Interest Soars At The Middle School As A Dad Drops From The Sky

By Susan Coney

It may be getting to the end of the school year, but the lessons keep coming at Newtown Middle School. On Monday one literally dropped out of the sky.

Paul Kluga dropped by in his powered para-glider for a visit.

Mr Kluga, the father of eighth grader Emily Kluga, is an insurance underwriter for a company in Rye, N.Y., and took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to Don Ramsey’s technology students about the construction and operation of his para-glider. Instead of arriving at the school in a car like everybody else, he glided down from the sky onto the athletic field with a motorized backpack and yards of a red, white, and blue parachute trailing behind him, using his feet as landing gear. Not the ordinary way for a dad to visit his daughter’s school.

Mr Kluga first began his new hobby about a year and a half ago when after attending the wedding of his oldest daughter, Jenny. He admits to having a final midlife crisis and went for a week of intensive training at the Fly By Ranch School in Oxford, Fla. “You don’t need a pilot’s license,” he pointed out.

As it turned out Mr Kluga’s passion for the hobby is contagious and his youngest daughter, Emily, acts as her father’s ground crew. “I’m usually the one who helps him out. We each have radios to keep in contact with each other,” she said. Emily related a somewhat embarrassing incident that happened to her father last winter. “One time he landed at Fairfield Hills in the winter and landed face down in about three feet of snow. He was stuck and I had to run to help him get up,” she laughed.

While the para-glider power pack weighs just 58 pounds, it is cumbersome to maneuver and retain balance when standing on the ground. The German-built engine holds approximately five gallons of fuel and gets about 30 miles to the gallon. On a calm day a para-glider can stay in the air for about two and a half hours and can reach an average of 26 to 29 miles an hour. If the wind is more than ten miles per hour the para-glider is grounded. Para-gliders have the capability to reach an altitude of 18,000 feet legally. Flying from Fairfield Hills to the Middle School Mr Kluga said he remained at about 350 feet above ground. He told the students that para-gliders are used for search and rescue missions in remote areas of the country where normal means of transportation are impossible.

Teacher Don Ramsey commented, “This is James Bond coming to life here. If this isn’t an incentive to lifelong learning I don’t know what is.” He continued, saying, “Imagine starting up your airplane the same way you start your lawn mower.”

Eighth grade student Sarah Shannon had the opportunity to try on the motorized backpack to get an idea of the weight involved. She also had the chance to fly a few feet off the ground when Mr Kluga hooked her up to just the parasail portion of the glider and helped her run to catch air in the pockets of the sails. Sarah made three attempts at gliding and with each attempt she traveled a little longer and a little higher.

“The first time it was scary because you didn’t know what to expect. The second and third times were fun. It takes a lot of upper body strength. It’s confusing to know what to do with your arms because that is how you guide the direction that you go. I’m not afraid of heights. It’s something I would be interested in doing,” Sarah said.

Several students asked how old you had to be to paraglide and how much it would cost to buy the equipment. Mr Kluga said that it takes a week of intense training and that there are no schools in Connecticut that do the training. He said that the youngest person he knew of was 15 but that his daughter is getting some gliding experience with just the parasails and that she would probably soon follow him and begin para-gliding as well. The cost of the equipment is about $8,000, which does not include any training costs that might be incurred.

After spending a good portion of his morning preparing the flight and talking with two classes of students Mr Kluga told his daughter that he hoped that the kids had enjoyed the demonstration and lesson. She smiled gratefully at her dad and said, “You touched their hearts, Dad.”