Hang Gliders over The Villages

[DGx2]

We were at the Seabreeze Rec this afternoon and noticed what appeared to be at least 14 hang gliders way up in the sky. Does anyone have any info. about this?

[KathieI]

Wow, I'd be surprised. They had to be motorized? There's no hills here for them to launch from and there's not enough wind, from what I know about hang gliding.... and that's not tooo much. LOL...

[clekr]

Saw something way up there too. Though based on the bright sun reflections, I would bet they were military jets lining up to bomb the Ocala National Forest.

[OpusX1]

Probably were not Hang Gliders. More likely ultra lights. Hang Gliders require a hill to jump off. Ultra Lights are powered.

[John_W]

At Tamarind Grove pool when I first saw one I thought it was an radio controlled airplane since it made no noise and I thought it was maybe 100' up. I soon realized I could see a person hanging below and moving around and they were really in the 400' to 500' range. I couldn't tell if it had a motor but that glider was soon up to about 2000' circling overhead Buena Vista and 466A area. Within the next 15 minutes I counted a total of 14 gliders all circling in a group, eventually one headed north and the rest began following. They moved to the east before heading north so they were probably following Hwy 301.

Before they got completely out of sight, more gliders began to appear from the south once again and they began circling in the same area. This time they moved a little further east and I couldn't tell exactly how many there were, probably at least ten and once again they got in formation and headed north over Hwy 301.

They looked much like this photo, most were white or red. They didn't appear big enough to be an ultralight, but a person's body and a small ultralight fuselage could probably appear as the same size from that distance.

http://sss-imgs.s3.amazonaws.com/78/images/2635/34.png

They definitely had sweep back wings, they might of been more like this.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgHC_WFWIYcd5OjfV6WC31BWZ5TVPbw IrGOYMu847WfqYjNfVr

Not like this.

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/41054823.jpg

[rhood]

I have seen them before, pretty far up. Had to use binocs to see them clearly. No engines on the ones I saw.

[Pturner]

DGx2,
Whatever they were, it must have been quite a site. Thanks for sharing.

[JohnN]

I saw 'em! so incredible, never seen anything like that and I was wondering how they got up there without any hills. Someone in our group counted 16.
It was truly amazing...

[JohnN]

Also, my wife saw one of them landed just off Buena Vista down around O'Dell around 4pm or so, and appears it was a Villager (ie: not a young kid!)

[BobandSandy]

There are several places near TV where Hang Glider enthusiasts train and gather for flight. This area needs a tow from a small light airplane to a suitable altitude (depending on the range of the intended flight) and hen released.

In other areas of the country a launch by foot off a "cliff" or steep hill will get the hang glider airborne. Thermals and upslope winds against the ridge provide the lift for continued flight.

[Dirigo]

Also, my wife saw one of them landed just off Buena Vista down around O'Dell around 4pm or so, and appears it was a Villager (ie: not a young kid!)

That one was probably the one we saw land in back of our house in one of the Rapid Inflitration Basin Systems. It was a green hang glider. The fellow jumped up and made tracks to Buena Vista. It was pretty cool to see him land.

[Warren Kiefer]

Probably a gaggle of geese.

[Villageshooter]

That was a new unit of local law enforcement ,,, it is the dog poop enforcement unit, they dive down and get the guilty parties via high altitude surveillance ! Beware big bro is watching!

[Golfer in Sanibel]

Wow. I'll add hangliding to my list of TV clubs. Now, anyone for bungee jumping or sky diving? :click:

[Nipper]

Have a friend who did this --- a birthday gift. It was some outfit in Clermont. She posted a video on youtube. It did not have an engine. She was flying tandem.

[mrsanborn]

Probably a gaggle of geese.

Actually a gaggle of snowbirds heading north.

[Hang Pilot]

Originally Posted by JohnN
Also, my wife saw one of them landed just off Buena Vista down around O'Dell around 4pm or so, and appears it was a Villager (ie: not a young kid!)

Originally posted by Dirigo
"that one was probably the one we saw land in back of our house in one of the Rapid Inflitration Basin Systems. It was a green hang glider. The fellow jumped up and made tracks to Buena Vista. It was pretty cool to see him land."

Hi everyone ,


I had a good laugh reading this thread - I am the pilot that landed in your leach field (didn't realize it had such a fancy name).

That day there was a competition that had some of the best pilots in the world and our task went pretty much straight over The Villages. I was 40+ miles from where I towed up in Clermont. We use ultralight planes to tow us up to about 2,000 feet, then we catch thermal lift to climb higher. We glide between thermals and try to find the next one so we can keep going. That day we got up to about 5,000 ft, which is why it was hard to pick out what you were seeing. I ran out of lift over your community and it looked like the leach field was the best bet for a landing. I didn't want to disturb the golfers, though it might have been a good story for them. Any rate, I realized the open field was not exactly the perfect choice as I saw the spray heads. I landed on a berm in the field that was smooth and dry. I flew about 43 miles overall.

Any rate - thought it would be good to solve the mystery. I looked at my track log for that day and I landed at 4:05. I'll take the "not a young kid" observation as a compliment:laugh: