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THE SPIRIT OF KITTY HAWK
NAT SOUND: MUSIC
NARRATION
THEY CAME TO TINKER AND TO DREAM. ALMOST A CENTURY AGO ORVILLE AND
WILBUR WRIGHT TRAVELED TO THE HIGH DUNES BY THE OCEAN IN THE EASTERN STATE
OF NORTH CAROLINA. HERE THEY BUILT AND FLEW THE FIRST POWERED AIRPLANE
AND CHANGED ALL OUR LIVES.
TODAY, IN THIS SAME PLACE THE SPIRITUAL DECENDENTS OF THE WRIGHT BROTHERS STILL COME.
NAT SOUND: SHOUTING
NARRATION
PAUL VOIGHT AND ROB KELLS ARE LEADING HANG GLIDER PILOTS. IT’S CONSIDERED
AN EXTREME SPORT BECAUSE THE ADVENTURE QUOTIENT IS HIGH, AS IT WAS IN THE
WRIGHT BROTHERS DAY. AND ALTHOUGH A LOT HAS HAPPENED IN AVIATION SINCE
1903, THESE PILOTS EXPLORE THE SAME PURE FORM OF AERIAL SKILL AND INGENUITY
THAT WAS TESTED AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY.
PAUL VOIGHT, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“I think these pilots, hang glider pilots, have to be more in tune
to real flying, or whatever you want to call it, because they rely totally
on the theory of flight and why things fly to maintain their altitude and
to stay up and to have their flights last as long as possible. I think
the best pilots are soaring pilots because the only way you are going to
stay up is to know what you are doing and to get good at your art.”
ROB KELLS, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“Cross country flights have been made over 300 miles, duration record
is something like 37 hours. Most people don’t realize you can stay up all
day in a hang glider on a decent day.”
NARRATION
“WHEN ONCE YOU HAVE TASTED FLIGHT, YOU WILL FOREVER WALK THE EARTH
WITH YOUR EYES TURNED SKYWARD,” WROTE LEONARDO DA VINCI. AND THE FLIGHT
OBSESSION OF THESE HANG GLIDER PILOTS SEEMS TO COME FROM THAT DEEPER PLACE
WITHIN US ALL THAT LOOKS FOR FREEDOM AND RELEASE.
PAUL VOIGHT, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“It’s sort of an escape from everything else, and when you’re doing
it on a good day that’s all you think about.”
PAUL VOIGHT, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“It’s a form of self expression, it’s relaxing, it’s pretty serene
up there actually. It’s not thrill seeking or scary or crazy or I wouldn’t
be doing it. It’s a good time to think cause there’s no one to bother you
and you’re up there flying around. You just have to make sure you’re looking
where you are going and look each time you turn but other than that sometimes
I daydream.”
NARRATION
THE PILOTS TEND TO DESCRIBE THE EXPERIENCE IN VERY INTIMATE AND PERSONAL
TERMS…
MALE PILOT #1
Prosthetic wings, well just because it’s a beautiful description of
it, it’s just an extension of your own body, an artificial extension of
you body.”
NARRATION
FOR SOME THERE’S AN ALMOST MYSTICAL ELEMENT…
MALE PILOT #2
“It’s like Peter Pan, you’re flying, it’s a dream.”
NARRATION
A DREAM THAT SEEMS TO COME FROM THE STUFF OF CHILDHOOD AND IMAGINATION…
THE ANCIENT AND TANTALIZING DREAM OF FLIGHT.
PAUL VOIGHT, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“I always had dreams about flying and jumped off roofs with umbrellas
and things and tried to create and build flying things.”
MALE PILOT #3
“Yeah, it is a boy thing and I always wanted to do the fly off the
garage roof sort of thing. I’ve always been interested in flying and this
is kind of bird like, about as close to bird like as you can get.”
NARRATION
HANG GLIDERS GIVE FULL CREDIT TO THE TRUE ORIGINATORS OF FLIGHT: SOME
ALMOST IN A WORSHIPFUL WAY.
ONE PILOT WAS EVEN ABLE TO COMBINE THE ART OF THE FALCONER WITH THAT
OF THE HANG GLIDER.
DO YOU OBSERVE BIRDS TYPICALLY?
PAUL VOIGHT, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“Yeah, quite a bit, where I live there are a lot of them and on a good
flying day you’re flying with them and actually competing with them and
the other hang gliders to see who’s better…
“Down here I’ve noticed really good flying birds are pelicans. They’re amazing to watch. They’re huge and they fly very agile as if they’re not as big as they are.”
NARRATION
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS APPLIED THE WING DESIGN OF BIRDS TO THE SCIENCE
OF MATERIALS AND MECHANICS. AND IT’S STILL AN ONGOING EXPERIMENT FOR TODAY’S
INNOVATORS. AS AN OWNER OF WILLS WING, THE WORLD’S LARGEST MAKER OF HANG
GLIDERS, ROB WORKS THOSE SAME LINES, LOOKING TO PERFECT AND REFINE THE
COMBINATION OF STRENGTH, WEIGHT, WING SHAPE AND CONTROL.
ROB KELLS, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“So by using this carbon fiber structure here we can support all the
negative loads the glider is expected to take and this increases the performance.
We started with aluminum and Dacron 25 years ago and now we’re using all
kinds of exotic materials to increase the performance, safety, structure
and stability of the gliders.”
NARRATION
IT’S AN INGENIOUS DESIGN WITH THAT INSTANT QUALITY AMERICANS LOVE.
ROB KELLS, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“Putting together the glider is really quite simple. You just assemble
the A frame… it comes out of a long bag that goes on top of your car. Put
together the A frame, pull out the wings, put in the battens, tension the
glider and you’re done. It’s about 5 to 8 minutes to set up a glider.”
NARRATION
BUT FOR ROB IT’S ALL APPLIED SCIENCE.
ROB KELLS, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“Look at these clouds its got to be so soarable, it’s beautiful!”
NARRATION
TO THE UNINITIATED IT MAY SEEM DAREDEVIL, BUT IMPROVEMENTS IN DESIGN
AND INSTRUCTION HAVE COME TO MINIMIZED ACCIDENT AND INJURY.
ROB KELLS, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“ Again, all kinds of flying can be as safe or as dangerous as you
wish to make it. It depends on how you approach it. If you don’t take precautions,
if you don’t get the right instruction, if you modify your equipment in
a bad way, all those things will make flying more dangerous. If you fly
in conditions that are beyond your skills that will make flying more dangerous.
It’s easy to kill yourself flying in any kind of aircraft, also I think
it’s pretty easy to be safe in any kind of aircraft providing that you
have the skills, you get the proper instruction, you maintain your equipment
and you exercise good judgement.”
NARRATION
STILL ALL PRECAUTIONS ARE TAKEN AS ROB INSTRUCTS ON PARACHUTES…
NAT SOUND: “It’s easy to do. You don’t have to replace the parachute.”
NARRATION
CATASTROPHE IS A POSSIBILITY AND MOST HANG GLIDER PILOTS HAVE A PARACHUTE
ATTACHED TO THEIR HARNESS JUST IN CASE.
THE INITIAL FEAR FOR BEGINNERS HAS BEEN EASED WITH THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF HANG GLIDING WITH AN INSTRUCTOR.
ROB KELLS, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“The biggest improvement in hang gliding is the instruction that’s
come about with tandem or you can go flying in a special built large glider
with an instructor. And if you aero-tow tandem off a specially built set
of wheels behind a small ultralight it’s possible to tow up, having never
flown before, and fly the glider with an instructor and this is the most
rapid way to learn.”
NARRATION
THE NOTION OF PERSONAL CHALLENGE IS APPLIED TO MANY THINGS IN OUR LIVES
NOWADAYS, BUT HANG GLIDING SEEMS TO EXPAND THE DIMENSIONS OF THAT IDEA.
PAUL VOIGHT, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“Certain days are very difficult to fly and, if you don’t do it right,
you’re on the ground real fast. Those days you’ve got to work hard, think
a lot, concentrate, work every little piece of lifting air that’s up there.
If you do it right you stay up and if you don’t you’re on the ground. Some
days it’s so easy you can get way, way high, up near the clouds and then
just relax for a couple hours, and fly around and take pictures, and look
at the sights and have fun.”
NARRATION
IT’S A FUN, ADVENTURESOME FRATERNITY OF THE HIGH SPIRIT.
ROB KELLS, HANG GLIDING INSTRUCTOR
“All pilots really they just love to fly, people that are attracted
to flight hopefully sometime find their way to hang gliding. It’s not only
the flying, it’s the people. I mean there are people from all walks of
life that fly hang gliders and I get the opportunity to travel around the
world and meet a lot of hang glider pilots and as a group of people they
really are sensational, a very interesting, diverse, friendly group of
people. So it’s a neat fraternity to be involved in. No there’s just nothing
really that compares, I don’t think to flying a hang glider, it’s a lot
of fun.”
NAT SOUND: MUSIC
NARRATION
TIM WARDNER, VOA-TV
GET IN TOUCH WITH THE UNITED STATES HANG GLIDER ASSOCIATION AT WWW.USHGA.ORG
