Hang gliding and Paragliding

Video

• JW soaring at Creston, B.C. (24 Aug. 2008) (23MB mp4 file suitable for iPod; duration 2 min 29 sec)

• Video: Prairie hang gliding clips at Tofield Alberta, 2003 (3MB mpeg file). Beaverhill Lake (seen from about 3500 feet AGL)... any lift over the trees? (no!)... tons of room to land...

• Longer video (11MB mpeg file)

Stills

• JW and home-made Rogallo hang glider, Christchurch, 1973

• JW setting up on hill at the back of Haddon Taylor's farm, near Wairuna, South Otago, New Zealand (1974) ... with my father, Derek, and my sister Penny on the right.

• ...coming in to land after a short flight off the near Wairuna, South Otago, New Zealand (winter, 1974) (upright flying position in those days)

• Mt. Norquay, Banff, 1975 (glider manufactured by "Birdman Jones" of Edmonton, Alberta)

• After a long absence from gliding, my second solo paraglider flight was from this hill near Tumut, Australia (July, 1994; pilot shown is Pascal Ferret or Mark Mitsos)

• Kaslo, B.C. (Apco Prima). Chris Muller's advanced manoeuvres course, 1998.

• Creston, B.C., 2000 (Wills Wing Sport 167)

• Creston, B.C., 2002 (Wills Wing Sport 167)

• Creston, B.C., 2002 (Wills Wing Sport 167)

• Creston, B.C., (2005) (Wills Wind Ultrasport 147)

• Skimmerhorn range, Creston, B.C., (2006)

• Skimmerhorn range, Creston, B.C., (2006)

Personal bests

• Highest thermalling climb with hang glider (Tofield, Alberta; 4 June, 2000): 10,950 feet AGL (13,150 feet ASL) from truck tow to 1600 feet (Wills Wing Sport 167)
• Longest distance with hang glider (Alberta; 24 May, 2003): 64 km from footlaunch (Edberg) to Tofield (flight time: 1hr 37 mins). (Wills Wing Sport 167)
• Longest flight duration with paraglider (APCO Prima), 2 hours 45 min: foot launch, North Side, Point of the Mountain, Salt Lake City, Utah, May, 2005
• Longest flight duration with hang glider (Wills Wing Ultrasport 147), 3 hours: foot launch from Mt. Thomson (Skimmerhorn Range, Creston, British Columbia), August, 2005

Last Modified: 18 Sept., 2008