A Long Tradition of Flying at Black Mountain Open Space Park

Follow us for a day of hang gliding and paragliding at the Black Mountain Open Space Glider Port, a historic San Diego location that has been home to free-flight activities since the 1930s. Unpowered, foot-launched gliders soar over Black Mountain Open Space offering a unique way to explore the park and commune with nature.

Black Mountain in Rancho Penasquitos is commonly referred to as Little Black to distinguish it from another Black Mountain in San Diego County that is commonly referred to as Big Black.

San Diego has a rich heritage of flight history that dates back to John Montgomery’s 1st glider flight in 1884. In the 1930’s re-interest in gliding was rekindled with Charles Lindbergh learning to glide off Mt Soledad and the cliffs of Torrey Pines with his wife Anne Lindbergh. Local school kids got very excited about gliding to be like Lindbergh and used Black Mountain as a proving ground for their wood shop class built full size gliders.

In the 1970’s Black Mountain once again became a popular location for Hang Gliding. This tradition continues today with Hang Gliding and Paragliding in the Black Mountain Open Space accessed from the Glider Point Trail and service road to the towers.

________________________________________

This video was Produced by the San Diego Hang gliding and Paragliding Association and the Friends of Rancho Penasquitos Preserve (www.penasquitos.org ) with support of the Black Mountain Open Space Parks Citizen Advisory Committee.

The Friends of Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and management of the preserve and the adjacent open spaces and lands that once made up the old Peñasquito Rancho Spanish land grant. We support educational and recreational activities that foster an appreciation of the natural environment.

The San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, SDHGPA, is a hang gliding and paragliding club dedicated to the promotion and preservation of foot launched soaring (non motorized "free flight") in San Diego County. SDHGPA is a local chapter of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, USHPA. SDHGPA’s guiding principle is that all foot launched pilots of hang gliders and paragliders alike share common goals and interests best served by a united effort to promote flying safety, education, and good community relations in San Diego County. www.SDHGPA.com

Filmed and edited by Jim Karnik Films www.fieldnotes.com

A big thank you goes out to all of our SDHGPA Pilots that participated on our flight filming day; Friends of Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve and the the Black Mountain Open Space Parks Citizen Advisory Committee for their continued support; Ranger Cary Goldstein, Gary Fogel, Mike Kelly FLPC Conservation Chair, Ranger Ed Christensen, and all the other park rangers for their support and help with filming; Steve Rohrbaugh, Bob Hammond, Mike Latour, Peter Jay Brown, and Lee Hector for providing additional flight footage; Antonella Zampolli for all of her coordination in pulling all this together and making it happen, and special thanks to Jim Karnik for all his efforts and flexibility in waiting for the perfect flight filming day through our off season and wading though hours of resulting flight footage.