In 91, Wills Wing sponsored a Paragliding Instructor Certification Program that ran 2 weeks for about 20 Wills HG dealers. It was planned so someone with zero experience in a paraglider could train all the way to completing requirements to receive an Instructor Certificate. Some us had been flying PGs for a while but many, at least half, had their first flights at the beginning of the 2 weeks. Most completed requirements for a Paraglider Instructor Certification. Most of the training occurred at the Mesa Training Hill in Santa Barbara. The "graduation" was flying from Kagel and landing in Kagel River wash, a bone-dry riverbed filled with boulders. The final exam for those who chose to participate was a maneuvers training under supervision of the designer of the AT wing that Wills imported and sold and that most of us were flying. Armin radio guided each of us through half wing, big ears, and full front collapses, front horseshoe, B-line, and full stalls, and spin. Many manuvers were so violent that the explosive sound of the reinflations echoed loudly through the canyon and added to the extreme nature of our endeavor. We all did these manuvers at only about 500' to 800' agl with no parachutes. It seemed to me as I watched that some of the wings would tear themselves apart. Greg Dewolf broke a half dozen of his lines leaving the canopy badly misshapened. It may be the craziest thing I ever did and it is almost unbelievable no one got hurt. A group of the most well-known producers of hang gliders in the world and their best and most experienced dealer/instructors all willingly did about the dumbest thing that ever happened, that I can remember. Good thing you didn't witness THAT shit.
@@WeFlyUniv The way you describe it, it almost sounds like the hang gliding people at Wills Wing came up with a "final solution" for the plague of paragliding. Sheesh! Anyway thanks for posting this cool video from the heydey of hang gliding. It includes one of the best shots of a tumble I've seen.
Loving all your old videos
Thanks for posting..
Love it!
Thanks for sharing
when I see Rob pulling asymetrics and big ears on those early PG wings I'm like "NOOOOOOO are you crazy.."
In 91, Wills Wing sponsored a Paragliding Instructor Certification Program that ran 2 weeks for about 20 Wills HG dealers. It was planned so someone with zero experience in a paraglider could train all the way to completing requirements to receive an Instructor Certificate. Some us had been flying PGs for a while but many, at least half, had their first flights at the beginning of the 2 weeks. Most completed requirements for a Paraglider Instructor Certification. Most of the training occurred at the Mesa Training Hill in Santa Barbara. The "graduation" was flying from Kagel and landing in Kagel River wash, a bone-dry riverbed filled with boulders. The final exam for those who chose to participate was a maneuvers training under supervision of the designer of the AT wing that Wills imported and sold and that most of us were flying. Armin radio guided each of us through half wing, big ears, and full front collapses, front horseshoe, B-line, and full stalls, and spin. Many manuvers were so violent that the explosive sound of the reinflations echoed loudly through the canyon and added to the extreme nature of our endeavor. We all did these manuvers at only about 500' to 800' agl with no parachutes. It seemed to me as I watched that some of the wings would tear themselves apart. Greg Dewolf broke a half dozen of his lines leaving the canopy badly misshapened. It may be the craziest thing I ever did and it is almost unbelievable no one got hurt. A group of the most well-known producers of hang gliders in the world and their best and most experienced dealer/instructors all willingly did about the dumbest thing that ever happened, that I can remember. Good thing you didn't witness THAT shit.
@@WeFlyUniv The way you describe it, it almost sounds like the hang gliding people at Wills Wing came up with a "final solution" for the plague of paragliding. Sheesh! Anyway thanks for posting this cool video from the heydey of hang gliding. It includes one of the best shots of a tumble I've seen.
@@VTSifuSteve Love the dark humor. I'm sick that way.
th-cam.com/video/AwJqdJaNUoc/w-d-xo.html wow!.. what a great video, thanks for sharing!