Glider pilot with 30 hours shows how it's done

[rrrr]

.

And she's hot too!

The pilot had just 30 hours in her logbook when she and her autistic brother took off in a Schweizer SGS 2-33 sailplane for his first ride in an aircraft. Seconds after takeoff and just 100' above the ground, the line connecting the glider to the tow plane parted.

The pilot immediately pulled the tow rope release to jettison the section of rope still attached to the glider, popped out the speed brakes, and cranked the controls to place the aircraft in a forward slip to quickly lose altitude and hit her selected landing spot.

A slip is done by crossing the control inputs, i. e. full left aileron and full right rudder at the same time. Look at the glider's alignment with the axis of forward travel during the descent, and you can see how the yaw has it flying almost sideways, completely under her control.

Remaining completely calm as she reassured her brother things were OK, when the glider touched down, she pinned the it to the ground with full forward stick. This move kept the tail from striking the ground, and transferred the aircraft's weight to the single tire and wheel to improve controllability during the rollout on the rough terrain.

Her flawless piloting during the incident would have anyone watching the video convinced she had hundreds of hours, while her logbook revealed she had just 30 hours of pilot in command experience in sailplanes and all other types. The average glider pilot logs about 10 to 15 hours and 30 to 40 flights before making their first solo flight, so while she didn't have a lot of stick time, her decision making, cool head, and flying skills were an impressive display.

And yeah, I'd hit it. No doubt it would be a smokin four minutes.

.

https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/ar...q_NmCtZ7RYyuVdabykOquIAkjfiymoIk#.XXdkypBOmeN

 

[renodaytona]

Impressive.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

She did good.

They say you are never as sharp as you are right after your checkride.

Where's Dave H? He's done this stuff before.

 

[Boat211]

That was pretty amaizing. Her facial expression hardly even changed. Don't play poker with her. Poke her maybe but not poker.

 

[QC22]

Pretty damn impressive! That's at Warner Springs which is only a couple of hours from LA, and close to SD. The wife and I did a joint ride along (three in the plane) for a couple hundred bucks, and it was fantastic. They soar up over Mt Palomar, and the view is fantastic. Highly recommended.

 

[Bigbore500r]

Wow that was awesome

 

[Wheeler]

Very cool!

A friend and myself took 233 from Hemet Ryan to Warner then circled back. Total time in air was a little over five hours. We were hang glider pilots and milked e ery thermal for what it was worth.

Hemet to Warner and ba k had never been done in a trainer and pretty sure never happened again. Like I said, we were hang glider guys, we didn't know any better.

 

[Racey]

They would pull this on us when i was flying with DaveH out here in Vegas at the soaring club. You have to act QUICK. iirc under 100' and you are going straight ahead, not enough altitude to make the u-turn, 100-400 you can land downwind, and 400 you can pattern in. (They would never do simulates under about 250-300 feet usually)

I've been in a landing traffic jam before in one of these exact craft, a 2-33, the rear seat has really poor visibility so the instructor didn't see the other person coming in, i was in pattern and mid base, the other craft was long final, i just made the call fuck it I'm landing in dirt between the taxiway and the runway. You gotta be quick and calm.

I watched one afternoon where the instructor simulated a rope break on DaveH in a Grob glass ship, the winds were strong and in hindsight the instructor (and to her own words) probably shouldn't have done it in the conditions. These things have a tendency to get massive ground effect and get you into a PIO (pilot induced oscilation), I watched from the clubhouse as Dave and the instructor pogo sticked this thing at about 75-80mph down the runway, they finally got it settled and stopped it about 30 feet from the end of the tarmac in the chevrons.

That chick made all the right calls and nailed that landing.

 

[Moneypit]

Never seizes to amaze me the amount and breath of the experiences here at RDPs. From the dune buggy/ dirt bikes, to fishing and diving boats, to climbing Half Dome, and now to flying Gliders... I also remember some powered aircraft experiences voiced here, as well as "storm" boating, wind and dust storms... Is there anything that someone here hasn't done?? A true testament to the broad spectrum of people here. The internet is a deep well of knowledge, but the surface knowledge here knows no equal, IMO..
Thanks for the input and bringing things like this into perspective as though we're there..
Ray
PS: I never got a prompt to watch the video, but I saw it through the descriptions of the pros here...

 

[Echo Lodge]

PS: I never got a prompt to watch the video, but I saw it through the descriptions of the pros here...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=509422733156236

Was in the Civil Air Patrol Cadet program as a teenager in the 80's at Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. We got to take rides is their gliders that were pulled by a winch. Had a cable break on us. The pilot just told me "hold on, the cable broke and we half to go back". A few sharp turns and we were back where we almost started. I was bummed I got cheated out of my full ride!

 

[Old Texan]

To watch her expressions, there was no indication of the issue she faced so calmly and solved. Outstanding

 

[Moneypit]

Thanks for the video link. It was just as I'd already seen it through the descriptions I noted above...
Ray

 

[WAAZ]

Very cool!

A friend and myself took 233 from Hemet Ryan to Warner then circled back. Total time in air was a little over five hours. We were hang glider pilots and milked e ery thermal for what it was worth.

Like I said, we were hang glider guys, we didn't know any better.

Do you still h/g? I've been thinking about getting into it.

 

[jeteater1]

Right around the corner from my house.

 

[Wheeler]

Do you still h/g? I've been thinking about getting into it.

No I don't but I can hook you up with friends that still do. At least the few that are still alive.

 

[Wheeler]

Thanks for the video link. It was just as I'd already seen it through the descriptions I noted above...
Ray

The video could have been much better with a little plastic surgery.

 

[rrrr]

Very cool!

A friend and myself took 233 from Hemet Ryan to Warner then circled back. Total time in air was a little over five hours. We were hang glider pilots and milked e ery thermal for what it was worth.

Hemet to Warner and ba k had never been done in a trainer and pretty sure never happened again. Like I said, we were hang glider guys, we didn't know any better.

I didn't know you used to hang glide. I did too, spent a bunch of time soaring above the Sandias in Albuquerque. It's a great mountain to fly, wasn't unusual to get 3,000' above takeoff and fly for hours
Where did you guys go? I've flown Merriam crater north of Flagstaff, and Torrey Pines.

 

[Wheeler]

I didn't know you used to hang glide. I did too, spent a bunch of time soaring above the Sandias in Albuquerque. It's a great mountain to fly, wasn't unusual to get 3,000' above takeoff and fly for hours
Where did you guys go? I've flown Merriam crater north of Flagstaff, and Torrey Pines.

Started off at little Corona, backside of Corona Raceway I moved on to Glendora from their then Crest line and Salt Creek Laguna Beach but never got a chance to go to the Owens Valley or Torrey Pines I did spend time at Elsinore. Divers were Bennett, UP and Wills Wing.

 

[DaveH]

you guys have no idea how cool soaring is..........

yep, kudos to a low time pilot for keeping her composure and not freaking out and drilling the landing. as Racey pointed out, rope breaks are standard glider training 101 stuff and she did exactly as trained. while she looked a little higher then 100' to me when the rope broke, because of the low performance training glider she was in is a flying brick....you dont even consider anything other then going straight ahead and land....no matter what you are going to hit....you simply dont have any other options. its part of the reason most (MOST) runways leave area clear beyond the runway. here in vegas we have open desert beyond the runways...but its rocky and would probably severely damage your glider although most likely you would walk away.

modern gliders are incredible in the design and workmanship with astonish glide ratios allowing unthinkable flights the general public simply cant grasp. For example, last weekend, there was an annual contest flow at the end of the season called the Dust Devil Dash that originates in Tehachapi CA....the contests is a simple straight out, winner take all, furthes flight away form the airport wins. they do handicap so guys with older gliders have an even playing field against the guys with modern $200k ships.

well the weather around Tehachapi looked very poor but the forecast looked better going north. so everyone launched, and the winner flew to Battle Mountain NV and second place landing at Austin NV. This is up where the I80 crosses norther NV to put it into perspective and this was considered a "mediocre" day. For me...I made it to Boundary Peak and then turned back and landed at Bishop. I could have gone farther given i was at 15k ft of altitude, but it was getting late in the day and weather was moving in so made the descision to u-turn back to Bishop.

i recently had the privilege to take a lesson from one of the pilots who just set the new world altitude record in a glider.......76k feet and now aiming for 90k feet

https://www.facebook.com/PerlanProject/

for me, boating was the center of my world for all my life......that was until i started flying gliders 10 years ago.......now boating takes a back seat to soaring.

 

[DaveH]

They would pull this on us when i was flying with DaveH out here in Vegas at the soaring club. You have to act QUICK. iirc under 100' and you are going straight ahead, not enough altitude to make the u-turn, 100-400 you can land downwind, and 400 you can pattern in. (They would never do simulates under about 250-300 feet usually)

I've been in a landing traffic jam before in one of these exact craft, a 2-33, the rear seat has really poor visibility so the instructor didn't see the other person coming in, i was in pattern and mid base, the other craft was long final, i just made the call fuck it I'm landing in dirt between the taxiway and the runway. You gotta be quick and calm.

I watched one afternoon where the instructor simulated a rope break on DaveH in a Grob glass ship, the winds were strong and in hindsight the instructor (and to her own words) probably shouldn't have done it in the conditions. These things have a tendency to get massive ground effect and get you into a PIO (pilot induced oscilation), I watched from the clubhouse as Dave and the instructor pogo sticked this thing at about 75-80mph down the runway, they finally got it settled and stopped it about 30 feet from the end of the tarmac in the chevrons.

That chick made all the right calls and nailed that landing.

I remember the landing in question like it was yesterday. We had just climbed to 200' and the instructor pulled the release. Well we took off in an almost 20knot headwind, and when you are that low making a turn you make SURE to keep your airspeed up being so low to the ground. With a 20k tailwind, our ground speed was 80+knots (thats FAST for a glider on approach)......and with the runway quickly getting short.......slammed it on to the ground and the energy bounced us back in the air even with full open spoilers. That particular aircraft, a Grob-103, is known to be a handful to land compared to other gliders and with my low time (i was still a student) i should have made a better landing but pulled it off in the end. I think the instructor was white as a sheet when we got out.

 

[was thatguy]

That’s bad ass.

 

[WhatExit?]

 

[DaveH]

a friend i fly with up in Utah has a YouTube page with all sorts of very cool glider flying compilations in a modern high performance single seat ship.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bviv

 

[coolchange]

a friend i fly with up in Utah has a YouTube page with all sorts of very cool glider flying compilations in a modern high performance single seat ship.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bviv

I've watched his videos very cool. Make me want to take a shot at it, do something different.

 

[DaveH]

I've watched his videos very cool. Make me want to take a shot at it, do something different.

sadly, the "prime" soaring season is from about mid May to mid August. this is the time of year when 500-1000 kilometer flights are "routine".

the good news is the rest of the year is when you want to do flight training.

you can buy a good high performance ship anywhere from 25-45k and get 90% of the performance of ultra modern 200k gliders.

if you ever wanted to get into it.....my recommendation is spend the money at a commercial operation a plow through the training quickly.

 

[Moneypit]

"Sully" of the Hudson River landing credits all those lives NOT lost to his Glide plane experience... I remember while I was a teenage "Hotroder" a kid my age who lived up the street and his father were "sail plane" enthusiasts.. They flew in the Antelope Valley area, off the Pear blossom Highway.. They trailered a disassembled plane that was usually parked in their drive way when I had a junker hotrod parked in ours..The Father, Bob Hunt, was instrumental in getting me a job at the Hughes Tool Company Firing range in Culver City in 1965... He was in "Contract Procurement" and actually took a 7.62, 6000 rds per minute machine gun to DC in a violin case aboard a commercial flight out of LAX... (A stunt to show how small and compact it was). Hughes lost that contract to GE and their now infamous "Mini Gun"...
Ray

 

[copterzach]

She stayed cool. I will stick with helicopters


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wheeler]

Anyone thats been around a glider port soon realize.that for the most part glider pilots are a bunch of goofy fucks. Well with the exception of the pilots themselves.

 

[DaveH]

Anyone thats been around a glider port soon realize.that for the most part glider pilots are a bunch of goofy fucks. Well with the exception of the pilots themselves.

this is more accurate then you realize.

unfortunately, soaring is becoming a lost art. the VAST majority of glider pilots are older senior citizen types, very straight laced and uptight. sure there are new young pilots but the sport has been in decline for the last 20 years.

people know i fly these but most dont realize there is no engine and when they figure that out it seems like voodo black magic to them and cant comprehend it. I offer to take them up and everyone is like "no way, youre nuts".

 

[rrrr]

View attachment 796944

I'm digging on her flight suit!

 

[rrrr]

I have a good glider/hang glider story. In 1978, I was living in Aspen, had a job as a remodel carpenter. Celebrities were all over the place, I was living in the $1M house of one of John Denver's guitarists. He cut me a deal on rent in exchange for work.

Anyway, I had brought my hang glider to Aspen with me, and one day a girl I knew told me her boyfriend worked on the mountain, and had access to locked gates. He offered to drive me up to the hang glider launch on the west side of Aspen Mountain, and off we went.

About an hour later, I was on top ready to fly, and the conditions were perfect. There were no other hang gliders flying. I could see and feel thermals rolling up the mountain, and a few minutes later I was locked into a good one and climbing at 600-700 feet per minute according to my variometer. After 30 minutes or so, I was about 2,000' above the takeoff and enjoying the view.

This was back in the day, and I had a latest tech fourth generation kite. Its glide ratio was maybe 10:1, meaning it would fly forward ten feet for every foot of altitude it lost. A decent sailplane glide ratio of that era was almost 40:1, so you can see it's a lot more challenging to soar in a hang glider.

I looked south and spotted a sailplane headed my way, maybe 500' below me. As I said, conditions were good and there was lift everywhere, but this guy was having problems gaining altitude. He would turn into a thermal, and either fly right through it and get tossed out the back, or lose the core after a couple of 360° turns. He clearly wasn't good at following thermals and working wind drift.

He hadn't seen me. I was kinda following him, watching his efforts, and after ten minutes or so, I saw his head jerk up as he spotted me. He stared over his shoulder as he passed under me, and then he did a 180° turn and came by again, still watching me. I could tell because he was wearing a dark helmet and his upturned white face was easy to see.

I smiled and gave him a big wave. I saw him look down, shake his head, he did another 180° and flew away. Score one for the 50 lb rag and tubing contraption over the sleek sailplane.

 

[DaveH]

I have a good glider/hang glider story. In 1978, I was living in Aspen, had a job as a remodel carpenter. Celebrities were all over the place, I was living in the $1M house of one of John Denver's guitarists. He cut me a deal on rent in exchange for work.

Anyway, I had brought my hang glider to Aspen with me, and one day a girl I knew told me her boyfriend worked on the mountain, and had access to locked gates. He offered to drive me up to the hang glider launch on the west side of Aspen Mountain, and off we went.

About an hour later, I was on top ready to fly, and the conditions were perfect. There were no other hang gliders flying. I could see and feel thermals rolling up the mountain, and a few minutes later I was locked into a good one and climbing at 600-700 feet per minute according to my variometer. After 30 minutes or so, I was about 2,000' above the takeoff and enjoying the view.

This was back in the day, and I had a latest tech fourth generation kite. Its glide ratio was maybe 10:1, meaning it would fly forward ten feet for every foot of altitude it lost. A decent sailplane glide ratio of that era was almost 40:1, so you can see it's a lot more challenging to soar in a hang glider.

I looked south and spotted a sailplane headed my way, maybe 500' below me. As I said, conditions were good and there was lift everywhere, but this guy was having problems gaining altitude. He would turn into a thermal, and either fly right through it and get tossed out the back, or lose the core after a couple of 360° turns. He clearly wasn't good at following thermals and working wind drift.

He hadn't seen me. I was kinda following him, watching his efforts, and after ten minutes or so, I saw his head jerk up as he spotted me. He stared over his shoulder as he passed under me, and then he did a 180° turn and came by again, still watching me. I could tell because he was wearing a dark helmet and his upturned white face was easy to see.

I smiled and gave him a big wave. I saw him look down, shake his head, he did another 180° and flew away. Score one for the 50 lb rag and tubing contraption over the sleek sailplane.

without a doubt.....the baddest glider out there......wont perform if there is a lousy pilot.......there is a ton of skill and talent involved and there are plenty of guys who are safe pilots but dont get very far or just hang around the airport because they ain't all that good.

i am amazed at how far some hang glider guys go.........you mentioned a 10:1 ratio and you are correct that glider are 40:1 (more so with 80-90's vintage gliders) the newest stuff flys closer to 50:1 but the REAL difference with the ultra modern gliders is they will fly 50:1 at 60knots or 125knots. the older ones if you try and fly fast drop off significantly with speed.

you should check out the online contest...its a world wide database that score glider and hang glider flights. you can "fantasy race" with anyone on the planet.

www.onlinecontest.org

im gonna have to try hang gliding one day. seem like parasailing has overtaken hang gliding but maybe thats just where i live.

 

[Wheeler]

this is more accurate then you realize.

unfortunately, soaring is becoming a lost art. the VAST majority of glider pilots are older senior citizen types, very straight laced and uptight. sure there are new young pilots but the sport has been in decline for the last 20 years.

people know i fly these but most dont realize there is no engine and when they figure that out it seems like voodo black magic to them and cant comprehend it. I offer to take them up and everyone is like "no way, youre nuts".

Oh I do understand, I started noticing them on my introductory flight back in '81. When the instructors were named Sheldon, Gaylon, Leonard and the likes I payed attention. What I noticed was that most of the old guys were professionals and most seemed highly intelligent, just a little odd but always a pleasure to be around.

After Hang gliding and a few flights in sail planes I moved onto Ultralight Aircraft. For some reason quite a few sail plane pilots migrated to the Ultralights at Perris and Elsinore. Not sure if they thought it would be a cheap way to get into the air or they just wanted someone to talk to. I met quite a few of these old coots and came to really appreciate them for who they were.

One of these guys that really stood out was Fred Kimball. Fred was an old pro wrestler and a physic. Fred was not just any physic, Fred also read animal minds, not just the living but specialized in animals that have passed into the other world. I always had fun inviting Fred and his wife to any function we might have going to just to freak out others as he told them all about their dog or cat and what these pets had to say about their owners.
I really miss Fred.


A couple things I found on the internet.

"Entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee interviews actress Coleen Gray and pet psychic Fred Kimball. Kimball, a former professional wrestler, says that he can communicate with dogs telepathically and demonstrates this ability on Gypsy's dog, Flower. He also claims to communicate with deceased animals in the spirit world."

http://www.cuke.com/dchad-writ/fred-1.htm

 

[Wheeler]

Here is a photo of Brad White on takeoff with his Mitchell Wing. Brad is the friend that I flew with at Hemet Ryan.

 

[Wheeler]

Another one of the notable hang glider pilots from the old days, Dave Vincent. Dave recently picked this Lazair up in Canada. He'll have an old friend and business partner of mine fly it for the first time at Corona airport not this weekend but next.

Dave is on the left and the designer of the Lazair, Dale Kraemer is on the right. Tom Brown would recognize Dale as Tom is familiar with the Lazair.

Here is more info. on Dave and his Lazair. Dave flys out of Boulder.

https://www.facebook.com/david.b.vincent.1

 

[Carlson-jet]

And not one mention of the vomit catastrophes climbing thermals.

 

[Wheeler]

And not one mention of the vomit catastrophes climbing thermals.

I puked at 14k on the way to Warner Springs. Not sure if was the altitude or the ride.

 

[Carlson-jet]

I puked at 14k on the way to Warner Springs. Not sure if was the altitude or the ride.

I blamed it on the BBQ sandwich I had for lunch that sonofabich.

 

[Wheeler]

I blamed it on the BBQ sandwich I had for lunch that sonofabich.

I had a very early lite breakfast and brought water, carrot sticks and celery along for the flight. I can't recall any other time that I've chucked while flying.

 

[rrrr]

without a doubt.....the baddest glider out there......wont perform if there is a lousy pilot.......there is a ton of skill and talent involved and there are plenty of guys who are safe pilots but dont get very far or just hang around the airport because they ain't all that good.

i am amazed at how far some hang glider guys go.........you mentioned a 10:1 ratio and you are correct that glider are 40:1 (more so with 80-90's vintage gliders) the newest stuff flys closer to 50:1 but the REAL difference with the ultra modern gliders is they will fly 50:1 at 60knots or 125knots. the older ones if you try and fly fast drop off significantly with speed.

you should check out the online contest...its a world wide database that score glider and hang glider flights. you can "fantasy race" with anyone on the planet.

www.onlinecontest.org

im gonna have to try hang gliding one day. seem like parasailing has overtaken hang gliding but maybe thats just where i live.

My older brother, the one I kicked out of my life a few years back, was the holder of the first official unlimited class distance record (Classe O-1) in hang gliding, issued in 1978 by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the world governing body for air sports. He flew an Electra Flyer Olympus 180 from Sandia Peak, NM (the location of the tramway termination and head of the ski area) to Española, NM, a distance of 61 miles. He landed in the parking lot of a bar, and when they found out he had come from Albuquerque, beer was on the house.

He had a barograph on board with a paper trace chart that was sealed by a representative of the
FAI, which proved he hadn't landed somewhere and falsified the distance. It was pretty cool, but short lived. A week later a guy flew a Mitchell Wing from Bishop up the Owens Valley some 80 miles, and after that the record fell every few months in the summer. It's 321.25 miles right now.

 

[rrrr]

im gonna have to try hang gliding one day. seem like parasailing has overtaken hang gliding but maybe thats just where i live.

Parasailing looks like a sport for French pussies and Scandinavian women that don't shave their body hair or wear feminine hygiene products when the moon has risen.

I like flying in aggressive thermals, and if you do that in a parasail, when you get dumped, the wind shear can collapse one end of the sail and it may or may not properly reinflate. Then you have to throw the bag while you're spiraling down ( unless you have a BRS chute), and try to miss the spinning mess that's already trying to kill you to get a clean canopy. Fuck that.

 

[Wheeler]

Lazair

 

[Wheeler]

Parasailing looks like a sport for French pussies and Scandinavian women that don't shave their body hair or wear feminine hygiene products when the moon has risen.

I like flying in aggressive thermals, and if you do that in a parasail, when you get dumped, the wind shear can collapse one end of the sail and it may or may not properly reinflate. Then you have to throw the bag while you're spiraling down ( unless you have a BRS chute), and try to miss the spinning mess that's already trying to kill you to get a clean reserve. Fuck that.

When you mention "throw the bag" the first name that comes to mind is Jim Handbury. Jim saved many lives during his career.

 

[rrrr]

Yes indeed. The BRS was a huge improvement over the chest pack parachute. I never had to use it, but it seemed to me that tossing a parachute through all of the flight wires and getting a good canopy was a low percentage deal. Having a rocket with a clean shot from its kingpost mount made a huge improvement in safety.

 

[DaveH]

And not one mention of the vomit catastrophes climbing thermals.

^^^THIS^^^

I take my GF up in a two seater. on weak days you have to spend a lot more time thermaling.....in other words....sit and spin while you try and climb. she gets nausea every time.

on strong days, you only thermal a little and climb rapidly, and cruise a lot more without turning. i also agree it takes acclimation to the altitude. even though we use pure oxygen for breathing, still, on long high altitude flights of 5+ hours....spending most of the flight above 15k.......i am worn out by the time i land. Im sure age probably is a factor......

a few years ago i reached my personal best altitude achievement of almost 27k feet...the flight lasted about 90 minutes and i was wore out when i landed.

 

[DaveH]

Parasailing looks like a sport for French pussies and Scandinavian women that don't shave their body hair or wear feminine hygiene products when the moon has risen.

I like flying in aggressive thermals, and if you do that in a parasail, when you get dumped, the wind shear can collapse one end of the sail and it may or may not properly reinflate. Then you have to throw the bag while you're spiraling down ( unless you have a BRS chute), and try to miss the spinning mess that's already trying to kill you to get a clean canopy. Fuck that.

i ran into some parasail guys at pioneer saloon that had been flying the ridge near Sandy Valley.

one of the guys said he stalled the sail, had to bail, and opened his reserve chute, with the reserve opening barley 100' before hitting the ground.

i'm thinking i would try hang gliding before a parasail. there is a ridge near Thanksgiving point (between provo and salt lake) up in Utah that attracts both parasail and hang gliders. seen so many up there at one time you couldnt count them. had to be 40+ in the air at the time.

 

[rrrr]

i ran into some parasail guys at pioneer saloon that had been flying the ridge near Sandy Valley.

one of the guys said he stalled the sail, had to bail, and opened his reserve chute, with the reserve opening barley 100' before hitting the ground.

i'm thinking i would try hang gliding before a parasail. there is a ridge near Thanksgiving point (between provo and salt lake) up in Utah that attracts both parasail and hang gliders. seen so many up there at one time you couldnt count them. had to be 40+ in the air at the time.

My buddies and I took a couple of road trips up there. You can soar the ridge for hours.

.

...on strong days, you only thermal a little and climb rapidly, and cruise a lot more without turning. i also agree it takes acclimation to the altitude. even though we use pure oxygen for breathing, still, on long high altitude flights of 5+ hours....spending most of the flight above 15k.......i am worn out by the time i land. Im sure age probably is a factor......

The takeoff on Sandia Peak is a right at 10,000' MSL, and the landing field is 4,500' below that. On good days, a few of the more experienced pilots could get to 13,500' MSL and stay that high for an hour or two. It was unusual to get much above that altitude, because the upper level winds dispersed the thermals past the point our 10:1 kites could stay up.

I never had any issues with hypoxia, and neither did my friends. That's probably because we lived at 5,400' in Albuquerque, and skied all winter at elevations well above 10,000' MSL and approaching 14,000' MSL at some Colorado ski areas like Arapahoe Basin. It wasn't until years later that hang glider pilots began using supplemental oxygen.