As I always tried to teach my students: it is infinitely preferable to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.

This video brought back memories of a flight I had and a lesson mother nature taught me about the science of rising air :). Towing on the Prairies of Alberta, Canada. I had just bought my first vario and got into a thermal at about 800 ft. AGL. My vario showed 400fpm as I entered the thermal. I remember thinking, wow, this is like cheating. I circled trying to find the core of the thermal... 400 became 700fpm, then 1000. At 1400fpm I thought, wow, I'm going to make it to cloudbase for the first time. As I made it to cloudbase, my vario was screaming 1500fpm. I decided I would circle one more time just to see and feel the wisps of cloud. Of course it was the middle of july and approximately 80 degrees on the ground. That one more circle, put me into the cloud. I looked down to see the ground and noticed that their was Sleet on the knuckles of my gloves. I decided it was time to get the hell out of there and dove to the VNE speed of my Sport 2. (70mph) I looked over at my vario and it was reading 400fpm UP. It took a few very long seconds to realise what was going on. Of course I questioned my vario's accuracy. Hell i was diving at 70mph, how could I still be going up! Here's the best part. My mind flashed back to 6 months earlier sitting on the toilet, reading the latest Hang glider magazine...specifically, the article on what to do if you get stuck in cloud suck! So the solution was super simple. Instead of trying to dive out of the thermal and creating all that lift with the extra speed I was pouring on to get away. I put my glider into a very high bank angle side slip and spiraled down away from the "Thermals" that were now converging to start forming a thunderstorm. Once free of the good lords grip... I went on to the see the longest cloud street I have ever witnessed. Made a 35 mile cross country flight that day with my new found knowledge. I will remember the sleet on the front of my gloves as long as I live. Thank you for sharing your video and I am so glad you had a flight to remember... with a happy outcome :) All the best, warm winds and no sink! S.C.

You could see that storm very clearly and you chose to go up.....

A major part of learning to fly certified aircraft is studying meteorology and knowing when not to fly, especially if you’re taking passengers.

I would love to hear the actual audio instead of the music

Literally from the very first frame of the flight portion of this video and seeing the storm behind you, I knew this was going to be a wild ride. As a private pilot, we are taught to stay at least 20 miles away from thunderstorms. So to fly that close to a thunderstorm in a rinky dink hang glider is a bit crazy. And then to turn back toward the storm and get sucked up a second time was even more cray-cray.

On her way home she Goggled “Drone Flying for Beginners.”😊

Next time, just look for lift. Whenever I do, all I find is sink.

I'm actually stuck in an updraft right now, but the 5G signal is great. Wish me luck!

My instructor always said "It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the sky than it is to be in the sky wishing you were on the ground."

He also lucked out with such a calm passenger. She did great too!

My instructor got sucked into a cloud at 17,000 feet and came out at 26,000 no oxygen glider covered in ice.. landed in a box canyon in a spiral when he came out. Lucky to have survived that one!

I'm a glider pilot and would not have thought that the Rogallo wing would have been that good in a thermal. Glad you had a safe landing. I learned the physics of a large CU cloud. I was flying a 1-26 and ended up in the cloud, entering at cloudbase. The convection currents inside this cloud drew me in, gaining some altitude. I quickly responded and leveled by sense, then nosed down, finally punching through the cloudbase. Cumulonimbus clouds, though, have a hell of a lot of energy and getting sucked up in one can run you up thousands of feet.

Every bad end starts by bad decission. You are luck that it ends with smile. Next time dońt go to fly with thunderstorm on horizon.

Flying off a hill top with 6 others here in New Zealand quite a few years back. The other 6 had 5min plummets, scratching around for lift. I had over an hour almost vertical in my harness, with the bar as far back as I could get it. Finally spat me out at 9000ft. Scary!

This is incredible. Thanks for sharing. This serves as a good lesson as to how dangerously strong and large lift can get.

Had it happen back in the early 90s. It is amazing how fast the excitement of great I am going up turns to, oh shit I am still going up. Actually thought about cutting the hang loop and using the reserve or breaking the glider. That Pac Air was stronger than I ever knew. Great job staying calm and keeping the student calm as well.

1970'S SEAGULL PILOT HERE..... 🤣🤣🤣🤣 THE PHRASE DONT MESS WITH MOTHER NATURE, COMES TO MIND. (also from the 1970's!!) 👏👏👏💪 hanging your leg over the cross bar was CLASSIC! 😉

Interesting problem to have. I remember reading an account about two sailplane pilots who jumped out of it as it was getting sucked higher. One opened his chute when he cleared the cloud, the other when he was only a thousand feet. The first one spent the next hour or so going up and down. Frozen from the cold and blacking out with the altitude. He had a frightening day.

Lord I hope I never have to stand on my control bar to get back down.

Who would have thought, pointing the nose down would make it go down.

Great job keeping out of that. I'm PG pilot and got sucked into an OD storm cell once. It was the single scariest experience of my adult life. 11 m/s lift in sopping wet rain and turbulence you wouldn't believe. I ended up stalling and back flying down and out 3000ft before I was out of the white room and got to safety. Just wild

Anyone who's flown a small aircraft knows what those puffy clouds you're flying under mean on humid summer days. A Cessna 152 could take constant pitch and throttle control to reasonably stay at the designated altitude. Some days were *bumpy*. I can't fathom deciding to take to the air and then stay up with a big squall line clearly visible on a hang glider. Seeing anything like that in the distance meant, "we're getting away from that".

Not only did the instructor get them outta a terrible situation, his complacent decision to continue his lolly-gagging around the thunderstorm allowed him to further boast of his horrific entanglement with sure death by getting them both back into that same stupid problem he didn't think about before subjecting this poor student into death-defying threats. Great job Jr. Now heres your lawsuit.

He’s like “hey, can you help me pull the bar in” 😂

I liked this video a lot; as a PG pilot I've always thought you can just yank the bar and honk downwards at a 40 degree angle at 90km/hr. I fly tandem too and I guess a hangi tandem is a bit of a truck, meant to fly stable and damped. Kudos to miss Brooke smiling all the time! All the best, fly free my friend.

At the beginning of the video you mentioned the decision to fly was based on beautiful clear blue skies above you! Sorry, but I don't see ANY blue sky anywhere in your video, only overcast skies. Your poor pilot decision-making created this whole incident and it could have been avoided.

Wild ride for sure ! ❤

dark clouds: let's go flying.. can't be that bad. :) At least you weren't under a paraglider. Also there I learnt: getting away is the way, not getting down. Because you won't make it down without getting away first..

Couldn't think of a better music theme to this than Roblox! 👍

That would have been a serious no go for most certified pilots. You really need to learn a bit about aviation weather, and think of your passenger before you go up. Maybe you're willing to take the risk, but your passenger isn't informed and can't make an informed decision. You're lucky. This one ended well. Don't go up with a passenger in conditions like that again. It may not end so well.

Although the decision to fly that day was questionable in hindsight, kudos to the instructor for keeping a level head in the situation. He got them out safe, live and learn. Well done.

Wow, you definitely got some extra air time out of that flight, glad it worked out👍 In the 80s I fought a thunderstorm thermal above Mingus Mountain in Arizona and it sucked me up to 11.500 before I got out to the S/E but landing sites in the forest are a different story. I’m still alive and I’m glad you both are too👍

Non flyer here. If the updraft was due to moisture being drawn up from the delta, why would you not head inland, away from the river? Perhaps I'm missing something here....

Just before they got airborne black storm clouds can be seen on the background .Taking off was just a very bad decision .

I'm looking at the sky and I'm seeing a no flying day ! Customer got her money bet she didn't think she was going to 16 thousand ft mind pmsl 🤣 lucky people

Es una experiencia inolvidable... Yo tuve una parecida con una Rumour2 un verano sobre la Muela de Alarilla. En un día de mucho calor, ascendí 500 m. en térmica, y de pronto entré en una zona de fuerte viento y ascenso. Me era imposible bajar, y solo picando a tope conseguía limitar la subida a un +2 m/s; pero era muy cansado y no dejaba de subir y retroceder a pesar de ir a 80-90 km/h. Llegó un momento en que empecé a sentir un frio intensísimo, y se me quedaban los guantes pegados en la barra de control al instante, como me costaba despegarlos sujeté la barra por la goma que la cubría en las curvas. También iba en mangas de camiseta y mi nariz era como una fuente continua de agua. Poco a poco me llevaba hacia atrás porque no aguantaba picando tanto tiempo. Se me ocurrió derivar hacia un lado, y al fin encontré una zona donde la intensidad bajaba y podía descender. Al llegar a 500 m el viento de pronto cesó y el calor intenso me subió rápidamente la temperatura. Había pillado una onda bastante violenta procedente de la sierra, a unos 50 km. Por debajo de 500 m sólo se podía ascender con térmica y era difícil pillar alguna. Ese día solo otra ala lo consiguió y le pasó lo mismo que a mi, pero era una Rumour pequeña y tuvo muchas menos dificultades que yo, que iba con un ala bastante grande en el límite de mi peso. En otra ocasión pillé onda en el mismo sitio, pero esa fue mucho más suave y mucha gente la cogió sin problemas. Es realmente angustioso ver que vas a una situación cada vez peor y sin poder evitarlo... Recomiendo en estas situaciones lo que hice, derivar de lado; o dejarse llevar hacia atrás si hay recogida( yo no la tenía ), pero dudo que se dejara de ascender; y pasar de 35 o 40 ºC a 0ºC con sensación térmica de -5 o -10 ºC y descendiendo... puede llegar a ser mortal( sobre todo si se va en pantalón y manga corta( menos mal que iba con guantes ), por que la onda puede subir mucho e ir aumentando la velocidad a medida que se sube. Me alegro que todo fuera bien. Me viene a la memoria un Campeonato que se hizo en Como, Italia, donde varios pilotos murieron al ser absorbidos por un cumulo nimbo. También han palmado así pilotos de planeador. Saludos

Not to mention they had to be getting pretty cold, since not dressed for the altitude.

Been there done that stuck in a climbing dive. Just when you think that you’ve conquered it and ready to land, bang, up to the same stupid altitude that on a fine day would be a sky out but today even the maize leaves from the farmer’s fields are at cloud base!

There is a story from yesteryear, of a bunch of pilots in Italy flying a site at the N end of a lake (Como?) in Italy on a sunny, blue-sky day, in the 80's(?). A fast system came up the lake and a big Cu popped over the site, which rapidly developed into a CuNim with the associated massive lift. Some were able to land, but a number were sucked up into the cloud, and as I recall, like about six were found frozen solid miles downwind later and some had harrowing tales. I have been flying since 1972 and I cannot remember the details, but perhaps someone else recalls this. I could tell you a few stories of my own experiences. File under: Tandems I had to stand on the control bar, WITH the student.

Happy ending! phew that was tense. Theres noting quite like being up in the air when you really want to be on the ground, its not a great feeling, I've had it a few times. Nice to see a water landing, Ive not seen one before x

Damn, that looks dangerous and fun- right up my alley!

One thing is certain....that lady will NEVER try hang gliding again...

but I have to say I LOVE how by the end of the video your student was right up there flying on the bar with you instead of tandeming behind you. What a way to learn!

Weather forecasts? Pre-flight briefing?

I could feel the Adrenaline from my sofa.. the last thing I would have expected is a problem getting that flying raft out of the sky.. Way too cool 😎

You are a BOSS !

Did you have an airspeed indicator? If not, how did you know your airspeed relative to the wing's redline? What I see in the video looks like a handheld GPS unit to me. Glad you both survived unharmed! Thanks for sharing.

As a glide pilot I am intrigued by where the first thermals came from (before cloud suck). You are over a mega river with forests along the banks. Forests tend to give off lift late in the day and Grey clouds build up late in the day. I am assuming that those Forests were super hot during the day and this flight occured late in the day. . Make me curious about install remote thermometers in the forest areas.

Oooh yes; had this situation too in my hanggliding days; first, you enjoy the thermals, but this flips quite quickly when you are 2000 meters above the landing zone and it still goes only up 😖

I was a Tandem pilot for years. Your passenger was the best!!!!!

I went for a demo ride in a glider. We were at 2000 feet and caught a thermal up to cloud base at 4500. It was a hot summer day in Tennesse with beautiful fluffy white clouds mixed with blue sky. There was no wind on the ground at the runway. In a very short time we went from 2000 feet to 4500 feet. I was amazed that the updraft was that strong. I estimated the combined weight of the glider, the pilot and myself to be well over 1000 pounds.

What a fantastic way to launch and land. Not seen this before. Love it. Great times.

Deep respect for that girl. she was still in good mood after all of this!

I once flew in the Alps on a hangglider competition when similar thing happened - it was getting dark and there was lift everywhere, The only - and right solution was to abandon the competition and fly as fast as possible (bar at the knees) to where there was the most light. You don't want to spiral down with that altitude above ground which you usually have when flying in the moutains - you will be too exhausted and you don't want to land when the gusts from the thunderstorm will hit you in the landing pattern. Good thermals always mean there is a risk of local cells, so always keep watching the meteo conditions during flight. Interesting the glider with floats - how do you get ashore with it after landing?

I got stuck going up at the point where I was tired and needed to land. Quite scary. It was just before sundown and so time was limited. I don't know how I knew to do this, but I put the glider into a steep turn that was not coordinated. It took a while, but I was able to spiral out of the lift.

That's funny. I think I know the situation he was talking about. I immediately thought about it and thought, "you need to get your knees over the control bar." I read about it back in the 90s. Maybe '93 or so when I was hang gliding. I think the story was in Hang Gliding magazine. Guy was flying in the West. He was caught in something. I don't think it was a thunderstorm, though, but it was a major updraft and the sun was setting (you don't want to fly at night!) and he couldn't get down and he finally got his knees over the control bar to pull it back. The risk with that is you can fall through the control bar and if you do, then you go into a dive that you'll never recover from because you won't be able to get back over the control bar. Probably a lot less risk with a second person who can stay on the back side of the control bar.

Updrafts are no joke, glad you made it back down safely. I bet you were exhausted after that one!

Well handled. Calm initiative saved the day.

PILOT ERROR , NO FLY DAY

I’m not a flier, how much horizontal distance could you cover (cross country) if that had been your goal, with right clothing, etc?

Can someone explain to me what's happening here? is the air being sucked into the cloud faster than this glider top speed? what happens if you just try to get farther away from the cloud flying straight?

Would it be possible to put a couple of flaps that could open in the middle of it? In case this Happens, you could descend...

You had a pile of options from my standpoint. Run Forest run! But, what do I know...

Wow, very scary. That sucks!! So speeding straight ahead got you down faster than a spiral dive? And I don’t suppose you can spin that craft. I recently saw a video of a woman that got sucked up and dumped out at over something like 37,000 feet! And 50 below zero temps. The only reason she lived was that the temps put her into hibernation and the wing iced up and collapsed. ( a paraglide). She tumbled down quickly and came to wing flying again. She was hospitalized for hyperthermia and fully recovered. Wow. Glad you didn’t have to try THAT.

I've been cloud sucked while thermalling with a powered paraglider. It was like riding a wild bucking bronco. My glider was above me, beside me, behind me and under me. I spotted a bright spot to my left and added full power to advance towards it. I popped out of the cloud about 2500 feet above cloud base. The whole incident was less than 30-40 seconds.

I almost lost one of my friends like this, I think he is the person you were thinking about. He was sucked in to a cloud and was covered in ice before his glider broke and he fell though the cloud. when his glider came out of the cloud he was inverted. He also lost his parachute and crashed with the still broken glider. He was lucky to survive! SO NEVER FLY IN CONDISIONS LIKE THAT!

I’m not a hanglider, what would happen if you at #5:42 reached up and pulled on the central part of frame near the nose whilst pushing bar forward. Would that have given you more power to pitch the nose down ?

Hate to say it but it needs to be said. That was stupid even before the flight. Showing more respect right from the get go would have been wise. I can't believe you looked at that cloud and thought, nah, it's cool.

Cloud suck is pretty wild, happens in planes too! Flying gliders under really strong clouds - its like someone grabs the tail end of your plane and tries to pull you up like its a claw machine.

I am glad to hear that you are safe. That sounds like a frightening experience.

Never seen float glider like that before - well done you managed very well. You only have one option of landing .

What's plan B when things go sideways with a hang glider, do you have a parachute..??

@1:43 so why stay over the water? Wouldn't have had the same up-draft over land, no?

the gust front winds just by being in the vicinity of that cell don't bear thinking about..

Good thing y'all were wearing those little helmets.

Hi as a hangglider XC pilot I would recommend standing onto the bar, this will increase your speed a lot. Even more compared what you did. Especially with a biplace glider this is easily possible.

The cloud wasn’t the only thing sucking that day

Excellent pilot! What altitude was the tow release? Loved the pictures at the end.

Oh! That magnificient sky!😂

Great job and nice play by play. She may be brave but I don't think she fully grasped the gravity of the danger you were both in. For those questioning the decision to fly- sure, it wasn't the best however probalby 99-100 they would be fine. Some calculated risks are part of the game. We hiked Half Dome- slight clouds but we survived. Same weather next day and woman died when it randomly rained and that granite got very slick like ice (on a blue sky day.) Life is unpredictable.

Wonder what the lifted index was that day

One time almost 45 years ago, I got trapped in the under belly of an cumelus nimbus with my hangglider. I had to take several stalls and sideslips to ascape it. When I finely came out of it, I was compleately relocated. I had a nerve wereaking landing in a small opening in a woods field. But he story is only recorded in my mind.

Did you learn from this experience?

I was like "Oh no, they went in the water?!" Then I realized he has floats. lol

What a gutsy student.

I'm very new at Hang Giding, but could the Glider have been put into a stall to lose altitude?

Wow, I remember watching this at your Lake City house with the "Flying Gypsies" 😜

Very educational! I guess the lesson to be learned is not to try to get down but rather to get away, then down. Thanks for posting!

Bravo d'un ancien pilote de deltaplane des années 80...👍🙌 J'ai vécu une fois un début d'aspiration par un cumulonimbus et c'est très stressant...🙁

Lesson learned that young lady will thank you for it if she gets in the situation ever on her own or she might become an instructor great fly ing ❤

Great job getting back safe!

I have had to climb out on the front wires and push the control bar with my feet behind me.

Good thing there was no turbulence.

In Greece we say. Finally good, all good. A lucky day, which fills the bag of experience.

Epic stuff. Glad you got away safe. That student got her money's worth on that one!

I think I would have thrown in a 360 at the foot part to see my options, and then ran off to the right over the flats, so I was not running straight down the road with it chasing me; at least that way you could have 45'ed and let it pass a bit to your left. Pulled in that much, even with the lift, you should have been at least 35 mph, which on a diagonal, should have moved you from directly in front of it, even though you would have had to call for a ride from the farmer's field 20 miles inland. Very sad, lift when you don't want it, and no lift when you do want it. But hey, your passenger had a great attitude and got a nice LONG flight for just a flat land tow up. Hopefully she gave you a tip in the form of some clean shorts. Did you really land 300 yards offshore and make Brooke tow you back into land? Big kudos to Brooke for the superior attitude.

Also VERY very keen on knowing whether one of you has ever experienced static loads there up under or within the clouds? Beam me up Scotty!

In the sake of selfie 🤳 we are going to die

Maybe they can design a wing where you can open a window of sorts to reduce the lift.