GREELEY, Colo. (KDVR) Since the day man left the cave and looked up and saw creatures flying in the sky, he wanted to be there, too.
So did Daniel West. He’s not a caveman, but he is flying like a bird.
“I was probably 10 or 12 years old. Like most kids, I watched the birds fly around and dreamed of flying,“ said West.
Around ten years ago, West spread his own wings and flew.
“You are sitting in I will call a floating lawn chair. And there is nothing around you. There is no air speed, there is no attitude indicator, it’s just you in a pure form of flying,” said West.
Unlike birds of a feather, Daniel West was not born with wings, but he does come in a pretty close second.
“This is called para-motoring, or power paragliding. It started from paragliding. Obviously, we added the motor component to it,” said West.
At first glance, the sky machine looks a little dangerous. Just dangling there from the sky like one of those little plastic toy soldiers with parachutes that kids would throw off the roof.
“If you were to have something happen, you have a backup reserve parachute that you could throw in the case of a catastrophic failure,” said West.
West teaches other would-be lovers of the blue to soar, glide, and just chill above terra firma. It takes about 40 hours to learn to fly, about $3,500 for lessons and around $10,000 for your very own para motor.
“It’s a pretty simple machine. It will carry about 3 1/2 gallons of fuel and it can fly for almost three hours,” said West.
West says this sport is not for everyone, but if you have ever wondered what it would be like to fly like a bird, maybe wonder no more.
