04/10/2024 | 4m 45s | Video has closed captioning.
For over forty years, a group of hang gliding pilots have gathered near Dayton, WY to celebrate the freedom of flight. Though the popularity of the sport and the event has waned through the years, the camaraderie of the pilots has not. Things are different from the glory days, but the friendships have only grown stronger.
Aired: 04/10/24
(hang glider soaring) (slow country music) - I've been doing this for 43 years, and I do it as much as I can.
I'm 75 years old now and I'm still flyin'.
(slow country music) (upbeat music) - A lot of us, our first mountain flights were Memorial Day weekend 1979.
We just happened to come out of the woodwork in different parts of Wyoming.
Of course, we didn't have computers or anything.
You just showed up, "hi, who are you?"
Everybody was saying, "well, it's my first time off a mountain."
"Me too, let's do it."
And of course, then we just got really tight after that.
We'd meet every weekend here for years.
It's neat to see these people show up still, and they're excited like I am.
(upbeat music) - What're you doing, Monarch?
- Hey Johann!
- How are ya?
- [Paul] I'm doing wonderful, thank you.
- You're looking good.
We used to, the bars and the restaurants and everything else, used to sponsor gliders.
We used to have a Calcutta the night before the event, and people would be betting on people, just like you do a Calcutta on a horse.
And then gliders' pilots would make some money on it.
And it was really a true event.
- About 41 years ago, I climbed up on this cliff and took a picture of all the hang gliders down here, 45 maybe?
It was exciting.
Other than family, there's nothing better than flying.
- I'd say over the last 10, 10, 15 years, its just dwindled down to tourists coming through and just friends.
- This is the biggest dip I've seen with just a handful of gliders here.
But usually, there's three times this many people in the last bunch of years.
- What's really happened to hang gliding that I feel has hurt the sport is because the gliders got so proficient and so aerodynamically to where they can launch and fly and go hundreds of miles, it took the spectators out of it, which is sad, because it's a beautiful sport to watch.
It's really thrilling to see people launch, fly, and land, and they understand that man can fly.
- You all give me $5.
- Yes.
- I'll probably never be able to do that again, so thank you for stopping.
- Yeah- - Thank you for showing us.
- This was the best time.
- I've really seen hang gliding disappear.
Most of the places I fly, you don't even see a hang glider anymore.
It's all paragliders.
(slow country music) - So the younger people are more drawn to paragliding, basically because it's more convenient.
You can throw a paraglider in the back trunk of your car, in a little SUV, and then if you see a place you wanna fly, you can put it on your back just like a backpack, and walk to the top of the hill, lay it out.
- Yeah, I'd like to see hang gliding take off again.
Maybe it will, but it's not going that direction right now.
(clapping) (laughter) Everybody's kind of a brother to everybody else, whether you realize it or not.
And then pretty soon, you realize it isn't the flying you go for, it's the people.
(wind rustling) (laughter) - [Johann] Ride that motorcycle, ride that motorcycle!
(laughter) - I'm not used to seeing Dan so- - Oh yeah.
- Come on, Dan.
Just sky out, make us eat our words.
(laughter) Dangling up there at 14,000.
(laughter) Your legs hanging down, "oh well."
(laughter) Like a swing seat.
Yeah.
(laughs) - The comradeship and the tourists and the spectators and that have dwindled in our sport.
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.
I wish it'd come back.
(slow guitar music) It is what it is, life changes.
But people will always be drawing to flight.
(slow guitar music) (ground crunching) (yelling) - [Child] We should see this forever!
(slow guitar music)
