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The Joys of Soaring?
Steven H. Philipson, August 16, 1993
[Copyright Steven H. Philipson 1993. All rights reserved. May
not be reproduced in whole or part without the express written
permission of the author. Authorized use is only for personal
reading on the World Wide Web and Internet.]
See the pretty glider.
See the glider fly into wave lift.
Climb glider, climb!
See the wind direction rapidly change.
See the lift turn into sink.
Sink glider, sink!
See Steve, the unflappable glider instructor.
See Steve blythely take it as it comes.
"The lift gods are fickle -- they giveth,
they taketh away.
Easy come, easy go,
We'll just run for home."
See the first time glider student.
See how big his eyes
when he spies the vario
and shouts in great surprise:
"Holy cow, the vario is pegged down!!"
See Steve check his own vario,
which *only* indicates 900 fpm down.
See Steve look over the student's shoulder,
and see that vario *pegged* down.
Hear Steve say unpleasant things.
Hear Steve call on the radio:
"Glider ground, we're not going to make it back."
See Steve look for a field.
Look Steve, look!
See Steve see hills and rocks.
LOOK STEVE, LOOK!!!!
See Steve find a pasture.
Land Steve, Land!!
See Steve land the pretty glider
in the farmer's field.
See the pretty glider,
on the ground without a scratch on it.
Good job, Steve!
See Julie, the pretty lady tow pilot,
fly over the pretty glider
on the ground, in the field.
Hear Julie on the radio:
"Steeeeve, what are your doing down theeeeerrrreee?"
Hear gears grind as Steve thinks up snappy answers.
See steam shoot out Steve's ears
'cause he can't say such things on the radio.
See the caravan of glider club members
'Come to take the glider out of the field.
See the pretty cows
watch the silly glider people
disassemble the pretty glider
and try to fit it onto a trailer
for a much smaller glider.
See the brave glider club members,
trying to stay warm as they wait
for the rest of the crew to return
with another trailer.
Hear Steve try to keep up the spirits
of the other glider club members
with interesting stories
as they wait in the dark and cold and 30 knot
wind and dust for the glider crew to return.
And wait, and wait, and wait....
Hear Steve run out of interesting stories.
See the wind get stronger.
Hear Steve make numerous religious comments
about the wind, the cold, the dust....
Oh yes, isn't glider flying fun?????
(note: landing out safely *still* beats the alternative)
click here to: send mail to Steve (Please remove the < no-spam > in the e-mail address)