Apparently it goes on for 300 miles and it blows 20mph 24/7

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OP
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Post by OP »

Marc, the good news is that we will be flying with a professional hang glider instructor from the US. Also there will be PG instructors who have years of experience flying there at that time of year.

From that I would think that we will receive detailed walk throughs and quality instruction. I'm guessing that boating around the area and landing on the beach would be in the H2 skill range with supervision. I can ask for you.
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Post by mrobin604 »

OP wrote:From that I would think that we will receive detailed walk throughs and quality instruction. I'm guessing that boating around the area and landing on the beach would be in the H2 skill range with supervision. I can ask for you.
If this is the case, I may be interested as well.

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Post by Steve90266 »

OP, I'm interested too. What are the dates for the trip? Let's look into this. The trip would be unbelievable.
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Post by OP »

Steve and Marshall,

This is the trip site: http://www.paraglidingtrips.com/iquique/index.html All we need to do is pick the dates we want to fly.

This is the HG instructor we will be flying with: http://karicastle.com/

American Airlines and their partners fly there, this is their hang glider policy: http://www.americanairlines.ie/intl/ie/ ... owance.jsp
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Post by OP »

Here is a GPS/Vario track log of a 120mile flight done by a paraglider during the exact time of year we will be there.

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/151420
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Post by mrobin604 »

Do the restrictions for P2s also apply to H2s as far as instructional days vs. iquique days goes?

I will probably have about 12-15 hours of airtime by November.

This trip looks incredible, I am very interested and overdue for a vacation :) And $150 seems ridiculously cheap for a hang glider.

I would be up for the early part of the trip, 19-24 Nov, but I'm fairly flexible schedule wise at the moment.
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Post by mrobin604 »

Any update on this? I'm still interested.
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Post by OP »

Nov28th to Dec5th
Fatten up on turkey, and break that glider down.

I was corresponding with the tour people:
We need a minimum of 4 and a max of 6 people. We will be the only HGers there and will have our own ride independent of the PGers. This will allow us to break out and get some solid days flying in the Atacama Desert.

Looks so epic, it might even be epileptic!

Image


It is expensive though. Airfare + Glider transport = 1700
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Post by BJ Strand »

So how do we get ourselves on "the list"?
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Post by OP »

Oh Snap! BJ wants to go? Awesome.

Just say "I'm in" and be prepared to write a deposit check.

-also about this entire trip... What other purpose is their in life than to spend all your money on ridiculous trips to the other side of the world, hang gliding hundreds of miles on remote coast lines? I can't think of a single one.

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Post by OP »

I'm going to need learn about eating in flight. Or I guess I could top land and enjoy a meal. Another fact, the cliff ranges from 1000 to 4500 feet msl.
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Post by BJ Strand »

So just to make sure I have the pricing current: we would be using "Paragliding Trips" http://www.paraglidingtrips.com/iquique/tour.html We would be taking advantage of the Iquique Days 3, for a price of $1,790, which includes hotel, breakfast, and local glider transport. On top of that, we need to pay for airline tickets to and from Iquique, plus our own dinners and lunches for the entire stay. Airline tickets are almost $2,500, and the dinners & lunches about $250 for the week.

So are we looking at a total cost of $4,540?

Hmm.....I might be retracting my question about "the list".
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Post by OP »

No, tickets are 1259. However there is an additional baggage fee with the gliders. United is 200, American is 150. So with fuel surcharge fee, and baggage its going to be 1700 to 1800$

See the attached link.

http://www.airgorilla.com/Pages/SelQuot ... hId=412042
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Post by mrobin604 »

I'm in, but I'm still concerned about not being experienced enough for the trip, as well as being on a falcon. It sounds like I could fly the coast pretty well, but heading out in the desert seems like it may require more in skills and equipment than I have.
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Post by dhmartens »

Best to go before someone decides to build a wind farm along that ridge.
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Post by mrobin604 »

I haven't heard anything further on this, and other plans have come up, so I'm out now. Sorry!
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