Tales of being distracted by scenery and/or euphoria while soaring

On Wednesday, February 26, 2014 8:16:34 AM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
Like many pilots, I try to be extremely cool and rational when I'm flying a glider and (such as it is)I enjoy my technical mastery of soaring, and I enjoy the companionable and endless discussion of technical detail on the ground.



But I fly in eastern-scale 'mountains', often below the ridge lines, and the combination of topography, foliage, clouds, shafts of sunlight, double rainbows, virga etc. can be at times sublime and visually stunning (this is of course, an understatement).


I've not heard much discussion by other pilots about what they see in the sky, but I've observed that many pilots are euphoric after their flights. I suspect that scenery is a factor for even the most aspiring_to_be_macho_and _insensitive pilots. It's undeniably beautiful up there.



My basic question is this, 'how do pilots balance the cool and rational execution of the technical side of flying with their enjoyment of the scenery'? Does euphoria heighten or dull alertness and attention to the technical side of flying? Does anyone have a tale of being adversely distracted by the scenery? I'm also interested in the purely technical aspects of scenery, such as white aircraft disappearing against a background of snow and grey rock (one of the motivations for Flarm).



Fair's fair, so here is my answer for your review and possible critique:



I try to concentrate and prioritize my conscious attention on the technical demands of flying but simultaneously relax and let the experience of the scenery wash over me. I surmise that my euphoria heightens my alertness, and that my alertness heightens my euphoria. (I've wondered if this is a dangerous rationalization and that concern is the motivation for this post.)



And here is my tale of euphoric intoxication while flying:



We had some visiting gliders at a fall wave camp at my local field. I noticed the light maroon colored glider on the ground and I spotted it on the ridge after I launched. I caught a thermal and headed north to get away from the crowd. An hour later, I came back to the ridge and I saw another glider, and this one was painted International Orange. I thought, 'Wow, that orange color is really easy to spot!'. I kept looking around to find the maroon colored glider, but it was nowhere to be spotted. Later in the day, I saw the maroon colored glider on the ground and I got some puzzled looks when I asked if the international orange colored glider was still up on the ridge. (Possible explanation... euphoria accentuated my color perception.)

Maybe sun angle, relative to your position, and airborne particles creating a certain hue on the maroon ship.

The Sandia(Watermelon)Mountains turn a beautiful reddish color some evenings, as do the Sangre de Cristo(Blood of Christ)Mountains.

Remember Gleb in The Sun Ship Game comparing himself to George Moffat? "I don't know if I could concentrate to that extent anyways, I'd probably get distracted looking at a beautiful cloud or something."

I remember one time I released at 1000agl. on the low hill right next to the runway (the mountains there rise to over 5000asl. within a kilometer of the 128asl. runway and the low bump of a hill sticks out from the main range at a good angle to the prevailing wind allowing us to release at 1000, climb to 1600-2000 and then head west or north to other mountains which allow a higher climb) during my first turn I saw a bald eagle above me. I watched him, entranced as I made my reversing turn which ended with me being aimed towards the mountain to the west. The eagle swept his wings back and made a dash for that mountain. I thought "cool!", put the stick forward and followed him. I was three quarters of the way to the mountain, still watching him when it occurred to me to look at the altimeter. 1200 feet... 20 knot tailwind... Fortunately for me when the eagle got to the ridge he pulled up into strong ridge lift and a few seconds later so did I. Later I worked out that with the wind, vertical air motion I experienced on the way to the mountain and the performance of my glider that if there hadn't been lift on the ridge I would probably have had just enough height to get back with a straight in approach. Just enough. And if you can't get back your best landing options are either the Fraser River or a sandbar on same.

There used to be a fun contest in Tehachapi called "The Blue Feather Fly-In".
Points were given for distance, speed, and 100 bonus points each for:
....Photo of someone on a horse.
....Photo of a waterfall.
....Photo of a car higher than you (easier than the other two in Southern California).
....Or for being accused of having fun.
One day Walt Rogers was giving his winner's speech, said something like "I turned the switchbacks, Jim said he was going to Mount Whitney, but I knew he wasn't going to just turn Whitney"
At which point he was told to sit down, as the 100 points I just got gave me the day win!
Jim