Hang-gliding evolved from an adventure sport where fliers would be shot out of cannons carrying only the morning newspaper, which they would attempt to fold into a huge paper airplane before falling to the ground. Safely sail the skies with today’s Groupon: $49 for a one-day hang-gliding lesson at Fly Texas (a $99 value). Classes are held at the Carter Memorial Airport in Luling and will employ a specialized towing system for easy and efficient training and takeoffs (rather than the training hill used at other times by Fly Texas).
At Fly Texas, owner and competitive speed-glider Jeff Hunt teaches novice sky-farers how to safely harness the power of the wind on hang-gliders. In a one-day intro lesson, students will learn to hang-glide, starting with a couple hours of classroom instruction and a training film. Next, students will be grouped into teams, issued gliders, and taught to assemble and handle them. Then, future air-sliding aces will take flights using the towing system. The first flight starts with ground-skimming, but as students gain confidence, their altitudes get higher, their flights get longer, and they can hold their own in debates with Canadian geese. All necessary equipment (harnesses, helmets, and optional knee pads) is provided by Fly Texas.
Owner Jeff Hunt holds a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and has been fascinated with the airborne arts since watching the quarterback on his third-grade football team avoid a sack by shape-shifting into a blue heron. Classes are held weather permitting, so schedule your rain dance for sometime after the flying lesson and discover the joy of transportation without stop signs or traffic jams.
Participants must be at least 12 years old, with parental consent. All participants must sign a waiver.
Reviews
Past clients rave about the hang-gliding lessons at Fly Texas. Here's what they are saying in online testimonials:
- The class is awesome. The practice hill gives you the experience you need to fly the mountains, but nothing can prepare you for the sheer joy of doing it. – Mountain Solo Student
- This morning I had never even seen a hang glider before. I flew from the practice hill all afternoon. It's a great class. The instructors are really good and they're allot [sic] of fun. – Intro Class Student
- I've been flying airplanes for over ten years. I'm learning to hang glide to get a freer sense of flying. I'm having a great time and the flight instruction is top notch. – Continuing Student
Groupon Says
Filmic Flight
Despite the continuous wishes of everyone on the planet, man somehow still hasn't evolved the natural ability of flight. This disturbing fact thankfully doesn't stop Hollywood from creating films featuring airborne characters. Here are a few of those movies and the real-life events that inspired them:
Movie: The Boy Who Could Fly
Story: Fred Savage moves in next door to a reclusive teenager who flies around.
Real-Life Origin: A teenager's parents misunderstood him when he told them he was "all high."
Movie: The Rocketeer
Story: A guy has a jet pack and a cool golden helmet that makes him look like a tube of lipstick.
Real-Life Origin: A guy threw some lipstick into a jet engine causing a cool golden explosion this one time.
Movie: The Matrix
Story: An office worker is awakened from a life-long virtual reality nap, then flies all over the nap world shooting people.
Real-Life Origin: Keanu Reeves slept through most of the filming of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.
Movie: X-Men
Story: Misfits with special powers fight a magnetic old man at the Statue of Liberty.
Real-Life Origin: An old man with a magnetic personality somehow failed to make friends during a visit to New York.
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