6th Annual Tater Hill Open

Apparently there are 48,000 registered pilots in France. And by pilots, I mean pilots of hang gliders and paragliders. There are only 4,000 registered pilots in the United States.

It's like the soccer debacle all over again. The United States always seems to miss out on the really good sports.  I digress.

On Saturday I went with my dad (a retired hang glider) to the 6th Annual Tater Hill Open. This event is absolutely incredible.

Take off site on top of Tater Hill.

Pilots from all over the country and the world (Peru, Germany, Brazil and England to name a few) come to Tater Hill, one of the best flying spots in North Carolina, to spend a week jumping off a mountain.

Perfect.

This is what the pilot sees.

Although the weather conditions were not ideal when my father and I went, we were still able to see 3 paragliders fly and 1 incredible landing.

Bless the heart of Lynne Townsend. Lynne, a photographer, flew tandem with an experienced pilot to captured some incredible shots of other flyers.

I will leave you with my two favorite anecdotes from the trip.

My Dad: "They use all kinds of fancy equipment these days - GPS, communication devices, barometers."
Me: What do they use the communicators for?
Dad: So pilots can tell each other when they are near each other.
Me: What did you do back when you flew?
Dad: We just yelled, "Hey! I'm underneath you!"

Random Wife of a Pilot: I'm an ER nurse and I hate it when those meth addicts come into the ER.
Dad: Meth addicts?
Random Wife: Oh hell yeah. Those people will fight you for an hour just to get $0.75. Nothing makes me stick someone with a big needle faster than a mouthy meth addict.