Yep, you're hooked...



"Glider Pilot" <glider@linuxmail.org> wrote in message
news:78423d8e.0204190722.377a6394@posting.google.com...
> Well, I've finally done it.
>
> It's a cliche, to be sure, but you see when I was a rock-climber I
> always watched in frustration as a bird, sitting on a cliff as I
> climbed nearby, would gently drop into the air and soar away. As an
> air traffic controller I marvelled at the comings and goings of those
> enormous metal birds. I have sat in family and friends' Cessna 182s
> and one 210, and a New Piper, a Moonie and some others, while others
> chatted, and I quietly wished I was outside the fuselage, free in the
> air. I have watched pelicans, and even seagulls soaring and gliding
> and I wanted to do that too.
>
> For many reasons now seems the time, so I contacted a local club, and
> discovered that there was a club meeting the next day. I went along,
> not knowing what to expect, and met some interesting people from
> different backgrounds, who seemed to be excited about flying too.
>
> Everyone I spoke to, when I said I wanted to fly, said "Ah! You'll
> need to talk to that man there! Best in the state!" and pointed
> towards the same man! We spoke, a day and time was set, and I went
> home, and that night I had a dream that I was talking to an eagle who
> smiled at me.
>
> The day dawned, and I anxiously awaited the call that the wind was
> 'right'. I didn't know what that meant, but I guessed it was
> important for a beginner. Eventually I received a message that the
> weather was unclear, but that I come along anyway to have a look.....
>
> 40 minutes later I was standing at the launch site, watching my
> instructor and some others preparing for tandem with some tourists. A
> million things seemed to be involved, I tried to make myself useful,
> holding a wire that went from one of the wheels to the wing seemed not
> to upset the pilot, but I quickly found out which parts not to touch,
> when a chorous of voices yelled "Hey, don't hold it there!" when I
> held on to apparently untouchable parts. I knew about NO-STEP places
> on aeroplanes, so I guess that hang gliders had NO-HOLD places as
> well.
>
> The tandem customers seemed to think I was part of the group who were
> helping them get ready to fly, and I thought that was pretty cool, so
> I tried to fit in and not to do anything stupid. When they asked me
> questions I pointed to the nearest chap and loudly said "This fellow
> here will tell you about that!" and then I listened to the answer too.
>
> When the flights were finished, the instructor told me that the wind
> hadn't 'come around', and that subsequently the 'training hill'
> couldn't be used. He pointed to a seemingly flat spot in the plains
> below and identified it as the training hill. I learned a little
> about clouds indicating collisions of air masses, and tried to
> concentrate and forget my disappointment about not being able to start
> that day, especially when I realised that we weren't even at the
> training hill!! But that was cool: as a surfer I'd learned that
> mother earth does not appreciate being hurried along by uptight
> humans, so I relaxed and thought nice thoughts about flying the next
> day.
>
> The instructor asked me how much I weighed, and I didn't realise that
> he was thinking about taking me on a tandem flight. I thought he was
> getting information to be used on my first training day. Then he
> suddenly said "Okay, hop into that harness there." and the reason for
> the question crystallised. I was amazed and deeply happy within an
> instant.
>
> The next 30 minutes are still a blur - I hung from the harness, and
> was told where to put my arms and hands. I concentrated not on my
> anxiety, and listened to him describing what to do at launch. Then we
> were running to the hillside, and as the mountain dropped away, my
> world shifted, and I knew that this was what I had dreamed of. A
> ripple moved outward in my reality, and I knew that 'something' had
> changed in me forever. I said "This is what I want to do."
>
> My instructor said words like 'thermal' and 'stall' and 'climb' and
> 'turn' and 'weight shift' and 'trim', and I tried my best to listen
> and respond while the major part of my brain was simply cruising with
> sustained amazement. There was the ridge! There were the huge trees
> I'd once walked underneath. There was the launch site! There was a
> girl riding a horse far below! I felt like calling out to her "Hey!!
> Look at us!! We're flying!! Do you understand? We're flying like
> birds fly!!" There were mountain ranges and farms and roads and water
> far below, and enormous Cumulous clouds stretched out in long lines
> across the sky. As all this passed by, I was strangely aware of every
> dream I'd ever had about flight, seeing the unrolling world slipping
> by underneath and clouds above, banking and diving and soaring,
> feeling both free and simultaneously integrated with the whole world.
> A stream of images and feelings rose to the surface of my
> consciousness, building into an inexorable, slow but unstoppable,
> flood of awe. I knew that my world view was now different, not in a
> physical sense, as I've flown in hundreds of powered craft, but
> instead from within a non-intellectual part of me that views the world
> from the places behind my conscious reactions, far behind my surface
> thoughts. And I felt a 'voice' from that deeper part of me resonating
> through my mind in an inner loud cry: "YEEEEEEEHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!".
>
> Then the instructor said more words: 'landing' 'line-up' 'parallel'
> 'slope' 'base leg'. I watched as the ground rose in controlled
> grandeur, and soon we slid to a stop, where I breathed out. I looked
> at my instructor, whose sunglass-covered eyes were staring at my eyes
> - "Well, what do you think of that?" he said witha shit-eating grin.
> My social, outer self struggled back to awareness, allowing me to
> speak using words..."Marvellous. Excellent" I managed to say,
> wondering why there were not words in my vocabulary to describe what I
> was feeling. As we packed up the glider I tried to make conversation
> to let him know how much I wanted to learn more and fly, but I was
> still too overwhelmed to make much sense.
>
> The next afternoon I received _the_ phone call "The wind will be right
> today!" Sixty miles down the freeway, and I was welcomed by the
> instructor. He tested my reading from "The Cheney Book", and
> explained things I wasn't clear about, until I fully understood what
> he was telling me. Then we went from the classroom to the training
> hill. It looked a lot steeper than it had from altitude the day
> before!
>
> I helped assemble the glider, and the instructor flew down the hill.
> He returned with information about wind and instructions about the
> flight.
>
> I had fantasised sweeping away from the training hill in an elegant
> arc.
>
> Heh. Heh. Mmmmm.
>
> Checks complete, trying to memorise the sequence of actions, I began
> my walk, run. faster. looking ahead. leaning forward. looking down
> *uh-oh* .gripping the bar, pulling it down...what!?! falling to the
> ground.
>
> I brushed the dirt from my knees.
>
> Okay, try again. walk, run, bigger steps, looking ahead, not gripping
> the bar, falling down. damn, didn't lean forward.
>
> I brushed the dirt from my shoulders and knees.
>
> Alright, walk run big steps faster don't look down. oh-no-pulling
> in-one side-looking down-crash-slide-ouch-stop.
>
> Instructor examines glider.
>
> I brush dirt from my face, hair, legs, arms and clothing.
>
> Okay, now, walk run big steps looking down looking UP looking UP -
> great - in trim - lifting - don't hold on! - let go ! - arrgh, you
> mean both hands?? nice sweeping turn (if I was 100 feet higher) -
> ground coming up - attempt weight shift towards lower wing - pushing
> out - floating for a moment - crash.
>
> Instructor examines glider.
>
> The other student's runs were between these, and they all seemed to be
> much better than I am. I notice the dirt scratched into my skin. I
> relax and feel what I've done - I have been gliding down a hill held
> aloft by a wing!!!!!! I was doing it alone!!! Without an engine!!!
> I was flying!!! Maybe for two whole seconds!!!!!!!!!!
>
> As I write I feel cheerful and happy. I have actually begun learning
> this incredible skill, and although I have grazes on my legs and arms,
> I am deeply content. Now I have a huge grin, and I'm looking forward
> to a restful sleep and continuing lessons next week.
>
> Wow.

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