I agree - such a magical time and we were all living that dream. Gold indeed :) . I would love to recreate this footage with the same pilots now. It's just kinda sad that it was so long ago and many have moved on to other things or quit flying. Still, I'll aways be glad to have captured a part of our humble beginnings...
Flew there many times 1973 to 1975.. First cliff launch. Friend died doing 360 there hit cliff. OK for air time in smooth lift and no driver needed. Mountain thermals was mire fun on cumulus 5b and 10. Thanks for posting.
So happy that old footage like this shows up on TH-cam! My third glider was a Flexi 2 and my fourth was a Cumulus 5, bought used in late '77. It was crazy good for thermalling as it seemed to allow controlled, continuous flat spins while climbing.
Richard I'm glad you like it and lived it. Great times indeed - we were so lucky to be alive and young when bird like flight became a reality for any and all who wanted it. It's hard to imagine that there are 50 year old people who never had to dream of flying like a bird - its just been part of life for them... I have about 50 3min reels to go thru then it'll all be converted...
I flew seated (standards) then supine (Cumi 5B) but with my Phoenix 8sr I finally went prone. All in all I liked the view/comfort from the supine position.
That is definitely Tina T. The other supine pilot flying the Eipper Cumulus 5B appears to be Mike Huetter. The prone pilot flying the Eipper Flexi 3 looks like Dave Muehl. Not sure about the prone Cumulus 5B pilot. Possibly Rick Lesh, possibly me, hard to tell. I would bet that it was an Eipper test fly day for production gliders. I probably test flew over a hundred production gliders there over the years.
@@penrynbigbird Slower landings on PG but some collapsing. Both need risk management. I ten years of HG no reserve needed...PG 10 years 3 reserve rides.
I remember flying at Pt. Fermin, probably around 1975. That postage stamp sized landing area was tricky. You always had to factor in that the lift would just disappear once you got below the cliff top and you'd drop like a stone. I remember one time just skimming over the wave tops praying I'd make it to the landing area and not land in the waves. Also the lift band was fairly narrow and you'd be passing other gliders with just a few feet between your wing tips. Great memories.
I was there prior to this footage with my 19' standard, I think it was my first glider so it would've been '74. A local pilot (Jack Schroeder) as I recall walked over as I was setting up and apparently saw how nervous I was. He talked me out of flying there. Considering I was a fairly new mountain pilot used to small LZs but not next to a cliff/ocean/ridge lift) I was glad he did. I always wanted to thank Jack because I believe he may have saved my life that day back in '74...
@@penrynbigbird I used to fly Point Fermin from around 1974-1976, with a lot of the locals. At that time I just had a standard Rogallo wing kite from Eipperformance, the truncated tips/Dragonfly kites like the ones in the video were still pretty new. Those were some pretty crazy days, the flying was intense, not a lot of margin for error. It's a great memory to have, for as I'm sure you know, it was a treacherous place and I am glad I went there, flew, and lived to tell the tale.
@@steve620 Crazy daze indeed, Steve. However, the dream of flying like a bird drove us to explore the dream. I think for most of us flying back then wasn't an option, it was our dream come true. I nearly flew Fermin in '74 with a Rogallo, but a local named Jack Schroeder talked me out of it - in hindsight, he probably saved my life. I was an experienced mountain pilot but had never done any ridge soaring...
@@penrynbigbird Yes, Jack was one of our "crew", actually it was their crew, they just let me hang around with them. He was one of the best pilots, he was a Seagull man, if I recall. He was not shy about talking people out of flying there if he didn't know them. We lost a few pilots there in those early years after that he/we turned people away if their skills or equipment/attitude were not up to snuff. That didn't stop a couple guys from going up with sub-standard equipment when no one was around to stop them and then paying the ultimate price. All of us who flew there had to have a first time, I think anyone who really had a good feel for flying could fly there, but you had to respect the elements and not let your head get too big. Good memories!
@@steve620 Thanks for sharing your memories. If you ever happen to speak to Jack perhaps you can tell him that one of those he cautioned not to fly still thanks him for doing so. Yes, I remember one fatality in particular because they had pictures of the glider plastered to the cliff face.
@@allanegleston4931 It's interesting because if you go to a flying sites or flight parks there are a lot of grey haired individuals that started young and are still at it.
This is gold dust footage , bravo
I agree - such a magical time and we were all living that dream. Gold indeed :) . I would love to recreate this footage with the same pilots now. It's just kinda sad that it was so long ago and many have moved on to other things or quit flying. Still, I'll aways be glad to have captured a part of our humble beginnings...
Flew there many times 1973 to 1975.. First cliff launch. Friend died doing 360 there hit cliff. OK for air time in smooth lift and no driver needed. Mountain thermals was mire fun on cumulus 5b and 10. Thanks for posting.
beautiful
i graduated from high school when this was shot. wow. fun.
So happy that old footage like this shows up on TH-cam! My third glider was a Flexi 2 and my fourth was a Cumulus 5, bought used in late '77. It was crazy good for thermalling as it seemed to allow controlled, continuous flat spins while climbing.
Richard I'm glad you like it and lived it. Great times indeed - we were so lucky to be alive and young when bird like flight became a reality for any and all who wanted it. It's hard to imagine that there are 50 year old people who never had to dream of flying like a bird - its just been part of life for them...
I have about 50 3min reels to go thru then it'll all be converted...
@@penrynbigbird Great! I'm looking forward to seeing them all!
Love the supine mode.
I flew seated (standards) then supine (Cumi 5B) but with my Phoenix 8sr I finally went prone. All in all I liked the view/comfort from the supine position.
That is definitely Tina T. The other supine pilot flying the Eipper Cumulus 5B appears to be Mike Huetter. The prone pilot flying the Eipper Flexi 3 looks like Dave Muehl. Not sure about the prone Cumulus 5B pilot. Possibly Rick Lesh, possibly me, hard to tell. I would bet that it was an Eipper test fly day for production gliders. I probably test flew over a hundred production gliders there over the years.
Nice footage.
Guess I wasn't there that day.
Still flying supine though but now in a paraglider.
So does your PG ever feel squirrley or wanting to spin, collapse, or ball up? Do you feel as comfortable/safe in the PG and you did in the HG?
@@penrynbigbird Slower landings on PG but some collapsing. Both need risk management. I ten years of HG no reserve needed...PG 10 years 3 reserve rides.
I remember flying at Pt. Fermin, probably around 1975. That postage stamp sized landing area was tricky. You always had to factor in that the lift would just disappear once you got below the cliff top and you'd drop like a stone. I remember one time just skimming over the wave tops praying I'd make it to the landing area and not land in the waves.
Also the lift band was fairly narrow and you'd be passing other gliders with just a few feet between your wing tips. Great memories.
I was there prior to this footage with my 19' standard, I think it was my first glider so it would've been '74. A local pilot (Jack Schroeder) as I recall walked over as I was setting up and apparently saw how nervous I was. He talked me out of flying there. Considering I was a fairly new mountain pilot used to small LZs but not next to a cliff/ocean/ridge lift) I was glad he did. I always wanted to thank Jack because I believe he may have saved my life that day back in '74...
Wow is that Tina? Been a long time since I flew there, she was always so graceful!
I would love to hear from any of the pilots flying that day - that's part of why I post my old movies... Good times for sure!
@@penrynbigbird I used to fly Point Fermin from around 1974-1976, with a lot of the locals. At that time I just had a standard Rogallo wing kite from Eipperformance, the truncated tips/Dragonfly kites like the ones in the video were still pretty new. Those were some pretty crazy days, the flying was intense, not a lot of margin for error. It's a great memory to have, for as I'm sure you know, it was a treacherous place and I am glad I went there, flew, and lived to tell the tale.
@@steve620 Crazy daze indeed, Steve. However, the dream of flying like a bird drove us to explore the dream. I think for most of us flying back then wasn't an option, it was our dream come true.
I nearly flew Fermin in '74 with a Rogallo, but a local named Jack Schroeder talked me out of it - in hindsight, he probably saved my life. I was an experienced mountain pilot but had never done any ridge soaring...
@@penrynbigbird Yes, Jack was one of our "crew", actually it was their crew, they just let me hang around with them. He was one of the best pilots, he was a Seagull man, if I recall. He was not shy about talking people out of flying there if he didn't know them. We lost a few pilots there in those early years after that he/we turned people away if their skills or equipment/attitude were not up to snuff. That didn't stop a couple guys from going up with sub-standard equipment when no one was around to stop them and then paying the ultimate price. All of us who flew there had to have a first time, I think anyone who really had a good feel for flying could fly there, but you had to respect the elements and not let your head get too big. Good memories!
@@steve620 Thanks for sharing your memories. If you ever happen to speak to Jack perhaps you can tell him that one of those he cautioned not to fly still thanks him for doing so. Yes, I remember one fatality in particular because they had pictures of the glider plastered to the cliff face.
I have no idea why YT is placing commercials on such low volume videos like mine. I didn't ask them to, nor do I receive a penny from them.
im the other way round . i have to turn up the volume and then get blasted on the next video. nice footage. wonder how many are still flying ?
@@allanegleston4931 It's interesting because if you go to a flying sites or flight parks there are a lot of grey haired individuals that started young and are still at it.
@@penrynbigbird thanks for your reply.
flew there in 80-81 never landed on the beach. always across the road and hope the rotor wasn't bad.
I can see why a top landing would be more appealing than that postage stamp below. I'm sure Fermin could put off a heck of a rotor :).
How fast was the wind? Did you guys ever land up by the Korean bell?