Let’s see. Well, when I moved to NC in the early 70s, I explored the coast and mountains anytime I had time. At the beach, I visited the site of the Wright Brothers’ flights and Jockey’s Ridge, and in the mountains, I visited Grandfather Mountain. So when I first became aware of hang gliding, the first two places that I thought of were Jockey’s Ridge and Grandfather Mountain right out of the gate. One of my friends who had an agency at the time suggested that I try to fly off of Grandfather, so that kind of reinforced my interest. I began to see flying off Grandfather Mountain as a challenge and a goal that I wanted to achieve. That was the main motivation I had. When I went to Grandfather, the first thing I did was talk to Mr. Morton (Hugh Morton, who opened Grandfather Mountain as a travel attraction after inheriting the land from his family. Morton was instrumental in helping the area achieve state park status). I proposed the idea of flying hang gliders off the Mountain, and he thought about it for a long while before eventually agreeing. 

I had 2 friends with me, Vernon Collins and Ronnie Whitlow, from Portsmouth, Virginia, who eventually flew off the mountain after me that day. Anyway, the day before, we had done a test flight off Hump Mountain to ease our nerves a little bit. I had never done a mountain flight before in my hang-gliding career, so we wanted an easy place to fly where we could get experience. Hanes Boren of FootSloggers, a well-known outdoor outfitter in the Boone and Blowing Rock area, guided us to Hump Mountain, which had a rolling meadow on top that made for an easy, grassy launch. We couldn’t get to the bottom quickly, but we could see it, and it looked open. We also had topographic maps and gauged that we could make the landing area. So, we took off from Hump Mountain and flew down to the bottom for practice. Of course, what you can’t see from topographic maps are the details of the landing area, so it turned out to be some pastureland filled with barbed wire fences and loaded with cow pies. Some of us were lucky enough to avoid the barbed wire fences but not those cow pies.

  

When we landed, we hadn’t even realized that we’d effectively flown from North Carolina to Tennessee because the farm we landed on was actually in eastern Tennessee. So that was the practice that helped us feel confident and comfortable to take on Grandfather. 

When we found the conditions to be right, we made our way up to an overlook on the mountain. We picked this overlook as opposed to the top peak because there was only a 50 or 60-foot drop to the tree line as opposed to a 400-foot drop from the top cliff face of Grandfather Mountain. We decided that that made more sense for a first flight. So, I launched off there and had a beautiful flight. I couldn’t quite make the landing area by the lake that we had mapped out, but I landed on a green with 3 golfers playing. I yelled down at them as I was landing. That was funny. They did not believe me when I told them I had just flown off the top of a mountain. 

When you’re flying, that’s the easy part. The launch is always scary to me, so as soon as you’re in the air, you relax. That’s the way the flight was. As soon as I got launched, everything was fine and so beautiful. There was a light wind, and I was able to cruise on down to the golf course where I had a good landing. Everything went really well on that first flight, and the golfers were a hoot because they just couldn’t believe that I had flown off the top. After the success of that flight, I was feeling confident and cocky enough to try again from the cliff peak at the very top of the mountain, which is a 400-foot face. My second flight was a little scarier and less successful because I attempted to soar along the cliff face. The launch was frightening too because the granite and rock was weather and pit-marked, and it was hard footing to run off of. Once I was in the air, I could feel the lift, so I attempted to soar along the cliff face. I don’t remember climbing, but I remember being able to maintain altitude. However, I stayed along the face for a bit too long, so when I turned towards the landing area, I realized in retrospect that I turned too late and was flying over a valley. The headwind was too strong for me to reach the landing area, so I had to land in a tree about 60 feet above the ground. The staff at Grandfather were all experienced climbers and woodsmen, so they were able to come get me and my glider down without a scratch. My second flight was still beautiful but definitely a little bit humbling. 

Well, it amazes me! I didn’t think it was a very big deal at the time. Well, actually, it was a big deal to me, but I really didn’t think others would care much at all. I had no idea what it would mean to the sport at that point in time. Mr. Morton was especially incredible. First of all, he fell in love with hang gliding when he saw me fly, which was very fortuitous for the sport. Secondly, he was known as the top promoter in the state of North Carolina at the time, and he sent out a news release about my flight, and it went out around the world. He sent me clippings from Iceland, from Japan, from Europe, from everywhere! It exposed the sport around the world. From there, for the next year, he set up the USHPA nationals, a flying team that flew Grandfather on a daily basis and made three films about hang gliding that were broadcast across America. He was known as the best photographer in the state, so the first widespread images of hang gliding were published by him and shared with the world. His efforts are arguably more notable than mine when it comes to advancing the sport because he really gave great exposure to hang gliding and Grandfather Mountain around the world. I just flew my glider. It was very fortuitous. I had no idea when I set Grandfather Mountain as a goal that I would get so lucky in meeting him and forming a friendship with him.

I’d say the part of the Morton family in general. Not just in what Mr. Morton did for the exposure of hang gliding, but also in preserving Grandfather Mountain and turning it into a State Park. The land could’ve easily been sold and developed, but the family chose to give back to the land and the state of North Carolina and share such a beautiful place with the public that so many now enjoy today.

Looking back 50 years later, the greatest piece of advice I can give is to pursue your passion because you never know what doors it will open. When I look back, it amazes me what came from that flight. I never could’ve foreseen any of it, but I’m so happy with everything that it set in motion. I think that through pursuing your passion, you will find what you are meant to do in this world.