Ask Armin Engert to describe his passion for flying, and he'll say simply, “;It's in my blood.”;

When Engert, a licensed private pilot and light sports aircraft instructor, was a toddler in his native Germany, he pointed out birds to his mother from his stroller. When he was 8, he started building model airplanes.

He saw hang gliders for the first time in 1971, at the age of 12, as he was hiking with his family at the Wasserkuppe, a high plateau in the Rhon Mountains in central Germany.

“;From a distance, I saw several colorful tent-like structures on a mountain ridge,”; he recalled. “;All of a sudden, one of those structures flew up into the sky. I screamed, 'There's somebody hanging onto it!' Once we got closer, I realized those people were competitors in Germany's very first hang gliding competition. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. I knew I had to try it!”;

During the past 28 years, Engert has logged 3,500 hours of conventional hang gliding and 13,000 hours of flying two-seat powered hang gliders, popularly known as “;trikes.”; He owns Hang Gliding Maui with his wife Karin, and teaches adventurers how to fly the Airborne XT 912 powered hang glider, deemed one of the most reliable, stable and quiet ultralight aircraft in the world.

“;In a powered hang glider you really feel like you're a bird,”; Engert said. “;It's an exciting open-cockpit experience where you become one with the wind. Thousands of feet above the ground, you can smell the ocean, eucalyptus trees, pineapple fields and even meals being cooked.”;

Engert's brand-new trike runs on a Rotax aircraft engine, but has a hang gliding wing and a weight-shift system, much like a non-powered hang glider. Whereas wind and weather conditions have to be perfect for a non-powered hang glider to stay aloft, trikes can fly as long as they have fuel. The 18-gallon fuel tank of Engert's trike enables it to fly up to six hours and 360 miles in a no-wind scenario.

First-time students sit in the rear seat and Engert sits in the front; the trike can be controlled from either position. Flights soar along the Hana coast at an altitude of 1,500 to 10,000 feet and an average speed of 60 miles per hour.

“;It's like riding a motorcycle in the sky,”; Engert said. “;Our trike is designed to glide with or without power, so if students request it, I'll turn off the engine at the end of their flight and, using the air currents, we'll glide down to a safe landing.”;

Engert and his students wear intercom headsets that reduce ambient sounds and allows clear, two-way in-flight communication. During the lesson, he discusses the basics of aerodynamics, weight-shift control, aviation safety and the effect of weather conditions on flying.

“;I have a lot of repeat students, and on their second flight, they can sit in the front seat,”; Engert said. “;I usually take care of the take-off and landing, which can be tricky because of the sudden wind changes closer to the ground. It usually takes about six to eight hours of training before students can land without much assistance from the instructor.”;

Since he started offering powered hang gliding lessons in 1993, Engert has taught some 10,000 students. He's proud of his flawless safety record; although his trike is equipped with a backup ballistic parachute system, he's never had to use it.

That's largely due to the calm winds in Hana. Even if the wind is gusting 40 miles per hour in the channels, it'll usually register only 10 to 15 miles on the coast, which means Engert can fly about 350 days of the year.

Students don't need any special skills or knowledge to operate a powered hang glider. In fact, he has taught people who are paralyzed and who have other physical and mental disabilities.

“;One 55-year-old student had brain cancer and was told she had only six months to live,”; Engert said. “;After we landed, she was so happy she started to cry and gave me a big hug. She told me she never thought she would be able to fly like a bird and I made it possible for her. That put tears in my eyes.”;

His oldest student was a woman whose children gifted her with a lesson to celebrate her 92nd birthday. “;She was incredibly sharp and fit for her age,”; he said. “;After I explained how the wing was controlled, she got so into it, she piloted the trike almost the entire one-hour lesson.”;

This time of the year, humpback whales often can be seen cavorting in the ocean. A few years ago, a whale was lounging in the same spot 100 yards offshore Hana Airport the entire day.

“;I finally figured out why she wasn't moving,”; Engert said. “;She gave birth right there! You could see her white-gray newborn from the air. When students fly with me, they get to see the beauty of east Maui from a great vantage point.”;

The breathtaking panoramas encompass waterfalls, lush wilderness, immense Haleakala Volcano, the bright blue Pacific, and a rugged coastline fringed with red and black sand beaches. Engert never tires of the views. “;Every time I fly,”; he said, “;I'm reminded of why people call this area 'Heavenly Hana.'”;

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Bulletin have won multiple Society of American Travel Writers awards.