Eric Greenwell wrote:

It's an enduring myth among sailplane pilots that hang gliding has a low
hassle factor. I've talked to a number of former hang glider pilots who
are now sailplane pilots, and they say it is often the reverse. The
reasons will vary from place to place, but here are few from the last
one I talked to:

-get to hang glider site: no wind, no fly.
-ruin a car/truck every four years driving over logging roads to site
-every cross country flight is a retrieve
-glider depreciates quickly
-leave home early, get home after dinner, wife grumpy
-very tiring to fly


One of my three partners in a plane got started flying in a hang
glider when he was 15. He bought it for $50. He'd haul it
up a hill and fly down a few feet off the ground. One day
his buddies egged him into taking it up a big hill with
wind going up it. He took a few steps, and bingo, he was up
for about a minute, and landed next to his
house. He took it up a big hang gliding hill one time
and the locals said "where's your battens?" He said
"what are those?" so they laughed him off the hill...

The same guy recently got me up in his ultralight. Incredible
view, super low stall speed, VERY few restrictions in part
103. We flew right over the beach and waved at people.
The engine was started with a tug of a rope.
To be legal to carry passengers, one must become
an ultralight "basic flight instructor," which
involves no $90 written test and no $350 FAA flight test.
The "test" is given by someone who is already a BFI, and
has also been doing it more than 6 months and also has a
8-hour seminar.

As I get older, the flight reviews, medicals, six approaches,
3 landings at night in a multi-engine taildragger, etc. seem
more and more of a hassle. As I glance at the glider PTS and notice
dozens of references including thousands of pages of detail,
it occurs to me that being able to explain the "mixing ratio"
may be required by my examiner, but certainly falls into
the category that I would consider "obscure." In essence
it is intimidating, even though it will be my 11th FAA
checkride.

I researched heavily to find two aero clubs in California with
a very low "hassle factor" and minimum expense. But flying
gliders and even very simple power planes is still more daunting
in terms of sheer mass of requirements than that little
Quicksilver Sprint MXII. And I have made great efforts to
recruit friends to soaring, with little success mostly due
to the "intimidation factor" of the ferocious checkride.

I was truly heartened to see Dennis Wright's column where
he echoed these same concerns (December "Soaring"). This is
why I hope Sport Pilot goes through. I'd like to see
something that makes piloting more available to the
folks who want to have fun.