Wow: Two Cubans Fly Hang Glider To Key West

Wow: Two Cubans Fly Hang Glider To Key West

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While it’s common for people to try to enter the United States in hopes of a better life, this has to be one of the most surprising attempts to enter the country that we’ve seen.

Cubans land hang glider at Key West Airport

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office has revealed that at around 10:30AM on Saturday, March 25, 2023, two Cubans landed on the runway at Key West International Airport (EYW) on a motorized hang glider. There were no serious injuries, and both people were turned over to the custody of US Border Patrol.

The hang glider that was flown from Cuba to Florida
The hang glider that was flown from Cuba to Florida

Key West is a minimum of 90 miles from Cuba, so the pair flew on the hang glider for at least that distance. That’s simply unbelievable — what a massive risk, given that there are no real diversion points over the open ocean.

I’m not an expert on hang gliders, and based on searching online, there are all kinds of different answers as to how fast they fly, how far they can go, etc. One thing is for sure — this wasn’t a fast journey, and it wasn’t without major risk.

I’m also not an expert on the US immigration and asylum process, but I would think they’d at least be eligible to have a hearing before being deported, no?

We’ve seen immigration attempts along these lines before

Cubans attempting to immigrate to the United States is nothing new, and the frequency of this has only increased in recent years, given how bad the situation has become in Cuba. While historically the most common attempted entry method has been via the water, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen someone attempt to arrive in Florida by air.

In October 2022, a Cuban man flew a single-engine 1940s Antonov An-2 crop duster from Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, to Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, in the Florida Everglades. I’ve written about this airport in the past, because at one point there were plans for this to be the world’s largest airport.

Upon landing at the airport, the man took a picture in front of the plane, and he even had a pilot uniform on. The man allegedly used this plane for work back in Cuba, as he did fumigation.

Cuban pilot after landing at airport in Everglades

Bottom line

Two people flew a hang glider from Cuba to Key West, and managed to safely land it on the runway at Key West Airport. That’s a ridiculously impressive feat, and posed a significant risk. It’s a reminder of how fortunate many of us are to live in countries that others can only dream of living in, and would risk their lives to move to.

What do you make of this hang glider flight? Any hang glider experts who could share more details about range, speed, risk, etc.?

Conversations (23)
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  1. Nicki Guest

    That is not hang gliders, it’s a fixed winged powered paraglider.

  2. Fred Guest

    Never mind crashing, they should have been shot down.

    1. ConcordeBoy Diamond

      Meh, and you should've been swallowed instead. Piss off.

  3. Pogonation Guest

    That’s a microlight not a hang glider. I’m assuming you know that and you’re just creating clickbait.

    1. ted poco Guest

      I noticed comments indicating these are migrants. They are illegal immigrants. I wonder if a certain governor will bus them to New York.

    2. bob clark Guest

      politics much ? lemme guess , u dont like desantis ?

  4. Jürgen Guest

    Its such a pity for many cubans as they no more Future in staying in Cuba. There are more than 300.000 cubans last year reaching US soil and that’s just the number who made it to the US. I know from friends basically all sit on packed suitcases, flights to Nicaragua ( not many countries allow Cubans visa free travel ) are costing 7.000 dollar per person. People sell their houses and apartments in Cuba...

    Its such a pity for many cubans as they no more Future in staying in Cuba. There are more than 300.000 cubans last year reaching US soil and that’s just the number who made it to the US. I know from friends basically all sit on packed suitcases, flights to Nicaragua ( not many countries allow Cubans visa free travel ) are costing 7.000 dollar per person. People sell their houses and apartments in Cuba to pay for these flights to then march toward the USA. I hope these pilots do get asylum. The US has recently agreed to issue 10.000 visas for immigration monthly for Cubans and Venezuelans if they have a sponsor. Apparently all others are denied entry.

  5. el mas grande...¡¡¡ Guest

    Realmente hay que felicitar a esos viajeros que llegan a los USA en un TRIKE que es como se le denomina a esas aeronaves a motor, otros le llaman ULTRALIVIANOS, es un Ala Delta especialmente diseñada para soportar una estructura con un motor y asientos en este caso dobles (2) ...Hay que felicitarlos, aplaudirlos en ves de criticarlos o señalarlos, la opinion publica debe saber que esas personas volaron en una aeronave a motor, de...

    Realmente hay que felicitar a esos viajeros que llegan a los USA en un TRIKE que es como se le denomina a esas aeronaves a motor, otros le llaman ULTRALIVIANOS, es un Ala Delta especialmente diseñada para soportar una estructura con un motor y asientos en este caso dobles (2) ...Hay que felicitarlos, aplaudirlos en ves de criticarlos o señalarlos, la opinion publica debe saber que esas personas volaron en una aeronave a motor, de cuatro (4) cilindros; debieron calcular el peso de combustible, mas el personal, apenas con una brujula para calcular ruta y la deriva al volar con vientos cruzados, debieron haber planificado meses viendo planos, y al final jugarse la apuesta de su vida del todo o nada jugando Nº a ganador, sin equipaje mas alla de la ropa puesta...particularmente si estuviera en sus zapatos lo haria miles de veces, prefiero un pais libre como los USA que ofrece oportunidad a quien trabaja por ella, y no una CUBA CASTRO/COMUNISTA que me exclaviza ,me oprime, me pisotea a diario, me roba y me mata de hambre con miseria y un discurso de mentiras y falsas promesas, la realidad es clara y transparente...la apuesta es todo o nada, apostaron al blanco y ganaron...los aplaudo desde Venezuela...¡¡¡

  6. Zachary Whitman Guest

    They would have to claim fear of return to Cuba in order to be put into expedited removal proceedings and have an interview with an Asylum Officer called a Credible Fear screening interview. after that interview, they would go in front of an immigration judge who would determine if they would be returned to Cuba or stay in US.

  7. Christian Guest

    Hang gliders don't have engines.

  8. Yehuda Kovesh MD Guest

    For whatever reason they came, an impressive feat. 220000 cubans arrived at the Mexico USA borders last year and all were let in . There is such political push to accept them by the cuban politicians
    almost all the cuban migrants were university educated, all of them under 40 exactly the type of immigrants usa is looking for and they were all given parole to stay in the usa with financial and other help
    Once again, a magnificent feat regardless of the politics

    1. Tim reinstat Guest

      To the Dr. You say 220,000 Cubans under 40 all entered via mexico and most were college educated?!?! What planet are you from. That would be 10 years worth of graduating classes from Cuba maybe you meant 200

  9. Dr. Andrew Baer Guest

    I'm a GA pilot with no personal experience in such an aircraft but there is no doubt it was a very risky endeavor. Any bad weather or engine trouble would have put them in open water without any way of getting to dry ground.

  10. Will Guest

    Did you catch the Polaris branding on the
    glider? Wonder whether United piloted their new low cost product

  11. Eskimo Guest

    What happen to all the F-22s, too busy with balloons?

    Not sure how we are going to defend ballistic missiles if we can't even intercept these much slower moving objects.

  12. UA-NYC Diamond

    Another sign of Tiny D being soft on immigration. Can’t even keep his borders safe.

  13. Felicity Guest

    *ultralight, not a “hang glider”

    1. Never In Doubt Guest

      But the the article will get so many more clicks with that mistake in the headline!

    2. Never In Doubt Guest

      @Julia, indeed.

  14. Ninna Guest

    Nope...no more wet foot /dry foot here...Obama said NO MORE before he left office! They are going back to Cuba!

  15. Chris Guest

    Wet foot, dry foot. They’re in w/ the opportunity to claim asylum. Pretty sure nothing’s changed of late. Boats interdicted at sea? Bye bye. But not these guys.

    1. Thiago Guest

      Hi. Not from US and out of curisoity, just googled about "wet food, dry foot" and it says it says that policy was endeed on 2017. In practice does that still happens?

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Jürgen Guest

Its such a pity for many cubans as they no more Future in staying in Cuba. There are more than 300.000 cubans last year reaching US soil and that’s just the number who made it to the US. I know from friends basically all sit on packed suitcases, flights to Nicaragua ( not many countries allow Cubans visa free travel ) are costing 7.000 dollar per person. People sell their houses and apartments in Cuba to pay for these flights to then march toward the USA. I hope these pilots do get asylum. The US has recently agreed to issue 10.000 visas for immigration monthly for Cubans and Venezuelans if they have a sponsor. Apparently all others are denied entry.

1
Yehuda Kovesh MD Guest

For whatever reason they came, an impressive feat. 220000 cubans arrived at the Mexico USA borders last year and all were let in . There is such political push to accept them by the cuban politicians almost all the cuban migrants were university educated, all of them under 40 exactly the type of immigrants usa is looking for and they were all given parole to stay in the usa with financial and other help Once again, a magnificent feat regardless of the politics

1
Dr. Andrew Baer Guest

I'm a GA pilot with no personal experience in such an aircraft but there is no doubt it was a very risky endeavor. Any bad weather or engine trouble would have put them in open water without any way of getting to dry ground.

1
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