Hang Glider Pilot       |  Home  |


Mike Smith
This file: http://www.energykitesystems.net/HGpilots/MikeSmith.html

H4, HGP, Otto
First solo HG: 1973
Recreational Hang Glider Pilot life rating by USHGRS
AWCL, CL, FL, FSL, HA, RLF, TUR, XC



Some additional information given by pilot's public activity:
  • Smitty
  • YES:  63rd BD: Yosemite!:  
    Video of the flight: Hang Gliding in Yosemite for Smitty's 63rd Birthday
  • He has owned the following gliders:
    1. Plans built 17' standard (plastic sail held on to frame with double-sided tape)
    2. 19' 17' "Cut Keel" Manta Standard
    3. Seagull 3
    4. UP Dragonfly
    5. UP Mark 2 Dragonfly
    6. Moyes Meteor 190
    7. Manta Fledgling
    8. Electra Flyer Olympus 180
    9. Manta Mirage
    10. Pacific Wings Vampire
    11. Phoenix Lazor
    12. Magic IV
    13. Phoenix Viper
    14. Phoenix Streak
    15. Phoenix Mystic
    16. Moyes Xtra Lite
    17. Pacific Airways MK IV
    18. WW HP-AT
    19. WW Falcon 225 (still flying it)
    20. WW U2 160 (still flying it)
    21. Icaro Laminar Z8 (still flying it)
  • I am a charter member of the USHGA.
  • Was certified as an instructor in the mid 70's.
  • Worked out of a shop in Shell Beach called Wind Sports and taught at the Guadalupe Sand Dunes.
  • Pioneered several flying sites back in the early days that are still being flown today. (Cayucos, Cuesta Ridge, Petersons Butte in Oregon and Stukel Mt. south of Klamath Falls.)
  • Licensed private pilot,
  • built an RV-8A.
  • Owned several powered trikes thru the years as well as a clipped-wing Challenger ultralight.
  • Made the mistake of flying an Eagle Ultralight with a buddy of mine (Roger Platt) over Pismo Beach on the 4th of July around 4 in the afternoon. Someone on the beach below shot a rocket at us. Then another.....and another.....and another! Scary as hell! We both did 180 degree turns back to the North. I imagined that was what it must have been like to fly over Berlin during WW2! 
  • I was involved in the first hang-glider drop from a hot air balloon with Mike Moore In the Pacific Northwest.
  • I believe Mike Moore and I were the first to fly off Aberts Rim in Eastern Oregon. 
  • Have had many memorable flights over the years but my favorite was when I first soared side-by-side with my 30 year old son together at Cayucos! (on separate gliders).


And we find to add interest:
  • SLO Soaring Association
  • Sold to RM: 190 Moyes Meteor 
  • Not the phtographer of early Cronk Kite in Torrance. Same name, but different.