Glider thrills with safety

Press, 26 December 1986, Page 1

Glider thrills with safety

By

STAN DARLING

A new- tourist attraction near Arrowtown is designed for thrills, but also for learning. It is a hang-gliding simulator — a glider that drops about 214 metres off the side of a steep hill and takes the rider 40 metres above the landing paddock below. Laurie Kirkham, a partner in the venture which started its run recently off the face of Coronet Peak before moving to Daggs Peak, beside the back road from Queenstown to Arrowtown, is an experienced hang-glider from Hamilton.

She said the glider was more than just a glorified flying fox. “You can actually fly above the cable, but if anything goes wrong, the cable is always a safety line”

Ms Kirkham said the Central Otago simulator was only the second one in the world. The original, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was seen by her partner, Graeme Henderson. He has been in Australia, advising people who want to set up a chain of glider runs. The Arrowtown partners sell two-hour sessions on their simulator, with a minimum of four rides during that time. The aim is to get riders actually flying off the cable after a short lesson.

“The biggest thing is relaxing on it,” said Ms Kinkham. “It usually takes one flight to learn. At the end of it, everyone gets flying.” The glider comes to a soft halt as it hits a tyre, which puts it into a stall that sets the rider down lightly on the ground. If necessary, the glider can be stopped in-mid-flight by the operator at the top of the run. At the end of each ride, the glider is towed quickly back up the cable by a motor winch.

The hillside is steeper at the new take-off point than it was at Coronet Peak, said Ms Kirkham.

“At the other run, poeple who didn’t run at the start just flopped into the glider and grazed their knees,” she said.

If they flop into the run here, their knees remain above the ground. “We don’t train people to hang-glide on this,” said Ms Kirkham of the simulator. “We keep them off it — it breeds complacency. People can think they can afford to make mistakes. They can’t.”

Young children wear a special harness when they take the glider ride, and lie flat above the bar. Ms Kirkham said a three-year-old had done the run.

She also had a woman, aged 85, in a session. The woman was off the track up the hillside before her companions could stop her.

“She said they wouldn’t let her go whitewater rafting, as she hurried on up the hill,” said Ms Kirkham.