Picture this. You’re standing on a rounded hilltop. A soft breeze is in your face. In front of you is a gentle, grassy slope leading down into the valley. You start your run down the slope with gravity helping to pull you along into a fast run. Within a several steps you are lifted, the ground falls away beneath your feet, you’re running on air. You’re flying.

Have you ever dreamed of flying? We don’t mean riding in an airplane, but really flying, the way the birds fly; gliding gently through the air with a bird’s-eye-view of everything below and out to the horizon, or soaring upwards on rising thermal currents, banking and turning to follow the lifting air. Maybe you’ve even been aware that there are some people who do fly this way but thought that you could never do it; that it was too difficult, or too dangerous.

Well, it is dangerous, but you can fly if you want to. The modern sport of hang gliding offers access to personal, bird-like flight that is considered by those who train to an advanced level, to be reasonably safe. You should be aware that no flight activities are without risk. With the advent of texting teenagers, your biggest risk might be in the drive over.

Hang glider pilots utilize lightweight wings made of aerospace aluminum alloys covered with space-age polymer fabric, shifting their weight to control speed and direction.

Today’s advanced teaching methods, coupled with modern flying equipment, make the learning process fun, reasonably safe and, for some it seems to be easy. You can get involved at any level and to whatever degree you choose, from a single, introductory lesson to a full course of instruction leading to solo flight and your own equipment and pilot rating.

To start, you can fly from a mountain on a tandem wing with an instructor at your side, or skim over a shallow slope under an instructor’s supervision, just a few inches off the ground. If you choose to go farther, you’ll learn the finer points of controlling your wing under the guidance of your instructor, while you also learn to understand the winds and how they affect your flight.

You’ll become part of a community of pilots, and find that people who share a love of flying are some of the most interesting people you’ll ever meet – people who live life with a sense of adventure and with a passion that few experience.

– See more at: https://sandiegohanggliders.com/learn-to-fly-hang-gliders/