On Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 5:44:12 AM UTC-8, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Tango Eight wrote on 12/10/2020 3:59 AM:
On Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 1:05:42 AM UTC-5, kenward1000 wrote:
Recently sat in on a Zoom seminar about XC flying hang gliders in the Owens Valley, hosted by the SF Bay Area largest HG/PG club. The presenter is an experienced pilot. However several points he made, alarmed me. First he didn't recommend that anyone carry oxygen, as he doesn't, because he feels he doesn't get hypoxic. Second he claimed that he regularly flies above 18K', sometimes higher than 20K', w/o O2. I get hypoxic above 14K' in my LAK-12.. No discussion of MOAs, unaware of Procedure Alpha on the Whites. Disdained aircraft radios in favor of ham radios. I've flown the Owens several times in a HG, and the conditions encountered made me decide to get a glider rating and use the right tool for flying XC there. The thought of flying XC in a PG in the mountains just makes me shake my head. That's a hard NO for me.

The presenter seems hypoxic at sea level.

T8
The Mountain High electronic oxygen regulator was originally developed for HG pilots, because a
lot of them need it! Perhaps the next seminar should include Pat McLaughlin of Mountain High.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

This is the direct result of an unregulated dangerous hobby - any reasonable regulations would prohibit this. And I favor less regulation.

Tom