I got in to hang gliding in 1978. I lived in Atlanta and it was a 2 1/2 hour drive to Lookout Mountain. Lookout is one of the premier hang gliding sites in America.
I had six buddies in Atlanta, we would pile in to a couple of vans and drive up on Saturday morning, and spend the weekend flying. In 1979 and 1980, the number of hang glider pilots was doubling, and tripling every year. We were all young guys, 25, 22, some of us 19 years old.
In 1978 all we had at Lookout was a launch site and a landing field, no buildings.
By 1985, there was a big building at launch that sold gliders harnesses etc. By 1985 they had a bunkhouse in the landing field. The business was really booming.
I went to a hang gliding site in South Carolina a few months ago, the youngest pilot I saw was 50 years old, and the guys told me that the hang gliding sport is in a state of collapse. Said the millennials just are not interested. He told me the millennials want to sit in Mommy's basement and text on their Iphones rather than get out and do a risky sport.
So I would imagine that the gun industry, and sport, is headed where hang gliding is, towards extinction.
