I wanted to do something special for my brother Joe on his birthday. We had visited the Torrey Pines Gliderport for a scenic lunch a few days earlier and he had been pretty excited watching the gliders fly back and forth along the bluffs and out over the sea. I was determined to turn his "I want to do that!" into "I've done that!" Having paraglided 14 years ago in Utah, I knew what an amazing experience Joe was in for. What I had not planned on was going up for a flight myself.
While I was waiting for Joe to complete his paperwork I was approached by the facility owner, Robin, who asked if I wanted to fly. Knowing next to nothing about what is involved in a tandem paraglider flight, I immediately convinced myself that sending a quadriplegic aloft had to be a royal pain in the ass.
"Don't worry- it's a piece of cake," Robin assured me, "we'll have you up before your brother finishes his paperwork- and your flight's on me." How could I refuse?
I drove my chair out on to the grassy slope that serves as the launch and landing pad for the gliderport, followed Robin to a lawn chair and parked beside it. A seat harness was spread out across the chair and Robin, along with a staff member, easily transferred me from one chair to the next. Four metallic carabiner-clicks, a couple of pulls on reinforced nylon straps and I was ready. Bob my instructor, who had already launched his wing and was "kiting" it over his head effortlessly, casually walked over and connected my harness to his riser assembly. Almost instantly, I felt myself being lifted from the chair as the wing took up the combined load of Bob and myself. We bobbed around a bit like bull-riders in the gate as Bob adjusted to the increased load. Then Robin and another staffer walk/jogged with us to help stabilize the load and 15 feet later we were airborne!
I had to remind myself to breathe as the bluffs dropped away beneath us and I found myself 500 feet above the Pacific surf rolling up onto Black's Beach. As the sea breeze comes off the ocean and hits the Torrey Pines bluffs, the airflow is channeled up.This vertical air movement is what enables gliders to remain aloft for extended periods of time, as long as the wind keeps blowing. We circled around for the photographer, who was standing at the edge of the cliff with his camera snapping these photos, and a few minutes later Joe was aloft and flying next to us with his instructor Ki.
Imagine my delight when Bob asked me if I wanted to drive! Despite my limited hand function, I was able to slip my fists through the straps of the brake lines and hook them with my wrists. Bob pointed out some landmarks to steer for to ensure that I kept us in the air flow as we traveled along the bluffs. Whenever we felt lift, Bob told me to circle back so that we could gain more altitude. We flew back and forth along the bluffs, climbing with the up-drafts, descending occasionally in a spiraling turn before catching and riding another column of air back up to altitude. At one point I heard laughter above and looked up to see Joe reaching out and grabbing the tip of our wing. Icarus had nothing on us!
20 minutes later and entirely too soon, Bob informed me that it w as time to head back and land. We circled around behind the glider port so that we could make an up-wind approach into the landing zone. Bob eased us back to Earth and we touched down with no more force than if he had stepped off an escalator. I found myself sitting in the grass, smiling ear to ear, knowing that I would come back and do this again!
Thanks to Robin and all the folks at Torrey Pines Gliderport!
