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#11
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Flying a sailplane is like drinking urine.
Roger Worden wrote: Seen on a trailer: Flying an airplane is like drinking champagne Flying an ultralight is like drinking moonshine with a kick So... what do you think flying a sailplane is like drinking? |
#12
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Metalman wrote:
Flying a sailplane is like drinking urine. Or Coors, which turns to urine directly in your mouth. |
#13
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How would you know?
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#14
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Funny Roger (the first message in this thread) should ask. I just
wrote something on this for a friend. The response from the group will be interesting (I'm braced for the corrections, so try to remember, this was supposed to be a right brain description, not a totally accurate scientific one). So here it is: Why does soaring draw us so powerfully that we will spend hours preparing for a flight, sit for hours more in a cockpit that makes Economy Class seating seem cavernous, and come home ecstatic from the experience? Why, when we catch a glimpse of a soaring bird, must we stop whatever we were doing and marvel at the beauty of wings dancing with air currents? When someone asked me these questions - actually she asked how I became involved in soaring, but that is really the same question - I responded that I must have been a hawk in a former life. It isn't that I am a firm believer in reincarnation. It's just that there is no rational explanation for the joy that I derive from soaring, so a totally crazy answer is closest to the truth. There is something mystical about seeing the earth from on high in a glider. Even the Central Valley is beautiful and the Sierras are absolutely awesome. While logic would say that those views should be equally impressive from a power plane, the experience is magnified many times over by being one with the air, dancing with it, using its resistance in the vertical dimension to overcome its resistance in the direction of flight. A thermal transforms what is usually thought of as air resistance into air propulsion. What alchemy! The experience is further enhanced as we approach cloud base. As we fly through wisps of mist that are forming the cloud above us I cannot help but think "This is the closest a person can come to heaven while still on this plane." So the next time someone asks me why I became involved in soaring, maybe I'll answer "To better glimpse the Face of God." |
#16
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Whatzit like drinking?
Mother Nature's milk! At 14:30 03 May 2005, Bill Gribble wrote: So very well put. Though that said, you suggest there is no 'rational explanation' to the question of why you would be so drawn to soaring, whereas I fail to see that the question itself is rational in the first place. Why would you not? It's a continual source of befuddlement to me that anybody could be offered the chance or possibility of soaring flight and be able to just walk away untouched or ask 'why would I want to do that?' But never mind. My home club is holding an Open Day this coming Sunday, so I'll get ample opportunity to explore this question and proclaim the virtues of our art to a curious public, I guess! -Bill writes Why does soaring draw us so powerfully that we will spend hours preparing for a flight, sit for hours more in a cockpit that makes Economy Class seating seem cavernous, and come home ecstatic from the experience? Why, when we catch a glimpse of a soaring bird, must we stop whatever we were doing and marvel at the beauty of wings dancing with air currents? When someone asked me these questions - actually she asked how I became involved in soaring, but that is really the same question - I responded that I must have been a hawk in a former life. It isn't that I am a firm believer in reincarnation. It's just that there is no rational explanation for the joy that I derive from soaring, so a totally crazy answer is closest to the truth. There is something mystical about seeing the earth from on high in a glider. Even the Central Valley is beautiful and the Sierras are absolutely awesome. While logic would say that those views should be equally impressive from a power plane, the experience is magnified many times over by being one with the air, dancing with it, using its resistance in the vertical dimension to overcome its resistance in the direction of flight. A thermal transforms what is usually thought of as air resistance into air propulsion. What alchemy! The experience is further enhanced as we approach cloud base. As we fly through wisps of mist that are forming the cloud above us I cannot help but think 'This is the closest a person can come to heaven while still on this plane.' So the next time someone asks me why I became involved in soaring, maybe I'll answer 'To better glimpse the Face of God.' -- Bill Gribble http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk - Learn from the mistakes of others. - You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself. |
#17
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source of befuddlement to me that anybody could be
offered the chance or possibility of soaring flight and be able to just walk away untouched or ask "why would I want to do that?" Umm.... fear for their life? Maybe not rational, but real to many. "Bill Gribble" wrote in message .. . So very well put. Though that said, you suggest there is no "rational explanation" to the question of why you would be so drawn to soaring, whereas I fail to see that the question itself is rational in the first place. Why would you not? It's a continual source of befuddlement to me that anybody could be offered the chance or possibility of soaring flight and be able to just walk away untouched or ask "why would I want to do that?" But never mind. My home club is holding an Open Day this coming Sunday, so I'll get ample opportunity to explore this question and proclaim the virtues of our art to a curious public, I guess! -Bill writes Why does soaring draw us so powerfully that we will spend hours preparing for a flight, sit for hours more in a cockpit that makes Economy Class seating seem cavernous, and come home ecstatic from the experience? Why, when we catch a glimpse of a soaring bird, must we stop whatever we were doing and marvel at the beauty of wings dancing with air currents? When someone asked me these questions - actually she asked how I became involved in soaring, but that is really the same question - I responded that I must have been a hawk in a former life. It isn't that I am a firm believer in reincarnation. It's just that there is no rational explanation for the joy that I derive from soaring, so a totally crazy answer is closest to the truth. There is something mystical about seeing the earth from on high in a glider. Even the Central Valley is beautiful and the Sierras are absolutely awesome. While logic would say that those views should be equally impressive from a power plane, the experience is magnified many times over by being one with the air, dancing with it, using its resistance in the vertical dimension to overcome its resistance in the direction of flight. A thermal transforms what is usually thought of as air resistance into air propulsion. What alchemy! The experience is further enhanced as we approach cloud base. As we fly through wisps of mist that are forming the cloud above us I cannot help but think "This is the closest a person can come to heaven while still on this plane." So the next time someone asks me why I became involved in soaring, maybe I'll answer "To better glimpse the Face of God." -- Bill Gribble http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk - Learn from the mistakes of others. - You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself. |
#18
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It's a continual source of befuddlement to me that anybody could be offered the chance or possibility of soaring flight and be able to just walk away untouched or ask "why would I want to do that?" I don't have that answer but I've learned to accept it. It boggles the mind (OK, my mind) to realize that in a function room with 100 people in it, only one or two have an interest in flying. Glider ride gift certificates are popular presents. The FBO I used to fly rides for loved them as only 40% were ever redeemed. It was like printing money. Tony V. http://home.comcast.net/~verhulst/SOARING |
#19
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Flying a sailplane is like...
flying a sailplane. Gertrude Stein |
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