FLIERS SOARING OVER THE VALLEY FEEL AT HOME IN THE SKIES; GLIDERS GIVEN SITE IN SYLMAR WHEN HANG TIME'S OVER.

Byline: Luz Villarreal Daily News Staff Writer

Call them big kites, giant butterflies or daredevils surfing the wind. Just don't call them grounded.

So long as there is sunshine, you'll see sky-loving hang gliders cruising the smog over Sylmar and the canyons north of the San Fernando Valley.

``There's nothing like it, to soar like a bird,'' Rome Dodson, 68, said as he prepared to launch himself from a bluff on Kagel Mountain overlooking the Valley. ``I used to scuba dive and water ski, but now this is all I do - five days a week.''

Now Dodson and the 250-member Sylmar Hang Gliding Association have a landing strip of their own. The 12-year-old group is one of three new owners of 35 acres of land deeded in April by developers who built a nearby housing project. The land was also donated to Mission College and the Sylmar Independent Baseball League.

Members say the club's landing zone attracts some of the nation's top gliders. The landing strip ends years of being bumped from one site to another.

``We used to fly about two miles west of here, but due to development we've been kicked out of one spot to another,'' said Dodson, a North Hills resident. ``This was the last safe landing site in Sylmar.''

Dodson, who has been hang gliding for 22 years, helped form the club with other hobbyists to lobby for a permanent landing site.

The eight-acre landing zone near El Cariso Park is nothing more than a dried-up river bed and adjacent property that divide two residential developments. But to the hang gliders, it's a flight park complete with two separate make-shift runways, picnic tables and barbecues.

It's also the site of many holiday flight parties and, yes, even a wedding.

Jeigh ``J'' Shelley and George Stebbins of Palmdale met at the landing zone. It wasn't long before they said their vows and took the plunge - literally.

``We got married on the launch ramp,'' said Shelley, a 31-year-old rocket engineer at Edwards Air Force Base who wore a Victorian-style, ankle-length, lace dress for the ceremony. ``After the ceremony, the best man launched first. We followed in tandem.''

The bride slipped on a pair of matching flight pants for the ride.

Shelley said she's always loved the idea of flying. She played with kites as a child, her undergraduate degree was in aerospace engineering, then she tried skydiving.

``I found it boring,'' she said. ``You see all these beautiful mountains, but you can't go anywhere but down.''

She soon hooked up with a hang gliding school and found she preferred to view the Valley from a different vantage point.

It's a view she and other hang gliders can enjoy year-round.

Excellent weather conditions in Sylmar allow fliers to enjoy flights that range from 15 minutes to more than five hours. The distance from the Kagel Mountain launch pad to the landing strip is 1.7 miles.

Many gliders use two-way radios to report fires and other incidents they spot from the air to authorities.

Pilots can fly up past 10,000 feet depending on thermal currents - hot air rising into the sky.

Fred Ballard loves thermals.

``If I see some pilots going up, I try to catch them,'' he said recently as he drove eight people to the launch pad in a rickety Dodge van.

Folded hang gliders were tied to the roof of his van and a stuffed pterodactyl swung from side to side under the rear-view mirror.

``It's the closest thing to being a bird,'' said Ballard, 51, of Santa Clarita. ``It's really a rush.''

Many might consider hang gliding a risky sport. Gliders insist they follow as many safety precautions as possible, such as double-checking their assembled aircraft, flying with helmets and parachutes.

``We're crazy,'' Ballard said. ``We're not stupid.''

Ballard is a part-time instructor who owns a tandem because he prefers to fly with company.

``I have more fun flying the tandem than by myself,'' he said. ``I get to share the air with someone who has never done it before. That's kind of nice.''

Ballard takes the sport seriously. He explained how to assemble an aircraft, how to steer in the wind and how to launch and land. The easiest part about hang gliding is taking off and flying, he said, adding that pilots gain a new appreciation for Mother Nature.

``The altitude is your friend,'' Ballard said.

In the air, the pilots share the sky with birds, clouds and airplanes of all sizes. They also share the turbulence.

``Sometimes Mother Nature reminds you she's the boss,'' Ballard said. That's why you should never overestimate your control.''

Don Richardson, another member of the organization, said the view offered from the sky is better than looking through the window from inside an airplane.

``Everything looks different from the air,'' he said. ``And you can control where you want to go.''

But he's also aware of how vulnerable he is up there.

``You get kicked around like a leaf in the wind,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- 2) Barton Davidson of Long Beach, top, glides down to earth at the Sylmar Hang Gliding Association's landing site, recently donated to the club. At left, an airborne daredevil takes to the air from a hilltop ramp north of the San Fernando Valley.

(3) A hang glider soars above the San Fernando Valley.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News