HANG GLIDING

Although often thought of as a newcomer to aviation, hang gliding is actually among the oldest forms of human flight. Before the airplane, the first successful emulation of the birds involved running down a hill with a light weight glider, taking off into the air and gliding down. Although hang gliding started out as simply gliding down small hills on low performance gliders, hang gliders have evolved the ability to soar for hours, gain thousands of feet of altitude in thermal updrafts, and fly cross country over distances of hundreds of kilometers.

In the 1960's a number of different people participated in the re-birth of hang gliding. The major impetus for this rebirth was the adaptation to hang gliding of a new type of wing, invented by an American engineer named Francis Rogallo. Rogallo had originally invented the wing with the idea to create an aircraft which would be simple enough and inexpensive enough that anyone could have one. Along the way, NASA became interested in the wing as a possible re-entry vehicle for the Mercury space programme.

Eventually, the wing design was borrowed for use as a hang glider, and its simplicity of design and ease of construction, along with its capability of slow flight and gentle landing characteristics led to an explosive growth in popularity of the "new" sport of hang gliding. For the first time in history, a simple, bird like flight was available to almost anyone who wanted it.

Hang Gliding in South Africa

It is a legal requirement to have a license in order to fly. The South African Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (SAHPA) is the only organisation allowed to issue a hang gliding license in South Africa, through dispensation from the Civil Aviation Authority. Licenses can only be obtained through SAHPA approved schools with SAHPA rated instructors.

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