York Town News
Hang glider injured in Long Beach landing
By Melissa Wood
YORK BEACH - On Friday, May 25, one of three hang gliders suffered a minor injury when the trio landed on Long Beach, four and a half hours after taking flight from Mount Ascutney in Windsor, Vermont.
The three hang gliders left Mount Ascutney at 1 p.m. and landed on the beach at about 5:40 p.m. One of the pilots, Thomas Lanning, broke his arm when his hang glider tipped over. Lanning, 48, of Milton, Mass., was transported to York Hospital and subsequently released.
The other two landed successfully.
According to York Police Sgt. Thomas Baran, the hang gliders reported that the upper winds were favorable, bringing them from Mount Ascutney over to the York area - a distance of approximately 90 miles.
The Vermont Hang Gliding Association calls Mount Ascutney a premier launching site with many flights from Vermont to the Atlantic coast beginning there.
Lanning was noted in the organization's winter 2003 newsletter for his first beach flight, when he flew from the mountain to Hampton Beach, N.H., a distance of 91.3 miles.
Curt Warren holds the long distance record from the mountain, traveling 131.6 miles to Connecticut.
York Beach Fire and Rescue, York Ambulance Association and York Police Department personnel responded to the scene.
