Check out this short hang-gliding action video with cool background music. Filmed in Norway.


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7 Comments

  1. Kyle Bennett on August 16, 2005 at 06:56

    What's with that leg pouch? Is that something new? Is that just for aerodynamics, or does it provide some additional control?



  2. Joe on August 16, 2005 at 09:46

    Great place to hang glide. I would love to do that some day.



  3. Richard Nikoley on August 17, 2005 at 18:49

    If you mean the bulging at the hips or thighs, it's the emergency paracute (inside a container). In normal harnesses, you wear it on your chest, but in racing harnesses, it's more aerodymanically efficient.



  4. Kyle Bennett on August 17, 2005 at 21:46

    No, I'm talking about that little cocoon they tuck their feet and legs into after they take off. Just before they land, and take their feet out of it, they look like an insect.



  5. Richard Nikoley on August 18, 2005 at 09:49

    Kyle, we call that a "pod", as in pod harness. It's a place to 'retract' your legs & feet after launch, decrease parasitic drag, and keep warm when it's cold.

    It zips up. On the right, you have a line that zips it up, and on the left, a line that unzips it, which you normally do at about 500 ft agl on approach to landing.



  6. Kyle Bennett on August 18, 2005 at 12:50

    Duh, I didn't even think about the cold… I thought maybe there was some use of it for control of something, like, I don't know, rudder, flaps, ailerons, prop pitch, de-icing the wings, cabin pressure…

    Seriously, though, it looks like a blast.



  7. Annalee Blysse on August 18, 2005 at 02:36

    Wow. That's so cool. That would be fun I think, better than flying in plane for sight seeing.