[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I suspect since mankind walked upright we have looked up at birds and wondered what it must be like to fly, and soar. We have a family of Mississippi Kites that live in the area. All summer long we see them soaring, wings out, not flapping, just catching thermals. I got to ride in a glider and had some of that sensation. It is fun.

I had a family of MS Kites come through and hang out in a tree at our old house years ago. Now at the new house, I see tons and tons of black and turkey vultures, and those guys do a lot of soaring a lot like your glider trip (which I'd love to do). We also have a lot of red tailed and some red shouldered hawks. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the barn swallows that I imagine are more like an F-16 or aerobatic plane. They must be the F1 or gymkhana cars of the bird world the way they fly.

I did jump out of an airplane once. It was fantastic. I can see how people get into doing it over and over again. What was interesting was how different the two parts of the descent were. The first part was all sound and fury. Imagine being in a car going 120mph and sticking your head out of the window. I just about topped out my targa once with the targa off. It was LOUD! Then you pop the 'chute, and everything goes practically silent and peaceful. If I did it regularly, I'd want a helmet to cut down on the sound from the first part. I should have realized, but I didn't think about how loud it was going to be.