The Sandlin style rolling launch, and new versions of the 1920's bungee launch, and little electric or compressed air catapult mechanisms may well be the key to ONE future for 'hang gliding'. I believe the bottom line is that there will simply be a lot of primitive and odd-ball launch sites you just couldn't operate from. But tandem wing is correct!? Both wings are lifting in normal flight.Īlthough I've never been a foot launch pilot, I have spent many many hours thinking about how to have a tailed foot launch glider. The original advertisements described the lower wing as a close coupled tail. The front wing stalls first, so like a canard or tandem wing, you have forgiving stall characteristics and positive pitch stability. A swept wing biplane with positive stagger, and the rear/lower wing permanently rigged at a lower angle of attack than the front/upper wing. I'm not suggesting you copy the Easy Riser, but it's a good metric for success. Better, a custom rack, and then a plywood box to keep out road debris and permit low strap tension & stress on the airframe & fabric. At a minimum, shaped foam blocks between wings and under the redundant straps. The downside was transporting required a big rooftop box, or small trailer, because the fabric covered wing panels Must be solidly mounted and braced to not bounce around in each other. It's the balance of ease of takeoff and landing, decent performance, and a solid stability geometry that made it successful.

That used a LM7610 airfoil derived from old Eiffel airfoils. The Easy Rider Is IMHO, the best biplane hang glider ever in production. Towing is, of course, not an issue at all with tails. A few of the best local hills have full cliff or very steep take off sites, and are hazardous with tails. I bought the plans with the Flexi-flyer plans, which I did build.īut. Pilot ) and I have the Original Quicksilver plans & notes. My version was going to have a bigger wing ( 200 lb. I almost built a version of Sandlin's Sundog back in the day. Because of tail clearance issues, most hang gliders are tailless. Tailed gliders like that are problematic for cliff launch as the tail wheel/skid may strike on takeoff and pitch the nose down, which depending on terrain & wind may not be recoverable. None of the local hang glider sites has as nice a ramp, but a few are suitable for a wheeled launch if the grass is freshly mowed.

Glider airfoil design