OK, I am tired of the HG/PG/SP is best, old people need to die, young people will save us, there are more of us than them, the sky is falling etc. etc..

I started HG in the early 70's and fell in love with it. I thought sailplanes were for old people that were just sitting on their asses wiggling their sticks. When PG finally came around, I thought they were kinda neat, but there was no way I was going to be lucky enough to survive the early days of a new aviation sport- I got through the Standard Rogallo days, but barely.

Finally, after logging over 2,500 HG hours through 28 years of HG, as well as a few knee operations and attending far too many funerals, I decided that, yes, I was too OLD to be subjecting myself to the risks of HG.

I took up sailplanes, and while I still miss the wild 'n woolly days of HG with some of the most fun people I had ever met, I discovered an entirely new world of soaring. The people were friendly and encouraging, the scope of an average day of XC flying far surpassed anything I had ever accomplished with a hang glider and I nearly always made it back to the home 'drome. And did I mention landing on a wheel instead of using my own little pink body as landing gear?

In the last 15 years of flying sailplanes, I have amassed far more airtime (1,900 hours) than I would have thought possible. I fly in conditions that would be difficult in a hang glider and impossible in a paraglider. I cherish the friendships I maintain with my HG and PG bros. and I am overjoyed when I see one of them join my "new" aviation family.

As far as the old vs. young, expensive vs. cheap yada yada, I think a real, dedicated soaring addicted pilot will find a way to continue flying. I did, and I am not rich, by any means. I figure I fly my 1984 40:1 glider for about $15 per hour, and I can do it more often than I could with my HG, and I don't have to replace every component on a regular basis as things wear out or become obsolete.

Don't denigrate old people- they have a lot to teach us, and if you are lucky enough, maybe you will live long enough to become one. Don't denigrate young people because they fly HG or PG- something lit their fire, and with luck, they will eventually make it to sailplanes.

In 1991, the SSA held its convention in Albuquerque and I was invited to display my hang glider (UP Axis 15) in the exhibit hall. I was talking to Ray Gimmey, and after we shook hands and he walked away, I overheard another pilot ask, "Ray, why are you wasting your time with bozos like that?"

I will never forget Ray's response: "When their knees wear out, they are going to save soaring."

Thanks, Ray. Ray won the 2014 US 15 M Nationals at age 81, and I bet he had tubes up his nose, too.

FY gotovkotzepkoi