www.PSFmagazine.com | November/December 2021 | 39 38 | November/December 2021 | Powered Sport Flying SPECIAL ISSUE OF Light AviAtion + eVTOL+ MOTORS + INSTRUMENTS + PROPELLERS + RADIO + AVIONICS + GPS... 2020-21 > Australia $15.50 • USA $16.99 • UK £6.99 World Directory of MAGAZINE Certified Aircraft > Trikes > Gyroplanes > Helicopters > eVTOL > Motorgliders... Buyer's Guide 2020-202 1 instruments - propellers radios - avionics - GPS... motors Certif ied Aircraft Trikes r Gyroplanes eVtol Motorgliders Fixedwing/LSA Helicopters 1 000 AIRCRAFT... Microlights, LSA, eVTOL Flügel Das Magazin + motors + instruments + propellers + radios + avionics + gps... helicopters fixedwing/lsA motorgliders eVtol special issue of L + evtol+ motors + instruments + propellers + radio + avionics + gps... 2021-22 > Australia $15.50 • USA $16.99 • UK £6.99 World Directory of MAGAZINE Certified Aircraft > Trikes > Gyroplanes > Helicopters > eVTOL > Motorgliders... Buyer's guide Flügel Das Magazin 2021-202 2 1 000aircraft... microlights, lsa, evtol certified AircrAft trikes gyroplanes Flying Makes the World Beautiful When I was a kid, one of the hobbies I remember most fondly was of my HO scale train set. My parents allowed me to take over a room in the basement and my father helped me set it up with scenery and track. I spent hours down there rearranging track, rearranging scenery, adding to it, wiring homes and businesses with lights that I could turn on and off at a master switchboard, and giving myself an introductory course in physics. One physics principle I relearned many times is that there are limits as to how fast you can take certain turns. While I enjoyed the crashes resulting from excessive speed, making some of the scenery and designing the layout of my fictional towns, I came to realize I received great pleasure in looking at the artificial landscape from above. I could stand and look at the landscape from the perspective of a high-flying eagle, but the most interesting view came from being close to the level of my handiwork. It was like a slow-flying butterfly, able to see the houses, tracks, and landscape at a much more leisurely pace and from an entirely different perspective than the eagle. It gradually occurred to me that I liked looking at my handiwork from this unusual perspective even more than the fabrication, design, and train crashing. Years later, I was introduced to powered parachute flying. A strange feeling came over me as if I were back in my childhood looking at the scenery from an unusual angle. Only now, I was many years removed from the early version of virtual reality that was my train room in the basement. This was real! Not only was I looking at real buildings, trees, parks, and even cemeteries, I had the feeling of floating in air just above them as I flew along. The scale of everything was perfect. Colors were accurate. Everything was as it should be. It was glorious! It was the train-in-the basement thrill, only on steroids. I spend a lot more of my time flying than ever. I must get up early in the morning for it, it’s often chilly, and most of the time I’m flying circles in the pattern in the back seat while a student in the front seat is working on learning to fly. These few inconveniences are well worth it. Seeing homes, trains, cars, farm equipment, and ever-changing scenery is what is so enjoyable for me. It’s something I never really tire of because I just enjoy the beauty of our world at an altitude of 500 feet or lower. Once I have a little altitude below me, I’ve forgotten I had to get up early and dress warmly. In fact, after months of training people in Florida, I came back to the Midwest for some summer training outside of St. Louis. It was terrain I’ve flown over for years and years. Coming back to it was a pleasure. Sharing that view with others is an incredible gift that I feel grateful for. And occasionally, the gift even surprises me. The best example is when I work with a ‘student’ who knows more than I do about flying in general but hasn’t had the opportunity to experience powered parachutes. Introducing someone who has flown high-speed, low-drag aircraft to my low-speed, high-drag world and seeing them completely enjoy it is very rewarding. Don’t get me wrong. Low speed, open cockpit flying isn’t better, it’s different. OK, maybe a little better… In any case, I don’t have the patience to fly on a long cross country in a powered parachute. For that an airplane is far better suited. But airplanes can be a bother, and the better the job they do being transportation, the less fun and more expensive they become. That isn’t just my opinion, it’s the opinion of nearly everyone I’ve known who has experience in both airplanes and powered parachutes. Imagine being able to oversee property, check out hunting sites, and being able to view nature from a new place. This thrill can’t be found on television, YouTube, with drones, or any other way that I have experienced. The thrill is closer to that of a zipline, a hot air balloon ride, or standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon. The thrill is visceral. It is about as real as anything can be while sometimes seeming a little surreal. If you haven’t yet flown in an ultralight, a powered parachute, a weight shift control trike or anything else without a cabin and can safely fly low and slow, you are missing out on a wonderful life experience. The number of people flying low and slow worldwide is in the thousands and the number of people in the world is plus or minus 7,753,000,000. You have an incredible opportunity to fly and do something very unique if you want to. You should take it!
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