Elementary Hang Gliding!

On Friday Bruce and I had the opportunity to join Cody for a fun "Fly day for reading" at his elementary school.

We set up our gliders and put on a 10 minute demonstration for each class as they rotated through a number of static displays and activities - all related to flying!

With an emphasis on fun and safety, Cody talked about: 1) Hang gliders can go up - not just down, 2) We hang from the glider - not hang on to them, and 3) the airfoil shape of the glider allows it to fly (the wing is the thing!) At the end of each class one of us did a ground run with my big Falcon to show actual "flight".

It was great to share with the kids and to see Cody at home "in his element" (as Bruce said) relating to the kids on their level. Altogether we talked to over 300 kids from grades K-5, planting the seeds, no doubt, for a number of future pilots!

On Saturday Cody and I went out to Short Divide to try to catch some air, even though the forecast was not all that great. On launch we found the wind cycling straight in from 5 mph up to about 13. There were scattered towering cu-nim's that we were keeping an eye on. We finally launched, each of us picking a good cycle. We worked the weak thermals in earnest, but they just fell apart too quickly to get above launch. We each had a short but nice 20 minute flight. It was great just to get out and hone our thermalling skills for the approaching XC season!

Airtime: 20 minutes!