Air transport using a lightweight, foot launched, non-motorized aircraft with a rigid or semi-rigid wing frame, in which the pilot is suspended in a harness and controls the craft by shifting body weight against a control bar. Hang gliding pilots launch by running from a slope or cliff and can extend a flight considerably by riding thermal or ridge air currents, and like paragliding it is used mainly for recreation and sport rather than as a practical way to travel from place to place.
Facts
Partially Attested
Origin Year1948 is the year the flexible wing design behind modern hang gliders was patented by Francis Rogallo; foot-launched hang gliding as a sport followed in the early 1960s. Core ConcernFoot-launched, unpowered flight by a pilot suspended beneath a light glider wing 1 Sources
1. Wills Wing: A Brief History of Hang Gliding, Paragliding and Wills Wing
Origins of Hang Gliding, Francis Rogallo
In 1948, American engineer Francis Rogallo patented a design for a simple flexible wing.
Early hang gliders passage
picked up and launched by running down a hill
View the Source2. Hang gliding (Wikipedia)
Lead sentenceQuote, Lead sentence
Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider.
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