Editorial
Front Page - Friday, June 19, 2009
Lookout Mountain Flight Park taking hang gliders to new heights
David Laprad
People from all over the world come to Lookout Mountain to see the Eighth Wonder of the World. It’s not the Incline or Rock City; rather, it’s the launch ramp at Lookout Mountain Flight Park, which allows hang gliders to leap off the side of the mountain and take to the air, 1,300 feet above the ground. At least that’s what Dan Zink, an instructor at the school, says.
“We sometimes call it the Eighth Wonder of the World because it took a lot of effort to build it,” he says of the ramp, a massive concrete slab that begins at the edge of the mountain and curves several dozen feet down its side. “Our employees and engineers that fly here built it two years ago.”
The ramp overlooks 44 acres of beautiful grassland with gentle hills and larger, tree-covered rises in the terrain. Bales of hay spread across one expanse of greenery look like food pellets for hamsters from that height, while a line of houses along the edge of a wood could pass for Monopoly tokens.
You won’t find Park Place Avenue down there, though, just what Zink calls the best place in the world to learn to hang glide.
“We have the best training hills anyone has ever seen. They face three-and-a-half out of four directions, so when the wind changes, instead of having to pack up our gliders and drive to a different hill, we walk 20 yards to the other side.
“And they’re nice hills, so a brand new pilot will just roll along on the big wheels we have on our training gliders. We don’t throw you to the wolves.”
Lookout Mountain Flight Park’s training hills have made it the biggest training school in the world, with five times more students than training centers in other states.
“Right now, we’ve got students from Texas, Florida and Louisiana, including a girl from Baton Rouge. They wanted to train where they heard was the best,” says Zink, who’s been training pilots for eight years.
Lookout Mountain offers two methods of training: the bunny hills and tandem aerotowing with an instructor. Most people buy a package that includes both.
“If you want to be fully trained, it’s a six- to 10-day process. The first thing you learn is how to launch a glider. We start out practicing on flat ground and then inch our way up the bunny hill. Your first flight might be six inches off the ground. Even at that height, I’ve seen grown men who’ve dreamed of flying since they were kids in tears.”
The instructors stick with that for a couple days until a student is ready for 50 feet of altitude and can take on challenges that teach him to steer.
“You don’t need a lot of strength because you’re in a harness that carries your weight for you. You just have to slide your body to the right or left.”
Before long, students are able to take off, steer toward targets and land on their feet. This means they’re ready for the mountain.
Before leaping off the ramp, though, many students opt for an aerotow, in which they ride together with an instructor while a plane pulls them up to 2,000 feet before letting go. “You don’t have to run and jump off a scary cliff. You just roll off the wheels real gentle,” Zink says.
For those who don’t have the time or money to do the full package, which includes accommodations at the Flight Park’s cabins, there are one-day packages that begin on the bunny hills and end with an aerotow. “That gives students a full taste. We have a lot of fathers and sons and mothers and daughters taking advantage of that.”
Zink says hang gliding is a sport everyone can enjoy, regardless of gender or age. “We have a lot of ladies come here because we cater to them. Several of our instructors are female. And the average age of a hang glider pilot is 46, so we have people getting into it for the first time in their 70s.”
He even encourages people who are afraid of heights or flying to try hang gliding. “We tell people there is some risk involved, as with any sport, but the numbers will tell you it’s less dangerous than riding a motorcycle. If there’s a mistake, it’s always pilot error.”
To learn more about Lookout Mountain Flight Park, visit www.hangglide.com or attend its July 4th demo day, an event during which the public can watch hang glider pilots from the ramp or the training hills. “A lot of people bring a picnic and just watch people fly,” says Zink.
And who knows? Next year, the crowd could be watching you, circling ever higher on a thermal draft, playing chess with Mother Nature and soaring alongside
hawks.
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