Fledgling Fliers : Van Nuys-Based School Teaches Fundamentals of Hang Gliding

The 65-year-old man slipped into a purple training harness and surveyed his hang glider’s 30-foot wing. The pilot, I. Murata, wasn’t worried about his upcoming flight off a 30-foot hill behind Moorpark College--getting the awkward apparatus up the hill was a more pressing task.

After 17 lessons, he was more relaxed about being an “I” in the sky. He had signed up for this particular beginning class to practice landing skills.

“Landing has been hard on me, I keep on crashing,” Murata said.

Because of his previous hang-gliding experience, Murata was the lone pilot in instructor Ted Boyse’s class of six to have a walkie-talkie taped to his helmet. Boyse radioed Murata instructions throughout his brief practice flights.

For the other students, a helping hand was in order. Boyse ran downhill holding one of the hang glider’s two steering lines, the craft and pilot in tow.

Boyse, 25, of Tujunga, teaches the beginning class for Windsports International, a Van Nuys hang-gliding school and store. The veteran hang glider placed third in national competition this summer and is preparing for the world championships in Australia in January.

Last weekend, however, Boyse’s priority was teaching the basics of the sport to a group of beginners.

“Most people are a little nervous and tense at first,” Boyse said. “I try to let them see that the glider really flies itself.”

Hang-gliding novices begin with a pair of introductory lessons, which include a classroom ground-school session and instruction in takeoffs and landings. The student then becomes eligible for a tandem flight with an instructor.

Tandem flights are conducted at either Kagel Mountain in Sylmar or in the desert surrounding Palmdale. Joe Greblo, one of the founders of the Sylmar Hang Gliding Assn., and a co-owner of Windsports, says Sylmar is world famous as the home of hang gliding.

The Kagel Mountain launch site is the most popular hang-gliding area in Sylmar, where high-altitude, hang-glider flights began in the early 1970s.

A beginning student can fly tandem with an instructor from Kagel Mountain, where intermediate and advanced lessons also are conducted. Students hone their hang-gliding skills while floating from the top of the mountain down into a 50-acre landing area, a vertical drop of 2,000 feet.

A complete course of 13 lessons is also available. Equipment is provided for all lessons.