Take to the sky with Appalachian Airsports

Aug. 4—LENOIR — Enjoy beautiful scenery and learn all about the joys of flight with Appalachian Airsports, a Lenoir-based hang gliding school.

Willie Vaughn opened Appalachian Airsports in September 2021 with the help of his wife, Hannah Burgess, also the company's creative director, and Zach Decker, managing partner. Vaughn and Burgess moved to Lenoir in 2017 to each pursue their dream jobs: Burgess became a full-time, professional mermaid, and Vaughn taught hang gliding with Thermal Valley Hang Gliding, located at 4085 Old Amherst Rd., Lenoir.

Vaughn said he grew up around aviation, as both his parents were hang gliders in the 1980s. After high school, he became a hang gliding instructor in Outer Banks and never looked back.

He said one moment, in particular, has always stuck with him: flying tandem with his mom in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

"My mom happened to be down on a trip, and I convinced her to go on a flight with me," he recalled.

Another momentous occasion was when he was awarded Instructor of the Year from the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (USHPA) in 2022.

Now, Vaughn trains both local and out-of-state pilots to hang glide by foot-launching, where they run off the mountain with a glider on their back, completely under their own power and the mercy of the wind.

"We always have to chase the wind," Vaughn explained. "There are very different conditions for beginners compared to intermediate or advanced."

There are about five or six sites within a few hours of Lenoir where Vaughn takes his students, including a training hill in Boomer, as well as Hibriten Mountain Launch and another launch out towards Taylorsville, which are maintained by him and his fellow, hang gliding enthusiasts, the Buzzard Club.

Burgess said that she and Vaughn have combined their two passions a number of times.

"We did a photo session at the Outer Banks one year when there was a specific type of air current happening that lets the pilots fly really close to the top of the sand dunes for hours," she said. "I climbed up on a sand dune in a mermaid tail, and we have a picture where he's high-fiving me from the air."

Vaughn said that hang gliding is like "realizing man's oldest dream."

"If you've ever had a flying dream, you're usually laying down on your stomach, flying like a bird," he said. "Hang gliding is the closest that we can get to that with human-powered aviation, in my experience. There's no motor, so everything is very peaceful and quiet up there."

One of the most rewarding things for Vaughn is seeing his hang-gliding students prove to themselves that they can do it.

"The coolest part of it is meeting all the people," said Vaughn. "It's one of the best communities I've ever known."

He assures that the foot-launch lessons offer a mellow progression of learning how to maneuver the glider, run with it, and jump into the air.

"We're not just going to throw you off the mountain by yourself and wish you luck," he said jokingly.

Along with hang gliding lessons, Appalachian Airsports offers gliders and other hang gliding gear from brands like Moyes Delta Gliders and Wills Wing, two of the largest hang glider manufacturers in the world. Vaughn is also a site guide for a number of launch sites in the area, with the help of other local pilots. He offers local discounts for business owners interested in taking the leap.

Visit www.flyappair.com to find out more.

Burgess said the two are looking forward to participating in the N.C. Gravity Games again in the spring of 2024.