). To start at the beginning, my dreams of flight began a long time ago, when I was around 8 years old during a summer on the NJ shore at my grandparents house. Watching the seagulls just hang in the sea breeze made me want to be there with them....so I duct-taped two Styrofoam boogie boards to my arms and ran down the dune. Not surprisingly, that first attempt ended in disappointment. A few years later, in my second attempt, I tied three 10' pieces of bamboo together in a triangle, stapled my bedsheet to it and climbed up onto the roof. That launch was (prudently) aborted after my Mom saw my "glider" being hauled up past the window and grounded me, in both senses of the word.
Skip forward to a year and a half ago. I was lying on my lawn, watching the clouds go by with my roommate, when I commented how I had always wished I could fly. He agreed, and a few hours later we had booked our first hang gliding class with John Middleton. Even though I only got about 3' off the ground and a distance of about 20', that first time I got airborne I was completely hooked and knew that this would be a lifetime pursuit.
And then last Sunday, at Woodstock, I finally got to realize that dream of flight that I have had for so long. When John called me that morning and said there was a decent chance that I could take my first mountain flight today I could barely contain my excitement. Just thinking about how it would feel made my adrenaline pump. I strapped my glider to my car, packed up my gear and drove off with my roommate to meet him. On the drive out I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was extremely excited. But I had never taken a tandem flight to "get the feel", never towed, had never been more then a few dozen feet off the ground...how would I react? I had a cautious confidence in my piloting skills, but I was a bit anxious on how I would mentally react. The last thing I wanted is to see the ground dropping below me and have a panic attack 5 seconds after launch. I didn't think that would happen but still... I spent the drive out visualizing my flight, going over every last thing I had learned, every step from launch to landing.
By the time we got to launch, I was still feeling a bit anxious but the adrenaline was ramping up and taking over. Hearing about Hugh's tree landing boosted the anxiety level at first, but I started setting up my glider and soon was only thinking about my flight. The conditions at launch seemed fairly agreeable to me. Winds were fairly straight in, crossing every once in awhile form the north a tad, and about 5-8mph. Once my glider was setup and pre-flighted, I realized that it would soon be my turn, was I mentally prepared?
Luckily for me, the pilot who was at launch waited and watched conditions for about 30 minutes, giving me time to go over and over everything, visualizing the perfect launch. By the time he was off, I was so focused I wasn't even thinking/worrying about about what would happen after launch, I was concentrating 100% on launching well and any hint of nervousness was completely masked by adrenaline. A good cycle came through, I yelled "clear", and took off running exactly like I had done hundreds of times before on the training hill. Going through my mental checklist as I got airborne, I said to myself "strong launch, carrying lots of speed, getting a bit of lift, clearing the trees", and then... whoaaaa...whhhhooooooaaaaaaa... (breath!!) haaa!! haaaaaaa!!! haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! YYYYYEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It took a few seconds to hit me, but after clearing the trees I had about a 2 second period where I lost my breath from the shear excitement of realizing the ground was dropping away fast! After I finally got that first breath it was pure exhilaration.
I turned right, into the wind, and flew up the ridge for a bit with a huge grin on my face the whole time. The view was amazing and watching the ground pass under me, a carpet of broccoli that hid a thick forest, was such a special feeling. Not many people get that view from that perspective, I felt so lucky. I made my first turn and as I did hit some lift that popped me up a bit, fun!! As I got back near launch I noticed I had lost some altitude. Fine with me, I was purposefully flying faster then I needed to play it safe, plus, looking at the video that jacket I was sporting wasn't helping my drag. I made a few more passes, hit some bumps of lift here and there but eventually headed out to set up for landing. I probably should have turned onto my downwind a little earlier but it worked out fine, I pulled in hard and got down into the LZ early, where it is still sloping up a bit. That upward slope threw me a bit cause I didn't glide in nearly as long as I am used to and I just barely executed my flair in time to get my feet on the ground. But I made it and the flight was the greatest feeling I've ever had.
Dan T posted it earlier but here's the video...
Everyone I met had great words of congratulations that I really appreciated. Apparently the air was a bit bumpy that day, but I didn't notice too much, not having any previous flights with which to compare. My first flight was truly an experience I will never forget and as I write this, I am already hoping I can find a willing Observer and some smooth wind this coming weekend.
I want to give a huge huge thanks to John, he has been an excellent instructor this whole time and he did what he said he would, got me to the mountains. As I said before, I look forward to meeting all of you on the hills soon. I'm flying the white Falcon 3 with a neon red leading edge.
Peace,
Matt
