On (17 May 95) Bill Grimsley wrote to Keith Richardson...



 BG> Keith, at 21:28 on May 15 1995, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...



 BG> I take it you're not aware that taking-off with a full load of fuel,

 BG> cargo, 

 BG> and passengers, is the most dangerous part of flying?



 KR> flying, these days, is so boring that the take off is the only bit of 

 KR> excitement left (: i think i've felt nervous about takeoff 3 times



 BG> I don't feel nervous any more.  One joint, and I couldn't give a fuck.



never tried that, you cant smoke on any aircraft anymore anyway. in the

days when the computer business still had some money i used to fly

business class, and they do a good job of filling you up with champers

before take off. these days its back to the cattle trucks, i know that

after flying boston-chicago-la-sydney cattle class i didn't want to see

a 747 again for a while (:



 KR> 1 waiting for the winch rope to be attached on the first solo in  

 KR> a glider (16 years old and in dire need of fresh underpants).



 BG> Yeah, the first solo is a pretty big step.  Glad it was you and not me!



the scariest bit was the silence - making a mistake and not copping

abuse from the back seat. i still find it hard to believe that the raf

let 16yo boys fly gliders in a built up area in the east end of london,

any landing outside the field would have been in someone's backyard!



 KR> 2 stepping off a hill for the first time strapped to a collection 

 KR> of aluminium tubes and sailcloth.



 BG> Now hang-gliding is something which although statistically less safe than

 BG> powered aircraft, is something I'd quite like to try.  An Ultra-light would

 BG> be nice too, but Lyn isn't at all impressed with that idea.  Needless to

 BG> say, I won't be getting one any time soon.



i saw a sticker on a car at stanwell park a while age that said

"remember the old days? when sex was safe and hang gliding dangerous".

basically it is like any flying, is isn't especially dangerous, just

very unforgiving. everybody that i knew that came to serious harm (2

were killed) did so by doing something stupid.



 KR> 3 sitting in the back seat of an ancient jet trainer (no ejector 



 BG> A Macchi?



no worse than that, a meteor! about the most exciting ride of my life -

400kts at 100ft then aerobatics. i have done aerobatics in piston

engined planes but they came nowhere near this. also the pilot was a

real expert, i had seen him loop a hunter at 300 kts from 50 ft, you

really need to be good to do that.



 KR> seats) with the pilot going through the emergency procedures while

 KR> waiting for clearance, and thinking that if anything went wrong, 

 KR> we were fucked!



 BG> True, but it would all be over in a second.  |-)



probably, but i'd rather not spend that second wrapped around the

tailplane (:



 BG> and would happily have another bike if Lyn would let me.

 BG> She won't even let me buy an ultra-light either.  |-)



 KR> funny that, i've the same trouble with wendy, it was even her 



 BG> Oh well, no point swapping wives then.



they say that variety is the spice of life (:



 KR> gotta have a go at paragliding though - one of these days.



 BG> Elaborate?  Is that the little 3-wheel cart with engine, and a trailing

 BG> sports parachute for lift?  Paraplanes, they're called, and I reckon it's

 BG> the best $5000 you could ever spend.



no just run off a hill with a modified chute and glide. the best of them

now perform better than my old wings condor hang glider. you can add a

backpack engine like that dipstick that crashed on a boxing match.

usually though, its just gliding. you can see it on the way to port

douglas in fnq, or the northern beaches in sydney, or stanwell. it is

extremely popular in europe, the alps are perfect. it a fair bit safer

than hang gliding, although you can come to grief if you really try. one

day i'll sign up for a course at stanwell, it costs about $600. a canopy

is $2-3000, the only plane that you can carry over your shoulder.



 BG> Bob and Paul (and Rod too, I guess) will all be thinking "what
a fuckwit,

 BG> he doesn't like flying commercial, but would gladly strap himself into one

 BG> of those deathtraps".  Maybe they _are_ more dangerous, but if I crash,

 BG> it'll be my own fault, and not some other bastard's.  |-)



exactly, if i die, i'd rather it was my fuckup than someone else's



                        Keith

 



... If you aren't living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.



--- PPoint 1.88