Box report Sunday Feb 27
Boy is it fun to fly!
Gunter goaded, cajoled, and otherwise provided good motivation and leadership in getting chaz, irina, fred, ross, scott, and visiting pilot clayton to commit aviation. [along with canines shadow and kodie -- clayton's puppy] early on, conditions were a bit on the rough side according to both fred and gunter who launched first. given that chaz, irina, and clayton, who all need to wear diapers when things go bump-in-the-flight, waited on the first knoll for conditions to mellow. some obstructive deadwood was moved a few meters to make launching the more north facing first knoll launch safer. as things got lighter, scott and ross showed up with their predictably incisive advice and help. chaz waited for bloody stinking ever for something smooth and consistent to come in and was finally rewarded with the sensation of leaving the ground without immediately coming back down. a long dry spell was broken there. next off was clayton who had an excellent flight -- a personal best -- soaring, scratching, longest duration, and kiting his glider out of some of our fine sonoran flora. irina followed with a no nonsense launch -- 'what? me worry? i'm going up! i may be flying reversed but what the hell...' nice confident flight with a typically nice landing. ross and scott, having rid themselves of the newbies, now faced much more difficult conditions: kodie [puppy] was confused and perplexed and found comfort in staying close to the remaining pilots -- especially right in front of them in the midst of their lines. ross eventually got off with some distractive help from scott. scott got off later with distractive help from some unknown higher being. having mentioned higher, R&S scratched like heck in ephemeral thermals -- high low high 'oh my gosh' low. toward sunset the glass off started and well, with the beautiful roseate hues of this land showing shadows on the field of wild poppies called our LZ those of us on the ground watched two comrades specked out. after both landed, we found that some higher being understood that they were having *too much fun* and in some small part mitigated the glory of their flight with sub optimal body temperatures. there were however many more smiles than shivers.
side anecdotes:
fred committed one of the cardinal sins of aviation: too much. he flew first, got high and eventually came down for a break. having refreshed himself, he pulled out this thing that goes 'eeeeeeeee' and which, by some method unknown to me, allows paraglider levitation from flat ground. in any case, fred was studiously helpful in informing those of us with mere legs and no magical propellent force, to analyze conditions aloft as he looked down upon our disgraceful groundedness. at some point the 'eeeee' became 'uh' and fred returned to the graceful touch of the poppy field. at this point however he became arrogant in his pursuit of aviation and tried for '3': a smallish winged vehicle was produced and he commanded it to fly in circles above the ground. again, a matter of concern for ecclesiastical authorities, for he bade the thing to do his will with a long metal wand. and, with a long drawn out frustrated whine, the thing obeyed his command to turn and perform unnatural inverted maneuvers. this man needs to be watched, for if he performs the final sin of '4' [aluminum aviation] the end of days may be upon us......
flight report: sunday box
Moderators:ioan, John Wolfe, aaroncromer, jlowery
Nicely written (although I'd like to hear more about the 'I may be flying reverse but what the hell' launch), and very entertaining. Looked like a beautiful day from my groundbound perspective.
The good news is that it appears there will be ample nominations for Eagle of the Month at next week's meeting, and a high likelihood of me being able to get rid of the trophy.
Chaz- thrilled to see you getting some airtime. I'm not sure that I've ever met a pilot who needed it more.
The good news is that it appears there will be ample nominations for Eagle of the Month at next week's meeting, and a high likelihood of me being able to get rid of the trophy.
Chaz- thrilled to see you getting some airtime. I'm not sure that I've ever met a pilot who needed it more.
A Day for Arjan
It was a beautiful day at Box with golden Mexican Poppies decorating the the landing area, billowing white cummies deocrating a clear blue sky, and ravens doing an aerial dance overhead. We all got to experience at least part of the joy the ravens must feel in the freedom and exhilaration of flight. I think Arjan would have approved.
My $0.02
Well, it was as wonderful and magical as everyone has described. I'll just add one small anecdote.
There was this moment when Ross and I were a few hundred feet above the top; I was over the rock outcrop, flying west, straight into the sunset. Ross was right over launch. So I am looking straight into the sunset and Ross and I see sunlight reflecting off the top of a hawk that was circling below Ross, and I had this sort of preconscious experience - it wasn't like words popped into my head, but just this feeling/experience that had to do with Arjan's presence. Then I thought, with words in my head, to look for the presence of Arjan, and I looked all around me, at the hawk and Ross, at the mountains, at the shadows getting long in the valley, and again had a preconscious feeling/experience that Arjan was in everything, just as Ross and the hawk and I are in everything, that all these forms - Arjan, Ross, the hawk, me, the mountains, the sun - with their transitory distinctness and separation and differentiation are ultimately all of the same substance, that everything is connected. So the flight carried on through the beautiful sunset, and when I was on the ground and out of my equipment, I found that I was very much at peace and my head was in a very good place and my heart was light and happy. Monday morning I was dreading going into the corporate institution to begin my 40 hours of weekly spirit crushing humiliation, but found that whatever good stuff I had connected with during Sunday's flight had stayed with me. In fact, it seemed to me that I was somehow radiating something positive, because several times throughout the day, I experienced other people reflecting it back at me.
There was this moment when Ross and I were a few hundred feet above the top; I was over the rock outcrop, flying west, straight into the sunset. Ross was right over launch. So I am looking straight into the sunset and Ross and I see sunlight reflecting off the top of a hawk that was circling below Ross, and I had this sort of preconscious experience - it wasn't like words popped into my head, but just this feeling/experience that had to do with Arjan's presence. Then I thought, with words in my head, to look for the presence of Arjan, and I looked all around me, at the hawk and Ross, at the mountains, at the shadows getting long in the valley, and again had a preconscious feeling/experience that Arjan was in everything, just as Ross and the hawk and I are in everything, that all these forms - Arjan, Ross, the hawk, me, the mountains, the sun - with their transitory distinctness and separation and differentiation are ultimately all of the same substance, that everything is connected. So the flight carried on through the beautiful sunset, and when I was on the ground and out of my equipment, I found that I was very much at peace and my head was in a very good place and my heart was light and happy. Monday morning I was dreading going into the corporate institution to begin my 40 hours of weekly spirit crushing humiliation, but found that whatever good stuff I had connected with during Sunday's flight had stayed with me. In fact, it seemed to me that I was somehow radiating something positive, because several times throughout the day, I experienced other people reflecting it back at me.