Hang Glider

Scientific studies have shown that children from an early age always see birds and want to fly, the good news is that when they mature , at a certain age they will also be able to fly, not like birds but living something similar. Currently there are various sports aeronautical practices such as paragliding or hang gliding in which you can fly easily.

Definition

According to the Royal Spanish Academy, hang gliding is defined as an element with aeronautical characteristics , which performs flights without being powered by an engine and with capacity for a single person. Both take-off and landing can be done on foot.

What is hang gliding for

The hang glider is nothing more than a piece of entertainment or sports element which allows the pilot to take long sustained trips in the air, thus allowing him to contemplate the beauty of the landscape that surrounds him.

Characteristics

The most characteristic deltas in the world are those with flexible wings, which are very similar to those of a glider, which are armed with a series of aeronautical aluminum or carbon fiber tubes which allow them to have a better stability in air.

In Latin America, the iconic country where you can fly with hang gliding is in Brazil , and more specifically in Rio de Janeiro , on the mountain ” La Paz ” where the largest Christ in the world is located. From there they are launched and last a few kilometers until they reach the coast, which is the final destination, being about 450km long.

History

For the ninth century is when the first successful but uncontrolled flight of the Arab Abbas Ibn Firnas was made , although this did not have much relevance and was even forgotten for a time thanks to the palpable appearance of motorized flights and it was not until 1948 when a NASA engineer took up the project.

Francis Rogallo replaced the hard material wing with more flexible ones , thus achieving that this already planned, however, NASA also ruled out the project but it was the Australian John Dickenson who began to use it for entertainment purposes during 1963 for what It began to be practiced as a sport and in 197 began its large-scale manufacture.

Hang gliding parts

Although the structure of a hang glider seems really simple, it is made up of a large number of parts that are carefully manufactured to make it really safe to use. All its parts are:

• Main pole: as its name indicates, it is the tube that is in the middle of the wings as if this were the spine of them, this gives them a fixed position which does not allow destabilization.
• Sail: refers to the entire extension of special fabric that covers the wings, it is manufactured in a resistant way against air currents which can break the fabric
• Boom: it is the tube that resembles a tail, it fulfills two functions , both to reinforce the main pole, as well as to serve as a kind of spoiler which gives better stability to the hang glider.
• Bow: it is the intersection where the two wings connect, which is shaped like an arrowhead and fulfills two functions, the first is to distribute the air evenly to the wings to provide greater stability, as well as to fix it to the edges forwards.
• Suspension point: this is the part where the person who is taking the trip is placed and is subject to it for the same purpose.
• Tensioner: it is the cable to which the body is connected with which the weight is leveled in relation to the hang glider.
• Rigging cables: they are the ones found in the upper part of the hang glider, thus giving it certain important characteristics within the physical laws that act when planning.
• Wing cables: is the wiring system that connects the wings through the front edges to the wings with the rigging cables. The leading edges The leading edges mainly serve the function of cutting the air and making it flow correctly through the wing so that it can continue to be planned.
• Rear edges:  are those that are found on the sides and also on the sail in a systematic way in order to provide greater protection to the sail preventing it from moving abruptly due to the speed of the wind .
• Sets of pressure pins: this is the whole system of pins and pins that are placed to fix all areas of the hang glider through a pneumatic gun.
• Laths: are the pairs game mooring of security that lie beneath the wings for cases of emergency .
• Harness system: it is the one that is placed on the person to connect it next to the tensioner allowing it to remain suspended in the air and also acts as a safety system for the person traveling in it.

How hang gliding works

For the hang glider to fly, it applies the same principles within aeronautics where it makes use of “thermal upward air currents” so it is used faithfully to gain altitude or also to lose it, thus allowing the pilot to perform long distances. trips and even maneuvers and stunts in the air.

However for takeoff it must run along a track on a hill or meadow; or it can also make use of a mechanical mechanism which drives it as a kind of slingshot .

Autonomy

The hang glider is an element which does not depend on any mechanical or electrical element to function since it only needs the wind, and the various laws of physics that apply when planning. This being an almost mandatory activity for lovers of extreme sports .

Competitions

Although at first hang gliding (it is the name that refers to the practice of this sport) it could only be done in small mounts, thanks to technological advances, nowadays flights exceed 800 km in distance, so it has been competition has become common where it is sought:

• The longest straight-line flight distance.
• The greatest height gain from the zero or start point.
• Whoever reaches a greater distance from a declared target.
• Time and distance within a triangle type circuit.

Curiosities

Within the seventh art industries and the studios that create videogames often include hang gliding in many of their works, for example in the world famous movie ” RIO “ there is a scene that lasts a few minutes where a person is seen flying on a hang glider during a festive night.

For their part, franchises such as Ubisoft have included them as a means of transport in their games, as in Far Cry 3 and 4, as well as not explicitly used, but the reference to delta wings is very clear; in the game Fornite which currently has a lot of relevance within youth society.