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Page 3 • Monciay, September 6, 1999
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Students learn to fly at Austin Air Sports’ grand opening
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DELI
SUSAN OVERCASH
The Battalion
hen Niki Patel, a senior petro
leum engineering major,
opened her eyes early on Sat-
morning, she had no way of
tg the new perspective she
jould gain that day.
| “1 was really excited, and 1 didn’t
jqw what to expect,” Patel said. “I
asn t really nervous, but I did have a
‘ jtrd time sleeping. 1 didn’t go out Fri-
Sy night. I think that’s how you know
■>U’re excited about something, when
P>u give up your Friday night for it.”
^ Instead of starting her weekend
a party, Patel opted to stay home
fid get ready for an early Saturday
Horning of hang gliding. About 8 a.m.,
itel ipade a quick trip through the
nal! Texas town of Hearne to the run-
* jay of Hearne Municipal Airport.
^ OJver Labor Day weekend, Austin
r Sports, a Houston-based operation
feting instruction in foot launch,
enph tow and aero tow hang gliding,
xened a new full service facility in
H ne -
Steve Burns, Austin Air Sports’
def pilot and instructor, said that be-
tuse of a lack of steep inclines in the
earne and Bryan—College Station
ea f the Hearne location of Austin Air
orts concentrates on wench tow and
â– ro tow launches, instead of foot
line lies.
In a foot launch, the hang glider
sts on the pilot’s shoulders as the pi-
t moves down an incline. When the
ider catches wind and begins to lift
; f the pilot’s shoulders, the pilot ro
tes the glider bar forward and
undies the glider.
HVe’ve been looking for hills
‘ound here,” Burns said. ‘‘We even
considered the big hill out at Texas Mo
tor Speedway, but that didn’t work out.”
Austin Air Sports offers flights in
tandem (with an instructor) or solo.
Tandem flights may go as high as 3,000
feet, where solo flights can be towed
up to 6,000 feet.
Patel’s hang gliding experience was in
Austin Air Sport’s motorized hang glid
er, an Antares Ttike, with Burns.
The TYike is a weight-shifted, ultra
light motorized hang glider. Instead of a
tow or foot launch, the pilot and student
are strapped into the TYike’s small bug
gy, and the TYike takes off and flies in
dependently, powered by a 65 horse
power motor.
“It looked like something out of an In
spector Gadget movie,” Patel said. “I was
a little nervous as we took off because it
gets really steep, but it didn’t last for
more than a second or two.”
The TYike is also capable of aero tow
launch, the newest form of hang gliding,
which involves towing the hang glider
and pilot into the air behind an ultra
light aircraft.
In an aero tow launch, the pilot and
glider lay “proned-out,” or horizontal,
on a triangular-shaped dolly attached by
a tow line to the tug plane. The glider pi
lot holds the glider’s cross bar and a
safety line as the aircraft moves down
the runway. When the glider catches air
and begins to lift, the glider pilot lets go
of the safety line and lifts off behind the
plane. When the glider catches a ther
mal, or rising pocket of warm air, the pi
lot releases the tow line and rides the
thermal.
Wench tow, the third method of hang
gliding, involves towing behind a truck,
with the glider and pilot attached to the
see Gliding on Page 5.
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S.uuf. Turner/Tul is.vmuor-
on
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