Gliding: A chance to fly: A special wheelchair paraglider will allow new flight

DRAPER — Don Bloswick paced across the grass like a nervous father.

Derek Barney grinned and gripped his wheelchair as he watched the paraglider spiral through the clear, blue sky above the Draper park.

"I'm so excited," said the 23-year-old Orem man, who may one day get to fly in the specially designed wheelchair being tested by paraglide pilots last weekend. "I can't describe it."

Bloswick is just as giddy as Barney, and the University of Utah mechanical engineering professor doesn't even plan to leave the ground.

That's because the wheelchair that he helped create will offer those who can't walk the chance to fly.

Bloswick was approached by Mark Gaskill, the vice president of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, in December about designing a wheelchair for the Able Pilot chapter of the organization. He envisioned a wheelchair that would allow any wheelchair-bound person to independently take up the sport of paragliding.

"I love this sport," said Gaskill, who helped form the Able Pilot chapter of the USHPA last year. "I'm looking forward to getting these guys through the program and into the air. There are a lot of adaptive sports out there, but wheelchair basketball may not appeal to all of the personalities. This is a very social sport."

Bloswick was intrigued by Gaskill's offer and asked a group of senior engineering students if any of them were interested in taking on the challenge — in addition to their regular course work, senior projects and family commitments.

"We came up with the best team," Bloswick said of Chris Graves, Ben Davidson, Bryon Densley and Travis Smith. "It just came together better than I ever expected."

The students, whose diverse backgrounds sped the development of the chair, and Bloswick watched paraglide pilot Ben Gunnuscio test the chair on Saturday and pilot Nick Greece test it twice on Sunday. The engineers and pilots had an interested audience as it was National Hang Gliding and Paragliding Day, which included free public events and a competition.

"I was a little nervous," said Gunnuscio, who offers tandem flights, lessons and clinics for ParaglideUtah.com. "I've never seen anything like it flown before. I wasn't sure how it was going to work. But it was all good. They engineered it so well. It's an amazing piece of machinery."

Gunnuscio spends his days teaching the formerly earth-bound to fly and says there is nothing like watching it transform people.