Well, I did my patriotic duty and voted in the USHPA election. One glaring thing stood out as I looked at the choices of representatives. Out of all the possible choices, there was not one hang glider pilot on that list! Not one, sad. I am too damn old and do not have the skills needed to fill the position. BUT…in all of the flying community, there is not an HG pilot who could at least throw their hat into the ring? WE started this thing way back in the day, Yet our kind have no representation in the club that we pioneered (USHGA/USHGPA). Evolution is a cruel and uncaring bitch. There is now only one Hang glider manufacture left in all the United States, and they are only half-hearted at best…ever hear of anyone winning a major comp flying a Liberty or a Horizon? If hang gliders were animals, we would be on the Endangered Species List! LOL I have been flying seance the days of bamboo and plastic, before The USHGA even existed. I even got paid to fly my hang glider as a stuntman. (Young Andy “WAIT!…you want me, to fly my kite, and get paid for doing it??? YES, THERE IS A GOD!”) I have watched flying change from a 1960s happening into a real sport. Some changes were for the good and some were even necessary if the sport was to survive without the heavy hand of government becoming involved. But not all. Since the dissolution of the Hang Glider Manufacturers Association (HGMA) in 2022, there is no longer even a centralized body certifying hang glider designs in the U.S. Instead, safety certification now relies on the manufactures themselves. Allowing companies to self-regulate does not always work out too well, just look at Boeing aircraft.
But enough of this pity party Andy, you want some cheese with your whine? Your just unhappy that you can no longer fly like these young whipper snappers that crack off 100 mile XCs like it was just another day. But this old bird-man is going to keep flying for as long as he can, but my time on this planet grows short.
Enjoy the future kids. Andy…
