Hang Gliding Jumping off a cliff at 3,000 feet? Why <i>wouldn't</i> you start this business?
By Mike Besack
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
What kind of a man grabs a set of artificial wings and chargesfull-blast off a cliff? Turns out, a smart businessman.
Bodhi Kroll's business sense happened to be 2,000 feet offthe ground, not in some office, so he started the San Francisco Hang GlidingCenter-ahem-from the ground up and has seen profits soar sinceopening in 1997. Together with his wife, Hayley, Bodhi has watchedsales climb from $18,000 his first year to $210,000 last year.
Plug in your pun of choice: In this business, the sky'sdefinitely the limit. "I must say, the first two yearswe've seen nothing but growth. And it's so easy. Peoplelove it," says the 35-year-old Kroll. "All you need toknow for hang gliding is, run like hell and don't touchanything."
Kroll earned his college degree in music, of all things, butstarted hang gliding in 1984. After doing a few instructing gigs inAustralia, he decided to take a shot at starting his own business.After all, the closest hang-gliding company to his Bay Area homewas in San Diego. "I noticed that my boss in Australia paidoff his house at the beach in three years," Kroll says."I started thinking, if that guy could do that well in Sydney,I can do well in San Francisco."
He has. Kroll, with his introductory tandem lessons, takes hiscustomers up to 3,000 feet over the San Francisco Bay after justfive minutes of instruction. That's all it takes. Hishang-gliding tours leave from Mt. Tamalpias State Park, 10 minutesnorth of the Golden Gate Bridge, and his introductory Aquagliderlessons soar over Alcatraz and the rest of the Bay and last forabout 30 minutes. The cost is about $250 a pop, and Kroll evenstraps a video camera on the wing so the hang gliders can have asouvenir at no extra charge.
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Jim Stephenson, founder of the Aero Sports Connection in Marshall,Michigan, the nation's largest training exemption with 1,600instructors worldwide for ultralight flight (which includes hanggliders, paragliders and helium-filled balloons), says hanggliding's boom all boils down to the dream of flight."There are many people in the world who have this dream [to gohang gliding] but have put it aside, thinking it's tooexpensive. But there's a way for people to fulfill this dreamfairly inexpensively."
Such extreme sports have boomed over the past 10 years, and hanggliding could very well be the next big business venture. "Itdoes seem to be a trend," Kroll says. "People are feelingadventurous . . . I think hang gliding is slowly crawling out ofthe hole it dug for itself in the early '70s when it was justdeadly. It was not sound or safe, and the equipment was bad.It's all much better now."
Stephenson can testify. Based on an industry survey, heestimates 2,400 ultralight-type vehicles will be sold this yearalone in the United States to both business owners and consumers,more than double what it was a few years ago. "It's aremarkable growth period now," Stephenson says. "Andthere are all sorts of different versions of these businesses.Dealers are being trained by the manufacturers to sell equipmentand train their customers."
Demographics are changing as well, says Jayne M. DePanfilis, CEOof the United States Hang GlidingAssociation Inc. (USHGA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado.According to DePanfilis, although pilot membership in the USHGA iscurrently not growing, awareness of the sport is. This is best seenwhen you stack up hang gliding against paragliding. "There aremore hang-gliding pilots and hang-glider-business owners thanparagliding pilots, who fit a different profile. [Paragliders] areyounger, trendier and have more disposable income at their age thanwe did when we got started," says DePanfilis.
3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Takeoff!
Some BIZ Experiencess-like Kroll, who has spent much of his lifesoaring like an eagle-are able to jump right into this business.However, there are obviously other considerations. "You alsoneed to know how to be a proper [businessperson] and how to chargeand properly serve the client," says Stephenson.
"It's rare you'd talk to someone in the businesswho has an MBA, but it certainly helps," adds DePanfilis."There's a new breed of owner out there now."
Whatever the breed, an up-and-coming hang-gliding BIZ Experienceshas a few options as far as getting involved in the industry, be itselling gear, opening a pro shop or a flight park, or offeringlessons or excursions. According to DePanfilis, one way not to gois equipment manufacturing, as Orange, California-based Wills WingInc. and Altair in Draper, Utah, have had a stranglehold on theindustry for years.
The concept of flight parks-designated areas for gliding andother recreational activities-has taken off, too. Typically, theseresort-like spots are found in parts of the country where there areno training hills or mountains for gliders to take off from.DePanfilis points to 44-acre Lookout Mountain Flight Park insmall Rising Fawn, Georgia, as the ultimate example of afull-service flight park and school.
| "Just because there's a possibility thatsomeone might get hurt does not mean that we should legislate thepossibility of someone having fun." |
As for Kroll, he's content knowing he's not only starteda profitable business, but he's also successfully cut throughplenty of political and legal red tape to make his the firstbusiness of its type to offer tandem flights to the public in theBay area. Such struggles can spell the end for a non-business-savvyhang glider.
"It was like a miracle," laughs Kroll, who also wonthe FAA over, "not only that I was able to convince the MarinCounty politicians to side with me over the protest of their ownlawyers who were saying no, but because I convinced them I wasright.
"Just because there's a possibility that someone mightget hurt does not mean that we should legislate the possibility ofsomeone having fun."
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