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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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Gidget and Olive ready to go hang gliding!
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March 24, 2023
Towers Launch Road Closed
There has been a large landslide on the Camp 9 road to the Towers launch and the road will be closed until further notice.
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 March 25, 2023 8:38am
Report of no flights on Friday. TODAY.....lighter but still blowing down. 14 to 18kts on launch by 2pm. Direction starts shifting to the NW by 4pm.
Subscribe to expanded forecasts
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Holiday Party
All SHGA members, their families and friends are welcome to join the celebration at Rob and Janyce's house on Saturday, December 3. It will begin somewhere around 4 PM, so that people can fly first, weather permitting. Their house is at 13546 Mindora Avenue, off of Lazard St. and about two blocks from the LZ. The event will be potluck, and Steve Murillo has set up a Google sheet to reduce the amount of luck involved here. You can edit that sheet to let people know what you'll be bringing.
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Wire crews
One of the responsibilities of a pilot is to manage his (or her) wire crew. This includes giving clear instructions about what the pilot will ask for, and what the crew members are expected to do. The pilot must also be prepared, no matter what the wire crew actually does. Sometimes a crew member will fail to clear the wing completely, or give instructions rather than taking them, or conversely, save a pilot from his own mistakes.
It should also go without saying that we are grateful for our wire crews, and one should always be courteous and appreciative of these volunteers.
Preflight upgrades
Moving up to a new high-performance glider? It's time to upgrade the preflight as well!
Most of us develop our preflight routine based on a single-surface glider such as a Falcon. When moving up in performance, one may be adding a nose cone, or a VG string, or sprog zippers, or a "dingle-dangle" hang point. I think pilots are particularly likely to overlook those items in their preflights, because they weren't part of the initial routine that they learned.
Avoiding a mid-air collision
It takes two pilots to have a mid-air collision, and one alert pilot can virtually always avoid disaster even when the error primarily lies with the other.
We're taught to clear our turns. What if the other pilot doesn't? Keep an eye out for nearby gliders, and have an escape plan if they do something unexpected.
What if the other pilot enters your thermal improperly? He'll sidle in from the outside, so if you're watching to the outside of your turn as well as the inside, you can dive away.
How about that pilot directly above in the same thermal, who hangs out in your blind spot and fails to yield to your right of way? Often, the shadows on the ground will reveal the situation.
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