Your editors thank author Nyal Williams for permission to post this article on the Café.

© 2011 Nyal Williams

The Faust legend tells us never to bargain with the Devil; I’d suggest not bargaining with God.

A couple of years ago Ron Clarke was invited to fly a brand-new Arcus T in the Seniors’ Contest and Ron came back to Indiana raving about this new glider. Silly me: I began pestering Ron to learn whether there might be an opportunity for me to get a flight in this glider. After a year of bugging him about this he suggested that a trip to the Spring contest in Ionia, MI, might result in such an opportunity. This actually worked out . I met the owner, Barry Jaeger, and was allowed to ride in the back seat while Barry flew one of the contest days. (Thank you, again, Barry and Ron.)

The Arcus is one gorgeous machine. Beautiful fuselage, panels, appointments, unbelievable finish and fittings give it an almost ethereal air. The wings are a wonder to behold. They look like two huge boomerangs joined to a most elegant body with such balance of form that, like the Vatican, one almost doesn’t notice its size. The compound curves of the canopy frame fit amazingly well and it really is quiet

The Arcus is roomy; it easily accommodates today’s largest pilots. My small frame needed a couple of cushions in addition to the parachute in order to see out.

We flew on a marginal day. I did none of the piloting, of course, so I can’t speak about handling characteristics, but the glider goes, and goes, and goes. Can I say Paradise in the Sky?

What follows is my remembrance, to the best of my ability, of a conversation when we were back on the ground:

I jumped up and down and yelled, “Gotta have one of these, please, God!.”

A big cumulus cloud over the airport opened up and a huge voice said, “NO WAY!”

“Why not? Don’t I deserve one of these? I‘ve been flying gliders a long, long time!”

“DON’T YOU REMEMBER THOSE CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR DAD ABOUT CAREER CHOICES? THESE THINGS COST MONEY AND YOU TOLD HIM YOU WEREN’T INTERESTED IN MONEY; YOU JUST WANTED TO LEARN STUFF.”

“But these didn’t exist then; how was I to know they would come along??

“TOO BAD! YOU MADE YOUR CHOICE. BY THE WAY, WHAT DID YOU REALLY DO?”

“I became a musicologist; I worked for two universities.”

“WHAT’S THAT?!”

“A university?”

“NO! THAT MUSIC WHATCHMACALLIT.”

“You know, we study music history and literature, compositional styles and techniques, aesthetics, psychology, acoustics, performance styles, the history of music instruments, scales, tunings, the history of musical notation, and things like that.”

“MY WORD! I SURELY CREATED SOME STRANGE BEINGS! I HAD NO IDEA!”

“Please, please. I’ll never buy another pair of shoes; I’ll use one razor blade for a whole year; I’ll make my car last for the rest of my life. “

“THAT’S WHAT YOU SAID WHEN YOU BOUGHT THE DISCUS, AND I’VE SEEN THOSE FANCY SNEAKERS AND THAT BRAUN ELECTRIC RAZOR YOU HAVE.”

“But have you seen my car: It’s 16 years old, the radio quit, the AC quit, the heater quit, the electronics quit. It’s so ugly no one even sees it.! Club members back into it leaving huge dents and then drive away without even apologizing. It’s awful, but I keep driving it.”

“THAT’S SOMETHING, BUT IT IS NOT NEARLY ENOUGH. NO!”

“I’ll even get my wife to go back to work.”

“NO!”

“Well, can I have this one little thing? Can I make a 500K triangle in the Discus in Indiana?”

“YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN ABOUT THAT; STOP BOTHERING ME!”

The cumulus spread out across the sky and it rained on me for the rest of the day.

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Most pilots will tell you the Discus is a pretty good glider; but after being in the Arcus it feels like a truck and it just won’t go anywhere. I might re-adjust and get over this in time, but right now I won’t even cross the road in it for fear I can’t make it back.

I suppose, eventually, I’ll continue trying for that Indiana 500K triangle but you know I’m going to land out. That’s why I’m passing this hat around to help me buy some new tires for my trailer and to get it re-wired so it won’t be restricted to back roads. Then, maybe someone can come and get me. Is that too much to ask?