Hang Gliding Over Hudson Valley	Hang Gliding Over San Diego
Hang Gliding Over The Pocono Mountains	Hang Gliding Over San Bernardino
Hang Gliding Over San Francisco	Trike Gliding Over Sonoma
Nez Perce Ultralight Trike Flight	Nez Perce Ultralight Float Trike Flight

History of Hang Gliding (see Wikipeda)

The first recorded controlled flights in a hang glider were by German engineer Otto Lilienthal, who published all of his research in 1889, influencing later designers. The hang glider lost some importance through the introduction of wing warping control by the Wright brothers in 1902 and subsequently of aileron control by the French. The evolution of airframes and airfoils resulted in hang gliders from 1895 onwards (Percy Pilcher, Augustus Herring, John J. Montgomery, Carl S. Bates, 1922: Gottlob Espenlaub, 1929: George A. Spratt, and many others). The A-frame for hang gliders, trikes, and ultralights gradually simplified hang glider control.

Launch

Launch techniques include foot-launching from a hill, tow-launching from a ground-based tow system, aerotowing (behind a powered aircraft), and powered harnesses. Other, more exotic launch techniques have also been used successfully, such as hot air balloon drops for very high altitude. Flights in non-soarable conditions are referred to as "sled runs".

Soaring Flight

Good gliding weather. Well formed cumulus clouds, with darker bases, suggest active thermals and light winds. Good gliding weather. Cumulus clouds with dark flat base.Glider pilots can stay airborne for hours. This is possible because they seek out rising air masses (lift) from the following sources:

Thermals

The most commonly used source of lift is created by the sun's energy heating the ground which in turn heats the air above it. This warm air rises in columns known as thermals. Soaring pilots quickly become aware of visual indications of thermals such as cumulus clouds, cloud streets, dust devils and haze domes. Also, nearly every glider contains an instrument known as a variometer (a very sensitive vertical speed indicator) which shows visually (and often audibly) the presence of lift and sink. Having located a thermal, a glider pilot will circle within the area of rising air to gain height. In the case of a cloud street thermals can line up with the wind creating rows of thermals and sinking air. A pilot can use a cloud street to fly long straight-line distances by remaining in the row of rising air.

Ridge lift

Ridge lift occurs when the wind meets a mountain, cliff or hill. The air is deflected up the windward face of the mountain, causing lift. Gliders can climb in this rising air by flying along the feature. Another name for flying with ridge lift is slope soaring.

Mountain waves

The third main type of lift used by glider pilots is the lee waves that occur near mountains. The obstruction to the airflow can generate standing waves with alternating areas of lift and sink. The top of each wave peak is often marked by lenticular cloud formations.

Convergence

Another form of lift results from the convergence of air masses, as with a sea-breeze front.

More exotic forms of lift are the polar vortexes which the Perlan Project hopes to use to soar to great altitudes. A rare phenomenon known as Morning Glory has also been used by glider pilots in Australia.

Cross-country flying

Once the skills of using thermals to gain altitude have been mastered, pilots can glide from one thermal to the next to fly cross-country (XC). Potential thermals along the route can be identified by land features which typically generate thermals, by soaring birds or by cumulus clouds which mark the top of a rising column of warm, humid air as it reaches the dew point and condenses to form a cloud.