Hang glider - cooler than a car?

It would seem, what else to write about on the automotive portal, if not about cars. But my more daring colleagues are already going beyond the usual stereotypes - on the site you can find articles about scooters, yachts, airplanes and even jetpacks! I also wanted to expand my horizons.
Therefore, my article today is about hang gliders. Moreover, some features that make them related to cars are sometimes present.

Again, many motorists are active people, and hang gliding is a wonderful hobby. For activities that are likely to need a car. How do you like this binding to auto topics?

What is a hang glider?

A heavier-than-air aircraft, the design of which consists of three pipes connected at the front point, with a dense but light synthetic fabric stretched between them. When viewed from above, a hang glider resembles an unfolded fan. The outer tubes form an angle of 90-150°, the central tube is located along the longitudinal axis of the apparatus.



From below, the pilot's suspension system is attached to the central tube at the point of the center of mass. In the front part there is a triangular “trapezoid”, with a base at the bottom (those who still remember the school geometry course are now choking because they have not forgotten that a trapezoid is a quadrilateral). It serves as a fulcrum for the pilot in flight. The whole structure, for strength, is additionally equipped with tubular and cable extensions.



Control is performed by shifting the position of the body relative to the center of mass.
The aerodynamic quality of modern hang gliders can reach 17 units. That is, starting from a point located 100 meters above the surface, a hang glider can fly up to 1700 meters. In practice, experienced hang gliders, using the help of updrafts, are able to fly much further.

History

Those who are not very deeply familiar with the history of aeronautics, but still know who the Montgolfier brothers and the Wright brothers are, may assume that the origins of the hang glider are somewhere between these two names. And partly they will be right. Because at the turn of the 1880s and 90s, other restless brothers, by the name of Lilienthal, came up with the prototype of the current hang glider. Inspired by the ideas of Leonardo (not the tortoise) and taking apart a few birds for parts, they designed something that allowed them to slightly feel the joy of flying. The older brother Otto even successfully tested his inventions. Exactly until luck turned away from him. It crashed in 1896, putting an end to all experiments.
However, Otto Lilienthal's glider was exactly the prototype of a hang glider. Approximately how the monkey became the prototype of man (may the feelings of believers not be offended!). There is something similar, but there is little in common.



These are the words of Karl Liebknecht, 10 times fair, but said by him on a different occasion. As you can see, the thoughts of the iconic German communist extended somewhat wider than the ideas of uniting the proletarians of all countries.

If we talk directly about the hang glider, then we owe its appearance to ... the NASA space program.
In the 50s of the last century, the American Francis Rogallo invented the wing, which he, obeying some strange logic, called the “Rogallo wing”. And it is still unknown how the fate of this invention would have developed if NASA had not announced a competition to find the best means of landing its space toys.



Francis entered this competition and even aroused some interest in his project. The triangular tubular frame, with fabric sheathing stretched over it, was light and, when folded, took up little space. What you need for space!

However, things did not go further than experiments, and as a result, preference was given to the traditional parachute. But the principle of operation of the “wing of Rogallo” was published in one scientific journal, thereby gaining fame. The idea went to the people.



One of those who read the smart magazine was one Tom Purcell, an engineer. From aluminum pipes, he assembled a frame, pulled a wing over it, under which he attached a suspension for the pilot. This unit was called the "hang glider". The explanation for this name is simple - with its triangular shape, the wing resembled the Greek letter "delta".



By the 70s, hang gliders gained wide popularity in different countries. In 1974, the International Aviation Federation officially announced the emergence of a new sport - hang gliding.

Oddly enough, the “pernicious bourgeois fun” penetrated into the Soviet Union very quickly and was accepted with enthusiasm. The first flight took place in 1972, after a few years there were dozens of hang gliding clubs across the country, and in 1983 Valery Leontyev, on horseback, in the mountains near Alma-Ata, sang the incorruptible soulfully: “My hang glider is already calling me to fly, my hang glider. And above him, like a raven, a hang glider soared. From that moment on, only the deaf did not know about hang gliders in the USSR.



The secret of the popularity of the new sport was that you could build your hang glider according to the drawings on your own in any garage. And the drawings could be found, for example, in the magazine "Technology of Youth". In addition, for flights it was not necessary to climb mountains - even a small hill was enough to get off the ground and feel like a little bird.

Modern hang glider

Of course, as hang gliding developed, the technical equipment also evolved. New materials appeared, aerodynamic studies were carried out, and the design was improved.



Now no one builds hang gliders from improvised materials (well, maybe only the most marginal and repulsed enthusiasts). Different models differ in their purpose and, as a result, in design. Conventionally, they can be divided into the following groups:

• ✪ Educational. Lightweight devices of the most simple design. Designed, as you might guess, for the initial training of pilots. Not too fast, not too maneuverable, but safe.
• ✪ Transitional. Hang gliders designed for experienced pilots with significant flight time and control skills. Such devices are heavier, but develop much greater speed.
• ✪ Sports. Complicated in design and demanding in terms of piloting skills hang gliders. Designed for very experienced athletes with special knowledge and skills.
• ✪ Tandem. As the name implies, these hang gliders are designed for two pilots - an instructor and a passenger.
  

If we start from the design, then hang gliders are mast, mastless, and rigid-winged. However, the sports industry is working tirelessly - technology is constantly being improved and trying on new ideas and solutions.

hang glider

Remember, at the beginning of the article there was a spoiler about the similarity between a hang glider and a car? This I meant trike.
Among the hang gliders there were smart, but lazy people who wondered: is it necessary to drag uphill with a huge fan on your back, so that later you can fly a little bit?



Someone came up with the idea that you can use a winch with a long cable. Someone, on reflection, hitched a hang glider in tow to the car. And someone decided to attach the car to a hang glider. Not literally, of course. Compact and lightweight chassis, small engine, pusher propeller. All this is covered from above with a hang glider - and voila, a new aircraft is ready! On this one, you can take off from any horizontal platform, you can ride passengers for money, you can direct the Siberian Cranes on the right path.

How to learn?

There are clubs where hang gliding is taught in many cities of Russia. There is no single standard of education, each school has its own methods and secrets. Therefore, the preparation time is from several days to several months.



Hang gliding is a fairly easy sport to master. On the other hand, he is very demanding, first of all, to the physical form of the athlete. Do not forget that a hang glider weighs 30-50 kg, and with it you still need to climb a hill to fly. Some clubs use a special winch to take off, but still, you have to run.



Any hobby costs money. A hobby associated with the sky, as a rule - a lot of money. A hang glider is not a plane or a helicopter, but it also requires a certain budget. Training, equipment, outfit - "entry ticket" can cost hundreds of thousands of rubles. And then you want to fly in different places. And these are trips, expenses. But how the horizons are expanding! New people, new places, new experiences! It's worth it.