Lookout Mountain Flight Park sits atop the gaggle. No one questions it anymore. Lookout Mountain Flight Park-known as LMFP-is the country’s most active hang glider school and hang glider enterprise. A million-dollar-a-year business that defies the notion that you can’t make money in sport aviation, LMFP has survived and prospered for more than 20 years. In rankings of American schools maintained by the national USHGA club, Lookout Mountain Flight Park consistently ranks as the number one issuer of ratings to beginning pilots. Several other schools aren’t far behind (Wallaby Ranch in Florida and Kitty Hawk Kites in North Carolina), but nobody questions the supremacy of LMFP. Lookout Mountain is also one of the most popular sport aviation destinations in the world. Pilots from around the world arrive at the Georgia site near Chattanooga, Tennessee, because the flying is so good and the weather so accommodating. Chattanooga is about as far south as you can go in the eastern U.S.
Lookout Mountain Flight Park
Seen from above the 22-acre landing zone, LMFP's facilities include training, rentals and overnight lodging.
Visitors from all over the world sign up for lessons and buy flying gear.
After classroom instruction and before a first solo flight, someone will assist with the all-important hang check--to make sure the glider and pilot are attached.
The excitement of launching into soaring conditions from high atop a ridge is a primary goal of hang glider training at LMFP.
The "bunny hill" training slope gets a workout on a typical day at LMFP .