Low level and high speed on the white cliffs

[@cloudchaser9287]

You definitely gave those people on the cliffs a good show! Balls of steel! :D

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Thank you, I hope they enjoyed it even half as much as I did!

[@LiorIPSC]

As a kid I stayed in Corsica Hall by the Seven Sisters exactly forty years ago. Thanks for sharing this video!

[@nielsvannieuwland436]

Can you please upload more frequently?! Fantastic views from a fantastic glider!

[@chrishamilton4999]

Best gliding video I have ever seen. What a vista!

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Thanks Chris!

[@makikiverde]

This was so good. I felt like I was setting beside you. Such speed.

[@skysurfer5333]

Beautiful Video! Thank You Very Much For Staying With Live Audio Only! Makes For A Much More Enjoyable & Interesting Viewpoint! I Really Like Where You've Positioned The Camera! It Puts Viewer Right In Your Seat! Dynamic Flying Is So Beautiful!

[@chrisj800]

Nice flight. As a teenager around 1980 I was grounded by Southdown for thermalling too low in the club K8 ! Switched to flying at Ringmer instead.

[@TheCryptKeeper8]

can't say how greatful I am that during your turns, you also turned the camera. Really helps me feel like I'm there.

[@a2roland]

Awesome!.... Thanks for sharing!

[@MrJohnyysmith]

I was near here a while ago trying to get my silver distance in a Junior. I would like to think I would have done this before I stopped flying - but who am I kidding. Great vid There was a story I read that in about 1920, thousands of people came out from London to watch the first gliders - those were the days

[@95youngtom]

Let's bring it back!

[@ChrisPinCornwall]

Stunning, I can share your excitement!

[@SF-fb6lv]

Reminds me of hang gliding at Fort Funston, San Francisco, California, USA.

[@rorywilliams5131]

enjoyable to watch. The point of the increased speed would be to be able to trade the speed for height I assume.

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Going faster is a tentative way of checking if the lift (rate at which the air is rising) is stronger lower down. If not then pulling up and exchanging speed for height will recover some of the height... really wanted to avoid being very low and unable to get back up to a height where it would be safe to start the engine.

[@ericoschmitt]

That also looks like a great place for hang gliding! I hope to fly there one day!

[@markplain2555]

Hang gliding? oh man.... you should get into gliding... we get better penetration.... stay at for longer..... oh and the flying is good too.

[@ericoschmitt]

@@markplain2555 it is too expensive where I live, and the nearest gliderport is some 3h away. I drive from home to the nearest HG launch in 20min and spend just a few bucks in gas. I know it is faster and better glide ratio but HG is freaking cool to fly, wind in face, head first superman style, nothing in front of your view! You can fly close to trees, land at the beach, stuff like that.

[@HangGlidingSouthAfrica]

No beach to land out on in a hangie... but still exciting to watch! Nice one!

[@ericoschmitt]

@@HangGlidingSouthAfrica theres a big beach at the beginning of the video, then as you get above the cliff line you could go farther and top land if needed.. looks totally flyable on HG to me, I'd try if I could! I've also seen people soaring in top-landing-only sites with constant strong winds. You either go up or get wet!

[@KarlHansenandcompany]

Great vid. Am tempted to go to GB just to soar those cliffs!

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Thanks! I can't wait to have another go too, but I need to be very careful as the amount of lift the cliffs produce for a given wind speed varies greatly from day to day.

[@myhanslombard]

this video made me want to buy a glider. Looks so freee

[@blubb9004]

It is! And its way less expensive than you think. It's with a motor that flying becomes expensive.

[@UKAbandonedMineExplores]

I'd love to go gliding again, did it for years in the forces but I find it too expensive in civvy street. Nice flight.

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Thank you. I hope at some point you will find the resources to enjoy gliding again.

[@95youngtom]

It's actually very cheap!

[@lyndoneh]

Fantastic indeed, I really enjoyed the flight!

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Thanks Harry. I must try to make the time to do more videos.

[@robertgary3561]

Nice. I wasn’t sure if you had soaring in Britain. I’m in California and we have some good sites.

[@outlander-x]

awesomesauce!

[@lakesideaudio]

Awesome many thanks

[@olavrygg2343]

Nice flying.. Is it legal to fly under 500 feet in England ?

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Hi. Yes, but only if ridge soaring in a glider.

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

Absolutely brilliant, but that's not low level until your wing can knock someone off the cliff :-) or until the folks have to look down to see you go under them. I know what you mean about hoping the wind does not lull; but you have good energy retention so you could top land since the 'beach' not so much.

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Thanks. You are right, plenty of energy to pull up and land on top. That was me amusing myself with a little 'tongue in cheek' comment 😉 It would be fun to fly below the cliff top.... but years ago one of our club members tried that and found the air was going DOWN the cliff! He was only a couple of metres above the sea before he got his engine started and climbed away!!!

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

@@surfingtheatmosphere1246 I have flown a number of coastal cliff sites hang gliding, and have landed on the 'beach', well actually a concrete outcropping for a large sewer pipe at high tide at Fort Funston, California; I also flew a headland for 8 hours in Seattle. Excellent video: I looked up where the airfield was also. And loved the turn out to sea with nothing but 50 miles of sea in front of you :-)

[@lautoka63]

Nice job. Come fly up the west coast of the North Island, north of Raglan, to see what it's like in the Antipodes.

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Thanks. Would love to visit NZ one day!

[@megawhitemaster7740]

omg,amazing ,thx so much !!!

[@laruspacificus8552]

Flying out of Ringmer? Great footage!

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Thanks! Flying out of Parham. Would be great to see some of the Ringmer guys there.

[@davidcooper2496]

As a Ringmer guy I approve this message. Did you manage to get back to parham from there?

[@glidingpassiongermany407]

This is so awesome! At wich airfield have you started?

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Hi, it was fun! We fly from Parham airfield which is 50 km to the north west, the airfield is owned by Southdown Gliding Club www.southdowngliding.co.uk

[@blubb9004]

@@surfingtheatmosphere1246 I really need to visit you and bring or rent a plane, this is awesome.

[@viardmike4130]

WOW!

[@michaelwhinnery164]

This is epic !!! But your invading rc airspace When you hit a drone who's going to get hurt ?

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Thanks! But you are mistaken my friend - gliders were ridge soaring decades before rc flying even started. In fact around 70 years ago Southdown Gliding Club was based at Friston airfield on top of the cliffs and gliders soared these cliffs much more frequently than they do today. However I would not be so territorial to say the airspace belongs to gliders, no, this is free airspace - as in uncontrolled airspace - to be enjoyed harmoniously by all.

[@michaelwhinnery164]

@@surfingtheatmosphere1246 thats a nice thought...however being part of the demonized rc community i must tell you that i have been informed that 0-400 ft is rc airspace and 1000ft and up is commercial and private airspace...

[@ericoschmitt]

@Michael Whinnery just be careful, if you hit any manned aircraft with any kind of RC and that gets someone killed at any height, it is still your responsibility and you could be charged with murder.

[@airpockit6933]

Then what happened? :) Ace!

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

👍😉

[@MelindaGreen]

Lovely. There were some birds around 2:50 that were not amused though.

[@bernardherbillot2420]

Fantastic, but I'm wondering where you can land ? Is your airfield far from the shore?

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Hi Bernard It is fantastic fun, but there is not an airfield within gliding range, unfortunately our airfield is 50 km away. Mostly it is just gliders with engines which visit the cliffs, sometimes a pure glider will visit with the intention of landing in a field afterwards. At one time there was an airfield on top of the cliffs, google Friston Airfield, and for a time after WWII our gliding club was based there.

[@bernardherbillot2420]

@@surfingtheatmosphere1246 Thanks a lot for your answer. I wish you good flights. For me the season is over until next march!

[@john3Lee]

I'm amazed at how noisy the gas turbine is........ lol !!

[@cabdolla]

Damn that looks fun as shit

[@d3xterown]

Why no looping? for the hikers

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Good idea! Just didn’t think of it at the time. Next time next time 👹

[@samjoshi1812]

*Nosedive into the ocean

[@oscarbutlin7410]

Where do you mount your GoPro?

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Suction cup on the centre line of the canopy in front of my head. It is just above my line of sight, and being a Sony HDR-AS200V it is about half the width of a gopro which helps avoiding obscuring the view forward.

[@oscarbutlin7410]

Surfing the Atmosphere thank you I just wasn’t sure if a suction cap would damage a canopy

[@djad3115]

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@djad3115]

Is this the jet engine version of the HPH304 ? Thx

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

@@djad3115 Hi. This is the self launch version. Very pleased with it. Very reliable starting engine (so far!), and plenty of power. Lovely glider too.

[@hanspeterwetli3242]

WOW, Cool Game

[@webbevents]

looks fun

[@dockie1221]

Do u enjoy flying the shark? Me and my father have a 304sj

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Love it, love it love it! And I'm sure you do too.

[@dockie1221]

it’s the first high performance glider I’ve flown but my dad used to fly a nimbus 3 with Ralph jones ect in the nationals in the 80’s and 90’s. Its amazing to fly but I’ve only been flying it for about 10 months and I’m trying to get a 300km flight to get my gold badge! And as always the weather isn’t playing ball here in Scotland! My fellow club members are very jellies! 🤣🤣

[@janettesteele631]

Cool, but no lift generated from the cliff!

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Yes, I was ridge soaring the rising air from the cliffs. But, no thermals if that is what you mean, it is extremely rare to get thermals off the sea.

[@malcolmjw8750]

I assume you use the updraft from the cliff to gain height in order to get inland to pick up some thermals to get home?

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

Hi Malcolm That would be very nice to do, but from cliffs as low as these it would be very very unusual to get high enough to glide in land far enough to where there would be thermals which a glider could use. This glider has a small engine stowed behind the cockpit. At the flick of a switch the engine and propeller rise up behind the cockpit, and the engine can be started to climb up and head for home. It is a great and fun glider! In a glider without an engine it is necessary to choose a field to land in, then get a friend to tow the glider's trailer to the filed, de-rig (dismantle) the glider and put it in the trailer to take it home.

[@WHURobKip]

Massively enjoyed that!

[@billtrue3017]

What 120 knots your just showing off you lucky sod

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

😁👍 Yes very lucky, in my teens all I wanted was to earn enough to have a hang-glider and a car, never dreamed I would ever be able to fly such a beautiful and efficient glider.

[@billtrue3017]

Wow did you get your car and hang glider in your teens ,I was the same i bought my first hang glider at 16 years old and a car to transport it at 17 ,That was in 1975 and i still fly hang gliders but not so often now,I mostly fly a swift electric powered self launching class 2 hang glider,But i follow all the sailplain stuff and think the self launching shark is the best bang for buck out there at mo,But im closely wachting what happens to the new GP Jeta

[@surfingtheatmosphere1246]

@@billtrue3017 You did well Bill, I was in my 20' before getting the hang-glider and car. You are right about the Shark, I love it. The electric self launching Swift look awesome too!

[@reigaterobot4965]

1:55 "These"' not "These ones" - great vid btw

[@markcourtney7251]

Reigate Robot get a life

[@reigaterobot4965]

Mark Courtney “Get a life.”