History
Zanonia - flown by Herber Cloud near Ephrata, Washington.
of a sailplane, is one of the great joys I derive from soaring. Flying fills other needs. When I haven’t flown for a while, I am edgy and uncomfortable; after a flight I am OK for a while. It is as if I were a drug addict in need of a fix. I used to sometimes say, only slightly in jest, that “soaring is my substitute for sex”, at least at my age. But a young, virile competition pilot set me right. He said that I had it backward, and that “sex is a substitute for soaring!” Gann, in one of his recent books, asks “Why did God make women when airplanes are so much fun?” They are so right. There are many aspects to soaring. There is the sensation and joy of pure flight, without the noise and vibration of an engine. Gann has written, “Flying is a release of the spirit, an extraordinary human experience that somehow hoists men and women far above themselves. Aloft the spirit sings without a sound, and no true airman ever regrets himself.” Soaring is also competition, not only with one’s self and the elements but with other pilots in hard-fought contests to determine who is the best and most skillful. It can also include the exhilaration of attempts to set or break records. And then there is the World-wide camaraderie of flyers and particularly of soaring pilots. I like to think of these, almost without exception, as the “Higher Type” of people, and used to say so till Elisabeth told me not to, because that is elitist. But soaring does seem to appeal to certain people—those that sail (soaring is sailing in three dimensions), those who hike or climb mountains, canoe or kayak, or ski. Some individual soaring pilots do all of these things. The soaring pilots are a group that includes people from all walks of life but with a high representation of scientists, engineers, physicians, dentists, and architects, but very few lawyers—perhaps soaring does really appeal only to the higher type of people! 16
RC FLYER NEWS • Nov/Dec 2018
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