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TxDOT to Hold Public Meetings This Week to Discuss Highly Trafficked Roads 6/16/13
International Hang-Gliding Competition Soars Into Big Spring 7/23/12
Felicia Bolton
fbolton@cbs7.com
CBS 7 News Reporter
July 23, 2012
Big Spring, TX – Competitors from all over the world took flight in U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Competition. The national championship is putting the little town of big spring on the map.
Pilots start their engines, lifting off 40 competitors vying for the title of U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding champion.
"Well thermals are hot air carrying, us aloft. So when you look up and see the birds circling …that's what we do. It's our chance to climb and soar like a bird," stated the 2011 U.S. Hang Gliding Champion Zac Major.
Hang gliders stated that the puffy clouds and warm weather in Big Spring makes it the perfect for flying in the world. The major competition is attracting pilots from across the globe to compete, which brings in tourism and money for the small town of Big Spring.
Hang gliding teams from Mexico, South America and Australia were just some of the gliders traveling to Big Spring to compete. They are taking the dangerous of hang gliding head on, flying up to 2,000 feet in the air with no motor.
"Usually the most dangerous is when you're flying close to the ground. So it would be landing and launch,” said Eduardo Oliveira with the Brazilian national hang gliding team.
They stated the perfect weather in big spring isn’t the only thing keeping this aviators soaring to the city.
"The people of Big Spring are so nice and so helpful. There's no place like it in the United States. There's no place we like to fly more than Big Spring, Texas," stated David Glover, organizer of the competition.
The 11th annual U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Competition lasts until this Saturday.
For more information call: (432) 264- 2362