Motorised Hang Glider Being Prepared For Flight

David Cook, who made the first powered hang glider crossing of the Channel, demonstrates his unique aircraft.

Shots of David Cook flying his motorised hang glider over a grassy site where cars and bicycles are parked. After a countdown leader, Anglia Television reporter Chris Young explains the background to this unique machine which is a new development in hang gliding, a cross between the orthodox flex wing hang glider and a light aircraft. By definition, it is a hang glider because the pilot is on foot when launching and landing, but it is powered by its own small engine. This summer the pilot David Cook, a design draughtsman from Aldringham, Suffolk, will take the machine to eight major air shows and to Brands Hatch and Silverstone before race meetings. The successes of the machine 1974-1978 are seen recorded on a plaque on the wing of the aircraft. Interviewed, David Cook says he broke his arm in four places when flying his flex wing hang glider, and that this rigid wing design is safer. He points out the controls, engine and propeller on his machine. Music accompanies scenes of the hang glider flying over the beach and clifftops of the Thorpeness area. Chris Young explains that David Cook flew the only hang glider to cross the English Channel but that he is now in difficulty with the Civil Aviation Authority about the absence of aviation controls over flying a machine of this kind. Interviewed again, David Cook says he has had a very good flight, but is a bit cold. His hang glider needs calm conditions. His aim is to fly one hundred miles around the coast of East Anglia, develop a twin engine version, and build a man-powered machine with a friend to compete for the Royal Aeronautical Society prize for pedalled flight.

Keywords

Sport; Hang Gliding; Motorised Hang Gliding

Background Information

In 1978 David Cook used his modified Volmer VJ 23E hang-glider, powered by a go-kart engine, to make the first hang glider crossing of the English Channel. His hang glider is now displayed at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.