- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
2 reviews for Lookout Mountain Flight Park
Spread like an eagle and strap on some hang gliding equipment at Lookout Mountain. Or for just an introductory foray into getting your glide on, go ahead and also strap on an additional person for a tandem quickie.
I randomly went hang gliding because of a group of people that were going, and am glad to have done so . . . especially since we're so close to a super hot hang gliding spot, with Rising Fawn only being a couple hours away from metro Atlanta.
The actual flight park and reservation experience was cool and well organized. And as for the hang gliding, it was really fun. Totally a very laid back experience. Like so laid back I would want my mom to do it - it was really pleasant.
They also have these really cool cabins right around the landing zone, which we didn't get to stay in because they were booked - but how nice of a day would it be to hang glide, step right into your cabin, pop open a bottle of wine and watch the sunset?
Makes for an awesome weekend trip from the city, or if you'd like to go all pro, a supafine facility to get your glide on!
This is the hang gliding capitol of the U.S. It's one of the more prominent school in the country. My instructor came all the way from California to come train here - pretty cool, so I had confidence in my instructors.
ROUTINE: So basically we drove up there from Atlanta (northwest), which took about 2 hours (100 miles). We went to the office at the top of the mountain to pay and sign our life away. Then you drive about 3 miles to go to the landing strip where they strap you to a hang glider and hook you up to a plane to tow you up to 2,000 or 4,000 feet. They do it this way as opposed to running off of the jump off point where the office is since it's sometimes hard to coordinate running with 2 people so it's safer.
All of us were beginners so we flew tandem (with an instructor). Depending on you, the instructor will be as aggressive or slow as you want. We did a couple of stalls where you pull the hang glider in (towards you) until you come to a complete stop and start free falling. OMG - that was scary but so fun. Then you just catch a current easily afterwards by pushing the hang glider away from you. Basically, you instructor can do tricks and all that or whatever you want up there. They will let you drive the thing too. Average speed up there is 30-40 miles according to my instructor. Not very fast since it's a bigger, bulkier hang glider built for 2.
SERVICE: All the instructors were very cool and accommodating. People in the office were all very nice and helpful. No complaints here!
PRICES: We got the group rate - $219 for 4,000ft, and $119 for 2,000ft for groups of 10 or more. For $20 you can get in air photos - cameras attached to the left most point of the hang glider. One of my friends just took his camera up there. It's pretty calm up there so taking you camera and taking video/pics is not too difficult.
ADVICE: Bring food for a picnic! It's so nice up in the mountains and where the jump off point is. Water. Sunscreen. Wear athletic clothing. Camera. Nothing else really to bring but the basics.
CONCLUSION: This is very cool sport and is relaxing. You can basically spend forever up there as long as you catch a current every once in awhile. They even have cross country competitions. If you haven't done sky diving, you should do this 1st then do sky diving. I think hang gliding was a little less exhilarating since I've done sky diving already.