Hang gliders, paragliders seek changes to proposed San Bernardino housing project
As the sun begins to yield to its daily cycle of labor, there is a gathering of hang glidfers and paragliders at the summits of the Crestline or Marshall Peak trails in the San Bernardino Mountains, keen to descend thousands of feet back to solid ground.
Atop these mountain peaks, members of the Crestline Soaring Society can be found readying an almost year-round pursuit to rebel against the forces of gravity with the assistance of non-powered aircraft.
For those who dare, pilots don't "jump off" a mountain so much as they slide into the air, anticipating a gust – not too strong or punchy – until it generates enough lift to carry both the unpowered ultralight vehicle and pilot. The flights from Crestline and Marshall Peak share one landing zone: Andy Jackson Airpark, the center of CSS's operations.
Being able to cruise through the Southern California sky, particularly in San Bernardino, is distinctive, says Crestline Soaring Society Vice President Ben Kanselbaum, who added that anyone would be hard-pressed to find such perfect flying conditions anywhere. Andy Jackson Airpark, which sits below 3,500 feet from the Crestline and 2,300 feet from the Marshall Peak launch sites, serves as a complementary anchor to the favorable flight conditions.
"It is extremely uncommon," Kanselbaum said over the phone, June 1. "There are no other sites like this as consistent in the world."
However, the local aviation sport is at risk, according to CSS. A San Bernardino home development known as "University Hills" – a 404.3-acre site with a proposed 327 single-family homes – could pose a flight risk to hang and paragliders. The project site is north of Cal State San Bernardino and is east of Andy Jackson Park.
CSS's chief concern is that a small cluster of planned University Hills homes in the northwest corner would sit directly along a glider's final-approach path, right on Andy Jackson Airpark's eastern property line, leaving no safe buffer for landings.
"It's like we are shoulder to shoulder, like uncomfortably close on the subway," said Crestline Soaring Society President Luke Berger by phone on June 23.
Approximately seven planned homes are directly in the path of the landing zone for a safe approach for hang and paragliders, said Kanselbaum.
"If there was a 200-foot buffer, we would have absolutely no problems whatsoever, but they are literally building right onto the property line," Berger said.
The developer charged with transforming the area, the Florida-based Encore Capital Management, declined to comment or grant an interview, with Vice President David Hardy calling it a "lightning-rod issue" by phone on June 24. As of Thursday, July 2, CSUSB had not yet responded to a request for comment on how the project would affect campus operations.
Hardy, however, did speak about the project at a community meeting hosted by Ward 5 City Councilwoman Kimberly Knaus on June 15.
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Paraglider pilot Jana Pivkova takes flight from the launching pad for a few hours of flight before landing at Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Andy Jackson Airpark paraglider instructor Stephen Nowak smiles as first time glider Maria Tamayo, 29, from San Bernardino screams with excitement as they take flight above Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Hang glider pilot RJ McKeehan from Pasadena glides in the ski with a UPS plane in the background above Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Hang glider pilot Peter Song stands on his hang glider to hold it down as wind catches the wings while fellow flyers run to help control it at Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Paraglider pilot Mimi BowQuay carries her paraglider to the lunching pad for a flight above Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Paraglider pilot Jana Pivkova lands at Andy Jackson Airpark as the sun sets in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Paraglider pilot Mimi BowQuay launches and takes flight above Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Hang glider pilot Owen Morse buzzes fellow fliers as they wait to take off above Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Hang glider pilot RJ McKeehan, right, from Pasadena and fellow fliers pack up their hang glider and paragliders after more than two hours of flying in the skies above Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Hang glider pilot Peter Song, left, laughs with Angie Kennedy as they watch a video of his landing earlier at Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Paraglider pilot Chris Clemenson, 72, from Wildomar prepares to land in the landing zone at Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Paraglider pilot Jana Pivkova fills her paraglider with air to launch above Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Paraglider pilot Jana Pivkova takes flight from the launching pad for a few hours of flight before landing at Andy Jackson Airpark in San Bernardino on Friday, June 26, 2026. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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The University Hills project has evolved and changed hands since it was originally approved by the city back in 1993. At one point, under the previous property owner, 980 dwellings units were planned until Encore acquired the land, reducing the number to 327.
"The last developer back in 2008 simply just tried to put as many units on a site plan as it possibly could without thinking about how they were going to get this built," Hardy said at the June 15 meeting. Encore retooled the plan, reducing the 980 units by removing homes originally located on the San Andreas Fault. Further reductions included not pursuing attached housing units (residential dwellings that share at least one common wall with an adjacent property), which Hardy said: "being in a very high fire severity zone, people are going to have a very hard time getting those units insured."
Encore plans to use 56 of the 404-acre site for home development, Hardy said at the meeting, and that "existing trails that are up in the hillside that connect to U.S. Forest Service property would remain untouched."
Berger explains that the previous developer agreed with the CSS to keep that corner open as park space so gliders could land safely. He now says that is not the case. Encore's new plan, Berger says, is to put homes directly into that space.
The most obvious hazard that jeopardizes pilots is how homes could affect their approach pattern - the method of descending into a designated area - to the landing zone, Kanselbaum said. If houses occupy that established flight corridor, pilots are forced into tighter, more constrained approach patterns, leaving less room to adjust for wind, sink, or misjudged altitude, he said.
"Our landings are not powered, which means we don't get a second chance to just go around and try again. Once we're coming in for landing, we are landing," Kanselbaum said.
Another risk posed by houses near the landing zone is that they disrupt the area's airflow and may create turbulence. As he explains it, pilots who fly unpowered aircraft are at the mercy of micrometeorology - small-scale atmospheric phenomena.
"When a house or any obstruction is in the way of the direct airflow of the prevailing winds, it creates turbulence behind that object, and that turbulence can impact greatly both of our types of aircraft," Kanselbaum explained, adding that can cause part of the aircraft to either dip or dive in an unnecessary way, altering an established flight path, in turn making landings critically less safe.
Berger has said that CSS and Encore have been in talks for years. Despite the deep disagreements, Berger has said that they've maintained a "professional, courteous relationship, because we understand we're going to be neighbors no matter what."
Encore representatives were even taken on tandem hang glider flights in 2021, soon after the company acquired the property, Berger said.
"We want to offer them the experience because we want them to understand our perspective. So, it was like, yeah, come out, visit; check out the operation, and we'll take you on tandem flights, so you can really understand what it is that we do here," Berger said.
But the communication between CSS and Encore has not yielded any substantive path forward.
Knaus is in favor of more housing, but hopes a "happy medium" can be met between Crestline Soaring Society and Encore Capital Management. Knaus represents Ward 5, encompassing the University Hills development. "There are mandates that are dictated by the state of California, and we do need more housing production," Knaus said during a July 1 phone interview.
Ward 5 constituents are open to the idea of the University Hills, Knaus said. "They really do want more housing, and with this specific one (University Hills), it was, I think, 91% of the respondents were in favor of this project," said Knaus, who collected the feedback via a community survey after her June 15 community meeting.
It remains unclear how much each University Hills dwelling would cost, as Encore is only preparing the area and selling it to a builder who would construct the homes, according to Knaus.
The median price for a single-family home in the Inland Empire was $601,400 in February, down nearly 2% from a year earlier. In San Bernardino County, the median price was $510,000, up 4% from February 2025.
And homelessness still remains a city-wide problem. In the latest Point in Time count, San Bernardino had 521 homeless residents per 100,000 people vs. the county's average of 192.
The San Bernardino City Council is set to discuss and rule on the fate of University Hills on July 15, said Knaus. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.
The CCS leadership team says they aren't opposed to more housing in San Bernardino or even to the University Hills project, per se.
"We've asked them to relocate them (housing units), so they don't actually have to reduce the number, but they claim that there's no room to move anything…they're saying that the entire project is economically unfeasible just to remove a few homes in that corner," Berger said.
Berger rejects the idea that preserving hang gliding means sacrificing the entire housing project; instead, he frames it as a targeted adjustment rather than opposition to housing for residents.
"We feel that the city should get the homes. I mean, we're not contesting that at all. And then when those folks live there, we have to treat them as good neighbors," Berger said.
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This story was originally published July 6, 2026 at 6:26 AM.