Short Packing a Hang Glider for Airline Travel

I used to hate the idea of flying (in a plane) to an event. I had some bad experiences in the past when trying to take my hang glider with me. I was young, naive, inexperienced but have since learned a thing or two.

Airlines don't like it, their first reaction is "we can't take that on the plane" but with a bit of planning to make sure you get on a plane big enough to load your glider, they don't have much grounds to refuse it. Smiling always helps when checking in.

Materials cost me about $250 but are mostly re-usable . It takes me about 2.5hrs to do on my own but having other pilots around help the process.

The packing materials you need:

• 1" thick closed-cell polyethylene - I have 2 pieces (9'2"x38" + 4'0" x 41"). The first sheet actually tapers off to 31" at one end (nose). It's expensive stuff, I paid about $225 ($5/sq/ft) for my sheets and didn't enjoy cutting off almost a foot off of the entire 9' sheet ($45 worth) so try to get it cut to what you need.
• One sheet of that blue camping-mattress-foam - you only need about 1/4 of what you get. Use this to pad the cross bar junctions. Get it at Canadian Tire. Re-use this for the trip home and future trips.
• Two pieces of string to tie off your sprogs so you know what setting to reconnect them.
• One small Philips screwdriver - to remove the leading-edge ring.
• Two 2" PVC plumbing end-caps. Cut four saw-blade-width notches in them and they'll fit on the exposed ends of your leading edges (once you remove the outboard leading edges). Get these at Canadian Tire too!
• A pack of that super thin, packing foam that you use to pack your dishes in. Use this to pad anything else, mainly your batten-ends, down-tube ends, control-bar ends - anything that may rub. Throw some extra in as you scrap this stuff when you get there and need some for the trip home.
• A roll or two of hockey sock tape - don't use packing tape as it sticks too good to aluminum and is a bitch to get off.
• A roll of "shrink-wrap" (Suran Wrap)- the stuff shippers use to wrap up a pallet of goods. Use this to wrap your glider prior to putting the foam around it and prior to stuffing it in your glider bag. It helps to compress it so it does fit in your glider bag and keeps things from rubbing while in transit. You can get this from Home Depot, U-Haul shipping centres or probably Canadian Tire. It's tough to take the extra with you for the trip home and it's sometimes inconveniently hard to find when at your destination.
• 14" diameter plastic flower pots...the ones the nurseries throw out from their larger trees. I use these to protect the ends of the glider from being dragged by lazy baggage-handlers.

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