US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

Hello Everyone!

We are a family of four, Rob, Gail, Dakota (That's me! I'm 15), and Luke (8).

Last October we left home (the suburbs of Chicago) in a pick-up truck. We drove ourselves and our bikes to Florida, where we sold the truck, and started bicycling to San Diego.
We reached San Diego on January 7th.

The trip taught us all that there is a lot more to life than most people will ever live. After travelling by bicycle across the Southern Tier of the United States, we realized that adventures can be amazing, life-changing experiences.

My dad has always been the one to have crazy ideas, so once we reached San Diego, we all knew it would just be a matter of time before he had another adventure for us to go on.
This time, the adventure was hanggliding. As it turns out, it is more than just an adventure.

Dad and I have met some remarkable people through the sport, such as a man named Kenny, who is 76 years old and still hanggliding regularly. Our instructor is John Heiney, who is a legend in the sport (former record holder in Guiness Book). We've met Bob Kuczewski who is not only an accomplished man, but a generous spirit as well.

Our lessons to this point have been running down a training hill, and one day at Winchester. We are looking forward to more training at Winchester, and also to a tandem launch with John at Torrey Pines.

I should also mention that I am the youngest female John has ever taught.

Dad and I are planning on continuing hanggliding indefinitely. I plan on updating this post for those interested in a 15 year old's perspective on hanggliding.

We have to head back to Indiana at the end of April, but hopefully we'll be going home long enough to pack up our stuff, turn around and come back. We're planning on being back in the San Diego area in the fall/winter of 2013.
Of course, we'll be picking up hanggliding right where we left off.

~Dakota Adelphia

Thank you from the entire Adelphia Family.

Follow our other adventures at: www.fourtheroad.com

Dakota, Looking forward to your hang gliding reports.

Hello Dakota and Family,

You've met a lot of amazing people in hang gliding because ... hang gliding attracts amazing people.

So welcome to the "amazing people" sport ... I think you and your whole amazing family will fit right in!!!     

P.S.

Dakota, I just realized that if you're 15 now, and if you continue to fly ... and post your flights ... until you're as old as Kenny, then we have over 60 years of your postings to look forward to reading!!!

Fly safely and use good posture when you're typing all those posts!!!     

Hey Bob and Bill,
Thank you both for the kind words.

Kenny is a legend, but I will do what I can.

One thing about hanggliding is having to wait for the winds to be ready!
We've been waiting for days, although Dad is a little more impatient than I am! I think he's caught the bug.

~Dakota

P.S. I'll let you know when we train again, John is trying to find a hangglider that will fit me. John mentioned possibly using his other student, Anna's, Falcon. Hopefully he has that this week - and the wind co-operates!

fourtheroadfamily wrote:One thing about hanggliding is having to wait for the winds to be ready!

The winds were pretty good at Torrey today. I posted a topic with some photos from my flight this afternoon ( http://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1246 ). I look forward to the day when your whole family takes off like a flock of birds above those cliffs!!

But remember that hang gliding is aviation, and aviation has risks. Stick with John, and follow his instructions carefully. He's survived a long time in this sport, and he has a lot to teach you.

Happy Flying, and please call me when you're scheduled for your next flights. I'd like to be there to help document this ForTheAirFamily adventure.

Bob Kuczewski

UPDATE:
Hi everyone!

I've been slacking on updating this, but here ya'll go.

On the 16th, I got my first tandem flight. John took me up at Torrey Pines. I was a little surprised at how launching was, because we were standing on the edge of the cliff, all set to launch, and John said "Run, Dakota", so I did, and then we were in the air! It took me a little while to catch my breath - it doesn't look so high until your at the edge of the cliff! The goal was for me to be able to fly the glider, but he wasn't comfortable with the wind (it was fairly light), so I only got to control it for a few minutes. It was still really neat, and a great first experience. John made a last second landing decision, and he landed us on the cliff - in the south west corner. We did come in fast, and fell at landing, but no harm was done.

On the 17th, Dad got his first tandem flight. When they launched, the wind was strong, but after about 30 minutes it really started to die down. I wasn't flying, so I can't tell you the whole story, but John didn't want to risk trying to land on the cliff, so they landed on the beach. The video of them landing was pretty neat - but Dad hit his leg on a rock, and has a nice little scab from that. Nothing broken.
John got a ride up to Torrey, and we drove his car to the gate on La Jolla Farm Rd. They landed pretty far South of the Gliderport. We got the glider up the hill, and called it a day.

On the 18th, we drove with John to Lake Elsinore. It is such a beautiful place. John is pretty confident with Dad's abilities, but he wanted me to have one more tandem flight to really get the feel for flying and controlling a glider. When we got there, the wind seemed pretty good - but it was dying off at Crestline, so John wanted to get in the air quickly. We launched, and it was pretty scary (just the running off the cliff part!). I watched the video when we got home, and the expression on my face is priceless - I look like I was about to get hit by a train or something!
It was a really great flight, although the air was really rowdy, John was fighting to control the glider pretty much the whole time. Once we got away from the ridges, he let me take over, and it was fairly smooth to the landing. He had me fly it all the way to the end of the landing zone and do a 180 turn, then he took over for the landing.

On the 20th, we went to Spider Woods (the little training hill). As much as I did NOT want to go back there and run down the hill another 25 times, John wanted me to fly the new glider (He borrowed Anna's Falcon for me to use from now on.) at Spider Woods before going back to Winchester.

There you go! The ForTheAir Family Adventures!

Thanks Bob, for that idea, we love it!

~Dakota
The Adelphia Family

P.S. Bob, we will definitely give you a call next time we're scheduled!

WOW!!!     

That's a lot of flying!!      You guys sure don't let any grass grow under your feet!!!

fourtheroadfamily wrote:P.S. Bob, we will definitely give you a call next time we're scheduled!

Yea, yea, I've heard that before.   

Seriously, I'm really glad to see you guys are taking it so seriously!! When your family does something, you don't just mess around.

But always remember to put safety first. It's a really great sport, but it is aviation and aviation has dangers. So listen to John. He's got a pretty good track record, and I think you're in good hands.

Most of all, thanks so much for posting. Now how about some pictures?