If you’ve ever wished to float thousands of feet in the air with nothing on your back but a pair of wings, you don’t have to be a bird — try hang gliding instead.”Florida is really a mecca for a lot of pilots,” said David Lopez, a Fort Lauderdale resident who recently competed in the Quest Air Open National Championships, held in Groveland.The steady warm, humid climate creates a perfect swirl of conditions for hang gliding, Lopez said. Because gliders are flying on a 50-pound piece of equipment that contains no engine, they depend on whirlpool-like eddies called thermals to lift them up.
