| Gliding Hi | 1 Jan. 2013 |
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The December before the past one, Ron Crandall, my wife Sue, and I were at Jo Hays watching for late raptors, which generally means bald eagles and golden eagles.
Suddenly there was a hiss through the air from behind. I turned and recognized Karl Striedieck flying his glider. |
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Karl holds eight or so world records for distant gliding, and I'm lucky to know him, as he lives somewhat nearby in State College.
Apparently, on that day, he recognized me too, because he set his glider into a steep turn. (I'd call it dancing on a wingtip). It led to excited conversation at Jo Hays while we watched him. |
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| And leveling out. |
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| Until Karl was flying in the opposite direction. |
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| Incoming! (What a view!) |
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| And gliding past . . . |
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After gliding past, Karl turned and repeated his loop (giving me lots of opportunity for photo sequences!).
And then, gaining altitude, he continued on his way north. |
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Beforehand, I had the obviously incorrect idea that gliders were completely dependent on wind direction. (The wind was west by northwest, blowing toward the lefthand flank of Tussey Mountain.) My new assumption is that a good glider pilot works with the wind but not necessarily the direction of the wind.
Camera note: I used a Pentax K20D, with the Sigma 150-500mm lens, for these photos, taken on 16 December 2011. Except for the first photo (which was reduced 25%), all the others have a consistent 33% size reduction. We need larger monitors.
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