1 reply to this topic

[Benzi]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10397946/

story:

http://dailynightly..../24/428365.aspx

[LadyPilot]

Superb, well put and to the point.
I've taken the liberty of quoting a few sections of the article, which to me sum up why gliding is a great leveller and such an exhilarating sport.


... a wheelchair-bound former Navy pilot named Richard "Footch" Fucci who'd learned to fly specially-adapted gliders and believed others with disabling injuries or illnesses could benefit the way he had from experiencing the life-affirming glory of free flight.

"Back in June," he told us, "a young woman flew with us and afterward said, 'I can't get up on a curb [with her wheelchair], but I can fly an airplane!' And that captures our mission, the spirit of Freedom's Wings...to say 'What else can I do that I didn't think I could do because I had a disability?'"

So Footch lives that mission... showing a couple of Iraq War vets recovering from terrible injuries how to grab for an exhilarating experience, just as he had despite his own terrible injuries. The soldiers...Nick Paupore and Bruce Dunlap, who'd been driven out from Walter Reed Army Medical Center...were kids again, whooping and laughing and saying sure, they'll do it again and think about qualifying as glider pilots with their new Freedom's Wings friends. ........He'd shown them that in this sport... a sport that needs a team on the ground and hours if not days of prep work so individual pilots can thrill to its gifts for however many minutes the prevailing winds allow... you can't tell in the air whether a pilot has the use of his legs or not.

"So how does it feel, relying only on yourself up there?"

"Hard for me to describe," he said, and then described it. "It makes my heart soar. I know, in the plane flying around, I'm just the same as anybody else."

He laughed, and he had a good laugh, unselfconscious and heartfelt. "You're searching for clouds, watching for birds and planes, and the chair is not a factor. ...... you look down and you see your chair sitting there on the side of the runway and you go, 'I don't need you!' And it feels great!"

- If you havn't tried it , you really don't know what you're missing . By the way, I'm afraid of heights and until recently couldn't open my eyes in glass fronted lifts!