note from Brad: This correspondence originally appeared on the 'main' hang gliding bulletin-board /newsgroup in late 2001, and it has been minimally edited for this website, and only to clarify and update the original content to reflect what's current in 2003.

-----Original Message Thread-----
From: Raven Sky Sports
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 11:05 AM
To: The "Main" Hang Gliding Newsgroup, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HangGlide
Subject: Raven integrates tandem with footlaunch lessons
 
In two different [recent] messages, Jack said:
>
> I think the best training combo is aerotow for the
> flying and approach skills, coupled with foot launch and landing at the
> bunny hill. Thats why I think [school x] is best overall.
>
and,
>
>Take a one week vacation to [school x]
>or [school y] and get your solo rating
>in no time with very little physical work. 1 week or less!
>
>Tandem is where its at!!!
>
>[school y]: Complete Flight Training Program $1,490.00
>20 tandem tows to 2500 feet. damn!
>
>[school x]: - $1495
> - 12 instructional tandem flights to 2000'
> - Guaranteed foot launch skills
> - 5 supervised mountain solo flights
>

Brad's reply [about Raven Sky Sports] :
...I'm in complete agreement with Jack that the hang gliding curriculum that works best for 99% of the student pilots that I've met is the integrated approach. The skills and confidence that the student develops at the training hill helps him or her to perform better during the tandem lessons. Then, the airtime that the student gets during the tandem lessons (and opportunity for repetition of skills) helps him or her during the next hill flying lessons. Alternating these two very different types of lessons works like magic. I've seen evidence over the years that cross-training between these two disciplines in hang gliding results in more learning overall. When the student pilot is ready for his or her first "solo" at altitude on aerotow, it really isn't his or her first solo...he or she has solo'd in a glider such as a Falcon many times down the training hill; now it will just be higher. We stay closer to the ideal of "one new thing at a time" as the student first goes it alone.

"The total is thus greater than the sum of the parts."

...That being said, I humbly (?) wish to let you all know that [school x] and [school y] aren't the only big hang gliding schools that you can refer your friends to, although they are better known. Some other schools, such as [Raven Sky Sports], have earned national reputations for excellence but just aren't widely known outside of our home regions.

Raven Sky Sports is the only full-time, full-service hang gliding flight park, with an integrated curriculum of hill flying and aerotowing, in the Midwest. We're strategically located between Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin. We're open for flying and lessons seven days a week, weather permitting, from March 1st to December 1st. We are the oldest dedicated aerotow park in the USA, and in the world, first opened in August, 1992. We were also the first hang gliding school in the USA to integrate hill flying lessons with tandem aerotow lessons. We just had our nine-year anniversary party this past August 15, 2001, and we plan a big bash next August, 2002 for our tenth, please join us.

Every year 1994-2002 we've been ranked by USHGA in the Top Five of hang gliding schools in the US for training students to the Novice rating level. We're the only Top Five hang gliding school in the snow belt. We train and certify 25 to 30 new Novice pilots each year, most of whom live in the Midwest. Our club grows by about 20 new members each year.

We have:

a) Great spring, summer, and autumn weather. Summer winds are usually light, with high temperatures that are usually in the 80s, but seldom in the 90s.

b) Seven beautiful grassy training hills, all within minutes of each other, that face every conceivable wind direction...plus a new manmade training hill under development at our main location, Twin Oaks Flight Park.

c) Two grassy aerotow runways, N/S and E/W at Twin Oaks Airport, and a new SW/NE runway under development.

d) Two hangars full of four Dragonfly tow planes, four tandem gliders, a trike wing tug, and a Superfloater.

e) A dedicated staff of full-time and part-time employees including hill instructors, tandem instructors, tug pilots, ground crew, mechanics and machinists, all of whom share the love of flying hang gliders here.

f) Two hundred men and women in our hang gliding club, most of whom live in Chicago/northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

g) Wide open agricultural surroundings, suitable for cross country flights that even Novice pilots can handle with confidence.

h) A free program of early-morning telephone briefings every day, designed to prevent a student from wasting a trip if the weather isn't good enough. No need to 'just show up' and then find out that class has been cancelled.

i) A reputation for doing business in the hang gliding field with good ethics.

j) An outstanding safety record.

 
We use:

a) Current-model Wills Wing Falcons and Condors from the very first lessons at the training hills...no old gliders from the 70s and 80s.

b) Another fleet of Wills Wing Falcons for student-use and rental-use for aerotowing, so that hill-training gliders aren't used for high flights.

c) A large inventory of Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced gliders available for rent or purchase.

d) Four Northwing T2 tandem gliders (next generation Airwave Double Vision/Fly Two) on spring-loaded tandem landing gear, with over/under tandem cocoon harnesses, all state-of-the-art.

e) High Energy Quantum 550 reserve parachutes with paraswivels on all tandem gliders.

f) High Energy Quantum 330 reserve parachutes with paraswivels in all rental/school harnesses.

g) Wills Wing Insider helmets for student use during aerotow flights and tandem lessons.
 

We believe:

a) A student who's first experiences with hang gliding include excellent facilities, great conditions, enthusiastic instructors, and state-of-the-art beginner equipment, is more likely to continue in the sport.

b) A student should be able to expect to be provided with the very best equipment and instruction during lessons without being pressured to spend extra money to purchase his or her own 'more current' [read: safer] training gear.

c) A student shouldn't be steered into purchasing any equipment until he or she has had a chance to meet club members and other frequent flying hang glider pilots, and learn from the community the reasons that some equipment is considered more desireable and more valuable than other equipment.

d) An instructor and flight park operator doesn't automatically deserve a student's further business, or customer loyalty; it has to be earned. When its time, the instructor should be steering the student toward purchasing equipment that is the best possible equipment for the student's own physical, emotional, and budgetary needs...not just the most profitable to sell or whatever is overstocked.

e) An instructor and flight park operator must provide excellent service after the sale in order to deserve the profits earned, and to continue to re-earn customer loyalty again and again.
 
OurFull-Service Plan, with every piece of equipment that we sell:

a) If a student purchases an Eagle, a Sonic, a Pulse, a Saturn, or any similar Novice-level double-surface glider, then he or she is entitled to free, no-charge use of our rental Falcons as an added benefit. Use of the Falcons is encouraged for the series of first solo flights, and for any time that the student feels rusty, such as after a winter layoff. In this way, the student has the benefit of being able to default to an easier glider whenever it makes sense, with no economic barriers to making the safer choice. This 'no-charge rental' benefit continues for as long as the individual's last glider purchase was from us.

b) Similar full-service plans are included with harnesses/parachutes, helmets, instruments, etc. Our experience with this kind of service plan is that our club members feel that we take excellent care of them after the sale, and we continue to re-earn their loyalty.
 
Our standard integrated training program, the Hang Gliding 100 Flight Plan:

a) Five or six half-day lessons at the training hills, using state-of-the-art equipment, with a goal of getting at least six flights each session. Some sessions in light wind, some sessions in more moderate wind.

b) Ten tandem flights on aerotow, all to 3000' above ground, on a carefully structured curriculum. Almost all of them in smooth early-morning or late-evening air, but one or two in bumpier conditions. For most students, one flight in the upper harness as an introduction, followed by nine flights in the lower harness. Small students are matched with light instructors whenever possible for ease of control.

c) Reading assignments from Dennis Pagen's "Hang Gliding Training Manual" and "Towing Aloft" between lessons, with personalized ground school and written tests for the Beginner, Novice, and Aerotow skills evaluations.

d) The curriculum lesson plan that seems to work best (for almost everybody that we've met) is: a hill flying session in the morning, with two tandem lessons (back-to-back) in the late afternoon. As an alternative, some students do two tandems in the extra-early morning, then the hill flying session. Repeat on four more training days to complete five hill flying lessons and ten tandems. Spread it out over several weeks with time off between lessons to absorb it all, or do it all in a week, or in a few weekends.

e) First solos on aerotow are not included in the lesson package price, but the rental equipment and tow fees are economical. Radio supervision is provided at no additional cost.

f) We don't guarantee anybody a diploma or a rating, but our on-time graduation rate is 95%. Additional tandems are available, as needed, for reasonable pro-rated prices. Additional hill flying classes, as needed, are no charge. Students graduate with a Novice rating with endorsements for both foot-launch and aerotowing*. (*this endorsement is granted only after five solos on aerotow.)

Cost of our standard course, as described above: $1395 plus $60 for the two books.
 
Results?

Excellent. Does this all sound too good to be true? Well, it is true, we just have the highest standards, plain and simple. References? Just ask anyone who has flown with us, or flown with our graduates, including:

Rob Kells at Wills Wing

Betty Pfeiffer at High Energy Sports

Ken Brown at Moyes America

Steve Kroop at Flytec

David Glover

John Heiney

...and many, many others who are well known in hang gliding circles.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please let your friends know that they have another fantastic flight park to choose to visit in the spring, summer, and fall for recreational aerotowing or for lessons.

Brad Kushner, President of Raven Sky Sports, Inc.