[JoeF]

Caril Ridley and hang gliding ...

Start:

Thank you for responding Dudley, Between '74 and '84 a lot had progressed in hang gliding technology, a period I spent focused on studies and developing a business, but as an aviator the dreams are still there, always have been, always will. In those early years we were like psychotic butterflies leaping from hills and off cliffs, crashing again-and-again, playing with bamboo-bindings and visqueen, and double faced tape, then aluminum-tubes and ripstop nylon, over land and water, bruses uncounted, the unknown vestige of bygone flight. A fact, little known; my flights in India culminated in a significant crash, one that destroyed the kite, sending me to the doctor, making the history of it, in part, rather secretive. However it did hit the press accross the subcontinent and beyond, seems that Russia had not made their first hang glider flights yet and the Indian press did not want such an accomplishment tarnished by any kind of failures, so it was whitewashed before releasing a grand flowrish in the Hindustan Times and Daily Tej. Those were interesting times in India and I have plenty of stories to share. Some stories are of geo-political conflicts involving countries jockeying for position, China, India and the Soviet Union not to mention Pakistan and Sikkim. My story decidedly overlapped all of that, stall rated top secret dare I say! I remember hearing that a small hang gliding club had developed out of New Delhi some years later, but my involvement was well before with no connection that I know of. My designing in Delhi and first flights were near Jiapur, with newsman Vishnu Bhandu Gupta, and his sun powered flight club. Vishnu later went into politics and I eventually moved on... How nice that you made contact with me, I am very interested in hearing your stories--are you by chance the rumered-one, the mythical airline pilot hopping about the world in those days, chalking-up firsts and making bits and pieces of hang gliding history along the way? Feel free to ask any questions you might have, there are very few who would fully understand... You are an impressive guy! carilridley1@gmail.com +1 (253) 325-1642