Hang Glide!! Hang Gliding Flight Simulator

[olsonspeed]

Gary Wilson, Virgil Dahrens and I flew the simulator at the Seattle Museum Of Flight Sept, 2011, very realistic and loads of fun. We need one of these at the Kasperwing Skunkworks!

[xlentertainment]

1.When will the software be available? 2Also can it provide a closer view like if you're on a real hang glider? 3. Can it hit Thermals, or Ridge Soaring yet.? But that is kool too that you all got this far with the project. I think the WII has a hang gliding game called Thermal Rider I saw it on you turbe somewhere that looked kool nothing like this. Keep up the good work let me know were I can get the software.

[axopro]

Never mind.. i read the full description. I will visit the museum next time i am in Wallaby :)

[weflyuniv]

Both Don the designer and I have 1000s of hours each and, not surprisingly, feel that it is a powerful tool for teaching the visual markers for setting up approaches and many other important parts of flight. Please do post your impressions after you have a chance to try it. Try to make at least a dozen flights on it to get used to the experience. If you can become good at spot landings on it I know you will see that reflected in improved landing ability in real flight.

Ken de Russy Anacortes WA

[axopro]

Very cool!

I am a new HG pilot with 10 hours airtime.

Is there one of these simulators near the Miami area? I would like to try it myself.

Thanks.

[jwm239]

...looked like a realistic 'ride,' though I

am curious why the 'pilot' was in a seated

harness instead of usual prone position...

I assume that it is easier and simpler for

'pilots' to use seated harness; easier to

get into, more natural feel, etc.

[weflyuniv]

Your conjecture is pretty close to the mark although the primary reasons are to make possible faster switching between "riders" and reducing the likelihood of "riders" failing to correctly shift their weight right or left.

Did you read the accompanying comments? Unfortunately I think most folks fail to see that they can expand the "more info" button to the right of the video.

Ken

[choidj]

Wow

[weflyuniv]

Response part 2 You should know that simulators have wide application in aviation to provide low cost "flight time" to develope a great many hand eye coordination skills and to become familiar and comfortable with the spacial qualities of flight.

Ken

[nilesriver2]

I have seen MANY students who could benifit from this. Very nice! Simulators have a way of allowing you to learn a few things that arn't real fun to learn on the training hill.

[FCbisleybob]

a cool toy but im not sure what benafit it will give to people wanting to learn. i am learning and what ive learned doesnt relate to this. it still looks fun though.

[weflyuniv]

In addition to developing the control input movements and learning the roll and pitch rates this sim is exceptionally well suited for learning the visual clues related to turn rates in relation to bank angles and the visual references involved in judging glide path. It is exceptionally realistic and provides a means of practicing the kind of flight plan practices that can otherwise endanger a learning pilot.

See part 2 below.

[FCbisleybob]

yes of course you can find benafit in some of it especially visualising the theory as you say, it would be wrong to say otherwise. i guess what i mean is you couldnt do this then expect to fly for real. and i think a session on this wouldnt speed up your learning anymore than the same time spent on the real thing in fact the real thing has to be better so whats the point really. it could in fact let you get away with a bad practice that the real thing wont which isnt good still looks fun though

[weflyuniv]

Rarely do new pilots acquire much (less than 25 hours) airtime in the first two years. The sim allows unlimited airtime and those things that CAN be learned are learned well, quickly and in complete safety. If you had my hang gliding experience in years, airtime, the thousands of lessons taught with the typically small number of pilots retained in the sport, as well as the experience on the sim that I have, there would be no question of the extreme value this device offers.

[FCbisleybob]

cool well thanks for the info and for the clip good luck with it :)

[raggo1234]

This is amazing! Love it! And nice music, too.

[scottieshea]

Is that Pink Floyd?  Is David Gilmore a pilot?

[weflyuniv]

Eric Clapton

[scottieshea]

Ok, cool! Thank you! I'm a A-SEL Instrument pilot, but I'm really jonesing to try hang gliding..

[weflyuniv]

Every time I am in a plane I am at a loss as to what the charm is. You can't see anything! In a hang glider you get to actually see EVERYTHING and not through some stinkin' blurry plexiglass either!

So what is holding you back? Where are you?

Ken

[futureflyer16]

ahh i see...i am not a hang glider pilot but i am a IFR rated Helicopter Pilot...very cool

[mrjfin]

FSX would run better

[weflyuniv]

Maybe you could elaborate?

[Andesflier]

Interesting... but FSX was designed for participants with a lot of time on their hands. HangGlide!! was designed for quick

throughput and easy load/unload at musuems. Imagine a line of impatient kids waiting for their turn at MS Flight Sim X.

[rbonvent]

pretty cool perhaps you should look at how i did my controls on my simulator, here you are using the handle bar and not your body to do turns which is not correct in the real hang glider. then yo can box it and sell it i would buy it for sure

[weflyuniv]

Maybe you didn't notice that they are for sale and they have been installed in a number of prominent aviation museums. In fact, the one in the video is the first of two that Fantasy of Flight has had purchased.

Be sure to take the time to read the material posted with this video.

Ken

[weflyuniv]

Maybe also you failed to see the pilot is indeed shifting his weight as in a normal hang glider. Possibly the fact that we chose a seated harness to facilitate ease of use has given you a false impression. The input device is in effect an inverted industrial strength joystick from which the pilot is suspended. The "pilot" shifts his weight by holding the control bar base tube and moving to the right for a right turn or forward to speed up - just as exists on a real hang glider.

Ken

[futureflyer16]

wow neat lookin good is the controls affected by the wind and such?

[weflyuniv]

If you are a hang glider pilot you may know that learning the control response of a hang glider is best accomplished in still air.

As this product is marketed to museums and other venues to provide a first time flight experience to people with no such background, the sea of air, in the virtual world through which the "pilot" flies, is completely still.

Ken