) that provides full pitch and roll control. The mounting harware will accept most any glider with round downtubes. This photo shows a "mini glider", but it will accept a full-sized glider as well.
The support frame for any HG Simulator can be a conventional hydraulic engine hoist, with the beam ending in a trike attachment which attaches to the keel, or a ball swivel assembly, as seen in the Mantis video.
Video Games
http://www.hangsim.com/mf/ (download page below)
http://www.qualitysimulations.com/mf/download.php ....the HangSim/ Microflight Demo (free) runs in 5-minute segments, with keyboard or joystick. Re-starting the demo lets you resume (continue) the same flight, if desired. MicroFlight/HangSim Start-Up settings.
http://www.danb.dircon.co.uk/hg/hg.htm
Radio Controlled Soaring Models, for Beginning Pilots
When first starting out on the adventure of Hang Gliding, sometimes you can get temporarily derailed by a lack of funding, or distant HG schools, or personal affairs. To ease the serious frustrations of these “minor” setbacks, you can learn to fly RC aircraft in the meantime. This endeavor is at a slight tangent to HG lessons, and it is NOT required, in learning to fly a hang glider.
Still, it's a valuable skill for any HG pilot, and you can learn a lot about the winds, lift, thermals, and the qualities desirable for your aircraft, even if it is an RC model. I would not consider flying at unknown (but possible) flying sites (we call this a "pioneering” expedition), unless I first flew an RC plane there to investigate the winds and terrain effects of this new site. RC planes then are not merely an entertaining pastime; they can be a valuable learning tool. They can be a good safety factor, in your life-long flight adventures.
Here is a quick-n-dirty article, to get started with RC aircraft. We can start this RC adventure with a free RC Simulator.