1980 Maui HG Flight

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Converted from old movie tape and posting for archive purposes.

A Hang Glider flight from the very top of Haleakalā on Maui Hawaii was on my bucket list when I was younger. The mountain is 10,023 feet above the beach and is actually called East Maui Volcano which forms more than 75% of Maui. The western 25% of the island is formed by another volcano, Mauna Kahalawai.

Flying from the top of the mountain in the early 80s when Gail and I visited was illegal (not sure if it is now or not). I had brought my harness from home and had to actually buy a single surface glider from a local pilot who said he would refund me a portion if I gave it back to him in one piece after landing.

At about 5AM we drove around the blocked off guard post and got to the top of the mountain just before sunrise. You have to get off the mountain early to avoid getting busted.

The top of the mountain is like being on the Moon or Mars, no vegetation and all volcanic rock. After launch you can see the various lava tubes before I slowly descend through the clouds back into green.

The other reason to launch off just after sunrise is the clouds. The total flight is about an hour and you have to fly in the clouds for quite some time. This video is highly edited from a little over an hour to 22 min to get rid of a lot of nothing but white due to being in the clouds.

I was given a bubble compass and a very old Makiki pellet vario that I duct taped to the base tube. With an SLR camera on the right wing and a video camera on the other I had no clue if the glider was balanced and as experienced pilots will notice I was hanging a lot to the right downtime to compensate for the added weight of the heavy video camera, no GoPros in the 80s.

With some general direction from the local pilot I rented the equipment from as to what compass heading to try and keep the glider pointed when I entered the clouds I took off. The launch was clean and a little bit of excitement can be heard at the 30 second mark when I realized I was not going to have a volcano sandwich for breakfast having to buy a glider and suck up to the park guards as they took me to jail.

After launch you can see the various lava tubes as I slowly flew down the ridge line. You can also see the tops of the clouds below me as they moved up the mountain as the morning sun started to warm up the mountain. My biggest fear was the take off at the high altitude with the extra camera gear and once that was over next was the fear of coming out of the bottom of the clouds only see water and no land, Maui is an island you know.

As I descended into the clouds my focus moved to that stupid bubble compass to hold somewhat of a heading. Once I was able to see some land below me instead of clouds I could now see the beach for the first time and got happy again. Now I start to focus on where I am in relation to the mountain, looking at the coastal land marks to try and find our landing area and rendezvous point which is around the 19 min mark of this edited video.

The actual flight was fantastic, one to remember and so beautiful as the landscape changed from rocks to Hawaiian rain forest then the coast line. Once I got away from the mountain there was not much turbulence in the smooth early morning air.

The landing was uneventful with lots of wind indicators. I yelled four as I turned on final approach over the heads of a few unsuspecting golfers at a ritzy golf course and and then scampered off their property to the side of the road to pack up in the bushes. With Gail as the trusted driver we made our getaway before the cops found me.

This video was Edited for time as most of the flight was nothing but a white background and unfortunately my tape ran out when I was still high so no landing.
Another bucket list check mark accomplished.

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