New Florida distance record for hang gliders

On Apr 27, 6:59 am, Ron Gleason wrote:
On Thursday April 26th two pilots, Johnny Durand from Australia and
Dustin Martin from AZ, flew 283 miles from Groveland FL to just south
of the South Carolina border. They had tremendous support from their
driver, Chris Smith of CA, and others back at the flight park to
ensure they flew around airspace, no TFR's were posted for the huge
wildfire in GA and that the front passing through GA/TN was not
getting dangerous (there were tornado warning in western GA).

You view and download the tracklog athttp://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7590
and also view the hour by hour posting, satellite images and blip map
predictions athttp://ozreport.com/11.86#7

This distance may not seem impressive to sail plane pilots but
consider the gliders they are flying have ~ 16 to 1 glide ratios. The
planning, timing and luck all came together.


CONGRATS Dustin! It sure is amazing how hang gliding cross-country
flights have been extended by aero-towing, instead of having to launch
from a mountain. Plus, planning really helps. Certainly, that flight
ought to earn him AHGA's Eagle of the Month award this month. As an
ex-hang glider pilot for many years, I am very impressed. Knowing
Dustin, I expect this flight will be just one more long one that he
will exceed again one of these days. He's one hot hang glider pilot
(and not just because he's from Arizona!). And, congrats to Johnny
Durant, too!

Bob T.
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