Hang Glider Challenge details

My intention is to fly a hang glider from Land's End to John O'Groats, and in order to have any chance of completing this flight successfully, I will be flying a doodlebug powered hang glider.

The average speed of a hang glider is 25mph in still air, so depending on the direction of the flight and wind, the ground speed of the aircraft can be between 5mph and 45mph (I will not be flying in winds stronger than 20mph). This means to cover the 900 miles of the flight, I will require about 36 hours, and based on 8 hours of flying (4 in the morning, 4 in the evening with breaks for re-fuelling/rest) would take 5 days of good flyable weather, so I'm planning 8 days minimum to complete.

One of the aims of this hang glider challenge is to meet the many different people of Great Britain, so I would like to tour the towns during the afternoon when the flying conditions will not be very favourable and spend the night with anyone willing to accommodate me overnight, otherwise I will be sleeping in a tent outside.

As soon as a route has been finalised, I would be looking for hosts to show me around town in the afternoon and others to host me overnight. I don't plan on spending the afternoon and night in the same town (unless grounded by the weather), so it will be a different host for the afternoon and night.

If you still have any questions, you can leave a comment on my hang glider b log.

You can also get the latest updates on my challenge by subscribing to my hang glider blog.

Hang Glider Challenge Equipment

Listed below is the equipment that I need to complete the hang glider challenge. If you or your company would like to sponsor me by lending or donating any item, I will be very grateful, and will give you or your company a mention on the sponsors page as well as provide a link to your website.

Major sponsors will get their logo on my hang glider or flight suit.

Aeros Target Hang Gilder
Doodlebug Powered Harness
Parachute
Flight Suit
Flying Boots
Helmet
Goggles
Gloves
Vario/Alitimeter
Wind Speed Meter
Windsock
GPS
Log Book
Camera
Radio

Misc.
CP Hang Gliding Training
Parachute packing/deployment training.
Foot Launched Power Aircraft (FLPA) training.

Doodlebug hang glider harness

I get introduced to the doodlebug hang glider harness on the last day of my training with Tony Webb of Lejair.com hang gider training school in Spain.

It was my last day of training in Spain, but since my flight was late in the evening, there was time for me to meet with Tony in the morning to complete my hang glider training paperwork, do some more powered flying ground school (mainly revising what we went over yesterday, emphasizing safety) and then drive to Villa Martin where I had the opportunity of rigging both the Aeros Target and Doodlebug harness with some help from Tony of course, we then went on to do 5 powered runs, learning the proper procedures for take offs and the abort procedures where you spit the mouth throttle out of your mouth. On the 5th powered run, things where going well, and Tony did not give the abort signal for a while, so I gradually increased the power, before I knew it, I felt my feet leave the ground, Tony signalled abort, I spit out the throttle, and flared the aircraft as my feet landed back on the ground, I had just flown the Doodlebug harness for a whole 3 seconds! Tony said we should end the day on that good note, and I totally agreed. Not only had I come to Spain to complete my hang glider training and obtain a club pilot rating, I had begun the third and final step of my training for my challenge. Though I will probably have to go through most of what I done with another instructor when I get back to Britain, I had more than surpassed my dreams for this trip. A big thanks goes to my Instructors Rona and Tony Webb of Lejair Ltd for all their hard work during my two trips to Spain.



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