adrenaline, was why do you soar?

Tom Seim wrote:
...
This type of adrenaline rush is what attracts people to our sport.
They don't like to admit (I took some heat when I characterized them
as "adrenaline junkies"), but it is true. We want to subscribe to some
higher calling, such as "the thrill of the flight". But we are
deluding ourselves: we want to expose ourselves to danger and escape -
producing the adrenaline rush. Knowing this can protect us; there is a
limit, if we cross it we WILL DIE. My main concern is that low time
pilots might try to emulate experienced pilots and get into trouble in
the process. This sport is UNFORGIVING!!! If you SCREW UP YOU WILL
DIE!!! Do you REALLY want to show off that much?
...

I disagree with that. Even if this may be the motivation for some pilots,
it is not my case. In a lot of circumstances in our every day life, we are
going to die if we make the wrong decision, but these are obviously completlely
wrong decisions, e.g. crossing a road as pedestrian without looking for cars,
driving in the wrong direction on a higway lane or similar stupidities.
My aim when flying gliders is to do it in a way such that only this kind
of stupidities can put my life in danger. Although I agree that the same
level of ratio risk/stupidity canot be achieved in soaring as in every day
life, I want to go as close as possible to it, by constant training so that
the wrong decisions seem to me obviously wrong. Of course there are some
times with adrenaline rush, mainly during low saves and outlandings, although
here also training lowers this adrenaline rush. And I prefer this last case.
And as a beginning instructor I hope I will be able to teach students to
fly in the same way.

Robert Ehrlich wrote in message ...
Tom Seim wrote:
...
This type of adrenaline rush is what attracts people to our sport.
They don't like to admit (I took some heat when I characterized them
as "adrenaline junkies"), but it is true. We want to subscribe to some
higher calling, such as "the thrill of the flight". But we are
deluding ourselves: we want to expose ourselves to danger and escape -
producing the adrenaline rush. Knowing this can protect us; there is a
limit, if we cross it we WILL DIE. My main concern is that low time
pilots might try to emulate experienced pilots and get into trouble in
the process. This sport is UNFORGIVING!!! If you SCREW UP YOU WILL
DIE!!! Do you REALLY want to show off that much?
...

I disagree with that. Even if this may be the motivation for some pilots,
it is not my case. In a lot of circumstances in our every day life, we are
going to die if we make the wrong decision, but these are obviously completlely
wrong decisions, e.g. crossing a road as pedestrian without looking for cars,
driving in the wrong direction on a higway lane or similar stupidities.
My aim when flying gliders is to do it in a way such that only this kind
of stupidities can put my life in danger. Although I agree that the same
level of ratio risk/stupidity canot be achieved in soaring as in every day
life, I want to go as close as possible to it, by constant training so that
the wrong decisions seem to me obviously wrong. Of course there are some
times with adrenaline rush, mainly during low saves and outlandings, although
here also training lowers this adrenaline rush. And I prefer this last case.
And as a beginning instructor I hope I will be able to teach students to
fly in the same way.

The body naturally produces adrenaline when it senses a dangerous
situation. When I first started flying this was occurring for
virtually every launch and landing. Now it seems very normal and it
doesn't occur. The issue with students is if they encounter a set of
circumstances that they haven't had to deal with before. Now the
adrenaline is flowing. Unfortunately, adrenaline doesn't enhance the
decision making process; I believe it can hinder it. In some cases it
stops it all together. I witnessed an accident of this type this year
(I made an earlier post on this). As an instructor you can "surprise"
your students with new situations in a safe environment and observe
their reactions. I think that constantly doing the "what if" while
flying, especially in a hazardous environment such as a busy airport,
can counter the effects of adrenaline by preprogramming the response.

Flying is fundamentally hazardous. All the comparisons with other
hazards in our daily living will not change that. Ask pilots who have
been in the sport more than 10 years how many other pilots they know
who have died while flying. Then ask them how many people they know
that have died in car accidents. I don't think there will be any
comparison even though we spend 5-10 the amount of time in a car vs.
our gliders.

Good luck, we need more instructors!

Tom

Robert Ehrlich writes
We want to subscribe to some
higher calling, such as "the thrill of the flight". But we are
deluding ourselves: we want to expose ourselves to danger and escape -
producing the adrenaline rush.

Not that I'd presume to question another person's motivation in such
things - as long as you're not crashing out onto me or anybody else,
then whatever turns you on.

But there are cheaper ways to get the adrenaline if that's all you're
looking for. More certain ways to kill yourself as well.

The threat of dying is an obvious drawback to many sports or hobbies
(call soaring what you will - I don't really draw any such definition in
my own head). Whether it's karate, racing motorbikes or something as
innocuous as fishing. Hell, in my experience even something as simple as
playing in a band can have its life threatening moments. And other more
common moments, where you simply wish you could just die.

The point of it all though is the balance of risk vs. reward for what
you do. The small chance that I'm going to electrocute myself on the PA
at tomorrow's gig, or some punter is going to take such grave exception
to my music that he feels compelled to express himself by physically
damaging me are minor considerations next to the rush of performing. And
you minimise them, by maintaining the PA so that it doesn't wire you
into the mains, by rehearsing the act so that even if somebody doesn't
like it, they respect you for getting up there and doing it.

How is gliding different? Do you really climb into the sky to brazen out
death head to head? If that's your only motivation, take up base
jumping. Or Russian Roulette. From what I've seen (and yes, that's very
little in this arena so far) we go to meticulous lengths to reduce the
risks of death or injury as far is humanly possible, through planning,
maintenance, training, etc.

When I arrived at the airfield last Saturday for the first time, one of
the more experienced pilots was setting his glider up for the day, and
he was good enough to welcome me, the tongue-tied and overawed rookie,
and let me shadow him as he went through the daily inspection of his
plane. That done, we were just passing the time waiting for the rest to
catch up with us at the launch point, and he pointed out that the long
clouds coming in from the north were indications of wave being generated
from the Welsh mountains. He was waiting for an aerotow to 4000 in the
hopes of catching it.

The look of what I can only describe as hunger in his eyes as he spoke
wasn't for the chance to feel the rush of playing a game of chicken with
the Reaper. It was for something else entirely.



Bill

Thanks to all who replied and sent me your thoughts about why you soar and what
it means to you. Any others who want to contribute their brief, reflective,
poetic, imaginative or just plain thoughtful comments on the question feel free
to do so.

Thanks!

Juan Mandelbaum

Robert Ehrlich writes
Bill Gribble wrote:

Robert Ehrlich writes
We want to subscribe to some
higher calling, such as "the thrill of the flight". But we are
deluding ourselves: we want to expose ourselves to danger and escape -
producing the adrenaline rush.


Your citation above is not from me, but from Tom Seim. In my answer,
I expressed an opposite view which is close to yours.

Sorry! My bad. Actually, I'd blame it on my news client, but that would
just be a case of a bad workman blaming his tools g


--
Bill Gribble

I can only speak as a newcomer to the sport as I have only being flying 7
mths but my reasons for soaring are not related to adrenaline at all indeed
I am the sort of person who hates roller coasters.
I love soaring because:-
1) It is a chalenge both intelectual and physical in that you have to be
able to both read the weather/sky to work out where the lift is likely to be
and be able to fly them well to get the best out of them. When you do both
well there is tremendous satisfaction. The closest other sport is sailing
but involves far too much getting wet and is far less comfortable than even
my K23 cockpit.
2) It is a wonderful feeling to be able to soar amongst the birds, lets
face it it is not natural but speak to most people and they wish they could
fly like the birds which is what soaring allows us to do.
3) The view/scenery which even in england can be magical.
4) Those one off moments like last night sitting in wave near Dunstable
just strong enough to support me watching the sun set painting the sky red
and the ground orange.

rgds
Stephen

"JuanM" wrote in message
...
Thanks to all who replied and sent me your thoughts about why you soar and
what
it means to you. Any others who want to contribute their brief,
reflective,
poetic, imaginative or just plain thoughtful comments on the question feel
free
to do so.

Thanks!

Juan Mandelbaum

Like Solo89, my passion to fly started with dreams, and it started
very young. I don?t remember how old I was, probably two or three, but
I experienced wonderful flying dreams in which I would soar high above
the earth, and then fall, swiftly and precipitously toward the ground,
but always at the last moment my fall would evolve into a swoop and a
flair, and I would settle, lightly as a feather into deep green grass.
So powerful were these dreams, that one Sunday morning while my
parents were sleeping, I stood at the head of a flight of stairs, and
after some hesitation leaped out flapping my arms. I don?t know for
sure, but this was probably when my flying dreams ceased.

Many years later at a period when life was not going particularly well
for me, and I was feeling the need to get in closer contact with
whatever was happening inside my head, I embarked on a course of dream
work. I don?t know exactly why, but it seemed self-evident to me that
I should try to recapture those sublime moments of dream flying. Every
night before falling asleep, I would give myself the suggestion:
?Tonight you will fly.? But getting there was not so easy. I had many
dreams of standing by the side of runways watching planes take off, of
sitting in waiting rooms with my flight delayed. But after months and
months and months of trying I finally did begin to fly, first as a
passenger in someone else?s roadster, and then in my own car, and
finally as in childhood, swooping high above the earth with only my
outstretched arms for wings. Eventually I was able to achieve ?waking
dreams? where I would be consciously aware that I was dreaming, and
able to control the direction of my flights and my dreams.

I am a sailor and skier as well as a soaring pilot and I?ve often
asked myself what is there in common that attracts me to these
pursuits. Certainly there is the ?adrenaline thing.? I enjoy some
measure of risk so long as it is risk that I have control over. But at
the root, I?m more of a vestibular junkie than a seeker of adrenaline
highs. I love the feel of a deck dancing under my feet, I?m addicted
to the swoop and glide of a fast ski run, and I feel very much at home
turning tightly in a thermal, especially if I can see a hawk sharing
the lift off my wing tip. To ask the question, why do I fly? Is almost
like asking why should I breathe? I am at my happiest when my body is
moving through space, and these three pastimes, sailing skiing and
soaring give me the power to choose where and how my body shall move
through space. The power to choose is important ? roller coasters are
not nearly so interesting.

At 70 I asked myself, If you don?t learn to actually fly now, when
will you? And so I became a student. I?ve been flying a little over
two years now and I have a little under 200 hours under my belt. I?m
starting to make cross-country flights and I just bought my first GPS.
There?s a whole world of flying ahead of me. I can hardly wait for the
next challenge!