The oldest blueprint I found is dated May 11th 2024. The first flight of the TPHG 4.6 (4.6ft = 140cm), or Glifter, was November 18th 2024 at Dockweiler, Los Angeles, California, USA with a bunch of confirmed pilots, like Andy B. and Bob B. from Windsports.com, Joe F. (USHGA #5) and writer of "Low & Slow" Magazine (1971 - 1973, 24 issues), RJ K., Erika K. (Facebook and Youtube) and Bob K. owner of USHawks.org and by whom we are lucky to be able to fly on Monday and Tuesday at Dockweiler. Let's call them the Dream Team ! Also, this complete success his also due to excellent vendors in Switzerland like BENJAMIN CARBON, CHATELMECA, MEROZ RESSORTS, FIRSTINDUSTRIE, DELTALAB, EUROP'SAILS and FINSTERWALDER (D).
This is the all story
First of all, I'm an inventor and I do not have specific subject to work on. Then, in June 2023 I started hang gliding and I immediately loved it ! So, I've learnd, I flew different hang gliders, I saw different hang gliders, I've talk with all the hang glider pilots I met but the biggest annoyance were the weight and the congestion of hang gliders. So, let's think about a glider you can at least store in an appartment. Once someone told me than a company named Finsterwalder made hang gliders packed in less than 2 meters (6.4ft). My goal was to find one an once I saw in the adds "Finsterwalder to give". I called immediately, drove thru Switzerland (from our farwest, Geneva, to our fareast, Zurich). I didn't care about the model, I wanted a Finsterwalder and lucky me, I've got it. When I opened the bag, it was a SuperFex from 1979 that was sleeping during 30 years..
Then, talking with a friend, which is a huge pilot in Switzerland, and when I told him I was on the way to make a new hang glider that you can pack into a 1.4m bag, he answered to me me that he had a hang glider mesuring only 1.5 meters (5ft). I couldn't belive it, so I went to his place and he show me the RANGER. The is a German hang glider from 1979, made by Mister Bernd SCHMIDTLER. This particular glider, like the Finsterwalder's ones, were mostly used by pilots to "hike and fly". Just going down the mountain after a "walk" ? NOT ONLY ! Accepting that the sail is bendable, the job was to find the way to pack the frame. My goal was a 1.4 meter bag to store it INTO a cocoon harness. So the longest part of the frame couln'd be longer than 1.38 meter to fit the bag with its protections in both sides. All the previous small packed hang glider were "fat". The reason is that all the tubes were packed side by side instead of being one in the other. So, even if size matter, too thick is a problem too.
Back in 1979, the RANGER had straight battens and the shape appeard during flight (even if the RANGER was the, or one of the, first DHV certified hang glider !). The Superfex had a very nice shape for the sail. Even if some aircrafts like the F117 look pretty square, for modern hang gliders nice curves are requested today. Remember, people do not want to step back, when you are used to delivered food, you don't wand to go out for a take-away anymore. Then, with all what I saw, all the videos I've watched and all what I have talked with other pilots, the oldest kind of hang glider we could still accept in 2024 was a single surface (SS) with a kingpost, even if a double surface (DS) without kingpost would be much better for experts. My thought was to start from the beginning and in fact, about the beginners in the 70's we can barely say that a hang glider pilot was a kind of hippie who got up in the morning, took his sheets and the slats of his bed and went off to throw himself off a hill. When you look at the first Rogallo wings, there were no battens, and they flew ! Okay, we might not be able to go back on the Moon but we can try to take-off from the Earth, isn't it ?
My idea was to set up the frame first then dress it with the sail. Other hang gliders are sliding the frame into the sail. But before this, I had to joint the tubes with sleeves. Tubes are easy to put one into the other, but sleeves are much more complicated to manage. So, I decided to separate simple tubes from small jonctions like sleeves and making a kind of assembled backbone with all the jonction parts. Puting togather all those parts was quite a challenge because it hat do be straight and slim to be packed into the sail. Separating straight parts from "non-straight" parts is also the reason why the battens are in two part each. Finaly to lighten the structure, I decided to avoid crossbar and bowsprit, which are the two solutions maintened in the hang gliding industry, but let's talk about what was named "Sapneron" by Joe F.
MORE TO COME...
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