Chelan - The Early Years
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- čas přidán 8. 03. 2016
- Vintage Hang gliding from the mid 70's around Chelan, Washington. The film features some of the first flights from the Butte, the first landing at Chelan City Park and a historic Pacific Northwest Hang Glider Assoc. fly-in at the airport ridge.
Music: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - The Right Stuff - Sport
What's great is the musical experience to back it up. Props to that time and that place... tfs
Yes, during editing I found the album "High Flying Birds - The Right Stuff" and thought it was the perfect song for the video. No regrets for those of us that spent our youth chasing the wind, they were very good years.
Takes me back to flying one in the mid 70's
Terry, The good old days of hang gliding, exciting times, memories for a lifetime.
This is quite simply the most beautiful hang-gliding movie I've ever seen. This had me transported to another era, almost like I was there myself. One can almost taste what it felt like in these early days of our sport, the naive search for freedom. Not to mention the killer song!! Nice!!
Thanks very much for the kind words. The video is a time machine, a moving snapshot of our youth and passion for flight.
Love this video and the music's great too. 👍🏼
Thank you for the memories. I started on a standard rogallo, and had my first mountain flight as a tandem passenger on a Seagull off Sylmar.
I owned a Seagull III and V, they were great gliders, lot of memories.
Wow! brings back memories. I leared to fly on one of the standard rogallo bricks in the 70s, then the segull. Had the flares and even had the hair then :)
I owned a couple of Seagulls, a III and then a VII.
Great video to the present and future generetions.
Glad you enjoyed it!
From Chelan Denny (film provider);I picked up my first hangglider at Christmas, in California, 1973. Got off ground for first time off the snow covered driving range at the Chelan Golf Course before winter break was over and I had to go back to school. I started running down muddy wheat field hills, right beside my apartment at WSU during spring 1974, along with Lewiston Grade, Steptoe Butte and Tekoa. First flights off Butte would have been summer of '74.
I had a very similar timeline as yours (I was in Northern California). Lessons started (a total of 3) in Jan. of '74. Bought my own glider (19' Eipper-Formance) shortly after that. It was a magical time for sure...
Thanks for posting this! Like H5-Phil above, I too started flying in 73-74. Also in an Eipper-Formance (kit), first with 4mil polyethylene sail, then a early one from Tom Price at Albatross Sails. I worked nights at a gas station to save money for a Icarus II kit from UFM (Larry Muro) and had a blast spending the 100s of hours building it and flying it.
I would love to have heard some of the names. Obviously Steve Grossruck assembling and flying the Quicksilver in the pre-Kasperwing days from the top of Step Toe Butte was a stand out.
@@tonyrusi1978 Actually the pilot assembling his Quicksilver @1:32 is Paul (Chelan) Denny, the provider of the film. Your suggestion of sub tilting, the names of those in the video is a very good idea.
love the easy rider and quicksilver!!Thanks for sharing.
Very similar to Easy Rider, but that was actually an Icarus II, built in the basement of a dorm at college. Ah...the smell of doping fumes.
this is icarus reborn, man was always yearning to fly, me included, with the 82nd, loved being above and floating around, like a bird, hope to come back as a hummingbird>
There's a section of William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways" about an encounter he had with the hang gliding community on the Gold Side at about the time these clips were filmed, while driving the backroads of the US.
I have never read the book, my flying buddies and I have plenty of stories about the early day of hang gliding that would make a good movie.
Beautiful video!
Amazing!
I flew in the Regionals at Chelan late 70's I think - great thermals. I still take an old UP Condor which I inherited out every 3-4 years and soar for an hour in mellow ridge lift, make sure I can still do it. I remember Chuck Drake telling me he made Chris a driver at Dog when he was 13 or something. I built and have been flying a LongEZ since 1993, 2,000 hours, and I think flying hang gliders was more deep down FUN. Bob Holliston
Bob,
Chelan and Mt Si are my favorite flying sites. As you probably guessed I converted over to the Kasperwing U/L for several reasons. Hang gliding was a gift, I am thankful I was able to participate in it's early development, same for ultralight flying.
Man that was a blast from the past. Thanks!
Yes it certainly is time warp to to '70s. Thanks should go to Chelan (callsign) for providing the ancient 8mm footage of his early hang gliding. Chelan was the first person to fly a hang glider from Chelan Butte and builder of the Lovejoy Quicksilver glider he is seen flying in the video.
Well done, Jack, as usual. And thank you, Paul, for having the foresight to document this important piece of history!
Awesome! Thank you for sharing!
NICE !! It reminds me of how I kinda miss my Quicksilver flying days.Thanks !! ;)
Really cool. It remenber me me when i was young and when we where free in our mind & in the air. I still fly 42 years after with the same plaesure of the first fly. Eric: french guy 57 years old flying now with an ATOS VR... & still free in my head!
Hello Eric (French Guy). That ATOS VR is a beautiful machine! I think you probably have had many great adventures through the years. Safe flying!
Super grea8 ! from Chris Drake!
Wow guys, freedom
3:27 that Tekoa mtn :-) Good stuff. Still flying there today as well (5:41 is another quick glimpse)
You are correct. Most of the footage with the light blue and red QS (as well as the Icarus II) were taken at Tekoa. We were going to school at Wazzu and spent many springs and falls at Steptoe and Tekoa Ridge (Mtn). Glad to hear you are still flying there! With today's high performance wings, I bet the thermalling is fantastic!
Great to have some back story. The old WA state record was from Tekoa, 176 miles from the E launch by Jeff Koehler (20+ years ago). Lots of flights to Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry with todays gliders
By good fortune I happened to be in LA when Bob Lovejoy flew his Quicksilver prototype at El Segundo Beach, at that time the glider was was called "The Green Machine". The Quicksilver design was a quantum leap in performance over the delta wings of the day, most of the Quicksilvers in the Northwest were built from Bob's DIY plans. Scott Price, Don Matson, Jeff Johnson, Steve Grossruck, Paul Denny and other locals modified the design with extended wings, spoilers, defined wingtips and in Steve's case doped polyester, double surfaced wings. I flew Steve's Super Quick at Dog Mtn., it was a years ahead in performance but was labor intensive to construct, transport and assemble.
+olsonspeed My Dad Chuck Drake and I flew our Quicksilver prone, maybe the only ones in the world to do this!
I used to fly a ridge rider with a seat!
I have always flown hang gliders and U/Ls supine, prone never appealed to me.
LOVE the fact that the Landing Zone is a "LAKE" ....LOL
Given your comment, I must assume you always landed in the Pacific Ocean.
Top. Top. Top.
I like! The Rogallo First...
Chris, I do remember you and your father flying prone in the Quick. There is a brief scene of your father prone in Dog Mountain The Early Days (widescreen). I will attempt post a better quality version of the video if the original video edit can be improved. Unfortunately time has ruined much of the film we have of the Golden Age Of Hang Gliding.
fun !
I❤love this video so much, I am planning to build Rogallo wing , could any one help with plans ?
Dan, I miss flying the Quicksilver but the transportation, setup and launch were always a two person job. In the video you may have noted the tail launch assist that ends up in the tail man making an epic face plant, this was pretty common on low wind days. When the Fledge and Kasperwing appeared, most locals transitioned to that airframe for portability, I wonder what happened to all the old Quicksilvers.
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That tail assistant must have earned a case of beer on that one. I learned in 77 and standards were only being used for early training. If I could go back I would start in 75. Less air time but more fun IMHO.
@@christheother9088 It was all good, Standard wings were pretty marginal flyers and became obsolete rather quickly. I flew a Seagull III, which I found to be a reliable machine.
@@olsonspeed Yeah we had a guy with a Seagull IIi in our club and it looked pretty sweet. Later I would fly a 10.5 meter, great glider. On the other hand the only glider I ever saw full luff in flight was a Seahawk - it did recover thankfully.
@@christheother9088 Replaced my Seagull III with VII, wish I had waited for the 10.5 Meter which was a better flyer.
Do I recognize some Free Flight Systems kites in there?
Muy lindo estés deporte me gustaría tener un plano para poder fabricar o comprar uno hecho le agradezco
Muito legal vê o quanto as asas deltas evoluíram ao longo das últimas decadas. Infelizmente valor muito alto também
C'est l'époque des Hirondelles. 1976.
C'était bon d'être jeune, fort et stupide.
I bought my Rogallo in 1972 for $350.00 dollars.
Well, dang! The used Bennett 17-6 I bought from a guy in Thousand Oakes in '73 cost me $400 bucks. Best money I ever spent!
out of all the videos on the net i like this the best i made a quick silver just before bob lovejoy was kiled
i would still fly rogallos today 2018 some fifty years later but they need stronger tubing for thermals and a quick set up cross bar and a single heavy duty preformed baton with luff line in the middle of each wing... i have made many models that satisfy this extra work in a rogallo wing to prove that was all that was needed back... then i remember one pilot a week was being killed and the government tried to ban us but now unfortunately hangliding is only for the rich... as when it first started the poor man could fly something unheard of back then and now flying is back in the rich's hands such is life .. skeatesy the son of man
moyes called the prefix of his world beater csx topless glider after me for the work i did in the 1980's on a variable anheadral device which allowed me to alter every aspect of stability in the air so gliders could get up to 15;1 glides they are now about the time the HP was built...
I met Bob Lovejoy when he flew his "Green Machine" at El Segundo, the Quick prototype was a HUGE leap in performance over the other hang gliders of the period. I agree that hang gliding evolved into requiring a lot of money to be competitive, there are however "afordable" wings if you are willing to fly a used glider.
What years was this?
The first time off the Butte for me was in the early summer, 1974. The rest of the footage would range from 1974 until around 1976-77, I think.
UL Pilot
Che tenerezza...i jeans a zampa di elefante degli anni 70 e tutti quei simpatizzanti attorno a quegli "apparecchi"...