Hang Glider

A hang glider is a light, non motorized, fixed wing aircraft flown by a pilot suspended below the wing, with modern versions built from an aluminum alloy or composite frame covered in synthetic sailcloth. George Cayley built the first slope launched piloted glider in 1853, and Otto Lilienthal flew controllable gliders steered by shifting his body weight in the 1890s, a method close to that of a modern hang glider. The key step toward the flexible wing came when Francis and Gertrude Rogallo applied for a patent on a fully flexible kited wing on November 23, 1948, a design NASA later tested for recovering spacecraft; John W. Dickenson adapted the Rogallo wing in 1963 into the modern hang glider, work later recognized with a Hang Gliding Diploma from the FAI in 2006. A pilot steers by shifting body weight against a stationary control frame, often called a triangle or A frame, which flexes the wing to control pitch, roll, and yaw.