German, 30, lives in Houston, Texas, and is a paramotor pilot.
Trey German got a late start on the day he crash-landed into a cactus field and ended up with dozens of inch-long spines protruding from his butt. I know, I know.After the race, former competitors meet to fly at the Pinal airplane boneyard in Arizona. But knowing this fact does not make me feel any comfortable while being suspended freely in the air, and I can't prevent my stomach from dropping as much as we do. Simply similar to being in an airplane, it is quite normal to experience sudden turbulences. The wind and my instructor are keen to have an adventurous flight with lots of circles, swoops and quick drops. Although, I obviously don't feel safe enough to leave the two red handles at the back of his harness. My pilot's skillful use of the wind force to manoeuvre the flight makes me feel safe. It is peaceful, stunningly beautiful, awe-inspiring at the same time.
It is not like a quick adrenaline release, it is more lasting kind of happiness. That “what on earth have I done?” feeling luckily lasts only a second or two, and it is quickly overcome by the tranquility of gliding smoothly through the gentle breeze of air.Īs the sound of airflow grows, I start flashing smiles with a sort of excited energy, like a child opening a birthday gift. This is where the rubber meets the road and my adrenaline starts pumping. Next, we get to the takeoff position at the edge of the slope. Once satisfied, Christian moves the glider to the launch site and hooks me into the hang glider on the ground. Upon suiting up, we practice running together until he feels confident that we are running in unison and fast enough.
I kind of start wondering wildly if I missed a step would we crash to the ground, life flashing before my eyes? As I start getting anxious by this thought, Christian helps me get into the harness and helmet. That’s the most important thing in a tandem flight: you have to become 'one' with the pilot. To launch, the pilot must run down a slope to get air moving across the wing and you have to do the same in sync. "All you need to do is to run as fast as you can" explains Christian while assembling the hang glider. And there I meet my pilot on a beautiful summer day to fly away. The launch site is a grassy field at the edge of the mountain, just a little further down the cable car station at 1,620 m altitude. Summer is a time when the European Alps are considered to be in good condition for flying, and the Wallberg (1,722 m)-about an hour south of Munich- is one of those popular peaks among hang gliders and paragliders alike. To do this surreal and beautiful activity in tandem, all you need is to find an experienced pilot and to run as fast as you can. The experience of soaring like a hawk thousands of feet above the ground, lying prone in a hang glider harness and gazing down upon the Earth is sensational, in the literal sense. And I can’t imagine a better aircraft for my very first unpowered flight. Of all the forms a man can fly, hang gliding gives the closest sense of 'flying', i.e., carving through the air in all three dimensions. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when the dream of Icarus became a reality, after all, flying is not just for the birds anymore.
Icarus hang glider full#
History is full of tales of man’s countless attempts to fly with artificial wings made of feathers or cloth. Well, in fact, flying like a bird is the humankind's oldest dream. Catching the invisible lifts of air and defying gravity has long been a dream of mine.
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