https://www.cloudbasemayhem.com/episode-80-can-hang-gliding-be-saved

Hang gliding is arguably the first “extreme sport” in human
history and its influences radically changed the world. Drawing inspiration from
Leonardo Davinci, Otto Lillienthal built the first foot-launched hang gliders in
the late 1800’s. His wings inspired Octave Chanute and his assistants to make
thousands of flights at the turn of the last century on the shores of lake
Michigan which led to the Wright Brothers’ remarkable inventions and humans take
to the skies.

Orville and Wilbur Wright’s flights in the early 1900’s are still hard to wrap
your head around. Imagine picking up a 150 pound glider built out of bamboo,
balsa and muslin cloth in 30 miles per hour of wind and actually soaring! Their
flights in 1911 wouldn’t be matched until the early 1970’s!

Their passion for flight lead to the rapid development of powered aircraft which
had a massive impact in the devastating air campaigns of World War I and World
War II. Interest in unpowered flight returns after the Wars and the arrival of
Francis Rogallo and his genius leads to Hang gliding as we know it. Suddenly we
can chase the birds, fulfilling a shared dream that has existed from the
beginning of human history.

The sport goes crazy in the early 70’s, over a hundred manufacturers get into
the game, performance gains go through the roof, but then so do the accidents.
In the late 70’s the Hang Gliding Manufacturers Association creates a
certification process and the sport becomes more interested in safety than just
getting off the ground at any cost. Gliders continue to innovate at an insane
pace and incredible distances are flown: the first 100 mile flight goes down,
then Larry Tudor flies 200 miles, then 300 but as wings get more and more
sophisticated and fast, they also get more difficult to fly and importantly- to
learn.

In 2012 Dustin Martin flies an unbelievable 475 miles in Texas, the farthest
anyone has flown on unpowered aircraft but the future of hang gliding is
anything but encouraging. What’s next for the sport, and has what’s happened to
hang gliding foretelling of paragliding’s future? This is a remarkable tale told
eloquently by the legendary Bruce Weaver from Kitty Hawk Kites, the president
Wills Wing Steven Pearson, the former president of USHPA and former world record
holder David Glover, the “Dark Prince” Larry Tudor and the current world record
holder, Dustin Martin.