17 minutes of hell - Flex Hangglider didn't check wind gradient! 

You know it's a dangerous sport when the pilot gets into the body bag BEFORE even landing.

Thank you SO much for sharing this experience with the viewing audience! I'm a paraplegic/double amputee who used to fly prior to my injury. In many ways, I can live vicariously through experiences like this. Though you don't know me from Adam, I can't begin to explain how grateful I am to watch as others get so much enjoyment from pursuits such as this. Most importantly, I wish you more safe and adventurous flights. Thanks again, prost! = )

Flight Time: 17 Minutes. Flight Distance: 4 Feet.

Lovely narration, vivid description of the situation, feels like we are there with you. Thank you!

Dear Mr.Monday - I'm sure that the rest of the season will bring us (even) more joy than this little number 😂 Klasse gemacht, ich freue mich riesig auf diese Saison mit Dir, da geht was 🤜🤛

Wow!! What can I say!! So glad you were ok. That was a very serious flight and you were working constantly. That must have been so very tiring. This sort of flight really takes it out on the arms and the nerves! As my flying instructor always said, “It is better to be down here, wishing you were up there, than being up there, wishing you were down here!!” So very true. Wind can be your friend, when you are a free-flyer but it can also hurt you badly, if you don’t take care. Fly safe! 😀✌️☘️

I remember having one of those days where it was a very hard fight to get any form of decent happening due to strong wind. Was fighting it all the way down and I was physically and mentally exhausted by the time I got on the ground. It's not a nice feeling at all. Thanks for sharing!

Fascinating flight! Nearly 50 years ago, I flew a standard Eipperformance rogallo in variable 40+ mph winds and feel fortunate to remember a most harrowing 2.5 minute flight. Nice to see the glider improvements.

Glad to see ya landed safe an I like how you narrated the flight 👍

I had a day as bad for different reasons. Massive thermals and dropping sink had me 3 times up to 4500ft then 3 times skimming the trees. The flight was 15 minutes long... I near kissed the ground after landing. The only thing worse than wanting to fly is wanting to be back on the ground. You handled this incredibly well, cameras wash out the bumps you had a true rodeo that day.

Your voice is so relaxed. But the tension in the video is high. Very comical relating your expert skills and confidence, but then recognizing that nature and wind are unpredictable. Great video with cool explanations, thanks

That's quite a workout you had there! Nice landing despite gusty conditions.

Wow...the silence of the video after you landed. Like night and day. I can almost feel the relief here.

Glad you made it back safe, it looks like you had lots of options to lad which is nice

You mastered that like a pro. Now I can breathe again!

Cool. You got bunch of cameras, appreciate your hypnotizing pretentious tone, pretty cool man. Love and respect

This may have been a dangerous situation, I'm glad everything turned out OK. I've always wanted to fly a glider, looks so fun. I used to jump freefall and I've had those days where you're pointed into the wind going backwards no matter how you set your trim and pull on the lift webs. Looks fun, cheers.

Another great Werner Herzog documentary!

You seem like a very very nice man. Glad you had a safe landing.

You set that down like a butterfly with sore feet. Butter. Sheer butter. Wunderbar!

I’d say you are a highly skilled hang glider pilot. Nice job.

Hahahaha reminds me of a couple of flights. I was thinking "bottom land" about five seconds before you. Glad you got down safely, thanks for the video.

When you think about it, that bag is a very thoughtful piece of equipment. It helps make sure the recovery crew have an easy cleanup when you're done.

Thanks for posting. I've had two similar experiences, I suspect a mountain upwind caused rotors with strong winds, but both were far away so I'm not sure. Not fun! And the second time a friend took off after me and almost crashed back into the mountain!

Great job landing with your hands on the base bar. Thanks for posting. I've had my share of days like this and worse. It's not uncommon.

I didnt know Werner Herzog was a hang glider.

Thank goodness you were able to land safely!! ❤

Holy shit! Strong wind is NOT your friend. You’ve probably heard a thousand times…It’s better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground. If you are having a difficult time penetrating the wind, and you are at altitude, go for the LZ while you have the altitude so you’re clear the opticals below. I know you wanted to watch your friend land, which is OK but you don’t want to land into trees or powerlines. Get to your LZ first. That’s the most important thing in your particular situation. Great video!!!! Hope you have many, many years of safe flying! It’s the greatest sport on the earth! Former instructor, Wind Sports, Southern California.

Back in the mid 1990's I worked at a gas station at the base of a mountain in San Bernardino California. It was right at the lower part of the Cajon pass, every morning I met this hang glider that would ride the thermals that came out of the canyon. He would reach an altitude where you could not see him anymore. I remember he said he was training to break the Altitude record, don't remember his name. He may have been a member of "The Crestline Soaring Society" as it was nearby.

If pilots are watching this to determine how flexies and rigids comparatively respond to turbulence, I can give my experience that my Atos handled turbulence like the Death Star - big, heavy, cruised through turbulence like it didn't exist. On a given day my fellow flex wing pilots often would comment on how rough the air was; I was typically surprised - in my Atos I hadn't noticed any rough air at all.

Very interesting. Great video.

I love how he notices the kindness behind his friend running towards the landing site.

I didn’t know Werner Herzog narrated hang-gliding videos 😉

That was a nice ride!! But I'll keep two on the tarmack thank you!!!

Nice to have Werner Herzog narrating this for us

Thanks for the ride.

Damn man, both you guys did awesome work with that flight.

Had a flight in Owens Valley in 1996 I think. Conditions developed into very strong where you felt 10 seconds out of control then 5 seconds in control. Ended up decending vertically right onto where the two landing strips of Bishop Airport crosses and then musceling my glider (WW HP AT158) to behind a hangar and out of the wind.

I learned the hard way not to launch at a popular flying site when no one else is flying. It was at the south side of Point of The Mountain in Utah. My first time flying there, after usually flying the Oregon Coast and Pine Mountain. Constant, steady wind about 14 MPH coming straight, stable wind streamer on flying wire, the lift on the wing felt nice just standing there. A 2 step launch situation. Off in the distance were cumulus clouds, I thought there is no way that there could be much turbulence here so I launched. Quickly ascended to about 2000 feet over launch, then I was hit terrifying turbulence. I fought to a hard landing and bent a down tube. I am lucky that's all it was, but I learned never to fly a new popular site unless others were flying. I went back the next morning and there were about 20 other para and hang pilots and had some wonderful soaring.

Your voice sounds like if Werner Herzog would narrate the whole experience with a stoic mindset. :)

Looks thrilling!!

‘We haven’t got a car phone Del!’

You must have had arms like popeye after that mate. Well done. I was up there with you shiiting myself lol

schöner Ritt auf dem Bullen.

Good job getting it down!

This would be akin to Bob Ross narrating a traffic accident.

Balls of steel

Thrilling indeed

Those 2 little wires supporting his entire body weight freaks me out

Thank you for *not* playing horrible techno-music in the background.

Born without wings + gravity = I'll stay on the ground

This friend sounds like a good buddy, not a good flying partner... No batteries, insufficient weather knowledge, next thing on this list could get you killed.

Wind is our enemy while we endure its allegiance.

Rumor has it Stockton Rush salvaged the parts to work on his Space Program.

we used to have a lot of hang gliders here in the owens valley off the sierras--too many of them filled their pants with poo with the changing winds

ty for sharing

Sünde? Looks more like Himmel. Thanks for posting!

Skills!!!!

Catastrophic Uncontrollable Altitude Gain. That’s what would happen if you aren’t strong enough.

Man has always dreamt of flight. This guy can't wait to stop.

I don't know nothing about gliders ... but the landing looked great to me :D That was a bad day? I have to see the good ones.

Werner Herzog goes hangliding.

Wow.

Just a few days ago a friend of mine was killed while hang gliding. He was only 21. The devastation of his partner and family is heart-rending. We all need adventure in our lives, but for goodness sakes, be defensive and minimise the risks. Pushing the boundaries like this can end badly...

RIP. So sad.

I'm only here because I thought a killer whale was hang gliding in the thumbnail. 😂

Sooooo. the Earth is round, flat and concave! LOL - we are living on a plain.....fish eye is the only curve visible.

I've flown in conditions that were too rough to land in, and had to stay up another hour or so to wait it out. Not fun.

Wind gradient It is the rate of increase of wind strength with unit increase in height above ground level.

Werner Herzog does hanggliding

Reminds me of why I don't miss hangliding any more.

Wave rotor? No obvious lenticular in the sky but fairly likely

I have a question, yesterday morning i was looking at my flight traker . I was looking for airforce activity over south eastern England. I noticed at least 50 to 75 gliders in the air spread out over a few hundred miles. Then as i scrolled up north i seen the same , more and more gliders. My question is, is this a big thing in the UK ? Or was it a special event.? Ive never seen that many in the air before. The whole lower half of England was just covered in gliders.

Screw flying in a giant sock with a thin piece of knicker elastic holding you up.

Kinda sounds like y'all made a bunch of little mistakes that day. Glad everyone is safe and more educated.

Wow this is some two week old refrigerator pie 🥧🥧

Having experienced high wind destroying ridge lift, I was also lucky to penetrate.... I always wondered about just going down wind from the top and landing kilometres away? A high speed dive and 180 to land?

HG pilots are the best weathermen I know, for obvious reasons.

If the wind had increased in strength is there any option for flying along the ridge and off the end of it - and out of the lift?

Motherfluckin fabtastical!!

You can almost hear the stall warning alert

I'm having PTSD from my pilot wings 64 days!😮

I thought it was a penguin paragliding at first 😂😂

My man, dump that wing and get down on the deck. You gain ground speed. All you're doing is kiting. A great job, though. You made it.

I think if you were in a dive position you'd lose altitude more faster, but no one can design properly in difficult times.

Blimey!

Ralf, auf welcher Website kann ich denn den Windgradient einsehen und prüfen? - Danke. lg.

The feet does stuff to my face

The friend in the ATOS for anyone wondering: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jmnJWcTsa5I.html Great job not dying!

What was the wind direction on that day?? It's also not the "venturie" effect, but the "compression zone"!!!!

I would literally rather slit my wrists than hang on to that in those conditions :(

Hell!? Naaa bro this is living! Lol

Thought this was a sequel to Free Willy for a second..

Didn’t know Werner Herzog liked to glide

Good video! Although i would lower the audio of the video significantly, nobody is waiting for wind noises😅

Hi from Venezuela, really scary

It looks like that farm out front is causing a lot of the turbulence. Is that hill even 200 meters high?

What was the wind and gust spread at launch?

I can guarantee that I will never make this mistake.

worm boy flies