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Hey Ben,
WHERE in Texas do you live? Where we live in West Texas, the winds are out of the southwest probably 70% of the time at least 8 to 10 a lot of the time, which is a little too slow for this, but about 40% of the time, we get 25 to 30 MPH winds, and during the Spring "Windy Season". two to three weeks of almost daily 45 to 60 MPH straight line winds.
I have several different ultralights, and 80 acres with my own 4,700 foot grass strip, BUT, I would love to take this old Weedhopper that I have, and mount a release hook under the aircraft where you locate the release for a winch launghed glider.
When the winds are 40 and above, I would just hook the un-powered, but ballasted to correct W&B Weedhopper to a 500 foot long tow line. Get in the plane power winch it to full extension, (probably around 300 AGL), and "FLY" it like the giant human controlled kite that it would be.
After I got tired of that, I would just perform a standard "Soft Release" of the tow line, and glide back to Earth. You could just be winched down from whatever altitude that you chose to "Play" at.
Understand that I have a BUNCH of Glider time, and it would behoove you to get a few glider lessons under your belt before you tried this little game.
Brie
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Sorry I didn't reply sooner, for some reason it's sending the notices to my spam, dumb email. I live about 15 minutes from Georgetown Municipal Airport, which is about 45 minutes up IH-35 from Austin. I've tried with not a lot of success to get experience under my belt, I was in C.A.P (Civil Air Patrol) for two years, joined for the airplane, and I've done some things with some very nice and generous men around here, but still, when it comes to air, the only way to really understand it, for me anyways, is to actually fly.
Thanks for the post and concern,
Ben
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If you're looking for something to build over a few weekends, about the only thing I can think of is a classic Rogallo hang glider... with all the crappy performance that includes. Terminology: A "parasail" is a round parachute towed by a boat as a thrill ride at the beach, I suspect you're thinking of a "paraglider" which a ram air inflated wing... and not something you build yourself, the sewing is very intricate (and critical!). Used ones under $2K, though. Note that towing anything can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing (this applies to all of flying, of course).
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The wings in ground effect flyers seem great fun but dangerous. Even with the short wings, accidentally touch the wing tip to the ground and you'll be in ground!
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Look at used paraglider "wings" (parachutes to most of us). Pretty good L/Ds would let you foot launch and glide the short distance you have, and an easy carry back to the starting point.
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Air Chair Builder. It looks neat.
Bug4.
It indicates the plans are light and simple.
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