Welcome to the Kitty Hawk Kites instructor reunion section. Each year Kitty Hawk Kites holds an instructor reunion to thank all of the people that have made such a huge contribution to the Kitty Hawk Kites Hang Gliding School! All instructors that have taught hang gliding at Kitty Hawk Kites are invited. If you need more information than is on this page then contact Bruce Weaver.


2007 Instructor reunion
2008 Update:
The 2007 instructor reunion attracted over 60 instructor alumni (the largest reunion yet), thanks in large part to the efforts of Billy Vaughn tracking everybody down and G.W's website. They came from all over the U.S. and even Europe! For 2008, this event will be held at Kitty Hawk Kites across from Jockey's Ridge.

From 2007:
Kitty Hawk Kites would like to invite all former Kitty Hawk Kites instructors back to the beach. We want to thank all the instructors who helped make Kitty Hawk Kites the largest hang gliding school in the world. So, come relive old memories and rekindle old friendships as over 35 years worth of instructors converge back on the place where it all began!

Check out the 2007 instructor reunion website here

Kitty Hawk Kites Instructor list
Instructor List

Instructor reunion time and date
Schedule

Instructor photo archive
Instructor photo 1 (Photo sent in by Billy Vaughn)
In order from left to right: Tony "Hatin' It!" Alderman, Steve Wendt, Billy Vaughn, Mike Yoder and Rob Bachman.

The good old days of teaching Hang Gliding
Remember the days when the most important thing in life was whether or not it was soarable and the worst thing in life was having to teach the morning class after a late night partying with your friends? Or when financial planning meant trying to figure out a way to buy spaghetti and beer, and not just one or the other. How about the day before payday having to search around the base of the main hill for the change that had fallen out of peoples' pockets when they rolled down the hill, so you could go get a Big Gulp at Seven-Eleven between classes.

How about the sense of absolute joy you felt the first time you flew off the top of the main dune. Or the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction you felt after teaching your first class. Then being able to feel that same way everyday after work. Your work clothes consisted of shorts and a T-shirt and the only time you put anything on your feet was when the sand got too hot while you were teaching. You were in such good shape that it seemed impossible that you would ever have to watch your weight. Well, for most of us those days are gone...but not forgotten.

These experiences live on. And every year a new group of instructors is able to experience what will likely be one of the best summers of their lives. As we all know they will likely make friends that will last for a lifetime, and have experiences that they will never forget. In addition, their vocabulary will be forever expanded to include new words and phrases, like: "whack!, blowin' like stink, turtling, getting the drop, spect out, auguring in, piling in, beaking in, biffin' in, pucker factor, soarable, sockable, and glider taco." And new meaning will be given to such words and phrases as: "blown out, neutral, crankin', howlin', scratchin', and Hang Rating." There aren't many people in the world that know the true meaning of these phrases. As Kitty Hawk Kites instructors, we're in a pretty exclusive group. So check our schedule for our next reunion and come back the Outer Banks to see old friends, talk the lingo, and relive old stories...maybe even fly and compete in the Spectacular or Air Games!