I´m back in Europe this week.
This, in fact, is a bit weird because a few weeks ago I wasn´t even prepared for leaving the continent at all, nor Germany, nor Munich, nor the university campus until all exams are over. The steady rain periods in Germany had me decide to definitely delay the second part of my soaring season to the August competition phase to come. Little did I know my fortune had completely different plans for me.
At precisely 7.34am on one of the longest days of the year the sun clears the mountain and strikes our tent. Soon it is too hot to stay in bed so the morning ritual begins; a wash and shave followed by tea and discussion of the day’s plans in the shade of a tree. …
Another “test flight” in Tullahoma, Tennessee on the same field the Concordia first flew, but perhaps a little different. The Cherokee II was a very popular plans-built glider, circa 1950s. The particular ship was passed around for many years, until Gary Flandro got his hands on it. The original logs were lost but the…
It seemed to me that this Saturday is just an average day again. I knew that I was close to the first solo, but I still had made some mistakes so I thought that I will have the great moment later. Probably this will be next week, but not now. However, I felt something exciting……
Øyvind Moe on Tuesday took off from Hokksund (west of Oslo), then crossed the 150 km stretch of ocean over to Denmark (though he did use the engine for some of the over-water crossing), before eventually landing at the Danish national gliding center at Arnborg. But that, and a short ferry flight to the Danish island of Anholt, was just the preparation.
I felt the cold clammy hand of fear on the last Friday of April 2013. It wasn’t an irrational fear, like “oooh there is something under the bed” or a nervous fear like standing up to give a presentation; it was from the grim realisation that I had flown myself into a hole with no way out. I know my last article started by alluding that we should do one thing everyday that scares us, as some motivational way to grow and become a better person but I think, on this occasion, I might have taken that notion a bit too literally.
It must have been one of these legendary Foehn days yesterday, May 16th. Do you remember last year, about the same date? Gerd Heidebrecht from Königsdorf flew more than 1000 Miles (1746,3 km, to be precise) in a Discus-2cT along the northern part of the Alps. Yesterday his club mate Mathias Schunk even exceeded that…
After months of planning, Dan Reagan and I completed a flight from Caesar Creek Soaring Club to Blairstown New Jersey on April 20, 2013. Preparations for the flight included thorough research of the entire route. We used Google Earth to verify if many of the points in the database were landable. We developed Go –…
If I just close my eyes, I see every moments of the weekend, starting with Saturday: sunny, mild morning, spring-like day. I put suntan lotion, a bottle of water and sunglasses into my bag, I knew that at midday it will be warm. And don’t forget about the pilot logbook! It is the part of my official documents.
Sunday the soaring forecast looked acceptable, the wind was forecast to be high, and it was supposed to be better to the west with lighter winds. I originally had hoped to fly a closed course but after arriving at the airport and feeling the wind, Leah and I re-formulated our plan to go downwind. The…
