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How to Fly a Hand Glider

Hand gliders have been around since the beginning of the century. The earliest ones are were home-built balsa wood gliders, and such hand gliders are still a favorite type. The technology for these machines has increased to where you can now fly them remotely. If you're able to guide them into thermals to increase the glider's altitude, you may be able to have your glider in the air for hours on end. Whatever the reason you choose to fly them, you do need to learn some glider basics. With about one hour of your time, you can learn the techniques that will keep your airplane in the air for as long as you want.

Instructions

Launching the Glider
- 1
  Point the glider (and yourself) into the wind. Don't throw it until you've finished reading the steps. When you throw it, the oncoming wind will give it a boost when taking off.
- 2
  Hold the glider right in the middle of the body (or fuselage) of the glider. Make sure you have a firm hold on it, so it won't fly away on you in the case of a gust of wind.
- 3
  Launch the glider with a firm push from your arm, just above head height. Refrain from launching it upwards, as this usually causes the glider to stall and crash right in front of your feet.
- 4
  Quickly turn to your remote to control your glider's flight.
Flying the Glider
- 5
  Fly your glider on a warm day in an open, flat area. This will get you the most thermals, which are rising columns of warm air, to help keep your glider in the air.
- 6
  Turn your glider around in a loop once you find a thermal. As soon as you see your glider start rising in the air, immediately apply some elevator on your wings to turn you aircraft. This will allow your glider to stay in the thermal, therefore getting the maximum amount of altitude possible from the warm column of air.
- 7
  Refrain from overcompensating for thermals. It's very easy to sharply turn as soon as you hit a warm column of air, causing your glider to loose precious altitude and possibly crash hard into the ground.
- 8
  Fly your glider in an area that will have warm air around it. This includes large, black parking lots, over roofs of houses, or on a grassy plain. These surfaces all reflect sunlight well, resulting in more thermals for your glider to catch.

Aviation