There I was on a brisk morning in November. It had been below freezing just that night and now with the sun rising it was warming up just a tad. I was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. A not so smart decision as the breeze went right through it, but I had nothing else. You could say I was unprepared or hadn’t planned ahead, but I was still excited nonetheless. I was about to go hang gliding for the first time!
Hang gliding was the main reason I headed to Chattanooga, TN. Luckily I was able to discover and see so many other things that has led me to think Chattanooga is one of the best mid-sized cities in the country.
The day had finally come and like I said, it was cold. It was an absolutely beautiful day out though with the sun shining.
Once it was time, I jumped into the car and started heading to their office. The drive itself was beautiful with the different fall foliage and the winding up the mountain and small communities that lined the way. When you got to the top of the mountain you were rewarded one of the most beautiful views. It was abosolutely stunning.
Their office was perched on the side of the mountain. A small two story building where all you do is go in and sign the paperwork. Then they give you a simple, easy to read map that leads you down the mountain to a small airfield where they take off and land the gliders. In front of the office is also a concrete launchpad that drops right off the cliff. (With hang gliding you can either be tethered to a plane that pulls you up into the air or you can do a foot launch where you basically run off the side of the cliff). I was NOT going to run off the side of a cliff that day haha.
Just a side note: this hang gliding school, Lookout Mountain Hang Gliding, is one of the largest in the country, if not the largest. They know what they’re doing and they do it pretty much everyday, weather permitting. Also, if you’re interested in learning how to fly solo, they have classes for that as well where you learn how to foot launch off small hills with an instructor by your side. That’s something I’d like to do in the future.
Since I was doing the tandem flight, I headed my way down to the airfield where I met another employee. She was extremely friendly. She took the paperwork I signed then I had to watch an instructional video that went over a few rule and regulations. I signed another little sheet of paper and I was all good to go. She got my gear for me and helped suit me up with the harness that you have to wear along with a helmet. She also gave me gloves, thank goodness!
My instructor that day was Mike. He seemed like an extremely chill guy. Just totally relaxed and always ready to go hang gliding. We chatted for a bit as we waited for the plane to come back down from the last launch.
Mike and the girl that helped me out with the gear (I feel bad I can’t remember her name) fascinated me. I came to find out that this (hang gliding) was their full time job and that they lived over on the side of the airfield where there were a bunch of cabins lined up. They were doing exactly what they loved to do and I thought that to be really inspiring.
When we were up in the air I asked Mike how long he had been hang gliding and he said 8 years. He went on to say that he went on his first flight for his 40th birthday. He loved it so much that when he went back home he decided to sell his house and move to the hang gliding school where he could do it full time! I’d say that probably sounds crazy to most people, but I’m sure he thinks most people are crazy because he gets to do the one thing he loves doing every single day of his life.
So how about the actual flight we took?
Well before you take off, you put on all of your gear first. The harness, helmet and anything else you might need, but that’s about it. You then go over to the glider and they attach your harness to the glider. They then tell you to grab the front bar then walk down and backwards from the bar so you are almost laying down. This is the position your going to be in for the flight.
(Just in case you’re wondering, the instructor has a parachute attached to him when you’re up in the air and you’re attached to the instructor so if anything were to happen, which is rare, you’d be perfectly safe).
Since I wasn’t doing a foot launch we were tethered to just a tiny tiny airplane that was going to pull us up. Once I and the instructor were attached it was time to do. My instructor signaled to the plane pilot and next thing I knew, we were off!
We picked up speed quickly as we were being pulled across the field and in probably less then 30 seconds we were being lifted up and off the ground. We went up and up and up . We were climbing to an altitude of 3500 feet. They also do flights at 1500 feet, but I wouldn’t have gotten the amazing view that I did had I done that.
My instructor had is eye on the monitor that said how high we were and he said once we hit 3500 we’re going to be released. So that’s what I was waiting for. When we hit it the tether released and we were on our own. That was probably the scariest part, if I had to choose one. You just hear a pop and you feel yourself slow down and the front starts to drop a bit, but there’s nothing to worry about.
I was too worried about making sure I saw the amazing view. I mean it was just gorgeous to see. A perfect day with the sun shining, a bit of fog rolling in the valleys in the distance. A beautiful clear day where you could see for miles and miles. I wish I had the words to explain how amazing it all looked.
As we were going we were always changing direction so we could see everything. It all looked so small and it was all happening so fast. I tried paying as much attention as I could trying to fry the images in to my brain.
I was also not trying to focus on how cold it was. The air pretty much froze my face haha. I had some troubles talking to Mike, but I got my words out. And my toes were cold since the wind was going right through my sneakers. Other than those two things though I felt just fine. I was comfortable. Had they not given me gloves, it may be a different story.
During part of the flight they have you take control and teach you how to fly a glider. It’s seemed rather simple. I mean there’s not controls, no motors, not machines. It’s just a bunch of metal bars assembled together with a large synthetic sailcloth that’s able to catch the air. So you put your hands on the bars and the main thing you do is shift your weight around.
You push and pull your body to the left or right in order to turn. The fun part is when you want slow down or speed up. To slow down you simply push your body back and away from the front bar. To speed up you go forward and so does the glider. It essentially stalls like and airplane and starts dropping down towards the earth, but nothing to worry about! It’s just for a second and then you keep on going. You do get that knot in your stomach though as you’re free falling.
You can have fun with that too and end up doing sharper turns and whatnot. We did a few sharper ones before we came into land. It’s absolutely so much fun and part of the reason I want to go back and learn some more.
The flight happens pretty quickly and it’s amazing to see everything. After gliding for about five or ten minutes and learning a few things you’re starting to be close to the ground again and you’ll be landing soon.
Landing seemed really easy as well since the glider has wheels on it. Your body never touches the ground so you just take it down like an airplane. As we came in I remember feeling like we were going extremely fast. I probably clenched up a bit, but right before we landed we slowed up and gently landed on the grounded before coming to a halt across the field and ending another fantastic trip that I had made.
I can’t explain in words to you just how fun and truly amazing the entire experience had been. I’d say the only way to really know it to go and do it yourself and I’d highly, highly recommend it if you ever get the chance!
Go out there and start living your life, experiencing new things, and doing what you want to be doing. You may even discover that you love hang gliding so much it’s what you want to do full time and forever, just like Mike. Only one way to find out!
