I learned to fly on a True Flight 16' Standard Rogallo. My friend and I split the cost on the kit and built it in his back yard (those were the days). We flew mostly on a little hill near Redding, California and over on the sand dunes near Crescent City. After about 6 months of ground skimming, we purchased a Seagull III and that was when the high altitude flights started. Lots more practice time to figure out turning and stuff when you're a thousand feet up (seatbelted to a swing seat).

I eventually saved enough money to purchase a used Quicksilver C rigid wing and that's when i really started accumulating flight time. I flew that thing everywhere...my favorite places were Stukel Mountain near Klamath Falls and Elk Creek, CA outside of Willows. I finally overshot a landing and ripped the sail on a barbed wire fence so I decided to go back to Rogallos. My next glider was an Electraflyer Cirrus III. That was the most unsafe glider I ever owned...it was hard to tune and would spin at the drop of a hat. It scared me so much that I quit flying for 6 months in 1977 after a pretty bad crash. I still had the bug so I bought my friend's Will Wing Raven 209 and it was like night and day. I put 450 hours on that glider before I sold it and bought a Wills Duck 180.

Like you, I really didn't feel safe on the Duck, it was "quirky" but Wills Wing came to Hat Creek Rim, California and let me test fly an Attack Duck and I bought one on the spot. With that Glider (and the Raven) I put most of my hours in at Dry Canyon, Alamogordo, New Mexico. I was stationed at Holloman AFB and I had a 4x4 so I was putting in almost an hour a day after work and a few hours every weekend. I really got dialled in on that Attack Duck...it was awesome.

After the Attack Duck I bought a Sport 167 and flew it over in the UK (I put 20 years in the Air Force). I came back to the states and bought a Super Sport. I was stationed at March AFB, CA and stored the glider at Rob and Diane McKenzie's shop at Crestline for a few months. Very nice people.

I went through 3 more Super Sports before I got so busy with the Air Force that I slowed my flying way down. I went from 1995 to 1997 with maybe 12 hours. I didn't feel safe on the bladewings anymore so I traded my dealer a used Super Sport for a brand new Falcon. I flew it a couple of times before moving here to Alaska and i haven't flown maybe twice in 6 years. I'm semi retired. I will be moving back to Redding, in two years and who knows, I may start building some hours again and get back into the zoom zoom bladewings, but the Falcon Floater is enough for my blood pressure for now...LOL!!!

See you at the hill...I most likely will have Hat Creek Rim near Redding for my home mountain in the foreseeable future..it has great RC sailplane flying as well.

Don