Andes Debuts with HangGlide!! at Soaring Society of America sponsored Air Expo, Ontario, CA

Feb 7-9, 2002

Flying enthusiasts of all kinds met in Ontario, CA at the Ontario Convention Center for Air Expo 2002 including members of the SSA, USHGA and USUA representing sailplanes, hang gliders and ultralights. This three day convention was filled with meetings for each of the respective national clubs adjacent to which the 70,000 sq foot exhibit hall was filled with beautiful, sleek sailplanes, hang gliders, trikes and booths with vendors presenting everything from lessons to instruments.  The Expo was visited by 3000 visitors this year.

Andes Computer Engineering presented HangGlide!! the hang glider simulator using three 60 inch screens for a fully immersive display and a full-sized hang glider suspended on a stand to provide full pitch and roll input to the device.  HangGlide!! uses Andes' graphics cluster to drive each of the displays and a flight model based on real flight data to provide realistic flight characteristics.  While the simulator has been used for interactive entertainment, it can also become a training tool under the guidance of a certified hang gliding instructor.

The simulator ran continuously for three days with a constant flow of participants trying their hand at getting the best score they could by landing near a target.  The visual scenery depicted Ed Levin Park in Milpitas, CA, and actual hang gliding flying and training site.  To aid beginners in plotting out a flight pattern that would lead them to a reasonable landing near the target, Tux, the flying penguin would lead the way, in another hang glider.

Many who's who of hang gliding got an opportunity to fly the simulator.  Taras Kiceniuk, famed for revolutionizing the early days of hang gliding with the Batso hang glider, followed closely thereafter with the Icarus II.  John Heiney, famed aerobatic pilot was the first to get three full loops in the simulator after launching from the 300 foot level at Ed Levin Park.  Davis Straub of the famed Oz Report tried his hand and had this to say about it in his next issue.

Local paper Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, placed the Air Expo on the front page with a picture of the simulator as the main attraction.  Read the article (less the picture) here.  The LA Times Inland Valley also covered and mentioned the simulator.  Read that here.