How long will it take me?

[bjohnson]

I know this is probably a pretty tough question to answer, so maybe the best way to ask is "How long did it take you?"

I'm trying to gauge how long, or how many lessons it'll take to reach H2 so I can come out and fly some of these sites with you guys. It seems like it's heavily dependent on skill level and can be pretty different from person to person. I also realize the importance of making sure I'm actually (safely) ready for it, rather than just trying to get there as fast as possible.

So, that being said, how long will it take?

[CraginS]

1. You will be flying your very first lesson. Maybe not for long, and not very high, but you will be flying.
2. You will be flying every lesson. A little longer, and a little higher each lesson.
3. You will be flying with support and advice from experienced pilots for your first year or two. Initially, they will be your instructors. Later, they will be Observers or Mentors or colleagues. But every flight over that time, from day ONE forward, will be you, really doing it, really experiencing something that humans for millennia have dreamed of, made the stuff of mythology, and yearned for. And you will be doing it. RIght away!
4. Don;t worry too much about the timeline for ratings. Worry about increasing your skill. Ratings come with developed experience.
5. The reality is that you will develop skill at your own pace, affected by many factors: how often you can get out, how close together your lessons are, how the weather treats you, how well you develop muscle memory and "thought free" skill.

SO, the answer? It will take you no time at all. And you will love it all.

[Dan T]

Great post Craig! I don't think it could have been said any better.

I would like to add that many of "us guys" still come out to the training hills on occasion and enjoy those days almost as much as the others.

[Ward Odenwald]

In addition to learning on training hills, I recommend that you also enroll in Highland Aerosports’ flight school. Flying tandem with instructors that each has trained hundreds, if not thousands, of pilots, will significantly enhance your learning curve. If you chose to learn the basics just on the hills, several tandem flights at Highland will certainly help you make the transition to flying high in the mountains.

Ward

[bjohnson]

Wow, thanks Cragin. That does put a better perspective on things. I'm pretty excited. I'm trying to schedule another trip to Blue Sky as soon as possible.

Ward, Blue Sky offers tandem flights as well and that's where I've selected to do my training. I'll definitely get some tandem time in, thanks.

[rasmussenv]

It wasn't until your last post that I saw you were not learning on training hills. If you are doing your training at Blue Sky, and your goal is to also fly the mountains, at some point you will need some training hill time. Perhaps Steve offers that as well, I am not sure. In any case, I actually like your approach - learning via tow (in my case it was aero-tow). You become very comfortable in the air and landing so that when you focus on mountain launch techniques you have fewer distractions from those specific skills. But my point is that even when you are H2 for tow, you need to start at the basics for mountain launch with someone that knows how to train that. And there are some nuances to landing in a natural field and not a wide-open, level landing zone. It may not take a lot of flights, but don't plan on skipping this phase!

[bjohnson]

Thanks Valerie. I'm in the midst of planning my wedding (this September) so it's putting a damper on my available time to go and train at Blue Sky. I hate to say it, but in order to block out a series of time for training I may need to wait until later in the summer, once things calm down with planning, or dare I say it, next year.

I'm going to see what I can do on that point. Either way, I trust that Steve has a good training regimen lined up. I'll take his advice.

[Lucky_Chevy]

I learned with Steve and still fly at Blue Sky when I can. I was on a similar path of taking lessons when I could find the time which usually amounted to one or two lessons a month. The problem was that I was losing ground between lessons and forgetting what I just learned. With hanggliding so much has to be practiced until it is muscle memory. At first you struggle to correct unwanted turns and fly to the cone. When you advance you will find that you are making all of the required corrections without thinking about them. In any case what finally propelled me ahead was taking one of Steve's hanggliding camps and dedicating a full week to learning. In that week I went from his basic scooter tow setup to launching from his truck. I got my H2 a short time later. I didn't learn to foot launch until 3 years later when I made a trip to lookout mountain.

Enjoy and document your training. It will be some of your sweetest hanggliding memories.