Generally I prefer my aircraft to be the traditional kind, where you don’t have to wear a helmet to board.  But this might change my mind…

This past Saturday members of the Experimental Aircraft Association hosted the Shenandoah Valley Ultralight and Light Sport Flight Festival in New Market.  Possibly the coolest thing I’ve seen lately is the power hang glider.

One of these has been hovering above Harrisonburg lately.  From a couple hundred feet below, it looks like someone duct-taped an extra large kite and an industrial fan on the back of Grandpa’s lawn chair and took it for a spin.

There were plenty of radio-controlled planes, too.  These look just like the real thing shrunk to about three feet long.  People sometimes fly these on weekends near the south end of Harrisonburg, in the fields just east of I-81.  It’s the perfect place to scare the hell out of passing motorists.  Driving 80 mph and seeing one of these things make a hard landing out of the corner of your eye…let’s just say I know of at least one unnecessary “Holy-crap-you-better-send-somebody-quick!” call to 911.