Will those bright-colored wings ever return to the skies? The answer rests with University of Montana President George Dennison.
UM has suspended all hang-gliding activity at the Mount Sentinel site until campus legal advisers further examine safety and liability concerns, said Jim Lemcke, director of UM's Office of Public Safety.
With stalemate negotiations and the arrival of flying season, what to do about the conflict has landed firmly in Lemcke's lap. He has met with all sides involved and is now turning the matter over to UM's legal counsel, who will advise Dennison.
Each party involved has differing perspectives on the incidents, but the general outline goes like this:
The sky above Mount Sentinel is “uncontrolled air space.” It's not designated for specified use, it isn't regulated and it is legal for hang gliders to fly there.
The takeoff spot on Mount Sentinel, however, is owned by UM, which has allowed the club to use the site for three decades. Without UM's generosity, the club cannot fly, as there are no other safe public spots for takeoff on the mountain. Gliders have flown there all these years without major conflicts or trouble.
In fact, the site is the oldest inland launch in the nation, said Lisa Tate, president of the U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association.
Hang-gliding activities over Mount Sentinel are clearly marked on Federal Aviation Administration sectional charts and Missoula airport overview charts, which are required knowledge for all airplane pilots who fly in and out of Missoula. The hang-gliding club has submitted those maps to the university.
Although it is not required by law for hang-gliding pilots to call the air traffic tower before they take flight, it has been a longstanding courtesy to do so.
Last year, pilot Karl Hallman flew off the mountain without making a call to the tower. As he was flying his hang glider, a small commuter airplane on its way to the airport flew over Sentinel and about 1,000 feet above Hallman.
Alarm bells went off in the cockpit of the airplane, and the surprised and panicked pilot radioed the tower; he didn't know or expect a hang glider would be in the vicinity of his descent into Missoula.
During a mediation session months later, Missoula Mayor John Engen heard a recording of the cockpit tape and described it as “dramatic.”
“You can tell the pilot is clearly shaken,” Engen said, “and he had to make a maneuver so he and his passengers weren't at risk.”
Engen said he has long admired the hang gliders in his hometown, and loves that they do what they do: They are one of the unique things that makes Missoula, Missoula. But the tape of the pilot's call to the radio tower was haunting and drove home the point for extreme safety, he said.
“As mayor of Missoula, I'm balancing a lot of things, including the hang gliders,” Engen said, “and heaven forbid, both glider and aircraft go down in a collision - that's scary.”
Air traffic manager Henry Barsotti was in the tower when the incident happened. And he was in the tower as the summer months unfolded and two more incidents involving hang gliders occurred: A hang glider flying in from Alberton flew into controlled air space without permission near Missoula, causing concern for one airplane that day, and on another day, a hang-gliding pilot called the tower upset that a commercial airplane got too close to a hang glider.
Worried an alarming trend was under way between the hang-gliding community and the Missoula airport, Barsotti made calls to UM and the U.S. Forest Service, which controls the access road the hang-gliding club uses to drive their gear to the top of Sentinel.
By fall, UM weighed the information and decided to deny hang gliders access to the site until a resolution could be made between the two groups.
Engen agreed to get involved with the situation and help find an agreeable solution. But the meeting he helped arrange between Barsotti, Hallman and other hang gliders became so heated, it concluded with the issue far from resolved.
It was, in fact, the last time everyone came together to talk about the matter.
In the last few weeks, UM has received letters from the hang-gliding club outlining its position on the matter, and from Barsotti's boss, David McCann, who is an administrator with Serco Management Services Inc., the company contracted by the FAA to manage the Missoula control tower.
Here are McCann's three main concerns, as stated in his letter: There is an inherent danger of having hang gliders operating in the air path commercial airlines use to land at the Missoula airport and in denser airspace around the airport. Hang-gliding pilots were not consistent in notifying air traffic controllers about their operations. And regarding last year's incidents, it appears hang-gliding pilots were not “vigilant so as to see and avoid aircraft” or were simply unable to “yield the right-of-way.”
Hang gliders believe the air traffic controllers are using heavy-handed scare tactics to shut down hang gliding in Missoula.
“There is a misconception that hang gliders float like a leaf in the wind and we have no control - that's absolutely incorrect,” Tate said. “We have an extremely high safety record around the world, and the whole culture of the sport promotes safety and personal responsibility. When you look at the Mount Sentinel site and its track record - there has never been an instance where a hang glider has collided with any airplane in flight.”
“To our knowledge, there has never been a violation of any Missoula airport airspace by a hang glider launching from Mount Sentinel,” Hallman said. “And as far as safety goes, it's huge for us who hang glide - no one wants to die, and no one wants to hurt anyone else because of our hang gliding.”
One of the club's questions that remains unresolved is why in recent years does the control tower send airplanes directly over Sentinel to make steep descents over the mountain and all of Missoula en route to the airport?
Lemcke also wonders, and the wondering leads to two different sides of the same story.
“Why all the sudden are these airplanes flying over Sentinel when they didn't before, when before we didn't have these issues?” he said. “The hang gliders say that's not the normal route for planes, and Serco says 90 percent of the flights come through that way.”
“I don't know what the truths are in this,” Lemcke said. “According to Serco, there have been these incidents but none of them, as far as I know, have been reported to the FAA. Even so, it still gives us pause, and it was enough concern for us to suspend use of site for the hang-gliding club.
“And it will remain suspended until this is fully resolved.”
Given their impeccably safe track record for the past 35 years, and that each club member carries a $1 million insurance policy through the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, and given their desire to get back in the air, Missoula hang gliders are hoping the tradition will be allowed to continue.
“This is such a unique town,” said Craig Johnson, a Missoula hang-gliding pilot. “We have things like Brennan's Wave and the skatepark - and those things aren't just for boaters and skaters. We have them because the people of Missoula have a need for them; they want to see those things in their town and watch those things happen.
“And hang gliding is one of those things, I think. It brings wonder and freedom not to just the hang gliders, but to people sitting on their porches drinking a cold one and hanging out in their backyards on a beautiful summer day.
“Missoula will continue on its way whether hang gliding is here or not,” he said. “But I can't help but think a special part of Missoula will go forever if flying goes.”
Drop us a line
Hang gliding off Mount Sentinel has been suspended indefinitely and Missoula's 35-year tradition of hang gliders overhead may be nearing its end. The Missoulian would like to hear from readers who want to share comments or concerns about Mount Sentinel's hang gliders or who want to offer perspectives about the gliders' place in the city of Missoula's life story. Send your thoughts to Missoulian reporter Betsy Cohen at bcohen@missoulian.com.
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