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Welcome
Sylmar is the world capital of hang gliding and pilots have been flying hang gliders in these mountains since 1969. The first U.S. National Hang Gliding Championships were held here in 1973.
The Flight Park is located just outside of Los Angeles and we enjoy around 300 days of flying a year. Please check out the rules and site information before flying here. The Sylmar Hang Gliding Association is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization. Dues and other payments can be sent via PayPal.
Pilots and non-pilots are welcome to enjoy our flight park year 'round! Fly high, fly far, fly safe!
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Chloe Burgis learning to fly, with Baby Lamb as copilot, 6/21/2020
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Angeles National Forest OPEN
October 27th
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May 6th, 2021
Parking in our LZ will be a bit tight this Saturday May 8th as we are allowing a production company to park about 45 cars on our property while they film nearby. The production is "Shark Week". These visitors will not be allowed parking on the east side of parking lot (along the concrete curb) so there should still be enough parking for our pilots.
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 May 17, 2021 9:37 am
Report of launch coming out of the clouds for a short while but no flights on Sunday. TODAY...better clearing and some sun. The fog base is higher, up to 3,500ft, while the top is lower, at about 4,800ft. The Van Nuys TAF has the overcast dissipating by 1pm and the Burbank TAF forecasts noon. Both TAF's forecasting scattered at 4k in the afternoon. Winds aloft are SW between 6 and 10kts by 2pm. Max altitude 4,600ft.
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Towers Launch Clearing Party
Thanks to many volunteers, the towers launch is once again a good place to fly from. 10 pilots worked in hot weather on a steep slope to clear the brush. The work was tough enough that some chose not to fly after the launch was cleared. 5 pilots did manage to launch is windy conditions.
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Shoes
One’s shoes are hidden away inside a pod harness when flying and so it seems like they couldn’t possibly affect safety, but that’s the catch, literally. Some boots have hooks for the laces, and they’re liable to snag on other lines inside the harness. Shoe laces can get caught in the harness zipper, making it hard to zip, or worse, unzip. A last-minute discovery that one’s feet are stuck inside the harness can make for an exciting landing. It is good practice to unzip and get one’s feet out early enough to solve a problem if needed. Failing that, one can land on wheels if equipped with them, or with good flare timing, land no-footed on the tail of the harness and flop down safely.
Pedaling
In the air, a pilot may free his legs from his harness and act like he’s pedaling a bicycle. This is an emergency signal to other pilots to land immediately, and can be used when ham radio communication is not available. Competition pilots will use this to signal when a task is cancelled due to threatening weather. It is also appropriate if pilots need to clear the air for a helicopter rescue, or if a nearby forest fire results in aerial firefighting activity.
Cloud suck
Here are three signs of potential trouble:
• Widespread cloud cover overhead
• Large areas of strong, smooth lift
• Dark clouds with flat bottoms in the area
Any one of these calls for an active awareness of the conditions and how they are changing over time. Any two calls for immediate evasive action, such as getting away from the lift, or maintaining at least a 1:1 glide UP to clear blue sky past the edge of a cloud. All three are a dire emergency, and one must use any means possible to escape, ignoring niceties like restricted airspace and safe landing areas.
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