Topa Flyers

Hang Gliding in Ventura County, California

Local Hang Gliding Site Guide

Year round cross-country flying is possible at a variety of sites scattered throughout Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. These are described in an on line site guide which can be interfaced through a clickable area map.

Hang gliding instruction is available at Fly Away hang gliding school in Santa Barbara.

Additional information (heavy on PG) about Santa Barbara flying can be found at FlyAboveAll. Phone number for windtalker on La Cumbre Peak is (805) 963-4422.

RAP Forecast Soundings

These are short term forecasts of the atmospheric profile you can expect at various flying sites at the actual time you will be flying. They are based on the RAP weather model from NOAA/NCEP. I provide these forecasts for the following sites:

Santa Barbara, Pine Mtn, Black Hawk, Lone Pine, Bishop, Guadalajara

Or submit request for location not listed above. See map of station IDs.

Location:
Location may be Name, "lat,lon" or RAOB-WMO-ID. For instance, "ABQ" or "34.97,-106.43" or "72365" will all return a sounding forecast for Albequerque, NM. Forecasts for locations outside the CONUS grid are based on the GFS weather model. See the NOAA RAP sounding page.

Upper Air Soundings

I've written some scripts which download the 12Z and 00Z rawinsonde data every day and plot it up in a format more intelligible to most pilots than the Stuve or Skew-T plots. Tell me if you have any sites you'd like me to add.

Vandenberg, San Diego, Oakland, Medford

Tuscon, Flagstaff, Albequerque, Boise, Denver, Grand Junction, Salt Lake City, Reno, Riverton

Topeka, Grand Rapids, Norman OK, Dodge City KS, Midland Regional TX, Amarillo

Sterling VA, Blackburg VA, Pittsburgh

Wroclaw PL, Legionowo PL

Or submit request for station not listed above. See map of station IDs.

Station ID: (Station ID may be Name or 5 digit WMO-ID)

Other Useful Stuff

Dr. Jack's BLIPMAPS:      Forecast      Univiewer      RASP      Help & Info

Windy.com          XCSkies          misc weather links.

Used Equipment Ads

Peruse and place ads for used hang gliding or paragliding equipment. Database of hang glider models will tell you what's what.

Contact Information

For more information about the Topa Flyers or local flying you can contact: