AviationBanter - View Single Post - In the Austin American Stateman this morning.

**tienshanman** · #9 October 13th 10, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sisu1a

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...s-his-ride-on-...

"I think it's like a coffin — with a view," facepalm... -
well, other than comparing gliders to vessels of death within the
first 10 lines it's a kinda good article :/ ...OK, I can see the
line "you feel like a god" seriously irking many readers (especially
in the Biblebelt), and the line "sometimes you have no choice" ,after
talking about landing in treetops or water- ya know, from 'when the
rising air pockets are scarce'... really makes gliding seem very
haphazard. Luckily it ends all jolly with Neal Armstrong selling him
a glider, but jeez... is it really that hard to figure out what NOT to
say to a reporter?

Is there any kind of do's and don'ts handout or published guidelines
the SSA has, to help keep people from making comments like this when
feeding reporters information intended for the general public? If
there's not, rule 1 is not dragging death into the subject, seriously,
unless you reporting on an actual death... Steering clear of any and
all religious references should be second- just waaay too easy to
offend people there.

-Paul

I do not think we do anyone any good if we try to portray soaring as some benign activity that’s about as risky as playing a game of checkers on the front porch. Let’s face it, soaring is dangerous and people should stop trying to put the spin on it for public consumption in the hope of luring in the unwary. People need to come into the sport with no illusions. I frankly found the coffin comment a humorous breath of fresh air and I appreciate the parts of the article that alluded to the risk factor in the sport. Seems to me that the really good cross country pilots don’t fly like they do without taking some pretty big risks - sometimes. I may be on weak ground here because I am definitely not in that league. I once heard that some top pilot was asked how low he’s willing to get when looking for a thermal and he answered: as long as my wing is not scraping the ground! Joking, but, hmm.... And come on, you can’t be serious about self editing out the comment on “feeling like God” because it might offend some sensitive religious people. That would be typical of the mind numbing PC censorship that is already a cancer in this country. I somehow don’t think that the God comment in the article is going to unleash a Baptist jihad against the pilot, even in Texas. And besides, seems to me that if I were marketing my particular brand of snake oil and some person confessed that he felt a little like my God (OK, even if it’s just for 45 seconds while working 10 knot lift over some stunning landscape) then that just might be a good thing.