Video: Powered Hang Gliding - The Perfect Way To Fly Cheap?
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 08:50AM
My mind is being twisted really hard this morning... I found the video above and of course enjoyed it immensely with its great overhead view of flying a hang glider at higher altitudes over the broken clouds of Greece. But it clearly must have been powered, so I looked a little deeper and learned of the power pack that some of these guys use that's mounted just behind your feet. You can see how all this works in the other video below from youtuber kmaro1973 - it's an unusual arrangement to be sure, but it seems to work very well.
What I find most interesting about all this is that there seems to be several advantages of this style of flying machine over other lightweight and relatively inexpensive concepts like traditional ultralights and paramotors. These powered hang gliders have very low drag due to very minimal structure (not requiring much in the way of draggy support cables) and a sleek dual surface wing along with no normal undercarriage and no pilot sitting in an upright position making all kinds of drag. The horsepower required can be very low (15hp) which helps keep the cost down both initially and for fuel. Compared to the paramotor you have less drag with the prone pilot position and from not having a massive collection of suspension lines being drug thru the air. Best of all, the powered hang glider gives you a real flying-like-a-bird flight experience!
For someone like me who lives in the flatlands and has a very minimal budget for flying (but a desire for an awesome flying experience) the powered hang glider appears to be a fascinating answer. It folds down to transport on top of your car, stores in a small space and looks amazingly fun to fly. It would even encourage a guy to lose a few pounds and stay in shape for the foot launching! My eyes are just opening to this form of flying, so I'll do more research on the state of the art and report back later... but for now I hope you enjoy these great videos.
Screenshot from the video below showing the propeller behind the prone pilot's feet
Reader Comments (8)
Wow, what a unique set-up ! Nice rate of climb, too.
I couldn't imagine myself doing this. But this is just so cool!
Hello Martt,
I'm a hangglider pilot myself and a lot of my clubmates are using that kind of powered hanggliders. We live in the flatlands in south Sweden and normaly tow hanggliders with our trike. They use a powered harness, called Mosquito (http://mosquitoamerica.com/), which is a swedish construction and now sold worldwide. The only modification you need to do with the hangglider is to cut the aft part of the keel to make the propeller move free. And it's easy to put it back again if you want to fly without engine. See link below for a flight of one of my friends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n6sRPTWJOY
/Thomas
Some more Mosquito films from Hakan.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Hangglidinghakan?ob=0&feature=results_main
/Thomas
/Thomas- Thanx for the Mosquito info etc... I'm really interested in seeing what all options there are currently available for powering hang gliders. I realize there are many factors that affect how an engine and prop can be effectively installed, but I think there's still a a cleaner, easier and overall better solution (at least from my perspective) than what I've seen so far. It should be interesting to see what I can learn : )
Happy hang gliding to you!
In some of the films from Hakan you can see that the fuel tank is mounted between the uprights near the keel. On newer modells of the Mosquito harness, the fuel tank is mounted inside the harness on the back of the pilot. The engine is electrically started by blowing in a small hose. During take off a mouth throttle is used (closing mouth = full power) and during flight you can adjust the power by a string on the harness.
There are other models of powering hanggliders on the market but as far as I have seen the Mosquito is the most "slimmed" one and you don't need to do a lot of modifications on the hangglider. But I have never flew one. I hope you find will a solution that suits you. It is great and cheap flying!
I think hang gliding has no cost, cheap or expensive, it is still the best hobby or sports there can be. The views, the thrill, perfect experience!
Hello Martt,
I have just started learning Hang Gliding, and as I am looking into de future, I also started doing some research in Powered Hang Gliding, thus I would like to have your opinion in the following Japanese Powered Hang Glider.
Last week, there was an internations Hang Gliding Convention in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, and heard comments that the Powered Hang Glider like the Mosquito is dangerous, becaus the Control Bar is very near the abdomen and that there has been a lot of head injuries..... what do you think about it.
I find this Japanes Hang Glider, perhaps to be safer, then you land on wheels.... again... what do you thin about it.?
I would really appreciate if you could answer back to my e.mail : joseromo 2@hotmail.com. or if you give me a telephone number where I can call your.
I live in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Regards,
Dr. Jose Romo M.D.
Powered Hang Gliding style of JAPAN PRONE type class 1.avi